Rebecca (1940)

The Criterion Collection had a half-price sale last week, so I scooped up three DVDs: "Rebecca," "Fritz Lang’s M," and "The Golden Age of Television." While I was waiting for them to arrive, I re-read the book Rebecca, which is so, so good.


One of the bonus features of "Rebecca" was screen tests for other actresses who wanted the role: Vivien Leigh, Anne Baxter, Loretta Young, and Margaret Sullavan. Joan Fontaine was perfect, of course, but I was interested to see the other tests, especially Sullavan’s, since she is the person I usually imagine as the second Mrs. de Winter when I’m reading the book. (I tend to picture Paul Henreid as Maxim.) So I was surprised when I watched Sullavan’s screen test and felt right away that she would be wrong for the part. I can’t quite explain why. She smiled a little too much, but it was more than that. She didn’t seem nervous enough, maybe?

Next up, Vivien Leigh. That one was a big no. She very much wanted the role, and she was Olivier's first choice, as he was in a relationship with her at the time. George Cukor, who was a close friend of hers, reportedly laughed when he saw her screen test. She's just too pert. I saw Scarlett O'Hara in a sweater set.


After that, Anne Baxter. I was surprised at how much I liked her screen test. I think she was Hitchcock’s first choice at one point. She was in a very dark wig, which I thought was a minor distraction, but she had the mannerisms down.


I saved Loretta Young for last. No way, I thought, is she even going to come close. Well, I was wrong. I would put her in third place, behind Fontaine and Baxter. Not quite right, but she captured the timidity pretty well, I thought.


Another interesting addition was an insert in the DVD case with a sample of the memos that flew back and forth between Hitchcock and Selznick during the making of the film. I knew Selznick was a compulsive memo writer (fueled by Benzedrine) and liked to interfere with his directors. Hitchcock wanted some changes which Selznick didn't think would be beneficial to the story, which as Selznick pointed out was very well known by now, from the best selling novel. Selznick imagined the movie as a "picturization" of the novel, and wanted to stay as true to it as possible. Hitch wanted to add and change some things that would make the story more "suitable" as a movie, in his opinion. In the end, I sided with Selznick on this one.

"Hollywood was capable of hurting me so much."

Today is the 40th anniversary of Joan Crawford's death. It seems like a good time to talk about Feud: Bette and Joan, which I've been wanting to do.

The Hollywood Reporter contacted Olivia de Havilland, the only person still alive who is portrayed in the series, to ask her what she thought about it. Here is her reply:

"Having not seen the show, I cannot make a valid comment about it. However, in principle, I am opposed to any representation of personages who are no longer alive to judge the accuracy of any incident depicted as involving themselves."

This sums up my own feelings about certain biographical pictures. I am very judgemental about the accuracy, to the point where I find it a distraction. I was all excited about The Tudors until I read that the writers combined Henry VIII's two sisters into one character. Nope! Never even started watching it. I tried watching the recent Masterpiece Theater series Victoria, but I couldn't really get into it, even though I couldn't spot any glaring inaccuracies.

Old bio pics I don't fact check as much. I've written about several of them that I enjoy. I don't know why it's only the modern ones that have me checking for accuracy. I debated about whether I wanted to watch Feud at all, and decided to give it a try. I ended up watching the whole series to see how it ended. I'm not sorry I did, but I don't think I would watch it again.

David Canfield wrote a review of the series for Slate and said that "Crawford [...] was [the] heroine." While I agree that the story spends the majority of its time with Joan Crawford, especially in the last episode, I would disagree that she's the heroine.

• Over dinner, Joan confesses that she seduced her own stepfather at the age of 11. Bette says she was a virgin until her first marriage in her mid 20's.
• Joan colludes with Hedda Hopper to not only spread nasty rumors about Bette during the filming of Baby Jane, but to try (and succeed) to deny Bette the Oscar for her performance. Meanwhile, kind Bette bails Victor Buono out of jail when he is busted at a gay porno film. (And if that scene is not based in some fact, it's just plain mean to Buono.)
• Joan drunkenly throws herself at director Bob Aldrich several times and is rebuffed. He then drives to Bette's house and hops into bed with her.
• While Joan is being humiliated during the making of Trog, reduced to changing her clothes in a van, Bette is lovingly visiting her mentally challenged daughter Margo at the institution where Margo lives.

I'm not sure there are any heroines in this story. I've read the book on which the series is based, Bette & Joan: The Divine Feud by Shaun Considine. Neither one of them comes off well in the book. While I think that while the Feud series tried to portray Joan more sympathetically on the surface, underneath was the same old malice.

On other topics of Joan, I also recently read My Way of Life and A Portrait of Joan. I can see why the lifestyle book is a "camp classic" today; it's way over the top. It's interesting that Joan spends so much time talking about how to hold on to your man, when she succeeded so well on her own for most of her life. I did like the little tidbits of personal things she herself enjoyed; I picked up a bottle of one of the perfumes to which she "remained faithful," Estee Lauder's Youth Dew. It smells amazing. I didn't expect the autobiography to be 100% accurate, but I did find her tone in both books to be kind of charming. It feels like you're sitting down and having a talk with her. And really, isn't that all any true fan could want?

Rest in peace, Joan. Your fans still remember you, which I think would make you happy.

The Wet Parade

What would be to most people a dull, preachy movie about the evils of alcoholism was enjoyable to me in large part due to the amazing cast the studio managed to put together. Our roster of performers includes Judge Hardy, Commissioner Gordon, Mrs. Nick Charles, Auntie Em, Marcus Welby, The Schnozzola, and Jerry Cohan. Oh, and Wallace Ford.

The movie tells the stories of two families, the southern Chilcotes and the northern Tarletons (they are divided this way in the credits). Both families are plagued with alcoholic fathers: Roger Chilcote, Sr. (played by Lewis Stone dressed like Colonel Sanders) is aware on some level that he has a problem, but despite his best efforts, is unable to get sober. Pow Tarleton (Walter Huston with a curly mustache he can't stop twirling) is in denial up to his eyeballs, steals money from his family's business to support his habit, and is basically a big blowhard.  It's a testament to Huston's excellent acting that I wanted to punch Tarleton in the face for the entire movie, and I was not at all sorry when he met his eventual fate.

Roger Jr. (totally handsome Neil Hamilton) does not learn from his father's example and takes to drink himself, despite the pleas of his sister Maggie May (Dorothy Jordan), who is nicknamed "Persimmon" for reasons not entirely clear. She goes all Carry Nation on everyone, sometimes with too much hysteria. Sharing her sentiments is Kip Tarleton (Robert Young), who tries to support his mother (Clara Bandick) and keep the family's hotel afloat while his father drinks all the profits. The two meet when Roger Jr. moves to New York, and Maggie follows him to keep an eye on him. What eventually happens to Roger Jr., I found to be unexpected (I was sure he'd kick the bucket), and I was pleasantly surprised by how that part of the plot proceeded.

Also appearing are Myrna Loy as Eileen, Roger Jr.'s actress girlfriend, Wallace Ford (rather under used) as Roger and Kip's reporter friend Jerry, and Jimmy Durante as (wait for it) a Prohibition agent with an inordinate penchant for saying "ha cha cha!" The concept is perhaps dated (as far as Prohibition goes; I think the alcoholism is still very relevant today), but it still makes for a compelling story.

See? That costume is finger lickin' good.

Requiem for a Heavyweight

As big a fan as I am of Jackie Gleason, I'd never seen this movie before. I'm not a fan of boxing, I knew Gleason played a bad guy, and I just thought it wasn't for me. Now, I stand corrected.

The opening scene is unique, I think, for the time. The camera shows us the boxer's point of view, starting with the fight, his defeat by knockout, and his skewed vision as he's dragged out of the ring into the locker room. At the end of the shot, the camera pans around to show the boxer, being supported by his manager and cutman, in the mirror, and he's a complete horror show.

It's not an easy movie to watch; Anthony Quinn plays the boxer ("Mountain" Rivera) who, after 17 years in the ring, really should retire yesterday. The make-up is very well done, because he looks like 10 miles of bad road. Mickey Rooney plays Army, Rivera's cutman, the only person who really cares about him, until Miss Miller (Julie Harris) comes along.

Jackie Gleason is Maish Rennick, Rivera's douchebag of a manager. He's in debt to some shady characters, so he wants Rivera to keep working -- one way or another. Since Mountain can't box anymore, Maish guilts him into taking a job as a wrestler. At first, Mountain is offended: he's never taken a dive in his career, and now he'll have lose whenever he's cast as the "heavy" for the evening. Maish assures him it's not that bad, it's just how things are done. After repeatedly reminding Mountain that he owes him, Mountain gives in.

While this is going on, Army takes Mountain to an employment agency, where he meets Grace Miller. At first she's not sure what to make of him, but she comes to like him. Taking a special interest in him, she arranges for him to interview for a job as a sports camp counselor. The night he's supposed to meet the camp owners, Maish sends Army for sandwiches and then slips out with Mountain, getting him drunk. Army eventually finds them and Mountain does try to make the interview, but it's hopeless at this point.

One of my favorite scenes is when Maish runs into Grace on the stairs as she is leaving from visiting Mountain after he misses the interview. He sneers at her efforts to make anything worthwhile out of Mountain's life. "You think when you put clothes on an ape, you make him into a dancing partner," he says, and Grace slaps him.

The movie draws to an end at the wrestling ring, where Mountain almost walks out until "Ma Greevy" and her thugs come in and threaten to kill Maish. Mountain puts his "Indian Chief" costume back on and walks into the ring, as Army looks on, crying. There is one last moment when you think he might still save himself, but then he starts whopping and dancing around the ring in his feather headdress.

I've seen Gleason in serious roles before, but this was the first time I actually found him menacing. Maish is a victim of his own weaknesses, and unfortunately he takes Mountain Rivera down with him, despite Army and Grace's efforts to salvage some kind of life for the boxer.

"You fink. You dirty, stinking fink."

DVR Catch Up

The last few weeks I have been watching and clearing out the movies stored on my DVR. Since I'm too lazy to devote a whole post to each one (plus, I just don't have that much to say about some of them), here's a quick list.

Fritz Lang's M - Considered by many one of the finest German films ever made, with good reason. Peter Lorre, in his first major role, is creepy and gross, in the best way. While the police chase this child murderer all over the city, the criminals band together (they're remarkably well organized) and end up catching him themselves. One of the best parts of the movie, I think, is the mock trial they hold. Lorre gives a long speech, pleading for his life and explaining that he just can't help himself. When he reaches the climax, screaming, "Wird nicht! Mußt! Wird nicht! Mußt!" I always get chills. (Translation: "Will not! Must!" although the subtitles say "Don't want to, but must!.") Check it out here.

And sweet dreams!

Third Finger, Left Hand - More or less your typical "boy meets girl, boy and girl hate each other due to wacky misunderstanding, boy and girl fall in love" comedy of the 40's. Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas are charming, as always.

Dr. Phibes Rises Again - Only my abiding love for Vincent Price got me through this. If the first movie, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, was a B movie (barely), this one was a Z. Plot holes big enough to drive a truck through, continuity errors galore, and just all around cheese. According to IMDB, a remake of Abominable is in development, to which I can only say: dear God, why?

The Emperor's Candlesticks - William Powell and Luise Rainer star as Polish and Russian secret agents, respectively. They are each tasked with smuggling documents to St. Petersberg and end up hiding them in a pair of candlesticks, each one having a secret compartment. There is some suspense as they chase each other across Europe, both trying to snatch the candlesticks from each other and eventually, of course, falling in love. Just when it looks darkest for them both, the czar of Russia pardons them and gives his blessing for them to get married. As often happens, with spies who fail their missions for personal reasons. Powell and Rainer are as usual: he's suave and charming, she's dainty and coquettish.

The Irish In Us - James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, and Frank McHugh play three brothers in a "typical" Irish family, with adorable Mary Gordon as their long-suffering mother. Olivia de Havilland also stars but is underutilized. Not much of a plot, and the love story leaves something to be desired, but it was kind of endearing just the same.

Big Hearted Herbert - A small B flick stuffed with character actors such as Guy Kibbee, Henry O'Neill and Aline MacMahon, this was a funny little movie. Herbert prides himself on being "regular folks," to the extent that when his daughter's fiance brings his upper crust family to dinner for the first time, Herbert huffs and puffs until they're thoroughly offended ("College men! Idlers! Loafers! Wasters! That's all colleges turn out nowadays!") . As payback, his wife Elizabeth and the children put on an exaggerated show of "regular folks" (read: country bumpkins) the next night when Herbert brings his biggest client home for dinner. In the end, of course, Herbert realizes the error of his blustering ways.

Andy Hardy, you can't go home again

I received my copy of "The Andy Hardy Film Collection Volume 2" in the mail yesterday, and I went right to the end, with "Andy Hardy Comes Home" from 1958. Now a lawyer for Gordon Aircraft in Los Angeles, Andy comes home to Carvel, having talked his bosses into building an aircraft plant in town. It will bring jobs to the area and help the town grow.

"I'm totally sure this time that my elaborate plans will not go awry!"

Andy has apparently not learned much since the last movie, because this time his plan ends up alienating most of his home town, mostly thanks to a crooked land owner who turns the town council against him. Of course he plows ahead without thinking ahead, and almost loses his job when not one but two schemes fall to pieces. In the end, of course, Andy prevails, and ends up deciding to move back to Carvel and take a judgeship that has just been offered to him, thus following in his esteemed father's footsteps.

Pictured: possibly best movie dad of all time.

The movie seems to have been a set up for further movies, or possibly a TV series, because the end title card says "To Be Continued..." We never heard from Andy Hardy again, however, and to my mind that's not entirely a bad thing.

How have the Hardy family aged? Well, let's take a look.

"Should I pause to consider the consequences that will entail if my plans go awry? Nah!"

Mother Hardy is just the same, fluttery and sweet and slightly daffy. She's still terrified of telegrams. One hopes she has learned to balance her checkbook better.

Aunt Millie is still living with Mrs. Hardy. Marian shows up only occasionally, usually followed by her son Jim, played by Johnny Weissmuller, Jr., in what I assume was a bit of stunt casting, since he is roughly twice the size of his diminutive Uncle Andy.

The huge gaping hole in the film is the absence of Judge Hardy, played by Lewis Stone, who had passed away in 1953. Rest assured, he is not forgotten, especially since a life size, rather grim looking portrait of him hangs over the fireplace in his study, glaring down at Andy and Andy Jr.(played by Mickey's son Teddy, who is cute as a button) when they have their own "man-to-man talk." I may have choked up a little when Andy goes into the study (the whole house is exactly the same) and his father is not there to greet him.

(Also absent are Polly Benedict, Betsy Booth, and the original Beezy. Although there are some flashback clips.)

The late Judge, Andy's own children, and his nephew's "cool" teeny bopper friends (whom Andy does not "get" at all) all serve to emphasize that Andy is a grown man now. And therein lies the flaw in this movie: Andy Hardy should never have grown up. It's just not right. Instead of getting into silly troubles with girls or his jalopy or some other harmless misunderstanding, Andy now attends town council meetings, negotiates contracts, and worries about how he will support his family if he loses his job. All realistic concerns in a grown up world...but it's not really a world in which Andy belongs.

"Son, don't grow up. It's a trap."

Mickey Rooney 1920-2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is all.

Orson Talks (and talks and talks and talks...)

I recently finished reading My Lunches with Orson, a book of conversations between the great Welles and Henry Jaglom, director of such films as "Queen of the Lot," (which I just added to my Netflix queue as it contains the endlessly adorable Noah Wyle). Welles was fond of recording himself for posterity, because there is a nearly identical book called This Is Orson Welles, which transcribes his conversations with Peter Bogdanovich. And while yes, this does make Welles seem incredibly vain, it's also entertaining as hell, because could that man tell a story! The anecdotes fall into one of three categories:

1. That can't possibly be true.
2. That might be true.
3. If that's not true, it should be.

You'll notice there is no "100% true" category, because I just can't get to that place when Welles is telling stories (especially about John Houseman -- meow!). Not that I am saying he's a big liar, although I think sometimes he was. But I think every story is embellished, whether a lot or a little.

I liked "My Lunches" a little bit more, in part because it takes us up to the very end of Welles' life; his last conversation with Jaglom was just a few days before Welles died. In reading them, I came away feeling like I learned something about Hollywood, a lot about film making, and not very much about Welles himself. Which is I'm sure just how he intended it to be.

How this all got started

I was thinking today about how my love of classic movies began. The first classic movie I remember seeing is "Gone With the Wind" in 8th grade. (Well, I saw "The Wizard of Oz" long before that, but GWTW was what started my love.)

We read the book in English class, and everyone loved it (despite the groans that came at first when we were handed the book and realized it was over 1000 pages). I can still remember the day the class geek, who had finished way before any of us, horrified everyone by blurting out the Melanie dies at the end. Anyway, after we finished reading this behemoth, our teacher treated us by showing us the movie in 45 minutes chunks each period for about a week. We were just dazzled. Or at least I was.

Casting: Clark Gable was, of course, the perfect Rhett Butler. Whether Margaret Mitchell had in mind when she wrote the book or not, no one else could have played that role, ever. Olivia de Havilland had that quiet, gentle manner that was just right for Melanie. Had no idea Vivien Leigh was British until years later.

The one cast member that wasn't quite right was Leslie Howard. If you've read the book you'll understand why. The first description of Ashley goes like this:

"...his drowsy grey eyes wide with a smile and the sun so bright on his blond hair that it seemed like a cap of shining silver."

And later, when he comes home on Christmas furlough:

"The Ashley Wilkes in his faded, patched uniform, his blond hair bleached tow by summer suns, was a different man from the easy-going, drowsy-eyed boy she had loved to desperation before the war. And he was a thousand times more thrilling. He was bronzed and lean now, where he had once been fair and slender, and the long golden mustache drooping about his mouth, cavalry style, was the last touch he needed to make him the perfect picture of a soldier."

Somewhere I think it also mentions that Ashley is over six feet tall. So imagine our surprise when we get to the barbecue scene of the movie, Scarlett calls out, "Ashley!", and this guy comes down the stairs:

And he has a British accent.

I am sorry to say that we all burst out laughing. Poor Leslie Howard, who was so great in many other roles, and was shot down by the Germans in 1943, was spectacularly unsuited for this role.

Not long after that, a new video rental place opened, with a much bigger selection than your average Blockbuster, including a great selection of old movies. They were usually shelved by actor/actress, so I began working my way through the Joan Crawford shelf, and the rest is history.

A Tale of Two Cities (1935)

I felt the need to include the year in the title this time, because there are, according to IMDB, fifteen film versions of this Dickens classic, including a 2000 German version titled Eine Erzählung von zwei Städten. I recently saw the David O. Selznick production starring Ronald Colman, Reginald Owen, Edna May Oliver, and Basil Rathbone.

Basil is at his evil best here as Marquis St. Evremonde, your sterotypical (but deliciously so) cruel and unfeeling French aristocrat. After his coach runs over a small boy, his response is to complain about the inconvenience to himself, so you know he's not going to last very long in a movie about the French revolution, and he doesn't. 

"Sure, I seem like a drunken jerk now, but just you wait..."


I don't think I'd ever seen Ronald Colman in a movie before, and he was just great as Sydney Carton, the world-weary, alcoholic lawyer who in the end does a "far, far better thing than [he] has ever done..." The role is tragic, of course, but Colman also managed to find the bits of humor in it, such as the scene when he is writing notes in the courtroom for Stryver to read outloud, sometimes with unintentionally hilarious consequences. He also portrays Sydney as more than just a cad; even when he's at his most obnoxious, he still manages to be sympathetic.

The movie is famous for its scene of the peasants storming the Bastille, and rightly so. It's very well done, considering the only special effects they had were the set and the people. Selznick may have been an obsessive compulsive control freak, but you have to admit he achieved quite the result.

I just bought the book yesterday, and I'm looking forward to seeing if it lives up to the movie, instead of the other way around.

A Dispatch from Reuters

I think I have a new favorite classic film sub-genre: biographical films starring Edward G. Robinson. Yesterday I saw A Dispatch from Reuters, the story of Paul Julius Reuter and how he started the famous news wire service with some passenger pigeons. I'm beginning to think I love Eddie G. in these kinds of roles more than the gangster films. Although Johnny Rocco is hard to top. 


The real Julius Reuter, also
well known for his sideburns.

 

Like another Eddie G. biopic I love, Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet, Robinson here plays a character completely unlike any of his gangsters: an industrious, hard working man who wants to speed up the dissemination of news not for any profit, but because "the news belongs to everyone." He starts out providing stock prices via carrier pigeons, and just to be as fair as possible, he locks the subscribers in the room while he reads the prices, and then lets them out all at once so no one has an advantage over anyone else. This leads to some hijinks where one banker tries to cheat by tossing the prices out the window to his office boy; Reuter notices this and next time, gives the wrong prices and doesn't correct himself until he sees the office boy run away.

The story reaches its climax when Reuter is the first, by over 7 hours (because he has built his own telegraph line from Ireland to England), to get the news of Lincoln's assassination. He won't hold it back, not even to save his best friend from losing a bundle in the stock market. The news starts a panic, but when no other source can confirm it, the brokers decide Reuter made it up to crash the market, and that leads to a session of Parliament where the members argue about whether Reuter can or should be punished. Right when it gets the most tense, however, a messenger comes in with the news that Lincoln has, in fact, been murdered. All the MPs have egg on their faces, but they do apologize to Reuter, and the movies ends on this great triumph.


Sadly, Robinson did not grow
similar sideburns for the movie.

 

One person I felt was kind of unnecessary to the film was Eddie Albert, who plays Reuter's friend Max. They're in business together from the start (back in the days when the local village children call Reuter "the pigeon fool" and throw rocks at him), but Max is lazy and irresponsible, at one point letting all the pigeons get away. He does provide contrast by making Reuter/Robinson look all that more industrious, but I don't think he brought much else to the film, and Reuter looks hardworking enough on his own.

As always at Warner Bros, there is all kind of character actor goodness to be found in this film, including Otto Kruger (Reuter's father-in-law), Albert Basserman (Reuter's partner Geller), Nigel Bruce (Sir Randolph), Montagu Love (John Delane, head of The Times), and Gene Lockhart (Bauer the banker).



Sporting Blood

Comcast description of movie: Racetrack yarn with Clark Gable as a gambler who saves a horse from mistreatment.

My description of movie: The life and times of a horse named Tommy Boy. Clark Gable shows up half way through.

I was a little wary of watching this movie during the first couple minutes, because it has animals in it and I know the studios did not treat them well back then, and thus today we have the disclaimer "no animals were harmed..." (dear God, 20th Century Fox, you rode a blindfolded horse off a cliff to its death?).

In the first 10 minutes, Tommy Boy's mother Southern Queen falls down in the mud while trotting back to the stable, and you can see, briefly, that she appears to be tied down by her back leg as she thrashes in the puddle and stuggles to get up. Sadly, her leg is broken, and she has to be shot right there on the spot, leaving our hero, Tommy Boy, an newborn foal without a mother.

The owner of the horse farm, Jim Rellence, (scenes are actually filmed in Kentucky) where Tommy is raised loves him very much, but he eventually has to sell him because he needs the money. The new owner (whose name escapes me) ends up selling Tommy to a spolied rich woman (Marie Prevost) and her husband (Hallam Cooley), who obviously know nothing about taking care of a horse.

"I don't want him anymore. Just shoot him!" (Sadly, an actual quote.)

After Tommy loses a race, they lose interest and sell Tommy to a crooked gambler, Tip Scanlon (Lew Cody) who runs the horse into the ground with doping and too much racing. Before he's killed over a bad bet, he gives the horse to his girlfriend Ruby (Madge Evans) who decides to rehabiliate Tommy, and herself and ends up reforming slightly crooked gambler Rid Riddell (Clark Gable) in the process.

It's one of those feel-good animal movies, and apparently based on a true story of a horse named Sporting Blood and his owner, gangster Arnold Rothstein, who brought us the 1919 Black Sox scandal, so I suppose doping a racehorse and fixing a race should come as no surprise.

Best part of the credits: Tommy Boy played "By Himself." Nothing like starring in the movie of your own inspirational life story. ;)


Cute picture, although this is not actually Tommy Boy.



Heat Lightning

The title, Heat Lightning, caught my eye because it's roughly 112 degrees around here (or at least that's what it feels like) and because it listed among the cast members Aline MacMahon and Ann Dvorak, both great actresses who I think were overlooked in their day. I wasn't expecting a lot out of it (I assumed it was a B picture, as it's only 64 minutes long and has no big stars), but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Aline plays Olga, owner of a gas station/lunch counter/auto camp out in the Arizona desert, and as I had guessed, she's the unglamourous sister, spending most of the movie in overalls with a bandanna tied around her head, while Ann Dvorak (Olga's sister, Myra) gets to use all the makeup and wear dresses.


Oh, Warner Bros. Really?

(As an aside, Warners did the same thing to her more than once; in Gold Diggers of 1933, she's the only chorus girl out of the four roommates who didn't wake up in the morning perfectly coiffed and made up. I know she's not what Hollywood would consider a "traditional beauty," but really, did they have to go out of their way to make her the plain Jane all the time?)


Could I at least get some cover-up for my under eye shadows?

Various tourists drop by this desolate place, including two bank robbers on the lam (Preston Foster and Lyle Talbot), two ladies returning from their latest Reno divorce (Ruth Donnelly and Glenda Farrell, both delightfully snooty) and their much put-upon chauffeur, Frank (Frank McHugh).

Olga seems content to be a mechanic; it's her younger sister Myra who longs to get away (preferably with her shady boyfriend Steve) and lead a more exciting life. Olga is very strict with Myra and you gradually realize that Olga is trying to protect her sister from making the same mistakes she did.

Once the two robbers come along, however, it's a different story, because Olga knows one of them from her life "up in Tulsa," where she was a cabaret singer and apparently led a rather unsavory life. He could care less about her, but she obviously still has feelings for him, which he exploits in order to rob the Reno ladies of their jewels. Things don't turn out quite as planned, though. I usually try not to spoil endings, but since the movie poster did it for me, what the hell.



It's still worth a look, though, and happily, it's been released on DVD as part of the Warners archive collection.

Movies that grab me

Following up on Sam's comment about White Heat not really catching his eye anymore, I wanted to talk about a few other movies that, even after repeated viewings, still draw me in and make me want to watch them over and over, even if I've just seen them recently.

Key Largo - I talked about this one just the other day. Eddie G. is just so fabulous in this role, by turns snarky and mean and vulnerable, that I haven't tired of it yet. Like Rocco, I still want more. It's really Eddie G. and Claire Trevor that make this movie for me. I like Bogart and Bacall okay, but I would watch this movie even without them. Without Eddie G., probably not so much.

Objective Burma! - Probably my favorite war movie, if I had to narrow it down to just one. It's over two hours long but it never feels like that to me. There is a good variety of adventures (just when you think they've made it to safety, something else happens), and it always keeps me watching until the end.

The Women - This movie is just plain fun. It's totally dated, of course, with women taking the train to Reno to divorce and living on their alimony the rest of their lives, but it still makes me laugh. George Cukor was so right to tell Ros Russell to play Sylvia as completely crazy; that's how she got the part after several audtions. There's some small, mean part of me that enjoys the cattiness, especially when Sylvia and Crystal get their just desserts in the end.

Fannnn-eee!

Gold Diggers of 1933 - My favorite of all the Busby Berkley movies, this one not only has several famous musical mumbers ("We're in the Money," "Remember My Forgotten Man") but the best backstage story as well, with Ginger Rogers, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, and Joan Blondell as a group of chorus girls entangled in various romances. While Joan and Ruby have "straight" romances, Aline is paried with Guy Kibbee to be the "comedy" couple of the movie, and they are both just so cute and hilarious. Warren William I could live without, but you can't have a BB musical without Dick Powell in some capacity.

White Heat

According to some of the film historians who commented on this film in the special feature, Cagney wanted to do something "different" playing a gangster this time, and he decided to play Cody Jarrett as a complete lunatic. Congrats, Jim! It worked beautifully.

I love this film in a special kind of way because Cody is so bananas. You get the adventure and suspense of the usual crime movie, but Cagney's performance adds an extra layer of entertainment. He makes you wonder what he's going to do next, and just how far he will go. Oh, the guy he locked in the trunk of his car wants a little air? Cody will give him air -- via the six bullet holes he shoots into the trunk. While casually eating a chicken leg. I often enjoy a little black comedy with my gangsters.

My favorite scene is one of the most famous: Cody is in the prison mess hall, and learns from the grapevine that his mother has been killed. Cue full-on, beserker freak-out. The best part is that none of the extras knew what was coming, so the looks to surprise on their faces are genuine. Edmund O'Brien, who plays Vic Pardo and is sitting directly across from Cagney, has the best "oh my God!" face of them all.

Cagney just told Raoul Walsh, the director, to put the two biggest extras on either side of him (so he could boost himself up on their shoulders) and to keep the cameras rolling, no matter what. When I hear about acting tricks like this, I usually think they're kind of gimmicky, yet with Cagney it seems like a brilliant idea, and he pulled it off beautifully.

Made it, Ma! Top of the world!



A Face In The Crowd

I was flipping through TCM's listings the other day, looking for interesting movies to tape. I came across A Face In The Crowd and the cable description intrigued me (something like, "meglomanical performer goes from Arkansas jail to nationwide publicity"), so I taped it. I was looking for something to watch today, and seeing that it was 135 minutes and didn't have any of my favorites in it, I almost deleted it. I am so glad I didn't!

This was Andy Griffith's film debut, and if you've only ever seen him on Matlock and The Andy Griffith Show, as I have, oh my God are you in for a surprise. First off, just look at the DVD cover:



And this doesn't even begin to show you the level of crazy that Andy brings to the role of "Lonesome" Rhodes. He's like a cross between a psychotic Will Rogers and Lex Luthor. You have an idea right from the start that he's not going to really be a good guy (although he is sure good at playing one), since Patricia Neal finds him in a scuzzy country jail, but just wait and see what happens when he gets a little power. One of his trademarks is this big hearty belly laugh that at first just seems a bit overdone. By the end of the movie he might as well be going "mwa ha ha" like the rest of the super villains; this laugh is now one of the creepiest things you've ever heard.

Patricia Neal is wonderful as a woman radio reporter who discovers Lonesome, and is slowly crushed as she comes to realize just what kind of person she has introduced to the world. Walter Matthau plays Mel Miller, a writer for the original "Lonesome Rhodes" show, who is the first to see how truly frightening Lonesome really is, and makes his escape, to eventually pen a tell-all book. The best part is, he doesn't even have to publish it, because Lonesome is exposed in a much more satisfying way, which I won't spoil for you.

The movie makes a statement about the power of celebrity, and just what kind of people we are putting up on these pedestals. I highly recommend it.

How this face ended up becoming the beloved Sherriff Taylor, I have no idea.



A Slight Case of Murder

If there's anything I love more than a good gangster flick, it's actors like Eddie G. spoofing their gangster image in comedies. At my dad's house today I popped this DVD in. "Oh," he said after a few minutes, "I've seen this before. It's a serious movie about a gangster trying to go straight."

"Um," I replied, "If you think it's a serious movie, you definitely haven't seen it before."

I thought it would make him laugh and I was right. Eddie is so cute and funny as Remy Marko, a gangster who sees the end of Prohibition coming and makes plans to go "strictly legitimate." His goofy sidekicks include some of my favorite character actors: Alan Jenkins, Edward Brophy, and Harold Huber.

I've seen other movies where a gangster character of Eddie's is determined to be "classy;" he even does it in Little Caesar, although there's not much to like about that character. However, I usually find it very touching that this guy wants to improve himself so much. He plays a very similiar role in The Little Giant and he makes it work really well there, too, but with less hilarity.

Ruth Donnelly is an absolute scream as Mrs. Marko, who's not too sure at first about this whole "going straight" deal but gets to like it in spite of herself. Watching her shift back and forth between society matron ("I can't imagine where our butler and steward have got to.") and the asides as her former gangster moll self ("Where are those mugs?") is a treat.

Afterwards Mr. Roberts was on TCM, so we watched that too. I love, love Cagney in this role, even though he is pure evil, because he's just so over the top crazy with it. And of course, one of the best final lines in movie history: "Captain, it is I, Ensign Pulver, and I just threw your stinkin' palm tree overboard!"

Hot summer movies

It's hot and humid here in lovely Philadelphia, and with that comes a yen to watch certain movies. Although I'm not a big fan of being out in this weather, I love movies about other people who are. Here are some tried and true favorites I've been rewatching lately.

1. Objective, Burma! - (please note that official title includes the punctuation, haha) Poor Errol Flynn. He made this movie in an attempt to help with the war effort, and the British press just chewed him up for it, feeling that he was trying to take all the glory of the Burma fight for the Americans. Although he wanted to, he was unable to serve due to health issues (recurring malaria and a heart murmur) that of course Warners would never let him admit to. However, I agree with George Tobias that I would "follow him down the mouth of a cannon." Lots of adventure, highly recommended.




2. Key Largo - Oh, Eddie G., how I adore you. I know he got tired of the gangster roles, but he is so delicious in this one. I could usually take or leave Bogart, but I love him this time. Poor Lionel Barrymore was really in a wheelchair (L.B. Mayer had the role written specifically to accomodate him) and I always wince when he takes a dive trying to sock Johnny Rocco. One of my favorite scenes is when Frank asks Rocco what he really wants out of life...Rocco isn't sure, until Frank says he just wants "more." "Yeah, that's it, I want more!" Rocco exclaims. Will he ever get enough?, Frank asks. No, Rocco says, he hasn't ever before, so he doesn't suppose he ever will. A brilliant summation of all the gangsters Robinson played.




3. Rain - I've talked about this one before; Crawford is just amazing in the role of Sadie Thompson in one of the many film adaptations of Maugham's story. The scene near the end when Walter Huston loses control still makes me jump, although I know it's coming.




4. Red Dust - I watched this one last night and I was delighted to remember how funny Harlow can be. It's not always what she says, but the way she says it. "You won't grow up to be a big strong boy like Grandpa here if you don't eat your din-din, Fred." Watch it and see if it doesn't make you chuckle, too. (The line comes at 1:10.) Gene Raymond is a little too "gee whiz" for my tastes, but in a way that makes him better for the role of the husband.

Did ya or didn't ya?

A wonderful clip on YouTube, where Pat O'Brien tells how he met James Cagney, and Cagney talks about a young boy who asked him if Rocky went yellow or not.

P.S. Also, he never said "You dirty rat."

God bless you, Sean Flynn

Hopefully, an answer at last.




Pay your respects to Sean.