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.

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.

Aw, yeah!

By a lucky accident, I have discovered the following new/about to be released DVD sets:

The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection

The Myrna Loy & William Powell Collection

Barbara Stanwyck Signature Collection

I don't know what to say, except...I'm just so happy! I have to do serious Amazon browsing more often.

Simpler times

Myrna Loy, in her autobiography Being and Becoming, wondered about the modern nostalgia for the war years, as evidenced in both movies, and things people had said to her over the years. Why would people look back fondly on such a time, she wondered, which was full of terrible fears and tragedies. I see her point; I suppose people who look back are seeing those years through rose colored glasses, thinking about (or imagining, if they weren’t there) the good things, and not the bad. Another thing that lends itself to happier memories is the fact that we know now how it turned out -- a happy ending. I love big band music, including WWII songs (and also movies), and one theme that I can see the appeal of is the unity; there were clear cut good guys and bad guys, and from what I can tell, not many people questioned that, especially after Pearl Harbor. Not that people shouldn’t question, but compare our country’s attitude towards that war with, say, Vietnam, or the current war in Iraq. I can’t imagine our country, or at least a good majority of it, throwing itself behind a war like they did in WWII ever again. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.

My own nostalgia goes back a decade farther, so the 1930s, when most of my favorite movies were made. I won’t list them all here, because the list is too long, and if I haven’t talked about them already, I soon will. The atmosphere of those movies, besides being so beautiful and glamorous, is one of an age that was sometimes rich and easy, sometimes poor and difficult (but of course not too difficult), but always…simpler. At least that’s how it seems to me. And yes, of course I know that this is Hollywood, and everything is covered with a patina of happiness, whether it’s a slapstick comedy, or a tearjerker that doesn’t seem bright until the end. I do know that life is never so simple as a movie. Yet the innocence that the studios put into their movies must have existed to some extent out in the world, I choose to believe. After all, this was the era when no one locked their doors, or so my grandfather told me.

An example of that very thing is the beginning of the 1933 movie Hold Your Man, which I’ve talked about before. Ruby is in the bath when Eddie bursts into her apartment, on the run from the police (he is a penny ante con man, no one dangerous). Ruby shrieks when Eddie runs into the bathroom, and he immediately goes back out. She comes out in her (ostrich feather trimmed) robe and demands to know what’s going on. Eddie coaxes Ruby to help him, and he hides in her tub (under a layer of suds) eluding the police with her help. Flirtatious banter ensues, Ruby dries his pants in her oven (ha), and Eddie takes off when Ruby’s neighbor comes to call (for a cup of bathtub gin). After realizing he’s sneaked out the bathroom window, Ruby runs to her dresser and shakes her piggy bank, whistling in relief when she finds that Eddie didn’t steal the money.

Now imagine that scene today. Granted, we still have the "encounter a stranger who changes your life for the better" premise in movies, but more it’s more likely that Eddie would be some psycho featured on America’s Most Wanted, and Ruby would be a crack dealing hooker, or worse (rather than just the "good time gal" she is in the movie). Either Eddie would attack her and she’d end up as this week’s victim on Law & Order SVU, or she’d have a gun and blow the intruder’s brains out. Never in a million years would they fall for each other and get married for the sake of their baby and for love, which is how Ruby "holds her man." No, today she’d have to go on Maury to prove paternity, if she ever got the kid back from foster care, since he was born while she was in prison.

See what I mean about simpler times?

Let’s take another example: Mary Haines from The Women. Mary finds out her husband Stephen is having an affair (sex is somewhat implied but never addressed directly) with a girl at the perfume counter of a department store, Crystal. They have it out in the fitting room of a boutique after a fashion show. Mary’s pride is hurt, and she goes to Reno and divorces him, making some lovely new girlfriends in the process. Mary suffers no other hardships, presumably living quite well on her alimony. Two years pass, Mary find out her ex is unhappy in his new marriage and that Crystal has a new paramour. She exposes Crystal (with the help of her pals and the friendly neighborhood gossip columnist, played by Hedda Hopper), and ends the movie by rushing back into her husband’s arms. "Pride! That’s something a woman in love can’t afford," she says happily.

Again, set the movie today (and I’ve heard that Hollywood is remaking The Women, which is an appalling idea). Mary, Crystal and Stephen would all end up on Jerry Springer, taking off their clothes and throwing chairs at each other. Mary would be lucky to get child support from Stephen, would have to go back to work, and most likely suffer financial hardships. Or if they were celebrities, their divorce documents would be on The Smoking Gun and tabloid photographers would follow them everywhere. There would be an ugly custody battle, Mary’s friends would talk to the tabloids, and Little Mary would need years of therapy to recover.

I’m sure terrible and painful things like this did happen to people back then, but I don’t imagine them to be as bad as things can get today. Maybe that’s naïve of me, and maybe I am buying too much into the MGM version of the world at that time. Yet I hear stories about my grandparents and great-grandparents, and I think…no, it’s not entirely false. Things were not always hearts and flowers, but they also weren’t as ugly as some things get today, either.

This is not to say that I wish we could, or think we should, go back to those times. As the saying goes, it’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. If I had kidney failure like Jean Harlow did, I would want to live in a world where there are transplants and dialysis, not 1937 when my only option would be a slow, painful death. And I may love vintage phones, but I love the Internet more. Still, when the world around me becomes too ugly or scary or annoying to deal with, it’s lovely to know that I can put in a movie and go back to simpler times.

See how I wrapped up the essay with the title? Clever, eh? ;)

Character Actors I Love: Walter Connolly

I’ve seen Walter Connolly in three movies: Too Hot to Handle, Libeled Lady, and It Happened One Night. In the last two out of those three, he was the overprotective millionaire father to a glamorous young debutante (Myrna Loy and Claudette Colbert, respectively). Like Jessie Ralph, there’s very little biographical information on him, other than the fact that he was born (and is buried) in Cincinnati, which automatically endears him to me for personal reasons. Also like Jessie, there’s a fairly big gap in his career (between 1915’s A Soldier’s Oath and 1930’s Many Happy Returns) for which I can find no explanation. However, he worked steadily from 1930 until the year before his death, making 47 out of his 49 movies in that decade.

Walter was a shortish, rotund man with a nasal, somewhat high-pitched voice. He puts it to good use as "Arthur ‘Gabby’ MacArthur," the Universal Newsreel chief (and Clark Gable’s boss) in Too Hot to Handle. He’s just as good at playing a frustrated, wacky boss as he is at millionaire fathers. He lets out a version of "d’oh!" that’s pretty funny when rascally Gable pulls another outrageous stunt. My favorite role is that of J.B. Allenbury from "Libeled Lady." He’s Myrna’s father who’s suing Spencer Tracy’s paper for libel. William Powell and Jean Harlow team up with Spence to try and trick Myrna into committing the act (stealing a husband) of which she’s been accused, so the story won’t be libelous after all. Walter’s comedic skills are at their best when he and Myrna take Powell trout fishing. When I see Walter’s name listed in the credits, I know the movie is going to have some good laughs.

Walter died in 1940 and is buried in St. Joseph’s New Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Character Actors I Love: Nat Pendleton

Nat Pendleton, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: The Thin Man, The Great Ziegfeld, Reckless, Manhattan Melodrama, Another Thin Man, and The Girl From Missouri.

Don’t let Nat’s bohunk physique and Brooklyn-accented characters fool you; he was a smart guy who accomplished more than most actors. Born in Davenport, Iowa, he graduated from Columbia University in 1916, where he was two-time Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association champion (1914-1915). He competed as a wrestler in the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, losing only one match (on a controversial decision) and earning a silver medal. Afterwards, he went into pro-wrestling, and from there into acting. He also wrote a movie for himself, 1932’s Deception, in which he played a wrestler. He appeared in 112 movies between 1924 and 1947.

He came by one of his most famous roles, that of the strongman Sandow in The Great Ziegfeld, in an interesting manner. He’d played MacHardie in the Marx Brother movie Horse Feathers; that character was modeled after the real Eugene Sandow, and Nat’s performance was very impressive. When the time came to cast Ziegfeld, he won the part. Who among us will ever forget those magnificent biceps flexing in time to the music of Little Egypt. ;)

I first saw Nat as police Lt. John Guild in The Thin Man. Although he comes across as a little dim next to William Powell’s suave sleuthing, he gets in his share of wisecracks and lends his heroics to the case. He reprised the role in 1939’s Another Thin Man. Guild hero-worships Nick Charles and is constantly in awe of Nick’s detective abilities.

Another role of Nat’s I liked was that of Blossom, one of William Powell’s sidekicks (along with Ted Healy) in Reckless. Again, he plays a big oaf with a heart of gold; quite a bit dumber than Lt. Guild, but fun to watch nonetheless. When he takes a beating in a boxing match just to provide Powell with some backing money for Jean Harlow’s comeback show, you can’t help but love him. He may not be the brightest bulb on the tree, but he’s loyal and good-hearted, which counts for more.

Nat also appeared in six Dr. Kildare movies, and three Dr. Gillespie movies. His acting career seems to have ended in 1947, aside from one TV appearance in 1956, on "Schlitz Playhouse of Stars." Nat died in 1967 and is buried in Cypress View Mausoleum and Crematory. His Find-A-Grave biography was written by yours truly.

Jean Harlow double feature

It's cute, my dad has developed kind of a liking for Jean Harlow after we watched the new DVD releases of Libeled Lady and Dinner at Eight a few weeks ago. "I wouldn't mind seeing more of her movies, if you have them," he said, "Do you have Red Dust"? Well, no I didn't, so we watched Bombshell (as previously mentioned) a few weeks ago, and for Easter this past Sunday we had another JH double feature: Hold Your Man and Wife vs. Secretary. I think they're my two favorite Harlow movies, although I probably would be in the minority about that.

Hold Your Man starts out with a lot of funny and snappy dialogue between Ruby Adams and Eddie Hall (Clark Gable) as two con artists who meet when Eddie runs into Ruby's apartment, on the run from the police. Flirtation ensues, and the romance heats up pretty quickly (Ruby and Eddie obviously spend the night together after their second meeting -- it's only implied, of course, since this was 1933, but unmistakable). Eddie goes to jail for 90 days for trying to use a stolen car in a heist, and Ruby has moved into his flat by the time he gets out at Christmas. Eddie accidentally kills a drunk (whom he, Ruby, and his friend Slim were planning to blackmail) on his way out get a marriage license for himself and Ruby. She gets arrested when they come back, but Eddie gets away. While in the reformatory (and here's where most people think the movies goes wrong) Ruby discovers she's pregnant (it's remarkable how many ways they convey this without ever actually saying the word); Eddie hears about this and comes out of hiding to not only go see Ruby to tell her he loves her, but to hide out in the chapel and marry her (thanks to a handy parson) so their child won't be illegitimate. The wedding takes place with a flood of cops trying to break down the door, and ends with Eddie getting hauled off in cuffs. In the end, Eddie, Ruby and their son are reunited after Eddie serves his sentence for the accidental killing.

Most reviews I've read of the movie think it turns much too sappy and maudlin after Ruby is arrested; the site of Gable crying and begging the preacher to marry them, one person wrote, is almost too silly to bear. Yet I love the movie as a whole, even the mushy parts. The beginning is in fact a lot of fun; Gable and Harlow as a team are at their most enjoyable when they're kidding around. I'll admit that the mush has on occasion brought a little tear to my eye; when Ruby clings to Eddie, sobbing, after they're married and the cops are starting to drag him away, I find myself moved. Perhaps it is the power or Harlow's acting that manages to raise what most people call "sappy" to a level for me that I don't find it so. Plus, I'm a sucker for a happy ending, even if you do have to put up with a little mush to get there.

What I also found interesting were the scenes in the reformatory. Ruby's "cellmates" are sympathetic, believable and even entertaining characters, from Bertha, who gives Ruby her mother's ring for the wedding, to Sadie, who will start trumpeting her socialist beliefs at the drop of a hat. During a scene in the chapel, the movies attempts to show the diversity (for lack of a better word) of the inmates by showing a woman who is obviously Jewish, and one who is Asian. An unusual move at the time, when most minorities played maids (such as Louise Beavers does in this film) or other such characters. I've heard some praise for the movie's (mostly) realistic portrayal of reformatory life. Also interetsing is one of Sadie's diatribes about the class differences of the time: society debutantes aren't put in jail for the offenses that lower-class women such as themselves have committed, she says, yet there they are, serving time for public drunkenness, cavorting with sailors, and other "crimes" that are laughed off when committed by the wealthy. Sadly, not much has changed since 1933 in that regard.

Well, I went on longer about that movie than I intended. Moving on...

We also watched Wife vs. Secretary, which is probably the first JH movie I ever saw, and I bought it because of Myrna Loy and Clark Gable; I'm not sure I was much familiar with Harlow at the time. It's a movie I enjoy because it has a little bit of everything: comedy, romance, drama, and so on.

Jimmy Stewart plays Jean's boyfriend Dave, who gets fed up by her attention to her job and her crush on Gable, her boss. Myrna also gets jealous (goaded on by her mother-in-law, May Robson) and leaves Gable when she suspects that Jean has flown down to Havana to join Gable on a trip for romantic purposes. As matter of fact, it is for legitimate business reasons, and all above board, something which Jean eventually convinces Myrna of by using a little reverse psychology: Jean urges Myrna not to go back to Gable, because if his wife leaves him, he'll turn to her, his secretary, for comfort, and she won't turn away. Myrna says at first that she's still going; Jean responds, "You're a fool, for which I'm grateful," which I think is a great line, especially the way Jean says it. She's not gloating that she'll get Gable, she's merely stating the fact, and also mentions that of course he won't be as happy with her as he would with Myrna, but she doesn't mind taking him second-best. A very well done scene, by both actresses.

Naturally, Myrna comes back, the husband and wife are happily reunited (with a big smooch) and Jean walks out alone, in a scene that is rather poignant; Jimmy is waiting outside, and he tells her he loves her, and he's learned not to look for trouble, "because if you don't find it, you'll make it." Presumably engaged once again, they drive off into the night. Fade to black.

On a final note, Myrna said in her autobiography that the role of Helen "Whitey" Wilson in Wvs.S was the role of Jean's that was most like her in real life: a modest and decent person with a good heart, who didn't speak in a squawk or wear dresses cut down to her navel.