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.

Ah, bio pics!

How I love a good one from the 1930s. And there were so many interesting ones back then. Who cares if they played a little (okay, a lot) loose with the facts? If I want facts, I'll read a book! ;) When I watch a movie, I want to be entertained. And I certainly was by the movie I saw today, a bio pic of Florence Nightingale called The White Angel.

Robert Osbourne felt it necessary in one of his introductions to point out that Kay was known as "the Wavishing Kay Fwancis" around the studio due to her speech impediment. To be honest, I didn't notice it until he pointed out (introducing Mandalay), and then during that film all I could do was listen for it. I didn't think it was as bad as he makes it out, although it's definitely there. However, during The White Angel, I never once thought about it, in main part due to the great story and Kay's acting. I thought the story was well told without being overbearing, as old movies can sometimes be.

Last month was Kay Francis month on TCM, and as a result I've been watching a lot of her movies lately. I think I've found my new favorite pre-Code actress (formerly Barbara Stanwyck); I think Kay's films from the early 30s are some of the best examples of pre-Code. She's a doctor! In more than one movie! You didn't see that very often. Of course she's also lovely to look at and dressed beautifully, but I enjoyed her performances for more than that. I'll be doing a few more entries on her in the near future, I think. Her other films I've seen lately include:

Dr. Monica
Mary Stevens, M.D.
Jewel Robbery (with William Powell, yay!)
Confession
Another Dawn (with Errol Flynn, yum)
Guilty Hands
Mandalay

Do I see another box set request on the horizon? I think I do, Ted Turner! (You can leave out Guilty Hands, though. That was kind of meh. Lionel Barrymore sure can chew some scenery, though.)

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.

Rainy Saturday triple feature

It poured buckets today, so I decided all my errands could wait, and it was going to be a movie day. I'd just gotten one in the mail I bought on eBay, and have three new ones from Netflix. Let's see how many I plowed through today.

First up, Ziegfeld Follies, which I bought never having seen it before. Usually I like to see movies at least once before I buy them, but lately I will buy them if they have lots of stars I love. Then it's usually a good bet the purchase will be well worthwhile. ZF, however ... not so much. It has your usual MGM tag line: Greatest Production Since The Birth Of Motion Pictures! Heh. I love MGM taglines ... every movies is the greatest thing since sliced bread! Musical numbers are always major hits! Technicolor! Cinemascope! Stereophonic sound! More stars than there are in heaven! It's the movie of the year! And so on.

I was all excited to see William Powell back as Ziegfeld, until the movie actually started. Good news: he's just as sexy with silver hair. Bad news: he's playing Ziegfeld-in-Heaven, planning a new show from beyond the grave with "today's stars". Which means, whoever MGM wanted to showcase in 1946. Yeah, that ... wasn't a good idea. (Heaven is apparently furnished with set decorations from Anna Held's suite in The Great Ziegfeld.) Oh, I almost forgot to mention the dolls. You see, when Ziegfeld-in-Heaven reminisces about the Follies he made when he was, you know, actually alive, they recreate the acts with...claymation dolls. Ugly ones. I wish I was kidding. Which I guess makes Ziggy some kind of showbiz puppet master or something.

I was expecting a movie along the lines of The Great Ziegfeld and Ziegfeld Girl, both of which I love, and both of which have a healthy dose of plot to balance out the musical numbers. ZF, however, is all musical numbers, one right after the other, introduced with pages from a "storybook." Oh, wait, there were also a few comedy sketches. Fanny Brice -- cute and funny, her usual schtick. Keenan Wynn -- not so much funny, but he tried. Red Skelton -- funny for Red Skelton fans.

The musical numbers ... very strange and not what I consider MGM standards. Fred Astaire as a Chinese person? Um, no. Lucille Ball all in pink, cracking a whip at women dressed as slinky cats? I think not. The one high point was Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire in a number called "The Babbit and the Bromide," which was wonderfully danced and very cute, if somewhat repetitious in the lyrics.

I think this is one purchase that may eventually go back up for sale. Although maybe not, because I am somewhat vain about my classic movie collection, and I would like to see Gene and Fred's number again. We'll see.

Next on the program was Love Me Tonight, a newly released DVD I got from Netflix solely because it had Myrna Loy in it, and as a result of watching it, Maurice Chevalier is my new boyfriend. So charming, so adorable. I could listen to him sing all day. (Why is there not a soundtrack for this movie on Amazon?) Jeanette MacDonald I had only ever seen in clips, never in a whole movie, and I liked her a lot. C. Aubrey Smith and Charles Butterworth, two guys I love to see, who are now the next two in line for a Character Actors I Love profile. I thought the story was great (yes, it's your typical "royalty falls in love with a commoner in disguise" plot, but in this movie it seemed fresh and new) and it was beautifully shot and directed. This one may go on the Amazon wish list.

Lastly, Meet Me in St. Louis; oddly enough, I think this movie is the one about which I have the least to say. It was a Judy Garland musical, which usually means an automatic win, and that was the case here. Great performances, catchy tunes, you know the drill. Two of my favorite supporting actors, Marjorie Main and Harry Davenport (who will always be "Dr. Meade" to me). Leon Ames kept reminding me of Jerry Orbach. It's not my all time favorite Garland musical extravaganza (that would be For Me and My Gal) but I liked it. Liza's introduction was nice, but she looked very trembly.

Ah, it's always nice when you have an entire day to spend watching movies. At least to me it is.

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.

Painful to watch, for a variety of reasons

(Before I begin, I'll admit that many of the movie reviews that will be posted here have been previously posted on Amazon. I'm going to bring them over bit by bit.)

Reckless (1935)
starring Jean Harlow, William Powell, Franchot Tone, May Robson, Nat Pendleton, Ted Healy.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This picture seems especially designed to torture Jean Harlow, and to a lesser extent, her fans.

Her character Mona Leslie marries unstable alcoholic playboy Bob Harrsion (disturbingly well played by Franchot Tone -- he's like "The Lost Weekend" without the happy ending), whose "sadness goes so deep I couldn't make him happy," and he shoots himself in the head while Mona and her friend/manager Ned (William Powell) are in the next room.

Whoever had the idea to put Harlow in such a role shortly after the suicide by gunshot of her husband Paul Bern must have been extraordinarily cruel, or stupid, or both (David O. Selznick, I'm looking in your direction). Mona is left alone to struggle for custody of, then to raise, her son by Harrison; in real life, all of Jean's pregnancies were teminated at her mother's insistence.

In another kind of irony, Ned is secretly in love with Mona and proposes to her at the end of the movie; in real life, Harlow and Powell were lovers and she was desparate to marry him, but he strung her along until her death, unwilling to commit.

The musical numbers of the film inadvertantly become another harsh treatment of Harlow, as it become painfully obvious that she can neither sing (it's dubbed, and it's not even close to Harlow's real voice) nor dance (despite attempts at trick photography, the double is easy to spot), and to Jean's credit, she seems to know it, seeming very stiff and uncomfortable during these parts of the film.

I guess my knowledge of Harlow's life (via David Stenn's biography) made this movie seem so depressing to me; perhaps someone who's a fan of Harlow's but doesn't know much about her personally would enjoy it more. I doubt it, though; its only saving grace is some of the amusing banter between Ned and Mona's Granny (May Robson).

Character Actors I Love: Jean Dixon

I’ve seen Jean Dixon in two movies: My Man Godfrey, and Sadie McKee. Both times I thoroughly enjoyed her dry sense of humor. For example, take this exchange from Godfrey, where she plays Molly, the Bullocks’ maid:

Godfrey: May I be frank?
Molly: Is that your name?
Godfrey: No, my name is Godfrey.
Molly: All right, be frank.

She has a more substantial role in Sadie McKee, playing Joan Crawford’s best friend Opal, who stands by Sadie through all her adventures. Opal is cynical but still a romantic. She’s not adverse to riding the coat tails of Sadie’s good fortune, but never comes across as greedy; her opportunism still has a good-natured innocence to it. Yes, she wangles a diamond bracelet out of Sadie’s tipsy fiancée while they’re out shopping, but you don’t get the impression that she’s only out for the money. If she can get something for herself, okay, but it’s not her primary motivation. Opal genuinely cares about Sadie. If I were a jilted girl alone in 1930s NYC, I’d want Opal for my pal.

Jean only appeared in 13 movies, usually as the wise cracking sidekick to the leading lady. However, her acting career had quite a start: her theater debut was on a Parisian stage with Sarah Bernhardt while a student at a French university. She returned to the US in 1921 and performed on Broadway before going to Hollywood in 1929. Jean’s last movie was in 1938; I don’t know any details about why she stopped making movies or what she did afterwards. She died in 1981 in New York City.

Bit Players I Love: May Robson

I’ve seen May in five movies (a number that surprised me; I thought it was more; maybe it’s the impression she made): Wife vs. Secretary, Anna Karenina, Reckless, Dancing Lady, and Dinner at Eight.

She also appeared in Bringing Up Baby, A Star is Born (1937), and, oddly enough, a 1941 movie called Million Dollar Baby. No idea what it was about. She appeared in 64 movies altogether, between 1915 and her death in 1942.

May was born Mary Jeanette Robison in Australia in 1858, and is the earliest-born actress to be nominated for an Oscar. She took up acting to support her three children after her first husband died, appearing on Broadway before going into motion picture work.

May was most often cast as a grandmother, mother-in-law, or servant. (In fact, some of her roles are described simply as "Grandmotherly Actress" and "Penny, the Housekeeper." Also a lot of "Aunt So-and-so" roles.) The first movie I saw her in was Dancing Lady, where she plays Franchot Tone’s little old deaf grandmother. (Aside: my spell check corrected Franchot as "Franc hot." He sure was, wasn’t he?) It’s a small part but she makes the most of it. When Franchot brings his new girlfriend Joan Crawford home to meet Granny, she trumpets, "So Todd’s brought a woman into this house at last! I didn’t think he had it in him! [looks Joan up and down] Good healthy stock! When’s the wedding?"

I think my favorite role was that of "Mrs. Granny Leslie" in Reckless. A mediocre movie that features poor Jean Harlow vainly attempting to portray a singing and dancing star, May plays Jean’s grandmother. Her best scenes are with William Powell, who plays Jean’s would-be suitor (who, of course, eventually wins her hand in the end). Some of their banter is just so cute and hilarious. (It doesn’t always translate well into writing; some of it is the way she speaks the lines.) Next time I watch the movie I'll jot down some quotes and add them here.

May died in 1942 and is buried in Flushing Cemetery with her second husband. Stop by and pay her a visit.