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.

Girl 27

I was originally going to talk about a few different movies in this post, but changed my mind after watching Girl 27. The story is as horrifying as I expected it to be, based on the Vanity Fair article. In brief: in 1937 Patricia Douglas answered what she thought was a casting call for an MGM western picture. Instead, she and 100+ other girls were taken out to Hal Roach's ranch to a party for MGM's salesmen, who were in town for a convention. David Ross, a salesman from Chicago, brutally raped Patricia. Neither Ross, nor anyone at MGM, ever paid for the crime in any way.

David Stenn found footage of the actual sales convention, with Louis B. Mayer telling the salesmen they can have "anything they want," (which in light of later events becomes quite chilling), and even showed a clip of Ross arriving at the convention.

I've been reading comments about the movie on IMDB, and some of the criticisms I agree with; I didn't like the use of movie clips to "illustrate" (for lack of a better word) Patricia's story, especially the cartoons. It does distract from her story, and felt like padding. People commented that the interview where Patricia talks about David Stenn (the writer, director, and interviewer) was too much, but I actually liked that part; she talked about how she's never been in love and doesn't connect with other people, then we realize how fond she is of David. Maybe it did go on a bit too long.

One note of irony: when asked shortly before he died whatever became of "that girlie who took on MGM", Eddie Mannix, Mayer's toadie, said, "We had her killed." Not only did she survive, but she had the last word.

Winter weather watching

What better way to spend the "blizzard of '09" then watching some movies I'd taped off TCM.

The Painted Veil - I thought this one would be an automic win, what with Garbo and all, but I'm rather lukewarm about it. I'm so attached to the Somerset Maugham novel that this adaptation disappointed me. I understand they need to make Garbo the heroine, but I think that could have been done without straying so very far from the novel. In its place I would recommend the 2006 version with Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, and Liev Schrieber.

Her Cardboard Lover - This movie gets a bad rap, and is often cited as the reason Norma Shearer retired from movies, but I loved it. Granted, she does go over the top a bit with all the "darling Tony!" stuff, but I kind of expect that from her. Robert Taylor was abolutely delightful with the silly bits and one liners. And who better to play the cad than George Sanders? Character actor bonus: Frank McHugh (whose character was named Chappie Champagne, how can you not love that?).

I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang - I'd taped this months ago, when Alec Baldwin was guest hosting The Essentials. (Suggestion to Robert Osbourne: maybe next time let the guest host get a few words in edgewise?) Finally got around to watching it, and promptly went and bought the DVD from Amazon when the movie was over. EGAD. Paul Muni is brilliant, and Alec Baldwin was so right to advise the viewer to make sure and stay for the final scene (which happened the way it does by accident; I love those kind of stories). The plot is very like "The Roaring Twenties," one of my favorite Cagney movies.

Next Up: Bedlam (Karloff runs the infamous insane asylum!), Never Say Goodbye, 84 Charing Cross Road, and Girl 27 (you can read that [horrifying and true] story here.)