Before we review tonight's movie, I thought it might be fun to take a look back at the films we've seen this year and single a few out for special mention. I'm only gonna list the titles, and if available the dates on which they were watched. That way, you can read the corresponding blog if you so desire, which will save me the work of re-evaluating them. So without further ado, here are ten films I thought were especially good from our viewing schedule in 2019. They are listed in order by date. 1) "Tarzan the Ape Man" (2/2/19). 2) "A Story From Chikamatsu" (2/18/19). 3) "Le Trou" (4/11/19). 4) "Tarantula" (6/25/19). 5) "Miracle At Morgan's Creek" (7/27/19). 6) "Sunrise" (7/27/19), which may have been the best film we saw all year. 7) "The Secret Garden" (8/23/19). 8) "Overlord" (9/29/19). 9) "I Was A Male War Bride" (11/28/19). 10) "Marie Antoinette" (12/3/19).
Now, those titles are just from a quick scan of my ongoing movie list, which I keep in a notebook. We have watched around 290 films this year (holy smokes!), so I may have missed a few that should've been included. But these ten are deserving for sure, so check 'em out. Tomorrow we'll do books and concerts.
Tonight I watched a pre-code movie called "The Half Naked Truth"(1932), which starred Lupe Velez and Lee Tracy. I'd heard of Velez but this was my first exposure to her. She was one of the first female stars to hail from Mexico, and she became a sensation in early Hollywood because of her outsized personality and good looks. "The Half Naked Truth" is an apt title, because Velez is half-dressed for most of the film in dancer's clothing. Her nickname was "The Mexican Spitfire" and her onscreen energy backs that up. She is alternately a laugh riot and quite beguiling.
Lee Tracy, who we have seen in several pre-coders, specialised in rat-a-tat-tat ultra fast dialogue. Even Rosalind Russell would've had trouble keeping up with him. He plays a carnival barker working in back country West Virginia. He's trying to sell tickets to the hicks, so he's promoting Velez as an exotic Turkish Princess who does Veil Dances. But then the county Sheriff shows up and exposes the act as a fraud. The carnival is forced to shut down, but Tracy is undeterred. He takes Velez to New York, where he claims to know a theatrical producer (played by Frank Morgan, the Wizard Of Oz). Lee Tracy talks so fast that he confuses Morgan into signing Velez to a contract. Soon she is a big star on Broadway, but in the process she outgrows Tracy and becomes attached to Morgan. Tracy takes an "I'll show you"! attitude and begins promoting his own act, taking a hotel maid (Shirley Chambers) and turning her into the leader of a new age Nudist Colony. Tracy figures nudism will outdraw Morgan's old fashioned act with Velez, and at first he is correct. "Gladys", as Chambers is dubbed, is given a ticker-tape parade through Manhattan, and seems set for the big time.
But love rears it's head. Tracy's heart is really still with Velez. When he realises that her relationship with Morgan is strictly business, he goes in search of her to make up, but learns she's left town. It seems that she was heartbroken to see Tracy promoting "Gladys", and has gone back to the carnival in West Virginia. You can guess how things will turn out. :):)
"The Half-Naked Truth" is strictly for fun, and it succeeds on that score. It runs 77 minutes but feels more like 63 due to the fast paced dialogue. Lupe Velez is a new discovery for us. She's a firecracker and is a blast to watch, haha, because you can see she's enjoying the exaggerated persona she's created for the screen: that of the Excitable Latina with a Hot Temper and an "Ay, Chihuahua"! sense of humor. She's clearly in on the joke, and she's a riot. Unfortunately - and I didn't know this until after the movie - like so many Hollywood Stars she had a short and tragic life. Velez died of a drug overdose in 1944 at the age of 36, a suicide over a failed relationship. She had previously been married to Johnny Weissmuller (aka Tarzan) and Gary Cooper. I am an instant fan after seeing her in tonight's film, so I have ordered two more of her movies from the Libe, and will look others after that.
Lee Tracy is great as her co-star, the scheming promoter who could sell ice to an Eskimo, and Shirley Chambers is cute in her role as "Gladys", the hotel maid who becomes Lady Godiva. Her IMDB bio lists Chambers as "Hollywood's First Dumb Blonde", which is quite a tribute I suppose, lol, but she's a natural comedienne and I'm sure we'll see more of her as well.
I loved "The Half-Naked Truth". Again, it's a pre-code quickie made just for laughs, but you'll enjoy it and fall for Lupe Velez in the process. Two Big Thumbs Up is the verdict. ////
Well, well.....here we are at the End of the Decade. My Goodness how time flies. But it goes slow at the same time, something we've talked about on occasion. At any rate, I'll wish you a Happy New Year now, as the next blog won't be published until after Midnight at the earliest, and most likely tomorrow afternoon. We'll do some more Year In Review (and maybe some Decade In Review, too), and we'll throw in our nightly movie review for good measure. Here's to the New Year; let's look forward to some truly great things happening in 2020 (and I can think of one right off the top of my head, haha).
So that's all for the moment, and..........here it comes........wait for it!.........
I'll see ya next year!
With more love than ever before. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Monday, December 30, 2019
"La Verite", directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and starring Brigitte Bardot
Tonight's film was a Criterion release called "La Verite"(1960), starring Brigitte Bardot as a young woman accused of murder. It was directed by the great Henri-Georges Clouzot, who also wrote and directed such classics as "The Wages Of Fear", "Diabolique and "Le Corbeau". As the movie begins, Bardot is awaiting trial in a holding cell. The details of her case will be related in flashback, as she and other witnesses testify in court. The prosecution portrays her as wanton and aimless, a slut who stole her sister's boyfriend away. The defense concedes that Bardot is promiscuous, but says that does not make her a murderer, and in fact she did not "steal" her sister's boyfriend. The man came to her of his own free will. And so our story begins.
Bardot lives at home with her parents, who barely tolerate her. Despite it's sexually liberated image, France in 1960 was a very conservative country. Bardot's sister Annie (Marie-Jose Nat) is straight-laced and studious, the apple of her parents' eye. She is a top violinist whose boyfriend (Samy Frey) is the conductor at her music conservatory. The relationship between Annie and the conductor is serious, but platonic. Conversely, her sister Bardot is oversexed (of course because it's Bardot). She resents the heck out of Annie's approval by their parents, and she also is also aware of the celibate nature of her relationship, so when she first meets Gilbert the boyfriend, she deliberately sets out to seduce him. At first, it doesn't work. He comes across as a classical music nerd who scoffs at her sexual effrontery. In truth, he is scared of her, but then......he comes back to visit her at home, in front of Annie, and we see that he's a self-satisfied jerk who never loved Annie in the first place.
Soon, he is hounding Brigitte night and day, pawing at her until even she has had enough. She does seem to have fallen in love with him, though, to the point where she is attending his orchestra rehearsals, which would normally be a few rungs above her cultural level. She believes Gilbert is in love with her as well, but in reality it's a toxic relationship. He's only interested in sex with her, his real love is for himself and his musical ambition. As for Bardot, she is a tragic figure, a basket case who passes herself from one man to the next in search of attention. She is cheating on Gilbert almost from the moment they first sleep together. He naturally resents this, and confronts her on it, but she is unable to control her behavior.
Meanwhile in the courtroom, the prosecutor and the defense attorney argue the case. It's not a spoiler to tell you that Gilbert has wound up dead, because that is stated at the beginning of the film. The only question is : was it self defense on Bardot's part, or was it murder?
There are many complexities that come into play, including the many fights and breakups of Bardot and Gilbert. At one point she gets a job in a nightclub, and takes to the boss, which causes more jealousy in Gilbert. Finally she has to turn to prostitution to make ends meet. This happens right before the climax of plot, so I'll let you discover it for yourself.
"La Verite" is half courtroom drama, half romantic film noir. I'm not sure I've ever seen Brigitte Bardot in a starring role before (most of her films were pretty cheesy), but she was very, very good here in the lead role. However, it is the supporting parts that carry the movie, especially Paul Meurisse and Charles Vanel as the adversarial attorneys prosecuting and defending the case. Samy Frey is also quite good as Gilbert, the self-infatuated young man who is stringing along the two sisters.
I would really like to give "La Verite" Two Huge Thumbs Up, and if you go to IMDB or Amazon, that is what you will get. Clouzot fans love this movie, and there is indeed a lot to admire and be drawn in by. The drama between Bardot and Frey is relentless, and there are also good character parts for Brigitte's artiste friends. Ultimately, though, I have to admit......I was near to being on the ropes at one point. Despite the rave reviews at the above mentioned sites, this movie goes on, and on, and on.....
.....and on.
The histrionics finally take their toll, and I was worn down by the end. "La Verite" runs 126 minutes. You've heard me mention that a given movie might benefit from a cut of, say, ten to twenty minutes? "La Verite" should've had 40 to 45 minutes slashed from it's running time, no kidding. It is so much in the "waaay too lonng" category, that you just wish Clouzot could've reined himself in. Had he cut it to 80 minutes, say, he'd have had a "no fat" classic like "Le Corbeau". But instead he let it run on and on, and you can judge for yourself the results.
I would love to give this movie Two Big Thumbs Up, but I just can't do it. I do recommend you see it, because it is very well made and acted, and photographed in mid-century black and white, but I can only give it a single thumb up because of the intolerable length, where two hours and six minutes feels like three hours, because the point has been made early on, and the director wears it out until you no longer care. //////
Sorry about that, but please do see the film anyway.
Hey, can you believe it? This is the first review since about June or July that I finished all in one night. I sure would like to get back to that standard in the New Year, because it would save me a lot of time for other stuff, like drawing for instance. But anyhow, life is what it is at the moment. We will do a Year In Review in the next couple of days and see where we stand. /////
Tons of love, see you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Bardot lives at home with her parents, who barely tolerate her. Despite it's sexually liberated image, France in 1960 was a very conservative country. Bardot's sister Annie (Marie-Jose Nat) is straight-laced and studious, the apple of her parents' eye. She is a top violinist whose boyfriend (Samy Frey) is the conductor at her music conservatory. The relationship between Annie and the conductor is serious, but platonic. Conversely, her sister Bardot is oversexed (of course because it's Bardot). She resents the heck out of Annie's approval by their parents, and she also is also aware of the celibate nature of her relationship, so when she first meets Gilbert the boyfriend, she deliberately sets out to seduce him. At first, it doesn't work. He comes across as a classical music nerd who scoffs at her sexual effrontery. In truth, he is scared of her, but then......he comes back to visit her at home, in front of Annie, and we see that he's a self-satisfied jerk who never loved Annie in the first place.
Soon, he is hounding Brigitte night and day, pawing at her until even she has had enough. She does seem to have fallen in love with him, though, to the point where she is attending his orchestra rehearsals, which would normally be a few rungs above her cultural level. She believes Gilbert is in love with her as well, but in reality it's a toxic relationship. He's only interested in sex with her, his real love is for himself and his musical ambition. As for Bardot, she is a tragic figure, a basket case who passes herself from one man to the next in search of attention. She is cheating on Gilbert almost from the moment they first sleep together. He naturally resents this, and confronts her on it, but she is unable to control her behavior.
Meanwhile in the courtroom, the prosecutor and the defense attorney argue the case. It's not a spoiler to tell you that Gilbert has wound up dead, because that is stated at the beginning of the film. The only question is : was it self defense on Bardot's part, or was it murder?
There are many complexities that come into play, including the many fights and breakups of Bardot and Gilbert. At one point she gets a job in a nightclub, and takes to the boss, which causes more jealousy in Gilbert. Finally she has to turn to prostitution to make ends meet. This happens right before the climax of plot, so I'll let you discover it for yourself.
"La Verite" is half courtroom drama, half romantic film noir. I'm not sure I've ever seen Brigitte Bardot in a starring role before (most of her films were pretty cheesy), but she was very, very good here in the lead role. However, it is the supporting parts that carry the movie, especially Paul Meurisse and Charles Vanel as the adversarial attorneys prosecuting and defending the case. Samy Frey is also quite good as Gilbert, the self-infatuated young man who is stringing along the two sisters.
I would really like to give "La Verite" Two Huge Thumbs Up, and if you go to IMDB or Amazon, that is what you will get. Clouzot fans love this movie, and there is indeed a lot to admire and be drawn in by. The drama between Bardot and Frey is relentless, and there are also good character parts for Brigitte's artiste friends. Ultimately, though, I have to admit......I was near to being on the ropes at one point. Despite the rave reviews at the above mentioned sites, this movie goes on, and on, and on.....
.....and on.
The histrionics finally take their toll, and I was worn down by the end. "La Verite" runs 126 minutes. You've heard me mention that a given movie might benefit from a cut of, say, ten to twenty minutes? "La Verite" should've had 40 to 45 minutes slashed from it's running time, no kidding. It is so much in the "waaay too lonng" category, that you just wish Clouzot could've reined himself in. Had he cut it to 80 minutes, say, he'd have had a "no fat" classic like "Le Corbeau". But instead he let it run on and on, and you can judge for yourself the results.
I would love to give this movie Two Big Thumbs Up, but I just can't do it. I do recommend you see it, because it is very well made and acted, and photographed in mid-century black and white, but I can only give it a single thumb up because of the intolerable length, where two hours and six minutes feels like three hours, because the point has been made early on, and the director wears it out until you no longer care. //////
Sorry about that, but please do see the film anyway.
Hey, can you believe it? This is the first review since about June or July that I finished all in one night. I sure would like to get back to that standard in the New Year, because it would save me a lot of time for other stuff, like drawing for instance. But anyhow, life is what it is at the moment. We will do a Year In Review in the next couple of days and see where we stand. /////
Tons of love, see you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Sunday, December 29, 2019
"Blossoms In The Dust" starring Greer Garson
Tonight's movie was "Blossoms In The Dust"(1941), starring Greer Garson. It was part of the holiday bargain pack I recently bought from Amazon, and while it technically isn't a Christmas movie, you can count it as such because it does have two prominent Christmas Day scenes. Garson plays Edna Gladney, a real life woman from Wisconsin who later moved to Texas and became a champion for orphaned children. The story begins in 1906, in Green Bay. Garson is set to marry her long time beau, but as usual in Hollywood the long time beau is boring. In steps the estimable Walter Pidgeon as a bank teller who has the temerity to steal Garson away on the eve of her wedding. I must interject (as I've been doing a lot lately) to say that I didn't recognize Pidgeon because I'd only ever seen him as a very elderly man in TV roles in the 1960s and 70s. He was born in 1897, so he even looks old in this movie. 44 in 1941 looked like 54, or even 60. Everyone in those days smoked and drank, often to excess.
Garson is now set to marry Pidgeon, in a dual wedding that will also include Marsha Hunt and her fiancee. Longtime ingenue Hunt plays a foster teen who has lived with Garson's family all her life. Garson thinks of her as a sister, and so they are set for their twin nuptuals, however, something happens to derail this plan. Naturally I shant tell you what it is.
This happenstance sends Greer Garson into a tailspin, which for a while has her avoiding the problem by living life as a hostess for her husband's business parties, entertaining the hoi polloi of Fort Worth, where they have moved in order to run Pidgeon's flour mill. He and Garson soon have a child, a boy who she dotes on, but then something else happens, and this time you can guess what it is, because it causes Garson to begin looking into the predicament of orphans in early 20th century Texas.
According to a reviewer on IMDB, some of the plot devices of the film are fictional, but I can see why they were included, in order to pump up the drama. Garson happens one day to find herself sitting in on a hearing in Superior Court, about a placement of what was then called a "foundling", meaning a child whose parents are unknown. Think of the old cliche of a baby being left on the steps of a church, or orphanage, and really it's not a cliche at all because it still happens, and worse. Anyhow, being in the orphan's court on this occasion causes Garson to rethink her life. She gets an epiphany that leads, once again by montage, to her new calling. When we next see her she is the proprietor of a nursery, one of the first of it's kind in the country.
Her nursery is an immediate success. It begins as a day care center for working mothers, but then Garson branches out to accept orphans, whom she carefully places into good homes. However, once the blue nose ladies of Fort Worth get wind of Garson's policies, they attempt to shut her down. You see, she will accept any child, including "no names", meaning children who have been abandoned. The high toned ladies believe this is wrong, "because it encourages 'bad girls' to have babies". Meaning unwed mothers, or those with unplanned pregnancies. Of course, we know nowdays that such a stance is cruel and moronic, but back then there was a real stigma attached to "illegitimate" births (and unwed motherhood). Thank God Greer Garson stood up to those old battleaxes, way back in 1912! I will interject again to say that my own mother was a orphan, not quite illegitimate, but close. Her birth mother was very young, and married only briefly to a man who bailed on her when she got pregnant. She didn't have the means to provide for my Mom, so she gave her up for adoption. Mom was adopted at six months old by a very nice couple, who were my maternal grandparents, though I never met them because they died before I was born. Thus Mom was orphaned again at age 17. It's more correct to say she was left on her own, because at that age she was able to get a job and move in with a cousin, but anyway, I mention all of this because anyone who helps or adopts orphaned children is a hero in my book. My Mom turned out to be the best Mom in the world. I wouldn't be here without her, so take that!, blue nose ladies of Fort Worth. :)
But back to the movie, once the Blue Noses try to have her nursery shut down, Greer Garson goes into overdrive. She takes her case to the State Senate. Her goal is to do away with the very idea of illegitimacy. She believes that no child could possibly be "illegitimate" because we are all one big human family, and to label an abandoned child in that way could scar him or her for life. Garson makes an impassioned plea on the Senate floor, which may have earned her one of her six Oscar nominations, and the rest is history.
I won't reveal any more of the plot, except to say that she will face one last crisis, which will turn out to be the toughest of them all. But don't worry too much because, like "Mrs. Miniver" (Garson's signature role), she seems to be indomitable. And there's no way that MGM is gonna let you down hard, especially not in 1941.
While it has the feel of a biopic, and thus the march through Edna Gladney's life comes across a bit canned (like a "study" film), I nonetheless very much enjoyed "Blossoms In The Dust", mainly for the aforementioned reason of my own family history. Greer Garson gives one of her trademark performances, heavily dramatic and theatrical. Depending on how sentimental you are, you may have to be in the mood for a film specifically about orphan children. I didn't know the subject matter when I popped the disc into the player, and was expecting a Christmas Classic, as that was how the dvd set was promoted. And again, while it does indeed have important Christmas Day scenes, it is not strictly a holiday film. It is, however, a very good one, and it gets Two Big Thumbs Up from me.
This concludes our Christmas Movie Marathon, until next year when we will have even more Classics to enjoy, including a Charles Dickens miniseries. We missed our Dickens this year, but it won't happen again I assure you. :) /////
That's all for the moment. We had good singin' in church. I am gonna go for a walk and then head back to Pearl's. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Garson is now set to marry Pidgeon, in a dual wedding that will also include Marsha Hunt and her fiancee. Longtime ingenue Hunt plays a foster teen who has lived with Garson's family all her life. Garson thinks of her as a sister, and so they are set for their twin nuptuals, however, something happens to derail this plan. Naturally I shant tell you what it is.
This happenstance sends Greer Garson into a tailspin, which for a while has her avoiding the problem by living life as a hostess for her husband's business parties, entertaining the hoi polloi of Fort Worth, where they have moved in order to run Pidgeon's flour mill. He and Garson soon have a child, a boy who she dotes on, but then something else happens, and this time you can guess what it is, because it causes Garson to begin looking into the predicament of orphans in early 20th century Texas.
According to a reviewer on IMDB, some of the plot devices of the film are fictional, but I can see why they were included, in order to pump up the drama. Garson happens one day to find herself sitting in on a hearing in Superior Court, about a placement of what was then called a "foundling", meaning a child whose parents are unknown. Think of the old cliche of a baby being left on the steps of a church, or orphanage, and really it's not a cliche at all because it still happens, and worse. Anyhow, being in the orphan's court on this occasion causes Garson to rethink her life. She gets an epiphany that leads, once again by montage, to her new calling. When we next see her she is the proprietor of a nursery, one of the first of it's kind in the country.
Her nursery is an immediate success. It begins as a day care center for working mothers, but then Garson branches out to accept orphans, whom she carefully places into good homes. However, once the blue nose ladies of Fort Worth get wind of Garson's policies, they attempt to shut her down. You see, she will accept any child, including "no names", meaning children who have been abandoned. The high toned ladies believe this is wrong, "because it encourages 'bad girls' to have babies". Meaning unwed mothers, or those with unplanned pregnancies. Of course, we know nowdays that such a stance is cruel and moronic, but back then there was a real stigma attached to "illegitimate" births (and unwed motherhood). Thank God Greer Garson stood up to those old battleaxes, way back in 1912! I will interject again to say that my own mother was a orphan, not quite illegitimate, but close. Her birth mother was very young, and married only briefly to a man who bailed on her when she got pregnant. She didn't have the means to provide for my Mom, so she gave her up for adoption. Mom was adopted at six months old by a very nice couple, who were my maternal grandparents, though I never met them because they died before I was born. Thus Mom was orphaned again at age 17. It's more correct to say she was left on her own, because at that age she was able to get a job and move in with a cousin, but anyway, I mention all of this because anyone who helps or adopts orphaned children is a hero in my book. My Mom turned out to be the best Mom in the world. I wouldn't be here without her, so take that!, blue nose ladies of Fort Worth. :)
But back to the movie, once the Blue Noses try to have her nursery shut down, Greer Garson goes into overdrive. She takes her case to the State Senate. Her goal is to do away with the very idea of illegitimacy. She believes that no child could possibly be "illegitimate" because we are all one big human family, and to label an abandoned child in that way could scar him or her for life. Garson makes an impassioned plea on the Senate floor, which may have earned her one of her six Oscar nominations, and the rest is history.
I won't reveal any more of the plot, except to say that she will face one last crisis, which will turn out to be the toughest of them all. But don't worry too much because, like "Mrs. Miniver" (Garson's signature role), she seems to be indomitable. And there's no way that MGM is gonna let you down hard, especially not in 1941.
While it has the feel of a biopic, and thus the march through Edna Gladney's life comes across a bit canned (like a "study" film), I nonetheless very much enjoyed "Blossoms In The Dust", mainly for the aforementioned reason of my own family history. Greer Garson gives one of her trademark performances, heavily dramatic and theatrical. Depending on how sentimental you are, you may have to be in the mood for a film specifically about orphan children. I didn't know the subject matter when I popped the disc into the player, and was expecting a Christmas Classic, as that was how the dvd set was promoted. And again, while it does indeed have important Christmas Day scenes, it is not strictly a holiday film. It is, however, a very good one, and it gets Two Big Thumbs Up from me.
This concludes our Christmas Movie Marathon, until next year when we will have even more Classics to enjoy, including a Charles Dickens miniseries. We missed our Dickens this year, but it won't happen again I assure you. :) /////
That's all for the moment. We had good singin' in church. I am gonna go for a walk and then head back to Pearl's. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Saturday, December 28, 2019
John Ford's "Mogambo" starring Clark Gable, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly
I'm listening to Spanish Organ Music as played by Helmuth Rilling. Check it out on Youtube, I think it's one of the best recitals of Spanish Organ that I've heard, truly magnificent. I think I've gotta get back to listening and posting more examples of great music, as I was doing on a regular basis a few years ago. Well, at any rate, tonight's movie was called "Mogambo"(1953), a romance set against the backdrop of an African adventure, or maybe it's the other way around. The romance is complicated, because it's illicit, but more on that later.
"Mogambo" was directed by the legendary John Ford, he of the Monument Valley Westerns. This time Ford is in Kenya, with Clark Gable starring as Victor Marswell, a big game hunter who captures exotic animals for zoos and circuses. I will interject here to make a disclaimer and state the obvious : of course we all know it's not right to kill or trap animals, but the movie was made sixty six years ago, so get over it, and besides, Africa is not our continent. Director Ford was no stooge, and he shows that tribesmen had to live amongst nature and deal with the wild animals in their own way. My point is that it's not a cut and dried issue, and I can't stand the phoney baloney "woke" culture we are now having to deal with, as if these youngsters are the first generation on Earth to consider the plights of the meek. Geez Louise don't get me started.
Bring on Ava Gardner and I'll feel better. Thanks.
Gable is in Kenya preparing for his next safari, when he returns to his home on the outskirts of the jungle and discovers Gardner using his backyard shower. It's as good a Hollywood way as any to introduce romantic and sexual tension between two stars. It seems that Gardner, playing New York Socialite Eloise Kelly - was supposed to meet a Maharajah friend of hers at the safari check in, but for whatever reason (known only to the screenwriter) he wasn't there. So, being a free spirit, she decided to take a shower at Clark Gable's pad, and now they are introduced. It's all very John Ford, a clash of the sexes. The ultra-macho Gable is taken aback at a strange (but gorgeous) woman using his shower, and orders her away, after throwing her a bathrobe. But Ava's a quick study. She's got Gable's number; he's handsome but dumb. Now that the Maharaja has bailed on her, she insists on tagging along on the safari, if for no other reason than to get her money's worth for the travel expense. But what she really wants is Gable. All of this takes six or seven minutes and is a classic Hollywood set up. It plays great because of the charisma of the two stars.
Next to arrive are an English couple, Mr. and Mrs. Nordley (Donald Sinden and Grace Kelly). Mr. Nordley is an anthropologist who has paid for the safari so that he can document gorillas living in the wild. His wife is a nervous lady who doesn't care for exotic adventure, but being British she carries on like a trouper.
Gable is a horndog. First, he goes after the flirty Ava Gardner, but drops her like a hot potato the moment Grace Kelly shows up. He's really looking to get married. He can tell Mrs. Nordley doesn't love her husband, so he starts making up reasons to be with her while hubby is out photographing the apes. Gable acts as her protector from the dangers of the jungle, and they become close. Mrs. Nordley is very prim and proper, but Gable can tell she's attracted to him, so one day he does what any leading man of the era would do : he grabs Grace by the shoulders, turns her around and kisses her aggressively. I know this would be considered sexist now, and rightly so, but again this is 1953, and he's Clark Gable, which in Hollywood terms makes him irresistible to all women. So Grace Kelly naturally succumbs to his charms without a fight.
Meanwhile, Ava Gardner is well aware of what's going on. She's playing the role of the Wise Airhead, but really the emphasis is on the former. She's just pretending to be a lightweight, constantly making pithy remarks to ward off depression. She has a secret that's caused her to become nomadic, which is why she's in Africa in the first place. Also, just when she thought she'd found romance with Gable, along comes Grace Kelly to steal him away.
I was mad at Gable when he dumped Gardner for Kelly. He sees Ava as a "kid" (which is funny because in real life she was seven years older than Kelly), and she is somewhat childlike, but she's fun, funny, and nice. She plays with all the animals on Gable's property, and they all love her. Director Ford got some great footage of Ava Gardner goofing around with giraffes and elephants, baby rhinos and chimpanzees. I hadn't been aware of what a talented actress she was until we saw her in "The Son Also Rises", and she's even better here. In fact, her performance in "Mogambo" earned her a Best Actress nomination. Imagine a stunningly beautiful woman who's also really cool and down to earth (and smart, funny and fun) - that's Ava Gardner. Nothing against Grace Kelly, but she always played the Icy Type, so yeah, I couldn't understand what Clark Gable was thinking. But he was looking for "marriage material", so maybe he figured that, because she already was married, Kelly was the right choice haha.
But things are gonna get hairy when the safari gets underway, quite literally too if you consider the gorillas. John Ford used actual Kenyan tribesmen to act as guides, and he also inserted extra footage of African animals cavorting in their natural habitat, so the safari has a realistic look. Along the way, the group will stop at the home of a Catholic priest, a friend of Gable's who provides them lunch. This is another John Ford touch, the Irish Priest. Ava's character is Catholic, so she requests a Confession. Later on we will learn her secret, and she will also confront Clark Gable about breaking up the marriage of the Nordleys. She's got a broken heart, but it's made of gold.
"Mogambo" is no melodrama, however. Mostly it's a romantic adventure, played for fun. Ford sure knows how to photograph the African countryside, with locations in Kenya, Tanzania and the Congo. He's no slouch either at getting the best out of Gardner and Kelly, using close ups that look torn from glamour magazines. I loved this movie, a perfect post-Christmas Popcorn Flick, and therefore I give it Two Very Big Thumbs Up. I will also be looking for more Ava Gardner movies as she is a new favorite. ////
That's all for the time being. Boy of boy was it ever cold last night! Got down to 36 degrees. Thankfully there was no wind, and it's calm out right now, so I'm gonna do a quick CSUN walk, then head back to Pearl's. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
"Mogambo" was directed by the legendary John Ford, he of the Monument Valley Westerns. This time Ford is in Kenya, with Clark Gable starring as Victor Marswell, a big game hunter who captures exotic animals for zoos and circuses. I will interject here to make a disclaimer and state the obvious : of course we all know it's not right to kill or trap animals, but the movie was made sixty six years ago, so get over it, and besides, Africa is not our continent. Director Ford was no stooge, and he shows that tribesmen had to live amongst nature and deal with the wild animals in their own way. My point is that it's not a cut and dried issue, and I can't stand the phoney baloney "woke" culture we are now having to deal with, as if these youngsters are the first generation on Earth to consider the plights of the meek. Geez Louise don't get me started.
Bring on Ava Gardner and I'll feel better. Thanks.
Gable is in Kenya preparing for his next safari, when he returns to his home on the outskirts of the jungle and discovers Gardner using his backyard shower. It's as good a Hollywood way as any to introduce romantic and sexual tension between two stars. It seems that Gardner, playing New York Socialite Eloise Kelly - was supposed to meet a Maharajah friend of hers at the safari check in, but for whatever reason (known only to the screenwriter) he wasn't there. So, being a free spirit, she decided to take a shower at Clark Gable's pad, and now they are introduced. It's all very John Ford, a clash of the sexes. The ultra-macho Gable is taken aback at a strange (but gorgeous) woman using his shower, and orders her away, after throwing her a bathrobe. But Ava's a quick study. She's got Gable's number; he's handsome but dumb. Now that the Maharaja has bailed on her, she insists on tagging along on the safari, if for no other reason than to get her money's worth for the travel expense. But what she really wants is Gable. All of this takes six or seven minutes and is a classic Hollywood set up. It plays great because of the charisma of the two stars.
Next to arrive are an English couple, Mr. and Mrs. Nordley (Donald Sinden and Grace Kelly). Mr. Nordley is an anthropologist who has paid for the safari so that he can document gorillas living in the wild. His wife is a nervous lady who doesn't care for exotic adventure, but being British she carries on like a trouper.
Gable is a horndog. First, he goes after the flirty Ava Gardner, but drops her like a hot potato the moment Grace Kelly shows up. He's really looking to get married. He can tell Mrs. Nordley doesn't love her husband, so he starts making up reasons to be with her while hubby is out photographing the apes. Gable acts as her protector from the dangers of the jungle, and they become close. Mrs. Nordley is very prim and proper, but Gable can tell she's attracted to him, so one day he does what any leading man of the era would do : he grabs Grace by the shoulders, turns her around and kisses her aggressively. I know this would be considered sexist now, and rightly so, but again this is 1953, and he's Clark Gable, which in Hollywood terms makes him irresistible to all women. So Grace Kelly naturally succumbs to his charms without a fight.
Meanwhile, Ava Gardner is well aware of what's going on. She's playing the role of the Wise Airhead, but really the emphasis is on the former. She's just pretending to be a lightweight, constantly making pithy remarks to ward off depression. She has a secret that's caused her to become nomadic, which is why she's in Africa in the first place. Also, just when she thought she'd found romance with Gable, along comes Grace Kelly to steal him away.
I was mad at Gable when he dumped Gardner for Kelly. He sees Ava as a "kid" (which is funny because in real life she was seven years older than Kelly), and she is somewhat childlike, but she's fun, funny, and nice. She plays with all the animals on Gable's property, and they all love her. Director Ford got some great footage of Ava Gardner goofing around with giraffes and elephants, baby rhinos and chimpanzees. I hadn't been aware of what a talented actress she was until we saw her in "The Son Also Rises", and she's even better here. In fact, her performance in "Mogambo" earned her a Best Actress nomination. Imagine a stunningly beautiful woman who's also really cool and down to earth (and smart, funny and fun) - that's Ava Gardner. Nothing against Grace Kelly, but she always played the Icy Type, so yeah, I couldn't understand what Clark Gable was thinking. But he was looking for "marriage material", so maybe he figured that, because she already was married, Kelly was the right choice haha.
But things are gonna get hairy when the safari gets underway, quite literally too if you consider the gorillas. John Ford used actual Kenyan tribesmen to act as guides, and he also inserted extra footage of African animals cavorting in their natural habitat, so the safari has a realistic look. Along the way, the group will stop at the home of a Catholic priest, a friend of Gable's who provides them lunch. This is another John Ford touch, the Irish Priest. Ava's character is Catholic, so she requests a Confession. Later on we will learn her secret, and she will also confront Clark Gable about breaking up the marriage of the Nordleys. She's got a broken heart, but it's made of gold.
"Mogambo" is no melodrama, however. Mostly it's a romantic adventure, played for fun. Ford sure knows how to photograph the African countryside, with locations in Kenya, Tanzania and the Congo. He's no slouch either at getting the best out of Gardner and Kelly, using close ups that look torn from glamour magazines. I loved this movie, a perfect post-Christmas Popcorn Flick, and therefore I give it Two Very Big Thumbs Up. I will also be looking for more Ava Gardner movies as she is a new favorite. ////
That's all for the time being. Boy of boy was it ever cold last night! Got down to 36 degrees. Thankfully there was no wind, and it's calm out right now, so I'm gonna do a quick CSUN walk, then head back to Pearl's. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Friday, December 27, 2019
"All Mine To Give" starring Cameron Mitchell and Glynis Johns
My goodness is it ever cold outside! Had to shorten my walk this eve, something I rarely do, but with the wind blowing on top of the chilly temp, I was turning into a popsicle. Also, the San Gabriel Mountains bordering the east end of the Valley are as covered in snow as I've ever seen them. Some winters they don't have any, and when they do it's usually just dusting the peaks, but this time the entire mountainside is covered like the Swiss Alps. I'm not a Winter Person as you know, but it sure looks pretty this time around.
This evening I watched a movie called "All Mine To Give"(1957), which was part of a four film bargain pack I ordered from Amazon last week. I hadn't heard of it before, but it was promoted as a holiday movie, and because I don't like to just cut the Season off the moment the calendar reads December 26th, I thought I'd wind things down with a film I'd never seen, and it turned out to be quite profound.
Once in a while we have a plot that, for spoiler reasons, I can't describe in too much detail. This is one such story, where the plot is the spoiler, so I'm only gonna give you the basics. Cameron Mitchell stars as Robert Eunson, a Scot who has just emigrated to America with his wife Jo in 1853. They've come at the behest of her Uncle, who lives in Wisconsin, but when they arrive they discover that the man has been killed in a fire that burned his cabin to the ground. The Eunsons are undeterred, and Robert, a resourceful man, begins to build them a cabin of their own. He soon has the help of the townspeople, who pitch in to erect the cabin in one day. Robert Eunson experiences prejudice, in the form of the local Harpy, a loudmouth who tells him to go back where he came from, but he believes in America and in hard work, so he enlists at a nearby logging camp run by The Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.). Soon he has the funds to start a family.
The Eunson brood grows from one to six in the time it takes to view a montage. A decade has passed and now they are an established family. Mother Jo insists on schooling for the children, a luxury in those days. Father Robert walks miles in the snow to work, and finally wins over Skipper Alan Hale, a Irishman and former rival. Something will happen to the family to delay their upward climb, but I absolutely cannot tell you what it is, and I urge you not to look it up for yourself, for the movie is based on a true story. To know it beforehand will rob the film of some of it's power, which is considerable, believe me.
Had I been the promoter during the original release, I would've handed out boxes of Kleenex to all ticket holders on opening night. Better yet, I'd have bought stock in the tissue company, because this movie will tear your heart out. However, it will do so in a stoic rather than sentimental way. It's not specifically a Christmas film, and yet Christmas Day will figure prominently near the end. When it is over, you will be reminded of the importance of family in our lives, and of friends.
I wish I could tell you more, but with this movie I just can't. Cameron Mitchell is so good as Robert Eunson, right down to his authentic Scottish accent. It's funny, because we all remember him playing the cowboy Buck Cannon in the "High Chaparral" TV series, and it seems like he was that character, a dusty, black clad roughneck with a Southern drawl. But in the last few years I've seen him in several movies, and he's different in every role. He was an excellent actor, I think (and as a side note, my friends and I even remember him playing a psycho in "The Toolbox Murders" from 1978). Glynis Johns is good also as his persevering wife Jo, but who really shines is a young actor named Rex Thompson, only 14 in his part as the Eunson's eldest son Robbie. Thompson had a short career and retired from acting in 1968, but he should've been given an Oscar nomination for this portrayal of a boy whose mettle is tested to the limit.
"All Mine To Give" has the bright Technicolor look of a 1950s era Disney film, and in some respects, such as the depiction of a struggling but optimistic family, it feels like one too. But then things happen and it gets quite complicated. Again, it is based on a true story that originally appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine in 1946. Big Bear Lake stands in for Wisconsin (somewhere near Oshkosh). As the film reached it's conclusion I was blown off the map, and while it isn't your usual Christmas Classic, I wont hesitate to put it in that category. I give it Two Gigantic Thumbs Up and my highest recommendation. I urge you to see it, either now while the Season is still lingering or next year at Christmastime. Wow, what a story. ////
That's all I know for the moment. I'm easing back into my post-Christmas work cycle at Pearl's, just going slow, having eaten lots of holiday meals and sweets, haha. I'll need to get back in shape after the New Year, freezing weather or no freezing weather, but for now I'm still in semi-hibernation mode. Right now I'm off to the Libe to return some dvds. I look for more during my stop, and we'll watch one tonight! See you at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
This evening I watched a movie called "All Mine To Give"(1957), which was part of a four film bargain pack I ordered from Amazon last week. I hadn't heard of it before, but it was promoted as a holiday movie, and because I don't like to just cut the Season off the moment the calendar reads December 26th, I thought I'd wind things down with a film I'd never seen, and it turned out to be quite profound.
Once in a while we have a plot that, for spoiler reasons, I can't describe in too much detail. This is one such story, where the plot is the spoiler, so I'm only gonna give you the basics. Cameron Mitchell stars as Robert Eunson, a Scot who has just emigrated to America with his wife Jo in 1853. They've come at the behest of her Uncle, who lives in Wisconsin, but when they arrive they discover that the man has been killed in a fire that burned his cabin to the ground. The Eunsons are undeterred, and Robert, a resourceful man, begins to build them a cabin of their own. He soon has the help of the townspeople, who pitch in to erect the cabin in one day. Robert Eunson experiences prejudice, in the form of the local Harpy, a loudmouth who tells him to go back where he came from, but he believes in America and in hard work, so he enlists at a nearby logging camp run by The Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.). Soon he has the funds to start a family.
The Eunson brood grows from one to six in the time it takes to view a montage. A decade has passed and now they are an established family. Mother Jo insists on schooling for the children, a luxury in those days. Father Robert walks miles in the snow to work, and finally wins over Skipper Alan Hale, a Irishman and former rival. Something will happen to the family to delay their upward climb, but I absolutely cannot tell you what it is, and I urge you not to look it up for yourself, for the movie is based on a true story. To know it beforehand will rob the film of some of it's power, which is considerable, believe me.
Had I been the promoter during the original release, I would've handed out boxes of Kleenex to all ticket holders on opening night. Better yet, I'd have bought stock in the tissue company, because this movie will tear your heart out. However, it will do so in a stoic rather than sentimental way. It's not specifically a Christmas film, and yet Christmas Day will figure prominently near the end. When it is over, you will be reminded of the importance of family in our lives, and of friends.
I wish I could tell you more, but with this movie I just can't. Cameron Mitchell is so good as Robert Eunson, right down to his authentic Scottish accent. It's funny, because we all remember him playing the cowboy Buck Cannon in the "High Chaparral" TV series, and it seems like he was that character, a dusty, black clad roughneck with a Southern drawl. But in the last few years I've seen him in several movies, and he's different in every role. He was an excellent actor, I think (and as a side note, my friends and I even remember him playing a psycho in "The Toolbox Murders" from 1978). Glynis Johns is good also as his persevering wife Jo, but who really shines is a young actor named Rex Thompson, only 14 in his part as the Eunson's eldest son Robbie. Thompson had a short career and retired from acting in 1968, but he should've been given an Oscar nomination for this portrayal of a boy whose mettle is tested to the limit.
"All Mine To Give" has the bright Technicolor look of a 1950s era Disney film, and in some respects, such as the depiction of a struggling but optimistic family, it feels like one too. But then things happen and it gets quite complicated. Again, it is based on a true story that originally appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine in 1946. Big Bear Lake stands in for Wisconsin (somewhere near Oshkosh). As the film reached it's conclusion I was blown off the map, and while it isn't your usual Christmas Classic, I wont hesitate to put it in that category. I give it Two Gigantic Thumbs Up and my highest recommendation. I urge you to see it, either now while the Season is still lingering or next year at Christmastime. Wow, what a story. ////
That's all I know for the moment. I'm easing back into my post-Christmas work cycle at Pearl's, just going slow, having eaten lots of holiday meals and sweets, haha. I'll need to get back in shape after the New Year, freezing weather or no freezing weather, but for now I'm still in semi-hibernation mode. Right now I'm off to the Libe to return some dvds. I look for more during my stop, and we'll watch one tonight! See you at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Thursday, December 26, 2019
"Meet Me In St.Louis", a Christmas Classic starring Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien
It's been raining cats and dogs since about 7pm. I got back from Pearl's at 6, and immediately went for a CSUN walk to get some mileage in before the deluge, so that was good. We had a nice Christmas lunch and then drove up to Granada Hills to see the lights, retracing the route I took with Grimsley two nights ago. When I got home from my walk I watched my all-time favorite Christmas Classic : "Meet Me In St. Louis", which of course stars Judy Garland and features Margaret O'Brien as the scene-stealing "Tootie", the youngest of the four Smith sisters. You know this movie, right? It takes place in 1903 in St. Louis, the year before the opening of the World's Fair.
The elder two Smith girls, Rose (Lucille Bremer) and Esther (Garland), are hoping for romance. Rose awaits a call from her boyfriend in New York, expecting a marriage proposal. Esther is infatuated with the handsome boy next door (Tom Drake), though at first he seems nervous around her and would rather shake hands than kiss her good night. The younger daughters are pre-adolescent, one being the five year old Tootie and the other her twelve year old sister Agnes (Joan Carroll). Agnes is a tomboy and Tootie is a holy terror. As played by O'Brien, one of the greatest child actresses, she is a classic character in American film. Tootie is, by turns, independent, morbid, daring, and too old for her years. When we first see her, five minutes after the film begins, she is "at work", riding along on an Ice Cart driven by Chill Wills. Tootie goes her own way and her parents allow it, as long as she is home in time for dinner.
The focus is on family life and love. A lot of time is spent on Garland's pursuit of John Truitt the neighbor boy, which gives Judy several opportunities to break into song. She looks different than you remember from "The Wizard of Oz" five years earlier, thinner and grown up, and her voice is as beautiful as ever. Margaret O'Brien is featured in an extended Halloween sequence that is as classic as any scene from the Golden Era. Tootie wants to participate in the "tricks" the older kids are playing, so she volunteers to knock on the door of the childrens' most feared neighbor, a bearded man with a European name. We all remember our own such house, where perhaps an elderly recluse lived, or someone we thought was weird. In every neighborhood there was always a house all the kids were scared of, and in the movie Tootie agrees to go to the door and "kill" the man living there, which is done by throwing a handful of flour in his face. Kids in 1903 had some pretty bold Halloween pranks! After she accomplishes her mission, Tootie is crowned "Most Horrible" by the other kids. She becomes so emboldened by this that, along with her sister Agnes, she attempts an even more terrible "trick". I won't tell you what it is, but it's played in good fun. Tootie is the polar opposite of the sweet natured moppets of the era. She buries her dolls in a backyard "cemetery" and sings bawdy songs about getting drunk. Really she's the heart of the Smith family, and it's her reaction to film's major plot point that will cause the story to resolve.
As Christmas approaches, Mr. Smith (Leon Ames) comes home with the news that the family is moving to New York. He's been given a promotion and a raise, and expects his wife and kids to be thrilled. When they aren't, the Season is all but ruined. Judy Garland is devastated at having to move away from John Truitt, who's finally gotten the nerve to ask her to the Christmas dance. Ditto Rose, who still hopes to get married. But Mr. Smith is adamant, and feels unappreciated, too. "You should be excited"!, he tells his family. "This is New York, the big city! Think of all the opportunities you'll have". But the girls and their brother Lon don't care. "St. Louis is a city, too, and it's our home", says Agnes. "It may not be as big as New York, but it's gonna have the World's Fair. Then it will be the center of the universe"! Dad won't budge, however. The Smiths are moving to New York and that's final. They shun him after that. "Go ahead, treat me like a criminal", he sulks. "All I do is earn money to keep food on our table".
Is it going to be a Merry Little Christmas at the Smith house, or a sad one? I think you know the answer to that. Even if you haven't seen the movie, you've surely heard the song, and when Judy sings it to Margaret O'Brien, lit by gaslight in glistening soft focus, you'd better have your handkerchief handy. And hold on to it because all hell is about to break loose. Tootie isn't leaving St. Louis without a fight...
Which will lead to a beautiful ending. You certainly weren't expecting different, were you? I thought not. After all, this is MGM and Judy Garland. The great Vincent Minnelli directed, and during the shoot he fell in love with Garland. They were married soon after, a fitting coda for this magical motion picture. I've seen "Meet Me In St. Louis" about a dozen times, and obviously I give it Two Gigantic Thumbs Up and my highest recommendation. It's a nostalgia-inducing look at The Good Old Days, idealised perhaps, but that's what we want in a Christmas Classic. The period sets are gorgeous and colorful and the World's Fair sparkles with light. You can really enjoy this movie at any time of year, however. More than just a holiday favorite, it's a great American film by any measure. /////
That's all for the moment. It is now Thursday afternoon, December 26th. I am back at Pearl's for the start of another work cycle. I'm gonna head out for a short walk, then to the store, and I will see you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
The elder two Smith girls, Rose (Lucille Bremer) and Esther (Garland), are hoping for romance. Rose awaits a call from her boyfriend in New York, expecting a marriage proposal. Esther is infatuated with the handsome boy next door (Tom Drake), though at first he seems nervous around her and would rather shake hands than kiss her good night. The younger daughters are pre-adolescent, one being the five year old Tootie and the other her twelve year old sister Agnes (Joan Carroll). Agnes is a tomboy and Tootie is a holy terror. As played by O'Brien, one of the greatest child actresses, she is a classic character in American film. Tootie is, by turns, independent, morbid, daring, and too old for her years. When we first see her, five minutes after the film begins, she is "at work", riding along on an Ice Cart driven by Chill Wills. Tootie goes her own way and her parents allow it, as long as she is home in time for dinner.
The focus is on family life and love. A lot of time is spent on Garland's pursuit of John Truitt the neighbor boy, which gives Judy several opportunities to break into song. She looks different than you remember from "The Wizard of Oz" five years earlier, thinner and grown up, and her voice is as beautiful as ever. Margaret O'Brien is featured in an extended Halloween sequence that is as classic as any scene from the Golden Era. Tootie wants to participate in the "tricks" the older kids are playing, so she volunteers to knock on the door of the childrens' most feared neighbor, a bearded man with a European name. We all remember our own such house, where perhaps an elderly recluse lived, or someone we thought was weird. In every neighborhood there was always a house all the kids were scared of, and in the movie Tootie agrees to go to the door and "kill" the man living there, which is done by throwing a handful of flour in his face. Kids in 1903 had some pretty bold Halloween pranks! After she accomplishes her mission, Tootie is crowned "Most Horrible" by the other kids. She becomes so emboldened by this that, along with her sister Agnes, she attempts an even more terrible "trick". I won't tell you what it is, but it's played in good fun. Tootie is the polar opposite of the sweet natured moppets of the era. She buries her dolls in a backyard "cemetery" and sings bawdy songs about getting drunk. Really she's the heart of the Smith family, and it's her reaction to film's major plot point that will cause the story to resolve.
As Christmas approaches, Mr. Smith (Leon Ames) comes home with the news that the family is moving to New York. He's been given a promotion and a raise, and expects his wife and kids to be thrilled. When they aren't, the Season is all but ruined. Judy Garland is devastated at having to move away from John Truitt, who's finally gotten the nerve to ask her to the Christmas dance. Ditto Rose, who still hopes to get married. But Mr. Smith is adamant, and feels unappreciated, too. "You should be excited"!, he tells his family. "This is New York, the big city! Think of all the opportunities you'll have". But the girls and their brother Lon don't care. "St. Louis is a city, too, and it's our home", says Agnes. "It may not be as big as New York, but it's gonna have the World's Fair. Then it will be the center of the universe"! Dad won't budge, however. The Smiths are moving to New York and that's final. They shun him after that. "Go ahead, treat me like a criminal", he sulks. "All I do is earn money to keep food on our table".
Is it going to be a Merry Little Christmas at the Smith house, or a sad one? I think you know the answer to that. Even if you haven't seen the movie, you've surely heard the song, and when Judy sings it to Margaret O'Brien, lit by gaslight in glistening soft focus, you'd better have your handkerchief handy. And hold on to it because all hell is about to break loose. Tootie isn't leaving St. Louis without a fight...
Which will lead to a beautiful ending. You certainly weren't expecting different, were you? I thought not. After all, this is MGM and Judy Garland. The great Vincent Minnelli directed, and during the shoot he fell in love with Garland. They were married soon after, a fitting coda for this magical motion picture. I've seen "Meet Me In St. Louis" about a dozen times, and obviously I give it Two Gigantic Thumbs Up and my highest recommendation. It's a nostalgia-inducing look at The Good Old Days, idealised perhaps, but that's what we want in a Christmas Classic. The period sets are gorgeous and colorful and the World's Fair sparkles with light. You can really enjoy this movie at any time of year, however. More than just a holiday favorite, it's a great American film by any measure. /////
That's all for the moment. It is now Thursday afternoon, December 26th. I am back at Pearl's for the start of another work cycle. I'm gonna head out for a short walk, then to the store, and I will see you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Merry Christmas!
I hope everyone is enjoying a blessed Christmas Eve. As I write, it's now 1am on December 25th, so technically it's Christmas morning, but really it's still the Eve until sunrise, or at least until Santa comes down the chimney. On that score, I've been checking the NORAD Tracker all night long, but as of now, the milk and cookies remain uneaten on the table where I've left them. I don't have a chimney in the Tiny Apartment, so I expect Santa will enter through the door. NORAD's got him over Anchorage, Alaska at the moment. Perhaps he will continue south along the Pacific Coast, and if so I should imagine he'll be here within the hour.
We had a very nice service in church this evening, featuring Good Singing by the choir. "Gesu Bambino" is a hard one, ideally suited for a much bigger ensemble, but we did okay. Much better was "Rejoice" by Frank Hernandez which we knocked out of the park. We also sang a whole bunch of carols, including "Angels We Have Heard On High", with it's "Glo-o-o-o-o-o, o-o-o-o-o, o-o-o-o-o-ria" refrain, one of my very favorites. This is my sixth Christmas with the choir and it was one of the best.
Later, at 10:30, I walked over to Our Lady of Lourdes, my Mom's church which is just across the street from me. They always have a very inspiring Midnight Mass, which I've been attending for many years now, except tonight it was so jam packed, even in the lobby, that for most of the service I sat outside on the patio and listened on the overflow speakers. The message and the feeling was the same.
I did watch a movie, and in fact I watched two! How about that? Not too shabby, eh? That's time management at work, a science at which I've become quite adept. After waking fairly early at 10am and pounding a sink full of dishes, I sat back to enjoy the 1938 version of "A Christmas Carol", starring Reginald Owen as Ebeneezer Scrooge. This is the one most Americans from my generation grew up seeing on TV, and I find it compares favorably with the revered 1951 version starring Alistair Sim. Though Sim might be the quintessential Scrooge, Owen also captures the man's miserable ethos with considerable flair, and he has MGM's production values backing him up, so the movie looks glorious and checks in tightly at 69 minutes.
After our service at Reseda Methodist, I came home and watched a movie called "Holiday Affair" (1949), which I discovered recently through an Amazon recommendation. I ended up getting it from the Libe, and it turned out to be something of an unrecognized Christmas Classic. It stars Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh, but I'll have to save the majority of the review for another time on account of the fact that it's now 2am, and because of the continuing hustle and bustle of the holiday.
And now I am rejoining you at 11:30 on Christmas Morning. Between the above paragraph and this one, I have slept (excepting one or two middle-of-the-night awakenings to munch sweets), and I will soon be heading over to Pearl's for a nice Christmas lunch. After that, we will probably take her to see the holiday lights, either in Granada Hills or at Candy Cane Lane. I should be back home around 8pm or so, at which time we will watch another Christmas Classic. I hope you are having a wonderful holiday and enjoying the season. It's been very special this year, as it always is.
Merry Christmas, God Bless and Tons Of Love! See you tonight at the Usual Time.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
We had a very nice service in church this evening, featuring Good Singing by the choir. "Gesu Bambino" is a hard one, ideally suited for a much bigger ensemble, but we did okay. Much better was "Rejoice" by Frank Hernandez which we knocked out of the park. We also sang a whole bunch of carols, including "Angels We Have Heard On High", with it's "Glo-o-o-o-o-o, o-o-o-o-o, o-o-o-o-o-ria" refrain, one of my very favorites. This is my sixth Christmas with the choir and it was one of the best.
Later, at 10:30, I walked over to Our Lady of Lourdes, my Mom's church which is just across the street from me. They always have a very inspiring Midnight Mass, which I've been attending for many years now, except tonight it was so jam packed, even in the lobby, that for most of the service I sat outside on the patio and listened on the overflow speakers. The message and the feeling was the same.
I did watch a movie, and in fact I watched two! How about that? Not too shabby, eh? That's time management at work, a science at which I've become quite adept. After waking fairly early at 10am and pounding a sink full of dishes, I sat back to enjoy the 1938 version of "A Christmas Carol", starring Reginald Owen as Ebeneezer Scrooge. This is the one most Americans from my generation grew up seeing on TV, and I find it compares favorably with the revered 1951 version starring Alistair Sim. Though Sim might be the quintessential Scrooge, Owen also captures the man's miserable ethos with considerable flair, and he has MGM's production values backing him up, so the movie looks glorious and checks in tightly at 69 minutes.
After our service at Reseda Methodist, I came home and watched a movie called "Holiday Affair" (1949), which I discovered recently through an Amazon recommendation. I ended up getting it from the Libe, and it turned out to be something of an unrecognized Christmas Classic. It stars Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh, but I'll have to save the majority of the review for another time on account of the fact that it's now 2am, and because of the continuing hustle and bustle of the holiday.
And now I am rejoining you at 11:30 on Christmas Morning. Between the above paragraph and this one, I have slept (excepting one or two middle-of-the-night awakenings to munch sweets), and I will soon be heading over to Pearl's for a nice Christmas lunch. After that, we will probably take her to see the holiday lights, either in Granada Hills or at Candy Cane Lane. I should be back home around 8pm or so, at which time we will watch another Christmas Classic. I hope you are having a wonderful holiday and enjoying the season. It's been very special this year, as it always is.
Merry Christmas, God Bless and Tons Of Love! See you tonight at the Usual Time.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Monday, December 23, 2019
"It Happened On 5th Avenue" starring Don DeFore, Charlie Ruggles, Gale Storm and Victor Moore
Tonight's Christmas Classic was "It Happened On Fifth Avenue", starring Don DeFore, Charlie Ruggles, Gale Storm and Victor Moore. While not set specifically at Christmas, ala "Wonderful Life" or "Miracle On 34th Street", it nevertheless passes through the holiday with an extended Yuletide sequence, and features more than enough "good will toward men" in it's script to be considered one of the greats in the limited genre. Moore plays "Aloysius T. McKeever", a homeless man who "moves in" every Winter to the large Manhattan home of Michael O'Connor (Ruggles), the second richest man in the world. When O'Connor leaves New York for Virginia each November, McKeever enters his boarded up Brownstone through a manhole, bringing his dog Sam with him. There they live, in the lap of luxury, until Mr. O'Connor returns in the Spring. McKeever is a textbook squatter, and very professional about it, too.
DeFore, who folks my age will remember from the "Hazel" TV series of the early 1960s, plays an ex-GI who's about to be evicted from his apartment so that the same Michael O'Connor can convert the building into a luxury high rise bearing his name. Shades of Trump! (oh the horror). DeFore is outraged at the eviction and rightly so. He's a veteran who has fought for his country and now his basic rights are being violated. He's put on the street through no fault of his own and winds up sleeping on a park bench, where he's awakened one morning by McKeever's dog Sam. McKeever, who is dressed in O'Connor's clothes and is living high on the hog at his house, feels bad for DeFore and invites him back to the mansion for a bite to eat. DeFore is grateful. He figures McKeever to be the wealthy owner of the estate, but the power keeps going out, among other weird things, and McKeever finally has to confess that he's merely a squatter. DeFore likes him even better after that, because McKeever is sticking it to the rich, but McKeever doesn't see it that way. In his eyes, he's merely using the building while the owner is away. He has no disregard for men of wealth, and in fact he fancies himself one. At Chez O'Connor, he acts like the Lord of the Manor.
One day, Michael O'Connor gets a call from the headmistress at his daughter Trudy's private school. She has run away and can't be found. Truth is, Trudy (Gale Storm) hates the place and wants to be her own woman, to get a job and maybe get married. She returns to New York City and heads straight for the family mansion to grab some clothes and other necessities. While inside, she discovers the new tenants DeFore and McKeever, who turn the tables by accusing her of squatting. They have no idea her father is the estate's owner. DeFore even calls her a thief for taking a mink coat from her own bedroom closet. He threatens to call the police, and that's when she gets an idea to play along with the mistaken identity. You see, she thinks DeFore is cute. She doesn't want the police to come and throw them all out because then she might not see him again, so she pretends to be a poor homeless waif who needs a place to stay. She asks the men to reconsider and they do. Meanwhile, Michael O'Connor has hired a private detective to locate Trudy.
By this time, she's gotten a part time job in a music store and is infatuated with DeFore, who's a dozen years older. The Private Eye finds Trudy at the store and alerts her Dad, who begs her to return to school. She tells him she won't go back, that she's happy being independent, and - most importantly - that she's fallen in love. He asks to meet the man, and this is where Trudy's brilliant idea comes into play. She confesses everything, about the squatting, about DeFore and McKeever, and, by this time, the other homeless folks they've invited to live in the house, including DeFore's old Army buddies Alan Hale Jr. (aka The Skipper), Edward Ryan and their wives, one of whom has just had a baby. Trudy goes on to ask her Dad a favor. She will introduce him to DeFore, if he will pose as another vagrant looking for a place to stay. She doesn't want DeFore to know her Dad's true identity, because he was evicted from O'Connor's building at the beginning of the movie. She's heard DeFore and McKeever railing against Mr. O'Connor on several occasions. Therefore, she is asking Dad to pretend to be a hobo, to come stay at the house and get to know DeFore, who she is hoping will propose to her.
Michael O'Connor is stunned and speechless to hear all of this, as you might imagine, but when Trudy says "Dad, you've always done everything your way. Can't we try it my way just for once"?, he can't say no. He and Trudy then go to a second hand shop (in a hilarious scene), where he purchases some old clothes. She brings him back "home", to his own house, where he's now supposed to be the latest squatter, and introduces him as "Mike", a man she's just met in the park. This is where the role reversals begin.
Mr. McKeever struts around like he owns the place, and treats "Mike" the newcomer, with offhanded contempt, telling him he can stay if he gets cleaned up and if he'll pull his own weight by contributing to the household. When "Mike" tries to help, by doing the dishes for example, McKeever criticizes him for being sloppy. Nothing is ever good enough for McKeever, but he tolerates "Mike", who is burning up inside because he's the second richest man in the world and he's being ordered around in his own home by a transient who's staying there illegally, eating all his food and smoking up his expensive cigars.
But O'Connor loves his daughter so he continues to play along. Meanwhile, his own estranged wife shows up and a subplot begins, in which McKeever will play the role of Cupid. In another subplot, Don DeFore will come up with his own brilliant idea to find homes for himself and his Army pals. This will pit him against O'Connor for a certain piece of land, but what he doesn't know is that O'Connor is already living in the house with him, as "Mike" the none-too-bright hobo.
"It Happened On 5th Avenue" was initially offered to Frank Capra, who chose to direct "Wonderful Life" instead, but "5th" has got a similar social conscience, and in fact one that is featured even more prominently as the thrust of the story. In the street scenes around Manhattan, we are shown many offices and rooms with "Vacancy" signs, the point being that rents are so expensive that no one can afford them, which in turn has led to the homeless problem. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose, to quote Neil Peart, and it's so very true to this day. The commentary on this subject, however, is played as light hearted farce, in order to skewer the idea of the rich, uncaring autocrat while leaving the character of Michael O'Connor intact and with a chance to redeem himself. Hollywood in the Golden Era always attacked with vigor the socioeconomic policies of the One Percent, but they rarely depicted the individual protagonists, the "evil rich" characters in any given film, as men entirely without hearts. In this case, Michael O'Connor discovers his humanity through his daughter's scheme to introduce him to her new boyfriend. In the process, he learns about the plight of those less fortunate than himself, and even gets to "walk a mile in their shoes", through the charade he agrees to play.
Charlie Ruggles is just right for the role of O'Connor. We've seen him as a younger man playing fussy characters in screwball comedies, and he adds that quality here to remove some of the stuffiness from this man of great wealth.
Gale Storm is endearing as Trudy, and in fact you'll wish you had a daughter like her. She is portraying the idealised young woman of the 1940s, and is so good in her role that I'm surprised she didn't have as big a motion picture career as other ingenues of the era.
Don DeFore and Victor Moore are solid as the men affected by capitalism's side effects. Neither one ever allows his circumstances to dominate his outlook. Alan Hale Jr., with his sonorous voice, is especially good in a bit part promoting this essential American optimism. No matter where you are in life, Hollywood promises you a happy ending if you believe.
But the thing is, it's true. That's what Walt Disney tapped into as well, and of course it all stems from the story of Jesus Christ, which is why we are all here and discussing this movie tonight.
"It Happened On 5th Avenue" is a wonderful story of human kindness, played gracefully and with good humor, that will have you awaiting next Christmas so you can watch it again.
From me it gets Two Very Big Thumbs Up and a place in the holiday pantheon. ////
That's all for tonight. I am writing from home, gonna sleep in tomorrow and get ready for the Christmas Eve service at church. I'll see you tomorrow night at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
DeFore, who folks my age will remember from the "Hazel" TV series of the early 1960s, plays an ex-GI who's about to be evicted from his apartment so that the same Michael O'Connor can convert the building into a luxury high rise bearing his name. Shades of Trump! (oh the horror). DeFore is outraged at the eviction and rightly so. He's a veteran who has fought for his country and now his basic rights are being violated. He's put on the street through no fault of his own and winds up sleeping on a park bench, where he's awakened one morning by McKeever's dog Sam. McKeever, who is dressed in O'Connor's clothes and is living high on the hog at his house, feels bad for DeFore and invites him back to the mansion for a bite to eat. DeFore is grateful. He figures McKeever to be the wealthy owner of the estate, but the power keeps going out, among other weird things, and McKeever finally has to confess that he's merely a squatter. DeFore likes him even better after that, because McKeever is sticking it to the rich, but McKeever doesn't see it that way. In his eyes, he's merely using the building while the owner is away. He has no disregard for men of wealth, and in fact he fancies himself one. At Chez O'Connor, he acts like the Lord of the Manor.
One day, Michael O'Connor gets a call from the headmistress at his daughter Trudy's private school. She has run away and can't be found. Truth is, Trudy (Gale Storm) hates the place and wants to be her own woman, to get a job and maybe get married. She returns to New York City and heads straight for the family mansion to grab some clothes and other necessities. While inside, she discovers the new tenants DeFore and McKeever, who turn the tables by accusing her of squatting. They have no idea her father is the estate's owner. DeFore even calls her a thief for taking a mink coat from her own bedroom closet. He threatens to call the police, and that's when she gets an idea to play along with the mistaken identity. You see, she thinks DeFore is cute. She doesn't want the police to come and throw them all out because then she might not see him again, so she pretends to be a poor homeless waif who needs a place to stay. She asks the men to reconsider and they do. Meanwhile, Michael O'Connor has hired a private detective to locate Trudy.
By this time, she's gotten a part time job in a music store and is infatuated with DeFore, who's a dozen years older. The Private Eye finds Trudy at the store and alerts her Dad, who begs her to return to school. She tells him she won't go back, that she's happy being independent, and - most importantly - that she's fallen in love. He asks to meet the man, and this is where Trudy's brilliant idea comes into play. She confesses everything, about the squatting, about DeFore and McKeever, and, by this time, the other homeless folks they've invited to live in the house, including DeFore's old Army buddies Alan Hale Jr. (aka The Skipper), Edward Ryan and their wives, one of whom has just had a baby. Trudy goes on to ask her Dad a favor. She will introduce him to DeFore, if he will pose as another vagrant looking for a place to stay. She doesn't want DeFore to know her Dad's true identity, because he was evicted from O'Connor's building at the beginning of the movie. She's heard DeFore and McKeever railing against Mr. O'Connor on several occasions. Therefore, she is asking Dad to pretend to be a hobo, to come stay at the house and get to know DeFore, who she is hoping will propose to her.
Michael O'Connor is stunned and speechless to hear all of this, as you might imagine, but when Trudy says "Dad, you've always done everything your way. Can't we try it my way just for once"?, he can't say no. He and Trudy then go to a second hand shop (in a hilarious scene), where he purchases some old clothes. She brings him back "home", to his own house, where he's now supposed to be the latest squatter, and introduces him as "Mike", a man she's just met in the park. This is where the role reversals begin.
Mr. McKeever struts around like he owns the place, and treats "Mike" the newcomer, with offhanded contempt, telling him he can stay if he gets cleaned up and if he'll pull his own weight by contributing to the household. When "Mike" tries to help, by doing the dishes for example, McKeever criticizes him for being sloppy. Nothing is ever good enough for McKeever, but he tolerates "Mike", who is burning up inside because he's the second richest man in the world and he's being ordered around in his own home by a transient who's staying there illegally, eating all his food and smoking up his expensive cigars.
But O'Connor loves his daughter so he continues to play along. Meanwhile, his own estranged wife shows up and a subplot begins, in which McKeever will play the role of Cupid. In another subplot, Don DeFore will come up with his own brilliant idea to find homes for himself and his Army pals. This will pit him against O'Connor for a certain piece of land, but what he doesn't know is that O'Connor is already living in the house with him, as "Mike" the none-too-bright hobo.
"It Happened On 5th Avenue" was initially offered to Frank Capra, who chose to direct "Wonderful Life" instead, but "5th" has got a similar social conscience, and in fact one that is featured even more prominently as the thrust of the story. In the street scenes around Manhattan, we are shown many offices and rooms with "Vacancy" signs, the point being that rents are so expensive that no one can afford them, which in turn has led to the homeless problem. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose, to quote Neil Peart, and it's so very true to this day. The commentary on this subject, however, is played as light hearted farce, in order to skewer the idea of the rich, uncaring autocrat while leaving the character of Michael O'Connor intact and with a chance to redeem himself. Hollywood in the Golden Era always attacked with vigor the socioeconomic policies of the One Percent, but they rarely depicted the individual protagonists, the "evil rich" characters in any given film, as men entirely without hearts. In this case, Michael O'Connor discovers his humanity through his daughter's scheme to introduce him to her new boyfriend. In the process, he learns about the plight of those less fortunate than himself, and even gets to "walk a mile in their shoes", through the charade he agrees to play.
Charlie Ruggles is just right for the role of O'Connor. We've seen him as a younger man playing fussy characters in screwball comedies, and he adds that quality here to remove some of the stuffiness from this man of great wealth.
Gale Storm is endearing as Trudy, and in fact you'll wish you had a daughter like her. She is portraying the idealised young woman of the 1940s, and is so good in her role that I'm surprised she didn't have as big a motion picture career as other ingenues of the era.
Don DeFore and Victor Moore are solid as the men affected by capitalism's side effects. Neither one ever allows his circumstances to dominate his outlook. Alan Hale Jr., with his sonorous voice, is especially good in a bit part promoting this essential American optimism. No matter where you are in life, Hollywood promises you a happy ending if you believe.
But the thing is, it's true. That's what Walt Disney tapped into as well, and of course it all stems from the story of Jesus Christ, which is why we are all here and discussing this movie tonight.
"It Happened On 5th Avenue" is a wonderful story of human kindness, played gracefully and with good humor, that will have you awaiting next Christmas so you can watch it again.
From me it gets Two Very Big Thumbs Up and a place in the holiday pantheon. ////
That's all for tonight. I am writing from home, gonna sleep in tomorrow and get ready for the Christmas Eve service at church. I'll see you tomorrow night at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Sunday, December 22, 2019
"Holiday Inn" starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds
Okay, you wanted some Christmas Classics and you've got 'em. We started tonight with "Holiday Inn" (1942), starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds. Have you seen it? If not, then you've surely heard it's signature song "White Christmas", which as of this writing is still the biggest selling single in the history of recorded music. According to Wikipedia, Crosby's version alone has sold 50 million copies throughout the years. Add to that another 50 million from all the cover versions and you have the grand total of approximately 100 million copies sold. Yes, the song out-famouses the movie, which is why it later became the title for a take-off named "White Christmas", also starring Der Bingle, this time paired with Danny Kaye. That film was made in 1954, and is pretty good too, but as with most things in life, the original is best.
Crosby plays Jim Hardy, one third of a successful New York song and dance team. He's the singer, Astaire the dancer (naturally), Virginia Dale is the girl who comes between them. She is also a dancer in the act, which features the three performing simultaneously. Bing has had enough of show business, though, and is ready to retire to the farm he's just purchased in Connecticut. He's expecting Dale to come with him as they're engaged to be married, but what he doesn't know is that she and Fred Astaire have been in love the whole time. Astaire has convinced her to break it off with Bing, which she does. He's hurt by the deception but leaves for his farm anyway, envisioning a life of country leisure.
Unfortunately, he's disillusioned to discover that farming is hard work, as we are shown in a montage of Bing busting his butt. One night, thinking back on his showbiz career, he gets an idea - to turn his place into a nightclub that is only open on holidays. That way, he will only have to work fifteen days a year. He starts working on the concept, writing special music and creating a stage show for each holiday. Now if he can only find backing and the right performers to make it happen. For starters, he writes to Fred Astaire and Virginia Dale in New York to see if he can interest them. By coincidence, Astaire's manager is in a flower shop buying a bouquet for Miss Dale, who has turned out to be quite a prima donna ("she expects flowers on Lincoln's Birthday"!). While in the flower shop, a salesgirl (Marjorie Reynolds) introduces herself. She's recognised the well-known manager and is trying to pitch herself to him. "Ohh, Mr. Reed....I can sing, and dance, and...". He's heard it all before and doesn't have the time to listen to Reynolds' spiel, but she won't let him leave. Then he remembers he has Bing Crosby's new business card in his pocket, for the Holiday Inn, so he gives it to her, saying "I know this guy. Call him. Tell him Danny Reed sent you and I guarantee he'll give you a tryout".
Suddenly Reynolds is in Connecticut, arriving at the Holiday Inn, which looks right out of Currier and Ives. Bing is putting the finishing touches on the place. He's there all alone. He and Reynolds hit it off pretty well, so he takes her inside for an audition right there on the spot. "Let me play you something I just worked up", he says, in that "Sugar Bear" voice of his (buh-buh-ba-boo!). And of course the song is "White Christmas". Bing starts it off, Reynolds takes the second verse, and before it is over, all the nostalgia of Christmases Past come flooding back, and you find you're in need of a hankie.
Marjorie Reynolds passes her audition with flying colors. She will join Bing as his new partner, and they will be the featured performers in all of the holiday programs. Conversely, back in New York, both the act and the relationship of Fred Astaire and Virginia Dale has fallen apart. Dale has left to marry a millionaire in Dallas. Astaire gets hammered and shows up in Connecticut, also at the Inn. He's blind drunk when he gets there, and starts dancing with the first girl he sees, who happens to be Reynolds. They cause a sensation with the crowd. Danny Reed, Astaire's manager, also happens to be there, having followed Fred up from New York. He's excited to see that Fred has found a new partner, but when Fred wakes up the next morning with a terrible hangover, he can't even remember where he is, let alone the girl he danced with the previous night. His manager insists they find her, and this will set up the romantic tension that will drive the rest of the movie, set against a backdrop of light comedy and fantastic musical numbers.
The conflict boils down to this : Bing Crosby resents Fred Astaire's presence at Holiday Inn, because Astaire is trying to pull the same stunt he pulled in New York, trying to steal Bing's new girl out from under him. Yes, Bing asked him to be a performer, but that was when he was still with Virginia Dale. But now he's single again and Bing doesn't trust him. To make matters worse, Marjorie Reynolds has taken a shine to Astaire. He's a suave ladies man who's like lightning on his feet, whereas Der Bingle is a great singer but not as exciting.
Ahh, poor Bing. He just can't win, at least not until the great Louise Beavers (Bing's Maid) gives him a much needed pep talk. She tells Bing to go out and fight for his woman. "Tell her what she wants to hear, Mister Jimmy"! After that, Bing's got some fire in his belly. The battle for Reynolds' heart may not be over yet, especially when an unexpected guest shows up near the end.
You've probably seen "Holiday Inn", and if you have, none of the foregoing will be news to you. But if you haven't yet seen it, make it your Christmas "must-see" for this year. You still have three days; four if you count tonight. I think it's one of the very best of all the Christmas movies, definitely Top Five or maybe even Three (we'll have to make a list). The production numbers alone make it an all-time classic. "Holiday Inn" gets my highest rating, which is Two Gigantic Thumbs Up. Even Scrooge and The Grinch would agree. /////
That's all I know for the time being. It's now Sunday evening. We had good singin' in church, and I had a blast singing solo tenor on "Christmas Lullaby" by John Rutter. I practiced all week to try and nail it, and I hope I did. We'll be singing "Gesu Bambino" and "Rejoice" (by The Birthday Party) on Christmas Eve, plus a whole bunch of Carols. Come on over and join us at 6:30pm. See you later tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Crosby plays Jim Hardy, one third of a successful New York song and dance team. He's the singer, Astaire the dancer (naturally), Virginia Dale is the girl who comes between them. She is also a dancer in the act, which features the three performing simultaneously. Bing has had enough of show business, though, and is ready to retire to the farm he's just purchased in Connecticut. He's expecting Dale to come with him as they're engaged to be married, but what he doesn't know is that she and Fred Astaire have been in love the whole time. Astaire has convinced her to break it off with Bing, which she does. He's hurt by the deception but leaves for his farm anyway, envisioning a life of country leisure.
Unfortunately, he's disillusioned to discover that farming is hard work, as we are shown in a montage of Bing busting his butt. One night, thinking back on his showbiz career, he gets an idea - to turn his place into a nightclub that is only open on holidays. That way, he will only have to work fifteen days a year. He starts working on the concept, writing special music and creating a stage show for each holiday. Now if he can only find backing and the right performers to make it happen. For starters, he writes to Fred Astaire and Virginia Dale in New York to see if he can interest them. By coincidence, Astaire's manager is in a flower shop buying a bouquet for Miss Dale, who has turned out to be quite a prima donna ("she expects flowers on Lincoln's Birthday"!). While in the flower shop, a salesgirl (Marjorie Reynolds) introduces herself. She's recognised the well-known manager and is trying to pitch herself to him. "Ohh, Mr. Reed....I can sing, and dance, and...". He's heard it all before and doesn't have the time to listen to Reynolds' spiel, but she won't let him leave. Then he remembers he has Bing Crosby's new business card in his pocket, for the Holiday Inn, so he gives it to her, saying "I know this guy. Call him. Tell him Danny Reed sent you and I guarantee he'll give you a tryout".
Suddenly Reynolds is in Connecticut, arriving at the Holiday Inn, which looks right out of Currier and Ives. Bing is putting the finishing touches on the place. He's there all alone. He and Reynolds hit it off pretty well, so he takes her inside for an audition right there on the spot. "Let me play you something I just worked up", he says, in that "Sugar Bear" voice of his (buh-buh-ba-boo!). And of course the song is "White Christmas". Bing starts it off, Reynolds takes the second verse, and before it is over, all the nostalgia of Christmases Past come flooding back, and you find you're in need of a hankie.
Marjorie Reynolds passes her audition with flying colors. She will join Bing as his new partner, and they will be the featured performers in all of the holiday programs. Conversely, back in New York, both the act and the relationship of Fred Astaire and Virginia Dale has fallen apart. Dale has left to marry a millionaire in Dallas. Astaire gets hammered and shows up in Connecticut, also at the Inn. He's blind drunk when he gets there, and starts dancing with the first girl he sees, who happens to be Reynolds. They cause a sensation with the crowd. Danny Reed, Astaire's manager, also happens to be there, having followed Fred up from New York. He's excited to see that Fred has found a new partner, but when Fred wakes up the next morning with a terrible hangover, he can't even remember where he is, let alone the girl he danced with the previous night. His manager insists they find her, and this will set up the romantic tension that will drive the rest of the movie, set against a backdrop of light comedy and fantastic musical numbers.
The conflict boils down to this : Bing Crosby resents Fred Astaire's presence at Holiday Inn, because Astaire is trying to pull the same stunt he pulled in New York, trying to steal Bing's new girl out from under him. Yes, Bing asked him to be a performer, but that was when he was still with Virginia Dale. But now he's single again and Bing doesn't trust him. To make matters worse, Marjorie Reynolds has taken a shine to Astaire. He's a suave ladies man who's like lightning on his feet, whereas Der Bingle is a great singer but not as exciting.
Ahh, poor Bing. He just can't win, at least not until the great Louise Beavers (Bing's Maid) gives him a much needed pep talk. She tells Bing to go out and fight for his woman. "Tell her what she wants to hear, Mister Jimmy"! After that, Bing's got some fire in his belly. The battle for Reynolds' heart may not be over yet, especially when an unexpected guest shows up near the end.
You've probably seen "Holiday Inn", and if you have, none of the foregoing will be news to you. But if you haven't yet seen it, make it your Christmas "must-see" for this year. You still have three days; four if you count tonight. I think it's one of the very best of all the Christmas movies, definitely Top Five or maybe even Three (we'll have to make a list). The production numbers alone make it an all-time classic. "Holiday Inn" gets my highest rating, which is Two Gigantic Thumbs Up. Even Scrooge and The Grinch would agree. /////
That's all I know for the time being. It's now Sunday evening. We had good singin' in church, and I had a blast singing solo tenor on "Christmas Lullaby" by John Rutter. I practiced all week to try and nail it, and I hope I did. We'll be singing "Gesu Bambino" and "Rejoice" (by The Birthday Party) on Christmas Eve, plus a whole bunch of Carols. Come on over and join us at 6:30pm. See you later tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Saturday, December 21, 2019
"The Cheyenne Social Club" starring James Stewart, Henry Fonda and Shirley Jones
Sorry I missed you last night. Grimsley came over with "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", but you already know that one so I figured I didn't need to review it. Tonight however, we were back in the saddle with our old pals James Stewart and Henry Fonda, who played mortal enemies in "Firecreek", which we saw a few days ago. In this evening's picture, "The Cheyenne Social Club"(1970), they are the best of friends, and it's quite a treat to watch them banter and argue, because as good as these two old pros are in character, you know they're in on the joke that they're also, in part, playing themselves, as real life pals and Hollywood legends.
Stewart is "John O'Hanlon", an aging cowhand working a cattle drive somewhere in Texas. One day a postal employee rides up with a letter informing John that he's inherited a business in Wyoming, formerly owned by his late brother. Henry Fonda, another cowpoke, is by his side when the letter arrives. "What's the name of this establishment"?, he asks Jimmy Stewart. "It's called the Cheyenne Social Club, Harley". "Well, whataya suppose that is, John"? "I dunno, Harley. Maybe it's a saloon of some sort". It's not a saloon, but we'll find that out later. First, it's time for a long trip, on horseback, from Texas to Wyoming, with Henry Fonda jabbering all the way.
Fonda's character Harley isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's folksy and has a thousand stories to tell, all of which he relates to Stewart in a neverending motormouth marathon. Harley's tales are of the "did I ever tell you about my cousin Mabel, who had three toes"? variety. The movie opens with a long sequence of Harley's tales, as he and John ride to Wyoming. It's a hoot because Henry Fonda is so good at playing a hick. Finally, Jimmy Stewart can't take any more and politely asks him to stop talking. You know they had a blast doing this scene.
When they get to Cheyenne, Stewart looks up the lawyer who sent him the letter. "I always wanted to be a man of property", he says. The lawyer assures him that he's the new owner, and directs him to the Cheyenne Social Club, which turns out to be........a house of prostitution. Shirley Jones plays "Jenny", the madame. This was at the same time she would rocket to pop culture fame as "Mrs. Partridge" of "The Partridge Family" TV series. In the movie, her character Jenny and the whole "cathouse scenario" is played with a genial, PG flavor. Any sexual innuendoes are only broadly hinted at, and even then in the sunniest of ways. Each girl considered herself "D.J.'s favorite" (D.J. being Stewart's late brother), and because they revered D.J. they aim to treat Stewart the same way, with loving care.
But Stewart isn't so sure about his newly inherited enterprise. He was brought up in a Texas town where they didn't have such establishments, and while he isn't a moral crusader, he doesn't feel comfortable as the owner of a whorehouse. Henry Fonda is, at first, stupefied by the whole thing. He was expecting the property to be a bar where he could get some serious drinking done. As a hayseed, he's also taken aback by the ladies' forwardness. "Gee, John, I dunno if we should be entering in to this kind of partnership". It isn't Fonda's to "enter into", but he soon changes his mind about the place after meeting Opal Ann (Sue Ann Langdon), a cheery, buxom Lady of the Evening who takes him into her parlor that night.
Jimmy Stewart has made his decision, though. In the morning, he plans to tell Jenny and the ladies that he's gonna sell the place. He just isn't cut out to be the owner. When he informs Jenny, she is crushed and lashes out at him, telling him that he has no heart and that his brother D.J. would never have abandoned the ladies like this. Stewart feels bad, so he goes back to see the lawyer, telling the man that he now wants to sell, but with the stipulation that the business be kept in tact, so that the ladies won't be out on the street. But the lawyer advises him of a clause in his brother's will; that only Stewart is entitled to own the Social Club. He doesn't own the land in any case. If he sells the building, it will be torn down to make way for the railroad. So, he's stuck with the place unless he can discover another option.
One will come as the result of the film's only real conflict. There is a patron at the local bar who complains to Stewart that Jenny has insulted him, telling him he "smellled" and not to come back until he's had a bath. He's a surly, squinty-eyed man from a family of gunslingers. "No one tells a Bannister to take a bath", he says to Stewart. That's the end of their discussion for the time being, but Bannister isn't going to let the matter drop. A couple of days later, one of the girls will come running over to the hotel with alarming news, which I won't disclose. This takes place about an hour into the film, and afterwards we finally have some action on our hands. The movie turns into an old-fashioned Western at this point, with Stewart having to defend the girls and his property. Henry Fonda will arise from his langour to prove himself right handy with a gun. And of course, when you piss off Jimmy Stewart, you're making a big mistake, as the outlaws will soon learn.
"The Cheyenne Social Club" is mostly a lark. The story is rather insubstantial, but it's a lot of fun to watch the two leads in what essentially is a "buddy movie" set in a fish-out-of-water context. The ladies add sweetness, lust, and humor, and of course under the skin of their profession they've all got hearts of gold. The PG jokes sometimes fall short of the mark, however. I don't know if this is due to Gene Kelly's direction or a lack of wit by the writer, but only Fonda's reactions bring any belly laughs. He's the star of the show this time, even alongside Jimmy Stewart, because he's playing such a geek. "The Cheyenne Social Club" is enjoyable and worth a view, simply because it's fun and it's heart is in the right place. I give it Two Regular Thumbs Up, but with a strong recommendation for Stewart and Fonda fans. They even have a scene where they argue the merits of being a Democrat (Fonda) vs. a Republican (Stewart), as the two actors were in real life. If only we could have such congenial discussions now. ////
That's all for the time being. It's now Saturday afternoon. I am off work until the day after Christmas, so I may go for a hike in a few minutes, as long as Gale Force winds aren't blowing. Tomorrow morning we have "Christmas Lullaby" coming up in church. That's a tough one to sing, so I'll be drinking lemon water all day to prepare. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Stewart is "John O'Hanlon", an aging cowhand working a cattle drive somewhere in Texas. One day a postal employee rides up with a letter informing John that he's inherited a business in Wyoming, formerly owned by his late brother. Henry Fonda, another cowpoke, is by his side when the letter arrives. "What's the name of this establishment"?, he asks Jimmy Stewart. "It's called the Cheyenne Social Club, Harley". "Well, whataya suppose that is, John"? "I dunno, Harley. Maybe it's a saloon of some sort". It's not a saloon, but we'll find that out later. First, it's time for a long trip, on horseback, from Texas to Wyoming, with Henry Fonda jabbering all the way.
Fonda's character Harley isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's folksy and has a thousand stories to tell, all of which he relates to Stewart in a neverending motormouth marathon. Harley's tales are of the "did I ever tell you about my cousin Mabel, who had three toes"? variety. The movie opens with a long sequence of Harley's tales, as he and John ride to Wyoming. It's a hoot because Henry Fonda is so good at playing a hick. Finally, Jimmy Stewart can't take any more and politely asks him to stop talking. You know they had a blast doing this scene.
When they get to Cheyenne, Stewart looks up the lawyer who sent him the letter. "I always wanted to be a man of property", he says. The lawyer assures him that he's the new owner, and directs him to the Cheyenne Social Club, which turns out to be........a house of prostitution. Shirley Jones plays "Jenny", the madame. This was at the same time she would rocket to pop culture fame as "Mrs. Partridge" of "The Partridge Family" TV series. In the movie, her character Jenny and the whole "cathouse scenario" is played with a genial, PG flavor. Any sexual innuendoes are only broadly hinted at, and even then in the sunniest of ways. Each girl considered herself "D.J.'s favorite" (D.J. being Stewart's late brother), and because they revered D.J. they aim to treat Stewart the same way, with loving care.
But Stewart isn't so sure about his newly inherited enterprise. He was brought up in a Texas town where they didn't have such establishments, and while he isn't a moral crusader, he doesn't feel comfortable as the owner of a whorehouse. Henry Fonda is, at first, stupefied by the whole thing. He was expecting the property to be a bar where he could get some serious drinking done. As a hayseed, he's also taken aback by the ladies' forwardness. "Gee, John, I dunno if we should be entering in to this kind of partnership". It isn't Fonda's to "enter into", but he soon changes his mind about the place after meeting Opal Ann (Sue Ann Langdon), a cheery, buxom Lady of the Evening who takes him into her parlor that night.
Jimmy Stewart has made his decision, though. In the morning, he plans to tell Jenny and the ladies that he's gonna sell the place. He just isn't cut out to be the owner. When he informs Jenny, she is crushed and lashes out at him, telling him that he has no heart and that his brother D.J. would never have abandoned the ladies like this. Stewart feels bad, so he goes back to see the lawyer, telling the man that he now wants to sell, but with the stipulation that the business be kept in tact, so that the ladies won't be out on the street. But the lawyer advises him of a clause in his brother's will; that only Stewart is entitled to own the Social Club. He doesn't own the land in any case. If he sells the building, it will be torn down to make way for the railroad. So, he's stuck with the place unless he can discover another option.
One will come as the result of the film's only real conflict. There is a patron at the local bar who complains to Stewart that Jenny has insulted him, telling him he "smellled" and not to come back until he's had a bath. He's a surly, squinty-eyed man from a family of gunslingers. "No one tells a Bannister to take a bath", he says to Stewart. That's the end of their discussion for the time being, but Bannister isn't going to let the matter drop. A couple of days later, one of the girls will come running over to the hotel with alarming news, which I won't disclose. This takes place about an hour into the film, and afterwards we finally have some action on our hands. The movie turns into an old-fashioned Western at this point, with Stewart having to defend the girls and his property. Henry Fonda will arise from his langour to prove himself right handy with a gun. And of course, when you piss off Jimmy Stewart, you're making a big mistake, as the outlaws will soon learn.
"The Cheyenne Social Club" is mostly a lark. The story is rather insubstantial, but it's a lot of fun to watch the two leads in what essentially is a "buddy movie" set in a fish-out-of-water context. The ladies add sweetness, lust, and humor, and of course under the skin of their profession they've all got hearts of gold. The PG jokes sometimes fall short of the mark, however. I don't know if this is due to Gene Kelly's direction or a lack of wit by the writer, but only Fonda's reactions bring any belly laughs. He's the star of the show this time, even alongside Jimmy Stewart, because he's playing such a geek. "The Cheyenne Social Club" is enjoyable and worth a view, simply because it's fun and it's heart is in the right place. I give it Two Regular Thumbs Up, but with a strong recommendation for Stewart and Fonda fans. They even have a scene where they argue the merits of being a Democrat (Fonda) vs. a Republican (Stewart), as the two actors were in real life. If only we could have such congenial discussions now. ////
That's all for the time being. It's now Saturday afternoon. I am off work until the day after Christmas, so I may go for a hike in a few minutes, as long as Gale Force winds aren't blowing. Tomorrow morning we have "Christmas Lullaby" coming up in church. That's a tough one to sing, so I'll be drinking lemon water all day to prepare. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Thursday, December 19, 2019
"The Vanishing Virginian" starring Frank Morgan, Spring Byington and Kathryn Grayson
This evening's motion picture was entitled "The Vanishing Virginian"(1942), starring Frank Morgan, Kathryn Grayson and Spring Byington. It tells the story of Robert Yancey, a lawyer from Lynchburg, Virginia who served as the town's Commonwealth Attorney for 33 years. The period covered in the film is from 1912-1929. Yancey (played by Morgan, who three years earlier was The Wizard of Oz), is a hearty Southern gentleman with a wife (Byington) and four children. The eldest are daughters Margaret (Natalie Thompson) and Rebecca (Grayson), independent minded young ladies who are influenced by the women's suffrage movement. Margaret has been raised to be an artist but hates art. Her dream is to become a lawyer like her father. Rebecca is a natural born singer, as was Kathryn Grayson in real life, but she wants to paint. "Captain" Yancey, as he is known, just wants to get re-elected. His wife Spring Byington makes him swear this will be his last term.
This is what you would call a slice-of-life movie rather than one with a distinct plot. It's not quite a biopic because Mr. Yancey was not famous enough for that, so you might think of it as a nostalgia picture about the good old days in the great state of Virginia, told via the life of one of it's favorite sons. We are taken through various stages of Yancey's career, such as the time he went against the interests of his own office to influence a jury against condemning a black man to death. He's a fair-minded prosecutor who has no tolerance for prejudice, and while he has black servants at home, they are considered part of the family. The great Louise Beavers plays "Aunt" Emmeline, and an actor named Leigh Whipper plays her husband, "Uncle" Josh". Whipper was a distinguished theatre actor whom I don't believe I've seen before on film, but his role is important in the story, for Uncle Josh and Robert Yancey have been friends since childhood. Uncle Josh takes care of the farm animals and loves Yancey's children as if they were his own. His selflessness will lead to the crescendo of the only major plot point in the film.
There are romances for the sisters. Margaret is courted by an up-and-coming young lawyer (Johnny Mitchell) who she finds dull. Instead she goes out with Mark Daniels, who owns a brand new Stanley Steamer. Rebecca takes up her slack and ends up marrying Mitchell, who loves her singing. Kathryn Grayson, a soprano, had an operatic voice and she sings a couple of solo numbers along the way.
There is also a brief subtheme having to do with Prohibition. This is before it was passed as the 18th Amendment. A politico has come to Lynchburg to urge citizens to push for the bill. Yancey discovers the man is a wealthy trickster, who - at the same time he's rallying for Prohibition - is also going around buying up all the whiskey in Tennessee, so he can sell it on the black market after the Amendment passes. But this is presented as another vignette rather than a plot device.
The story is really just about the lives of the Yanceys, told in episodic fashion. Spring Byington gets a lot of screen time as Rose Yancey, who addresses her husband as "Mr. Yancey" in the formal old Southern way. Byington is another actress whom you've seen in many old movies. She was very good, and here she will exhibit some jealousy when Mr. Yancey's old girlfriend passes through town on a Suffragete junket. Any conflict in the movie is mild, however. "The Vanishing Virginian" is a feel good film (save the one major plot point), and on that score it succeeds. You will wish you had a Time Machine to go back and visit Virginia in the early 1900s, when automobiles were new, and telephones were just coming into homes. I will interject to say that it often blows my mind that I was born only 40 years after radio, for instance, and fifteen years after television, but even more than that, it was only 60 years prior to my birth that electricity came into common use! I am reading a biography about Nikola Tesla, who was truly responsible for putting electricity into the mainstream, and you kind of take it for granted that it's always been around, but it hasn't.
The modern world, as we know it, only began to develop about 140 years ago, and most of the technologies we enjoy today only came into common use no sooner than the turn of the century. That's why nostalgia for that time is so powerful, because it must have been an incredibly exciting time to be alive, but at the same time, you also had a simpler way of living, based on farming and family life. "The Vanishing Virginian" does a beautiful job of capturing the magic of the era. It was directed by the great Frank Borzage, who I forgot to mention was also at the helm of last night's "The Shining Hour". When you have Borzage directing for MGM, it's a can't miss combo.
I give "The Vanishing Virginian" Two Gigantic Thumbs Up. It's a movie of small things rather than earthshaking drama, but it takes you to a wonderful place and time, in the company of good people. I loved it and will look for other films in the same vein. ////
That's all for the moment. Thanks very much for Impeaching, by the way. That was awesome, so again, thanks and great job! Now onward and upward to the voting booth next November. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
This is what you would call a slice-of-life movie rather than one with a distinct plot. It's not quite a biopic because Mr. Yancey was not famous enough for that, so you might think of it as a nostalgia picture about the good old days in the great state of Virginia, told via the life of one of it's favorite sons. We are taken through various stages of Yancey's career, such as the time he went against the interests of his own office to influence a jury against condemning a black man to death. He's a fair-minded prosecutor who has no tolerance for prejudice, and while he has black servants at home, they are considered part of the family. The great Louise Beavers plays "Aunt" Emmeline, and an actor named Leigh Whipper plays her husband, "Uncle" Josh". Whipper was a distinguished theatre actor whom I don't believe I've seen before on film, but his role is important in the story, for Uncle Josh and Robert Yancey have been friends since childhood. Uncle Josh takes care of the farm animals and loves Yancey's children as if they were his own. His selflessness will lead to the crescendo of the only major plot point in the film.
There are romances for the sisters. Margaret is courted by an up-and-coming young lawyer (Johnny Mitchell) who she finds dull. Instead she goes out with Mark Daniels, who owns a brand new Stanley Steamer. Rebecca takes up her slack and ends up marrying Mitchell, who loves her singing. Kathryn Grayson, a soprano, had an operatic voice and she sings a couple of solo numbers along the way.
There is also a brief subtheme having to do with Prohibition. This is before it was passed as the 18th Amendment. A politico has come to Lynchburg to urge citizens to push for the bill. Yancey discovers the man is a wealthy trickster, who - at the same time he's rallying for Prohibition - is also going around buying up all the whiskey in Tennessee, so he can sell it on the black market after the Amendment passes. But this is presented as another vignette rather than a plot device.
The story is really just about the lives of the Yanceys, told in episodic fashion. Spring Byington gets a lot of screen time as Rose Yancey, who addresses her husband as "Mr. Yancey" in the formal old Southern way. Byington is another actress whom you've seen in many old movies. She was very good, and here she will exhibit some jealousy when Mr. Yancey's old girlfriend passes through town on a Suffragete junket. Any conflict in the movie is mild, however. "The Vanishing Virginian" is a feel good film (save the one major plot point), and on that score it succeeds. You will wish you had a Time Machine to go back and visit Virginia in the early 1900s, when automobiles were new, and telephones were just coming into homes. I will interject to say that it often blows my mind that I was born only 40 years after radio, for instance, and fifteen years after television, but even more than that, it was only 60 years prior to my birth that electricity came into common use! I am reading a biography about Nikola Tesla, who was truly responsible for putting electricity into the mainstream, and you kind of take it for granted that it's always been around, but it hasn't.
The modern world, as we know it, only began to develop about 140 years ago, and most of the technologies we enjoy today only came into common use no sooner than the turn of the century. That's why nostalgia for that time is so powerful, because it must have been an incredibly exciting time to be alive, but at the same time, you also had a simpler way of living, based on farming and family life. "The Vanishing Virginian" does a beautiful job of capturing the magic of the era. It was directed by the great Frank Borzage, who I forgot to mention was also at the helm of last night's "The Shining Hour". When you have Borzage directing for MGM, it's a can't miss combo.
I give "The Vanishing Virginian" Two Gigantic Thumbs Up. It's a movie of small things rather than earthshaking drama, but it takes you to a wonderful place and time, in the company of good people. I loved it and will look for other films in the same vein. ////
That's all for the moment. Thanks very much for Impeaching, by the way. That was awesome, so again, thanks and great job! Now onward and upward to the voting booth next November. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
"The Shining Hour" starring Joan Crawford, Robert Young, Margaret Sullavan, Fay Bainter and Melvyn Douglas
Tonight's movie was "The Shining Hour"(1938), an MGM melodrama starring Joan Crawford, Melvyn Douglas, Margaret Sullavan and Robert Young, yet another top notch cast in our recent run of such. Crawford plays Olivia Riley, a nightclub dancer from New York who has attracted the attention of one Henry Linden (Douglas). Linden, a sibling from a wealthy Wisconsin farm family, wants Olivia to retire from dancing and marry him, which she agrees to do even though she really doesn't love him. Henry represents everything she's ever wanted - class, legacy, stability. Olivia is a New York sensation but she grew up poor and unloved. Inside she feels like little Maggie Riley (her birth name) from the wrong side of the tracks. That a man like Douglas could be in love with her is enough to change her life. She eagerly accepts his proposal, quits New York and moves back to Wisconsin with him. Waiting at the family farm is Douglas' brother, Robert Young, who heard about the marriage aboard an airplane when the movie opened. Young is married to Margaret Sullvan, a nervous but sophisticated woman who takes a liking to Crawford, admiring her outspokenness. The head of the family is sister Hannah (Fay Bainter), the eldest of the siblings. She is a shrew who dislikes Olivia before even meeting her.
We have here what might be considered an inversion of attitudes. Hannah loathes Olivia simply because she's from New York - i.e. the Big City - and she's a dancer, meaning part of show business and therefore she must be of low morals. But in reality, Oliva is the decent one. Though she's had failed relationships, she isn't the tramp that Hannah insinuates. She's kind and unfailingly polite in the face of Hannah's insults. Hannah, in turn, is exactly the kind of viper she accuses Olivia of being. She's also a culture snob. The Linden house is filled with expensive furnishings and art. The family wealth comes from agriculture, and they live in the countryside, but they'd be right at home in Manhattan, even more so than Olivia, who adapts easily to life in Wisconsin. She's happy because she is loved, and that translates to her attitude. Hannah, on the other hand, has no one to love her. She's alone except for her brothers and Margaret Sullavan. She's so resentful of Olivia's happiness that she treats her unmercifully.
Robert Young is perhaps the black sheep of the family. He doesn't care for farming and prefers to travel. He's also a gifted pianist. One day, Olivia hears him playing Chopin's Waltz 64 #2 (interjection to say that Lipatti owns this piece. Go to Youtube and listen). She is captivated because it was the music for her signature dance routine in New York. Young has treated her indifferently up to this time, but now they strike up a conversation over the music and are soon friends. Olivia discovers that she likes Young very much. He's artistic and sensitive whereas his brother, Olivia's husband, is business minded. Young begins to spend time with Olivia whenever he can, and it becomes clear to her that he doesn't love his own wife, Margaret Sullavan. Olivia sees what is happening and tries to discourage Young's companionship, but he keeps sneaking away to meet her and finally confesses that he loves her.
This is where things get complicated. Young tells Olivia : "I know you don't love my brother. Admit it"! She replies, "You're right. But he loves me, and I like him very much. We have a good marriage and I want to keep it that way". She goes on : "And you have a wife that worships the ground you walk on. You may not love her - and I don't think you do - but it's wrong for you to go behind her back. I don't want you to see me anymore".
Young won't give up : "Admit you love me! I can see it in your eyes". But Olivia won't say the words. Despite Hannah's accusations, she's a good woman who won't break up a marriage even if she does have feelings for Young. Instead, she goes to visit Sullavan, who's beginning to suspect that something is up with her husband and Olivia. She's the kind of wife who would step out of the way if her husband wanted another woman. She's loved Robert Young since childhood, but has secretly known all these years that he's never loved her in return. He only married her at Hannah's insistence.
So what we've got is quite a romantic mess. Robert Young loves Olivia, his brother's wife. She may have feelings for him, but won't succumb to them because it's wrong. Margaret Sullavan loves Robert Young, her husband, but he doesn't love her, and Olivia "really likes" her husband Melvyn Douglas, Young's brother, who loves her but is inattentive and oblivious to everything else that is going on.
But Hannah knows, and she's gonna fix things to try and get Olivia out of the way. Meanwhile, poor suffering Sullavan is having a nervous breakdown. This is quite the potboiler we have going. Just when Young declares that he is willing to divorce Sullavan to marry Olivia, if she will divorce his brother, all hell breaks loose following a party at the Linden estate. This is where I must leave you, but you'll never expect what's coming. Some folks at IMDB complained about the ending, feeling it was disingenuous; I loved it, and thought it provided some necessary relief after all the turmoil.
"The Shining Hour" was adapted from a play. Joan Crawford, only 34 here and not yet having acquired the "harder", over-madeup look of her later career, is exceptional as Olivia. I've mentioned before my regard for her acting ability, I think she's the "flip side" of Bette Davis, every bit as talented but fragile where Davis was tough. Margaret Sullavan was one of the great actresses of the 1930s and 40s, in lead or supporting roles. She's good enough here to have earned an Oscar in my opinion. Sadly, she had a short and tragic life like so many other Hollywood stars, dying at age 51 of a drug overdose, a probable suicide. Robert Young is effective as her disloyal husband. He was very handsome as a "young" man (see what I did there?), and was often put in the role of a middleman or interloper, in crime films and romances. He played guys you weren't sure you could trust, unlike Marcus Welby, M.D. Melvyn Douglas was a fine actor with a long, distinguished career, but he doesn't have much to do here except be oblivious to the ongoings of the other characters. Fay Bainter was a character actress whom you've seen in a jillion movies. She had a distinctive hairstyle and big eyes. Usually she portrayed matronly types, but this time she steals the show as the witchy Hannah, and - like Margaret Sullavan - could and should have james garnered an Oscar nomination.
Appearing for comic relief is the indefatigable Hattie McDaniel as Crawford's maid "Belvedere". She was great in every movie she was in, and did win an Academy Award, for "Gone With The Wind", the very next year in 1939.
"The Shining Hour" runs a tight 77 minutes and has a power packed script with a ton of stuff going on. The performances, as noted, are very good to excellent. Filmed in black and white on glamorous Golden Era MGM sets, it gets Two Very Big Thumbs Up from yours truly. Highly recommended for fans of melodrama. ////
That's all for now. I'm in a bit of a rush and have to get back to the House to cast my vote in favor of Impeachment, so I'll see you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
We have here what might be considered an inversion of attitudes. Hannah loathes Olivia simply because she's from New York - i.e. the Big City - and she's a dancer, meaning part of show business and therefore she must be of low morals. But in reality, Oliva is the decent one. Though she's had failed relationships, she isn't the tramp that Hannah insinuates. She's kind and unfailingly polite in the face of Hannah's insults. Hannah, in turn, is exactly the kind of viper she accuses Olivia of being. She's also a culture snob. The Linden house is filled with expensive furnishings and art. The family wealth comes from agriculture, and they live in the countryside, but they'd be right at home in Manhattan, even more so than Olivia, who adapts easily to life in Wisconsin. She's happy because she is loved, and that translates to her attitude. Hannah, on the other hand, has no one to love her. She's alone except for her brothers and Margaret Sullavan. She's so resentful of Olivia's happiness that she treats her unmercifully.
Robert Young is perhaps the black sheep of the family. He doesn't care for farming and prefers to travel. He's also a gifted pianist. One day, Olivia hears him playing Chopin's Waltz 64 #2 (interjection to say that Lipatti owns this piece. Go to Youtube and listen). She is captivated because it was the music for her signature dance routine in New York. Young has treated her indifferently up to this time, but now they strike up a conversation over the music and are soon friends. Olivia discovers that she likes Young very much. He's artistic and sensitive whereas his brother, Olivia's husband, is business minded. Young begins to spend time with Olivia whenever he can, and it becomes clear to her that he doesn't love his own wife, Margaret Sullavan. Olivia sees what is happening and tries to discourage Young's companionship, but he keeps sneaking away to meet her and finally confesses that he loves her.
This is where things get complicated. Young tells Olivia : "I know you don't love my brother. Admit it"! She replies, "You're right. But he loves me, and I like him very much. We have a good marriage and I want to keep it that way". She goes on : "And you have a wife that worships the ground you walk on. You may not love her - and I don't think you do - but it's wrong for you to go behind her back. I don't want you to see me anymore".
Young won't give up : "Admit you love me! I can see it in your eyes". But Olivia won't say the words. Despite Hannah's accusations, she's a good woman who won't break up a marriage even if she does have feelings for Young. Instead, she goes to visit Sullavan, who's beginning to suspect that something is up with her husband and Olivia. She's the kind of wife who would step out of the way if her husband wanted another woman. She's loved Robert Young since childhood, but has secretly known all these years that he's never loved her in return. He only married her at Hannah's insistence.
So what we've got is quite a romantic mess. Robert Young loves Olivia, his brother's wife. She may have feelings for him, but won't succumb to them because it's wrong. Margaret Sullavan loves Robert Young, her husband, but he doesn't love her, and Olivia "really likes" her husband Melvyn Douglas, Young's brother, who loves her but is inattentive and oblivious to everything else that is going on.
But Hannah knows, and she's gonna fix things to try and get Olivia out of the way. Meanwhile, poor suffering Sullavan is having a nervous breakdown. This is quite the potboiler we have going. Just when Young declares that he is willing to divorce Sullavan to marry Olivia, if she will divorce his brother, all hell breaks loose following a party at the Linden estate. This is where I must leave you, but you'll never expect what's coming. Some folks at IMDB complained about the ending, feeling it was disingenuous; I loved it, and thought it provided some necessary relief after all the turmoil.
"The Shining Hour" was adapted from a play. Joan Crawford, only 34 here and not yet having acquired the "harder", over-madeup look of her later career, is exceptional as Olivia. I've mentioned before my regard for her acting ability, I think she's the "flip side" of Bette Davis, every bit as talented but fragile where Davis was tough. Margaret Sullavan was one of the great actresses of the 1930s and 40s, in lead or supporting roles. She's good enough here to have earned an Oscar in my opinion. Sadly, she had a short and tragic life like so many other Hollywood stars, dying at age 51 of a drug overdose, a probable suicide. Robert Young is effective as her disloyal husband. He was very handsome as a "young" man (see what I did there?), and was often put in the role of a middleman or interloper, in crime films and romances. He played guys you weren't sure you could trust, unlike Marcus Welby, M.D. Melvyn Douglas was a fine actor with a long, distinguished career, but he doesn't have much to do here except be oblivious to the ongoings of the other characters. Fay Bainter was a character actress whom you've seen in a jillion movies. She had a distinctive hairstyle and big eyes. Usually she portrayed matronly types, but this time she steals the show as the witchy Hannah, and - like Margaret Sullavan - could and should have james garnered an Oscar nomination.
Appearing for comic relief is the indefatigable Hattie McDaniel as Crawford's maid "Belvedere". She was great in every movie she was in, and did win an Academy Award, for "Gone With The Wind", the very next year in 1939.
"The Shining Hour" runs a tight 77 minutes and has a power packed script with a ton of stuff going on. The performances, as noted, are very good to excellent. Filmed in black and white on glamorous Golden Era MGM sets, it gets Two Very Big Thumbs Up from yours truly. Highly recommended for fans of melodrama. ////
That's all for now. I'm in a bit of a rush and have to get back to the House to cast my vote in favor of Impeachment, so I'll see you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
"Firecreek", an Unheralded Western Classic starring James Stewart, Henry Fonda and Inger Stevens
Tonight we concluded our Inger Stevens mini-fest with a movie called "Firecreek"(1968), starring (in addition to Stevens) James Stewart and Henry Fonda. I'd never heard of this film before, and I'm very surprised it's not well known because it might just be the last of the great Westerns, or one of the last anyway. The trend after 1969 was to go the route of "The Wild Bunch" and turn the genre into a bloodbath, or to continue to make Spaghetti Westerns, which I think mostly sucked because - besides being poorly made - they verged on parody. But in 1968, you still had "The Stalking Moon" with Gregory Peck, and the newly discovered "Firecreek", two classic Westerns in the grand tradition.......and then that was it. But boy, was it great while it lasted.
Jimmy Stewart stars as Johnny Cobb, a farmer in the town of Firecreek who is also the "honorary" Sheriff. Firecreek is so out of the way that it's citizens figure they don't need a full-time lawman. Nothing ever happens in their town, and in fact, that's the reason many of the residents moved there, to be away from the dangers of the Wild West. But the sameness of day to day life in Firecreek has led to complacency on the part of it's people, so when Henry Fonda (pronounced Hen-REE Fahhn-dah) rides in with his cadre of stone cold killers, the citizens revert to cowardice, much like they did in "High Noon". They leave it up to Stewart to deal with the bad men, and at first he tries to appease them, because he says, while they are certainly nasty and belligerent, they haven't done anything wrong. Nothing he can arrest them for, at any rate. The translation for this is that he's scared of them, too, or at least wary, and he doesn't want to provoke trouble.
Fonda's men aren't actual outlaws. They work as hired gunmen for ranchers. Their jobs have included clearing land of poachers and squatters, which often meant killing someone, but in Fonda's eyes it was all justified by the fact that he and his men were paid to do a job. Besides, he says, how can something be against the law when there is no law to begin with? He's talking about the frontier, which had yet to be settled or taken in by the United States.
There is a young man in town, named Arthur, who works at the livery stable. He is mentally deficient, but forthright, and he idolises Sheriff Jimmy. He isn't smart, but he can see that Fonda's men are up to no good, drinking and partying and talking dirty about an Indian woman who runs the town restaurant. Arthur believes in right and wrong and tries to get Jimmy Stewart to do something, but again Jimmy demures. "Don't worry, Arthur. They'll be gone in the morning". That was the original plan, anyway. Fonda told Stewart that he and his men were just stopping for the night, to rest and eat. But Fonda has a wound that needs bandaging, and when he checks in to the hotel, Inger Stevens - the owner's grandaughter - volunteers to have a look at it. She can see it's a bullet wound, so she asks him about it. "It didn't happen in a gunfight if that's what you're worried about", Fonda replies, but Stevens doesn't believe him. She is a taciturn woman who wants the men gone as soon as possible. She wraps the wound anyway and gives Fonda some medicine, and whataya know?........soon he will fall in love with her.
Meanwhile, over at the bar, Fonda's men are whooping it up, fighting and breaking windows. Two of them - Gary Lockwood (of "2001" fame) and James Best (from "Rolling Thunder") have an eye on the Indian woman from the restaurant across the street. She lives in the back; they can see that her bedroom light is on, and they get to talking. "Betcha she'd like her a nice young cowboy", Best muses. "Well why doncha go over and find out", suggests Lockwood. He's a real SOB in this movie, who's been making trouble ever since he came to Firecreek. Best ain't too bright, and he's drunk as a skunk (a bad combination), so he takes Lockwood's advice and walks across the street and into the woman's abode.
Arthur the stable boy happens to be wandering by, and when he passes the restaurant he sees the door ajar. Sensing something wrong, he enters the establishment to check on the Indian lady. There are noises coming from the back room. Arthur looks in to see James Best on top of the woman, and calls out for him to stop. Best is irritated but not deterred. He gets up just long enough to throw Arthur out of the place, and then goes right back to what he was doing. When Arthur re-enters and jumps on Best's back, a fight ensues, spilling out into the street. Arthur manages to get Best's gun, and - I probably shouldn't tell you this but I'm going to (Spoiler Alert!) - he shoots Best in the back. He didn't mean to do it. Sheriff Jimmy has told Arthur never to play with guns, but what else could Arthur do? James Best was raping a woman. Arthur only meant to stop him, to hold him at gunpoint. But he didn't know that Best had his pistol filed down to a hair trigger. It went off as soon as he grabbed it, and now Best is dead. Gary Lockwood watched the whole thing from his table at the bar. He wants instant frontier justice. Jimmy Stewart runs down the street to intervene. He takes Arthur into protective custody and places him in jail. Stewart has another pressing concern : his pregnant wife is about to give birth, but it's a complicated labor. He needs to be with her, so he asks the local storekeeper to watch Arthur until he gets back.
This is where the plot turns, so I shouldn't reveal any more. You can imagine that Gary Lockwood is gonna try to take advantage of Sheriff Jimmy's absence. Lockwood isn't very "Frank Poole"-like in this movie. If he were, he'd be much more thoughtful about the situation; scientific even. But here, he's a real a-hole from the get-go. The only person who can stop him now is his own boss Henry Fonda, who as mentioned has fallen for Inger Stevens and doesn't want any trouble. He's been trying to get Lockwood to behave the entire time, but Fonda is older and not quite as tough. He knows he can rein in his men only so far. At a certain point, they're gonna ignore his orders, and with the shooting of James Best, that point has been reached. In the interest of keeping his gang intact, Fonda decides to back Lockwood's demand for justice. And now I really can't tell you any more.
As noted, this is classic stuff, very well directed by Vincent McEveety and beautifully photographed in widescreen Technicolor at rustic locations around Thousand Oaks. Besides the star power of Stewart, Fonda and Stevens, and in addition to Gary Lockwood and James Best, you get a whole host of veteran supporting actors, including Jack Elam as yet another Old West Crumb Bum, Dean Jagger (again!) as the elderly shopkeeper, Morgan Woodward as one of Fonda's gunmen, and the venerable Jay C. Flippen as Inger Steven's grandpa, the hotelier. And oh yeah, you get Ed Begley, too, in a brief role as a fire breathing preacher. Standing out among them all is the performance of a young actor named Robert Porter as "Arthur". He was so good that I had to look him up on IMDB when the movie was over. It turns out he lived on a horse ranch in real life, in Malibu, and only acted in a handful of films, but he deserved an Oscar nomination for this one. I've gotta ask again, and especially with a cast like this : How the heck has "Firecreek" gone unnoticed all these years? I'm a Western fanatic and I'd never heard of it before my Inger Stevens search, but I don't think it's just me. I doubt whether most fans have heard of it, perhaps because it was released near the end of the genre's popularity.
Let's resurrect "Firecreek", and we'll start by giving it Two Gigantic Thumbs Up, and our Highest Recommendation. ////
That's all for the moment. It's still super windy out, so I'll again postpone my walk and head over to the Libe instead to look for more movies. I will be viewing some Christmas classics, so don't worry. We'll be getting in the Holiday Spirit in the next day or two. With Christmas, it's different than Halloween season when we can watch Horror Movies for an entire month, because unlike the hundreds of horror flicks, there are only a dozen or so Christmas films to choose from. But we will catch a few of them, maybe a half-dozen, so stay tuned. I'll see you tonight at the Usual Time. :)
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Jimmy Stewart stars as Johnny Cobb, a farmer in the town of Firecreek who is also the "honorary" Sheriff. Firecreek is so out of the way that it's citizens figure they don't need a full-time lawman. Nothing ever happens in their town, and in fact, that's the reason many of the residents moved there, to be away from the dangers of the Wild West. But the sameness of day to day life in Firecreek has led to complacency on the part of it's people, so when Henry Fonda (pronounced Hen-REE Fahhn-dah) rides in with his cadre of stone cold killers, the citizens revert to cowardice, much like they did in "High Noon". They leave it up to Stewart to deal with the bad men, and at first he tries to appease them, because he says, while they are certainly nasty and belligerent, they haven't done anything wrong. Nothing he can arrest them for, at any rate. The translation for this is that he's scared of them, too, or at least wary, and he doesn't want to provoke trouble.
Fonda's men aren't actual outlaws. They work as hired gunmen for ranchers. Their jobs have included clearing land of poachers and squatters, which often meant killing someone, but in Fonda's eyes it was all justified by the fact that he and his men were paid to do a job. Besides, he says, how can something be against the law when there is no law to begin with? He's talking about the frontier, which had yet to be settled or taken in by the United States.
There is a young man in town, named Arthur, who works at the livery stable. He is mentally deficient, but forthright, and he idolises Sheriff Jimmy. He isn't smart, but he can see that Fonda's men are up to no good, drinking and partying and talking dirty about an Indian woman who runs the town restaurant. Arthur believes in right and wrong and tries to get Jimmy Stewart to do something, but again Jimmy demures. "Don't worry, Arthur. They'll be gone in the morning". That was the original plan, anyway. Fonda told Stewart that he and his men were just stopping for the night, to rest and eat. But Fonda has a wound that needs bandaging, and when he checks in to the hotel, Inger Stevens - the owner's grandaughter - volunteers to have a look at it. She can see it's a bullet wound, so she asks him about it. "It didn't happen in a gunfight if that's what you're worried about", Fonda replies, but Stevens doesn't believe him. She is a taciturn woman who wants the men gone as soon as possible. She wraps the wound anyway and gives Fonda some medicine, and whataya know?........soon he will fall in love with her.
Meanwhile, over at the bar, Fonda's men are whooping it up, fighting and breaking windows. Two of them - Gary Lockwood (of "2001" fame) and James Best (from "Rolling Thunder") have an eye on the Indian woman from the restaurant across the street. She lives in the back; they can see that her bedroom light is on, and they get to talking. "Betcha she'd like her a nice young cowboy", Best muses. "Well why doncha go over and find out", suggests Lockwood. He's a real SOB in this movie, who's been making trouble ever since he came to Firecreek. Best ain't too bright, and he's drunk as a skunk (a bad combination), so he takes Lockwood's advice and walks across the street and into the woman's abode.
Arthur the stable boy happens to be wandering by, and when he passes the restaurant he sees the door ajar. Sensing something wrong, he enters the establishment to check on the Indian lady. There are noises coming from the back room. Arthur looks in to see James Best on top of the woman, and calls out for him to stop. Best is irritated but not deterred. He gets up just long enough to throw Arthur out of the place, and then goes right back to what he was doing. When Arthur re-enters and jumps on Best's back, a fight ensues, spilling out into the street. Arthur manages to get Best's gun, and - I probably shouldn't tell you this but I'm going to (Spoiler Alert!) - he shoots Best in the back. He didn't mean to do it. Sheriff Jimmy has told Arthur never to play with guns, but what else could Arthur do? James Best was raping a woman. Arthur only meant to stop him, to hold him at gunpoint. But he didn't know that Best had his pistol filed down to a hair trigger. It went off as soon as he grabbed it, and now Best is dead. Gary Lockwood watched the whole thing from his table at the bar. He wants instant frontier justice. Jimmy Stewart runs down the street to intervene. He takes Arthur into protective custody and places him in jail. Stewart has another pressing concern : his pregnant wife is about to give birth, but it's a complicated labor. He needs to be with her, so he asks the local storekeeper to watch Arthur until he gets back.
This is where the plot turns, so I shouldn't reveal any more. You can imagine that Gary Lockwood is gonna try to take advantage of Sheriff Jimmy's absence. Lockwood isn't very "Frank Poole"-like in this movie. If he were, he'd be much more thoughtful about the situation; scientific even. But here, he's a real a-hole from the get-go. The only person who can stop him now is his own boss Henry Fonda, who as mentioned has fallen for Inger Stevens and doesn't want any trouble. He's been trying to get Lockwood to behave the entire time, but Fonda is older and not quite as tough. He knows he can rein in his men only so far. At a certain point, they're gonna ignore his orders, and with the shooting of James Best, that point has been reached. In the interest of keeping his gang intact, Fonda decides to back Lockwood's demand for justice. And now I really can't tell you any more.
As noted, this is classic stuff, very well directed by Vincent McEveety and beautifully photographed in widescreen Technicolor at rustic locations around Thousand Oaks. Besides the star power of Stewart, Fonda and Stevens, and in addition to Gary Lockwood and James Best, you get a whole host of veteran supporting actors, including Jack Elam as yet another Old West Crumb Bum, Dean Jagger (again!) as the elderly shopkeeper, Morgan Woodward as one of Fonda's gunmen, and the venerable Jay C. Flippen as Inger Steven's grandpa, the hotelier. And oh yeah, you get Ed Begley, too, in a brief role as a fire breathing preacher. Standing out among them all is the performance of a young actor named Robert Porter as "Arthur". He was so good that I had to look him up on IMDB when the movie was over. It turns out he lived on a horse ranch in real life, in Malibu, and only acted in a handful of films, but he deserved an Oscar nomination for this one. I've gotta ask again, and especially with a cast like this : How the heck has "Firecreek" gone unnoticed all these years? I'm a Western fanatic and I'd never heard of it before my Inger Stevens search, but I don't think it's just me. I doubt whether most fans have heard of it, perhaps because it was released near the end of the genre's popularity.
Let's resurrect "Firecreek", and we'll start by giving it Two Gigantic Thumbs Up, and our Highest Recommendation. ////
That's all for the moment. It's still super windy out, so I'll again postpone my walk and head over to the Libe instead to look for more movies. I will be viewing some Christmas classics, so don't worry. We'll be getting in the Holiday Spirit in the next day or two. With Christmas, it's different than Halloween season when we can watch Horror Movies for an entire month, because unlike the hundreds of horror flicks, there are only a dozen or so Christmas films to choose from. But we will catch a few of them, maybe a half-dozen, so stay tuned. I'll see you tonight at the Usual Time. :)
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Monday, December 16, 2019
"The World, The Flesh and The Devil" starring Harry Belafonte, Inger Stevens and Mel Ferrer
Our motion picture this evening was "The World, The Flesh and The Devil"(1959), discovered through my Inger Stevens search, mentioned yesterday. She costars with Harry Belafonte in this unusual story that uses science fiction as a context to explore issues of race, women's equality and the human capacity to adapt and survive. Belafonte is a mining engineer working deep underground in an unspecified Midwestern state. He's in the mine alone, talking by radio to his supervisor at ground level. Suddenly the earth shakes, the mine shaft trembles, a wall collapses and there is a partial cave-in. Belafonte is pinned under a support beam but manages to free himself. He's still trapped in the mine, though, and he remains there for several days, hoping a rescue team will come . But when his battery powered lights start to fail, he can't wait any longer. He panics, which leads to an adrenaline surge, and suddenly he is breaking through rubble that seemed impenetrable, the survival instinct at work.
As he hammers with his pick, the rocks fall away......and then he sees daylight. On the other side of the rubble is a shaft leading to a ladder that extends to the surface. He's ecstatic at his luck, until he climbs up to street level and sees..........that the city is entirely empty. Holy Rod Serling, Batman! What on Earh has happened?
Belafonte spends several minutes walking the streets, calling out to anyone who might hear, but the city is desolate. Cars have been left askew at odd angles. Trash cans are knocked aside. A newspaper blows haphazardly down the sidewalk. Belafonte picks it up, to read a horrific headline : "U.S. Retaliates For Atomic Poisoning". Nukes have gone off all over the world. The end of mankind is at hand.
Okay, so it's one of those super pessimistic Atomic Age premises that culminated in "The Omega Man" in 1972. The world is toast, there's only one man left, but he's ultra resourceful. That's how this story starts out, at any rate. Belafonte hot wires a car (a nice Caddy right out of the shop) and drives it to New York City, figuring it's as good a place as any to search for survivors. Also, as a metropolis, there will be plenty of supplies on hand, food, gasoline and whatnot. When he arrives, he begins to set up shop. As an engineer, he knows enough about electricity to get the local power station up and running, giving him light and refrigeration. He turns on the transmitter at a nearby radio station and begins to broadcast, stating his location. In a scene reminiscent of "Cast Away" (though 40 years earlier), he finds two mannequins in a department store and brings them back to his new apartment, for company. Like Tom Hanks, he tries conversing with the male of the two, whom he's dubbed "Snodgrass", but is soon frustrated by Snodgrass' neverending silence and the wide grin on his face. Though Belafonte has stabilised his situation and is in no danger of imminent death, he finds nothing happy for Snodgrass to be smiling about. He's the last man on Earth, for God's sake!
Or is he? One day, while he is out salvaging various items (lamps, books, etc), we see a pair of feet trailing him. They belong to Inger Stevens. Belafonte will soon see her, too, but she's frightened of him at first. You can understand the implication. Just as she was afraid to be left alone with Neville Brand in last night's "Cry Terror", because he was a degenerate, here she is alone with Harry Belafonte, and though he's very handsome and clean cut, he's still a man and she's a woman, and there's no one else around to help her if he turns out to be a bad guy. We know, of course, that he isn't. He's Harry Belafonte, for cryin' out loud! Hasn't Stevens ever heard "The Banana Boat Song"? He can see she's a scared rabbit, so after telling her "I won't hurt you. I've got food and electricity, take it or leave it", he starts to walk away. Stevens considers for a minute, then catches up with him. The chance for companionship outweighs any negligible danger.
Now the plot will change gears to focus on relationships. Soon Belafonte and Stevens are good friends. She trusts and relies on him and appreciates his ingenuity. Stevens would like to be more than friends, but Belafonte insists they keep it platonic. He wants Stevens to continue living in her own apartment. She doesn't understand why, so he explains that he's still used to the old social mores that considered it taboo for a black man and white woman to be together. "But there's nobody else around"!, she protests. "You don't understand"!, Belafonte responds, and goes on to remind her that generations of class reinforcement, to say nothing of their slave history, has created mental and emotional barriers to keep black people in their place.
He tells her he'll do anything for her. He even takes her to a nightclub he's refurbished, where he himself provides the evening's entertainment (singing a Belafonte hit), but...."just don't ask me to love you, because it's wrong". She's still not buying his argument, but she can see it's fixed. He's not gonna change his mind......but then wait a minute.......he just might after all.
Because, one day, while Belafonte is at the radio station, Stevens comes running in to tell him there's a boat approaching the harbor. They hurry to the dock, where Belafonte jumps in a motorboat and sputters out to greet the new arrival, who turns out to be Mel Ferrer. He's in bad shape, so Belafonte guides his boat the rest of the way in, and he and Inger Stevens nurse Ferrer back to health. Now there are three of them - two men and a woman - and after a shave, Ferrer is looking handsome, and unlike the serious-minded Belafonte, he has a sense of humor and is very charming. Since Belafonte won't respond romantically to her, Stevens soon shows Ferrer more attention. Hmmm......now that there's some competiton, Belafonte decides that he does love Stevens after all. But he keeps it to himself, because he just can't overcome the old predjudices. Ferrer notices, however, and tells Belafonte he's not trying to step in......but he's not gonna step out of the way, either. "If you aren't gonna make a move, I will", he says finally, adding "Oh, and by the way.....in case you were wondering I have nothing against Negroes". Indeed, Harry Belafonte seems to be the only one here with outdated racial ideas.
But now that Ferrer has horned in on his girl, he decides he really does want her.....or maybe not......he just can't make up his mind because his pride is getting in the way. He knows that Stevens and Ferrer rely on him, and thus need him, for his many practical talents, and it's good enough for him to be King in their little world. He doesn't need Stevens' love.....but he doesn't want it to go to Mel Ferrer, either. This won't set up a conflict on his part. Belafonte is content to suck it all up and continue to work day-by-day to rebuild society. But to Mel Ferrer, it's all about Inger Stevens. He wants Belafonte to put up or shut up. There will be a showdown of some kind, but you'll have to see that for yourself. "The World, The Flesh and The Devil" is an interesting movie that includes not only a great many philosophical and social considerations but also a lot of witty dialogue in the early part of the script between Belafonte and Stevens, about what it's like to be the last two people on Earth. All in all, you've never seen anything quite like it, except possibly the aforementioned "Omega Man", but that film, while having a biracial element, concentrated on life or death struggle and was more of a pure science fiction movie. "TWTFATD", on the other hand, leaves you more hopeful, with an ending that is actually..........well, you'll just have to see "The Ending" for yourself, because it isn't really an ending at all. I loved the movie and give it Two Very Big Thumbs Up. With great performances from all three cast members and another black and white tour of 1950s New York (deserted this time), it's Highly Recommended. ////
Well, that's all for the moment. It's super windy outside, my most hated weather condition, so I'm gonna postpone my walk for the time being in hope that it'll die down by tonight. Gonna make a quick stop at Vons for supplies and then head back to Pearl's. See you tonight at the Usual Time!
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
As he hammers with his pick, the rocks fall away......and then he sees daylight. On the other side of the rubble is a shaft leading to a ladder that extends to the surface. He's ecstatic at his luck, until he climbs up to street level and sees..........that the city is entirely empty. Holy Rod Serling, Batman! What on Earh has happened?
Belafonte spends several minutes walking the streets, calling out to anyone who might hear, but the city is desolate. Cars have been left askew at odd angles. Trash cans are knocked aside. A newspaper blows haphazardly down the sidewalk. Belafonte picks it up, to read a horrific headline : "U.S. Retaliates For Atomic Poisoning". Nukes have gone off all over the world. The end of mankind is at hand.
Okay, so it's one of those super pessimistic Atomic Age premises that culminated in "The Omega Man" in 1972. The world is toast, there's only one man left, but he's ultra resourceful. That's how this story starts out, at any rate. Belafonte hot wires a car (a nice Caddy right out of the shop) and drives it to New York City, figuring it's as good a place as any to search for survivors. Also, as a metropolis, there will be plenty of supplies on hand, food, gasoline and whatnot. When he arrives, he begins to set up shop. As an engineer, he knows enough about electricity to get the local power station up and running, giving him light and refrigeration. He turns on the transmitter at a nearby radio station and begins to broadcast, stating his location. In a scene reminiscent of "Cast Away" (though 40 years earlier), he finds two mannequins in a department store and brings them back to his new apartment, for company. Like Tom Hanks, he tries conversing with the male of the two, whom he's dubbed "Snodgrass", but is soon frustrated by Snodgrass' neverending silence and the wide grin on his face. Though Belafonte has stabilised his situation and is in no danger of imminent death, he finds nothing happy for Snodgrass to be smiling about. He's the last man on Earth, for God's sake!
Or is he? One day, while he is out salvaging various items (lamps, books, etc), we see a pair of feet trailing him. They belong to Inger Stevens. Belafonte will soon see her, too, but she's frightened of him at first. You can understand the implication. Just as she was afraid to be left alone with Neville Brand in last night's "Cry Terror", because he was a degenerate, here she is alone with Harry Belafonte, and though he's very handsome and clean cut, he's still a man and she's a woman, and there's no one else around to help her if he turns out to be a bad guy. We know, of course, that he isn't. He's Harry Belafonte, for cryin' out loud! Hasn't Stevens ever heard "The Banana Boat Song"? He can see she's a scared rabbit, so after telling her "I won't hurt you. I've got food and electricity, take it or leave it", he starts to walk away. Stevens considers for a minute, then catches up with him. The chance for companionship outweighs any negligible danger.
Now the plot will change gears to focus on relationships. Soon Belafonte and Stevens are good friends. She trusts and relies on him and appreciates his ingenuity. Stevens would like to be more than friends, but Belafonte insists they keep it platonic. He wants Stevens to continue living in her own apartment. She doesn't understand why, so he explains that he's still used to the old social mores that considered it taboo for a black man and white woman to be together. "But there's nobody else around"!, she protests. "You don't understand"!, Belafonte responds, and goes on to remind her that generations of class reinforcement, to say nothing of their slave history, has created mental and emotional barriers to keep black people in their place.
He tells her he'll do anything for her. He even takes her to a nightclub he's refurbished, where he himself provides the evening's entertainment (singing a Belafonte hit), but...."just don't ask me to love you, because it's wrong". She's still not buying his argument, but she can see it's fixed. He's not gonna change his mind......but then wait a minute.......he just might after all.
Because, one day, while Belafonte is at the radio station, Stevens comes running in to tell him there's a boat approaching the harbor. They hurry to the dock, where Belafonte jumps in a motorboat and sputters out to greet the new arrival, who turns out to be Mel Ferrer. He's in bad shape, so Belafonte guides his boat the rest of the way in, and he and Inger Stevens nurse Ferrer back to health. Now there are three of them - two men and a woman - and after a shave, Ferrer is looking handsome, and unlike the serious-minded Belafonte, he has a sense of humor and is very charming. Since Belafonte won't respond romantically to her, Stevens soon shows Ferrer more attention. Hmmm......now that there's some competiton, Belafonte decides that he does love Stevens after all. But he keeps it to himself, because he just can't overcome the old predjudices. Ferrer notices, however, and tells Belafonte he's not trying to step in......but he's not gonna step out of the way, either. "If you aren't gonna make a move, I will", he says finally, adding "Oh, and by the way.....in case you were wondering I have nothing against Negroes". Indeed, Harry Belafonte seems to be the only one here with outdated racial ideas.
But now that Ferrer has horned in on his girl, he decides he really does want her.....or maybe not......he just can't make up his mind because his pride is getting in the way. He knows that Stevens and Ferrer rely on him, and thus need him, for his many practical talents, and it's good enough for him to be King in their little world. He doesn't need Stevens' love.....but he doesn't want it to go to Mel Ferrer, either. This won't set up a conflict on his part. Belafonte is content to suck it all up and continue to work day-by-day to rebuild society. But to Mel Ferrer, it's all about Inger Stevens. He wants Belafonte to put up or shut up. There will be a showdown of some kind, but you'll have to see that for yourself. "The World, The Flesh and The Devil" is an interesting movie that includes not only a great many philosophical and social considerations but also a lot of witty dialogue in the early part of the script between Belafonte and Stevens, about what it's like to be the last two people on Earth. All in all, you've never seen anything quite like it, except possibly the aforementioned "Omega Man", but that film, while having a biracial element, concentrated on life or death struggle and was more of a pure science fiction movie. "TWTFATD", on the other hand, leaves you more hopeful, with an ending that is actually..........well, you'll just have to see "The Ending" for yourself, because it isn't really an ending at all. I loved the movie and give it Two Very Big Thumbs Up. With great performances from all three cast members and another black and white tour of 1950s New York (deserted this time), it's Highly Recommended. ////
Well, that's all for the moment. It's super windy outside, my most hated weather condition, so I'm gonna postpone my walk for the time being in hope that it'll die down by tonight. Gonna make a quick stop at Vons for supplies and then head back to Pearl's. See you tonight at the Usual Time!
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Sunday, December 15, 2019
"Cry Terror" starring James Mason (pronun.), Rod Steiger and Inger Stevens
Tonight's movie was "Cry Terror"(1958), a suspense filled thriller starring James Mason (pronun.), Rod Steiger and Inger Stevens, by whose name I discovered the film in a database search. More on Miss Stevens later. Also, concerning James Mason, I'd like to briefly remind you of the correct pronunciation of his name. It's easier than some of the others we've practiced, and only requires a substitution of a Ch sound in place of the J in his first name, and a drawn-out elocution, so that when you say it, it sounds like Chayme-s May-son, uttered in a perfect London accent. I know we've discussed this before, but it's been awhile with Mr. Mason, so I thought a refresher course was in order.
"Cry Terror" is an appropriate title for this picture. I don't know if "terrorism" was an actual term in 1958. The first time I heard it used was during the Munich Olympics in 1972, but in the movie, a terrorist has sent a letter to the president of an airline, informing him that an explosive device has been planted on one of his planes. The terrorist then calls the president at his office to tell him exactly where the device can be found. This is to prove that he has the capability to bypass their security, meaning he can do it again, and also to give the airline a second chance, because what the psycho really wants is money - half a million bucks worth. To back up his demand, he lets the president know that he planted a second device on a different airplane. He won't reveal which one. Just as you are expecting an earlier version of "Airport", the plot switches gears to evolve into a hostage situation.
Chames Mason works in some capacity as an electrician. One reviewer on IMDB claims he is a TV repairman, but that was not clear to me. When we first see him, the news of the event has just come over his radio, and he's frantic to get home.
When he gets there, he's a nervous wreck. His wife (Stevens) asks him what's wrong. He turns on the TV to show her the news, and then tells her that he's the one who built the device! I mean, OMG, right? He goes on further to explain : an old Army buddy of his (Rod Steiger) had come to him with a proposition. If he could design a triggering device, the buddy, whose name is Paul, would be able to sell it to a demolition company he does business with. During the war, both Mason and Paul worked in demolition for the military. Mason figured it was a good opportunity, so he built the device and gave it to Paul, but now - with the terrible news - he sees that Paul has tricked him. The device from the first airplane has been displayed on television. There's no question it is Mason's. Paul has turned out to be a psychopath, and........wait a minute because someone is knocking on the door.
James Mason answers it, and - boom! - in walks Rod Steiger (Paul). I suppose I should say he barges in, or maybe that he storms in, because Rod Steiger never simply walks into a room. As Paul the terrorist, he's a Barrelchested Bully wearing horn rimmed glasses. He barges in to Mason's house, pulls a gun, and informs Mason, his wife Inger Stevens and their little girl Patty that they're all coming with him. After forcing them outside and into his car - which is driven by his henchman Neville Brand - Paul proceeds to take them to a penthouse hideaway owned by Jack Klugman, playing a Petulant Punk in on the kidnap plot. Also at the penthouse is a very young Angie Dickinson, looking sleek as always and brunette here. She's in on the deal, too, and sweet on Steiger, whom she considers a criminal mastermind. "He's worked on this scheme for over a year", she tells a shocked Mason. "He's thought of every detail, so don't try anything funny cause you'll never get away".
Steiger gets on the horn again and makes another call to the airline. He tells the president that he's upping the ante : he's got Mason and his family at gunpoint. He wants his half million in three hours or he's gonna kill them, and blow up the previously indicated second airplane.
Kenneth Tobey of the FBI is listening in on the call. He gets right to work, giving his agents a comprehensive list of things to find out, such as the names of all the men who were in Mason's Army unit. They're also working on locating a woman who was seen lingering on the first plane (Dickinson). They've got a piece of her chewing gum with a nice incisor bite to go on, so they're gathering dental records from all over Manhattan. Steiger, meanwhile, is itchy to get his money, but there's no way in Hell he's gonna pick it up himself, so he tells Neville Brand to take Inger Stevens to another house, located in Hoboken, New Joysey. She protests (and you would too) because Brand is clearly a degenerate thug. She doesn't wanna be left alone with him.
Steiger tells her to shut up, but also orders Brand to keep his hands off her, which is awfully nice of him. What a gentleman. There will be a sub-plot that has to do with Brand's past as a convicted rapist and his longtime addiction to Benzedrine. Stevens will indeed be left alone with him, but only for a short time, because Steiger wants her to go to the airline offices to pick up the money. If she refuses or messes up, her husband and daughter will die.
Meanwhile, Kenneth Tobey is working overtime to get the forensics on Steiger and his gang. You get to see some sophisticated FBI work that you might not have thought them capable of in 1958. There is also a great driving scene through the streets of Manhattan. When Inger Stevens goes to get the ransom money, she's on a limited time frame, and she keeps making wrong turns and getting stuck at red lights, behind slow moving trucks, and finally she gets on a bridge she can't exit from. All of this is costing her time; it's a real nail biter of a scene.
For his part, Steiger has moved to a secret location so he can monitor Stevens' progress and make sure she hasn't brought the cops along. This leaves Chames Mason alone with Angie Dickinson and Jack Klugman back at the penthouse. They're the slackers of the gang, more interested in watching a boxing match than keeping an eye on Mason, so when Dickinson walks down to the corner for beer and sandwiches, he sees his chance to escape. But he's gotta be quick. If he doesn't alert the police immediately, the kidnappers could kill his daughter.
Are we having fun yet? I don't know about you, but this sounds like a heck of a plot to me. You also get an epic black and white tour of 1950s Manhattan, including some neighborhoods you may not have seen in other New York movies over the years. Rod Steiger is especially menacing as Paul the terrorist. About Inger Stevens, I don't know what prompted me to search the database in her name. I haven't seen her in any movies, recently or in the past, not that I can recall anyway. Her's was just a name that popped into my head, because I am always looking for films I haven't seen, and I've searched every actor I can think of. Out of the blue, her name popped up (maybe I heard it somewhere), and when I IMDBed her after the movie, I was saddened to see that she had a short and tragic life, and died at age 36, in 1970, from a drug overdose. Her death was ruled a suicide, and it's extra sad because just from this one movie, you can tell she was an excellent actress. Even more than James Mason, she has to carry the film, especially for the final 40 minutes after Steiger sends her to collect the money. Her reactions are as real as you would expect from a woman actually put into such a situation, and her narration during the driving scene has you on the edge of your seat, hoping she will make it back on time. That's all I wanted to mention about her, that I did a search on her name for no particular reason, that she was so good in this movie, and then that I read about her on IMDB.
The end of "Cry Terror" will take Stevens and Steiger on foot for a riveting finale. I'll tell you no more, except to give the movie Two Big Thumbs Up. It you liked "The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3" and films of that ilk, "Cry Terror" will be right up your alley and is thus highly recommended. ////
That's all for the moment. It is now Sunday afternoon. We had good singin' in church, and now I am gonna go for a short walk before heading back to Pearl's. I'm too nervous to see how the Rams are doing against Dallas........are they winning? Wait....don't tell me. I'm too superstitious. If I don't know the score, they'll win - but if I check it (or if you tell me), they'll lose. So I'll find out after the game, lol.
See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons and tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxo :):)
"Cry Terror" is an appropriate title for this picture. I don't know if "terrorism" was an actual term in 1958. The first time I heard it used was during the Munich Olympics in 1972, but in the movie, a terrorist has sent a letter to the president of an airline, informing him that an explosive device has been planted on one of his planes. The terrorist then calls the president at his office to tell him exactly where the device can be found. This is to prove that he has the capability to bypass their security, meaning he can do it again, and also to give the airline a second chance, because what the psycho really wants is money - half a million bucks worth. To back up his demand, he lets the president know that he planted a second device on a different airplane. He won't reveal which one. Just as you are expecting an earlier version of "Airport", the plot switches gears to evolve into a hostage situation.
Chames Mason works in some capacity as an electrician. One reviewer on IMDB claims he is a TV repairman, but that was not clear to me. When we first see him, the news of the event has just come over his radio, and he's frantic to get home.
When he gets there, he's a nervous wreck. His wife (Stevens) asks him what's wrong. He turns on the TV to show her the news, and then tells her that he's the one who built the device! I mean, OMG, right? He goes on further to explain : an old Army buddy of his (Rod Steiger) had come to him with a proposition. If he could design a triggering device, the buddy, whose name is Paul, would be able to sell it to a demolition company he does business with. During the war, both Mason and Paul worked in demolition for the military. Mason figured it was a good opportunity, so he built the device and gave it to Paul, but now - with the terrible news - he sees that Paul has tricked him. The device from the first airplane has been displayed on television. There's no question it is Mason's. Paul has turned out to be a psychopath, and........wait a minute because someone is knocking on the door.
James Mason answers it, and - boom! - in walks Rod Steiger (Paul). I suppose I should say he barges in, or maybe that he storms in, because Rod Steiger never simply walks into a room. As Paul the terrorist, he's a Barrelchested Bully wearing horn rimmed glasses. He barges in to Mason's house, pulls a gun, and informs Mason, his wife Inger Stevens and their little girl Patty that they're all coming with him. After forcing them outside and into his car - which is driven by his henchman Neville Brand - Paul proceeds to take them to a penthouse hideaway owned by Jack Klugman, playing a Petulant Punk in on the kidnap plot. Also at the penthouse is a very young Angie Dickinson, looking sleek as always and brunette here. She's in on the deal, too, and sweet on Steiger, whom she considers a criminal mastermind. "He's worked on this scheme for over a year", she tells a shocked Mason. "He's thought of every detail, so don't try anything funny cause you'll never get away".
Steiger gets on the horn again and makes another call to the airline. He tells the president that he's upping the ante : he's got Mason and his family at gunpoint. He wants his half million in three hours or he's gonna kill them, and blow up the previously indicated second airplane.
Kenneth Tobey of the FBI is listening in on the call. He gets right to work, giving his agents a comprehensive list of things to find out, such as the names of all the men who were in Mason's Army unit. They're also working on locating a woman who was seen lingering on the first plane (Dickinson). They've got a piece of her chewing gum with a nice incisor bite to go on, so they're gathering dental records from all over Manhattan. Steiger, meanwhile, is itchy to get his money, but there's no way in Hell he's gonna pick it up himself, so he tells Neville Brand to take Inger Stevens to another house, located in Hoboken, New Joysey. She protests (and you would too) because Brand is clearly a degenerate thug. She doesn't wanna be left alone with him.
Steiger tells her to shut up, but also orders Brand to keep his hands off her, which is awfully nice of him. What a gentleman. There will be a sub-plot that has to do with Brand's past as a convicted rapist and his longtime addiction to Benzedrine. Stevens will indeed be left alone with him, but only for a short time, because Steiger wants her to go to the airline offices to pick up the money. If she refuses or messes up, her husband and daughter will die.
Meanwhile, Kenneth Tobey is working overtime to get the forensics on Steiger and his gang. You get to see some sophisticated FBI work that you might not have thought them capable of in 1958. There is also a great driving scene through the streets of Manhattan. When Inger Stevens goes to get the ransom money, she's on a limited time frame, and she keeps making wrong turns and getting stuck at red lights, behind slow moving trucks, and finally she gets on a bridge she can't exit from. All of this is costing her time; it's a real nail biter of a scene.
For his part, Steiger has moved to a secret location so he can monitor Stevens' progress and make sure she hasn't brought the cops along. This leaves Chames Mason alone with Angie Dickinson and Jack Klugman back at the penthouse. They're the slackers of the gang, more interested in watching a boxing match than keeping an eye on Mason, so when Dickinson walks down to the corner for beer and sandwiches, he sees his chance to escape. But he's gotta be quick. If he doesn't alert the police immediately, the kidnappers could kill his daughter.
Are we having fun yet? I don't know about you, but this sounds like a heck of a plot to me. You also get an epic black and white tour of 1950s Manhattan, including some neighborhoods you may not have seen in other New York movies over the years. Rod Steiger is especially menacing as Paul the terrorist. About Inger Stevens, I don't know what prompted me to search the database in her name. I haven't seen her in any movies, recently or in the past, not that I can recall anyway. Her's was just a name that popped into my head, because I am always looking for films I haven't seen, and I've searched every actor I can think of. Out of the blue, her name popped up (maybe I heard it somewhere), and when I IMDBed her after the movie, I was saddened to see that she had a short and tragic life, and died at age 36, in 1970, from a drug overdose. Her death was ruled a suicide, and it's extra sad because just from this one movie, you can tell she was an excellent actress. Even more than James Mason, she has to carry the film, especially for the final 40 minutes after Steiger sends her to collect the money. Her reactions are as real as you would expect from a woman actually put into such a situation, and her narration during the driving scene has you on the edge of your seat, hoping she will make it back on time. That's all I wanted to mention about her, that I did a search on her name for no particular reason, that she was so good in this movie, and then that I read about her on IMDB.
The end of "Cry Terror" will take Stevens and Steiger on foot for a riveting finale. I'll tell you no more, except to give the movie Two Big Thumbs Up. It you liked "The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3" and films of that ilk, "Cry Terror" will be right up your alley and is thus highly recommended. ////
That's all for the moment. It is now Sunday afternoon. We had good singin' in church, and now I am gonna go for a short walk before heading back to Pearl's. I'm too nervous to see how the Rams are doing against Dallas........are they winning? Wait....don't tell me. I'm too superstitious. If I don't know the score, they'll win - but if I check it (or if you tell me), they'll lose. So I'll find out after the game, lol.
See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons and tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxo :):)
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