"Tunisian Victory" (a WW2 documentary) and "Secret Mission" (a dry humor spy flick) + Two Books

Last night's movie was a War Department documentary called "Tunisian Victory"(1944). It popped up as a Youtube recommendation and I selected it because Dad went through Tunisia in the aftermath of the North African campaign, and I wanted to know more about what happened. Dad only ever talked about the war in anecdotes, and when he mentioned North Africa, he would say "they chased Rommel out of there" - "they" being the Allied forces of England, the US and France. As a kid I had no desire to question him further. If he were alive now, I'd be grilling him day & night about his war experience. He wasn't in combat, but he certainly saw some rough stuff. There was no way he (or anyone else) could not have. At any rate, this documentary uses stock footage and dramatic re-creations filmed in the Arizona desert to replicate Operation Acrobat and Operation Torch. Acrobat was the first attempt to rout Rommel by invading Tripoli. It failed, which led to Torch, a more complicated plan that was launched in November 1942. This time the Allies were successful. Their three-way strategy locked Rommel and the German army in a "pincer" movement (described in the movie as a "cylinder"), which eventually led to the surrender of a quarter million German troops, the largest surrender in modern warfare. 

Operation Torch ended in May 1943, and with Rommel and the Germans out of North Africa, the way was cleared for Allied troops to enter that theater en masse. The Signal Corps, of which Dad was a part (Staff Sgt. in a radar battalion), went over in November 1943. They landed in Casablanca, Morocco, went through Algeria and then up through Tunisia to Tunis, where they departed for Sicily. This would not have been possible before Operation Torch, as the Germans and Italians held the entire region prior to that time. The Signal Corps of the USAAF (Army Air Force, as the Air Force was known until 1947) were there to set up radar and communications support for the planned invasion of Normandy, though they couldn't have known it at the time. Boy, I'd have a million questions for Dad if he were still around.

I'm reading the first volume of a four part series called "The Strategic Air Offensive Over Germany, 1939-1945", commissioned by the British war department in the 1950s. It's an academic book and might not be of interest to the general public, but I've wanted to know more about what the combined forces of the RAF and USAAF accomplished during the war, and how it was accomplished. My interest has been growing for some time, and I was led to this book by a footnote in another book, about Dresden, that I read at the beginning of the year. Though the bombing of that city was horrific in the extreme, and would be considered a war crime today, it was also true that Hitler and the Nazis had the deadliest, most efficient military force in history - they were Evil Incarnate, really - and they had to be stopped or the world would likely have come to an end. It goes without saying that all bombing is horrible, and a lot of bombing involves civilian casualties, but World War Two was a special case, and I've wanted to know, in addition to it's entire history, how the war was turned around. Hence I'm reading books such as the four part "Air Offensive" and watching documentaries like "Tunisian Victory". It's well-produced (in part by John Huston), and very informative. Give it a view if you're interested. /////

The previous night I saw an English spy movie called "Secret Mission"(1942). Hugh Williams and Roland Culver star as a pair of British army officers sent to occupied France on an undercover assignment, to determine the strength of German positions prior to a bombing raid. Also on their team is Michael Wilding (future husband of Elizabeth Taylor), playing a sort of Eric Idle-ish role as the agent with the unenviable job of romancing a matronly village bar owner. And that's the thing about this movie, it starts out as a straightforward espionage flick but then morphs into the driest of comedies, so dry that it actually plays as a war movie, but with a dash of "Hogan's Heroes", or in the case of Brit television, a show called " 'allo, 'allo", which apparently was influenced by this film.

Chames Mason even co-stars as a French resistance fighter working with the Brits. He billets them at the home of his sister, a dedicated member of the Underground. It's fun to hear Mason do a French accent, though his part is small in comparison with the stars. The Nazis are portrayed, per usual, as caricatures - humorless, inquisitive administrators who bark orders at subordinates while saluting "Heil Hitler"! every thirty seconds. The satire includes a tank, equipped with a searchlight, that patrols the village neighborhoods looking for collaborators. The overture from Wagner's "Tannhauser" continually blares from it's loudspeakers to proclaim German superiority. This, again, is played with a straight face but meant as a put-on, and as an aside, I wonder if Coppola saw this movie and was influenced to blast Wagner from the helicopter in "Apocalypse Now"....

You'll kind of wonder what's going on, stylistically, as the movie sets up, which takes about 20 minutes of it's 95 minute running time. But pay no attention to it's middling IMDB score (5.5). Once you get into the humor, dry to the extreme, you'll have a very good time. The plot is also involving and there are serious moments as well. Two Solid Thumbs Up for "Secret Mission". I'm gonna look for more films in the same vein. /////  

Finally, i'm reading another book called "The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America" by Richard Dewhurst. It's a mindblower! We've talked about this subject before, but did you know that many burial sites were excavated in the Midwest in the 19th century that revealed skeletons of over 7 feet in length, with some as long as 9 feet? Yes indeed, there were once Giants upon the Earth, and among the peoples of Moundbuilder culture they were revered. Google the image of "giant skeleton at serpent mound". It's humongous and not photoshopped. The Smithsonian Institution has covered up the evidence for this race of Giants, but Dewhurst presents extensive evidence and the newspaper accounts at the time the excavations took place number in the hundreds. Mounds and burial sites were found in many states and reveal the true prehistory of our country, which goes back at least 14,000 years. Imagine a civilization of Nine Footers walking around. Holy Smokes!

Well, that's all for the moment. Last night I ordered from a specialty website, a dvd of a hard-to-find silent film classic that will be screened in our Epic Series, likely next month when I am off work. I won't reveal the title, but I'll give you a couple hints : It was directed by a notorious German-American whom we've enjoyed as an actor. He has a unique look and a great name. Again, think "classic Silent film".......

Have a great evening! Tons of love as always.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

"Quo Vadis" : an Epic to Rival "Cleopatra" and "Three Smart Girls" starring Deanna Durbin

In our Year of the Epic, I give you "Quo Vadis"(1951), a post-Biblical saga starring Robert Taylor as"Marcus Vinicius", a Roman general who falls in love with a young Christian woman during the reign of Emperor Nero. He meets her at the home of Plautius, a retired general and Marcus' mentor. "Lygia" (Deborah Kerr) is the adopted ward of Plautius, who legally owns her but treats her as a daughter. When Marcus shows up at their door after a victorious battle, he is immediately attracted to her and vice versa, but Lygia is repulsed by his tales of combat and bloodshed. Marcus discovers that Lygia is influenced by a philosopher named Paul, who visits the family regularly to expound on the teachings of a certain Jesus Christ. "Christ did you say? Wasn't he that carpenter who was crucified over in Palestine a while back"? "Yes, that was He". Marcus wants nothing to do with any philosophy, especially one based on nonviolence and love of all mankind, but for Lygia, he's willing to tolerate it. She on the other hand, is in all the way. She tells Marcus that she could never marry him if he doesn't accept Christ in his heart. He leaves her, but then considers the legal angle and goes back to Nero, who has promised him a generous gift for his military victories. "Forget the money, your Lordship. If you would so grant me, there is a ward girl in the possession of Plautius. I would like her for my own".

And so you have the central theme of the movie. Will Marcus win Lygia by domination, or will she convert him to her faith, while Nero causes havoc all around?

Wow. I didn't think anything could rival "Cleopatra" for sheer scale, but "Quo Vadis" does, and what's more, it preceded that film by 12 years, so it's more accurate to say that "Cleopatra" rivals "Quo". "Cleo" may have a slight edge in production design (and very slight, mind you), but in all other respects this film is it's equal. Tremendous is the only word, and for conformation of this viewpoint, go over to IMDB and read what the fans have to say. Many give it a 10/10 rating, as do I.  

Peter Ustinov gives an outstanding performance as Nero, the self-absorbed fruitcake who murdered his mother and wife because they had the audacity to protest his affair with the harlot Poppaea (played to seductive perfection by the snake-eyed Patricia Laffan). We've all heard that "Nero fiddled while Rome burned", but I never knew that he set the fire. Did you? According to the movie (based on a novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz) Nero ordered his Praetorian Guards to burn the city to the ground so he could rebuild it brand spanking new under his name : "Neropolis". We've also heard that "the Christians were thrown to the lions" in ancient Rome, but as far as I know we were never told of any context. I always thought it was just part of the "bread and circuses" cooked up to keep people happy during Nero's reign. As Russell Crowe famously demanded, "Are you not entertained"?!  But in the movie, Nero has a specific reason for that too; he needs a scapegoat for the fire. By pointing the finger at the Christians, he not only avoids blame himself, but now has a chance to get rid of this group whom he sees as a threat to his leadership.

Prior to that fateful conflagration, we will have further visits from Paul in the hidden enclaves where the Christians meet. They have to keep their gatherings secret to avoid persecution, so they use the Sign of the Fish, drawn in sand for easy erasure, to signal their fellow believers. Midway through the film, Peter, the most renowned Disciple of all, will arrive to lead them, giving them strength to face their trial in the Colosseum. Among it's other attributes, "Quo Vadis" is one of the most Christian films ever made.

Robert Taylor provides a strong lead as "Marcus", who's loyalty to Rome (i.e. to Nero) is severely tested by his love for Lygia. Though he speaks in a Midwestern accent, contrasting the Continental voicings of the other performers, it doesn't matter because he projects confidence and a military bearing. Thus he is believable, the critical test for any actor playing a hero. I was trying to think of a current Hollywood star who could pull off the same role convincingly, and I couldn't come up with anyone who has the same combination of old-school manliness and romantic allure. I'm sure there are many English Shakespearean actors who could do it, but they wouldn't have Taylor's charisma. It's a bit like needing Elizabeth Taylor to play "Cleopatra" because, like Cleo, she's larger than life. Sometimes you just need pure Star Power, especially in a picture this monumental. 

Peter Ustinov will also leave an indelible imprint as the foppish, pouty Nero, who envisions himself a Grand Artist but complains that nobody loves him. Providing vigorous support are Kerr, Laffan, Leo Genn as Nero's adviser "Petronius", Marina Berti as "Eunice" the slave girl who loves him, and Finlay Currie as "Peter". I read afterward that there are 110 speaking roles in "Quo Vadis", and many are exceptional, including that of young Peter Miles, who has a small part near the end as "Nazarius", a boy who can interpret The Word of the Lord". What a cast! And I've only given you the main themes of the film. To take you down every side road would require more time than is available. And anyway, you're gonna wanna see the movie for yourself.

Do it as soon as possible. Quite simply, it's one of the greatest motion pictures ever made. In an aside, I must mention that we've seen another film adapted from the same novel : "The Sign of the Cross", which was directed by Cecil B. Demille and starred Frederic March and Claudette Colbert in the Taylor/Kerr roles. We saw that picture about two years ago and it was also epic and tremendous (it's Demille after all), but "Quo Vadis" is on a rarefied level, an achievement seldom seen even in this kind of film making.

It gets Two Gigantic Thumbs Up. Don't miss it.  ///// 

The night before we watched "Three Smart Girls"(1936), a screwball comedy starring Deanna Durbin, the teenage singing sensation of the 1930s who became the highest paid female star in the world by 1942. Do you remember Deanna? We saw her last December in - of all things - a Noir called "Christmas Holiday".

She was great in that film, in an adult role as the unsuspecting gal pal of psychopath Gene Kelly, but her specialty was playing the Adolescent Sweeheart in Depression-era feel-good flicks. Durbin was like an older version of Shirley Temple, not only cute and wise for her years, but she also had an amazing soprano voice that was showcased in all her films. Deanna Durbin was a hit from the word "go" and became big box-office for a dozen years, until she unexpectedly retired at the age of 28 to live a live of seclusion in France. Apparently she was never comfortable with fame.

At any rate, "Three Smart Girls" was her feature film debut. Durbin plays the youngest of three daughters who engage in a plot to prevent their divorced father from remarrying. They haven't seen him for ten years but their mom is still in love with him. When word comes that he's planning to re-tie the knot, they travel all the way from Switzerland to sabotage it. Dad's bride-to-be is a gold digger named "Precious". The girls know she only wants him for his money, so they come up with a ploy to set her up with "an even richer man", a Hungarian Count who's in fact broke and an alcoholic to boot. The Count is played by the very funny Mischa Auer, a character actor from sophisticated '30s comedies.The exceedingly handsome Ray Milland plays the suave "Lord Stuart", who gets involved in the plot by mistake. The other daughters fall in love, while Deanna plays the Hero role in getting her parents back together. She also sings three songs. You've gotta be in the mood for 1930's style sentiment, but the fast paced wisecracking is still hip 90 years later. Screwball never gets old.

Two Big Thumbs Up for "Three Smart Girls", and there you have it : another Epic for the Ages, and a whiz-bang cute comedy, both winners.  /////

That's all for the moment. Have a great evening and tons of love as always! 

"Behold the Man" + "Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies", and Al Stewart

This blog was begun the night of April 24th, 2021 :

Tonight I watched "Behold the Man"(1935), the first sound film ever made about the Passion of Jesus Christ, and since you know that story by heart, I'll give you a few details surrounding the movie instead. I bought the dvd several months ago. If you recall, sometime around Thanksgiving or Christmas we watched the 1934 presentation of "Les Miserables" and were blown off the map, not only by Raymond Bernard's direction and the high production values, but also by the lead performance of Harry Baur as "Jean Valjean". That caused us to search for more films featuring Baur, which led to our discovery of "Behold", one of his few movies available for purchase. So, I ordered it from Amazon and finally unwrapped it this evening. It's directed by a man named Julien Duvivier, who - I discovered on IMDB - was most famous for helming "Pepe le Moko", one of the greatest French crime films ever made (Top Five, at least). The great Jean Gabin starred in that film, and he's on hand also in "Behold the Man", as Pontius Pilate (looking much less craggy than he does in "Pepe", even though that film was only two years later).

In short, it's one of the best adaptations of the Easter Story, shot in a Neo-Realistic style similar to Pasolini's "The Gospel of St. Matthew", which we saw and reviewed a couple years ago. In Robert Le Vigan, Duvivier has a "Christ" that looks very close to the image on the Shroud of Turin. Harry Baur plays "King Harrod", though his role is brief. The re-telling of the oft-told tale is straightforward, and there are no "spectacular" embellishments ala Cecil B. DeMille, nor the grotesque violence we were forced to endure in Mel Gibson's version, which marred an otherwise excellent movie.

"Behold the Man" is released by Alpha Video, which lets you know in advance that the picture quality is not going to be stellar. Though that is indeed the case, and the French dialogue is dubbed, neither of these factors should weigh against your appreciation of the film. In fact, it's first-hand viewpoint, as if someone were walking through the crowd 2000 years ago with a camera, or was filming the Disciples as they waited with the Lord at Gethsemane, gives you the feeling of being right there on site, which increases the mystical quality of the experience. While I'll root for a Criterion restoration, you could even rationalise that the substandard quality of the print gives it the look of a relic, an ancient record of events captured as they took place. In the final analysis, it's a great film and thus gets Two Big Thumbs Up. In fact, it bears repeat viewings and can be our "go-to" movie for Easters to come. Highly recommended. ////

The previous night I watched "Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies", director Ken Annakin's 1969 follow-up to "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines", which we reviewed earlier this week. As you can guess from the title, "Jalopies" has to do with automobiles rather than aeroplanes, but once again a race is involved and the same comedic formula is more or less in place, one of ethnic caricatures and foibles. Some of the stars are back as well, including Terry-Thomas and the hilarious Gert Frobe.

The race is the 1500 mile Monte Carlo Rally, of which winning the purse is secondary to the personal objectives of some of the drivers. For instance, Tony Curtis has a bet with Terry-Thomas that whoever comes out on top between them will take over 100% of the stock in the auto company they co-own. And you can guess what the Italian driver wants, when he makes an "hourglass" outline with his hands and says "MON-ti CAR-lo! Ahh, the women-a there, they've-a all-a gotta the big-a...."! All the stereotypes are in place, including Frobe's German oaf and Thomas' sinister English twit, but it's all lightly sketched and in good fun. Particularly strong this go-round are the team of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, playing a Stiff Upper Lip Military Officer and his aide. We all know Dudley, but I'd never seen Cook before. He appears to have been exceptionally talented in the John Cleese mold (and likely predated Cleese). He's an absolute riot as the humorless but inventive officer; we'll have to look for more films with him. 

While "Jaunty" is a jolly good time, it misses the anchoring presence, in "Magnificent Men", of Sarah Miles and the romantic rivalry for her hand between Stuart Whitman and James Fox. "Jaunty" is way more hyperkinetic than the first film, so while it's very funny, the gags don't have much room to breathe. In "Magnificent" there was a long setup to establish the characters, which allowed the audience to develop connections, especially to Miles and Whitman. Thus we were drawn into the story as well as the humor. Here, it's all about the yuks. The race begins 20 minutes into the picture, so with the exception of a few scenes, they're in their cars most of the time and the jokes must take place "in motion" so to speak.  

Still, it is quite funny, and the characters of Frobe, Cook and the Italians are reason enough to watch. Ken Annakin keeps the widescreen action zipping along like the old pro he is. It's still unclear whether George Lucas named Anakin Skywalker after him. Lucas denies it, but I'll bet he loved both these movies, and no doubt was influenced by "Those Magnificent Men".

Despite it's minimal story, let's go ahead and give "Jaunty Jalopies" Two Big Thumbs Up, in the spirit of fun and international cooperation. It's got a great energy to it. Watch it back-to-back, over two nights of course, with "Magnificent". You'll be glad you did. ////  

Finally, here's a musical choice you may not have expected : Al Stewart! I just got in the mail a box set of five of his albums, bargain priced and including "Year of the Cat", his smash hit from 1976 that I, you, and everyone we knew, owned and loved at the time. I played the heck out of that record, and also Al's "Past, Present and Future", which included his song about Nostradamus. We all loved that one too, but other than that long ago binge, and hearing "Cat" and "On The Border" used as bumper music on Art Bell's show in the 1990s, I hadn't thought much about Al Stewart in a long time. Recently, however, I was hit with a notion, call it a subliminal influence, that I should revisit his music. Perhaps it was seeing that "Year of the Cat" was being given a deluxe anniversary reissue. Those are always too expensive imo, but in any event I found this five album set for 19 bucks (great googley moogely), and not only did it have "Cat" but also his first three records, two of which I've listened to already. Man.......they're really good! Who knew Al released his first album in 1967? And had five albums out before "Year of the Cat"? Well anyhow, I've listened to "Bedsitter Images" (his debut) and "Love Chronicles" from 1969, and tonight I'll check out "Zero She Flies"(1970), which is supposed to be a bit darker.

Anyway, bottom line : Al Stewart holds up, in a big way! He's got a lot of great songs and albums, most of which we'd never heard before (well, I hadn't anyway......maybe I should speak for myself). But yeah, it was a great discovery. :)

That's all for the moment. Now I'm headed out for my hike. Have a great afternoon, tons of love as always! 

A George Segal Mini-Fest : "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" and "Fun With Dick and Jane"

WARNING : Major spoiler ahead.

Grimsley asked if we could do a tribute to George Segal, who died recently. Segal was a versatile and very talented actor, equally at home in a war movie like "King Rat" as he was in his string of 70's light comedies. I liked him and said yes, expecting Grim to bring over "The Owl & The Pussycat" or "California Split", maybe "A Touch of Class". Instead he brought "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"(1966), one of the heaviest dramas ever put to film, and after watching it I felt pummeled. I think Grim did too, for he said nothing as I walked him back to his car. Have you seen "Virginia Woolf"? If so, you may be afraid of her too. I saw it once before, about ten years ago, and as great as the acting is, and Mike Nichols' staging of Edward Albee's play and for all it's accolades (13 Academy Award nominations), one viewing was quite enough. This is because the experience is like being hit in the face with a sledgehammer, over and over. It's not pleasant to sit through, unless you enjoy watching two hours and ten minutes of drunken people screaming at each other and name calling in the cruelest of ways.

I'll give you a brief re-hash of the plot. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor are a married couple in early middle age. He's a history professor, she's the daughter of his boss, the department head. As the movie opens, they're coming home from a party. Burton is tired and ready for bed, but Taylor is tipsy and wants to keep going. She announces that guests are due to arrive any minute. "That couple we met at the party; the math professor and his slim-hipped wife". Right away Taylor's penchant for personal derision is revealed. It's 2:30 in the morning. She and Burton argue about having guests in so late. Five minutes later they appear. Soon they'll wish they hadn't. Fasten your seat belts cause it's gonna be a bumpy night, and it's just getting started.

The younger couple are played by George Segal and Sandy Dennis. Taylor got his subject wrong, he actually teaches biology, but no matter, she's got plenty more labels to hurl at him as the drinks and insults flow. It's clear that Taylor and Burton hate each other. To say they've got an unhappy marriage is putting it mildly. Segal and Dennis have had the misfortune of walking in on it, and at first they want to leave but are persuaded to stay after Dennis decides she'd like a few drinks herself. She also likes the idea of being a spectator at this train wreck, and offers nonsensical commentary throughout.

After it was over, I wondered what Albee was trying to say, what he meant, and what his motivation was to write such a bitter diatribe. Due to some unintelligible dialogue near the end, I had to Google the main plot point, which I thought had to do with the death of Burton and Taylor's teenage son. I got it wrong, and the real answer seemed overwrought. I don't usually do this, but I'm gonna reveal the trauma to you, the reason Taylor is such a vicious alcoholic. It's the main thrust of the movie, and it turns out she's been repressing the fact that she can't have children. The "teenage son" is an invention of Burton's, though it's never clear why they pretend he's real, dead or alive. Maybe he gives them something to argue about, I dunno, but for me, I had a problem with the idea that an infertile woman would react that violently to her inability to conceive. It would've been more realistic if they'd really had a teenage son and lost him to a car accident, but instead he's an invention because they can't have children, which has caused Taylor to become a monster.

Huh?

Wiki says that Albee was influenced by something called The Theater of the Absurd, and after being hammered by the relentless sarcastic drunken verbiage coming out of Taylor's mouth nearly nonstop, you will understand this influence. Did she deserve the Oscar for Best Actress? Possibly. Was her performance in any way based on real life, meaning her life, or personality? Hmmm, you tell me. I wouldn't have wanted to be on the set while it was filming, I'll tell you that. Let's say that it's about as great a performance (but also as unpleasant to watch) as you can imagine. 

Well anyhow, I'll leave you to decide if you wanna watch the movie or not. It's worthy of Two Thumbs Up, whether Regular or Gigantic or anything in between, but you'll need a bottle of scotch to get you through it, and then another one after it's over. I'll never watch it again, that's for certain.  Oh, and George Segal was very good, too. In fact, all four performers were nominated for Oscars. /////

Much more enjoyable was "Fun With Dick and Jane", another George Segal movie that Grim brought with him last night. I'm talking about the original version from 1977 that became a box-office smash and revived Jane Fonda's career. The story is this : Dick and Jane are an upper middle class couple living in blissful 70s suburbia ( which looks like Porter Ranch). But then Dick is fired from his job as an aerospace engineer after the company collapses, due to the decline in the industry after the moon landings. After applying for unemployment and even food stamps, Dick discovers how the other half lives, and not only does it suck to be poor but it's also a hassle, having to jump through bureaucratic hoops just to obtain subsistence level help. He does try to play by the rules but it's not the lifestyle he's used to, and to make matters worse, creditors are now knocking at their door. The gardeners are rolling up the turf that made up Dick and Jane's lawn, they're even repossessing the indoor plants. Everything they have is paid for on credit. They're in debt 70 grand, and even if they do qualify for unemployment, it's not gonna be anywhere near enough.

Any perceived social commentary (i.e class consciousness) is leavened with dry, well timed humor. We're not supposed to feel sorry for Dick and Jane anyway, it's really just a caper flick with a lot of great set pieces. When D & J become robbery victims after applying for a loan, Dick gets fed up with toeing the line. Seeing how easy it was for the robbers to get away, he decides to start pulling jobs himself. Jane wants in on the action too, so they start robbing drug stores, motels, bars, etc., just small fry stuff at first. But after the duo make a big score ripping off a phony-baloney megapreacher, they decide to go for an even bigger windfall. Dick is watching TV one day, when he sees his old boss (Ed McMahon) testifying before a congressional committee. McMahon is denying accusations of graft within aerospace, specifically directed at his company. "Taft Aerospace has never engaged in contract payoffs, Mr. Chairman". A lightbulb goes off in Dick's head when he realises this is B.S.

"Jane, he's lying! Guys used to walk out of his office with 200 grand in a suitcase! I'll bet he keeps a slush fund right there in a safe. All we've gotta do is find it and our troubles are over"! So begins the final heist. The tables are about to turn, with the crooks ripping off the Crooked, who represents white collar crime at it's most shameless. 

 "Fun With Dick and Jane" is a blast, and in watching you recall how open-minded and freewheeling the '70s were. It's important to remember that there's nothing new under the Sun, and while today's PC culture might feel at the forefront of social justice issues, there is a gender-bending scene in D&J that precedes their awareness by 45 years, and it's not only funny but instructive. There are also more Black people in the cast than in any ten current films, and yet there are jokes that would get the current culture so up in arms as to cancel the movie, and yet it offended no one at the time, only made them laugh. So how Woke are we, anyway? And what have we Awoken from? From the peace and love of the 60s? Or maybe the Have A Nice Day Smiley Face 70s? Well anyhow, I'll get off my soapbox, but it was nice to go back to a time when we weren't all in each other's faces over every little thing.

The movie is true to it's title - you'll indeed have "Fun With Dick and Jane". Segal and Fonda make a great team, and you get a lot of retro L.A. locations in the bargain. Two Big Thumbs Up, then, and a strong recommendation for this comedy classic. /////

That's all for the moment. Time to head out for my hike. Have a great afternoon and tons of love as always!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

"Where Eagles Dare" (Totally Awesome) & "The Iron Curtain" (Grim but Good)

At the beginning of the year. we stated our objective to start watching some of the epic studio releases from the 1960s. We haven't concentrated much on films from that decade, in part because I felt that - in it's latter half, at least - the inclusion of counterculture themes had "dated" many movies, and not in a good way (for the most part). But in reconsidering the subject, I began to recall some of the big budget studio releases I saw as a kid, often with my Dad at premiers, like "2001" or "Those Magnificent Men", or ones that I had never seen, like "Cleopatra". I realised that there were a number of great films made in the '60s, and thought we needed to take another look at those epics we have seen - albeit over fifty years ago - and a first look at the ones we'd never seen, because they were the last hurrah of the studio system, when the movie biz was trying to repel television with mega-budgeted films filled with big stars, shot in wide screen and usually running for well over two hours. Yes, we love short films, but we also have time for long ones provided they don't bore us, and most importantly when they are Epic. All of this is to say that we've begun to make progress on our goal; we did finally see "Cleopatra", which was everything we hoped for and then some. We also just watched "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines", which we'd only seen once, 56 years ago, and then tonight we watched a movie we hadn't seen since 1969 : "Where Eagles Dare", starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood, the story of a British commando mission into the Austrian alps to rescue an American general.

I saw this movie with my Dad when it came out, perhaps at the Dome (not certain but it was definitely in Hollywood). It was so great he wanted to see it again, so we went back a couple weeks later. And in watching it for the third time tonight, over half a century later, I have to say that not only does it hold up, but it's one of the greatest action/adventure flicks ever. I suppose you could call it a war movie as well, though it isn't strictly that. But man, is it good. 

Director Brian G. Hutton wastes no time getting the mission started. No sooner do Burton and his team leave a meeting, where they are given their instructions, than they're in the air and parachuting down onto a snowy Alpine mountainside. Their target - the General - is being held in a nearby castle, but before they can approach it, they'll have to make their way through a German military base at it's foot. They've prepared for this by bringing along SS uniforms, with which they will impersonate Nazi officers. They have a contact inside the adjacent village, a female British agent posing as a barmaid, and they all speak fluent German (though we never hear it, haha), but a suspicious Gestapo commandant will follow them around, trying to trip them up. He's prevented from arresting them by higher-ups in the SS, who believe Burton & Eastwood, et al, really are German officers. As an aside, I should mention that I wasn't aware of the differences, and even rivalries, between the Gestapo and the SS. I assumed they were more or less the same thing, but the movie shows that not to be true, and there is a fight for ultimate authority.

There are layers of deception to wade through before the actual rescue begins, so many that the only person who seems to know what's going on is Richard Burton. We sure don't, and director Hutton doesn't tip his hand as to "who is who"; we even think Burton may be a traitor at one point. This is three level chess in overdrive, courtesy of MI6 (the brains behind the mission), so you can't be certain who's loyal and who isn't. Eastwood doesn't know either, and just has to trust that Burton isn't gonna turn on him. The movie runs 155 minutes and the first 90 deal with the team's effort to get past the scrutiny at the base. Then the actual rescue begins, and so much hell breaks out that it looks like Burton and Eastwood are fighting the war all by themselves.

There's an epic machine-gun shootout and a white knuckle sequence involving cable cars, a popular cinematic device of the time. There are also enough explosions and chases to empty a large bowl of popcorn, so be sure to fill up before you watch.

Richard Burton is so freakin' good in this flick, it's a shame his career didn't become what it should've, nor truly reflect his talent. He's remembered more for his marriages to Elizabeth Taylor, but man, he's incredible as "Major Smith", who's able to fool everyone : the Nazis, his fellow commandos, Clint Eastwood, and even the audience! Eastwood is terrific in support, squinting his way through some tight situations, and an actress named Mary Ure is strong in a co-starring role as a fearless female commando.

A mention must be made of Alistair MacLean, who wrote both the script and the bestselling book from which it was adapted. Maclean was the Tom Clancy of his day, and authored many military and espionage oriented books, including "The Guns of Navaronne" and "Ice Station Zebra", both of which became huge motion pictures. Dad took us to see "Ice Station", which was Howard Hughes favorite movie. In an interesting note, I looked up MacLean and found that he and Richard Burton are buried just a few yards apart at the same cemetery in Switzerland. And MacLean's birthday is coincidentally today.

Really though, in addition to the stars and the all-out production values, the movie owes it's success to Brian Hutton (mostly a TV director), who knocks the action so far out of the park that they're still trying to catch it, 52 years later. He and his cinematographer Arthur Ibbetson create a foreboding mood, using a lot of dark blues and greys to evoke the frigid, remote landscape. The widescreen photography is tremendous - man, it would be awesome to see this movie in the theater! (Maybe if Tarantino buys the Dome and turns it into a retro house....)

"Where Eagles Dare" gets my highest rating : Two Gigantic Thumbs Up. Watch it and watch it again! ////

The previous night we went back to Youtube for an espionage thriller called "The Iron Curtain"(1948), starring Dana Andrews as a Russian cypher clerk stationed at the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa, Canada. In the course of his duties, "Igor Gouzenko" (Andrews) is recruited for a spy ring, run by "John Grubb", an alias used by the head of the Canadian communist underground. He discovers that several prominent political figures already belong to the ring, including a member of Parliament. Because he is already indoctrinated into party obedience, Andrews is at first quite willing to participate (and scared not to), even though it puts him at risk of arrest by the Royal Mounted Police.

His attitude changes, though, after the arrival of his wife (Gene Tierney, paired again with Andrews after the success of "Laura" four years earlier). She's pregnant, and once she's been settled in Canada for a few months and is ready to deliver their child, she tells Andrews that she likes the freedom of her new country. She doesn't want to return to Russia. "People are so nice here, they can say whatever they want". At first he argues with her, reiterating all the Communist talking points, but when he discovers that a Canadian scientist is involved in the plot, and is giving away atomic secrets, including the formula for enriched uranium, he draws the line.

With a theme similar to "High Treason"(viewed the other night), "The Iron Curtain" is based on a true story, complete with narration. The anti-communist message is front and center, and as we saw in "Treason", the Marxist philosophy is hive minded : The Party is more important than the individual, and any means are legitimate to achieve world domination, so that "the people" can be free.

I'm sorry, but I have to editorialize here for a second : "What an absolute bunch of baloney". Say what you will about capitalism, which is massively flawed to be sure, but it's still a damn sight better than Marxism, where everyone becomes a robot, or Fascism, where everyone becomes a slave. I'll take the American Way, thank you very much, though I'll take it without the encroaching Extreme Politics which are leading us towards the precipice of Communism vs. Fascism.

Haven't we learned anything from the Europeans, who've already been down this road?

End of editorial (and sorry for teeing off about politics).

Well at any rate, it's not a high-tension thriller. The story is presented as a docudrama, with much of the focus on Andrews' family life. The plot centers more around his moral awakening, when he contemplates his wife and new baby living in a world of nuclear terror, where it's always 2 minutes to Midnight.

"The Iron Curtain" doesn't have the plot twists of a fictional spy movie, but it's a gripping story all the same, with the feel and look of a Noir. It's always nice to see Gene Tierney, too. Though her role is not large, she injects some humanity into the proceedings, and vulnerability as well, in contrast to the grim, programmed certitude of the Commies.

Give it Two Solid Thumbs Up, with a near perfect Youtube print, and "Iron Curtain" comes highly recommended.  /////

That's all for the moment. Have a great evening, and tons of love as always!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

"Pygmalion", starring Wendy Hiller and Leslie Howard + "Peter Ibbetson" + Elizabeth

This blog was begun the night of April 17th, 2021 :

Elizabeth! It's great to see you back in the swing of things, and I'll bet it feels wonderful from your perspective too. eh? You looked very nice all dressed up for the awards ceremony, and - hmmm, give me just a minute here while I gaze into my crystal ball - ahh, yes....yes indeed, I do see many more such ceremonies in your future! You were in your element tonight, with George Clooney present, and it's just as I predicted when "Elemental" was playing on the big screen at Staples Center. I said that things would be on the uptick again, and though it's taken awhile because of the pandemic, you're back now, good things are happening again and pretty soon you'll be winning awards for your own work. Next stop Hollywood! :)

Keep posting whenever you can and whenever you feel like it, I'm glad to see that things are going well. :)

Well, I finally saw "Pygmalion"(1938), which you probably know is the original cinematic version of George Bernard Shaw's play, later made into the enormously popular "My Fair Lady" starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. I saw that movie once, but it was years ago and so I didn't remember the story, other than it's well-known premise, where Professor Henry Higgins bets that he can turn a Cockney flower girl into a Proper Lady. I reserved "Pygmalion" after a library search for Leslie Howard (who we saw in "Spitfire" a month ago) showed it was available, but because we were doing our John Mills retrospective for several weeks, I had to set the dvd aside until tonight. The wait was worth it, however, because "Pygmalion" is a masterpiece, with a performance by Wendy Hiller that - to me - should be considered one of the greatest female leads in motion picture history. I was stunned to discover that she didn't win Best Actress that year, but at any rate, once you've seen the movie I'm sure you'll agree.

And boy, this flick is right up our alley, haha! I thought so right away, during the opening scene, where we see "Eliza Doolittle" (Hiller) selling flowers on a street corner. As she hawks her wares in a heavy slang-filled accent, Higgins stands nearby in the crowd, surreptitiously taking notes. When she sees him and asks what he's doing, she at first suspects he's a cop, and protests she's done nothing wrong. "I'm a good girl, Iyam"!

But then Higgins explains that he's merely jotting down the phonetics of her speech. He goes to to say that he's conducting a study of the many English accents, and has refined it to the point where he can identify a speaker's neighborhood to within two miles of any point in London. He then tells Eliza what borough she's from, which stuns her. She still thinks he's a policeman until his friend, the gentlemanly Colonel Pickering, reassures her that he's indeed a professor. But I mean, lol! Because that's what we love to do ourselves, right here at the blog. We get a huge kick out of accents and pronunciations, and here's Henry Higgins doing the same thing in the movie. When Eliza shows up at his door the next day, asking for elocution lessons ("So I can tawk like a real lye-dy"), it turns into a wager between the professor and the colonel that Higgins can not only train Eliza to speak properly, but can refine her in other ways too, so thoroughly that "I'll be able to pass her off as a Duchess in six months".

Thus begins her transformation, shown in montage, with Higgins instructing Eliza in the fine points of enunciation, conversation and even posture. He pushes her relentlessly without a break, sometimes going into the wee hours of the morning until she's ready to tear her hair out. But she perseveres, and when she emerges months later in an evening dress, hair braided and head held high, chin up, it's an amazing metamorphosis. Higgins ultimately takes her to a high society ball, at which an actual duchess will be present, to see if Eliza can be taken for same. Prior to this, there's a test run in front of his mother and her upper-crust friends. This is the first time we hear the transformed Eliza in a "proper" conversation, and it's both satisfying, because you feel happy for her, but it's also hilarious when she slips back into Cockney slang here and there. This scene alone should've won Hiller the Oscar; the rest of the film cements it.

You see, for all of Higgins' teaching expertise and scientific prowess, he's basically a cad. He's got no real feelings for anyone, least of all Eliza, who he thinks of almost as his Frankenstein monster, "my creation". He's also flippant and rude, caring nothing for Eliza's dignity as he shows her around like an exotic zoo animal. But in her transformation, she's surpassed the professor, because even before becoming a Lady she was spiritually and emotionally deeper than he could ever be. That's the rub of the movie, that a time will come when she won't need him anymore, and he'll no longer be able to "use" her. Once he wins his bet, Higgins will try to discard Eliza. I'll tell you no more of the story, but this is a 5 Star classic, restored by Criterion, that is an absolute must-see. Again, the performance of Wendy Hiller is as great as there's ever been, and you also get an excellent turn by Leslie Howard, who himself could've won an Oscar. I know that the role of Eliza, as played by Audrey Hepburn, is revered and rightfully so, I'm sure. We'll see "My Fair Lady" soon and no doubt love it. But "Pygmalion" is the original, and it's so great in so many ways that I'm gonna give it my highest rating : Two Gigantic Thumbs Up. Watch it and see what I mean.  /////  

The previous night I watched a romantic drama with an ethereal, mystic plot, called "Peter Ibbetson"(1935), starring Gary Cooper and Ann Harding as two soulmates who are separated in childhood, only to find each other years later as adults. We first see young Peter and Mary as playmates, aged 8 and 6 respectively. He is known as "Gogo" and she "Mimsy", nicknames bestowed by their families who live in an English sector of Paris. As the movie opens, we see the children arguing over some plywood boards. Mimsy wants them for a dollhouse, Gogo to build a wagon. They hate each other, as children will ("Have your stupid boards and go away, I never want to speak to you again!"), but when Gogo's mother dies and he is forced to move, they realise instinctively that they love and need each other. It's a First Love thing, realised in heartbreak. It's kids uniting against the adult world, and this theme will be carried throughout the movie as love conquers all).

Do you believe in True Love? If so, this is the movie for you. If not, or if you're allergic to sentimentality that extends into the realm of dreams, then stay away because "Peter Ibbetson" pulls no punches. Peter becomes an architect and is reunited with Mary when by chance he is contracted to build new stables on her property. At first they don't recognise each other (30 years have gone by), but when they do, their love is rekindled in an instant. The problem is that Mary has a husband, a wealthy Duke who's aware of what has taken place. He will confront Peter, with dire consequences that lead to another separation between the lovers. But then Peter makes a miraculous discovery - he and Mary can communicate in dreams, dreams they share simultaneously, which are as real as waking life.

"Peter Ibbetson", which takes place in Victorian England, is a movie you have to throw yourself into wholeheartedly, because it is nakedly romantic in the boldest sense, of undying love beyond the grave, the notion of soulmates, and that love is bigger than life itself. It doesn't, however, come across as a four hankie weeper, because it's too otherworldly for that. Think of it in the same vein as pictures like "Portrait of Jenny", "The Secret Garden" and "The Enchanted Cottage". While it's not quite as classic as those films, it's close, and you get to see Gary Cooper in a more nuanced role than you likely thought him capable of. Here's another genre we need a name for......what to call it? The "Immortal Beloved" category? Nah, that won't work......already taken. Well, we'll think of something. Until then, Two Big Thumbs Up for "Peter Ibbetson".

That's all I've got for the moment. It's time for my afternoon walk, so have a great day and I'll see ya at showtime. Tons and tons of love, as always.   xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)   

Going Uppity Up Up, with "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines" + "High Treason", a top notch spy thriller

I had a fun birthday yesterday, and besides the wonderful discovery that Placerita Canyon had reopened (leading to my first hike there in five years), last night I watched a movie I hadn't seen since 1965 : "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines", a madcap, big budget re-creation of the 1910 London to Paris air race, in which all of the planes were the homemade contraptions of their pilots.

Nowdays it's as much remembered for it's theme song - which every kid knew - as for it's titular Men and/or their Flying Machines, but you don't have to be a kid to enjoy this movie, which is 138 minutes of non-stop fun. What plot there is revolves around a romantic triangle between Sarah Miles (playing the daughter of the publisher who's sponsoring the race), her fiancee James Fox, and Stuart Whitman, the rugged American who travels all the way from Arizona to enter. His laconic, "aww shucks" nature, plus his cowboy good looks begin to work on Miss Miles, who wants to ride in an aeroplane and is looking for more adventure than she gets out of Fox. In cinema and pop culture, this was the era of Pretty, Proper English Girls (Mary Poppins, Eliza Doolittle) and Miles certainly fits the bill with her milky complexion and upswept hair. She steals your heart in her Period costuming, and maybe the movie as well.

Another contender would be Gert Frobe, playing "Count Manfred von Holstein", a blustery, buffoonish German army commander who gets in the race by accident, after his pilot is slipped a laxative at the last minute. Frobe, most famous as the Bond villain "Goldfinger", has great comic chops and is at the center of the film's most knee-slapping gags. I found him laugh-out-loud funny and you will too as he plays off the stereotype of the militaristic Kraut.

Providing strong support are the race's other entrants, all played as European caricatures. There's the Amorous Frenchman (Jean-Pierre Cassel), the fast talking, gesticulating Italian Count, whose strong willed wife and many children accompany him wherever he goes. There's a Wee Scotsman, usually tipsy, and an Inscrutable but friendly Japanese, who is reputed to have the fastest plane in the race. He and the other front runners will be the target of sabotage by Terry-Thomas, playing an Upper Class Twit as always, who in this case is a ruthless scoundrel. The race itself doesn't begin until the 90 minute mark, but the lead up zips along on the strength of the script and editing, always moving from the storyline of one character to another, and back again. In one of the movie's cleverest running gags, the French pilot - forever in search of a Fabulous Foreign Babe to make time with - keeps running into the same gal, or so he thinks. And in fact, she's played by a single actress (Irina Demick), but every time Cassel meets her, on the beach, at the hangars or in a restaurant, she turns out to be somebody else. "Oh, Brigitte! How nice to see you again"! "I'm sorry Monsieur, I'm afraid you are mistaken. My name is Ingrid, from Sweden". And then the next time he sees her : "Oh, Ingrid! You are looking lovely tonight"! "You must have me confused with someone else, Herr Dubois, I am Marlene, from Germany". And it goes on like this, throughout the movie, well timed so as not to wear out the joke. It's very humorous and so are all the other hijinx, including some references that would go right over a five year old's head. Still, "Those Magnificent Men" retains the overall feel of an epic 1960s Disney flick. It's fun for the whole family but sophisticated enough for adults.

The movie was produced by 20th Century Fox, whose laboratory was Deluxe, where Dad was the Veep. Consequently, he got to go to a lot of premiers in those days and he took us to this one. That was the first and only time I saw it until now, which makes 56 years in between viewings. But I remembered many things about it, especially the Flying Machines, some of which look like planes out of Dr. Suess! It's amazing they were able to get off the ground, let alone fly. I looked hard to see if they were models, but in the distance shots you can see they're in the air, and according to IMDB they were indeed operable, and flown by stunt pilots in carefully selected conditions according to weather and wind speed. Now that's Magnificent! The picture was shot in widescreen 70mm and looks fantastic with Color by Deluxe. I watched it on a dvd from the Libe, and I doubt it's available on Youtube, but you can find it on Netflix I'm sure, or just order it from your library like I did. I absolutely loved "Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines", which accordingly gets Two Huge Thumbs Up. See it for some good old Big Studio entertainment.  /////      

I've still got nothing on the John Mills front, so we'll just list him as "on leave" until further notice. However, we did find an excellent espionage thriller the previous night, called "High Treason"(1951). It's about an ex-RAF radioman, now running an electronics shop in London, who gets mixed up with a bunch of Commies in a plot to sabotage the Battersea Power Station (made famous on the cover of Pink Floyd's "Animals").

In the opening scene, a cargo ship is exploded, leading Scotland Yard to suspect a certain dock worker, who they trace to a Leftist group that meets under the guise of a music appreciation society. The radioman,"Jimmy Ellis" (Kenneth Griffith), also belongs to the society but has no hardcore politics. He's a gullible type who lives with his mother and brother and is very meek. But he's forced into the sabotage plot by the group's leaders, and when the dockworker turns up murdered, Jimmy becomes the focus of attention for the Yard inspectors, not for the murder but because they suspect he knows something about the larger situation afoot.

Jimmy won't talk because he's been threatened with elimination, but after the cops pressure him, he decides to visit his local MP (Member of Parliment) to confess his involvement. 

That's all I can reveal without spoilers, but this is one helluva good spy thriller, with a tightning, tension filled story. You really feel for poor, paranoid Jimmy, who's in way over his head with the hive-minded Marxists. They're merciless and don't believe in the sanctity of the individual, only the "greater good" of the group. Any single person is expendable if deemed "untrustworthy", i.e. someone who dares think for himself. There's a lot to be gleaned here, morally speaking, about the danger of extreme politics. "High Treason" finishes up with a climactic sequence inside the Battersea Station, with chases and gun battles amidst it's gangways and gargantuan generators (yeah, "avoid alliteration", I know...)

I can't give away the outcome, but this is one Espionage Movie you don't wanna miss, with it's hardball Red Scare theme. "High Treason" gets Two Big Thumbs Up, and the Youtube print is good. Give it a shot, for Jimmy's sake. ////   

That's all for the moment. I'm gonna head out for an Aliso walk, then a trip to the market (for chips, salsa, only the necessities!). Tonight we'll watch another movie and listen to some Opeth, do a CSUN walk; until then, enjoy your afternoon. I send you Tons of Love as always!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Sir Alec Guinness in "Malta Story" + "The Skorzeny Papers" (a brief review)

This blog was begun the night of April 14th, 2021 :

John Mills took the night off, but we've got Sir Alec Guinness subbing for him, with Jack Hawkins in support, so I trust you'll not be disappointed. The movie's a good one : "Malta Story"(1953), a literal title that gives you the basic idea about the island's strategic importance in World War Two (and in wars past as the narrator points out, for the Phoenicians, Byzantines, et al.). Guinness stars as an archaeologist on his way to Egypt who becomes stranded on Malta during a refueling stop. When the airstrip is bombed by the Lufwaffe, his plane is destroyed and he's taken to an RAF base for safety.

While there, a Colonel (Hawkins) discovers Guinness has a pilot's licence and recruits him for photo reconnaissance missions over Italy. At first, he draws the Colonel's ire for straying from a planned flight route, but when this spontaneous departure leads to the discovery of a German ammo dump, he's given more leeway for his methods. Further missions by Guinness reveal enemy convoys on their way to the island, allowing the ships to be sunk before they can attack. He's very good at what he does, but then everything changes when he meets a young woman who works at the base Operations Center. She is "Maria" (Muriel Pavlow), a native Maltese who lives with her poverty stricken family in the village nearby. They fall in love and plan to marry. Maria's mother objects at first, fearing her daughter could become a war widow, but then reconsiders after Guinness promises to take Maria to England when the war is over. The family has so little food that they're near starvation. Surely England will be better, and safer.  

But then another equally serious snag hits the relationship when Maria's brother is arrested as an Italian spy. He protests, telling his RAF interrogators that he's only a partisan for Malta. "This is my country, not yours. If you'd never have come here, we wouldn't be getting bombed by the Germans. All we want is to be left alone to live in peace". When he is sentenced to death, this stirs up the previous tensions anew between the mother and Alec Guinness. But Maria stands by him, and is by his side when he gets the call for an especially dangerous mission, one that will dispense with the mandatory radio silence that is customary for reconnaissance. The upshot of this is that, by using his radio to call base, the Germans will hear him and locate his position. With no fighters in support, he'll be on his own.

I shant tell you how this works out, of course, but it's a very good war film, specifically in our favored category of "movies about the RAF". There's an interesting mix of styles involved, including the softly-lit romantic interludes, and the Neo-Realistic approach to the scenes of poverty and life in the village. This is contrasted with spectacular aerial combat footage (both actual and studio produced), of screaming Spitfires chasing down German bombers, and Guinness's lonely missions as a photographer.. 

Alec Guinness is excellent as the dignified "Lt. Ross", but has a stiffer acting style (at least in this movie) than say, John Mills, whose very natural style might've lent the role more emotion . Jack Hawkins, on the other hand, is his usual macho self, square-jawed and brawny, and in fact one scene has him shaving whilst carrying on a conversation with a Lieutenant about his wife, the point being that "Jack Hawkins shaving and making small talk" in front of a fellow officer is filmmaker shorthand for his manliness. Have you seen Jack yet in "The Cruel Sea"? You really must.  :)

With it's various themes, "Malta Story" works on all levels mentioned above, and is worthy of Two Big Thumbs Up. The picture quality is good too, so give it a look. Finally, as an aside, I must mention Maltese Crosses. Did you ever draw them as a kid? I did. For some reason, maybe because of a war movie or a reference in 1960s pop culture (like the German helmet on Big Daddy Ross' "Red Baron"), some of the boys at my elementary school, myself included, became fascinated with the Maltese Cross. We'd mention them and draw pictures of them. Maybe it was the way the words sounded : "Mall-teeze Cross, man. That's wicked"! But yeah, we liked Maltese Crosses for about a year or two, then they faded away, just like STP stickers. But the thought of them originating with Malta never crossed our minds. We just thought "Maltese" sounded bitchin'. 

I only have the one movie this time, but I finished "The Skorzeny Papers" by Major Ralph Ganis, so let me give you the lowdown on that. Having read a number of JFK assassination books, the best being Phillip F. Nelson's "LBJ : The Mastermind", my opinion of the Skorzeny book is as follows. As mentioned in a previous blog, I was surprised at the author's depth of research into Skorzeny's postwar career as a covert ops adviser to Western governments, particularly the United States. Ganis establishes beyond a shadow of a doubt that Skorzeny was recruited by the CIA following a brief stint in prison after the war. In fact he escaped from that prison (Camp King) with Agency assistance. Simply stated, they wanted him because of his skills as Germany's top commando. His exploits were legendary and he was also a brilliant engineer. So, much like we took in German scientists after the war (Operation Paperclip), we also recruited certain members of the German military, and without a doubt the most notable of those men was Otto Skorzeny. The newly formed CIA was concerned, bluntly speaking, that a Western democracy like the US could not (and would not) be ruthless enough to maintain superiority in the Cold War. In other words, with our government and civilian oversight on everything, and our free press, our agencies like the FBI and CIA would not be allowed to act with the same impunity as their counterparts in the Soviet Union, where, if the KGB wanted to assassinate somebody or assist Leftist rebels in a war, they just went ahead and did it. Who was gonna stop them?

Frank Wisner and the other heads of the early CIA felt they needed the same capability, but it would have to be kept Top Secret. Also, National Security Directive 10/2 was signed around the same time, which gave the CIA more latitude in covert affairs. Not being naturals at the game, they turned immediately to someone who was, and who was the best in the business : Otto Skorzeny. He was an ardent anti-Communist who also worked for French intelligence beginning in the late-1940s. Ganis details every connection on this timeline, all the way up to November 22, 1963, so there is no doubt Skorzeny was a CIA asset of utmost importance. It is also 99% certain that he headed up the infamous QJ/WIN program, which was organised to carry out assassinations, and may have plotted the kidnap and murder of Patrice Lumumba of the Congo in 1961. Other plans were drawn up to get rid of Charles de Gaulle of France and Fidel Castro, for whom a designated group was created at the CIA, known as ZR/RIFLE.

So beyond question, Major Ganis shows that Skorzeny ran QJ/WIN, and that QJ/WIN acted as the "action arm" of the JFK assassination, with the actual shooter being Jean Rene Souetre, a notorious French assassin with previous credentials. Souetre has long been suspected by researchers of being the Grassy Knoll shooter, you can Google him for more info. Anyway, as far as those aspects are concerned, the book is a valuable, even indispensable addition to the JFK bibliography. It's just Ganis's explanation of the motive that I have trouble with. He claims that JFK was killed because he was sleeping with a woman named Ellen Rometsch, who was suspected of being an East German spy. Rometsch's name has come up in other JFK books, but she's never been seriously discussed by their authors, except as a problem for Kennedy's handlers when her status became known. However, Ganis states that, because she was a spy, it so gravely worried those in the National Security community that they felt they had no other choice than to eliminate the President. He goes into much greater detail and presents worthwhile evidence, but at the end of the day it just doesn't make sense that they'd kill him for an affair. It's not as if Kennedy was dumb enough, or loose lipped enough to whisper state secrets in her ear. Ganis says it was as much the potential embarrassment of the revelation as anything else. "JFK In Bed With Commie Spy"!, would read the headlines, and so democracy would collapse. I just can't buy that he was assassinated for that reason (again, read Phillip F. Nelson's book for a much more likely motive), but other than that complaint, "The Skorzeny Papers" is a mindblower, and a must-read for JFK buffs. ////

Well, that's all I've got for the moment. Have an awesome evening, tons of love as always.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)        

Mining for Mills : Two New Finds ("Britannia of Billingsgate" and "A Black Veil for Lisa")

How'd we get on this John Mills kick, anyway? I mean, before it started, I hadn't really given him that much thought. I'd seen him in a few movies, but knew him mostly as the father of Haley Mills, the huge Disney star of the early 60s who became famous with "The Parent Trap". His other daughter is Juliet Mills, the Nanny of "Nanny and the Professor", a TV show that ran for a couple seasons in the early 70s. But Mills himself? All I really knew was that he'd been knighted for his acting work, and was especially well regarded in England.

In looking at my movie list, I see that Mills first caught our attention in "Tiger Bay", which we saw a couple of months ago. He actually co-starred with Haley in that one, playing a detective to her street urchin who witnesses a murder. That was a very good film, mostly for Haley's performance. But then we saw Sir John in "We Dive at Dawn", in which he played a submarine captain, and I think that was the picture that did it. I remember writing that his performance was so authentic that you felt as if you were there in the sub, as part of the crew.

So yeah, that was how it happened. We got warmed up with "Tiger Bay", then saw JM in a standout role in"Dive", and we thought "this guy is awesome", and we went from there. Then it became a "thing" to see how many of his movies we could find. And we've found quite a few, I must say. 

We're still going, and tonight we went all the way back to the second film of his career : "Britannia of Billingsgate"(1933), a hijinx comedy about a Cockney woman who becomes a movie star by accident. Violet Loraine stars as "Bessie Bolton", the owner of a London fish and chips restaurant who likes to sing while she works. A movie is being shot on her street, and by chance, her voice is recorded by the sound crew. The movie's director, a frenetic Italian artiste, is so upset by the lack of passion from his leads, that he decides to scrap his film's initial romantic plot in favor of making a musical starring the owner of the elusive singing voice. "Find me that woman"!, he demands of his crew.

She signs a contract and is promoted as the Next Big Thing, even before her movie comes out. Her husband (Gordon Harker, a freaking riot), formerly a fishmonger, now aspires to become a studio bigshot. He's got the motion picture business all figured out. As for John Mills, he's Bessie's son, an amateur motorcycle racer.

The Britspeak jabbering in this flick was so fast and furious that I couldn't understand half of it, but it didn't matter too much. The story is thin, but the actors are very funny. What plot there is revolves around Bessie at first becoming a diva, but then returning to her roots as a working class mother when her family gets out of hand over her fame. Her husband does indeed become a honcho and spends the rest of the movie hammered. Her daughter's had a crush on the star of the original picture, one "Harold Hogarth" (Walter Sondes). She sneaks into his hotel room in hopes of a romantic "encounter", which escalates the screwy situation. And John Mills is at home, laid up with a bad knee. He's depressed at having to miss an important race, but Bessie doesn't want him riding motorcycles anyway. Of course he ends up racing anyhow, and this sequence was interesting because it showed an actual dirt track motorcycle race in 1933. It looked just like the motocross of today (with more primitive bikes), and I was surprised because I didn't know there was such a thing back then.

Anyhow, this is decidedly a B-movie, with hard-to-understand dialogue and a Depression-era look. But it's great fun, only runs 74 minutes and moves fast. You definitely won't be bored. John Mills' part is small, so the main draw here is Violet Loraine, who according to Wiki was a music hall star of the early 20th century. She only made two movies, but she's got silver screen charisma to burn, and again, Gordon Harker, the actor playing her husband, is laugh out loud funny. The two of them are more than enough reason to watch, and you get Mills the Motocross Racer as a bonus. Oh yeah, and the Italian movie director is a riot also. For these reasons, "Britannia of Billingsgate" gets Two Solid Thumbs Up and a strong recommendation. //// 

The previous night I had to do some serious searching before I found a Mills Film, and though I didn't have high hopes for "A Black Veil for Lisa"(1968), it turned out much better than I expected. I don't usually go for Italian attempts to interpret commercial genres. I don't like Spaghetti Westerns, and most Italian horror is just boobs and blood. The acting is usually stiff and the dubbing atrocious. I feared this might be the case tonight with what looked to be a Hollywood-style crime flick, but because it starred John Mills I stuck with it.

At first I was confused as to the location and the nationalities of the characters. There was a police chief with a heavy Russian accent but a German name, who was played by an Italian actor. Mills' detective also has a German name, but the subordinate police characters are obviously Italian (their names aren't given), so I thought I was watching a movie set in Rome, about Italian drug smugglers. The movie starts off with Mills trying to solve a series of murders involving cocaine.

Then we see a map of Hamburg in his office, and there's a location shot of a strip club called Moulin Rouge, so now I knew we were on the Reeperbahn made famous by the Beatles. After you watch the movie, Google a photo of the Moulin Rouge marquee, and you'll see it's the same place. At any rate, by that point I knew I wasn't watching a typical Italian exploitation flick.

The movie changes gears, however, when the focus moves from the murders to a scrutiny of Mills' relationship with his much younger wife, whom he suspects is cheating on him. After arresting a suspect in the drug murders, he offers the man a deal : he can go free if he kills her. The suspect is played by an Austrian actor named Robert Hoffmann, who looks like a cross between Richard Chamberlain and David Bowie. The guy is too handsome for his own good, so you can guess what happens when he goes to the house to carry out the murder - he meets Mills' wife (the also highly attractive Luciana Paluzzi, a former Bond Girl), and a tryst breaks out. John Mills finds out about it, and now he's doubly pissed off, first because his suspicions about his wife were correct, and secondly because his murder suspect didn't kill her. And now, the guy has blackmail on Mills, because Mills has not only let him go in the drug murders, but contracted him to get rid of his wife.

So Mills starts following the hot n' heavy couple, trying to plot his way out of the jam he's in. He's pounding the scotch by now and is ready for a nervous breakdown. Meanwhile, Robert Hoffmann is makin' the scene with his wife, and the movie becomes a psychological study of Mills' character. We're talkin' Middle Aged Mills now, where his marital crisis is causing him to throw away his whole life, and JM gets to show off some serious acting chops here. I was surprised at how well directed the movie was, and apparently there is a term for this genre as it pertains to Italian crime thrillers. Have you ever heard of Giallo? I had not, but the style has all the hallmarks of classic Hollywood filmmaking. While the production values weren't as high in this particular movie, it still looked slick. The color photography was excellent and the lead actors all gave realistic, 1970s style performances, John Mills especially as the distraught, emasculated detective. In fact it was one of his best roles so far, really showing off his range.

I won't go so far as to call "A Black Veil for Lisa" a Crime Classic. If you're looking for European entries in that category, look to French directors like Jean-Pierre Melville or Claude Chabrol. But Mr. Dallamano did a good job with this example of Giallo, so let's give it Two Big Thumbs Up to be generous, and to encourage us to look for more.

That's all I know for today. I'm back home and have a few dvds I need to watch before they're due at the library, so we might be taking a break here and there in our Mills Fest, which has anyhow become more of a Mills Quest, as we're down to searching far and wide for unseen films. But we're not done with JM just yet. I know of at least two more available flicks, and we'll get to 'em in short order so stay tuned.

Have a wonderful evening, and a Happy Ritchie Blackmore's Birthday tomorrow.

Tons of love as always!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

   

Two Ends of the John Mills Spectrum : "Old Bill and Son" and "The History of Mr. Polly"

Well, I hate to say it, but we finally got a bad one, which just goes to show that even the great John Mills can have a clunker. It feels lousy to criticize a movie that was offered as a comic uplift, to boost wartime morale, but I have to be honest - "Old Bill and Son"(1941) was a chore to sit through. Accordingly, I'm not going to expend a lot of effort describing it to you, but I will give you the basic premise and a plot point or two.

As the movie opens, Mills meets his father on a busy London street. Dad's a cab driver with a broken old wreck; JM's an unemployed Dandy, dressed to the nines with a cocky attitude. They are Old Bill and Son. Old Bill is worn out but tough. He's seen real life as a veteran of WW1. Mills (the son) is young and "knows it all" as only a young man can. He thinks he's got life by the tail, but still needs to borrow money from dear old Dad and isn't shy about asking. All of this is a screenwriter's trick to set father and son at comedic odds with one another.

Then WW2 breaks out and they both want to sign up. This puts them on the same team, well sort of, because they still want to upstage each other. Mills enlists right away. It takes Dad a little longer because at first the Army says he's too old. Eventually he gets in as a cook.

It's a propaganda film presented as a screwball comedy, which is fine because England needed the mood lifter and to generate public support for the war. But the director allows the hijinx to run on unabated. At 99 minutes, the film's a half hour too long, and there's no attempt to reign in scenes of slapstick that go on forever. There also isn't a plot to speak of besides Old Bill and Son joining the Army, followed by the enlistment of Bill's daughter and eventually his wife. This is to show that everyone was important in the war effort, which is what the movie is really about. But there have been other propaganda movies out of England and the US that got the same message across in a well made picture. "Old Bill and Son" feels like a jumble of scenes that were thrown together, and boy does it tax one's patience.

Ironically, it ends with a nice flourish. There's a "punch line" having to do with the theme of father/son one upsmanship, and had the filmmakers shown the same focus with the rest of the movie, they might've had a winner. As it was, I was struggling to stay awake. According to IMDB, John Mills didn't like it either, and was dismissive of "Old Bill and Son" in his autobiography. I'm afraid I can't give it a recommendation, but I'll award it a Single Thumb for good intentions and for it's ending. It's a shame because there are funny moments and mile-a-minute Britspeak jokes. A film of just over 60 minutes would've worked. /// 

Much better was "The History of Mr. Polly"(1949), the other of the two Mills Films I dug up, which we watched the previous night. Based on a book by H.G. Wells, it tells the story of an aimless man who wanders his way through life and thus has happenstance decide his fate. When we first see Mr. Polly (Mills), he's being sacked from his job for slacking. Then his Dad passes away and leaves him a modest sum, which he's advised to invest. "A shop's the thing, Alfred", a relative tell's him. "It's a bit of work, but in the long term it'll make your money grow". The problem is that Alfred Polly doesn't want to work, not in a shop anyway. It's the very kind of business he was fired from.

So the first thing he does is buy a bicycle. Now he can ride around and explore. It's his favorite pastime next to reading. Mr. Polly is a creature of imagination, a daydreamer who goes where the day takes him. While out biking, he meets a young girl (Sally Ann Howes) sitting on a wall in the country. They converse, he tells her she's the most beautiful creature he's ever seen, and she agrees to meet him there again the next day. I won't tell you what comes of this, or rather the way in which it ends, but suffice it to say that Mr. Polly ends up disillusioned, and goes to the house of his Aunt, who has three chirruping daughters. Though he'd been repulsed by these women at his father's funeral, he turns to them now for consolation. They all talk a blue streak, but have a way about them that extinguishes melancholy.

Polly ends up marrying one of the sisters and, against his better judgement, spends the rest of his inheritance on a shop, just like the one he used to work at. He does this mainly to appease his relatives, who are wondering how he'll support a wife. Of course, he eventually comes to hate owning a business because it takes all his time, which he'd prefer to spend reading, biking or daydreaming. His wife nags at him about money until he winds up hating her too, and one day something happens at his shop that will cause a complete change in his life, a change that will lead him to happiness. But he'll ultimately have to fight to keep it, and this of course is the moral of the story : i.e. freedom is never free, etc.    

"The History of Mr. Polly" has the spirit of a fable, like "Forrest Gump" (for want of a better example). Polly is at heart an innocent, though not to the extent of Gump, and yet he's not cut out for the 9 to 5 world of everyday life. Mills plays him as a fantasy character, ala Peter Pan, and the creative "slanguage" that results from his butchery of English, flows off his tongue as if he were a natural speaker. The England of Mr. Polly's world is also like a fantasy, one of thatched cottages, country lanes and overflowing gardens.

We noted above that "Old Bill and Son" was not one of John Mills' favorites. The opposite was true of "The History of Mr. Polly", which he regarded as his best work. It has the appeal of a timeless classic, one that bears repeat viewings, and I agree with Mister M, it's a great film. Two Huge Thumbs Up, then, and we'll call it a must see.

So there you have it : two ends of the John Mills spectrum, one not so good and one most excellent. At the moment I am all out of John Mills movies, but we won't call an official end to our JM retrospective just yet. Allow me to make another search this evening, and if I can't find anything new we'll move on, but until then, Mills lives!

That's all for now. Have a great evening, and tons of love as always!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):) 

Royal Mills : "Tudor Rose", the story of Lady Jane Grey

I only have a single Mills Film for you this time, but it's one of the best we've seen, though incredibly tragic. It was called "Tudor Rose"(1936), the story of Lady Jane Grey, who became Queen of England for nine days in July 1553. We'll get to John Mills in a minute, but first I want to suggest that you look up Jane Grey if you don't know her story already. I was vaguely aware of it, but in reviewing the movie I only have two choices, either to let you in on the outcome or tell you nothing at all. I'm choosing the former, but want you to discover it for yourself which is why I advise you to Google her. It's a total spoiler for the plot, but this is one case where we'll have to accept that and move forward.

It all starts with the death of Henry VIII (and where the hell is Rick Wakeman when we need him?). His nine year old son ascends to the throne as Edward VI, but due to his youth he is assigned a Royal Protector named Edward Seymour, the brother of Jane Seymour who was the mother of little Edward, by Henry VIII.

We need Wakeman to sort it all out, so I suggest listening to "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" while you're reading this review.

King Edward's authority is more or less sidelined by Edward Seymour, who treats him as the child he is, but goes too far in denying even his most reasonable edicts. Seymour won't even let him have a new toy - a gun, which is replacing the bow and arrow as the weapon of choice in Europe, though Seymour is a traditionalist and can't see that. As Edward's overseer, he basically runs roughshod over the poor lad, who's joy at becoming King turns to sorrow. Sadder still, Edward's health is not good. He's a frail boy who suffers blackouts from a rapid heartbeat. He does win one victory, however, when Edward Seymour's brother Thomas comes to visit. Thomas is what you can call "the fun Uncle". He gets Edward the gun he's been asking for and teaches him to shoot. He also takes the boy-King out riding, all against the orders of his brother the Royal Protector. This sets up a showdown between the brothers, with Thomas finally deposing Edward Seymour and being chosen by King Edward as his new Protector. Edward Seymour is then beheaded, a savage end that King Edward denounces. He's a kind boy who wants nothing to do with the ruthless application of the guillotine.

As he reaches his teens, Edward's health continues to decline, and a predator is watching from the wings. This man is the Earl of Warwick, played to cold-blooded perfection by Cedric Hardwicke, who even looks like Warwick. Google his image to see. Warwick is a professional soldier who desires to become the power behind the throne. He predicts to a colleague that Edward's fainting spells will soon end in death. When this happens, he has a plan to bypass the royal line of succession, which runs through several close relatives of Henry VIII. Four places down that line is a 15 year old girl named Jane Grey, the daughter of King's Henry's younger sister. Warwick's strategy is not clearly spelled out (or if it was, I missed it), but it includes having his son Guilford (John Mills) court and marry young Jane before she's installed as Queen. Then, with the dutiful Guilford as Prince Consort, and his wife but an innocent teenage girl, Warwick will call the shots as the invisible ruler of England. It's a sinister plan, but so far everything has played out to Warwick's advantage.

For her part, Jane Grey wants nothing to do with the queenship. She's a bookish girl who prefers the countryside to London, but is sent there against her will by her ambitious mother. "Remember, Jane, that I am the sister of Henry". She wants Jane to aspire to something greater than reading Plato. Jane ends up living at Thomas Seymour's house (the new Royal Protector), and befriends the doomed King Edward. The Earl of Warwick's next move is to get rid of Thomas, whom he arrests on the false charge of trying to marry Jane to boy Edward. Thomas is sent to the Tower of London pending execution, leaving Jane and Edward distraught. Now Warwick is issuing the orders, and the first thing he commands is that Jane marry his son. Jane has already been introduced to Guilford (played as kind and charming by John Mills), but has no idea he's the son of Warwick. Before she knows what's hit her, they've been wed, King Edward has died, and Warwick has enthroned her as Queen. 

All of this has worked just as Warwick predicted, but there is one player he hadn't counted on : Mary Tudor, another daughter of Henry VIII (by Catherine of Aragon). Mary finds out she's been bypassed for the throne and objects. When Warwick tells her to stuff it, she forms an army to reclaim what is rightly hers. That's all fine and dandy with Jane, who never wanted to be Queen in the first place, but Warwick chooses to fight, with his own guardsmen at his side, and a showdown begins.

An alternative title to this film is "Nine Days a Queen", so as you can guess, Mary Tudor wins the battle. As for Warwick, he is arrested and.......(you guessed it).......beheaded. Man, the Brits were bloodthirsty in those days. But what of Jane Grey? She didn't ask to be Queen and she's harmed no one. And what about her husband, Guilford Dudley? This is why I've asked you to Google the story of Lady Jane Grey, because the outcome is tragic and the victims for the most part are innocent of wrongdoing. Mary Tudor was an icy, compassionless woman who wasn't called "Bloody Mary" for nothing. John Mills' part as Guilford is brief but important to the plot as always. He's never just a bit player.  

This brings us to Nova Pilbeam, the actress playing Jane Grey. We've seen her recently in "Yellow Canary" as well as in "The Man Who Knew Too Much" years earlier, and not only does she possess one of the greatest names in motion picture history (I mean, c'mon : Nova Pilbeam!), but she is utterly radiant as Lady Jane, the modest teenager who'd rather study languages than rule the Realm. The tragedy of Jane's life is made all the more poignant by Pilbeam's portrayal. In the hands of a lesser actress, who didn't evoke Grey's resigned acceptance of her fate, the movie would not have the same heartbreaking effect. All the actors are fantastic (especially Cedric Hardwicke) but Nova Pilbeam brings Jane Grey to life. For that reason, I think this is one of the best "Middle Ages" biopics we've ever seen (and I'm still looking for a suitable nickname for the genre). "Tudor Rose" gets Two Huge Thumbs Up and is worthy of a Criterion restoration, though the Youtube print is of decent quality. It's a must-see.  ///// 

The reason we only have one film this time relates to the dwindling Mills supply mentioned in previous blogs. I searched for unseen films last night, but by the time I found one, it was too late to watch. In fact I found two, so that's the good news, which means in our next blog we'll be back to full strength Mills, at least for the moment.

That's all I know for today. Have a great evening. Tons of love as always!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)   

Early Mills! : "The Ghost Camera" and "The Midshipmaid", plus Otto Skorzeny

This blog was begun on the night of April 6th, 2021 :

In our search for a fresh supply, we've gone back to the beginning, with two pictures from the start of John Mills' career. The first is a low budget mystery called "The Ghost Camera"(1933), starring Henry Kendall as a chemist on the trail of a murderer. When he arrives home from vacation, he discovers a camera in the back seat of his car. It's not his; how on earth did it get there? Well, someone must've dropped or misplaced it. After conferring with "Sims" his assistant (Victor Stanley), he decides to develop the negatives left inside the camera, with a view toward identifying it's owner.

Kendall is a very proper sort, who articulates his ten dollar words in an impeccable RP accent (RP being "received pronunciation". Google it and we'll discuss it in a future blog). Being a chemist, he's also meticulous, so when he develops the negatives and makes prints, he notices a street sign in a photo of a girl in front of a house, and with a magnifying glass he observes the name and number. The street name is common, there are a half-dozen with that name in greater London, but with Sims along for the ride, Kendall drives to each one until he matches the house in the picture. And when he knocks on the door, the same girl answers.

"I say", he begins (and Veddy Brrrittishly, I might add), "I've discovered a camera in my car that does not belong to me. Without meaning to pry, I felt I should process the film inside perchance to discover the owner. In my search I've tracked down your home, which along with yourself match the image in this very picture". He shows her the photo and she nods.

"Why yes, that is indeed me. That picture was taken by my brother. He's a photographer so the camera must be his. Where were you when you found it"?

"I was at home, but prior to that I was on vacation in Dorset".

"Well I'll be! He's been there, too, taking pictures of an archaeological site at Corfe Castle. He must've accidentally dropped it in your car, and you drove it home. Do you have it with you"?

"Yes, but I'd like to talk to your brother first".

"He's not home at the moment, still out on the job".

"Well, perhaps we could locate him? Would you by chance be available to accompany me"?

And with that, Kendall, Sims and the young lady (Ida Lupino) are off to look for her brother (John Mills).

What Kendall hasn't told Lupino is that he's got another photo from the camera that depicts a murder in progress. That's why he wants to talk to Mills. When they reach Dorset, they stop at an Inn to inquire into JM's whereabouts. "I say, have you got an 'Ernest Elton' registered"? The Inkeeper eyes the trio suspiciously before denying it. After they've returned home, and dropped Lupino off, Kendall is visited by a detective from Scotland Yard. "Were you in Dorset, asking 'round about an Ernest Elton"?

"Why, yes I was".

"Well Sir, you should know that he's wanted in connection with a jewel robbery. May I ask why you wanted to see him"?

"Well my heavens, detective! It wasn't concerning that, I assure you! I merely wanted to return his camera and confer with him about a photograph".

This leads to Kendall's disclosure of the murder photo, and now the plot becomes thick as molasses, as the detective suspects Kendall is part of the jewelry gang, and someone has broken into his chemistry lab to steal the photographs. The detective then disappears, so Kendall goes to the police to ask about him, and to try and clear his name while he's there. It turns out there's no such man working for Scotland Yard!

I'll tell you no more of the plot, but it's a corker that runs full tilt for the 64 minute duration of the movie. John Mills doesn't appear til the 30 minute mark, but his character is pivotal to the story. He will eventually have to appear in court on the jewel robbery charge, but will the murder be discovered as well? In the interim, Kendall has fallen for Ida Lupino, who wants him to protect her brother by keeping quiet. In a side note, I should mention that Lupino looks very young here, and nothing like the leading lady she'd become. It turns out she was only 15 in this movie, though she's playing older. But wow, you'd never guess it's the same woman, who'd go on to become one of the first female directors.

Mills is a kid here, too - just 25 and looks younger. And haha, once again he's on trial for something he didn't do, a fate that seems to befall him in several of his movies. Now, when I say he didn't do it, am I referring to the robbery or the murder? And why would he take a picture of the killing in any case?

"The Ghost Camera" is highly entertaining and involving, with Henry Kendall providing a comic icing on the multi-layered mystery cake, which is "most delicious"! as he himself might exclaim. I give it Two Big Thumbs Up. It was only the third movie of John Mills' career, and now we're gonna go back even earlier..... 

.....to the beginning, to Mills' cinematic debut in "The Midshipmaid"(1932), a comedy about the hijinx that ensue when a self-important politician visits a Naval base, to examine "wasteful spending". He's up in arms about the cost incurred with things like target practice ("seven quid per shell"!),  the petrol required for navigational training ("why can't they just look at a map"!), most of all, the cost of throwing parties for dignitaries (such as himself.....oh, the irony).

But when he visits the base, his daughter (Jessie Matthews) insists on tagging along. She's a spark plug of cuteness who once again refers to her father as "darling" (which apparently wasn't confined to American usage) and when they arrive, all hell breaks loose among the sailors, each of whom woos Jessie to the neglect of his shipboard duties. 

As with "Ghost Camera", John Mills doesn't appear until the half hour mark, but has an important role as the ship's pianist and songwriter. When he plays an impromptu love song for Jessie, she comes up with the idea of hosting a talent show by the crew. Other sailors have already tried to impress her with comic impersonations, the recitation of poetry, and so forth. Most of these guys are mugs (and played by hilarious British vaudeville comedians), so Mills seems to have the edge for Jessie's hand, because he's clean cut and handsome, but he's gonna have competition from the ship's captain, a strapping gent who's got eyes for her too, as well as a fine singing voice. He gives the green light to Jessie's talent show, exactly the kind of thing her father is trying to do away with.

The movie then turns into a showbiz revue, the draw being the effervescent Miss Matthews, a song and dance gal herself. She's the star here, with Mills lending support, but once again in a noteworthy role. The British film industry must've seen something in him, because his career took off right away and lasted for seven decades.

As with "Ghost Camera", "The Midshipmaid" is non-stop fun, and though it lacks "Ghost"'s mystery plot, it makes up for it with the shenanigans of the Navy "gobs" and most of all with Jessie Matthews, who we've got to find more of. There's a pre-code raciness to the dialogue, so keep an ear out for some double entendres but listen carefully cause we're dealing once again with Britspeak. Lastly, I want to mention Fredrick Kerr, the actor playing Jessie Matthews' father (the politician). His IMDB lists his birth year as 1858, which I believe makes him the earliest actor we've ever seen. If I'm not mistaken, the previous record holder was born in 1859. Anyway, there you have it; Two Big Thumbs Up for "The Midshipmaid". Watch it back to back with "The Ghost Camera" for an Early Mills experience.  /////

That's all I know for today. I'm reading a book called "The Skorzeny Papers", which I started last month but had to put aside due to the length of the McCartney bio. Now I've picked it back up, I'm about halfway through and fascinated. The Skorzeny in question is Otto Skorzeny, an Obersturmbannfuhrer (Lt. Colonel) in the Waffen SS who was Hitler's most trusted commando leader. His "special ops" heroics included a daring rescue of Benito Musslini (Google it), but the book is about his postwar career as an adviser to the CIA and - though I haven't gotten to it yet - his supposed connection to the JFK assassination. I'd seen this book available on Amazon for quite a while but held off buying it because it seemed too far fetched. "What? A Nazi connection to JFK"? But then I needed something to read, so I finally ordered it, and wow - it's no joke. The author is Major Ralph Ganis USAF, who writes like an academic and presents his material in a serious, detailed and non-sensational way. You can think of Skorzeny, after 1947, as an all-purpose Secret Agent for the United States, Canada and England, and for American business interests, including some certain Texas oilmen. And if you don't believe that ex-Nazis came to work for the United States, just Google "Operation Paperclip", or simply recall Werner von Braun, who developed the Apollo rocket that got us to the Moon. I'll report back on Skorzeny later on, when I get to the JFK stuff.

Have a great evening. Tons of love as always!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

Mills Mania! : "The Rocking Horse Winner" & "Town on Trial"

This blog was begun on the night of April 4, 2021:

Continuing our Mills Retrospective, tonight we saw Sir John take a supporting role, in "The Rocking Horse Winner"(1949), an unnerving drama with a supernatural element. Valerie Hobson plays "Hester Grahame", an upper-class Englishwoman with elegant tastes. She spends so much money on clothes and furnishings that it's breaking the family finances. Making matters worse, her husband is a gambler with no talent for cards. They're in debt on their house and everything else they've bought on credit, and now a collections man has come to the door and is promising to remain until he gets paid.

It's not a pretty picture, especially during the holiday season, but on Christmas Day, the Grahame's adolescent son Paul is given a rocking horse as a gift. In the movie's opening scene, we see him forming a bond with his parents' new handyman "Bassett" (John Mills), a former stable boy who knows horse racing and likes to place a bet. Paul asks Bassett to put some money down for him, too - just a few shillings - and soon he's hooked as well. The rocking horse gift stems from his newfound interest.

Things are going bad for his parents, though, and Paul's uncle (his mother's brother) has to bail them out financially on more than one occasion. Like all kids, Paul feels their strife in his soul, and wills himself to win enough money at the track to pull his mom and dad out of debt. One day his mother gets a strange call from her housekeeper to come home. "It's about Paul, ma'am. He spends all day on that rocking horse, and the way he rides it is scaring me. It's like he's overcome". In fact we see Paul riding the wooden horse, and he looks as if he's in a trance, and a mad one; his eyes are aflame as he rocks back and forth to the tipping point, whipping his inanimate mount with a riding crop.

But when his mum questions him about the housekeeper's worry, Paul only shrugs and says, "Don't worry momma, riding makes me feel lucky".

Paul continues his rocking horse reveries, and after each one he goes to Bassett with the name of the next winner at the track. At first, Bassett tries to get him to change his picks, because they seem like also-rans. But sure enough, Paul is right every time. Soon they've got 1200 pounds saved up, then 10,000, and then 70,000! "I told you I was lucky", he says. They keep their winnings stashed in a lockbox out in Bassett's shed, with their secret known only to the uncle. Paul starts paying off his mother's debts, then giving her money to buy all the things she's accustomed to. Suddenly she thinks his rocking horse rides are just fine. But the rides are beginning to take a toll on Paul. He's losing focus in other areas of his life, and his vitality is beginning to ebb.

I can't tell you what awaits Paul and his horse, or for that matter Bassett and their winnings, either. But what seems on the surface like a tale of easy money has a sinister underpinning. Parts of the film feel and look like an episode of "The Twilight Zone", with cockeyed camera angles and high contrast lighting. Does the rocking horse have a life of it's own, or is it the house that's affecting Paul? He's particularly well-played by a child actor named John Howard Davies, who we saw as "Oliver Twist" last Christmas. John Mills is good as Bassett the kindly handyman, who loves Paul like a son and becomes a surrogate for his absent father. But this is Valerie Hobson's movie and she's perfect as the spendthrift mother who sees her extravagant lifestyle as her birthright. 

Taken from a short story by D.H. Lawrence, "The Rocking Horse Winner" gets Two Big Thumbs Up, and has an eeriness that'll stick with you long after the movie is over. Highly recommended.  /////

Regarding crime films, we've become so used to the Twist Ending that we can almost feel cheated when we don't get one. And yet it wasn't always that way. I've found myself waiting for The Twist in the last couple of noirs in our John Mills marathon, but became resigned to the realization that the stories were not about a "big reveal", but rather the psychological makeup of the characters. The same was true of the previous night's Mills Movie : "Town on Trial"(1957), in which JM plays "Superintendent Halloran", a hard as nails homicide detective to whom everyone is a suspect, and all are guilty until he says otherwise.

He's on a murder case that unfolds at a posh country club in a suburban English town, the kind of place that has winding two lane roads and expansive green lawns. The victim is a voluptuous young woman whose membership at the club was dubious, and gained only by favors to certain boardmembers. In truth, she was a trashy sort, an unrefined exhibitionist that the men loved and the women hated.

Right off the bat, Mills has a set of suspects. First and foremost is the manager of the club (Derek Farr), a playboy type who - though he's married - had an affair with the victim that left her pregnant. Next on the list is a timid, thirtysomething man who lives at home with his mother. He's a schizophrenic and not a club member, but he knew the victim and had designs on her (it's a small town and the man is outwardly normal, and handsome).

Lastly there's the local doctor (Charles Coburn), a Canadian who is secretive about his past and who is caught berating the mentally ill man, as if trying to convince him he's the killer. Mills at first thinks the doctor is trying to frame the poor guy. This will lead to a Red Herring, but there's no doubt Coburn acts strangely throughout the film. This is one of the reasons I was waiting for a twist.

Coburn also has a niece, who works as his nurse and doubles as his protector. She is played by an actress named Barbara Bates, who we saw and mentioned in a small but important part at the very end of "All About Eve" a couple weeks ago. Miss Bates has a look and screen presence that is unforgettable, and though she never became a star her story must still be mentioned because it is one of the most tragic in Hollywood history. You can read about her on her IMDB page, but if you see her roles in movies you will agree that she was a good actress.

The killer has left a note at the crime scene with an explicit Bible verse : Ezekiel 23-5. I'll leave you to read it for yourself, but for Mills, it leaves open the possibility that anyone could be the murderer in this prudish but hypocritical town. As for the townspeople, they find the whole affair distasteful ("Ohh, really....a murder, how tacky"), and resolve to cooperate as little as possible. All this does is cause Mills to put the hammer down even harder. He's a real prick in this one.  :) 

But then a second girl is found dead, and this time it's the daughter of a local couple. Supposedly straitlaced, it turns out she had a wild side also, which apparently drove the killer crazy. Again, the bible verse is important.

I was still waiting for the twist, and at one point I even suspected Barbara Bates. But the story turned out once again to be psychologically driven rather than by plot. It's as much about the British class system as it is about the murder case, but still quite entertaining, and John Mills is at the top of his game here. It's a lot of fun to watch him play a hard guy. Keep an eye on Charles Coburn, too. There's something that doesn't add up about his character.

"Town on Trial" is part mystery/part social commentary, but very involving and it gets Two Big Thumbs Up from this reviewer. The Hitchcockian ending is a nice touch, too.

Well, I don't mean to alarm you, but we're starting to run low on Mills Films. I'm gonna keep looking, but so far I've only located a couple more that are free on Youtube. For the moment we're still good, but I thought I should prepare you for the inevitable (though I'll do whatever it takes to postpone it). 

Because he's John Freakin' Mills and we love him!

That's all for the moment. Have a great evening. Tons of love as always!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)