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 :):)
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