Last night's movie was "Lunch Hour"(1961), an interesting, Coca-Cola Generation film with an early '60s soundtrack that's laid out almost like a Godard flick at first. or maybe a Truffaut. A married, 30-something executive at a graphic arts arts firm in London is having an affair with a pretty young designer. She's 24, flirty but innocent. They take the train at lunch to hotels away from the business district. How they have time to do any affair-ing after the train ride both ways on their lunch hour is a mystery, but then so is the whole movie. Or maybe it's supposed to be whimsical and surreal, ala experimental theater. We'll find out as we go along, but for now, it's defintely Godard-like, if Godard was coherent. For the first ten minutes, all the couple does is make small talk. Neither of their names are ever stated, in keeping with the secrecy of their affair. The Girl (as she is known in the credits, played by Shirley Ann Field) is all Eyes, Dimples and Smile. In the early going, you even think Field is a first-time actress for how conscious she is of the camera. The Man (Robert Stephens) is attentive to her, with his deferential manner. He's not leading man material in the looks department, but she likes him and he loves her.
The movie meanders around the two of them at work - where a human resources exec tries to steal her away from The Man on a coffee break - and at a park where couples go to make out. There's zero plot thus far, and we're at the twenty minute mark of a one hour film. You're settled in, going, "okay, I signed on for the duration, I won't turn it off"; it's a Camelot-era, British New Wave-type of deal, made in the brief period of "breezy" international cinematic optimism that preceded the arrival of The Beatles in the midst of the Cold War. Think "Umbrellas of Cherbourg", "Breathless", movies like that, when Pan-Am was the only way to fly.
Well, anyhow. The Man is infatuated with The Girl. She's charmed by him, and flattered that a 37 year old man would give her 100% of his attention over his wife.
Then, in order to find a new hotel where no one will recognize them, The Man travels a bit further on the train, and finds a joint where the owner, a nosy woman, allows the couple to stay because he's told her they're married. "My wife will be arriving from York tomorrow to join me," he adds. It's hard to tell if the owner really believes this or if she's playing along. This was in the days, at least in England,when you couldn't rent a room together unless you were married, but when The Girl does show up, the nosy hotel woman won't leave the two alone. She knocks on their door every five minutes, and seems to want The Man for herself. She insinuates that The Girl is an office tramp (as if she knows their secret), and when she finally leaves them alone, at The Man's request, the movie changes abruptly - you'll know it by a quick change of The Girl's shirt from one frame to the next. Now, all of a sudden they are a married couple, just because The Man concocted that story for the nosy hotel owner.
At first, you're wondering: are they role-playing a fantasy, or are they really married? Have they been married all along, and are just pretending to have an affair, to liven up their marriage? Suddenly, they have two children, just because The Man told the hotel owner so. His fabricated tale has become the couple's reality. Now, The Girl is no longer all eyelashes and winsomeness. She's acquired an edge, that of a married woman with children and housework, and a husband who may be having an affair! The whole story has been turned on its head, and it all happens in the same hotel with the nosy owner.
You start off going, homina-homina-homina because the first ten minutes meanders, going nowhere ala Godard, who filmed pretty, young French people "being French circa 1960". That was his trip, and people said he was a genius. In truth he was a pretty good filmmaker (and original), but not great like Antonioni-oni. But Shirley Ann Fields holds your eye, and when the movie does a 180, she startles you with her talent. "Wow, she can act after all". You'll wind up thinking the movie is a gem of its era. It's important to know that, in the 1960s, a decade like no other, each year had a vibe of its own, so 1963 was different from '64, which was different from '65, et al, and each year felt like five years, because so much happened in that decade. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Lunch Hour", and almost Two Huge, though in the first ten minutes, you're wondering if you should turn it off. But you wind up glad you didn't - good stuff that takes a little while to develop, and very highly recommended. The picture is razor sharp. ////
The previous night, we had our first Joe E. Brown movie, "Earthworm Tractors"(1936). In addition to his comedic talent, Brown was famous for his look, with a flat face, high cheekbones, slit-glinting eyes, a rangy-boned body and most of all a big, wide mouth with a top lip that covered his teeth when he talked. He had a short, slicked-tight haircut and there was nobody who looked like him. Though his image is somewhat geeky, I'll bet you a nickel he influenced Jim Carrey. Brown comes off as part Carrey, and part Keaton, especially when he starts driving tractors through hot dog stands and towing houses to other locations.
As the movie opens, he's a self-described "born salesman" who's nevertheless only selling silly gadgets, like glorified pea-shooter/bubble-blower tubes. His girlfriend's Dad thinks he's not a worthy suitor, so Brown vows to show him, saying "You'll see, Mr. Blair! I'm a born salesman, and Ill come back with a job to support your daughter". He sees an ad in the paper for "salesman wanted" at Earthworm Tractors, and goes in and fibs to the boss about his background, saying he drove tractors in the Army. Really, he was a cook, but here's where Brown invented Jim Carrey, when he's talking 100 miles an hour in an overly schticky voice, like a cartoon character. He moves like Carrey also, and does outrageous pratfalls. The company owner throws him out, but then he immediately sells eight tractors to "Sam Johnson" (Guy Kibbee), owner of the Johnson Lumber Co., whose daughter "Mabel" (June Travis) is taken with Brown and vice versa. Its the Johnson's house he ends up towing when they move. "I saved your Dad 500 dollars", he says, after putting them through what feels like an 8.0 earthquake.
But he still longs for his old girlfriend "Sally Blair" (Carol Hughes), and tries to win her back after he's become successful, while destroying numerous cars and buildings in the process. When he does see Sally after a long time away, she's married to another man. So, he turns back to Mabel Johnson, but now she's humiliated, thinking she's his second choice.
Depressed, he almost drives off his tractor off a rickety bridge between two mountains in what's supposed to be a stand-in for Tibet, or "Tibbet" as Mr. Johnson pronounces it, where a gigantic earthquake has taken place. Joe E. Brown was nuts, in a good way, and like Jim Carrey, he always gets the last laugh. I'd guess Carrey studied him and then turned it into his own thing. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Earthworm Tractors". Joe E. Brown was an original and we'll have to keep watching him. The girls in the movie play his foils, with SNL timing and precision. The picture is razor sharp. ////
And that's all I know. My blogging music is Van Der Graaf Generator "The Quiet Zone/Pleasure Dome", my late night is Handel's Amadis of the Gali opera. I hope your week is off to a good start and I send you Tons of Love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment