Well, it happened again. Something sounded familiar about "Storm Center"(1956). It must've been the title, because it wasn't the synopsis, the story of a librarian (Bette Davis) who refuses to remove a book about communism. But the Youtube channel indicated it was a recent upload, so I decided we hadn't seen it and I maintained that opinion for the first 2/3rds of the 86 minute movie. Then, as almost always happens when you're watching a repeat, an image kicks in, it can even be from a minor or innocuous scene, it doesn't have to be a showstopper, and your brain goes, "Yep. We've seen it after all." With "Storm Center", this happened at the one hour mark, when a group of boys are arguing on a sidewalk. I got that "deja vu" feeling, and I knew what the climax of the movie would be. As I watched the rest of it, I wondered when we'd previously seen it. It seemed like a while ago, but then I thought it had to be in the Youtube era, which began when Covid started. But then I did a search on my Blogger dashboard, using the title and "Bette Davis" as keywords. and it came up in a blog dated August 8, 2017! A little over six years ago, which means we saw it on a DVD from the Libe. Anyhow, it's a great movie, if harrowing and depressing. I'm gonna cut-and-paste my original review, then see if I have any new comments to add. This was just seven months after Donald Trump took office. It feels like we've been through a "Storm Center" since then. Here is my original review, from August 8, 2017:
Tonight I watched an excellent movie called "Storm Center" (1956) starring Bette Davis. I had never heard of it before, and only discovered it because of a Library search for "Brian Keith". But man was it good! It is the story of a small town librarian (Davis) who is at the center of a Communist scare. She is the "Storm Center" of the title. This film was made at the height of the Cold War/"Red Scare" era in the 1950s. In the town library, there is a recently acquired book called "The Communist Dream". Davis is paid a visit by an old friend from the town council, and he informs her that the Mayor and several other local politicians have been alerted to the book by townspeople who are outraged to have seen it in the library. Her councilman friend asks her to attend a meeting, which she does, and at that point the council asks her to remove the Communist book from the library. She, being a woman of principle, argues against the removal of any book, but by the end of the meeting, she agrees to remove it, because she has been lobbying for a Children's Wing for her library and it is the town council who can allot or refuse the funds for that project.
But later that night, she remembers her principles, and she takes the book back to the library and places it back on the shelf. The plot, and it's sub-themes, begin to build from there.
Now, if you know me, it's pretty easy to see why I love this movie to begin with : It's central location is a Library! (yay!) And the library in question is an old one, with dark wood furnishings, book stacks and walls. Old fashioned glass reading lamps over every table. I would love to know where it was filmed, if it was a real Libe or just a set. I will do some Googling. But I also loved this movie because of it's intelligence. One thing about the 1950s : even though, on the one hand, it seems like we were at the height of Right Wing Paranoia over nukes and the fear of Soviet dominance (not to mention McCarthyism and HUAC), on the other hand we also had a highly literate and intelligent artistic culture. Can you imagine a movie about a small town librarian being made today?
Well, maybe you could, a movie coming out of some Art House production or another. But this was Hollywood, and Bette Davis - the greatest actress of them all - and other big name supporting players like Kim Hunter and Brian Keith. And it wasn't just this one movie, there were dozens and dozens. In fact, in the 1950s, it's more difficult to find A Stupid Movie than An Intelligent One. To put that another way, in the 1950s it was more difficult to find a movie that was specifically made for Stupid People, and it was much easier to find movies made for Intelligent People. There were no CGI Spectacles in those days, nor movies of blunt vulgarity. No movies with car chases and explosions.
So anyhow, you can see why I loved "Storm Center", an obscure film I did not even know about until a few days ago. Man - Hollywood used to be so great - the greatest. And it still does turn out great films occasionally. But things were geared differently in the Golden Age, more toward artistry and intelligence. There is a whole sub-theme in "Storm Center" involving a few children who are regular patrons of the library, and their friendship with Bette Davis' librarian. One child in particular is a bookworm (like myself), but in his case his love of books (and his friendship with the librarian) puts him in conflict with his Dad, who is a blue collar working stiff, an ex-jock who is entirely without culture, and therefore cannot relate to his son's inward intellectual pursuits, his Need To Read. In a neat touch, the boy's mother is a pianist with a fondness for Chopin, which also seems to irritate her husband.
A conflict is set up involving this boy which leads to the climax of the movie, a very disturbing climax indeed. But thank God for the greatness of Bette Davis, and - small tirade - thank God yet again for the extreme greatness of Golden Age screenwriters, who can fill a 90 minute movie (85 in this case!) with enough drama and story and undercurrents to make it feel like an epic.
"Storm Center" gets Five Stars from me. And on top of that, it's in black and white. :) ////
The previous night, in "The Long Haul"(1957), soldier "Harry Miller" (Victor Mature) has just been discharged from a Repple Depple in Bavaria, where he was stationed as a truck driver. He has plans. "Baby," he says to wife "Connie" (Gene Anderson), "we're going to America." But Connie, who's English, isn't as enthused. "From one foreign land to another. Couldn't we go to Liverpool, just for a few months? I haven't seen me Mum in six years." Their marriage seems on edge. Harry has a good job lined up in the States. They've got a kid, seven year old "Butch" (Michael Wade). But Connie insists: "Look, Harry, I'm only asking for a few months. You could work for my Uncle George's trucking firm during that time."
To keep the peace, Harry agrees to go. No sooner does he begin driving for Uncle George, however, than he learns that the British trucking industry is controlled by hoodlums. He watches as a fellow driver, his friend "Casey" (Liam Redmond), stands to one side as some thugs rob his truck at a diner. "It's how the game is played, me boy," Casey tells him. "You'll notice that they didn't take it all, so I'll still make a profit." Harry doesn't want to play any such games, so when the same thugs try ripping off his cargo at another stop, he beats them up, but all that does is earn him the enmity of "Joe Easy" (Patrick Allen), Uncle George's main rival. I have to cut in to say that we recently had "Joe Martini", and now "Joe Easy", but it's not an apt moniker, for nothing about this Joe is easy. He's a cigar chomping, teeth gritting, angry Son of a Bee whose blonde bombshell girlfriend "Lynn" (Diana Dors) is only with him 'cause he's loaded. Lynn just wants to go home and get some sleep, but Joe is fixated on his 24 hour runs, delivering stolen whiskey and furs all up and down the English Isle, from the top of Skeertlnd to Soho (from Soho down to Brighton, he must've played them all). Joe doesn't like that Harry Miller KOed his boys, so when Harry unloads his rig for the turnaround run, and needs cargo, Joe gives him a beating instead.
Lynn sees this, and has sympathy for Harry. As noted, she's no big fan of Joe, either. He's always threatening to dump her "back at that crackerbox joint where I found you". She asks a cargo-less and bruised-up Harry for a ride to "anywhere, just get me away from Joe". While traveling, the inevitable sexual encounter happens. They stay at a motel together. Harry's marriage is now toast, even though his wife has not yet found out. He doesn't much care, though, because she didn't want to come to America with him anyway. But what's he gonna do for money? He can't go back and work for Uncle George, not with Lynn on his arm. It looks like he has but one option, to go slinking back to Joe Easy and suck up. Good thing for Harry that Joe don't hold no grudges, as long as Harry is willing to play by his rules. After all, there's money to be made. "But keep your hands off Lynn," Joe tells him, and even then, when Harry wont abide, Joe doesn't care too much, because now, he has a gigantic haul coming up, 500,000 pounds worth of hijacked furs, which - when delivered - will net him enough cashola to leave the country himself, and retire. Lynn or no Lynn, that's a good deal.
Joe talks Harry into accepting the job of driving the windfall cargo, but it's a cross-country haul that has to be done that night, and Harry's already been driving for 14 hours straight. He agrees anyway. There's to be a boat waiting at a hidden cove to take them and the furs to Germany, but it leaves at 7 am. "Think you can do it?" Joe asks. Harry does, and they're making good time until a police roadblock stops them in their tracks. It seems that a driver has been killed - Harry's friend Casey! - in an insurance fraud accident, and the coppers are calling it murder. Our heroes have to turn around. Harry suggests a side road on his map, but it turns out to lead them into the mountains. Did you know they have mountain ranges in England and Scotland? They aren't enormous (4000 ft., tops) but some are pretty rugged. All of a sudden, the trio find that they are facing a fifteen mile drive over some very rocky terrain with steep drop offs. From the one hour mark til 1:15, this sequence rivals anything in "Sorcerer" or "Wages of Fear". It's some intense schtuff, with great, white-knuckle photography. It's also one heck of a testimonial for the strength and durability of whatever kind of freight truck they're driving, because it takes a bruising, and keeps on cruising, to put it mildly. It even crosses a river, gets stuck, and they pull it out.
An inevitable Battle for Supremacy takes place between Harry Miller and Joe Easy, with Lynn once more as the door prize. Harry and Lynn finally make it to the boat, with most of their stolen fur cargo intact. Germany here they come, and then, with hundreds of thousands of pounds in their pockets, maybe to America?
But then, at the threshold of freedom and riches, Harry gets second thoughts. He feels guilty for stranding his wife and son, even though he now knows a secret about both. So, at 6:30 am, half an hour before launch, he takes a taxi back to Liverpool to give them a stack of money. And of course, the coppers are waiting.
This is one of the grimmest Noirs we've seen, especially the ending, and it makes you wonder how John Paul and George Ringo (who is still miffed about losing the Papacy) could've grown up in Liverpool. Man, those docks are harsh. It must be freezing cold there. The Beatles were tough as nails. Two Huge Thumbs Up for "The Long Haul", shot on location, with tremendous performances all around, especially from Patrick Allen as Joe Easy. The picture is razor sharp. ////
And that's all I know. I am excited to announce that I have just yesterday finished editing the second of my two books, meaning that - pending a final proofread - both are now ready for publication. It's been 23 months of work, seven days a week, every day (except for Disneyland days and the very occasional afternoon movie) since the first week of October 2021. I have loved every minute of it, and I'm looking forward to seeing what readers will think. Again, if you know me, and know what I've previously written about, these books are not what you might be expecting. They are companion pieces, but each can stand on its own. My first goal is to get them published, and if I have to end up self-publishing, I'll release them maybe six months apart (because they go together, but I still don't wanna release them at the exact same time), then my second goal is to sell 100 copies of each. If I can do that (and I think I can), then my third goal is to make it exponential and sell 1000 copies, because I've heard that if you can sell 1000, it means you've sold "outside of your personal circle", which means it's not just your friends who are buying. Then, you might have sold a book to someone out of state, and word of mouth can kick in, or you might start getting reviews on Amazon. So, I'm excited, but the biggest thrill of all has been the writing and editing process, the creation of the books. Now, I'm about to start on my next one, which (as mentioned) will be a new, more detailed version of "What Happened in Northridge", which may or may not have a different title. And that's it for now. Let's get publishing! if anyone has any ex-schperience in that regard, I would be most grateful for any advice. ////
My blogging music was "Fearless" by Family, my late night is "Siegfried" by Wagner. I hope you had a nice day and I send you Tons of Love as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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