TV review – “Law and Order: Season 1” (1990-91) *****

Took me a long time to get into this but now I’m hooked. Great story telling – so many scenes and locations and it goes bang-bang-bang. The first ep had the detectives and DAs relating personally to the tale (is everyone in New York an alcoholic or former alcoholic or is it just writers rooms?) but thankfully they dropped that. I love all the exposition and the 50 worders and dailies trying to hit the mark, the varying quality of the actors. I even liked the “ripped from the headlines” and “hey lets talk about a social issue” ness of some stories (eg AIDS mercy killing.)

It took Chris Noth a few eps to figure out how to play his character but once he did (i.e. as smug) he was fine (apart from that one episode where he emotively bangs against a window). Michael Moriarty and Steven Hill are terrific, love that method mumbling where you can understand every word. Richard Brooks, the black assistant DA, isn’t as good – he keeps sighing and looks like a guitarist from In Living Colour. Dan Florek has these great sad eyes to play the chief cop.

The guest cast is a constant delight. It’s great fun to see future stars like Michael Mancini from Melrose Place, Leo from West Wing, Miranda from Sex and the City, the intense black guy from seasons 1 and 2 of Dexter (giving the same performance), Samuel L Jackson (a very small role as a lawyer), Philip Seymour Hoffman (rapist), Christine Baranski (mobster’s sister), Ron Rifkin, Fritz Weaver, etc.

The show was surprisingly PC – the killers are usually rich wives, drunk doctors, Harvard grads, white cops, corrupt cops. The oddest ep was the child abuse one - this felt cut about, as if it had been edited for legal reasons. I didn't like the prostitution ep that much until the final twist. Consistently superb show.

Radio review – SDP – “Rope of Sand” (1950) **

I’m not a big fan of Burt Lancaster on radio – he always seems a bit too soft spoken. His material here doesn’t help him – lots of running around the desert. Corinne Calvert reprises her screen role and she's hard to hear at times too; Paul Henreid is a little more legible. The African setting is at least unusual.

Play review – “Richard III” by William Shakespeare

After three historical works which concentrated on plot and action, Richard III (really Henry VI Part IV - it helps to have read the previous three plays) saw Shakespeare step up a level. For the first time he focuses on the one protagonist, enabling him to dig deeper into a character eg murder of Clarence involves dialogues among the assassins as to the nature of their work, Richard’s motivations.

There are some great drama scenes where women get stuck into Richard, a satirical one where Buckingham tries to whip up enthusiasm for Dick, and powerful stuff such as the killing of the princes and the final battle when it all goes down for Dickie. There’s too much attention paid to Richmond (later Henry VII) at the end – who cares about this character by then? But I guess Will had to suck up to the boss.

Play review – “Henry VI Part 3” by William Shakespeare

Wimpy Henry, faced with civil war, cedes his title to the Duke of York. This annoys his wife – the first great female Shakespeare character – who rises in rebellion. (I like when Clifford asks the King not to come along to battle, as the Queen does better with him not around.) A great Duke of York death scene follows, then there’s lots of changing of allegiances eg Warwick – one minute it’s pro Henry forces are winning then losing. This doesn’t have an overall protagonist – Henry is support, ditto Margaret, it’s about the Duke of York, then his son.

It’s not great Shakespeare but he probably chose to adapt this story because it offered him plenty of action and plot without having to think it up. In places you can feel him pushing himself, such as a bit where two men realise they’ve killed their father and son respectively. Like Part II the ending is open – Henry and his sons are stabbed, but you’re conscious there is another story. (At times the play feels like a trailer for Richard III – the future king does this big evil monologue in the second half.)

Movie review – “Just the Two of Us” (1975) *

In the 1970s, the two leading female directors in the exploitation field were Stephanie Rothman and Babara Peeters. Both naturally worked for Roger Corman then set out on their own. Peeters is credited as co-director and sole writer for this, which is part of the "dykesploitation" sub-genre.

Two housewives go to lunch one day and see some lesbians hold hands. This encourages them to have sex; one wants to keep going but the other one doesn’t – tragedy results. This is a well-known gay plot – Penthouse Forum used it for years.

It’s not super exploitative – nudity but the women are older, there are pleas for understanding gays as normal, etc. But you reduce the exploitive factor and to be honest what you’re left with is some fairly awful acting and dialogue

Play review - “Henry VI Part 2” by William Shakespeare

This sequel deals with the War of the Roses, focusing on various people trying to knock off the king, including the Duke of York and Cade's Rebellion. The Queen comes into her own as does Suffolk; the idiot King remains a side character. There's less action that Part 1 (though there’s still a witch and some torture and plenty of grisly description) and more treachery. The Duke of York scenes sometimes feels like a trial run for Richard III,

A play of great scenes rather than a cohesive whole. eg conviction of Gloucester, the death of Suffolk by pirates, the killing of the clerk just because he can read and write, all of Cade's rebellion. But you're still conscious that this is a lead up to Richard III.

Book review – “Jean Harlow” by David Stenn

Superb bio of the famous star – excellently written, very well researched; it solves two big Hollywood mysteries (who killed Paul Bern – a section which reads like a murder mystery – and how did Harlow die) as well as having a heart breaking ending.

Harlow comes across as one of the most likeable stars ever – good natured, hard working, utterly lacking in pretention. Throw in her beauty and talent (which took a while to emerge), no wonder audiences related to her. Even when she played trashy girls she was very engaging.

She isn’t a classic beauty but she was very striking with a great body. A great deal is made about Harlow’s child-like innocence when it came to sex; I think it’s more accurate to describe it as a lack of self-consciousness. She wasn’t the tramp she often depicted on screen, but she was no retiring violet either – she lost her virginity at a very young age in non-stressful circumstances; eloped as a teenager; enjoyed flings with Max Baer and a gangster (Howard Hawks reckons he had a one-night stand with her but I think he was full of it); enjoyed sleeping and walking around nude; liked to discard underwear. That’s quite sophisticated behaviour, even if she did have a sexless second marriage.

I always liked William Powell as an actor and heard good things about him as a person but he doesn’t come across too well here. He genuinely liked Harlow, and she adored him – but it’s plain unfair to drag a girl like that along for so long, and not to give her a kid was rotten (she had an abortion to him). Stenn is empathetic to Harlow's mother - on one hand a dreadful person, on the other hand she did do what she thought was her best for her daughter (Stenn defends in particular her behaviour during her daughter's final days).

Some classic bits: Harlow help up her low cut dresses up by icing her nipples (mother did the icinng!); Paul Bern, her second husband, once tried to kill himself by sticking his head down the toilet but it got stuck. Excellent book.

Movie review – “Journey into Fear” (1943) ***1/2

Made by Orson Welles’ Mercury Productions at the same time as Magnificent Ambersons; it’s not as highly regarded a film (the director – despite attempts to disprove this – was Norman Foster) but to be honest it is more fun to watch. This was cut about too but lacks the romance of Amberson’s “if only” post-production story

There is still plenty of imagination and avante garde stuff – an intriguing opening sequence, with a pre-credit scene of an assassin getting ready (Jack Moss who doesn’t talk; brilliant), odd credits (Joseph Cotten’s screenplay credit up the front, Welles billed down on the cast list), strange soft-spoken narration (apparently put in at RKO’s request and not really needed - it adds some atmosphere at first but soon becomes irritating). It has plenty of Welles touches, including a magic show and Dolores del Rio (in a leopard outfit some at the time), plus a terrific fight at the end in the rain on a ledge.

Cotten plays an American arms dealer in Turkey to make a sale who finds people are trying to kill him. I think Cotten is meant to be an innocent abroad – that’s how the role is played – but he is an arms dealer, even if he’s out of his element, so you don’t feel too sorry for him. There are lots of shady types running around, just like in a Mr Moto film (of which Foster directed a number). Indeed, this plays like a Moto film done with some A list talent, with Welles’s Turkish police chief being like Moto.

Welles has a lot of presence as always but his performance is pretty dreadful (as he himself admitted. He is compensated by good work from Cotten and the support cast, including Agnes Moorehead and Moss. The film starts very well but does get bogged down on the boat with Cotten spending too much time walking around going “someone’s trying to kill me” without anything else happening (it feels like it needed another plot or something)

Radio review - CP#36 – “The Murder of Roger Ayckroyd” (1939) **

Welles clearly couldn’t make up his mind whether to plat the narrator of Poirot so he plays both. I would have thought Welles might have made a decent Poirot but he hams it up mercilessly (the detective talks even during the intro and outro and “talks” to Welles himself); he is however pretty good as the narrator. To be honest I found the story a bit confusing at times but the basic concept - told by a narrator - adapts well to radio.

Radio review – Cavalcade – “The Great Man Votes” (1941) **

Orson Welles would seem to be an obvious choice to step into John Barrymore’s last decent film role, a drunken grandfather who finds himself to be a one-man electorate in a crucial eletion, but actually he’s not. Both could play great bombastic hams, but Barrymore was a famous drunk who could convey weakness; Welles loved a tipple but he wasn’t (too my knowledge) an alcoholic – and he always conveyed strength (corrupt strength to be sure, but strength). The story remains entertaining; there is a pompous finale where the narrator talks about the Bill of Right and how great American is – this aired shortly after Pearl Harbour, which explains this.

Movie review – “500 Days of Summer” (2009) *****

There’s 500 ways this film could have gone wrong – casting, handling, scripting, etc - but it doesn’t. It works marvellously, helped by two terrific leads (Joseph Gordon Levitt isn’t a star but he’s very effective, and Zooey Daschenaal is a star), and handling that is spot on. Everything is just right and rings true. Okay except maybe the performance of the girl at the end, she felt a little actor-ry (very pretty and likeable, it’s just it felt like she was in a movie whereas the others weren’t). Every guy has had someone like Summer in their life; of course, sometimes Summers can be nastier and sometimes they don’t last for 500 days.

NB I do worry that this film is going to have a bad influence in inspiring legions of far less talented people to write movies about their own failed relationships.

Radio review – CP#33 – “Liliom” (1939) **

During the intro to this (and in the outro of the previous week’s show) Orson Welles kept going on about how popular Liliom was in so many different productions and so many different languages. We know the story today best as Carousel, although it has a similar template to Showboat – a simpering young thing marries a ne’er-do-well who, despite being a scoundrel, does love her. He hits her about in this version of the tale which isn’t much fun. He is later killed during a robbery but comes back to… what? Well, bless their child or something, I’m not quite sure. Helen Hayes simpers and whimpers through her performance (she was made for this sort of role ) but Orson is pretty good as the male lead.

Radio review - Lux – “Action in the North Atlantic” (1944) **1/2

George Raft helped Bogart become a star by turning down some key roles, so it’s nice to see Raft step into a role originated by Bogart. This doesn’t have much of a story – a ship goes on a trip, has troubles, they go on shore leave, there’s another trip. But it does have terrific slangy dialogue and even if Raft isn’t Bogart (something this proves yet again) he’s at least Raft and Raymond Massey and Julie Bishop reprise their film roles.

Radio review - SGP – “The Fuller Brush Man” (1949) **

Red Skelton, desperate to win the love of his sweetheart, becomes a door to door salesman and winds up involved in a murder – a couple of stock situations thrown together to make stock entertainment. Skelton is growing on me but slowly; the audience think he’s really, really funny – I think he’s mugging and ad libbing to them.

Radio review - SGP – “The House on 92nd St” (1946) **1/2

The film was highly regarded at the time because it was based on a true story and was shot in a more realistic way but the adapters have been content to try and recreate the movie rather than recreate a more realistic radio version. Still, it’s interesting enough and Lloyd Nolan reprises his film role.

Movie review – Elvis#16 - “Roustabout” (1964) **1/2

You get the feeling they wanted to throw back to old tough Elvis but lost courage – for a change, he’s not just out of the army but is a snarling chip-on-shoulder type, like he played in the late 50s. (He even wears black leather – years before the comeback special!) He sings a song making fun of ivy league colleges and winds up working at a carnival.

The most interesting things about this are the setting and the support cast (including Barbara Stanwyck and Leif Erickson, plus Raquel Welch and Richard Kiel in small roles). The songs aren’t great and Elvis not very likeable.

Movie review – Elvis#11 - “Girls Girls Girls” (1962) ***

Breezy, highly enjoyable Elvis film, with catchy songs (including ‘Return to Sender’) and Hawaiian location footage. Elvis sings to cute Chinese girls and romances a rich girl pretending to be poor; there’s also a rival cocky boat guy plus a torch singer he has a seemingly platonic friendship with (Stella Stevens).

The plot is weak even by Elvis standards – he’s a fisherman who wants to buy his own boat and romances the rich girl. Towards the end they seem to forget there is a plot, then suddenly remember and throw in an attempted rape on water for Elvis to bust up.
The female lead isn’t much despite a great sexy kissing in the thunder storm scene between her and Elvis; you wish the role had been played by Stella Stevens, who is wasted. Edward Anhalt co-wrote the script!

Movie review – “Balibo” (2009) ***1/2

A very good movie that just misses being a classic. There is some wonderful things in this. For starters the basic story is very strong - they licked a problem in the material by focusing on Roger East investigating, thereby giving the story an active protagonist. It looks fantastic – the East Timor locations are stunning, the people have this fresh presence because they’ve been seen so rarely on screen, the 70s period detail is excellent (love those shorts and sideburns). The stuff involving the Balibo Five themselves is great – good acting, some nice humour (“I didn’t think anyone watched Channel Nine news anymore”).

Where it is less good is on the Roger East side. We spend a bit of time with him but never get much of a sense of what sort of character he is; Anthony La Paglia just seems like this tubby guy clambering over rocks (East isn’t very fit – if he hadn’t have been killed he surely would have died of a heart attack soon after). La Paglia's perfomance is undercooked and the relationship between East and Horta never seems to click – sort-of friends, sort-of not, full of too many unanswered questions (how come Horta has so much time to play tour guide?).

The film also feels as though it’s missing some bits – say an Australian diplomatic official, or some representative of the government, to explain our position. Instead we get this Aussie guy recording video statements – it’s a big mistake to cut back to him after this emotional ending. It’s like “who cares about you, buddy, we care about people involved in the story.” I stress again, much to admire, you just wish it was that bit better.

Movie review – “Coffy” (1973) ***

Jack Hill discovered Pam Grier and launched her in The Big Doll House and the Big Bird Cage in the Philippines, then devised an actual vehicle for her. It’s a fondly-remembered blaxploitation classic – 70s TNA feminism par excellance - with Grier as the title character, a nurse who spends her spare time blowing away drug dealers. It’s a shame Grier didn’t manage to keep going in the late 70s as a star. She’s magnificent, with that massive Affro (she puts razors in it), huge chest, imposing physique. Not the best actor in the world, maybe, but she’s a genuine action star, and if you think that’s easy – well, who else could you imagine playing this sort of role? If you remade it today, who could do it – out of not just black actors (Halle Berry?) but of any race (maybe Angelina Jolie).

There are some flat scenes, like dialogue with her bland cop friend, and a mostly inadequate supporting cast, but the film is terrific fun. There’s magnificent cat fight – women ripping each others tops off at a party (Hill enjoyed filming cat fights, he did several throughout his career) - plus some top-notch action scenes: Grier blowing people away (often in cold blood), driving a car into a house, smacking prostitutes around, etc. Grier learns she has to rely on herself – her sister’s a druggie, the cops are useless, even her black politician boyfriend is a crook. (NB I wonder if Hill was inspired by The Naked Kiss.)

(NB The film came about because Larry Gordon, AIP’s head of production, had wanted to make Cleopatra Jones but the producer of that film went to Warner Bros, so Gordon wanted to get revenge. Hill agreed, partly because of his relationship with Pam Grier. Foxy Brown was originally meant to be a sequel but then AIP decided originals made more money that sequels and had Hill change it.)

Radio review - SGP – “China Seas” (1944) **

The redo of Red Dust – Clark Gable is back but Lucille Ball steps in for Jean Harlow. It’s not quite the same, but I guess she was the closest they could get. Anna Lee is in for Rosalind Russell. Still quite fun.

Radio review - Lux – “Double Indemnity” (1950) ****

The classic noir makes a very strong radio production, helped with Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck reprising their roles (Bill Conrad takes over from Edward G Robinson). Good dialogue, solid twists. Is it just me or do MacMurray and Stanwyck have a go at each other at the end during the final chat?

Radio review - Lux – “Suspicion” (1942) **

Although very popular at the time, Hitchcock’s thriller is best remembered today for winning Joan Fontaine as Oscar she should have won for Rebecca, and for the dud ending. Listening to it now you really wish that Hitchcock used the ending he wanted (or claimed he wanted) – having the Cary Grant character (here played by Brian Aherne) turn out to be a murder gives the story real emotional impact, and also logic. Without that, the ending is kind of depressing – you don’t want Fontaine to wind up with this suicidal loser, who is never going to pull his socks up.
Maybe it worked a bit more with Cary Grant than Aherne – Grant is simply more charismatic and charming, whereas Aherne comes across as a second-rate con-man. Fontaine also struggles to convey adoration effectively through voice alone – she needs to do her simpering-look thing. Nigel Bruce does his usual blustering thing in support.

Radio review – Lux – “To Have and Have Not” (1946) ****

Bogie and Bacall are in terrific form, and why wouldn’t they be considering they fell in love during the original film? This is an enormously enjoyable version of Hemmingway’s novel (meant to be his worst but I’ve always liked it; some of the passages have stayed with me forever, eg the final few pages). Sure, it’s a redo of Casablanca, but at least its in a slightly unusual setting – Martinique – and you can’t knock that lead team.

There is some fun banter at the end between the stars and William Keighley, where Bogie tells Keighley to call Bacall “Betty” unless you’re angry at her, and the two stars speak of each other with great affection.

Radio review – SGP – “The Great McGinty” (1945) **1/2

Preston Sturges’ directorial debut was/is highly regarded, and it certainly launched a brilliant career, but although clearly the work of a man of great talent, it did kind of take on stuff that Capra had already done (i.e. patsy enters politics at whim of rich man and discovers conscience). Brian Donlevy, Akim Tamiroff and Ruth Hussey all give strong performances and the dialogue is a delight.

Radio review – SGP – “The Mask of Dimitrios” (1945) **1/2

Peter Lorre gets a rare hero role as a writer who, looking for material, tries to track down a shady arms dealer (Dimitrious) – surely Graham Greene was influenced with this when writing The Third Man? Sydney Greenstreet reprises his film role as another shady type. Enjoyable spy thriller stuff; it was interesting to listen to this soon after watching Journey Into Fear, which also dealt with dodgy dealings in Turkey.

Radio review – SGP – “The Lost Weekend” (1946) ***

Because a lot of this was told in the first person it adapts well to radio and it helps that Ray Milland, Jane Wyman (in a tricky role – the supportive girlfriend) and Frank Faylen are back from the film. It’s also got that great Wilder-Brackett dialogue, and the story still works reduced to half an hour. Wilder and Brackett speak at the end to accept an award for the play; while Brackett thanks cast, crew, studio, etc Wilder thanks WC Fields for showing them an x ray of his kidneys. Good old Billy.

Radio review – SGP – “The Ghost Goes West” (1944) ***

Basil Rathbone of all people takes over from Robert Donat in this enjoyable recreation of the 1936 film. Rathbone plays a Scottish ghost from the 17th century who haunts a castle, and his modern-day ancestor. Eugene Palette is lots of fun as the tycoon who buys it and there’s a nice line in risqué humour with the ghost romancing his descendant’s lady friend. It’s a bit of a coincidence that Palette’s rival is a descendant of Rathbone’s enemy but you go with it.

Radio review – CP#34 - “The Magnificent Ambersons” (1939) ***

Every fan of the film of this should check out Orson Welles’ radio version. It’s clear Welles was a massive fan of the novel (he gushed about it ad nauseum the previous week and in the introduction) and it helps give you an idea of what a non-mutilated version of the film might be like.

This is a decent enough adaptation – I don’t agree with the Vanity Fair article which describes it as “brilliant” but think it’s better than Simon Callow does in his book on Welles. Welles’ performance as George is awful – whiny, high pitched, etc - and is a major flaw (and to his credit Welles seemed to recognise this when he cast Tim Holt for the film version). There is no Aunt Fanny character but Walter Huston is on hand to play Eugene.

NB. A random thought how the Ambersons could have been a popular film - cast Welles as George but reconfigure the part to better fit Welle’s image. Make George like the popular impression of Welles at the time – charming, brilliant, smooth, egotistical, bratty, surrounded by people who either humour him or long for his come-uppance. And have him do something genuinely nice at the end rather than just realising he's bad.

Radio review – SGP – “The North Star” (1944) *1/2

Dreary tale of happy Ukranians (or someone out that way) whose idyllic village life is interrupted by German attack. Very bloodthirsty in the way that stories by leftists tend to be – a Russian doctor blows away a traitor, killing him in cold blood really (the best scene). A strong cast – Walter Huston (a dab hand at occupation tales), Anne Baxter, Farley Granger, etc – can’t surmount a dull story and stock characters. This surely influenced Red Dawn.

Radio review – Suspense – “The ABC Murders” (1943) **1/2

Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester are both enormous fun in this Agatha Christie tale about a serial killer who bumps people off in alphabetical order – or does he? Laughton is the chief suspect, as a whiny salesman, and he’s good value as always.

Radio review – SGP - “Rebecca” (1943) **

Brian Aherne was married to Joan Fontaine in real life but he wasn’t a star and he’s too weak for Maxim de Winter. This means that Fontaine’s heroine comes across as too strong – there’s no real sense of the power inbalance in their relationship. However, Agnes Moorehead is an excellent Mrs Danvers (to be honest she could play that sort of role in her sleep) and her scenes with Fontaine alone make this worth listening too.

Radio review – LT – “Kiss of Death” (1948) ***1/2

This film ranked with My Darling Clementine as perhaps Victor Mature’s finest achievement in the cinema (although when you look back, Mature actually made a few decent films). It’s a pretty good noir and the adaptation is highly enjoyable. Brian Donlevy isn’t back but you probably forgot he was in the film anyway; Colleen Grey and Richard Widmark return with Mature. Widmark gets to giggle but he doesn’t throw any little old ladies down stairs. The finale is a little silly with Mature taking a very risk strategy of getting Widmark to shoot him. I do like how the story shows the cops to be very ruthless.

Radio review - Suspense – “A Moment of Darkness” (1943) ** (warning: spoilers)

Peter Lorre takes a while to appear in this but once he does he makes up for lost time with an entertaining performance as a clairvoyant who is probably shonky and trying to rip off a woman in Monte Carlo. Before then, George Zucco also on hand to add some smooth villainy (or is it smooth heroism) in an entertaining mystery. Lorre’s revelation at the end that he’s undercover is reminiscent of the Mr Moto films.

Radio review – Lux - “Key Largo” (1949) ***

Edward G Robinson and Claire Trevor are back but unfortunately not Bogie and Bacall (or Lionel Barrymore). Some random actor takes the Bacall part; Edmond O’Brien steps in for Bogie. At times I wished O’Brien and Robinson swapped roles because Robinson’s part is so flashy that O’Brien would have still made a decent fist of it, but O’Brien’s part could have done with the extra dynamism of Robinson. 

Anyway, be grateful for what you’ve got and all that. Robinson is terrific and Trevor wonderful; she sings ‘Moaning Low’. Stories with this sort of Petrified Forest premise rarely fails and this one doesn’t; it also has some sweet post war idealism, along the lines of “nothing this bad is ever going to happen again now we’ve had a war” – although I note the Indian characters are simple morons who obey whatever the grandad character says and who sleep on the verandah.

Radio review – SGP - “Whistling in Dixie” (1943) **

I’d never heard Red Skelton before. Like most comedians he had a cowardly persona, thrown in with an unusual slightly throaty yet strong voice. He plays an amateur detective who investigates a murder down south; it’s kind of like Bob Hope lite, with the star seeming to mug, but I admit I’m not used to him.

Radio review – Lux – “Madame Curie” (1946) ***

Of course its silly and glamorised, but if you’re in the mood it’s actually a lot of fun to have Mr and Mrs Miniver discover uranium together in domestic MGM style. Lots of “hello darling have some breakfast where are the isotopes”. I enjoyed it and Greer Garson and Walter Pigeon are perfectly cast; history has been worse served and I’m sure this inspired a few scientific careers (not to mention feminists).

Radio review – Lux – “Red River” (1949) ***

John Wayne is wonderful as the Captain Bligh-like anti-hero whose hardness inspires mutiny on a cattle drive. A big attraction of the film was Montgomery Clift, such a different yet brilliant actor, playing his adopted son – but unfortunately he’s not on hand here. (His role is played by none other than Jeff Chandler, before he was famous but an excellent voice for radio - tough, deep - if perhaps not quite as sensitive as Clift was on screen). As a result the script is slanted towards Wayne and the story loses a bit of steam after the mutiny.

Walter Brennan and Joanne Dru are in it; in Brennan’s case that’s a good thing. (NB Dru was one in a long line of unremarkable actors who played these great Hawksian roles). Listening to this – you know something, I feel for Cherry Valance. He’s supposed to be this quasi-villain but he’s just trying to help out the goodie… yet no one seems to care he dies at the end. (Or does he? I thought in the film that he died but here Brennan comments that Cherry has just been wounded.)

Radio review – SGP - “Watch on the Rhine” (1944) **

Lillian Hellman’s play had its admirers, particularly at the time – it’s like this Washington drawing room family drama with an anti-fascist thrown in (what is he pro?). Paul Lukas is very good in a difficult part; Bette Davis is awful – given no real character to play other than supportive wife she affects this received pronunciation and generally gets on the nerves. They have some perfect kids, who presumably won’t mind that dad blows away a blackmailer; he isn’t punished – murder was alright in wartime.

Radio review – SGP –“High Sierra” (1942) **

A half hour running time mean there’s no club foot girl subplot and the robbery plot is truncated but Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino are on hand reprising their film roles. Bogart is of course terrific, in one of the roles that turned him around, but Lupino is very good too, as a tough-cookie-who’s-sensitive type (her speciality, really).

Radio review – LT – “The African Queen” (1952) ***

Greer Garson is dreadful stepping in for Kate Hepburn. She acts the part in haughty Acting style – she’s like a pretentious amateur theatre grand dame, rather than a spinster who’s spent years in the Congo. Fortunately Bogart is on hand to reprise his screen role and the basic story is still very strong. I enjoyed it; also I do admit that Garson had a few good moments, mostly when she forgot to act and just relaxed a bit. A copy of the script is here.

Radio review - Suspense – “In Fear and Trembling” (1943) **1/2

Mary Astor does a neat line in hysteria as she demonstrates in this tale of a woman convinced her husband is gasp having an affair. So she fakes her own death – at the end he says he wasn’t having an affair but you know something? He could be lying.

Radio review – CP#24 – “The Bad Man” (1939) **`1/2

There was a whole sub-genre of melodrama in the 20s and 30s about dashing bandits who kidnap people (usually young women) and they are the better for it. The Sheik and The Green Goddess are two notable examples; this was another. It was filmed several times, partly one guesses because there’s a great role in the bandit character, which is presumably why Orson Welles selected it for radio. He’s a Mexican bandito who takes over a ranch where several people are staying; the real villain is a banker. Ida Lupino no less is the romantic female lead. (NB A thought - was this the closest thing Orson Welles ever made to a Western? Very possibly.)

Radio review – CP#25 – “American Cavalcade” (1939) **

Orson Welles and a once-famous theatre star Cornelia Otis Skinner play a couple who adopt a kid from Europe – who speaks in a very strong American accent – and explain to him what it means to be an American. From the sound of it you’re probably already going "uh-oh" and you’d be right, although to Welles’ credit (he wrote the script) his history of America touches on Indians being kicked off the land, slavery and the suffragette movement. Welles and Skinner play a number of different roles, none that memorably.

Radio review – CP#27 – “Peter Ibbetson” (1939) **

They liked their crud in the old days – you have to know this was based on a popular 1935 movie (itself based on a novel) to understand why Orson Welles bothered adapting it, particularly for his Season 2 premiere. It’s the tale of a romance between some guy and girl from childhood; they are reunited later and he winds up arrested for murder. It’s boring. The most interesting thing is some trippy use of dialogue, particularly the opening sequence, but this is hard going for the most part.

Radio review – CP#26 – “Victoria Regina” (1939) **

Campbell Playhouse ended their first season with what Orson Welles describes as his most exciting moment in radio to date - acting with Helen Hayes. Really? Hayes was renowned as a great theatre star around this time - whatever magic she had on stage does not make it across the microphone. Hayes reprises her stage role as Queen Victoria; Vincent Price earned his name playing Prince Albert opposite her in the theatre but Orson Welles nabs that part here.

Apparently the script was based on the play, the German original play and Queen Victoria’s original diaries. Whoopee. It still includes the famous scene where Albert locks Victoria out of his room until she comes sobbing to him as his wife, rather than the monarch. It’s all sweet and sickly, with Hayes doing her lovable schtick and Welles giving loyal support.

Radio review – SDP – “Criss Cross” (1949) **

A follow up of The Killers, made with the same star, director and producer (well, his widow – Mark Hellinger had died by then). Burt Lancaster yet again is a sap who falls for a dame (Yvonne de Carlo) who has ties to a shonky bloke. Not bad; they say the word “Steve” too much in dialogue. Lancaster and Robert Siodmak slap each other’s backs at the end.

Radio review – SDP – “A Dark Mirror” (1950) **

Olivia de Havilland is excellent playing twin roles – you’re never in doubt which twin is which. One’s good and one’s evil and a shrink gets involved. Entertaining stuff with a bravura performance by its’ star. Another Richard Siodmak production for Screen Director's Playhouse!

Radio review – SDP – “Mr Lucky” (1950) **

Another tale of a heel who reforms for the war – how many women continued relationships with dead-beats because of films like these? The hero is Cary Grant, a gambler trying to duck war service who runs a “charity” gambling ship with a socialite. He turns good via romance, etc, etc – similar to Lucky Jordan, with Grant very winning.

Radio review – CP#28 – “Ah Wilderness” (1939) **1/2

With his fondness for nostalgic Americana, it was inevitable Orson Wells would eventually adapt Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer prize winning (how come?) comedy. There’s the 4th July, a drunk uncle (hey it is Eugene O’Neill), loving squabbling parents, teen romance and idealism. It’s very sweet and retains it’s charm, although Welles is again badly cast as the romantic lead – he simply doesn’t do well with aw shucks idealism and naivety.

Radio review – SDP – “One Way Passage” (1950) **

William Powell is being taken back home to be executed and falls in love with a terminally ill woman. Sob. Tay Garnett liked to make films about voyages (and appearing on SDP – almost as much as Richard Siodmak). It’s alright, but you need stars to put this sort of mush over and there’s only Powell in this production. A copy of the script is here.

Radio review – Lux – “To the End of the Earth” (1946) **1/2

I’d never heard of this Dick Powell thriller – it’s typical of the taunt, tough little films he made in the second half of the 40s. He plays an American agent investigating the opium trade around the world, chiefly in China. There’s even a people overboard scandal. I enjoyed this a fair bit - radio allows you to go around the world easily, and it works pretty well. It's also fascinating to hear a 1940s version of fighting the drug trade.

Radio review – Lux – “Destry Rides Again” (1945) ***

James Stewart is again perfect as Destry, Hollywood’s equivalent of a pacifist, i.e. one who picks up his guns in the last act. Joan Blondell steps in for Marlene Dietrich, and although Blondell is as always brassy fun, she’s just no Dietrich. Even without her, his remains a fun story, well done.

Radio review – SDP – “Calling Northside 777” (1950) **1/2

James Stewart as a reporter reluctantly investigating an old murder case and discovering an innocent man has been put in gaol. It’s based on a true story and at the end Stewart and director Henry Hathaway discuss the fact that the other man convicted of the crime was having his conviction revisited as well. Stewart’s got a great voice for radio and the story remains good, although this could have done with a bit more documentary flavour which made the film so enjoyable.

Radio review – Lux – “Coney Island (1944) ***

You miss the technicolour and crowd scenes that livened up the Betty Grable musical, not to mention Phil Silvers, but the cast of this one could easily have slotted into the same story had it been shot for Paramount: Dorothy Lamour, Alan Ladd and Chester Morris. Alan Ladd speaks in a faster, more clipped tone than we’ve become used to but he’s clearly putting a lot into it and it’s a shame he never got the chance to act in something like this on screen. Lamour even sings some of the same songs from the film, including ‘Cuddle Up a Little Closer’.

Radio review – Lux – “Northwest Frontier” (1942) *1/2

The Cecil B de Mille film was listed by Harry Medved as one of the 50th worst films of all time, which is a little harsh, but it wasn’t that good – nor is this radio version. The unusual setting gives it novelty – Riel’s Rebellion in 19th century Canada – but too much time is spent on Gary Cooper, in one of his most irritating aw-shucks performances, as a Texas Ranger pursuing a bandit. There are subplots involving his dopey romance with Madeleine Carroll (awful dialogue), Carrol’s cowardly boyfriend and his dodgy lover. The acting from the cast is either stiff or over the top and it’s fairly laughable. Poor Canada.

Radio review – CP#32 – “Escape” (1939) **

This was a popular play whose attractions have not aged well. Orson Welles plays a man about town sentenced to gaol for accidentally killing a police officer while defending a prostitute. He later escapes and has a series of not-very-interesting adventures. The tone is light, which doesn’t quite work since he went to gaol for several years and he did kill someone (even if accidentally).

Radio review – CP#31 – “Algiers” (1939) **1/2

Orson Welles enjoyed success as a dashing mysterious lover in a number of productions, notably Jane Eyre and Rebecca – he no doubt would have played more on screen had he not gotten so fat. But here is it as a master criminal hiding out in the Casbah, and very effective he is too. Paulette Goddard isn’t quite so happily cast – she wasn’t the best actor, Goddard, but she was pretty… which doesn’t help a lot on radio. This is still pretty good silly fun and you can really imagination as to what the Casbah is like.

Radio review – SGP – “Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House’ (1950) *1/2

Real life married couple Cary Grant and Betsy Drake (stepping in for Myrna Loy) go through some wacky moving-into-a-new-house shenanigans – the sort of thing that hit the mark in the post war period. But Grant’s character is such a pompous idiot getting into strife because of his own impulsive actions, not thinking things through – was this typical behaviour of men of the time? (“I just came back from a war I don’t need to do due diligence on my property purchases”) Drake should go off with the lawyer ex.

Radio review – SGP – “Blind Alley” (1940) **

Years before Analyse This, Hollywood produced another movie about a gangster who gets psychoanalysed. Only this isn’t a comedy; it’s closer to The Petrified Forest – the gangster holds the shrink hostage, and the action is treated seriously. That’s still not a bad idea for a film, although what follows is mild. Maybe part of the problem is you want the gangster to be played by Bogie or Cagney or Robinson, but here it’s Joseph Calleila (a good actor, don’t get me wrong – just not one of the big boys); Edward G Robinson plays the shrink. (The leads in the film version were Chester Morris and Ralph Bellamy, so that lacked star power too.)

Movie review – “The Magnificent Ambersons” (1942) ***

Stunningly well directed, full of interesting shots and camera angles and scenes, and it looks (and sounds) terrific. But it’s a boring story. I know it was recut, and it shouldn’t have been – but even if it hadn’t it just would have been a more fully realised version of a boring story. I can’t believe anyone would care about a useless rich family, with sulky George (Tim Holt) and his nice pretty mother (Dolores Costello) who is nonetheless weak enough not to marry a man she loves, even 20 years later, because of family opposition. You can’t quite figure out why Joseph Cotten or Anne Baxter, both of whom seem like nice sensible people, want to be involved apart from the fact they are so boring maybe they find the Ambersons exciting in comparison.

The story of the redemption of a brat is normally sure fire in Hollywood – Tom Cruise built his career on it – but we never get to see anything nice about Holt, except for him being nice to his mother while she’s dying (he still doesn’t let her see Cotten which is unforgivable) – and the new improved Holt never does anything. Holt’s performance has produced mixed critical response over the years; I think it’s fine – petulant, believable, all that (Welles himself would have had too much authority to play the role) – it’s just not much of a character. You don’t really care what happens to him. Or anyone in the film, for that matter. Costello is weak for having not stood up for her family to marry Cotten, especially the second time around (you never get a sense of the close ties that bind her and Holt), Baxter is silly for getting involved with such a loser, Cotten is Mr charming and diplomacy but we never see him do anything sensible.

Defenders of this film blame RKO and Robert Wise – but even if the film had been presented in its original version it still would have been a boring story about uninteresting people. Again Welles defenders would probably argue that “he wasn’t interested in playing Hollywood games with sympathetic protagonists and all that” – but protagonists don’t have to be sympathetic, they just have to do something, or have interesting things happen to them. At least Charles Foster Kane built newspapers and tried to promote his wife as an opera star; these guys just go on picnics and dance and lose money and invent things off screen.

For all his genius as a director, Welles wasn’t much of a screenwriter, and I think on this one he was sidetracked by his determination to recreate his childhood. Watching it you can’t help wish if only Welles (those three words again) had picked something with a stronger narrative drive for this second film, like Dracula, or Heart of Darkness or Julius Caesar. Of course it was a tragedy that the film was cut about to such a degree but I'm sorry this has been massively over-rated by people who love the romance of its destruction.

Radio review – SGP – “Pittsburgh” (1942) **

The war made coal manufacturing sexy so we have Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne and Randolph Scott in this rehash of Boom Town. They both love her; Wayne has the inside track until he becomes over ambitious and starts only caring about money. Anti-capitalism! Well, not really – it just pleas for capitalism with a heart. Interesting to hear Wayne in a non-sympathetic part (he does turn good but not til the end).

Radio review – CP#29 – “What Every Woman Wants” (1939) **

JM Barrie known these days for his rumoured pedophilia as much as Peter Pan but back in the day he was also known for a number of hit comedies, including this. Helen Hayes is a not very pretty Scotswoman whose parents blackmail Orson Welles into marrying her (they agree to provide him with books). She goes on to be the power behind his thrown (he’s an MP) – it’s the sort of story you could probably remake today with a few twists to PC-ise it and update the sexual dynamics. Not bad. An interesting recreation of a once-popular play.

Radio review – Lux – “The Big Clock” (1950) ***

It lacks the terrific visual of a line of witnesses examining everyone who leaves a building – the main image I have from the film – but this is still a strong story, and it’s given a decent presentation, with Ray Milland and Maureen O’Sullivan returning from the film. Good sweaty paranoia, although it’s hard to believe there was such a thing as a crime magazine whose star editor could solve cases the cops couldn’t.

Book review – “Victor Fleming” by Michael Sragow

Fleming had a minor cult reputation for a while there as a director without a major cult reputation despite a resume that included making Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind during the one year. That looks likely to end with the publication of this well-written by overlong tome from film critic Sragow.

Fleming deserved a bio but I don’t know if he warranted as many pages as he gets here, particularly as Sragow goes on some long tangents (eg background to the actor Lee Bowman who became an unpopular in-law to Fleming… so?). It doesn’t help that at times Fleming becomes a bit boring as the focus of a biography – he’s the sort of character who is more interesting as a support actor: tough, no-nonsense, smart, adored by women, two fisted, etc. 

There were some flaws – country club anti-Semitism, casual sadism, infidelity, what was probably a drinking problem, vicious anti-Communism… attitudes he had in common with many self-made WASPs of his time. Fleming’s career also ended interestingly – a mid-life crisis (which turned out to be a near-end-of-life crisis) which saw him come under thrall of Ingrid Bergman, make one of his few flops in Joan of Arc, and die of a heart attack.

Sragow doesn’t hide Fleming’s flaws, but I think he does over-defend them. Sometimes this leads him to make silly claims – like calling some anti-Commie comments he made the equivalent of John Ford’s defence of Joe Mankiewicz during at the ADG during the McCarthy era. 

And he quotes too many people saying "Fleming was great"; at times the book reads like “How cool was my friend Fleming – he was so popular and had sex with all these hot women, he was so cool.”

It’s well researched, very well researched, and Sragow has great skill as a writer. It’s just too long and a bit too worshipful.

Radio review – Suspense – “Statement of Employee Wilson’ (1943) **

Gene Lockhart as an employee driven to murder. The twist is his visions are a plant by the cops. Not bad; good performance from Lockhart (the announcer seems very proud to have him on the show.)

Movie review – “Bluebeard” (1944) ***

One of Edgar Ulmer’s best known features (probably only exceeded by Detour and The Black Cat), it is also one of John Carradine’s most famous starring roles. He doesn’t play the real Bluebeard, but rather a 19th century puppeteer/artist/murderer. I’m not a massive fan of Carradine the star – he always seemed more effective in supporting roles – but he’s quite dashing and attractive, and he grew on me. Jean Parker is very likeable as the girl who falls for him but the romantic leading man is another PRC 4F type.

This is one of those films you really need to know was shot in 6 days to enjoy – within those confines you appreciate Ulmer’s artistry and attempts to do something decent. Imaginative touches – some interesting murders, the opera puppet show, a sexy scene of Parker’s sister getting changed behind a screen.

Tom Weaver did an excellent piece on this film in his book Poverty Row Horrors, pointing out Bluebeard today is more a film for critics than horror movie fans. But it’s still one of the best movies made by PRC.

Radio review – SGP – “Command Decision” (1958) ***

The announcer acclaims this has featuring the greatest cast in radio history – Clark Gable, John Hodiak, Walter Pigeon… er, that’s ok, it’s not that good. This is however a decent version of MGM’s solid WW2 bombing drama; it was extra poignancy with Gable’s casting since he went on bombing missions in real life. John Ford appears at the end to present an award to Sidney Franklin for best film of the year.

Radio review – SDP – “The Fighting O’Flynn” (1950) **

As Jeffrey Richards pointed out in his history of swashbucklers, filmmakers tended to steer clear of Irish settings for action movies out of fear of offending the British market. This one gets around it by having an Irish hero fighting against Napoleon in Ireland. Douglas Fairbanks Jnr is accomplished in the lead role, even with an Irish accent (surely they wanted Errol Flynn) – he has a beautiful speaking voice. He has a dreadful female co-star.

Movie review – “Babes in Toyland” (1961) **

With a few key exceptions, notably Mary Poppins, Disney’s live action musicals don’t have the highest reputation, but this is colourful stuff for kids, with bright production design and costume and inoffensive songs. It’s definitely only for kids, though - Walt Disney once said that the quickest way to go broke making children’s films was to make them just for children; he may have been thinking of this movie, which wasn’t that popular despite its generous budget.

Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello (billed just as “Annette”) are the leads; Funicello later said this was her favourite Disney film, because she had a chance to dance in it. There are some veterans such as Ray Bolger and Ed Wynn, plus the regular Disney juveniles, Tommy Kirk (funny as in a small role, a bumbling assistant) and Kevin Corcoran. The finale with the toy soldiers and a shrunken Sands is reminiscent of The Incredible Shrinking Man.