Radio review – TGA#31 – “Strange Interlude – Part 2” (1946) ***

There wasn’t a copy for part 1, but Part 2 held up on it’s own. Based on a Eugene O’Neil play, which means its meaty, heavy but satisfying. The gimmick on stage was the characters speak their thoughts, which works very well for radio (do it as a whisper, they’re only short asides) – only thing is, they didn’t need to speak all those thoughts you could have picked up a bunch anyway. The plot concerns a woman who has a child to one man but he’s raised by someone else, a dopey rich guy – she’s also adored by a novelist. The woman is manipulative but does it out of love. Lynne Fontanne is pretty good in the role (Nina) – her husband isn’t on hand this time, by Walter Abel is. The title is explained by a line during the play – the present is a strange interlude between the past and the future, which is a terrific concept.

Script review – “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean” by John Milius

A spec sale sensation in its day and you can see why – it’s vivid, exciting writing, rich in detail and incident. Milius had a marvellous gift for dialogue and big print (he frequently addresses the reader, i.e. “I ask you, what would you do” or “those were the times”), and had a real vision. It’s also artistically bold – there are several narrators, including one who is dead, plus asides to the reader, different dialogue. There’s no other Western quite like it, at least none that I can think of, with it’s crazy, funny Judge Roy Bean character and his weird adventures, full of humour, ruthlessness and history.

It certainly doesn’t fit the classic “hero’s journey” paradigm. Once Bean establishes himself in town (an outlaw who they try to hang, he gets revenge and decides to become a judge), it’s an episodic tale. Bean deals with some outlaws (turning them into his servants), Black Bart (here not an albino), Grizzly Adams, a drunk bear (very funny even if I kept wondering how they’d shoot it), a lawyer who says he owns the land. He marries his underage Mexican girlfriend and tries to visit Lily Langtry the night said wife is to give birth. He gets mugged so misses Lily, then his wife dies and he’s run out of town. At which point you feel the film would end but there’s a tacked on bit where Bean turns up to help his daughter fight gangsters and dies (entertaining, but it jars – did Milius include this soas to praise Teddy Roosevelt), and Lily Langtry visits. But for all it's faults this is a remarkable script from an under-rated writer.

Movie review – “The Trouble with Girls” (1969) **1/2

A genuine change of pace for Elvis – it was too little too late for him and his audiences, but is actually a lot of fun. He plays the head of a Chautauqua, a sort of travelling tent show that was big in the 1920s – which is when this is set. Elvis is slim, has long side burns and an ever-present cigar, and is clearly having the time of his life; he grins, jokes, sings and charms.

There’s not a lot of plot, more a collection of subplots, in the matter of a musical (I’m guessing this was inspired by The Music Man). He deals with a unionist employee, has to cast the untalented daughter of the mayor, encounters some troublesome locals, solves a murder for which one of his employees is blamed.

The biggest flaw of the film is a major one: his bantering relationship with the unionist employee. It should be flirty and sexy, she should really like him down deep, but is too hostile and narky. At the end when he arranges for police to arrest her and bring her back to the show a la The Front Page, it’s more stressful then charming. (Imagine if Ann Margret had played it). If this had been fixed, I believe this film would be more remembered than it is today; either that, or if it had been made ten or even five years earlier, when Americana was more popular (NB it still was on TV although Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, etc would soon be axed.)

Still, there are some pleasant tunes, it looks great, has a fun atmosphere and the support cast is terrific. It includes two legends of sitcoms, Cindy Brady from The Brady Bunch and Buffy from A Family Affair (the one who died of a drug overdose), plus Edward Andrews, a very young Dabney Coleman (as a lecherous chemist), former Marilyn Monroe rival Sheree North, John Carradine, Joyce van Patten and Vincent Price! Worth checking out.

Script review – “Death Proof” by Quentin Tarantino

Dedicated to Charles B Griffith “your work has always ‘Rocked all night’, Daddy-O” – but surely Griffith would have written it shorter. (But then maybe not – his unfilmed script for The Golden Bug went for over 180 pages) This goes on and on: why have a scene of Arlene going to the toilet? Why so much talk about getting pot and then ordering pot, going out with some guy the night before, setting up a lap dancing “subplot”, all the text messaging and phone calls, and talk, talk, talk? Talk worked in Pulp Fiction because something cool would happen every couple of minutes. Here it takes 71 pages for something decent to happen – 71!!! Most of the famous Griffith features didn’t even go for 71 minutes.

There’s a terrific killing scene – but then things slow down with more talk and talk and talk with a fresh bunch of girls (I can’t imagine any script which referred more to girl’s feet – they’re sticking out the window, or there’s talk of massages, etc from everyone. There’s also quite a few references to women urinating, and having sex with directors.). Things liven up with an action sequence at the end, but this is a really boring, dull screenplay. It should have gone for twenty minutes, not nearly two hours. And he mis-spells "Auckland".

Book review – “Hammer: the Bray Studio Years” by Wayne Kinsey

A book written with passion and devotion but perhaps too much detail. No one can fault Kinsey’s research but it feels very “cut and pastey” – slabs of censorship reports and interviews put in. The censorship stuff is interesting - particularly the challenges faced by the lesser known films made by Hammer such as Never Take Candy from a Stranger, and the swashbucklers and war films (I also love how the censorship readers felt obligated to pass artistic judgement on the movies); but it might have been better served as an appendix in the back. 

 

The book concentrates as the title suggests on Hammer’s life at Bray, although not all the films covered were shot there. There are some diagrams and pictures – after having read the book on Errol Flynn’s house at Mulholland I felt that might have been a better format, colour pictures and lots of them, than what is used here. Or a straight up encyclopedia. Still it’s a fresh approach.

 

I don’t want to be overly-critical: I enjoyed the book and will no doubt be flicking through it in years to come. Full of useful information and great stories: the ship collapsing on The Devil Ship Pirates, the joys of doing a nude scene with Susan Denberg during Frankenstein Created Women, the over-amiable dog on Hound of the Baskervilles. 

 

A worthy companion to Marcus Hearn's books and the Johnson/del Vecchio encyclopedia.

Movie review – “Mao’s Last Dancer” (2009) **1/2

Accomplished, professional filmmaking which certainly found an audience. It didn’t really light my fire, but I can see it’s appeal: solid story, hero who overcomes obstacles, good villain (Chinese communists), lots of ballet dancing. Good on the filmmakers for not wimping out with the cast – the lead really can dance, and can act pretty good too. Also good on them for doing a lot of it in Chinese. Although it’s an Australian film, it’s not really an Australian story – yes, I know the lead guy moved out here, but really it’s about Chinese and Americans. The Aussie actors in the cast- Aden Young, Penny Hackworth-Jones and Jack Thompson – are awkward. Not my cup of tea – but people like it.

Movie review – “High School Bigshot” (1958) *1/2

Tom Pittman isn’t bad as a smart high school student who has the misfortune of having a dad who’s a drunk, and a crush on a flirty sexy bitch who just wants cash. So he decides to rob a $1 million heroin transaction – as you do. Wikipedia pointed out that the plot is pretty much a rip off of The Killing, with a wimpy guy trying to impress his faithless woman by doing a robbery – only for the woman to get her boyfriend to rob the robbers. It actually works pretty well in a high school setting, but director Joel Rapp is no Stanley Kubrick. Very down beat and bleak – dad kills himself, everyone else either dies or goes to gaol. Very low budget – lots of deserted streets and rooms without much in them. Rapp later made The Battle of Blood Island for Roger Corman, who distributed this through his Filmgroup company.

Radio review – Silver Theatre – “Stars in their Courses” (1939) **

Orson Welles introduces this show, but doesn’t act in it, even though the male lead kind of sounds like him, and the female lead was Helen Hayes, with whom Orson frequently acted on radio. Helen plays an aspiring actor who falls in love with another actor after one date and they agree to get married; he’s actually not very good, and one night when his co-star gets ill, Helen steps in and is a success – and it ends up breaking up their marriage. Which makes the guy a major loser (I mean he sooks off when his wife is a hit), but she kind of falls to pieces and I think we’re meant to be happy when he turns into a playwright and they get back together. Sexist trollop – the most interesting character is a drunken actor, a sort of Iago figure, who disappointingly disappears for the last act.

Radio review – Suspense – “The Strange Death of Gordon Fitzroy” (1946) ***

Chester Morris was a sort of semi-name back in the day, and he has a strong, tough voice perfect for this story: he plays a crim just out of the slammer with a distorted face who is desperate for revenge against his former partner. Chester is good with the snarling, bitter stuff and there’s a great twist ending where they think Chester is his former partner and put his former partner’s face on Chester! It really works because its radio and you can use your imagination.

Radio review – Lux – “I Wanted Wings” (1941) ***

The film that launched Veronica Lake to stardom, despite being listed down the credits - and in hindsight, it’s not hard to see why. It’s a terrific, showy part and Lake is excellent – not as an actor, but as a personality. She is a sexy nightclub singer who interrupts the bromance between rich kid Ray Milland and working class William Holden (this triangle popped up a lot in early war films eg Buck Privates).

Lake is an ex of Holden’s but chases after rich Milland – Holden “saves” him from her one night when he is drunk. Lake still goes on to see Milland on the side – she blackmails him into it (I got a little confused how she did this), pretends to be pregnant, so Holden (who’s been kicked out of the army by now) steps in and marries Lake. Then Lake and Holden try to make a go of it, but Holden keeps pining over Milland. Eventually Lake leaves, comes back wanted for murder, dies in a plane crash – Milland takes the blame for Holden. How gay is this movie? And when I say "gay" I mean that in its accepted (new) use, not as an insult, these two guys really love each other.

Just to remind everyone he's straight, Milland has another love interest, played by Lynn Carver (slightly more spirited a character than the good girl usually is – she’s a photographer, she doesn’t want to give up her single life for Milland unless she’s honest). But the real love story is between him and Holden. There’s some crashes but no shooting – America were still neutral. But like Buck Privates, the public lapped it up.

Movie review – “Double Trouble” (1967) **

This could have been okay but it’s been done in by shoddy execution. Elvis plays a singer working in London who romances a beautiful girl (Annette Day) who won’t put out – turns out the reason is she’s only 17. But she remains the love interest and inspires the plot – a bunch of people are after her money, resulting in shenanigans involving her dodgy uncle (John Williams), a wacky policeman (Leon Askin), some bumbling crooks (Norman Rossington, our own Chips Rafferty), a sexy dame (Yvonne Romain), a seemingly nice killer (who almost murders the female lead in a surprisingly full on sequence).

There’s a lot of running around Europe – but shockingly this was all done on the film set. Didn’t the producers realise that one of the big appeals of crappy Elvis movies was the location footage? Some nice actual shots of Antwerp, London, etc might have made this fun – as well as galvanising the star, who looks really bored.

It’s a real shame – Elvis has had worse plots, and there’s plenty of running around and con men and cops and spies (even if its slightly yuck he’s got this 17 year old lead, who does turn 18 at the end, enabling him to marry her… but then this is the guy who got under-age Priscilla to move in), it’s one of his best support casts, it’s great to see him in a European setting, the sheer idea of Chips Rafferty in an Elvis movie is hilarious, there’s an interesting title sequence consisting mostly of stills of dancing girls.

But the handling is indifferent, the lack of location shooting in 1967 really annoying, Day is uninspired and wears nowhere near enough groovy clothes, the songs poor (Elvis even sings ‘Old MacDonald Had a Farm’ while on the back of a truck in Europe – I don’t mind that song for one of his farm based US films but why use it when set overseas?). A pity.

Radio review – TGA#7 – “Sing Out, Sweet Land” (1945) **

Walter Kerr wasn’t just a critic he also wrote for the theatre – not very well, if this is to be a guide. It’s a folk musical, an excuse to parade some old American folk songs, including “On Top of Old Smokey” and “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” and a bunch of other tunes, most of which I‘d heard before. The story isn’t much: Burl Ives plays a happy go lucky person who walks around America through the ages – Revolutionary times, Civil War, the present day. I know it was an excuse to go from song to song but couldn’t they have come up with a better excuse? If you really like Burl Ives and old American folk songs though, this could be the thing for you. Arthur Godfrey, another big radio name at the time, co-stars.

Movie review – “The Deadly Bees” (1967) **

Very silly and dumb but, as pointed out in the book on Amicus, “The Studio That Dripped Blood”, it’s oddly endearing. You can’t dislike a silly film about killer bees I guess, especially when they throw in a few groovy 60s pop numbers at the beginning – the heroine is Suzanna Leigh, 60s glam girl in her only lead, who has a nervous breakdown and recovers in a small town where someone is unleashing killer bees. Leigh is blonde and this plus the small town setting indicates the filmmakers might have had ideas about The Birds in the back of their heads.

They don’t come anywhere near it – the script is a mess (by Robert Bloch but heavily rewritten by Freddie Francis then heavily re-edited), but Frank Finlay and Guy Doleman offer professional support (one of them is the baddie), there’s also Michael Ripper, Hammer veteran of veterans, as an inn keeper, the idea of distilling the smell of fear isn’t a bad one, Ronnie Woods pops up in the band at the beginning, Leigh is menaced in her underwear, and some of the bee attacks are actually scary. There’s some Aussies in the support cast: Doleman, of course, and the bees, who were imported from down under.

Radio review – TGA#2 – “Jacobowsky and the Colonel” (1945) ***

This story of a Jew and an anti-Semitic Polish officer fleeing Paris together in 1940 was once very popular – it was a Broadway hit as directed by Elia Kazan, and later became a Danny Kaye film. The basic story has tension, and the ending is very moving. It doesn’t adapt that well to radio – maybe it was hard for me to keep track of who was who. Either this or something else (maybe because there have been many similar stories since eg The Defiant Ones) this didn't quite work for me. The leads all played the parts on Broadway: Louis Calhern (colonel), Oscar Karlweis (Jacobowsky), Annabella (Colonel’s mistress). It has some funny moments and a good heart.

Movie review – “The Hot Box” (1972) **

The team of Joe Viola and Jonathan Demme gave New World one of it’s first hits with a biker film, Angels Hard as They Come – so Roger Corman got them to have a go at his other lucractive genre, women in prison.

There’s plenty of left-wing comment amidst the boobs as four American nurses working in an unnamed Asian country (two blondes, a brunette, a black) get kidnapped by some revolutionaries. There’s a bit of complexity here – the revolutionaries have some valid arguments (kicked off land, corrupt government, etc) but are still pretty ruthless, full of thieves… though not as ruthless as the government, as it turns out. Indeed by the end our girls are fighting off the government.

The girls go for several swims, and there’s an obligatory rape sequence as well as some willing sex. Some spirited acting but this is a pretty dull movie. It only brightens up in one or two spots: the initial kidnapping, a final brawl. Would have been better if it had been an all-female revolutionary gang, maybe - there are too many men. Margaret Markov is probably the best known member of the cast.

Script review – “Alien” by Walter Hill and David Giler (1978)

I didn’t really want to wade through all the different versions of this story, so I thought I’d read the draft I could find closest to the shooting date. It seems pretty close to the final film, with some changes – dialogue, in this person Ripley and Dallas are having an affair. It’s written in tough, terse Hill style – lots of short sentences – which suits the Alien universe.  

 

Whoever contributed what, this is a brilliant script, unfairly overlooked because of the stunning work from the filmmakers (Scott, Geiger, Weaver): it’s logical, believable (as Hill points out, truckers in space became a cliché almost immediately eg Outland), which builds in excitement. It’s a shooting gallery-And Then There Were None type structure, people being knocked off one by one, but there is sufficient freshness: the space ship setting, the chest bursting scene, discovering Dallas and the others in a web (this was filmed but cut), the twist of Ash being in cahoots with the corporation (a great second act twist – apparently this was Giler’s idea).

 

(NB I couldn’t resist looking at an O’Bannon draft - the crew was all male, the dialogue not nearly as good – I agree with Hill, it’s awful, the tone not as gritty, the plot and structure remains, and is very sound: landing on the planet, being attacked, the chest burster, knocking off people one by one, final survivor escaping in a pod with a cat and signing off. It doesn’t have the corporation conspiracy stuff - Hill and Giler should have gotten a credit but the WGA were probably hostile to them because they were also producers. They also might have been annoyed by little tricks like changing all the names of the characters. But O’Bannon did a tremendous amount of work.)

Movie review – “Spaceways” (1953) *1/2

Early science fiction from Hammer, a precursor to Quatermass, which like that later film has an imported second-tier American star, Howard Duff (one of those heavy-set Americans like Edmond O’Brien who seemed to be popular in the immediate post-war years). This was based on a radio play, and is ostensibly about the effort to launch the first manned space flight but is actually mostly a murder mystery. Duff’s whining bitch of a wife nags him, he wants to get off with the European bobbed-haired assistant (Eva Bartok) – then the wife winds up dead. So Duff goes up in a space ship to prove his innocence!! It’s a silly idea and a dumb film – worse than dumb, boring, with poor acting, especially from the female scenes. The low budget really hurts the space flight stuff – but bad writing and handling kill the rest. Director Terence Fisher does spark up for a murder scene.

Radio review – Lux – “Fallen Angel” (1946) ***

With her flaming red hair and beauty, it’s a surprise Maureen O’Hara didn’t make a few film noirs - maybe her image was too goody-too-shoes, but I think she could have been effective. Anyway, she did this one for radio – although she’s in the goody-too-shoes part played by Alice Faye in the film, of a spinster librarian who marries a drifter (Mark Stevens, subbing for Dana Andrews) even though he’s in love with a hot tramp (Linda Darnell). A decent mystery; Stevens’ character is a bit of a loser – “I was always getting blamed for things I didn’t do…” O’Hara would be too good looking on film to pull of this role but on radio she’s fine, and Darnell is good value. Stevens is alright – he doesn’t really have the world-weariness to make a real impact.

TV review – “Underbelly: The Man Who Got Away” (2011) *** (warning: spoilers)

Decent Underbelly instalment, not overly exploitative and based on a genuinely interesting lead character: David McMillan, who read news as a kid, went to a private school, became a major heroin importer, wound up in a Thai prison and successfully escaped. There’s even more adventures than on display here – as it is the story is (perhaps unavoidable) episodic. The film is over emotionally when Claire van der Bloom’s character dies, but still has a bit to go.

Toby Schmitz is very good in the lead role. The supporting cast is a reunion of the Old Fitz: Brendan Cowell, Josh Lawson, Kate Mulvaney, Jeremy Sims, Matt Zeremes; there’s also people like Heather Mitchell, William Zappa, Aaron Jeffrey… and good old John Orsick! Most manage to be reasonably convincing – there’s still a couple of lightweights in there.

Radio review – TGA#4 – “The Guardsman” (1945) **

This Molnar play was important in the career of the Lunts – it was one of their first plays together, and they actually filmed it. I can understand their attraction – it’s about a husband and wife acting team in old Vienna, and the husband suspects the wife is unfaithful so he pretends to be a Russian guardsman and hits on her. But I can’t understand audience attraction to it. There’s not much plot apart from the premise: she keeps rejecting the guardsman, then leading him on – then at the end she says she knew all along - for a farce it's very light; there is stuff about the notion of acting, when do we start and stop, etc, but that's not exactly deep. Also, Alfred Lunt really gets on my nerves. Okay this is a personal opinion but he’s got this high pitched whiny voice and he always does vocal “business” – it’s light ham. Fontane was a bit better but honestly their performances here are nothing to write home about.

Radio review – Suspense – “Drive In” (1946) ***

Scary, tense episode with Judy Garland no less as a waitress at one of those drive-in diners, waiting to be discovered – when she accidentally sees some blood in the car of one of her customers, who then kidnaps her. There aren’t any great revelations – shock, he’s a killer – but it is suspenseful, and Garland is good as the plucky albeit terrified waitress.

Book review - "Conversations with Woody Allen" by Eric Lax

Another brilliant book from Eric Lax about Allen, consisting of conversations between the two. It's fascinating and insightful - very smart. I enjoyed hearing about Allen's view of his own films - he really loves Match Point, felt it all came together for him on that film. He recognises he's had more success with drama than comedy recently (he still thinks Hollywood Ending was a good film). He talks a lot about his work process - he's very smart, and flexible. He even discusses his relationship with Soo-Yi, pointing out it's the longest he's every had. It doesn't tackle why he became so obsessed with playing against women young enough to be his daughter for so long - Mighty Aphrodite, Everyone Says I Love You, Deconstructing Harry, Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Hollywood Ending... he was addicted to it like heroin. Every one of these films would have been twice as good with more age-appropriate casting. But apart from that this book is definitely worth reading if you're an Allen fan.

Book review – “On Being Funny: Woody Allen” by Eric Lax

Lax is easily the best writer on Woody Allen - this was his first book on the subject, written just after Sleeper came out, and it’s terrific. It’s like a long magazine profile piece, but has plenty of depth and astute analysis – it’s also very fresh, and Woody was extremely open at this point in his career. He talks about making a modern day relationship film with Diane Keaton after Sleeper, but got sidetracked into Love and Death instead (I’m glad he did, I think that film really helped in his development prior to Annie Hall). He talks extensively about humour, what he thinks is funny, teaching from Danny Simon, experiences as a performer, love of Mort Sahl, Bob Hope, SJ Perelman, Robert Benchley, etc. 

There’s also lots of funny stuff about the making of What’s New Pussycat and Casino Royale, the writing of his plays, his early movies and TV work. I didn’t realise he borrowed the structure of Seven Year Itch for Play It Again, Sam and Teahouse of the August Moon for Don’t Drink the Water. Or that he made a political special for PBC in 1971 that was pulled from the air for being anti-Nixon. Invaluable for Allen fans.

Script review – “Piranha” by John Sayles

Sayles’ first script, I believe, and because it was for Roger Corman’s New World Productions, it got made. Actually that’s not the only reason – this is a very good script, simple but effective, much better than most for New World. It has a strong central idea – the piranhas were developed by the US government to fight in North Vietnam, which is a bit leftie but also something that makes complete sense.

Sayles adds other touches: the feisty female lead; an alcoholic male hero whose daughter is at the resort down stream; the influence of big business and the army (they don’t want the news to get out); the camp counsellor who refers to a little girl getting her period; a bit of science with the female lead explaining the bodies would have bloated. It's also a very solid structure, based on a ticking clock (will our heroes stop the piranhas in time), decent reversals (they think they stop them, but then don't, then get arrested), logical presentation of potential victims (fisherman, a camp, a resort). It's funny how the heroic leads are the ones actually responsible for letting the fish out.

This has been called a spoof but I didn’t take it that way at all – it’s serious with humourous moments. Too many innocent people die for this to be a comedy, including little kids and that really nice counsellor who looks after the hero’s daughter; even the male hero is possibly mortally wounded at the end. There is humour, however, such as the bit where the owner of the resort is informed that the guests are being eaten, the military colonel explaining he's remained at the rank he has for so long because it's all political.

Script review – “Revenge” by Walter Hill and David Giler (warning: spoilers)

Jim Harrison’s novella would have seemed a natural fit for Hill, but this script (not filmed, presumably written in the early 80s) isn’t very good. It’s too long, with far too much bad dialogue. For instance, the romantic sex stuff between Cochrane and Maria clunks (continually intercut with their lovemaking) and isn’t very convincing. When Cochrane tells Eric about their affair it’s like two school girls. And the characters are given so much back story – this wasn’t normally like Hill.

It’s been a while since I saw the film but there seem to be some changes. Cochrane isn’t an old friend of Tibby, he’s just met him for three months since he got out – they get along well (which isn’t the same as being an old friend). And there’s an awful lot of chat between Cochrane and Maria around their affair (stories of them growing up, his daughter, etc). The second act seemed roughly the same: Cochrane is helped in his request for revenge by people who come across his path, including a nice religious man who nurses him back to health, a Texan, a vengeful Mexican, some random model he meets. The ending is different – he ambushes Tibby, but doesn’t kill him. He then tortures Tibby’s assistant to find where the girl is, goes to the nunnery where Maria’s still alive (but pregnant). Tibby turns up, shoots and injures Cochrane, asks him to kill him – Cochrane refuses. Everyone forgives each other. Cochrane takes the girl and walks off. So a happier ending, albeit still infused with Mexican stuff about being macho and honour and whores.

I’m surprised this is as dodgy as it was – was Hill not given a free hand? Was it rewritten by other people? Was this the combination of the John Huston/Harrison/Hill version that Ray Stark was trying to get up in the late 80s. Or maybe he was just off form? Regardless, I can't weep that this version of the story wasn't filmed.

Movie review – Elvis #18 - “Tickle Me” (1965) **1/2

Silly Elvis cheapie made for Allied Artists, shot entirely on the backlot – he’s a rodeo rider who winds up working at a fat farm run by, you guessed it, an elder woman (Julie Adams). It’s actually not so much a fat farm as a place for good looking women to walk around with not much on, so Elvis has a pretty good time.

This is a really dumb, silly film which I actually ended up enjoying more than I thought. There’s lots of slapstick, pleasing tunes, women in bikinis and extended comedy bits, like a fantasy sequence where Elvis imagines himself as a gunslinger in the old days. The guts of the plot doesn’t have much to do with rodeo riding, but rather one of the girls looking for some long lost gold cache and coming up against some corrupt locals – it’s just like an episode of Scooby Doo, complete with haunted house finale and it’s-old-man-Weatherby revelation that the baddie is, gasp, the sheriff. This is a movie for kids more than anyone else, but on those terms it succeeds well enough.

Jack Mullaney offers excellent comic support; as the younger romantic interest, Jocelyn Lane is extremely easy on the eye, especially as costumed here, even if she can’t act. The cast also includes Allison Hayes (like Adams, a 50s icon), Connie Gilchrist and Bill Williams, plus a bunch of starlets.

Radio – TGA#32 – “Seven Keys to Baldpate” (1946) **1/2

Walter Pigeon is dreadful in this adaptation of the famous George M Cohan farce – stiff, dull, in a role that should be played with at least some verve, even if the character is passive a lot of the time. But I think part of the reason the Cohan play was so successful is that it is actor proof – there’s so much “business” going on, with Pigeon’s writer character being continually visited by other people who have keys: a hermit, local reporter, police sheriff, professor, gangster, etc. I have a soft spot for this play, with it’s bright construction and post-modernism (Pigeon is a trashy writer trying to come up with a novel in 24 hours and keeps meeting people who act like one of his trashy novels). Good fun – despite the awful lead performance. Martha Scott co-stars.

Movie review – Elvis#9 - “Follow That Dream” (1962) **1/2

Different sort of Elvis Presley film – it’s like a play more than a film, which is not a criticism, because it means Elvis gets more dialogue than usual, and he handles it well. He and his hillbilly family are travelling through Florida when they break down on some vacant piece of government land, which they decide to claim by homesteading (i.e. squatting). They soon come into conflict with the government and the mafia.

The politics of this film is interesting. Elvis and his family are all on government benefits (Elvis was injured in the army) yet they’re against the government enough to claim land by sitting on it – which apparently is okay. (What about the Indians?). Are we supposed to be on their side getting hold of this land for which they’ve done no work to earn apart from put up some ramshackle hut? It’s pretty beach front in Florida- wouldn’t that be better for the public as a national park than some family of hick free-loaders? (Surely they could have made the baddies want to sell it to a developer or something to make our heroes more sympathetic.)

I think we’re supposed to get indignant when social workers try to get these twins who’ve been adopted by the family because it’s a poor living environment. But is it such a great working environment? This social worker criticises Arthur O’Connell, the paterfamilias, for being dim - I think he is meant to impress us with his home-spun wisdom – only he isn’t that wise, more a bludger who gets very lucky. The social worker also makes snide insinuations about Elvis and his “sister” who’s been living with him for years – she’s not his blood sister, but she’s been raised by O’Connell and working in the family as a sister/mother. I think we’re meant to be outraged – but at the end Elvis hooks up with his sister, so the social worker was right. (I’m sure Woody Allen would have improved.) Also Elvis is criticised in court for taking benefits for which he is entitled – he admits he wasn’t entitled to them, but took them because the army insisted on giving them to him… which makes him dumb and a dole bludger. It’s a really odd film – which is not common for an Elvis film.

There is pleasing photography, the idea of just setting up home on a stretch of isolated Florida beach front is very appealing, I really enjoyed the run-ins with the local mafia (they were a lot better baddies than the government), Elvis gives a nice performance and there are some sharp lines and bits from writer Charles Lederer, including the sequence where Elvis helps outwit the sexy social worker doing the word aptitude test at the end. .I just wish the family had a stronger work ethic – I’ve never seen a Hollywood film where the heroes were welfare cheats before.

Movie review – “The Skull” (1965) ****

A really excellent British horror film – up there with the best of Hammer, even though it was from Amicus. It does feature Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, has some wonderful art direction (from an Australian, Bill Constable), some good-looking women, terrific direction (Freddie Francis) and is genuinely scary at times. The script is based on a short story by Robert Bloch, who went on to write for the company a number of times. Basically it’s about collector Peter Cushing coming into possession of the skull of Maquis de Sade, which sends all who own it ga-ga. It really is the basic; indeed, at times the running time felt a little padded – this could have used a subplot or two, fleshing out the character of Cushing’s wife, say (Jill Bennett).

It’s really Cushing’s show and he’s excellent playing a normal man who goes deranged. Lee is only in four or so scenes but they’re staggered throughout the film – Amicus became quite skilled at getting name actors to work for short periods of time. The bit where Cushing goes to kill Bennett but is scared off by her cross is a little too close to vampire films, but there’s plenty of memorable moments, especially involving the skull. Long slabs of this is without dialogue, which is very effective.

Radio review – TGA#50 - “The Man Who Came to Dinner” (1946) ***

Fred Allen plays Sheridan Whiteside and actually makes an effort to play the part as written instead of just playing a version of Fred Allen. The latter way might have worked better but good on Allen for having a go, and you eventually get used to it. The play works well trimmed to an hour – the structure is still worth admiring (accident-secretary falls in love-bring in Gertrude Lawrence-Noel Coward tries to save the day), the jokes still funny. They cut the stuff about the host’s murdering sister or whatever she was. The actors playing Gertrude Lawrence and Noel Coward are fun; whoever plays Maggie, Sheridan’s secretary, is awful.

TV review – “Law and Order – Season 10” (1999-2000) ***1/2

A new season normally sees the introduction of a new cast member, and this one brings us Ed Green, played by Jesse Martin. He’s a great addition – a cocky, hot-tempered graduate of the school of Mike Logan. He’s also perhaps the best interrogator out of the cops, using techniques to get results like tremendous empathy (at times he seems he’s about to cry), writing down notes all the time during interrogation, lurching from sympathy to hostility in a beat, etc.

This feels less right-wing than season one. The first few episodes have them prosecute gun manufacturers for irresponsible conduct, helping an innocent man, discuss euthanasia, having trouble with rich evil people, criticise conditions of gaols. They even bag the Pinochet regime in the final episode. Angie Harmon is a lot less annoying – she pulls back on spouting her stupid right-wing comments but keep the attack dog stuff; one episode she even pushes to get charges dismissed against someone, then tries to get McCoy to go easy on a killer who has Alzheimer's. She still spends a fair bit of time attacking other women, though.

There’s a lack of truly stand-out episodes, more a trot through social issues (corrupt cops, internet addiction, sex trade, euthanasia, mafia, gun control, etc) along with the usual infidelity and drugs. Some highlights: a crazy ep about a student murder which ended up involving neo-Nazis, porn stars, strip club owners, drug dealer and corrupt businessmen; the one where the wife refused to believe her husband was a killer, despite all evidence to the contrary; a terrifying female serial killer; a great bit where a creepy shrink admits to murder while on a manslaughter charge as a sort of bluff.

Notable guest cast include Richard Masur, John Heard, Carey Lowell returning as Jamie Ross (it’s good to see her – even if they leave her story open-ended), Tom Berenger (great actor, wasted here to be honest), Jane Alexander, the mousy girl off Grey’s Anatomy (terrifically chilling in her ep), Michael Gross, Kevin Smith (yes, the director – he plays a fifty worder and does a very good job), real life husband and wife Michael McKean and Annette O’Toole as husband and wife, John Slattery (who’d been on the show before), Adrienne Shelley (as a porn star – sad to see her because she was murdered in real life, inspiring a Law and Order episode) and Joe Morton.

Radio review – Lux – “Pinocchio” (1939) ***1/2

Lovely, warm adaptation of the Disney classic – or rather, classic Disney version of the classic. There are grabs from the most important songs: ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’, ‘I’ve Got No Strings On Me’, etc and the story is quite effective on radio. Jiminy Cricket is perhaps less annoying here because a narrator is more useful. This story is as good a warning for children as any about stranger danger – trusting one stranger leads Pinocchio into a travelling show, trusting another makes him wind up on donkey island (this is still really scary, even as an adult). I still find it a bit hard to believe that he tracks down a whale so easily, but nothing’s perfect…

Radio review – “Black Museum” (1952)

A British murder mystery series based on true life cases from Scotland Yard's files. Each episode was based on an item or items of evidence in their “crime museum”. Orson Welles hosted and narrated the shows, although he didn’t play characters. It’s a shame he didn’t – the investigating characters were boring; I think they vary from episode to episode but I could never tell because they are inter-changeable. And the acting from the suspects, victims, etc was off that generic English murder drama acting school (eg “I loved him, Bunty, I tell you I loved him”). It’s also a pity they didn’t do more period stories, since they would have done them easy enough on radio.

Still, some strong scripts – sometimes the killer even got away. “Glass Shards” reminded me of Law and Order, with the police running into dead ends. (A lot of the show was police procedural.) “Cord” was set in the theatre, and Orson’s absence from that show was particularly notable. The chloroform episode involving a affair between a married woman and a minister was really strong. I also enjoyed “Straight Razor" – they catch a killer who they suspect might be Jack the Ripper (he’s hung for murdering his wife but not the official Ripper crimes). A list of episodes is here.

Book review – “Errol Flynn Slept Here” by Robert Matzen and Michael Mazzone

Why a book about Errol Flynn’s house? Well, when you think about it, why not – it’s going to give as good an insight into his personality as anything. Because Errol lived at Mullholland Drive for longer than anywhere else in his life; he designed the place himself, he went through some of the best times of his life – and some of the worst. Massive parties, police arriving to inform him of the rape allegations, the trial, making his best and worst films, increasing addiction to alcohol and drugs, an unhappy second marriage, legal fights with Lili, flings with Ida Lupino, carousing with mates... It all happened at Mullholland.

 

Errol designed Mullholland as his dream house, so we see all aspects to the man: it was high up on a mountain, had great view and lots of privacy, featured a study to write, a swimming pool and tennis court to play sport, a separate hut for cockfights and gambling and who-knows-what-else (okay, we know – orgies), a guest bathroom for visiting ladies… with a two-way mirror (observed behind the bar – room for a mate to sit in, too), another two-way mirror in the ceiling of the guest bedroom (viewable from the attic), an escape stairway from his bedroom (why would you need that from your own house?), no specific front door. Clearly a man who loved a good time (parties, sex), and had a strong kinky streak, but who also liked peace and quiet.

 

You can say Errol got a raw deal a lot of the time (the rape charges, financial persecution from Lili, bad publicity over Objective Burma) – but honestly he brought a lot of it on himself. He was a nasty drunk, he lacked the discipline to write even though it gave him such great joy, Warners gave him chances at other types of roles (screwball comedies, mysteries, melodramas) but the public didn’t like him then as much as the action stuff, he became unprofessional on set, he wasted lots of his money, even when up for statutory rape he continued to see underage girls, he kept getting in brawls. A lot of the time I kept muttering, "Errol, you idiot!" But people can't change their natures, I guess - if he hadn't been such a charming rogue, he wouldn't have been Errol Flynn. I will only add that just because a man attracts women easily, doesn't mean he can't be a rapist.

 

I found the rest of the book, about the other people who lived there, surprisingly interesting. It helped that the final owner was Ricky Nelson, teen heart throb and actor – I didn’t realise the poor guy was so shy or had such a bad divorce; his sons played a lot of music there, leading to their band, Nelson. The one before him was Sturt Hamblen, very different from both, although in showbusiness: he wrote songs like “This Ole House’. He was a Christian, clean living, and a big family man. When he moved in he had to remove truckloads of empty vodka bottles from where they'd been thrown by Errol and his mates.

 

I really enjoyed this book. Plenty of interesting facts, and gorgeous, fascinating photos. I particularly liked the snaps of various parties: Errol talking with Ida Lupino (I didn’t know they had an affair), Nora at dinner, Gary Cooper and Raoul Walsh watching a fencing match, etc. Definitely worth getting if you're an Errol Flynn (or Ricky Nelson) fan.

Book review - “Elephant to Hollywood” by Michael Caine

I like Michael Caine, everyone likes Michael Caine, he’s one of those actors impossible not to like – at least now he’s become an institution. I think it was easier to get sick of him in the 70s and 80s when he kept starring in so many bad films. Indeed, Caine remained a star for much longer than you think his flop ratio would allow – The Swarm, Ashanti, The Marseilles Contract, The Magus, etc, etc. But as he once said all you need is one hit for every five and he seemed to make that. Also I think he was so good natured and likeable, people wanted to make movies with him – you know you’d get a good performance from a true professional, and some laughs behind the scenes.

This book does feel like a bit of a rip off, though. Caine had already written an excellent memoir, which came out in 1992. He’s certainly done enough since then to warrant a second book – he survived a dip in his career which happened in the early 90s as he transferred from leading actor to character star, then went on and featured in a number of fine works, even winning an Oscar. He could gone into some of his old adventures in friends in greater detail, like David Niven did with ‘Bring on the Empty Horses’. But instead what we get is a book whose first two-thirds is a repeat of ‘What’s It All About’ – the same stories, only briefer. By the time I hit page 200 and still hadn’t heard a new anecdote I was getting seriously annoyed. I mean, I enjoyed the anecdotes and Caine writes in a bright, lively style, but he’d told them before and in more detail. Why couldn’t he have done things like talk more about his Korean War service? Early theatre personalities? His work as producer (Get Carter, Blue Ice)? More in-depth profiles of famous people he knew?

There is some new stuff here: Caine loved Miami and lived there for long sections in the early 90s, he has a man crush on Jude Law and calls Law’s Hamlet the best he’s seen in recent years. There’s a moving section on his gang of mates who he’s been friends with since the 60s and who are recently dying off. And I liked the section on Harry Brown. More of this and it would have been a better book. Unfortunately, there’s a bit too much of how great his life is and his house, and too much polite treatment of the people he’s worked with recently.

Movie review – “Slumber Party Massacre” (1980) *1/2

The story of the making of this film is terrific: Amy Holden Jones was an editor who wanted to move into directing; she had worked for Roger Corman, so she got hold of a script by Rita Mae Brown, shot a prologue, told him how much she made it for, he told her she had a future in the business, and greenlit a movie.

The film itself isn’t so crash hot – although it has a great central idea (killer escapes from asylum and runs amok knocking off young women, including some at slumber party). There are some effective murders – a girl yanked into a van and bashing on the window while men walk away oblivious to what is going on, a girl opening a fridge and not seeing a corpse is there. I also enjoyed the bit where one of the girls was watching a murder scene from Hollywood Boulevard, a New World film which Amy Holden Jones edited. 

But all too often the killings are nasty. Jones has said the film was meant to be a comedy, but although there are some clever bits it’s too full on to be a yuck-fest. And they don't give the killer much of a back-story or a build up.

None of the cast act particularly well, really, although some are pretty. (I got a shock watching the excellent making-of featurette to discover one of the pretty leads, who plays a good girl, ended up killing herself.) There is some nudity on display (boobs and bums) but it’s done half-heartedly – sleazier directors have more fun with this element.

The film did become a massive hit – although Jones says no one came around offering her jobs. Corman offered to fund a sequel, but she refused, instead offering up an original script, Love Letters – which Corman agreed to make. Two sequels followed some years later.

Radio review – TGA#50 – “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” (1950) ***

This story adapts well to radio because you can have a lot of Jekyll-Hyde arguments in Jekyll’s head, and your imagination can be used to picture what Hyde looked like, which is somehow more satisfying than actually seeing it. Frederick March reprises the role he played on screen to such acclaim and he’s very good; there was always a touch of the ham about March, and he uses that to good effect here. I particularly liked the ending with Hyde pleading for help from Jekyll, his only friend… but none comes. Barbara Bel Geddes offers support.

Charles B Griffith interviews

I recently came across a copy of the last interview done with the great Charles B Griffith here. It's very moving to listen to because he died not long after. Many of the stories will be familiar. He started off writing via his grandmother, who wrote soaps for the radio – he moved out to LA after army service (I had no idea he was in the army) to write a TV version of the soap. He met Roger Corman through Jonathan Haze and wrote two scripts for him: Three Bright Banners, about a Confederate incursion into Mexico, and Hang Town, a Western mystery. Both were too expensive for Corman but the director hired Griffith to write other films. He wrote a couple of early scripts, with Mark Hanna, an actor whom he met through mutual friends (Griffith never seems to talk too much about Hanna).

Griffith says his greatest lesson was how to write fast. He also says his biggest mistake was taking time off was going to Europe and getting stranded there for a large slab of his career. There's another excellent interview with Griffith at Senses of Cinema but here you get to hear what he sounds like.

Movie review – “The Man Who Could Cheat Death” (1959) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

It’s not hard to see the attraction of Barre Lydon play for Hammer – it’s a sort of Dorian Gray tale (NB why did they never film that story?) about an artist/doctor who manages to stay young through operations involving gland extraction. This inevitably leads to – you guessed it – murder. Probably not enough murder to satisfy the Hammer faithful but there are some wonderful sets and costumes, and a strong cast.

Anton Diffring steps into a role that presumably Peter Cushing was too busy to play; but Christopher Lee pops up as Diffring’s romantic rival. There’s also Hazel Court, who poses topless for Diffring – we see her bare back and everything which is pretty racy. The handling doesn’t conquer the stage origins of this story – there’s lots of scenes with people standing around drawing rooms talking. More could have been made of the Lee-Diffring-Court triangle. It’s also a bit slow and lacks fire, even if it ends with a fire (fire finales tend to be ho-hum in horror films of this era, there were so many of them).

On the sunny side, as previously mentioned, it looks gorgeous: sets, colour, costumes, etc. The acting is polished, the women sexy and there are a couple of decent shocks: revelation of all the busts of women and Diffring’s age and finding out Delphi Lawrence is still alive (she looks hotter in her gypsy prison outfit than at the beginning). It’s a shame they didn’t juice this up a little, add some more horror, murders and sex. Hammer would return to the “eternal life” theme with She.

Radio review – TGA#137 – “Rip Van Winkle” (1948) **

Fred Allen stars in this re-imagining of the classic story – it’s a play within a play, so Allen plays Allen, who’s been assigned to every show on a radio network and has to serve time in Theatre Guild’s production of Rip Van Winkle. He does a traditional version then his own version where he starts in 1928, goes to a speakeasy and goes back in time. I enjoyed Allen’s raspy delivery but there were a few too many in-jokes for this to really work for me. This is quite irreverent for Theatre Guild – there are jokes about the high class reputation of the guild as well.

Movie review – “The Big Bust Out” (1973) **

This Italy-German women in prison film doesn’t waste any time – within the first ten minutes there’s a lesbian love scene, a cat fight, an anal search, a reforming nun. The nun gets some girl prisoners transferred to an abbey, where there are lecherous Arab guards (I think this is meant to be set in Turkey) from which they promptly escape by dressing up as nuns; the good nun goes along with him as she’s responsible for them. They get betrayed and are kidnapped by some crooks who sell then into slavery. They subsequently escape with the help of a (male) crim with a conscience and go on the lam… although that doesn’t stop them from being mass raped by bandits. They wind up captured in some big baddie castle at the end, enabling some of the girls to dress up in sexy harem outfits, until the fight back... the nun winds up machine gunning people.

This is a deliriously over-the-top, never-a-dull moment, crappy exploitationer. It doesn’t spend that much time in prison – the film is really about the escape. Some of the acting isn’t too bad – the best role is the nun, mainly because she’s a nun and they keep her a nun for most of the running time. Plenty of nude swims for those who are into that sort of thing. The credits say this is a “Filmgroup International” movie – it was actually picked up by New World.

Movie review – Inner Sanctum#6 – “Pillow of Death” (1945) ** (warning: spoilers)

Lon Chaney Jnr is an unhappily married lawyer whose secretary (Brenda Joyce) is in love with him (Lon, you stud muffin), so it’s good news and bad news when his wife turns up dead. Most of the action involves Joyce’s rich family, who live in some dark mansion and are full of roles played by elderly character actors. The film cheats by not showing any of the three murders that take place or the dead wife, and keeping Lon Chaney out of action for too long. But being an Inner Sanctum film you learn to take what you can get.

There’s some spooky atmosphere and Lon Chaney is back to his tormented best – even better, he’s actually guilty all the way through (he kills someone in Strange Confession that was at the end and he is really driven to it). And because Joyce is so unsympathetic, ditto her whiny horrible boyfriend (even though I think we’re meant to be glad they’re together at the end), Chaney gets sympathy. I was genuinely surprised that he actually turned out to be the killer. Inner Sanctum was an unsatisfying series all up, but it’s fun to watch if you like Lon Chaney Jnr.

Radio review – TGA#46 – “The Green Goddess” (1946) ***

Hokey melodrama, but very enjoyable – I can see why this would have been such a success, because the structure is so strong, and the roles are actor-proof. Good on William Archer for writing it; he was a theatre critic who was dared into it, and came up with a big hit. Ronald Colman of all people plays the Raja – maybe because he played the leader of a group of plane passengers who wind up in a far flung corner of India in Lost Horizon, he wanted to have a go at playing the leader of a far flung corner of India who greet a group of plane passengers.

Archer establishes the threat and ticking clock early – three of the raja’s relatives are up for execution by the British, meaning the three passengers become prisoners. The subplots keep things ticking over until the climax – the woman (Anita Louise) is married to a drunk, but in love with a dashing pilot (Walter Abel); the raja proposes to the women (you can imagine female audiences enjoying a day dream over all these men panting for this girl and offering her absolute power); there’s a drunk Britisher living in the kingdom (EG Marshall); the raja isn’t keen to kill the prisoners but has to do it to keep his people happy; the people pray to a God. Good, dumb fun. Colman isn’t exactly well cast but it’s fun to listen to him try.

Movie review – “Toy Story 3” (2010) ****

Another Pixar masterpiece and money-maker. The formula is followed – an odyssey mixed with heart. The toys are about to be kicked upstairs to the attic with Andy going away to college – a set up which gives this a great deal of depth and heart, because you know no matter what happens the ending isn’t going to be really happy. The toys wind up at a day care centre, which seems like paradise, but isn’t. As normal with Pixar, the last act is one big chase/race-against-the-clock scene.

There are some incredibly moving moments, such as everyone holding hands as they think they’re going to their deaths, and the finale where Andy says goodbye (I don’t mind admitting this brought tears to my eyes – Woody’s smiling face staring at Andy especially, giving it away to a shy girl… it’s all about rites of pages, and changes and surise/sunet… no wonder grown men were bawling in cinemas).

Tom Hanks/Woody is very much the star here – he’s the one picked to go to college, he gets the close ups at the end, he has his own adventures whereas Buzz is stuck with the others. Even in animation, star factor counts. Lots of funny bits throughout; I particularly liked the idea of toys watching each other do theatre, and getting on ebay to see how much they’re worth.

Movie review – Inner Sanctum#5 – “Strange Confession” (1945) **

The first Inner Sanctum where Lon Chaney doesn’t play a character who is desired by a whole bunch of women. He still plays a genius, though – a chemist whose work is often exploited by his boss (J Carrol Naish). The boss does things like take credit for Chaney’s work, put his discoveries on the market before they’re ready, and try to get his wife (Brenda Joyce). The action proceeds logically and intriguingly – drug companies in a hurry to get their materials on the market before proper testing is great material. It’s one of the – if not the - most intelligent and thoughtful entries in the series.

But the whole movie felt like Act One of a longer movie; it’s all this set up to drive Chaney to murder… and then the film ends. I wanted more, like Chaney going on a rampage being affected by the drug, or using some technique he’d picked up in South America, or something. Like all the Inner Sanctum films, it’s unsatisfying.

There are some pleasures: the photography, strong acting (Lon Chaney is very good), Naish is an imposing villain, there’s Lloyd Bridges as Chaney’s assistant. Joyce’s character is a surprise: at first I thought she was meant to be a bitch, but my sympathies were with her – her husband’s a weak boffin who never wants to make money and takes off into the jungle without telling her; and she’s genuinely distraught by the end. Not bad – just could and should have been better, like all Inner Sanctums.

Radio review – TGA#127 – “All About Eve” (1951) ***

Fans of the film will want to check out this adaptation since Tallulah Bankhead plays the role for Margot Channing. After an awkward start she becomes more comfortable in the part (or maybe it just took me a while to get used to not hearing Bette Davis). Kevin McCarthy steps in very well for the role of Bill Sampson and Mary Orr, writer of the original story which led to the script, is Karen Richards, and she’s good too. Unfortunately the casting of the other roles is minor, particularly jarring for Addison de Witt. As if to compensate, they’ve given some of Addison’s choicest likes to Bankhead – she refers to him being like a Trappist monk, and it’s she who tells Eve everyone knows about her dodgy past. The latter bit especially doesn’t feel right; still it’s fascinating to hear this take on the famous movie.

Movie review – Inner Sanctum#4 – “The Frozen Ghost” (1945) **

Inner Sanctum movies keep coming up with good ideas and throwing them away. This has two: Lon Chaney Jnr as a master hypnotist who’s convinced he’s killed one of his clients, and Lon taking refuge in a max museum. But the rest of it is fairly standard. All the women pant over chubby Lon – a young girl, his assistant (Evelyn Ankers again, the last horror film she made for Universal), and an elder blonde. The blonde goes missing, causing Lon to think he’s done it again – which unfortunately he hasn’t, it would have been a better film if he had. Not much is done with the wax museum setting apart from the stock walking-past-a-real-person-thinking-they’re-a-mummy. Strong support from Ankers, Douglas Dumbrille (investigating police officer), and most of all Martin Kosleck, as a creepy wax model maker.

Radio review – TGA#148 – “The Glass Menagerie” (1951) ***1/2

Strong version of the classic play, with an excellent past. Montgomery Clift is perfect as Tom, sensitive and tormented (is there a Clift performance you can’t say that about?) – he doesn’t go in hard on the Southern accent, a trap many actors doing Tennessee Williams fall into (“Listen to me! I’m ACTING in a SOUTHERN ACCENT!’). Helen Hayes does, but her wistfulness really suits the character of the dreamy mother. And Karl Malden is less bombastic and more sensitive than usual as the Gentleman Caller. It’s all done with skill and a light touch, and the narration from Tom works well on radio.

Movie review – Inner Sanctum#3 – “Dead Man’s Eyes” (1944) **

These Inner Sanctum films had a lot of good things going for them, but I think they would have been a lot better if they had been more fantastical, less real. This starts of quite promisingly: Lon Chaney Jnr is an artist, who is again desired by women. Although clearly lusted after by his model (Acquanetta), his engaged to a rich girl whose dad adores Lon. The model accidentally (or was it deliberate) puts acid in Lon’s eyewash, and he goes blind. The dad offers up his eyes in the event of his death for an eye transplant… and then he winds up dead. So far so crazy, with some good Lon Chaney moments screaming over his eyes, then hitting the booze. But then things settle down and it turns into a boring mystery. Once Acquanetta dies it’s pretty obvious who did it and the twist of Chaney regaining his sight but hiding it is obvious.

This could have been good, delirious fun but the punches are pulled. Chaney should have been guilty, too, to give it more kick, and so Chaney could do more tormented stuff.

Radio review – TGA#122 – “For Love or Money” (1948) *1/2

Dim rom com about a Broadway star who’s taken time out at his Long Island estate to recover from the death of his wife (but it’s okay since the wife was a tramp and he didn’t really like her). He stumbles upon a ditzy girl from Denver who is 20 years younger and – get this for a concept – she doesn’t know who he is. So he hires her as a secretary. Both of them have people who are in love with them, but I think the audience is meant to be glad they get together. "Gee, I hope that child hooks up with the man who is her boss and old enough to be her father."

It’s the sort of “story” that you saw in the 50s on screen a lot, when every second rom com seemed to have a generation gap between the leads (Debbie Reynolds was in a bunch). You might get away with it with some lush colour photography, great sets and costumes, and stars – but here it’s radio and the leads are C-list, Joan Caulfield and the always-wet John Loder, who did the part on stage. I should add that people liked it: it ran for almost 300 performances on Broadway (it was based on a play by F Hugh Herbert who wrote Kiss and Tell and The Moon is Blue).

Movie review – Inner Sanctum#2 – “Weird Woman” (1944) ** (warning: spoilers)

Weird film: for starters, Lon Chaney Jnr rarely played a character who was so catnip to the ladies, he’s got three of them panting over him here, all of them stunners, including Evelyn Ankers. As in Calling Dr Death he plays a distinguished professional (in this case a college professor) who is married but is desired by another woman, a co-worker, who turns evil to get him. That role is played by Ankers, and they throw in a hot college student who wants him, too. It’s an odd plot: Chaney Jnr has married a girl he ran into while visiting a Pacific Island (Anne Gwynne), and she keeps praying to her native gods. His marriage annoys Ankers, who sets about trying to destroy him.

The stuff about Chaney Jnr’s wife being South Sea Island aristocracy isn’t really used – I kept expecting an old witchdoctor to turn up and wreck havoc but it was not to be. I did enjoy the depection of academia being full of pushy wives, plagrising academics, horny co-eds, homicidally jealous boyfriends, and psychopathic librarians. The handling is full of the odd flourish and it’s fun to see Chaney playing this supposed intellectual giant and lady-killer.

DVD review – “The Olden Days/Bargearse” (2005) ****1/2

This holds up incredibly well –although I’m not that surprised after listening to the audio commentary and finding out how much work Tony Martin put into this. Months of it apparently – I’m surprised they had time to work on other sections of the show (a possible clue, Martin makes a joke about Tom Gleisner writing about 80% of The Late Show).

It’s a brilliant, hilarious take on two old Aussie TV shows, Rush and Bluey – neither of which the D Gen were a particular fan, but the vision suited their purposes (old, over the top, involved using people in uniforms so episodes could be cut around; apparently two other shows which were considered were Truckies starring John Wood, but it wasn’t visual enough, and The Young Doctors, which was eventually vetoed by Grundys who thought they might get another re-rerun out of the show).

They actually try to tell stories within the episodes, which made it hard work but which pays off excellently. “The Olden Days” is superb, with my favourite bits including the “South Pacific” sequence. But I think “Bargearse” is better because it more obviously revolves around the one character, whereas "Olden Days" is split between the army officer and the John Waters cop. "Bargearse" is also in colour, benefits from a hilarious concept anyway (Lucky Grills as a cop), and has Judith Lucy and Rob Stitch doing main roles on voices.

Movie review – Inner Sanctum#1 – “Calling Doctor Death” (1943) **

The first of what turned out to be six low budget Universal horrors based on the Inner Sanctum radio show. I’ve never heard an episode of this but guess it’s along the line of something like Suspense. The script for this entry was apparently an original for the screen, but feels like an adaptation of a radio show, complete with lots of internal monologuing from the narrator, whoops, main character, a doctor played by Lon Chaney Jnr. He blacks out one night to find his trampy wife has been killed and he’s a suspect.

It’s not a bad mystery, and would have made a tight half hour but feels padded here – it needed another subplot or something. Or for Chaney to have actually done it so he goes on a rampage. Stylish photography (is there a badly shot Universal horror film?) and direction that occasionally tries to do something interesting, eg Chaney’s POV as he arrives at a crime scene, but also occasionally seems to fall asleep. Varying acting; Chaney Jnr starts off awkward but improves as his character gets in more trouble (it’s a shame it all couldn’t have ended badly – Chaney did a great tragic end). J Carrol Naish is the detective on the case.

Radio review – TGA#94 – “Old English” (1947) **

Some play I’ve never heard of before by John Galsworthy, presumably revived because it gave a great lead role for Charles Laughton, who’s excellent. He plays an old man who provides for various grandchildren (one of whom from his illegitimate son), leading to him getting into debt, even though he’s a ship builder. It’s not much of a story or a problem – why don’t his lazy kids go out and get a job? EG Marshall lends some support. According to the announcement at the beginning, Laughton did this shortly before appearing in Galileo.

Play review – “The Royal Family” by Kaufman and Ferber (warning: spoilers)

Wanted to read this after listening to the radio version, which seems to have been reasonably faithful – although the characters of the middle aged brother (a good actor who is a bit lazy and getting on) and his not-very-talented wife were reduced, for time presumably. Reading the full length bit I was struck how small that part of Tony Cavendish was – the John Barrymore part. He just sort of waltzes in being pursued by creditors then waltzes out again (the Theatre Guild version added a section of Tony overseas).

The guts of the drama is given to Julie Cavendish, a middle aged great actor, Tony’s sister (I can’t remember if she was divorced or widowed), mother of young Gwen who is about to go into the family business; she’s worried about Gwen marrying a non actor, and is attracted to the idea of wedding an old beau who wants her to give up the stage and live in rustic splendour in South America. Pressure comes from her mother, another old time actor.

Like other Kaufman-Ferber plays famous for their comedy, Dinner at Eight and Stage Door, this some effective serious moments, notably the death of the mother at the end (on stage, no less). It’s interesting from a feminist point of view – when Gwen wants to give up her career for marriage her mother and grandmother can’t believe it, but later on mum encourages her to do just that… but later Gwen goes back to the stage.

This isn’t as good as the later Ferber-Kaufman plays – it takes too long to get going (so much business involving servants which doesn’t pay off), there isn’t enough story, and they miss an opportunity with the Tony Cavendish character. But it’s still entertaining and you could imagine would be fun to watch with the right people cast as the Cavendishes.

Radio review – TGA#88 – “Lady in the Dark” (1947) ***

Perhaps the best radio adaptation of this show, even if the hour long running time means we don’t get the Danny Kaye number that was apparently such a show-stopper. We do have Gertrude Lawrence reprising her stage role, and she’s quite good as the sophisticated woman who goes to see a shrink about her mental problems. The piece remains sexist, with her co-worker insulting her for not wanting to be a real woman and her devotion to the job, etc. Some of the Kurt Weill songs are pretty. The inclusion of them means the plot involving Lawrence’s romances with a married man, movie star and co-worker are trimmed right down. (Is this why the script is so sexist? Because otherwise Lawrence would be too much for 40s audiences, with her glamour, success and men pawing all over her?)

Radio review – TGA#17 – “Knickerbocker Holiday” (1945) **1/2

Musical set in New York during the reign of governor Peter Stuyvesant – played by Walter Huston, who got a hit song, the charming ‘September Song’ out of this. It’s the highlight of the play, which feels full of jokes that were probably really funny to New Yorkers who first saw this on Broadway. But it has a spirit and liking for democracy and individualism which helps it leap the years. The plot is about a young man who can’t follow orders – which causes him to almost be hung until he’s saved by the arrival of the new governor, who dismisses the old government. Problem is, the new governor is a fascist dictator and soon everyone realises they were better off under a smaller government, even if incompetent. It’s a nice theme (although how small is small?), just as relevant today. The device of Washington Irving as a narrator is irritating (maybe it’s just the playing here) but Huston is good.

Movie review – Thin Man#4 – “Shadow of the Thin Man” (1941) **

If it ain’t broke why fix it – so here’s a fourth Thin Man instalment, with Nick Jnr now old enough to be attending military academy… even though he’s only a couple of years old. War time restrictions sees the Charles live in a flat rather than a mansion, although they still have their maid (Louise Beavers) and Nick still guzzles booze. He’s is called in to investigate the death of a jockey by a betting syndicate, triggering some standard adventures: Nora enjoying herself among Nick’s dodgy friends (in this case at a wrestling match), a climax with a room full of suspects, etc. 

The fun here though is mild – the Thin Man was really made for the mad cap 30s rather than the more austere 40s, and the leads were becoming too domestic. Also there’s not enough Loy – she disappears for too long. (Was this because this was the first Thin Man not to be written by the Hacketts?). Beautifully shot and a cast that includes Barry Nelson (in his debut but billed third, so I guessed he was the killer), Donna Reed, Sam Levene, Stella Adler and Tor Johnson.

Movie review – “Straight Through to Morning” (1972) **

Hammer horror does kitchen sink – Rita Tushingham plays a sort of Billy Liar character, a fantasist who goes to London to find a husband, only to hook up with Shane Briant, who happens to be a crazy killer. Most of the movie consists of these two stuck in Briant’s flat; occasionally Tushingham leaves so Briant can kill a hot girl (Krista Weymouth – who, like a lot of Hammer glamours around this time, had taken her kit off for Kubrick in A Clockwork Orange) and a dog. I can’t believe Hammer thought the British public would enjoy a horror movie where the male lead stabs a dog to death with a Stanley knife. It’s a highly unpleasant scene even if you don’t like dogs; ditto the killing of Weymouth. 

 

When the film isn’t being annoying it’s boring – this is mostly long psychological “drama” (the screenwriter was a playwright) interspersed with bits of violence. It feels as though it needed another character or something; all the great Sangster psycho thrillers had at least four main characters, something like The Servant had four, why do they think it was going to work with two? 

 

There’s lots of swinging 70s clothes, décor and filmmaking techniques, which makes the movie seem dated. Fine acting from Tushingham and Briant; it’s just a shame it wasn’t on a better film. Peter Collinson wasn't much of a director.

Movie review – “The Fighter” (2010) **** (warning: spoilers)

I saw this out of sense of Oscar obligation more than genuine desire, and was delighted to find a powerful, moving story. I can’t believe Mark Wahlberg took so long to get this up, it seems a natural for the movies: true story, boxing pic, great role for a star, choice support parts, romance. Wahlberg is strong and also very selfless – even though he’s the producer, ample time is given to the support cast. Christian Bale is brilliant, as is the girl who plays his awful mother. Actually the whole cast is good – it took me a while to get used to Amy Adams in such an untypical role, but once I did I really enjoyed her (she really made something out of the “girlfriend” part).

It’s not just a film about sport, it’s mostly about family – how they can be wonderful and yet horrible at the same time (Wahlberg and Bale’s awful sisters, Bale’s druggie “family”). I had one gripe but can’t figure on how to fix it: the middle point has a big fight scene where Wahlberg is down and out but uses Bale’s tactics to win; then the finale is a fight scene where Wahlberg is down and out but manages to fight back and win (by then Bale is back in his corner). It’s a repeat of the previous emotional moment. But like I say, I don’t know how you could have gotten around it. Maybe trimmed the stuff leading up. David O Russell’s direction keeps everything fresh and interesting.

Radio review – TGA#16 - “Little Women” (1945) ***

Jo was in many ways the definitive Katherine Hepburn role so it’s no surprise she agreed to reprise the part for Theatre Guild on the Air. She sounds a little too mature at first, if truth be told, despite her excellent – but this bothered me less as the piece went on. There’s not much you can say about Little Women that hasn’t been said; it’s very easy to make fun of and very resilient – in part because some of the material is dark (eg there’s a war on, dad gets sick, Beth dies). The dichotomy between Jo and Meg and Amy is similar to the sisters in Pride and Prejudice (I love how when Marmee says good bye to the girls she tells Amy to stop thinking so well of herself). It’s possible to read all sorts of interpretations into it, including Jo being a lesbian – personally I think she didn’t marry Laurie because when push came to shove he was too dumb for her. Oscar Homolka plays the Professor, better known as Act Three love interest – their attraction is always such an iffy part of adaptations of this book, and it doesn’t quite work here. Now if Spencer Tracy had played the part…

Movie review – “Demons of the Mind” (1972) **1/2

A real curio from the dying days of Hammer – some fresh blood, director Peter Sykes and writer Christopher Wicking, set out to make something different and of quality, two things often missing from that studio in the 1970s. They didn’t quite get there, but at least they gave it a go. It’s about a weird family, where dad is convinced his two kids are insane, so he locks them up. He’s visited by a crazy priest (Michael Hordern) and crazier doctor (Patrick Magee).

 

As the two children, Gillian Hardy is stunningly attractive (stepping in for Marianne Faithfull; apparently Hammer couldn’t get insurance for her due to the drug conviction) and Shane Briant is effective. This was his first film for Hammer, and he fit the look of the studio perfectly – he was like some opium-addicted aristocrat, which is along the lines of what he plays here (he lost effectiveness by becoming just a little bit more chubby and old). The guy who plays dad isn’t that great but Patrick Magee is spot on, as is Hordern.

 

I think what part of the problem with these Hammer attempts to depart from formula was that within formula there was safety – and they didn’t have the skills to pull off these new forms of storytelling. 

 

The audio commentary contains an interesting bit where Virginia Wetherell – Mrs Ralph Bates – admits she felt very uncomfortable about doing a nude scene, to the surprise of the director Peter Sykes (although she does qualify it was the main problem was she agreed to do it provided no stills and the stills photographer continually tried to get a snap, and admits she had only just gone nude for Kubrick in A Clockwork Orange, but as she says… that was for Kubrick).

Radio review – TGA#88 – “Age of Innocence" (1947) **1/2

Gene Tierney would have been ideal casting in any film version of this novel so its great to have her here as the American married to a dodgy Polish count whom all the men keep throwing themselves at. The chief one here is Arthur Kennedy, as the former soldier, lawyer and politician – which sounds butch, but when it comes to society he’s a whimp; despite loving Tierney he still finds himself engaged to his mousy, passive-aggressive fiancée (even after she breaks it off) and later he can’t find the courage to leave her. 

 

Tierney would have been better going off with the married scoundrel, kind of the Rhett Butler role – at least he had the guts to help her out in Poland, and offer her what sounded like a really fun future (cruising the Caribbean). It’s striking how flawed these characters are: Kennedy pines after this girl but refuses to break it off; his wife is manipulative; even the Countess is a bit of a mystery. 

 

I found myself getting more involved with the drama than I thought I would be, not caring that much for rich New Yorkers in the 19th century.

 

NB It’s been a while since I read the novel, but the structure of it seemed changed a bit from admittedly hazy memory – for instance, Kennedy declares love for Tierney very quickly, even breaks off the engagement, but his fiancée drags him back in – and he only sees her again because of the divorce case. Although like I say it's been a while - maybe I’m mistaken.

Radio review – TGA#56 – “State Fair” (1950) **1/2

Novelty casting: the family are played by the Lockharts, Gene, Kathleen and June, with Dick Van Patten no less as the son. Van Heflin is the lecherous reporter who falls for June Lockhart, while her brother is seduced by a vamp, dad worries about his hog winning a prize and mum does not much. Well acted across the board; the girl isn’t much of a feminist creature – she starts the movie wanting something different and new, but after having her romance with the journalist, who proposes and suggests they live overseas, she whimps out and says she wants to go back to her hometown where everyone knows her and marry someone she doesn’t really love. I expected the journalist to come back at the end and say he’s happy to live in a small town… but he doesn’t. It’s got a downer ending – which is different from the musical versions.

Movie review – “Bush Christmas” (1947) ***

The tremendous success of The Overlanders saw Chips Rafferty and John Fernside re-teamed in another British-financed movie shot in Australia, and it was also popular… helping inspire a series of British films made here, some of which were commercial disappointments (Eureka Stockade, Bitter Springs, Robbery Under Arms), others which did well (Smiley, The Shiralee). This one of the best of them, a charming fable about some kids who help foil horse thieves. The leaders of the group are a girl and an aboriginal boy (the son of a stockman, described by the narrator as “the dark fellow”); there’s also two brothers to the girl and a visiting English boy. (One scene it’s striking – the girl and the boy lead the gang back home, then the girl goes and puts her dress on and the aboriginal boy has to stay in his part of the camp.)

Its easy to see why this appealed to children, then and now: five smart heroes, each having their own horse, getting to spend days out camping without adults and to beat horse stealers. They also have a black friend who helps them out in the bush, spears bags and teaches them to eat wichety-grubs. The villains are a strong foe – they shoot guns at the kids – even if the story tends to amble along rather than have true narrative drive and the other adults (eg parents) are ciphers.

Sydney John Kay, who helped set up the Mercury Theatre with Peter Finch, did the music, George Heath the photography. You wish it had been shot in colour, but you can’t have everything –that would have been near-impossible to do in Australia at the time.