Movie review - “If a Man Answers” (1962) **

Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin’s teaming in Come September was a hit with audiences, and garnered great publicity when they fell in love and married, so it’s no surprise Universal were keen to re-team them in their own vehicle. Ross Hunter produced and Henry Levin directed and they’ve given Dee the glamour treatment – flashier clothes, a more glamorous background (French mother, rich American father, Boston upbringing) – but she’s still basically a good girl who won’t screw without a ring. 

Dee’s a good rom com heroine, pretty and bright, with that girl next door factor; she’s a good actor too (even if her anorexia is apparent at times, especially in the arms). Darin isn’t as conventionally handsome as most Hollywood stars, but he’s okay and plays well with Dee. The story lets them down, though.

Come September had a very easy to understand, clear set up. This one takes ages to get going, and when it starts, it's just stupid. Dee has men throwing themselves at her all the time, her parents want her to get married; she meets photographer Darin and traps him into marriage, basically. She gets jealous when he photographs sexy Stefanie Powers, so she borrows a book from her mother to treat Darin like a dog. 

Now that’s a decent enough topic for a fun article in a magazine or subplot in an episode of a weekly TV series but not a whole feature. They pad it out by having Dee pretend she’s having an affair to keep Darin on his toes; he tries to trip her up by having the guy actually turn up – his dad (Cesare Romero). It’s a really, really lame idea for a comedy. They shouldn’t have made this film. Surely there were better ideas out there.

Dee battles gamely and is the best thing about the movie apart from it's cute Mad Men era decor – it’s not her fault the film is crap. John Lund plays her dad and Michele Presle her mother. Why not have Bobby Darin sing?

Radio review – BBC - “The Prince” by Machiavelli

Entertaining abridgement of the famous book – as the introduction points out, it’s a sort of job application by Machiavelli to be an adviser to a prince. Famously immoral, it’s actually full of common, albeit ruthless, sense: if you have to be ruthless, so it in short, decisive hits; install colonies will be an easier way to control conquered territories; it's easier to rule territories which you share cultural things with; it's better to be feared than loved. Some of his things I think are wrong - such as going to war is always good (it can cost you a lot of money and weaken your position).

Book review – “Rage and Glory: The Volatile Life and Career of George C Scott” by David Sheward

I wondered why Scott never inspired a biography until now – he was a genuine box office star for a time there as well as being one of the most critically acclaimed actor of his generation, and a very colourful character. Maybe he was just too much of a wanker – constantly smacking women and getting drunk on location, wasting his talent in inferior films. I’ve always wished there was one, because he did an excellent interview reproduced on the Images website which piqued my curiosity. 

 

Scott discovered acting while studying journalism at the University of Missouri; his first acting job was the defence lawyer in The Winslow Boy and it’s not hard to imagine even a green George C Scott being sensational in the role. It’s hard to break into acting but easier for good looking, masculine men with tremendous presence – there’s always jobs going for bosses and presidents.

 

He married while still at uni (to an actor), soon fathering two children. This didn’t stop him from going off to New York to establish himself as an actor with his girlfriend (another actor), leaving the wife and kids back home. The girlfriend got pregnant, so Scott hit her and later tried to smother her with a pillow. Both the wife and girlfriend left him (and remarried), then Scott got married again (a third actor) and became a father again. 

 

A second move to New York saw his career finally take off via an impressive turn on stage as Richard III. He soon established himself off Broadway (William Goldman says when he saw him on stage in Children of Darkness it was like being hit with a powerful force, a recognition of greatness, only comparable to Al Pacino in The Indian Wants the Bronx and Brando in Streetcar). There was also small screen success in the Golden Years of TV. He left wife number three and their child for Colleen Dewhurst (another actor).

 

During all this time Scott was always getting drunk and into fights – he would hit strangers in bars, his wives and girlfriends. He constantly cheated (he tried to leave Dewhurst for Ava Gardner and later left her for another actor, Trish Van Dere), brawled (he seriously beat Gardner and Dewhurst) and gave magnificent performances. Always respected as an actor, for a brief moment Patton turned him into a genuine box office name and he enjoyed some follow up hits (The Hospital and New Centurions) before a series of flops reduced his status as a star… although never as a name actor. (He turned down a number of major films including Network and The Godfather.) He constantly returned to stage, having two big hits in Plaza Suite and Sly Fox. In the 80s and 90s the quality of his output (performances and works in which he appeared) steadily declined, but he remained in demand until his death.

 

I don't think I've ever read a biography were I kept thinking "this guy should have gone to gaol". A month or two behind bars in the 60s might have done Scott the world of good. Obviously a tormented man, but even after reading this I'm not sure why - I don't think Sheward is, either. But being a good biographer (solid research, lucid writing) he sets out the facts as best he can and lets the reader draw his own conclusions. The million dollar question - would Scott have been as good an actor without his demons?

 

It's a thorough overlook of Scott's life and career - marriages, family, kids, houses, directorial career (a lot more extensive than I'd thought). Sheward is particularly strong on theatre, with lively recreations of some of Scott's productions, including working with Nathan Lane, Larry Gelbart, etc. Scott was intelligent - but not as intelligent as I think he needed so be. Certainly not enough to lay off the booze or be a decent producer. Marvellous actor, though.

Play review – “The Threesome” by Eugene Labiche

Dull French farce about a married woman who is having an affair with her husband's best friend and her husband's first wife also had an affair with the best friend's uncle and there are two comic servants who turn up whose on marriage is struggling. Lots of running around, few gags, a wacky maid - if done with the perfect cast and right directorial touch it could be fun, but if not it's very heavy going.

Play review - "Not Suitable for Children" by Louise Sanz

A collection of stories and vignettes read out by Sanz, who has a delightful comic touch and growing confidence as a performer. Lots of tales about sex, some brilliant phrases, and a bit of self-pity. But a fresh, original voice.

Play review – “Hairspray” (watched Lyric on July 25, 2011)

An old fashioned musical in the best sense - a strong book, with a likeable hero who has a terrific goal (ending segregation in Baltimore) along with the usual stuff (get a hot boy, become a dancer on TV). The tunes are lovely and the lyrics are just the right combination of send up and sincerity. Being set in 1963 allows for some decent satire on race relations (eg "how will I be able to sell the house now" after a black person has been in it), sex (the dancer who's got to go away for nine months), and local celebrity. Having a fat lead gives it freshness and heart - Mum doesn't want to stop her from dancing because she's mean but out of fear of getting hurt. The finale is very inclusive - even the bitchy girl and her mum are converted (which didn't happen in the film; although the film had the black girl win the competition which was better).

The second half was a lot slower. There's this really long production number involving the fat mother and her joke of a husband which seems to go on forever - the audience loved it, though. All is forgiven with 'You Can't Stop the Beat', one of the best finale songs in a musical I've ever heard. The sets for the Australian production were all digital projections, which took some time getting used to -poor carpenters out of work.

Movie review – “The Beast of the City” (1932) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

Remarkable pre-Code film from MGM which blew my socks off. It came about apparently because Herbert Hoover was upset at all the movies glamorising gangsters as opposed to police, so he had a word to good friend Louis B Mayer and this was the result. It’s a really energetic, exciting, cynical film – the camera really moves around. I'd never heard of the director, Charles Brabin - he was at the end of a long career, and married Theda Bara - but he does an excellent job.

Walter Huston stars is a crusading cop battling gangsters (Jean Hersholt) and a crooked system, including terrified jurors, shonky lawyers, slack politicians, corrupt bosses. He's a devoted family man (a wife and a massive brood) so it's hard for him when his cop brother (Wallace Ford) becomes corrupted by a gangster's moll (Jean Harlow).

Harlow gives the best performance in her career to date here - sexy, funny, trashy. She tells Ford it’s alright being hurt “sometimes… if it’s done in the right spirit.” Huston is a good, tough hero. The film has a remarkable finale where he becomes so frustrated by the gangsters getting off that he gathers all his cop mates around, turns up at a gangster dinner - and they shoot them. And the gangsters shoot back - and there's this massive fight where most of the cast end up dead, including Harlow, Ford, and Huston. This, after we've seen Huston's family. It's fantastic! (So much so you don't mind it's kind of silly for the cops just to rock up, stand in a straight line and fire. At least the gangsters try to duck for cover behind tables but the cops don't.)

Movie review – “Good Time Girl” (1948) **

A bit of social realism from The Seventh Veil team of Sydney and Muriel Box, with Ted Willis contributing to the script and David MacDonald directing. Jean Kent graduates from supporting roles in melodramas to the lead – a 16 year old who goes through a series of misadventures: sacked by a lecherous boss, getting a job as a hat check girl, being pursued by a dodgy bloke who gets her busted for fencing stolen goods, working under a crook (Herbert Lom), falling for a married men (Dennis Price), winding up in a reform school for three years (courtesy of Flora Robson), getting involved in cat fights, falling of the rails when she gets out, being involved in a drink driving accident, joining up with some American deserters (including Bonar Colleano who played Americans in British films for years), inadvertently causing the death of Price (in a ridiculous scene). It’s partly the fault of society, her family (dad hits her) and herself (she has a lot of attitude).

The treatment is far too serious and sombre to be camp fun a la The Big Doll House, and far too melodramatic and silly to be taken seriously. Kent does all that's asked for her, although maybe she doesn't have the charisma of Margaret Lockwood, or even Diana Dors (who has a small role as a potential delinquent being told this cautionary tale by Robson). The excellent cast also includes future director Peter Glenville.

Radio review – BP – “Missouri Legends” (1952) **1/2

The last days of Jesse James, a topic familiar from films rather than Broadway. John Forsythe plays the lead role, living under the name of William Howard, trying to go straight but with much enthusiasm - he keeps being tempted to rob trains. We meet his brother Frank and the Ford brothers as well as his wife Zee. It's treated seriously. 'The Ballad of Jesse James' is sung. This was based on a play written by David Belasco's secretary.

Movie review – “Sleeping Beauty” (2011) **1/2

Not my cup of tea but not as bad as people have said – it really hit a nerve. Critics are always whining about wanting something bold and new but when something comes along that is and they don’t like it, they tear it a new one. I think people were threatened by the passive heroine, and found her hard to understand. I didn't mind that so much.

Striking to look at, Emily Browning is very charismatic and great to look at (if not such a brilliant actor). Some of the dialogue and scenes did make me giggle but there's some great bits too - the menace of Chris Haywood, having the pipe shoved down the throat, the overall mood.

Script review – “Phone Booth” by Larry Cohen (warning: spoilers)

Cohen says he discussed the concept of this film with Alfred Hitchcock years ago but it only came to life when he thought of the sniper idea. It’s a very clever movie, logical enough, which is all it needs to be, and sufficient story beats to keep you watching… just. After some okay set up (Stu is a publicist – Cohen presumably settling scores here, or paying homage to The Sweet Smell of Success) he makes sure something new happens every ten pages or so: the initial threat, the shooting of the pimp, the arrival of the cops, the arrival of Kelly (his wife), etc. 

This draft doesn't have the arrival of the pizza guy or the ending of the film where the sniper gets away - the sniper is killed here. Also here Stu saves the day by sneaking a call to emergency services as opposed to Kelly.

Movie review – “Come September” (1961) ***1/2

Bright screwball comedy, one of the best from Universal during this period. It’s got a strong central idea – millionaire Rock Hudson is unaware his Italian house is being used as a hotel when he’s not there – plus several subplots: the assistant running the hotel (Walter Slezak); a visiting group of American girls who are staying there, including a psychiatry student (Sandra Dee) who thinks that Hudson is crazy; Hudson’s mistress being engaged to someone else (Gina Lollobrigida); some young boys turn up (led by Bobby Darin). Act two drops the hotel idea (to be frank I couldn’t think of more mileage in it) and consists of Hudson protecting the virtue of Dee and Co. from Darin and co, despite his hypocrisy over not marrying Lollobrigida. Act Three Lollobrigida gets jacked off and tries to leave Hudson.

 

It’s basically a generation gap comedy – Hudson vs Darin and his obnoxious mates – but because this as the early 60s, it’s Hudson who wins (he can even out-drink them). Hudson is very good – his looks of confusion are hilarious as are his slow burns with Darin and his friends. (His dancing is also funny.) Dee and Lollobrigida are good value too, as is Walter Slezak. Darin isn’t bad in his debut – he sings a song (one of his own) and composed the extremely catchy theme tune. 

 

Pretty Italian scenery. The last twenty minutes drag a bit – it’s a shame they couldn’t have wrapped it up quicker.

Radio review – TGA – “Blithe Spirit” (1947) ****

The film version of this was made with a British cast, but here’s a chance to hear the Broadway cast recreate their roles, except for Peggy Wood, who played Ruth and wasn’t available (she was replaced by Kathleen Cornell – but that’s not too distracting since Ruth, the living wife, is the dullest part). Clifton Webb is terrific in the lead and Mildred Natwick great as Madame Arcadi; Leonora Corbett is ideal too as Elvira. Delightfully played.

Script review – “The Verdict” by David Mamet

An early script from Mamet and although it’s an adaptation of a novel, he’s made it very much his own. The speeches are very Mamet – tough dialogue, short sentences, long speeches, specific words underlined. It has a Mamet feel, too: the hero, Frank Galvin, is alcoholic, once brilliant, a fallen Angel desperate for redemption; there's lots of macho male competition and some references to hunting; the female characters aren't as well etched (Galvin punches out the woman who betrays her - no kidding he floors her with one; you show those bitches who's boss!) The broken-man-seeking redemption template has been much copied in recent years. So too has the topic of the court case - it's a medical malpractice suit. But it still works, and the Boston setting remains fresh.

Movie review – “Saraband for Dead Lovers” (1948) **1/2

Stewart Granger became a star in a series of costume melodramas for Gainsborough, a subsidiary for Rank – so it’s no surprise he was in demand for similar roles for other companies (Captain Boycott, Blanche Fury, this).

This was made at Ealing, a company which became legendary for its comedies – but that wasn’t really until Whisky Galore the year after this. Galore was directed by Alex Mackendrick, who co-wrote this, and it’s a good, smart script. It has the advantage of being based on a terrific piece of material – the early unhappy marriage of the Hanoverian ruler who became King George I of England, and Sophia of Dorothea.

Joan Greenwood isn’t that well cast as Sophia, who is meant to be a poor little thing, a Phyllis Calvert type. Greenwood had a husky voice and knowing smile that is sexy but too confident here. Granger is perfectly cast though and there’s superb support from Flora Robson (Granger’s discarded mistress) and Peter Bull (George) – roles that would normally have been played by Margaret Lockwood/Jean Kent and James Mason/Dennis Price. 

 

Maybe that’s why the film wasn’t a success at the box office – Robson and Bull are ugly, not attractive at all; they don’t have the “attraction of dark side” that Lockwood/Mason had.

I think the other reason is that it's a depressing story. The Man in Grey ended with possible happiness for the future day couple - no one gets a happy ending here.

The sets and costumes are terrific but I don’t think it needed to be colour – British colour photography wasn’t that crash hot around this time, unless it was done by Jack Cardiff. The direction tries interesting things – I particularly liked the near silent assassination of Granger at the end (a young Anthony Quayle does the final deed).

Radio review – Lux – “How Green Was My Valley” (1942) ***

Roddy McDowall, Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara, Donald Crisp and Sara Allgood all repeat their film performances – there was little point McDowall did, since most of his acting in this is done by grown up voice over (someone who sounds like Pidgeon which gets confusing). A series of episodes – not one but two deaths of miners, the tortured romance between O’Hara and Pidgeon (he won’t marry her, she marries someone else and gets divorced by everyone thinks they hook up anyway), McDowall loses the use of his legs, a union is established, McDowall faces a bully. Done with conviction and sincerity but really better suited for longer than an hour.

Movie review – “I’d Rather Be Rich” (1964) **

Producer Ross Hunter was fond of remaking old movies in colour – here the Deanna Durbin classic has become a vehicle for Sandra Dee, only with Dee playing the Robert Cummings part, presumably because she couldn’t sing. The Durbin role – a person who pretends to be the fiancée of a rich person (Dee) so as not to hurt the rich person’s dying grandfather (Maurice Chevalier) – goes to Robert Goulet. Confusingly though Goulet doesn’t play a singer – he’s an inventor. But he pretends to be a singer because Dee’s real fiancée is one - Andy Williams.

Norman Krasna is still credited as a writer but so are others, so presumably they are the ones responsible for bad decisions – like dragging out the action over what seems like a couple of months instead of a short period of time (when farces work better). Or not having enough scenes where Chevalier and Goulet bond (the Charles Laughton-Durbin relationship was the heart of the original); making Andy Williams’ character really sympathetic and giving him too much screen time so you feel really bad that Dee falls for someone else; wasting too much time on a silly business plot; throwing in a pointless dream sequence (there was one in Bundle of Joy too); only having Dee fall for Goulet over Williams because she has a better response kissing him (which makes Dee shallow). It’s a real shame they didn’t just use the original script and didn’t sex change it. 

Dee is a perky, fun lead – no Audrey Hepburn or Deanna Durbin, but still pretty good (much better than say Katherine Heigl). Goulet is a strong lead, handsome, capable with an excellent speaking voice. Chevalier is sprightly (his battles with the nurse have a flirtatious quality not in the original) and Charlies Ruggles offers good support.

Movie review – “The French Line” (1954) **

Norman Krasna’s name doesn’t appear anywhere on the credits for thus musical, to plot to which is more than a little reminiscent of his original story and screenplay, The Richest Girl in the World – which was made by RKO, the same studio as this. As in that film, the heroine (here Jane Russell) is incredibly rich and worried about men only wanting her for money and is dumped in the opening real by her fiancee (Craig Stevens) who has fallen in love with someone else. So she decides to pretend to be an employee of hers to find true love, despite the fact that said employee already has a husband. And when said employee hooks up with her husband it has repercussions for the main girl.

Another film ripped off is Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: the action mostly takes place in a cross Atlantic cruise, Russell falls for a guy who’s been paid to trail an heiress (Gilbert Roland), Russell does a number with a female friend, it ends in Paris.

When the plot isn’t being derivative it’s just plain confusing, with Russell pretending to be one person, and Gilbert Roland looking after another person and thinking she’s another. The script misses the point of the best deception comedies – the impersonation is meant to lead to fun and games, hijinks, which doesn’t here. It gets complicated in a silly way. For instance, instead of just having Russell impersonate her good friend they have her impersonate an employee of her good friend – so you have this surplus character (the friend) and Rssell has no connection with the girl she’s impersonating.

Jane Russell is game, and performs in a few low cut outfits, but badly lacks someone decent to play against. Roland is a lousy romantic lead - he looks like a pimp and is far too old. Arthur Hunnicutt's Texan minder is incredibly annoying.

The credits read "Howard Hughes presents". Presumably his influence is to blame for all the pro-Texas lines of dialogue (Russell is a Texan), and large number of models and chorus girls who populate the film. (Someone once said that Hughes bought RKO to run it like a brothel - you'd believe it from this.)

Movie review – “The Kids Are Alright” (2010) **1/2

Every now and then an indie film hits the right note with the public and earns money and awards. This was one such movie. It has the appeal of a star cast, some funny, warm moments, and a familiar story with a twist – Anette Bening and Julianne Moore are a lesbian couple whose life is thrown into turmoil by the emergence of their sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo). Act Two is Moore and Ruffalo having an affair. Everyone in the film is like a lesbian: Ruffalo wears a leather jacket, owns an organic farm, drives a motorbike, but isn’t a real threat; one kid is into team sports, the other is a nerd. Easy going story, not without charm, but ultimately dull.

Radio review – TGA – “Ladies in Retirement” (1947) **

Two crazy old ladies cause trouble at a house in the 1880s and a troublesome relative, possibly murderous, turns up. It’s got elements of Angel Street and Arsenic and Old Lace and the tone veers from one to the other. It never quite works – is it a comedy or a drama? Fay Bainter stars.

Movie review – “The Family Jewels” (1965) **

For a star whose main audience was kids, Jerry Lewis didn’t often act opposite kids on screen – of course his persona was that of a big kid himself. He did in The Geisha Boy and also in this one, where he plays the devoted chauffeur of an orphaned girl. The girl has inherited millions and Jerry has to take her around to a number of her uncles to trial them out –they are all played by Jerry Lewis in a touch of the Kind Hearts and Coronets.

It is fun to see Jerry play a variety of characters: an old sea captain (who looks like a dog), bitter clown, silly British pilot, gangster, professor (“Julius” – same character as The Nutty Professor?), old stuffy type. There are some hilarious bits such as a gangster taking off a mask to reveal his real face being almost as bad, and Jerry the pilot opening the door on a plane to reveal his son’s band playing.

On a more negative note, the support cast isn’t much. The little girl has a similar haircut to Jackie Cooper in The Kid (surely not coincidental) and is completely bland. There are two big comic set pieces – shenanigans with a plane and the final bit involving a military marching band – which fall flat. And the relationship between the kid and the chauffeur – the emotional heart of the film – feels undeveloped. Not one of Jerry’s best.

Movie review – “Platinum Blonde” (1931) ***

Loretta Young and Jean Harlow at the beginning of their careers, each playing a part which should clearly have been played by the other: Loretta (very young and lovely – she was around 18) is a wisecracking reporter, best friend for a journalist who surprises everyone by marrying a tosh society girl… Harlow! But I guess they wanted to feature Harlow (not much older than Young but a bigger name due to Hell’s Angels) in a series of nice dresses; also she was already established as a temptress. However the actual star is a bloke called Robert Williams, who plays the reporter – a wisecracking smart alec type, not very funny but lively. He died soon after the movie.

This was one of Frank Capra’s early films, and his skill is evident. It’s handled briskly and expertly with plenty of interesting shots such as a romantic one between Williams and Harlow shot through a waterfall. Harlow’s playing is much better than in her earlier films – was this Capra’s influence? She’s particularly relaxed in a scene where she’s trying to persuade her husband to wear garters, which winds up with them doing my song.

Watching this again, my sympathy was more on Williams’ side. Why should Harlow give up her house and live in a crummy apartment? Why can’t Williams get a job other than be a second-rate reporter? Harlow does seem to try – but Williams sulks and whines and invites his mates around to trash the house. And when he moves out he gets Young to make him breakfast and orders her around. (This is definitely a pre-Code film though because the hero is allowed to divorce and re-marry.)

The script was worked on by Robert Riskin in one of his first collaborations with Capra. It features elements later reused by the two of them, including the honest hero knocking out a reporter and a snob, and encouraging a butler to go “whoop” in a big mansion.

Radio review – TGA – “The Unguarded Hour” (1952) **

Michael Redgrave is a barrister prosecuting a man accused of murder – his wife (Nina Foch) asks if he can go in softer. It turns out the reason is the wife knows said man is innocent but can’t say anything because of blackmail. If that isn’t contrived enough circumstances arise where the barrister finds himself accused of murder, and he can't prove his innocence because of similar circumstantial evidence. Some brisk courtroom scenes but the piece ultimately ties itself up in knots.

Radio review – Suspense – “Murdered by an Expert” (1947) **1/2

Lyn Bari was best remembered playing man eaters on screen so it’s a nice change to hear her as more of a victim. Her husband is killed and she’s suspected – what is the role of the husband’s brother? Some quite violent sounds of someone being killed and it has a dark oppressive tone.

Movie review – “The Pleasure Seekers” (1964) ***

Entertaining 60s “three girls” film, a remake of Three Coins in the Fountain. It was made by 20th Century Fox who produced a number of successful three girls films around this time, including The Best of Everything and Valley of the Dolls. This didn’t do as well, but it has it’s fans.

 

The setting has been moved from Rome to Madrid and the three girls are played by Ann Margret, Carol Lynley and Pamela Tiffin. Lynley’s a reformed slut who is in love with her married boss (Brian Keith – whose wife is played by Gene Tierney in her last movie), despite interest from brooding, sexy reporter Gardner Mackay. Tiffin is a virgin pursued by playboy Anthony Franciosca. Ann Margret is a reformed bad girl  who falls for doctor (someone called Andre Lawrence).

 

Ann Margret is given a couple of numbers to perform (one in a bikini), perhaps out of compensation for her really dull storyline – she’s easily the most charismatic and best actor of the girls. 

 

Lynley is generally okay but has several amateurish moments – the same could be said for Tiffin. (Tiffin looks so terrific I keep wanting to like her more than I do but the fact remains she’s not much of an actor.) 

They are all very pretty and wear nice outfits - there are lots of scenes with them getting changed. It’s a shame they weren’t allowed to display a bit more camaraderie and support for one another.

 

I had trouble telling the men apart except for Brian Keith – they’re all dark and swarthy. It’s also a bit annoying that Keith’s character is depicted as such a Santa Claus – wanting Lynley but not acting it out of respect for her and his wife (even though she’s slapped Tierney in the face and called her a tramp), helping the romances of all the girls in the last act, including Lynley.

Movie review – “The Patsy” (1964) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

I think I’ve mentioned this before but Joe Dante once commented the 50s really ended in America when JFK was shot – it’s a great observation because the careers of so many 50s stars kept strong in the early 60s but never regained the same heights after around 1963: Glenn Ford, Sandra Dee, Debbie Reynolds, Yul Brynner, Susan Hayward, Rock Hudson… and Jerry Lewis. Lewis was at his peak in 63 with The Nutty Professor but the failure of his TV show can in hindsight be seen to be the beginning of the end. Part of the reason he was starting to look a little old for the character he played. Part of it was simply a decline in material, but there is still some good stuff here.

The plot has the entourage of a recently-deceased comic star try to build a new one out of a bellboy (this was originally meant to be a sequel to The Bellboy). Most of the entourage are elderly character actors – Keenan Wynn, Peter Lorre (in his last movie and looking awful), John Carradine. The one girl is the pretty Ina Balin goes through the film making wistful, sweet comments all the time – even at the beginning she suggests the entourage want to create a star because they cant bear to be separate as a family.

This has some of Jerry’s best ever sequences. Two of the funniest are a singing lesson where Jerry keeps stuffing up, and where he lip synchs his dreadful pop song on a TV show. Less effective are an extended silent (well, dialogue-less) flashback to Jerry at a school dance and a similar long sequence at the end which is meant to launch Jerry’s character to worldwide fame, but actually isn’t that funny. There’s also a really different ending – Jerry’s character falls off a balcony, but then reveals he couldn’t die because he’s played by Jerry Lewis, and goes off to have lunch with members of the crew!

The cast also includes Scatman Crothers (looking like an old man already) and a bunch of Hollywood types making cameos, including George Raft, Hedda Hopper, Ed Wynn and Rhoda Fleming.

Movie review – “Fanny By Gaslight” (1944) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

The Man in Grey was such a success it sparked off a whole cycle of period melodramas, of which this was first (or, rather, second). Phyllis Calvert, James Mason and Stewart Granger are back, with Jean Kent stepping in for the Margaret Lockwood part. (Although she doesn’t share top billing with the three stars – that honour goes to Wilfred Lawson.) It also has a better director than others in the cycle – Anthony Asquith – who handles it all with skill, verve, and lots of whip pans.

Calvert is at her best playing a pretty, innocent thing who is shocked, put upon and indignant – which is what her role is here. She’s very cute as she goes through various travails – realising her father runs a brothel, seeing her father killed by James Mason, finding out he wasn’t really her father, meeting Real Dad (a rich dude), falling in love with rich dude’s secretary, losing dad to suicide (to protect the family name because his wife wanted to marry James Mason), having Granger’s sister abuse her because of her lineage, seeing her racy best friend (Jean Kent) become Mason’s mistress.

This was Kent’s breakthrough part, which she probably got because the role was too small for Margaret Lockwood (this is really a Calvert starring vehicle). She doesn’t have Lockwood’s charisma or beauty, but is she pretty and game – she wet on to carve herself out a nice niche playing sexy girls (libidinous  more than out-and-out villainous) in these sort of movies.

Granger isn’t given much to do except look handsome, romantic and concerned, which he does very well. Mason is excellent, always looking his on his way to or has just come back from an orgy, seething vice and avarice, creating mischief. (He has a great moment where this woman asks him if he’s ever loved her and he simply says “no”.) He’s at the height of her powers – so too is Calvert, in her different way. Her telling off of Granger’s sister at the end is probably the highlight of her career.

It throws in everything but the kitchen sink – illegitimacy, brothels, shonky Lords, tormented MPs, stage stars, French revues, loveable loyal servants who buy a small pub ith their savings, bitch snobby sisters (Granger’s sister is as much of a villain as Mason), duels, feisty French doctors. There’s even an open ending where we’re not sure if Granger will survive his wound.

Radio review – Suspense – “The Marvelous Barastro” (1944) ***

The teaming of two great talents – Orson Welles (actor) and Ben Hecht (story); actually it’s three if you throw in producer-director William Spier, who actually appears as himself in this one. He is sorting through stories for Suspense when approached by the title character, a magician (Orson) who reports that he’s about to commit a murder. It's a very different sort of beginning for this show, breaking the radio equivalent of the fourth wall - was this Welles' influence? The plot has magician Orson driven mad by an evil magician (also Orson) winding up with the death of a girl. Orson playing two roles so similar - both hammy with outrageous accents - is confusing. Still it is fun.

Movie review – “The Public Enemy” (1931) ***

The early 30s saw three gangster classics launch three new stars: Little Caesar (Edward G Robinson), Scarface (Paul Muni) and this one (James Cagney). Cagney was originally meant to play the support role to Edward Woods but director William Wellman made them swap several weeks into shooting and never lived to regret it. (It should be said that Woods wasn't a bad actor - he has a striking presence that reminds me of Billy Drago, who played Frank Nitti in The Untouchables). 

 

Woods hooks up with a young Joan Blondell; Cagney takes up with Mae Clarke, shoves a grapefruit in her face then drops her for Jean Harlow. (Blondell and Clarke’s performances are far better than Harlow’s.) But it’s a film of set pieces and scenes rather than an overall story: grape fruit in the face; a robbery in the shadows; assassinating a gangster while he plays the piano; buying a horse who has killed their boss and shooting it; Cagney slapping the face of a moll with whom he’s spent the night; a shoot out of screen in the rain; the delivery of a dead mummified Cagney to his mother. Beautiful photography.

Movie review – “Three Wise Girls” (1932) **

Jean Harlow’s first starring role, done for Columbia just before she went on the MGM and true, permanent fame. She’s a girl from a small town, looking for a husband in the big city – the sort of simple plot that Hollywood did so well in the 30s, but not under director William Beaudine, despite dialogue from Robert Riskind. It’s awkwardly staged, dull and feels as though it takes forever, even though it’s only 68 minutes.

Harlow was getting better but was still a long way from good; she spends a fair amount of time in this pre-Code film going without a bra (they refer to her as a platinum blonde during the film.) There are better performances from the two girls who play her friends – Marie Prevost as Harlow’s fat roommate, and Mae Clarke as a friend who has a fling with a married man that ends unhappily and winds up killing herself (shades of Valley of the Dolls – also like that movie, Harlow flees to her small town at the end and is chased after by her married lover). The male actors are terrible.

Movie review – “Disorderly Orderly” (1964) **1/2

The last Jerry Lewis film directed by Frank Tashlin, the end of what had been a highly profitable association for both men. It’s bright, colourful and satirical as you would expect; the hospital setting allows scope for Tashlin to poke fun at doctors, nurses, patients, administrators… as well as engage in plenty of slapstick involving plaster casts, bandages and the like.

The problem is there are two films here. One is a completely bizarre comedy which consistently breaks the fourth wall and is extremely cartoon like – Jerry clicks his fingers and a flame lights up; TV snow turns into real snow; patients dressed up like a mummy unravel going down a hill, etc. The second one is more serious – Jerry falls for a patient, an old flame of his from school who has tried to kill herself and is going to be kicked out of the hospital because she can’t pay her bills. Those are serious issues (even if they’re not particularly well done – that long monologue from the suicide girl to a shrink is painfully OTT) and don’t quite mesh with the other stuff. And besides, Jerry running riot in a hospital isn’t that funny – it’s not like a department store or navy, he’s hurting patients who are sick and trying to get better.

Tashlin repeats himself from Rock a Bye Baby by having Lewis be masochistically in love with a girl who doesn’t deserve him, even offering to work additional shifts to pay her bills – ignoring the hot girl (a nurse) who loves him for himself. Chaplin’s disease had hit him well and truly by this time. Some of it is hilarious, though, such as the patient who can’t resist talking in excruciating detail about her ailments. And the slapstick chase at the end is well done.

Movie review – “Iron Man” (1931) **

Dull boxing film featuring a collection of talent who were all about to or had just made classic films: Carl Laemmle Jnr (the Universal horrors), Tod Browning (in between Dracula and Freaks), Robert Armstrong (just prior to King Kong), Lew Ayres (just after All Quiet on the Western Front), Jean Harlow (in between Public Enemy and Red Headed Woman). This isn’t a classic. In fact, it's pretty bad.

Jean Harlow wasn’t great in her first few films but there was usually someone even worse in the cast, and here it’s Lew Ayres. It’s not so much he gives a bad performance, it’s just he always seemed to be a nice boy next door type, whose great quality was earnest sincerity - and he is incredibly unconvincing as a boxer, except when he’s getting thumped. That’s what happens at the beginning, prompting wife Harlow to leave. He starts winning again so she comes back and wrecks his life by cheating on him, spending his money, and firing loyal manager Armstrong (in a lethargic performance).

Misogynist, dull script, and Browning’s direction is flat and uninspired. It lacks the pace, realism and slangy dialogue of the best boxing films. Harlow keeps her boobs front and centre in a series of low cut and/or bra-less outfits, as if distracting the audience until she learned how to act.

Movie review – “Hell’s Angels” (1930) *** (warning: spoilers)

Legendary production from Howard Hughes which took forever to shoot and reshoot and cost millions, but left a considerably legacy: it launched Hughes as a filmmaker, introduced Jean Harlow to the cinema going public as well as the phrase “you won’t mind if I slip into something more comfortable” and the title.

The plot is enjoyable melodrama -there are two brothers, one brave and quiet (James Hall), the other (Ben Lyon) a cowardly womanizer; they both love the same girl (Harlow), and get shot down over enemy lines; Lyons fights his cowardly instincts, and Hall has to shoot him so he won't give away Allied positions, and Hall gets executed by firing squad... sob!

James Hall comes across as a chubby middle ahed bank managed so you can’t really blame Harlow to go off with the bad brother as well. Actually come to think of it, Ben Lyon isn’t terribly charismatic either. (The actor who plays their German friend, Karl, is much more natural.)

Harlow’s amateurism in this film has been much commented on – she’s awkward, uncomfortable, not remotely English. But she does have charisma and sex appeal – she’s more compelling than anyone else in the film. (The worst performance incidentally is given by an air force pilot during the mess hall sequence who reports on the death of a comrade – he’s shocking). It helps that she wears some astonishingly low cut gowns that she’s almost falling out of – she was the first in a long, long line of big breasted leading ladies from Hughes. It’s very adult – Lyon pashes Harlow pretty much straight after they meet, and they have sex that night, while Hall is lying asleep in bed across town.

The Zeppelin attack sequence is deservedly famous – there’s an amazing but where the Germans order some of their soldiers to jump out to lighten their load, and it ends in a kamikaze attack from the British soldier which blows up the zeppelin. The big dog fight in the second half is also tremendous – planes buzzing around, turning upside down, blowing up, having bullets torn in. It goes on too long and is creaky but is worth watching.

Radio review – BP#4 – “The Hasty Heart” (1952) ****

Hokey but very effective, something you could also say about Teahouse of the August Moon, also written by John Patrick. Patients at a hospital in Burma towards the end of World War Two are informed that they’re going to be joined by a soldier who is terminally ill (dodgy kidneys) but he doesn’t know it yet. They try to be nice to him but he’s a dour Scot – orphaned, miserable, proud, penny pinching, into kilts and playing his bagpipes. It’s a cliché character but it wouldn’t work if it wasn’t – the humanisation of Lachie/Scotty is very moving, and you feel for him as he falls for the nurse. The Aussie character in the play gets a few lines, the African a few grunts (he gives Lachie beads, of corse), but the biggest roles are to “the Yank” and the nurse. I didn’t recognise any of the cast - apparently Ann Burr, who plays the nurse, did that part on Broadway.

Movie review – “The Secret Six” (1931) **

MGM weren’t known for their gangster films but occasionally they churned one out. This was from the husband and wife team of director George Hill and writer Frances Marion, reuniting them with Wallace Beery, star of The Big House. He’s a slaughterhouse worker who enters the world of bootlegging at the behest of gangster (Ralph Bellamy – and really good).

 

It features an early performance from Jean Harlow, on loan-out from Howard Hughes, as a (surprise) gangster’s moll. She looks terrific, very beautiful and young, but her voice is awkward and her performance mostly self conscious.

 

Another newcomer in the cast is Clark Gable who plays a reporter – I really like the scene where he’s on the phone mucking around with her; she seems more relaxed in this moment than she does elsewhere in the film. Yet she falls in love with another reporter (played by Johnny Mack Brown - who MGM put in As for a few years before changing their mind seemingly overnight and sentencing him to a career in B Westerns).

 

This starts out really well, with Beery being easily seduced to the dark side of crime, and Lewis Stone effective as a boozy lawyer (I had fun imagining this was Judge Hardy in his lawyer days, keeping gangsters out of gaol and avoiding going home) – but it soon loses momentum. Beery becomes powerful very quickly and we never really get much of an insight to his character – no family, or love interest. (We get some glimpses at the very beginning but not later). The Secret Six, an organisation of crime fighters who wears masks, looks as ridiculous (and fascist) as it sounds. 

 

Fortunately once they’re introduced they’re not seen again. The handling is creaky on the whole (acting as well as direction) although there are a ew visual flourishes, such as extreme close ups and tracking shots.

Movie review – “Come Fly With Me” (1963) **

This starts off great, with Frankie Avalon's rendition of the title tune, and shots of those early 60s aircraft terminals, airhostesses and pilots, plus lush colour photography and European locations (Paris, Vienna). It’s never quite reaches those heights again or becomes as fun as you think it’s going to be, but it’s enjoyable.  

 

It was one of several unofficial follow ups by MGM to Where the Boys Are that involved young women having adventures in exotic locations (Follow the Boys was another one). The star of Boys, Dolores Hart, is back to play head girl here, but instead of Yvette Mimieux, Connie Francis and/or Paula Prentiss (all of whom are missed, actually) her friends are Pamela Tiffin, as the ditz (the Paula Prentiss part), and Lois Nettleton, as the… er, less good looking one (she works in coach). The male co-stars are Karl Boehm (too stiff and bad chemistry with Hart – you long for George Hamilton), Hugh O’Brian (whose Ken Doll looks and smarminess are perfect for the role of pilot) and Karl Malden (not handsome but adds gravitas).

 

This was Hart’s last film before she left to join a convent. It would be nice to report she gives a good performance but she doesn’t seem particularly interested in what’s going on; she needed to smile more. But her plot – smuggler Boehm uses her for his own nefarious ends – is solid. Tiffin is very pretty and engaging – not as good as she was in One Two Three, but then she lacks a decent plot – she traps O’Brien into matrimony. (I also feel she doesn’t quite have that spark of a star, which is presumably why hers faded after a promising start to her film career). 

 

Nettleton’s plot is a little off – she gets along well with Malden, who turns out to be a widowed millionare, but freaks out a little; he stalks her over Europe, she won’t sleep with him because she’s not that kind of girl, so he proposes. It felt a bit... mercenary, I guess.

 

The producer was Anatole de Grunwald, who enjoyed greater box office success with another glamorous colourful film set in the world of European airports, The VIPS – but then, that had real stars. So the formula was still potent even in the early 60s (heck, it would probably still work today) but it needs genuine names.

Movie review – “You Came Along” (1945) **1/2

Ayn Rand is co-credited on the script for this film, which “introduces a new screen discovery”, Lizabeth Scott. She was a discovery of Hal Wallis’, for whom this was an early independent production at Paramount, but top billing goes to Robert Cummings. He’s relaxed, charming and professional as ever but he always seemed to lack that extra bit of gravitas to make him a really top star (he was always best in support of another star). That is something particularly noticeable here, because he doesn’t have a star to play against (Scott was too new and is miscast – see below). Having said that Cummings is good in the dramatic scenes – he has a great moment towards the end where he walks along a corridor on the way to the doctors to get what he is pretty sure will be bad news; he whistles, tries to hide his fear – it’s terrific. 

 

He plays one of three air force buddies who go on a war bond promoting tour. Scott plays their guide, and there are too many jokes about people assuming she’s a man. Scott isn’t very good. She had a unique quality on scene and was particularly effective in film noir but her role might have been better played by someone with more warmth and humour. The latter bit isn’t Scott’s fault – the script isn’t very funny, even when it’s trying to be (eg a tiresome scene where everyone pretends to be English near a drunk) – was this the influence of Ayn Rand, a woman not known for her comedy? That’s not a mortal flaw because actually this is a tearjerker – half way though we find out Cummings has a fatal illness. So, like Love Story (the 1944 Gainsborough film that is) there’s lots of talk about living for tomorrow – but the film has one hand tied behind it’s back because the illness is alluded to and ignored more than confronted. And we miss out on a death scene. (It’s almost British in it’s reticent treatment of terminal illness. If you want more of a tearjerker I’d recommend another film about a sick soldier, The Hasty Heart.)

 

There’s lots of bromance between the three guys and love for the air force. In one scene they go visit a chapel with links to fliers (eg Amelia Earhart once visited). There’s a wall with signatures from famous fliers on wings, including Hap Arnold, Jimmy Doolittle… and Charles Kingsford-Smith. I wonder if this was a touch from Aussie-born director John Farrow (the mention of St Francis of Assissi, saint of birds, surely was). Farrow does a very good job, incidentally -it's all handled with warmth and conviction, the camaraderie of Cummings and his friends comes across strongly.

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

Terrific little thriller that would have been better with another 20 minutes cut out of it. It’s a worthy entry into that horror sub-genre, the “bunch of people trapped in a location” film, which also includes Buried (coffin), Devil (elevator), Black Water (swamp with a crocodile), Cujo (car), Open Water (ocean). Here they are stuck up a chairlift at the end of a day’s skiing – the operators have gone home, the resort is shutting down for a few days and wolves are prowling downstairs. It’s a fantastic idea – I would guess most skiers have been afraid of such a thing happening even if only once.

It helps that the actors aren’t too bad and their dialogue is quite witty, helping pass the time until they get stuck. It also means the people stuck there are real characters (well, real-ish) which makes us feel for them and adds to the emotional intensity of what’s going on. The entire sequence in the middle where they realise they’re stranded and which ends in tragedy is marvellous (there’s a real “what would you do in that situation” moment where their friend is being attacked and they’re up in the chair). The next day things slow down, though, with what seems like a long slab of dialogue that saps the film of tension. This felt like it took ages. Then it sparks up again with an escape attempt and ends satisfactorily (although part of me was thinking the girl would get run over at the end). Pleasing locations and believable storms and wolf acting – stuff that’s very hard to do.

Radio review – TGA – “Boy Meets Girl” (1946) ****

Gene Kelly has a go at screwball comedy, and is very good – but then when you think about it, a lot of his musicals were essentially screwball comedies with musical numbers. He and Frank Lovejoy play as a duo of screenwriters who wind up making a star out of the baby from single mother who works at the studio. 

It’s bright and cheerful; I went into this a bit hostile because I heard it was a spoof of Hollywood, and wasn’t in the mood to listen to some diatribe about the superiority of theatre, especially not after having ploughed through some lame Theatre Guild shows (I think the majority of old movies were better written than old plays). But it’s not – the satire of Hollywood is affectionate (and to be fair they are always reheating old formulas over there), pot shots are taken at Broadway too, but mostly the foibles of actors, writers, producers and dumb blondes.

Script review – “Blue Collar” by Paul Schrader

Schrader at his best – tough, uncompromising. The female characters are either nags (wives wanting money) or whores, but fortunately he doesn’t spend much time on them. The men characters and situations are however evocatively drawn. (This was a characteristic of many top screenwriters from the golden age of the 70s. eg John Milius, Oliver Stone). It uses the basic structure of a heist movie but does it in a fresh way: seedy Detroit in recession hit 70s, the constant desire for more money, the abusive union, oppressive management. Of the three leads the best character on the page is Zeke – angry, bitter, political, full of wind and crap; next best is Smokey, super cool, wasteful of cash, not as tough as he thinks he is. The white friend isn’t as complex as either of these, but there’s some terrific support, including the dodgy union guys. The murder of Smokey is as effective on the page as it was on screen – actually you can say this about the whole script.

Script review – “Rolling Thunder” by Paul Schrader

The original script for what became a major flop and cult film. It was rewritten by another writer, but even in this form it’s not hard to see why it was regarded as such a confronting work – or why Quentin Tarantino liked it, being full of intense violence, crazy leads with their own code of honour, and rednecks.

It’s about Charlie Rane (irritatingly referred to as both “Rane” and “Charlie” in the script) who comes back Vietnam after seven years as a POW. He’s regarded as a big hero (were POWS this praised? I was always hearing about them being ignored) and given a lot of money in back pay. This attracts the attention of some vile gangster types, who torture Rane to find the money – but because he’s so conditioned to have his mind leave his body when tortured, he can’t respond, even when they shove his hand in the garbage remover. So they rape and kill his wife, then shoot his son and him – he’s the only one who survives. He goes looking for payback.

It’s hardcore, even if there actually isn’t that much action when you tally the pages. There’s the killing of the family sequence, roughing up an informant, and the final shoot out. But what there is, is very intense.

The female charactes are appalling: Rane’s wife has had an affair and is going to marry another man but that doesn’t stop her trying to seduce her husband. And on his revenge odyssey Rane uses this big titted blonde bimbo who wants to sleep with him because he’s famous; even when she finds out his real purpose she still goes along with it because she’s… well, she’s stupid. Schrader adds these character scenes to get inside her air head but it only serves to emphasise how he could write women. (Why not have her as the dead wife’s sister, or the widow of a serviceman or something.)

The film is full of racists, even Rane (“Don’t you ever clean up behind yourself?” “That’s why God made Mexicans”). I know this is consistent with the world but it’s wearying. There’s a fascinating scene where Rane goes to a drive in and watches a porno while thinking of revenge, which you think, “gee this is reminiscent of Taxi Driver” – then Rane sees another guy watching a film and it’s Travis Bickle! Making a cameo!

Radio review – BBC - "Quartered Safe Out Here” by George MacDonald Fraser

Fraser’s memoirs of his service during the final days of the Burma Campaign are arguably his masterpiece – evocative, brilliant writing. Because it’s basically a series of sketches it adapts well to radio condensation. Much of the best stuff is here: the sketches of his fellow soldiers, the death of two friends, first time in action, first killing, a profile on General Slim. I didn’t expect to hear about the weird colonel but it was a shame to lose the profile on the Ghurkas. It’s also a pity they kept some of Fraser’s rantings about contemporary Britain and how everything’s gone downhill. I respect what Fraser did but the fact is he was a young single man who went through war just at the end – I don’t think that qualifies him to speak for the entire generation. Fraser himself narrates and it’s good to hear the correct pronunciation of things.

Script review – “Chasing Amy” by Kevin Smith

Smith’s masterpiece, one where he brought all his gifts together – brilliantly witty dialogue, real heart, social issues, pop culture, swearing, bawdiness. He’s backed with a strong concept and decent story – something his films don’t always have. He starts with a set up and world he knows – two friends, one sensitive the other abrasive, are enjoying success as comic book writers. Then he introduces a new element – a hot girl, who the sensitive guy falls for. She turns out to be a lesbian. They become good friends and he falls for her; she ends up getting with them two. This twist has been criticised by the overly sensitive but it’s totally consistent with the girl’s character – and also without it you’d only have a first act. Act two is short – they’re in love – and act three comes with the revelation the girl has slept with guys. Smith manages a decent climax with the suggestion of a threesome – one last jolt.

 

You could film this tomorrow – you just might have to update the references and add mobile phones. The three lead characters are all brilliant etched, there’s a stand out support character with Hooper (three, if you throw in Jay and Silent Bob). Clever ways of adding production value – a song in a night club, a comic con. The script includes bits that weren’t shot – a funny cameo from John Sloss, the boy’s lawyer; the appearance of a militant lesbian friend of the girl’s; lots of montages. All good trims.

 

It’s frustrating Smith has never dug this deep emotionally. He could have with Jersey Girl but he didn’t have a Jason Lee character, and wrote about a world and situations he didn’t know first hand (i.e. being a publicist as opposed to a writer, having an older daughter as opposed to a little one, being widowed instead of married). Here everything was close to the bone and it paid off in spades. A classic.

Movie review – “Hands Across the Table” (1935) ****

Ralph Bellamy was perhaps the best known “other man” in romantic comedies during Hollywood’s golden age (Fools For Scandal, The Awful Truth, Carefree, His Girl Friday) – he rarely played a more sympathetic one than here, as a wheelchair bound, rich invalid who is also a really nice guy. He falls for Carole Lombard, but the top billed guy is Fred MacMurray. She’s a manicurist, he’s from a rich family that lost it’s money in the Depression and they’re both out to nab wealthy partners. He’s got a fiancée but finds himself falling for Lombard.

This is a really sweet, charming romantic comedy, wonderfully handled by director Mitchell Leisen and the stars. Lombard is enchanting as the not-really-mercenary-mercenary manicurist (vulnerable, sexy, funny), and she plays well with MacMurray, even if the story would have been better with a more charismatic male lead. For this is quite an adult rom com – the two of them share a room, there’s lots of lying next to each other in the dark, tucking each other into bed, and clearly trying not to give into the temptation to tear each other’s clothes off. There’s also a high degree of emotional intensity in the scenes which makes it feel like a drama.

One of the credited screenwriters was Norman Krasna, although he didn’t come up with the story. This might explain why the script has such a lovely, light touch but isn’t particularly plot heavy (there’s no great deception involved – no, actually that’s not quite true, there’s a bit where MacMurray pretends over the phone to be in Bermuda). It’s not particularly Cinderella either – both Lombard and MacMurray throw away their chance at wealth. To be honest, I got the feeling she’d be happier with Bellamy, who I really felt for.

Movie review – “The Drum” (1938) ***1/2

For all his faults, Alex Korda stood head and shoulders above other British film producers in the 30s because of his ambition, including a willingness to tackle Hollywood head on. British empire epics had been in vogue since the success of Lives of a Bengal Lancer – Korda responded with a series of his own, including Sanders of the River, Elephant Boy, The Four Feathers, Jungle Book and this. It was shot on colour and partly on location in India; it’s actually set in the present day even though it feels very 19th century.

Sabu is a prince of a state in the northwest frontier who has to deal with a troublesome, usurping uncle (Raymond Masssey). But luckily the local kindly British officer (Roger Livesy) and his wife (Valerie Hobson) are on hand to help. Livesy is an odd pick for a romantic heroic male lead – a very good actor with a superb voice and likeable persona, he’s not quite in the Robert Donat/Leslie Howard class… but he’s much better than the male models Korda used later (Barry Barnes, John Clements, John Justin). And it’s fun to hear him talk about how the British support equal rights between the sexes (ha), willingly walk into an ambush because it will inspire an avenging mission that will give rise to law and order, like Gordon at Khartoum, and fire away on a machine gun in evening dress.

Valerie Hobson is the perfect memsahib – sensibly pretty, at home in an evening dress or pukka shorts, defending Sabu from assassination and playing the piano. Sabu is very engaging as an Uncle Tom prince, who has an enjoyable friendship with rednut drummer Desmond Tester.

There’s plenty of depiction of life at a British output, reminiscent of John Ford’s cavalry films in some way: pipers playing at every opportunity (the British regiments are highland ones), dinner time with toasts to the King-Emperor and passing the port, singing ‘Loch Lomond’, polo games, Valerie Hobson on the piano after dinner, highland dancing. A decent amount of action, too.

Movie review – “Who’s Minding the Store?” (1963) ***

A Jerry Lewis “institution comedy” in the vein of The Bellboy, Disorderly Orderly and The Errand Boy – to wit, Jerry is placed in an institution and allowed to run riot. The set up is decent enough – he’s given various horrible jobs in a department store by owner Agnes Moorehead, who is keen to embarrass him in the eyes of his girlfriend (and Moorehead’s daughter) Jill St John. Jerry keeps plugging away, destroying everything about him but not giving up on his soul. Or something.

The structure is repetitive – it’s a series of set pieces really – but it’s very colourful and there’s some classic moments: Jerry “polishing the top of the nob” of the flag pole (and someone actually comments on him polishing a nob) Jerry taking on the onslaught of female shoppers during the sales (a classic set piece, one of his all time greats), Jerry battling a vacuum cleaner, Jerry being shown around the office by Moorehead’s husband (John McGiver) who explains the department store has always been run by women who are married to powerless men.

The support cast is excellent, including Moorehead, McGiver, Ray Walston and Jill St John, who is totally hot for Jerry, constantly pashing him and holding his hand. In the absence of Dean Martin he was really keen to step up to the plate when it came to romance scenes. There is a slightly off scene where McGiver and Jerry are in a lift with St John and both try to hold her hand – I get the gag (St John trying to keep the two apart and both trying to be affectionate with her), but daddy is a bit old to hold his daughter’s hand. One of Jerry's best solo films.

Radio review – Lux – “The Jolson Story” (1946) ***

There was a time when they didn’t come any bigger than Al Jolson – a big stage star, a bigger movie star whose popularity ensured the success of sound movies, then a dip… but this biopic of his life was the most popular Hollywood movie in 1946, the all-time biggest year (commercially) in Hollywood’s history. I guess he had a lot of nostalgic appeal.

The role of Jolson was played in the movie by Larry Parks, but he was unavailable so the real Jolson stepped in instead. Or maybe Jolson insisted – he had a notoriously large ego (at the end he does a shout out to Parks but makes a crack about wanting to break Parks’ arm for winning an acting award for playing him… an element of truth?). William Demarest and Evelyn Keyes return from the movie as Jolson’s friend and wife (based on Ruby Keeler). “Conflict” is provided by Jolson’s father wanting him to be a cantor and his wife wanting him to settle down. Extracts from lots of famous songs eg “Swanee”, “I Wanna Be Loved by You”. Standard biopic, of great historical interest.

Movie review – “Cops” (1922) ****

The first half is shenanigans with Buster and a horse dragging a load of furniture – fun but nothing special. Then he stumbles upon a cop parade – an anarchist throws a bomb which is blamed on Buster and it becomes magical. A brilliant 10 minute chase ensues, full of incredible spectacle (eg masses of police converging on the station) and stunts (running across a plank that’s spread over a fence).

Radio review – BP – “St Helena” (1952) **1/2

Napoleon’s last days on the island of St Helena have inspired a number of writers. It’s not hard to see why – the once-most-powerful-man in Europe stuck out on an island in the middle of nowhere, with his skeleton staff, memories and hurt pride, is one of the great "coda" stories in history. It's a terrific "and then this happened to him." I can't think of anyone else who finished their life in such a melancholically romantic way - maybe Bonnie Prince Charlie.

This was an adaptation of RC Sherriff’s play, which (according to John Chapman’s introduction) was destined for an unheralded short run at the Old Vic in the 1930s until a glowing letter of recommendation from Winston Churchill to the Times saw it transferred successfully to the West End. Maybe Churchill related to this tale of a once powerful figure in exile; he of course made a comeback (two, in fact) but Napoleon never did.

The problem with this as a play is a big one: there’s no real story. From the first scene Napoleon is bitter and complaining – he hates being called “General” instead of “Emperor”, he wants a bigger allowance, he doesn’t like his men talking to him as equals, he squabbles with the Governor who wants to keep him on a leash. It’s repetitive and lacking in decent characters. There’s a few mini plots – they won't let him send letters, there's some fear of an escape attempt, a loyal general insists on telling him the truth – but they all feel the same. By the time Napoleon carks it you’re almost glad because he was such a whinger. I remember once reading an analysis of R.C. Sherriff's writing (I think it was in a book on The Dam Busters) which said he struggled if the story didn't provide him with a ready made climax, such as Journey's End and that's definitely the case here. Dennis King plays Napoleon.

Radio review – BP – “Elizabeth the Queen” (1952) ***

Eva LeGallienne plays the lead role in this version of Maxwell Anderson’s famous play. I’d never heard of her before this – she was a famous theatre actor whose career spanned decades, making the cover of Time magazine at one moment. I preferred her and Richard Waring to the Lunts, who also did a version of this, for Theatre Guild on the Air. I’d be interested to read a feminist take on this – Elizabeth is a strong ruler, but always seems to want to cave to Essex… but she is never really serious about it.

Radio review – TGA – “Papa Is All” (1946) **

Tiresome family comedy set amongst the Pennsylvanian Dutch Mennonites, a conservative religious sect. Dad (played here my Oscar Homolka) is very strict, so much so he won’t let his son follow his dreams, his daughter marry a boy, or his wife (Aline MacMahon) buy some useful electrical appliances. Then Dad dies, everyone is happy and start to relax. Then he comes back – he’s not really dead. It’s a comedy, supposedly, but it’s too unpleasant to work – would have been better as a thriller or drama. It’s so lame, so tired. I’m beginning to loathe these Theatre Guild comedies.

Movie review – “Dear Ruth” (1947) ***1/2

Norman Krasna’s play was a massive success on Broadway, and although he didn’t adapt his own work here, the result was popular enough to give rise to two sequels. It’s a sweet, lovely little film, even if it’s got the sort of plot that you saw every other week on sitcoms in the 70s and 80s: Mona Freeman writes hot love letters to serviceman William Holden pretending to be her sister (Joan Caulfield); when Holden turns up to meet her, Caulfield decides to go along with the deception while he’s on leave – to the consternation of her fiancée (Billy de Wolfe).

 

Some of the casting is weak: Caulfield never became a star and you can tell why here – she’s pretty, an adequate actor, etc but she lacks magic (I've got to admit, I really like her in other movies). Freeman is adequate in a terrific role. Better value are charming Holden and Edward Arnold as the father of the family. Handled with a sure, light touch and it's a fun 90 minutes.

Movie review – “The Magic Bow” (1946) ***

Gainsborough tried to do something different with their period melodramas here – it’s a biopic of the 19th century violinist Paganini. Apparently it’s all made up, but since I don’t know anything about Paganini except he was a good violinist it didn’t particularly bother me. And Stewart Granger’s violin work is really good – yes he had help, but not all the time, and the doubling is extremely convincing; it seems Granger tried on this one.

His non-violin performance is more typical of his work at the time – a dashing romantic leading man. Like most Gainsborough films he’s loved by two women – beautiful classy Phyllis Calvert, and the more “earthy” Jean Kent. Again, like most Gainsborough films, Calvert is promised in marriage to someone else, Dennis Price, so can’t go off with him.

Calvert is cheery and pretty enough, but her essential appeal was playing the wronged girl next door; her character here is a more sophisticated, aristocratic - sympathetic, yes, but not really a victim, and Calvert’s lack of star quality is particularly apparent (it’s a shame Margaret Lockwood wasn’t available... apparently she turned it down).

Dennis Price gets these big close ups when we meet him listening to Granger play – it threw me until I realised they were building him a new Gainsborough star (he was the back up for Granger and James Mason, just as Jean Kent and Pat Roc were the back up for Phyllis Calvert and Margaret Lockwood.) Jean Kent isn’t given much to do apart from gaze at Granger and ask Calvert to help him because she loves him enough to let him go, etc, etc. Cecil Parker is excellent value as Granger's manager though and there's plenty of music and production design.

Movie review – “Chief Crazy Horse” (1955) ***1/2

Jeff Chandler’s success as Cochise in Broken Arrow inspired for a time a bunch of American stars to play Indians, both real and fictitious. Among those who put on war paint were Burt Lancaster (Apache), Chuck Connors (Geronimo), Rock Hudson (Taza, Son of Cochise), and Elvis Presley (Flaming Star). This was Victor Mature’s go – he was Italian, and a bit dark, so Universal presumably figured why not? He plays the famous Indian general who knocked off Custer at Little Big Horn.

It’s an extremely sympathetic account – Crazy Horse is pushed into fighting by white men breaking treaties, he proves to be a brilliant leader, a real hard arse. Ray Danton, in his film debut (and extremely good), is Little Big Man, an Indian jealous of Crazy Horse – and responsible for his death (something I thought was made up to reduce white man guilt but actually had basis in fact). There are only two really nice white characters – John Lund, as a sympathetic white trader (who gets shot and recuperates not once but twice with Crazy Horse, which is repetitive) and General Crook.

Surprisingly it’s the action side of things where this film is weaker – it’s as if the filmmakers were more interested in humanising Indians, and getting historical details right. The Battle of Little Big Horn doesn’t take very long on screen – I presume this was due to budget and/or the filmmakers not wanting to dwell on Indian victory too much on screen (we don’t even see Custer). We do however see the Fetterman Massacre and the Battle of the Rosebud.

I couldn’t help laugh at some of this - Indian squaws wearing make up, some of Mature's expressions as he sits on a horse, etc. But the filmmakers have really tried to make a good movie and get the facts right as much as they can. The writers have an advantage in that so much about Crazy Horse is unknown and/or myth, but it's there - his family lineage, visions, death of his son, bravery, battles, etc. The one melodramatic note is the officer who goes beserk on hearing his son (David Janssen!) has been killed and shoots some villainous Indian traders, then himself. It was directed by George Marshall, whom I'm coming to increasingly admire - he doesn't have a massive reputation but he turned out a lot of above- average films.

Movie review – “Crossfire” (1947) *** (warning: spoilers)

Probably the biggest success of Dore Schary’s brief reign as head of RKO, an excellent B thriller (or, more correctly, an RKO “A”) about the murder of a civilian who’d been drinking with various soldiers the night before. The main suspect is a young kid (George Cooper, who’s never talked about in relation to this film but has one of the bigger roles) who’s gone missing; his two friends are amiable Robert Mitchum and hateful Robert Ryan.

 

The motive turns out to be anti-Semitism; in the original book it was homophobia, so on one hand it was a shame it got watered down – but anti-Semitism was still pretty gutsy at the time. Having said that, it only really comes up at the second half of the movie. Left wing propaganda is concentrated on two speeches: one eventual victim Sam Levene gives to Cooper in flashback (which when you think about it could be interpreted as a gay pick up), another when detective Robert Young (effective in a non-typical role), tries to persuade a friend of Ryan’s to trap him (so it’s not necessarily sincere). But it’s two-fisted left wing – Ryan isn’t sent to gaol, he’s shot dead in the street. 

 

Hero duties are split between Mitchum in the first half and Young in the second; Mitchum disappears in the latter section but still registers strongly in his role. Gloria Grahame is also effective as a tramp, as is Arthur Kelly as her “husband”. 

 

Crisply directed and beautifully shot in that film noir style; not an amazing story or anything but worth watching.

Movie review – “Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within” (2010) ***

The most popular Brazilian film in history or something like that – it obviously struck a chord with the locals, who presumably found it a release. Everyone is very hard core – the elite squad who blast away at anything that moves, the corrupt cops who blast away at everything that moves, the drug dealers who… you get the idea. Perhaps in response to allegations of fascism in the first movie, this one features a tough, very brave left wing character – an academic who’s married to the ex-wife of the head of elite force; also the villains are corrupt cops and politicians rather than drug dealers, and it’s resolved at the end through a commission rather than kicking arse (which I did feel a little let down by). Some very good action, impressive production values and decent acting. Very high body count and lots of cojones.

Movie review – “I Wake Up Screaming” (1941) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

It’s odd at first to see Betty Grable in a non-colour non-musical for 20th Century Fox, but then this was at the beginning of her stardom reign. She’s very effective, though, playing a part very much within her range – a sweet, loving if none-too-bright stenographer whose sister (Carole Landis) is murdered. The police suspect her boyfriend (Victor Mature) who Grable has a yen for – she ends up helping him escape from the cops and solving the mystery.

This actually would have been a better movie had Grable been centre stage, investigating as a plucky heroine, and with us never quite sure if Mature was innocent - but instead hero duties are split between Grable and Mature and we never really suspect him. Which is a shame since Mature would have made a good villain – he had an egotistical, sinister, charming quality.

As it is this is still pretty good. 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' plays incessantly on the soundtrack. The black and white photography is stunning – film noir before film noir officially came into being: nightclubs, police interrogation rooms, dark alleyways, dingy diners, cinemas, swimming pools, apartments, stairways. As a studio picture, it benefits from a terrific supporting cast including the ever-reliable Elisha Cook Jnr and the magnificent Laird Cregar. The scene where Mature wakes up and Cregar is watching him sleep is chilling. Landis is good, too – her performance has extra resonance because she herself died young, a suicide.

Mature and Betty have good chemistry, which spilled over into real life for a time. The scene where they go for a night swim together (New York is a town of a lot of 24 hour activities in this film – late night movies, diners) makes it clear they’re really into each other physically in a way many Hollywood stories of the era didn’t. There’s an unfortunate moment where he tells her that when a man really loves a woman he doesn’t want to plaster her all over the place, he wants to keep her for herself (i.e. “stay at home and look after the kids while I go out and have affairs”). And I laughed where the cops give Mature five minutes alone with Cregar at the end because they figured he’s owed it. Good old Hollywood law enforcement!

Movie review – “The Unholy Wife” (1957) **

This marked the beginning of what turned out to be a short-lived tilt at American stardom by Diana Dors. It was one of two films she made for RKO, then in their last significant burst of filmmaking activity. She had received praise for playing a killer in Yield to the Night, which might have inspired her casting as a femme fetale here. 

 

For the most part, I enjoyed this film more than I thought I would considering its bad reputation – Dors wasn’t the best actor in the world but she was sexy, and wears a series of low cut gowns, tight clothes and swimsuits; she’s effective in prison garb too. Her character is quite sympathetic – she’s a single mother, she tries to warn Rod Steiger off her, you can understand why she’d want to cheat on Steiger with Tom Tryon, she realises at the end she's behaved badly.

 

The story is junky melodrama, which borrows liberally from They Knew What They Wanted (vineyard owners in movies are forever marrying younger women who have affairs) – also it seems inspired from all those episodes of the radio show Suspense where a killer got away with murder they committed only to be convicted for a murder they didn’t commit. 

 

Jonathan Latimer wrote the script (he'd done a number of other films with director John Farrow), and he keeps things bubbling along, jazzing up the structure by using a flashback within a flashback, throwing in a hunky rodeo rider, a war wound causing infertility, a poisoned mother.

 

The wheels fall off in the last ten minutes or so though when the film becomes all about Dors repenting for what she's done to a priest (Steiger's brother) - this has the whiff of John Farrow's Catholicism all over it (as does all the Bible quoting), and it really slows down the action. It's also a shame this wasn't shot in black and white - the colour photography is wasted. This was Farrow's penultimate movie as director.

Movie review – “The Richest Girl in the World” (1934) ***

Norman Krasna won an Oscar nomination for his original story and script for this film – and he must have been fond of it because he reused many elements later in his career. It’s a reverse Cinderella story: the richest girl in the world (Miriam Hopkins, orphaned when the Titanic went down) is never sure if guys are in love with her or her money, so when she falls for Joel McCrea, she pretends to be her own secretary (Fay Wray) – and tries to push McCrea together with her Fay Wray who pretends to be the riches girl in the world. (Krasna used a similar set up, i.e. rich people go undercover and find true love, in The Devil and Miss Jones and Let's Make Love.)

This is a creaky piece that shows its age (slightly stagy setting, muffled sound, etc) but is very sweet. I’ve never liked Hopkins in much before this but she’s very engaging, full of good humour, intelligence, and wistful longing. Krasna makes the character very winning on paper too – the first scene we see her in she gets dumped by her fiancée and takes it well. There’s a very sexy scene where Joel McCrea puts his head in her lap in front of a fireplace - Hopkins does some marvellous acting looking at him while he’s telling a story; her love for him is very convincing and sweet.

McCrea is a good romantic lead (even if it's unfortunate they turn him into a cave man at the end) but Fay Wray strikes a wrong chord as the secretary – she look too evil, and doesn’t do much with her character. For all Krasna's talent, the script ignores a large number of potential story avenues - we never see McCrea find out about the deception, there's never any complications to Wray's life (romantic or otherwise) out of what she does, the parts of Hopkins' friends and family (including Henry Stephenson) are undeveloped. But as I've said I did enjoy it.

Movie review – “Don’t Give Up the Ship” (1959) **1/2

Enlistment must have gone up whenever Jerry Lewis made a service comedy – the US army and navy were always co-operating with his films, even though they often depicted Jerry thriving despite his incompetence, and petty officers in authority.

Jerry Lewis plays a different sort of character here – a naval officer, from a family with a rich naval tradition (three’s an amusing montage at the beginning flashing back to the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, etc). He’s still an idiot, though – accused of losing a destroyer, the navy present him with a five million dollar bill. The navy is convinced he might be a spy and send in an officer from naval intelligence (Dina Merrill) to investigate.

After a long set up, act two flash backs to Jerry’s war service in the Pacific, where he manages to get promoted despite being an idiot. He winds up on an island and is captured by the Japanese, who because the war is over are actually quite benign here. Instead of having a romance between Jerry and Dina Merrill, there’s also a major subplot about Jerry getting arrested on his wedding day and being unable to consummate his marriage for the duration of the film. (They do play a jealous angle from his new wife and there is a hot scene where Merrill and Jerry share a train sleep compartment, and she’s naked under a sheet. It would have been either hotter if either of them had been up for it.) There's this last sequence with Jerry and Mickey Shaughnessy prowling around under water. And it’s all resolved with a deux ex machina which reveals that the investigating senator (Gale Gordon) is the one responsible for the ship being destroyed. It's a very disjointed, ramshackle movie.

Which is not to say it isn't fun. Director Norman Taurog keeps everything bubbling along at a fair clip and there are some very funny moments including Jerry asking birds on an island to be quiet and they comply, Jerry interrogating Mickey Shaughnessy while the latter is in the middle of a wrestling match, and Jerry’s sexual frustration (the late 50s leer humour had taken hold).

Movie review – “John Paul Jones” (1959) **

The first Spanish epic from Samuel Bronston, who cleverly used assistance from Franco and financial backing from the Du Pont family over several years in the late 50s and early 60s to create a number of epics. It was also the last film as director from John Farrow, for whom this was a passion project (Farrow had served in the Canadian navy and had a life-long interest in sailing).

 

It doesn’t mean it’s good, though – this is a stilted, bland biopic, not helped by Robert Stack’s stiff performance in the lead role. Stack was often stiff but it’s particularly distracting here. For instance there’s quite a well written scene (albeit in a flowery way) where Jones defies the father of his girlfriend (Marisa Pavan) – but Stack sinks to the occasion. The script has flashes of a more complex man in John Paul Jones – his tendency towards violence, for instance – but it’s not conveyed by the actor playing him.

 

I was led to believe this was a big budget film but it doesn’t seem particularly spectacular – certainly not to compare with Bronston’s later epics. I kept expecting epic battle scenes and swarms of extras, instead there’s lots of close ups, tight shots and scenes set indoors.

 

For all that this sheds life in a period of American (and British) history not often featured on screen. The British are treated with the greatest respect - Stack’s scenes with his British opponent captain (Peter Cushing) are positively bromantic. Plenty of hokey biopic moments, such as Stack freeing his brothers slaves (but keeping them on as servants), lines of dialogue like “Who is this Patrick Henry?”. But it is quite open about how some of the most important things the Americans did during the revolution was suck up to the French to get money and arms. And the costumes and photography are pretty.

 

There are cameos from various historical figures including Patrick Henry (played by MacDonald Carey), George Washington (don’t know who plays him – we never see his face, just hear his voice, kind of like a depiction of Jesus), Ben Franklin (Charles Coburn), Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI (Jean Pierre Aumont), Catherine the Great (Bette Davis). 

 

The only one of these that’s a stand out is Bette Davis, who is like this massive jolt of star power and energy at the end of the film – she sweeps in to remind everyone what charisma is. It makes you not mind so much her whole sequence is tacked on. (To avoid this they should have had her play Marie Antoinette). 

 

There’s a bit of Catholicism thrown in there by Farrow in the scene where Pavan goes to mass.

Radio review – Lux – “I’ll Never Forget You” (1952) **1/2

Tyrone Power was at his best playing earnest idealists, so you totally buy him as a nuclear scientist who is convinced he’s come from the past and is meant to marry a girl in 1784. He manages to go back in time and finds out that in fact he’s more interested in the girl’s sister (Debra Paget) and that he has a little trouble with the grime, poverty and oppression of the time. He also meets The Duchess of Devon and Boswell, even giving them some quotes (eg “a woman like a gong should be struck regularly”). 

It’s a bit convenient how he’s bundled off to the nut house but manages to get transported back in time again – but you have to handle the whole thing with a pinch of salt. And if you can, it has a romantic, touching charm – what would you do if you went back in time to 1784? The actor who plays Power’s friend sounded very familiar; I thought it was Michael Rennie, who was in the film – but actually it was Australia’s own Michael Pate. 

At the end of the film Paget talks about how in her early Hollywood career she appeared in some support roles on Lux - and now she's a star. I don't know if you'd call her a "star"....

Movie review – “Wake Island” (1942) ***

America's first few months of the war saw them experience little other than defeat – Clarke Bay, Manila, Bataan, Corregidor, Guam, etc. One of their few bright spots was the defence of Wake Island, where the Marines manage d to fend off a Japanese attack – only to fall following the next onslaught. It’s great true story – one that should have inspired more movies, but then Hollywood tends to shy away from unhappy endings. 

 

I’m not a historical expert on this period but it feels Paramount did try to get things right – as right as was feasible from a Hollywood film during this period, anyway. In particular, the recreation of the base feels authentic – there are long tracking shots of the tents and harbour to show off the set. (I guess they didn’t have to worry about exposing military secrets). Some have whinged that it shows the marines fighting to the last man and the commanding officer dying – but we don’t see Brian Donlevy die, and it doesn’t say that the Marines didn’t surrender, we just don’t see it.

 

There are various subplots leading up to the attack: the arrival of a new commander (Donlevy) and a civilian contractor who has a chip on his shoulder about Marines, two squabbling Marines out of What Price Glory? (Robert Preston without a moustache and William Bendix), a pilot (MacDonald Carey) whose fiancee is in Pearl Harbour (want to guess who dies first?). I found this section of the film - the build up to the attack - more effective than the stuff at the end. The Japanese characters (including a peace envoy who visits shortly before the attack) are buck teethed and sinister and/or cowardly.

 

It's extremely well directed by John Farrow, who made this on return from war service in the Canadian navy (he'd been invalided out). Before the war, he'd done mostly B's, although of increasing budgets and quality; after this he was doing A pictures.

Movie review – “The Sad Sack” (1957) **

Jerry Lewis in another service comedy and it’s pretty terrible. He plays a pathetic GI who just can’t make a success of things, so we’re meant to feel sorry for him. An army psychiatrist uses him as a patient – the shrink is a woman (Phyllis Kirk) giving rise to much agonisingly unfunny reactions from the men soldiers. 

 

She’s also sexually harassed by a soldier who befriends Lewis – you might have gone along with it had that role been played by Dean Martin, as it was clearly intended, but instead we have David Wayne, an actor with major stage credits but who I always found off putting in his film roles, normally support bits in romantic comedy (he was meant to be keen on Katherine Hepburn in Adam’s Rib but just came across as camp). He’s smarmy and dislikeable, and, to be blunt, too old and not very handsome – Dean’s presence is badly missed in this one.

 

To be accurate, Jerry has two side kicks in this film – there’s Wayne and this other guy, but he hardly does anything distinctive, he just tags along. The three of them go through some adventures together but at the end Wayne and his mate are still annoyed by Lewis – which gives the movie a yucky emotional core.

 

The film improves markedly around the half way mark when all three get assigned to Morocco to guard a base -there’s been some pilfering – and wind up fighting some Arab bandits (including Peter Lorre). This is silly, and racist, but at least it’s lively – bazaars, cafes, lounge singer, escapes from tents, the French army, etc. – so you don’t mind so much that basically it’s a whole separate film. (Kirk’s character disappears for this bit until she appears at the end.) The funniest joke is where Jerry speaks to a Moroccan in Arabic and realises he’s accidentally made him the local distributor for Paramount Pictures.