I've been critical of a lot of Dore Schary's actions while head of MGM but he did greenlight some good, tough thrillers such as this one. It's very much in the vein of The Big Heat (same writers) and while Roy Rowland isn't Fritz Lang he does a solid job.
Robert Taylor's acting always took on an extra dimension when he played a tough baddy/anti-hero and some MGM starlets are given the chance to act and step up - Anne Francis as the alcoholic moll of gangster George Raft and Janet Leigh as a former gangster moll now going out with Taylor's brother Steve Forrest.
The film was a return to A movies for Raft... he's very good, or at least effective, as a gangster. He's not in the movie a lot but he makes his scenes count and he brings history with him. I'm surprised this didn't kick off more of a comeback for him. He did appear in some "A"s like Black Widow but couldn't make it consistent.
There's lots of scenes of detective Taylor getting informed by the little old lady who runs a newstand... did this movie invent this trope? I really liked how Steve Forrest is killed off screen that's very effective.
The film occasionally falls into dull bits - self righteous scolding of Taylor by a priest and also by another cop. But it gets double points for being an MGM movie where the lead is a corrupt cop (even if he does come good).
Crisp black and white photography. I think it's all shot on the backlot. It was a hit too.
There should have been some resolution with Janet Leigh's character. The last ten minutes this random good cop becomes important. Leigh should be there.
Friday, August 30, 2019
Movie review - "Everything Happens at Night" (1939) **1/2
Fox tried something a bit different with this Sonja Henie vehicle - it's got really serious undertones, as two feuding reporters track down her father, who escaped from a concentration camp and faked his own death and is hiding out. They expose the dad and baddies come after hi.
I get the feeling this was envisioned as a non Henie movie - there's only a little bit of skating, and the one big number is a fantasy sequence. The roles for the reporters are prominent. I think the writers should have had the reporters know each other from the beginning - establish their rivalry, play it as Clark Gable-Spencer Tracy stuff... they waste too much time Bob Cummings and Ray Milland not knowing who they are.
Having said that, Milland and Cummings are strong leads and they have clear selfish courses of action. Henie is her normal smug self satisfied self. It is good to see this little Nazi sympathiser play someone fleeing the Nazis even though they're not named.
It's shot in a gloomy film noir style. Not a typical Henie vehicle at all. Some sequences seem abrupt like the final chase and I wish that there had been some baddy who got shot or arrested or something.
Both Cummings and Milland fall for Henie and you never know which one she prefers. At the end she's on a boat with her dad and Cummings with Milland stuck behind.. but even then you get the impression Henie really wants a menage a trois.
There's some gentle teasing at the dullness of life in a Swiss town. This was to be invaluable shortly!
I get the feeling this was envisioned as a non Henie movie - there's only a little bit of skating, and the one big number is a fantasy sequence. The roles for the reporters are prominent. I think the writers should have had the reporters know each other from the beginning - establish their rivalry, play it as Clark Gable-Spencer Tracy stuff... they waste too much time Bob Cummings and Ray Milland not knowing who they are.
Having said that, Milland and Cummings are strong leads and they have clear selfish courses of action. Henie is her normal smug self satisfied self. It is good to see this little Nazi sympathiser play someone fleeing the Nazis even though they're not named.
It's shot in a gloomy film noir style. Not a typical Henie vehicle at all. Some sequences seem abrupt like the final chase and I wish that there had been some baddy who got shot or arrested or something.
Both Cummings and Milland fall for Henie and you never know which one she prefers. At the end she's on a boat with her dad and Cummings with Milland stuck behind.. but even then you get the impression Henie really wants a menage a trois.
There's some gentle teasing at the dullness of life in a Swiss town. This was to be invaluable shortly!
Movie review - "The Cross and the Switchbade" (1970) **
A film that's easy to mock - Pat Boone as an earnest preacher inserting himself between warring gang members going "Jesus loves you". He plays a character who is determined to save souls while his wife is home about to have a baby and there's some unexpectedly camp scenes where he tries to force himself into Erik Estrada's bedroom at 3 am when Estrada is just wearing white underpants.
It was co written and directed by Don Murray, the actor, and some of the acting is pretty good. Boone saves three main souls - a young female street kid who tries to rob him, a female heroin addict, and the leader of a Hispanic gang (Erik Estrada in his debut).
The heroin addict gets over it after one night of withdrawals - it's a female who prompts her to do this, not Boone (why not give him the hero moment?)... then the next day she's all cured, wearing a nice smart suit and singing in Church. Hallelujah!
It's not terribly convincing when all the gang members got religion at the end and grasped for bibles - I think the film would have been better off just focusing on the three who were saved.
But it does work dramatically... in part because the depiction of modern day life is full on: gangs, heroin, prostitution, crime, etc
I just wish they hadn't had Boone basically ignore his wife who is about to give birth! His performance is fine - I really liked it at the end that he cried when Estrada gave himself to God, more emotive acting like this from him through his career would've been good.
It is shot and scored like a TV show from 1970. The young actors all commit. It's not a bad film and of course if you're very religious you'll get stuff out of it.
It was co written and directed by Don Murray, the actor, and some of the acting is pretty good. Boone saves three main souls - a young female street kid who tries to rob him, a female heroin addict, and the leader of a Hispanic gang (Erik Estrada in his debut).
The heroin addict gets over it after one night of withdrawals - it's a female who prompts her to do this, not Boone (why not give him the hero moment?)... then the next day she's all cured, wearing a nice smart suit and singing in Church. Hallelujah!
It's not terribly convincing when all the gang members got religion at the end and grasped for bibles - I think the film would have been better off just focusing on the three who were saved.
But it does work dramatically... in part because the depiction of modern day life is full on: gangs, heroin, prostitution, crime, etc
I just wish they hadn't had Boone basically ignore his wife who is about to give birth! His performance is fine - I really liked it at the end that he cried when Estrada gave himself to God, more emotive acting like this from him through his career would've been good.
It is shot and scored like a TV show from 1970. The young actors all commit. It's not a bad film and of course if you're very religious you'll get stuff out of it.
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Movie review - "Young Bess" (1953) ***
The fame of the Somerset brothers has suffered from their great days coming after Henry VIII but they were still a highly entertaining pair of rogues, grasping at power in the wake of Henry's death, trying to control Edward VI and the young Queen Elizabeth.
This takes an inevitable romantic look - Stewart Granger is a dashing Thomas Seymour, admired by Henry and loved by young Queen Bess (Jean Simmons). Simmons is meant to be a 14 year old but clearly looks over 20, and what's more was married to Granger in real life.
In the first bit Granger only has eyes for Deborah Kerr as Catherine Parr. But then - and I feel this was a mistake - he falls for Simmons as well. It's a bit yuck because she's so young (not completely young but very young) but also dramatically unsatisfying because Granger is torn between two nice women. Those sort of plot lines rarely work - it's better when one is Bad but Kerr is good. They would've been better off having Granger entirely devoted to Kerr then falling for Simmons after Kerr died.
Still this is an entertaining film, with that MGM gloss and colour and a decent story. It helps that it's kind of true and is so domestic - you believe Simmons having a crush on Granger, and Granger squabbling with brother Guy Rolfe, and Simmons bickering with her brother Edward.
Charles Laughton pops up as Henry VIII. Everyone is well cast. Kathleen Byron has some good moments as Rolfe's wife. The character of Thomas Seymour has been romanticised - even Henry VIII prefers him, everyone says he's brave and good looking - but that does fit in with the story they want to tell.
They should consider remaking this film, or at least re telling this story, showing Seymour as more of a predator, which he was. I think it would work well these days.
This takes an inevitable romantic look - Stewart Granger is a dashing Thomas Seymour, admired by Henry and loved by young Queen Bess (Jean Simmons). Simmons is meant to be a 14 year old but clearly looks over 20, and what's more was married to Granger in real life.
In the first bit Granger only has eyes for Deborah Kerr as Catherine Parr. But then - and I feel this was a mistake - he falls for Simmons as well. It's a bit yuck because she's so young (not completely young but very young) but also dramatically unsatisfying because Granger is torn between two nice women. Those sort of plot lines rarely work - it's better when one is Bad but Kerr is good. They would've been better off having Granger entirely devoted to Kerr then falling for Simmons after Kerr died.
Still this is an entertaining film, with that MGM gloss and colour and a decent story. It helps that it's kind of true and is so domestic - you believe Simmons having a crush on Granger, and Granger squabbling with brother Guy Rolfe, and Simmons bickering with her brother Edward.
Charles Laughton pops up as Henry VIII. Everyone is well cast. Kathleen Byron has some good moments as Rolfe's wife. The character of Thomas Seymour has been romanticised - even Henry VIII prefers him, everyone says he's brave and good looking - but that does fit in with the story they want to tell.
They should consider remaking this film, or at least re telling this story, showing Seymour as more of a predator, which he was. I think it would work well these days.
Movie review - "South Sea Sinner" (1950) **
Apparently a remake of Seven Sinners but not as much fun, in part because Shelley Winters is like an overgrown kid whereas Marlene Dietrich was a woman. Winters performs a few presumably dubbed songs as a Sadie Thompson type - did any play inspire more rip offs than Rain? Liberace is her pianist, sneaking in some Chopin, which is cute - he's a lot more comfortable here than he would be in Sincerely Yours.
MacDonald Carey was always a B level leading man even in Bs. In his defence he doesn't do anything tough just sort of whines abot having a bad reputation. Luther Adler adds some dash to the support cast as do Helena Thompson (as the classy girl who loves him), and Frank Lovejoy (as Winters' back up love interest).
The scenes in the cafe are great but too much of this is outside. It's underwhelming. Needed colour.
MacDonald Carey was always a B level leading man even in Bs. In his defence he doesn't do anything tough just sort of whines abot having a bad reputation. Luther Adler adds some dash to the support cast as do Helena Thompson (as the classy girl who loves him), and Frank Lovejoy (as Winters' back up love interest).
The scenes in the cafe are great but too much of this is outside. It's underwhelming. Needed colour.
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Movie review - "Invaders from Mars" (1953) ***
A beloved classic from its day at least to a portion of the cinema audience - especially those who would've related to the lead kid. It's a nightmarish concept... a flying saucer lands and seems to possess the parents of a boy. A kid loses his parents.
The kid is an Eisenhower era whining baby boomer from the Brandon de Wilde school but not ineffective. The parents are fine. Helena Carter adds class and warmth as the shrink who believes the kid - Arthur Frankz helps out too.
William Cameron Menzies' background as an art director produces some surrealistic sets - it's quite bold and really, like a dreamscape. It's a beautiful looking movie. There's suspense in the end when they go into the spaceship's lair.
The kid is an Eisenhower era whining baby boomer from the Brandon de Wilde school but not ineffective. The parents are fine. Helena Carter adds class and warmth as the shrink who believes the kid - Arthur Frankz helps out too.
William Cameron Menzies' background as an art director produces some surrealistic sets - it's quite bold and really, like a dreamscape. It's a beautiful looking movie. There's suspense in the end when they go into the spaceship's lair.
Movie review - "Mogambo" (1953) ***1/2
Remake of Red Dust which works on its own terms - they keep the basic story but give it a fresh location, in Kenya, and while Clark Gable is back, his age means the interpretation of the role is very different.So too does the casting of Ava Gardner as Jean Harlow and Grace Kelly as Mary Astor.
This film needs stars to work and has great ones. Gable is perfect as an aging old rogue. I like Gardner as a shady lady off to see a Maharajah - her character is softened from Harlow, who was just a hooker; Gardner is given this backstory how her husband was killed in the way, and is basically a decent person. It's not as fun as the original but it does work on it's own terms.
Kelly is superb - the good girl with a fire in her loins. She really comes alive in her kissing scenes with Gable - she clearly wants him. It's very sexy. You can see why this turned her into a star and it's amazing MGM could never find her another role as good (she would be wasted in decorative parts and play her great roles outside the studio).
The location shooting in Kenya helps and it's nice that Kelly's husband Donald Sinden is on a science exploration not shooting people. Africa seems genuinely dangerous here - snakes everywhere, rain, hot weather. The blacks of course don't get much of a look in.
It doesn't feel obviously like a John Ford movie. But it is enjoyable.
This film needs stars to work and has great ones. Gable is perfect as an aging old rogue. I like Gardner as a shady lady off to see a Maharajah - her character is softened from Harlow, who was just a hooker; Gardner is given this backstory how her husband was killed in the way, and is basically a decent person. It's not as fun as the original but it does work on it's own terms.
Kelly is superb - the good girl with a fire in her loins. She really comes alive in her kissing scenes with Gable - she clearly wants him. It's very sexy. You can see why this turned her into a star and it's amazing MGM could never find her another role as good (she would be wasted in decorative parts and play her great roles outside the studio).
The location shooting in Kenya helps and it's nice that Kelly's husband Donald Sinden is on a science exploration not shooting people. Africa seems genuinely dangerous here - snakes everywhere, rain, hot weather. The blacks of course don't get much of a look in.
It doesn't feel obviously like a John Ford movie. But it is enjoyable.
Movie review - "The Whole Truth" (1958) *** (warning: spoilers)
One of a few films that pulled the air out of the tires of Stewart Granger's film career post MGM. You can see why he made it though - it was from Romulus, and was directed by John Guillermin, the budget afforded an American co star (Donna Reed) it was based on a popular play.
Many critics said this was similar to Dial M for Murder and I can see why - it was based on a TV play which became a stage play, has a few twists and turns.
It's not as skilled though director John Guillermin does a good job. It starts brilliantly with George Sanders meeting Stewart Granger at a party saying he's a detective and Granger's ex mistress has been murdered. Granger freaks and goes to retrieve some things of his at the mistress's house. Granger then sees the mistress is alive and freaks out. He takes her home. She's murdered. He's a suspect. Sanders appears and says he's no detective, he's her husband... and says Granger did it. Evidence points to Granger. Sanders admits he did it... but wants Granger to swing for it.
Up to this point I was going "wow" but couldn't see where else they could go with it. And they don't really go anywhere. Granger gets arrested, his dull wife Donna Reed steps in to find evidence to rescue him.
I mean it was fine, just not up to the first half. It's in black and white which means the south of France setting really isn't exploited. Jonathan Latimer wrote the script which has some good lines and situations - it's briskly done. Just not up to the quality of the first half.
It is interesting to see Granger in a role of a man under pressure. He normally played flat out villains or heroes. Sanders is great fun as always. Reed is pretty but bland.
The girl who plays the mistress is awful, a caricature of a sexy European dame.
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Movie review - "Masquerade" (1965) ** (warning: spoilers)
Michael Relph and Basil Dearden were best known for their socially conscious melodramas. They decided to go for the loot with his one, a kind of a spy spoof. I was meant to star Rex Harrison but he dropped out and Cliff Robertson steps in... he brought in William Goldman to do the script, his first.
That's the film's main point of distinction. Watching this I kept thinking "Robertson's not a star. A good co star but he can't carry the action." He tries... but he hasn't got It. He used to blame the fact he missed out on big screen versions of roles he'd played on TV eg The Days of Wine and Roses but producers were right not to use him. I'm sure he was the star they could get but they picked wrong. Sorry, Cliff! I do like him in films, just don't think he's a star.
His co star is Jack Hawkins who is puffing away in a cigarette in some scenes. He'd lose his voice in about a year because of those smokes.
The film has some clever twists and is reasonably entertaining once the clunky exposition of the first bit is past. Marissa Mell is a surprise packet - great fun, sexy and full of energy. I liked the final shoot out on the bridge and the stuff in the circus.
But the film is hollow at its core. This is because of several reasons:
- the mission is so pointless... it's so the British can get an oil concession... there's no real solid reason... the young Arab should at least be a good ruler or face an evil ruler;
- there's no sense of accomplishment at the end... the bad Arab isn't really defeated... Hawkins is revealed to be a traitor but he gets away with it... Robertson doesn't get with Marissa Mell... there's no point except a little bit of money for Robertson;
- there's no emotional core. Hawkins and Robertson are meant to be old friends but feel like strangers... so when Hawkins betrays Robertson it feels nothing. Mell throws away her relationship with Robertson, reveals she's married the end. Robertson doesn't even bond with the young sheik.
Very minor league Bond. Too smart arse for its own good.
That's the film's main point of distinction. Watching this I kept thinking "Robertson's not a star. A good co star but he can't carry the action." He tries... but he hasn't got It. He used to blame the fact he missed out on big screen versions of roles he'd played on TV eg The Days of Wine and Roses but producers were right not to use him. I'm sure he was the star they could get but they picked wrong. Sorry, Cliff! I do like him in films, just don't think he's a star.
His co star is Jack Hawkins who is puffing away in a cigarette in some scenes. He'd lose his voice in about a year because of those smokes.
The film has some clever twists and is reasonably entertaining once the clunky exposition of the first bit is past. Marissa Mell is a surprise packet - great fun, sexy and full of energy. I liked the final shoot out on the bridge and the stuff in the circus.
But the film is hollow at its core. This is because of several reasons:
- the mission is so pointless... it's so the British can get an oil concession... there's no real solid reason... the young Arab should at least be a good ruler or face an evil ruler;
- there's no sense of accomplishment at the end... the bad Arab isn't really defeated... Hawkins is revealed to be a traitor but he gets away with it... Robertson doesn't get with Marissa Mell... there's no point except a little bit of money for Robertson;
- there's no emotional core. Hawkins and Robertson are meant to be old friends but feel like strangers... so when Hawkins betrays Robertson it feels nothing. Mell throws away her relationship with Robertson, reveals she's married the end. Robertson doesn't even bond with the young sheik.
Very minor league Bond. Too smart arse for its own good.
Helena Carter: An Appreciation
I first noticed Helena Carter in River Lady (1948). This was a Technicolor western made at Universal about a brassy riverboat owner (Yvonne de Carlo) who tries to get control of a lumber mill; she lusts after a lumberjack (Rod Cameron) but faces competition from an Other Woman (Carter). I'd never seen Carter in anything before and thought she was sensational - it wasn't a bad part (a rich girl who wants a man she shouldn't have) and Carter really drove it home; she played it with a twinkle in her eye, lively, full of spark and clearly intelligent... a good girl who wouldn't mind being "bad" for the right guy. She was no shy, retiring violent - she goes after Cameron
actively, in part because it's a rebellious act and she's clearly
sexually attracted to him - but she's no dummy either. It was easily the best performance in the film and marked Helena Carter as someone to watch.
Why hadn't I heard about her? What else had she done? Where did she go? Being a glamour girl in Universal adventure movies weren't necessarily a career dead-end as would be proved by the trajectories of Maureen O'Hara, Piper Laurie, Shelley Winters, Rhonda Fleming, Yvonne De Carlo, etc. Why did someone with such life and spunk on screen not have a bigger impact?
So I googled...
Carter was born Helen Rickerts in New York City in 1923. She earned a bachelor's degree in teaching from Hunter College and studied English Literature at Columbia University Grad School. She became a fashion model, which isn't surprising from the way she carried herself later on screen - her poise was always very correct, as if she could balance a book on her head all the time.
It's hard to break into movies on the whole but being a model makes things slightly easier: Carter was visiting the Universal backlot in Los Angeles when spotted by producer Leonard Goldstein, who arranged a screen test that led to a seven-year contract with the studio.
It was a good beginning... but then lots of attractive women in Hollywood get signed to seven-year contracts (which really meant the studio had options on your services for up to seven years... they could drop you before then). Carter could have disappeared into a world of bit parts and extras. But she didn't.
She made her debut in a gothic romance, Time Out of Mind (1947), a film best remembered today (if at all) for (a) being director Robert Siodmak's one dud in a series of classic films for Universal, and (b) an unsuccessful attempt to launch British star Phyllis Calvert in Hollywood. Carter plays an icy aristocrat who marries Calvert's true love, Ric Hutton, in the third act; her ambition and coolness is contrasted with Calvert's unquestioning, doormat-like devotion and honesty. Calvert has poise and beauty, but her inexperience is most evident in her speaking voice - she enunciates like someone who has been to finishing school. However she already demonstrates what would be more most notable attributes - her beauty, spark and intelligence, and her ability to focus her eyes on the person she was performing a scene with.
Time Out of Mind was a big fat flop but no one blamed Carter - that was the fault of the story, and Hutton, who is terrible. In fact the movie would have been better off introducing Carter's character earlier - she gives the piece a bit of life.
Universal put her in another minor part in an "A" movie, Deanna Durbin's penultimate effort, Something in the Wind (1947); for the second time in a row Carter plays an Other Woman, the socialite fiancee of John Dall who loses him to Durbin. It wasn't a big part and isn't well remembered today - few latter period Durbins are - but it was a prestigious movie to be associated with.
Carter was then loaned out producers Sam Bischoff and George Raft for a tale of third world intrigue called, appropriately, Intrigue (1947). Raft also starred as a pilot involved in a smuggling racket in China, torn between two women: a slinky night club owner (June Havoc) and a social worker (Carter). Carter's third film saw her in her third love triangle and she doesn't appear until late in the movie but the part does have some meat on its bones - she's on her own doing work in China after World War Two which was gutsy. She got the guy in this one and made it believable, even if she was more than twenty years younger than Raft.
Carter's performance in this film helped establish what would be her stock in trade character - a good girl sexually attracted to the bad boy hero; moral, but not a stick in the mud; intelligent and spirited. She's fully present and focused in her scenes with Raft - her eyes are alive, interested, alert; she's aware, not naive, nobody's fool. The film would have been far better off with more of her and less of the self righteous reporter (Tom Tully) who is going to expose Raft - most of these scenes really should have gone to Carter's character.
Universal noticed and gave Carter the second female role in River Lady (1948), a million dollar extravaganza with Yvonne de Carlo, Rod Cameron and Dan Duryea, produced by her discoverer, Leonard Goldstein. It was a good part, too - the daughter of a lumber magnate who Cameron drunkenly marries in order to spite his ex, de Carlo. De Carlo and Carter are ideal opposites - the brassy, earthy girl with a past, versus the classy dame with a sparkle in the eye. Really both of them deserve a better man than Cameron (who, while thirteen years older than Carter, at least isn't old enough to be her father). Carter looks great in colour.
The film performed reasonably well at the box office and one would have thought Carter was ripe to step up to the next level - say, the female lead in a film noir or Western.. Instead she didn't appear in a film for over the year. And Universal made a lot of movies.
What happened?
According to Hedda Hooper, Carter became "a little difficult to handle" after her first film. She turned down a part in an Abbott and Costello movie, and "got the silent treatment from the studio for the year."
My guess is that Carter knew how good she was and wanted better roles. But Universal executives weren't about to let any uppity ex model college grad tell them what to do and slapped her down.
A year is a long time to punish an actor - they would have had to pay her not to work. But Universal wouldn't have had to pay her that much, they would've already made a healthy profit on her loan out for Intrigue, and it would be a useful reminder to the other girls under contract to not step out of line. I could be wrong about this, it's only an educated guess... but that sort of behaviour was common in the Golden Era of Hollywood.
A year on the sidelines seemed to have cooled Carter's resistance. As Hedda put it, "She finally saw the light, started co operating." Carter was back in front of the cameras for The Fighting O'Flynn (1949) a swashbuckler starring, produced and co-written by Douglas Fairbanks Jnr. It's a fun movie, with Carter playing a lady who romances Irish soldier Fairbanks during the Napoleonic Wars. Her character is another good girl who looks like she wants to be naughty, a Maid Marian type, and Carter teams well with Fairbanks. This time she's the one who gets to have an alternate love interest - Richard Greene, who turns out to be no good - though she still has an Other Woman to deal with, courtesan Patricia Medina. Fairbanks liked Carter, took an option out on her services for two more movies, and wanted to use her again in a film called The Caballero. However The Fighting O'Flynn was a box office disappointment (swashbucklers really needed colour by this stage) and no follow ups ensued.
Carter hadn't turned completely docile, and refused the role of Richard Long's wife in Ma and Pa Kettle (1948); Meg Randall took over and played it in three films. I have a soft spot for Ma and Pa Kettle movies but I get why Carter didn't want to play the straight man in a B comedy. Still, it must have hurt the producer, Leonard Goldstein, who had discovered the actor.
In November 1948 Hedda Hopper reported that Carter wanted out of her Universal contract "six months ago", and would get it if she paid back all the salary she had received since September. Hopper added that the studio got enough money out of her loan outs to Fairbanks and Raft to cover two years of her pay. However, for whatever reason (a talk with her bank manager/agent? a peace offering from executives? apathy?) Carter elected to stay at the studio.
Universal put her in South Sea Sinner (1950), a south seas melodrama where Carter plays the good girl in love with MacDonald Carey, who is also loved by trashy girl Shelley Winters. This is an okay film, not as good as the one it was remaking, Seven Sinners (1941), and is most notable for giving a small role to Liberace. Winters gets all the sympathy here, pining after Carey who goes for the more respectable Crater... but it is nice to see several scenes where Carter and Winters are friendly to each other. The irony is, there were rumours of an on set feud between the two. Carter doesn't seem particularly enthusiastic in this one.
She seems even more bored in her next assignment at Universal, the O'Connor pirate comedy produced by Goldstein, Double Crossbones (1951). Carter plays a lady who's meant to be into O'Connor but never looks convincing; Hope Emerson gets to have a lot more fun as a female pirate. The film was not released for over a year, and O'Connor later claimed it was one of his worst movies. It's not that bad but it's very underwhelming. Incidentally this is Carter's one movie where she had a younger male co star.
A more prestigious assignment followed when William Cagney borrowed her to play the second female lead in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950), Jimmy Cagney's crime-y followup to White Heat at Warner Bros. Carter played another good girl who wants to be naughty - the daughter of a local tycoon who marries Cagney not knowing he's a gangster. It's quite adult for 1950 - Carter is clearly attracted to Cagney because he's different, he marries her to sleep with her (that's what it's implied), he's okay with it being annulled, but she still wants him. The reputation of this was in the shadow of White Heat for many years but has recently been reappraised, in part because the other female role is played by the now legendary Barbara Payton, she of the exotic private life and tragic demise. Payton plays a rough around the edges type who breaks Cagney out of prison to help rescue her brother (Neville Brand) then falls for him after her brother's death; Carter is the classier good girl in comparison. Both Payton and Carter are a little too attractive looking for pudgy old Cagney, who was pushing fifty at the time - did he ever play such a stud muffin? It's the biggest flaw in an otherwise solid gangster story.
Carter enjoyed no career momentum from the film. She appeared in two westerns at Warners, Fort Worth (1951) with Randolph Scott (who, like Cagney, was born in the previous century, and was old enough to be Carter's father) and Bugles in the Afternoon (1952) with Ray Milland (a comparative spring chicken at 44 years of age); Carter was mostly decorative in both films. Fort Worth was the last movie from director Edwin Marin, who had worked with Carter in Intrigue; she plays the former love of Scott who has hooked up with his ex, and loses him to Phyllis Thaxter. The role is so small that you wonder why Carter agreed to make it unless it was a favour to Marin - of course, she may have simply just wanted to pay the rent. Bugles, produced by Bill Cagney, at least had her at the centre of a love triangle between Milland and Hugh Beaumont, and gave her something to play: a girl keen on Milland despite the mystery of his past; she won't take any shit from him. But her voice is too enunciated - she once claimed sound engineers said she spoke too fast so she slowed it down... and you wonder if this at times made her too self conscious about speaking.
Carter was back to being the Other Woman in The Golden Hawk (1952), a Sam Katzman swashbuckler, losing Sterling Hayden to Rhonda Fleming. Fleming easily had the best part - a noblewoman turned pirate - but Carter's wasn't bad, as a Spaniard; it's nice how she and Fleming become friends. Katzman used Carter again in The Pathfinder (1952), a Western-in-a-weird-time-period with George Montgomery set during the French-Indian Wars; Carter was once more "the girl" but this time she was the female lead and given heaps of cool stuff to do: translate French, shoot Indians, trek across country, make out with Montgomery. Both films were written by Robert E Kent who, in hindsight, wasn't bad creating female characters for these sort of movies (at least compared to others made around this time).
Carter's last movie was the independently-financed Invaders from Mars (1953) where she was top billed. For the first time in her entire career, Carter played something other than a love interest for the male lead; she's the kindly psychiatrist who believes the young boy (Jimmy Hunt) who claims aliens have taken over his parents and helps him investigate. She's brave, kind and heroic and while yes she does have to get rescued at the end, she's not a love interest (though there are hints she'll wind up with the doctor played by Arthur Franz). The film has since gone on to become a classic, particularly beloved by baby boomers who identified with the Jimmy Hunt character.
Carter's career was now at an interesting stage. She was trapped in "B" movies but that wasn't a death sentence. She could have shifted to television, made some more science fiction, kept on with Katzman. It only takes one role to turn things around.
But instead... she quit.
In December 1953 Carter married producer Michael Meshekoff, best known for Dragnet, and gave up acting entirely - no TV, no films, nothing. In acting terms, she vanished.
There must have been opportunities - she had the lead in her last film. Television was about to boom. She was still beautiful. At the very least she could have been up for roles played by, say, Rhonda Fleming or Arlene Dahl.
What happened?
Had she come to dislike acting that much? Did all those love interest parts break her spirit? Was it her husband? Did she just like not working?
Either way it meant we never got to see how good Carter could be. The best roles she had were Maid Marian type parts. Now Maid Marian is a pretty good role but it is limited; Olivia de Havilland played Maid Marian, then moved on to other things. Carter never got the chance.
She kept a very low profile in retirement. No memoirs, no comeback - I haven't even been able to find a single career-overview interview, which is especially weird when you consider how beloved Invasion from Mars was. If anyone knows what happened to her and what she was like please let me know. Because for me she was definitely a hidden gem in Hollywood of this time. I don't want to over praise her - her talent was raw and untested, it's entirely possible her range was limited. But she was often the best thing about her movies.
Why hadn't I heard about her? What else had she done? Where did she go? Being a glamour girl in Universal adventure movies weren't necessarily a career dead-end as would be proved by the trajectories of Maureen O'Hara, Piper Laurie, Shelley Winters, Rhonda Fleming, Yvonne De Carlo, etc. Why did someone with such life and spunk on screen not have a bigger impact?
So I googled...
Carter was born Helen Rickerts in New York City in 1923. She earned a bachelor's degree in teaching from Hunter College and studied English Literature at Columbia University Grad School. She became a fashion model, which isn't surprising from the way she carried herself later on screen - her poise was always very correct, as if she could balance a book on her head all the time.
It's hard to break into movies on the whole but being a model makes things slightly easier: Carter was visiting the Universal backlot in Los Angeles when spotted by producer Leonard Goldstein, who arranged a screen test that led to a seven-year contract with the studio.
It was a good beginning... but then lots of attractive women in Hollywood get signed to seven-year contracts (which really meant the studio had options on your services for up to seven years... they could drop you before then). Carter could have disappeared into a world of bit parts and extras. But she didn't.
She made her debut in a gothic romance, Time Out of Mind (1947), a film best remembered today (if at all) for (a) being director Robert Siodmak's one dud in a series of classic films for Universal, and (b) an unsuccessful attempt to launch British star Phyllis Calvert in Hollywood. Carter plays an icy aristocrat who marries Calvert's true love, Ric Hutton, in the third act; her ambition and coolness is contrasted with Calvert's unquestioning, doormat-like devotion and honesty. Calvert has poise and beauty, but her inexperience is most evident in her speaking voice - she enunciates like someone who has been to finishing school. However she already demonstrates what would be more most notable attributes - her beauty, spark and intelligence, and her ability to focus her eyes on the person she was performing a scene with.
Time Out of Mind was a big fat flop but no one blamed Carter - that was the fault of the story, and Hutton, who is terrible. In fact the movie would have been better off introducing Carter's character earlier - she gives the piece a bit of life.
Universal put her in another minor part in an "A" movie, Deanna Durbin's penultimate effort, Something in the Wind (1947); for the second time in a row Carter plays an Other Woman, the socialite fiancee of John Dall who loses him to Durbin. It wasn't a big part and isn't well remembered today - few latter period Durbins are - but it was a prestigious movie to be associated with.
Carter was then loaned out producers Sam Bischoff and George Raft for a tale of third world intrigue called, appropriately, Intrigue (1947). Raft also starred as a pilot involved in a smuggling racket in China, torn between two women: a slinky night club owner (June Havoc) and a social worker (Carter). Carter's third film saw her in her third love triangle and she doesn't appear until late in the movie but the part does have some meat on its bones - she's on her own doing work in China after World War Two which was gutsy. She got the guy in this one and made it believable, even if she was more than twenty years younger than Raft.
Carter's performance in this film helped establish what would be her stock in trade character - a good girl sexually attracted to the bad boy hero; moral, but not a stick in the mud; intelligent and spirited. She's fully present and focused in her scenes with Raft - her eyes are alive, interested, alert; she's aware, not naive, nobody's fool. The film would have been far better off with more of her and less of the self righteous reporter (Tom Tully) who is going to expose Raft - most of these scenes really should have gone to Carter's character.
Universal noticed and gave Carter the second female role in River Lady (1948), a million dollar extravaganza with Yvonne de Carlo, Rod Cameron and Dan Duryea, produced by her discoverer, Leonard Goldstein. It was a good part, too - the daughter of a lumber magnate who Cameron drunkenly marries in order to spite his ex, de Carlo. De Carlo and Carter are ideal opposites - the brassy, earthy girl with a past, versus the classy dame with a sparkle in the eye. Really both of them deserve a better man than Cameron (who, while thirteen years older than Carter, at least isn't old enough to be her father). Carter looks great in colour.
The film performed reasonably well at the box office and one would have thought Carter was ripe to step up to the next level - say, the female lead in a film noir or Western.. Instead she didn't appear in a film for over the year. And Universal made a lot of movies.
What happened?
According to Hedda Hooper, Carter became "a little difficult to handle" after her first film. She turned down a part in an Abbott and Costello movie, and "got the silent treatment from the studio for the year."
My guess is that Carter knew how good she was and wanted better roles. But Universal executives weren't about to let any uppity ex model college grad tell them what to do and slapped her down.
A year is a long time to punish an actor - they would have had to pay her not to work. But Universal wouldn't have had to pay her that much, they would've already made a healthy profit on her loan out for Intrigue, and it would be a useful reminder to the other girls under contract to not step out of line. I could be wrong about this, it's only an educated guess... but that sort of behaviour was common in the Golden Era of Hollywood.
A year on the sidelines seemed to have cooled Carter's resistance. As Hedda put it, "She finally saw the light, started co operating." Carter was back in front of the cameras for The Fighting O'Flynn (1949) a swashbuckler starring, produced and co-written by Douglas Fairbanks Jnr. It's a fun movie, with Carter playing a lady who romances Irish soldier Fairbanks during the Napoleonic Wars. Her character is another good girl who looks like she wants to be naughty, a Maid Marian type, and Carter teams well with Fairbanks. This time she's the one who gets to have an alternate love interest - Richard Greene, who turns out to be no good - though she still has an Other Woman to deal with, courtesan Patricia Medina. Fairbanks liked Carter, took an option out on her services for two more movies, and wanted to use her again in a film called The Caballero. However The Fighting O'Flynn was a box office disappointment (swashbucklers really needed colour by this stage) and no follow ups ensued.
Carter hadn't turned completely docile, and refused the role of Richard Long's wife in Ma and Pa Kettle (1948); Meg Randall took over and played it in three films. I have a soft spot for Ma and Pa Kettle movies but I get why Carter didn't want to play the straight man in a B comedy. Still, it must have hurt the producer, Leonard Goldstein, who had discovered the actor.
In November 1948 Hedda Hopper reported that Carter wanted out of her Universal contract "six months ago", and would get it if she paid back all the salary she had received since September. Hopper added that the studio got enough money out of her loan outs to Fairbanks and Raft to cover two years of her pay. However, for whatever reason (a talk with her bank manager/agent? a peace offering from executives? apathy?) Carter elected to stay at the studio.
Universal put her in South Sea Sinner (1950), a south seas melodrama where Carter plays the good girl in love with MacDonald Carey, who is also loved by trashy girl Shelley Winters. This is an okay film, not as good as the one it was remaking, Seven Sinners (1941), and is most notable for giving a small role to Liberace. Winters gets all the sympathy here, pining after Carey who goes for the more respectable Crater... but it is nice to see several scenes where Carter and Winters are friendly to each other. The irony is, there were rumours of an on set feud between the two. Carter doesn't seem particularly enthusiastic in this one.
She seems even more bored in her next assignment at Universal, the O'Connor pirate comedy produced by Goldstein, Double Crossbones (1951). Carter plays a lady who's meant to be into O'Connor but never looks convincing; Hope Emerson gets to have a lot more fun as a female pirate. The film was not released for over a year, and O'Connor later claimed it was one of his worst movies. It's not that bad but it's very underwhelming. Incidentally this is Carter's one movie where she had a younger male co star.
A more prestigious assignment followed when William Cagney borrowed her to play the second female lead in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950), Jimmy Cagney's crime-y followup to White Heat at Warner Bros. Carter played another good girl who wants to be naughty - the daughter of a local tycoon who marries Cagney not knowing he's a gangster. It's quite adult for 1950 - Carter is clearly attracted to Cagney because he's different, he marries her to sleep with her (that's what it's implied), he's okay with it being annulled, but she still wants him. The reputation of this was in the shadow of White Heat for many years but has recently been reappraised, in part because the other female role is played by the now legendary Barbara Payton, she of the exotic private life and tragic demise. Payton plays a rough around the edges type who breaks Cagney out of prison to help rescue her brother (Neville Brand) then falls for him after her brother's death; Carter is the classier good girl in comparison. Both Payton and Carter are a little too attractive looking for pudgy old Cagney, who was pushing fifty at the time - did he ever play such a stud muffin? It's the biggest flaw in an otherwise solid gangster story.
Carter enjoyed no career momentum from the film. She appeared in two westerns at Warners, Fort Worth (1951) with Randolph Scott (who, like Cagney, was born in the previous century, and was old enough to be Carter's father) and Bugles in the Afternoon (1952) with Ray Milland (a comparative spring chicken at 44 years of age); Carter was mostly decorative in both films. Fort Worth was the last movie from director Edwin Marin, who had worked with Carter in Intrigue; she plays the former love of Scott who has hooked up with his ex, and loses him to Phyllis Thaxter. The role is so small that you wonder why Carter agreed to make it unless it was a favour to Marin - of course, she may have simply just wanted to pay the rent. Bugles, produced by Bill Cagney, at least had her at the centre of a love triangle between Milland and Hugh Beaumont, and gave her something to play: a girl keen on Milland despite the mystery of his past; she won't take any shit from him. But her voice is too enunciated - she once claimed sound engineers said she spoke too fast so she slowed it down... and you wonder if this at times made her too self conscious about speaking.
Carter was back to being the Other Woman in The Golden Hawk (1952), a Sam Katzman swashbuckler, losing Sterling Hayden to Rhonda Fleming. Fleming easily had the best part - a noblewoman turned pirate - but Carter's wasn't bad, as a Spaniard; it's nice how she and Fleming become friends. Katzman used Carter again in The Pathfinder (1952), a Western-in-a-weird-time-period with George Montgomery set during the French-Indian Wars; Carter was once more "the girl" but this time she was the female lead and given heaps of cool stuff to do: translate French, shoot Indians, trek across country, make out with Montgomery. Both films were written by Robert E Kent who, in hindsight, wasn't bad creating female characters for these sort of movies (at least compared to others made around this time).
Carter's last movie was the independently-financed Invaders from Mars (1953) where she was top billed. For the first time in her entire career, Carter played something other than a love interest for the male lead; she's the kindly psychiatrist who believes the young boy (Jimmy Hunt) who claims aliens have taken over his parents and helps him investigate. She's brave, kind and heroic and while yes she does have to get rescued at the end, she's not a love interest (though there are hints she'll wind up with the doctor played by Arthur Franz). The film has since gone on to become a classic, particularly beloved by baby boomers who identified with the Jimmy Hunt character.
Carter's career was now at an interesting stage. She was trapped in "B" movies but that wasn't a death sentence. She could have shifted to television, made some more science fiction, kept on with Katzman. It only takes one role to turn things around.
But instead... she quit.
In December 1953 Carter married producer Michael Meshekoff, best known for Dragnet, and gave up acting entirely - no TV, no films, nothing. In acting terms, she vanished.
There must have been opportunities - she had the lead in her last film. Television was about to boom. She was still beautiful. At the very least she could have been up for roles played by, say, Rhonda Fleming or Arlene Dahl.
What happened?
Had she come to dislike acting that much? Did all those love interest parts break her spirit? Was it her husband? Did she just like not working?
Either way it meant we never got to see how good Carter could be. The best roles she had were Maid Marian type parts. Now Maid Marian is a pretty good role but it is limited; Olivia de Havilland played Maid Marian, then moved on to other things. Carter never got the chance.
She kept a very low profile in retirement. No memoirs, no comeback - I haven't even been able to find a single career-overview interview, which is especially weird when you consider how beloved Invasion from Mars was. If anyone knows what happened to her and what she was like please let me know. Because for me she was definitely a hidden gem in Hollywood of this time. I don't want to over praise her - her talent was raw and untested, it's entirely possible her range was limited. But she was often the best thing about her movies.
Movie review - "Avengers Endgame" (2019) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)
So much has been written about this I'll just throw in random thoughts:
- they pulled off a very difficult act but then Marvel figured out what so many other super hero groups didn't... to make the stories human and personal and add humour
- there's a lot of hair piece acting in the film
- I didn't like it as much as the first... the surviving people were mostly pretty dull... the first third was awkward (surely Thanos' head could've been cut off in part one?) but the second half picks up
- loved fat Thor - finally a Chris Hemsworth part I can relate to
- if the future is changed then wouldn't that mean Robert Downey Jnr's kid would die?
- I did cry at Downey's death but I did see this on a plane
- Gwyneth Paltrow looks silly in an iron man costume but I guess it was effective to have her there at the end
- Michelle Pfeiffer's cameo is weird
- What happened to the romance between Hulk and Natasha?
- missed Dr Strange vs Iron Man most of all
- Very rousing when all the Avengers get together.
- they pulled off a very difficult act but then Marvel figured out what so many other super hero groups didn't... to make the stories human and personal and add humour
- there's a lot of hair piece acting in the film
- I didn't like it as much as the first... the surviving people were mostly pretty dull... the first third was awkward (surely Thanos' head could've been cut off in part one?) but the second half picks up
- loved fat Thor - finally a Chris Hemsworth part I can relate to
- if the future is changed then wouldn't that mean Robert Downey Jnr's kid would die?
- I did cry at Downey's death but I did see this on a plane
- Gwyneth Paltrow looks silly in an iron man costume but I guess it was effective to have her there at the end
- Michelle Pfeiffer's cameo is weird
- What happened to the romance between Hulk and Natasha?
- missed Dr Strange vs Iron Man most of all
- Very rousing when all the Avengers get together.
Book review - "John Wayne: The Life and the Legend" by Scott Eyman
Typically excellent biography by Eyman, marred by the only occasional smart arse throw away line, and by the fact that Wayne's life has been chronicled so many times before. He doesn't really come up with super new stuff but what's here is very solid.
It's an affectionate look at the actor-producer-director - Eyman clearly likes him though recognises the man's flaws. It explores some Cold War politics, but also goes really in depth into the financial machinations of Batjac, which almost went bust following The Alamo but Michael Wayne brought it back.
Random thoughts:
- Wayne's second wife always comes across as a Carmen Miranda caricature
- Michael Wayne seems to have been a very smart guy
- Wayne was a decent father
- the affair with Gail Russell seems to have been emotional more than anything else
- Eyman is rightly suspicious of the memoirs of screenwriters when it comes to encounters with Wayne
- he disliked John Farrow and got other directors to reshoot his stuff
- he didn't have that many affairs but he did do Marlene Dietrich
- he was a smart guy but was a terrible businessman and amazingly was always short of cash
- Eyman excellently pays overdue attention to Charles Feldman and James Edward Grant as hugely influential figures in Wayne's life.
Very good book.
It's an affectionate look at the actor-producer-director - Eyman clearly likes him though recognises the man's flaws. It explores some Cold War politics, but also goes really in depth into the financial machinations of Batjac, which almost went bust following The Alamo but Michael Wayne brought it back.
Random thoughts:
- Wayne's second wife always comes across as a Carmen Miranda caricature
- Michael Wayne seems to have been a very smart guy
- Wayne was a decent father
- the affair with Gail Russell seems to have been emotional more than anything else
- Eyman is rightly suspicious of the memoirs of screenwriters when it comes to encounters with Wayne
- he disliked John Farrow and got other directors to reshoot his stuff
- he didn't have that many affairs but he did do Marlene Dietrich
- he was a smart guy but was a terrible businessman and amazingly was always short of cash
- Eyman excellently pays overdue attention to Charles Feldman and James Edward Grant as hugely influential figures in Wayne's life.
Very good book.
Book revew - "John Waters interviews" (2011)
John Waters is one of the liveliest directors as stars - one of the few you'd pay to see in concert (up there with Kevin Smith). He's informative, entertaining, funny, articulate, very bright on art. This is an entertaining collection of interviews which goes back before Pink Flamingos. It's remarkably consistent - he's had to answer the same questions a lot. It's a shame the book couldn't have cut out the opening intros by the magazine piece writers, these were a drag. There was fresh stuff here like him talking about Provincetown.
Monday, August 26, 2019
TV review - Final Two Seasons of "Veep" (2018-19) ***** (warning: spoilers)
Stunning television. They went for it - oh how they did. The writers strapped a flame thrower to their backs and let rip.
Scorching, brilliant, they take on everyone - religious nuts, the slack media, gays, lesbians, Muslims, the south, the elites, sex offenders... It has a jaw droppingly good finale where Selina sells out everything - her own country, friends and the one person who genuinely loves her.
It's amazing how the show up-ends tropes... we keep expecting Amy and Dan to get together for instance and the show tackles this head on by being true to character. It is so honest and true to character it's shocking.
Scorching, brilliant, they take on everyone - religious nuts, the slack media, gays, lesbians, Muslims, the south, the elites, sex offenders... It has a jaw droppingly good finale where Selina sells out everything - her own country, friends and the one person who genuinely loves her.
It's amazing how the show up-ends tropes... we keep expecting Amy and Dan to get together for instance and the show tackles this head on by being true to character. It is so honest and true to character it's shocking.
Movie review - "Runaway Train" (1985) ****
I have vivid memories of seeing this in the cinema which haven't left - the yelling and papers on fire at the prison, the boxing match, Eric Roberts incessant yet strangely comforting nattering, Jon Voight speaking through clenched teeth and a bloodied hand, the sense of freezing cold, the train operator who has his head shoved in the toilet.
It remains a powerful, arresting film - they didn't make many movies like this back then and they don't now. Rebecca de Morney is nearly unrecogniseable but adds warmth and human feeling as a third person on the train.
There's not actually that much action i.e. jumping around on a train. You can see how they keep the budget down - lots of scenes inside the caboose and inside the train HQ. The film maybe could have done with another sequence and maybe another baddy for them to overcome. John Ryan's arrival on the train feels a little anti climactic - Voight easily bests him.
Magnificent ending. Good editing. Great prison scenes - Eddie Bunker works on the script and also appears. It feels so real.
It remains a powerful, arresting film - they didn't make many movies like this back then and they don't now. Rebecca de Morney is nearly unrecogniseable but adds warmth and human feeling as a third person on the train.
There's not actually that much action i.e. jumping around on a train. You can see how they keep the budget down - lots of scenes inside the caboose and inside the train HQ. The film maybe could have done with another sequence and maybe another baddy for them to overcome. John Ryan's arrival on the train feels a little anti climactic - Voight easily bests him.
Magnificent ending. Good editing. Great prison scenes - Eddie Bunker works on the script and also appears. It feels so real.
Sunday, August 25, 2019
The Surprisingly Interesting Cinema of Pat Boone
Pat Boone had a decent career as a movie star. He was no Elvis Presley, but he starred in over a dozen films, had a couple of huge hits, and for a few years was one of the biggest box office draws in the US. He was famous for being a "clean" teen idol on screen - a non-smoking, non-drinking church goer, he was married with three kids by the age of 22, and who insisted on finishing college even while a huge star. Few of his movies are well remembered today. But a closer look at Boone's filmography reveals a series of works that are, in fact, surprisingly complex. Stephen Vagg looks at fifteen of his most notable movies.
1) Bernadine (1957)
Boone's first film was based on a play that 20th Century Fox had optioned intending to turn into a Robert Wagner vehicle. When Elvis Presley hit big in Love Me Tender (1956) - also at Fox - Wagner was out and Boone was in. He was signed to a multi-picture deal at the studio by Buddy Adler, who had recently taken over as head of production from Darryl F. Zanuck, and was keen to turn Boone, one of the biggest singing acts in the country, into a movie star.
Bernadine is a coming-of-age piece about about a small town teenager, Sanford, who falls for a pretty telephone operator, hangs out with his friends, hoons around in jalopies and boats, struggles to pass his high school exams, and cock blocks his mother's relationship with a man he doesn't like. A good role for Pat Boone, right? Only, get this - he doesn't play Sanford; that job is done by Dick Sergeant, a.k.a. the second Darrin on Bewitched - while Boone appears as his buddy, Beau. Boone isn't great but he doesn't have much of a character to play, and at least he has looks, charm and can sing. Sergeant is awful. The role really required a young Mickey Rooney but it could have been tailored for Boone, who is wasted in his part.
This weird casting decision was presumably made so as not to burden Pat too much on his first time out - after all in Love Me Tender Elvis plays a support role to Richard Egan, and later in Hound Dog Man (1959) Fabian would support Stuart Whitman. But those were good parts - Pat Boone's role is lousy. The main thing he does in the movie is sing (including "Love Letters in the Sand" which became a huge hit), and introduce an elder brother (James Drury) who runs off with Terry Moore. Boone's presence even throws the movie off a little - he gets this screen time his character doesn't deserve, and when he sings love songs despite not having an on screen love interest it feels weird.
Fox gave Bernadine all the trimmings - colour, Cinema Scope, a support cast that included Janet Gaynor (in her last movie) and Dean Jagger, and old pro Henry Levin behind the camera - but it's the sort of story that needed love and care (and perfect casting) to really work... and it didn't get it. The end result is awkward, unfocused, and not a little creepy, especially in the relationship between Sergeant and his mother. However the public were keen to see Boone on the big screen and his popularity turned this into a box office success.
2) April Love (1957)
Boone's second film is much more satisfactory, in part because it puts him front and centre, but also because the material is more fool-proof. It's a remake of an earlier Fox hit, Home in Indiana (1944), with Pat stepping into a part originally played by Lon McAllister, an actor who had a brief heyday in the forties playing All-American types like Pat.
This is a sweet, wholesome tale where Pat is a "juvenile delinquent" i.e. he stole a car... though we never see the theft. He's sent out to a country town, where he has to take lifts from people (which is actually a jolt to see, such is our conditioning that movie heroes should drive) and falls for Shirley Jones. He also gets lectured to by Arthur O'Connell, who played an on-screen paterfamilias for most of the screen teen idols during this era, from Elvis and Fabian to George Hamilton and Sandra Dee.
This was the film where Boone refused to kiss Jones on the lips for fear of upsetting his wife. He was about to do the kiss then realised he hadn't checked with Mrs Boone; he asked to postpone the scene, then got his wife's approval overnight... but by the next day the story had leaked, Buddy Adler was furious, he and Boone fought, and Boone arced up and refused to do any kissing. So Jones goes in for a kiss but he pushes her away (this is motivated by story at the time), and at the end he goes to kiss her but they are interrupted. It feels odd - these sort of movies are so wholesome you need a kiss as a form of release and you don't get it.
But it has nice colour and charm, Boone sings a few pleasing tunes and he teams marvellously with Jones, who had a similar all-American image (though she was a lot raunchier in her private life than her co-star). Boone loved the movie and later said he wish he could have made twenty more of them: "a musical, appealing characters, some drama, a good storyline, a happy ending." Why didn't he? The film was a hit - it helped Boone be voted the number three box office star in the country at the end of 1957. And it wasn't as if Fox lacked Americana stories in their back catalogue that they could remake: Kentucky (1938), Maryland (1940), Margie (1946), Smoky (1946), Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948), etc. The only other remake he'd wind up doing was State Fair and that wasn't even a star vehicle. Why didn't someone put him together with Jones again?
3) Mardi Gras (1958)
Pat Boone became a famous homophobe so it's ironic to see him in a movie based on a story by gay Curtis Harrington and directed by bisexual Edmund Goulding who was notorious for hosting orgies. Mind you, gays were hard to avoid in Hollywood - Boone's first co star, Dick Sergeant, was one, as was Lon McAllister, and Shirley Jones' husband during the making of April Love, Jack Cassidy, was bisexual. And Boone has always denied accusations of homophobia, saying some of his best friends were gay (he and his wife did Bible readings at Rock Hudson's house when the latter was dying of AIDS), and co-writing two books about gays who gave up the "lifestyle", Joy: A Homosexual’s Fulfillment, and Coming Out: True Stories of the Gay Exodus. So that's settled, then.
Mardi Gras is a three-servicemen-on-leave musical, a subgenre that prospered in the fifties after On the Town (1949); the plot also borrows liberally from The Fleet's In (1942) and Roman Holiday (1953). Producer Jerry Wald liked the chance to showcase Fox's contract talent - Tommy Sands and Gary Crosby play Boone's fellow West Point grads while Christine Carere, Sheree North and Barrie Chase are the girls.
The film is bright enough but is hampered by its casting - Boone is fine but Carrere looks like a stunned mullet for most of the running time. (Boone kisses her on the cheek, incidentally - still no mouth!) Goulding shoots a scene where Boone, Sands and Crosby have an extended shower together... presumably this was a fun day at the office for the director, whose last film this was. It was a minor hit at the box office, though not as successful as Boone's first two movies. His box office ranking dropped to number eleven in 1958, which was still pretty good.
4) Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1959)
Boone was reluctant to be part of this fantasy adventure, well aware he would be a support player (the film was originally conceived as a vehicle for Clifton Webb before he became too ill and James Mason stepped in). He was persuaded to sign by a healthy fee and was rewarded with the biggest hit of his career.
And it's no surprise - for this is an utterly magical, charming adventure that works on every level. It's restrained, intelligent and enchanting - easily the best film for both director Henry Levin and Boone (and, come to think of it, co-star Arlene Dahl).
As in Mardi Gras, Boone's physical beauty is exploited - he walks around shirtless a lot and takes a shower that's as gratuitous as any that had to be performed by a starlet in the fifties. He originally performed several songs in the film but they were cut when it was seen how they slowed up the action. And his role brushes up uneasily with that of Peter Ronson - it's like these two parts should have been combined in one.
But that's griping. This is the one Boone film I can recommend unreservedly and it remains a mystery why Boone never appeared in another fantasy/sci fi adventure in his entire career. He was believable in them, he could easily sing a song over the credits if he wanted, he wouldn't have to worry about kissing any of his co stars, or "morality" issues. And it wasn't as though Fox weren't making them - when he was under contract they turned out The Lost World (1960), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) and Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962)... the last two even featured pop stars, Frankie Avalon and Fabian respectively. But no Boone. Was he too expensive? Did the dates not work out? Did he insist on playing the lead? Whatever the reason it was a great shame... for me the biggest misstep Boone made in his film career.
The second biggest was he never again supported a star like James Mason, at least not during his prime. Boone could have benefited from being teamed with an older "name," like say John Wayne in The Comancheros (1961) (he could've played the Stuart Whitman part) or Frank Sinatra in Can Can (1960) (he could've played the Louis Jourdan part). But he didn't - at least not until Goodbye Charlie by which stage he really wasn't a movie star any more. Was it cost? Ego? Dates not working out? Anyway, it was silly of him.
Incidentally, in Journey Boone kisses Diane Baker on the forehead then is about to kiss her on the lips when they're interrupted... but at the end he kisses her briefly on the lips. His first lip kiss. Awww.
Despite the film's success, his box office ranking dropped to 22 in 1959. He kept that the following year despite appearing in no movies that year, and thereafter did not make any of the lists.
5) All Hands on Deck (1961)
Boone took a break away from movies for a few months, studying acting with Sanford Meisner, before returning to the screen in this service comedy. He plays a naval officer who has to babysit a madcap Native American sailor (Buddy Hackett in brownface) whose family are rich on oil money. The racism against native Americans here is both casual and formal, but it's a rare Hollywood film at the time where they are shown to have some status in the modern world.
Towards the end of the movie the writers got bored with that plot and make the story about a turkey, which tends to make for a patchy storyline... but it is all done with high spirits and Boone is quite animated; it's a relaxed performance, and his best to date - the Meisner training did pay off. Director Norman Taurog worked several times with Elvis Presley and this feels like it could have been a Presley vehicle. Barbara Eden plays Boone's love interest and again he struggles to kiss her on camera; he comes close a few times but they pull away, which is distracting.
6) State Fair (1962)
Fox blew the dust off another old property for Pat Boone, in this case the 1945 musical State Fair, which had originally been filmed in 1935. Boone (who is top billed) plays the son of a family who have various adventures at a state fair; he gets to romance singer Ann Margret and it's heavily implied they sleep together... the film goes from them embracing then cuts to a shirtless Boone lying in her lap. He also gets drunk on screen for the first time. Way to go, Pat!
This movie has its fans but was a financial disappointment and I think that's because it just doesn't work. It's not the material - sure, it's cheesy, but The Sound of Music (1965) was cheesy and that came along three years later. I feel the main problem is too many key people were miscast. Jose Ferrer was not the right director and most of the cast fall short of their 1945 counterparts: Tom Ewell seems too urban to play "paw" compared to Charles Winninger; Pamela Tiffin looks like an urban ditz rather than a sweet naive country girl like Jeanne Crain; Bobby Darin (another pop star turned actor) comes across as sleazy rather than sharp like Dana Andrews; Ann-Margret was always better as good girls who looked as though they wanted to be naughty (Viva Las Vegas, Bye Bye Birdie) rather than straight-out naughty girls; Alice Faye looks like Alice Faye coming out of retirement (it was her last film) whereas Fay Bainter felt like a character. The one exception is Pat Boone who is far better than Dick Haymes - but he can't save things.
Everyone assumed this would be a big hit but it wasn't. Still, Fox signed Boone to a new three-picture contract, although his next movie would be made for MGM-Seven Arts.
7) The Main Attraction (1962)
Pat Boone would later talk how he turned down a chance to star with Marilyn Monroe in an adaptation of William Inge's play Celebration because he felt the material was immoral (it later became The Stripper (1963) with Joanne Woodward and Richard Beymer). However two box office disappointments meant Boone was susceptible to overtures from producer Ray Stark, suggesting the actor change his image.
The Main Attraction was a tale of an amoral drifter (Boone) who lives out of wedlock with an elder circus performer (Mai Zetterling), then falls in love with a bareback horse rider (Nancy Kwan). This was racy stuff for Boone, who says he was attracted by the moral of the picture where his no-good character is redeemed by The Love Of a Good Woman.
Boone says in the original script his character resisted having sex with Kwan, which he liked because he felt it showed his character was growing emotionally. He claims when it came to filming this had been changed so that they slept together. Miscegenation and sex! There was a stand off, Boone complained to the press, and Stark agreed to re-shoot the scene so it's implied Boone and Kwan sleep together instead of showing it. They did this in order to get Boone's co operation publicizing the movie.
It's a weird film, not quite successful, but interesting, which benefits from being shot in Europe and a catchy theme tune. The public didn't particularly like it. Pat Boone said it was because it was too sexy for something starring him, and he's probably right. It was a role that needed an Elvis.
8) The Yellow Canary (1963)
While Elvis Presley was turning out three films a year that were all basically the same, Boone was continually changing genres. In The Yellow Canary he agreed to play another anti-hero, an egotistical singer whose son is kidnapped. A script was prepared by Rod Serling and Boone was going to make it under his new three-picture contract with Fox at $200,000 a film... but then the studio changed management. Daryl F. Zanuck returned to take over and did an audit of all projects. He disliked The Yellow Canary and would have shut it down completely but since Boone had a pay or play contract (as did Serling and co stars Barbara Eden and Steve Forrest), Zanuck flicked it over to Fox's ""B" unit, run by Robert L. Lippert, whose regular director, Maury Dexter, shot it in ten days on a below-the-line budget of $100,000 - less than Boone's fee.
Boone whined about Fox's cheapness but you know something? Zanuck was right. Serling's script isn't very good with too much flowery dialogue. Because it's a thriller the low budget didn't necessarily have to hurt in the hands of an imaginative director - but Dexter was a second-rater. It is interesting to see Boone play someone unpleasant who proves his manhood by shooting someone dead - this was a rare film where the actor used a gun. The movie flopped at the box office.
9) The Horror of It All (1963)
Zanuck doesn't seem to have been a fan of Boone's; the next film he put the actor in was another cheapie for the Lippert unit, this time filmed in England. It was a "comedy chiller" set in an old dark house, directed by Terence Fisher and is populated by a fine supporting cast of English character actors playing various eccentrics (doddery inventor, sexy dame, etc). Boone is a solid straight man and the film lively. It's not up to something like The Cat and the Canary (1939) which it was clearly aping, but those films are harder to do than they look. It's not bad. It could have done with colour and songs.
10) Never Put It In Writing (1964)
Boone's next film was his third cheapie in a row, this time a screwball comedy for Seven Arts. It was written and directed by Andrew L. Stone, best known for his realistic thrillers but who actually started his career with comedies; based on the results here, he had gotten rusty at making them. This is a sluggish, underwritten effort about a man who writes an abusive letter to his boss in pique then tries to retrieve it.
The most interesting thing about this is part of the action was shot in Ireland and there was an accident involving planes while filming at Shannon Airport that led to questions being asked in the Irish parliament. This is the sort of movie that needed songs and colour to compensate for the script; it has neither. Boone's performance is fine, by the way.
By 1963 Boone's albums weren't selling as strongly as they used to (his last top ten hit was in 1962), but it's a mystery why he allowed himself to appear in the three low budget films in a row. It was this run more than anything that ended his reign as a film star. He did have one more studio picture to go, but it would be as a supporting actor...
11) Goodbye Charlie (1965)
This was gender bending comedy based on a play by George Axelrod that really needed to star Marilyn Monroe and be directed by Billy Wilder - instead it got Debbie Reynolds and Vincent Minnelli. The plot is about a womanizing man who is shot dead and reincarnated in the body of woman (Reynolds) and has to fend off advances from Tony Curtis and Pat Boone. It's not that shocking to see the star of Spartacus (1960) and Some Like It Hot (1959) make moves on a woman not knowing she's a man, but it is a surprise to see Boone to do it. He later admitted to having a drinking problem around this time and shot some scenes for the movie while drunk. You can't tell.
This film remains resolutely undiscovered by queer/feminist film analysts, despite its subject matter and bisexual director (Boone's second!)... I think in part because Reynolds' performance is so utterly sexless it holds any feeling of kinkiness at bay. But there's no denying it - Boone plays a guy who effectively tries to make out with a dude.
The film does have another point of distinction - the opening scene involves a long tracking shot at a party that results in a middle aged man getting annoyed at his wife having sex with a younger hunk, taking out his gun and shooting at the guy...just like in Boogie Nights (1997). The movie was a financial disappointment (though not a flop) and Boone made no further films for Fox.
12) The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
After all the sexual confusion in Goodbye Charlie it must have been a relief for Boone to go into his first religious film. He's one of many star cameos in this George Stevens epic, playing an Angel at the Tomb.
Boone (who is perfectly fine in the role, by the way) was proud of his association with the movie, making you wonder why he didn't appear in more Biblical stories. After all, Fox made a bunch in the early sixties - The Story of Ruth (1960) with Stuart Whitman, Esther and the King (1960) with Richard Egan, and Francis of Assisi (1961) with Bradford Dillman. It might be because shortly after Mardi Gras Boone turned down a role in a film Buddy Adler wanted him to make - The St Bernard Story, where Boone would play a monk who falls in love with a woman. After much soul searching, Boone turned the part down because he felt he couldn't play a Catholic. The film was never made - but if he wouldn't play a Catholic, would he play a Jew? There weren't many Protestants around in Jesus' day. Maybe an angel was the only sort of part he was interested in.
13) The Perils of Pauline (1967)
One of the mysteries of Boone's career was why he didn't support major stars more like say John Wayne or James Stewart - I'm assuming this was due to ego and/or cost. But by the late sixties he was willing to play the leading man alongside the little known Pamela Austin, who is really the protagonist of this silly light hearted adventure. It was a pilot for a TV series that didn't sell, so was released as a theatrical feature by Universal. It was Boone's fifth comedy of the sixties - he just kept trying to make them.
The basic story has Austin and Boone as childhood sweethearts at an orphanage - he goes off to make his fortune in order to marry her, and spends the rest of the running time of the movie trying to be reunited with her. They are constantly thwarted by the fact men keep falling in love with Pauline.
There's a surprisingly strong emotional undercurrent to the story - Austin and Boone are soulmates, and just want to get married, but others stop them: lecherous sheiks, pukka sahibs (Terry Thomas!), Russian secret agents, Italian film directors, cosmonauts, gorillas, etc. It's a repetitive storyline, though - Boone and Austin are about to get together, but something stops them - and has the cheerful racism of films of this era (horny Arabs, midgets in Africa).
It is is full of energy and never lets up. The movies it most reminded me of were the 60s AIP beach party comedies, with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. Boone throws himself into his silly role with much enthusiasm and little kids will like it, especially girls who might identify with Pauline. Incidentally Boone was starting to lose his hair by now and the hair pieces would soon kick in... for all this later talk about the importance of being honest, Boone, like many a star, was cagey about the reality of his hair.
14) The Pigeon (1969)
Boone played a support role in this TV movie starring Sammy Davis Jr - the billing says he made a "special appearance". He did it for the chance to do a dramatic role and says he was surprised to be offered. Was this true? Had he really become so unfashionable that the only role going was supporting Sammy Davis Jr in a TV movie? Boone did seem out of step in the swinging sixties but it's still surprising he wasn't signed up to make, say, a family sitcom. This was The Brady Bunch era after all.
15) The Cross and the Switchblade (1970)
This was Boone's last role as a leading man in a feature until the 2010s. It was a religious themed biopic about a pastor who goes to the streets and teaches gang members about Jesus. It was done very cheaply and looks it but was widely seen among its target audience - I actually think a major studio would've make money out of this had they picked it up.
The film ended Boone's career as a leading man though he's remained active as an actor, guest starring on TV series like Owen Marshall and Moonlighting. He returned to films in the 2010s in Christian themed tales like Boonville Redemption (2016) and A Cowgirl's Story (2017). He continues to sing, and regularly commentates on cultural matters, such as promoting the theory that Barak Obama was born in Kenya and is a Muslim.
His film career remains a fascinating grab bag of genres and missed opportunities with one unadulterated classic, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, one sweet romance, April Love, and two films which spoke very much to his personal beliefs, The Greatest Story Ever Told and The Cross and the Switchblade.
It's completely bizarre that Boone never tried to repeat these movies. It's also weird there are no war films in his oeuvre (he must have been one of the few Fox contract players to not appear in The Longest Day), no Westerns, no adaptations of a Broadway musical - genres that might have given him an extra lease of life as a movie actor. He could have taken roles played by Stuart Whitman, Tom Tryon, Al Hedison but didn't. He wondered why Hollywood no longer made family films but never appeared in any - Fox made some, like Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation with James Stewart, but also Disney and filmmakers like Joe Cap... yet Boone was MIA.
But to be fair, movie making was just one chapter of Boone's life. He's devoted more time and attention to his efforts as a singer, TV presenter, writer, real estate developer and cultural commentator. But he was the most successful fifties pop star turned movie star after Elvis and that deserves some respect.
1) Bernadine (1957)
Boone's first film was based on a play that 20th Century Fox had optioned intending to turn into a Robert Wagner vehicle. When Elvis Presley hit big in Love Me Tender (1956) - also at Fox - Wagner was out and Boone was in. He was signed to a multi-picture deal at the studio by Buddy Adler, who had recently taken over as head of production from Darryl F. Zanuck, and was keen to turn Boone, one of the biggest singing acts in the country, into a movie star.
Bernadine is a coming-of-age piece about about a small town teenager, Sanford, who falls for a pretty telephone operator, hangs out with his friends, hoons around in jalopies and boats, struggles to pass his high school exams, and cock blocks his mother's relationship with a man he doesn't like. A good role for Pat Boone, right? Only, get this - he doesn't play Sanford; that job is done by Dick Sergeant, a.k.a. the second Darrin on Bewitched - while Boone appears as his buddy, Beau. Boone isn't great but he doesn't have much of a character to play, and at least he has looks, charm and can sing. Sergeant is awful. The role really required a young Mickey Rooney but it could have been tailored for Boone, who is wasted in his part.
This weird casting decision was presumably made so as not to burden Pat too much on his first time out - after all in Love Me Tender Elvis plays a support role to Richard Egan, and later in Hound Dog Man (1959) Fabian would support Stuart Whitman. But those were good parts - Pat Boone's role is lousy. The main thing he does in the movie is sing (including "Love Letters in the Sand" which became a huge hit), and introduce an elder brother (James Drury) who runs off with Terry Moore. Boone's presence even throws the movie off a little - he gets this screen time his character doesn't deserve, and when he sings love songs despite not having an on screen love interest it feels weird.
Fox gave Bernadine all the trimmings - colour, Cinema Scope, a support cast that included Janet Gaynor (in her last movie) and Dean Jagger, and old pro Henry Levin behind the camera - but it's the sort of story that needed love and care (and perfect casting) to really work... and it didn't get it. The end result is awkward, unfocused, and not a little creepy, especially in the relationship between Sergeant and his mother. However the public were keen to see Boone on the big screen and his popularity turned this into a box office success.
2) April Love (1957)
Boone's second film is much more satisfactory, in part because it puts him front and centre, but also because the material is more fool-proof. It's a remake of an earlier Fox hit, Home in Indiana (1944), with Pat stepping into a part originally played by Lon McAllister, an actor who had a brief heyday in the forties playing All-American types like Pat.
This is a sweet, wholesome tale where Pat is a "juvenile delinquent" i.e. he stole a car... though we never see the theft. He's sent out to a country town, where he has to take lifts from people (which is actually a jolt to see, such is our conditioning that movie heroes should drive) and falls for Shirley Jones. He also gets lectured to by Arthur O'Connell, who played an on-screen paterfamilias for most of the screen teen idols during this era, from Elvis and Fabian to George Hamilton and Sandra Dee.
This was the film where Boone refused to kiss Jones on the lips for fear of upsetting his wife. He was about to do the kiss then realised he hadn't checked with Mrs Boone; he asked to postpone the scene, then got his wife's approval overnight... but by the next day the story had leaked, Buddy Adler was furious, he and Boone fought, and Boone arced up and refused to do any kissing. So Jones goes in for a kiss but he pushes her away (this is motivated by story at the time), and at the end he goes to kiss her but they are interrupted. It feels odd - these sort of movies are so wholesome you need a kiss as a form of release and you don't get it.
But it has nice colour and charm, Boone sings a few pleasing tunes and he teams marvellously with Jones, who had a similar all-American image (though she was a lot raunchier in her private life than her co-star). Boone loved the movie and later said he wish he could have made twenty more of them: "a musical, appealing characters, some drama, a good storyline, a happy ending." Why didn't he? The film was a hit - it helped Boone be voted the number three box office star in the country at the end of 1957. And it wasn't as if Fox lacked Americana stories in their back catalogue that they could remake: Kentucky (1938), Maryland (1940), Margie (1946), Smoky (1946), Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948), etc. The only other remake he'd wind up doing was State Fair and that wasn't even a star vehicle. Why didn't someone put him together with Jones again?
3) Mardi Gras (1958)
Pat Boone became a famous homophobe so it's ironic to see him in a movie based on a story by gay Curtis Harrington and directed by bisexual Edmund Goulding who was notorious for hosting orgies. Mind you, gays were hard to avoid in Hollywood - Boone's first co star, Dick Sergeant, was one, as was Lon McAllister, and Shirley Jones' husband during the making of April Love, Jack Cassidy, was bisexual. And Boone has always denied accusations of homophobia, saying some of his best friends were gay (he and his wife did Bible readings at Rock Hudson's house when the latter was dying of AIDS), and co-writing two books about gays who gave up the "lifestyle", Joy: A Homosexual’s Fulfillment, and Coming Out: True Stories of the Gay Exodus. So that's settled, then.
Mardi Gras is a three-servicemen-on-leave musical, a subgenre that prospered in the fifties after On the Town (1949); the plot also borrows liberally from The Fleet's In (1942) and Roman Holiday (1953). Producer Jerry Wald liked the chance to showcase Fox's contract talent - Tommy Sands and Gary Crosby play Boone's fellow West Point grads while Christine Carere, Sheree North and Barrie Chase are the girls.
The film is bright enough but is hampered by its casting - Boone is fine but Carrere looks like a stunned mullet for most of the running time. (Boone kisses her on the cheek, incidentally - still no mouth!) Goulding shoots a scene where Boone, Sands and Crosby have an extended shower together... presumably this was a fun day at the office for the director, whose last film this was. It was a minor hit at the box office, though not as successful as Boone's first two movies. His box office ranking dropped to number eleven in 1958, which was still pretty good.
4) Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1959)
Boone was reluctant to be part of this fantasy adventure, well aware he would be a support player (the film was originally conceived as a vehicle for Clifton Webb before he became too ill and James Mason stepped in). He was persuaded to sign by a healthy fee and was rewarded with the biggest hit of his career.
And it's no surprise - for this is an utterly magical, charming adventure that works on every level. It's restrained, intelligent and enchanting - easily the best film for both director Henry Levin and Boone (and, come to think of it, co-star Arlene Dahl).
As in Mardi Gras, Boone's physical beauty is exploited - he walks around shirtless a lot and takes a shower that's as gratuitous as any that had to be performed by a starlet in the fifties. He originally performed several songs in the film but they were cut when it was seen how they slowed up the action. And his role brushes up uneasily with that of Peter Ronson - it's like these two parts should have been combined in one.
But that's griping. This is the one Boone film I can recommend unreservedly and it remains a mystery why Boone never appeared in another fantasy/sci fi adventure in his entire career. He was believable in them, he could easily sing a song over the credits if he wanted, he wouldn't have to worry about kissing any of his co stars, or "morality" issues. And it wasn't as though Fox weren't making them - when he was under contract they turned out The Lost World (1960), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) and Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962)... the last two even featured pop stars, Frankie Avalon and Fabian respectively. But no Boone. Was he too expensive? Did the dates not work out? Did he insist on playing the lead? Whatever the reason it was a great shame... for me the biggest misstep Boone made in his film career.
The second biggest was he never again supported a star like James Mason, at least not during his prime. Boone could have benefited from being teamed with an older "name," like say John Wayne in The Comancheros (1961) (he could've played the Stuart Whitman part) or Frank Sinatra in Can Can (1960) (he could've played the Louis Jourdan part). But he didn't - at least not until Goodbye Charlie by which stage he really wasn't a movie star any more. Was it cost? Ego? Dates not working out? Anyway, it was silly of him.
Incidentally, in Journey Boone kisses Diane Baker on the forehead then is about to kiss her on the lips when they're interrupted... but at the end he kisses her briefly on the lips. His first lip kiss. Awww.
Despite the film's success, his box office ranking dropped to 22 in 1959. He kept that the following year despite appearing in no movies that year, and thereafter did not make any of the lists.
5) All Hands on Deck (1961)
Boone took a break away from movies for a few months, studying acting with Sanford Meisner, before returning to the screen in this service comedy. He plays a naval officer who has to babysit a madcap Native American sailor (Buddy Hackett in brownface) whose family are rich on oil money. The racism against native Americans here is both casual and formal, but it's a rare Hollywood film at the time where they are shown to have some status in the modern world.
Towards the end of the movie the writers got bored with that plot and make the story about a turkey, which tends to make for a patchy storyline... but it is all done with high spirits and Boone is quite animated; it's a relaxed performance, and his best to date - the Meisner training did pay off. Director Norman Taurog worked several times with Elvis Presley and this feels like it could have been a Presley vehicle. Barbara Eden plays Boone's love interest and again he struggles to kiss her on camera; he comes close a few times but they pull away, which is distracting.
6) State Fair (1962)
Fox blew the dust off another old property for Pat Boone, in this case the 1945 musical State Fair, which had originally been filmed in 1935. Boone (who is top billed) plays the son of a family who have various adventures at a state fair; he gets to romance singer Ann Margret and it's heavily implied they sleep together... the film goes from them embracing then cuts to a shirtless Boone lying in her lap. He also gets drunk on screen for the first time. Way to go, Pat!
This movie has its fans but was a financial disappointment and I think that's because it just doesn't work. It's not the material - sure, it's cheesy, but The Sound of Music (1965) was cheesy and that came along three years later. I feel the main problem is too many key people were miscast. Jose Ferrer was not the right director and most of the cast fall short of their 1945 counterparts: Tom Ewell seems too urban to play "paw" compared to Charles Winninger; Pamela Tiffin looks like an urban ditz rather than a sweet naive country girl like Jeanne Crain; Bobby Darin (another pop star turned actor) comes across as sleazy rather than sharp like Dana Andrews; Ann-Margret was always better as good girls who looked as though they wanted to be naughty (Viva Las Vegas, Bye Bye Birdie) rather than straight-out naughty girls; Alice Faye looks like Alice Faye coming out of retirement (it was her last film) whereas Fay Bainter felt like a character. The one exception is Pat Boone who is far better than Dick Haymes - but he can't save things.
Everyone assumed this would be a big hit but it wasn't. Still, Fox signed Boone to a new three-picture contract, although his next movie would be made for MGM-Seven Arts.
7) The Main Attraction (1962)
Pat Boone would later talk how he turned down a chance to star with Marilyn Monroe in an adaptation of William Inge's play Celebration because he felt the material was immoral (it later became The Stripper (1963) with Joanne Woodward and Richard Beymer). However two box office disappointments meant Boone was susceptible to overtures from producer Ray Stark, suggesting the actor change his image.
The Main Attraction was a tale of an amoral drifter (Boone) who lives out of wedlock with an elder circus performer (Mai Zetterling), then falls in love with a bareback horse rider (Nancy Kwan). This was racy stuff for Boone, who says he was attracted by the moral of the picture where his no-good character is redeemed by The Love Of a Good Woman.
Boone says in the original script his character resisted having sex with Kwan, which he liked because he felt it showed his character was growing emotionally. He claims when it came to filming this had been changed so that they slept together. Miscegenation and sex! There was a stand off, Boone complained to the press, and Stark agreed to re-shoot the scene so it's implied Boone and Kwan sleep together instead of showing it. They did this in order to get Boone's co operation publicizing the movie.
It's a weird film, not quite successful, but interesting, which benefits from being shot in Europe and a catchy theme tune. The public didn't particularly like it. Pat Boone said it was because it was too sexy for something starring him, and he's probably right. It was a role that needed an Elvis.
8) The Yellow Canary (1963)
While Elvis Presley was turning out three films a year that were all basically the same, Boone was continually changing genres. In The Yellow Canary he agreed to play another anti-hero, an egotistical singer whose son is kidnapped. A script was prepared by Rod Serling and Boone was going to make it under his new three-picture contract with Fox at $200,000 a film... but then the studio changed management. Daryl F. Zanuck returned to take over and did an audit of all projects. He disliked The Yellow Canary and would have shut it down completely but since Boone had a pay or play contract (as did Serling and co stars Barbara Eden and Steve Forrest), Zanuck flicked it over to Fox's ""B" unit, run by Robert L. Lippert, whose regular director, Maury Dexter, shot it in ten days on a below-the-line budget of $100,000 - less than Boone's fee.
Boone whined about Fox's cheapness but you know something? Zanuck was right. Serling's script isn't very good with too much flowery dialogue. Because it's a thriller the low budget didn't necessarily have to hurt in the hands of an imaginative director - but Dexter was a second-rater. It is interesting to see Boone play someone unpleasant who proves his manhood by shooting someone dead - this was a rare film where the actor used a gun. The movie flopped at the box office.
9) The Horror of It All (1963)
Zanuck doesn't seem to have been a fan of Boone's; the next film he put the actor in was another cheapie for the Lippert unit, this time filmed in England. It was a "comedy chiller" set in an old dark house, directed by Terence Fisher and is populated by a fine supporting cast of English character actors playing various eccentrics (doddery inventor, sexy dame, etc). Boone is a solid straight man and the film lively. It's not up to something like The Cat and the Canary (1939) which it was clearly aping, but those films are harder to do than they look. It's not bad. It could have done with colour and songs.
10) Never Put It In Writing (1964)
Boone's next film was his third cheapie in a row, this time a screwball comedy for Seven Arts. It was written and directed by Andrew L. Stone, best known for his realistic thrillers but who actually started his career with comedies; based on the results here, he had gotten rusty at making them. This is a sluggish, underwritten effort about a man who writes an abusive letter to his boss in pique then tries to retrieve it.
The most interesting thing about this is part of the action was shot in Ireland and there was an accident involving planes while filming at Shannon Airport that led to questions being asked in the Irish parliament. This is the sort of movie that needed songs and colour to compensate for the script; it has neither. Boone's performance is fine, by the way.
By 1963 Boone's albums weren't selling as strongly as they used to (his last top ten hit was in 1962), but it's a mystery why he allowed himself to appear in the three low budget films in a row. It was this run more than anything that ended his reign as a film star. He did have one more studio picture to go, but it would be as a supporting actor...
11) Goodbye Charlie (1965)
This was gender bending comedy based on a play by George Axelrod that really needed to star Marilyn Monroe and be directed by Billy Wilder - instead it got Debbie Reynolds and Vincent Minnelli. The plot is about a womanizing man who is shot dead and reincarnated in the body of woman (Reynolds) and has to fend off advances from Tony Curtis and Pat Boone. It's not that shocking to see the star of Spartacus (1960) and Some Like It Hot (1959) make moves on a woman not knowing she's a man, but it is a surprise to see Boone to do it. He later admitted to having a drinking problem around this time and shot some scenes for the movie while drunk. You can't tell.
This film remains resolutely undiscovered by queer/feminist film analysts, despite its subject matter and bisexual director (Boone's second!)... I think in part because Reynolds' performance is so utterly sexless it holds any feeling of kinkiness at bay. But there's no denying it - Boone plays a guy who effectively tries to make out with a dude.
The film does have another point of distinction - the opening scene involves a long tracking shot at a party that results in a middle aged man getting annoyed at his wife having sex with a younger hunk, taking out his gun and shooting at the guy...just like in Boogie Nights (1997). The movie was a financial disappointment (though not a flop) and Boone made no further films for Fox.
12) The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
After all the sexual confusion in Goodbye Charlie it must have been a relief for Boone to go into his first religious film. He's one of many star cameos in this George Stevens epic, playing an Angel at the Tomb.
Boone (who is perfectly fine in the role, by the way) was proud of his association with the movie, making you wonder why he didn't appear in more Biblical stories. After all, Fox made a bunch in the early sixties - The Story of Ruth (1960) with Stuart Whitman, Esther and the King (1960) with Richard Egan, and Francis of Assisi (1961) with Bradford Dillman. It might be because shortly after Mardi Gras Boone turned down a role in a film Buddy Adler wanted him to make - The St Bernard Story, where Boone would play a monk who falls in love with a woman. After much soul searching, Boone turned the part down because he felt he couldn't play a Catholic. The film was never made - but if he wouldn't play a Catholic, would he play a Jew? There weren't many Protestants around in Jesus' day. Maybe an angel was the only sort of part he was interested in.
13) The Perils of Pauline (1967)
One of the mysteries of Boone's career was why he didn't support major stars more like say John Wayne or James Stewart - I'm assuming this was due to ego and/or cost. But by the late sixties he was willing to play the leading man alongside the little known Pamela Austin, who is really the protagonist of this silly light hearted adventure. It was a pilot for a TV series that didn't sell, so was released as a theatrical feature by Universal. It was Boone's fifth comedy of the sixties - he just kept trying to make them.
The basic story has Austin and Boone as childhood sweethearts at an orphanage - he goes off to make his fortune in order to marry her, and spends the rest of the running time of the movie trying to be reunited with her. They are constantly thwarted by the fact men keep falling in love with Pauline.
There's a surprisingly strong emotional undercurrent to the story - Austin and Boone are soulmates, and just want to get married, but others stop them: lecherous sheiks, pukka sahibs (Terry Thomas!), Russian secret agents, Italian film directors, cosmonauts, gorillas, etc. It's a repetitive storyline, though - Boone and Austin are about to get together, but something stops them - and has the cheerful racism of films of this era (horny Arabs, midgets in Africa).
It is is full of energy and never lets up. The movies it most reminded me of were the 60s AIP beach party comedies, with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. Boone throws himself into his silly role with much enthusiasm and little kids will like it, especially girls who might identify with Pauline. Incidentally Boone was starting to lose his hair by now and the hair pieces would soon kick in... for all this later talk about the importance of being honest, Boone, like many a star, was cagey about the reality of his hair.
14) The Pigeon (1969)
Boone played a support role in this TV movie starring Sammy Davis Jr - the billing says he made a "special appearance". He did it for the chance to do a dramatic role and says he was surprised to be offered. Was this true? Had he really become so unfashionable that the only role going was supporting Sammy Davis Jr in a TV movie? Boone did seem out of step in the swinging sixties but it's still surprising he wasn't signed up to make, say, a family sitcom. This was The Brady Bunch era after all.
15) The Cross and the Switchblade (1970)
This was Boone's last role as a leading man in a feature until the 2010s. It was a religious themed biopic about a pastor who goes to the streets and teaches gang members about Jesus. It was done very cheaply and looks it but was widely seen among its target audience - I actually think a major studio would've make money out of this had they picked it up.
The film ended Boone's career as a leading man though he's remained active as an actor, guest starring on TV series like Owen Marshall and Moonlighting. He returned to films in the 2010s in Christian themed tales like Boonville Redemption (2016) and A Cowgirl's Story (2017). He continues to sing, and regularly commentates on cultural matters, such as promoting the theory that Barak Obama was born in Kenya and is a Muslim.
His film career remains a fascinating grab bag of genres and missed opportunities with one unadulterated classic, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, one sweet romance, April Love, and two films which spoke very much to his personal beliefs, The Greatest Story Ever Told and The Cross and the Switchblade.
It's completely bizarre that Boone never tried to repeat these movies. It's also weird there are no war films in his oeuvre (he must have been one of the few Fox contract players to not appear in The Longest Day), no Westerns, no adaptations of a Broadway musical - genres that might have given him an extra lease of life as a movie actor. He could have taken roles played by Stuart Whitman, Tom Tryon, Al Hedison but didn't. He wondered why Hollywood no longer made family films but never appeared in any - Fox made some, like Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation with James Stewart, but also Disney and filmmakers like Joe Cap... yet Boone was MIA.
But to be fair, movie making was just one chapter of Boone's life. He's devoted more time and attention to his efforts as a singer, TV presenter, writer, real estate developer and cultural commentator. But he was the most successful fifties pop star turned movie star after Elvis and that deserves some respect.
Saturday, August 24, 2019
Movie review - "Hud" (1963) ***1/2
The sort of movie which is obviously well made and I think if I'd seen it when it came out I would've loved it but it's a little annoying to be honest. I'm not a massive Paul Newman fan. I like him - I mean who doesn't like him - but it's just such a loving star vehicle.
The character is a real shit head - he tries to rape Patricia Neal, he suggests having dad Melvyn Douglas ruled incompetent, he wants to sell diseased cattle.
But he's also handsome and charismatic, a cat nip to the ladies (who include Yvette Vickers), Neal admits to being attracted to him and isn't that upset by the attempted rape. And the "moral centers" of Melvyn Douglas and Brandon de Wilde are so dull especially de Wilde.
Superb performances by Newman, Douglas and Neal. De Wilde is serviceable. The film has a fantastic sense of place: the modern day west, with its silly rodeos and talent shows involving kids, and cattle round ups, dingy diners, bored housewives, brawls. Beautifully shot.
John Ashley is billed sixth but I couldn't spot him in the film.
The character is a real shit head - he tries to rape Patricia Neal, he suggests having dad Melvyn Douglas ruled incompetent, he wants to sell diseased cattle.
But he's also handsome and charismatic, a cat nip to the ladies (who include Yvette Vickers), Neal admits to being attracted to him and isn't that upset by the attempted rape. And the "moral centers" of Melvyn Douglas and Brandon de Wilde are so dull especially de Wilde.
Superb performances by Newman, Douglas and Neal. De Wilde is serviceable. The film has a fantastic sense of place: the modern day west, with its silly rodeos and talent shows involving kids, and cattle round ups, dingy diners, bored housewives, brawls. Beautifully shot.
John Ashley is billed sixth but I couldn't spot him in the film.
Movie review - McGee# 8 - "One Fearful Yellow Eye" by John D. MacDonald
McGee heads to Chicago a town he clearly dislikes for another adventure. It feels longer and flabbier than other books in the series, but he's still "healing" emotionally crippled women by seducing them.
He's called on a case by an ex who married a doctor who died and some money is missing. McGee takes sideswipes at gays, and meets a frigid girl who - you guessed it - he makes unfrigid. The doctor was a great guy though he slept with a teenager.
It's not a bad mystery, involving blackmail and kids who turn out not to be the kids of people. The Nazi twist with some Israeli agents does seem a little OTT and I wasn't wild how McGee was saved by a deux ex machina.
Some very good description of action and interesting philosophy.
He's called on a case by an ex who married a doctor who died and some money is missing. McGee takes sideswipes at gays, and meets a frigid girl who - you guessed it - he makes unfrigid. The doctor was a great guy though he slept with a teenager.
It's not a bad mystery, involving blackmail and kids who turn out not to be the kids of people. The Nazi twist with some Israeli agents does seem a little OTT and I wasn't wild how McGee was saved by a deux ex machina.
Some very good description of action and interesting philosophy.
Friday, August 23, 2019
Movie review - "My Blood Runs Cold" (1965) **1/2
A real surprise - I don't want to overpraise this but I found it to be a tight, unpretentious thriller with a decent idea and novelty casting. Heiress Joey Heatherton - in her first lead - is engaged to Nicholas Coster but then meets Troy Donahue who is convinced they were lovers in a past life.
That's not a bad set up for a psycho thriller and you've got Barry Sullivan and Jeanette Nolan adding heft as her parents. Its atmospheric, Donahue is used well - it's one of his most effective performances (a low bar to jump over I know but still...). Heatherton is maybe too confident - she has a great dancer's body shown off when she and Troy go swimming (he's sucking in the gut a bit). But she's not bad.
The location filming on the Monterey coast helps - boats and rocky shores and inlets and stuff. I wish Sullivan or Coster had been really bad and that Heatherton was more involved in the climax but this was entertaining -I put it on to watch for a bit and saw the whole thing.
That's not a bad set up for a psycho thriller and you've got Barry Sullivan and Jeanette Nolan adding heft as her parents. Its atmospheric, Donahue is used well - it's one of his most effective performances (a low bar to jump over I know but still...). Heatherton is maybe too confident - she has a great dancer's body shown off when she and Troy go swimming (he's sucking in the gut a bit). But she's not bad.
The location filming on the Monterey coast helps - boats and rocky shores and inlets and stuff. I wish Sullivan or Coster had been really bad and that Heatherton was more involved in the climax but this was entertaining -I put it on to watch for a bit and saw the whole thing.
Movie review - "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" (1950) ***
James Cagney returned to the gangster film reluctantly with White Heat - he still had debts to pay afterwards so he tried this one as well, which isn't that well remembered though I think its reputation has improved in recent years.
This is partly due to the fact its probably the best screen performance from Barbara Payton who has become a cult figure due to her colourful private life and tragic end. She's not amazing but she does have a quality - mostly to me because she's Barbara Payton, but she does seem to be trying.
She is a gansgter's moll but the part has some meat on its bones - she helps break Cagney and brother Neville Brand out of prison; Cagney shoots Brand but says the cops did it and seduces Payton.
Cagney is a stud in this one - he turns Payton into his whimpering woman in a few scenes and also is lusted after by Helena Carter. Carter again is a girl but again as something to act - the daughter of a local powerful businessman who is spoilt and wilful... she played variations on that in other movies. I do like that the film doesn't seem to say she genuinely love him - it's more the forbidden fruit. And he wants to marry her basically to have sex with her - he doesn't mind walking away afterwards and is only interested going back when cash is offered.
But Cagney is far too old for this role - he's also tubby. I vaguely bought Payton going for him - she obviously had a bad upbringing and her brother just died. But not Carter. The film really needed someone younger and sexier like Steve Cochran or even Neville Brand whose role as Payton's brother is far too small. I also wanted to see more of that creepy philosophical doctor who used to be a crook.
There is excellent work from Luther Adler as a crooked lawyer and Ward Bond as a corrupt cop. It's a pretty well directed film and director Gordon Douglas does a decent job. The dialogue isn't quite as tough and memorable as you'd like.
This is partly due to the fact its probably the best screen performance from Barbara Payton who has become a cult figure due to her colourful private life and tragic end. She's not amazing but she does have a quality - mostly to me because she's Barbara Payton, but she does seem to be trying.
She is a gansgter's moll but the part has some meat on its bones - she helps break Cagney and brother Neville Brand out of prison; Cagney shoots Brand but says the cops did it and seduces Payton.
Cagney is a stud in this one - he turns Payton into his whimpering woman in a few scenes and also is lusted after by Helena Carter. Carter again is a girl but again as something to act - the daughter of a local powerful businessman who is spoilt and wilful... she played variations on that in other movies. I do like that the film doesn't seem to say she genuinely love him - it's more the forbidden fruit. And he wants to marry her basically to have sex with her - he doesn't mind walking away afterwards and is only interested going back when cash is offered.
But Cagney is far too old for this role - he's also tubby. I vaguely bought Payton going for him - she obviously had a bad upbringing and her brother just died. But not Carter. The film really needed someone younger and sexier like Steve Cochran or even Neville Brand whose role as Payton's brother is far too small. I also wanted to see more of that creepy philosophical doctor who used to be a crook.
There is excellent work from Luther Adler as a crooked lawyer and Ward Bond as a corrupt cop. It's a pretty well directed film and director Gordon Douglas does a decent job. The dialogue isn't quite as tough and memorable as you'd like.
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Movie review - "Bugles in the Afternoon" (1952) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)
Solid Western once you get used to Ray Milland playing a cavalry soldier. He's kicked out of the army for clocking an officer and re-enlists... of course running into the officer (Hugh Marlowe, who was always good as a little turd) and getting involved in the Battle of Little Big Horb.
There's a girl Helena Carter who is attracted to Milland and Marlowe. Carter looks poised, in her model way and again shows a great sense of spirit and ability to make eyes at the lead... she can focus well and you believe she's into him. She's also got strength and some independence - she doesn't take a lot of shit from Milland. Her voice is a bit precious though. -too enunciated.
Atrong support cast - Barton MacLane as an old friend of Milland's, Forrest Tucker as a brawling Irish sergeant in a role seemingly written for Victor McLaglen (he has a great death)
There's some strong sequences like a tense negotiation with some Indians, and Tucker's death. It maybe lacks another twist or subplot or something. But pretty good stuff.
There's a girl Helena Carter who is attracted to Milland and Marlowe. Carter looks poised, in her model way and again shows a great sense of spirit and ability to make eyes at the lead... she can focus well and you believe she's into him. She's also got strength and some independence - she doesn't take a lot of shit from Milland. Her voice is a bit precious though. -too enunciated.
Atrong support cast - Barton MacLane as an old friend of Milland's, Forrest Tucker as a brawling Irish sergeant in a role seemingly written for Victor McLaglen (he has a great death)
There's some strong sequences like a tense negotiation with some Indians, and Tucker's death. It maybe lacks another twist or subplot or something. But pretty good stuff.
Movie review - "New Orleans" (1947) **1/2
Curio piece best remembered for giving acting roles to Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong. Holiday notoriously plays a maid but she does turn into a singing star. She also marries Armstrong's character which is just too cute.
I'm trying not to be too wise in hindsight here but Holliday does seem a little vague and uncertain in her scenes - Armstrong is a natural. They take back seats to the white characters, inevitably - Arturo de Cordova is a smooth talking impresario who romances singer Dorothy Patrick. Patrick is very lively - I didn't mind this plot line in part because there were good reasons why they shouldn't be together, he's just an obvious rake.
There's heaps of jazz - yes some of it sung by white people - but still a lot. A slice of culture. Flawed, absolutely, but I'm glad it's there.
I'm trying not to be too wise in hindsight here but Holliday does seem a little vague and uncertain in her scenes - Armstrong is a natural. They take back seats to the white characters, inevitably - Arturo de Cordova is a smooth talking impresario who romances singer Dorothy Patrick. Patrick is very lively - I didn't mind this plot line in part because there were good reasons why they shouldn't be together, he's just an obvious rake.
There's heaps of jazz - yes some of it sung by white people - but still a lot. A slice of culture. Flawed, absolutely, but I'm glad it's there.
Movie review - "Return to Peyton Place" (1961) *
The original novel and film made so much money it would have been rude to not attempt a sequel - both novel two and film two were shoddy pieces of work.
I don't blame Grace Metalious for cranking out a book after a few drinks - Jerry Wald could have taken more love and care with the movie. He didn't have John Michael Hayes to do the script this time which presumably hurt.
The film suffers badly compared to the original, which had some great secrets (Lana Turner's pregnancy), romance (Turner and the teacher), archetypal characters (Terry Moore's trashy girl, the rich man's son Barry Coe). and memorable scandal moments (the rape of Hope Lange and her killing of her step father).
This has a few decent ideas - the book based on the events in the first film set a cat among the pigeons; Alison (played here by Carol Lynley) has an affair with her editor, a married man (Jeff Chandler); Mary Astor is a snob mother who hates the new wife (Luciana Paluzzi) of her son (Brett Halsey). But it wasn't enough - it needed a murder or natural disaster or something. Why not do something big between Lynley and Chandler's wife, like the wife tries to kill Lynley? Why doesn't Astor try to kill Paluzzi or vice versa? Why do they pull their punches?
The film misses a trick by not featuring Lloyd Nolan's doctor character, Terry Moore's tramp, the old rich man, or Russ Tamblyn's soldier.(I guess Brett Halsey's character is a version of this.)
The cast isn't up to the original. Carol Lynley's blank expression and dead eyes made me long for... well, not Diane Varsi's blank expression and dead eyes, but I did wish Tuesday Weld had played her part. Weld is in it but is wasted in the part of Selina, who doesn't really do anything except start a romance with a skiing instructor who kind of tries to rape her... and then, awfully, he comes back at the end and declares his love for Selina. Urgh! He's a rapist. I mean, a lot of women who are abused go on to marry abusive men but... that shouldn't be a positive and it's an issue not explored.
Lana Turner didn't return and you can't blame her because there's nothing for that character to do. Eleanor Parker tries but has nowhere to go - Turner clashed with her daughter, fell in love, revealed a secret... Parker just worries about her daughter going out with a married man which is entirely understandable... and that's about it.
It's too skewed towards men - Parker gets up in court (an obscenity hearing for the book) and says her husband was right, Weld comes to see her horrible rapey ski instructor is a good guy, Lynley listens to Jeff Chandler when it comes to writing a book, Astor is put in her place by her useless son Brett Halsey standing up.
Astor easily has the best part, as a smothering other bitch, but even she doesn't have many places to go. Chandler is perfectly cast in this sort of thing, and there's camp fun with him lecturing Lynley about Max Perkins, and them falling asleep in his New York office and a black manservant coming in and opening the curtains the next day. But that's about it.
Movie review - "The Mule" (2018) ***1/2
Clint Eastwood keeps surprising - I like to think this story came across his desk and he thought "I can play that... it'll be easy to do and fun" and when Bradley Cooper agreed to play a support part they were off to the races. It's a sprightly interesting drama that I was never sure where was going or where it would end up.
Clint plays really a doddery old here, stooped over and shuffling, talking about negroes. He still has two three somes - not one, but two! He's played a man estranged from his family before, actually a lot (Alison Eastwood is his daughter)... but the drug running thing is fresh because you're never sure what direction the film is going to go.
He's extremely touching in his scenes with Diane Wiest though part of me wished that role had been played by one of his old co stars from his sixties/seventies days eg Shirley MacLaine (my dream would've been Sondra Locke but that wasn't likely).
Bradley Cooper adds a bit of star dash to the part - filmmakers sometimes whine about financiers insisting on stars but it does make a difference someone being famous in this role. Especially as the cops aren't very nice.
Clint plays really a doddery old here, stooped over and shuffling, talking about negroes. He still has two three somes - not one, but two! He's played a man estranged from his family before, actually a lot (Alison Eastwood is his daughter)... but the drug running thing is fresh because you're never sure what direction the film is going to go.
He's extremely touching in his scenes with Diane Wiest though part of me wished that role had been played by one of his old co stars from his sixties/seventies days eg Shirley MacLaine (my dream would've been Sondra Locke but that wasn't likely).
Bradley Cooper adds a bit of star dash to the part - filmmakers sometimes whine about financiers insisting on stars but it does make a difference someone being famous in this role. Especially as the cops aren't very nice.
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Movie review - "Queen for a Day" (1951) **
I'd never heard of the quiz show which forms the framing device but really this is an anthology movie, in brief vogue at the time. All the episodes were directed by Arthur Lubin who does a decent job - there's a fine performance from the child actors. It doesn't quite work as a satisfactory movie though.
The coathanger consists of scenes from the quiz show. This is awkward and self conscious. Actors trying to be real. Maybe it's an accurate reflection of the show, I don't know. But it got on my nerves.
The three stories:
* "The Gossamer World" - a kid has a fantasy world. This was ho hum, Eisenhower era family stuff (even if Truman was in charge), nicely acted but a bit dull. Then the kid gets polio which packs a wallop - I'm a parent and can imagine what that would be like.More of that and this would've been better. It takes too long.
* "High Diver" - the son of an immigrant decides to dive off a high board. Lots of immigrant parent acting. Ugh. There's a trampy circus performer who of course is a villain. Leonard Nimoy pops up. Dull.
*"Horsie" - an infants nurse is ugly... face like a horse's face. This was awkward. Not fun. The father is such a douche. Dorothy Parker's short story was a satire - the point of that is robbed. Not good.
The coathanger consists of scenes from the quiz show. This is awkward and self conscious. Actors trying to be real. Maybe it's an accurate reflection of the show, I don't know. But it got on my nerves.
The three stories:
* "The Gossamer World" - a kid has a fantasy world. This was ho hum, Eisenhower era family stuff (even if Truman was in charge), nicely acted but a bit dull. Then the kid gets polio which packs a wallop - I'm a parent and can imagine what that would be like.More of that and this would've been better. It takes too long.
* "High Diver" - the son of an immigrant decides to dive off a high board. Lots of immigrant parent acting. Ugh. There's a trampy circus performer who of course is a villain. Leonard Nimoy pops up. Dull.
*"Horsie" - an infants nurse is ugly... face like a horse's face. This was awkward. Not fun. The father is such a douche. Dorothy Parker's short story was a satire - the point of that is robbed. Not good.
Movie review - "Ride the Hot Wind" (1971) **
Odd sort of movie, not very well known, which actually has a really good central idea... Tommy Kirk is an army officer in Vietnam who is charged and convicted for assisting in a massacre. When he gets out he has trouble finding a job, mostly because people recognise him but also because of the chip on his shoulder. He falls in with bikies and they become outlaws.
That's actually a great set up for an exploitation film. The filmmakers don't quite pull it off - the don't do full justice to the idea and it's hurt by the low budget - but there's enough to keep you watching.
In particular there's Kirk's performance. He had a drug habit at the time and you can tell - he looks sweating, unwell, sick, struggling to get through scenes. But that actually adds to the fascination of the piece - he's playing a broken unwell men. Kirk's haunted eyes are heartbreaking. Especially when you know he once played so many All American boys - just like William Calley at My Lai.
Kirk is less convincing when he beats up some bikers. The guys who play the bikers aren't bad - the women are less good but their parts are less strong, especially the girl who does Kirk just because. Kirk gets to have a sex scene with a naked girl in this - a long way from Annette Funicello!
That's actually a great set up for an exploitation film. The filmmakers don't quite pull it off - the don't do full justice to the idea and it's hurt by the low budget - but there's enough to keep you watching.
In particular there's Kirk's performance. He had a drug habit at the time and you can tell - he looks sweating, unwell, sick, struggling to get through scenes. But that actually adds to the fascination of the piece - he's playing a broken unwell men. Kirk's haunted eyes are heartbreaking. Especially when you know he once played so many All American boys - just like William Calley at My Lai.
Kirk is less convincing when he beats up some bikers. The guys who play the bikers aren't bad - the women are less good but their parts are less strong, especially the girl who does Kirk just because. Kirk gets to have a sex scene with a naked girl in this - a long way from Annette Funicello!
Movie review - "Suicide Battalion" (1958) **
AIP made a few war films though no one really remembers them. This was made by the team who'd just done the better remembered Dragstrip Girl and Motorcycle Gang - Lou Rusoff, Edward Cahn. They also featured John Ashley who is in this, albeit supporting Touch Connors - one of the bigger names to graduate from AIP.
It's a decent war film about a patrol that's cut off during the invasion of the Philippines. The low budge is over come by tight shooting, close ups and stock footage. There's a decent female presence too - some cafe girls and a female war correspondent who has urst with Connors.
I did occasionally get confused what was happening but it was tight and moved fast and was perfectly fine. These films lacked the specialness of AIP's youth orientated movies but it passed the time.
It's a decent war film about a patrol that's cut off during the invasion of the Philippines. The low budge is over come by tight shooting, close ups and stock footage. There's a decent female presence too - some cafe girls and a female war correspondent who has urst with Connors.
I did occasionally get confused what was happening but it was tight and moved fast and was perfectly fine. These films lacked the specialness of AIP's youth orientated movies but it passed the time.
Movie review - "Bombay Clipper" (1941) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)
Fun little Universal programmer which is mostly set on a plane. I actually wish the whole thing had been set on a plane but appreciate that would be tricky. It gives an early role to Maria Montez, who doesn't have a big part, and also to Turhan Bey, whose part is bigger.
The writers shove in a lot of plot - William Gargan as a reporter (he lost his voice through smoking so its hard to see him smoke here), Irene Hervey as his fiancee (it's cute how they get married on the plane!), Truman Bradley as a nasty doctor, Lloyd Corrigan as a courier, Turhan Bey as a shifty looking local who turns out to be an agent, Philip Trent as a pilot with a past. Some times it is hard to tell people apart but it goes at a great speed.
John Rawlins could normally be relied upon to do a solid brisk job and he does so here.
The writers shove in a lot of plot - William Gargan as a reporter (he lost his voice through smoking so its hard to see him smoke here), Irene Hervey as his fiancee (it's cute how they get married on the plane!), Truman Bradley as a nasty doctor, Lloyd Corrigan as a courier, Turhan Bey as a shifty looking local who turns out to be an agent, Philip Trent as a pilot with a past. Some times it is hard to tell people apart but it goes at a great speed.
John Rawlins could normally be relied upon to do a solid brisk job and he does so here.
Movie review - "The Last Days of Disco" (1998) ****
I love this film. I know it's faults - the continuity seems all over the shop, some scenes randomly start and stop, characters sort of appear and then disappear, it takes a while to figure out how the characters know each other.
But it's still wonderful. I love the keenly observed depiction of the group dynamics - the social strata involved - the way the characters get to know each other, become friends, fall in and out of love.
Chloe Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale start off trying desperately to become part of the club then become royalty, kind of. Mackenzie Astin, who has a real knack for Stillman dialogue, uses his friend Chris Eigman to get into the club, loses his job... but eventually becomes attached to Van, the head bouncer. Beckinsale dates Astin then they break up. Matt Keeslar pines after Sevigny.
The dialogue is consistently unexpected and entertaining. The cast handle the dialogue well. Everyone is gorgeously shot. Why didn't Keeslar have a bigger career?
My favourite bits:
*Astin and Eigeman talking in the cab at the end
* Holly (Tara Subkoff) talking about love
*the editing office scenes
*Keeslar talking about disco
*Beckingsale and Eigeman's walk and talk at the end - actually all of this last walk and talk including meeting Burr Steers (Van)
*The Lady and the Tramp scene.
It's got a lovely sense of time passing.
But it's still wonderful. I love the keenly observed depiction of the group dynamics - the social strata involved - the way the characters get to know each other, become friends, fall in and out of love.
Chloe Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale start off trying desperately to become part of the club then become royalty, kind of. Mackenzie Astin, who has a real knack for Stillman dialogue, uses his friend Chris Eigman to get into the club, loses his job... but eventually becomes attached to Van, the head bouncer. Beckinsale dates Astin then they break up. Matt Keeslar pines after Sevigny.
The dialogue is consistently unexpected and entertaining. The cast handle the dialogue well. Everyone is gorgeously shot. Why didn't Keeslar have a bigger career?
My favourite bits:
*Astin and Eigeman talking in the cab at the end
* Holly (Tara Subkoff) talking about love
*the editing office scenes
*Keeslar talking about disco
*Beckingsale and Eigeman's walk and talk at the end - actually all of this last walk and talk including meeting Burr Steers (Van)
*The Lady and the Tramp scene.
It's got a lovely sense of time passing.
Monday, August 19, 2019
Movie review - "Double Crossbones" (1950) **
Universal's attempt at The Princess and the Pirate with Donald O'Connor - they stumped up for colour and a decent amount of sets. O'Connor is lively as a blacksmith who winds up a pirate.
This is made by some of my favourite people - Helena Carter as the love interest, Oscar Brodney as the writer, Charles Barton as director. O'Connor sings a song and does a dance but it's not really a musical.
This is okay. I was a little disappointed - it's not horrible or bad just lacks some stand out stuff. O'Connor films often did for whatever reason. Maybe he was simply better as a co-star to someone.
Carter is regal and pretty as ever but never seems believably into O'Connor. The role is beneath her and she knows it and it comes across. It has colour.
This is made by some of my favourite people - Helena Carter as the love interest, Oscar Brodney as the writer, Charles Barton as director. O'Connor sings a song and does a dance but it's not really a musical.
This is okay. I was a little disappointed - it's not horrible or bad just lacks some stand out stuff. O'Connor films often did for whatever reason. Maybe he was simply better as a co-star to someone.
Carter is regal and pretty as ever but never seems believably into O'Connor. The role is beneath her and she knows it and it comes across. It has colour.
Movie review - "Broadway' (1942) ***
Movie stars are notorious for wanting to do films in genres different to the ones that made them stars. George Raft was known through the thirties as a gangster but wanted to do musicals - in particular this adaptation of a Broadway show which was changed so Raft plays himself.
It's a cute conceit and actually works kind of well - in part because you know whatever love interest Raft has won't last.
I was surprised Raft didn't get more screen time in this - he does play himself after all! But a fair bit of it goes to Broderick Crawford as a gangster and Pat O'Brien as a cop. These two are pros as is Raft and it's actually great fun to see them firing.
There's decent female roles too including Anne Gwynne, Marie Windsor, Janet Blair and Marjorie Rambeau.
There's a few song and dance numbers, Raft does a bit of dancing, some bang bang and lots of backstage atmosphere. It's unpretentious - well, apart from Raft playing Raft - and a lot of fun.
It's a cute conceit and actually works kind of well - in part because you know whatever love interest Raft has won't last.
I was surprised Raft didn't get more screen time in this - he does play himself after all! But a fair bit of it goes to Broderick Crawford as a gangster and Pat O'Brien as a cop. These two are pros as is Raft and it's actually great fun to see them firing.
There's decent female roles too including Anne Gwynne, Marie Windsor, Janet Blair and Marjorie Rambeau.
There's a few song and dance numbers, Raft does a bit of dancing, some bang bang and lots of backstage atmosphere. It's unpretentious - well, apart from Raft playing Raft - and a lot of fun.
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Movie review - "Gangs of Chicago" (1940) ***
It feels like a Warner Bros movie but actually it was made at Republic, with Lloyd Nolan as a kid who wants to become a crook so goes into the law. I saw a shortened version but it was still pretty good - that concept is very strong. Of course Nolan has a poor but honest friend who shows him a different way (Ray Middleton)... actually he's not poor he's the son of a judge. I love how the judge supports Nolan and Nolan betrays him. And the film has an honesty - Nolan doesn't turn until the very end. His character has integrity.
So too do his associates, including his ruthlessly efficient female secretary. Rosemary Lane is in this as Middleton's sister but she didn't seem to have a big role - she felt like a beard because Nolan clearly loves Middleton. It's a strong emotional undercurrent though.
This is a very fine attempt at Republic to do a Warner Bros movie.
So too do his associates, including his ruthlessly efficient female secretary. Rosemary Lane is in this as Middleton's sister but she didn't seem to have a big role - she felt like a beard because Nolan clearly loves Middleton. It's a strong emotional undercurrent though.
This is a very fine attempt at Republic to do a Warner Bros movie.
Book review - McGee #7 - "Darker than Amber" by John D. MacDonald (1966)
One of the best known McGee novels because it was turned into a film with Rod Taylor. I can see why they went with this one - it's exciting and moody for the most part, and has a great beginning with Vangie being thrown off a bridge into the water, and strong emotional currents with McGee kind of falling for her... then she dies. He goes looking for revenge.
His plan is very complicated for what is basically messing with someone's head. The second big female role is the other girl who helped Vangie, who is a bit of a shallow bitch in MacDonald's world and not worth saving - she suggests having sex with him of course as does Vangie. and the girl he talks about at the beginning, who was getting over a bad relationship - McGee really likes to take advantage of vulnerable women (he refers to another woman he took advantage of, one he was holed up in a hotel room with while fleeing her ex). The girl who doubles for Vangie is more enigmatic - from memory she had a bigger part in the movie.
There is some good writing here - description of a fight scene, an exciting confrontation with a killer called Griff, the death of Vangie. MacDonald probably should have had a living client who was being fleeced to complicate things.
His plan is very complicated for what is basically messing with someone's head. The second big female role is the other girl who helped Vangie, who is a bit of a shallow bitch in MacDonald's world and not worth saving - she suggests having sex with him of course as does Vangie. and the girl he talks about at the beginning, who was getting over a bad relationship - McGee really likes to take advantage of vulnerable women (he refers to another woman he took advantage of, one he was holed up in a hotel room with while fleeing her ex). The girl who doubles for Vangie is more enigmatic - from memory she had a bigger part in the movie.
There is some good writing here - description of a fight scene, an exciting confrontation with a killer called Griff, the death of Vangie. MacDonald probably should have had a living client who was being fleeced to complicate things.
Book review - "Make Trouble" by John Waters
An address Waters gave to students at some graduating ceremony. It's a very short book - full of what seem to be slides. Funny, sharp, with a point - Waters gives great advice how to be an artist in the modern world, which is what he is of course.
Movie review - "Hell on Wheels" (1967) *
Part of the stock car film boom of the late 60s - were any of these films genuinely popular? It didn't last very long - there never seemed to be break out hits like biker movies.
This one has a second lead John Ashley who was in AIP movies - this isn't AIP it's Crown International i.e. independently financed and released by them. The star is some singer, Marty Robbins who I wasn't that familiar with. He sings a lot of his songs. Actually so do these other actrs.
It's a cheap looking movie - lots of stock footage, and close ups. Cramped scenes in living rooms. Even the songs are tightly shot.anic
The central dramatic situation isn't bad - Ashley and Robins are brothers, Ashley is a mechanic and jealous of driver Robbins and there's a third brother who is an agent investigating moonshining.
But Ashley's jealousy is mainly manifested via whingeing. Ashley's girlfriend whinges too. Ashley gives the one professional performance. The actors playing agents are so awkward I assume they're real moonshiners. I love the anti moonshining ads they have. The moonshining plot sounds promising but it dealt with very quickly - I mean Ashley and his brother are kidnapped and escape in the blink of an eye but there are endless scenes of musical act.
This one has a second lead John Ashley who was in AIP movies - this isn't AIP it's Crown International i.e. independently financed and released by them. The star is some singer, Marty Robbins who I wasn't that familiar with. He sings a lot of his songs. Actually so do these other actrs.
It's a cheap looking movie - lots of stock footage, and close ups. Cramped scenes in living rooms. Even the songs are tightly shot.anic
The central dramatic situation isn't bad - Ashley and Robins are brothers, Ashley is a mechanic and jealous of driver Robbins and there's a third brother who is an agent investigating moonshining.
But Ashley's jealousy is mainly manifested via whingeing. Ashley's girlfriend whinges too. Ashley gives the one professional performance. The actors playing agents are so awkward I assume they're real moonshiners. I love the anti moonshining ads they have. The moonshining plot sounds promising but it dealt with very quickly - I mean Ashley and his brother are kidnapped and escape in the blink of an eye but there are endless scenes of musical act.
Movie review - "Time Out of Mind" (1947) **
Part of J Arthur Rank's attempt to storm America was sending over his top stars to Universal with whom he had a deal - but instead of decent ones like James Mason, Stewart Granger and Margaret Lockwood he gave them Phyllis Calvert and Pat Roc.
Actually Calvert is fine in the film - fine enough. But it's a crap movie. Robert Siodmak was forced to do it mainly because Calvert wanted him - she liked The Spiral Staircase - but no one is trying to kill anyone here. More's the pity it would've made it more entertaining.
It's a melodrama about a housekeeper (Calvert) who pines away endlessly at the man of the house (Robert Hutton) who wants to be a composer but is pressured into being a... fisherman. It was based on a novel by Rachel Field who also wrote the novels of All This and Heaven Too and And Now Tomorrow. Those films had the stars to pull it off but this doesn't.
Calvert might have been okay against a decent co star but Hutton is a wet drip - a weak man, which is the point, but he's supposed to pull through at the end. The film has no balls - would Jane Murfin, attached as producer but then booted - been able to fix it? Hutton is a drunk and weak and marries Helena Carter... all good "breaking Calvert's heart" stuff. She promotes his songs... then he has a climactic concert.
Siodmak and his DOP put in some arty angles but the film lacks atmosphere. You never believe its 1900 or that the family are fishermen or that Hutton is a composer.
What's the point of Ella Raines' possessive sister? She doesn't do anything. They should have combined her character with Carter's maybe - had her as a childhood friend who marries him and becomes a full on villain. Calvert should have had a fisherman who loves her. And Hutton should have stayed selfish and bad.
The ending is pathetic. Carter has arranged people to interrupt her husband's concert. Calvert stops it. And... she and Raines hold hands and watch the show. That's not triumph because Calvert's been a lap do. They needed another scene where Hutton rejected Calvert and she died - or something - something with more kick. I mean her and Raines being lesbians would've been awesome but that was off the table.
If Hutton had been more charismatic maybe this would have worked. Or if it had simply been better - for example you don't get a sense of the class difference you do in All This and Heaven Too.
I would have made Raines an out and out villain, had Hutton reject Calvert, and either given Calvert a nice fisherman to go off with or have her shoot Hutton.
Carter is fine in a role that doesn't require her to do much - at least she's alive, as is Raines. Hutton has dead eyes.
Actually Calvert is fine in the film - fine enough. But it's a crap movie. Robert Siodmak was forced to do it mainly because Calvert wanted him - she liked The Spiral Staircase - but no one is trying to kill anyone here. More's the pity it would've made it more entertaining.
It's a melodrama about a housekeeper (Calvert) who pines away endlessly at the man of the house (Robert Hutton) who wants to be a composer but is pressured into being a... fisherman. It was based on a novel by Rachel Field who also wrote the novels of All This and Heaven Too and And Now Tomorrow. Those films had the stars to pull it off but this doesn't.
Calvert might have been okay against a decent co star but Hutton is a wet drip - a weak man, which is the point, but he's supposed to pull through at the end. The film has no balls - would Jane Murfin, attached as producer but then booted - been able to fix it? Hutton is a drunk and weak and marries Helena Carter... all good "breaking Calvert's heart" stuff. She promotes his songs... then he has a climactic concert.
Siodmak and his DOP put in some arty angles but the film lacks atmosphere. You never believe its 1900 or that the family are fishermen or that Hutton is a composer.
What's the point of Ella Raines' possessive sister? She doesn't do anything. They should have combined her character with Carter's maybe - had her as a childhood friend who marries him and becomes a full on villain. Calvert should have had a fisherman who loves her. And Hutton should have stayed selfish and bad.
The ending is pathetic. Carter has arranged people to interrupt her husband's concert. Calvert stops it. And... she and Raines hold hands and watch the show. That's not triumph because Calvert's been a lap do. They needed another scene where Hutton rejected Calvert and she died - or something - something with more kick. I mean her and Raines being lesbians would've been awesome but that was off the table.
If Hutton had been more charismatic maybe this would have worked. Or if it had simply been better - for example you don't get a sense of the class difference you do in All This and Heaven Too.
I would have made Raines an out and out villain, had Hutton reject Calvert, and either given Calvert a nice fisherman to go off with or have her shoot Hutton.
Carter is fine in a role that doesn't require her to do much - at least she's alive, as is Raines. Hutton has dead eyes.
Friday, August 16, 2019
Movie - "The House of a Thousand Candles" (1936) **
The novel was filmed a few times - I'd never heard of it. This version feels like it was influenced by Hitchcock's early British thrillers though I may be wrong. There's spys running around Europe - Philip Holmes (who later died in a plane crash) is the Brit trying to crack a spy ring. He has a squabbling relationship with an heiress who chases him across Europe - that sounds more fun than it is, I think mostly due to casting. Mae Clarke is the girl - she was a star in the early thirties but was now on the slide. She's okay so is Holmes I just wanted someone really fun.
Thursday, August 15, 2019
Movie review - "The Golden Disc" (1958) **
Jukebox musical which followed in the wake of the success of The Tommy Steele Story though it wasn't as well received, in part because the film revolves a lot around Terry Dene who had a few hits ("A White Sports Coat", not in the movie) but didn't become a big star... although there are lots of other artists in the movie too, none of whom I'd heard off.
Dene is an interesting figure - he couldn't handle his fame and kind of flipped out and become a has-been very quickly. He's good a look look but doesn't command the screen or even the mike - he seems hesitant, unsure. He doesn't have the confidence of Steele or even Cliff Richard.
It was directed by Don Sharp who does a brisk job - it goes from musical act to musical act. The script which he co wrote is less good, focusing on a boy and a girl who go into business at a coffee shop where music acts perform (coffee shops were big at the time!) The boy is played by Lee Patterson, an American who was in a bunch of British films, and the girl is Mary Steele, who was Mrs Sharp.
I like a good "coathanger plot" but this isn't a good one - they're always talking about money, and costs and Patterson whines that people judge him because of his father. There's some old duck in there too to show the oldies are down with It.
But it is an artefact of its time and there's a lot of music.
Movie review - "It Grows on Trees" (1952) **1/2
This movie has a bright central idea - a woman has a tree in the backyard which grows trees - and the complications are fairly well worked out. I feel the central conflict needed a drama - I think they should have played a love triangle like Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House, another man who tried to use the wife.
I wasn't a big fan of Irene Dunne... but maybe she would've been more fun had she been teamed with one of her co stars from her hey day - Melvyn Douglas, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott. But she's got Dean Jagger who is a good actor but is too realistically a dull man in the suburbs when you want a film star. It's also got that Eisenhower Era thing where everyone thinks the wife is crazy - Lubin used that device in Francis but here it's about a woman which has extra connotations.
The performances of the little kid is interesting - actually all the acting is solid. I did wish it was in colour and wanted to see more of the money tree - but they presumably had trouble with the Treasury.
I wasn't a big fan of Irene Dunne... but maybe she would've been more fun had she been teamed with one of her co stars from her hey day - Melvyn Douglas, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott. But she's got Dean Jagger who is a good actor but is too realistically a dull man in the suburbs when you want a film star. It's also got that Eisenhower Era thing where everyone thinks the wife is crazy - Lubin used that device in Francis but here it's about a woman which has extra connotations.
The performances of the little kid is interesting - actually all the acting is solid. I did wish it was in colour and wanted to see more of the money tree - but they presumably had trouble with the Treasury.
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Unsung Aussie Filmmakers - Muriel Steinbeck
For almost three decades Muriel Steinbeck was one of the most respected actors in Australia,giving acclaimed performances in radio, theatre, film and TV; she endorsed lipstick and chocolate, was a genuine box office draw on stage, and starred in both films and the first Australian TV soap. Despite that she's little remembered today so Stephen Vagg thought he would remember her with a top ten.
1) When the Crash Comes (1933)
Steinbeck was born in Broken Hill in 1913. Her family eventually moved to Sydney, where she became involved in amateur dramatics. She was beautiful, talented and stole the notices of a play at the Sydney Players, When the Crash Comes. (A contemporary review is here - http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17006004) It was seen by a producer at the ABC who begin casting her in radio plays - it was tricky to make a living out of acting in film in Australia in the thirties but radio drama was about to boom. Steinbeck's career progression was slow but steady and by the late thirties she established herself as one of Sydney's leading theatre and radio actors.
2) South West Pacific (1943)
Steinbeck's appeal was a little like that of Greer Garson in Hollywood - a regal, lady-like figure. That's an over simplification - she played all sorts of roles - but she was, overall, a classy dame. Her beauty mean her photo often appeared in trade publications and she was particularly popular on radio soaps and at the Minerva Theatre in Sydney.
Steinbeck's first film appearances came in propaganda shorts such as Eleventh Hour (1942) and South West Pacific (1943) where she would play concerned wives and mothers. In South West Pacific she's a beauty shop operator who goes and works in a munitions factory. A clip of her from the film is here... https://aso.gov.au/titles/sponsored-films/south-west-pacific/clip2/ - Steinbeck is way too good looking for her boyfriend, but you never know what goes on in a couple, and the concept was strong enough for a feature.
3) A Son is Born (1946)
Steinbeck's first lead in a feature came in a melodrama, A Son is Born where she plays a woman who marries an abusive no hoper (Peter Finch) who dies; she remarries her boss (John McCallum) but her son to her first husband (Ron Randell) makes life difficult. This is a perfectly fine soapie, with Steinbeck suffering and smiling through the tears. She has beauty and charisma and holds her own against three men who would all become major names.
(A photo from the film is here colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;holdingType=digital%3D4;page=0;query=Person%3A"%2FPerson%2Fkey%2F21212-1" Online%3Atrue;rec=2;resCount=10)
4) Smithy (1946)
By the mid forties, Steinbeck's status in Australia was such that she was the first and only choice to play the widow of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in the biopic Smithy (1946) - she appeared opposite Ron Randell, who played her son in A Son is Born. It's a "wife" part but a decent one - she gets to flirt, and worry and fight, and the film improves immeasurably once her character becomes part of the action.
The movie was a hit and led to Columbia offering Ron Randell being offered a Hollywood contract. Her other co stars Peter Finch and John McCallum would soon go to England and find fame and fortune. Steinbeck might have considered going overseas herself - many female actors did so at the time, like Mary Maguire, Jocelyn Howarth and Shirley Ann Richards . I feel she could have made a decent run of it in England especially. But Steinbeck elected to stay home - she had a daughter, and her marriage was breaking up, and it was probably a bad time to rock the boat. Besides in the late forties she had plenty of work on radio and stage. Such was her profile, she even endorsed chocolate and lipstick - https://archive.org/details/The_Australian_Womens_Weekly_23_10_1948/page/n30?q=%22muriel+steinbeck%22
5) Into the Straight (1949)
Steinbeck was never able to follow up her screen success as Smithy however. There were good female roles going in films - not many, but some: the female lead in Sons of Matthew (1949) played by Wendy Gibb, the wife of Peter Lalor in Eureka Stockade (1949) played by Jane Barrett, etc. But Steinbeck, while still beautiful, was now in her mid thirties and would have been considered too old. for these. She was shunted off to "mother and wife" roles starting with the horse racing melodrama Into the Straight (1949). Steinbeck was the biggest name in the cast at the time, but it isn't much of a role... and in hindsight that was a mistake. The filmmakers would have been better off building the movie around Steinbeck - either have her play the role of her daughter instead of Nonnie Peifer, or made her character the center of the action. But then Australian cinema has traditionally demonstrated poor understanding how best to exploit potential stars. Another case in point was the Eileen Joyce biopic Wherever She Goes (1951) - Steinbeck should have played the title role but is wasted in the part of her mother.
A clip from Into the Straight is here - https://aso.gov.au/titles/features/into-the-straight/clip1/
6) Autumn Affair (1958-59)
Steinbeck kept busy in the fifties on stage and radio, supplementing her earnings working as a compere for events. She was politically active too campaigning against socialism (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248518238) (I'm guessing she was a bit of a right winger) and in favour of a quota for Australian drama (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236260480)
She got a regular gig as the governor's wife on the TV series The Adventures of Long John Silver. It wasn't the best female role on that show - that honor went to Purity Pinker, but that part would've been far too knockabout for Steinbeck and so Connie Gilchrist played it.
Steinbeck was however a natural choice to play the lead in Autumn Affair, Australia's first regular dramatic TV series. It was played on Channel 7 at 8.45 am in the morning but lasted for 156 episodes. Steinbeck played Julia Parrish, middle aged widowed mother who wrote popular novels and had a busy private life. She laughed, loved and suffered with jolly good decency - the quintessential Muriel Steinbeck part.
A clip of the show is here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMS3VF8YnPE
7) Reflection in Dark Glasses (1960)
Steinbeck's TV appearances in the early sixties tended to be "wives" - Thunder on Sycamore Street (1960) and Stormy Petrel (1960) (where she played the wife of Captain Bligh). But she had one outstanding chance on the small screen, in the original Australian TV play Reflections in Dark Glasses (1960). She pays a wife and a mother, sure, but this time the part has some meat on its bones - her character has a break down convinced her child has been stolen. Reviews were superb. Why don't the National Film and Sound Archive make these productions easily available on line?
8) Woman's World (1963-64)
Actors have to do all sorts of things to make a crust between gigs and Steinbeck would earn coin on the side doing comparing, such as on the English for New Australians series, Making Friends. The ABC got her to host a TV show, Woman's World about "women's issues" - indicative of her popularity with the public. If this was today she probably would have made a fortune as a TV personality, but that was then.
9) They're a Weird Mob (1966)
Steinbeck's last widely seen performance was in the blockbuster (in Australia anyway) comedy They're a Weird Mob (1966). It's another thankless wife and mother part, the wife of Chips Rafferty and the mother of Clare Dunn, but at least it was in a hit. Steinbeck might have thought it was a good one to go out on for she retired soon afterwards.
10) On Stage: A Practical Guide to The Actor’s Craft (1969).
In the sixties Steinbeck gave it up to go help her husband run a quarry in Orange. She said it was a big decision but she wanted to focus on her marriage - it was her second, and a first marriage had ended in a publicised divorce. She said she was happy - I'd like to think she was even though it must have been hard to give up acting. She did work in amateur theatricals in Orange and wrote a book, On Stage : A Practical Guide to the Actor's Craft. But living in the country meant she missed the roles that she would surely have gotten in the seventies revival - the ones enjoyed by contemporaries liek Googie Withers and Queenie Ashton. She died of cancer in 1982.
See here - http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51384511
1) When the Crash Comes (1933)
Steinbeck was born in Broken Hill in 1913. Her family eventually moved to Sydney, where she became involved in amateur dramatics. She was beautiful, talented and stole the notices of a play at the Sydney Players, When the Crash Comes. (A contemporary review is here - http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17006004) It was seen by a producer at the ABC who begin casting her in radio plays - it was tricky to make a living out of acting in film in Australia in the thirties but radio drama was about to boom. Steinbeck's career progression was slow but steady and by the late thirties she established herself as one of Sydney's leading theatre and radio actors.
2) South West Pacific (1943)
Steinbeck's appeal was a little like that of Greer Garson in Hollywood - a regal, lady-like figure. That's an over simplification - she played all sorts of roles - but she was, overall, a classy dame. Her beauty mean her photo often appeared in trade publications and she was particularly popular on radio soaps and at the Minerva Theatre in Sydney.
Steinbeck's first film appearances came in propaganda shorts such as Eleventh Hour (1942) and South West Pacific (1943) where she would play concerned wives and mothers. In South West Pacific she's a beauty shop operator who goes and works in a munitions factory. A clip of her from the film is here... https://aso.gov.au/titles/sponsored-films/south-west-pacific/clip2/ - Steinbeck is way too good looking for her boyfriend, but you never know what goes on in a couple, and the concept was strong enough for a feature.
3) A Son is Born (1946)
Steinbeck's first lead in a feature came in a melodrama, A Son is Born where she plays a woman who marries an abusive no hoper (Peter Finch) who dies; she remarries her boss (John McCallum) but her son to her first husband (Ron Randell) makes life difficult. This is a perfectly fine soapie, with Steinbeck suffering and smiling through the tears. She has beauty and charisma and holds her own against three men who would all become major names.
(A photo from the film is here colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;holdingType=digital%3D4;page=0;query=Person%3A"%2FPerson%2Fkey%2F21212-1" Online%3Atrue;rec=2;resCount=10)
4) Smithy (1946)
By the mid forties, Steinbeck's status in Australia was such that she was the first and only choice to play the widow of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in the biopic Smithy (1946) - she appeared opposite Ron Randell, who played her son in A Son is Born. It's a "wife" part but a decent one - she gets to flirt, and worry and fight, and the film improves immeasurably once her character becomes part of the action.
The movie was a hit and led to Columbia offering Ron Randell being offered a Hollywood contract. Her other co stars Peter Finch and John McCallum would soon go to England and find fame and fortune. Steinbeck might have considered going overseas herself - many female actors did so at the time, like Mary Maguire, Jocelyn Howarth and Shirley Ann Richards . I feel she could have made a decent run of it in England especially. But Steinbeck elected to stay home - she had a daughter, and her marriage was breaking up, and it was probably a bad time to rock the boat. Besides in the late forties she had plenty of work on radio and stage. Such was her profile, she even endorsed chocolate and lipstick - https://archive.org/details/The_Australian_Womens_Weekly_23_10_1948/page/n30?q=%22muriel+steinbeck%22
5) Into the Straight (1949)
Steinbeck was never able to follow up her screen success as Smithy however. There were good female roles going in films - not many, but some: the female lead in Sons of Matthew (1949) played by Wendy Gibb, the wife of Peter Lalor in Eureka Stockade (1949) played by Jane Barrett, etc. But Steinbeck, while still beautiful, was now in her mid thirties and would have been considered too old. for these. She was shunted off to "mother and wife" roles starting with the horse racing melodrama Into the Straight (1949). Steinbeck was the biggest name in the cast at the time, but it isn't much of a role... and in hindsight that was a mistake. The filmmakers would have been better off building the movie around Steinbeck - either have her play the role of her daughter instead of Nonnie Peifer, or made her character the center of the action. But then Australian cinema has traditionally demonstrated poor understanding how best to exploit potential stars. Another case in point was the Eileen Joyce biopic Wherever She Goes (1951) - Steinbeck should have played the title role but is wasted in the part of her mother.
A clip from Into the Straight is here - https://aso.gov.au/titles/features/into-the-straight/clip1/
6) Autumn Affair (1958-59)
Steinbeck kept busy in the fifties on stage and radio, supplementing her earnings working as a compere for events. She was politically active too campaigning against socialism (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248518238) (I'm guessing she was a bit of a right winger) and in favour of a quota for Australian drama (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236260480)
She got a regular gig as the governor's wife on the TV series The Adventures of Long John Silver. It wasn't the best female role on that show - that honor went to Purity Pinker, but that part would've been far too knockabout for Steinbeck and so Connie Gilchrist played it.
Steinbeck was however a natural choice to play the lead in Autumn Affair, Australia's first regular dramatic TV series. It was played on Channel 7 at 8.45 am in the morning but lasted for 156 episodes. Steinbeck played Julia Parrish, middle aged widowed mother who wrote popular novels and had a busy private life. She laughed, loved and suffered with jolly good decency - the quintessential Muriel Steinbeck part.
A clip of the show is here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMS3VF8YnPE
7) Reflection in Dark Glasses (1960)
Steinbeck's TV appearances in the early sixties tended to be "wives" - Thunder on Sycamore Street (1960) and Stormy Petrel (1960) (where she played the wife of Captain Bligh). But she had one outstanding chance on the small screen, in the original Australian TV play Reflections in Dark Glasses (1960). She pays a wife and a mother, sure, but this time the part has some meat on its bones - her character has a break down convinced her child has been stolen. Reviews were superb. Why don't the National Film and Sound Archive make these productions easily available on line?
8) Woman's World (1963-64)
Actors have to do all sorts of things to make a crust between gigs and Steinbeck would earn coin on the side doing comparing, such as on the English for New Australians series, Making Friends. The ABC got her to host a TV show, Woman's World about "women's issues" - indicative of her popularity with the public. If this was today she probably would have made a fortune as a TV personality, but that was then.
9) They're a Weird Mob (1966)
Steinbeck's last widely seen performance was in the blockbuster (in Australia anyway) comedy They're a Weird Mob (1966). It's another thankless wife and mother part, the wife of Chips Rafferty and the mother of Clare Dunn, but at least it was in a hit. Steinbeck might have thought it was a good one to go out on for she retired soon afterwards.
10) On Stage: A Practical Guide to The Actor’s Craft (1969).
In the sixties Steinbeck gave it up to go help her husband run a quarry in Orange. She said it was a big decision but she wanted to focus on her marriage - it was her second, and a first marriage had ended in a publicised divorce. She said she was happy - I'd like to think she was even though it must have been hard to give up acting. She did work in amateur theatricals in Orange and wrote a book, On Stage : A Practical Guide to the Actor's Craft. But living in the country meant she missed the roles that she would surely have gotten in the seventies revival - the ones enjoyed by contemporaries liek Googie Withers and Queenie Ashton. She died of cancer in 1982.
See here - http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51384511
Book review - "He's Got Rhythm: The Life and Career of Gene Kelly" (2017) by Cynthia Brideson and Sara Brideson
Kelly never quite got the respect he deserved as a dancer and an artist - always under the shadow of Fred Astaire, Arthur Freed, Vincente Minnelli... even Stanley Donen. But he was a giant in his field. This is an affectionate and comprehensive book.
Kelly was from Pittsburgh and came up the long way - he loved dancing but instead of running off to Broadway he stayed home for a bit and ran his own dance studios. This turned into a nice little earner... but he didn't go to New York until his late twenties. It turned out to be the right decision - he was ready to go, and made it relatively quickly, then came film offers. He was actively recruited by Arthur Freed of MGM, and although it was Selznick who got him first, MGM was where he wound up - the absolute perfect studio.
The first decade of Kelly's career was a dream - from For Me and My Girl to Singing in the Rain. His career stumbled when he went to Europe for tax reasons - the films became less good, his musicals less polished away from Donen and the MGM studio, musicals became less popular. He had married teenage Betsy Blair who cheated on him and left him (she was more left wing than he was). He fell in love with his former assistant and they had a happy life til she died of leukemia. He later married a third time to a woman who hasn't always had the easiest relationship with his kids.
Kelly always found employment - he directed Flower Drum Song on Broadway, played a straight part in Inherit the Wind. He ever seemed to recapture his late forties/early fifties triumphs - no one much seems to like Gigot or his version of Hello Dolly. It's a shame he never made more swashbucklers - The Three Musketeers is fabulous.
He seems to have been a hard working decent person, a little obsessive, highly competitive - at heart he was a jock, a hard task master, a master of his craft of dancing. The book hints at perhaps a more complex figure - he married people below him in a way (a much younger woman, his former employee), was prone to anger. Maybe there wasn't more to him. A fine book.
Kelly was from Pittsburgh and came up the long way - he loved dancing but instead of running off to Broadway he stayed home for a bit and ran his own dance studios. This turned into a nice little earner... but he didn't go to New York until his late twenties. It turned out to be the right decision - he was ready to go, and made it relatively quickly, then came film offers. He was actively recruited by Arthur Freed of MGM, and although it was Selznick who got him first, MGM was where he wound up - the absolute perfect studio.
The first decade of Kelly's career was a dream - from For Me and My Girl to Singing in the Rain. His career stumbled when he went to Europe for tax reasons - the films became less good, his musicals less polished away from Donen and the MGM studio, musicals became less popular. He had married teenage Betsy Blair who cheated on him and left him (she was more left wing than he was). He fell in love with his former assistant and they had a happy life til she died of leukemia. He later married a third time to a woman who hasn't always had the easiest relationship with his kids.
Kelly always found employment - he directed Flower Drum Song on Broadway, played a straight part in Inherit the Wind. He ever seemed to recapture his late forties/early fifties triumphs - no one much seems to like Gigot or his version of Hello Dolly. It's a shame he never made more swashbucklers - The Three Musketeers is fabulous.
He seems to have been a hard working decent person, a little obsessive, highly competitive - at heart he was a jock, a hard task master, a master of his craft of dancing. The book hints at perhaps a more complex figure - he married people below him in a way (a much younger woman, his former employee), was prone to anger. Maybe there wasn't more to him. A fine book.
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