Movie review - "The Big Combo" (1955) ****

 Fantastic film noir from director Joseph Lewis and writer Phil Yordan, made for Yordan's company in association with Cornel Wilde's. The movie established Wilde as a producer which extended his career; he gives one of his best performances too as a cop driven to take down Richard Conte (replacing Jack Palance at the last minute but Conte's superb). Jean Wallace is excellent as Conte's traumatised wife, while Helene Stanton almost steals the movie as Wilde's sexy, lonely girlfriend, aware her boyfriend is hung up on Wallace.

Very strong support cast - Brian Donlevy as henchman number one, with Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman as henchmen two and three (who sleep in the same room).

Beautifully shot, dynamically directed. Amazing sequences such as Wilde being tortured and Donlevy being shot. Did Yordan actually write this one? If so he should be very proud. 

Robert Littman Head of MGM Europe 1970-71

 In 1970 or thereabouts appointed head of MGM inEurope

April 1971 MGM EMI formed - Nat Cohen in charge, LIttman beneath him

,Films - No Blade of Grass, Get Carter, The Last Run, The Boyfriend

That's a good record.

Gloomy Upheaval Dogs British Movie Industry

By Bernard Weinraub Special to The New York Times

March 30, 1970

March 30, 1970, Page 52Buy Reprints
LONDON—On a chilly London afternoon last No vember, the Metro‐Goldwyn Mayer Company abruptly canceled the multimillion dollar film “Man’s Fate.” The announcement was made while the director, Fred Zin neman, and the stars, David Niven and Peter Finch, were already in rehearsal at the Boreham Wood Studios here.

“It stunned the industry here,” said David Deutsch, a 44‐year‐old British producer, now engaged in filming “Joe Egg,” which is one of the few American‐backed pro ductions currently in Britain.

The cancellation of “Man’s Fate”—whose pre‐production expenditures reportedly ranged from $3‐million to $5‐ million—was one more sig nificant step that has left the British film industry in a gloomy upheaval for the last year and a half.

With 90 per cent of British films being produced with American money, the profit losses, proxy fights and ex ecutive reshufflings in Holly wood have clearly had a withering impact on movies here.


At the peak of movie‐mak ing in 1966 and 1967, as many as 16 major American hacked films with interna tional casts were under pro duction at the Boreham Wood, Shepperton, Twicken ham and Bray studios.

At present, there are four major productions filming in studios here, together with about a half‐dozen smaller, British‐backed films. The four a we John Schlesinger’s “Bloody Sunday,” “Joe Egg,” a Columbia production with Alan Bates, “Say Hello to Yesterday,” with Jean Simmons and “Scrooge,” a musical with Albert Finney and Sir Alec Guiness.

The decline in movie‐mak ing here and throughout Eu rope is underscored in nume rous ways, however — in the sudden cancellation of “Man’s Fate” and, more re cently, Richard Lester’s “Flashman,” in the overhaul of London‐based production personnel in United Artists. Paramount and M.G.M. and in the salary cuts that stars, directors and technicians are accepting in order to work.

Like other filmmakers in Britain, Mr. Lester attributes the decline in moviemaking here to two basic factors: the over‐all crisis in the movie industry and falling box‐of fice receipts.

“The failures in the past few years here have fright ened the studios,” he said.

In the mid‐sixties, some of the most successful films re leased were British—“Dar ling,” “Georgy Girl,” “Alfie,” “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help.” Within the last few years, however, “Joanna,” “The Touchables,” and “Charge of the Light Bri gade” have floundered.•

“Fewer and fewer Euro pean films have been hit ting, not just here in Britain but the films made by Ber man, Debroca, Truffaut,” said Sandy Whitelaw, the European production chief for United Artists.

“It used to be certain European films could say and do things that American films couldn’t do,” said Mr. Whitelaw, whose company will produce about 12 films in Europe this year, a 50 per cent cutback over 1969.

Perhaps the studio in the midst of the stormiest changes, in Europe as well as the United States, is M.G.M, which has no European films in production now and has reorganized its over seas production staff under Robert Littman, a 32‐year‐old Briton, who was formerly a director of the William Morris Agency here.

“We’ve got to make more films for people, not directors,” said Mr. Littman, whose company recently laid off 300 carpenters and technicians from their local studio. “I want a variety of films and I want to make them commercial,” he said.

M.G.M. is now planning a number of low‐budget films in Britain, the first one a sci ence‐fiction drama, “No Blade of Grass,” produced and di rected by Corne Wilde.

In dealing with the cutback in American ‐ supported pro ductions, the British movie industry has begun to seek film support without Ameri can money. One of the most ambitious British projects is the Associated British Picture Corporation, which has an nounced a 15‐film program during the next two years.

The production outfit, whose managing director is Bryan Forbes, the director, has four films in various edit ing stages and three in pro duction.

“More and more people will have to go the independent way without studios,” said Mr. Lester. “People will have to make films and then sell them on their own to dis tributors.”

“It’s a very difficult time now,” he added with a shrug. “People have been out of work for a long time and no one really knows what they’re going to do.”

Movie review - " Omar Khayyam" (1957) **

 Universal pumped out a bunch of Easterns in the 40s and 50s with stars like Tony Curtis and Maria Montez. Columbia made some too including One Thousand and One Nights which like this starred Cornel Wilde.

This one is from Paramount and it's a sluggish piece - William Dieterle was towards the end of his Hollywood career, and I sense he had ambitious above the station of this material, which should be a junky fast paced action film that joyously distorted history. This one tiredly distorted history. I don't recall a film that discussed military tactics so much. Like, wh cares?

Dieterle was famed for his Warners biopics and maybe that approach would have worked here but they've gone the action/romance route.

Wilde plays the title role who impresses ruler Raymond Massey with some poems but also his military strategy.

John Derek is fourth billed in a thankless role as Massey's son. You could cut him out of the film.

A much better part is Michael Rennie's villain - based on a real dude, head of the order of assassins... and a film focusing around that would've been more fun. Debra Paget is The Girl. 

Cornel Wilde's career had interesting parallels with John Derek incidentally - both starred in Easterns, both under contract to Columbia and Fox, Wilde turned down the part Derek played in Ten Commandments, both did swashbucklers, both turned director.

Dull.

Movie review - "Beyond Mombasa" (1956) *** (warning: spoilers)

 A sort of remake of Duel in the Jungle from the same producers (Todon, company of Donna Reed), same director (George Marshall), shot on location which focuses on white people on an expedition.

This one has Cornel Wilde investigating his disappearing brother, accompanied by Leo Genn and Genn's niece Donna Reed. Reed is lovely, Wilde is ideal for this sort of stuff (Aldo Ray turned down the role... why?), Genn is fun, especially at the end when he goes nutty, Christopher Lee is even more fun as a big game hunter who may be a baddy, Ron Randell is on hand as another person who may be a baddy.

Randell's voice is dubbed - poor Ron! Nice photography of Kenya. The leopard men are fun.

Movie review - "Constantine and the Cross" (1961) **1/2

Most Christian-in-Ancient Rome literature seems to concern the time of Jesus and shortly afterwards - the persecution of Christians, famous Emperors, so on. The dramatic hooks are bigger and clearer, the Christians were such underdogs.

Later on they were less so, which is maybe why filmmakers steered clear. This has a fascinating subject matter though  - Constantine, whose conversion to Christianity turned a minority religion to the main game in town.

 

That helps this movie - along with the production values and the fact the cast includes Cornel Wilde, Belinda Lee and Christina Kaufman.

 

Lee plays Constantine's wife Fausta who he later had executed for sleeping with his step son... which is a typical Lee role from this period, but Fausta here is relatively goody-goody (a sequel focusing on her would've been more fun).

 

Christians get eaten by lions, there are battles, extras, lounging in togas, assassinations. Not bad.

Movie review - "It Had to be You" (1947) **

There's a lot of muppet acting going on in this film, mostly from Ginger Rogers who sets the tone and also Cornel Wilde who rises to match her at times. It does mean Wilde is more animated here than in other of his movies.

Rogers feels a little old - I don't want to be ageist, truly, I get she was only mid 30s, I just feel this would work better with someone who felt younger and sillier. As it is Rogers' character feels like she has psychological troubles, more serious than as treated here.

She keeps jilting men at the altar. Turns out when she was six she was kissed by an Indian and never got over it. This could be seen today as a metaphor for sex abuse but here is treated comically.

It's a fantasy - Columbia liked making them since Here Comes Mr Jordan. But I got confused over the rules - Cornel Wilde is a figment of Rogers' imagination, but he could still interact with other people... is that right? Then one hour in - one hour! - a "real" Wilde character appears, a macho fireman.

Ron Randell goes all out and is quite good. The title tune is heard a few times - I wish Ginger had sung and danced.

But it's confusing. They needed to sort the rules.

I saw every Sonja Henie film so you don’t have to

Sonja Henie is one of those novelty athletes-turned-stars who could have only thrived in the Golden Years of Hollywood. Like Johnny Weismuller and Esther Williams, she became internationally famous in the sporting arena, moved into live shows, then was plucked up by the movies. She was signed to a contract by 20th Century Fox who devoted a lot of time, effort in money into showcasing her in a series of vehicles that hid her limitations and promoted her attributes. She made nine films at Fox, then two for International Pictures (the latter when it merged into Universal-International). All of them have high production values, excellent music and strong support casts. The quality of the scrips vary. Henie skates well but remained a limited actor throughout her career. Sometimes she was quite engaging; other times she seemed like a smug selfish Nazi.

According to the biography Queen of the Ice: Queen of Shadows Henie wasn’t a terribly nice person in real life, avoiding tax, smuggling money, offering minimal help to the Norwegian resistance during the war, stealing towels and bath mats from hotels, lusting after diamonds, and descending into alcoholism. On. In the credit column she worked hard, was ambitious, throve in adversity, had a lot of sex and was fantastic on the ice. Several skaters tried to copy her success - Belita, Vera Ralston - but none of them came near Henie.

If you’re interested in trying a bit of Henie, I’ve whipped up a table with their key information.

What title?	What Year?	Who is the love interest?	Who supports?	What’s the concept?	What’s the weird stuff?	What’s the verdict?
One in a Million	1936	Don Ameche as a reporter	Adolphe Menjou (manager)., Jean Hersholt (SH’s dad), Ned Sparks (comic relief), The Ritz Brothers, Borrah Minevitch and his Harmonica Rascals.	Menjou discovers a Swiss girl and wants to turn her into a skating star but she wants to be in the Olympics.	SH’s character competes at the 1936 Berlin Olympics where in real life Henie famously did the Nazi salute to Adolf Hitler. The plot concerns amateur status of Olympic athletes.	A grab bag of a movie. Plays like a variety show with a whole collection of acts. Fascinating to see how they protect SH.
Thin Ice	1937	Tyrone Power as a prince	Arthur Treacher, Joan Davis (comic relief), Sig Ruman.	Ski instructor SH falls for Power, not realising he’s a prince.	SH and Power had an affair in real life and had nicknames for his penis and her vagina. Power has weird make up.	Very light but fun.
Happy Landings	1938	Don Ameche as a manager	Cesar Romeo (band leader & fake love interest), Ethel Merman (singer),Jean Hersholt (SH’s dad), The Condos Brothers.	Ameche and Romeo crash land in Norway. SH falls for Romeo and stalks him in New York then falls for Ameche.	The plane crashes in Norway flying New York to Paris. SH’s character falls in love because a psychic tells her.	Great fun. Very strong cast.
My Lucky Star	1938	Richard Greene, as a college student.	Cesar Romero (playboy & fake love interest) Buddy Ebsen (comic relief). Joan Davis (comic relief), Arthur Treacher, Gypsy Rose Lee (enemy).	SH is hired to by Romeo to wear a lot of different clothes at a college.	It’s set at a college which seems to be mostly a winter resort.	Silly story. Poor male lead - Greene acts  like an army officer doing amateur theatricals. Great skating.
Second Fiddle	1939	Tyrone Power as a Hollywood publicist	Rudy Vallee (movie star & fake love interest). Edna Mae Oliver, Mary Healy	SH is a Minnesota school teacher plucked to play the lead in a film after a Scarlet O’Hara like search.	The absurd idea SH would be cast in the lead of a non skating film. SH falls in love with Rudy Vallee because she’s told to.	Dumb central idea. Poor.
Everything Happens at Night	1939	Ray Milland and Bob Cummings, both playing rival journos. You’re never sure who she’s going to end up with.	Maurice Moscovitch (her father).	Milland and Ameche track down SH’s dad who is hiding from the Nazis in Switzerland	Feels like the one SH film not originally devised for SH. Gloomy, almost film noir treatment.	Interesting. Different SH movie. Strong male leads.
Sun Valley Serenade	1941	John Payne as a band pianist	Lynn Bari (the bitch), Milton Berle (manager), Joan Davis (comic relief) The Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Nicholas Brothers, Dorothy Dandridge.	Payne’s manager arranges for him to adopt a Norwegian war orphan and discovers it’s SH.	One of two film appearances by Glenn Miller. Also has Nicholas Brothers and Dandridge. Very pro-refugee.	SH is particularly smug in this one but everything else is fantastic. Brilliant support cast. Glenn Miller novelty. Divine Bari and Nicholas brothers.
Iceland	1942	John Payne, as a US soldier	Jack Oakie (comic relief), Felix Bressart (father), Sammy Kaye and his Orchestra.	US troops occupy Iceland and Payne accidentally romances SH.	Iceland feels like it’s occupied by concert musicians.	Confusing story. Iceland setting is novel.
Wintertime	1943	Cornel Wilde, as the co owner of a winter resort.	Cesar Romeo (fake love interest), Carole Landis (friend), Jack Oakie (comic relief), Woody Herman and His Orchestra.	SH and her Norwegian tycoon father come to Canada to buy a ski lodge.	The film touches on the invasion of Norway and uses it as a plot point. Set in Canada.	Good fun. Great work again from Romero. Landis good fun. SH skates on black ice.
It’s a Pleasure	1945	Michael O’Shea, an Irish American who had a brief vogue in the 40s as a leading man. He plays an alcoholic, possibly physically  abusive ice hockey player.	Marie McDonald, Iris Adrian, someone called Bill Johnson.	SH is a skater at Madison Square Garden who is in love with an ice hockey player O’Shea and turns him into an ice skating revue star.	SH tries melodrama. Does a dance number. SH and O’Shea make jokes about husbands hitting wives. The only SH movie in colour. Johnson keeps a secret from SH for two years for no good reason.	SH given too much acting to do. Melodrama plots do not suited to her.
The Countess of Monte Cristo	1948	Michael Kirby, a real life skater who was an okay actor, as an army lieutenant.	Olga San Juan, Dorothy Hart, Arthur Treacher, Hugh French.	SH is a Norwegian barmaid who pretends to be a countess to have a fun weekend.	They hired a real skater to appear opposite SH and he hardly ever skates. This is one of her best movies and it flopped.	A surprising delight.  Olga San Juan is terrific. Breezy, fun, silly.

Movie review - "Wintertime" (1943) ***

Sonja Henie's last film for Fox seems to borrow a lot from Sun Valley Serenade - it's set in a North American ski resort, Henie plays a Norwegian, there's a big band performing at the resort, a slinky dame... But it's a fun movie. It's reputation isn't the highest and it's very much re heating old ingredients but it's done with skill and spirits.

Cornel Wilde is the fresher face here - relatively new to his Fox contract he's a virile leading man and I liked that his character was shy and awkward with women. Cesar Romeo is reliable fun as the big headed big band leader and Jack Oakie provides decent comedy. S Z Sakall is Henie's dad, so the support cast is strong. Carole Landis throws herself into things as a fake love interest who becomes, surprisingly, friends with Henie (she has a more genuine rival elsewhere).

Everyone goes for it -the last ten minutes Romeo acts his arse off. The filmmakers knew it and give him all the screen action basically palming off Wilde altogether and keeping Henie on the ice. Romero goes to town.

The film just wants to make you happy. I found this endearing.

It is weird how it touched on the invasion and occputatio of Norway but uses it pretty much just as a plot point - so SZ Sakall can't afford to buy the hotel any more and that Henie needs to be married to stay. Still, it's a realistic seeming plot point. I liked that it was set in Canada and Wilde and Jack Oakie ran a run down ski lodge.

Some great skating including a number on black ice.

Movie review - "Star of India" (1954) **

This should have been good. It starts well with bright colour and movement and Cornel Wilde returning to his castle in the 17th century. The basic idea isn't bad - it's a chase after a special Indian diamond.

But they don't develop it. There's little Indian presence. Few personal stakes - I mean why should the Dutch get back the jewel, they stole it? It's strained - Jean Wallace happens to take all Wilde's property but she's also there on  a secret mission? Herbert Lom is responsible for everything bad? What does King Louis  XIV think?

Wilde has a rapey relationship with his love interest Jean Wallace. We don't see why they fall in love other than they should. She's got no character to play.

The story takes too long to get going. Wilde should be off and running in 15 minutes but it takes half an hour. There's too much hanging around the castle. Too much repetition - Wilde is captured and escaped and captured. There's no dramatic build.

Also Arthur Lubin, whose films can be bright and colorful, isn't a fantastic action director.

Movie review - "Woman's World" (1954) **

This is what happens when you try to re-do A Letter to Three Wives or All About Eve without Joseph L Mankiewicz. This has a good, solid set up - the position of general manager of a big car corporation is up for grabs, and company head Clifton Webb (wasted), invites three leading managers from around the country to check out them and their wives.

You expect a show of ruthless climbing and great one liners - and having a large bunch of characters doesn't matter in the right hands, as shown by say Dinner at Eight. But this doesn't work.

The main reason is it's so soft. The first couple out of the blocks are June Allyson and Cornel Wilde - just decent folks from the midwest. She's a bit clutzy and worries about her kids - this was during Allyson's "perfect wife" period. She occasionally embarrasses them with a bit of klutzy-ness but he doesn't really want the job.

More promising are Lauren Bacall and Fred MacMurray. He wants the job but he's a workaholic and she doesn't want him to have the job. She gives him a job-or-me ultimatum and they're both nice basically so you know he's not going to get it.

Then there's Van Heflin and Arlene Dahl. They both want it - she really wants it - she tries to seduce Webb which is promising. But it was all a trap by Webb so get Heflin to dump Dahl and then give Heflin the job. Which is typical misogynistic Fox stuff.

Everyone's so nice. You want (or at least I want) everyone to be stabbing each other in the back. Even Dahl isn't much of a villain. I get they wanted some nice people but they needed at least three unsympathetic characters. There's not enough jokes for it to work as a comedy - maybe if it had songs...?

Elliot Reid, that wet drip from Gentleman Prefer Blondes, turns up as Webb's nephew and you hope he's going to be a lecherous idiot but he does nothing. Webb kind of plays a Santa Claus.

It's a shame because it's fun to see these stars - even if some are a little B list - in a CinemaScope corporate setting.

How I Would Have Fixed Forever Amber

It's a terrible movie. Depressing. Amber bangs her head against a brick wall for the whole time chasing a guy who is never in to her. He dumps her to go overseas, has little interest in their kid, scolds her for seeing another guy (false scene because Amber isn't engaged, the guy lies).

It's disastrously undercast. Linda Darnell can be superb but she's all wrong as Amber. Otto Preminger wanted Lana Turner. I guess. Personally I think they should have gone for Maureen O'Hara who at least was a natural red head. The men are dreadful. Cornel Wilde is a shocker - stiff and self righteous and he only gets one sword fight to redeem himself. They should have tried Douglas Fairbanks Jnr. George Sanders is good as is Jessica Tandy. Richard Greene is so anonymous. So is Glenn Langan. All these men look alike. John Russell is okay but the role is a dream. Zanuck was not great on casting.

The big problem is the script.I know the censor was hot on them, but what they came up with doesn't work. It feels like a classic case of talented people writing down to their ability.

Compare it with Gone with the Wind. You've got Scarlett who wants Ashley who is interested in Scarlett but marries Melanie because he knows she's better for him. Rhett loves Scarlett - her spunk, her style, her beauty - and is so perfect for her, but she refuses to see it. Melanie likes Scarlett because she's brave.

Wind is better than Amber for the following reasons
a) the dramatic lines are cleaner - Scarlett is spoilt and selfish, she gets everything she wants and wants Ashley. She's also brave. Amber is born poor to horribly strict people and suffers injustice so you automatically feel sorry for her and dislike all the tsk tsking.
b) Rhett is dashing and good and driven by love for Scarlett. Bruce is dashing and treats Amber horribly - like a villain. He impregnates her, leaves her, scolds her for causing a duel which isn't his fault and is rewarded.Rhett dashing and good.
c) in Wind Ashley is weak, Melanie good. There is no equivalent in Amber. Really Bruce is the Ashley - someone not worthy of Amber's love. But no one is - there's no male character like Rhett for us to rely on to go "oh amber pay attention to that guy". They set up this friend of Bruce's played by Richard Greene who should have played that role but they don't. (Michael Rennie performed a similar role in The Wicked Lady).
d) in Wind Scarlett earns respect by constantly having trouble thrown at her. She's got a Civil War, husbands keep dying, she helps Melanie escape the burning of Atlanta, she shoots a Yankee soldier who seems to have rape on his mind, makes sure the baby gets born for Ashley, helps Tara get back on its feet financially.  Now Amber actually does a bit of that - she helps nurse Bruce from the plague, runs through the fire. But she rarely does it for other people. Her goal is to get a title to marry Bruce which is dumb because Bruce never seems to want to marry her.
e) There is a good reason for Scarlett and Rhett not to be together - her love for Ashley and later on the psychological damage done by the war and the loss of their child. Here the reason is that Bruce simply doesn't like Amber.

There were either two ways to go:
1) make Amber a goodie
2) make her a baddy

(1) Could have worked but you would have had to soften it a lot. A good example is the 1945 film Kitty with Paulette Goddard - she plays a pickpocket in love with Ray Milland but he doesn't love her. He wants to use her to get into the foreign office though so he has a reason to be in her orbit.

You could have made Amber completely sympathetic. Make every other woman a bitch.

(2) Could also have worked. May have made it easier to get past the censors. Have Amber empathetic but ruthless. You could have had more sex that way. She would have to suffer. Possibly die. She didn't die in the novel - you could end her on a downer. It happens anyway.

I do think you would have had to flesh out two support parts:

a) a man who loves Amber all through the film. Doesn't have to be a huge part - just keep cutting back to him. Someone who the audience can see who should be with her. I'd make the Earl of Almsbury this. 

b) a woman to be a counterpoint to Amber. If she's good she should be a real bitch. If she's bad she should be pure but still love Amber. The woman who loves Bruce could be good for this.

I think either way you'd have to make Bruce bad. James Mason, originally offered the part, would have been perfect. Ditto Stewart Granger. Bruce is the villain of the piece. He's simply irredeemable.

Amber should want to raise their son to get him back. Amber should do everything for their son - money, title, safety, etc That's extremely sympathetic.

I think the easiest way would have been to go the (2) option. Make her "bad". But make clear she's driven by love and in love with a no good guy.

Bruce should have suffered at the end. I would use the character of Jemima, Amber's step daughter - make her a friend. Make her the "good" counterpoint to Amber.

I think that would have worked.

Movie review - "Passion" (1954) **

An oldish Western storyline - a cowboy gets revenge on the land owners who kill his gal - is given some freshness by being set in Spanish California, and have its characters be Spanish Americans. There's also Yvonne de Carlo in a dual role as said dead gal and her twin sister - both of whom love Cornel Wilde. And some spectacular scenery - the Sierra mountains, a shoot out in snow...

But it's a curiously flat movie. It's a vigilante tale - Wilde killing off the baddies one by one - but I didn't feel too much for his pain since he'd been away from de Carlo for ages, hadn't even married her, and indeed didn't know she was pregnant. He didn't seem to particularly like her.

The film lacks another twist or complication - I kept expecting Raymond Burr, as a local law man, to provide this (a reveal he's in on it, or in love with one of the de Carlos, etc), or maybe the second de Carlo (to betray Wilde or something) but it never happens. It's very linear and monotonous. The reveal that his baby is still alive isn't it - if anything it makes Wilde look like an idiot for going off on this rampage.

I loved the idea of seeing two de Carlo's, one a tomboy the other more feminine, but the two of them are only around for ten minutes before one is killed and that's no time to do anything. It was fun to see Lon Chaney Jnr as a dodgy cowboy.

Movie review - "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1952) ***

Cecil B de Mille goes to the circus and comes up with a terrific spectacle - there's elephants, trains, big tops, trapeze artists, clowns, heaps of montages of the circus moving, songs and lots and lots of movie stars. For all their colour and movement, though, circuses aren't that dramatic, so a lot of the action here feels pasted on - a train crash, a man on the run hiding out.

Betty Hutton isn't very beliveable as a trapeze artist but Cornel Wilde is completely convincing. Charlton Heston has the look and presence to cover his stiffness in a role that really would have been better played by Burt Lancaster or Kirk Douglas (he spends a lot of his time walking around like he's constipated). Dorothy Lamour is completely wasted in a nothing part, Gloria Grahame does her patented sexpot thing, and I really liked the gimmick of James Stewart covering his face all the time in clown make up (I went with this plot). Edmund O'Brien pops up at the end.

This shouldn't have won the Best Picture Oscar but is likely and colourful and has enough pulpy story and movie stars to keep you watching.

Movie review - "Forever Amber" (1947) **

Based on the 50 Shades of Grey of it's time - a racy bestseller about life in restoration England that became a phenomenon with its spirited heroine (Linda Darnell) who sleeps her way to the top of English society. She has a true love, a dashing sailor (Cornel Wilde) who she does it all for, which is reminiscent of Scarlett O'Hara's pursuit of Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, something I'm sure was intentional. But there's no Rhett Butler who chases after her, giving this movie a hollow core.

And it's a major problem. While Darnell loves Wilde, even saving his life, he doesn't seem particularly interested in her apart from the occasional root. Every time another guy turns up saying "she's mine" he goes "well fair enough" and takes off (he does kill a person in a duel over her but only very reluctantly and he tries to get out of it a lot), and then at the end he comes along to take away his son... and I think we're supposed to feel that's a good thing, because Wilde has married a nice girl. (She looks prim and stuck up to me but she's virtuous and so therefore good.) Wilde asks the kid if he wants to go to Virginia, he says sure, if mum coming, mum says no, and he takes the kid. What the...?

This is mean - it's a mean spirited movie. Darnell keeps having to suffer for crimes like not wanting to be poor, bored or stuck in a Puritan marriage. So she sleeps around, big deal. Good for her. She's far more sympathetic than Scarlett O'Hara, who was genuinely selfish and self centred - which means you feel bad because she suffers.

There are other problems too. I can't recall a movie that was so undercast - Cornel Wilde is fine in other movies but seems out of his element here and badly lacking in charisma in a role that cries out for, say, Stewart Granger. I hated his character too - he's a selfish prick. Linda Darnell can be wonderful but doesn't have what it takes to make Amber come alive - she loses her power as a red head. I wonder why Maureen O'Hara wasn't cast?

The support cast is full of people like Richard Greene, Glenn Langan and Richard Haydn - dull wallpaper actors and hard to tell apart amidst all the ruffles. The only one to stand out is George Sanders - although Jessica Tandy and Ann Revere are alright. Daryl Zanuck was one of the great Hollywood producers and normally the studios were great at this stuff but they missed the boat with this one.

Movie review - "Two Flags West" (1950) **1/2

The Civil War ground was fertile ground for Westerns - the 1950s in particular seemed to have a bunch of them featuring Northerners and Southerners squabbling amongst themselves before taking on the Indians e.g. Rocky Mountain, Column South, Escape from Fort Bravo (few of them ever had any black people in them).

This was one, which has the same plot as the later Major Dundee: captured Confederate POW Joseph Cotten is asked by injured Cornel Wilde to help fight Injuns at a fort run by bitter Jeff Chander. That's a pretty good set up - thrown in the fact that Chandler's brother died at a battle in which Cotten took part, Linda Darnell as the woman at the fort, the widow of Chandler's brother. 

Unfortunately after that things get more conventional and dull - Chandler is so bitter and twisted that he's no sexual threat to Cotten; Cornel Wilde is wasted - he starts off looking interesting with an eye patch, but that soon goes and he's just this "hey-the-South-aren't-all-bad" character; Darnell, who just showed how good she could be in Letter to Three Wives is also wasted in a nothing part. It's also got that irritating bias towards the South which always seemed to exist in these stories - Cotten is a gentleman, cultured and brave, the Union soldiers are nasty.

It's stylishly directed by Robert Wise, Cotten is perfectly cast and Chandler gets the chance to show something different in a rare character role, channelling Henry Fonda in Fort Apache (he's got a moustache and is made to look older). He's got a fantastic last scene, bravely walking off to his death, and there's some good siege action at the end when the Indians take on the soldiers. Not bad - you just wish it was better.

Movie review – “Road House” (1948) ***

Ida Lupino wasn’t a star for everyone’s taste, mine included, but if you’re a fan you’ll love this little small town drama – it’s kind of film noir but not really. She plays a singer who arrives in a small town bar/bowling alley and is lusted after owner Richard Widmark (another giggling villain although his villainy isn’t obvious straight away) and his best friend, manager Cornel Wilde (in the sort of part normally played by Victor Mature).

The plot has Wilde and Lupino fall in love (some implied pre marital sex) despite Celeste Holm pining over Wilde – and Widmark thinking that Lupino is his. The last act depends on us buying Widmark is so jealous that he frames Wilde for a crime and torments the couple. 

There’s lots of Lupino: she gets to be sultry, sing some famous tunes, wear a swim suit and evening dresses, have men paw over her, be charismatic. Great atmosphere – did the US really have road houses that combined bowling alleys and nightclubs? It sounds weird.

Movie review – “Leave Her to Heaven” (1945) ****

Probably Gene Tierney’s best role - her exotic beauty is perfect as the possessed woman who loves her husband so much she kills all those who get in the way of their quality time: his brother, their unborn son, herself! She’s excellent in the part, giving a wonderful performance - chilling, but never lacking empathy. Very beautiful too - she's in her swimsuit all the time (a directive from Daryl Zanuck?).

 Jeanne Crain is perfectly cast as a pretty bland thing who you don’t glance at twice next to Gene normally, but whose uncomplicated devotion starts to look pretty good when Gene turns out to be a homicidal maniac. Any of Fox’s leading men from the time could have played Cornel Wilde’s part, but at least he’s handsome and virile. Vincent Price and Ray Collins add pizzaz to the support cast. A wonderful old school melodrama, and a deserved massive hit for Fox.

Fewer films of the 1940s were better looking than this one. It’s gorgeously shot in colour, with great locations. Everyone in the film seems to live in a massive house in the woods with huge living rooms, pools and lakes.

Radio review – Lux – “Leave Her to Heaven” (1953) ****

This film (based on a book) introduced one of the all time great villainesses – the woman who loved her husband so much she’s willing to kill other people who come between them, including his brother, her unborn child and sister. She was played so memorably in the film by Gene Tierney but Joan Fontaine is an adequate replacement. Someone called John Dehner takes over the Cornel Wilde role. It has a solid structure, working logically – the murder of the brother isn’t as effective because we can’t see it (she lets him drown) but the interpersonal stuff is still great, ditto the courtroom finale.

Movie review – “Beach Red” (1967) **1/2

Watching The Naked Prey the other night has made me revisit the films Cornel Wilde made as director. This is perhaps his second best known one, the tale of a Marine attack on an island during World War Two. Wilde’s direction is surprisingly bold and imaginative, certainly a lot more than his acting tended to be: this has lots of voice over, flashbacks, freeze frames, non linear narratives. (This felt influenced by Norman Mailer’s novel, The Naked and the Dead.) It’s always interesting, even if the basic story isn’t much – they invade island, people get killed, war is Hell. The acting and characters aren’t that interesting, either (apart from Rip Torn as a gung ho sergeant), though the sense of brutality and harshness is – as is the humanizing of the enemy. The ending, with two soldiers on a deadly patrol, is quite exciting. Must of the action is intimate focusing on only a few soldiers, but then Wilde throws in these cast of thousands epic battle sequences; its like he blew the whole budget on these so had to keep the rest of it minimal (I remember there being something similar in The Sword of Lancelot). Although Wilde – looking old and weary here - plays the lead he isn’t given that much to do, as if director Wilde is all too aware actor Wilde isn’t the best actor in the world. The flashbacks to the women in the soldier’s lives don’t seem very 1940s.

Movie review – “Sword of Lancelot” (1963) **1/2

Not very well known Arthurian tale from star-director Cornel Wilde, but it makes some attempt to be a bit more realistic than earlier versions: combat can be quite brutal, Lancelot actually speak in a French accent, crowds snigger as a woman is being burned at the stake, Lancelot and Guinevere actually get it on. When Lancelot escorts Guinevere to get married to Arthur they decide to go for a swim and pretty soon are soaping each other up and touching each other as they play around – no wonder they are soon in bed. (When later on they’re getting their knickers in a twist over whether to see each other you can’t help thinking “how about you didn’t take that swim together in the first place?”). 

Brian Aherne is sympathetic as King Arthur, but Wilde and Jean Wallace aren’t terribly interesting in the leads. I always have a problem with this story when they try for sympathy with these two – Guinevere is selfish and Lancelot can’t keep it in his pants. Though to be fair, Wallace gets better at the end when her character takes a journey – her religious conversion is quite believable. 

The action sequences are well done – two spectacular battles, Lancelot fighting his way out after being busted with Guinevere and Wilde cutting loose in a duel at the end. Wilde decides not to show Ahern’s death just to have it reported – I think something lacks as a result. And the other supporting charters aren’t really given much screen time, even Merlin. But this is a pretty good version of the tale, much better than MGM’s Knights of the Round Table.