Movie review - "None But the Brave" (1965) ***

 Frank Sinatra's one movie as director is surprisingly gutsy - anti war, very sympathetic to the Japanese, long scenes of Japanese chatting. Some Japanese are stuck on an island - Americans crash. They fight then form a bond then fight. There's a lot of camraderie and men on opposite sides making eyes at each other.

Sinatra is in it but the biggest role goes to Clint Walker who is bland and solid. Tommy Sands is terrible - he made a choice to use a silly voice and it sinks his performance. The Japanese actors are strong. Nicely shot.

I don't think Sinatra was Charles Laughton but this impressed me. 

Janet Leigh Top Ten

 1) Psycho (1960) - famous scene but also a genuinely nuanced performance as a frustrated woman who makes a bad decision - Vera Miles doesn't have what Leigh had

2) Touch of Evil (1958) - passive (kidnapped) but she has an inner steel

3) Living It Up (1954) - really fun Martin and Lewis movie and Leigh matches well with Dean 

4) Scaramouche (1952) - honestly her character is a ninny and not in Eleanor Parker's league I just love this flm 

5) Little Women (1949) - the most nothing role in the story but she's ideal - she fitted in well at MGM

6) The Manchurian Candidate (1962) a sex positive woman chasing after Frank, from Leigh's hot streak of classic movies

7) The Fog (1980) - she's fine rather than great I just love the movie

8) The Vikings (1958) - lovely and warm in a movie that needs it

9) Houdini (1953) - perhaps the best film she made with Tony Curtis, very winning

10) Harper (1966) - one of many stars.

Movie review - "Around the World in 80 Days" (1956) ***

 Do people still watch this movie any more? It's fun. I mean, it's long, but it gave people their money's worth in 1956. Length! Colour! Widescreen! Stars!

David Niven is a lot of fun as Fogg (the film put him back on top) and Cantiflas engaging as Passporteu. The cameos range from fun - Noel Coward, John Gielgud - to "whatever" - Fernandel, Charles Boyer.

Book review - "Zeppo the Reluctant Marx Brother" by Robert Bader

 Fascinating, exhaustively researched biography of a famous punch line name. Zeppo didn't want to be in the group but was forced after Gummo (who also didn't want to be in it) left to join the army. A straight man who was not hot enough to be a romantic lead (or a strong enough singer) he kind of hang around though his presence is part of the film's fun.

He was very smart, ruthless, hung out with gangsters his whole life, was a successful gambler, great card player, could charm, ran a successful agency (Barbara Stanwyck was a client and good friend of his wife), then bizarrely a successful factory plant in World War Two, and made profits from Safeway. Always had plenty of money but was skilled at stashing it so sometimes Groucho thought he was poor. Compulsive womaniser, he would occasionally beat women. His wife adopted two children and he was a terrible father (basically shipped them off and ignored them). He was also step dad to his second wife's kid and wasn't that great with him. Cuckoled by Frank Sinatra.

A genuinely unpleasant person. Fascinating book.

Book review - "King Cohn" by Bob Thomas (re-reading)

Listened to this in audio book form because John Landis did the reading. It was fun. Full of good anecdotes. That does mean there's less analysis and a lot of stories from people where they got one over Harry Cohn. Aw shucks, anecdote teller, you're so clever. 

I was constantly thinking "What was really going on?"

I know Cohn was smart and ruthless. I sensed a less pleasant, more controlling person behind the person depicted here.

But the book is an easy read. Lots of great stories. The account of his death is moving, as is his friendship with Sidney Buchman.

Book review - "Even This I Get to Experience" by Norman Lear (2014)

 Norman Lear shows never quite had the impact in Oz they did in Australia. Mostly because they weren't as prominent in syndication. I mean Diffrent Strokes was the exception, we all loved that; I recall Good Times and One Day at a Time playing during the say. But Maude was shunted at 3am and I don't recall The Jeffersons, All in the Family, Sanford and Son. Maybe their British originals were too better known. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong (this was the 80s-90s). Maybe the tone of Lear comedies was too aggressive and loud.

I'm so mixed on Lear. I respect and admire him - who could not? The battles he fought, the way he dominated'the culture in the 70s, investing in interesting films like Spinal Tab and Princess Bride, genuine war service in a bomber crew. All those fights with censors. He seemed to lose his TV touch from the 80s onwards but that happens. Tenacious. Taking on those terrible evangelists.

I enjoyed hearing about the actor conflics on Good Times and All the Family. And Jerry Lewis being a pain.

As a person... ah, I dunno. He whines about his shonky dad, and complaining mother. (Would he have been as good a salesman without his dad). Hard worker. Clearly very good writer and producer. Worked for Martin and Lewis on TV in the 50s and people like Martha Raye, Indifferent movie record - films no one gets too excited about like Come Blow Your Horn and Cold Turkey. Earned lots of money but always seemed to be about to lose it (even in the late 80s) then bounced back. two bad marriages. Third to a younger woman - he became a father later in life and had a surrogate. Lot of chat about how people love him, how he saved someone's life.

I stress, I have a lot of admiration and respect for Lear I just didn't dig this book. Maybe I just wanted more about his shows.

Movie review - "For Those Who Think Young" (1964) **

 Half the film is stock beach party stuff - rich James Darren chases after poor (ish) Pamela Tiffin. Darren is a sleazy red flag which is stock for this sort of plot, but Tiffin is lively and pretty, and there's stuff on the beach. And I enjoyed Bob Denver as a beatnik and Nancy Sinatra as his girlfriend (Dean Martin's daughter Claudia is in this too). That's all fine.

But the other half of the film is, amazingly, a vehicle for some unfunny comic Woody Woodbury, who is loosely connected to the other story by being Tiffin's uncle but has his own plot about being a duo with Paul Lynde, then Woodbury does a nightclub act that is apparently hilarious - we get lots and lots of it on screen - and the Dean wants to shut down the nightclub.

Ellen Burstyn, then under a different name, is fun as a woman who tries to shut down the club and falls for Woodbury. George Raft cameos as a cop during a final raid.

But this movie is dumb. Annoying. Woodbury gets too much screen time. It's all resolved with an unconvincing deux ex machina - the Dean used to be a bootlegger. I mean, WTF.

Made by Frank Sinatra's producing company!

Movie review - "Pepe" (1960) **

Cantiflas was a huge star in Mexico who had a choice support part in Around the World in 80 Days so George Sidney and Columbia gave him his own vehicle and they filled it full of stars.

Cantiflas is in Mexico with his beloved horse. The horse is sold to filmmaker Dan Dailey while Edward G. Robinson and Greer Garson as themselves look on. Ernie Kovacs is an immigration official. William Demarest is a studio guard. Zsa Zsa Gabor enters the studio. So does Bing Crosby who sings 'South of the Border' with the star.

He befriends Shirley Jones. Jay North as Dennis the Menace attacks him. There's Charles Coburn getting struck in the head with a slingshot pulled by Billie Burke. Jack Lemmon appears in his Some Like It Hot drag outfit. Cantiflas goes to a nightclug and sees Bobby Darin sing and Michael Callan dance - its' a good number, Callan, some other guy and Shirley Jones, ending with the two guys having a West Side Story-style knife fight.

Then there's this agonisingly dull subplot begins about Jones wanting to be a movie star but also being bitter and not wanting Dailey to shag her, and Dailey being a drunk over the hill producer trying to get up a film involving Pepe's horse or something. It's all simple yet confusing which is an achievement.

Cantiflas follows Dailey to Las Vegas, where he meets the Rat Pack (Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford and Richard Conte in one scene, then Sammy Davis Jnr, then Sinatra). The whole movie set in Vegas would've been a better idea. Cesar Romero is at a slot machine looking like he's trying to pick up. He banters with Jimmy Durante.

There's a way out number where Dailey hallucinates a dance number with a tiny Cantiflas and Debbie Reynolds clambering around giant pencils and a telephone and another prop to the music 'Tequila'. Then the film starts and Dailey, Jones and Cantiflas go see Maurice Chevalier in concert. There's a comic bit where Cantiflas visits Janet Leigh at home she thinks she's someone else, husband Tony Curtis becomes involved.

Then Cantiflas is in love with Jones but she falls for Dailey. She's almost twenty years younger than Dailey and looks it.  There's a weird scene where Robinson declares Dailey's love for Jones while Dailey looks on. So we don't get a confrontation between the three.

There's a lot, as in a lot, of jokes about Cantiflas calling the horse his "son". A lot of scenes of Cantiflas being lucky - he wins at the casino, Novak pays for his engagement ring.

The film is fascinating for its oddness - an all star vaudeville act style film built around a Mexican star. Why not put some effort into the story?

An odd duck. Has a fascination.

Movie review - "Pal Joey" (1957) ***

 I haven't seen the original,am prepared to believe it's a classic, this version seems like a solid star vehicle for three talents - anti hero womaniser who is really a hero (he's nice to a cat), sings at a club, has to deal with a sort of flat mate (Kim Novak) and an old flame (Rita Hayworth).

Both Hayworth and Novak are ideally cast - Hayworth as the Woman from the Past (eg Gilda) and Novak as a gorgeous not too bright thing whose looks mask her insecurity and has terrible taste in men (eg Picnic, Vertigo). Sinatra is perfectly cast too as the heel. He has some great tunes to sing like 'The Lady is a Tramp'. Novak works well. Hayworth had lost her zing by now. She seems flat. Still looks good.

Watching this it hit me. I don't really like Frank Sinatra. I respect his talent - he can act and sing. But I don't like to be around him. I'm sure he'll live.

Book review - "The industry : life in the Hollywood fast lane" by Saul David (1981)

 David isn't that famous a figure but had an interesting career, producing a series of hits at Fox in the late 60s, and this is an entertaining book. It wobbles a little all over the place but has terrific accounts of the making of movies like Von Ryan's Express, Skullduggery, The Black Bird - ego trips from Sinatra and George Segal (!), MGM in the early 70s, Lew Wasserman, the Zanucks. I thought there's be more on the Flint films.

Movie view - "Cannonball Run II" (1984) **

 For ten years Burt Reynolds, it seemed, couldn't put a foot wrong, at least not when he got behind the wheel of a car, then with this and Stroker Ace it seemed he couldn't put a foot right. Like City Heat I think this made money but it's a film few people seem to like. Maybe the public tired of it, maybe Burt just got a little bit too old... being a big kid is a little less charming.

This skews older than the previous film - instead of Farrah Fawcett there's Shirley Maclaine, it has a strong Rat Pack presence with a plot about paying back loan sharks and a cameo from Frank and other old timey stars like Sid Caesar, Doug McClure, Tim Conway, Don Knotts, plus Telly Savalas as a baddy.On the new talent there's Tony Danza and a comic chimp and Shawn Weathley as a girl Martin is rooting. Oh and Menudo's song.

Susan Anton and Catherine Bach (both gorgeous) replace Tara Buckman and Adrienne Barbeau and Danza replaces Terry Bradshaw as Mel Tills' sidekick, Robert Kiel is Jackie Chan's new sidekick.

The first movie felt like all ages, this one feels old. Also it doesn't have the same heart and feeling of camraderie as the first one - in that, Burt's romance with Farrah was sweet (well, apart from the abduction), but here he just makes out with Shirley Maclaine in the backseat like two old ageing movie stars (instead of having Maclaine and Marilu Henner I think they just should've had Henner). In the first, it was lovely how Dom DeLuise talked about how he was lonely til he found a friend in Burt, and how Burt explained to Farrah the joys of cannonballing - scenes like that are missing. There's not even that much car action.

It is fun to see Frank Sinatra, and while Dean Martin looks old and weathered Sammy Davis Jnr is full of life and Jackie Chan gets more fight senes.

Book review - "Unsinkable" by Debbie Reynolds

Reynolds' second memoir. Covers her dud third marriage, adventures with Carrie, later films like Mother, construction of her hotel and casino. A lot of the financial misadventures make grim reading. I kept thinking "just invest in basic real estate and shares, Debbie. Stop trying to make a museum and hotels!"

It also goes film by film through her career with various anecdotes so the films get plenty of attention. Great anecdotes: Marjorie Main carried around an urn of her dead husband's ashes to talk to him; on Give a Girl a Break Stanley Donen had a man crush on Bob Fosse and a big fight with Gower Champion; she was taken off The Actress (they should've used her); Bundle of Joy was hard to film due to Eddie Fisher's insecurity making him cranky and Norman Taurog's memory loss; on Tammy Leslie Nielsen was a method diva and Walter Brennan full of tricks to steal scenes (like always turn your face three quarters in a two hander to get more exposure; Tony Randall (The Mating Game) had an enormous member; Richard Brooks bullied slapped Reynolds making The Catered Affair (which she otherwise liked... I think Brooks was a real bully); Glenn Ford actively chased Reynolds around a room (they became friends but Debbie... that's attempted assault); the budget of Molly Brown was cut during filming to pay for Zhivago but intense rehearsal meant they saved a dance number; Tony Curtis spread an Eddie Fisher rumour that Reynolds was a lesbian and lousy lay (and she's defensive about her love making abilities); the one time she was tempted to bang a co star was Maurice Ronet on How Sweet It Is; James Garner brought a vibrator as a joke into a bed scene with Reynolds; as an uncredited producer on Whatever Happened to Helen she was going to sack Shelley Winters for lack of professionalism and replace her with Geraldine Page but decided it would cost too much; Dennis Weaver is a great kisser up there with Frank Sinatra; Sean Patrick Flannery refused to rehearse.

Fun book.

Movie review - "From Here to Eternity" (1953) ****

An iconic movie of its time - the exemplification of a 1950s blockbuster: based on a best seller, sexy but censored, all star cast, angst, war.

It's beautifully made. Lovely stars. Fred Zinnemann cast the third act, as they say: Monty Clift isn't the first actor you think of as a soldier or a boxer but he is perfect as a sensitive, self destructive rebel, who could turn things around but refuses, and is into his male friend rather than his girlfriend  - what a stunning actor and star. Donna Reed is a sort of hooker who is actually very smart and a nice person with plenty of ambition. Deborah Kerr is actually hot for a bit of sex, like Kerr was IRL apparently. Burt Lancaster is a tough professional not keen on a relationship. Frank Sinatra is, in hindsight, super ideal as a proud, cocky, angry man who refuses to back down and gets in fights when he shouldn't have.

Lots of this is moving - the defiance of Sinatra, the constant casual bullying of people in positions of power (and the formal bullying), the death of Sinatra. Some scenes such as Clift playing taps and the Pearl Harbour attack are very well done.

Book review - "John Frankenheimer: A Conversation with Charles Champlin"

Frankenheimer had one of the all time hot streaks - both during the Golden Years of television where he was one of the stars, but also his early films. Young Savages, All Fall Down, The Manchurian Candidate, The Train, Seven Days in May, Seconds... Critics cooled on him from Grand Prix onwards after which his career seemed to wobble: The Extraordinary Seaman, The Fixer, The Gypsy Moths, I Walk the Line, The Horseman, Impossible Object, The Iceman Cometh, 99 and 44/100% Dead,. There were some "commercial" films - French Connection II, Black Sunday, The Prophecy - and a drinking problem. His career dipped in the 80s but he came back in the 90s with TV work. This book is before Ronin.

Obviously a smart guy - lucky in how he got into tv, but you make your own luck, developing material, taking chances, taking risks. Strong work ethic - he managed to kick the booze. He whinges a bit about studios and like all people in their memoirs blames other people for his films that flopped but in fairness takes some brickbats too.

The film is full of interesting bits like his sometimes prickly relationship with Burt Lancaster, saying James Garner was only effective when playing "a shit", his hopes for The Horseman (the Afghan government offered him free land), Gordon Stulberg of Fox agreed to finance 99 and 44/100% Dead if Richard Harris was cast, Don Johnson was a pain on Dead Bang.

An entertaining book, I just wish it included some of his later career.

Doris Day - Top Eleven Abusive Spouse Roles

In preparing my earlier Doris list I was struck by the number of films that showed her being in abusive relationships: (warning - some SPOILERS for old Doris Day films)
1) Young Man with a Horn (1950) - Doris plays a singer who falls for a self centered musician (Kirk Douglas) who leaves her for a lesbian who is experimenting with being straight (Lauren Bacall) then takes Day back when he's broke and drunk
2) Tea for Two (1950) - Doris plays a socialite whose freeloading producer boyfriend (Billy de Wolfe) is cheating on her while using her money to produce a show
3) Storm Warning (1951) - Doris is a pregnant newly wed whose husband is an alcoholic and member of the KKK who tries to rape Doris' sister, and winds up being responsible for her death
4) The Winning Team (1952) - Doris plays the wife of some famous baseball player (Ronald Reagan) who got PTSD and a drinking problem in WW1
5) Young at Heart (1954) - Doris elopes with a depressed man (Frank Sinatra) who tries to kill himself to "set her free"
6) Love Me or Leave Me (1955) - Doris plays a singer who marries and abusive, violent gangster (Jimmy Cagney) out of gratitude for what he did for her career
7) The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) - Doris plays a woman who had to give up a successful singing career to marry James Stewart
8) Julie (1956) - Doris is a stewardess whose husband (Louis Jourdan) tries to kill her
9) Midnight Lace (1960) - Doris' husband tries to drive her insane and then kill her
10) Send Me No Flowers (1964) - Rock Hudson doesn't tell wife Doris he thinks he is dying
11) Ballad of Josie (1967) - Doris has an abusive husband who she accidentally kills

Book review - "This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me" by Norman Jewison (2005)

A tale of one man's journey from success to success - Jewison was born into a relatively poor family but it was in Canada; he joined the navy and went to university and decided to go into showbiz. He moved to England and broke in there, then worked in the early days of Canadian TV then in New York. Handling Judy Garland for a TV special (he managed to sweet talk Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin into supporting her) got him a reputation as someone who could deal with stars - he received an offer from Tony Curtis to do Forty Pounds of Trouble which led to a contract with Universal: two comedies with Doris Day, one with Dick Van Dyke (his first flop), then changing gears with The Cincinnati Kid and hitting a golden streak: The Russians Are Coming, In the Heat of the Night, The Thomas Crown Affair, stumbling with Gaily Gaily but then doing Fiddler on the Roof, Jesus Christ Superstar, Rollerball and so on.

It was truly one of the great careers - plenty of critical acclaim and box office hits, lots of power. His personal life seems to have been tranquil - met a girl, married, had kids, kids turned up fine.  Had a little bit of tall poppy syndrome from Canada but not a lot; a few flops but not that many; no production disasters. He dealt with some temperamental stars and seemed to be able to cope with all of them, even Garland and Steve McQueen.

He reveals himself to be the director who dealt with a sobbing star who had inadvertently killed her dog via giving her a lamb chop - a tale told by William Goldman in his memoirs (not told particularly well here - Jewison is a solid rather than top level writer) - the star was Doris Day. (So was Doris Day having an affair at the time? Goldman said the star was.)

He had/has solid liberal, humanistic beliefs which saw him make film like In the Heat of the Night and try to make Malcolm X before being booted off the latter to make way for Spike Lee.

Obviously a decent man, hardworking and talented, with great instincts for casting and story.

I was hoping for a little more gossip. Sylvester Stallone was a bit of an egomaniac on FIST and rewrote Joe Eszterhas. McQueen could be a baby but lobbied hard for the role in The Thomas Crown Affair. The screenwriter of Thomas Crown sounds like a character. But an enjoyable book.

Random thoughts on Neil Simon

He died this week - a ripe old age. I don't know what his last years were like but I hope they were okay ish. He seemed to find happiness with his last marriage.

Simon was once a very big deal in my life - I would read and re-read his plays and try to ape his style. He had the basics so down - simple stories, strong emotion, solid structure, laughs and heart. He was a great gag man but knew his work needed more than that.

Simon was once a massive deal in the theatre world - from the 60s to the 90s, really, Neil Simon plays were events. He would stumble to be be sure but always bounce back.

Some random thoughts on his theatre works:

* Come Blow Your Horn (1961) - solid first play, decent laughs, based on the Simon family notably Neil and his brother but also his parents. Not a classic, but good.
* Little Me (1963) - musical which Simon would criticise but which seems to be revived a lot. I've read it - it's okay. Maybe needs tunes.
* Barefoot in the Park (1963) - funny, warm play which hasn't dated particularly well, in part because it was so imitated - it is about a manic pixie dream girl. But written with a lot of love and skill. The film adaptation is very well acted and awfully directed.
* The Odd Couple (1965) - a deserved classic, brilliantly funny, subtle structure, a great idea masterfully executed. Like Barefoot the film is divinely acted and not very well directed.
* Sweet Charity (1966) - Bob Fosse was the real star of this, but Simon's adaptation is solid.
* The Star Spangled Girl (1967) - not a bad idea, two liberals fight over a conservative manic pixie dream girl, but Simon doesn't get the girl - its his first play not really based on a world he knows, or a girl he knows, and you can tell.
* Plaza Suite (1968) - another Simon classic, the first and last eps especially. The middle bit is fine but the first and last are brilliant. A segmentthat was cut resulted in a film The Out of Towners that is stressful to watch.
* Promises Promises (1968) - first rate musicalisation of The Apartment and I can't believe it wasn't filmed.
* Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1969) - this was okay. A bit repetitive.
* The Gingerbread Man (1970) - interesting tough ish play. I saw it live - it has lost a lot of its freshness.
* The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971) - angry white middle class rage, quite well done.
* The Sunshine Boys (1972) - lots of fun and one of Simon's best star vehicle
* The Good Doctor (1973) - Simon does Chekov. Not bad. Some people love this but I found it a bit cold.
* God's Favorite (1974) - I didn't like this one. Repetitive and not terribly interesting.
* California Suite (1976) - a marvellous return to form. The slapstick play isn't that great but the othe three are superb.
* Chapter Two (1977) - Simon's most autobiographical effort since Barefoot I guess, a very moving and funny account of widowhood.
 * They're Playing Our Song (1978) - skilful funny book which is probably Simon's most original musical. I wish it had been filmed.
* I Ought to Be in Pictures (1980) - not bad, but feels like ingredients he's used before.
* Fools (1981) - terrible play about Russians. Simon's worst.
* Brighton Beach Memoirs (1982) - Simon returns to autobiography and it works a treat, a very fine play which was badly filmed.
* Biloxi Blues (1984) - another fine memoir play that was turned into an even better film.
* Broadway Bound (1986)- a decent play, the least good of the trilogy in part because he'd already mined this material for Come Blow Your Horn but some good moments.
* Rumors (1988) - Simon attempt at a farce. Not bad.
* Lost in Yonkers (1990) - a return to material of his other plays (dodgy family, etc) but very well done.
* Jake's Women (1992) - Simon with some familiar themes (widowhood etc) but well done
* The Goodbye Girl (1993) - I remember being less impressed by the film when I rewatched it. Have never seen the musical.
* Laughter on the 23rd Floor (1993) - disappointing play which I wanted to be better because of its source material but lacks story and real insight into Simon's collaborators.
* London Suite (1996) - a dud, no really strong plays not even the sequel to the California Suite classic.
* Proposals (1997) - haven't read this and have no desire to it doesn't sound very good.
* The Dinner Party (1999) - another play I haven't read. I think I should though!
* 45 Seconds from Broadway (2001) - not a very good play, I have read this one, it is very creaky.
* Rose's Dilemma (2003) - I saw this on Broadway. It wasn't very good - dealt with widowhood etc. Had some funny lines but I think from the 1990s Simon ran out of gas.

Honourable mentions for his original film scripts:
* The Heartbreak Kid (1972) - genius writing
* Murder by Death (1976) - lots of fun
* The Goodbye Girl (1977) - feels like a play. Not bad. I remember finding it brilliant the first time and annoying the second.
* The Cheap Detective (1978) - haven't seen it
* Seems Like Old Times (1980) - quite fun
* Max Dugan Returns (1983) - not very good not enough story for a film
* The Lonely Guy (1984) - very sweet I remember this fondly
* The Slugger's Wife (1985) - never seen it and it sounds awful
* The Marrying Man (1991) - I should try to see this from all accounts its a train wreck but a fascinating one
* The Odd Couple 2 (1998) - no desire to see this.

So his great days were really the 60s and late 70s and 80s... for me and any rate.

Wonderful entertainer. Brilliant writer.

Book review - "Charles Walters: The Director Who Made Hollywood Dance" by Brett Phillips

Charles Walters really should be better known - his CV includes several classic musicals (Easter Parade, High Society, Lil, Unsinkable Molly Brown) and a bunch of skilled comedies (Ask Any Girl, The Tender Trap). He probably doesn't get the credit he deserves.

I wonder why? A relatively skinny filmography? An unexciting name? A lack of films that touch on queer themes despite the director being queer? Being associated with MGM?

Walters was a dancer and actor who became a name on Broadway, eventually moving into choreography. He was a good looking guy who might've had a chance at being a movie star himself but stayed behind the camera, got a job at MGM as choreographer and dance director. He established himself as one of their best in part because he would look at dances in the context of the whole story and eventually became a director.

His directing career started with a bang: Good News, Easter Parade, The Barkleys of Broadway. He was one of the big directors at MGM, though interestingly lost some key assignments to George Sidney (another not very well known director). He found the going a little harder in the late 50s as musicals became less popular but segued neatly into comedies. He occasionally tried drama (eg Torch Song) but his heart didn't seem to be in it - he walked out on I'll Cry Tomorrow, for instance, and disliked Dore Schary. He hated Vera Ellen.

He had the chance to do a dream project with Billy Rose's Jumbo which lost a pile of money but bounced back with The Unsinkeable Molly Brown.

His career ended rather abruptly - he left MGM in the mid 60s and made the popular Walk Don't Run but that was about it, apart for some TV work for Lucille Ball. I think he was too much of a company man to make the adjustment to freelance life.

Walters lived a long life and hung on to a lot of his money. He had a long term relationship with one guy, an agent - and then later with a younger guy who he adopted (so he would inherit Walters' money). He lived as a gay man - discretely but he actually lived with someone. He worked with Garland on Easter Parade and Summer Stock but even he found her hard going and asked not to do it again. However he did direct her on Broadway.

This is an excellent book, well researched and written. Sometimes I did wish I could click on a switch to watch bits from the film that the writer describes. But a very good book.

A top ten for Walters:
1) High Society (1956) - his favourite film, a jaunty fun musical
2) Ask Any Girl (1959) - a film very much of it's time, with rape treated comically, but some excellent comic performances including Rod Taylor
3) Easter Parade (1948) - top line talent and then some
4) Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962) - I actually haven't seen it - but it's a passion project so I put it in
5) The Unsinkeable Molly Brown (1964) - Walters says his greatest achievement was directing Debbie Reynolds to an Oscar nom
6) Easy to Love (1953) - Esther Williams bagged a lot of directors in her memoirs but not Walters
7) Summer Stock (1951) - decent musical with the classic Garland "nervous breakdown" number "Get Happy"
8) The Tender Trap (1955) - classic swinging bachelor comedy
9) Lili (1953) - random fairytale film which became a big hit - Walters couldn't make lightning strike twice with The Glass Slipper
10) Don't Go Near the Water (1957) -amiable service comedy with Glenn Ford.

Book review - "The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger" by Chris Fujiawara

To say Preminger has a variable reputation is putting it mildly - before I'd seen any of his movies I was familiar with several stories: a harsh bully on set, a brave fighter of censorship, capable of making classics and an inability to direct comedy.

All the stories turned out to be true. There were many fine things about Preminger: the man had guts; he was a fighter; he had some admirable progressive politics (I stress the word "some" - Robert Mitchum called him a "Jewish Nazi"); he took on the censor board; he made some great movies; he had a surprisingly large amount of success on Broadway; he was a decent actor.

Other things were less admirable - he was a horrid bully - not for the benefit of the work, he clearly did it for his own sadistic enjoyment, especially to tyro actors (Jean Seberg, Tom Tyron, John Philip Law); he couldn't direct comedy; his last batch of movies were stinkers; he was possibly a better producer than director.

He's a flawed, fascinating figure and he gets a very good book from Chris Fujiwara. It focuses on Preminger's art as director - there's lots of discussion how scenes are framed and camera movement and so on which to be honest I wasn't that interested in; I was more into the biographical stuff.

I didn't realise how many financially unsuccessful films Preminger made at Fox - Zanuck seemed to like him though (he'd fired him earlier but rehired him and enjoyed success with Laura); he was the ing of the noirs for a while but his great days were from the early 50s to early 60s where he seemed to hit the zeitgeist: The Moon is Blue was just sexy enough, The Man with the Golden Arm was just gritty enough, Advise and Consent just political enough, Anatomy of a Murder was just legal enough etc etc. He tried to keep up with changing times but ultimately didn't get the new liberation - also he was old.

Interesting bloke, interesting book.

Movie review - "Lady in Cement" (1968) **1/2

An unexpected surprise - I wasn't thinking this Frank Sinatra PI movie would be much, but it was a tight, fast paced, entertaining flick. I'm not saying would've liked to have spent any money on it, and recognise it's flaws but it was fun - at least for the first half.

Frank is well cast as a tough weary private eye, Tony Rome - this was the second in a series. He's fast with a quip and seems to be having a good time has he investigates the death of a topless blonde he finds at the bottom of the ocean while scuba diving for treasure.

There's a subplot where Sinatra is hired by a big goon, Dan Blocker (very good) to look for a girl, which reminded me of Farewell My Lovely - indeed, the whole film feels as though it was made by people who watched a lot of Chandler and Hammett adaptations.

Raquel Welch has a supporting role, looking splendid in a bikini. She's still awkward but has some nice by-play with Sinatra. People like Richard Conte pop up in the support cast.

There's some unpleasant late 60s masculinity things - not one but two villainous gays, the hilarity of a cop going undercover in drag, lecherous scenes perving on not one not two but three bimbos (the topless dead blonde, Raquel, and another bimbo). The story becomes less interesting as it goes on - after a strong beginning I enjoyed it less.