Movie review - "The Big Heat" (1953) ****

 Everything clicked for Fritz Lang - Glenn Ford in a great performance, a strong story, very good script from Sydney Boehm. Simple story - Ford investigates murder of cop - has punch from the all to believable depiction of corruption in society particularly the higher up cos who are always encouraging people to give up.

Ford's wife is sappy and the kid an annoying boomer but the wife's death has real kic and the minor parts are superb - the slimy bar owner, the mob boss, the sad hooker. Most of all there is Lee Marvin and Gloria Grahame - who I was surprised to see don't really appear much til the last act. 

But the relationship between Grahame and Ford is powerful and I loved how Ford's army veteran mates helped. 

Book review - "Roddy McDowall" by Samuel Bernstein

 Bernstein does another very good biography of an underrated queer actor Roddy McDowall, on top of the one he did for Caesar Romero. The two actors had many things in common - foreigners who flourised in Hollywood, seem like genuinely nice people, hugely long careers, Batman villains. McDowall had more long term romances and possibly better luck with movies - every decade he managed to appear in a classic. How Green Was My Valley, Compulsion, Camelot, Cleopatra, Planet of the Apes, The Poseidon Adventure. It's incredible. 

Worthy book for a person who deserved it. 

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

 I saw this after the Peter Hyams remake. It's still a little too silly but is better in part because it's simpler. In the remake Jesse Metcalfe wanted to bust Michael Douglas for faking evidence by faking evidence... here Dana Andrews is doing it to show how the death penalty can cause the wrong people to be convicted (the same thing as The Life and Death of David Gale). It's a simpler motivation.

I also believed the final twist more, even though Lang disliked it. Here it feels more organic that Andrews wanted to take out a former lover - he used the opportunity.

Joan Fontaine is adrift in a hopeless role. Dana Andrews does his solid Andrews thing. There's some colourful burlesque girls in support and you can imagine Lang having a high old lechy time around them.

Definitely one of the better 1950s RKO movies. Not a masterpiece but interesting.

Top Ten Use of Queen's Music in Film

honour of watching "Bohemian Rhapsody" I thought I'd do a top ten of my favourite uses of Queen's music in other films:
1) In the Space Capsule - in "Flash Gordon" (1980) - seriously the whole soundtrack to this is amazing, the title song, the Football Fight, the Attack of the Hawk Men... but limiting myself to one song, I'll pick the theme that plays when Flash, Dale and Zharkov fly to Mongo
2) We Are the Champions in "Revenge of the Nerds" (1984) - like so many 80s sex comedies there are problematic aspects to this film - but it does have a great soundtrack! in particular the finale with the nerds embracing allies to the strains of Queen's greatest anthem
3)One Vision in "Iron Eagle" (1986) - remember the days when studios made films about young men who flew missions into Libya in order to rescue their dad? this was one such movie - and the man played a mix tape while blowing up Arabs, including "One Vision" - which actually is the perfect tune to do such things
4) Who Wants to Live Forever? in "Highlander" (1986) - another great soundtrack by Queen, with It's a Kind of Magic being a superb single... but... for effectiveness on screen I don't think you can go past the montage of Chris Lambert losing his mortal lady love to this song (used well in Bohemian Rhapsody)
5) Bohemian Rhapsody in "Wayne's World" (1992) - I'm still recovering from the shocking badness of Mike Myer's turn in Bohemian Rhapsody but his use of that song in Wayne's world was very funny and definitely captured a time and a place
6) You're My Best Friend in "Peter's friends" (1992) - remember this film? great cast, good moments, dodgy direction, fantastic soundtrack
7) Don't Stop Me Now in "Shaun of the Dead" (2004) - I actually don't like this song that much but love how it was used in the film
8) Under Pressure in "Studio 60 on Sunset" pilot (2006) - ah this flawed flawed show - the pilot is pretty great though and "Under Pressure" (which pops up a LOT in films) is used very well at the end
9) Flash's Theme in "Blades of Glory" (2007) - I found a way to use more Flash Gordon songs! This brilliant track is used superbly in one of the best sports comedies
10)Radio Ga Ga in "Metropolis" (1927) - okay i'm cheating here but stay with me... in the early 80s Giorgio Moroder released his own version of Metropolis with a new soundtrack including a Freddy Mercury track... in return Queen could use clips from the film in their video for this song which is one of my favourite Queen songs... and was my introduction to silent cinema. True story!2

Movie review - "You and Me" (1938) **1/2

Really weird drama, there's nothing quite like it I've ever seen. It's based on a story by Norman Krasna, but was rewritten by Virginia Van Upp, and directed by Fritz Lang with music by Kurt Weill and stars George Raft and Sylvia Sidney.

The Krasna touch is most obvious in the setting and the set up - it takes place in a department store and has a Krasna-esque touch of fantasy: Harry Carey, who runs the store, hires ex-cons to give them a chance. One of them is Raft and the other Sylvia Sidney.

Sidney is lovely and sweet in a role that perfectly suits her and she has pleasing chemistry with Raft. It's well directed by Lang and is consistently interesting. I love the bit where Sidney and Raft's hands touch as they pass each other on an escalator. There's a weird bit at the end where Sidney crunches the numbers to show crime doesn't pay. Sidney takes a relatively racy shower.

The story is a mess - I'm not sure if this was Krasna or Van Upp. It feels very contrived Sidney doesn't mention she's on parole too - why would he care? Why keep it a secret? This kicks off the plot - he thinks she's having an affair and is jealous and its uncomfortable to watch. Raft is tempted to go back to a life of crime. There's scenes where characters watch people sing Weill songs - or sing them.

Robert Cummings is one of Raft's old cronies and he sticks out like a sore thumb, with his good looks among all these craggy old character actors.

I can't call this a success - but it's different, and imaginative. One of the more unusual pictures Raft made.

Book review - " “Ruth Chatterton: Actress, Aviator, Author” by Scott O'Brien (2013)

Chatteron isn't regarded as one of the great Hollywood stars - when I first read David Shipman's book on legends from this era she was one of the few I hadn't heard of. But she had her moment in the sun, particularly in the early 1930s. Today she is best remembered if at all for her role as the wife in Dodsworth and maybe the lead in Madame X.

She was born into what should have been an affluent background (dad was an architect) but things got harder when her parents separated. Dad was a bit useless so Chatterton went on to the stage at a relatively young age in order to support her mother. Chatterton travelled around the country doing a lot of acting. She worked for a company run by a husband and wife where the husband, Henry Miller, fell in love with her and cast her in several hits including The Rainbow and Daddy Long Legs.

Chatterton's stage career was winding down when she decided to go out to Hollywood. She had a good reputation from Broadway and went straight into leading roles at Paramount. She was fortunate to arrive with the coming of sound too so her theatre training stood her in good stead.

For a few years Chatterton was a genuine draw, featuring in a series of melodramas and comedies that are rarely seen today for whatever reason. Her career went into decline in the mid 30s - she made a few films in Europe then went back to the stage, touring steadily and making the occasional trip back to Broadway,

Acting wasn't the be all and end all to Chatterton. She loved the money Hollywood bought her - she spent it like it was going out of fashion - but she didn't live for it. She had a very lively love life (partners included Miller, Fritz Lang, Rex Smith, Ralph Forbes, and George Brent - the last two she married); she enjoyed travel; she was a pioneering aviatrix, palling around with Amelia Earhardt and running her own competition; she was highly intelligent - which caused her to interfere a lot with her productions (arguing with directors, rewriting scenes)... I'm sure she was a good critic and astute and all that but her improvements didn't seem to improve anything; later in life she became a best selling novelist; she was politically and culturally progressive (lots of gay friends, very much a liberated woman).

There was lots of stuff in here I didn't know - I'm unfamiliar with much of Chatterton's career. O'Brien does a very good job, it's excellently researched. I have to admit though that for much of the time I didn't really care - this wasn't O'Brien's fault as much as mine... I didn't find Chatterton that interesting, or her films. 

My Stewart Granger Top Ten

1) Scaramouche (1952) - Granger's best film and best performance - wonderful fun
2) Moonfleet (1955) - flawed but entertaining smuggler movie
3) All the Brothers Were Valiant (1954) - fun adventure tale with Granger an ideal villain
4) Caravan (1946) - outrageous Gainsborough high camp fun
5) Captain Boycott (1947) - intelligent well made period movie
6) Fanny By Gaslight (1944) - strong melodrama
7) The Man in Grey (1943) - the film that made Granger a star and it still holds up
8) The Prisoner of Zenda (1952) - it may have remade the Selznick version exactly but this is still good
9) Bhowani Junction (1956) - underrated post colonial melodrama
10) Waterloo Road (1945) - smug in many ways but Granger gives one of his best performances as a spiv

 Richard Burton wrote in his diary that you couldn't have a Stewart Granger Film Festival. Is this true? Well, it would be a little low rent.

But thinking classy movies

- Some Launder and Gilliats: Waterloo Road, Captain Boycott

- Caesar and Cleopatra

- Some Gainsboroughs: Man in Grey, Fanny by Gaslight, Love Story, Madonna of the Seven Moons, Magic Bow

- MGM auteur pieces: Moonfleet (Fritz Lang), Bhowani Junction (George Cukor)

- Scaramouche!

So you could.

Movie review - "Moonfleet" (1955) *** (warning: spoilers) (re-viewing)

An odd sort of movie - you can see why it wasn't a big hit (it lost money) but it's interesting; John Houseman, who produced, always seemed to try to make something of quality, as did director Fritz Lang. Stewart Granger whinged about the final result - he did that about a lot of the films he made - but he was right in some respects: it should have been a black and white lower budgeted film, when MGM added colour and CinemaScope. Still, there is plenty of atmosphere, with the kid walking through the graveyard, and seeing corpses swinging, and ghoulish faces.

This falls into the sub genre of "small boy becomes enthralled with dodgy dashing elder man adventure tales" - Treasure Island, The Fallen Idol, Hunted, The Spanish Gardener are other ones. Jon Whiteley is the boy who goes to stay with smuggler/local lord Stewart Granger, who does deals with aristocrat George Sanders (very good), and romances a bunch of women, including Sanders' wife (Joan Greenwood) and a voluptuous woman (Viveca Lindfors).

Of the characters, only Sanders, Granger and Whiteley get much screen time. It's a bleak tale in a way - Granger is Whiteley's father (it's implied) but Whiteley never finds this out; Granger is mortally wounded (resulting in a touching ending), there don't seem to be too many other nice people; the world is one of corruption and lacks warmth; the ending, with Whitley waiting for Granger's return "because he's my friend" is a bit of a downer because we know the guy's gone off to die. (NB I wonder if this inspired the makers of City of Men.) The storyline also tends to be repetitive - Whitley gets in trouble, is rescued by Granger, gets in trouble again.

Still, Granger was rarely better cast (he did well in these enigmatic roles) - although James Mason probably would have been better. Whiteley is effective and Sanders and Greenwood are always good.

Movie review - "While the City Sleeps" (1956) **1/2

One of the best movies made at RKO during the 1950s - no great acclaim admittedly - and one of the final American works from Fritz Lang. It's pulpy noir time as several reporters compete with each other over finding a serial killer.

Lang's direction still had energy and he benefits from a terrific cast, most of whom do their acting with a cigarette and/or drink: Dana Andrews (playing an alcoholic - ironic since in real life Dana was a famous boozer), Ida Lupino, Vincent Price, Thomas Mitchell, Rhonda Fleming, James Craig, George Sanders. Everyone is in good form and mean the office politics side of this is genuinely interesting, with all the back-biting and manipulation and lack of ethics.

Less interesting is the serial killer stuff - John Drew Barrymore is really bad as the leather jacket wearing "momma's boy" who blames it all on momma. There's some awful scenes like where Dana Andrews taunts the killer and uses his bland virginal girlfriend (Sally Forrest) as bait. The romance between Andrews and Forrest is poor - you wish he'd go off with Lupino again. And what's with that ending where Forrest just recites the fate of all the characters?

It's silly but there is a great cast and sense of doom. I enjoyed it.

Movie review - "Metropolis" (1927) ***

Fascinating for students of cinema history, religious allegory and set design... as a piece of drama it is less effective, with histrionic acting, a needlessly confusing plot, an overlong running time and general air of dopeyness. I did enjoy the finale when the workers rose up and went nuts but this is no commie treatsie - at the end the workers and management are encouraged to get along for the good of all.

Brigitte Helm is unsurprisingly bland as the good girl, kind of like the St Peter of Metropolis, tending the sick and leading people in prayer. She's lusted after - sorry, loved - by the bosses son, who goes undercover to find out more. Just thinking about it the plot of this is reminiscent of Quo Vadis? with the poor as Christians and the rich as Roman nobility - only this one does throw in a mad scientist who builds a robot for the boss, while secretly planning to double cross said boss. The robot is a slutty version of Helm and a lot more fun to watch.

There's a lot of intense acting, gnashing of brows, kidnappings, attempted rapes, Weimar Republic style decadence at a nightclub, athletics with pasty faced rich kids, masses and masses of poor (mostly kids), floods, rich men in tuxes drooling after trashy women, skanty outfits, rants about the Tower of Babel. Always something going on just not always involving.

Book review - "Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews" by Carl Rollyson

I remember watching Dana Andrews in The Best Years of Our Lives and thinking "why didn't he become a big star?" He seemed to have it all - looks, presence, charisma, a sense of masculinity, draft exempt status during the war, plus genuine acting talent. He did pretty well as a star but never made the top rank - this book helps explain why.

Partly it was his persona, which was never really strong in the way say Gable, Bogart, Flynn or even Raft could be (try doing a Dana Andrews impersonation and see how you go). Andrews could be too unobtrusive - he was an excellent second lead. Part of it was the fact he often seemed to coast in films, and needed a good director (e.g. Wyler, Wellman, Preminger) to get him going, when the truly great actors can surpass lousy direction.

Partly - and mostly - it was the alcoholism. Andrews was a big drinker, even by the standards of the day; for a while he could carry it off but you can't put it away consistently and have it not affect you. In the 50s and 60s it meant he became unprofessional and would have cost him work.

Still, it was an amazing career. He put in a long apprenticeship in stock (he trained as an opera singer), was fortunate enough to have some people who wanted to support him financially, but once he got a break it happened for him relatively quickly - signed by Goldwyn, who shared his contract with Fox, he got showy parts in some good movies, and the absence of leading men in war time saw him move to the forefront. 

Look at the directors he worked with: Hawks, Ford, Wyler, Hathaway, Renoir, Preminger, Kazan, Lang. Even when his career declined in the 50s - with the fall of the studio system it was probably inevitable that it would dip (Goldwyn's faltering touch didn't help) - he still remained in demand: handsome, masculine actors always seem to find work, if only playing generals.

His personal life was marked with great tragedy: his first wife and son pre-deceased him, he grew up very poor, he died of Alzheimers. Bottling up all this is probably what contributed to his alcoholism - and made him so interesting on screen.

This is a very good biography, excellently researched. It's a little confusing that the author refers to Andrews as "Dana" and "Carver" (his real name) but there are some excellent sources (such as private letters including to his early girlfriends) and strong analysis of his best performances.

Radio review – Lux – “The Blue Gardenia” (1954) **

Minor thriller, based on a movie directed by Fritz Lang, with Ruth Roman as a woman who’s injured war veteran boyfriend has dumped her for a nurse (he did it via letter – is that a “Dear Janet” letter?) even though she has dinner with his photograph every night. So she decides to go out with a sleazy artist. She wakes up unconscious and he’s dead. Dana Andrews is the rather ruthless reporter who investigates.

Book review – “Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast” by Patrick McGilligan

Superb bio of the famous director, perhaps McGilligan’s masterpiece, well-written, brilliantly-researched. He’s got a great protagonist in Lang, the brilliant director who could also be one of the biggest pricks around – bullying cast, crew and executives – while still being gentlemanly and charming; he practically invented the cliché of the mad German artistic type, with his monocle and manner, but could also be capable of great kindness and courtesy.

Lang was one of those people who just when you’re prepared to write them off as awful will do something nice – but just when you start liking them they’ll do something obnoxious. Bad with producers, surprisingly good with writers, up and down with cast, elegant with women – he possibly murdered his first wife, left his second (who became a Nazi), made a series of masterpieces in Germany (silent and sound), France and Germany. Absolutely recommended.

Movie review – “Man Hunt” (1941) ***

Walter Pidgeon was a gentlemanly if wooden actor (he was described as having the temperament of a turtle) who found a real niche for himself supporting Greer Garson in a series of glossy dramas. This is probably his best known solo vehicle and he’s really good – believable as both a gentleman and a hunter (I can see why Fox borrowed him from MGM, it’s hard to imagine Tyrone Power, Don Ameche or Henry Fonda pulling this off). They do put in a line that his character has a place in Canada, presumably to cover any accent slips.

It maybe was a bit too convenient to have Roddy McDowall (who is excellent) agree to help Pigeon get away from Germany just because – in Household’s novel the hunter was helped by opponents to Nazi Germany, which is a lot more believable. Come to think of it, Joan Bennett also helps Pidgeon for no other reason really than it's Walter Pidgeon – he could be a rapist for all she and McDowall know!

The relationship between Bennett and Pidgeon is a bit hokey, with overly-emphatic music and a patronising attitude towards Bennett (he calls her a “monkey” several times). Bennett overacts but she was entertaining; also surprisingly touching – Bennett has a nice, honest face.

The support cast include two of Hollywood’s most effective villains – George Sanders and John Carradine, although Sanders’ monocle was probably not required. (The great thing about the Major in the book was that he was very like Pidgeon; maybe the monocle was a dig at Fritz Lang or something.) Sanders actually says “today, Europe – tomorrow the world.” All the action stuff is exciting: the initial assassination attempt, the fight in the train station, the finale.

Book review – “The Lost One: The Life of Peter Lorre” by Stephen Youngkin

Peter Lorre was a total original – bug eyed, pudgy cheeks, weird speaking voice, he illuminated scores of films, from being leads to support actors. He famously was forever dissatisfied with the roles he wanted to play – many actors who become stars are, but Lorre earned his chops on the stage in the 20s before being shanghaied into horror and thrillers – but films did give him a chance to show his wares: he recovered from one of many dips in his career playing the Japanese hero Mr Moto for instance, and he played comic as often if not more than horror as well as films like Crime and Punishment.

I think Lorre’s real beef was he never played romantic leads – but even then there were exceptions eg The Mask of Dimitrious. Lorre did like to complain – when under contract to Warners in the 40s he made lots of good movies, was well paid and got to hang out with mates like Bogarts, but he still liked to complain – but when given his freedom in the late 40s his career really suffered.

It is confusing in one respect that people didn’t use Lorre more – he was charismatic, a scene stealer. I thought he would have been a natural for the lead in a TV show, maybe a detective. He could have livened up countless films, even in small parts – it wasn’t as though he was choosy. Maybe directors were threatened by his scene stealing or his drug addiction (though he seems to have always been professional). At least he died while still in demand, albeit as an AIP star. Maybe he should have made more horror films – he would have kept in leads, that way, at least.

Youngkin’s book is written with tremendous enthusiasm, love and affection – it really is the definitive work, exhaustive in its research, devoting large slabs to Lorre’s acting talent, plus a chapter on his relationship with Brecht (they worked together in the 20s and almost together several times in the late 40s when Brecht came to Hollywood – a great missed chance), a chapter on making of The Lost One, a post WW2 German film Lorre starred in and directed (a fascinating account). It also discusses his drug problem and the issues of German emigrants, and much much more.

I got a real understanding of Lorre – he seems to be forever un- satisfied, one of those actors who are talented, charming and loved but are a bit hopeless, always living beyond their means, getting in a tight spot, very child like although being highly intelligent. He had a wonderful career and this book does him justice.

Movie review – “M” (1931) ****

What a good movie! A classic that really holds up and deserves its reputation. Its about a child killer terrorising a city – but the real gimmick is the investigation is mostly done by the underworld, upset the investigating are disrupting their business. Peter Lorre is wonderful as the killer – he actually doesn’t get that much screen time, only seen sporadically at first, but comes in about an hour in as he’s spotted and chased (a scene that goes on a bit too long) – and at the end he greats a great moment when he’s on trial. Few actors could combine menace and sympathy like Lorre – you know he should be captured but you feel sorry for him at the same time. Considering it was 1931 the smoothness of shot composition, documentary like realism (though the criminals union is a bit “fiction”), and skill are remarkable. The acting is extremely good, too, not a dud performance – no love subplot, great faces. Note how the leader of the criminals is a classic Nazi type, all close cropped bald head and ferociousness. The film also gives you something to mull over, too, about capital punishment.