Gene Tierney Top Ten

 I haven't seen all her films but let's give this a shot

1) Laura (1944) - start off easy!

2) Leave Her to Heaven (1945) - she's superb, another easy one

3) Ghost and Mrs Muir (1947) - love comedy/romance

4)Heaven Can Wait (1943) - she's great, film's less interesting when she dies

5) Dragonwyck (1946) - good old scared woman melo

6) The Shanghai Gesture (1941) - silly third world tosh done very well

7) Sundown (1941) - silly British Empire tosh done very well

8) Son of Fury (1942) - silly SouthSeas tosh done very well... a patten is emerging!

9) Belle Starr (1941) - I'm starting to stretch - she was a little miscast but the film is fine

10) The Razor's Edge (1946) - she's brilliant

Movie review - "Never Let Go" (1953) **

The sort of film that one senses just would've been more fun in the 1930s under Louis B. Mayer's MGM rather than Dore Schary's. Clark Gable is a journo in Mosco who falls (too quickly) for Gene Tierney, a ballerina. Another expat Richard Haydn marries a Russian too played by Belita. Both women are stuck at home. Then the boys go rescue.

Lacking in suspense and even romance - the courtship is rapid. Instead we get a long unfunny scene where Haydn out-drinks a Russian. The plan isn't that clever. Kenneth More brightens things up as a British journalist who helps the couple.

It's not in colour. I mean, it's okay.

Movie review - "The Mirror Crack'd" (1980) ***

 After two Peter Ustinov films as Hercules Poirot, EMI Films did Miss Marple as their all star Agatha Christie effort. It didn't do as well - maybe the market tapped out, maybe it lacked the exotic location factor, maybe viewers prefer Poiriot.

Angela Lansbury is a strong Marple and the cast includes some legends - Liz Taylor, Kim Novak, Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis - plus some decent secondary names: Geraldine Chaplin, Edward Fox. Anthony Steel pops up in the film within a film. Film  buffs will like this and the fact the central story was based on Gene Tierney.

Too much time is spent on Edward Fox, film buff, investigating the case. We don't care about him - we want to see Marple. I'm sympathetic to the filmmakers though - he has an excuse to ask questions, Marple doesn't. But Lansbury is hardly in it. She pops in and out then appears at the end. It's a shame they couldn't have distorted the book a bit more to have her, I don't know, go work at the mansion or something.

It is fun to see Taylor, Rock, etc... but no one is actually that good. Liz Taylor wasn't a star by this stage - she was an ex star. Ditto Novak. Hudson never seems like a director.

Oh I'm sniping. This was fine. Just not as good as the Poiots.

Movie review - "The Mating Season" (1951) **1/2

 Charles Brackett's first film after his breakup with Billy Wilder (he'd made some away from Wilder during their collaboration eg To Each His Own). He pulled in a bunch of collaborators from the Wilder days - Richard Breen and Walter Reisch as writers, Mitchell Leisen as director, John Lund as male lead. It does feel more Brackett than Wilder in that it's about class in America and concerns snooty society types.

It was made for Paramount but uses some 20th Century Fox talent - Gene Tierney and Thelma Ritter - and Brackett would soon go to Fox.

The plot has working class Ritter come to visit son John Lund, a rising exec, who has just married society gal Gene Tierney, whose mother Miriam Hopkins is a stuck up bitch. Both Ritter and Hopkins wind up living with the couple - only, the thing is, Ritter pretends to be just a cook. These sort of "parental deception" movie plots are always hard because you wind up hating the kid who goes along with it.

Tierney is very good, she suits this sort of part. Lund isn't bad - normally I don't like him but he just has to be a leading man here and he's handsome enough to score Tierney. Ritter is perfect as is Hopkins.

There are universal themes here - starting a marriage, different class backgrounds, worried about climbing the corporate ladder, worried about embarrassing family. Jan Sterling scores in a small role as Lund's secretary who has a crush on him. It's a well acted movie. Nice romanticism. Just has that central flaw I couldn't get over.

Book review - "The Brothers Mankiewicz" by Sydney Stern (2019)

There have been biographies of Joe and Herman but they came out when key people were alive so it's an ideal time to revisit both. Joe inevitably overshadows his brother because he lived longer, did more, and was a director, so more of his work was clearly his, whereas Herman was often rewritten or rewrote... but it was Herman who paved the way, whether establishing himself in journalism, or in Berlin, or Hollywood, while Joe followed.

People seemed to adore Herman with his quick wit and genuine talent - he also got a lot of gigs because people felt sorry for his long suffering wife Sarah (who he seems to have been faithful to). A witty columnist, writer and guest he seemed to struggle to write anything of substance on his own - no truly memorable play or novel for instance. He thrived in the collaborative environment of Hollywood and was promoted to writer-producer, having a long run at Paramount. Actually he kept employed for a long time, turning out Citizen Kane of course (which earned him an Oscar) as well as fun pictures like The Spanish Main.

Joe also thrived in Hollywood, working as a producer at MGM. He must have been very charming - all the top stars wanted to work with him. He was more manipulative and destructive than possibly even he realised - he was constantly having affairs with insecure, self destructive women, and while sending them to psychoanalysis and treating them as smart, and leaving them loving him, in the long run they didn't turn out well: Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, his second wife Rose Strander, Gene Tierney, Linda Darnell.

The book is well written and excellent researched, accessing some private letters and what not. He clearly has tremendous admiration for his subjects but doesn't worship them - Herman's drinking and Joe's gaslighting get appropriate criticism.

It helps that so many of the films the brothers worked on were interesting - for Herman there's Citizen Kane of course but he caused entertaining trouble at Paramount. Some of Joe's films had memorably chaotic productions - The Barefoot Contessa, The Quiet American and of course Cleopatra. Worth a read. 

How I Would Fix the 1954 film "The Egyptian"

I'm talking the 1954 20th Century Fox film, which I think would have troubles even if Marlon Brando had starred in it. (He didn't make Desiree a classic).

Firstly I think films in Ancient Egypt struggle if they don't feature mummies. They happened simply too long enough. Cleopatra was late Ancient Egypt and is around the time of early Christianity - just before it. Early Christianity is familiar from the Bible. Before that it's hard to get resonance for audiences today - unless, say, it's about the human race struggling for survival against dinosaurs.

But it was based on a best seller, so let's assume that's non negotiable. Anyway there's no reason a film in Ancient Egypt couldn't work.

Here are the main things I feel could have changed:

* The relationship between Edmund Purdom and Victor Mature (I'm just going to use actor's names) should've been stronger.  I would've made them brothers if possible. (Mature's dad could've been the guy who adopted Purdom). Or at least really established the link.

* I would've combined the Bella Darvi and Gene Tierney role.  Darvi's role I got... she was a vixen who while being upfront made Purdom go ga-ga. But Tierney felt like she repeated her part -another femme fetale. Have Darvi/Tierney as the great love of Purdom's life. The woman he can't resist. So at the end when she offers him the throne it's even harder to resist.

* Purdom needed to be more selfless - tending the poor and what not. It's kind of there, but I think they should've simplified his goal... "everyone is entitled to a doctor" or something. The stuff about worshipping the one god felt so vague. I think the theme of this was ambitious, but overly ambitious. Maybe "there is one god" would have worked but Michael Wilding craps on so much.

* They needed to do more with Purdom's son. This is partly Purdom's fault but the guy looks as though he could barely care about his son's existence. I feel Purdom should've been driven more by wanting to help his son - make the world a better place, etc. And have him meet his son at the end instead of never having tracked him down. That's just slack.

* Michael Wilding shouldn't have been such a crap Pharaoh. He' so weak. There's no reason you can't believe in one god and be nice and also defend your country against the Hittites. It's stupid.

Still a gorgeous looking film and not without interest.

Movie review - "Way of the Gaucho" (1952) **1/2

You have Westerns, and Westerns set in the north called Northerns, and Westerns set in the Middle East called Easters... I'm not sure what a Western set in South America should be called? Southerns? But I always figured that was a Western set in the Southern states (that weren't Texas).

This was one of a series of movies 20th Century Fox made overseas after the war to use frozen funds - Captain from Castile, The Black Rose, Kangaroo. They usually starred Tyrone Power or were clearly meant to star Tyrone Power - he isn't in this one, instead they use Rory Calhoun has a substitute, and Calhoun isn't bad. At least he looks interested in women and can handle the action stuff well enough.

There's some really fantastic views of Argentina - the deserts, snow capped mountains, plains, gauchos. It looks fantastic.

The story is dull. Calhoun is a gaucho who kills a man in a duel, then goes into the army as opposed to prison, then deserts, then meets Gene Tierney, then leaves, then becomes a bandit, then goes on a trek, then gives himself up.

And it's annoying because the piece has so much potential. A gaucho worried about a changing world, a world of increasing automation and loss of his way of life - that's a great theme. But the way the material is presented here, the story is just dull - and there's no sense of catharsis at the ending. It's like writer-producer Philip Dunne got too caught up in doing location work he forgot to do the script.

The gaucho having a lifelong bond with a childhood friend who works for the railways - that's got heaps of potential. But not only is dull Hugh Beaumont cast, the character is flat. He just sort of pops up to help out Calhoun - and he does it so often it's like "are they in love"? Beaumont should have been Calhoun's actual brother - I thought he was until re-reading a synopsis.

The Tierney-Calhoun romance starts off interestingly - she's this high class girl who is saved by the gaucho. But she just ends up as this weak sap who hangs around the gaucho, wanting him to get married. She's got no spirit, no spine - the whole she's rich-he's-poor thing barely makes a mention. We needed to see more of her living high class - being with Beaumont, having him be rich too. Make it a real love triangle. There needed to be another female character too as a counterpoint to Tierney.

Richard Boone starts off promisingly as the army sergeant who gives Calhoun a hard time. Then he spends the rest of the movie chasing Calhoun around, like he's in love with him too. Why not just make Boone a villain? The film badly needs one

Things that sound exciting are minimised - like Calhoun becoming a bandit. Everett Sloane livens up a few scenes as a gaucho but there's too little of him.

It's a shame. You know a lot of this exotic Fox location adventure movies aren't very good - King of the Khyber Rifles, Lydia Bailey.

Movie review - "Son of Fury" (1942) ***

Adaptation of a best seller, crafted into a star vehicle for Tyrone Power. He's very handsome and dashing and all that. Fox made sure this was a hit - dependable Phil Dunne did the script, John Cromwell directed, George Sanders offered support, there's decent production value Gene Tierney is a native girl and Frances Farmer the fake love interest.

Dunne does a solid job - there's three acts and a prologue, with Roddy McDowall excellent as young Tyrone. The piece has a theme, too - the injustice of laws that so favour the nobility. Act two is an idyllic life in Tahiti with Power romancing Tierney - I really liked how he was allowed to go back with her at the end, she didn't even have to turn out to be white or anything. I liked McDowall for not wrecking Henry Davenport's life by running off.

George Sanders does his Sanders thing well. In the opening scene he takes his shirt off for a boxing match - the most physical role Sanders ever played? No hiding those man boobs. It's not that satisfying Power grows up to beat up old Sanders - I mean, he is pretty old.

John Carradine livens things up as Power's friend. Frances Farmer was good value too as the fake love interest - she actually seems interested in what she's acting.

Script review - "Laura" (1944) by Jay Drantler, Ring Lardner Jnr, Betty Reinhardt, Samuel Hoffstein

A happy accident because many of the people involved in this tried to repeat the success and could never quite do it. There was a strong source novel, true, but a lot of work was done on the script - this version for instance that I read was full of "additional scenes" and "replacement pages".

The script has three aces - the character of Waldo Lydecker (brilliantly scripted and later realised by Clifton Webb - better than Laird Cregar would have been because he was more spartan, severe), the fact that Mark the detective falls for dead Laura (the character is more interesting on the page than Dana Andrews could realise), and the fact that Laura is still alive.

It's a very well thought out mystery, with Waldo, Shelby and Ann being key suspects with Diane Redfern being the joker in the pack.

Interesting psychologically too - Waldo seemingly gay (or impotent?) obsessed with Laura, Laura liking them dumb and hot (Vincent Price probably gave the wrong impression), Laura a proto feminist who wants to work. All the improvements/new pages improve things - though the detective is quite casual about interrogating suspects in front of each other! (Does make for better drama).

TV review - "Laura" (1955) ***

An adaption of the film for The 20th Century Fox Hour done for one hour. It's of interest mostly to see other people in the roles - George Sanders as Lydecker, Robert Stack as Mark, Dana Wynter as Laura, someone called Scott Forbes as Shelby. The Judith Anderson part is hardly in it - and there's not much Laura this is mostly Lydecker and Mark.

The replacements aren't bad - Stack is a similar solid type to Dana Andrews, Sanders is always good as a villain (though I preferred Clifton Webb's waspishness). Wynter is pretty but not quite as enigmatic as Gene Tierney.

It's not bad - professional, solid. Depth is inevitably lost via condensation - there's no romance between Laura and the detective for instance. John Brahm directed.

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 - "Black Widow" (1954) ** (warning: spoilers)

Nunnally Johnson, who wrote, produced and directed this, pitched it as "All About Eve for suspense movies" which is great shorthand and sounds like a fantastic movie but this is a bit flat. It's got compensations - stars, CinemaScope, colour - but lacks Eve's X factor stars, and theatrical atmosphere.

Eve had a few bland spots in its cast - Hugh Marlowe, Anne Baxter - but they were more than compensated for by Bette Davis, George Sanders, Celeste Holm and Gary Merrill. They also had Joseph Mankiewicz's scintillating dialogue.

Johnson was an excellent writer, but didn't have Mankiewicz's knack for quips. Maybe he could have got there but he was presumably busy doing the producing and directing.

He wasn't as experienced a director - I think this stopped him from capturing the theatre atmosphere this badly needs. It doesn't help that there are few scenes in cafes, backstage, on stage, on the road, etc... it's mostly people hanging out in plush apartments. For instance, Van Heflin is supposed to be a Broadway producer but I never got the impression he actually did that for a living. Perhaps this would have been better off being shot in black and white.

The staging of so many of the scenes is perfunctory - characters just hang around, saying their lines. There's no feeling that this is made by someone who knows were to put the camera.

But then Heflin's presence is a debit for the whole movie - a glowering, intense actor, Heflin could be effective in the right role but he wasn't a star, which is what this movie needs. Gregory Peck, who had been discussed, would have been ideal - an everyman the audience could have related to, so we cared when he was unjustly accused of murder.

Peggy Ann Garner is all wrong as the girl who is killed. Maybe I'm too used to seeing her as a child star, but she seemed weird - with a perm, and lacking glamour/charisma. She also simply isn't very good as an adult actor. (In her defence she has some dreadful dialogue about being a writer).

Gene Tierney is alright as Heflin's wife - she isn't given much to do. She spends most of her time literally just lounging around.

Far better are Ginger Rogers (as a bitchy actress - the Clifton Webb part), Reginald Denny (her husband), and George Raft (doing solid work as the investigating detective). Virginia Leith (an actor I wasn't very familiar with) shines in a showy role as Garner's old flatmate, and I enjoyed African-American actress, Hilda Simms, getting a decent scene with Heflin.

It's a shame because it's a decent enough mystery. It's fantastic that Rogers is the killer. It just has some key miscast leads and lack atmosphere and ordinary direction.

Book review - "Foxy Lady: The Authorised Biography of Lynn Bari" by Jeff Gordon (2010)

A biography of Lynn Bari - why? But, when you think about it, why not? Bari was a very likeable, capable performer who did sterling work over a number of years, and is still remembered by buffs today for some excellent "other woman" parts in Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives.

There was more to her career than that of course - a long apprenticeship in Fox's B unit, becoming known as Queen of the Bs: few of these films gathered any sort of serious critical renown (though she popped up in Charlie Chans, Mr Motos and Michael Shaynes). She never quite became a star - Gordon argues she was kind of was one around the time of The Magnificent Dope, Moon Over Her Shoulder and Tampico. But she never really headlined a big hit and crashed through to the next level the way, say, Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Gene Tierney and Anne Baxter did.

Why that didn't happen is one of the things tackled by Gordon in his excellent, comprehensive biography, which benefits from extensive interviews with Bari. She was a co operative, hard working, highly professional actress who seemed to get along with most people. But her mother was a drunk who had a habit of calling the studio and complaining about her. She also had shocking taste in men, marrying agent Walter Kane who ripped her off and gave her bad advice, then Sidney Luft, who did exactly the same. Part of her appeal for producers was her placid nature but then she started complaining about roles and money at a time when (post WW2) the studios were reducing their contract lists.

Her decline as a film star/name was perhaps inevitable, even if she'd had that hit or two - but it's a shame she never got a great "second act" like a hit play or TV series. She tried a few series and did a lot of theatre and guest roles but never crashed through. Her protracted and vicious divorce/custody dispute with Luft may have had something to do with that, but it was also age and circumstance. Still she was rarely out of work.

The latter part of her life is depressing. After two dud marriages with agent types she hooked up with a shrink, who didn't like her to work, cheated on her, wasn't generous during the divorce settlement. She became an alcoholic, had a lot of health problems (an intense cigarette habit didn't help), stopped working... On the bright side, she had a lot of friends, had a good relationship with her son, kept her marbles to the end. And she became friends with Gordon, who interviewed her for what became this book, so that must have made her feel good.

This is a loving, affectionate look at Bari, with solid scholarship behind it. It presents a favourable interpretation of Bari's flaws (appalling taste in men, poor financial nous, etc) but doesn't obscure them. I particularly enjoyed the stuff about Fox's B movie unit, about which I knew little (apart from the Chans and Motos). It's a sad to read at times, but I'm glad she got a book.

Movie review - "The Great Gatsby" (1949) *** (re-viewing)

A fascinating movie that was hard to see for a long time, which was a shame because there were plenty of good things about it and it was a decent enough 40s Hollywood attempt to tackle F Scott Fitzgerald. It was a passion project for writer-producer Richard Maibaum who had made OSS with Alan Ladd and became convinced he was just the guy to bring Gatsby to life - and you know what he was right. Ladd is very well cast as an insecure guy with a ruthless streak who could become a gangster and pine after a long lost love, and feel ill at ease among high society.

As an actor he had his limitations, there's no denying it - he needed a better director than Elliot Nugent, someone who could protect him more. I wish this had been directed by John Farrow who apparently left the film after a disagreement with Maibaum over casting - Farrow wanted Gene Tierney not Betty Field, and I feel he was right. Field has her moments but got on my nerves; Tierney would've been just right.

Maibaum had to make dumb script things to get this pass the censor - the opening scene at Gatsby's grave with Carraway quoting proverbs, Nick Carraway doing a lot of "voice of conscience" acting. Others are simply shoddy writing such as the exposition when we first meet Daisy and they talk about Tom's past.

Other bits of this are clunky too - Ruth Hussey got on my nerves as Jordan (all that female golfing and apparent cynicism; I never believed she was into MacDonald Carey for a second); I wasn't sure what was the point of Gatsby's lustings over the wife of his mentor Henry Hull (it cheapened his love for Daisy showing this). (I would've loved to have seen more of Gatsby's rise to riches via being a gangster).

But much of it is superb - MacDonald Carey is perfect as Nick Carraway, Howard da Silva moving as George Wilson, Tom Sullivan is very good as Tom, Shelley Winters perfect as Myrtle, Ed Begley Jnr is great as Lupus and I always enjoy Elisha Cook Jnr. There's fantastic moments like Gatsby's reuniting with Daisy, the death of Myrtle and revenge of Wilson, and the climax. It's very much a half-good adaptation but it should've been better known and I wish Ladd had made more films along this line.

Book review - "Spencer Tracy" by James Curtis

Curtis wrote the definitive biographies of Preston Sturges and James Whale (I haven't read his one on WC Fields but I'm assuming its good, too) so you know when he turns his eye on Spencer Tracy the job will be done right. This book clocks in at almost a thousand pages including footnotes and table of contents. Curtis has been helped by one of those gifts all biographers dream: an unpublished memoirs of Louise Tracey, so her point of view is represented like no other work on Tracy. She is best known as the saintly woman who wouldn't let Spencer get a divorce to marry Kate Hepburn but did a lot of good works for deaf people - we get a far more well round picture here.

It was an entertaining read. Periods that normally get skimmed over, like Tracy's childhood, and early theatre days (he put in a solid decade doing plays) and his time at Fox, get thorough treatment. This made me really want to see The Last Mile, it sounds terrific. I also had new appreciation for Fox - it was a fairly shoddy outfit in many respects but they respected Tracey and kept him on in good roles at a decent salary despite him not being a matinee idol or popular merely because he was a good actor. (This was reminiscent of Sean Penn in some ways.)

Tracy has been called an emotionally complex person, including by Curtis. I don't think he was anything of the sort - I think he was just an alcoholic. Many people are. Tracy happened to work at a time and in a field where it was tolerated/encouraged. Throw in a deaf child and an erratic profession and you have plenty of excuses to get on the booze.

Tracy could be a bit of a baby - going in big sulks, and also on benders which resulted in him missing days of production. He loved the security of MGM, who protected and promoted him - he was beloved by Dore Schary and was one of the few stars to thrive in new ways under the Schary regime. He was never close to his son which seems to have prompted paternal feelings for people such as Bob Wagner, Bill Self and Garson Kanin. He was a pants man, too, in his way - not a major Leaguer but he did alright, having flings with Loretta Young, Ingrid Bergman and Gene Tierney, in addition to the famous one with Kate Hepburn (he cheated on Hepburn with Tierney)

Aussies pop up at intervals - Snowy Baker teaches him to play polo, June Dally-Watkins and he have a chaste romance in Europe. Every serious Tracy fan must read.

Movie review - "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (1950) **

A reunion of Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney and Otto Preminger is a long way from Laura mostly because of the story - Andrews is a cop again, he's in love with Tierney, but Tierney doesn't have much  to do; instead it's about Andrews accidentally killing a suspect after roughing him up. That's a pretty dark story but Andrews isn't so much a villain as a sympathetic anti-hero. 

Unlike The Big Clock where Ray Milland had to investigate a crime he knows others will pin him for, here Andrews is looking into a murder which he did commit - so it gets repetitive, with no real complication. Tierney's father gets accused of the crime, which just means we're sitting around waiting for Andrews to go "no it was me". This needed another complication to throw things into a loop.

Andrews is very strong in a role ideal for him - tormented by his past (dad was a crook), tough, ruthless. Tierney is wasted, Gary Merrill makes an excellent crime boss.

Movie review – “The Shanghai Gesture” (1941) *** (warning: spoilers)

Junky fun from Joseph von Sternberg who showed his ability to make female stars look stunning wasn’t limited to Marlene Dietrich: Gene Tierney was never more sexy, particularly when she goes off the rails and looks stressed and trashed. It’s not much of a story - Tierney visits an opium den for fun, gets hooked on gambling and ruins her life. She eventually finds out she's of mixed race which is I guess why she has to die. 

 

For some reason Walter Huston is cast as a British diplomatic - he's good as always, but I wonder why they couldn't get one of the million or so British character stars hanging around Hollywood at the time. 

 

Tierney is stunning, Victor Mature is effective as basically a treacherous gigolo (a role which suits his self-love looks and which he should have played more; however his role is surprisingly small) and Ona Munson strong as Madame Gin Sling. You wish it had been made pre-Code, and the part of the American show girl (Phyllis Brooks) feels tacked on, but there is enough decadence and exotic atmosphere to pass the time.

Movie review – “Dragonwyck” (1946) ***

Joseph Mankiewicz made his directorial debut with this gothic melodrama – Jane Eyre in America with a bit of Gaslight thrown in. Gene Tierney is the innocent who falls for dashing relative Vincent Price – he’s a bit dodgy (rich landlord who exploits his tenants) but better than her boring religious parents (Walter Huston, Ann Revere) so she marries him after his wife dies. Glenn Langan is the Ken Doll “true love” interest – a doctor keen on democracy. Entertaining codswallop with the benefits of being a studio film – strong cast, expensive production design.

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

Movie review – “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.