Book review - "There's No Going Back The Life and Work of Jonathan Demme" by David M. Stewart

 Solid biography of the director - I'm surprised there hadn't been one before now. It packs a fair bit in - his publicist, flashy dad, who had progressive politics and was a bit of a sleaze, like his son, really, who didn't always treat women well. Like his Australian first wife who he refused to allow produce.

Demme broke in as a publicist, worked in New York, interned for Joe Levine, benefited from a wealthy background, move to London, did some work on Eyewitness, then hooked up with Roger Corman, stayed with Corman a few years. Obviously talented, so much so that people kept giving him work despite a lack of hits. Indeed, he only had a few hits throughout his career. Quality of his work seemed to slip after Philadelphia with too many remakes but in his defense his focus seems to have been split, doing a lot of producing and documentaries, being involved in Haiti. A heavy smoker which is why he died relatively young.

I'm not a huge Demme fan. Something slightly lacking in the book. Maybe a layer of depth or something.

Movie review - "Melvin and Howard" (1980) ***

 Looking at Jonathan Demme's movies it's amazing how many of his early ones flopped - Crazy Mama, Fighting Mad, Citizens Band, Last Embrace and this. He kept getting chances because of strong reviews - this won a couple of Oscars.

It's a true life tale of an odd chap, played by Paul Le Mat, during that actor's star years, who gives Howard Hughes a lift and later inherits a fortune. That's the beginning and end. Most of the movie is Le Mat and wife Mary Steenburgen and him marrying Pamela Reed.

It's nicely made and acted and everything. I just didn't care. Sorry. Maybe I saw it in a bad mood. 

Book review - " Mean...Moody...Magnificent! Jane Russell and the Marketing of a Hollywood Legend" by Christina Rice

 I'm glad someone did a biography of Russell, she deserved it - someone who as Rice points out is an icon despite appearing in not that many films. This isn't as much fun as Russells batshit memoirs with its Christian sacrifices but is thorough. There was lots I didn't know particularly in the later years.

Movie review - "The Narrow Margin" (1952) **** (warning: spoilers)

 Excellent noir, beautifully shot and crisply written. Charles Macgraw has the role of a lifetime as the tough cop escorting gangster's wife Marie Windsor. Windsor is terrific. The main flaw of the film is she's so good you feel gypped that the last third shifts to this blander other actress - it's a neat twist that she's the actual wife and Windsor is a cop but I miss Macgraw-Windsor scenes and felt Windsor deserved more of an exit. Her death is shocking - I just wish she'd taken out at least one baddie. Very good baddies.

Movie review - "Vendetta" (1950) **

 One of Howard Hughes' most notorious projects, with plenty of hiring and firings, a number of directors (among them Max Ophuls, Stewart Heisler and Preston Sturges, though the film is solely credited to Mel Ferrer), a Hughes starlet in the lead (Faith Domergue), a Hughes leading man featured (no one remembered them because they didn't have big breasts and/or become famous but there were a few, George Dolenz is here). There is plenty of narration.

Domergue is a Corsican determined to avenge the murder of her father and... that's about it. This is a dull slog. It stumbles long, with lousy photography and amateurish acting. Some familiar faces are competent, like Nigel Bruce and Hilary Brooke, but too much lies on the inadequate shoulders of Domergue, Dolenz and Donald Buka. 

Remarkably unsexy - there's not even Hughes-esque low cut gowns. It just stumbles on, then stops. Other Hughes films are a lot more interesting.

Movie review - "His Kind of Woman" (1951) ***1/2 (re-watching)

 Legendary nutty film noir turned comedy which starts out as a Bob Mitchum-Jane Russell movie then becomes a comedy farce headed by Vincent Price. Slangy dialogue, Tim Holt looking puffy as an agent who winds up dead, Charles McGraw as another agent, Raymond Burr a gangster, a creepy torturing doctor, reshoots. Fascinating.

Movie review - "Macao" (1952) ***1/2 (re-watching)

 Put this on again just for fun. Mitchum and Russell were a great team - tall, sexy, arrogant, sly - and it's a shame they only made two films together. This is fun in the backlot third world with the two coming up against Brad Dexter and William Bendix as an undercover agent. Makes a strong bill with His Kind of Woman. Russell is really attractive. I know that's taken as a given but it's worth saying again!

Movie review - "Tucker: The Man and His Dream" (1988) **1/2

 I remember hearing about this film when it came out and wanting Coppola to have a hit but also not being excited by the idea: an engineer who wants to make a car and does and then goes bankrupt. That's fun because...?

Look, I get it. The 30s Capra-esque style. The rat-tat dialogue, Jeff Bridges channelling James Stewart, the courtroom finale. I love that George Lucas backed it. It's just... I don't know, I didn't care. I would've cared if it was actually about Coppola making movies instead of it being subtext. It's meant to be him - this big time family man who is always optimistic, trying

There's a strong cast - Martin Landau as a financier, Christian Slater as Tucker Jnr. Joan Allen is The Wife. Elias Koteas as a designer. Frederick Forrest as another engineer. Dean Stockwell as Howard Hughes.

I just didn't care. Maybe because it was about cars. Or maybe 1930s style films belong in that decade. There was an authenticity with those faces which doesn't convey. They were contemporary films- this is looking back. Maybe it doesn't work for me.

Movie review - "Where Danger Lives" (1950) *** (warning: spoilers)

 The first of two noirs John Farrow made for Howard Hughes starring Bob Mitchum, being loaned out by Paramount. This has a simple story with doctor Mitchum falling for Faith Domergue, famed Hughes "discovery", not realising she's married to Claude Rains. Soon he's dead and they go on the run.

Mitchum has to act like a dill for a lot but the film has a certain hypnotic quality. There's not a lot of twists it's more a mood piece as Mitchen amd Domergue make a break for the border. Mitchem keeps trying to stay awake as he becomes increasingly paralysed.

The border town is fun, with its beard competition, dodgy vaudeville show, and shonky Philip Van Zandt helping them get across. Ther's a film in that town.

It was known as White Rose for Julie. Irwin Allen co produced this. It started his relationship with screenwriter Charles Bennett.

It does feel a little bit of a cheat that Mitchum is allowed to live at the end.

Movie review - "The Rules Don't Apply" (2017) **

 Warren Beatty's last film, perhaps, which would be a shame. I know he was working on a Howard Hughes movie since the 1970s. This was what he came up with?

There is a movie to be had in focusing on the women that Hughes stashed away. He only focuses on one, played by Lily Collins, who doesn't seem to be that big chested (I don't mean to be gross but that was such an overwhelming thing for Hughes). Then his attention drifts to one of Hughes' drivers. Collins drops out of the movie for a big slab of time.

Neither are that interesting. Many of the scenes are repetitive or flat - she's not a good driver, they have a religious upbringing, Annette Bening is Collins' worried mother. 

It's fun to see people like Ed Harris and Amy Madigan in the movie, as well as Steve Coogan, Candice Bergen, etc. It was just a bit dull. Hughes was eccentric and odd. The two leads weren't that engaging.

The best bit came at the end when Hughes is on the phone to prove is sanity with his young son running around in front of him. This was quite moving. Hughes pulls focus from the young lovers. But he's not that engaging either. It was just dull.

Movie review - "Second Chance" (1953) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 One of Bob Mitchum's junky thrillers he made for Howard Hughes at RKO. It's enjoyable and low rent and gives a decent 50s role to Linda Darnell. The copy I saw had a washed out look,  I think because it was shot in 3D. It was shot partly in Mexico.

It's best remembered if at all for its climax on a cable car - the last twenty minutes. I wonder if more could've been made of this.

Linda Darnell is a solid actor but I never quite believed she genuinely loved Mitchum. I did buy him loving her - he was committed in this role. Jack Palance is the best - genuinely terrifying. Dan Seymour adds some Sidney Greenstreet-style class. 

During the cable car some English supporting actor gets all this dialogue that should've gone to Darnell. It was quite a shock to see a guy plunge to his death in front of his son - and that kid had his mother murdered by his dad the previous night. Full on!

Enjoyable second tier action which will best please fans of Palance, Darnell and Mitchum.

Movie review - "The Sin of Harold Diddlebock" (1947) **1/2

 It didn't need to cost as much money as it did and the pacing is off. It needed to be tightened and brighter. But once I got used to old Harold Lloyd I didn't mind this. There's pleasant anarchy with him getting drunk for the first time, and buying a circus and winding up on a ledge with a lion among other things.

It just could've been tighter. Oh and the romance is bad. The girl is like the sixth version of another girl or something. Is that romantic?

Book review - "Seduction" by Karina Longworth

I got into Longworth's work via her excellent "You Must Remember This" podcast - a really fresh way of looking at old Hollywood. In particular recommend her episodes on Raquel Welch and Charles Manson. The standard has dropped off a little in recent months, I think because her focus has been on this book.

Another look at Howard Hughes, you might ask? There's a lot of them. The fresh take here is that Longworth looks at him from the female point of view - his first wife, Billie Dove, Jean Harlow and the many that came afterwards - Ava Gardner, Linda Darnell, Jean Peters, Katherine Hepburn, Faith Domergue.

The material at the beginning and end of the book - the start and end of Hughes' life - is solid, though not exceptional. Where it gets exceptional is looking at the women - not so much the first wife (I get the impression Longworth didn't care much about her) but Billie Dove onwards. In particular there are some superb pieces on the acting and persona of Jane Russell, Jean Peters (the first decent writing I've read on Peters), and Terry Moore (ditto).

Well researched. Engrossing. Made me want to revisit many of the films. Terry Moore and Peters should be better known as actors among film buffs - their work was really varied.

Movie review - "Easy Living" (1949) **1/2

An odd one in the Victor Mature filmography - until you consider that in the late 40s he was developing a nice little reputation as an actor (My Darling Clementine, Kiss of Death) and this project was greenlit by Dore Schary at RKO (though it wasn't made til Howard Hughes til over).

It's got Schary worthiness, being a look at the life of a football player (Mature). He's a star but he lives beyond this means

The screenwriter, Charles Schnee, has actually done a good job (Schary liked Schnee, promoted him to producer at MGM) - characters are well sketched, have depth, and sympathy. There's a big fat strand of sexism through the film (a key plot point involves Mature being overlooked for a coaching position because his wife isn't "reliable) but even Scott is allowed to have her moment in the sun - she points out their life has traditionally been about worshipping Mature, she wants a career.

Some subplots feel hampered by censorship - a model who slept around kills herself, a woman tells Scott she wants to seduce Mature then kind of vanishes, Ball and Mature really should sleep together, it's unsure if Scott sleeps with her client. Because much of it is adult and frank and well done - Jacques Tourneur was a good director.

Lloyd Nolan is effective as a coach. Lizabeth Scott feels vaguely miscast but gives a good performance - you could say the same for Lucille Ball. Mature isn't quite believable as a footballer but is at least a physical type. Sonny Tufts was a real surprise - he's very relaxed and strong as Mature's friend. There's a black player on the team, Jim Backus turns up as a doctor.

There's a scene where Mature and Scott go to a nightclub and hear a person sing a torch song called "Easy Living"which feels tacked on.

It's a really odd sort of movie - bits of it are very good I found it engrossing. It doesn't quite pull it off, you can see why it lost money, and there's a terrible finale when Mature slaps Scott twice and "forgives" her (for the crime of having ambition). But treats the trevails of footballers sensitively and it's no joke.

Book review - " Charles McGraw: Biography of a Film Noir Tough Guy" by Alan K. Rode

A biography of Charles McGraw? Well, why not, I guess...

McGraw is has a little bit of a cult, mostly due to The Narrow Margin. Thick set leading men were in vogue in the late 40 and early 50s - Howard Duff and Edward O'Brien were some others. If you're a film buff you would recognise McGraw - either from The Narrow Margin or his support bits in films like The Killers, His Kind of Woman, Sparactus or In Cold Blood.

I think in his heart of hearts he was a support actor - great presence and growly voice, but lacked the individuality of, say, Wallace Beery or Humphrey Bogart. He made some interesting films, though his life wasn't particularly interesting. He sort of bummed around in the Depression, got the acting bug, struggled for a bit, got some roles, broke through with a bit in Golden Boy. He was part of the Group Theatre crowd for a bit - he knew Elia Kazan, though never worked with Kazan once the latter became a director.

He eventually went to Hollywood. His breakthrough was one of The Killers and he had a decent career, with a few years as an actual leading man. He was so castable (as gangsters, cops, detectives) that he steadily worked for most of his life, but he had a fondness for the bottle which wrecked his marriage (to a Eurasian lady) and his reputation.

Actually McGraw comes across as a bit of a f*ckwit at times, spending all his spare time at the local bar, ignoring his wife and daughter. He dies interestingly - accidentally shoving his hand through glass in a shower and bleeding to death (honestly, I don't mean to be rude but he probably just sped up an inevitable early end, he drank that much); his daughter had an unhappy life - her son was murdered in an accident.

Rode occasionally seems bored by McGraw's actual life and goes off on detours to discuss the making of films. This isn't as good as his book on Curtiz - the scholarship looking into the making of the films isn't that great. It's fine - the sheer novelty of a book on McGraw gets it over the line but I was a bit underwhelmed.

Script review - "Macao" by Stanley Rubin and Bernard Schoenfeld

I read a published edition of this script - it was an odd choice to publish considering its reputation isn't super high, and the writers aren't famous. Like the film, the script is an unpretentious programmer about a bunch of Americans running around Macao - like most Hollywood films in the orient at the time, there's few local speaking parts (some Chinese bit parts and the local Portuguese head of police.

It's easy to imagine Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell in their roles; it's a shame Russell isn't given more to do (she almost could've been cut out of the film). I liked the character of the villain who was trapped in Macao - it made him unexpectedly sympathetic. Although I think it was a mistake to get him to want to leave, and all that stuff about the diamond was confusing. Decent twist with the reveal of the salesman being a detective but I was hoping for another one, like his boss being with the baddies as well.

Not bad, not sensational. There are better film scripts that haven't been published but hey why not...?

Book review - "Yvonne" by Yvonne De Carlo (1987)

The cinematic work of Yvonne De Carlo deserves re-appraisal - for a time there in the late 40s and early 50s she was a genuine lower level star at Universal, playing a succession of slinky Eastern dancing girls and tough Western dames in some unpretentious technicolor films. She and Maureen O'Hara were these quasi-feminist adventure stars, until the 50s took hold and both wound up staring admiringly at the heroes.

De Carlo was an old pro in the best sense of the world. She started quite young, with a pushy mother and absent father (very common elements in biographies of female star). She did a lot of dancing when younger and moved to the US from Canada; her looks saw her win beauty contests which resulted in a dancing gig at the Florentine Gardens. She worked hard at her dancing and was eventually picked up for the movies, doing a stint at Paramount.

In the 1940s girls with "exotic looks" were not discriminated against; de Carlo played a series of dancing girls and natives; she was going to step in for Dorothy Lamour in Rainbow Island but Lamour changed her mind. She also just missed out on good parts in For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Story of Dr Wassell. Her career was stagnating there but got a huge boost when Walter Wagner cast her in the lead of Salome Where She Danced which turned her into a star.

Salome was made by Universal who put her to work in lots of Easterns and Westerns, and wanted someone easier to deal with than Maria Montez (and De Carlo could sing and dance which Montez couldn't). Occasionally she got the chance in something more prestigious like Criss Cross. De Carlo eventually branched out into comedy, notably in England, and got a few parts in "A" pictures, like The Ten Commandments and Band of Angels. But she never made the full transition to "A" stardom - it's harder for women, especially in the macho late 50s. And to be fair De Carlo didn't have the individuality of great stars - or even great icons like Maureen O'Hara; she lacked spark and life-sometimes she blended into the scenery. But she could act and sing and dance, often better than she was given credit for.

De Carlo found things harder  from the late 50s onwards, but she kept at it - working regularly in TV and having a career boost when starring in The Munsters. She also achieved fame on Broadway in Follies. She expresses regret her agents didn't push her for Broadway roles earlier; I'm surprised she didn't appear in more musical films - Universal did make them, though not as often as they did in the 40s.

As a good looking girl De Carlo spent a lot of time fending off lecherous Hollywood wolves/sex pests - Errol Flynn, Franchot Tone, Orson Welles. She was keen on Sterling Hayden but he didn't do anything. Ditto James Stewart. She had amiable dates with Red Skelton and knew Burgess Meredith, a romance with Ray Milland before finally losing her virginity to someone called Carl Anthony. She says Billy Wilder was the first great love of her life. She later had serious romances with Howard Hughes (who made love like an engineer which made me laugh), Robert Stack, Howard Duff and Jock Mahoney (she fell pregnant to him but lost the baby), flings with Burt Lancaster, Carlos Thompson, Tony Curtis and Robert Taylor. There was Aly Khan, of course, who was a great lover - it isn't a very discrete book!

The book gets harder going as once De Carlo marries stuntman Bob Morgan. A sexy man's man, he was overly fond of a drink, and not a particularly devoted husband. She was going to leave him but then he had an accident which resulted in him losing his leg. From then on it was work, work, work as she took every gig going - night club acts, crummy roles in films. She was perennially unlucky in love - she had a taste for love rats (married men, pricks), which never improved.

I liked reading about her encounters with Maria Montez - de Carlo came to Universal as a Montez back up taking her role in Frontier Gal but Montez and she got along; Montez would talk about her being reincarnated, warn her off Howard Hughes and recommend de Carlo and Jean Pierre Aumont (her love interest in one film) play more love scenes because you got more close ups that way.

De Carlo admits to being a right winger - I would've been interested to hear more about this. (I imagine a lot of actors who slogged their way up from the chorus were right wing eg Ginger Rogers.) The book was written before her son died.

It's an entertaining book - a little harrowing (all the sexual harassment), and sad (the career and financial battles). De Carlo had a pretty good life - fame, some good parts, sex with handsome men - but struggled to hang on to money and a good relationship. Still, the world was a better place for her being in it.

Movie review - "Creepshow" (1982) **1/2

This film was a big deal among kids in the early 80s. I saw it recently at the Egyptian Theatre on the big screen, which is always good. It's a film of its time. The very specific comic book treatment is entertaining. George A Romero wasn't always the most subtle director in the world, but he benefits from a strong cast and Stephen King's good writing.

I did feel there were too many stories - there were five. This sort of movie works better with only three, I feel.

The book end plot is entertaining. "Father's Day" is okay - very over the top and camp (dead man, greedy relatives) but alright. It's fun to see Ed Harris with hair and his disco mad fiancee. Romeo had a few balding blonde heroes in his films.

"The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" has a really strong performance from King - he should do more acting - and some good effects but is only one act. Farmer finds meteor, grass grows everywhere... the end. It needed something else to happen.

"Something to Tide you Over"is pretty good. I always remembered Ted Danson buried up to his neck with the water coming in and Leslie Nielsen is excellent as a crazy rich dude. It doesn't really make sense why Danson would go with Nielsen or dig himself into a hole - easier for Nielsen to have knocked him out. Danson's hair is interesting to watch.

I had forgotten "The Crate" was in this film. It's all over the shop - a story about a mysterious animal in a crate that's opened, mixed in with the story of a trampy wife (Adrienne Barbeau having the time of her life) and her henpecked husband (a miscast Hal Holbrook - he's too strong and sure, it needed to be someone more obviously meek). This is dull and took forever and was full of bits that didn't pay off (eg introducing that new couple at the beginning).

"They're Creeping Up on You" is superb, the best segment. EG Marshall is great as Howard Hughes, basically, who is attacked by bugs. This was the smartest and best.

Movie review - "A Dangerous Profession" (1949) **

The last of four movies George Raft made for RKO in the late 1940s and the only one to lose money. This starts off pretty good. There's an opening spiel from Jim Backus (who plays a cop) who explains all about what the bail bond industry is and it goes on too long; I thought this may have been put in after some re-cutting, which happened a lot at RKO when Howard Hughes owned it, but to be fair was a thing done at the time, when Hollywood was on a semi documentary kick eg T Men.

George Raft and Pat O'Brien run a bail bond business together - Raft is a former cop. He stakes money for Bill Williams, whose wife, Ella Raines, is loved by Raft. That's a good idea for a movie and the first half I went with this. Ted Tetzlaff directs with energy, it's set in that slinky world of night clubs, offices after hours, and police cells.

Raft still hadn't learned how to act - he never did, his delivery of lines remains awkward - but he's still George Raft. I didn't mind Ella Raines, and Pat O'Brien, Williams and Backus are good.

But the film muffs its opportunities. O'Brien and Raft have this intriguing relationship - a bit distrustful, hostile - which is dramatically great... but they don't really do anything with it. Ditto Backus. Both Backus and O'Brien are set up as if they are going to be baddies, ditto Raines... but none of them are. And it's a happy ending.

There's a lot of exposition in the dialogue and I had trouble following a fair bit of the film.

Also, why not use the who bail bond thing more - the world in which it's set? I mean it kind of it but at heart this is a stock investigating-a-murder-mystery story.

It's a shame because there's good things about this - it moves at a steady crisp, it's fun to see Backus play a hard arse cop instead of a clown. They just didn't get the script right.

Book review - "Just Tell Me When You Want Me to Cry" by Richard Fleischer

This isn't one of the famous director memoirs - at least, not that I'm aware - and it sat on my bookshelf for a long time unread, but it was good. Very self effacing for a work from a director - it doesn't talk about his life and times and career so much as encounters with crazy characters. They are certainly memorable: Howard Hughes at RKO making him shoot additional footage for His Kind of Woman; dealing with Orson Welles on Compulsion; Kirk Douglas on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Vikings; Rex Harrison on Dr Doolittle (making them hire Sidney Poitier, then quitting, then being replaced by Christopher Plummer and coming back again); Charles Bronson on Mr Majestyk; Daryl F Zanuck in thrall to Juliete Greco; ducking work with John Wayne on North to Alaska; Laurence Oliver on The Jazz Singer.

There's more affectionate reminiscences: working with the team of Stanley Kramer and Carl Foreman; the hard-living polio-afflicted screenwriter Earl Felton (who I'd never heard of before); Gilbert Roland on Bandido; his early mentor, RKO hard man Sig Rogell.

It's all great fun. I wished that there were more on other films Fleischer made - there's nothing on Che! or See No Evil or Amityville 3-D or lots of other movies. But what's here is good.