This sounds like it could be fun - the story of two female con artists who are on the lam in the 1890s. Okay the 1890s isn't an inherently funny period, at least not to men, but female con artists is at least different. And maybe this would've worked if original star Betty Hutton had been able to play the role. Instead Paramount went with Veronica Lake who is disastrously miscast.
I've watched a bunch of later-Paramount-era Lake movies recently and not liked her in any of them. She's all wrong here - lacking energy and verve in a part that needs, well, Hutton - or say Diana Lynn. I know that Lake was meant to play vamps but she is flat - and even worse, not sexy.
Joan Caulfield has some game as her sister but really is pretty and that's about it. Mind you neither have much of a character to play - you never get the sense these two are con artists or how they came to be con artists. I guess you assume it's because its the 1890s and women had it hard - which gives you automatic sympathy for them. Not ideal.
The plot has Barry Fitzgerald blackmail the two women into helping out, which has kind of yuck overtones since women were so enslaved during this time. I think it's easier to handle if you find Fitzgerald loveable. The girls are converted to niceness by the town - Fitzgerald gives away their money to people, and they love them for it. I'm sorry but that's a bit yuck, it's their money, even if it's stolen, and Fitzgerald stole it off them.
Why do they introduce the millionaire scammed by the girls (Harold Vermilyea) at the beginning and never see him again? Why don't they have the local bitch (Belulah Bondi) do something really bad? Why don't they have someone chasing after the girls - a detective or something?
They set up a sheriff (George Reeves) but he never seems to suspect the girls - he just falls in love with both and struggles to make up his mind, which makes him an idiot and ensures the love story is unsatisfactory.
They establish Lake has the more ruthless and greedy of the sisters, which is fine. But instead of making her a villain and Caulfield the goodie, as they probably should, Lake again is a-bit-bad-but-really-good in a way that undermines the film; she comes good, falls for Reeves (no chemistry, no build up, he's clearly better suited to Caulfield), and Caulfield has a conveniently invented alternate love interest.
It's another misfire from Paramount. Lake had some incredible luck early in her career, but karma came around and got her back in spades towards the end of her contract.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Movie review - "Out of this World" (1945) **
Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken were so well liked in Miracle of Morgan's Creek that Paramount decided to reunite them in this musical. Then Hutton went off on another film so the studio went "what the hell" and replaced her with Diana Lynn, the younger sister from Morgan. Lynn was pretty, bright and talented (she can play the piano and sing) but her casting throws the movie off - she's only 19, too young to be romantically matched with Bracken in a non-icky way, too pretty to be matched in a believable way, and too fresh faced and smart to be believably enmeshed in wacky schemes.
The plot of this involves Lynn putting singer Bracken under contract for a cheap rate then over-selling interests in said contract - like The Producers. That sort of silliness makes more sense with Hutton - she's an older woman, she seems dumb, desperate. Lynn comes across as too sensible, with too many years ahead of her.
Not that the plot makes sense. Bracken is meant to have this superb voice (Bing Crosby dubbed) - no one's noticed before? Why does Lynn listen to him and go "oh he's not going to make it, I'll over sell his contract"? He can sing! No one's interested until Veronica Lake whips up publicity? I get that they're making fun of the bobby soxer craze (the lust for Frank Sinatra etc)... but Bracken can sing. Why not have him as a singer who's tried to get noticed for a while, but is too shy or something and it's not until the girl fainting thing comes along that people go for him? Or something that made sense?
A spoof of the bobby soxer craze would be fun - you could have stunts, girls paid to fall for Bracken who genuinely do, irate boyfriends and fathers, publicists in cahoots. But the film ignores these possibilities, forgets the satire focuses on a plot where Lynn sells off excess interest in the contract, thinking Bracken will flop. Even that could have been fun - as The Producers showed - but it doesn't make sense because Bracken's character has talent... and the writers don't do anything much with it except Bracken finding out he hasn't got money and Lynn didn't believe in him.
Veronica Lake is completely wasted. Apparently Paramount were punishing her by casting her second to Diana Lynn... But she could've been used for a good purpose. She's set up as this unscrupulous PR person who hypes Bracken... but then completely disappears from the movie for the middle section. The film is crying out for her character to be used more - for her to be a rival to Lynn, to romance Bracken, to cause trouble... But they don't. There were a few movies around this time where Lake's character should have been bad but wasn't eg Hold That Blonde. I'm assuming this was due to Lake's whingeing - "I don't want to be unsympathetic". But it meant she played these weird half and half roles - people who shouldn't have been bad dramatically but weren't, but weren't that sympathetic either.
As if aware of the script and casting problems, the filmmakers shove in heaps of production numbers - singers, dancers, pianists. There's even a cameo from Bing Crosby's kids. But the movie is crap.
The plot of this involves Lynn putting singer Bracken under contract for a cheap rate then over-selling interests in said contract - like The Producers. That sort of silliness makes more sense with Hutton - she's an older woman, she seems dumb, desperate. Lynn comes across as too sensible, with too many years ahead of her.
Not that the plot makes sense. Bracken is meant to have this superb voice (Bing Crosby dubbed) - no one's noticed before? Why does Lynn listen to him and go "oh he's not going to make it, I'll over sell his contract"? He can sing! No one's interested until Veronica Lake whips up publicity? I get that they're making fun of the bobby soxer craze (the lust for Frank Sinatra etc)... but Bracken can sing. Why not have him as a singer who's tried to get noticed for a while, but is too shy or something and it's not until the girl fainting thing comes along that people go for him? Or something that made sense?
A spoof of the bobby soxer craze would be fun - you could have stunts, girls paid to fall for Bracken who genuinely do, irate boyfriends and fathers, publicists in cahoots. But the film ignores these possibilities, forgets the satire focuses on a plot where Lynn sells off excess interest in the contract, thinking Bracken will flop. Even that could have been fun - as The Producers showed - but it doesn't make sense because Bracken's character has talent... and the writers don't do anything much with it except Bracken finding out he hasn't got money and Lynn didn't believe in him.
Veronica Lake is completely wasted. Apparently Paramount were punishing her by casting her second to Diana Lynn... But she could've been used for a good purpose. She's set up as this unscrupulous PR person who hypes Bracken... but then completely disappears from the movie for the middle section. The film is crying out for her character to be used more - for her to be a rival to Lynn, to romance Bracken, to cause trouble... But they don't. There were a few movies around this time where Lake's character should have been bad but wasn't eg Hold That Blonde. I'm assuming this was due to Lake's whingeing - "I don't want to be unsympathetic". But it meant she played these weird half and half roles - people who shouldn't have been bad dramatically but weren't, but weren't that sympathetic either.
As if aware of the script and casting problems, the filmmakers shove in heaps of production numbers - singers, dancers, pianists. There's even a cameo from Bing Crosby's kids. But the movie is crap.
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Movie review - "The Desert Hawk" (1950) **
Jeff Chandler provides some narration for this swashbuckling "Eastern" from Universal and it's the sort of movie which he'd normally star in - maybe he was busy that month. Instead, Universal give the title role to Richard Greene, who plays an Arabian Robin Hood type figure who robs people in the desert.. but it's to fight a tyranical leader etc etc.
The story consists of well established swashbuckling tropes - a beautiful princess (Yvonne de Carlo) who marries the hero without realising, a hero with an alter ego and some wisecracking comic relief friends, duels at the climax, native girls, torture, slave markets.
It took place in a (to me at least) very unspecific time so I couldn't hook into any myth going - although characters are named Aladdin, Sinbad, Scherenadze, etc. It's a romantic, fetishized depiction of Arabic and Islamic culture but is a hell of a lot more positive than anything Hollywood's turned out in the last twenty years or so.
I struggled to get too enthusiastic about the stars. De Carlo is pretty and spirited with a great figure but a little anonymous - I got her mixed up with some of the support girls. Greene was always very much a second tier swashbuckler - he should be good but he lacks the verve of say a Rock Hudson who has a small support role. And as for De Carlo - I would've preferred Maureen O'Hara. The whole movie feels like assembled ingredients rather than a cohesive whole. But it is bright and unpretentious.
The story consists of well established swashbuckling tropes - a beautiful princess (Yvonne de Carlo) who marries the hero without realising, a hero with an alter ego and some wisecracking comic relief friends, duels at the climax, native girls, torture, slave markets.
It took place in a (to me at least) very unspecific time so I couldn't hook into any myth going - although characters are named Aladdin, Sinbad, Scherenadze, etc. It's a romantic, fetishized depiction of Arabic and Islamic culture but is a hell of a lot more positive than anything Hollywood's turned out in the last twenty years or so.
I struggled to get too enthusiastic about the stars. De Carlo is pretty and spirited with a great figure but a little anonymous - I got her mixed up with some of the support girls. Greene was always very much a second tier swashbuckler - he should be good but he lacks the verve of say a Rock Hudson who has a small support role. And as for De Carlo - I would've preferred Maureen O'Hara. The whole movie feels like assembled ingredients rather than a cohesive whole. But it is bright and unpretentious.
Movie review - "Bring on the Girls" (1945) **
You don't get a more sure fire musical concept than a millionaire who wants to pretend to be a normal person - Norman Krasna used it countless times, and this was a remake of a French movie, The Man who Seeks the Truth.
Eddie Bracken isn't terribly believable as a millionaire though you can buy him as someone who is worried people only love him for his money. He enlists in the navy and his family insist he's accompanied by Sonny Tufts.
Tufts' name became a joke in later years but he has an amiable, easy going presence and a surprising amount of talent - he plays a musical instrument, and sings a number on a piano and does a good job - it's not cringe inducing at all.
The problem is with his character. I think the writers made a mistake turning his character so dumb - he thinks that the girl Bracken is wooing is good girl Marjorie Reynolds instead of who is actually is, gold digger Veronica Lake. Then later on he blabs to Bracken's family about what's happened, and then he tries to pinch Lake off Bracken, which isn't very nice.
The movie was Lake's first in a number of months as she got over the death of her child and end of her marriage. After the debacle of The Hour Before Dawn she's been carefully protected - not given too much action, not having to carry a movie, being cast in a role which is the variation of the one she played in I Wanted Wings - to wit, a gold digging night club cigarette girl (though Lake doesn't sing). Her character supposedly ripped off Tufts back in the day and to be honest the film would've been better off had she remained a threat - but then it turns out, gee, she only ripped off Tufts because she thought he was married and wanted to send money back to his kid (the real villain was some band leader we never see).
So the movie lacks a baddie. It also lacks decent conflict. Bracken falls for Lake who knows he is rich all along (why the deception then?) and wants his money. But she's not really bad, she's only bad because she was mistaken by Tufts - something that could be cleared up by a quick chat (as it is they drag it out until the end of the film before she believes it). Why didn't they have Bracken fall in love with a girl who loves him because she is poor and wouldn't like him being rich?
They have Marjorie Reynolds, who is rich but likes to sing, which is kind of interesting, but they barely give her any scenes. You think she's going to romance Tufts but she doesn't; she's not mates with Lake, which would have given the film some emotional pull; she doesn't get many song numbers; she meets Bracken and they fall in love very unconvincingly. You never really see why Reynolds would like Bracken and vice versa other than they're both rich which might be true to real life but isn't dramatically interesting.
The movie also lacks star power. There are four star roles - Bracken, Lake, Tufts and Reynolds - but no one is an A lister. No Bob Hope, or Betty Hutton, or Bing Crosby or Dorothy Lamour. Lake could be fantastic but also wooden and musicals weren't her natural milieu. Bracken needed stronger material. Reynolds simply wasn't a star.
But the real problem here is the script. The plot kicks off with a deception but that's never used because Lake knows Bracken is rich. Reynolds worries about people loving her for her money too but we never see anyone after her. There's no friendship between Bracken and Tufts and Lake and Reynolds. There's no sense of fun. No complications. They throw in another deception with Bracken pretending to be deaf but that isn't followed up either.
There is technicolor and some decent numbers. It's bright and colourful. But the "book" fails and as a result so does the movie.
Eddie Bracken isn't terribly believable as a millionaire though you can buy him as someone who is worried people only love him for his money. He enlists in the navy and his family insist he's accompanied by Sonny Tufts.
Tufts' name became a joke in later years but he has an amiable, easy going presence and a surprising amount of talent - he plays a musical instrument, and sings a number on a piano and does a good job - it's not cringe inducing at all.
The problem is with his character. I think the writers made a mistake turning his character so dumb - he thinks that the girl Bracken is wooing is good girl Marjorie Reynolds instead of who is actually is, gold digger Veronica Lake. Then later on he blabs to Bracken's family about what's happened, and then he tries to pinch Lake off Bracken, which isn't very nice.
The movie was Lake's first in a number of months as she got over the death of her child and end of her marriage. After the debacle of The Hour Before Dawn she's been carefully protected - not given too much action, not having to carry a movie, being cast in a role which is the variation of the one she played in I Wanted Wings - to wit, a gold digging night club cigarette girl (though Lake doesn't sing). Her character supposedly ripped off Tufts back in the day and to be honest the film would've been better off had she remained a threat - but then it turns out, gee, she only ripped off Tufts because she thought he was married and wanted to send money back to his kid (the real villain was some band leader we never see).
So the movie lacks a baddie. It also lacks decent conflict. Bracken falls for Lake who knows he is rich all along (why the deception then?) and wants his money. But she's not really bad, she's only bad because she was mistaken by Tufts - something that could be cleared up by a quick chat (as it is they drag it out until the end of the film before she believes it). Why didn't they have Bracken fall in love with a girl who loves him because she is poor and wouldn't like him being rich?
They have Marjorie Reynolds, who is rich but likes to sing, which is kind of interesting, but they barely give her any scenes. You think she's going to romance Tufts but she doesn't; she's not mates with Lake, which would have given the film some emotional pull; she doesn't get many song numbers; she meets Bracken and they fall in love very unconvincingly. You never really see why Reynolds would like Bracken and vice versa other than they're both rich which might be true to real life but isn't dramatically interesting.
The movie also lacks star power. There are four star roles - Bracken, Lake, Tufts and Reynolds - but no one is an A lister. No Bob Hope, or Betty Hutton, or Bing Crosby or Dorothy Lamour. Lake could be fantastic but also wooden and musicals weren't her natural milieu. Bracken needed stronger material. Reynolds simply wasn't a star.
But the real problem here is the script. The plot kicks off with a deception but that's never used because Lake knows Bracken is rich. Reynolds worries about people loving her for her money too but we never see anyone after her. There's no friendship between Bracken and Tufts and Lake and Reynolds. There's no sense of fun. No complications. They throw in another deception with Bracken pretending to be deaf but that isn't followed up either.
There is technicolor and some decent numbers. It's bright and colourful. But the "book" fails and as a result so does the movie.
Movie review - "Hold That Blonde" (1945) **
Eddie Bracken made a big splash in a few Preston Sturges films but never managed to stabilise his stardom. This was a vehicle for his talents - although it feels like something Bob Hope passed up. He's got a pretty "straight woman" (Veronica Lake), Willie Best in support, George Marshall as director, and a decent concept - a kleptomaniac gets involved with jewel thieves - but it just doesn't work.
I don't know what went wrong. Marshall has some excellent comedies on his resume, Bracken could be fantastic, so could Lake (see Sullivan's Travels and I Married a Witch). But the result is flat and dull. Bracken flails about. Lake is dull and lacking sexiness. Maybe the two of them required really special handling of Preston Sturges or Rene Clair. They're definitely no Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard.
Bracken and Lake have zilch chemistry. You could always see what Hope and Goddard saw in each other - both had so much energy, she was super pert and pretty, he was smart despite his cowardice and looked good compared to the villains and dodgy types in the film, and would stick by Goddard. Lake is pretty but dull; Bracken is an anxious kleptomaniac who is a pain in the backside - they're not good for each other, he has a mental problem that isn't dealt with by the end. Neither have much pep.
Maybe it would have helped if there's been some spooky ghost angle - or something involving spies, where the stakes were bigger (eg national security). Jewel theft feels so light. The script isn't particularly good - it lacks strong gags.
Albert Dekker is an investigating cop; George Zucco appears as a shrink; Frank Fenton is the head baddie. Everyone on this film has a strong resume, but it just doesn't work.
I don't know what went wrong. Marshall has some excellent comedies on his resume, Bracken could be fantastic, so could Lake (see Sullivan's Travels and I Married a Witch). But the result is flat and dull. Bracken flails about. Lake is dull and lacking sexiness. Maybe the two of them required really special handling of Preston Sturges or Rene Clair. They're definitely no Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard.
Bracken and Lake have zilch chemistry. You could always see what Hope and Goddard saw in each other - both had so much energy, she was super pert and pretty, he was smart despite his cowardice and looked good compared to the villains and dodgy types in the film, and would stick by Goddard. Lake is pretty but dull; Bracken is an anxious kleptomaniac who is a pain in the backside - they're not good for each other, he has a mental problem that isn't dealt with by the end. Neither have much pep.
Maybe it would have helped if there's been some spooky ghost angle - or something involving spies, where the stakes were bigger (eg national security). Jewel theft feels so light. The script isn't particularly good - it lacks strong gags.
Albert Dekker is an investigating cop; George Zucco appears as a shrink; Frank Fenton is the head baddie. Everyone on this film has a strong resume, but it just doesn't work.
Movie review - "New Wave" (1990) aka "Nouvelle Vague" *1/2
I'm not as across my Jean Luc Godard as a supposed film buff should be. This is from his later period - really, everything after 1969 counts as a "later period". It unites him with another 60s icon, Alain Delon.
For a while I went with this - the interesting use of sound, with overlapping dialogue, music, ambient sounds, etc and it's long tracking shots, eerie mood. The dialogue consists of quotations, often from other movies; names of characters and places are based on films, novels - eg To Have and Have Not, Perry Mason, Joseph Mankiewicz, Leave Her to Heaven, The Barefoot Contessa, The Long Goodbye, Dorothy Parker.
But there's no real story and after 15 minutes or so I started getting bored then I started struggling to stay awake. I say there's no real story but actually the germ of something interesting is in there - rich Domiziana Giordano picking up Alain Delon, then killing him, then Delon's doppleganger turning up... that makes this sound more interesting than it is.Hard core Godard fans should get something out of it.
For a while I went with this - the interesting use of sound, with overlapping dialogue, music, ambient sounds, etc and it's long tracking shots, eerie mood. The dialogue consists of quotations, often from other movies; names of characters and places are based on films, novels - eg To Have and Have Not, Perry Mason, Joseph Mankiewicz, Leave Her to Heaven, The Barefoot Contessa, The Long Goodbye, Dorothy Parker.
But there's no real story and after 15 minutes or so I started getting bored then I started struggling to stay awake. I say there's no real story but actually the germ of something interesting is in there - rich Domiziana Giordano picking up Alain Delon, then killing him, then Delon's doppleganger turning up... that makes this sound more interesting than it is.Hard core Godard fans should get something out of it.
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Movie review - "The Widow Cordeuc" (1971) ***
The French knew how to construct their star vehicles - here is a movie for Alain Delon and Simone Signoret, playing parts that perfectly suit their persona: Delon is a drifter out of prison who goes to work for an older widow, Signoret. He starts banging her - but then also gets into the teenage mum (Ottavia Piccolo) who lives next door, whose nasty parents want Signoret's land.
The relationship between Signoret and Delon is quite touching - she's older, earth, Signoret-y - he's been around the block and knows the score, but develops a soft spot for Delon. Delon is an aging flash harry, a man with a mysterious past and not much future.
It's set in 1934 - there's probably a lot of social context I'm unaware of, though I did pick up on the anti-Semitic, anti communist hysteria of the time. The last act, where the police surround the farm and try to capture Delon, and he tries to escape but goes back to Signoret, is very effective. Nicely shot with impressive locations. I dont know much about director Pierre Granier Deferre but felt he did a good job
The relationship between Signoret and Delon is quite touching - she's older, earth, Signoret-y - he's been around the block and knows the score, but develops a soft spot for Delon. Delon is an aging flash harry, a man with a mysterious past and not much future.
It's set in 1934 - there's probably a lot of social context I'm unaware of, though I did pick up on the anti-Semitic, anti communist hysteria of the time. The last act, where the police surround the farm and try to capture Delon, and he tries to escape but goes back to Signoret, is very effective. Nicely shot with impressive locations. I dont know much about director Pierre Granier Deferre but felt he did a good job
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