Movie review - "Absolute Beginners" (1986) *** (re-watching)

 A mess. So much good stuff. So much bad stuff. Patsy Kensit is fine. Gorgeous, full of energy. Eddie O'Connell sinks the film. He's a rebel but also sells out. Not good looking. Can't sing, dance or act. This, in Britain in the 80s, with film stars falling from every tree. The movie stuffs the love story.

Needed to simplify - not that they're going out but that he adores her from afar, has a crush, she has to do what she does for money, she realises he's the perfect guy etc.

So much good stuff, though, like I say. The title track, Bowie's dance number, the tracking shot, the riot, the colours, Ray Davies' Frank Tashlin/Jerry Lewis style number. Temple was allowed to spend too much money.

The film needed a male lead who could act or at least have presence and to be made for a quarter of the price.

Movie review - "The First Time" (1952) ***

 Frank Tashlin's directorial debut (as a feature) is a comedy about new parents Barbara Hale and Robert Cummings. Its a series of small vignettes - waiting for the baby to come, she gives her will in case something goes wrong during the birth (not unreasonable at the time), scenes of grandmas and mid wives ripping babies out of mum's hands, struggle to get sleep, worries about finances which prompts Cummings to take a job he doesn't like.

Tashlin's vision arrived pretty formed. There's lots of his touches, like jokes about sex (Cummings collects a hooker/floozy thinking she's a baby sitter), animation references (the family watch a cartoon).

I feel a third main character would have helped more - there's a nanny but even she's a little thinly drawn.

Still this is charming and sweet.

Movie review - "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" (1957) **** (warning: spoilers)

 I wonder why Jayne Mansfield never worked with Frank Tashlin again after their first two films? She totally suited his world with her cartoony appearance and delivery. She's awkward in films like Wayward Bus and Kiss Them For Me but perfect here. I guess he went on to work for Jerry Lewis - but wouldn't Mansfield have worked in Lewis land? Marilyn Maxwell's part in Rock a Bye Baby feels very Mansfield as does Marie Windor's in The Geisha Boy.

This is fun. Apparently it's very different from the stage play which was gutsy but the story isn't super original - it's a fake fiancee story, with movie star Mansfield faking a romance with ad man Tony Randall to make her ex, Micky Hargitay, jealous.

Randall is an ideal lead - handsome enough but still dweeby. There's fun satire of TV, Madison Avenue, movie stars. I got some random jokes eg Mansfield starring in a Brothers Karamazov style piece (Marilyn Monroe had announced she wanted to be in this).  Betsy Drake offers nice support, as does Joan Blondell but the film is stolen by Groucho Marx's cameo at the end.

Movie review - "Monsieur Beaucaire" (1946) ***1/2

 Fun Bob Hope movie - I enjoy seeing him in period pictures. This one is set in the court of Louis XV where he's a barber. Duke Patric Knowles, a dashing man/great fighter, etc, is sent to marry the daughter of the king of Spain... Hope gets confused for him causing comic antics and life and death struggles against baddies.

The film involves two people who I also like: director George Marshall (a new favourite) and female lead Joan Caulfield (always bright and chipper, a sort of back up Paulette Goddard). Knowles is dull and irritating - he was lucky to still get second leads in studio pictures by this stage. Sorry if any family members of his come across this. I don't mean to be cruel. I wish Knowles had turned out to be a villain.

It's in black and white but the period settings still impress.

Movie review - "The Girl Can't Help It" (1956) ***

 A film beloved by boomers because it introduced rock music in big wide screen colourful numbers - serious artists too.

I think this was meant to be based on Do Re Mi a novel by Garson Kanin. Fox bought the novel in 1955 and announced the film would star Tom Ewell and Sheree North who had been in The Lieutenant Wore Skirts. Nunnally Johnson was supposed to direct. Then North dropped out. Jayne Mansfield stepped in off the back of her stage success.

How much was this Do Re Mi? Because there was a Phil Silvers stage musical based on that later.

Anyway it is bright and colourful. Great music. Edmund O'Brien is fun as the gangster turned singer. I could take or leave Tom Ewell, then at his brief stardom peak. Jayne Mansfield is very sweet.

Movie review - "Delightfully Dangerous" (1945) *1/2

Jane Powell was under contract to MGM but they weren't sure what to do with her - or rather didn't have anything going for her - so, not unwisely, loaned her out to other studios to learn her trade. Specifically United Artists who were not known for their musicals - musicals worked best when done at studios because you could draw on a whole apparatus rather than ad hoc world of independent production.

This was Powell's second film. She's the best thing about it, sweet and likeable. I wasn't wild about her singing but I don't like that type of singing - she's got a good voice.

But the film isn't good. I saw a murky print but it feels slack and uninvolving, despite being directed by Arthur Lubin. The story has a bright idea - a young woman (Powell) is unaware her beloved elder sister is a burlesque dancer. That's not bad. Frank Tashlin is credited for the story - you can imagine him doing something about burlesque dancers.

But the film shies away from it. They don't do anything with the burlesque factor - I mean you want to see the seedy dives, and gangsters and wise cracking other dancers. I wonder if all this went out when they decided to make it a vehicle for Powell.  Constance Moore is dull as the sister; Ralph Bellamy is super dull as the Broadway producer. It feels like it was rewritten into pointlessness.

The music numbers aren't put over with much pizzazz. It's in black and white. There's a weird sub-plot about updating Strauss. This film is a mess.

Movie review - "Bachelor Flat" (1962) **

Underwhelming comedy which made me consistently wonder "what is the point of this?" "Why are we watching this?" Terry Thomas is a professor at a Los Angeles college - there's some funny early stuff with some of his female students being obsessed with him, which made me laugh. But then the plot kicks in and doesn't have much to do with it - he's engaged to Celeste Holm and Holm's daughter Tuesday Weld turns up and Thomas has a lecherous neighbour Richard Beymer.

Terry Thomas runs around in his boxer shorts a lot while drunk. There's a comic dog (who is funny), a dinosaur bone, women throwing themselves at Terry Thomas. It's all so contrived - there's really no good reason why Holm didn't tell Thomas about Weld, or why she pretends to be a delinquent, or why Thomas tries to hide her. It's sloppily plotted and the jokes and charm aren't enough to compensate.

There's a lot of Richard Beymer, the bucktoothed heartthrob of the early 60s. He's fine, not terrible - but he's not as good as, say, Jim Hutton. It's a good role for Weld who does fine - playing a person who acts all sorts of roles which is interesting. Terry Thomas plays it in cartoon style - which is fine, I guess, but I didn't care what happened to him. The one moment I cared for the characters was a scene between Beymer and Weld on the beach, this was sweet.

It's frantic and occasionally pervy, like a lot of Tashlin directed films (lots of shots of female legs, a scene with a girl lying on a wobble board and her boobs move). It's full of Tashlin touches like bright colour and movement and jokes about Jayne Mansfield. It's just not very funny.

I liked the views of Malibu. And there's a good support performance from Francesca Bellini, who I wasn't familiar with, who plays a girlfriend of Beymer. Actually the acting in this is fine - the cast all commit - it's the dodgy script.

Movie review - "Absolute Beginners" (1986) ***

My memories of this film are strong and remain so. It was a big deal in the pages of Smash Hits though its cinema release was short. Patsy Kensit was an It Girl of the time - and she's gorgeous here, totally suits the part. Her acting wasn't much chop - she had a very high pitched voice - but it doesn't matter since she's the object of desire.

More troublesome is the casting of Eddie O'Connell - a bloke who can't sing, dance or act and isn't even that good looking. I guess he's got an everyman quality... and I did hope that he and Kensit would get back together. Still, this must have annoyed every leading man in Britain when this was made.

There's fantastic stuff - the title track by David Bowie, the black and white photos of the opening credits creating a sense of time past, a colourful support cast including Bowie, Ray Davies, Steven Berkoff and Mandy Rhys Davies, consistently interesting visuals, a long opening tracking shot, a visually stunning race riot at the end.

Interesting music, lots of colours. It doesn't always work, the gags aren't terribly funny and it's not that emotionally involving (the dilemma is about "selling out" and the villains are property developers). But it's stimulating.

I should say though that I think it was madness Goldcrest sunk so much money into it. I mean the book was known but not that known. Could not this have been done cheaper? You didn't need that big house set a la The Ladies Man. You could have done a lot of it less expensively, surely?

Dorothy Malone RIP - And a Top Ten

1) The Big Sleep (1946) - Malone is only in this for two scenes but does them with Humphrey Bogart and is sensational (aspiring actresses could do worse than to study these scenes of how to make a big impact in a short space of time).

2)The Fast and the Furious (1955) - not the Vin Diesel classic but a 1955 car chase flick which was the first feature Roger Corman ever produced - Malone is v likekable (Malone also appeared in Corman's directorial debut, Five Guns West).

3) Battle Cry (1955) - a melodrama about WW2 based on a best seller which New Zealand audiences will especially find interesting (part of the film is set there) - Malone has a surprisingly sexually frank fling with a young soldier played by Tab Hunter.

4) Sincerely Yours (1955) - Liberace's attempt at big screen stardom with Malone as his love interest (in the space of three years Malone steamed up the screen opposite Liberace, Tab Hunter and Rock Hudson...) - a fairly terrible movie but fascinating to see Liberace act in a melodrama (he took the blame for this film's failure but the script was as much at fault).

5) Artists and Models (1955) - for me the best Martin and Lewis film a really terrific fun comedy with Malone well matched with Martin and Shirley MacLaine perfect for Lewis.

6) Written on the Wind (1956) - Malone won the Oscar for this but I rewatched it recently and felt her performance did not hold up that well - check out her stroking the oil rig at the end (the same team then made The Tarnished Angels)

7) Too Much Too Soon (1958) - Malone mostly played "the girl" in films but her Oscar saw her get a real chance here, as Diana Barrymore, in what I feel is a pretty decent film - stolen by Errol Flynn as John Barrymore.

8) The Last Voyage (1960) - Malone's role isn't much (something you could say about a lot of her career) but they actually sunk a real ship for this film which is cool.

9) Fate is the Hunter (1964) - a Rod Taylor film where Malone has a one scene unbilled cameo - for years I thought it was a mirage but then later on confirmed it that yes it was her - this is a pretty good movie.

10) Beach Party (1963) - most film fans remember Frankie and Annette and forget or don't realise Robert Cummings and Dorothy Malone had quite big parts in this film, the first in the series.
Oh and she's in Basic Instinct (1992) too

Book review - "The Tragic Secret Life of Jayne Mansfield" by Raymond Strait (1976)

Mansfield was only ever really in two films of note but has managed to carve out her own niche in Hollywood - due to a combination of things: those two films were for auterist darling Frank Tashlin, her big boobs, her massive IQ, her famous daughter, her interesting death.

Strait did press for Mansfield for a number of years so had inside knowledge. I had this image of her as a super smart girl who could play the fiddle and was better than what Hollywood had to offer. This confirms that but also shows her to be a bit of, well, fool - she was hooked on booze, and sex, and men, and fame, and constantly made bad decisions. Her ambition and work ethic got her to a decent position in Hollywood but she blew it with bad choices, particularly with management, projects and men.

She loved boozing, and sex, and being famous. She wasn't a particularly good mother, or actor. She worked hard enough to keep her profile going - when the film roles dried up (relatively quickly) she kept things going with live appearances.

If you're interested in Mansfield's private life this really is a warts and all - there are a lot of warts. Mansfield doesn't come across as a terribly likeable person. There are some interesting bits, like the fact she shaved her pubic hair (it's that much of an inside job!) but mostly it's harrowing, with a lot of squabbling and failure. Her death almost comes as a relief.

I would have liked to have read more about the films but that wasn't the focus of the book. (There is a lot on Promises, Promises and Single Room Unfurnished.) It wasn't a fun read.

Movie review - "Caprice" (1967) **

Silly, over the top Bond spoof with Doris Day not entirely well cast in the lead - ditto Richard Harris as her love interest. I enjoy both actors and Frank Tashlin if in the mood - I'm not sure all three work together.

But it has the charm of a period piece. It's very groovy, with skirts and boots and spies trying to kill each other while skiing, and script has plenty of twists and turns with characters being one thing and then another - it's a lot like Charade. There's Edward Mulhaire and Jack Kruschen as tycoons, Ray Walston as a mad scientist, lots of bright colours and heavy handed satire of the fashion industry. It is fun to see Day in something so different.

The movie was clearly an influence on Duplicity, with its two stars constantly turning on each other, working for two tycoons and industrial espionage background - indeed, at times I began to wonder if the latter film was a remake.

Movie review – “Disorderly Orderly” (1964) **1/2

The last Jerry Lewis film directed by Frank Tashlin, the end of what had been a highly profitable association for both men. It’s bright, colourful and satirical as you would expect; the hospital setting allows scope for Tashlin to poke fun at doctors, nurses, patients, administrators… as well as engage in plenty of slapstick involving plaster casts, bandages and the like.

 

The problem is there are two films here. One is a completely bizarre comedy which consistently breaks the fourth wall and is extremely cartoon like – Jerry clicks his fingers and a flame lights up; TV snow turns into real snow; patients dressed up like a mummy unravel going down a hill, etc. The second one is more serious – Jerry falls for a patient, an old flame of his from school who has tried to kill herself and is going to be kicked out of the hospital because she can’t pay her bills. Those are serious issues (even if they’re not particularly well done – that long monologue from the suicide girl to a shrink is painfully OTT) and don’t quite mesh with the other stuff. And besides, Jerry running riot in a hospital isn’t that funny – it’s not like a department store or navy, he’s hurting patients who are sick and trying to get better.

 

Tashlin repeats himself from Rock a Bye Baby by having Lewis be masochistically in love with a girl who doesn’t deserve him, even offering to work additional shifts to pay her bills – ignoring the hot girl (a nurse) who loves him for himself. Chaplin’s disease had hit him well and truly by this time. Some of it is hilarious, though, such as the patient who can’t resist talking in excruciating detail about her ailments. And the slapstick chase at the end is well done.

Movie review – “Who’s Minding the Store?” (1963) ***

A Jerry Lewis “institution comedy” in the vein of The Bellboy, Disorderly Orderly and The Errand Boy – to wit, Jerry is placed in an institution and allowed to run riot. The set up is decent enough – he’s given various horrible jobs in a department store by owner Agnes Moorehead, who is keen to embarrass him in the eyes of his girlfriend (and Moorehead’s daughter) Jill St John. Jerry keeps plugging away, destroying everything about him but not giving up on his soul. Or something.

 

The structure is repetitive – it’s a series of set pieces really – but it’s very colourful and there’s some classic moments: Jerry “polishing the top of the nob” of the flag pole (and someone actually comments on him polishing a nob) Jerry taking on the onslaught of female shoppers during the sales (a classic set piece, one of his all time greats), Jerry battling a vacuum cleaner, Jerry being shown around the office by Moorehead’s husband (John McGiver) who explains the department store has always been run by women who are married to powerless men.

 

The support cast is excellent, including Moorehead, McGiver, Ray Walston and Jill St John, who is totally hot for Jerry, constantly pashing him and holding his hand. In the absence of Dean Martin he was really keen to step up to the plate when it came to romance scenes. 

 

There is a slightly off scene where McGiver and Jerry are in a lift with St John and both try to hold her hand – I get the gag (St John trying to keep the two apart and both trying to be affectionate with her), but daddy is a bit old to hold his daughter’s hand. One of Jerry's best solo films.

Movie review – “Visit to a Small Planet” (1960) **1/2

Gore Vidal’s TV (and later Broadway) play was more suited to the talents of Jerry Lewis than you might originally think, just based on the names “Gore Vidal” and “Jerry Lewis” – it was irreverent, fun and full of satire. But instead of Frank Tashlin directing it, who would have been perfect, they gave the job to Norman Taurog – and had it shot in black and white. 

 

Opportunities are thrown away wholesale and what could have been one of Lewis’ best movies has the aura of unfulfilled potential. It hurts in particular that Lewis isn’t allowed to have a happy ending with the girl.

 

The support cast includes Gale Gordon and Fred Clark (who were normally interchangeable as authority figures but here they’re in the same movie!). There’s a talking dog (well, a dog Lewis can talk to via ESP), a comic setpiece where Jerry visits a beatnik café and wows the locals.

Movie review – “Rock-a-Bye-Baby” (1958) ***1/2

Jerry Lewis’ first two films after the split with Dean Martin were obviously originally written to be performed by a duo – The Delicate Delinquent and The Sad Sack – but this one is feels geared for a solo actor. As ever, they’ve played it safe, remaking The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (not that Sturges worked on the film). Marilyn Maxwell, who often co-starred with Abbott and Costello on radio, is the lead – a film star who is worshipped by childhood friend Jerry Lewis to such a degree it’s pathetic more than touching. She gets pregnant (apparently she married the guy the night he knocked her up then he died – yeah right) and asks Jerry to raise the kids.

 

Typical of Tashlin, there’s lots of satire on Hollywood (beauty contests, jokes about screenwriters who don’t read the original book, a spoof of Easterns – ‘the White Virgin of the Nile’ which stars Maxwell), plenty of good looking girls, and sexy talk (eg Lewis and Connie Stevens realising they can have sex at the end and gleefully running off to do it) . Some very funny gags such as Jerry pretending to be various TV programs through a set, and him feeding all the babies with a rubber glove that has very long fingers; he also does a wonderful rock n roll number, doing dance moves to spoof Elvis – and he’s terrific.

 

Lewis personally selected Connie Stevens to play Maxwell’s younger sister who is in love with him – she’s terrific, pretty and crazy enough to make you believe she’d go for him; Lewis rarely had a better female co-star (she’s up there with Shirley MacLaine in Artists and Models and Stella Stevens in The Nutty Professor). Maxwell is only so-so – she’s too old and not a believable star. I wish Jayne Mansfield played this.

Movie review – “Hollywood or Bust” (1956) ***

This is unavoidably in hindsight, but I felt the tension from Dean Martin towards Jerry Lewis in this one a lot. It’s mostly because of the characters they play – they’re not friends, rather he’s a gambler who is forced to drive cross country with Jerry to Hollywood (years before Due Date). Martin’s character isn’t very nice – there’s a really uncomfortable scene where he forces himself upon the female lead (Pat Crowley, who later falls for him - but still it's not too fun to watch). Jerry is in great form, far better than Dean, whether doing a tribute to movie goers of the world, or fighting a bull or panting over Anita Ekberg. Anita Ekberg plays herself – she was very famous at that stage, despite actually not having starred in a hit film.

 

This was directed by Frank Tashlin, which means there’s a lot more sexual innuendo (plenty of legs from girls, talk of underwear) and satire (gags about Gregory Peck, Burt Lancaster, Vista Vision, the censor… even one bit when Martin and Lewis drive through Las Vegas and see a sign advertising Martin and Lewis.) There’s a great dane dog who goes along with them on the ride and almost steals the picture plus several musical numbers.

Book review – “Pieces of My Heart” by Robert Wagner

It is fitting that Robert Wagner’s memoirs came out around the same time as Roger Moore’s because they are two actors with a lot in common: smooth types who are greatly liked and respected within the industry, don’t enjoy reputation as great actors, thrived under contract for studios, had active love lives, had a career which went into several phases, enjoyed great success on the small screen, turned producer and thrived. Wagner never had a role in his career like James Bond or Simon Templar (although he could have played either role; indeed he says Broccoli approached him about Bond in the immediate post-Lazenby years but he begged off), but he was a bigger star than Moore in the 50s. The two men were friends – both close to David Niven.

This is even better than Moore’s book, not as funny but far better written (Scott Eyman co-wrote). I was familiar with a fair bit of Wagner’s life from an excellent unpretentious paperback bio Natalie and Rj but this adds a lot.

Wagner was born into a wealthy family who lived in Bel Air – his father was mates with Bill Wellman and he used to caddy for Clark Gable. Although Dad wanted RJ (as he is best known) to go into the family business, he wanted to act. Wagner wasn’t blessed with great natural talent but he was very good looking and Fox put him under contract as a sort of back up to Tyrone Power (like Jeffrey Hunter). Like David Niven, he had a great knack for being likeable and getting people to take him under their wing; he worked hard and was very keen and pro-active – he wasn’t his father’s son for nothing – and started to get little roles. A small scene as a soldier in With a Song in My Heart saw him become a bobby sox idol, up there with Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter and Rory Calhoun. Like many of them, his agent was Henry Wilson.

Wagner never reached the heights of Curtis or Hudson but he did reasonably well for himself. Fox gave him plenty of chances, and he definitely reached the second tier of stardom, playing juvenile leads to older stars in films like Broken Lance. But he never broke through to the top, even when given a chance. For instance Prince Valiant did well but Wagner had a tremendously silly haircut which made him something of a joke for a while; ditto Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, which became a hit off the back of CinemaScope but in which Wagner wore a golliwog wig; or in The Mountain in which he was absurdly cast as Spencer Tracy’s brother. 

Marriage to Natalie Wood gave him a few more years near the top, but when the tide ran out it ran out fast. It wasn’t entirely his fault – Hollywood was changing and Wagner was too associated with old school Hollywood. This turned to his advantage, however, when he became a television star. There were two semi hits, then a big one with Hart to Hart. His remarriage to Wood was one of Hollywood’s greatest love stories; her death from drowning one of its greatest tragedies.

I always figured Wagner was a ladies’ man, but also thought that he was the kind who wouldn’t kiss and tell. Well, I was wrong: we hear about flings with Joan Crawford (they went for a swim – she came out naked and dived into the pool which is kind of hot; apparently she was a domineering and yielding lover), Yvonne de Carlo, Anita Ekberg, Elizabeth Taylor (which surprised me), Joan Collins, chaste dating with Debbie Reynolds, plus a four year relationship with Barbara Stanwyck (a fire cracker in the sack apparently). He knocked back Bella Darvi and Noel Coward (he seems to have had many gay friends throughout his life – but then Natalie Wood was a big time fag hag star).

Wagner is one of those stars who seem to get along with everyone – he was particularly close to David Niven and Spencer Tracy; he even hit it off with Peter Sellers. Errol Flynn gave him a lift when he was a hitchhiker, which is nice of Errol; he later tells about walking in on Errol’s dressing room during the filming of Too Much Too Soon to find the swashbuckler getting a blow job from a blonde – Beverly Aadland?

Wagner was going to make a film with Flynn, Clifton Webb and Joan Collins in the late 50s for Fox called Lord Vanity (off the back of Flynn’s success for Fox in The Sun Also Rises) but Flynn died before it could get going. He was also going to make an interesting-sounded project with Dick Powell, Solo, about a jazz musician with a score by Andre Previn that was unfortunately watered down then cancelled; he turned down the second male lead in Flaming Star for fear it would hurt his career – I think that was a mistake; admittedly the film wouldn’t have done anything for his career, but it was a decent role and is one of Elvis Presley’s best films. He says Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was “dangled in front of him” for a bit – he would have been fine if not magical; he would have been very good as the husband in Rosemary’s Baby which he was apparently all set to do but he couldn’t get released from It Takes a Thief.

Wagner did clash with some people – Frank Tashlin, Maximillian Schell, Lesley Anne Downe, Stanley Donen… actually come to think of it that's a lot (I didn't know Charlie Brackett was gay.) Wagner also gets a bit grumpy at times about things – law suits, the population explosion in LA – and while he tells a good anecdote, he’s maybe a bit too worshipful of older Hollywood stars (maybe because they were his elders rather than his contemporaries eg Spencer Tracey, Fred Astaire, Bette Davis – I mean, what’s there is enjoyable anecdotes but the characters never feel as fleshed out as say in David Niven’s memoirs; it feels as though Wagner is overly deferential). Still a highly enjoyable book; at times very moving, and full of sensible advice for actors, both in terms of craft and career.

Movie review – Marx #13 - “Love Happy” (1949) **

Originally devised as a vehicle for Harpo Marx, which then had the other brothers shoved in. Chico at least gets to play some parts with his brother, but Groucho’s scenes operate as a sort of framing device: narration, opening the film, etc – indicating a troubled production. He’s not in the film very long, but he’s the best thing about it. For one thing Groucho seemed to age better than the others – a dirty young man simply became a dirty old man. (The others were still funny even when older, just less funny, whereas Groucho wasn’t, if that makes sense). Also Groucho gets the best scene – leering as a young Marilyn Monroe. You couldn’t say from seeing this that she was going to be one of the all time great stars, she walks self-consciously, but she looks a million bucks. Illona Massey is fun too as the villainess.

Most of the action centers around Harpo. A film centered around the old manic Harpo might have worked. But the later, cute Harpo doesn’t. Actually, just thinking about it, that’s not fair – maybe it could have worked, if done with the right touch. But this vehicle – which involves Harpo helping out a struggling theatre show, and getting involved with gangsters and stolen diamonds - is bland. Harpo is in love for the first time in this movie, with Vera Ellen… who of course loves someone else. Chaplin’s disease strikes again! At least there’s no orphans.

The theatre plot isn’t particularly engaging, either; I did like Vera Ellen, who is pretty and an excellent dancer, but they have this bland ballet dancer romantic lead for her (he can really dance, don’t get me wrong, but his character is a bit of a nong). Is this why the plot disappears in the last half hour? A film really only for completists of the Marx Bros, Marilyn Monroe, or Frank Tashlin (who worked on the script).

Movie review - "The Glass Bottom Boat" (1966) ***

A cheerful comedy where scientist Rod Taylor literally fishes Doris Day out of the water - they banter for a bit and fall in love, but things are complicated when Rod (who works for a government organisation) thinks that Doris is a spy. Frank Tashlin directs energetically, sending up the spy genre still had freshness in 1966, and every actor on the film gets into the spirit. Rod Taylor and Doris Day work well together - she's quite sexy here, wearing a mata hari outfit, and there's even a scene where she flat out tries to seduce Rod (he thinks she's a spy by then so doesn't go through with it but she's up for it, not question).

The title song is catchy, and there are some excellent performances from the support cast, including a young Dom de Luise. Amazingly, it would be the last time Rod made an out-and-out comedy for almost twenty years – a ridiculous waste considering the skill he had for the genre.

Movie review - "Susan Slept Here" (1954) *1/2

One of the last films from RKO and one of the last with Dick Powell as an actor and it's of such a quality as to make you not feel too sad about either. There is some colourful Frank Tashlin direction with many of his trademarks beloved by auteurists (satire, dream sequences, cartoony moments), and the initial idea isn't bad but it soon gets yucky and tiresome.

Powell is a comedy screenwriter looking for inspiration on a juvenile delinquent picture so the cops drop off a JD (played by perhaps the most inappropriate actor in Hollywood for the part, Debbie Reynolds)- he winds up marrying her to avoid gaol and they eventually fall in love.

There are some unpleasant supporting characters, both Powell assistants - an alcoholic old maid (alcoholism... ha ha ha ha) and a camp assistant reminiscent of David Wayne in Adam's Rib who is supposed to be straight. Are we meant to be happy that Powell and Reynolds wind up together? It's all a bit too Woody Allen and Soon Yi.

Anne Francis, as Powell's girlfriend, is criminally under-used, Powell looks tired, Reynolds is professional and chirpy but miscast. There are some funny gags about Hollywood.