Movie review - "An American Romance" (1944) ** (re-watching)

 King Vidor must have had a lot of prestige to get this through MGM - it cost millions. I'm sure he pitched it well "it's about industry! Immigrants! America!" It's so dull.

Metro stumped up for colour - pointless, it may as well have been black and white. What's the story... immigrant arrives. Works in mine. Works in steel. Builds cars. Along way marries nice woman. Has children. Becomes rich car manufacturer. One son dies in World War One. Another gets married. Another works for his dad, becomes involved in the union.

The union conflict at the end is the most interesting thing about the film because this was made by MGM but Vidor was a little more progressive and it's wartime. Also the son gets involved in the union so there's drama.

There's no drama in the marriage - no conflict. Or with the immigrant's best friend. Why not a love triangle? Why not have the guy driven? Why not have some drama, King? Because the way was on.

Vidor blamed the leads - and it's true that if his original choices, Spencer Tracy, Joseph Cotten and Ingrid Bergman had been in it, it would at least have had some star power. But instead he's got - how's this for B list - Brian Donlevy, Ann Richards and Walter Abel. Richards was really pretty but is devoid of sex or spark here she's just nice. It's not very good work. Abel is fine, just lacking charisma - why not cast some young spunk? Donlevy's performance is dreadul with his immigrant accent and dumb acting. He was a second lead, not a lead. It's painful to watch.

The film needed a big injection of soap. Richards was with his best friend who died of an accident. He raised other people's kids. He has daughters who root around.

This is like a Dore Schary movie made by MGM before Schary went to MGM.

Vidor whinged about the half hour taken out of it. He's lucky it wasn't more. But the cuts don't really help, just shorten it. It was two and a half hours and they made it two!

Movie review - "The Crowd" (1928) ****

Highly praised in its day, this remains a powerful affecting movie. It's slice of life stuff, the story of a young man trying to make it in the big city. Dad died when he was 12, he's a bit of a dreamer, works hard enough but is easily distracted (eg persuaded to go on a date instead of studying), he falls in love quickly, gets married, doesn't rise particularly rapidly, has two kids with his wife, his wife's family don't really like him, he wins $500 in a competition but then sees his son run over in front of his eyes, he loses the plot, and marriage is hard.

There are indelible visual images: the teaming office ants, the swarms of people, the packed offices and hospitals, the location shooting of the man on the bus. Plenty of warmth though: the man checking out the girl's legs on said bus, the couple nervously preparing for their first night together after they get married, the broken down apartment they live in with the door being unable to shut, the irritating brothers in law.

The most powerful moment is the death of the kid - for me, this raises the film to masterpiece level. There's also strong sentiment such as the man going to kill himself, and being saved by his surviving kid's cheeriness. As a young dad, these are incredibly moving. There is extra resonance in the fact that star James Murray became an alcoholic who died on the skids in real life.

Movie review - "An American Romance" (1944) **

Such was King Vidor's prestige in 1944 that MGM let him spend $3 million on this dull epic without insisting on stars or conflict on the plot. I know he wanted Spencer Tracy but surely there was someone more interesting on the payroll rather than Brian Donlevy - who is not only dull but embarrassing at times as the migrant who moves to America and rises up the industrial ladder. His rise is very slow at first - he's dim, becomes obsessed with steel - and also lacking much interest. He romances a teacher (Ann Richards - formerly Shirley Ann Richards, Aussie actor), they fall in love pretty quick and although he's obsessed with work and they lose a son to the inevitable war, their marriage is pretty good. Then when he's middle aged he becomes rich making cars.

You wait for something to happen - infidelity, Donlevy to go drunk on power, his son to go off the rails, a daughter turning into a slut, divorce... something. But it doesn't. There's an exciting scene where Donlevy nearly falls in some malten liquid and some conflict in the last half hour when his son tries to unionise the workers (they are very polite about it but it's still striking to see some vague pro-union propaganda in an MGM film) but that's about it. Donlevy retires, gets bored, but luckily Pearl Harbour comes along and he has to go back to work... is that supposed to be interesting? Did MGM really think Joe Public would be so patriotic they'd want to see this?

The Power and the Glory covered similar territory but a lot more things happened - marriages busted off, Spencer Tracy went crazy, there was a suicide. None of that here. All we get is some indifferent acting, bad European accents, a flat cast (hardly anyone is in familiar in this - the guys who plays the sons are all dull ditto Donley's daughter), and lots and lots of shots of industrial production. Richards, so engaging and spritely in her Australian films, isn't very good here - but then she doesn't have a character to play. (Why does she like Donlevy? Doesn't she have an opinion about anything?)

This was apparently cut down greatly by the studio - half an hour lopped off. I shudder to think of the long version.

Movie review – “The Big Parade” (1925) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

At one stage this was one of the most popular films of all time. It holds up reasonably well, especially compared to other silent films of the period. John Gilbert is the star; he is best remembered for his swashbuckling, great lover roles, of which to be honest this is a variation – he is a rich man’s son who joins the army at the prompting of his bloodthirsty fiancee and father, and winds up romancing a French girl and becoming a hero. He also loses his leg – a great shock and the best bit of the film. I enjoyed Gilbert’s performance, even if occasionally he can’t help wailing at the sky and there’s a scene where he goes a bit melodramatic and over the top.

The structure is interesting – the first half is mostly gentle romance and service comedy, before he goes off to war (a great sequence, with memorable shots of an endless truck convoy), then winds up in the trenches.