Movie review - "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (1941) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 MGM slums it with some horror, though it gives Spencer Tracy the chance to do his stuff and its set in their backlot Britain which it loved. Two macho types were behind it - John Lee Mahin and Victor Fleming.

This film is mostly for fans of the stars (and director) and the story... and also students of acting. It's interesting how Tracy challenges the role. Underplays as Jekyll. Kind of as Hyde but he still has silly make up on which is disconcerting. I didn't think it worked.

Great intensity in the scenes where Hyde torments Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner.  Like they are full on sadistic scenes I think Fleming got off on them. Also both actresses are clearly into Tracy as Jekyll - again Fleming seems into this. Bergman and Turner both look stunning. Bergman really gets into flirting with good Tracy and being scared of bad Tracy, it's a very good performance. Turner is also strong.

Beautifully shot. Ian Hunter is the dull guy who is there to shoot Jekyll dead.  Donald Crisp and C Aubrey Smith are stock British types.

Quite confronting. Bergman is raped and then strangled. Turne is attacked. (Though doesn't die.)

The film didn't quite work for me but it is interesting.

Movie review - "Judgement at Nuremberg" (1961) ***

 Stanley Kramer cops it from hipster critics and maybe he did believe his own publicity too much for a time, but his movies stood for decent liberal values and were important. Maybe concentration camp victims are low hanging fruit but who else was tackling this head on in Hollywood?

This one focuses on a fascinating aspect of the trials - not straight up evil Nazi commandants, but the judges who enforced the rules at the time. Among those on trial are Burt Lancaster as a German. Lancaster gives his role dignity though his make up does seem a little odd.

Presiding over it is Spencer Tracy as a super judge. Actually he's well cast - who does craggy intensity better. I didn't know William Shatner was in this, as Tracy's aide.

Montgomery Clift is electric in his one scene as a German laborer who has been sterilised. Clift's nerves, intensity and crazy eyes were never used to such good effect. He's brilliant.

Also good is Judy Garland in a short scene as a woman who denies rooting a Jew who was killed falsely for the crime of having sex with her.

Bigger roles go to Richard Widmark (prosecutor) and Maximillian Schell (the firey defendant). Both are fine. Widmark gets a drunk scene, maybe put in there to make his role more attractive (acting!). Schell gets to make some flamboyant speeches. Dietrich gets to be... female, I guess.

It goes for three hours. I don't think it needed to be that long. I kept seeing places where it could have been cut.

Some stuff really packs a punch like newreels of little kids in the camps. Other times I was like "alright, already". But an important movie.

Book review - "Pictures at a Revolution" by Mark Harris

 A great idea - a look at the making of the five films nominated for Best Picture in 1967, the birth of the New Hollywood. It helps all the films were all so different - Dr Doolittle, old school Fox musical yet also New Hollywood in a way because it was bloated in a post Sound of Music Way; In the Heat of the Night, which is a race movie so they can explore Sidney Poitier's career; Guess Who's Coming to Dinner which is also race but had Tracy and Hepburn; The Graduate, which is a youth movie; Bonnie and Clyde, a fresh take on an old genre that led to a major passing of the guard among critics.

The people involved play up their struggles as most Hollywood story tellers do ("I was down and out", "no one thought we'd be successful", "It was my last chance"). Dustin Hoffman pinched Katherine Ross' arse during rehearsals "to get a reaction"... talk about a red flag.

I wound up having surprising respect for Stanley Kramer sticking to his bland vision for Dinner.

Could you tell a story about years in Australian cinema? Not really the same. Maybe 1975.

Movie review - "Quick Millions" (1931) *** (warning: spoilers)

Early Spencer Tracy film when he was at Fox. He's good but he's not a particularly memorable gangster - those roles are always better when played with more ham eg Al Pacino, Cagney.

This was written and directed by Rowland Brown, who has a small cult around his relatively small output. He does a pretty good job especially considering it was an early sound film - imaginative compositions, brisk editing... such as an assassination shot from the POV of people's legs, and a montage of time.

The plot has trucker gangster Tracy go into crime, and get hung up on a society dame. Because its pre Code the dame can be a bit of a bitch, and when Tracy is knocked off by one of his own men, Warner Richmond, the man gets away with it.

George Raft has his first significant role. Scarface got all the credit for launching him but this one really set the Raft template of "seductive menace". As in Scarface he's a chief gunman for the lead actor who looks sinister and is a womaniser, who betrays his boss and is killed accordingly (only here it's not because he steals a woman that his boss is interested in... he just wants more money... the romantic connection is more dramatically satisfying which is why Scarface is better remembered... that and the coin toss and it being a better movie). Raft does a dance at a party too. He's awkward with dialogue but makes an impact.

Not a major league gangster flick - I think because Tracy underplays - but still worth seeing.

Book review - "Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars " by Scott Bowers (2012)

Exhausting to read. Fascinating in parts. Not particularly well written. The sort of book where the good articles about it are more entertaining than the book itself. Bowers has no problem being molested as a young boy or a young teen under priests - which I know is the attitude of some people.

There's plenty of choice gossip, and to be honest a lot of it seemed plausible - Vivien Leigh was a wildcat in bed, Charles Laughton and Tyrone Power liked shit in their sex, Cole Porter was into oral, Montgomery Clift and Roddy McDowall were exceedingly fussy with their tastes, John Carradine was kinky, Errol Flynn liked girls but very very young, Cary Grant and Randolph Scott liked dudes, Rock Hudson is in there. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Gore Vidal was a friend.

Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn both being gay does surprise me - I guess it makes sense. Who knows?

Some stuff felt true because the people weren't famous eg producer Frank MacArthur being gay. Some stuff was just funny like Steve Reeves turning tricks for George Cukor. Some of it I did struggle with - like Bowers being around J Edgar Hoover. Maybe it happened, I'm not that wordly, I just struggled with it.

The best bits of the book are where it stories feel more detailed and authentic - like getting Nestor Almederos to the Oscar ceremony. Bowers had a full life!

Book review - "Behind the Door: The True Story of Loretta Young" by Edward Funk (2015)

Loretta Young was one of those stars easy to mock - pretty, conscious of being a star, famously devout Catholic (she would refuse to do certain scenes/play certain roles, had a swear jar on set), hosted her own TV show where she entered a door every week with a new gown, always having crushes on co stars, participants in one of the juiciest scandals in Hollywood (having Clark Gable's love child), featuring in so many decorative roles.

But you don't have careers as long as successful as hers for no reason, and she had plenty of positives: ferocious work ethic, great dignity, street smarts (she knew about camera angles, lighting, dresses, etc). She could act as she occasionally got the chance to show. Fellow stars like Robert Mitchum would mock her gently but also had great respect for her.

Young was a child star - mum was a stage mum (most female stars of this era seem to have one), and Loretta and her two sisters went into the biz. Loretta became the biggest star of the three - she was very pretty, took direction well, and found consistent work. Most of her parts were decorative but she occasionally got a meaty role like in Platinum Blonde and she enlivened several pre-Code movies like Man's Castle.

Her career stepped up a notch when she went over to 20th Century Fox - who did use her as a clothes horse to look at the leading man a lot but also gave her some good chances: Ramona, The Story of Alexander Graham Bell. Her career kept going when she left Fox in the 40s and stepped up towards the end of the war when she was given some meaty roles and became a real box office draw: The Stranger, Rachel and the Stranger, The Farmer's Daughter (which won her an Oscar - Dore Schary was a big fan of Loretta ).

The tide started to go out in the 1950s but Loretta stayed ahead of the curve moving into TV where she enjoyed great success, and also creative fulfilment, playing all sorts of roles on her show. She had a dodgy second husband who fleeced her for a lot of cash (all these stars seem to have dodgy husbands) but she held on to enough to have a comfortable life. One of her sons became a pop star in the Moby Grape! (Like Jerry Lewis' son.)

She spent retirement doing a lot of charity work and socialising and lived to a ripe old age. She admitted herself she was never a great actor like Bette Davis, or even a top rank star, but she had a pretty good career with impressive credits.

She was a participant in one of the most famous Hollywood scandals: having Clark Gable's love child. This book reveals that Gable actually date raped her - something which I didn't want to believe but was all too easy to believe considering the time. Young had crushes on most of her male co stars - she's constantly falling in "love" with Spencer Tracy, with Jeff Chandler, with all of them - but not actually doing anything about it. She was a true "actress", who enjoyed the romance of infatuation with her costars - and Gable took it to another level. It would have been hard for Young to prove and/or do anything about - she had the baby and adopted it herself.

In many respects Young was an exasperating ninny - hopeless about men (she let her second husband get away with a lot of money), overly interested in clothes, didn't push herself as an artist - which made this book frustrating for me. But there was much to admire as well. Funk knew Young and at one stage this was going to be a memoir, so there's plenty of terrific material, mostly from her. If you're even only vaguely interested in Young you should read this.

Movie review - "Boom Town" (1940) *** (warning: spoilers)

A big success at the time and it remained popular for a while afterwards, in part because it was such a great star vehicle: Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy as feuding oil wildcatters, who pal around and team up when they're not fighting, make and lose fortunes and both love the same gal (Claudette Colbert).

It's very easy to make and lose money in oil according to this film - Tracy and Gable make a fortune quickly, then Gable loses it via a flick of a coin, then Gable has nothing but bounces back, then Tracy loses his in a South American revolution but bounces back via Oklahoma, then they lose theirs again via financial machinations, then they get it back again.

Hedy Lamarr pops up in the third act as a vamp-but-not-really who temps Gable away from Colbert.  Lamarr is good looking, but not much of an actress - watching her I kept having to remind myself "she invented blue tooth".

Colbert is bland, but then I'm not a fan - she reminds me too much of my grandma. Don't get me wrong, I love my grandma, but I don't think shes that vivacious opposite Clark Gable  - far too marmish. I didn't like the character either for running off with Gable on night one even though she knew Tracy was in love with her.

Or was he? Tracy is meant to be in love with Colbert, getting upset when Gable roots around on her, but it's just as easy to read he's in love with Gable and gets upset when he goes to women. 

There's some more camp value at the end when Gable goes to Colbert "I ought to lick you" and she goes "you can lick me if you like".

MGM's support cast stock company wasn't as strong as Warner Bros but there is Chill Wills, Lionel Atwill and Frank Morgan. The story is decent enough although at two hours is goes in too long - in particular once Gable and Colbert get back together for the second time at the end the film feels as though it should end but there's ten more minutes of this anti-trust hearing.

Movie review - "San Francisco" (1936) ***1/2

30s MGM at full throttle: San Francisco 1905; lots of extras, costumes and character actors; Clarke Gable punching lots of people out, running a saloon and saying "I don't get this love malarkey... I don't get this opera malarkey... I don't get this God malarkey"; Jeanette MacDonald being virginal yet lusting after Gable in between arias; Spencer Tracy being a priest and punching out Gable when he's not trying to cock-block him; lots of sin and God and singing of opera.

Tracey's role actually isn't very big - very much a support bit - with most of the attention on Gable and MacDonald. MacDonald's an acquired taste - I'm not that familiar with her work yet. Her singing really got on my nerves as did her I'm-a-scared-virgin routine early on which made it seem like Gable was sexually harassing her... but she's great when she's actually hot for Gable and trying to fight her attraction, panting away. I also really liked her singing that song 'San Francisco' on behalf of Gable's saloon at the end over the objections of her fiancee (Jack Holt).

The earthquake finale is very well done (as is the follow up city fire and looting). All the prayer and God at the end was a bit much with Gable praying and MacDonald getting hot for him while watching him. I laughed at how little Holt's mother is about her son's death ("oh well... God's will"). Done with conviction and passion and Gable in great form.

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 - "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 – “Libeled Lady” (1936) ****

It’s all a matter of personal taste of course but for my money Jean Harlow’s comedies have aged wonderfully well whereas the melodramas haven’t, particularly after the Production Code came in. This is a comedy, fortunately, with the benefit of a deluxe cast: Spencer Tracey, William Powell and Myrna Loy. The bulk of the plot concerns Powell pursuing heiress Loy, trying to con her father by pretending to be a fishing expert (this small section was used later for a whole movie – Man’s Favourite Sport). Powell’s doing it because Loy is suing the paper run by Spencer Tracey – Tracey gets his fiancée Harlow to marry Powell so they can concoct a breach of marriage suite.

All the leads are in good form, as is the support cast (Harlow does look a little pasty). Even though Powell and Harlow were a couple in real life, he plays better with Loy on screen – they both seem cut from the same cloth. Harlow is game as ever - it's fun to see her throwing her tantrums, being conned into marrying another man by her own fiancee. Excellent support cast as well.

Movie review – “Riffraff” (1936) **

These Jean Harlow MGM melodramas (eg Hold Your Man, Reckless, Suzy) all followed the same pattern: Jean and a hunky male co-star fall in love, start of wisecracking but soon get all serious and turn into this weird hodge podge of drama, indicating much rewriting and reshooting. This one starts off as a sort of industrial drama with Spencer Tracy as a Unionist fisherman – but this is MGM so the bosses and union are crooked and no real workers want to strike. (Tracy was a great actor but not the sexiest co-star Harlow ever had.) They get married, he gets a big head, break up, he becomes a hobo, she winds up in prison, has a baby, he encourages her to escape, she won’t, then she does (there’s a girl prison escape sequence in the rain), he’s a nightwatchman who becomes a hero, then they reunited, Harlow agrees to go back to gaol… It’s a mess really.

 

There is some great dialogue – Frances Marion and Dorothy Parker worked on the script –Harlow is sweet in a role that has been said to be close to her real personality (loyal, loving, not a platinum blonde… only not a nudist), and Mickey Rooney turns up as Harlow’s brother. But it’s not enough to make up for the dud, messy story.

Documentary review – “The Spencer Tracy Legacy – A Tribute by K Hepburn” (1986) ****

Warm doco on the legendary actor hosted by Kate Hepburn who sounds a bit shaky here but gives this enormous subtext, especially in scenes where she’s talking to his daughter and at the end when she reads a letter she wrote to Tracy after his death (actually that’s not subtext – that’s text!) In her introductory spiel to the film she compares Tracey’s acting to potato bake: solid, delicious and filling. It’s as good a description as any I guess. She also walks around the places where he used to play polo, old studios (including MGM - which then had the "Sylvester Stallone Building").

There were some terrific old photos and vision (Tracey playing polo with Will Rogers), great exclusives (extracts from Tracey’s old journal), and a dazzling array of interviewees (how could you refuse Kate Hepburn I guess): Sidney Poitier, Joe Mankiewicz (confirming the story of how Tracey and Hepburn met and the comment "don't worry he'll soon knock you down to size"), Garson Kanin (I thought Hepburn never forgave him for his book on their relationship but there you go), Stanley Kramer, Robert Wagner, Frank Sinatra (in a scene from The Devil at Six O’Clock he takes his shirt off – no star of today would allow themselves to seem to weak), Burt Reynolds, Joan Bennett, Angela Lansbury, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Widmark, Lee Marvin, Mickey Rooney. Wagner and Kramer remark how Tracey was like a father to him – no such comment from his own daughter.

Watching the clips I was struck by how many times Hepburn had to stand on the sidelines misty-eyed as Tracy made a speech. And how when they talk about Tracey-Hepburn films they only mean half of them (no one seems to care about Keeper of the Flame, Without Love, Sea of Grass or Desk Set). Fascinating.

Book review – “Jean Harlow” by David Stenn

Superb bio of the famous star – excellently written, very well researched; it solves two big Hollywood mysteries (who killed Paul Bern – a section which reads like a murder mystery – and how did Harlow die) as well as having a heart breaking ending.

Harlow comes across as one of the most likeable stars ever – good natured, hard working, utterly lacking in pretention. Throw in her beauty and talent (which took a while to emerge), no wonder audiences related to her. Even when she played trashy girls she was very engaging.

She isn’t a classic beauty but she was very striking with a great body. A great deal is made about Harlow’s child-like innocence when it came to sex; I think it’s more accurate to describe it as a lack of self-consciousness. She wasn’t the tramp she often depicted on screen, but she was no retiring violet either – she lost her virginity at a very young age in non-stressful circumstances; eloped as a teenager; enjoyed flings with Max Baer and a gangster (Howard Hawks reckons he had a one-night stand with her but I think he was full of it); enjoyed sleeping and walking around nude; liked to discard underwear. That’s quite sophisticated behaviour, even if she did have a sexless second marriage.

I always liked William Powell as an actor and heard good things about him as a person but he doesn’t come across too well here. He genuinely liked Harlow, and she adored him – but it’s plain unfair to drag a girl like that along for so long, and not to give her a kid was rotten (she had an abortion to him). Stenn is empathetic to Harlow's mother - on one hand a dreadful person, on the other hand she did do what she thought was her best for her daughter (Stenn defends in particular her behaviour during her daughter's final days).

Some classic bits: Harlow help up her low cut dresses up by icing her nipples (mother did the icinng!); Paul Bern, her second husband, once tried to kill himself by sticking his head down the toilet but it got stuck. Excellent book.

Book review – “Tracy and Hepburn” (1970) by Garson Kanin

Apparently Kate Hepburn regarded the writing of this book as a betrayal. It’s a very affectionate depiction of the two of them but I can understand her point of view – Kanin has invaded their privacy. It’s written in the style of Kanin’s book on Maugham, jumping around in time from story to story. It seems Kanin was an even better friend to Tracy and Hepburn than he was to Maugham – for one thing, he frequently collaborated with them professionally (Kanin directed Tracy’s last Broadway show, plus wrote Adam’s Rib and Pat and Mike); for another, he and wife Ruth Gordon teamed a tight foursome with Tracy and Hepburn.

Hepburn’s feelings aside, I’m glad Kanin wrote the book for the insights on Tracy. I mean, the writings on Hepburn are fine, but she’s such a familiar charcter from so many bios and from her persona that its not that revealing (although I did like the story of her insisting the door was open during performances of Coco because she hates stuffy rooms). It’s the talking about Tracy which is a revelation. Tracy always comes across in books I’ve read as this tormented, boozy whiner. Kanin’s close friendship with the man creates a different picture – amiable, funny, egotistical, quiet and retiring but still desperate to know what’s going on. He would smoke a packet of cigarettes a day – but only in bed while reading mystery novels all night (no wonder he didn’t live very long). He would go on holiday and enjoy the isolation but freak out if he couldn’t call home – if only calling Eddie Mannix to find out what the weather was like.

NB After reading this and the book on Somerset Maugham, and taking into account Kanin’s frequent idolatrous references to George Abbott, Thornton Wilder and Renee Clair, I can’t help wondering – did all Garson Kanin’s friendships involve him worshipping famous people? Did he ever befriend equals?

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 - "The Catered Affair" (1956) **1/2

An attempt to combine Father of the Bride with Marty (working class mother is determined to give her daughter a big wedding whether she likes it or not) doesn't work, chiefly because of the basic idea: it is fun to see Spencer Tracy make a goose of himself because he can afford it, but it is not fun to see Bette Davis throw away her family’s money here. 

There is also Bette Davis’ performance, which is very much an acquired taste - in my opinion, she is horrible and ruins the fine work done by all other members of the cast.

The film was one of many adaptations of TV shows that performed disappointingly in the wake of Marty (The Bachelor Party, 12 Angry Men) and Hollywood cooled on TV as a source of movie ideas, and would not get as excited about the medium again until the spate of movies based on old TV shows in the 1990s.

Book review - "Clark Gable" by Warren Harris

Everyone seems to like Clark Gable, movie star. Even those who didn't think he could act (which I think he could, he learned his trade on stage, its just he was encouraged to stay within his star persona and was burnt when stepping outside it, eg Parnell) recognise he had potent charisma. 

A real man's man, he fitted in perfectly in the macho 30s (depression era toughness) after the cashed up metrosexuality of the 1920s. While I think he would have fitted in at any studio (its easy to imagine him particularly at Warnes), he blossomed at MGM - that studio had few potent male stars when he came along but an abundance of female talent, enabling him to come up the ranks with protection (he soon outsripped them). MGM also knew how to handle talent - at least while Leo B Mayer was there. He suited being the King of Hollywood - you can imagine if there'd been some Sept 11-type tribute when he was around, he would have been the most appropriate figurehead. (Occasionally this happens - Harrison Ford had it for a while, maybe Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Tom Hanks: real blue chip stars).

Gable the person doesn't seem to be as admirable. He gets our sympathy at first - dead mother, mostly absent affectionless father, growing up a bit wild. Once he decided to become an actor he persued it with determination - he fairly whored himself around and was very much a gigolo, marrying two elder women mostly for what they could do for him, paying for his appearance to change. He isn't very likeable around this stage - a classic gold digger. 

Harris mentions the rumour that Gable got George Cukor fired from GWTW because he knew Gable once serviced William Haines - I don't think Gable had enough pull to get Cukor fired (he may have sulked enough to make the decision easy for Cukor), but I believe the servicing rumour, on this evidence Gable was capable of it.

Harris argues Gable's personality didn't even really become fixed until he was told what to do by Howard Strickling - hunt, fish, etc - but he liked that role he had to play, and played it for the rest of his life. His affection for Carole Lombard seems to have been genuine (he was unfaithful to her but never seriously which in Hollywood is pretty good; when she says he wasn't a great lay, Harris is careful to point out it wasn't a dig at the size of his equipment, but just his poor technique - after not having to try for so long, I guess he didn't pick up many new tricks). 

He had decent war service (trained as a gunner he ended up making films, like most Hollywood types - but he actually went on missions, he could have been killed). He was one of those alcoholics people seem loathe to call alcoholics, but honestly reading this it seems no doubt - drinking like a fish his whole life - so when people say The Misfits killed him, I think it just brought forward the inevitable maybe a few months. 

His standing became shakier after WW2 - MGM's handling of him became less sure, though they tried; he was older, less romantic, though the industry was geared for major stars (he turned down Home from the Hill towards the end of his life and was considering Diamond Head when he died, both big hits, so I think he would have remained a star through the 60s - Spencer Tracey did). His last marriage seems to have been very happy.

This is a decent bio, which covers the main affairs (Jean Harlow and Grace Kelly yes, Lana Turner no - very surprising - maybe he was too nice a guy), his illegitimate daughter with Loretta Young; no footnotes, though, which is annoying. I was surprised what made money - Homecoming did, Command Decision and Across the Missouri didn't. Not the definitive work but still pretty good.

Book review - "Kate Remembered" by A Scott Berg

Berg is one of those imposingly excellent biographers who takes eight years to write a book and researchers them methodically, writes well and has best sellers. This bio is a little different because it is more of a personal memoir, though it does encapsulate Hepburn's career. Berg was a fan of the actor who became her friend - he seems to have been pleasant company and a good listener; also his writing of a book on Goldwyn meant Hepburn could find out about what her contemporaries were up to. Berg is keen to put Hepburn centre stage, so much so it means he is often a shadowy figure all the time. For instance, I couldn't help wondering where he had all this money and spare time for visits to an old movie star, even if she was a friend. (His books sold well I am guessing. He is also gay although he only mentions his life partner in passing) Berg no doubt figured that it was Hepburn the reader was interested in so kept himself aside - he was probably right, I just wish he'd brought himself forward a bit more.

That mentioned, the book is worth reading. Berg is a skillful writer and Hepburn a worthy topic. I particularly enjoyed her comments and observations about show biz: Howard Hughes, Spencer Tracy (Berg puts forward his own theories on the actor's alcoholism), Glenn Close (she doesn't like her - due to her feet! - maybe also because Close plays Hepburn-like parts), Harrison Ford (big fan - she liked manly men), Julia Roberts (thought she was the first genuine female star in ages - which she was), Melanie Griffith (she liked her but thought she was too lethargic to make it as a star - which when you think about it is a brilliantly astute observation), Larry Olivier (admired him but didn't like him - blamed him for forcing Vivien Leigh to do theatre instead of movies), Jeremy Irons, Michael Jackson (hilarious vignette of him visiting Kate and Tom Stoppard popping in).

The book isn't all looking back - Warren Beatty enlisted Berg to persuade Kate to do a cameo in Love Affair (an entertaining section of the book with Beatty coming off as a bit of a pompous idiot though also an intelligent man capable of great charm), and Berg chronicling Kate's last few years which she declined but never really went bonkers. It isn't all about Kate either - Irene Selznick becomes a major character; she was a big mate of Kate's, also of Berg's, but when Berg knew her there was a bit of a Selznick-Hepburn feud. (When you think about it Irene Selznick was a bit of a gay icon, too, what with being bitter about men and producing Tennessee Williams and Arthur Laurents). Illuminating and moving.

Movie review - "Father's Little Dividend" (1951) **1/2

Sequels weren't as common in the 1950s as they are now but a follow up to Father of the Bride seemed natural: the father (Spencer Tracy) becomes a grandfather. So everyone fusses over the mum to be (Elizabeth Taylor, very pretty and then still not very good an actor, though A Place in the Sun would be soon), there are clashes with the in-laws, the daughter's marriage is threatened through a silly misunderstanding, dad comes to love being a grandad. There is the whiff of that 50s prosperity women-stay-at-home, but the film still has the aura of truth - grandparents fighting over the baby, everyone getting excited, people worried about their ability to be parents. Tracy pulls off his role with aplomb once again.