Movie review – “The Scarlet Pimpernel” (1934) ***

Korda had a few flops after The Private Life of Henry VIII but this was a solid hit, later inspiring a sequel and a remake. It gave Leslie Howard one of his best roles, perhaps his best (although that is saying something considering his career). He was perfectly cast as the adventurer who pretends to be a fop; it mirrors his real life adventures, where the seemingly dreamy, sensitive soul was also a war hero, great womaniser and brilliant businessman, the stereotypical Englishman who was really a Hungarian Jew, etc, etc.

It’s not a love letter to the aristocracy – the English upper classes are full of pompous, blustering clowns (who better to depict that than Nigel Bruce and Melville Cooper), the excesses of the French nobles are duly noted. Also the revolutionaries are imposing antagonists – smart, ruthless.

Merle Oberon is stunning (check out that low cut gown) and Raymond Massey a superb, scowling villain. There is some funny comedy (eg “how the French speak that devilish language of theirs I’ll never know”) although to be honest the piece could have done with some more action. At times it feels very much like an adaptation of a stage play.

Radio review – Lux – “Slightly Dangerous” (1943) **

Proof they made just as many lame rom-coms back in the 1940s. Lana Turner normally specialised in playing glamour-pusses but here she’s in a role that Ginger Rogers would specialise in – to wit, a bored small town girl dreaming of something more. (She’s a soda jerk – perhaps a nod to how Turner was discovered.) So she fakes suicide, which is a bit full on, and winds up in the big city pretending to be a rich man’s daughter, which isn’t terribly believable. Still, like today’s junky rom coms it can pass the time if you’re in the mood. Victor Mature plays her small town boss who pursues her to the city thinking she’s going to kill herself – then drags her away by claiming to be her husband. Charming. There’s a section where he or Turner must have pulled a face or something because the audience goes into hysterics. Without her beauty and just her voice Turner is a 80% less effective performer. Mature is accomplished in a handsome-male-prop part, a sort he played surprisingly often.

Radio review – Lux – “I Confess” (1953) ***

Opinion seems to be divided on this Hitchcock film – it certainly has one of his most passive protagonists ever, a priest who hears a confession for a murder… of which he finds himself subsequently on trial. It’s a contrived situation but it’s quite enjoyable to listen to, and courtroom/confessional dramas adapt well to radio. Cary Grant steps in for Montgomery Clift in what is a lousy role, really – spending the whole story going “sorry can’t say anything” until the killer goes conveniently crackers at the end. Grant's fine but there's not much anyone can do with that role - at least Clift got close ups with which to brood and angst. Phyllis Thaxter plays the girl.

Radio review – Lux – “Ruggles of Red Gap” (1939) ***1/2

Charming comedy from Leo McCarey at his peak before he turned into a foaming anti-Communist and features one of Charles Laughton’s best performances as the butler who’s transferred to a family out west (Washington state in 1908) and decides to liberate himself. Decent fish out of water comedy moments and a famous one where Laughton recites the Gettysburg address. There’s a good villain in the snobby American. It does seem to end at the finale of Act two, although there’s an extra bit where Ruggles sets up his restaurant and is visited by his old boss. Charles Ruggles and Zasu Pitts lend support.

Radio review – TGA – “Pride and Prejudice” (1945) **1/2

Joan Fontaine isn’t particularly well cast as Elizabeth Bennett and the other lesser known actors seem undercast. An average production of the famous novel, with inevitable trims (i.e. no Darcy’s sister) and it passes the time well enough. My mind drifted listening to it – I started imagining if it could be adapted to the old West. John Wayne as Mr Darcy, Maureen O’Hara as Elizabeth Bennett, an array of character actors in support… It would have been fun.

Radio review – Suspense – “End of the Road” (1947) **

Glenn Ford in tough film noir mode plays a car salesman who falls for a married woman at which point I was assuming it’d be a Double Indemnity rip-off but then it takes this detour – the woman seems to kill her husband so he investigates her past. She’s not keen on it so he slaps her around – charming. The woman says “she hates men, all men” which could have been an interesting character, but not here. The finale is a shootout where the woman and her husband wind up conveniently dead. Ford has a decent voice.

Movie review – “Sanders of the River” (1935) **

The first of Korda’s imperial epics, which has become something of a by-word for racist imperialist cinema (certainly in a way that The Drum or The Four Feathers didn’t). It’s certainly paternalistic: Sanders (as played by the uncharismatic Leslie Banks) is a smug civil servant working away in Nigeria. He’s called “Lord” by the much more charismatic Paul Robeson, whom Sanders rewards by making chief.

What makes the imperialism of this even worse is Banks’ Sanders is so dour, humourless and anal. He doesn’t have any spark or romance or humour. My favourite bit is when the natives revolt and Sanders’ boss asks him to help when he’s on leave in England, and he says “sorry I’m on leave – can’t do it. Not fair to my fiancée.” What a public servant. He only agrees to help when he finds out his fiancee’s brother’s life is in danger. And even then he promptly gets sick with malaria and lies on his back, only getting up out of bed to help Robeson rescue his kidnapped wife. And then when he does save the day he’s not that brave, he just rocks up with a boat that has a Maxim gun blazing away. He then appoints his puppet king (Robeson) to rule in his absence.

Paul Robeson was embarrassed by his involvement in this later, something not hard to understand. He says they changed the script on him – but I can’t imagine any version of this being non-insulting to black people. (At the end of the film Robeson says he’s learned the secret of ruling from Sanders to be loved rather than feared; Sanders says that’s the secret of the British. But he just did it with the maxim gun!) Utterly fascinating, with a strong performance from Robeson, some great art design and decent location footage incorporated. Lots of singing, not just from Robeson but also Nina Mae McKinney who plays his wife. Jomo Kenyatta is one of the extras.