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Post by topbilled on Apr 17, 2023 15:51:58 GMT
This neglected film is from 1958.
Inner darkness turns to light
Not sure why this film, with its top-notch cast and production values, has only aired on TCM about a dozen times in nearly thirty years of broadcasting. It was a hit for Warner Brothers in the late 1950s and earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Drama as well as a nod for Best Actress for Jean Simmons.
It really is Simmons’ picture all the way. She’s in nearly every scene as a tender soul recently returned to her east coast mansion from rounds of shock therapy at a mental institution. Shades of THE SNAKE PIT meets Tennessee Williams. Yes, it’s that type of story. There is plenty of high polish studio gloss, assured direction from Mervyn LeRoy, and ambiguously drawn supporting characters who seem to be concealing important information from the heroine.
It could just as easily have been called HOME IN DARKNESS. As a piece about the tenuous existence of a fragile woman trying to regain her bearings, it’s nothing if not intriguing. Simmons’ character struggles to form, or is it to reclaim, her identity. She has an aloof husband (Dan O’Herlihy) who’s a doctor that supposedly knows what’s best for her.
She also has a bossy stepmother (Mabel Albertson) as well as a sexy stepsister (Rhonda Fleming) who appears to be the one the husband desires most. Oh, and there’s a boarder who is also a doctor (Efrem Zimbalist)…a legitimate stranger in this cold environment. He develops a spiritual kinship with Simmons and attempts to help with her ongoing recovery. He’s the only person with her best interests at heart.
Part of the story’s appeal is how we wonder if some old secret will haunt Simmons again. After all, there’s a reason she was sent away for treatment. A lot of the narrative’s tension occurs because something about Simmons still seems unhinged. When she does flip her lid, we aren’t surprised since she still needs to confront unresolved issues to achieve peace.
In some ways it’s a tale about a woman learning to assert herself properly. Miss Simmons, who had her own demons plaguing her off-screen, seems to understand the necessary psychoanalysis and ‘exorcism’ if you will, that the woman she’s playing must undergo.
Critics Pauline Kael and Bosley Crowther both very much admired the work Simmons does in this motion picture, and so do I. However, they were less enamored with the length of the film and its drawn out bleakness. But I don’t think situations like the kind presented here can find a happy ending so quickly. And we do have to see how she must work through extreme difficulties before her inner darkness turns to light.
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Post by Fading Fast on Apr 17, 2023 16:18:11 GMT
Home Before Dark from 1958 with Jean Simmons, Dan O'Herlihy, Rhonda Fleming, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Mabel Albertson
Gaslighting became a verb because of the movie Gaslight where a husband uses abusive and manipulative psychology to convince his wife she's going insane so that he can steal her money.
In Gaslight, almost from the beginning, we know what the husband is trying to do, but what would a movie look like if we didn't know?
What if, for most of the movie, we didn't know if the wife is truly losing her mind or, conversely, if the husband, and the wife's stepmother and stepsister, are really trying to drive her insane, in this case, so that the husband can marry the stepsister?
That's the premise of Home Before Dark and, other than being a bit too long, it's an engaging plot with good characterizations all well acted by a cast of mainly second-tier stars.
Jean Simmons, the biggest star in the cast, plays the young wife of a college professor, played by Dan O'Herlihy. They live in her house, she comes from some money, with her stepmother, played by Mabel Albertson, and her stepsister, played by Rhonda Fleming.
Also living in the house, as a boarder, is a colleague of O'Herlihy, a Jewish professor, played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr., whom O'Herlihy "championed" at the college when Jews were often denied tenure positions at "old-line" colleges.
It's a thread that's never fully developed, but later, Simmons accuses O'Herlihy of "dropping" his support for Zimbalist Jr. when it was no longer advantageous for O'Herlihy's career.
The main story, though, is whether or not Simmons - who at the open is being picked up from a state mental institution by her aloof but seemingly concerned husband, O'Herlihy - is mentally unbalanced or is a victim of a plot against her by her family.
Now back at home, we see the house has an oppressive atmosphere as Albertson passively aggressively over-mothers Simmons, while Fleming, who seems like she might truly be Simmons' friend, has a casual ease with O'Herlihy that drives Simmons mad.
A bullying housekeeper, played by Kathryn Card, doesn't make the home any nicer. This leaves Zimbalist Jr., the boarder, as Simmons one true friend, which is odd since she only met him when she came back from the institution.
That's the complicated setup with the rest of the movie being a series of interactions that has you guessing throughout whether Simmons is paranoid or if the husband and "steps" are playing a vicious long-ball game of driving Simmons mad.
Simmons and Zimbalist Jr. are the one oasis of nice in the movie as she seems calm and friendly in her early morning walks with Zimbalist Jr., which has you believing she's sane. But then she flies into a fit of rage over an innocuous comment Fleming or O'Herlihy makes and, once again, you're no longer sure.
Director Melvyn Leroy captured the look and feel of a claustrophobic, insular and judgmental mid-century New England college town perfectly where "friendly" encounters or cocktail parties are really stressful stratagems that can lead to career or social advancement or setback.
Simmons is outstanding as the wife who might be going insane or might be being gaslighted. But everyone in the cast - O'Herlihy as the cold husband, Albertson as the annoying stepmother, Fleming as the potential husband stealer and Zimbalist Jr. as Simmons' one true allie - creates engaging characters
It is also, for us today, fun time travel to the mid 1950s, including several wonderful on-location scenes in Boston. Plus of course, there are the big cars, heavy overcoats, women coiffed and coutured to the max and several institutional buildings that declare their importance by their heavy brick and stone construction.
Home Before Dark is heavy on the melodrama and can feel plotless, but it's also a smart variation on the theme of Gaslight that is believable, in part, because every character is an imperfect person, like in the real world. |
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Post by topbilled on Apr 17, 2023 16:34:49 GMT
Home Before Dark from 1958 with Jean Simmons, Dan O'Herlihy, Rhonda Fleming, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Mabel Albertson
Director Melvyn Leroy captured the look and feel of a claustrophobic, insular and judgmental mid-century New England college town perfectly where "friendly" encounters or cocktail parties are really stressful stratagems that can lead to career or social advancement or setback.
***
Films like GASLIGHT or THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS show us how the woman must begin to assert herself. And we have that repeated in this film, though sometimes we wonder if Simmons' character is a danger to herself. It's one of her very best performances. |
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Post by topbilled on Apr 27, 2023 13:51:29 GMT
This neglected film is from 1937.
Sufficiently amusing
MR. DODD TAKES THE AIR is a Warner Brothers musical comedy that gave Kenny Baker his first starring role in a studio film. He had been in other movies prior to this, but most of those were glorified cameos, where he played himself and had a specialty number to perform. Audiences knew Baker from his gig on Jack Benny’s radio show, where he sang and played a comic sidekick to Benny.
Kenny Baker was making $3,000 clams a week on Benny’s show, a nice amount during the Depression. Heck, it is still a nice amount now. With that sort of weekly exposure and income he was probably in no hurry to become a movie star. But Benny had enjoyed success on the big screen, and Jack Warner thought Baker had potential, too.
Baker’s fresh-faced appeal is put to good use in MR. DODD where he is cast as a naive working class guy who gets a chance to sing on a New York radio show. No great acting stretch here, and the storyline had been done before, with no actual basis in reality.
When Baker is able to demonstrate his vocal talent on the air, he is an instant sensation with the public. He ditches his job as an electrician and concentrates on his new career in radio. Along the way he gets involved with some interesting characters. He is a simpleton fish-out-of-water who has colorful experiences with assorted types of people, or else we wouldn’t have much of a story.
Some of these people include Frank McHugh and Jane Wyman. Dependable character actor McHugh plays Baker’s manager; while Miss Wyman is cast as a secretary…one of the first significant credited roles she had at the studio after a string of uncredited parts. In fact, I would say that Wyman probably comes off best among the supporting players. It’s easy to see why she would have a long and successful career at Warners, though more substantial dramatic roles would not come her way for nearly a decade.
Added into the mix are pros like Alice Brady and Gertrude Michael. Miss Brady plays a ditzy opera singer, the type of high-strung gal she had perfected in other pictures with screwball elements. While I enjoy Brady’s performances, sometimes a little bit of her trademark nonsense goes a long way. I am never quite sure if she is trying to emulate Mary Boland who had the patent on these types of eccentrics, or if she is just trying to keep from getting bored with what would otherwise be a routine romcom.
Regarding Miss Michael, she is wisely more subdued as a scheming gold digger. She wants to marry Baker for his money, even though he is more smitten with Wyman.
The advertising department at Warner Brothers promoted the film by calling Baker’s character a Radio Romeo involved with three women (Wyman, Brady & Michael). Also, the posters compared this production to one from a rival studio, Columbia, since Deeds and Dodd are similar sounding names. But of course, the two stories have nothing in common.
There’s a bit of rigamarole involving Baker’s voice and an invention of his. Most of that doesn’t really matter. What matters is whether viewers have been sufficiently amused for 87 minutes, and I would say they have.
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Post by topbilled on May 3, 2023 7:23:18 GMT
This neglected film is from 1950.
MacRae goes in search of a buddy
Except for the two lead characters who do their best to find out what’s happened to a missing pal, all the other main characters recount key events in flashbacks. One character does it twice. So if the whole thing starts to seem like noir Citizen Kane style, you know why. Sometimes these complex narrative structures work fine and sometimes they are almost too convoluted to follow.
This movie doesn’t quite fail but it doesn’t entirely succeed either. What it does accomplish: it keeps us in the dark about the bad guy’s identity until the end. I am not sure what’s gained by making a secret of it, to be honest. In fact, concealing the villain’s identity impedes the story’s natural flow. It gives us an unnecessary second mystery, because the first mystery– what happened to the missing friend– is enough to sustain viewer interest.
The two leads are played by Virginia Mayo and Gordon MacRae, who are both at the beginning of their contract years at Warner Brothers. MacRae is a recovering war vet at a V.A. hospital circa 1948. His extended hospitalization has been brightened considerably by the presence of a caring nurse (Mayo). After MacRae is discharged, he goes in search of the buddy (Edmond O’Brien) who has disappeared. Mayo tags along and helps him, since she has time off.
What I did find fascinating was the arrival of a European call girl (Viveca Lindfors) who tries reaching out to MacRae at the hospital. But then she also goes missing. Unlike O’Brien, who’s being held captive by the bad guy, Lindfors is killed. Sometimes Miss Lindfors’ acting is a bit too intense, and she’s frequently on the verge of over-emoting. But she has an ethereal quality that enlivens her scenes.
The best performance belongs to Dane Clark who plays another ex-military pal that now works as a mortician. Only we find out he has an alter ego as a gambler. And yes, he’s the surprise antagonist, a man who resorts to killing to cover up his criminal activities.
This is not a great film. Not all its parts fully add up. But some of the pieces are intriguing. And there is a deeper more meaningful story at play…some men had led bad lives before the war, and in the postwar period they had to go back and deal with those old situations, to try and make a clean break for the future.
Of course, not everyone comes through with flying colors. For some of them, their plans significantly backfire.
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Post by Fading Fast on May 3, 2023 12:20:25 GMT
I'm getting a bit better at it, but I still have to stop and think, which European import is Viveca Lindfors and which one is Vera Ralston? When I see the actresses, I have no trouble knowing who is who; it's just when I only see their names (did both Christian names have to start with a "V"?) that I get confused. One is an impassive brunette (Lindfors) and one is an impassive blonde (Ralston), except I think Ralston really messed with my head in one movie and went brunette. 
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Post by topbilled on May 3, 2023 13:51:47 GMT
I'm getting a bit better at it, but I still have to stop and think, which European import is Viveca Lindfors and which one is Vera Ralston? When I see the actresses, I have no trouble knowing who is who; it's just when I only see their names (did both Christian names have to start with a "V"?) that I get confused. One is an impassive brunette (Lindfors) and one is an impassive blonde (Ralston), except I think Ralston really messed with my head in one movie and went brunette. |
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Post by topbilled on May 3, 2023 13:56:47 GMT
Incidentally, I read somewhere that Viveca Lindfors was originally the lead star of BACKFIRE which was filmed in late 1948. But it did not get released until January 1950. By then, Lindfors had been dropped by Warner Brothers while Virginia Mayo had scored a hit in 1949's WHITE HEAT. So they added some new scenes, built up Mayo's part and promoted her to star, while Lindfors ended up with fifth billing.
Interestingly, when the film was sold to television in the late 50s and 60s, syndicated prints cut out a bunch of Mayo's scenes, since her character is not really integral to the main action.
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Post by Fading Fast on May 3, 2023 13:57:34 GMT
I'm getting a bit better at it, but I still have to stop and think, which European import is Viveca Lindfors and which one is Vera Ralston? When I see the actresses, I have no trouble knowing who is who; it's just when I only see their names (did both Christian names have to start with a "V"?) that I get confused. One is an impassive brunette (Lindfors) and one is an impassive blonde (Ralston), except I think Ralston really messed with my head in one movie and went brunette. |
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Post by topbilled on May 9, 2023 15:28:39 GMT
This neglected film is from 1933.
Lady of the house
One thing that resonated with me when I watched this film again is how the tone is decidedly different in its two distinct halves. In the first part, a lot of detail is put into the romance that blossoms between a showgirl (Kay Francis) and the gentleman suitor (Gene Raymond) who has seen her stage revue 28 times.
Though she is also involved with an older man (John Halliday) we know which one she will choose to marry. After Francis delicately breaks things off with Halliday, we get scenes of her and Raymond being married, then their going to Paris on a honeymoon. This is followed by a scene of them in what looks like a Venetian gondola, followed by them at a casino on the riviera. We never doubt for one second that this whirlwind courtship and sudden marriage is real, since they are very much in love.
When Raymond brings Francis back to New York after the honeymoon and he shows her the grand mansion on east 56th that he had built while they were away, we realize even more just how much he adores her. It may all seem corny but it draws us in. We believe in her supreme happiness…but of course, the filmmakers are setting us up for a big fall, when all this will be ripped away from her.
She has made the mistake of continuing a friendship with Halliday who is dying and on the verge of suicide. In a highly dramatic moment, the narrative shifts when Francis tries to stop Halliday from killing himself. She fails, he dies, and she is accused of his murder. Yes, everything has quickly come crashing down around her.
By comparison, the second half of the film seems less opulent, a bit more seedy. During x-number of years in prison, she’s become a widow and she’s had no contact with her young daughter who has been told she’s dead. After Francis is released from prison, she doesn’t exactly change her name, but she changes her appearance and starts a new life.
She takes a cruise, and while on board she starts using her skills as a card sharp to match wits with a crooked gambler (Ricardo Cortez). Together they decide to enter into an unholy partnership to fleece fellow travelers. This leads to her returning to New York to take a job with Cortez at a speakeasy. In an ironic twist, the speakeasy is her old manse.
The house on 56th is once again her home, only the guests are now people with gambling addictions and a fondness for vice.
Into this environment arrives a young bride (Margaret Lindsay) with a penchant for blackjack. We learn that she is Francis’ long-lost daughter, and that she will be no match for her mother’s skills at the table. Francis wants to spare embarrassment for her daughter, who still doesn’t know of her true identity, but instead she is forced to teach the girl a valuable lesson.
This all backfires considerably, when Lindsay gets in way over her head and owes the house about $15,000...a sizable sum that she cannot pay unless she admits to her husband that she's been gambling...which will likely mean an end to her marriage. In frustration, Lindsay returns to the house the following day to get the I.O.U.'s she signed the night before. During an argument with Cortez, she grabs his gun, then shoots and kills him. Dramatic stuff!
This sets the stage for the mother of all scenes, where Francis decides to cover for her daughter and take the blame for the death of Cortez.
However, Francis will get off the hook this time– the writers probably felt that she shouldn’t be sent to prison twice as she had already suffered enough. We come to learn that she’ll remain at the house, continuing as a dealer, but now working with another man.
There is a nice coda at the end, a brief flashback of when Raymond had first brought Francis to the house after their honeymoon, where he had told her she’d be here for the rest of her life. And that is exactly what happens. Only she is not here alone…she is here with the memory of how life had been. It helps her pass the time to get through the dark days and nights she now experiences.
Kay Francis gives one of her most superb performances in this picture, which was a huge success for Warner Brothers, earning back three times its cost at the box office. Her best scenes are the ones where we see her tenderly holding her newborn, as well as the scenes where she must say goodbye to her husband in prison.
There is something special about a film where an actress can take us through the romantic highs and gut wrenching lows, yet still make it all seem valiant and noble.
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Post by topbilled on May 18, 2023 14:42:38 GMT
This neglected film is from 1952.
Decent remake
This Technicolor remake of the old hit has only aired four times on TCM, the most recent broadcast was in 2014. By comparison, the 1927 talkie version, which starred Al Jolson and ushered in the sound era, has had much more exposure. Even the 1980 remake with Neil Diamond is better known. It’s a shame, because Danny Thomas does such a splendid job here.
He is cast alongside Peggy Lee, who plays his songbird girlfriend. Supposedly, director Michael Curtiz wanted Doris Day to costar with Thomas, since she’d already had a hit movie with him at the studio. But I suspect the reason Miss Day turned the role down was that she wouldn’t be playing the main character. In her place, Peggy Lee does quite well, so that’s a consolation.
After making THE JAZZ SINGER, Danny Thomas’ career moved into television full-time. On TV he became a household name and achieved fame. Interestingly, he was not Jewish, though he did belong to a Jewish country club, one of the few non-Jews to be welcomed in such an establishment. As most know, Thomas was a devout Roman Catholic, heralded for his philanthropic work on behalf of St. Jude’s charity for children.
Aspects of the original story are modified to reflect the times and to accommodate Thomas’ individual talents as an entertainer. He sings several jazzy tunes with Miss Lee, and he also performs some of his stand-up shtick which seems dated by today’s standards, though it is all rather harmless. The stand-up comedy routines feel like something Red Skelton might’ve done.
As for the solo musical numbers, Thomas’ renditions resemble Jolson’s in terms of vocal delivery, which I am sure was deliberate in order to pay homage to Mr. Jolson. The original story and stage play were written by Samson Raphaelson and included references to Jolson’s life.
Some of the conflict that occurs seems overwrought…where he must choose between being a temple cantor or a career in show biz. However, I think the heart of the conflict, the quarrel between father and son, still resonates today. Namely, how to honor one’s family, and yet carve out one’s own path.
At times, the central character in this tale seems selfish and even disrespecting of his cultural and religious heritage. But when the father (Eduard Franz) disowns him, we feel sympathy and do not exactly side with the father or his notions about tradition.
Mildred Dunnock is fantastic as the refined and always poised, yet long-suffering, mother. She’s especially wonderful in a scene where she attends her son’s musical show, and he performs a lullaby she used to sing to him when he was a boy. Also worth noting is Allyn Joslyn as a shallow Broadway producer…as well as Alex Gerry as Uncle Louis who succeeds in facilitating a reconciliation between father and son before it’s too late.
Character-driven performances, nicely staged musical numbers and Warner Brothers’ top quality production values make this one must-see.
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Post by Fading Fast on May 18, 2023 14:58:32 GMT
Mildred Dunnock is an incredibly talented actress who flies far below the radar today where fantastic actresses like Margaret Hamilton are still known, but for some reason, Dunnock isn't. If you get a chance, it's worth checking out her incredible performance in "I Want You," where she completely decimates her husband's, played by another fine actor, Robert Keith, rah-rah-war mentality.
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Post by topbilled on May 18, 2023 15:37:04 GMT
Mildred Dunnock is an incredibly talented actress who flies far below the radar today where fantastic actresses like Margaret Hamilton are still known, but for some reason, Dunnock isn't. If you get a chance, it's worth checking out her incredible performance in "I Want You," where she completely decimates her husband's, played by another fine actor, Robert Keith, rah-rah-war mentality. |
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Post by Fading Fast on May 18, 2023 15:39:28 GMT
Mildred Dunnock is an incredibly talented actress who flies far below the radar today where fantastic actresses like Margaret Hamilton are still known, but for some reason, Dunnock isn't. If you get a chance, it's worth checking out her incredible performance in "I Want You," where she completely decimates her husband's, played by another fine actor, Robert Keith, rah-rah-war mentality. |
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Post by topbilled on May 18, 2023 15:40:32 GMT
I don't think I've ever seen I WANT YOU. One performance of hers that stands out for me is her role as Gig Young's mother in THE STORY ON PAGE ONE. She has a great scene on the witness stand, trying to smear Rita Hayworth's reputation, whom she wants to see convicted for killing her son. |
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