|
|
Post by Fading Fast on Oct 30, 2023 15:03:44 GMT
Svengali from 1931 with John Barrymore and Marian Marsh
This is not the picture to use to appeal to people who are already skeptical of old movies. With its silent film mannerisms, slow pace, and special effects that seem hokey by today's standards, no one is going to be converted to old movies by this film.
Svengali, though, for the old-movie fan, has some impressive moments if you can see past its early talkie clunkiness and dated style. John Barrymore, playing Svengali, is introduced to us as a poor, unkempt maestro living in an artist's studio in mid-nineteenth-century Paris.
Svengali the man, think of him as a horror-movie version of Rasputin, uses hypnosis to control others. Not coincidentally, Barrymore would, only a year later, play the mad Russian monk on the big screen.
When Barrymore meets a beautiful young model, played by Marian Marsh, suffering from migraines, he offers to cure her headaches. He does cure them, but through a hypnosis that now puts her in his control.
Presented here, Barrymore's supernatural powers are not only real, but seem to be some combination of hypnosis with telepathy all driven by his wild eyes. He can summon Marsh even if she is blocks away from him.
Marsh had been in love with a handsome young artist, played by Bramwell Fletcher. But under Barrymore's spell, she fakes suicide and leaves Paris with Barrymore. Five years later, the two pop up in Europe with Marsh now a successful opera singer.
Barrymore is Marsh's omnipotent maestro as he seems to have almost total control over her. He and Marsh, now wealthy, appear to be married. But when her old boyfriend, Fletcher, sees them, Barrymore gets nervous as Marsh, deep down, still loves Fletcher.
Along the way, we learn that Marsh has "submitted" to Barrymore when under his spell, but never of her own free will, which is something Barrymore wants deeply. Barrymore now also has heart trouble, which reduces his power to control Marsh.
From here, this weird horror-romance love triangle has Barrymore desperately trying to hold on to Marsh, with Fletcher relentlessly stalking the couple all over Europe. As Barrymore's health continues to flag, his control of Marsh weakens further.
The end is as odd as the rest of the story (no spoilers coming). You can see this tale as either one of a love half fulfilled in eternity or a rebuke to the nineteenth century's Romantic Era view of love as a power so great it can break its earthly bonds.
For fans of horror movies, Svengali is an important early and influential entry in the genre. It's also a good example of how movies in 1931 were still transitioning from the pre-sound era as many silent-era "tics" are still noticeable.
Those "tics" include some very long, slow and actionless scenes with dramatic pauses where the actors hold themselves and their facial expressions nearly frozen. These seem campy to modern audiences, but they were viewed as dramatic moments in their day.
Svengali is more of a historical curio than a great movie, but it is worth one watch for its significance to movie history. Plus, despite all its handicaps, there are a few powerful moments when even a modern viewer can appreciate the picture on its own terms. |
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Oct 30, 2023 15:17:49 GMT
About two years ago Jlewis and I did an Essentials theme about husbands who control their wives' singing careers. We included SVENGALI, CITIZEN KANE, LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME and WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT.
It was kind of an interesting theme, because we were finding these Svengali-like traits in characters like Charles Foster Kane, Martin Snyder and Ike Turner.
***
John Barrymore and Marian Marsh teamed up again in another WB precode called THE MAD GENIUS.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mad_Genius
|
|
|
|
Post by marysara1 on Oct 31, 2023 8:28:59 GMT
About two years ago Jlewis and I did an Essentials theme about husbands who control their wives' singing careers. We included SVENGALI, CITIZEN KANE, LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME and WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT.
It was kind of an interesting theme, because we were finding these Svengali-like traits in characters like Charles Foster Kane, Martin Snyder and Ike Turner.
***
John Barrymore and Marian Marsh teamed up again in another WB precode called THE MAD GENIUS.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mad_Genius |
|
|
|
Post by marysara1 on Oct 31, 2023 8:30:00 GMT
What about the movie Maytime?
|
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Oct 31, 2023 16:21:38 GMT
What about the movie Maytime? |
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Nov 8, 2023 15:51:04 GMT
This neglected film is from 1959.
A strong yet morally ambiguous character
Gary Cooper didn’t make many more motion pictures after this one. I’m particularly fond of his westerns from the 1950s. THE HANGING TREE is one of the best, and it was shot in Technicolor on location in Washington state in the summer of 1958. Washington is a stand-in for Montana, where the story is set.
It’s a gold rush tale that takes place in 1873. Plenty of men are mining along a river for ore. We learn the phrase ‘sluice robber’ right away, since Ben Piazza’s character steals a nugget from a sluice, which is a wide wooden trough where the dirt is washed and separated from ore. We are told sluice robbery is a hanging offense.
While fleeing, Piazza is shot and taken in by a mysterious new arrival (Cooper). The bullet is dislodged professionally, which means Cooper is a doctor. However, Cooper isn’t all about practicing medicine; he’s just as interested in mining, gambling and assorted business ventures with a local merchant (Karl Swenson) in town. You name, Cooper does it. Oh, and he’s an expert gunman rumored to have killed a couple that crossed him back east, which we later find out was his wife and brother.
In exchange for saving the young man’s life, Cooper “blackmails” Piazza into being his manservant. Their relationship is part comical, part acrimonious and part mutually respectful. Just as they are getting used to each other and establishing a medical practice, their world is turned upside down with the abrupt introduction of a European woman (Maria Schell).
Schell has been hurt in an explosion that happened when a stagecoach she and her dad were traveling on recently was attacked. Her father did not survive, and Schell, who nearly lost her own life, cannot see. Of course, she will convalesce under Cooper’s care, which sets tongues to wagging while he aids in the recovery of her sight. To the writers’ credit, we get the expected romance but not the expected triangle. Instead of Schell being torn between Cooper and Piazza, it is really Cooper who is having a simultaneous relationship with Schell and with Piazza.
In addition, there’s a trapper turned miner (Karl Malden) who helped save Miss Schell’s life, and he is obsessing over her. Malden is appropriately smarmy but not too over the top as some Method Actors can be. He gives us a colorful yet fairly balanced villain. Along with Malden, there’s a strange religious man in town who gets to say and do memorable things. This role is played by George C. Scott, eleven years before he and Malden teamed up for PATTON.
I won’t give away the ending. But there is a huge gold strike in an area outside town called a glory hole. A short time later, one of our antagonists experiences a sudden and violent death along the edge of a cliff.
There is a hanging scene at the end, which reminds us of the title and the Oscar nominated tune sung by Marty Robbins. This is a highly engrossing film, and it’s interesting to see Cooper play such a strong yet morally ambiguous character still in his prime.
|
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Nov 16, 2023 16:07:00 GMT
This neglected film is from 1938.
Pulchritude sweepstakes
There’s a lot to be said for a modest little Warner Brothers programmer that packs a lot into a 71-minute running time. SECRETS OF AN ACTRESS is a film that Kay Francis probably didn’t want to make, but she doesn’t let her feelings about the material get in the way. She excels at romance dramas and is able to take a fairly standard script and elevate it.
In 1938 Miss Francis and her boss Jack Warner were at odds. He felt she was too expensive and in an attempt to try and void her contract, he began to assign lesser vehicles to her. If she refused to do them, he could place her on unpaid suspension and force her to quit. At this point, the studio still owed her a few more pictures under her original contract.
But Kay Francis was not willing to pack up just yet…she had no intention of walking away from several hundred thousand dollars (Depression era dollars). And to Mr. Warner’s displeasure, she accepted these typically inferior assignments.
At least she was able to keep Orry Kelly as her designer. So although she was now appearing in a “B” film, she was still dressed for an “A” film.
Fortunately, she was able to get decent costars and an excellent director. The only thing that really looks cheap in SECRETS OF AN ACTRESS is the sets. But we can’t be too fussed on that since it’s the story we’re more invested in watching.
The plot has Miss Francis as a struggling New York-based actress turning thirty and still not having achieved a significant role on Broadway. (In reality, Kay Francis was 33.) There’s a good backstory where we learn her dad was a famous Shakespearean actor who put the ham in Hamlet. Her father spent most of his time on the road in touring productions, but she wants more. She wants to headline her own play on the Great White Way.
Into her life walks an architect (Ian Hunter) who’s interested in the idea of backing a show. Of course, he is also romantically interested in her. He soon announces that his firm will design the sets for a new production that will feature her in the lead role. As if that is not enough, Hunter also promises to build Francis her own theater when their first play is a hit. Move over Helen Hayes and Tallulah Bankhead.
Romantic complications occur when Francis ends up sparring with then falling for Hunter’s business partner (George Brent). Meanwhile, Hunter remains smitten with Francis and he is not about to give up his chance to win the pulchritude sweepstakes.
At the same time we find out that Brent is stuck in a loveless marriage with a high-society witch (Gloria Dickson) and cannot obtain a divorce.
Realizing that Brent is not legally available, Francis accepts Hunter’s proposal. However, she is not really in love with him and still wants to be with Brent. It’s all rather formulaic as far as these things go, but it’s nonetheless engrossing. Miss Dickson steals every scene she’s in and gives new meaning to the word leach. There’s also a fine performance from Isabel Jeans as Francis’ actress pal who is unhappy in love and usually has a few too many drinks to get through the day.
In some ways this films reminds me of the later Paramount picture FOREVER FEMALE starring Ginger Rogers. Whenever a famous Hollywood actress plays a famous theatrical actress on film, it always feels a bit heightened yet authentic. In this case, our star performer is successful at infusing melodrama with charm and perseverance. There’s a happy ending for her…but not until after considerable anguish and hand-wringing has occurred.
|
|
|
|
Post by NoShear on Nov 17, 2023 1:33:27 GMT
This neglected film is from 1931.
A controlling mentor
Most earlier versions of the Svengali story were called ‘Trilby,’ after the doomed heroine. She was the main focus in the original tale written by George du Maurier (grandfather of Daphne du Maurier). However, a secondary character– Trilby’s mentor Svengali– seemed to be the one that caught on with the public.
In the early 1900s there were stage adaptations and silent film versions. Warner Brothers obtained the rights to remake the property as a sound film in 1930. Not surprisingly, the studio chose Svengali’s name for the title, instead of Trilby’s. He was now the main character. So definitive would he be that the word Svengali morphed into a popular synonym for anyone thought to be an egotistical maniac.
It helps that John Barrymore is cast in the lead role. A well-known actor who gave many memorable performances during his long career, Mr. Barrymore had a way of enthralling audiences. That is key to his success as Svengali.
Less successful in this offering is a WB contractee, Marian Marsh, as Trilby. She is outfitted with odd wigs and unflattering apparel which detracts from the job she needs to do. When she finally gets the chance to dive into the material, she finds herself upstaged by her charismatic costar.
Furthermore, Miss Marsh pales in comparison to the fine supporting cast that includes Donald Crisp and Luis Alberni. Mr. Alberni would later costar with Barrymore in TOPAZE, which we already reviewed.
Since our theme this month is husbands who control their wives’ singing careers, I should briefly mention the plot. In du Maurier’s book, Trilby has relationships with more than one man. While living in Paris and posing for paintings, she is attracted to a handsome young artist (Bramwell Fletcher). But then she meets a piano maestro named Svengali and begins to spend time with him. Her life starts to go in a dramatically different direction, because she’s falling under his spell, quite literally.
Trilby ends up marrying Svengali, and he helps her achieve great success as an opera star in Europe. But she never really loves Svengali, despite being under his constant supervision and hypnotic powers. The last sequence of the film has Trilby reunite with her artist friend, which lessens her husband’s stranglehold on her.
Losing his grip, Svengali succumbs to his death. But he intends to be reunited with the beloved songbird in the afterlife.
Several things convey a sense of horror in this movie. First, there is Barrymore’s exaggerated appearance. Also, there are strangely designed sets that complement Barrymore’s stylized acting. It’s clear that while this is a Hollywood production, there is substantial use of German expressionism, especially the way some shots are framed with the camera tilted at noticeable angles. This lends itself to a sense of imbalance and uneasiness when Svengali is on screen coaching his pupils.
In a way Trilby is nothing without him, and Svengali realizes he is nothing without her. They have a marriage made in hell, which we will see again in the other films we are reviewing this month. But there is something else going on. These two characters share important career goals. They both seek fame and fortune.
 It's interesting to me that you dropped German Expressionism in your review, TopBilled: I was thinking that, though a talkie, the movie retained that sinister silent look to it. |
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Nov 17, 2023 2:09:39 GMT
I think when reviewers concentrate too much on German expressionism, they start to look more at style and get away from the substance of the picture.
Recently I reviewed the very baroque British romance drama CORRIDOR OF MIRRORS. I was careful to balance my comments about the picture's visual style with the substance of the story.
|
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Nov 20, 2023 8:59:01 GMT
This neglected film is from 1932.
Running the company together
At 63 minutes this precode tells an engaging story in about an hour’s time. The plot isn’t too hard to follow, and there are no real surprises. In fact, the most challenging thing may be wondering what sort of hat the lead actress will wear in her next scene.
It was 1932, and Kay Francis had already established herself as a fashionable Hollywood star. She’d just signed on with Warner Brothers, after appearing in a series of hits at Paramount. This would be her first WB picture, and she went on to star in a total of 29 films at the studio over the next ten years.
The script for MAN WANTED has Miss Francis playing an editor who wields considerable power in the office. Her character oversees a magazine, though perhaps if the writers had put her in charge of a modeling agency, it may have suited the actress’s glamorous persona a bit better.
Initial scenes depict Francis as a task master. She wastes no time firing a longtime secretary (Elizabeth Patterson) who is no longer up to the demands of the job. Suddenly faced with needing a new assistant, she then hires a recent Harvard grad (David Manners) who is hawking goods at a store and struggling to earn a decent wage. Their initial encounter isn’t exactly a meet-cute, but we know where it’s going.
At the same time our career woman has what could be termed a ‘trophy husband’ (Kenneth Thomson). We’re not really given any backstory on the hubby, so other than his being socially acceptable, we don’t know why she married him. Or why she continues to stay married to him and financially support him when he’s such a loafer. It’s hardly a fulfilling marriage for her. This plot point might have worked better if the husband was gay and she was his beard, out of a sense of loyalty and friendship.
Meanwhile, Manners has a sweetheart, in the form of Una Merkel. Not sure if Miss Merkel was cast because the producers thought she was charming, or because she was meant to be more the opposite type of Kay Francis. At any rate, one cannot really buy Merkel’s relationship with Manners as they seem quite the mismatch.
Also, it occurs to me that these scenes of rich people living the good life are meant to make contemporary viewers forget a depression was gripping the country. Filmmakers during this era were often making movies about their own ritzy lives, not necessarily reflecting the lives or concerns of working class ticket buyers in middle America. As such, there’s a lack of realism, of infinite proportions, but the story does provide some moments of escapism.
One thing I do give this kudos for is the fact that after Francis’ character surrenders to love and eventually pairs off with Manners, there is no huge role reversal. She doesn’t suddenly become submissive or abandon her corporate position. Instead, she and Manners will work side by side running the company together, and their lives will go forward from here. On that note, MAN WANTED is ultimately more progressive than similar tales like FEMALE (1933) and TAKE A LETTER DARLING (1942), where lady execs end up sacrificing original goals and losing all their ambition.
|
|
|
|
Post by Fading Fast on Nov 20, 2023 12:42:24 GMT
Man Wanted from 1932 with Kay Francis, David Manners, Una Merkel and Andy Devine
The three things that make Man Wanted special - one, a woman with an open marriage who enjoys running a business, two, a talented cast and, three, A-picture production qualities - overcome the movie's silly, off-the-shelf story about romantic entanglements.
Kay Francis, playing the head of a publishing company, is very good at a job she thoroughly enjoys. She can be curt with the men and women who work for her, but she's running a business and doesn't have the time or patience for worrying about others' feelings.
What's "shocking," though, is her quasi-open marriage to a society playboy where she seems okay with his philandering as long as he's somewhat discreet about it and still has feelings for her.
Into this unstable situation walks a handsome Harvard grad and salesman, played by David Manners, whom Francis hires away to be her personal secretary. Manners quickly becomes more of a business advisor to Francis, while also developing feelings for her.
Manners, however, is engaged to an annoying-as-heck and constantly whining woman, played by Una Merkel, who does, though, have a rich dad. Manners is clearly planning to marry for money, but with his looks, you'd think he could do better than screechy Merkel.
That's the setup in this short movie where the sexual tension mounts until Manners makes a move on Francis. She rebuffs him with a cold businesswoman aloofness, until she discovers her husband has developed real feelings for one of his paramours.
The climax is almost campy as all the deceptions and emotions spill out, but that doesn't really matter as the value in Man Wanted is Francis playing a serious businesswoman who doesn't simply chuck her career for marriage as often happens in 1930s movies, even precodes.
It's 1932 and both Francis and Manners give speeches about how traditional stereotypes are outdated as women are now, often, serious business professionals. It's mainly the men in this one who appear emotional and driven by passion, like Francis' husband or Manners.
One movie proves nothing, but it shows that the ideas that women can be business executives and that men can be the romantic and flighty ones were clearly in the mix in the early 1930s.
These ideas would be, sadly, all but removed from movies within a few years with the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code.
Books and newspapers from the era confirm, though, that the complexity of society and gender roles continued in the real world, even if movies ignored it.
Man Wanted's talented cast, which also includes Andy Devine as Manners' friend from college, combined with Warners Bros. top production techniques - the sound quality and cinematography for 1932 are impressive - easily shepherd the story over its vacuous plot.
For us today, there is also a fun time-travel feel with all the cars, architecture and fashions of the period, including Kay Francis in an era-iconic hat. Plus, it's a neat, albeit exaggerated peek into how the very few rich lived during the Depression.
Man Wanted can be silly, but it also has stunningly modern views. Its story construct of a successful type-A businesswoman surrounded by men distracted with romantic feelings is the set-up of many romcoms today, making Man Wanted's outlook remarkably contemporary.
 |
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Nov 27, 2023 14:01:07 GMT
This neglected film is from 1945.
He’ll respect women if it’s the last thing he does
At one point in the story someone calls Zachary Scott a wolf, and it’s an apt description. Of course, we can think of other words that might apply to his character in this movie, none of them very nice. Mr. Scott had the market cornered on these types of heels, and he seems to enjoy playing them. He also seems to enjoy working opposite Faye Emerson, his costar in several noir melodramas at Warner Brothers in the mid-1940s.
Miss Emerson, the daughter-in-law of President Roosevelt, shares similarities with Alexis Smith and Eleanor Parker, two other WB starlets. Most likely the actresses were competing for roles that had been turned down by Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.
In DANGER SIGNAL Miss Emerson is a stenographer whose mother (Mary Servoss) rents a room to a handsome boarder played by Scott. His background seems sketchy– all we know is that he’s wanted by police for questioning about the death of a woman who died under suspicious circumstances. Obviously, he doesn’t mention any of this to Emerson and her mom. They find him quite charming.
While staying with the ladies, Scott works on several short stories and gets a few of them published. However, he acts as if he is without sufficient funds. Also, he manipulates Emerson into helping him write a note, that seems to set the stage for a suicide-homicide.
When he’s not writing, he is busy spending time wrapping Emerson around his finger. His goal is to find out how much her family is worth. After a somewhat unusual courtship, they become engaged, in secret, since he is stringing her along and doesn’t really love her.
The film’s second act begins with the return home of Emerson’s kid sister (Mona Freeman), barely 18, who’s been away recovering from an unspecified illness. When Scott learns Freeman was left a sizable inheritance from a recently deceased aunt, and that she has more money than Emerson, he changes tactics.
He drops Emerson and romances Freeman. Of course, that doesn’t go over well with Emerson. She fights her own jealousy and insecurity. While Emerson and Freeman do a fine job, the story probably would’ve packed more wallop if someone with Ida Lupino’s brand of fiery intensity had played the older sister. Emerson is too polite for her jealousy to register or for there to be any real sense of tension or rivalry between the two sisters.
In many regards, this is a by-the-book melodrama where the relationship of both sisters is nearly destroyed. Interestingly, there are two men on the sidelines (Bruce Bennett & Richard Erdman) pining for the sisters, so these gals may get their happy endings after Scott has been dealt with, if the law doesn’t catch up with him first.
The best supporting character is a European psychiatrist played with flair and restraint by Rosemary DeCamp. She spouts the most memorable dialogue in the movie when Emerson seeks her out for advice.
After meeting the roguish Scott, DeCamp psychoanalyzes him. She declares that he’s a man who uses women, whose whole life is driven by women…yet he doesn’t respect them. When Emerson hears this, she decides that he will start to respect women if it’s the last thing he does.
|
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Dec 13, 2023 13:18:27 GMT
This film is from 1945.
Psychological triangle
Some cat-and-mouse games are fun to watch play out on screen, even if they include considerable psychological mumbo jumbo as this film does. Humphrey Bogart teams up with Sydney Greenstreet in another Warner Brothers crime flick, this time with Bogart as the villain and Greenstreet as a cagey analyst who works with police to nab Bogart.
In a way you could say this is GASLIGHT for the good. Greenstreet aids police in setting Bogart up, when it is suspected that Bogart’s wife (Rose Hobart) was the victim of foul play. Clues point to Bogart as the obvious culprit, but there is no real evidence to link him to the deed, so a trap is carefully set in which Greenstreet and others hone in on Bogart’s insecurities.
The object is to play on Bogart’s conscience, though to be honest, I don’t think Bogart’s character really has much of one. Earlier in the picture we see Bogart’s increasing attraction to a young sister-in-law (Alexis Smith in a role originally intended for Eleanor Parker). Hobart has her own insecurities, and despite all outward appearances of a perfect marriage, she knows her husband’s desire is for Smith and not for her.
There’s a confrontation and hurtful things are said. At this point Bogart has decided to get rid of Hobart, thus freeing him up to be with Smith. However, he doesn’t count on Smith being proposed to by someone else (Charles Drake), and Greenstreet getting wise.
Production notes about the background of the film tell us that Bogart was not keen to portray a wife killer, despite having played ruthless hoodlum characters in previous pictures that had no qualms about committing murder. I suppose this would be the first time the actor was playing a so-called family man who is really just a cold blooded opportunist. To prevent being suspended by the studio, he did accept the role in this film. Interestingly, he’d play another wife killer in THE TWO MRS. CARROLLS, also with Alexis Smith as the other woman, and Barbara Stanwyck playing the wife.
Speaking of the wife character, Rose Hobart was a replacement for her role. The studio’s first choice was Joan Crawford who’d just moved over to Warners from Metro. She hadn’t yet locked down her Oscar winning part of Mildred Pierce, and Jack Warner was eager to get her in front of the cameras.
However, Miss Crawford balked at this assignment, telling Mr. Warner that she never died in her movies (something that finally did happen in 1965’s I SAW WHAT YOU DID). I guess it was her way of ensuring she remained on camera till the end and emerged a survivor.
What’s worth noting here is that while the wife is killed off midway into the story, there is ongoing CONFLICT for Bogey’s character because he is haunted by images involving the dead wife. It’s sort of a precursor for VERTIGO in that regard, and I think that if Crawford had accepted the job, probably those after-death scenes would have been expanded, and perhaps the script might even have been reworked with her having survived the “killing” and being in on it with Greenstreet to bring Bogey down and teach him a lesson.
|
|
|
|
Post by Fading Fast on Dec 13, 2023 13:51:55 GMT
Conflict from 1945 with Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith and Sidney Greenstreet
Conflict's director Curtis Bernhardt did a highly competent job making this engaging noir crime-drama mystery. Still, you can't help wondering what Alfred Hitchcock would have done with the same material as the story and characters are right in the famed director's sweet spot.
Humphrey Bogart plays a middle-aged engineer in a tired marriage laced with mild hostility who falls in love with his wife's younger, pretty sister played by Alexis Smith.
His angry wife, who knows Bogart has fallen in love with her sister, will not give him a divorce as she doesn't want to let her life turn into a Greek Tragedy. So for Bogart, the question is, what to do? Very early on, we see Bogart answer that question with murder.
Bogart arranges an elaborate death for his wife, which includes running her car off a deserted mountain road into a deep ravine. With that "problem" solved, Bogie attempts to play the grieving husband for his "missing" wife as the accident goes undiscovered.
But is the problem solved? That is the core mystery at the heart of Conflict as odd things start to happen to Bogart. A piece of his wife's jewelry and then a handkerchief of hers shows up.
He also receives a note in her handwriting and a suspicious phone call. A pawnshop ticket is sent to him for his wife's locket. He even smells his wife's perfume in their bedroom. Finally, he thinks he sees his wife on the street, but isn't able to catch up to her.
Is he going mad? He killed her, or so he thinks. But is she, maybe alive? He never went down to the ravine to check on the body, but it was a violent and fatal looking accident.
Or is his sister-in-law, Smith, the object of his affections, having figured out what he did, trying to smoke him out? Smith, a tall, pretty woman plays a tall, pretty, cold-looking sister-in-law, here, who maybe loves Bogart or maybe thinks he murdered her sister.
Playing Bogart's friend and foil in this one, in the role of a noted psychologist, is Sidney Greenstreet who brings his personal brand of mirth and menace to his character. He has long conversations with Bogart about the morality of murder in a way that only movies of that era did without irony.
Conflict, though, is Bogart's movie and the always-tired-looking leading man does an admirable job playing a murderer who becomes befuddled when his putatively dead wife seems to keep sending him messages. His slow mental breakdown is effective and engaging.
Director Bernhardt set a fast pace for the film while ending it in under ninety minutes as he understood there is not a longer movie here. He also drops a big clue in early, laces the picture with a lot of misdirection and ends with the big reveal, which you will have probably figured out ahead of time.
With several top stars in the cast, Conflict is an A picture from Warner Bros. However, being shot mainly on sets, with only a little action and a lot of talking, it often feels more like a play than a movie.
One can't help wondering, though, what Alfred Hitchcock might have done with the same material, as a decade later, in Dial M for Murder, he played with several similar story elements.
Conflict feels a bit heavy and flat in a way that Dial M for Murder doesn't, in part, because Dial M gives you one thing Conflict is lacking - and something nearly every Hitchcock movie has - a few people to passionately root for.
Despite its shortcomings, Conflict is an entertaining effort, ably carried by Bogart, with solid assists from Smith and Greenstreet. You can't help thinking, though, that there was a better movie to be made from the same material.
N.B. In The Big Sleep, Bogart’s character denigrates Elisha Cook Jr.’s character by telling the diminutive Cook Jr. that the woman he's interested in is "too big for you." Well, Bogart was throwing rocks out of glass houses as Alexis Smith must have had at least an inch of height (sans Bogie's lifts) and twenty pounds on Bogart in Conflict. |
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Dec 19, 2023 8:29:14 GMT
This neglected film is from 1947.
The man she loves
The country was in the final stages of the second world war when Warner Brothers cast Ida Lupino in this melodrama which includes music and crime elements. Ann Sheridan was the intended star but was working on other projects, so it went to Miss Lupino. In some ways it is similar to NORA PRENTISS which Sheridan made at this time…and both films feature Robert Alda as a refined mobster who runs a nightclub.
Mr. Alda never gets the girl in these pictures, though he tries hard. Usually the women in his orbit end up with more noble suffering men– in this case one played by Bruce Bennett.
Miss Lupino portrays the main character, a lounge singer who travels from Manhattan to Long Beach for an impromptu family reunion. While she appears in the majority of scenes, plenty of screen time is allowed for us to get to know the others.
The film has a rather large extended cast. Chief among the supporting players is Andrea King as Lupino’s married sister whose husband (John Ridgely) has seen better days. A war veteran, he’s experiencing PTSD and is currently staying at a mental hospital.
In addition to King, there is another sister (Martha Vickers) and a brother (Warren Douglas)– two young adults not more than kids really, on the verge of making bad choices. The brother especially needs guidance; he is working for Alda and an associate (Alan Hale) at the club and occasionally handles delicate “business.”
There’s a couple (Dolores Moran and Don McGuire) who live across the hall from King’s apartment. They just had twins, but the wife is already running around with other men because domestic life isn’t for her. Noticing the chaos in everyone’s lives, Lupino decides to extend her stay and makes it her mission to get them all back on track. At the same time she is hired to sing at Alda’s club.
Bennett’s character is introduced into the story in a highly imaginative way. He has been arrested when Lupino’s kid brother pins a crime on him. Lupino goes to bail the guy out, trying to undo the mistake her brother made. Outside the precinct Lupino and Bennett get to know each other. He was foreshadowed earlier in the movie when Lupino’s character off-handedly mentioned the name of a jazz pianist she never met but whose music she’s always admired.
When they cross paths, they discuss common interests. Soon she becomes smitten with him. But two obstacles stand in the way of a possible relationship– Bennett’s insecurities plus Alda’s jealousy and possessiveness.
The film benefits from the use of several tunes from the great American songbook–notably the Gershwins’ hit that doubles as the film’s title. Along with the music there are soulful performances from the leads; and there is a lot of dialogue that takes into account not only the fate of men after the war, but the fate of women too.
I especially like that there is no cliched happy ending. Lupino and Bennett go separate ways. There is a bit of hopefulness they may meet up again. Lupino and Bennett are playing star-crossed wanderers. Lupino’s priority is her family and it will always be her priority but she is also on a search for what will bring true happiness into her life.
The film seems okay with her not yet settling down. Someday she will, with the man she loves.
|
|
