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Post by topbilled on Feb 20, 2023 16:05:39 GMT
This neglected film is from 1939.
British nurse in Belgium becomes a martyr
NURSE EDITH CAVELL (1939) was made by RKO prior to U.S. involvement in the second world war. It is a fantastic motion picture. Since the title is in the public domain, most copies that exist online are old syndicated prints. These prints tend to be inferior in visual quality. Fortunately, the British Film Institute recently did a digital restoration and if you can see a copy of that print, please do. You will not be disappointed.
Anna Neagle does a brilliant job as the British nurse who goes to Belgium and later becomes a martyr. We see her tending to the sick on all sides. She provides diligent care for wounded Belgians, French, British and Germans. Her goal was to alleviate suffering for all humankind. How ironic that she suffered a terrible fate, death before a firing squad.
Nurse Cavell was convicted of treason by the Germans in late 1915, a situation that generated much interest internationally. Her sentence was quickly carried out and she was executed shortly after her trial. This film spends the last half hour covering the trial, various appeals for mercy, and the death scene itself plus a coda that takes place in Britain after the war has ended where she receives a national funeral.
The first hour of the film shows how she gradually becomes a part of an underground movement to help prisoners of war escape the German manhunts and flee to safety. The story begins with an introductory preface at Christmas before WWI breaks out, then it flashes ahead six months where we see her become involved with various individuals needing medical care and political refuge. Aiding Edith Cavell in these efforts is an interesting group of older women who form a delightfully rebellious cohort.
The nurse's cronies are played by several renowned character actresses. Edna May Oliver is on hand as an aristocrat who becomes less self-centered after learning of atrocities committed by the German military on her own land. Meanwhile, ZaSu Pitts turns up in a slightly comic role as a woman who helps smuggle POWs across the border. Then there's May Robson as an elderly store owner who first seeks out Cavell's help when her own grandson is wanted by the German police. Together these women save over 200 men.
The script and performances are all quite sharp, and Herbert Wilcox’s direction is superb. Wilcox had previously produced a silent version of the story a decade earlier in his native Britain with Sybil Thorndike. Off screen Wilcox and Neagle were romantically involved and would marry a few years later. He produced her starring vehicles from the late 1930s into the 1950s.
I do feel as if Neagle deserved an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. She skillfully underplays the horrors that her medical character faces, and the execution scene is played with remarkable grace and dignity. George Sanders has a supporting role as a German officer determined to bring Nurse Cavell to “justice” and in some ways he reminds me of Inspector Javert from Les Miserables.
As for the trio of character actresses that support Miss Neagle throughout much of the picture, I would say that all are equally good though May Robson steals a courtroom scene during the trial when she has a very critical outburst.
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Post by topbilled on Feb 28, 2023 15:08:44 GMT
This neglected film is from 1957.
Troubled youth
There is a great deal of sincerity in the writing and performances in THE YOUNG STRANGER. It is part of a trend of juvenile delinquent “A” pictures that began in the mid-1950s, and as such, is one of the better examples. It happens to be adapted from a teleplay, originally produced for live television as part of the Climax! series.
Director John Frankenheimer cut his teeth in the new medium, helming over 100 episodes of anthology programs. Stories usually focused on social issues of the day and offered commentary about ways in which change might be implemented. One of earliest episodes that Frankenheimer directed for Climax! was ‘Deal a Blow,’ which would serve as the basis for this big screen adaptation from RKO.
The teleplay and subsequent screenplay were both written by Robert Dozier, who was then in his mid-20s. Frankenheimer was also in his mid-20s. Both young men were slightly older than star James MacArthur who was 19 when the movie was made.
MacArthur appeared in the television version, and a few other cast members also transferred over to the film. But the parents, played by James Daly and Kim Hunter in RKO’s production, had been portrayed by Macdonald Carey and Phyllis Thaxter. All of the older adults seem perfectly adequate, with Kim Hunter the best of the bunch.
She has two very poignant scenes, one where she tells her adolescent son (MacArthur) that his father loves him more than he loves her; and another moment later on where she asks her husband (Daly) if he plans to discard her and seek a divorce.
Robert Dozier’s story seems autobiographical. The father in the movie is a Hollywood producer who has no time for his son; and in real life, Robert Dozier’s father was William Dozier, who was running RKO and ironically green-lit this film.
The drama that unfolds is about the problems a father and son have connecting. We can be sure the happy ending on screen at the end of the movie is not fictional. The older Dozier did right by his son and helped turn the story into a motion picture, which allowed the younger Dozier to begin a long career as a writer and eventually, he became a producer himself.
There are a lot of tense pauses in the scenes, which help convey the angst on screen. Simple scenes like the family gathered at dinner are loaded with ritual and subtext, with idiosyncrasies that help us peer under the surface when it comes to their individual problems. At the heart of the story is the father’s reluctance to believe his son’s version of events after being arrested for a disturbance at a local theater.
I do like the fact that this is not exactly a film about hooliganism which may stereotypically be applied to youths from working class backgrounds. There is no thesis on display that the unlawfulness has its origins in poverty. In this case, the opposite is true…a boy from Beverly Hills with every material and social advantage in life has gone astray. He has a scrape with the law and is seen as incorrigible by the adults who fail to believe him.
The film seems to be saying that believing someone is the same as believing in them. Without such fundamental belief and trust, the foundation of a home may just as well be built on quicksand.
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Post by topbilled on Mar 5, 2023 14:54:41 GMT
This neglected film is from 1942.
Coming through
In 1934 Pat O’Brien costarred with James Cagney in HERE COMES THE NAVY. It seems fitting that, as a fighting Irishman, he is cast as the lead in another Navy war flick, this time at RKO. Instead of Cagney, he is joined by MGM star George Murphy who would go on to make another pic with Mr. O’Brien: 1945’s HAVING WONDERFUL CRIME.
The two performers have different yet complimentary acting styles. We can believe they dislike each other yet share a begrudging respect for one another. Complicating matters is the fact that O’Brien testifies against Murphy in the beginning of the story, which leads to Murphy being stripped of his rank and resigning. Added into this professional conflict is a personal matter– Murphy has been dating O’Brien’s sister (Jane Wyatt).
Murphy and Wyatt break up, and Murphy vanishes. But they are all soon reunited when war breaks out. Murphy returns to active duty, now as an enlistee. And, wait for it, he gets placed under O’Brien’s command. At the same time Miss Wyatt, who works as a nurse, is sent to the ship when one of the men is critically injured and she must help a doctor patch the guy up.
Wyatt remains at sea with the ship which is cruising the Atlantic on its way to the U.K. During this period there is a tense moment involving a German U-boat in the fog one night. While escaping harm, Wyatt and Murphy recommit their love. Of course, there isn’t much time for canoodling. Other German boats approach, there are various explosions and suddenly it’s Wyatt’s turn to become injured.
On top of all this, there are dangers concerning torpedoes, the taking of German prisoners and Murphy’s continued conflicts with O’Brien. A lot happens in this film, and there are no dull moments.
One of the more relaxed moments involves Desi Arnaz as a Cuban-American recruit singing a number in Spanish. There is also a bit where Carl Esmond, playing an Austrian-American with intense hatred against the Nazis, performs a violin solo. These brief musical interludes provide a temporary reprieve from battle before there are more bombs and casualties.
THE NAVY COMES THROUGH was a big hit for RKO, and contemporary critics were sufficiently impressed with the melodrama and action sequences. While there are no surprising plot twists, I do think the film is solid and still holds up nicely.
Jackie Cooper has one of his young adult roles as one of the men on board the ship. Around this time, Mr. Cooper joined the Navy, took several years off from acting. And after the war, he remained in the Naval Reserve, reaching the rank of captain.
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Post by topbilled on Mar 14, 2023 14:54:17 GMT
This neglected film is from 1939.
Shallow girls and dreeps
Some films are simple, sweet and nicely presented like this one. They remain etched in the viewer’s mind as a pleasant motion picture experience. It had been awhile since I watched SORORITY HOUSE, but I remembered enjoying it very much…namely because of Anne Shirley’s central performance, as well as Dalton Trumbo’s intelligent screenplay.
Miss Shirley is playing a grocer’s daughter who has spent her life in a small town getting good grades, getting along with everyone and getting customers to come back to her father’s store. However, she would like to attend college and dreams of attending a place called Talbot University in a nearby city.
She doesn’t think they can afford the tuition, but dear old dad takes out a loan from the bank so she’s able to go. The story kicks into gear when Shirley’s character arrives on campus a short time later.
She finds lodging at the boarding house of a kind old woman (Margaret Armstrong) and ends up sharing a room with two other girls (Barbara Read and Pamela Blake). Miss Read is a perfect contrast to Miss Shirley, playing a world-wise type who is the complete opposite of the naive qualities that Shirley projects.
As for Miss Blake, her role is that of a very insecure upperclass girl who is just dying to be invited to join a sorority…and this is where the title and story’s main theme come into focus.
Trumbo’s screenplay highlights the cattiness and desperation of rich snobs struggling to maintain a way of life for their own sort of people, while middle-class girls like Shirley can become upwardly mobile if they are pretty enough and have winning personalities.
At the same time we see the dreeps, a made-up word that Read uses, which is a combination of dreary and weep– basically dreary girls who weep because they will never fit in anywhere. You know the ones I’m talking about– they wear thick glasses and knit, because they have nothing to do on a Saturday night. Such pitiful creatures.
They will never be asked to move into a sorority house on the hill, and will spend their entire college career at the boarding house. Stereotypes? Oh yes. But that gives the story its edge, because we see how these girls and the perception of where they’re from and where they’re going in life, determining who they are.
The movie would not be complete if there wasn’t a bit of wholesome romance worked into the 63-minute plot. RKO contract player James Ellison, who also worked with Miss Shirley in ANNE OF WINDY POPLARS, plays a somewhat older medical student who ditches a snooty sorority gal when he gets to know Shirley and develops feelings for her.
There’s a very cute scene where the freshman girls must have physical exams, and Shirley goes to Ellison for hers. There is nothing inappropriate about the scene…she is overly modest, and he kids her when taking her blood pressure. He asks her on a date which makes her BP go up. It goes up even more when he says she’s the most attractive female he’s seen on campus.
The “climax” of this mild film involves the decision-making process of the sororities. Especially how it affects Miss Blake’s character when she is not chosen to join one of them, but Shirley and other girls are. She goes into the bathroom to kill herself, but is stopped in time. Shades of the suicide scene in STAGE DOOR, which was much more tragic.
In addition to this, we have a nice reconciliation between Shirley and her father, after she had started to act haughty and was embarrassed to say she was a grocer’s daughter. In the end, Shirley and her roommates decide to stay at the boarding house and start their own club, for the more independent girls like them who want to be together. I guess you could say they are starting their own sorority!
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 14, 2023 15:20:44 GMT
After reading Topbilled's review above, I'm wonder if my below review from a few years ago wasn't a bit harsh. Now I want to see it again.
 Sorority House from 1939 with Anne Shirley, J.M. Kerrigan and Barbara Read
1939 deserves its reputation as the greatest year for movies ever, but it was not because of this effort. To be fair, Sorority House is a fine college-fluff B-movie with some engaging moments, but unfortunately, it takes the easy, two-dimensional way out of too-many difficulties.
It starts out with promise as we see a small-town widower and grocery-store owner (Kerrigan) quietly borrow money to surprise his devoted daughter (Shirley) with a last-minute opportunity to go to college. So off to an institution of higher education goes perky and optimistic Shirley not realizing that women's colleges (at that time) were mainly a connected and clubby rich girl's affair socially driven by the cliquish sorority system.
Stuck in the social wasteland of a college boarding house, Shirley quickly learns about and yearns to join a sorority as "rush week" begins. One of her roommates, a mousy looking girl (by Hollywood standards as they put thick-framed glasses on cute-as-heck Barbara Read) who knows she's not "sorority material," provides wonderful balance to Shirley's newbie enthusiasm as Read points out all the foibles and snobbery of the sorority system. Shirley's other roommate is a "legacy" student desperate to live up to her family's expectations that she'll be pursued by a top sorority.
After Shirley unintentionally catches the eye of one of the big men on campus (BMOC), he starts a rumor that Shirley comes from money in a naive attempt to help her chances to be rushed. As a result, Shirley - pretty, now presumed rich and dating the BOMC - is inundated with offers. Realizing she'll need more money from her dad to join - having nice clothes and funds for social events are, basically, a sorority requirement - Shirley is about to give up until her really nice dad shows up with the needed funds.
And the night of his arrival provides the movie's best sequence. When Shirley, at a sorority rush party, realizes that everyone thinks her dad is rich, she tries to tell them otherwise (good girl), but when her dad actually shows up and she sees he won't fit in with his shabby suit and aw-shucks manner, she pushes him away from the party (bad girl), but then realizes her mistakes and runs after him to apologize and invite him back (good girl).
Here is where this relatively good movie flips to quickly messaging a bunch of sugary stuff as salt-of-the-earth dad sets the just-rejected and now-depressed legacy roommate straight about what's important in life. He also gently lectures the three girls about not becoming the same snobs the sorority girls are when they pursue their plans to form an anti-sorority club.
Meh, it went from telling a story to pontificating in an effort to wrap things up in a hurry. But to be fair, it does an okay job as a sixty-minute-long effort better thought of as the equivalent of today's hour-long TV drama than a major-movie release.
N.B. There were a series of girls-at-college movies in the '30s, with the best one being the surprisingly challenging and real These Glamour Girls that is very much worth seeing. (Comments here: "These Glamour Girls")
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Post by topbilled on Mar 19, 2023 16:36:54 GMT
This neglected film is from 1933.
Clever socialist propaganda
This RKO production is based on a French play from 1928, and the story had already been adapted into a French film. It is about a hardworking schoolteacher (John Barrymore) who tries to uphold the virtue of honesty. However, he rethinks honesty being a best policy when he enters the corporate world and becomes affected by the corruption he encounters.
Mostly, this is clever socialist propaganda that manages to entertain, while illuminating a few truths about capitalist society. It’s a story that gives us some insights about the way men and women “sell out.” We do not see Dr. Topaze denounce capitalism at the end…in fact, it is suggested that he starts to become dependent upon money.
David Selznick is the executive producer of this interesting film, and he has cast one of his discoveries– Myrna Loy– in the lead female role. Loy’s career was in a state of transition at this point. So while she is playing an unrepentant adulteress, she is not exactly a precode vamp; but she’s still a far cry from the maternal roles she would become known for in the 1940s.
In addition to the casting of a chic leading lady, the style of the picture is bolstered by Van Nest Polglase’s elaborate set design. Polglase is somewhat overlooked in today’s film circles, but I think he’s every bit as masterful with his set pieces as Cedric Gibbons at MGM. The set for Myrna Loy’s apartment in this movie is truly spectacular.
Miss Loy plays Coco, the kept mistress of a baron (Reginald Mason). She is meant to be the complete opposite of the baron’s overbearing wife. Jobyna Howland is in scene-stealing mode as the baroness, and she enlivens the drama considerably.
There is a memorable bit where the baroness threatens to have “government forces come down” on a local school after her bratty son Charlemagne (Jackie Searl) has received low marks from his teacher, Dr. Topaze (Barrymore).
When Topaze refuses to cave to pressure and change the boy’s grade, the baroness spends every waking moment trying to get Topaze fired. The baroness succeeds in getting Topaze discharged from his teaching job. Faced with unemployment, Topaze uses his skills as a chemist to start his own business. Ironically, the business is backed by the baron who is trying to carry out a crooked scheme about a curative drinking water.
Meanwhile, Coco takes a job assisting Topaze, and she starts to fall for him…even though she is still involved with the baron. There is a nice scene inside a car where our main characters are driving through the rain, and it is increasingly clear that they are now in love with each other.
The Hays office refused to allow RKO to re-release the film after its initial release, because with the production code fully enforced, they complained that Loy’s character was not adequately punished for her adultery. Because of such “immorality,” RKO could not distribute the film again, so it went back into the vault for quite a few years.
Another unique thing about this film is its use of slogans. During key scenes in the movie, we see several written expressions, typically posted on the walls, that indicate Dr. Topaze’s philosophical approaches to life.
There are laboratory scenes and animated inserts of what Topaze sees on the slides he’s examining through a microscope. Also, we have scenes where Topaze sees messages on flashing neon signs that reveal his conscience. All in all, some good special effects for a 1933 motion picture.
The dramatic climax of the picture takes place back inside the school room where Topaze returns as a guest speaker and interacts with former students. During the graduation ceremony, he comes face to face with his old nemesis Charlemagne.
To facilitate a change in Charlemagne, Topaze refuses to hand a special award to him. Instead he chooses to humiliate the boy in front of everyone. He has felt it necessary in order to maintain the natural order of things and to make sure that a wrongdoer is not rewarded.
However, Topaze is a hypocrite– he has become a bit of a wrongdoer himself, turning away from his previous ideals and allowing himself to be changed in ways that the old Topaze would’ve objected to, strongly.
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 19, 2023 16:59:54 GMT
Topaze from 1933 with John Barrymore and Myrna Loy
Topaze takes full advantage of its pre-code freedom to expose several deeply embedded societal hypocrisies, shockingly, without attempting to clean up a single one of them.
The hero of the movie, instead, goes from being a naive school teacher to a successful businessman by dropping his code of honor and embracing the chicanery and duplicity, shown here, as necessary for success.
John Barrymore initially plays the title character Topaze as a humble schoolmaster deeply devoted to teaching his pupils the values of honesty and integrity as guiding principles for life.
Proving true to this code, he is fired when he won't inflate the grades of the son of an influential Barron. In a movieland-style follow-up twist, that same Barron hires the now-unemployed teacher to be the lead scientist behind the Barron's new health-water business.
Barrymore takes his new work seriously as he invents several techniques to make water purer and full of vitamins, but the Barron really only hired Barrymore to use Barrymore's public reputation for scientific integrity to help sell the water.
Cynically and unbeknownst to Barrymore, the "health" water that the Barron sells is just tap water that contains none of Barrymore's improvements. Yet, once it is successful, even the politicians get in on the act, bestowing on Barrymore a public honor for his scientific work, an honor that was withheld from him when he was a school teacher.
Naive Barrymore also doesn't even realize that the Barron's friend, played by Myrna Loy, is really his mistress as Barrymore's innocent mind isn't yet trained to see the hypocrisy and muddled morality of real life.
With that long but very engaging set up, the movie has a classic scales-falling-from-his-eyes climax as Barrymore realizes that he's being used for his reputation and not his scientific abilities.
If this movie had been made after 1934, when The Motion Picture Production Code was enforced, Barrymore would now publicly expose the scheme, the Baron would be arrested and Barrymore would be hailed by one and all as a hero, but pre-code moviedom quite often didn't do things that way.
In a breathtaking twist, Barrymore proves a quick study as he turns everything - the water business, the peacock politicians, his old school and even the Barron's private life - to his advantage. It's shocking, even by today's low standards, for its embrace of cynicism.
John Barrymore's lively public life often overshadowed his acting career, but here we see Barrymore's outsized acting talent on full display in an unusual role for him as a milquetoast teacher forced out of his ivory tower and to face life's compromises. He brilliantly captures the character of Topaze, making his late-in-the-movie transition believable, even chilling.
Myrna Loy also stands out in this one as the mistress who can only take so much hypocrisy and lying, especially when she sees, in Barrymore's character, something better than the seedy, albeit luxurious, life she's been living. Plus, at the peak of her youth and beauty, Loy looks incredible in one after another crazy 1930s Hollywood high-fashion outfit.
Topaze wonderfully uses its pre-code freedom to brazenly expose academic, business, political and personal hypocrisies that, even in the 1930s, had become so common as to be accepted.
With crisp and, often, modern-sounding dialogue, its aforementioned impressive performances, timeless themes and confident directing that moves the story along quickly, Topaze would be recognizable and entertaining to present-day viewers who often shy away from "old" movies. |
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Post by topbilled on Mar 29, 2023 14:28:14 GMT
This neglected film is from 1934.
One is serious, one wants to be taken seriously
Assorted character types and controlled chaos make this a lively precode farce from RKO. The script’s a bit uneven in spots, but energetic performances from Jimmy Durante and Lupe Velez keep things entertaining. Interestingly, their hyper exaggerated brand of comedy is balanced out by subdued performances from Norman Foster and William Gargan.
The plot’s almost irrelevant. Durante is a big time radio celebrity whose musical comedy act is supported by Velez, his attractive partner. Velez has designs on getting more attention, but Durante takes all the best jokes. Granted, most of these jokes have whiskers on them and aren’t too funny.
When Durante decides on a whim to fire his joke writer (Franklin Pangborn), an ambitious agent (Gargan) suggests a new guy nobody has ever heard of before– Foster. What makes this scenario amusing is that Foster fancies himself a serious literary wordsmith. He’s a poet and a philosopher, albeit a starving one, who has talent but is unemployed.
Part of what I enjoyed about the film’s wacky premise is that it pokes fun at the creative process. Plus we see how artistic goals are often compromised by commercial enterprise. Foster does nicely as a sincere bohemian who sells out. But it’s really Durante’s picture. Durante gives a razor sharp portrayal of an egomaniacal star, yet still manages to make the lout fairly likable.
There are several uproarious scenes where Durante bosses around his underlings who usually wait for orders at the foot of his bed. Then there is Durante’s love-hate relationship with Velez. However, the best moments are when they’re wowing the radio audience with their patented shtick.
A few of the characters are tempted by extra-marital flings, lest we forget this is precode Hollywood. But none of what happens on screen is too shocking. It’s all rather harmless dynamite.
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 29, 2023 15:04:56 GMT
Strictly Dynamite from 1934 with Jimmy Durante, Lupe Velez, Norman Foster, Marian Nixon and Eugene Pallette
It is hard to know what RKO studios was trying to do with Strictly Dynamite, an odd Jimmy Durante vehicle, as Durante gets top billing, but the movie is equally Norman Foster's as the struggling highbrow writer whose wife, played by Marian Nixon, gets him a job writing gags for Durante's character Moxie Slaight.
The plot, for what it's worth, has Foster initially upset that he's "sold out," but he soon becomes Broadway's "new genius writer." Moxie's girlfriend, played by Lupe Velez, then comes on to Foster as she wants to switch horses mid race thinking Foster's star is rising faster than Durante's.
Plot-wise, the rest of the movie is Durante beginning to see that Velez is stepping out on him while, at the same time, Foster's loyal wife's feelings get hurt. There's also a bunch of exaggerated contract negotiations where Foster's agent, played by William Gargan, tricks Durante into paying Foster too much money.
The climax (no spoilers coming) is too crazy to take seriously, in part because, as happens in these fast-and-loose comedies, all the resolutions come too easily and too quickly.
You don't, though, watch Strictly Dynamite for its not-serious plot; you watch it for the antics of Durante and Velez and its general screwballness where characters like Nixon and Foster play the role of straight man to all the crazy going on around them.
Durante, in this one, is a self absorbed comedian looking to "class up" his act with highbrow material. The gag of course is that no force in the universe could ever "class up" Durante.
He's also supposed to be so in love with Velez that he can't see that she's cheating on him. This latter gag plays too much against Durante's cynical-toward-women brand to really work.
There are also a bunch of "skits" and "oddball" characters mixed in including Durante's two goofy bodyguards who couldn't even protect themselves in a fight and character actor Eugene Pallette who pops up as a hack cowboy singer looking for a joke writer.
Finally, another huge character actor of the era, Sterling Holloway, is in a few scenes as the whiny telephone repairman who, unbelievably, plays the voice of reason.
Strictly Dynamite is almost like Vaudeville in a movie as it's really just a series of silly comedy sketches, with some singing and many pratfalls tossed in, all held together by a not-important plot.
You either like Durante's version of slapstick, Catskill and screwball comedy - which many did in the 1930s - or this one won't work for you at all.
N.B. God bless the precode movie for its generally fun attitude toward sex that avoids the visual crudeness and political anger of today's movieland take on sex. Casually thrown into a scene in Strictly Dynamite (blink and you'll miss it) is an aside where Velez rebuts a man's criticism of her with the following line, which she delivers with a provocative shaking of her hips: "You [sic] just jealous because I never gave you a tumble." |
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Post by topbilled on Mar 29, 2023 15:20:09 GMT
Strictly Dynamite from 1934 with Jimmy Durante, Lupe Velez, Norman Foster, Marian Nixon and Eugene Pallette |
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 29, 2023 15:36:26 GMT
Strictly Dynamite from 1934 with Jimmy Durante, Lupe Velez, Norman Foster, Marian Nixon and Eugene Pallette |
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Post by topbilled on Mar 29, 2023 15:42:00 GMT
Durante's brand of shtick works for me. He had just come off a contract with MGM, where he'd been paired with Buster Keaton in a series of farces. Now he was freelancing. Interestingly, unlike most ex-MGM stars who were often cast aside by the studio when they'd run their course with the public with no way back, Durante experienced a career resurgence in the 40s and snagged another MGM contract ten years later, appearing in musicals with Kathryn Grayson, Esther Williams and Frank Sinatra. I'm surprised TCM has never given him a day in August, since he made plenty of MGM pictures in TCM's library.Getting back to STRICTLY DYNAMITE, I suspect this script was one at RKO that had been rejected by Wheeler & Woolsey. I see those two playing the parts done by Durante and Foster, because their styles were opposite like that. Velez works for me in limited doses. She's a bit too excitable at times. The bit with Eugene Pallette went nowhere. I was expecting him to be brought back at the end, for Foster to finally give him the comic lines he needed for his song. But Pallette's character just sort of disappears.I did like Sterling Holloway's scenes, he always makes me smile. I wish we had seen more of Berton Churchill and Frankling Pangborn who only turn up in the beginning. A good subplot might have been Pangborn, angry at his abrupt dismissal by Durante, going after him with a gun during a live stage performance. Finally, I want to say that I really like this part of your review, as it makes me laugh:Durante, in this one, is a self absorbed comedian looking to "class up" his act with highbrow material. The gag of course is that no force in the universe could ever "class up" Durante.
I get it, that not everybody appreciates this form of comedy. But I think at its heart, STRICTLY DYNAMITE is giving us a guy who's too big for his britches who just wants to be taken seriously. If this had been remade in the late 50s or early 60s, Durante's character would have been trying to be a beatnik to find himself, or becoming a flower child. He's an unstable man who has an unusual woman at his side, and this is funny to me. |
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Post by topbilled on Apr 4, 2023 7:00:21 GMT
This neglected film is from 1936.
Excellent RKO parole drama
This RKO crime flick seems like it would have been made during the precode era. It’s brimming with violence, and includes not-so-subtle references to sex and illegal activity. It also seems like a movie that would come from Warner Brothers, which usually had the market cornered on gangster pics. DON’T TURN ‘EM LOOSE is a hard-edged, fast-moving story that contains gritty performances.
Bruce Cabot, third-billed, is really the lead. He’s an attractive smooth operator that has women wrapped around his proverbial finger. He also has plenty of male pals who idolize him, and they help establish alibis. They’re eager to go in on his latest crime sprees, as he usually never gets caught.
The drama begins as Cabot is released from prison on parole when a loving but phony wife, and a kid that’s not his, make an appearance at his parole hearing. They pour on the tears and the board is moved to authorize Cabot’s release. But the board’s compassion will be betrayed. On the same day that he’s sprung from the penitentiary, Cabot organizes a heist. His boldness in the face of the law is something to see.
We watch how he two-times a dame and how he kills a dude that gets in the way of the heist. It’s all in a day’s work for him. Cabot is having a field day in the role.
The reason this somewhat unlikely casting succeeds is because Cabot is no Cagney, Raft or Bogart. The character he plays is supposed to be highbrow, not a working class guy who spent his teen years in reformatories. He displays sophistication that differentiates him from other crooks. He is athletic and all-American, a good boy who sends postcards to his sister and mother when he’s away from home for long periods of time.
The story becomes infinitely more fascinating when Cabot goes missing after his latest crimes. As his cronies speculate where he’s gone, we watch him arrive home at a well-to-do suburban home in New York. The twist is that he’s from a respectable background. His father, Lewis Stone (on loan from MGM) is an influential attorney and college law professor. Mother Louise Latimer is perfectly refined, and bratty kid sister Betty Grable is beautiful and engaged to be married. In short, they are the perfect upper-middle class family.
Family issues come to the surface during Cabot’s visit. Initially, nobody knows he’s been somewhere else using an alias, having recently completed a prison term. It would shock and scandalize them if they did. While staying with his relatives, Cabot even has the audacity to commit another robbery. He ends up killing a jewelry store owner, then uses his unsuspecting law-abiding family as his cover.
Part of the effectiveness of this tale is how it causes us to feel sadness for Cabot’s loving family. For years they have been duped about how bad he really is. We know it’s all going to come crashing down, and it does. The next twist involves Cabot getting busted by a determined cop (James Gleason, familiar as Inspector Piper in the Hildegarde Withers mysteries).
At the same time, the governor’s appointed Stone to serve on the state penitentiary’s parole board. You can guess where this is going…
When Cabot comes up for parole again, Stone is confronted with the truth about what his son’s been up to all this time. Will Stone agree with the other board members who want to release Cabot again, or will he vote to keep him locked up because he’s a danger to society?
This is a riveting crime yarn that covers a lot of ground in 65 minutes. It differs from other gangster pics in that it presents a more domestic angle on things. We see how criminal activity directly affects the culprit’s family. Lewis Stone is brilliant in this film as the anguished father…a far cry from Judge Hardy who always knew how to fix everything.
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Post by topbilled on Apr 16, 2023 14:33:37 GMT
This neglected film is from 1949.
Becoming Roseanna Hatfield
Frank Loesser’s romantic ballad ‘Roseanna’ opens this nicely mounted Samuel Goldwyn film released through RKO. The catchy tune is heard on the soundtrack as beautiful shots of rugged outdoor country are glimpsed on screen. Though the rural footage was shot in California, it all seems like it could take place in West Virginia, where the story is actually set. One of the era’s best cinematographers, Lee Garmes, goes to great efforts to provide us with memorable images that evoke hill country.
The lyrics heard on the soundtrack during the opening sequence go like this: ‘Roseanna, oh Roseanna, I love her…I love…and now I’ll need, I’ll evermore need, Roseanna for my very own.’ The I is, of course, Farley Granger’s character Johnse Hatfield, who will soon meet his soulmate Roseanna McCoy.
Though Johnse and Roseanna both live in the same backwoods area, their feuding families live on opposite sides of Big Sandy River. This is not to say members of their respective clans haven’t crossed paths before. Several clashes have already occurred involving older generations that fought and died. But for right now, this is a relatively quiet period of ‘peace.’ All that will soon change.
The first few scenes show Roseanna’s brothers Tolbert (Marshall Thompson) and Little Randall (Peter Miles) and their dogs out hunting, something their pa Randall Sr. (Raymond Massey) doesn’t like. He equates hunting with savagery, which is what those horrible Hatfields do. In pa’s view, a more noble way to live is to tend to the land and farm it.
Ma Sarie McCoy (Aline MacMahon, in a dignified portrayal of a matriarch that does not rely on cliches) has her own views about the conflict between the two clans. But she stays out of these discussions and instead focuses on bringing up her children, which includes teaching her daughters, teenaged Roseanna (Joan Evans) and younger Allifair (Gigi Perreau), how to become homemakers.
This was Joan Evans’ motion picture debut, taking the title role that Goldwyn had originally intended for Cathy O’Donnell. Evans was only 14 at the time, though her parents who were successful screenwriters in Hollywood, added two years to her age. It would be the first of three films that Evans made alongside Granger for Goldwyn.
Interestingly, Joan Evans was named after Joan Crawford, who was her godmother and had been a friend of her folks. Perhaps inspired by her character Roseanna’s desire to be married so young, Joan Evans became engaged a short time after completing this movie. In 1952, she was wed at the age of 18, and 70 years later, she and her husband are still married.
Back to our discussion of the film…Evans was obviously still learning the craft of acting when she was cast as Roseanna McCoy, and Farley Granger was never going to earn an Oscar…so it makes sense that Goldwyn supported them with a strong group of character actors.
In addition to Massey and MacMahon, we have Charles Bickford playing Granger’s father Devil Anse Hatfield, who is married to a woman named Levisa, portrayed by Hope Emerson. Other supporting roles are filled by Arthur Franz, as the guy that Roseanna’s supposed to marry, before she becomes charmed by Granger at the summer fair; as well as Mabel Paige as a cud chewing granny. Oh, and we cannot forget to mention Richard Basehart.
Basehart plays a Hatfield relative who likes to stir up trouble. If this is a tale inspired by Romeo & Juliet, then we can probably say that Basehart’s character is essentially Tybalt. The actor was fresh off a deranged role in REPEAT PERFORMANCE and a villainous turn in the noir thriller HE WALKED BY NIGHT. He is equally menacing here as a rabble rouser who causes considerable problems for both families. Due to an altercation he starts, tensions increase and violence erupts.
Part of me wondered if we would have a tragic ending, like the one written in Shakespeare’s version of the star-crossed couple. But fortunately, Goldwyn does not take us in that direction, and despite a big showdown with everyone caught in the crossfire, the young lovers are spared. Other members of the two warring clans do bite the dust, but Johse and Roseanna get to enjoy happiness. The final shot of the film is them riding away from the carnage on horseback to find a preacher so they can properly be married.
Again we hear Frank Loesser’s ballad assuring us that Johnse won’t be separated from Roseanna because he loves her and needs her evermore for his very own.
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Post by topbilled on Apr 26, 2023 7:21:03 GMT
This neglected film is from 1940.
It doesn’t have to be a comedy for everyone to love Lucy
I think it’s unfair to call this just another ‘B’ film. It’s a very well made programmer with a serviceable plot and plenty of thrills. There is the obligatory romantic angle, actually a triangle between the three leads, but none of that gets in the way of the picture’s exciting action sequences.
The three stars had all worked together in previous pictures. Top-billed Richard Dix at 47, and Chester Morris at 39, had already collaborated in two action flicks– one a submarine yarn at Columbia and the other one an aviation drama at RKO. Leading lady Lucille Ball at 28 had just come off RKO’s FIVE CAME BACK with Morris and TWELVE CROWDED HOURS with Dix, both titles released a year earlier by RKO.
In addition to the trio of box office names, we have Steffi Duna and John Eldredge in key supporting roles. Both provide a bit of flair with their colorful characters. Duna turns up as a dancer who has a past with Dix; while Eldredge plays the foreman at Ball’s plantation. In a surprise twist, we learn Eldredge is more than a foreman; he’s a revolutionary named Vendango, Spanish for Avenger.
When Ball’s plantation is usurped by rebel forces, she seeks help from a nearby Marine camp. This is where Dix and Morris enter the story, since they are assigned to help protect her. It won’t be an easy task, since they’ve both fallen for her and are at odds with each other.
What I like most about this film is how it’s a smart blend of several different genres. It feels like a cross between a jungle adventure and a western mixed with a military theme. There are also aviation elements, because Dix and Morris pilot planes that fly overhead and attack the guerrillas below.
Another great thng about the film is how Ball isn’t forced to play a shrinking violet. She exhibits considerable courage in the face of danger. Even when she and Morris are led into an ambush and Morris is wounded, she keeps her cool.
Ball uses her brains to get a message to Dix who will rescue them. After they’ve made their way to safety, the drama isn’t quite over.
In the end, she has to choose between the two guys. She has agreed to marry Morris, but her heart really belongs to Dix.
To the film’s credit, Morris isn’t conveniently killed off in battle. So the last few scenes depict a mature break-up between Morris and Ball that facilitates her happy ending with Dix.
While they were making this movie, Morris’ wife of 14 years served him with divorce papers. Ball would soon meet Desi Arnaz on the studio lot when she was assigned to do a musical. In real life she never owned a plantation, but she and Arnaz ended up owning RKO, which is significantly better.
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