Doris Attinger (Judy Holliday) shoots her philandering husband, Warren (Tom Ewell) after she finds him in the arms of Beryl Caighn (Jean Hagen). The case intrigues attorney Amanda Bonner (Katharine Hepburn), who sees it as a means of striking a blow for women's rights. But there is a complication - her husband Adam (Spencer Tracy) is the assistant DA assigned to prosecute the case. Our film this time is Adam's Rib (1949).
Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy are delightful as a happily married couple on opposite sides of the political fence (she's a Democrat; he's a Republican) and opposing each other in a media circus of a trial. Amanda is convinced that if the defendant were a man, she would not be on trial for shooting her cheating spouse. Adam says the gender shouldn't matter - it's the letter of the law that counts, and someone who shoots another deserves jail time, no matter the reason for it.
The dialog between the couple fairly crackles - it's smart, sexy, and amusing. Written by Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon (who were friends of Tracy and Hepburn), the screenplay was written with the acting duo in mind. The story was inspired by the divorce of Raymond Massey and Adrianne Allen, who hired a married couple as their representation. The Massey/Allen divorce resulted in two divorces, when lawyers William and Dorothy Whitney also divorced, each to marry their client (TCM's The Big Idea).
While this was not Judy Holliday's first film, it was a major breakthrough for her. She's wonderful as the remarkably dim Doris - the audience feels sorry for her, at the same time shakes their collective heads at her naivety. Ms. Holliday was appearing on Broadway in her first starring role - that of Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday. In fact, she filmed Adam's Rib during the day, and rushed back to the Henry Miller Theatre to appear in the play each evening. Ms. Holliday badly wanted to appear in the film version of Born Yesterday, but Columbia's Harry Cohn had no interest in her. So, Katharine Hepburn devised various means to bring Ms. Holliday into a position that Mr. Cohn could not say no (TCM The Essentials), even going so far as to plant stories that Ms. Holliday was stealing the movie (TCM's Behind the Camera) from Tracy and Hepburn.
Jean Hagen is also spectacular as the Other Woman. This was her first film, and she's a riot in her small scene with Katharine Hepburn. Beryl Caighn is reminiscent of Ms. Hagen's most famous role - Lena Lamont in Singin' in the Rain, but we should never forget that Ms. Hagen was a versatile actress who really never rose to the level of success that she should have.
If there is one weak link in the film, it's Tom Ewell as the cheating husband. It's hard to imagine what either Doris or Beryl could see in this uncouth lout. A cheater, an abusive husband - he's despicable, and Mr. Ewell doesn't attempt to make him in any way attractive. We're not particularly fans of Mr. Ewell - it seemed to us there should be something about him that would seem appealing to two women. We didn't see it.
David Wayne (Kip Lurie) has the pleasure of singing a "Farewell, Amanda" which Cole Porter wrote for the film. He's really funny as a fey composer who is the bane of Adam's existence. He's flirtatious, rude, and downright obnoxious - a man with some talent who thinks he can dominate every event. We wondered why the Bonner's would have it at their party (to play the piano), when Kip spends most of his time insulting the guests and Adam. It was Katharine Hepburn who convinced Mr. Porter to write the song, but he would only do it if they changed the name of the character from Madeleine (AFI catalog). At which point, they decided to also change the name of the male character from Ned to Adam.
Several other actors have small parts, and their presence in the film is most welcome. Marvin Kaplan as the Court Stenographer will be remembered more for his voice than his face - he was Choo-Choo in the animated series Top Cat. Madge Blake, who played a plethora of older women (including Aunt Harriet on the Batman television series) appears briefly as Adam's mother. And Hope Emerson (Olympia La Pere) gets to play a strong woman who has one of the funnier bits in the film.
The film has been criticized for undercutting Katharine Hepburn's bit for women's rights at the end (Framing Female Lawyers: Women on Trial in Film by Cynthia Lucia), but we felt that the movie did justice to the points of view of both attorneys. Amanda is right - women are treated unequally by the law, but Adam is right that men should be held to the same standards.
Two other titles preceded this one - Love is Legal and Man and Wife (Spencer Tracy: A Biography by James Curtis). The second title was changed, as the PCA found it suggestive. What they didn't seem to notice was that in the first scene in Adam's and Amanda's bedroom, while it has two large beds, clearly only one of them was used that night - the second bed is neatly made, and the other pillow in Adam's bed is has a head dent in it!
The New York Times review by Bosley Crowther was quite positive, calling it a "bang-up frolic". Other reviews were equally complimentary (TCM Critics Corner).
In 1973, there was a very brief TV series based on the film with Ken Howard and Blythe Danner. The film has also been included in Jeremy Arnold's first book of The Essentials: 52 Must-See Movies and Why they Matter. This is definitely a film that should be on your must-see list - here's a trailer:
Cole Porter (Cary Grant), a law student at Yale opts to discard a career as a jurist to take up songwriting in Night and Day (1946) a very loose interpretation of Mr. Porter's life and career.
Since the release of DeLovely (2004), Night and Day has had to bear the brunt of its claim to being a biography of Cole Porter. Quite frankly, it's not. It's a way of incorporating a vast array of Mr. Porter's glorious music into a film, and tell a story at the same time. Let's go over a few of the facts, and then we can talk about the film as a story, not a biography.
Cole Porter did attend Yale, and one of his classmates was Monty Woolley (Mr. Woolley, who plays himself, was NOT a professor at Yale). The sinking of the Lusitania had nothing to do with the failure of See America First, as the ship sunk in May 1915, and the musical opened in March 1916. Mr. Porter was not wounded in combat during World War I; he is listed as serving in the French Foreign Legion during the war (Broadway, The American Musical). He also spent time in Paris partying and met his future wife in Paris. Linda Lee Thomas was well aware of Mr. Porter's sexuality when they married - she had come from an abusive first marriage. Linda Lee Porter never officially left Cole - in fact, it was she that worked with the doctors to keep them from amputating his leg following his horseback riding accident. She continued as his health advocate until her death in 1954 (Cole Porter obituary). Following her death, doctors convinced him to allow the amputation, and he lived as a recluse for the rest of his life (as Linda feared). Mr. Porter was as openly gay as the era would allow (The New Yorker). Regardless, he and Linda loved one another and were inseparable - les Colporteurs (Smithsonian Magazine).
As you can see from the photo, The Porters looked nothing like their on-screen imitators. Linda wanted Alexis Smith to play her, and when she expressed her desires to Warner Brothers executives, Cole jokingly said that Cary Grant should play him (Cary Grant: In Name Only by Gary Morecambe & Martin Sterling). Mr. Grant and Ms. Smith are wonderful together, and Ms. Smith was thrilled to be working with him. Though he could be very definite in his opinions - for example, Mr. Grant demanded that his suit be cut so that only an eighth of an inch of cuff should show, Ms. Smith commented on his "care and attention" to the character (TCM article). This was Mr. Grant's first technicolor film.
Warner Brothers incorporated their best character people into the film. Eve Arden finally gets a chance to sing as French performer Gabrielle, who introduces Porter's song "I'm Unlucky at Gambling." Jane Wyman (Gracie Harris) also gets a chance to show her vocal talents. Dorothy Malone (Nancy) has some brief scenes with Donald Woods (Dr. Ward Blackburn) as her husband and Cole's friend and physician. Alan Hale (Leon Dowling) turns up as a theatrical producer who doesn't see the beauty of Cole's compositions. And Henry Stephenson (Omer Porter) is sympathetic as Cole's grandfather.
Monty Woolley gets to play himself, and get off some bon mots while he is at it. He pops in and out of the film, as Woolley wanders in and out of the Porters' lives (and back and forth from New York to Hollywood). There is some amusing banter as he goes off to film The Man Who Came to Dinner - he'd starred in the Broadway play (he almost didn't get the movie role - Warner Brother considered Fredric March, Charles Laughton, Robert Benchley, John Barrymore, and Charles Coburn).
Mary Martin, who got her start in Cole Porter's Leave it to Me, reprises her hit song from the musical, "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" (though this song, along with several of the others, are cleaned up versions of Mr. Porter's sometimes rather racy lyrics). Ginny Simms (Carole Hill), the woman who works with Porter in a music store in the film, is very loosely based on Ethel Merman. Ms Merman had appeared in earlier plays, but her first starring role was as Reno Sweeney in Mr. Porter's Anything Goes (AFI catalog).
The New York Timesreview by Thomas M. Prior (T.M.P.) was positive, though even Mr. Prior pointed out that it wasn't really a biography. When the film DeLovely was released in 2004, The Times again wrote about Night and Day as part of a discussion of the biographical aspects of the two movies.
If you are not a stickler for facts, and would like to see some fine acting, pleasant singing, and spectacular songs, this film is worth a viewing or two. We'll leave you with the trailer:
Jim (Cary Grant) and Muriel Blandings (Myrna Loy) are a happily married couple living in a three bedroom apartment with their two daughters, Joan (Sharyn Moffett) and Betsy (Connie Marshall), and their maid, Gussie (Louise Beavers). Jim is a successful ad man, making a nice salary, and while he loves his family, he yearns for a home with more room. When he stumbles upon an ad for a farmhouse in Connecticut, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948).
If you’ve ever bought a house, redesigned your abode, or even picked out paint samples, this film is for you. The combination of Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, and Melvyn Douglas (Bill Cole) is a trio not to be missed. Add in a truly wonderfully supporting cast, and you have a VERY funny movie, which even today rings so true.
Cary Grant is delightful as a family man who is feeling the physical constraints of his crowded New York City apartment. It's very clear that the Blandings are well-off by contemporary standards. Jim makes a good salary, but there are limits, and Mr. Grant effectively pulls off the frustration of a man who is sinking his salary into a construction project that feels like a money pit. Some aspects of home buying have (thankfully) changed - no one today would dream of buying a home without a professional building inspection - but Jim's limitations as a home buyer add significantly to the humor in the film. Cary Grant and Myrna Loy did three films together (the other two are Wings in the Dark (1937) and The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)); this would be their final film together (TCM article).
Myrna Loy has long proved her talent for comedy, and her fine touch is demonstrated perfectly here. Her rapport with Mr. Grant is wonderful - an early scene, in which he brings her an early morning cup on coffee is a sweet comment on the intimacy of their marriage. As Jim hands her the cup, he lightly strokes the top of her head; she sleepily smiles. Later, as they try to perform their morning ablutions in their tiny bathroom, Jim gently pushes her head down so he can adjust the mirror on the medicine cabinet. It's those little touches that make this very much the story of a marriage. As Jeanine Basinger says, Ms. Loy "always remained relaxed, natural...There was an honesty to her, and a subtext that put her quietly in charge of everything." (I Do and I Don't: A History of Marriage in the Movies). One of my favorite scenes in the film is her selection of paint for the house. Think about the plethora of paint chips in the local paint store today!
The last member of the trio is the realist in their midst - Jim's best friend and lawyer, Bill Cole - who, it turns out, was also one of Muriel's beaux in college. Melvyn Douglas is wry (if somewhat frustrated) by Jim's impetuosity, and the contrast is wonderful. Their regard for one another is clear - even when Jim shows moments of jealousy, the audience knows it can't possibly last. Mr. Douglas had already appeared with Ms. Loy in Third Finger, Left Hand (1940), however they were close friends due to their mutual interest in liberal politics (TCM article).
Louise Beavers is terrific as Gussie, the one calm, practical member of the family. When all else is falling apart, Gussie keeps the home humming. Though her acting career was spent playing maids, she always brought warmth and dignity to the parts. She's best remembered today for films like Imitation of Life (1934), She Done Him Wrong (1933), and The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), and was one of three actresses to portray Beulah on television - the first television series to star an African-American actress. In her private life, she served as a board member for the Screen Actors' Guild (Hollywood Black: The Stars, The Films, The Filmakers by Donald Bogle). Her career is discussed in depth in African American Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility, 1900-1960 by Charlene Regester. Ms. Beavers died of a heart attack in 1962, at the age of 60.
The Blandings daughters are ably portrayed by Sharyn Moffett and Connie Marshall. Both girls stopped acting as they approached adulthood; Ms. Marshall died of cancer in 2001. Ms. Moffett and her husband are clergy in the Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania.
Other notable appearances in the film include Reginald Denny as Mr. Simms, the unflappable architect who keeps the Blandings house going; Ian Wolfe has one short scene as realtor Smith - a conniver if ever there was one. Lex Barker is a carpentry foreman in another brief speaking part. Jason Robards, Sr appears as John Retch, the contractor. But two actors stand out - Lurene Tuttle as Mary, Jim's loyal secretary (watch her as she waits for him to come up with an appropriate ad campaign for Wham!), and especially Harry Shannon as Mr. Tesander, who spends most of the movie looking for water. This exchange between Mr. Shannon and Mr. Grant and Mr. Douglas is priceless:
JIM: Water, Mr. Tesander.
TESANDER: Yep.
JIM: At six feet!
TESANDER: Yep.
JIM: And over there, just thirty-two yards away, you had to go down two hundred and twenty-seven feet to hit the
same water.
TESANDER: Yep.
JIM: How do you account for that, Mr. Tesander?
TESANDER: We-ll, way it seems to me, Mr. Blandings, over here the water's down around six feet and over there it's-- uh --
BILL AND TESANDER: down around two hundred and twenty-seven feet. (script).
The film was based on a book by Eric Hodkins and is a novelized account of a true story. Bosley Crowther's New York Times review was generally positive.
The story spawned an October 1949 Lux Radio Theatreproduction which starred Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, as well as a Screen Director's Playhouse production with Betsy Drake and Cary Grant in June of 1950 (AFI catalog). Mr. Grant and Ms. Drake also were the stars of the Mr. and Mrs Blandingsradio show in 1951.
New Yorkers all, we loved the introductory scenes of New York City, circa 1948. And we can certainly empathize with life in a NYC apartment. If you've never seen this movie, you'll find it a real treat (and if you have seen it, it's not a bad time to relax with the Blandings Family again). In the meantime, here's the trailer for a taste of what's to come:
Jerry Travers (Fred Astaire) is about to open in a new London musical when it happens - he meets the girl of his dreams, Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers). All it takes is one dance for the two to fall head-over-heals in love. But Dale is told that the man who is romancing her is Jerry's best friend Horace Hardwick (Edward Everett Horton), the husband of Dale’s friend, Madge Harwick (Helen Brodrick). Our film this week is Top Hat (1935).
If there is a truth to be found in any Astaire-Rogers movie, it is that the written plot is unimportant - all the information you need to know about the story is there in the dancing. We see the carefree bachelor ("No Strings"), who falls in love with the downstairs neighbor ("No Strings - Sandman"). He woos her ("Isn't it a Lovely Day to be Caught in the Rain"), seduces her ("Cheek to Cheek"), and wins her ("The Piccolino). Who needs words more than those penned by the great Irving Berlin?
It is because Astaire and Rogers are great actors that the film works so well. They act the words of the script, of course. But they act the dance. Watch their faces, their movements - they are telling us the story even when we think we are just watching them dance. It's not surprising that their partnership is legendary. They fit beautifully together.
The film is also remembered for the "Cheek to Cheek" dance - notable for the grace of the choreography, as well as for the ostrich feather dress that Ms. Rogers helped to design it with Costumer Bernard Newman. It too is the story of legend. Ms. Rogers loved the dress - and she is correct in her belief that its flow contributed to the dance itself. The problem, however, was that the dress shed. Badly. It left feathers all over the floor and Mr. Astaire's tuxedo. Mr. Astaire rebelled - he wanted a different dress for the number, and Ms. Rogers dug her heels in and refused to get a new dress (Actually, an old dress - they wanted her to use a dress she'd worn in The Gay Divorcee). So, the wardrobe staff came to the rescue - they spent the night reinforcing the feathers. The result is on the film - an occasional feather wafts by, but no flurries. And Ms. Rogers gained a gold charm in the form of a feather (and a note which read "Dear Feathers, I love ya!, Fred"), a song, and the nickname "Feathers" from Mr. Astaire. (Ostrich Feather Dress TCM Behind the Scenes).
Edward Everett Horton and Helen Broderick as the older married friends of Jerry and Dale are very amusing. Ms. Broderick, especially, with her deep voice and saucy manner is perfect as the attempted matchmaker. Watching her encourage Dale to get closer to Jerry is really funny (especially considering that Dale thinks Jerry is actually Madge's husband, Horace). Ms. Broderick, who spent her film career playing best friends, is also remembered as the mother of actor Broderick Crawford.
While the characters played by Erik Rhodes (Alberto Beddini) and Eric Blore (Bates) are required for the plot, they are pretty silly. Especially nonsensical is the scene with Bates (masquerading as a gondolier) and an Italian Policeman. It is reported that several scenes at the end of the film were excised to speed things up - one wonders why this particular bit remained. The character wasn't much loved either - Italy banned this film because of Mr. Rhodes portrayal (TCM Trivia & Fun Facts). It's also worth noting that Lucille Ball makes an appearance as a Flower Shop Girl in the film.
The New York Timesreview by Andre Sennwald was very positive: "Top Hat is worth standing in line for. From the appearance of the lobby yesterday afternoon, you probably will have to." (The film, in fact, did sell out Radio City Music Hall.) Other reviews were also complimentary.
Top Hat was nominated for 4 Academy Awards - Picture, Art Direction, Dance Direction (Hermes Pan), and Song (Irving Berlin's "Cheek to Cheek"). Three songs from the picture - "Cheek to Cheek," "Top Hat" and "Isn't This a Lovely Day"--were ranked
first, second and fourth on the Your Hit Parade radio program (AFI Catalog). It's also been featured as an Essential on TCM, and is featured in Jeremy Arnold's second book, The Essentials, Volume 2: 52 More Must-See Movies and Why They Matter.
This truly is a must-see movie. Just ignore some of the plot, and watch the dancing. You'll want to dance yourself. We'll leave you with a trailer:
