DeForest Has a Nightmare

Vince Grayson (DeForest Kelley) awakens from a nightmare - he dreamed he killed a man who was trying to strangle him. However, his nightmare enters the world of reality when he notices finger marks on his neck, and finds a key and button in his pocket. This week, we'll be talking about Fear in the Night (1947).

Based on a story by Cornell Woolrich, this taut noir took some of its inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock.  Certainly, it is not of the caliber of a Hitchcock film, but the elements are there. And it is an enjoyable film - short, tightly crafted, and well-acted.

DeForest Kelley makes his feature film debut as the tortured innocent who cannot dismiss the idea that he may have killed someone.  He puts just the right amount of angst into the character; though his brother-in-law, police detective Cliff Herlihy (Paul Kelly) poo-poos the idea that Vince's idee fixe is anything more than a dream, Vince cannot escape from the clues that point to a very real murder.

As a fan of classic Star Trek, Mr. Kelley has become inexorably linked for me (and for many others) to the character of Leonard "Bones" McCoy. But he had a long and varied career prior to joining the Star Trek universe. He did a great deal of episodic television, films, and also did some work on radio.  In 1960, he appeared in an episode of Alcoa Theatre titled "333 Montgomery". It was written by Gene Roddenberry. In 1967, he appeared in another Roddenberry piece, Police Story, a pilot that never came to fruition. But Mr. Roddenberry liked what he saw, and offered Mr. Kelley his choice of either Spock or McCoy in Star Trek (Remembering DeForest Kelley). His choice helped to create in one of the most successful franchises in TV history.  Mr. Kelley died in 1999 at the age of 79 - his legacy, as he saw it, was the number of people who had become physicians because of McCoy (New York Times obituary).

When the film was released, Paul Kelly got lead billing. If you find a copy of it these days, you’ll notice a different Kelley listed first.  Regardless, Mr. Kelly does a good job as a dedicated police officer and loving husband whose concern for his wife includes looking out for her younger brother. 

The two women in the cast, Ann Doran (Lil Herlihy) and Kay Scott (Betty Winters) don't get a lot to do except look anxious.  It's a shame in the case of Ms. Doran, who's a wonderful actress with an impressive list of credits, usually in character parts.  For Ms. Scott, it's hard to know - this was her first film. She only made seven more, all uncredited, at which point she seems to have retired.

Robert Emmett Keane (Lewis Belknap) is worth mentioning - his performance is quite menacing and very convincing.  The audience is pretty certain from the moment we see him that he is up to no good, but we really enjoyed watching him hover over the story like a dark cloud.

This film fell into the public domain some time ago, and thus the prints that you see are not really of superior quality.  The film is very dark, and it's hard to know how much is the decision of the cinematographer, and now much is deterioration.  Regardless, we found the opening of the film, with its dark, almost blurry look to be effective - its fits the mood of the film, rather like walking into a haunted house on Halloween.

When Fear in the Night was reviewed by Bosley Crowther of the New York Times, he not only expressed his disdain for it, he didn't even sign the review, which was credited to B.C. The subsequent years have been kinder to the movie, as you can see from this discussion by the Toronto Film Society

The director of this film, Maxwell Shane, decided he wanted one more try at the story, and remade in 1956 as Nightmare, starring Edward G. Robinson (AFI Catalog). While Fear in the Night is not the best film ever made, it is an enjoyable 72 minutes and worth a viewing. 

We'll leave you with a scene with Kelly and Kelley:

Jimmy is a Pollster

Lawrence Rip Smith (James Stewart) is forced to close down his small survey business.  Rip is a pollster, and though good at his job, he is unable to compete with the larger firms.  He dreams of discovering a way of polling that is accurate, but fast and inexpensive; believes he has found it when his friend Hoopendecker (Kent Smith) sends him the results of a survey that he took in the small town of Grandview - a poll in which the results exactly match the results of a nationwide, weeks long interview process performed by one of his large competitors.  Rip believes he has found his dream, a Magic Town (1947), that is a microcosm of American society, where in, in a few days, he and his colleagues Ike Sloan (Ned Sparks) and Mr. Twiddle (Donald Meek) can take a poll that would exactly mirror the opinions of the nation.  The problem - keeping it a secret both from his competitors and from the town itself.

This is a very peculiar film. It wants to be Mr. Smith Goes to Washington or Meet John Doe, but has a postwar anxiety that undercuts those ambitions. Rip Smith, as portrayed by James Stewart, is an ambitious young man who spent his years in the military mocking the small town life, but who in reality longs for the peaceful existence outside of the bustling city. Mr. Stewart does an excellent job in displaying the conflicts within Rip. He is, however at war with a script that isn't quite sure where it wants to go. The role was written with Mr. Stewart in mind, and it is obvious that he is comfortable both with the character, and his co-star, Jane Wyman.

The chemistry between Ms. Wyman (Mary Peterman) and James Stewart is excellent. Much of this is thanks to Mr. Stewart's subtle display of his growing affection for Mary. But frankly, Mr. Stewart's part is more fleshed out that that of Mary. Ms.Wyman takes what is given to her and is able to make Mary a more realistic character albeit one who doesn't know her town as well as she thinks she does.

Jane Wyman was not the first choice for Mary. Director William Wellman first wanted Janet Blair; he later considered Arleen Whalen and Loretta Young (AFI Catalog). After years of playing light comedy, Ms. Wyman had finally started getting challenging parts. In 1945, she was Ray Milland's fiance in The Lost Weekend, and in 1946 she portrayed Orry Baxter in The Yearling, for which she was nominated for her first Oscar. The year after this film, she would appear in Johnny Belinda, and finally win an Oscar for her amazing performance (she would receive two more nominations after this, for The Blue Veil (1951) and Magnificent Obsession (1954)).

When the film was shown to a preview audience, it was three hours long; the final running time as the film exists today is 103 minutes. It's hard to imagine what was covered in three hours that is not dealt with in 103 minutes. The film falls apart when hoards of people begin to stream into the town because of the publicity that is garnered by its ability to predict poll results. The question is why? What would make that meager event beckon to so many people?

What makes the film even more reminiscent of Meet John Doe is the presence of Regis Toomey and Ann Doran playing the Weavers, pretty much the same parts they played in Meet John Doe (though with different names). While the Weavers are conciliatory (just as they were in Meet John Doe), the other town folks are not all sweetness and cream; they reflect the darkness of a new post-war mentality. 

 

Donald Meek appears briefly in the film as a statistician who works with Rip, then the character just disappears from the film, with Ned Sparks informing us the character left on an earlier train. Mr. Meek died suddenly during filming, and rather than eliminate or recast the part, director Wellman cobbled up a means for him to be gone from the action (TCM article).

This New York Times review by Bosley Crowther was not very complimentary towards the film; it ended up losing $350,000, bankrupting Robert Riskin Productions. It did have a bit of an afterlife, however. In December 1947, James Stewart and Jane Wyman reprized their film roles for a Lux Radio Theatre production.

Mr. Stewart (and his best friend, Henry Fonda), were cat lovers and frequently took in strays (James Stewart: Behind the Scenes of a Wonderful Life by Lawrence J. Quirk and Hank and Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart by Scott Eyman), so it seems fitting to that the film has a cat.  While we can't really recommend this one, here's a clip  in which James Stewart interacts with Jane Wyman - and a kitten.

Barbara Writes a ANOTHER Column

The purchase of a newspaper by the powerful D.B. Norton (Edward Arnold) results in the firing of most of the staff when Norton hires Henry Connell (James Gleason) as his new managing editor.  Norton wants circulation numbers, and that means that "dead wood" needs to be cut.  Included is columnist Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck), who is the sole support of her mother and two young sisters.  Ordered to supply her final column before she leaves, Ann tosses off a letter, supposedly from a man, John Doe, who intends to commit suicide on Christmas morning in protest for the ills of the world.  When her prank results in a nationwide outcry to find and help John Doe, Ann and Norton manufacture a "John Doe" in the form of down-on-his-luck baseball play Long John Willoughby (Gary Cooper), who agrees to pose as Doe for a fee.  Her job secure, Ann happily works for Norton, unaware his motives are far from pure.

Thus begins Meet John Doe (1941), one of director Frank Capra's most well-regarded films.  Number 49 on AFI's 100 Years, 100 Cheers, it's one of the films that helped to invent the term "Capraesque" - films about the ability of the honest underdog to achieve his goals through courage and perseverance (sometimes called Capra-corn).  Capra's abilities as a director held such trust with his actors that Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, James Gleason and Spring Byington all agreed to appear in the film without a completed script.  Capra went into the project without a satisfactory ending, and actually test marketed FIVE different endings (TCM).  The one we see today is the one that garnered the most public appeal, and was suggested in an anonymous letter to Capra from someone who had seen the multiple endings (AFI catalog).

Originally, Capra thought in terms of Jean Arthur and James Stewart for his leads.  He also considered Ronald Colman (who would have been all wrong!), and he tested both Ann Sheridan and Olivia de Havilland as well.  Barbara Stanwyck came on board when Warner Brothers refused to allow Ms. Sheridan to do it (she was being punished). 

We are indeed lucky that the stars were willing to take on such a nebulous project, because the casting is spot-on. Cooper is able to convey the innocence and confusion of John, without making him into a complete idiot.  And then there is Stanwyck.  The role of Ann is a difficult one - we have to understand her desire for money, but still like her and root for her.  The rapport between her and Spring Byington (as Ann's mother) is essential; there bond in the film is undeniable.  As a result, we root for Ann, even when we know that she has really gone over the edge in the push for John Doe's stardom.

Spring Byington provides the focus that we need to understand Ann.  Generous, kind, loving; a mother who adores her children, and whose love for her late husband ventures almost into adoration, Mrs. Mitchell is both inspiration for Ann as well as motivation.  Ann sighs as her mother donates money to those she feels are in need, even as the family is on the verge of being penniless.  And, as Ann struggles with the motivations needed to make John Doe convincing, it is Mrs. Mitchell who suggests her late husband's diary as a source of inspiration.  With 119 film and television credits to her name, Byington was a dependable and much admired character actress, usually playing a mother or older relative of the lead character.  She started on Broadway; her first feature film role was as Marmee in Little Women (1933) (We've discussed her films When Ladies Meet (1941) and My Love Came Back (1940)).  She worked in both film and television until 1968.  She died in 1971, aged 84.  

Interestingly, this was one of the first films to deal with Fascism in America (this glowing New York Times review is very appreciative of the "inspiring message for all good Americans" that is present in the film.  Capra, who had been born in Italy (he had settled in Los Angeles by age five, so it is unlikely that he remembered much of his birthplace), may be reacting to the fact that it had already been overtaken by fascism. 

Though the fact that the ending was an afterthought is often evident when you watch Meet John Doe, it doesn't detract from your enjoyment of the film or of the performances of these amazing actors.  We'll leave you with a trailer: