Clifton Leads the Band

Beginning during his tenure as leader of the Marine Corps Band, and continuing through the end of the Spanish-American War, the life of composer and band leader John Philip Sousa (Clifton Webb) is the subject of our movie this week, the biopic Stars and Stripes Forever (1952).

This is a fun movie, primarily because of fine performances by Clifton Webb, Robert Wagner (Willie Little) and Ruth Hussey (Jennie Sousa), and the interspersion of Sousa's rousing marches. Much of the story about Sousa himself is accurate (the dates of the creation of certain of his marches are changed (The Great Composers Portrayed on Film, 1913 through 2002 by Charles P. Mitchell)), though the Lily Becker (Debra Paget)/Willie Little story is completely fictitious. It was inserted to add some romance to the plot, and probably because Mr. Sousa's life was not in the least tumultuous. After a successful period in the Marines, he went on to a hugely renowned career as a bandleader. He was happily married to his wife for 53 years (until his death in 1932), and had three children.  As pointed out by Jeanine Basinger in I Do and I Don't: A History of Marriage in the Movies "a marriage story is a screenwriter's nightmare.... Marriage had no story arc..." Thus, the Sousas relatively trouble-free union had little for the screenwriters to build on.

To give the story some spice, we have the insertion of Lily and Willie. Willie is an eager beaver who pursues everything - a job with Sousa, his relationship with Lily - with verve. He invents the Sousaphone to get a position with the Marine band (the Sousaphone was actually invented by J.W. Pepper, with input from Sousa, as a means of marching with a tuba. It was lighter and smaller, and the sound went OVER the heads of the other musicians, resulting in better music for the audience, and less chance of deafening the other marchers), pursues the career-driven Lily even when told that his wife cannot travel with him while he is with the band, and convinces Sousa that Lily is an asset to the band as a singer. Robert Wagner is delightful in the part. This was a huge role for him. He'd come to the attention of the public that same year with a small part in With a Song in My Heart, which resulted in his being cast here (Rory Calhoun had been an early choice.) (AFI catalog)

The women in the film - Debra Paget and Ruth Hussey - don't get a lot of screen time. Certainly Ruth Hussey is hardly present, but she makes the most of the screen time she is given. One particular scene, in which she plays piano for her husband's latest ballad, was delightful. Mr. Sousa wanted to write successful ballads (TCM articles), but he was obviously much better at marches; so, his wife begins to play his latest ballad to a much catchier march beat. Another scene involves Mr. Sousa observing Willie sneaking into Lily's train cabin. Ms. Hussey's blasé response is perfect. 

We weren't as impressed with Ms. Paget, who is okay as the volatile Lily. Most of the time, we really wanted her to relax a bit. However, a scene between her and Ms. Hussey is excellent, as the two women discuss men and marriage. June Haver was first choice for the part, but we suspect it is more the way the character is written than the actress' performance.

Which brings us to the star of the film, Clifton Webb. As always, he is excellent. We get to see him dance and sing (which is always a pleasure. As we mentioned in a prior post, Mr. Webb began his career as a professional ballroom dancer, and he had lost none of his ability in that area). Mr. Webb very much wanted this part, and the reviews and the success of the film must have been gratifying to him. There is a strength and warmth to his performance that makes Sousa quite endearing. (Sitting Pretty: The Life and Times of Clifton Webb by Clifton Webb)

We discovered that George Chakiris has an uncredited role as a Ballroom Dancer; blink and you'll miss him (we did). Stars and Stripes Forever was a critical and financial success, and propelled both Mr. Webb and Mr. Wagner into Titanic the following year. We'll leave you with this trailer from the film. It's certainly worth a viewing.

Charlton Talks to God

The Ten Commandments (1956) was featured as this month's Fathom Events screening for TCM Presents, celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the film's release.  Starring Charlton Heston as Moses, the film also features its director, Cecil B. DeMille, the narrative voice of the movie.  At the time of its release, The Ten Commandments was the most expensive film ever produced (costing over $13 million), as well as being DeMille's most successful film.  It was also DeMille's final film. He would die three years later, at the age of 77. 

This screening showed the film as it was originally released, with an overture, end music and introduction by the director (as well as a 10 minute intermission.  With a running time of 220 minutes, that break was welcome) In his introduction, DeMille informs us that, as much of Moses' early life is not discussed in The Holy Scriptures (as the titles call The Bible), the film goes to the works of Josephus and Philo to fill in the missing period.  (You can see that introduction just below).   The film is reverent in its treatment of the story, and DeMille really wants the audience to understand that care that was taken in creating an accurate telling of the story of Moses.

Charlton Heston is perfect in the role of Moses - and it's hard to envision anyone else in the part (When DeMille did it as a silent film, in 1923, the part of Moses was played by Theodore Roberts, an actor who appeared in 23 films for DeMille, but did not transition to talkies).  According to the  AFI Catalog notes some sources claim that William Boyd ("Hopalong" Cassidy) had been DeMille's first choice for the part, though DeMille's autobiography stated otherwise.  It's been said that Heston's resemblance to the Michaelangelo Moses was the impetus for his selection.  You can judge for yourself from the images below.
Charlton Heston had already worked with DeMille - in the circus epic, The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), for which DeMille won the Best Picture Oscar (beating High Noon and The Quiet Man).  The Ten Commandments really pushed Heston into the star category, a status that Ben Hur would solidify when he won the Best Actor Oscar three years later.  Heston's magnificent speaking voice gives the character of Moses great power (though, it should be noted that the Moses of the Bible was not a good speaker, and asked God to allow his brother Aaron to do the speaking for him) and served him well in his lengthy and varied career.  Though best knows as the star of epics like this one, he worked in science fiction (Soylent Green, Planet of the Apes),  westerns (The Big Country), comedies (Wayne's World) and even Shakespeare (Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra - the latter of which he adapted for the screen and directed).  In the 1980's, Heston segued into episodic television, as the star of the Dynasty spinoff, The Colbys (which briefly co-starred Barbara Stanwyck).  He was married to his wife, Lydia Clark for 44 years; they had two children, Fraser and Holly.  (Fraser made his screen debut (and only on screen appearance) in The Ten Commandments, age 3 months, as the baby Moses.  Fraser was cast en utero, several months before the sequences were scheduled to be shot.)  When Charlton Heston discovered in 2002 that he was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, he retired.  He died in 2008.

With an unbelievably large and impressive cast: Yul Brynner as Rameses II, Yvonne De Carlo as Moses' wife, Sephora, Debra Paget as Lilia, John Derek as Joshua, Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Sethi, Nina Foch as Bithiah, Martha Scott as Yochabel, Judith Anderson as Memnet, it is hard to pick just a few to discuss.  We particularly enjoyed Vincent Price as the oily and lecherous Baka, The Master Builder.  He made a fine contrast to Edward G. Robinson as his equally lecherous, but far more sinister successor, Dathan.

Anne Baxter, as Nefretiri, however, was a huge disappointment.  Baxter can be a powerful actress, but uncontrolled, she can overact to the rafters.  This was one of the latter performances.   In one scene, where she is supposedly seducing Moses, she turns AWAY from him, eyes wide and smoldering, and instead tries to seduce the camera.  Interestingly, she was not DeMille's first choice for the part - he had in fact considered Audrey Hepburn, but decided her bust was too small for the wardrobe he envisioned for Nefretiri.  This Huffington Post article has some further tidbits of information.

According to this TCM article, Yul Brynner got the part of Ramses between acts of The King and I, and Yvonne de Carlo was hired based on her appearance Sombero.  DeMille was screening it to see Nina Foch; he ended up casting both women based on the 1953 film.

The special effects in the film are of varying quality.  Let's not forget, this is the pre-Industrial Light and Magic era, so special effects look clunky to modern eyes.  Of course, the most famous (and best) effect in the film is the parting of the Red Sea, a complicated process that involved lots of water, reversing of a filmed flood, and a great deal of post processing.  This article provides more detail on the processes used.  Less successful is the use of animation for the burning bush, and for the writing of the tablets of the 10 commandments.  It unfortunately looks animated - and bad animation at that.  DeMille should have talked to Walt Disney before he tried it!

An interesting historical note concern's DeMille's efforts at publicity for the film, including the "donation" of Ten Commandment stone plaques to  government buildings across the United States (this NPR report discusses the civil liberties issues involved in the display of these religious items on government facilities).  The repercussions of this publicity stunt continued for over 50 years.

I'll leave you with the trailer for this film.  All caveats aside, it's an impressive film that got a well-deserved big screen showing.  Perhaps one day, it will be shown in double feature with DeMille's 1923 silent version of the story (it would be a VERY long double feature!)