Jean Meets the Devil

Multi-millionaire John P. Merrick (Charles Coburn) is furious. Though he studiously keeps himself out of the limelight, a recent labor protest by the employees of a department store he owns have brought his name front and center. Determined to fire all of the people involved in the protest, he hires private detective Thomas Higgins (Robert Emmett Keane) to infiltrate the store and find the protesters. Mr. Higgins is unable to start immediately (his wife is about to have a baby), so Merrick fires him and uses the store credentials Higgins has acquired to become an employee in the store's shoe department. It's not long before he discovers that he really likes the store employees and despises the management. Our film this week is The Devil and Miss Jones (1941).

The tone of this sweet and funny film is set at the opening credits, when we are introduced to the "devilish" Mr. Coburn and the angelic Ms. Arthur. While Ms. Arthur gets above-the-title billing, this film really belongs to Mr. Coburn, as it should. J.P. Merrick could be a bully and a bore, but not in Mr. Coburn's capable hands. He treads a fine line in being lovable, but still keeping you in suspense as to what he will do in the end. Though, as he becomes increasingly furious at the store managers and supervisors, you really want to give him a hug.

Charles Coburn came to the screen late in life - he was 60. He'd spent his career working in a touring company with his wife, Ivah Wills (they had 6 children). When Ivah died of congestive heart failure in 1937, Mr. Coburn moved his family to Los Angeles to try his hand at film acting. Between 1938 and his death in 1961, he appeared in more than 90 films and television shows. He received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1944 for his work in The More the Merrier, and was nominated two other times - for his work in this film, and for The Green Years (1946). He was active in the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (Hollywood Traitors: Blacklisted Screenwriters - Agents of Stalin, Allies of Hitler by Allan H. Ryskind), a group supporting the McCarthy hearings. Following a second marriage (he was 81 at the time), and the birth of a seventh child, he died of a heart attack at the age of 84.  His papers are housed at the University of Georgia, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Jean Arthur is delightful as Mary Jones. Though her romantic interest is Robert Cummings (Joe O'Brien), it is Mr. Coburn with whom she has the most scenes and the best chemistry.  She would work with Mr. Coburn twice more: The More the Merrier (1943) and in The Impatient Years (1944) (TCM Article).  The part of Mary Jones was specifically designed for Ms. Arthur - this film's producer was her husband Frank Ross. He had set up an independent production company and was eager to find a property that fit her talents better than the scripts she was being offered. Though Mr. Coburn's part is much stronger, Ms. Arthur refused rewrites that would have given her character more screen time. (Jean Arthur: A Biofilmography by Jerry Vermilyeand).  She was fond enough of the part that she planned to do a remake of it in 1966, to be titled The Devil and Mr. Jones, with Ms. Arthur as the Devil; sadly, it didn't materialize.

Robert Cummings  is good in a relatively small part. An early scene in the film has Joe cavorting with Mary on the beach at Coney Island. It's quite delightful to watch, and there is a naturalness to the performances. Mr. Cummings was not the first choice for the role - Jeffrey Lynn was originally considered.  (AFI Catalog)

Also in a small but important part is Spring Byington  (Elizabeth Ellis). A gentle woman who just wants to find someone to love, she fixes her sights on Merrick when she thinks that he is indigent. One feels that Merrick has avoided any kind of entanglements because of his money. Ms. Byington makes Elizabeth into someone who cares nothing for money. She wants to find a man she can make happy, and Merrick is the right fit.

There are so many excellent character actors in the film it is hard to focus on just one or two. Edmund Gwenn is marvelous as the repugnant Hooper, one of the bosses who drive Merrick to distraction. S.Z. Sakall  appears as George, Merrick's very tolerant butler, and is his usual warm self.  William Demarest shows up in the small part of a detective, Regis Toomey is a police officer in Coney Island, and Florence Bates plays a professional shopper - all contribute greatly to the film.

The film, which opened in April at Radio City Music Hall, received an enthusiastic review from New York Times critic Bosley Crowther "Out of the sheerest gossamer the most captivating webs are sometimes spun". Unfortunately, it did not do well at the box offer (Author Jerry Vermilye speculates that the "unsubtle pro-union stance" was a factor").  In January 1942, there was a Lux Radio Theatre production which starred Lana Turner and Lionel Barrymore. The film was nominated for two Oscars: Norman Krasna for his original screenplay and Charles Coburn as Best Supporting Actor.  

This is a movie that is not to be missed, especially if you are a Jean Arthur fan. We'll leave you with a clip, in which Charles Coburn meets Ms. Arthur:

Jeanne Finds an Apartment

Peggy Taylor (Jeanne Crain) has a big problem - she needs to find an apartment quickly. The people who lent her the place where she and husband Jason (William Holden) have been living are about to return. But there are issues - Jason is attending school on the G.I. Bill, their allotment is barely enough to keep their heads above water, and Peggy is pregnant. So, when it suggested that Professor Henry Barnes (Edmund Gwenn) has an attic that might be suitable, Peggy leaps at the chance to find an Apartment for Peggy (1948).

Note the billing on the posters displayed here. This is not William Holden's movie - it belongs to Jeanne Crain and she runs with it.  She does an excellent job carrying the film. She portrays Peggy as an independent woman, who speaks her mind and does what she thinks is best. She worked to support her student husband for as long as she could, and now, pregnant and forced out of the workplace (pregnant women were routinely fired - it wasn't considered seemly for a woman who was showing to be out in public, according to employers), she works to keep her husband from losing his drive.  Peggy is a character who thinks ahead and outside the box; she hides nothing, not even her pregnancy (which, before 1948, would have been the norm for films). The result is the audience roots for her. (TCM article)

It helps that she has the always wonderful Edmund Gwenn to bounce off. The previous year, Mr. Gwenn had appeared in Miracle on 34th Street (1947) as Kris Kringle. Like that film, Apartment for Peggy was written and directed by George Seaton, but the character Mr. Seaton created for Mr. Gwenn in this film is far different. Professor Barnes is done with life - he's lost his wife, his son (who died in the war), his job (forcibly retired due to his age), and he is about to finish his book. He feels he has nothing to live for, and that his presence on Earth merely uses valuable resources to no purpose. Yet, Mr. Gwenn plays him as facing death matter-of-factly. He is not self-pitying; he is simply finished. The arrival of Peggy shows him that his life's work is not over.

Though not a war movie per se, like The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), the war is a key focus of this film. Prof. Barnes lost his son to a war, Jason still has nightmares about the friends he lost when his ship was sunk and he survived on a raft. The women, too, are victims of the war; their men have changed, and now their ability to get an advanced degree through the GI Bill is widening the gap further. 

Peggy obviously worries that she - like her friend Ruth (Marion Marshall) will find her husband straying as the distance in their educational levels increase. So, she arranges for the wives to be tutored. The women eagerly drink in the lectures. They have sharp minds, and only need help in creating a path for their learning. These are not dependents - these are equal partners to their husbands.

I loved that the women arrived with their knitting - and that it is clear that their busy hands increase their ability to listen to the lecture. As a knitter myself, I appreciate it when films show that knitting increases attention; it's a concept that is hard to get across to the non-knitter.

Lee J. Cobb was scheduled to appear as Dr. Philip Conway, the part that eventually went to Griff Barnett. (AFI catalog). Mr. Barnett is fun as the doctor who is trying to prevent his friend from committing suicide, and who is supervising Peggy's obstetrical care.  Gene Lockhart is memorable as Professor Barnes' best friend, Professor Edward Bell.  

Also in the cast is the always enjoyable Charles Lane as Professor Collins, Jason's chemistry teacher.  Mr. Lane had a career that started with uncredited performances in 1930 and continued in film and television until 1995. A founding member of the Screen Actor's Guild, Mr. Lane was married for 70 years to his wife Ruth Covell; they had two children. Mr. Lane died in 2007 at the age of 102.

The New York Times review by Bosley Crowther was glowing - he called it "one of the best comedies of the year" and "a delightful and thoroughly heartening estimation of the capacities of modern youth." The review from Variety was also positive.

The story (which was originally titled  Apartment for Suzie) was used for four radio broadcasts. Lux Radio Theatre, aired it on 28 February 1949 with Jeanne Crain, William Holden, Edmund Gwenn, and again on 4 December 1950 with Ms. Crain and William Lundigan. Versions were also broadcast on the Screen Directors' Playhouse (again with Jeanne Crain) on 2 September 1949 and on 31 May 1951 as part of the Screen Guild Players.

We'll close with the scene in which Peggy tries to rent an apartment from Professor Barnes.  Do give this delighful film a viewing!

Clifton is an Angel

An unborn child (Gigi Perreau) receives assistance from two angels, Arthur (Edmund Gwenn) and Charles (Clifton Webb), when her chosen parents, Lydia (Joan Bennett) and Jeff Bolton (Robert Cummings) just can't seem to get around to conceiving her. For Heaven's Sake (1950) tells the story of Charles' transformation into a human, named Slim (and patterned after Gary Cooper), ostensibly to assist the child. But human temptations affect Charles in ways he did not expect.

We had mixed reactions to this film. Most of the group found it mildly amusing, whereas I found it annoying. My issues were script related: 1. The child chooses the parents? Really? 2. Having a child will save a bad marriage. 3. When a woman wants to have a baby, she shouldn't tell her husband, she should just get herself pregnant. He'll come around.  For Heaven's Sake was based on a play by Harry Segall, who had a thing about angels. He also wrote the play on which Here Comes Mr. Jordan was based (AFI catalog).

We all agreed, however, that the script was pretty slim (no pun intended). The saving grace of the movie, however, Clifton Webb. Mr. Webb goes along with the silliness of the conceit, and as a result gives an enjoyable performance. According to Sitting Pretty: The Life and Times of Clifton Webb by Clifton Webb and David L. Smith, Mr. Webb was intrigued with the script because he wasn't playing "Clifton Webb."  He was also really intrigued with Charles' portrayal of Slim - it amused him to imitate Gary Cooper, and he was also eager to utter lines that were so linked to film westerns. Mr. Webb shaved his mustache and cut his hair to enhance the Gary Cooper imitation - it was the only sound film in which he didn't have the mustache. According to this TCM article, Mr. Webb said that "I always have children in my pictures because, I'm certain, it's punishment for having lived so long as a bachelor."

Edmund Gwenn was also very good in the role of Arthur. As the stabilizing influence on the actions of the film, he's called upon to respond as Charles' human body begins to react to temptations. Of particular amusement was a scene in which Charles and Arthur set the scene for our little girl's conception. The look on Mr. Gwenn's face especially was something that told the audience what was going on in the bedroom above, yet there was nothing about which the censors could complain.

Gigi Perreau and Tommy Rettig (in the small part of Joe, another child waiting to be conceived) were quite good as well. Ms. Perreau is ALMOST able to make you understand why she has picked the Boltons for her parents. And Mr. Rettig is adorable as a little boy whose parents really long for his arrival, but are unable to financially support a baby.

Joan Blondell (as playwright Daphne Peters) and Joan Bennett, however, are just wasted in the film. Ms. Blondell has about two decent scenes, both of which involve her trying to seduce Charles. Ms. Bennett just gets to be petulant. That the film is not about the women is emphasized by the lack of definition given to their characters. Ms. Blondell was returning to the screen after a three year absence - she had just divorced producer Michael Todd.

Jeff Bolton, on the other hand, has plenty of screen time, and is a totally obnoxious character.  In the spirit of honesty, two of our group are NOT members of the Robert Cummings fan club, and this was not a film in which he engenders any affection.  A lot of it is the fault of the script -  we really need to understand why our little girl wants to be his daughter. Cummings plays him as so self-centered that one wants to yell to the child "RUN AWAY."  Mr. Cummings had a long career, starting in uncredited parts in 1933. His roles varied throughout his career between A- and B-list films; regardless, he appeared in several notable films. Two for Alfred Hitchcock show him at his best - Saboteur (1942) and Dial M for Murder (1954). He was also good as the reluctant prince consort in Princess O'Rourke (1943). After a career on both on the stage and on radio, by the 1950s, Mr. Cummings had made the successful transition to television, with The Bob Cummings Show, and later My Living Doll. Mr. Cummings was married five times, and had seven children (his son Tony is an actor). On the recommendations of colleagues, Mr. Cummings, an advocate of healthy living, became a patient of Dr. Max Jacobson (aka Dr. Feelgood), who succeeded in addicting Mr. Cummings to methamphetamines (he thought he was taking a vitamin mixture). This addiction and Parkinson's Disease affected his ability to get acting jobs. He died in 1990, age 80, of pneumonia and kidney failure in the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital. (New York Times Obituary)

The TCM article listed above says that many of the reviews for the film were favorable, though the New York Times was not impressed. We'll leave you with the trailer for the film, to give you a taste.

Santa Claus Comes to NYC

Though Christmas is now but a memory, the TCM presentation of Miracle on 34th Street (1947) on the big screen was a real treat for the holiday season.  The story focuses on Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn), an elderly gentleman who takes Christmas quite seriously.  When he encounters a drunken Santa Claus at the Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, he confronts the parade's organizer Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara), who immediately hires him as a substitute Santa, both for the parade, and later to work in the store.  Doris is rather matter of fact about Christmas; she's raised her daughter Susan (Natalie Wood) to view it as a commercial holiday - Santa Claus isn't real nor are fairy tales to be regarded as anything more than silly fictions.  There is, she tells Susan, no such thing as "happily ever after," something their neighbor Fred Gailey (John Payne) finds distressing, since he is hoping for a "happily ever after" with Doris.  So, when Kris announces he IS the real Santa Claus, and is labeled as mentally incompetent by Mr. Sawyer (Porter Hall), the Macy's staff psychologist, Fred decides to represent Kris in court - and prove Kris is the REAL Santa.

As someone who grew up in New York City, shopping at Macy's and Gimbel's, this film has resonances that cannot be escaped.  At one point, we see a shopper's book that Macy's has created to help guide customers to products they don't carry (but that other stores do - one of Kris' innovations).  Most of the stores in the book, including Gimbels - have since closed.  I've been to the Parade once, and watched it on television nearly every year - and the metamorphosis of the Parade from a "home town" event to an advertisement for New York City tourism is something this film makes very apparent.  (I'm not complaining - I like seeing the Broadway plays show their stuff).  So, regardless that this is an annual event, the film provides a time capsule view of a New York that is long gone, when the parade was a local event run by a local store, not a national pastime.  (To this day, Macy's in Herald Square uses Miracle on 34th Street as a window display at Christmastime.)

This Fathom presentation of the film was made especially poignant by the death of Maureen O'Hara on October 24, 2015.  The last survivor of the lead actors in the cast, her portrayal of Doris is on spot.  She makes the character tough, but never heartless - her affections radiate from her lovely eyes, but she is always in charge of her home and her business.  Born in Ireland as Maureen FitzSimmons in 1920, Ms. O'Hara started her career at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.  After a screen test, Charles Laughton signed her to a contract and starred her, with him, in Jamaica Inn (1939).  The rest, as they say, is history.  In 1941, she appeared as Angharad in director John Ford's How Green Was My Valley, the first of their 4 films together.  Her most famous screen partner was certainly John Wayne - a collaboration that didn't begin until 1950 in Rio Grande.  Never even nominated for an Academy Award (is that even possible), Ms O'Hara was finally given an Honorary Oscar in 2014.  With her flaming red hair and a complexion that looks like pure butter, Ms. O'Hara was so staggeringly beautiful in color films she was sometimes called The Queen of Technicolor.  Regardless of that beauty, she was an actor without compare.  

Edmund Gwenn actually appeared as Santa in the 1946 Thanksgiving Day Parade, and other members of the cast (like Ms. O'Hara) were shot in the parade to add scenes to the film  (see these TCM articles and the AFI catalog for more background on the film).  Ms. O'Hara was initially reluctant to appear in the film, as she had JUST been allowed to visit her family in Ireland (she was barred from visiting her homeland because of War restrictions.  Ireland was a neutral country during World War II), and was now being called back immediately to appear in " silly little movie about Santa Claus".  She stated that, once she saw the script, she changed her mind - the film, by the way is still #9 in AFI's 100 Years, 100 Cheers.

There have been other attempts to trap the lightning in a bottle that is Miracle on 34th Street, with limited success.  Maureen O'Hara, John Payne and Edmund Gwenn reprised their roles for the Lux Radio Theatre version on December 22, 1947.  In 1955, Thomas Mitchell appeared as Kris in a live television version (also starring Teresa Wright and MacDonald Carey) for the Twentieth Century Fox Hour.  Meredith Wilson (of The Music Man fame) wrote a musical version of the tale in 1963 entitled Here's Love, which ran for 334 performances and starred Laurence Naismith as Kris.  On December 14, 1973, another television version ran, starring Sebastian Cabot as Kris and Jane Alexander as Doris (now named Karen!).  Finally, a big screen version was again attempted in 1994, with Richard Attenborough as Kris - Macy's refused to allow their name to be used in the film!  Even star John Payne tried for many years to produce a sequel to the story, based on his own screenplay, but the attempts ended when he died in 1989.

Many character actors contribute to this film - Gene Lockhart as Judge Henry X. Harper, the man who must rule on the reality of Santa Claus; William Frawley as Charles Halloran, Judge Harper's cagey political advisor; Jerome Cowan as district attorney Thomas Mara, whose own son is called to testify as to the reality of Santa Claus (how does Tommy know there really is a Santa Claus:  "Because my Daddy told me so"), and Philip Tonge as Doris' colleague Mr. Shellhammer.  But in many senses, the film is stolen in one brief scene by Thelma Ritter as the harried mother who can't find the fire truck her son wants in time for Christmas.  This was Ms. Ritter's first role, and of course, she shines.

We'll close with the scene in which Doris asks Kris to tell Susan he isn't really Santa Claus:

Robert Goes to College

As part of their 100th Birthday salute to Vivien Leigh AFI Silver ran the 1938 film A Yank at Oxford. I had never seen this film before, so it was with a great deal of pleasure that I was able to go and see it for the first time on a big screen.

Robert Taylor stars as Lee Sheridan, a highly lauded jock at Lakedale State College.  Though well-liked by fellow students, and by his instructors, Lee has a notoriously big head.  This attitude has been aided and abetted by his father, Dan (Lionel Barrymore), editor of the local newspaper, who thinks nothing of holding up delivery of the paper so he can put in a headline about Lee's latest sports achievement.  Lee's starring role in the athletics department has not, however, caused him any scholastic damage.  He has done well enough that he has been selected by the College dean for a scholarship to Cardinal College, Oxford University.  While at first reluctant to leave his father and the newspaper job that awaits him, Lee finally agrees to his father's wish that he attend Oxford.

Of course, Lee being who he is, the first thing he does upon meeting some Oxford classmates is to brag about his athleticism, and what a break Cardinal College is getting in having his skills at their disposal.  So, Paul Beaumont (Griffith Jones), Marmaduke Wavertree (Robert Coote), and Paul's sister Molly (Maureen O'Sullivan) collaborate in a plan to put Lee down a peg.  When Lee discovers the trick, he is bound and determined to return to the U.S., but the intervention of his servant,  Scatters (Edward Rigby) convinces him to stay.  He excels at Cardinal, both academically and athletically.  He also falls in love with Molly.  The complications? He is being pursued by a married woman, Elsa Craddock (Vivien Leigh), who is also pursuing Paul.  And he has annoyed the Dean of the College (Edmund Gwenn).

 

A Yank at Oxford was filmed in the U.K., using British actors, a British director, and British film crew.  MGM had to find ways to circumvent the Cinematograph Films Act of 1927, which imposed quotas on the number of foreign films in the country, and therefore (hopefully) bolster the British film industry. By sending heart-throb Robert Taylor over to England,  MGM would fulfill the letter, if not the spirit of the regulation - they would get this film into distribution in Great Britain. And, if the experiment worked, it was a way of producing other films that could more easily be marketed in Great Britain - and the United States - creating a revenue stream for the studio.  This TCM article on the film, as well as the substantial essay, British Films, 1927-1939 discuss the Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 and its affects on British and American production.

Robert Taylor is quite good in this film.  He succeeds in making Lee likeable, but also in making you want to smack him for his inflated ego.  He really is the focus in this film; the other characters revolve around him, and he does an excellent job in holding it all together.  

The casting of the women is very interesting.  Maureen O'Sullivan plays an ingenue, but an intelligent one.  She is also attending Oxford, and clearly is no slouch academically.  She also has a definite moral compass, and it is Molly, more than anyone else, who succeeds in teaching Lee about being a team player.  Vivien Leigh, on the other hand, portrays a rather sly character.  A year before she will come to American attention as Scarlett O' Hara, Leigh plays a philandering wife who is loyal to nothing but her own sexual desires.  Interestingly, given the time period, she isn't really punished for her appetites.

It's also a pleasure to see Edmund Gwenn, Lionel Barrymore and Robert Coote in small roles.  Coote had already appeared in two American films, but most of his work was in the U.K. His Wavertree, a fairly innocent young man whose major goal is to get sent down (expelled) from Oxford (in an effort to impress a wealthy uncle) is a riot. Try as he might, Wavertree is just too naive to succeed in being bounced.  One wishes there was more screen time with Gwenn and Barrymore; regardless, they stand out in the scenes in which they appear. 

All and all, this is an excellent film, made even better by seeing it on a big screen.  Here is a trailer from the film, in which the British production angle of this film is emphasized:

Liberated Loretta

The Doctor Takes a Wife (1940) is about two extremely obnoxious people, who are supposedly funny when they get together. Loretta Young plays June Cameron, author of the bestselling book "Spinsters aren't Spinach," a tome that urges women to be independent, and seek careers rather than marriage.  Ray Milland is Dr. Timothy Sterling, a medical school instructor and researcher in head pain.  They meet at an inn, when June, desperate to return to New York, intrudes herself into Tim's car, and demands (yes, demands!) that he drive her home.  During a stop, a young boy accidentally attaches a "Just Married" sign to Tim's car, and the local telegrapher is horrified to discover her hero (June) is married!  To avoid scandal, June's publisher convinces her to pretend marriage (she'll also get another book out of it - "Marriage Ain't Measles"), and then "divorce" Tim once it is published.  Tim agrees when he is given a long sought-after promotion BECAUSE he is married.

The biggest problem with this film is that neither Tim nor June is particularly likeable.  June intrudes herself into Tim's car (too cheap to get a taxi?), then refuses to reimburse him for gas or her lunch (for which he paid), then breaks a piece of his medical equipment (a head, which bears remarkable resemblance to a Chia pet) because it looks like her hatbox.  Certainly, Tim has more reason to be obnoxious (he didn't request her company or expenses), but then he proceeds to pay her debt by getting drunk on her liquor, and falling asleep in her bed.  One would think that the approximately $2 he was out was worth losing to get away from her.

We're all fond of Ray Milland, though most of us are more familiar with his dramatic work (The Uninvited, The Lost Weekend, Ministry of Fear), than with his comedies.  That being said, we're all fans of The Major and the Minor, and looked forward to seeing him again in a comedy.  The problem with The Doctor Takes a Wife is that it isn't all that funny.  It has some funny moments, but the leads end up being more of a hindrance than a benefit, and the screwball elements - like the scene where Tim runs back and forth between apartments (in an effort to keep his medical colleagues and his fiance apart) - strain credulity.  The plot is so segmented that it just doesn't hold together very well, and June's very abrupt reversal regarding Tim is hard to believe.

The characters that we would loved to have seen more of were Marilyn Thomas, played with verve by Gail Patrick and the always wonderful Edmund Gwenn, as Tim's father Dr. Lionel Sterling.  Gwenn is barely used - an absolute shame, as his character was just lovely, and he is such an excellent actor.  Patrick here is (again), the other woman.  Except, if you look at it closely, June really is the other woman - Marilyn and Tim are engaged when the whole marriage ruse is cooked up.  If Marilyn is a bit much, it is merely a device to make her more unappealing than June (and it's hard to make someone more unappealing that June).  It's Marilyn who is the wronged party; she is quite loyal to Tim, even after she believes he has married someone else while she was out of town.

Reginald Gardiner playing June's publisher (and would-be husband) is really just playing the same character he played in Christmas in Connecticut.  John is even more unlikeable than June, and is openly dishonest - it's his idea to milk the pretend marriage for yet another advise book (from a woman who knows nothing about the subject).  He's even planning for a "divorce" book once June is able to ditch Tim.

The film's opening scene is a lovely, idealized view of the contemporary bookstore.  Another fantastic set design is June's two-story New York City apartment.  Her book is obviously doing well - among other touches, the apartment has a lovely spiral staircase up to the balcony.

It's also interesting to note that the title "Spinsters aren't Spinach" was probably influenced by the book "Fashion is Spinach" by fashion designer Elizabeth Hawes, which was published in 1938.  One of our group discovered the title's multiple copies in her library (which has a fashion focus).  She suspects that the book was very popular in those days since since so many copies were available.

Another little oddity in the film was June's display of a knitted baby sweater.  Never mind her complete about face regarding marital bliss.  As someone who knits, the author is rather perplexed at how she knit that thing so quickly! 

Just to get an idea of the reception of the film in 1940, we took a look at this rather blah New York Times review.   The problem, we think is that the film is trying to be screwball, but is it really? Does one farcical scene make a screwball comedy?  It's not the worst movie ever done, but neither is it really top of the game for any of the leads.  Here's a trailer from the film, to give you a chance to decide for yourself.

Olivia Sings

Our discussion this week focused on 1936's Anthony Adverse.  Fredric March plays the titular orphan who loves the young peasant girl Angela Guisseppi, who grows up to be Olivia de Havilland AND a great opera singer.  Interestingly, we learned from Robert Osborne that Kitty Carlisle auditioned for the role of Angela (which makes a certain amount of sense. While she is not the actress that our Olivia is, she is certainly an opera singer. That being said, Ms. de Havilland is lovely in the role of a young woman who grows to be a widely renowned opera star AND the courtesan of Napoleon Bonaparte. 

This is another of those films with an amazing cast.  Let's start with the prologue - Louis Hayward and Anita Louise as Anthony's parents. And the always wonderful Claude Rains as the dastardly Don Luis.  We did have one question, which might have been answered in the book (which none of us have read) - why on earth would the wonderful John Bonnyfeather (Edmund Gwenn) convince his adored daughter to marry such a horrible man?  Short of reading the book, I guess we'll never know.  And then, as Anthony grows, there is Gail Sondergaard as Faith Paleologus, Mr. Bonnyfeather's housekeeper.  She is just so wonderfully bitchy. She and Rains make the perfect pair in this movie (maybe even MORE perfect than Anthony and Angela!!)  And Billy Mauch as the 10-year-old Anthony, who is quite good (and rather adorable, without being sugary).  

The one performance we found totally laughable was that of Steffi Duna as Neleta, Anthony's tropical mistress. Someone seems to have told Ms. Duna that they way to express evil was to continuously narrow and widen her eyes.  We were in stitches (luckily, she is not on the screen for too long).  A quick check of her film history revealed that she did, in fact, appear in 22 films - until she married Dennis O'Keefe in 1940. Then she seems to have retired.  

This is one of those impressive epic adventures, whose reputation seems to have not survived as well as it should.  It has a lot of excellent performances (Gale Sondergaard won the first Best Supporting Actress award that year - the first year it was awarded.  She won against such notables as Maria Ouspenskaya and Beulah Bondi). If you get a chance to see it, it is certainly worth your time.  And while our Ms. de Havilland doesn't have much screen time, she makes good use of what she has (especially the early scenes with March).

Here's the trailer:


Next time, join us for one of Ms. de Havilland's more serious performances.