All of the members of our group remember with fondness reading the book Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (in fact, I reread the story last year, and found it as wonderful as I had as a child). This week, we took a look at the 1934 film verson of the novel.
Siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert (Helen Westley and O.P. Heggie), own a farm in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Neither are young and Marilla worries that the farm is too much for Matthew to manage alone. So, she decides to foster an orphan boy who can help with the work. They are both surprised when the orphan who arrives is a girl - Anne Shirley (played by Anne Shirley - she officially changed her screen name from Dawn O'Day with this film). Anne (Ann with an "E" as she insists) is a talkative and imaginative young thing, and Matthew is immediately taken with her. Though Marilla is at first resistant to the idea of a girl child, she too becomes fond of Anne, and Anne stays on to help Marilla in the house. The film recounts the "adventures" of Anne Shirley as she grows up on Green Gables. There are some differences between the book and the film, as is to be expected. The character of Mrs. Rachel Lynde merges with Diana's mother, Mrs. Barry (the Anne of the book has misunderstandings with both of them, so this is not an unlikely union. The part in this film was played by Sara Haden). The novel ends with Matthew's death, and Anne's return to Green Gables (and in the novel, Gilbert Bythe is studying to teach, as Anne does). Finally, in the book, there is no animosity between Marilla and the Bythe family. If there is one change to the book that irked me (this was my favorite book growing up), it was the film's alteration of Marilla. While sometimes stern, Marilla is the epitome of fairness. The film's Marilla, while generally an excellent role model for the growing child, has a tendency towards pettiness, which is just not necessary to carry the story forward. Anne's own antipathy for Gilbert (based on the incident portrayed in this film, where he calls her "Carrots") is really all that is needed. This TCM article quotes a very favorable New York Times review, which lauded the film's faithfulness to the novel, but points out that author Montgomery found the film "entirely different" from her conceptualization. Regardless, the film does one very important thing right - it captures the spirit of Anne Shirley.
Helen Westley started her film career the year of this film (by the end of 1934, she had 6 film credits to her name. With Anne of Green Gables opening for Thanksgiving, this was final film of that inaugural year.) By 1942, the year she died, she had appeared in 38 films, including Banjo on My Knee and Adam Had Four Sons (which we had previously discussed). Westley, who primarily played cantankerous old women on screen, had a notable stage career prior to and during her tenure in Hollywood. She appeared in 53 Broadway plays from 1915 through 1939 (including the stage version of The Primrose Path - the filmed version had Queenie Vassar in Ms. Westley's part.)
Dawn O'Day's new name was a publicity stunt concocted by RKO, but Ms. Shirley opted to continue with her new name as her career flourished. (See this article from the AFI article for more information). She would revisit the role of Anne Shirley in Anne of Windy Poplars (1940), but within 4 years of that film, Ms. Shirley retired, following her marriage to her second husband, Adrian Scott. (She had previously been married to John Payne; they had one child together). After the union with Scott ended, Ms. Shirley married again, this time to Charles Lederer, a marriage that lasted from 1949 until his death in 1976. Ms. Shirley died at the age of 75 in 1993.
Tom Brown's (Gilbert Blythe) career started in the silent era (when he was 11 years old) and continued, into talking films and television, until 1979. He was a regular on the long-running soap General Hospital (appearing as Al Weeks), and had a recurring part (Ed O'Connor) on Gunsmoke. He died in 1990.
A few small bits of trivia: both Bonita Granville and Ann Miller appear in small parts (as school girls. If you blink, you will miss them). More obvious is June Preston as the little Bluett child (she actually gets a mention in the credits!). She's not really remembered today as a film actress - she did a few Our Gang films in the 1930's, but is listed in all of her 15 films as some variation of "little girl". However, Preston had a second career as an adult: she was ainternationally known soprano with the Metropolitan Opera's touring company, later doing recitals in major venues all over the world.
We will leave you with this introduction to Anne Shirley, and also mention that PBS did a remarkable series on Anne of Green Gables and some of the subsequent books (that remained very true to Ms. Montgomery's novels), with Megan Follows as Anne (she is, in fact, nearly perfect in my humble view) and Colleen Dewhurst as Marilla. Regardless, this version is excellent, and Ms. Shirley is a joy as Anne. We highly recommend it.
Banjo on My Knee (1936) begins at the wedding of Pearl Elliott (Barbara Stanwyck) to Ernie Hollie (Joel McCrea). Ernie and his father, Newt (Walter Brennan) live and work on the Mississippi, they are, as the introduction to the story tells us, part of a community of riverboat people who live outside of towns. Pearl is an outsider (we are not told how she and Ernie met), just that she was a servant in her past life, has little education (she never got past the 4th grade, and can just barely read and write her name), and she loves Ernie dearly. She is readily embraced by her new community, with the exception of Leota Long (Katherine de Mille), and it looks like all will be well. But the arrival of Mr. Slade (Victor Kilian), a local businessman, creates a problem - he gets fresh with Pearl, Ernie decks him, and everyone thinks Mr. Slade (who fell over the side of the boat) is dead. Ernie has to get out of town immediately. Of course, Mr. Slade is fine, Ernie returns from 6 months at sea with money in his pocket. And a plan - he is going to leave again (and leave Pearl) to head to Aruba, where he will set up a home for them. Incensed, Pearl leaves him; first Ernie, then Newt go looking for her. But Ernie is a man with a temper, who doesn't have the best judgement in the world, so finding Pearl becomes very complicated.
Stanwyck's Pearl is an appealing character. Despite her lack of education, she is intelligent and self-sufficient. She didn't marry Ernie to support her - we quickly see that she is well able to take care of herself. She is also honest and forthright. When Warfield Scott (Walter Catlett) takes her to New Orleans to "work" for him, she arranges to pay back his expenses, rather than become his mistress. Her relationship with her father-in-law also demonstrates the character's virtues. In the long run, Newt is much more sympathetic to his daughter-in-law than he is to his son. A little willing suspension of disbelief is needed in the film - though Stanwyck is supposed to be a poor girl, she's got awfully nice clothing (costumes by Gwen Wakeling). We also get the added treat of seeing Stanwyck, the Broadway performer. She again is allowed to do her own singing, and dances a perky routine with Buddy Ebsen (Buddy). Joel
McCrea, on the other hand, has a fairly thankless role as Ernie. Ernie is an immature idiot, and is not very good husband material. In fact, we found Ernie to be very reminiscent of Ed, the character he plays in The Primrose Path. Given the choice of Pearl ending up with Ernie or Chick Bean (Anthony "Tony" Martin), we were rooting for Chick, a much more attractive character.
Joel McCrea very much wanted to work with Stanwyck again after they appeared in Gambling Lady (1934), and the feeling was mutual. Stanwyck requested McCrea as her leading man in Internes Can't Take Money (noted for being the first Dr. Kildare movie). And McCrea returned the favor when her requested her as is his lead in Trooper Hook (1957), their final of 6 films together. For more information on their partnership and friendship, visit these TCM articles.
The opening of the film is a bit slow, but once Pearl relocates to New Orleans, the action picks up. William Faulkner was hired to do some of the dialogue writing on the film, but none of what he wrote survived; Nunnally Johnson gets the actual screenwriting credit. The country background is always evident; even when Newt and Pearl go to the city, Newt's contraption is a constant reminder of his rural roots. His determination to play "St. Louis Blues" to his son and bride on their wedding night calls up the idea of the country shivaree. The film is full of notable character actors. Walter Brennan, the man who was never young, plays Ernie's father, Newt. Brennan, whose career would span from 1925 to 1975, with (according to the IMDB) 243 screen and television credits, is probably best known to some of us as the lead in The Real McCoys. His film career is notable, winning an Oscar (the same year as this film) for Come and Get It, and appearing in such highly regarded films as Meet John Doe (1941), To Have and Have Not (1944), My Darling Clementine (1946), and Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), to name a VERY few. He was married for 54 years to his wife, Ruth (until his death in 1974 at the age of 80). A noted conservative, he actually campaigned against Richard Nixon in 1972 for being too liberal.
Buddy
Ebsen had nearly as long a career as Brennan, though he really made his greatest mark in television, most memorably in The Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones. His gangly looks and rubbery dancing pretty much typecast him as a country guy, though in his later years, his more distinguished appearance helped him to get more interesting parts. He started his career in vaudeville,
dancing with his sister Vilma. He continued doing films throughout his career (for example, the role of Doc in Breakfast at Tiffany's), but by1951, he was devoting more and more time to television. He famousy danced with Shirley Temple in Captain January (1936), his first appearance without Vilma (she appeared with him in one film: Broadway Melody of 1936, then retired). He's also remembered for being the first choice for the role of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, but the aluminum-based makeup landed him in the hospital and he was replaced by Jack Haley). Like Brennan, he too was a conservative, and (though it was not in his home state), campaigned against his former colleague Nancy Kulp when she ran for a congressional seat in Pennsylvania in 1984.
In a very small part is Theresa Harris, an African-American actress who has one scene - she sings St. Louis Blues in the New Orleans club. If you've seen Baby Face, then you are familiar with her characterization of Chico in that excellent film. She shares no scenes with anyone in this film (it probable that the number was inserted with the intent of removing it in the South). But she would appear with Stanwyck one more time in The File on Thelma Jordan. This New York Timesarticle discusses the career of Ms. Harris. The Breen office was not entranced with the film, and demanded a number of changes, according to this AFI article. They were especially concerned with what they saw as a preoccupation with Ernie and Pearl's wedding night festivities (or lack thereof). Darryl Zanuck ultimately agreed to tone down the drinking and to make it more obvious that it is Newt's desire to serenade the couple (rather than his wanting a grandchild) that has him pushing them into bed.
So, while not a great movie, some excellent performances, and worth a look. We'll end this week with Stanwyck singing "Where The Lazy River Goes By"
Several months ago, we discussed a film with Warner Baxter, and decided we wanted to view another of his movies. This week, we watched Adam Had Four Sons (1941), with Baxter as Adam Stoddard, Fay Wray as his wife Molly, and Ingrid Bergman as their governess, Emilie Gallatin. The action opens with the arrival of Emilie, a young woman from Europe, who is immediately accepted - and adored - by her four young charges, Jack (who will grow up to be Richard Denning), David (Johnny Downs), Chris (Robert Shaw) and Phillip (Charles Lind). The story follows the hardships of this good family, and the woman who becomes an intrinsic part of it, through a stock market crash, the First World War, and interpersonal catastrophes. Through it all, Adam, his four sons, and Emilie remain true to each other, despite the attempts of the world to break them apart.
The film emphasizes the strength of this family. Despite everything, the brothers, their father, and even the adopted family member, Emilie, remain loyal to one another. Torn apart by the world's events, they cope and regroup. Even when one seemingly insurmountable outside force - Jack's wife, Hester, played with relish by Susan Hayward - tries to fracture the brothers, she cannot succeed. It is interesting that their home is named Stonehenge, symbolizing the durability and longevity of those that abide in the home.
The film features several strong women characters. Fay Wray's Molly is the heart of the family. Meeting her, we understand WHY the boys are so good and loyal. She is the epitome of the good wife and mother. Yet, she is not cloying or ridiculous. Ingrid Bergman's Emilie, the adopted mother, begins as a naive girl and grows into a powerful woman. She comes to the family as an employee, is forced to leave because of Adam's sudden impoverishment, but returns, not as an employee, but as substitute for the mother the boys have lost. This was only Bergman's fourth film in the United States, but you can already see her skills. Cousin Phillipa (Helen Westley) is the traditional cagey old lady. She knows more than she says, hides her wisdom behind her relish for a good, stiff drink, but works for the good of her nephews. Vance (played by June Lockhart) is another innocent. The childhood sweetheart of Phillip, she does not waver in her love, even when Phillip is severely injured. And then there is Hester.
Susan Hayward's Hester is quite the conniver. She enters the story as the wife of David, but the audience knows immediately that she is up to no good. Of course, while Emilie and Cousin Phillipa are also well aware that she is merely an opportunistic schemer, it takes the men a bit longer to catch on. Hayward truly makes the part her own; she uses sly glances, and the most subtle of movements to convey who Hester really is beneath all the artifice, she makes you want to slap her silly! Given the title, one would think this is a film about five men. But, really, it isn't. It is about a family, and the women in the family that help the men to remain true to themselves. Here, we see Emilie's return and the introduction of Hester:
