Joan Visits Germany

Art critic Carol Cabot Hoffman (Joan Bennett) is taking an extended vacation with her husband of eight years, Eric Hoffman (Francis Lederer).  Eric's father, Heinrich (Otto Kruger) needs help selling the family business, and the couple and their seven year old son, Ricky (Johnny Russell) are going to Germany to mix business with pleasure. But, when they arrive, Carol begins to wonder if The Man I Married (1940) is the same person with whom she is now living.

Joan Bennett is excellent as the wife who gradually realizes that her husband is not only having an affair with his childhood friend, Freda Heinkel (Anna Sten), but is also becoming a fervent Nazi. For the 21st Century viewer, the latter is the most hateful. But like the 1940 audience, Carol is initially less concerned about Eric's political leanings. She serves as the eyes of the audience, slowly learning about the evils of the Nazi party, primarily through her friendship with American newsman Kenneth Delane (Lloyd Nolan). It's a frightening revelation for all concerned, as Carol learns of unjust imprisonments, torture, and murder.

As the husband who is seduced into the Nazi party, Francis Lederer is impressive. It would be easy to go over the top with the part, but he doesn't fall into that trap. When Eric and Carol attend a Nazi rally, his fervor becomes apparent. Mr. Lederer does it with a Nazi salute - it's an effective and terrifying moment. George Saunders was originally considered for the role, but he was involved with another film, and was unavailable. (AFI catalog)

Francis Lederer was born in Austria. After stage and silent film work in Germany, he went to London to appear in the play Volpone. Another London production (Autumn Crocus) and a transfer of the play to Broadway (he would appear in four Broadway plays during his career) brought him to America.  As he had no desire to return to Germany - Mr. Lederer was Jewish - he stayed and became a U.S. citizen in 1939. He worked in Hollywood (in both films and television) from 1934 until 1971. His third marriage lasted for nearly 60 years, until his death in 2000 at the age of 100. The home that he helped to design is a protected Los Angeles monument (and is now a wine tasting room).

A number of supporting actors add noteworthy performances to the movie.  Lloyd Nolan only gets a little screen time, but is excellent as the reporter who tries to help Carol locate a missing academic for his brother, Dr. Hugo Gerhardt (Ludwig Stossel). Mr. Nolan serves as the audience's tour guide to Nazi Germany He has little regard for the Hitler regime; by 1940, it's not likely that the audience knew his time in Germany was about to come to an end.

Otto Kruger has a small, but effective part as Eric’s elderly father. He provides the necessary moral compass to the film - a man who lives in Germany, but is not sucked in the the reactionary politics of the Third Reich.

Anna Sten does a decent job with Freda - it's never easy to play a fanatic. If there is any problem with the character, it's that she never seems to be in love with Eric. Her seduction is intended to bring him into the party. Eric is merely another convert for the party.  

Finally, the always remarkable Maria Ouspenskaya has the small role of Frau Gerhardt, the widow of the academic Carol was asked to seek out. Ms. Ouspenskaya has only one scene in the film, but with her quiet dignity, it is not a moment you are likely to forget.

The movie was based on a short story, "Swastika" by Oscar Schisgall. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck changed some names, ostensibly to make them sound less Jewish, but using "Jude" instead of "Jew" didn't hide a whole lot. (The Moguls and the Dictators:Hollywood and the Coming of World War II by David Welky). This TCM article cites it as "one of the first aggressively anti-Nazi films made in the wake of the Invasion of Poland in September 1939."

The press for the film was good as is shown in this review from Variety.  The New York Times review by Bosley Crowther was absolutely glowing: "If we are bound to have a succession of anti-Nazi propaganda pictures...let's hope that they all may be as restrained in their emotions, as frank and factual in their reports and as generally entertaining cinematically as Twentieth Century-Fox's The Man I Married,...."  

Pressure from the German government had resulted in a name change (from I Married a Nazi); the studio underplayed the plot of the film, and didn't distribute it widely. As a result, the film is not as well known as it should be.  You may not have heard of this film before, but we suggest you seek it out. It's worth your time.

Larry's a Cad

A young couple has just married; they are deeply in love, and exuberant after their wedding.  They arrive at an inn, where the proprietress, Mrs. Truesdale (ZaSu Pitts) has obviously dealt with the young man before - she won't let him in until she sees a marriage license!  Flash forward a few months, and the couple are quarreling: being married is interfering with his writing, and then he discovers he is about to the a father.  Flash forward another three years:  our "hero" is frustrated with the duties of fatherhood, and the need to prostitute his "art" in order to pay the bills.  After yet another quarrel with his wife, he leaves, never to return.

Westward Passage (1932) stars Ann Harding as young wife Olivia Van Tyne Allen later Ottendorf) and Laurence Olivier as her husband, Nicholas Allen. It is unlikely that you will ever meet as unattractive a "hero" as Nick Allen.  He is a selfish boor, a horrible father, and a verbally abusive husband.  Why Olivia would want to be married to this man is beyond us.  When he meets his ex-wife 6 years after their divorce, he has to be reminded that he has a child (he can't even remember how old she is), and he would prefer to ship the little girl off to boarding school than actually deal with her. Quite frankly, Nick doesn't have even one redeeming feature. He knows nothing about compromise, and he remains unchanged throughout the film.  The only time we had even the tiniest bit of sympathy for him was when Olivia's friend spills tea all over his newly typed manuscript. Her callous disregard for his work and livelihood gave him at least ten seconds worth of appeal.

In the past few weeks, we've watched two movies with Asian characters, and in our discussion of Son of the Gods we discussed the "cringeworthy" nature of some of the Western attitudes portrayed in those films.  Here, Nick has a Chinese butler.  Nick's discussions with Olivia about Chung make those other films tame.  Both of their comments are so racially charged as to make one want to blush. 

Olivier's portrayal of Nick paints a very unappealing man.  We were puzzled as to why the author thought the audience would root for this cad.  And Olivier's makeup in this film is quite odd and distracting - he's wearing more eye-makeup than Ann Harding; one ends up looking at his eyeliner rather than him.

As to Ann Harding's Olivia, she is incomprehensible.  Olivia has remarried Harry Ottendorf (Irving Pichel), a good husband and a loving father to a child who is not his own.  Yet, she obviously prefers Nick.  Why? Who know.

A quick nod to that nine-year-old version of the young Olivia, played here by Bonita Granville.  She is quite good and appealing, as is the child that plays little Olivia at age 2. We also have near cameos by Zasu Pitts, as an innkeeper who never seems to want residents at her inn, and by Edgar Kennedy. 

According to this TCM article, the film lost a chunk of money. Yet it got a quite good review in the New York Times, which compared it favorably to Coward's Private Lives.  Also, it seems that this, Olivier's second US film, convinced Greta Garbo to request him as her leading man  in Queen Christina,  a somewhat notorious action that resulted in Garbo later asking that he be fired, and her former lover John Gilbert hired in his stead.  Seems Garbo felt she and Olivier had no chemistry.  As a result of these two films, Olivier goes back to the London stage, and it is quite a while before he can be attracted to appear in another Hollywood film.

We can't really recommend this one, unless you want to see Laurence Olivier before he was a big star. Next week, we'll venture forward, to the 1940's.

Introduction

Hello!  The Movie Night Group started many years ago - Once a week, some friends and I get together and watch classic films. We try to do "themes". Just recently, we discussed my blogging our discussion, as a record for us, and to share our opinions with all of you. So, after our "Movie Night", I'll get back to you on our discussion. 

Right now, we are revisiting PreCode films (we've previously done both of the Forbidden Hollywood sets), and are using the Universal Pre-Code Hollywood Collection for our viewing. We started with The Cheat, starring Tallulah Bankhead. Our reaction - WOW! It's rather over-the-top: Bankhead as a compulsive gambler who gets herself entangled with a sadist.  

We were fascinated with Irving Pichel who plays our villain, Hardy Livingstone. (Mr. Pichel later went on to be a director. Among his films was Santa Fe with Randolph Scott). Mr. Pichel's Hardy starts out appearing rather effete, but turns out to be a sadistic maniac.  Mr. Pichel was wonderful, making the change from ladies' man to sadist seamlessly.  

We were also amazed by a photo that is in the dvd box that is NOT in the film. It's very sensational - obviously shot to publicize the movie. It's also not in the movie (and couldn't be. I won't tell you why.)

I hope you get to see this movie. It's interesting, and not a bit boring. And, quite intense. You might be surprised!