Writer Tom Garrett (Dana Andrews) attends an execution with his future father-in-law, crusading newspaper editor Austin Spencer (Sidney Blackmer). Spencer has been advocating for the repeal of the death penalty, because of his belief that circumstantial evidence is being used to convict people unjustly. He and Tom come up with an idea - they will concoct evidence against Tom regarding the recent murder of a hooch dancer named Patti Grey. Once Tom is convicted and sentenced, Spencer will come forward with the information that will show it was a setup, and that the conviction could not have been Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956). I try very hard to avoid spoilers in the films we discuss; quite frankly, this is a hard one. The main reason being that the film seems to be going along on a traditional plain. You are sure you know where it is going and how it will end. And then everything hits the fan, and you are gobsmacked to find you were completely wrong. Our group went into this film knowing very little about it, and we were glad; the beauty of the film is in the surprise towards the end.
Dana Andrews is excellent as the writer who is attempting to bring down a District Attorney (Philip Bourneuf as Roy Thompson). He's treading a fine line in the film, and he does it beautifully. You would never believe that he was in the midst of an alcoholic crises that resulted in his arriving at the studio late with immense hangovers and after automobile accidents (Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews by Carl Rollyson). It would take awhile, but Mr. Andrews was able to control his illness by the late 1960s. In 1972, he became a spokesman for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and was able to say he had not had a drink in four years (New York Times).
We were not as impressed with Joan Fontaine (Susan Spencer). Susan is a decidedly unappealing character - she's spoiled, she's unemotional; Ms. Fontaine seems stiff and uncomfortable in the role. One never feels any love between her and Tom. When she reads a newspaper article that shows him slumming with exotic dancer Sally Moore (Barbara Nichols), Susan is offended that Tom has publicly embarrassed her. She seems far less concerned that he is sleeping with another woman. Ms. Fontaine holds the character distant from everyone, and Susan is uninterested in anything that requires thinking. With a father as intelligent as Austin Spencer, one expects a daughter more like Polly Fulton in B.F.'s Daughter. What Ms. Fontaine gives us is an enigma who cares for nothing.
While one is never sure of the motives of Roy Thompson, Jonathan Wilson (Shepperd Strudwick) and Bob Hale (Arthur Franz) are portrayed as lawyers who are honorable. The discussions between Hale and Thompson in particular, are fascinating, and display Bob's ethics in contrast with Roy's ambitions. This was director Fritz Lang's final film in America (TCM article). In fact, film editor Gene Fowler, Jr. put the film together with Lang's instructions - the director had already left the country. The director of M (1931) and Fury (1936) would make three more films in Germany; after which he essentially retired. Upon retirement, he returned to Los Angeles, where he died in 1976, at the age of 85.
Before Bert Friedlob acquired the script, Ida Lupino had intended it as a vehicle for herself, Howard Duff and Joseph Cotton (AFI Catalog). Unfortunately, the film didn't do well on release and received mixed reviews. Variety called it a "melodrama [that] never really jells." The New York Timesreview by Bosley Crowther, however, praised the "forceful" Mr. Andrews and said that "this a fairly intriguing and brain-teasing mystery film."
In recent years, the film has been discussed in a more positive light, as is demonstrated by these articles in Cineast and The Guardian. It was remade in 2009 with Michael Douglas as the prosecutor. We'll leave you with a trailer from the film. Try to avoid spoilers before you view this movie. You'll appreciate the surprise.
Composer Lewis Dodd (Charles Boyer) is frustrated with his current composition, an atonal work that does not seem to be gelling. He decides to visit Switzerland, the home of her dear friend Albert Sanger (Montague Love), a musician of sorts and the father of three young daughters, Toni (Brenda Marshall), Paula (Joyce Reynolds), and Tessa (Joan Fontaine). Lewis brings with him a little musical piece he composed for the children; when he plays it for Albert, Albert encourages him to expand on THAT piece, and forget the atonal work. But when Albert dies suddenly, Lewis takes on some of the responsibility for the girls, especially after he meets - and marries - their cousin, Florence Creighton (Alexis Smith). There is, however, a big problem. The ethereal Tessa is deeply in love with Lewis. The Constant Nymph (1943) is based on a 1924 best-selling novel by Margaret Kennedy. This was the third iteration of the story to be presented on film - it had been done as a silent film in 1928, with Ivor Novello, Mabel Poulton, and Benita Hume as the three leads (and adapted by Alma Reville), and again in 1933, with Victoria Hopper, Brian Aherne, and Leonora Corbett. This version of the film sticks pretty close to the novel, which in some ways may work to its detriment, especially in our modern age. As is pointed out by fellow blogger at Paula's Cinema Club, it's a bit difficult to look past the fact that, by the film's conclusion, Tessa is about 15 years old. The idea that this so much older man has fallen in love with her is uncomfortable, to say the least. If only screenwriter Kathryn Scola had made Tessa a BIT older, the film would be more palatable.
Yet, when I initially saw the film (on TCM, after it had mostly disappeared from view), it reminded me of a film and a novel that I really love. Because the theme of The Constant Nymph is very much that of an unattainable love. The other film, Portrait of Jennie (1948) and the novel, Tryst by Elswyth Thane, both focused on young women in love with men that time and fate had removed from their grasp. The difference between them and The Constant Nymph is that the characters are just enough older to make the relationships acceptable. As viewers, we really wanted to look beyond Tessa's age, but this was difficult, as she herself kept alluding to it. Nevertheless, the performances of Joan Fontaine and Charles Boyer were excellent. Ms. Fontaine is convincing as a teen-ager (though she does appear to be in her late teens, not really 14), and Mr. Boyer is romantically intense. Ms. Fontaine was nominated for an Academy Award for her work in this film (she lost to Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette; the other nominees were Jean Arthur in The More the Merrier, Ingrid Bergman in For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Greer Garson in Madame Curie); she succeeds in creating a characterization that is both young and unworldly, enthusiastic and frail. Boyer was not enthusiastic about the script (TCM article) - he felt Lewis was being booted about by the women and had no real strength. Warner Brothers, however, met his price ($150,000 and top billing) so he accepted the role, and gave a sympathetic performance.
The same cannot be said for Alexis Smith, who is unimpressive as Florence. Ms. Smith affects a rather odd accent which is more snooty than truly English. It's genuinely difficult to understand what Lewis could possibly see in Florence - from the moment we meet her, she is a nag and a shrew. She has no understanding of his music or his ambitions, and is more concerned with the fame that marriage to him might bring her. As a result, her epiphany at the film's conclusion is forced. Peter Lorre is delightful in the small role of Fritz Bercovy. Mr. Lorre plays the part as a man genuinely in love with Toni Sanger (though it's hard to say why. Ms. Marshall's portrayal gives us a woman who is almost as unlikable as Florence!). Fritz also deeply cares for his two little sisters-in-law, and though he is a tad absent-minded, he is also kind. Peter Lorre began his film career in Germany, with the highly-regarded M (1931). By 1933, however, he had left Germany - as a Jew, he knew the dangers that were facing him with the rise of Fascism. He worked in England for awhile, and eventually emigrated with his wife, Celia Lovsky, to America, where he found work, often as a villain. But what a villain - All Through the Night (1941), The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Casablanca (1942) are just the tip of an impressive resume. Mr. Lorre and Ms. Lovsky divorced by1945; though he would remarry twice, they remained friends, with Ms. Lovsky often serving as his publicist and manager. Because of chronic pain, he became addicted to morphine, an addiction he fought and conquered, but it did affect his ability to get roles. He died in 1964 from a stroke, leaving behind his wife and daughter.
Music is very much a factor in the film; the lovely score and Lewis' concert piece were composed by Erich Marie Korngold. Mr. Korngold was on the set, and was involved in the story development and provided the piano dubbing for Mr. Boyer and Mr. Love. The tone poem, "Tomorrow," became quite popular, and Mr. Korngold published it as his Opus 33 (Korngold Society) You can listen to the suite below.
Charles Boyer was not the first choice for Lewis - the film rights were originally purchased as a vehicle for Errol Flynn. One wonders if the January-February 1943 trial of Flynn on charges of statutory rape had something to do with the change in the lead (it certainly would have been an even more problematic film with Flynn playing Lewis). Other roles were also in flux - Joan Leslie was, at one point, cast as Tessa, and both Wendy Barrie and Eve March tested for the role. Margaret Sullavan, Merle Oberon, Bette Davis and Olivia De Havilland were also considered for parts in the picture. (AFI catalog). In 1944, the film would be adapted for radio as part of the Lux Radio Theatre, with Charles Boyer repeating his screen role and Maureen O'Sullivan taking on the part of Tessa.
The New York Timesreview was ecstatic, calling the film "a fine tribute to the virtues that have made the book endure." In many respects, it is an excellent film; we found that we wanted to find ways to mentally change Tessa's age to make the story more acceptable to a 21st century audience. We'll leave you with this trailer:
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again..." is perhaps one of the most famous opening lines of a novel. Last night, I too went to Manderley again, submerging myself in the wonder that is Rebecca (1940), Alfred Hitchcock's first American film, and his only film to win a Best Picture Oscar. Aired as part of TCM's Summer Under the Stars tribute to Joan Fontaine, Rebecca is a remarkable film. Starring Joan Fontaine as the nameless second Mrs. deWinter, Laurence Olivier as her husband - and the widower of the unseen, but always felt, Rebecca - Maxim, and Judith Anderson as the always creepy Mrs. Danvers, it faithfully represents the Daphne du Maurier novel, yet creates compelling cinema AND manages to placate the Production Code.
The story of Rebecca open in Monte Carlo. Our heroine is wandering the cliff-side, when she sees a man gazing over the edge of the precipice. Alarmed, she cries out. He reacts violently, telling her loudly to mind her own business. That evening, as she sits in the lobby of the hotel with her employer, the crude Edyth van Hopper (played by the always wonderful Florence Bates), who should appear but That Man - Maxim de Winter, the wealthy owner of Manderley, and a lion of the social set. Mrs. van Hopper tries to ingratiate herself to him, to no avail (though she is oblivious to Maxim's disregard of her). Maxim is much more intrigued by her paid companion, and when Mrs. van Hopper is relegated to her room by a cold, the girl and Maxim begin to keep company. She, of course, is immediately smitten by him. He treats her as a child, needing constant care and correction. But, when Mrs. Van Hopper decides to drag the girl back to America, Maxim proposes marriage. Following a happy honeymoon, the couple returns to Manderley, and the second Mrs. De Winter finds that her life is a constant stream of insecurity and fear.
Joan Fontaine is really perfect as the second Mrs. De Winter. Her mannerisms, which can sometimes be annoying, work beautifully here; they highlight her naivety and anxiety. Laurence Olivier provides the perfect balance of superciliousness and affection as Maxim. One is never quite sure of his love for his second wife, nor his feelings for Rebecca. Which is as it should be - Rebecca needs to hover over the proceedings, as her minion, the magnificent Mrs. Danvers attempts to destroy Maxim's marriage, as well as his new wife. Ms. Anderson was rightfully nominated for an Oscar for her performance (losing to Jane Darwell in The Grapes of Wrath). Watch her as she shows the second wife Rebecca's room and belongings. Her obsession with, and passion for, Rebecca oozes from her. She is frightening and fascinating. Also notable is George Sanders as Rebecca's "cousin" Jack Favell. Sanders revels in his "hail fellow well met" persona, as he tries to figure out the best way to wring some money out of Maxim, and intimidate the second Mrs. De Winter. Just seeing his character, you get a clearer picture of who Rebecca really was (and don't like her much, as a result). TCM has a wealth of information about this film. One place to start is this article which discusses the uneasy relationship between director Hitchcock and David Selznick. Where Hitchcock had intended to use the novel of Rebecca as merely a jumping-off point, Selznick required an exact retelling of the novel. Though one change did have to be made - Rebecca's death in the book is somewhat different than the circumstances described in the movie. The Production Code would not have allowed the film to end as it did with the original story line. So great was Hitchcock's antipathy for Selznick, that he used him as the model for Raymond Burr's character in Rear Window! A trailer from the film is below. If you've never seen Rebecca, do yourself a favor and put it at the top of your list.
That wonderful year of 1939 brought us Joan Crawford, along with a galaxy of
female stars, playing the gold-digging, husband-stealing Crystal
Allen in The Women. Norma Shearer is the star here; Mary
Haines, the woman whose husband is stolen by Crystal. The movie, as the
tagline says, stars all women, but is about men - the men in their
lives, who they talk about constantly. We have all kinds of women here,
from the innocent (Joan Fontaine) to the experienced (Paulette Goddard)
to the nearly idiotic (Mary Boland, as the hysterical Countess de
Lave). Rosalind Russell, in a supporting role, shines as the gossipy
Sylvia Fowler, and there is an equally enjoyable performance by Lucile
Watson as Mary Haines mother.
Much of our conversation focused on
the position of this movie within the "chick flick" universe - starring
only women, could it be a chick flick? Interestingly, the movie was
marketed to men. One assumes the moviemakers figured the men were the
harder sell, so the ads point up many lovely, undressed ladies ("Zips up
the back and no bone"). It is surely a movie about women; and the
little fashion show demonstrates it is a movie FOR women. But there is
enough, we thought, to keep a man watching.
Crawford is just
magnificent here. And she surely has the best line in the whole movie:
"There's a name for you ladies, but it no used in high society, outside a
kennel". Crystal may lose the fight, but she'll be back again; perhaps
to win the war!
