Lawrence Rip Smith (James Stewart) is forced to close down his small survey business. Rip is a pollster, and though good at his job, he is unable to compete with the larger firms. He dreams of discovering a way of polling that is accurate, but fast and inexpensive; believes he has found it when his friend Hoopendecker (Kent Smith) sends him the results of a survey that he took in the small town of Grandview - a poll in which the results exactly match the results of a nationwide, weeks long interview process performed by one of his large competitors. Rip believes he has found his dream, a Magic Town (1947), that is a microcosm of American society, where in, in a few days, he and his colleagues Ike Sloan (Ned Sparks) and Mr. Twiddle (Donald Meek) can take a poll that would exactly mirror the opinions of the nation. The problem - keeping it a secret both from his competitors and from the town itself. This is a very peculiar film. It wants to be Mr. Smith Goes to Washington or Meet John Doe, but has a postwar anxiety that undercuts those ambitions. Rip Smith, as portrayed by James Stewart, is an ambitious young man who spent his years in the military mocking the small town life, but who in reality longs for the peaceful existence outside of the bustling city. Mr. Stewart does an excellent job in displaying the conflicts within Rip. He is, however at war with a script that isn't quite sure where it wants to go. The role was written with Mr. Stewart in mind, and it is obvious that he is comfortable both with the character, and his co-star, Jane Wyman.
The chemistry between Ms. Wyman (Mary Peterman) and James Stewart is excellent. Much of this is thanks to Mr. Stewart's subtle display of his growing affection for Mary. But frankly, Mr. Stewart's part is more fleshed out that that of Mary. Ms.Wyman takes what is given to her and is able to make Mary a more realistic character albeit one who doesn't know her town as well as she thinks she does. Jane Wyman was not the first choice for Mary. Director William Wellman first wanted Janet Blair; he later considered Arleen Whalen and Loretta Young (AFI Catalog). After years of playing light comedy, Ms. Wyman had finally started getting challenging parts. In 1945, she was Ray Milland's fiance in The Lost Weekend, and in 1946 she portrayed Orry Baxter in The Yearling, for which she was nominated for her first Oscar. The year after this film, she would appear in Johnny Belinda, and finally win an Oscar for her amazing performance (she would receive two more nominations after this, for The Blue Veil (1951) and Magnificent Obsession (1954)).
When the film was shown to a preview audience, it was three hours long; the final running time as the film exists today is 103 minutes. It's hard to imagine what was covered in three hours that is not dealt with in 103 minutes. The film falls apart when hoards of people begin to stream into the town because of the publicity that is garnered by its ability to predict poll results. The question is why? What would make that meager event beckon to so many people? What makes the film even more reminiscent of Meet John Doe is the presence of Regis Toomey and Ann Doran playing the Weavers, pretty much the same parts they played in Meet John Doe (though with different names). While the Weavers are conciliatory (just as they were in Meet John Doe), the other town folks are not all sweetness and cream; they reflect the darkness of a new post-war mentality.
Donald Meek appears briefly in the film as a statistician who works with Rip, then the character just disappears from the film, with Ned Sparks informing us the character left on an earlier train. Mr. Meek died suddenly during filming, and rather than eliminate or recast the part, director Wellman cobbled up a means for him to be gone from the action (TCM article). This New York Timesreview by Bosley Crowther was not very complimentary towards the film; it ended up losing $350,000, bankrupting Robert Riskin Productions. It did have a bit of an afterlife, however. In December 1947, James Stewart and Jane Wyman reprized their film roles for a Lux Radio Theatre production. Mr. Stewart (and his best friend, Henry Fonda), were cat lovers and frequently took in strays (James Stewart: Behind the Scenes of a Wonderful Lifeby Lawrence J. Quirk and Hank and Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart by Scott Eyman), so it seems fitting to that the film has a cat. While we can't really recommend this one, here's a clip in which James Stewart interacts with Jane Wyman - and a kitten.
In 1950, Joan Crawford was back at Warner Brothers (and with director
Vincent Sherman for the second time) in a fairly turgid gangster movie, The Damned Don't Cry. Told in flashback, as on Lorna Hansen Forbes flees to her parents house following the discovery of a murdered man, we learn that Lorna was actually Ethel
Whitehead. Living in relative poverty in her parents home, with her
husband and small son, Ethel's life has few pleasures, thanks to her
penny-pinching husband (Richard Egan). When their little boy is killed
suddenly, Ethel leaves her husband, landing work as a dress model,
gradually becoming a call girl to make a few extra dollars. Her life's
direction changes again when she meets accountant Martin Blackford (Kent Smith); thanks to Ethel's intervention, Martin becomes enmeshed with gangster George Castleman. And
so it goes. Quite frankly, we found this movie WAY too long. The
section that introduced Lorna's life story for example, when we see the
death of her son, was totally unnecessary (and could have been briefly
outlined within the body of the movie). Also, Crawford is not really
convincing here. Her speech pattern is very peculiar. She seems to
think that she needs to change the way she talks with each small change
in her life: the housewife has a quiet, precise speech; the whore talks
like she just escaped from a Damon Runyon novel, and Lorna adopts the
pronunciation of the Vanderbilts. All very bemusing.
It was nice
to see Richard Egan (in a very small part as Ethel's miserly husband);
David Brian (as George Castleman) was used to much better advantage in
the previously discussed Flamingo Road. Steve Cochrane as gang
member Nick Prenda was interesting to watch, as was Kent Smith as the
loyal Martin. But all-in-all, we've seen better movies. Here's a trailer to give you an idea of the film's marketing:
We'll be back shortly with another Crawford film from the 1950s.
