Lieutenant Larry

Captain Geoffrey Roberts (Adolphe Menjou) is engaged in a torrid affair with the very married Alva Sangrito (Lili Damita).  Roberts loves her, and wants to marry her; he encourages her to divorce her husband, Victor (Erich von Stroheim).  After returning her to her home following an alleged outing to the opera, he is appalled to discover that Sangrito is fully aware of his relationship with Alma, and is happy for it to continue as long as Roberts pays for the privilege.  Roberts supplies the required funds, then leaves for his assignment in India, where he is met by his friend Lieutenant Ned Nichols (Laurence Olivier).  It's not long before both men discover that Alma has seduced them both.  After much soul searching, the men agree to banish Alma from their lives, choosing friendship over romance. Friends and Lovers (1931) is the story of that bromance.

Originally titled  The Sphinx has Spoken, the film did not do well upon release, losing $260,000.  Olivier, in his first American film, later claimed that the film "died the death of a dog." (Complete Films of Laurence Olivier); it has also been related that Olivier was having a horrible time converting his acting to a more filmic style.  According to this TCM article, director Victor Schertzinger spent much of his time getting a decent performance out of him:  "It was apparent right from the start that Olivier was completely out of his element acting in movies. He had absolutely no camera sense - my god, we often had to stop takes because he'd look at the camera in the middle of a scene. And he acted the way he did on the stage - all broad gestures and a face forever busy with expressions. He was totally unnatural, an amateur....He was uncomfortable being asked not to 'act,' but just be himself."  In spite of Schertzinger's efforts, Olivier is still obviously uncomfortable in the role.  It would take him years to finally discover the key to screen acting, but when he did - in Wuthering Heights (1939) - it was magic.

But Olivier is not the biggest problem in the film; far more damaging is Lili Damita.   Her Alma not all that attractive, or all that interesting, yet she has every man on the planet hovering over her.  Her husband is making a good living on her "charms," two men who are best friends almost kill one another over her, and despite her reputation, another man is willing to marry her.  Our question was, WHY?  What does Alma have that we don't see? The picture assumes we will take the words of these men that she has something to give, but quite frankly, it weakens the picture. A constant flirt, one wonders of Alma is capable of being in love.

Between 1922 and 1938, Lili Damita made 35 films in France and in the United States, most of them not well remembered today.   She is better remembered for her personal life: in 1935, Damita married Errol Flynn (the same year in which Flynn shot to fame in Captain Blood).  Shortly thereafter, Damita retired from film to raise the couple's son, Sean.  Divorced from Flynn in 1942, Damita would remarry Allen Loomis (who owned a dairy in Fort Dodge, Iowa. They were married until 1983) and left Hollywood for good.  In 1970, Sean, a photojournalist working in Cambodia during the Cambodian Civil War and Vietnam War, disappeared.  Damita never gave up hope that her child was alive, and spent a fortune trying to locate him, however in 1984, Sean was declared dead. Damita died 10 years later of Alzeimer's Disease at age 89.

From an historical perspective, this is a film of interest, since it was Olivier's first film in the U.S., but as a movie, it's not all that impressive.  We'll leave you with a clip from the film - the entrance of Laurence Olivier.  Next time, we'll return with an Olivia de Havilland film from the 1960s.

Larry and Gloria Have an Understanding

Perfect Understanding (1933) stars Gloria Swanson as Judy Rogers and Laurence Olivier as her fiance, Nick Randall.  Judy and Nick are very much in love, but Judy is afraid of marriage, having seen several bad ones among her friends.  Nick assures her that their marriage will be different, and the two agree to sign a contract, agreeing that they will remain independent people after marriage, and will not allow jealousy to enter their lives.  But marriage isn't perfect, and the outside world intrudes into their fool's paradise.

The film is very reminiscent of both Cynara and Illicit: we again visit the woman who is fearful of marriage, and the man who ends up straying within the marriage.  However, this film takes those movies a step further.  The relationship between Judy and Nick is complicated when Nick suspects Judy of straying, even though he has already confessed his affair to his wife.  The double standard, that the man thinks it is okay for him to stray, but if his wife does, he is horrified, is the crux of this film.

To a greater degree, Gloria Swanson's real life story is far more interesting than the character she plays here.  Judy is rather banal; Swanson was not.  Married six times, she was also reported to have indulged in a number of affairs, both between and during her marriages.  In her autobiography, she claimed the great love of her life to have been Herbert Marshall; she was with him for over three years, but finally gave up when she realized he wasn't interested in divorcing his wife (Edna Best) for her.  But her most notorious assignation was with Joseph Patrick Kennedy.  He produced Queen Kelly for her (it was a flop).  Interestingly, Swanson named the son she adopted in 1923 Joseph Patrick.  A coincidence? Perhaps...  Swanson had actually invested money in this film; and her husband du jour (Michael Farmer) plays the part of George. Swanson does get some stunning clothing: gowns were by Ann Morgan and René Hubert (who was uncredited). But it is hard to see why she felt so strongly about this film.

Thankfully, Laurence Olivier has lost the makeup man that he used the year before in Westward Passage, and Nick isn't the cad he'd played in the earlier film.  However, Nick is a bit of an idiot.  Bad enough he has an affair, but to go running to his wife with news of his indiscretion is not only stupid, it's unconscionable.  He knows Judy doubts the viability of marriage, so his confession just throws her even further into the fear that any continuing relationship with a single person is undoable.  So, while the film was interesting in the beginning, it eventually gets bogged down, primarily because Nick is so totally dense.   

Had the film had less of a double standard, and been more understanding of it's fragile leading lady, it would have been far better. We'll leave you with a trailer:

Vivien's a Lady

The war is raging in England, and filmmakers rally to do their bit for the war effort.  The results of one of those endeavors is That Hamilton Woman (1941), starring Vivien Leigh as Emma Hart, Lady Hamilton and Laurence Olivier as Horatio Nelson.  The film was recently shown as part of AFI 100th Anniversary tribute to Vivien Leigh.  Leigh, still basking in her post-Gone With the Wind fame gets top billing here, in this story of passion and devotion to country.  Clearly, the love affair between Nelson and Lady Hamilton becomes an example of England's strength in the face of attack, with tyrant Napoleon standing in for dictator Hitler, and the lovers representing England giving up everything to preserve the nation.  

The story sticks pretty close to history - and juicy history it was.  Told in flashback, this is the story of Emma Hart, the lover of Charles Francis Greville, who arrives in Naples to visit Greville's uncle, the wealthy Sir William Hamilton (Alan Mowbray).  Hamilton is a lover of beauty, in music, in art - and in women.  Unbeknownst to Emma, Hamilton has literally purchased her from his nephew.  Within a few years, Emma, already the darling the English art circle, becomes the wife of Hamilton, as well as his hostess, and a major player in the Naples diplomatic circles.  Enter Horatio Nelson, a young Captain of the fleet.  Emma helps him approach the Queen of Naples for military assistance; afterwhich he departs.  Five years later, he returns; this time, they find themselves deeply in love.  Only problem is, both are married: Nelson's wife, Frances (Gladys Cooper) is at home in England. and quite naturally, she is none too pleased about her husband's involvement with the now notorious Lady Hamilton.  

That the film is attempting to put the past into the context of the present conflict facing England is quite apparent.  As mentioned above, the use of the term "dictator" in connection with Napoleon is a clear pointer to Adolf Hitler.  Nelson, of course, stands in for all the men who would give their lives for the nation. while Emma stands in the for the women who will lose all they love in the fighting.  The film even brings in some of the pictures done of Emma Hamilton:  the picture on the left is used as an emblem in the film.  Next to it is the original George Romney painting of the real Lady Emma.  
The film caused some real consternation among some representatives in Washington, DC, who were eager to stay out of the war.  They even went so far as to subpoena Alexander Korda.  His appearance was to be on December 17, 1941, but the events of December 7th eliminated the need for his visit.  This TCM Article goes into more on the history of the film.

This was the only film that  the always wonderful (and so spectacularly beautiful) Vivien Leigh, and her equally talented spouse, Laurence Olivier did together during the period of their marriage.  The film is also filled with splendid supporting actors.  Gladys Cooper is excellent as Frances Nelson.  The scene in which she sits down to knit as she is forced to converse with her rival, Emma, is great.  Obviously, Ms. Cooper was a knitter - and her needles do as much of the talking as does her voice.  Also good are Sara Allgood as Emma's lower-class mother, Mrs Cadogan-Lyon and Henry Wilcoxon as Captain Hardy.

As a knitter myself, I was interested to see the use of crafts to further our understanding of the main female characters.  As mentioned before, Frances knits.  Knitting, in the era, would have been a middle-class craft, used to create usable clothing for the members of the family.  Knitting was no hobby here; it was a necessary skill to keep the family warm.  Emma however, embroiders.  Embroidery was an upper-class craft, used to create pieces of art.  It was a hobby - an occupation for a woman who had no real work.  The lower-class Emma has risen to the position of having no need to work, while Frances remains the middle-class housewife, despite her husband's rise in status.

I close with a trailer for the film:

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.

Ms. Fontaine has No Name

"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.