Rosalind is on Stage

Valerie Stanton (Rosalind Russell) a star of the theatre, has spent her career in light comedies, but she wants to try her hand at more serious plays. She’s been offered the lead in Hedda Gabler, and she's eager for the opportunity. But she is being thwarted by her manager, Gordon Dunning (Leon Ames) who has also been her lover. Dunning threatens to tell her fiance, Michael Morrell (Leo Genn) of her past. As they argue, he physically attacks her. In a panic, she strikes him with a trophy. With Dunning dead, Valerie is in faced with owning up to the event or trying to hide it. Our film is The Velvet Touch (1948)

Rosalind Russell leads an exceptional cast in this noir drama, which concerns itself with the impact of guilt on our lead character's life. Valerie is less afraid of getting caught than she is of living with her crime - if the death of Gordon Dunning can really be labeled a crime.

Leon Ames plays Dunning as a cruel, careless bully. He's discarded his former lover Marian Webster (Claire Trevor) in favor of Valerie. He controls Valerie, as we can assume he did Marian. When Valerie seeks to end their relationship, he threatens her, not only with a revelation of their past to her new love, but also with death. When she hits him, there is a real sense of danger - it does appear he is about to strike out at her. It's because of Mr. Ames that we can sympathize with Valerie throughout the film.

The Velvet Touch was the first film made by Independent Artists, the production company formed by Ms. Russel and her husband Frederick Brisson (TCM article).  Mr. Brisson first saw Ms. Russell when she appeared in The Women (1939). Immediately smitten with her, he later asked his friend, Cary Grant, who was filming His Girl Friday (1940) to introduce him to her. Mr. Grant did (he brought Mr. Brisson along on a date he had with Ms. Russell). The rest is history - the couple married in 1941, had a son, and were together until Ms. Russell's death of breast cancer in 1976.

Rosalind Russell started her career on Broadway, so the setting of this film was not unfamiliar to her. In the 1950s, she returned to Broadway to make Wonderful Town and Auntie Mame - and starred in the film versions of both plays (and if you've never seen Auntie Mame, walk, don't run to get access to a copy). Before doing Wonderful Town, she appeared in the film My Sister Eileen (1942), upon which Wonderful Town was based. She won the Tony for Wonderful Town, and was nominated for Auntie Mame. Nominated 4 times for an Oscar, she received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1972

Claire Trevor gives us a characterization of a bitter, but weak, woman. It's almost unbelievable that she could have feelings for a heel like Dunning, but Marian is so dependent upon him for her self-image that she is lost by his abandonment and by his death. Ms. Trevor, an actress who spent her career in character parts, appeared in another movie the same year as this one - Key Largo, for which she was awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (Her competition that year was impressive: Agnes Moorehead in Johnny Belinda, Barbara Bel Geddes and Ellen Corby in I Remember Mama, and Jean Simmons in Hamlet.) This snippet from TCM features Ms. Trevor discussing her work on Key Largo - it's a fascinating story.

The actor that really gives Ms. Russell someone to bounce off is Sydney Greenstreet, in his final film (he would continue his radio career for several more years). His Captain Danbury is a cuddly detective, whose warm familiarity hides an intelligent, observant man. How much he knows and when he knows it is always the question in this film. And though the audience sympathizes with Valerie, we like Danbury and almost want him to succeed.

It is worth mentioning that we have some familiar actors in supporting roles. Frank McHugh as stage manager Ernie Boyle is always amusing; Dan Tobin as Jeff Trent appears in a few scenes, and Lex Barker as young actor Paul Banton was just two years into his film career.  We were excited to see Theresa Harris (Nancy) as Valerie's maid. Yes, she's a maid again, but Ms. Harris shines in everything she does, even with a role as minimally written as Nancy.

The costumes by Travis Banton are wonderful - we were especially impressed by a cape decorated in gold (yes, it's a black and white movie, but we know gold when we see it!). If we have any complaint at all with the film it is the ridiculous title song, which must have been written for another film. Don't listen to it when you watch the film - it will make you NOT want to watch the film!

Ms. Russell and Mr. Greenstreet reprised their roles for the Lux Radio Theatre broadcast in January 1949 (AFI catalog).  As demonstrated by the poster above, in one Latin country, the film was released with the title Hedda Gabler (which must have confused some audience members)! Not surprisingly, Bosley Crowther in his New York Times review was dismissive: "a long and tortuous survey of Miss Russell's efforts to elude discovery as the rather obvious murderess and get on with her promising career." We disagree - this is an enjoyable film that illustrates the impact of guilt on a good person.  We'll leave you with the opening scene from the film, and a suggestion that you take a look at it. 

Olivia Enters the Asylum

As we near the end of our Olivia de Havilland Festival, we have saved the best for next to the last (we have one more to go after this one). It's The Snake Pit - Olivia's Academy Award nominated performance as the tortured Virginia Stuart Cunningham, whose mental collapse lands her in a mental institution.  This is truly a tour-d-force performance.  What Ms. de Havilland does with a brief glance, other actors could not do with their entire bag of tricks.  Watch her reactions change from ignorance to disbelief to suspicion to anger in the briefest second - it is truly magnificent.  That Ms. de Havilland did not win the Oscar for 1948 is due perhaps to the fact that her competition was fierce - she lost to Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda.  

This film is full of wonderful performances, and features some of the premiere actresses of the day.  Let's start with Celeste Holm and Betsy Blair as Grace and Hester, the bookends to Virginia's confinement.  Holm's Grace cares for Virginia as she begins her confinement; as Virginia heals, she becomes mentor to the disturbed Hester (Blair).  Other patients in the hospital are portrayed by Beulah Bondi, Ruth Donnelly, Lee Patrick, and Isabel Jewell. Though their parts are small, each adds to the atmosphere of the hospital in their own unique way. Another interesting performance is that of Natalie Schafer as Virginia's mother, certainly high on the list of dysfunctional parents!

On the distaff side, we have Leo Genn as Dr. Kik, Virginia's psychiatrist, Mark Stevens as her husband Robert, and Leif Erickson as her one-time boyfriend, Gordon.  The men however, merely serve as window-dressing.  It is the women who rule this picture. It is their performances you will remember.

Here, we see a trailer from the film:

Next time, our final Olivia picture.