Howard, King of the Beggars

The Poet (Howard Keel) has come to the Baghdad marketplace to sell his poems. Discouraged by the lack of business, he sits to contemplate his situation and is given money. He has inadvertently taken residence in the place of Hajj the beggar. Not one to let a good opportunity pass him by, The Poet claims to be a relative of Hajj (who has gone to Mecca), and proceeds to set up shop and solicit alms. However, when he is kidnapped by the thief Jawan (Jay C. Flippen) and ordered to reverse Hajj's curse. The Poet discovers that everything in life is a matter of Kismet (1955).

Back in 2016, we viewed the non-musical Ronald Colman version of Kismet (1944). Also filmed in color, that version was a delightful fairy tale, with strong performances from Mr. Colman and Marlene Dietrich.  The musical version is much the same story, but it's hard to compare it to the earlier rendition, precisely because it is a musical. The addition of the lush score changes the whole dynamic of the film, making it a very different experience.

Howard Keel is excellent as The Poet. He's actually too young for the part - he is only nine years older than his "daughter," Ann Blyth (Marsinah). But he is so engaging and appealing you really don't care. If we had one complaint, it was that he doesn't get to sing the most exquisite song from the production, "Stranger in Paradise". That pleasure goes to Vic Damone (Caliph), who has a pleasant voice, but nowhere near the richness of Mr. Keel's bass-baritone. Mr. Keel was second choice for the part - Ezio Pinza was the original selection of Arthur Freed (TCM article).

After working in public relations, Howard Keel was hired as the understudy for John Raitt in Carousel - he would appear in the role while Mr. Raitt was on vacation. (PBS) He next became the replacement for Alfred Drake in Oklahoma! (Mr. Drake was the original Poet in Kismet). Mr. Keel would eventually appear in 6 Broadway plays. His breakout film role was as Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun (1948), but his ultimate singing partner was Kathryn Grayson - they co-starred in Show Boat (1951) and Kiss Me, Kate (1953). After leaving MGM (following Kismet), he continued to appear on film and television; then in 1981, he became a regular on the television show Dallas as Clayton Farlow, Miss Ellie's second husband. He would continue with Dallas for the next 10 years; the show had the added benefit of introducing him to a new audience, and invigorating his singing career (though he never actually sang on the show!). Mr. Keel died in 2004, at the age of 85. (Guardian obituary)

Also outstanding is Dolores Grey; she makes Lalume into a sultry seductress, and her musical routines are memorable. It was surprising to learn that she was upset by the daylight shoot of the film, fearing it would show up flaws in her complexion (A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli by Mark Griffin). She need not have worried, She looks awesome.  Cyd Charisse was under consideration for the role (AFI catalog) and while she certainly had the dancing ability (let's face it, she could outdance anyone!), her singing was not at Ms. Gray's level.

Ann Blyth has a beautiful singing voice, and she is an excellent actress, but the part of Marsinah is so terribly small, she feels almost wasted. She does get to sing the lovely "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads" and supports Vic Damone in "Stranger in Paradise".  She's at her best with Howard Keel - he gives her someone to bounce off. She's less engaged with Vic Damone, which is not her fault. He's stiff and flat when he is not singing, it's as though he thinks he making a record album. It probably didn't help that director Vincente Minnelli, usually an actor's best support, was downright unpleasant to Mr. Damone during the shoot. This was not a film Mr. Minnelli wanted to make; as a result, he went quickly, sometimes to the detriment of his actors (That Was Entertainment: The Golden Age of the MGM Musical by Bernard F. Dick). 

There are some interesting supporting parts worth a mention - Monty Woolley as Omar the merchant, who starts The Poet on his long, strange journey (this was his last film appearance). Sebastian Cabot as the Wazir, a wicked man plotting to line his own pockets at the expense of his Caliph. Mike Mazurki appears in the small role of a policeman. Jack Elam (Hasan-Ben), Jamie Farr (Orange Merchant), Ted de Corsia (Policeman), and Barrie Chase (Harem Dancer) also appear - some in parts that if you blink, you will miss them (but worth looking for!)

While being able to view the film on demand in your own home is wonderful, this Cinemascope production does lose some of its impact when shown on a small screen. One of our members commented that so much was going on, it was hard to concentrate on it as she watched on her computer monitor. It's a film that begs for a big screen revival.

Kismet had many lives, most of them as a straight play (see our post on the Ronald Colman film, linked above). The musical opened on Broadway in 1953, with Alfred Drake as The Poet,  Doretta Morrow as Marsinah, and Richard Kiley as Caliph (Neile Adams as a Dancer). It ran for 583 performances.

The New York Times review of the film by Bosley Crowther was lukewarm. It paled by comparison to the stage version, but did receive positive review for Mr. Keel and Ms. Gray, and for the  music. It had a Christmas release at Radio City Music Hall, but lost money for MGM.

Kismet is not a bad film - it could have been better, but is well worth seeing for Mr. Keel, Ms. Grey, and Ms. Blyth.  We'll leave you with a trailer:

The New Dick Powell

The poster to the left says it all.  Murder, My Sweet (1944), which was one of the films on the TCM Cruise, was a new beginning in the career of Dick Powell.  He'd spent the 1930s as a juvenile crooner in such films as 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933, but with this movie he changed the trajectory of his career.   Powell was approaching his 40s, and a middle aged juvenile was a hard sell.  By taking on the part of hard-nosed detective Philip Marlowe, Powell would become a film noir leading man.

A poolside midnight showing of Murder, My Sweet capped day four of the cruise.  Eddie Muller of the Film Noir Foundation provided the introduction (Mr. Muller was also the host of the 2015 Summer of Darkness on TCM).  Based on the book Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler, the studio found it necessary to change the name, as audiences thought they were going into a musical comedy (the star was Dick Powell, after all).  And, while it completely altered the career of star Powell, it also was the swan song for Anne Shirley, who retired at the end of the film.  (For more on Ms. Shirley, see our recent post on Anne of Green Gables, as well as this TCM article).

Told in flashback by Marlowe, his eyes completely bandaged, the fairly complicated story begins with Detective Marlowe alone in his office.  A man arrives - Moose Malone (Mike Mazurki) matches his nickname - he is huge and not too bright, but he is in love, and his girlfriend, Velma Valento has disappeared while Moose was in prison.  He wants Marlowe to find her. Then, Marlowe is approached to by Lindsay Marriott (Douglas Walton) help him pay ransom for stolen jewels.  That doesn't go well, and at the drop, Marlowe catches a glimpse of a woman, who will also show up at his office when he gets back from the "drop".  That woman is Ann Grayle (Anne Shirley), and the jewels were stolen from her stepmother.  As the story unfolds, these seemingly unrelated events begin to merge into one big case, as Marlowe is knocked around, kidnapped, and drugged.

Released three years earlier than The Lady in the Lake, this film has a similar feel in the point-of-view references.  Where The Lady in the Lake rarely lets you see leading man Robert Montgomery (we only see him in mirrors), Murder, My Sweet makes it clear that what we are seeing is Marlowe's story, with blurred effects and blackouts as he is injured or intoxicated. It's a very powerful effect, making the story more intense and engaging.

When the film was released, Dick Powell had just hit his 40th birthday, and he looked it.  Type-cast as a musical comedy actor, Powell wanted to expand his roles.  He bought his release from Warner Brothers, and signed a contract with RKO, on the proviso that his first role would be a dramatic one.  This film ended Powell's career in musicals (though he would continue in occasional comedic roles, including The Reformer and the Redhead with his third wife, June Allyson.  He'd also been married to Joan Blondell).  Powell also began to branch out to work behind the scenes - as a producer on TV's Four Star Playhouse and The Dick Powell Theatre, and as a director of films such as Woman on the Run and The Conqueror.  It was on this last film that Powell was most like exposed to the radiation that contributed in his death from lung cancer at age 58.  Filmed in Utah, the crew members were onsite at the time of a nearby nuclear test.  Susan Hayward, John Wayne, Ted de Corsia, Agnes Moorehead, and Pedro Armendáriz were also affected. 

Let's not ignore the wonderful Claire Trevor as Mrs. Helen Grayle. Her languid delivery is perfect for a woman seemingly more interested in drinking than jewelry or intrigue.  You KNOW she is up to something, but until the end, it's not really clear WHAT she is planning.  Trevor was no stranger to Noir she'd already appeared in Crossroads (1942) when she was cast in our film - she has often been called the Queen of Film Noir, notably appearing in such renowned noirs as Born to Kill (1947) and Key Largo (1948), winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the latter.  Married three times, Trevor had one child, Charles, who was killed in a plane crash.  That same year, her husband died of a brain tumor.  For the most part, she stopped acting in the mid 1960s, but in 1982, she appeared in the movie Kiss Me Goodbye, and subsequently did several TV episodes.  She died in April of 2000 at age 90.

The AFI database notes that Ann Dvorak was at one point considered for the role of Ann Grayle.   The film would be remade under it's original title in 1975, with Robert Mitchum as Marlowe (it had already been made as a The Falcon Takes Over in 1942).

Trevor,  Powell and Mike Mazurki would reprise their roles in a Lux Radio Theatre version, with June DuPrez voicing Ann.  Even a year later in the radio play, host Irving Pitchel comments that "in answer to the proverb that a leopard cannot change its spots, we bring you tonight a gentleman who turns his back on many years of light and frothy roles by which he climbed to stardom and takes the part of a ruthless, hard-as-nails detective... He's Dick Powell...."  Such was the impact of Powell's career change.  As I go, I leave you with the trailer to Murder, My Sweet: