Claudette is on the Run

Private detective Guy Johnson (James Stewart) is hired by millionaire Willie Heyward (Ernest Truex) to protect him from himself - he's a notorious lush and womanizer. After Heyward's marriage to Vivian Tarbell (Frances Drake), Heyward goes (drunk) to bawl out a former flame - who's murdered while he is there. Guy tries to protect Heyward, but is arrested with him and sentenced to a year in prison, while Heyward gets the death penalty. On his way to prison, Guy sees a personal ad that leads him to believe he can catch the real murderer; he escapes from the train. And promptly kidnaps Edwina Corday (Claudette Colbert), a renowned poet. Our film this week is  It's a Wonderful World (1939).

It's always a pleasure to see Claudette Colbert, and she's delightful in this film. Edwina is smart and resourceful, but there is a problem - we could not understand why she would go out of her way to help Guy Johnson.  He's horrible to her from the start,  and he just really isn't that attractive a man that she should fall in love with him.  Personally, we thought she should have run the minute she saw him.  Both Myrna Loy and Frances Drake were considered for the part of Edwina - Ms. Loy was not available, and Ms. Drake was instead cast as Vivian.  So, Ms. Colbert agreed to appear in the part. She was taken aback by director W.S. Van Dyke, II's fast style of direction, and not satisfied with the film in the end. (TCM article).

Where one rather likes Edwina, the same cannot be said for James Stewart's Guy. He's mean, nasty, and violent. He hits Edwina, he almost drowns a police officer, and his motivation for trying to save the man who is about to die for a murder he did not commit is money, and nothing more.  Mr. Stewart and Ms. Colbert never really gel as a couple. It's hard to imagine the pair living a life together at the close of the film. Mr. Stewart does have some good comic moments, especially when he is trying to hide behind thick eyeglasses, but it's not enough to make the audience really like him.

The film is blessed with some excellent supporting players - Guy Kibbee (Cap Streeter) as Guy's surprisingly supportive partner has some good moment.  Nat Pendleton (Sergeant Koretz) AND Edgar Kennedy (Lieutenant Miller) provide humor as two bumbling police officers; sadly, they are even dumber than Guy. Sidney Blackmer (Al Mallon) is menacing as the villain - Vivian's lover and enforcer. And Frances Drake does a good job as the malicious wife out for her husband's fortune.

The New York Times review by Frank S. Nugent was not positive; they were especially critical of the script by Ben Hecht.  In the long run, the story is too similar to It Happened One Night (1936), and not nearly as funny.  It's entertaining in places, but frankly, it is far from a perfect film.
If you are a James Stewart or Claudette Colbert completest, you'll want to catch this for the good moments. Otherwise, you might just want to see them in some of their better films.  Here's a trailer from the film:

William and Myrna Investigate

The disappearance of The Thin Man (1934), Clyde Wynant (Edward Ellis), and the suspicion that he is responsible for several murders, brings his friend, former police detective Nick Charles(William Powell) out of retirement. His wife, Nora (Myrna Loy) and their dog Asta come along to assist in the investigation.

The reasons this film is listed as an Essential (Jeremy Arnold The Essentials: 52 Must-See Movies and Why They Matter) are the two stars. The interactions between Ms. Loy and Mr. Powell are phenomenal. Their banter is clever and loving; it sparkles like the champagne they drink. It's easy to understand why the public thought them a happily married couple - they play the part so perfectly. As Jeanine Basinger said, "Loy and Powell know how...cooperate without losing individuality. They're Fred and Ginger OFF the dance floor" (I Do and I Don't: A History of Marriage in the Movies).

Ms. Loy had spent most of her career playing exotics. This role completely changed her image, and she would eventually do 14 films with Mr. Powell, six of which were part of The Thin Man series. She wasn't the first choice for the film - Louis B. Mayer wanted silent film star Laura LaPlante to play Nora, but director Woody Van Dyke, who had worked with her and Mr. Powell in Manhattan Melodrama (1934), insisted on Ms. Loy, and won the argument (TCM The Big Idea). She gives Nora an intelligence that, in lesser hands, would have made the character seem like a ditz.

Much of the credit for the success of the film goes to director Woody Van Dyke.  He wanted the two actors to re-team, recognizing their easy relationship from his prior experience with them. He also encouraged his actors to be more spontaneous - when William Powell started shooting balloons off the Charles' Christmas tree with an air gun off-camera, Mr. Van Dyke just worked the routine in the the picture (TCM Behind the Camera).

 

Maureen O'Sullivan as Dorothy Wynant, the only appealing person in that family, didn't particularly like the film because her part was very small. She also disliked Mr. Van Dyke's fast shooting style - the film was completed in between 12 and 18 days (TCM The Essentials). Authors Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich modified the character of Dorothy from the original Dashiell Hammett novel. Dorothy was far less appealing - "a rather silly, heavy-drinking girl" (Mystery Classics on Film: The Adaptation of 65 Novels and Stories by Ron Miller). This change works well, as it gives the audience someone who cares about the missing inventor with whom we can sympathize. Claude Wynant is not all that pleasant, and the rest of his family are distasteful. That we sympathize with Dorothy makes it more palatable that Nick would continue the investigation. 

 

 

Thankfully, Nat Pendleton (Detective John Guild)  gets to play a police officer who is good at his job. Sure, he's not brilliant like Nick, but he's smart enough to realize that he has the help of an outstanding detective, and he uses his colleague's skills with gratitude. We liked Detective Guild, and his easy relationship with Mr. Powell.  

The film has the advantage of a number of excellent character performers. While all are pretty disagreeable characters, the actors give the right bite to their parts - Porter Hall as Lawyer MacCaulay, Minna Gombell as the unreliable former Mrs. Wynant (Mimi), and a very young Cesar Romero as her current husband, Chris Jorgenson.  

 

William Henry, who Dorothy's odd brother Gilbert, would go on to have a long and varied career - the quintessential working actor. He appeared in films from 1925 until 1971 (in later years, often uncredited). In 1951, he added television to his credits, appearing in shows like Rawhide, Bonanza, and The Six Million Dollar Man (his final role). He died in 1982, at the age of 67.

While the ending is a bit convoluted - Mr. Powell complained that he was having trouble sorting out the complicated plot - the audience doesn't really care who did the murder, we are more interested in watching Nick figured it out. The popularity of the film, besides generating 5 more Thin Man films, also resulted is a spate of films that dealt with married sleuths like those found in There's Always a Woman (1938), Dangerous Blondes (1943), and A Night to Remember (1942). None of the copies were as good as the original.

The Thin Man received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Actor, Director, and Adapted Screenplay.  It also created a craze for wire-hair terriers (though Myrna Loy said that Skippy, the dog who played Asta, bit her) (TCM The Thin Man).

The New York Times review by M.H. (Mordaunt Hall) called the film "an excellent combination of comedy and excitement,"  and other critics have also praised the film (TCM Critics Corner). 

 

Mr. Powell and Ms. Loy recreated their roles for a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast on 8 Jun 1936. From 1957 to 1959, Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk starred in a TV series, The Thin Man. It even generated a musical play called Nick and Nora, starring Barry Bostwick and Joanna Gleason, which opened on Broadway on 8 Dec 1991 (but closed on 15 Dec 1991) (AFI Catalog). 

Since then, it has appeared on AFI's 100 Years, 100 Laughs (#32). It was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1997.

This is a must-see movie to add to your list.  We'll leave you with the trailer:

Myrna Goes Upstairs

This week, we watched Penthouse, a 1933 film starring Myrna Loy as Gertrude Waxstead, a young woman "with a past" and Warner Baxter as Jackson Durant.  Durant is engaged to Sue Leonard (Martha Sleeper), but the wealthy young woman is distressed that her fiance has lowered himself to practicing criminal law.  Bored with the current activities in his law practice, Durant has just defended (and gotten acquitted) gangster Tony Gazotti (Nat Pendleton).   While acknowledging that he craves the excitement of criminal law, Durant was also convinced that Tony was innocent of the crime for which he was accused (otherwise, he would not have defended him).

But his new interest in the law causes friction between Durant and his partners, and with Sue.  Plus, Sue has found a new boyfriend - Tom Siddall (Philip Holmes), an upper-crust young man, who is not all that pure of heart.  Once Sue tells him she is interested in him,  Tom agrees to break up with his mistress, Mimi Montagne (Mae Clarke).  However, the breakup is just the start of problems for Tom, for Sue and for Durant.  And it also serves as Durant's introduction to Gertie. 

Myrna Loy is just adorable in the film.  Invited to Durant's apartment, she discusses spending the night there; he provides her with pajamas, and then, much to her amazement, leaves the bedroom.  Later, she discusses her feelings for Jackson, but tells him that it would be inappropriate for their relationship to be public - she will live as his mistress.  It's quite clear that she is not quite the prim and proper virgin.  She knows her way around the seamier side of the City.

If there is a slight problem with the film, it is the fact that the murder (we won't say who is murdered), seems motiveless.  We really never find out why the victim was targeted. Was there a threat perceived by the murderer?  The murder is a very complex setup - yet the reason behind it is never discussed.

Long Island here becomes the playground of the rich (Sue's family has a mansion there) - much the way it does in The Great Gatsby.  We suspect that it is just far enough from the City as to have the aura of entitlement.  As New Yorkers, we found that amusing.

We found Charles Butterworth as Layton, Durant's manservant, very amusing.  We also had a long discussion about Warner Baxter.  We have so rarely seen him in films, though he had a long career.  He was the Crime Doctor in the 40s, as well as playing The Cisco Kid in several films. He had a substantial  career in silent films, before making the switch to talkies - even playing the original Daddy Long Legs in 1931.  He died at age 62, the result of infection following a lobotomy (in this case, being used for the relief of extreme pain caused by arthritis. A quick look at the medical literature for the late 1940s and early 1950s does show that lobotomy was being considered as a relief for intractable pain!)

Again, the costuming is quite good, though Myrna Loy only gets one dress - it's gorgeous, but except for a change of costume at the end, this is all we see.  There is a very funny scene in which she tries to describe to Warner Baxter what dress he should bring her from her apartment. Clearly she has quite a nice wardrobe at home.

Before we go, here is a clip from the film - featuring Myrna in her dress.  Next week, another classic film.