Kay is in a Jeep

Four Jills in a Jeep  (1944), based on a book by Carole Landis, tells the true story of the Ms. Landis, Kay Francis, Martha Raye and Mitzi Mayfair, as they venture from the safe confines of Los Angeles (where all four were deeply involved in the war efforts) to entertain the troops in the war zone - first in England and then in North Africa.  Along the way, Carole and Mitzi find romance - and Martha dodges a smitten Sgt Eddie (Phil Silvers).

By and large, this is a true story - the four women, spent nearly four months abroad lto entertain the troops in the middle of the danger zone (see this AFI Catalog article).  Carole Landis did meet a flyer (Army Air Force Captain Thomas Wallace) on the tour, and married him in 1943 (they divorced in 1945).  The film presents an interesting picture of the war effort from the point of view of those who decided that staying home was not the best service to the troops.  It's an enjoyable film, with great music, and an array of talent from 20th Century Fox studio - Alice Faye, Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda, George Jessel, Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra, and even Dick Haymes, playing Lt. Dick Ryan (in his first credited screen appearance.  Of course, he is a singer!).  You can see from the advertisement below that these guests get more prominent billing than our four stars.

Though other wartime revues, such as Hollywood Canteen and Thank Your Lucky Stars (both from Warner Brothers) did well, this film did not, and received an unfavorable review from the New York Times.  Released in 1944 (in April, before the D-Day invasion), audiences (now in the war for over 2 years) were likely dejected by the seeming lack of progress.  But it must surely have been welcomed by the soldiers who were not able to see the Four Jills on their tour.

Of course, the film was shot entirely on the studio lot, resulting in the women riding Central Asian (two-hump, or Bactrian) camels in North Africa (the home of the Dromedary, or one-hump camel).  And though the ladies always look immaculate, the film does capture the flavor of what they had to deal with.  Especially impressive is a scene in which the women perform using only cigarette lighters when the power goes out during a bombing raid.

We sometimes forget what a lovely singing voice Martha Raye had.  This film, luckily, gives her the opportunity to show it off.  Sure, it's a novelty number, in which she gets to clown as well.  Had Ms Raye had the looks of a Carole Landis, it is likely she would have had starring roles in big musicals.  However, that was not to be.  The film's producer, Darryl F. Zanuck, was apparently not a fan; he commented to director William A. Seiter, "Martha Raye usually talks too fast and too loud. Try to make her play Martha-Raye-off-stage and not Martha-Raye-on-the-screen, if possible."

Ms Raye continued her work abroad after the four month tour.  She was famous for going where the troops were, no matter whether it was 2 men or 2000.  She traveled with the USO during the Second World War, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam War.  She was given the honorary rank of Colonel Maggie.  In later years, she would receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work with the troops.  She also appeared in numerous films -  though apparently she was only happy with her work in Chaplin's Monsieur Verdoux.  When the age of television arrived, she began to work in TV;  she also appeared on the Broadway stage - notably in Hello, Dolly and No, No, Nanette.  Her personal life was not a happy one - she married seven times, all but the last ending in divorce.  Her relationship with her daughter, Melodye Condos, became fraught when Ms. Condos sought to control her mother's money following Ms. Raye's stroke in 1991.  Ms. Raye died of pneumonia, age 78, in 1994, the result of the stroke and serious circulation problems.

This is a cute movie, though not great literature.  Then again, it's not supposed to be. It certainly is worth a look as a glimpse into the lives of those who went abroad to entertain the troops.  Plus, it's one of Alice Faye's last film roles (until she reemerged from her self-imposed exile in 1962), and one of Kay Francis' final roles as well.  We'll leave you with this scene that was deleted from the final picture, with Ms. Mayfair, Ms. Landis, and Ms. Raye dancing and singing for the troops.

Bogie Fights the Nazis

This week, we move to the period just before the start of World War II to discuss All Through the Night (1941), a very funny - and entertaining - film from Warner Brothers.  'Gloves' Donahue (Humphrey Bogart) is a promoter in New York City.  Every day, 'Gloves' goes to his favorite restaurant for Miller's cheesecake.  The restaurant is under orders to ONLY serve Miller's cheesecake.  On one particular day, Papa Miller (Ludwig Stossel) has not made his usual delivery.  Though Papa Miller assures 'Gloves' that all is well, later that day, - following a frantic phone call from his mother (Jane Darwell) - 'Gloves' discovers Papa Miller has been murdered.  'Gloves' - the prime suspect of the police - and his crew investigate the murder, and find not only the murderer, but a passel of Nazis who have infiltrated New York City.

This film has an amazing cast.  Humphrey Bogart demonstrates his flare for comedy as 'Gloves' (whose given name is Alfred!), and is supported by actors like Frank McHugh (as newlywed Barney), William Demarest (as right-hand man Sunshine), and Jackie Gleason (as Starchy).  His opposition is just as impressive.  Peter Lorre as Pepi, our slimy villain was of particular interest.  He is an actor who is always fascinating to watch; he is not a disappointment here.  The wonderful Conrad Veidt is featured as Hall Ebbing, the ultimate Nazi; and Judith Anderson appears as Ebbing's comrade - she is just as menacing as she was in Rebecca.  Add Kaaren Verne as love interest Leda Hamilton and Phil Silvers (as a waiter in the restaurant), and you have a powerhouse of actors.  It's really it is the acting that make this film so enjoyable.  It has a good script, but coming from the mouths of these folks, the dialogue shimmers.

The film was released on December 2nd, 1941 - just 5 days before the United States would enter World War II.   Many of the studios tried to avoid any mention of the difficulties in Europe.  Certainly, this was an economic issue (insulting the Nazi party would assure that the studio's films would not be shown in Germany).  But censorship was an issue as well.  The Hays office, which governed film standards under the Production Code, was very clear that films which "would arouse very bad feeling in Germany" were to be avoided (The New Yorker.  "Hitler in Hollywood").  However, Warner Brothers had other ideas.  As this article from the American Film Institute discusses, Warner Brothers release of Confessions of a Nazi Spy in 1939 (based on an FBI case in New York) was the first explicitly anti-Nazi film made in America. It was produced in the face of numerous domestic and international threats, and reversed the policy of the Hays office. 

This film follows in that anti-Nazi vein, and features three actors who had a vested interest in showing the dangers of the Nazi party.  Conrad Veidt, whose wife was a Jew, left Nazi Germany for the United Kingdom in 1933, relocating the U.S. around 1940.  Peter Lorre was in a similar situation.  Though lauded by Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbel for his work in the film M, Lorre and his wife (actress Celia Lovsky) fled to the United States in 1933.  Kaaren Verne left Germany in 1938, also to get away from the Nazis (Verne and Lorre would marry four years after this film, after divorcing their respective spouses).  Veidt, who donated huge sums of money to the British war effort, especially seemed to relish the chance to make the Nazis look bad.  He is a marvelous actor, and it is a shame that his death of a heart attack in 1943 precluded his return to meatier roles. 

The advertisements for the film make sure to emphasize that Bogart's 'Gloves' is a gangster.  Take a look at the poster above.  "The underworld's top trigger-guy..." That's 'Gloves'.  Except that the film clearly tries to make him less a gangster and more a businessman. Sure, he orders all the local restaurants to only purchase cheesecake from Papa Miller (a cheesecake protection racket!), and he has a gun.  But he is a nice guy who loves his mother.  The script really wants to de-emphasize the shadiness of 'Gloves' line of work, so that the film can have a happy ending (the Code would not allow a real gangster to survive the ending, no matter how noble he was).  But it's amusing that Warner Brothers is really trying to have their cheesecake and eat it too!

All Through the Night is obviously set in New York City.  But as natives, we were very amused by the film's geography.  The warehouse which 'Gloves' and crew go to investigate is on 733 E. 61st Street, which would be in the middle of the East River.  The art gallery is attached to it (around the corner, we are told), but later on we are told that the gallery is 3 blocks from 5th Avenue.  Huh?  If the warehouse is floating in the center of the East River, that's about 10 blocks from 5th Avenue. 

This film was yet another role that Bogart got because George Raft wasn't interested. (Raft also refused to do The Maltese Falcon and High Sierra).  Olivia de Havilland was at one point listed for the role of Leda.  This TCM article discusses how Gleason and Silver got into the film. Though no characters were in the original script for the actors, Jack Warner told Vincent Sherman to find them parts.  So he did!

We end our discussion for this week with a trailer featuring our remarkable character actors and our star:

Rita Haunts Otto

Rusty Parker (Rita Hayworth) is the lead performer in Danny McGuire's (Gene Kelly) Brooklyn night club.  She learns of a contest to model for the fashion magazineVanity from fellow dancer Maurine Martin (Leslie Brooks) and decides to enter.  Though Maurine does all she can to sabotage Rusty's chances, magazine editor John Coudair is so taken by Rusty's appearance that he hires her.  It seems Rusty is the spitting image of John's lost love, Maribelle Hicks.  It's no coincidence - Rusty is Maribelle's granddaughter. Unfortunately, not everyone is thrilled by Rusty's success.  Maurine is furious; but Danny is also angry and jealous, for his girlfriend is being courted by other men; specifically, Noel Wheaton (Lee Bowman), who is as captivated by Rusty as John was by Maribelle.  In his pursuit of her, Noel encourages Rusty to quit her job at Danny's place: he will get her show on Broadway. 

Thus begins Cover Girl (1944).  It is not really one of Gene Kelly's best musicals, which is sad to say.  One of the problems is that there are just too many musical numbers which don't advance the plot; instead, the serve as distractions away from the story of Rusty and Danny.  One example is the "Cover Girl" number, which is way too long, and Rita Hayworth isn't in enough of it.  The same with "The Show Must Go On": you have to wait too long to see Hayworth, and instead, get to look at a bunch of models trying to be as engaging as Hayward (and not succeeding).  It's not that the dancing or songs are bad, it's that they are jarring. They don't seem to fit into what is going on.

However, there are some wonderful numbers.  Kelly's impressive "Alter Ego" number, in which he dances with himself, (back before CGI).  Hayworth (not singing - Hayworth's singing was dubbed. More on that later) "Long Ago and Far Away" (a spectacular Jerome Kern/Ira Gershwin song), and finally the amusing "Poor John", which DOES advance the John-Maribelle story.  Also intriguing is the first "trio"  number with Phil Silvers (as Danny's best friend, Genius), Gene Kelly, and Rita Hayworth ("Make Way For Tomorrow").  The routine feels like a practice for Singin' in the Rain, perhaps not surprising, since it was developed by the same choreographers (Kelly and Stanley Donen). This was Donen's first film work with Kelly, so it is interesting to see the development of their unique and impressive partnership.

Though Rita Hayworth "sings" in a number of films, she is actually dubbed in every one of them.  This was a surprise to us, as we were so familiar with her in Pal Joey and in Gilda.  We, of course are curious as to WHY she was dubbed. We assume that powers-that-be deemed her inferior (as with Audrey Hepburn, Ava Gardner, and Natalie Wood - all of whom had sung in films with their own voices in other films, but in My Fair Lady, Showboat, and West Side Story, respectively, were determined to be vocally insufficient).  However, she did do SOME singing in Gilda, and sang for the troops during World War II (see this article on Gilda from TCM). Below is a YouTube video of Ms. Hayward singing "The Heat is On".  Why she wasn't allowed to sing is a mystery.

The movie draws some nice parallels between Rusty and her grandmother, but we felt that Rusty comes off as a bit more callous than Maribelle.  Rusty clearly doesn't love Noel; and while Danny is acting like a total jerk, consenting to marry Noel is cruel to Noel.  Is she going to Noel for security? Because she SHOULD be married? Or just passively letting Noel lead her by the hand? Regardless, she ends up jilting him at the altar (Maribelle tells John they are done long before their relationship gets that far).  We thought that Noel took it a lot better than he should have.

As always, Eve Arden is tremendous as assistant editor Cornelia Jackson. The scene in which Rusty walks in being "animated" is a hoot; it's instantly apparent that Rusty is no actress (and that Hayworth is fantastic at mocking bad acting).  But the scene is stolen in one look by Arden.  As always, Ms. Arden can do more with an eyebrow than most performers can do with their entire body.

To close, here is one of our favorite novelty numbers from the film, Ms. Hayworth doing "Poor John".