Errol Escapes

When their bomber crashes in Nazi Germany, a group of Allied airmen make a Desperate Journey (1942) to get out of the country with information that may help the war effort. 

Let's begin by admitting that this is very much a wartime propaganda film.  According to this movie, five Allied officers can take down the entire Nazi war machine and defeat it without breaking into much of a sweat.  Regardless, it's an interesting adventure, with snappy (albeit somewhat jingoistic) dialog and a good rapport among the lead and supporting actors.

Errol Flynn gets top billing as Flight Lt Terrence Forbes, an Australian working with the Allied command in Europe.  This is one of the few times in which Flynn gets to play someone from his native land, and he's quite good as the cocky, but competent Forbes. Errol Flynn was examined by the draft board, but physicians discovered that he had tuberculosis.  Knowing that he would be unable to work (and would not be entitled to any money during his recuperation), Mr. Flynn declined to let the studio know of his illness, nor accept any of the treatments available to him (TCM article). As a result, he lost  a tremendous amount of weight (forcing wardrobe adjustments). Frequently late for work, he was difficult to work with during the shoot.

Ronald Reagan (Flying Officer Johnny Hammond) was just off his rousing success in King's Row (1942), and gets second billing above the title with Errol Flynn.  He's good as the devil-may-care American, and got to be the hero of the piece, knocking out Major Otto Baumeister (Raymond Massey), albeit off-camera.  Errol Flynn wanted to the the one to do that particular deed, but he was told no.  Mr. Reagan was called up for military service while shooting the picture - they allowed him a week to finish up the production.  His three years of service did not help his career; he was never able to regain the momentum following King's Row. However, he eventually had other career goals.

The role of Kaethe Brahms was originally intended for Kaaren Verne, but she was replaced by Nancy Coleman (AFI Catalog). It's not a big part, but Ms. Coleman does her best to make Kaethe heroic and appealing.  If there is one fault in the film, it is the scene where the escaping flyers share a meal with Kaethe's parents. Relaxing for the first time in awhile, the men talk liberally - something no soldier would do in these circumstances.  

Raymond Massey has the most thankless part. Major Otto Baumeister is downright stupid, and his Nazi soldiers resemble nothing more than the Keystone Kops.  Massey is a good actor, but you wouldn't know it here.  He's really given nothing with which to work.

We have a number of other good actors in the film - Alan Hale as Flight Sergeant Kirk Edwards gets to do some of the comic relief. Arthur Kennedy (Flying Officer Jed Forrest) is the conscience of the group - trying to keep them on task towards getting home with the information they've obtained.  This would be Ronald Sinclair (Flight Sergeant Lloyd Hollis) last acting role (he'd been a child actor) -  he became a film editor, working with Roger Corman.

Bosley Crowther, in his The New York Times review, was unimpressed with the movie - "an invasion of Nazi Germany which would put the Commandos to shame." It was nominated for an Oscar for Special Effects (it lost to Reap the Wild Wind). While this is not the best movie ever made, it's fun, with an enjoyable cast.  We'll leave you with this trailer:

Joan Has Her Portrait Hung

Professor Richard Wanley (Edward G. Robinson), an instructor of psychology at Gotham University, has just sent his family on an extended trip to Maine. He spends the evening with his friends, Dr. Barkstane (Edmond Breon) and New York District Attorney Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey).  Several hours - and drinks - later, Richard exits the club and pauses to admire The Woman in the Window (1944), a portrait in the gallery next to his club. He's stunned to realize that, standing next to him is THE woman (Joan Bennett), who after some conversation, invites him to her apartment. His response to her query will change his life forever.

At the 2019 Noir City DC, we were treated to an introduction to this film by film historian Foster Hirsch. The film, he said, was about submerged desires, and what happens when these desires bubble to the top. Certainly, there is a sexual aspect to the interactions between Alice and Professor Wanley (at least, on his part!). But I disagreed that this was the result of a loveless or sexless marriage. We see Professor Wanley seeing his wife (Dorothy Peterson) and children (Robert Blake and Carol Cameron). He gives his wife a warm departing kiss; we later see him writing to her, and starting the letter "My Dearest Darling". This is certainly a long-time marriage, but he clearly still loves his wife, and very much misses his family.

Seeing Edward G. Robinson in anything is a treat, but he really outdoes himself in this film.  The juxtaposition between the nebbishy professor and the calculating criminologist is fascinating to watch. This was Mr. Robinson’s first film with Joan Bennett, and the chemistry between them is perfect - so good, in fact that the two would be reunited the following year for the impressive Scarlet Street.  Given Mr. Robinson's career of playing vicious murderers, it is intriguing to see him as a victim - though one who has a real crime on his hands.

Merle Oberon was at one point considered for the role of Alice (AFI catalog), but it is hard to picture anyone but Joan Bennett in the role. She is so enormously sexy that it's easy to picture the three clubmen (Dr. Barkstane, Frank Lalor, and Professor Wanley) discussing their dream girl based merely on a picture in the window of an art gallery.  With her dark hair (a change she made in 1938, which opened a new range of films for her), deep voice, and her seductive tones, she is a siren, wooing men to their doom. Her interactions with both Mr. Robinson and Mr. Duryea are letter-perfect. It's no wonder that Hollywood wanted this dream team to be reunited the following year.

Ms. Bennett, her husband, Walter Wanger, and Fritz Lang were the producers on the film; this opened up new opportunities to director Lang, whose vision for film had being circumscribed by producers like Darryl F. Zanuck. (TCM article)  The film's ending was Lang's idea; producer and screenwriter Nunnally Johnson wanted a different ending, but he was overruled.

Dan Duryea  (Heidt) is appropriately smarmy as the bodyguard hired by his company to tail Claude Mazard (Arthur Loft) - a wealthy man who has a reputation for losing his short temper and getting into fights.  While we initially think Heidt will be easily fooled by the Professor and Alice, we find he is by no means stupid, though he is avaricious and vengeful. Mr. Duryea spent the greater part of his career playing the villain, but he's never boring. His scenes with Ms. Bennett sizzle with tension.

The film's initial title was Off Guard. It received a single Oscar nomination for Score (Hugo Friedhofer and Arthur Lange)., losing to  Miklós Rózsa's Spellbound. Ms. Bennet, Mr. Robinson, and Mr. Duryea reunited to perform a Lux Radio Theatre version in June of 1945.

If you've never seen Woman in the Window, do get hold of a copy. It's a real treat.  I'll leave with the trailer:

Joan Enters the Asylum

After her wonderful role in Humoresque, Crawford got an equally interesting part in Warner Brother's Possessed.  Crawford plays private nurse Louise Howell, who has fallen passionately in love with David Sutton (Van Heflin).  David, as we grow to learn, is a total bounder - a "love 'em and leave 'em" cad who enjoys the chase, and is immediately bored once he wins his prey.  Bored now with Louise, he has informed her of his disinterest in commitment.  She however, has become obsessed with David, and is badly damaged by his rejection; damage that will eventually spiral her downwards into madness.

The opening scene of this picture is fascinating.  We see Crawford wandering alone down what is obviously Los Angeles city streets. First is the shock of actually seeing the city of Los Angeles (and not the WB back lot) in a picture.  Second is the surprise of seeing Crawford without a drop of makeup on her face! Actually, the beauty of her face is even more evident plain as it is.  She was a stunning woman, without the overdrawn lips and arched eyebrows!  And here, is that very scene:

The film begins after Louise has suffered a severe mental breakdown.  Her story is told in flashback, as her psychiatrist (Stanley Ridges) attempts to ferret out the reason for her illness.  
 
We found the character of David Sutton to be totally reprehensible.   It is hard to discuss, as I'm loathe to give away the ending of the picture for anyone who has not seen it (and we heartily suggest that you see it. You will not be disappointed), but David is not content with destroying Louise, he has another victim in his sights, and Louise is perhaps the only one who understands what he is about to do.  Van Heflin does an excellent job of making David loathsome, yet, we can still understand why women would be attracted to this snake-in-the-grass.  Raymond Massey's Dean Graham is also an interesting portrayal.  Graham, too, has been battered by life, but has an inate strength that will serve those around him well.

Most of the film is told from Louise's point-of-view. We are, after all, hearing her story as told to her doctor.  However, the POV work is fascinating, as we actually SEE her mind breaking down.  We see her hallucinations; as  a result, we are often not sure what is real and what is not.  Which makes for an even more interesting and intense story.  Crawford is wonderful in showing us the confusion in Louise; she makes us care about this woman and appreciate her pain.

Next time, more from Crawford's Warner Brother's years.

Oliva Goes West

Our film this week was Santa Fe Trail, with Olivia de Havilland as Kit Carson Hailliday, the love interest of J.E.B. Stuart (Errol Flynn) and George Armstrong Custer (Ronald Reagan).  The three are caught up in the terrorist activities of John Brown (played here with great gusto by Raymond Massey), a provocateur who is attempting to being a war to eliminate slavery in the United States.  Most of the plot in this film has to do with Stuart and Custer trying to catch Brown, as he travels through Kansas wreaking havoc. 

There is quite a bit of rhetoric in the movie - how Stuart and Custer only need to obey the law, and the evil of slavery will EVENTUALLY be realized and eliminated, and the history in this movie is so weak as to be nearly laughable. For example, J.E.B. Stuart never married (sorry Olivia),  and the real Custer wed Elizabeth Clift Bacon - a brunette, not the blonde Charlotte as is implied in this movie.  Never mind the fact that Custer graduated from West Point in 1861, a Stuart graduated in 1854 (he actually did end up in Kansas, while Custer went right out of the Point into service in the Civil War). They certainly were not classmates. They weren't even in the school at the same time.  Did they even ever meet? - maybe on the field of battle at Bull Run. They were on opposite sides, though.

Like our film last week, Olivia is window-dressing to the bromance between Flynn and Reagan.  She flirts with her two suitors, eventually deciding on Flynn as her love interest (and are we really surprised?).  Her best scene is not with Flynn, however, it is with Gene Reynolds as Jason Brown, John Brown's drying son.  Her kindness radiates through as she listens to the boy describe the horror of his life with his father.  Here's the film's trailer:


Next week, we'll be doing a movie with a little more meat for the talented Ms. de Havilland.  Hope you'll visit us then.