Katharine's Getting Married

It's been two years since Tracy Samantha Lord Haven (Katharine Hepburn) divorced her husband, C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) and Tracy is about to remarry. Her fiance is George Kittredge (John Howard), an up-and-comer who is completely different from the wealthy Dexter. Tracy, however, is not happy. She seethes with resentment towards Dexter, and towards her father, Seth Lord (John Halliday), who has been cavorting with a dancer in New York City. So, when Dexter shows up the day before her wedding with two reporters from the scandal sheet "Spy Magazine" in tow, Tracy is ready to give Macaulay Connor (James Stewart) and Elizabeth Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) the ride of their lives.

TCM Presents for February was the delightful The Philadelphia Story (1940). Katharine Hepburn is perfection as the intolerant Tracy, a woman of strict principle who finds herself torn among 3 men on the eve of her wedding. She never misses a step as Tracy discovers the true meaning of love as her inhibitions fall away.

Katharine Hepburn came to Hollywood to star in A Bill of Divorcement (1932) with John Barrymore. Two years later, she won her first (of four) Oscars for Morning Glory.  But, by 1938, with her films not doing well, she bought out her contract, and departed from Hollywood (after she was included in a list of actors termed Box Office Poison), Ms. Hepburn returned to New York, where she appeared in the Broadway production of The Philadelphia Story, a play which had been written by Philip Barry with her in mind. The play was a huge hit (it ran for 417 performances in New York, then opened on National Tour). All the major studios wanted it, but there was a catch. With the help of her friend Howard Hughes, Ms. Hepburn had purchased the rights to the play. No film would be made without her in the lead, and without her approval of her leading men. MGM bit the bullet, and bought the film, hired Philip Barry to write the screenplay, and (with Ms. Hepburn's approval) hired Cary Grant to play Dexter (even with his high salary demands and insistence on top billing!) This Philadelphia Magazine article  has more behind-the-scenes information on the production. For more on Ms. Hepburn's fascinating life and career, check out her autobiography Me, and the authorized biography that was published just after her death, Kate Remembered by A Scott Berg.

James Stewart is equally good as the angry young man who disrupts Tracy's life, a part that Ms. Hepburn intended for Spencer Tracy (they had not yet met). Mr. Stewart brings both a swagger and sass to Macauley Connor. He begins by resenting Tracy and all she represents, but ends deeply infatuated with her. Mr. Stewart would win his only Best Actor Oscar for his work in this film. His scenes with all three of his co-stars crackle with energy.

Cary Grant, however, was NOT nominated for his role as Dexter. Why will always be a mystery to me. He is wonderful (as always) in a part that Ms. Hepburn intended for Clark Gable. She asked Mr. Grant to appear when Gable was unavailable, and he agreed - provided he got top billing and a salary of $137,000 (which was given to British War Relief) (TCM article). As with their three prior parings (Sylvia Scarlet (1935), Holiday (1938), and Bringing Up Baby(1938)), their interplay is dynamic. There is an ease in their conversations that make them all the more real. Mr. Grant is equally adept at sparring with Mr. Stewart. And his scenes with Virginia Weidler (as Tracy's younger sister Dinah Lord) are a pleasure to watch.

The other nominated actor in the film is the always excellent Ruth Hussey (best supporting actress). If you have never encountered Ms. Hussey, treat yourself with this film or with The Uninvited (1944). There is a world-weariness to Liz, but it has not eliminated her hope for a future with Mike. Ms. Hussey began her career in Providence, RI as a radio commentator.  She eventually moved to New York where she modeled, and found jobs with theatrical touring companies. That got her an MGM contract, where she appeared films such as The Women (1939), Another Thin Man (1939), and H.M. Pulham, Esq (1941). She also appeared on Broadway in State of the Union (in the role Katharine Hepburn would play on film), and Goodbye, My Fancy (Joan Crawford's movie outing). Ms. Hussey appeared on radio and television as well until her retirement in 1973. She was married for 60 years to talent agent Bob Longenecker until his death in 2002; the couple had three children. She died in 2005, following an appendectomy, at the age of 93.

Donald Ogden Stewart won an Oscar for adapted screenplay, and director George Cukor was nominated. The film is listed as #44 in the100 Years, 100 Movies, 10th Anniversary Edition (interestingly, the rating went up from the original list, where it appeared at #51). It's also #44 on the 100 Years, 100 Passions list. In 1995, it was added to the National Film Registry.

The Lux Radio Theatre adapted the film twice: in July, 1942, with the original cast, and in June, 1943 with Robert Taylor, Robert Young, and Loretta Young. (AFI catalog). It would be remade as the musical High Society in 1956, starring Gracy Kelly, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Celeste Holm, with glorious music by Cole Porter.  The New York Times review was glowing when the film opened at Radio City Music Hall, and quite honestly, what's not to love. We'll leave you with the trailer to this outstanding film:

Kay Designs

Based on the 1931 novel by Polan Banks, Street of Women (1932) tells the story of Larry Baldwin (Alan Dinehart), who by all accounts is happy and successful.  He and his partner Linkhorn Gibson (Roland Young) are just about to complete work on a new skyscraper that will be the tallest building in the world.  Larry is also very much in love with dress designer Natalie Upton (Kay Francis), who he considers his muse.  But Larry is married - to the cold and conniving Lois (Marjorie Gateson) - and has avoided divorce to protect his daughter, Doris (Gloria Stuart).  But Doris is now 18, and Larry decides it's time for him to be truly happy - by divorcing Lois and marrying Natalie.

In most respects, this is a standard Kay Francis pre-code melodrama - she's in love, she suffers beautifully, and though she is involved with a married man, we know that their love is true and pure.  But, get past that, and you have a lovely story that really does keep you engaged throughout.  Though Ms. Francis' Natalie is considerably younger than Larry Baldwin, they have similar issues to face: primarily two young people who are dependent upon them for love and support, and who are equally unforgiving of their elders' passions and affections.  For Natalie, her younger brother Clarke (Allen Vincent) is the source of her grief.  Natalie's unease at revealing her relationship to Clarke makes a nice parallel to Larry's reticence towards opening up to his daughter.

While Kay Francis is perfect as Natalie, we had a hard time with Alan Dinehart in the role of Larry.  It's really difficult to understand what she sees in him.  Certainly, he is intelligent, but far from being the strong, silent type, Dinehart plays Larry as weak; he is cowed by everyone - his wife, his daugher, even Natalie.  In fact, the only person who really loosens him up is Mattie (Louise Beavers), Natalie's maid.  The interactions between Ms. Beavers and Mr. Dinehart are the scenes that finally show Larry as a human being. And while Mattie is just another of the many maids played by Ms. Beavers, she is warm, affectionate, and wise.  She brings a humanity to her part that only an actress of her skill could realize.

The juveniles - Doris and Clarke - are more brats than fully realized characters.  Doris shows her affection for her father with a long kiss on the lips, that was more incestuously disconcerting than a signal of real affection.  When it comes to understanding her father's misery at home - with a woman for whom Doris has little to no regard - she is uncaring.  At the same time, Clarke, who has been supported by his sister since their parents' deaths, cannot conceive that Natalie might actually be able to make enough money to support them on her own (never mind that he's been willingly taking her financial support without question, including several years in Paris). Now that he no longer needs her, he rejects her needs and is cruel and biting to a woman who has shown him nothing but encouragement.

Allen Vincent had brief acting career - he appeared in 26 films from 1929 to 1939.  Beginning in 1941, he worked as a screenwriter, and received an Academy Award nomination for Johnny Belinda (1948). Gloria Stuart, however, is probably best known for two films that were 64 years apart: The Invisible Man (1933) and Titanic (1997).  The latter earned her a nomination as Best Supporting Actress.  In between times, she worked on screen and off - retiring from films for a time (beginning in 1946) to run an art furniture shop, paint, and create bonzai trees (some of which are in museums).  When her husband (to whom she'd been married since 1934) became ill in the 1970s, she returned to television work, and eventually to films.  Ms. Stuart died in 2010, age 100. Her ashes were scattered in Santa Monica Bay, per her wishes. 

Roland Young as Link is delightful.  His portrayal really makes you wonder why Natalie doesn't select him instead.  He's supportive and affectionate towards her, a good friend to Larry, and he is much smarter and stronger than his partner.  He is quite believable as a potential lover, and very much called to mind the part he played would later play in Give Me Your Heart (1936), where he represents the older, more experienced romantic.   He also is quite cagey, and a later scene involving Lois shows how sly and knowing he really is.

The sets are by Anton Grot (who did the set design for Stolen Holiday) and are marvelous, especially Natalie's somewhat art deco apartment.  No costumer designer was cited, so we must tip our hats to the Warner Brothers costume department for again making Ms. Francis a raft of delicious gowns. This is a good film, and well worth a viewing! We'll leave you with a link to the film's trailer.

Introducing...Cary!

We return to the land of the pre-code with This is the Night (1932). We are introduced to Gerald Gray (Roland Young), a wealthy man-about-town who is having an affair with Claire Mathewson (Thelma Todd), seemingly under the nose of her athlete husband, Stephen (Cary Grant).  When Stephen returns suddenly, and finds his wife with Gray and packing, the pair fabricate an excuse for the trip Claire is obviously planning - Claire will be accompanying Gray and his wife to Venice.  Stephen decides this will be a perfect interlude with his wife, and an opportunity to meet Mrs. Gray.  The very unmarried Gerald must find a wife, and fast.  He hires Germaine (Lili Damita) - a young innocent who needs a job, and manages to convince Gray and his best friend Bunny West (Charlie Ruggles) that she is a woman of the world.  Will Stephen be convinced that Germaine is Gray's wife, or will he decide she is a better choice for himself than Claire?

Had this not been the first film of Cary Grant, it is likely it would have been forgotten long ago.  It's pretty silly, in a number of ways.  In fact, Grant himself loathed the film and the character of Stephen, who he considered to be a nitwit.  Following the premiere of the film, he was afraid he would be typed as the cuckolded husband for the rest of his career.  He got quite drunk, and decided to leave film entirely.  However, several of his friends, including Orry-Kelly, persuaded him to stick it out.  (Thank heavens).  He would make a total of seven films in 1932, including Blonde Venus (starring Marlene Dietrich), Hot Saturday (with Nancy Carroll), and The Devil and the Deep (with Charles Laughton).  The following year, he launched into the role of the male lead - a position he would never relinquish in his 34 year film career - in Mae West's She Done Him Wrong.   For more on Grant and the film's background, see this TCM article.

It's also somewhat hard to envision the slight, balding, nebishy Roland Young as the love interest of not one, but two, women.  Can one really imagine preferring him to Cary Grant? It is a stretch, but the films asks us to do so (without, I might add, much success).  Young was far better used in movies such as Topper, Ruggles of Red Gap and especially Give Me Your Heart, where he played a successful suitor, but of a more age and temperament appropriate woman.  Young was already 45 when the film was released, and frankly looks older.  His career began on the London stage, continued into silent and talking films, the Broadway stage, and into television.  In fact, his last appearances were in 1953 - the year he died - on the television show The Doctor and in the film That Man from Tangier.  A gifted actor, This is the Night just does not show him to advantage. 

Lili Damita is fine as Germaine, but it's difficult to understand her attraction to Gerald, given that there is no real romance between them. Even the ending of the film has them staring into each others eyes, nary a kiss to be seen.  She began her career in France, and came to America as sound burst on the scene.  Her career was not especially long, and she is best remembered now for her seven year marriage to her much more renowned second husband, Errol Flynn (she was previously married to Michael Curtiz).  She made her last film in 1938.  Her only child, Sean Flynn disappeared in Cambodia in 1970, where he was working as a photojournalist.  Damita spent several years trying to locate him, sadly to no avail.  For more information on her, visit this New York Times obituary.

With all the hanky-panky in the film, it's no wonder the Hays Office complained about it.  Never mind the blatant affair between Gray and Claire. The continuing motif of Claire losing her dress in public is quite risque (And given the dresses Claire almost has on, it's apparent there is nothing much under them).  The entry from the AFI catalog goes into more detail on Paramount's issues with the film's content.

The film was based on a Broadway play, Naughty Cinderella, which ran from November of 1925 to February of 1926. The part of Gray was played by English actor Henry Kendall, who also appeared in a number of films, including Hitchcock's Rich and Strange.  The play was also made into a silent film, Good and Naughty, with Pola Negri as Germaine and Tom Moore as Gray.  We can't really recommend the film especially, but it is fun to see Cary Grant begin his illustrious career (after all, even Shakespeare had clunkers!)

A small treat: Robert Osborne introducing the film during a month-long tribute to Mr. Grant.
 

Kay Gives Her Heart - And More

Give Me Your Heart (1936) begins with a parting - Belinda Warren (Kay Francis) and Robert Melford (Patric Knowles) have been having an affair, and it is about to end.  He is married; his wife Rosamund (Frieda Inescort) is an invalid, but he still loves her and cannot leave her. So Belinda and he part; she finds herself alone upon the death of her father - until she has the son that she and Robert conceived.  Belinda is approached by Robert's father, Lord Farrington, who asks if he may raise the child as his son's heir.  The boy will be loved and happy, and will want for nothing.  Reluctantly, Belinda agrees; finally fleeing to the U.S., where she meets Jim Baker (George Brent).  They marry, but Jim cannot understand why his wife is always unhappy. 

This is a soaper, certainly, but it's a lovely film with some great supporting performances.  Henry Stephenson is wonderful as Lord Farrington. He really is the person you would be willing to give your child to.  His affection for Belinda is apparent, and we realize that this feeling is mutual.  Also great is Roland Young as "Tubby", Belinda's dear friend, and friend to Lord Farringon.  "Tubby" functions almost as a Deus ex Machina, descending on Belinda's life to help make the changes that will make things better.  Young plays him with humor, but with a serious concern for this woman who is obviously in so much pain. And Frieda Inescort has one excellent scene towards the end of the film.

Since I'm a fan of women doctors in the movies, it was fun to see that Belinda's doctor is a woman - Dr. Florence Cudahy played by Helen Flint. A good friend to Belinda, she is also a good doctor, refusing to give the insomniac Belinda sleeping pills. Florence prefers instead to try to find the root of Belinda's pain.

As always, any Kay Francis is a pleasure. However, next time we'll be visiting another 30s actress. In the meantime, here's a trailer from this film:

Mogel Joan

This week, we were able to get hold of 1942's They All Kissed the Bride.  In it, Joan Crawford plays Margaret J. Drew, the head of a trucking company. She is a stern boss, with a passel of rules for her employees, which makes her despised and dreaded by her truck drivers. Enter Michael Holmes (Melvyn Douglas) who is publishing articles on her tyrannies, much to her ire.  Michael meets her (though she doesn't know who he is) when he crashes the wedding of MJ's younger sister Suzie (Mary Treen).  Rapidly, MJ and Michael become involved as he tries to loosen up this very up-tight lady.  She, however is immediately attracted to this unknown man.

This is a particularly odd little movie.  First of all, the title has NOTHING to do with the plot. We barely see the bride, in fact, we see more of her groom as the action progresses.  Also, the film can't decide if it wants to be a screwball comedy or a romance.  Clearly filmed (at some point) after the start of World War II, it makes only passing reference to the war, and there is no implication that all the male characters will soon be deep into the fighting.  And Crawford's MJ is rather annoying.  She WANTS to be the head of her father's company, but she acts like a total idiot when she meets Michael.  Oh, sure, love at first sight and all that, but really!! There is no way anyone could efficiently run a conglomerate like MJ does, yet be such a blithering moron.  Poor Melvyn Douglas doesn't get to do much better, really.  Michael is pretty much as silly - and he KNOWS who MJ is. At least she has the excuse of ignorance.

Some good supporting actors here - Billie Burke is very sweet (and of course, addled) as MJ's mother;  and Roland Young is rather likeable as MJ's business associate, Mr. Marsh.  Here's a scene where she meets Allen Jenkins:

 But in the long run, one rather wishes the authors and director had made a decision about which direction they wanted the picture to take.  Instead, they end up with a mishmash that never does find its genre.

Olivia and Family

This week, we watched a movie none of us had seen before (or, quite frankly, even really heard of): Call it a Day (1937). The movie tells the story of one fairly odd day in the life of the Hilton family, a middle-class English family.  Olivia plays the older daughter, Catherine, who is posing as a model for family friend Paul Francis (Walter Woolf King).  Only problem is, she is madly enamored of him, and he is terrified to be alone with her.  Mother Dorothy (Frieda Inescort) is being pursued by a would-be Lothario (Roland Young), and father Roger (Ian Hunter) is in a similar situation when his client Beatrice Gwynn (Marcia Ralston) decides HE would make an excellent night's diversion.  Silly, perhaps, but also diverting, and with a satisfying conclusion.

Though given top billing, Ms. de Havilland really has a secondary part. The main action  of the plot is devoted to Dorothy as she tries to keep Frank at bay.  But Olivia is wonderful as a heart-sore teen, who is stuck on a married man.  The rapport between her and Bonita Granville (as her younger sister, Ann) is perfect.  Young Ann is in love with art; when Paul gives her a Dante Gabriel Rossetti sketch (because she is a fan of the Pre-Raphaelites), her offer to loan it to Catherine is touching.  And logical - she won't give it up, but loves her sister enough to let her borrow the precious sketch (and as I Pre-Raphaelite fan myself, I envied her that picture!!).  An interesting note - the part that Olivia played here was played on the West Coast stage by her sister, Joan Fontaine. 

We should also mention the performance of Roland Young - who would have envisioned Topper as such a lech! He is very funny as the brother of Dorothy's friend, who develops an immediate interest in this mother of three when he meets her in a market.  The interactions between the two of them - especially the scene in which she tries to induce the busy members of her family to stay in for dinner when Frank shows up in an attempt to win his beloved away from her husband, are VERY well done.

We heartily recommend this under-viewed movie.  Well worth a look!