Walter Faces a Bank Run

Thomas Dickson (Walter Huston) runs a successful bank in an unnamed city in 1932 America. His bank survived the beginnings of the Depression primarily because of Dickson's gift for choosing individuals to whom to loan money. Often, Dickson makes loans on the character of the person, regardless of their collateral, yet those to whom he lent money have unfailingly paid it back. But a bank robbery threatens the integrity of the bank when word is leaked that they are broke, starting an American Madness (1932).

Shown at the AFI Silver Theatre as part of a retrospective celebrating the works of Fay Wray and Robert Riskin, the film featured commentary by their daughter,  Victoria Riskin (who recently published Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir). Mr. Riskin wrote the screenplay - one of eight collaborations with Frank Capra (TCM article).

Frank Capra was not the first choice to direct the film - initially Allan Dwan was set to direct, but producer Harry Cohn was dissatisfied with his efforts, fired him and assigned Roy William Neill. Within a day, Neill was gone and Frank Capra, who was just back from a vacation, was pushed into the film. Scenes of the bank run are reminiscent of It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and the character of Thomas Dickson resembles George Bailey, even to his speeches as je attempts to calm the bank panic. It's an interesting opportunity to see the work that would later influence what many consider Capra's masterwork.

Walter Huston is impressive as Dickson, a man of principle facing a crisis of faith.  Dickson has spent his life relying on his ability to read people. Now, in an instant he discovers that a climate of fear brings out the worst in his fellow man. The character of Dickson was based on the chairman of the Bank of America, A. P. Giannini (AFI catalog ). Mr. Huston is always an impressive actor - see his work in Rain (1932), Dodsworth (1936), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) for very different performances.  

Pat O'Brien plays Matt Brown, an ex-con hired - and promoted - by Dickson. He's in love with Dickson's secretary, Helen (Constance Cummings), and inadvertently witnessed what he thought was a romantic assignation between Dickson's wife, Phyllis (Kay Johnson) and fellow employee Cyril Cluett (Gavin Gordon). Mr. O'Brien has his best scenes when he is (unsurprisingly) accused of collusion in the bank robbery. His anxiety over preserving his boss' marriage (Matt accompanied Ms. Dickson home when he found her at Cluett's apartment) rather than provide himself with an alibi is well played - and an interesting contrast to Gavin Gordon.

Constance Cummings didn't have a big part in this film - her role is to support Matt and Dickson, but she does it well. When she was the Star of the Day in Summer Under the Stars, Michael Feinstein discussed her.  Her U.S. film career was short (she'd already had a Broadway career, which would continue until 1979); after her 1933  marriage to Benn Levy (they had two children and were together until his death in 1973), she moved with her husband to England, where she would continue working in films (Blithe Spirit (1945)) and the stage (Long Day's Journey into Night opposite Laurence Olivier in 1971). She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1979's Wings.  She died in 2005, aged 95

This is the first film role for Sterling Holloway (Oscar), who would go on to perform numerous character parts, television roles, and voice parts, include Mr. Stork in Dumbo (1941), the narrator of "Peter and the Wolf" in Make Mine Music (1946), and Winnie the Pooh. 

It's an interesting movie, and if you are a fan of Frank Capra, or would like to see the genesis of It's a Wonderful Life, definitely worth a viewing.  I'll close with an early scene, which introduces many of our characters.

Barbara's Christmas

Assistant District Attorney John "Jack" Sargent (Fred MacMurray) knows how to get convictions. He knows that putting an attractive woman on trial for shoplifting a few days before Christmas is going to result in a not guilty verdict. When presented with such a case just before the holidays, he maneuvers to postpone the trial until the new year. Jack is about to take a long-promised vacation to visit his mother and aunt on their farm in Indiana. Thus, he feels sorry for defendant Lee Leander (Barbara Stanwyck), as his actions will force her to be incarcerated over Christmas and he bails her out of jail. When Jack discovers that she is from a town near his home own, he offers to bring Lee to visit her mother.  Remember the Night (1940) is the story of their journey.

I discussed Remember the Night four years ago after seeing it in a theatre, so I was pleased when our Movie Group decided to view it for the holidays. This is a lovely film, blending comedy and drama expertly. With a script by Preston Sturges, and direction by Mitchell Leisen, the movie glides along at a brisk, but engaging pace. This was Mr. Sturges last film in which he only provided the script (thereafter, he would direct his own screenplays), and Mr. Leisen cut the script, much to Mr. Sturges' dismay. (AFI catalog) That being said, it is hard to believe that a longer film would have been half as affective, or that Mr. Sturges' original concept of Jack would have been any better than the one we have today.

In the first of his four films with Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray is sympathetic and engaging as a serious lawyer with a big heart. According to this TCM article, Mr. Sturges originally conceived Jack as "almost heroic". Mr. Leisen, however, felt the focus of the film should be shifted slightly away from Jack, and from the "certain articulate quality" that he felt would not compliment Mr. MacMurray's abilities. Mr. Leisen's vision of "gentle strength" is what remains in the film, and Mr. MacMurray is perfect as a man whose emotions and goodness conflict with this part of his job.

Barbara Stanwyck sparkles a Lee, a woman who has been diminished by her mother and her upbringing (more on that later). She escaped to New York City, and ended up a shoplifter, stealing high-end jewelry to support herself. We know that she has tried to work - she mentions a job as a song plugger (like Jack, she can play the piano, but she is a far better pianist than him). But with no real job skills, and no self-esteem, Lee has become a self-fulfilling prophesy. It would be easy to make Lee either rock-hard or pitiable. Stanwyck does neither; her Lee is genuine. She doesn't like what she has become, but she knows nothing else. When she learns there is another way of life, she embraces it.

The film does a beautiful job in comparing and contrasting the upbringing of Jack and Lee, primarily through the characterizations of their mothers. On the one hand, we have Lee's Mother, expertly played by Georgia Caine as a cruel and unaffectionate woman who has no desire to be a mother to her child. On the other, we have Beulah Bondi as Mrs. Sargent - warm, loving, and understanding of her son, and of Lee. The children, both raised in small towns in Indiana by widowed mothers, both relatively poor, have turned out so drastically different because of their mothers' attitudes. But the film does not present a hopeless view - there is a road to redemption through love.

Georgia Caine has one scene in the film, but she is unforgettable.  Ms. Caine, the child of actors, began her career with a Shakespeare troup. By 1899, she was on Broadway - she had appeared in 28 plays and musicals by 1935, and was at one point called "the queen of Broadway musical comedy". She began her film career in 1930; by the time she retired, she had appeared in 86 films, many of them uncredited. Thanks to her appearance in Remember the Night, she became a part of Preston Sturges stock company, appearing in a total of 8 of his movies, including Hail, the Conquering Hero (1944), where she was the mother of Eddie Bracken. She was married twice - her second marriage to Alphonzo Bell Hudson lasted for 30 years. Ms. Caine died in 1964, at the age of 87. (For more on her life and career, check out Accustomed to her Face: Thirty-five Character Actresses of the Golden Age of Hollywood by Axel Nissen).

The film would reappear in a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast in March, 1940 with Mr. MacMurray and Ms. Stanwyck reprising their roles.  In July, 1951 another radio broadcast from the Screen Director's Playhouse starred William Holden and Nancy Gates as the leads.  In May of 1955, television, in an episdode of Lux Video Theatre featured Don Defore and Jan Sterling. And finally, in 1969, Ms. Stanwyck's own The Big Valley had an episode - "Judgement in Heaven" (Season 1, Episode 15) with a plot remarkably like Remember the Night.

The New York Times review by Frank S. Nugent was glowing - he stated that, though it was "a bit too early in the season to be talking of the best pictures of 1940 [the picture was released in January] it is not too early to say that Paramount's nomination is worth considering." (It received no nominations, unfortunately).  Mr. Nugent praised not only our two stars, but also, Ms. Caine, Ms. Bondi, Elizabeth Patterson (as Jack's Aunt Emma) and Willard Robertson (as Lee's attorney, Francis X. O'Leary). He said "In a cast of such unusual competence the difficulty is not in finding players worthy of special mention but in being able to keep the list within a single paragraph." 

If that doesn't convince you, we'll leave you with the trailer from this exceptional motion picture. Happy Holidays!

Barbara Goes to Court

The final film in the AFI Silver tribute to Barbara Stanwyck was Remember the Night (1940), certainly an appropriate film for the holiday season.  It's a few days before Christmas.  John [Jack] Sargent (Fred MacMurray), a New York City Assistant District Attorney has been requested by his boss to delay his vacation for one day, in order to prosecute a shoplifter.  It doesn't sound like it should be all that hard, but the DA knows that it is difficult to convict a woman, and Lee Leander (Barbara Stanwyck) is very much a woman.  Rather than deal with the holiday spirit of the jurors, John forces a delay to the trial, then feels guilty when he realizes Lee will have to spend the holidays in jail. He bails her out, then discovers she has no where to go. As she was brought up in Indiana, only a few miles away from Jack's family home, and her mother still resides there, Jack proposes he bring her with him for a visit to her family.  So, off they go, each intending to spend the holidays with his or her mother.

In the past, we've complained about films that don't seem to know if they are comedy, tragedy, or romance.  Remember the Night has a little bit of each, yet holds its course beautifully. The film starts in an almost comedic tone, building the humor until our couple is arrested for trespassing in a pasture (and theft.  Jack decided to milk a cow for a cup of milk).  However, once Jack and Lee reach Indiana, the mood of the film begins to change.  Our encounter with Lee's mother (Georgia Caine) and her cold husband, who will not even tell Jack his name, quickly reveals WHY Lee's life went wrong.  The mother, who's love and regard Lee still craves, despises her daughter, who is "just like her father."  Lee was forced out of her home as a young teen; she is still not welcome there, so Jack brings her to his family to spend the holiday.

The film now counterpoints the dark, almost evil tone of Lee's childhood home with that of Jack.  Like Lee's mother, Mrs. Sargent (Beulah Bondi) is a widow.  She raised John alone, but with love and encouragement.  We discover that there is much about the young lives of Jack and Lee that are similar:  like Lee, Jack once "borrowed" the egg money, but Jack's mother talked to him about it.  Lee's mother condemned her as a life-long thief.  It is that one difference - the attitude of the mothers towards their children that have shaped their adult lives.

Of course, this is a stellar cast.  Stanwyck is amazing as Lee.  Watch the scene where she absorbs the love in the Sargent house.  Her eyes display her amazement at the family's love and intimacy, and yearning for a similar memory.   MacMurray is quite convincing as Jack - one is even willing to overlook the fact that it is illegal for Lee to leave the state while out on bail, thanks to the honesty of MacMurray's portrayal.  And then there is the always magnificent Beulah Bondi.  Her character is all warmth and understanding - even when she has to do something unpleasant, her kindness shines through.  Will she accept Lee in the end? One suspects she will, and that one day in the near future Lee and Jack will be back home again in Indiana to stay.   A quick nod is also due to Sterling Holloway (Willie), who it turns out has a lovely singing voice.  Certainly, his quirky voice and appearance have always typecast him, but Willie is a character you look forward to visiting.

To supplement your enjoyment of this film, here is a posting from the Movie Morlocks blog, which talks a bit about the film's author, Preston Sturges.  As I mentioned, this film is full of the spirit of Christmas, but with a bit of humor thrown in.  With Christmas coming, why not give it a look?  In the meantime, here is a clip for your enjoyment:

Children of the Depression

Wild Boys of the Road!  We laughed about the title for weeks. We were sure it would be quite silly We were WRONG.  This is a fascinating movie.  It focuses on three children - two boys and a girl, about age 15 - who set off on the road because the depression has made them a burden to their families. The boys, Eddie (Frankie Darrow) and Tommy (Edwin Phillips) are friends; Tommy's family is already feeling the poverty of the era, when Eddie's father loses his job. Eddie tries to help by selling his car, but it is not enough, so the two boys determine to leave home in order to find work.  Of course, they can't.  They meet other children in the same predicament and are chased from place to place, as their numbers grow and town citizenry become disenchanted with this gang of impoverished children.

The unique thing about Wild Boys of the Road is that none of the children are mean-spirited or cruel.  When Sally (Dorothy Coonan, who would become Wellman's wife) is raped, it is by an adult - her companions rush to her defense. When Eddie loses a leg in an accident, all the children work to support him.   Here's that scene:

The beauty of this film is the fact that director Wellman makes sure that the children are seen in a positive light.  Their existence is almost communal, with all the children staying together, all contributing to the support of the group.  Though they seem to lose track of their original goal, to support their impoverished families, we later discover they still hold that goal close to their heart.  It is just that the crushing poverty in which they find themselves make survival become the priority. The performances, especially Frankie Darrow, are a joy. 

We watched a few  minutes of the commentary (and I look forward to watching the rest of it at a later date); what we heard was fascinating. The ending is a positive one, but we learned that Welllman had wanted a far more downbeat ending.  We agreed with the commentator who said that we preferred the positive ending.  Had the film ended differently, I think it would have been unbearable.  [And - an aside - look at the picture on the desk of NYC judge. He will become famous as a TV actor in later life. The answer is in the commentary].

Don't let the title turn you off. Do watch this. We think you will agree with us, that Wild Boys of the Road is a forgotten gem.