We begin today a series of viewing devoted to the films of Joan
Crawford. We are rather bound to what is in our personal collections,
but I think we can promise you some interesting choices.
We begin with one of her odder films - 1954's Johnny Guitar.
First off, it is rather strange to see Joan in a Western. I don't
believe she had ever done one before, nor did she ever do another one.
As directed by Nicholas Ray, this is also a very peculiar western. For
one thing, the lead protagonists are two women: Vienna,
as played by Joan Crawford has opened a gambling saloon just outside
town, as she waits for her land's value to appreciate with the arrival
of the railroad; and Emma Small, a local rancher who loathes Vienna for a
number of reasons, not the least of it is Emma's attraction to The
Dancing Kid (Scott Brady), who rather has eyes for Vienna. In this scene, Johnny and Emma hint at their past:
The
whole movie is centered around the conclusion, the battle between
Vienna and Emma. More than a simple catfight, it is the kind of battle
one normally expects of the male rivals in the film. In fact, for the
most part, the men are rather weak. Sure, Vienna has hired Johnny Guitar
(Sterling Hayden) to work for her - he is a reformed gunfighter and her
former lover - but he revolves within her orbit, not she around his.
Vienna and Emma are clearly alpha females. The men do their bidding.
The
personal antagonism of Ms. Crawford and Ms. McCambridge has become the
stuff of legend. On screen, they spit fire at one another. The film is
both electric and fascinating for its oddness. It verges on film noir,
yet it isn't quite.
Costuming is an important feature in Johnny Guitar.
Witness Vienna, posed in her flowing white dress, positioned next to
Emma in her black mourning weeds: Even when Vienna switches to clothing
that is less conspicuous, she puts on a blazing red shirt - matched
precisely to Ms. Crawford's bold red lipstick. Crawford
looks tall and stately (though she was only 5'4"), next to the "tiny"
Mercedes McCambridge (who was 5'3"). Even Ms. McCambrige's name in the
story - Small - speaks to her personal and physical attributes. As a
result, Vienna always stands out. Ms. Crawford makes sure of that!
Next time, we'll go on to a much earlier Crawford film. Please join us.
We close our Olivia de Havilland film festival with a film that is a personal favority of mine, 1962's Light in the Piazza. Margaret Johnson (Olivia) and her daughter Clara (Yvette Mimieux) are traveling in Italy, when they meet Fabrizio
Naccarelli (George Hamilton), a young Florentine who is immediately
besotted by the dazzling Clara. Unfortunately, Clara has a secret:
injured as a child, she has the mental capabilities of a 12-year old.
Though Margaret initially discourages the growing connection between the
couple, as Clara falls more deeply in love with Fabrizio Margaret finds
her opposition weakening.
I think
this is a beautifully romantic movie. Ms. de Havilland's role is a
tricky one. You have to believe, with Margaret, that her choices are
the best ones for both Clara and Fabrizio, not merely the romantic
imaginings of a delusional mother. Most of this is achieved by the genuine caring that Ms. de Havilland shows for her child. But a great
deal is accomplished by her co-star, George Hamilton, who portrays
Fabrizio with such beauty and sensitivity. Watch the scene where Clara
becomes hysterical, and look at the way Fabrizio gently pulls her back
from her attack. And then there is the final scene. In both cases, it
is Margaret's commentary that provide the complement to Hamilton's
caring scenes. In this scene, the lives of Clara and Margaret Johnson change forever:
We all thought that Barry Sullivan (as Clara's father, Noel) is the weak link
in the movie. Sullivan plays Noel as rather cold and distant towards
his child. We felt that we should understand his frustration with
his wife's obsession towards his daughter, but that some of the lines
(like his comment "Don't skip, dear" to his naive daughter) just made
him distasteful. You almost would rather the lovely Margaret would
remain in Italy, and find herself a nice guy (though NOT Fabrizio's
father, Rossano Brazzi. He's a bit of a cad - and married).
Light in the Piazza
was made into a Broadway musical some years ago. Though engaging, it
is not comparable to the movie. Somehow, the musical did not really
portray the romance of this film.
Next week, we'll begin a new series with another Hollywood lady. Please join us.
As we near the end of our Olivia de Havilland Festival, we have saved
the best for next to the last (we have one more to go after this one).
It's The Snake Pit - Olivia's Academy Award nominated performance as the tortured Virginia
Stuart Cunningham, whose mental collapse lands her in a mental
institution. This is truly a tour-d-force performance. What Ms. de
Havilland does with a brief glance, other actors could not do with their
entire bag of tricks. Watch her reactions change from ignorance to
disbelief to suspicion to anger in the briefest second - it is truly
magnificent. That Ms. de Havilland did not win the Oscar for 1948 is
due perhaps to the fact that her competition was fierce - she lost to
Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda.
This
film is full of wonderful performances, and features some of the
premiere actresses of the day. Let's start with Celeste Holm and Betsy
Blair as Grace and Hester, the bookends to Virginia's confinement.
Holm's Grace cares for Virginia as she begins her confinement; as
Virginia heals, she becomes mentor to the disturbed Hester (Blair).
Other patients in the hospital are portrayed by Beulah Bondi, Ruth
Donnelly, Lee Patrick, and Isabel Jewell. Though their parts are small,
each adds to the atmosphere of the hospital in their own unique way.
Another interesting performance is that of Natalie Schafer as Virginia's
mother, certainly high on the list of dysfunctional parents! On
the distaff side, we have Leo Genn as Dr. Kik, Virginia's psychiatrist,
Mark Stevens as her husband Robert, and Leif Erickson as her one-time
boyfriend, Gordon. The men however, merely serve as window-dressing.
It is the women who rule this picture. It is their performances you will
remember.
The Strawberry Blonde from 1941 is one of those wonderful
movies that I think people just don't know about. Here our Ms. de
Havilland plays Amy Lind, a gutsy nurse whose best friend is Virginia
Brush (Rita Hayworth), the titular Strawberry Blonde. Olivia is just a
delight as she attempts to shock James Cagney (as T.L. "Biff" Grimes)
with her suffragette ideas and outspoken manners. One of my favorite
scenes is Virginia, laying out her plan to entice Biff and Hugo Barnstead (played as a complete slime by Jack Carson) over, without looking forward. "That will show them we're good girls and they can't trifle with us" asserts Virginia. "What did we come for if not to be trifled with?" questions Amy with some indigence. Here is part of that scene:
It
is rather a shame that Olivia and James Cagney did not get to do more
pictures together. They are a quite delightful pair. And again,
combined with the stellar character actors that inhabit this movie, this
movie is a lot of fun. Rita Hayworth, in what is essentially a
supporting part, is excellent as the at first naive, and later
hard-as-nails Virginia. Watch her in the final scene. Her very voice
will make you cringe. George Tobias as Nick, Biff's best friend Nick, is
adorable. And then there are the always wonderful Alan Hale (as Biff's
father) and Una O'Connor (as a next door neighbor to Mr. Grimes). Oh,
let's not leave out George Reeves as the obnoxious college man who lives
next door to Biff and Amy.
The movie is told in flashback, a
technique that works beautifully here, as we see the growth of Biff and
Amy. We know something really awful has happened to them, but not what
or why. We know that Biff has reached a crossroad, but not how he will
deal with it. The ending is satisfying, and we come to love these two
people, who discover their love for each other though adversity and
conflict. If you've never seen it, do yourself a favor and try to catch
it the next time it is on. I think you will like it.
This week, our discussion looks at the ever wonderful The Adventures of Robin Hood.
I have to admit that it is hard to add anything worthwhile to a
discussion of this movie. Oh, I'm willing to admit to some flaws -
perhaps Errol's tights are a little to green and shiny; perhaps Sherwood
Forest is a TAD too perfect, but still - has ANYONE ever approached a
role with a more appropriate swagger than Flynn. His introduction to
our Ms. de Havilland is perfect: "Welcome to Sherwood, my Lady", issued
with aplomb from a tree limb! And then there is Olivia - so beautiful,
radiant even, as Maid Marian. She is spunky, in all the best senses of
the word, brave, and daring. Here, she is put on trial for helping Robin's cause:
And then, there is the perfect
character castings - the ever wonderful Claude Rains as Prince John. He
is unctuous, supercilious, and all-together bad to the bone. His perfect match in evil is provided by Basil Rathbone as Sir
Guy of Gisbourne. His fencing scene with Flynn is magical - and it so
delightful to remember that Rathbone was himself an excellent fencer;
easily the match of anyone to whom he (almost always) lost to.
Eugene
Pallette as Friar Tuck is delightful (though I always seem to see him in
The Mark of Zorro, bopping the enemy on the head as he
mutters, in his gravel voice, "God forgive me"). And of course, let us
not forget Alan Hale as Little John, and Una O'Connor as Marian's maid
Bess. This is an exceptional cast - a representation of the
brilliant character casts available at Warner Brothers.
Tune in next time for another Olivia de Havilland movie.
Our discussion this week focused on 1936's Anthony Adverse. Fredric March plays the titular orphan who loves the young peasant girl Angela Guisseppi, who grows up to be Olivia de Havilland AND a great opera singer. Interestingly, we
learned from Robert Osborne that Kitty Carlisle auditioned for the role
of Angela (which makes a certain amount of sense. While she is not the
actress that our Olivia is, she is certainly an opera singer. That being
said, Ms. de Havilland is lovely in the role of a young woman who grows
to be a widely renowned opera star AND the courtesan of Napoleon
Bonaparte.
This is another of those films with an amazing cast.
Let's start with the prologue - Louis Hayward and Anita Louise as
Anthony's parents. And the always wonderful Claude Rains as the
dastardly Don Luis. We did have one question, which might have been
answered in the book (which none of us have read) - why on earth would
the wonderful John Bonnyfeather (Edmund Gwenn)
convince his adored daughter to marry such a horrible man? Short of
reading the book, I guess we'll never know. And then, as Anthony grows,
there is Gail Sondergaard as Faith
Paleologus, Mr. Bonnyfeather's housekeeper. She is just so wonderfully
bitchy. She and Rains make the perfect pair in this movie (maybe even
MORE perfect than Anthony and Angela!!) And Billy Mauch as the
10-year-old Anthony, who is quite good (and rather adorable, without
being sugary).
The one performance we found totally laughable was that of Steffi Duna as Neleta,
Anthony's tropical mistress. Someone seems to have told Ms. Duna that
they way to express evil was to continuously narrow and widen her eyes.
We were in stitches (luckily, she is not on the screen for too long). A
quick check of her film history revealed that she did, in fact, appear
in 22 films - until she married Dennis O'Keefe in 1940. Then she seems
to have retired.
This is one of
those impressive epic adventures, whose reputation seems to have not
survived as well as it should. It has a lot of excellent performances (Gale
Sondergaard won the first Best Supporting Actress award that year - the
first year it was awarded. She won against such notables as Maria
Ouspenskaya and
Beulah Bondi). If you get a chance to see it, it is certainly worth
your time. And while our Ms. de Havilland doesn't have much screen
time, she makes good use of what she has (especially the early scenes
with March).
Here's the trailer:
Next time, join us for one of Ms. de Havilland's more serious performances.
This week, we're discussing Errol Flynn's first western, 1939's Dodge City. In it, Olivia plays Abbie
Irving, a young woman who is forced to move to the godless Dodge City
after the death of her father. Unfortunately, she has to get there with
her drunken brat of a brother (William Lundigan),
who starts a cattle stampede with his gun-play, and ends up getting
himself killed. Of course, Abbie blames wagon master Wade Hatton
(Flynn). Wade meanwhile, enters Dodge City to find it being run by
former adversary Jeff Surrett (Bruce Cabot), and after a horrible incident decides he is the one to bring law and order to Dodge.
This
movie is full to the brim with wonderful character performances. We
have the usual Flynn sidekick, Alan Hale as well as Guinn "Big Boy"
Williams. We have a rare character visit from the gorgeous Ann
Sheridan (one wonders if Jack Warner was angry at her that week to give
her such a small part), as well as the ever-wonderful Frank McHugh as newspaper
publisher Joe Clemens. And the adorable Bobs Watson as Harry
Cole, the reason that law comes to Dodge. With a cast like this, (and
these names are just the tip of the iceberg) can you really lose?
I
have major problems with seeing Bruce Cabot in pretty much anything
since I heard about his horrible actions to Errol Flynn later in their
careers. But one must admit he is truly loathsome here. Olivia is
spunky, in all the best senses of the word, especially in the later
portions of the movie (it is as though we get to watch Abbie grow up). Here is one of their love scenes:
It is truly funny to see the screenwriters making an excuse for
Flynn's presence in a Western (Wade is from Ireland, and has traveled
the world). Finally, we all adored Frank McHugh - he is funny and
touching in this small, but important role. His performance in the film is well worth emphasizing.
This week, our movie is 1955's Not as a Stranger, wherein Olivia plays a superior OR nurse named Kristina Hedvigson,
who falls in love with medical student Lucas Marsh (Robert Mitchum).
Marsh wants to be a doctor, and will do anything to get there, including
marry Kristina (whom he does not love), in order to pay his way through
medical school. The big problem with Marsh, though, is not that he
doesn't love Kristina - he doesn't love ANYONE. He does love medicine,
wants desperately to be an excellent doctor, but will not brook any kind
of medical mistakes. As a result, he is cold and unforgiving, with no
patience for his colleagues.
Olivia's Kristina is a good woman.
Somewhat unsophisticated, but an excellent nurse and a caring human
being. But she is plain. It is interesting the way this is
accomplished. The blonde wig and very white makeup that Olivia wears
makes her looked washed out. Her usual vibrancy is replaced by a
ghostly, almost surreal invisibility; a symbol, perhaps, of the fact
that Lucas never really sees her. In this scene, the young doctors learn about the human spirit:
This movie is also chock-full of
supporting performances by actors one doesn't always see in supporting
roles. Frank Sinatra, for example as Alfred Boone, another medical
student who is just not up to Lucas' standards, but is a good, caring
man, is just wonderful here. His sympathetic nature radiates. He is
the perfect foil to Mitchum's uptight perfectionist. Broderick
Crawford, as one the medical school's key instructors and Charles
Bickford, as the doctor who gives Lucas his first job, are also
excellent, again providing a glimpse of the humanity that is necessary
to a successful medical career. Bickford especially shows us medicine
as a caring profession; he knows every one of his patients, and treats
them with understanding and love.
Finally, there is our only other
major female role, the always fascinating Gloria Grahame as Harriet
Lang, a wealthy widow who is looking for excitement. And of course, the
rather studdily Mitchum is quickly within her sights.
A big thumbs up for this so often overlooked movie. If you've never seen it, by all means, give it a try.
There is something to be said for delightful little pieces of froth,
which is exactly what this week's movie is. We're talking about My Love Came Back
(1940), wherein Ms. de Havilland plays Amelia Cornell, a music student
who is having quite a hard time financially. Her family is having
problems back home, so Amelia is forced to take on teaching assignments
in order to continue her training at the prestigious Brissac Academy of Music. Only problem is, her meager scholarship forbids her to teach. Enter Julius Malette (Charles Winninger), a wealthy man (he manufactures
musical equipment) who is captivated by her, and begins to anonymously
send her another "scholarship", and not so anonymously take her to
concerts, theater, and even the circus. However, things get complicated
when he sends his Vice-President, Tony
Baldwin (Jeffrey Lynn), to break a date for him. Baldwin is delighted
with her, but also suspects that Amelia and Malette are MUCH more than
friends. Things get even MORE complicated when her friends Joy
O'Keefe and Dusty Rhodes (Jane Wyman and Eddie Albert) cash another of
Malette's check, further intensifying Baldwin's belief that Amelia is
seeing Malette for money.
We really
enjoyed this movie. Olivia is just lovely in in. Her Amelia is sweet
and unassuming. And the filming of her violin sequences is quite well
done. You will believe she is playing the violin. We also have some
great supporting performances here.
Spring
Byington as Mrs. Malette is delightful. She knows quite well that her
husband is not just working late, but it is also clear that she trusts
him. She seems to understand that he needs to be a little "naughty" and
she is able to give him the freedom he needs to work out his mid-life
crisis. We loved her interaction with Amelia; her ability to gently put
the girl at ease just makes you like Mrs. Malette all the more. We also enjoyed Paul
Malette (as played by William Orr). Originally convinced that Amelia
is a disreputable person, he meets her and falls immediately in love.
And though he thinks badly of his father for his "relationship" with
Amelia, he bravely tries to protect both him and Amelia when he believes
his mother is about to find out "the truth".
Finally,
there is the teaming of Jane Wyman and Eddie Albert. You really want
to kill them when the steal Amelia's check, but it is hard to not like
them. And it is good to see Jane Wyman in almost anything. She is
always a bright light in any film. We found a rather unusual trailer (with George Reeves in it - he is NOT in the picture!):
Next time, we'll be venturing back to more serious Olivia territory. We hope to see you then.
This week, we look at the 1956 comedy The Ambassador's Daughter,
wherein Olvia plays the title role. Joan Fiske lives in Paris with her
ambassador father (Edward Arnold). She is engaged to Prince Nicholas
Obelski (Francis Lederer) and happily serves as her father's hostess.
Into their lives comes crusading Senator Jonathan Cartwright (Adolphe
Menjou) and his wife (Myrna Loy). He has decided that Paris has a
terrible influence on their naive servicemen, and wants to ban it as a
destination for the military. The Ambassador, of course, needs to
prevent this - the soldiers are a huge source of income for the nation
still recovering from the war, and he does not share the conservative
senator's fears. Thus, Joan enters into a bet that she will woo a
soldier (John Forsythe), and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that
American soldiers are gentlemen.
This is not a great movie, but it
has its moments. The scene in which Myrna Loy tries to convince John
Forsythe that Olivia is actually a good girl (he has come to believe
that she is the Senator's mistress) is hilarious, and Olivia doing her
best French accent is delightful. But the movie has one little problem -
the romantic leads are just a tad too old for the subject matter.
Forsythe, who was 38 when the film was released, is far too mature to be
so ignorant. And Olivia, at 40 is just too adult to be mistaken for
any kind of an innocent. The other problem is the timing of the movie -
why is Forsythe still in the armed services? Korea is three years over,
and it is 10 years since the Second World War (which of course would
have been the impact factor in France). Why are all these soldiers still
in France? And why isn't Forsythe back in the states working as an
engineer? Tis a puzzlement!
But if you have a chance, give it a
look see. Just suspend you disbelief at the door, and let Myrna and
Olivia whisk you away to a more innocent time.
Next time, another comedy, but from a much earlier time.
