That wonderful year of 1939 brought us Joan Crawford, along with a galaxy of
female stars, playing the gold-digging, husband-stealing Crystal
Allen in The Women. Norma Shearer is the star here; Mary
Haines, the woman whose husband is stolen by Crystal. The movie, as the
tagline says, stars all women, but is about men - the men in their
lives, who they talk about constantly. We have all kinds of women here,
from the innocent (Joan Fontaine) to the experienced (Paulette Goddard)
to the nearly idiotic (Mary Boland, as the hysterical Countess de
Lave). Rosalind Russell, in a supporting role, shines as the gossipy
Sylvia Fowler, and there is an equally enjoyable performance by Lucile
Watson as Mary Haines mother.
Much of our conversation focused on
the position of this movie within the "chick flick" universe - starring
only women, could it be a chick flick? Interestingly, the movie was
marketed to men. One assumes the moviemakers figured the men were the
harder sell, so the ads point up many lovely, undressed ladies ("Zips up
the back and no bone"). It is surely a movie about women; and the
little fashion show demonstrates it is a movie FOR women. But there is
enough, we thought, to keep a man watching.
Crawford is just
magnificent here. And she surely has the best line in the whole movie:
"There's a name for you ladies, but it no used in high society, outside a
kennel". Crystal may lose the fight, but she'll be back again; perhaps
to win the war!
Torch Song (1953) marked Joan Crawford's return to MGM after
her years at Warner Brothers. However, she returned for a VERY strange
film indeed. She is Jenny Stewart, a temperamental stage star who
has alienated EVERYONE in the cast of her latest show, and has no
social life to speak of. Into her life comes pianist Tye
Graham (Michael Wilding), who was blinded in the war. He attempts to
humanize Jenny, whom he loves because "he knows what she looks like". Torch Song
seems most biographical in nature. From Jenny's dislike of any woman
she sees as competition to her passionate love affair with her fans, the plot seems to be borrowing from Crawford's own life. Did she know how close it would look to her public? One wonders... Let's
just get past the black-face number right away. It is just stunningly
WEIRD. WHY they found it necessary to perform the song Two-Faced Woman
with Crawford done up as a mulatto with bejeweled eyebrows is
incomprehensible. In the 21st Century, one rather sits there going
"Huh??" And then there is the singing. A documentary on the DVD showed
Crawford testing the music in her own voice. Never really a strong
singer, age (and smoking) had destroyed with little musicality her voice
had in her youth. Thus, the producers were forced to substitute a
"ghost" singer for her. Want a glimpse? Here she is "singing" "Follow Me". On the plus side, is her
relationship with her sister and mother. What at first seems like an
avaricious family living off their successful relative turns into
something much more complex. There is real love and pride of the mother
for her star daughter. And the sister, coveting Jenny's coat, beams
when Jenny relents and presents it to her: "Thank you, Jenny! I'll even
wear it to bed". she says as she leaves. Sure, they are not perfect;
but there is a love there, that we understand Jenny has ignored in her
climb to the top.
Be prepared if you decide to watch
this movie - it is NOT politically correct, but Crawford holds her own
here. And damn, has she got good legs!!
Next week, we go back to an earlier Crawford movie.
In 1952, Joan Crawford closed out her Warner Brother's contract with This Woman is Dangerous.
Beth Austin (Ms. Crawford) is the leader of a gang that pulls major
heists. Their latest involves the robbing of a casino. She controls
her henchmen (David Brian and Philip Carey as Matt and Will Jackson),
but Beth has a problem - she is going blind, and needs immediate surgery
to prevent it. She heads to the hospital of Dr. Ben Halleck
(Dennis Morgan), the only physician capable of performing this delicate
surgery. And, of course, she falls in love with him.
The
commentary provided by Robert Osborne in the introduction informed us
that Crawford's considered this her worst film. It is rather silly, but
certainly not the worse thing SHE had ever done. She's actually pretty
good in it. We did find Philip Carey (as Will) rather amusing. His
bug-eyed mania was VERY overstated, from an actor we've always found to
be rather an UNDER-actor. Ditto David Brian. This is not the acting
one would expect from the person we had so recently seen in Flamingo Road. He's really over-the-top crazy in this.
We
enjoyed Dennis Morgan (also at the end of HIS contract with WB), but
the actor who was a breath of fresh air was little Sherry Jackson as Susan
Halleck, Dr. Halleck's young daughter. Crawford seems so comfortable
with the child; she becomes easier and happier in the scenes with her.
On top of all the sturm and drang of the soap opera plot, the innocent home-life of this little girl considerably lightens up atmosphere.
Here is an interesting scene from the later part of the film. It won't give away any plot, but it does show Crawford when she is nails the scene (plus some wonderful cutting on the part of the editor, James C. Moore:
We're
not sure if we would recommend this, but it is has its moments. So you
might want to give it a try. If only to see the one Joan Crawford
loathed!!
In 1951, Joan Crawford starred in a delightful comedy with a political bent - Goodbye, My Fancy.
Ms. Crawford is Congresswoman Agatha Reed, invited by her alma mater,
to return for the graduation ceremony to receive an honorary degree.
There are, of course, some complications. For one, Agatha never
graduated from the school - she was dismissed for staying out all night
with a man. Another is that her former fiance (Robert Young) is now the
dean of the college. Trailing after Agatha to the ceremony is
photographer Matt Cole (Frank Lovejoy) her romantic interest during the war, when she was a war
correspondent. And then there is the film that Agatha recently
released, on her experiences during the war and the effects of tyranny on
intellectual freedom.
There is no question here of age
appropriateness. Agatha IS an older woman. She's had at least two
successful careers and her former beau has a 22 year-old daughter. Yes,
she was his student (making him a few years older), but she is a mature
woman, and Crawford plays it as such. She is also a woman deeply in
love with a memory. And we get to watch as she decided between Young
and Lovejoy. Acting as our commentator is the always delightful Eve
Arden. No movie with Eve Arden in it is ever dull, but Ms. Arden is at
her witty best here. We think she got all the best lines. She is a
riot!
Robert Young, unfortunately, doesn't get to do much here,
which is too bad. Always an interesting actor to watch, he is eye candy
here - Agatha's past incarnate. Her future, too, she hopes. But a
future that will completely alter all she has accomplished in her past.
Without
giving away the ending, we found the film fascinating for its view of
the importance of career to women and for its emphasis on the importance
of freedom of speech. In an era where the House Un-American Activities
Committee was abrogating the rights of the free speech of all
Americans, this is a daring statement.
In 1950, Joan Crawford was back at Warner Brothers (and with director
Vincent Sherman for the second time) in a fairly turgid gangster movie, The Damned Don't Cry. Told in flashback, as on Lorna Hansen Forbes flees to her parents house following the discovery of a murdered man, we learn that Lorna was actually Ethel
Whitehead. Living in relative poverty in her parents home, with her
husband and small son, Ethel's life has few pleasures, thanks to her
penny-pinching husband (Richard Egan). When their little boy is killed
suddenly, Ethel leaves her husband, landing work as a dress model,
gradually becoming a call girl to make a few extra dollars. Her life's
direction changes again when she meets accountant Martin Blackford (Kent Smith); thanks to Ethel's intervention, Martin becomes enmeshed with gangster George Castleman. And
so it goes. Quite frankly, we found this movie WAY too long. The
section that introduced Lorna's life story for example, when we see the
death of her son, was totally unnecessary (and could have been briefly
outlined within the body of the movie). Also, Crawford is not really
convincing here. Her speech pattern is very peculiar. She seems to
think that she needs to change the way she talks with each small change
in her life: the housewife has a quiet, precise speech; the whore talks
like she just escaped from a Damon Runyon novel, and Lorna adopts the
pronunciation of the Vanderbilts. All very bemusing.
It was nice
to see Richard Egan (in a very small part as Ethel's miserly husband);
David Brian (as George Castleman) was used to much better advantage in
the previously discussed Flamingo Road. Steve Cochrane as gang
member Nick Prenda was interesting to watch, as was Kent Smith as the
loyal Martin. But all-in-all, we've seen better movies. Here's a trailer to give you an idea of the film's marketing:
We'll be back shortly with another Crawford film from the 1950s.
The Movie Night Group had the wonderful opportunity to join Robert Osborne and Angela Lansbury for a screening of the 1962 The Manchurian Candidate
in New York City. Like most of the attendees, we had never seen this
film on a big screen, and what a knockout. The story of a Korean war
troup that is kidnapped by the enemy, with one member programmed to be a
stone-cold killer, it features outstanding performances by Frank
Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, and Angela Lansbury. As Ms.
Lansbury pointed out in the introduction, none of the actors was afraid
to look bad, and all (except Ms. Leigh) have scenes in which the tension
and horror of the movie is reflected in their face. In particular is a
scene towards the end of the film in which Ms. Lansbury's face seems
distorted, bloated, and truly ugly (if one could believe that!).
If you have never seen The Manchurian Candidate (big
screen or small), it is one that you owe to yourself. It has a script
that will keep you on the edge of your seat til the conclusion. However,
if you have seen it before, you will see new things with each new
viewing. On our way out of the theatre, we heard a woman mentioning that
she had seen the film before, but this time noticed the constant
references to Abraham Lincoln (something I don't believe I had picked up
on during my many small screen viewings).
So thanks again to TCM
for a remarkable opportunity to see classic movies the way they should
be seen. And thanks too, to Mr. Osborne and Ms. Lansbury for sharing
their insight into the film with an eager audience. For those of you who have never seen this magnificent film, here is the trailer (there is another scene on YouTube, but it gives away too much of the ending. We'll put that at the bottom. DON'T watch it if you are new to the movie)
More Joan Crawford
soon, but we felt our "readers" might like to join us for a few minutes
at the special event.
Flamingo Road (1949) features Joan Crawford as Lane
Bellamy, a carnival dancer who gets bored with the constant running
from creditors, and decides to settle down in the town of Boldon City. Boldon City is run, in every negative context of that word, by its malevolent sheriff, Titus Semple (Sydney Greenstreet). His assistant, Fielding Carlisle
(Zachary Scott) is enchanted by Lane, much to the chagrin of Semple,
who has other plans for her personable aide - he plans to use him as a
political stooge, a body and a voice that will allow Semple to create
his own political machine. Lane, of course, will put those ambitions in
jeopardy - too strong to be manipulated, too common to be an attractive
political wife, she becomes an obstacle for Semple to get out of the
way.
While Crawford is a bit old to play Lane, her power as
an actress is still well used. You can well appreciate her character's
ability to land on her feet despite any obstacle, and her tenacity in
going head-to-head with Sheriff Semple. But, good as she is, it is
Sydney Greenstreet who steals the movie. He is so amazingly EVIL - you
cannot take your eyes from him the minute he walks into a scene. Poor
Zachary Scott is faced with the unenviable task of playing a weakling.
There isn't ANYONE that can't push this man around, from his idiotic,
daddy-obsessed wife (Virginia Hudson) to Lane to Semple. We did
especially enjoy the scenes between Lane and Dan Reynolds (David Brian). Again, we get to see another side of Lane, as she begins to love the man she had only hoped to use.
Flamingo Road is a surprisingly enjoyable movie. We hope you'll give it a try one day. Here's a trailer:
We got to view another winner, this time from 20th Century Fox
(Crawford was on loan from WB): Joan Crawford's next film at WB was the
excellent Daisy Kenyon. Joan plays the title character, a
successful graphic artist involved with a married lawyer, Dan O'Mara
(Dana Andrews). Daisy is dissatisfied with her life with Dan - she
knows that he has no intention of divorcing his wife (Ruth Warrick as
Lucile O'Mara). Enter Peter Lapham (Henry Fonda), a veteran with his
own demons from the past, who falls in love with Daisy almost at first
sight. As the two men war for Daisy's affections, Daisy and Dan's
family, are torn apart by the complicated relationships.
This is
an amazing cast - Crawford's Daisy is powerful and independent. You
cannot help but like her. Her relationship with Dan is so complex, yet
we end up liking Dan. One rather wants to kick him at times, but it is
not possible to truly dislike him. He is too caring of his children,
and we always felt he did indeed love Daisy. Henry Fonda also shines as
Peter, giving us a depth the the character, so that ending (not to be
revealed here) is totally believable. And the story will keep you
involved til the last scene!
We also tip our hat to Ruth Warrick
as Lucile O'Mara, Dan's high-strung wife. We found it interesting that a
film from 1947 would not only imply physical child abuse, but would
implicate a mother in the action. While we never actually SEE Lucile
beat her younger daughter, the film makes it abundantly clear that Dan
and Daisy suspect something of the sort is going on. It is not
surprising that Otto Preminger, who created such a row with his
discussions of rape in Anatomy of a Murder is the director here as well.
After
watching the movie, we also watched the brief, but interesting,
documentary that is included on the DVD. We did have one big argument
with the discussion. Several of the critics, including our personal hero
Robert Osborne, argued that Ms. Crawford was too old (she was 43 at the
time) to play Daisy. We disagree wholeheartedly. First off, Henry
Fonda is exactly the same age so, if she is too old, so is he.
Secondly, Daisy is supposed to be a successful career woman. Given her
position in life (she says she has been working for many years), she
would need to be at least into her late 30s; the same with Dan O'Mara -
if we figure out his age at graduation from law school, and factor in
the age of his oldest child, he must be at LEAST 39 year old. Our
question was, why is it so impossible to believe that Daisy could be a.
near 40, b. still be sexy, and c. that the lovely Ms. Crawford could
pass for a women a few years under 40? Here's a trailer - you tell us if you think Ms. Crawford still has IT:
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.
Joan Crawford followed her Oscar win with another excellent film, 1947's Humoresque,
in which she plays socialite Helen Wright, an unhappy woman who becomes
fascinated with a violinist (played by John Garfield). Though Crawford
gets top billing here, this movie is really about Garfield's Paul
Boray, following him from boyhood (as played by Bobby - or later Robert
- Blake), when he receives his first violin, through his relationship
with Helen.
Boray is a man obsessed by music and with his career.
Helen is a woman whose life has been one unhappiness after another. Her
current (third) husband is a kind, but ineffectual man, for whom Helen
has no respect and little affection. We learn that her prior marriages
were appreciably worse: "One was a crybaby and the other was a
caveman" she tells Boray.
Crawford's subtle skills as an actress are in
evident here: when Boray attempts to touch her, Crawford cringes,
harkening back to her former"caveman" husband - and perhaps explaining
why she remains married to current husband, Victor (Paul Cavanagh)), a
weakling with no desire to do more than watch his wife from afar.
Helen's nearsightedness (and reluctance to wear glasses) become of
symbol of Helen's narrowed life vision - again, Crawford plays it
carefully, using Helen's glasses as a sign of her attempts to really SEE
Boray for who he is.
Certainly, this is an almost painful movie -
Helen's misery and Boray's need for success give little room for
happiness. However, we do have some relief from the pain of these two
people trying to develop a relationship against their own personalities
and the dismay of both their families. It is from Oscar Levant's Sid
Jeffers. Playing Garfield's closest friend since boyhood and his
pianist, Levant's irreverence provides some humor to a film otherwise
filled with unhappiness. Sid also provides a moral compass,
alerting the viewer (and the protagonists) to the dangers of this
relationship with seems to cause nothing but pain.
Regardless,
this is an excellent film, with sterling performances. Watch Crawford's
telephone monologue towards the end should you have any doubts. It is a
piece of brilliance. And, the delicate portrayals of Paul's parents
(played by J. Carrol Naish and Peggy Knudson) are also lovely. Papa's
reluctance to waste money on a violin, counter-posed with his pride of
his son, when the boy sees the birthday present he has yearned for are
quite nicely played. Before we leave for this week, here is a trailer from Humoresque:
Next week, we continue with Ms. Crawford's Warner Brother's years. Please join us.
