Jean is Impatient

Released the year before the end of World War II, The Impatient Years examines a topic in a comedic manner that, after the war would be looked at in a more serious vein.  Andy Anderson (Lee Bowman) is home on medical leave, returning to the home of his wife of one week (plus about 18 months).  He finds Janie (Jean Arthur), busy running her home, with her boarder (Henry Fairchild played by Phil Brown), her father (William Smith, played by the always wonderful Charles Coburn), and her not quite one-year old son! She exists on a very rigid schedule, one which her husband will not respect.  Within a day, the hastily wed couple are ready to divorce with equal speed, much to the disgust of Mr. Smith.  So, he recommends to the Judge (Edgar Buchanan) that he prevent the couple from divorcing until they can figure out WHY they married in the first place.

By 1946, The Best Years of Our Lives would look at the impact of the hasty wartime marriage on the returning vet. And while The Impatient Years certainly IS a comedy, there is a core of seriousness under the humor.  Both the Judge and Mr. Smith understand that the war is forcing decisions to be made to quickly.  They insist that our couple stop BEING impatient and try to rediscover their lost love for one another. 

It should be added that neither Andy nor Janie is totally in the wrong. He, back from combat, wants peace, wants to do what HE wants to do.  She, responsible for a house and small child, needs a schedule to get everything done.  Neither can understand the other's needs.  Neither even tries.  And thereby hangs the serious heart of the film.

Both Jean Arthur and Lee Bowman are excellent, and Charles Coburn, as always, shines as a loving father (who, in fact, is just meeting his son-in-law).  We also have comic performances from Charlie Grapwin (as a bellman) and Grant Mitchell (as a hotel clerk).  Sure, the film can be a tad silly, but at heart, it is a lovely story about two people who need fight their own way out of the War.

Jean Takes a Letter

Carol Baldwin (Jean Arthur) and Helen Davis (Ruth Donnelly) run a secretarial school.  Unfortunately, most of their students seem to be of the same caliber as their current student Maizie West (Dorothea Kent) - no brains, but plenty of looks and a plan to make time with the boss.  Thus begins More Than a Secretary (1936), in which Jean Arthur ends up working AS a secretary when the man who hired (and fired) one of her students complains.  The gentleman in question is publisher Fred Gilbert (George Brent).  His publication, "Body and Brains", is a body-building magazine which regularly uses the face of an attractive model on the body of the exceptionally well-built (and particularly unattractive) Ernest (Lionel Stander).  Of course, the magazine is NOT doing well.  It takes our Jean to put it on the right track.

This is a very cute movie, thanks to the interplay between Brent (who is always wonderful) and Arthur (ditto).  Her Carol, at the start, is somewhat reminiscent of a character she will revisit in 1948 - Phoebe Frost in A Foreign Affair. But she quickly discovers her outer beauty, and becomes the perfect secretary.  Beauty and brains in the same office!  Amazing! And Brent manages to make Fred a bit of a dweeb, but still let you know why Carol is attracted to him.  The scene where he takes her out to a tofu dinner (!!!) is quite humorous.

It is fun to see Lionel Stander as well.  His Ernest longs for the day when his face adorns his own body on the magazine - alas, it seems it is not to be.  Many of us remember Mr. Stander from Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and A Star is Born (as well as in Hart to Hart).  It is sad that his career in this country was abbreviated during the 50s and 60s thanks to the McCarthy hearings.

A few words are due, as well, for Dorothea Kent (as Maizie).  She is a hoot.  You can't help but like the opportunistic creature! One sympathizes with Carol's frustration, but I, for one, looked forward to her return.

We'll close with the moment in which Carol finally loses it with Maizie.  See you soon!
 

Jean Goes on an Adventure

Tonight, we join the lovely Jean Arthur for the first in a series of films that feature her in the lead.  Adventure in Manhattan (1936) has Jean starring as Claire Peyton, and beyond that, there is little I can tell you, as there are spoilers aplenty if I do.  Joining Jean is Joel McCrea as George Melville, a reporter noted for his unerring ability to predict crimes before they happen.  When a famous gem is stolen, George predicts the next robbery, and surmises that the robberies are the work of Belaire, a thief long believed to be dead.  By everyone, of course, except George.

It is interesting that this film is included on the Jean Arthur Comedy Collection, as it is really hard to class it AS a comedy (unless you view comedy in the more Elizabethan-theatrical vein).  Our first encounter with Claire is far from comedic, and very few of the incidents that occur will make you laugh.  Perhaps the only funny lines are at the end (and even then, for those of us who had been carefully watching, they were much more serious than we believed the authors actually intended.) This is certainly a film that will keep you guessing til the very end, but I would be interested to know if anyone else really believed this to be a "comedy." 

A lot of talent is involved in this under-viewed movie.  First, of course, is Ms. Arthur, who really is the consumate actress.  Joel McCrea, usually the boy-next-door, is rather arrogant as George, and well he should be, because George DOES think a lot of himself.  We also have such excellent character actors as Thomas Mitchell (as George's editor, Phil Bane) and Reginald Owen as Blackton Gregory.  An interesting and gifted cast, in a very different, and at times puzzling movie.

Rita's a Spy!!!

This week, we visit one movie that was part of a greater series.  The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939) was just one in a series of films about reformed thief Michael Lanyard.  The series started in the silent era, and continued into the late 1940's.  Among the actors to play Lanyard were Melvyn Douglas, Francis Lederer, and Warren William, who plays Lanyard in our film - his first in a series of 9 films. 

The plot is somewhat convoluted.  Lanyard is being set up by a spy ring, led by Rita Hayworth (as Karen), who want to force him to steal government plans.  The delight here is less the plot and more the byplay between William and Ida Lupino (as Lanyard's love interest Val Carson) and between William and Virginia Weidler (as Lanyard's daughter Patricia - the only Lone Wolf movie in which he HAS a daughter).  

The two women are a riot. Val stalks Michael, trying to get him to make more an emotional commitment to her. At the same time, he is dealing with his rather precocious child. A would-be detective herself, she is thrilled to receive a gift of handcuffs (which she uses to force their butler, Jameson (Leonard Carey) to actually "die" when she "shoots" him).

You may not remember the actual plot of this film, but you will laugh a lot.

Kay is Not Guilty

This week, we looked at a very underrated PreCode film from 1931.  Guilty Hands  stars Lionel Barrymore as Richard Grant, a lawyer who discovers that his beloved daughter is engaged to Gordon Rich (Alan Mowbray), a client with a horrible reputation as a womanizer and abuser (Rich probably murdered his last fiance).  Grant tells Rich that if Rich continues with his plan to marry Barbara Grant (Madge Evans), Grant will kill him AND will get away with it.  He will make sure it is the "perfect murder".  

It's not giving too much away to reveal that Grant DOES kill Rich.  But from there, we will leave you in some amount of suspense.  Kay Francis is wonderful here as Rich's mistress, Marjorie West (this is a pre-code, after all), who loves him in spite of his engagement to Barbara (and fully intends to keep on seeing him after his marriage).  When Rich dies, Marjorie begins investigating his death.  With some interesting results.

Lionel Barrymore is fantastic.  He is sympathetic, and at the same time, sinister.  You want to root for him, but he is, after all, a murderer.  Yet he did it for a good reason. leading the audience to feel ambivalent about the conclusion.  It is also a plot that keeps you guessing, right to the very end.  Will Richard be caught? SHOULD he be caught? It's also fun to see Ms. Francis' Marjorie take command as an amateur detective.  Agatha Christie was just beginning to write Miss Marple in 1926 (but only as a short story in a magazine. She would not appear in book form til 1932).  One would need to go back, we suspect, to Wilkie Collins (The Lady and the Law, as well as The Woman in White) for an earlier female detective, so Guilty Hands heroine is quite a novel idea.

If you can see this picture, do so.  It is worth your time.  We think you will be surprised and will LOVE the ending.  We'll leave you with a scene from early in the film:

Kay Meets Edward G.

I Loved a Woman from 1933 features Edward G. Robinson as John Hayden, a would-be artist, living on his father's money in Paris, until his father's death.  He returns to America (Chicago, to be specific), and at the encouragement of the lovely Martha Lane (Genevieve Tobin), he assumes the responsibilities of running the company.  Once in business, John is no more a romantic artist, but a hard-headed, in fact cruel and dishonest, businessman.  As his marriage to Martha disintegrates (she pretty much married him for his money and power), he becomes romantically involved with Laura McDonald (Kay Francis), and the two begin a long-term affair. Meanwhile, John continues his ruthless business ways
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Edward G. Robinson is quite convincing here.  He is interesting as the romantic lead, for a change, but he is also, as we all know from his gangster work during this period, perfectly comfortable playing a not-very-nice guy.  As always, Kay Francis is great.  Her Laura loves John, but this is a Pre-Code movie, so her life style is, shall we say, rather risque.  And again, being that this is a Pre-Code film, our characters get away with things that, in another year, would result in their deaths or imprisonment.  

Probably this film is more interesting as a Kay Francis film than as a venue for Robinson.  Not that he is bad, but his character is just not really as interesting as it could have been.  He is so callous in so many ways, that it is hard to sympathize with him.  But there are scenes with Francis that are fun and interesting, so it is certainly worth a look.  And just to get you started, here is the trailer:

Kay Almost Strays

Transgression (1931) is a Pre-code wonder from the always fascinating Kay Francis.  Ms. Francis plays the happily married Elsie Maury, whose husband Robert (Paul Cavanaugh) is called to India on business. Though Elsie asks to accompany him, Robert refuses, and instead sends her to Paris. While in Paris, the naive Elsie becomes enamored of Don Arturo de Borgus, a philanderer of the first water, played with relish by Ricardo Cortez.  Though Elsie tries to remain loyal to her husband at first, her infatuation, boredom, and Don Arturo's advances tempt her to stray.  And so, she arrives at his estate.  Where, as they say, the plot thickens.

Kay Francis is just wonderful as the tempted wife.  As always, she is beautifully clothed; she manages to portray the ambivalence of a young woman who longs for her husband, but is bewildered by the new rules of the jaded society into which her husband has thrown her.  Also fun to watch is Ricardo Cortez.  His Don Arturo is a total cad.  And if you think he is bad at the beginning, wait til you see the end, and realize just how horrid he truly is!  We also very much enjoyed the performance of Nance O'Neil as Paul's sister, Honoria.  What a totally reprehensible character she is! Nance plays her with relish, and she is a delight to despise.  Here she is spying on our Kay:


The end will show you why this fits so perfectly into the Pre-Code mystique.  And you will really enjoy it! We will be looking at a few other Kay Francis movies from the Pre-Code era in the next few weeks, so we hope you will join us again.

Precode Bogart

This week, we examined another precode movie, notable for being an early effort of Humphrey Bogart.  The film is Love Affair (from 1932 - not be be confused with the 1939 film of the same name with Irene Dunne, which inspired An Affair to Remember) and Bogart plays James Leonard, a brilliant aeronautical engineer who becomes involved with an impoverished heiress. Carol Owen (Dorothy Mackaill) is a party girl, with a love for thrills (and no one else) til she meets Jim at the air field, where she has gone to be wowed in an airplane.  He manages to knock the stuffing out of her (by doing loop-d-loops with his plane) and she returns the favor by driving him to the City (at 80 miles per hour!)  It doesn't take long before Jim has spent the night with Carol (this is a precode, after all), and before Carol discovers that the little money she has is gone, and she will end up being a detriment to Jim's efforts to develop an airplane motor company with his revolutionary new motor design.

Dorothy Mackaill was nearing the end of her career when she filmed Love Affair.  Within two years, she left pictures for good (after seeing her rather substantial career peter out to supporting roles and then none at all).  Sad really, as she was quite talented.  We were very impressed by the scene in which she is flying with Jim - the look on her face is priceless.  Also wonderful was the scene in which we realize she has been intimate with Jim.  Her tears as she brushes her hair before she goes out to join her lover are very special. We see in her eyes all her emotions - her fears, her anticipation, her deep and abiding love.

This film is also noteworthy as an early attempt to introduce Bogart as a leading man.  Columbia obviously decided he did not fit the bill (their loss. He is wonderful in this film) and Bogart would leave to play gangsters and finally, the ultimate leading man at Warner Brothers.  Here is a scene with Bogart looking all ruggedly handsome:


Luckily, this film is available on DVD (though we caught it on Antenna TV; you could look for it there as well).  It is certainly worth your time.

Garbo Coughs

1937's Camille, with Greta Garbo as the notorious Marguerite Gautier was the subject of our latest discussion.  Garbo, of course, is wonderful as the opportunistic courtesan who falls in love with the scion (Robert Taylor as Armand) of a well-to-do family.  While Marguerite resists the attentions of - and her feelings for - Armand, she finds herself desperately in love with him.  A summer alone with him convinces her that she can change to a simpler lifestyle, but the mores of the time interfere, and Marguerite is faced with a choice - stay with Armand, to his ruin, or leave him and break both their hearts.

Garbo is just remarkable here. Her silent era training is evident as she uses her face, her eyes and her body - rather than her voice, to show us Marguerite's physical deterioration.  She LOOKS sick - beautiful, but quite ill.  Yet she is not overstated or exaggerated.  She is the epitome of suffering, trying to summon her last ounce of strength to greet the man she chased away.

Also wonderful is Lionel Barrymore as Armand's father, Monsieur Duval.  Barrymore could play his character as a villain, but he does not.  Monsieur Duval is merely a loving father who dreads hurting a woman who seems to be very sweet, and very much in love with his son, but who will soon cause his downfall if they continue their relationship.  When one realizes that Barrymore is less than 2 years from being forced into a wheelchair for the rest of his life (he suffered from severe arthritis that prevented him from walking), one realizes that he is acting through his pain.

Robert Taylor, too, is excellent, with Armand's naivety shining from his youthful face.  Armand seems sometimes like a sex object - a lovely creature for Marguerite to adore.  Taylor fits that bill as well, but also is able to make you understand why Marguerite would give up everything to be with this lovely, gentle man.

This is a beautifully designed film as well, with magnificent costumes (by Adrian).  Our group had a bit of discussion on the tendency of some films to not quite get the hair style right for the period - which is NOT the case here.  The whole atmosphere of the film is perfection.  It is interesting to note that the silent version of the film is also available (on the DVD of Camille), with Rudolph Valentino as Armand and Nazimova as Marguerite.  It is certainly worth a look if only as a comparison to its magnificent remake.

Here is a trailer to the Garbo version:

 

When Sorrow is Beautiful

This time, our group decided to jump across the pond for what is perhaps the perfect tearjerker: Brief Encounter (1945).  Two of us had recently seen the Broadway retelling of the story, and being fans of the film, were not pleased with the results.  We found the levity in the play too distracting in this story of beautiful sorrow.  The film, directed by David Lean, is a magnificent rendering of a very simple story line - two married strangers meet casually on the train platform of a small English town.  The following week, they run into one another again; a friendship is formed, followed quickly by love.  Of course, their love is doomed - both have spouses and children.  Neither can bear to hurt their families. Thus, they must separate, never to see one another again.

Drawn out as just a few lines of plot, this film sounds trite. It is not.  Aided by the subtle direction of David Lean, a score that deftly uses Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 as subtext, and superb acting by Celia Johnson as Laura Jesson and Trevor Howard as Dr. Alec Harvey, this is a movie (to quote TCM) that is an Essential.  The story is told from Laura's point of view - she is our narrator - and so we see her reactions to the whirlpool into which has life has fallen.  The original story (a play called Still Life) only has 4 characters - Laura and Alec, and the "comic" relief of the train station couple, Albert Godby (Stanley Holloway) and Myrtle Bagot (Joyce Carey). In fact, the whole play takes place in the refreshment room of the train station.  Lean opens up the action, and allows us to meet Laura's husband and children, making even more poignant the decision facing Laura.

The DVD version of Brief Encounter has some interesting commentary on it.  I have to admit that one scene (in which we see Alec and his friend Stephen argue over Alec's failed attempt to consummate his affair with Laura), which the commentator said did not work - since it was not something that Laura could have seen (she has already run from the room), did, in fact, work for me.  I saw this conversation as LAURA'S imagining of what actually occurred.  It seems unlikely, to this observer, that men would have this discussion.  More, it was the final realization, by Laura, that her relationship with Alex has become tawdry, and must end.

If you've never seen Brief Encounter, give yourself the pleasure of a visit to post World War II England, and visit with Laura and Alec.  Here is the trailer; you can hear some of the music, as well as get a taste of the film itself: