Judy's Over the Rainbow - and so is Elphaba

This will probably be one of my odder blog posts, but the coincidence compels me to discuss a recent screening of the much loved The Wizard of Oz along with the Broadway play Wicked.  We literally saw the two within one week of each other, so we arrived at the play with a totally clear picture of the 1939 classic in our heads.

I'm sure you are all familiar with the plot of The Wizard of Oz.  It's a film I grew up with - it was aired once a year (usually around Thanksgiving), and though my father was not a fan of musicals, the decks were cleared so my brother and I could watch it.  I recall being terrified when the image of the Wicked Witch of the West replaced that of Auntie Em in the giant crystal ball.  Interestingly, at a discussion of the film I attended a few months ago, the speaker said that he found that women/girls were frightened by the crystal ball, while men/boys related their fear of the flying monkeys!  We watched on a black and white TV set, and, since I grew up on 1930s and 1940s b&w movies, it was a revelation to me when, seeing it on a big screen for the very first time, Dorothy opened the door to COLOR.  I was able to live the experience that must have greeted most viewers in 1939!

Then there is Wicked, the story of Oz BEFORE Dorothy's arrival, loosely based on the book by Gregory Maguire.  It tells the story of Oz from the point of view of the woman who will become the Wicked Witch of the West.  Born green - the result of her mother's imbibing a "green elixir," which she acquired from the soon-to-be Wizard of Oz - the child Elphaba Thropp is despised by her parents.  Nevertheless, she is a loving woman, devoted to her crippled sister, Nessarose, and eager to please her father (her mother died giving birth to Nessarose).  She accompanies her sister to Shiz University, where the headmistress, Madame Morrible, discovers that it is Elphaba who has the talent to be a witch, not the pouty Nessarose.  And while Elphaba is eager to work with the Wizard of Oz, she is horrified to discover that he is merely a talentless bigot, who is systematically destroying Oz by turning the inhabitants against one another.  He has started by enslaving the talking animals of Oz.  Why? Because a common enemy unites people.  The Wizard intends to make Elphaba a tool in his further efforts to subjugate Oz, but Elphaba will have none of it, and by "defying gravity", she escapes to begin an organized resistance against his rule.

I had seen Wicked several years ago, when Idina Menzel was still playing Elphaba. This time, Elphaba was enacted by Caroline Bowman, an amazing singer and actress.  The role of Glinda was ably filled by Kara Lindsay, who gave Elphaba's description of Galinda's personality ("blonde"...) a whole new meaning (and no, that is not a misspellling.  Galinda changes her name to Glinda).  All in all, it's a wonderful cast in an amazing production, and if you find yourself in New York, or with access to a traveling version of the play, try to see it.

What the play does is tell us how the various characters came to be - from the Wicked Witch of the West, Glinda, and the Wizard, to the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow.  We even find out why those damned shoes are so important to the Wicked Witch.  We never actually SEE Dorothy, though we find out she is there (and that Elphaba finds her and her dog "Dodo" REALLY annoying).  Nevertheless, Dorothy is a key ingredient to the success of the story.  As the story ends, you will begin to see how tightly Wicked and The Wizard of Oz link to one another. 

So let's end this post with a little music - first, the ever wonderful Judy Garland sings Over the Rainbow

And the ladies from Wicked sing about their friendship in For Good.

Barbara Suspects Errol

Five months after the opening of The Two Mrs. Carrolls, the next Warner Brothers pairing of Barbara Stanwyck and Peter Godfrey was released.  Cry Wolf (1947) stars Stanwyck as Sandra Marshall Demarest, a newly married woman who arrives at the home of her recently deceased husband to find a mystery.  Sandra's marriage to James Demarest (Richard Basehart) was a secret one, much to the consternation of his guardian, Mark Caldwell (Errol Flynn).  Sandra is quite open that the marriage was one of convenience for her and for Jim - the marriage would allowed Jim to gain access to his inheritance. In exchange, Jim promised Sandra (his close friend from school) a stipend to support her graduate work (she is studying for a doctorate in geology) and a divorce in 6 months.  But, on his visit home to notify his family of his wedding, Jim died suddenly.  Now Sandra has arrived at his family home to find out exactly what happened to her young husband.

Stanwyck is really impressive in the film.  Her athleticism stands her in good stead as she rides horses, journeys through the house in a dumbwaiter, drops from ceilings, and climbs fences in search of the truth (TCM calls her a midlife Nancy Drew!).  She also has a magnificent wardrobe, designed by her favorite costumer, Edith Head.  (Ms. Stanwyck ALWAYS looked amazing in riding clothes!  Take a look at her 20 years later in The Big Valley!)  But, while we are told Sandra is a PhD student in geology, that point is never pursued.  She could be anyone, not a highly intelligent graduate student.  We wished that her training had been actually used to solve the mystery.

As to Errol Flynn, if you are expecting him to be a romantic swashbucker, think again.  His Mark Caldwell is a stiff, unattractive liar.  And Flynn is not afraid to play him as such; it has been said that he ultimately relished the role BECAUSE it was so different from his usual fare, finally giving him a chance to play a more dramatic part.  That the film attempts to tack on a romantic ending is a betrayal of the work of both actors.  It's clear that Mark is genuinely suspicious of Sandra from the outset, and she doesn't like or trust him one little bit.  He's also quite the male chauvinist: “Next time you hear some odd noise in the night, just follow the memorable custom of your sex and stick your head under the bedclothes."  Why an educated woman would want him is beyond our ken.  As a result, the ending of the film seems like it belonged to a different movie.

Quite frankly, a lot of the film doesn't make sense.  Mark claims to be protecting Jim and sister Julie (Geraldine Brooks, in her first film role) from [spoiler] the family's hereditary strain of insanity, but he does little to actually CARE for them.  He just keeps them hidden.  And, when Sandra arrives, claiming to be Jim's bride (regardless of her claim to a marriage of convenience), Mark makes no inquiries to determine if Sandra might also be bringing an heir to the Demarest fortune within her.  One would think he would confide in her, regardless of his fears that the family skeleton could have an impact on the political career of his brother. 

Much of the suspense focuses on just WHAT is going on in Mark's laboratory.  He is not called Doctor, so he isn't a physician (heck, his lack of knowledge about mental illness proves that).  So, WHAT is he doing?  We never find out (and when we see the lab, it doesn't look like anything was ever DONE in it.  It's too clean to even be Mark's library!)  The lab is more of a MacGuffin - just stuck in because working in a lab sounds mysterious and Frankenstein-y.  Visions of Mark trying to reanimate Jim's dead corpse run through one's mind.

Errol Flynn was not the first person considered for the role of Mark - Dennis Morgan was the original thought (which would have been a reunion for him and for Stanwyck).  And Dorothy Malone was to be Julie.  Unlike Ms. Brooks, Malone would have come to the production with some film credits under her belt - including her standout performance as the bookstore clerk in The Big Sleep.    But Brooks does a good job with a fairly thankless character.  That same year, she would graduate to a better part as Joan Crawford's stepdaughter in Possession. Ultimately, Ms. Brooks would make her name in television, as a featured guest star in such shows as Dr. Kildare, The Fugitive, and Bonanza (where she appeared as Ben Cartwright's first wife - and Adam's mother - Elizabeth Stoddard Cartwright), and in the theatre.  She died in 1977, aged 51 of a heart attack.  

Totally wasted is Jerome Cowan as Mark's brother, Senator Charles Caldwell.  We enjoy seeing Cowan, and one wonders why he was even bothered with this virtual cameo.

The music by Franz Waxman is quite excellent, and the costuming by Edith Head is exceptional.  Her designs are classic, and could easily be worn today.  Head was Stanwyck's favorite designer - according to Criterion, "Stanwyck was so enamored of the clothes that Head created for her characters that she hired her to design her personal wardrobe."  According to Edith Head: The Fifty-Year Career of Hollywood's Greatest Costume Designer, Stanwyck was so impressed with Head's designs when they worked together in Remember the Night, that she asked for Head to be her costumer in all her films.  Stanwyck had a notoriously long waist, which Head was able to camouflage, changing the direction of Stanwyck's film career to include more "dress roles".

So, while Cry Wolf starts well, by the end it feels rushed and is not really all that convincing.  The New York Times was also not a fan of the film.  As this TCM article points out, critical opinion in general was not very kind.  However, you do have an opportunity to see Errol Flynn in a role that was very unconventional for him (and hints at the character of Soames in That Forsythe Woman), Stanwyck looking stylish, and a young actress at the start of her career.  Here's a trailer to the film:

Barbara Has Her Portrait Painted

Our film for this week, The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947), opens in a bucolic setting.  We meet Sally Morton (Barbara Stanwyck) and her beau, Geoffrey Carroll (Humphrey Bogart) as they vacation in the Scottish countryside.  Though they only met a week ago, they appear deeply in love.  Geoffrey is a painter, and is happily sketching his new love.  It begins to storm. The couple race for shelter; Geoffrey covers his beloved with his coat, then ventures back into the rain to help their guide.  When he returns, he finds Sally cold and distant.  She has inadvertently discovered a letter in his pocket - addressed to Mrs. Geoffrey Carroll.  Sally runs out into the storm and leaves Scotland.

Geoffrey, however, is now obsessed by Sally.  He sees her as his muse, and determines that he must get her back.  So, on his way home, he stops at a chemist's shop and manages to purchase a supply of poison.  Within a year, he is married to Sally.  Within two, he has lost his interest in his wife, and has discovered a new muse in the person of Cecily Latham (Alexis Smith).  And it seems that Sally is destined to follow the first Mrs. Carroll to the grave.

As this TCM article points out, The Two Mrs. Carrolls was not well received upon its release (It had, in fact, moldered in the Warner Brothers vaults for two years before its release).  Time magazine felt Bogart was miscast as an artist, while the New York Times's Bosley Crowther called the film 'a monstrosity" (they also stated that its release was delayed by the Warner Brothers for two years).  We, however, could not disagree more.  We found The Two Mrs. Carrolls to be an enjoyable film, with a strong cast that really pulls you into the action.  The film is based on a play that ran for 585 performances on Broadway, (with Elisabeth Bergner as Sally and Victor Jory as Geoffrey; produced by Bergner's husband, Paul Czinner). 

Let's start with Humphrey Bogart, who is wonderful as the insane artist.  Bogart plays Geoffrey with a delicacy that makes you at times doubt he could possibly BE a murderer.  His devotion to his daughter, Beatrice (Ann Carver) is sincere.  And his early scenes with Stanwyck exhibit a true love.  But, like Mr. Hyde, his dark side is quickly revealed, and the violent underbelly of the character is apparent.  Time's comment that "Bogart appears uncomfortable. Violence and murder are old stuff to him, but madness and paint brushes are not quite his line," is a bit odd.  For one thing, Bogart was well acquainted with "paint brushes" - his mother, after all, was the noted artist Maud Humphrey and baby Humphrey was her frequent model.  (For more on Maud Humphrey, visit this website from the Winterthur Museum). And he was no stranger to playing insane characters either - his Joe Gurney in King of the Underworld and George Halley in The Roaring Twenties are not exactly poster children for mental health.

We know that Geoffrey's passion for Cecily would eventually head down the same road as his love for Sally, though Alexis Smith plays Cecily as such a viper, it's doubtful anyone would really care.  While Sally runs from the possibility of an affair with a married man, Cecily relishes it.  And while Geoffrey is quite insane, one wonders if Cecily's disregard for Beatrice would have been the eventual cause of her demise.  We'll never know.

We loved Stanwyck as Sally.  She's a strong woman, who, overwhelmed by her discovery of her husband's perfidy, still takes charge of the situation.  Is she afraid of him? You bet, but she doesn't give in to being a victim.  She fights to the very end.  One also never doubts that Sally is a woman of integrity.  We know that Cecily is a manipulative witch, but Sally is a loving mother and wife who is supportive of her husband when his career is on a downturn, but is not a doormat.  That her warm relationship with her former fiance is believable is due to Stanwyck's sincerity as an actress.

Also impressive is Ann Carter.  The actress had a short film career, and is remembered especially for The Curse of the Cat People and I Married a Witch (as Veronica Lake's daughter).  She makes Bea a remarkably knowing child, but manages to avoid that smart-alacky attitude over-intelligent movie children often have.  Her career was over by 1953.  Around that time, she contracted polio. She eventually recovered, went to college, married, and had three children.  When she died in 2014, at age 77, ovarian cancer, she had been married to her husband (Crosby Newton) for 57 years.

I'm not big on spoilers, but the picture above was too good to resist, as actress Stanwyck observes the artistic results of Geoffrey's tormented mind.  The revelation of Sally as The Angel of Death is a shocking moment - much more powerful on the screen.   No details here, but suffice it to say, it's a scene to look out for.  The blog The Last Drive-In has a number of photos from the film (many are spoilers, so beware); this photo was one of them. 

The director of the film is Peter Godfrey.  He had already directed Stanwyck in Christmas in Connecticut and Cry Wolf (which we will look at next time) and had directed Alexis Smith in The Woman in White.  One wonders if he was familiar with Hitchcock's Suspicion - the scenes of Bogart carrying the poisoned milk to his wives is very reminiscent of Cary Grant on the same mission.  Godfrey's career was respectable - he appears to have retired after directing some television episodes in the 1950s, and died in 1970. 

We'll leave you with a trailer from the film. Next week, another Peter Godfrey/Barbara Stanwyck mystery.

Barbara's Boat Sinks

Before Walter Lord wrote A Night to Remember, before James Cameron went trolling on the ocean bottom to snatch images of the wreck of a great ship, there was Titanic (1953).  Starring Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb as Julia and Richard Ward Sturgess, the film used a family dispute to tell the tale of the doomed ship.  Not that this was the first telling - there had been a 1915 silent version, as well as a German film from 1943 (which the commentary on my disk stated was more a diatribe against the inefficiencies of Great Britain than a tale of the factual Titanic).  And while the 1953 film is focused on the marital discord of the Sturgess family, it also attempts to tell - within dramatic reason - the true story of the sinking of RMS Titanic.

Julia Sturgess and her two children, Annette (Audrey Dalton) and Norman (Harper Carter) board the HMS Titanic, ostensibly on a brief vacation to see Julia's midwestern family.  Unbeknownst to her children, however, Julia intends to relocate the children to America permanently.  Her husband's chosen lifestyle - wandering from hotel to hotel to partake in the social season for that particular venue - has become stale to Julia, and she sees her children becoming petty snobs who look down on their family and their country.  In hot pursuit is Richard, who manages to board the sold-out ship by bribing the head of an immigrant family - give Richard his steerage ticket, and Richard will pay the man what amounts to a small fortune to take a later boat.  Richard then boards with the rest of the Uzcadum family, and boldly forces himself into first class and his wife's cabin.  The couple begin a battle for what they both see as the future of their offspring.

The film mixes the lives of the fictional characters with those of historical ones.  We see John Jacob and Madeleine Astor, and Isidor and Ida Strauss board.  We meet Maude Young (Thelma Ritter), a character based on the Unsinkable Molly Brown.  We also follow the activities of the crew, most notably Captain E.J. Smith (Brian Aherne) and Second Officer Lightoller (Edmund Purdom, in his film debut), who periodically converse about the iceberg that will doom the ship.

It's particularly enjoyable to see Robert Wagner in the role of Gifford Rogers, a young man who becomes instantly smitten with young Annette Sturgess.  This was one of Wagner's earliest movies - he had come to the public's attention the year before, when he played a shell-shocked soldier in the Susan Hayward film With a Song in My Heart.  In Titanic, he has only a few scenes, but one that is worth noting is with Stanwyck:  he seeks her advice on how to best court her daughter.  Their easy conversation doesn't give any hint of the feelings of the two stars.  In the video below, Mr. Wagner discusses his relationship with Stanwyck.  He fell in love with her on this set of this picture, and, after a four-year affair, proposed marriage.  Stanwyck declined, because of their age difference (he was 23 when the affair started; she was 45).  Here is a video of Wagner discussing his love for Ms. Stanwyck:
Clifton Webb is always a fascinating actor to watch.  He takes a character who could be merely a mustache-twirling villain, and gives him many layers of emotion, affection, and disdain.  By the end of the film, his Richard Sturgess becomes something of a hero, as he faces the inevitable with courage.   We watch him use his children as weapons against his wife, but then see the love that he has for them, an affection that is quite mutual.  

Stanwyck's Julia is likewise layered.  She lives in an era where she and her children are still the property of her husband.  She must sneak away from him if she is to retain custody of the children.  But we also discover that she has betrayed her husband - we never learn if he has been equally lax in adhering to their marital vows (she never accuses him of it, so we must assume he has been faithful).  By adding this piece of information, Julia becomes somewhat less attractive.  While we don't root for Richard, we begin to understand him.  Both Webb and Stanwyck give us flawed, human characters.  To choose between them is not easy. It's fun to know that Mr. Webb was actually a big fan of Ms. Stanwyck, stating "that woman's an absolute dream to work with." (Sitting Pretty: The Life and Times of Clifton Webb By Clifton Webb)

Thelma Ritter is one of my personal favorites.  In listening to the commentary on my DVD, I was dismayed to hear the film critic Richard Shickel say she always played the same character (he also couldn't remember Robert Wagner's TV credits, but that is another issue).  I beg to differ - surely, she played tough-minded middle class women, BUT, her characters are always nuanced.  In Titanic, she hasn't a lot to do - there are a lot of characters, as I've previously noted, and she has very little screen time.  But what she has, she makes use of.  She becomes the eyes of the audience - as Richard suffers an emotional reaction to his wife's betrayal, it is Ritter's Maude who sees his despair. 

Other appearances worth noting are Richard Basehart as George Healey, a priest who has recently been defrocked because of his alcoholism; Allyn Joslyn as Earl Meeker, a man who survives the disaster by sneaking on a lifeboat dressed as a woman; and the lovely Frances Bergen - mother of Candace, and wife of Edgar - as the pregnant Madeleine Astor.  

The story of a man dressing as a woman to escape the ship is a common one in Titanic lore.  The only truth to the story that is known is that John Jacob Astor put a woman's hat on a small boy, in order to get him onto a lifeboat.  The rule of the era was that women and children were evacuated first, and while men did survive in lifeboats, none are known to have sneaked on in women's garb. 

Originally, the film was to be called Nearer My God to Thee, the song that was allegedly playing as the ship slipped into the ocean, though there is no historical basis for this rumor.  This TCM article provides more information on both that rumor and the film itself.  

In the meantime, we'll close with a trailer that serves as an introduction to some of our main characters.  We'll be back next time with another Barbara Stanwyck film:

Joan B and her Two Sisters

We returned from the Christmas holiday week to discuss Three Girls About Town (1941), which stars Joan Blondell as Hope Banner and Binnie Barnes as sister Faith.  The girls work as hostesses in a convention hotel, and are pooling their funds to get their younger sister Charity (Janet Blair) through private school.  Of course, complications arise - first, Charity runs away from school and decides that Hope's boyfriend, reporter Tommy Hopkins (John Howard) is just perfect for her.  Then, to top it all off, the girls discover a corpse in one of the hotel rooms, and decide the best way to avoid a scandal at the hotel (and lose the business of a convention of morticians) is to get the body out of the hotel without anyone's knowledge.  A task that is much easier said than done.

The film has the feeling of the The Marx Brothers meet Weekend at Bernie's, with the dead body being toted all over the hotel, and passed off as a very tired man.  Though the plot is rather strained (you KNOW the body is going to end up in one of the morticians' display caskets), it has some amusing moments - a scene in which John Howard and our dead friend sit in on a poker game, and our "lucky stiff" (yes, that's what they said), keeps winning poker hands is actually very funny. Naturally, as long as he is winning, Tommy and friend can't leave; and try as he might to lose, Tommy just can't get the wrong cards.

Another amusing bit has Hope trying to rid herself of a persistent drunk, who is singing in the hallway outside the dead man's room.  To shoo him away, Hope tells him that there is "a singer is in the next room - Dick Powell".  Joan Blondell was married to Powell at this point, so the "in" joke would have been very obvious for the audience.  (The Blondell-Powell union lasted until 1945, when Powell left after falling in love with June Allyson).

Another bit of trivia - our trio of actresses were not originally considered for the parts of the Banner sisters:  the studio first wanted Constance Bennett, Joan Bennett and Virginia Bruce.  While it would have been amusing to see the Bennett sisters together, Virginia Bruce, who was already 30, would have been far too old (lovely as she was) to pass for the approximately 17 year old Charity.  Janet Blair, who was just 20 when the film was released, was far closer to Charity's age.  Blair certainly looks older than 17 in this, but Charity is purposely dressing up to look older.  It does work better to try to make Blair look older than it would have done to make Bruce look like a kid playing dress-up.  And while our heroines, Hope and Faith are accused by the local woman's group of being indecent, it's Charity who is actually a bit of slut.  One looks forward to Charity getting her comeuppance - she is truly an unethical brat.

Also seen in bit parts are Charles Lane as an undertaker, Una O'Connell as a scrubwoman, and a VERY young Lloyd Bridges (blink and you'll miss him) as a reporter.  We especially enjoyed seeing Bridges appear - he's quite handsome, and while you only get a glimpse of him, his voice is distinctive.

The film was directed by Leigh Jason.  We were familiar with one of his films - Dangerous Blondes, which we discussed in September, and we hope to be looking at some of his films with Barbara Stanwyck (The Mad Miss Manton and The Bride Walks Out) in the future.  Jason had a lengthy career, which extended from the silent era to 50's television.  He appears to have finally retired in 1961; he died in 1979, at age 74.

We'll return next week with a film with a more historical focus. We hope you will join us then.

Cary Meets a Dancing Caterpillar

Once Upon a Time (1944) is not one of Cary Grant's best known films.  A war-time film, with no mention of the conflict, it is a fairy tale designed to entertain and allow escape from the horrors of that war.  The film is based on a 30 minute radio play "My Client Curley," by Norman Corwin (which was based on a short story by Lucille Fletcher Herrmann).  It aired on the Columbia Workshop on March 7, 1940, with Fred Allen in the lead role (the radio play was redone in 1946, this time with Robert Montgomery in the lead).  It's hard to imagine Cary Grant in a role which Fred Allen initiated, but the studio originally wanted Humphrey Bogart, then Brian Donlevy for that part. Either would have resulted in a very different film.

The action opens on Jerry Flynn (Cary Grant), a Broadway producer, who after three flops is about to lose his theatre. He's literally down to his last nickel, so when he sees two young boys performing on the street, he tosses the coin to them.  The boy who is obviously in charge of the operation, Arthur "Pinky" Thompson (Ted Donaldson), insists Jerry gets his nickel's worth, and look into the shoebox, which his friend holds.  Pinky plays "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" on his harmonica, as Jerry peers into the box.  There, Jerry sees Curley, young Pinky's pet caterpillar.   And Curley is dancing in time to the music.  Jerry hatches a plan - he will sign Pinky on as a client, sell Curley to the highest bidder, and use the proceeds to save his theatre. 

Having Cary Grant play Jerry contributes to making this film sympathetic.  It's hard to dislike Grant, but Jerry is eminently unlikeable.  He's vain and greedy - yes, he is having a bad stretch, but he is quite willing to betray a child to save himself.  At one point, he even slaps Pinky, but Grant is an actor who is able to come back from that incident, and make us believe that Jerry is repentant.  It is hard to think of either Bogart or Donlevy being able to re-engage the audience after that particular incident.  Though both are magnificent actors, both had been on the wrong side of the law too often to engender that kind of sympathy. 

Another almost-ran in the film was Rita Hayworth, but she went on suspension rather than accept the role of Pinky's sister Jeannie.  It's not hard to see why.  Janet Blair does her best with Jeannie, but there is precious little to work with.  Regardless, Blair had a respectable career, starting as one of the Three Girls About Town (1941).  She was Rosalind Russell's choice for Eileen in My Sister Eileen (1942),  and even ventured into television as Henry Fonda's wife in The Smith Family.  She died in 2007 of pneumonia, at age 85.  

The film shines all its light on Grant and Donaldson; while we have wonderful actors in the cast, including James Gleason as Jerry's right-hand man, McGillicuddy (aka The Moke) and William Demarest as a reporter named Brandt (who dislikes Flynn intensely), they get almost nothing to do.  But young Ted Donaldson shines in his first role - he is sweet and engaging as Pinky, but never sloppy.  He (and Grant) make us believe in a dancing caterpillar we never actually see.  This TCM article discusses the long, friendly relationship between Grant and Donaldson, with Grant (and then wife Betsy Drake) even attending Donaldson's high school graduation.  Years later, Donaldson would pen a heartfelt letter (synopsized in Evenings with Cary Grant) to Grant, thanking him for his friendship.  Donaldson would continue in films until 1953, appearing in the Rusty series and as Peggy Ann Garner's younger brother in the wonderful A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, as well as voicing Bud on the radio version of Father Knows Best. But, like so many child actors, he found no demand for her services as a teen and young adult, so left acting to write.  This chapter in Growing Up on the Set will provide some insight into Donaldson's later life.

We'll end this week's discussion with a clip of Cary Grant trying to get an "angel", in the form of a banker who is about to foreclose on the Flynn Theatre. While not a great film Once Upon a Time is worth a look, just to see Cary Grant. We'll return after the holiday!

Bing and Danny Trim the Tree

We attended another Fantom Event - this time a screening of White Christmas (1954), starring Bing Crosby  and Danny Kaye, a film which certainly deserves a big screen viewing.  It's Christmas, 1944.  Captain Bob Wallis (Crosby) is saved from a falling building by Private Phil Davis (Kaye), a budding performer.  Reluctantly, Wallis consents to talk to Davis about a partnership after the war (Davis saved his life after all).  The partnership is a rousing success, with Wallis and Davis becoming major performers; Wallis even takes them into the producing arena - again, they strike gold.

Davis, however, would like a break.  Bob works 24/7 and expects Phil to do the same thing.  So, Phil decides it is time for Bob to marry - then maybe Phil will get a 45 minute break after the wedding.  So, when the pair meet the Haynes sisters, Betty (Rosemary Clooney) and Julie (Vera-Ellen), Phil and Julie begin a conspiracy to unite Bob and Betty, so they can both get some time off.  At Phil's urging, Wallis and Davis follow the girls to a small ski-lodge in Vermont, only to discover it is run by their old commander Major-General Thomas F. Waverly (Dean Jagger).  Of course, the General has a problem - it hasn't snowed at all, and General Waverly is going broke.  So, the boys concoct a plan to bring their entire theatrical troupe to New England, and use the show to publicize the inn.

By 1954, the motion picture industry was seeing television as a huge threat, in a way that radio had never been.  This film is interesting in that it shows us a television broadcast (and our heroes using TV to spread the word about General Waverly's difficulties).  But what is also intriguing is that we (sitting in the dark, in a theatre, seeing the film on a huge screen) watch others watching a television.  So, on this large, gloriously colorful VistaVision screen, we watch folks crowded around a small, black and white television.  It makes for a fascinating - and pointed - contrast.

 

My husband was interested in some of the military details from the prologue to the film.  We're told that the army is waiting for a battle to begin in Monte Cassino at Christmas of 1944.  However, the battle of Monte Cassino took place was over by May of 1944, and Allied troops safely installed in Rome.  It is more likely that the big battle would have been The Battle of the Bulge (which was December 1944 through January 1945), but since that would have conjured up more of a sense of loss among the viewers, it seems likely the writers brought up the name of a more successful campaign.

The dance numbers are also something worth noting, and this TCM article gives a hint as to why.  Originally, Fred Astaire was to reprise his partnership with Bing Crosby.  However, Astaire was not thrilled with the script, so he bowed out of the production.  Donald O'Connor was quickly substituted, but he became very ill and had to leave the production.  Paramount turned to Danny Kaye (who requested a huge paycheck - and got it).  As a result, some of the dance numbers feature neither of the stars.  Crosby never was a dancer, and while Kaye could dance (his ballroom number with Vera-Ellen is quite good), he would not have been able to keep up with Vera-Ellen in a tap number, so dancer John Brascia (as Joe) filled in.  Also, we have George Chakiris in two numbers (a little bit of a goof here - we see him as part of the Wallis and Davis troupe, then we see him in New York dancing with Rosemary Clooney).  Take a look at the photo above.  Many a young lady saw that pose, and hearts went aflutter.  Chakiris noted (in the interview that accompanied the film) that he became quite marketable as a result of that quick glimpse.

Also on hand are Mary Wickes as housekeeper (and resident troublemaker) Emma Allen, and a brief look at Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer.  He's the brother of the Haynes sisters, and served in the military with Wallis and Davis, who refer to him as Bennie, the Dog-Faced Boy.  The photo, of course, is not very flattering!  But the film is really all about the stars, and while the script is merely an excuse for musical numbers, they are such good numbers - with such excellent performers - one really doesn't care.

Let's end with some musical numbers.  Above, are Ms. Clooney and Ms. Ellen performing the "Sisters" number, with Ms. Clooney singing both roles (Trudy Stevens sang the rest of Vera-Ellen's songs).  The men did a reprise of the number (below).  Mr. Crosby, it seems, was somewhat uncomfortable with the performance, so Mr. Kaye began hitting him with his fan.  Crosby broke up and director Michael Curtiz kept in the impromptu performance.  It's great!  In fact, they both are, so treat yourself by taking a look.

Stewart Stalks Jean... and Visa Versa

Footsteps in the Fog (1955) opens on a funeral.  One of the mourners seems particularly moved by the events.  He is Stephen Lowry (Stewart Granger), whose wife died suddenly of gastreoenteritis.  His friends, Alfred Travers (David MacDonald) and Travers' daughter Elizabeth (Belinda Lee), rally to the Lowry home to show their support.  They are accompanied by barrister David MacDonald (Bill Travers).  In spite of the fact that Elizabeth is adored by David, she is in love with Stephen, and is now wondering if she can reveal her affections.  Once Stephen is alone, however, we learn that the late Mrs. Lowry, who was considerably older than her handsome husband, did not die innocently.  And Stephen is quite enjoying his freedom and the fortune that came to him with his wife's death.

Stephen has several servants.  One of them is a rather careless, lazy girl, Lily Watkins (Jean Simmons), who the cook, Mrs. Park (Marjorie Rhodes) and the butler, Grimes (Norman Macowan) have to keep their eyes on.  But Lily isn't entirely inept.  She's managed to discover what no one else even suspects - that her master has poisoned his wife.  And Lily intends to use the information to her own advantage.  So, while Lily rids the house of the other servants, and blackmails her employer into becoming his lover, Stephen is contemplating ways in which he can rid himself of Lily.

When we discussed A Yank at Oxford, we talked about the ways in which filming in the United Kingdom helped the studios to use up monies that were legally tied up in that country.  Footsteps in the Fog was filmed in the UK, with local crew and actors for that very reason.  According to this TCM article, Stewart Granger was especially keen to return home and suggested that he and his wife, Jean Simmons, would star in it.  Though ambilient about both the script and director (Arthur Lubin was best known for the Francis, the Talking Mule series), the couple accepted the part, and Granger worked with a screenwriter in England to make the script (based on a short story, "The Interruption," by W.W. Jacobsmore) palatable to him and Simmons.  It is a technically lovely movie, however - glorious technicolor and splendid costuming.  It could have been an excellent film, had it had a believable script.

The Grangers reservations about the script is certainly understandable.  The female characters, Lily and Elizabeth, are both fairly stupid, and the ending (which we won't discuss - I like to avoid spoilers) doesn't really work all that well.  Even Granger's character makes one wonder how he actually managed to plot the demise of his late wife - he isn't exactly a rocket scientist.  That being said, Jean Simmons - given what she has to work with - is very good as Lily.  This was her fourth film with husband Granger.  They met on the set of Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), where Simmons had a bit part, and also worked together in Adam and Evelyne (1949) and Young Bess (1953).  Footsteps in the Fog was their final film together; they would divorce in 1960.  This obituary from The Independent goes into more detail on the life of Ms. Simmons.  A brilliant actress, best known for her roles in Elmer Gantry, The Big Country, and Spartacus, she died in 2010 of lung cancer at age 83. 

Belinda Lee worked steadily in UK films, then moved to Italy to be with her lover.  While there, she starred in Constantine and the Cross (1961) with Cornel Wilde.  She died that same year, age 25 in a car accident.  While she is quite pretty, given the limitations of her role, it's hard to judge her overall abilities.  Quite frankly, the more talented Simmons drives her from memory.

We'll close with a trailer from the film:

Barbara Cooks

I haven't been to a double feature in a lot of year, and I miss it.  So, it was a pleasure to attend the Fathom Event which featured two Christmas films.  I've already discussed the first feature in an earlier post.  Christmas in Connecticut (1945) was feature two.  Barbara Stanwyck stars as Elizabeth Lane, the popular author of a cooking column in a national magazine.  She's an imaginative writer, who shares wonderful recipes and household hints, speaking at length about her life in Connecticut with her loving husband and baby.  There's only one little problem.  She isn't married, has no children, lives in a small New York City apartment, and she can't cook.  At all.  Her recipes come from her adored Uncle Felix Bassenak (S. Z. Sakall), the owner of a popular restaurant which Elizabeth helped to fund at start-up.  Her editor Dudley Beecham (Robert Shayne) is well aware of her deception, but the magazine owner Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet) is not.  And he's a stickler for the truth.

The action starts just before Christmas, and a young sailor, Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) is hospitalized, after spending 18 days on a raft, with little food and water.  His nurse, Mary Lee (Joyce Compton), is eager to get a husband, and Jeff (or "Jeffy-boy" as she calls him) seems like a prime candidate.  To encourage a yearning for family in Jeff (who claims to have no family roots), she contacts Mr. Yardley (she once nursed his granddaughter), and asks if Jeff can spend the holiday with his favorite author, Elizabeth Lane.  To save her and Beecham's jobs, Elizabeth consents to marry John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner), who has a home in Connecticut where she can host Jeff - and Mr. Yardley, who's decided to tag along.  Hijinks, as they say, ensue.

In the various Barbara Stanwyck films we've discussed thus far, we've not had a chance to look at her comedies.  She was a brilliant comedienne, but didn't always get the chance to demonstrate her remarkable timing. Interestingly, this film is only one year after the role that she is probably most remembered for - Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944); definitely NOT a comic part.  Ben Mankiewicz, in the introduction to Christmas in Connecticut, informed us that Ms. Stanwyck was not the first choice for the role of Elizabeth Lane - Bette Davis was (this is, after all, a Warner Brothers film, and Davis was under contract). But Ms. Davis declined, and Ms. Stanwyck, who had already shown her comedic abilities in The Lady Eve and Ball of Fire, was hired.

The film was released two days after the Japanese surrender, but (since it was filmed while the war was in progress), the military and the war are very much in the forefront of the story.  Jeff is at a military hospital when Mary Lee contacts Mr. Yardley; Yardley sees hosting a war hero as a civic duty (and good publicity for his magazines) and there is an implication at the end of the movie that Jeff will be returning to active service in the Pacific (where he was when his ship was destroyed).  War efforts abound in the film - even the dance which Elizabeth and Jeff attend is more a war bond function than a Christmas party.  This doesn't detract from the humor, but it is a note in the background of the film.  This TCM article briefly discusses the film's positive reception (though the New York Times did NOT like it very much).  As a side note, I discovered that, when it was released in New York City (at the Rialto) it was on a double bill with a Lon Chaney, Jr. horror film: The Frozen Ghost!

Wonderful character actors abound in the film. Una O'Connor as Sloane's housekeeper, Norah is very funny.  Sidney Greenstreet as Yardley is also amusing, in his always gruff way.  But the film is really stolen by S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, primarily because of the way he reacts with both Greenstreet and O'Connor.  His love for and loyalty to Elizabeth is ever-present. His tacit dislike of Sloane is always evident.   He methodically finds ways to prevent the wedding of Elizabeth and Sloane, making him all the more endearing. He is the film's Cupid, trying to make sure his beloved Elizabeth finds the right man.

I'll close with a clip.  It's probably the most famous scene in the film, in which Elizabeth Lane tries to flip a flapjack.  Stanwyck, as always, is priceless.

Reginald Hates Christmas

TCM hosted another Fantom Event this weekend - a double feature of two excellent Christmas films.  I'll be posting about both of them, starting with the 1938 A Christmas Carol, starring Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge.  A later post will deal with the second feature on the double bill.

In the spirit of total honesty, I'm going to admit right off that my favorite Christmas Carol is the Alistair Sim version from 1951.  My husband is a fan of The Muppet Christmas Carol (Michael Caine as Scrooge).  And I have a fondness for Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol as well (I love the music).  But this version, with Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit, and real life wife Kathleen Lockhart as Mrs. Cratchit is excellent (oh, and there is also young daughter June in an unbilled appearance as Belinda Cratchit).  It does alter the book in many respects.  We get much more exposure to Scrooge's nephew, Fred (Barry McKay) and fiance Bess (Lynne Carver) than in the book.  That's not a bad thing, but does skew the story a bit.  We also have an incident in which Scrooge fires Bob Cratchit on Christmas Eve (for hitting him with a snowball).  THAT is a big change from the book, and very much changes the dynamic of the story.  While we gain a more preoccupied Bob, we lose so much of his Christmas spirit - remember that, in the book, to the dismay of Mrs. Cratchit, Bob insists on toasting "Mr. Scrooge, the founder of the feast" in the Christmas Present visit.  This Bob has no reason to toast Scrooge - and does not.  To my mind, the elimination of this brief dialogue is unfortunate, because, in one sentence, you can appreciate the genuine goodness of Bob Cratchit.

That being said, seeing A Christmas Carol in a theatre is a moving experience.  Reginald Owen plays Scrooge as a man looking for redemption.  Certainly, it is a short film (only 69 minutes.  Both the Alistair Sim version and the Muppet version are 85 minutes), so Owen doesn't have a whole lot of time to accept his future, but he is believable as someone who faces his destiny and resolves to be a better person.

Owen was not the first choice for the role.  For years, it had been performed on radio by Lionel Barrymore, and MGM was eager to have him recreate the role on screen.  However, Barrymore broke his hip on the set of Saratoga, and was unable to participate in the film.  Always a gracious man, Barrymore consented to do the trailer for the film (as this TCM article points out, in the 1930's, Barrymore WAS the character of Scrooge to the general public), and handed over the radio broadcast for 1938 to Reginald Owen, so there would be no unfair comparison.  Though bitterly disappointed that he would be unable to enact the part, Barrymore suggested Owen for the role, and supported his substitute as much as was possible.  Interested in hearing Mr. Barrymore's interpretation? Old Time Radio has a recording of the Campbell Playhouse production, hosted by Orson Welles.

I'll end with the beginning of the Scrooge's journey towards redemption.  Pictured above is Leo G. Carroll as the Ghost of Jacob Marley.  I felt that Carroll played to the ambiguity of the character - Marley, a selfish and grasping man in his lifetime, reaches out to his old partner to try and help him to avoid Marley's fate.  Will Marley receive some heavenly brownie points for this effort? It's not clear from the dialogue between the two, but Carroll's is on a man more concerned with his old friend than with any credit he will garner.  See if you agree.

Here's the trailer, with commentary from Lionel Barrymore, himself.