By Ed Garea
April 15
6:00 am Ladies They Talk About (WB, 1933) Director: Howard Bretherton. Cast:
Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Foster, Lyle Talbot, Dorothy Burgess, Lillian Roth,
& Ruth Donnelly. B&W, 68 minutes.
It’s
the grandmother of all women-in-prison movies. Stanwyck was riding a crest of
great Pre-Code performances when she made this one. She plays Nan Taylor, a
decoy for a bank robbery, who’s arrested shortly thereafter. Enter David Slade
(Foster), a popular radio evangelist calling publicly for tougher prosecution
of criminals. He recognizes her from childhood: her father was the deacon in
the town’s church while his was the town’s drunk. But when she attempts to
exploit this relationship, it backfires and he withdraws his support of her,
sending her up the river. In prison, she learns the ropes and eventually comes
to be a wielder of influence and power. I won’t spoil the rest, but it’s a
wonderfully typical Pre-Code ending. Due to the ungodly hour at which it’s
being shown, one’s recorder is necessary, for this is a movie that should be
enjoyed with plenty of time allotted, a bowl of popcorn, and a large glass of
one’s favorite beverage.
Trivia: Look for photos of
Warner stars Joe E. Brown and Dick Powell in the prisoners’ cells.
April 16
8:00 pm – 3:00 am A Night of Pierre Etaix: Includes – Yo Yo (1965), Happy Anniversary (short, 1962), Le Grand Amour (1969), Rupture (1961), As Long As You’ve Got Your Health (1966), and The Suitor (1963).
Who
in the name of God is Pierre Etaix and why should I give a rat’s tail about
him? Good question. While he’s a household name among the Baby Boomer French
for his wonderful comedies, he’s practically unknown in the States. To begin,
he’s a disciple of Jacques Tati, whose comedic style greatly influenced him
when he worked as assistant director on Tati’s Mon Oncle. Etaix won
an Oscar for his 1932 short, Happy Anniversary, and he went on to
make five feature films. Etaix also worked with Robert Bresson, and had the
dubious distinction of being in the notorious and unreleased Jerry Lewis
work, The Day the Clown Cried. (Oh, how we all would love to see
that one!)
A
large part of his success is due to his partnership with screenwriter
Jean-Claude Carrire, who wrote some of Luis Bunuel’s more noted films, such
as The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) and The
Obscure Object of Desire (1977). He also adapted Gunter Grass’s The
Tin Drum.
The
reason for this “celebration” is that Criterion is releasing a box set of seven
of his films this month in both DVD and Blu-ray format. I haven’t yet seen any
of these myself, so I’ll also be watching in rapt attention.
April 17
6:00 am Mark of the Vampire (MGM, 1935) Director: Tod Browning. Cast: Lionel
Barrymore, Bela Lugosi, Elizabeth Allen, Lionel Atwill, Jean Hersholt, Henry
Wadsworth, Holmes Herbert, Donald Meek, & Carroll Borland. B&W, 64
minutes.
The
coming of sound gave studios a chance to remake a silent classic or two. MGM
was no exception to this trend and gave director Browning a chance to redo one
of his most famous silent mysteries, London After Midnight, which
he made in 1927 with the great Lon Chaney in a dual role as a police inspector
investigating the murder of Lord Balfour and a mysterious vampire-like
personage who buys the Balfour mansion a few years later.
For
the remake the scene shifts to Prague, where Sir Karrell Borotyn is found
murdered in his house, with two tiny pinpricks on his neck. The attending
physician, Dr. Doskil (Meek) and Sir Borotyn’s close friend, Baron Otto von
Zinden (Hersholt) arte convinced the killer is a vampire, namely one Count Mora
(Lugosi) who has been seen prowling the area at night along with his daughter,
Luna (Borland). For his part, police inspector Neumann (Atwill) thinks the
vampire theory is bosh, but as it becomes clear that the murderer’s next target
is Borotyn’s daughter, Irena (Allan), Neumann brings in the noted expert on
vampires, Professor Zelen (Barrymore), to investigate the case as the secrets
surrounding Borotyn’s mysterious death begin to be revealed.
The
film is still somewhat controversial among aficionados of the horror film for
its ending showing the vampires to be actors hired to portray the undead in an
attempt to smoke out the real killer. Even Lugosi found the idea absurd.
Trivia: The film marked
the only screen appearance of Borland, a dedicated Lugosi fan who was recruited
by the Count to play the role of Lucy, Dracula’s victim, in a 1934 stage
version. He then secured the part of Luna for her. She retired from acting in
1953 to become a college professor. Of what I do not know, but much of her life
is shrouded in mystery and rumor.
April 19
6:00 am Reefer Madness (aka Tell Your Children) (G and H Productions, 1936) Director: Louis
Gasnier. Cast: Dave O’Brien, Dorothy Short, Kenneth Craig, Carleton Young,
& Thelma White. B&W, 62 minutes.
Who
hasn’t seen Reefer Madness, the infamous marijuana scare film that
practically kicked off the midnight movie craze? Probably the most famous
exploitation film ever made, it starred the talents of the husband-wife team of
O’Brien and Short, who were married shortly before the film was made. A special
version of the film was released in 2004, with Mike Nelson, former host
of Mystery Science Theater 3000, supplying a comical commentary
track. In this version, the marijuana smoke is colored pink.
Trivia: The film was
allegedly inspired by the true case of Victor Licata, who killed his father,
mother, two brothers, and a sister with an ax in Tampa, Florida, on October 16,
1933. He pleaded insanity because he was allegedly under the influence of
marijuana while he did the killings. The court declared him unfit to stand
trial for reasons of insanity, and a subsequent psychiatric examination at the
Florida State Mental Hospital found that Licata suffered from schizophrenia
with homicidal tendencies. The Licata case was used to publicize and gain
support for the passage of the federal Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 that
effectively outlawed legal sales of the "devil’s weed.”
8:00 pm His Girl Friday (Columbia, 1940) Director: Howard Hawks. Cast: Cary Grant,
Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Ernest Truex, & Roscoe
Karns. B&W, 92 minutes.
One
of director/producer Hawks’s best ideas was to re-cast The Front Page as a battle between the
sexes. Getting the permission of his good friend Ben Hecht, who wrote the
original, to adjust the remake, Hawks got Charles Lederer to write the script.
His first choice for the male lead was Grant, who gladly signed aboard before
seeing the script. He and Hawks worked together previously, and Hawks was one
of Grant’s favorite directors. The female lead, however, proved more difficult.
The director’s first choice for the role was Carole Lombard, but the studio
balked at her salary demands. The script was then passed to Katharine Hepburn,
Claudette Colbert, Jean Arthur, Margaret Sullivan, Ginger Rogers, and Irene
Dunne. They each passed on the project. Finally, the part was given to Russell,
formerly a supporting actress at MGM; one whose name could be found way down on
the credits. The film not only made her into a leading lady, but also gave her
the reputation as a gifted comedienne.
During
the first few days of filming, Russell sensed that Hawks was treating her like
the consolation prize in a contest. She took him aside one day in between takes
and told him, “Well, you’re stuck with me, so you might as well make the most
of it.” He was so impressed with her brass that they got along swimmingly the
rest of the shoot. As with other films directed by Hawks, listen for the
overlapping dialogue and ad-libs. While the average rate of human speech is
100-150 words a minute, the dialogue in the film was timed at 240 words a
minute. As for ad-libs, there were two great ones by Grant. When asked if he
could describe his ex-wife Hildy’s new fiancée, he says that her fiancée looks
like “That actor – Ralph Bellamy.” Later, when cornered by the mayor he tells
him, “Listen, the last man that said that to me was Archie Leach just a week
before he cut his throat.” Of course, that’s Grant’s real name.
Trivia: Russell’s striped outfits were inspired by
the look of newspaper reporter-turned- screenwriter Adela Rogers St. John . . .
During filming Grant introduced Russell to theatrical agent Frederick Brisson.
They married a year later, the first – and last – marriage for either, and
stayed together for the rest of their lives.
April 20
8:00 pm Freaks (MGM, 1932) Director: Tod Browning. Cast: Wallace Ford, Leila
Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Rosco Ates, Henry Victor, & Harry Earles. B&W,
64 minutes.
Browning’s
drama about freaks in a circus and the machinations surrounding one of them who
marries a scheming trapeze artist Cleopatra (Baclanova) after finding out about
his large inheritance has undergone a 180-degree turn over the years since it
was made. At the time it was considered an unmitigated disaster, and had
executives at MGM actually questioning the judgment of Irving Thalberg and
pulled from not only from release but also from circulation for close to 40
years. Today it’s seen as a masterpiece of the cinema and possibly director
Browning’s finest film. After MGM shelved it, the distribution rights were
acquired by famed exploitation showman Dwain Esper, who ran it at roadshows
throughout the country under the titles Forbidden Love and Nature’s
Mistakes.
Trivia: The roles of trapeze
artist Cleopatra, strongman Hercules and beauty Venus were first offered to
Myrna Loy, Victor McLaglen, and Jean Harlow, respectively, but all turned it
down because they felt the script was offensive . . . The movie was filmed on
sets originally used for Greta Garbo’s 1931 drama Susan Lennox: Her Fall and
Rise.
April 22
3:00 pm Attack (UA, 1956) Director: Robert Aldrich. Cast: Jack Palance, Eddie
Albert, Lee Marvin, Robert Strauss, Buddy Ebsen, & Richard Jaeckel. B&W,
107 minutes.
Aldrich’s Attack is
a most unusual war film. Set during the Battle of the Bulge, it asks the
question, “Who is the real enemy?” Is it the Germans, who Lieutenant Costa
(Palance) is fighting, or is it his cowardly commanding officer, Captain Cooney
(Albert), protected by Colonel Bartlett (Marvin), who worked for Cooney’s
father before the war and hopes to return to his job with a big, fat raise for
protecting the boss’s son? It’s this question, along with Costa’s defiance of
Cooney, which forms the moral center of the film.
The
film is also notable for the excellent performances contained within. Palance,
in perhaps his finest outing as an actor, is the despairing Costa, and Albert,
who made his career as one of the most likeable of fellows, is utterly
convincing as the cowardly Cooney and comes across as a person in the film that
we love to hate. Marvin is also quite effective as the political colonel, torn
between what is right and what is expedient. There few war films that I would
label as “Must See.” This is one of them.
Trivia: Despite playing a
coward in this film, Albert was a genuine hero in World War II, braving heavy
enemy fire to rescue 70 wounded Marines.
3:00 am Wild Boys of the Road (WB, 1933) Director: William A. Wellman. Cast:
Frankie Darro, Edwin Phillips, Rochelle Hudson, Dorothy Coonan, Sterling
Holloway, & Arthur Hohl. B&W, 69 minutes.
This
is one of the starkest films of the Pre-Code era, driving home the horrors of
the Depression like no other film of its time. With their parents out of work,
two teenagers (Darro and Phillips), feeling they have become a burden on their
families, strike out on their own to find work by riding the rails. On the
train they meet fellow runaway Sally (Coonan), who is going to Chicago to live
with her aunt. As they near Chicago they discover a large group of fellow teens
are also doing the same thing. When they arrive at Sally’s Aunt Carrie’s home,
they discover it’s a brothel. Aunt Carrie, nonetheless is glad to see them and
welcomes them in. But when the brothel is raided they find themselves on the
road again, with all its attendant hardships. In the original script, both
Sally and Aunt Carrie are prostitutes and Sally later hangs herself after being
raped by a brakeman aboard the train. The brakeman in turn is thrown to his
death off the moving train by the other teens after a trial by kangaroo court.
The film cops out at the end in deference to supporting FDR and his New Deal,
but until then it’s one hell of a ride.
Trivia: Coonan met future
husband Wellman while on the set and became his fourth – and last – wife, their
marriage lasting 41 years until his death in 1975 and producing seven children.
4:15 am Lilly Turner (WB, 1933) Director: William A. Wellman. Cast: Ruth Chatterton,
George Brent, Frank McHugh, Guy Kibbee, Robert Barrat, & Ruth Donnelly.
B&W, 65 minutes.
The
only reason to watch this otherwise unremarkable Pre-Code film is for the
performances of leads Chatterton and Brent. Chatterton is Lilly, the proverbial
hard-luck dame. Most of her hard luck arises from her lousy taste in men. A
young innocent, Rex Durkee, the stage magician in the local carnival, wins her heart
and hand in marriage. He promises her the world, but after they are married he
turns her into a cootchie dancer to earn her keep. Later she receives a shock
when she learns that hubby is already married. Faced with the truth, Rex
scrams, leaving Lilly alone – and pregnant. She then takes up with her
alcoholic buddy, Dave Dixon, and needing a father for her child, marries him.
But (surprise) the baby dies and the couple ends up working in a cheap medicine
show. Dave’s boozing leads Lilly to a succession of lovers, one of whom is
unemployed engineer cum taxi driver Bob Chandler (Brent). She
persuades him to join the show as a strongman. But the person he replaced has
escaped the mental asylum, and the rest of the film becomes utterly
predictable. Chatterton and Brent, however, show that it is possible to rise
above the material, especially with a good director such as Wellman on the set.
Trivia: Sign of the
changing times – Warner Bros. tried to re-release the movie in 1936 but was
denied a certificate of approval by the Production Code Office.
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