By Ed Garea
May 2
7:15 am The Mystery of Mr. X (MGM, 1934) Director: Edgar Selwyn. Cast: Robert
Montgomery, Elizabeth Allen, Lewis Stone, Ralph Forbes, & Henry Stephenson.
B&W, 91 minutes.
This
is a perfect example of a film that, when released, garnered critical praise,
but has fallen into the black hole of forgotten films. The problem with the
film is that it’s extremely well crafted, with a good plot, excellent acting
and tight direction. But as there is nothing of a unique trivial nature to
recommend it for posterity, such as starring a tragic actor or one that made
his or her mark later, or being directed by such as One Shot Beaudine, it
becomes just another movie produced in the year 1934 by MGM.
Based
on The Mystery of the Dead Police by Philip Macdonald, it
tells the story of a criminal released from prison after 15 years and who then
sets out to kill 15 policemen, one for each year he spent behind bars. When
suave jewel thief Nicholas Revel (Montgomery) is mistaken for the killer, Revel
must find the real Mr. X before Scotland Yard finds him.
But
don’t take my word for it. Following is the opinion of noted film historian
William K. Everson, who wrote about the film in his "Rediscovery"
column from a 1980s edition of Films in Review, and brought to us
here courtesy of the TCM Website:
Apart from its thrill
and melodrama content it is a beautifully civilized production, full of
sophisticated writing and elegant playing. Even if it wasn't a good and
absorbing thriller, it would be a pleasure just to watch and listen to...
Particularly effective is a sequence in a pub wherein the jewel has been
hastily dumped into a glass of ale when the police arrive. The scene ends with
the jewel resting cozily at the bottom of one of two virtually empty glasses,
presenting Montgomery with the predicament of having to gulp out of two glasses
(one of which is not his), talk the overeager barmaid out of taking them away
to bring him a fresh drink, and at the same time not arouse the suspicion of
onlookers and the police. It's a particularly neat sequence, all the more
effective for being underplayed and not tricked-up with distorted angles.
Trivia: Preview audiences
rejected the original ending so a new one had to be shot, and because director
Selwyn was not available, Richard Boleslawski was brought in to direct.
8:00 pm Duel in the Sun (Selznick, 1946) Director: King Vidor. Cast:
Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Gregory Peck, Lionel Barrymore, Herbert Marshall,
Charles Bickford, Otto Kruger, & Lillian Gish. Color, 136 minutes.
There
are bad films and there are spectacularly bad films. This is one of the latter,
and over the years it has become a cult classic, featured at bad movie parties
where those in attendance do a home version of Mystery Science Theater
3000.
If
there is one word to describe this movie, it is “overheated.” Everything about
this picture is overheated: the plot, the acting, and especially the
production. Producer David O. Selznick was bound and determined to make an even
splashier film that his previous Gone With the Wind, and in doing
so, elevate his paramour, Jones, into a major Hollywood star.
Jones
is half-breed Pearl Chavez, everyone’s favorite bad girl. Her father, Scott
(Marshall), plugged both her mother and mom’s lover and gets hung for his
trouble. Pearl is taken in to the home of greedy Senator McCanless (Barrymore)
and his good, kindly wife, Laura Belle (Gish). Put bluntly, Pearl is trash. How
do we know this? Because she tells us herself, repeating this message several
times in the movie, and at one point saying “I’m trash. Trash, trash, trash,
trash, trash.” In case we didn’t get it the first time.
Meanwhile,
Pearl makes friends with the Senator’s sons: the virtuous Jesse (Cotten) and
the evil Lewt (Peck). Lewt has his way with her but refuses to marry her.
Pearl, in turn, falls for – and marries – foreman Sam Pierce (Bickford). When
Lewt finds out, he kills Sam and become an outlaw. Jesse, meanwhile, has fallen
for the daughter of his father’s rival – railroad tycoon Langford. When the
Senator organizes his cattlemen against Langford, Jesse initially backs his
dad, but then changes sides and is disowned by his father.
The
whole thing ends when Laura Belle passes away, Pearl has a breakdown, and Jesse
takes her away to recuperate. Lewt finds out and shoots Jesse, who survives and
reconciles with his father. This sets up one of the most absurd endings in the
history of Hollywood, with Pearl and Lewt going at it in a shoot ‘em up finale
in a canyon and crying out each other’s name before embracing as they die.
The
film does have some good things going for it: the production values, especially
the Technicolor photography, are stunning. Unfortunately, one-dimensional
characters that seem addicted to chewing scenery populate the cast. Add to this
a nonsensical, rambling plot and outrageous cartoon violence, and we have all
the ingredients for a Must-See Bad Movie.
Trivia: The film was
nicknamed “Lust in the Dust” by disdainful critics, a name that was said to
inspire a later Western shot in 1985 using that name and starring Lanie Kazan
and Divine.
May 3
8:00 pm Alice in Wonderland (Paramount, 1933) Director: Norman Z. McLeod.
Cast: Leon Errol, Gary Cooper, Charlotte Henry, Louise Fazenda, Cary Grant,
Ford Sterling, Skeets Gallagher, Alison Skipworth, Polly Moran, W.C. Fields,
Edward Everett Horton, Ned Sparks, Richard Arlen, May Robson, & Jack Oakie.
B&W, 76 minutes.
The
very fact that Paramount chose to present an all-star live action version of
Lewis Carroll’s imaginative book should give us a clue as to the state of the
economy – and Paramount Studios – in 1933. Ida Lupino was originally considered
for the role of Alice, but shortly before filming began, Charlotte Henry, a
young Broadway stage actress, was given the part. What should have been a treasure
turned into a curse for Henry as the film, despite its all-star cast, bombed at
the box office. Henry later went on to appear in the Hal Roach-produced Laurel
and Hardy Babes in Toyland, and a small role in Charlie Chan at the Opera, but
thereafter good roles were almost impossible to come by. After appearing in a
Sam Katzman-produced East Side Kids film (Bowery Blitzkrieg) in 1941,
she packed her bags and left Hollywood to return to Broadway.
Trivia: Mary Pickford and
Walt Disney planned a combination live action and animated feature, but
Paramount beat them to the punch.
9:30 pm No Greater Glory (Columbia, 1934) Director: Frank Borzage. Cast:
George Breakston, Frankie Darro, Jackie Searl, Jimmie Butler, Samuel S. Hinds,
& Ralph Morgan. B&W, 78 minutes.
Adapted
from Ferenc Molnar’s autobiographical novel, The Paul Street Boys,
this is a sensitive tale of the loneliness of youth and the senselessness of
war set on the streets of Budapest, Hungary. Nemecsek (Breakston), a small,
frail and lonely boy who just wants to belong, worships the charismatic Boka,
leader of the local street gang, “The Paul Street Boys.” The gang not only
sports their own uniforms, but also rallies around their very own flag.
The
gang makes its home in its territory, an abandoned lumberyard. However, another
gang, this one called “The Red Shirts” and led by Feri Ats (Darro) also covets
the lumberyard. The Red Shirts have captured the Paul Street Boys’ flag and
Boka declares that they must recapture the flag “or die trying.” After several
attempts, Nemecsek, fighting off what he thinks is a mere cold (but turns out
to be pneumonia), to win back the flag, dies in the effort. It’s all for
naught, however, as the next day bulldozers arrive, for the abandoned yard has
been sold to make way for an apartment complex.
May 5
2:00 am Late Spring (Banshun) (Shochiku Eiga, 1949) Director: Yasujiro Ozu.
Cast: Chisu Ryu, Stesuko Hara, Haruko Sugimura, & Jun Osami. B&W,
108 minutes.
This
film was one of director Ozu’s favorites, a heartstring-tugging tale of a
widower who pretends he is going to get remarried in order to get his overly
devoted 27-year old daughter, Noriko (Hara) to leave the nest and get married
herself. Ozu was a master of what might be termed “understated elegance.”
Everything in the film – not just plot points and dialogue, but what appear as
mere background landscapes and city scenes – have an integral effect on the
film.
Ozu is a master observer of middle-class life and mores in Japan: the
contrast between individual freedom and fulfillment as against social pressures
to fit happiness into a strict context. In particular, watch how Ozu uses a
simple prop like Noriko’s wedding dress to illustrate this contrast between the
earlier freedoms she experienced and the oncoming oppression and social
stifling of marriage as symbolized by the dress. Few directors can match this,
let alone surpass the emotion. As with his other films, this is a Must See.
Trivia: The film was
written and shot during the Allied Occupation of Japan.
May 7
10:00 am Virginia City (WB, 1940) Director: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Errol
Flynn, Miriam Hopkins, Randolph Scott, Humphrey Bogart, Frank McHugh, &
Alan Hale. B&W, 121 minutes.
The
reason I’m recommending this routine, but enjoyable Flynn/Scott Western is
because of the bizarre performance of by Bogart as a Mexican bandit, of all
things. Flynn as a Union officer out to stop a shipment of gold from falling
into Confederate hands, and Scott as a Southern officer waiting that shipment
are excellent. It’s what we have come to expect from the stars and their
director Curtiz. Curtiz wasted little film when making his trademark Flynn
actioners and this one is no different. Hopkins, however, playing a saloon
singer who is secretly a spy for the confederacy, is clearly beyond her reach
here.
But
it is Bogart, as the slimy bandit John Murrell (!) who provides the miscast
performance of the year. Bogart, in those pre-Falcon days, was an
actor in search of a character, which led to many casting mistakes. Previously
he was thoroughly wooden as criminal Rocks Valentine in The Amazing Dr.
Clitterhouse (1938) opposite Edward G. Robinson; a piss-poor Irish
groom, replete with a horrendous accent, in Dark Victory (1939),
with Bette Davis; and, perhaps, the most bizarre role of them all: playing a
vampire in The Return of Doctor X (1938). That he even lasted
long enough to play Sam Spade is a testament to his perseverance, if nothing
else. So, if you have not yet seen this film, by all means, take it in. You
won’t be disappointed.
Trivia: Hopkins was a last
minute replacement for Olivia de Havilliand, who fell ill during filming.
1:45 am Out of the Fog (WB, 1941) Director: Anatole Litvak. Cast: John
Garfield, Ida Lupino, Thomas Mitchell, John Qualen, Eddie Albert, Aline
MacMahon, George Tobias, & Leo Gorcey. B&W, 85 minutes.
Litvak’s
allegory of fascism makes for fine viewing, especially when the heavy is none
other than Garfield. The movie is based on Irwin Shaw’s play, “The Gentle
People,” a plea against fascism that calls for a united front in Europe. Litvak
shifts the action to the Brooklyn waterfront. Low-level gangster Harold Goff
(Garfield) is skaking down fishermen Jonah Goodman (Mitchell) and Olaf Johnson
(Qualen) for protection money. He has forced them to sign an agreement that the
weekly payout is to satisfy a previous debt so they can’t go to the police.
Jonah’s
daughter, Stella (Lupino) catches Goff’s eye, and the feeling is mutual, though
Stella does not know Goff is the one shaking down her father. To separate
Stella from Goff, Jonah offers to send her to Cuba with money that he and Olaf
have been putting aside to purchase a larger boat. When Stella unknowingly
leaks this to Goff, the gangster demands that Olaf and Jonah hand over the
savings to him. They plan to lure Goff onto their boat with the intention of
killing him but find they cannot go through with it. Unexpectedly, however,
Goff falls overboard and drowns.
Trivia: Humphrey Bogart
lobbied for the role of Goff, but he had worked with Lupino on They Drive by Night, and the two did not
get along in the least. When Lupino heard about Bogart’s request, she lobbied
Jack Warner herself to cast someone else in the role and Warner acquiesced,
leading Bogart to send him a note questioning whether Lupino was making the
casting decisions at the studio.
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