Classic Movie Hub Blog

Western RoundUp: Western Film Book Library – Part 7

Posted on May 30, 2023 by Laura Grieve

Western RoundUp: Western Film Book Library – Part 7

Every year or so I share some interesting titles on the Western film genre in this column. Here’s my 2023 look at a mixture of brand-new and vintage books on Westerns!

There’s an exciting new series of paperback books on Westerns, “Reel West,” which has recently debuted from the University of New Mexico Press.

*Blood on the Moon* by Alan K. Rode and *Ride Lonesome* by Kirk Ellis

The publisher describes them as “short, well-designed volumes exploring individual films across the whole history of the Western,” also calling them “smart, incisive examinations.” Having now read the first two books in the series, I found the descriptions accurate. I’m enthused about the titles I’ve just read, and I’m looking forward to reading forthcoming titles.

Blood on the Moon is a 99-page book on the 1948 film of the same name. It was written by film historian Alan K. Rode, whose other books include excellent biographies of Michael Curtiz and Charles McGraw. Charles McGraw, incidentally, appears as a rancher in the film, memorably wearing a bearskin coat.

The new book concisely yet thoroughly details the history of the 1948 Western, doing an admirable job recounting details of the movie’s production while also placing the film in a wider context. Readers will come to understand how the movie fits in Western, film noir, and RKO studio history, as well as in the careers of filmmakers such as director Robert Wise and rising star Robert Mitchum.

The book also delves into the history of author Luke Short, whose book was the basis for the screenplay; over the years his novels were filmed on numerous occasions.

There are detailed chapter notes and a bibliography, though not an index. The book contains numerous interesting black and white photos, many of which were new to me. While an index would have been handy for referring back to the book in the future, I felt it lived up to the publisher’s promise of a “well-designed volume,” including a three-page spread neatly detailing the film’s credits.

Blood on the Moon is a very engaging read which I devoured over the course of a single airplane flight. Fans of Westerns and classic films alike should find it quite enjoyable and informative.

It was a pleasure to unexpectedly meet Kirk Ellis, the author of Ride Lonesome, at a recent film festival – all the more so as I happened to have the book with me and was able to have him sign it!

At 207 pages the Ride Lonesome book is about twice the length of Blood on the Moon. It follows the same style, with chapter notes, bibliography, and a number of black and white photos, but no index.

The 1959 film Ride Lonesome is my favorite of the seven Westerns in which Budd Boetticher directed Randolph Scott, and I’ve also been to the film’s Alabama Hills locations several times, so it was quite a treat to read an entire book on this beloved Western. I also appreciated that Ellis describes trekking to the Alabama Hills himself to see the locations firsthand.

In his introduction Ellis describes Ride Lonesome as “one of the starkest, leanest, and most unrelenting films in any genre of the period.” It certainly is all that – I love the short 73-minute running time and the memorably bleak ending — though I also find it rather optimistic in the way that outlaw Sam Boone (Pernell Roberts) ends up working with Randolph Scott’s Ben Brigade, and just maybe going on to a better life after “The End.”

The author’s personal relationships with both Boetticher and screenwriter Burt Kennedy gives his knowledgeable text an added dimension. He shares both men’s personal stories along with the production history of the film; he places Ride Lonesome in the context of the other “Ranown” Westerns and also offers excellent critical analysis of both Kennedy’s script and the finished film. He offered so many insights that I’m anxious to pull this film off the shelf again in the near future and watch it with this fresh perspective. In short, I loved and recommend this book.

Heroes, Heavies and Sagebrush is a 1972 book by Arthur F. McClure and Ken D. Jones. I discovered it thanks to my friend, film historian Toby Roan; I immediately sought a copy, as the authors’ 1970 book The Films of James Stewart has been on my bookshelf since I was a pre-teen, when I found it on a closeout table in the attic at Pickwick Books in Hollywood.

*Heroes, Heavies and Sagebrush* by Arthur F. Mc Clure and Ken D. Jones

It’s a photo-filled 351-page hardback packed with biographical information and credits for a wide variety of Western supporting players. Examples of a couple pages are seen below. While a considerable amount of the biographical data — especially death dates — has become outdated in the half century since it was published, the book still contains a great deal of value.

Heroes, Heavies and Sagebrush by Arthur F. Mc Clure and Ken D. Jones
Heroes, Heavies and Sagebrush by Arthur F. Mc Clure and Ken D. Jones

The many photos are useful to help identify Western players by name, and for me such photos have also always sparked interest in films to search out for future viewing. This is a delightful read and reference source for Western fans.

I was browsing the film book section of my favorite used bookstore on a recent visit to see family in Eugene, Oregon, when I happened across the amazing 1992 reference Sweethearts of the Sage: Biographies and Filmographies of 248 Actresses Appearing in Western Movies.

*Sweethearts of the Sage: Biograhies and Filmographies of 258 Actresses Appearing in Western Movies* by Buck Rainey

This 632-page book by Buck Rainey, published by McFarland, is truly remarkable, and it was certainly worth what I paid, as I’ll be referring to it for years to come.

Sweethearts of the Sage: Biograhies and Filmographies of 258 Actresses Appearing in Western Movies by Buck Rainey
Sweethearts of the Sage: Biograhies and Filmographies of 258 Actresses Appearing in Western Movies by Buck Rainey

As seen in the page spreads above, the book features biographies of varying lengths; some are quite detailed, and in all cases the book is a great way to learn more about Western leading ladies. The book also contains an extensive film title index at the back.

While I’m on this topic, I’d like to remind readers of books about Western heroines which I’ve covered in the past: Westerns Women and Ladies of the Western, which I wrote about here in July 2019, and The Heroine or the Horse, which I wrote about last summer.

I’ll wrap up this month’s column with two books on Randolph Scott, who coincidentally starred in the previously discussed Ride Lonesome.

The first title is The Films of Randolph Scott by Robert Nott, published by McFarland in 2004. I wrote about Nott’s 2000 book Last of the Cowboy Heroes: The Westerns of Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, and Audie Murphy, here in January 2021.

This time around Nott explores Scott’s entire career, beginning with bit parts. He provides film credits and plot outlines, production history and critical response, as well as including his own takes on the titles. Examples are seen in the page spreads below.

The Films of Randolph Scott by Robert Nott
The Films of Randolph Scott by Robert Nott

Some of the information necessarily overlaps with Last of the Cowboy Heroes, but it’s all very useful and I quite enjoyed reading about Scott’s other films and placing his Westerns in the context of his full career. Nott pulls together facts about each film to provide a smooth and interesting read about each title, and the book is nicely illustrated with high-quality black and white reproductions on the book’s pages. Scott fans will want this book, especially if they don’t have the earlier title.

The other Scott title, Randolph Scott: A Film Biography, is an older book, originally published by Empire Publishing in 1987. Empire also published David Rothel’s book Tim Holt which I shared here in November 2019.

*Randolph Scott, A Film Biography* by Jefferson Brim Crow III

Randolph Scott: A Film Biography was written by Jefferson Brim Crow III and runs 303 pages. It’s a heavy book with glossy pages.

The text is lighter than Nott’s book, with a strong focus on photographs. There are also several pages of reprints of original Scott movie reviews which are fun to peruse — those with aging eyes may want a magnifying glass – and there’s a lengthy section of film credits at the back of the book.

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Randolph Scott, A Film Biography by Jefferson Brim Crow III

The photos are very enjoyable and make this book a nice supplement to Nott’s writings on Scott.

I hope the above suggestions will be useful for my readers! For more ideas on Western film books, please visit my lists from July 2019, November 2019, May 2020, January 2021, July 2021, and August 2022.

Thanks to the University of New Mexico Press and editor Andrew Patrick Nelson for providing review copies of Blood on the Moon and Ride Lonesome.

…

– Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub

Laura can be found at her blog, Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings, where she’s been writing about movies since 2005, and on Twitter at @LaurasMiscMovie. A lifelong film fan, Laura loves the classics including Disney, Film Noir, Musicals, and Westerns. She regularly covers Southern California classic film festivals. Laura will scribe on all things western at the ‘Western RoundUp’ for CMH.

Posted in Posts by Laura Grieve, Western RoundUp | Tagged Audie Murphy, Blood on the Moon 1948, book review, Budd Boetticher, Charles McGraw, Joel McCrea, Michael Curtiz, Randolph Scott, ride lonesome, robert mitchum, Robert Wise, western, western movies, Western Roundup, westerns | 3 Comments

Silents are Golden: Silent Superstars – The Sensational Pola Negri

Posted on May 18, 2023 by Lea Stans

Silents are Golden: Silent Superstars – The Sensational Pola Negri

We’re all familiar with the stereotype of the flamboyant silent film actress: the lavishly-dressed temptress being chauffeured around Hollywood in gold-plated automobiles, stalking through the most exclusive parties, leaving a trail of ex-husbands in her wake. If there’s one actress who conforms the most closely to this image, it’s probably the “exotic” Polish-born Pola Negri. Savvy at keeping her name in the press, it was her acting skills and undeniable charisma that ultimately kept audiences coming to her films.

Pola Negri

Her backstory was a publicist’s dream, being the sort that could be easily tweaked to emphasize either privilege or pluckiness at will. Believed to have been born in 1897 (exact dates have varied according to source), Barbara Apolonia Chalupec was raised in the town of Lipno, Poland. (Her screen name “Pola” was based on her middle name, and “Negri” came from an Italian poet.) She claimed her mother’s family were former aristocrats who had lost their fortune due to their support of Napoleon. When her father turned revolutionary, the Russians exiled him to Siberia and an impoverished Negri and her mother moved to Warsaw. (Later in life she would claim her mother was a “noblewoman” and her father a “Gypsy violinist,” or said that both parents were revolutionaries, or some variation of the above.)

Fortunately, Negri was a talented girl and was accepted into the Imperial Ballet Academy and then the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts. By 1912 she had made her stage debut in Polish theater, and in a few years she had gained enough popularity to move to Germany to work at Max Reinhardt’s prestigious Berlin theater. She first met future film collaborator Ernest Lubitsch in 1917 during Reinhardt’s production of Sumurun (1920). While Lubitsch wasn’t acting he was directing films, and this apparently piqued Negri’s interest in acting in moving pictures.

Pola Negri, Carmen (1918) — A postcard for one of Negri’s early films, *Carmen* (1918).

She initially appeared in six films for Saturn Films, then started working for Germany’s UFA studio. Her famed collaboration with Lubitsch began in 1918, when he created the big-budget Die Augen der Mumie Ma (The Eyes of the Mummy Ma) to showcase Negri’s fiery talents and striking beauty. This was followed by Carmen (1918) and then the influential Madame DuBarry (1919), released in the U.S. as Passion. Madame DuBarry was an international hit and a major boon for the German film industry, which had been largely shunned during World War I. It even threatened to knock Hollywood’s dominance in the film market down a peg or two.

Pola Negri in a magazine ad for Passion (1919) — A trade ad for *Passion.*

But not for long–Hollywood soon invited both Lubitsch and Negri to make pictures in the U.S. Negri arrived in 1922 with much fanfare, making her one of the first major European stars to be “imported” to Hollywood. Her first features were Bella Donna, The Cheat (a remake of the 1915 classic starring Sessue Hayakawa), and The Spanish Dancer, all filmed in 1923. (Lubitsch, in the meantime, was busy making Mary Pickford’s Rosita.)

Pola Negri The Spanish Dancer (1923) — In costume for *The Spanish Dancer* (1923).

These were followed by a string of big-budget films like the acclaimed Forbidden Paradise (1924), her last collaboration with Lubitsch. Her talents were well-suited for Spanish dancer and seductive lover roles. She also starred in the cheekily self-aware A Woman of the World (1925), which toyed with her “exotic temptress” image.

Pola Negri in A Woman of the World (1925) — Pola in *A Woman of the World* (1925)

The dramatic-looking diva, with her black hair, porcelain skin, and penchant for flashy red nail polish and expensive jewels, fascinated the public. She bought a swanky Beverly Hills mansion modeled after Mount Vernon and was chauffeured about in a cream-colored Rolls Royce or a limousine, depending on the occasion. When audiences weren’t flocking to her films they were hearing about her exploits in the press (although a supposed feud with fellow beauty queen Gloria Swanson was fabricated). She was described as “the eternal Carmen… passionate, elemental, primitive.”

Divorced from Count Eugeniusz Dąbski since 1922, any real or potential love affairs were fawned over in the tabloids – especially an early 1920s romance with Charlie Chaplin. Other lovers included Rod La Rocque and, most famously, Rudolph Valentino. Negri had met the great Latin Lover at a Marion Davies party in 1925, around the time Valentino was divorcing Natasha Rambova. The two had an affectionate, if somewhat tempestuous relationship, given Negri’s willingness to cause the occasional public scene.

Rudolph Valentino and Pola Negri costume party — The costumed couple.

When Valentino tragically passed away in 1926, Negri made headlines for her appearance at his funeral bier in New York City – and not in a positive way. Reporters were on hand to see her emotional arrival at Grand Central station, wearing expensive black widow’s weeds and a veil, with a nurse and publicist in tow. After fainting into the arms of her friends, she made her way to Valentino’s bier, where she prayed and wept copiously and then fainted again. Apparently she tried to have a $2000 flower arrangement draped on the coffin for the funeral, with white roses spelling out “POLA.” While some friends later claimed her histrionics were genuine, the public felt they were attention-seeking and in bad taste.

Pola Negri in New York for Rudolph Valentino Funeral — Pola arriving in New York.

Negri’s reputation fell further when she married “Prince” Serge Mdivani, of Georgian descent, less than a year after Valentino’s death. In 1928 Negri discovered she was pregnant and considered retiring from the screen to raise a family. But to her lasting grief, she had a miscarriage. The marriage to Mdivani, who turned out to be a heavy gambler, would only last a few more years. She would not remarry.

Negri would weather the transition to talkies well, but the material she was given tended to be subpar. She would return to Germany for a few years to make films for the old UFA studio, but returned to the U.S. when the Nazis took over. Largely retiring from the entertainment business in 1945, she would be approached by Billy Wilder for the title role in Sunset Boulevard in 1948. Despite her silent era image arguably being the closest to the fictional Norma Desmond, she turned it down. After the death of her mother in 1954, Negri moved to San Antonio where she quietly spent her remaining years.

Pola Negri Hi Diddle Diddle (1943) — Pola circa the early 1940s.

Negri’s last film appearance – in full color – was the Disney mystery film The Moon-Spinners (1964). In 1970 she released an autobiography titled Memoirs of a Star. A devout Catholic in her later life, she also fundraised for Catholic charities. She would leave sizable portions of her estate to the Polish nuns of the Seraphic Order in San Antonio, as well as St. Mary’s University in Texas, which was also fortunate to receive her memorabilia from her glory days in Hollywood.

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–Lea Stans for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Lea’s Silents are Golden articles here.

Lea Stans is a born-and-raised Minnesotan with a degree in English and an obsessive interest in the silent film era (which she largely blames on Buster Keaton). In addition to blogging about her passion at her site Silent-ology, she is a columnist for the Silent Film Quarterly and has also written for The Keaton Chronicle.

Posted in Posts by Lea Stans, Silents are Golden | Tagged A Woman of the World, Bella Donna, billy wilder, Camille, charlie chaplin, Ernest Lubitsch, Forbidden Paradise, gloria swanson, marion davies, mary pickford, Passion, pola negri, Rod La Rocque, Rosita, rudolph valentino, sessue hayakawa, Sumurun, Sunset Boulevard, the cheat, The Eyes of Mummy Ma, The Moon-Spinners, The Spanish Dancer | 4 Comments

Monsters and Matinees: When Worlds Collide, Moviegoers Love to Watch

Posted on May 13, 2023 by Toni Ruberto

When Worlds Collide, Moviegoers Love to Watch

It’s 1910 and the world is in a panic.

Halley’s Comet is on its way, and people are terrified. They buy gas masks to save themselves from poisonous fumes and take anti-comet pills for protection from other bad things. They pray in the streets and seek shelter in caves.

The comet comes – as close as 13.9 million miles from Earth or about one-fifteenth the distance between Earth and the sun – but leaves the Earth safe and untouched. Yet it has a lingering effect.

In 1916, fears are revived by director August Blom in his Danish silent film Verdens Undergang (or The End of the World) where a comet passing too close to Earth brings poisonous smoke, flooding and fire – the same things feared from Halley’s Comet.

Welcome to the birth of the world’s first doomsday movie. Verdens Undergang was a hit.

More than a century later, moviegoers still enjoy the “giant object is getting too close to Earth” doomsday subgenre which includes decades of films and TV movies including The Green Slime (1968), Meteor (1979), Deep Impact (1998) and Moonfall (2022). Most deal with the impending doom by going on the offensive and attacking the incoming object with bombs and rockets, even sending brave citizens into space to meet it head-on.

That’s not what happens in When Worlds Collide (1951), one of my favorites. In that film from visionary producer George Pal, the mission is to build a spaceship – a Noah’s Ark in space – to take a small group of survivors to a new planet, leaving everyone else behind. Don’t blame them – they did try to save the world but weren’t believed until it was too late. And if that sounds familiar, it should. It’s among the disaster film tropes that When Worlds Collide brought to sci-fi movies.

Add the movie’s nifty Oscar-winning special effects and that explains the full house more than 70 years later to watch When Worlds Collide at the Hollywood Legion Theatre/Post 43 in Hollywood during the 14^th Turner Classic Movie Film Festival in April of 2023. The audience was enthralled witnessing the mass destruction of Earth by fire and water as a thunderous sound rumbled under foot and the theater doors blew open. This extra movie magic was courtesy of Oscar winners Craig Barron and Ben Burtt who brought 14 additional subwoofers to add special sound effects during a presentation for the film. The audience cheered Burtt’s “Bensurround,” as it was humorously called as a nod to Hollywood’s Sensurround of the 1970s. It was a blast – and so was the movie.

The space ark that’s the last salvation for humans in *When Worlds Collide*. The question is whether it can it make it up the runway ramp into space.

* * * *

When Worlds Collide is based on the 1933 sci-fi novel co-written by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie. The sequel After Worlds Collide, was written but never adapted into a movie because of Pal’s lack of success with a later project (fickle studios!).

The film opens with a bit of humor as we watch a couple cuddled in the cockpit of a small plane. It’s our intro to brash young pilot David Randall (Richard Derr, a dashing Danny Kaye lookalike). He’s a smooth operator and a great pilot whose world is about to change.

Cut to a laboratory in South Africa where scientist Emery Bronson (played by Hayden Rorke, the first of our familiar faces from his time on I Dream of Jeannie) has discovered the star Bellus is on a collision course with Earth, bringing with it the planet Zyra.

Pilot David Randall (Richard Derr, center) looks on as scientists Joyce Hendron (Barbara Rush) and her father Dr. Hendron (Larry Keating) discover bad news in *When Worlds Collide.*

Bronson hires David Randall who thinks he’s going to pilot a delivery, but instead is handcuffed to a briefcase he must hand-deliver to Dr. Cole Hendron (Larry Keating) in New York.

David, who is only in it for the money, is met by Hendron’s daughter, Joyce (played by Barbara Rush) and immediately falls for her. That fact that she’s engaged to the nice Dr. Tony Drake (Peter Hansen), doesn’t matter.

Inside the briefcase are photographs and Dr. Bronson’s calculations predicting the collision which Dr. Hendron and his team confirm. In eight months, the planet Zyra will pass perilously close to Earth messing with our gravitational pull and causing all sorts of natural disasters; Bellus follows 19 days later and obliterates the planet.

With the end near, handsome pilot David Randall (Richard Derr) makes a grand gesture by burning money to light a cigarette for lovely scientist Joyce Hendron (Barbara Rush) in *When Worlds Collide*.

They present their findings to the United Nations and the government to ask for help (money) to build spaceships in hopes of rebuilding humanity. They are rebuked and laughed at by all but two wealthy humanitarians who offer funds while knowing they will be left behind to die. But it’s not enough to build even one ship, and they are forced to take money from the despicable businessman Sydney Stanton (John Hoyt), in exchange for a seat on the spaceship. It’s clear the entitled business tycoon is going to be a problem, but his money is desperately needed.

So they build. Hundreds of people – mostly students in engineering, agriculture and the like – create the space ark dubbed “Stanton’s folly” in record time. And that’s basically the rest of the film. The workers keep building the ship and doing other “save our civilization” tasks like copying pages of books that will be too heavy to bring along; Stanton grows crankier and more demanding, and the love triangle plays out. (I can’t help but always feel sorry for poor Dr. Drake who is a good man, but no match for the charismatic pilot.)

Time is counted down on a paper calendar – the type where you rip off the days – for the arrival of Zyra and Bellus. On the calendar and elsewhere you’ll see the motto: Waste anything except time … time is our shortest material.

Dr. Tony Drake (played by Peter Hansen, left) and Harold Ferris (played by Frank Cady) hold on as the room shakes when Zyra gets too close to earth in *When Worlds Collide*. We know that’s what happening because the wall calendar reads that it’s Zyra day.

Finally, it’s Z-Day and we witness the reason we’re here: mass destruction. (I apologize for my giddiness.) As Zyra passes earth, it causes tidal waves, fires, flooding, earthquakes (cue those subwoofers) and ruin. Survivors try to help others knowing the end is near. Even romantic rivals David and Tony team up in a helicopter to drop supplies and rescue a little boy from a rooftop. It’s one of the moments that gives the film a dash of hope and humanity as does the subplot of two sweet young-and-in-love workers (played by Rachel Ames and James Congdon). Watch what happens when the lottery numbers are chosen.

It’s time to pick the lottery numbers out of a box to see who gets to fly to Zyra and who will be left behind in *When Worlds Collide*. I hope young lovers Eddie (James Congdon) and Julie (Rachel Ames) will both pick winning numbers.

Meanwhile, our disagreeable millionaire Stanton warns that those left behind will revolt while Dr. Hendron trusts in the goodness of people. “You spend too much time with the stars. You don’t know anything about living – the law of the jungle – the human jungle,” Stanton says. Sadly, he is right, but the film prefers to focus on the positivity and hope for humanity and that’s what we’re left with by the end.

Now if you think When Worlds Collide is all sci-fi, think about this: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has an asteroid watch dashboard that shows the next five objects passing within 4.6 million miles (7.5 million kilometers) – the danger zone – of Earth. I am creeped out but will try not to think about the reality while enjoying my treasured doomsday movies.

The special effects

Chesley Bonestell was a pioneering and influential painter and designer, credited with inspiring the American space program. In his later years, the work of the “father of modern space art,” was seen in many films including Pal’s Destination Moon, The War of the Worlds and Conquest of Space. For When Worlds Collide, Bonestell designed the space ark, coming up with the idea for it to take off horizontally instead of vertically, and created the pre-production sketches that depicted the destruction when Zyra passed closest to the Earth.

Those sketches were used by Oscar-winning special effects artist Gordon Jennings, who led the Paramount team, for such scenes as the flooding of Times Square. To create it, a scene from a Samuel Goldwyn film was used. They freezed the frame and built a replica in black of the buildings; later dumping water from two tanks. Pal said each frame was rotoscoped and hand-painted mattes were used. The sequence cost $1,800.

At the TCM Film Festival, Oscar winners Craig Barron, left, and Ben Burtt share a photo of the “unsung heroes” of *When Worlds Collide*, the rocket operators group. *(Photo by Toni Ruberto)*

In the presentation at the TCM Film Festival, Craig Barron and Ben Burtt discussed these effects, explaining how they were done, sharing rare behind-the-scenes photos, videos and outtakes. They showed a photo of the “rocket operators’ group” – the men who created the space ark in the film – calling them “the unsung heroes of When Worlds Collide.”

In one outtake, the miniature rocket had a bit of a hard time moving up the runway ramp. “There was no chance of CGI then,” Barron said. “This is pioneering stuff, so we will have to forgive a bit of wobble.”

Behind the scenes

For all its great work in special effects, When Worlds Collide had some shortcomings that are often mentioned (but that I forgive).

Though the mass destruction scenes are great, we don’t see the collision promised in the film title, but instead see two small circular images – the Earth and Bellus – move closer on a small screen in the space ark and then there’s fire. Anticlimactic is an understatement.

Another complaint is that the space ark flies over snow-capped mountains and icy terrain on Zyra, yet when the doors open it’s all green and beautiful with an obviously painted backdrop. Although it could have been handled better, it’s not quite as bad as it seems. Look closely at the bottom of the screen in some shots and you’ll see part of the ark has landed on snow and the rest is on grass.

Now that painted backdrop ruins it for many viewers because, well, it looks like a painting. Blame that on the studio.

Yes, it’s clearly a painted backdrop but look closely for the intriguing items added to the Martian landscape by notable science-fiction artist Chesley Bonestell for *When Worlds Collide*.

In the book The Films of George Pal by Gail Morgan Hickman, Pal describes how Paramount made him rush the final days of shooting and scrap his original ending to get the film out for preview and take advantage of the newly announced Oscar for his film Destination Moon. “We wanted to have a miniature for that ending shot, but Paramount was anxious to preview the picture. We had a painting by Chesley Bonestell from which we were going to build a miniature, so we just cut the painting into the picture for the preview,” Pal is quoted as saying.

The preview did so well that Paramount refused to give Pal the time or extra $5,000 needed for the miniature to finish his film. So instead of criticizing what was out of the control of Pal & Company, let’s take a closer look at the picture and allow our imagination go wild. See those pyramids Bonestell painted in the background along with another interesting structure on the left? They are clearly the work of an alien race that did the same thing on Earth. That would have made a great sequel if only the studio allowed.

The familiar faces

You may get a kick out of spotting the large number of character actors in this film. Here are a few.

Rachel Ames as Julie Cummings (she was half of the young couple) and Peter Hansen as Dr. Tony Drake. I’m putting them together for their notable reunion in the 1960s on “General Hospital.” For decades, Hansen played Dr. Lee Baldwin and Ames was Nurse Audrey Hardy on the soap, each earning accolades and awards.

Frank Cady as Harold Ferris. Cady plays the put-upon manservant to the nasty Sydney Stanton. Watching him go bad is a surprise for viewers who know Cady as the comical Sam Drucker on TV shows Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies.

John Hoyt as Sydney Stanton. The former Broadway star was in The Blackboard Jungle, Julius Caesar, Spartacus and Cleopatra, along with many TV appearances.

Larry Keating as Dr. Hendron. He was known for such comedies The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and Mr. Ed, along with the films Monkey Business, Daddy Long Legs and The Mating Season.

Hayden Rorke as Dr. Bronson. Rorke may be the most familiar face, thanks to his long-running role on I Dream of Jeannie. He also had a long and distinguished film career in more than 50 movies including Pillow Talk, Midnight Lace, All That Heavens Allows and The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

– Toni Ruberto for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Toni’s Monsters and Matinees articles here.

Toni Ruberto, born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., is an editor and writer at The Buffalo News. She shares her love for classic movies in her blog, Watching Forever and is a member of the Classic Movie Blog Association. Toni was the president of the former Buffalo chapter of TCM Backlot and now leads the offshoot group, Buffalo Classic Movie Buffs. She is proud to have put Buffalo and its glorious old movie palaces in the spotlight as the inaugural winner of the TCM in Your Hometown contest. You can find Toni on Twitter at @toniruberto.

Posted in Horror, Posts by Toni Ruberto, TCM | Tagged Barbara Rush, Chesley Bonestell, George Pal, Gordon Jennings, Peter Hanson, Richard Derr, When Worlds Collide | 2 Comments

Noir Nook: Top 10 Favorite Bad Boys – Part 2

Posted on May 11, 2023 by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry

Noir Nook: Top 10 Favorite Bad Boys – Part 2

Last month, here at the Noir Nook, I served up the first half of my top 10 bad boys of noir. I’m finishing up the list this month with another spate of dastardly dudes. Watch yourself – they’re up to no good!

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Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas): Out of the Past (1947)

This feature centers on private dick Jeff Markham (Robert Mitchum) turned filling station owner Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum), whose past catches up with him in the form of a gorgeously nefarious femme, Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer), and a ruthless gang boss, Whit Sterling. Out of the Past boasts one of those labyrinthine noir plots that you’d rather disregard than figure out, but in a nutshell, Whit hired Jeff to find his girl, Kathie, who’d stolen forty grand and took it on the lam, leaving Whit with a bullet in his side as a parting gift. Jeff finds Kathie, but instead of returning her to Whit, he falls for her and the two enjoy an idyllic sojourn – until they don’t.

In Whit Sterling, we have one of noir’s scariest characters – he’s smart but ruthless, refined but lethal, genial, with an affable façade that masks a monster. Whit isn’t in many scenes, but he dominates each one with a frightening air – you never know what he’s liable to do or say, or what duplicitous intentions are bubbling behind his pleasant and uber-calm comportment.

Favorite quote: “You’re gonna take the rap and play along. You’re gonna make every exact move I tell you. If you don’t, I’ll kill you. And I’ll promise you one thing: it won’t be quick. I’ll break you first. You won’t be able to answer a telephone or open a door without thinking, ‘This is it.’ And when it comes, it still won’t be quick. And it won’t be pretty. You can take your choice.”
— Kirk Douglas as Whit Sterling

…..

Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea): Criss Cross (1949)

Criss Cross – one of my very favorite noirs, incidentally – tells the story of Steve Thompson (Burt Lancaster), who returns to his hometown after a lengthy absence only to find himself getting mixed up with his irresistible and combustible ex-wife Anna (Yvonne DeCarlo) – and local gangster Slim Dundee. In an extended flashback, we see how Steve and Anna reconnected (despite Steve’s attempts to convince himself that he wasn’t interested); how, without warning, Anna married Slim; and how Anna and Steve schemed to reunite, double cross Slim, and wind up with a big payday in the bargain.

Slim is a hothead. Suspicious. Jealous. Mean. Abusive. Merciless. And you can’t take your eyes off of him – because he’s also cooler than the other side of the pillow. Take my favorite scene, when Slim returns home early from a trip and catches Anna and Steve together (with Steve in his undershirt, yet!). Silently declining the offer of a beer from one of his underlings, he greets Anna, then calmly offers: “You know, uh, it don’t look right,” he comments. “You can’t exactly say it looks right, now, can you?” But beneath that composed exterior, Slim is like a caged tiger, just waiting to pounce.

Favorite quote: “Is that polite? Is it hospitable? Tell me, Stevie, what kind of a job is this you need crooks?”
— Dan Duryea as Slim Dundee

…..

Cody Jarrett (James Cagney): White Heat (1949)

White Heat gives us a straightforward story – government agent Hank Fallon (Edmond O’Brien) goes undercover to infiltrate a gang headed by Cody Jarrett (James Cagney. Also along for the ride are Big Ed Somers (Steve Cochran), Cody’s right-hand man (until he stabs him in the back), and Cody’s gorgeously duplicitous girlfriend (Virginia Mayo).

An undeniable psychopath, Cody isn’t your everyday, garden-variety mobster: he suffers from debilitating migraines and an unnatural attachment to his mother (Margaret Wycherly). Ruthless, fearless, and utterly remorseless, Cody ultimately fails to get away with his crimes, but his comeuppance is particularly explosive, if you know what I mean.

Favorite quote: “Did I ask you for any advice? Look Pardo, I’ve been watchin’ you. And up to now you haven’t done anything I can put my finger on. And maybe that’s what bothers me. But I don’t know you. What I don’t know, I don’t trust. To me you’re just a face and a number and let’s keep it that way for now. When I want your help, I’ll ask for it.”
— James Cagney as Cody Jarrett

…..

Walt Radak (Raymond Burr): Desperate (1947)

This film stars Steve Brodie as Steve Randall, a newlywed truck driver whose wife, Anne (Audrey Long) is expecting the couple’s first child. All is sweetness and light in the Randall household until Steve is contacted by an old school chum, Walt Radak, who offers him a lucrative job hauling freight. When Steve learns that the freight consists of stolen goods, he tries to alert the authorities, but a gun battle results in a dead policeman, the arrest of Walt’s kid brother for the murder, and Steve and Anne on the run from both police and a vindictive Walt Radak.

Walt Radak was a hood with a one-track mind. Once he decided that Steve Randall was responsible for the arrest, conviction, and ultimate execution of his brother, he had Steve in his sights like a deer during hunting season. And he tracked him across the country with vengeful glee. Steve didn’t have a chance.

Favorite quote: “I’m sorry I can’t give you a choice of food, Steve, but it won’t make much difference. You’re not going to live long enough to get any nourishment out of it.”
— Raymond Burr as Walt Radak

…..

Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson): Key Largo (1948)

A gang of criminals takes over a hotel in Florida’s Key Largo, led by exiled gangster Johnny Rocco, who has plans to conduct a transaction involving counterfeit cash with some of his former crime cronies. Held captive by Rocco’s gang in the midst of a hurricane are the hotel’s feisty, wheelchair-bound owner James Temple (Lionel Barrymore), his daughter-in-law Nora (Lauren Bacall), Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart), a war hero who’d served alongside Nora’s late husband and is in town visiting the Temples, and Rocco’s former moll, Gaye Dawn (Claire Trevor), who’s now a rather pitiable alcoholic.

Rocco possesses a multifaceted personality. He’s capable of tossing off a humorous quip, but he’s clearly afraid of the powerful storm raging outside the hotel. He’s mean-spirited, as he demonstrates by forcing Gaye to warble a tune in exchange for a drink, then refusing to keep his part of the bargain. He’s wily, as we see when he rattles off a smooth lie to the local sheriff seeking the killer of his deputy. And he’s overflowing with arrogance and egotism: “Thousands of guys got guns,” he says, “but there’s only one Johnny Rocco!”

Favorite quote: “After living in the USA for more than thirty-five years they called me an undesirable alien. Me. Johnny Rocco. Like I was a dirty Red or something!”
— Edward G. Robinson as Johnny Rocco

…..

That’s the end of my Top 10 list of Noir’s Bad Boys. Who would you add to this corrupt crew?

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– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Karen’s Noir Nook articles here.

Karen Burroughs Hannsberry is the author of the Shadows and Satin blog, which focuses on movies and performers from the film noir and pre-Code eras, and the editor-in-chief of The Dark Pages, a bimonthly newsletter devoted to all things film noir. Karen is also the author of two books on film noir – Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film and Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. You can follow Karen on Twitter at @TheDarkPages.
If you’re interested in learning more about Karen’s books, you can read more about them on amazon here:

Posted in Noir Nook, Posts by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry | Tagged Criss Cross, dan duryea, desperate, Edward G. Robinson, james cagney, Key Largo, Kirk Douglas, out of the past, Raymond Burr, White Heat | 1 Comment

Silver Screen Standards: A Woman’s Face (1941)

Posted on May 9, 2023 by Jennifer Garlen

Silver Screen Standards: A Woman’s Face (1941)

Although it’s not as iconic as films like The Women (1939) or Mildred Pierce (1945), I really enjoy the George Cukor murder melodrama A Woman’s Face (1941) because it gives us a different view – quite literally – of star Joan Crawford. When we imagine Crawford today, we usually think of the heavy eyebrows, smear of red lips, and shoulder pads version, an image crystallized by Faye Dunaway’s embodiment of Crawford in Mommie Dearest (1981), but classic film fans already know that Crawford’s long career took her through many incarnations, from flappers and chorus girls to diva of grand dame guignol. In this Hollywood remake of the 1938 Swedish picture starring Ingrid Bergman, Crawford gets to play a truly dynamic character, one whose face is only the most obvious thing about her that changes. In many ways, it’s a perfect Crawford companion piece to Bette Davis’ Now, Voyager (1942), and, in fact, Davis starred in a 1942 radio version of A Woman’s Face with Crawford’s costar Conrad Veidt. If you want to see as many aspects of Joan Crawford as possible in one picture, A Woman’s Face is an excellent choice.

A Womans Face Conrad Veidt, Joan Crawford and Melvyn Douglas — Joan Crawford stars as Anna Holm, a woman caught between the possible lives represented by her criminal partner (Conrad Veidt) and a kind plastic surgeon (Melvyn Douglas)

Crawford plays Anna Holm, a woman whose childhood facial injury has always prevented her from being part of normal society. She turns to crime to survive and punish those who have ostracized her, but her blackmail business eventually leads her to a fateful encounter with plastic surgeon Gustaf Segert (Melvyn Douglas), who commits to repairing her damaged face. After a series of painful operations, Anna has the chance to begin a new life, but her old partner, Torsten Barring (Conrad Veidt), refuses to let her leave the past behind. Those who have known Anna both before and after her transformation reveal the circumstances through which Anna becomes embroiled in the murder trial that forms the frame tale of the story.

Womans Face Melvyn Douglas and Joan Crawford — Dr. Segert tells Anna that he can repair her damaged face with a series of operations

Like Grand Hotel (1932) and The Women, A Woman’s Face features an impressive ensemble cast, but Crawford is absolutely the star. Her performance is supported by two leading men, Melvyn Douglas as the generous but unhappily married surgeon, and Conrad Veidt as the charming but unscrupulous schemer. The two male leads play angel and devil to Crawford’s Anna, one urging a path to righteousness and the other luring her back into the dark. The rest of the cast includes Osa Massen, Reginald Owen, Marjorie Main, Donald Meek, Connie Gilchrist and even George Zucco and Henry Daniell filling small roles as lawyers in the murder trial. Richard Nichols is a tiny scene-stealer as Lars-Erik, which makes it even worse that Torsten, his uncle, wants the child dead. Each of the characters offers a different take on Anna as part of the testimony, while the flashback scenes allow us to see how each character has interacted with her in the past, bringing out anger, longing, grief, hope, and tenderness depending on the circumstances. Each witness brings us a little closer to understanding Anna and her actions, although the film carefully holds some of its secrets until the climactic end (and I won’t spoil them here).

A Woman's Face Joan Crawford mirror — After the operations, Anna pauses to admire her own reflection in a mirror

Facial disfigurement frequently appears as a plot point in movies, often in problematic ways that use a scar or other marks to signify villainy, but A Woman’s Face pushes back against that reading to a certain degree. Anna is scarred because her drunken father accidentally set her room on fire when she was just a child, and she was also orphaned as a result of the incident. In a society where women must have pretty faces or strong protectors to survive, Anna has had neither. She is the victim of a system that failed to protect her, which makes her even more vulnerable to Torsten’s seductive powers. Gustaf, however, sees her as either his Galatea or his Frankenstein’s monster, a creation that he brings to life, which makes him a problematic love interest, too. Although the film argues that Anna’s hardness was always a façade put up to defend her from the world’s cruelty, it still ultimately depicts scarred Anna as a criminal and beautiful Anna as a kind governess, so it’s not nearly as radical a reading of the disfigured protagonist as The Man Who Laughs (1928), which naturally comes to mind because it also stars Conrad Veidt. On the other hand, A Woman’s Face offers a much more nuanced depiction of the theme than Stolen Face (1952), in which Lizabeth Scott’s character is just a terrible person no matter how she looks. It’s also a narrative that centers the experience of the scarred character without being a horror story, which is something of a rarity, especially for a female protagonist. The most iconic example from the horror genre is, of course, Eyes without a Face (1960), which ends in a nihilistic blaze of gory glory that we’re happily spared in A Woman’s Face.

A Woman's Face Joan Crawford oath — Anna takes the stand in her own defense at the murder trial

Joan Crawford starred in A Woman’s Face toward the end of her time at MGM; she would eventually leave the studio for Warner Bros. and her Oscar winning success with Mildred Pierce. She also earned Academy Award nominations for Possessed (1948) and Sudden Fear (1953), but if you want a full tour of the many faces of Joan Crawford, start with silents like The Unknown (1927) and Our Dancing Daughters (1928). In addition to the big hits already mentioned, savor the variety represented by films like Dancing Lady (1933), The Damned Don’t Cry (1950), Johnny Guitar (1954), and, of course, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).

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— Jennifer Garlen for Classic Movie Hub

Jennifer Garlen pens our monthly Silver Screen Standards column. You can read all of Jennifer’s Silver Screen Standards articles here.

Jennifer is a former college professor with a PhD in English Literature and a lifelong obsession with film. She writes about classic movies at her blog, Virtual Virago, and presents classic film programs for lifetime learning groups and retirement communities. She’s the author of Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching and its sequel, Beyond Casablanca II: 101 Classic Movies Worth Watching, and she is also the co-editor of two books about the works of Jim Henson.

Posted in Films, Posts by Jennifer Garlen, Silver Screen Standards | Tagged A Woman's Face, conrad veidt, George Cukor, joan crawford, melvyn douglas | Leave a comment

Classic Movie Travels: Arlene Golonka

Posted on May 4, 2023 by Annette Bochenek

Classic Movie Travels: Arlene Golonka

Arline Leanore Golonka was born on January 23, 1936, in Chicago, Illinois, to Elinor Wroblewski Golonka and Frank Golonka. Her father passed away when she was two years old and her mother later married Edward Rejba. Elinor and Edward then had two children named Zorine and Jimmy.

Golonka was of Polish descent, living in a Chicago neighborhood and attending Wicker Park School. A social worker encouraged her to follow her dream of becoming an actress.

Over the years, she worked as a waitress while also pursuing her interest in acting by appearing in summer stock productions as Arlene Golonka. She took singing and acting classes in her pre-teen years.

Eventually, she studied at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre and the Second City, later becoming a member of The Actors Studio. She also performed at the Chicago Playboy Club and in the Hinsdale Summer Theatre’s production of Burlesque alongside Burt Lahr. Her roommate in New York City was Valerie Harper, who would also go on to realize a successful career in entertainment.

Arlene Golonka early — Arlene Golonka as Millie on Mayberry R.F.D.

Following her first major production, The Night Circus, she performed at the Shubert Theater in Connecticut and on Broadway in 1958. Though the play closed after seven performances, her stage career continued with other Broadway productions, including Take Me Along; Come Blow Your Horn; and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. She recorded a comedy album called You Don’t Have to Be Jewish in 1965.

By 1967, Golonka relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career in television. During this period, she made numerous appearances in small roles on The Flying Nun, Barnaby Jones, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H, The Andy Griffith Show, Mayberry R.F.D., and many more. She also occasionally provided voices in animated serials, including Yogi’s Treasure Hunt and The New Scooby-Doo Movies. Her career also continued with supporting roles in over thirty films, along with Golonka teaching acting.

Allan Melvin, Jack Dodson and Arlene Golonk in The Andy Griffith Show (1967)

Golonka passed away on May 31, 2021, due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. She was 85 years old.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Golonka resided at 2053 Evergreen Ave., Chicago, Illinois, which remains today.

Arlene Golonka 2053 Evergreen Ave., Chicago, Illinois home — 2053 Evergreen Ave., Chicago, Illinois home

The Goodman Theatre operates at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, Illinois.

Chicago’s Second City is located at 230 W. North Ave., Chicago, Illinois.

The apartment she shared with Valerie Harper stands at 290 Riverside Dr., New York, New York.

Arlene Golonka - apartment she shared with Valerie Harper stands at 290 Riverside Dr., New York City — 290 Riverside Dr., New York City, apartment

The Shubert Theatre is located at 225 W. 44th St., New York, New York.

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–Annette Bochenek for Classic Movie Hub

Annette Bochenek pens our monthly Classic Movie Travels column. You can read all of Annette’s Classic Movie Travel articles here.

Annette Bochenek of Chicago, Illinois, is a PhD student at Dominican University and an independent scholar of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She manages the Hometowns to Hollywood blog, in which she writes about her trips exploring the legacies and hometowns of Golden Age stars. Annette also hosts the “Hometowns to Hollywood” film series throughout the Chicago area. She has been featured on Turner Classic Movies and is the president of TCM Backlot’s Chicago chapter. In addition to writing for Classic Movie Hub, she also writes for Silent Film Quarterly, Nostalgia Digest, and Chicago Art Deco Society Magazine.

Posted in Classic Movie Travels, Posts by Annette Bochenek | Tagged Allan Melvin, Arlene Golonk, Jack Dodson, Mayberry RFD, The Andy Griffith Show | 2 Comments

Western RoundUp: Final Resting Places, Western Filmmakers

Posted on April 25, 2023 by Laura Grieve

Western RoundUp: Final Resting Places,
Western Filmmakers

In this month’s Western RoundUp column we’ll return to the topic of the final resting places of Western filmmakers, visiting the gravesites of 13 actors, actresses, and directors.

We’ll start in the little town of Marysvale, Utah, where widely admired actress Marie Windsor is buried in her hometown. She’s interred along with her husband, former USC basketball star Rodney Hupp; her gravestone includes both her birth name and her stage name.

My husband and I were fortunate to be able to make a stop in Marysvale on a road trip through Utah last year. Marie Windsor was in several Westerns over the course of her career, with one of the best being Hellfire (1949) opposite Bill Elliott.

Marie Windsor resting place — Marie Windsor (1919 – 2000)

Returning to California, here is the gravesite of Fritz Lang, who directed a Western I reviewed here very recently, Rancho Notorious (1952). Lang also directed the Westerns The Return of Frank James (1940) and Western Union (1941). He’s buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

Fritz Lang resting place — Fritz Lang (1890 – 1976)

Another director buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills is George Stevens, director of the classic Shane (1953). Stevens also directed Barbara Stanwyck as Annie Oakley (1935).

George Stevens resting place — George Stevens (1904 – 1975)

The star of Shane, Alan Ladd, is interred in a mausoleum at Forest Lawn Glendale. He’s surrounded by several other stars, including Nat King Cole, Clara Bow, Jeanette MacDonald, and George Burns and Gracie Allen. Ladd’s other Westerns included Whispering Smith (1948), The Big Land (1957), and The Proud Rebel (1958), which I wrote about here in 2020.

Alan Ladd resting place — Alan Ladd (1913 – 1964)

Mona Freeman, who starred opposite Alan Ladd in the Western Branded (1950), is at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills. She also appeared with William Holden and Macdonald Carey in Streets of Laredo (1949); other Westerns included Copper Canyon (1950) and The Lady From Texas (1951). Off the screen Freeman was an artist whose best-known work is the portrait of Mary See which hangs in all See’s Candies shops.

Mona Freeman resting place — Mona Freeman (1926 – 2014)

Macdonald Carey, who appeared in Streets of Laredo and Copper Canyon with Mona Freeman, is at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. I particularly admire his charismatic villain in Copper Canyon. Carey’s long film career included films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943), but he is ultimately best remembered as the longtime star of the soap opera Days of Our Lives.

Macdonald Carey resting place — Macdonald Carey (1913 – 1994)

’30s “B” Western star Bob Steele, who went on to play bit parts in many later Westerns, is at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills under his birth name, Robert N. Bradbury. He’s interred with the remains of his twin brother Bill and his sister-in-law. The boys’ father, also named Robert Bradbury, was a “B” Western director.

Bob Steele resting place — Bob Steele (birthname Robert N. Bradbury) (1907 – 1989)

Gail Davis, buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, starred as TV’s Annie Oakley and was a frequent leading lady in Gene Autry Westerns. In 2004 she was posthumously inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Texas.

Gail Davis resting place — Gail Davis (1925 – 1997)

Also at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills is Lynne Roberts, who appeared in Westerns opposite numerous stars, including Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Tim Holt, and George Montgomery, to name just a few. In some of her early films she was billed as Mary Hart.

Lynne Roberts resting place — Lynne Roberts (1922 – 1978)

“B” Western actor-singer Eddie Dean is at Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California. Dean was born Edgar Dean Glosup, hence the unfamiliar name across the top of the gravestone. He appeared in films for about a decade, beginning in the late ’30s.

Eddie Dean resting place — Eddie Dean (1907 – 1999)

Another “B” Western actor-singer, Jimmy Wakely, is at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills. In addition to many “B” Westerns, he sang in the very good Arrow in the Dust (1954) with Sterling Hayden and Coleen Gray. Besides Wakely’s work in Westerns, his duet of “Silver Bells” with Margaret Whiting is still heard often at Christmastime.

Jimmy Wakely resting place — Jimmy Wakely (1914 – 1982)

Actress-Singer Julie London is perhaps best remembered today for her role on TV’s Emergency!, but she starred in a number of Westerns, including Saddle the Wind (1958) with Robert Taylor, Man of the West (1958) with Gary Cooper, and The Wonderful Country (1959) with Robert Mitchum. She’s at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills along with her multitalented husband — and Emergency! costar — Bobby Troup.

Julie London resting place — Julie London (1926 – 2000)

One of my favorite actors, Tyrone Power, starred in a few Westerns, including Jesse James (1939) and Rawhide (1951). He was said to be a popular figure when filming Westerns in Lone Pine, California, where he was friendly to all and known to occasionally get behind a bar and pour out drinks. He passed on far too young and has this impressive burial site at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Tyrone Power resting place — Tyrone Power (1914 – 1958)

For additional photos of the burial sites of Western actors, please visit my columns from May 2019, February 2022, November 2, 2022, and November 29, 2022.

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– Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub

Posted in Posts by Laura Grieve, Western RoundUp | Tagged Alan Ladd, Bob Steele, Eddie Dean, Fritz Lang, Gail Davis, george stevens, Jimmy Wakely, Julie London, Lynne Roberts, macdonald carey, Marie Windsor, mona freeman, Tyrone Power | 6 Comments

Silents are Golden: What Were the Top Box Office Hits Of 1923?

Posted on April 20, 2023 by Lea Stans

Silents are Golden: What Were the Top Box Office Hits Of 1923?

Recently I attended the Kansas Silent Film Festival (and yes, that is my plug for that delightful–and free–event!) where the theme was the silent films of 1923. It got me pondering: what were the highest-grossing films from exactly one century ago? I could make an educated guess about the top two or three, but could I put together a top ten list?

It’s a trickier task than you might think. Silent film box office statistics are notoriously difficult to figure out in detail since the numerous movie theaters of the time didn’t have to report detailed bookkeeping numbers. Theaters normally paid a flat fee to rent a film (often around 10 cents per foot) and then played it as many times as they liked. Films tended to be distributed on a state’s rights basis, meaning there were various companies that simply doled out completed films to different regions. Plus, prestigious, big-budget films were sometimes given a roadshow presentation, where they had a limited release in the fancier theaters (with higher ticket prices to match) before being distributed more widely. Most box office statistics from the 1910s and 1920s depend a lot on educated guesswork–and the admission, “Well, we can’t know for sure.”

So let’s compare different figures and see if we can come up with a list that’s maybe pretty close to being on the right track. Just don’t take the figures as gospel–and did I mention that sometimes “worldwide grosses” get lumped in with “U.S. and Canadian grosses”?

10. Our Hospitality – $540,000

Buster Keaton and Natalie Talmadge in Our Hospitality (1923) — Buster Keaton and Natalie Talmadge in *Our Hospitality* (1923)

Buster Keaton’s second feature-length comedy and first period piece was a popular and critical hit. It was set in the 1830s American South and based on the story of the Hatfields and McCoys. Its success proved that Keaton was not only an exceptional comedian, but an exceptional filmmaker too.

9. Main Street – $550,000

Monte Blue, Alan Hale, Florence Vidor, and Louise Fazenda in Main Street (1923) — Monte Blue, Alan Hale, Florence Vidor, and Louise Fazenda in *Main Street* (1923)

This drama was based on the famous, somewhat humorless novel by Sinclair Lewis, about a librarian who moves with her husband to the small, humble town where he grew up. It starred Florence Vidor and Monte Blue and was also the first film released by Warner Bros. after it was incorporated in April of 1923. It’s now considered a lost film.

8. A Woman of Paris – $630,000

Carl Miller and Edna Purviance in A Woman of Paris (1923) — Carl Miller and Edna Purviance in *A Woman of Paris* (1923)

This was an oddity of sorts in the Charlie Chaplin directorial canon, being a serious drama where he doesn’t even appear (except for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo). It’s beautifully filmed and did respectably well, but it’s not hard to suspect that many people saw it out of curiosity.

7. The White Sister – $660,000

Lillian Gish in The White Sister (1923) — Lillian Gish in *The White Sister* (1923)

Starring the lovely Lillian Gish and the dashing Ronald Colman, this romantic film was made on location in Rome and Naples. Ms. Gish had a say in much of its planning and production. She was also very drawn to accurately recreating the Catholic ceremony of nuns “taking the veil,” which had never been shown on screen before. The Catholic Church served as an advisor, ensuring these scenes would be done reverently.

6. Scaramouche – $1 million

Alice Terry and Ramon Novarro in Scaramouche (1923) — Alice Terry and Ramon Novarro in *Scaramouche* (1923)

Rex Ingram’s popular swashbuckler was reportedly an expensive, difficult production that had frequent delays. Fortunately its popularity helped make up for it, no doubt partly due to its fine cast, including Alice Terry, Lewis Stone and the handsome Hispanic actor, Ramon Novarro.

5. Safety Last! – $1.4 million

Harold Lloyd in Safety Last! (1923) — Harold Lloyd in *Safety Last!* (1923)

This nailbiter of a comedy was a big hit for Harold Lloyd, who famously performed much of the stunt work himself (the main set for the climbing scene was actually on a building’s roof, although close enough to the edge to give the illusion of hanging in space). Still a classic today, everyone’s seen that famous still of the bespectacled Harold dangling from a huge clock, if anything.

4. Little Old New York – $2.4 million

Elizabeth Murray, Harry Watson and Marion Davies in Little Old New York (1923) — Elizabeth Murray, Harry Watson and Marion Davies in *Little Old New York* (1923)

There’s differing opinions on where exactly this Marion Davies feature should be placed on this list, but it was definitely a high grosser–enough for Hollywood to declare the talented Ms. Davies the #1 female star of 1923. Set in 1800s New York City, it revolved around Marion’s character disguising herself as a boy in order to claim a rightful inheritance for her family.

3. The Hunchback of Notre Dame – $3.5 million

Lon Chaney in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) — Lon Chaney in *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* (1923)

Lon Chaney was a shoo-in for the role of Quasimodo, which involved a sizable amount of the grotesque makeup, prosthetics, and difficult body language that he excelled at. The elaborate sets recreating the exterior of Notre Dame and its surrounding medieval streets took six months to build. Happily the film was a huge success, and Chaney’s performance is considered legendary even today.

2. The Covered Wagon – $4 million

The Covered Wagon (1923) — *The Covered Wagon* (1923)

A massive hit at the time, this is regarded as the first great Western epic. It followed the journey of a wagon train during the great westward expansion of the 19th century, with all its attendant adventures and hardships. Interestingly, the many covered wagons used in the filming weren’t replicas, but actual heirlooms owned by the families of former pioneers.

1. The Ten Commandments – $4.2 million

Theodore Roberts in *The Ten Commandments* (1923)

And the number one biggest blockbuster of 1923 is… Cecil B. DeMille’s first version of The Ten Commandments. Most people today are very familiar with the 1956 Charlton Heston version, and know little about the original silent – if they’re aware it exists at all. Differing in many ways from the Heston version, much of the Exodus story is contained in a long “prologue,” with a modern story being the focus of the second half of the film. The Exodus scenes were filmed in the sand dunes of Santa Barbara county where DeMille built the giant set of the gates of Rameses. Rumor had it that he had the sets destroyed and buried after filming, to keep rivals from using it for other films. Decades later, remains of the sets were indeed discovered in the sand.

I hope you enjoyed this breakdown of some of the blockbusters of 1923! It may be an educated guess – except for the undeniable popularity of the top three – but it’s sure interesting to see what made audiences flock to the theaters a full century ago.

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–Lea Stans for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Lea’s Silents are Golden articles here.

Posted in Posts by Lea Stans, Silents are Golden | Tagged 1923, A Woman of Paris, Alan Hale, Alice Terry, Buster Keaton, Carl Miller, cecil b. demille, charlie chaplin, edna purviance, Elizabeth Murray, Florence Vidor, Harold lloyd, Harry Watson, lewis stone, Lillian Gish, Little Old New York, Lon Chaney, Louise Fazenda, Main Street, marion davies, Monte Blue, Natalie Talmadge, Our Hospitality, Ramon Novarro, Rex Ingram, ronald colman, Safety Last, Scaramouche, silent film, silent films, silent movies, silents are golden, The Covered Wagon, the hunchback of notre dame, The Ten Commandments, The White Sister, Theodore Roberts | 2 Comments

Noir Nook: Top 10 Favorite Bad Boys – Part 1

Posted on April 13, 2023 by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry

Noir Nook: Top 10 Favorite Bad Boys – Part 1

The days are getting longer, the flowers are starting to bud… and it’s a great time for a list! (No, there’s no real connection, but still – what a great time for a list, am I right?)

This month’s Noir Nook takes a look at some of my favorite bad boys. The fatal femmes are no strangers to the spotlight, so I thought it was time to give the nods to the fatal fellas (if you will). Let me know if some of the dudes you love to hate made the list!

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Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark): Kiss of Death (1947)

Richard Widmark and Mildred Dunnock in Kiss of Death (1947) — Richard Widmark and Mildred Dunnock in *Kiss of Death* (1947)

When small-time thief Nick Bianco (Victor Mature) is nabbed after a botched robbery, he refuses to drop a dime on his buddies and goes to prison, leaving his wife and two small girls behind. But he doesn’t hesitate to rate on his pals after his wife commits suicide and his daughters wind up in an orphanage. Bianco is later released on the condition that he continue to work with authorities as a “stool pigeon” – but after remarrying and settling down with his new family, he finds that they’re in jeopardy when they’re targeted by one of guys Bianco fingered: Tommy Udo.

Udo is an undeniable psychopath; this is the guy who famously ties an invalid to her wheelchair and sends her careening down a flight of stairs, delivering his trademark maniacal giggle as he prepares to end her life. There’s not a single scene featuring this character that doesn’t make you more than a little uncomfortable – and grateful that you’re not the one sitting across from him.

Favorite quote: “You know what I do to squealers? I let ‘em have it in the belly. So they can roll around for a long time, thinkin’ it over.”
– Richard Widmark as Tommy Udo

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Mr. Brown (Richard Conte): The Big Combo (1955)

Richard Conte and Cornel Wilde in The Big Combo (1955) — Richard Conte and Cornel Wilde in *The Big Combo* (1955)

Police detective Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde) is obsessed with nabbing local kingpin, Mr. Brown, who he suspects of murder. Diamond is not only obsessed with bringing Brown to justice, but he also has eyes for Brown’s girlfriend, Susan Lowell (Wilde’s then-wife Jean Wallace). Brown seems untouchable, but as the authorities close in, he proves that nobody is expendable in his resolve to remain free.

Brown is cooler than the other side of the pillow – and heartless as a stone. He treats his right-hand man (Brian Donlevy) with contempt and his henchmen (Earl Holliman and Lee Van Cleef) as disposable tools. His only soft spot seems to be Susan, but don’t let this fool you. For Mr. Brown, Susan is merely a trophy – something he owns and is determined to keep.

Favorite quote: “Joe, tell the man I’m gonna break him so fast, he won’t have time to change his pants. Tell him the next time I see him, he’ll be in the lobby of the hotel, crying like a baby and asking for a ten dollar loan. Tell him that. And tell him I don’t break my word.”
– Richard Conte as Mr. Brown

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Sam Wild (Lawrence Tierney): Born to Kill (1947)

Lawrence Tierney in Born to Kill (1947) — Lawrence Tierney in *Born to Kill* (1947)

The aptly named Sam Wild commits a double murder in Reno after finding his sometime girlfriend (Isabel Jewell) on a date with another fella, then hightails it to San Francisco (on the advice of his wise and loyal BFF, played by Elisha Cook, Jr.). On the way, he meets and falls for newly divorced Helen Trent (Claire Trevor). What he doesn’t know is that Helen discovered the bodies. And what he’s soon to find out is that Helen doesn’t care that he’s the murderer. But she will.

This Sam Wild is one scary, but fascinating, dude. He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t shy away from homicide, but he’s also an ambitious social climber who marries Helen’s wealthy foster sister (Audrey Long), then insists on taking over the family newspaper business. This is a guy who wants to BE somebody.

Favorite quote: “We’ll not only be rolling in dough, but marrying into this crowd’ll fix it so as I can… spit in anybody’s eye.”
– Lawrence Tierney as Sam Wild

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Lester Blaine (Jack Palance): Sudden Fear (1952)

Joan Crawford and Jack Palance in Sudden Fear (1952) — Joan Crawford and Jack Palance in *Sudden Fear* (1952)

Following an unusual meet-cute (that’s really not so cute), and a whirlwind romance, playwright and heiress Myra Hudson (Joan Crawford) marries actor Lester Blaine and settles down with her new hubby for a life filled with love and luxury. She didn’t reckon on a little monkey wrench in the form of Lester’s former lover, Irene Neves (Gloria Grahame). And when Lester and Irene get their heads together, it spells murder for lovestruck Myra.

I find Blaine to be a particularly unlikable character, who’s as transparent as a pane of glass. His charm and seeming devotion to Myra can’t be denied, but I can’t say I was exactly shocked to learn that his wife’s primary allure was her bank account. Nor was I surprised when he proved that he’d do anything (and I mean ANYTHING) to keep his hands on it.

Favorite quote: “I’ve got to think fast. Got to think of a nice, foolproof little accident.”
– Jack Palance as Lester Blaine

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Emmet Myers (William Talman): The Hitchhiker (1953)

Frank Lovejoy, William Talman and Edmund O'Brien in The Hitchhiker (1953) — Frank Lovejoy, William Talman and Edmund O’Brien in *The Hitchhiker* (1953)

Two buddies, Roy Collins and Gilbert Bowen (Edmund O’Brien and Frank Lovejoy), off on a weekend fishing trip, get more than they bargain for when they pick up a hitchhiker along the side of the road. It turns out that their passenger is one Emmet Myers, who has recently escaped from prison, is in the midst of a killing spree, and has no qualms about adding Collins and Bowen to his roster.

Myers is the kind of killer who leaves you with a sense of utter defeat; he’s equipped with a frightening countenance and an attitude which makes it clear that your life means less to him than a stray pebble on the highway. But worst of all, he has a peculiar affliction that allows him to literally sleep with one eye open. What chance do you have?

Favorite quote: “Nobody ever gave me anything. So I don’t owe nobody. My folks were tough. When I was born, they took one look at this puss of mine and told me to get lost. Well, I didn’t need ‘em. I didn’t need any of ‘em. Got what I wanted my own way.”
– William Talman as Emmet Myers

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Next month’s Noir Nook will feature the second half of my Top 10 Bad Boys. Hope you’ll join me!

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– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Karen’s Noir Nook articles here.

Posted in Noir Nook, Posts by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry | Tagged Born to Kill, brian donlevy, claire trevor, Cornel Wilde, earl holliman, Edmond O'Brien, Elisha Cook Jr, film noir, frank lovejoy, gloria grahame, Isabel Jewell, Jack palance, joan crawford, kiss of death, lawrence tierney, Lee Van Cleef, Noir, Noir Nook, richard conte, richard widmark, Sudden Fear, the big combo, The Hitch-Hiker, victor mature, William Talman | 1 Comment

Western RoundUp: Tombstone (1993)

Posted on April 11, 2023 by Laura Grieve

Western RoundUp: Tombstone (1993)

Was the 1881 gunfight at the OK Corral the most-filmed true incident in Western film history?

I’ve never tried counting how many movies the gunfight appears in, but it’s a significant number. I’ve previously written here about four different films in which the gunfight (or Wyatt Earp) features; in a 2018 column I covered Frontier Marshal (1939), Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die (1942), and Wichita (1955), and I also wrote a 2021 review of Hour of the Gun (1967).

This month we’ll return to the subject of the Earps and the Clantons with a look at Tombstone (1993) starring Kurt Russell as the famed lawman Wyatt Earp.

Wyatt’s brothers, Virgil and Morgan, are played by Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton, with Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday.

This was my first viewing of Tombstone, which I’d frankly avoided in part due to my concern about the level of violence, given the R rating. And truth to tell, based on the advice of those who know my tastes, I didn’t watch the first few opening minutes of mayhem; instead I began the film at the point when Wyatt Earp arrives in Tombstone, Arizona. I’m glad my curiosity finally got the better of me, as I enjoyed the movie.

Tombstone covers much of the same ground as other films on Wyatt Earp and his brothers, including not only the famous gunfight but key events which follow. Part of what’s interesting about the Earp movies is what the individual films choose to include and their varied styles; each film has unique aspects while covering familiar ground.

Tombstone (1993) Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday and Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp — Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday and Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp

The placement of the OK Corral gunfight in various narratives is especially interesting. In John Ford‘s My Darling Clementine (1946), the gun battle provides the climax of the movie, while Hour of the Gun takes a completely different approach: It’s how the movie begins!

In Tombstone the movie splits the difference and places the gunfight roughly halfway through the film’s 130-minute running time.

I found Tombstone a strong and memorable film which has numerous classic moments. I would not call the film itself a classic, for reasons I’ll go into below, but it’s a well-made film with much to recommend it.

Tombstone begins with the Earp brothers and their wives reuniting in Tombstone. Wyatt has retired from being a lawman, and the brothers intend to live quieter lives. But despite Wyatt’s protestations that he’s done with the law, he can’t resist the challenge of helping a saloon owner eject an unwanted faro dealer from his business.

Dana Delany as Josephine Marcus in Tombstone (1993) — Dana Delany as Josephine Marcus in *Tombstone* (1993)

The Earps make money in Tombstone, and in their free time they also enjoy watching a theatrical troupe whose players include Josephine Marcus (Dana Delany) and Fabian (Billy Zane). However, Tombstone is a wild town, and the murder of the town marshal (Harry Carey Jr.) by Curly Bill Brocius (Powers Boothe) is but one reminder.

Eventually Virgil feels guilty about ignoring the plight of the townspeople at the hands of the Cowboys, a violent gang which includes the Clanton family; he accepts a job as marshal, which ultimately leads all three brothers and Wyatt’s good friend Doc Holliday to the gunfight.

As depicted in some of the other films on Earp lore which continue past the OK Corral, there is later retribution by the Cowboys against Wyatt’s brothers, followed by Wyatt and Doc hunting down the remaining members of the gang.

One of the things I liked best about Tombstone is the way it pulls together different bits and pieces of lore from past films; it’s natural that there’s repetition of story elements, but some of the moments almost seem like tributes to films which have gone before.

Tombstone (1993) Kurt Russell, Paula Malcomson, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Lisa Collins, Sam Elliott And Bill Paxton — Kurt Russell, Paula Malcomson, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Lisa Collins, Sam Elliott, and Bill Paxton

In particular, there’s a dancing theme with Wyatt and Josephine which of course calls to mind Henry Fonda and Cathy Downs‘ dance in My Darling Clementine; the Shakespearean actor and even one of the Earps sitting with his boots up on a fence also conjure up memories of the Ford classic.

The depiction of the point-blank shootout made me think of Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die, while the dead men in glassed-in caskets called to mind a scene Samuel Fuller‘s Earp-inspired Forty Guns (1957), which I wrote about here last year. Wyatt’s visits to the ill Doc at the sanitarium near movie’s end were strongly reminiscent of Hour of the Gun.

The film’s atmosphere is also greatly aided by its use of some of the great “faces” of Westerns past, including the previously mentioned Carey. Names like Pedro Armendariz Jr., Chris Mitchum, Don Collier, Buck Taylor, and Gary Clarke are threaded throughout the film in tiny roles, with the film itself narrated by Robert Mitchum.

Tombstone (1993) Charlton Heston as Henry Hooker — Charlton Heston as Henry Hooker

Even Charlton Heston randomly shows up in a couple of scenes, though while he’s great, his appearance is a bit inexplicable. Heston’s memoir In the Arena, published shortly after Tombstone‘s release, offers no insight. I suspect there’s a story there worthy of future research having to do with the film changing directors while in production.

Kilmer rightly receives acclaim for his off-kilter performance as Doc Holliday; indeed, the fateful moment where he winks his eye at the OK Corral is perhaps the movie’s greatest moment, as Wyatt sees the resulting change in expression of their opponents and realizes what’s about to go down. It’s a real “Whoaaaa!” moment which makes the viewer sit up and take notice.

Russell is excellent playing a conflicted Wyatt, who warns his brothers killing someone won’t feel like they expect. And as a Sam Elliott fan from way back, I also loved him in a fairly large role as Virgil, though sadly a bit of the light goes out of the movie when he gets on the train for California about two-thirds of the way into the film.

Tombstone (1993) Val Kilmer, Kurt Russell, Bill Paxton and Sam Elliot — Val Kilmer, Kurt Russell, Bill Paxton, and Sam Elliott

And that’s really part of the movie’s overall problem, as the strong narrative structure falls apart a little in the last third or so of the film. At that juncture, Wyatt’s brothers are dead or gone, and, like Hour of the Gun, Wyatt and Doc spend the rest of the film hunting down the villains, periodically interrupted by moving scenes with the dying Doc.

Frankly it gets a bit tedious watching men riding around having gun battles, and the movie is a good ten minutes too long, punctuated with the occasional moments of brilliance, such as “Thanks for always being there, Doc.”

The film is quite modern in its “elliptical” storytelling, where we join the film mid-story and not everything is spelled out. Though it’s the current style, it’s also a bit problematic, as we’re left to ponder many questions for ourselves, such as why the brothers, as would-be settlers, don’t have a child among them, and there’s also a curious comment about where they “found” their wives.

Indeed, the brothers seem “betwixt and between” two worlds, often representing the law yet working in a rowdy gambling house; they’re married yet not precisely “family” men, and their wives are of questionable backgrounds.

Tombstone (1993) Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Kurt Russell, Paula Malcomson, Sam Elliot, Lisa Collins and Bill Paxton — Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Kurt Russell, Paula Malcomson, Sam Elliott, Lisa Collins, and Bill Paxton

We also wonder about the disappearance of Doc’s girlfriend Kate (Joanna Pacula), and Wyatt’s abandonment of his laudanum-addicted wife Mattie (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) also receives short shrift. He puts Mattie on the train to California with Virgil, Allie (Paula Malcomson), and Louisa (Lisa Collins), and that’s the end of that.

An end card mentions Mattie’s fate, though it doesn’t clarify exactly when it happens in conjunction to Wyatt beginning his relationship with Josephine.

Let’s just say I spent quite a while on Google after movie’s end trying to fill in the blanks. Again, that’s both a blessing and a curse, as I love when a film causes me to delve deeper into history, but there was an awful lot of time focused on men riding around shooting guns that could have instead been better spent on more character development.

That said, it was fascinating to learn of some unexpected things in the film which were actual history, rather than screenwriter Kevin Jarre’s creation, including the wounded Virgil telling his wife Allie not to worry, that he still had a good arm to hold her.

Tombstone (1993) Val Kilmer, Sam Elliot, Kurt Russell and Bill Paxton — Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Kurt Russell, and Bill Paxton

The film was directed by George P. Cosmatos, with writer Jarre doing uncredited direction of Heston’s scenes. The movie was filmed by William A. Fraker and scored by Bruce Broughton (Silverado).

The excellent cast also includes Billy Bob Thornton, Jason Priestley, John Corbett, Jon Tenney, Michael Biehn, Thomas Haden Church, Stephen Lang, and Frank Stallone.

The year after Tombstone was released, Kevin Costner starred in the title role in Wyatt Earp (1994), which I plan to review here at a future date along with Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).

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– Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub

Posted in Posts by Laura Grieve, Western RoundUp | Tagged Bill Paxton, cathy downs, charlton heston, Forty Guns, Frontier Marshal, Gunfight at the OK Corral, harry carey jr., Henry Fonda, Hour of the Gun, john ford, Kurt Russell, my darling clementine, robert mitchum, Sam Elliott, samuel fuller, Tombstone (1993), Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die, Val Kilmer, Wichita, Wyatt Earp | 10 Comments

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