Classic Movie Hub Blog

Noir Nook: Spring Trivia

Posted on May 14, 2020 by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry

Spring Trivia – Audrey Totter, Joseph Cotten, Jane Russell, Vincent Price and Marie Windsor

There are not many things I love in life more than classic movie trivia. In celebration of spring, this month’s Noir Nook is serving up some trivial tidbits on some of my favorite noir actors and actresses and some of their iconic noir films. Enjoy!

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Audrey Totter

Audrey Totter starred with Robert Montgomery in Lady in the Lake (1946), a unique MGM feature that is shot from the point of view of the main character. Totter stated that MGM chief Louis B. Mayer was overly aware of the “MGM look,” and while watching the daily rushes for Lady in the Lake, Mayer noticed that Totter’s hair was disheveled in a scene where she’s awakened from her bed. Mayer insisted that the scene be reshot, with Totter’s hair carefully coiffed and her makeup in place. “He said, ‘A Metro star must look her best, even asleep,’” Totter recalled. “He was peddling dreams. Reality never interested him.”

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Joseph Cotten

The director of The Third Man (1949), Carol Reed, originally wanted James Stewart to play the part of pulp novelist Holly Martins. The film’s producer, David O. Selznick, insisted on Joseph Cotten, who was under contract at the time to Selznick’s production company. According to Cotten, Reed started shooting the film’s final scene without an ending. It’s the scene where Cotten’s character is waiting for Alida Valli and she walks right past him like he’s not there. “He made that up on the spot and it’s wonderful,” Cotten said. “I’m in the foreground waiting patiently for her to walk into my arms and it never happens.”

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Jane Russell

One of Jane Russell’s three noirs was The Las Vegas Story (1952), co-starring Victor Mature and Vincent Price. Russell said that Mature “didn’t give a damn” about the film. “Sleepwalked through it and then ran for lunch when the commissary bell sounded,” she said. Russell also recalled that at the premiere of the film, she had a swollen face – the result of being hit by her then-husband Bob Waterfield. “In those days gals were supposed to grin and bear it,” Russell said. “And the PR staff said I’d been hit by a car door. But everybody knew the truth.”

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Vincent Price

Price said that his “best-ever” film may have been the 1944 noir Laura, where he played Shelby Carpenter, a ne’er-do-well who is one of several suspects in the “murder” of the title character. Price said that he found the script’s dialogue to be “brittle and clever.” He also recalled that the film’s original director – Rouben Mamoulian – wanted Laird Cregar for the part of Waldo Lydecker. Mamoulian was later replaced by the film’s producer, Otto Preminger, who chose Clifton Webb for the part. “Laird was personally devastated and that rejection began a downward personal spiral,” Price said. “But Otto was right. I think the casting was near perfect.”

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Marie Windsor

Windsor described her character in The Killing (1956) as a “horrible woman.” In this Stanley Kubrick-directed feature, Windsor played the wife of mousy racetrack cashier Elisha Cook, Jr., who’s stepping out on her devoted spouse with the younger and infinitely more attractive Vince Edwards. Windsor had been cast in what she termed a “terrible” Roger Corman film – Swamp Women (1956) – that overlapped the shooting schedule for The Killing. “But I loved the script of The Killing and didn’t want to lose it.” Luckily, Kubrick started his picture two days late and Corman let Windsor out of Swamp Women two days early. (Swamp Women, incidentally, got a great send-up on Mystery Science Theater 3000!)

Stay tuned to the Noir Nook for more trivia in future months!

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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 Alida Valli, audrey totter, carol reed, david o. selznick, james stewart, jane russell, joseph cotten, Lady in the Lake, Laird Cregar, Las Vegas Story, Laura, Louis B. Mayer, Marie Windsor, Noir, Noir Nook, Noir Trivia, Otto Preminger, robert montgomery, roger corman, Rouben Mamoulian, stanley kubrick, Swamp Woman, the killing, the third man, victor mature, Vince Edwards, vincent price | 2 Comments

Classic Conversations: A Rare In-Depth Interview with the Great Katharine Hepburn

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Danny Miller

A Rare In-Depth Interview with the Great Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Hepburn was born 113 years ago today. I recognize that there may be other icons in Hollywood history who arguably had more of a range as an actor. I understand that there are some people who have never been fans of Hepburn’s particular style or affectations. I remember that there was a period of time, even after winning her first Academy Award, that she was deemed “box office poison” by motion picture distributors. None of that matters to me. Whenever I’m asked the question, “Who is your all-time favorite actress?” only one answer comes to mind every time: Katharine Houghton Hepburn of Connecticut.

Katharine Hepburn’s four Oscars on display at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Looking at her unprecedented four Best Actress Oscar wins that spanned half a century including Morning Glory (1934), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1968), The Lion in Winter (1969), and On Golden Pond (1984), we can debate which of her eight other nominations should have resulted in a win. Personally, I would have happily awarded her the prize for Woman of the Year (1942), The African Queen (1952), and Summertime (1956), but the loss that strikes me as one of the biggest travesties in Academy history, on par with Judy Garland failing to win the Oscar for A Star Is Born, is Hepburn’s loss in 1941 for what I would call a perfect performance in The Philadelphia Story. I love Ginger Rogers and think she was a wonderful actress, but sorry, Ginger, let’s just say Kitty Foyle doesn’t hold a candle to Tracy Lord.

Now that we’re stuck in quarantine on the anniversary of Katharine Hepburn’s birth, I can think of no better activity than watching her in action, from her debut performance opposite John Barrymore in A Bill of Divorcement (1932) through all the wonderful Tracy-Hepburn films along with other personal favorites of mine including Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) and Long Day’s Journey into Night (1962) all the way to her amazing work later in her career in roles such as as Hecuba in The Trojan Women (1971), Eula opposite John Wayne in Rooster Cogburn (1975), and her excellent work in TV movies such as The Glass Menagerie, Love Among the Ruins, and The Corn Is Green.

Katharine Hepburn in
*Woman of the Year* (1942)

Unlike most of the stars of her day, Katharine Hepburn was never one to participate in the publicity machine of the major studios which is part of the reason why such a mythology built up around her and why she often received negative press. While at MGM, I think only Greta Garbo got away with more flouting of the traditional relationship between the studio and its stars. Very few people on the lot ever managed to avoid submitting to the endless hours of command performances with the columnists of the day. But throughout her long life, Hepburn never suffered fools gladly and had zero interest in participating in many of the rituals that were considered par for the course if you were in that top echelon of movie stardom as she was for so many years. “If you always do what interests you,” Hepburn famously said, “at least one person is pleased.” It was that reticence to play the game that made her rare interviews and appearances all the more thrilling and unusual.

To mark Katharine Hepburn’s birthday, I plan on rewatching her utterly fascinating 1973 interview with talk show host Dick Cavett. I was a kid when this spectacular two-part interview first aired on TV and even then was enough of a classic movie fanatic to be glued to her every word. In my opinion, it is one of Cavett’s most remarkable interviews ever, and he interviewed hundreds of luminaries from all walks of life.

Even the way the interview happened was pure Hepburn. Dick Cavett, along with every other talk show host in town, had been trying to get Katharine Hepburn on his show for years. One afternoon in 1973, for reasons that he never completely understood, the woman who had been avoiding the press for most of her life and had never appeared on television agreed to simply come into Cavett’s studio to have a look. She wanted to see how it would feel to be on his set. She barreled in, in classic Hepburn fashion, commenting critically on the ugly carpet, the unmoving chairs, the lights, and other aspects of the set, and then shocked Cavett to the core by saying, “Why don’t we just go ahead and do it now?” To his credit, and to the thanks of all of us the world over, he immediately agreed, knowing that if he put it off, it was highly unlikely that she’d ever be in that studio again.

What followed was an utterly riveting and intimate interview about Hepburn’s life and career that ran over two successive nights. You can find the entire interview online and I strongly urge you to watch it, but to whet your appetite on this auspicious day, here are a few more delightful clips of Hepburn at her best.

Oh, man. Is it any wonder why this is my favorite actress of all time? Happy Birthday, Katharine Hepburn. We need you now more than ever!

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–Danny Miller for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Danny’s Classic Conversation Articles Here

Danny Miller is a freelance writer, book editor, and co-author of About Face: The Life and Times of Dottie Ponedel, Make-up Artist to the Stars. You can read more of Danny’s articles at Cinephiled, or you can follow him on Twitter at @dannymmiller.

Posted in Classic Conversations, Interviews, Posts by Danny Miller | Tagged Dick Cavett, katharine hepburn | 3 Comments

Silver Screen Standards: The More the Merrier (1943)

Posted on May 12, 2020 by Jennifer Garlen

Silver Screen Standards: The More the Merrier (1943)

Lately, I’ve only been interested in comedies and musicals, the kinds of pictures that make the viewer feel happy in spite of whatever madness is at work in the world outside. Depression and World War II-era mood boosters were quite literally made for this kind of cultural moment; they exist to bring smiles to our faces and songs to our hearts as we hope for better days ahead. Now, you certainly can’t go wrong with musicals from Fred and Ginger, Alice Faye, or Betty Grable, but a screwball comedy also has a lot going for it in times like these, and one of the quirkiest and most interesting is the 1943 picture, The More the Merrier, starring Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea as a couple of serious young people brought together by a gleefully disruptive Charles Coburn.

Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, and Charles Coburn in The More the Merrier (1943) — Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, and Charles Coburn star in the charming wartime comedy, The More the Merrier.

Unlike films that offer a complete escape from the world outside, The More the Merrier leans into its moment, depicting life in Washington D.C. during the wartime crisis. The plot hinges on a housing shortage caused by the huge numbers of people working in the city as part of the war effort, and the picture opens by showing us the busy, chaotic world that both characters and audience share. Our heroine, Constance Milligan (Jean Arthur), is lucky enough to have her own apartment but decides it would be patriotic to take in a roommate, never guessing that the roommate she’ll get stuck with is a crafty old codger bent on playing Cupid. Benjamin Dingle (Charles Coburn) not only moves himself in – over Connie’s objections – but swiftly adds a second renter by taking in handsome Joe Carter (Joel McCrea). With Joe set to leave for dangerous military work in Africa in just a few days, and Connie and Dingle both working for the war effort in their own ways, the picture never tries to forget the war but instead shows the audience that even trying times can bring laughter and happy surprises.

Jean Arthur in The More The Merrier (1943) — Connie brushes her teeth while Dingle tries to get her attention after she locks him out of the apartment.

Another noteworthy quirk of the movie is its willingness to show its protagonists in very unglamorous activities, which humanizes the characters and endears them to the audience. When Connie and Joe get dressed up they look as good as Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea are expected to look, but at the moment of their initial meeting, Joe is wearing a bathrobe and socks while Connie has a face covered in cold cream. The shared bathroom of the small apartment provides a lot of comic opportunities and also ensures that we see all three characters in various states of undress, especially Joe. If shirtless Joel McCrea is something you want more of in your life then this picture is here to deliver. For some reason, Joe also barks like a seal every time he gets wet, which comes as something of a shock when we see him in the shower. Dingle, meanwhile, can’t seem to keep track of his pants, and he and Connie take turns managing to lock each other out of the apartment in their pajamas. All three characters are harried, rumpled, sometimes absent-minded, and making the best of things, just like everyone else in the country in 1943.

Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, and Charles Coburn in The More the Merrier (1943) bathrobes — Dingle’s meddling results in Connie and Joe meet for the first time when neither is looking particularly glamorous, but the sparks fly in spite of bathrobes and cold cream.

Most screwball comedies invest their signature “screwy” energy in the female lead – think of Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night (1934), Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey (1936), Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby (1938), and Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve (1941) – but The More the Merrier assigns that energy to Charles Coburn instead. Taken as a real human being, Benjamin Dingle would be downright criminal and a good candidate for arrest and a restraining order; he does basically force his way into Connie’s apartment and then refuse to leave like a geriatric cousin of Michael Keaton’s nightmare tenant in Pacific Heights (1990). Instead, it’s important to see Dingle as an agent for change, a chaotic Cupid embodying the way in which life throws us for a loop in spite of our intentions and plans. Connie is too rigid with her schedules and routines; she has become stuck in an endless, loveless engagement and the rhythm of her daily life. Joe, more shy than surly and never much of a talker, also needs a push even when there are eight women to every man. Dingle is there to shake both of them up, and the full extent of his meddling only becomes clear with the picture’s final, hilarious reveal. His gift of change comes with its own downside; Joe is still departing for dangers unknown, but the lesson of the picture is that a chance at love and happiness is worth the risk of heartbreak even in the most uncertain times.

Joel McCrea surrounded by women in The More The Merrier (1943) — Joe finds himself very popular with the ladies in DC, where there are eight available women for every man, but he’s not really a ladies’ man.

The Academy recognized Charles Coburn’s importance to the picture by awarding him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. The movie also garnered nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Story, and Best Screenplay. For more feel-good comedy with Jean Arthur, try Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) or Easy Living (1937), and for more with Joel McCrea see Sullivan’s Travels (1941) and The Palm Beach Story (1942). George Stevens directed The More the Merrier just before his departure for the U.S Army Signal Corps, where he filmed historic events like D-Day, the liberation of Paris, and horrific footage of the Dachau concentration camp, which helps explain why The More the Merrier was Stevens’ last real comedy. You can learn more about Stevens’ wartime experience and its effect on him in the excellent 2017 documentary, Five Came Back, adapted from the equally fascinating book by Mark Harris. For more of Stevens’ light-hearted work, see Swing Time (1936), Vivacious Lady (1938), and The Talk of the Town (1942).

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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 Posts by Jennifer Garlen, Silver Screen Standards | Tagged barbara stanwyck, Bringing Up Baby, Carole Lombard, charles coburn, claudette colbert, easy living, george stevens, it happened one night, jean arthur, Joel McCrea, katharine hepburn, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, My Man Godfrey, sullivan's travels, swing time, the lady eve, The More the Merrier, the palm beach story, the talk of the town, vivacious lady | 6 Comments

Monsters and Matinees: Anthologies Serve Quick Bites of Horror

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Toni Ruberto

Monsters and Matinees: Anthologies Serve Quick Bites of Horror

We’re hearing a lot about Quibi these days, a new video platform touting a “quick bite” philosophy of short-form videos.

Classic horror fans been ahead of the curve on this idea, enjoying our own version of quick bites of entertainment through anthology films. Though these aren’t as short as the 8-to-10-minute Quibi bites, they are still easily digestible and satisfying. They generally have three to five segments that last 15 to 25 minutes each. Watch each separately or sit for the entire feature-length film.

Anthologies are the movie version of an amusement park fun house or stories told around a campfire. We know going in it’s pure entertainment but we’re hoping for a few scares, too. When we do jump (and we always do), we’ll laugh at ourselves later.

They are great because they offer variety in horror (ghosts, vampires, hallucinations, haunted items and even the green-eyed monster, jealousy), tone (thrills, scares and comedy) and great genre talent. But do forgive them for being a bit, shall we say, uneven.

Peter Cushing is among the tenants of *The House That Dripped Blood*.

An anthology can be compiled under a general theme, where each segment stands on its own such as Twice Told Tales (1963), three short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Or it can be a collection of stories with a common thread, as in The House That Dripped Blood (1971) which shared the fate of various inhabitants of a British cottage.

I enjoy classic horror anthologies for the talent in front of, and behind the, camera that includes some of our favorite names like Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Roger Corman, Mario Bava and Richard Matheson.

The earliest anthologies may be two German silent films, Unheimliche Geschichten (1919), also known as Eerie Tales or Uncanny Stories where portraits of Death, the Devil, and the Strumpet come to life to read Gothic tales; and Das Wachsfigurenkabinett or Waxworks (1924) from director Paul Leni about a young poet tasked with writing stories to match wax museum exhibits of the likes of Jack the Ripper. Both star Conrad Veidt.

Perhaps the most highly regarded anthology is the 1945 black and white British film, Dead of Night, one of Martin Scorsese’s favorite horror movies. It takes the familiar idea of strangers in an old house to a different place when one insists he’s met the others in a recurring dream. So begins five stories told by various characters and linked together by the debunking of a doctor who is among them.

*The Ventriloquist’s Dummy* segment from the anthology *Dead of Night*
has influenced many films including *Magic*.

The most famous of the tales is The Ventriloquist’s Dummy, starring an increasingly agitated Michael Redgrave who fears his creepy doll has come to life. My favorite is The Haunted Mirror where a man’s mirror reflects a different world. I highly recommend the humorous The Golfer’s Story, based on The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost by H.G. Wells, about two golfing buddies whose affection for the same woman land them in an otherworldly circumstance.

Here’s a quick look at three other anthologies that I enjoy.

Tales of Terror (1962)

This trio of tales based on the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe has Vincent Price in each segment acting alongside Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, and Debra Paget. The screenwriter is Richard Matheson and the director is Roger Corman. (Of course, you want to watch this now.)

Price narrates the film – a device used often in anthologies – and gives us the treat by playing three distinct characters including one with a comic touch.

In Morello, Price is so haunted by the death of his wife 26 years earlier, that he has her decomposing body lovingly laid out in his bedroom. In The Black Cat, he plays it for broad laughs as a wine connoisseur in a humorous take on The Cask of Amontillado, co-starring Peter Lorre. In the final and scariest segment, Price is a dying man who believes in the power of hypnotism, or mesmerism as they call it in The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar. Basil Rathbone is the slimy mesmerist with ulterior motives. This one freaked me out with the idea of being dead in body, but alive in your mind. (“Give me peace, give me peace,” Price cries. I wish I could!)

The House That Dripped Blood (1971)

This Amicus film is considered among the best in the horror anthology canon and I agree. It has jump scares, laughter and many references for horror film buffs to enjoy. The original stories are from the inventive mind of Robert Bloch (Psycho) and its all-star horror cast is led by Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Ingrid Pitt.

The movie shares the fates of various tenants in the house of the title, a cottage in the English countryside. It’s framed by the investigation of a Scotland Yard inspector into the disappearance of an actor who was the last tenant. The inspector scoffs at talk of the house being to blame, even as he’s filled in by a local official and a man named Mr. Stoker (ahem!) who share stories of past tenants that link the film together.

I love the twists and turns in this film and how different the fate is of each tenant – something we owe to the “secret of the house” that is revealed at the end.

In Method for Murder, a horror author (Denholm Elliott) finally cracks open his writer’s block only to find his murderous creation has come to life. In Waxworks, Peter Cushing is obsessed with a wax figure that bears a startling resemblance to the woman in a photo he carries.

A new teacher (Nyree Dawn Porter) tries to learn what’s bothering her innocent looking charge (played by Chloe Franks) in a segment of *The House That Dripped Blood.*

The terrifying Sweets to the Sweet finds Christopher Lee has his hands full with his young daughter (Chloe Franks), an adorable child with some unusual interests. I jumped multiple times watching this.

In The Cloak, we meet that missing actor (played by Jon Pertwee, the Third Doctor in Doctor Who), who buys an “authentic” vampire cloak to add realism in his film (Curse of the Blood Suckers). Unfortunately, it’s a bit too realistic. Ingrid Pitt (and her cleavage), looking like she just stepped out of a Hammer film, plays his co-star and love. It’s campy fun and a love letter to horror fans with nods to Shepperton Studios (where this movie was made). The estate agent’s address is Hynde Street Bray, which I’ll take as a reference to Hammer’s Bray Studios and screenwriter and producer Anthony Hinds.

Oh, that inspector? He gets his own part in the story, too.

Black Sabbath (1963)

I’ll always remember Black Sabbath for the disembodied head of Boris Karloff that narrates the opening of this three-part movie (later we’ll see the rest of his body) from Italian horror master Mario Bava.

Is this what it looks like to be scared to death? Watch theDrop of Water segment
of *Black Sabbath* for your answer.

Drop of Water is a creepy story about a home nurse who faces otherworldly consequences after stealing the ring off the corpse of a patient. The woman died of a heart attack at a séance and her corpse bears a grotesque face that has the look of being frightened to death. A household fly is one of the scariest things in this short.

In The Telephone, a young woman (Michele Mercier) is terrorized by calls from a stalker who seems to have eyes inside her home – and may not be of this world. (For the U.S. version of this film, it’s been reported that Bava was forced to add a supernatural element and tone down elements of prostitution and lesbianism.)

Lovers of Italian horror will feel most at home with The Wurdulak a vampire who survives by only drinking the blood of those he loves. Mark Damon is the young Russian count who stumbles upon a family terrified of the return of their father (played by a wild-haired Karloff) who they fear has become a Wurdulak. Damon, as he tends to do in his films, immediately falls for the gorgeous young lady of the house.

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– 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. 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, Monsters and Matinees, Posts by Toni Ruberto | Tagged Black Sabbath, Boris Karloff, christopher lee, Classic Horror Films, Dead of Night, horror, House That Dripped Blood, mario bava, peter cushing, tales of terror, Twice Told Tales, vincent price | Leave a comment

Classic Movie Travels: Dorothy Dare

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Annette Bochenek

Classic Movie Travels: Dorothy Dare

While Dorothy Dare appeared in her fair share of Pre-Code films, her name is not remembered as strongly as the names of her peers. Her early roles in film shorts showed promise but, unfortunately, the roles she received in feature films failed to place her in the spotlight. Nonetheless, her work and cheery persona are worth celebrating, as she lent on-screen support to many leading stars of the day.

Dorothy M. Herskind was born on August 6, 1911, to Fritz C. Herskind–hailing from Denmark–and Katharine Paillet Herskind in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to a 1914 ship roster of passengers sailing from Liverpool to New York, the family lived at 426 N. Franklin Street in Philadelphia.

From an early age, Dorothy showed an interest in performing. She sang in church and would appear in her first stage role at the age of seven. Later, she would find herself performing in Ziegfeld‘s shows, entertaining audiences night after night.

As the film industry grew, so, too, did Dorothy’s interest in the medium. She took on the stage name of Dorothy Dare and appeared in several Vitagraph shorts – working with the likes of Hal Le Roy and other stars – which would pave the way for her transition to Warner Brothers. In 1934, Dorothy secured a contract with the studio and would appear in films such as Happiness Ahead (1934), Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935), Front Page Woman (1935), and more. She would also perform songs as part of some of her film roles.

Dick Powell and Dorothy Dare in Happiness Ahead (1934) — Dick Powell and Dorothy Dare in *Happiness Ahead* (1934)

In 1937, Dorothy left Warner Brothers to begin freelancing. She worked in two films which were shot in the United Kingdom, which included Clothes for the Woman (1937) and Rose of Tralee (1937). Upon returning to the United States, her freelance work continued but the roles she was receiving were lackluster. Over time, she became disenchanted with acting and would appear in her final role as Peggy in The Yanks Are Coming (1942).

As the years went on, Dorothy would marry and, for the most part, remained quiet about her time in Hollywood. Any reflections or interviews regarding her entertainment career were few and far between.

Dorothy Dare in The Yanks are Coming (1942) — *The Yanks are Coming* (1942)

She passed away at age 70 on October 4, 1981. She is buried alongside her mother at Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona Del Mar, California.

Today little exists in relation to Dorothy’s life. Her family home has long since been razed and there are no current physical tributes to her, aside from her gravestone. This is the area in which her childhood home once stood:

Dorothy Dare's family residence no longer stands — Dorothy’s family residence no longer stands

However, in addition to watching her films, fans of her work may also consider visiting the Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank, California, where she once was under contract. The studio has crafted a tour focusing upon the classic films made at the studio, which will take visitors past the various soundstages to which Dorothy had reported.

While Dorothy is not memorialized as heavily as her counterparts, she continues to delight audiences in her few but enjoyable film appearances.

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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 SocietyMagazine.

Posted in Classic Movie Travels, Posts by Annette Bochenek | Tagged classic movie travels, Dorothy Dare, Front Page Woman, Gold Diggers of 1935, Hal LeRoy, Happiness Ahead, The Yanks are Coming, Ziegfeld | Leave a comment

Western RoundUp: Streaming “B” Westerns at Home, Vol. 2

Posted on April 28, 2020 by Laura Grieve

Western RoundUp: Streaming “B” Westerns at Home, Vol. 2

As everyone continues to wait out the ongoing epidemic at home this month, I’m returning with another round of streaming recommendations!

This month we’ll take a look at some “B” Westerns available for streaming at home, starring Roy Rogers, William “Hopalong Cassidy” Boyd, and the Rough Riders, Buck Jones, and Tim McCoy.

As was the case with last month’s recommendations, these films are all currently available for streaming from Amazon. They’re free at no additional cost for members of Amazon Prime.

I’d like to note that many additional Westerns are available for streaming via Amazon, often for a fee. I’ve focused on Amazon simply because of the much greater availability of classic-era Westerns there compared to other streaming services.

Please note that titles tend to come and go from streaming services, so it’s possible they’ll disappear from Amazon in the future, but they can also be found on DVD.

Under Western Stars (Joseph Kane, 1938)

Under Western Stars (1938) Movie Poster — *Under Western Stars* (1938) Movie Poster

Roy Rogers became a Western movie star thanks to Under Western Stars. This Republic Pictures film was originally planned for established star Gene Autry, but Gene went on strike, resulting in Roy getting his big break. Roy proved to be a success, so Gene decided not to stay on strike long!

Roy, born Leonard Slye, plays a character named Roy Rogers in this film, and that of course was also his professional name from that point forward. Under Western Stars is a rather different type of Western; Roy is elected to Congress, where he tries to aid Depression-era Dust Bowl farmers desperately in need of water.

Roy Rogers & Smiley Burnette in Under Western Stars (1938) — Roy Rogers & Smiley Burnette

Somewhat unusually for a “B” Western, Under Western Stars received an Academy Award nomination for the song “Dust” by Johnny Marvin. This somber song is memorably performed as Roy sings it while showing documentary-style footage of struggling farmers.

The score also includes the terrific song “Listen to the Rhythm of the Range,” which Marvin wrote with the film’s originally planned star, Gene Autry.

Roy was teamed in this film with Autry’s perennial sidekick, Smiley Burnette. Leading lady Carol Hughes, the wife of character actor Frank Faylen, would go on to appear in multiple Autry films. This was the last screen appearance for the music group the Maple City Four, who had previously appeared in a pair of Autry films.

Like most “B” Westerns the movie is short, at just 65 minutes. It’s worth the investment of a little over an hour for the unusual story, the Oscar-nominated music, and the look at one of our greatest Western stars at the outset of his long career.

The Gunman From Bodie (Spencer Gordon Bennet, 1941)

The Gunman From Bodie (1941) — *The Gunman From Bodie* (1941)

Monogram Pictures’ Rough Riders series of 1941-42 starred Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, and Raymond Hatton as crime-fighting marshals.

The first film in the series, Arizona Bound (1941), is available for streaming and is good to watch to understand the origins of the series. The three marshals, all working undercover, arrive in a Western town to solve stagecoach robberies, eventually revealing their true identities as lawmen. One might almost think of the series as foreshadowing the superhero films of decades later, with a trio of great Western crime fighters uniting to work as a team.

I like the second Rough Riders film, The Gunman From Bodie (1941), even better than Arizona Bound. I feel it’s a marvelous example of a quality “B” Western.

Buck Jones & Tim McCoy in The Gunman From Bodie (1941) — Buck Jones & Tim McCoy

In a spooky, atmospheric opening sequence, Bob “Bodie” Bronson (Jones) enters a darkened home, seeking shelter from a storm, only to discover a pair of bodies. The woman is holding a note naming their killer which also says “Take care of my baby.” Bodie locates the baby and soon thereafter finds the little one a home at a ranch owned by Alice Borden (Christine McIntyre).

Bodie then ingratiates himself with the unsavory characters around town, while carefully avoiding Marshal Tim McCall (McCoy), who’s in possession of a “wanted” poster for Bodie.

Late in the game, it’s also revealed that Alice’s cook Sandy (Hatton) is a marshal just like Marshall McCall… and is Bodie really the bad man he seems to be when he’s not saving a baby? Hmmm.

McCoy occasionally seems to be on the verge of overacting, yet his confident persona is compelling enough to push those infrequent awkward moments aside. Viewers won’t soon forget the scene where he describes a hanging to a murderer.

Jones is terrific as a seemingly dark, conflicted character, while Hatton provides the “third wheel” comic relief.

The story of this 62-minute film, scripted by Jess Bowers (aka Adele Buffington), was sturdy enough that it was remade on at least two occasions.

This is an attractive movie that was filmed at various Southern California locations. Incidentally, what’s now the California ghost town of Bodie, referenced in the title, is never seen.

The trio of Jones, McCoy, and Hatton appeared in a total of eight Rough Riders films, with Jones and Hatton also starring with Rex Bell in a ninth film after McCoy was called up from the Army Reserves for active duty in World War II. That final film, Dawn on the Great Divide (1942), was released a month after Jones’s tragic death in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire in Boston, and with that, a wonderful series came to a sad end.

In Old Colorado (Howard Bretherton, 1941)

In Old Colorado (1941) Movie Poster — *In Old Colorado* (1941) Movie Poster

Over 30 Hopalong Cassidy films had been released in the half-dozen years between the first film, Hop-a-long Cassidy (1935), which I wrote about for Classic Movie Hub last fall, and In Old Colorado.

With over 60 Hoppy films produced, a great many of these titles can be found streaming, and I recommend Western fans explore them as they are generally solid, enjoyable films with good production values. Over the last few years, I’ve become quite a fan of the series thanks to repeated exposure to Hoppy at the Lone Pine Film Festival.

Hopalong Cassidy and cast in a scene from "In Old Colorado", 1941. William Boyd (third from left, black hat) played Hopalong Cassidy in 66 theatrical features between 1935 and 1948, and more than a third of them were shot in the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine California. — Hopalong Cassidy and cast in a scene from “In Old Colorado”, 1941. William Boyd (third from left, black hat) played Hopalong Cassidy in 66 theatrical features between 1935 and 1948, and more than a third of them were shot in the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, California.

I chose to highlight In Old Colorado here as not only have I enjoyed watching it, but I’ve been fortunate to visit the locations where it was filmed outside Lone Pine. It’s also notable as the screenplay was co-written by Russell Hayden, who plays Hoppy’s sidekick Lucky. It was Hayden’s only feature film writing credit.

Hoppy, Lucky, and their sidekick California (Andy Clyde) are on their way to buy cattle for the Bar 20 Ranch when they’re robbed of $20,000. They had planned to buy the cattle from Ma Woods (Sarah Padden), who desperately needs the income. She’s also dealing with nasty Joe Weiler (Morris Ankrum), who’s keeping her cattle from getting to water as well as causing conflict with one of her neighbors (Stanley Andrews).

In a compact 66 minutes, viewers can rest assured that Hoppy will take care of everyone’s problems. It’s a simple but well-made film from Paramount Pictures, beautifully shot in black and white by Russell Harlan. It’s a wonderful way for Western fans to spend some time in Lone Pine’s Alabama Hills, where so many Westerns, from “B’s” to classics, were filmed over a span of decades.

Happy streaming!

…

— 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 Andy clyde, Arizona Bound, Buck Jones, Frank Faylen, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, In Old Colorado, Joseph Kane, Morris Ankrum, Raymond Hatton, Roy Rogers, Smiley Burnette, The Gunman From Bodie, Tim McCoy, Under Western Stars, western, western movies, Western Roundup, westerns | 5 Comments

The Funny Papers: Disney+ Retro Style: That Darn Cat! (1965)

Posted on April 21, 2020 by Kellee Pratt

Disney+ Retro Style: That Darn Cat! (1965)

“While the city sleeps, ev’ry night he creeps
Just surveyin’ his domain
He roams around like he owns the town
He’s the King, he makes that plain
He knows ev’ry trick, doesn’t miss a lick
When it comes to keepin’ track
Some city slicker, no one is quicker than
That darn cat…”

That Darn Cat! movie poster

The theme song for Robert Stevenson‘s That Darn Cat! (1965) was written by the Sherman brothers (Richard M. and Robert B.), with vocals by Bobby Darrin. It’s a very catchy tune to introduce us to a charismatic kitty named D.C. in the popular Disney classic, That Darn Cat!

Take a peek at the intro:

Hayley Mills as Patti, aged nineteen years old, here with a Seal-Point or “traditional” Siamese cat as D.C.

Recently, our family decided to sign up for one of this year’s most anticipated new streaming services, Disney+. We don’t exactly fit the typical demographic for this new platform. Our four kids are all grown up and we’ve never visited a Disney park (although I very much hope to someday). Our main interest to explore Disney+ was simple and singular. We wanted to see the Star Wars series, The Mandalorian. But after further exploring the site, I discovered a treasure of Disney family classics from my youth, including a collection of live-action films with a focus on our furry friends.

The Disney studios were riding a high of success when Mary Poppins (1964) and its director Robert Stevenson received both critical acclaim and box office gains. Based on the 1963 novel “Undercover Cat” by Gordon and Mildred Gordon, this is a family classic with a feline twist on the crime caper.

Mills as Patti Randall, as she finds a secret message on a wristwatch around her cat’s neck, which holds a clue for an unsolved crime.

“D.C.” (an acronym for Darn Cat) is an independent-thinking Siamese tomcat who swaggers about the neighborhood. On his nightly constitutional, this curious kitty runs into a criminal hideout, where a bank teller Margaret Miller (Grayson Hall) has been kidnapped by bank robbers. D.C.’s home is with the Randall sisters, Patti (Hayley Mills) and Ingrid (Dorothy Provine). When DC comes home one night with a gold wristwatch around his neck with a potential cry for help scratched on the back, super sleuth Patti seeks out help from the FBI. Agent Zeke Kelso (Dean Jones) takes on the case, tracking DC’s every move as a madcap adventure ensues.

If you’ve never seen this film, or if it’s been a few decades as it was with me, it may seem that this is just a simplistic, overly saccharine, juvenile yawn. But I encourage you to give it another look as this fun flick has a lot going for it, including a packed cast of familiar faces.

Dean Jones as FBI agent Kelso has unusual challenges with D.C. the cat.

Dean Jones as G-man agent Kelso provides the perfect balance of stalwart straight man, romantic lead, and roll-with-the-punches slapstick comedian. This was his very first Walt Disney film, which he followed with continued success into the next decade. Jones went on to make other popular light-hearted Disney comedies including The Love Bug (1968) and The Ugly Dachshund (1966) with a focus on a family of cute canines, co-starring Suzanne Pleshette.

Dorothy Provine portrays the big sister, Ingrid Randall, trying to keep Patti and D.C. out of trouble.

In contrast, this was Hayley Mills’ last Disney film as a juvenile. Her next Disney film came along in 1986 as a sequel in The Parent Trap II. Mills as Patti Randall is thoroughly charming as D.C.’s main human. Along with her sister, Ingrid (Dorothy Provine), the Randall sisters have the house all to themselves as their parents are vacationing in Italy. You may recognize Provine as Emeline who first spies the buried treasure in It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and as Lily the swingin’ singer in The Great Race (1965).

The Fussbudget Don Juan aka Gregory Benson is portrayed by Roddy McDowall, who finds more than he bargained for with the Randall sisters and their feline hero.

Ingrid has her daily routine where neighborhood fussbudget Gregory Benson (Roddy McDowall) picks her up for their daily carpool, constantly praises his mother, and bemoans the habitual meddlings of D.C. Patti is bored with her humdrum teen life, and her surfer pal Canoe (Tom Lowell). There is a funny, insider joke moment between Patti and Canoe when she complains of their typical drive-in surfer flicks. This was a cheeky nod to Walt Disney’s disapproval of his star Annette Funicello’s beach party films.

Patti’s constant companion Canoe is portrayed by Tom Lowell, whom you may recognize from a 1959 episode of The Twilight Zone

Patti doesn’t remain bored for long. Soon, news of a local bank robbery brings D.C. right in the center of an FBI investigation. Upon his nightly constitutionals, D.C. runs into the bank robbers (Frank Gorshin as Iggy and Neville Brand as Dan) and the kidnapped bank clerk, (Grayson Hall) Margaret Miller. Ms. Miller leaves a clue, her wristwatch with a partially inscribed cry for help, on D.C. Amateur sleuth Patti wastes no time putting the clues together and marches right into the FBI office, wherein agent Kelso goes undercover at the Randall home.

Dean Jones

Even the G men are hot on the trail after D.C.

The mayhem in this caper kicks into high gear as the FBI, despite Kelso’s allergic reaction to D.C., pursues D.C. as their key witness. For me, in addition to the many slapstick moments as they clumsily follow an independently-minded feline, a big highlight are the grouchy neighbors. Elsa Lanchester as the overly curious Mrs. MacDougall and William Demarest as Mr. MacDougall adds to the storyline. It’s a reminder that Disney knew the power of character actors as an enrichment to any film, especially a light comedy.

Veteran actors William Demarest and Elsa Lanchester take on the roles of the quibbling neighbors.

Nothing gets back meddling Mrs. MacDougall (Elsa Lanchester)

Not to discount this silly comedy as mere fluff, this film also garnered six award nominations, including the 1966 Best Written American Comedy award from the Writers Guild of America. I encourage you to take a break from the world’s worries and take a nostalgic trip to a silly, simpler cinematic escape with That Darn Cat!

…..

–Kellee Pratt for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Kellee’s Funny Paper articles here.

When not performing marketing as her day gig, Kellee Pratt teaches classic film courses in her college town in Kansas (Film Noir, Screwball Comedy, Hitchcock, Billy Wilder and more). She’s worked for Turner Classic Movies as a Social Producer and TCM Ambassador (2019). Unapologetic social butterfly, she’s an active tweetaholic/original alum for #TCMParty, member of the CMBA, and busy mom of four kids and 3 fur babies. You can follow Kellee on twitter at @IrishJayhawk66 or her own blog, Outspoken & Freckled (kelleepratt.com).

Posted in Posts by Kellee Pratt, The Funny Papers | Tagged Annette Funicello, Dean Jones, Disney, Disney Classic, Dorothy Provine, elsa lanchester, Grayson Hall, Hayley Mills, it's a mad mad mad mad world, Mary Poppins, Neville Brand, Robert Stevenson, Roddy McDowall, Suzanne Pleshette, That Darn Cat!, The Great Race, The Love Bug, The Ugly Dachshund, william demarest | 3 Comments

Silents are Golden: Silent Superstars – Remembering Diana Serra Cary, Or “Baby Peggy”

Posted on April 18, 2020 by Lea Stans

Silents are Golden: Silent Superstars – Remembering Diana Serra Cary, Or “Baby Peggy”

On February 24, 2020, the world lost its last bona fide silent film star – Diana Serra Cary, who had passed away at age 101. While there is a very small handful of people left who appeared in silent films in some capacity – usually as extras or even as infants – Cary was the last “name in lights” star. Known to 1920s audiences as Baby Peggy, she would act alongside such luminaries as Clara Bow and be photographed with the likes of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.

Cary was born on October 29, 1918, in San Diego. Her birth name was Peggy-Jean Montgomery, and she had one older sister, Louise. Cary’s father, a strict and rather unstable man, was a former cowboy and horse trainer. He soon moved his family to Los Angeles so he could work as a stuntman in westerns. One day a neighbor took Cary (then 19 months old) and her mother and sister to visit Century Studios. Director Fred Fishback was impressed with how well-behaved the toddler was – and especially how obedient she was. Cary later recalled that her father had trained his two daughters much like they were his horses: “My father would snap his fingers and say ‘Cry!’ And I would cry. ‘Laugh!’ And I would laugh. ‘Be frightened!’ And I’d be frightened. He called it obedience.”

The Family Secret (1924) — *The Family Secret* (1924)

Fishback thought the chubby-cheeked Cary would work well with Century’s resident animal star, Brownie the Wonder Dog. They starred together in a series of charming comedy shorts, starting with Playmates (1921). The films were so well-received that Cary got a longer-term film contract, working long hours even at that tender age – “We were making them like hotcakes!” When Brownie died a year after the series began, directors started getting creative: little Peggy-Jean would play characters like Little Red Riding Hood, “Little Miss Hollywood,” and dress up as Rudolph Valentino and Pola Negri to satirize various movie tropes.

Baby Peggy in The Film Daily, September 3, 1922 — The Film Daily, September 3, 1922

Now called “Baby Peggy,” Cary’s popularity was exploding, but fame took its toll on her family: “At less than two years of age I was earning more than my father. Those are the kinds of things that turn a family upside down.” She would say that memories of her early career would be fuzzy if it weren’t for her parents’ frequent fights over money. She also clearly remembered various catastrophes that would happen on set, in those hazardous days – like the time she was accidentally thrown from a speeding truck and another time when an elephant stampeded the studio and had to be put down.

Soon the popular tyke was starring in features like Captain January (1923), co-starring Hobart Bosworth (who Cary remembered liking very much) and The Law Forbids (1924). And she wasn’t just expected to act – sometimes she even had to do stuntwork. The Darling of New York (1923) is somewhat notorious as the film with the “burning bedroom” scene. As part of an exciting climax, the crew doused parts of the set with gasoline, set it on fire, and three-year-old Cary was instructed to exit the burning set through a certain door. But the fire grew more out of control than the crew realized. When she discovered the door was hot to the touch, Cary, fortunately, ignored the director’s instructions and carefully crawled through a burning window instead. Even at that tender age, she had realized that adults don’t always know everything.

The Darling of New York (1923) — *The Darling of New York* (1923)

By 1924 “Baby Peggy” was receiving hundreds of thousands of fan letters and was raking in around $1 million per year. Unfortunately, her parents spent the money almost as fast as she earned it. Her father, always an impulsive negotiator, took his demands too far and Cary’s contract was terminated. Around this time the family’s business manager (a relative) took the remainder of the Baby Peggy fortune and fled, leaving them broke.

Diana Serra Cary, “Baby Peggy” with doll — Cary with her doll

To make ends meet, Cary’s family went on vaudeville tours, where Baby Peggy made appearances around the country. These tours were successful, but by the early 1930s, they decided to try their luck in Hollywood again – much to Cary’s chagrin since she’d already been working nonstop for so many years. But the slicker Hollywood of the ‘30s was a different place: “They talked about silents as the stone age. And they treated former stars terribly, just terribly.”

Diana Serra Cary, “Baby Peggy” as a teenager — Diana as a teenager

After taking bit parts and working as an extra for a few years, she retired from film in 1938, the same year she married her first husband, Gordon Ayres – partly to escape her parents. They were married for ten years, and after their 1948 divorce, Cary realized she needed to deal with her past. “…I had had identity problems from the time I was growing up. Baby Peggy was very powerful. She was very popular…I couldn’t be me as long as I was carrying her.” Putting her famous persona behind her, she began working on a long-buried dream: to become a writer. Freelancing led to work in radio and publishing, and she began making a name for herself as a historian. Her second marriage, to Bob Cary, was successful and would last until his death.

In later years Cary grew at peace with her “Baby Peggy” image and started attracting the interest of film historians. She would sit for many interviews and publish several books on early Hollywood, such as Jackie Coogan: The World’s Boy King: A Biography of Hollywood’s Legendary Child Star, and What Ever Happened to Baby Peggy: The Autobiography of Hollywood’s Pioneer Child Star. She advocated passionately for child actors, recalling the difficulties she once had as a pint-sized star. Always sharp and eloquent, at age 99 she would publish her first novel, The Drowning of the Moon.

Diana Serra Cary, “Baby Peggy” mature — Diana Serra Cary, “Baby Peggy” lived to be 101 years young!

Incredibly, Diana Serra Cary (the name she later adopted) would outlive all her silent era contemporaries, passing away at age 101. Her passing made headlines around the world; in a sense, it brought the silent era to a close. And she will always remain an inspirational figure, thanks to her dedication to sharing her experiences in early Hollywood. In 1999 she stated in an interview: “I see [my early career] as all of a piece. It’s kind of like putting a quilt together. Quilt-making is very good because everything becomes equally important and equally valid, and everything forms the core of yourself. So both the good and the bad – I always felt that was the hand life dealt, and I’ve tried to handle it as best I could. I don’t have any rancor or any anger or anything toward anyone – or toward Hollywood. Even when it was happening, I realized it was nobody’s fault, but you get hurt in spite of that. But, I’m very peaceful about it.”

…

–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 Quarterlyand has also written for The Keaton Chronicle.

Posted in Posts by Lea Stans, Silents are Golden | Tagged baby peggy, captain january, clara bow, douglas fairbanks, hobart bosworth, mary pickford, playmates, pola negri, rudolph valentino, silent film, silent movies, silents are golden, The Darling of New York | 1 Comment

The Directors’ Chair: Vertigo

Posted on April 18, 2020 by Theresa Brown

The Directors’ Chair: Vertigo (1958)

…..

VERTIGO” ( 1958 ) ~ YOU STEPPED OUT OF MY DREAMS…AND INTO THE NIGHTMARE I CREATED

VERTIGO is my favorite movie. Hands down, this is my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie. In fact, caveat emptor…if you fall in love in Hitchcock’s world, straight up, you will be put through the ringer, no doubt about it. To make any good soufflé you need ingredients:

* Use a man’s illness against him to make the perfect foil

* Add a dash of accomplice who’ll never be able to testify against you

Voila! The Soufflé ~ The Perfect Crime.

james stewart and tom helmore vertigo — *Gavin Elster* (actor Tom Helmore) *wants his wife followed*

Gavin Elster doesn’t need to win The Movie Villain Award for Egotistical Self-Satisfaction by explaining and showing off HOW smart and clever he is. (That always trips them up; watch any James Bond movie ). The entire movie hides his crime in plain sight. We don’t even know what we’ve seen until later in the movie. And when we bite into that soufflé we get a tasty twisty tangy little love story. Who better than Alfred Hitchcock to hide a love story inside a crime. Oh, I can see you scrunching up your little face now:

“Love story?! What kind of sick, twisted thing are you calling a love story? Next you’ll be calling ‘Vertigo’ a film noir.”

I’ll get to THAT later. Don’t forget what I told you last time… Hitchcock subverts themes (court rooms, confessionals, Mother Nature). You’re in Hitchcock’s world and when he speaks of Love he’s not going to bring you flowers and candy and put a ring on it. Love is messy and fraught with bargains, bartering, missed cues… things unsaid. Hitch looks at love and deconstructs what it means to fall in love, be in love. And as with Psycho he changes the movie’s trajectory half-way through leaving you totally bolloxed.

james stewart vertigo — *Scottie and the Streets of San Francisco*

The plot’s a deceptively simple one. Shipping magnate Gavin Elster wants old school chum now ex-detective Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) to follow his wife; he suspects she might harm herself and wants Scottie to tell him where she goes…what she does. In tailing her, Scottie falls in love with her. But because of his vertigo, he can only follow her but so far and is unable to save her when she goes up the church tower TO harm herself.

Maybe I have a soft spot for movie detectives…poor schmoes. They deal in blood and guts, murder and mayhem and “…just the facts, ma’am.” Their job is to put together pieces of the puzzle, solve mysteries, come up with solutions. When they get tripped up by their emotions, they fall like a ton of bricks. And boy does Scottie fall.

james stewart and kim novak in vertigo — Come ona my house

James Stewart and Kim Novak are star-crossed lovers in Vertigo. Hitch really has the usually affable Stewart play against type (even more so than in an Anthony Mann western) as an obsessive stalker. I know I know…you think he’s a monster. You hate him. He was controlling. But I can’t be mad at him. Sorry. He drains any animus I might feel with this:

working girl barbara bel geddes and james stewart vertigo — Working girl Bel Geddes

mystery woman kim novak vertigo — Mystery woman Kim Novak

You can’t get better than Barbara Bel Geddes, ever the good smart actress. She plays the good, smart, wry, stable, woman of common sense. She’d be supportive. Isn’t that what a man needs as a partner in life? But then Hitchcock gives us the dream, the impossible, the other-worldly. He gives us Kim Novak.

He introduces her by having her walk up to the camera, (supposedly) not paying any attention to us. He lets us look at her. He has her stand there, giving us ample, unblinking, unself-conscious time to gaze. Objectification? C’mon! Bring it down a notch. I’d say we look at her as we would art in a museum; or as she would look at Carlotta. Yeah…I’m justifying staring. That first shot of her on camera is simply devastating. You fall as Scottie falls. And if you do your part right as the audience, you’ll feel that. We see what ‘Scottie’ sees. We are Scottie, for the moment. (Take it easy…don’t panic! You’re still the you that’s you!) She is photographed by Academy Award-winning Director of Photography Robert Burks. (He won for To Catch A Thief.) Novak gives a poignant performance as a woman desperate to be loved. She gives the performance of her career.

Who we love…how we love…why we love…what IS love. WHO loves US…Does who and how we love say more about us than the person we love? Hitchcock looks into all that and pretzels us into a pickle.

You know what I think: The real villain in all this is Hitchcock collaborator: Bernard Hermann. It is physically and humanly impossible to fight against the dizzying, lyrical, romanticism of Hermann’s score; at turns it opens like flower petals. It climbs higher and higher. Then drops you into an abyss. I dare you. I dare you not to fall for the music which informs the action on screen. If you can do that, you’re a better man than I, Gunga Din.

Hitchcock explores all this in Vertigo. He does this with romance. He does this with suspense. He does this with style. He does this with love. Love with a twist.

…..

— Theresa Brown for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Theresa’s Directors’ Chair articles here.

Theresa Brown is a native New Yorker, a Capricorn and a biker chick (rider as well as passenger). When she’s not on her motorcycle, you can find her on her couch blogging about classic films for CineMaven’s Essays from the Couch. Classic films are her passion. You can find her on Twitter at @CineMava.

Posted in Posts by Theresa Brown, The Directors' Chair | Tagged alfred hitchcock, babara bel geddes, Hitchcock, james stewart, Kim Novak, tom helmore, vertigo | 2 Comments

Silver Screen Standards: Casablanca (1942)

Posted on April 17, 2020 by Jennifer Garlen

Silver Screen Standards: Casablanca (1942)

Claude Rains, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid Casablanca (1942) — Claude Rains, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid gather at the airport for the emotional finale of *Casablanca*.

Very few classic films enjoy the iconic status of Casablanca (1942), the wartime romance that helped humanize the crisis in Europe and completed Humphrey Bogart’s rise to true stardom. The Best Picture winner would come to define the careers of many of its stars, and its lines remain some of the most quoted bits of dialogue in movie history almost 80 years later.

Most people who see the film today respond to it primarily as a love story between Bogart’s world-weary American, Rick, and his former flame, Ilsa, played by a radiantly beautiful Ingrid Bergman, but there’s a lot more to Casablanca than romance. It’s a deeply political picture made by people for whom the film’s message and the crisis in Europe were painfully personal, and their emotional investment in the story makes Casablanca all the more meaningful. For me, the stories of the people who made the film lie at the heart of its appeal; they transform a fictional romance into something very real and pressing, a call to arms to care not just about a pair of lovers but about the many thousands of innocent people whose lives were threatened by Hitler’s genocidal march across Europe.

French actress Madeleine Lebeau Russian costar Leonid Kinskey casablanca (1942) — French actress Madeleine Lebeau, seen here with Russian costar Leonid Kinskey, escaped the Nazis with her Jewish husband, Marcel Dalio, who also appears in *Casablanca* as the croupier Emil.

Humphrey Bogart might be the star of the movie, but his Rick is one of only two American characters present, along with Rick’s friend and piano player, Sam (Dooley Wilson). Rick’s initial position is one of self-interest and isolationism; “I stick my neck out for nobody,” he says, and his callous statement is meant to prick the consciences of Americans who had dragged their feet about interfering while the Nazis terrorized Europe. Fortunately, Rick is a dynamic character who evolves over the course of the film and comes to realize that the problems of a world on fire matter more than his own. He laments the willful ignorance of his countrymen when he says, “I bet they’re asleep in New York. I bet they’re asleep all over America.” By the end of the story he has saved a young Bulgarian couple, rescued the freedom fighter Victor (Paul Henreid) from the Nazis, given up the love of his life, shot a high-ranking Nazi, and inspired his Vichy pal to defect, all of which leads to the final scene in which he and Louis (Claude Rains) depart Casablanca to join the Free French in the fight against the Third Reich. It’s the start of a beautiful friendship, but it’s also the end of a long process by which Rick evolves from selfish loner to heroic team player. Getting Paris back is both a statement about rekindling romantic memories and literally getting Paris back from the Nazis, which Rick and Louis head off to help reclaim by joining the French freedom fighters.

S.Z. “Cuddles” Sakall in Casablanca (1942) — S.Z. “Cuddles” Sakall, who plays Carl the waiter, suffered the loss of several close family members in Nazi concentration camps. He and his wife escaped from their native Hungary in 1940.

The rest of the cast hail from a wide swath of European countries for whom the war was already a violent reality long before the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941 catapulted the United States into the fray. Many had fled the Nazis in their own countries and eventually landed in Hollywood, and many of them were Jewish or had Jewish relatives. For them the story of Casablanca was all too real. Claude Rains and Sydney Greenstreet, the two British actors in the ensemble, had watched their native country endure the wrath of the German Blitz in 1940 and 1941. Hungarian Peter Lorre, who had been a film actor in Germany, left when Hitler came to power and became a naturalized US citizen in 1941. Lorre and his fellow Hungarian, S.Z. Sakall, were both Jewish. Sakall had also acted in Germany before the rise of the Nazis, and he and his wife fled Hungary for the United States in 1940, much like the couple to whom Sakall’s character, Carl, speaks while they practice their English. Sakall’s family members were not so lucky; all three of his sisters died in concentration camps. Madeleine Lebeau, who plays Yvonne, fled her native France in 1940 with her Jewish husband, the actor Marcel Dalio, who plays the croupier in Rick’s casino; their escape was every bit as fraught and dramatic as those of the refugees depicted in the film. Paul Henreid’s family had converted from Judaism to Catholicism, but the Austrian actor opposed the Nazis so publicly that he was declared an “official enemy of the Third Reich” and left Europe in 1935, first for England and then for Hollywood. In England, the man who vouched for Henreid was none other than Conrad Veidt, a German-born actor with a Jewish wife whose own outspoken opposition to the Nazis had caused him to emigrate to Great Britain in 1933. Casablanca casts Henreid and Veidt as enemies, with Veidt’s Major Strasser as the embodiment of Nazism, but in real life, they were friends bound by their common commitment to stand against the Nazis no matter the personal cost.

Conrad Veidt in Casablanca (1942) — Although he plays a Nazi in the film, German-born actor Conrad Veidt was a vocal and dedicated foe of the Third Reich.

It’s true that Casablanca was meant to be a propaganda film to encourage Americans to support the war effort, and it succeeded in that goal just as Mrs. Miniver (1942) did, with both films winning Best Picture Oscars and capturing the hearts of moviegoers across the country. The fact that Casablanca is a political film with political aims doesn’t make it any less compelling as an artistic achievement; in fact, the more you know about the personal stories of its cast and crew the more meaningful the film becomes as both political statement and art. Michael Curtiz, himself a Hungarian Jewish immigrant, won the Oscar for Best Director for his work on Casablanca, but several of his relatives died at Auschwitz; Curtiz only managed to get his mother to the United States with the help of Jack Warner. The people who made Casablanca wanted America to wake up because it wasn’t just faceless, unknown people who were suffering and dying, it was their families, their friends, the people they had been forced to leave behind. When I watch Casablanca today, almost 80 years later, I watch the faces of those actors and think about how important this movie and its message were to them, and then I really understand the tears in Yvonne’s eyes as the band plays “La Marseillaise.” The problems of three little people might not amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, but the message of Casablanca still resonates. We’ll always have Paris, friends, and we’ll have always have Casablanca, too.

…

— 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.

Posted in Posts by Jennifer Garlen, Silver Screen Standards | Tagged casablanca, claude rains, conrad veidt, humphrey bogart, ingrid bergman, Leonid Kinskey, Madeleine Lebeau, marcel dalio, Michael Curtiz, Mrs. Miniver, paul henreid, peter lorre, S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, silver screen, silver screen standards, Sydney Greenstreet | 8 Comments

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