Spring Trivia – Laraine Day, Van Heflin, Robert Taylor and More
Classic movie
trivia and the budding of spring – two things that go great together . . . at
least, they do here at the Noir Nook! This month’s Nook celebrates the new
season with some tasty tidbits about six great performers and some of their noir
roles. Enjoy!
Laraine Day
Laraine Day
In 1946, Laraine Day starred in RKO’s The Locket, which she would later call her favorite film. In it, she plays a kleptomaniac who destroys the lives of every man who is unlucky enough to fall for her beauty and charm. The story, originally called What Nancy Wanted, unfolds through a series of flashbacks – in fact, the film serves up flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks. According to Day, she almost didn’t get the role; after she’d expressed interest in the film, William Dozier, who was in charge of RKO at the time, decided he wanted the film to star his then-wife, Joan Fontaine. Day said that she and her agent “put up such a battle that we finally got it.”
…..
Barry
Sullivan
Barry Sullivan
Speaking of
favorite films, The Gangster (1947) was one of Barry Sullivan’s. He
starred in the feature as Shubunka, a neurotic, scar-faced mobster. Critics of
the day weren’t impressed by the film; the critic for the New York Times
described Sullivan as “stern and tight-lipped” and Viriginia Wright of the Los
Angeles Daily News opined that the film suffered from a “confused and
over-written script.” Sullivan disagreed, however. He appreciated the “rather
artsy” look of the film, provided by director Gordon Wiles, who was an Academy
Award-winning art director, and he found the screenplay to be the best part of
the picture: “[Screenwriter] Daniel Fuchs had been a teacher in New York, knew
the milieu and really had a handle on the sort of small-time gangster the
picture portrayed.”
…..
Signe Hasso
Signe Hasso
The House on
92nd Street (1945), based on actual FBI files, started a trend for crime
films shot entirely on location, according to the picture’s star, Signe Hasso.
She played the owner of a dress shop who ran a Nazi spy ring in New York,
masquerading as a man known only as “Mr. Christopher.” Hasso explained that the
real-life head of the spy ring was a man masquerading as a woman, “but the
censors wouldn’t allow that. [But] a woman posing as a man was all right.” She
recalled once arriving on set dressed as Mr. Christopher: “Someone came up to
me and said, ‘No visitors on this set!’ I said, ‘It’s me!’ No one had
recognized me as a man.”
…..
Van Heflin
Van Heflin and Joan Crawford
Van Heflin starred in 1947 opposite Joan Crawford in Possessed, in which she played a mentally ill nurse obsessed with Heflin’s engineer. When he first met the actress in the early 1940s, Heflin recalled that he was “very snooty,” dismissing Crawford as “just a movie star.” He changed his tune when the two appeared together in Possessed, stating that he “found in her a tremendous knowledge of acting. She knew everything about the camera. She knew everything about those lights. She knew everything about the psychopathic girl she was playing. She knew everything, period.”
…..
Ann Savage
Ann Savage
Although Ann
Savage enjoyed a screen career that spanned six decades, she is best known
today for her role as the snarling, hard-boiled, take-no-prisoners femme fatale
in Detour (1945). She recalled that it took less than four days to film
her role but added that Edgar Ulmer was the best director she’d ever worked
with. “He gave me a click-click-click tempo that he wanted me to use as the
character, and I kept that approach throughout the part,” Savage said. She also
said that Ulmer combed cold cream through her hair “to make me look a
believable wreck. Remember, this was still the period in Hollywood when
everyone was looking their best, when your face never got messed up when you
cried, when you awoke in the morning with a fresh make-up job.”
…..
Robert
Taylor
Robert Taylor and Lana Turner
Robert Taylor was openly complimentary about his Johnny Eager (1941) co-star Lana Turner – and that’s putting it mildly. He recalled that her face was “delicate and beautiful” and said that he had “never seen lips like hers.” He added that her voice was like that of a breathless child: “I don’t think she knew how to talk without being sexy.” Although he was married to Barbara Stanwyck at the time, Taylor reportedly became romantically involved with Turner during shooting, telling reporters that he “was never known to run after blondes, [but] Lana was the exception.” For his performance on screen – which was one of Taylor’s first as a “heavy” – the actor earned raves from critics. The Variety reviewer labeled his performance “soundly socked and . . . very convincing,” and the critic for The Hollywood Reporter raved, “Robert Taylor is brilliant in projecting a relentless mobster, hard as nails and twice as sharp.”
…
– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub
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:
Some Like It Hot (1959) is widely celebrated as one of classic Hollywood’s greatest comedies, even though its cross-dressing plot roused conservative ire and caused the movie to be released without Hays Code approval in 1959. Thanks to the brilliant direction of co-writer and producer Billy Wilder and the outstanding performances of Tony Curtis,Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe, the movie went on to earn six Oscar nominations, which probably infuriated its detractors even more, and its success helped to nail shut the coffin of the waning Motion Picture Production Code. After 65 years, one might expect Some Like It Hot to have lost some of its relevance, especially in its depiction of gender identity, but the movie holds up surprisingly well. I think its continued appeal stems in part from the fact that it doesn’t just play the cross-dressing of its protagonists for laughs. Instead, the film treats the experience as transformative, allowing its male characters to learn and grow as a result of their time inhabiting female identities.
Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) go on the run after witnessing a gangland massacre.
Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon star as jazz musicians Joe and Jerry, who find it tough to make a living in Chicago during Prohibition. Living becomes even tougher after the pair accidentally witness a gangland massacre carried out by Spats Colombo (George Raft) and his henchmen, so Joe and Jerry disguise themselves as women in order to leave town with an all-female band. Presenting themselves as Josephine and Daphne, the two make friends with fellow performer Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe) and arrive in sunny Florida, where surprising romances develop for both of them even as Spats and his fellow gangsters arrive at the same hotel for a gathering of organized criminal groups.
As Josephine and Daphne, Joe and Jerry join an all-female band on a train headed to Florida.
Each of the two men starts out behaving like a
stereotypical heterosexual male in the most negative sense. Joe manipulates the
women around him for his own benefit; he flatters them and pretends to care
until he gets whatever he wants out of them. We see Joe’s success with these
tactics at the agent’s office, but we also see the secretary’s resentment of
this behavior, which we understand to be habitual. Before their speakeasy gets
raided, Jerry mentions that the two have borrowed money from every woman working
there, so we know that they have a long history of taking advantage of women
(most of whom get arrested during the raid while Joe and Jerry slip away). If
Joe is a heel, Jerry turns out to be more of a wolf, a trait we first see after
they board the train in Chicago as Josephine and Daphne. Jerry/Daphne gleefully
imagines himself enjoying the female bandmates like a kid set loose in a pastry
shop, suggestively comparing them to jelly rolls, cream pies, and cherry tarts.
Both men are sexually attracted to Sugar Kane but are initially frustrated by
their inability to pursue her due to their disguises, which lead Sugar to think
of them as sympathetic girlfriends.
Joe and Jerry both find Sugar (Marilyn Monroe) extremely attractive, but their female identities force them to behave as friends instead of suitors.
Joe and Jerry have unique transformative experiences
thanks to their cross-dressing, which introduces them to situations they have
never had to consider as men. As Josephine, Joe learns how Sugar has been hurt
in the past by men just like him; he transforms himself into a fake millionaire
because that’s the kind of man Sugar says she has decided to pursue. Although
he lies to her about his background and wealth, Sugar also lies to Joe, and Joe
cares enough that he tries to comfort her when it looks like he’ll have to
abandon her to avoid being murdered by the gangsters. Instead of trying to
sweet talk her out of her money to aid his escape, Joe gives Sugar a valuable
diamond bracelet (which doesn’t belong to him, to be fair, but still represents
money he and Jerry badly need for themselves). Being Josephine gives Joe the
opportunity to form a different kind of relationship with a woman and become a
better man as a result.
Osgood (Joe E. Brown) wins Daphne over with a night of romantic tango dancing.
While Joe spends a lot of time in his Cary Grant millionaire persona, Jerry commits more fully to his feminine identity as Daphne, which leads to a more dramatic blurring of gender roles. Jerry/Daphne is initially flummoxed by the romantic advances of wealthy wooer Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown), but their passionate tango night marks a turning point in the relationship. Daphne accepts Osgood’s marriage proposal and worries more about the details of the wedding and the opinion of Osgood’s mother than the problem of revealing that Daphne is also Jerry. In the memorable finale, even that revelation fails to dissuade Osgood, who merely replies, “Well, nobody’s perfect!” Because the movie ends there, we don’t know how being Daphne will affect Jerry’s life going forward, but it has definitely altered his sense of himself and allowed him to question the very nature of his identity. Neither Jerry nor Joe will ever be perfect, but they both seem much improved as a result of their experiences as Daphne and Josephine.
In that famous final scene, Osgood is blissfully unphased by Jerry’s bombshell confession.
Jack Lemmon’s performance as Jerry/Daphne earned him
an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and Billy Wilder picked up
nominations for both Director and Screenplay, but the film’s only win was for
Orry-Kelly’s costume design. For more of Wilder’s transgressive comedy, see The
Major and the Minor (1942), in which Ginger Rogers tries to romance Ray
Milland while pretending to be under the age of 12. Wilder also directed
Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Jack Lemmon in The
Apartment (1960), Irma la Douce (1963), The Fortune Cookie
(1966), and The Front Page (1974). If you want to explore the history of
drag in classic films, check out any version of Charley’s Aunt (the 1941
version stars Jack Benny), or look at silent and Pre-Code films in comparison
with those made after the collapse of the Hays Code. Some of the most memorable
Hollywood depictions of drag and cross-dressing include Queen Christina
(1933), Sylvia Scarlett (1935), Glen or Glenda (1953), Victor/Victoria
(1982), Tootsie (1982), To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie
Newmar (1995), and The Birdcage (1996), but there are plenty of
other noteworthy examples.
Pearl Beverly Bain was born on November
11, 1893, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Augustus and Jessie Bain. When she was
six years old, her family moved briefly to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before
settling in Chicago, Illinois. There, she attended Hyde Park High School.
At the age of 16, she visited Chicago’s
Essanay Studios where she was discovered by a director and encouraged to work
at the studio because she had a “camera face” and brown eyes, preferable for
photography of the period. She ultimately adopted the stage name Beverly Bayne.
Her salary at the studio gradually increased, as did her popularity among
audiences.
Bayne made initial film appearances in The Rivals (1912) and The Loan Shark (1912). While Bayne was
under Essanay’s employ, so were actors Gloria Swanson and Francis X. Bushman.
Bushman often demanded that Bayne play alongside him as his leading lady. Soon
enough, they were a recognized romantic duo. The two stars appeared in Romeo and Juliet (1916) and married in
1918, three days after Bushman divorced his wife, Josephine Duval.
Bayne and Bushman’s marriage was largely
kept secret to prevent their popularity from diminishing. Nonetheless, they are
often credited as the first romantic team in films. The duo left Essanay
Chicago for Metro Pictures in Jacksonville, Florida. They appeared in Man and His Soul (1916), now considered
a lost film. Additionally, they starred in a play called The Master Thief from 1919-20. The couple had a son named Richard
before divorcing in 1925.
Francis X Bushman and Beverly Bayne, Modern Marriage
Bayne appeared in a silent adaptation of The Age of Innocence (1924) in a
starring role, but the film is also considered lost. Bayne’s final silent film
was Passionate Youth (1925).
After Bayne and Bushman divorced, Bayne’s
popularity declined sharply. Before long, both of them were no longer appearing
in films.
In 1937, Bayne married Charles Hvass and
the couple lived on a farm in Piscataway, New Jersey. They divorced in 1944.
At this point, Bayne turned to appearing
in stage productions throughout the 1930s and 1940s, in addition to performing
on radio. She also became involved in raising funds for British War Relief
during World War II.
Bayne’s sole sound feature film, The Naked City (1948), would also be her
last. She is uncredited for this performance.
Bayne retired from performing altogether
in 1950, and moved to Scottsdale, Arizona. She lived there with her son,
Richard, until his suicide in 1967. Bayne passed away from a heart attack on
August 18, 1982, at age 87. She was buried in Paradise Memorial Gardens, 9300
E. Shea Blvd., Scottsdale, Arizona.
Today, there are some remaining points of
relevance in relation to Bayne’s life and career.
The
former Chicago Essanay Studio is located at 1345 W. Argyle St., Chicago,
Illinois.
In 1920, Bayne resided at 435 Riverside
Dr., New York, New York with Francis X. Bushman. The building stands today.
435 Riverside Dr., New York
In 1922, she resided at the Majestic
Hotel, New York, New York. In 1930, she resided at 400 149th Pl.,
Queens, New York. Both locations no longer remain.
In 1940, she resided with Charles Hvass
at 414 E. 52nd St., New York, New York. This location remains today.
414 E. 52nd St., New York
In 1946, she lived at 127 E. 55th
St., New York, New York. In 1960, she resided at 2025 Watsonia Ter., Los
Angeles, California. Both of these locations no longer stand.
In 1967, Bayne and her son resided at
4917 N. 73rd St., Scottsdale, Arizona. The apartment building
remains.
4917 N. 73rd St., Scottsdale, Arizona
Bayne has a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame honoring her work in motion pictures. It is located at 1752 Vine St., Los
Angeles, California.
The documentary The Beautiful Lady (1977) celebrates her career and features Bayne
herself as a narrator.
Bayne’s papers are housed at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
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.
Returning Robot Monster to its Comics-Inspired Roots
I’m very happy to share that there is a Kickstarter Campaign to help return sci-fi cult classic, Robot Monster, to its comics-inspired roots, spearheaded by film historian Bob Furmanek of the 3D Film Archive. The campaign is ending in about a week, so please check it out (info below), and if you can’t donate, please help us spread the word. Thanks so much!
Inspired by the classic 3-D film, ROBOT MONSTER, the exciting 64-page hardcover project, ROBOT MONSTER COMICS IN 3-D returns the film’s iconic characters to their comic book roots. Filled with “what if” tales that imagine what may have happened both before and after the events in the film, it’s filled with stories and art from luminaries from the worlds of comics, film, and pop culture… and of course, it’s printed in 3-D! Find out more at Robot Monster Kickstarter.
As a side note here, of all the film restorations done by the 3-D Film Archive since 2014, Robot Monster was the most successful — so I’ll end with a quote from Bob Furmanek taken from the Intro Video on Kickstarter: ‘There’s a lot of love for Ro-Man”. 🙂
It’s
been just about a year since my last column on books on the Western movie
genre, so it’s time for a look at some more interesting books in my collection!
The books featured in this post range from one of the
earliest books in my collection to recently published titles.
Shoot-Em-Ups was published by
Arlington House in 1978. It’s a large, heavy hardcover which clocks in at 633
pages.
For those of us who became classic film fans in the
pre-IMDb era, this kind of book is how we looked up movie casts! In between the
credits listings are interesting, educational chapters on the history of
Westerns. Books like this one helped spur my interest in Westerns; as I read
and enjoyed the photographs, I’d make lists of movies I hoped to see one day.
Singing Cowboy Stars is a delightful little volume by Robert W. Phillips. It was published by Gibbs Smith in 1994.
The book reviews 25 Westerns stars in 95 glossy pages. The
book covers some of the expected stars, such as Tex Ritter, Ray Whitley, Gene
Autry, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Dick Foran, and Eddie Dean; it also makes room
for John Wayne and his “Singin’ Sandy” days at Monogram.
Best of all, there’s even a 10-song CD in the back of the
book!
The book covers female characters in a variety of Ford
films in its 196 pages; naturally, many of them appear in Westerns,
including Stagecoach (1939), Rio Grande (1950),
and The Searchers (1956), to name a few. Meuel offers detailed
analyses of both characters and performances. It’s an enjoyable read for those
who love Ford films and also serves as an interesting introduction for those
who are newer to his movies.
Another McFarland book on this list is The Films of Budd Boetticher by Robert Nott, who also wrote a book on Randolph Scott featured here last year. The Boetticher book is 192 pages and was published in 2018. Like the Ford book, not every film covered is a Western, but there are many to be found within its pages.
Nott discusses each film’s production history and
reception, as well as offering his own critical analysis. The book also has a
nice selection of black and white photos. This well-written book is engaging
and informative.
The next pair of books, Cowboy Movie Posters and More Cowboy Movie Posters, were found by a good friend at a Canadian antique mart and sent to me as a gift. Needless to say, I was delighted!
The books were published by Bruce Hershenson in 1994 and
1998, respectively; they’re part of a larger series of books from the founder
of a poster sales website. The images are beautifully reproduced on glossy
pages, with brief accompanying text written by Brian Cook. A visual treat for
Western fans!
This 268-page book is a must for Wayne fans, as it traces
the evolution of Wayne’s career throughout the 1930s. The author provides
detailed information on each of Wayne’s “B” films while also
conveying their significance to his overall career.
Wayne had charisma from the outset, but it’s fascinating
tracking his growing ability to command the camera; as I noted in a full-length
review at my personal blog last year, “It’s almost paradoxical, but as
Wayne learned to be more subtle and reactive, he simultaneously became more
interesting to watch.” And beyond Wayne himself, many of the films
described by Neibaur are simply fun viewing.
Thanks to James L. Neibaur and Bear Manor Media for providing a review copy of The John Wayne B-Westerns.
…
– 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.
When novelist, screenwriter, and supreme
arbiter of taste Elinor Glyn declared in 1927 that Clara Bow had “It”–her term
for a rare type of magnetism–the public must have heartily agreed. After all,
the beautiful, vivacious young woman with the big brown eyes and mop of curly
red hair was one of the brightest stars on the silver screen, lauded by many as
the “quintessential” flapper. Indeed, Glyn didn’t simply say Bow had “It,” but
endorsed her as the official “‘It’ Girl.” It’s a title that the sparkling actress
has retained to this day.
Bow’s fame was especially remarkable when we
consider that she was, to a point, self-motivated. Were it not for her love of
the movies and decision to take the wildest of chances, she might never have
been discovered by a fan magazine “Fame and Fortune” contest.
Saying that Clara Bow grew up in unfortunate
circumstances is an understatement. Her father Robert was a shiftless man often
described as “strange,” and her grim mother Sarah suffered from mental illness.
The couple lived in a series of shabby New York tenements at a time when they
were severely overcrowded and unsanitary. Sarah bore two daughters who both
died at birth, and then against all odds had a healthy girl, Clara. What little
love the girl received was largely from her grandfather, who doted on her
before suddenly passing away from an apoplectic fit.
As a child the tomboyish Bow was largely
shunned by the local girls and mocked for her threadbare clothes and tendency
to stutter. She found little solace at home, since Robert could be violent and
Sarah’s mental illness was steadily worsening. In time Sarah began suffering
from seizures, with usually only young Bowand to try and help her. Once she
woke up to see a crazed Sarah standing over her with a butcher knife. She would
suffer from insomnia for the rest of her life.
But there was one comfort Bow had: the movies.
They were a true escape from her troubled home life, offering visions of
beauty, romance and adventure. She began to have dreams of appearing on that
wonderful screen herself. An avid reader of fan magazines, she came across Motion Picture Magazine’s announcement
of the 1921 “Fame and Fortune” contest looking for screen talent. All it
required was to send in a portrait with the entry coupon fastened to the back.
She conspired with her father to have a couple cheap portraits taken at a Coney
Island studio. Since the office accepting the entries was in Brooklyn she took
the streetcar to deliver hers in person. After a number of weeks, several
screen tests, and a gradual dwindling of contestants, the winner was declared:
Clara Bow.
It was a surreal moment of triumph for Bow,
who had taken all the screen tests wearing the single dress she owned. Despite
the win she still had to hustle to actually get a film role, finally getting a
small part in Beyond
the Rainbow (1922). Her first lead was–fittingly–as a
tomboy in the whaling picture Down to the
Sea in Ships (1922). As small roles kept coming her way, Sarah suddenly
died from epilepsy-induced heart failure. Troubled though their relationship
was, it was another traumatic event for the sensitive Bow.
In 1923 Bow arrived in Hollywood itself
and soon nabbed the sort of role that would define her career: a “flapper type”
in Black Oxen (1923). It was a
supporting role, but critics praised her nonetheless. Determined to continue
“making good,” she would appear in 8 films in 1924 and an incredible 15 films
in 1925. The hit film The Plastic Age
(1925) sealed her outgoing, warm-hearted flapper image for once and for all.
Clara Bow, Brooklyn-accented girl of the tenements, was finally one of
Hollywood’s glamorous stars.
In general Bow’s screen characters were
working girls, unabashedly flirty and quick to stick up for the bullied or to
give a lecherous man a sock on the jaw. Some of her notable appearances were in
Dancing Mothers (1926), Mantrap (1926) and the epic World War I
picture Wings (1927) costarring Buddy
Rogers and Richard Arlen. Her hit feature It
(1927), costarring Antonio Moreno, happily capitalized on Elinor Glyn’s
“‘It’ Girl” endorsement.
Warmly outgoing and eager to please, Bow
was popular at the studios, although her informal nature made her an outsider
at the fancy dinners and parties thrown by Hollywood’s elite. Her personal life
gave plenty of fodder to the papers as she flitted from boyfriend to boyfriend,
appearing in divorce court more than once as the “other woman.” As time passed,
she was starting to be regarded as unstable.
The talkies presented even more
challenges as Bow struggled with “mike fright,” especially during the shoot of Kick In (1931) where she fled from the
set. This stress was compounded tenfold when a tabloid published a fabricated
“expose” accusing her of everything from wild promiscuity to bestiality. The
ugly attack triggered a nervous breakdown, and Bow’s boyfriend Rex Bell
insisted that she recuperate for a time at his Mojave desert ranch.
During this much-needed rest, the couple
were married. After a successful return to Hollywood in Call Her Savage (1932) and Hoopla
(1933), Bow decided to retire from the screen for good. She and Rex would
raise two sons, Tony and George, and try to live a comparatively peaceful life
on their ranch.
Clara, Rex and two sons Tony and George
Unfortunately, Bow wasn’t quite destined
to live happily ever after. Perhaps inevitably due to her family history, she
began to be plagued with mental problems. In the 1940s she was diagnosed with
schizophrenia, and in 1950 she had to live separately from her family under a
nurse’s constant care. Her final years were spent in Culver City and she would
pass away from a heart attack in 1965 at age 60. While her legacy has been
obscured throughout the years with ugly rumors and falsehoods about her personal
life, more recent research has mercifully set many records straight. And
happily her shining talent still lives on in her films, revealing her to be one
of Hollywood’s most exceptional stars.
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.
Five Things I Love About New York Confidential (1955)
I can’t recall
how or when I first came across New York Confidential (1955), but I
clearly remember being sucked into the film from practically the opening scene
and counting it among my noir favorites by the last.
Directed by
Russell Rouse, the film centers on Charlie Lupo (Broderick Crawford), the hard-nosed
head of a New York crime syndicate; his loyal and efficient enforcer, Nick
Magellan (Richard Conte); and his beautiful daughter, Kathy (Anne Bancroft),
whose life is a misery because of the way her father makes a living. Others in
the Lupo sphere include his right-hand man, Ben Dagajanian (J. Carroll Naish),
who exists primarily as Charlie’s combination sounding board and nerve soother;
his fretful mother (Celia Lovsky); his high-society girlfriend, Iris Palmer
(Marilyn Maxwell), whose roving eye lands on Nick; and Arnie Wendler (the
always great Mike Mazurki), a member of Charlie’s crew who ultimately has his
own best interests at heart.
Broderick Crawford
The plot stirs
this divergent cast of characters into an action-packed stew that depicts the
struggle of the high-powered syndicate leaders to maintain the status quo, and
the circumstances that converge to bring it to them to their proverbial knees. This
month’s Noir Nook serves up five reasons why I love this first-rate feature.
(Incidentally, it’s currently available for free on several streaming
platforms, including YouTube and Tubi.)
The film is narrated by a distinctive baritone voice that makes you sit up a little straighter in your chair – you have the feeling that matters of consequence are being imparted. The narration comes courtesy of Marvin Miller, who I know from his performance as the luckless sidekick of Morris Carnovsky in Dead Reckoning (1947), but his voice is familiar, too. He did tons of voice work during his lengthy career, starting with his first screen gig, a 1944 short called Hell-Bent for Election, and including such films as Forbidden Planet (1964), where he voiced Robby the Robot; children’s shows like The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl; and, perhaps most notably, the long-running TV series, The F.B.I. In addition, Miller was the star of The Millionaire, a CBS-TV series where he played the executive secretary to a mysterious billionaire and dispensed a check for a million dollars at the start of each episode.
Richard Conte and Anne Bancroft
Little touches are sprinkled throughout the film
that humanize the otherwise ruthless gangsters. Charlie Lupo and Ben Dagajanian
were certainly no pushovers when it came to the crime game, but in a couple of
their scenes together, they manage to make the viewer briefly forget that they
are killers at heart. In the first scene, after discussing a recent hit gone
wrong, Ben shares photos of his grandchildren with Charlie. “Hey, these are
wonderful,” Charlie says admiringly. “This young one – spitting image of you,
Ben. Believe me, spitting image.” And
later, we learn that Charlie has digestive ailments when he downs a dish that
“tastes like something you put wallpaper on with.” He watches with envy as Ben washes
down his hefty meal with a cold beer and grouses, “What I wouldn’t give for a
salami on rye and a kosher pickle.”
Anne Bancroft
The scene where Nick receives an English lesson
from Kathy Lupo. After Nick admonishes her regarding an argument she’d had with
her father, Kathy informs Nick that he has “a penchant for interfering in other
people’s affairs.” Puzzled, Nick repeats, “Penchant?” And Kathy explains,
“Penchant means a strong inclination towards. And I’d appreciate it hereafter
if you’d mind your own business.”
Minutes later, when Charlie shares with Nick his plans to buy him a new
wardrobe, Nick expresses his appreciation and adds with confidence that he has
“a penchant for nice things.”
Marilyn Maxwell
Richard Conte’s performance. I’ve said it
before, and I’ll say it again: I could happily watch Richard Conte read names
out of the phone book for an hour. And his portrayal of Nick Magellan (I even
love his character’s name!) did nothing to dissuade me from this stance. He
frequently plays ice-cold dudes in his films, but Nick might just be the
ice-coldest. In just one example of Nick’s persona, late in the film, he is attacked
by a couple of hoods as he enters his apartment. In the next scene, the two men
are in an office, congratulating themselves over the beating they gave Nick,
and one crows, “He might have been a pretty boy once. I wonder what he looks
like now.” A split second after this braggadocious musing, the office door
flies open and Nick is standing in the doorway, gun drawn. He slowly,
deliberately walks into the room, then says, “Take a good look.”
The film’s end. I’m not going to spoil the movie
for you but let me just say that the ending is absolute perfection. The last
few minutes build to a crescendo that will leave you on the edge of your seat,
and Marvin Miller’s narrator gets the last word, telling us, “The circle of
self-destruction has claimed new victims. It has stilled the lips that might
have revealed the secrets of the syndicate. . . . The syndicate still exists.
The rules still hold. This is how the cartel works. This is New York
Confidential.”
You gotta love it! I sure do.
…
– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub
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:
I am counting the seconds until this Thursday when TCM’s Classic Film Festival begins in Hollywood. The annual festival is sheer nirvana for classic movie fans. Over the years we’ve gotten to see so many amazing movies and people at the four-day festival. The list of special guests who have regaled us with firsthand accounts of making our favorite movies includes Angela Lansbury, Kirk Douglas, Jane Powell, Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Maureen O’Hara, Debbie Reynolds, Liza Minnelli, Tony Curtis, Pam Grier, Faye Dunaway, Kim Novak, Luise Rainer, Dustin Hoffman, Sophia Loren, Mickey Rooney, Nancy Kwan, Warren Beatty, Tippi Hedren, Burt Reynolds, Leslie Caron, and so many others including directors Stanley Donen, Martin Scorsese, and William Friedkin. Fans come from all over the world to attend this spectacular event which this year begins with a special screening of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction with stars John Travolta, Uma Thurman, and Samuel L. Jackson in attendance. As I furiously work on my schedule (many of the presentations run concurrently at different theaters so festivalgoers have to make some really tough choices), I talked to festival director Genevieve McGillicuddy to see what she is most excited about.
Danny Miller: Genevieve, it’s so good to talk to you! I’ve been to every festival since they began in 2010 and for a moment we were very worried that there wouldn’t be one this year. I don’t mind telling you that after all the corporate layoffs last year, I burst into tears when it was announced that you and Charlie Tabesh were being brought back to produce this year’s festival!
Genevieve McGillucuddy: Oh my goodness, thanks for sharing that, that’s so sweet!
I’m sure you’re well aware of how much this festival means to so many people around the country and the world. I’m part of the very active Going to the TCM Classic Film Festival group on Facebook and we obsess about it all year long and have a big gathering at the festival. Was this intense level of interest surprising to you in the beginning?
You know, on one hand we, we truly built the festival with the goal of bringing together the community of TCM fans that was always at our core. But I remember that we started planning that first festival about 18 months out since we were creating everything from the ground up. And I will tell you that at that first festival, I think it was the day before we opened and people started showing up and they were wearing their passes, and the Roosevelt lobby started filling up with fans who had flown in — for me it was a sort of “pinch me” moment. I thought, “Oh my gosh, this is real, it’s really happening, everyone’s here!” We just didn’t know what to expect and we could not have been more pleased.
Chatting with Robert Osborne at the 2010 festival
I remember so well at the end of that festival when Robert Osborne got up on the stage at the Chinese and announced that there would be another festival the following year to a huge whoop of cheers from the audience. I get a lump in my throat just thinking about it because we had no idea if it would just be a one-off.
It was pretty dramatic for us as well! Going into the festival, we just didn’t know, and we talked during the festival about whether Robert should announce it at the end. That decision was made and it was such a dramatic punctuation to all of the amazing activities of that first year!
Those early years brought so many amazing guests who made those movies and who are sadly no longer with us. I remember interviewing Robert before one of the first festivals and he was still holding out hope that he’d get his friend Olivia de Havilland to come. I assume your strategy for getting special guests has had to change over the years, given the passage of time.
Yeah, you know, sometimes we have pursued people for years, even a decade before they’ve been able to come, we’re always putting out feelers. Our talent bookers work so hard!
Are there certain people you’ve always been hoping to get to come to the festival?
The first one I can think of on my personal list is Julie Christie, I’ve always wanted her to come, she’s amazing but it just hasn’t worked out yet.
Next year! I know another person Robert Osborne always wanted to bring to the festival was Doris Day when she was still with us. Can you imagine the ovations she would have received from our crowd?
Oh, definitely. And it’s true that it’s getting more challenging to find people who were in some of the older films.
Which is why I’m so glad you’re bringing back people like the wonderful Cora Sue Collins, who worked with Garbo as a child, as you know, and is introducing The Sin of Nora Moran this year which she made in 1933! The actress Barbara Rush, who died a few weeks ago at the age of 97, was a good friend of my wife’s family, and a close friend of Robert Osborne’s, and it was so wonderful seeing her get the attention and enthusiasm she deserved at several festivals. She was very grateful for it.
Barbara Rush and Robert Osborne
She was lovely. I remember meeting her on the red carpet in 2010, and she made a point of speaking with me about what Robert had told her about the work that I had done. She could not have been more gracious and was just beautiful woman in every sense of the word. But you’re right, it’s been so special to bring in people and see the wonderful way our audiences welcome them. One that pops into my mind is Diana Serra Cary.
Baby Peggy, I was there that day!
Yes, the last major silent film star at that point. Her interview was phenomenal, she was just incredible. In terms of our overall strategy, it hasn’t really changed that dramatically. We’ve always considered major anniversaries of films which often overlap with big restorations we’re able to premiere. And when there’s no longer anyone around who actually worked on the film, we sometimes bring well-known fans of the films. One example this year is Jeff Daniels who’s going to appear with Dog Day Afternoon because, when he first saw that film it had a direct impact on his decision to become an actor.
I always enjoy the celebrities you get to introduce films, people like Keith Carradine, Kate Flannery, Bill Hader, and Dana Delany who I think are all coming back this year.
Yes, it really echoes the strategy on the network of guest programmers, people who come in and talk about their favorite films, how a particular film may have impacted the work that they do in various ways, it’s a nice extension of that.
I also enjoy when you bring the children or grandchildren of the stars or directors in to talk about their family members, like the daughters of Cary Grant, Fred MacMurray, Boris Karloff, and so on. I think that’s really meaningful for people and hope you do more of that! What are some of the films you’re most excited about this year?
It’s really an embarrassment of riches this year in terms of the guests and the variety of the films that we’re showing. I think that this is definitely a very special year since we’re marking both the 15th anniversary of the festival and the 30th for the network. One screening that I’m personally very excited about is the U.S. premiere of Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger. I got a sneak peek at that documentary a few weeks ago. I’m a huge fan of their work and I definitely learned a lot that I didn’t know. The documentary is really Martin Scorsese taking the viewer through how those filmmakers impacted him, but also why they’re important. It’s a combination of a master class of Scorsese talking about these filmmakers, but also a lot of information about the two men that I really haven’t been exposed to before, so that’s a real treat.
I love the Powell and Pressburger films so much and have loved when the festival shows them.
On Friday, we have an incredible lineup at the TCL Chinese Theater from Jodie Foster appearing with the The Silence of the Lambs, which dovetails nicely into this year’s Crime and Justice theme, to Steven Spielberg presenting the director’s cut of Close Encounters of the Third Kind to David Fincher presenting a world premiere restoration in IMAX of SE7EN.
Fantastic. I always love the special presentations, like this year’s Vitaphone shorts that will be seen for the first time in 90 years.
Yes, we’re collaborating with the Warner Brothers engineering department for that. They’ve build a special custom turntable to be able to play the original records with the 35mm prints of these vaudeville shorts, that’s going to be a very rare treat, something that you will probably only see at our festival.
I’m also excited about the nitrate prints which are increasingly rare to see.
Yes, speaking of past technologies and being able to see prints the way they were seen by audiences when they came out! The nitrate Technicolor print of Annie Get Your Gun will be eye-popping, I’m sure. We’re also showing a brand new restoration of Hitchcock’s North by Northwest which is always an audience favorite. That’s going to be presented by Nancy Meyers who we’re very excited to have with us.
Eva Marie Saint introducing North by Northwest at a past festival
One of Hitchcock’s best, I remember seeing it introduced by Eva Marie Saint at the festival.
We have our annual Robert Osborne Award being given to pioneering author and historian Jeanine Basinger at a screening of one of my favorite westerns, Westward the Women. And also Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins with The Shawshank Redemption.
You’re not kidding with the embarrassment of riches!
I know! On Sunday, I’m very excited about the presentation of Double Indemnity at the TCL Chinese Theater, because that’s a film you don’t often get to see in the theater of that size. Last year I watched Casablanca in that auditorium, and it was such a phenomenal experience even though, like many people, I have seen that movie dozens of times.
Same!
It’s just so different watching it on a screen of that size in that theater with a big crowd, and I think Double Indemnity will be the same thing. Then we’ve got two-70 millimeter prints at the Egyptian, Lawrence of Arabia, starring one of my all-time favorite festival guests, Peter O’Toole, followed by a world premiere restoration of The Searchers in 70-millimiter, presented by director Alexander Payne. And Mel Brooks is coming to the festival for the seventh time with Spaceballs which will be a lot of fun, and that’s opposite the 100th anniversary screening of Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. with a live musical score played by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.
Yeah, that’s one of my most tortured time slots! In terms of some of the “newer” films, I hear a lot of buzz among my TCM friends about Diane Lane appearing at the screening of A Little Romance, and the cast reunion for the 1994 Gillian Armstrong version of Little Women. I’m also excited about seeing the original That’s Entertainment since that was my gateway drug to classic movies when I was a kid.
Definitely. For me, I used to watch Channel 38 in Boston with my Dad. That had a big effect on me as did watching Three Stooges shorts on Sunday mornings.
Did you have certain favorite stars as a kid?
Oh, that’s always hard. I guess I’d say Fredric March, Cary Grant, obviously, and I was a huge fan of Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis.
The best! I’m looking forward to seeing Bette in The Little Foxes this year.
It’s funny, because we can watch most of these films at home, but it’s just not the same of watching them with big audiences in these magnificent theaters, there’s just nothing like it.
There really isn’t. Ugh, I thought I was all set on my schedule, Genevieve, but everything you’ve said has made me re-evaluate every choice. Now I’m in agony again, thanks a lot!
(Laughs.) That’s part of the fun. See you at the festival!
The 15th TCM Classic Film Festival runs from April 18 to April 21 in Hollywood. Click here for the schedule. You need a pass for the event but individual tickets are available for most films if there is any space available in the theater after the passholders are seated.
It’s such a robust title, that it deserves an exclamation
point in the hallowed tradition of Them!
Dinosaurus! Scooby Doo: Where Are You! The Hideous Sun Demon!
How great is it? An Australian band took the title as its
name without seeing the movie.
And let’s give the 1958 sci-fi B-movie props for being way
ahead of its time as a cautionary tale about the dangers of too much sun. (Always
wear your sunscreen.)
Sadly, we must admit, The Hideous Sun Demon doesn’t hold
up to the promise of its title and that’s clear from the first minute.
An accident with radioactive isotopes makes the sun deadly to a scientist played by Robert Clarke in The Hideous Sun Demon. Clarke also wrote, directed and produced the film.
The film opens in mid-sentence, so to speak, with action
already in play and without a set-up or introduction to the characters. An
alarm is going off at Atomic Research Inc. as a person is wheeled out on a
stretcher into an ambulance.
Who? Why?We don’t know.
Then a dramatic blast of music and a square image colored in dark shades with a big white circle in the middle appears. The credits roll, proclaiming The Hideous Sun Demon.
The names of the cast and crew follow, but they sit
stationary for a few seconds on that same, unmoving square until another set of
names appear … on that same unmoving square, and so it goes.
The high-tech opening credits feature the same backdrop.
Though the sound is effective with that blaring music
augmented by an ambulance siren, that darn square with the white circle is a
clear indication of the (lack of) quality of what’s to come.
Don’t judge yourself harshly if this no-budget opening credit
sequence is where you think that our much-anticipated Hideous Sun Demon
is going to be a guy in a mask wearing gloves that imitate animal hands. You
are right, but if you’re like me, you accept it as a necessary element in
low-budget B-movies.
The plot? It’s thin. A voiceover tells us that no sooner had “satellites numbers 1 and 3” gone into space than the world is worrying about the dangers of radiation from the sun. (That’s all the background we get.)
Poor Dr. Gilbert “Gil” McKenna (played by Robert Clarke, who also directed, wrote and produced the film) is proof of why people should be worried. He’s the guy on the stretcher, a researcher who is the first victim of this danger from radioactive isotopes which are often blamed for bad things in 1950s sci-fi films.
In this fun shot, the sun that is superimposed over the face of Dr. Gil McKenna (played by Robert Clarke), will transform him into the title creature in The Hideous Sun Demon.
He was exposed to radiation for nearly 6 minutes and should be dead, but he’s not and that puzzles the doctors. In fact, he appears better than OK, looking handsome right down to the curls that slightly hang over his forehead where they stay for much of the film. Kept in the hospital for observation, he’s allowed time in the solarium, which is an elegant way of saying he sits on the roof in the sun with old people. (No, really, he sits on the roof with old people.)
It only takes a few minutes before he looks uncomfortable and sweats so profusely that he opens his robe and bares his chest as the sun beats down. The elderly lady sitting next to him screams “Oh your face!” and he runs off. Then more screaming! What’s wrong?
The explanation comes in one of those obligatory mumbo-jumbo
scenes that I love where the scientists try to explain what’s going on. In the
case of poor Gil, the sun exposure has caused him to regress – or evolve backwards
– to the form humans were in prehistoric times. He has become scaly and
lizard-like – half-man, half-lizard. A return to a dark room out of the sun
brings him back to his normal attractive exterior, but each exposure to the sun
will cause this “sun sensitivity” to occur faster and last longer.
A tough guy makes the mistake of forcing Dr. Gil McKenna (Robert Clarke) into the sun which turns him into The Hideous Sun Demon.
Now Dr. Gil isn’t left to deal with this alone. He has
support from his colleagues including lab assistant Ann (Patricia Manning), a
plain but pretty woman who is clearly in (unrequited) love with him.
Compassionate scientist Dr. Buckell (Patrick Whyte) cares, too, but warns Ann
about Gil’s hard drinking which he believes led to the radioactive incident.
“Whiskey and soda mix, not whiskey and science,” Dr. Buckell
says.
Yes, booze is a problem for Gil who has a wild side that also
includes women and fast cars. Plus he’s impatient and selfish. As his friends
search for help from other scientists, all Gil must do is stay inside at least during
the day. But no. He leaves at night, driving for hours in his small sports
convertible with the top down, pushing the limits and playing games with the
sun. But it’s hard to judge him when his inner anguish comes out as he stands
on cliff ready to commit suicide. (The sounds of laughing children stop him.
Sad.)
Despite advice to stay inside and out of the sun’s rays, Dr. Gil McKenna (Robert Clarke) can’t avoid the temptation of drink and women in The Hideous Sun Demon.
He meets sexy young Trudy (Nan Peterson) at a bar where she
sings and plays piano. They make goo-goo eyes at each other, have a drink and
make more goo-goo eyes. Her gangster-like boyfriend shows up and, of
course, they’ll fight over her (not for the last time either).
Gil and Trudy head to the beach where the sun peeks out from
behind the clouds as they frolic on the sand, enjoy some hanky-panky and fall
asleep until the sun rises. Gil, ever the gentleman, runs off in his
convertible – still with the top down – as the sun bares down on him.
A little girl and her doll try to help a desperate Dr. Gil McKenna (Robert Clarke) not realizing he’s the monster everyone is searching for in The Hideous Sun Demon.
He’s in beast form by the time he arrives home, and things spiral out of control. The police go on a beast hunt, people lock themselves inside and his smart friends still try to help. On the run, Gil hides out in a shed on a large oil field where a child playing with her doll befriends him and offers to get him cookies. Mom will want to know who those cookies are for.
In a well-done and taut ending sequence, a chase sequence through the oil fields and up those large, circular natural gas tanks goes to dizzying heights. We can see the actors climbing the ladders and going higher and higher with the ground clear below. Clarke reportedly did his own stunts and it pays off as we watch Gil/the Hideous Sun Demon sadly racing closer to the sun.
The final sequence in The Hideous Sun Demon takes place from the dizzying heights of natural gas tank. That’s actor Robert Clarke doing his own stunts.
Making a monster movie
There are reasons to respect Hideous Sun Demon even
though it wears its low budget on its monster mask and doesn’t live up to the
awesome title.
Before this film, Robert Clarke had a long journeyman’s acting career with roles in such movies as Enchanted Cottage (1945) and My Man Godfrey (1957), plus a long resume of TV work on Perry Mason, Murder, She Wrote, General Hospital, 77 Sunset Strip and Dynasty. He is best known for his work in genre films like The Man From Planet X (1951), The Incredible Petrified World (1957) and Beyond the Time Barrier (1960). It was the success of the 1957 film The Astonishing She-Monster that led Clarke to direct his own low-budget film, hence TheHideous Sun Demon.
Outside of acting, Clarke was a first-time everything on The Hideous Sun Demon and it was a big undertaking. By the end, he would be among three directors and four writers who put the film together. It was shot over 12 consecutive weekends using a crew of film students from the University of Southern California. Friends and relatives filled the cast. The original budget of $10,000 “ballooned” up to $50,000 but they kept things tight. The cast did their own hair, makeup and wardrobe. Only $500 was spent on the suit created by Richard Cassarino out of a wet suit.
Clark’s original idea was inspired by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and was different from his finished film. It was set in Guatemala where a scientist experiments with radiation on his son, who transforms into a reptile-like creature with sun exposure. The original title was “Saurus” or “Sauros” which means reptile in Latin and is a better description for the film, but not as cool of a title as The Hideous Sun Demon.
Nan Peterson made her film debut in The Hideous Sun Demon with Robert Clarke.
Notes
A film debut: It was the first film for Nan Peterson, who stars as singer Trudy in the film. Originally cast in the role was Clarke’s sister-in-law Marilyn King of the popular vocal group The King Sisters. She had to drop out of the role but wrote the song “Strange Pursuit” that is performed in the movie. There is even mention in the film on the radio of The King Sisters.
Film legacy: Robert Clarke gave his permission for the 1989 comedy What’s Up, Hideous Sun Demon that was redubbed with the voices of Jay Leno and Cam Clarke who reprised his father’s role. The unauthorized 1965 short film Wrath of the Sun Demon was a two-minute short produced by Donald F. Glut and starring Bob Burns, an archivist who owns the original mask.
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 writer
and board 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.
Silver Screen Standards: The Ghost Goes West (1935)
Supernatural romance and comedy are unique but often
overlapping subgenres with some truly outstanding movies among their ranks,
from Topper (1937), Blithe Spirit (1945), and The Ghost and
Mrs. Muir (1947) to the more recent blockbuster, Ghost (1990). I
love a good ghost story, whether it’s spooky or silly, so of course I find The
Ghost Goes West (1935) thoroughly delightful. It’s a fairly modest British
production from producer Alexander Korda and French director René Clair, but
its tremendous charm and engaging cast help explain why this ghostly romantic
comedy was such a huge hit with British audiences in 1935. Aside from its
supernatural elements, The Ghost Goes West also offers some sharp and
very funny commentary about the way Americans – especially wealthy ones – view
and consume other cultures; most viewers, however, will come for the engaging
fairy tale romance as enacted by Robert Donat and Jean Parker.
Robert Donat plays the dual roles of Scottish ghost Murdoch Glourie and his identical descendant, Donald Glourie.
Donat plays a dual role as both the titular ghost,
Murdoch Glourie, and his identical descendant, Donald Glourie, neither of whom
has helped the family’s fortunes over the centuries. The impoverished Donald is
forced to sell his haunted ancestral castle to a rich American businessman, Mr.
Martin (Eugene Pallette), who promptly disassembles the home and has it
reconstructed in Florida, unwittingly taking the ghost along, too. Ghost mania
erupts when Murdoch makes an appearance on the transatlantic voyage, but
Murdoch also causes trouble for Donald with Martin’s daughter, Peggy (Jean
Parker), who assumes that the ghost is really just Donald playing pretend.
Both Murdoch and Donald are attracted to Peggy Martin (Jean Parker), who encourages her wealthy father to buy the Glourie family’s castle.
The setup of The Ghost Goes West has a lot in
common with The Canterville Ghost (1944), which appeared almost a decade
later but is based on an 1887 short story by Oscar Wilde. The 1935 movie is
adapted from a short story called “Sir Tristam Goes West” by Eric Keown, and if
you’re interested in reading it you’ll find it included in the 2007 anthology, The
Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories. Given the changes to Wilde’s original
story in the 1944 movie, it’s entirely possible that the Charles Laughton
vehicle borrowed some of its plot elements from Keown’s story or its 1935 adaptation.
In both movies, an angry father curses his disappointing son to haunt the
family home until he can prove himself worthy, and then, centuries later,
modern Americans show up to force the ghost outside his comfort zone. In The
Ghost Goes West, however, the unhappy spirit actually gets transported to
America, which offers lots of opportunities for him to affect and be affected
by the modern American culture he finds there. Donald also goes along due to
his romantic interest in Peggy, and, like his ancestor, Donald finds a lot to
complain about in the way Martin and his compatriots treat the castle, the
ghost, and Scots heritage. The ticker tape parade, the Venetian gondola, the
omnipresent radios hidden in everything, the rival businessmen in their kilts,
and the “authentic” Scottish music are all very funny but also underscore
general American ignorance and appropriation.
Poor Murdoch finds himself transported to America along with the disassembled stones of his ancient home.
If the commentary is a bit pointed for American
viewers, that medicine goes down better with the sweet romance and comedic
performances. The fairy tale quality of the story is enhanced by the use of elaborate
miniatures for exterior shots throughout the picture, and the atmosphere of the
whole brings to mind the similar qualities of I Know Where I’m Going!
(1945), especially because both share an interest in Scottish characters and
culture. Robert Donat is, ironically, livelier as the girl crazy Murdoch but
more serious about Peggy as Donald, while Jean Parker gives Peggy playful
energy in her scenes with both of the Glourie men. It’s great fun to see Donat
switch between Murdoch and Donald and even act against himself thanks to the
usual split screen technique used for dual roles. Eugene Pallette is perfectly
cast as one of his trademark characters, the wealthy but unpolished father,
while Ralph Bunker gives Pallette plenty of pushback as Martin’s rival grocer,
Mr. Bigelow. If I have a complaint about The Ghost Goes West, it’s the
glaring underuse of the fabulous Elsa Lanchester as Miss Shepperton, a
character who only appears as a guest at the Florida party and has no apparent
purpose. If you want to see more of a performance from Lanchester in a
supernatural comedy, you’ll have to move on to Bell, Book and Candle
(1958) or Blackbeard’s Ghost (1968).
Murdoch finally finds a descendant of the hated McLaggen clan in Mr. Martin’s rival, Mr. Bigelow (Ralph Bunker).
René Clair also directed another of my favorite supernatural comedies, the wonderful I Married a Witch (1942). Robert Donat won the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), and you can also see him in The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), and The Citadel (!938). Jean Parker plays Beth in the 1933 adaptation of Little Women; she also appears in Beyond Tomorrow (1940), One Body Too Many (1944), and The Gunfighter (1950). Eugene Pallette’s other memorable fathers include those in My Man Godfrey (1936), The Lady Eve (1941), and Heaven Can Wait (1943), but you’ll also find him in the iconic ghost comedy, Topper (1937). For more haunted hijinks, try Haunted Spooks (1920), The Ghost Breakers (1940), 13 Ghosts (1960), and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966). More modern ghost comedies include Ghostbusters (1984), High Spirits (1988), Beetlejuice (1988), The Frighteners (1996), and the 2023 Haunted Mansion, but I can’t close without recommending both the British and American versions of the TV series, Ghosts, and the excellent Paramount+ series, School Spirits, if you want more ghostly adventures than a single feature film allows.
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