CMBA Movies of 1939 Blogathon: The Rains Came

One would assume that “The Wizard of Oz” or “Gone with the Wind” took the 1939 Academy Award for Best Special Effects. But no, the winner was “The Rains Came”, a stirring drama from 20th Century Fox that mixes disaster, romance and colonialism in a most entertaining and exotic blend.

Though it stars Fox’s top male attraction, Tyrone Power, it hardly seems like a Fox production. Leading lady is Myrna Loy, on loan from M-G-M. Also on loan from M-G-M is director Clarence Brown. And George Brent too, shows up on loan from Warner Bros. More on him later.

This is one movie that really lives up to the title. The rains come. Boy, do they come. They even show up in the background of the opening credits to wonderful effect, with the credits disintegrating as if from a massive rainstorm.

Author Louis Bromfield’s “The Rains Came” topped the 1937 best seller lists for weeks and screen rights were grabbed by Fox. The rains refer to the monsoons that torment India every year.

The movie takes place in 1938 in the fictional Indian province of Ranchipur, when India was still under control of The Raj.

Tom Ransome (George Brent) is the film’s most interesting character, a somewhat dissolute painter who came to Ranchipur years ago and stayed, finding an uneasy peace with himself in Ranchipur. While he doesn’t like them, he does associate with Ranchipur’s (English) society. Ransome is invited to attend a dinner honoring the visiting Lord Esketh (Nigel Bruce) and his wife Lady Edwina Esketh (Myrna Loy). Edwina and Tom are former lovers. Edwina has had many lovers, so many that Lord Esketh keeps a running tally of them in a notebook.

For those who think Nigel Bruce parlayed his Dr. Watson character in every film regardless of genre, they are in for a revelation here. His Lord Esketh is an angry, bigoted man with a mean streak a mile wide. He’s excellent and one regrets he didn’t play more roles like this in his career.

Loy is also exceptionally good here in one of her best roles. Beautifully photographed by Arthur Miller (I think Loy rarely looked so beautiful as she does here), Edwina is, I think, a basically good person who can’t resist succumbing to her base instincts in an effort to stave off boredom and a stifling marriage to a man she despises.

She begins an affair with Major Rama Safti (Tyrone Power), the local doctor and a great favorite of the ruling Maharani (Maria Ouspenskaya) and the Maharajah (H.B. Warner), Major Safti is being groomed to take over the ruling of Ranchipur when the childless couple dies. Edwina is immediately attracted to this “pale Copper Apollo” and begins a scandalous affair with him. The romance threatens Rama’s position in Ranchipur.

Their affair is contrasted with that of Tom Ransome, who finds unexpected romance with young, hero-worshipping Fern Simon (18-year-old Brenda Joyce, in her film debut, channeling Lana Turner, who had tested for the part).

Amidst all this romance is criticism of The Raj, which was unusual for a film made during this period. Films like “Lives of a Bengal Lancer” (1935) and “Gunga Din” (1939) extolled the virtues of British rule, so its interesting to see the critical portrayal of the English here.

In a telling exchange of dialogue, one English woman says with the monsoon season coming, everyone leaves Ranchipur.

Ransome wryly counters, “Five million people stay behind.”

The woman, barely bats and eye and says, “The right kind of people I mean.”

It’s no wonder Ransome prefers the company of local missionaries Phoebe and Homer Smiley (Jane Darwell and Henry Travers).

Politics and romance is interrupted, alas, by natural calamities, and its here that “The Rains Came” earned its well-deserved Oscar. Not only is Ranchipur inundated by the monsoons, but a massive earthquake also hits the province. The waters have risen so much that the dam, damaged in the earthquake, breaks apart from the pressure and floods the province, killing thousands and rendering the area almost uninhabitable.

An outbreak of cholera leaves Major Safti and his loyal and love struck nurse Miss MacDaid (Mary Nash) desperately trying to quell the disease before any more deaths occur. Even former lady of leisure Edwina takes a job at the hospital scrubbing floors.

All the performances are good, but I think George Brent really shines as Tom Ransome. It may be his best performance. Not only is he playing an interesting character, but it’s almost as if he’s gleefully saying, “Let me show Warner Bros. what I’ve really got.”

The New York Times was not complimentary to Tyrone Power, saying, “Tyrone Power’s Major Safti suggests none of the intellectual austerity, the strength of character and wisdom of Mr. Bromfield’s ‘Copper Apollo.’ He is still Mr. Power – young, impetuous and charming, with all the depth of a coat of skin-dye.” Ouch.

As I noted earlier, the film won Best Special Effects Oscar and was the first official winner of that award. The year before, “Spawn of the North” won a special award for “outstanding achievement in creating special photographic and sound effects.”

For the record, the other nominees in the Best Special Effects category that year were: “Gone with the Wind”; “Only Angels Have Wings”; “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex”; “Topper Takes a Trip”; “Union Pacific” and “The Wizard of Oz.”

The films Special Effects Oscar was the film’s only Academy Award, though it was also nominated in the Best Art Direction; Best Cinematography (Black and White); Best Film Editing: Best Original Score; and Best Sound Recording categories.

Fox would remake “The Rains Came” in 1955 in Cinemascope and DeLuxe Color as “The Rains of Ranchipur.” Filling in for Tyrone Power, Myrna Loy, George Brent and Brenda Joyce, were, respectively, Richard Burton, Lana Turner, Fred MacMurray and Joan Caulfield. It is not as well remembered, or well regarded, as the original, though the Hugo Friedhofer score for the remake is superb.

I’m proud to be a part of the Classic Movie Bloggers Association-sponsored blogathon looking at the miracle movie year of 1939. I urge readers to investigate these other blogs. There’s lots of insightful reading ahead. My sincere thanks to Rebecca of ClassicBecky’s Brain Food and Page at My Love of Old Hollywood for hosting the three-day event.

Sunday, May 15
It’s A Wonderful World
http://www.doriantb.blogspot.com/
The Women
http://www.myloveofoldhollywood.blogspot.com/
The Wizard of Oz
http://www.vivandlarry.com/
Another Thin Man
http://www.reelrevival.blogspot.com/
The Cat and the Canary
http://www.twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/
Charlie Chan at Treasure Island
http://www.thrillingdaysofyesteryear.blogspot.com/
Dark Victory
http://www.amateurfilmstudies.blogspot.com/
Destry Rides Again
http://1001moviesblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/destry-rides-again-1939-12.html
Dodge City
http://www.poohtiger-allgoodthings.blogspot.com/
Five Came Back
http://www.caftanwoman.blogspot.com/
Gone With the Wind
http://www.silverscreenmodiste.com/
The Return of Dr. X
http://www.grandoldmovies.wordpress.com/

Monday, May 16, 2011

On Your Toes
http://www.classicbeckybrainfood.blogspot.com/ The Gorilla
http://www.myloveofoldhollywood.blogspot.com/
Q Planes
http://www.vivandlarry.com/
Stagecoach
http://www.themovieprojector.blogspot.com/
Gulliver’s Travels
http://www.distant-voicesandflickering-shadows.blogspot.com/
Hunchback of Notre Dame
http://www.via-51.blogspot.com/
Idiot’s Delight
http://www.dearmrgable.com/
Golden Boy
http://trueclassics.wordpress.com/
Intermezzo
http://www.distant-voicesandflickering-shadows.blogspot.com/
The Light That Failed
http://www.classic-film-tv.blogspot.com/
Love Affair
http://www.flickchick1953.blogspot.com/
Made for Each Other
http://www.carole-and-co.livejournal.com/
The Starmaker
http://www.bingfan03.blogspot.com/
Only Angels Have Wings
http://www.anotheroldmovieblog.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, May 17, 2011
The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt
http://www.warren-william.com/ Magalordhttp://www.forgottenclassicsofyesteryear.blogspot.com/ Ice Follies of 1939 http://www.myloveofoldhollywood.blogspot.com/Midnight http://www.dawnschickflicks.blogspot.com/
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
http://www.classicfilmboy.blogspot.com/
Never Say Die
http://www.javabeanrush.blogspot.com/
Of Mice and Men
http://www.greatentertainersarchives.blogspot.com/
The Old Maid
http://www.macguffinmovies.wordpress.com/
Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
http://www.eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/
The Rules of the Game
http://www.garbolaughs.wordpress.com/
We are Not Alone
http://www.moirasthread.blogspot.com/
The Whole Family Workshttp://www.forgottenclassicsofyesteryear.blogspot.com/ Wuthering Heights http://www.bettesmovieblog.blogspot.com/
Watching A Year – All the Films Of 1939
http://www.jnpickens.wordpress.com/

The Razor's Edge (1946)

Each time I see “The Razor’s Edge” I think its one of the most watchable moves ever made, a strong example of Hollywood craftsmanship and narrative filmmaking of the highest order.

The story of a man desperate to find inner peace and do good deeds for himself and others was a massive blockbuster when Twentieth Century Fox released “The Razor’s Edge” in 1946. It became the studio’s biggest hit up to that time, earning $5 million at the box office; very impressive when the average ticket price at the time was 34 cents.

Running time is 146 minutes and it flies by like a gazelle. I’ve seen half hour sitcoms that seem to run longer than “The Razor’s Edge.” It’s the type of epic story where we’re not waiting for the next special effects sequence, large scale action set piece, or natural disaster to occur. Instead, we’re presented with a vast array of fascinating characters and we watch how they react to the assorted situations and crises they become faced with. We witness how they rise to the occasion, or sink to the black pool of despair.

It’s a timeless story and one that holds surprising resonance even today. Yes, I’m familiar with the quite good 1984 remake starring Bill Murray and Theresa Russell, but that stayed a period piece. “The Razor’s Edge” could easily be updated with little effort. Substitute the Gulf War for World War I, the recent financial crisis for the Great Depression and you have half the story right there. Alcohol and drug abuse have always been with us, and contemporary audiences seemed to have no problem with Julia Roberts seeking spiritual satisfaction in India in “Eat, Pray Love” (2010).

Based on a hugely successful 1944 novel by W. Somerset Maugham, “The Razor’s Edge” opens with a beautiful credit sequence showing waves crashing on shore accompanied by Alfred Newman’s gloriously inspiring music. The waves seem to be symbolic of our protagonist Larry Darrell (Tyrone Power), a restless soul who returns to Chicago after seeing action in World War I. Greatly affected by the war, he’s not content to settle down to a never ending series of parties and social events with his fiancée, North Shore socialite Isabel Bradley (Gene Tierney). While Isabel relishes the high society life, Larry yearns for something deeper and more satisfying in life than material excess.

Leaving Isabel, Larry travels the world as a common man, eventually finding peace and spiritual satisfaction at a monastery in India. He leaves the monastery to do good for others.

Isabel and her husband Gray (John Payne) have seen their fortunes wiped out in the crash. They are forced to live in Paris with her uncle Elliott Templeton (Clifton Webb), a terrifically snobby yet appealing character who has something caustic to say about everyone but helps out his adored niece at the drop of a hat.

Isabel’s very likeable cousin Sophie (Anne Baxter) has turned to alcohol, drugs and prostitution after the deaths of her husband and young daughter in car accident.

Herbert Marshall plays the author W. Somerset Maugham. Like the book, Maugham appears throughout as our guide as he runs into these characters throughout the course of their lives, celebrating their triumphs and sympathizing during their tragedies. These characters experience both over the course of the movie.

There are several reasons that account for the film’s popularity. It was the first film for Fox’s biggest star, Tyrone Power, in almost three years. Power enlisted in the Marines in WWII and served with distinction in the Pacific Theater, flying in supplies to the troops. He was decorated on several occasions.

Like Clark Gable and James Stewart, Power returned to Hollywood a changed man. A little heavier in face and with eyes a little less bright, Power yearned to act in vehicles more substantial than the comedies and adventure movies he was making pre-war. Fox boss Darryl F. Zanuck waited until the right role came along for Power’s comeback vehicle. Zanuck likely looked at what M-G-M gave Gable for his comeback film, “Adventure” (1945), a turkey if there ever was one, and swore not to rush things for his top star.

Gregory Peck was originally announced for “The Razor’s Edge” but Zanuck must have realized how perfect Power would be in the part. There was always one film a year that Zanuck personally supervised and in 1946 it was “The Razor’s Edge.” I think Power is very good in the role, and he well understood the Larry Darrell character. Always striving to do good work, Power probably felt about many of his films the way Larry felt about attending the latest cocktail party.

1946 saw the most impressive movie theater attendance in history. According to Entertainment Weekly, more than 80 million people, or about 57 percent of all Americans, went to the movies every week. World War II was over and American’s fighting men and women were home to re-kindle romances or start up new ones. The most affordable date was the movies. (TV’s impact would not be felt at the box office for another year or two).

“The Razor’s Edge” struck a chord for those returning service men and women affected by the war. Horrified at what they witnessed during the war, they yearned for a better world, looking for spiritual peace and ways they can do good in the world. No wonder “The Razor’s Edge” was such a monster hit.

“The Razor’s Edge” earned a Best Picture nomination in 1946. It lost to “The Best Years of Our Lives”, another film that struck a massive chord with returning vets and their families. The other nominees that year were “It’s a Wonderful Life”, “Henry V” and “The Yearling.”

Anne Baxter’s tragic Sophie did earn her the Academy Award that year for Best Supporting Actress. Her competition was Ethel Barrymore in “The Spiral Staircase”, Lillian Gish in “Duel in the Sun”, Flora Robson in “Saratoga Trunk” and Gale Sondergaard in “Anna and the King of Siam.” I think the Academy chose wisely that year.

Clifton Webb plays his patented snob character, but the affection he shows for his family separates it from his more caustic performances. The Academy saw fit to honor Webb with a Supporting Actor nomination for his Uncle Elliott role, but he lost to Harold Russell in “The Best Years of Our Lives.” Webb has a terrific deathbed scene that likely earned him the nomination.

Harold Russell was already selected to receive an Honorary Oscar for his role, no doubt as consolation. After all, how could an amateur win the coveted award over Webb, Charles Coburn in “The Green Years”, William Demarest in “The Jolson Story” or Claude Rains in “Notorious”? Everyone was shocked when Russell was announced the winner, making Harold Russell the only performer to win two Oscars for a single role in one film. (And the first time that an actor won a Best Supporting Actor award for his first film.) If I was a member of the Academy, I would have picked Claude Rains that year, but that’s me.

Gene Tierney is also very good as Isabel. Always praised for her beauty more for her acting, she has nothing to be ashamed of her performance here. Her Isabel is very human, flaws and all. She can’t help it that she’s somewhat weak and used to a life of luxury and ease.

Guiding all these characters over the course of their lives is director Edmund Goulding, one of those Golden Age figures who doesn’t get much respect until you review his filmography and realize how many classic movies he directed. A short list includes such titles as “Grand Hotel” (1932),“The Dawn Patrol” (1938), “Dark Victory” (1939), “The Old Maid (1939), “The Constant Nymph (1943), and “Claudia” (1943).

His best film may be his follow-up film with Power, the amazing “Nightmare Alley” (1947). It’s probably Power’s best performance, and as a carny con man he plays a role as opposite from Larry Darrell as could be imagined. It didn’t make a dime, but is a cult favorite today and remains one of the great films of the 1940s.

The multi-talented Goulding was also a composer and one of his compositions was a song called “Mam’selle”, which is featured prominently in “The Razor’s Edge.” It became a great hit and was recorded by several artists, including Frank Sinatra.

We all look for peace in our lives and strive to do good and do no harm. Such truths never die and with its themes of selflessness, overcoming adversity, love and New Age mysticism, I have a feeling that “The Razor’s Edge” would play very well with contemporary audiences.

Suez

I picture Tyrone Power sitting in his bungalow on the 20th Century Fox lot, about to read his new script, when he hears through the grapevine that Fred has been assigned to the new Ty Power flick. Power blanches, and begins to furiously go through his new script to see what kind of ordeal Fred is going to put him through this time.

The Fred is Fred Sersen, one of the unsung heroes in the history of special effects. He contributed special and visual effects to many of 20th Century Fox’s top productions from the 1930s through the 1950s.

Sersen put Power through the Chicago Fire in “In Old Chicago” (1937), fighting through hordes of locusts in “Brigham Young, Frontiersman” (1940), and surviving massive earthquakes and monsoons in “The Rains Came” (1939). For the latter, Sersen won the Academy Award for Special Effects, a remarkable achievement in a year that gave us “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone With the Wind.”

It’s easy to see why, as the effects in “The Rains Came” are still impressive today and hold up every bit as well as modern day CGI fests. Sersen later won another Oscar for a later Power film, the WWII submarine flick “Crash Dive” (1943).

One of Sersen’s most famous sequences was the amazing sandstorm sequence he created for “Suez” (1938), a highly, and I can’t stress this enough, highly fictionalized account of the building of the Suez Canal.

I’ve waited to see this title for years and thanks to the fine folks at TCM, I finally got to see it the other night. After all those years of waiting, and it turned out to be…kinda dull. It has some good moments, including that sandstorm, but, alas, suffers from that bloat that many 20th Century Fox historical epics have.

I’m all for romance, but when it overpowers the film’s main thrust, the film suffers mightily for it.

Power stars as Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French diplomat who has a dream to build the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. Much of the movie deals with political intrigue as de Lesseps seeks to get permission from the Egyptians, French and British to realize his dream. When not arguing his case, de Lesseps must fend off the advances of two equally strong-willed women.

“Suez” is notorious for being one of the most historically inaccurate films ever made. So much so, that the de Lesseps family sued 20th Century Fox for taking too many liberties with the facts.

Loretta Young, in her final film with Power, stars as the Countess Eugenie, who later becomes the wife of Louis Napoleon (Leon Ames). She’s distraught when he gets posted to Egypt, though they still carry the torch for each other. Once in Egypt, de Lesseps catches the eye of Toni (Annabella), a young French woman, during a surprisingly erotic scene where he spies her bathing nude in a pool. (Power and Annabella fell in love while making this film and were soon married. The marriage only lasted nine years, but they remained friends until Power’s premature death in 1958.)

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In reality, de Lesseps was a widow with four sons. And to say he looked nothing like Power would be an understatement. And, de Lesseps and Eugenie were cousins, not lovers, but I can’t remember if this was mentioned in the film. So I can see why the family may have been a little upset that their lineage is not mentioned in the film, but they should know Hollywood never lets facts stand in the way of historical romance.

However, the romantic triangle between Young, Power and Annabella is rather pedestrian, and the scenes of political wrangling over who should control the canal aren’t as interesting as they should be. Instead of bristling with all kinds of maneuverings and machinations, they’re staged here with little sense of urgency.

The supporting cast is wonderful, though, featuring such welcome faces as J. Edward Bromberg, Joseph Schildkraut, Henry Stephenson, Sidney Blackmer, Sig Ruman, Nigel Bruce, George Zucco and Miles Mander as British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. (Watching Mander, and remembering George Arliss in his Disraeli portrayal, makes me realize the brilliant, though homely Disraeli, would never be elected today. Not handsome or charismatic enough.)

Director Allan Dwan has his name on many fine films, but this isn’t one of them. He does manage some lovely visuals though. There’s a brief shot of the early sun shining underneath the Arc de Triomphe which is drop dead gorgeous. The scenes of thousands of extras digging in the sand during the canal’s construction area are very impressive. Sersen no doubt helped stage an avalanche sequence where tons of rock are blown up by rebels to put a halt to the construction.

And then there’s that sandstorm. I’m sure Power was cursing a blue streak against Sersen and studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck for putting him through this sequence. It’s given a nice build up when the skies darken and de Lesseps and Toni notice a flock of birds flying through the air, far from their usual nesting places. Sure enough the winds kick up, a sand cyclone is seen approaching and for the next several minutes we’re treated to the awesome spectacle of the sandstorm blowing oceans of sand and masses of construction material through the air, as the workers scramble for shelter. What happens to one of the main characters is quite unusual for the time, proof that Hollywood did not always stick to formula.

I liked parts of “Suez” but it left me wanting more. Perhaps if there was more footage to the difficulties and challenges involved in building the canal, it would have been more rewarding. However, I was still glad to finally see it.

It did leave me wondering, though, how long Power and Annabella took to clean the sand out of every body nook, cranny, pore and orifice. Did that hasten the romance? I’ll leave that to the biographers.

Love Is News; That Wonderful Urge

Movie remakes are nothing new, of course, but it’s rare to have a major actor remake one of his earlier successful films. But that’s what happened to Tyrone Power when he starred in “Love Is News” (1937) and it’s remake ”That Wonderful Urge” (1948). Both are pleasant, though hardly earth shattering, entertainment.

“Love Is News” is the better of the two, and takes place in that happy 1930s movie land of rich heiresses, fast talking reporters and even faster talking editors. Contemporary viewers might scoff at its plot, detailing a race among reporters to scoop front page headlines about the romantic adventures of an heiress, but in today’s era where so much ink and cyberspace is devoted to such vapid entities and talentless twits as the Kardashians and Paris Hilton, it doesn’t seen so far-fetched.

The difference here, though, is Antoinette “Tony” Gateson (Loretta Young), one of the richest women in the country, and its most eligible bachelorette, foregoes any publicity about her life and prefers to keep as low a profile as possible. Ace reporter Steve Leyton (Tyrone Power) disguises himself as an airline employee and gains her confidence, and she spills some details about her life while the two enjoy a smoke together.

The ruse is discovered and Tony decides to turn the tables. She tells all the other competing papers that Steve is her fiancée. She gives scoops to the other papers throughout, much to the consternatation of Steve’s editor Martin Canavan (Don Ameche), who hires and fires Steve over the course of the movie.

Of course the couple will eventually come to the conclusion that despite all the bickering, they really do love each other. Both incredibly attractive, Power and Young were a good team, appearing in five films together. It’s too bad that their best film together, the canal building epic “Suez” (1938) has yet to appear on DVD, and I can’t recall it ever showing on the Fox Movie Channel.

George Sanders has a small role as a fortune hunting count in this, his second American movie. His introduction is a delight, first seen in a series of flip images where he’s showing off his profile and then patting his hair down. It’s very amusing.

The careers of Powers and Sanders were interspersed in ways the two men could never have imagined. Sanders came to the attention of the American movie going public in his first American movie “Lloyds of London” (1936). (Is this the only movie ever made about an insurance company?) This was also the film that skyrocketed Power to stardom after a few minor roles.

They would again tangle in two of the best adventure films of the 1940s, “The Black Swan: (1942) and “Son of Fury” (1942). Power and Sanders were filming a dueling sequence for “Solomon and Sheba” (1959) when Power was felled by a fatal heart attack at age 44. Thus, Sanders was with Power at the very beginning of his career and at the very end. Offscreen, Sanders was very much like the haughty characters he played so well and could be dismissive of the roles and pictures he was assigned, but he liked Power and was truly devastated by his premature death.

In addition to Sanders, “Love Is News” boasts a sterling supporting cast, including such favorites as Slim Summerville, Dudley Digges, Walter Catlett, Jane Darwell, Stepin Fetchit (less irritating than usual) and Elisha Cook, Jr.

Those players have it all over the film’s remake, “That Wonderful Urge”, with Power again in the reporter’s role and Gene Tierney taking over the Loretta Young role. Tierney and Power were also a popular team in the 1940s, co-starring in “Son of Fury” and Power’s first assignment following his WWII service, the blockbuster “The Razor’s Edge.” (1946).

Oh, there are some welcome familiar faces on hand here, including Reginald Gardiner, Gene Lockhart and Porter Hall. But they’re playing their roles relatively straight, without the charming eccentricities of the earlier cast. The editor’s role here is played down much more than in the earlier version, and that’s because Lloyd Gough is no Don Ameche.

There is one very funny new scene in the 1948 version, where Power crashes a society party thrown by his “wife”, where he eats peanuts and regales the guests with stories of his 80-year-old West Virigina-born mother, and her encounters with the government when they try to take away her still.

It’s all pleasant enough, but as I said earlier, not particularly memorable. Power would have better luck that year with another comedy, the charming leprechaun comedy “The Luck of the Irish.”

I'll Never Forget You

I’m a sucker for time travel movies, so I was a little surprised that I didn’t enjoy “I’ll Never Forget You” (1951) more than I did. Oh I liked it well enough and it’s worth watching, but it just didn’t hook me. Part of it may be due to, for me, a curiously lackluster performance by star Tyrone Power.

But there’s much to enjoy here, especially if one is a fan of classic horror movies. The film’s source material is the play “Berkeley Square” by John L. Balderston. Balderston was a successful playwright who became a top Hollywood screenplay writer in the 1930s, enjoying spectacular success in horror movies, both as a screenplay writer and as an adaptor. His credits include: “Dracula” (1930), “Frankenstein” (1931), “The Mummy” (1932), “The Bride of Frankenstein” (1935), “Mad Love” (1935) and “Dracula’s Daughter” (1936), among others. Not too shabby a list.

The film’s director is Roy Ward Baker, well known for his British horror movies such as “The Vampire Lovers” (1970), “Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde” (1971), a much better film than the title indicates, and the superior Amicus anthology film “Asylum” (1972). Baker also directed the best Titanic movie to date “A Night to Remember” (1958).

However, this was an early credit for Mr. Baker and I’m afraid his inexperience shows. Everyone is a little too passive, a little too subdued. It’s almost as if Baker and the cast were unwilling to completely wrap their arms around the film’s premise.

Tyrone Power plays an atomic scientist living in a beautiful old ancestral house in London. He’s also obsessed with the 18th century and thanks to his experiments, believes time travel is possible. He has memorized the history of his house and his relatives who resided there. One evening during a tremendous storm he’s struck by lightning and finds himself back in the 1780s as his ancestor. He knows far too much about everyone’s lives and is prone to making wild predictions about the future. Some fear he is in league with otherwordly forces, while others find him a rival. Helen (Ann Blyth) falls in love with him, despite Power’s character being engaged to her sister.

The film opens in black and white for the contemporary London scenes and then switches to Technicolor for the period scenes – a nice touch. But for someone who is obsessed with the past as much as Power’s character is, he doesn’t seem to relish being there. I like Power tremendously as an actor, but I think this is one of his weakest performances. However, he does register strongly in his love scenes with Blyth – those scenes are among the film’s best.

There’s an odd scene where Power invites Blyth to look deep into his eyes so she can see all the sights from his time. She breathlessly recites everything she sees – the tall buildings, automobiles, airplanes, etc. – and wonders why he would want to leave such a world. It’s a very well-written scene and I suspect it comes from the play. But none of these sights are shown. Likely effective on the stage, this is one scene where the medium of film could have been used to strengthen the scene.

Power does return to the present – back to black and white - and his visit to the graveyard to visit Helen’s grave is helped enormously by William Alwyn’s ethereal scoring and some evocative lighting effects. We also learn that Power has been acting very strangely the past month. Did the lightning strike really send him back 200 years? Or did it cause him to imagine the whole thing?

I applaud the ambiguity and have the feeling that Baker and company were trying very hard to do something different. They didn’t quite make it, but kudos to them for trying.

The film was originally made in 1933 under its original title “Berkeley Square.” Directed by Frank Lloyd, it starred Leslie Howard and Heather Angel and remains frustratingly elusive to see. I hope to see it some day.

The Luck of the Irish

St. Patrick’s Day is usually the occasion to watch “The Quiet Man” (1952), but this year I was in the mood for something different. Going through the piles of unwatched DVDs I remember that I had “The Luck of the Irish” (1948) from the Tyrone Power box set I received as a Christmas gift. What could be more appropriate for viewing on March 17?

“The Luck of the Irish” is a charming movie, nicely played by a good cast, evocative production design and nicely scored by Cyril Mockridge. While watching it I was thinking to myself, “This is a nice movie.”

Nice may be a pejorative term to some, but there’s a time and place for all kinds of movies, and last night I was in for a bit of blarney, er, I mean, whimsy.

In “The Luck of the Irish”, Tyrone Power plays a reporter named Stephen Fitzgerald, on assignment in Ireland, where he has an accident with his car. On foot, he spies a funny looking man (Cecil Kellaway) by a waterfall and asks for directions to the nearest house or village. He directs him to a home owned by Tatie (J.M. Kerrigan) and his daughter Nora (Anne Baxter). Fitzgerald, or Fitz, as he likes to be called, tells his hosts about the odd character he met by the waterfall. His hosts tell him there’s no waterfall anywhere around and hearing about the shiny gold buttons and pointy shoes convinces them that Fitz saw a leprechaun. He scoffs at this and returns home to New York.

His publisher David Auger (Lee J. Cobb) and social climbing daughter Frances (Jayne Meadows, older sister to Audrey) convince Fitz to give up reporting and act as p.r. man for Auger’s less-than-reputable political ambitions. With Fitz’s new position he needs a manservant to take care of his daily needs. Who shows up but a funny looking man who looks suspiciously like the man Fitz encountered in Ireland. He gives his name as Horace. Horace acts as his conscience as Fitz questions whether he is doing the right thing with Auger and Frances, especially when the lovely colleen Nora comes to New York to visit a cousin.

Like I said, this is a charming movie. The fine folks at Fox Home Video present us with two versions of the film on the DVD, the black and white version and the original release which had the Ireland-based scenes tinted green. The photography in the forest and Irish countryside is especially evocative, and the green tinting gives it a nice effect.

Director Henry Koster has a gentle touch, without overdoing the sentimentality or the whimsy. I believe this was his first film under a new contract at Fox. He had scored a big hit the year before for Sam Goldwyn with “The Bishop’s Wife”, so Fox likely thought he would be ideal for their leprechaun script. And he was. “The Luck of the Irish” is never overdone or filled with too many special effects. There is a funny sequence where Fitz chases Horace around his apartment, and boy, does he move fast for an old man.

The film’s score is by Fox staff composer Cyril J. Mockridge, and it’s a delight. I hope some enterprising film music label has access to the tapes, as this would make a fine CD for St. Patricks’ Day. I’m not sure how much of the score consists of original Mockridge material and how much based on folk music. One sequence is scored with a nice rendition of “Greensleeves” as only the Fox Orchestra string section can play. Has there been any folk song that has appeared on as many soundtracks as “Greensleeves?” I’m sure there are, though I’d be hard pressed to think of one.

The film marked a return for Tyrone Power to light comedy, after a decade of dramas and adventure films. He seems to be enjoying himself and has a nice rapport with Baxter. She had won a Best Supporting Actress two years earlier opposite him in “The Razor’s Edge” and no doubt enjoyed the reunion. Her Irish accent is well done too. Her father in the film is played by J.M. Kerrigan, always a welcome face. He has one scene with Power when he talks about leprechauns that had me believing in them.

Like I said, a nice film, and one I would not mind recommending to friends interested in a nice touch of whimsy around St. Patrick’s Day.

Rating for “The Luck of the Irish”: Three stars.

Girls' Dormitory

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed “Girls’ Dormitory” (1936). I liked that it didn’t follow a formula and the conclusion surprised me, as it didn’t turn out as pat as I was expecting. It also clocked in at a trim 66 minutes, packing a lot of character and incident in the short running time.

The film is best remembered today as Tyrone Power’s film debut, but he’s only in the film for one or two brief scenes towards the end.

Ironically, Power was barely an afterthought to the film, showing up as the cousin of Marie Claudel (Simone Simon) at her graduation. Following his short appearance here, he received a ton of fan mail, which led to 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck taking a gamble and casting him that year in the lead role in “Lloyds of London”, a look at the famous insurance company’s founding. He became Fox’s leading male attraction for the next 20 years.

Which must have pleased, yet irked, Zanuck, as he planned “Girls’ Dormitory” as a showpiece for his newest star, the French import Simone Simon. Showpiece is an accurate description for this film, as the shimmering black and white photography captures Simon’s sex kittenish aspect at its most desirable. She’s absolutely adorable here, but Fox didn’t handle her very well and she gained greater fame at RKO in the 1940s in her role as Belle, the devil’s emissary in “All that Money Can Buy” (1941), also known as “The Devil and Daniel Webster”, and the tragic Irina in the classic horror movie “Cat People.” (1942).

If you ever get the chance to see “All that Money Can Buy” do so, because its one of the greatest films ever made, equal parts haunting and poetic. Belle plays the devil’s helper who makes sure victim Jabez Stone (James Craig) stays on the wayward path to sin and keeps to his Satanic contract. Belle is most appealing and if someone like her ever came to my door to tempt me to the Dark Side, I’m afraid I would follow in an instant. (If I turn up dead under very mysterious circumstances, please refer this blog to the police. Thank you).

But those roles were in the future. In “Girls’ Dormitory” Simon’s Marie Claudel is a young schoolgirl hopelessly in love with her much older professor Stefan Dominick (Herbert Marshall). Stefan is oblivious to these attentions. A fellow teacher more towards his own age, Professor Anna Mathe, played by the always underrated Ruth Chatterton, has been secretly in love with him for years. Thanks to a wayward love letter, Stefan learns about Marie’s interest in him and succumbs to her. They decide to get married after she graduates, causing great consternation among the very conservative school board.

Marie learns about Anna’s love for Stefan and decides to bow out. Stefan also learns about Anna’s feeling for him. Will he make a fool of himself by going after Marie, or realize how much more companionable he has been with Anna all these years. It didn’t turn out like I expected.

Chatterton is very wise and winning in her portrayal, and Anna is quite sympathetic towards Marie. What could have been played as soap opera is elevated by the sensitivity of the actors. Marshall projects well the ennui of a middle aged man going through the motions until faced with the prospect of love with a young girl.

It could have been smutty, but its not. Two years after the Production Code was put in place, the studios were playing it safe. No lecherous older man and nubile young girls here. Chatterton and Marshall are adults, realizing that real human feelings and thoughts must be made into account.

The beautiful photography, the cast, Simone’s incredible beauty and the brief introduction of one of Hollywood’s greatest stars make this one a winner.

Rating for “Girls’ Dormitory”: Three stars.

DVD Box Sets: A Wish List

As an avid buyer, and watcher, of classic Hollywood titles on DVD, I’ve often fantasized about which DVD box sets I would like to see. The following are a few I’ve thought of recently. One or two are within the realm of possibility, while some others are likely mere pipe dreams. But in an industry that last year gave us a Sam Katzman collection (one of my favorite DVD collections, by the way), then anything is possible.

Tyrone Power – Action Hero

Last month 20th Century Fox gave us the Tyrone Power Matinee Idol Collection, with 10 titles consisting mainly of comedies and dramas. This means Fox leaves us with a good variety of Power titles in the adventure genre that could be mined for a box set. Because Fox placed such a strong emphasis on the romantic Power in the last collection, it seems very likely that they will do a separate adventure set.

“Untamed” (1955). Power, Susan Hayward and Richard Egan in a romantic adventure set amidst the Boer War. Fabulous Franz Waxman score, with one of the best main title music cues ever.

“King of the Khyber Rifles” (1955). Power romances Terry Moore and puts down a native rebellion on the Indian frontier. Pretty dull film, livened by a great Bernard Herrmann score, far and away the best thing in the film. Guy Rolfe plays the villain, always a plus.

“Pony Solider” (1952). Power as a Canadian Mountie putting down an Indian rebellion. Good Saturday afternoon fare.

“Diplomatic Courier” (1952): Tense spy melodrama with Patricia Neal. Henry Hathaway directed, who was one of Power’s best directors.

“An American Guerilla in the Philippines” (1951). WWII action, directed by Fritz Lang, which will get some attention from the Lang cultists.

“Suez” (1938). Power as Ferdinand deLesseps, architect of the Suez Canal. Power has two leading ladies, Loretta Young and future wife Annabella. If memory serves, the sandstorm sequence is might impressive.

“Lloyd’s of London” (1937). Power’s breakthrough role, in this story of the founding of the famous insurance company. Even though it’s about an insurance company, it’s surprisingly watchable. Madeleine Carroll is absolutely gorgeous in this, but you knew that already. Also, this was the first of several teamings between Power and George Sanders. Watching “Lloyd’s of London”, who would have ever guessed that Power and Sanders would be rehearsing a sword fight for “Solomon and Sheba” (1959) when Power would be felled by a fatal heart attack, dying at age 44.

John Wayne Adventure Set

During last year’s John Wayne centennial celebration, I kept hoping that Universal would release six very rare action movies he made there in the mid-1930s. I don’t know what condition they’re in, and maybe good materials don’t exist for them. But these would be nice to see. I’ve never seen any of these except for “Idol of the Crowds” and that was in a splicy, dark, bootleg copy.

“Adventure’s End” (1937): Period sea adventure story.

“Idol of the Crowds” (1937): John Wayne as a hockey player.

“I Cover the War” (1937): Wayne as a war correspondent.

“California Straight Ahead” (1937): Wayne as a cross-country trucker.

“Conflict” (1936): Wayne as a boxer. This co-stars mega babe Jean Rogers, who co-starred that year as Dale Arden in the Flash Gordon serial. 1936 Jean Rogers is well worth watching.

“The Sea Spoilers” (1936): Wayne as a Coast Guard officer.


Dennis Morgan/Jack Carson Collection

One of my favorite stars of the 1940s was Dennis Morgan. A most likeable chap, with a very pleasant tenor singing voice, Morgan was a big star at Warner Bros. in the 1940s and was teamed with good friend Jack Carson in a series of popular musicals.

“Two Guys from Texas” (1948). Morgan and Carson on a dude ranch out west. With Dorothy Malone and a Bugs Bunny sequence.

“Two Guys from Milwaukee” (1946). Morgan as a European prince who, wanting to relate to the common folk, ditches his royal responsibilities. He befriends cab driver Jack Carson, who doesn’t know his new friend’s real identity. All this, and a Bogart/Bacall cameo.

“The Time, the Place and the Girl” (1948). Fun musical with a nice score, including “Got a Gal in Calico”. Nice Technicolor on this one.

“Shine on Harvest Moon” (1944). Morgan as entertainer Jack Hayes (also lyricist of the song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”) and Ann Sheridan as his wife, legendary vaudevillian Nora Hayes. If memory serves, the film is in black and white but the final musical number is in Technicolor. Carson plays, I think, a fellow vaudevillian, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen it.


“It’s a Great Feeling” (1949): A wonderful spoof of Hollywood, with much of it filmed on the Warner Bros. backlot, and cameos by lots of Warner Bros. stars. Morgan and Carson play themselves, with Carson cast as an ego-filled ham who no one wants to work with. This title might be part of a rumored third Doris Day box set.

Twentieth Century Fox Gay 90s Composers Series

Sure, they would have to change the title, but if it meant additional sales, I say keep it. 20th Century Fox boasted a series of films highlighting composers who are hardly household names but were big news 100 years ago. Curiously, Fox would augment these films with new songs written by their in-house composers. For instance, “My Gal Sal” the purported story of Paul Dresser, has more songs in the movie not written by Dresser. Ah, Hollywood.

“My Gal Sal” (1942). Paul Dresser, brother of the novelist Theodore Dreisser, wrote the title song and “On the Banks of the Wabash.” Here he’s played by Victor Mature and Sal is none other than Rita Hayworth, in glorious Technicolor. This is one of my biggest wishes for DVD release.

“Irish Eyes are Smiling” (1944). Dick Haymes plays Ernest Ball, composer of the title song, and June Haver, in her first big role, as the Irish lass he writes the song about. The film’s big production number, “Bessie in the Bustle” is by Mack Gordon and James V. Monaco. So much for honoring Ball.

“I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now” (1947). June Haver again, this time supporting Mark Stevens as composer Joe Howard.

“Oh, You Beautiful Doll!” (1949). June Haver and Mark Stevens again, this time with Stevens as Fred Fisher, composer of the title song, “Chicago”, and “Peg O’ My Heart.”

Of course there’s also “Stars and Stripes Forever” (1952), with Clifton Webb as John Philip Sousa, with good support from Robert Wagner and Debra Paget. This is slated for release later this year, according to http://www.foxclassics.com/.

Betty Grable Vol. 2

I’ve heard rumors that Betty Grable Vol. 1 experienced disappointing sales, which may be true since there’s been no news about a Vol. 2. But with Alice Faye getting a second volume, I’m hoping that Betty will get her due as well.

Part of the problem may have been the contents of the first volume. “My Blue Heaven” (1950 is pretty rough going and “The Dolly Sisters” (1945) is one of the weaker Grable period musicals (though it was one of her biggest hits).

What they should include in the second volume is:

“Coney Island” (1943), my favorite Grable film, and never released on home video before. Great Technicolor and some of Grable’s best numbers including “Take it From There,” “There’s Danger in a Dance” (featuring seemingly every balloon in Hollywood at the time) and the scintillating “Lulu from Louisville.” Heck they can even throw in the remake, “Wabash Avenue” (1950), also starring Grable, as a bonus.

“Mother Wore Tights” (1947). Now we’re talking. Probably her most popular film, and the first musical to team her with Dan Dailey, “Mother Wore Tights” is a warm and affectionate look at a family of vaudevillians. “You Do” is repeated a hundred times in this movie; you’ll be hearing it in your sleep for days afterwards. Betty’s legs look sensational in that cut away tuxedo in the “Kokomo, Indiana” number.

“The Shocking Miss Pilgrim” (1947). Speaking of legs, this was one of Betty’s biggest flops, with the studio theorizing she was kept in long skirts for too much of the movie. Regardless, this tale of one of the first women secretaries in the work force (called here a “typewriter”) has a great deal of charm and a treasure trove of previously unpublished Gershwin songs. Her duet with Dick Haymes, “Aren’t You Kind of Glad We Did”, is a particular favorite.

“Sweet Rosie O’Grady” (1943). More period Betty, with a short and sweet running time of less than 75 minutes. Good Harry Warren score, including a particular favorite “My Heart Tells Me” and “Goin’ to the County Fair.” Fox filmed the same story in modern dress as “Love is News” (1937) and “That Wonderful Urge” (1949), both starring Tyrone Power. Fox certainly got its money worth with that story.

That’s a lot of Betty Grable in period garb. They need to throw in a modern title, so how about “Springtime in the Rockies” (1942) which introduced the song “I Had the Craziest Dream.” This is also the only Carmen Miranda film unreleased to DVD.

Or they could give us “Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe” (1945) with its fabulous opening number “Acapulco” and Dick Haymes singing “The More I See You.” When this film was released in New Zealand he recorded a new version called “The Maori I See You.” No he didn’t, that was a joke.

Or how about “Song of the Islands” (1942), with lots of Betty in bathing suits and grass skirts?

Universal/Paramount Sets

Universal is woefully lacking in sales of their catalog sets. How about a second collection of Deanna Durbin? A Jon Hall/Maria Montez collection? I think Universal would be pleasantly surprised at how well that would sell. An Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake collection? By including “The Glass Key” (1942) and “The Blue Dahlia” (1946) you’d be pleasing fans of, respectively Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.

As time goes on I will compile another list of fantasy DVD box sets.

Rawhide

“Rawhide” (1951) is a taut and terrific hostage drama that happens to take place in the Old West. It’s lean and mean, and runs a trim 86 minutes without a wasted scene (thank you, director Henry Hathaway). Good performances abound, especially Jack Elam as a particularly nasty bad guy who offers a piece of violence that possibly wouldn’t get past nervous studio executives today.

The film’s first several minutes are deceiving. The title music is the rousing march that Alfred Newman composed for “Brigham Young, Frontiersman” (1940), hardly indicative of the drama to follow. Then we get several minutes of footage about the importance of the Overland Mail, and how it helped transform the West. Sequences of stagecoaches traversing the countryside, while full-blooded orchestrations of “Oh Susannah” play in the background, leads one to think we’re in for one of those “transportation winning the west” epics like “Wells Fargo” (1937) or “Union Pacific” (1939).

But soon the mini-history lesson disappears, and we’re ready for the story to begin.

“Rawhide” takes place at a stagecoach station, a stopping point for passengers to stretch their legs and have a meal while the horses are changed. The station is an isolated one, a tiny spot amidst the towering mountains. Four escaped convicts, led by Hugh Marlowe, take over the station to hijack a gold shipment coming in the next day. Caretakers Edgar Buchanan and Tyrone Power need to act normal for the other stages that stop by, while passenger Susan Hayward and her infant niece are held hostage. Buchanan is killed trying to resist, and Power and Hayward knowing they will be killed since they witnessed Buchanan’s slaying, attempt to forge an escape plan before the next day’s stage arrives.

Good stuff on display here, and like I said, not a minute of wasted footage. It’s an atypical role for Power. No heroics here, just a scared greenhorn trying to stay alive. Hayward is always a pleasure to watch and she’s particularly well photographed here.
Marlowe initially appears to be a little too civilized, a little too “nice” to be the leader of outlaws, until it’s revealed that he’s the black sheep of a prominent banking family, so his good breeding becomes more understandable.

But bug-eyed Jack Elam easily steals the show. He’s scary good here. He can’t resist pawing Hayward despite continual threats from Marlowe. You just know he’s going to explode one day.

In the film’s climax, Power and Elam are shooting it out when Elam sees the infant girl walking innocently through the courtyard. Elam begins shooting at the little girl to draw Power out into the open. It’s an agonizing scene to watch as the little girl screams with her arms up in the air, turning this way and that way while the bullets hit the ground at her feet. I don’t think that would occur in a big budget studio film today. (I’m not talking about cartoon, CGI-inspired violence like last year’s “Shoot Out”, which boasted a coming attractions trailer so loud and stupid that I couldn’t see myself paying to support it. I understand there’s a baby in distress throughout the whole movie, but when people are flying through the air, twirling around and shooting guns while defying the laws of physics, all credibility goes out the window. The baby was probably CGI anyway.)

I’m a sucker for thrillers set in isolated settings or in confined areas, like an airplane, train or ship. “Rawhide” combines the two, contrasting the isolation of the stagecoach station and the majesty of the surrounding mountains. The film was shot in Lone Pine, California, a famous locale for westerns, and its beautiful, if desolate, countryside. Even if Power, Hayward and baby escaped from the outlaws, there’s really no place to escape to.

Alas, the coming attractions trailer shows the film’s climax, proving that Hollywood’s penchant for giving too much away in trailers is nothing new. Due to the film’s paucity of action, its likely 20th Century Fox sold the film as a traditional western shoot ‘em up rather than a tense suspense drama. Still, I can’t believe westerns fans who went to see “Rawhide” would go home disappointed.

Rating for “Rawhide”: A strong three stars.

Marie Antoinette (1938)

From Rambo to Norma Shearer. You never know what you’re going to find on the Corner.

“Marie Antoinette” (1938) is considered by many to be one of the most sumptuous mega productions of Hollywood’s Golden Age. And it is. It’s also long and meandering, but wonderfully acted and boasts one scene that is truly heart wrenching.

Despite M-G-Ms’ abundance of female stars in the 1930s (Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, etc.) Norma Shearer was the queen of the M-G-M lot. But she was off the nation’s theater screens for two years following the death of her husband, M-G-M production head Irving Thalberg in 1936. Thalberg had started production on the film before his premature death, and M-G-M studio head Louis B. Mayer halted pre-production on the film until she was ready to step before the cameras again. And she was ready two years later.

True to its subject, “Marie Antoinette” is a stunning production, with the Court of Versailles captured in all its magnificence and decadence. Shearer is most convincing as the young Hapsburg princess catapulted into marriage with the future king of France, Louis XV (Robert Morley, in his film debut). The Hays Office watched carefully that good taste was not overstepped in detailing the non-consummation of their married relationship. Through carefully scripted dialogue, however, the audience fully understands what is happening. They also understood why the married Marie would begin an affair with a handsome visitor from the Swedish court, Axel de Fersen (Tyrone Power).

Eventually Louis XIV dies (the gloriously lecherous John Barrymore, not in the film nearly as much as we’d like), and Louis XV ascends to the throne. With his father’s shadow now dissipated, Louis XV is now ready to come into his own. He fathers a son and a daughter, the Swedish count is away in America and he and Marie settle into a happy relationship. Things may be happy in the palace, but not the rest of France. The peasants are starving, and revolution is afoot.

The recent DVD release of the film showcases “Marie Antoinette” in a way not seen since its 1938 engagement. The DVD boasts an overture, intermission and exit music, courtesy of M-G-M staff composer Herbert Stothart. With the extra music the film runs a healthy 157 minutes. It could use a little judicious cutting, mainly in the pre-revolution scenes in the first half.

This was the big, prestigious production of 1938, so much so that Twentieth Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck loaned their biggest male star, Tyrone Power, to appear alongside Shearer. Upon seeing the completed film, he immediately regretted his decision, and never loaned Power out again. In retrospect, it’s hard to see why. After all Power shares top billing with Shearer above the title, and it didn’t hurt Power to be in one of the top films of the year. Shearer’s return to the screen after two years meant the film enjoyed an unusually high level of interest and publicity. He’s given plenty of footage, and wears his costumes beautifully. Certainly the role is no worse than what Fox was giving him. His romantic scenes with Shearer were sure to please his many female admirers, especially a beautifully shot scene on a moonlit balcony.

Perhaps Zanuck was incensed that his top star was not the center of attention, but subservient to the top female star of another studio. It’s too bad he felt that way, since it lost Power other loan out roles, where he would have been able to show his acting chops in ways he was never allowed to at Fox. For instance, Warner Bros. wanted Power to play the idealistic Parris Mitchell in “King’s Row” (1941) but Zanuck said no. Too bad, he would have been perfect in the role and it would have made that magnificent film even better. (Many people feel that the eventual Parris Mitchell, Robert Cummings, is the weak link of “King’s Row”).

What’s odd is how much the film favors the Shearer-Power romance. A natural point for the intermission occurs when it is announced Louis XV will be King of France and Marie Antoinette Queen of France. The scene ends with music swelling and a radiant close-up of Shearer. In fact, I thought it was intermission time (i.e. bathroom break) and started to get up. But no, the film continues and the intermission comes after the farewell scene between Marie and Axel. It’s a beautifully played (and photographed) scene, and the camera tracks Power as he leaves her, walking forward while she recedes in the background. It’s obvious the makers felt the love story was the more important element of the film, and not Marie becoming Queen of France. You would think Zanuck would be happy about the film’s focus.

The film’s second half is much livelier, as revolution threatens the French kingdom. Peasants are starving, yet Marie is spending a million plus francs on a new necklace. (She really hasn’t, though, being part of a scheme to embarrass the French court. She needed Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D’Artagnan to get that necklace back.)

One can’t say enough good things about Robert Morley’s performance as Louis. It’s obvious the poor guy doesn’t want to be king, and is thrust into a role he can barely comprehend. Things get worse when revolution threatens the land and he tries to rally his soldiers. He can barely get the words out and you feel his shame and humiliation as the troops laugh at him.

Curiously though the revolution seems to embolden him. In the film’s best scene, he enjoys a last dinner with his wife and children. The four dine together on onion soup in a prison cell. Louis knows he’s going to the guillotine the next morning but doesn’t let on to his children, putting up a brave front and even offering to fix his son’s broken toy. It’s a beautifully played scene and probably the best scene in the film.

Shearer is good too in her final scenes. She allows herself to be aged and dirtied up as she is released in prison and led to her execution. No careful lighting or make up for her, she looks likes been through the wringer as she takes her final steps.

A few years ago, Kirsten Dunst essayed the role of Marie Antoinette. It wasn’t a bad movie, and I didn’t even mind the contemporary songs on the soundtrack. But it’s pretty dull; “dramatically inert” I remember telling a friend. The 1938 version also has its flaws, but its virtues eventually outweigh them.

Rating for “Marie Antoinette”: Three stars.

Son of Fury

“Son of Fury” (1942) is a rousing adventure film in the best tradition of Hollywood’s Golden Age. It was a real treat to re-discover it as part of the new DVD collection of Tyrone Power films.

Set in the latter half of the 18th Century, “Son of Fury” tells the story of Benjamin Blake (Roddy McDowell) who is cheated out of his inheritance by his uncle (a sneering George Sanders) who makes Benjamin his bond servant. Roddy grows up to be Tyrone Power, who escapes to the South Seas where he finds a treasure bed of pearls and an even greater treasure (Gene Tierney in a sarong). Newly wealthy, he returns to England to reclaim his estate.

There’s nary a wasted moment in the film, which clocks in at 98 minutes. It’s wonderfully escapist movie viewing, and shows why Tyrone Power was 20th Century Fox’s prime male box office star. As I’ve noted before, he always looks good in costume pictures, though I suspect he was somewhat disdainful of them. (Power’s best performance is in the harrowing “Nightmare Alley” (1947) with Power as a carny worker turned scam artist. It’s a wonderful film but was a huge box office bust, so 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl Zanuck put Power back in the adventure films which were consistently successful.)

Like so many classics from the 1930s and 1940s, the supporting cast is exceptionally strong. Just take a look at this who’s who of Golden Age character actors who appear in “Son of Fury”: Elsa Lanchester, John Carradine, Harry Davenport, Dudley Digges (who steals every scene he’s in as the lawyer Bartholomew Pratt), Halliwell Hobbes, Arthur Hohl, Pedro de Cordova, Lester Matthews, Dennis Hoey (Inspector Lestrade from the Universal Sherlock Holmes films) and as a judge, Robert Greig. A few postings ago I wrote about Greig’s butler role in “Trouble in Paradise” so it was nice to see him in a different role than his typical servant portrayal.

The film also marks the final screen appearance of Frances Farmer in the supporting role of Sander’s daughter who Benjamin has a romance with. Farmer was one of the most promising actresses of her generation, until alcoholism and mental health issues put a halt to her career.

In the other female role, Gene Tierney is about as Polynesian as I am, but she’s so gorgeous we don’t mind. Many of the South Seas scenes are accompanied by another lush Alfred Newman score, with one of those unforgettable island melodies that he seemingly wrote in his sleep.

When the film was released in 1942, the South Seas scenes were sepia tinted. (Much like the Caribbean scenes in Errol Flynn’s “The Sea Hawk” two years previously). When the film was successfully re-issued over the years the sepia tints were gone. I was hoping when the DVD was announced that the sepia tinting would be re-instated but it was not to be. That’s OK, because the transfer on the film is exquisite.

The film was directed by John Cromwell (father of the actor James Cromwell) and he’s woefully underrated as a director. I was looking at his filmography and I was surprised to see how many of his films are really first rate. My favorite film of his is the sublime 1937 version of “The Prisoner of Zenda” with Ronald Colman and Madeline Carroll. It’s a shame that these two films are his only entries in the swashbuckling field, as these films show he was able to bring out the best in this type of material.

Rating for “Son of Fury”: Three stars.

Captain from Castile

I’ve always enjoyed “Captain from Castile” (1947) even while recognizing its faults. It’s lavish, yet kind of slow-moving, and lacking in physical action. On the plus side, it’s never boring, gorgeous to look and the score is to die for.

“Captain from Castile” was a big production for 20th Century Fox. Reportedly in production for more than three years, it tells the tale of Cortez’s conquest of Mexico. But he really doesn’t conquer it in the movie. After two hours and 20 minutes, the movie ends with the Spanish army massed to conquer the Aztec nation. So no big battle scenes here, unfortunately.

Tyrone Power stars as Pedro de Vargas, a Castilian nobleman who runs afoul of the Spanish Inquisition, must leave Spain and heads to the New World to seek fame and fortune. He brings along a peasant girl, Catana, played in her film debut by Jean Peters, who is hopelessly in love with him. He joins the Cortez expedition, and Cesar Romero gives probably his best-ever performance as the fortune-hunting Cortez. With his mischievous grin, you can understand why men were willing to travel halfway around the world to a mysterious new world to stake their fortunes.

Fox shot the movie in Mexico, and the Technicolor cameras do a splendid job of capturing the magnificence of the country. In two scenes we can see in the background volcanoes belching huge whorls of black smoke in the air.

And then there’s the score. Sometimes a musical score for a movie can be so grand it becomes foreground music, not background music, and becomes the guiding force of a film, moreso than the actor, director, cinematography, etc.

Anyone who has ever seen “Captain from Castile” knows what I’m talking about.

Alfred Newman’s score for “Captain” is one of the jewels in film music, a symphonic masterpiece brimming with passion, excitement, romance and adventure.

The score’s most famous piece, the “Conquest March”, is heard in all its glory in the final five minutes. The USC marching band adopted the piece as its signature tune, so thousands of people are familiar with it even though they may not associate it with the film. I’ve heard the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform the piece live and it gave me goosebumps.

Catana’s melody is an inspired creation, and covers the romantic scenes with a fine sheen. Glenn Erickson, a critic I greatly respect (www.dvdsavant.com), also loves the score save for Catana’s theme, which he describes as “weird.” I think weird is too harsh a word, but I think I know what he means. It’s not a traditional love theme, and when it’s played in the high registers of the strings, as here, it has an ethereal quality, as if Catana is a ghost or a memory, instead of a simple peasant girl. But the melody is so gorgeous we don’t mind. It’s almost as if Newman was placing her on a higher plane, like a Castilian Virgin Mary, a la his vision scenes for “The Song of Bernadette” for which Newman won a well-deserved Oscar in 1943.


My favorite part of the film is the first 45 minutes set in Spain. Most of action takes place here, what with the Inquisition, a prison escape and a horseback chase through the countryside. Thrilling stuff.

The DVD transfer is fine, though these first 45 minutes seem a little dark to me. I’m not familiar with how the film originally looked, and though many of the scenes take place at night or in prison cells, I think it could be brightened up a bit.

Enamored of the movie as a mere youth after seeing it on television, I went to the library to read the book on which it was based. Samuel Shellabarger was a very popular writer of historical fiction decades ago, though his work is rarely revived today. It’s too bad, because the man had a God-given gift for story telling.

The second half of the book is full of marvelous, blood-thirsty action. If memory serves, all the battle scenes fall in the second half, and at one point Catana is captured by the Aztecs and strapped naked atop a temple ready for a human sacrifice. The Spanish attack and Pedro rescues Catana and carries her naked self down the temple steps, arrows flying about and Pedro and his comrades slashing their way through the enemy. That scene made quite an impression on me, and I would love to see that on screen someday. Perhaps a remake is in order? But please, keep Hans Zimmer away.

Despite its flaws, “Captain from Castile” remains splendid entertainment. I look forward to seeing - and hearing it - again.

Rating for “Captain from Castile”: Three stars.

Prince of Foxes

Twentieth Century Fox’s “Prince of Foxes” (1949), a lavish adventure tale set amidst the court intrigue of the Borgias in Renaissance Italy, is never as much fun as it should be. With Orson Welles as the scheming, sly Cesare Boriga, this should be delicious tale of decadence and villany as the Borgias set friend against friend, enemy against enemy, friend against enemy and everyone in between.

But it all comes off rather turgid, which is typical of the Twentieth Century Fox house style when it comes to swashbuckling adventures. Fox’s swashbucklers tended to come off rather lumpen and leaden as compared to say, their Warner Bros. counterparts. I can’t quite place my finger on it, but just compare the Elizabethan court intrigue in Warner’s “The Sea Hawk (1940) against “Prince of Foxes” and you’ll know what I mean.

Tyrone Power plays an ally of Cesare Borgia who is sent north to a province to keep an eye on one of Borgia’s opponents (Felix Aylmer, familiar to horror fans as Peter Cushing’s father in Hammer’s 1959 version of “The Mummy.” Power takes a liking to the old man and an even greater liking to his much younger wife (Wanda Hendrix), which leads him to re-consider his alliance with the Borgias.

Despite its turgid pace, there’s still a lot to recommend it. The sets and costumes are lincredibly lavish. The film was made on location in Venice and other Italian locations. It’s a shame the budget did not allow for color, but the black and white photography is truly exquisite, and almost has a documentary feel to it. A battle scene in a forest has a gritty realism to it, as does a castle siege complete with fiery catapults and the pouring of hot oil on the castle attackers.

Power is suitably dashing and was one of those actors who look completely natural in period costume. (No one like that today, unfortunately). Welles makes a marvelous Borgia, but the show is stolen by Everett Sloane, who participates in an eye gouging scene (first demonstrated by squeezing grapes) that is still cringe-inducing today. I can only imagine the effect it had on 1949 audiences.

And then there’s the exquisite musical score of Alfred Newman (Randy’s uncle). Even when the film is less than inspiring, Newman provides a majestic main title and a soaring love theme…they just don’t write them like that anymore.

The DVD transfer, part of a Tyrone Power swashbuckling collection, is gorgeous, really showcasing the film’s marvelous black and white photography. While not one of my favorites, there’s enough good things in it to merit re-visiting over the years.

Rating for “Prince of Foxes”: Two and a half stars.