What classics did you see last week ? (4 Aug- 10 Aug 2019)
Aug 11, 2019 2:39:28 GMT
spiderwort, teleadm, and 5 more like this
Post by mikef6 on Aug 11, 2019 2:39:28 GMT
Within The Law / Gustav Machatý (1939). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Ruth Hussey shines as Mary Turner, a wrongly accused woman who has to serve 3 years in prison for theft. (Hussey was just one year away from “The Philadelphia Story” which netted her a Supporting Actress nomination.) She blames her employer, a department store owner, for the frame and vows vengeance. She spends her years in prison reading law books so when she is released, she is educated in the law and its loopholes and comes up with several plans to get money out of her rich former boss but to do it, yes, within the law. The clever story is from a 1912 play that had been adapted three times before (1917, 1923, and as “Paid” with Joan Crawford in 1930). Unfortunately, the third act falls apart when the dumb criminals who have been helping her decide to do a crash and grab of a famous painting. This results in a lot of running around, shooting, shouting, and police grilling people under hot lights. Tom Neal (“Detour”) also stars as the son of Mary’s nemesis. The criminal gang is filled with familiar supporting faces, if not names, viz., Paul Kavanaugh, Paul Kelly, James Burke (“The Maltese Falcon”), and Rita Johnson (Charles Laughton’s unlucky mistress in “The Big Clock” (1944)). But the film belongs to Ruth Hussey.
Director Gustav Machatý, born in what is now the Czech Republic, spent about eight years in Hollywood during which time he worked uncredited on four pictures and got credit on three others, including “Within The Law.” This is the guy who had become an international sensation in the early 1930s with two films, “Erotikon” and “Ekstase,” the latter which featured young Hedy Kiesler (later Lamarr) in a nude scene and a sex scene.
The Golden Fleecing / Leslie Fenton (1940). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). A really get-on-your-nerves comedy with Lew Ayres (probably regretting every moment) as Henry Twinkle, one of those whiny, inarticulate, incompetent, often cowardly men often embodied by the likes of Eddie Cantor or Red Skelton. For some reason they always have knockout girl friends. When wanted fugitive Gus Fender (Lloyd Nolan) needs a patsy, “Someone honest but dumb,” he lights on Twinkle who had recently sold him an insurance policy. Twinkle ends up in a tangled web that he barely understands himself but keeps him in a panic, running from place to place. Happily, the movie is chock full of familiar supporting players, two of which (James Burke and Rita Johnson) also appear in “Within The Law” (see the first of my reviews, above). Playing Nolan’s bodyguards are Nat Pendleton and Marc Lawrence. Virginia Grey is his moll. Leon Errol, a major Broadway star in the 19-teens and ‘20s and comedy supporting player in movies from silents through the 1940s but almost forgotten today, is Johnson’s crazy uncle. A couple of chuckles in there somewhere but mostly loud and grating – like most 21st century comedies. Maybe it was just ahead of its time.
Force Of Evil / Abraham Polonsky (1948). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Absolutely a noir essential. Joe Morse (John Garfield) is a mob lawyer working for Ben Tucker (Roy Roberts). Tucker has come up with a plan to take over and consolidate all the major “banks” that run the numbers rackets. This plan would also put the smaller banks out of business. One of those small banks if owned by Joe’s brother Leo Morse (Thomas Gomez, coming off his Oscar nom for “Ride The Pink Horse”). Leo, however, doesn’t want anything to do with either Tucker or his younger brother so doesn’t accept any help or advice which leads to legal problems and a potential gang war. Joe, who owes his older brother for his education, begins to take bigger and bigger risks to protect him. “Force Of Evil” was written and directed by Abraham Polonsky. The DVD I watched contained about a five-minute analysis by Martin Scorsese who raves about the screenplay. Scorsese relates that at a screening of “Force Of Evil” he presented in London, at one point a journalist declared out-loud, “My God, they are speaking blank verse!” Polansky also wrote another notable screenplay for John Garfield in “Body and Soul” (1947). A must-see.
Johnny Stool Pigeon / William Castle (1949). Universal International Pictures. Another plot of noble Treasury Department Agents tracking down evil drug smugglers. At first I thought I was going to have to endure an updated version of “Reefer Madness,” but once the story proper got underway, the propaganda mostly went away. Agent George Morton (Howard Duff) wants to go undercover but needs a way into the smuggling gang. To do this, he recruits known career criminal Johnny Evans (Dan Duryea), currently in the slammer, to provide him with contacts and bona fides, in return for Evans’ release. But, can Evans ever be entirely trusted? Morton, in the guise of a thug from Chicago, and Evans travel first to Canada where a mobster’s moll, Terry Stewart (Shelley Winters), latches on to them in order to escape and get back to the American Midwest. But is SHE on the up-and-up? From Canada they travel to Tucson and then to a Mexican resort for the finale. I was surprised at the amount of location footage shot in Tucson and the Arizona border town of Nogales. Maybe this could be called a B+ movie because of its location budget, instead of a common “B” picture. I’ve always thought Howard Duff was a bit of a stiff and his performance here didn’t change my mind. However, Duryea, Winters, and John McIntire as the resort owner, are vivid and flamboyant enough for several movies. Also, as a young gunsel, in only his second credited movie role, is an actor billed, at the time, as Anthony Curtis. He, too, is striking and memorable even though he has no dialog. A star in the making, for sure. Although it plays out in a rather routine fashion, a slightly better than usual screenplay, location shooting, and the actors mentioned make this a worthy choice for ‘40s noir/crime film fans.
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Le Corbeau (The Raven) / Henri-Georges Clouzot (1943). France. This great film was shot in France during the Nazi occupation of the country. When it was released, it was denounced by all sides. The Nazis recognized that the story of rampant paranoia, suspicion, and betrayals was an allegory of the atmosphere in France at that time. Those opposed to the occupation disliked the film because of its dark picture of the French people, portraying them as easily led into mob violence. The setting is the small town of St. Robin outside of Paris. All at once residents begin receiving poison-pen letters signed by “The Raven.” The letters reveal either the recipient’s personal secrets or warns about the danger that others present. Most of them seem to be directed toward the newest doctor in town, Dr. Germain (Pierre Fresnay). The anonymous letters accuse him of, among other things, of being an abortionist and having an affair with the young wife of a well loved older physician. It isn’t long before everyone in St. Robin is at each others’ throats. Suspicion bounces from person to person. Who is The Raven? The elderly doctor or his young wife? The landlord’s sexually active daughter? Her 14-year-old sister who has a crush on Dr. Germain? And how about the bitter, pinch-faced nurse at the hospital? The Reveal does not come until the final seconds, resulting in a startling conclusion. The tension created by Director Clouzot is almost palpable. The movie is derived from a novel which, in turn, was based on a historical incident from the 1920s.
I used to think of the Hollywood penchant toward remaking foreign films in English to be a modern phenomenon until I encountered the 1951 remake of Fritz Lang’s German classic “M” from 1939. Well, that comment segues nicely into the American remake of “Le Corbeau” called….
The 13th Letter / Otto Preminger (1951). Twentieth Century Fox. This English remake of “Le Corbeau” doesn’t mention the French film as a source nor the historical incident from the 1920s it is based on but refers back only to the novel. It does pay some homage to its French origins. An opening title tells us that the new movie was filmed in its entirety at a “small French-Canadian community in the Province of Quebec.” When I reviewed the Hollywood remake of Fritz Lang’s “M” (released the same year as “The 13th Letter” but from different studios), I said that if you could, as much as possible, take the new film on its own merits then it had quite a bit to offer. I can’t quite say the same for the Preminger effort. The director doesn’t seem to be working too hard for a film that falls between “Where The Sidewalk Ends” and “Angel Face” in his filmography. The new film is not quite a shot-for-shot remake but is pretty much a scene-for-scene redo. The only substantial change is right at the end where a fairly long dialog passage goes to explaining the crimes in a lot more detail than Clouzot provided – but I liked the Clouzot approach better. The new young doctor is played by Michael Rennie who can’t come close to showing the inner turmoil that Pierre Fresnay brought to his tormented physician. Linda Darnell is good enough as the landlord’s flirty daughter if she isn’t nearly as seductive and overtly sexual as the French would have it. The only real notable performance is by Charles Boyer who is quite brilliant as the elderly doctor with the young wife who the anonymous letters continually link to Rennie’s character. Howard Koch wrote the screenplay. The cinematographer was Joseph LaShelle (Laura, The Apartment, Marty), so there was talent behind the camera. I can neither recommend or not recommend this picture. See it if curiosity leads you that way. It’s not really a bad movie but not a very good one either.
Matching scenes. The two doctors confer.
Director Gustav Machatý, born in what is now the Czech Republic, spent about eight years in Hollywood during which time he worked uncredited on four pictures and got credit on three others, including “Within The Law.” This is the guy who had become an international sensation in the early 1930s with two films, “Erotikon” and “Ekstase,” the latter which featured young Hedy Kiesler (later Lamarr) in a nude scene and a sex scene.
The Golden Fleecing / Leslie Fenton (1940). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). A really get-on-your-nerves comedy with Lew Ayres (probably regretting every moment) as Henry Twinkle, one of those whiny, inarticulate, incompetent, often cowardly men often embodied by the likes of Eddie Cantor or Red Skelton. For some reason they always have knockout girl friends. When wanted fugitive Gus Fender (Lloyd Nolan) needs a patsy, “Someone honest but dumb,” he lights on Twinkle who had recently sold him an insurance policy. Twinkle ends up in a tangled web that he barely understands himself but keeps him in a panic, running from place to place. Happily, the movie is chock full of familiar supporting players, two of which (James Burke and Rita Johnson) also appear in “Within The Law” (see the first of my reviews, above). Playing Nolan’s bodyguards are Nat Pendleton and Marc Lawrence. Virginia Grey is his moll. Leon Errol, a major Broadway star in the 19-teens and ‘20s and comedy supporting player in movies from silents through the 1940s but almost forgotten today, is Johnson’s crazy uncle. A couple of chuckles in there somewhere but mostly loud and grating – like most 21st century comedies. Maybe it was just ahead of its time.
Force Of Evil / Abraham Polonsky (1948). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Absolutely a noir essential. Joe Morse (John Garfield) is a mob lawyer working for Ben Tucker (Roy Roberts). Tucker has come up with a plan to take over and consolidate all the major “banks” that run the numbers rackets. This plan would also put the smaller banks out of business. One of those small banks if owned by Joe’s brother Leo Morse (Thomas Gomez, coming off his Oscar nom for “Ride The Pink Horse”). Leo, however, doesn’t want anything to do with either Tucker or his younger brother so doesn’t accept any help or advice which leads to legal problems and a potential gang war. Joe, who owes his older brother for his education, begins to take bigger and bigger risks to protect him. “Force Of Evil” was written and directed by Abraham Polonsky. The DVD I watched contained about a five-minute analysis by Martin Scorsese who raves about the screenplay. Scorsese relates that at a screening of “Force Of Evil” he presented in London, at one point a journalist declared out-loud, “My God, they are speaking blank verse!” Polansky also wrote another notable screenplay for John Garfield in “Body and Soul” (1947). A must-see.
Johnny Stool Pigeon / William Castle (1949). Universal International Pictures. Another plot of noble Treasury Department Agents tracking down evil drug smugglers. At first I thought I was going to have to endure an updated version of “Reefer Madness,” but once the story proper got underway, the propaganda mostly went away. Agent George Morton (Howard Duff) wants to go undercover but needs a way into the smuggling gang. To do this, he recruits known career criminal Johnny Evans (Dan Duryea), currently in the slammer, to provide him with contacts and bona fides, in return for Evans’ release. But, can Evans ever be entirely trusted? Morton, in the guise of a thug from Chicago, and Evans travel first to Canada where a mobster’s moll, Terry Stewart (Shelley Winters), latches on to them in order to escape and get back to the American Midwest. But is SHE on the up-and-up? From Canada they travel to Tucson and then to a Mexican resort for the finale. I was surprised at the amount of location footage shot in Tucson and the Arizona border town of Nogales. Maybe this could be called a B+ movie because of its location budget, instead of a common “B” picture. I’ve always thought Howard Duff was a bit of a stiff and his performance here didn’t change my mind. However, Duryea, Winters, and John McIntire as the resort owner, are vivid and flamboyant enough for several movies. Also, as a young gunsel, in only his second credited movie role, is an actor billed, at the time, as Anthony Curtis. He, too, is striking and memorable even though he has no dialog. A star in the making, for sure. Although it plays out in a rather routine fashion, a slightly better than usual screenplay, location shooting, and the actors mentioned make this a worthy choice for ‘40s noir/crime film fans.
Le Corbeau (The Raven) / Henri-Georges Clouzot (1943). France. This great film was shot in France during the Nazi occupation of the country. When it was released, it was denounced by all sides. The Nazis recognized that the story of rampant paranoia, suspicion, and betrayals was an allegory of the atmosphere in France at that time. Those opposed to the occupation disliked the film because of its dark picture of the French people, portraying them as easily led into mob violence. The setting is the small town of St. Robin outside of Paris. All at once residents begin receiving poison-pen letters signed by “The Raven.” The letters reveal either the recipient’s personal secrets or warns about the danger that others present. Most of them seem to be directed toward the newest doctor in town, Dr. Germain (Pierre Fresnay). The anonymous letters accuse him of, among other things, of being an abortionist and having an affair with the young wife of a well loved older physician. It isn’t long before everyone in St. Robin is at each others’ throats. Suspicion bounces from person to person. Who is The Raven? The elderly doctor or his young wife? The landlord’s sexually active daughter? Her 14-year-old sister who has a crush on Dr. Germain? And how about the bitter, pinch-faced nurse at the hospital? The Reveal does not come until the final seconds, resulting in a startling conclusion. The tension created by Director Clouzot is almost palpable. The movie is derived from a novel which, in turn, was based on a historical incident from the 1920s.
I used to think of the Hollywood penchant toward remaking foreign films in English to be a modern phenomenon until I encountered the 1951 remake of Fritz Lang’s German classic “M” from 1939. Well, that comment segues nicely into the American remake of “Le Corbeau” called….
The 13th Letter / Otto Preminger (1951). Twentieth Century Fox. This English remake of “Le Corbeau” doesn’t mention the French film as a source nor the historical incident from the 1920s it is based on but refers back only to the novel. It does pay some homage to its French origins. An opening title tells us that the new movie was filmed in its entirety at a “small French-Canadian community in the Province of Quebec.” When I reviewed the Hollywood remake of Fritz Lang’s “M” (released the same year as “The 13th Letter” but from different studios), I said that if you could, as much as possible, take the new film on its own merits then it had quite a bit to offer. I can’t quite say the same for the Preminger effort. The director doesn’t seem to be working too hard for a film that falls between “Where The Sidewalk Ends” and “Angel Face” in his filmography. The new film is not quite a shot-for-shot remake but is pretty much a scene-for-scene redo. The only substantial change is right at the end where a fairly long dialog passage goes to explaining the crimes in a lot more detail than Clouzot provided – but I liked the Clouzot approach better. The new young doctor is played by Michael Rennie who can’t come close to showing the inner turmoil that Pierre Fresnay brought to his tormented physician. Linda Darnell is good enough as the landlord’s flirty daughter if she isn’t nearly as seductive and overtly sexual as the French would have it. The only real notable performance is by Charles Boyer who is quite brilliant as the elderly doctor with the young wife who the anonymous letters continually link to Rennie’s character. Howard Koch wrote the screenplay. The cinematographer was Joseph LaShelle (Laura, The Apartment, Marty), so there was talent behind the camera. I can neither recommend or not recommend this picture. See it if curiosity leads you that way. It’s not really a bad movie but not a very good one either.
Matching scenes. The two doctors confer.