Getting Testy!

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The Constant Nymph (1943) A composer finds inspiration in his wife's romantic cousin. Edmund Goulding Cast: Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine, Alexis Smith.

TCM Tuesdays in September: Kirk Douglas: Top Secret Affair (1957)

Upset that Melville "Ironpants" Goodwin (Kirk Douglas), a highly decorated Army major general, has been appointed the chairman of the Joint Atomic International Commission over her candidate, Dorothy Peale (Susan Hayward) who owns and operates News World magazine, sets out to ruin his reputation. Inviting him to her estate for a long weekend under the guise of doing a positive profile of America's hero, she uses hidden tape recorders, trick questions, and secret cameras to catch Melville in any compromising situations. Soon Peale realizes that he's as intelligent as he is athletic, out-maneuvering her at every turn. Knowing him to be quite the ladies man, she decides to use her charms as a last ditch effort.

She takes Melville for an evening out and in the process of trying to get him intoxicated, becomes quite so herself. Already suspecting she is up to no good, the last straw for Melville is when Peale forces him to sing in a night club. Having earlier shared with her his love for the song "The Caissons Go Rolling Along" and how it inspired him to join the Army, he reluctantly but patriotically sings the song.
Leaving Peale at the club, he goes back to her home to pack while a nervous Colonel Gooch (Jim Backus), the public information officer, tries to get a hold of their superior. However, Peale shows up, still tipsy and demands that Melville join her by the pool. While sharing intimate details of her life, she falls off the high dive into the pool, needing to be rescued. The obvious chemistry between the two is acted upon and Peale completely changes her tune. The next day she decides to nix the ridiculing story, much to her most reliable employee Bentley's (Paul Stewart) dismay. Peale decides she is going to marry Melville and perhaps even help him get elected for President. But Melville has no plans to continue the relationship. He quite efficiently let's Peale down while revealing top secret information about a past love affair he had with a French spy named Yvette that he eventually executed.

Feeling rejected, Peale goes back to her original plan with the added bonus of the top secret information. Titling the article "Blabbermouth Goodwin", she manages to add in a few photos that are out of context and make Melville look like a fool. Before the story hits the streets however, Melville is back, realizing he truly loves Peale and asks her to marry him. When the story hits Melville comes under fire by the senate and is hauled in for a hearing. Rudely questioned Senator Burdick (Roland Winters) Melville has a hard time explaining the photos that were taken and due to the top secret information, cannot defend himself about the Yvette.  Peale, feeling ashamed about what she has done, admits that the article is filled with exaggerations and lies but she cannot deny that Melville told her about Yvette.
In desperation, before he took the stand, Melville sends Colonel Gooch to see the President, hoping he will do him the favor of declassifying the information. The President takes it a step further and comes to the hearing. With the spy case declassified, Melville testifies that the Army knew that Yvette was a spy. Instead of letting him break the affair, he was ordered to feed her false information in advance of an important counterattack and eventually needed to execute her. Back on track, Melville can now deal with Peale. Will he ever be able to forgive her?

This is my last post for the Kirk Douglas Tuesdays. I have to thank TCM for putting him in the spotlight this month and showing me what a talented powerhouse he is. Though Top Secret Affair is a pretty typical story, both Hayward and Douglas infused it with their unique charm. Douglas was especially endearing when he sang "The Caissons Go Rolling Along". He was able to express his patriotism as a high ranking officer who knows he is being mocked but bravely sings on. And though this is mostly a comedy, the senate hearing portion of the film is quite dramatic and Douglas plays the part of the victim beautifully.
If you have not seen much of Kirk Douglas' work, I would highly suggest it. I can pretty much guarantee that you will not be disappointed in what he has to offer.

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Watch Kirk Douglas! They're showing Spartacus...

Stars! They're just like us!

They watch lobsters break dance!

They roller skate!

They horseplay!

They practice yoga!

They get their shoes shined!

They...er...garden!

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The Painted Veil (1934) I really loved the most recent version with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts.

A wife strays, then fights to redeem herself to her husband. Dir: Richard Boleslawski Cast: Greta Garbo, Herbert Marshall, George Brent.

The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)

Based on Terence Rattigan's play The Sleeping Prince, the story takes place in London in 1911 during the coronation of King George V. Grandduke Charles, the Rrince-Regent of Carpatha (Laurence Olivier) has arrived for the ceremonies with his son King Nicholas (Jeremy Spenser) and mother-in-law the Queen Dowager (Sybil Thorndike). Quite the playboy, Charles sets his sights on Elsie (Marilyn Monroe) a showgirl currently performing at the Coconut Club and depends upon Northbrook (Richard Wattis), his attaché from the British Foreign Office, to arrange a private dinner for them. Though Elsie is excited to be invited to what she thinks is a formal dinner, she puts her foot down when she realizes the dinner will be on a more tête-à-tête basis. Having dealt with this kind of issue before, she makes an agreement with Northbrook, who is nervous about displeasing The Regent, that she will stay for a short time before he will break into the dinner with an “emergency”. What Elsie didn’t count on was the vodka and champagne combination. After initially being ignored by Charles, who is a stickler for protocol and has business to attend to, he returns his attention to Elsie who has gotten quite tipsy. Trying his best romantic maneuvers, Elsie laughs him off, calling his game quite dull. Enraged, he sets about getting a car ready to take her home but when she leaves the room to get her wrap, he amps up the romantic atmosphere and Elsie (quite literally) falls for him. Slightly disgusted she has passed out from the vodka consumption, Elsie is put into a guest room and Charles goes to bed. The next day he is upset to find Elsie, who is now madly in love with him, still there. Through a series of events, she manages to stay with him the entire day, getting to attend the coronation and the ball afterwards. In that time Elsie manages to find out the true relationship between father and son, brook the gap between them and made the stuffiest of Regents fall in love with her.


I don’t think it needs repeating that this was a strange pairing of actors. Monroe, who now had her own production company and enough star power to choose who she wanted to work with, was interested in becoming a more serious actor. Teaming up with Olivier, Britain’s premiere Shakespearean and otherwise actor was definitely aiming for the apex. Though her part in The Prince and the Showgirl wasn’t quite dramatic, she certainly didn’t play an airhead either. Managing to disconcert The Regent in a most innocent way, the viewer can’t but wonder if she’s hiding some real intelligence behind those wide eyes of her. In the end, she has everyone eating out of her hand- a simple showgirl prone to wardrobe malfunctions. Though Olivier played the part of the stuffy regent to perfection and Thorndike was a delight as the hard-of-hearing Dowager, I was most impressed with Monroe’s performance. This was another scenario where her behavior on set was quite deplorable (something that My Week with Marilyn will apparently go into more detail about- Kenneth Branagh is to play Olivier- swoon!). Despite that and the struggles she had with Olivier who was directing the film and who had no tolerance for any of her nonsense, he got a very fine performance out of her. Looking at the movie, you wouldn’t know she was seriously intimidated by Olivier, so much so, she often wouldn’t arrive on set for days, once even leaving the elderly Thorndike waiting for hours in costume for her arrival.


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Go treasure hunting!

S&G: We did...but...then we didn't...

 Betsy Drake and Cary Grant 1949-1962

Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner 1951-1957

Burgess Meredith and Paulette Goddard 1944-1949

Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck 1939-1951
 

William Powell and Carole Lombard 1931-1933

Ginger Rogers and Lew Ayres 1934-1940

Regis Toomey with Joan Blondell and Dick Powell 1936-1944

Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. 1929-1933

 Lili Damita and Errol Flynn 1935-1942

Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh 1940-1960

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More Merchant Ivory!

Sounder (1972)

Humble and hardworking, the Morgan family, limps through the Depression as sharecroppers in Louisiana for storeowner Mr. Perkins (Ted Airhart). Barely able to survive on the meager earnings Perkins doles out, Nathan Lee depends upon his dog Sounder to help him hunt raccoon. One night, after the hunting is bad and seeing that his children who, along with his wife Rebecca (Cicely Tyson) toil endlessly during the day, Nathan Lee (Paul Winfield), steals ham from a neighbor's smokehouse. When Rebecca asks about the meat, he responds, "I did what I had to do."


David Lee (Kevin Hooks) their oldest son attends school six miles away. He and a few other black children are allowed to attend and sit in the back. His willingness to take the long trek and still do his chores proves to his father that David Lee is very bright and interested in learning. Mrs. Rita Boatwright (Carmen Mathews) a sympathetic white woman who has her laundry done by Rebecca, also sees that Davis Lee is a bright boy. She lends David her copy of The Three Musketeers and tells him they will discuss it when he has finished reading it.

After David Lee and his brother and sister, Earl and Josie Mae (Eric Hooks and Yvonne Jarrell) drop off Mrs. Boatwright’s laundry, they rush to see their father pitch a winning game of baseball. Nathan Lee is quite good and the opportunity missed is notable. They happily walk home to find Sheriff Charlie Young (James Best) and his deputy waiting to arrest Nathan Lee for the theft. As they haul him off, Rebecca reminds the sheriff that he has known Nathan Lee a long time and should please consider the difficulties they have been having as of late. When Sounder follows the truck, the deputy cruelly shoots him. He limps off into the woods as David Lee but he doesn’t find him. When Rebecca takes the long, hot walk into town to visit Nathan, she is informed that colored women are not allowed to visit their husbands and is turned away. She then goes to Mr. Perkins store to trade walnuts for ingredients to bake Nathan Lee a cake. Perkins complains to Rebecca that Nathan has made him look bad, claiming he has been good to her family, and demands to know who will do the sharecropping if Nathan is in jail. Rebecca tightly answers that she and her family will do what needs to get done. At the trial, Nathan Lee is sentenced to a year of hard labor at a prison camp. Rebecca bakes the cake and has David Lee bring it to the jail since he can visit his father. Nathan Lee does not know which camp he is being sent to, he asks David Lee not to visit him at the jail again. In Nathan Lee’s absence, the family works day and night to support themselves. At night, David reads The Three Musketeers to them, and on the weekends they attend church. One night, Sounder returns and David ministers to his wounds. When the sheriff refused to let Rebecca know which labor camp her husband has been sent to, David asks Mrs. Boatwright to find out. But the sheriff refuses to give her the information and abruptly leaves the office on an errand. Ms. Boatwright then spies at Nathan Lee’s file. The sheriff catches her in the act and threatens to ruin her good name should she reveal what she knows. David Lee, who has witnessed the whole transaction, is disappointed when Ms. Boatwright tells him she did not get the location.

Soon after, however, Mrs. Boatwright arrives at the house and announces the location of the labor camp. She teaches the family to read a map and points out the location of the camp. Rebecca then sends David Lee off with Sounder to find his father. Over many days, he travels on foot through rain and sunshine, finally reaching the camp. However, no one has heard of his father and when he tries questioning an inmate, the foreman hits his hand and chases him away. David then walks to a nearby schoolhouse, and is stunned to see that all the students inside are black as well as the teacher. He walks inside and asks for aid for his cut hand. The teacher, Camille Johnson (Janet MacLachlan) tends to his hand, and learns of why he is in the area. Seeing his interest in the school, invites him to her home for a hot meal. David Lee loves Camille’s home, it’s full of pretty things and lots of books. Camille tells him about notable blacks in history and quotes intellectuals such as W. E. B. Dubois. The next morning David attends her class and one of the students tells a story of rescuing his sister from drowning. The other students challenge his story, knowing that he cannot swim. However, David Lee defends the boy, stating that people can do impossible things when challenged, he tells them of the toil his family has been through while surviving without their father.

Days later, David Lee returns home much to his mother’s relief. He brings books that Camille gave him and the news that he was not able to find Nathan Lee. He also tells his mother of Camille and how she would like him to attend school that Fall. Rebecca states that if his father is home by that time, they will definitely consider it. In the meantime, they reap the sugar cane they sowed for Mr. Perkins and are given their measly share. Then one afternoon as Rebecca is sewing, Sounder suddenly barks and runs off down the road toward an unknown figure. Realizing it’s Nathan Lee, Rebecca and the children run joyously to meet him. Nathan Lee explains that his leg was injured in a dynamite blast and since he could not work, they released him early.  Very relieved that his father is home, David Lee is reluctant to read aloud the letter that arrives the next day from Camille. She is hoping he will be able to attend school, which starts in a week. However, Nathan Lee is very excited for his son, he’s even willing to go on credit at Perkins store to make sure he’s properly prepared. But David Lee refuses to go. It isn’t until his father convinces him that when he was wounded, he made up his mind to beat death, he would do the same with his leg, so David Lee need not worry. More importantly, he wants David Lee to strive for opportunities denied him, believing her has the ability to achieve major goals.

A deeply moving and poignant film, the Morgan family is the definitive composite of the African American family that struggled and would continue to struggle well out of the Depression era. Kudos to Winfield, Tyson, and especially Hooks who infused their characters with humility, depth, and strength that will touch the heart of anyone who watches this film. Definitely a must see. Don't forget your tissues!


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James Dean!

TCM Tuesdays in September: Kirk Douglas: The Devil's Disciple (1959)

At the onset of the American Revolution, the British Army, who are trying to make their way to New England, decide to hang anyone suspected of being a rebel. Their most recent victim is Tim Dudgeon who Reverend Anthony Anderson (Burt Lancaster), his pastor, tries to save. Unfortunately, he arrives too late to tell the British that Dudgeon is innocent. Anderson then tries to take the body but is informed that Dudgeon must hang as a reminder to the rebels. Anderson is adamant and almost arrested himself until some noted townspeople vouch for him. Later that night, Anderson is visited by Dick Dudgeon (Kirk Douglas), Dudgeon’s oldest son and the black sheep of the family. He has daringly stolen his father’s body from under the British Army’s nose and delivers it to Anderson. Despite Dudgeon's open rejection of Christianity, he asks Anderson to give his father a proper burial.

Later, when the British find the grave, they assume Anderson stole the body and set out to arrest him.  Anderson, who urged Dudgeon to come to his home so they could speak about the danger he is in, has been called away. Dudgeon’s mother is suspected of being on her deathbed and Anderson must be by her side. Dudgeon is left alone with Anderson’s wife Judith (Janette Scott), who is openly hateful of him. Thinking him a selfish adventurer, she must nonetheless entertain him so she does not upset her husband. When the British come for the arrest, Dudgeon pretends to be Anderson, much to his and Judith’s bewilderment. He warns Judith privately that she must not try and save him for her husband would be put to death either way.

Judith goes to inform her husband of what has taken place, urging him to save Dudgeon. When he runs off, she mistakenly thinks he does so to save himself. While Anderson tries to gather forces, he comes across true rebels and joins them in conquering the troops stationed in a nearby town. Judith races off to the prison and devotes herself to Dudgeon. While Dudgeon is on trial, Anderson receives an important missive stating that the relief troops the British so desperately need are not available. He takes this message to General Burgoyne (Lawrence Olivier), who is at the trial of Dudgeon and uses the information to save Dudgeon’s life.

Though it did not get great reviews on it’s release and is not really historically correct, I found The Devil’s Disciple mildly entertaining. Douglas is fabulous in the film (the man knew how to play a charming rogue), and Lancaster livens up his boring part in the battle scene, but it’s Olivier (third billed) that steals the show. Elegant, disillusioned, highly intelligent and quite cynical, he is the perfect, if a bit ironic, mouthpiece to deliver Bernard Shaw's cutting barbs about the British's shortcomings. There is also an ingenious and slightly quirky use of puppets to assist in the narration of the story that's very interesting.

Trivia:
Apparently Sir Laurence Olivier was willing to be third billed as he was trying to get funding to put on his screen version of Macbeth. Unfortunately, during this filming, Vivien Leigh was having a mental breakdown. Later, Olivier would state that this affected his performance immensely, ironic since he acted beautifully, due to his worry over her. It’s also rumored that he was bitter over the fact that Lancaster and Douglas’ production companies were able to get funding to film a British playwright’s work, while he was not.

Though Lancaster’s production company helped land the Shaw play, their history of going over-budget meant that the huge color extravaganza, typical of films from that era, was vetoed. Yet, the puppets got in! Also, Lancaster, though top billed, was relegated to playing the part of the pious Anderson because Douglas was riding high off his recent film successes. This was the third film out of seven that they did together.


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Another Tuesday full of Douglas! I'm gonna watch Paths Of Glory and Lust For Life!

S & G: Is anyone else as excited as me about this???

The Unguarded Moment (1956)

After the murder of a woman in the city of Ogden, high school music teacher Lois Conway (Esther Williams) becomes the target of an anonymous admirer. Receiving notes that quickly go from flirtation to veiled threats, Conway is convinced it’s one her students playing a prank. When she receives an invitation to meet the admirer one night in the school's deserted gym, she goes willingly, hoping to confront the offender and have him desist. Annoyance turns to fear when she is attacked in the locker room by the culprit. When the police catch her fleeing from the scene she is questioned by Lt. Harry Graham (George Nader) who informs her that a rapist/murderer is on the loose. At first Conway is not convinced that her student is one and the same. She still thinks she can break through to whoever it is, and much to Lt. Graham’s dismay, she doesn’t divulge much information. However, the admirer becomes more brazen, even breaking into her home to steal the letters he wrote. Things become even more difficult when she suspects it is the high school football star, Leonard Bennett (John Saxon), whose father, Mr. Bennett (Edward Andrews) is rich and influential.  Having no real proof of being threatened and suddenly being accused of being the pursuer, Conway finally enlists the aid of Lt. Graham. The tension between them is lessened when they realize part of it comes from being attracted to one another. Together, they go after their target revealing that despite certain appearances, much lays below the surface of this particular culprit.

Having made a name off her talent as a swimming beauty, by 1955 Williams had completed her contract with MGM and found her watery vehicles on the wane. So, it was quite a gutsy move to accept the offer from Universal to do this sex infused psychological thriller. Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off for Williams. Which is unfortunate because this is actually a very good B film with a very good plot line. However, though Williams is great in the film, the real star is Edward Andrews. His portrayal as the creepy, misogynistic father of Leonard is a far, far stretch from the Andrews I grew up knowing: “Dong (clap, clap), Dong! Where is my automobile?” The only issue I have with The Unguarded Moment is the constant barrage of sex between Conway and Graham. It’s too much to expect from a single woman who is being violently threatened by another man to be willingly manhandled as she is throughout the film.  Their quick and sexual report is too inconsistent and since it’s a big element in the film, it gets in the way of a truly good story.

Trivia: Guess who helped to write it?
In her own autobiography (which is actually quite good), Rosalind Russell revealed, "I've often worked on the material, on movie scripts (as I did with the play version of Auntie Mame), but only once did I actually get screen credit as a writer. A young man named Larry Marcus and I had an idea for a story about a schoolteacher who's attacked by one of her students. We sold it to a man who later sold it to Universal who made it with Esther Williams, who was very good in it. I had fun with Larry Marcus. So that we could concentrate without a thousand interruptions, I finally dragged him off to the Hotel Del Coronado, down at the beach, and sequestered him there until we'd finished our story. I knew we'd never get it done otherwise. We spent a week working, and I only let him go to his room to sleep. About five o'clock every afternoon I'd take him out on the beach and walk him up and down - it was winter - like he was a puppy "This is all you get, Larry, this air," I'd say. "Breathe in a lot of it, because after dinner, we start work again." The picture was called The Unguarded Moment. I wish I could tell you it was Gone with the Wind." - TCM

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Mildred Pierce (1945)
A woman turns herself into a business tycoon to win her selfish daughter a place in society.
Dir: Michael Curtiz Cast: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott. --If you haven't seen this, I kindly ask you to remove yourself from under the rock you are living under and do so.