Above Suspicion (1943)

In the Spring of 1939, immediately after Frances (Joan Crawford) and her husband Professor Richard Myles (Fred MacMurray) are married, they are approached by a former classmate of Richard’s, Peter Galt (Richard Ainley) who is aware they will be honeymooning in Southern Germany. Peter asks Richard to track down a scientist who has information about a magnetic mine the Germans have developed. He has disappeared and Peter thinks Richard has a better chance of finding him since he will be seen as an American tourist and therefore, “above suspicion”.

Unfortunately, not being professional spies, the Myles eventually arouse the suspicion of Count Sig von Aschenhausen (Basil Rathbone), another former Oxford schoolmate of Richard's with secret and sinister ties to the Nazi party. Once they find their quarry with the help of a surprisingly friendly Conrad Veidt, the Myles will risk life and limb, witness murder and subject themselves to Nazi kidnapping and torture, prompting one to wonder if Mrs. Myles will need get a better honeymoon next time around?

If one stretches the imagination, first to believe that Crawford is a fresh faced college kid who’s nabbed her favorite professor, and two, was excited about going to Southern Germany for a honeymoon in 1939, then it won’t seem to out of the realm of possibility for too extremely inexperienced tourist cum spies to foil several Nazi officers, completely change their identities as well as passports, and still manage to get back home safely with the needed information. Trust the studio to add a little light comedy to the film to detract from the almost impossible likelihood of anything like this coming off. Another stretch, as Crawford is not so handy in the light comedy department.

All this is not to say it’s a bad film. It’s still a Crawford vehicle and worth watching. MacMurray sprichst Deutch!



Tonight on TCM!

Another wonderful installment of Moguls & Movie Stars, A History of Hollywood: Warriors & Peace Makers (2010) followed up by some great movies:
Citizen Kane (1941)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Pinky (1949)

Stars! They're just like us!

They read the funnies!

They make regrettable fashion decisions!

They protect themselves from UVA rays!

They learn French!

They stretch it out!

They're confused by charades!

I found this photo on the LIFE website and the caption read: Roland Young watches as a woman plays charades. That "woman" looks a lot like the woman I consider to be the luckiest person in the world, one Mrs. Florence Eldridge (Fredric March's wife). Can anyone confirm?

Marriage Among the Stars...

Lew Cody and Mabel Normand

Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis




Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler



Bing Crosby and Kathryn Grant

Mel Ferrer and Audrey Hepburn

Fred MacMurray and June Haver

Jackie Coogan and Betty Grable

Tonight on TCM!

Summer Under the Stars: Bette Davis!

Good and Awful...

Double Indemnity, the epitome of the film noir. The standard in which we hold up any film noir to. The plot is a good one and well played out. There is a building of suspense in the murder scene as well as afterwards when Barton Keyes denies any foul play but then starts to suspect and build a case agaimst Phyllis Dietrichson. Though Walter Neff is supposed to be a tough guy, and though he has committed a terrible crime, you can't help but feel sorry for him. Especially as his friendship with Lola Dietrichson unfolds and elements of Phyllis Dietrichson's are laid out in the open. There is a heavy feeling of Neff's predictment, after the murder and throughout the rest of the film. I found that I was trying to figure out if there was a possibility for him to escape and start anew. There was, he could have completely washed his hands of the crime, laid the blame at Nino and Phyllis' feet but he underneath the hardboiled front, Neff has a heart and sacrifices his freedom for yet another woman, Lola Dietrichson. Barbara Stanwyk plays the perfect jaded wife. First a victim and then the selfish, greedy monster she secretly is underneath it all.

Simply put, The Lady from Shanghai was hard to follow. It had moments of cinematic forward thinking with elaborate backgrounds and metaphoric dialogue but the story, though a good one, fell flat. I was confused throughout most of the film and annoyed with Rita Hayworth's soft-spokeness, Orson Welles broken Irish dialect and Glenn Anders attempts at acting (seriously, he was scary and not in a good way). Again, the story was a good one and had it been played out without so much focus on the main character, Michael O'Hara, his inner demons and his relationship with Elsa Bannister in backgrounds that were more distracting than their own back story, this could have been a very successful film. Also, Orson Welles does not play his character well. This man is supposed to be a seasoned sailor, a man of many worlds, a street scholar and yet he is so easily suckered into Grisby's plan with no real concern for the holes in it such as the typed confession. Orson Welles feels more suspicion for Elsa Bannister's feelings for him which she clearly puts out into the open, than he does for getting involved in what's supposed to be a faked and confessed murder with a man who is clearly a nutbag. It just doesn't make sense.

Tonight on TCM!

The Lawless (1950) A newspaper editor takes on the cause of oppressed migrant workers.Cast: MacDonald Carey, Gail Russell, John Sands, Lee Patrick Dir: Joseph Losey