Spencer's Mountain (1963)

Clay Spencer (Henry Fonda) and his wife Olivia (Maureen O’Hara) live with their nine children and the senior Spencers in the Snake River Valley within the Grand Tetons of Wyoming. They are an uneducated, poor, but hard working people who are about to celebrate their eldest son’s graduation from high school. Clayboy (James MacArthur) will not only be the first of the Spencer’s to graduate but with his teacher Miss Parker’s (Virginia Gregg) encouragement, the first Spencer to go to college. Graduating with honors, Clayboy is very interested in continuing his education, however, paying for that education sets off a series of obstacles that tests the family’s strength and patience. Clay, a man who believes in God but not religion unknowingly signs an application for a clerical scholarship in order for his son to attend university. When Clayboy is denied the scholarship, Clay travels to the school to get to the root of the problem where he discovers the type of application he signed and Clayboy’s non-existent education in Latin that bars him from it. Striking a deal with the Dean for admission without a scholarship, Clay promises that Clayboy will pass the Latin exam by the end of the summer. Learning Latin is small potatoes for Clayboy who along with his family must figure out some way to pay for the first year of school. When Grandpa Spencer’s (Donald Crisp) dies in a tragic accident, Clayboy all but gives up his dream. With the encouragement of his father, he continues to work at the newly developed free library that his teacher Miss Parker has established for him. Despite that job, a little over five hundred dollars must be raised. After swallowing their pride and asking for a loan from a wealthier neighbor who denies them, Clay decides to give up a dream of his own for Clayboy.
Having long promised Olivia that he would build their dream home on Spencer’s Mountain with it’s grand views, Clay burns down the house they have been building all summer and sells the land to his boss Colonel Coleman (Hayden Rorke) at the quarry. Ironically, Coleman is the father to Claris (Mimsy Farmer) who is deeply in love with Clayboy and his family. Too impatient to wait four years for Clayboy to marry her, Claris has herself transferred to Clayboy’s university so they can be together. With the sale of the land, Clay will be able to pay for Clayboy to go to college with the hope that he will be able to assist his younger sibling and so on down the line.

A simple film with a simple theme combined with great performances by Fonda, O'Hara, MacArthur and Crisp (his swan song), there is a lot to love about Spencer's Mountain. It's both entertaining and endearing. It was also the pre-cursor to a favorite show of mine I used to watch as a kid in the eighties- The Waltons. Based on Earl Hamner, Jr.'s life growing up in Schulyer, Virginia during the Depression, the movie and the show differ greatly. For instance, director Delmer Daves did not to use the Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop in the film (I am a Virginia girl and though Wyoming's nice, our mountains are nothing to sneeze at!) and some of the grittier themes of the book and film (alcoholism and infidelity) are seriously watered down in the show. The names also differ and in my family, when someone says Goodnight, John-Boy, we're all thinking about this scene:

Ach! Now I want to watch The Waltons.

Trivia:

Be on the look out for Maureen O'Hara's daughter Bronwyn FitzSimons as the Dean's secretary!

Spencer's Mountain was not a great time for Fonda whose new agent, unbeknownst to him, turned down an opportunity for Fonda to perform as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway. Apparently, the black comedy by Edward Albee was written specifically with Fonda in mind.  Fonda also regretted not being able to perform in the film version which slated him and...wait for it...Bette Davis! Can you IMAGINE?? Bette Davis as Martha? How legendary would that have been? I mean, I LOVE Taylor and Burton in that film- they're fantastic! But Fonda and Davis?? Ach! For all you classic film buffs: Eve and Frank pitted against one another is what springs to mind.



Tonight on TCM!
Joanne Woodward! Check out Rachel, Rachel and Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams! You won't be disappointed!

Svengali (1931)

When Svengali (John Barrymore) and his lackey Gecko (Luis Alberni) visit the studio of artists, The Laird (Donald Crisp), Taffy (Lumsden Hare), and Billee (Bramwell Fletcher), he is in search of a meal. His latest conquest Honori (Carmel Myers) has proven a failure, though she left her husband thinking Svengali loved her, she refused her husband’s offer of money much to Svengali’s apparent disappointment. She is later found having killed herself. Instead of a meal Svengali finds himself thrown in some bath water with The Laird and Taffy rushing off to tell others Svengali has finally been bested when it comes to personal hygiene. While they are away, Svengali makes use of one of Taffy’s suits which happens to have a pocketful of The Laird’s money. Happy with his discovery, Svengali is even happier to find his next conquest in artist model, Trilby O'Ferrall (Marian Marsh). He is enchanted by her voice and decides he can use it for profit but must use his hypnotic powers to win her away from Billee whom she loves.
One day under the pretext of curing her headache, Svengali hypnotizes her and thereafter is able to control her by the power of his thoughts. When Billee discovers Trilby posing nude for a group of artists, they quarrel, and Svengali convinces her to fake a suicide and leave Paris with him. Five years later The Laird, Taffy, and Billee discover Trilby is alive when curiosity brings them to the Paris debut of Madame Svengali the singer and toast of Europe. Astonished to see the woman he thought was dead attached to Svengali, Billee is now convinced that Trilby is under Svengali’s spell and is determined to win her back. Knowing that the strain of maintaining his mental grip on Trilby will eventually be his downfall, Billee follows their tour until Svengali must cancel all engagements and is forced to have Madame Svengali perform in only the lowliest of places. Now fully in love with Trilby himself, Svengali is haunted by the fact she will not return his love of her own free will. Deciding to give up on life and by extension Trilby, Svengali’s last wish is to be granted in death what he was denied in life, Trilby’s love.

Through a bumpy series of events that do not mesh smoothly, Svengali showcases an incongruent image of a man who forever changes the course of Trilby's life. A tongue-in-cheek cum Gothic horror cum sappy romance is jarring for any viewer trying to wrap their head around Svengali's true nature. Combine these inconsistencies with Barrymore's overpowering talent compared to Marsh's overplayed naïveté (I'm assuming here as I have not seen her in other films and have no comparison to say whether or not she was a talented actress) and what you have is a mediocre film tribute to a thrilling story.

Side note:
Ironically, I am currently reading Marlene Dietrich, a completely absorbing and entertaining biography by her daughter Maria Riva which paints Dietrich's relationship with von Sternberg in a completely different and less ominous light. I recommend it to everyone even if you, like me, are not well acquainted with Dietrich's work. It's really quite refreshing in its straightforward honesty and creative narrative.

Tonight on TCM! Guest programmer Kareem Abdul-Jabar has picked out quite a line up!

The Big Sleep (1946) Private eye Philip Marlowe investigates a society girl's involvement in the murder of a pornographer. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers Dir: Howard Hawks

The Maltese Falcon (1941) Hard-boiled detective Sam Spade gets caught up in the murderous search for a priceless statue.Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre Dir: John Huston

The Shootist (1976) A dying gunfighter tries to set his affairs in order. Cast: John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, James Stewart Dir: Don Siegel