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!

Dark Passage (1947)

Vincent Parry (Humphrey Bogart) has been falsely accused of killing his wife, when he escapes San Quentin prison to find the real killer, he finds unexpected help from Irene Jansen and an unexpected nuisance from a man named Baker (Clifton Young) who he hitched a ride with then needed to knock out when he figured out who Parry was. While Irene is out purchasing clothes that Parry will need he finds a news article about Irene’s father who had been put to death for the murder of her stepmother. Irene later explains that he was falsely accused and that’s why she is helping Parry. She was at Parry’s trial and saw it for the circus it was thanks to one Madge Rapf (Agnes Moorehead) Parry’s wife’s friend and sole accuser who also happens to be involved in Irene’s personal life as her former fiancée Bob (Bruce Bennett) is in love with Irene. Seeing that Madge knows Irene and knowing Madge for what she is, Parry decides he can’t stay with Irene and heads out on his own where he is instantly recognized by a cab driver, Sam (Tom D'Andrea), who doesn’t believe Parry killed his wife either. Sam offers his friend Dr. Coley’s (Houseley Stevenson) services as a plastic surgeon. Vincent waits for his appointment at the apartment of his only friend, musician George Fellsinger (Rory Mallinson) whom he returns to after his surgery to find dead.
Needing to be taken care of after surgery, Parry returns to Irene and finds Baker’s car parked outside of her place. Ignoring it for the time being, he lets Irene take care of him until the bandages need to come off. Despite the fact that they both have fallen in love, Parry once again strikes out on his own only to be confronted by suspicious cops, whom he manages to escape, and Baker who demands money to keep quiet. Poor parry, all he’s trying to do is figure out who killed his wife. Ironically, Baker unwittingly helps him in the right direction. Once Parry solves the crime, he calls Irene and…get this poetic lingo… they two make a rendezvous in…wait for it… Peru.

Another great Bogart movie! Though the connections between Madge and Irene are a bit confusing at first, once the connection is made the story is enticing and edgy. Parry has a lot of close calls but luck is with him. With the clever use of a subjective lens used sparingly (thankfully), the director Delmer Daves allows the viewer to become used to Bogart’s voice instead of using another actor. In fact, Bogart’s face is not shown until well into the middle of the movie when the bandages come off to reveal his new face.

Sidenote:
When Vincent reads the newspaper clipping about Irene's father, the accompanying photograph of her father is that of director/screenwriter Delmer Daves.



The Bridge On The River Kwai, (1957) The movie that made me want to learn to whistle!
The Japanese Army forces World War II POWs to build a strategic bridge in Burma.
Cast: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa Dir: David Lean