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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The Murder Man (1935)

Shortly after hanging up on a desperate client that he and his partner Henry Mander (Harvey Stephens) have swindled money from, James Halford (Theodore von Eltz) gets into a verbal confrontation with Mander. Demanding he get the twenty thousand back from a risky investment that may blow their cover, Halford leaves the office and is discovered shot in his car when the chauffeur arrives at his home. Meanwhile, Mander is at the shooting gallery across the street from their office, having been told there will be a message awaiting him there. But there is no message.


When the Daily Star catches wind of the murder, Hal Robins (Robert Barrat) sends out a search party for the often drunk Steve Grey (Spencer Tracy) whose habit of scooping all the other papers and penning an interesting story, makes him he ideal man to follow the biggest story of the year. In fact, Grey is so good he is one step ahead of the story, able to dictate in advance of what is about to occur. Like when Mander is arrested under the suspicion that he killed Halford for the insurance claim.

However, it isn’t just that Grey’s a great writer; he has a personal history with Halford and Mander. When he is put on the stand to testify against Mander after stating he overheard Mander in an incriminating conversation, he makes no secret that Mander and Halford swindled Grey’s own father out of money. Despite this, Grey successfully manages to put the nail in Mander’s coffin; he is convicted and sentenced to execution. This is exactly what Grey wants or at least what he thought he wanted. Columnist Mary Shannon (Virginia Bruce) is in love with Steve, she is everything good and pure in his life. She makes him question what he has done for the sake of vengeance. You see, Steve not only watched his father lose all his money to Halford and Mander, he also suffered through watching his wife carry on an affair with Halford before he coldly tossed her aside, successfully managing to get all her money as well- leading her to commit suicide.

So Grey called Mander to the shooting gallery, stating there was a message awaiting him there. Grey took one of the guns and shot Halford in his car as he was being driven home. And Grey testified against Mander stating he overheard him promising to use the insurance money to pay back a client. He manages to successfully murder one man and have the other take the fall for it.


But now Grey has an attack of conscience. It doesn’t help that Robins assigns him to meet with and write Mander’s last story before he is executed. After struggling with the proper words and arguing with Robins, Grey dictates the real truth on the gramophone and asks Mary to type it up for him herself. As she listens in horror to what Grey has said, Grey takes himself to the police station to confess.

Hoping to catch him before he does confess, Mary breaks the record and runs to the station. However, Grey must tell his story. When he is taken away to be booked for murder, the commissioner assures Mary that the jury will take the full story of what’s transpired into consideration.

 
This movie was not only interesting due to the wonderful performance from Tracey, but also because of the unique ending. Though a bit drawn out, it was refreshing to see the story played out fully. Most movies of that era would have had the scene ending as Mary listens to Grey’s confession or as Grey enters the police station. Here we have the full confession again and the reason for it being told by Grey to an astonished commissioner. An added touch is that Grey phones into the Daily Star to make sure they get the story that Mary failed to produce- a scoop is a scoop after all! It was also interesting how the court story unfolds with interplay between the courtroom and the reporters rushing to the phones to give juicy tidbits of what’s going on.


Be on the look out for James Stewart in his first speaking role as “Shorty” the reporter.

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Babes In Arms

 The Mitchum siblings. John (L) and Robert (R)

 Bette Davis

 Basil Rathbone (L) and siblings

 Clifton Webb

 Waldo and sister Elsa Lanchester

 Sourpuss Franchot Tone

 Hedy Lamarr

 James Stewart

 Gene Tierney

 Rex Harrison

 Loretta Young

 Lauren Bacall

Vivien Leigh

A big thanks to Emily over at The Silver Screen Affair, I got a lot of photos from a wonderful blog she did a few weeks ago!

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Get your horror on!

Stars! They're just like us!

They motorbike!

They get their hair done. Halo Medusa!

They paint their own homes!

They raid the fridge!

They do laundry!

They sun bathe! Oh, the tan lines!

Getting Testy

Quotables: Harvey (1950) Happy Easter!

"One more peep outta you, weisenheimer, and I'll butter your necktie."

Ziegfeld Girl (1941)

Zeigfeld Girl is a moral story told through the parallel experiences of three girls who have been chosen to perform in the Ziegfeld Follies. Susan Gallagher (Judy Garland) is the youngest and most innocent. She’s packed with talent having travelled the vaudeville circuit with her father ‘Pop” Gallagher (Charles Winninger). She will make out the best, becoming a huge star and finding true lasting love. Then there is Sheila Regan (Lana Turner) a girl who grew up poor but honest. She has the love of a great man Gilbert Young (James Stewart) but trades in all in for expensive gifts and booze. It will not end well for her despite the love and support of her friends and family. Then there is Sandra Kolter (Hedy Lamarr) a married woman caught up in the Ziegfeld show by chance. She was with her husband while he auditioned for the orchestra and the producers took note of her extraordinary European beauty. Her husband Franz (Philip Dorn) is not keen on her entering the show but Sandra knows they need money to eat and live. They argue and it takes the rest of the movie for Sandra to realize what is important to her.

Ziegfeld Girl was an interesting film and apparently an omen of things to come for Lana Turner. I have never seen Turner act before and her reputation off screen has always overshadowed her talent. It was nice to see her in one of her earlier films and refreshing to realize she was actually quite good in her craft. This movie would prove to be her star making vehicle and stamp her as the new “sweater girl” of MGM. It was also interesting to see Hedy Lamarr packed between Garland and Turner- she was over seven years older than both women and her beauty was so exotic she stood out amongst them. This must have been very difficult for Garland who was always severely self-conscious of her looks. You’ll notice in the film that she is not one of the beauties on display like Turner and Lamarr. Before her singing talent is discovered, she’s mostly in the background on stage. You’ll also notice if you have seen The Great Ziegfeld (1936) that the final shot Ziegfeld Girl is recycled footage from that film.
Packed full of wonderful musical numbers like “Laugh, I Thought I’d Split My Sides”, “Minnie From Trinidad” and “Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Steen”, Ziegfeld Girl is a movie I recommend you see if only to check out Turner’s talent and Garland’s wonderful voice.

Side note: This was James Stewart's last performance before serving military service in World War II. He would come back 5 years later to star in the classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946).

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Indiscretion Of An American Wife (1954) An American woman tries to break it off with her Italian lover. Cast: Jennifer Jones, Montgomery Clift, Gino Cervi, Dick Beymer Dir: Vittorio De Sica

The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) A young girl comes of age while hiding from the Nazis.
Cast: Millie Perkins, Joseph Schildkraut, Shelley Winters, Richard Beymer Dir: George Stevens