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Grace Kelly: TO CATCH A THIEF, THE SWAN

Grace Kelly on TCM: Part I
Thanks to Kelly’s Oscar win, The Country Girl is interesting as a historical curiosity — it’s the sort of "gutsy" and "realistic" film adaptation of a respected stage play that was very popular among the filmgoing elite of the 1950s (e.g., Tea and Sympathy, A Hatful of Rain), but that I generally find both lame and artificial. Bing Crosby’s drunk is about as convincing as Kelly’s frumpish housewife (a role that should have gone to original choice Jennifer Jones), but that didn’t prevent a number of Academy members from making sure Crosby, director George Seaton, and the film itself received Academy Award nominations. Seaton, in fact, did win an Oscar for his [...]

Grace Kelly on TCM

Stating the obvious: most people take great pleasure in idealizing their idols — which is why idols are idols.
Whether we’re talking of gods, saints, prophets, or pop stars, the process is pretty much the same: flaws are expunged, deeds that never took place are turned into (at times miraculous) facts, the Pantheon of the Immortals becomes their abode following their earthly demise. (In some extreme cases — assorted gods, Elvis — the idol in question doesn’t die, period.)
Grace Kelly, Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month, is one of the lofty ones now dwelling in the aforementioned Pantheon. True, the flesh-and-bood Philadelphia-born (Nov. 12, 1929) woman (nee Grace Patricia Kelly) may have been quite different [...]

Shadows of Russia Schedule

Angela Lansbury, Laurence Harvey in The Manchurian Candidate

Below is the complete "Shadows of Russia" schedule on Turner Classic Movies:

Wednesday, Jan. 6
Part One: Twilight of the Tsars
8 p.m. The Scarlet Empress (1934) – starring Marlene Dietrich and John Lodge.
10 p.m. Rasputin and the Empress (1932) – starring John, Ethel and Lionel Barrymore.
Part Two: Red Romance
12:15 a.m. Red Danube (1949) – starring Walter Pidgeon and Ethel Barrymore.
2:30 a.m. Reds (1981) – starring Warren Beatty, Diane [...]

Shadows of Russia: Communism on TCM

Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas in Ninotchka (top); Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford in The Way We Were (bottom)

From the Romanovs’ last stand to Warren Beatty’s first solo directorial effort: On every Wednesday in January 2010, Turner Classic Movies will present the 20-film festival "Shadows of Russia," a showcase of Hollywood movies portraying Russia (and/or the Soviet Union) and the sociopolitical reverberations of Communism throughout the 20th century.
Among the scheduled films are classics such as Ninotchka, The Manchurian Candidate, and Reds, in addition to lesser-known fare like Counter-Attack, I Was a Communist for the FBI, and The Strawberry Statement. Get ready for some laughs and a few tears — mostly laughs. And mostly of the unintended kind.
I must red-facedly [...]

THE WAR GAME Review II

THE WAR GAME Review: Part I

Given the spate of nuclear Armageddon films made in the 1960s (e.g., Fail Safe, Planet of the Apes) and up through the early 1980s television production The Day After, it’s remarkable how such a low-budget effort like The War Game retains its effectiveness when almost all other films on the topic seem corny. It’s likely that the timeless effectiveness of Watkins’ film is the very reason it was banned for nearly two decades. Scenes of British police shooting civilians were probably deemed too disturbing. Worse yet, the film’s realistic feel and unflinching look at the total inability of the U.K. government to protect its citizens from a nuclear [...]

THE WAR GAME d: Peter Watkins

The War Game (1965)
Direction and Screenplay: Peter Watkins
Narration: Michael Aspel and Peter Graham
 

 

By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
For anyone who thinks that those 50-pack mega-DVD sets of public domain films put out by several different video companies are worthless, I would argue that the amount of films you get for the money is worth it, even if all were mediocre, and that the truth is: each DVD package will come with at least 8-10 enjoyable films, a few true classics like Carnival of Souls or Night of the Living Dead, and every so often a great little film will pop up that makes the package a total steal.
One such 50-pack I [...]

RICH MAN’S FOLLY – George Bancroft, Frances Dee

Rich Man’s Folly (1931)
Direction: John Cromwell
Screenplay: Grover Jones and Edward E. Paramore Jr.; from Charles Dickens’ novel Dombey and Son
Cast: George Bancroft, Frances Dee, Robert Ames, David Durand, Juliette Compton, Dorothy Peterson
 

Directed by the respected John Cromwell and based on Charles Dickens‘ Dombey and Son, Rich Man’s Folly features George Bancroft as a ruthless, egotistical shipping tycoon whose only concern is his work, all the while grooming his young son so he’ll one day take over the family business. In the meantime, the rest of family is completely ignored.
That is the kind of role Bancroft did best: Larger-than life, driven, and arrogant men who usually meet a towering, humbling defeat in the final reel. Also in the [...]

THE PONY EXPRESS – Betty Compson, Ricardo Cortez

The Pony Express (1925)
Direction: James Cruze
Screenplay: Walter Woods; from Woods and Henry James Forman’s story
Cast: Betty Compson, Ricardo Cortez, George Bancroft, Ernest Torrence, Wallace Beery, Al Hart
 

The Pony Express is a rousing James Cruze Western depicting the founding of the Pony Express with a backdrop of political ambitions concerning a senator’s plans to get California to secede from the United States so he can build his own empire.
A great cast and Cruze’s direction keep this one interesting — even though Ricardo Cortez in a period film seems woefully out of place and pretty Betty Compson’s role is more or less that of an ingenue, merely requiring her to look good while reacting to the things going [...]

THE APARTMENT ABOVE d: Leon Trystan

Pietro Wyzej / The Apartment Above (1937)
Direction: Leon Trystan
Screenplay: Emanuel Schlechter, Ludwik Starski, Eugeniusz Bodo
Cast: Eugeniusz Bodo, Helena Grossówna, Józef Orwid
 

 

Leon Trystan’s Pietro Wyzej (alternately known in the US as The Apartment Above, Neighbors, and The Neighbor from the Next Floor) is a delightful Polish comedy about two men — one older (Józef Orwid), the other younger (Eugeniusz Bodo) — who happen to have the same name.
The two live on opposite floors of the same apartment building and have an acrimonious relationship. The younger man is a radio announcer and the leader of a swing orchestra; the older man is a classical musician. A string of zany misunderstandings and mistaken identities ensues when the older man’s niece [...]

THE RAVEN – Henry B. Walthall – d: Charles Brabin

The Raven (1915)
Direction: Charles Brabin
Screenplay: Charles Brabin; from George Cochran Hazelton’s novel and play The Raven: The Love Story of Edgar Allan Poe
Cast: Henry B. Walthall, Warda Howard
 

Starring Henry B. Walthall, The Raven is an Essanay feature depicting the life of Edgar Allan Poe, starting with his childhood and going all the way to his marriage to his cousin (played by the little-known Warda Howard).
Charles Brabin’s direction is uneven: At some points it’s stagy and rudimentary; at other points, Brabin creates some remarkably striking and eerie visual effects, including a bravura scene for Walthall in which he descends further and further into madness following the death of his wife. Brabin visualizes this with a barrage [...]

M’LISS – Mary Pickford, Thomas Meighan

M’Liss (1918)
Direction: Marshall Neilan
Screenplay: Frances Marion; from Bret Harte’s story
Cast: Mary Pickford, Thomas Meighan, Theodore Roberts, Tully Marshall, Charles Ogle, Monte Blue, Winifred Greenwood
 

Mary Pickford, Thomas Meighan in M’Liss
 

Directed by Marshall Neilan and written by Frances Marion – two frequent Mary Pickford collaborators — M’Liss is one of Pickford’s very best films. In this comedy-drama, Pickford plays a spirited and unruly mountain girl, that’s the M’Liss of the title, who falls in love with the new schoolteacher (Thomas Meighan) — who is later falsely accused of murder.
Pickford, by then already a superstar, gives a sterling performance; she is ably supported by (future star) Thomas Meighan as the schoolteacher, as well as a fine collection of character actors including [...]

THE GREAT WHITE TRAIL – Doris Kenyon

The Great White Trail (1917)
Direction: Leopold Wharton and Theodore Wharton
Screenplay: Gardner Hunting and Leopold Wharton
Cast: Doris Kenyon, Paul Gordon, Richard Stewart, Thomas Holding, Louise Hotaling, Hans Roberts, Edgar Davenport
 

Some films have "everything except the kitchen sink" as the saying goes. Well, the 1917 melodrama The Great White Trail has a plot that has everything and about three kitchen sinks as well, as it briskly makes its way from one improbable situation after another before everything is happily resolved in the final reel.
Doris Kenyon plays a happy young wife and mother. When her irresponsible brother appeals to her for help, her husband (Paul Gordon) misunderstands the situation, believing her to be unfaithful. He turns her out of the [...]

HER NIGHT OF ROMANCE – Constance Talmadge, Ronald Colman

Her Night of Romance (1924)
Direction: Sidney Franklin
Screenplay: Hans Kräly
Cast: Constance Talmadge, Ronald Colman, Jean Hersholt, Albert Grand, Robert Rendel
 

Directed by Sidney Franklin and written by frequent Ernst Lubitsch collaborator Hans Kräly, Her Night of Romance is certainly on my list of top three favorite films at Cinesation 2009.
Constance Talmadge, whose extant films are hard to come by, is always a delightful comedienne. In Her Night of Romance, Talmadge plays Dorothy Adams, a wealthy young woman who goes about in hideous disguises to ward off fortune hunters only interested in her money. Eventually, Dorothy meets and falls in love with an impoverished English Lord (Ronald Colman), who is mistaken for a doctor. The "doctor" goes along with [...]

THE MARINES ARE COMING – William Haines, Esther Ralston

The Marines Are Coming (1934)
Direction: David Howard
Screenplay: James Gruen; from Colbert Clark and John Rathmell’s story
Cast: William Haines, Esther Ralston, Conrad Nagel, Armida, Edgar Kennedy, Hale Hamilton
 

The Marines Are Coming was a last-minute substitution for the 1936 version of M’Liss, starring Anne Shirley, which was originally scheduled but didn’t arrive in time for Cinesation 2009.
William Haines‘ last film, The Marines Are Coming follows Haines’ usual formula: a cocky, womanizing soldier (Haines) vies with his superior officer (Conrad Nagel) for the hand of beautiful girl (Esther Ralston). Inevitably, Haines’ character later proves his worth when he saves his fellow American officers from a band of Mexican bandits.
Though hardly a good film, The Marines Are Coming [...]

Top Five Movie Screamers

Top Ten Movie Screamers: 10 to 6

5 – Janet Leigh in Psycho (1960)
I don’t recall myself recoiling in horror while watching Janet Leigh’s shower scene in Psycho, but I do recall quite vividly one night long ago when I was showering at an acquaintance’s place and imagined myself facing the same fate as Leigh’s unlucky bank teller. So, I guess that sequence did leave a lasting impression on me. (Needless to say, I was out of that acquaintance’s shower stall and all dried up in a matter of seconds.)

4 – Fay Wray in King Kong (1933), Doctor X (1932), and The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
Fay Wray has to be here. To her belongs the title of [...]

Top Ten Movie Screamers

Doctor X directed by Michael Curtiz (top); Janet Leigh in Psycho (bottom)

Halloween Time. So, here’s my list of the Top Ten Movie Screamers of All Time.
Well, at least the Top Ten Movie Screamers of All Time That I Can Think of Right Now.
You won’t find any new movies here because I tend to avoid most recent horror movies — partly because most of the recent ones I’ve seen are total crap; partly because there’s enough horror in the world out there and I see no need for me to go looking for more at the movies.
Also, most of the screaming newcomers don’t have the vocal flair of their predecessors. Even Naomi Watts, a really good actress, pales next to [...]

A COTTAGE ON DARTMOOR d: Anthony Asquith

A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929)
Direction: Anthony Asquith
Screenplay: Anthony Asquith; from a story by Herbert Price
Cast: Norah Baring, Uno Henning, Hans Schlettow
 

Uno Henning in A Cottage on Dartmoor
 

Very little in a career overview of filmmaker Anthony Asquith prepares a viewer for the brilliant thriller A Cottage on Dartmoor, released by Kino, which he both wrote (from a story by Herbert Price) and directed. Asquith’s wonderful but straightforward adaptations of Pygmalion (1938) and The Browning Version (1951) — and, to a lesser extent, The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) and Libel (1959) — do not really speak to the dynamics of this 1929 film.
The director fully embraces the tale of obsessive love in terms of silent [...]

PILLARS OF SOCIETY – Henry B. Walthall – d: Raoul Walsh

Pillars of Society (1916)
Direction: Raoul Walsh
Screenplay: From a novel by Henrik Ibsen
Cast: Henry B. Walthall, Mary Alden, Juanita Archer, George Beranger, Josephine Crowell, Olga Grey
 

Pillars of Society is a film about hypocrisy, having its basis on a story by Ibsen. The Birth of a Nation hero Henry B. Walthall (right) plays the son of a Norwegian shipping company; in his youth, he goes to Paris to study and has an affair with a married Bohemian actress. However, his brother-in-law is falsely accused of having said affair with the actress; he protects Walthall by accepting the blame and leaving for America.
Years later, the brother-in-law returns and demands that Walthall clear his name. Fearing that if the [...]

CROOKED STREETS – Ethel Clayton

Crooked Streets (1920)
Direction: Paul Powell
Screenplay: Edith M. Kennedy; from a story by Samuel Merwin
Cast: Ethel Clayton, Jack Holt, Clyde Fillmore, Josephine Crowell
 

 

Beautiful Ethel Clayton, a major star in the 1910s, plays a young woman who takes a job as secretary to a Professor of antiquities about to embark upon a trip to China. Clayton, however, has a secret motive for wanting to get to China.
Crooked Streets is an excellent action-packed drama with a particularly impressive lengthy chase sequence in which Clayton rides alone to a dangerous part of town and is attacked by a massive crowd of Chinese locals. The film also offers a great fight sequence between Jack Holt and a Chinese thug who [...]

O MIMI SAN – Sessue Hayakawa, Mildred Harris

O Mimi San (1914)
Direction: Charles Miller
Screenplay: Thomas H. Ince (unconfirmed)
Cast: Sessue Hayakawa, Mildred Harris, Tsuru Aoki
 

O Mimi San is historically important as Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa’s first film. In it, Hayakawa plays a prince who goes to a retreat after an attempt on his life is made; once there he falls in love with a young woman (Mildred Harris, future wife of Charles Chaplin) but then finds himself torn between love and duty as a leader of his nation. Compounding matters, an arranged marriage (with Tsuru Aoki, Hayakawa’s own future wife) awaits him.
Directed by Charles Miller and allegedly written by Thomas H. Ince (a studio head best remembered for his "mysterious" death in 1924), O Mimi San [...]

THE DEVIL’S CLAIM – Sessue Hayakawa

The Devil’s Claim (1920)
Direction: Charles Swickard
Screenplay: J. Grubb Alexander
Cast: Sessue Hayakawa, Rhea Mitchell, Colleen Moore, William Buckley
 

In The Devil’s Claim, Sessue Hayakawa plays an Indian (!) novelist who uses his experiences with women as inspiration for his novels. Next, he encounters a young American woman (Rhea Mitchell) who tells him a story about Satan-worshipping societies and evil talismans. Her real motive, however, is to reunite the novelist with Indora (future 1920s superstar Colleen Moore), a young Persian girl whom he had abandoned.
Directed by Charles Swickard from a screenplay by J. Grubb Alexander, The Devil’s Claim is an excellent drama — and so is Hayakawa’s performance. Much of the plot is told in the "story within a story" mode, [...]

Johnny Mercer Centennial Tribute

Johnny Mercer (top); Mercer, Donald O’Connor, Hoagy Carmichael at the 1951 Academy Awards ceremony (bottom)

Johnny Mercer’s musical legacy will be celebrated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with a gala centennial tribute featuring film clips of many of Mercer’s classic songs, in addition to performances and appearances by friends and colleagues, on Thursday, November 5, at 8 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
Note: This event is sold-out, but standby tickets may become available.
Program host Michael Feinstein and Monica Mancini (daughter of Mercer’s longtime friend, Henry Mancini) will perform some of Mercer’s best-known songs, while Oscar-winning songwriter-composer Alan Bergman, Oscar-nominated songwriter Arthur Hamilton, [...]

Ramon Novarro III: Anita Page, Murder, Life As a Gay Man

Anita Page, Ramon Novarro in The Flying Fleet

Ramon Novarro: Allan Ellenberger Interview II
Ramon Novarro and Anita Page. Do you believe he actually asked her hand in marriage as she claimed later in life?
I do, and the main reason is that I knew Anita Page and interviewed her extensively for over a year before her health really began to decline. At that point, she would have short-term memory loss due to a stroke, which made interviewing her more difficult. That, and the image that she presented to the world in some ways made her appear unreliable. All I know is that I was able to prove most of the stories she told me with secondary [...]

Ramon Novarro II: Best Films, Rex Ingram

Jeanette MacDonald, Ramon Novarro in The Cat and the Fiddle. Photo: Courtesy Matias Bombal Collection.

Ramon Novarro: Allan Ellenberger Interview I
How would you describe Ramon Novarro the actor?
Novarro was a first-rate actor – maybe not an Olivier, but a good solid actor. Even in bad films such as Laughing Boy (1934), he had his moments. He was excellent in dramatic roles such as the aviator Alexis Rosanoff opposite Greta Garbo in Mata Hari (1931), or as the rapist-suitor of Myrna Loy in The Barbarian (1933). He excelled in light comedic moments, especially in The Prisoner of Zenda (1922) and in several of his musicals including The Cat and the Fiddle (1934) and The [...]

Ramon Novarro: Q&A with Author Allan Ellenberger

I first contacted author Allan Ellenberger shortly before the publication of his book on Old Hollywood star Ramon Novarro, as at the time I was working on my own Novarro bio. Instead of treating me like a pesky rival, Allan generously shared the information he’d amassed throughout about a decade of research — and for that I was very thankful.
We’ve since become good friends (but Allan, you need to buy me pizza more often), so I’m glad to report that his Ramon Novarro (McFarland, 1999) is now available in paperback at online bookstores. In his carefully researched book (I’ve read it about four or five times), Allan discusses Ramon Novarro’s life and career from his early beginnings in [...]

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