Category: Classics

“Ball of Fire” (1941) starring Barbara Stanwyck & Gary Cooper

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Opening credits prologue: Once upon a time – in 1941 to be exact – there lived in a great, tall forest – called New York – eight men who were writing an encyclopedia. They were so wise they knew everything: the depth of the oceans, and what makes a glowworm glow, and what tune Nero fiddles while Rome was burning. But there was one thing about which they knew very little – as you will see…

I saw this movie yesterday (July 16th)- Barbara Stanwyck’s b-day. A clever/sexy/wise-cracking nightclub singer, Katherine “Sugarpuss” O’Shea (Stanwyck- who got an Oscar nod), needs to be kept on ice b/c her mobster bf Joe Lilac (Dana Andrews- slick and sharply-dressed) is suspected of murder and her testimony could get him the electric chair. A naive/tall/handsome professor, Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper- almost 40 and fabulous), meets Sugarpuss while researching an article on modern slang; in rom com fashion, their two worlds collide. When she hides out with Potts (and his 7 fellow nerdy profs), everyone learns something new! This is included among the AFI’s list of the Top 100 Funniest American Movies.

Potts: What’re you gonna do?

Sugarpuss: I’m going to show you what yum-yum is. Here’s yum. [kisses him] Here’s the other yum. [kisses him again] And here’s yum-yum. [gives a long kiss that knocks him backwards onto a chair]

To pick up slang for their script, screenwriters Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett visited the drugstore across the street from Hollywood High School, a burlesque house, and the Hollywood Park racetrack. When Cooper is taking notes of the newsboy’s slang, the marquee on the theater across the street advertises Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), an inside joke that refers to the script’s inspiration. There is even a promo photo showing the actors sitting in front of a Disney poster, each one in front of his corresponding dwarf: S.Z. Sakall – Dopey; Leonid Kinskey – Sneezy; Richard Haydn – Bashful; Henry Travers – Sleepy; Aubrey Mather – Happy; Tully Marshall – Grumpy, and Oskar Homolka – Doc. Lucille Ball wanted to play Sugarpuss, as she thought it was the kind of role that would win her an Oscar. She fought for the role and was eventually hired, but once producer Samuel Goldwyn found out that Stanwyck (recommended by Cooper) was available, he gave her the part instead. Andrews based his character on notorious gangster Bugsy Siegel, who owned the Formosa (a club across the street from Goldwyn Studios). Andrews used to go there after work; he had the suits, hats, and spats down pat.

Miss Bragg: That is the kind of woman that makes whole civilizations topple!

One of Gene Krupa’s four trumpet players was Roy Eldridge, the only Black man in the band (briefly seen in the film). To avoid offending white audiences in the Jim Crow South, the studio and director Howard Hawks came up w/ a plan. The reels of a movie were shown using two alternating projectors. Sixteen mins. into the film, Stanwyck comes on, sings “Drum Boogie” (Martha Tilton provided the voice) w/ the band, and Eldridge stands to perform his trumpet solo. When the song is over, Stanwyck leaves the stage and the first reel ends. As the next reel begins, she returns for an encore, the band is still in place and the audience is still applauding; however, Eldridge has been removed from the band. By simply switching projectors before Stanwyck’s first entry, a projectionist could “edit out” Eldridge.

Sugarpuss: [about Potts] Yes, I love him. I love those hick shirts he wears with the boiled cuffs and the way he always has his vest buttoned wrong. Looks like a giraffe, and I love him. I love him because he’s the kind of a guy that gets drunk on a glass of buttermilk, and I love the way he blushes right up over his ears. Love him because he doesn’t know how to kiss, the jerk!

After surviving quarantine life, all of us know about being house-bound, lonely, and out of touch w/ the world (though we aren’t working on a set of encyclopedias)! It’s obvious that the the (also nerdy) Miss Totten has a crush on Potts; when she comes by for a meeting re: financing their work, the other profs urge him to be nice to her. In just a few days, Potts wins over Sugarpuss by being kind, thoughtful, and respectful (traits that her bf doesn’t possess). She teaches the profs re: current songs and how to dance the cha-cha- it’s sweet and funny. Check this movie out if you want a laugh!

[1] A very funny, sprightly film, fast-paced and full of wonderful performances. Stanwyck is glowingly wonderful, but I still can’t get over Cooper’s wonderful characterization of a supremely attractive total geek. If that sounds like a contradiction in terms, see the movie and you’ll realize it’s true.

[2] I really liked the way that every one of the nerdy professors is tempted to correct every mistake made by the others. But the gags throughout the movie are really something. Hilarious.

[3] “Ball of Fire” shows pre-Pearl Harbor comedic Hollywood at its zenith.

[4] The expressions of the day are dated and humorous and there are so many you can’t count them all. Some are stupid; some are hilarious… which is what you get with most comedies anyway. Not every line hits the mark, but a lot do in this one.

-Excerpts from IMDB reviews

“Citizen Kane” (1941) starring/directed by Orson Welles

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Radio’s Most Dynamic Artist . . The Man At Whose Voice A Nation Trembled . . . Now the screen’s most exciting NEW star! ORSON WELLES in the picture Hollywood said he’d never make! – A tag line from the film

Following the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles- just 26 y.o.), reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final word: “Rosebud.” The film begins with a news reel (which comes directly from RKO Pictures) detailing Kane’s life for the masses. Then, we see flashbacks from Kane’s life- his simple boyhood, life as an idealistic young newspaper publisher, attempt at politics in mid-life, and two (failed) marriages. As the reporters investigate more, we see a man’s rise to fame and fall from the top of his world. Kane (who died alone surrounded by statues and other treasures from all over the world) is based on media tycoon William Randolph Hearst.

Kane [in old age]: You know, Mr. Thatcher, if I hadn’t been very rich, I might have been a really great man.

Young Charles Foster Kane (8 y.o.) comes into a LOT of money; his mother/owner of a boarding house, Mary (Agnes Moorehead), decides he should be sent away from Colorado to the East. He will be raised by his new guardian, a humorless banker named Mr. Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris). Charles’ father (Harry Shannon) is reluctant to give up his son; though he’s an alcoholic w/ potential for violence, the boy seems to love him. When Mary is signing away the boy, there is the (then innovative) use of the “deep focus lens.” While the mother acts cold (calling him “Charles), his father takes a warmer tone (calling him “Charlie”). Upon reaching 25, Kane (handsome/energetic) comes into ALL his inheritance; he impulsively buys a newspaper (The New York Inquirer) against the wishes of Thatcher. His closest pal Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten) becomes the theater critic; being from “old money,” Jed can scoff at high society. Kane’s general manager, Mr. Bernstein (Everett Sloane), is loyal/helpful until the end. When Kane writes up his “declaration of principles,” his face is almost obscured in shadow; this is a hint of things to come. Jed looks almost directly at the camera, saying that paper will be worth something one day.

Mr. Bernstein: Old age. It’s the only disease, Mr. Thompson, that you don’t look forward to being cured of.

Kane’s first wife, Emily Monroe Norton (Ruth Warrick), is the sophisticated niece of the president; they meet (offscreen) in Europe and have a whirlwind romance. Emily starts to resent the long hours Kane spends at the newspaper; their politics are also different. In a series of clever/concise scenes at the breakfast table, we see the deterioration of their relationship (from flirty/loving to silent/cold). One night, outside a pharmacy, Kane meets a 22 y.o. aspiring opera singer- Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore). It turns out that he can maker her laugh; Susan also doesn’t know who Kane is (being a naive girl new to the city). After Kane enters politics, his affair w/ Susan is uncovered by a private detective working for his rival. When given the choice between Emily (who was loyal to him for 15 yrs) and Susan, Kane chooses Susan (thus loses his political career).

Kane: Mr. Carter, here’s a three-column headline in the Chronicle. Why hasn’t the Inquirer a three-column headline?

Carter: The news wasn’t big enough.

Kane: Mr. Carter, if the headline is big enough, it makes the news big enough.

Mr. Bernstein: That’s right, Mr. Kane.

They get married and he even builds an opera house where Susan can perform; it turns out she’s a terrible singer (no matter how hard she practices). Kane and Jed have a falling out; Jed is drunk and gives his true opinion re: Susan’s “talent.” Their break-up scene where we are looking up at the characters was achieved by Greg Toland (cinematographer) cutting holes in the floor of the studio. Later on, there is break-up w/ Susan, after she gets tired of living a lonely/unfulfilled life in his huge California estate Xanadu (named for the “pleasure palace of Kubla Khan” in the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge).

Jed [to Kane]: You don’t care about anything except you. You just want to persuade people that you love ’em so much that they ought to love you back. Only you want love on your own terms. Something to be played your way, according to your rules.

Once you see this film (or rewatch it a few times), you realize how influential it was to later films! It is very well made and ahead of it’s time, as I realized seeing it recently. Watching this film on TV, a young Scorsese began to notice editing techniques and camera moves (incl. the use of the “wide angle lens”). In previous American films, the camera didn’t move, Scorsese noted. As NYT film critic A.O. Scott commented: “Most of the scenes are shot a low angle, so we feel as if we’re sitting in an orchestra seat watching a play. It is also un-mistakenly cinematic… deep focus asymmetrical compositions and bold contrasts in light and shadow to get at themes not explicitly stated in the film’s script. Welles slows time down w/ subjective dream-like sequences and speeds it up w/ witty and inspired montages.”

[Susan is leaving Kane]

Kane: [pleading] Don’t go, Susan. You mustn’t go. You can’t do this to me.

Susan: I see. So it’s YOU who this is being done to. It’s not me at all. Not how I feel. Not what it means to me. [laughs] I can’t do this to you? [odd smile] Oh, yes I can.

Is this the best film ever made? I don’t think so, but it’s worth a watch for cinephiles. Citizen Kane is essentially a character study of a man who is rich, powerful, yet probably feels inadequate inside (as he can’t connect to other people). Love is something that Kane wanted all his life, both Jed and Bernstein tell the reporter. Most the the actors are newcomers from The Mercury Theater, Welles’ theater company. Cotten went on to have a fine career; he said he was proud to have appeared in several box office hits. He is perhaps best known as Uncle Charlie in Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt. Sloane makes a terrific villain in Welles’ film noir The Lady from Shanghai.

“Odds Against Tomorrow” (1959) starring Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters, & Ed Begley

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Dave Burke (veteran character actor Ed Begley) is looking to hire two men to assist him in a bank raid: Earle Slater (Robert Ryan), a white/middle-aged ex-con, and Johnny Ingram (Harry Belafonte- also co-producer), a young/Black singer w/ a gambling problem. Ingram (who likes the finer things in life) is recently divorced from his schoolteacher wife, Ruth (Kim Hamilton), w/ whom he shares a young daughter. Burke arranges for Ingram’s creditors to put pressure on him. Slater (who has a quick temper) feels humiliated by his failure to provide for his devoted wife, Lorry (Shelley Winters), who works two jobs. The two men, though reluctant at first, eventually accept to do the crime. Slater loathes and despises Blacks; tensions in the gang quickly mount.

[after Slater insults Ingram]

Burke: Don’t beat out that Civil War jazz here, Slater! We’re all in this together, each man equal. And we’re taking care of each other. It’s one big play, our one and only chance to grab stakes forever. And I don’t want to hear what your grandpappy thought on the old farm down in Oklahoma! You got it?

Belafonte chose Abraham Polonsky (writer/director of Force of Evil) to write the script. As a blacklisted writer, Polonsky used the name of John O. Killens (a Black novelist/friend of Belafonte). In 1997, the WGA restored Polonsky’s credit. The director is Robert Wise (West Side Story; The Sound of Music); he used infra-red film in some scenes (to create a distorted feel).

This is the first film noir with a Black protagonist! The bartender at the jazz club is a young Cicely Tyson (her second film appearance); she passed away in early 2021. Noir icon Gloria Grahame makes a brief (yet important) appearance. The movie was praised highly by James Ellroy and influenced the work of Jean-Pierre Melville (a French director). The volatile chemistry between the three men is at the center of the movie. I liked the character development, on locations shots of NYC (incl. Central Park), and the slightly uneasy atmosphere. Jazz and Calypso music are played at the smoky club where Ingram performs.

[1] Good low budget heist film. Ryan’s character is one of the ugliest portrayals of a white racist in film. Belafonte’s character is one of the most multi-faceted and complex potrayals of an African American up until that time, and the performance doesn’t date at all. Wise keeps the pacing taut and the suspense high.

[2] Personally I found Belafonte’s contribution the most searing. He captures the role of the divorced father to a tee. The scene where he is awakened by his ex-wife after sleeping (ever so slightly) with is daughter is masterful. You can sense the longing in his heart for the nuclear family that once was.

[3] Wise wants to communicate a whole context, he wants to detail his characters to a fault. How many directors would dare that today? Robert Ryan’s part is very complex. First he seems friendly, but further acquaintance shows a lack of self-confidence (he’s getting old, he’s a washout, he wants to go for broke). And he is a racist. Rarely, this obnoxious feeling has been depicted with such wit.

-Excerpts from reviews on IMBD

Socially Conscious Noir: “Crossfire” (1947) starring Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, & Robert Ryan

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Homicide Capt. Finlay (Robert Young) finds evidence that one or more of a group of soldiers is involved in the death of a middle-aged/kindly Jewish man, Joseph Samuels (Sam Levene). In flashbacks, we see the night’s events from different viewpoints, as Army Sgt. Keeley (a youngish Robert Mitchum) investigates on his own, trying to clear the sensitive/young Mitchell, to whom circumstantial evidence points. Then the real (and ugly) motive for the killing begins to dawn on both Finlay and Keeley. This was the breakout role for Robert Ryan, who played Montgomery, one of the experienced/jaded soldiers. Ryan didn’t like the negative aspects of his character- that resulted in him being typecast in villain roles. In real life, Ryan was a liberal progressive actively involved in the Civil Rights movement. A very young Gloria Grahame (who was loaned from MGM) plays a dancehall girl who meets Mitchell.

Finlay: Hating is always the same, always senseless. One day it kills Irish Catholics, the next day Jews, the next day Protestants, the next day Quakers. It’s hard to stop. It can end up killing men who wear striped neckties. Or people from Tennessee.

The film is based on Richard Brooks’ first novel, The Brick Foxhole (1945), written while he was a sergeant in the Marine Corps. One of the subplots dealt w/ homophobia, but that was changed to anti-Semitism. The decision was made by producer Adrian Scott (who purchased the rights) knowing that any depiction of homosexuality would not pass the Hayes Code. Brooks would write the screenplays for other notable noirs, incl. The Killers (1946) (uncredited), Brute Force (1947), Key Largo (1948), and Mystery Street (1950). Due to of the film’s tight (24 day) shooting schedule, it was able to beat the similarly-themed Gentleman’s Agreement to theaters by 3-1/2 months and stole some of its thunder. However, Oscar acclaim went to Gentleman’s Agreement, which won 3 out of its 8 noms, incl. Best Picture. Crossfire was overlooked; it had 5 noms. It has been suggested that one reason it didn’t win any Oscars was director Edward Dmytryk and Scott’s testimony before HUAC in late 1947. They refused to state whether they were, or had been, Communists and were subsequently blacklisted.

[1] Ryan, creates a fully shaded and frighteningly convincing portrait of an ignorant, unstable bigot; we see his phony geniality, his bullying, his resentment of anyone with advantages, his “Am I right or am I right?” smugness; how easily he slaps labels on people and what satisfaction he gets from despising them.

CROSSFIRE’s message seems cautious and dated now, though not nearly so much as GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT. […] The script seems afraid to mention any real contemporary problems. […] Still, it did take some guts to depict, immediately after World War II, an American who might have been happier in the Nazi army, and the movie’s basic premise is still valid.

[2] Crossfire is a “message” movie but it is also a cracking good drama, and that’s what I enjoyed about it. Plus the cast is dynamite – Roberts Preston, Mitchum and Ryan, and the beautiful Gloria Grahame. Mitchum doesn’t have a big a role as you might expect (the movie was released the same year as Out Of The Past in which he gives a much more substantial performance), but he’s always great to watch, and Robert Ryan steals the movie as a very nasty piece of work.

[3] As late as 1947, it was a big deal for a movie to announce that anti-Semitism existed, and that it was bad. (It was unthinkable, of course, for Hollywood to address the real subject of the book on which the movie was based- its victim was a homosexual.) Nevertheless, thanks to good writing and excellent acting, CROSSFIRE remains a persuasive examination of what we would now call a hate crime.

-Excerpts from IMBD reviews

“East Side, West Side” (1949) starring Barbara Stanwyck, James Mason, Van Heflin, & Ava Gardner

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NYC financial advisor, Brandon Bourne and his socialite wife, Jessie, have a seemingly happy marriage of several years. However, about 2 years earlier, Brandon had an affair w/ a younger woman, Isabel Lorrison, who’s now back in town hoping to rekindle the romance. Through a young model/new friend, Rosa Senta (Cyd Charisse- in a rare non-dancing role), Jessie meets Mark Dwyer (a cop-turned-writer just arrived from Italy).

Isabel: It’s all right Brand. What difference does it make? Today or another day? There’s no hurry. You’ll be back.

[Brand turns around and slaps Isabel. Isabel smiles]

Isabel: That’s better, isn’t it Brand! That’s what you don’t get at home. That’s what you’ve missed isn’t it! It’s so tiresome being restrained and soft-spoken and gentlemanly. What you really want is to be a little rotten, like me!

This is a well-made film w/ plenty of clever/memorable dialogue; the pacing is a bit slow at times. I would’ve liked to see more of the West Side (West Village) and more outdoor shots. As several viewers commented, Mason is cool/controlled; he has great chemistry w/ Gardner (and they both have fabulous cheekbones). True, Mason and Stanwyck look like a good couple, but there isn’t much heat. I enjoyed seeing Stanwyck w/ Heflin; his character is very caring, energetic, and charming. They acted together in two other films. There are some gorgeous outfits in this film; the strapless/black cocktail dress that Gardner wears in her first scene is stunning!

Brandon: [Desparately] Jess, can’t you understand what this is for me. I’m like a drunk who knows liquor will wreck him. He hates it. He hides from it. He… he tries!

Jessie: What are you asking for? Permission?

Future First Lady Nancy Reagan (credited w/ her maiden name- Davis) plays one of Jessie’s friends, Helen Lee. Greer Garson, Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert were considered for the leads. Gale Sondergaard, who plays Stanwyck’s mother in this film, was only 50 y.o. when this film was made; Stanwyck was 42 y.o. Sondergaard was blacklisted for refusing to testify before HUAC, so didn’t work for the next 20 yrs. Beverly Michaels (platinum “Amazon” Felice Backett) is the wife of Academy Award winning screenplay writer Russell Rouse and the mother of Academy Award winning film editor Christopher Rouse.

[1] One bit of casting that is interesting is Charisse, as she bore a resemblance to Gardner, so the initial attraction Mason has for Rosa bears out his obsession with Isabel.

Gardner provides all the excitement in “East Side, West Side”…absolutely gorgeous and just about burns a hole in the film with her steamy performance.

[2] Stanwyck and Heflin have a palpable chemistry here, and Ava Gardner is a most alluring vixen. Cyd Charisse is a delectable ingenue (and a tall drink of water)…

Stanwyck’s scene with Gardner is a standout — both actresses are well matched; Gardner’s feline beauty and laissez-faire romantic approach nicely complements Stanwyck’s humane fatalism — and Stanwyck and Van Heflin are an appealing couple.

[3] Screenwriter Isobel Lennart was usually good for some smart dialog, and she’s reliably industrious here, though there’s no truth at the center of these doings: People just don’t fall in and out of love as quickly as they do here, and the plotting takes some very improbable turns… Believable it’s not, but it’s very entertaining…

-Excerpts from IMDB reviews