Category: Classics

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

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When the dir. of this film noir, Lewis Blackstone, complained to Lauren Bacall re: the “lack of interesting men in Hollywood,” she immediately recommended Kirk Douglas (her good friend from NYC theater days).  That is how Douglas got his 1st film role- starring opposite Barbara Stanwyck no less!  Stanwyck, known as a generous co-star, helped Douglas manuever through his 1st film.  He does a TERRIFIC job, as do his fellow 3 leads.

In 1928, strong-willed teen Martha Ivers is desperate to run away from her small factory town (Iverstown, PA)  and the domineering/wealthy aunt who’s in custody of her after her parents’ deaths.  A street-smart boy from the other side of the tracks (and close friend), Sam Masterson, is also planning to run away to join the circus.  Their plan is thwarted first by  local cops (under the thumb of the aunt) and then by Martha’s tutor, Mr. O’Neil (trying to ingratiate himself w/ the aunt).  Walter, O’Neil’s straight-arrow son, wants to win Martha’s friendship.  That stormy night, things occur that will change the course of  these characters’ lives forever.

Then we go forward to 1946, when a grown-up Sam (Van Heflin) drives into Iverstown to find “his people” (relatives).  While daydreaming, his car got dinged up, so he has to stop at a garage.   He meets a beautiful young woman Antonia “Toni” Marachek (Lizabeth Scott) sitting on the steps of his former house, now a boarding house.  She’s not sure if she should take the late bus to her parents’ house in the next town.  They commiserate re: the mistakes they’ve made in life, etc.

Sam, a drifter/gambler, is chagrined to discover that “scared little boy” Walter (Douglas) is now a DA w/ political ambition.  Walter is also married to Martha, who has expanded her aunt’s factory, created many jobs, and become a powerful woman in her OWN right.  Toni gets in trouble w/ the law, so Sam goes to Walter’s office seeking help.  Martha comes in while the men are talking; she is VERY happy/excited to see her old friend (and first crush) all grown-up.  She wants to speand some time w/ Sam.  Walter is wary of Sam, fearing that he knows the truth of what happened all those years ago.

This is a well-paced film that contains clever dialogue, intriguing characters, and plot twists.  The quick-witted/confidant Sam is a catalyst for change in the lives of the other characters, but he’s not always 100% sure of the right thing to do.  Martha and Walter’s relationship is complicated and (IMO) HIGHLY dysfunctional.  It’s fun to watch though!

Stage Door (1937)

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This film has it ALL- witty repartee, energy, humor, and pathos. You’ll see several lovely/talented actresses in their youth, before they became household names.  Though it was made in the ’30s, it will resonate w/ a modern audience, esp. if you are a singleton trying to further your career in a creative field.  Debutante Terry Randall (Katherine Hepburn) goes to live in a crowded, noisy boarding house (The Footlights Club) near the bright lights of Broadway.  Like the other young women there, she’s determined to become an actress.  Her roommate is Jean (Ginger Rogers), an argumentative and sarcastic blond whose specialty is tap dancing.  She’s like Meg Ryan, but more subtle in her acting style.  They DO NOT hit it off, as they are both outspoken.

Terry: I see that, in addition to your other charms, you have that insolence generated by an inferior upbringing.
Jean: Hmm! Fancy clothes, fancy language and everything!
Terry: Unfortunately, I learned to speak English correctly.
Jean: That won’t be of much use to you here. We all talk pig latin.

Another gal at the house is Judy (Lucille Ball), who dates often b/c she hates to eat the lousy dinners prepared at the house.  LOL!  Sometimes she double-dates…    

Judy: Do you want a date?
Jean: To some other lumberman?
Judy: Am I supposed to apologize for being born in Seattle?
Jean: Well, the last couple we went stepping with were made of lumber. Especially their feet.
Judy: All right, all right, you can stay here and gorge yourself on lamb stew again.

The morally upright Jean constantly makes fun of snobby/elegant  actress Linda (Gail Patrick) b/c she has chosen to have a relationship w/ older/influential talent manager, Anthony Powell (Adolphe Menjou).  Linda gets picked up in a car, eats at the best restaurants, and wears furs and jewels given to her by Mr. Powell.  She knows she won’t get ingenue roles at her age.  

Linda: If you were a little more considerate of your elders, maybe Mr. Powell would send his car for you someday. Of course, he would probably take one look at you and send you right back again, but then you have to expect that.
Jean: Is that so?
Linda: Do you know, I think I could fix you up with Mr. Powell’s chauffeur. The chauffeur has a very nice car too.
Jean: Yes, but I understand Mr. Powell’s chauffeur doesn’t go as far in his car as Mr. Powell does.
Linda: Even a chauffer has to have an incentive!
Jean: Well, you should know!

Most of the gals look up to Kay (Andrea Leeds- Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner), a sensitive/serious actress who got rave reviews last year in a fine play. But now, Kay is nearly wasting away from the disappointments that come w/ being unemployed.  She hopes w/ all her heart to get the lead role in Enchanted April.  (Leeds looks VERY much like Olivia de Havilland, the actress chosen to play Melanie over her in Gone with the Wind.)

Just getting any job, even dancing at a supper club, is exciting for the girls, who DO NOT come from money like Terry.  Their choices are to go home and get married or tough it out in the city.  They have to develop a thick skin, something that Kay lacks.

Terry’s fearless, no-nonsense attitude and sense of entitlement MAY get her far…

Broadway on DVD

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The Glass Menagerie (1973)

You are the only young man that I know of who ignores the fact that the future becomes the present, the present becomes the past, and the past turns into everlasting regret if you don’t plan for it.

 

Katherine Hepburn stars as Amanda Wingfield, vivacious Southern belle turned struggling single mom and shop assistant in Tennessee Williams’ autobiographical memory play.  The narrator, Tom, is recounting the story from the distance of some years.  Amanda, who’s hubby ran off years ago, has two grown children (somewhere in their 20s) who live w/ her in a humble St. Louis rowhouse.  Tom (Sam Waterston- best known for Law & Order) grudgingly works at a shoe factory, but desperately longs for adventure and time to concentrate on his writing.  Laura (Joanna Miles), his older sister, lives in the world of her own mind- playing w/ little glass animal figures and listening to old records.     

Into their little world comes factory clerk Jim O’Conner (Michael Moriarty- also of L&O fame).  Jim is a positive, enthusiastic, well-mannered guy who’s quite happy w/ life.  Amanda is VERY eager to please him, seeing Jim as a potential hubby for Laura. 

Amanda, though she often revels in tales of her fabulous girlhood (servants, gowns, lots of gentlemen callers), has BIG hopes and fears for her children.  Tom REALLY hates his job, so he doesn’t try to move up the ladder, like someone w/ his brains could do.  Laura, VERY sensitive and shy, has left secretarial school and has not had any bfs.  And don’t forget the bills!  As a teen, I related more to Tom and Laura.  I didn’t like Amanda much, but when I watched the film again recently, I  was surprised to find that I had sympathy for her as a woman and a mother!  I guess I’m getting wiser…

 

A Moon for the Misbegotten (1975)

 

This version of Eugene O’Neill’s autobiographical play stars veteran theatrically-trianed greats Jason Robards, Colleen Dewhurst (mother of Campbell Scott) and Ed Flanders (St. Elsewhere).  It’s a sequel to A Long Day’s Journey Into Night; the main character is the older son of the VERY dysfunctional Tyrone family.  The setting is an old farmhouse in rural Connecticut in the 1920s, where Irish immigrant tenant farmer Phil Hogan (Flanders) lives w/ his VERY sassy, yet hardworking, daughter Josie (Dewhurst).  His three sons ran off to make their own way. 

One of Hogan’s friends and drinking buddies is also his landlord, Jim Tyrone, a brooding, middle-aged, and faded Broadway actor.  Whenever Jim is in town, they talk, drink, and hang out.  Josie is also friendly w/ Jim, though she doesn’t like his dark moods.  She speaks whenever and however she likes, BUT Jim doesn’t seem to mind like other men!  He even likes her looks, though she calls herself an ugly cow.  Seeing their affection for each other, her dad hatches a plan to get them together, BUT Mr. Hogan’s plan is badly conceived.

I’d never seen this play before, or even heard of it, so was pleasantly surprised by it.  Though it is dark in tone, it’s very compelling.  Dewhurst (known to MANY young people as Anne’s adoptive mom in the Green Gables series) just inhabits the role of Josie, a complicated woman w/ smarts, humor, and LOT of compassion.  Check it out!

Angel Face (1952) & Midnight Cowboy (1969)

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Angel Face (1952)

Ambulence driver/paramedic Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum) underestimates 19 y.o. heiress-to-be Diane Tremayne (Jean Simmons) in one of famed director Otto Preminger’s lesser-known (noir) films.  The couple meet under odd circumstances- an accident (or maybe not) occurs at the SoCal mansion where she lives w/ her novelist father and his wife, potentially fatal to the stepmother.  Frank is intrigued by Diane’s beauty and moody/mysterious ways.  She  takes it a BIT more seriously…

Later that night, Diane drives into town and approaches him for a date.  Though Frank has a steady gf (a nurse) he decides to take Diane out for dinner and dancing.  It’s all harmless fun, or so he thinks…

This film has twists and turns- it kept me guessing.  It’s a psychological drama, for the most part.  Frank, who’s older and more experienced w/ life, thinks he can handle Diane.  But he doesn’t realize the complex/troubled mind she has, or what this petite lady is capable of.  Diane offers him a cushy job as the family chauffeur w/ an apt.

Jean Simmons REALLY shines in her role of the (unexpected) femme fatale, going toe-to-toe w/ Mitchum.  She creates a complicated, troubled, yet VERY watcheable character in Diane.  Mitchum, on the other hand, is sometimes TOO calm/collected.  (I wanted to see more anger/emotion from Frank.)  But his screen presence, charisma, and confidence almost make up for it.

 

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

I never saw this film until last week, though it’s quite famous/controversial.  The two leads (Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman) do a FINE job, no doubt about it!  However, this film is difficult to emotionally connect to at times.  The shooting style is unusual, esp. for its time.  There are flashbacks that provide glimpses into a character’s troubled past, BUT don’t tell the complete story.  There is a weird, disjointed, lengthy scene at a party towards the end.

Joe Buck (Voight) is a handsome 28 y.o. dishwasher from small-town Texas who comes to NYC looking to work as a “hustler.”   He dreams of charming and seducing older ladies and making big money.  But he’s totally clueless.  He happens to meet Ratso Rizzo (Hoffman), a talkative/street-smart trickster w/ a bad leg.

An unlikely, yet mutually beneficial, friendship develops between the two opposites.  In Joe, Ratso sees the strong, able-bodied guy he’d like to be.  Ratso helps Joe navigate through the cruel city, and shares what little he has w/ the wide-eyed innocent.

Two Brief Reviews: Island in the Sun (1957) & The Ghost Writer (2010)

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Island in the Sun (1957)

Though this film’s take on interracial romances and politics is dated to modern folks, Island in the Sun was a groundbreaking piece in its day.  It wasn’t shown in the Southern movie houses, of course.  The film (which was a special project of Zanuck’s) is beautiful to look at; it was filmed in Barbados and has an attractive/talented cast (including James Mason, Joan Fonatine, Harry Belafonte, Dorothy Dandridge, Joan Collins, Stephen Boyd).  However, I sense that a LOT of material was left out (or perhaps edited out) to please the censors.  

 

Mason is a wealthy French planter who wants to run for governor of the British-ruled island; his opponent is Belafonte’s labor organizer (who’s popular w/ the people).  Mason’s family has been on the island for 3 generations, owns a LOT of land, and hires many to work it.  Also, Mason has a jealous streak in him, fearing that his cool/elegant wife may be cheating. 

At a party at the governor’s house, the sophisticated Fontaine is intrigued by the idealistic/well-spoken young Belafonte, who she knew as a humble waiter in her girlhood.  Dandridge, a smoking-hot local who works at a pharmacy (drug store), comes as his date.  (They are old pals, not a couple.)  She catches the eye of a new official on the island, played by John Justin.  Unfortunately, Justin fails to create chemistry w/ Dandridge- a BIG waste!   

Another newbie, played by Ben Hur‘s Stephen Boyd, begins a romance w/ Collins, who plays Mason’s flirty/bored little sis.  She wants to travel, see England, and meet people (as company is limited on the island).  Boyd and Collins are capable in their roles, BUT most of their romantic scenes are TOO timid- another waste!   

There is more going on than what I’ve mentioned, so you MAY want to check it out for yourself.  (It’s a piece of important American film history.)

 

The Ghost Writer (2010)

I HIGHLY recommend this film; it’s like modern-day Hitchcock, directed by Polanski.  After the mysterious death (perhaps suicide) of another writer, a second ghost writer (played by Ewan McGregor) is suddenly chosen to help write the memoirs of a former British PM, Steven Lang (Pierce Brosnan).  At the urging of his agent, publisher and company lawyer, he reluctantly travels from London to Nantucket (off-season).  He reaches the Lang’s current home, an ultra-modern/super secure compound, after a LONG journey.  

First, he meets Amelia Bly (Kim Cattrall, playing a Brit), Lang’s gorgeous assistant.  She says that the manuscript (which is locked up) can’t leave the compound, much to his suprise. Ruth (Olivia Williams), the brilliant wife of the PM, comes in while he’s reading the draft copy.  He admits to her that the book needs work, but it’s not all bad.  Steven, who prefers to run and play tennis, is anxious about something and distant from his wife.          

This film creates a certain (forboding) mood that is reminiscent of old Hollywood suspense films.  There are NOT many characters or many things going on at once, BUT it’s VERY engaging!  Williams is just a rare gem- a beautiful actress w/ a LOT of  guts, strength, and screen presence.  Brosnan does a FINE job, and McGregor is perfect as the somewhat skeptical/nervous/Everyman character.  It was fun to see Tom Wilkinson playing a snobby American academic.  Eli Wallach makes a brief cameo appearance- at the age of 94!  The main issues in this film are VERY current and controversial, too.