Some more interesting careers ?

Another selection of thumbnail career portraits, in the style of one of our Sixties favourite magazines "Who's Who in Hollywood". 

Don Murray. In his late 80s now (born 1929), Murray started out in 1950, and got his big break co-starring with Marilyn Monroe in Logan’s BUS STOP in 1956 – he may have been fine, but it’s the character of the cowboy who is so annoying. He met his first wife Hope Lange here. He followed this with two I have not seen: BACHELOR PARTY and A HATFUL OF RAIN, and then two westerns which I liked as a kid: the engaging FROM HELL TO TEXAS in ’58, and the more sprawling THESE THOUSAND HILLS in 1959, with young Lee Remick, and that other 20^th Century Fox boy, Stuart Whitman. 
Gritty realism followed with THE HOODLUM PRIEST and the very Irish saga SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL in 1959. Maybe his last interesting role was as senator Brig Anderson in Otto’s ADVISE AND CONSENT in 1962, who commits suicide when his wartime gay affair is about to be exposed – and we get that first look at a gay bar in American film, as Brig reels back in horror, leaving his wartime buddy lying in the gutter. (review at Murray label).

He was back with Lee Remick in BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL in 1965, but now Steve McQueen was the lead, and it was the era of the new boys like Beatty and Redford. He did a rubbish British film in 1967: THE VIKING QUEEN – we avoided it at the time, but I have now ordered a copy as it seems delirious fun, a certified Trash Classic. Murray continued in a long career, in lesser films and lots of television (like KNOTS LANDING), but like many others had a good late Fifties era.

Richard Beymer, now in his late Seventies (born 1938) was a child actor – he was Jennifer Jones’ son in De Sica’s INDISCRETION OF AN AMERICAN WIFE in 1954, and then after a lot of television, came his run of 20^th Century Fox movies in the late Fifties and early Sixties: George Stevens’ THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK in 1959, WEST SIDE STORY, Fox comedies HIGH TIME and BACHELOR FLAT (which we liked at the time), THE STRIPPER with Joanne Woodward and Carol Lynley in 1963 (review at Woodward label) and the lead in HEMINGWAY’S ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG MAN in 1962, as per recent review, below), plus FIVE FINGER EXERCISE and THE LONGEST DAY in 1962. Perhaps Beymer wasn’t distinctive enough, and Fox already had the likes of Robert Wagner and Jeffrey Hunter under contract …. He continued keeping busy, returning to the limelight in David Lynch’s TWIN PEAKS in 1990, and it was interesting seeing him ageing well in items like MURDER SHE WROTE.

Dean Stockwell. Another child actor, born 1936, has clocked up over 200 credits according to IMDB. He was in ANCHORS AWEIGH with Gene Kelly in 1945, Losey’s THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR in 1948, KIM with Errol Flynn, then came those “sensitive” roles in COMPULSION in 1959, SONS AND LOVERS in 1960, LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT in 1962, RAPTURE in 1965, as well as TV roles in the likes of WAGON TRAIN, DR KILDARE. Later films include that terrific thriller AIR FORCE ONE, PARIS TEXAS, DUNE, TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., BLUE VELVET, THE PLAYER and more.

Brandon De Wilde (1942-1972). Another child actor, but less fortunate, in that he was killed in a traffic accident when aged 30, after being a child actor on Broadway when aged 9 in THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING, which role he repeated in the 1953 film.. We have already covered his career in detail, at label, and those films we like, such as ALL FALL DOWN and HUD, and those westerns like SHANE and NIGHT PASSAGE where he has some nice scenes with James Stewart.

Pamela Tiffin. Pamela, born 1942, was the delightfully daffy and attractive alternative to those blondes like Sandra Dee or Carol Lynley, and had some good years in the early Sixties. She started as a model and came to attention in SUMMER AND SMOKE in 1961, when we loved her in Billy Wilder’s ONE TWO THREE. Some zany comedy roles followed in COME FLY WITH ME, THE PLEASURE SEEKERS, STATE FAIR, THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL and HARPER in 1966. She the decamped to European comedies in Italy, co-starring with the likes of Marcello Mastroianni, before giving up acting to concentrate on family life.

Carol Lynley. Another young model, also born 1942, had a longer career, starting with Walt Disney in THE LIGHT IN THE FOREST in 1958, and then at Fox in that favourite, HOUND DOG MAN with Fabian and Stuart Whitman, THE STRIPPER, HOLIDAY FOR LOVERS, BLUE DENIM with Brandon De Wilde, RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE, THE LAST SUNSET. I did not want to see UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE where she co-stars with Jack Lemmon, and she was also in Otto’s THE CARDINAL in 1963, and the lead in his BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING in 1965, with Olivier (right) and Keir Dullea (also featured here, see label). She was later in THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE in 1972 in hotpants, and was a long time companion of David Frost’s. She kept busy in lesser films (THE SHUTTERED ROOM wasn’t too bad), but then there was that 1965 cheapo version of HARLOW … reviews of some of these at Lynley label.

Vera Miles. Now in her late 80s and retired for years, Vera Miles is probably the biggest name featured here – it was a long if fairly ordinary career but her two each for John Ford and Hitchcock will ensure she is long remembered, as THE SEARCHERS, THE WRONG MAN, PSYCHO and THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALLANCE will always be screened somewhere. She began in 1950 and early roles included some routine westerns, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS television shows (he had her under personal contract – like he had Tippi Hedren – and was building VERTIGO for Miles, but she had got pregnant by husband Gordon Scott – she had done one of his TARZAN pictures. She wears that unflattering wig in PSYCHO as she had done a downbeat war movie FIVE BRANDED WOMEN for Martin Ritt in Italy and had her head shaved for it. She is glamorous though in A TOUCH OF LARCENCY in 1960, and suitably nasty in AUTUMN LEAVES with Crawford in 1956, and BACK STREET in ‘61. Other leads included 23 PACES TO BAKER STREET, HELLFIGHTERS with Wayne in 1968, and lots more television.  

Next lot to include Tuesday Weld, Carolyn Jones, Paula Prentiss, Barry Coe, Farley Granger, Earl Holliman,  and some Europeans and British ....

Back to Philadelphia ...

I suppose one had to go back there eventually. PHILADELPHIA was a key movie in 1993, a skillfully crafted drama bringing Aids into the mainstream, maybe the first popular multiplex movie on the subject - LONGTIME COMPANION, PARTING GLANCES etc were more specialised fare. The early '90s was that time when people were losing friends and companions to the disease and still trying to protect themselves. Lots of people did not want to come into contact with Aids sufferers, it was still seen as a terminal disease then. (Putting it in context of my own life, I lost not only my then partner, but also most of that South London crowd I used to know, including my best friend since we were teenagers), 

Remember when Tom Hanks played daft comedy role such as those in SPLASH and BIG, and had big success with SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, as well as a lot of other movies of varied quality (we won't mention BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES or those DA VINCI CODE films!). His role here won him his first Best Actor Oscar, marking his crossover into serious drama, and he is quite extraordindary here as Andrew Beckett - not just losing weight but portraying each stage of his decline. In this worthy, if manipulative, tale from director Jonathan Demme, Hanks is just right as the lawyer with Aids who takes the law firm he works for to court after they fire him when they learn of his condition. Jason Robards is splendidly loathsome as the head of the firm, while Mary Steenburgen is surprising in an uncharacteristic villain role as the company's defence barrister. Joanne Woodward is of course terrific as Beckett's loving mother - one can hardly watch her later scenes without tears. 

Hanks' co-star Denzel Washington strikes the right notes as the initially homophobic lawyer reluctant to take on the case, but his story too ticks all the boxes. One bugbear at the time was that they gave Hanks Antonio Banderas as his supportive partner, but we do not see much intimacy between them (while we see Denzel at home with his wife and child), though the boys look great dancing in their white navy uniforms, and Hanks has that marvellous scene with the Maria Callas opera track.
It is obviously a movie of good intentions, the first hollywood one to educate the public about Aids and discrimination, casting a popular actor being ravaged by the disease - they did in fact shoot a scene with Hanks and Banderas in bed (which is on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKMS91y7Udg ), 
but this was removed from the final version presumably to make it more accessible to the straight audience. Some have said PHILADELPHIA's refusal to present an accurate picture of gay men onscreen, combined with its banal script, puts it on a par with a typical, if superior,  "disease of the week" television movie. 

Marvellous soundtrack too, I had it on cassette - those Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young tracks are just right here. Hanks of course also won the Best Actor Oscar next year but I simply did not want to see FORREST GUMP. After a varied career of hits and misses he scored twice last year with CAPTAIN PHILLIPS and as Walt Disney in SAVING MR BANKS. PHILADELPHIA though is a career highlight, and a worthy drama of its time. 

Soon: Revisiting other 'gay classics': MIDNIGHT COWBOY and TEA AND SYMPATHY ! 

Comedy 1: A New Kind Of Love, an old kind of movie

We have been looking at some '60s romantic comedies recently - see reviews of SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL, PRUDENCE AND THE PILL, GOODBYE CHARLIE etc- 60s/comedy labels. Now for one I dimly remember seeing the trailer for, but not seen until now .... A NEW KIND OF LOVE from 1963, which had the bright idea of sending Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward to Paris, and glam frumpy Joanne up, throw in Thelma Ritter to wisecrack a bit, and - the masterstroke - add in Maurice Chevalier "as himself" to sing some of his hits like "Mimi". So far, so excruciating ..... then there are all the hideous fashions - Joanne couldn't wear more hideous outfts or wigs. So, what went wrong?

The fashion industry and Paris provide the setting for a comedy surrounding the mistaken impression that Joanne Woodward is a high-priced call girl. Paul Newman is the journalist interviewing her for insights on her profession.

This after all is written and directed by Melville Shavelson, who did some delightful '50s comedies that still work now, like HOUSEBOAT and IT STARTED IN NAPLES, both showcasing Sophia Loren perfectly. But it seems that, like Billy Wilder, he too was stranded as the '60s took off and he suddenly appeared dated. The Newmans were probably looking for a change of pace - they had already done Paris seriously in PARIS BLUES for Martin Ritt in 1961, and comedy in RALLY ROUND THE FLAG BOYS in 1958 (review at Newman label). But this romantic comedy set in Paris falls very flat like champagne that has lost its zing. 

They seem to be aiming for the light Rock and Doris touch - but Newman (unlike Rock or Tony Curtis) seems very charmless in these kind of roles (but then I never found him that particularly interesting) while Joanne - who was it who coined her "the duchess of dowbeat"? - starts off as the 25-year-old old maid in fashion publishing with pencils in her spikey hair and always in dark glasses. She has devoted herself to her career instead of bagging a husband - he is the wolf journalist sent to cover their Paris show.   

Later she has a transformation as he thinks she is a high-class call girl - then the Rock and Doris confrontation with the roles switched - he knows she isn't as she gets ready to go through with their seduction scene, but even that is muffled here. Its all gratingly old-fashioned, even for 1963, as the swinging decade was about to take off. With Eva Gabor, and Sinatra sings the title song. Woodward seems much more at home with material like THE STRIPPER (Woodward label) or THE LONG HOT SUMMER or even those Fox films like THE SOUND AND THE FURY or NO DOWN PAYMENT. She just seems simply at sea here. 

Newman double: Rally round the sweet bird

After tacking some Brando films recently, here's a brace of Paul Newman ...

SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH. Handsome Chance Wayne never found the Hollywood stardom he craved, but he's always been a star with the ladies. Now back in his sleepy, sweaty Gulf Coast hometown, hes involved with two of them: a washed-up, drug-and-vodka-addled movie queen, and the girl he left behind - and in trouble. Paul Newman, Best Actress nominee Geraldine Page, Rip Torn and Madeline Sherwood recreate their stage roles and Ed Begley won Best Supporting Actor as the town's corrupt political boss in a bravura film version of Tennessee Williams' Broadway hit. Sex, money, hypocrisy, financial and emotional blackmail - familiar elements of Williams' literary realm combine powerfully as Chance battles his private demons in a desperate bid to redeem his wasted life and recapture his lost sweet bird of youth.   
That's the dvd blurb ...

I can't believe I never saw SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH until today - despite getting that Tennessee Williams boxset in 2006, and liking his texts and short stories, and seeing most of the films, I particuarly like NIGHT OF THE IGUANA and THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS STONE (see Williams label). . I had been meaning to watch it all week, and I am totally stunned by Geraldine Page all over again, her Alexandra Del Lago is on the same level as Leigh's Blanche or Taylor's Maggie the Cat. Ignored for stretches of the movie as Newman's Chance Wayne scenario plays out, he is tired of satisfying rich women in the hope that he can find fame in Hollywood. The film suddenly blazes into life with her astonishing telephone call scene when she realises she is a success and not the failure she imagined after taking refuge in vodka, hashish, oxygen masks and young studs… Chance is her latest, after she promises to get him a movie contract ...

Newman though just isn't that interesting here - maybe I only really like him as HUD - and Chance is quite despicable at first, tape-recording Alexandra's ramblings and trying to impress his old crowd with his Hollywood contacts;   we only really feel for him during his "me, me" reactions while Alexandra is on the phone to Winchell.  What was so touching about this SWEET BIRD was the 2006 documentary with the older Madeline Sherwood (excellent again as Begley's mistress) and Shirley Knight (so perfectly beautiful as Heavenly) talking about the film now, and it fills in how compromised the ending is with Heavenly and Chance driving off together after his face is injured - when of course in the original she has been left barren after a hysterectomy contacted via veneral disease from Chance, who is castrated by her family as their revenge - which certainly ends his career as a stud. Mildred Dunnock is also quietly perfect as ever, and Begley is ideal as the venal corrupt Big Daddy figure, with Rip Torn as his malevolent son.
The screen test with Page and Torn (included on the dvd) was fascinating too as they do the terrific phone scene - they were of course married.  I will now have to go back to Tessessee's SUMMER AND SMOKE with Page as Alma, and of course one could never forget her stunning moments in INTERIORS, and will be catching her role in that HAPPIEST MILLIONAIRE soon ... SWEET BIRD may be by Tennessee, but was "written for the screen" and directed by Richard Brooks, (how could he have been happy with this false ending imposed on the play?) and who helmed those other 'important' literary translations like Lewis's ELMER GANTRY, Tennessee's CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF,  Dostoevsky's THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV and went on to Capote's IN COLD BLOOD. I liked his early 1954 THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS when he tacked F Scott Fitzgerald, with the impossibly beautiful Elizabeth Taylor, Geraldine Page (1924-1987) here though is a whole fireworks display, and transforms herself into another stunning beauty - like Julie Harris or Kim Stanley she was one of America's greatest stage actresses who was also a movie star. SWEET BIRD may not be the best Williams, but is certainly a compendium of his themes, as like Arthur Miller and William Inge he returns to the same subjects time and time again and creates that recognisable Williams universe.

1962 might have been the best Actress line-up ever - I had Remick as my personal favourite, but now it could well be Page - and with Davis and Hepburn and Bancroft also in the mix, one could almost make it a 5-way win !  SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH was the Williams I did not really know, so its been good to finally see it, it is of course one of the great American dramas, and is currently enjoying a successful revival in London, with Kim Cattrall as 'The Princess'. It might be good to see the play as originally intended ....

RALLY ROUND THE FLAG BOYS. Leo McCarey’s 1958 comedy is another of those Fox movies that never get shown here, so I imagined it would be a treat seeing it again after 50 years or so – I was about 12 when I first saw it.  It’s a moderately amusing affair, not one of the better Newman-Woodward comedies – well, better than A NEW KIND OF LOVE at any rate; its the usual comedy of misunderstandings and poking fun at suburban living. He is a harassed husband trying to get a drink on the crowded commuter train - the men all wear hats - and she is involved in community affairs and leads a protest against a proposed army base in their suburban community, the site of a pilgrims' landing. 

Add in Joan Collins as Angela, the vamp next door who has designs on Newman, Jack Carson as a military man, and the teenage Tuesday Weld who has just discovered boys (Dwane Hickman). Its from a novel by Max Schulman and an uncredited George Axelrod had a hand in the script. Its interesting seeing the serious Newmans trying to do comedy in Rock and Doris or Jack Lemmon style, but much as they try comedy is just not their forte. Luckily Joan and Tuesday have the required light touch. Re-seeing RALLY ROUND THE FLAG BOYS again yesterday after a 50 year gap what seemed funny then was painfully tedious now. Jack Carson has a few funny moments though particularly when he is fired into space in that rocket, but on the whole, it all seems tediously slow. 

The Stripper

A discussion with the very knowledgeable Daryl (who is also a good friend) over at IMDB on the plays of William Inge led me to watching 1963's THE STRIPPER again. This had a chequered history: it was originally titled A LOSS OF ROSES and is the play that gave Warren Beatty his start on Broadway. 20th Century Fox were going to film it as a vehicle for Marilyn Monroe, who would surely have been ideal as its bruised heroine, rather like her Roslyn Taber in THE MISFITS, in another moody black and white drama, though MM would have been perhaps too pretty for this down on her luck showgirl, who could also be seen as Cherie from BUS STOP ten years later?

Lila Green is an insecure and aging showgirl for Madame Olga's stage shows. When her boyfriend, Rick, runs off with the shows money, Madame Olga and Ronny let Lila go. Lila goes to stay with her old neighbours, Helen Bard and her teenage son, Kenny. Lila decides to go out and get a regular job and try and live a normal life. All seem well until, Lila and Kenny stop fighting their attraction for one another.

Joanne Woodward (who was it who titled her "the duchess of downbeat"?) inherited the project after Monroe's death, it was the last Jerry Wald production before he died, and it went through several title changes: A WOMAN OF SUMMER, and - as per the "Films & Filming" cover - A WOMAN IN JULY. They must have groaned when it was changed to THE STRIPPER - as if it were some Mamie Van Doren title ....

William Inge of course was one of America's leading dramatists, along with Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. Williams and Carson McCullers (I reviewed her REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE recently, see below, Brando label) created that Deep South American Gothic world, whereas Inge was the playwright of the Midwest - his dramas set mainly in Kansas or Oklahoma included COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA (one to re-see), PICNIC, BUS STOP and THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS, another must re-see soon. He scripted ALL FALL DOWN, a favourite of mine from 1962, and SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS - both with Beatty - and BUS RILEY IS BACK IN TOWN (review at Ann-Margret label) in 1965. He committed suicide in 1973. 

THE STRIPPER is an involving drama, with all the usual Inge ingredients: small town tedium, wistful dreamers, misunderstood young men, over-protective mothers, the local vamp, the good girl ... Woodward as ever captures the innocent essence of Lila and Richard Beymer, while no Beatty, is adequate (He was the young boy in De Sica's 1954 INDESCRETION, see Montgomery Clift label, and had starred in WEST SIDE STORY and HEMINGWAY'S ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG MAN among others). Claire Trevor is again terrific as his mother - not the gorgon one would have imagined, and Carol Lynley is rather wasted. Interesting to see Gypsy Rose Lee (of GYPSY) - right, with Beymer - as Madame Olga, one of her few movie roles (she is also in SCREAMING MIMI, (Anita Ekberg label) that terrific '50s noir.  The neonlike black and white photography is terrific, theres a Jerry Goldsmith score, Franklin Schaffner directs from Meade Roberts script. It builts to the climax when the disillusioned Lila strips for the baying crowd while those balloons pop, while she sings (badly) "Somethings Gotta Give" (ironically the title of Monroe's uncompleted 1962 film), while Lila finally realises what she needs is to stop being emotionally immature. Robert Webber is good too as the sleazeball boyfriend.

Woodward was one of Fox's main contract players (starting out in the mid-'50s like contemporaries Lee Remick, Shirley McLaine and the grown-up Natalie Wood), in films like NO DOWN PAYMENT,. THE SOUND AND THE FURY (see Woodward label), and her Oscar-winning role in THE THREE FACES OF EVE which I have not seen as it was unobtainable here for a long time. We will be seeing it before too long though ... she and husband Paul Newman did several films together, I particuarly liked THE LONG HOT SUMMER, RALLY ROUND THE FLAG BOYS, PARIS BLUES and he directed her in several interesting films like RACHEL, RACHEL in 1968. She was touching too as Tom Hanks' mother in PHILADELPHIA. I really must also have another look at Tennessee's THE FUGITIVE KIND from 1960 with her, Brando and Magnani - a powerhouse trio or what!

Newman scored with HUD in '63, Joanne's THE STRIPPER is equally good. 

Some more information from Daryl:

"THE STRIPPER actually started shooting on the Fox lot while MM was shooting SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE. Joanne Woodward and Franklin Schaffner had decided on the platinum hair, and one day, she was walking across the lot when Woodward ran into Monroe. Woodward said she was embarrassed because she didn't want Marilyn to think that she was making fun of her. Marilyn did look at the hair, and asked Woodward what she was working on. Woodward said, oh, it's the William Inge piece. Marilyn then said, oh, i was supposed to do it, but i thought the part was too much like Cherie. Monroe then said, i'm sure you'll do a terrific job. And Woodward said she was relieved, because she didn't want Marilyn to think she was making fun of her."

More on the London 1976 production of BUS STOP, right, which I saw, at Lee Remick label - she was Cherie with Keir Dullea as the annoying cowboy, perfect casting then.

More early '60s dramas soon: TOYS IN THE ATTIC, A COLD WIND IN AUGUST, ALL FALL DOWN and THE CHAPMAN REPORT again with SUMMER AND SMOKE, A RAGE TO LIVE and others.

Those '50s literary adaptations ...

20th Century Fox turned out a Steinbeck adaptation in 1957 – the long unseen THE WAYWARD BUS – so rare in fact that neither their Jayne Mansfield or Joan Collins boxsets could include it – I think I read that the Steinbeck estate was not releasing it? Surely this was popular on its release, Steinbeck must have been big business after EAST OF EDEN? It is a perfect period piece in black and white and captures that ‘50s world of diners and buses perfectly. Rick Jason is the bus driver, married to diner owner Collins, Jayne is the stripper down on her luck, on the bus to her next engagement, as is travelling salesman Dan Dailey, also down on his luck. It is directed by one Victor Vicas (who?). Jayne is touching here and plays a real character for once and Joan acquits herself ok. An interesting coda though is that on the US dvd of A LETTER TO THREE WIVES there is a documentary on Linda Darnell which includes a test she did in ’57 for the Collins role, with Rick Jason (her co-star from THIS IS MY LOVE) – and she would have been perfect here as the slightly older blowsy wife who hits the bottle – but it was a new decade and Fox went with their new English import! - no wonder poor Linda hit the bottle....

Back to the wonderful world of the 20th Century Fox literary adaptation – usually produced by Jerry Wald and directed by someone like Martin Ritt. Two William Faulkner adaptations have long been near the top of my most wanted list and I finally got to see them last week: THE SOUND AND THE FURY and SANCTUARY. I may be at a disadvantage in not having read the books, but as films they are certainly interesting.

THE SOUND AND THE FURY must be one of the most perfect Deep South sagas of a dysfunctional family barely scraping by. The period detail is laid on with a trowel here and it is all oh so familiar. Very eclectic casting too: Joanne Woodward though is surely too mature for the wayward teenager Quentin (wouldn’t Fox’s other younger contract players like Tuesday Weld or Diane Varsi be more suitable?) Yul Brynner (with hair!) is a strange choice here as the stepson keeping the family together, but one forgets what a compelling presence he is with that distinctive voice; his mother who wants to stay in bed is Francoise Rosay and who else but Ethel Waters for the family servant, who is getting on in years. Add in young Stuart Whitman as Joanne’s rather persistant suitor. Then suddenly something electrifying happens: walking into frame carrying her suitcase is the reason I had wanted to see this for such a long time: Margaret Leighton [below] as Caddy, the mother who had abandoned Woodward as a baby and now wants to come home after years of being a kept woman. Leighton is Blanche Du Bois to the life and one can see she would have been as good as Vivien Leigh in the role. So in all, a fascinating mix of talents even if a rather turgid film. Maybe reading the book first would give one a better understanding of these people?



Also long unseen here, is Tony Richardson’s 1961 film of SANCTUARY which I had wanted to catch up with for Lee Remick’s performance as Temple Drake. Bradford Dillman plays her husband and Yves Montand (fresh from Marilyn Monroe and LET’S MAKE LOVE) as the bootlegger Candyman who rapes her. Blues singer Odetta is also in the cast. Remick is as fascinating as ever as the tease who takes to sex and booze, and that remote to us now 20s era of flappers and the Charleston is well conveyed. The story is bizarre though with the death of the baby – again, perhaps a reading of the book would be useful. An odd choice though for director Tony Richardson. Montand has a great 'look' with the hat and the cigarette, but back then the English language continued to defeat him. Remick though is the reason to see this, with lots of lingering close-ups of her.

Perhaps I should now go back and have another look at THE LONG HOT SUMMER or (if I could find it) HEMINGWAY’S ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG MAN?

Over at MGM they were doing literarly adaptations too – one of the rarest being their version of Jack Kerouac, as Arthur Freed produced their 1960 version of the beat world THE SUBTERRANEANS, which has also long been unobtainable here in the UK, and what a fascinating experience it is, being as hilariously awful as one would expect - when I included that poster on it a few weeks ago I did not imagine I would be seeing the movie quite so soon! Again, I have not read the Kerouac book. It starts with struggling writer George Peppard being kept by his uncomprehending mother Anne Seymour who works as a nurse – so he goes off and falls in with some beatniks – the very annoying Roddy McDowell and Janice Rule, with a young Jim Hutton in tow. Leslie Caron struggles to make sense of Mardou (who I understand was black in the novel), but after GIGI etc it seems a poor role for her, and what did Alan Freed see in the material to think it was worth producing?

It’s introduction after the credits paves the way for us to enter this strange new underworld: “This is the story of a new Bohemia – where the young gather to create and destroy. In all times, in all cities, for good or evil, the young Bohemians have been the makers of the future. They are foolish and they have genius. You will find them on the left bank in Paris, in London’s Soho, in Greenwich Village, and here in San Francisco in the area known as the North Beach”. Thus straight society was introduced to the world of the beats back in 1960!

This farrago is assembled by one Ranald MacDougall who also helmed Joan Crawford’s turn as QUEEN BEE and Gina Lollobrigida as the high class hooker in GO NAKED IN THE WORLD, also 1960. We get to see Andre Previn, Gerry Mulligan and Carmen McRae in the nightclub sequence where the (rather mature) beatniks hang out, and there are some nice San Francisco views. Perhaps with the coming release of HOWL there may be a revival of interest in the beat generation?

More '50s pleasures...

SERENADE. Mario Lanza films were jolly affairs as I remember [like THE SEVEN HILLS OF ROME], but SERENADE in 1956, seen again recently on TCM UK, is a very enjoyable, dark, twisted tale, from a James M Cain novel, with that rich deep Warnercolor and as directed by Anthony Mann (having a break from westerns) has some great scope compositions. Mario here is the factory worker on his tractor who is discovered by Joan Fontaine as Kendall Hale. Kendall is a society dame/rich bitch who, aided by her campy sidekick Vincent Price, picks up and then destroys her proteges, her current one being hunky young boxer Vince Edwards. Mario is soon in Kendall's clutches and on his way to being an opera star, but he spectacularly falls apart once Kendall discards him - in a scene as intense as Judy Garland's in A STAR IS BORN - so he ends up in Mexico ... enter Sarita Montiel (who became Mrs Mann) who is very attractive here, and gets Mario back to singing. The stage is set for a showdown between the women when they return to New York and it all ends in pure melodrama. Joan has a lot of fun with the role [though she dismisses it in 1 line in her autobiography] and does that quizzical look and raised eyebrow to perfection as Mario serenades us with "Nessun Dorma"; she also wears a divine mink cape for going to the opera.

WOMAN'S WORLD. For me this 1954 Fox movie is the '50s in aspic. Its a fabulously entertaining variation on the '3 girls sharing an apartment and looking for love' genre that Fox and director Jean Negulesco did so well (HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE, 3 COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN, THE BEST OF EVERYTHING) - here the 3 girls are married and visiting New York - cue great views of 50s Manhattan - as Clifton Webb, the head of a motor company, has to choose a new general manager and the wives are being vetted too to see if they are suitable material for company events. The 3 couples are out-of-towners Cornel Wilde and ditzy (or is she?) June Allyson, sophisticates on the point of divorcing Lauren Bacall and Fred McMurray, and ambitious Van Heflin and Arlene Dahl who will go to any lengths to get her man the position. The gals get to wear to some marvellous frocks, Allyson and Bacall play their usual personas so the unknown quantity here is Dahl who steals the film - particuarly when she enters in that green clinging sheath with a divine little fur-trimmed bolero which she knowingly removes as she puts the make on Clifton and lets him see how grateful she will be if Van is the man. Clifton is in his element here and even seems to be (can it be possible in '54) a coded gay as he is not married and seems devoted to his general managers. Whatever, its an absolute treat to see anytime, a nice contrast to that other '54 star-studded executive drama EXECUTIVE SUITE.

THE OPPOSITE SEX. A 1956 musical remake of THE WOMEN? Yes and it works quite well and is very enjoyable on its own level. Allyson again is the Mary Haines figure this time, with Joan Collins stepping into Crawford's shoes as Crystal Allen - but best of all is the divine Dolores Gray as Sylvia. A great cast of 50s gals is assembled for this lavish MGM treat: Agnes Moorehead having fun as the Countess, Joan Blondell, Ann Sheridan, Ann Miller (who sadly does not sing or dance), Carolyn Jones, Charlotte Greenwood and Alice Pearce (ON THE TOWN's Lucy Schmeeler) as the gossip-spreading "Jungle Red" saleslady. There are musical interludes and the men are included this time, Leslie Nielson as the straying husband, and Jeff Richards as that Buck Winston. Its all very colorful and the gals wear a great array of 50s fashions. Whats not to like? Broadway star Dolores Gray only made a handful of films at MGM but she is sensational here, as she is in ITS ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER, KISMET and tipping the plate of ravioli into Greg Peck's lap in DESIGNING WOMAN, another great Minnelli from '57.

JUPITER'S DARLING. Another '56 musical - the only Esther Williams movie I saw in the cinema, its her last musical too [directed by George Sidney]. Set in Ancient Rome Esther is promised to emperor George Sanders (who is dominated by his mother Norma Varden!); enter Howard Keel as a splendid Hannibal, Marge and Gower Champion are terrific too and do a great number with painted elephants (real ones, not CGI). Esther does a bit of swimming and saves Hannibal's life - he can't swim! This cheerful farrago would be a great double bill with MGM's other ridiculous costumer THE PRODIGAL where Lana is the pagan priestess and Edmund Purdom that prodigal son, great MGM production values though you have to laugh when Edmund wrestles with the stuffed vulture and Lana faces the mob... young Taina Elg is also at hand, before she became one of those fabulous LES GIRLS.

BELL BOOK AND CANDLE. A pleasure to see again yesterday. John Van Druten's play [the Harrisons - Rex and Lilli - had done it on the stage] is nicely transferred to screen in '58 by Richard Quine, with his muse of the time, Kim Novak at her zenith here as the witch who cannot fall in love - enter James Stewart. Its a lovely look at New York in the 50s, Stewart and Novak are teamed again after Hitch's VERTIGO. The great supporting cast includes Jack Lemmon (just before SOME LIKE IT HOT) as her warlock brother, Ernie Kovacs as the writer on the lookout for witches, and Hermione Gingold as head witch, aided by Elsa Lanchester, plus Janice Rule as Stewart's girlfriend. Pyewacket the cat is super too.

Amusingly, this has now been seen in a gay context. Druten it seems was gay, and the coven of witches with their hidden culture and their own nightclub (presided over by la Gingold) could be read as coded for the secret life of gays in '50s New York. "They are all around us" Lemmon happily tells the bewildered Kovacs ... It was also Stewart's last as a romantic lead [he is 50 here], he really slipped into character parts with his next, the still terrific ANATOMY OF A MURDER + those father parts. [Nice to see him and Novak re-united handing out an award on one of those 80s Oscar shows].

NO DOWN PAYMENT. This 1957 rarity was a treat when discovered recently. Set in the boom of suburbia as couples move to the new estates, it focuses on several couples - new arrivals Jeffrey Hunter and Patricia Owens, nice Barbara Rush and Pat Hingle, flaky Joanne Woodward and brooding Cameron Mitchell, and desperate Tony Randall and Sheree North. Martin Ritt orchestrates the dramas nicely and its a splendid period piece with that good team of Fox contract players.