Take 4 girls - American style

Another delirious 1957 treat: (which I reviewed back in 2011)

FOUR GIRLS IN TOWN. I had totally forgotten this 1957 Universal-International item though I know I saw it at the time, it is perhaps, like AWAY ALL BOATS, the quintessential U-I flick. We have 4 girls arriving in Hollywood, all up for an important part in a new biblical epic.

They are: Julie Adams [with her fearsome mother Mabel Albertson], Italian go-getter Elsa Martinelli, from France Gia Scala [who has a secret husband and child] and from Austria Marianne Cook (or Koch – she was the mentally ill wife in Sirk’s INTERLUDE) who is recovering from losing her beloved in a car accident]. There is also one Rita Holloway, the studio's main star who is only ever seen from the rear and looks uncannily like Jayne Mansfield in THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT as she sways around the studio lot.

The girls are nicely depicted and the guys they meet include director George Nader (ideal for Julie), actor-on-the-make John Gavin, playboy Grant Williams [that INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN] and composer Sydney Chaplin. The very attractive Gia (who got the GUNS OF NAVARONE gig but later commited suicide) has the least role here. Julie is as attractive as ever and Elsa (right) is the most eye-catching, she really is the most under-rated of the Italian sirens.

It plays out nicely with a surprise ending and is SO Fifties! The girls are not complete of course until they each have a new man, and the scene where they gleefully catch fish coming ashore to lay their eggs would horrify today's sensibilities. Written and directed by one Jack Sher.

Summer re-vews: favourite Spartacus moments

Though I have the dvd and have seen it several times, it was on television again (with no commercials) so it seemed a good idea to record it and watch again -and I liked it again as much as ever. Its certainly up there with BEN HUR, EL CID, CLEOPATRA and FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE as one of the great epics of that epic era. Kubrick may not have thought much of it (Douglas hired him - they had already done PATHS OF GLORY in 1957 - to replace Anthony Mann, who at least had EL CID lined up next, and teamed up with Douglas again for his HEROES OF TELEMARK in 1964, one of those movies I just never needed to see), but it has several Kubrickian moments on themes on power corrupting. It has some great set-pieces too (I like the scenes with the Romans led by Crassus visiting Ustinov's slave school, which sets the revolt in motion) but it is that cast that delivers. Olivier as Crassus is one of his great performances of that time, Laughton and Ustinov are fascinating scene-stealers, Jean Simmons is ideal, and so is Kirk (he is 100 this December!) and Tony Curtis too as Antoninus. We get that bath scene now between Crassus and Antoninus (with Olivier voiced by Anthony Hopkins) which was considered too suggestive at the time!. Here are some favourite moments and behind the scenes shots:  Tony with Jean and wife Janet Leigh ... Olivier and Jean together again, after their HAMLET in 1948, and John Gavin showing his marvellous chest at the baths .....

Speaking of epics, word on the street has it that the new BEN-HUR is not going to be a success. It seems its just another run of the mill mainly CGI shallow blockbuster for a week or two at the multiplex, and lacks the complexity and richness of the 1959 Wyler film, still wonderful after almost 60 years. Even that TV version of a few years ago (with Ray Winstone as Quintus Arrius) is totally forgotten now. Arrius is not even in the new version (which is 90 minutes shorter than the 1959 one, no Nativity prologue either as it plays down the religious aspect...) as they make more of Sheik Ilderim - Morgan Freeman - the only big name in the cast - but can a black man be a realistic sheik back in this Roman era? Just asking ..... the supposed homoerotic tensions are also gone - Ben and Massala are almost brothers now. But the main question is how will the chariot race look now?

I saw the 1925 silent version last year too (Epics label) and it was nothing compared to the 1959 film, looks like this redundant one will not be around much longer either, another mediocre remake of a classic film. That old quip comes back: "Loved Ben, hated Hur". 

Showpeople - dressing up !

Showpeople love nothing better than dressing up, sometimes the more outrageous the better; here's a few cross-dressing ....

Who's that lady?

1960 was a very busy year for Laurence Olivier - not only getting the new National Theatre up and running, he also filmed his iconic Archie Rice in THE ENTERTAINER, and stole Kubrick's SPARTACUS with his icy Crassus, here having a sauna with John Gavin (and his impressive chest), in between propositioning Tony Curtis and also having designs on Jean Simmons!

He also dragged up for a comedy routine in that year's NIGHT OF 100 STARS, an annual charity event at the London Palladium. He ladyfriend here is of course Kenneth More .... did they go out in public for a dare?

And here's Oliver, Vivien Leigh and John Mills entertaining at the 1956 Royal Film Performance. 

Bing Crosby also slipped on a frock for an amusing scene in HIGH TIME, also 1960 - and looks alarmingly like Agnes Moorehead. 

Danny Kaye was also partial to a bit of cross-dressing fun, as in  ON THE DOUBLE       and of course he and Bing couldn't resist that "Sisters" number in WHITE CHRISTMAS!

4 girls in town

FOUR GIRLS IN TOWN. I had totally forgotten this 1957 Universal-International item though I know I saw it at the time, it is perhaps, like AWAY ALL BOATS, the quintessential U-I flick. We have 4 girls arriving in Hollywood, all up for an important part in a new biblical epic.

They are: Julie Adams [with her fearsome mother Mabel Albertson], Italian go-getter Elsa Martinelli, from France Gia Scala [who has a secret husband and child] and from Austria Marianne Cook (or Koch – she was the mentally ill wife in Sirk’s INTERLUDE) who is recovering from losing her beloved in a car accident]. There is also one Rita Holloway, the studio's main star who is only ever seen from the rear and looks uncannily like Jayne Mansfield in THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT as she sways around the studio lot.



The girls are nicely depicted and the guys they meet include director George Nader (ideal for Julie), actor-on-the-make John Gavin, playboy Grant Williams [that INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN] and composer Sydney Chaplin. The very attractive Gia (who got the GUNS OF NAVARONE gig but later commited suicide) has the least role here. Julie is as attractive as ever and Elsa (right) is the most eye-catching, she really is the most under-rated of the Italian sirens.

It plays out nicely with a surprise ending and is SO ‘50s! The girls are not complete of course until they each have a new man, and the scene where they gleefully catch fish coming ashore to lay their eggs would horrify today's sensibilities. Written and directed by one Jack Sher.

Sophia - two more rarities

A BREATH OF SCANDAL, 1960. This, the last of the films Sophia Loren made for Paramount, seems rather forgotten now. I last saw it back in the days when revival houses ran double bills, coupled with BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS – gosh, one got value for money then! This though was not really a success, despite the opulent sets of palaces, hunting lodges and stunning interiors, set as it is in the Austrian empire circa 1900, shortly after Mayerling, as automobile salesman John Gavin from Pittsburgh gets involved with princess Olympia (Loren) who has been banned from court for being indiscreet. Maurice Chevalier and Isobel Jeans (so splendid in GIGI) are improbably her parents. Loren thinks papa has a mistress, but he only pretends to, as it is expected of him! Gavin though lacks the light comedy touch required here. Like THE SWAN it is from a play by Molnar and what sinks it is the leaden direction from old timer Michael Curtiz – I thought this was actually his last film, but he helmed a few more.

The best thing about it now of course (apart from Sophia) is another scene-stealing performance by Angela Lansbury – rather reprising her similar one in THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE – as the catty Countess trying to get everyone into trouble at the Royal Palace. An amusing soufflé then with a few nice moments. I enjoyed it a lot when I was 12 though. Cukor regular George Hoyningen-Heune is credited with the costumes and he creates some stunning ones for Loren, incuding that hat which looks like she has a dead bird on her head!


DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS. The one Sophia Loren title I had not seen of her early American films - perhaps it was considered too strong for Ireland in the '50s? This Delbert Mann film, scripted by Irwin Shaw from the Eugene O'Neill play must have been heavy stuff back in 1958 – but it all seems rather risible now. There is something inherently funny in the sight (and sound) of Burl Ives’ portrayal of the despotic biblical patriarch Ephraim (who has already buried two over-worked wives) returning with Anna, his new Italian wife (Loren) a shrewish woman who married him for security and the farm. Resentful son Tony Perkins gets rid of the two other sons (who not only share a room but also a bed, common practice then, but would raise eyebrows now) and the stage is set for a variant on Greek tragedy. The actors do their best with the material which gets rather ponderous towards the end, with the party and the return of the other sons and their “fancy women”. Mann from MARTY and SEPARATE TABLES to some Doris Day films certainly helmed some interesting choices then, rather like Martin Ritt did. Certainly an interesting oddity and very stage-bound; Sophia and Tony were better cast in 1962's FIVE MILES TO MIDNIGHT.