Guy & Kerwin, a few movie choices ....

My friend Martin has caught up with THE GARMENT JUNGLE, a 1957 thriller with Kerwin Matthews and the lovely Gia Scala. He likes Guy Madison as well (see post below) so for you Martin, here's Guy and Kerwin AND a young Kim Novak in FIVE AGAINST THE HOUSE, that nifty 1955 thriller (a prototype for OCEANS 11, which I reviewed a while back. Guy/Kerwin/Kim labels), plus the trailer for THE GARMENT JUNGLE .... and a moment from THE LAST FRONTIER in 1955 with Victor Mature; and his SLAVE OF ROME with Rosanna Podesta in 1961 ....

Hilariously awful movies: The Devil At 4 O'Clock

THE DEVIL AT 4 O'CLOCK, 1961. Here is a movie to laugh at ... One would expect something good from a film with both Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra in 1961, helmed by veteran Mervyn Le Roy (who directed GOLD-DIGGERS OF 1933, see below) - a drama about religion and faith set in the South Seas as a volcano erupts. But what we get is a tedious, laughable plod though all the cliches - yes there is the lovely blind native girl (Barbara Luna) whom convict Sinatra deveops feelings for, there is the idealistic young priest (Kerwin Matthews, wasted here) who arrives to replace the tired old priest who has lost (and then regains)  his faith - thats Tracy.

Three convicts enroute to Tahiti are put to work at a children's leper hospital when their plane makes an unexpected stop on another island. There, Father Perreau is to get off and replace Father Doonan, who's been relieved of his duties by the cardinal. Once on the island, things get out of control when the volcano decides to erupt, and the Governor orders an evacuation. The convicts, priests and leper children are all on top of the island and have no sure way to get down and off to safety. All must work together if any are to survive.

The ending is a hoot as Spence and One Take Frank are left on the island and Frank crosses himself and is redeemed, due to Spencer, as the island explodes and they go to the bottom of the pacific. Kerwin and the others escape. Then there is the convict who falls into the quicksand ... and several other assorted treats. Perhaps Tracy felt like a change from those prestige movies like THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA or JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBURG, whereas Frank signed up for anything then. Le Roy made another doozy that year, difficult to see now, A MAJORITY OF ONE a tedious comedy with the stunt casting of Alec Guinness as a Japanese, wooing Jewish widow Rosalind Russell. I saw it as a kid. Le Roy scored though with GYPSY in 1962 and that Jean Seberg romantic thriller MOMENT TO MOMENT in 1965, which I like a lot and must return to. When I saw Le Roy being interviewed at the London National Film Theatre in the early '70s it began with the "You Gotta Have a Gimmick" number by the three strippers from GYSPY. Fab. 

Top 5: Five beautiful screen actors

Another of the "Sunday Telegraph"'s Critical Lists was "Five Beautiful Screen Actors", and critic/columnist Anne Billson chose:

1 - Paul Newman in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF / 2 - Christopher Walken in THE ANDERSON TAPES (1971) / 3 - Keanu Reeves in BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE / 4 - James Dean in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE ("Prettier than Brando, he never had a chance to grow bored with his own beauty")  and 5 - Tony Leung Chiu Wai in IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, 2000.
Well, that is a female perspective. Now I love IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, but maybe not in this context.

I would keep Paul Newman in CAT - and Keanu, but for SPEED in 1994 where he is buffed up as every gay's fantasy boyfriend. Dean I would certainly keep, but for EAST OF EDEN, or looking moody in GIANT. So, lets add in two Euro-boys: 

Alain Delon as Tom Ripley in Clement's endlessly fascinating PLEIN SOLEIL shot in 1959, and Jean Sorel at his moodiest in Visconti's 1965 SANDRA (OF A THOUSAND DELIGHTS - where Claudia Cardinale was also at her zenith).

Another day, it might be Dirk Bogarde (at his prettiest in CAMPBELL'S KINGDOM in 1957); Montgomery Clift; Tyrone Power; Erroll Flynn as CAPTAIN BLOOD or THE SEA HAWK; and Gary Cooper - endlessly fascinating and beautiful even as he aged. Cary Grant too at his zenith in NOTORIOUS ... 
and Gregory Peck, maybe Rock in ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS ? or John Gavin. 

Back in the '60s/'70s we liked Michael York and Terence Stamp (Willie Garvin in MODESTY BLAISE) 
and ... Robert Hossein is a relatively new discovery too. 
now there's Matt Bomer .... and Joseph Fiennes, Tom Hollander ... 


plus here, Guy Madison letting rip on the dance floor - there are lots of interesting pictures of Guy around; and Jeffrey Hunter, and the fabulous Kerwin Matthews ... then of course there's Tony Perkins and Tab Hunter and Fabian and ...

Actors want to act

A pleasant surprise watching the latest episde (5th of 6) of the superior BBC comedy series REV, this week, when a surprise guest star turned up - Liam Neeson, as God, no less (its already been transmitted, so hardly a spoiler) - to comfort our troubled vicar Adam when everything is going wrong for him, as this third series gets more sombre. 
I hope there will be an uplifting climax next week. Olivia Colman is also superlative of course, again playing Adam's wife who now has a busy career of her own and in fact we see less of her this time around .... It was good to see Liam and Tom together again - they were the original Oscar and Bosie in that play THE JUDAS KISS which was a successful revival last year, with Rupert Everett, as per my posts at the time - theatre label. Joseph Fiennes (right) too is effective in REV as the bishop. [I have been corrected, thanks Mark - its of course Ralph Fiennes!].

It all reminded me of how much actors want to act (Tom Hollander has just finished playing Welsh poet Dylan Thomas in a new drama) and of course Liam is now an action star, his last one set on the airplane seems a must see when on dvd. I was thinking about how even legendary actors like Jack Lemmon (post below), James Stewart, Henry Fonda et al kept working into old age, when they really didn't need to any more, on the stage as well as film. At least they didn't do too much material of lesser value to damage their reputations - unlike say Ray Milland or Joseph Cotten who ended up in all kinds of dreck, and we won't even mention Joan and TROG !  Right: the 1998 JUDAS KISS with Neeson and Hollander which I saw in London before it went to New York.

I am of the opinion that most fortunate actors who come along at the right time get "ten good years" (that delicious song Nancy Wilson sang in her live cabaret act), certainly the likes of Stephen Boyd and Laurence Harvey did - mid-'50s to mid-'60s, or Michael York (mid-'60s to mid-70s), York being one of the fortunate ones who was able to continue in lesser supporting roles, whereas Harvey's and Boyd's careers had died before they did. Fortunate indeed are the likes of Dirk Bogarde or Alain Delon or Jean Sorel who can go on for decades, whereas in the theatre actors like Jeremy Brett or John Stride can transcend their good looks as they get older. Is there the curse of the very good looking actor who starts out well but then fizzles out ? (Whatever did happen to Jeremy Spenser, Leonard Whiting, Graham Faulkner, Martin Potter et al...?). Left: the kind of period movie actors must like appearing in: Michael Redgrave, Richard Warwick, Martin Potter, Tom Baker in NICHOLAS & ALEXANDRA, 1971.

Sometimes one sees an actor who started out well and seems reduced to nothing parts some years later, like John Philip Law - so promising in the mid-60s as the angel in BARBARELLA, in HURRY SUNDOWN, DANGER DIABOLIK etc, having literally nothing to do in the all star CASSANDRA CROSSING in 1976, as an aide to Burt Lancaster, right, with Ingrid Thulin. Well I dare say JPL (who died aged 70 in 2008) had that 10 good years.

Ditto Barry Coe, left, who was a promising 20th Century Fox contract player in the '50s and early '60s - Rodney Harrington in the 1957 PEYTON PLACE, the hero in 300 SPARTANS (looking fetching in a mini toga) etc. 
but in 1966 he is an un-named "communications aide" repeating commands in FANTASTIC VOYAGE - an amusing watch last week. He was also Carroll Baker's boyfriend in the 1959 comedy BUT NOT FOR ME with Clark Gable and Lilli Palmer. Coe went into television in shows like GENERAL HOSPITAL and continued acting to 1978. Other tv actors like George Maharis or Gardner McKay fared less well in the movies.

Barry, centre, in FANTASTIC VOYAGE

Brett Halsey (left) was another of the Fox pretty boys (RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE, THE BEST OF EVERYTHING etc) as was future producer/tycoon Robert Evans (one of the cads in THE BEST OF EVERYTHING), though Robert Wagner and Jeff Hunter were the main Fox contract players, Joanne Woodward and Stuart Whitman too of course. Ditto Fabian - see HOUND DOG MAN post below.
A Fox film like NO DOWN PAYMENT (Jeff Hunter label) is stuffed with their contract players. Jeff Hunter unfortunately died too young too, in 1969, but found his imperishable role as Martin Pawley in THE SEARCHERS, which is always on view somewhere (as it was here yesterday). Robert Wagner was the most successful of all, with some good movies in Europe (THE PINK PANTHER) and successful in television. The Universal-International pretty boys like Rock and Tony Curtis worked hard through supporting parts to build careers and achieve A-list movie status, as before them did Guy Madison and Jeff Chandler and ...while Warners had those blondes Troy and Tab, and Tony Perkins (Tab and Tony tried singing too with some success - see labels), and Kerwin Matthews over at Columbia ... 

One has to feel sorry though for Richard Davalos, over at Warner Bros: the role of Aaron, the other brother in Kazan's EAST OF EDEN must have been a plum role, but with James Dean as Cal, Davalos was completely over-shadowed. At least the DVD contains those screen tests with Dean and Davalos and young Paul Newman who also tested, and was soon doing Dean roles. Davalos's other credit that year (apart from a bit part in a Jack Palance film) was a small part in Warners THE SEA CHASE, a John Wayne-Lana Turner starrer, where sailors Davalos and Tab Hunter go for a swim in shark-infested waters - guess which one the shark heads for.... ?  He contined acting until 2008 with small parts in films like Newman's COOL HAND LUKE, and lots of television. Right: Davalos, Dean & Julie Harris in EAST OF EDEN.

Heavyweight stuff coming up: Finney in Huston's UNDER THE VOLCANO, Frears' PRETTY DIRTY THINGS with this year's best actor nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor, LOVE IS THE DEVIL with Derek Jacobi as Francis Bacon and Daniel Craig as his criminal lover .... more impersonations with the Liberace film BEHIND THE CANDELABRA and Helena Bonham-Carter a surprisingly effective Elizabeth Taylor in BURTON AND TAYLOR ....  
Left: Jeffrey Hunter / right: Jean Sorel.

Wild in the country / you ain't nothing but a hound dog! - more teen heart-throbs ...

HOUND DOG MAN in ’59 may not be a western at all but is an amiable, pleasing backwoods comedy drama by Don Siegel set in rural America showcasing Fox’s new talent: singer Fabian as the confused teen, Stuart Whitman as his ne’er-do-well pal who takes the kids on a weekend of hunting with their hound-dogs, Carol Lynley and Dodie Stevens are the girls - Carol wants to tame Whitman, while Dodie and Fabian seem fated to be mated, after that barn-dance. 

Arthur O’Connell and Betty Field are the nice understanding parents, and there are old timers like Jane Darwell and Royal Dano, and its all perfectly delightful. Siegel also scored next year in 1960 putting Elvis out west in the stirring FLAMING STAR. HOUND DOG MAN is the kind of thing 20th Century Fox did well, their charming version of rural Americana ... usually those Jerry Wald productions like the pretty but vapid HEMINGWAY'S ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG MAN in 1962.

Teen heart-throbs:
Fabian was the ideal idol for a while then - an Italian-American teenager discovered and made a singer, he looked the part and filled a pair of jeans nicely. Good too with comic timing in NORTH TO ALASKA (rave for this favourite 1960 western at Fabian label) and other Fox movies like HIGH TIME, FIVE WEEKS IN A BALOON, and MR HOBBS TAKES A VACATION, amother other acting roles. 
He posed (tastefully) for "Playgirl" and aged quite well.  Pat Boone and Ricky Nelson (and even Tommy Sands) all went into the movies too, scoring while Elvis was away in the army - Ricky being a delight in Hawks' RIO BRAVO - and of course Bobby Darin in COME SEPTEMBER, not to mention the Elvis films - his big hit G I BLUES after his return from Germany, and those Fox dramas WILD IN THE COUNTRY and FLAMING STAR before all those lesser-quality items ... while serious actors like Tab Hunter and Tony Perkins tried their hand at singing - successfully too ! Then came the blondes: Troy Donahue, Tab Hunter, James Franciscus, and another striking brunette: Kerwin Matthews ... as per labels. Soon: more Guy Madison ! Kerwin Matthews ! George Maharis ! and those new 60s boys Warren Beatty, Christopher Jones ("the new James Dean"), Georges Peppard and Hamilton, Jean Sorel and some French guys ...

Hollywood hunks - an occasional series ....

I had to find some place to put these photos of Guy Madison, Fabian, Tab Hunter, and Jimmy Dean and Rock Hudson both with Elizabeth Taylor ..... glamour or what !

European glamour of course comes in the shape of Delon, Belmondo, Jean Sorel, and all those glam Euro ladies we love from Anouk to Vitti ... must find space for Marisa Mell, Scilla Gabel, Senta Berger too ... and John Philip Law as Barbarella's angel and also DANGER DIABOLIK, along with Marie Laforet as MARIE-CHANTAL ! - see below.  We have to include Kerwin Matthews too, a recent discovery ... as label.

Above: Kerwin as GULLIVER.

Fabian in HOUND DOG MAN. He is amusing eye candy in NORTH TO ALASKA too, those scenes with fabulous Capucine ... (as per label).

Right: Tab & Tony out with Nat ....

and one has to include Jeffrey Hunter (below, with Vera Miles) - if not Chandler !

Dean and Julie Harris are still iconic too. 

Right: Dirk Bogarde and Rock, in 1957 ... discussing their respective closets?, as per previous posts on them.

Glamour '60s style: WHATS NEW PUSSYCAT?

Martini movies: The Garment Jungle, 1957

'Martini movies' are a new concept for me, but they are a series of dvds of pulpy noirs and gangster flicks, mainly from the '50s, but also later '70s titles like THE ANDERSON TAPES or DOLLARS and flicks like Rita and Glenn's AFFAIR IN TRINIDAD. They include details of martinis to sip while watching. Mainly Columbia titles, like THE GARMENT JUNGLE which is a nice discovery: a top-notch Crime/Mob/Racket thriller like those recent mellers 5 AGAINST THE HOUSE and UNDERWORLD USA (see Dramas label).

On the mean streets of the garment district of New York City, Alan Mitchell (Kerwin Mathews) discovers that the dress business owner by his father (Lee J Cobb) is being controlled by the mob. Alan must join forces with rebellious labour union leaders in order to save his family's company from thugs. THE GARMENT JUNGLE is a fast-paced noir set in the cutthroat world of fashion. 

Kerwin Mathews is a recent re-discovery of mine (as per 5 AGAINST THE HOUSE, 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER, 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD etc, see Kerwin label) and he is quietly terrific here as the son returning to the family business. Gia Scala is a very pleasing presence and attractive leading lady as the Italian wife of one of the guys who are offed by the mob - she of course was in GUNS OF NAVARONE, and a nice one I liked then 4 GIRLS IN TOWN (Gia Scala label), she later committed suicide, another Hollywood casualty like Gail Russell (see 7 MEN FROM NOW, below). Lee J Cobb is firing on all cylinders as usual and is another terrific role for him (like in MAN OF THE WEST, PARTY GIRL, ON THE WATERFRONT etc) as the father finally seeing the corruption around him caused by Richard Boone and being reconciled with his son just of course before the mob hits back.
New York in the '50s looks authentic here. It seems this was directed by Robert Aldrich but he was replaced by old hand Vincent Sherman who gets solo directing credit. Its a tough fast flick more in keeping with Aldrich's direction. I liked it a lot. Kerwin and Gia make a nicely attractive couple. That heavy from NORTH BY NORTHWEST Adam Williams is also involved, along with DR NO Joseph Wiseman, Valerie French, dependables Harold J Stone and Celia Lovsky, and evil Wesley Addy. Boone gets his comeuppance nicely too. 
One unusual scene for 1957 is where Gia breastfeeds her baby in the restaurant ...

We also learn how to make martini's like a Manhattan, ideal to sip while watching this: 6 parts rye whiskey, 1 part dry vermouth, 1 part sweet vermouth, garnished with a cherry. We like Martini Movies !

Fantasies: Kerwin, Ray & Dynamation ...

After all those blondes last week (as below), a brunette: and he is Kerwin Mathews, star of some very pleasing fantasy films with those great early special effects (before CGI) by the legendary Ray Harryhausen. I certainly recommend THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD in 1958 and THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER from 1960, both perfect of their type. This kind of fantasy cinema passed us by a lot at the time, but I remember particularly liking MYSTERIOUS ISLAND in '61 with that giant crab, and honey bee, and of course Michael Craig and Joan Greenwood and Michael Callan and Herbert Lom as Nemo.

 

Kerwin was one of the 5 AGAINST THE HOUSE (Kim Novak label) which I saw recently, he did quite a few for Columbia back then (THE GARMENT JUNGLE) before joining the fantasy world of Harryhausen and producer Charles H Schneer. In THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, Sinbad travels to the island of Colossa to save a beautiful princess. He and his men are confronted by all manner of evil beasts, including marauding cyclopes, fire-breathing dragons and a swashbuckling skeleton. It is a delightful special effects extravaganza made in an era long before computer animation and movies with nine-figure budgets. Kathryn Grant (who left acting to become Mrs Bing Crosby)  is delightful too as the princess who is shrunk to tiny size, all part of the evil plotting by Torin Thatcher as the sinister magician with his own agenda ....Nathan Juran keeps it moving nicely.

THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER is just what it was meant to be - an entertaining family-friendly fantasy adventure, lacking Swift’s bitterness and complexity, but still possessing some satirical jabs as the satire has been leavened by farce. Again a splendid cast of characters support our hero: Peter Bull, Gregoire Aslan, Charles Lloyd Pack, Noel Purcell, as well as Jo Morrow and Lee Patterson. Gulliver's love interest is the lovely June Thorburn - the forest queen of 1959's charmer tom thumb - who was killed in a plane crash in 1967. 

The special effects that let Gulliver be a giant in Lilliput and tiny in Brobdingnag are by the reigning genius of the day, Ray Harryhausen, but writer/director Jack Sher's 1960 film wisely uses them only in the service of the story. There are several charming moments, including Gulliver singing, and the effects, though obvious now, must have delighted children back then, unused to computer games and CGI stunts. I liked it a lot, it is nicely plotted and the effects charm, as do the leading players. It remains an intelligent adaptation, if abridged and lighthearted, of a great classic, that stands on its own for entertainment.

The dvd has some great special features including an almost an hour long documentary on Ray Harryhausen (left) and how he developed his Dynamation and stop-motion animations, covering all his successes like the very popular JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND and the follow-ups to SINBAD with John Philip Law and Patrick Wayne, and the 1981 all-star CLASH OF THE TITANS which we liked a lot.

PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER is grimmer fare from 1962 (part of a Hammer 4-pack which includes DEVIL SHIP PIRATES, TERROR OF THE TONGS and THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY, again long unseen but we remember them from that 1959/early '60s glut of Hammer films - see Horror label. Kerwin is a straightforward lead here, where Christopher Lee menaces the town looking for treasure with his gang of pirates including Oliver Reed and Peter Arne who have some good moments.Watch out for the piranhas ...

Kerwin continued in films (THE DEVIL AT 4 O'CLOCK with Tracy and Sinatra in '61) until 1977, including playing that French secret agent OSS 117 (taken over by Jean Dujurdin), I would like to see his 1960 peplum SAPPHO VENUS OF LESBOS. In his later years he became an antiques dealer in San Francisco and died in his sleep in 2007, aged 81. He somehow kept his male partner of 46 years a secret, in an era when everyone knew or guessed about Rock and Monty and Tab and Tony Perkins and .... He never minded that most of his movies have long been forgotten and those that endure are considered campy cult classics and seems to have been a thoroughly charming fellow. I wonder what his JACK THE GIANT KILLER is like?