Girls night out again + their GBF.

I am indebted to that wonderful site http://doloresdelargotowers.blogspot.co.uk/, for this different shot of one of our favourite photographs here (see sidebar, right).

Thats Vivien Leigh, Kay Kendall, and their gay best friend Noel Coward welcoming Lauren Bacall to London, in January 1959. (As mentioned here before, Kay was gone by September that year, but Bacall soldiered on for 50+ years, until 2014. A night out drinking cocktails could hardly get more glamorous. 

Burtons go Boom!

More Tennessee Williams mayhem, sorry - arthouse classic, or if you want, a Trash Masterpiece .... whatever, its certainly a cult movie now. (see THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS STONE - below).

It must have seemed a good idea at the time for arty culty director Joseph Losey to team up with The Burtons in 1968, after the relative failure of his 1966 Bond spoof MODESTY BLAISE (perhaps MY cult movie...) and then ACCIDENT in '67 - the last of his with frequent players Dirk Bogarde and Stanley Baker.

BOOM! is now regarded as a camp Trash Classic in some quarters, and maybe it started that era of Burton and Taylor's decline at the box office - after their mid-60s artistic hits WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? and THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, after those popular items like THE VIPS. THE SANDPIPER IS a Trash Classic even if Minnelli gave it some surface style and gloss and Taylor looked marvellous, if a little dumpy. They must have thought they were being artistic doing another Tennessee Williams (but "What were they thinking?" - even though they were drinking a lot at the time...) - even if it was a failed play of his "The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore" which the ageing Tallulah Bankhead had done on stage with Tab Hunter as her younger Angel of Death - that would have been something to see! 

Here are some choice comments from various websites on this fascinating misfire ..... 

As serious art, BOOM! is a bomb. Yet, as a testimony, a very camp testimony, to the lives of Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Noel Coward, and Tennessee Williams, it is literally hysterical in its preoccupation with the emptiness of wealth, sex, and luxury.

 It is the incredible Miss Taylor who grounds this late 60's arthouse flop, and manages to transcend it's failing qualities, to make it a screen orgy of bad taste and over the top drama!

Taylor's role (like Vivien Leigh’s MRS STONE) is really that of an aging rich gay man who is trying to hang on to youth and the beauties that money attract. Burton's role is that of the hustler who is all that is left for the old queen to attract. But as with so many Williams works it all must be encrypted and coded so that the America of the late 50's and early 60's could handle his true intentions. 

Taylor plays ageing hedonist Flora “Sissy” Goforth, the much-married, drug-addicted, richest (and it’s been argued, the most irritating) woman in the world. From the windswept high solitude of her all-white villa on the edge of a cliff in Sardinia, the terminally ill Goforth is in denial about her imminent death, distracting herself by dictating her memoirs into a tape recorder, as she coughs up blood, and directing her diva’s wrath at her long-suffering servants in fractured Italian. She is visited by the enigmatic Christopher Flanders (played by Burton), a failed poet turned gigolo notorious on the international jet set as an ambiguous and parasitic Angel of Death who materialises whenever a wealthy woman is about to die. 
Burton is too old for the role that was written for a man in his twenties and Taylor is too young and too healthy looking to be the dying Sissy. As an elite high society gigolo Flanders surely should be a bronzed adonis, someone like Terence Stamp in Pasolini's TEOREMA, also 1968. Clad throughout in a samurai warrior's robe (complete with ceremonal sword) Burton look haggard and faded. It's he who looks like he is dying, instead of Taylor.

In theory BOOM! initially may have seemed promising. Taylor and Burton were show business royalty and the public was still entranced by their glitzy soap opera lifestyle. Taylor had triumphed in earlier film adaptations of Tennessee Williams plays like CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958) and SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER (1959). Joseph Losey was a hip, art-y director of the moment, critically acclaimed for films like THE SERVANT (1963).

Taylor plays in full-throttle imperious, overripe, scenery-chewing diva mode, and shrieking like a harridan, Her Sissy Goforth is self-parodic, unhinged and drag queeny - maybe that was the only way to play it - no wonder John Waters says Taylor’s appearance and abrasive performance in this film were a beloved source of inspiration for Divine.

BOOM! is incredibly beautiful to look at, weirdly enjoyable and frequently mesmerising in a way only a truly trashy bad movie can be. Losey’s prowling camera and elegantly composed shots ensure it’s never dull to watch - especially when Noel Coward arrives as The Witch of Capri ! and Taylor wears that kabuki outfit with that spectacular head-dress ...

Like in SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER or NIGHT OF THE IGUANA or SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH that weird Williams poetry comes through the bizarre situations. The set must have been expensive too. Taylor and Losey went on the equally bizarre and culty SECRET CEREMONY, also filmed in 1968 in London. This too  was a notorious flop at the time - and this is where I  come in, as I saw Burton and Taylor with Losey and "The Sunday Times" esteemed film critic Dilys Powell discussing the film on stage at the 1970 CINEMA CITY exhibition at The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm in London. SECRET CEREMONY had been badly received, cut, and sold to television and they were outraged at its treatment. I can still picture Elizabeth, looking great in a patchwork gypsy-style dress and flashing that diamond ring. Burton and Losey seemed hangdog about it all ... 
Our affection for Elizabeth grew in her later years: all those diamonds, perfumes, her AIDS charity work, her varying weight and looks ... for me though her great era was that decade from 1954 (THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS, GIANT, RAINTREE COUNTY, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER and, yes, CLEOPATRA) when she and Marilyn were the twin deities of the era, as Sophia and Brigitte came to the fore.

The Burton era though was passing, were the public getting tired of their ritzy lifestyle and antics as they were forced to make more and worse films to maintain their lifestyle? - people were just not going to see them, together or separately, any more - and who could blame them with items like HAMMERSMITH IS OUT, BLUEBEARD, THE DRIVER'S SEAT, ASH WEDNESDAY .... ZEE & CO though was another genuine Trash Classic we will have to re-visit it soon.
Losey had another success, artistic and popular, with THE GO-BETWEEN in 1971 and was then mainly filming in Europe. He directed Burton again in his 1972 THE ASSASSINATION OF TROTSKY, which a lot of people, including me, didn't bother with at the time - despite it also featuring Alain Delon and Romy Schneider - or maybe it did not hang around long enough for us to see it. It was though deadly dull when I finally got the dvd a while back. 

Surprise Package, 1960

The surprise is its terrible. This is one 1960 'comedy' that passed me by completely and never surfaced here at all in the last 50 or so years, so when I saw it was on dvd, I had to investigate ... particularly as it was filmed on the Greek island of Rhodes, at Lindos - a place I loved a few years ago and it looks just the same here. But WHY is it in black and white? if they were filming on a Greek island back then, surely they could have ran to colour? 

Stanley Donen had the oddest career directing movies - he is 91 now - I won't even mention SINGIN' IN THE RAIN or SEVEN BRIDES, as I don't care for them much, both very over-rated - but I love 1949's ON THE TOWN and his 1955 ITS ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER, FUNNY FACE in 1957 and THE PAJAMA GAME, DAMN YANKEES in 1958 and also INDISCREET, then he did those 2 odd films with Yul Brynner: ONCE MORE WITH FEELING made in 1959 and released in 1960 after the death of its star Kay Kendall (who died in September 1959). Yul Brynner was the temperamental orchestra conductor and showed, as he does here in 1960, that while effective in epics and dramatic roles, he has no flair for comedy at all. 

Mitzi Gaynor is as delightful as ever - she had the misfortune to come along as musicals were dying out, but scored in THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS in 1954, in ANYTHING GOES, was one of the LES GIRLS in 1957 and probably peaked as Nellie Forbush in SOUTH PACIFIC in 1958. After that she did a forgettable David Niven comedy, this Donen misfire and another forgotten item in 1963 and that was the end of her movie career - fortunately she went into television and cabaret and had some great stage shows over the years, which are camp extravaganzas to see now on YouTube. 

Noel Coward is wonderful here even if he looks bored with the whole thing, He does have a good scene with Mitzi (in a ritzy dress) where they sing and dance the title song. He is the exiled King of Anatolia and Yul is the deported from the USA criminal. It is meant to be a comedy caper about Yul trying to steal the King's crown but is too tedious to go into detail about. Yul, Mitzi and Noel are the whole show here, and of course that Greek scenery - amusing to see Yul and Mitz on donkeys going up the hill to the town's fortress and ancient Greek temple with those great views ..... I did that in 2009. I dare say Donen, Yul and Mitzi had some talks about Kay Kendall as they had recently worked with her, and Noel knew her well too .... Coward had just finished OUR MAN IN HAVANA and had launched himself as a cabaret star in the USA. This film though has reams of dialogue in scenes that go on too long and have one itching to use the fast-forward ... which I did a few times. 

Donen went on to the agreeable THE GRASS IS GREENER and those 60s hits CHARADE, ARABESQUE, TWO FOR THE ROAD and BEDAZZLED (see Donen label), the rest of his output included the dreadful STAIRCASE in 1969 and some 70s misfires like LUCKY LADY and THE LITTLE PRINCE. But he gets trotted out occasionally to comment on his three with Audrey Hepburn or those great 50s musicals. SURPRISE PACKAGE though is one to forget. The dvd blurb hopefully describes it as a "delightful souffle" but zis ees one souffle that has collapsed and fallen flat. 

More old movie magazines 1

We got another selection of old 50s and 60s movie magazines - those quality British ones: "Films & Filming" and "Sight & Sound", and a few "Plays & Players". - I had that 1972 one, on American theatre, with Bacall on the cover, and an interview with Tennessee Williams.  I saw that 1980 HAMLET too at the Royal Court, it was a highly praised production at the time, with Jonathan Pryce and Jill Bennett - I must return to that when I get around to all those Hamlets ...

The film ones also have interesting interviews with the likes of Hitchcock, Bergman (Ingmar), Fellini & Antonioni. At least I can scan and preserve them ... I like that cover with Belmondo (THE MAN FROM RIO), and Lee Remick in SANCTUARY, and Coward and Guinness in OUR MAN IN HAVANA, and Julie Christie with gay photographer pal Roland Curram in DARLING. These capture that mid-60s vibe nicely, like those ones with Monica Vitti as MODESTY BLAISE or David Hemmings in BLOW-UP.

Dirk update ...

Two new Dirk Bogarde rarities have surfaced:  his 1952 thriller THE GENTLE GUNMAN has been rescued from the archives by our Film4 channel who have screened it several times in recent weeks, and is on dvd, and a 1966 American television production of Coward's BLITHE SPIRIT is on YouTube, along with a raft of other Bogarde clips and interviews.

THE GENTLE GUNMAN, 1952. This turned up on tv and proved totally engrossing. Directed by Basil Dearden (in his prolific era)  in 1952 from a play by Roger MacDougal, and featuring Bogarde and John Mills as two Irish brothers divided by their IRA loyalties. No wonder this never appeared anywhere here during the last 50 years …. I had not realised Bogarde and Mills had been teamed before their 1960 oddity THE SINGER NOT THE SONG. THE GENTLE GUNMAN now seems as relevant for its time as BOYS IN BROWN, POOL OF LONDON, THE BLUE LAMP or HUNTED. (reviews at Bogarde label).

Bogarde is the young hothead being used by the IRA (buffoons Jack McGowran and Liam Redmond) to plant a bomb in a suitcase in a crowded London underground station full of people sleeping for the night (its 1941 in wartime). This is the nightmare scenario for all us commuters, but luckily brother Mills is at hand to grab the suitcase and throw it into the tunnel before it goes off …. Bogarde is tailed back to their lodgings where McGowran and Redmond are caught. Back in Ireland the IRA bigshot Robert Beatty is not pleased, as suffering mother Barbara Mullen (later immortalised as Janet in DR FINLAY’S CASEBOOK) sees her other youngest son also fall into the IRA clutches. Doctor Joseph Tomelty and Englishman Gilbert Harding discuss the pros and cons of the Irish question and the justification of terrorist acts, as the wounded youngest brother is brought in, followed by the gang members including trigger-happy Eddie Byrne. There is another shoot-out in a crowded street, a daring rescue by Mills of the IRA chaps on their way to prison, and finally Mills is about to be executed by his compatriots when …..
exciting stuff then and it all looks great with moody black and white photography and all those men in raincoats and hats with their shooters to hand. A definite curiosity now, as the terrorists are presented as thugs or amiable buffoons unable to change the status quo as their senseless actions cause harm to innocent people without achieving anything but causing more suffering and hate. The Irish “Troubles” is not an easy subject for the movies (SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL is another fascinating melodramatic attempt in 1959, but Carol Reed ‘s ODD MAN OUT is the classic here). 

Coward's BLITHE SPIRIT never goes away for long. We love the David Lean 1945 film with Rex Harrison at his sublime best, and it has just been on in London again with Dame Angela Lansbury as Madame Arcati, at a mere 88. This production on YouTube  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1zhVnm4kUU

is a 1966 one where Dirk has a stab at it, fascinating to see now, as he was friends with Harrison and of course Kay Kendall (who would have been a perfect Elvira, if she had lived, she died in 1959, as per my posts on her, at label). 
Here it is Rosemary Harris, and the current wife is Rachel Roberts - Rex's wife after Kay. Rachel seems a little too working class for the milieu here, but the day is saved as Madame Arcati is no less than Ruth Gordon !  Its certainly an odd enjoyable version. Dirk also did another American tv item, LITTLE MOON OF ALBAN in 1964, with my favourite Julie Harris, I wonder if that is available ...  Also on YouTube is Dirk as guest-panellist on a 1960 edition of WHATS MY LINE, which I presume he had to do when promoting SONG WITHOUT END in New York, bet he hated doing that ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D50Ed-mJTEc
There is also that fascinating documentary Dirk narrates and appears in on that missing 1937 Von Sternberg production of I CLAUDIUS, which I had not seen since the BBC ran it back in the late '60s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUbt0sweIjI

War weekend 2: In Which We Serve

IN WHICH WE SERVE. The old warhorse from 1942 remains one of the great war films and is still affecting and emotional now, it is simply one of the great British films of the 1940s (along with THE WAY TO THE STARS, THIS HAPPY BREED, A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, and of course Lean's later BRIEF ENCOUNTER). (See my comments on those at 1940s/War/British labels).

We follow the men of the “Torrin” which has been torpedoed and is sinking, as they cling to a life raft and see the ship and their lives in the various flashbacks, covering all of society from the high command to the regular sailors and their families. David Lean and Noel Coward directed, from Coward’s script and Noel also played Captain Kinross. His clipped manner is perfect here as is his rapport with his men. All those war clichés were new here – the captain scribbing down dying sailors’ last words for families back home, the coward who redeems himself etc. We have young Richard Attenborough, and John Mills, with Michael Wilding, while Celia Johnson is the perfect navy wife toasting her rival, the ship, 

while Kathleen Harrison is Bernard Miles’ wife, and Mills marries Freda played by Kay Walsh. That scene with the bombs falling on the women still delivers a punch. Young Daniel Massey is Coward’s son (he went on to play Coward in STAR!) while Juliet Mills is the baby. IN WHICH WE SERVE will remain an English classic, a film which can be enjoyed on many levels and repays repeat viewings, the stiff upper lip manner may have been parodied since, but its really affecting here. That scene of Kinross and family on the downs watching the planes above is so perfectly 40s.

3 very British treats

THE ASTONISHED HEART, 1950, written by Noel Coward who also scored the music and he stars too as the psychiatrist contentedly married to Barbara (Celia Johnson). Barbara meets her old school friend Leonora (Margaret Leighton) by chance and they become friends again. There is an initial coolness between the husband and Leonora but soon passions are raging beneath those stiff upper lip exteriors as they embark on an affair. The wife though does not seem to mind too much and even encourages the lovers to go away together. Is she waiting for it to run out of steam and he will return to her? I knew nothing about this 1950 rarity so the ending is a surprise. It is all redolent of that older age of film-making, easy to spoof now, with the upper-class accents, the high life in Mayfair (complete with butler and cook) as Coward and Leighton do the rounds of nightclubs and restaurants, ordering their stingers and trying the samba. The two ladies are of course splendid as ever (with Leighton, as gowned by Molyneux, the height of late 40s chic), but it is odd seeing Coward with his clipped vocal delivery and mandarin appearance as the clever man torn between two women [he was perfect though with Johnson in IN WHICH WE SERVE] … it seems Michael Redgrave was set to star initially. Coward’s pals Graham Payn and Joyce Carey are in support, and co-director is Terence Fisher who helmed those Hammer classics. A very intriguing oddity then - essential though not to know how it is going to end....

Much more conventional is THE HOLLY AND THE IVY from 1952. Adapted from a play and directed by George More O’Ferrell it is a “heartwarming tale of an English minister and his family reunited at Christmas time” so why isn’t it a Christmas perennial? Ralph Richardson is the rather bumbling minister but he hardly seems old enough to be the father of daughters Celia Johnson and Margaret Leighton (again) or son Denholm Elliott. Celia is the dutiful daughter who stays at home to look after him but she longs to leave and marry reliable John Gregson who has an offer of work abroad. Also returning home is Leighton as the wayward daughter in London whose life has gone wrong – she has taken to drink after the loss of her wartime lover and the death of her child. As son Denholm rails to the minister, he cannot be told the truth about them, but he turns out to be very human and understands perfectly as solutions are found to suit everyone. Add in two maiden aunts (one very bitter about losing her own chances of marriage by having to look after aged parents) and suave Hugh Williams and the stage is set for a nice drama played out with the snow falling on that perfectly quaint English village. I loved it.



Back to 1945 (the year I was born!) for THE SEVENTH VEIL, an enormous hit at the time and one can see why. It's a delirious melodrama, classily done, which pushes all the right buttons: lots of music, heightened emotions and great roles for James Mason and Ann Todd. Todd starts as a convincing 14 year old in pigtails, in thrall to her ward Nicholas (Mason with that cane…). She becomes a famous pianist but is always under the Svengali-like spell of her lame cousin/guardian and mentor until she attempts suicide by jumping off a bridge. Enter the doctor (Herbert Lom) who tries to unlock her secrets and her phobia about playing again. Lom discovers the severely shy young woman's repressed need for love, and her guardian's overbearing need to live his life's dream through her and her talent as a pianist. By the end her three suitors (the band-leader she wanted to elope with, before Nicholas whisked her off to Paris, and the painter who fell for her as he painted her, as well as the brooding Nicholas) are all waiting to see which she will choose – but it is not really a surprise. Lom, in a long and varied career, went on to play the psychiatrist in a successful tv series THE HUMAN JUNGLE.



Todd, with her odd Garbo quality, is fascinating as ever here, and no wonder Mason was soon on his way to Hollywood. Todd though remains virtually unknown of all the major British actresses of the ‘40s – was she too patrician or aloof for the moviegoers to take to their collective bosoms? Directed by Compton Bennett, with an Oscar-winning script by Muriel and Sydney Box.