Lists: Those Trash Classics ....

We have been here before - call them what you will: Bad Movies We Love, Guilty Pleasures, Trash or Utter Trash ... those delirious melodramas and just plain bad movies that are so enjoyable - most of the great ladies did some: Lana and Susan and Joan and Bette specialised in them later in their careers, while other great ladies like Olivia and sister Joan dipped their toes in the muddy waters too. 

I have covered them in more detail in my earlier reviews - click on Trash-A label to read on ...http://osullivan60.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/trash-favourites.html

Right now, I list them:

• PORTRAIT IN BLACK - Lana's crowning epic, from 1960 (whereas IMITATION OF LIFE is a cult classic)
• LOVE HAS MANY FACES - Lana does Acapulco, with Ruth Roman and those beach boy bums in speedos in 1966
• WHERE LOVE HAS GONE - Susan and Bette go head to head in this 1964 stinker 
• I THANK A FOOL - Susan and Finch should have been a great team but not in this weird meller shot in Ireland ...
• ADA - Susan in fighting form
  
• BACK STREET - the best of the Susan's ?, 1961
• STOLEN HOURS - love Susan's British remake of Bette' DARK VICTORY, in 1963
• SERENADE - Fontaine is stupendous in this Mario Lansz sudser, 1956
• ISLAND IN THE SUN - Joan 'romances' Harry Belafonte ... 1957
• LADY IN A CAGE - sister Olivia is trapped
• THE SINGING NUN - Debbie's worst in 1966, a travesty of the real Nun's Story
• A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME - Shelley chomps the scenery. 1964.
• SYLVIA - a Carroll Baker epic, its delirious, its delovely 
• SINCERELY YOURS - Liberace's sickly starrer, with Dot Malone and Joanne Dru competing for him ... a 1956 howler.
• MAMBO - a 1954 discovery, torrid saga with Silvana Mangano and Shelley Winters, in Italy.
• FOUR GIRLS IN TOWN - the perfect 1957 Universal-International meller, as is:
  
• THE FEMALE ANIMAL - thats Hedy Lamarr in 1957 with Jan Sterling, splendid as ever.
• GO NAKED IN THE WORLD - Gina ! 1960.
• THE CHAPMAN REPORT - Shelley, Glynis, Claire, young Jane Fonda ... we love Cukor's starry drama, The Higher Trash.
• THE REVOLT OF MAMIE STOVER - Jane Russell ! with Agnes Moorehead as the madam, 1956.
• A GIRL NAMED TAMIKO - one of Laurence Harvey's worst 
• WALK ON THE WILD SIDE - ditto, but with Stanwyck, Capucine, Fonda, Baxter ...
• THE LOVE MACHINE - a scream with gay David Hemmings and Dyan Cannon both wanting John Philip Law
• THE CROWDED SKY - best of the airline disasters?, 1960
• DORIAN GRAY - Helmut ! in 1970s London 
• GOODBYE GEMINI - one of the terrible British flicks of the era, 1970 - as was:
• MY LOVER, MY SON - why Romy. why did you make this terrible film?
• 10.30 PM SUMMER - fake arty 1966 Eurofare, but it does have Melina, Romy and Peter Finch
  
• POPE JOAN - Liv may have been great in those Bergman films but made some stinkers in English, none worse than this in 1972.
• Glenda made some stinkers too, none worse than THE INCREDIBLE SARAH in 1976, where she flounces around as Bernhardt in a Readers Digest travesty. Its a scream. 
• BLUEBEARD - Edward Dmytryk helmed some Trash Classic favourites like THE CARPETBAGGERS, WALK ON THE WILD SIDE, WHERE LOVE HAS GONE, but came a cropper here, aided by Burton's worst performance, in 1972
• THE SQUEEZE - rather good Brit gangster flick, from 1977, with down on their luck Boyd, Hemmings, Carol White ...  BRANNIGAN (John Wayne) and HENNESSEY (Rod Steiger and wasted Lee Remick) were amusing mid-70s British thrillers too ...

We don't bother with the insultingly bad, like THE OSCAR or HARLOW ..... then there are the Troy Donahue and Ann-Margret clunkers, and you know how we love those Bette and Joans: TORCH SONG, HARRIET CRAIG, FEMALE ON THE BEACH, QUEEN BEE, AUTUMN LEAVES, THE STORY OF ESTHER COSTELLO, THE BEST OF EVERYTHING, BERSERK! or two Bettes in DEAD RINGER.

New year re-views 4: The Chapman Report, 1962

I have written about it several times here already, but simply have to again - that favourite lost movie of ours, THE CHAPMAN REPORT from 1962 is finally on dvd – a Warner Archive no-frills issue, but I went for a Spanish edition (CONFIDENCIAS DE MUJER) which has the trailer and chapters, and a lurid painting of Claire Bloom on the cover, in full nympho mode. Cukor’s 1962 film of that sensational best-seller (I read it when I was a teenager) still looks good, with that early ‘60s look in spades, 
with different backgrounds and colours for the 4 ladies – costumes by Orry Kelly, colour co-ordinanation by Cukor regular Hoyningen-Heune, with costumes by Orry-Kelly, all very 1962, Veteran Henry Daniell was another Cukor regular, he gets a scene here, advising Efrem Zimbalist Jr on the dangers posed by his sex survey in suburbia. The credits are amusing too, styled like early computer cards for a electronic filing system. 

 
Claire Bloom steals the show here with her magnetic portrayal of the self-loathing nympho (she said in a recent interview Cukor was the best director she ever worked with), as we see her like a vampire in the shadows watching the water delivery boy (Chad Everett in tight trousers), before her encounter with those sleazy jazz musicians led by Corey Allen.

Meanwhile arty Glynis Johns gets an eyeful of Ty Hardin in those spray-on shorts at the beach and wants him to pose (and more) for her; while bored housewife Shelley Winters is having an affair with no-good theatre director Ray Danton – her boring husband Harold Stone just wants to  watch tv. young Jane Fonda is the fourth wife and makes the least impression here, as the frigid widow whom Efrem gets to comfort. Soap opera then, but a superior one, and a Trash Classic finally available again. 

Winchester '73 in 1950

I remembered seeing WINCHESTER '73 as a kid, at one of those Sunday matinees, when us '50s kids saw revivals of older movies (the 1942 costumer, Tyrone Power's SON OF FURY was another favourte), but had not seen it since. Catching it this week it is indeed a classic western, full of great moments and Anthony Mann certainly keeps us watching, as that gun is passed on from owner to owner and back to James Stewart, who won it initially. Stewart and Mann made a great series of westerns, some of which are classics of the genre: THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, THE FAR COUNTRY, THE NAKED SPUR, BEND OF THE RIVER etc. (I like Stewart's 1957 NIGHT PASSAGE too, though it not by Mann). Like Randolph Scott and Budd Boetticher they were a great time, and not just in westerns. (Mann also did that delicious Trash Classic I love: SERENADE in 1956 with Mario Lanza and Joan Fontaine, as well of course as epics like EL CID and FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, he created some great widescreen images.) 

In a marksmanship contest, Lin McAdam wins a prized Winchester rifle, which is immediately stolen by the runner-up, Dutch Henry Brown. This "story of a rifle" then follows McAdams' pursuit, and the rifle as it changes hands, until a final showdown and shoot-out on a rocky mountain precipice. 

Great set-pieces include the Indians attacking the cavalry troop (Tony Curtis, left, has a few moments here as a young trooper) while a pre-hunk Rock Hudson (above) is the Indian chief intent of warfare and getting those new guns for himself. 

Dan Duryea is splendidly repellent as usual, and Steve McNally provides a good final shoot-out with Stewart. Venal Charles Drake is travelling with saloon girl Shelley Winters and they have some good moments too, particularly when the Redskins attack.  Jay C. Flippen and John McIntrye are good support too. 
This remains one western one can enjoy anytime, it would probably get shown more often if it had been in colour. 

Rhapsodising about 1954, again

RHAPSODY, 1954. The opening titles tell us it’s the South of France. Wealthy Louis Calhern is arranging namecards for his lunch party, but then his daughter Louise (Elizabeth Taylor) enters and instead of being his hostess she is off to Zurich, driving in her open sports car, with her cases of all those Helen Rose outfits, a different one for each scene. Louise we soon see is a spoiled rich girl, used to getting her way and indulged by her indulgent father ….  She has her eyes of fiery Paul Bronte, master of the violin, but only if he studies hard enough to please teacher Michael Chekhov. Louise settles in to Celia Lovsky’s charming apartment and starts to get bored as Paul (Vittorio Gassman in one of his first American films) puts his music first and her second. She is left on the sidelines in her furs, white gloves and diamonds at the café as the other students, including predatory Barbara Bates, crowd around him. But diversion is at hand, as she gets to know the upstairs tenant, John Ericson, who becomes hopelessly devoted to her, putting his music at risk. 
He at least plays the piano – cue endless close-ups of them playing as Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff swamp the soundtrack, and of course there is the obligatory montage of capital cities and concert posters as Bronte tours and becomes famous, while Louise marries John, who is now drinking heavily. Bronte comes back into her life as she decides to leave her husband while trying to convince him he can become a great player without her. 
We finally leave her (this thing seems to go on for hours) at the concert hall as Ericson can indeed play without her, as Bronte arrives to collect her. Which man does she choose?  This is a prime farrago, which I remember seeing as a kid, one of four Taylor did in 1954, overall I much prefer THE LAST TIME I SAW PARIS but Liz is certainly at her early zenith as the camera lovingly lingers on her rapt expressions as her men play, and play and play …. High Class Trash, it has that MGM lush quality, directed by Charles Vidor (an old hand at this kind of thing – he began, but died, during the 1960 SONG WITHOUT END). 

There's no business like show-biz as Marlon's Napoleon 
drops in on Marilyn

1954 - my first year at the movies, aged 8. What a year that was, as I have mentioned before here - see label, 1954-1, JOHNNY GUITAR and A STAR IS BORN were the first films I saw, taken to by my parents, in small-town Ireland .... it was that great year for routine westerns, costumers and mini-epics, and several musicals. The big hitters of the year were of course ON THE WATERFRONT, Ava as THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA, Audrey as SABRINA, Grace as THE COUNTRY GIRL, REAR WINDOW, DIAL M FOR MURDER, while other popular hits included CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, THEM!, EXECUTIVE SUITE, WOMAN’S WORLD, THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN, CAINE MUTINY, THE GLENN MILLER STORY as James Stewart and June Allyson continued to be so very popular. Meanwhile, Kazan was shooting EAST OF EDEN .... the first of James Dean's three major releases for 1955 and 1956. 

The big foreign movies were THE SEVEN SAMURAI and LA STRADA, and Visconti's SENSO, and I just recently discovered Mizogushi's LATE CHRYSANTHEMUMS.

I was soon lapping up other westerns (often with my father) like: THE COMMAND, DRUM BEAT, SITTING BULL, CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA, RIVER OF NO RETURN, BROKEN LANCE.

while other musicals we loved were: THE STUDENT PRINCE, CARMEN JONES, 7 BRIDES FOR 7 BROTHERS (well, I never liked that one much), THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS (where Marilyn was at her most peaches and cream, the blonde to Elizabeth Taylor's exotic darkness), WHITE CHRISTMAS, BRIGADOON, YOUNG AT HEART, ROSE MARIE.

The epics and peplums included THE EGYPTIAN and DEMETRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS (see below), THE SILVER CHALICE (Paul Newman's odd debut with young Natalie Wood, right, as a blonde who grows up to be Virginia Mayo, and Jack Palance mesmerising as Simon the Magician who thinks he can fly..below.),  
KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS, SIGN OF THE PAGAN,  BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH, PRINCE VALIANT - cardboard castle time indeed, while Italy gave us ULYSSES, ATILLA and TWO NIGHTS WITH CLEOPATRA, these two with that young Sophia Loren. I simply loved her WOMAN OF THE RIVER, but did not catch up with the delightful TOO BAD SHE'S BAD, her first with Marcello, until much later. De Sica's GOLD OF NAPLES with her and Silvana Mangano was a popular choice too, and still marvellous now. 

Other programmers we liked were Charlton Heston in THE NAKED JUNGLE (terrific with Eleanor Parker) and SECRET OF THE INCAS, plus TAZA SON OF COCHISE, VALLEY OF THE KINGS, and Rock's CAPTAIN LIGHTFOOT. 

Grace Kelly was very busy that year, not only those Hitchcock's but the dull COUNTRY GIRL and the programmer GREEN FIRE where she looked very tailored down on her South American plantation. La Taylor fitted in not only RHAPSODY and LAST TIME I SAW PARIS but also BEAU BRUMMELL and replaced Vivien Leigh in ELEPHANT WALK - once GIANT made her a superstar next year in 1955 she slowed down to barely one a year... her husband Michael Wilding was also toiling in Hollywood then, to less effect in TORCH SONG, THE GLASS SLIPPER, THE EGYPTIAN, THE SCARLET COAT .....  Shelley Winters was very busy, with 6 titles that year, while Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Simmons, Deborah Kerr, Susan Hayward etc were all churning them out. Brando had not only ON THE WATERFRONT but as Napoleon in the Fox costumer DESIREE, James Mason was not only Norman Maine in A STAR IS BORN but also the bad guy in PRINCE VALIANT and Nemo in 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA.

The English studios were busy too:  with the hilarious BELLES OF ST TRINIANS and DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE (Dirk and Kay! - right with Kenneth More), dramas like THE WEAK AND THE WICKED, HELL BELOW ZERO, THE GOOD DIE YOUNG, and Glynis Johns and Dora Bryan as mermaids in the delicious MAD ABOUT MEN.

1954 discoveries of mine in recent years include MAMBO - a lurid melodrama where marrieds Shelley Winters and Vittorio Gassman are both keen on Silvana Mangano who dances up a storm; Rene Clement's KNAVE OF HEARTS (or MR RIPOIS) with Gerard Philipe on the loose in London, wooing lovely young Joan Greenwood among others - right; and Linda Darnell is the marvellous romantic melodrama THIS IS MY LOVE (see Linda label). 1954 we love you. Next major years: 1959/1960, 1962.

Grand Guignol quartet ...

Let us now turn our attention to some prime ham examples of those grand guignol bloody comedy thrillers dished up by Hollywood in the 1960s and '70s, featuring those older actresses who were determined to go on working. It all started of course with Robert Aldrich and WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? followed by HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE and Bette's British efforts THE NANNY and THE ANNIVERSARY, while Joan went on to STRAITJACKET and BERSERK! while Tallulah went with DIE DIE MY DARLING!. Olivia may have been the best with LADY IN A CAGE in 1964, still very effective and shocking, in the best way. The late '60s though gave us campy thrills with WHATEVER HAPPENED TO AUNT ALICE? followed by WHATS THE MATTER WITH HELEN? and WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO? with juicy roles for Geraldine Page, Ruth Gordon, Debbie Reynolds, Shelley Winters, Agnes Moorehead et al. Then in 1973 a French film went even further - TRIO INFERNAL, another Romy Schneider-Michel Piccoli starrer .... roll them:

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO AUNT ALICE? is delicioius fun now, with Geraldine Page and Ruth Gordon going head to head, produced by Aldrich and directed by Lee H Katzin.

As Aunt Alice, Ruth Gordon applies for the job of housekeeper in the Tucson, Arizona home of widow Claire Marrable in order to find out what happened to a missing widowed friend, Edna Tilsney. The crazed Page, left only a stamp album by her husband, takes money from her housekeepers, kills them, and buries the bodies in her garden. 

We discovered Geraldine Page's great screen roles here last year: her Alexandra Del Lago in SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH and Alma Winehouse in SUMMER AND SMOKE, both by Tennessee Williams. Gordon has long been a favourite from HAROLD AND MAUDE, LORD LOVE A DUCK, ROSEMARY'S BABY, and The Dealer, Natalie Wood's mother, in INSIDE DAISY CLOVER .... Both ladies are in their element here, along with Mildred Dunnock as the previous housekeeper that Gordon comes searching for as she is hired as the new housekeeper. It starts like a black comedy with widow Page finding out she is penniless after her husband's will is read. Page plays crazy perfectly, with her airs and graces, as her madness takes over. Rosemary Forsyth and Robert Fuller are the attractive couple next door ... and there is that dog sniffing at the contents of Mrs Marrable's garden ...  I loved every minute of it.

Even better is Curtis Harrington's 1971  WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? with its perfect 1930s period feel. 

Two middle-aged women move to Hollywood, California after their sons are convicted of a notorious murder and open a dance school for children eager to tap their way to stardom.

Debbie Reynolds is dynamite as Adelle, the glamorous one who soon lands nice rich guy Dennis Weaver - its one of her best roles and she gives it her all. Shelley Winters is Helen, the frumpy one who too is going demented. Irish actor Micheal MacLiammoir has a juicy role as Hamilton Starr - though we do not find out what happens to him after he follows Helen upstairs .... 

Agnes Moorehead, an old friend of Debbie's,  also has a great scene as Sister Alma - a Aimee Semple McPherson type evangalist. Then there are the tots with their Shirley Temple and Mae West routines. Its a shame the poster gives away the climax, but its a marvellous roller-coaster ride along the way. Scripted by Henry Farrell who created the genre with the BABY JANE script back in 1962. Harrington also directed the odd 1967 thriller GAMES with Simone Signoret and James Caan and Katharine Ross (see 1967 label for review) and also the 1972 follow-up WHOEVER SLEW AUNT ROO?. Shame about the bunny rabbits though ...

This was filmed in England with some good thespians having fun here: Sir Ralph Richardson,  Liionel Jeffries,  Hugh Griffith, Rosalie Crutchley, Pat Heywood, Michael Gothard, and young Mark Lester, after his hit in OLIVER!. 

This is a retelling of the old tale of Hansel and Gretel, but set in England in the 1920s. To the children and staff at the orphanage, Auntie Roo is a kindly American widow who gives them a lavish Christmas party each year in her mansion, Forrest Grange. In reality, she is a severely disturbed woman, who keeps the mummified remains of her little daughter in a nursery in the attic. One Christmas, her eye falls upon a little girl who reminds her of her daughter and she imprisons her in her attic. Nobody believes her brother, Christopher, when he tells them what has happened, so he goes to rescue her ... 

Its an American-International replete with a creepy old mansion, and lots of spooky thrills. A Trash Classic then, like the others here. Shelley of course is over the top as usual, though not as much as in the Italian grand guignol by Bolognini: GRAN BOLLITO (review at Winters label).  Now over to France:

LE TRIO INFERNAL, 1974. Like the equally grim THE HONEYMOON KILLERS this is based on an actual story, Georges "Sarret" Sarrejani, a lawyer in Marseilles, and his two lovers, German sisters Philomene and Catherine Schmidt, started their "work" in the 20's. They used to sign life insurances for dying people and keep the money. Sarret shot M.Chambon, another swindler, and Chambon's lover, Noémie, to steal their money... 
But, in order to get rid of the bodies, he placed them in a bathtub and cover with sulfuric acid - when the corpses were just a black kind of glue, Sarret and sisters Schmidt put the glue on buckets and pour the content on the garden. After another murder all three of them were arrested in 1930 and in 1934, April 10th, Sarret was guillotined, the sisters were released after the War. 

This gruesome tale - no camp histrionics here - makes for a gruesome film as directed by Francis Girod ... Romy once again shows how compelling she was, and is another great teaming with Piccoli.  A bit sick though for popular tastes.

Finally on DVD: The Chapman Report, 1962

I have written about it several times here already, but simply have to again - that favourite lost movie of ours, THE CHAPMAN REPORT from 1962 is finally on dvd – a Warner Archive no-frills issue, but I went for a Spanish edition (CONFIDENCIAS DE MUJER) which has the trailer and chapters, and a lurid painting of Claire Bloom on the cover, in full nympho mode. Cukor’s 1962 film of that sensational best-seller (I read it when I was a teenager) still looks good, with that early ‘60s look in spades, 
with different backgrounds and colours for the 4 ladies – costumes by Orry Kelly, colour co-ordinanation by Hoyningen-Heune, Cukor regulars, as was Henry Daniell, who also gets a scene here, advising Efrem Zimbalist Jr on the dangers posed by his sex survey in suburbia. The credits are amusing too, styled like early computer cards for a electronic filing system. 

 
Claire Bloom steals the show here with her magnetic portrayal (she said in a recent interview Cukor was the best director she ever worked with), as we see her like a vampire in the shadows watching the water delivery boy (Chad Everett in tight trousers), before her encounter with those sleazy jazz musicians led by Corey Allen; 

meanwhile arty Glynis Johns gets an eyeful of Ty Hardin in those spray-on shorts at the beach and wants him to pose (and more) for her; while bored housewife Shelley Winters is having an affair with no-good theatre director Ray Danton – her husband Harold Stone just wants to watch tv. Jane Fonda is the fourth wife and makes the least impression here, as the frigid widow whom Efrem gets to comfort. Soap opera then, but a superior one, and a Trash Classic finally available again.