Crossfire (1947)

This is a short (85 minute), fairly straightforward mystery involving soldiers who may or may not have been involved with the murder of a man they met in a bar on the previous evening.  Robert Mitchum has quite a bit of screen time as the soldier who is friends with the primary suspect, but wants to make sure his pal has time to get his story straight before the police track him down.

It lacks any real suspense, but does include a line I loved.  While interrogating a woman of ill-repute (played by the beautiful Gloria Grahame, best known as Violet in It’s a Wonderful Life) about the whereabouts of one of the soldiers earlier that night, she is very uncooperative and feigning confusion says, “tonight’s a long time ago.”

The best part about this movie is its not-so-subtle statement on Anti-Semitism, an interesting topic considering it was up for best picture against Gentleman’s Agreement.  Here’s a monologue I transcribed that resonates strongly today.  A police officer is explaining how it may now be Jews, but it used to be the Irish who bore the brunt of racism and discrimination and tomorrow it will someone else.  He is talking about his Irish grandfather:

“He thought of himself as just another man living in America… Fear and hatred of all Irish Catholics had developed and spread like a terrible disease.  He saw that he wasn’t an American anymore.  He was a dirty Irish Mick.  A priest lover.  A spy from Rome.  A foreigner trying to rob men of jobs.  He didn’t understand.”

The officer then tells how his father was attacked and killed in a bar the night after helping defend his local parish priest who was being attacked in the street and finishes by saying, “Hating is always the same.  Always senseless.  One day it kill Irish Catholics, the next day Jews.  The next day Protestants.  The next day Quakers.  It’s hard to stop.”

Indeed it is.

50 to go…

Battleground (1949)

Okay, I got lazy for awhile there.  I have watched a few others since my last post, but can't remember now which ones, but I promise the jump in the total is legit - especially as I'm doing this for me, not you.  :)  We also had another 9 best picture nominees from the 2011 class.  I saw most of them in the theater and finally caught up with the rest on DVD.  But on to Battleground!

This is a very solid war movie that creates a cast of flawed and uncertain soldiers who find themselves surrounded during the Battle of the Bulge.  I found it startlingly realistic for coming out just five years after the war.  Though maybe that's the time when we can be the most honest sometimes.  The film doesn't strive to turn them into larger than life heroes, but portrays them as real men who would rather be back home.

No big name stars, but the cast does include Ricardo Montalban (Khan!) and James Whitmore who is best known (to me anyway) as Brooks, the elderly librarian in The Shawshank Redemption.

As a piece of storytelling, it’s a bit clunky, with no real arc or any particular protagonist to follow.  It does, however, work as a feel-good, but not sappy, piece of post WWII Americana.

51 to go...

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)

Ok, pay attention - Here Comes Mr. Jordan is based on the play Heaven Can Wait. It was remade with Warren Beatty in 1978 using the title Heaven Can Wait. It was remade again in 2001 with Chris Rock as Down to Earth. BUT Heaven Can Wait from 1943 is a movie with a completely different story. Got it?

In case you're not familiar - an over zealous angel pulls a man from his body before his time. Before they can put him back in his body, he has already been cremated, so the compromise is to give him the body of someone who was about to die anyway. Hilarity ensues.

Back to the 1941 version. This movie was very enjoyable. It has fun with the premise from the beginning but never goes for the cheap laugh. Claude Rains (Casablanca) stars as Mr. Jordan, the angel overseeing that everything goes well for our hero, a boxer who still wants the title shot that had been promised to his now cremated former self.

57 to go...

America, America (1963)

I was fairly excited about this one when I put it in. It had only recently become available on Netflix and is from director Elia Kazan (On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire).

For whatever reason, I just couldn't get into it. It has an interesting enough premise. Kazan wrote the story based on his own uncle's dream and struggles to get to America, without which Kazan himself, born in what is now Turkey, would never have come to the US.

It just doesn't seem to work, from Kazan's voice over at the beginning making it seem almost like it will be a documentary to the painful fact that, unfortunately, his uncle's story, while significant and representative of immigrants at large, just isn't interesting enough to justify a 174 minute run-time.

58 to go...

Wendy Hiller

This may be the first time I'm highlighting an actor I was completely unfamiliar with before venturing through all these movies. I guess I hadn't heard of Maurice Chevalier, but he was (seemingly) the inspiration for Pepe le Pew, so I was familiar with his essence, I guess.

Dame Wendy Hiller was primarily a stage actress but still starred in plenty of film and television over her nearly 60-year career. She was in five best picture nominees: Pygmalion (1938), Separate Tables (1958), Sons & Lovers (1960), A Man for All Seasons (1966), and The Elephant Man (1980).

The two I had not seen until recently are Pygmalion and Sons & Lovers. Mrs. Hiller was nominated for best actress as Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion. I wish I could fairly compare this movie to My Fair Lady, but unfortunately I have not seen the latter since I was in high school and was indignant about even the concept of watching a musical at school. So, for the moment, Pygmalion destroys My Fair Lady on all fronts in my book.

Sons & Lovers was fun as it's done in the style of 1930's literary adaptation, even though it came out in 1960. Hiller plays the mother of the sons in question, though the protagonist is 24-year-old Dean Stockwell (yes, Sam from Quantum Leap) as the angsty, mamma's boy artist trying to figure out what he wants out of women and of out life in general. The characterizations are, for the most part, far more nuanced than, I think, they would have been (or could have been) in the 30's. Stealing the show, however, is Trevor Howard as the alcoholic, coal-mining father of the family. He is simultaneously the comic-relief, the villain, and the redeemer in this story.

Hiller's Oscar win came for Separate Tables as Burt Lancaster's mistress and the hotel manager. I haven't seen it recently enough to recall her performance specifically, so I am eager to revisit it now that I'm more familiar with her larger body of work.

59 to go...

Kitty Foyle (1940)

This film earned Ginger Rogers her one and only Oscar nomination and win, though it was far from a token award. She portrays the titular Kitty from a precocious 15-year-old to a mature woman hardened by the realities of life.

Two social factors play into the story that give an interesting look into America at the time. The first is class distinction as Kitty is from a poor family and that becomes the main obstacle between her and Wyn Strafford VI in their on-and-off relationship. The issue isn't so much how Wyn views her or even necessarily his family, but how the city of Philadelphia will view their relationship since the Strafford's are so "important." They debate moving elsewhere, anywhere else, where Wyn's family is not prominent.

Second, the "other man" in the story is a poor, struggling doctor. Obviously, there's no money in helping people, he just enjoys making a difference.

I don't give enough away here to make it unsafe to add that, at the end, she also does not make the decision you expect.

61 to go...

Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)

Period pieces can be a funny thing when they're from a different period themselves. I didn't realize until about halfway through this one that it begins in 1915. I was clued in after World War I broke out and one of the characters went to fight (well, play in the army band) in Europe.

The story starts simple enough here that I really wasn't expecting much. An up-and-coming band and new-to-town female singer are forced to work together when a club owner insists they are a package deal or no one gets the job. The initial bitter sparks fly, but it then evolves into a more nuanced love triangle between the girl, the band director, and his right-hand man (well, slightly more nuanced - it is still from the 30's). All three have to juggle loyalty, love, and their own personal ambitions.

The band leader is played by Tyrone Power, a very big star at the time who isn't as well known today. His best friend is played by Don Ameche, Oscar winner decades later for Cocoon, and maybe best known (to me at least) as Mortimer Duke from Trading Places.

Overall a pretty good show. The musical numbers don't overstay their welcome and, more often than not, continue to serve the story.

62 to go...