Watchingwell   

             Curated classic films

Midsummer Musings

      I realize that this is supposed to be about classic American films, but let me recount to you a small part of the script of Never on Sunday, the 1960 film starring Melina Mercouri as a happy, Greek prostitute who educates an American scholar about joy and freedom. Written and directed by Jules Dassin, with the backdrop of the Greek port city of Piraeus, Mercouri’s character is happy because she refuses to see the negative side of life.  She tells the stories of classic Greek tragedies but changes all the endings to “and they all went to the seashore”. Going to the seashore was a metaphor for happiness.  Until I saw this, I thought I was the only one who felt that way. Now I know there is a universal realization that no one can be unhappy at the beach – except in On the Beach (1959), 

because waiting on the seashore in Australia for the drifting radioactive cloud from the recent nuclear war will definitely not bring you happiness, unless you are masochistic.  If you are, then you should watch this, because it is good – even iconic (who can forget the view of an empty post-war San Francisco?). Based on the novel by Nevil Shute and directed by Stanley Kramer, it features poignant performances by Ava Gardner, Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins.

   So with that exception, I offer the following films that have some seashore connection and I hope they make you happy.

The Cocoanuts (1929)

Basically, a film of the Broadway hit, but with this film, you get not only a beach and Florida story, but you also get The Marx Brothers' first film.  Pretty primitive technically, but some of the best Marx Brothers laughs. I dare you to be unhappy watching this. With Margaret Dumont, Mary Eaton and Kay Francis. Directed by Robert Florey, Joseph Santley.

Sinners in the Sun (1932)

This is a curious title for the film where there are sinners but little or no sun, as most of the scenes are indoor locations and the only beach scenes happen at night. But it has a decent script and stars Carol Lombard and Chester Morris as a poor, young couple who learn money isn’t enough to make you happy. It also has a nice performance by the B-picture beauty, Adrienne Ames, and a very brief appearance of a very young Cary Grant in his second film role. Directed by Alexander Hall.

The Gay Divorcee (1934)

The second film where Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were dance partners and the first where they were the stars.  As with all their films, the trifling plot is wrapped in wonderful music and dance. However, the plot does place the players at a beach side resort hotel, although bathing costumes are worn in only one number. Directed by Mark Sandrich.

Murder on a Honeymoon (1935)

The honeymoon of the title is about to take place in the sun of Catalina Island, but a murder happens on the sea-plane trip from the California coast.  This is one of the entertaining Hildegarde Withers mystery series, starring Edna May Oliver and James Gleason as her friend, Inspector Oscar Piper. Directed by Lloyd Corrigan.

Having Wonderful Time (1938)

Ginger Rogers stars as a New York secretary who meets Douglas Fairbanks Jr. on vacation at a resort in the Catskills. He is a waiter earning money for law school and their road to romance is rocky, with Lee Bowman, Lucille Ball, and Eve Arden adding complications.  Directed by Alfred Santell.

Moon Over Miami (1941)

Three sisters with limited resources come to Miami with a plan to find rich husbands. I was watching this film starring Betty Grable, Don Ameche, Robert Cummings, Carol Landis, Charlotte Greenwood and Jack Haley, when I felt I had seen it before, only it didn’t star Betty Grable. That’s because I had seen the remake called Three Little Girls in Blue (1946). Actually, Moon Over Miami was a remake of Three Blind Mice (1938) which was based on a play of the same name. Directed by Walter Lang.

The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)

A rich department store owner goes undercover to spy on troublemaker employees and is surprised by what he finds. The beach scene here is when his new ‘friends’ from the store take him to crowded Coney Island for a look at how working people spend summer days. Starring Jean Arthur, Robert Cummings, Spring Byington, and Charles Coburn as the rich guy.  Directed by Sam Wood.

Pagan Love Song (1950)

Well, you can’t talk seashore and bathing suits without including one Esther Williams movie.  This one has practically no plot in the romance between Esther who is half-Tahitian and Howard Keel, an American who comes to Tahiti when he inherits a coconut plantation. Shot in sun-drenched Technicolor on location in Hawaii instead of MGM’s back lot, this is a ‘swimmingly’ lovely treat for the eyes. Directed by Robert Alton.

A Summer Place (1959)

You’re hearing the Max Steiner theme running through your head now, aren’t you? Daring in 1959, it is rather tame today, but for those of us of a certain age, Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue on the beach will always be THE teen romance. Beautiful scenery supposedly of Maine, but really northern California.  Directed by Delmer Daves.

Some Like it Hot (1959)

Back to Florida with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon hiding from gangsters, disguised as members of an all-female band.  Frolicking on the beach, Marilyn Monroe encounters Tony disguised as a wealthy yacht owner who speaks like Cary Grant. Directed by Billy Wilder.

Beach Party (1963)

I know we’re getting a little less classic here, but with this title, it’s got to be on the list.  This is the first of the beach party films, the first feature film for Annette Funicello outside of her Disney roles, with Frankie Avalon, Robert Cummings and Dorothy Malone. It’s a 1963 Santa Monica and Malibu time capsule -- sand, surfers, and rock and roll.  Directed by Lou Rusoff.

     Again, I know I am supposed to be talking about American films, but I can’t resist giving you this extra treat from France -- Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, from 1953.  It takes you back to another time and the way summer vacations used to be. If you’ve never seen it or any of his other classic comedies, you should seek them out.

     And don't forget the sunscreen!

Watchingwell   

             Curated classic films

Guilty Pleasures Part II

Movies that are so bad, they’re sorta good

     Yes, folks, in my quest to relay to you the rarest of film finds, I have actually unearthed another set of these unappreciated gems. I present them to you in reverse order of embarrassment to the film-making profession.




The Crawling Eye (1958)
I hope I won't spoil it for anyone by saying the crawling eye is actually an alien.  Forrest Tucker gives a respectable performance as a scientist in Switzerland looking into strange happenings in a small town. Directed by Quentin Lawrence.

The Corpse Vanishes (1942)
Ooh, Bela Lugosi is a scientist who tries to keep his wife alive by kidnapping young women and extracting their young, glandular fluids for her. Directed by Wallace Fox.





The Wild, Wild Planet (1966)

A mad scientist tries to engineer the perfect human by using attractive specimens he captures for crazy experiments. Directed by Antonio Margheriti (as Anthony Dawson).

Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)
Romeo and Juliet in space as an earthling and an alien in love try to save Earth from an alien lobster invasion. Directed by Tom Graeff.





From Hell It Came (1957)

Killer tree takes revenge on natives because before it was a tree it was a man -- oh, it doesn't matter -- killer tree --hilarious! Directed by Dan Milner.




                                                    The Mad Monster (1942)
Discredited doctor, the competently-evil, George Zucco, plots revenge by doing experiments.  His first one turns his gardener into a werewolf. Oops. Directed by Sam Newfield.






Killers From Space (1954)

Bug-eyed aliens 'save' Peter Graves after his plane crashes in the desert while recording radiation levels from atom bomb tests. Peter comes home acting strange. Directed by W. Lee Wilder.




                                                        Lost Continent (1951)
Two scientists go to South Sea Island to recover a downed atomic rocket.  They have to do a lot of climbing when they get there and find -- dinosaurs!  A pretty decent cast and really cheap special effects.  Directed by Samuel Newfield.
Project Moon Base (1953)

A spy on board a ship bound for the moon is out to sabotage the space station. This film is worth watching  just to catch the jaw-dropping sexist dialogue. Directed by Richard Talmadge.

and the number one most embarrassing is:

Jungle Goddess (1948)
George Reeves (of Superman fame) and Ralph Byrd (of Dick Tracy fame) travel to Africa to rescue American heiress who was in a plane crash.  However, they must contend with the fact that she has become the 'white goddess' to the natives (naturally). Watch the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version.  Directed by Lewis D. Collins.


Grab some popcorn and have some laughs.

Watchingwell   

             Curated classic films

The Honor of your Viewing Presence is Requested…

       Here I am sitting in blissful anticipation of yet another royal wedding that I will sadly miss on account of sleeping through it. (I am unwilling to sacrifice sleep for anyone less than the first in line.) For this one, I can wait for the replays, of which there will be many, I’m sure.  Although not on the royal bandwagon, I wish them well. They have it so easy, though, – they fall for each other, they decide to marry, they tell the Queen. She says, “Lemme think, -- American, actress, bi-racial, divorced?  Sure, why not.”  Later, she adds, “BTW, the acting is out, she has to become a British subject, and – oh yes, baptized in the Church of England (of which I am the head), in the unlikely event that the sixth in line is ever important enough for anyone to care about his wife’s religion.”

   

But others in the royal biz have not had it so easy, if you watch the movie versions. In the case of Mayerling (1936), there was no future for the love story of Charles Boyer’s Rudolph, Crown Prince of Austria, and Danielle Darrieux’s Baroness Mary Vetsera.  Supposedly based on a true story, the consensus is that ‘loosely based’ is giving it too much credibility. However, there was really a Crown Prince Rudolph and there was a Baroness Mary Vetsera and as a result of their romance, dad (Emperor Franz Joseph) named Archduke Franz Ferdinand as his heir, and you know how that worked out for the world. Directed by Anatole Litvak, Boyer is suavely, good-looking and Darrieux is young and beautiful and it’s all very romantic.  Oh, yeah, spoiler alert. Tragically, romantic.

     Oh, FYI, there was another version in 1968 with Omar Sharif and Catherine Deneuve, directed by Terence Young. Nice to look at, but IMHO, not as good.

     

     Likewise, the 1952 remake of The Prisoner of Zenda is missing the magic of the 1937 version starring Ronald   Colman, Madeleine Carrol, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and directed by John Cromwell. The story of the Englishman drawn into the affairs of state of Ruritania by his uncanny resemblance to the endangered king is also about sacrificing one’s own happiness for honor and duty.  The sacrificing royal in this case, however, is the Princess Flavia.  Tragically romantic, but a super swashbuckler.

     Even Greta Garbo could not command happiness for herself as Queen Christina (1933). The queen of Sweden

falls in love with the Spanish envoy, but politics keeps them apart. So she sacrifices everything for love. With John Gilbert, directed by Rouben Mamoulian. The final scene is probably the most famous close-up in film history. Great vehicle for Garbo if you are not familiar with why she was such a big deal. 





     

Twenty years later, we have Audrey Hepburn making her own sacrifice in Roman Holiday (1953). Audrey, as a runaway princess, falls in love with reporter, Gregory Peck, while taking in the sites of Rome. Directed by William Wyler. Remarkably, Hepburn’s first starring role, for which she won an Oscar. If you haven’t seen it, this is one of the great romantic comedies.



     Then there is the immature prince who falls in love with a

barmaid while at university and then shapes up to take his place at the palace making the difficult choice about his romance, all while singing a Sigmund Romberg operetta. The Student Prince (1953) stars Ann Blyth and Edmund Purdom (with his songs sung by Mario Lanza). With all the singing, it's hard to remember that this is another tragically romantic story.  Directed by Richard Thorpe.

A beautiful silent version, obviously not an operetta, was made in 1927 as The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, starring Norma Shearer and Ramon Novarro.

     Just before she chose to marry a real prince, Grace Kelly starred in 1956 as a princess who wanted desperately to marry commoner, Louis Jordan, in The Swan. But Alec Guiness, the unromantic royal to whom she was betrothed, convinces her that duty calls and one day, Louis Jordan will be old and then, what’s the difference, or words to that effect. Anyway, he convinces me. Directed by Charles Vidor.

 

However, at least one brave princess defies the court and the arranged marriage in the 1935 film of the Victor Herbert musical, Naughty Marietta. The first on-screen teaming of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy was a box office hit and they went on to make several more delightful musicals from the golden age of melody and lyrics. In this film, Jeanette escapes from the French court and marriage to a Spanish nobleman by sailing away incognito and after encountering pirates, and being rescued from same, ends up New Orleans and finds love. Ah, sweet mystery of life!

      A happy story of a royal wedding is … Royal Wedding

(1951), the film that takes place in London where a real royal wedding is taking place (We don’t actually get to see Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbattan whose marriage was the reason for the festivities). But the festive air is the backdrop to the story of Fred Astaire and his sister, Jane Powell and their dancing together and romancing with Sarah Churchill and Peter Lawford, respectively. Watch for Fred’s famous dance on the ceiling. Directed by Stanley Donen.





         

Speaking of movie brides, there are two famous ones that come to mind. Elizabeth Taylor is the bride and Spencer Tracy is Father of the Bride (1950), a great comic role for Tracy. Directed by Vicente Minnelli.





     Elsa Lanchester is the Bride of Frankenstein (1935) in the adaptation of the1916 story by Mary Shelley in which the

characters from the original tale survive and find romance, briefly. With Boris Karloff as the groom, Colin Clive as the reluctant matchmaker, deftly directed by James Whale. Although both are classics, in some ways this is better than the original 1931 film, and it has that great hairdo.






          And three weddings that figure prominently in the plots and are in the last scenes of three top-of-the-list comedies.

Academy Award winning, It Happened One Night (1934), directed by Frank Capra, where Claudette Colbert is just about to say “I do” when she remembers that Clark Gable is actually the better choice.

The Palm Beach Story (1942) where Claudette Colbert starts with a happy wedding to Joel McCrea, has second thoughts and divorces, then marries again, while Rudy Vallee and Mary Astor run interference. Directed by Preston Sturges.



 

Then there’s the story of Philadelphia society bride-to-be, Katherine Hepburn in the aptly titled, The Philadelphia Story (1940) in which the groom at the end is not the groom in the middle, but is the groom at the beginning. Confused? Only if you’ve never seen it. You should. It’s a classic, directed by George Cukor, and co-starring Cary Grant, James Stewart, and Ruth Hussey.

 Two happy brides?

 

         The real Royal Wedding of 1947.