September 2018 Round-Up / CLASSIC MOVIES ROUND-UP

September 2018 Round-Up

1.10.18

TOTAL FILMS SEEN IN SEPTEMBER: 18

(see the film posters at the bottom of the post, arranged in watching order)

NEW-TO-ME: 14

REWATCHES: 4

SEEN ON THE BIG SCREEN: 7

MOST WATCHED ACTOR: Arthur Kennedy (3 in total)

MOST WATCHED ACTRESS: Rita Hayworth (6 in total)

This September month the Filmoteca had a wonderful retrospective of Rita Hayworth scheduled, commemorating her 100th birthday. The month started with the Hayworth films The Strawberry Blonde (with James Cagney and Olivia de Havilland), The Lady From Shanghai (with Orson Welles) and Gilda (with Glenn Ford). I just had a job change at the end of August and started working full-time again so it was quite tiresome to watch 4 films on the big screen in one weekend (the fourth being Shadow of a Doubt, obviously not part of the Hayworth retrospective). Especially The Lady From Shanghai suffered from my tiredness and I had a hard time paying attention.

The program was filled with titles I really wanted to see (mostly rewatches) but it wasn't meant to be. A heavy rain shower in Barcelona caused a lot of water damage in the city, especially in the neighbourhood of Raval where the Filmoteca is situated, and there was some serious damage in the building. This resulted in the cinema closing for about two weeks and missing out on viewings of You Were Never Lovelier, Blood and Sand, Miss Sadie Thompson (in 3-D), Cover Girl and Separate Tables. Salome was also one of the films that was scheduled during the unexpected closure of the cinema theater but I wasn't keen on seeing this one anyway. Luckily the Filmoteca reopened in time for the films scheduled towards the end of the month and I was thrilled that I could enjoy Only Angels Have Wings (with Cary Grant and Jean Arthur) on the big screen. I also watched Pal Joey (with Frank Sinatra and Kim Novak) and The Loves of Carmen (with Glenn Ford).

So Shadow of a Doubt (with Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten and Macdonald Carey) and the 6 films of Rita Hayworth make a total of 7 films seen on the big screen in September.

Of all these Filmoteca viewings Only Angels Have Wings and Gilda are my favourites. I have seen both many times before and they are always enjoyable to watch. Seeing them on the big screen in a very good print was such a treat! I love Jean Arthur as Bonnie in Only Angels Have Wings and I love how Howard Hawks portrays the comradeship between the men. I was totally immersed in the story again and was there at Barranca with all these wonderful characters. In my opinion this is required viewing. With Gilda I had never been so aware of the fact that Ford's character is not really friendly. Admittedly, Gilda is not the sweetest of girls either. But their passion and hatred is jumping right off the screen. The Put the Blame on Mame song and the hair flip shot are great and most memorable. Also wonderful cinematography by Rudolph Maté.

Shadow of a Doubt and The Strawberry Blonde are both good too, also rewatches. I hadn't seen the Hitchcock film in such a long time and was happy that I still found it very enjoyable. I didn't find it really suspenseful, though, must have found it more exciting when I watched it for the first time way back. But Teresa Wright is lovely and I liked her little 'romance' with Macdonald Carey.

The Strawberry Blonde with Olivia de Havilland and Jimmy Cagney is so charming and the park scene where Cagney and De Havilland meet is great. I also really love their reunion scene once Cagney is out of jail. And Olivia's wink is the cutest!

Both Pal Joey and The Loves of Carmen are not very good and I wouldn't recommend them. But I should definitely rewatch The Lady From Shanghai since I missed parts of it due to tiredness.

What else did I watch this month?

Lots of times I choose a film randomly and I can't remember why but all of a sudden I wanted to see a film starring a young Charles Bickford and I picked Vanity Street (with Helen Chandler). Though nothing really special, this pre-code is very enjoyable and I liked the leads and they play well opposite each other. Would love to see more of young Bickford in a likeable role.

I also watched two Bette Davis films high on my watchlist, Watch on the Rhine (with Paul Lukas and Lucile Watson) and Marked Woman (with Humphrey Bogart).

Had expected a bit more of Watch on the Rhine but it was still an entertaining drama with solid performances. I like Davis and Lukas as a couple, it seemed very natural. I also like Davis when her play is this subdued and here she has a likeable role as a wife and mother. These kids are horrible, though. Such wooden performances. Probably one of the best things about this drama is Lucile Watson as Bette's mother.

Marked Woman was a very compelling watch and I liked Davis' feisty character. Bette does some overacting but fortunately it's not during the whole film, mostly in the beginning. I also love Bogart here! He plays a very likeable character, plays it well, and he looks so good in his three-piece-suit. I was hoping for a happy ending between the two — they also have nice chemistry together — and although you have to stretch the imagination a bit, there is some hope. The actual ending and final shot is great. And the supporting actresses deserve some praise too.

I wanted to see more of Bogart and picked Battle Circus (with June Allyson). There's a lot wrong with this film but somehow the odd pairing of Bogart and Allyson wasn't as odd as I thought it would be. Most of their scenes together seem to work and don't come across as very unbelievable. Bogart as a womaniser seemed more odd to me, the way he forces himself upon Allyson, but after their initial scenes their relationship becomes more believable once it deepens. The war scenes are mostly unconvincing but the supporting roles by Keenan Wynn and Robert Keith are good.

Battle Circus led me to another film starring June Allyson that I had been meaning to see for some time, The Girl in White. It's quite an engrossing watch, based on the true story of the first female doctor in NYC. Arthur Kennedy in a likeable role plays Allyson's fellow medical student who initially sees her as a woman only fit for marriage but fortunately changes his opinion and starts to value her as a colleague. A deep friendship between them develops which ultimately results in love and marriage (they marry in real life but the film doesn't show them as a married couple). Good support by Gary Merrill and I especially like Mildred Dunnock as Allyson's lady doctor friend and mentor.

Because I enjoy seeing Arthur Kennedy in a likeable role, I wanted more of that so looked for films where he doesn't play a villain. This led me to Bright Victory (with Peggy Dow and Julie Adams) and Strange Alibi (with Joan Perry).

I had expected more of Bright Victory but it was still enjoyable and well acted by Kennedy (he has some weaker scenes, though). I thought the racial issue could have been developed more. For some reason I also had expected Kennedy to be more angry and frustrated with his predicament but he seemed quite resigned. Look out for Rock Hudson in one of the first scenes!

Strange Alibi is a 63-minutes fast-paced film with a lot of action and an exciting car chase scene. Nice to see Kennedy in such an early starring role and already giving a good performance. Basically just a regular Warner Brothers B-film but very entertaining.

After seeing Only Angels of Wings I wanted to see more aviation films and watched John Ford's Air Mail (with Pat O'Brien and Ralph Bellamy) and Hawks' Ceiling Zero (with James Cagney and Pat O'Brien).

I thought the setting of the station in Air Mail looked more realistic than Hawks' Barranca, as well as the flight scenes. But Bellamy is a bit of a bland leading man — though it's nice to see him in a non-dopey role — and doesn't have Grant's charisma. Pat O'Brien is okay as the obnoxious pilot and I like how he ultimately comes around and saves Bellamy's life (even though it's predictable). But probably the biggest difference with Only Angels Have Wings is that there's no Jean Arthur here. Gloria Stuart is boring and Lilian Bond not very likeable. I also miss the warm comradeship between the men. Still I mostly liked this.

I enjoyed Ceiling Zero a lot, especially the friendship and chemistry between real-life friends O'Brien and Cagney. It's a Hawks film so women are treated like equals and it's not so surprising that we have a female pilot here (June Travis).

Rounding up my monthly viewings with two fluffy films: a Judy Garland film Listen, Darling (with Freddie Bartholomew, Mary Astor and Walter Pidgeon) and a B-mystery film The Body Disappears with Jane Wyman, Jeffrey Lynn and Edward Everett Horton. Both were nothing special but enjoyable.

So that's a wrap-up again! See you next time!