December 2018 Round-Up
TOTAL FILMS SEEN IN DECEMBER: 17
(see the film posters at the bottom of the post, arranged in watching order)
NEW-TO-ME: 16
REWATCHES: 1
SEEN ON THE BIG SCREEN: 0
CHRISTMAS FILMS: 1
MOST WATCHED ACTRESS: Anne Shirley (5 in total)
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Being in between jobs and spending most of December with friends and family in my native country The Netherlands didn't give me as much time to watch films as I would have liked to. Also, there were no trips to the Filmoteca during the first week that I still spent in Barcelona. The program of December showed plenty of films I would have liked to see on the big screen but unfortunately they were all showing during my time abroad. A bummer that they were having viewings of the Rita Hayworth films we missed in September due to the water damage at the film theater. So all of my film watching took place online and, apart from a favourite Christmas classic, all films were new to me.
The month started with the acclaimed classic Brute Force with Burt Lancaster and Charles Bickford. Not as good as I thought it would be but still good. Burt is really handsome here and the cinematography by William H. Daniels looks equally good. I thought the scenes with the women were all a bit superfluous. They make you think there's more to come but Anne Blyth and Ella Raines have only one scene. The finale is brutal, quite a shocker.
I really like Eleanor Parker but have seen very little of her films so I'm trying to improve that. This month I saw four of her films.
First I watched The Very Thought of You with Dennis Morgan. Parker is really lovely this young and her best scenes are the ones when she's in conflict with her elder sister. The romance with Morgan is sweet. Yet I never cared much for Dane Clark. Still, it is an entertaining watch and as far as I'm concerned Henry Travers and Beulah Bondi are welcome in any film.
Next Parker film I watched was Escape from Fort Bravo with William Holden. It was much better than I'd expected. Didn't know what this was about and was pleasantly surprised with the storyline and where it was heading. The scenes with Holden and Parker drag a bit but the romance is essential to the story and how it affects Holden's tough character. And it gets interesting once you find out Parker has an ulterior motive. The fight with the Indians in Death Valley is really thrilling and exciting. The avalanche of arrows is wonderfully arranged and there's some gorgeous cinematography by Robert Surtees. I love those shots of vast planes of desert and rocks, and horses riding in a row in the distance.
I watched two more Parker films: The Voice of the Turtle with Ronald Reagan, and an early film The Mysterious Doctor with John Loder (which I watched later in the month).
I thoroughly enjoyed The Voice of the Turtle. You can debate whether Eleanor Parker is miscast — I read somewhere that Reagan had preferred June Allyson for the part — and I can see that a more girly type would have suited the part better. (I can also picture Margaret Sullavan in the Parker role — she performed it on stage — and apparently Parker has her awful hairdo modelled after Sullavan's bangs.) Parker often plays strong female characters but this Sally character is silly and very neurotic, so against type for Parker. Yet somehow she pulls it off. And she manages to make her character endearing and cute and completely lovable. Reagan is at his most amiable, an ordinary good guy, and he pairs nicely with Parker. I also love the score by Max Steiner, reminiscent of the uplifting tune he wrote for My Reputation. The cinematography is by the acclaimed Sol Polito. Especially the scene where Parker and Reagan kiss in close-up is beautiful. Parker's face is half lit and she's crying while Reagan is confessing his love for her. It's a lovely scene altogether, the most romantic one. Also pay attention to the way Parker folds a bed cover. It's hilarious!
The Mysterious Doctor is a surprisingly enjoyable film with a nice little role for Parker. I like her this young, the way she looks and sounds. The mystery lacks a bit of excitement and this B-programmer never gives you the creeps but it still manages to be entertaining.
The Voice of the Turtle led me to another Ronald Reagan film, Stallion Road with Alexis Smith and Zachary Scott. Reagan is a pretty bland actor, almost boring. Here he plays a good guy again, the dependable type. This film is actually much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I really liked Scott in particular with his dry humour and witty lines. He plays against type and looks more at home in the scene where he's in a bar and drunk and gets acquainted with a femme fatale type. This scene felt like it was from another film, more of a noir. Luckily there's a bit more excitement with the anthrax issue adding some drama to the plot because there's little conflict between Reagan and Scott, even though they are in love with the same girl. Still, it was nice to see that the friendship between the men stands firm and that there was no mean competition over the girl. Apparently this is Reagan's fave movie. He was an avid horseman and it shows seeing how comfortable he is around horses. So on the whole it's an entertaining family film and I also like Smith and the little girl.
Two films I watched during a flight delay and plane ride from Barcelona to Amsterdam: Until They Sail with a starry cast and They Met in Bombay with Clark Gable and Rosalind Russell.
Until They Sail is an enjoyable drama with Joan Fontaine, Jean Simmons, Piper Laurie and Sandra Dee playing four sisters. Paul Newman plays the love interest of Simmons. I really liked the romance of Fontaine and Charles Drake and was disappointed that it didn't end well (which was pretty predictable). The thing that I hadn't seen coming was the horrible fate that awaited Piper Laurie. Fortunately Newman and Simmons get their happy ending and it was nice to see Newman play again because I have seen little of his films. Also noteworthy for being Dee's film debut.
They Met in Bombay is mainly watchable because of its appealing leading stars but once this film turns from a jewel theft story into a war action film it loses all credibility.
Now coming to the films of Anne Shirley. She is my most watched actress of this month with a total of 5 films seen. I really like her, ever since I saw her in Anne of Green Gables, the character where she took her film name from. I watched (in order):
Steamboat Round the Bend (with Will Rogers)
Chatterbox (with Phillips Holmes)
Saturday’s Children (with John Garfield and Claude Rains)
The Devil and Daniel Webster (with Walter Huston, Edward Arnold and James Craig)
Law of the Underworld (with Chester Morris)
Of these 5 films I enjoyed Steamboat Round the Bend the most. I had never seen Will Rogers play before and I really liked his laid-back and natural way of acting. Also love the poetry in the language here (Rogers saying "Start flirtin' with that" when he hands someone a broom to sweep the floor) and character names like Shirley's Fleety Belle. Definitely intend to see more of Rogers.
Least of the 5 films is Law of the Underworld. Though it's actually quite watchable, it's also plain ridiculous at times. Anne Shirley and Richard Bond play a naive couple, just how naive and stupid you will see in a couple of unbelievable scenes: the robbery in the park where the gangsters steal the money from the couple; and the scene where the couple decide to get their money back and they hold a whole group of gangsters at gunpoint. This film can't be taken seriously and never gets tough or tense enough. Chester Morris is okay as the likeable honourable gangster but I can imagine he'd wished he had better material to work with. Some nice cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca, especially the low angle shot where Morris discusses the jewel robbery with the other gangsters.
Chatterbox is not remarkable at all but enjoyable enough. Bit reminiscent of Anne of Green Gables, here Shirley's character talks endlessly too. Also look out for Lucille Ball in a small role.
Equally good were Saturday’s Children and All That Money Can Buy, better known as The Devil and Daniel Webster.
The story premise of Saturday’s Children is simple. A young couple gets married and struggles to survive financially. I love Anne Shirley and John Garfield's sweet courting, primarily because Shirley is so captivating and very likeable and she has great chemistry with Garfield. The carefree tone of the beginning of the film changes a bit once the married couple gets financial and marital problems and it turns into a full drama when Shirley's father, played by the wonderful Claude Rains, commits an unexpected act at the end of the film. Fortunately all ends well. Will definitely watch this again!
The Devil and Daniel Webster is a film that I've been meaning to see for a while now. It isn't the masterpiece I was expecting but it is still a good film and very enjoyable. Star of the show is not Walter Huston nor Edward Arnold but Joseph H. August who did the wonderful cinematography. Gorgeous shots with beautiful light and shadow. Anne Shirley reminded me a bit of Olivia de Havilland and at times also of Janet Gaynor. Her character is too sweet and puts up with a lot. I don't really like Simone Simon but here she suits her role really well, a role that is actually much more interesting than Shirley's dutiful wife role. James Craig is okay but there is a reason why he never made it to the big league of Hollywood actors. Some fine special effects too.
I've seen a good amount of Shirley movies now (14 films in total) and really love her. She's sweet, can be feisty too, and also quite alluring. Still want to see more of her.
What else did I watch? Not a lot more. Only Hi, Nellie! (with Paul Muni and Glenda Farrell), Tell No Tales (with Melvyn Douglas and Louise Platt), Blossoms in the Dust (with Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Felix Bressart and Marsha Hunt), and just one Christmas film (it was also the only rewatch of this month) It’s a Wonderful Life (with James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore).
Hi, Nellie! is an entertaining Muni vehicle. It was refreshing to see Muni in such a different and 'normal' role, that of a newspaper man, and it's even a comedy. He has good chemistry with Farrell and I think it's a shame that their scenes together are so few. Tell No Tales is not the best of mystery films but I liked the story premise of Melvyn Douglas tracing the people who once owned a marked hundred dollar bill linked to a kidnapping. Douglas is always watchable but his love interest Louise Platt is boring. Blossoms In the Dust is kind of sentimental but like the sap I am I shed a few tears. I love Greer Garson and she looks beautiful in Technicolor.
I would have liked to watch more Christmas films this year but there wasn't enough time in the day. Not much to say about the only Xmas film I did watch, It’s a Wonderful Life. It's so much talked about that I don't have anything eloquent to add. It is a wonderful film, one that I have revisited many times, and I hope you got to see it this Xmas as well with your loved ones.
So that rounds it up for this month! Stay tuned for my 2018 year recap with stats and highlights. And hopefully I will improve my film count in 2019!
PHOTOS/GIFS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*Brute Force (1947) with Burt Lancaster; (photo & gif)
*The Very Thought of You (1944) with Eleanor Parker and Dennis Morgan;
*Escape from Fort Bravo (1953) with Eleanor Parker and William Holden on set;
*Escape from Fort Bravo (1953) with Eleanor Parker and William Holden;
*The Voice of the Turtle (1947) with Eleanor Parker and Ronald Reagan;
*The Mysterious Doctor (1943) with Eleanor Parker and Bruce Lester;
*Stallion Road (1947) with Ronald Reagan and Alexis Smith;
*Stallion Road (1947) with Ronald Reagan and Zachary Scott;
*Until They Sail (1957) with Jean Simmons and Paul Newman;
*Until They Sail (1957) with Joan Fontaine and Charles Drake;
*Until They Sail (1957) with Charles Drake, Sandra Dee, Joan Fontaine and Jean Simmons;
*They Met in Bombay (1941) with Clark Gable, Rosalind Russell and Peter Lorre;
*Steamboat Round the Bend (1935) with Anne Shirley;
*Steamboat Round the Bend (1935) with Anne Shirley and Will Rogers;
*Saturday’s Children (1940) with Anne Shirley, John Garfield and Claude Rains;
*Saturday’s Children (1940) with Anne Shirley and John Garfield;
*The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) with Anne Shirley;
*The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) with Edward Arnold, James Craig and Walter Huston;
*Law of the Underworld (1938) with Lee Patrick, Chester Morris, Anne Shirley, Eddie Acuff, Richard Bond and Jack Carson;
*Hi, Nellie! (1934) with Paul Muni and Glenda Farrell;
*Blossoms in the Dust (1941) with Greer Garson;
*Blossoms in the Dust (1941) with Greer Garson;
*It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) with Donna Reed and James Stewart;
*It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) with Donna Reed;
*It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) with Donna Reed and James Stewart.
