September 2019 Round-Up
TOTAL FILMS SEEN IN SEPTEMBER: 10
(see the film posters at the bottom of the post, arranged in watching order)
NEW-TO-ME: 10
REWATCHES: 0
SEEN ON THE BIG SCREEN: 1
MOST WATCHED ACTOR: Lee Bowman (4 in total)
Nothing like the huge amount of trips I made to the Filmoteca in August but I was okay with that. Though I loved seeing so many musicals on the big screen last month, it was nice to take it easy again. Only one classic film seen at the Filmoteca this month but for once I didn't mind. I was sorry, though, to have missed Sweet Charity but my sister and friend were still visiting when it was showing and since it was their last evening and we had already been to the movies with them twice, we decided to let it go. I also didn't go to see Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. because on its viewing date it was raining and I stayed at home. Will catch it some other time. I had planned to watch Rosemary's Baby as well but on that day I went on a trip to Montserrat with my sister and girlfriends and got back late to Barcelona and was too tired to sit at the cinema for over two hours.
The rest of my film watching this month was rather uneventful. I mostly watched average films, a meagre total of 10 (including the theater viewing of Carousel), and nothing stood out. Probably the best of them all was the Fritz Lang noir House By the River. I watched this with my sister in the afternoon, so there was no risk of me falling asleep (which happens a lot when I'm watching a film in bed right before sleeping). It wasn't as great as I had hoped it would be but it was still suspenseful and atmospheric, and I liked Lee Bowen and Jane Wyatt together. There's also some great cinematography by Edward Cronjager.
I wanted to see more of Lee Bowman and found one of his few leading roles in The Walls Came Tumbling Down. It turned out to be a fairly enjoyable watch. Marguerite Chapman is a nice leading lady and reminded me a bit of Gail Russell and also of Joan Bennett. She has that femme fatale quality but there's also something sweet about her and she and Bowen had good chemistry.
More of Lee Bowman in The Impatient Years (with Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn) which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, it's not good, definitely one of the lesser Arthur comedies I have seen, but I thought the story premise was rather appealing. Arthur and Bowman also have okay chemistry, even though Arthur is 14 years older than Bowman. She still looks great, if a bit tired. Also, it's always nice to see Charles Coburn play but this film doesn't come close to his and Arthur's other collaboration, the wonderful The More the Merrier (they also played together in another comedy The Devil and Miss Jones). Bowman had the misfortune to be cast mainly in supporting roles but here he had the odd chance to appear as the leading man because many Hollywood star actors were away fighting a war. And I must say he's not doing a bad job.
I ended the month with another Bowman film which made him my most watched actor of September (4 films in total). Tonight and Every Night is an average musical starring Rita Hayworth, with Bowman again in a leading man role. It benefits from beautiful Technicolor and the cinematography by Rudolph Maté. There are several shots that are beautifully lit. Marc Platt was a nice surprise, his dancing is excellent and versatile. I read afterwards that he played one of the Pontipee brothers in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers but I hadn't recognised him. I didn't really like Hayworth's romance with Lee Bowman nor did I like his character. Fortunately Hayworth is beautiful to look at and the song and dance numbers are enjoyable so overall I had a good time. But I hadn't expected this musical to take such a dramatic turn, it was rather emotional. A highlight is the beautiful song Anywhere and it didn't come as a surprise to me that it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. There was also another nomination for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture. Look out for Shelley Winters in an uncredited role.
I watched Criminal Lawyer because of Jane Wyatt (I had just seen her in House By the River). It's a rather dull legal affair with Pat O'Brien playing the criminal lawyer (who takes to the bottle) and Wyatt as his faithful secretary. I have to be honest, I was a little sleepy while watching this, still the fact that it wasn't very exciting in the first place didn't help. O'Brien's performance is subdued, which is nice for a change, though I do like him a lot in a fast-talking role.
23 Paces to Baker Street (with Van Johnson and Vera Miles) is an average but entertaining suspense film with London as the main character. I love the location shots! The film itself suffers a bit from leading man Johnson with his lackluster performance. Miles is okay as his ex-girlfriend but it's Cecil Parker who steals the show as the butler who goes beyond his duty and cooperates in the mystery solving. I like the scene where he gets back from his sleuthing and keeps emphasising the rainy circumstances in which he performed his task.
Again I wanted to see something with a short running time before going to sleep and stumbled upon My Forbidden Past with Ava Gardner, Robert Mitchum and Melvyn Douglas. Really the worst film I've seen this month. What a waste of time! The only plus is Ava's beauty, though I prefer her a bit more mature. The performances of the leads are pretty bad (Ava's performance is the worst!) but I can forgive the actors because they had to work with a lousy script and a lame story. The best moment is when Douglas pushes Janis Carter away and she falls and hits her head fatally. I was very sleepy and suddenly wide awake, yet what was left of the film was sleep-inducing again with the inquest and the stupid ending. Also clearly a waste of Lucile Watson's talent, one of the best character actresses around.
Well, that's a round-up again. I really hope to see more films in October. With this rate my total films watched in 2019 will be worse than last year. Unfortunately there are not many classic films programmed at the Filmoteca in October so I'll be watching films at home. See you next time!
PHOTOS/GIFS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*Carousel (1956) with Shirley Jones and Susan Luckey;
*Carousel (1956) with Susan Luckey and Jacques d'Amboise; *)
*Carousel (1956) with Susan Luckey and Jacques d'Amboise; *)
*House by the River (1950) with Lee Bowman and Jane Wyatt;
*The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1946) with Lee Bowman and Marguerite Chapman; **)
*The Impatient Years (1944) with Jean Arthur; **)
*The Impatient Years (1944) with Jean Arthur and Lee Bowman; **)
*Tonight and Every Night (1945) with Rita Hayworth and Lee Bowman;
*Criminal Lawyer (1951) with Pat O'Brien and Jane Wyatt;
*Behind Locked Doors (1948) with Lucille Bremer and Richard Carlson;
*Upperworld (1934) with Mary Astor and Warren William;
*Upperworld (1934) with Ginger Rogers;
*23 Paces to Baker Street (1956) with Van Johnson and Vera Miles;
*My Forbidden Past (1951) with Ava Gardner and Robert Mitchum.
*) gif by me
**) screenshot by me
Nothing like the huge amount of trips I made to the Filmoteca in August but I was okay with that. Though I loved seeing so many musicals on the big screen last month, it was nice to take it easy again. Only one classic film seen at the Filmoteca this month but for once I didn't mind. I was sorry, though, to have missed Sweet Charity but my sister and friend were still visiting when it was showing and since it was their last evening and we had already been to the movies with them twice, we decided to let it go. I also didn't go to see Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. because on its viewing date it was raining and I stayed at home. Will catch it some other time. I had planned to watch Rosemary's Baby as well but on that day I went on a trip to Montserrat with my sister and girlfriends and got back late to Barcelona and was too tired to sit at the cinema for over two hours.
The only film I watched on the big screen was Carousel (with Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae). This film is one of the few well-known musicals I hadn't seen yet but I knew it wouldn't be great. It's a weird film in terms of my liking/disliking it. The main characters are unappealing (I couldn't care less about what happened to them) and the story itself is not very exciting, but there are musical numbers so beautiful and gorgeous that they almost moved me to tears. In fact, without the musical numbers there is not much to like about this film. The location sets at the waterside are nice but the set design of the starlit heaven and the garden where the leads sing If I Loved You is pretty awful. With most of the songs I was familiar and I was waiting for them to appear (I especially love If I Loved You and You'll Never Walk Alone). But I had never heard the much-praised solo Soliloquy by MacRae before (and it is beautiful!), and the ballet performed by Susan Luckey and Jacques d'Amboise (he plays one of the Pontipee brothers in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) is breathtaking. So I will return to this just for the great musical numbers but will not likely watch this in its entirety again.
The rest of my film watching this month was rather uneventful. I mostly watched average films, a meagre total of 10 (including the theater viewing of Carousel), and nothing stood out. Probably the best of them all was the Fritz Lang noir House By the River. I watched this with my sister in the afternoon, so there was no risk of me falling asleep (which happens a lot when I'm watching a film in bed right before sleeping). It wasn't as great as I had hoped it would be but it was still suspenseful and atmospheric, and I liked Lee Bowen and Jane Wyatt together. There's also some great cinematography by Edward Cronjager.
I wanted to see more of Lee Bowman and found one of his few leading roles in The Walls Came Tumbling Down. It turned out to be a fairly enjoyable watch. Marguerite Chapman is a nice leading lady and reminded me a bit of Gail Russell and also of Joan Bennett. She has that femme fatale quality but there's also something sweet about her and she and Bowen had good chemistry.
More of Lee Bowman in The Impatient Years (with Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn) which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, it's not good, definitely one of the lesser Arthur comedies I have seen, but I thought the story premise was rather appealing. Arthur and Bowman also have okay chemistry, even though Arthur is 14 years older than Bowman. She still looks great, if a bit tired. Also, it's always nice to see Charles Coburn play but this film doesn't come close to his and Arthur's other collaboration, the wonderful The More the Merrier (they also played together in another comedy The Devil and Miss Jones). Bowman had the misfortune to be cast mainly in supporting roles but here he had the odd chance to appear as the leading man because many Hollywood star actors were away fighting a war. And I must say he's not doing a bad job.
I ended the month with another Bowman film which made him my most watched actor of September (4 films in total). Tonight and Every Night is an average musical starring Rita Hayworth, with Bowman again in a leading man role. It benefits from beautiful Technicolor and the cinematography by Rudolph Maté. There are several shots that are beautifully lit. Marc Platt was a nice surprise, his dancing is excellent and versatile. I read afterwards that he played one of the Pontipee brothers in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers but I hadn't recognised him. I didn't really like Hayworth's romance with Lee Bowman nor did I like his character. Fortunately Hayworth is beautiful to look at and the song and dance numbers are enjoyable so overall I had a good time. But I hadn't expected this musical to take such a dramatic turn, it was rather emotional. A highlight is the beautiful song Anywhere and it didn't come as a surprise to me that it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. There was also another nomination for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture. Look out for Shelley Winters in an uncredited role.
Behind Locked Doors I chose because of its short running time. I like Richard Carlson, even though he is pretty bland. Lucille Bremer was a nice surprise, I think I've only seen her in Meet Me in St. Louis. This is nothing special, yet mildly enjoyable.
Upperworld starring Warren William, Ginger Rogers and Mary Astor was entertaining and I love the three leads. Rogers' character is nice, same goes for William. There's some fine photography, especially that great tracking shot following William into his office. I always find Andy Devine annoying, no exception here. But Mary Astor is lovely, though a bit underused.
23 Paces to Baker Street (with Van Johnson and Vera Miles) is an average but entertaining suspense film with London as the main character. I love the location shots! The film itself suffers a bit from leading man Johnson with his lackluster performance. Miles is okay as his ex-girlfriend but it's Cecil Parker who steals the show as the butler who goes beyond his duty and cooperates in the mystery solving. I like the scene where he gets back from his sleuthing and keeps emphasising the rainy circumstances in which he performed his task.
Again I wanted to see something with a short running time before going to sleep and stumbled upon My Forbidden Past with Ava Gardner, Robert Mitchum and Melvyn Douglas. Really the worst film I've seen this month. What a waste of time! The only plus is Ava's beauty, though I prefer her a bit more mature. The performances of the leads are pretty bad (Ava's performance is the worst!) but I can forgive the actors because they had to work with a lousy script and a lame story. The best moment is when Douglas pushes Janis Carter away and she falls and hits her head fatally. I was very sleepy and suddenly wide awake, yet what was left of the film was sleep-inducing again with the inquest and the stupid ending. Also clearly a waste of Lucile Watson's talent, one of the best character actresses around.
Well, that's a round-up again. I really hope to see more films in October. With this rate my total films watched in 2019 will be worse than last year. Unfortunately there are not many classic films programmed at the Filmoteca in October so I'll be watching films at home. See you next time!
PHOTOS/GIFS IN THIS POST FROM TOP TO BOTTOM:
*Carousel (1956) with Shirley Jones and Susan Luckey;
*Carousel (1956) with Susan Luckey and Jacques d'Amboise; *)
*Carousel (1956) with Susan Luckey and Jacques d'Amboise; *)
*House by the River (1950) with Lee Bowman and Jane Wyatt;
*The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1946) with Lee Bowman and Marguerite Chapman; **)
*The Impatient Years (1944) with Jean Arthur; **)
*The Impatient Years (1944) with Jean Arthur and Lee Bowman; **)
*Tonight and Every Night (1945) with Rita Hayworth and Lee Bowman;
*Criminal Lawyer (1951) with Pat O'Brien and Jane Wyatt;
*Behind Locked Doors (1948) with Lucille Bremer and Richard Carlson;
*Upperworld (1934) with Mary Astor and Warren William;
*Upperworld (1934) with Ginger Rogers;
*23 Paces to Baker Street (1956) with Van Johnson and Vera Miles;
*My Forbidden Past (1951) with Ava Gardner and Robert Mitchum.
*) gif by me
**) screenshot by me