Romancefest 2013: It

Well, looks like I'm not going to make it to 28 romantic movies in 28 days. There's a first time for everything, including a failed Romancefest. So, I'll just skip right to the top of the list with IT.

No, not IT as in the made for TV horror movie starring Ben Heller as a handsome young Boy Scout. I'm talking about the silent romantic comedy from 1927, also called IT.

The movie is loosely based on a Cosmopolitan article by Elinor Glyn (who shows up in a cameo as herself) that attempts to define the concept of "it" -- that certain something some people have that seems to make them irresistible.

Clara Bow stars as a shopgirl who is in love with the rich owner (Antonio Morino) of the department store in which she works. Her roommate (Priscilla Bonner) is a single mother who is too sick to work, so Bow is helping her out. When Bow is noticed as potentially having "it" by the department store owner's friend (very funny and fussy William Austin), she welcomes the attention in an attempt to get closer to Morino.

As it is in films like this, there are many obstacles and misunderstandings that pop up to prevent the two love birds from getting together, this time including a misunderstanding about just who is the mother of Bow's roommate's baby.

The film probably would have been forgotten by today if it wasn't for the central performance by Bow -- she is so cute and charming and funny that the whole movie flies by like a breeze, no matter how many times the central couple makes up and breaks up. Clara Bow really does have "it", so this can be seen as a rare instance of perfect casting -- she defines the movie and the movie defines her.

It's a nice note to end the month on, even if I didn't get up to 28 movies. Oh well, there's always next year.

Romancefest 2013: Bus Stop

BUS STOP, a 1956 “drama” starring Marilyn Monroe, has probably given me the most trouble of any movie I’ve watched this month so far. I didn’t particularly like it, because both the premise and the main character are annoying, which makes things difficult.

Despite top billing, Monroe actually plays second fiddle (unfortunately) to newcomer at the time Don Murray, who stars as a backwards cowboy who has no experience with women. Traveling by bus from Montana to Phoenix, AZ to compete in a big rodeo, Murray’s informed by his mentor, an older cowboy (Arthur O’Connell) that it’s about time he finally hooked up.

This is where Monroe comes in as a singer and dancer at a small café in Phoenix, not far from the rodeo grounds, where Murray sets eyes on her and immediately falls in love with her.

We’ve already seen that Murray is a bit of a hothead. Everywhere he goes, he gets in fights with people over bullshit that doesn’t really matter. This is why he’s so annoying, and Monroe immediately picks up on it and, to her credit, even though she thinks he’s a hunk, she’s like, “No way, get away from me, you’re annoying.”

Okay, so this all makes sense except for the fact that the movie seems to think we should be rooting for Murray and Monroe to eventually hook up. I guess this means Murray will learn his lesson and come around and stop acting like such an asshole, but until he does we have to sit through scene after scene of him pursuing Monroe to the point of even kidnapping her and taking her on the bus back to Montana with him, claiming she’s going to marry him whether she wants to or not. I mean, by this time, I’m hoping Monroe escapes, not that they end up happily ever after.

It’s funny, watching this film it occurred to me that even though Monroe wasn’t a great actress (though she’s fine) or a great singer (though she’s fine) and even though what seems to be her attempt at a southern accent is laughable, she is still the most riveting thing on screen and the only redeemable part of this movie. I’m not just talking about her looks, either – she’s the only person involved here who has any charisma or presence. It’s clear here, maybe even more so than in some of her better movies, that she’s way above and beyond the material and simply a natural star.

Probably the best thing about Monroe is that it always looks like she’s having fun. She may not have been, I know she didn’t have the happiest of times behind the scenes, but she seems to be. Everything looks like a laugh to her and she’s naturally funny, even if the material isn’t. It suits her character, here, and keeps the movie from becoming completely creepy and stalkery by at least implying that Monroe isn’t deathly afraid of Murray and actually views him as a little bit of a joke.

All that said, the happy ending is a downer, ironically, and I wanted more for Monroe’s character than this dickhead played by Murray. I didn’t notice as I was watching the movie that it was directed by Joshua Logan, but reading up on it afterwards I realized he was the director of the equally dreadful PICNIC, which I found puzzling and hard to a couple Romancefests ago. Figures.

Romancefest 2013: Asphalt

Now we take a little bit of a detour into the land of noir with ASPHALT, a German silent flick from 1929. Although Germany rivaled Hollywood at the time with its entertaining, artistic and ground-breaking film output, I'd never heard of ASPHALT until tonight.

The story concerns a good natured young traffic cop (Gustav Frohlich) who falls in love with a jewel thief femme fatale type (Betty Amann). This uncharacteristic dalliance for the cop eventually almost leads to his undoing, as these things do in the land of noir, except that our female lead this time out is more femme than fatale, and that's where the love story comes in. But -- I don't want to give up the ending.

Like a lot of German films from the era, ASPHALT is very atmospheric and gets a lot of mileage out of its locations, sets and lighting. ASPHALT is actually very gritty and realistic, unlike some of the more surreal flicks of the day, and features a lot of shots that looked to me to be actually on location, with lots of big bustling crowds and bumper to bumper traffic.

The movie spends a good amount of time in the first act getting the audience familiar with the setting -- this isn't just a city, it's a city of moral decay that is crumbling even as it rebuilds upon itself.

This setting hangs heavily over the main characters. As the young cop, Gustav Frohlich does a great job of projecting first innocence, then corruption and guilt. It was interesting to see this performance, because he's the same actor who played the lead in the much more famous (and earlier) METROPOLIS. Comparing the two performances, it is clear that he has a range that a lot of people don't often think about when considering silent-era actors.

But, the movie really rests on the shoulders of Betty Amann as the criminal girl who seduces the cop. She tells the whole story with her eyes, starting off as a con-woman and jewel thief, and ending as someone who just wants to do the right thing, no matter what.

The copy of the movie I saw unfortunately had all of the inter-titles in German. There aren't many inter-titles, and most of the story is effectively told through the visuals. Still, I read a synopsis to make sure I got everything. When I realized the film wasn't going to have English titles, I considered turning it off and waiting for another time to see it -- but the visuals were so striking and the establishing shots sucked me in so completely, I decided to just go ahead and watch it anyway.

Romancefest 2013: Casanova Brown

Here comes Gary Cooper again, this time as the title character of CASANOVA BROWN, a film that bills itself as "the greatest romantic comedy of all time" and then falls short.

The story involves Cooper's marital mishaps -- after a failed marriage to Teresa Wright (in which he burnt down her parents' house), Cooper announces to Anita Louise's father (Frank Morgan) that he wants to marry her. Morgan's against this -- he doesn't think much of his daughter -- but Cooper is soon summoned away on a mysterious trip to see a doctor in Chicago where it turns out that he has a baby child.

See, he knocked up Wright before the marriage was annulled and now he has to do something about it. Unfortunately he thinks the right thing to do is to kidnap the baby, and all sorts of "madcap hilarity" ensues.

You might notice "madcap hilarity" is in quotes above. That's because the movie's not nearly madcap or hilarious enough. The premise is outrageous, especially for its time, but the movie doesn't do a whole lot with it and beyond the sequence in which Cooper accidentally destroys his first wife's home, a lot of the jokes fall flat. This might not be a fair assessment, I guess, since I watched it in fairly close proximity to another screwball, NOTHING SACRED, that fires on all cylinders seemingly effortlessly. Maybe in a less marathon-like viewing session, this lesser comedy would stand more of a chance. I'll probably watch it again some day and find out.

As usual, it's good to see Cooper, and he does his best here with a pretty thankless role. The other standout is Morgan as Louise's cranky father, not too far removed from his famous performance as the Wizard in OZ.

Romancefest 2013: The King and Four Queens

THE KING AND FOUR QUEENS is a fun little romantic western starring Clark Gable as a cowboy drifter who, while on the lam from whatever his previous adventure might have been, finds himself hunting for buried treasure on the land of a ranch previously owned by a quarter of criminal brothers.

As the story goes, 3 of the criminal brothers died in an escape attempt, after hiding their gold at the ranch, and the 4th either escaped or was captured. The brothers left their 4 wives behind, who have been waiting for 2 years to see which brother will return to claim the treasure (and his wife), and the brothers'  stern, widowed mother (Jo Van Fleet) guards the ranch to make sure no one gets in to rob the of the treasure, and none of the girls get out to betray her sons.

Gable shows up and hopes to charm the ladies out of the gold, but Van Fleet is more than a match for him and spends most of the film cock-blocking him left and right as the 4 daughters all but throw themselves at him. Some of them seem more likely to help Gable make off with the gold than others, but Gable makes sure to sow seeds of trust (and desire) with each of them in turn.

The daughters range from a level-headed (Eleanor Parker) to ditzy (Barbara Nichols); from chaste (Sara Shane) to deadly and seductive (Jean Willes).

There isn't much here in the way of deeper meaning or anything like that, but it is an entertaining adventure yarn, and Gable's performance, deliberately showing his age, is as good as ever. Van Fleet, as the bitter old woman, is incredibly effective, and most of the movie rests on her shoulders -- she's almost enough to eclipse the bevy of other beautiful women in the flick.

Romancefest 2013: Nothing Sacred

Along with NEVER ON SUNDAY, NOTHING SACRED is my favorite of Romancefest 2013, so far, a delightful little screwball comedy from 1937 about a Manhatan newsman (Frederic March) who wants to do a human interest story on a small-town girl who is dying young from radium poisoning (Carole Lombard).

As the movie begins, Lombard has just learned from her drunken country doctor (Charles Winninger) that the radium poisoning diagnosis was a mistake. However, when March arrives in town, she allows him to believe she is still sick so she can take advantage of the trip to the big city and live a little.

Upon arriving in New York, Lombard becomes the toast of the town, inspiring the citizens of the city everywhere she goes and bringing them to tears just by showing her face in public. March is disgusted with this maudlin display from the otherwise cynical slickers, but he can't help himself from falling in love with the spunky and "brave" Lombard.

Aside from the rapid fire pace, the constant laughs and the great performance from Lombard, NOTHING SACRED is also notable for the beautiful Technicolor photography. Other films from this era were in color, as well, but most of the ones I've seen are either fantasies or period pieces, and rarely contemporary stories shot on real locations. So, it was pretty cool to see full-color shots of New York City and surrounding locations -- almost like stepping right back in time.

The whole cast is great in this flick and every joke works, even the one that has March punching Lombard in the face, if you can believe it.

Romancefest 2013: Goodbye Again

GOODBYE AGAIN is a 1961 drama starring Ingrid Bergman as a 40-something interior designer who  has found herself in a somewhat one-sided relationship with a playboy businessman (Yves Montand). They've been together for years but haven't gotten married, and Montand hasn't stopped seeing other women.

As the film opens, Bergman meets a young lawyer (Anthony Perkins) about 15 years her junior. Perkins is quirky, likable and charming, and pursues a romance with Bergman who at first turns him down due to the age difference (and her loyalty to Montand) but eventually Perkins' courtship and yet another infidelity from Montand wear her down until she finally leaves Montand and lets Perkins move in.

The film makes a lot of its Parisian locations, and as a contemporary film it has lots of really cool late 50s and early 60s cars.

The cast is great, with Bergman beautiful and graceful as always (and stretching a little by playing her age) and Montand believable as a philanderer who isn't necessarily all bad.

But, it's Perkins, fresh off of PSYCHO, that really steals the show here. This must have been before the type-casting really set in, because here he is allowed to play a pretty regular (but engaging) guy, with none of the hang ups of his more famous character, Norman Bates. Of course, being so familiar with Perkins as Bates, it's difficult not to sense a sinister undertone to some of the proceedings in this flick, but it's not intended and shouldn't count against it.

What could count against it, however, is the fact that it is so slow. For a small human drama it is a little too big in scope. These proceedings could have been taken care of a little more efficiently. There are great moments, however, especially the bleak (but realistic) ending of the film, and the movie treats human relationships with much more maturity than most films.

Romancefest 2013: Kings Go Forth

KINGS GO FORTH is a surprisingly effective war drama, centering on a love triangle between Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood.

Set in France at the tail end of World War II, Sinatra stars as a blue-collar officer who finds himself at odds with a new soldier, a handsome rich kid played by Tony Curtis. Although Curtis displays bravery in action, he is somewhat reckless and seems to embody a lot of what Sinatra distrusts in a man.

On leave in the French Riviera, Sinatra meets a young girl played by Natalie Wood and enters into a romance with her. There’s a sort of strange plot twist when Wood reveals that her father was black, which is why she’s holding Sinatra at arm’s length, figuring no American soldier would want to hook up with a mixed-race girl. This twist doesn’t really end up amounting to much, so it seems a little out of place.

The real conflict comes when Curtis also meets Wood, and Wood seems to prefer him to Sinatra. After all, he’s more handsome, charismatic and exciting than Sinatra is. So, now there’s a woman between the two of them, and they find themselves at each others’ throats entering into a particularly dangerous mission.

I’d never heard of this film before, and I’m a little surprised because it was nicely understated and well made. The posters and ads make it look like an overblown epic, but it’s really a fairly intimate story and is well told. It is easy to see why the guys would fall for Wood, and why Wood would fall for the guys, and also easy to see how Curtis is at once likable and detestable.

The only sticking point is the race thing – it’s as if this was inserted into the story to make it more “culturally relevant” but then no one knew what to do with it. Wood is made up to look a little dark and exotic, but not much. Although she is as beautiful as always, she is not convincing as the daughter of a black man.

Still, the film worked as a romance and an adventure film, and even sticks the ending.

Romancefest 2013: Romance on the Range

Watching ROMANCE ON THE RANGE, it struck me that as much of a household name as Roy Rogers is, I don’t think I’ve ever sat down and actually watched any of his work. Now, I’m glad to be able to claim I’ve seen at least one Rogers movie.

This musical western stars Rogers as a rancher named… Roy Rogers. He and his cowhands (played by a musical group called Sons of the Pioneers) are investigating the death of one of their own in relation to a fur-smuggling ring that’s troubling the area when the wealthy owner of the ranch (Linda Hayes) shows up to investigate, as well.

Hayes is undercover, figuring if anyone knew she was the owner of the ranch she’d never get to the bottom of anything, and brings along her maid (Sally Payne) who happens to be in a long distance letter-writing relationship with one of Rogers’ men.

Much to the dismay of resident old coot Gabby (George “Gabby” Hayes) Rogers welcomes Hayes enthusiastically and even strikes up a romance with her.

There’s not much to this flick and it barely runs over an hour, but you can’t deny there’s a certain charm in the simplicity. The cowboys break into song every ten minutes or so, and the songs are pleasant enough. The romance is approached at about a 5^th grade level, so as not to gross out any boys in the audience who might sympathize with Gabby’s “no girls allowed” policy. And there’s enough chasing around on horses and shooting that it’s never boring.

The setting is interesting – the film is from 1942, and seems to take place in 1942 as well. Despite the fact that we’ve got gunslingers on horses, we’ve also got modern conveniences like cars and trucks, and contemporary looking costumes. I’m sure this was a cost-cutting measure, but it also serves to remind viewers of the even larger disconnect between country and city life in the recent past than exists today.

Romancefest 2013: People Will Talk

PEOPLE WILL TALK is yet another Cary Grant romantic comedy, although this one’s lighter on the comedy and heavier on the drama. Writer/director Joseph Mankiewicz opens with a long winded text scroll telling us our main character – Grant as physician/professor at a medical school – may or may not exist, and that if he didn’t, the audience may wish he had. Then it goes on to dedicate the flick to patients.

After this rough start, we’re treated to a scene concerning one of Grant’s colleagues (a fussy Hume Cronyn) who is interviewing Grant’s former housekeeper in an attempt to dig up some dirt on Grant and discredit him. It’s never made 100% clear what Cronyn has against Grant, but apparently Grant’s methods are unorthodox. We never really get a glimpse at what Grant is up to, except that he has great bedside manner and runs a clinic where he specifically pampers the patients. He’s like Patch Adams, without the horror.

Anyway, the cool thing is, the housekeeper Cronyn is interviewing turns out to be none other than screen legend Margaret Hamilton! So, early on, I’m thinking, any movie that opens like this is a movie for me.

Unfortunately, the flick didn’t quite pan out as I’d hoped, and despite a last minute attempt to woo me with a comedic scene featuring a super awesome Lionel train set, this romance wheezes along at a slow pace until it finally ends in the most hackneyed of places, a court room scene.

But, I’m getting a little ahead of myself – aside form intrigue between medical colleagues, the plot also involves a romance between Grant and his patient (Jeanne Crain) who finds herself pregnant out of wedlock. In this sense, the movie is progressive – we hear some pretty frank discussions about what this means for a single woman, how she ended up this way, what her father will think, what her options are, and all that stuff. All the while, Crain’s character is not demonized. Of course the movie stops short of actually discussing abortion, but you can’t help but think about it as the story unfolds.

There is a central plot device involving the pregnancy I will not spoil here, but I will say it does lead the viewer to question Grant’s competency as a doctor. It’s not dealt with very realistically, at least, not as realistically as some of the other issues in the movie, and it’s fairly contrived and stupid. Viewed by today’s standards, it makes Cronyn seem like he has a legit reason to go after Grant, if only he knew.

I’ve typed so much and I haven’t even gotten into the business involving Grant’s mysterious, lumbering assistant (Finlay Currie). Maybe the less said, the better. I don’t know.

This movie does have an interesting dilemma at the center of it, interestingly not really involving the whole pregnancy mess, and that’s the struggle between “accepted” methods of practicing medicine and more “unorthodox” methods. Unfortunately, it’s never really made quite clear what Grant is doing that is so unorthodox – he seems to be an effective physician who actually helps people, so it can’t be that he’s some kind of quack “healer” dealing in alternative medicine. The point is made many times that he’s a real doctor with real credentials. So, what gives? I wasn’t sure what side to take. I know we’re supposed to be on Grant’s side, but I’m not sure why. Because he’s handsome and nice?

There is an interesting premise in this movie that is never really exploited – part of Grant’s backstory is that he once practiced medicine in a rural community full of superstitious, anti-intellectual types. In order to help them, Grant covered up the fact that he was a real, science-based doctor, and allowed them to believe he was using home/folk remedies and salt-of-the-Earth wisdom instead of book smarts and science to cure them. That in and of itself would make an interesting movie, probably more interesting than this one.

Romancefest 2013: Anastasia

ANASTASIA is one of those movies I feel like I’ve seen parts of before, but never really sat down to watch the whole thing. I think my mom and sister must have rented it at some point, and I must have been in the room drawing or something while it was on TV.

This 1956 drama stars Ingrid Bergman as an unstable drifter who has been in and out of insane asylums, sometimes claiming to be the famed Grand Duchess of Russia, Anastasia, who was probably shot dead with the rest of her family, but then again maybe wasn’t.

She’s picked up by a former Russian General (Yul Brynner) who schemes to pass her off as the real thing in an effort to get in on an inheritance of about 10 million pounds. Unfortunately for Brynner, he must first convince an exiled and reclusive Empress, Anastasia’s Aunt (Helen Hayes) before he can convince anyone else.

Most of the film deals with scenes between Brynner and Bergman as teacher and student. Brynner is effective in the same way as he was in THE KING AND I, with the same striking presence and commanding tone. Bergman is suitably sympathetic as the mixed up girl and effortlessly flips between regal and down-and-out. Finally, the scenes with Hayes (interesting to see her some 25 years after A FAREWELL TO ARMS) are particularly emotional.

Unfortunately the rest of the material is a little flat, and this might be due to its origins as a stage play. Most of the scenes are long and set in one location, with theatrical entrances and exits. There doesn’t seem to have been many attempts to “open” the production up for the big screen, which is too bad, because it’s in beautiful color, is meticulously shot, and presented in stunning widescreen. The print is so pristine, it looks like it was shot yesterday.

There was another take on the Anastasia legend that came out in the late 90s, a cartoon musical from Fox, produced in an effort to duplicate Disney’s successful animated formula. I went to see this because a girl I had a crush on wanted to go. That remains the most interesting thing about the movie to me, and my mind wandered to memories of her as I watched the original live action version. I would say I wonder what she’s doing now, except Facebook exists.

Romancefest 2013: Queen Kelly

Now, here’s a movie that has a production history that is more interesting than the film itself. In fact, someone should make a movie about it! Who will play Gloria Swanson? Hmm. I don’t know, but whoever it is will probably win an Oscar.

QUEEN KELLY is a silent film that went into production in 1929 and then was never released in America. Director Erich Von Stroheim was fired by mega-star Gloria Swanson when they disagreed over the direction the story was taking, and Swanson eventually shot her own version of the ending and had the film released in other countries.

The print I watched was an attempt by Kino to restore the film to its original intended narrative. Instead of using the Swanson ending, it uses production stills and Von Stroheim’s surviving footage to finish off the narrative. Unfortunately this isn’t very dramatically successful; still, you get a good idea of what the movie would have been like as much of the first half is entirely intact.

The story concerns a mad Queen (Seena Owen) obsessed with marrying a handsome Prince (Walyer Byron) who doesn’t like her. The handsome Prince runs into Kelly (Gloria Swanson), who lives in a convent/orphanage, and instantly falls in love. He can’t stop thinking about her and eventually abducts her to bring her back to the palace he shares with the mad Queen and proclaim his love to her. Kelly is just as in love with the handsome Prince as he is with her, but of course the mad Queen comes between them in a particularly brutal scene.

The last half of the film (the reconstructed part) involves Kelly moving to Africa at her dying aunt’s behest and being forced into an arranged marriage with a sleazy old pimp (Tully Marshall, creepy as hell).

What one half of the film has to do with the other, I’m not 100% sure, except to say that it’s not that uncommon for movies of this era to simply be about a naïve, innocent girl who is dragged through a terrible life and exposed to horrors through little fault of her own.

As far as the quality of the film is concerned, the production is huge and clearly expensive, with big, impressive sets, especially in the scenes set in the palace. The concept of the mad, jealous Queen vs. poor Kelly is pretty fascinating and those scenes work well, but as soon as the movie gets to Africa it grinds to a halt as it takes a ton of screen time to get through very rudimentary things – I don’t know how long Kelly stands by her aunt’s deathbed, but it seemed like an eternity.

I was pretty surprised with how racy a silent movie like this was. There’s some brief nudity for the Queen, a meet-cute between the Prince and Kelly involving Gloria Swanson throwing her underwear at him, and even a girl-on-girl whipping scene. Silent but violent, bro.

Romancefest 2013: A Farewell to Arms

I’m not normally the type to bitch about whether or not a movie is as good as the book that it was based on, or the other way around. On the rare occasions I’m actually familiar enough with source material to know one way or the other, I attempt to view movies on their own merits – if it’s a good movie, I don’t care if it’s like the book. If it’s exactly like the book and still sucks, it’s still a bad movie. And so on.

So, watching 1932’s A FAREWELL TO ARMS was kind of a new experience for me because the Ernest Hemingway novel it was based on is held in high enough esteem by me and affected me enough when I first read it, that I wasn’t sure if attempting to enjoy a film adaptation would be a fool’s errand or not.

Long story short (too late), the movie was all right. In the end, I don’t think loving the book colored my perceptions one way or the other, but I will say that my main concern was that the movie would alter the ending, and for my money, that’s the best part. For those of you who haven’t read the book or seen SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (trailer or movie), I won’t spoil the ending for you except to say that it is a tragic and downbeat one, not something Hollywood is known for.

Gary Cooper stars as an American ambulance driver serving in the Italian army during World War I. He strikes up a romance with a Red Cross nurse (Helen Hayes) and the rest of the story involves their attempts to stay together with the war tearing them apart.

The film has entered the public domain, so unfortunately the print available on Netflix Watch Instantly is a little dark and muddy with shitty sound. Still, you can tell in several segments (particularly the sexy ones) that director Frank Borzage was up to some pretty cool visual tricks involving all sorts of suggestive shadows, silhouettes and candle light. There’s also a lot of camera movement for a movie of this age, with several smooth tracking shots.

Gary Cooper is great as always, and both the romance and the hell of war is believable. Up until the final moments, the movie worked as a basic Cliff’s Notes version of the story. The filmmakers kept the tragic ending, but removed Hemingway’s perspective of it, opting for a more transcendental and spiritual finale. This takes an otherwise fairly grounded and modern movie into an antiquated realm of melodrama that was a little disappointing.

That’s where my reading of the book comes in – would I feel this way if I’d never read the book? I don’t know. I just prefer Hemingway’s simplicity and quiet to this film’s last-minute overblown bombast. I find the more reserved approach that much more tragic and emotionally satisfying.

Romancefest 2013: Never on Sunday

Next stop: Greece, for a delightful little flick from 1960 called NEVER ON SUNDAY, written and directed by Jules Dassin. Dassin also stars, as a nebbish American philosopher. As a tourist in Greece he meets a prostitute (Melina Mercouri) who he becomes infatuated with and determined to enlighten to the finer things in life and get her away from selling herself.

From her first moment on screen, Mercouri brings an electric, energetic presence that injects the movie with enthusiasm. It’s no wonder all the men in Greece, and Dassin, love her. She has no qualms with her lifestyle and answers to no one, including an ominous pimp (Alexis Solomos) who controls all the other prostitutes in town and wants to shut Mercouri down for fear of her giving his ladies ideas of independence.

Dassin’s character is pretentiously obsessed with the idea of Greece as a once great civilization that has fallen into degredation, and feels that Mercouri is a perfect example of this – instead of appreciating the pleasures of the mind, like art, music, literature and philosophy, she unabashedly revels in the pleasures of the body.

To be fair, Mercouri actually does appreciate art – she’s a fan of Greek tragedy and visits the theater regularly, and clearly loves music. It’s just, as far as Dassin is concerned, she doesn’t love the tragedies the right way – that is, he feels she doesn’t understand their “true” meaning and likes them for the “wrong” reasons. Additionally, she may like music, but as far as Dassin is concerned, it’s the “wrong” music.

Dassin’s main concern is that Mercouri is living in a fantasy world, in denial about the tragedy of her life.  He takes her on as his student and attempts to “rescue” her from her own life. Of course, as you might imagine, this leads to a series of problems.

NEVER ON SUNDAY takes full advantage of the Greek locations and culture, with lots of great music, dancing, scenery and flavor. This movie is light, airy and very funny while still dealing with some real ideas and original thoughts. It doesn’t play like a treatise, because Dassin’s thoughts as writer/director differ from his main character’s thoughts – it’s like a study of a false premise, with Mercouri being a great, vivacious example of another way of thinking.

For as much as I loved this movie and as much of a personal project it seems to have been for Jules Dassin, I’m surprised I’ve never really seen anything by him before. I’m going to have to check out more of his stuff. Discoveries like this are why it is fun watch things I might normally have never watched if I hadn’t of made a list for myself and stuck to it. 

Romancefest 2013: Senso

Now we travel to Italy for SENSO, a lavish 1954 melodrama set during the Italian-Austrian war of unification in the 1860s. This epic is beautifully shot in lush color and both the intimate dialogue scenes and big battle scenes are masterfully staged.

Alida Valli stars as an Italian Countess, sympathetic to a group of Italian rebels, led by her cousin (Massimo Girotti) who has recently run afoul of an Austrian officer (Farley Granger) in a confrontation resulting in an impending duel. When Valli meets with Granger to attempt to talk him out of the duel, she falls instantly and passionately in love (or lust) with the handsome rogue and enters into an affair with him, despite their opposing positions.

The war eventually pulls the lovers apart, and Valli gets more and more desperate as she must fight to reconnect with and even protect Granger, who is off fighting. It’s clear early on that Valli is more invested in the affair than Granger – for Valli it’s a life-changing awakening and she’s willing to throw away her entire life and status in the name of passion. For Granger it’s yet another exciting dalliance in a life of exciting dalliances.

So, the movie is not so much a love story (though there is plenty of that in the opening scenes) as it is an examination of how much this woman is willing to destroy herself for a man. Some of this process is tedious – the middle passages of the film drag.

Still, I was impressed with how far the movie was willing to go with this story. The premise was followed all the way to the end of the line to its tragic logical conclusions, and the last half hour or so is really compelling drama, right up until the last haunting shot.

Romancefest 2013: I Was a Male War Bride

What a great title – I WAS MALE WAR BRIDE. They don’t name ‘em like that anymore.

Cary Grant stars as the titular male war bride in this Howard Hawks screwball comedy, apparently based on a true story about a French officer who fell in love with an American nurse while on a mission shortly after World War II in Germany and had to disguise himself as a woman to get out of Europe and into America.

Grant is accompanied on his final mission in the army by a female lieutenant (Ann Sheridan) who he has some history of bickering with. On their mission, they continue to bicker, and are forced into several emasculating situations for Grant, who has to suffer indignities like riding in a sidecar while Sheridan drives the motorcycle.

If a screwball comedy has any rules, it’s that the man and woman who argue all the time eventually fall in love and this movie is no exception. The first half of the film deals with their bickering, the second half deals with their attempts to stay together after their multiple weddings (complicated thanks to lots of military red tape). Every time you think the couple will have a chance to consummate, they’re hurried along into another disaster. In the end, Grant has slept almost everywhere except in a bed, including a bathtub and an out-of-control motorcycle.

The other rule of screwball comedies, in my opinion, is that they should be fast, and this is where I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE drops the ball. Even though Hawks helped invent and perfect the genre, the machinations of the comedic set pieces seem a little overly labored and lack the payoff they should have.  Instead of moving ahead at a breakneck pace, encouraging subsequent viewings, this flick is content to stop a moment and give the audience time to laugh, as if it’s a sitcom missing a laugh track.

That doesn’t make this a bad movie, just a mediocre one. It definitely has its moments, most of them provided by Grant’s deft line delivery.

Romancefest 2013: The Fighting Kentuckian

THE FIGHTING KENTUCKIAN is an interesting John Wayne flick because it was one of the last B-movies he made, and his star was already on the rise. So, you’ve got John Wayne in his prime in a movie that isn’t quite as good as what most John Wayne fans are probably used to.

The flick must be in the public domain, because the print I watched was terrible, with sound and picture varying from reel to reel. The audio, in particular, was bad. Maybe there’s a good print out there, I don’t know, but if there is, it is not on Netflix.

John Wayne stars as a Kentucky militiaman who leaves his regiment after 5 years of service to pursue a romance with the feisty daughter (Vera Ralston) of a French general (Hugo Haas) who is intent on settling the land with his fellow French exiles (it’s 1819 and Napoleon’s followers were no longer welcome in France). Unfortunately, Ralston’s already set to marry a local businessman (John Howard) who is embroiled in a scheme to rob the French settlers of their land.

This is the general “stranger rides into town and helps underdogs rescue their land from evil rich guys” Western plot, and it has been done better elsewhere, but there is some charm in Wayne’s motivations – he simply fell in love at first sight with Ralston, and has to have her. He’s a little nervous about it because he’s never felt this way before, and the feelings are at odds with his macho personality.

She’s in love with him, too, but she thinks her marriage to the villain might help her peoples’ cause.  As a result, Wayne finds himself in the middle of all kinds of treachery, plotting and double crosses. By the time the final battle rolls around, I’d grown tired of the endless exposition. This movie would have benefitted from a simpler plot.

Still, like I said before, the flick isn’t without charm and a lot of this comes from Wayne’s unlikely team up with sidekick Oliver Hardy, who provides the film’s comic relief. Some of his shtick is dated, of course, but you can’t deny Hardy has an impish, innocent charm that gives the movie a slight edge up from complete mediocrity. Hardy even gets a heroic moment, in the end, and Wayne proves to be a great straight man.

Romancefest 2013: The Other Side of the Mountain

In the first shot of THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN we’re assured that “this is a true story.” In this case, the true story involves 1950s Olympic ski hopeful Jill Kinmont, who suffered a career ending injury that put her in a wheel chair for the rest of her life.

Marilyn Hassett stars as Kinmont, and she’s likable enough, though her heavily intoned narration does a lot to drag the movie down. We’re told in super-important, sanctimonious tones all about her early skiing career (even though we’re seeing it unfold before us thanks to the magic of cinema).

To the film’s credit, once Hassett does find herself at first totally paralyzed and later confined to a wheel chair, we’re spared some of the usual inspirational “I think I can” nonsense.  Yes, Hassett spouts some of this (as athletes are wont to do) but she is quickly  put in her place by the more realistic tough love of her best buddy (Belinda Montgomery) who is already disabled thanks to Polio.

Beau Bridges is also on hand to offer Hassett some encouragement, as a famous skier and daredevil who becomes romantically interested in her. He’s charming and likable in a bro-dude sort of way, and it is touching the way he helps take care of Hassett when others find the situation too difficult to deal with.

Another thing the movie does nicely is show some of the nuts and bolts of day to day paralyzed living – how difficult it is to eat a potato chip, for instance, or transfer from a car seat to your wheel chair, or the mechanics of getting an injured woman onto and off of a stretcher or into and out of surgery without injuring her even more. There’s a particularly effective scene in which Hassett is suspended upside down and her parents slide onto the floor underneath her for their hospital visit.

Unfortunately the overall cloying tone of the movie serves to undermine most of this good stuff. You can’t help but wonder, as the movie unfolds, why people equate tragedy with romance. I’m not saying you shouldn’t make a movie with a sad ending, or where characters experience hardship – obviously that’d be ridiculous. Still, there’s this kind of “Chicken Soup for the Soul”/movie of the week approach that almost seems to fetishize struggle, pain and sadness.

Romancefest 2013: Anna Lucasta

ANNA LUCASTA is a low budget drama most notable for featuring Eartha Kitt and Sammy Davis, Jr. It is interesting to see a flick from this era, though, when most low budget movies were about sci-fi monsters and were populated wall to wall with white people. ANNA LUCASTA, on the other hand, has black characters of several different walks of life, ranging from college grads to sailors, prostitutes to housewives. It’s rare to see this range in a movie from 1958.

Eartha Kitt stars as the title character, a young woman who is thrown out of her house by her father on the night of her prom when she is caught in a romantic situation with her boyfriend. She leaves home and ends up living as a prostitute in San Diego (plenty of sailors there). As the story begins, Kitt’s father (Rex Ingram) has received word that an old friend’s son, a recent well-off college graduate (Henry Scott) will be coming to town, and is in need of a wife. The extended family, all living under one roof, begins to scheme ways to play matchmaker and get the money for themselves and hit upon the idea of bringing Anna back into the home and marrying her off.

Eartha Kitt is great in the lead role. It was cool to see her play everything from comedy to tragedy, when all I’ve ever known her as is the Catwoman. Rex Ingram is suitably creepy, and even sympathetic, as Kitt’s alcoholic father. Sammy Davis, Jr. is particularly good as a sailor (and former customer) Kitt once almost married who returns in one last attempt to whisk her off her feet. Aside from these leads, my favorite supporting character was Frederick O’Neal as one of the extended family, a junk salesman who is the most scheming of the bunch.

Like CARMEN JONES, the weak link here is Henry Scott as the square-jawed, straight arrow romantic lead. Again, it’s half the script’s fault that he’s so boring, because that’s how he’s written, and half the actor’s fault, because he’s just not as flashy as everyone else on screen.

It’s surprising based on a performance like this that Eartha Kitt didn’t rise to a higher level of stardom than she did. Then again I suppose this film was probably little seen in its time. Still, it’s a good, gritty, unique drama that seems to have been overlooked and is worth checking out.

Romancefest 2013: Carmen Jones

CARMEN JONES is an all-black musical based on the famous Bizet opera, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein. I watched PORGY AND BESS, another all-black musical, for Romancefest either last year or the year before, and the two films have a lot in common, including their leading lady, Dorothy Dandridge, and director, Otto Preminger.

Released in 1954, the film takes place during WW2 and Dandridge stars as the title character, a sexy, independent woman recently fired from her job at a parachute factory and arrested for beating up one of the other girls. We’re introduced to her during an opening number in which she explains she’s not into dudes who are easy, just the ones who play hard to get.

Harry Belafonte stars as the military dude assigned to haul Dandridge to jail. He’s a straight arrow, already betrothed to an innocent country girl  (Olga James). En route to prison, Dandridge seduces Belafonte away from his intended, and they enter into a passionate affair.

The movie has several strengths – it’s mostly shot on location, with a few exceptions for interiors, so that helps it keep a nice balance between reality and fantasy, which musicals some times have a problem with. The musical numbers are also good, and you’ll recognize a bunch of them since they’re all set to Bizet tunes. My favorite was a number in which Pearl Bailey, as Dandridge’s friend, sings about how she doesn’t even need any music, just the beat of the drum, to get into dancing.

Dandridge is great in the lead, though her singing voice is dubbed, but Belafonte (also dubbed) isn’t much of a leading man. It is partially the fault of his character, a boring square (until the final moments of the film). He’s handsome at all, but he’s such a soft spoken pushover that Dandridge (and the rest of the cast’s) passion renders him pretty lame.

I’m not really sure what to say about the plot, which evolves into Dandridge’s continual manipulation of Belafonte until he reaches his breaking point. On the surface, this is a story about a wild woman who exploits the weaknesses of a man who tries to be responsible. But it is also about the struggle between right and wrong within Carmen herself – like most people, she always wants what she can’t have.

Romancefest 2013: Diary of a Chambermaid

DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID is a sexy little comedy directed by Jean Renoir, better known for “important” flicks like GRAND ILLUSION and RULES OF THE GAME (featured in a previous Romancefest).

Paulette Goddard stars as a French chambermaid who has a spotty employment record, having moved from job to job and learned a thing or two about the whole “upstairs/downstairs” racket. As the movie opens, she’s gotten to the point where she’s ready to be done with all the servitude and wants to snag a rich man – any rich man – to live out the rest of her days as the head of her own household.

The rest of the film concerns a series of romantic misadventures as Goddard arrives at her new house of employment and attempts at first to romance an eccentric neighbor (Burgess Meredith) and then the son of her new employers (Hurd Hatfield). There’s also a mysterious, cranky valet on hand who develops designs on Goddard (Frances Lederer).

I was surprised as the credits unrolled to see that Burgess Meredith not only wrote the screenplay for this film but also produced it! Upon further investigation I’ve learned that he was married to Paulette Goddard, at the time. Still, it’s a surprise to think the guy who went on to immortalize the Penguin and Mickey used to write and produce for Renoir!

It was interesting to see lighter fare from Renoir, though even his “serious” movies were funny enough. Unfortunately, this flick might be a little too light – despite a good central performance from Goddard, who is equally crafty and clueless, the plot quickly runs out of steam.

Romancefest 2013: Caesar and Cleopatra

Time for Romancefest again. This year I’m getting a late start. 28 movies in 28 days, but I’ve wasted the first 8 days of the year. I’m not making it easy on myself. Maybe I’ll fail. Or, as Judy Blume once wrote, then again, maybe I won’t. In any case, it's already Valentine's DAy and I couldn't let it go by without posting the movies I've watched so far.

This year I’ve decided to be lazy, like I was with Horrorfest, and make my list of 28 movies based on the top 28 highest-rated romantic movies available on Netflix Watch Instantly that I havent’ seen yet. After running a list, I decided to filter it to just the ones Netflix considers classics, because the list looked kind of dumb.

The problem with doing this every year is that after a hundred movies or so, you get to the point where you’ve seen all the movies on anyone’s “be

st of” list.

Anyway, this year, we start with:

 

CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA

Based on a play by George Bernard Shaw, this 1945 British flick features lavish production design and two interesting performances by the stars playing the title characters, Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh. These might not be the first actors who jump to mind when considering the images of the popular historical figures in question, but that’s what makes these performances so interesting.

I’ve always loved Claude Rains, ever since I used to watch THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD as a kid. He’s also great in his Universal horror appearances, and in a deliciously under stated performance in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. His Caesar is a pretty laid back dude. Even though he’s conquering faraway lands, in this case Egypt, and expanding his empire, he takes a hands off approach, figuring the less he gives his new subjects to complain about, the easier they will be to control. Rains is perfect for this more intellectual approach to the character, able to project intelligence  where a lesser performance might project laziness.

I’ve read that Shaw thought the casting of Vivien Leigh is Cleopatra was all wrong. I can kind of see where he’s coming from, but I’m not sure I totally agree – the script calls for a transition from a young, childish Cleopatra to a more cunning and wise one, with her biggest fault being her short temper that generally falls back on violence as a solution. I think Leigh made a convincing transition, and also played her somewhat platonic crush on Caesar well, though perhaps someone with a more commanding presence could have made a more formidable lead. Leigh definitely has presence to spare, but it’s of the coy and sexy variety.

The story concerns Caesar’s siege of Cleopatra’s palace and his attempt to install her as Queen, as he favors her over her young brother, a child King who is controlled by his anti-Rome advisor (a simpering Francis L. Sullivan). During the siege, Caesar finds an ally in the dashing and heroic (Stewart Granger) and constantly has to talk his own trusted guard (Basil Sydney) out of violent solutions to the problems of occupation.

Perhaps the most intriguing supporting character is Cleopatra’s personal servant and guard, the exotic female warrior Ftatateeta (Flora Robson).  She’s probably the most dominant presence in the film, and in another world less concerned with traditional beauty, she might have been able to pull of the role of Cleopatra.  As it is, her character is pivotal to the story and probably the most memorable in the film.

There’s an attraction between Caesar and Cleopatra that is a little more complex than your average romantic epic because it isn’t romantic, strictly speaking. It’s more a respect for the way each other’s minds work. Cleopatra is eager to learn from a wise leader who has been so successful doing the exact opposite of she might have done in his place.  Caesar is glad to be admired and happy to lead by example, but overall he is a realist, so you don’t see him romancing Cleopatra the way you might expect.

Despite the interesting performances and offbeat “love” story, the movie never quite takes off. There are some moments in the middle where things are looking up, and overall it ends at a much more satisfying place than it begins, but there’s just too much bloat. This is a big lavish, expensive production, and it shows in the marvelous sets, beautiful matte paintings, and big crowd scenes. Unfortunately, it also shows in the somewhat lifeless opening passages and gaps between moments of excitement.