WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME

WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME (1942). Director: Charles Lamont.

War hero Johnny Kovacs (Alan Jones) is feted when he comes home on leave, but most of his musician buddies only know him as Johnny O'Rourke. Therefore when police come searching for him so he can fulfill some obligations, his pals assume he's a deserter from the army. Two women fall instantly in love with Johnny -- Joyce (Jane Frazee) and Marilyn (Gloria Jean) -- while Dusty (Peggy Ryan) can't even score with Frankie (Donald O'Connor). This has virtually no plot to speak of, but there are some well-delivered songs, such as the duets "This is It," "Romance," and "You and the Night and the Music." Jones has a very nice voice, but even in his day his style was a little too precious, and nowadays he seems just a bit hokey. Olin Howlin has a larger role than usual as a liaison, and a black dance group called the Four Step Brothers are full of verve. O'Connor is as good and as likable as ever, although his numbers with the frankly unfunny Ryan are nothing to sing about. Ryan made a better impression in Chip Off the Old Block, which starred O'Connor. Frazee was in Buck Privates and Gloria Jean in Copacabana.

Verdict: By the numbers -- but at least the numbers are good. **1/2.

PARK ROW

PARK ROW (1952). Director/Writer/Producer: Samuel Fuller.

This labor of love for Samuel Fuller about the newspaper business takes a while to get started, but eventually becomes quite interesting and dramatic, although it's nowhere in the league of, say, Citizen Kane, which also, in part, dealt with newspapers. Phineas Mitchell (Gene Evans), fired from the Star in 1880's New York, lunges at the opportunity to start his own newspaper the Globe, which he intends to make a real newspaper, not a shoddy imitation like the Star, whose publisher Charity Hackett (Mary Welch) hasn't got newsprint in her blood. 

Gene Evans

His first big story is his pal Steve Brodie (George O'Hanlon) jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. Hackett is attracted to Mitchell, and instructs underlings to begin a war on the paper, even though its circulation is not nearly as big as her major competitors. The war escalates into violence and tragedy, with bombs, mobs and destruction. Fuller even works in the invention of Linotype and the gift of the Statue of Liberty. Although this is supposed to be the "true" story of newspaper publishing, it has to be taken with a grain of salt. Fuller's script could have used some punching up and there are character reversals that make no sense. Mary Welch gives the most interesting performance in the film. (Welch died in childbirth six years after the movie was released and had only three other television credits.) Evans of Giant Behemoth fame certainly has his moments and is by no means a bad actor, but you can't help comparing him to the dynamic Orson Welles. Evans doesn't really have that kind of big screen presence that would help him dominate a movie.

Verdict: An interesting curiosity. **1/2.

BLITHE SPIRIT

Margaret Rutherford as Madame Arcati

BLITHE SPIRIT (1945). Director: David Lean. Based on the play by Noel Coward, who also produced the film.

To do research for his next book, writer Charles Condomine (Rex Harrison) and his wife Ruth (Constance Cummings) invite well-known psychic Madame Arcati (Margaret Rutherford) to dinner and a seance. Everyone at the dinner party thinks the madame is slightly nuts, and definitely a phony, but to Charles and Ruth's surprise she inadvertently manages to call back the spirit of Elvira (Kay Hammond) -- Charles' first wife, leading to expected -- and a few unexpected -- complications! 

Rex Harrison

One critic called the source material for the movie, the play of the same title by Noel Coward, "a wearying  exhibition of bad taste" and indeed it is the sort of dark comedy/farce in which tragic situations are milked for laughs and characters sort of suppress natural human emotions for the sake of the story. Many will feel there's a definite streak of (probably benign and possibly unintended) misogyny running through the movie as well. Harrison and Cummings are fine as the husband and his second wife, but Kay Hammond -- although her performance isn't bad -- has so affected and unnatural a voice, with its jutting lower lip and distasteful inflections, that she becomes positively repulsive as Elvira. Margaret Rutherford, on the other hand, is as delightful as ever as the medium and steals the movie from everyone else. Blithe Spirit is not exactly a laugh-riot (although any pathos the situations might have had goes unexplored) but it is amusing and entertaining. A bonus on the remastered DVD of the film is an interview with Coward scholar Barry Day, who provides much interesting information  on the background both of the play and movie, and also explores the many differences between the two -- and Coward's reaction to the film as well; Day is marvelous. The play was also turned into the cute if mediocre musical "High Spirits." 

Verdict: Certainly worth a look. ***.

STOLEN IDENTITY

Francis Lederer, Donald Buka, Joan Camden

STOLEN IDENTITY (1953). Director: Gunther von Fritsch. Colorized. 

In post-war Vienna American Tony Sponer (Donald Buka) has difficulty making a living because he has no valid papers. When a man is shot in the back of the cab he is temporarily driving, he sees an opportunity to take on his identity and perhaps get back to the States. Unfortunately, the dead man was supposed to meet Karen Manelli (Joan Camden), who is running away from her suffocating husband, the famous pianist Claude Manelli (Frances Lederer of The Return of Dracula). When Karen meets up with her "boyfriend," a completely different person, things really become complicated. 

Buka and Camden

Stolen Identity is an unpredictable suspense story with some fine performances, intriguing aspects, and interesting characters. Lederer is as smooth and vaguely sinister as ever as the concert pianist, and Buka is excellent as Tony, who is torn in different directions as he simply tries to get back to his birthplace but gets tied up in murder and danger. Camden is generally good, although there are times when she hardly seems as upset as she should be considering the circumstances (and the death of her lover). The whole story takes place on New Year's Eve, was filmed on actual Viennese locations, and was produced by actor Turhan Bey. Buka had a long career before settling into a role on All My Children; Camden mostly did television. There are some good supporting performances in this as well. An Austrian-U.S. co-production. 

Verdict: Crackling good suspenser. ***. 

(THE EARRINGS OF) MADAME DE

Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux

MADAME DE (1953/AKA The Earrings of Madame de). Director: Max Ophuls.

To pay off her debts, Comtesse Louise (Danielle Darrieux) pawns earrings that were given to her by her husband, General Andre (Charles Boyer), but they wind up being given back to her as a gift from the man she's fallen in love with, Baron Donati (Vittorio de Sica), causing mildly interesting complications. Ophuls' most famous film (made in Hollywood) is Letter from an Unknown Woman, which is vastly superior to the French-Italian co-production Madame de. The characters are not that dimensional, although the actors, especially a fine Boyer, do their best to put them over. Despite some of the emotions boiling under the surface, the story is slight and not handled with much dramatic flair. The modestly attractive Darrieux makes too ordinary a heroine. (She had a decidedly brief Hollywood career, appearing in The Rage of Paris in 1938.) I like de Sica better as a director than as an actor, although he is certainly not bad as Donati.

Verdict: A mere trifle all told. **.