AT LONG LAST LOVE

Burt Reynolds and Cybill Shepherd

AT LONG LAST LOVE (1975). Written and directed by Peter Bogdanovich. 

Brooke Carter (Cybill Shepherd) and her maid, Liz (Eileen Brennan of Jeepers Creepers), are wondering when mother will send the check to pay the hotel bill. She meets a handy millionaire named Michael (Burt Reynolds), but he becomes smitten with Broadway star Kitty O'Kelly (Madeline Kahn), who turns out to be an old high school pal of Brooke's. But Brooke has a consolation prize in handsome Italian Johnny (Duilio Del Prete) who, unfortunately, is a gambler with no money. Meanwhile Liz develops a yen for Michael's good right hand, Rodney (John Hillerman). As the entire cast sing nothing but Cole Porter songs -- Friendship, Did You Evah, I Get a Kick, DeLovely, You"re the Top, Just One of Those Things and more -- the affections among the foursome transfer and confuse until you don't really know (even at the end) who will wind up with whom. 

Madeline Kahn and Duilio Del Prete

At Long Last Love was Peter Bogdanovich's second stab at an old-fashioned kind of screwball comedy and it is much less successful than his first, What's Up Doc? The movie may not be as awful as many have suggested, but it does have some serious problems. The biggest is the direction and editing. The actors perform their numbers live before the camera, no dubbing, but that should not have precluded there being cuts in these numbers so that they have a cinematic panache. Even the kitschiest old Hollywood musical has more of a sweep and flow to the production numbers -- it's as if they were simply shot on a theater stage with the camera nailed to the ground. (The camera moves at times but there are very few actual cuts and no mix of close ups and medium and long shots.) 

John Hillerman, Eileen Brennan and cast

Then there are the performances. I can certainly think of two leads who would be more appropriate for a homage to Cole Porter than Burt Reynolds and Cybill Shepherd. Both are perfectly pleasant and even reasonably adept, but no more. Shepherd reveals a nice voice and uses it well, while Reynolds can carry a tune without disgracing himself but little else. Eileen Brennan is, of course, as terrific as ever and also can sing quite well, while Kahn also shows off her considerable talents. Del Prete has a lot of ability and a great deal of charm -- he is quite appealing in the picture. (By the way when he sings the title tune he does not say "luff" instead of "love" as some critics suggested back in the day.) 

And the music. One is reminded of all the glorious melodies and amusing sophisticated lyrics written by the great Cole Porter. Some of the numbers are pretty much muffed, but others survive the production back drops and the singers. Cary Grant played Cole Porter in the fictional biopic Night and Day. 

Verdict: Those long, long takes nearly sink this from the first, but it's also stylish and pretty good to look at. **1/2. 

ANYTHING GOES (1956)

Bing Crosby and Donald O'Connor clown around

ANYTHING GOES (1956). Director: Robert Lewis.

Broadway veteran Bill Benson (Bing Crosby) and hot shot TV star Ted Adams (Donald O'Connor) are teaming up to do a Broadway show. They each decide on a leading lady, unaware of what the other has done. So on a boat back to New York from Europe, they have to contend with the fact that they promised the plum role to two different women: Patsy (Mitzi Gaynor) and Gaby (Zizi Jeanmaire). Complicating matters is the realization that each man has started to fall in love, not with the woman they chose to star with but with her rival!

Mitzi Gaynor and Donald O\Connor

Twenty years earlier Crosby did a previous version of Anything Goes that co-starred Ethel Merman. This new version throws out the plot of the Broadway musical it was based on but uses some of Cole Porter's songs, along with a few new ones by Cahn and Van Heusen. (You can tell which are whose fairly easily). This is a one-gimmick plot but it does add some suspense to the proceedings, and Paramount studios manages to give the flick some of the gloss you associate with MGM, thanks to Technicolor, VistaVision, some excellent art direction, and cinematographer John F. Warren. More importantly, the performances by all are adept and enthusiastic.

Zizi Jeanmaire with chorus boys

Zizi Jeanmaire (billed in this only as "Jeanmaire") was a French dancer and actress who did most of her work in Europe. She is quite good in Anything Goes and is given one zesty number as well as a featured ballet with little boys, sailors and several lookalikes. The production numbers include the title tune choreographed by Ernest Flatt, "I Get a Kick", and the finale, "Blow, Gabriel, Blow," which features the four stars in a striking tableau.

"Blow, Gabriel, Blow." Jeanmaire, Crosby, Gaynor, O'Connor

Anything Goes, however, goes on for a little too long, and there are some dull stretches, including a nightclub bit wherein Crosby plays a mind-reading Rajah that becomes tiresome rather quickly. In spite of that, the movie is fun and colorful for the most part. Phil Harris [The Patsy] is cast as Gaynor's father, Steve, and Kurt Kasznar [Land of the Giants] as Crosby's agent, Victor Lawrence.

Verdict: Talented cast helps put this over. ***. 

PANAMA HATTIE

Ann Sothern

PANAMA HATTIE (1942). Director: Norman Z. McLeod.

Down in Panama a singing dancer named Hattie (Ann Sothern of Fast and Furious) has fallen for a wealthy Army man named Dick (Dan Dailey of It's Always Fair Weather), This is bad news for three sailors -- Red (Red Skelton), Rags (Rags Ragland) and Rowdy (Ben Blue) -- who are smitten with the gal and whom she relies on for emotional support. Hattie has some problems with her man when she meets his eight-year-old daughter and a woman named Leila Tree (Marsha Hunt of Smash Up), who is convinced she is more suitable for Dick. Reluctantly, Hattie agrees, at least for awhile ...

Virginia O'Brien with Skelton, Ragland and Blue

Based on an old Broadway show, Panama Hattie is as insubstantial as lint. The only real thing is has going for it, aside from some spirited performers, is the music, which consists of such Cole Porter tunes as "Just One of Those Things: (sung by Lena Horne) and other songs by Edens and Harburg ("Let's Be Buddies"). Sothern at least appears to be dubbed (although she could sing), but we hear the real voice of snappy Virginia O'Brien, who employs her deadpan style in some numbers ("Boy, Did I Get Stinkin' at the Club Savoy") and actually smiles during others ("I'm in Love"). Another highlight is a great dance number by a trio of talented black guys

Virginia O'Brien and Alan Mowbray

In the "slob vs snob" sub-plot, Leila is made as affected and unpleasant as possible, but Hattie really doesn't have much class. When Dick's little girl laughs, not unkindly, at Hattie's over- elaborate outfit, the adult practically calls the child a bitch! More fun is provided by O'Brien, whose character unaccountably develops a hankering for Dick's disdainful butler, amusingly played by Alan Mowbray. There is some tiresome, mildly comical business at the end when the three sailors make like lesser case Stooges, go into a haunted house, and uncover a nest of dangerous spies. Skelton delivers a tasteless gag about having his legs shot off. Ragland was in the Broadway show, wherein Ethel Merman played Hattie. Ben Blue was a comic who started in silent pictures.

Verdict: Easy to forget but with likable players and some good numbers. **1/2. 

DU BARRY WAS A LADY

Ball, Kelly, Skelton, O'Brien, Dorsey

DU BARRY WAS A LADY (1943). Director: Roy Del Ruth.

May Daly (Lucille Ball) is a nightclub singer who is courted by both Alec (Gene Kelly) and Louis (Red Skelton), neither of whom are rich enough to suit her. She is squired around town by a man who is wealthy, as well as much older, Wille (Douglass Dumbrille). When Louis wins the sweepstakes May wonders if she can have any kind of life with the newly rich fellow, but before any decision is made Louis collapses and dreams that they are all back in the days of King Louis and Madame Du Barry. Who will May ultimately wind up with, and will the IRS man (Donald Meek) leave any money for Louis? Du Barry is a strange picture, whose plot -- such as it is -- is put on hold for about half an hour (after the brief opening minutes) while we watch Tommy Dorsey and his band perform and the Oxford Boys do their impressions of famous band leaders. Others in the cast include the delightfully deadpan Virginia O'Brien; Zero Mostel (who does a pretty terrible impression of Charles Boyer); Louise Beavers as May's sassy maid, Niagara; Dick Haymes, who only appears as the lead vocalist in a group of singers; and drummer Buddy Rich. There's also Clara Blandick as a funny little old lady on a subway who gives advice to Ball and Skelton. This is very loosely based on a Cole Porter Broadway show, although most of the songs in the movie were written by others. Du Barry isn't a very good movie, but it goes out on a high note, with the cast spiritedly performing Porter's "Friendship." Another bright spot is Kelly's dancing to "Do I Love You.", although Kelly doesn't get to do nearly enough dancing in this.

Verdict: Silly, amiable, light-weight, but well-performed, and the final number is a pip. **.

LES GIRLS

Elg, Kendall and Gaynor

LES GIRLS (1957). Director: George Cukor.

Retired dancer Lady Sybil (Kay Kendall of Wings of Danger) has written a book about her life in which she claims that a former colleague, Angele (Taina Elg), attempted suicide out of her unrequited love for their boss, Barry Nichols (Gene Kelly). Angele is outraged -- and so is her husband, Pierre (Jacques Bergerac of The Hypnotic Eye) -- so a libel suit results. Most of Les Girls consists of flashbacks

"Wild One" Kelly and his Leather Boys

as Sybil tells her story, then Angele tells hers, and finally Barry comes into court to tell his side of things. Les Girls has an interesting hook with the libel suit, but the script becomes increasingly stupid with each section, and even Cole Porter's songs are second or third-rate for this composer. The film's highlight is a sequence when Kelly walks in with a gang of motorcycle toughs and does a splendid dance number with Mitzi Gaynor [The Joker is Wild], but most of the production numbers are disappointing. Kelly and the ladies are all excellent, however. Henry Daniell plays the judge presiding over the case and Patrick Macnee [The Avengers] is one of the lawyers; Leslie Phillips is Kendall's husband. In CinemaScope and Metrocolor. This was Porter's last film score, and Kelly's last MGM musical. 

Verdict: Cute but unremarkable. **1/2. 

NIGHT AND DAY

Cary Grant and Alexis Smith

NIGHT AND DAY (1946). Director: Michael Curtiz.

"Love can be a delight, a dilemma, a disease, or a disaster." -- Monty Woolley.

Over his grandfather's objections, Cole Porter (Cary Grant) decides to leave Yale and pursue a career as a songwriter instead of as a lawyer. Things don't go smoothly at first, with WW1 interrupting things, but eventually he becomes a big success. Unfortunately, his marriage to his neglected wife, Linda (Alexis Smith), hits the rocks, and he has a horse riding accident that requires operations. Will the rather self-centered composer and his wife ever be reunited? Actually, if there was any threat to Porter's marriage, it was because he preferred gentlemen, but the film glosses over this except for one moment when Porter's friend, Monty Woolley, (played by Monty Woolley, who had indeed been a friend of Porter's and was also closeted) tells him he probably shouldn't have gotten married in the first place. The rest of the film is a mix of truths and half-truths and outright fabrication, little of which is very compelling.

Therefore we're left with Porter's music, of which there is quite a lot: "Miss Otis Regrets;" "In the Still of the Night;" 'I've Got You Under My Skin;" "I Get a Kick Out of You;" "You're the Top;" and many, many others. Jane Wyman [All That Heaven Allows] makes a positive impression as performer Gracie Harris, and Ginny Simms [Hit the Ice], who has a lovely voice, made a bid for stardom as another performer, Carole Hill. Mary Martin  plays herself to perform her signature tune "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" and there are several lively, TechniColor production numbers, including one on the lawn of Porter's massive estate.

As for the acting, Alexis Smith [The Sleeping Tiger] actually fares better than Grant, who is adequate, but seems oddly listless and unconvincing; Porter himself was still alive when the film was made and died in 1964. Eve Arden shows up as a French chanteuse to warble one number. I didn't even recognize Dorothy Malone as Porter's cousin, Nancy. Years later Kevin Kline played Porter in a film that was franker, but not necessarily better.

Verdict: The music is all that matters. **1/2.

EVIL UNDER THE SUN

Peter Ustinov and Maggie Smith

EVIL UNDER THE SUN (1982). Director: Guy Hamilton.

"Even in the old days she would throw her legs up higher than anyone -- and wider." Daphne referring to Arlena.

At a resort run by former showgirl Daphne Castle (Maggie Smith), one of the guests is a former colleague and now star, Arlena Marshall (Diana Rigg of The Avengers). Although married, Arlena is fooling around with Patrick Redfern (Nicholas Clay), who is also married, to the plain-Jane Christine (Jane Birkin of Seven Deaths in the Cats Eye). When Arlena is strangled in an isolated cove, the suspects also include her wannabee biographer Rex Brewster (Roddy McDowall), and the producing team of Myra and Odell Gardener (Sylvia Miles and James Mason). Then there's Arlena's husband, Kenneth (Denis Quilley) and his obnoxious young daughter, Linda (Emily Hone). It is up to the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov) to find out who the true murderer is. Evil Under the Sun is another over-produced, not quite "all-star" Agatha Christie adaptation, with a script by Anthony Shaffer that makes some changes but doesn't do too much damage to the novel. Overlong, the movie is very slow-paced and often dull, although some of the actors, especially Maggie Smith [Downton Abbey] and James Mason, do their best to keep things interesting with their performances. Mason and Sylvia Miles certainly make a very odd pair, and Miles is vivid if typically vulgar. McDowall does his usual middle-aged fop act. Ustinov is not the perfect Poirot, but he is amusing at times, and indeed the movie often plays like a parody. The picture only really picks up in the final quarter when Poirot assembles the suspects and reveals the clever solution, which (as usual) works better on the printed page than spelled out in wide screen and TechniColor. Still, it sends the audience out possibly fooled into thinking they've seen a better movie than they actually have. The film has absolutely none of the suspense of the novel, and you probably won't even care who killed Arlena. Rigg is excellent as the victim, and Clay and Birkin also make their mark as her lover and his discarded spouse. Smith's character refers to McDowall's with a stupid comment about "cherchez la fruit." The score consists of adaptations of the songs of Cole Porter. Since Porter's bouncy music is hardly appropriate for an alleged movie of suspense and intrigue, it almost kills the movie, lovely tunes notwithstanding, right there. Ustinov also played Poirot in Dead Man's Folly, which was a better Christie adaptation than this.

Verdict: Read Christie's book instead for a much more entertaining experience. **1/2.

LET'S FACE IT

Zasu Pitts, Eve Arden, and Phyllis Povah

LET'S FACE IT (1943). Director: Sidney Lanfield.

"When we were first married he could lull me to sleep with his tuba." -- Zasu Pitts

"Now he can't even lift it." -- Eve Arden

Private Jerry Walker (Bob Hope) secretly sells food to some of the larger, starving ladies at the fat farm run by his fiancee, Winnie (Betty Hutton). Along come three middle-aged ladies -- played by Eve Arden [Three Husbands], Zasu Pitts and Phyllis Povah -- whose husbands have bundled them off to the fat farm while they go fishing. These women are convinced their husbands are secretly meeting honeys at a summer lodge, so they inveigle three soldiers into coming to the lodge to make their men jealous. Jerry desperately needs money so he agrees to go but he drags along two buddies -- neither actor makes much of an impression -- because he insists that the ladies "look like Veronica Lake, with two eyes!" Let's Face It has some cute moments, good lines and performances, but it runs out of plot around halfway through. The songs are forgettable, even if they are by Cole Porter, though there are two excellent dance numbers: Bob and his pals do a very cute shuffle; and a bizarre, violent dance act in which the couple seem to be illustrating the battle of the sexes. The script is kind of rough on women who have the misfortune not to be young and beautiful, and it's full of what you might call "fat abuse." What's ironic is that Hope and his buddies act as if the three ladies are so hideous, even Arden, when they are not exactly prizes themselves. Hutton gets one especially horrible song number and sings it horribly. Joe Sawyer [Roses are Red] is swell as Jerry's gruff sergeant and Hope's gal pal Dona Drake [Valentino] has a small role.

Verdicts: Some funny moments to be sure but not the hilarity you're hoping for. **.