AUNTIE MAME

Rosalind Russell as Auntie Mame

AUNTIE MAME (1958). Director: Morton DaCosta.

In 1928 little Patrick Dennis (Jan Handzlik) enters a whole new world when his father dies and he is turned over to his free-spirited Auntie Mame (Rosalind Russell), who is best friends with dipsomaniac actress Vera Charles (Coral Browne) and believes in unconventional teaching methods. Mame has a love of life and craves new experiences, which she shares with Patrick. But when an older Patrick (Roger Smith) gets engaged to a young lady from a narrow-minded family, will Mame be able to show her nephew the error of his ways? Auntie Mame is a delightful, very well-acted comedy with a message of accepting the unconventional that's delivered without hitting the audience over the head. Russell and Brown take the acting honors -- Russell is especially superb -- and there are also fine performances from little Handzlik, Smith, Forrest Tucker, Peggy Cass as Agnes Gooch, Connie Gilchrist as Mame's housekeeper (who sort of disappears when Gooch arrives), Joanna Barnes [The Parent Trap] as Patrick's weird fiancee, Lee Patrick as her mother, and Pippa Scott [As Young As We Are] as Pegeen, who comes to work for Mame. We also have the versatile Henry Brandon [Babes in Toyland] as Patrick's strange teacher. [Frankly, nowadays most sensible people would have a problem with the school Brandon runs.] In addition to some great dialogue and very funny scenes, the movie has a sub-text of exposing and denouncing prejudice. Based on a very successful stage play, this was turned into the musical, Mame, which was also filmed.

NOTE: Just found out that there may be another remake of this picture with the rather androgynous Tilda Swinton playing Mame [!?].

Verdict: Great and classic comedy. ****.

THEATER OF BLOOD

Diana Rigg and Vincent Price

THEATER OF BLOOD (1973). Director: Douglas Hickox.

"A mumbling, incoherent boy who can barely grunt his way through a speech" -- Edward Lionheart.

"It's Lionheart all right. Only he wold have the temerity to rewrite Shakespeare." -- Devlin.

Actor Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price) supposedly committed suicide after losing the coveted Critics' Circle Award, but it turns out that he is still alive and killing off those same critics -- with the help of his daughter, Edwina (Diana Rigg) -- in ways related to Shakespeare's plays. Theater of Blood followed Price's Abominable Dr. Phibes and Dr. Phibes Rises Again and is similarly gruesome and playful -- not to mention revenge-motivated --  although perhaps not as much fun as the other pictures. Price is terrific as Lionheart, ably supported by Diana Rigg as his daughter. even if she isn't given much of a character to play. There are more than its share of over-the-top moments in this: a grotesque beheading sequence (from Cymberline) is an example of the blackest of black comedy; and the death of flamboyantly gay Meredith Merridew (Robert Morley), forced to devour his own "babies" (actually, beloved poodles) until he chokes on dog meat, as in Titus Andronicus, is unbelievably sadistic (not to mention rather homophobic). Speaking of gay stereotypes, the closeted Price has fun playing a campy hairdresser named "Butch" who fatally spit- curls critic Chloe Moon, played by Price's then-wife Coral Browne [The Legend of Lylah Clare], in a salon. Ian Hendry, Jack Hawkins [Land of the Pharaohs], Arthur Lowe, Michael Hordern, Robert Coote and Dennis Price [Your Past Is Showing] are all notable as assorted victims, as is Milo O'Shea as the baffled police inspector on the case, and Joan Hickson as the wife who wakes up with a headless corpse in her bed. One has to wonder: was Lionheart really as mediocre an actor as everyone says, or were the critics out to get him for one reason or another?

Verdict: One of the most diabolical and gruesome of revenge thrillers with many darkly amusing moments. *** out of 4.

THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE

THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE (1968). Director: Robert Aldrich.

"You don't remotely believe you're any young girl's dream of bliss?!" -- Mercy

Alice: "Not all girls are bloody raging lesbians." 

June: "That's a misfortune I'm very well aware of."

In 1964 Frank Marcus' play "The Killing of Sister George" reportedly presented three main characters who people presumed were lesbians, even if it wasn't made explicit. Robert Aldrich's film version of the play makes it very explicit, especially in a once-censored sex scene between two of the principals. June Buckridge (Beryl Reid) plays a nurse character named "Sister George" on a very popular TV soap opera entitled "Applehurst." June has lived for several years with a younger woman named Alice (Susannah York), and the two have a loving, affectionate, if not very passionate, relationship. June is very jealous of Alice, who is much more attractive, and imagines her having mythical affairs with men. There is a touch of sadomasochism in the relationship as well [delineated in one ill-advised sequence in which an angry June insists that Alice eat her cigar butt, which the latter turns into a sensual experience to annoy June]. When June discovers the possibility that her beloved character on the show might be killed off, she is frightened and furious and, as usual, takes it out on Alice. Then along comes an initially kindly TV producer named Mercy (Coral Browne), who is appalled at the way June treats Alice but also finds the younger woman quite attractive ... To take this black comedy as any kind of serious look at the lives of lesbians would be a big mistake -- apparently the play was never intended to be seen that way -- but on its own terms it's quite entertaining, has highly interesting characters, and is often very funny. The three leads are all splendid, with Reid giving an especially terrific performance as the fascinating, touchy, oddly likable June, although -- rightly or wrongly -- she resists making her overly sympathetic. One mistake Lukas Heller made in adapting the play [considering that the movie makes their sexual orientation more obvious] is that we never learn how these three women feel about being homosexual in the more oppressive sixties. It is also barely suggested that June could probably get the sack merely for being gay. On the other hand, there is no "Boys in the Band"-type angst about their sexuality, either, which is a definite plus. A bit with a drunken June accidentally getting into a cab with two nuns and supposedly "molesting" them [or at least trying to see what they've got under their robes] is funny but problematic. Another problem area is the aforementioned, protracted sex scene between Alice and Mercy, which begins with the latter coming on to the former while horror movie-type music plays in the background [as if composer Gerald Fried thought what the two women were doing was somehow "evil"]. The music stops once the sex starts, and things get comparatively graphic for the period. The supporting cast includes Cyril Delevanti as an elderly colleague of June's on the show, and Patricia Medina [The Beast of Hollow Mountain] as a prostitute next door; both are fine.

There are times when you may not quite know what to make of Sister George, and it often seems like several different movies in one. Still, as personified by Reid, June Buckridge is a very memorable, three-dimensional [if somewhat exaggerated] character with humanity and imperfections intact. Sadly, the film was probably seen as just a freak show by some [especially given the sexuality of the characters] and one wonders if that was why Aldrich was tapped to direct, because of his work on other "freak" shows such as What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? [Bette Davis herself was considered for the role of June, but thank goodness Reid, who played the role on the stage, got the part.] The ad campaign's tag line was "The story of three consenting adults in the privacy of their own home," which seems a little disingenuous considering the movie doesn't really delve into the true lives of gay women.

Verdict: Certainly arresting if nothing else, but take with a grain of salt. ***.

THE LEGEND OF LYLAH CLARE

THE LEGEND OF LYLAH CLARE (1968). Director: Robert Aldrich.

"I make movies -- not films!"

Apparently this movie was based on an old TV drama, with the script rewritten and turned into a theatrical feature. Dying agent Bert Langner (Milton Selzer) has discovered another young woman, Elsa (Kim Novak), who resembles the late, great [Garbo-like?] movie star Lylah Clare (also Novak). He takes her to Lylah's old producer, Lewis Zarken (Peter Finch), who lives with Lylah's old dialect coach Rossella (Rossella Falk), and they concoct a scheme to have Elsa play Lylah in a filmic biography of her life. But what to do about Lylah's death scene? Apparently she fell off of a balcony after discovering that the man she was about to go to bed with was actually a woman, but that's too scandalous to ever tell the truth about. Making matters worse, Elsa seems to be possessed by the spirit of Lylah at inopportune moments. There's a lot of intriguing material in Lylah Clare, but it's all junked up by a very trashy and utterly superficial screenplay. The sexual ambiguity of many of the characters makes the film seem dated instead of hip. Lewis and Rossella, both of whom seem to have been in love with Lylah, make disparaging remarks about each other's sexuality. [When it comes to the subject of homosexuality, this movie is definitely of the "sick, sad, ashamed and repressed" variety.] Another problem with Lylah Clare is that it says cynical things about Hollywood that have been said many times before even by 1968.

Kim Novak is not bad as Elsa/Lylah -- she appears to have been dubbed as Elsa -- but she's saddled with the fact that both characters are one-dimensional. Peter Finch has just a little more to work with as Lewis, and he's fine, as is Milton Selzer, who was probably given one of his best movie roles in this. Ernest Borgnine as a hollering producer is excellent, and Rossella Falk is equally vivid, but the actor who makes the best impression is Coral Browne, who plays venomous entertainment/gossip columnist Molly Luther (modeled on The Hollywood Reporter's Radie Harris, who also had a leg brace).The scene when Elsa/Lylah tells off Molly at a party is the best one in the movie, but, sadly, Legend of Lylah Clare is generally not even as entertaining as it should be.

Verdict: More a freak show than a serious drama. **.

THE DROWNING POOL

Paul Newman as Lew Harper

THE DROWNING POOL (1975). Director: Stuart Rosenberg.

Private detective Lew Harper (Paul Newman) is contacted by a woman, Iris (Joanne Woodward), with whom he'd once had a fling, to come to her estate and help her with some problem. Iris' husband is interested elsewhere, her teenage daughter Schuyler (Melanie Griffith) is running around doing whatever she wants, and then her harridan mother-in-law (Coral Browne) is murdered. Has it something to do with Kilbourne (Murray Hamilton), who wanted the dead woman's property for its oil, or the recently discharged chauffeur (Andrew Robinson), who was diddling around with Schuyler? While investigating, fending off Schuyler's advances, and being kidnapped and beaten, Harper tries to get at the unsavory truth. The cast, including a laid-back Newman, is good, but you never really connect with any of the characters. Tony Franciosa and Richard Jaeckel are cops with secrets of their own. Hamilton and Gail Strickland as his wife are notable. The revelations of the story may have had more impact when Ross Macdonald's novel, upon which this was based, was first published. Newman essayed Lew Harper [originally Lew Archer] once before in Harper nine years earlier. The climax in a water-logged hydrotherapy room is fairly exciting.

Verdict: No more than acceptable private eye fare. **1/2.

THE RULING CLASS

Peter O'Toole

THE RULING CLASS (1972). Director: Peter Medak.

When the Earl of Gurnsey (Harry Smith) dies in a grotesque, kinky accident involving a tutu and a hanging, his son Jack (Peter O'Toole) becomes the new Earl. The problem is that Jack has been institutionalized for years and is convinced that he is Jesus and/or God. In spite [or because] of this, his Uncle Charles (William Mervyn) decides to marry him off to Charles' mistress, Grace (Carolyn Seymour) so that they can re-commit him once he's delivered an heir. But Jack, whose persona is definitely becoming darker, has different plans in mind. Coral Browne is Charles' wife, Claire, and the great Alistair Sim (Belles of St. Trinian's) is cast as the befuddled Bishop, "Bertie." The entire cast is splendid, including Michael Bryant as Jack's psychiatrist; Nigel Green [Let's Kill Uncle] as another nutcase; James Villiers as Jack's cousin, Dinsdale; and especially Arthur Lowe, who [along with Sim] nearly steals the picture as the family butler, who has inherited money from the late earl and feels free to tell everybody what he really thinks of them even as he waits on them. The first half of this zany movie, which roasts British class distinctions, religion, conservative values and the like, is very, very funny, with madcap musical numbers, such as "Varsity Drag," interspersed to complete the fun and lunacy. Alas, there's too much of a good thing, the movie goes on way too long, blunting its satiric points, and before long you're just wishing it were over. O'Toole is excellent, but his obnoxious, screeching Jack gives you a headache after a while. Some moments are painfully obvious, such as when Jack addresses the House of Lords and they are depicted in quick cuts as skeletons awash in cobwebs. This was filmed in  Harlaxton Manor, a huge, impressive [but rather ugly] house in Lincolnshire. which is now actually the British campus for the University of Evansville in Indiana.

Verdict: A little too surreal and self-indulgent for its own good. **1/2.

THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS. STONE (1961)

THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS. STONE (1961). Director: Jose Quintero.

This first film version of Tennessee Williams' novel, with a screenplay by Gavin Lambert, stars Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty as Karen and Paolo. Both of them give good performances – it is actually one of Beatty's best -- but the picture is stolen by a superb Lotte Lenya in the expanded role of the lizard-like if oddly likable Contessa. [It is explained that she is originally from Budapest, unlike the Contessa in the novel, to account for her accent.] Coral Browne also scores as a somewhat more sympathetic Meg, who seems to genuinely love and care for Karen [who almost goes off to New York with her at the end]. The dopey screen persona that Jill St. John affected at that time works perfectly for the small role of the film actress who attracts Paolo. Jean Marsh appears as a young woman smitten with Paolo; she seems terrified of Beatty in an early party scene, but is all over him in sexy fashion in a later scene in a restaurant. Bessie (The Lost World) Love and Ernest (Bride of Frankenstein) Thesiger have small roles in a party scene at the end. It is a half an hour into the running time before Beatty is given a close up, which is not a problem so much as the fact that he is not given enough scenes to show off the charm that wins over the cautious and dignified Karen Stone.

Unlike the novel, the movie isn't that sympathetic to Karen, perhaps reflecting the mores of the time. Instead of "Romeo and Juliet," Karen's final performance was changed to "As You Like It," and her husband is made twenty-five years older, perhaps to explain why she requires and is amenable to a lover so much younger. Ironically, the film still has some daring elements, such as the [generally unnecessary] narration at the opening that talks of how the Spanish steps are a place of "assignation" and just on that word shows a middle-aged man talking to a man in his twenties. However, the Baron, who was briefly referred to in the novel as one of Paolo's earlier keepers (although it is suggested that Paolo kept the man sexually at bay), while also seen briefly in the movie, is not linked to Paolo in the film version. Finally, at the end of the film, as in the novel, when Karen throws her keys down to the dark, handsome Angel of Death who has been following her all around Rome, Vivien Leigh simply seems too cool and strong to want to commit suicide by inviting Death into her home. Excellent score by Richard Addinsell. Remade for cable in 2003.

Verdict: Still a fascinating movie with some fine performances. Lenya rules! ***1/2.