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. **.

HOLLYWOOD CAVALCADE

Alice Faye and Alan Curtis

HOLLYWOOD CAVALCADE (1939). Director: Irving Cummings.

Michael Connors (Don Ameche) a brash wannabee director, talks new Broadway actress Molly Adair (Alice Faye) into going to Hollywood with him to have careers in silent pictures. They manage to become very successful with movie after movie. Michael thinks of himself and Molly as an unbreakable team, but the lack of romance in their lives causes Molly to do the quite sensible thing and marry her handsome co-star, Nicky Hayden (Alan Curtis of Good Girls Go to Paris). This starts Michael on a downward spiral, and eventually a tragedy results. Hollywood Cavalcade is a colorful look at the silent movie era with an attempt at a dramatic underpinning that doesn't quite come off. Alan Curtis' character is so under-developed (and comparatively unmourned) that he hardly exists, and Michael is too unlikable to be sympathetic, despite the obvious heartbreak he's undergoing. The performances are fine, with Faye [King of Burlesque] beautifully underplaying her very emotional sequences; Ameche [Guest Wife] is good if a bit less effective. Donald Meek is wonderful as a producer, and there are guest appearances by Buster Keaton. Rin Tin Tin Jr., and Al Jolson, who recreates a scene from The Jazz Singer. The other recreations of silent movies are all well done and mostly quite funny. Irving Bacon and Robert Lowery have small but well-played parts. The movie is said to be loosely inspired by the lives of Mabel Normand and Mack Sennett, who briefly appears as himself in the film.

Verdict: Glorious technicolor can't quite disguise the pic's deficits, but the film is entertaining. **1/2.

THE THIN MAN GOES HOME

Harry Davenport and Myrna Loy

THE THIN MAN GOES HOME (1945). Director: Richard Thorpe.

Nick Charles (William Powell), his wife Nora (Myrna Loy), and their little dog Asta (Nick Jr. is away at school) travel to Nick's hometown of Sycamore Springs for his unspecified birthday (Powell was 53 at the time). Nick has always had a difficult relationship with his father, Bertram (Harry Davenport), because he didn't become a doctor like his father did, and Nick aches for his approval. But his mother (Lucile Watson) is a peach. Nick gets to prove his skill at detecting when a dead man practically shows up on the Charles' doorstep. Bertram can't believe that one of his old friends might be the killer ... Powell and Loy are excellent, as usual -- Loy is especially notable in this entry -- and the supporting cast, including Davenport [Son of Fury] and Watson (cast against type, like Fay Holden in the Andy Hardy films, as a small-town housewife), could not be bettered. Special mention must go to Anne Revere [Body and Soul], who plays "Crazy Mary," the town's pathetic loony; Anita Sharp-Bolster as  the hilariously weird maid, Hilda; and Donald Meek as Willie Crump, who sells paintings for a living -- the plot revolves around a painting of a windmill that Nora buys for her husband's birthday. Other suspects and persons of interest are well played by Leon Ames, Donald MacBride, Irving Bacon, Morris Ankrum, Helen Vinson, Minor Watson, Lloyd Corrigan, and Gloria DeHaven as a breathlessly pretentious heiress. One very cute bit has Nick and Nora leaving Asta with the coat check girl as if he were a hat, but the funniest scene has Nora unexpectedly doing a wild, zippy dance with a sailor. This was the next to last Thin Man movie -- this was followed by the disappointing Song of the Thin Man.

Verdict: Very satisfying and amusing Thin Man movie. ***.

A WOMAN'S FACE

 

A WOMAN'S FACE (1941). Director: George Cukor.


"What the well-dressed gargoyle will wear."

Anna Holm (Joan Crawford) is a bitter, disfigured woman who heads a gang of petty criminals and blackmailers. But in her future are fateful encounters with an oily sociopath, Torsten Barring (Conrad Veidt), whom she loves, and a blackmailing victim's husband, Gustav (Melvyn Douglas)  -- who just happens to be a plastic surgeon. Will Anna find love, happiness, and a pretty face -- or will she become inveigled in Barring's plot to kill off his lovable nephew, Lars, for dollars? The plot may sound pretty silly but A Woman's Face is a winner all the way, with a strong performance from Crawford [who, ironically, looks strikingly beautiful in some shots], and a superb supporting cast, including Douglas and Veidt, as well as Connie Gilchrist and Donald Meek as members of Anna's gang; Marjorie Main as a feisty housekeeper; Henry Daniell and George Zucco as officers of the court; and little Richard Nichols as the little boy, Lars. And we mustn't forget Osa Massen as Gustav's wife, who was given the most memorable role of her career in this picture. Dickering with Anna over the price of some indiscreet love letters, she makes the mistake of exposing the latter's scars and insecurity and gets slapped around for her trouble in the picture's liveliest scene [see video]. However, there are other highlights, such as a suspenseful sequence in a cable car and the sleigh ride climax. While Cukor may never have been a Hitchcock, he handles these sequences quite well. Despite the grimness of the subject matter, Donald Ogden Stewart's screenplay doesn't eschew humor any more than it does pathos.

Verdict: Absorbing and first-class all the way. ***1/2.

DR. ERLICH'S MAGIC BULLET

DR ERLICH'S MAGIC BULLET (1940). Director: William Dieterle.

In Germany before the rise of the Nazis, Dr. Paul Erlich (Edward G. Robinson, pictured) experiments with controversial methods to cure different diseases, including tuberculosis. Short-sighted and mean-spirited colleagues at the hospital don't see that the compassionate Erlich has more to offer than the average doctor. In time he comes up with "magic bullets" or synthetic drugs that can combat disease, and eventually even gets into an early type of "chemotherapy" -- which causes a break between him and his closest friend, Emil (Otto Kruger). Attempting to cure syphilis, Erlich allows a new drug to be administered, but when some of the patients die he is accused of murder, resulting in him suing for slander. Although the film is a bit talky and slow in the first half, it eventually becomes quite intriguing and dramatic, bolstered enormously by the performances of Robinson and the other cast members. Although she isn't seen too often, Ruth Gordon is lovely as Erlich's wife, Hedy. Kruger, Donald Meek, Donald Crisp and the inimitable Maria Ouspenskaya are also wonderful. Ouspenskaya figures in an amusing and daring [for 1940!] dinner party scene in which Erlich discusses his work on syphilis! Max Steiner's touching score is another plus.

Verdict: "Syphilis" at the dinner table! ***.

COLONEL EFFINGHAM'S RAID

COLONEL EFFINGHAM'S RAID (1946). Director: Irving Pichel.

Okay, you'd think that any film with Charles Coburn, Joan Bennett, Donald Meek, Elizabeth Patterson, Allyn Joslyn and Frank Craven (of In This Our Life fame) in it couldn't be all bad, but there's little to recommend in this dull little alleged "comedy" that grossly wastes the talents of all concerned. Coburn is a retired Army colonel in a small town on the eve of U.S. entry into WWII who stirs people up via his column in the local newspaper, where Bennett and William Eythe also work. A particular sore subject is that the town's politicos want to tear down the stately old courthouse. The film makes the point that everyone -- big and small, young and old -- has the right to speak out on issues of importance to them, but it makes this point in the most boring way possible. The 70 minute running time seems like two and a half hours, and the film has not a single laugh. Joan Bennett spiritedly plays a rather likable and independent-minded young lady.

Verdict: Pretty much a total stinker. That cast deserves much better. *.

AIR RAID WARDENS

AIR RAID WARDENS (1943). Director: Edward Segdwick.

On December 7th, 1941, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy want to enlist in the Army but are turned down by every branch of the services. Therefore they decide to help out on the home front and become air raid wardens. A series of misadventures lead to them being thrown out of the corps, but they come across a nest of Nazi spies and somehow manage to save the day. This charming, amusing film, while not a masterpiece, features the boys at the top of their form, likable schnooks who are seen as hideous misfits by the less tolerant of the small town's citizens. There are some hilarious moments in the film, as well as a good supporting cast, including Donald Meek as Eustace Middling, who is a German spy. Horace (Stephen) McNally is the newspaper publisher and Howard Freeman, Nella Walker, and Edgar Kennedy are some of their foils.

Verdict: Lots of laughs. ***.