RECKLESS

RECKLESS (1935). Director: Victor Fleming.

By the time agent Ned Riley (William Powell) realizes he's really in love with his client, singer-dancer Mona Leslie (Jean Harlow), Mona is being swept off her feet by the wealthy Bob Harrison Jr. (Franchot Tone). Harrison even goes so far as to buy out every seat for a performance of the show Mona is in. Mona's wise old grandmother (May Robson) scolds and gives sage advice in equal measure. Rosalind Russell turns up as Harrison's kind of forgotten fiancee, Henry Stephenson is his concerned father, and little Mickey Rooney is his usual charming self as an enterprising youngster befriended by Ned (perhaps the film's most touching sequence has Rooney trying to help out Ned when he thinks he's down and out). If that cast weren't enough, we've also got Allan Jones singing a romantic ballad in his inimitable way, Leon Ames turning up both with and without his mustache, Charles "Ming the Merciless" Middleton playing a district attorney, and Margaret Dumont showing up for one line as a heckler in the theater! Powell, Harlow, and Tone are all just marvelous, and Robson almost manages to steal every scene she's in. The story veers in unfortunately melodramatic directions, but the film still manages to be quite entertaining. And that cast! 

Verdict: Crazy script but a feast of fine actors! ***.

WITHOUT HONOR

Laraine Day and Franchot Tone

WITHOUT HONOR (1949). Director: Irving Pichel.

Jane Bandle (Laraine Day of Foreign Correspondent) is a bored and neglected housewife whose husband, Fred (Bruce Bennett of Smart Girls Don't Talk), frequently leaves her alone and who insists he wants no children. She enters into an affair with Dennis Williams (Franchot Tone), who claims to love her to such an extent that he wants to leave his wife, Katherine (Agnes Moorehead) and daughters. But when Dennis gets wind that Fred might be having him followed, he gets cold feet and wants to end his relationship with Jane. Things spiral out of control and who should show up but nasty Bill (Dane Clark of Whiplash), Fred's jealous brother, who has reasons for despising Jane. He's also invited Mr. and Mrs. Williams to come over for a chat, but none of the players, including a clueless Fred and despairing Jane, realize that Dennis may be permanently out of the picture. 

Day with Dane Clark

One could quibble with certain aspects of Without Honor, but on its own terms it's a credible and absorbing -- and certainly unpredictable -- melodrama with a good script by James Poe. The performances are quite good across the board, and while Pichel is no Hitchcock he keeps things moving and manages to build up a degree of suspense. Another "player," as usual, is composer Max Steiner, who provides good back-up for the goings-on, with some of the catchy music acting as counterpoint to the generally grim proceedings. Without Honor has certainly gotten mixed reactions from viewers, with some hating almost every aspect of it and others finding it a bit unique and different. Count me in the latter camp.

When Ladies Meet: Agnes Moorehead with Day

Bill hates Jane because years before he made a pass at her while she was dating his brother and she made a fuss about it, perhaps somewhat altering the relationship between the two men. Some viewers feel that Bill has incestuous sexual feelings for his own brother -- the notion that Bill is in love with Fred might make more sense if Bill was Fred's best friend and not his brother -- but while Bill does come off like a rejected lover (of Fred's) due to the intensity of Clark's performance, I don't think that was the film's intention (although Poe did deal with homosexual characters in his adaptations of plays by Tennessee Williams).

Verdict: Unusual and arresting film that never quite goes where you expect it to. ***1/4. 

FAST AND FURIOUS

Ann Sothern and Franchot Tone

FAST AND FURIOUS (1939). Director: Busby Berkeley.

When Gerda Sloane (Ann Sothern), the wife of bookseller and amateur sleuth Joel Sloane (Franchot Tone), is told by him that the two are taking a vacation, she doesn't know that he's put money in a bathing beauty contest occurring in the resort town of Seaside City (read: Atlantic City). As Gerda runs interference for the occasionally amorous beauties, Joel investigates the murder of the contest's promoter, Eric Bartell (John Miljan). The suspects include his girlfriend, Lily (Ruth Hussey of The Uninvited); his other girlfriend, Jerry (Mary Beth Hughes of Men On Her Mind); Sloane's old friend, Mike Stevens (Lee Bowman of Up in Mabel's Room); and others. Fast and Furious was the debut and apparently the one and only entry in this bid for an aborted mystery series a la The Thin Man, but it's mediocre enough that there were never any sequels. Sothern and Tone make good leads -- Tone is somewhat better and has more aplomb at this than his co-star does -- but even Tone, good as he is, can't compete with William Powell. The business about a wife getting all hot and bothered because her husband is judging a beauty contest was to be repeated ad nauseum in various movies and TV shows, and had probably been done even before 1939. Harry Kurnitz' script has few laughs aside from a very funny bit involving some lions, and there is at least one very suspenseful scene when our couple are caught underneath a descending stage elevator, nearly crushing them. Otherwise, this is forgettable.

Verdict: Not one of the classics of 1939. **.

"CAT FIGHT:" HERE COMES THE GROOM

In my opinion, one of the funnier "cat fights" that I've seen in the movies. This is from Here Comes the Groom (1951).

The combatants: Jane Wyman (!) and "Sexy Alexis" Smith. (We have to remember that the normally demure Wyman later got out her claws in Falcon Crest -- albeit she never wrestled anyone on that show. Anyway, both ladies are in top form.

The bystanders: Bing Crosby, Franchot Tone, a host of character actors, and a funny old lady.

Enjoy!

SUZY

Jean Harlow and Cary Grant's hand

SUZY (1936). Director: George Fitzmaurice.

"I don't dance much and I don't sing so well, but I can be awful cute when I want to be." -- Suzy

Suzy (Jean Harlow), an American entertainer in London on the eve of WW1, eventually finds herself married to two men at the same time: Factory foreman Terry (Franchot Tone), who at one point gets shot by a spy; and wealthy French playboy and war hero, Andre (Cary Grant) who distinguishes himself as a flier -- and a heel. How this bizarre situation came about and how it is resolved is the stuff of Suzy, a wartime soap opera that mixes dogfights, Mata Hari-types, inadvertent bigamy, adultery, German spies, and music halls -- and it's still a meandering bore. Jean Harlow is delightful in the first half of the film but director Fitzmaurice is unable to get her to properly handle some of the tougher scenes in the second half, although she certainly had the ability to do so. Tone and Grant are both fine -- although Tone is as unconvincing as an Irishman as Grant is as a Frenchman! --  but Lewis Stone walks off with the movie as Grant's stern but loving father, who eventually comes to care very much for the showgirl he at first disapproves of. [The picture eliminates Stone from the finale and shouldn't have.] Inez Courtney [The Reckless Way], Una O'Connor [Stingaree], and Benita Hume are also notable as, respectively, Suzy's pal, landlady, and love rival. Fitzmaurice also directed Mata Hari with Greta Garbo. The most unforgivable thing about Suzy is that it tries to rip off the "I was reading a book" scene from Dinner at Eight!

Verdict: Melodramatic claptrap that seems cobbled together from scenes from better movies. **.

NICE GIRL?

Franchot Tone, Deanna Durbin, Robert Stack

NICE GIRL? (1941). Director: William A. Seiter.

Small-town girl Jane Dana (Deanna Durbin) has a perfectly swell, handsome boyfriend in Don Webb (Robert Stack of The Tarnished Angels), but wanting to appear more sophisticated, she makes a flagrant play for an older man, Richard Calvert (Franchot Tone of Honeymoon), which only makes her seem like an idiot. That's basically the plot of this dull movie that hasn't enough drama or laughs to make it even worth sitting through -- not even Durbin's singing can save it! There are some good actors in it, including Robert Benchley [The Bride Wore Boots] as Jane's father; Helen Broderick as a housekeeper, Cora; and Walter Brennan (almost looking young) as a mailman who has a hankering for Cora. Ann Gillis and Anne Gwynne play Jane's younger sisters, and we've also got Elisabeth Risdon from the Mexican Spitfire movies and Kenneth Howell from the Jones Family series in much smaller roles.

Verdict: This picture is so slight it hardly seems to exist. *1/2.

DANGEROUS

DANGEROUS (1935). Director: Alfred E. Green.

Don Bellows (Franchot Tone) is a successful architect engaged to Gail Armitage (Margaret Lindsay). One day Don spots the dissipated actress, Joyce Heath (Bette Davis), who has gone on a long bender after her once-promising career disintegrated. Joyce, and anyone who could hire her, are convinced she is a jinx. Admiring her talent and feeling that she once inspired him, Don takes it upon himself to bring Joyce back into the light -- and the limelight. But can Joyce overcome her own fears and insecurities, or will she sink back into the morass of doubt and depression? Dangerous is a good and entertaining picture, but one senses there's an even better movie lost in there somewhere. The sudden introduction of Joyce's husband, Gordon (John Eldredge), adds an almost weird plot turn to the movie, as well as an ending that may be strange to many (although I thought it worked). Davis [Dark Victory] won a Best Actress Oscar for Dangerous, although she's certainly given better performances elsewhere. Both she and Lindsay [Baby Face] ruin some dramatic scenes by rushing through their lines as if there's an explosive fire on the sound stage just out of camera range, and there's an unintentionally comical moment when a producer says of Joyce: "even in rehearsal it's the greatest performance I've ever seen." Unfortunately, Davis' on-stage emoting in this scene is laughably mediocre. There's some very good dialogue in the movie, but a little too much of "Mildred" from Davis' Of Human Bondage. Both Joyce and Gail are convinced  they will wind up with Don when neither lady has a good reason for thinking so. Franchot Tone [I Love Trouble] gives a fine performance; Eldredge is also good in a very under-written role; and Alison Skipworth is terrific as Bellows' housekeeper, Mrs. Williams. Dick Foran and Mary Treen have smaller roles and are swell.

Verdict: Snappy if suspect melodrama with some good lines and acting. ***.

HONEYMOON

Franchot Tone and Shirley Temple

HONEYMOON (1947). Director: William Keighley.

David Flanner (Franchot Tone). the American consulate in Mexico City, is besieged by a young lady named Barbara (Shirley Temple) who has lost her fiance, Phil (Guy Madison of Hilda Crane). David eventually reunites the two lovers but every time he turns around there's a new obstacle to their nuptials. Barbara eventually imagines that she's really in love with David, which doesn't sit well with his girlfriend, Raquel (Lina Romay). Raquel's wise, beautiful mother (Corinna Mura) tells her she was worried that things between her and David were going a little too smoothly. Will Barbara get over her crush on David and will she and Phil ever get married? It could be argued that Honeymoon is more frenetic than funny, but it does have some very amusing sequences, and if the movie works at all it's because of the very good performances of the entire cast, with Tone proving an adept comedian. Not to be confused with Lost Honeymoon, in which Tone also starred. Since Barbara and Phil hardly seem to know one another, you get the impression their desperate desire to get married has more to do with their need to get laid than any genuine romantic feelings. Keighley also directed the far superior The Man Who Came to Dinner.

Verdict: Some laughs. **1/2.

DARK WATERS

Merle Oberon

DARK WATERS (1944). Director: Andre De Toth.

Leslie Calvin (Merle Oberon of These Three) is the only survivor of the shelling of a ship, and spent many miserable days in a life boat. With no family left, she goes to live with her Aunt Emily (Fay Bainter) and Uncle Norbert (John Qualen of Girls Dormitory), who live on an old sugar plantation near the bayou, and whom she has never met. Leslie is befriended by Dr. Grover (Franchot Tone), the maid Florella (Nina Mae McKinney), and another fired servant, Pearson (Rex Ingram), who has been warned to stay away from the estate. Among her relatives' associates are their lawyer, Mr. Sydney (Thomas Mitchell), and handyman Cleeve (Elisha Cook, Jr.). It isn't long before Leslie, now a wealthy heiress, suspects that there's something not quite right going on in the bayou, and that it embroils her aunt and uncle and perhaps others. Dark Waters is a modest, obvious and predictable suspense item with some good performances from Tone and Bainter, and especially Ingram [Fired Wife], Mitchell and Cook. Oberon has a strong scene in the hospital at the beginning, but her performance is uneven. It's all swathed in a nice score by Miklos Rozsa.

Verdict: Watchable but not much else. **1/2.

ADVISE AND CONSENT

Anderson (Murray) walks out on Ray (Granger)

ADVISE AND CONSENT (1962). Director/producer: Otto Preminger.

"Us old buzzards can spot a dying mouse from 10,000 feet up. Us old buzzards have the sharpest eyes in creation. Right now I'm studying the terrain ..." -- Senator Seabright Cooley

The President (Franchot Tone) has selected Robert Leffingwell (Henry Fonda) to be the new Secretary of State, but first the senate has to "advise and consent" to his nomination in a special hearing. The person primarily opposed to Leffingwell is a senior southern senator named Seab Cooley (Charles Laughton), who is concerned about Leffingwell's possible communist ties, and also has a personal dislike of the man after he once showed him up in public. Presiding over the hearing is young Senator Brigham Anderson (Don Murray), who is very concerned when he discovers that Leffingwell lied under oath about his personal ties to his chief witness against him, Herbert Gelman (Burgess Meredith). But then Senator Van Ackerman (George Grizzard), who wants Leffingwell to get in, institutes a blackmail plot against Anderson, having to do with the Senator's relationship with a Ray Shaff (John Granger) while stationed in Hawaii, leading to tragedy. This business is a major plot point of Advise and Consent, with a scene in a gay bar [full mostly of gay caricatures] when the self-loathing, closeted Anderson goes to confront Shaff, who told of their former relationship because he was desperate for money. Advise and Consent is an interesting, if talky political film, with the "villains" coming from both sides of the political spectrum. Fonda is fine in what really amounts to a supporting role, but Charles Laughton, who is superb in his final movie, would have walked off with the picture were it not for Murray's strong [if imperfect] portrayal of Brigham Anderson. Inga Swenson is also quite good as Anderson's wife and Edward Andrews is excellent as Senator Orrin Knox. Gene Tierny has a small role as a wealthy Washington hostess who is the secret lover of the Senate Majority Leader (Walter Pidgeon, who gives one of his better performances). Grizzard, Lew Ayres as the vice president, and Tone, are all notable, as is Betty White in a brief turn as the only female in the senate. Peter Lawford is okay as another senator but he is a little lightweight in this company. John Granger, who played Ray, did not appear in another film for 19 years! Allan Drury, who wrote the novel that this film was based upon, apparently based the Anderson business on a real-life incident. One wonders what Frank Sinatra thought of one of his records playing in the background in the gay bar. Sam Leavitt's black and white photography is outstanding, with one beautifully-composed widescreen shot after another. One of Preminger's better directorial efforts.

Verdict: It's the acting and the look of the film that puts it over. ***.

I LOVE TROUBLE

I LOVE TROUBLE (1948). Director: S. Sylvan Simon.

Private eye Stuart Bailey (Franchot Tone) is hired by a man named Johnston (Tom Powers, the victim in Double Indemnity) to investigate his wife, who has been getting a series of letters threatening to expose her "past," and eventually disappears. Bailey discovers that Mrs. Johnston (Lynn Merrick) was once an entertainer known as Janie Joy, so he pursues that angle via some of her old associates, then gets warned off by a thug, Martin (Donald Curtis) in the employ of John Caprillo (Eduardo Ciannelli). Bailey encounters a young lady, Norma (Janet Blair), who claims that the woman he's after is her sister, even though she doesn't recognize a photograph of her. Then there's sexy "Boots" (Adele Jergens) who sometimes drinks too much; Reno (John Ireland), who runs a nightclub; and his boss, Keller (Steven Geray), all of whom may know more about the missing woman than they're saying. There are a couple of twists, a couple of murders, and a final confrontation in Bailey's apartment. I Love Trouble may not get high marks as a mystery nor film noir, but it's smooth and entertaining, and Tone is excellent, and has a highly adept supporting cast. Raymond Burr and Arthur Space have small roles (as muscle and cop, respectively), and an unrecognizable (perhaps slightly more subdued and older) Glenda Farrell is snappy as Bailey's very efficient secretary. Janis Carter [Night Editor] also is vivid in a pivotal role whose exact nature I won't reveal here. Simon also directed The Fuller Brush Man (which also had Blair and Jergens) and many others.

Verdict: Pleasant time-passer with some good scenes and a modicum of suspense. ***.

LOST HONEYMOON

Franchot Tone and twins

LOST HONEYMOON (1947). Director: Leigh Jason.

British gal Amy Atkins (Ann Richards) learns that her friend Tillie Gray, who married an American serviceman who returned home, has died, leaving behind two adorable children. Amy decides to take the children to the U.S. and pretend to be Tillie, so that she can get their father, John Gray (Franchot Tone) to acknowledge and care for them. Unfortunately, John married Tillie during a spell of amnesia, doesn't remember her or the kids, and worse, is about to marry his bosses daughter, Lois (Frances Rafferty), who isn't crazy that a "wife" has shown up. Lost Honeymoon has the potential to be both moving and amusing, but it has a third-rate "B movie" script and quality, and never rises above its contrivances. Tone and the other actors, including Clarence Kolb as his boss,Tom Conway as his best friend, and Una O'Connor as a friend of Tillie's, are all fine [although Ann Richards is a bit on the bland side] and deserve a better picture. The twins are two of the cutest movie youngsters you'll ever see, and aren't bad actors, either. The best thing about the movie is the admittedly funny closing line. Too bad, as this one had a promising idea. Richards was also in Sorry, Wrong Number, where she made a better impression.

Verdict: Even cute moppets can't save this one. **.

MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY

Clark Gable and Charles Laughton

MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935). Director: Frank Lloyd.

"Mr. Christian, clear the decks of the rabble."

In 1787 press gangs led by Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) pull men out of taverns and conscript them into the Queen's Navy whether they want to go or not, but Christian proves benign compared to the hideous (in every sense of the word) Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton) of the ship Bounty. While sailing to Tahiti to get a cargo of breadfruit, Bligh displays such cruelty to his men -- he orders a corpse flogged and keelhauls a man who only wanted water for his bloody knees -- that Christian speaks up, earning him the captain's eternal enmity. On the voyage back, Christian can stand it no longer and commands a [somewhat self-serving] mutiny, casting Bligh and those loyal to him out in a lifeboat. This famous true story is compelling, and the film boasts some fine acting, especially from the hateful, outstanding Laughton as Bligh. Donald Crisp also makes his mark as Burkitt, an ex-con turned sailor, and Eddie Quillan and Franchot Tone are also notable. The problem with the film is the matter-of-fact direction, which has no dramatic flair, and one senses things have also been a bit white-washed and sanitized. Still, this holds the attention and has its rousing moments. Gable gives a solid star performance.

Verdict: Story and acting make this worthwhile. ***.

MICKEY ONE

MICKEY ONE (1965). Director: Arthur Penn.

Mickey One is the stage name of a young comic (Warren Beatty) who is on the run because he owes money to the mob. His landlady -- apparently he owes her money, too -- rents his apartment to a young lady, Jenny (Alexandra Stewart), who sort of becomes Mickey's girlfriend after he refuses to move out. But what difference does it make -- because Alan M. Surgal's screenplay has no real plot and paper-thin characters. Beatty really has nobody to play, but at least he has charisma if little else. Stewart mopes about and makes little impression, probably no fault of hers. Franchot Tone and Hurd Hatfield give vivid, even memorable performances, but their characters are also cyphers and the movie wastes their talents. Director Penn opts for a stylish approach which never disguises the essential emptiness of the film and is remarkably pretentious as well -- Penn is no Fellini. Worse still, the movie is excrutiatingly tedious. An example of the subtlety of the picture is Hatfield, as a club manager, banging on the door behind which stands Beatty and shouting "I want you!" Later Beatty winds up for no real reason in a junkyard and comes across a bunch of derelicts, one of whom campily gives him come-hither looks -- oy vey! This movie is so awful on so many levels it isn't funny.

Verdict: One of the worst movies ever made. 1/2*.

HER HUSBAND'S AFFAIRS

HER HUSBAND'S AFFAIRS (1947). Director: S. Sylvan Simon.

William Weldon (Franchot Tone) takes a cream invented by Professor Glinka (Mikhail Rasumny) to entrepreneurs Cruikshank (Edward Everett Horton) and

Winterbottom (Gene Lockhart) with high hopes of great success for all. Rubbed on the face, the cream will eliminate the need for shaving. Unfortunately, after a big advertising campaign, the cream doesn't quite work as expected, but Margaret Weldon (Lucille Ball), Williams wife, saves the day by pointing out that the cream still has it uses. An ungrateful, insecure boor, William is more irritated than relieved, and one of the best scenes in the movie has Margaret telling him off in no uncertain terms. The characterization of the husband, and a protracted courtroom scene late in the film, are the main flaws of an otherwise very amusing black comedy, with the unpredictable results of the cream providing much of the hilarity. Ball and Tone aren't a bad team, but Lucy and Horton are even better in a scene when a newly hairy Horton keeps asking Margaret to run her fingers through his tresses. The aforementioned actors are all great, as is Mabel Paige, who owned Hanson's Dress Shop on a classic episode of I Love Lucy, in the smaller role of Mrs. Josper, who's a witness at the trial when William is arrested for -- well, that would be telling.

Verdict: Bizarre but funny -- if flawed -- black comedy. ***.

MAN-PROOF

MAN-PROOF (1938). Director: Richard Thorpe.

Mimi (Myrna Loy, pictured) is heartbroken when Alan Wythe (Walter Pidgeon), the man she loves, marries Elizabeth (Rosalind Russell) instead, and she swears that she'll never stop wanting him or hoping to land him, even though her wise mother Meg (Nana Bryant) tells her to spend her energies elsewhere, as does her mother's friend -- and Mimi's "dutch uncle" -- Jimmy (Franchot Tone). Mimi does go to work for a newspaper as a commercial artist, and eventually tells Elizabeth that she is over Alan and the two of them can just be friends. Unfortunately, things are not as easy as all that. A familiar, but nonetheless provocative, situation isn't developed with any particular skill, even though some of the dialogue is snappy and the performances good. The whole result may hold your attention but it's ultimately just blah. And very predictable.

Verdict: Not quite a waste of 75 minutes but almost. **.