BLACK WIDOW (1954)

BLACK WIDOW (1954). Writer/director: Nunnally Johnson.

Broadway producer Peter Denver (Van Heflin), who is married to actress Iris Denver (Gene Tierney), befriends a struggling young writer named Nanny (Peggy Ann Garner) and eventually wishes he hadn't. Ginger Rogers (Dreamboat) plays his star Carlotta Marin and Reginald Gardiner is her husband, Brian. Possibly attempting to approximate the success of All About Eve, Nunnally Johnson took a story by mystery writer Patrick Quentin (actually Hugh Wheeler) with a Broadway background and concocted another story of an aging affected actress and opportunistic young'n. There the resemblance to All About Eve ends as, to be fair, Black Widow goes in its own direction, but while the first quarter is unpredictable the rest is sadly familiar. Also, Black Widow is vastly inferior to All About Eve and Ginger Rogers is pretty inadequate doing a lower-case Bette Davis. Heflin is as good as ever, but the material is far beneath him, and Gardiner, usually at his best in comedies, is comically miscast in this. Gene Tierney is also good, but she, too, is pretty much wasted. Virginia Leith, Otto Kruger and an unrecognizable Cathleen Nesbitt are excellent in supporting parts. George Raft is simply an embarrassment as a police detective, but Peggy Ann Garner scores as Nanny. The main trouble with Johnson's script is that he hasn't created characters, only trotted out an assortment of types.

Verdict: Watch out for movies in which Reginald Gardiner plays a romantic figure. **.

42ND STREET

Is this really a star? Ruby Keeler

42ND STREET (1933). Director: Lloyd Bacon. 

Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter), who has already had one nervous breakdown, is directing his new show, "Pretty Lady." His leading lady, Dorothy (Bebe Daniels), is carrying on with her former dance partner Pat (George Brent) behind the back of her supposed swain and chief angel, the ugly Abner, (Guy Kibbee). Peggy (Ruby Keeler), a show biz hopeful, is taken under the wing of both Pat, and hoofer Billy (Dick Powell). Tormented by her love for Pat, Dorothy drinks too much and has an accident -- but will Peggy be able to carry the whole show on her shoulders?

George Brent and Debe Daniels

The answer is no, judging from the final moments of 42nd Street. Although I got a favorable impression of Keeler in another film she did that year, Gold Diggers of 1933, and she is perfectly okay in the straight dramatic scenes, when she takes over from Dorothy in "Pretty Lady" she seems leaden-footed and the fact that she has a poor voice -- to put in mildly -- is even inserted into the script. Therefore these sequences are unintentionally comical, as it makes you wonder if, say, Al Capone made Baxter an offer he couldn't refuse. As for Baxter, he gives a fine, old-fashioned-type performance as a man who today we would deem bipolar. Brent is his usual charming self. Former silent movie star Bebe Daniels, who is effective as Dorothy, had only a few more credits after this film. Guy Kibbee is typically excellent, Powell is boyishly sweet, and Ed Nugent makes an impression as another handsome hoofer. 

The production numbers were put together by Busby Berkeley, and of these the most inventive is the title tune. Some of the songs have become standards: "You're Getting to Be a Habit" and "Shuffle Off to Buffalo;" in particular. "Young and Healthy" makes use of a Berkeley invention: creating a kaleidoscope effect of the dancers shot from high overhead. Ginger Rogers has a small role in this and is not photographed flatteringly. It's easy to see why Keeler never really became a major star. 

Verdict: Some great tunes, generally pleasant, but not really a classic. **1/2.

WE'RE NOT MARRIED

Wedded bliss? Fred Allen and Ginger Rogers

WE'RE NOT MARRIED (1952). Director: Edmund Goulding.

"I'll say one thing about our marriage. If there's such a thing as an unjackpot, I've hit it!" -- Ramona

Five couples who were married by a dithering Justice of the Peace (Victor Moore) discover that the man's license only went into affect after the new year, so that their marriages are invalid. Those affected include radio show hosts Ramona and Steven Gladwyn (Ginger Rogers and Fred Allen), who hate each other and only speak during the show; Katie and Hector Woodruff (Eve Arden and Paul Douglas), who have gotten into a rut; Annabel and Jeff Norris (Marilyn Monroe and David Wayne), who have an adorable baby boy; Patsy and Wilson Fisher (Mitzi Gaynor and Eddie Bracken), who are expecting a child; and Eve and Fred Melrose (Zsa Zsa Gabor and Louis Calhern), who are facing an expensive divorce -- for Fred. 

Gabor, Louis Calhern, Paul Stewart

Although there are a few laugh-out-loud moments, We're Not Married has a very insufficient screenplay. Some of the stories have such flat endings that you wondered why anyone even bothered. It also makes no sense to team the adorable Marilyn Monroe -- whose appearances virtually amount to a cameo! -- with the bland and utterly sexless David Wayne; they hardly set the screen on fire. The best episode has lawyer Paul Stewart dictating divorce terms to Louis Calhern, then a certain letter arrives in the mail, but even this segment is completely predictable. For me it doesn't help that Eddie Bracken happens to be one of my least favorite actors ever, although his typically whiny performance is adequate. Calhern, Rogers and others are wasted in this piffle, which could have been a really strong picture with a much, much better screenplay. Fred Allen was once a very popular comedian, although he's virtually forgotten today. Movies like this didn't help.

Verdict: A lot of good actors with generally disappointing material. **1/2.

GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933

Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell

GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 (1933). Director: Mervyn LeRoy. 

Carol (Joan Blondell), Trixie (Aline MacMahon) and Polly (Ruby Keeler) are roommates and struggling chorus girls. They are excited to learn that Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks) is putting on another show, but disappointed when they discover he has no financial backer. But neighbor Brad (Dick Powell), an aspiring songwriter, says he has dough and wants to invest. Polly, who has a crush on Brad, is convinced that he is a infamous bank robber, but he's actually the wealthy scion of a stuffy Boston family. When Brad's brother Larry (Warren William) mistakes Carol for Polly and tries to buy her off, she decides to string him along while ruthless Trixie -- the oldest and least attractive of the trio -- sets her cap for Larry's lawyer Peabody (Guy Kibbee). Will true love conquer all? On yes, there are songs and dance numbers as well. 

Ginger Rogers and chorus cuties

The production numbers were put together by Busby Berkeley, and they are inventive and engaging (I especially loved the roller-skating baby!). The songs, by Warren and Dubin, include "We're In the Money" (warbled by Ginger Rogers, who plays a friend of the aforementioned trio); "Torch Song," well-sung by the very likable Powell; "Pettin' in the Park;" "In the Shadows;" and "The Forgotten Man." This last number, which is a poignant salute to forgotten and homeless WW1 veterans, adds some depth to an otherwise frothy, mindless movie and wisely ends the film without the usual clinch or upbeat finale. Trixie is a kind of sleazy character but the movie glosses over that. The cast is good and enthusiastic, putting over the material with aplomb. 

Verdict: All this and Powell, too! ***. 

THE STORY OF VERNON AND IRENE CASTLE

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

THE STORY OF VERNON AND IRENE CASTLE (1939). Director: H. C. Potter.

Encouraged to stop doing low comedy routines for Lew Fields (the real-life vaudevillian who plays himself, albeit years older), Vernon Castle (Fred Astaire) starts a dancing act with his new wife, Irene (Ginger Rogers). After a false start in Europe, they become a sensation dancing at the Cafe de Paris, and rapidly make their way back to New York City. They introduce many new dances, including the Foxtrot, sell various products under their names, while Irene unveils the new bob hair cut for women and influences clothing fashions as well. Then Vernon becomes a military flier in World War One. Training pilots back in the states, Vernon has a date with destiny ... Vernon and Irene is such a delightful and upbeat picture that the tragic ending almost seems out of place, were it not for the fact that it's part of history.  But for most of its length, this is a joyous film with top performances from the leads (as well as from Fields, Walter Brennan [Nobody Lives Forever] as their pal, Walter, and tart Edna May Oliver as the Castles' manager)  and some excellent singing and dancing. A particular highlight is the ballroom dancing the Castles do for their audition in Paris. A clever bit shows the couple going on tour in the United States by picturing a big map with dancing figures superimposed all over it. Still a top team, Astaire and Rogers did not make another film, The Barkleys of Broadway, for ten years.  In real life, Walter was actually African-American, and the lady manager was happily gay. Vernon Castle was only thirty when he died while Astaire was ten years older when he made this picture.

Verdict: Very entertaining musical biopic. ***. 

THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY

Ginger Rogers, Oscar Levant, Fred Astaire

THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY (1949). Director: Charles Walters.

Josh and Dinah Barkley (Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) have been a top team on Broadway for several years, but all is not rosy in their lives backstage. Secretly Dinah is a bit tired of her husband's Svengali-like attitude and his criticisms, as well as the feeling he has that he "made" her. When a very handsome playwright named Jacques Barredout (Jacques Francois) insists that Dinah has great and untapped dramatic talent, she decides to try her hand at playing Sarah Bernhardt in his new play. Will she fall on her face, and how will Josh feel if she does? Barkleys presents Astaire and Rogers in absolute top form, and this is one of their most winning movies. As their friend and collaborator, Oscar Levant [The Cobweb] offers one of his better performances, although the device of pairing him off with one beautiful woman after another becomes tiresome. Levant was an oddity -- he couldn't sing or dance, and certainly wasn't good-looking -- but his sardonic delivery often works, and he is allowed to play the piano on excerpts from two pieces, Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No. 1." If Barkleys falls down in one respect it's that the new songs by Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin aren't up to the standard set by Ira and George Gershwin -- the only melodic bright spot is Gershwin's old tune "They Can't Take That Away from Me." Astaire's smooth elegant dancing is much on display, especially in a number when he trips the light fantastic with dozens of pairs of animated dancing shoes. The supporting cast includes Billie Burke [Three Husbands], who is wasted as a talkative patroness of the arts; Hans Conreid [Juke Box Rhythm] as an avant garde artist who draws Dinah as if she were a pancake (!); and George Zucco, who appears on stage during the Sarah Bernhardt sequence. Clinton Sundberg and Gale Robbins also appear, with Robbins playing Dinah's excitable Southern understudy; she's swell. Jacques Francois is now little-known except for this picture, but he amassed 150 credits, mostly in French productions, and he makes a good impression in this.

I believe this was the last time Astaire and Rogers were teamed in a movie, There was actually a ten year gap between Barkleys and their previous film, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle. Lest one wonder if the real Rogers felt like Dinah does in this movie, we must remember that Rogers had already proven her dramatic acting chops in several previous films -- and she won the Best Actress Oscar for Kitty Foyle in 1941 -- so this was not a case of art imitating life.

Verdict: Delightful musical with the inimitable team of Rogers and Astaire. ***. 

TWIST OF FATE

TWIST OF FATE (aka Beautiful Stranger/1954). Director: David Miller.

"Johnny" (Ginger Rogers), an ex-show girl, is living on the Riviera with her wealthy husband, Louis Galt (Stanley Baker). When she discovers that Louis already has a wife, Marie (Margaret Rawlings), Johnny seeks comfort in the arms of handsome potter, Pierre (Jacques Bergerac of The Hypnotic Eye). But Louis has no intention of letting Johnny go, and matters are complicated by the interference of Johnny's alleged friend, Emile (Herbert Lom), a creep who is out to get what he can. The trouble with Twist of Fate is that its minor twists are generally telegraphed and in any case don't add up to an especially intriguing story line. Rogers gives a decent dramatic performance, Baker and Bergerac are fine, but Lom walks off with the movie with his intense portrayal of the desperate Emile. But when this supporting character seems to be in more danger than the heroine, it's clear that there are decided script problems. David Miller also directed the far superior Midnight Lace with Doris Day and the even better Sudden Fear with Joan Crawford. Rogers was married to Bergerac at the time this film was made. Like all of her five marriages, it lasted only a few years.

Verdict: Not enough twists to save it from its fate. **.

HARLOW (1965) vs. HARLOW (1965)

Mike Connors and Carroll Baker

HARLOW (1965). Director: Gordon Douglas.
HARLOW (1965). Director: Alex Segal.

"All the best things in life have to be done alone" -- "Marie Dressler" in Harlow II

In 1965 there were two "dueling" biopics about the star Jean Harlow, who died tragically young at 26, but neither of these films give the actress her due. Right off the bat, it seems like unfair competition, as Harlow I is a technicolor, widescreen epic with the highly publicized Carroll Baker [The Carpetbaggers] in the lead. Harlow II stars the perhaps lesser light Carol Lynley [The Shuttered Room], and was essentially a black and white television production (shot in Electrovision) and blown up to theatrical proportions. The chief difference, among many, is that Baker plays the role so that Harlow comes off as fresh and appealing, while Lynley is in "big bitch" mode throughout most of the movie, making one wonder why anyone would want to work with her. Harlow's mother is played in the first film by a marvelous Angela Lansbury, and Ginger Rogers is also quite good as the mother in Harlow II. In both films Harlow has a shiftless Italian stepfather, Marino. Raf Vallone [A View from the Bridge] is excellent as the character in the first film, while Barry Sullivan, despite not being Italian, manages to score in the second film as well. Both movies are rather slanderous (by 1960's standards as well as 1930's) in the character of first/second husband Paul Bern, who appears at least to be impotent and, it is suggested, homosexual. In the first film Peter Lawford barely registers, while a superb Hurd Hatfield [The Picture of Dorian Gray] gives the best performance in either picture as the same character. Bern had a common law wife who is never seen in the first film, and is played quite well by Audrey Totter in the second; she tells Harlow's mother that although she is Bern's mistress, they have never had physical contact. In both pictures Harlow is so dejected/depressed by the Paul Bern business that she turns herself into a "slut." Harlow I is based on a bio by Irving Shulman that was found by subsequent biographers to be heavily fictionalized. Unfortunately, Shulman's version of Harlow and her circle seems to be the unofficial basis for the second film as well.

Carol Lynley as Jean Harlow

In Harlow I Leslie Nielsen as "Richard Manley" is cast in the Howard Hughes role, while Efrem Zimbalist Jr. [A Fever in the Blood]  plays the counterpart to William Powell in the second; Zimbalist actually gives one of his best performances while Nielsen is acceptable. His near-rape of Harlow in his over-opulent bedroom is one of the best scenes in Harlow I, while Harlow II boasts a funny sequence which depicts her screen test with each take ruined because she can't stand to have the dour, disapproving Zimbalist watching her. There is also a very good scene between Rogers and Totter arguing over Paul Bern. The second version has some famous old actors being impersonated, such as Hermione Baddeley doing a not-bad Marie Dressler, and Celia Lovsky much less successful as a supposed Maria Ouspenskaya. There are interesting performances by Red Buttons and Hanna Landy in the first film, and Michael Dante, Lloyd Bochner, and especially John Williams in the second. Martin Balsam plays a studio head in Harlow I and gives one of his rare unconvincing performances.

As for the leading ladies, both give competent if second-rate performances (especially in the case of Baker), with both failing to capture the essence of Harlow -- her voice, her attitude, that surly, sexy, lovable demeanor that made her so famous. The ladies do the best they can, but as both versions say over and over again, there's only one Jean Harlow. [Both movies fail to get across that Harlow was a good actress.] An unintentionally comical scene occurs at the end of Harlow I when the doctor administering to a very ill Harlow exhibits as much compassion to her mother as a sociopathic iceberg. Oddly, the doctor in the second film is similarly cold, if not quite so stone-faced. In Harlow I Baker/Harlow disgustedly smears cold cream all over her image in her mirror, a scene that also occurs in the earlier Queen Bee with Crawford.

Verdict: Two smutty movies that don't have that much to do with the real Harlow. Both versions: **1/2 out of 4.

THE GROOM WORE SPURS

Joan Davis and Ginger Rogers

THE GROOM WORE SPURS (1951). Director: Richard Whorf.

Cowboy star Ben Castle (Jack Carson) owes 60,000 dollars to a gambler named Harry (Stanley Ridges of Black Friday), so attorney Abigail (Ginger Rogers) tries his best to make a settlement. Ben winds up getting married to Abigail, but he fears it's all just part of the deal. Later there's a murder and an unfunny business with a plane going out of control on the runway. In the meantime, most of the minimal laughs have to do with Alice (Joan Davis), who wears a short chic hairstyle and thinks Abby is a little nuts. Carson and Rogers are adept, Davis is as lively as ever, but the script is pretty bad. James Brown is a pilot named Steve who would probably make a better match than lunkhead Carson, and Ross Hunter [All I Desire] is Austin Tindale, a banker who seems to have a hankering for Alice. Mira McKinney [Young Fugitives] is fun as a termagant cook, as is Victor Sen Young as Carson's butler, although he's unfortunately asked to speak fractured Chinese.

Verdict: Davis deserves much better, which is usually the case. **.

THE FIRST TRAVELING SALESLADY

Very odd pairing: Clint Eastwood and Carol Channing

THE FIRST TRAVELING SALESLADY (1956). Producer/director: Arthur Lubin.

In 1897 feminist Rose Gillray (Ginger Rogers) tries to make a killing selling corsets, but when that doesn't pan out she inveigles a job selling barbed wire in the wild west, but has to deal with a powerful rancher, James Carter (David Brian), who is opposed to the use of it. Rose has a sort of thing going with Charles (Barry Nelson,) who has a horseless carriage, while her assistant Molly (Carol Channing) becomes embroiled in a romance with Lt. Rice (Clint Eastwood) in one of filmdom's strangest pairings. The performances are all good in this, with Rogers affecting a high squeaky voice and Channing, sounding just like "Satchmo," just being her own weird self. James Arness [The Thing from Another World] and Tristram Coffin [Up in the Air] have smaller roles.

Verdict: Cute picture. ***.

RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA (1965)

Stuart Damon and Lesley Ann Warren

RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA (aka Cinderella/1965). Director: Charles S. Dubin.

This is an entertaining color version of the musical, written for television, which first appeared in 1957 with Julie Andrews in the lead. While Lesley Ann Warren [The Happiest Millionaire] may not be in Andrews' league as a singer, she is still quite effective and charming as our heroine, and Stuart Damon makes a convincing Prince Charming. Pat Carroll makes an impression as one of the wicked step-sisters, with Jo Van Fleet [Wild River] suitably nasty and ugly as her mother and Barbara Ruick just fine as her sister. Celeste Holm [Everybody Does It] makes an excellent fairy godmother, but Ginger Rogers is fairly ho hum as the queen and Walter Pidgeon looks like he's about to nod off any moment as the king; they can't compare to Dorothy Stickney and Howard Lindsay in the original. The memorable songs include "A Lovely Night;" "Ten Minutes Ago;" "Whats the Matter with the Man?"; "The Loneliness of Evening;" and "Do I Love You (Because You're Beautiful)."

Verdict: Not bad, but the original has the edge. ***.

SITTING PRETTY: The Life and Times of CLIFTON WEBB

SITTING PRETTY: The Life and Times of CLIFTON WEBB. Clifton Webb with David L. Smith. University Press of Mississippi; 2011.

Clifton Webb wrote several chapters of his memoirs, but never completed the project. In this excellent book those chapters are published for the first time, with annotations by David L. Smith, who not only fleshes out [and occasionally corrects] Webb's memories but adds the biography that forms the bulk of the book [with comments from Webb's notes included]. Far from being an overnight sensation, Webb had a long career as a dancer and actor before he hit it big in motion pictures and became a most unlikely movie star in middle age after appearing in Laura. He created the character of Mr. Belvedere in Sitting Pretty and its two sequels, was Barbara Stanwyck's husband and gave one of his all-time best performances in Titanic, played an aging silent movie star turned professor in Dreamboat with Ginger Rogers, and did many other movies, some more memorable than others [but he was always excellent]. Whatever his private life [Smith doesn't make any revelations in that regard or uncover a single relationship the man might have had except with his mother, Mabelle], people have always assumed Webb was (stereotypically) gay, and Smith perhaps tries too hard to refute that -- and is, frankly, unconvincing. But for Pete's sake, this is the 21st century -- would Smith think less of Webb if he were gay?! That is the only real flaw in an otherwise noteworthy tome. Whether you're reading Webb's own words, or Smith's, the actor comes across as a combination of a charming, urbane, sophisticated and cultured man and a precious, occasionally snooty "old queen," but in any case makes a witty and welcome companion for a couple of hours of reading pleasure.

Verdict: Gives Webb his due as an actor and entertainer. ***1/2.

CAREFREE

CAREFREE (1938). Director: Mark Sandrich.

Stephen Arden (Ralph Bellamy) is in love with Amanda Cooper (Ginger Rogers) but she keeps postponing the wedding, so he thinks his buddy Tony Flagg (Fred Astaire), who is a psychiatrist, may be able to find out why she's dragging her feet. Unfortunately Amanda hears Tony making a condescending remark about another female patient, and takes an instant dislike to him. But it isn't long before she's changing her attitude, creating complications. This is a slight but amusing musical trifle bolstered by winning performances, some pleasant Irving Berlin tunes ("Change Partners"), and the great dancing of Rogers and Astaire. One big number, "Do the Yam," in which virtually the entire cast joins in, is a sheer delight. Astaire's skill and joy in dancing is a wonder to behold. Jack Carson, Luella Gear, and especially Clarence Kolb ("Mr. Honeywell" of My Little Margie fame) as Judge Joe add to the fun.

Verdict: Great fun and light as a feather. ***.

DREAMBOAT

DREAMBOAT (1952). Director: Claude Binyon.

Carol Sayre (Anne Francis) is horrified to learn that her distinguished educator father Thornton (Clifton Webb) was once the silent film "dreamboat" Bruce Blair. Thornton is equally horrified, as he fears the showing of his films on television (hosted by his old leading lady Gloria Marlowe, played with expert panache by Ginger Rogers) will undermine his efficacy as a teacher. Therefore Thornton sues to prevent any more of his films from being shown. While it's unlikely that college kids in the fifties would bother to watch silent movies on television, and Webb at sixty-four makes an unlikely romantic swashbuckler in the movie-within-a-movie "flash backs," this is still a very cute, amusing picture -- with a hilarious post script. Webb is as wonderful as ever and Anne Francis is very sweet as Carol. Elsa Lanchester is a riot as Thornton's boss, who has a crush on him, and Jeffrey Hunter is a TV associate who develops a crush on Francis --and vice versa. Rogers and Webb have a very funny bar scene being bitchy with each other.

Verdict: You can't beat Clifton Webb! ***.