POLLYANNA

Hayley Mills

POLLYANNA  (1960). Director: David Swift. 

Now that she has become an orphan, young Pollyana (Hayley Mills) is shipped off to a small midwestern city where she is to live in a mansion with her stern and uncompromising Aunt Polly (Jane Wyman). So as not to disturb her sleep, Polly gives her niece the smallest room up in the attic. Despite her travails, Pollyana has the most upbeat nature in the world, and refuses to see defeat in anything or anybody. Mayor Warren (Donald Crisp) wants the town to build a new orphanage while Polly -- the wealthiest citizen, who happens to own the building -- thinks all it needs is new plumbing. When everyone decides to hold a fair to raise money for the new orphanage, Polly forbids her to go, but she sneaks out anyway, nearly leading to tragedy. 

Mills with Richard Egan

A very popular movie in its day -- and the first film Mills did for Walt Disney -- Pollyana is undeniably entertaining and generally well-acted, especially by young Ms. Mills. A sub-plot has to do with the romance between Polly's assistant Nancy (Nancy Olson) and George Dodds (James Drury), not to mention Polly's interactions with old flame Dr. Chilton (Richard Egan). Pollyana also interacts with the hypochondriacal Mrs. Snow (Agnes Moorehead, badly over-acting); the weird recluse Pendergast (Adolphe Menjou); orphan boy Jimmy (Kevin Corcoran); grumpy maid Angelica (Mary Grace Canfield); the termagant Mrs. Tarvell (Anne Seymour); peppery cook Tillie (Reta Shaw); and the amazingly wishy washy and weak Reverend Ford (Karl Malden). Pollyana offers a surprisingly negative portrait of the minister, although he does eventually grow a spine. 

Egan with Jane Wyman

Pollyana is a little too long - surely the little ones in the audience grew impatient, not to mention needed bathroom breaks? -- and the whole business with Pendergast and his prisms that create rainbows gets tiresome very quickly. How faithful the film is to its turn of the century period I can't tell. Despite the open-endedness of the finale, the movie is extremely pat in virtually solving all of the problems of the characters with what seems like the snap of a finger -- this is almost funnier than anything else in the movie. Still, if you can take all that with a grain of salt, the movie may work for you. It is fun. 

Verdict: Classic Disney film with a fine lead performance. ***. 

STARLIFT

Ruth Roman and Dick Wesson

STARLIFT (1951). Director: Roy Del Ruth.

Movie star Nell Wayne (Janice Rule of The Swimmer) gets the notion that Air Force Corporal Rick Williams (Ron  Hagerthy) and his buddy Sgt. Mike Nolan (Dick Wesson) are being shipped overseas for combat in Korea when they are merely picking up wounded soldiers and piloting them home. Nell feels betrayed when she learns the truth, but the press come to the conclusion that she and Rick are engaged and the two are forced to go along with the deception. Meanwhile Nell and other celebrities take part in "Operation: Starlift," which brings movie stars and others by plane to visit wounded servicemen.

Ron Hagerthy and Janice Rule

This is the slender plot for another all-star war movie that starts out as a Doris Day film -- Day plays herself and does a couple of numbers -- but then dismisses her in favor of Ruth Roman (also playing herself) and assorted guest-stars. These include everyone from Louella Parsons to Peter Marshall to Patrice Wymore. Jane Wyman warbles a pleasant tune and is acceptable. Gene Nelson dancers with his customary flair and aptitude in a ballet with Rule. Phil Harris [The Patsy] shows up and does little but repulse everyone with his hideous smile. He also appears in a singing sketch with Gary Cooper playing a Texas Ranger. James Cagney puts in a brief appearance and there is a sketch about a chef that you can miss.

Virginia Mayo does her dance

Starlift does have a couple of highlights, however. There's Gordon MacRae splendidly singing "Good Green Acres of Home" backed by a military chorus. And Virginia Mayo [The Kid from Brooklyn] does a kind of Polynesian dance number and proves herself to be quite skilled in the terpsichorean arts. Ruth Roman is on screen almost as long as Janice Rule but she apparently can neither sing nor dance. As for the two Air Force men, Dick Wesson was generally comedy relief in a few movies and TV shows. After this film, most of Ron  Hagerthy's many credits were on television. Others in the cast include Richard Webb as Colonel Callan and William Hudson as a soldier.

Verdict: Some memorable moments, but generally not one of the better "all-star" war films. **1/2. 

THE LOST WEEKEND

Belly up to the bar, boys! Ray Milland

THE LOST WEEKEND (1945). Director: Billy Wilder.

Feeling himself a failure as a writer, and living off his brother, Wick (Phillip Terry of Hold That Kiss), Don Birnam (Ray Milland) has become, in his brother's words, a "hopeless drunk" His girlfriend of three years, Helen (Jane Wyman of Johnny Belinda), refuses to give up on Don, and does her best to help him. But even when he winds up in an alcoholic ward and later gets the DT's and has scary visions, he still won't stop drinking. Will Helen be able to get through to him, to get him to let his better self come through, or is he doomed?

The Lost Weekend is based on the autobiographical novel by Charles Jackson. Although Jackson married and had children, late in life he identified as bisexual and moved in with a male lover. This aspect of his life, and the fact that self-hatred over his homosexuality added to his distress and undoubtedly contributed to his drinking, is, of course, completely unexplored in this 1940's movie. The only thing that is mildly homoerotic in the picture is an obnoxious male nurse, Bim (well-played by Frank Faylen), in the alcoholic ward. Jackson wrote other works after Lost Weekend, but none were ever as successful as his first, and, although the movie intimates that Birnam will overcome his addictions, that was, sadly, not the case in real life. In 1968 he committed suicide.

Phillip Terry, Jane Wyman, Ray Milland

Still, The Lost Weekend is a memorable film with some first-class performances. Ray Milland, who is generally excellent, won the Best Actor Oscar. (The film also won for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay [Wilder and Charles Brackett] and Best Cinematography [John F. Seitz of the silent Four Horseman of the Apocalypse].) Phillip Terry, one of Joan Crawford's cast-off husbands, had a rare opportunity in a "A" picture and delivers a solid job in probably his most memorable role. Jane Wyman is as sympathetic and adept as ever. Howard Da Silva scores as the bartender, Nat, as do Doris Dowling as the barfly Gloria and Mary Young as Birnam's landlady, Mrs. Deveridge.

An interesting aspect of the picture is that, as played by Milland, Birnam often seems arrogant about his drinking and his life, as if the world owes him a living. In a sequence when Birnam steals a woman's purse in a restaurant, he seems to smirk as if he's gotten away with something, as opposed to his being ashamed and humiliated by his actions. This suggests that Birnam has character failings that have little to do with his drinking.

Jane Wyman

The film has some notable sequences, such as when Birnam sits at a performance of La Traviata, and the opera's famous brindisi (or drinking song) sequence only reminds him of the bottle of hootch he left in his jacket at the coat check and he has to leave to get a drink. Then there's his desperate run from pawn shop to pawn shop so he can get money for his typewriter only to learn that all the shops are closed for the Jewish holiday.

As good as the film is, it now has a kind of dated aspect to it. All you have to do is look at one of the episodes of Dr. Phil where he has desperate family members bringing an alcoholic and drug-addicted person on the show for a last chance at help, to realize that a person rarely just decides to stop drinking. The film is sanitized -- what seems horrifying about the debased, pathetic lives of drunks in this film is nothing compared to the reality. As good as Milland is, he rarely looks or acts like a really hard-core drunk despite the DT's and all the rest. As noted, the photography is first-class, as is Miklos Rosza's score, although the music the composer uses to denote, so to speak, "Demon Rum," is a little over the top and sounds like something out of a science fiction movie.

Verdict: The Lost Weekend must still be remembered as probably the first movie to depict alcoholics not as comical drunks but as tormented and addicted individuals. *** 

JANE WYMAN: A BIOGRAPHY

JANE WYMAN: A BIOGRAPHY. Joe Morella and Edward Z. Epstein. Delacorte; 1985.

Jane Wyman had a distinguished career with one Oscar win, several nominations, and Emmy awards for her work on the TV series Falcon Crest. It has been suggested that the fact that her ex-husband Ronald Reagan became president had a lot to do with her late-in-life success -- even this book makes that point -- but the book also makes clear that Wyman had quite a body of work and a long list of achievements that would have made her a major Hollywood figure no matter whom she was married to.

This book goes on a bit too much about Reagan, which is not necessary considering the life and career enjoyed by Wyman. But it also looks at Wyman's other marriages, her toiling as a contract player in numerous forgettable movies where she was the wise-crackng blonde, then her emergence as a serious player in such films as Johnny Belinda, Miracle in the Rain, The Blue Veil, All That Heaven Allows and others. Many were surprised that Wyman, who continued making (mostly minor) movies, fled to television for her own anthology series a la Loretta Young, when her movie career was going much, much better than Young's. Wyman, however, felt that her type of picture was on its way out. The series, Jane Wyman Theatre, lasted several seasons.

Wyman had two children via Reagan, Maureen and Michael (who was adopted), upon whom Wyman would use a riding crop when he misbehaved, although he apparently never held it against her. Wyman's show Falcon Crest, in which she was excellent as the scheming Angela Channing, lasted for nearly a decade. Her last credit was on an episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. A conservative Republican like her ex-husband (whom she probably divorced because she found his constant yakking about politics boring beyond belief), Wyman refused to play "ax murderers or lesbians" (!) when she was offered scripts with same.  Wyman was a private woman, and the book has no major interviews with insiders who knew her well. Still, it manages to be a good read.

Verdict: Solid if sometimes superficial study of a very talented movie star. ***. 

CONVERSATIONS WITH CLASSIC FILM STARS

CONVERSATIONS WITH CLASSIC FILM STARS: Interviews from Hollywood's Golden Era. James Bawden and Ron Miller.  University Press of Kentucky; 2016.

I have already posted on the sequel to this book, You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet, which came out the following year. This is Bawden and Miller's first collection of interviews with famous film folk, and frankly, this volume is superior, with some really solid and interesting interviews. There's a funny piece on the ever-eccentric Gloria Swanson in the section on silent film stars; Joseph Cotten and Melvyn Douglas being rather blunt in their pieces in the section on Leading Men; everyone from Anne Baxter to Dorothy Lamour to Anna Lee and Jane Wyman are covered in Leading Ladies; Audrey Totter and Marie Windsor have their say in Queens of the Bs; and we've got the Singing Cowboys, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers; plus a piece on Bob Hope, and a final section  on not-quite-stars like Keye Luke, Harold Russell, Margaret Hamilton, and Diane Varsi (who did Peyton Place and then pretty much disappeared because she rebelled against her studio). Other stars interviewed include Cary Grant, Kirk Douglas and more.

The stars are frequently scathing in their assessment of other actors, with Melyyn Douglas insisting that both Spencer Tracy and Fredric March were "one-dimensional" (!) in Inherit the Wind (Douglas did a TV version). Joan Fontaine comments on her sister Olivia De Havilland ("it takes two to feud"). You'll also learn that Jane Wyman got so sick of former movie goddesses being hired for her series Falcon Crest, that she laid down the law: "No more international harlots!" I didn't know that beautiful Jane Greer was once married to Rudy Vallee nor that Margaret Hamilton was nearly killed playing the witch in The Wizard of Oz and spent some time in the hospital. The book gets across that most self-absorbed movie stars are simply not normal people.

Verdict: Fun, informative book that is hard to put down. ***1/2.  

STAGE STRUCK (1936)

STAGE STRUCK (1936). Director: Busby Berkeley.

Dance director George Randall (Dick Powell of Star Spangled Rhythm) is working on a new production when he is told that there is a new financial backer who just happens to want to star in the show as well. Peggy Revere (Joan Blondell of Good Girls Go to Paris) has absolutely no experience and no talent, but she is famous for shooting her husband -- a mere "flesh wound" -- in France and getting acquitted. Now the producers figure Peggy's notoriety will sell lots of tickets. The trouble is that she and George can't stand each other. At the same time George becomes a little struck on young hopeful Ruth Williams (Jeanne Madden), who is talented but is told by George in a rather patronizing way that she should just go home. Obviously thinking show girls are some kind of lesser breed of female, he is afraid she will become just like "all the rest." (His condescending and negative attitudes towards these gals goes basically unremarked upon and unresolved, but that's show biz.) So which of these two ladies will walk out on stage on opening night? Stage Struck is an entertaining and well-played musical with a couple of very nice song numbers by Harburg and Arlen: "This Can't Be True" and "In Your Own Quiet Way." Powell is terrific as both actor and singer, but the cute Jeanne Madden only made two more pictures after this more than satisfactory debut. Other notable cast members include Frank McHugh as George's assistant; Warren William [The Man in the Iron Mask] as his nervous and excitable producer; the eternally old Spring Byington; Jane Wyman, charming in a bit part; two adorable dachshunds and a bigger pooch who loves to rough house with George; and the Yacht Club Boys, a quartet who figure prominently in a clever and funny number called "The Body Beautiful," which has decided Marx Brothers overtones.

Verdict: Fun minor musical with nice songs and excellent performances. **3/4. 

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.

"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!

THE GLASS MENAGERIE

Amanda and Tom: Gertrude Lawrence and Arthur Kennedy

THE GLASS MENAGERIE (1950). Director: Irving Rapper.

Faded Southern belle Amanda Wingfield (Gertrude Lawrence) is afraid that her son, Tom (Arthur Kennedy) will turn out like his father, who left the family many years before and was never heard from again. Amanda is even more worried about her daughter, Laura (Jane Wyman), who is lame, painfully shy, and perhaps has emotional disabilities as well. Amanda importunes Tom to bring a friend and co-worker, a "gentleman caller," named Jim (Kirk Douglas) to supper so he can meet and romance Laura, but things don't quite work out the way Amanda intended. The Glass Menagerie, based on Tennessee Williams' first play, which he in turn based on events and characters from his own life, has been a bit watered-down from the play and has a Hollywood [supposedly] "happy" ending, but it's still a very strong picture. Lawrence leads the cast with her excellent portrayal of a woman who is kind and loving but also, unfortunately, quite overbearing at times. As the alternate film version of Laura, Wyman [All That Heaven Allows] is very good, as is Douglas [The Brotherhood] as the upbeat and likable Jim. Arthur Kennedy [Claudelle Inglish] plays the role in a more robust and less sensitive style than other actors, but he is also quite good as Tom. Rapper's direction helps to intelligently open up the play, and there's an interesting encounter between Tom and a woman trying to pick him up in a bar. Max Steiner turned in a lovely and more subtle score than usual, generally letting the play speak for itself.

Verdict: Quite nice indeed. ***1/2.

LET'S DO IT AGAIN

LET'S DO IT AGAIN! (1953). Director: Alexander Hall.

Composer Gary Stuart (Ray Milland), who has been neglecting his wife, Connie (Jane Wyman), to go off and play drums in clubs, walks out on her when he thinks she's had an affair with a rival composer, Courtney Craig (Tom Helmore). Connie is then courted by a handsome theatrical backer named Frank (Aldo Ray), while Gary dallies with an uppercrust lady named Deborah (Karin Booth of The Unfinished Dance). It may be hard to recognize this as a musical remake of The Awful Truth, but the awful truth is that this isn't that bad a movie. What makes it most watchable is the excellent performance by Jane Wyman. The usually demure Wyman is turned into the "go girl" in this movie: she sparkles, she sasses, she sings, she dances with verve, she sintillates. She brilliantly interprets her song numbers  (Ray Milland is dubbed, however), and she does a Latin number near the end that scandalizes a whole roomful of snobbish party guests. What would Angela Channing say? Her sexy, dead-on delivery of "Slow Burn Over a Fast Man" in an earlier party scene is the movie's highlight. Milland is also quite good, as are Leon Ames as his brother and Mary Treen as Connie's housekeeper. Aldo Ray is charming and has a killer smile. Wyman is outfitted with one spectacular gown after another, and she and Gary have rather beautiful apartments. Valerie Bettis plays Gary's friend, Lilly, who has a provocative dance number of her own. Bettis was apparently a dancer who did only a couple of movies and some television work. Hall also directed the bizarre Once Upon a Time.

Verdict: Watch the "go girl" go! ***.

FALCON CREST Season 3

FALCON CREST Season 3. 1983. CBS-TV.

This nighttime soap opera continued to be very entertaining for its third season, and netted star Jane Wyman a well-deserved Emmy for her role of ruthless, if somewhat human, Angela Channing. This season introduced two new major characters, only one of whom would prove long-lasting: Cliff Robertson was brought in to play Chase Gioberti's cousin, Michael, and Laura Johnson was cast as Maggie Gioberti's younger trouble-making sister and ex-call girl, Terry. Many scenes were devoted to the [literal] trials and tribulations of Angela's daughter, Julia (Abby Dalton), both in and out of prison, and a battle over a race track that Richard Channing (David Selby) wants to build. The sinister secret organization, the Cartel, rears its ugly head and makes trouble for Richard and his new personal assistant, Pamela (Sarah Douglas), and there's an ugly custody battle for little Joseph, the son of Cole (Billy Moses) and Melissa (Ana Alicia). Although more "moral" than his half-brother Richard, Chase (Robert Foxworth) proves to be a bit priggish  and hypocritical, and at times almost as "it's my way or the highway" in his attitude as his Aunt Angela, while both he and Maggie (Susan Sullivan) develop serious health issues [all of which are dispensed with rather quickly]. Terry and Angela's likable if odd daughter Emma (Margaret Ladd) struggle for Michael's love, but it's really no contest. In other developments Angela's lawyer Philip (Mel Ferrer) has quite a few tricks up his sleeve, and handsome sheriff Dan Robbins (Joe Lambie) gets more to do than in previous seasons, as does Chao Li-Chi as Angela's very helpful manservant. There's skulduggery regarding the late Jacqueline Perrault's (Lana Turner) will and rather hateful background, and more intrigue surrounding Chase's doctor, played by Ron Rifkin of Alias. Other guest-stars include Pat Crowley as an anesthesiologist, Ken Tobey as a family court judge, Geoffrey Lewis as a boyfriend of Julia's, and Whit Bissell as a businessman who is threatened by the loathsome Lance (Lorenzo Lamas) during the custody hearing. The most hilarious scene has the nutty Julia going to confession [talk about the blind leading the blind!] and the most tiresome storyline has to do with a kidnapping late in the season. The performances are all pretty solid, with Robertson doing a good job as Michael, but Wyman as Angela definitely rules the roost. Dalton is okay delineating the twists and turns of her weird character, but ultimately she's just not that impressive.

Verdict: This soaper continues to be much fun. ***.

BON VOYAGE!

MacMurray gets lost in the sewers of Paris!

BON VOYAGE! (1962). Director: James Neilson.

Indiana native Harry Willard (Fred MacMurray), his wife, Katie (Jane Wyman), his teenage son, Elliott (Tommy Kirk), and daughter, Amy (Deborah Walley), plus youngest son, Skipper (Kevin Corcoran), travel by boat to Paris and the Riviera and have a series of misadventures. It's a question why the Disney studio often took light fare for the whole family and made such films over two hours long [at least In Search of the Castaways, which was loaded with incident, was under two hours]. In any case the movie does have some surprises even though much of it is predictable: Harry and Elliott both encounter the same French hooker [in a sixties Disney movie!], and Harry gets good and drunk at a party. Amy has an on-again/off-again romance with a wealthy young man named Nick (Michael Callan of Mysterious Island) but it's a question what such a sophisticated fellow with gorgeous French girlfriends would see in a sweet but virginal "drip" like her. When Katie tells hubby that "it's important Amy find out she's a vital, warm-blooded young woman" due to her hormonal reaction to Nick, it's almost as if she were afraid her daughter was gay. Many of the sequences go on for too long, and some discussions about the children are repeated too often, but at least there are some genuinely funny moments, especially a sequence at a casino. Katie is pursued by a middle-aged Lothario; Elliott pursues various young females [the mother of one of whom wants to extort money from Harry]; and Harry gets lost in the sewers of Paris during a tour [during which young Skipper has to take a pee -- at least an appropriate place!]. MacMurray and Wyman are old pros who know just now to handle this material, and the others, particularly Callan, are all on the mark. One admirable thing about the movie is that it doesn't knock Europe or make traveling to other countries out to be some terrible, dull thing; the Willards appreciate the art, culture, and beauty of Paris.

Verdict: Amiable if distinctly minor comedy with some funny sequences. **1/2.

MIRACLE IN THE RAIN

MIRACLE IN THE RAIN (1956). Director: Rudolph Mate.

Ruth Wood (Jane Wyman) lives with her mother (Josephine Hutchinson), and hasn't seen her father (William Gargan), who walked out on the family for another woman, in many years. One day she meets a soldier, Arthur (Van Johnson) on leave, and the two begin dating, but Ruth's mother is wary of all men since her divorce and is afraid her daughter will be hurt. Instead Ruth and Art fall in love, even as Ruth's father, who works in a restaurant the couple dine at, tries to build up his courage to get in touch with the daughter he hasn't spoken to in years. Then Art is called back to service ... While the extreme religiosity of the picture may be a turn-off to many, Miracle in the Rain works quite well as a romance, and boasts excellent performances, especially from a wonderful Wyman. Although the story line has some silly digressions, the movie has interesting elements, including the sub-plot with the father, and the New York City locations are well-served by Russell Metty's crisp cinematography. Franz Waxman turned in a superlative score as well. Barbara Nichols and Alan King play honeymooners in the park; Eileen Heckart scores as Ruth's co-worker and friend; and Fred Clark and Peggie Castle (Beginning of the End) are fine as Ruth's boss and an employee he is having an affair with. Arte Johnson is nice as another sympathetic co-worker of Ruth's. The church sequences go on a bit too long and the ending seems a mite dragged out. Whether you buy the "miracle" of the storyline or not, the picture is poignant and you can't help but pity poor Ruth.

Verdict: Well-mounted romance with a superior cast. ***.

FALCON CREST SEASON 2

The cast of Falcon Crest

FALCON CREST Season Two. 

Jane Wyman is back as the ruthless matriarch and vineyard owner Angela Channing in the second season of the night-time serial Falcon Crest. This season introduces Richard Channing (David Selby), who is the illegitimate son of Angela's late husband, and who comes to the valley to pretty much get even with everyone, and take over a newspaper. Meanwhile there's some question as to the paternity of the child being carried by Melissa (Ana Alicia), who is married to Angela's grandson, Lance (Lorenzo Lamas), but who slept with Angela's nephew, Cole (Billy Moses). Cole's parents, Chase (Robert Foxworth) and Maggie (Susan Sullivan), develop problems after Cole is accused of murder and Maggie works on a screenplay with a Lothario producer played by Bradford Dillman. Lana Turner makes a few appearances as Chase's continental mother and old foe of Angela's, whose two daughters -- Julie (Abby Dalton) and Emma  (Margaret Ladd ) -- have serious issues of their own, while Chase's daughter, Vicki (Jamie Rose), gets involved with a married man played by Roy Thinnes [The Invaders]. Frankly, the first half of the season isn't as entertaining as season one, but it picks up in the second half when the gang seems to be stalked by a ruthless killer who wants to get rid of anyone who might uncover his or her identity [which does indeed turn out to be a shocking surprise]. Some of the revelations and character reversals during the season finale are kind of suspect and silly, but the cliffhanger is a classic of its kind. Wyman is marvelous, never descending into chewing the scenery [a la Joan Collins on Dynasty, albeit she did it entertainingly], and most of the other cast members are swell. Guest stars include E. G. Marshall in a fine turn as Richard's adopted father, Joanna Cassidy as an older woman who falls for Cole, and Anne Jeffreys as a married girlfriend of Angela's lawyer, Phillip (Mel Ferrer). During their arguments Chase often throws Maggie's turn as a screenwriter in her face -- you wish just once she'd remind him of how the entire family was uprooted so he could pursue his dream of owning a winery, so what's the problem if she wants to pursue her own dream of writing a screenplay? It's amusing the way Richard imagines he'll be accepted by Angela when he's her husband's bastard. Choa Li Chi (who plays the similarly named servant Choa Li-Chi) is given more to do this season.

Verdict: Occasionally ridiculous, but a well-mounted and generally absorbing soaper. ***

THE BLUE VEIL

Laughton, Wyman and Vance with little Freddy 

THE BLUE VEIL (1951). Director: Curtis Bernhardt.

In the maternity ward widow Louise Mason (Jane Wyman) asks to see her newborn but the doctor has to tell her that the child has passed away. Seeking employment, Louise is told [somewhat tactlessly] that she might enjoy being a nanny, a situation she at first rejects. However she becomes a nanny to the little boy of a widower named Fred Begley (Charles Laughton); this is only the first of many positions she has in this episodic film. As the years go by, Louise passes up her own happiness, such as with suitor Gerald Kean (Richard Carlson), when she feels the children she looks after need her more. There is an eventual custody battle over a child virtually abandoned by its mother, and a very moving wind-up. Wyman is excellent, as usual, and she has a stellar supporting cast, including a wonderful Laughton, a solid Carlson, Vivian Vance as Laughton's secretary, Agnes Moorehead and Joan Blondell as subsequent employers, little Natalie Wood as a needy child, and Don Taylor as one of her grown-up charges. This same year Vance became as famous as Wyman and Laughton when she took on the role of Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy; this movie proves there was more to her than Ethel [wonderful as she was]. A priceless bit in Blue Veil has a now-senior Louise being told that she's too old to look after children but she could always get a job as a maid -- such easy work!

Verdict: Tearjerker supreme. ***1/2.

JOHNNY BELINDA

Lew Ayres and Jane Wyman

JOHNNY BELINDA (1948). Director: Jean Negulesco.

A new doctor in a small village on an island in Nova Scotia, Robert Richardson (Lew Ayres), who hasn't quite been accepted by the locals, befriends and helps a deaf-mute woman (whom even her loved ones call the "dummy"), Belinda (Jane Wyman), and helps her to lip-read and make her thoughts and feelings known. When Belinda is raped by local tough guy Locky, (Stephen McNally), it leads to ugly rumors about Belinda and the doctor, not to mention a custody battle over the child, the titular Johnny, and even a murder trial! Oscar-winning Wyman is excellent, with solid support from Ayres; Charles Bickford as Belinda's father; Agnes Moorehead as her aunt; McNally as Johnny's father; and Jan Sterling as Locky's confused but compassionate wife. The film is beautifully photographed by Ted D. McCord, and has a fine score by Max Steiner. Not quite a masterpiece, but lovely and interesting and it won several Oscars. Mabel Paige, who played the owner of Hanson's dress shop on I Love Lucy, plays an unsympathetic role as one of the village's gossiping old biddies. 

Verdict: A nice picture with a fine cast. ***.

MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1954)

MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1954). Director: Douglas Sirk. Produced by Ross Hunter.

This Technicolor remake of the 1935 Magnificent Obsession  casts Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman in the roles originally played by Robert Taylor and Irene Dunne, and they give equally good performances. This picture turned Hudson into a major star and he was later re-teamed with Wyman in the more interesting All That Heaven Allows the following year. This has the exact same story as the 1935 film -- wealthy irresponsible playboy Bob Merrick (Hudson) turns over a new leaf after he is, in part, responsible for a beloved doctor's death, and then the accidental blinding [not Merrick's fault] of the doctor's widow (Wyman). The trouble is that this version, while very nice to look at and with fine supporting performances from Barbara Rush, Agnes Moorehead and others, is just as contrived. Although the age difference between the two leads was addressed in All That Heaven Allows, it is ignored in this picture. In smaller roles you'll find Mae Clarke, Paul Cavanaugh, and Richard Cutting of Attack of the Crab Monsters.

Verdict: Glossy and well-intentioned, but there's nothing really there. **1/2.

ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS

Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman

ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955). Director: Douglas Sirk.

"As Freud says, when we reach a certain age sex becomes incongruous."

""You were ready for a love affair, but not for love."

Cary Scott (Jane Wyman), a small-town widow approaching middle age, finds a second chance for happiness with a somewhat younger gardener named Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson). Even though Ron has his own successful business, he is seen as a poor choice for Cary, whose first husband was an affluent businessman. While the town busybodies gossip, even wrongly suggesting that something was going on between Cary and Ron even before Mr. Scott's death, Cary's son, Ned (William Reynolds), and daughter, Kay (Gloria Talbott), have strenuous objections to their mother's relationship with Ron. Concerned about her children's feelings, Cary makes a fateful decision, only to discover her children haven't time to give much thought to their mother's feelings. [A great scene has the children giving Cary a television set for Christmas, and the camera pulls in toward her sad reflection in the screen as she realizes this TV is meant to be her "companionship" for the future.] Jane Wyman gives an excellent and sensitive performance that holds up through all of the plot contrivances, and Hudson, if not on his co-star's level, is good and romantic and at the height of his male beauty. This is a typically handsome Ross Hunter production with picture postcard Technicolor cinematography. The screenplay tries [and fails] for added depth by making Kirby a Thoreau addict who tries, along with his friends Mick and Alida (Charles Drake and Virginia Grey), to turn aside from mindless ambition and enjoy life's simpler pleasures. [Only in a Hollywood movie can people who eschew the rat race and Keeping Up With The Jones' live in such utterly sumptuous surroundings. Anyone who lives in a reconverted, refurbished mill house has to have bucks.] That being said, there is some good dialogue and supporting performances from such as Gloria Talbott [as the constantly psychoanalyzing daughter], William Reynolds, Donald Curtis as a lecherous suitor, and Agnes Moorehead as Cary's good friend, Sarah. Jacqueline DeWit is the bitchy Mona, who dishes dirt on everyone, Nestor Paiva is one of Ron's circle of friends, and David Janssen is Kay's boyfriend. Although the film makes some attempt at dealing with ageism, it's also guilty of it in its treatment of Harvey (Conrad Nagel), who is Cary's steady date. Harvey may be twenty years older than Cary, but it's still a bit ludicrous to suggest that a man in his late fifties [as Nagel was] would settle for a sexless marriage with a younger woman, as Harvey more or less suggests. Setting aside these and other quibbles, All That Heaven Allows is not without appeal, although it is nowhere near as good as a similar vehicle with Barbara Stanwyck, My Reputation. Nice Frank Skinner score with classical themes.

Verdict:  Attractive soap opera with compelling leads [if for different reasons]. ***.

FALCON CREST SEASON 1

FALCON CREST CBS Television series 1981 - 1990. Created by Earl Hamner Jr. NOTE: Out of several writers, Hamner wrote the most episodes.

The complete first season of Falcon Crest is available on DVD, and the show is quite entertaining. Airline pilot Chase Gioberti (Robert Foxworth) learns that his father, Jason, has passed away in an accident, and flies to California with his wife, Maggie (Susan Sullivan), to attend the funeral. There he learns that he has inherited a small 50 acre portion of the huge Falcon Crest vineyard, 500 acres of which belong to his aunt Angela Channing (Jane Wyman). Chase doesn't realize that his father didn't really die in a drunk driving accident, and that Angela has covered up the facts of his death because she would have to turn over far more of Falcon Crest to her nephew. Chase regrets that he never got to know his father very well, and decides to stay in California and try to make a go of his 50 acres, although the members of his family are very conflicted as to his decision. This includes his daughter Vicki (Jamie Rose) and son Cole (Billy R. Moses).

But the Channing family is in worse shape than the Gioberti's. Angela's daughter Emma (Margaret Ladd), never too stable to begin with, is positively bonkers since her Uncle Jason's death. Her sister, Julia (Abby Dalton), is a virtual slave to her mother's whims, and sees the same thing happening to her more resistant son, Lance (Lorenzo Lamas). Other characters include -- as the season progresses -- Angela's ex-husband (Stephen Elliot); Chase's mother (Lana Turner); Melissa Agretti (Ana Alicia), who comes between Cole and Lance; Julia's ex-husband Tony (John Saxon); Chase's right-hand man Gus (Nick Ramos); and his son, Mario (Mario Marcelino), who becomes Vicki's boyfriend.

Angela, superbly played by Wyman, is a ruthless person who cares more for the land of Falcon Crest than she does for members of her family, although she always believes she's doing the right thing. She prevents Emma from getting the psychiatric treatment she clearly needs because she's afraid Emma will inadvertently reveal the truth about Jason's death. [Although very well played by Margaret Ladd, who is an excellent actress, Emma's nutso act does become a bit of a bore.] As the first season progresses, Chase and Maggie are eventually clued in to Angela's duplicity, although why they continue to talk to her and attend her parties after her perfidy has been revealed is a big question.

The other cast members, especially Foxworth, Sullivan and Dalton, acquit themselves quite nicely. John Saxon and Lana Turner score in one episode apiece, although they returned for more appearances in later seasons. Marcelino is memorable as the appealing Mario, as is Mel Ferrer as Angela's very sly lawyer.

Falcon Crest lasted for nine seasons, and these episodes indicate why the drama -- which became more firmly ensconced in the soap opera category as it developed -- was such a guilty pleasure. Cast members in future seasons would include Rod Taylor, Mariska Hargitay, Robert Stack, Gina Lollobrigida, Ron Rifkin, Appolonia Kotero, Morgan Fairchild [in a very nice turn as a victim of incest] and many others.

Bill Conti's excellent theme music is a decided plus.

Verdict: Perfect to watch with a glass of wine! ***.

STAGE FRIGHT

STAGE FRIGHT (1950). Director: Alfred Hitchcock.

A cute little boy scout walks up to a stage where a glamorous singer is performing and holds out a doll that has a big bloodstain on its white dress -- the singer gasps and looks at the doll in horror. I'd be willing to bet that it was this scene that prompted Hitchcock to film Stage Fright, which is one of his lesser-loved movies but has its moments. Aspiring actress Eve (Jane Wyman) hides out the man she loves, Jonathan (Richard Todd), in her father's house after he tells her that he helped the woman he loves, actress Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich), cover up the supposedly accidental death of her husband. Hoping to ferret out the truth, Eve replaces Charlotte's personal maid and dresser even as she romances and falls for the police inspector on the case, Wilfred Smith (Michael Wilding). If you're expecting an edge-of-your-seat Hitchcock thriller, look elsewhere - Stage Fright is more along the lines of a romantic comedy, and it has some very funny dialogue by Whitfield Cook (screenwriter) and Alma Reville (adaptor), among others. The picture is entertaining without quite coming to a full boil, although it does have many interesting segments, the aforementioned boy scout scene chief among them. The performances are also top-notch, not just the four leads but Alastair Sim as Eve's father, Kay Walsh as Charlotte's nasty regular dresser, Joyce Grenfell as the toothy comical gal at the shooting gallery, and Sybil Thorndike as Eve's mother. Pat Hitchcock does her customary good turn as a friend of Eve's, and Hitch himself shows up forty minutes into the movie as a quizzical man who passes by Eve on the sidewalk. Crisply photographed by Wilkie Cooper. One big dramatic flaw in the film is that by the time the revelations come Eve's feelings for the hunted man have done a big about-face.

Verdict: Not one of Hitchcock's thrilling masterpieces but certainly not without interest. ***.