I'LL CRY TOMORROW

I'LL CRY TOMORROW (1955). Director: Daniel Mann.

The more or less true story of singer Lillian Roth (Susan Hayward) and her battle with alcoholism. Although Hayward has a couple of self-conscious moments, basically she gives a very strong performance as this tormented woman who lost the first man (Ray Danton) she loved to illness and an early death, married a heavy-drinking gigolo and party boy (Don Taylor), then -- worst of all-- got hitched to a wife-beating thug played by Richard Conte (pictured). Virginia Gregg and Veda Ann Borg show up in much smaller roles. Carole Ann Campbell is excellent as Roth as a young girl, but the movie is basically stolen by Jo Van Fleet, who is simply superb as Lillian's mother. Hayward sings her own numbers, and isn't bad, although one can't imagine she would have been as successful a singer as she was an actress. Reviews of the film have noted that the atmosphere is more of the fifties when it was made than the period during which most of the story takes place. There is a nice score by Alex North. 

Verdict: Watch Susan Suffer! ***.

WILD RIVER

WILD RIVER (1960). Director: Elia Kazan.

Chuck Glover (Montgomery Clift), a representative of the Tennessee Valley Authority, tries to persuade an elderly woman, Ella Garth (Jo Van Fleet), that she must leave her home before the whole area is flooded to make a damn for electric power, as well as to tame a river that has taken many lives. (A very affecting prologue presents what appears to be actual newsreel footage of a heart-broken man telling how most of his family was swept away by flood waters.) But Ella is very eloquent about what the land means to her, and why she is adamant about dying in her home. In the meantime Glover begins a romance with the old lady's grand-daughter, Carol (Lee Remick), and has to deal with racists who object to his hiring black workers and paying them a decent wage. This is another interesting social drama by Elia Kazan, imperfect and not always riveting, but bolstered by fine acting and photography. The secondary love story between Chuck and Carol isn't that compelling, even though Remick gives a lovely performance and Clift, as ever, is solid. Van Fleet, who was actually only 46 when the film came out, is simply superb as Ella Garth, and as others have noted, it's a shame that she wasn't even nominated for an Oscar.

Verdict: Worth viewing for an outstanding Van Fleet. ***.

I LOVE YOU, ALICE B. TOKLAS

Peter Sellers turns on, drops out, and takes a bath

I LOVE YOU, ALICE B. TOKLAS (1968). Director: Hy Averback.

Harold (Peter Sellers) is a successful lawyer with a hippie brother, Herbie (David Arkin), an anxious fiancee, Joyce (Joyce Van Patten of Perry Mason), and an even more anxious mother (Jo Van Fleet). After being introduced to Nancy (Leigh Taylor-Young), a sort of girlfriend of his brother's, Harold finds himself attracted to her. It isn't long before he says goodbye to Joyce, "drops out" of his regular life, and adopts the hippie lifestyle with Nancy (while staying in his fabulous apartment). Will he ever come to his senses? The title refers to some hash brownies made by Nancy (the recipe apparently comes from a cookbook written by Toklas, Gertrude Stein's companion), and which are eaten by Harold, his father (Salem Ludwig) and his mother, who says the title line with a happy glaze on her eyes. Many sixties comedies with drug and hippie references don't date at all well, but I Love You is still a very, very funny movie (even if it has fun with things that really aren't funny, such as a funeral for a beloved husband and being literally left at the altar). with excellent performances from the entire cast. Sellers, of course, is just wonderful, and he is matched by a terrific Van Fleet in a great comic performance to compare with  her wonderful dramatic work in such films as Wild River. Apparently, no one really knew how to end the film, so the finale to this is rather stupid. Taylor-Young was introduced in this film and later wound up on Dallas in a nice role. David Arkin was an attractive and appealing actor who had a few credits, mostly in Robert Altman's films, and committed suicide at 49.

Verdict: You won't even need some Alice B. Toklas brownies to enjoy this movie. ***.

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. ***.

THE WILD, WILD WEST Season Four

Jo Van Fleet and Robert Conrad in the final episode

THE WILD, WILD WEST Season Four. 1968. CBS.

While there were less outstanding episodes in The Wild, Wild West's last season than in previous years, it remained an entertaining, generally well-made and well-acted program until the end. During Ross Martin's illness, Charles Aidman filled in for Artemis Gordon as "Jeremy Pike" in several episodes. [William Schallert filled in as "Frank Harper" in one two-part episode.] There was a suspenseful scene in a vault in the first episode, "Night of the Big Blackmail," with Harvey Korman; a mechanical squid and an underwater HQ in "Kraken;" a giant tuning fork sonics weapon in "Avaricious Actuary;" a certain song that holds the key to which secret service agent might be a traitor in "the Janus;" an obnoxious opera singer (Patrice Munsel) in the unusual episode "Night of the Diva;" a tank used to tear homesteaders' dwellings apart in "Juggernaut;" a vial of deadly plague in "Gruesome Games;" and a deadly new explosive in "Doomsday Formula" with Kevin McCarthy. Dr. Loveless (Michael Dunn) plays dummy to a robot ventriloquist and kidnaps several people in ways related to a nursery rhyme in "Miquelito's Revenge;" and "Bleak Island," concerning skulduggery in a spooky old house on a cliff, features fine performances from John Williams, Beverly Garland and, especially, Robert H. Herron. The two best episodes were "The Sedgwick Curse," in which people disappear without a trace from a sinister hotel; and the very last episode of the series, the slightly sexist "Night of the Tycoons," in which Jo Van Fleet expertly plays the sole female member of a board of directors who are being killed off one by one. Robert Conrad and Ross Martin still seem to be having fun, and Aidman and Schallert make admirable and likable fill-ins.

Verdict: Nice wind-up to an unusual and entertaining TV series. ***.

EAST OF EDEN

EAST OF EDEN (1955). Director: Elia Kazan.

"You kept on forgiving us, but you never really loved us."

"It's awful not to be loved. It's the worst thing in the world."

In  1917 Monterey, Adam Trask (Raymond Massey), with his sons Caleb (James Dean) and Aron (Richard Davalos), try to make a killing with lettuce kept fresh with ice, but they have bigger problems than hoping this new business will succeed. Aron has always planned to marry Abra (Julie Harris), but there is a growing attraction between her and Cal, who never feels he had his father's love. In the meantime Cal discovers that his supposedly dead mother, Kate (Jo Van Fleet) is actually running a brothel not too far away, something his brother is unaware of. Then there are tensions created by the advent of WW1, and Aron's initial decision to stay out of the fighting. First of all, anyone expecting a literal transcription of John Steinbeck's novelistic take on Cain and Abel must look elsewhere, because this movie only concerns a portion of a very long book, and it makes changes to the plot and characterizations. Taken on it's own terms, however, East of Eden is still a masterpiece, with a wonderful, committed cast, fine direction from Kazan, high-grade cinematography from Ted McCord, and an interesting score by Leonard Rosenman. Whatever impression Dean may have made off-screen, the camera certainly loves him, and this movie probably showcases his mystique the best of his three movies; he is excellent. Although Dean got the lion's share of the attention, Davalos is also compelling as his brother, and there is also some fine work from Van Fleet, Harris and Massey. Burl Ives and Albert Dekker have significant roles and are also good, as is Barbara Baxley as an unpleasant nurse who shows up late in the picture. Yes, there are scenes that are too stagy, dialogue that is too obvious [Dekker unnecessarily bringing up Cain and Abel, as if the audience is too stupid to get it], but the picture is totally absorbing and has a deeply moving wind-up.

Verdict: Hollywood at its best. ****.

ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS SEASON THREE

ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS Season 3. 

The delightfully droll Hitch introduces 39 more half hour episodes of mayhem, mischief, murder, and macabre comedy. The two best episodes are "Reward to Finder" in which a husband and wife [Jo Van Fleet and Oscar Homolka, both of whom are superb] battle over the cash that was found in a lost wallet; and "Return of the Hero," an ironic item about a soldier (Jacques Bergerac) who apparently wants to bring home a disabled friend who saved his life, and is surprised at his family's negative (and ultimately heart-breaking) reaction. Other memorable episodes include: "Heart of Gold" [an ex-con "adopted" by his cell mate's family]; "Together," with Joseph Cotten locked in an office with his dead mistress; the famous "Lamb to the Slaughter," with Barbara Bel Geddes using an unusual weapon on her unfaithful husband; "Post Mortem" [sweepstakes ticket on a corpse]; "The Canary Sedan" [Jessica Tandy in a tale of a psychic]; "The Impromptu Murder" [a very ironic tale in which Hume Cronyn murders an old lady]; and "Little White Frock," in which an actor (Herbert Marshall) "auditions" by telling a very tall tale. 

Verdict: One of the most entertaining TV series ever. ***.