THESE THREE

THESE THREE (1936). Director: William Wyler.

College friends Karen Wright (Merle Oberon) and Martha Dobie (Miriam Hopkins) decide to open a girl's school together. Into their lives comes a handsome doctor, Joe (Joel McCrea), with whom both fall in love. Joe, however, only has eyes for Karen. (A memorable scene has Martha watching him as he sleeps, with the passage of time indicating that she's done this for hours.) This not being a soap opera, Joe and Martha do not get involved and Martha never makes a play for him. Unfortunately, a nasty little girl named Mary (Bonita Granville) implies that the good doctor spent the night in Martha's room, and forces another child (Marcia May Jones) to confirm it. This leads to disastrous complications.

These Three was based on a play by Lillian Hellman called The Children's Hour. It, too, was about the destructiveness of gossip, but the lie was quite different -- that the two women were lovers (It turned out that Martha was a self-hating lesbian). Naturally Hollywood even in the 30's wouldn't tackle such a subject, so it was toned down and changed to alleged pre-marital sex and infidelity. Years later Wyler filmed the play again (as The Children's Hour) with the original story intact. In that version Miriam Hopkins played Martha's Aunt Lily (played by Catherine Doucet in These Three).

Miriam Hopkins and Merle Oberon

Even in its adulterated version These Three is a powerful story, and the film is well directed and very well played by the entire cast. In addition to those already mentioned, Alma Kruger makes an impression as Mary's grandmother, who starts the word-of-mouth campaign against the two women and their school. Margaret Hamilton plays the woman's stern maid, who can see through Mary, and in perhaps the movie's most satisfying scene, gives her a good slap.

Verdict: Superior, thoughtful drama. ***1/2.

THE PALM BEACH STORY

Rudy Vallee and Claudette Colbert

THE PALM BEACH STORY (1942). Written and directed by Preston Sturges.

"Men don't get smarter as they get older, they just lose their hair."

Geri (Geraldine) Jeffers is married to an engineer, Tom (Joel McCrea), who can't seem to get a break. Geri figures that they would be better off if they divorced, and if she married someone wealthy she could get him the $100,000 he needs for his dream project, a "suspended" [!] airport. Although broke, she manages to make her way to Florida via the zany members of the "ale and quail club" and meets a man named J. D. Hackensacker (Rudy Vallee), who is fabulously rich. Tom flies down to stop Geri from getting a divorce and winds up in the clutches of J. D.'s man-hungry sister, the Princess Centimillia (Mary Astor), who thinks he's Geri's brother... The Palm Beach Story is a delightful comedy with fine performances and some hilarious dialogue. Colbert and Astor come off best, and McCrea and Vallee are quite good although they are not especially gifted comic actors. Robert Dudley almost steals the show as a sweet old man who wants to rent the Jeffers' apartment and winds up giving Geri money for the back rent. There's a riotous scene when the Ale and Quail Club shoot up the club car with Fred "Snowflake" Toones [Seventeen] comical as the nervous and then horrified bartender. Other notables in the cast include William Demarest, Mantan Moreland (dining club waiter); Franklin Pangborn [The Bank Dick] as an apartment manager; and Sig Arno as Toto, the princess' latest, unintelligible boyfriend. This is a charming and very funny movie. You may be confused by the frenetic credit sequence, in which there seems to be two Claudette Colberts, but all is explained (more or less) at the conclusion.  Sturges also wrote and directed Unfaithfully Yours, which is vastly inferior to this.

Verdict: A classic comedy. ***1/2.

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT

Hitch makes his cameo appearance as McCrea races by

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940). Director: Alfred Hitchcock.

 "Politicians aren't generally called upon to do away with their guests, are they?"

As there are gathering storm clouds in Europe, reporter John Jones (Joel McCrea) is rechristened "Huntley Haverstock" by his publisher and sent off overseas to find out what he can. Among those he interviews are an important peace proponent, Van Meer (Albert Bassermann), and Stephen Fisher (Herbert Marshall), head of the Universal Peace Party, whose group is trying to avert a war. Jones initially comes into conflict with Fisher's daughter, Carol (Laraine Day) but then the two realize a growing affection and more. In the meantime there's an assassination [with a surprisingly bloody close-up], and Van Meer is kidnapped because he knows something about a "secret clause 27" in a treaty [a Hitchcock "McGuffin"]. Foreign Correspondent begins deceptively, almost like a romantic comedy, but it certainly becomes a consistently intriguing and well-directed thrill ride once the action begins. A sequence set in a windmill whose blades are turning in the wrong direction presents almost a textbook case of how to shoot and edit a tense suspense sequence, and is very well photographed by Rudolph Mate. A sequence where Jones has to deal with a hired killer at the top of Westminster Cathedral is also notable [although perhaps Hitch doesn't milk it for as much suspense as he could have]. The scenes with Van Meer being tortured and the reactions of the less bloodthirsty of the bad guys are memorable, and there's a superb climax on a plane that is shot down by a German ship -- this sequence is as thrilling and well-done [better-done] than anything you can see in the cinema today. McCrea and Day are fine; Marshall gives another excellent portrayal of a conflicted man; and there are notable turns by Edmund Gwenn (Them), Marlin Kosleck (The Flesh Eaters), Eduardo Ciannelli, Ian Wolfe, and the ever-wonderful George Sanders. [Gertrude Hoffman is in the plane crash sequence as well.] The picture gets a bit jingoistic -- understandable given the period -- and Alfred Newman's disappointing score only has one longing for Bernard Herrmann. Otherwise, this is a gem.

Verdict: Another Hitchcock masterpiece. ****.

BARBARY COAST

Robinson and Hopkins

BARBARY COAST (1935) Director: Howard Hawks.

Mary Rutledge (Miriam Hopkins), known as "Swan," arrives in San Francisco during the gold rush, fully expecting to find a fiancee and a million bucks waiting for her. Instead she winds up at a crooked roulette wheel in a casino-saloon owned by Luis Chamalis (Edward G. Robinson). Chamalis is a racketeer who runs the town with the aid of killer Knuckles (Brian Donlevy), who's fond of shooting people in the back. Swan becomes rather hardened by her life and Chamalis' persistent and unwelcome wooing of her, but she's softened a bit by an attractive and kindly young prospector, Jim (Joel McCrae), but their next encounter is quite unpleasant ... Hopkins and Robinson make an interesting team -- more interesting than Hopkins and McCrea -- but that's not enough to save this picture, whose basically light tone is at odds with the grim subject matter. Despite some good performances from the leads and the supporting cast -- Frank Craven (In This Our Life) as a colonel who starts a newspaper is especially noteworthy -- the movie is a mediocre mish mash, and not one of Robinson's better pictures. Walter Brennan offers another of his bizarre portraits as the cackling "Old Atrocity."

Verdict: Begins promisingly but goes in too many dull directions. **1/2.

THE GREAT MAN'S LADY

THE GREAT MAN'S LADY (1942). Director: William A. Wellman.

On the day of the dedication of a statue of the late and great man and pioneer-turned-millionaire Ethan Hoyt (Joel McCrea), reporters try to get a story about him from a woman, Hannah Sempler (Barbara Stanwyck), who claims she was once married to him, even though there's no proof of a union and it might even make Hoyt a bigamist. The movie is a flashback to 1848 that explains this contradiction, and shows how Hannah did indeed marry Ethan, and why he remarried even though they were never divorced, and it's a sad and fascinating story.  Brian Donlevy is a third character, Steely Edwards, who falls unrequitedly in love with Hannah and has much to do with her life and marriage. There are interesting twists and turns to the plot, and the movie is bolstered by another excellent performance from the indomitable Stanwyck; McCrea and Donlevy are also very good. As the film proceeds we can see how much of his success Hoyt owes to the smarter Hannah. Stanwyck's old age make up as she plays a centenarian at the beginning and end is very well done.

Verdict: Flavorful film with fine performances and an unusual storyline. ***.

INTERNES CAN'T TAKE MONEY

INTERNES CAN'T TAKE MONEY (1937). Director: Alfred Santell.

This is the movie that introduced the character of Dr. Kildare (Joel McCrae), who not only starred in a series of films, but his own TV show [starring Richard Chamberlain in the role]. Kildare is concerned over, and attracted to, a pretty patient named Janet (Barbara Stanwyck) who desperately needs money to pay a popcorn-loving heel, Innes (Stanley Ridges), who says he knows where her little girl is. Kildare does an emergency bar room operation on a shady character named Hanlon (Lloyd Nolan), who helps him get the necessary info from Innes. In the meantime, there are a number of misunderstandings between Kildare and Janet, not to mention Kildare and Hanlon, who tries to pay him cash even as Kildare protests that "internes can't take money". [Yet Kildare doesn't report Hanlon's injury to the police!] Irving Bacon is Jeff, a bar owner; Lee Bowman an interne who is unfairly fired for "experimenting" on a patient; and Pierre Watkin is the chief doctor. Well-acted and quite entertaining.

Verdict: Fine introduction for a very long-lived character. ***.

THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME

THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (1932). Directors: Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel.

Bob Rainsford (Joel McCrea) is the only survivor of a shipwreck near a small island owned by the sinister Count Zaroff (Leslie Banks). Safe on land in the count's gothic castle, he learns that Eve Trowbridge (Fay Wray) and her brother Martin (Robert Armstrong) are also ship-wrecked "guests" waiting patiently for the count's launch to be repaired -- only Eve tells Bob that she's heard the launch going out at night. It turns out that the sociopathic Zaroff deliberately causes shipwrecks and then hunts down "the most dangerous game" -- human beings -- from the survivors. The first half of the film is suspenseful enough, but the second half is non-stop excitement as Bob and Eve try desperately to outwit the count, his men, and his killer dogs and survive until dawn. Thrilling right up until the very last shot. Made concurrently with King Kong (as the FX of that film were being completed) this utilizes some of the same, very recognizable sets. Robert Armstrong gives a more flavorful, less wooden performance than usual and is very good as the ill-fated brother. The shipwreck sequence is very well-done, the effects work is excellent, and the castle settings are atmospheric and intriguing. Although he has been criticized as being "campy," Leslie Banks actually offers a very effective and comparatively low-key portrait of the psychopathic count and never gnoshes on the scenery. His versatility is shown with his much more benign character in The Tunnel. The Most Dangerous Game is highly entertaining although it could probably have used a few more minutes of character development. Suitably rousing score by Max Steiner.

Verdict: A classic! ***1/2.