OF MICE AND MEN (1939)

OF MICE AND MEN (1939). Director: Lewis Milestone. 

"It's just havin' someone to talk with. It's just bein' with another guy."

George (Burgess Meredith) and his brain-damaged cousin Lennie (Lon Chaney Jr.) arrive at a ranch and hope to save up enough money to buy their own farm and be their own boss. The elderly Candy (Roman Bohnen), afraid of almost literally being put out to pasture, wants to go in with them, as does Crooks (Leigh Whipper), the black man who is isolated in his own shack away from the bunk house with the other men. But then there's the nasty little Curley (Bob Steele), the boss's son, and his bored, lonely wife, Mae (Betty Field), and the trouble they represent. John Steinbeck's heartbreaking tragedy is brought to the screen with great intensity and power and has many memorable moments: the death of Candy's dog; Curly gets his hand crushed; the climactic accidental death. Bohnen gives perhaps the best performance, but Meredith and Field are also great, and Charles Bickford, Lon Chaney Jr. and Bob Steele are no slouches. Okay, maybe the acting is a little over-emphatic at times, and Copland's score is nice but not that special. Still, this is a very strong and memorable picture. The streak of misogyny -- if that's what it is -- and the moral ambiguity of the ending, only make it more fascinating. Remade several times, including a version in 1992, starring and directed by Gary Sinise of CSI New York. 

Verdict: Another masterpiece from 1939 and a great study of loneliness. ****.

ARCH OF TRIUMPH

Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman

ARCH OF TRIUMPH (1948). Director: Lewis Milestone.

"A refugee without a passport has lost his membership in the human race."

In pre-WW2 Paris two strangers meet and become unhappily involved. One is Ravic (Charles Boyer), who was tortured in Austria by the Nazi Haake (Charles Laughton), and has taken illegal asylum in France. Joan (Ingrid Bergman) is a woman of "easy virtue" whose latest lover has just died. The couple seem to fall in love, but Ravic's illegal status and very real fear of jail and deportation, means he cannot get married. Then there's the added complication of Alex (Stephan Bekassy), with whom Joan gets engaged during a period when she is alone, and who is very possessive of her. Arch of Triumph, based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, should have been a powerful film, and it does have its moments, but it never emerges as the dramatic triumph that it could have been. A big problem -- besides the fact that everything is too prettified -- is that Boyer and Bergman have absolutely no chemistry, and even if one might acknowledge that Ravic might be a rather dour character, Boyer's emotionless and often perfunctory performance -- one of his worst -- doesn't help. Bergman is much, much better, and the picture is nearly stolen by Louis Calhern [Athena] as a friend of Ravic's who works as doorman at a Russian nightclub. Charles Laughton [They Knew What They Wanted] is excellent, as usual, as the repulsive Haake, but much more should have been made of his very final confrontation with Ravic. The fake "prince" Michael Romanoff, who opened his own Hollywood restaurant, plays the captain of the aforementioned club, and is rather unprepossessing. Ruth Warrick comes and goes too quickly to make any impression. William Conrad [East Side, West Side] , who later starred in TV's Jake and the Fat Man, has a terrific bit as a police man who corners Ravic and questions him after the former tends to an injured woman on the street. This is, I believe, the one and only picture made by Enterprise studios.

Verdict: Not terrible by any means, but not at all what it should have been. **1/2.

MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962)

Marlon Brando

MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962). Director: Lewis Milestone.

Sailing to Tahiti in 1787 to get breadfruit, the crew of the Bounty eventually rebel against what they see as the heartless tyranny of their captain. This second film version [of three] of the famous story is also based on the novel whose fictionalized events have sometimes replaced the true story in the mind of the public. For some reason, Marlon Brando chose to portray Fletcher Christian as an affected fop, possibly the only way he could keep up the British accent -- other than that, his performance isn't bad, although it is not as good as Trevor Howard's as the notorious Captain Bligh or Richard Harris' as a sailor named Mills. Hugh Griffith, Richard Hadyn [The Lost World], Percy Herbert and Tim Seely as young midshipman Ned, are also notable, among others. The movie is long and bloated and follows the mutineers onto Pitcairn Island, where they settled, but a framing sequence that takes place on the island with Haydn and Torin Thatcher was excised from the film and can be seen on the DVD. As Maimiti, the king's daughter, who falls for Christian, Tarita strikes the right note [as she obviously did with Brando, who married her]; Frank Silvera is convincing as her father. One problem with the movie is that at times it has a very fortyish tone, becoming awfully "cute." However Milestone keeps things moving and Bronislau Kaper's score is very effective.  Originally shown in ultra-Panavision 70. Ultimately, this is not a bad picture, although it's no better than the other versions, the original Mutiny on the Bounty and The Bounty.

Verdict: If you can't get enough of Christian and Bligh. ***.

LES MISERABLES (1952)

LES MISERABLES (1952). Director: Lewis Milestone.

Victor Hugo's famous novel had already been filmed with Fredric March and Charles Laughton in 1935 when this remake appeared 17 years later. In this version Michael Rennie stars as Jean Valjean, convicted of stealing a loaf of bread, and later coming afoul of policeman Javert (Robert Newton). This version shows us much more of how ex-convict Valjean transformed himself into the eminently respectable Mssr. Madeleine, but it completely cuts out the innkeepers, as well as the business with Javert getting suspicious when he sees Madeleine lift a carriage off of a man, The chase sequence from the first picture has also been eliminated. What this version substitutes is much more of a romance between Marius (Cameron Mitchell) and Cosette (Debra Paget), and unfortunately it's dull; it also intimates that Valjean might be in love with Cosette. The scene in the sewers has been expanded and is rather well-done. Rennie is just as perfunctory in the opening courtroom scenes as March was, but in general he's competent if unexciting. Edmund Gwenn and Sylvia Sidney both make positive impressions as, respectively, Bishop Courbet and Fantine; Elsa Lanchester and James Robertson Justice are also in the cast and are fine. As Javert, Newton is much more low-key than Laughton was, and about one fifth as memorable. Well-directed by Milestone, and with a memorable theme by Alex North.

Verdict: Interesting, but a cut below the 1935 version. **1/2.

THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS

Heflin, Scott and Stanwyck

THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS (1946). Director: Lewis Milestone. Screenplay by Robert Rossen. 

"You still look like a scared little kid to me." -- Sam to Walter.

Martha (Barbara Stanwyck), Walter (Kirk Douglas) and Sam (Van Heflin) are childhood friends caught up in melodrama when -- early in the film -- Martha clubs her nasty aunt (Judith Anderson) and kills her right after said Aunt batters Martha's cat with her walking stick. Given Martha's age at the time, and her aunt's actions, probably nothing much would have happened to Martha, but in this movie she marries the witness, Walter, who grows up to become an alcoholic district attorney, and tries to pay off Sam [whom she thinks also witnessed the aunt's death] when he shows up back in town on a trip and chooses a very odd moment to kiss her. The trouble is, Martha and Walter framed an innocent man for the crime and he got the chair. Stanwyck and Heflin are excellent, and in his debut film, Douglas almost steals the film with his intense portrayal of Walter. His odd, clenched-teeth way of speaking takes a little getting used to, but it obviously didn't prevent him from becoming a major star. Lizabeth Scott, who plays an overaged urchin who's been told to get out of town but is befriended by Sam, gives a very odd performance, perhaps because she was trying to play younger than she really was [although she was hardly old at 24]. This was Scott's second film, but she was seen to better advantage in such films as Desert Fury and especially Too Late for Tears/Killer Bait. Well-directed by Milestone and with a nice score by Miklos Rozsa. Familiar faces include Olin Howlin and Ann Doran.

Verdict: Fascinating meller with intense performances from Heflin and Stanwyck and a star turn from Douglas. ***.