RECKLESS

RECKLESS (1935). Director: Victor Fleming.

By the time agent Ned Riley (William Powell) realizes he's really in love with his client, singer-dancer Mona Leslie (Jean Harlow), Mona is being swept off her feet by the wealthy Bob Harrison Jr. (Franchot Tone). Harrison even goes so far as to buy out every seat for a performance of the show Mona is in. Mona's wise old grandmother (May Robson) scolds and gives sage advice in equal measure. Rosalind Russell turns up as Harrison's kind of forgotten fiancee, Henry Stephenson is his concerned father, and little Mickey Rooney is his usual charming self as an enterprising youngster befriended by Ned (perhaps the film's most touching sequence has Rooney trying to help out Ned when he thinks he's down and out). If that cast weren't enough, we've also got Allan Jones singing a romantic ballad in his inimitable way, Leon Ames turning up both with and without his mustache, Charles "Ming the Merciless" Middleton playing a district attorney, and Margaret Dumont showing up for one line as a heckler in the theater! Powell, Harlow, and Tone are all just marvelous, and Robson almost manages to steal every scene she's in. The story veers in unfortunately melodramatic directions, but the film still manages to be quite entertaining. And that cast! 

Verdict: Crazy script but a feast of fine actors! ***.

3 FOR BEDROOM C

Gloria Swanson and James Warren

3 FOR BEDROOM C (aka Three for Bedroom C/1952. Director: Milton H. Bren. 

Movie star Ann Haven (Gloria Swanson), who has just won an Oscar, discovers there are no compartments available for her and her daughter, Barbara (Janine Perreau), and she must take a train to Hollywood in a hurry. She simply takes over a compartment and is lucky enough to discover that the true occupant, chemist Dr. Oliver Thrumm (James Warren), finds the two ladies charming. As other arrangements are made with the help of steward Fred (Ernest Anderson), Ann and Oliver find themselves falling for one another. But there are complications when Oliver finds out who Ann is, as well as interference from her manager, Johnny (Fred Clark of White Heat), the press agent Jack Bleck (Hans Conreid of The Twonky) and a declasse theater person, Conde Marlowe (Steve Brodie of Desperate), who is heading for Hollywood. Will the romance between Ann and Ollie run smoothly?                

Conreid, Clark, Brodie

Despite her performance in Sunset Boulevard, Gloria Swanson found herself with few movie offers (or turned them down) after her triumph in that picture. Unfortunately, her choice of this light -- very light -- comedy was not a good one. Her choice of leading man was also odd, as you have to wonder why she didn't go after someone with more box office clout. A former star of low-budget westerns, James Warren was handsome and competent enough, but he was no Cary Grant (who would certainly have turned this script down). Swanson herself is quite good, as are the supporting cast members already mentioned, and there are slightly amusing cameos from Margaret Dumont (who certainly doesn't get enough to do) and Percy Helton. 

As for Ernest Anderson, he plays the role of the intelligent, wise and educated steward with dignity. Anderson also had a good part in In This Our Life. Swanson had only two more theatrical films in her future -- a foreign comedy about Nero and Airport 1975 -- along with a host of TV show guest spots. She did her best to constantly reinvent herself and stay in the public eye. Janine Perreau, another member of the Perreau acting family, is more annoying than cute. 

Verdict: Labored comedy that is easy enough to take but never really gets off the ground. **. 

SEVEN DAYS ASHORE

SEVEN DAYS ASHORE (1944). Director: John H. Auer. 

Daniel Arland (Alan Dinehart) goes to sea engaged to two different women -- Carol (Virginia Mayo) and Lucy (Amelita Ward) -- but his heart really belongs to Annabelle (Elaine Shepard). He has two buddies played by the strikingly mediocre team of dull Wally Brown and the thick-lipped, especially repellent Alan Carney. There's a midget-like girl singer named Dot Diamond (Marcy McGuire) who sings a snappy number now and then. But the most memorable scene in this mostly unmemorable movie is when Margaret Dumont, the Marx Brothers' favorite foil, warbles "Far Over the Waves" and is deliberately awful. 

Verdict: Seven days too many. **.

UP IN ARMS

UP IN ARMS (1944). Director: Elliott Nugent.

Danny Weems (Danny Kaye, in his film debut) is a hopeless hypochondriac who not only thinks he has every ailment imaginable but convinces others as well (in the film's funniest sequences). Danny is also hopelessly smitten with pretty Mary (Constance Dowling) who only has eyes for Danny's buddy, Joe (Dana Andrews of Where the Sidewalk Ends). Meanwhile, nurse Virginia (Dinah Shore of Follow the Boys) is unrequitedly in love with Danny. Then Danny and Joe get drafted and the two gals join up as nurses, wherein all four find themselves on a ship sailing into the Pacific war zone. Up in Arms is supposedly a remake of Eddie Cantor's Whoopee, with the setting transferred from the wild west to WW2, where the sight of singing and dancing on a ship sailing into combat seems pretty silly. Indeed, although the movie starts off quite well, it soon becomes a little too silly, although Kaye is a wonderful performer and emerged a major star after this. Andrews, Dowling and Shore are marvelous support, and Shore gets to sing two memorable numbers, "Wildest Dreams" and "I Had a Man." A very odd sequence occurs when the two men and the two gals are sitting back to back on a bus, carrying on a conversation while pretending (according to military edict) not to know one another, with the result that it appears as if Kaye and Andrews -- and Dowling and Shore -- are wooing one another! The decidedly homophobic reactions from the other passengers, considering the time period, are a little discomfiting! Other cast members include Lyle Talbot (typically bland as a sergeant); Louis Calhern as a colonel; Margaret Dumont [Shake, Rattle and Roll], looking rather slender in a scene in a movie theater lobby; Elisha Cook Jr., Benny Baker, and George Mathews as fellow sailors; and Virginia Mayo as one of the beauteous Goldwyn Girls -- in short order Mayo would be deservedly co-starring with Kaye in several pictures. Constance Dowling (sister of Doris Dowling) was a pretty, perfectly competent actress, somewhat reminiscent of Veronica Lake, who made her debut in this film and made just a few others, often in Italy.

Verdict: Amiable nonsense that has little to do with the actual war. **1/2. 

SHAKE, RATTLE & ROCK

Holloway, Dumbrille, Dumont and Helton

SHAKE, RATTLE & ROCK (1956). Director: Edward L. Cahn.

"Rock 'n' Roll is destroying the youth of our nation."

DJ Gary Nelson (Mike "Touch" Connors) is the host of a teen rock and roll program which inspires the ire of a group of old fogies who are offended by its alleged vulgarity. They form the Society for the Prevention of Rock and Roll and the Corruption of American Youth or SPRACAY. The most interesting thing about the movie is that the members of this group include no less than Margaret Dumont [Little Giant], Douglass Dumbrille, and Percy Helton [The Crooked Way], all of whom are marvelous (Dumbrille is especially wonderful in his comic portrayal, but the others score as well). Unfortunately, while these veterans are aware that they are in a comedy, the same cannot be said for Mike Connors and Lisa Gaye as his girlfriend, who display little skill at humor. As Connor's good right hand, Sterling Holloway [Wild Boys of the Road] is pure camp as an early "Maynard G. Krebs" type. Shake, Rattle & Roll tries to have it both ways by trying to be "serious" at times, but it certainly doesn't work in this picture. The movie displays its own prejudices when it introduces a lisping nerd as the voice of classical music (although even he ends up "rockin'" at the end). Some rock and "swing" movies (from an earlier decade) respected classical and operatic music while celebrating the new type of sounds, while others got defensive and put down classical stuff the same way others derided rock 'n' roll; this is in the latter category. Raymond Hatton is fun as Dumont's hen-pecked but eventually liberated husband, Clarence Kolb plays a judge, and Fats Domino sings a couple of numbers. Much more screen time should have been given to Dumont, who can be very, very funny.

Verdict: Very amusing at times, but the fun eventually peters out and a lot of opportunities for great comedy are muffed. **1/2.

ZOTZ

ZOTZ (1962). Producer/director: William Castle. 

A college professor, Jonathan Jones (Tom Poston), discovers that an ancient coin gives him magical powers, such as the ability to "zap" people with his finger, slow down time, and other things according to the screenwriter's wishes. This awful -- and awfully unfunny movie with exactly one laugh [the mouse with the wig on it] -- was scripted by Ray Russell, who wrote the source material for the films Mr. Sardonicus [one of Castle's better films] and Incubus. Jones is a complete idiot who reads a book as he bicycles to work. It doesn't help that he is portrayed by the utterly bland and dull actor Tom Poston. [Poston later wound up as a panelist on game shows, which made better use of his "talents."] The only good thing about the movie is that Cecil Kellaway and Margaret Dumont of Marx Brothers fame have all-too-brief supporting roles. Leading lady Julia Meade is attractive and more than competent, but her appearance in Zotz did her little good. Although it gets some stiff competition from 13 Frightened Girls, Zotz is probably the worst film William Castle ever made. 

Verdict: Atrocious. 1/2* for the presence of Kellaway and Dumont only.

THE DANCING MASTERS

THE DANCING MASTERS (1943). Director: Malcolm St. Clair.

Laurel and Hardy run a dance studio but are way behind in their bills. They have one wealthy student, Trudy (Trudy Marshall) who's in love with Grant (Robert Bailey), whom her father detests. Hardy tries to make Laurel break his leg so they can collect on an insurance policy, then the two help Grant demonstrate his "invisible" ray gun. A protracted climactic sequence with a runaway bus that winds up on a roller coaster track is frenetic but not very funny, but there are some amusing bits in the film, including an auction for a grandfather clock that ends in disaster. Margaret Dumont is amusing as Trudy's mother, but she hasn't enough to do. Robert Mitchum has a small role as a small time hood selling "insurance" to the boys. Nestor Paiva plays another crook. The script for this picture never really jells, and despite some good moments, it can't be considered one of the better L&H features.

Verdict: Not the boys at their best. **.