GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933

Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell

GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 (1933). Director: Mervyn LeRoy. 

Carol (Joan Blondell), Trixie (Aline MacMahon) and Polly (Ruby Keeler) are roommates and struggling chorus girls. They are excited to learn that Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks) is putting on another show, but disappointed when they discover he has no financial backer. But neighbor Brad (Dick Powell), an aspiring songwriter, says he has dough and wants to invest. Polly, who has a crush on Brad, is convinced that he is a infamous bank robber, but he's actually the wealthy scion of a stuffy Boston family. When Brad's brother Larry (Warren William) mistakes Carol for Polly and tries to buy her off, she decides to string him along while ruthless Trixie -- the oldest and least attractive of the trio -- sets her cap for Larry's lawyer Peabody (Guy Kibbee). Will true love conquer all? On yes, there are songs and dance numbers as well. 

Ginger Rogers and chorus cuties

The production numbers were put together by Busby Berkeley, and they are inventive and engaging (I especially loved the roller-skating baby!). The songs, by Warren and Dubin, include "We're In the Money" (warbled by Ginger Rogers, who plays a friend of the aforementioned trio); "Torch Song," well-sung by the very likable Powell; "Pettin' in the Park;" "In the Shadows;" and "The Forgotten Man." This last number, which is a poignant salute to forgotten and homeless WW1 veterans, adds some depth to an otherwise frothy, mindless movie and wisely ends the film without the usual clinch or upbeat finale. Trixie is a kind of sleazy character but the movie glosses over that. The cast is good and enthusiastic, putting over the material with aplomb. 

Verdict: All this and Powell, too! ***. 

TUGBOAT ANNIE

TUGBOAT ANNIE (1933). Director: Mervyn LeRoy. 

Annie Brennan (Marie Dressler) lives and works on her tugboat, along with her often-drunk and lazy husband, Terry (Wallace Beery), whom she dearly loves. The only thing that comes between them is their son Alec (Robert Young), a successful captain of a luxury liner, who is disgraced by his father's behavior and wants his mother to leave him. This causes an estrangement between son and parents that is painful for all. Tugboat Annie features that swell team Dressler and Beery in top form. (Although Young is okay, he's rather one-note and out-classed in this company). Maureen O'Sullivan is excellent as Alec's girlfriend, and Frankie Darro is fine as Alec as a boy in the earlier scenes. Tugboat Annie and its leads never let you forget the pathos underneath the comedy. The only debit is that the climactic storm-at-sea sequence goes on a little too long, and is a bit confusing as well. 

Verdict: Dressler and Beery at their best. ***.

LITTLE CAESAR

Edward G. Robinson

LITTLE CAESAR (1931). Director: Mervyn Leroy. 

 "Mother of mercy -- is this the end of Rico?" 

 The great Edward G. Robinson became a star with this exciting and entertaining gangster flick. Rico (Robinson) wants to be somebody and have everything while his buddy Joey (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., who comes off convincingly lower-class) just wants to be a dancer. The two should have just gone their separate ways, but Rico seems obsessed with his pal (any homoerotic aspects of this go unexplored). Rico rises in the rackets until he takes over an important gang, and forces his old pal Joey to help him rip off the establishment where he entertains with his girlfriend, Olga (Glenda Farrell). Rico gets bigger and bigger but there are forces conspiring against him ... Robinson is just terrific, and he has a solid supporting cast, including the aforementioned performers as well as Thomas Jackson as Sgt. Flaherty; William Collier Jr. as Tony; and Sidney Blackmer (who had an important role many years later in Rosemary's Baby) as "Big Boy." 

Verdict: Fun to watch Robinson rise and fall. ***1/2.

RANDOM HARVEST

When will he remember? Greer Garson and Ronald Colman

RANDOM HARVEST (1942). Director: Mervyn LeRoy.

Towards the end of WWI, an amnesiac and shell-shocked soldier named "John Smith" (Ronald Colman) is institutionalized in a small British town, but he escapes during the melee when the end of the war is announced. He meets up with a sympathetic music hall entertainer named Paula (Greer Garson), and the two eventually fall in love, get married, and have a child. But when "Smithy" goes to Liverpool for a job interview, he is struck by a taxi and his memory comes back -- he is really a wealthy man named Charles Rainier. Unfortunately, he goes back to his old life with absolutely no recollection of his wife and baby. Will Paula ever be reunited with the man she loves?

Greer Garson 

Random Harvest is based on a novel by James Hilton, and in some ways its story is just as absurd as anything in Lost Horizon. (It's not surprising the movie was spoofed on The Carol Burnett Show. For one thing, the notion that a blow to the head can both cause and cure amnesia is utterly ludicrous.) I haven't read the novel, so I'm not going to blame Hilton for any deficiencies in the screenplay, which he didn't write, but the structure of the film had to be changed from the book. In the novel the true identity of the woman Rainier marries when his memory is restored comes as a surprise.  But before I get to that, I'll examine the film itself and what it offers the viewer.

Susan Peters and Ronald Colman

Random Harvest is essentially a well-produced (MGM) soap opera with fine photography by Joseph Rutternberg, an effective score by Herbert Stothart,  and an excellent cast. Garson is splendid throughout, and Colman, although basically too old for the part, is also first-class. They are matched by Susan Peters [The Sign of the Ram] as Kitty, a young woman who falls for Charles and nearly gets him to the altar. Peters is especially great in a sequence when she looks at Charles, realizes his mind is elsewhere, and that marrying him would be a mistake for both of them. Una O'Connor, Arthur Shields, Arthur Space. Elisabeth Risdon, Reginald Owen, Alan Napier, and Philip Dorn, among others, enrich the supporting cast.

Ronald Colman

SPOILER ALERT: Stop reading if you haven't seen the picture. Random House must be taken with a grain of salt. It works beautifully on an emotional level, and has a moving conclusion, but the fact is that it is so contrived as to be nearly comical. After "Smithy" disappears, Paula tracks him down and begins to work for him under an assumed name. Years go by. Not only does he not recognize her, but he never develops any particular feelings for her. He eventually marries Paula, more as a "merger," as he puts it, than a romantic gesture, because he needs a "good wife." Three years go by during which Paula becomes the perfect hostess and loving wife, yet Charles still doesn't recognize her and still never develops any special feelings for her. Now this begs the question: since Paula is the same person she always was and has the same qualities that drew Charles to her in the first place, why on earth doesn't he fall in love with her all over again? One can argue that it was circumstances that made the difference, but come on! It isn't until he finally remembers her that he realizes he's in love with her. Or does he? (Thank goodness they avoided the cliche of him being hit on the head again.)

Verdict: Well, if you can just suspend disbelief Random Harvest has its rewards. For romantic souls only! ***. 

MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID

Esther Williams with Victor Mature

MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID (1952). Director: Mervyn LeRoy.

Despite having to wear braces on her legs as a child, Australian Annette Kellerman (Esther Williams) becomes a swimming champion, winning race after race, in her native land. After her father, Frederick (Walter Pidgeon of Forbidden Planet),  has to close up his music conservatory, the two of them head for London and better prospects, where a impresario named James Sullivan (Victor Mature of Samson and Delilah) hires Annette to swim the Thames to create publicity for his new acquisition, a boxing kangaroo. But Sullivan's grand plan to have Annette star in a water ballet at New York's famed Hippodrome, may hit a snag.

Walter Pidgeon, Williams, Victor Mature

Million Dollar Mermaid is the fictionalized story of the real Annette Kellermann (with two "n"s), who was actually arrested for indecent exposure at Boston's Revere beach and designed a more stylish one-piece bathing suit for women to wear. The movie invents some other stuff to create a little more drama, such as a love rival for Sullivan in the form of Hippodrome manager Alfred Harper (David Brian), arguments between Annette and James, and an accident on a film set -- Kellermann made several silent movies --  in which a tank in which she's swimming cracks apart and she's severely injured. The performances in this are all quite good from the leads down to the supporting cast. Even Jesse White is more likable than usual as Jame's friend and associate, Doc. Howard Freeman also scores as Mr. Aldrich, who wants to book Annette for a lecture circuit. George Wallace [Radar Men from the Moon] shows up briefly as a stunt pilot.

Don't lose your grip, honey! 

Hired to handle the water ballet production numbers for the film, Busby Berkeley, pulled out all the stops. There are men skiing down a slope while the ladies rush below them in a watery funnel; men and women diving off of swings high in the air and slicing smoothly into the huge pool beneath them; Esther rising up out of the water as she holds on to a ring and dancers do their kaleidoscopic thing far, far  down below her. George J. Folsey's cinematography is excellent throughout the film as well. At one point Annette, who'd planned on becoming a ballet dancer, gushes over Paylova (Maria Tallchief), but Williams' efforts to perform some kind of underwater ballet are relatively pitiful.

Verdict: Entertaining biopic with pleasing performers and that certain MGM gloss.***. 

QVO VADIS

The grandeur that was Rome courtesy of MGM

QVO VADIS (aka Quo Vadis/1951). Director: Mervyn LeRoy.

Marcus Vinicius (Robert Taylor) fights for the glory of Rome and its emperor, Nero (Peter Ustinov). He meets a woman named Lygia (Deborah Kerr) and the attraction is instant. Unfortunately, Lygia is a Christian and can't forget Vinicius' cruel soldier ways. Marcus then decides to enact an old Roman law that has Lygia forcibly taken away from her adoptive parents and brought to Nero's harem, where Marcus knows Nero has agreed to make a gift of her for him. But when Nero decides to blame the Christians for the burning of Rome, Marcus must decide on whose side he is really on, and if love will out. You can certainly quibble about certain aspects of Qvo Vadis, but as simple good story-telling and adept movie making, the picture is really a wonder to behold. Robert Surtees' cinematography is excellent, as are the scenic design, costuming, and matte paintings that make Rome seem even larger than it is. Miklos Rozsa also contributed an evocative score. As for the acting, Peter Ustinov gets the highest honors for his fascinating portrait of the petulant and often child-like, highly neurotic Nero. Kerr comes next, with her usual sensitive thesping, and even Robert Taylor, although certainly not on the level of those two, gives a good performance as Marcus. Leo Genn is fine as Marcus' uncle, although he is too perfunctory during his suicide scene. There are other notable performances from Patricia Laffan [Devil Girl from Mars] as Nero's nasty wife, Poppaea; Abraham Sofaer [Captain Sindbad] as Paul; Rosalie Crutchley [Blood from the Mummy's Tomb] as Acte, who loves Nero and runs his harem for him; Marina Berti as Eunice, a slave who adores her master, Marcus' uncle (the two have a moving death scene together); little Peter Miles [Roseanna McCoy] as young Nazarius, whose mother is killed when Rome burns to the ground; among others. Highlights of the well-directed film are the aforementioned burning of Rome; and the horrifying scenes of Christians being fed to the lions. There is a pre-Ben-Hur chariot battle, as well. Historians are still arguing over how accurate the assessments of Nero have been, so this picture must be taken with a grain of salt on that score.

Verdict: Almost as magnificent as Rome itself, and with its flaws as well, but this is splendid movie-making. ****.

MADAME CURIE

Greer Garson

MADAME CURIE (1943). Director: Mervyn LeRoy.

"Four long years in this shed!"

A young Polish woman named Marie (Greer Garson) comes to France to study and is introduced to a scientist, Pierre Curie (Walter Pidgeon), who will have great impact on her life. Although the early sections of the movie are a little tedious with all the scientific jargon, eventually Madame Curie builds up interest and an emotional current. After her marriage to Pierre, Marie is convinced that she has discovered a new active element, radium, and Pierre drops his own research to assist her. In a poorly heated, leaky shed the two spend years trying to isolate this element, performing literally thousands of experiments, and even then seem to be met with failure... There is a certain amount of dramatic license taken, time and events juggled, altered and compressed, but the basic facts are there, and the movie is well-done and well-acted, especially by a marvelous Garson. Pidgeon, though never in her league, is better than usual. Robert Walker has a small role as Pierre's lab assistant, and Van Johnson has practically a bit as a reporter who interviews Marie when she is on vacation. Madame Curie is decidedly a woman of historical and scientific importance for many reasons, although nowadays the practical uses of radium are rather limited. [She also discovered polonium, named after her native Poland.]

Verdict: Garson is always watchable. ***. 

THE DEVIL AT 4 O'CLOCK

Spencer Tracy

THE DEVIL AT 4 O'CLOCK (1961). Director: Mervyn LeRoy.

"I bet you were a sweet little altar boy." -- Father Doonan [Spencer Tracy].

"Weren't we all?" -- Harry [Frank Sinatra].

Three convicts -- Harry (Frank Sinatra), Marcel (Gregoire Aslan) and Charlie (Bernie Hamilton) -- on their way to a Tahitian prison, have to stop over on the island of Talua so their plane can drop off Father Perreau (Kerwin Mathews). Perreau is there to replace cantankerous, alcoholic Father Doonan (Spencer Tracy), who has angered the islanders by building a hospital for children with Hansen's disease (leprosy) in the mountains. When the island is threatened by earthquakes and an erupting volcano, Doonan takes the convicts with him to rescue the children and the hospital staff. From there they make a perilous journey down the mountain, past thickening lava flows, that not all of them will survive. The characters and situations are so interesting that it doesn't matter that the harrowing action doesn't occur until late in the movie, and the fine performances from most of the cast help as well. Columbia has put together such a first-rate remastered high-def DVD of this film that sometimes the FX seams [process work and matte paintings] show through, but there are still some stunning vistas. Unlike the more realistic hardened convicts you generally find in today's movies, Sinatra and company are men of some convenient strength and sensitivity. The piousness sometimes threatens to become cloying but never overwhelms the movie, and dissenting viewpoints are also presented. Tracy is superb, with fine support from Hamilton [who deserved a much bigger career], Aslan, Alexander Scourby as the governor, and Cathy Lewis as hospital worker Marguerite. Jean-Pierre Aumont and Tom Middleton are fine as the pilots, as is Barbara Luna as a blind girl at the hospital. Even in this, Sinatra, who isn't bad, gets the girl -- or does he? The film isn't entirely predictable in who will make it off the island or not.

Verdict: This movie is not a disaster. ***.

EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE

Nancy Davis [Reagan] and Barbara Stanwyck

EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE (1949). Director: Mervyn LeRoy.

"Just because a man has one perfect rose at home, doesn't mean he can't appreciate the flowers of the field."

"I waited so long for you to come back to me. I never dreamed that when you did, I wouldn't care."

Jesssie Bourne (Barbara Stanwyck) is convinced that her husband Brandon (James Mason) is over his infatuation with former lover Isabel Lorrison (Ava Gardner), now that she's out of town, but when Isabel comes back wanting more, Jessie worries that she might lose him. In the meantime Jessie finds herself drawn to a sympathetic admirer in former cop Mark Dwyer (Van Heflin) who is being courted by newspaper publishers. Lovely Cyd Charisse [The Unfinished Dance] is Rosa, who befriends the Bournes and had a childhood crush on Mark. Nancy Davis -- later the first lady when husband Ronald Reagan became president -- plays Jessie's friend Helen and isn't bad. Douglas Kennedy of Flaxy Martin is a wealthy suitor of Isabel's and Beverly Michaels of Wicked Woman and Blonde Bait is both saucy and sexy as the "big girl" [Michaels was five foot nine] who's carrying a torch for Kennedy. Presumably Gale Sondergaard [The Spider Woman Strikes Back] wasn't thrilled to be cast as Stanwyck's mother when she was only eight years older [and has to say she's fifty-five when she was actually only fifty] but she's as adept as usual. William Conrad of TV's Jake and the Fat Man and Cry Danger plays a cop. William Frawley has a bit part as a bartender, but in two years he would become as famous as the stars when he was cast as Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy. East Side, West Side had real possibilities as a serious drama -- and the script is full of good dialogue -- but ultimately it's too superficial and frankly dull. Stanwyck, Mason, Heflin, and even Gardner are better than the material.

Verdict: There's certainly more to Manhattan than this. **1/2.

TWO SECONDS

TWO SECONDS (1932). Director: Mervyn LeRoy.

High rise worker John Allen (Edward G. Robinson) is about to be executed for murder, and the entire film is a flashback detailing the events that led up to this in the "two seconds" it takes him to die. Allen marries a dance hall girl, Shirley (Vivienne Osborne), while he's drunk, and she proves to be a shrew of the first rank. This brings John into conflict with his best friend and former roommate, Bud (Preston Foster), leading to a horrific tragedy. But things, if possible, get worse ... Robinson gives a ferociously superb performance in this [although it's quite odd that he appears almost drunk in the courtroom/sentencing scene]. J. Carroll Naish offers yet another of his excellent portrayals as Tony, and Osborne's performance certainly has bite. Guy Kibbee has a small role as well.

Verdict: Not exactly great drama but the acting is terrific. **1/2.

THREE ON A MATCH

THREE ON A MATCH (1932). Director: Mervyn LeRoy.

Three schoolmates run into each other a few years later and their lives intersect. Joan Blondell is Mary; Bette Davis is Ruth; and Ann Dvorak is Vivian. Although Vivian has a cute little boy and a loving, wealthy husband, she's bored and goes off on a vacation where she meets a new man -- and begins a downward spiral to ruin. Lyle Talbot, Warren William, and Humphrey Bogart are also in the cast; young Sidney Miller is fine as Willie Goldberg. Three on a Match is not without its interesting moments, but the material is essentially second-rate. Dvorak proved what an excellent actress she was in such films as Housewife, Girls of the Road, The Long Night, and especially A Life of Her Own.

Verdict: How the rich suffer when money isn't enough! **.

THE BAD SEED

THE BAD SEED (1956). Director: Mervyn LeRoy. 

Horrifying and fascinating study of a woman, Christine Penmark (Nancy Kelly), who slowly begins to realize that her 8-year-old daughter Rhoda (Patty McCormack, pictured) is what today we would call a sociopath, someone born without a conscience, and that she may have been responsible for the deaths of more than one person, including a little boy whose penmanship medal she coveted. Although at first the film (based on a play, which itself was based on William March's novel) is a bit stagy and the acting a little too broad, eventually it becomes more and more intense, the acting fitting the out-sized emotions of the characters. Patty McCormack is wonderful as the loathsome Rhoda, and Nancy Kelly has some very strong moments as she etches a portrait of a woman facing a prospect so unthinkable that it is enough to drive her insane -- which it nearly does. Eileen Heckart almost walks off with the movie in two shattering scenes as the heartbroken and drunken mother of the dead little boy -- her performance is so strong and true that it's almost hard to watch. The ever-weird Henry Jones gives one of his best performances as the doomed handyman Leroy Jessup. There are also notable performances from Evelyn Varden as Christine's landlady and Paul Fix as her writer-father. William Hopper is certainly out-classed in this company but he has only a couple of appearances as Rhoda's father. While the link of "madness" with heredity is compelling, it's also the most dated aspect of the production. LeRoy's direction of the piece is competent, but it's the acting and script that put this over. One can only imagine what this might have been like with Alfred Hitchcock at the helm! McCormack continued acting well into adulthood, appearing in such films as Mommy and Shallow Ground. The film's comic postscript is regrettable. 

Verdict: Surprisingly powerful stuff. ***1/2.

FIVE STAR FINAL

FIVE STAR FINAL (1931). Director: Mervyn LeRoy.

To drum up circulation a newspaper does a story on a woman who, twenty years before, murdered a man who knocked her up and refused to marry her. She was acquitted, married someone else, and now has a daughter who is engaged to a society fellow -- the daughter has no idea that her mother murdered her biological father. When the story breaks, there are serious repercussions in the family. This is the kind of dull, self-righteous drama that falls flat on its face due to its superficiality and ludicrous contrivances. Edward G. Robinson is lively as the editor who becomes disgusted with it all, and Aline MacMahon scores as his secretary. Boris Karloff offers an interesting performance as a weirdo reporter. H.B. Warner and Frances Starr are very effective as Mr and Mrs. Townsend, the doomed murderess and her husband, but Marian Marsh overacts as their daughter, Jenny. The picture moves fast but isn't very absorbing.

STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM. No one ever makes the point that, even if the murdered man were a stinker, he didn't deserve to die, nor is the point made that Mrs. Townsend murdered her child's father. It's just accepted that homicide was somehow the only solution to her problem! Mrs. Townsend commits suicide, leaving her daughter, and the man who stood by her all those years, to fend for themselves, and Mr. Townsend, after finding his wife's body, also commits suicide, leaving the daughter he raised to face the music by herself! We're supposed to feel sorry for such utterly self-centered people? Talk about lousy parents! At the end of film Jenny blames the newspaper for the suicides, and even -- a chip off the old block -- pulls out a gun and tries to shoot them -- ridiculous! Five Star Final wants to engage the emotions but it certainly never engages the intellect. A script with much more depth might have helped this to amount to something.

Verdict: Even Eddie can't save this stinker. *.