A DISTANT TRUMPET

Suzanne Pleshette and Troy Donahue

A DISTANT TRUMPET (1964). Director: Raoul Walsh.

"Burning while Rome fiddles?"

Lt. Matt Hazard (Troy Donahue) is sent from the graduating class at West Point to Fort Delivery in Arizona. Doing things by the book, he whips the soldiers into shape -- to their dissatisfaction. When a merchant, Seely Jones (Claude Akins), offering booze and women to the troops, shows up, Hazard contrives to get rid of him. Although he has a fiancee, Laura (Diane McBain), back east -- who eventually appears -- Hazard is romantically drawn to Kitty (Suzanne Pleshette), who is married to Captain Mainwaring (William Reynolds). In addition to a love triangle and resentful soldiers, Hazard has to deal with Indian troubles in the person of Chief War Eagle (uncredited) -- and the U.S. Army itself, which may go back on its promises to Native Americans.

When Ladies Meet: Pleshette with McBain

A Distant Trumpet, the last film for director Raoul Walsh, was excoriated by critics when it was released, and star Troy Donahue along with it. In truth, the picture, although certainly not a forgotten classic, is not terrible and neither is Donahue. Although still a bit stiff in quieter scenes, Donahue plays the lieutenant in an authoritative fashion and has a commanding presence. The two ladies give good performances if only on a soap opera level; McBain is stronger than expected, and Pleshette not as good as one might have hoped. (She was married to Donahue for a grand total of nine months!) All of the leads are a bit too contemporary in style. William Reynolds is good as Mainwaring but he disappears too quickly.

Donahue with James Gregory

Others in the cast are more memorable: Although a trifle too pompous at times, James Gregory scores as General Quaint, who goes to bat for Hazard when he confronts the Secretary of War (Kent Smith) over the treatment of the Indians. Claude Akins is flavorful as the ever-scheming Jones. Larry Ward is effective as the undisciplined Sgt. Krogur, as is Bobby Bare as the alleged deserter Crenshaw. Lane Bradford makes an impression as the nasty Indian-hating Major Miller, who gets a sock in the jaw from Hazard for his trouble. 

Hazard at West Point

A Distant Trumpet can be classified as one of those movies that is good enough that you wish it had been better. Walsh turns in an adept directorial job that keeps things moving and Max Steiner's score, especially the martial theme, is excellent, embellishing every sequence. William H. Clothier contributed the sweeping Panavision cinematography. But A Distant Trumpet is still unsatisfying, probably due to the weaknesses of the script, some unlikable characters (although Hazard is a bit redeemed at the end), and the lack of a dramatic climax. 

Verdict: Reasonably entertaining Western that looks good and has some interesting sequences. **3/4. 

ESTHER AND THE KING

ESTHER AND THE KING (1960). Director: Raoul Walsh.  

King Ahasuerus (Richard Egan of Wicked Woman) of Persia returns home from battle and rewards Simon (Rik Battaglia of Raw Wind in Eden), who saved his life, with a symbolic sword. Simon is engaged to Esther (Joan Collins of Land of the Pharaohs), the beautiful niece of adviser Mordecai (Denis O'Day). The faithless Queen Vashti (Daniela Rocca), the lover of the evil Prince Haman (Sergio Fantoni of Diabolically Yours), is kicked out on her keester while the search is on for a new queen. Wouldn't you know that Esther would be one of the women rounded up by barbaric soldiers, and that the king would find her most comely? Although still in love with Simon, Esther does feel great admiration for the king, and goes along with it when Mordecai tells her what good she can do for her people, the Jews, if she becomes the new queen. But Haman and his ally, the brutal Klydrathes (Renato Baldini), won't take this lying down.  

Richard Egan and Joan Collins

Loosely based on the biblical story (which itself is not really based on historical facts) Esther presents a compelling situation and tangled love story but the execution is only fair-to-middling. Essentially an Italian production filmed in Rome and with an all-Italian cast (aside from the two leads), it has that low-budget look despite some impressive crowd sequences and advancing armies. Although not the best casting in either case, Egan and Collins give good enough performances, although Sergio Fantoni steals the movie with his skillful and sinister turn as the ever-plotting Haman. Handsome Rik Battaglia as Esther's original lover also causes one to wonder which man our sweet Esther will ultimately wind up with. 

Caught between two loves: Collins with Rik Battaglia

Daniela Rocca sizzles a bit as the disloyal queen who tries to win over her husband's favor with a sexy court dance (supposedly done not by Rocca but a dancer), and Rosalba Neri also scores as another one of Haman's lovers, Keresh, who steals a golden cape given to Esther by the eunuch Hegai (Walter Williams) and winds up strangled in Esther's place. Mario Bava, later best-known as a horror filmmaker, did the cinematography, and there is an interesting score by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino and Roberto Nicolosi. 

Verdict: By no means a terrible movie, but you may wish a Ray Harryhausen monster would show up now and then. **1/2. 

BAND OF ANGELS

Clark Gable and Yvonne De Carlo

BAND OF ANGELS (1957). Director: Raoul Walsh.

In Kentucky in the 1880's, Amantha Starr (Yvonne De Carlo) discovers after her father's death that her mother was a slave, she is mulatto (although that term is never used), and she has lost everything, including her father's plantation, to his creditors. She is sold into slavery and acquired for $5000 by the wealthy Hamish Bond (Clark Gable), who treats his slaves with more kindness than others. But Rau-Ru (Sidney Poitier), whom Bond has raised like a son, feels that no amount of kindness can make up for his not being free. Rumblings from up North indicate that the so-called glory days of the South may just about be over.

Sidney Poitier and Carolle Drake

Band of Angels is based on a novel by Robert Penn Warren (All the King's Men), and it had to be much, much better than this film version, which is more along the lines of a Clark Gable Retread of Gone With the Wind than anything else. The shame of it is that there is plenty of provocative material in here, but the picture is a morally ambiguous mish mash that throws scenes at the viewer without any great coherency or momentum. One wishes that many of the characters, especially the black characters, had been better developed.

Amantha sets herself apart from her people

The treatment of racism is also comparatively trivialized and confused, to put it mildly. On the one hand, the film focuses on an interracial relationship (although both characters are played by white actors). On the other hand, Amantha spends most of the movie denying her heritage. Gable's character is also problematic, a slave trader who supposedly buys up slaves to keep them out of the hands of nastier owners out of guilt over his former actions. He mentions the real-life African King Gezo, who sold his own people, but this hardly excuses the actions of white slave traders. In Warren's book Bond comes to a much more satisfying end than he does in the movie.

Gable's performance is professional but comparatively passionless, while De Carlo is somewhat better. Notable in smaller roles are Andrea King as a supposed friend of Amamtha's, Rex Reason [This Island Earth] as a minister-turned-soldier who falls for Amantha, and Torin Thatcher [The 7th Voyage of Sinbad] as an old comrade of Bond's. Sidney Poitier gives the best performance in the film as the servant-son who becomes an understandably vengeful sergeant in the Union Army, and there is also good work from Carolle Drake as Michelle, another servant who seems to love Bond unconditionally. (Ms.) Tommie Moore plays another servant, Dolly, as if she thought she were appearing in an operetta! Robert Clarke and Ann Doran show up in bits and Patrick Knowles plays another plantation owner who nearly has a duel with Gable. Lucien Ballard's cinematography is first-rate, as usual, but Max Steiner's score can in no way be compared to his fine work on Gone With the Wind and other films.

Verdict: Patronizing and contrived, with an interesting plot pretty much muffed. **.

THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE

James and Olivia

THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE (1941). Director: Raoul Walsh.

In old time New York, Biff Grimes (James Cagney) is a struggling dentist with a wife, Amy (Olivia de Havilland). He gets word that there's a man, Hugo Barnstead (Jack Carson), who has such a severe toothache that he needs to come by on a Sunday and he can name his price. When Biff finds out who his patient is, his mind goes back to years ago. Most of the film consists of a a long flashback that explains why he has good reason to hate the man. Will Hugo get a lethal dose of laughing gas? The Strawberry Blonde is an odd comedy-drama with scenes of low comedy blended not so felicitously with more dramatic ones, and coming up short as a whole. The acting helps put it over: Cagney. playing yet another rather unsympathetic character, is full of his trademark bluster and charisma. De Havilland [Libel] is lovely and generally expert in her portrayal of the woman that Biff first despises. Scoring very big is Rita Hayworth [Salome] as Virginia, the woman Biff had originally wanted but who was stolen by Hugo; as a married couple who hate each other both Hayworth and Carson [The Groom Wore Spurs] are very effective, with the former giving a particularly adept performance (there's more to Hayworth than just sex appeal).Alan Hale, Una O'Connor, and George Reeves are also good as Biff's father, a neighbor lady, and a college boy that Biff has a quarrel with. A big problem with Blonde is that there are just too many really stupid moments, many of them consisting of scenes crafted to show off Cagney's aging tough guy image, including a ridiculous scene when he beats up several college boys at once -- sure! Since most of the film takes place some years in the past, Cagney at 42 is too old to be entirely convincing in the role as well. Still, the movie is fast-paced and unpredictable, and does have a few funny scenes, such as the Grimes and Barnsteads first encounter with spaghetti at the dinner table. The film's main strength is in how it gets across how relationships can turn out far differently than you expected, and in how one's heartbreak over another, initially devastating, often turns out to be the best thing that could have happened. This is a remake of One Sunday Afternoon, with Gary Cooper playing Biff. A musical version in 1948 cast Dennis Morgan as Biff! Raoul Walsh directed that version as well.

Verdict: A little too odd but certainly different. **1/2.

A LION IS IN THE STREETS

Barbara Hale and James Cagney

A LION IS IN THE STREETS (1953). Director: Raoul Walsh.

In the Louisiana backwoods, Hank Martin (James Cagney) drives his truck around selling all manner of goods to his neighbors. He meets and marries schoolteacher Verity (Barbara Hale) and takes her to his shack -- but he doesn't intend to stay there for long. Hank is convinced that Robert Castleberry (Larry Keating) is short-weighting the cotton brought to his plant and cheating the farmers, a charge strongly denied by Castleberry, creating an incident that leads to more than one death. Then Hank gets it into his head to run for governor, and makes a deal with the devil. Meanwhile his pregnant wife is unaware that Hank has turned the young woman with a crush on him, Flamingo (Anne Francis), into his mistress. This will not end well. In fact, the ending to the movie is the best thing about the picture (literally and figuratively) and perhaps Cagney's only really good acting in the film. It almost seems as if Cagney thinks that if he hollers, blusters and rages enough it will make the audience forget how utterly unconvincing the film is as a whole. A rage that might be appropriate for a gangster doesn't work at all for Hank Martin, and it's one of Cagney's rare forgettable performances. On the other hand, Barbara Hale [Perry Mason] is lovely and convincing as Verity, and Anne Francis also shines as Flamingo, and there are notable turns from Keating [When Worlds Collide]; John McIntire [Shadow on the Wall] as Jeb; and Warner Anderson as Jules. Also in the cast are Cagney's sister, Jeanne, as Jeb's wife; Lon Chaney Jr.; Ellen Corby; Onslow Stevens as a lawyer; and Sara Haden, although I didn't spot her and she seems to have no lines. The wildest scene in the movie has Flamingo trying to feed Verity to a pack of alligators out of jealousy! Franz Waxman's discordant score seems to fit, but can't help, this oddball and unmemorable movie. Apparently Walsh cut out the last third of Luthor Davis' screenplay and came up with a new finale. You also sense that several scenes, especially those pertaining to the relationship between Hank and Flamingo, were left on the cutting room floor. Similar material was already covered in the 1949 All the King's Men.

Verdict: Cagney, shamelessly chewing the scenery, is almost a parody of himself in this. **.

ON THE GOOD SHIP HOLLYWOOD: JOHN AGAR

ON THE GOOD SHIP HOLLYWOOD. John Agar, as told to L. C. Van Savage. BearManor Media; 2007.

There are actors who never quite attain the top rank of Hollywood stars yet become familiar due to the many roles they play over the years or the fact that they appear in certain beloved, or at least, popular movies or cult films. The late John Agar certainly fits into that category, because of the westerns he appeared in (for some movie fans) or the science fiction/monster movies he starred in (for others). To B movie lovers Agar is probably best-known for Tarantula, The Revenge of the Creature, and the zesty Brain from Planet Arous, in which he delivered a lively performance, among others. Agar also had featured roles in "A" productions directed by the likes of John Ford and Raoul Walsh (Along the Great Divide). Agar basically fell into acting (his family had been in the meat-packing business) because of people he met when he was married to Shirley Temple. (He was 22 when he started dating her at 15!) Agar was apparently never able to have any kind of relationship with the daughter that resulted from this union, which ended in divorce, but he did adopt two sons with his second wife, Loretta. (His great-aunt Edna was the lead character in Greer Garson's Blossoms in the Dust, and the foundation she began helped with these adoptions.) Agar developed a serious drinking problem and his occasional falls off the wagon got him fired from jobs both in and out of show business. Agar made out better than most supporting players/"B" movie stars in that he did develop a fan following that existed up until his old age instead of being forgotten. This is hardly an in-depth autobiography, but it does touch all the major bases and makes a good read.

Verdict: From planet Earth, not Arous. ***.

A PRIVATE'S AFFAIR

A PRIVATE'S AFFAIR (1959). Director: Raoul Walsh.

Luigi (Sal Mineo), Jerry (Barry Coe) and Mike (Gary Crosby) are all drafted, become buddies, and wind up being tapped to sing a silly song about the Army on a TV show hosted by Jim Gordon (Jim Backus), an Ed Sullivan type. The only really interesting development comes when Jerry, in the hospital for laryngitis, accidentally winds up getting married to the Assistant Secretary of the Army. This might have been even more interesting had the assistant secretary been a man, but the AS is actually named Elizabeth Chapman (Jessie Royce Landis). Jerry does his best to get this situation rectified despite the Army's red tape. The developments might have been amusing had Chapman been what today we would call a cougar, but she's just a nice, perfectly dull middle-aged lady. The performances are acceptable, but this is the kind of essentially foolish and unfunny semi-musical that does nothing for anyone's career, and even drags in (admittedly adorable) chimpanzees just for a couple of brief giggles. Barbara Eden, Terry Moore, and Christine Carere are the pretty ladies that the boys sort of get involved with. Mineo's character of Luigi and the voice inflection he uses for him are rather irritating. The big production number near the end features a few bosomy wenches.

Verdict: You wonder why anyone who actually read the script thought this would make a good movie. *.