DUFFY'S TAVERN

Ed Gardner

DUFFY'S TAVERN (1945). Director: Hal Walker.

Archie (Ed Gardner), the manager of the old-fashioned saloon Duffy's tavern, has hired 14 soldiers as waiters in the owner's absence because the record factory where they worked has closed down. O'Malley (Victor Moore) tries to raise money to reopen the factory but the bank won't extend him credit. His daughter, Peggy (Marjorie Reynolds of Up in Mabel's Room), meets and falls for one of the out of work soldiers, Danny (Barry Sullivan), not knowing that Archie is in love with her. Archie finally gets the idea of getting celebrities from a nearby hotel to put on a show and raise the needed capital. Archie acts as master of ceremonies, introducing sketches and song numbers with such guest artists as Betty Hutton, Brian Donlevy, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, and other performers from Paramount studios. 

Billy DeWolfe, Bing, and Betty Hutton

I can imagine how the public must have felt back in 1945 when they went to see a film allegedly starring Bing Crosby, and Der Bingle doesn't even show up until after 80 minutes into the running time! Instead we are treated to dull alleged comedy from Ed Gardner and Victor Moore, one of the unfunniest pairings in film history. Gardner had starred in the radio show Duffy's Tavern, and this picture was a film adaptation; ten years later Gardner starred in a TV sitcom of the same title. Based on his performance in this movie, I can see why Gardner has been completely forgotten -- he also contributed to the largely unfunny screenplay. He might be better known as Shirley Booth's first husband. 

Buck-toothed and brassy: Cass Daley

The last third of the film is somewhat of an improvement although much of it is also nearly unwatchable. Betty Hutton hollers her way through one number, and her less attractive clone Cass Daley (of Red Garters) also screams through a similar number -- both women lamenting the lack of interest they inspire in men. (The question is did Hutton rip off Daley or vice versa?) A terrific dance team temporarily lifts the audience's spirits and there's a quick, mildly amusing sketch with Paulette Goddard, Sonny Tufts, and Brian Donlevy.  The finale features Bing Crosby, first in a cute bio of his life with special guest-stars, and then his rendition of "Swingin' on a Star" with Dorothy Lamour and others joining in. The other generally forgettable songs are by Burke and van Heusen. This is one of the worst of the all-star studio films. Star Spangled Rhythm was a far superior Paramount compendium. 

Verdict: Put on any show but this one! **. 

THE GLASS KEY

Alan Ladd

THE GLASS KEY (1942). Director: Stuart Heisler. 

Politician Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy), essentially a crook, is trying to clean up his reputation for re-election by going after hood Nick Varna (Joseph Calleia). Paul has formed an alliance with wealthy Ralph Henry (Moroni Olsen), and also fallen in love with Henry's daughter, Janet (Veronica Lake). Meanwhile Paul's sister, Opal (Bonita Granville), is head over heels for Janet's brother, Taylor (Richard Denning), a gambling addict with serious debts. Paul's associate and best friend, Ed Beaumont (Alan Ladd), stumbles across Taylor's dead body, and wonders if Paul, who hated Taylor and his influence over his sister, could possibly be responsible. Apparently both Opal and Janet think that he is. The truth may be a little more complicated.

Ladd and Lake

Based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett, The Glass Key is a reasonably absorbing but rather unpleasant bit of film noir. For one thing, there isn't a single really likable major character; even the hero played by Ladd is a creep. Ladd is as swell at the hardboiled routine as anyone, but he never quite comes off as a real person. He's handsome, but almost as bland and artificial as a Ken doll. Brian Donlevy is as good and forceful as ever, but it's a typically brusque and bristling Donlevy performance like he gives in virtually every movie, including The Creeping Unknown. Similarly Joseph Calleia is excellent in his very familiar gangster role. Veronica Lake has been seen to better advantage in other movies (such as I Married a Witch). 

"Let's have a drink." William Bendix with Ladd

Part of the problem is that the characters in this are mostly one-dimensional and the actors can't do enough to flesh them out. One exception is William Bendix, who honestly steals the movie as the sadistic gunsel who nearly beats Ed to death. Bendix also has a splendid scene, again with Ladd, when they sort of share a drink together as a semi-drunken Bendix tells Ladd what horrible things he's going to do to him. It's not in the script, but Bendix makes this miserable character come alive and almost makes your flesh crawl. (Why Ed would want to be anywhere near the psychopath who put him in the hospital is another question.) Before he became the lovable hero of TV's Life of Riley, Bendix frequently played distinctly malevolent characters and played them superbly.

Tramp and Dickhead: Margaret Hayes and Ladd

A tip of the hat also must go to Margaret Hayes, who briefly plays Eloise Matthews, the trampy wife of a newspaper publisher who makes a play for Ladd right in front of the man after she learns her hubby is flat broke. A true gentleman -- not -- Ladd fervently responds to her sexual entreaties. Again, even with this character being played by the pleasant and inoffensive- looking Ladd it can't disguise what an utter dickhead Ed is! Others in the cast include Frances Gifford as a friendly nurse; Donald MacBride as the easily-influenced district attorney; and Billy Benedict as an office boy. Bonita Granville does a nice job as the grieving girlfriend of the dead Denning.

Verdict: If ever a "hero" didn't deserve a happy ending! **1/4. 

I MARRIED A WITCH

Veronica Lake and Fredric March

I MARRIED A WITCH (1942). Director: Rene Clair.

In the 17th century, the witch Jennifer and her father Daniel are burned at the stake (off-screen), but not before Jennifer places a curse on the family of her chief accuser, Jonathan Wooley (Fredric March): "Each Wooley must marry the wrong woman." A series of funny vignettes illustrates how the curse is working until we are 270 years into the future, and Wallace Wooley (also March), who is running for governor, is about to marry his attractive if harpy-like fiancee, Estelle (Susan Hayward), on election day. A bolt of lightning hits the tree under which the remains of Jennifer and Daniel are buried, and their spirits are immediately freed.

Cecil Kellaway

Eventually father and daughter get bodies (the logistics of this are glossed over), with Jennifer emerging as Veronica Lake and Daniel materializing in the form of Cecil Kellaway [The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms]. Daniel believes that Jennifer had the right idea with her curse, but that it would be better if she made Wallace fall in love with her and then reject him, causing a lifetime of pain. But when she prepares a love potion, she accidentally drinks it herself. Soon father and daughter are pitted against one another as Jennifer fights even harder to get Wally away from Estelle and Daniel has trouble causing mischief because he can't remember the words to his spells. All havoc breaks out during a wedding ceremony, and there are even more complications after that.

Robert Benchley and Fredrick March

I Married a Witch boasts a very funny script and excellent performances, with March (who not only plays Wallace but all of his ancestors) proving a very adept comedian. But Lake is no slouch -- she not only gets across the kittenish sexiness of her character, but successfully plumbs the vulnerabilities and insecurities of Jennifer. Susan Hayward is cast in the thankless role of foil and straight woman, but she delivers, and there are fine turns by Elizabeth Patterson as Wally's scandalized housekeeper; Robert Benchley [Nice Girl?] as Wally's pal; Robert Warwick as Estelle's apoplectic father; and -- right up there with March and Lake -- Kellaway in his impish yet malevolent portrait of the quirkily sinister warlock, Daniel. Rene Clair also directed And Then There Were None.

Verdict: Black comedies like this either work beautifully or they don't work at all. This one works every step of the way. The hilarious wedding sequence is alone worth the price of admission. ***1/2. 

STAR SPANGLED RHYTHM

Dick Powell and Mary Martin

STAR SPANGLED RHYTHM (1942). Director: George Marshall.

"I just can't make it tonight -- Veronica Lake is going to show me her other eye. " -- Bob Hope.

In this all-star Paramount wartime picture, the main plot has to do with Johnny Webster (Eddie Bracken), a sailor on leave who comes to Hollywood with his buddies. Eddie's father was once "Bronco Billy" Webster (Victor Moore of Carolina Blues), star of silent pictures, but is now reduced to being a guard at the studio gate. Ashamed of this comedown, Billy has lied to his son and told him that he is head of the studio! Eddie's girlfriend, Polly (Betty Hutton of the "craptastic" Betty Hutton Show), helps "Pop" put over the deception but needs some big help from the stars when Pop foolishly promises that his Paramount stars will put on a show for the sailor boys ... Star Spangled Rhythm has some slow stretches -- the whole second half consists almost entirely of acts, including one stop-the-movie-dead skit where four men play poker as if they were women -- but it also has its share of delights, including a hilarious bit when Polly enlists the aid of two men to help her get over the wall of the Paramount studio. Dick Powell and Mary Martin and an uncredited black group (the Mills Brothers?) do an excellent "Dreamtime" number on a train; there's a splendid and rather sexy production number called "Swing Shift" in a factory; and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson stars in another vibrant and all-Black dance number called "Sharp as a Tack." Dorothy Lamour, Veronica Lake, and Paulette Goddard spoof their images in "Sweater, Sarong, and Peekaboo Bang," and Sterling Holloway [Shake, Rattle & Rock], Walter Catlett and Arthur Treacher play the same ladies in drag. William Bendix has a funny shower scene with Bob Hope. Bracken, Hutton, and Moore are all on the money; Walter Abel scores as the real studio head, as does Anne Revere as his secretary; and Cecil B. Demille proves a perfectly adept actor playing himself. Cass Daley does her weird shtick, buck teeth and all. George Marshall keeps the pace fast and makes things visually interesting as well.

Verdict: Enjoyable romp. ***.

FLASH ... AND FLESH!

Charles Middleton and Buster Crabbe

FLASH .. AND FLESH.

This is another, somewhat unusual, "theme" week for Great Old Movies, focusing on movies revolving around the words "flash" and "flesh." Naturally we've got the third and last Flash Gordon serial, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, and the 1980 motion picture Flash Gordon, not to mention a whole book on the Flash Gordon serials. Then we've got the TV series based on the comic book exploits of the super-hero The Flash. As for "flesh," we've got Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Boyer, among others, in Flesh and Fantasy, not to mention Veronica Lake in her final film, Flesh Feast. Combining both Flash and Flesh, we've got the 1974 parody film Flesh Gordon.

Now who could ask for more?

FLESH FEAST

Veronica Lake

FLESH FEAST (1970). Director: Brad F. Grinter. Co-produced by Veronica Lake.

Newspaper man Ed Casey (Phil Philbin) hires a woman named Kristine (Heather Hughes) to play nurse in order to infiltrate a compound run by a mysterious doctor named Elaine Frederick (Veronica Lake). Dr. Frederick plans to use flesh-eating maggots on certain patients in order to give them a highly unusual (and totally improbable) face lift. The first patient is Max Bauer (Chris Martell), who looks like a million bucks after "surgery" but who has unfortunate anti-social tendencies, to say the least. Dr. Frederick has certain unexpected plans for the next patient in the lurid if satisfying finale. Jose (Bill Rogers) is a kind of hit man who falls for a pretty young nurse also working in the compound. Dr. Frederick reports to the leader of a group of revolutionaries who turn out to be Nazis. An interesting early scene has an associate of Casey's being killed by a broom with a knife on the end of it as he sits in a phone booth. Flash Feast is probably not Lake's worst movie; it holds the attention and some of the acting, including Lake's, is perfectly okay. Although not unattractive, Lake [Bring on the Girls] looks older than her 47 years due to heavy drinking and was dead three years later. This was her last movie. Brad F. Grinter also co-directed Blood  Freak, which was much, much worse than this.

Verdict: And you thought botox was bad! **1/2 out of 4.

BRING ON THE GIRLS

BRING ON THE GIRLS (1945). Director: Sidney Lanfield.

"You're a real tin horn. First you tried to buy me off and now you're trying love. Well, that won't work, either."

J. Newport Bates (Eddie Bracken), who has twenty million dollars, is sick of people liking him just because he's rich, so he joins the Navy incognito with Phil (Sonny Tufts) as a kind of chaperon. Just his luck to run into a gold digger, Teddy (Veronica Lake), on his first night out, although Sonny, who was once involved with Teddy, mistakenly thinks his charge has actually fallen for society singer Sue (Marjorie Reynolds). There are a few complications before everything is worked out. Sonny Tufts sings a couple of novelty numbers, and Reynolds also does a couple of songs, all of which are forgettable. Lake is saucy, Reynolds is pretty and competent, Bracken is Bracken, and I'm not sure what to make of Sonny Tufts, who doesn't disgrace himself but who lacks a certain something. In any case as the butler, August, Alan Mowbray steals the whole movie away from everyone else in one brief scene when he thinks Bracken is deaf and tells him what he really thinks of him. Huntz Hall and Noel Neill have smaller roles and Marietta Cantry is fun as the maid, Ida. Joan Woodbury of Brenda Starr, Reporter plays another gold digger and Norma Varden plays Bracken's Aunt Martha with her customary aplomb. There are a few amusing moments.

Verdict: At least it's in Technicolor. **1/2.