COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA

Oscar-winning Shirley Booth and Burt Lancaster

COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA (1952). Director: Daniel Mann. Based on the play by William Inge.

"You didn't know I'd get old and fat and sloppy, but I didn't know it, either." -- Lola to Doc.

Lola Delaney (Shirley Booth) is a housewife who is always afraid that her husband, a chiropractor named Doc (Burt Lancaster), will fall off the wagon again. The couple got married years ago when Lola got pregnant, but she lost the baby, and fears that her husband feels trapped and disappointed with life and marriage. Doc does, of course, but he has a bond with Lola, although trouble appears when they take in a pretty young boarder named Marie (Terry Moore of Peyton Place). Marie becomes a symbol to Doc of lost youth and opportunity, just as Lola's old dog, Sheba (who probably ran away to die), is a symbol of her own faded dreams. When Doc comes to believe that Marie is not the sweet innocent he thought she was, he can't resist going to the bottle ...

Richard Jaeckel and Terry Moore

Shirley Booth played the role on the stage, and it would have been criminal for her not to repeat her part on the screen (she won a well-deserved Oscar for it). As she was not seen as being sufficiently box office, Lancaster was secured for the leading male role. Although Doc was always meant to be an older man, Lancaster is not as miscast as you might imagine. He's quite good, in fact, if not up to Booth. (One has to remember that Lola has become chubby and slovenly over the years, and there have been many cases of couples in which the husband is better-looking, or at least in better shape, than the wife.) Terry Moore also does some nice work, as do Richard Jaeckel [The Dark] as a football hero she dallies with and Richard Kelley as her fiance, Bruce. There are other good character performances in the film as well, including Lisa Golm's [Anna Lucasta] as a sympathetic German neighbor.

Terry Moore and Burt Lancaster

Come Back, Little Sheba is full of lovely and sad touches, such as Lola's phone conversation with her mother, when she desperately wants to come home for awhile, but her father, who has never forgiven her for past indiscretions, won't allow it. An amusing moment occurs when Lola tells Doc that she'll prepare him a hot meal if he comes home for lunch, but the "hot meal" turns out to be cottage cheese and buttermilk! The film is well-directed by Daniel Mann, and there's a nice score by Franz Waxman.

NOTE: I could only get a few minutes into a 1977 TV version of the play in which, incredibly, Laurence Olivier is even more miscast (and less effective) than Lancaster, and Joanne Woodward, also miscast, doesn't come even close to approximating Booth's genius. Booth had a pixilated, almost pathetic quality that made her just perfect for Lola.

Verdict: "Some things should never get old" -- A strong and touching drama. ***1/2. 

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS

Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961). Director: Elia Kazan. Original screenplay by William Inge.

In 1928 Kansas high school students Wilma Loomis (Natalie Wood) and Bud Stamper (Warren Beatty) are a couple, although they come from opposite sides of the tracks. Bud's father is a wealthy brewer while Wilma's family is of more modest means. Bud's hormones are really kicking in, but he knows Wilma is not the kind of girl who would want to go "all the way." Wilma's mother (Audrey Christie) assures her daughter that sex is just something that women "have to put up with." Bud's father (Pat Hingle) suggests that he get , in essence, a "bad girl" to satisfy him while continuing his relationship with Wilma, but instead Bud thinks it's best to break things off with Wilma -- this decision has unfortunate consequences.

Pat Hingle and Warren Beatty

I have to confess that when I was finished watching Splendor I had to wonder why it is so acclaimed. I think the main reason is that the film has a great, well-played and moving ending that sent moviegoers home happy. It's just that the rest of the film is well ... odd. I must say Natalie Wood gives a very good performance, although I'm not certain she quite gets across the emotional fragility of the character which might explain some of the things that happen to her. In his first film role, Beatty is acceptable, but he's too old for the part -- he was 24 at the time of filming -- and while good-looking enough, in some shots he just looks weird. I found Audrey Christie merely annoying as Wood's mother, although Hingle was better as Beatty's dad. One of the worst-played scenes in the movie is a scene in an alley when Beatty is shown his father's corpse.

William Inge

There are some good supporting performances in the film: Barbara Loden as Bud's free-wheelin' sister, Virginia; the ever-strange Zohra Lampert as a waitress Bud meets in college (going from Wood to Lampert is sort of like going from the sublime to the ridiculous!); the even-stranger Sandy Dennis as a classmate of Wilma's; Gary Lockwood [The Magic Sword] as a handsome boy who goes out on a date with Wilma with unfortunate results; Jan Norris as "bad girl" Juanita; Joanna Roos as Bud's somewhat overwhelmed and neglected mother; Charles Robinson [Brotherhood of Satan] as Wilma's more-than-friend, Johnny; and others. William Inge, whose screenplay was not based on one of his stage works, even appears briefly as a minister -- a former actor, he's fine. Of all people, Phyllis Diller [The Fat Spy] shows up in a New Year's Eve scene as Texas Guinan, making tasteless jokes about the stock market crash suicides.

From the sublime to the ridiculous? Zohra Lampert

Splendor is mostly about S-E-X, but it's also about romantic longing and the hatred that children often feel for their own parents. I'm not certain that, when all is said and done, Inge was able to lift the movie that much above the soap opera level, as some of the characters are stereotypes and not as well-developed as they could have been. A self-hating homosexual in real life -- one can't call him gay as he was not self-accepting -- Inge nevertheless understood the universality of romantic and sexual feelings just as his contemporary Tennessee Williams did. NOTE: The title comes from a Wordsworth poem.

Verdict: Some lovely things in this movie, yet ... **1/2. 

THE STRIPPER

Richard Beymer and Joanne Woodward

THE STRIPPER (1963). Director: Franklin J. Schaffner. Based on the stage play "A Loss of Roses" by William Inge.

Along with her associates in a traveling magic act, Lila Green (Joanne Woodward) comes to the town where she lived as a child, but then is stranded when her boyfriend, Ricky (Robert Webber), runs off to greener pastures with all of their cash. Lila gets a room with a widow, Helen (Claire Trevor), who was her neighbor years ago, and who has a grown son named Kenny (Richard Beymer). Kenny and Lila develop an undeniable attraction to one another, but considering the age difference -- Woodward was eight years older than Beymer -- and everything else, Lila is afraid of being hurt and lonely once again. Then Ricky comes back into her life with a proposition ...

Claire Trevor and Richard Beymer

The Stripper is a lovely and absorbing film with three excellent lead performances. Although never considered a great beauty as such, Woodward [From the Terrace] has never looked better and she is excellent as Lila. (Marilyn Monroe, who was superb in the film adaptation of Inge's Bus Stop and was four years older than Woodward, might have been considered for this role had she not died tragically the previous year.) Beymer [Five Finger Exercise] gives a sensitive and intelligent performance as well, and Trevor [The Velvet Touch] is as adept as ever. Webber makes a very effective slime ball, and others in the cast include Gypsy Rose Lee and the odd Louis Nye as his associates (neither of them are especially memorable) and Carol Lynley, who makes a nice impression as a neighbor who has a crush on Beymer. Michael J. Pollard brings his own brand of quirkiness as a strange buddy of Kenny's who seems to have a thing for Lila but gets nowhere with her. The film could have used more scenes depicting the growing relationship between Kenny and Lila, but otherwise this is a very good movie.

Verdict: Strong cast and interesting situations add up to a memorable picture. ***1/2. 

BUS RILEY'S BACK IN TOWN

BUS RILEY'S BACK IN TOWN (1965). Director: Harvey Hart. Screenplay by William Inge, writing as "Walter Gage."

Bus Riley (Michael Parks of Kill Bill) has spent three years as a sailor and now has come back to his small town and his family, which consists of his mother (Jocelyn Brando) and two sisters, worshipful Gussie (Kim Darby) and disdainful Paula (Mimsy Farmer of Four Flies on Grey Velvet). Also in the household is a boarder named Carlotta (Brett Somers), who objects to Bus' noisy presence. Bus discovers that his old sweetheart Laurel (Ann-Margret) is married to a wealthy older man, but bored and childish, she won't leave him alone. Bus had planned for a career as an assistant mortician, but that doesn't work out when lonely and middle-aged Spencer (Crahan Denton) -- who runs the funeral parlor with his no-nonsense mother (Ethel Griffies) -- wants Bus to move in with him and all that implies. Bus gets a job selling a house disinfectant device to lonely housewives while dallying with Laurel, but a neighbor girl named Judy (Janet Margolin) also catches his attention, especially after a tragedy in her family. But will Bus have the strength to cut all ties with selfish Laurel?

Michael Parks

Bus Riley's Back in Town started out as a short play by William Inge, who turned it into a screenplay, then was dismayed when changes to the script were made to accommodate Ann-Margret (who later claimed that she didn't care for the changes either). So dissatisfied was Inge that he used the name "Walter Gage" instead of his own. I don't know what the screenplay was like before it was changed, but Bus Riley comes off mostly like warmed-over Inge, with snatches of Picnic and other plays,  For instance, in both movies we've got a widow with two daughters who takes in boarders, one of whom is a neurotic spinster, not to mention a handsome hero who ignites sexual interest in many.

Ann-Margret

As for the actors, most of them are so good that you wish they had been given better material. This includes Brett Somers, whose part seems to have been cut to the bone; Kim Darby, whose feelings for her brother seem to border on the incestuous; Griffies and Denton as mother and son; Alice Pearce as a potential customer; and Janet Margolin in a sensitive turn as Judy, among others. As for Ann-Margaret, her appearance does not really unbalance the movie as some have suggested, and I happen to think that she's excellent in the film. Her sex-kitten mode is completely appropriate for her part, and she runs with it, out-acting Parks, whose James Dean impressions do little to suggest that the chief reason for casting him wasn't his considerable sex appeal. Both he and Ann-Margret are, in a word, voluptuous.

Margolin, Parks and Denton

An interesting aspect to the film is its pre-Stonewall treatment of homosexuality. One could argue that mortician Spencer is almost guilty of a form of harassment when he makes his suggestion to Bus (although he places his hands nowhere besides Bus' knee), but the man comes off as more desperate and pathetic than anything else. Bus doesn't get angry, but he is clearly disillusioned and simply walks out of the room. Later, at a minor character's funeral, he is friendly to Spencer and vice versa but it is, of course, awkward, and he excuses himself quickly. Inge himself was a deeply closeted homosexual man.

Michael Parks

For a time the star build-up certainly worked for Ann-Margret, but Parks' period of movie stardom was very brief, with him returning to television where he started with Then Came Bronson. He managed to amass 145 credits, however, and had a successful career by any standard, although mega-stardom eluded him. As for Bus Riley it got a surprisingly good review from the New York Times at the time of the film's release, but other reviews were mixed. It is probably the weakest of the films inspired by Inge's work. Harvey Hart also directed Dark Intruder.

Verdict: Inge Lite. **1/2. 

A LIFE OF WILLIAM INGE: THE STRAINS OF TRIUMPH

A LIFE OF WILLIAM INGE: The Strains of Triumph. Ralph F. Voss. 1989; University Press of Kansas.

William Inge wrote several noteworthy plays -- Come Back, Little Sheba; Picnic; Bus Stop -- which were also made into excellent motion pictures. He also did an original screenplay for Splendor in the Grass, for which he won an Oscar, as well as the screenplay for All Fall Down. The Stripper was based on his unsuccessful play A Loss of Roses, and one of his one-acts was turned into Bus Riley's Back in Town, a film he later discredited. This in-depth biography looks at Inges' early years growing up in Kansas, his relationships with other family members, his struggles to find success as first an actor and then a playwright, his early Broadway successes, his friendship and rivalry with Tennessee Williams. his negative feelings about his homosexuality, and the post-success periods of the sixties and seventies in which nothing he wrote seemed to work and he tried much too hard to be hip and trendy. Inge's problem wasn't that he was gay, but that he couldn't accept it. He attended AA meanings with the writer Charles Jackson, a fellow self-hater and alcoholic, which was like the blind leading the blind. Inge's internalized homophobia probably reached its nadir in his 1965 play Where's Daddy? which was put out of its misery after only 21 performances. In this the main character, "Pinky Pinkerton," is a gay man who seduces teenage boys and tries to convince one of them to, in essence, go straight with a wife and kid! Inge lived to see Stonewall, but author Voss does not record Inge's reaction to it, if indeed he had one. Despite Inge's negative feelings about himself, he was a gifted playwright who managed to craft works that still resonate and that are still being produced today. This biography, while not without flaws and perhaps with too much (and conversely too little) preoccupation with his sexuality, gives Inge his due as both a man and an artist.

Verdict:  Insightful and absorbing biography of a great playwright. ***1/2. 

THE CHAMPAGNE MURDERS

Yvonne Furrneaux and Anthony Perkins

THE CHAMPAGNE MURDERS (aka Le scandale/1967). Director: Claude Chabrol.

Christine Belling (Yvonne Furneaux of The Death Ray Mirror of Dr. Mabuse) has not only acquired the majority of shares in the Wagner champagne business -- probably due to her late father's business tactics -- but a gigolo husband named Christopher (Anthony Perkins). Christopher's buddy, Paul Wagner (Maurice Ronet), who introduced him to his wife, still controls the name of the champagne company, a name that Christine desperately wants to own. Things take a strange turn when a drunk Paul wakes up more than once to find a woman's corpse nearby. Has he gone mad or is somebody framing him?

Maurice Ronet

The Champagne Murders is an arresting enough but very odd movie that holds the attention despite the leisurely pacing and almost episodic nature of the first three quarters of the film. Although this is a post-Psycho movie and Chabrol was a great Hitchcock admirer, the murders in this all happen off-screen -- there are no grisly details or cinematic pyrotechnics. Then the whole thing is topped off with a twist that some viewers may have seen coming while others may be merely confused. The final sequence of the film is lifted a bit from The Big Knife but is undeniably effective.

Christine and her maid

As to the performers -- which include Furneaux and Ronet as well as Stephane Audran, Henry Jones [Deathtrap], and Suzanne Lloyd -- everyone is on target with the exception of Perkins, who is badly miscast as the gigolo and doesn't seem to have any real idea how to play the part. Chabrol probably figured that having a well-known American actor in the role would increase box office in the U.S., but it also compromised his movie. Still, there's something about the picture that keeps you hooked, and while there are things about it that may not seem to make sense, if you think about it a bit it works -- well, except for at least one sequence that makes absolutely no sense once you know the big reveal at the end --  although one could easily argue that (considering the thin characterizations) the movie would have worked even better as a gorier and more violent type of French-style giallo movie.

Verdict: You may be scratching your head at the conclusion, but it's still entertaining and Ronet is compelling. ***. 

MA AND PA KETTLE BACK ON THE FARM

Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride

MA AND PA KETTLE BACK ON THE FARM (1951). Director: Edward Sedgwick.

Ma: "You're lazier than that hound dog we used to have."
Pa: "Which one?"
Ma: "The one who used to lean against the wall when she barked."

Ma and Pa Kettle (Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride) are back on the farm with their brood when Pa finds out "Mrs. Kettle" is pregnant. This of course, is his daughter-in-law Kim (Meg Randall), but Pa thinks his wife is going to deliver her sixteenth child! Once that is straightened out, the Kettles have to deal with Kim's parents. Her father, Jonathan (Ray Collins of Perry Mason) is a good sport but his wife, Elizabeth (Barbara Brown), is a termagant who wants her own way or else as far as her grandchild is concerned. Ma almost comes to blows with the woman, and does give a shove to the prune-faced nurse that is hired to look after the new arrival. Then there's the possibility that the Kettles' old property may be layered with uranium,

Bedroom hijinks with the Kettles

This third film featuring Main and Kilbride, who are absolutely wonderful, is as funny as the last one, with amusing dialogue and situations. One could argue that the flick is full of time-worn comedy devices, such as a frantic race in a car to catch a train and so on, but these things are still amusing, especially with Main and Kilbride on hand to liven things up. There's a great bit where Ma and Pa show pal Billy Reed (Emory Parnell) their own brand of arithmetic, which, incredibly, makes perfect sense as far as the Kettles are concerned. Richard Long is back as Tom Kettle, and Teddy Hart and Oliver Blake make a couple of politically incorrect but comical Indians.

Verdict: Lots of fun! ***.

LET 'EM HAVE IT

Richard Arlen with Bruce Cabot in the background

LET 'EM HAVE IT (1935). Director: Sam Wood.

Federal agents Mal Stevens (Richard Arlen), Van Rensseler (Harvey Stephens), and Tex Logan (Gordon Jones of The Green Hornet) are up against a formidable foe in Joe Keefer (Bruce Cabot), who has organized a gang of ex-cons, many of which he sprung from a prison farm, to engineer a series of bank robberies. Joe was originally a chauffeur for Eleanor Spencer (Virginia Bruce), who was once very close to Van but now has feelings for Mal. Unfortunately, Eleanor gets angry with Mal when he is unable to prevent her kid brother, Buddy (Eric Linden), from becoming a G-Man, with tragic results.

Eric Linden and Richard Arlen

Under the direction of Sam Wood, Let 'Em Have It is a fast-paced, well-acted, and entertaining cops vs robbers movie. Although mostly forgotten today, even by film buffs, Richard Arlen (Island of Lost Souls) was a handsome and charismatic leading man for most of his career, which comprised nearly 200 credits. Other players in this flick include Alice Brady [When Ladies Meet], as Eleanor's man-hungry Aunt Ethel, and Barbara Pepper as one of Cabot's blond molls, Milly. Pepper later gained a lot of weight and appeared more than once on I Love Lucy. Sam Wood also directed Goodbye, Mr. Chips in 1939 and a great many others.

Verdict: Snappy picture hasn't a dull moment. ***. 

SUBWAY IN THE SKY

Hildegard Knef and Van Johnson

SUBWAY IN THE SKY (1959). Director: Muriel Box.

Baxter Grant (Van Johnson of The Bottom of the Bottle) is a military doctor stationed in Germany. He has been accused of stealing drugs and even murdering a colleague who might have testified against him. Stupidly going on the lam, he arrives at his estranged wife's apartment only to find that she has sub-let it to a singer named Lilli (Hildegard Knef of Diplomatic Courier and Fedora). There is an instant chemistry between these two, and Lilli decides to trust Baxter and help him while he tries to find his wife, Anna (Katherine Kath). At the same time a military policeman named Captain Carson (Cec Linder) tries to find Baxter, interrogating Lilli as to the fugitive's whereabouts every chance he gets.

Neff and Cec Linder

Subway in the Sky makes a mistake in starting the story in the middle, leaving out the scenes wherein Grant is accused and never introducing the viewer to the man he allegedly murders. Knef and Johnson give good performances, although there is a scene late in the picture -- after the horrible death of one character -- that he and Cec Linder as the cop are surprisingly unemotional considering what has just happened. Knef sings a song in the nightclub where she works, and her voice is pretty awful. Two other characters include Carl (Albert Lieven of Beware of Pity), a lawyer who is in love with Lilli and has a chance with her until she meets Baxter; and Stefan (Vivian Matalon), Baxter's stepson. One interesting sequence makes no bones about the fact that Lilli and Baxter have just had sex.

Verdict: Good story that needed more dramatic treatment and perhaps different actors. **3/4. 

INTO THIN AIR (1985)

Ellen Burstyn

INTO THIN AIR (1985 telefilm). Director: Roger Young.

Brian Walker (Tate Donovan of Nancy Drew) bids his family good-bye to go to a writer's retreat. When days go by without a word from Brian, his mother Joan (Ellen Burstyn of (Same Time, Next Year), brother Stephen (Sam Robards), and father Larry (Nicholas Pryor) -- who apparently lives apart from the others -- begin to worry and start to search for him. Joan is told by police that he can't be considered a missing person until thirty days go by, but even when the deadline passes they don't put his name in the system. Alarmed at police disinterest, Joan contacts a private eye named Jim Conway (Robert Prosky), whom she convinces to search for her son. Just when things get hopeless, Conway gets a lead, a lead that the FBI could have also uncovered if they had just been more concerned and diligent ...

Sam Robards and Nicholas Pryor

Into Thin Air is based on a true story and it is both suspenseful and very well-acted by all. This includes Patricia Smith, who in her few short scenes etches a memorable portrait of Conway's wife, Olga, and John Dennis Johnston as the sleazy, if sexy, Earl Pike. Unlike other fact-based true crime telefilms, Into Thin Air also works as well as it does because it is well-directed by Roger Young. It all builds to a satisfying but heartbreaking conclusion. Sam Robards is the son of Jason Robards Jr. and Lauren Bacall. Ron Howard was one of the executive producers. (As this film is told from the frustrated family's pov we don't really know if the authorities were really as disinterested or as inept as portrayed.)

Verdict: Absorbing, well-done made-for-TV crime drama. ***.

THE FUZZY PINK NIGHTGOWN

Jane Russell and Ralph Meeker

THE FUZZY PINK NIGHTGOWN (1957). Director: Norman Taurog.

Movie star Laurel Stevens (Jane Russell of Foxfire) is planning to attend the premiere of her new film The Kidnapped Bride, when she's actually kidnapped by two, fortunately, nice guys named Mike (Ralph Meeker) and Dandy (Keenan Wynn). Mike spent four years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, which makes Laurel feel sympathetic towards him. It also doesn't hurt that he's a rather sexy man. While Laurel's assistant Bertha (Una Merkel) and agent (Robert H. Harris) try frantically to find her, studio head Arthur Martin (Adolphe  Menjou) wants to keep it out of the papers, afraid it is -- or at least everyone will think it is -- nothing more than a publicity stunt. If Laurel admits she was kidnapped Mike could go to jail, but if she doesn't, her public could turn on her.

Adolphe Menjou, Una Merkel, Robert H. Harris

The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown has an interesting premise and holds the attention, but the movie could only have worked if it was a riotous farce, which it isn't; the picture has only a few chuckles. Yet a scene wherein Laurel and Mike drive off in a police car is so ridiculous that even Ralph Meeker looks irritated. The performances are good enough on one level -- although Meeker would never make a deft comedian -- but the leads take a back seat to Robert Harris, who is quite funny as the agent. Although Russell did appear in a few more movies, this was her last starring role, and her age was beginning to show -- it didn't help that Fuzzy was a flop. Ralph Meeker [Jeopardy] was seen to good advantage in Paths of Glory that same year.

Verdict: Ironically, Jane Russell's swan song as a major movie star. **1/2. 

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1971)

Christine Kaufmann and Jason Robards

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1971). Director: Gordon Hessler.

In Paris around the turn of the century, Cesar Charron (Jason Robards of Philadelphia) runs a Grand Guignol theater that nightly presents an adaption of Poe's story "Murders in the Rue Morgue." First the actor playing the orangutan is murdered with acid, and then more people who used to work for Charron, including an actress turned prostitute and an escape artist, are killed the same way. Charron fears that the killer is a former associate, Rene Marot (Herbert Lom), whose faced was once disfigured with acid and who supposedly took out his anger by axing the woman he loved (Lilli Palmer). Marot committed suicide and Charron transferred his affections from the dead woman to her daughter, Madeleine (Christine Kaufmann of Constantine and the Cross), whom he later married. But if Marot is truly dead, how can he be the killer? This is also a question for Inspector Vidocq (Adolfo Celi).

Herbert Lom and Christine Kaufmann

Despite its intriguing plot, Murders in the Rue Morgue is not a very compelling nor entertaining picture. Robards doesn't seem to have any feel for this kind of material, and Lom is generally forced to run about in a mask and opera cape as if he were in out-takes from the 1962 version of Phantom of the Opera.  Lilli Palmer only appears in flashbacks and manages to retain her dignity. Michael Dunn adds a bit of flavor in his portrayal of Marot's friend, Pierre, but his role is never clearly defined. The story is good, the motive for the murders makes sense, but the picture is clumsy, disjointed, and at times almost laughable. After the main story is over and its revelations revealed, there is a long, slow and dull post-script with Madeleine being chased around in the theater that, if possible, sinks the picture even further.

Verdict: Highly disappointing horror film, which is no better than the 1932 Murders in the Rue Morgue with Bela Lugosi. *1/2.

NOT SINCE CARRIE: FORTY YEARS OF BROADWAY MUSICAL FLOPS

NOT SINCE CARRIE: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops. Ken Mandelbaum. St. Martin's Press; 1991.

This very entertaining survey of flop Broadway musicals is not just a list of mega-bombs that were hated by critics and public alike, but a serious look at what went wrong with certain projects that should have and could have been great. Mandelbaum makes it clear that if is often simply more fun to watch, dissect and laugh about major Broadway disasters than it is projects of genuine quality, and that there are people who are sorrier they never got to see "Carrie" on Broadway than the latest hot ticket offering. But Mandelbaum also discusses why some musicals seemed doomed to failure from the outset due to bad ideas or unlikely source material and why others had great ideas, librettos or scores but still made little dent at the box office. Along the way you're given information about shows you may never have heard of and closed early that were still worthwhile or had excellent scores, many of which were recorded. However, in the final chapter Mandelbaum discusses shows that didn't deserve the ignominy of failure, but for me he almost overturns the whole book with his singling out Jerome Moross' The Golden Apple, a through-sung borderline opera that updates the story of the Odyssey to a post-Civil War period. With a terrible book and only one really memorable song (and a couple of other decent ones) amidst a lot of dribble, it's hard to believe Mandelbaum actually thinks this is a masterwork. Candide, yes; Apple  no. Oh well, to each his own.

The book was published nearly thirty years ago -- how time flies! -- so the reader has to supply his  own postscripts. For instance, Peter Allen bombed on Broadway in Legs Diamond -- he not only starred but did the songs -- yet years later the show about Allen (The Boy from Oz) was a success. There have been numerous revivals of Carrie at various theater companies. The bomb At the Grand was retooled into the successful Grand Hotel, even using some of the same songs. And so on.

Verdict:  Engaging, informative, thoughtful look at what makes some shows succeed while others fail. ***. 

I MOBSTER

Steve Cochran

I MOBSTER (1959). Produced and directed by Roger Corman.

I Mobster traces the rise and fall of gangster Joe Sante (Steve Cochran of The Big Operator), whose father virtually disowns him and whose mother (Celia Lovsky) eventually follows suit. As a boy (played by an uncredited but talented youngster), Joey was taken under the wing of Black Frankie (Robert Strauss), and later also works for crime boss Paul Moran (Grant Withers of the Jungle Jim serial). Joe takes up with a nice neighborhood gal named Teresa (Lita Milan), who is at first highly disapproving of his activities but ultimately there's no arguing with love. But Joe's ambitions and high-risk lifestyle may become his undoing ...

Saucy Yvette Vickers 

I Mobster is an absorbing crime drama with a fine and charismatic lead performance by the always-under-rated Steve Cochran, who is perfect as Joe. Celia Lovsky does her usual hand-wringing turn as the heartbroken mother; Strauss is quite good as his mentor and associate; and Lita Milan [Never Love a Stranger] turns in a very nice performance as Teresa. Grant Withers also scores as the big boss, and there is a very nice bit by Yvette Vickers as a saucy blond who tries to pay off her gambling debt by coming on to Joe -- fat chance! Ed Nelson, Robert Shayne, Thomas Browne Henry and Bruno VeSota have smaller  parts, and stripper Lili St. Cyr (who is much more attractive than the rather horse-faced Gypsy Rose Lee) does her cameo on stage in a bath tub.

In the long run, however, I Mobster doesn't really rise above all of the hoodlum cliches -- sobbing mother, worried, conflicted girlfriend, rivals and hits -- but the darn thing is too entertaining and well-played for that to matter much. As for Cochran, a hell-raising lover boy off-screen, he died at only 48 under very mysterious circumstances.

Verdict: Fast-paced Corman melodrama with a well-chosen cast. ***. 

JUNIOR PROM

Freddie Stewart

JUNIOR PROM (1946). Director: Arthur Dreifuss.

"You're all acting like a bunch of drips!"

At Whitney High School there's an election for student body president, with the two nominees being Freddie Trimball (Freddie Stewart) and Jimmy Forrest (Jackie Moran of Barefoot Boy). Jimmy's father tells the principal, Professor Townley (Milton Kibbee), that if his son doesn't win the election the school won't get new uniforms or any donation from him. Initially Freddie drops out of the race for the good of the school, although Townley refuses to buckle under. But eventually Freddie and Jimmy run a heated campaign, with Jimmy's manager, Roy (Frankie Darro), going so far as to romance school reporter Betty Rogers (Noel Neill of Superman) to get his man favorable publicity, leading to an estrangement between Betty and her two sisters. Every once in awhile someone, mostly Freddie, breaks out in a song ...

June Preisser and Freddie Stewart

Junior Prom was the first starring role for the now-forgotten Freddie Stewart, an amiable and nice-looking crooner who sang for Tommy Dorsey. Unfortunately, his Hollywood offers only included one from cheapie Monogram studios, who cast him in a series of "Teen Agers" films, of which Junior Prom was the first. His love interest was generally June Preisser [Strike Up the Band], herein cast as Dodie Rogers. He made eight more "Teen Agers" movies even though he was already 21 at the time of filming this flick, and the other "teens" were a bit long-in-the-tooth as well. His various attempts at a comeback were not successful.

Harry the Hipster: This was once the epitome of "cool"

As for Junior Prom, it is also amiable, with some snappy dance numbers and an especially good routine from Preisser during a lively "Teen Canteen" production number, which also features bandleader Abe Lyman (black musician Eddie Heywood appears in an earlier sequence). Another cast member is Warren Mills, who plays the borderline camp and take-charge Lee Watson. "What if you didn't have a boy to take you to the prom?" Dodie asks Lee. "What if I did?" replies Lee, who doesn't seem adverse to the idea even if he's going with Dodie's other sister, Addie (Judy Clark). Murray Davis is cast as fat soda jerk Tiny, but his supposedly funny shtick can sometimes he painful. The picture has the usual tiresome swing vs classical music business. Harry "the Hipster" Gibson, playing himself, does one irritating number. This was his only film appearance.

Verdict: Enthusiastic and talented players, but for most of them this was not an auspicious debut. **3/4. 

KING AND COUNTRY

Tom Courtenay and Dirk Bogarde

KING AND COUNTRY (1964). Director: Joseph Losey.

During WW1, British private James Hemp (Tom Courtenay of 45 Years) has been accused of desertion despite the fact that he volunteered for service, and has been in the war for longer than some of his accusers. The somewhat stern Captain Hargreaves (Dick Bogarde) is assigned to defend Hemp in a makeshift court, and develops sympathy for the man in spite of himself. In his opinion, Hemp simply walked away to get away from the noise and have some privacy, but was not really attempting to desert. But will the court see it Hargreaves' way, or is the young man doomed?

Tom Courtenay

King and Country is an absorbing and affecting military drama that presents the story simply and clearly and doesn't beg the viewer for compassion that most will undoubtedly feel in any case. The film has more of the atmosphere of WW2 than WW1, although the acting can not be faulted. There is a little too much time spent on some of the soldiers' attempts to rout or kill some rats, and if this is meant to be symbolic, it doesn't work. While many feel this film takes a back seat to the similarly-themed Paths of Glory -- there are similarities to Billy Budd as well --  King and Country is still a good picture on its own terms. James Villiers, Leo McKern, Barry Justice, Vivian Matalon, and Barry Foster, among others, also give notable performances. Joseph Losey also directed Dirk Bogarde in The Sleeping Tiger.

Verdict: Sad and sobering, eventually infuriating, look at victims of war; the very definition of grim. ***. 

MYRNA LOY: THE ONLY GOOD GIRL IN HOLLYWOOD

MYRNA LOY: THE ONLY GOOD GIRL IN HOLLYWOOD. Emily W. Leider. 2011; University of California Press.

This absorbing, well-written and well-researched biography of Loy traces her roots in Montana, her early years doing movie after movie, often cast as "exotic" Orientals [The Mask of Fu Manchu], her indentured servitude working for studios that hardly ever gave her a day off, her eventual emergence as a major star with a wider range than expected who commanded some respect from fellow filmmakers, and her final days when she turned to the theater and became a character actress in a few late movies [Midnight Lace]. Along the way we meet Loy's four husbands, most of whom treated her badly (and most of whom were plug-ugly, although Leider refers to one potato-head as "catnip to women!"). Loy had liberal politics, seemed to care about people other than herself (which alone makes her different from most movie stars) and decided after her fourth divorce that it was not so terrible not to have a husband. The bio also delves into Loy's many friendships with people famous and not so famous, her relationships with various family members, and analyzes most of her films and her approach to her roles, which included co-starring in the Thin Man movies, The Best Years of Our Lives, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Animal Kingdom, and many, many others.

Leider resuscitates this business about Loy possibly having had some kind of relationship with Montgomery Clift while they were making Lonelyhearts and after (first brought up in Patti Bosworth's bio of Clift). Loy denied this vehemently in her own memoir, and also denied it (in my presence) to Lawrence Quirk, who wrote The Films of Myrna Loy. Considering that she was no longer married to her husband at that time years later, it makes little sense to deny it if it were true. Also, Clift was essentially gay, Loy was 15 years older, and as this book makes clear, she was not the type to sleep around indiscriminately or cheat on her husband. (I also knew Jim Kotsilibas-Davis, who worked on Loy's memoirs with her.)

Verdict: Excellent biography and quite possibly the last word on Loy. ***1/2. 

THE BURGLAR

Jayne Mansfield and Dan Duryea

THE BURGLAR (1957). Director: Paul Wendkos.

Nat Harbin (Dan Duryea) leads a small gang of criminals, including Gladden (Jayne Mansfield), the girl he was raised with. They steal a very valuable necklace from a old lady spiritualist, Sister Sarah (Phoebe MacKay), who lives in a sprawling mansion. Now the question is whether to sell the necklace at a great loss or wait until the heat is off, a suggestion that does not sit well with Baylock (Peter Capell of The Fury of the Cocoon), who is desperate to get out of the country. None of them are aware that another person is watching them and scheming ...

Martha Vickers and Dan Duryea

The Burglar is an interesting crime melodrama that just misses being special. Duryea gives a solid performance, although Mansfield comes off like an amateur, and one doesn't buy that she "hungers" for Duryea (the only actor billed above the title). Stewart Bradley, who was "introduced" in this picture (he had had previous TV credits but this was his first movie role) makes a definite impression as the cop, Charlie. Martha Vickers (one of Mickey Rooney's ex-wives and who also appeared in The Big Bluff) also makes an impression as Della, a woman who picks up Nat in a bar and has a few secrets of her own. Mickey Shaughnessy  plays Dohmer, another member of the gang who is a little too trigger-happy. The Burglar features interesting settings in Philly and Atlantic City, such as a shack on the lonely coast and a fun house where the climax takes place. Paul Wendkos also directed the excellent Brotherhood of the Bell.

Verdict: Not quite top-drawer but it does hold the attention. **3/4. 

MA AND PA KETTLE GO TO TOWN

Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride

MA AND PA KETTLE GO TO TOWN (1950). Director: Charles Lamont.

Pa Kettle (Percy Kilbride) wins another contest for a soda with the prize being an all-expenses paid trip to New York City! At first Pa and Ma Kettle (Marjorie Main) have trouble coming up with a babysitter for their fifteen rambunctious children, but along comes "Shotgun" Mike (Charles McGraw), a thief hiding out in town. Ma at least has some reservations about leaving the children with a complete stranger (although they prove to be more than he can handle), but she thinks he has a kind face, and off they go to Manhattan. There they encounter more problems with Mike's cronies, and discover some marital woes for son Tom (Richard Long) and daughter-in-law Kim (Meg Randall).

Richard Long and Meg Randall

Ma and Pa Kettle were introduced in The Egg and I and proved so popular that they got their own feature, Ma and Pa Kettle. This led into several sequels, of which this is the first. Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town is not only consistently cute and amusing, with great performances from Main and Kilbride and good work from the rest of the cast, but it avoids the cliche of New Yorkers being portrayed as horrible city slickers taking advantage of the Kettles; in fact, the pair actually like New York and the people who live there (although, of course, they're just as glad to get home). Ma and Pa exhibit sheer delight in seeing Manhattan from a cab as they stand up in a hole in the taxi's ceiling, and there's a great bit with Pa dropping a cup of water from the top of the RCA building and encountering that same water later on.

Verdict: Very cute picture. ***. 

BLACK SPURS

Rory Calhoun and Linda Darnell

BLACK SPURS (1965). Director: R. G. Springsteen.

In Texas in 1885 Santee (Rory Calhoun of Night of the Lepus) is engaged to pretty Anna (Terry Moore) but he wants to wait to marry until he's made his fortune. He bids adieu to Anna and sets off to capture or kill the notorious bandit, El Pescadore (Robert Carricart), something he succeeds at. After this Santee becomes a full-time bounty hunter with many kills to his credit. Many. many months later he returns to his lady love only to learn that she has understandably married another, Sheriff Ralph Elkins (James Best) of Lash, Kansas. An embittered Santee decides to help a certain entrepreneur named Gus Kile (Lon Chaney Jr.) bring gambling and loose ladies to Lash no matter who gets hurt, but does the man have a chance at redemption?

Lon Chaney Jr. and Rory Calhoun

Black Spurs certainly has an interesting cast. Although Calhoun mostly shows the emotion of a rock, his co-players tend to be better, and this includes Linda Darnell in a small role as a madame. Darnell is a bit zaftig but not unattractive. She died in a fire before the film was released. Scott Brady plays, of all things, a priest, Richard Arlen owns the local saloon, and Bruce Cabot is an enforcer who zestily throws people out of town with a sneer or a heave. Patricia Owens and Jerome Courtland [Kiss and Tell] play lovers who aren't really married, and there is a brief appearance by pre-Star Trek DeForest Kelley as another sheriff.  Handsome Joseph Hoover has a rare (if small) speaking role as another one of Arlen's associates. Manuel Padilla Jr. [Tarzan and the Valley of Gold[ is cute as the little boy, Manuel, who loves to sing and eventually becomes disenchanted with his hero, Santee.

Black Spurs is by no means a great western but it features a basically sound storyline (albeit probably one that has been used in different variations many, many times over) and has some flavorful performances. Courtland and Owens each had one more theatrical film before doing some TV work; Courtland became a director. Calhoun and Moore had a great many more credits, and the latter is still acting today. Director R. G. Springsteen amassed nearly 100 film and TV credits, mostly working on westerns.

Verdict: Okay western for devotees. **1/2. 

THUNDER ON THE HILL

Ann Blyth and Claudette Colbert

THUNDER ON THE HILL (1951). Director: Douglas Sirk.

In Norfolk county, England, Sister Mary (Claudette Colbert) works at a convent hospital under the firm but loving Mother Superior (Gladys Cooper). During a flood which forces the whole town to seek shelter in the convent on higher ground, along comes a strange group of people: Valerie Carns (Ann Blyth) has been convicted of murdering her invalid brother, and she is accompanied by Sgt, Melling (Gavin Muir) and a female assistant known only as Pierce (Norma Varden), who are taking her to be executed. However, Sister Mary becomes convinced that Valerie is innocent, and she risks the wrath of the Mother Superior by not only playing detective, but by bringing Valerie together with the man she loves, Sidney Kingham (Philip Friend), who may not be convinced of her innocence.

Claudette Colbert and Philip Friend

Thunder on the Hill is an absorbing and well-acted picture, with an interesting interplay between Colbert (playing possibly the most sophisticated nun in the history of cinema) and a sympathetic Blyth, proving that Veda in Mildred Pierce was not just a fluke. Gladys Cooper gives her usual authoritative and highly adept performance as the Mother Superior, and there is also nice work from Connie Gilchrist as another nun; Phyllis Stanley as a rather bitter nurse (almost on the verge of overplaying at times); Michael Pate [Hong Kong Confidential] as the slow-witted Willie; and Robert Douglas [This Side of the Law] and Anne Crawford as the convent doctor and his wife, among others.

Verdict: Unusual mystery with a very interesting cast. ***. 

DOLL FACE

Perry Como and Vivian Blaine

DOLL FACE (1945). Director: Lewis Seiler.

"Doll Face" Carroll (Vivian Blaine) is a top burlesque performer who tries to go legit, but when one producer, Flo Hartman (Reed Hadley), finds out who she really is he refuses to hire her. Doll Face's manager and boyfriend, Mike (Dennis O'Keefe), comes up with the dubious notion of showing that she has "class" by hiring a ghostwriter, Fred (Stephen Dunne), to pen her memoirs -- as a burlesque queen! As Fred falls for Doll Face, and singer Nicky Ricci (Perry Como) tries to get dancer "Frankie" (Martha Stewart) to warm up to him, Mike decides to turn Doll Face's memoir into a Broadway show. Can Doll Face finally go legit? And will she wind up with Mike or Frank?

Stephen Dunne and Carmen Miranda

This was adapted from a play by Gypsy Rose Lee but Doll Face should certainly not be confused with Gypsy! The script for this is no world-beater, although most of the performers are game. Vivian Blaine had her most famous role in Guys and Dolls, but in this I found her lacking in distinction. O'Keefe is as buoyant as ever, and poor Carmen Miranda is given no romance and only one catchy number, "Chico from Puerto Rico." The songs by McHugh and Adamson [Four Jills in a Jeep] are pleasant, however, with "Here Comes Heaven Again" arguably being the best. Reed Hadley is fine as the producer, who ultimately opts to work with Doll Face, and Perry Como is mildly appealing as Nicky. Handsome Stephen Dunne is billed in this as "Michael" Dunne, the name he used in his earliest appearances. He later starred as "Steve" Dunne on The Brothers Brannagan for TV.

Verdict: Acceptable but rather minor musical. **1/2.