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Daily Archives: March 22, 2015

Key Largo (1948)

Posted on March 22, 2015 | 6 comments

Key Largo
Directed by John Huston
Written by Richard Brooks and John Huston from the play by Maxwell Anderson
1948/USA
Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Frank McCloud: You don’t like it, do you Rocco, the storm? Show it your gun, why don’t you? If it doesn’t stop, shoot it.[/box]

Edward G. Robinson steals the picture right from under the noses of Bogart and Bacall. Claire Trevor helps him.

Frank McCloud (Humphrey Bogart) visits a hotel on one of the Florida keys to call on Nora (Lauren Bacall) and James (Lionel Barrymore) Temple, the widow and father of one of the soldiers who served under him in WWII. He doesn’t get a good reception on arrival when he finds out the entire place has been rented out to a bunch of thugs. Nora and James take to him immediately, though, and he is asked to stay.

Soon it emerges that the place has become the private domain of the notorious Johnny Rocco (Robinson) and his gang. Rocco has arrived in the keys from his hideout in Cuba to do a deal in counterfeit bills. He looks forward to a full-fledged return to America on that great day when Prohibition is reinacted. Rocco is a big bully, terrorizing the legitimate owners and guests. He is especially cruel to Gaye Dawn (Trevor), a pathetic lush and ex-nightclub singer who used to be his girl.

Rocco managed to time his arrival to coincide with a major hurricane. It is amusing to watch as the storm makes all the tough guys shiver. As soon as it is over, though, Rocco is back to his old ways and coerces Frank into skippering his boat back to Cuba. With Thomas Gomez as Rocco’s right hand man.

Robinson hasn’t been this mean since Little Caesar and he brings equal vitality and nuance to this part as he did fifteen years earlier. There was never anyone like him. I am hit or miss on Trevor. She is fantastic here. The scene where she is forced to sing in exchange for another drink is so real it is almost painful to watch. Bogart is back to playing his standard “I stick my neck out for nobody” hero in this one and Bacall kind of fades into the background in a fairly lady-like role. Not to say that they are bad by any means. Huston creates a really suspenseful hurricane. Recommended.

Claire Trevor won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Trailer

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Posted in Movie Reviews

I Remember Mama (1948)

Posted on March 22, 2015 | 1 comment

I Remember Mama
Directed by George Stevens
Written by De Witt Bodeen from the play by John Van Druten based on the novel “Mama’s Bank Account” by Kathryn Forbes
1948/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
First viewing/Netflix Rental

Katrin Hanson: [reading the novel that she’s just finished] “For long as I could remember, the house on the Larkin Street Hill had been home. Papa and Mama had both born in Norway but they came to San Francisco because Mama’s sisters were here, all of us were born here. Nels, the oldest and the only boy, my sister Christine and the littlest sister Dagmar but first and foremost I remember Mama”.

Now this is the kind of sentimentality that brings a tear to my eye.

The story begins as Katrin Hansen (Barbara Bel Geddes) looks back at her life in a Norwegian immigrant family living in San Francisco around 1910. The family’s heart is practical Mama Martha (Irene Dunne) who manages the family’s finances in such a way that they never have to break into the account at the bank.

The story is richly humorous with stories involving the rather scary, blustery Uncle Chris (Oscar Homolka), timid bride-to-be Aunt Trina (Ellen Corby), and perennial boarder Mr. Hyde (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), who entertains the family every night by reading from his vast collection of English literature. Our hearts are tugged when little Dagmar must go to the hospital – Rudy Vallee has a nice bit as her doctor – and when, in his turn, Uncle Chris gets ill.

The supporting performances in this one are especially good. Homolka chews the scenery but is so endearing in his ferociousness that we don’t mind. Irene Dunne can’t help but be good but her accent (she is the only one in the film with such a pronounced one) is spotty, lapsing off into an Irish brogue at points. This might not be for everyone but I liked it a lot. Recommended.

I Remember Mama received Academy Award nominations in the following categories: Best Actress (Dunne); Best Supporting Actor (Homolka); Best Supporting Actress (Bel Geddes); Best Supporting Actress (Corby) and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Nicholas Musuraca).