Daily Archives: August 30, 2016

Home Before Dark
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Written by Eileen Bassing and Richard Bassing
1958/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Amazon Instant

What is the natural reaction when told you have a hopeless mental illness? That diagnosis does you in; that, and the humiliation of being there. I mean, the indignity you’re subjected to. My God. — Kate Millett 

Jean Simmons shines as a woman who returns home from a mental institution only to find the same people that helped send her there waiting for her.

Arnold Bronn (Dan O’Herlihy) goes to fetch his wife Charlotte (Simmons) home from the state mental hospital.  He is clearly uncomfortable and very nervous.  She also is nervous and jittery, wanting so badly to get off on the right foot and reunite with Arnold.  She finds out right away that her step-mother and step-sister Joan (Rhonda Fleming) still share the house.  Bronn announces that he intends to continue to occupy a separate bedroom on the advice of Joan’s doctor (who said no such thing).

The step-mother is super controlling, all for Charlotte’s own good of course.  Joan seems more sympathetic.  Arnold has remained a stuffy, slightly pedantic, academic who is absorbed in his professional advancement.  People stare at Charlotte in the street.  The only person that Charlotte can really relate to is Jake Diamond (Efrim Zimbalist Jr.) , the family’s boarder.  But Charlotte wants to concentrate on reestablishing intimacy with her husband.  This is much, much easier said than done.

As we know from Gaslight, nothing is more crazy-making than being told one is imaging things.  This story shows that it is just as bad when the persons doing the telling mean well.  There were definite points when I thought this was straying into cliche territory but it never really did.  I loved the ending.  Recommended if the plot appeals.

Movie trivia from Robert Osborne

The Rickshaw Man (Muhomatsu no issho)
Directed by Hiroshi Inagaki
Written by Hiroshi Inagaki and Mansako Itami; story by Shunsaku Iwashita
1958/Japan
Toho Company
First viewing/Hulu

[box] I still ride horses and do a lot of laughing. But I was born this way. I can’t help it. When I was young, I played old men’s roles. But now I’m a little boy!- Toshiro Mifune[/box]

This story of the the impact of a simple man on a fatherless boy features Toshiro Mifune at his warmest and most lovable.

The film spans the period from 1898 to around 1920.  Matsugoro (Mifune) is a flamboyant rickshaw driver better known locally as “Wild Matsu”.  He delights in brawling and stirring up trouble when he isn’t carrying passengers in his rickshaw.  He is smart, big-hearted and honest despite his humble origins and lack of education.

One day Matsu sees an accident involving a young boy and carries him home.  The boy’s father is grateful and invites him to share sake with the family.  He immediately admires Matsu’s spirit.  Shortly thereafter, the father dies and Matsu adopts the widowed mother (Hideko Takamine) and her son.  The rest of the film follows Matsu as he serves as the rather timid boy’s surrogate father, teaching him his own courage and resourcefulness.

There are various moments of Mifune and children in other films – Seven Samurai comes immediately to mind – and he clearly had a way with them.  Here we get a whole film of his playful, humorous side.  We also get beautiful color views of traditional Japanese life.  I enjoyed this a lot.

Montage of clips – no subtitles