Daily Archives: August 8, 2013

Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)

Posted on August 8, 2013 | 1 comment

Little Lord FauntleroyLittle Lord Fauntleroy Poster
Directed by John Cromwell
Written by Hugh Walpole based on the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett
1936/USA
Selznick International Pictures
First viewing

 

Earl of Dorincourt: If any one had told me I could be fond of a child, I should not have believed them. I always detested children – my own more than the rest. I am fond of this one and he is fond of me. I am not popular; I never was. But he is fond of me. He was never afraid of me – he always trusted me. He would have filled my place better than I have filled it. I know that. He would have been an honor to the name.

This one is basically very competently made treacle.  There are worse ways to spend an afternoon.

The story is based on a novel but is also the basic plot of many, many Shirley Temple movies with a sex change.  Adorable Ceddie (Freddie Bartholomew) is the light of his widowed mother’s life and delights all the adults and some of the children that encounter him.  One day, a lawyer arrives from England to say that he is now the heir to the title of the Earl of Dorincourt and Lord Fauntleroy.  The Earl (C. Aubrey Smith), Ceddie’s grandfather, wants him to stay in the family castle in England with the proviso that his mother (Dolores Costello), whom he calls “Dearest”, cannot join him.  Dearest magnanimously grants the Earl his wish and goes off to live in a nearby cottage.  The Little Lord manages to melt the Earl’s heart and improve the lives of all he encounters.  With Micky Rooney as a Brooklyn shoeshine boy, Jessie Ralph as an apple seller, and Guy Kibee as an aristocracy hating grocer.

Little_Lord_Fauntleroy 1

Freddie Bartholomew is undeniably cute, even if too good to be true.  It was a pleasure to see all the fine character actors in this movie.  If you can put up with some melodrama and tweeness, it’s not so bad.

Trailer

 

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Follow the Fleet (1936)

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Follow the FleetFollow the Fleet Poster
Directed by Mark Sandrich
Written by Dwight Taylor and Allan Scott based on the play “Shore Leave” by Hubert Osborne
1936/USA
Radio Pictures
Repeat viewing

 

[box] There may be trouble ahead/But while there’s moonlight and music/And love and romance/Let’s face the music and dance. — “Let’s Face the Music and Dance”, lyrics by Irving Berlin[/box]

Another in the unbeatable series of Astaire/Rogers movies of the 1930’s

‘Bake’ Baker (Fred Astaire) joined the navy and went to sea after his dance partner Sherry Martin (Ginger Rogers) refused his proposal. On shore leave in San Francisco, Bake finds Sherry at a dance palace.  In the meantime, his friend ‘Bilge’ Smith (Randolph Scott) doesn’t look twice when Sherry’s Plain Jane sister Connie (Harriet Hilliard) comes on to him.  After Sherry fixes Connie up and puts her in one of her dresses, ‘Bilge” is overcome by her charms … but not so as to dissuade him from falling for a pass by a sexy divorcee. The rest of the movie follows the couples as Connie’s heart is broken and Bake messes up Sherry’s career repeatedly.  See if you can spot Lucille Ball as a chorus girl.

Follow the Fleet 1

This has wonderful routines to some classic Irving Berlin songs:  “Let Yourself Go”; “I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket”; and “Let’s Face the Music and Dance.” “Putting All My Eggs” is a great comedy number with Fred and Ginger pretending they are making it up as they go along and tripping each other up.  And both the song and the dance “Let’s Face the Music” sum up the Great Depression with its anxiety and romance.  It is simply beautiful.

The only thing that prevents this film from being in the first tier of Astaire/Rogers film is the amount of screen time devoted to the Scott/Hillard romance.  I might feel differently if Randolph Scott appealed to me in the slightest.  As it is, for a handsome guy he has remarkably little sex appeal.  Harriet Hilliard, who went on to become TV’s Harriet Nelson, is an odd selection of actress for someone who has to carry two solo songs.

Clip – “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” – this gives me the chills at the end

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The Green Pastures (1936)

Posted on August 8, 2013 | 2 comments

The Green PasturesGreen Pastures Poster
Directed by Marc Connelly and William Keighley
Written by Marc Connelly based on a play by Marc Connelly and a novel by Roark Bradford (“Ol’ Man Adam and His Chillun” )
1936/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing

Gabriel: Gangway for the lord god, Jehovah!

This white imagining of what African-Americans imagine the Old Testament bible stories to have been like couldn’t be more politically incorrect.  Nevertheless, it is quite enjoyable on all fronts and particularly for the choral singing.

The story begins in a country town as an African-American preacher conducts Sunday school and tells the bible stories to small children.  We segue to Da Lawd (Rex Ingram) and his angels in heaven where life is one perpetual fish fry.  When Da Lawd overdoes it in coming up with extra Firmament for the boiled custard, he creates the earth to hold the excess and Man to take care of the garden watered by the Firmament.  He is vastly displeased by the antics of his creation, however.  There follow folkloric low-brow presentations of the stories of Cain and Abel, Noah (Eddie “Rochester” Anderson) and the Ark, the Exodus, and the exile in Babylon. The film ends with Da Lawd learning mercy through the suffering of an unseen man carrying a cross.

Green Pastures 1

I didn’t know what to expect here but this was very entertaining.  The spirituals sung by the heavenly choir are glorious and all the performances are solid and amusing.  I’m sure the portrayal of Da Lawd as a fallible, fickle God made many Black theologians wince and civil right activists protested the film at the time.  Nevertheless, it does stand out as one of only six all-Black feature films produced by the Hollywood studios during the classic era.   I prefer Hallelujah (1929) but this isn’t far behind.

The part of “De Lawd” was originally written to be played in blackface by Al Jolson. When that fell through, it was offered to Paul Robeson, who naturally refused it. It was eventually given to Rex Ingram.  We can all be very grateful that Jolson wasn’t in this.

Trailer

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