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Daily Archives: April 3, 2014

Waterloo Bridge (1940)

Posted on April 3, 2014 | 1 comment

Waterloo Bridge
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Written by S.N. Behrman, Hans Rameau, and George Froeschel from the play by Robert E. Sherwood
1940/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/Warner Home Video DVD

[box] Myra Lester: I loved you, I’ve never loved anyone else. I never shall, that’s the truth Roy, I never shall.[/box]

I had been looking forward to seeing this one for years. It did not live up to my perhaps inflated expectations from my experience of James Whale’s 1931 original but had considerable merits of its own, not the least was Vivien Leigh’s fine performance.

The story begins as Roy Cronin (Robert Taylor), now a high officer in the WWII British army, stands on Waterloo Bridge reminiscing over the lost love he met there during a bombing raid in World War I. Segue to an extended flashback. A group of girls flees to shelter in Waterloo Station. One of them, Myra (Leigh), hangs behind when she drops a good luck charm from her purse. Cronin escorts her to the shelter where he falls in love at first sight. Myra is a dancer in the corps de ballet of a troupe under the strict tutelage of “Madame” (Maria Ouspenskaya). She defies Madame’s ban on an outside romantic life to meet Roy for a night on the town before he leaves for the front.

He is unexpectedly given 48 hours leave and returns the next day to marry Myra. He needs to get permission from his superiors before marrying and this delays them until so late in the afternoon that the priest refuses to marry them until the next morning. Roy is abruptly sent to the front and they cannot complete the ceremony. Myra is fired when she misses a performance to see him off at the station.

She rooms with another dancer who was also fired for standing up for her. Neither girl can find work. Just when it seems that Myra may be rescued by Roy’s mother, she reads his name among the dead in the newspaper and completely falls apart. Both girls descend into prostitution to survive and the tragedy deepens. Can Myra redeem herself when Roy returns? With Lucile Watson as Roy’s mother and C. Aubrey Smith as his uncle.

The story is plagued by a few too many coincidences to move me the way it should. No one could deny the beauty or superb acting by Leigh, however. A character more different than Scarlett O’Hara’s would be difficult to imagine. I think this movie is a pretty good example of the Code’s impact on Hollywood. I would have loved to see Leigh in the original story where Myra has already been forced into prostitution when she meets a naive young soldier and longs to make a too-good-to-be-true romance work while never quite believing it will.

Waterloo Bridge was Oscar-nominated for its Black-and-White cinematography (Joseph Ruttenberg) and Original Score (Herbert Stothart).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ-ZU1QBkHY

Clip – “Auld Lang Syne”

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Posted in Movie Reviews

Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)

Posted on April 3, 2014 | 2 comments

Stranger on the Third Floor
Directed by Boris Ingster
Written by Frank Partos
1940/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
First viewing/Streaming on Amazon Instant Video (free to Prime members)

The Stranger: I want a couple of hamburgers… and I’d like them raw.

This odd little “B” movie may have very well have been the very first film noir. I found it interesting if not great.

Reporter Mike Ward scored a coup and earned a raise by being the eye-witness to a murder, or at least its aftermath. He had seen Joe Briggs (Elisha Cook Jr.) in a heated argument with the victim and later saw him standing over the body. He is elated because the extra money will allow him to marry sweetheart Jane. But when Jane attends the trial at which Mike testifies she cannot believe that the young defendent could have committed the crime and he loudly protests his innocence.

Mike returns home to his bachelor quarters in a rooming house and is deeply troubled. He sees a stranger (Peter Lorre) creeping through the house and chases him when he runs. He is then disturbed that he does not hear the usual snoring through the walls. Mike sinks into a nightmare in which he sees himself framed for the murder of Albert Meng, his highly unpleasant, meddling next-door neighbor. Naturally, this is just what happens. Mike discovers Meng’s body with its throat slashed just as the other victim’s had been. Mike is now convinced that both were murdered by the mysterious stranger. His task is to convince the authorities. Jane’s is to track down the stranger.

This has some really interesting “German Expressionist” chiaroscuro lighting and camera angles, particularly in the dream sequences. Lorre’s performance is reminiscent of his work in M. Although there is no first-person narration, there is a long (and faintly ridiculous) interior monologue. It is easy to see why critics might have singled out this fairly obscure little picture as the first film noir. It certainly fits in with noir’s “B” roots. Most of the acting, dialogue, and general histrionic flavor are strictly “B” stuff. The movie is fun even if the plot makes little sense.

Ingster directed only 3 films but went on to some success as a film and TV producer. He hailed from Latvia and had worked with Sergei Eisenstein in Russia. Lorre appeared in three of the films prominently mentioned as the “first” film noir: this one, M, and The Maltese Falcon.

I notice that the complete film is currently available on YouTube.