Monthly Archives: December 2014

Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne
Directed by Robert Bresson
Written by Robert Bresson; additional dialogue by Jean Cocteau; story by Denis Diderot
1945/France
Les Films Raoul Ploquin
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Agnès: We’re unlucky. Every time we meet alone, it’s raining.[/box]

I’ve seen this before but remembered exactly nothing about it even while I was rewatching. Not a good sign. This is beautifully shot and acted but I just could not wrap my head around some of the character motivations.

Helene (Maria Casares), a wealthy socialite, is head-over-heels for long-time lover Jean (Paul Bernard).  When a friend tells her Jean’s ardor seems to be cooling, she denies it but decides to check things out.  She makes the first move and tells him that the thrill is gone for her.  To her dismay, Paul is greatly relieved to hear this and says he feels the same. They vow to continue their friendship.  Silently, Helene plots revenge.

She begins by meeting a widowed former neighbor Mme. D, who has fallen on hard times.  Her daughter Agnes, trained as a ballet dancer, is now making ends meet by working in a cabaret.  The degradation of her low occupation has led to her notoriety as a loose woman.  Helene offers to provide Mme. D and her daughter with a home and to pay for their expenses.  Her only wish is that they keep to themselves for three years so the world can forget Agnes’s  perfidy.  For some reason, they go along.

Simultaneously, Helene arranges an “chance” meeting between Jean and Agnes.  She then puts up all kinds of barriers between the two.  She has correctly assessed that Jean likes them hard to get and her revenge plan looks like it will be a screaming success.

Casares, whom I recently enjoyed in Children of Paradise, is exceptional here.  She has to do a lot of saying one thing while feeling another and is excellent at letting the emotions play across her face in a subtle and believable way.  Everybody else is fine and Bresson obviously knows how to tell a story.  But all along, Helene’s strategy just seemed like it should be super-obvious to all concerned.  In addition, being kept essentially in jail seemed to be a high price to pay for financial support especially while Agnes could make an adequate living as a dancer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMdkOau5Ucg

Clip – unfortunately I can’t find anything with subtitles

The Body Snatcher
Directed by Robert Wise
Written by Philip MacDonald and “Carlos Keith” (Val Lewton) from a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson
1945/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Cabman John Gray: I am a small man, a humble man. Being poor I have had to do much that I did not want to do. But so long as the great Dr McFarlane comes to my whistle, that long am I a man. If I have not that then I have nothing. Then I am only a cabman and a grave robber. You’ll never get rid of me, Toddy.[/box]

A Val Lewton production lives up to its title! Also contains one of Boris Karloff’s greatest performances and his last outing with Bela Lugosi.

Respected Ediinburgh medical professor Dr. “Toddy” McFarlane (Henry Daniell) has a guilty secret and cabman John Gray (Karloff) knows it.  Seems the good doctor was an accomplice in the infamous murder spree in which Burke and Hare killed to obtain cadavers to sell to a certain Dr. Knox.  McFarlane is up against the same pressures as Knox was.  The law just does not permit the use of human bodies for education purposes and medicine has progressed to the point where training is impossible without them.  So McFarlane is dependent on Gray’s skills as a grave robber.

McFarlane takes Dr. Fettes as his assistant.  The young man is an idealist but recognizes the need for the cadavers so turns a blind eye to the grave robberies.  But that source is drying up as the community starts employing night guards at its cemeteries.  Fettes takes a medical interest on a little girl who is paralyzed and a more personal interest in her mother.  They beg McFarlane to operate on her.  McFarlane is completely unwilling but some “persuasion” from Gray works wonders.  He does, however, need a cadaver to practice on.

Gray is quick to supply one.  The game has escalated to murder once again.  Now Gray has additional ammunition against the ever more hostile McFarlane.  Either one or the other must prevail.  Or is that really possible?  With Lugosi in a small role as McFarlane’s servant who attempts to blackmail Gray.

At this point, RKO had acquired a new executive producer, Jack J. Gross, who started to take a more hands on approach to Lewton’s work.  He wanted the horror films to be more overt and insisted that Lewton employ Karloff and Lugosi to enhance their appeal. Although Lewton balked, he ended up warming completely to Karloff and creating a part for Lugosi.  The interference from Gross did not prevent him from making a very solid film with the assistance of fledgling director Robert Wise.

Both Daniell and Karloff are at the very peak of their games here.  Was there ever an actor with a chill like that of Daniel?  Karloff is full of menace while retaining a basic humanity. Lugosi was in great pain from stomach ulcers and had just commenced his descent into morphine addiction but is effective in the main scene he has.  This low-budget “B” picture looks like a million dollars thanks to the beautiful cinematography by Robert De Grasse and Lewton’s genius at borrowing scenery and costumes from the studio’s previous big-budget productions.

Most of my information comes from the DVD commentary by Robert Wise with film historian Steve Haberman.

Trailer

The Bells of St. Mary’s
Directed by Leo McCarey
Written by Dudley Nichols from a story by Leo McCarey
1945/USA
Rainbow Productions
Repeat viewing/Netflix Instant

[box] Mrs. Breen: I can see you don’t know what it means to be up to your neck in nuns.[/box]

I seem to be building up some Christmas-themed viewing without even trying. My favorite part of this movie is the first-grader’s Christmas pageant. I have some serious bones to pick with the last 15 minutes of the film however.

Father Chuck O’Malley (Bing Crosby) is transferred to be pastor of the parish of St. Mary’s, which also runs a parochial school.  His secret mission is to determine whether the school, which is in ill-repair, should be closed.  The group of nuns that runs the school is headed by world’s youngest Mother Superior, Sister Benedict (Ingrid Bergman).  She and her colleagues pray daily that God will give a modern building in construction on the other side of the playground to them.  The building’s owner Horace P. Bogardus (Henry Travers) is having none of it and, in fact, wants the nuns to sell the school property to him.  If not, he has the clout to have the school condemned.

The other running subplot concerns a boarding student named Patsy, whose single mother put her in the school so as not to further expose her to her “bad” lifestyle (she might be a singer in a club or something wicked, never stated).  Patsy has many inner troubles that finally cause her to fail her final exams.  The one big disagreement between Father O’Malley and Sister Benedict is whether Patsy should be allowed to pass and graduate despite her failing grades.  The priest’s attitude is that the school is there to help the students and, of course, Patsy should graduate with the rest of her class.

Everyday incidents in the life of the school, many of them amusing, are peppered throughout.  The resolution of the above plot threads should not be in any doubt. However if you have not seen the film, you might want to stop reading here.

SPOILER ALERT:  Late in the picture, Sister Benedict is discovered to have a mild case of tuberculosis.  The doctor says that it is vital that she not be told about this but simply transferred to duties in an old-age home or infirmary(!) in a dry climate.  Evidently, knowing you have TB is worse for your morale and healing than being stripped of your position and calling as an educator without any explanation.  Also, did they not know TB was contagious?  I’m sure they did.  It’s really a brilliant idea to send somebody to work with elderly or already ill people not knowing s/he has a contagious disease, no?  Ditto, for allowing her to continue working with the children at the school until she departs.  This part of the story drives me nuts.

While basically tolerable entertainment, this film does not measure up to the heights of the earlier Going My Way in terms of plot or music.  There are some good scenes that show McCarey’s talent for working with actors, though, and I do absolutely love that pageant.

The Bells of St. Mary’s won the Oscar for Best Sound, Recording.  It was nominated in the categories of:  Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director; Best Film Editing; Best Music, Original Song (Jimmy Van Husen and Johnny Burke, “Aren’t You Glad You’re You”); and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

Clip