Monthly Archives: January 2015

The Jolson Story
Directed by Alfred E. Green
Written by Harry Chandlee, Stephen Longstreet, and Andrew Solt
1946/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] I’ll tell you when I’m going to play the Palace. That’s when Eddie Cantor and George Burns and Groucho Marx and Jack Benny are on the bill. I’m going to buy out the whole house, and sit in the middle of the orchestra and say, ‘Slaves, entertain the king!’ — Al Jolson[/box]

I don’t much care for Al Jolson so it comes as no surprise that I was not crazy about this musical biopic.

Little Asa Yoelson gets his start singing in the choir led by his father, a cantor at the synagogue.  At a very young age, he is obsessed with show business and spends much of his time at burlesque houses.  He is discovered by burlesque comedian Steve Martin (William Demerest) when he is the only one to pipe up when Martin tries to get the audience to sing along.  Martin puts the spotlight on him and a star is born.  Asa’s parents realize it is futile to resist and allow their boy to go on tour.  His name is promptly changed to Al Jolson.

Right from the start, Jolson (Larry Parks) will do anything to get attention and particularly likes to sing with the house lights up so he can see the audience.  After an awkward period when his voice is changing, he goes on for a black-faced artist and is such a hit that he is hired to feature in a big-budget minstrel show.  Martin becomes his manager. But Jolson is not satisfied for long singing the old standards and yearns to sing in the new jazz style.  He eventually becomes a Broadway star doing so.

[box] [on why she was not portrayed in The Jolson Story] I don’t like him. I don’t want my children to grow up someday and maybe see the picture and know I was married to a man like that. — Ruby Keeler[/box]

He meets up-and-coming dancer Julie Benson (Evelyn Keyes) and proposes within a few hours.  She realizes resistance is futile soon enough and they marry.  Their lives are totally taken up with hard work in the theater.   With the development of sound technology, Hollywood beckons to Al.  He promises Julie he will be away only for long enough to make The Jazz Singer.  Weeks turn into months and he lures Julie out to join him promising her stardom as well.  But the limelight that is like a tonic to Al is draining to Julie.  She wants to call it quits but he agrees to retire to a house in the country.  Life goes on placidly enough until Al gets the singing bug again at his parents’ anniversary party.

I don’t “get” Al Jolson.  I don’t particularly like his singing style, the black face, or his personality.  Yet  he was the most popular performer in America for many years in the 20’s and 30’s.  His fans will probably love this movie.  Jolson himself dubbed all of Larry Parks’s singing, so this is the real deal.  Non-fans might enjoy seeing Demarest doing a burlesque comedy song-and-dance routine but that doesn’t last long.  For the rest of the film, he is his enjoyable standard self.

The Jolson Story won Oscars for Best Sound, Recording and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.  It was nominated in the categories of:  Best Actor; Best Supporting Actor (Demerest); Best Cinematography (Color) and Best Film Editing.

Clip – “The Anniversary Song” – dubbed by Al Johnson

The Captive Heart
Directed by Basil Dearden
Written by Angus McPhail and Guy Morgan from an original story by Patrick Kirwan
1946/UK
Ealing Studios
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Pvt. Mathews: [discussing his escape plans with Horsfall and Evans] Why, all I have to do is stow away in one of those garbage bins or something. Why, it’s as easy as kiss your… [sees Mitchell approach][/box]

This enjoyable British POW story lost me in the last few minutes.  It is reportedly the first POW film to be made after the war.

The story begins in England as various soldiers prepare to say goodbye to their families.  A couple of these are leaving in the midst of complications.  One is in the midst of a love triangle he appears to be winning.  The family of another, Geoffrey Mitchell, is only too glad to be rid of its mostly absent head of household.

Karel Hasek (Michael Redgrave), a Czech, has escaped from Dachau and made his way to France.  He finds himself in a foxhole on a battlefield with a surrounded band of British soldiers. He grabs the identification papers and uniform of Geoffrey Mitchell who lies dead there.  Then he and the British are taken as POWs by the Germans.  Hasek was brought up in London and speaks fluent English and German. His German causes his comrades to be deeply suspicious.

Hasek comes clean in time and settles into the routine of prison life with the other men. Life in the prison camp seems more boring and lonely than acutely unpleasant.  After months of waiting, the prisoners receive letters and parcels via the Red Cross.  Life is going on at home even while the men are in limbo.  The soldier in the love triangle is informed his lover is now having an affair with a the other man and a private’s wife is pregnant at an advanced age.

Despite the fact that their marriage is essentially over, Geoffrey’s wife Celia (Rachel Kempson) has written to him out of pity.  Hasek, who is being eyed with considerable suspicion by a Gestapo officer, feels compelled to write back to preserve his cover.  As the months turn into years, the correspondents fall in love.   In an act of real bravery, the other men manage to have Hasek included in the repatriation of some of them in 1944.  The story then turns to melodrama as the soldiers reunite with their loved ones and Geoffrey must inform Celia that her husband is dead.  With Basil Radford and Gordon Jackson as prisoners.

I always love Michael Redgrave and this film was no exception.   This may have been the first time I had seen his wife Rachel Kempson.  She was OK and certainly beautiful.  The film does well as long as it stays in the camp.   It is one of those understated day-in-the-life British war stories that I enjoy so much, with many vignettes of grace under pressure.  I thought the whole thing fell apart after the release of the men.  The director, who had kept things real so well up to then, let the whole thing slide right over the top in the climactic scenes.  A shame really.

Clips

Murderers Among Us (“Die Mörder sind unter uns”
Directed by Wolfgang Staudte
Written by Wolfgang Staudte
1946/Germany
Deutsche Film
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways. — Buddha [/box]

This is a good, but not great, exploration of how various Berliners cope with their wartime experiences in the rubble of their defeated city.

Suzanne (Hildegarde Neff) comes home looking great after a stint in a concentration camp. She finds Hans Mertens, a bitter alcoholic ex-serviceman, living in her bombed out apartment.  Instead of evicting him, she gives him a few days to find another place to live. Within a few days, he has become a permanent boarder and she is cooking and cleaning for him despite his continued drinking and abusive behavior.  While cleaning, Suzanne finds an  unopened letter that was to be opened on the death of the sender, a Ferdinand Brückner.

When Hans refuses to deliver the letter, Suzanne takes on the job herself.  She finds Herr Brückner still alive and happily reunited with his wife, to whom the letter was written, and children.  The affable Brükner is happy to hear that Hans lives as well.  To say the least, Hans is not so happy to learn Brükner is alive.  He packs a pistol when he goes calling on the man.  Through a series of flashbacks we learn why.

For me the highlights of this film were the authentic images of 1945 Berlin and evocative use of same by the director.  The story is basically the triumph of love and forgiveness over hate and revenge.  It was well done.  I liked the perfomance of the actor who played Herr Brükner best.  Interesting that a returned war criminal is portrayed as such a complacent, good-natured family man.

This was the first film made in Germany after the war.  It was made in the Soviet sector of Berlin and launched what was to become the East German film industry.

Clip

Humoresque
Directed by Jean Negulesco
Written by Clifford Odets and Zachary Gold from a story by Fannie Hurst
1946/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Sid Jeffers: Tell me, Mrs. Wright, does your husband interfere with your marriage?[/box]

Joan Crawford, John Garfield, and Oscar Levant are all at their best in this musical melodrama. Even better is Isaac Stern dubbing all that glorious violin playing.

Paul Boray (Garfield) lives above his father’s (J. Carrol Naish) grocery store during the Depression.  When asked what he wants for his birthday, he opts for a violin over any toy.  His father objects but his mother gives him the coveted instrument.  It becomes his life.

Through non-stop practice and devotion, Paul becomes a virtuoso.  But he has trouble converting his talent into a paying gig.  He is almost too talented and flashy to fit in with any orchestra.  He commiserates and argues daily with his pianist friend Sid (Levant).  An artist needs money to hire the hall for a debut concert.  Finally, Sid suggests that Paul come with him to a sort of open-house salon hosted by the wealthy Mr. and Mrs. Wright. Paul agrees and finds an early opportunity to show off his skill on the violin.  Helen Wright (Crawford), a sarcastic and neurotic lush, immediately shows her interest by goading him. She soon adopts him as a protégée and gets him an agent and a concert.  Paul’s talent does the rest.

Paul’s one true love is his music but he eventually succumbs to the Helen’s charms and she professes her love for him.  However, she is far too self-centered and possessive to play second fiddle to the violin for long.

Coming off her triumph in Mildred Pierce, Crawford is still in tip-top form here.  Her overblown style perfectly suits Helen’s character.  Garfield is as solid as always and Levant is ever ready with the quips and demonstrates some real piano virtuosity.  The dialogue is a tad bit too literate for my liking, as is often the case with Odets.  This is never more the case than in the too-oft repeated love-hate relationship chats between Garfield and Levant.  Putting all this aside, I was in heaven just hearing Stern play for long stretches at a time.  The music is woven in skillfully enough with the story, though, that non-classical music fans should enjoy the film.

Although almost every bit of the picture is underpinned by famous classical works, Franz Waxman was nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.  I think it deserved a Special Effects nod for the seamless impersonation of violin playing by Garfield using the hands of two different artists.  Isaac Stern played whenever Garfield’s face was not in the frame.

Trailer

Green for Danger
Directed by Sidney Gilliat
Written by Sidney Gilliat and Claude Guerney from the novel by Christianna Brand
1946/UK
Individual Pictures
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Inspector Cockrill: “In view of my failure – correction, comparative failure – I feel that I have no alternative but to offer you, sir, my resignation, in the sincere hope that you will not accept it.” Full stop.[/box]

Even if it weren’t such an effective mystery, I’d be forever grateful to this movie. It made Alistair Sim a star.

The story is told in flashback as Inspector Cockrill (Sim) dictates a report on his investigation of a series of murders at an English hospital during the 1944-45 V-1 attacks. The good inspector does not actually enter the narrative until about half way in.

A group of surgeons and nurses works hard under tremendous strain in a countryside hospital.  The ones who are not going slightly batty are engaging in romantic hi-jinx to cope.  Then a patient dies while receiving anesthesia in surgery.  This throws the spotlight on anesthesiologist Dr. Barnes (Trevor Howard), who was previously exonerated for a similar death.  Adding to the drama is that Barnes’ nurse fiancee has called off the engagement and made a date with lothario surgeon Mr. Eden (Leo Genn).

Eden’s jilted sweetheart announces at a dance soon after that she has evidence that will show the surgical death to be murder.  She is murdered before she can retrieve it.  At this point, Cockrill appears and goads the various suspects until he solves the crimes.

This is a fun mystery with some very solid British acting.  Howard is starting to move into his ever so slightly cynical and sinister phase.  Sim steals the show however.  His Cockrill is just a hoot.

Bruce Eder again delivers with an excellent commentary on the Criterion DVD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hd5o1SnfMU

Clip – SPOILER