Monthly Archives: April 2016

Love Me Tender
Directed by Robert D. Webb
Written by Robert Buckner; story by Maurice Geraghty
1956/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/Amazon Instant

Clint Reno: [In a rage] Go on, say it Cathy! Say you don’t love him. You can’t, can you? You think I couldn’t feel it? With you lying awake beside me every night? Wishing I was Vance! Wishing you’d waited for him and never married me!

Elvis Presley’s first movie is a bit of a mess.  The singer looks and sounds good but that’s about it.

Vance Reno (Richard Egan) and his brother Brett are Confederate raiders who have been ordered with their unit to rob a large Union army payroll which is being delivered by train. They are successful but then find that the Confederacy has surrendered and there is no one left to turn over the loot to.  They decide they are within their rights to keep the cash as spoils of war.  They divide it among them and go their separate ways.

With his share, Vance buys presents and wedding clothes for his much-antipated nuptials with sweetheart Cathy (Debra Paget).  When he gets home, he finds that Cathy’s entire family was killed, that she has gone to live on the Reno place and, believing Vance to have been killed, has married his youngest brother Clint (Elvis).  Cathy has not stopped loving Vance but Vance nobly admits defeat and prepares to take off for California.  Before this can happen, the feds come looking for the loot and a misunderstanding has Clint become insanely jealous and go looking for blood.  With Mildred Dunnock as Ma Reno.

It is hard to decide who is the worst and most stilted of two actors, Elvis or Debra Paget. There are something like four hastily inserted songs for Elvis.  He looks just ludicrous performing them with trademark hip gyrations in his 1860’s garb.  In short, the movie is pretty bad.  He is a gorgeous young man though and if you don’t look at the picture, the songs come off wonderfully.

Clip

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Directed by Nunnally Johnson
Written by Nunnally Johnson from a novel by Sloan Wilson
1956/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental

Tom Rath: The most significant thing about me so far as the United Broadcasting Corporation is concerned is that I am applying for a position in its Public Relations Department and after a reasonable period of learning I believe I could do a good job. I will be glad to answer any other questions relevant to this application for employment but after giving it serious thought I am unable to convince myself that any further speculation on my importance could be of any legitimate interest or value to the United Broadcasting Corporation.

This story about readjustment to home life after WWII has “important motion picture” written all over it.  I don’t know how important it is but it’s watchable if over-long.

Tom Rath (Gregory Peck) has settled down to life with his wife Betsy (Jennifer Jones) and three children.  As the film begins, he has a “safe” job at a foundation and is pulling in $7,000 a year.  Betsy is dissatisfied with their house and his salary.  She is also disappointed with his lack of ambition.  Throughout the movie, she will not hesitate to say exactly what she is thinking at all times.  Tom decides to interview for a job in public relations at a broadcasting company.

Despite his lack of experience, he gets the job.  The company’s CEO Ralph Hopkins (Fredric March) takes an instant liking to him, based largely on Tom’s resemblance to the son he lost in the war. Tom is assigned full time to Hopkins’ pet project, a campaign for a national program on mental health.  Tom’s direct supervisor (Henry Daniell) is jealous and attempts to keep Tom’s ideas from getting to Hopkins.

In the meantime, Tom has received an inheritance from his grandmother.  It’s not the fortune Betsy was hoping for, but an old house on 27 acres.  Betsy gets the bright idea of subdividing the land and has a new project.  But ghosts of Tom’s WWII past materialize and the marriage is threatened.  With a host of great supporting actors including Arthur O’Connell, Lee J. Cobb, Gene Lockhart, Keenan Wynne and, as welcome blast from the past, Ann Harding as Fredric March’s estranged wife.

This movie is 2 1/2 hours long and I have not begun to summarize the complicated plot.  For one thing, I have left out long stretches of flashbacks to WWII.  I felt the movie would have been improved by trimming it by at least half an hour.

Betsy is an assertive modern-style woman but for some reason she really got on my nerves.  Maybe it was Jones’s performance although the commentator on the DVD I watched said that Johnson was much harder on the wife than the novelist had been.  Other than that, I enjoyed but did not love the film.

Trailer

Indestructible Man
Directed by Jaack Pollexfen
Written by Vy Russell and Sue Dwiggins
1956/USA
C.G.K. Productions
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] Charles ‘Butcher’ Benton: Remember what I said. I’m gonna get you. All three of you.

Paul Lowe, Attorney: Even for you, Butcher, that will be quite a trick. So long, dead man.[/box]

This movie is 90% typical B-movie crime drama.  The other 10% is the awesome ending.

Butcher Benton (Lon Chaney Jr.) is about to be get the chair. He took the rap for a robbery and murder orchestrated by his attorney and a couple of associates.  He is the only one who knows where the loot is and it looks like he will take his secret to the grave.  Yet he is eerily confident that he will return to kill those who did him wrong.

Coincidentally, a couple of scientists are doing an experiment on a new technique that may cure cancer.  This involves high voltage electricity.  They need a corpse and the one furnished just happens to be Butcher Benton’s.  He comes alive with superhuman strength and no voice.  Bullets cannot touch him.  The rest of the movie settles down into a humdrum police procedural as the Butcher terrorizes Los Angeles and his former colleagues.  As the police close in it builds to a brief but effective climax.

I liked this better than I thought I would based on its 3.7/10 IMDb user rating.  It’s not amusing or incompetent enough to be a good “bad” movie.  Chaney is good.  We have all seen the story before.  I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the special effects and make-up lavished on the ending though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDOQ2GIQkxw

Trailer

Come Next Spring
Directed by R.G. Springsteen
Written by Montgomery Pittman
1956/USA
Republic Pictures/Robert Alexander Productions
First viewing/Amazon Prime

“Is the spring coming?” he said. “What is it like?”… “It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine…” ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

This is a heartwarming story about family life in the rural South.  The acting carries it.

Matt Ballott (Steve Cochran) returns to his family farm after eight years on the road.  Before he left he was known as the town drunk.  His two children, Annie (around 12) and Abraham (around 8) are glad to see him.  His wife Bess (Ann Sheridan) is not so sure.  But when she sees how much the kids need him and notices a change, she takes him on strictly to help out around the place.  Neighbor Mr. Canary (Edgar Buchanan) is willing to give him a chance too.  The rest of the people that knew him basically want nothing to do with him, especially Leroy Hightower (Sunny Tufts) who has been unsuccessfully attempting to court Bess.

Most of the film revolves around Matt’s journey in reestablishing relationships with all these people.  We also get a tornado, a big slugging match, and a dramatic rescue for good measure.  With Walter Brennan as Bess’s sharecropper.

I have always liked Steve Cochran and Ann Sheridan and both are excellent here.  This is a rare good guy part for Cochran, who usually plays the heavy.  The plot is somewhat  contrived — Annie has been a mute since Matt drunkenly crashed the family car when she was a toddler — but I forgave it because of the fine cast and the genuine emotion in the writing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWxSrlGCT-A

Clip

Patterns
Directed by Fielder Cook
Written by Rod Sterling
1956/USA
Jed Harris/Michael Myerberg
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] Walter Ramsey: I’ll see you in the morning, Fred. Remember, you didn’t steal that promotion. You won it![/box]

This excellent, powerful look inside a big corporation shows Rod Serling could do more than write twist endings.

Fred Staples (Van Heflin) has been hired as the newest executive at a New York conglomerate.  Fred’s ambitious wife Nancy (Beatrice Straight) is thrilled with the move. When CEO Mr. Ramsey (Everett Sloane) first spotted him, he was working as plant manager of an Ohio company the corporation acquired.    The corporation rolls out the red carpet for Fred, providing him with a beautifully decorated office and a fully equipped house.  Fred is told that he will be working closely with Vice-President Bill Briggs (Ed Begley).  Soon he finds that he is getting Bill’s long-time secretary, who is not too thrilled to be leaving her boss.

The affable Fred quickly makes friends with Bill.  He is torn between his ethics and his ambition when he learns that he is being groomed as Bill’s replacement.  Fred’s angst becomes worse when Ramsey mercilessly rides Bill in an effort to make him so miserable he will quit.

I had never heard of this film before I did my research on 1956.  It was based on a teleplay by Serling and should be much better known.  The acting is fantastic.  I don’t think I have ever seen Begley in a sympathetic part and he is just wonderful.  There’s a lot to think about here.  Serling makes Ramsey despicable but at the same time you see the logic behind his every move and Fred’s decisions are believable every step of the way.    Highly recommended.

Clip – SPOILER

Pursuit of the Graf Spee (“Battle of the River Plate”)
Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Written by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
1956/UK
The Archers
First viewing/Netflix

Captain Langsdorff ‘Admiral Graff Spee’: [to Captain Dove] Every commander is alone, Captain.

This, the last of Powell and Pressburger’s true collaborations, is a colorful account of the British effort to hunt down and destroy a German pocket battleship that was sinking merchant shipping in the South Atlantic during the first months of WWII.

The speed and firepower of the Graf Spee made its commander, Captain Lansdorff (Peter Finch), believe the ship was invincible and gave her free reign over merchant shipping in the South Atlantic.  The film begins with the sinking of a British naval vessel off the coast of Portuguese Africa.  Landsdorff takes its captain (Bernard Lee) prisoner aboard ship and releases the crew on land.  Many other British prisoners are transferred to the Graff Spee later.  The ship is due to return for repairs and leave to Germany but Lansdorff decides on one final mission to disrupt shipping out of Buenos Aires.

He is intercepted by Commodore Henry Harwood (Anthony Quayle) and his squadron of three cruisers.  Against the odds, the British manage to cripple the vessel, which takes refuge in the harbor of Montevideo, Uruguay.  The rest of the movie follows the media attention to the Graf Spee’s plight and the British naval and diplomatic strategy to put an end to her threat.

This film does not begin to measure up to the Archer’s masterpieces but is a solid naval drama.  Most of the footage was taken using real British cruisers with an American ship standing in for the Graf Spee.  The movie held a particular interest for me as I lived in Montevideo for a couple of years and this story was often told there.

Clip

Reach for the Sky
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
Written by Lewis Gilbert and Vernon Harris from a book by Paul Brickhill
1956/UK
The Rank Organization/Angel Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Equipment Officer: I’m sorry, the book says I must wait three months before I can initiate the procedure for hastening new issue.

Bader: Fine! We’ll send Goering a telegram, and ask him not to come over for *three months”![/box]

This inspirational movie about a couple of different kinds of courage is based on a true story.

The setting is England in the run-up to and during WWII.  In the early 30’s Douglas Bader (Kenneth Moore) is sent to flight school for training as an RAF pilot.  The brash young man is not strong on the academics but is a great sportsman and an able flyer.  He gets into scrapes in which he crashes his car and finally crashes a plane doing unauthorized stunt flying.  In this later accident, he loses both of his legs.

Thereafter he devotes himself to a full-time effort to walk again on tin prosthetic legs without a cane.  He is proclaimed unfit to fly and leaves the RAF for a time.  When WWII starts, the military takes a different attitude and Bader gets his wings back.  He goes on to be a resourceful and courageous squadron leader.

Bader had a pilot’s arrogance, which tended to make his character annoying at times.  Moore makes him sympathetic despite that and does very well with the physical challenges of the part.  I found the film quite watchable.

Trailer

Attack
Directed by Robert Aldrich
Written by James Poe from a play by Norman Brooks
1956/USA
Associates & Aldrich Company
First viewing/Amazon Prime

[box] Costa: Listen to me, Cooney! If you put me and my men in a wringer – -if you send us out there and let us hang – -I swear, I swear by all that’s holy, I’ll come back. I’ll come back and take this grenade and shove it down your throat and pull the pin![/box]

This ushers in a new era in war films — one where the worst enemy can be the GI’s own brass.  I loved it.

It is 1944, France.  Fox Company is fighting the Germans.  It is headed in the field by Lt. Joe Costa (Jack Palance).  Drinking heavily in headquarters is the cowardly Capt. Erskine Cooney (Eddie Albert).  He is laughing it up with his superior, Lt. Col. Clyde Bartlett (Lee Marvin) of the White Battalion.  Cooney and Bartlett were good old boys at home, where Cooney’s father is a respected judge.  As the film begins, Fox Company is under fire. When Costa calls for reinforcements, Cooney doesn’t send them.  Men are killed and Costa’s rage will fill the rest of the movie.

Col. Bartlett defuses the anger with the speculation that this will be the company’s last combat.  How wrong he is and they are sent out to capture a town.  The brass think that there is a 50-50 chance that it is occupied by Germans.  In the end, not only is it occupied but Costa and his men end up trapped amid heavy artillery fire.  Once again, Cooney is reluctant to send reinforcements.  Even Bartlett loses all patience with him.  The rest of the movie is devoted to combat and Costa’s revenge plans.  With Buddy Ebsen as Costa’s sergeant, Struther Martin as another sergeant, and Robert Strauss and Richard Jaeckel as enlisted men.

I thought this was terrific.  It has the lurid edge of a Samuel Fuller film but is more realistic.  It is brilliantly shot and edited. The acting is fantastic.  I thought Eddie Albert deserved an Academy Award nomination. It’s fast moving and builds to a devastating conclusion.  Palance is, as usual, over the top but it works so well here.  Recommended.

Trailer

Friendly Persuasion
Directed by William Wyler
Written by Jessamyn West and Michael Wilson (uncredited due to blacklist)
1956/USA
Allied Artists Pictures/B-M Productions
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Jess Birdwell: I’m just his father, Eliza, not his conscience. A man’s life ain’t worth a hill of beans except he lives up to his own conscience.[/box]

My husband says this film is not realistic.  He may be right but I find it very charming.

The story is set in 1862 Indiana.  The Birdwells are a farming family of Quakers.  Father Jess Birdwell (Gary Cooper) is not as strictly religious as his wife Eliza (Dorothy McGuire), a minister in the church.  They have three children, teenagers Josh (Anthony Perkins) and Mattie and youngster Little Jess.

Much of the story recounts amusing incidents from daily life.  We see Jess’s running battle to best a neighbor in a horse race while hiding the actual racing from his wife; Eliza’s reaction to Jess’s purchase of an organ; and Mattie’s courtship with a soldier.

A crisis comes as Confederate soldiers near the farm.  The Quaker belief in non-violence is tested to the limit as the family and it all it holds dear is under threat.  With Marjorie Main as a rural woman with a house full of marriageable daughters.

I generally like Gary Cooper and he is perfectly cast here, bringing uprightness and humor to his part.  The other acting is very good, with Perkins the standout as the troubled, sensitive eldest son.  He was hailed by the studio as the next James Dean but it was not to be.  There are some wonderful Wyler touches here.  I loved the family’s pet goose.

Friendly Persuasion was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Picture; Best Director; Best Supporting Actor (Perkins); Best Writing, Best Screenplay – Adapted; Best Sound, Recording; and Best Music, Original Song (“Friendly Persuasion” (Thee I Love)).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9joZubh9gvo

TrailerF

Slightly Scarlet
Directed by Allan Dwan
Written by Robert Bleese from a novel by J.M. Cain
1956/USA
Benjamin Bogeaus Production/RKO Radio Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] “No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious & charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country[/box]

The main reason to watch this Technicolor film noir is for Arlene Dahl’s delicious performance as a nymphomaniac shoplifter.

June Lyons (Rhonda Fleming) is secretary to the reform candidate for mayor, Frank Jansen, who is in love with her and has set her up in posh digs.  She keeps dodging and weaving on his marriage proposals though.  June has been obsessed for years with caring for her nut-job sister Dorothy (Dahl).  As the movie opens, June is picking Dorothy up after her release from prison.  A man is taking photos from his car.  He turns out to be Ben Grace (John Payne).

The opportunistic Ben is staging a war of wills with gangster and kingmaker Solly Caspar. Solly will be out of business if Frank Jansen is elected and Ben starts feeding incriminating info to Jansen through June.  Then things start getting hot and heavy between Ben and June and Dorothy wants in on the action.

The story betrays its origins in a James M. Cain novel with its bleak view of human nature and its larger-than-life characters.  Dahl is a kick in the pants!  Payne is definitely the weak link here. The great John Alton did the cinematography.  I enjoyed this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_XvPv0dNnM

Trailer