Flickers in Time

Island in the Sky
Directed by William A. Wellman
Written by Ernest K. Gann from his novel
1953/USA
Warner Bros./Wayne-Fellows Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Capt. Dooley: I’ll shoot the first one of ya to leave camp. I’ll aim for your legs. I may miss and hit ya in the back of the head. Either way serves ya right.[/box]

What this disaster flick lacks in realism, it makes up for in suspense.

Capt. Dooley (John Wayne) pilots a C-47 transport plane called the Corsair on an Arctic mission. Icing forces him to make an emergency landing in an uncharted part of Northern Labrador.  There, he and his men are forced to wait for possible rescue with scant food and dwindling radio communication.

Dooley is fortunate to have many fellow pilots who love him.  They rush to the rescue but it is like looking for a needle in a haystack.  Meanwhile, Dooley must stop his crew from succumbing to despair.  With Lloyd Nolan, James Arness, and Andy Devine as rescuers.

I don’t for a minute believe that people clad as these were with no food to speak of could survive in -70 F conditions for a week.  Nevertheless, while I was actually watching the film I was buying it and rooting for the characters.  Wellman could certainly still make a compelling aviation drama 30 years into his career.

Trailer

The Man Between
Directed by Carol Reed
Written by Harry Kurnitz; story by Walter Ebert
1953/UK
London Film Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Susanne Mallison: I’m not rich.

Ivo Kern: Any shelter from life is unattainable wealth.[/box]

I was hoping for something like The Third Man from Reed’s take on the divided City of Berlin.  That was not to be.  Still, spending a couple of hours with James Mason is never a bad thing.

The year is 1952, almost a decade before the Berlin Wall was erected.  Berlin is still divided in sectors with people passing to and fro but with rather stricter controls on entrance to and exit from the Soviet zone.  Suzanne Mallison (Claire Bloome) comes for a visit with her brother Martin and his German wife Bettina (Hildegard Neff).  When Bettina meets Suzanne at the airport, a boy is lurking nearby.  This boy will be a menacing presence throughout the first act.

Suzanne is interested in seeing the Soviet sector and Bettina takes her there the next day. There they run into an old friend of Bettina’s Ivo Kern (Mason).  Ivo offers to act as Suzanne’s guide to Berlin and they are soon going out daily.

Unbeknownst to Suzanne, Ivo is being blackmailed to help some sinister figures kidnap Olaf Kastner, a friend of the Mallesons who has been helping Germans flee the Soviet sector.  It develops that Ivo has a hold on Bettina and soon Suzanne is being used in a deadly game as well.

The atmosphere and acting in this were very good but the story could have been given more focus and tension.  I found the film kind of confusing and I didn’t care all that much about the characters.  Certainly, I am happy to have seen it once though.

Clip

Call Me Madam
Directed by Walter Lang
Written by Arthur Sheekman from the musical comedy by Russell Crouse and Howard Lindsay
1953/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] There is nothing you can take/ To relieve that pleasant ache/ You’re not sick, you’re just in love. — “You’re Just in Love”, lyrics by Irving Berlin[/box]

This movie gives viewers the unique opportunity to see Ethel Merman in a role she created on Broadway and to appreciate George Sanders’s very pleasant baritone singing voice.

The story is a very topical send-up of Perle Mesta, a fundraiser and society hostess, who was Harry Truman’s Ambassador to Lichtenstein.  In the musical, Truman names Sally Adams (Merman), an outspoken woman who has been unchanged by her wealth, as Ambassador to the fictional country of Lichtenberg.  There she is a constant embarrassment to her snooty Charge d’Affaires (Billy De Wolfe) but well accepted by the Lichtenbergian’s who are broke and anxious for some U.S. government aid.  All, that is, but General Cosmo Constantine (Sanders) who believes his country should pull itself up by its bootstraps.

Adams and Constantine fall in love early on as do Adams’s press attache Kenneth Gibson (Donald O’Connor) and the Princess Maria (Vera-Ellen).  The usual misunderstandings ensue.  With Walter Slezak as the Minister of Finance.

The film is firmly rooted in its time period with much mirth supplied by Merman’s frequent telephone conversations with “Harry” about his daughter Margaret’s progress as a concert pianist.  I don’t think it has aged particularly well.  There are some nice numbers though and Sanders is a revelation.  He has an excellent singing voice and here portrays the romantic lead without the slightest trace of irony.  Merman is a force of nature and should be seen at least once.

Call Me Madam won the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.  It was nominated for Best Costume Design, Color.

Clip – Ethel Merman and Donald O’Connor sing “You’re Just in Love”

Hondo
Directed by John Farrow
Written by James Edward Grant from a story by Louis L’Amour
1953/USA
Warner Bros/Wayne-Fellows Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Hondo Lane: A man oughta do what he thinks is best.[/box]

This workmanlike Western is notable as the screen debut of Geraldine Page.

Hondo Lane (John Wayne) lived with the Apache for some time and had an Apache wife until she died.  Lately he has been working off and on as an Indian Scout for the cavalry.  While on patrol, his horse goes lame and he stops at the farm of Lowe farm for help. Angie Lowe (Geraldine Page) claims her husband is off tending to some sick cattle and will return any minute. The couple’s six-year-old son cannot be discouraged from petting Hondo’s wary dog.  Hondo exchanges farm labor for Angie’s help.  When he leaves, he encourages her to evacuate with her son as some Apache are on the warpath.  Angie maintains they have always had good relations with the Indians and have nothing to fear.

Angie is wrong, of course, and is soon visited by an angry band of Apache.  Luckily for her, their leader Vittorio admires the courage of the little boy and makes him a blood brother. Angie is later ordered to pick a brave as her husband as the Apache believe him to be dead.  She is given a reprieve until planting season.

The remainder of the film is devoted to several action sequences and a romance between Hondo and Angie.  With Ward Bond as Hondo’s buddy.

This is a serviceable Western.  I always like Geraldine Page and she adds a lot of depth to the romance.  This was her film debut.  I don’t really have anything else to say about the movie.  If you like Westerns, it’s a pretty good one.

Page received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress.  L’Amour’s story was originally nominated then withdrawn when it was revealed it had come from the author’s published magazine story.

Trailer

House of Wax
Directed by Andre de Toth
Written by Crane Wilbur from a story by Charles Belden
1953/USA
Brian Foy Productions/Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing?/Netflix rental

[box] Prof. Henry Jarrod: Everything I ever loved has been taken away from me but not you, my Marie Antoinette, for I will give you eternal life.[/box]

This is a practically perfect example of the ’50’s horror genre with 3-D and Vincent Price to add to the fun.

Professor Henry Jerrod (Price) is an eccentric sculptor with a genius at creating lifelike wax images of historical figures.  He considers these pieces to be his “children” and thinks of his work as art.  In contrast, his greedy partner Matthew Burke wants him to install a Chamber of Horrors and other spectacular content to draw crowds.  Jerrod is hopeful of attracting an investor to buy Burke out.  Burke is not content to wait however and sets fire to the premises for the insurance money with Jerrod still inside.  His body is never found.

Time passes.  Cathy Gray (Carolyn Jones) excitedly tells her friend Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk) about her new boyfriend, an older man who is lavish with attentions and money.  She goes out to the theater with the man.  Later that evening, Sue is threatened with eviction if she does not come up with the rent.  Sue goes to Cathy room to beg a loan.  She finds only a corpse with the horribly disfigured murderer still in the room.  He flees.  Cathy’s  body disappears from the morgue.

Soon after, Jerrod appeals again to his investor for help in recreating the museum.  He is successful.  Bodies do not stop disappearing.  I will stop here.  With Charles Bronson as deaf-mute assistant Igor.

I found this totally enjoyable.  The production is lavish and Price is scary as always.  The color was outstanding and I thought the effects were very good for the time.  It is interesting to look at the various 3-D gimmicks inserted in this early example of the technique from paddle-ball demonstrations to the kicks of some can-can dancers.  Recommended.

House of Wax is a remake of Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) with Lionel Atwood and Faye Wray.  That one is good but this is the definitive version.

Trailer

How 3-D was demonstrated in 1953

Calamity Jane
Directed by David Butler
Written by James O’Hanlon
1953/USA
Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Oh, the Deadwood stage is a-rolling on over the plains / With the curtains flappin’ and the driver a-snappin’ the reins / A beautiful sky, a wonderful day / Whip-crack-away, whip-crack-away, whip-crack-away — “Whip-Crack-Away”, lyrics by Paul Francis Webster[/box]

I have loved this movie since I first saw it on my parent’s black-and-white TV set.

Calamity Jane was a real person.  This musical takes liberties with her story.  Calamity Jane (Doris Day) is a popular figure around Deadwood in the Dakota Territory.  She shoots as well as a man, dresses like one, and loves to tell tall tales about her exploits.  She is secretly in love with a handsome Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin whom she rescues from some Indians.

The population of Deadwood seems to be entirely male aside from Calamity.  The men lust after the photograph of singer Adelaid Adams.  The saloon owner sends off for an act called Francis Fryer and is disappointed to find out that he is a man as well. This almost causes a riot and Calamity sets out for Chicago to hire Adelaid Adams.  She makes a bet with friendly rival Wild Bill Hickcock (Howard Keel) that she can secure the singer’s services.  Hickock says he will attend the first performance dressed like a squaw with a papoose if she is successful.

Through a misunderstanding, Calamity brings back Adams’s dresser Katie Brown thinking her to be the famous singer.  Katie’s performance is timid and finally she must confess that she is an imposter.  Once she conquers her nerves, the town falls in love with her.  This includes both Wild Bill and the lieutenant.

In the meantime, Katie becomes Calamity’s roommate and cleans up both her and her cabin.  They are happy until Calamity catches Katie kissing the lieutenant.

This movie is just as fun if not more so than I remembered.  I love Doris Day when she is in tomboy mode and can belt out her songs.  The songs are catchy and there is not much dancing.  Probably won’t make a musical lover out of anyone but if you like them, I can recommend this one.

“Secret Love” won the Oscar for Best Music, Original Song.  The film was nominated in the categories of Best Sound, Recording and Best Music, Scoring of a Motion Picture.

Trailer

Keel and Day sing “I Can Do Without You”.

A Japanese Tragedy aka Tragedy of Japan (Nihon no higeki)
Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita
Written by Keisuke Kinoshita
1953/Japan
Shôchiku Eiga
First viewing/Hulu

[box] “Come what come may, time and the hour run through the roughest day.” ― William Shakespeare, Macbeth[/box]

I don’t like films that constantly flip flop between flashback and present day.  This is one.

The story frequently shifts from a time immediately after Japan’s defeat in WWII to present day 1953.  Haruko is a widow who worked hard at menial jobs to support her two children and keep them in school amid post-war hardship.  It seems they spent most of their time living with their uncle’s family, who treated them harshly.

Currently, Haruko is working as a hostess in some sort of drinking establishment or geisha house. She drinks too much and is fairly volatile. Her grown son, whom she continues to support through medical school, wants her to permit an elderly couple to adopt him so he can inherit the husband’s clinic.  Naturally, this is very hurtful to Haruko.  The daughter is profoundly ashamed of her.

We follow these unhappy people as they run into outsiders who are just as unhappy and self-centered as themselves.

Due to the film’s structure, I never quite figured out exactly what Hakuro had done to make the children resent her so. The flashbacks were too short to really add much information.  Every person in the film is out for themselves.  Besides the flashbacks, the film contains a fair bit of historical footage.  Through all this, the filmmakers’ condemnation of post-war Japanese society comes through clearly.  I think we were supposed to identify with the mother but she was so flawed I couldn’t completely sympathize. I wouldn’t have wished the film’s ending on her though.