It's that time of year again when TCM announces it's next free online class. We've had Film Noir, we've had Slapstick, we've had Hitchcock, and now we're getting Musicals! (still waiting for one on Screwball...)
Offered in collaboration with Ball State University and offered on the online platform Canvas, these classes give everyone a chance to major in MOVIE! And the great thing is it's free! And, you only have to spend as much time on it as you have available. The readings and lectures are easy to keep up with and the quizzes are just right - not to hard, not to easy. You can get as involved as you want: message boards, movies, and games all make for a fun learning experience. I know, I've taken them all :)
This years class is going to be a little different in that it is being taught by Vanessa Theme Ament instead of our beloved Richard Edwards. I'm sure she will do a fantastic job though :)
The class runs from June 3rd through July 1st and covers musicals from the 30s to the 70s. You do not need TCM for the course. Many musicals are readily available on dvd and at your local library!
WEEK 1: Introduction / Musicals of the 1920s & 1930s
The beginnings of sound technology and the first film musicals in the 1920s and 1930s: The Great Ziegfeld, Top Hat, Broadway Melody, and other films
Important musicals that set the standard for the decade: The Great Depression
The transition from Broadway to Hollywood
New stars in musicals, directors, editors, and other creatives that influenced the decade: Ernst Lubitsch, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and others
Key song numbers that typify the movie musical in the 1930s
WEEK 2: Musicals of the 1940s
The changing terrain of the 1940s movie musical surrounding WWII: Yankee Doodle Dandy, On the Town, Meet Me in St. Louis, and other films
Performers who developed during the 1940s, choreographers who direct and musicians who produce: Busby Berkeley, Ester Williams, Red Skelton, Judy Garland and others
Studios, stars, and stories for wartime America: the transition to nationalism
Pre-recording, post-sound, and location scenes
The emerging films of diversity: Cabin in the Sky, Showboat, and other films
WEEK 3: Musicals of the 1950s
The high times of the 1950s and the Blacklist: The Bandwagon, An American in Paris, High Society, and other films
The development of camera, sound, and exhibition
Glamour and the expanded role of design
The broadening of the composer, producer, and editor
Key figures who expand their scope: Gene Kelly, Vincente Minnelli, Elvis Presley, and others
WEEK 4: Conclusion / Musicals of the 1960s and 1970s
The disruption of the studios: independent film influences
Turbulence in the country and cultural challenges: Tommy, Cabaret and other films
Changing musical tastes, youth, and historical films: Funny Girl, 1776, My Fair Lady, and other films
The British Invasion: The Beatles and A Hard Day’s Night
Directors, stars, and producers who transitioned into the 1960s
The Pilgrim (1923) - written, directed, and produced by Charlie Chaplin - was Chaplin's last "short" before going into feature length films. In it, Chaplin plays an escaped convict who disguises himself as a minister and is mistaken for the new parson in a small Texas town. He is brought to the church where, in my favorite scene, he acts out the story of David and Goliath. You can watch it below:
After that he is brought to the house where he will stay. On his way there he is recognized by his cell mate who follows him and invites himself to tea. While there, the landlady tries to pay her next mortgage bill to the deacon, who refuses to accept the payment on the Sabbath. Chaplin's friend proceeds to steal the money and Chaplin chases after him, recovering the money and returning it to the landlady's pretty daughter. He is then recognized as a convict and arrested. On his way back to jail the sheriff lets Chaplin escape into Mexico, where he has no jurisdiction.
An interesting note from an article on TCM: "Also notable in the cast is Chaplin's brother Sydney who appears in three roles as the eloping man, the train conductor and the father of the "slapping boy." The "slapping boy" is played by three-and-a-half-year old Dean Reisner and son of ThePilgrim's assistant director Charles Reisner (who also plays the pickpocket). Dean would grow up to become a leading screenwriter in Hollywood, penning the "do you feel lucky, punk" scene for Dirty Harry (1971)."
This little film was great fun to watch. Being so short it's hard to write about, so I hope this short post will encourage you to watch the film for yourself, which is linked for you below:
"Criminal pathologists try to crack a case with nothing but the victim's bones to go on."
This was the brief synopsis on TCM for the 1950 film Mystery Street. It sounded interesting so I added it to my list. I was also intrigued because the lead was played by Mexican actor Ricardo Montalban, who I've watched recently in a couple Esther Williams films as well as the WWII film Battleground (1949) - in which he gave a wonderful performance.
As soon as I watched it, I knew I had to write about it. Showing the procedural side of police work, the film was groundbreaking in showing how policemen use the science of forensics to solve crimes, in this case a murder in which all that is left to go on is some bones buried in the sand on the beach.
The audience already know who the bones belong to and who committed the crime, so there is no mystery involved. The excitement comes from seeing the way in which the clues are gathered and how the murderer and his victim are identified by the police. There is of course some suspense/action near the end with the death of the victims' landlady who tried to use her knowledge for monetary gain.
Trailer
The film opens with the victim, Vivian Heldon (Jan Sterling) making a phone call to the married man she is having an affair with. She demands he meet her at the Grass Skirt cafe, her place of employment in Boston. While there she meets a young man, Henry Shanway (Marshall Thompson), who's wife has just lost their baby in childbirth. Vivian offers to take the inebriated Shanway home but instead takes over his car to meet her lover Hartley on Cape Cod. When he protested to ditches him on the side of the road a few miles from a diner. At the beach, Vivian demands Hartley give her money. Instead, he shoots her while she's still on the car, then buries her body among the sand dunes.
Three months later, her bones are discovered. They are all that remain of Vivian. The car belonging to Shanway, which was sunk by Hartley in a nearby pond, is also found. Police Lieutenant Peter Moralas (Montalban) is put on the case. They take the bones to Dr. McAdoo (Bruce Bennett), the forensics expert at the Department of Legal Medicine at Harvard University. McAdoo explains the process of gaining clues from bones. Once the skeleton is assembled, he is able to tell the sex, age, height, and build of the victim and when she died. The bones also reveal that she was pregnant. With that information, the police are then able to look through their missing persons file and narrow down the results. The most fascinating part (which you can watch here) is when they take photos of the possible candidates and match them with the skull (these scenes reminded me of the popular show Bones, which ended it's 12 season run last year).
Once they've ided the victim, Moralas sets out to figure out who murdered her. He visits her boarding house, run by Mrs. Smerrling (Elsa Lanchester) and is shown the victims belongings that were left behind and packed away by Mrs. Smerrling. When questioned by Moralas, she does not reveal all she knows. Calling a number that Vivian had scrawled on the wall next to the telephone, she tracks down the killer and pays him a visit in order to blackmail him. While he doesn't give her any money, she steals his gun - the murder weapon - from his desk and slips it in her purse.
Moralas meanwhile, also visits the Grass Skirt and learns that Vivien left with a young man. They track him down and are able to confirm that the car they found in the pond was his, which he had reported was stolen from in front of the hospital. Caught in his lie, he becomes their prime suspect and is arrested. However, the discovery of the bullet that killed Vivian lodged under the car raises doubts in Moralas' mind. He continues searching and is lead to Hartley by checking Vivien's phone bill. Hartley denies knowing Vivien and watches nervously as Moralas searches his office. When the gun is not discovered, Hartley pays a visit to Mrs. Smerrling, who again tries to blackmail him. She has hidden the gun at the baggage claim at the train station and put the claim ticked in a bird cage. Hartley, getting desperate, forces her to reveal the hiding place then, when there's a knock on the door, hits her on the head with a candlestick, killing her.
The visitor is Shanway's wife, trying to prove her husband's innocence. Moralas shows up a few minutes later - he was going to question Mrs. Smerring again - discovers the baggage claim ticket, and hurries to the train station. He arrives just moments after Hartley convinced the baggage claim attendant to give him the bag containing the gun despite not having a ticket. He and his partner chase Hartley down and arrest him for the murder of Vivian Heldon, clearing Shanway in the process.
The film, directed by John Sturges, was filmed in Boston and had a special thanks to Harvard in the credits. The screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award. Mystery Street is the Noir Alley pick for April 14/15 on TCM. Don't miss it!
This month I checked off a couple of must-see Classics, revisited some favorites, and watched a few more Robert Ryan movies ;)
Speaking of Ryan, I'd like to apologize to the people waiting for Part 2 of my Robert Ryan post. It will be coming shortly. I've decided to also do a Part 3 AFTER I've seen some of his post-1958 films, since as of now I've only seen him in The Longest Day and don't even remember his part in that.
* means a rewatch
The Pilgrim (1923) - Charlie Chaplin
This Modern Age (1931) - Joan Crawford
Daughter of the Dragon (1931) - Anna May Wong
Haunted Gold (1932) - John Wayne
Zou Zou (1934 - French) - Josephine Baker, Jean Gabin
The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) - Robert Donat
Naughty Marietta (1935) - Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy, Frank Morgan, Elsa Lanchester
I Live My Life (1935) - Joan Crawford & Brian Aherne, Frank Morgan
Shall We Dance (1937) - Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton
Stablemates (1938) - Mickey Rooney, Wallace Beery, Margaret Hamilton
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) - Robert Donat & Greer Garson
On Your Toes (1939) - Eddie Albert, Zorina, Alan Hale
Seven Sinners (1940) - Marlene Dietrich & John Wayne
The Fighting 69th (1940) - James Cagney, Pat O’Brien, George Brent, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh, Dennis Morgan
Unexpected Uncle (1941) - Charles Coburn, Anne Shirley & James Craig
Trail Street (1947) - Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jeffreys, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Madge Meredith
Return of the Bad Men (1948) - Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jeffreys, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Jacqueline White
Winter Meeting (1948) - Bette Davis
Caught (1949) - Robert Ryan, Barbara Bel Geddes, James Mason
The Set-Up (1949) - Robert Ryan & Audrey Totter
The Crooked Way (1949) - John Payne & Ellen Drew
Conspirator (1949) - Robert Taylor & Elizabeth Taylor
The Secret Garden (1949) - Margaret O’Brien, Herbert Marshall, Dean Stockwell
The Sword and the Rose (1953-Disney) - Richard Todd & Glynis Johns
From Here to Eternity (1953) - Montgomery Clift & Donna Reed, Burt Lancaster & Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra
The Girl Who Had Everything (1953) - Elizabeth Taylor & Fernando Lamas, William Powell, Gig Young
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) - Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Walter Brennan, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin
*Tammy and the Bachelor (1957) - Debbie Reynolds & Leslie Nielsen, Walter Brennan, Mildred Natwick, Fay Wray
*Gidget (1959) - Sandra Dee & James Darren, Cliff Robertson
The Sundowners (1960) - Robert Mitchum & Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinov, Glynis Johns
In the Line of Fire (1993) - Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich
*Apollo 13 (1995) - Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Kathleen Quinlan
Life (1999) - Eddie Murphy & Martin Lawrence (brother’s choice)
Least Favorite: Haunted Gold was sometimes laughingly bad, sometimes cringe-worthy (why are African American's always depicted as superstitious and terrified of ghosts? Sometimes it's funny - Willie Best comes to mind - but this was ridiculously overdone). It was only 59 minutes though. If The Girl Who Had Everything hadn't of had William Powell in it, I wouldn't have watched it. I've been waiting for TCM to show it again for four years though so I can finally check it off my list of Powell movies watched!
Favorite Movies: Goodbye, Mr. Chips gave me a serious lump in my throat for most of the second half. Such a sweet movie. I also really enjoyed I Live My Life and The Count of Monte Cristo (the 2002 version is one of my favorite movies)
Last month I watched Wuthering Heights (1939) for the first time (it was a tragic gothic romance kind of day) and was delighted to find that there was a wedding gown involved. Merle Oberon, who plays Cathy in the film, is getting married to Edgar Linton, played by David Niven. It's a doomed marriage as she really loves the penniless Heathcliff, played by the brooding Laurence Olivier. If it's one thing I've learned from the movies, it's to never marry for money if you love someone else. It usually ends in death.
Cathy's wedding dress has a full gathered skirt made of heavy satin. The short sleeve bodice has a soft v-neckline with a short attached shawl of lace, creating butterfly sleeves. A large bow adorns the front of the neckline.
A tulle veil is attached to a circlet of baby's breath. Short gloves and a small cross necklace complete the look.
In the promo shot on the right, Oberon is holding Calla lilies instead of the small bouquet shown in the film.
At 101, Olivia de Havilland is the oldest Oscar-winning actress still living. And, at 101, she still isn't afraid to fight for her rights.
After the airing of the mini-series Feud: Bette and Joan last year, Olivia began a lawsuit against FX for using her name without consent and portraying her character in a negative light and potentially damaging her public image.
When ‘Feud’ was first being publicized, but before it went on the air, I was interested to see how it would portray my dear friend Bette Davis. Then friends and family started getting in touch with me, informing me that my identity was actually being represented on the program. No one from Fox had contacted me about this to ask my permission, to request my input, or to see how I felt about it. When I then learned that the Olivia de Havilland character called my sister Joan ‘a bitch’ and gossiped about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford’s personal and private relationship, I was deeply offended.
Olivia explains her reasons for initiating the lawsuit:
A large part of the reason I decided to move forward with my action against Fox is that I realize that at this stage of my life and career I am in a unique position to stand up and speak truth to power — an action that would be very difficult for a young actor to undertake. I believe in the right to free speech, but it certainly must not be abused by using it to protect published falsehoods or to improperly benefit from the use of someone’s name and reputation without their consent. Fox crossed both of these lines with ‘Feud,’ and if it is allowed to do this without any consequences, then the use of lies about well-known public figures masquerading as the truth will become more and more common. This is not moral and it should not be permitted.
Both of these quotes and more about the lawsuit can be read in this article published yesterday in the New York Times. The most exciting part about the article however, was the inclusion of two new photographs of our beloved Olivia that were taken at her home in Paris last month. She is absolutely stunning! I just had to share them ♥♥♥
When the name Robert Ryan is mentioned, the first image that comes to mind is a man with a hard glint in his eye and a menacing tone in his voice. But the man behind the oftentimes villainous character was a kind and quiet man at heart, content spending time with his wife and children and avoiding the Hollywood party scene.
My re-introduction to Robert Ryan was as a teacher at an all boys school in Her Twelve Men (the first film I saw with him in it was Flying Leathernecks but all I remembered about that movie is that his character and John Wayne's character did not get along. My second was Men in War which I watched for Aldo Ray...). I thought to myself, "Oh look, he plays a good guy in this movie." Even though I had hardly seen any of his films, I knew he was usually a bad guy.
I followed this film some months later with Tender Comrade (1943) in which he is the romantic lead in Ginger Roger's flashbacks. I fell in love with his character. And then Ryan. And then I started watching any film of his that showed up on TCM. And then I had to read his biography.
I was happy to learn that Ryan's personal life was quiet and scandal-free. Born Robert Bushnell Ryan on Nov. 11, 1909, Bob lived a happy childhood in Uptown, Illinois until the death of his younger brother at the age of six of lobar pneumonia. His life was lonely after that and he spent much of his time reading. His father signed him up for boxing lessons to help draw him out, which Bob loved. "Athletic prowess did a lot for my ego and my acceptance in school. The ability to defend yourself lessens the chance you'll ever have to use it."
Bob Ryan as a child
Bob also spent a lot of time at the movies - he never missed a Douglas Fairbanks picture. Aside from his fascination with how movies were made, it was also a way to get away from the smothering affections of his parents. "You cannot know the difficulties that attend an only child. Two big grown-ups are beaming in on him all the time - even when he isn't there. It is a feeling of being watched that lingers throughout life."
Bob as a football player for Loyola Academy
An Irish-Catholic, Bob attended Loyola Academy, during which time played football, becoming an All-City tackle his senior year. He also joined the literary society and wrote for the school's magazine The Prep.
Truly, I may say that a man's best friends are his books. Your companions may desert you, but your books will remain with you always and will never cease to be that source of enjoyment that they were when you first received them.
Bob's favorite book was Hamlet, which he memorized and which made him consider becoming a playwright instead of joining the family construction business.
After graduation, Bob spent the summer working on a dude ranch in Montana before heading to New Hampshire for his first year at Dartmouth. While there he won the school their first heavyweight title in boxing. During the first semester of his second year he suffered a football injury which caused his already average grades to drop. He left at the end of the semester and headed back home where he held odd jobs before returning to Dartmouth the following autumn. He defended the heavyweight title for two years, retiring from boxing in his senior year to focus more on literature
"Rum, Rebellion, and Ryan."
That was Bob's slogan when he ran for class marshal during Prohibition.
The stock market crash and some scandals with his families business made Bob even more determined not to join after graduation. He lived with a friend and tried out playwriting, did a little modeling to make extra cash, and worked a s a sandhog on the Hudson River. He even went in with friends on a gold mine, but pulled out when he realized it wasn't going anywhere.
In 1936 his father died and Bob returned home to take care of his mother. He tried to work at the family business but became frustrated with the way his life was going. It wasn't until a friend persuaded him to try acting that his life would change.
I never even thought of acting until I was twenty-eight. The first minute I got on the stage, I thought, 'Bing! This is it!'
Bob immediately signed up for acting classes and set his sights on Hollywood. He made the move to Los Angeles in 1938 and joined the Reinhardt School where he met his future wife, Jessica Cadwalader, a Quaker. The head of the school, Max Reinhardt, saw something in Bob and became his personal teacher as well as an important figure in his life, teaching him many things that he would carry with him for the rest of his career.
In 1939, Bob and Jessica wed. At the beginning things were rough, but after being noticed in the play Too Many Husbands, Bob secured a contract with Paramount where he was given several small parts. He was let go after six months, after which the Ryan's packed up and went to New York. The couple played in several theaters before Tallulah Bankhead saw him perform and picked him out to play a small role in Clash By Night with her (he would later play a bigger role in the 1952 film version with Barbara Stanwyck).
At the Robin Hood Theatre in Delaware, 1941.
The play made it's Broadway debut shortly after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, causing the paly to close after forty-nine performances. Bob got good reviews from the critics and soon had a contract with RKO, where he held small roles in Patriotic pictures, most notably as a boxer in Behind the Rising Sun (1943). His break came when he was given a role in Tender Comrade (1943) as Ginger Rogers husband (see the opening scene in the video at the top of this post).
Bob's performance garnered him a spread in the April 1944 Photoplay.
I've never felt so at-home in a role in my life. Y'know, a lot of those scenes are retakes of things that have happened between Jessica and myself.
Ginger Rogers was skeptical when Bob was first suggested for the role, thinking his deeply lined face "too mean looking" as well as the major height difference - he was 6'4" to her 5'4". But after doing some scenes together she slipped a note to producer David Hempstead "I think this is the guy." Bob kept that note the rest of his life.
After completing one more picture, Marine Raiders (1943), Bob himself was finally called into service, with a promise that he would still have a job at RKO after the war. He joined the Marines and escaped the ragging that was typical of movie stars in the armed forces because, as a bunkmate said, "Most of these guys saw you beat that Jap in Behind the Rising Sun."
After completing basic training, Bob was frustrated to learn he would be recreation assistant and later a combat conditioner, teaching boxing, judo, and swimming. Jessica, who had quit acting and was writing for magazines at the time, was relieved. She moved near the San Diego base where Bob was stationed and started work on her first mystery, The Man Who Asked Why. In 1945, shortly before the end of the war, she found out she was pregnant.
Bob was honorably discharged on October 30, 1945 and was immediately put into his next picture, The Woman on the Beach (1947), directed by Jean Renoir. Bob played Scott, a Coast Guard suffering from shell-shock whose job is to patrol the foggy Pacific coast. He meets a woman (Joan Bennett) who is married to a blind artist (Charles Bickford) and they start an affair. Scott becomes convinced that Bickford is just pretending to be blind and takes him for a walk near the cliffs. Bickford falls off the cliff but escapes with only minor injuries. Scott then realizes what he's doing is wrong and breaks things off. In the end, Bennett goes back to her husband. Unfortunately the picture was cut and re-edited and so the final product did not do well at the box-office and it is evident that, while the film starts off strongly, it could have been a masterpiece.
Working with him [Renoir] opened my eyes to aspects of character that were subtler than those I was accustomed to.
On April 13, 1946, Jessica gave birth to Timothy. Bob was in between pictures and spent many happy days with his little son and wife. The couple preferred to stay away from the Hollywood scene and when they did entertain it was family and close friends only.
Bob with his son Timothy.
While in the Marines, Bob had read a book titled The Brick Foxhole that featured a racist, homophobic character who, as a cop, enjoyed beating up and killing blacks and Jews. As a man who would later fight for equal rights and the end of prejudice, he was interested in the book as a film and met with the author, Richard Brooks, to tell him that if it was ever made into a movie, he wanted to play that character. In 1946, RKO purchased the rights and Bob begged for the part. The film, Crossfire, would also star Robert Young as the policeman investigating the murder of a Jewish man and Robert Mitchum as a fellow soldier who is brought in by the police to help find the murderer.
Mr. Dmytryk has handled most excellently a superlative cast which plays the drama. Robert Ryan is frighteningly real as the hard, sinewy, loud-mouthed, intolerant and vicious murderer (NY Times).
I like how Ryan plays the bad guy yet he's the only one smiling in this cast picture.
Crossfire is a frank spotlight on anti-Semitism. Producer Dore Schary, in association with Adrian Scott, has pulled no punches. There is no skirting such relative fol-de-rol as intermarriage or clubs that exclude Jews. Here is a hard-hitting film whose whodunit aspects are fundamentally incidental to the overall thesis of bigotry and race prejudice (Variety).
The role could have meant the end of Bob's career, yet while he was in Berlin shooting his next picture, Berlin Express (1948) with Merle Oberon, the film had broken box-office records (it beat Gentleman's Agreement, another film that addressed anti-Semitism, to release by a few months). Bob was nominated for an Best Supporting Actor Oscar but lost to Edmund Gwenn for his role as Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Despite not winning, the role was just what his career needed.
Bob's next big role, and maybe my favorite film of his, was as an embittered ex-soldier in Act of Violence (1948) co-starring Van Heflin, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, and Phyllis Thaxter. I watched it twice in the span of a couple of months and it was just as captivating the second time as it was the first. Frank Enley (Heflin) is known as a war hero in his town and to his wife, Edith (Leigh). But he's hiding a dark secret that only Joe Parkson (Ryan) knows: he ratted out his friends while being held prisoners in a Nazi POW camp in exchange for food, leading to the death of all but Joe. Now Joe is out for revenge, following Frank across the country with the plan to kill him. You can read about the making of the film here.
TCM Tribute to Robert Ryan
Well, this post is turning out a lot longer than I anticipated so I am going to divide it into two parts. Look out for the next part in two weeks on the 17th!
Also to look forward to: keep an eye out for my post on On Dangerous Ground for The Good Cop, Bad Cop Blogathon at the end of the month and "The Westerns of Robert Ryan" on April 14 for The Great Western Blogathon (I'm pretty much using any excuse I can to write about Ryan). You can also read my post on Her Twelve Men (1954).
Robert Ryan movies airing on TCM:
March 7 - Return of the Bad Men (1948) & Trail Street (1947)
March 9 - The Dirty Dozen (1967
March 17 - Crossfire (1947)
There are also a handful of his films on YouTube that can be found by searching "Robert Ryan Full Movies."
Source:
The Lives of Robert Ryan. Jones, J.R. Wesleyan University Press, Middleton, CT. 2015.
