Cinema Wedding Gowns: Arizona (1940)

This post was one of the more difficult ones to put together because I had over 40 screenshots to choose from due to Jean Arthur wearing today's wedding gown for several scenes and the dress itself having so much detail.

We will start with some full-length shots.

It's difficult to know how to describe this gown. There are tiers and ruffles and lace and possibly some beadwork. The skirt is gathered and wonderfully full with beautiful movement. 

Jean Arthur appeared on the cover of the September 1940 issue of Arizona Highways wearing the wedding gown (sans veil). There was also a six-page spread about the film. You can view the entire magazine here! Click the download symbol to view a pdf of the magazine. This is the clearest picture of the gown I could find and it also shows the hem and tiers really well. It could easily look too fussy but somehow doesn't.

In this shot we get an excellent view of the waist and bodice detail. Note the lacework "stripes: on the bodice under the collar section, sleeves, and going down the skirt. 

This shows the "stripes" on the skirt a little better. 

The dress has a scoop neckline with drop shoulders and balloon sleeves.

Another shot. If you're wondering why Jean Arthur doesn't look too happy it's because right after the wedding William Holden has a gunfight scheduled. I have to say, she's taking it much better than I would have ;)

The veil doesn't look historically accurate to me but I love it so much. The lace is exquisite. 

She wears it almost as if it were a shawl.

It comes down to a point on the sides.

On most women the bow could look silly but Jean makes it work. Such a pretty curled updo!

Another look at the bow as well as her beaded choker.

Just because ;) *swoon*

Spoiler: He survives the gunfight.

Ten Movies on an Island: 1940s Edition

The 1940s - when the Movies went to war. Now, not only did the movies have to entertain, they had to show support of the war and boost morale. During this time, the OWI (Office of War Information) asked all filmmakers to consider these seven questions when making a movie:

1. Will this picture help win the war?
2. What war information problem does it seek to clarify, dramatize or interpret?
3. If it is and "escape" picture, will it harm the war effort by creating a false picture of America, her allies, or the world we live in?
4. Does it merely use the war as the basis for a profitable picture, contributing nothing of real significance to the war effort and possibly lessening the effect of other pictures of more importance?
5. Does it contribute something new to our understanding of our world conflict and the various forces involved, or has the subject already been adequately covered?
6. When the picture reaches its maximum circulation on the screen, will it reflect the conditions as they are and fill a need current at that time, or will it be out-dated?
7. Does the picture tell the truth or will the young people of today have reason to say they were misled by propaganda?

Hollywood rose to the challenge, churning out war picture after war picture. Mrs. Miniver (1942) portrayed ultimate patriotism. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) showed the challenges of returning Veterans. John Wayne won every battle conceivable against the enemy. Many big name stars even served.

Birthday boy James Stewart retired from the army as a two star Major General.

Even Roosevelt approved of the way Hollywood was doing their part. An aide to the President, Lowell Mellett, said "Practically everything being shown on the screen from newsreel to fiction that touches on our national purpose is of the right sort" (Hollywood Goes to War, Roy Hoopes).

The 1940s is the decade with the most films on my list. This one was particularly agonizing to whittle down to a mere ten (as you can see from all of the Honorable Mentions). Also, half of them ended up being Christmas movies (both #4 & 6 are set at Christmas are have a scene at Christmas time). There's also not a lot of war films reflected here. As you an see,  I usually err on the side of comedy. What can I say? I love to laugh!

1940s:

1. Meet John Doe (1941) - Gary Cooper & Barbara Stanwyck

2. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941) - Robert Montgomery & Carole Lombard

3. To Be or Not To Be (1941/42) - Jack Benny & Carole Lombard

4. Cat People (1942) - Simone Simon & Kent Smith

5. The More the Merrier (1943) - Jean Arthur & Joel McCrea, Charles Coburn

6. Going My Way (1944) - Bing Crosby & Barry Fitzgerald

7. Christmas in Connecticut (1945) - Barbara Stanwyck & Dennis Morgan, S.Z. Sakall

8. My Favorite Brunette (1947) - Bob Hope & Dorothy Lamour

9. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) - Maureen O'Hara & John Payne, Edmund Gwenn

10. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) - Cary Grant & Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas

Honorable Mentions: Rebecca (1940), Remember the Night (1940), Third Finger, Left Hand (1940), The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941), The Lady Eve (1941), Random Harvest (1942), Now, Voyager (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), A Stolen Life (1946), Magic Town (1947), Life with Father (1947), Portrait of Jennie (1948), It's a Great Feeling (1949), Ma and Pa Kettle (1949).

Tomorrow, my top ten from the 1950s!

If You Could Only Cook (1935)

*Sorry this post has been so long in coming. I've gotten frightfully behind! I had wanted to re-watch this film before posting but just couldn't seem to ever make it to the library.

 

If You Could Only Cook (1935) stars Jean Arthur and Herbert Marshall. It was directed by William A. Seiter, not a name familiar to most (if any). So how did Columbia get people to see this movie? Robert Osborne explains below: 

 

In the film, Herbert Marshall plays Jim Buchanan, the head of a large automobile firm. He is unhappy because the Board of Directors will not look at his sleek new car designs. While walking through the park he happens upon Jean Arthur, who plays Joan Hawthorne. She is sitting on a park bench checking the job listings in the paper (it's the Depression you know). She spots a listing for cook and butler positions. The problem is, the job is open to a husband and wife team only. Joan, presuming Jim is also out of work, talks him into applying for the job with her. He decides to play along.

The job is located at the Rossini manor, the home of a former bootlegger, played by Leo Carillo. Rossini has Joan prepare a sauce. She gets the job when, instead of putting garlic directly in the sauce, simply waves it across the top. It's a great scene.

Jim, Joan, Rossini, and his bodyguard

The trouble begins when Joan and Jim are shown to their room. Singular. They solve the problem by Jim sleeping on the adjoining balcony/porch. Also, as Jim knows nothing about being a butler, he sneaks home to get lessons from his own butler. Rossini's bodyguard sees Jim sleeping on the porch and gets suspicious.

Rossini and Joan try to solve the problem

Rossini, suspected that the couple isn't really a couple, begins flirting with Joan. Jim of course doesn't like this all. He goes down to his office and gets his drawings to show Joan, hoping to impress her. Unfortunately, when Jim isn't looking, Joan takes his drawings to his own company and tries to sell them. They think that she stole them and have her arrested.

Rossini then steps in. He realizes that Joan loves Jim and kidnaps Jim, who left to marry his society fiancé when he realized he was getting too deep into things. You'll have to watch the movie to find out how it ends ;)

 

And now, Robert Osborne's closing thoughts:

Sources:
TCM - If You Could Only Cook
Another great post on this film
All images found via Pinterest

Romantic Comedy Month

Well, Romantic Comedy Month has arrived. Before I begin, I want to define what a Romantic Comedy is (as opposed to a Screwball Comedy) and give you the order of films I will be covering. This month I also have several posts leading up to Mother's Day as well as two posts for the Great Katharine Hepburn Blogathon (as well as a couple I was supposed to post last week).

The Blonde at the Film, in her recent post on Bringing Up Baby (1938) describes the Screwball genre perfectly:

After It Happened One Night (1934), which is generally considered to be the first screwball, the genre flourished throughout the 1930s and into the early 1940s. The elements that make up screwball include farcical situations, witty, quick repartee, slapstick, mistaken or fluid identities, secrets, mismatches in social class, journeys away from civilization and into the country, a battle of the sexes romance plot where the madcap woman pursues the man and sometimes “liberates him” with her wackiness, and a topsy-turvy world where normal reality doesn’t apply.

Example: Carole Lombard & Fred MacMurray

Now, according to that definition, It Happened One Night doesn't sound as much of a Screwball film as many of the later screwball films that were made. Here is another definition from an article on Preston Sturges:

...an archetypal screwball comedy, a genre that flourished in Hollywood from 1934 to 1944, derived its energy from setting oppositions (male-female, rich‑poor, fast-slow, honest-crooked, innocent-experienced, and many more) into conflict.

Several of these can be applied to It Happened One Night. So as you can see, the definition has several facets. This post over at The Vintage Cameo describes the film in terms of a Romantic Comedy.

This is the definition of a Romantic Comedy (past and present) according to Wikipedia:

... films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily." Another definition states that its "primary distinguishing feature is a love plot in which two sympathetic and well-matched lovers are united or reconciled." Romantic comedy films are a certain genre of comedy films as well as of romance films, and may also have elements of screwball comedies.  

In a typical romantic comedy the two lovers tend to be young, likeable, and apparently meant for each other, yet they are kept apart by some complicating circumstance (e.g., class differences, parental interference; a previous girlfriend or boyfriend) until, surmounting all obstacles, they are finally wed. A wedding-bells, fairy-tale-style happy ending is practically mandatory.

William Powell & Myrna Loy

Now that we have defined what a Romantic Comedy is, here is the line-up for the month:

1930s*:

• If You Could Only Cook (1935) - Jean Arthur & Herbert Marshall
• Theodora Goes Wild (1936) - Irene Dunne & Melvyn Douglas
• Libeled Lady (1936) - William Powell & Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy & Jean Harlow

1940s:

• Third Finger, Left Hand (1940) - Myrna Loy & Melvyn Douglas
• The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941) - James Cagney & Bette Davis
• The More the Merrier (1943) - Jean Arthur, Charles Coburn, Joel McCrea

1950s & 60s:

• Confidentially Connie (1953) - Janet Leigh & Van Johnson
• Sunday in New York (1963) - Jane Fonda & Rod Taylor
• Sex and the Single Girl (1964) - Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Lauren, Bacall, & Henry Fonda

Jane Fonda & Rod Taylor

*Romantic Comedy Month will begin right after the Great Katharine Hepburn Blogathon (May 9-12) and end in mid June.  There will be no Netflix Movie Mondays during this time.

The Whole Town's Talking (1935)

 

I just discovered why I like this movie so much: the script is by Robert Riskin. He wrote the screenplays for both Platinum Blonde (1931) and Magic Town (1947), both of which I have written about, as well as numerous Frank Capra films. The following film however, was directed by the great John Ford, famous for his long-time film partnership with John Wayne.

 

The Whole Town's Talking was released in February of 1935, over 80 years ago! It featured two of the biggest stars of the decade: Edward G. Robinson and Jean Arthur. Robinson plays a dual role in this film, which has been sort of a theme here at Phyllis Loves Classic Movies this month. One of the roles he plays is that of a gangster named "Killer" Manion - no surprise there. The other is Arthur Ferguson Jones, a meek and shy office worker who is never late for work and who does the same thing every day. He wakes up at the same time, feeds his cat Abelard, feeds his bird Heloise, draws a bath... you get the picture. However, today is the day that his life changes. Due to get a raise for his punctuality, he is late for the first time in his life and almost gets fired. His long record of loyalty and dedication to his job works in his favor and he is allowed to stay - but no raise. One of his co-workers, "Bill" Clark (played by Arthur) - the girl he secretly loves - gets fired instead for taking up for him. However, in true Jean Arthur fashion, she doesn't seem to mind.

 

 

While cleaning out her desk, she happens to see a picture of Public Enemy #1 in the newspaper. He looks just like Jonesy!

 

 

The two go out to lunch together. While there, an upright citizen, played by Donald Meek, notices Jones, whom he thinks is "Killer" Manion, performs his duty and calls the police (there also just happens to be a reward). Within minutes the place is surrounded and Jones is hauled off to the city jail.

 

 

Jones and Clark insist that this is all a big mistake, but to no avail. Finally, Jones' boss comes down and identifies him. Since he looks so much like the gangster, Jones is given a special "Police Protection" pass to show the police if he is picked up again. The story of the gangster look-alike is printed in the local paper and "Killer" Manion finds out about Jones and his special, not to mention convenient, pass.

 

Seeing the publicity in this, Jones' boss has him write up a series of newspaper articles of his views on Manion. Jones agrees, but only is Miss Clark is put back on the payroll. Maybe looking like a gangster isn't so bad after all...

 

When Jones returns to his apartment later in the evening, a surprise awaits him.

 

 

Manion, being a ruthless gangster, comes up with the perfect plan. During the day, while Jones is at work, Manion will stay in Jones' apartment. At night, when Jones comes home, Manion will take his pass and go commit more crimes while being protected from the police. Jones can do nothing but agree. Unfortunately, he also has to agree to write his newspaper articles as dictated by Manion, leading many to be suspicious that Jones is lying about his identity.

    

 

See the resemblance?

The film ends with a showdown between the two characters. Manion sends his men to go kill Jones, who then unexpectedly shows up at their hideout. Manion's men think Jones is Manion and he tells them to let Jones go free. This final scene is extremely interesting to watch as Robinson has to play a meek guy pretending to be a gangster. He pulls it off brilliantly. His performance is so convincing in this movie that you really do see Robinson as two separate men. That alone makes this film worth watching.  Add Jean Arthur, a great supporting cast, and a witty script and you have cinema gold!

Manion

With growing indignity surrounding the perceived vulgarity of gangster movies, it was only due to its comedy content that the film avoided falling foul of the code William Hays drew up to enforce prohibition on subversive content in film — the principles of which went on to govern film narrative in Hollywood at the time. ~ source

There is one glaring goof in the picture. At the beginning of the movie, Jones starts the tub water running. When he realized he is late for work, he rushes from the apartment, and there is a close-up of the overflowing bathtub. When Jones returns from work, the water is not running and there is no "flood" like you are led to expect.

Make sure you read Silver Screenings post from 2013 on the Dual Edward!

This film airs on TCM on Sept. 20th at 8am EST.

Sources:
IMDb
TCM

All images found via Pinterest