ChelseaRialtoStudios

The 1943 PHANTOM is a grand show. Admittedly, you have to get past the fact that it is NOT a horror film. It was designed as a Technicolor showcase for Universal's new star Susannah Foster. The studio spent a lot of money on the picture and they were amply rewarded at the boxoffice as well as at the Academy banquet. There is no doubt that another director would have shifted the focus and strengthened the suspense angle. But audiences in 1943 were obviously in a mood for colorful extravaganza and they got it. Just as audiences in the 80's were looking for romance instead of horror when Lloyd Webber attacked Broadway with his Phantom. The Chaney PHANTOM is, and always will be, the best. But if you enjoy operatic performance (and, as in parts of this picture, faux operatic performance), beautiful sets and costumes in Technicolor, Claude Rains at his sensitive best, then give the '43 PHANTOM a try. The DVD is a breathtaking presentation of the recent photochemical restoration of the original Technicolor separations.

This is one of my all-time favorite Warners pictures. I ran it for a big crowd a couple of years ago - film fans who had never even heard of it - and they went bananas. This picture moves like wildfire. The camera is always moving and the dialogue is paced lickety-split. Adolph Deutsch's music score is very progressive. Only Heinz Roemheld could have put more pizzazz in the pizzicatos! The all-star comedy cast is brilliant, as are the straight actors (Veidt, Lorre, Stossel & Anderson). I don't think Bogart ever spat dialogue as quickly as in this picture. Kaaren Verne was quite lovely. She also appeared in SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON in 1942. Of course, the scene that brings down the house is the double-talk scene. This is one of those movies that really plays best with an audience and the double-talk scene is a perfect illustration. By the way, Bill Demarest always did his own stunts (remember his backfall in MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK?!) and he takes many pratfalls in ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT. Doubling for Bogart in the Central Park fistfight was Ken Terrell.

Jack Pennick never gets a nod. He was Ford's personal assistant and also appeared in most of his pictures. One of his funniest bits was in the Ford-Cooper production of MIGHTY JOE YOUNG. "Somebody stole my truck!" He also made many non-Ford pictures and played an exhausted drill sergeant in Fox's ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND.

ROOM FOR ONE MORE was retitled THE EASY WAY by Warner Bros. so that its television appearances would not be confused with their own series of the same name (and based on the feature). The original film is part of the post-1950 package of Warner titles, the larger ones having been subject to a longterm contract with HBO/Cinemax. Cinemax has run ROOM FOR ONE MORE (as THE EASY WAY, I believe) and may do so again. Other classics in this group of titles are CAGED, THE BREAKING POINT, THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, OPERATION PACIFIC, ON MOONLIGHT BAY, BY THE LIGHT OF THE SILVERY MOON and many others.

THE DEVIL WITH HITLER is a wonderfully bizarre streamliner - certainly the most offbeat entry in this offbeat format series. Bobby Watson ("Moses supposes his toeses are roses...") plays der fooey and it's 100% burlesque. Joe Devlin is a drugstore Mussolini and George E. "the Runt" Stone plays Suki Yaki. This obnoxious axis makes hay with Hades (and Alan Mowbray as the Devil). Roach produced these 4 reel "streamliners" as program filler. Two of the very best to look out for are PRAIRIE CHICKENS and ALL-AMERICAN CO-ED. THE DEVIL WITH HITLER was followed up the next year by NAZTY NUISANCE.

I just got a 16mm print of one of her early talkies - GIRL OF THE RIO, co-starring Leo Carrillo and Norman Foster. Dolores has a fantastic monologue at the end where she puts Leo in his place.

> At least with Lion's Gate owning the Republic catalog > we may still get a DVD release of 'Johnny Guitar.' Lion's Gate does not own the Republic catalog. The Republic library is owned by Paramount. Lion's Gate is merely a licensee.

An excellent point from a slightly different tact. Bravo.

Why are so many film fans obsessed with squeezing some of their favorite pictures into the "film noir" category? Does this give the picture added value? Is the reclassification akin to a great revelation? Shoehorning pictures like THE PETRIFIED FOREST and ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES into being regarded as "film noir" does nothing but diminish the peculiar qualities of the genre itself. Come on, kids, it's okay to just like a "Gangster" film. Or an adaptation of a popular stage play. It doesn't make you less cool. Get with it. Be a man. Don't follow the "in" Noir crowd like lemmings. MURDER, MY SWEET is Noir. YOU CAN'T GET AWAY WITH MURDER is a gangster film. And MURDER HE SAYS is a farce. It is NOT a "Hillbilly Noir!"

Ah, A SUMMER PLACE. One of the greats. We released the original soundtrack CD two years ago - one of our biggest sellers. Outstanding Max Steiner score. http://www.chelsearialtostudios.com

Just ran a print of this last night. Very emotional back street story. Probably Ann Harding's best performance. John Boles was excellent, too. And there's an early appearance by Bonita Granville. Music by Max Steiner. TCM is showing this next month. Check it out!

THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM - Gregory Peck's character is on a long journey by foot and stops in a village where he is taken in by the local woman of the streets (Helen Craig). The deleted sequence wound up in the possession of Ms. Craig and her husband, actor John Beal. ARSENIC AND OLD LACE - the original end of the film had Edward Everett Horton being served a glass of elderberry wine. This scene is still in the theatrical trailer (available for viewing in the TCM Multimedia region). KEEP 'EM FLYING - Abbott and Costello's magician act was deleted, to be reprised in their MGM feature LOST IN A HAREM; and at least four songs were cut, though promotional records were sent to radio stations.

My two favorites (not best - just my favorites) are RIDE 'EM COWBOY and DESTRY RIDES AGAIN. As for MURDER, HE SAYS - it's the greatest!

THE CHEATERS is, and always has been, part of the Republic Pictures library - formerly controlled by NTA; now distributed by Paramount. It is readily available for licensing.

> in what film does he do the 'drunk act'? Two of my favorites are THE GLASS MENAGERIE (1950) and A SUMMER PLACE. The former has definite comedic overtones; the latter is very sad. Both pictures, by the way, are seriously underappreciated.

Arthur Kennedy. Equally at home as a hero, a villain, or a third-party character. A great actor. And he did the best "drunk" act in pictures.

Actually, quite a few editions of the Warner Brothers "Breakdowns" series survive. The studio put this annual gag reel together and, since they were never copyrighted, dupe reels have floated around for years. One of the funniest montages in BREAKDOWNS OF 1938 is a succession of headgear tested by Basil Rathbone for THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD. The clips in these reels would invariably be punctuated by sound effects from Termite Terrace (the Schlesinger group also contributed a clip of Porky Pig "losing his cool"). There are also several extant reels of Universal outtakes featuring Abbott and Costello. Perhaps the most notorious outtake reel was prepared by Hal Roach studios. It was called "That's That" and featured outtakes featuring Laurel and Hardy.

Steiner was given poster credit from the 1930's when he joined Warners under contract. Interestingly, for his first film - CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE - Steiner was borrowed from Selznick International. The film was originally to be scored by Ernest Toch, who was given credit in the massive pressbook issued to theaters. When the New York Times reviewed CHARGE they credited Toch with the score, though Max Steiner was the composer and given sole screen credit for the music.

MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW is being shown Labor Day weekend at the Columbus Cinevent in Columbus, Ohio.

For some reason, TOO MUCH TOO SOON has been ignored by film historians and waved off as an indifferent melodrama. Quite the contrary, Dorothy Malone gives another superb performance as Diana Barrymore and Errol Flynn is simply startling as John Barrymore. The incredible thing about Flynn's performance is that he makes no attempt whatsoever at imitating Barrymore's exterior qualities but relies solely on portraying the character from within. In many ways, Flynn was playing himself as much as he was playing his late dear friend. Ray Danton is great as Diana's sleazy husband and former B player Robert Wilcox is even portrayed in this film. He was Barrymore's second husband, also a dypsomaniac. The music score is an early triumph by Ernest Gold though, interestingly enough, the one-sheet movie posters were printed with Max Steiner credited as composer. His name was then clumsily etched out in the printing masters and Ernest Gold's name was inserted. It is very possible that literary rights have prevented distribution of this film beyond syndication. It's orphan films like this that make us sprocket collectors grateful for our 16mm collections!

THE NANNY has only been released on VHS. Any company that is selling it on DVD is selling a bootleg and is in flagrant copyright violation.

Well, my kids are 23 and 19. They both love the classics. Better still, when we have screenings they invite their friends (we run everything in 16mm on a 13 ft. screen) who also get a real charge out of the older films. Some of them like the glamour; some of them like the scripts; but none of them have turned their noses up at black & white. So take heart...there's hope. Wait..I just saw a trailer for a new Adam Sandler movie. THERE'S NO HOPE! WE'RE DOOMED! WE'RE DOOMED!!!

I asked Rudy Behlmer about that "blown light" story and, through memos and other primary source material, he had long ago dismissed it as bunk. Nevertheless, "I steal" is, inded, one of the greatest blackout endings of any picture.

Chakiris is also in the "Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me" number in WHITE CHRISTMAS.

Okay, so what's your favorite final "blackout" in a movie - a quick sock'em line or gag (comedic or dramatic) in a picture? The highbrows all go nuts over "Well, nobody's perfect" in S.L.I.H. My favorite is the very end of MY SISTER EILEEN (1942) when the subway workers suddenly dig right into the girls' apartment. Need I tell you what three Columbia contract players played this inept trio in this wonderful closing cameo??