TomJH

I don't want to derail any thread devoted to Robert Osborne, but I, too, was largely raised on golden age Hollywood films brought to Canadian television by Elwy Yost. With his avuncular personality and, being a former school teacher, Yost was always "Uncle Elwy" to me because of the warmth that he emitted and enthusiasm for films. Elwy Yost felt like family, without ever even meeting him. However, one day I did meet him. A friend of mine had called TV Ontario, the channel for which Elwy worked, for some programming information. Yost answered the phone himself, they talked a bit and Elwy made an invitation for my friend to drop by any time for a visit. My friend asked if I could come along, to which Elwy was agreable. When we showed up one day (bearing gifts, a couple of video tapes of films we were pretty sure Yost didn't own), it soon became apparent that Elwy had forgotten about his telephone invitation. However, he was as gracious as could be desired, inviting us to join us in his office. We talked for about a half hour or so, and I noticed that Elwy, always a humble man who said he would gladly welcome any viewers in if he met them, allowed my friend and I to do a lot of the talking. At the end of the conversation, Elwy gave us an invitation to drop by his home some time for a beer. We always assumed that he was just being polite, so never tried to follow up on it. A few years later, though, my friend had a conversation with a good friend of Yost's, making passing reference to the home invitation. The friend said that Elwy was a shy man so that if he made an invitation of that kind he probably really meant it. And that was rather nice to hear, that Elwy liked us enough to do that. But then, Elwy was, sort of like Will Rogers, I guess, as Dargo suggested, the kind of man who never met a man he didn't like, and never saw a film of which he couldn't find some good things to say. Sorry for the ramble. But seeing Elwy Yost's name made me want to pay a brief tribute to a true movie fan who was able to convey his enthusiasm to thousands of other Canadian movie buffs, bringing them films that they probably wouldn't have been able to see otherwise at a time when only a few other stations were showing the golden Hollywood studio system nuggets. Good ol' Uncle Elwy! (By the way, Elwy often travelled to California and other spots in the 80s and 90s, doing probably hundreds of interviews with those involved in the movie making processes of Hollywood - everyone from Jimmy Stewart to Bob Hope to Greer Garson to Henry Fonda, among so many others. I wonder what has happened to those interviews).

It's always good when you come across an interesting little film like The Long Haul, which you've never heard of. A '50s British attempt at street realism, with noone, including its leading man, any kind of saint. But Victor Mature succumbing to the temptation of Diana Dors only made his characterization more believable, as far as I was concerned. He's still an essentially decent, honourable guy for whom the audience wants to cheer. Furthermore, I liked the dramatic touches in the film's musical score, particularly under its opening titles. The Long Haul might not be anyone's idea of a classic but it is a more than decent little effort.

No, I didn't catch The Whole Town's Talking on this broadcast, mrroberts, but I've certainly seen the film in the past. It remains a strong showcase for Eddie G.'s acting range, to be so utterly convincing in two such disparate roles, one as a meek clerk, the other in his then-patented cold blooded killer part. This was, I believe, the first time that Robinson played a mild mannered part, not to be repeated for almost another decade when he worked with Fritz Lang in Woman in the Window. In Jean Arthur, I also feel that Eddie had one of his most sympathetic leading ladies. Arthur is excellent in this film. It's fun to see shy little Eddie bring out the actress' mothering instincts. At the same time, though, she can stand up to Robinson when he's playing it tough. I strongly wonder if Frank Capra was influenced by her performance here before casting her in a similar role in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town the following year. Perhaps because of Arthur's casting this film for some reason always makes me think more of Capra than it does the picture's actual director, John Ford. I could easily envision Capra having taken this material and bringing more humourous touches to Eddie's mild mannered clerk sequences, or those in which his character, machine gun in hand, confronts the gangsters at the end. In any event, The Whole Town's Talking, made on loan to Columbia, remains one of Robinson's better films of the '30s, I feel, more effective in many ways than a lot of the stuff he was doing on the Warners home lot then.

Tyrone Power as an ambitious, amoral carnival hustler who, in the film's final reel, becomes an alcoholic side show geek in Nightmare Alley certainly qualifies as effective casting against type, in my opinion. Another illustration would be Errol Flynn in Uncertain Glory. While his character still possesses charm, it masks the manipulative activities of a petty thief and murderer. The film's ending, in typical Warners fashion, has his character have a change of heart and turn self sacrificing and heroic, blunting the credibility of the characterization. But that is a flaw of the script. Prior to that it is still effective counter casting. Another illustration of it with Flynn would be when he played a cold, stuffy member of Victorian society in That Forsyte Woman, a man devoid of charm. A third illustration of an actor cast against type would be Gary Cooper in Bright Leaf, playing an ambitious business buccaneer ready to ruthlessly trample over people around him. I think that Brant Royale is one of Coop's least likable characters.

William Holden's own considerable physical attributes of good looks and charm make Joe a more attractive character, even when he is at his most self serving, than he might have been in the hands of another actor. Ultimately, when Joe, out of self disgust with his own behaviour, shows Nancy Olson the life of depravity that he had led, in doing so sending a girl who might have been his salvation out of his life, and then tries to emancipate himself from the increasingly demented Norma Desmond by walking away from her and her riches, only to be shot in the back, he becomes a tragic figure of sympathy to the audience. The first time in the film that he tries to do a truly decent thing and he dies because of it. The audience had earlier seen those scenes of jocularity between Holden and the wholesome Olsen, and had a very strong glimpse at the Joe that he might have been. Ultimately Joe, rather than being a cad, is a flawed human being who, at the end, did the right thing. His tragedy is that, as things would turn out, it would cost him his life.

mrroberts, it is a shame that Robinson and Cagney never did have a great co-starring vehicle, as Eddie G. would enjoy with Bogart in Key Largo. I've never seen any indication, however, that either Warners or the actors themselves ever tried to make a project of that nature become a reality. However, your speculation about Cagney possibly having done so during his financially shakey independent period in the mid-40s is interesting. As for your statement of Robinson having resigned himself to playing supporting parts, the reality is that he only did it once during the '40s (Double Indemnity). Key Largo had him getting prominent second billing to Bogart, which really doesn't qualify as such though, admittedly, getting second billing is not the same as top. I've heard that Robinson expressed regret about having accepted a supporting role in 1955's The Violent Men. He felt that it permanently impacted studios' perceptions of him as a lead actor afterward. The reality, though, is that the '50s and the unofficial blacklisting of Robinson from major film projects had put his career into a dramatic slump. Whether getting top billing in a "B" or support in an "A", Eddie G.'s reign as a Hollywood heightweight was clearly a thing of the past by then. The one time during the '50s that Robinson did get to co-star with another big star was when he appeared in Hell on Frisco Bay. It was made by Alan Ladd's own production company, Jaguar, to be released through Warners. Ladd was still big box office then, even if his films were usually dismissed as programmers. Considering the political climate of the time during that McCarthy era, and how much Robinson's name had been tainted by it, I've wondered if it wasn't a bit of an act of courage on Ladd's part to give Eddie G. such a large co-starring role in one of his own productions. Courageous artistically, too, since Ladd was always painfully aware of his own acting limitations. In any event, it did give Robinson the opportunity to shine once again in a gangster role, and he easily walked away with the picture.

Thanks, Ray. Hopefully one day we'll all be able to see those scenes. I get the impression from your comments, though, that the cut scenes don't have anything of particular note, excluding some of Korngold's music absent from the rest of the film.

So, James, I gather that you don't know of any femme fatale parts for Scott other than the two I named. I always assumed that Scott's brief time on top as a star in the late '40s was based on the similarity of her appearance to Lauren Bacall, including the husky voice. I believe that Bogart wanted his wife to be co-starred with him in Dead Reckoning but, for whatever reason, it wound up being Scott instead. She's as close to a Bacall substitute as you could get. Having said that, I believe that time proved Bacall to be the superior actress. Interestingly, though, Bacall, unlike Scott, never was a femme fatale. 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! Scott and Bacall, or, is it Bacall and Scott? They sure were photographed to have the same "look."

Lizabeth Scott is primarily associated today with film noir. Yet the lady had a relatively small output of films, with, arguably, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers her most famous (and that's really a Stanwyck film). Pitfall, good as it is, is a little known film. I can only think of two films in which Scott was that favourite of film noir expressions, a femme fatale, Dead Reckoning and Too Late For Tears. I thought she was particularly effective in the latter film. Martha Ivers and Pitfall both have her playing decent sorts. Can anyone think of another film in which Scott was a "bad girl", and, if so, would you recommend the movie. It would appear to me that Scott's femme fatale reputation hinges on only a couple of films. I guess it's a tribute to how good she is in them, though I suspect that most viewers have even yet to see Too Late for Tears. I think she was limited as an actress but that performance really worked for me. Too Late for Tears - Scott teamed with another film noir icon, Dan Duryea. These two were really excellent in their scenes together. I hope that a decent print of this film surfaces some day.

Thanks for the link to that hilarious Lone Ranger anecdote from Jay Thomas, Dargo. And, considering Clayton Moore's well known obsession with his role, I do find his final declaration of "They'll believe ME, citizen" to be, ahem, Tontoly believable.

Ray, that's very interesting. By any chance, can you tell us anything about the scenes that were cut? I have read that Warners Home Video has a copy of John Garfield's own 16mm version of the film and, therefore, they have the rights, I assume. However, they were searching for a better quality version of those cut scenes. That was a few years ago, though. Who knows what, if any, plans they have to release The Sea Wolf now. Enough of the searching, I say, let's see the stuff, imperfect as it may be.

*slaytonf wrote: So, in this one very exceptional instance, it may appear an argument can be made to justify Holmes' actions, they will always be morally reprehensible.* Thanks very much for your well articulated dissertation, slaytonf. However, with your final statement, it appears that you appreciate the pragmatic reasons for Holmes' actions, morally repugnant as you may find them. If this man is technically and morally a murderer, taking into account the extraordinary circumstances for his behaviour (he did so in order to try to save the lives of some on board the lifeboat, rather than taking the chance, nay, probability, of losing everyone), should he have gone to prison? And, if so, was the short sentence that he received appropriate?

John2Bad, do you not recall that after Holmes gets an infection from the knife wound and feels he can no longer make a contribution that he hands the command of the lifeboat over to "Sparks" before flinging himself overboard? He was continuing to make tough decisions, even when it involved himself.

Yep, no question about it. Clinton was a good looking guy back then.

Maybe Burr would have tried to physically force Scott and maybe he wouldn't have. We don't know. Scott's case of self defense would have been more clear cut if she had waited before pulling a gun out on him. Quite frankly, two bullets in a man's back does not look good on the lady. That would be a problem for any jury, I suspect, no matter what the emotional circumstances of the shooting.

But Burr WASN'T kidnapping Lizabeth Scott, VX, nor was he trying to take her by physical force. He was trying to emotionally overwhelm her into becoming compliant and leave with him. That is hardly the same thing. Morally, we know that Burr deserved what he got, but Scott is still going to need a good lawyer to avoid a long stay in prison or trip to the death house, depending upon the state (California?). The woman shot a man in the back.

Arturo, Power had money of his own invested in the Solomon and Sheba production. That, in turn, is why he didn't want a real medical examination done before production even began though he had been showing signs of possible heart trouble. It's possible that he was afraid that he would be uninsurable if there was an issue. Tyrone Power paid the ultimate price for that decision. Here's a link to a couple of scenes from Solomon and Sheba featuring Power with George Sanders. These are among the last scenes that the actor ever filmed:

Well said, James.

Another tidbit for those impressed by Abandon Ship. TCM has a package of rare Paramount releases, which includes the 1937 sea faring adventure, Souls at Sea. That film ends with a ship disaster and another overloaded lifeboat, in yet another film based on the same true life incident that was the basis for Abandon Ship. Gary Cooper, in charge of the lifeboat in Souls at Sea, shoots panicing surviviors when they threaten to swamp the small craft they're all on. Souls at Sea, however, only devotes a few minutes or so to the incident as a climax (which also results in Cooper being put on trial for murder). Rather superficially, the film deals with the issue of Cooper taking some lives in order to save others. The film, largely an 1840s sea adventure, does not attempt to deal with the incident on a moral level with the same depth as Abandon Ship.

Thanks very much, kingrat. I'm certainly glad that you enjoyed the film. Abandon Ship is stark and realistic in its presentation, and its controversial subject matter is sure to get the juices boiling on many viewers, as this thread indicates. And it's also great to see Tyrone Power having the opportunity to demonstrate what strong acting chops he had. I think he's more impressive in this film than about 90% of everything else he did. By the way, he and leading lady Mai Zetterling were having a relationship when this film was made with Power's own production company, Copra Productions, in England. The film was NOT a hit when Columbia released it in 1957 in America. The English title, by the way, was Seven Waves Away.

In many ways, VX, I think that The Sea Wolf is representative of the studio that produced it, Warner Brothers. Not just because of the cast and behind-the-scenes professionals who were so expert at what they did, but also in much of the theme of the film. And much of that was about oppression, carrying on a tradition of that studio that had distinguished it during the '30s. The studio of the poverty that drove men to crime in The Public Enemy and Angels with Dirty Faces, of chain gangs in I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, of an innocent man being sentenced to slavery before turning pirate in Captain Blood. Even the fantasy of The Adventures of Robin Hood touches on this theme, though that is not the emphasis of the film. In the case of The Sea Wolf I think this is continued, with the sub plot of two outcasts of society (John Garfield and Ida Lupino) both of whom find themselves trapped by circumstances on a sealing vessel ruled by a martinet megalomaniac with a streak of sadism running through his personality. He is their oppressor on board this ship. The most poignant scene in Sea Wolf, I feel, is that one set below deck when Ida Lupino visits John Garfield in the hold after he was beaten following his landing a marlinspike near Wolf Larsen's head following the captain's laughing torment of her. Composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold's slow melodic score includes the melancholy sounds of a harmonica playing in the background as these two lonely people open up to one another. Lupino is tired and disillusioned, ready to give up, while Garfield is angry, bitter but refuses to let the Larsens of the world defeat him. They share cigarettes. A bond begins to form between them, these two battered souls who feel lost, lonely and at times overwhelmed by a hostile world. "There's something in me that tells me I have to keep on fighting," Garfield says, "Tells me there is something for people like us." "Like us?" Lupino asks. "Yeah, like us. Men like Larsen can't keep on grinding us down because we're nobodies. That ain't true. We're somebodies." He tells her of a plan to get off the boat, a plan that he wants to include her. And then there is a remarkable closeup of Lupino. "Inside or out, it's all the same," she says, "To be free, to be let alone, to live in peace - even if only for a little while . . ." She looks around the hold she shares with Garfield, and says, "Like this. I don't expect anything more." And the actress breaks your heart with the simplicity of her delivery, and the beautiful pain of a tired soul she captures at that moment. I can't say, however, that this film is totally bleak. There is, after all, an ending for these two which indicates that things may turn out positively for them. As they near that island in their lifeboat, that there may be a fresh start for them. But, bleak or not, The Sea Wolf remains a powerful film, with, if you look for it, some social comment mixed in. On a more melodramatic level, it is something of a kindred soul to I Am A Fugitive. And bleak as that chain gang drama is, particularly with its uncompromising ending, it is rightfully regarded as a classic. I think The Sea Wolf is fully deserving of that status, as well.

Your story description sounds very similar to a Warners melodrama, The Hard Way. Joan Leslie plays a small town musical star pushed to stardom by her grasping sister, Ida Lupino, the latter willing to trample over others on the way. Leslie marries a small time vaudevillain, played by Jack Carson, whom Lupino deems is only getting in her sister's way of making it big time so they largely abandon him to the sticks. Dennis Morgan also appears in the film as a partner of Carson.

*jamesjazzguitar wrote: The scenes that were cut were cut by the studio because of their overt political message.* James, may I ask how you came by this information? It's my understanding that The Sea Wolf had some scenes cut when it was re-released in 1947 to theatres, in a double bill with The Sea Hawk. And that's the version of the film that has always, I believe, been available to television. A complete 16mm version of the film was discovered among John Garfield's possessions, and Warners has that version but, so far, has chosen not to makes the lesser image of those edited scenes available in North America. I saw the earlier postings that a complete version of the film is available in England. That came as news to me. I wonder what the source was for that statement.

VX, I'm glad you liked Pitfall. It's always great when you enjoy a good little film, particularly if it's one of which you have heard little. I have to agree with James, however. While Burr was clearly trying to pressure Scott into leaving with him, he wasn't physically forcing her to do anything. And the fact remains that she shot him in the back - twice. Of course, we sympathize with her, and possibly a good defense lawyer will make some kind of case so that she gets off with a lesser sentence. But she's still a murderess, in my opinion.

Well, MissW, I'm glad the thread persuaded you to watch a film that you indicate you found interesting. Playing God such as Holmes does in this film is a responsible from which most people, I suspect, would gladly abdicate. Robert O's commentary before the film made reference to the fact that Alex Holmes was a considerably more complex character for Tyrone Power to play, certainly a characterization of more depth, I feel, that the hero roles into which he was usually cast. It's interesting that when Power played darker, more questionable characters, such as in Abandon Ship or Nightmare Alley, that he was able to give viewers a glimpse of what a strong actor he could be. With his casting against type as a murder suspect in Witness for the Prosecution soon after this film was made, it's apparent that Power was very interested in experimenting with his screen image. What a genuine tragedy it was that this former matinee idol, now being allowed to stretch his acting muscles on screen, would suddenly be dead of a heart attack at age 44.