TomJH
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Posts posted by TomJH
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Thanks very much, OrcoDev. It was nice to hear the sense of indebtedness that James Arness felt towards John Wayne for his career.
Your's father's affability as an interviewer, combined with his knowledge, must have really made those interviewed feel comfortable with him. That only helps the interviews.
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*Arturo wrote: the wrong use of elephants bother me immensely*
It's my understanding that Indian elephants are used so often because the African elephant is difficult to train.
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I agree, rosebette, that Edge of Darkness is a generally effective resistance movement war drama, benefiting, in particular, from some outstanding camerawork, particularly in the film's closing burst of action.
While it suffers today, as do all films made at that time, from the propaganda of the screenplay, as well as some at-times pretentious dialogue ("In days to come people will say, 'There were giants here in Trollness,'") it often works quite effectively on a dramatic, some may say, melodramatic, level.
It has an outstanding ensemble cast, with a particularly noteworthy performance, I feel, of considerable intensity from Helmut Dantine as the ruthless Nazi commandant. Errol Flynn gives a quite subdued performance as a fisherman leading the resistance movement.
As you watch Flynn's performance, by the way, be aware that this film was made at a time of genuine turmoil for the actor, inasmuch as it was during the production of this film that he was charged with statutory rape.
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MissW, from what I saw of your thread, it was pretty darned harmless and all in the name of good clean pastry fun. Strange that it disappeared. That could happen to any of our threads, I suppose.
I'm particularly sorry because of the loss of some of the brilliant humour that I brought to it, along with the tears of laughter my pithy comments produced from so many posters who wrote afterward thanking me for my remarkable wit.
Errr, if by chance your thread is revived again, and you don't think my humour is so impressive and you see no comments from others about it, then it only proves that the gremlins are still at work on it.
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crazyblonde, Cagney's appearance at the AFI was the way that I best want to remember him after he left the movies. By the time that he appeared in two final films during the '80s (coerced into doing so, it's my understanding, by his, according to many, overzealous caretaker Marge Zimmerman) he was appearing old, sickly and terribly vulnerable, this being particularly true of that unfortunate last film that he made.
But when he appeared at that AFI tribute in 1974 he still very much had his faculties with him and appeared to be in relatively good health. Jimmy was really "on" that night in front of that appreciative crowd. I'm sure that, as a man who loved his retirement and the quiet life, he probably had very mixed feelings about appearing at that reception, and couldn't wait to get it over with and get back home. At the same time, though, he must have taken great pride in the honour of having been selected, and knew he would offend people if he didn't go.
That's why I supplied that YouTube link a few postings earlier so Cagney fans could admire how Jimmy stepped forward that night and, old pro that he was, really delivered the goods. He was feisty, he was funny, and there was a direct honesty and decency about his character still very evident that night which helps explain why so many people today still love the man.
I'll supply that link for Cagney fans, once again, so they can take a look at Jimmy the way we would all like to remember a friend in retirement:
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Let's put it this way. I like jokes with machine gun delivery.
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Right, Dargo. With strict instructions to get the lead out.
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I don't want to be a downer on this thread but let's not forget that sometimes the contents of pastries can be bad for you:
So be careful where you shop
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JAMES CAGNEY AND THE AFI
On March 31, 1974, thirteen years after his retirement, James Cagney was the second film artist (and first actor) to be honoured by the American Film Institute "for his lifetime contribution to enriching American culture through motion pictures."
With Frank Sinatra acting as the evening's host, the event was judged an overwhelming success. But the highlight of the evening, everyone agrees, was when Cagney got up on the podium to speak. With the applauding audience of celebrities and friends eating out of his hand, Jimmy was in great form that night, with the agility of his sharp mind and quick wit very much in evidence.
Not only did he give a brief imitation of himself saying "Mmmm, you dirty rat," but he also did a (very bad) Cary Grant spin on "Judy, Judy, Judy." And one of the great moments of his address is when Cagney described the shoulder hitching tough guy he watched with fascination as a kid on New York City streets, a bit that he would later utilize in the movies when he played Rocky Sullivan.
When Cagney addressed that gala assembly before him, he spoke with directness, humour and humility. But, as always, Jimmy told the truth.
Here's a TubeTube link to Jimmy Cagney's nine minute address that 1974 evening. To all Cagney fans, I think seeing the old master once again at this shining moment for him is a must:
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I agree, Dothery.
I enjoy watching Raft on screen, too.
Yes, he was a wooden actor and you're hard pressed to find the same kind of impressive film titles on his resume that distinguished the careers of Bogie and Cagney and Robinson.
Still, the most dapper of all Warners tough guys, Raft had an undeniable presence on screen, I feel. He was convincing as a tough guy because, as we all know, that was a reflection of his background. His real life street background was something with which James Cagney could identify. Perhaps that it part of the reason why Cagney had nothing but good things to say about Raft in his autobiography.
Raft appeared in a lot of programmers, as we know. Even in these often minor film affairs Raft still captures my attention. While as an actor he clearly lacked the dynamics of a Cagney or Robinson, he was, on the occasion, cast in a good film and it paid off dividends. Look at him as Bogie's truck driver brother in They Drive By Night, conceivably the highlight of his Warners career.
Or, at the end of his career, Raft is wonderful as Spats Columbo in Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot. Who can anyone forget Raft's cold blooded efficiency in that St. Valentine Day's Massacre recreation in the film, the rival gangsters lined up against the wall, his own boys with their tommy guns pointed at them, Raft's back turned to them all with his final statement "Goodbye, Charley," to one of those rivals as his men then splatter them with gunfire.
By the way, Dothery, did you see that posting earlier in this thread dealing with the real life animosity between Raft and Edward G. Robinson and the fight that broke out between them on the set of a film they made together? It also touches on Raft's appearance in the Wilder film. If you missed it, it shouldn't be that hard for you to hunt the posting down since there is a large photo of Robinson and Raft about to go at it with one another.
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THE ONE TIME THEY WORKED TOGETHER
Okay, you wish that it was a stronger film but Smart Money, released in 1931, has the distinction of being the one time that Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney shared the screen together. Fresh off his stardom with Little Caesar, Robinson is the undoubted star of the film as a "lucky barber" with a knack for gambling and a weakness for blondes.
Cagney, who was also filming Public Enemy while this film was in progress, had his own stardom just around the corner. While you wish the film had given Cagney more screen time, he still manages to make a solid impression. However, it's Eddie G.'s film all the way.
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I tried googling it, MissW. There's an Edward G. Robinson that lives in Burks Falls, Ontario. That's the only Canadian connection that I know.
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Now there's a girl who knows how to spell the Canadian way. Wauy to go, MissW!
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Okay, okay, Dargo, I give it to you. You are a proud loud mouth.
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Dargo, I would suggest that possibly you found Lazslo more coloUrful on your last two viewings of the film because you were enjoying the contents of an alcoholic beverage at the time. The right amount of booze will do that to you.
I once watched a Three Stooges short after consuming eight beers and started slurring about the sophistication of their humoUr.
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Don't type like that, twinkee.
Those extras U's are in some of my favoUrite words north of the 49th, and pUts the lie to those rUmoUrs that Canadians aren't coloUrful.
In fact we've even been known to add the occasional U to a word. So, where was I? Oh, yes, Victor Lazslo is boUring!
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Is there no one that will dispute my claim that Victor Lazslo, whether it's the Paul Henreid factor or not, is boring?
Admit it, all you Casablanca lovers (and, I will concede that I am one of them), that character is a bore.
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*Eeh! You Canucks will NEVER be able to get the hang of it!*
Dargo, I have far more upper case words in my last post to you than you did in yours, so I win.
Canada 1, U.S. 0.
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So why would anyone ask why some may consider Casablanca a boring film?
Okay, maybe not the film. But does anybody, seriously, think that Paul Henreid's Victor Lazslo is an interesting character?
Okay, okay, I give him credit for leading a rousing chorus of La Marseilles almost bringing down the rafters of Rick's Cafe in the process. A great scene, I admit.
But the character himself: so noble, so self-effacing, so ready to self-sacrifice, so . . . so . . . what's the word? . . . Oh, yes, so bloody BORING!!!!
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Oh, YEAH(!!!), Dargo? Well, you're not the ONLY ONE!!! that can type in UPPER CASE!!!! (notice those exclamations points, TOO, for extra emphasis?) around HERE.
RIGHT NOW I'm hitting my *KEYBOARD SO HARD THAT I MIGHT BREAK THE DARNED THING*!
So I better stop. But, hey, now I feel better too.
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Dargo, I hope you feel better for having had your vent. However, being practical, lecturing politicians of whom Hollywood producers were afraid was not likely to revive a politically tarnished film actor's film career.
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Twinkee, I guess all Robinson fans feel that way.
What is tragic about Edward G. Robinson, however, is how his career was severely impacted by his left leaning politics and he was blackballed during the '50s. There he was, at the top of his game in late 1947, preparing for his role as Johnny Rocco in Key Largo. Just three years later he was finding it increasingly difficult to find employment in Hollywood.
Name the great roles and films Robinson made after 1948. Well, there's a reason you can't and it was as a result of the same McCarthy hysteria that ruined so many other lives in Hollywood (and, according to some, lead to John Garfield's death).
What really frightened a lot of Hollywood insiders about the political attacks on Robinson was that, unlike the Hollywood Ten, who were sent to jail, many of whom had been Communist at some time, Robinson was no political radical. And he sure as heck he was not a Communist.
But he had been a major '30s and '40s political activist who sincerely hated fascism and Hitler and was very open about that. After the war, in particular, though, some politicians smelled Communism in someone like Robinson who had fought as best as he could with rallies against Hitler.
Robinson, as a result, went through a career purgatory in which he was only cast in Bs in the '50s. It wouldn't be until an arch Hollywood conservative like Cecil B. DeMIlle cast him in The Ten Commandments in 1956 that some of the light began to appear the end of the career tunnel for Eddie G.. Even then, though, he still wasn't getting the old strong roles than use to be the case for him. And, outside of The Cincinnatti Kid, he never really would again.
My knowledge of this period on Robinson's career is near to zero, outside of what I've just written. If anyone wants to see a more in-depth description of how Hollywood turned its back on this great actor (as it did on so many others during those frightened times), here's a link to a chapter from Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics, by Steven J. Ross:
http://tfm.usc.edu/autumn-2011/little-caesar-and-the-mccarthyist-mob
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A few candid photos of Edward G. Robinson
Eddie G. with his wife at their Beverly Hills home in 1934
At a costume party with his wife and Basil Rathbone
On the set of Key Largo. Eddie, what big feet you have.
With Frank Morgan. More than just friends?
Hollywood Royalty: Robinson, Frank Sinatra, Mary Livingstone, Jack Benny and someone in the middle just glad to be there
Edward G. Robinson, Art Collector
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James, first of all I want to say that, for the most part, I love Cagney's pre-code films. They were fast and often funny, and Cagney showed more energy during that time than he ever would again. Watch him in Hard to Handle, as a motor mouth con artist, for example or in Jimmy the Gent or Lady Killer, or, for that matter, Taxi, which may be my favourite of them all. He's got this mile-a-minute dialogue delivery, plus those quirky little facial and body, and even just hand gestures that I think mark him as a one of the great comic joys of the pre-code period.
Having said that, a lot of the reason that Cagney does those extra "bits of business" in his scenes (which the studio allowed him to do because they noticed that his improvisation improved the scenes) is because Cagney didn't think much of the scripts. Most of those films, ranging from Picture Snatcher to Hard to Handle to Winner Take All to Taxi, were shot in a matter of days, sometimes as little as just two weeks. They were cheap quickies (full of energy, mind you) but still quickies, and Cagney was not particularly pleased with them. Obviously, the grind at Warners was exhausting for everyone to keep working in that factory atmosphere at such a relentless pace by their whip cracking masters. No wonder so many performers at Warners had rebellious personalities, Cagney chief among them.
This is my very long winded way of saying that you're right. Cagney's big luxurious productions really started after he had a two year hiatus from the studio, returning in 1938 to make Boy Meets Girl and then, a biggie, Angels with Dirty Faces. Yet just four years later Cagney was gone from the studio where, whether he realized it or not, he was doing the best stuff of his career. Take a look at Roaring 20s or City for Conquest (which personally disappointed him) or Strawberry Blonde. Terrific stuff with Cagney some kind of acting/personality genius propelling those films forward even more.
He went independent with his brother and therefore lost out in appearing in what may have been some marvelous opportunities for him. Wartime audiences lost out as well. Captains of the Clouds, which I rather enjoy, was the only war drama Cagney made. Can you imagine what a jewel Cagney would have been as a progaganda weapon with that personality and energy drive of his if he had been fighting the enemy on screen?
But more important than that, as you say, James, Warners was making some high gloss films during the '40s that Cagney missed out on. What we can be grateful for, though, is that before he split from the studio, we do have the films from what I regard as the golden period of Cagney's career, from Angels with Dirty Faces in 1938 to Yankee Doodle Dandy in 1942.
Bogart Vs. Cagney Vs. Robinson
in General Discussions
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crazyblonde, what about us?
If it wasn't for all those bubbles getting in the way, I'd really give you something to talk about!
You know, I think I'm really starting to see some results from that Charles Atlas muscle building course I've been taking. That Cagney mug's never going to kick sand in my eyes again!