Neglected films...how would you define a film that's neglected?

[Fading Fast]

It's really amazing how many Cornell Woolrich books and stories have been turned into movies. I know I could quickly Google my way to a number, but just anecdotally based on how often I see his name, he's got to be high on the list of authors whose books / stories have been made into movies. 

[JamesJazGuitar]

3 minutes ago, Fading Fast said:

It's really amazing how many Cornell Woolrich books and stories have been turned into movies. I know I could quickly Google my way to a number, but just anecdotally based on how often I see his name, he's got to be high on the list of authors whose books / stories have been made into movies. 

So true;    AND if one adds "base upon" or "influenced by",  the number of movies  maybe over a thousand.

 

[TopBilled]

A film like STREET OF CHANCE underscores what a fine actress Claire Trevor is...and why TCM has never made her a Star of the Month is baffling.

When I was watching the film and writing my review, I was reminded of an article I wrote about Adeline De Walt Reynolds. I will (re)post it here later today.

***

On another note, there has been some debate whether the western SILVER QUEEN (1942) originated as a Paramount production. I reviewed the film on this thread awhile back. It was released through United Artists but I told readers that it was actually made at Paramount and sold to UA for distribution. I believe I was correct in stating this, because STREET OF CHANCE (also made in 1942 at Paramount) features a very unique staircase in the mansion that Claire Trevor goes up and down...and that was the same staircase used by Priscilla Lane at the hotel in SILVER QUEEN.

[TopBilled]

Adeline De Walt Reynolds

Some screen performers are more unique than others. Adeline De Walt Reynolds is one such example. She was born in 1862 and lived until one month before her 99th birthday. Her first screen role occurred when she was 79– it was in MGM’s comedy COME LIVE WITH ME (1941) where she played James Stewart’s grandmother.

Adeline was no stranger to show biz. Her husband had been a vaudeville juggler, but when he died in 1905, Adeline suddenly found herself raising four children with no money. Then a year later the big San Francisco earthquake struck. Somehow she had a survivor’s instinct, and the family made it through difficult times.

After her children had been raised, Adeline relocated to the Los Angeles area. She decided to get a college degree; so in 1926, when she was 64, she became one of the most mature freshmen ever to enter the University of California. She graduated at the age of 70, earning a B.A. degree. Several years later she began her acting career in Hollywood.

In addition to the James Stewart movie, she had memorable roles in STREET OF CHANCE (1942) as a mute woman who witnessed a killing; as well as the Oscar winning classic GOING MY WAY, in which she played Barry Fitzgerald’s mother.

She also appeared as Madame Zimba in SON OF DRACULA. Other films included STARS IN MY CROWN, where she was cast as Granny Gailbraith; KIM in which she was seen as an old maharanee; and she even worked with Tyrone Power in PONY SOLDIER. She portrayed a native woman that time around.

In the 1950s she had many small roles on classic television series. She turned up in episodes of Have Gun Will Travel and Peter Gunn. Amazingly she kept working until her 98th year, and her last credit was in a 1960 episode of Playhouse 90. She had a late start as an actress yet managed to accomplish so much. Interesting to think a gal born during the Civil War who had been through everything, could leave her mark in movies and television.

[JamesJazGuitar]

1 hour ago, TopBilled said:

A film like STREET OF CHANCE underscores what a fine actress Claire Trevor...and why TCM has never made her a Star of the Month is baffling.

When I was watching the film and writing my review, I was reminded of an article I wrote about Adeline De Walt Reynolds. I will (re)post it here later today.

***

On another note, there has been some debate whether the western SILVER QUEEN (1942) originated as a Paramount production. I reviewed the film on this thread awhile back. It was released through United Artists but I told readers that it was actually made at Paramount and sold to UA for distribution. I believe I was correct in stating this, because STREET OF CHANCE (also made in 1942 at Paramount) features a very unique staircase in the mansion that Claire Trevor goes up and down...and that was the same staircase used by Priscilla Lane at the hotel in SILVER QUEEN.

Trevor as SOTM:  I'll drink to that:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/321d4c4205b7a21237773fc3104be0cd/tumblr_n5c1e9tb1t1rdfgw4o1_500.gif

[TopBilled]

Today's neglected film is from 1954. It has never aired on TCM.

This review can be found on my blog, along with all the other reviews:

https://oforinvolvingmotionpictures.wordpress.com/2022/10/27/neglected-film-cattle-queen-of-montana-1954/

This is a robust Technicolor western from RKO that displays the gorgeous scenery of Glacier National Park. Yes, outdoor photography may be most suited to the western genre. And this film proves it.

Barbara Stanwyck plays the title character who is a bit of a tomboy and has an interesting name– Sierra Nevada Jones. One almost imagines a mountain girl with windswept hair. Instead Miss Stanwyck sports a perm that she was given just before she stepped out of her dressing room and appeared on camera.

The early scenes in the picture focus on her character’s special bond with Pop Jones (Morris Ankrum). It’s clear how much she worships her father, and that she’s the “son” he never had. Unfortunately, he’s killed a short time later, which is devastating for her.

Mr. Ankrum is one of those skillful character actors who does a lot with limited screen time. He seems well-suited to this particular story, since he is able to elicit a vulnerability in Stanwyck that she seldom if ever displays in her other motion pictures. After Ankrum bites the dust, Stanwyck is left on her own. But she still has one of his best rifles and knows how to use it…so she is more than capable of fending for herself.

She blames a land baron (Gene Evans) for pop’s death and decides to get revenge. While this is going on, Stanwyck meets an undercover agent (Ronald Reagan) who is in the area investigating a series of crimes. He is attracted to her, and it’s obvious that he will gradually fill the void left since pop died. However, she is not initially sure what side of the law he’s on.

Fortunately the film doesn’t bog down too much with romance added into the mix. Reagan and Stanwyck keep things moving along and bring out the best in each other. It was said that Reagan enjoyed working with Stanwyck immensely. She had previously costarred with his wife Nancy in EAST SIDE WEST SIDE (1949).

Stanwyck and her ex-husband Robert Taylor were close pals of the Reagans and shared similar political views. Apparently, when Reagan was about to leave the White House, the last film he screened as president during his final week in office in January 1989, was CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA. 

One of the subplots in CATTLE QUEEN involves a group of natives led by a guy named Colorados (Lance Fuller) who befriends Stanwyck’s character. This relationship in the film is rather progressive…the idea is to show their friendship go beyond the lines…that neither side is a species separate from the other. Of course, most of the natives we see are still presented a bit stereotypically in the movie, speaking broken English and showing off nice suntans.

In some regards, the unusual friendship between Stanwyck and Fuller is a plot device, so that she has a strong ally when she stands up to Evans. We watch her feud with Evans escalate, since she still holds him responsible for her father being slaughtered and for her land being taken away from her.

Of course we know Stanwyck will win her fight against Evans– or else she won’t be the queen of Montana. She will eventually settle down to a life of happiness…but there are still several issues to be resolved. One of the more interesting ones is how Stanwyck’s character is perceived as rebellious and as a non-conformist by the local townspeople.

When she and her native pal go into town, the residents are nearly scandalized to see them together. These scenes give us a much-needed break from the land war occurring out on the range. It’s interesting to see how Stanwyck lacks support from the other women in her community, which only reinforces her determination to be one of the boys in order to succeed.

[Fading Fast]

Stanwyck's character's name, Sierra Nevada Jones, reminds me of the equally crazy, but true to history name of baseball's first commissioner,  Kenesaw Mountain Landis. What in God's name were his parent's thinking? 

I really like "East Side, West Side," but had completely forgotten that Nancy Reagan was even in it. That can happen in a movie, which also has  Stanwyck, Ava freakin' Gardner and the 5'9" blonde praying mantis Beverly Michaels in it. 

[TopBilled]

11 minutes ago, Fading Fast said:

Stanwyck's character's name, Sierra Nevada Jones, reminds me of the equally crazy, but true to history name of baseball's first commissioner,  Kenesaw Mountain Landis. What in God's name were his parent's thinking? 

I really like "East Side, West Side," but had completely forgotten that Nancy Reagan was even in it. That can happen in a movie, which also has  Stanwyck, Ava freakin' Gardner and the 5'9" blonde praying mantis Beverly Michaels in it. 

Films like THE FURIES, CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA and FORTY GUNS were Stanwyck's "auditions" for the role of Victoria Barkley in the hit western TV series The Big Valley (1965-69). Though her character in the TV show was depicted as more refined, one can't help but think her early days out west may not have been so different than what we see with Sierra Nevada Jones. 

[TopBilled]

Today's neglected film is from 1932. It has aired 12 times on TCM.

This review can be found on my blog, along with all the other reviews:

https://oforinvolvingmotionpictures.wordpress.com/2022/10/28/neglected-film-forbidden-1932/

Without her work in this film, Barbara Stanwyck might not have been cast in STELLA DALLAS a few years later. The two stories are thematically similar, about a mother who sacrifices everything to give her daughter a better life. You might say Stanwyck’s role in FORBIDDEN was a warm-up for her subsequent role in Sam Goldwyn’s picture.

FORBIDDEN is a great precode-sounding title, with devious connotations. It was inspired by BACK STREET, which Universal had made just a year before with Irene Dunne. I guess Depression era moviegoers liked to see women sin, and more importantly, they liked to see these sinners suffer. And Stanwyck’s character really does suffer here, after she falls for a married man (Adolphe Menjou).

In charge of the narrative is Columbia’s ace in-house director Frank Capra. Mr. Capra and Miss Stanwyck would collaborate several times, and this picture was made after THE MIRACLE WOMAN and just before THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN. In all these assignments with Capra, Stanwyck portrays women who struggle to live a good life but often have trouble succeeding.

The crux of the drama involves Stanwyck’s need to keep her young daughter’s parentage a secret…mostly to prevent a scandal that would occur if people found out Menjou had fathered a kid with her while still married to an invalid (Dorothy Peterson). Menjou advances from well-heeled attorney to powerful politician. On his way to the governor’s mansion, he of course still loves Stanwyck.

In a poignant scene, he has a tender reconciliation with her and their child. However, he cannot leave his wife. For a time, Stanwyck and the little girl go to stay with him and his wife, with Stanwyck posing as a nanny while Menjou and Peterson adopt the tyke. Eventually this becomes too much for Stanwyck to bear, since she cannot properly be little Roberta’s mother.

The middle portion of the film has Stanwyck at a crossroads, reinventing herself. She takes a job working for a newspaper reporter turned editor (Ralph Bellamy), who just so happens to be Menjou’s sworn enemy. When Menjou comes sniffing around Stanwyck again, she gives him his marching orders and commits herself to a life with Bellamy.

I’m always a bit amused at how Bellamy never gets the gal in these movies from the 1930s and 1940s. He made a career of playing third wheels. Only Gig Young ever gave him a run for his money in this department. And it’s not as if Mr. Bellamy is a frog. I am sure a lot of women might consider him a catch.

Though Stanwyck and Bellamy hit it off in the beginning, things go sour when he becomes obsessed with using her and her secret connection to Menjou to destroy Menjou’s political momentum. Wanting to protect Menjou, who is the love of her life, as well as their innocent daughter, Stanwyck does a complete 180 on Bellamy…and shoots him! After his death, she is arrested and jailed. But since the film must have a happy ending, Menjou as the state’s newly elected governor, pardons her. Yes, it all about who you know.

FORBIDDEN is a compelling yet somewhat contrived motion picture about a lost love and a supreme sacrifice. It is engrossing trash bolstered by the fine performance of its lead actress.

[Fading Fast]

Forbidden from 1932 with Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou and Ralph Bellamy

 

 

Director Frank Capra, who loves showing people making major life-long sacrifices, pours on the melodrama in Forbidden, a pre-code soap opera on steroids that is successfully carried over the finish line by a strong cast.

 

Barbara Stanwyck plays a mousy librarian in a small town who, frustrated that life is passing her by, draws out her savings for a luxurious vacation in, then, glamourous Havana. There, she meets a handsome and exciting man, played by Adolphe Menjou. He's a successful lawyer with a bright political future. Their romance continues when they return home.

 

Stanwyck is now working for a big city paper (we just have to go with it) where a smarmy, rising editor, played by Ralph Bellamy, takes a liking to her, but she's in love with Menjou.

 

Stanwyck and Menjou have strong on-screen chemistry, which helps us believe these two would stay together even after Stanwyck learns that the reason Menjou hasn't asked her to marry him is because he's already married. 

 

The real soap suds come, though, when he tells Stanwyck his wife is a kind and good woman he can't leave because she is an "invalid" owing to a car crash that happened when Menjou was driving. Dear Lord.

 

Stanwyck learns this from Menjou just as she was about to tell him she's pregnant at a time when the "right thing to do" was for Menjou to marry her. 

 

Stanwyck doesn't want to wreck Menjou's marriage and career, so she doesn't tell him about the baby and, then, disappears from his life. It's hard, at this point, to see the actors with all the soap suds bubbling up.

 

A few years later, Menjou is now district attorney. Stanwyck is still working for Bellamy's paper, while raising her baby. Menjou accidentally runs into her and the baby and they resume their affair. 

 

When the press sees Menjou with the baby, he and Stanwyck agree that he will present the young girl as a "gift" he adopted for his invalid wife (the assumption is she can't have children) as a cover story to save his marriage and career. Dear Lord.  

 

Bellamy, meanwhile, becomes Menjou's sworn enemy because he suspects something is phoney about rising-political-star Menjou's adoption and because he suspects Menjou and Stanwyck are having an affair. 

 

We then flash forward about fifteen years where we see that Stanwyck, while still working for Bellamy, has kept a scrapbook of Menjou's career (and, by proxy, her daughter's life) and that she is still his mistress. Stanwyck clearly decided to selflessly devote her life to Menjou.

 

The climax (no spoilers coming), amazingly, amps up the melodrama as Stanwyck has to make two life-shattering sacrifices for Menjou, but with Bellamy becoming pathological in his drive to bring down Menjou, will it be enough? 

 

Forbidden works because Stanwyck is believable as the woman so in love with Menjou, who is a weak and vain, but not intentionally evil man, that she would, effectively, sacrifice her life and her relationship with her child to save his marriage and career. It has happened in real life, especially back at a time when "taboos" like these were often covered up.

 

Bellamy, too, keeps this ricocheting story afloat as he is surprisingly good playing a viciously mean man. Normally, in this period of his career, Bellamy didn't get the girl because he was too much of a milquetoast, but here he shows he had plenty of range and bandwidth as an actor. 

 

A few years after its release, with the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code, Forbidden was, well, forbidden from being shown in theaters. Today, it's hard to understand why, as nothing salacious is shown on screen, but the Code wouldn't allow a mistress, who had a baby out of wedlock, to be portrayed in a sympathetic light.

 

For modern audiences, these pre-code movies reveal that the public back then, as distinct from the motion-picture censors, understood and accepted the messy realities of life. These messy realities were often tucked into the subtext of Code-era movies, but thankfully, owing to pre-codes like Forbidden, for a few years in the early 1930s, movies provided a more-honest look at American society. 

[TopBilled]

Today's neglected film is from 1949. It has aired 11 times on TCM.

This review can be found on my blog, along with all the other reviews:

https://oforinvolvingmotionpictures.wordpress.com/2022/10/28/neglected-film-impact-1949/

One usually doesn’t think of Brian Donlevy as a leading man. Even when the actor receives top billing in a film, he tends to play a more villainous type of character…hardly a guy who elicits our respect or sympathy. But in this noir released through United Artists, Mr. Donlevy is cast as a likable romantic lead.

He’s an intelligent entrepreneur who puts his wife (Helen Walker), stockholders and employees first. Unfortunately, wifey is two-timing him and when his back is turned, she begins to plot his murder with her lover (Tony Barrett). Of course, Donlevy is unaware of these schemes until it’s too late.

There’s a memorable sequence involving Donlevy and Barrett along a mountain road. Barrett knocks Donlevy out and pushes his body off the side of a cliff, then Barrett takes off in Donlevy’s car. However, the vehicle crashes with an oncoming truck and explodes. Donlevy wakes up a short time later and disoriented, makes his way back up to the road where he hitches a ride away from the site of the dangerous accident.

When the authorities investigate the crash, Donlevy’s body is not found, believed to have been burned in the fire. Not surprisingly Walker is overjoyed that her plan seems to have succeeded. She is now a rich “widow” and can live it up.

Meanwhile, Donlevy has gone off to a small Idaho town and is experiencing amnesia. While the memory loss gimmick is contrived, it does allow the character to get back to basics. He takes a job as a mechanic at a local garage.

During this period, he falls in love with the lady owner (Ella Raines)…a gal who genuinely cares for him. Donlevy and Raines share excellent chemistry, and the pair would make two other films together at Republic. The Idaho-based scenes have a Capra-esque quality to them.

At the same time we see Walker back in San Francisco, facing a few unexpected difficulties. A servant woman (Anna May Wong) who had been loyal to Donlevy suspects Walker of Donlevy’s “murder” and poses a problem.

Plus a pesky detective (Charles Coburn in a straight dramatic role), is sniffing around Columbo-style. Coburn’s a lot of fun to watch, unnerving Walker, and his part is similar to the inspector character he played in LURED.

Eventually there’s enough evidence to arrest and convict Walker. This turn of events coincides with Donlevy regaining his memory, and his return from the dead. Some of what occurs on screen is rather routine, but the story moves along at a decent pace. It’s nice to see Donlevy as a good guy enjoying a happy ending.

[TopBilled]

Today's neglected film is from 1952. It has aired 17 times on TCM.

This review can be found on my blog, along with all the other reviews:

https://oforinvolvingmotionpictures.wordpress.com/2022/10/29/neglected-film-the-devil-makes-three-1952/

Scenes from this MGM picture were filmed in Germany and Austria, so naturally, the exterior shots of Bavaria are breath taking. We are told the story is a composite of case histories taken from U.S. Army files. It is set in 1947 and recounts events that happened just after the war had ended.

Gene Kelly, on sabbatical from musicals, plays an army officer who returns to Germany where he had been stationed three years before. During his time there during the war, he had been captured and sent to a prison camp. However, he had escaped and a kind German family had hid him from the Nazis until he was able to get back to his unit.

Now he’d like a chance to see this family again and to properly thank them for saving his life. However, sad news awaits him when he goes to their home. He learns they were killed in an American air raid.

After some investigating, Kelly and a pal (Richard Egan) learn that the family’s daughter (Pier Angeli) is not listed among the casualties. There is a chance she survived and is still living somewhere in the area. Kelly tells Egan how important it is for him to locate the girl, who would now be around 18.

Since Egan knows a lot of the local establishments (translation: bars), he takes Kelly around to search for the girl. One evening they frequent a place called the Silhouette nightclub, and Kelly is glad to discover that Angeli works there. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a joyous reunion with her, since she no longer thinks very highly of Americans after the death of her parents.

In the scenes that follow Kelly tries to tear down her defenses. Gradually she remembers their tender friendship and renews her old feelings for him. If not, there would be no romance.

Miss Angeli projects the right sort of innocence required for the role. It is suggested that her character had to do certain things to stay alive after her folks’ demise…such as smuggle stolen good and possibly prostitute herself. As for Mr. Kelly, I may be in the minority, but I always enjoy his non-musical performances. Especially in films like this one, BLACK HAND and INHERIT THE WIND.

While the two become reacquainted and realize their deep affection, there are various political intrigues taking place in the background. For instance, Kelly learns that while Hitler and his cronies are either dead or in prison, there is a revivalist movement afoot.

In this regard, the picture’s story presents an early neo-Nazi tale. Obviously Kelly will have a part to play in the downfall of this new political group. He is instructed by his superiors to remain in the region and find out as much as he can.

Meanwhile there is a comic (Claus Clausen) who performs at the club where Angeli is employed. Though not revealed at first, this seemingly harmless comedian is actually the mastermind of the neo-Nazi group that Kelly seeks to expose. It all leads to a spectacular chase through the streets and down snow-covered roads.

The final sequence occurs in a house owned by Hitler that would soon be demolished by the West German government.

To up the drama, the scenarists have Clausen shoot Angeli who gets caught in the crossfire. She will recover to facilitate the happy ending. The film functions as a document of Germany’s then recent past, as well as a signifier that the hard-won liberation from the Nazis would not be sacrificed at any cost.

The prevailing romantic note of Kelly and Angeli’s love story tells us the Americans and the Germans have united in creating a new generation that values peace above everything else.

[TopBilled]

Today's neglected film is from 1932. It has aired 19 times on TCM.

This review can be found on my blog, along with all the other reviews:

https://oforinvolvingmotionpictures.wordpress.com/2022/10/30/neglected-film-the-mummy-1932/

I was a bit relieved to discover that several contemporary reviewers did not write favorably about this classic horror film when it was released. Relieved because I struggled to suspend disbelief during the most important scenes, and was glad that I was not alone. It’s not that I wanted to dislike a motion picture others may enjoy. I certainly gave it ample opportunity to transfix me.

The biggest problem I have with Universal’s original version of THE MUMMY is how it tries to give its audience an education on Egyptian artifacts. Obviously, the screenwriter and the producer knew the average moviegoer wasn’t an Egyptologist, so the dialogue has to explain many things that will be referenced or used as plot devices. Because the information has to be broken down into layman’s terms, a lot of the expository dialogue seems juvenile.

Another issue I had was the lack of tension in scenes that should contain a great deal of nail-biting suspense. Instead, we get moments so bound up in the historical aspects of ancient Egypt, it feels like Universal is attempting to do a Cecil B. DeMille type treatment of the subject. But even DeMille knew when to drop the history lesson, take dramatic liberties and provide the audience with rousing entertainment. THE MUMMY fails to be the type of spectacle it could and should be.

What I do consider film’s main asset is its central performance. Only Boris Karloff can take a clunky script and present us with a truly creepy character. Most Universal horror flicks are driven by macabre characterizations, and Karloff seems to know this better than anyone. He elevates strangeness to an art form in how he enunciates, in how he walks and in how he does things.

As for leading lady Zita Johann, she comes across suitably possessed when her character is supposed to be under Karloff’s spell. But I feel she is too modern in appearance. So while she’s able to convey a troubled Depression era woman, there is nothing in her performance to suggest the timeless qualities of a woman reincarnated from several thousand years ago.

Her scenes with handsome leading man David Manners are acceptable. But I don’t feel any real connection between her and Karloff. As in the SVENGALI tale, our delicate heroine should be shamefully drawn to the monstrous man, but that is not in evidence.

Director Karl Freund was known more for his work as a cinematographer. He does well to keep the story looking sinister enough, providing the requisite shadows and lighting tricks. But he and Karloff are let down by a talky screenplay and an actress who doesn’t fully connect with the material and is unable to infuse it with the heart and soul it needs.

[TopBilled]

OCTOBER 2022

THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (1935)..UNIV
WOMAN WHO CAME BACK (1945)..REP 
THE HOUSE ON TELEGRAPH HILL (1951)..FOX
WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD (1933)..WB
ALBUQUERQUE (1948)..PAR
CITY OF FEAR (1959)..COL
NEXT TIME WE LOVE (1936)..UNIV
THE GHOST SHIP (1943)..RKO
THE DESERT FOX: THE STORY OF ROMMEL (1951)..FOX
BROADWAY SERENADE (1939)..MGM
THE CAPTIVE HEART (1946)..BRIT
JOHNNY GUITAR (1954)..REP
MR. DODD TAKES THE AIR (1937)..WB
FLESH AND FANTASY (1943)..UNIV
TEACHER’S PET (1958)..PAR
DON’T TURN ‘EM LOOSE (1936)..RKO
DRAGONWYCK (1946)..FOX
AMBUSH (1950)..MGM
THE HURRICANE (1937)..UA
DANGER SIGNAL (1945)..WB
LOOK BACK IN ANGER (1959)..BRIT
HONEYMOON IN BALI (1939)..PAR
MOSS ROSE (1947)..FOX
THE JAZZ SINGER (1952)..WB
EXCLUSIVE STORY (1936)..MGM
STREET OF CHANCE (1942)..PAR
CATTLE QUEEN OF MONTANA (1954)..RKO
FORBIDDEN (1932)..COL
IMPACT (1949)..UA
THE DEVIL MAKES THREE (1952)..MGM
THE MUMMY (1932)..UNIV

[TopBilled]

Note:

This is the last day I will be posting a review in this thread.

As I have said before, all the reviews can be found on my blog:

https://oforinvolvingmotionpictures.wordpress.com/2022/10/31/welcome/

And there is a section for Neglected Films on the new message board, arranged by studio:

https://classicfilmtvradio.freeforums.net/board/43/neglected-films

Please follow us at either one of these places for each day's review of a neglected studio film.

Thanks for reading!

[Fading Fast]

I want to thank @TopBilledfor this incredible thread and for, months back when I became active on the forum, inviting me to participate by reviewing the pre-codes along with him. That said, following his reviews felt a bit like the guy taking Gretzky's position after he retired. 

This is the last review I'll post on TCM (I'm posting my reviews after @TopBilledhere https://classicfilmtvradio.freeforums.net/board/43/neglected-films which is proving to be an outstanding forum in its start up phase, so I encourage everyone to join or at least check it out).

The Mummy from 1932 with Boris Karloff, Zita Johann and David Manners

 

 

In the 1920s, the discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamun set off a round of "Egyptomania," a popular craze for all things ancient Egypt. In this first "Mummy" movie, director Karl Freund wraps a tale of ancient Egypt around a contemporaneous love story with elements of a horror flick to make an engaging and innovative, albeit uneven and at times, hokey movie. 

 

The Mummy opens in 1921 at the site of a British expedition digging in Egypt where a mummy is discovered and accidentally brought back to life when a young scientist reads out loud the words of an ancient Egyptian text. 

 

Eleven years later, we see that mummy, played by Boris Karloff and looking like a dessicated-and-deeply-aged-by-the-sun human, guide a new British expedition team to the tomb of his former lover, the Princess Ankh-es-en-amon (yes, there was a little illicit ancient Egyptian canoodling going on a few thousand years ago).

 

But his Princess, we learn along the way, has been reborn throughout the ensuing millennia and is living in present day Egypt. Played by Zita Johann, she has a British father and Egyptian mother, and is falling in love with one of the young scientists from the dig, played by the early 1930s "we need a generically handsome man" actor David Manners.

 

Karloff's mummy, through the use of ancient spells and arts, tries to bring his former lover and Princess to him. Manners and the senior scientists on the dig try to help oddly behaving Johann as, at first, they think she's just ill. Only slowly do they begin to understand what is happening to her.

 

Karloff uses all his ancient powers to get the Princess to come to him so that he can, then, kill her, embalm her and bring her back as a mummy to live with him in his otherworldly state for eternity. Yes, that's his plan. Manners, spurred on by love and professional inquisitiveness, along with the other scientists, learning as they go, try to save the Princess. 

 

The climax (no spoilers coming) is an impressive mix of ancient Egyptian mysticism, special effects, revealing costuming and girl power that's fun in an early Hollywood way. And that's the best way to approach this entire effort: to see it as 1930s Hollywood beginning to play with the elements of what would become the horror genre.

 

Most impressive of those is Karloff's interpretation of the titular mummy. It is incredibly engaging for its subtlety as, other than the aforementioned desiccating makeup, it's just Karloff's eyes and his eerily quiet, yet foreboding mien - along with some outstanding camera work - that give his version of the mummy scary gravitas. 

 

This approach and style is from the less-is-more school of horror, something rarely appreciated in our present-day CGI, big-budget modern movie-making world.

 

The other joy in the cast is Zita Johann in the incredibly difficult role of a modern woman carrying the eternal soul of a 3700-year-old Egyptian princess inside her. 

 

She, too, plays it low key, but her haunting and confused appearance when "called" by the mummy Karloff is effective. She also ramps it up nicely in the final scene where she is scantily clad (it's a pre-code movie, after all) and fighting for her life.

 

David Manners is given the difficult role of being the straight good-guy to all the otherworldly forces swirling around. It's not a standout performance, but that he made it believable does him credit. 

 

To a modern audience, The Mummy might seem slow, but appreciated as one of the original horror-genre movies, the mummy's makeup, the scenery (very 1930s Hollywood does ancient Egypt on elaborate sets) and story are impressive considering the production team had all but no template from which to work. Plus, once you get into it, it's a reasonably exciting tale with some engaging acting and plenty of entertaining "Egyptomania" hokeyness.

[skimpole]

On 10/12/2022 at 8:27 AM, TopBilled said:

Today's neglected film is from 1954. It has aired 21 times on TCM.

Nicholas Ray’s cult western is in a category by itself.

I don't think this is a neglected film.  It may have been once, but it's clearly of one of the most admired films of Ray and Crawford's career.  (It's also pretty high on the list of "What movies was Mercedes McCambridge in, aside from All the King's Men?")

As you can see it's pretty high (#12) on this list of the 25 greatest westerns:  (https://theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_o-r.htm)

Top 25 Westerns
1. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
2. Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959)
3. Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968)
4. The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
5. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)
6. My Darling Clementine (John Ford, 1946)
7. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966)
8. Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)
9. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971)
10. Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992)
11. Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948)
12. Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954)
13. High Noon (Fred Zinnemann, 1952)
14. Heaven's Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980)
15. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969)
16. Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)
17. Shane (George Stevens, 1953)
18. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Sam Peckinpah, 1973)
19. Wagon Master (John Ford, 1950)
20. Fort Apache (John Ford, 1948)
21. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 1949)
22. Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946)
23. Man of the West (Anthony Mann, 1958)
24. The Outlaw Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood, 1976)
25. Ride the High Country (Sam Peckinpah, 1962)

[TopBilled]

8 hours ago, skimpole said:

I don't think this is a neglected film.  It may have been once, but it's clearly of one of the most admired films of Ray and Crawford's career.  (It's also pretty high on the list of "What movies was Mercedes McCambridge in, aside from All the King's Men?")

As you can see it's pretty high (#12) on this list of the 25 greatest westerns:  (https://theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_o-r.htm)

Top 25 Westerns
1. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
2. Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959)
3. Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968)
4. The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
5. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)
6. My Darling Clementine (John Ford, 1946)
7. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966)
8. Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)
9. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971)
10. Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992)
11. Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948)
12. Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954)
13. High Noon (Fred Zinnemann, 1952)
14. Heaven's Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980)
15. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969)
16. Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)
17. Shane (George Stevens, 1953)
18. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Sam Peckinpah, 1973)
19. Wagon Master (John Ford, 1950)
20. Fort Apache (John Ford, 1948)
21. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 1949)
22. Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946)
23. Man of the West (Anthony Mann, 1958)
24. The Outlaw Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood, 1976)
25. Ride the High Country (Sam Peckinpah, 1962)

Thanks for the feedback. I did not mean to imply it was neglected by critics...but...it has been neglected by TCM programmers. Probably because they have to pay extra to lease it from Paramount, as it is outside the Turner library.

As I had stated earlier in the thread, the criteria I used to defined neglected by TCM is that a title had aired 25 times or less. I chose the number 25 since TCM has been broadcasting for 28 years and that means on average, a title that aired 25 times or less has aired less than once a year.

Of course some films have only aired five or six times during TCM's broadcast history which means they are even more neglected!

[TopBilled]

22 hours ago, Fading Fast said:

I want to thank @TopBilledfor this incredible thread and for, months back when I became active on the forum, inviting me to participate by reviewing the pre-codes along with him. That said, following his reviews felt a bit like the guy taking Gretzky's position after he retired. 

This is the last review I'll post on TCM (I'm posting my reviews after @TopBilledhere https://classicfilmtvradio.freeforums.net/board/43/neglected-films which is proving to be an outstanding forum in its start up phase, so I encourage everyone to join or at least check it out).

The Mummy from 1932 with Boris Karloff, Zita Johann and David Manners

 

 

In the 1920s, the discovery of the tomb of King Tutankhamun set off a round of "Egyptomania," a popular craze for all things ancient Egypt. In this first "Mummy" movie, director Karl Freund wraps a tale of ancient Egypt around a contemporaneous love story with elements of a horror flick to make an engaging and innovative, albeit uneven and at times, hokey movie. 

 

The Mummy opens in 1921 at the site of a British expedition digging in Egypt where a mummy is discovered and accidentally brought back to life when a young scientist reads out loud the words of an ancient Egyptian text. 

 

Eleven years later, we see that mummy, played by Boris Karloff and looking like a dessicated-and-deeply-aged-by-the-sun human, guide a new British expedition team to the tomb of his former lover, the Princess Ankh-es-en-amon (yes, there was a little illicit ancient Egyptian canoodling going on a few thousand years ago).

 

But his Princess, we learn along the way, has been reborn throughout the ensuing millennia and is living in present day Egypt. Played by Zita Johann, she has a British father and Egyptian mother, and is falling in love with one of the young scientists from the dig, played by the early 1930s "we need a generically handsome man" actor David Manners.

 

Karloff's mummy, through the use of ancient spells and arts, tries to bring his former lover and Princess to him. Manners and the senior scientists on the dig try to help oddly behaving Johann as, at first, they think she's just ill. Only slowly do they begin to understand what is happening to her.

 

Karloff uses all his ancient powers to get the Princess to come to him so that he can, then, kill her, embalm her and bring her back as a mummy to live with him in his otherworldly state for eternity. Yes, that's his plan. Manners, spurred on by love and professional inquisitiveness, along with the other scientists, learning as they go, try to save the Princess. 

 

The climax (no spoilers coming) is an impressive mix of ancient Egyptian mysticism, special effects, revealing costuming and girl power that's fun in an early Hollywood way. And that's the best way to approach this entire effort: to see it as 1930s Hollywood beginning to play with the elements of what would become the horror genre.

 

Most impressive of those is Karloff's interpretation of the titular mummy. It is incredibly engaging for its subtlety as, other than the aforementioned desiccating makeup, it's just Karloff's eyes and his eerily quiet, yet foreboding mien - along with some outstanding camera work - that give his version of the mummy scary gravitas. 

 

This approach and style is from the less-is-more school of horror, something rarely appreciated in our present-day CGI, big-budget modern movie-making world.

 

The other joy in the cast is Zita Johann in the incredibly difficult role of a modern woman carrying the eternal soul of a 3700-year-old Egyptian princess inside her. 

 

She, too, plays it low key, but her haunting and confused appearance when "called" by the mummy Karloff is effective. She also ramps it up nicely in the final scene where she is scantily clad (it's a pre-code movie, after all) and fighting for her life.

 

David Manners is given the difficult role of being the straight good-guy to all the otherworldly forces swirling around. It's not a standout performance, but that he made it believable does him credit. 

 

To a modern audience, The Mummy might seem slow, but appreciated as one of the original horror-genre movies, the mummy's makeup, the scenery (very 1930s Hollywood does ancient Egypt on elaborate sets) and story are impressive considering the production team had all but no template from which to work. Plus, once you get into it, it's a reasonably exciting tale with some engaging acting and plenty of entertaining "Egyptomania" hokeyness.

Special thanks to Fading Fast for sharing all those wonderful reviews of precodes. It has generated more lively discussion.

I look forward to our posting more reviews at the other message board.

https://classicfilmtvradio.freeforums.net/board/43/neglected-films

[BonnieBeth]

I don't know this thread is still open.   But if it is, thanks to everyone several months ago who recommended where to watch The Garden of the Finzi-Continis.      Someone suggested YouTube.   I was surprised, but there it was, the full movie, and with captioning, too!    It was wonderful to see it again.

I have another foreign film which has been neglected for decades, and I don't even know if it's available as a full film anywhere.    The 1984 Danish coming of age  film "Twist and Shout,"  directed by Bille August.    The story takes place in 1963.   I saw it on a VHS tape decades ago, in Danish with English subtitles.    Later on, I had to jump through hoops to buy a copy (don't remember where) and it was on DVD and dubbed in English.   The dubbing was done very well, but I did prefer it the subtitled version.   Now I don't see the film anywhere in complete form.

Here is a link to the trailer I found on YouTube: