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RAMBLES Part II

MissGoddess

By MissGoddess,
in Films and Filmmakers

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MissGoddess Advanced Member

MissGoddess

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THE TATTERED SPOILERS

 

I never would have thought to compare *The Tattered Dress* with *Anatomy of a Murder*, interesting. I can see those similiarities, especially the girls with the secret evidence.

 

Jack Carson was what kept my interest in the movie, I thought he was very good as the corrupt Sheriff. Boy, was he a phony. I got the impression that just as Chandler said in one of his speeches, the courtroom was a stage and these the two principal actors. Carson was MacBethish in the way he manipulated behind the scenes. I wish I knew more about poor Gail Russell's involvement with him. He was awful to her and not that good looking. I thought for a moment Chandler was going to turn around, after she shot Carson, and declare he would be her defense attorney. I guess that would have been much too Hollywood. :) But I certainly felt bad for the way she was just basically thrown to the dogs at the end.

 

I'm very glad I finally got to see *The Tattered Dress*, even if it wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped it would be. I had expected something a little less "Ross Hunter", but I was entertained anyway. Thanks again, T, for sharing the link. YouTube is unearthing so many classics that don't appear to be on the horizon yet for TCM or DVD release. And like breadcrumbs, I follow the links to the other movies they list along with the main feature. Love that!

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MissGoddess Advanced Member

MissGoddess

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joanspencemeandmygal.jpg

 

Hey everyone. If you're a fan of:

 

1930s movies

Spencer Tracy

Joan Bennett

Raoul Walsh (director)

Depression Era settings

Raucous Irish humor

Beer

Dogs

Gangsters

 

Then check out the Fox film, *Me and My Gal* (1932), one of the most entertaining movies I've seen lately from the early 30s. It's the most "Walshian" movie I've seen by the director after his *What Price Glory?[/b], in fact, it's in many ways a real commentary on the world after the "Great War", good and bad. But don't look for serious social commentary like in a William Wellman or Frank Capra movie, Walsh clearly was having a blast in those days and it shows. Most fun to watch is the incredibly sexy repartee between Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett, which makes me want to sink *Father of the Bride* et, al, into the ocean. To think they started out having so much fun and ended up in separate beds. :P

 

I hope TCM will try hard to get the broadcast rights to this wonderful romp (with a slightly serious vein of gangsterism). It's too cute and fun to be so little known (I only heard of it myself for the first time a few weeks ago, and never thought I'd find it anywhere). Enjoy, "IT'S JAKE!":

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbGTo2FX-mE

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rohanaka Advanced Member

rohanaka

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If you're a fan of

 

Well, I am not big on beer.. and I can take or leave the gangsters usually.. but the rest of it sounds like a good time!! ha. I will try to check it out soon. (but w/ my track record.. ha.. "soon" is a relative term.) At the very least I will put it on my "wanna watch" list. Thanks for the tip.

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CineMaven Advanced Member

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SPENCERTRACYJOANBENNETT.jpg

 

Awww, what a nice movie. Easy, breezy. The drunk fisherman started to wear on me a little, but it was great to see Spence and Joanie. Yes, by the time they made "Father of the Bride" they were an old married couple; all secrets revealed. Nice and comfortable with each other as a great pair of slippers. But here...here are their beginnings. Spicy, sexy...and chewing gum. She was a good foil for him. Their banter was good.

 

Tracy: "Do you realize I never knew how much I liked you until you gave me the air."

 

Bennett: "I guess it's the same with girls. They never fall hard 'till they're dropped."

 

(There's something very Grimesy about those lines...) :P

 

Tracy chastely kisses Bennett.

 

Bennett: "Now THAT'S the way to kiss."

 

Tracy: "Sure, I'm acting like a gentleman."

 

Bennett: "Yeah. Acting."

 

The wedding party scene would probably be worthy of Rohanaka's movie food thread. And I liked how Pop got right in front of the movie camera and invited the audience to drink.

 

I was astounded by the bank robbery. What? Really? I chuckled when I thought of the finesse the heist was handled in "The Asphalt Jungle." I liked in the beginning how Tracy interacted with everyone. Walsh had the action/activity moving moving ever moving forward; it'd rest on Joanie and Spencer...and that back to activity. For me it was seeing Tracy with (a blonde) Joan Bennett that was the lynchpin for me. I liked their "Strange --InnerTube-- Interlude" scene.

 

Looking over Raoul Walsh's IMDB entry of films, I've seen:

 

The Roaring Twenties (1939)

They Drive By Night (1940)

They Died With their Boots On (1941)

The Horn Blows At Night (1945)

Silver River (1948)

The King and Four Queens (1956)

Band of Angels (1957)

The Naked and the Dead (1958)

 

and of course, White Heat (1948)

 

Walsh can be gritty...but he can be playful as well. Glad I saw it.

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MissGoddess Advanced Member

MissGoddess

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Hi T! I'm glad you saw it. "Breezy" is a good word, it's a real party. I feel like more fun was probably going on behind the camera than in front (that the censors would allow, anyway). The doggie got me. I agree the little drunk fisherman...they shouldn't have dived in after him, ha!

 

I love this character for Tracy. It's like a lot of his "mugs" from the era, but he seems especially in a good mood in this one. It must be Joan. "Hiya, Red." "It ain't red, I'm a blonde!" "Oh, yeah? Where'd you get it?" ha haaaa!!

 

Seeing her behind the till reminded me of Linda Darnell's "Stella" from *Fallen Angel*, only played more for laughs.

 

And I thought Tracy's cracks about the banks were BRILLIANT. So very appropos for today.

 

Mac's breaking the "fourth wall" like that to address the camera sure came as a surprise. it made the movie feel more like a comedy and all in good fun. The robbery was like a Marx brothers act, right?! Love it. Even the "getaway" from the prison under the car, that seemed like something Walsh dared the actor to do for real. I can just imagine what practical joke was behind it, since Walsh was infamous for playing them on his actors.

 

This movie sold me on having to get the new biography of the director. I want to read about those good times, even if I can't be a part of them (and heck if I could have kept up!)

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CineMaven Advanced Member

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Gee, I haven't read a film book in AGES. (Man, I haven't read a BOOK in ages). Attention span somewhat diminished though I do have the quiet time now that I'm retired. Hope you enjoy the Walsh biography.

 

A coupla months ago you told us about a Karloff movie called *"NIGHT KEY"* where I had to hurdle over my own bias of seeing my dear sweetie pie Sammykins be such a mean guy. Well, I'd like to suggest something for you (and everyone) to check out if time and/or inclination permits.

 

It's Karloff again. And before he worked with Anna Lee in *"BEDLAM" (1946)* he worked with her ten years earlier in a film I've been enjoying called *"THE MAN WHO CHANGED HIS MIND."* This film was made in England (this is the British title) and called in America: "THE MAN WHO LIVED AGAIN."

 

Karloff is a scientist who starts off with good intentions, but when the medical community scoffs at his claims to be able to...

 

Well, you know. Also stars John Loder. (Frankly, I think Karloff's experiments should have been on Johnny boy). Lots of great shots in this film thanx to the director.

 

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIQAuYAs6Po&feature=related*

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MissGoddess Advanced Member

MissGoddess

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> {quote:title=CineMaven wrote:}{quote}Gee, I haven't read a film book in AGES. (Man, I haven't read a BOOK in ages). Attention span somewhat diminished though I do have the quiet time now that I'm retired. Hope you enjoy the Walsh biography.

>

 

Me, too!! And I used to be a major book worm, so I sometimes marvel over my lack of enthusiasm to read these days, with a few exceptions. I always had my nose in a book as a child and teenager.

 

The last time I read a novel was my dog-eared Rebecca, which I typically take on long trips.

 

We'll see if I can get through this bio. A lot depends on the style of the writer. I doubt it will be as fun as Walsh's own style.

 

> A coupla months ago you told us about a Karloff movie called *"NIGHT KEY"* where I had to hurdle over my own bias of seeing my dear sweetie pie Sammykins be such a mean guy. Well, I'd like to suggest something for you (and everyone) to check out if time and/or inclination permits.

>

>

> It's Karloff again. And before he worked with Anna Lee in *"BEDLAM" (1946)* he worked with her ten years earlier in a film I've been enjoying called *"THE MAN WHO CHANGED HIS MIND."* This film was made in England (this is the British title) and called in America: "THE MAN WHO LIVED AGAIN."

>

>

> Karloff is a scientist who starts off with good intentions, but when the medical community scoffs at his claims to be able to...

>

>

> Well, you know. Also stars John Loder. (Frankly, I think Karloff's experiments should have been on Johnny boy). Lots of great shots in this film thanx to the director.

>

>

> *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIQAuYAs6Po&feature=related*

>

 

Brilliant! I look forward to seeing this, thanks...and I imagine I'll feel the same about the Lode-r. ;)

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CineMaven Advanced Member

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> *Me, too!! And I used to be a major book worm, so I sometimes marvel over my lack of enthusiasm to read these days, with a few exceptions. I always had my nose in a book as a child and teenager.*

I came to my reading like this. I used to talk a lot in class. ...To class mates, not to answer questions. My report card in the third grade had remarks from the teacher about my talking during class. Needless to say I caught it at home. Ow!

 

The next marking period, in the remarks section of my report card, my teacher, Miss Hadley, wrote to my parents: *"_____ is now an avid reader."*

 

> *Brilliant! I look forward to seeing this, thanks...and I imagine I'll feel the same about the Lode-r.* ;-)

*HA!!!! Ha!!! :^0*

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SansFin Advanced Member

SansFin

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I believe I have always loved books because my mother liked to read and I always wished to be like her.

 

Books were comforting friends when the sea raged and I could find safety bundled up next to the stove.

 

Edited by: SansFin on Nov 26, 2011 7:30 PM because I should not have posted a quote.

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CineMaven Advanced Member

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Awwww. Poor Capuchin. Poor poor Capuchin. I am the oldest of three. The youngest of us is a little brother. This doesn't speak well for Big Sisters with Little Brothers. Tsk! Tsk! Shame on us Big Sisters.

 

*BUT*

 

If it's tough being a Little Brother with a Big Sister...try being the Big Sister who is constantly told you must set an example for the younger ones. (Gr-r-r-r!)

 

*OR*

 

Being told that when you finish your chores you can go out to play, only to have the rug pulled out from under you when you've finished your chores (first), and then told to help out the younger ones with THEIR chores.

 

ACK! I guess every sibling's place in the family is a precarious one. But it IS better than being an only child.

 

> *"Books couldn't hurt you even when they took you deep into jungles, planted you in front of rampaging dragons, or sent you into orbit around strange planets, and I desperately needed those safe adventures."*

In Capuchin's case, I guess there really is no frigate like a book.

 

I am looking forward to checking out these three films to take my mind off of chores...and reading:

 

*"SHIELD FOR MURDER"* - A crime drama starring EDMOND O’BRIEN & JOHN AGAR

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G60pM9zc_4I&feature=related*

 

*"GREEN FOR DANGER"* - A fantastic murder mystery starring ALISTAIR SIMS & TREVOR HOWARD

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb5ooEfJKM4&feature=related*

 

*"THE EVIL MIND"* - starring CLAUDE RAINS & FAY WRAY: *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5kb-HMFKhk&feature=related*

 

Now that I'm a grown-up (well...an adult, anyway) I can do what I wanna do with no little brothers around to rat me out.

 

Nyah!

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CineMaven Advanced Member

CineMaven

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THE DRESS IS TATTERED...AND SPOILED!!!

 

ELAINESTEWARTIII.jpg

 

I was ready for a rip-roaring-tawdry-technicolored B-movie good time.

 

But what I got was a good solid very frank drama from 1957 called "THE TATTERED DRESS." Iron man JEFF CHANDLER stars as cocksure, hotshot New York lawyer James Gordon Blaine. He drinks, he gambles and he goes to bed with women other than his wife, which also includes his client, played by the spectacularly tattered ELAINE STEWART. It might be unethical, but it sure makes him red-blooded and interesting. Ha...he's all the things Perry Mason is not, unless you know something I don't know about Perry and Della.

 

He wins his cases too. Chandler's strong and gorgeously chiseled physiognomy is worthy of Mount Rushmore and he uses his big booming voice to good (and admittedly, sometimes overblown) effect.

 

And he walks a little like John Wayne. Chandler's Blaine is the lawyer you hire...when you[/u] are guilty.

 

I really liked GEORGE TOBIAS and EDWARD PLATT in this film. (Uh..."Mr. Kravitz" and "The Chief" to you denizens of TVLand, or old Baby Boomers like myself). Tobias often played these whacked out ethnic characters in films and I think here is the first time I'm seeing him close to how I imagine his real personality was. He could do serious drama. He was nice and calming. Both Tobias and Platt are great character actors, very natural and serve as a sort of rah-rah cheering section / Greek chorus, respectively, for Chandler.

 

One of my favorite actresses is JEANNE CRAIN and she plays the supportive wife of Chandler. No, she doesn't have much to do dramatically other than stand-by-her-man. But fellas, this is the girl you want in your corner. She's always such a positive steadying presence in films, in that clean sexy wholesome way.

 

The Witness who accuses the New York lawyer of bribing her is none other than GAIL RUSSELL. Her life was to come to a sad and tragic end in four years at age 36, and you can see the effects alcohol has had on her once hauntingly beautiful looks. But she does a grand job here as the witness. She withstands a grueling and blistering cross-examination by Chandler and goes toe-to-toe with him, as we see her stress mount question by question. "The Tattered Dress" is about two movies away from the end of her career and the end of her life, but I can still see she's got It. Dear sweet Gail.

 

But let me get down to brass tacks...it's JACK CARSON's show all the way. Carson plays the town sheriff. And as power does...power corrupts, absolutely. Yes Miss G., he's MacBeth...and also Machiavelli all rolled up in one hail fellow well met. He's jovial and menacing; threatening and sympathetic. When on the witness stand a second time, he talks of how he considers Chandler a friend; even kind of intimates that he knows he's holding onto his glory days as a collegiate grid iron star long past its expiration date. < Sniff! > But he's a back stabbing snake in the grass...and convincing at it too. He's pulling the strings and won't stop at lying, cheating, beating or murder.

 

I love this film. I don't remember when I saw it the first time. But I haven't seen it in years and years, so the details were just a tad sketchy as I watched it the other nite. In this viewing I was a tad shocked at a coupla things...the frank questioning Chandler gives to his clients, the open marriage of the Restons (Elaine Stewart & Philip Reed):

 

Chandler: "Mrs. Reston, are you a faithful wife?"

 

Stewart: "In my fashion."

 

...And Stewart's openly flirting with Chandler:

 

Stewart: "I heard you separated from your wife."

 

Chandler: "How does that concern you?"

 

Stewart: "You interest me."

 

Chandler: "That's the reason why my wife left me. I interest other women."

 

I laughed when she dove into her pool and swam toward and through the under water tunnel to her house to meet Chandler. It looked like she was swimming up the Fallopian tube. I really was aghast when Gail Russell answers her door in her negligee and we cut to Jack Carson buttoning up his shirt and in the background the bedsheets are all disheveled. HUH?! WHA'?? What year is this?

 

Ross Hunter? Nah, I'd have to say not for me. Ross is really overblown, with lurid color and that schmaltzy music....heavy piano chords. I found "The Tattered Dress" to be more..."Youngblood Hawke." Whether it was "Madame X" or "Where Love Has Gone" or not...I eat it all up. With both hands.

 

I think everyone should try on..."The Tattered Dress."

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MissGoddess Advanced Member

MissGoddess

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TATTERED SPOILERS

 

it's JACK CARSON's show all the way. Carson plays the town sheriff. And as power does...power corrupts, absolutely. Yes Miss G., he's MacBeth...and also Machiavelli all rolled up in one hail fellow well met. He's jovial and menacing; threatening and sympathetic. When on the witness stand a second time, he talks of how he considers Chandler a friend; even kind of intimates that he knows he's holding onto his glory days as a collegiate grid iron star long past its expiration date. < Sniff! > But he's a back stabbing snake in the grass...and convincing at it too. He's pulling the strings and won't stop at lying, cheating, beating or murder.

 

Great description of Carson's character. I kept thinking about *Molo* while watching him, since i know he's a favorite of his. This has to be up there with his best performances. He really got a lot of choice work in the fifties, early sixties. Stuff that proved he was much more than a comical second lead (and he was great at that).

 

I think everyone should try on..."The Tattered Dress."

 

They could have used you in their publicity department, that's a great tagline! :D

 

P.S. Tattered dress notwithstanding, I loved Jeanne Crain's wardrobe in this movie. And I have always loved her look from this point on. She was always lovely, but I find her really ravishing in her thirties and forties. I can't get over how skinny she was and she had SEVEN kids.

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MissGoddess Advanced Member

MissGoddess

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Yes, I've seen *Moonrise*. It's probably the most substantial role I've seen Gail do, and she's wonderful, so is the story. I would like to watch it again. The first time, I wasn't crazy about it mostly because Dane Clark's character didn't move me, and a lot depends on that in this story. I didn't feel much chemistry between him and Gail. Maybe it was me, I'm willing to see it again since Borzage is always worth a second look. :)

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