I Just Watched...

[King Rat]

The other night I enjoyed the double feature of Love Is a Many Splendored Thing and Sayonara, two Post-WWII films about interracial romance. If Jennifer Jones as a Eurasian doctor is politically incorrect today, just imagine a Japanese Kabuki actor played by . . . wait for it . . . Ricardo Montalban. Both films benefit from location photography and excellent costumes. LIAMST is a well-made romance, with Jennifer Jones and William Holden in fine form.

Speaking of Ricardo Montalban as a Kabuki actor, is Marlon Brando equally miscast as a Southerner? When someone asks him what part of the South he is from, he says, "All over," which is only too accurate. Brando understands that people from different parts of the country hold their faces differently because of the way their facial muscles work to produce the local accent, and at certain moments his face looks Southern. He has some good line readings along the way, too, but "Brando acting Southern" becomes a major subplot of the film, just as "Brando acting Don Corleone" becomes a major subplot of The Godfather. Sayonara has an excellent plot, with three kinds of American/Japanese love affairs: James Garner (who makes any film better just by being "himself" in it), happy to have a casual affair; the marriage of Red Buttons and Miyoshi Umeki; and Brando's pursuit of the stage star Hana Ogi (Miiko Taka). The tragic resolution of one subplot, as in South Pacific (also based on James Michener stories) increases the determination of another man to have a different outcome.

I liked Sayonara better this time than when I saw it a number of years ago. Although too long, it's probably Joshua Logan's best film. Perhaps as a man of the theater Logan was fascinated by the variety of stage performances he could show. The most touching part of the film is the way Red Buttons learns how to live as his Japanese wife does. Miyoshi Umeki has great charm, and Buttons and Umeki disappear into their characters, something Brando could not do.

Spoiler: I couldn't help wondering if Miss Ogi was going to end up like Zohra Lampert in Splendor in the Grass. Maybe a flyboy like Brando wouldn't end up in rural Kansas, at least.

[Dargo]

16 hours ago, mkahn22 said:

This is why we have movie stars. The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer would have been long forgotten if not for Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Shirley Temple and Ray Collins. These talented actors take the movie's thin and inane script and create enjoyable characters who have so much charm that you forgive the picture its ample ridiculousness. 

The Bachelor and Bobby-Soxer works only if you forgive it its silly story and allow yourself to enjoy four stars who understand their craft so well they can make this nonsensical picture a fun and lighthearted romp. 

Yep, you nailed it here, mkahn...

[Tikisoo]

9 hours ago, King Rat said:

The other night I enjoyed the double feature of Love Is a Many Splendored Thing and Sayonara, two Post-WWII films about interracial romance.

Thank you for your thoughtful impressions of these movies. I've avoided both for different reasons- mostly turned off by the casting. Knowing SAYONARA isn't "all" Brando absolutely changes my mind about seeing it - better tolerated in smaller doses. 

[TomJH]

This gif is a reminder of the physical dexterity and grace possessed by Cary Grant as a performer at his best. In regard to that I have to say that my favourite period of his career when I feel he delivered his most enjoyable work was from, say, 1937 to 1941. This was the time when the actor delivered some of his most physical performances, usually in comedy. The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, Holiday, Gunga Din, His Girl Friday and Arsenic and Old Lace have much of his most enjoyable work, for my money, because he demonstrated so much physicality.

Those brief jaunty dance steps (when he's trying to act like a younger man) from Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer are a reminder of his earlier, more physical work as an actor.

I know that a lot of fans enjoy his later work when he specialized in primarily being a suave leading man on screen, a "dream man" for the female patrons. Grant certainly aged with far more grace than virtually all his contemporary male stars from the late 30s and early 40s but, for me, some of the fun went out of his performances then, as well, when he relied more upon debonair charm than he did the physical comedy that the gif above demonstrates.

Now you may well reply, well, what do you expect, he was getting older, and I would agree that you can't expect an actor in the '50s to have the same physical dexterity that he had possessed twenty years before. I'm only saying that, for me, some of the fun went out of his work during the period when he was physically slowing down and, to a degree, coasting with his screen persona as he played that romantic Cary Grant "dream man" in film after film (excluding Father Goose).

Having said that, though, I fully acknowledge that he was wonderful in North By Northwest, the only outstanding film in which he appeared in his last 20 years or so in the movies (his best film since Notorious). And for an actor who was "slowing down" he sure was getting a work out once again, thanks to Hitchcock, running from that crop duster and scrambling over Mount Rushmore.

[SansFin]

1 hour ago, TomJH said:

This gif is a reminder of the physical dexterity and grace possessed by Cary Grant as a performer at his best. In regard to that I have to say that my favourite period of his career when I feel he delivered his most enjoyable work was from, say, 1937 to 1941. This was the time when the actor delivered some of his most physical performances, usually in comedy. The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, Holiday, Gunga Din, His Girl Friday and Arsenic and Old Lace have much of his most enjoyable work, for my money, because he demonstrated so much physicality.

Those brief jaunty dance steps (when he's trying to act like a younger man) from Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer are a reminder of his earlier, more physical work as an actor.

I know that a lot of fans enjoy his later work when he specialized in primarily being a suave leading man on screen, a "dream man" for the female patrons. Grant certainly aged with far more grace than virtually all his contemporary male stars from the late 30s and early 40s but, for me, some of the fun went out of his performances then, as well, when he relied more upon debonair charm than he did the physical comedy that the gif above demonstrates.

Now you may well reply, well, what do you expect, he was getting older, and I would agree that you can't expect an actor in the '50s to have the same physical dexterity that he had possessed twenty years before. I'm only saying that, for me, some of the fun went out of his work during the period when he was physically slowing down and, to a degree, coasting with his screen persona as he played that romantic Cary Grant "dream man" in film after film (excluding Father Goose).

Having said that, though, I fully acknowledge that he was wonderful in North By Northwest, the only outstanding film in which he appeared in his last 20 years or so in the movies (his best film since Notorious). And for an actor who was "slowing down" he sure was getting a work out once again, thanks to Hitchcock, running from that crop duster and scrambling over Mount Rushmore.

 

I believe I understand what you are saying. My point of view is that he was a boy toy when he was younger. His antics were quite amusing and he was quite handsome but he was more suited for a wild weekend than for a real relationship. His leading ladies came across as immature pleasure seekers addicted to instant gratification rather than being complete women with whom I could identify. He became a love interest as he matured. His physical prowess changed from higgledy-piggledy bouncing off the walls into raw sexual power.

I can assure you that he was indeed a: "dream man" in: Father Goose (1964). 

 

[Fading Fast]

I think part of the story is also how movies changed as the early period you note, late '30s/early '40s, was during the screwball comedy era of filmmaking - one with much physical humor - which faded by the later '40s and, then, '50s. 

[Sepiatone]

31 minutes ago, SansFin said:

 

I believe I understand what you are saying. My point of view is that he was a boy toy when he was younger. His antics were quite amusing and he was quite handsome but he was more suited for a wild weekend than for a real relationship. His leading ladies came across as immature pleasure seekers addicted to instant gratification rather than being complete women with whom I could identify. He became a love interest as he matured. His physical prowess changed from higgledy-piggledy bouncing off the walls into raw sexual power.

I can assure you that he was indeed a: "dream man" in: Father Goose (1964). 

 

  ARRRRGH!

Grant COULDN'T have been a "boy toy".  Now maybe ROCK HUDSON was.  Off screen of course.    A "BOY TOY , according to a Madonna video in which she wore a belt buckle with those words on it, indicating that SHE was the "Boy Toy"  as in her being the "toy" that boys would/could play with.  Now...

A "Baby Toy" isn't a baby that people play with, but a TOY that a BABY would play with.  And a "DOG TOY" of course being a toy that dogs would play with.  Get it?

Cripes, I HATE it when Americans stupidly corrupt simple phrases. 

And for the record, I think the only "creep factor" in THE BACHELOR AND THE BOBBYSOXER is RUDY VALLEE, who does brilliantly play a first class A#1 creep in this movie.

Sepiatone

[filmnoirguy]

On 3/14/2022 at 6:46 AM, mkahn22 said:

 

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer from 1947 with Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Shirley Temple and Ray Collins

 

 

This is why we have movie stars. The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer would have been long forgotten if not for Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Shirley Temple and Ray Collins. These talented actors take the movie's thin and inane script and create enjoyable characters who have so much charm that you forgive the picture its ample ridiculousness. 

 

Cary Grant plays a successful artist brought up before a judge played by Myrna Loy owing to a tussle over some girls at a nightclub the prior evening. After being let off with a warning, Grant, later that day, gives a lecture on art at the high school where Loy's younger sister, ward and bobby-soxer Shirley Temple attends.

 

Temple develops an immediate crush on middle-aged Grant and approaches him, after the lecture, under the pretense that as editor and chief of the school paper she needs to interview him. Later that night, unbeknownst to Grant, she sneaks into his apartment where - after Temple is discovered missing at home -  Loy and her date, an Assistant District Attorney, discover them. Oh boy.

 

The next day, Loy, the assistant DA and Loy's physician uncle played by Ray Collins hit on the eminently stupid plan to dismiss the charges against Grant if he'll agree to date Temple until her crush blows over. Loy and Collins are afraid, otherwise, the crush will become a life-altering obsession for Temple. Where are social services when you need them? 

 

By today's standards, this is beyond creepy, but even in 1947, you can feel them trying to finesse away the ick factor, which they almost do owing to the completely innocent vibe of the movie and the talent of the stars. 

 

From here, it plays out pretty much as expected with Grant feeling silly dating a teenager, while Loy and he develop feelings for each other that he encourages, while she attempts to deny them.

 

Upping the silliness factor there are a few screwball comedy routines like when Grant competes with the high school boys at picnic races. All along, though, Grant tries to bring Temple and her old high school boyfriend back together as a path out of this mess for him. 

 

(Spoiler alert if you haven't already guessed what's going to happen) Ray Collins finally can't take the nonsense anymore and knocks some sense into both Temple (Grant's too old for you) and Loy (you're too old to let Grant get away), leading to a happy ending for all.

 

This only works because each star is incredibly talented and all three leads have great chemistry. Loy's Thin Man "I love this guy even though he is often an idiot" persona plays perfectly against Grant's blend of disarming handsomeness and self-deprecating humor. 

 

But it's Temple's "mature beyond her years in some ways, yet still a goofy kid in others" personality that keeps this crazy love triangle from falling apart. Realizing the limits of the material, all three play it in a lighthearted way that almost lets the audience in on the joke.

 

The Bachelor and Bobby-Soxer works only if you forgive it its silly story and allow yourself to enjoy four stars who understand their craft so well they can make this nonsensical picture a fun and lighthearted romp. 

 

 

N.B. Despite this being 1947, part of the Dark Ages, Shirley Temple's character - the editor and chief of the school's newspaper and a young lady who is clearly smarter than the silly high school boys who pursue her - is a surprisingly modern role model for young girls at that time.   

 

 

And yet, Sidney Sheldon won the 1947 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer.

[Fading Fast]

3 minutes ago, filmnoirguy said:

And yet, Sidney Sheldon won the 1947 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer.

Which explains why it is on Oscar Month on TCM right now (on the east coast).

 

 

[TomJH]

1 hour ago, SansFin said:

 

I can assure you that he was indeed a: "dream man" in: Father Goose (1964). 

 

Maybe you like your dream men more on the scruffy side, SansFin. When Cary Grant made Father Goose it was an attempt at character work by him and a deliberate break from his usual suave screen persona. The film tanked at the box office, however, and the end of his career was facing him, after one more role (as matchmaker) on Walk, Don't Run. Who would have ever envisioned that one day Grant would play a role once performed by Charles Coburn?

[JamesJazGuitar]

1 hour ago, mkahn22 said:

I think part of the story is also how movies changed as the early period you note, late '30s/early '40s, was during the screwball comedy era of filmmaking - one with much physical humor - which faded by the later '40s and, then, '50s. 

I'm with you that the change being discussed is more in line with how comedy changed after WWII and into the 50s, from that before the war,   and not per-se any specific actor.

Preston Sturges was able to carry-on in the 40s to a degree similar to 30s screwball but that was about it with regards to directors\producers.

In the 50s actors like Judy Holiday and Jack Lemmon were the new-faces that helped bring back a 30s screwball vibe.    30s stars like Grant were now in their late 40s\early 50s and even great comedic  actors like Grant were only able to bring back a degree of that 30s vibe.

 

     

 

[Dargo]

1 hour ago, TomJH said:

Maybe you like your dream men more on the scruffy side, SansFin.

Close, Tom. But word is Sans actually likes her men more on the "fuzzy" side than on the "scruffy" side.

(...and especially when they're little and fuzzy)

[Dargo]

20 minutes ago, TomJH said:

When Cary Grant made Father Goose it was an attempt at character work by him and a deliberate break from his usual suave screen persona.

Just watched this one a month or so again when TCM showed it. Hadn't watched it in years. I thought Grant was great in it, and especially loved the interactions between him and Trevor Howard. 

24 minutes ago, TomJH said:

The film tanked at the box office

Gotta say this bit of info surprises me a bit. 

(...would've thought it had done better in this regard)

[TomJH]

1 hour ago, mkahn22 said:

I think part of the story is also how movies changed as the early period you note, late '30s/early '40s, was during the screwball comedy era of filmmaking - one with much physical humor - which faded by the later '40s and, then, '50s. 

That's undoubtedly a valid point, mkahn, but it doesn't change my assessment as to the period in his career when Cary Grant was at his most enjoyable to watch. I think he's quite brilliant in Gunga Din, with his broad but engaging comedy bits added in to an adventure tale. I've read that he and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. flipped a coin as to who got the romantic part and who got the largely comedy role in that film. I like Fairbanks but there is no way he could have done the same kind of justice to a comedy part that Grant did. Thank goodness the coin landed the way it did.

10 minutes ago, Dargo said:

Just watched this one a month or so again when TCM showed it. Hadn't watched it in years. I thought Grant was great in it, and especially loved the interactions between him and Trevor Howard. 

Gotta say this bit of info surprises me a bit. 

(...would've thought it had done better in this regard)

The fact that Father Goose tanked may have discouraged Grant from any more attempts at character work (of course it could also have discouraged film producers from offering him character work, as well). Grant knew his leading man days were over (many comment on the age difference between him and Audrey Hepburn in Charade, his last leading man role) and I guess he wanted to leave the industry with some dignity so he decided to bow out after playing the matchmaker role in a mild, pretty forgettable little comedy (Walk Don't Run). I wish he could have closed his career with a more memorable role but I guess good parts for a gracefully aging former leading man just weren't coming his way.

[NoShear]

58 minutes ago, TomJH said:

Re: "When Cary Grant made Father Goose it was an attempt at character work by him and a deliberate break from his usual suave screen persona."

 It was not a complete break, TomJH: Cary Grant had long displayed a cheekiness in his characters.

[NoShear]

34 minutes ago, Dargo said:

Re: "I thought Grant was great in it, and especially loved the interactions between him and Trevor Howard."

 "All of it, Frank!"

[JamesJazGuitar]

Monkey Business (1952),   is a prime example of a director (Howard Hawks) trying to capture a 30s screwball vibe with first rate 30s comedic talent (Grant \ Rogers),   but only being able to do so to a degree.    In order to have these stars recapture those-good-old-day,   the film has the built in device of a drug that makes one childlike.    I can't think of a more deliberate "device" to inject youth into a comedic actor,   as well as a film as a whole.       While the film has it moments it still lacks the magic of the films Hawks and Grant did in the 30s and up to His Girl Friday.       Also Grant and Rogers are married,   which changes things up, especially given the fact of who the pretty young gal was in the film.

 

[TomJH]

4 minutes ago, NoShear said:

 It was not a complete break, TomJH: Cary Grant had long displayed a cheekiness in his characters.

Yeah, I guess so but Father Goose was, I strongly suspect, a failed attempt to start a character career by Grant. And when I say failed I mean in regard to public response because I think he's very good in his role.

[SansFin]

3 hours ago, Sepiatone said:

  ARRRRGH!

Grant COULDN'T have been a "boy toy".  Now maybe ROCK HUDSON was.  Off screen of course.    A "BOY TOY , according to a Madonna video in which she wore a belt buckle with those words on it, indicating that SHE was the "Boy Toy"  as in her being the "toy" that boys would/could play with.  Now...

A "Baby Toy" isn't a baby that people play with, but a TOY that a BABY would play with.  And a "DOG TOY" of course being a toy that dogs would play with.  Get it?

Cripes, I HATE it when Americans stupidly corrupt simple phrases. 

And for the record, I think the only "creep factor" in THE BACHELOR AND THE BOBBYSOXER is RUDY VALLEE, who does brilliantly play a first class A#1 creep in this movie.

Sepiatone

 

Per: Urban Dictionary: "boy toy - A male used specifically by females for pleasure and fun when their husband or boy friend is not giving them enough attention or in case of break up or divorce."

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=boy toy

 

Attributions are nebulous:

Corn oil is made from corn. Olive oil is made from olives. Baby oil is made from...

An air horn uses compressed air. A fog horn uses...

 

[SansFin]

2 hours ago, TomJH said:

Maybe you like your dream men more on the scruffy side, SansFin. 

I prefer a man who has seen life. They are often a little rough around the edges when the glossy shell has been chipped away.

[SansFin]

8 hours ago, Dargo said:

Close, Tom. But word is Sans actually likes her men more on the "fuzzy" side than on the "scruffy" side.

(...and especially when they're little and fuzzy)

Please keep in mind that: 'little' is a relative term and may not be an appropriate descriptor of some attributes.

 

Edit:

PS: Dargo. I have posted a picture for you in thread: "Funny Stuff" in: "Off Topic Chit Chat" forum. I remember that I owe you such a picture. I do not remember why.

[Fedya]

23 hours ago, Sepiatone said:

I didn't see the movie, but my guess would be, figuring that maybe it was filmed in Montana, that the hills were bald because they filmed it there AFTER the dental floss harvest. 

 

[King Rat]

8 hours ago, TikiSoo said:

Thank you for your thoughtful impressions of these movies. I've avoided both for different reasons- mostly turned off by the casting. Knowing SAYONARA isn't "all" Brando absolutely changes my mind about seeing it - better tolerated in smaller doses. 

Now there is a lot of Brando in Sayonara, but the story is good, the supporting cast is strong, and you may enjoy the scenes of Japanese theater.

[Tikisoo]

19 hours ago, Sepiatone said:

Cripes, I HATE it when Americans stupidly corrupt simple phrases.

Americans will repeat ANY phrase that rhymes, doesn't matter if it makes sense.

[Sepiatone]

20 hours ago, SansFin said:

 

Per: Urban Dictionary: "boy toy - A male used specifically by females for pleasure and fun when their husband or boy friend is not giving them enough attention or in case of break up or divorce."

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=boy toy

 

Attributions are nebulous:

Corn oil is made from corn. Olive oil is made from olives. Baby oil is made from...

An air horn uses compressed air. A fog horn uses...

 

Well sorry, but I stick by my guns as there was NO online and therefore NO online "urban" dictionary  when Madonna made that video(for "Borderline" I think)  

As for the "attributions"---

On Lonnie Donegan's recording of "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor(On The Bedpost Overnight)"  He does ask the question...

"If tin whistles are made of tin, what do you suppose fog horns are made of?"   

And what about ESKIMO PIE or POLISH SAUSAGE?  

Sepiatone