I Just Watched...

[rosebette]

4 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

the best thing about HUMORESQUE is when everyone stops reciting dialogue and the film has glorious silent sequences where it's just lighting, camera, actors and director.

the script is so terrible but everything else is A-game in that movie.

Except Oscar Levant's lines.  He steals the picture.

[LawrenceA]

Limelight (1952) - Sentimental showbiz drama from United Artists and writer-producer-director Charles Chaplin. He stars as Calvero, an alcoholic, washed-up music hall comedian who saves a rooming house neighbor from committing suicide. The neighbor, young ballet dancer Thereza (Claire Bloom), stays with Calvero while she recuperates, and the old comic starts to improve himself as he sets out to get Thereza the chance to prove herself as a world-class dancer. Also featuring Sydney Chaplin, Nigel Bruce, Buster Keaton, Norman Lloyd, Marjorie Bennett, and Snub Pollard.

Chaplin's last starring role came in this bittersweet drama, a massive hit everywhere else in the world, but barely released in the U.S. due to Chaplin being labeled a "dangerous leftist". I had the same opinion of this that I did with many of his silent movies: it's technically proficient, but the sentimentality is a bit too thick, and it often seems blatantly phony, and not earned by what has been shown on screen. I've grown to like many of Chaplin's films on repeat viewings, and even love a couple of them, but I've always preferred the work of Buster Keaton. It was nice seeing the two on screen together, but it wasn't for long enough. The movie eventually received an Oscar-qualifying premiere in L.A. twenty years later, and thus bizarrely won the 1972 Oscar for Best Score (Charles Chaplin, Ray Rasch, and Larry Russell).   (7/10)

Source: TCM.

[TomJH]

While Paris Sleeps (1932)

A pre-code Fox production, a drama of paternal love and self sacrifice, with a seedy Paris underworld involving white slavery, While Paris Sleeps, running a brief 61 minutes, is a little known but affecting tale directed with skill by silent film veteran Alan Dwan.

Rich in atmosphere, with moody photography which brings an authentic feeling to the impressive cobblestone streets and tavern sets, the story involves an orphan (played by Helen Mack, best remembered today for Son of Kong) in Paris, her mother just died and mistakenly believing her father to have been killed a war hero. The father (Victor McLaglen) is, in fact, a war hero but still very much alive, escaping from prison in the film's opening scene, now determined to find his daughter he hasn't seen in years in order to protect her from her dire surroundings.

And in this film there's plenty to protect her from. The film vividly portrays a Paris night world of sleazy bars and prostitutes, as well as white slave traders whose eyes fall upon the innocent young Mack. McLaglen looks for her while lurking in the shadows, not wanting her to know he's her father for fear of dashing any heroic illusions she has about him. There is also a young penniless musician (William Bakewell), almost as innocent as Mack, who takes an interest in her. He recognizes the night life creatures around her but seems limited as to how he can actually help her. The audience hopes that the lurking presence of McLaglen, on the run himself from the law, can make some kind of difference.

This little drama works. The headquarters of the local criminal organization is within a bar, as well as, most tellingly, beneath a local bakery. It is there, early in the film, that the audience sees its most horrifying scene when a screaming police informant to thrown into a flaming furnace. It's a scene that leaves no doubt as to the ruthlessness of the gang involved.

The film may briefly falter with a slowly developing, rather stiff, romance between the daughter and the musician, but that is really of little consequence as their scenes together are mercifully few.

The cast is uniformly fine. McLaglen is effectively cast, a brutal looking hulking man, his character hunting while on the lookout for the police himself. McLaglen shows the ferocity of a wounded beast in one scene while enraged but at the same time has a scene of considerable sensitivity with his daughter.

Lucille La Verne, as the manager of a seedy tavern, is a cackling horror, while an oily Jack La Rue is a creepy pimp presence in the film, a man trying to win the confidence of the innocent young girl for whom he has hideous plans in the end. Ria La Roy, an actress I had never seen before, is convincing in her transformation from a hardened hooker, initially resentful of Mack for her youth, to a woman who gradually feels sorry for her as she knows her intended fate.

Perhaps the most affecting performance of all, though, comes from Helen Mack who had never impressed me before. Here, though, she brings an innocence and vulnerability to her role that makes the audience feel as protective towards her character as does her screen father.

A stiff William Bakewell, playing the young musician who tries to act as the girl's protector, is the only weak link of the cast.

Dwan, along with editors Jack Murray and Paul Weatherwax, successfully brings the production to a suspenseful, surprisingly rousing, fast paced resolution in the film's final six or seven minutes. And the final touch at the end, a memorably ironic line of dialogue.

While Paris Sleeps is an impressive little drama, visually arresting but also emotionally involving. Should the chance to view this film present itself don't let the opportunity go by. This is one of those films, unfortunately, that only appears to be available on public domain websites. I managed to get a decent looking copy of it from a private collector.

3 out of 4

[kingrat]

Re Limelight: it's said that Chaplin drastically cut Keaton's scenes because he couldn't stand the competition. As great as the main musical theme for Limelight is, nothing else measures up. I enjoy the young Claire Bloom, not so accomplished an actress as she will become, but still talented and very lovely, but most of Chaplin's humor, like the long flea circus bit, is not at all funny. Not even close to Chaplin's great silent films, which I love.

[LawrenceA]

Lone Star (1952) - Passable western from MGM and director Vincent Sherman. Set in 1845, the independent Republic of Texas is caught in turmoil over whether to accept annexation into the United States, or to stay independent and sign a mutual protection treaty with Mexico. Former US president Andrew Jackson (Lionel Barrymore) sends trusted envoy Devereaux Burke (Clark Gable) to Texas to try and sway the legislature to side with annexation, which sets Burke at odds with independence advocate Thomas Craden (Broderick Crawford). Burke and Craden also find themselves both after the affections of newspaper publisher Martha Ronda (Ava Gardner). Also featuring Beulah Bondi, Ed Begley, James Burke, William Farnum, William Conrad, Moroni Olsen, Russell Simpson, and George Hamilton in his debut.

The action gets bogged down in too much political talk, but this movie isn't without its merits. The big action finale is well-mounted, with an interesting variation on the battering ram that I don't think I've seen before. Gable and Gardner have screen chemistry, and Crawford gets a more complicated character than usual. I liked William Conrad's small role as a Cajun. Barrymore, reprising his turn as Andrew Jackson from 1936's The Gorgeous Hussy, has only a brief appearance, and he looks in ill health. This would prove to be his last character role. He appeared in one more movie, 1953's Main Street to Broadway, playing himself, before passing away in 1954 at age 76.    (6/10)

Source: TCM.

[scsu1975]

1 hour ago, LawrenceA said:

Lone Star (1952) - Passable western from MGM and director Vincent Sherman. Set in 1845, the independent Republic of Texas is caught in turmoil over whether to accept annexation into the United States, or to stay independent and sign a mutual protection treaty with Mexico. Former US president Andrew Jackson (Lionel Barrymore) sends trusted envoy Devereaux Burke (Clark Gable) to Texas to try and sway the legislature to side with annexation, which sets Burke at odds with independence advocate Thomas Craden (Broderick Crawford). Burke and Craden also find themselves both after the affections of newspaper publisher Martha Ronda (Ava Gardner). Also featuring Beulah Bondi, Ed Begley, James Burke, William Farnum, William Conrad, Moroni Olsen, Russell Simpson, and George Hamilton in his debut.

The action gets bogged down in too much political talk, but this movie isn't without its merits. The big action finale is well-mounted, with an interesting variation on the battering ram that I don't think I've seen before. Gable and Gardner have screen chemistry, and Crawford gets a more complicated character than usual. I liked William Conrad's small role as a Cajun. Barrymore, reprising his turn as Andrew Jackson from 1936's The Gorgeous Hussy, has only a brief appearance, and he looks in ill health. This would prove to be his last character role. He appeared in one more movie, 1953's Main Street to Broadway, playing himself, before passing away in 1954 at age 76.    (6/10)

Source: TCM.

This is an above-average western. As you note, the climax is pretty good. William Farnum, in his next-to-last screen appearance, gives a spirited performance. Supposedly he was used as a technical consultant for the big fight scene between Gable and Crawford, although I suspect the filmmakers threw him a bone based on his long list of silent films, many of which often involved fistfights.

[LawrenceA]

The Man Who Watched Trains Go By aka The Paris Express (1952) - Technicolor Euro-noir, from Eros Films and director Harold French. Meek Dutch bookkeeper Kees Popinga (Claude Rains) has his quiet life thrown into turmoil when he learns that the company boss has secretly been embezzling from the firm in order to pay for his French mistress, Michele (Marta Toren), who lives in Paris. Popinga takes off with a suitcase containing the last of the company's money and journeys to Paris himself, where he confronts Michele, who quickly begins plotting how to take the money and ditch the old man. But Popinga has just begun his descent into the underworld, and it's best not to underestimate the lengths he's now willing to go. Also featuring Marius Goring, Herbert Lom, Ferdy Mayne, Felix Aylmer, and Anouk Aimee.

This is a strange little movie, with definite noir underpinnings, but shot in vibrant Technicolor. Rains is very good as the repressed Popinga, and he seems to relish his later physical scenes. My main issue with the film is that Popinga's psychology isn't clearly established, and one wonders why he so quickly abandons his seemingly loving wife and two young children, and that's before he gets caught up with the devious Michele. Still, the movie kept me engaged, and I liked seeing Rains in one of his last starring roles. He spent the next four years working intermittently in television before making another movie in 1956.   (7/10)

Source: TCM.

[laffite]

5 hours ago, rosebette said:

Except Oscar Levant's lines.  He steals the picture.

...as well as very nearly ruining it. He's funny but it was too much. It got tiresome for me. Garfield did fine but he was fundamentally miscast as a virtuoso violinist. Such a person who spends a life becoming great in the art would never have the demeanor and personality of what was essentially a street boy.

[cigarjoe]

Deported (1951) Directed by Robert Siodmak with Märta Torén, and Jeff Chandler.  Gangster gets deported to Italy and has to adjust, but outside circumstances interfear, watchable. 6/10

[TomJH]

8 hours ago, LawrenceA said:

The Man Who Watched Trains Go By aka The Paris Express (1952)

 

I find this an intriguing film. It's fun watching Rains' gradual transformation from a meek conservative little man into a man capable of acts that once would have been inconceivable to that same person. Rains plays those later scenes with relish.

As for your concern about Rains' abandonment of his family, Lawrence, yes it does seem a little abrupt. Yet the early family scenes clearly establish that there is no respect on the part of the children towards their father. That doesn't justify turning his back on them but it does help to perhaps explain the father's seeming emotional indifference to them.

The film's Technicolor of outdoor European locales (the film's opening shot comes to mind) is quite lovely.

[Sukhov]

Le Petit Soldat

Intriguing spy film from Jean Luc Godard on the French-Algerian War. Set in Switzerland, a spy must kill a man who is allied with the rebels for his French government. He is captured and tortured by two FLN men and escapes to find his girlfriend supported them. She is captured and murdered by the French while the spy decides to follow through with the order to kill the target. This was a pretty good film that deals with questions of war and torture that were in the mind of the people at that time after the gruesome war. This film was initially banned for a few years by the French government for being subversive. 

[Sukhov]

Vivre sa vie - An aspiring actress works as a hooker and lives a miserable existence. The film follows her experiences with her clients and with her leisure. It is split into twelve parts. This is a really good film with a sad ending.

[LornaHansonForbes]

10 hours ago, laffite said:

...as well as very nearly ruining it. [OSCAR LEVANT in HUMORESQUE is] funny but it was too much. It got tiresome for me. Garfield did fine but he was fundamentally miscast as a virtuoso violinist. Such a person who spends a life becoming great in the art would never have the demeanor and personality of what was essentially a street boy.

YES! it's a bit like Van Heflin in JOHNNY EAGER, outre acting and outre dialogue.

I also see where you're coming from with Garfield, but I'm okay with him and his casting- for me having someone who comes from a "real place" helps to ground the ridiculous story.

[LornaHansonForbes]

15 hours ago, LawrenceA said:

Limelight (1952) - Sentimental showbiz drama from United Artists and writer-producer-director Charles Chaplin.

Chaplin's last starring role came in this bittersweet drama, a massive hit everywhere else in the world, but barely released in the U.S. due to Chaplin being labeled a "dangerous leftist" The movie eventually received an Oscar-qualifying premiere in L.A. twenty years later, and thus bizarrely won the 1972 Oscar for Best Score (Charles Chaplin, Ray Rasch, and Larry Russell).   (7/10)

Source: TCM.

I've always been curious as to whether or not there was any kind of a campaign to get Chaplin a Best Actor nomination in 1972 for LIMELIGHT;

I'd've been down because :

1.he deserved it

and

2. Can you imagine the onstage slapfight between him and Sacheen Littlefeather just in case he and Brando tied for Best Actor?!?

for the record, MONSIOUR (SIC?) VERDOUX is Chaplin's finest hour; and he even manages to get a little sappy here and there in that one too. The scene where he counts the money alone was worth an Oscar tho (flipflipflipflipflip).

[TomJH]

16 hours ago, rosebette said:

Except Oscar Levant's lines.  He steals the picture.

"I envy people who drink. At least they know what to blame everything on."

[LawrenceA]

Mara Maru (1952) - Sub-par adventure/crime drama from Warner Brothers and director Gordon Douglas. Errol Flynn stars as Gregory Mason, a deep-sea diver who runs a small salvage and repair business in the Philippines. When his business partner ends up murdered, and Mason gets blamed, he finds himself wrapped up in a convoluted plot to try and force him to find a valuable item thought sunk in nearby waters. Mason tries to keep one step ahead of his foes as they try to double-deal and double-cross everyone involved. Also featuring Ruth Roman, Raymond Burr, Paul Picerni, Richard Webb, Dan Seymour, Georges Renavent, Robert Cabal, Henry Marco, Don C. Harvey, Al Kikume, Howard Chuman, and Nestor Paiva.

This tries to be a sort of Maltese Falcon at sea, but it doesn't work, as the script isn't nearly clever enough. Flynn looks tired and bored. Ruth Roman is wasted in a nothing part. Raymond Burr is a bit slimmed down, but he's still the heavy. Frequent bit player Paul Picerni has a nice turn as a very shady P.I. Robert Cabal, as Flynn's loyal flunky, provides one of the worst acted scenes in recent memory, as he tearfully mourns a fallen comrade. Flynn looks as if he's stifling a laugh throughout the maudlin display. The dopey title refers to the name of a boat.   (5/10)

Source: TCM.

[TomJH]

43 minutes ago, LawrenceA said:

Mara Maru (1952) -

 

 

Mara Maru is one of those later Flynn programmers that Warners cast off onto the actor. Few Flynn fans like to talk about this one.

But I have come to be strangely rather fond of the film. Errol looks a little flabby here but I enjoy seeing him in a more cynical part as a guy out for a fast buck, not unlike some of the stuff Bogart might have done. The film's first half has a lot of dull dialogue, I admit, but things pick up in the second half, particularly after the treasure is found.

And Flynn does have one extraordinarily effective moment as an actor, that in which he slaps his Filipino assistant across the face. He captures the initial anger and frustration, soon coupled with confusion and regret over his behaviour. There's a certain atmosphere from those Southern Cal locales substituting for the Philippines. Max Steiner's music also adds to these kind of minor films, sometimes making them seem better than they really are.

I guess we have to agree to disagree about this one, Lawrence, just as you certainly liked Flynn's Adventures of Captain Fabian far more than I did.

[LawrenceA]

Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) - Technicolor period-piece biopic, from MGM and director Mervyn LeRoy. Esther Williams stars as Annette Kellerman, an Australian swimming champion who became a major entertainment star circa the early 1900's. She overcame childhood handicaps to become a swimming legend, mentored by her kindly father (Walter Pidgeon). Later, she meets carnival huckster Jimmy Sullivan (Victor Mature) who sees in Annette the potential for stardom. She causes a sensation in the U.S. when she appears in public in a one-piece bathing suit that exposes her arms and legs. The legal battle over her accused act of indecency helped promote her into stage stardom. Also featuring David Brian, Jesse White, Donna Corcoran, Maria Tallchief, Howard Freeman, James Bell, Paul Frees, John Hamilton, and Dabbs Greer.

I was unaware of Kellerman, who went on to be a silent film star, before watching this. Like most biopics, it's fictionalized, with Mature's Sullivan character said to bear no resemblance to the real man. Kellerman herself, still alive and well when this was made, claimed that Williams was "too pretty" to play her. The movie is mildly amusing, with colorful costumes and blandly likable characters. The water ballet sequences are nicely done, if more than bit silly. The movie earned an Oscar nomination for Best Color Cinematography (George J. Folsey).   (6/10)

Source: Warner DVD.

[LawrenceA]

One Minute to Zero (1952) - Flag-waving war drama from RKO and director Tay Garnett. Robert Mitchum stars as U.S. Army Colonel Steve Janowski, who is helping train the South Koreans for the coming conflict with their Northern neighbors. Steve meets headstrong United Nations aid worker Linda Day (Ann Blyth), and while the two butt heads, they also fall for each other. As the Korean War erupts, the two keep finding their paths intersecting as they both struggle to survive and complete their missions. Also featuring Charles McGraw, William Talman, Richard Egan, Margaret Sheridan, Eduard Franz, Robert Osterloh, Robert Gist, Stuart Whitman, and John Mitchum.

Most of the war action is routine stuff not too unlike what was seen in dozens of WW2 movies. However, the staged material is supplemented by actual documentary war footage, include the corpses of slain soldiers, including some burned to a cinder, making this one of the more graphic war pictures of its time. Mitchum, McGraw, Egan and Talman threaten to cram too much machismo onto the screen at one time, while Blyth does well in a role intended for Claudette Colbert. This was one of only a few movies made about the Korean conflict while the fighting was still ongoing.   (6/10)

Source: TCM.

[EricJ]

6 hours ago, LawrenceA said:

Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) - I was unaware of Kellerman, who went on to be a silent film star, before watching this. Like most biopics, it's fictionalized, with Mature's Sullivan character said to bear no resemblance to the real man.

And then that ending, that suggested that Mature's Sullivan discovered Rin Tin Tin...I can appreciate a little gratuitous historical license, but, the HECK??    ?

Quote

The movie is mildly amusing, with colorful costumes and blandly likable characters. The water ballet sequences are nicely done, if more than bit silly.

And the one cultural-symbolic "Happy MGM musical number" (ie. the Smoke water-ballet) that's singlehandedly been straw-man parodied by more films over the last forty years--

When you watch the Village People sing "YMCA" in "Can't Stop the Music", think back to a time in the 70's when people actually thought every MGM musical had Busby-style tracking-closeups of diving girls and reverse-footage sparklers that come out of the pool...

[LawrenceA]

Othello (1952) - Shakespearean tragedy, from United Artists and director Orson Welles. He also stars as the title character, a Moorish war hero in 16th century Venice. He's happily married to the fair Desdemona (Suzanne Cloutier), but scheming ensign Iago (Michael MacLiammoir) plots to drive Othello mad with jealousy by planting seeds of distrust concerning Desdemona's fidelity. Also featuring Robert Coote, Hilton Edwards, Michael Laurence, Doris Dowling, and Fay Compton.

Welles ran into his usual trouble securing financing, and this was shot piecemeal over time. Despite this difficulty, I found the finished product to be fantastic, and one my favorite Shakespeare adaptations. The endlessly atmospheric B&W cinematography, the unusual for the time editing, the disconcerting score and sound design, the incredible sets and locations, and stellar performances from all involved made this one of the best viewing experiences that I've had in some while. Welles was ahead of his time with the film's look, camera angles, and editing, while exhibiting an old master's knowledge of the use of shadows and perspective to accent scenes and illustrate the inner workings of the characters. The film has a haunted, at-times surreal quality, and most of it is dreamlike without being incoherent. This movie makes me wonder what Welles could have done with Hamlet. Shakespeare purists may be put off by the judicious editing done to the original work (the 3-hour play is rendered into a 90+ minute movie), but the spirit is maintained. This is the third version of Othello that I've seen filmed, after the 1965 take with Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith and Frank Findlay in the leads, and the 1995 version with Laurence Fishburne, Irene Jacob and Kenneth Branagh. This Welles version is my favorite. Highly recommended.    (9/10)

Source: Criterion Blu-ray.

[laffite]

Orson Welles first met MacLiammoir when he (Welles) was 16 while traveling in and around Scotland (or someplace) revealing his precociety in matters of mostly theater at this point. I believe they fell completely out of touch but Orson remembered him 20 years later and called him in to play Iago. I remember him doing splendidly last viewing. When Orson couldn't pay for the costumes (or perhaps they just never arrived) he conceived that famous scene in the bathhouse and only needed towels. He sure wiggled out of that one. As is I think commonly known, most Shakespear movies are cut. Some were so long it just had to be. An uncut Hamlet would take a 4 1/2 hours on screen. But did he go too far with his King Lear, dropping the subplot with Gloucester, Edmund, and Edgar, a "subplot" that gets almost equal time with the principal? But if you don't have the money. I agree, this is the best Othello on screen. I believe there is a silent with Emil Jannings that probably has its merits but on the other hand, what's Shakespear with talking?

[hamradio]

This past Sunday, "The Sea Hawk" (1924) not what I expected, sure did have plot twist and turns.

[LawrenceA]

Radar Men from the Moon (1952) - 12-chapter science fiction serial from Republic Pictures and director Fred C. Brannon. George Wallace stars as Commando Cody, a scientist and inventor who uses a jet-pack and special helmet to fly around and fight bad guys. He must thwart the efforts of Retik (Roy Barcroft), Ruler of the Moon to spearhead an invasion of the Earth so that the dwindling population of the moon can move here. Retik tasks his lackey Krog (Peter Brocco) with using the advanced weaponry of the moon to weaken the Earth's defenses. Cody and his team of helpers fight Krog at every step, so Krog enlists Earth criminals Graber (Clayton Moore) and Daly (Robert Stevenson) to help out. Also featuring Aline Towne, William Bakewell, Don Walters, Tom Steele, Baynes Barron, Dale Van Sickel, and Ted Thorpe.

This serial introduces the recurring character of Commando Cody, but it doesn't give much background, and we jump right into the middle of the action. The movie reuses a lot of footage from earlier serials, most prominently King of the Rocketmen and The Undersea Kingdom. Chief villain Retik is wearing the same moldy costume previously used in The Purple Monster Strikes and Flying Disc Man from Mars. The action is typical serial stuff, with lots of fist fights, and shoot-outs where no one is actually shot. I enjoy how the villains often continue to punch Cody in his metal helmet. One would think that it would quickly become apparent that that was a bad idea. Future Lone Ranger Clayton Moore was said to have been very exuberant in his fight scenes, and even broke leading man Wallace's nose. Commando Cody shall return!    (6/10)

Source: DVD (No company name listed on the sleeve!)

[TomJH]

Halfway to Shanghai (1942)

Familiar but entertaining programmer from Universal, set in China, dealing with the usual disparate collection of passengers aboard a train on which a murder takes place. There are German agents aboard (natch!) out for secrets held in an attache case possessed by an understandably frightened little man. I have a weakness for claustrophobic mystery thrillers set aboard speeding trains, and this hour long affair, while hardly a classic, is still an enjoyable way to pass the time.

George Zucco is one of the German agents, smiling one moment, cold bloodedly dispatching someone the next. Pretty Irene Hervey (best remembered as the second female lead in Destry Rides Again) is also on board, clearly dissatisfied with the fact she is about to marry an old coot she never met who is also the second richest man in Asia (there are compensations). Also aboard the train, however, is handsome Kent Taylor, a former lover of her's, who still looks pretty good, even if he isn't that rich.

Henry Stephenson is there, too, as a British colonel, with a bullhorn voice, along with smiling J. Edward Bromberg who has fun with his eccentric characterization as a gabby butterfly collector who is also a detective. He winds up questioning the train passengers regarding the murder. But there's also Willie Fung, laughing, as usual, in a small role, the only real Oriental in the cast of a film set in the Orient.

Zucco, as the smooth talking German spy, and Bromberg's odd ball detective make their scenes enjoyable. While Taylor and Hervey get top billing they really have no more screen time than anyone else in this ensemble piece directed in fast paced fashion by John Rawlins.

A lot of Universal stock music is used to remind you this is another studio B. Trivial but fun.

2.5 out of 4