10 Romantic Films to Cuddle Up With in a Snowstorm

Dee Nickerson - source

Snow is a'coming round the bend on the morrow - or so they promise. Plus it's Thanksgiving Weekend as well. Time for family, friends, good food, good films, good books. So I thought I'd revamp a couple of older posts primarily because I seem to be plagued lately by an attack of the 'what goes around, comes around' or words to that effect.

10 assorted films that make you 'sigh', along with a few runners up at the end. This is a re-working of two film posts from two years ago but I thought, 'what the heck', I love these films and never tire of talking about them. At my advanced age, I seem to go in a lot for repeating the things I'm most fond of (hence my current Re-reading Martha Grimes Marathon) - just wait, it will likely happen to you too. Why romance now? Well, why not? So, just in case you missed these the first time around:

(Warning: Stand by for overblown language. Romance and overblown often go together - at least in my mind.)

1) Jean Cocteau's LA BELLE ET LA BETTE (1946) Starring Jean Marais and Josette Day.

In my consideration, the most romantic film of all time. At least, my own favorite romantic film of all time. In its expert, occasionally startling visualization (the film often looks as if it takes place inside a darkened snow globe minus the snow). Cocteau reveals an enrichment of gorgeousness such as hasn't been seen on film since; dazzling imagery and the gift of a rampaging imagination capable of visualizing 'romance' as no one else ever had or has. If this is too overblown for you, my language, I mean, then so be it. I run out of superlatives.

(And for God's sake, if you haven't seen it and choose to do so, please see it in French with subtitles. The language, the sound of it, is part of the mysterious presence of the film. Though, of course, if you speak French, I imagine this would be less so.)

2) BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)

Starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.

An unique film that refused to leave my conscious/sub-conscious thoughts for days and days when I first saw it. Even now, I can still visualize certain scenes and some of the spare, bitter dialogue. (This is one of those films that you just never can forget.) This is a story of thwarted love that, at any moment, might have been otherwise had 'society' been otherwise. 

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is the story of two young men, Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar, dirt-poor, end of the road Wyoming sheep herders, wannabe-be cowboys, and the summer on Brokeback which indelibly marks them for the rest of their lives. Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger are both fearless actors and hold nothing back. They make you believe in what is happening.

Annie Proulx's short story is quietly and honestly told (not a single wrong note) by master film maker, Ang Lee. Yet, somehow, despite the bleakness at its core, it is a lovely, lovely film full of nuance and images seared in the heart.

When was the last time you saw a film and simply ached for the characters? BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is one of my all around favorite films of all time primarily because of the lasting impression it made on me.

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)

Starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert

At the height of their attractiveness and screen power, there was no one quite like Gable and Colbert. And to think they hated making this picture and thought it would be the biggest flop of their careers - instead they all (film-makers included) won Oscars. One of the very few times a comedy has been so honored in Hollywood.

I saw this recently and again was struck by how well it holds up. The charm of it never grows old. Colbert is perfection in her part as the confused, spoiled, rich (but intelligent) runaway heiress who comes to rely on reporter Gable (she doesn't know he's a reporter) to guide her through the tricks and traps of the everyday world of folks who work for a living. She's come crashing down from her high tower (jumped off a yacht on her wedding day) and must now learn to navigate in murky waters she knows little about. Wise-cracking Gable has rarely been better. He is superb as the reporter who sees Colbert as his meal-ticket to Big Time journalism.

The film is scattered with the kind of superb character actors this golden era is noted for. Stand-outs: Walter Connolly as Colbert's rich, financier father. This guy made a career out of playing rich fathers. He exemplified them. I think he was born playing one. I love him. And of course there's also, Roscoe Karns about whom very little needs to be said. This guy was born with a wise-crack in his mouth.

4) MOONSTRUCK (1987)

Starring Cher and Nicholas Cage

Who would have thought that songstress Cher could act? Could carry a whole film on her shoulders? Could fashion the movie slap heard round the world? Not me, that's for sure. But Cher is unstoppable, unsinkable. The unflappable Miss Cher became a movie star in this film. (She won an Oscar too.)

And rightly so.

I'll never forget the scene at Lincoln Center: she, beautifully dolled up to meet Nicholas Cage, the loony bread-maker with the leather hand, their first and only date, to see LA BOHEME. After playing most of her part with graying hair and little make-up, she's a knock-out. Sigh. Of such stuff are dreams made. (I'm a woman and I'm not gay and yet I still felt the tug of her allure.)

It's not only Cage that falls in love with Cher in this movie. She is radiant. Matter of fact, it's the only film in which I've EVER liked Nicholas Cage. The very satisfactory ending round the kitchen table in the family's brownstone in Brooklyn, is just perfect. And by the way, this is one of those films that makes the simple warmth of family (even if some of them are nuts) devoutly to be wished for. And another by the way, this film introduces some of us to the elderly and charming Italian actor Feodor Chaliapin, who plays the eccentric grandfather in the film with very little spoken language, followed about by his gang of about 8 smallish dogs. The entry scenes of the dogs and the grandfather are highlights in the film.

5)TARZAN AND HIS MATE (1934)

Starring Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan

I've seen all the Tarzan films over the years - the Weismuller ones and others - but this remains my very favorite and, to my mind, the most romantic of what is, essentially, a series of jungle romances. (When they try to be anything else, they fail.) Though TARZAN THE APE MAN (the first in the series) could give this one a run for its money. If it weren't for the nude underwater scenes shot as if they were ballet (in TARZAN AND HIS MATE), I'd switch the numbers around. These scenes were censored when the film was originally aired on TV and for many years thereafter. Then, finally, they were returned to their rightful place. (Thankfully they weren't destroyed.) The last two times I've seen the film, the sequence was there.

The film also implies that Tarzan and Jane have, somehow, gotten married in the interim between this film (second in the series) and the first. But of course, we know better. I mean, who was there to marry them? They live on the freakin' Mutea Escarpment where the only neighbors appear to be animals, blood thirsty cannibals and other assorted unpleasant native tribes.

Well, either/or, this time out, Jane's friend Harry Holt, from the earlier safari which brought her to Tarzan's attentions and Holt's friend, a rather unscrupulous type, Martin Arlington, played by Paul Cavanaugh (in need of the fortune the cache of ivory in the elephant's burial ground would bring) head back to the Escarpment, a perilous journey every step of the way.

This film is notable for several things. The gorgeous nude underwater scenes. Maureen O'Sullivan (at least it looks like her, not a body double, though you never know) and Johnny Weissmuller, he in only his Tarzan regulation loin-cloth. They swim for several beautiful minutes, all underwater. (He has ripped a dress off her just before they dive in.)

The gown (among several outfits, dresses, hats, shoes etc.) was brought from England by Harry and the vile Martin in hopes that Jane, as a woman, would be shallow enough to be swayed by fripperies into returning to England with them. Do these men know women or what?

They've even brought a wind-up record player which, by the way, scares the hell out of the native bearers and transfixes Tarzan. The lascivious Martin, openly drooling over Jane who has tried on one of the gowns, dances with her - Tarzan should have dealt with him then and there.

Otherwise, Jane's fetching little jungle outfit is the scimpiest it will ever be. Between this and the third film, the censorship board came into being and Jane shows up in later films in this ridiculous neck to mid thigh outfit that just used to make us laugh. She became then and forever, Jane the mom.

There is also, unaccountably, one nearly nude scene in the film's beginning when Martin strips for a bath in a portable tub while having a conversation with Harry Holt. The only thing that prevents us seeing Martin's spare parts are a timely arrival of a servant who steps in front of the camera for a moment. Lots of nudity going on here. But all tastefully done. It does make you wonder, though...What? Oh sorry, my mind...uh, wandered.

A fun film. And never has the magic attraction between Weismuller and O'Sullivan been more apparent. I love it.

6) GIGI (1958)

Starring Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold.

This delightful, and at its core, somewhat sophisticated story of courtesans and the men who keep them, is based on the novels of the French turn of the century writer, Collette. The story was adapted expressly for the screen and turned into a musical French pastry (as only Hollywood can) by director Vincente Minnelli and writers Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe.

Leslie Caron plays the young Gigi, a schoolgirl being trained for eventual duties by her grandmother and grand-aunt, both 'retired' courtesans, one more successful than the other. Gigi goes to her wealthy great-aunt's beautiful Parisian flat every day after school for lessons in deportment, the proper way to judge jewels and wines and how to clip cigars so the man won't have to do this little chore. Oh, and how to eat these annoying little bony birds with knife and fork and talk while chewing without opening the mouth. These are some of the funniest scenes in the movie. Leslie Caron is perfection as a girl judged a bit 'backward' by her family. She is viewed as too gauche, straight-forward and gasp, perhaps too intelligently precocious. How will they ever turn her into a 'proper' member of the courtesan class they do not know.

Louis Jourdan is also perfection as Gaston Lachaille, the wealthy Parisian man about town who, at a relatively young age, is already bored to tears with life. When his uncle, Maurice Chevalier, ever the zesty optimist tries to chivy Gaston out of his doldrums by proclaiming, in song, all that Paris has to offer, Gaston grimaces, "What a bore!" He refuses to be happy except when he's in the company of Gigi and her grandmother in their little flat with bright red painted walls. There he can be himself.

And by the way, isn't Gigi a delightful child? One very telling scene: when Gigi (spurred on by her grandmother and grand-aunt when they sense which way the wind is blowing - Gaston-wise), puts on a 'grown-up' sort of gown, Gaston, caught off guard, is affronted by the sight and storms out of the apartment. He has not seen what is happening right in front of his eyes. Gigi is growing up.

This is the most wonderful moment in the film for me, when Jourdan who is not a singer, still manages the song by Lerner and Loewe. As Paris slowly darkens around him Gaston walks, aimlessly with his dark coat, top hat and walking stick - such a dashing figure - so confused and unsure.

"Gigi, am I fool without a mind or have I really been too blind to realize?" Sigh! Double sigh!

Before you can sing a second chorus of the The Night They Invented Champagne, you will guess what happens next. The film is a delicious whirl of nights at Maxims, beautiful women, handsome men, champagne, sparkling jewels, gorgeous costumes, heartbreak, dramatic suicide attempts, reunions, and everything else frothy you can think of when it comes to turn-of-the century Paris. Shot on location, GIGI is a visual feast from beginning to end. Oh, and of course there's Maurice Chevalier at his most bon-vivant. What a charming personality. Just thinking about him makes me smile. He is superb as an aging roue who, somehow, still manages to stay young in spirit. "Thank heaven for little girls, for little girls grow bigger every day. Thank heaven for little girls, they grow up in the most delightful way."

(This is probably a sentiment that could not be expressed today without horrifying the politcally correct, but back then, delight in the difference between the sexes was still an allowable emotion.)

If you love Romance (with a capital R) and the whole idea of being in love, even if you're currently not, you must love this film. The funny thing is that though this is one of the most romantic films ever, there's really not a single love scene between Gaston and Gigi. It's all implied. Perfection.

7) A NEW LEAF (1971)

Starring Walter Matthau and Elaine May (who also directed)

Who would have thought that Matthau would make an excellent leading man in a romantic comedy? I mean, his was not, exactly, the handsomest facade in movies. We chatted about this for a moment or two over at Pattinase's blog - Matthau as leading man. Patti made a very wise observation, she says that Matthau had an 'impishness' about him. And it rang the bell for me. Yes! It was there in the eyes when he turned it on and the camera always picked it up.

It is this quality that stood him heads and tails above the handsome, glittering movie-star leading men of his era. Plus, the fact that Matthau practically steals every scene he's in AND thus is able to carry a movie effortlessly on his shoulders. There are some actors like that. Matthau was one of them. There may never be his like again.

I wrote about A NEW LEAF here on the blog a while back. So really, I have nothing more to add except: see this oh-so-wonderful film! If you haven't, already, that is.

8) TOP HAT (1935)

Starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

Oh the plot, the plot, the plot makes little sense except that somehow, it all works. Here goes: Ginger Rogers meets Fred Astaire in London. He is a dancing star working on a show produced by his friend, Horace Hardwick, played by the inimitable Edward Everett Horton. Through a series of missteps Ginger thinks Fred is married - she's mistaken him for the Horace Hardwick character.

Fred is staying in Horton's hotel room because the hotel is full or some other nonsense. That night, while showing Horace his new steps, Fred's tap-dancing wakes Ginger who is sleeping in the room below. Fred goes downstairs to see what the fuss is about since Ginger has complained to management that the guest upstairs from her is making it impossible for her to sleep. ANYWAY, once they meet, Fred is instantly smitten.

Ginger is a model working for a designer played by the wonderful Erik Rhodes (Alberto Beddini, a priceless caricature of an Italian designer who refers to himself in the third person), showing off his clothes in various tourist spots around Europe. (I think that's what she does, not sure.) Well, Ginger and her friend Madge, played by Helen Broderick, (who is married to Horace but, for some reason, Ginger has never met him, at least until the tap-dancing incident, she thinks.) go off to Venice for the weekend so that Ginger can get away and think things through. They're joined there by Fred who has followed Ginger and Horace, who is meeting up with his wife Madge. Get it?

Now this is a Venice never dreamed of except in Hollywood. It beats even the one in Las Vegas. What an immaculately perfect place, everything white and sparkling. Such gorgeous, gleaming effervescence, the enormous hotel rooms, the set decorations, the gowns, the men in black tie, anyone likely, at any moment, to break out in song and dance.This was the age of art-deco writ large across the silver screen, mostly in dazzling white against black. It was all a lovely musical dream. An era that will never come again.

Once there, all sorts of further missteps are taken by our little group, though not, of course when Fred dances with Ginger to the tune of Irving Berlin's Cheek To Cheek. (Ginger wearing the famous feathered gown which Fred and the director had thought impractical since feathers fall off the dress as they move about, still I love the way Ginger looks in it.) OMG, no wonder she falls in love with him. Fred Astaire had the knack, once he started dancing, of making women swoon with very little effort. When he and Ginger get to the end of this particular number, she gives him such a wondrous look, really as if he'd actually just made love to her. Which, I suppose he had, in dance. Wonderful scene.

Anyway, after a few more missed connections, Ginger marries her ludicrous designer boss, reasoning that Fred wouldn't dare come after a married woman. But then, after yet another mis-understanding, it turns out that Ginger isn't REALLY married, Madge finally figures out what's going on and sets Ginger straight. All is forgiven. Edward Everett Horton gets a black eye and Ginger and Fred dance off into their happy ending.

9) BRINGING UP BABY (1938)

Starring Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn

Cary Grant at his zenith. Katherine Hepburn at hers. Both at the top of their comedy game. Who couldn't love this movie? He plays a befuddled, distracted paleontologist who is about to be married to the wrong woman (not Hepburn). They both work at a small museum which is desperately short of grant money. Despite being socially inept, he must figure out how to get an endowment from a wealthy type he's never met. In the meantime he is putting together the huge skeleton of a brontosaurus. (They're not called brontosaurus now, but you know what I mean.)

In his search for an endowment, Grant is off to Connecticut to try and meet up with a certain society-type money-man. There he makes the mistake of running into Katherine Hepburn who plays a scatter-brained, very wealthy society girl who, instantly, falls in love with Grant and spends the rest of the movie chasing him. Basically that's it. Oh, there's a leopard involved too, the 'baby' of the title. Two leopards, really. One sent from Africa as a gift for Hepburn and one escaped from a circus - one sweet-natured, one not. Lots of confusion when one leopard is mistaken for the other. And last, but not least,there's a funny little monster of a dog who practically steals all the scenes he is in.

Not only are Grant and Hepburn wonderful (they seem made to play these sorts of roles with ease and finesse), but the supporting cast of characters is top-notch as was often the case in films of this era. There are hilarious scenes at Hepburn's family's country estate where Hepburn steals Grant's clothes so he can't leave and he's forced to wear one of her dressing gowns, jodhpurs and riding boots. (The only clothing he can find in that moment.) He walks around adjusting his eyeglasses and looking absolutely lost at sea.

In the meantime, the small monster dog (really a wire-haired terrier) has stolen the fossil bone Grant had been carrying around (for reasons I can't remember). He'd left it in a box on the bed in a guest room at the estate. The dog, naturally, runs off with it and buries it somewhere on the grounds.

There's a very funny dinner table scene with Grant, Hepburn, the aunt, played perfectly by May Robson AND the aunt's dinner guest, a big game hunter played by Charlie Ruggles. Every time the dog leaves the dining room Grant thinks he's going to find the bone so he jumps up, then Hepburn jumps up and they both run around chasing the dog then return to the table and continue the meal. In fact, there are funny scenes all throughout this very screwball comedy as Grant tries to get away from Hepburn, find the bone and get back to his original purpose of searching out an endowment for the museum. But every step he takes is thwarted by Hepburn. I mean, she is relentless.

Now played by anyone else, this part might not have worked. You might have wanted Grant to strangle Hepburn and be done with it - OR - let the leopard have her. But instead of being annoying, most of the time, Hepburn is endearing. She is SUCH a lunatic. But a lunatic in love. Someone not to be trifled with.

Grant, helpless, just falls deeper and deeper into this maze of confusion until, after awhile, there doesn't seem to be a way out except to give in to Hepburn. He is delightful as a man whose whole life is turned upside down in one short 48 hour period. And, let's face it, he does play something of a dweeb which makes you wonder what Hepburn sees in him from the get-go. What, am I kidding? Look at the man. Ha!

The ending is unforgettable. Won't say a word except: brontosaurus skeleton. Well, that's two words. Figure it out.

A great romantic farce of a movie made at a time when actors knew how to do screwball. No one knows how to do this anymore. It's a dead art. Lucky for us, we have these films to show us how it was done, once upon a time.

10) ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955)

Starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson

One of famed director Douglas Sirk's romantic extravaganzas filmed in the lushest technicolor imaginable. Middle-aged, upper class widow, Jane Wyman has two grown children and a very settled life with her country club friends, playing cards, always behaving and doing all the boring stuff that a woman in her position was expected to do in the 50's. She is not really very happy though she pretends she is. Well, she is EXPECTED to be happy. Even her grown children seem to think her restlessness is untoward. What else could Wyman want? (Well, how about a television at Christmas - that ought to keep a mom satisfied.)

Even better how about Rock Hudson? He is the gardener she's recently hired to work around her property. He is younger than she (very daring in those times) and the sort of man her friends and her children would never in a million years suspect Jane might have an eye on.

He is the sort of man who sees no social barriers or if he does, steps right over them. He's a disciple of Thoreau, all he-man lumberjack physicality, a nature-lover with the soul of a poet. A perfect part for the young god that was Rock in his prime.

Anyway, they fall in love after Rock shows Jane a different sort of life than the dreary one she's used to. And once he takes her to his magical mill house complete with ancient wheel and stone walls and fireplace, well, what's a girl to do? He also has great salt-of-the-earth friends who drink cheap wine, fashion pot-luck dinners, sing songs at the drop of a hint and probably write poetry.

Well, once Jane introduces Rock as her new beau to her friends and children, the you-know-what hits the fan. Oh no, mother, he's not your sort, he's not your kind, he's a - horrors! - gardener. What would people think? Eventually all this wears Jane down and she breaks it off with Rock. Fool that she is.

As a reward, the kids buy her a large console television set so she won't ever be lonely. (This is an especially sad little scene.)

Well, eventually Jane comes to her senses and she and Rock work their way back to each other. But not before tears are shed, apologies are tendered, and Jane's daughter comes to the realization that being a woman of a certain age doesn't mean her mother's emotional life is over.

Certainly not a great film, but a great romantic film. The sort that makes you sigh and makes you believe, at least for a minute or two, that love really does conquer all.

NOW, for some runners-up:

11) HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS (2004)

starring Ziyi Zhang, Takeshi Kaneshero and Andy Lao

12) SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (1993)

starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan

13) WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989)

starring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal

14) NOTTING HILL (1999)

starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant

15) A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1985)

starring Helena Bonham Carter, Julian Sands, Maggie Smith and Daniel Day-Lewis

16) ROXANNE (1987)

starring Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah

17) MAURICE (1987)

starring Hugh Grant, James Wilby and Rupert Graves

18) SPLASH (1984)

starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah

19) DIRTY DANCING (1987)

starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey

20) THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (1947)

starring Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney

21) KING SOLOMON'S MINES (1950)
starring Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr

You will no doubt notice that I've left off the Colin Firth version of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE though it is hard to beat this for romance with a capital R. But I have a reason: It was a television series. Not strictly a film. 

Since it's Tuesday, don't forget to check in later at Todd Mason's blog, Sweet Freedom, to see what other films other bloggers are talking about today. 

Tuesday Forgotten (or Overlooked) Films: LA GRANDE ILLUSION starring Pierre Fresnay, Erich Von Stroheim, Jean Gabin, Dita Parlo and Marcel Dalio

A short post today, feeling a bit wonky:

THE GRAND ILLUSION (1937) aka La Grande Illusion, a French film directed by Jean Renoir based on a screenplay by Charles Spaak and Jean Renoir and starring Pierre Fresnay, Erich Von Stroheim, Jean Gabin, Dita Parlo and Marcel Dalio.

A superb film which, without much fuss or film-making shock and awe, reveals the emptiness of war and the valor and humanity of men. 

After many trials and tribulations, two WWI French soldiers, Lieutenant Marechal (Jean Gabin), a working class officer and Captain de Boeldieu (Pierre Fresnay), an officer and aristocrat, are captured and sent to an impregnable German fortress/POW camp from which no one has ever escaped. The camp is run by the gentlemanly Captaine Von Ruffenstein (Erich Von Stroheim), a stoic in mind, body (he wears a stiff neck brace) and manners who soon forms an unlikely friendship based on class and mutual friends, with Captain de Boeldieu. 

It is this friendship which in the end speaks volumes, historically and otherwise, about the terrible futility of war, the end of chivalry and worse, the death of illusion. A very human and approachable film, even these many years later. 

THE GRAND ILLUSION is listed as one of the greatest films ever made by just about everyone, including me. 

To read the entire plot, please go to the film's Wikipedia page, here. 

To read a Roger Ebert review, please check this link.

P.S. Of course, Jean Renoir's imaginative concepts influenced later war films. Example: In THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963), the scene in which POW prisoners dig a tunnel and funnel the earth through their pants is taken, almost literally, from GRAND ILLUSION.

Tuesday Forgotten (or Overlooked) Film: ANATOMY OF A MURDER (1959) starring James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O'Connell, Eve Arden, George C. Scott

Hadn't seen this in many years and the truth is I remembered it as being better than it is. But still, it's what we used to call, 'a pretty good flick'.

ANATOMY OF A MURDER is a film directed by Otto Preminger, from a script by Wendell Mayes based on the novel by Robert Traver and starring James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazarra, Arthur O'Connell, Eve Arden and George C. Scott.

Watched it last night on Netflix streaming and thought I'd jot down a few of my impressions:

Here, in my view, is one instance where the Saul Bass credits don't work as well as they might. Bass, as everyone knows was a brilliant graphic artist and designer, creator of many iconic film opening credits. Among my favorites: THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM, WALK ON THE WILD SIDE, WEST SIDE STORY, THE BIG COUNTRY and so on and so on - fabulous stuff. Actually, in some cases, the credits themselves were better than the movie, as in the remarkable credits for WALK ON THE WILD SIDE which was an abysmal flopperoo.

Well, my reasoning for not liking the fit of Bass's modernistic credits for ANATOMY OF A MURDER is that the movie is not especially 'modernistic' in tone or subject or even in point of view - though of course there is all that talk about a woman's panties and even, dare I say it, the mention of sperm.Shocking, I suppose, in its time.

The credits are done in a very graphic style which is jarring in the sense that they mislead. But in this view I am probably in the minority and really, the credits are intriguing enough to capture the attention. Mustn't nitpick.

The low-key soundtrack is by Duke Ellington who rarely fails (he even has a small part as - what else? - a jazz musician), the music is alluring if maybe slightly too modern in feel. But it captures the 'sleaze' quotient of the crime.

The bare-bones plot:

Lt. Frederick Manion (the very intense Ben Gazarra) has been arrested for the murder of a local bar-tender named Barney Quill. Manion claims he shot Quill (five times) because the man raped and beat his wife, Laura (the beautiful and always vulnerable Lee Remick). From behind bars, Manion hires lawyer Paul Biegler (the laconic James Stewart) to defend him. Biegler has, as his 'crew' a hard-drinking, older 'law-clerk' Parnell McCarthy (the irascible Arthur O'Connell) and a wise-cracking secretary, Maida Rutledge (the always wonderful Eve Arden who made a career of wise-cracking).

Lt. Manion will plead guilty due to temporary insanity, a defense which the wily Biegler nudges him into.

Though most of the film takes place inside a courtroom, the setting is a bland, run-of-the-mill Michigan town near the Canadian border - try as I might, I never did catch the name. The film is shot in a slightly clunky way in black and white by Sam Leavitt. There are unaccountable moments in the beginning of the film when the camera-work seems almost amateurish, but it may just be that the version Netlix is streaming is not the best available. There are also some very claustrophobic scenes in Paul Biegler's small ugly house in which James Steward just seems too tall and too big for the rooms. (Actually, even Eve Arden looks odd inside that house.) But maybe that's intentional, at any rate, I couldn't wait to leave and head for the courthouse.

The lurid courtroom dramatics are powerful. The details of the sordid crime are gone into with a stoic 1959 relish which is at times appalling and at other times grimly laughable.

James Stewart shines as a lawyer outraged by the violence done to the wife of his client and eager to keep the prosecutors from glossing over the motive for hubby's extreme retribution. There is no 'crime passionel' aspect to the murder, since the Lt. waited an hour before heading out to kill the man who'd attacked his wife.

Inside that courtroom are two scene-stealers who manage to steal the show right out from under Stewart's nose: George C. Scott as a state attorney brought in to bolster the prosecution and best of all, Joseph N. Welch as the Judge.

Joseph N. Welch, James Stewart, Brooks West, George C. Scott

Joseph N. Welch was a curious bit of casting. He was a hero, a real lawyer, the head counsel for the U.S. Army while it was being investigated (in 1954) by the nefarious Senator Joseph McCarthy's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations which was on the hunt for communist activity therein. The investigation came to be known as the Army-McCarthy hearings.

Welch uttered the famous words: "Senator you've done enough. Have you no decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

As Judge Weaver, Welch gently wrestles the picture from the rest of the more seasoned cast and is a delight to behold. I would watch this film again purely for his performance.

George C. Scott as Assistant State Attorney General Claude Dancer is so intense in his role that he out-inteses Ben Gazzara which is no small feat let me tell you. In his powerful scenes with Lee Remick he seems to abuse her physically while never coming in contact with her. I thought for a moment he was going to jump out of his skin. He is as repellent as a cobra. That battered profile of his works a treat in close-ups.

But the rest of the cast is almost as good:

Lee Remick as Laura Manion is heart-breaking in her courtroom scenes, most of all because she seems so puzzled by it all. She plays a woman used to being oggled by men and not averse to drawing attention to herself by her 'jiggly' style of dress (she doesn't even wear a girdle for God's sake!). She sends out lures consciously or unconsciously that most men would have to be dead not to notice - even that old sweetheart, James Stewart, looks as if he'd like nothing more than to spend the night up at the trailer-park. Oh yes, Laura and her hubby live in a trailer - within walking distance of the local bar and grill and pinball machine emporium. (Well, one pinball machine does not an emporium make, but you know what I mean.)

James Stewart can't help looking like a sheepdog in his scenes with Lee Remick.

Despite her womanly wiles, Laura has a kind of naive quality which makes her seem less like a femme fatale and more like a lost innocent. In a way, she is the enigma at the heart of the film. She never seems outraged by the attack on her person or the fact that she has been raped. Rather she seems almost accepting of it. As she is accepting of the fact that no one thought to call the police and report the attack until after her hubby had killed the perp.

So strange to see a U.S. Army soldier sporting a cigarette holder. Kind of takes away from Ben Gazzara's intenseness. But I'm sure there was a very definite reason.

Ben Gazzara as Lt. Manion is another enigma. He is unlikable, not averse to slapping his wife around and basically unrepentant. Gazzara plays the part not in any way meant to make us feel sorry for his predicament which, in a way, is a weakness in the story.

There seems to be a heartbreaking futility in the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Manion.

James Stewart is wonderful as a guy with an obviously huge ego and a brilliant canny mind - a guy who, for whatever reason, is a lifelong bachelor seemingly devoid of ambition and apparently satisfied to wile away the days barely making a living and fishing for trout. We learn little of his background - except that he likes to fish and play or listen to jazz - but maybe that's okay. Still, I did wonder at his oddly uncomfortable way of living. Wondered too, why he'd need a secretary if his client list was so paltry. Still, I wouldn't have missed Eve Arden for the world.

Though ANATOMY OF A MURDER is a terrific courtroom drama not to be missed, it is not a great film. And here the blame goes to Otto Preminger who's directing wizardry isn't enough to quite hold the thing together.

Since it's Tuesday, don't forget to check in at Todd Mason's blog, Sweet Freedom, to see what other Forgotten (or Overlooked) Films, Television and/or Other Audio/Visuals other bloggers are talking about today.

Tuesday Forgotten Film: THE BIRDS (1963) starring Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Suzanne Pleshette, Jessica Tandy

Not a film that is 'officially' forgotten, for sure, but what the heck. It's one of the more perfect Chilly October viewing pleasures and always worth talking about. In fact, I can envision a Halloween party with everyone dressed as one type of bird or another, all siting around eating wings (ha!) and watching the Hitchcock classic - although perhaps the liquor content should be kept to a minimum lest some birds get carried away with the film's theme of anarchy and destruction.

At any rate, THE BIRDS (1963) is directed by Alfred Hitchcock, from a screenplay by Evan Hunter based on a story by Daphne Du Maurier and starring Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Suzanne Pleshette and Jessica Tandy. It is a film that these many years later, still retains the ability to shock and awe. The gifted Hitchcock, more a master of mystery, suspense and spy thrillers and not especially known for this sort of thing - special effects and 'end of the world' scenarios - still manages to adorn THE BIRDS with his own peculiar touches in between murderous avian attacks.

Haven't seen the film recently, but sometimes that's the best time to write about a movie -  I've been thinking about various scenes which have remained (despite old lady memory) in my mind. It's funny how that works, some movies you forget completely - or almost - others, like THE BIRDS, continue to live for one reason or another.

THE BIRDS: Sounds and sights I remember (off the top of my head).

Playful Hitchcock: The pet shop scene in the beginning with the two quiet little parakeets (or canaries) in a cage. So sweet. So non-threatening. Not happy to be caged, but surely...

The blond society deb, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), spontaneously deciding to follow hunky Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) - wouldn't you? And into the pet shop they go. She, assured of her icy allure, he instantly intrigued by it. In Hitchcock films, blonds get away with all sorts of forward behavior.

But what is is about sleepy Bodega Bay, California that attracts the sudden influx of avian life to its shores? Curiously, down near the water, a bunch of sea gulls seem to be holding a class reunion.

Speaking of classes, there's the scene of a bunch of screaming kids being sent home from school - chased by birds. Horrific. Children in a Hitchcock film are rarely safe.

Remember the jungle gym covered in birds perched and waiting?

Then there's the brunette (and therefore automatically sultry) Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleschette), small town Bodega Bay teacher who resents the influx of a sophisticated deb with eyes for the guy she's got a crush on. Poor Annie. Her gruesome death I've always seen as more a Hitchcockian comment on brunettes with romantic dreams than anything else. I mean, how dare she aspire to the hero when Tippi (with a decidedly elegant French chignon) is in town?

The vivid gas station explosion which, to my mind, suddenly catapults the film outward in a very vivid way makes for an unforgettable scene. Hitchcock knew that fireworks would be required at some point and this comes out of the blue.

Later, the barricading of the cozy, private house (Jessica Tandy lives there for goodness' sake!) against the assaulting forces of nature. The birds in the chimney. Beaks piercing through the wood door. Obviously more is at work here than just birds run amok. But what?

Yeah, pretty good stuff and I'm really happy that, far as I know, this is one film that hasn't had a modern day re-do.
(See Di's comment below for additional data on that score.)

Perfect Chilly October viewing.

To read more specifically about the film itself, I like this excellent post by iluvcinema 

Madame Alexander doll - source

Sometimes you just have to shake your head.

Since it's Tuesday, don't forget to check in later at Todd Mason's blog, Sweet Freedom, to see what other Forgotten and/or Overlooked Films, Television or other Audio/Visuals, other bloggers are talking about today.

Tuesday Forgotten (or Overlooked) Film: HOLD THAT GHOST (1941) starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello

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If you have low tolerance for foolishness, you probably won't like this film much. But if you're feeling indulgent and you have an idea of how Abbott and Costello get on, this is a fun film to watch on a chilly October eve, with maybe a plate of accompanying vittles and a hot chocolate.

"Are you scared?"
"No. But if you see a pair of pants flying across the room, don't grab 'em cause I'll be in 'em."

HOLD THAT GHOST (1941) is an RKO film directed by Arthur Lubin and starring the once upon a time famed comedy duo of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello who are an acquired taste which you may not have acquired unless you too grew up watching them on television. Their brand of comedy is of the slapstick variety with Costello (the chubby one) being on the receiving end of many of Abbott's occasionally cringe-inducing slaps and digs. It takes getting used to. But when we were kids we thought it was hilarious.

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That being said, some of their schticks are still funny and I've always had a secret liking for this particular film and for ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948) (which I think is their best) and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER, BORIS KARLOFF (1949) and WHO DONE IT? (1942). Obviously there's a theme going on here, admittedly I'm not a fan of the Abbott and Costello movies NOT featuring a mystery gimmick of some sort. The exception to that rule would be THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES in which Lou Costello played a ghost left over from the Revolutionary War and Abbott played a modern day psychiatrist - although maybe playing a cowardly ghost could be considered gimmicky enough.

In HOLD THAT GHOST the pair are up to their usual idiocy playing two numb-skulls who go from inept waiters, to inept gas station attendants to inept inheritors of a gang-land chief's road house: a spooky old place in which it is rumored, the dead guy hid all his money. Such a strong rumor naturally enough lures all sorts of bad-guy types to the house looking for the dough on a dark and stormy night.

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Chaperoned by Charlie Smith (the very long-lived, sneery-faced actor, Marc Lawrence) playing a crooked lawyer's henchman (the first to die of course), and three travelers (Evelyn Ankers, Joan Davis and Richard Carlson) Lou and Bud are soon up to their ears in spooky doings and dead bodies. The famous 'candle scene' alone is worth the price of admission which, since you can watch the film for free at the link below, amounts to zip, but you know what I mean.

Joan Davis and Lou Costello. Uh-oh. source

And as if that weren't enough, in the end you get a nifty song and dance number from the Andrew Sisters, "Is it me or just my money...oh, oh, oh, Aurora."  FUN.

Link to watch HOLD THAT GHOST online.

Since it's Tuesday, don't forget to check in later at Todd Mason's blog, Sweet Freedom, to see what other forgotten (or overlooked) films, television or other audio/visuals other bloggers are talking about today.

Tuesday Forgotten (or Overlooked) Film: MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY (1993) starring Woody Allen and Diane Keaton

I am not a Woody Allen acolyte but I do love New York and I do love mysteries. Though at first I didn't love this film, thought it too meandering around the plot as usual with Woody Allen. But after reading Dorian's wonderfully adoring review of MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY, I decided to give it another look-see.

Lo and behold, I am now a convert. I do love this movie even with its meandering faults. Thanks be to Dorian. 

The unfancy title, MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY, is exactly what it says, a murder mystery set in Manhattan, a film directed by Woody Allen, screenplay by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman and starring Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Alan Alda, Anjelica Houston, Joy Behar (we love Joy Behar around these parts), Ron Rifkin, Jerry Adler and Lynn Cohen.

The big attraction for me, of course, is the setting: Manhattan. The streets, the restaurants (even the famed 21 Club where I (trying not to gawk) once attended a business lunch alongside Helen Gurley Brown, my boss the fashion editor, and several other important business types), the ambience of the film is all so wonderfully New Yawk as I remember it from having spent a good portion of my life there. I love that Allen always shows people walking and talking on location, on the streets of the city. (Well, he lives there, so he should know the best locations I'd think.)

In fact, the murder in the title takes place inside a comfortable Manhattan high rise. (The sort with an awning and a doorman.) On the case are Carol and Larry Lipton (Diane Keaton and Woody Allen) who are, conveniently, neighbors of the murder victim. 

At the beginning and in oh-so-typical Woody Allen style, Larry is all over jittery and reluctant to get involved, Carol is the one who thinks murder is afoot even when everyone else (including the cops) assumes the victim died naturally of a heart attack. But Carol can be persuasive and after many at length conversations, the couple is drawn into a series of fumbling sleuthing adventures which are, in a low-key comedy kind of way, fun to watch. 

Larry Adler, Lynn Cohen, Woody Allen and Diane Keaton - the evening before the murder most foul. 

An elderly couple, Paul and Lillian House (Jerry Adler and Lynn Cohen) are the neighbors which capture Carol Lipton's nosy (let's face it) interest. When Lillian suddenly dies of a heart attack, Carol is suspicious though it was a known fact that Lillian had a heart condition. After much discussion (lots of smart New Yawkese talky-talk going on in this film), with Larry and with skeptical friends, Carol manages to come up with a couple of clues and drags the still VERY reluctant Larry (he'd rather mind his own business in typical New York fashion) into the mix.

That's the plot. Not exactly earth-shattering, but intriguing enough. It's the sort of tale that works best, I would imagine, if you've ever lived or visited New York and gotten a hint or two of the flavor of the city. The 'flavor' of the city is what Woody Allen does best. He knows these sorts of people, he understands the workings of the city and its many well-heeled professionals. 

Though Alan Alda is not my first choice when I think of Manhattan, he actually fits right in as Ted, a friend of the sleuthing couple. Ted has a roving eye on Carol - she, well aware of it, doesn't reciprocate though I don't see how she could not be tempted - I mean, Woody Allen.

By the way: someone explain to me the coupling of Diane Keaton and Woody Allen. Please. Although they look funny enough together on screen (and did in real life). It still takes a bit of work for me to accept that Carol would walk down the aisle with Larry. 

But maybe he makes her laugh. 

Since this is Tuesday, don't forget to check in later with Todd's blog, Sweet Freedom, to see what other forgotten (or overlooked) films, television or other audio/visuals other bloggers are talking about today.

Tuesday Forgotten (or Overlooked) Film: FROM THE TERRACE (1960) starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Ina Balin.

The main reason to watch this movie is Paul Newman at the very height of his incredible Technicolor good looks. And hey, that's quite good enough for me.

FROM THE TERRACE (1960) is directed by Mark Robson from a screenplay by Ernest Lehman - based on the book (with quite a different ending) by John O'Hara. In truth I did try to re-read the book, but it was hard going so one reading, oh-so-long ago, will have to suffice.

This is a typically glossy film of the period except that here it's Joanne Woodward (who usually played a drab) who gets to parade around in jewels, designer duds and platinum hair, not her usual ambience. She has little to do except play a spitefully unfaithful wife whom it is impossible to like. This is difficult because the tendency is always to like Joanne Woodward, here you can say she's definitely cast against type.

David Alfred Eaton (Paul Newman) is a young man on the go. He is the son of a distant self-made business man (Leon Ames) and, if I remember correctly, a mother who drinks, played by Myrna Loy. Alfred has much to recommend him: good looks, drive, intelligence, good looks, pluck, a will to succeed and finally, good looks and uh, well, good looks. Hard to avoid that.

When Alfred meets the blond vision of his dreams, society miss Mary St. John (Joanne Woodward) she is unfortunately already taken, engaged to Jim Roper (Patrick O'Neal) a future doctor. Roper is perfect hubby material for Mary since he practically oozes money and sophistication and is just as shallow as she is.

But Alfred doesn't pick up on the warning signals. He is brash enough to think he's got the world by the tail.

What with one thing and another, the feckless  Mary soon ditches Jim and gets engaged to the besotted Alfred who can't get over his good fortune. Mary has the connections he lacks, she has the society family (which, needless to say, is not overjoyed to see Alfred join their ranks) and best of all, she will be the perfect sort of wife for a young man who plans on hitting it big in business.

Alfred makes himself believe that the hard-to-please Mary wants the same things he does. Uh-oh.

Some time later, husband and wife are on their way someplace, bickering in the car. Poor discontented Mary can't understand that to keep her in the style that she is accustomed to being kept, Alfred must work hard and often be away from home for days and weeks on end. (His work has something to do with airplanes, I think. I'm doing this post from memory just to be contrary.) So what is a lovely, hot-blooded, passionate woman  (cold appearance to the contrary) to do - languish on her own? I think not.

Anyway, while driving along a winter road, Alfred and Mary spot a young boy ice skating on a pond. When the boy plunges through the ice, Alfred pulls the car over, jumps in and rescues him.

It turns out that the boy is the grandson of Felix Aylmer (James Duncan MacHardie) the very wealthy chairman of a Wall Street firm. The boy's father, however, is a round little weasel who though grateful that Alfred saved his son's life, still recognizes in Alfred, an alpha-male rival to reckon with. When old Aylmer offers Alfred a job at his firm, Alfred readily accepts and soon is on the fast-track towards the top. (Goodbye to his airplane business, hello, Wall Street!)

As his marriage disintegrates, Alfred suspects that his wife's old boyfriend Dr. Roper is back on the scene. And of course he is, in fact, he hardly ever left. Honestly, that Mary is such a slut. But she does wear awfully chic clothes.

In the meantime, Alfred is warned by old Aylmer that he (Aylmer) abhors scandal and that if Alfred aspires to join the board of directors, he must avoid scandal in any way shape or form. Uh-oh.

One day Alfred, away on business in Pennsylvania, meets the beautiful and virginal Natalie Benzinger (Ina Balin) and her parents. Natalie's dad owns the business that Alfred's firm is interested in. The Benzingers have a large comfortable home in the country filled with the sorts of things that tell us that they are nice people, comfortable in their own skins - not at all the sort who carry on as most of Alfred's country club friends do. Alfred is bowled over by the family's warmth and Natalie's quiet beauty and manner. In truth, she appears to be the polar opposite of slutty Mary back in their NY penthouse carousing with the good doctor.

Alfred and Natalie are obviously smitten but since nothing can be done about it, they say goodbye.

But one evening Alfred and Mary run into Natalie who's in the city for some shopping. Clever Mary instantly realizes that Natalie and her hubby have met before and that they are in the thrall of some deep emotion.

Back at the penthouse, Mary rubs salt in Alfred's wounds and calls Jim Roper to arrange a date while poor Alfred stands there like a shlump.

Natalie, in the meantime, throws caution to the winds and asks Alfred to arrange a hotel room assignation. Uh-oh.

After a nice love scene (finally) between Alfred and Natalie, photographers break into the hotel room and take pictures of the couple in a clinch. The next day a package of pictures arrives on Alfred's desk.

Remember that round weasel I told you about? The father of the boy that Alfred saved from drowning? Well, his resentment of Alfred has only grown as he's watched Alfred's rapid rise in a company owned by his own family. Not only that, but the weasel has become involved in some nefarious and illegal business dealings which Alfred knows about and refuses to keep secret. Uh-oh. You know where this is headed.

Well, in the end (a dilly as Alfred is about to be named a member of the Board of Directors), Alfred must choose between success and the woman he loves.

The odd thing about this film is the total lack of sizzle between Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward (his wife in real life of course) and the crackling sizzle between Paul Newman and Ina Balin. Occasionally Newman's good looks would overpower the women he played against, I mean, look at him. But Ina Balin, who was not conventionally beautiful, held her own. To my eye, they look good together. Go figure.

Joanne Woodward is a wonderful, occasionally powerful actress but her one weakness (if she has any) is that she can be a little distant no matter the role she's playing. Sometimes this works very well for her and sometimes it doesn't. My favorite role of hers (though she was superb in THREE FACES OF EVE for which she won an Oscar) is as the young girl opposite Yul Brynner in the pretty lame adaptation of Faulkner's THE SOUND AND THE FURY. Talk about sizzle.

Brynner and Woodward though they do not have a love scene in the entire film and for most of that he is her overbearing guardian and she just a young gangling, coltish sort of girl, sizzle enough for several films. Brynner's smoulder alone....Well, it did something to me, sitting in the movie audience all young and impressionable.

FROM THE TERRACE features a hefty cast of reliable character actors who help things along. Among them: Myrna Loy, Leon Ames, Malcom Atterbury, George Grizzard, Barbara Eden, Elizabeth Allen, Ted de Corsia (playing very much against type), Patrick O'Neal and Howard Caine as the weasel.

Don't forget to check in at Todd Mason's blog, Sweet Freedom, to see what other Forgotten, Overlooked Films, Television and/or Other Audio Visuals, other bloggers are talking about today. We're an esoteric bunch. 

Source of scenes from the movie.

Tuesday Forgotten (or Overlooked) Film: THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE starring Dorothy McGuire, George Brent and Ethel Barrymore

Directed by respected film veteran, Robert Siodmak, THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE stars Dorothy McGuire, George Brent and Ethel Barrymore.

This is an oddly titled film (based on the novel by Ethel Lina White) because the 'spiral staircase' which, to my way of thinking, should be prominently on display front and center, is rarely on show and when it is, it's shrouded in shadows and hardly visible. (I blame the camera angles.) I kept looking for the spiral - where is it? I'm still not sure I actually saw it.They do show a spiraling staircase in the opening credits - BUT, NOT THE ONE IN THE FILM. I mean, huh?

Not the greatest of films for sure, but it has enough of a creepy quotient that I thought I'd write about it primarily because in the cast are featured two of my very favorite acting nonentities: George Brent and Kent Smith. YES! Together in one film. Proof positive that they are not the same person (my theory as you may know from a previous post) or else it's a dazzling display of movie magic from 1945.

Kent Smith on the left and George Brent on the right. The duo of Mr. Bland and Mr. Blander.

Here they are as dull and wooden as they've ever been. So much so that it's worth watching the movie for them alone. Why? Well, to see just how monotonous two men can be and still get away with starring in films. Perverse I know.

And the third guy (Gordon Oliver) in the cast is just as bad, in fact he's SO bland that if I had to pick him out of line-up, I couldn't. As a criminal he would probably have made big bucks because no one could have ever described him accurately. Other than two eyes, a nose and a mouth, you'd be hard-pressed to go further.

Admittedly, I watched this from beginning to end with a snarky smile on my face, actually thinking that at some point I might begin to like it.. Oh there were a few enjoyable parts, but on the whole, unless you have a contrary sense of humor (sort of like mine) you'd probably be better off seeing something else.

Here's the basic story:

The setting is small town America way back when. People are still using the horse and buggy for transportation, but since silent films have made their debut (and there is a telephone in the house) it could be anywhere from 1894 - 1929 - though the clothing suggests turn of the century. Americans just don't do this sort of thing as well as the Brits, costume and setting-wise. Unfortunately, the entire thing looks very much like a stage play or little theater production. The whole thing (except for maybe a couple of outdoor scenes) was filmed on a sound stage so you get the idea.

At any rate, the first few rather creepy scenes set up the premise: a serial killer is going around strangling 'defective' young women. Of the three victims so far, one limped, one was 'simple', one had a scar - and our heroine, you guessed it, has a perceived defect which sets her up nicely for the murderer. Dorothy McGuire plays Helen, the paid companion (at least that's what I think she is) of an elderly woman who spends all her time in bed, rolling her eyes and making a nuisance of herself as old ladies were wont to do in those days. She's played by Ethel Barrymore who had exaggerated eye-rolling down to a science if you want my opinion.

The whole movie takes place in the space of one day and night so things begin moving right along from the first.

It must be Helen's day off because she's been in town to watch a silent film and is on hand when the latest murder is discovered (in the same building where they're showing the film). This whole early sequence is handled well enough I suppose - especially the eerie close-up of the killer's eye.

Yeah, pretty creepy.

Shortly thereafter, an undaunted Helen is on her way home after being warned by the local constable to be careful since there's a killer on the loose and  it's going to be dark soon - uh-oh, and what's more a storm is approaching. Okay, we'll leave the eye-rolling to Ethel Barrymore.

But luckily, young doctor Parry (Kent Smith) comes by in his buggy and offers her a lift - he's in love with her, you see, and she with him. BUT, there's a fly in the ointment of love: Helen is mute. A terrible experience in her past has rendered her unable to speak. But we're given to understand that it's a kind of hysterical illness and not based on any physical deformity. Too fine a distinction for the killer, I suppose.

The cozy ride is interrupted as a young boy comes to fetch the doctor and so Helen must walk the rest of the way home. She meanders and soon it's dark and the skies erupt with thunder and lightning. (Well, we knew that would happen.) Finally showing some fear, Helen rushes home in the rain, through a tangle of wet bushes and trees and we see the shadowy outline of a dripping man (he's wearing a slicker) lurking in the trees. Yeah, that part was scary. But Helen makes it inside even after dropping her keys and having to flop around in a puddle looking for them. These things will happen when you're in a hurry and a killer is on your trail.

"Get out of this house. NOW!!! Immediately!!! This minute!!!! Don't wait another second!!! Go NOW!!!

Back indoors, we meet the other inhabitants of the huge, silent and rather ugly house. Upstairs in her room there's the bed-ridden Mrs. Warren (Ethel Barrymore), a cantankerous old lady who knows that something evil is about to happen - though it would have helped things along if she'd told someone her suspicions - but then there'd be no story. You know how that goes.

Please note that the staircase behind George Brent and Dorothy McGuire is NOT a spiral one. The spiral (more or less) is reserved for the basement stairs glimpsed only in candlelight. 

Then there's her son Professor Warren (George Brent) who does I don't know what in his office downstairs aided by a beautiful secretary named Blanche (Rhonda Fleming) who apparently is no better than she should be having caught the eye not only of the professor but of his younger half brother Steven (Gordon Oliver), a slimy Lothario.

Then there are the 'servants': Mrs. Oates (the wonderful Elsa Lanchester) who cooks and cleans, but she also drinks, and her hubby, the grumbly Oates (Rhys Williams) who does whatever else needs doing inside and outside the house. There's a nurse (Sara Allgood) upstairs who takes care of Mrs. Warren but she really has little to do since old lady can't stand the sight of her. Oh, there's also a lovable bull dog who does even less. But he does get some cute close-ups.

Anyway, from the getgo, the old lady begins warning Helen to get out of the house immediately if not sooner. Though she won't say why. Helen apparently weary of being warned goes about dreaming of her doctor (there's a whole dream sequence showing their wedding which ends in disaster since poor Helen can't utter the magic words: "I do."), seemingly oblivious that evil is about to put the kebosh on her happiness.

Once Blanche is murdered, after stupidly going downstairs to the basement in the dark with only a candle to light the way - what is it with these women??? Dark basement. Candle light. Creepy house. Hasn't she ever read a book?

Well, once Blanche's body is discovered, Helen begins to take the immediate danger more seriously. In the end she shows herself to be a young woman with gumption and oh yes, she does overcome her affliction.

Now that I think back on it, maybe the film wasn't half-bad. But it doesn't hurt to approach the thing with a jaundiced eye and a reverence for banality.

Since it's Tuesday, don't forget to check in on Todd Mason's blog, Sweet Freedom, to see what other films, television or audio/visuals, other bloggers are talking about today. We're an eclectic bunch.

Posters I LOVE For Movies I've Never Seen and Don't Want To

Something rings a bell here. (I LOVE A MYSTERY used to be a radio show.) There's a slim possibility I might actually have seen this on television at some point. Maybe. Nowadays the inclusion of George Macready and Nina Foch in the cast might tempt me. I do like the sound of a 'weird death sentence from the mystic East' - but I doubt I have the necessary endurance anymore. poster source

Despite the great poster and much as I love Gale Sondergaard, I KNOW I've never seen this continuation (I'm guessing) of the character she played in SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SPIDER WOMAN. Who she's striking back at in this movie I don't know but her character's name is Zenobia Dollard - that alone is enough to give me pause. But I notice that creepy Rondo Hatton shows up as well. You see Rondo, you know it's not a feel-good fest. poster source

I've read that this is not a great movie. Still, I do like that poster. PLUS I love Warren William. But no fun seeing the dapper and dashing WW humiliated by Gracie Allen, yes, yes, of the Burns and Allen comedy team. S.S. Van Dine actually wrote this?
poster source

Fabulous poster featuring the ever popular screen duo of William Henry and Linda Stirling. Wait. WHO? P.S. What is that guy sniffing from that beaker and why? poster source

Another terrific poster - this one with a wonderful rendering of a very sinister looking Bela Lugosi. But I'm afraid that's not enough. Maybe if they'd featured a black dragon or two breathing fire....Nah, even that wouldn't change my mind. Call me shallow, I just can't get over that woman's hairdo. poster source

Helen Gahagan billed over Randolph Scott? Excuse me? I'm not making this up. That's what it says down there in the lower right hand corner. Oh and I see Nigel Bruce. Let me think a moment...Nope, even Nigel (who went on to bigger and better playing Dr. Watson opposite Basil Rathbone in the Sherlock Holmes movies) can't make me want to watch this. I must disobey She Who Must Be Obeyed. poster source

Look, I love a man in a fez as much as the next woman, but I'm going to skip this movie anyway. Though I must admit the cast is tempting: Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Victor Mature and Ona Munson. Maybe not entirely household names, but close. And directed by Josef von Sternberg too....Jeez, that fez sure is tempting. Hard to imagine Victor in a fez. Well, maybe at a jaunty angle. poster source

I probably read the Perry Mason book this movie is based on, but never mind. Ann Dvorak and Donald Woods are playing, I suppose, Perry and Della. Here's my question: Where's Warren William? (Be still my fluttering heart.) Now HE, I'd go see - starring as Perry, that is. I've been meaning to buy the WW Perry Mason movies - only way I'm ever going to see them, that much I know. But Donald Woods? Gotta' admit though, that title is one of the very best Erle Stanley Gardner ever came up with. poster source

***********

I've never seen these films and I don't really want to. Please don't make me. Please nobody tell me I'm overlooking a gem, I simply refuse to believe it. But there's no getting around the fact that the posters are spectacular. I'd love to hang these on my walls (if I had any space left, that is).

Okay, okay, I admit it: Back in the day, I'd probably be lured into the theater in spite of the  posters. What did I know? I was young then and lacked taste and discrimination. Ha.

Since it's Tuesday once again, don't forget to check in at Todd Mason's blog, Sweet Freedom, to see what other movies, television or other audio/visuals, other bloggers are talking about today. We're a delightful bunch.