Tuesday's Overlooked Movies: HOMECOMING (1948) starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner

Tuesday is Overlooked Movie day around here as well as at Todd Mason's blog SWEET FREEDOM. There you'll find the list of links to other bloggers participating in this weekly meme for overlooked films and other audio/visual material.

My choice this week is HOMECOMING, a romantic drama told in flashbacks that shift from home-front to WWII battlefield operations. A film very well directed by Mervyn LeRoy.

HOMECOMING contains one of my favorite Lana Turner performances. She is Lt. Jane 'Snapshot' McCall, an Army nurse, played as close to natural as Lana was probably capable of. She is actually likable in this film, her character is someone you'd want to know, someone not  trapped in the clutches of a heinous blackmailer or plotting to kill her husband or tearing her hair out over her daughter's peccadilloes. In other words, a 'regular' person. Well, as 'regular' as someone who looks like Lana Turner can be. She is really quite wonderful.

In Army fatigues and combat boots, her dazzling blond hair covered with a cap or helmet, Lana is as de-glamorized as a beautiful woman can be. The appearance of her character is a million miles away from the bored femme fatale draped in white in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE.

Clark Gable is no slouch either. This is one of my favorite of his many wonderful performances. He plays Col. Ulysses 'Lee' Johnson, a self-absorbed, over confident surgeon who joins the Army for no other reason than it's expected - not a doctor with an overly caring bedside manner. As the story progresses, his cynicism and steely composure are shaken as he finds himself grimly doing his best to save lives on the WWII front.

On a transport ship, he meets nurse Jane 'Snapshot' McCall. The do not immediately hit it off. She is everything he is not; caring, easy-to-like and devoted to her work. She is someone who will not put up with Lee's stiff-necked nonsense, even if he does outrank her. At first Lee doesn't know what to make of her, she is so obviously very different from the women at home.

As the war progresses, Lee has his eyes opened by the devastating injuries he and his staff confront on a daily basis. He is grudgingly won over by Snapshot's gumption and selfless concern for her patients. They grow closer while he dutifully writes to his wife Penny (played by Anne Baxter) back home about his new found friend's expert nursing skills. When his letters contain one too many references to Snapshot (whom his wife at first took for a male colleague) she begins to suspect that Lee may be having an affair.

Her confidant is Dr. Robert Sunday (John Hodiak who was Baxter's real life husband at the time), a colleague of Lee's who'd locked horns with him over his methods, more than once.

There is no affair at the moment, but Lee is slowly getting emotionally entangled with Snapshot - their war experiences drawing them together as Lee also comes to realize what a self-centered failure he'd been in civilian life. And how his impervious-to-criticism medical methods might have actually harmed patients.

Gable and Turner taking direction.

Gable is very good in these developing scenes as Lee begins to change and grow as a human being. Then we see the guilt he feels as he realizes he's fallen in love with Snapshot and she with him.

In juxtaposition, the differences between women serving at the front and women back home is made apparent. The basic surface differences - at least - between the scruffy, ready for anything Snapshot and the manicured and patient Penny who can do nothing but wait at home are obvious.

It's a lop-sided imbalance of course, because it's to be expected that being a doctor or nurse on the battlefront can't help but change a person. These are experiences that Penny will never really know anything about. In that she is at a major disadvantage.

When Snapshot is gravely wounded at Anzio, Lee must suffer through it alone.

He returns home a broken man in need of understanding and comfort. In these last moments, Gable manages to look so deeply wounded in heart and spirit that he takes your breath away. It makes for a very powerful scene. Over the years I've watched this movie several times and it never fails to move me.

If you haven't seen HOMECOMING, I recommend it as one of Gable and Turner's better pairings.

This is by far the best of the HOMECOMING posters showing the two leads as they actually appear in the film.

Happy Labor Day!

Painting by Dean Cornwell

First Monday in September, the traditional end of summer holiday meant to celebrate the achievements of the American working man and woman. A day usually dedicated to one last trip to the beach (weather permitting), backyard barbecues or shopping labor day sales.

Painting by J.C. Leyendecker

Wherever, however you'll be spending it, have a good one.

South Beach Bathers - Painting by John French Sloan

A Favorite Painting or Two...Or Three...!

Garden at Pontoise

Chestnut Trees at Louveci

Place du Theatre

La Foire a Dieppe - sunny morning

Kitchen Garden with Trees - Spring

Boulevard Montmarte - Winter

Boulevard Montmarte

Boulevard Montmarte - At night.

Boulevard Montmarte on a Foggy Day

Boulevard Montmarte Mardi Gras

Boulevard Montmarte Morning, Cloudy Weather

Boulevard des Italiens - Morning

Camille Pissarro (1830 - 1903) was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist born on St. Thomas (now the U.S. Virgin Islands but then the Danish West Indies). His father was of Portugese-Jewish descent and his mother was Creole. At the age of 12 he was sent to school in Paris where he developed 'an early appreciation of the French art masters'.

Upon his return to the islands, his father put him to work as a cargo clerk, but Pissarro spend his off hours drawing and painting. At 21, he and a fellow painter moved to Venezuela where Pissarro painted full time. Later he returned to Paris where he studied with and was most influenced by Corot, among other established painters of the time.

In 1859, while attending the Academie Suisse, Pissarro met Monet, Cezanne and Armand Guillaumin, young artists who were painting in the more 'realistic' style that interested Pissarro. They agreed on the 'importance of 'portraying individuals in natural settings'. Pissarro expressed his 'dislike of any artifice or grandeur in his works.'

Pissarro, often credited with inventing the style, was called the 'dean of Impressionist painters' by Impressionist historian John Rewald  "by virtue of his wisdom and his kind, balanced, and warmhearted personality." He was also the oldest of the group and the most experienced. "He was a father to me, " said Gaughin.

As you can see by my post I am especially fond of Pissarro's Paris cityscapes and his many views of le Boulevard Montmarte.

To read much more about Camille Pissarro's life and his work, please check this link.

Pissarro's Wikipedia page is also full of information.

Camille Pissarro

My Life In Books

Illustration by Kestutis Kasparavicius

Over at The Picky Girl blog, Jenn has posted a clever meme in which we complete a series of sentences (supplied by Pop Culture Nerd) with book titles from the books we've read this year. It looked like so much fun I thought I'd give in a try. (Since 2011 isn't finished yet, I'm using my list from 2010 as well.)

One time at band/summer camp, I (ate) A RED HERRING WITHOUT MUSTARD (Alan Bradley)


Weekends at my house are A COMEDY OF TERRORS (Michael Innes)


My neighbor is ENSLAVED BY DUCKS (Bob Tarte)


My ex was (a) RUDE AWAKENING (Susan Rogers Cooper)


My superhero secret identity is CAT OF MANY TAILS (Ellery Queen)


You wouldn't like me when I'm angry, because (I) SHOOT TO THRILL (P.J. Tracy)


I'd win the gold medal in DETECTION UNLIMITED (Georgette Heyer)


I'd pay good money for THE INN AT LAKE DEVINE (Eleanor Lipman)


If I were President I would (be)  GUARDIAN OF THE HORIZON (Elizabeth Peters)


When I don't have good books, I ask AN UNCOMMON READER (Alan Bennett)


Loud talkers at the movies should be GRAVE GOODS (Ariana Franklin)


Okay, your turn.

The Butler Does It!

The wonderful John Gielgud as the butler, Hobson, in ARTHUR.(1981)

I was reading a post by Les Blatt over at his blog, CLASSIC MYSTERIES in which he mentions a character in Michael Innes' book, A NIGHT OF ERRORS. The character is a butler named Swindle.

How perfect is that name for a butler? Purely perfect, I'd say. Then I thought about how some authors seem able to come up with just the right name for servants in their books, the butler being the most important one since he is usually head of staff. I can't tell you how many books have been saved by the butler's having exactly the right name.

(Well, not really, but it's certainly something I look forward to, especially when I'm reading an English country house murder mystery.)

Being able to name a butler correctly is a talent in and of itself. Not everyone is successful at it. If done just right it shows cleverness and imagination on the part of the author. Done wrong, as in a boring or banal name, it shows an abysmal lack thereof.

Before I post my list of terrific butler names (and one cook and a valet), I will reveal my favorite butler name of all time: Guppy. He is the butler to the Earl of Ravenwood in one of Amanda Quick's Regency books, SEDUCTION. I'd thought Guppy had been originated by Catherine Coulter, so I'm glad I double-checked.

Of course the most perfect butler name of all time (next to Guppy) is P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves. I mean, it can't be topped. Somehow the very name 'Jeeves' has become iconic.

A few other butler names I am very fond of:

Lord Peter Wimsey's butler and all around fixer-upper: Bunter.

In Amanda Quick's book, RAVISHED, Gideon Wesbrook's butler is named: Owl.

In Catherine Coulter's book, THE NIGHTINGALE LEGACY, the butler is: Coombe.

In Stella Gibbons, COLD COMFORT FARM, Mrs. Smiling's butler is named: Sneller.

In Agatha Christie's MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, the butler is named: Beddoes.

John Gielgud as the butler, Beddoes.

In Amanada Quick's book, DANGEROUS, the Earl of Anglestone's butler is named: Flowers.

In James Anderson's book, THE AFFAIR OF THE MUTILATED MINK (and two other titles), the butler is: Merryweather.

In the Agatha Christie books, Hercule Poirot's butler is named: Georges.

In Agatha Christie's THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS, the butler is named: Tredwell.

In Agatha Christie's POIROT INVESTIGATES, The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman, the butler is named: Graves.

In Agatha Christie's THE ADVENTURE OF THE CHRISTMAS PUDDING, The Dream, the butler is named: Holmes.

In Agatha Christie's WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION, the butler is named Mr. Digby.

In Agatha Christie's A POCKET FULL OF RYE, the butler is named: Crump.

In Agatha Christie's N OR M, the butler is named: Appledore.

In Catherine Coulter's THE WYNDHAM LEGACY, the butler is named: Sampson, the valet is named: Spears and the cook is named: Badger.

Is this making any sense to you? It does to me. But then I've been known to jump the rails in my literary thinking now and again. Ha!

The Singing Butler by Jack Vetriano

Friday's Forgotten Books: WOLF PASS (2003) by Steve Thayer

Friday again and that means, Forgotten Books, the weekly meme hosted by Patti at her blog, PATTINASE. Don't forget to take a look at the complete list of participants at this link.

I loved WOLF PASS when I read it a few years ago, though, for whatever reason I never liked the first in the series, the more well-known, THE WHEATFIELD. This happens sometimes. But it's hard for me to fathom exactly why.

Anyway, WOLF PASS is a thriller set in the midwest of 1962. Sheriff P.A. (Pliny) Pennington of Kickapoo County, Wisconsin is back. He is a former Army sniper called upon to solve a double murder in which he, himself, is the prime suspect. One of the victims is an ex-lover of Pennington's, she and her husband were shot at far range, sniper-style.

The actual killer is someone from Pennington's past, SS Officer Wolfgang Stangl, the Nazi who operated the prison camp from which Pennington once escaped. During the war, the two had played a deadly cat and mouse game. The trick is, Stangl has changed his appearance. He could be any man of a certain age living in or traveling through the county.

Pennington believes (though no one else does) that Stangl has somehow devised a lethal vengeance involving his ex-prisoner and what's more, it appears the former SS man is after President John F. Kennedy.

When a  beautiful Scotland Yard Inspector mysteriously shows up in small town America to help Pennington, the fast-paced plot speeds towards a stunning denouement.

This is one of those books that you dare not put down for a moment - it is THAT exciting. Author Steve Thayer has written several books, but this remains my very favorite. I wish he'd written more about Pennington.

To learn about Steve Thayer and read about his other books, please check his website.

Happy Birthday, Edgar Rice Burroughs! (1875 - 1950)

Today is the birth date of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the prolific creator of Tarzan and many other dashing adventure heroes. Born in Chicago, growing up he attended mainly military schools and served as an enlisted soldier in the 7th Cavalry, at Fort Grant, Arizona Territory before being discharged for having a heart ailment.

After years at a string of odd jobs, he finally began writing for the pulps when he reasoned (accurately) that he could probably create as good a story as the pulp writers he was reading. Tarzan of the Apes, one of his first two novels, was published in 1912. The rest, as they say, is history.

During WWII, Burroughs, in his sixties and living in Hawaii, became one of the oldest war correspondents serving his country.

I've only one of the Tarzan books on my shelves, THE RETURN OF TARZAN - a beat-up, hardcover copy I was lucky enough to find in an old junk shop, minus the dust jacket. It's the only Tarzan book I've ever read, but I was always familiar with the Tarzan character, of course, from the many movies I've watched since I was a kid.

Edgar Rice Burroughs may be the only author who has had 2 towns named after his famous fictional character: Tarzana, California and Tarzan, Texas. He's famous in outer space, too, a crater on Mars is named the Burroughs Crater.

Herman Brix aka Bruce Bennett.

 I think I've seen just about every Tarzan film ever made at least once. (Well, except for the silent versions.) I've even seen the movie starring Herman Brix aka Bruce Bennett as Tarzan. He was pretty good.

My all time favorite Tarzan though, is/was Johnny Weismuller even if he was not the Tarzan envisioned in the books. Weissmuller's Tarzan was certainly not Lord Greystoke. But he more than looked the part otherwise and his image is engraved on my movie-loving heart.

To learn more about Edgar Rice Burroughs and his many series of books, please go here to his Wikipedia page. And there is also an Official Edgar Rice Burroughs Website. And just for the fun of it, Tarzan  himself, has a website.

Some early Tarzan book covers, artwork and movie posters:

Art by Studley Oldham Burroughs.

Art by Allen St. John.

Art by Allen St. John.

Art by Allen St. John.

Art by Armstrong Perry.

Art by Frank Frazetta.

.

Tarzan meets his creator.