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    Hollywood's Miracles of Movie Entertainment: Classic Films from a Golden Era
    Hollywood's Miracles of Movie Entertainment: Classic Films from a Golden Era
    Hollywood's Miracles of Movie Entertainment: Classic Films from a Golden Era
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    Hollywood's Miracles of Movie Entertainment: Classic Films from a Golden Era

    By John Howard Reid

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    Sometimes it's hard to think of exactly the right title for a book. It's easy, of course, if you have the title in advance. You just write the book to fit. But on this occasion, my aim was to provide a wide-ranging, general introduction to the wonderful world of classic movies that thrilled audiences from 1925 through 1965. To represent 1925, I chose "The Eagle" which showcases Rudolph Valentino at his most ingratiating. For 1965, I envisaged my favorite Agatha Christie adaptation, "The Alphabet Murders". For 1928, "Our Daring Daughters" (starring the entrancing Joan Crawford) was a natural. For 1931, it was impossible to go past Jean Harlow's "Platinum Blonde"; and for 1933, who could refuse admittance to either "King Kong" or "The Invisible Man"? It soon became apparent, however, that a year-by-year breakdown was not going to work, because there were too many years in which Hollywood produced a bumper crop of movie treasures. Take 1944, for instance: "The Conspirators" (a delightful extravaganza, intended as a box-office follow-up to "Casablanca"), with Hedy Lamarr, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre; "Cover Girl", one of my all-time favorite musicals, starring Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly, directed by Charles Vidor; "The Curse of the Cat People", starring that quintessential object of fantasy, Simone Simon; "In Society", one of Abbott and Costello funniest outings; "The Man in Half-Moon Street", Paramount's elaborately atmospheric answer to "The Picture of Dorian Gray"; two entries in Universal's justly famous "Mummy" series, both starring Lon Chaney; and "Standing Room Only", a side-splitting comedy of manners that rates with me as one of the Ten Best ever made. So I asked myself what did all these marvelous movies have in common? They were all simply Hollywood miracles of entertainment. Here are 125 of the best vintage, brought together with full credits, background information and up-to-date reviews in this well-produced book that also includes a monograph on director Charles Vidor ("Cover Girl", "Gilda", "Rhapsody", "Love Me Or Leave Me", etc.) and a breakdown of "The Wolf Man" series.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Howard Reid
    Release dateApr 28, 2011
    ISBN9781458095138
    Hollywood's Miracles of Movie Entertainment: Classic Films from a Golden Era
    Author

    John Howard Reid

    Author of over 100 full-length books, of which around 60 are currently in print, John Howard Reid is the award-winning, bestselling author of the Merryll Manning series of mystery novels, anthologies of original poetry and short stories, translations from Spanish and Ancient Greek, and especially books of film criticism and movie history. Currently chief judge for three of America's leading literary contests, Reid has also written the textbook, "Write Ways To Win Writing Contests".

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      Book preview

      Hollywood's Miracles of Movie Entertainment - John Howard Reid

      HOLLYWOOD’S MIRACLES OF MOVIE ENTERTAINMENT:

      Classic Films from a Golden Era

      John Howard Reid

      ****

      Published by:

      John Howard Reid at Smashwords

      Copyright (c) 2011 by John Howard Reid

      ****

      All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

      Smashwords Edition Licence Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

      ****

      Original text copyright 2011 by John Howard Reid. All rights reserved.

      Enquiries: johnreid@mail.qango.com

      ****

      Barbara Stanwyck

      Marlene Dietrich

      --

      Hollywood Classics 8

      2011

      Other Books in the Hollywood Classics series:

      1. New Light on Movie Bests

      2. B Movies, Bad Movies, Good Movies

      3. Award-Winning Films of the 1930s

      4. Movie Westerns: Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West

      5. Memorable Films of the Forties

      6. Popular Pictures of the Hollywood 1940s

      7. Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Supporting Program

      8. Hollywood’s Miracles of Movie Entertainment

      9. Hollywood Gold: Films of the Forties and Fifties

      10. Hollywood B Movies: A Treasury of Spills, Chills & Thrills

      11. Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics

      12. These Great Movies Won No Hollywood Awards

      13. Movie Mystery & Suspense

      14. Movies International: America’s Best, Britain’s Finest

      15. Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome and Fantastic

      16. Hollywood Movie Musicals

      17. Hollywood Classics Title Index Books 1-16

      18. More Movie Musicals

      19. Success in the Cinema

      20. Best Western Movies

      21. Great Cinema Detectives

      22. Great Hollywood Westerns

      23. Science-Fiction & Fantasy Cinema

      24. Hollywood’s Classic Comedies

      25. Hollywood Classics Title Index to All Movies Reviewed in Books 1-24

      --

      Additional Movie Books by John Howard Reid

      CinemaScope One: Stupendous in ’Scope

      CinemaScope Two: 20th Century-Fox

      CinemaScope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge

      Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills

      Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD

      WESTERNS: A Guide to the Best (and Worst) Western Movies on DVD

      British Movie Entertainments on VHS and DVD

      MUSICALS on DVD

      Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake in the exotic Saigon, featured in Hollywood Classics 6.

      --

      Table of Contents

      A

      Act of Violence (1948)

      Against All Flags (1952)

      Alphabet Murders (1965)

      American Guerrilla in the Philippines (see I Shall Return)

      Androcles and the Lion (1952)

      Angel in My Pocket (1969)

      Anne of Green Gables (1934)

      Any Number Can Play (1949)

      Arizona Ranger (1948)

      Arizonian (1935)

      B

      Beat the Devil (1954)

      Big Heart (see Miracle on 34th Street)

      Black Rose (1950)

      Broadway (1942)

      Broken Blossoms (1919)

      Brother Orchid (1940)

      Brothers Karamazov (1958)

      Bureau of Missing Persons (1933)

      C

      Callaway Went Thataway (1951)

      Carnival of Souls (1962)

      Carson City Kid (1940)

      Castle on the Hudson (1940)

      Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937)

      China Girl (1942)

      Conspirators (1944)

      Counterfeit Traitor (1962)

      Country Doctor (1936)

      Cover Girl (1944)

      Curse of the Cat People (1944)

      D

      Deadly Ray(s) from Mars (see Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe)

      Desire (1936)

      Distant Drums (1951)

      Don Juan (1926)

      E

      Eagle (1925)

      Enchanted Cottage (1945)

      F

      Flash Gordon and the Deadly Rays from Mars (see Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe)

      Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)

      G

      Girl of the Golden West (1938)

      Good Fairy (1935)

      H

      Heldorado (1946)

      Her Cardboard Lover (1942)

      Here Comes the Groom (1951)

      His Butler’s Sister (1943)

      History Is Made at Night (1937)

      Hit the Ice (1943)

      Hondo (1953)

      I

      I’ll Be Yours (1947)

      In Society (1944)

      Invisible Man (1933)

      I Shall Return (1950)

      ITMA (1943)

      It Should Happen To You (1954)

      It’s That Man Again (see ITMA)

      J

      Jackpot (1950)

      Jennie (1940)

      K

      Kid from Spain (1932)

      Kim (1950)

      King Kong (1933)

      L

      Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)

      Life of Her Own (1950)

      Louisa (1950)

      Luck of the Irish (1948)

      Lucky Jordan (1943)

      Luxury Liner (1948)

      M

      Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair (1951)

      Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki (1955)

      Mad Doctor of Market Street (1941)

      Mad Ghoul (1943)

      Mad Miss Manton (1938)

      Man from Colorado (1948)

      Man in Half-Moon Street (1944)

      Man of Conquest (1939)

      Mara Maru (1952)

      Marie Antoinette (1938)

      Marie Galante (1934)

      Master of Ballantrae (1953)

      Miracle of the Bells (1948)

      Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

      Monster Maker (1944)

      Mummy’s Curse (1944)

      Mummy’s Ghost (1944)

      Mummy’s Tomb (1942)

      Murder in the Air (1940)

      My Love Came Back (1940)

      N

      Night Is Young (1935)

      O

      Obliging Young Lady (1941)

      Oh Daddy (1935)

      On Approval (1945)

      Only the Valiant (1951)

      Our Daring Daughters (1928)

      P

      Phantom Light (1935)

      Platinum Blonde (1931)

      Poet’s Pub (1949)

      Pop ’Im Pop (1950)

      Prime Minister (1941)

      Prince of Foxes (1949)

      R

      Rancho Notorious (1952)

      Reformer and the Redhead (1950)

      Roadblock (1951)

      Road to Utopia (1945)

      S

      Saint’s Double Trouble (1940)

      Saratoga (1937)

      Saratoga Trunk (1946)

      School for Scoundrels (1960)

      Search (1948)

      Seven Keys to Baldpate (1947)

      She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

      Six Bridges to Cross (1955)

      Smilin’ Through (1941)

      Soldiers of the King (1933)

      Sorry Wrong Number (1948)

      So You Want To Be a Detective (1948)

      Space Soldiers Conquer the Universe (see Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe)

      Standing Room Only (1944)

      Stand Up and Fight (1939)

      Star Said No (see Callaway Went Thataway)

      Story of Mankind (1957)

      Strong Man (1926)

      T

      Temptation (1946)

      Things Are Looking Up (1935)

      Time of Their Lives (1946)

      T-Men (1948)

      U

      Unholy Hour (see Werewolf of London)

      V

      Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965)

      W

      Wasp Woman (1959)

      Werewolf of London (1935)

      Wolf Man (1941)

      Woman in Command (see Soldiers of the King)

      Woman in White (1948)

      Woman of Distinction (1950)

      Women in the Wind (1939)

      Y

      Years Without Days (see Castle on the Hudson)

      Yellow Fin (1951)

      Yellow Jack (1938)

      Yes Madam (1938)

      --

      Articles

      Director, Charles Vidor, and His Films (see The Arizonian)

      Wolf Man series (see Wolf Man)

      --

      Act of Violence

      Van Heflin (Frank R. Enley), Robert Ryan (Joe Parkson), Janet Leigh (Edith Enley), Mary Astor (Pat), Phyllis Thaxter (Ann Sturges), Berry Kroeger (Johnny), Nicholas Joy (Mr Gavery), Harry Antrim (Fred Finney), Connie Gilchrist (Martha Finney), Will Wright (Pop), Tom Hanlon (radio voice), Phil Tead (clerk), Eddie Waglin, Johnny Albright (bellboys), William Phillips, Dick Simmons (veterans), Larry and Leslie Holt (Georgie Enley), Garry Owen (attendant), Fred Santley (drunk), Dick Elliott (pompous man), Irene Seidner (old woman), Ralph Peters (Tim, bartender), Douglas Carter (heavy-jowled man), Frank Scannell (bell captain), Rocco Lanzo, Rex Downing, Mickey Martin (teenage boys), Bill Cartledge (newsboy), Don Haggerty, Paul Kruger, Wesley Hopper, Jim Drum, George Backus (policemen), Nolan Leary, Barbara Billingsley (voices), Harry Tenbrook (man), Everett Glass (night clerk), Phil Dunham, William Bailey, Wilbur Mack (ad lib drunks), Howard Mitchell (bartender), Ralph Montgomery, Cameron Grant, Walter Merrill (men), Roger Moore, Mahlon Hamilton (winos), Candy Toxton (veteran’s wife), Florita Romero (girl), George Ovey, Jimmie Kelly, David Newell, Fred Datig Jr, Margaret Bert, Mary Jo Ellis, Ann Lawrence (bystanders), André Pola, Rudolph Anders, Roland Varno (German voices), Robert Skelton (cab driver).

      Director: FRED ZINNEMANN. Screenplay: Robert L. Richards; from an unpublished story by Collier Young. Director of photography: Robert Surtees. Sound: Douglas Shearer. Music score: Bronislau Kaper. Conductor: André Previn. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters. Set decoration: Edwin B. Willis, Henry W. Grace. Costumes: Helen Rose. Hair styles: Sydney Guilaroff. Make-up: Jack Dawn. Assistant director: Marvin Stuart. Film editor: Conrad A. Nervig. Producer: William H. Wright.

      Copyright 8 December 1948 by Loew’s Inc. An M-G-M picture. New York opening at Loew’s Criterion: 22 January 1949. U.S. release: February 1949. U.K. release: 30 May 1949. Australian release: 2 June 1949. 7,477 feet. 83 minutes.

      Do not read this SYNOPSIS if you have not seen the movie: A disabled war veteran, Joe Parkson, has travelled from the East to find a man named Frank Enley. Enley is a respected contractor and civic-minded man, but in a prison camp during the war he was responsible for the death of his men by revealing their plans for escape. Actually, Enley informed his captors of the plan believing that the plan would not succeed and his men would be spared if he interceded; but all of the men were massacred except Parkson. No one knows of the incident except Parkson and the guilt-ridden Enley; and, as Parkson begins to create terror in Enley’s mind, he first confesses to his wife and then flees into the night world of the city. Taking refuge with Pat, a woman of dubious reputation, Enley meets Johnny who offers to help by killing Parkson for money.

      NOTES: Act of Violence was originally announced in 1947 as an independent production starring Howard Duff. Subsequently in 1948, Hellinger Productions-SRO Releasing announced the film was to star Gregory Peck and Humphrey Bogart. Locations were filmed at Big Bear Lake, California.

      PRINCIPAL MIRACLE: Van Heflin gives a good performance.

      COMMENT: In Act of Violence, director Fred Zinnemann has arrestingly blended the varying styles of the semi-documentary and the psychological thriller. The bizarre prologue with its startling introduction of the limping man motif, is a masterful amalgam of outré Wilder (see the credits for Double Indemnity) and Fritz Lang. What greater contrast could possibly be offered to this than the scene with which the film proper commences? The setting is a small town in California, two years after the war. A young engineer, ex-G.I. Captain Van Heflin, is discovered with his wife, Janet Leigh, at the opening ceremony of a block of houses for which he has been mainly responsible. Notice how economically Zinnemann captures the atmosphere, the feeling of small town mores; how he has profited by his mistake on The Search by drawing upon the creative talents of his art director (Cedric Gibbons), his photographer (Robert L. Surtees, who later worked with him on Oklahoma), and his composer (Bronislau Kaper). The work of the costume department is especially noteworthy: Heflin, bare-headed, wearing an alpaca suit, Miss Leigh in a cloche hat and a drab suit with a wide collar, an official with a boater and a striped shirt, an elderly woman in a flowered print. One has the feeling that one really is in a small town, not on the sound stage of a Hollywood studio. That night, Miss Leigh is awakened by the sound of limping foot-falls prowling around the house. Heflin tells her that the stranger is Joe Parkson, who bears a grudge since they were in prison camp together. Parkson turns out to be Robert Ryan, who, despite the pleas of his fiancée, Phyllis Thaxter, persists in his vendetta. Heflin flees to an industrial convention, where he becomes involved with a prostitute (a wonderfully natural performance by Mary Astor) and a vicious thug (Berry Kroeger). At a lonely railway station the folly of both empty vengeance and moral cowardice is played out in a tragic climax.

      The bizarre elements of the film are the more effective for being contrasted with the ordinary domesticity of Heflin’s home, and the melodrama of the screenplay Robert L. Richards (who was later to collaborate on Winchester ’73) worked up from a story by Collier Young, has been brilliantly channeled into a sensitive exposition of human conflict.

      OTHER VIEWS: Despite some sterling efforts by director and photographer, it is hard to work up much interest in this psychological thriller. The characters are unconvincing — and the stars don’t help: Van Heflin goes through his usual motions (Register shock, Van!), Janet Leigh lays on the mousey housewife bit with a trowel, Phyllis Thaxter once again does her duty by the worried and sympathetic friend, and Robert Ryan is so hammily obvious a neurotic nut, it’s impossible to understand why he was not carted off to the psycho ward the minute he stuck his head out of doors. The supporting cast is better, with Mary Astor, Taylor Holmes and Berry Kroeger trying valiantly to give their roles depth and conviction — though they are largely defeated by the script. Still, at least they succeed in making their portrayals interesting — which is more than one can say for the star performers. The actual plot mechanics are dated and old-hat now, but the script could have succeeded — despite its unconvincing characters — had it made some efforts to preserve the dramatic unities. Here is a yarn that is a natural for a ten or twelve-hour time span and for confinement to the environs of a particular locale. Instead, the story meanders all over the place, introducing superfluous characters at every turn and having no sense of urgency. And then it tacks on a ridiculous, melodramatic climax that conveniently avoids having to deal with the moral or social issues raised!

      --

      Against All Flags

      Errol Flynn (Brian Hawke), Maureen O’Hara (Spitfire Stevens), Anthony Quinn (Captain Roc Brasiliano), Alice Kelley (Princess Patma), Mildred Natwick (Molvina MacGregor), Robert Warwick (Captain Kidd), Harry Cording (Gow), John Alderson (Harris), Phil Tully (Jones), Lester Matthews (Sir Cloudsley), Tudor Owen (William), Maurice Marsac (Captain Moisson), James Craven (Captain Hornsby), James Fairfax (barber), Bill Radovich (Hassan), Michael Ross (Swaine), Paul Newland (Crop-Ear), Lewis Russell (Oxford), Arthur Gould-Porter (Lord Portland), Olaf Hytten (King William), Sailor Vincent (crewman), Dave Kashner (flogger), Ethan Laidlaw (townsman), Chuck Hamilton, Carl Saxe (pirates), Michael Ferris, Keith McConnell (quartermasters), Charles Fitzsimons (flag lieutenant), Renee Beard (Archimedes), Maralou Gray (harem girl).

      Director: GEORGE SHERMAN. Photographed by Russell Metty. Music: Hans J. Salter. Screenplay: Aeneas Mackenzie, Joseph Hoffman. Based on a story by Aeneas Mackenzie. Film editor: Frank Gross. Art directors: Bernard Herzbrun and Alexander Golitzen. Set decorations: Russell A. Gausman and Oliver Emert. Costumes: Edward Stevenson. Hair stylist: Joan St Oegger. Dialogue director: Irwin Berwick. Assistant directors: John Sherwood, Phil Bowles and James Welch. Unit production manager: Percy Ikerd. Make-up: Bud Westmore. Color: Technicolor. Technicolor color consultant: William Fritzsche. Special photography: David S. Horsley. Producer: Howard Christie. Sound recording: Leslie I. Carey and Joe Lapis. Universal-International.

      Copyright 2 November 1952 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. A Universal-International picture. New York opening at the Capitol: 24 December 1952. U.S. release: December 1952. U.K. release: 16 February 1953. Australian release: 23 July 1953. Sydney opening at the State. 7,513 feet. 83 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: A British naval officer attempts to break the pirate hold on Madagascar.

      NOTES: Errol Flynn’s Oz rehabilitation after the comparative failure of New Orleans Adventure was now complete. The Hoyts cinema chain (owned by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp.) had shunted Mara Maru into Sydney’s out-of-the-way grindhouse, the Park, but the film had gone on to earn top dollars around the neighborhoods. So Greater Union (owned by Lord Rank) slotted Against All Flags into the circuit’s flagship, the State. The movie repaid this trust in Flynn’s continuing Oz appeal by placing 32nd in the nation’s foremost box-office attractions of 1953.

      Universal re-made this film in 1967 as King’s Pirate. Don Weis directed the re-make from a script refurbished with only minor changes by Paul Wayne. The leading roles were played by Doug McClure, Jill St John, Guy Stockwell and Mary Ann Mobley.

      PRINCIPAL MIRACLE: Errol can still swash with the best of them.

      COMMENT: Against All Flags marks the end of Errol Flynn’s Hollywood career as a swashbuckler. (The three swashbuckling pictures he made after this were filmed in Europe, whereas Against All Flags was lensed mostly on the Universal sound stages and back lot, with some location work at Palos Verdes on the Californian sea-coast). To my mind, it is a fitting end to the career Warner Brothers launched so auspiciously 17 years before in Captain Blood. Universal made a brave attempt to recapture the scope and vigor of the Warner pictures and, while Against All Flags does not equal the best of them, it runs the second echelon pretty close.

      Against all Flags has at least 4 major factors in its favor: (1) a fine cast. Miss O’Hara was never more attractive, or Quinn so delightfully villainous, and there’s a rib-tickling performance by Alice Kelley as a dumb princess. Flynn himself is at his most charming and, athletically, in top form. In fact, he applied himself so energetically to the action sequences, he broke his left ankle five days before the film was due for completion. It was five months before he could resume, during which time the ship (a standing set on Universal’s back lot) had been converted for use in Yankee Buccaneer (setting sail with Captain Jeff Chandler and much the same crew under Joseph Pevney’s direction) and had to be re-converted back again!; (2) a highly entertaining script, with plenty of scope for action, colorful characterisations, and some ingenious and original plotting; (3) zestful direction by George Sherman (no relation to Vincent Sherman who handled Flynn in The Adventures of Don Juan); (4) excellent production values, including Russell Metty’s Technicolor photography.

      OTHER VIEWS: Good swashbuckling yarn, with plenty of action and nice color. The performances are spirited, and the direction smooth. Miss O’Hara looks very fetching in her pirate costume.

      --

      the Alphabet Murders

      Tony Randall (Hercule Poirot), Anita Ekberg (Amanda Beatrice Cross), Robert Morley (Hastings), Maurice Denham (Japp), Guy Rolfe (Duncan Doncaster), Sheila Allen (Lady Diane), Margaret Rutherford (Miss Marple), James Villiers (Franklin), Julian Glover (Don Fortune), Grazina Frame (Betty Barnard), Clive Morton (X), Cyril Luckham (Sir Carmichael Clarke), Richard Wattis (Wolf), David Lodge (sergeant), Patrick Newell (Cracknell), Austin Trevor (Judson), Alison Seebohn (Miss Sparks), Windsor Davies (Dragbot), Sheila Reid (Mrs Fortune), Stringer Davis (Mr Stringer).

      Directed by FRANK TASHLIN. Screenplay by David Pursall and Jack Seddon. Based on the 1936 novel The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie. Music composed and conducted by Ron Goodwin. Amanda — music by Brian Fahey, lyric by Norman Newell, sung by Ray Peterson. Director of photography: Desmond Dickinson. Art director: Bill Andrews. Film editor: John Victor Smith. Mr Randall’s clothes by Hardy Amies. Production manager: Albert Becket. Unit manager: Jake Wright. Assistant director: David Tomblin. Camera operator: Harry Gillam. Recording supervisor: A. W. Watkins. Sound recordist: Sash Fisher. Dubbing mixer: Fred Turtle. Sound editor: Bill Creed. Westrex Sound System. Associate producer: Ben Arbeid. Producer: Lawrence P. Bachmann.

      Copyright 21 December 1965 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures. U.S. release: 2 March 1966. New York opening at the 68th Street Playhouse: 11 July 1966. U.K. release: 15 July 1966. 8,096 feet. 90 minutes. (Cut to 7,046 feet or 85 minutes in the U.K.).

      SYNOPSIS: The plot opens when an aqua-clown is found dead in a swimming pool with a poisoned dart in the neck and with an ABC Street Guide to London floating at his side. Hercule Poirot happens to be in London and is determined to investigate the case.

      PRINCIPAL MIRACLE: Tony Randall as Poirot? Yet he does the Frenchman proud.

      COMMENT: Originally to have been Seth Holt directing Zero Mostel, this Agatha Christie adaptation ends up as something of a comeback film for Tashlin after a run of inferior items, mainly in the Jerry Lewis cycle. The reverse of the Miss Marple films, the plot disappears into the background behind a welter of almost surreal images like bowler-hatted Hercule Poirot chasing Ekberg mounted on a white horse down Rotten Row; the close-up of the poison dart that becomes a shot of the clown taken between his feet as the body falls away; or the mirror-faces in the steam room; or agent Morley continually locked in closets and car-boots with drunken blondes, unable to explain to his wife who thinks he’s in Agriculture and Fisheries.

      — B.P.

      OTHER VIEWS: My favorite Tashlin movie, this is an amusing piece of whodunit spoofery, the satire and parody abetted by bizarre compositions plus Tony Randall’s delightfully outrageous portrayal of Poirot, and a bright and bouncy music score.

      — G.A.

      --

      Androcles and the Lion

      Jean Simmons (Lavinia), Alan Young (Androcles), Victor Mature (captain), Robert Newton (Ferrovius), Maurice Evans (Caesar), Elsa Lanchester (Megaera), Reginald Gardiner (Lentulus), Gene Lockhart (menagerie keeper), Alan Mowbray (editor), Noel Willman (Spintho), John Hoyt (Cato), Jim Backus (centurion), Lowell Gilmore (Metellus).

      Directed by CHESTER ERSKINE from a screenplay by Chester Erskine, Noel Langley and Ken Englund, based on the 1913 stage play by George Bernard Shaw. Photography: Harry Stradling. Production design: Harry Horner. Film editor: Roland Gross. Music composed by Frederick Hollander, directed by Constantin Bakaleinikoff. Art directors: Albert S. D’Agostino, Charles F. Pyke. Set decorations: Darrell Silvera, Al Orenbach. Special effects: Dick Henschel, Jack Lannon. Body make-up: Esther Berman. Other make-up: Mel Berns, Irving Berns and Ted Larson. Hair styles: Larry Germain, Gale McGarry. Woman’s wardrobe: Lillian Orr. Grips: Thurman Joiner, Ralph Wildman. Process work: Reggie Lyons. Sound recording: John Cass and Clem Portman. RCA Sound System. Associate producer: Lewis J. Rachmil. Producer: Gabriel Pascal. Executive producer: Howard Hughes. A Gabriel Pascal Production, produced and released by RKO Radio. Animals supplied by Sid Fogel. Lion (Jackie II) trained by Mel Koontz.

      Copyright 30 October 1952 by RKO Radio Pictures. New York opening at the Capitol: 14 January 1953. U.S. release: 9 January 1953. U.K. release: 8 March 1954 (sic). Australian release: 23 April 1953. Sydney opening at the Esquire. 98 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: A henpecked tailor extracts a thorn from a lion’s paw. This good deed later proves to be his salvation when he meets up with the lion again in the Colosseum.

      NOTES: Last of Gabriel Pascal’s four films, all adaptations of Shaw plays.

      Originally, Harpo Marx was cast as Androcles, Rex Harrison as Caesar, Dana Andrews as the Captain and George Sanders as Lentulus. Pascal felt Harpo was the perfect Androcles and the rushes were said to have been brilliant. But after five weeks of shooting, Howard Hughes saw Alan Young on a TV show and insisted he be substituted for Harpo. By the time shooting got under way again, only Jean Simmons and Robert Newton were still available to continue in their original roles, so all the footage that had been shot was scrapped. Hughes’ decision helped to make Androcles one of Hollywood’s costliest failures.

      — Bob Osborne.

      PRINCIPAL MIRACLE: Victor Mature enmeshed in Shaw.

      COMMENT: Commences in sprightly fashion, but unfortunately, mingled with the excellent wit, satire and comedy is a banal little romance involving Jean Simmons and Victor Mature of all people who rattles off lines about his dooty as a soldier until we are blue in the face with boredom. But if Mature overacts, Robert Newton is even worse. Alan Young starts well, but he also plays his part too broadly, especially in the later, sentimental sequences. Fortunately, a brilliant performance by Maurice Evans as Caesar virtually saves the film, though Gene Lockhart and Reginald Gardiner also contribute some deftly-played scenes. Aside from the wit and the amusement offered by about half of the film’s episodes, there is a little spectacle for those whose eyes like to dwell on Harry Horner’s recreation of the architectural triumphs of ancient Rome. Also outstanding are Stradling’s photography and Hollander’s music score; but Erskine’s direction is strictly routine.

      --

      Angel in My Pocket

      Andy Griffith (Sam), Jerry Van Dyke (Bubba), Kay Medford (Racine), Lee Meriwether (Mary Elizabeth), Henry Jones (Will Sinclair), Edgar Buchanan (Axel Gresham), Gary Collins (Art Shields), Parker Fennelly (Calvin), Jack Dodson (Norman Gresham), Elena Verdugo (Lila Sinclair), Margaret Hamilton (Rhoda), Ruth McDevitt (Nadine), Richard Van Fleet (Harry Toback), Bob Hastings (Ted Palish), Jim Boles (Corby Gresham), Leonard Stone (Paul Gresham), Steve Franken (Zimmerman), Larry D. Mann (Bishop Morenschild), Al Checco (Byron), Margaret Ann Peterson (Mrs Toback), Peggy Mondo (Charlotte), Beverly Powers (Charlene De Gaulle), Joy Harmon (Miss Holland), Benny Rubin (Dad Schrader), Herbie Faye (Mr Welch), George Tapps (Ace Black), Eddie Quillan (Reverend Beckwith), Michael Barrier (Mr Grant), Buddy Foster (Sammy), Todd Starke (Dink), Amber Smale (Rachel), Susan Seaforth (Mrs Grant), Athena Lorde (Mrs Corby Gresham), Grace Albertson (Mrs Will Sinclair), Robert Lieb (Cyrus Sinclair), Claudia Bryar (Mrs Axel Gresham), Tani Phelps (Mrs Palish), Monty Margetts (Mrs Chase), Eve Bruce (Miss USA), Lynn Fields (Miss France), Gloria Mills (Miss Societ Union), Chela Bacigalupo (Miss South America), Anne Besant (Miss England), Linda Carol (Miss Egypt), Bonnie Sue Schwartz (majorette), Jesslyn Fax (Mrs Styles), Stuart Nisbet (sheriff), Ellen Corby (older woman), Kathryn Minner (Mrs Williams), Mary Gregory (secretary), Rufe Davis (older man).

      Director: ALAN RAFKIN. Original screenplay: Jim Fritzell, Everett Greenbaum. Photographed in Techniscope and Technicolor by William Margulies. Film editor: Sam E. Waxman. Music composed by Lyn Murray, supervised by Joseph Gershenson. Song, The Girls of All Nations, by Jerry Keller and Dave Blume. Art directors: Russell Kimball, Alexander Golitzen. Set decorators: John McCarthy, John Sturtevant. Costumes: Grady Hunt. Make-up: Bud Westmore. Hair styles: Larry Germain. Production manager: Wes Thompson. Assistant to the producer: Billy Sands. Assistant director: Phil Bowles. Sound recording: Waldron O. Watson, Ed Somers. Producer: Edward J. Montagne.

      Copyright 29 March 1969 by Universal Pictures, Inc. U.S. release: 7 February 1969. No U.K. release. 105 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: A Methodist minister unites opposing mayoral factions in the small town of Wood Falls, Kansas.

      PRINCIPAL MIRACLE: Andy Griffith almost succeeds in a big-screen comeback.

      COMMENT: Andy Griffith is here making his first film in eight years, after a considerable success on television. Those two facts alone would stamp Angel in My Pocket firmly as a non-headline flick. But a religious picture to boot? Angel would be lucky to make the support slot at a midweek matinee.

      Actually, despite its G rating, the movie falls between two stools. Whilst the theme itself would discourage the average picturegoer, its treatment would outrage all church people — particularly the reverend’s visit to a burlesque rehearsal with its scantily clad Girls of All Nations.

      In point of fact Angel is a reasonably entertaining domestic comedy. Doesn’t tell you anything about Christianity of course, but it does take in some nice hymns, a short sermon or two, a lot of slapstick fighting, a bit of romance, a shot of spookiness, and a great deal of farcical shouting and screaming. Mr Griffith holds it all together amiably enough, occasionally drawing on the help of seasoned comedians like Kay Medford and Margaret Hamilton or less experienced but equally personable players like Gary Collins and Joy Harmon. A tendency by just about everybody to over-act, however, is prevalent throughout, a problem compounded by the director’s emphasis on close-ups. (But this said, it must be added that Rafkin often fills his wide screen with pleasing images).

      Pleasantly superficial, reasonably well-produced, Angel will entertain most patrons. The only problem is how to sell them tickets. If the movie were cut to support length it would certainly help. Minus the burlesque scene, a couple of board meetings and the visit to the mayor’s office, perhaps. Not that any of these episodes are slack, it’s just that they could easily be removed without too much damage to continuity.

      Angel comes to a cosily predictable, highly superficial conclusion, but one that will leave audiences happy.

      OTHER VIEWS: Rank Film Distributors (who handled Universal product in the United Kingdom) rejected the movie and as a consequence it was never shown in Great Britain. Rank’s refusal was based on Griffith’s total lack of appeal to British cinemagoers and the proven fact that religious pictures — unless they happened to be based on best-sellers like A Man Called Peter and The Song of Bernadette — were box-office poison.

      — G.A.

      Despite the impediment of TV-style direction with its emphasis on unattractive and distractingly too-revealing close-ups, this is an enjoyable little comedy that not only moves at a reasonable pace but has a refreshing air of verisimilitude. Though some of the players seem determined to exaggerate their portraits way past the point of caricature, for the most part the movie is appealingly acted. Production values, including a bright music score, are otherwise fair.

      — C.F.

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      Anne of Green Gables

      Dawn O’Day (Anne Shirley), Tom Brown (Gilbert Blythe), O.P. Heggie (Matthew Cuthbert), Helen Westley (Marilla Cuthbert), Sara Haden (Mrs Rachel Barry), Gertrude Messinger (Diana Barry), Hilda Vaughn (Mrs Blewett), June Preston (Mrs Blewett’s daughter), Murray Kinnell (Mr Phillips), Charley Grapewin (Dr Tatum).

      Director: GEORGE NICHOLLS JR. Screenplay: Sam Mintz. Based on the 1908 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Photography: Lucien Andriot. Film editor: Arthur Schmidt. Music director: Max Steiner. Art directors: Van Nest Polglase, Al Herman. Costumes: Walter Plunkett. Special photographic effects: Vernon L. Walker. Sound recording: George D. Ellis. RCA Sound System. Producer: Kenneth Macgowan.

      Copyright 23 November 1934 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Roxy: 21 December 1934. Australian release: 30 January 1935. 79 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: Orphan girl is adopted by crusty spinster and her farmer brother.

      NOTES: Re-make of the 1919 version directed by the infamous William Desmond Taylor, and starring of course Mary Miles Minter, whose mother is alleged by some Hollywood insiders to have murdered the director on the night of 1 February 1922. The murder – second only to the Roscoe Arbuckle case as Hollywood’s most sensational true-life scandal – is officially listed as unsolved.

      [Until quite recently, I’d never seen a film directed by William Desmond Taylor. You’d think his notoriety alone would guarantee frequent airings on TV. But Unknown Video have now come to the rescue with a fine Kodascope copy – condensed to 5 reels, of course, but tinted – of Tom Sawywer (1917) starring a too-old-for-the-role but otherwise highly plausible Jack Pickford].

      Big box-office everywhere in 1935, the movie did particularly well in city and urban areas.

      PRINCIPAL MIRACLE: After avoiding this movie for years, I found it quite charming.

      COMMENT: Refreshing. One of the most remarkable things about the film is that it has dated very little. Montgomery’s central idea of making her orphan-sent-by-mistake a dreamy chatterbox, is a strong one. And when that little heroine is so winningly played by an accomplished actress who can manage the transition from girlhood to womanhood with such ease, this movie certainly starts with much in its favor.

      Aside from Tom Brown who as usual is a bit of a pain, Miss Shirley receives solid support all the way down the line from the beautifully judged portraits delivered by Helen Westley and O.P. Heggie to Sara Haden’s irredeemably nosy Rachel and Charley Grapewin’s surprisingly brief cameo as a rustic physician.

      For the most part, the obligatory sentimental scenes are both dramatically effective and commendably restrained.

      Although production values are moderate, technical credits are extremely able. George Nicholls leads the way with his forceful but almost wholly unobtrusive direction, his skill revealed in such sequences as the introductory close-ups of the wagon wheel turning which serve to punctuate and break up Anne’s chattering, the

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