The Ghost Goes West (1936)

           In 18^th Century Scotland, a flirtatious Scot (Robert Donat) is killed running away from a rival clan. Because of his cowardliness, he is doomed to walk in his family castle as a ghost, until a relative can confront a relative of the rival clan. In the present day, his last descendent (Donat again) has to sell his castle to an American family, the Martins, and they want to bring it back to the States. What is a ghost to do?

            This movie was a disappointment: I though that Mr. Donat and a plot similar to The Canterville Ghost would make an interesting movie. Alas, I was proved wrong: this often slow moving, and sometimes dreadfully dull.

            The performances aren’t bad, but I though that Donat played his two characters (the ghost and his modern descendent) in the same way. Not too similar that I was confused between them, mind you, but enough that I found neither particularly memorable. And the love interest, curtesy of Jean Parker as  one of the castle's new owners, is so bland, that I felt myself beginning to fall asleep every time she was on screen.

            Not all is bad, though. The film really starts moving when they actually get to America, an hour into the movie. From there, there are some wonderfully jabs at Americanizing foreign things, mostly through how Mr. Martin (Eugene Pallette) gives the castle a makeover for an "authentic" highland party: a gondola in the moat surround the castle, a light show, or, my favorite, a jazz band playing Scottish tunes in a Latin American style (while in kilts, no less!)

            If the movie had spent more time in America, and less time in the highlands, and focused more on Scotish-American relations, instead of on the love-story, it would have been better. I think that was a major strength in The Canterville Ghost: it paid attention to the ghost, but also spent time making fun of the clash between American and British ideals.  But since Ghost Goes West spent so much time being wishy washy about money and Debts on the mainland, it unfortunately becomes forgettable.

Tom, Dick and Harry (1941)

Janie (Ginger Rogers) has a simple plan: to marry a rich fella and live happily ever after. But reaching her goal gets complicated when she finds herself engaged to not one, but three different men: ambitious Tom (George Murphy), wealthy Dick (Alan Marshal), and happy-go-lucky Harry (Burgess Meredith). What’s a girl to do?
           This is an extremely amusing comedy, with a clever, if gimmicky, premise: Janie after Janie goes on a date with each of her boyfriends, she has a dream in which she pictures married life with one of them will be like. The repeated structure worked out beautifully with each alteration; these sequences are laugh out loud funny, and quite odd and surreal. Of the Forgotten Films that I have watched so far, this is one of my favorites.  It’s the kind off film that leaves you feeling warm, fuzzy, and just plain happy inside.

            Now, this was not a perfect movie. The characters are two-dimensional (at best), and much of enjoyment of the film hangs on your tolerance for Rogers continually baiting her poor fiancees.
            Thankfully the film itself manages to overcome these flaws. All the actors are wonderful, somehow managing to invest their paper-doll personas with charm and humor (with the exception Phil Silvers, who is in a (mercifully) brief cameo).

            As if you couldn’t tell, I really, really liked this quirky movie, and whole-heartedly recommend it. This is one romantic comedy that defies your expectations, in the most wonderfully weird ways possible.

Doorway to Hell (1930)

Lew Ayres plays a young but powerful gangster, who organizes all the big-time bootleggers in the city to stick to their own territories, with himself as boss. This works out swell, until Lew decides to go straight and head to Florida to look after his little brother, whom he had enrolled into military school. Predictably, things quickly go to hell in the city. And some guys will go to desperate measures to get him back….

            I was weary about seeing an early talkie gangster films, especially after the disappointments of Alibi (1929) and Little Caesar (1930). Those two , like many movies from the time period, were hampered by stiff cinematography, bland acting, and dull dialogue. However, Doorway to Hell was not as bad as I expected. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised.

            First off, let’s get the highlight of this thing out of the way: James Cagney has a supporting role as Ayres's best pal and second hand man. This was made a year before “The Public Enemy” made him a star, and already he steals whatever scene he is in. Heck, when he is in the same frame as the star, he can't help but focus your attention on him.

            Alas, the same thing cannot be said of Ayres. Though he's miscast (I found it really hard to suspend disbelief that he of the All Quiet on the Western Front  fame could hold an entire criminal empire in the palm of his hand) but he was effective in making a charming and likable crook, a usual site in pre-code ganger films.

            Another person you should keep an eye out for is a pre-Renfield, Dwight Frye, in bit part. He gets to do a drive-by shooting with machine-gun hidden in a violin case in the opening.True, he doesn't have time to go Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs and bug out his eyes in that gloriously insane way of his, but it's pretty great to see him comparatively sane role.

            Visually and plotwise it's rather conventional, with some exceptions. There are some lovely examples of using a camera to show, not tell, harkening back to the days of silent films. In addition, there are double-deals, betrayals, murders, a woman who has an affair with her husband’s best friend, a prison break, more gangster talk than you can shake a stick at, and of course, Cagney. In case you can't tell, this is definitely a must-see for any fan of old-school gangster films.

Doctor in the House (1954)

Dirk Bogarde enters medical school, and through his five years of training, juggles his lessons and horseplay with fellow classmates. A relationship with a nurse further adds to the complications.

            This amusing comedy has no real plot, per say. It mostly consists of vignettes surrounding Bogarde and his three medical school chums. Much of the amusement comes from the contrast between the juvilie activites the students do to pass the time: women chasing, playing rugby, drinking, etc and their very serious classes and studies.

            This was a very fun, sometimes hiloarious film. The acting was top notch, and the medical humor has not aged badly.

            To me, the biggest surprice was Dirk Bogarde. I think of him as a completely serious actor, and with exeption of So Long at the Fair this was the first time that I have seen him play something that was so…well…comic and happy.  And he was great! I especially love his reaction to when he discovers, after falling through the skylight (its complicated), that he has landed in the head nurse’s bedroom. Also amusing was Kenneth More, again an actor who I associate with serious roles, and again someone who pleasantly surprised me with his performace as a medical student who only decides to attempt to graduate by his girlfriend’s threat of going to Sweeden to marry a “real doctor.”

            All of this climaxes in probably the most epic chase involving an ambulance and a stuffed gorilla, and a very amusing final exam segment. Not all of the characters end up graduating, but they all end up in a happy ending.

            My advise? See it, especially if you’ve been to medical school.

New Video!

The cause for my lack of updates for almost two months! I have been working on the final for my Cinema class this semester. It was supposed to be a "personal narrative project". Therefore, I decided to illustrate my love of movies by using a combination of found footage and audio clips, the latter being used with myself and a friend reenacting scenes from movies.

Hope you enjoy it.

Footage and audio were taken from the following films (in alphabetical order):

Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
The Band Wagon (1953)

The Beggar's Opera (1953)
The Blob (1958)
Body and Soul (1947)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Contraband (1940)
Dark of the Sun (1968)
Death Race 2000 (1975)
Dinner at Eight (1933)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Gun Crazy (1950)
Guys and Dolls (1955)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Horror of Dracula (1958)
It's Love I'm After (1937)
Middle of the Night (1959)
Night and the City (1950)
Of Mice and Men (1939)
Picnic (1955)
Pretty Poison (1968)
Psycho (1960)
The Public Enemy (1931) 
Roaring Twenties (1939)
The Set-Up (1949)

Scarlett Street (1945)
The Spy in Black (1939)
A Star is Born (1937)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Tom, Dick, and Harry (1941)
The Trial (1962)
Warlock (1959)
White Heat (1949)
Winchester '73 (1950)
Winterset (1937)

Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941)

The life story of an college English teacher, from entering college to her retirement. Along the way, she must deal with happiness and disappointment, love and loss.

            Boy, oh boy, what to say about this movie. This is a stinker of a old melodrama. The sentimentalty and cloyness is so overpowers the film like a flood of molasses.

            How can it be this sentimental? Well get out your checklist of Elements of a Hollywood melodrama, and start checking the following things off: Sympathetic, self sacrificing main female character; everyone’s lives revolving around said female character; devoted male friend; sluttly relavtive/friend who steals love intrest; different love intrest is already married; flashbacks… the list goes on and on.

            It is worth noting that in the rare moments that this film is reviewed, it is often compared to Goodbye, Mr. Chips. That is easy to understand. After all, they both focus on the lives of a teacher. Alas, I myself cannot provided proper comparison, as I’ve seen just once years ago, and barely remember it.

            This was a rather forgettable movie, dispite Martha Scott providing a very good perferomance as the titular Miss Bishop, beliviably aging from her twenties to seventies. And Sterling Haloway (of Disney voice acting fame) creates some amusing moments as a Swedish gardner whose roses are always being trampeled.

            My biggest complaint was with how the film showed the passing of time: going over 50 years of history and relationships in 90 minutes allowed for a (relatively) fast moving story, but at the cost of beter understanding of other characters' motivations, in addition to their and their relationship with Miss Bishop.

Make Me a Star (1932)

A young man (Stuart Erwin) in a small town dreams of being a Western star. He goes to Hollywood and practically camps out at the casting office at a studio where his favorite actor works. Unfortunately, he lacks something important: talent. This does not deter him, and even when he has to rummage through tossed out lunchboxes for food, he keeps on waiting. Finally, a comic actress (the always wonderful Joan Bondell) takes pity on him, and regognizing his talent for unitentianl comedy, gets him hired for a comic western. There is catch: he thinks that he is a drama.

            Though there are certainly amusing moments, this is not a conventional Hollywood comedy. This one is actually carries an aura of bittersweetness. As much as we giggle at the Hero’s optimistic naivety and bad film acting throughout the film, we can’t help but feel sorry for him, and be haunted by the sence that any moment his dreams will come crashing down on him. The ending is also unusual in that spoiler alert it does not end up with the hero accepting his fate to be laughed at and staying in Hollywood: he is far too hurt and sad to actually do this, is on the way to go back home.

            But really the main the reason to see the film is just how it portrays Hollywood filmmaking. Just looking at the enormous cameras is worth the price of admission. There are also the boom mikes, carts used to well the cameras around, cardboard sets… the list goes on and on. Best of all, there is scene that shows the creation of an early form of blue screen effect. Except instead of using a blue screen, it was black velvet. Weird.

            Overall, if you are an old movie fan, and are courious to see how films were made in the early 1930’s, this is a must-see. Oh, and keep your eyes open: there are plenty of cameos of Paramount stars from the period.