What Classics Did You See June 30 – July 6

Jigsaw / Fletcher Markle (1949). A low-budget film noir with potential. With better production values and maybe a work-over by an experienced script doctor, it might have been a classic. As is, it’s a watchable 72-minutes – even with the bad print on YouTube.
    Assistant D.A. Howard Malloy (Franchot Tone) is worried about the rise of potentially violent hate groups that he believes are set-up by organized crime to get money from members. As he investigates, he runs into a rouges galley of shady characters, including a nightclub singer, Barbara Whitfield (Jean Wallace), who is also quiet a looker. He romances her (even though he has a fiancé) to get inside information. The character Tone plays comes close to his Stuart Bailey in the excellent “I Love Trouble” from the previous year. The finale is the best scene in the film, a late-night shoot out in a closed and darkened art museum.
    Jean Wallace was married to first husband Franchot Tone at the time of the filming. Wallace also the female star in the noir classic “The Big Combo” (1950) opposite third husband Cornel Wilde. But don’t get me wrong. She didn’t have a big career but had the talent to justify her presence in film noir.





King of the Rocket Men / Fred C. Brannon (1949). For the generations who grew up during the Saturday Kid’s Matinee era and/or Saturday morning early television, the Rocket Man loomed large. The suit with the metal helmet with the atomic jet pack that enabled a man to fly was featured in four iterations with different hero names and actors. First came three 12-chapter cliffhanger serials with “King Of The Rocket Men” as the initial release. The other two, dated 1952, were: “Radar Men From The Moon” and “Zombies From The Stratosphere.” Famously, in “Zombies,” Lenord Nimoy played a bit part as an alien invader named Narab. Finally, a one-season kid’s series, “Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe” in 1953. Fred C. Brannon directed every frame of these productions.
    In this first, Jeff King (Tristram Coffin) is a scientist who does battle with the mysterious Doctor Vulcan who has criminally gotten riches in this sights. At the end of each chapter, the hero seems to have been killed so you have to see the next chapter (these were played every Saturday) to find out how he survived the car crash, explosion, fire, avalanche, etc. Jeff is helped by sidekick Burt Winslow (House Peters Jr.) and journalist Glenda Thomas (Mae Clarke). Clarke’s main claim to fame is being on the receiving end of half a grapefruit shoved in her face by James Cagney in “Public Enemy.”
    These serials are cheap and cheesy, but Dog help me, I luv’em.





Run Silent, Run Deep / Robert Wise (1958). Except for one brief early scene with Mary LaRoche, this is an all-male cast in one of the best of the WWII submarine movies. When the captain of the USS Nerka moves on, his exec, Jim Bledsoe (Burt Lancaster), expects a promotion to Captain, but is disappointed, as is the rest of the crew who respect Bledsoe, when an older man, P.J. "Rich" Richardson (Clark Gable) gets the call. Richardson is a man on a mission to find and sink the Japanese destroyer Akikaze which has sunk several U.S. subs in Japan’s Bungo Straits (a real place), including Richardson’s last ship. His obsession causes him to disobey orders to not venture into the Straits. But the real thrills come from the conflict between the two great actors and charismatic movie stars, Gable and Lancaster. When they butt heads, it is terrific drama. The underwater suspense is some of the best on screen. The interior of the Nerka is either a very detailed and authentic looking mock-up or was actually filmed inside a submarine. The actors were trained by real crewmen in the operation of the panels and controls giving a palpable realism to the action. On the crew of the Nerka are Jack Warden, Joe Maross, and Don Rickles in his film debut.





Slap Shot / George Roy Hill (1977). This is a sports comedy that reconnects Paul Newman with director George Roy Hill. Newman acted in Hill’s Best Director and Best Picture Oscar winner “The Sting” (1973).
Reggie Dunlop (Newman) is an aging pro hockey player/coach for an always losing minor league team, the Charlestown Chiefs, located somewhere in the U.S. northeast (major location shooting was in Johnstown, Pennsylvania). He fears the team will fold as the town’s major employer, a steel mill, is set to close putting most of the population out of work. To make the team attractive to buyers from other cities, he brings onto the team three child-like brothers who, when on the ice, turn into an unstoppable violent force turning any game into a free-for-all that create casualties. Not only do the fights and the blood please their fans, but they start winning. You know there are going to be complications.
    You may remember that I am a big fan of creative cursing (e.g. “Deadpool”) so “Slap Shot” is right in my wheelhouse. Many funny moments in and off the ice.
    Also in the cast are Michael Ontkean as the best player but who disagrees with Reggie’s tactic. Lindsay Crouse is Ontkean’s unhappy spouse, Jennifer Warren is Reggie’s ex-wife, and Strother Martin is the head office manager. Recommended





Damsel / Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (2024). The first thing we hear is a woman’s voiceover saying, “There are many stories of chivalry where the heroic knight saves the damsel in distress. This is not one of them.” The first thing we see is a King leading a group of Knights in pursuit of a dragon. Inside a cave, the dragon disposes of the Knights in short order. The King drops to his knees.
    Jump forward several centuries. In a foreign land during a brutal winter, the population faces mass starvation until the ruler, Lord Bayford (Ray Winstone), receives a proposal that his daughter Elodie (Millie Bobbie Brown) marry the son of the Queen of the island kingdom of Aurea, prosperous and in a warm climate. Seeing the deliverance of her own people, Elodie agrees. They are welcomed with pomp in Aurea and treated to luxury, but something seems a bit off although only Elodie’s stepmother Lady Bayford (Angela Bassett, not nearly on screen enough) notices it and becomes uneasy.
    This next part is not a spoiler as every review mentions it and even the single sentence summary at the database gives it away – Elodie is destined to be a sacrifice to the dragon. The Kingdom of Aurea has a requirement to sacrifice three princess to the dragon periodically or face destruction. Elodie is #3 for this cycle. Trapped underground, she has the impossible task of evading the dragon, which, is seems, no one has ever down before. Millie Bobbie Brown takes her character from naiveté to hardened survivor, looking to save herself, her younger sister (a delightful Brooke Carter), and see that the treacherous Aureans get what’s coming to them. Also with Robin Wright as the evil Queen, Nick Robinson as the proposed groom, and Shohreh Aghdashloo as the voice of the dragon. Recommended.





Great Performances at the Met
“Carmen” Season 18, Episode 5 (June 14 2024).

Encore performance by the Metropolitan Opera on PBS of Bizet’s perennial favorite. This was first streamed live to theaters on January 27, 2024.

Midsomer Murders
“Painted in Blood” Season 6, Episode 3 (January 17, 2003)

The Chelsea Detective
“The Gentle Giant” Season 1, Episode 3 (February 21, 2022)
“A Chelsea Education Season 1, Episode 4 (February 28, 2022)
……………………………………Season 1 Completed

The Brokenwood Mysteries
“Blood Pink” Season 2, Episode 4 (October 18, 2015)
……………………………………….Season 2 Completed

Peter Gunn
“Edie Finds a Corpse” Season 1, Episode 22 (February 23, 1959)
“The Dirty Word” Season 1, Episode 23 (March 2, 1959)

Lemme guess: it has something to do with the Letter A?

First viewings:

Homesman / Tommy Lee Jones (2014). A frontier farm woman (Hilary Swank) saves the life of a claim jumper (Tommy Lee Jones) and persuades him to help her escort three insane women to a safe haven in Iowa. Great cinematography, an outstanding though in many ways disturbing script, and beautiful direction by Jones, who also gives a superb performance, as does Swank. The rest of the excellent cast includes John Lithgow, Hailee Steinfield, Grace Gummer, Jesse Plemons, Tim Blake Nelson, and, in a small role toward the end, Meryl Streep. It was so much better than I expected; I found it to be quite haunting, in fact. I don’t understand why it didn’t get more attention when it was first released. I believe it’s a cinematic work of art. Highly recommended.



Christopher Bean / Lewis Allen / 20th Century Fox-Hour (1955). A quiet New England household is disrupted by an invasion of art dealers who take an unexpected interest in a painting owned by one of the servants. A poignant 45 minute story adapted from a play by Sidney Howard and presented on a television anthology series, starring Thelma Ritter, Gene Lockhart, and Mildred Natwick. Strongly recommended. Here’s a high quality YouTube version of it.



Re-watches:

Pinky / Elia Kazan (1949). A mulatto woman (Jeanne Crain) who passed for white in the North returns home to the South to visit her grandmother (Ethel Waters). There she tends to Miss Em (Ethel Barrymore) and confronts racism head on, leading her to confess the truth of her race to her fiancé (William Lundigan). Not a perfect or great film, but a very moving and important one, with a ground breaking story for the period. Beautifully directed by Kazan, with superb performances by all the actresses, who were all Oscar nominated (Crain — Best Actress; Barrymore and Waters — Best Supporting Actress). Strongly recommended for its historical significance, the cast and Kazan’s direction.







State Fair / Henry King (1933). The original version of novelist Phil Stong's tale of a family that finds love and adventure at the Iowa State Fair, which later inspired the Rogers and Hammerstein musical. Excellent direction by Henry King, with a wonderful cast, including Janet Gaynor, Lew Ayres, and Louise Dresser. But it’s Will Rogers who really shines as he navigates family concerns and worries about his beloved pig, Blue Boy. A highly enjoyable film that received a Best Picture Oscar nomination. Strongly recommended for those who appreciate the cast as well as its portrayal of rural life at that time. (Personal note: Phil Stong was my 3rd cousin, and I know that he was writing about his family in the small town in Iowa where he was raised.)







Golden Boy / Rouben Mamoulian (1939). A poor young man (William Holden in his film debut) is a violin virtuoso, but he wants to become a champion boxer to make a fortune for his family, though his father (Lee J. Cobb) wants him to pursue his musical talent. Barbara Stanwyck and Adolph Menjou are the other stars of the film, and, of course, Stanwyck is wonderful. Adapted from the play by Clifford Odets, it’s a solid, moving production, very well directed by Mamoulian. Some interesting side-notes: Cobb was only seven years older than Holden when the film was made, but he did a superb job playing Holden’s father. And originally produced by the Group Theatre on Broadway, the cast of the play included the later famous directors, Elia Kazan and Martin Ritt, and Frances Farmer [portrayed by Jessica Lange in the film Frances (LINK)], who played the Barbara Stanwyck role. Strongly recommended.



Torch Song Trilogy / Paul Bogart (1988). An excellent screen version of Harvey Fierstein’s hugely successful, multiple Tony Award-winning play, which Fierstein adapted and Bogart masterfully directed. It’s a challenging look at American gay life back in the seventies in which Fierstein plays a 1970s drag queen who falls in love twice and finally comes to terms with his self-absorbed mother (Ann Bancroft). Bancroft is perfect and Brian Kerwin and Matthew Broderick both give excellent performances as Fierstein’s lovers. But the film belongs to Fierstein, who’s brilliant in his starring, semi-autobiographical role. Strongly recommended.

I think it just might. 

I received a message from spiderwort asking if there is a protocol for putting the answer to the Mystery Frame under a “spoiler” tag. There is no protocol that I have ever set. Some use the spoiler, others just put it out there for the world to see, and some who know the answer will just hint at it. What does everyone else think? Should I ask that those who reply to the Mystery Frame to hide it, or just let posters answer any why they like.? Thanks, spidey, for bringing up the topic.

Still Nations Euro Cup Footboll or soccer, got a strange abstinence from not watching movies...

Mystery frame that is solved by now, never got further than silent and one of the Gish sisters.

Here are the movies Tele have lately seen...


Divergent 2014 directed by Neil Burger and based on a novel by Veronica Roth.
After the great wars are over and to prevent further wars people are divided into virtue categories, still someone get's itchy fingers and want to rule it all, we follow some rebels... and there are apparentltly sequels I didn't know about.
Not bad but it never engaged me, nice to see Kate Winslet as a calculating villlain, but as a whole not for me.


From Time to Time 2009 directed by Julian Fellowes and based on a novel by Lucy M. Boston.
Well this was a nice surprice, a well made ghost story I never heard of.
At tail end of WWII boy has to travel to relatives mansion, that might contain ghosts or at least ghost stories. And the boy is called by ghosts to solve an old mystery, where the old family treasures are hidden that's been lost for ages. Boy travels between 1944 and early 1800's not by choice but when he is needed.
Great actors like Maggie Smith made this a pleasure to watch.



Berserk 1967 directed by Jim O'Connolly.
The great Joan Crawford gives it her all even if she knows much of the story is banal, at least better than her final movie.
Someone is killing the top acts at a British travelling circus, and Scotland Yard is on the case.
It's not a horror movie that it's been labeled as, though some murders are gruesome, it's more of a murder mystery.
Thin story filled out by cardboard dialogue and characters, and what I guess was once top-notch circus acts, that now feels second rate.
Fun to have seen anyway.


Guys and Dolls 1955 directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and based on a stage musical.
Next to last movie from legendary producer Samual Goldwyn and last appearance of his Goldwyn Girls.
Legendary crap game organizer need 1000 USD quickly so he fools a gambler to date a Salvation Army officer, and that's were things go wrong...
It's too stage bound and too long, though sets are impressive. Liked how Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons threw themselves into rather vivid dance scenes.
Watched this with headphones and was impressed by the orchestrations and it swings hard, foot tapping results.


The Sniper 1952 directed by Edward Dmytryk.
Crime movie with a message, all juvenile crimes ought to be psychoanalyst early or they will commit crime after crime. Politicians likes short term sollutions, not long term sollutions that might prevent furure crimes.
Young man awkward to girls suddenly goes on a shooting spree and the police tries to puzzle it together, maybe they should have listened to the psychoanalyst.
Well made movie that should have been shorter, and good use of San Fransisco steep street locations.

Well that was all from me!

Trust me, I have.