Lured (1948) and On Our Merry Way (1948)

[moira finnie]

There are two films on TCM this evening, 3/9/09 that I don't think have been broadcast before. Perhaps they might interest you:

Lured (1948), directed by Douglas Sirk in high style, presents George Sanders as a good guy detective from Scotland Yard and Lucille Ball as a woman working with Scotland Yard who presents herself as bait to help draw a murderer out of hiding in London in this slightly satirical but enjoyable "gaslight melodrama". Among the suspects are Boris Karloff, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Alan Napier, and George Zucco. Btw, Boris Karloff's brief, highly amusing madman alone makes this movie worthwhile, but all the actors look as though they are having stylish fun, and I don't think that Lucy ever looked more beautiful than she does in this role. The flair with which this movie was made seems to indicate that Ball may have had finer potential as a dramatic actress than she is remembered for today. Considering that he is remembered as the most elegant of knaves in the movies, any time you get a chance to see Sanders be noble, stalwart and true (but never dull) is very refreshing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Our Merry Way (1948), an independent project produced in part by the star, Burgess Meredith with Benedict Bogeaus, concerns various answers to a roving reporter (Meredith) along the way in this episodic film to the question: 'Has a child ever changed your life?' By all reports the first sequence, featuring Jimmy Stewart & Henry Fonda (real life pals too) as two musicians trying to make it, is among the best. The second story concerns Dorothy Lamour (in her trademark sarong) and Victor Moore as movie extras coping with a spoiled child star. The last, featuring William Demarest and Fred MacMurray (hey, didn't these guys work together again??) in a variation on O.Henry's "The Ransom of Red Chief".


I've never seen this one, but the cast, the omnibus approach to storytelling and the writers and directors involved are intriguing. The script appears to have passed through the hands of Arch Oboler, John O'Hara, Lou Breslow and Laurence Stallings. Direction, officially undertaken by Leslie Fenton and King Vidor, also reportedly had the uncredited hands of John Huston and George Stevens at the till as well. Actor-Director Richard Whorf's son, David plays a brat in the movie, and Carl Switzer shows up as well. Then Mrs. Meredith, Paulette Goddard appears as Burgess' wife.

I hope you'll add your thoughts on these movies if you see them. Thanks.

[movieman1957]

I watched "On Our Merry Way" last year on DVD. ( Started a thread but apparently no one else saw it either.) The Stewart/ Fonda segment is fun. It is always a treat to watch them together. If for no other reason than that then you should see it. The other segments were'nt as interesting and the one that takes place on the movie set I remember as being a bit weird. They should have just made a movie on the Stewart/Fonda segment.

OK viewing.

[moira finnie]

I'm sorry, Chris. I did a search and On Our Merry Way didn't pop up, so I thought I'd put this in as a reminder to myself as well as others. I probably searched incorrectly.

[movieman1957]

Oh, that was just by way of a comment. Frankly, I've never understood the search feature here anyway. I'd put in something specific that I knew had not been discussed recently and I would would get all kinds of hits.

Didn't mean it for anything other than no one commented. Sorry.

[ChiO]

LURED, which should be pronounced (and spelled) LUR-ID, is a fascinating Sirkian romp. It is decidedly more in his noir column with SLEEP MY LOVE than in his late melodrama column. As noted, even if Sirk is not one's cup of tea, the Karloff scene alone makes this movie worth watching -- both joyous and bittersweet madness.

[MissGoddess]

I'm looking forward to seeing the Fonda/Stewart pairing at that point in their career (it has to be better than that leaden and painfully unfunny western where Jimmy inherits a brothel).

I have seen Lured but it didn't make much impression, I'll see if the second time is the charm,
especially considering how wonderful the cast and director are.

[movieman1957]

I'm looking forward to seeing the Fonda/Stewart pairing at that point in their career (it has to be better than that leaden and painfully unfunny western where Jimmy inherits a brothel).

You mean The Cheyenne Social Club. There were parts, the girls notwithstanding, that were funny. Oh well..

[MissGoddess]

lol, I'm sorry Chris!

But what I really wanted to say is....George Sanders is SO ATTRACTIVE in this movie!!

I'd forgotten just how attractive. I may have to get this DVD now.

Ok, I'm glad I got that off my chest.

[jdb1]

I was able to catch a portion of Lured, and I liked what I saw. This movie is just one more indication to me that I'm not wrong in my admiration of Lucille Ball as one of Hollywood's most beautiful women -- she looked absolutely gorgeous in every shot. She was quite good here -- if only she had been given more roles like this one.

Unfortunately, I missed all but the very first few minutes of the Karloff scenes. And yes, Sanders was pretty hot here, and one can see why he was such a success with the ladies, even if his character was called into question by many of his peers.

My quibble with the film is that it seemed too loosely constructed, a bit too leisurely in pace, and for this reason, I can't really think of it as a noir, which for my tastes must be forward-moving and cohesive. I found the tempo very uneven in what I saw.

[MissGoddess]

I watched about half of On Our Merry Way before I fell asleep. I did see the whole
section with Jimmy and Hank Fonda, which was cute. Quite a different sort
of milieu for them both. Jimmy sitting at the piano made me think of him
doing the same in Anatomy of a Murder. Chris, you're a pianist, do you think
he looks natural and believable tickling the ivories?

Good to see Harry James. He looked like an actor, didn't he? lol I love it when
he made a "cameo" in a movie. My favorite of his appearances is the one with Maureen O'Hara,
where she played a spinsterish music teacher. It was a Fox film, I forget the
title.

It would be cool if TCM also aired If I Had a Million, another similar movie to this
and Tales of Manhattan.

[jdb1]

Miss G, my recollection is that Stewart did play the piano, and I have fuzzy memories of him doing so on various variety shows, most notably the farewell episode of "The Carol Burnett Show," where he made a cameo appearance because Burnett frequently mentioned that he was her favorite actor. He was certainly playing the piano on his own there.

[MissGoddess]

Miss G, my recollection is that Stewart did play the piano, and I have fuzzy memories of him doing so on various variety shows, most notably the farewell episode of "The Carol Burnett Show," where he made a cameo appearance because Burnett frequently mentioned that he was her favorite actor. He was certainly playing the piano on his own there.

I've never seen his appearance on "The Carol Burnett" show, that must have been something!

I know he liked to play the accordian, and did so in NIGHT PASSAGE.

I didn't notice that they showed his hands actually playing the keyes in
On Our Merry Way, which is why I was curious.

They do show him playing in Anatomy of a Murder, though.

[movieman1957]

April:

From what I remember Stewart does play. How much and how well I don't know but he can play. He does play that stupid accordian in "Night Passage" so it is not a stretch to the piano. I recall it was realistic. I'd have a devil of a time playing something real hard but I might manage to fake it. I have seen the Stewart clip on Burnett and he does play there.

Jack Lemmon was also quite a pianist.

[MissGoddess]

Oh yes, I remember Jack playing the piano in Bell, Book and Candle.

[moira finnie]

I think Jimmy Stewart played both piano and accordion.

I can't remember which James Stewart biography had this, but one of the ones I read in a flurry of Stewartmania about a year ago mentioned that in the '30s as a shy, struggling actor with few sophisticated manners and little small talk, Jimmy would always appear, affable and mostly silent at the numerous rent parties his equally impoverished friends in the arts in NYC would give each week. He would invariably play the piano, but more often, as he had done in college and while beginning acting on Cape Cod, would play that darn accordion too, which he loved, (he seemed to use the squeezebox as an entree to others and as a shield between him and them). One of the people Stewart got to know at those parties was a young stage manager by the name of Anthony Mann.

Years later, armed with the script of Night Passage (1957), a story Stewart loved, in part because it allowed him to play "that stupid accordion" throughout the movie, he tried to convince director Anthony Mann that it really would be essential to Stewart's character in Night Passage to play this instrument and that the story had the same scope as those classic Westerns the two had made together. Mann, who'd heard about enough of that freakin' stomach Steinway, and thought the story had no real structure, gave it a pass, ending their collaboration and making Stewart pretty mad, or so they say.

Btw, I really loved the ease with which Stewart and Fonda played comedy together in On Our Merry Way. I do wish they'd appeared in more movies in tandem. How did you like Henry Fonda's stutter?