WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[CineMaven]

Ingenue how do you dooooo?

I see Anita Louise will be on today in a movie with Gail Patrick ( one of my favorite "bridesmaids" ) in "RENO."

Hope all's well.

[feaito]

Today I watched "First Love" (1939) directed by Henry Koster and starring Deanna Durbin.

This was maybe the third Deanna Durbin movie I've seen, but I think it is my favorite. It moved like greased lightning, and while I wasn't that taken with Durbin herself, I loved how the movie intertwined the plots of "My Man Godfrey" and "Cinderella." At several points in the film I just laughed or cheered (particularly when the snooty cousin got frustrated.) Maybe it is just me, but it seemed to me that the movie allowed for a double perspective in that you could enjoy the sentiment and then laugh at it at the same time. Such as at the end of the film when Durbin is singing this tragic aria, and the camera cuts to a group of old maids weeping their eyes out. We go from being moved by Durbin's music, to laughing at ourselves for reacting like the old maids do, to suddenly feeling joy when Robert Stack walks into the room and Durbin rushes into his arms.

Given how well I thought everything worked together, it was a surprise to read that "First Love" was apparently quite an ordeal to make. Production started without a script and things fell behind schedule almost at once. However, that seems par for the course for Universal in 1939. Yet "Son of Frankenstein," "You Can't Cheat and Honest Man," "First Love," and "Destry Rides Again" did not end up as catastrophes but as films that remain enjoyable to the present day.

It's uncanny that you mention this Mike. I've been thinking for the last three or four months that I must revisit this film and "It Started with Eve", my two favorite Durbin films. Haven gotten around to watching them yet...

[JackFavell]

I watched The Keeper of the Flame last night. I have never seen the whole movie before. I couldn't help noticing the nod to Citizen Kane. The story of course lends itself to Kane-like references but what surprised me was the cinematography by Henry Daniels, who, along with Cukor, obviously knew Kane well enough to lift its style. Interesting.

LOVED Richard Whorf, who once again proves what an excellent, inventive actor he was; an almost unrecognizable Margaret Wycherly as the white-haired, crazy (or is she?) mother of the Great Man; Howard da Silva as the gate man, whose reverence for The Great Man is tinged with bitterness, and surprisingly Darryl Hickman, who pulls off some absolutely un-actable scenes and adds intensity I had never seen in him before. Tracy and Hepburn are quite good, I like Tracy very much here as the calm watcher and listener. Pace is slow.

[CineMaven]

Farewell Ricardo Cortez...helllooooo Farley and Cathy O.

[JackFavell]

[The Ingenue]

How do, Maven! All is very well, and more so by the day. Thanks for asking.

The Bridesmaid thread Wendy started looks so good, I almost don't want to read it and "use it up"--been sort of saving it. But I saw you put dibs on Gail Patrick and Melvyn Douglas. I love your post already. Is it written yet?

This past week I've been delving gleefully into a stash of Paramount films. And three of the movies were Gail's.



Do you know the story of how Jack Oakie and Mitchell Leisen contrived to keep her on at studio when the bosses were going to let her go? ( Drop a hat and I'll tell it. )

[CineMaven]

...The Bridesmaid thread Wendy started looks so good, I almost don't want to read it and "use it up"--been sort of saving it. But I saw you put dibs on Gail Patrick and Melvyn Douglas. I love your post already. Is it written yet?...Do you know the story of how Jack Oakie and Mitchell Leisen contrived to keep her on at studio when the bosses were going to let her go? ( Drop a hat and I'll tell it. )

Hiya. I haven't written up my post on Gail Patrick or Melvyn Douglas yet. ( Oy vey! ) What I have to do is IMDB them and see what movies of theirs I've seen. All in all, it's just my general movie sense that says these two are BridesMaids Supreme! But as for the "dibs" - that's why I didn't pick the really really BIG KAHUNA of BRIDESMAIDS: EVE ARDEN. I didn't want to take the best ones, though of course, anyone here is free to write about anyone. Oooh, there's another bridesmaid that I see no one has thrown a bouquet too yet. I've got to get busy.

Oh look...I dropped my hat. Tell me Ingenue, what's Gail Patrick story? I just recorded her in "RENO" this morning but haven't watched it yet. Glad all's well.

[The Ingenue]

Here are the stories, direct ( by way of a publisher ) from the mouths of the men who made them happen.

From Jack Oakie's Double Takes, pages 96 & 98:

• "One morning my agent, Morris Small, and I were sitting in my dressing room talking and looking out of my open door, when we noticed one of the most beautiful gals the studio had ever signed come out of the casting office. As she closed the door behind her, she took a handkerchief out of her purse and wiped her eyes. Morris and I could tell she had been crying. She adjusted a large folder she was carrying under her arm, drew herself up, and headed right for my dressing room. She stood outside the door trying to smile.
  
  "'Mr. Oakie, would you please autograph your picture for me?' she asked as she opened the folder. There were a dozen or more 8 x 10 glossy pictures of the stars at Paramount with my portrait right on top of the lot. She handed me the picture and burst into tears.
  
  "Here, here, things can't be that bad,' I said, as Morris and I helped her up into the dressing room and sat her down in a chair.
  
  "'I've got to go home,' she sobbed. 'The studio is not picking up my option.' She had won a 'Search for Beauty' contest [ Actually, Gail had been part of the Panther Woman contest, but let it ride... ] and had been given a short-term contract with Paramount.
  
  "'Well, now, going home can't be all that bad?' I asked, trying to be cheerful.
  
  But Morris, who was always the agant, took a good look at that beautiful girl and asked, 'Do you want to stay here in Hollywood?'
  
  "'Oh yes! I do!' she said quickly.
  
  "'Well, we'll see what can be done about it,' Morris said, and went into my back room to use the phone. In no time at all he came back and said, 'Now, little girl, you just sit right here.' Then he turned to me and said, 'Jack, watch this.'
  
  "In just a few minutes we saw Fred Datig, the head of the casting department, come dashing out of his door and, without hesitating, he came right straight for my dressing room. He paid no attention to Morris or to me. 'Oh good! Here you are!' he said to the beautiful gal. 'I've been looking all over the lot for you. Come on now, honey, you come right on back to my office; I want to talk to you.'
  
  "Morris and I watched the two of them hotfoot it back across the lot. 'Now, how did all that come about?' I asked.
  
  "Morris was smiling. 'It's the oldest trick in the book,' he said. 'I just called a couple of producers at Universal and RKO and asked them to call Paramount to inquire if the girl was available.'
  
  "That very beautiful gal stayed in Hollywood long enough to go from movies to television, and become the producer of one of the most popular shows in the history of television. Of course, the good old trick became obsolete when we lost the big studios, but I often wonder if Gail Patrick ever got the picture of what Morris Small did that day. I know she never did get my autograph, because I still have the picture she handed me and left behind."

And from an interview with Mitchell Leisen in David Chierichetti's Mitchell Leisen: Hollywood Director, page 76:

• "I just cast Gail Patrick [ in "Murder at the Vanities" ] because her option was coming up and the studio wasn't going to pick it up. When I put her in the picture, they had to renew her for another three months."

Jack Oakie was the star of that picture.

[CineMaven]

Oh wow, An'zhə nōō, ( ) that is a GREAT story. What a fantastic thing those two gents did for her. I'm telling you those moguls in the suits don't know a good thing when they see it. Yay for Gail Patrick!!

[JackFavell]

Awesome stories, Ingenue!

[Professional Tourist]

Last night I saw for the first time Dodsworth; found it on YouTube. Was so impressed I had to watch it twice. Most cinema of the 1930s doesn't generally impress me, but I found this one well executed. The story and the characters are all interesting. Probably the finest performance I've seen from Walter Huston.

Until last night, though, the name "Dodsworth" would bring to mind a certain cartoon cat.

[RedRiver]

DODSWORTH is good, solid, mature drama. Well played by all, especially Huston and the gentle Ms. Astor. There's not a trace in this character of the conniving femme she sometimes played. That's acting! I think I agree, Professional Tourist, this is the pinnacle of Walter Huston's impressive career. Fearless writing and William Wyler's straightforward directing make this one a real classic.

As for adaptations of Sinclair Lewis, I also like ELMER GANTRY. But where is this old BABBITT film I hear about? I still haven't seen that thing!

[Professional Tourist]

I did it, I had to watch Dodsworth again tonight. It's so good, I can't stand it!

[JackFavell]

I've only seen half of Babbitt, but it plays like a comedy for the most part from what I have seen. Not sure if the book is like that... I haven't read it, but I somehow think Sinclair Lewis didn't have a comic bone in his body.

[Professional Tourist]

I can't find a movie titled "Babbit" at the IMDb.
Perhaps I'll give Elmer Gantry a try tonight -- if I can stop myself from a fourth viewing of Dodsworth.