WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[movieman1957]

I saw a weird little two part film called "Actors and Sin." My first thought was "what was Ben Hecht smoking?"

It is a pair of odd stories. The first has Edward G. Robinson playing a retired stage actor whose daughter is an actress. Her mysterious death leads to a story of stardom, failure and weird behavior on her part. Robinson worships her and can find no wrong in her when it is obvious she is a selfish jerk. Robinson's character may have retired from the stage but everything is still a play to him. He is still acting. It's a weird role.

The second half is a comedy about a screenplay that a producer is hot to make a film from it. It turns out that is was written by a 9 year old girl. Some nice laughs but it too is a rather odd piece of work. The child is played very well by Jenny Hecht. I assume it is Ben's daughter.

It is a weird 90 minutes. I hesitate to recommend it but it may just fit someone's taste.

[JackFavell]

It sounds like me!

[moira finnie]

I saw a weird little two part film called "Actors and Sin." My first thought was "what was Ben Hecht smoking?"
The second half is a comedy about a screenplay that a producer is hot to make a film from it. It turns out that is was written by a 9 year old girl. Some nice laughs but it too is a rather odd piece of work. The child is played very well by Jenny Hecht. I assume it is Ben's daughter.

Above: Ben Hecht directing Jenny in the "Woman of Sin" sequence.

I thought that the second part of the movie, "Woman of Sin," about the little girl besting some Hollywood types, was rather disturbing. I guess it was supposed to be a comedy, but it seemed too shrill and went on too long to make its points nimbly. The girl who played the lead, I later learned, was the daughter of Ben Hecht and his wife, Rose Caylor. The precocious Jenny Hecht (b. 1943) became an actress early in life, playing the leading lady as a child in a version of The Helen Hayes Story and appearing in the movie you have just seen. The year after this movie was made she appeared on Broadway with Mark Stevens and Geraldine Page in a play called Mid-Summer by Vina Delmar. Unfortunately, Ms. Hecht's on-stage shenanigans and her mother's aggressive defense of her child so alienated her co-star Mr. Stevens and the management of the play that the girl left the production before the play closed after 109 performances after Equity threatened to intervene in the dispute.

After study at the American Academy of Dramatic Art, Jenny eventually joined the radical theatre group run by Judith Malina and Julian Beck, "The Living Theatre." As a member of the troupe that was based in NY and Europe for a time, she lived communally and adopted the counterculture's more anarchic tendencies, staging dramatic political gestures, pursuing a bohemian way of life, and, unfortunately, falling prey to immoderate drug use in those turbulent years. Increasingly caught up in drug experimentation and the paranoia of that period, Hecht moved to Los Angeles in 1971 for a small role in a biker flick, The Jesus Trip. Jenny Hecht died of an overdose in a motel room right after the film was completed, 7 years after her father's death. She was survived by her mother and a much older stepsister from her father's first marriage, Edwina Armstrong (b. 1916), who had also worked as an actress. Ms. Armstrong is believed to be still living.

Above: Jenny Hecht as an adult.

[movieman1957]

I didn't find it all that disturbing except for Eddie Albert asking to have the daughter turned over to him and the mother so willing to do it.

There was one funny line. "What are you doing beating those children - so early in the day." It was kind of funny the way Eddie would kiss his secretary and her being so nonchalant for about five seconds and then joining in.

Interesting reading on Jenny. She seemed pretty loose in the part. That is very unlike the boy who couldn't have been more wooden.

After watching I wasn't so surprised when I remembered Ben wrote, produced and directed it as I can't imagine anyone else giving him a go ahead on it. Also a little surprised with Robinson's involvement.

The whole thing was just odd.

[MikeBSG]

Today I watched "Home from the Hill" (1959) directed by Vincente Minnelli.

Wow. Usually this film is treated as an afterthought to "Some Came Running." And while there is nothing in "Home from the Hill" to compare to the carnival scene in "Some Came Running," I was really impressed by "Home from the Hill."

Robert Mitchum was great as the old patriarch. I believed in the character, in his feud with his wife, and in his domination of the town. But George Peppard and George Hamilton were both wonderful as his sons. I don't think Peppard was ever better in anything, and Hamilton was convincing as a near-Norman Bates who almost becomes the son his father wants him to be.

The action scenes were wonderful, especially the hunting of the wild boar. The relationships were also intelligently handled.

I went into this film thinking it would be like "Giant" or "Written on the Wind." Instead, it seemed to be a "Splendor in the Grass" a few years before the fact. But I liked this much better than "Splendor."

[RedRiver]

I thought I'd seen HOME FOR THE HILL, but this is not ringing a bell. Either I've totally forgotten it or I was thinking of another movie. I have a hard time with SOME CAME RUNNING. I like the 1950s small town atmosphere. Like some (not all) the characters. The thing is just too gloomy for me. I don't mind tragedy, drama, dark crime stories. But this is misery. There's no cheer. I can't bring myself to care about any of these wretched people.

Love Dean's hat, though!

[MikeBSG]

Watched "Fallen Angel" (1945) directed by Otto Preminger.

I really liked this. The plot is not the typical noir story. Dana Andrews isn't a private eye or a crook. Linda Darnell was very appealing as the femme fatale. You could see why she had four men after her.

What impressed me was how this film dug into the small town and found shadows, scandal and heartbreak there. In some ways, this reminded me a bit of "Shadow of a Doubt," but, of course, the plots were quite different.

The only problem was that the last scene has been copied so many times it felt like a letdown. Still, that isn't Preminger's fault.

A very enjoyable noir experience.

[mongoII]

Just watched "Hitchcock" with Anthony Hopkins on HBO. It was about the making of "Psycho" which I learned a few interesting tidbits about (Paramount didn't want to finance it, of cause when it turned out to be boffo, it was a different story). More time is given to his wife Alma and her frustrations living with such a man (genius). Hopkins did his best in the role. Was surprised at his attitude towards Vera Miles, who apparently left him high and dry. The movie was interesting, in any event.

[MikeBSG]

I saw "Hitchcock" back in April and enjoyed it a lot. I thought Hopkins was really good. Can't understand why a lot of critics seemed to hate the movie.

[RedRiver]

I like FALLEN ANGEL a lot. Great atmosphere, both in its depiction of small town life and the dark look that suits the theme. I knew somebody in Chicago who said, "People think big cities are dangerous. It's the small towns that scare me. The minute you get off the bus, people are watching you." I think she had a point!

I tend to confuse this with another good Preminger film, ANGEL FACE, due to the silmilar titles. Both dramas are good, but FALLEN ANGEL is the better, I think.

[movieman1957]

I found a real treat in "Together Again" with Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. Dunne plays a mayor of a small Vermont town who, in the wake of her late husband's statue getting its head blown off, goes off to NY to interview Charles Boyer about making a new one. (There is a feeling of "Theodora Goes Wild" in it.) They get to know each other as they determine if the town is ready for Boyer or the other way around.

Charles Coburn plays Dunne's father-in-law and he is determined to get Irene married again. So, this looks promising to him but misunderstandings and an infatuation from Irene's step daughter for Boyer get in the way and, naturally, complications abound.

It's fluff but really fun fluff. Some amusing situations and some funny lines made this a very nice discovery.

[JackFavell]

Chris, it's unforgivable, but I MISSED Together Again when it was on recently. I'm such an idiot! I really wanted to see it, and I've read so many mixed reviews I didn't know what to think. This makes me wish I'd seen it. It must be good with those two in it... they had such chemistry.

[movieman1957]

They did have fun. This is the kind of role Dunne can do in her sleep but she does it so well. To be honest about it a friend called and asked if I would record it for her. I'd never heard anything about it. We visited Sat. night and that was our movie.

We're not talking "The Awful Truth" or "My Favorite Wife" but it was something new and all four of us enjoyed it.

[JackFavell]

I'm appreciating some of the less great films lately anyway, so the idea of 'pleasantly surprised' at a movie is good too. I'll watch pretty much anything with Boyer anyhoo.