...at least not in this thread, which is devoted to the films made with Gene Kelly, journeyman actor, not the dazzling dancer. Kelly himself denigrated his own dramatic efforts, but a few of us really like the man when he puts the dancing slippers away and takes on a few roles that required him to be a mere mortal.
Above: Gene Kelly in one of his earliest and best non-musical films, The Cross of Lorraine (1943).
To begin, here's a subjective list of my favorite non-musical Gene Kelly movies in order of preference. None of them are ever going to make any critics "best of" lists, but Kelly was better than he knew in some of these movies (while some really make you wonder). Too bad it is difficult to find some of these on DVD or on the TCM schedule:
Cross of Lorraine (1943) Marjorie Morningstar (1958) The Devil Makes Three (1953) Black Hand (1950) Christmas Holiday (1944) Pilot #5 (1943) The Three Musketeers (1948) The Happy Road (1957) Inherit the Wind (1960) Crest of the Wave (1954) Love Is Better Than Ever (1952) - cameo Viva Kneivel (1977) 40 Carats (1973)
I shall try to share views about these movies in detail in the near future, but I hope you'll compose your own lists and comments about this neglected side of Gene Kelly's storied career. To get us started, there is one almost totally unknown movie that Kelly made while serving in the U.S. Navy-- Combat Fatigue Irritability (1945), or, as I like to call it, "Aw--For Chrissake!"...you'll see why, and hear our Gene swearing like a...sailor! But not like the one he played in Anchors Aweigh or On the Town. Cover the ears of Jerry the Mouse, and enjoy the way a movie about post traumatic stress disorder might have sounded at the end of WWII without those buttinskys at the Production Code office. Btw, Gene is believable as a simple swabbie whose emotions are roiling after his exposure to war and his return to life in "These United States" but the Navy medicos seem determined to cheer the guy up.:
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Thank you Moira. I haven't time to watch the video clips but I will be making time to watch them.
I've seen three of his serious films, the first I saw was Christmas Holiday and I tended to agree with his own assessment of himself although I was rather new to noir drama I wouldn't necessarily feel that way today. The second I saw was Marjorie Morningstar and it was a completely different experience, I've read he was playing the guy he might have been had he not found fame in Hollywood but I don't think so, Gene was a clever man, I don't see him as a smaller time entertainer. He nails it in this movie, I can see why Natalie likes him, he has to have enough about him to hold her attention for longer than a summer time romance. He's really great here, I wonder why he didn't have more of an acting career? Perhaps it was his young children. Lastly I watched The Cross ofLorraine which reassured me that it wasn't just Marjorie Morningstar that I saw a good performance but one here too in a cast packed with names more known for their straight acting, he wasn't out of place.
I think Gene was wrong in his own assessment.
Then I remember I've seen Inherit the Wind because I remember reading how Gene so admired the acting of Spencer Tracy, a little more difficult to rate him here as there are two barnstorming performances by Tracy and March, his character, that of a newspaper man was a secondary character but he more than held his own.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
Gene Kelly's Film List Provided by Moira!
Thanks Moira for creating this list for me to use!
Cross of Lorraine (1943)
Marjorie Morningstar (1958)
The Devil Makes Three (1953) Black Hand (1950)
Christmas Holiday (1944)
Pilot #5 (1943) The Three Musketeers (1948)
The Happy Road (1957) Inherit the Wind (1960)
Crest of the Wave (1954)
Love Is Better Than Ever (1952) - cameo Viva Kneivel (1977)
40 Carats (1973)
All the movies in Bold ... those I've seen ... I recently saw both The Three Musketeers (on TCM) and Black Hand while vacationing in CANADA and I wished Gene Kelly made more of these types of movies than his traditional musicals and comedies. I admired his ability to act in those movies in bold and I often wonder if he done more of them in his stellar career.
This was one very talented man. I like him better than Astaire. His dancing was a little more controlled. His singing better. And he was a good actor. His character in INHERIT THE WIND is the most interesting in the story. He plays it admirably.
I'm going to completely disagree with you Red, I like Gene's singing but it can be a little thin, whereas I think Fred's singing is one of his real talents. Interestingly though, Fred never really did straight acting at all I don't think, so we must be grateful that MGM did allow Gene time to play some straight roles. One of Gene's real strengths is the ability to play the big tough guy who also has such a huge streak of vulnerability running through him.
I do agree with you about Inherit The Wind, Gene's character was the most interesting and to not get lost in between Tracy and March is something else, he played it as straight as they come and I'm sure he thought he was an amateur amongst two old pros nothing could be further from the truth.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
Well after watching that youtube movie I'm even more convinced that he was better than he believed. I wonder if it's a movie that many saw? Was it shown to the armed forces as they demobbed or only the ones who might have been suffering from similar?
Regarding Gene Kelly's war work am I right in thinking he was in the photography and film division of the navy and directed some pictures and this stood him good stead to broaden his career at MGM?
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
charliechaplinfan wrote:I'm going to completely disagree with you Red, I like Gene's singing but it can be a little thin, whereas I think Fred's singing is one of his real talents. Interestingly though, Fred never really did straight acting at all I don't think, so we must be grateful that MGM did allow Gene time to play some straight roles.
If you like Fred Astaire's way with a song, I hope that you have a chance someday to get the lovely and intimate recording of Steppin' Out: Astaire Sings that the dancer did in 1952 with Oscar Peterson on piano and other jazz greats in the background. It is absolutely one of my favorite albums with Fred doing enchanting, off-hand versions of familiar Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Kern and Gershwin songs associated with his films (They Can't Take That Away From Me, A Fine Romance, The Way You Look Tonight and more).
Kelly himself did not like his singing much, but he could use his reedy voice expressively, conveying great, expansive charm as well as emotional tenderness in some songs. I agree that Gene's singing voice was a bit thin but I really enjoyed his singing "Long Ago and Far Away," "I Got Rhythm," "Our Love Is Here to Stay," and "You Are My Lucky Star" "The Heather on the Hill," and "It's Almost Like Being in Love." A comprehensive and descriptive list of the available CDs with Kelly singing can be seen here.
Sadly, there doesn't appear to be any cast recording of the original 1940 Broadway version of the Rodgers & Hart adaptation of John O'Hara's Pal Joey, which was the breakthrough show for Kelly. The excellent songs and the sharp story fit Kelly like a glove, but, for a man who could exude self-confidence, on Christmas Night, 1940 when the musical opened, he was said to have been so terrified, that he crushed the hands of the equally nervous chorus girls whenever they danced together. Below is a clip of Kelly dancing with his brother Fred and a few moments from that hit show, with comments by Adolf Green and others in the background. I'd love to see all of this silent film (taken surreptitiously by a theater-goer). The clip was included as a brief part of the American Masters program on PBS, Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer. What a shame that MGM did not permit him to make the film version when he was still appropriately young enough for the part!:
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charliechaplinfan wrote:Well after watching that youtube movie I'm even more convinced that he was better than he believed. I wonder if it's a movie that many saw? Was it shown to the armed forces as they demobbed or only the ones who might have been suffering from similar?
Regarding Gene Kelly's war work am I right in thinking he was in the photography and film division of the navy and directed some pictures and this stood him good stead to broaden his career at MGM?
From what I have read, Kelly's work in the Navy involved preparing and shooting training films, organizing entertainment for service personnel, visiting hospitals, ship yards and working at the Naval Photographic Science Laboratory in Washington D.C. I'm not sure that MGM saw their contractee's service as much more than a good publicity opportunity for them ( there had been pressure from the studio to delay or defer his participation in the war, but he was quite determined to go in). I suspect that having the chance to work on all aspects of filmmaking away from the studio caste system probably increased Kelly's understanding of the process and the challenges involved in the medium and may have contributed to his increasing interest in innovative approaches to the musical later on. I am not sure how many soldiers and sailors would have seen this film, though the National Institute of Health has included the movie in their archive since 1955, when it ceased being used widely in the services and was donated to the NIH.
Gene Kelly's naval film unit was also responsible for making a movie called Submarine Warfare: Now It Can Be Told (1945) which Kelly narrated in large part. The movie used previously classified film footage showing submarine techniques in the the war, as well as outlining the history of submarine development from the 17th century on. You can see the film below:
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They also made Treasury Salute no. 314. What’s the Matter with Steve about the unappreciated role of those in the quartermaster and The Names on a List, spotlighting the wounded GI as a human being, not just a fighting unit.
I am not sure that Kelly was really comfortable with the publicity machine that followed him into the Navy. He went in as an ordinary seaman, (later rising to Lieutenant Junior-Grade), but, according to several biographies, when in the presence of real sailors and soldiers, was quite embarrassed by the sanitized versions of Naval and Army life that appeared in movies (esp. Anchors Aweigh). Visiting hospitals left him particularly anguished, (one tour saw him visiting 26 different hospitals in 26 days) and Kelly rarely spoke about these experiences later, unless it was to belittle his own wartime service.
From Gene Kelly, Creative Genius, these stories appeared in the newspapers about the making of Combat Fatigue Irritability:
The Williamsport Sun. Friday February 16th 1945
Precision timing is required of actors, directors and cameramen in shots such as the one made at Pennsylvania Railroad station. Kelly alights from a train 'home on leave' purportedly – actually he boarded the train at Muncy and rode into the city for this scene...
The movie set is on Second Avenue, chosen as a residential street in a typical American city. The avenue takes on a distinctly Hollywood atmosphere as tracks are set up for the 'dolly' – moving platform for camera – while actor Kelly stands alone, but the target of a long line of admiring glances. Some onlookers even gave up their lunch so that they could feast their eyes on Gene Kelly...
Newspaper article. 1945. Source unknown. This Is About Gene Kelly And That's All It's About. By John Maynard
Until a day or so ago, Kelly resided in a state of some disorder in a little house on Georgetown's Q Street, one he took over from Actor-Navyman Richard Carlson. When he returns from a pending junket to Astoria, he will move into an Anacostia apartment...Kelly lives with a dance director named Jack Ray and he's in the Navy too. Both men are assigned to the motion picture end of the Photographic Science Laboratory... They have had to change their home phone number once, when it somehow became bobbysock property...
The motion pictures he makes for the navy concern such subjects as battle fatigue, amputees and radar, and he is very proud and pleased at having a part in the work. His greatest thrill, he says, was a “well done” from Secretary Forrestal over a contribution he made. To learn about battle fatigue, he lived for weeks with veterans suffering from it...
The recent ruckus over his abrupt elevation to one-and-a-half stripes hurt him some. He didn't, and doesn't to this day, blame other enlisted men who might have been disgruntled, but he does remember that he started in the ranks and made it via boot camp in San Diego, and that no attacks were made on actors who were commissioned on the lot.
I really share your regret Moira that Pal Joey wasn't made with Gene Kelly starring in it, I'd read that it was in part to punish him for his wife's left wing views and activities and his refusal to distance himself from her, even though they were to divorce a short while later, his loyalty was touching and Betsy never said a bad word about him, appearing on a BBC documentary some years ago she had me convinced that she was his widow, I didn't know anything about him at the time but ex wives don't usually reminise so tenderly.
I didn't want to give the wrong impression about his singing voice, although I think it's thin, I do enjoy his renditions, especially the ones you mention Moira, they're my favourites too, Long Ago and Far Away is unmatched although sung by many more competent singers. He made three movies with Frank Sinatra, often singing duets, they compliment one another's voices, Frank's pure but his character is often the junior partner in their escapades, Gene's rougher, he's usually the big brother type.
What you've written about his war time exploits has filled in my gaps. I think he would have liked to have seen 'proper' combat and although in the service he was in a branch of the service that didn't see active combat. He had the touch of the common man, something he never lost, I think he really related to the blue collar working class man and they to him, Fred was a good dancer but I can't see many working class men relating to Fred's troubles, I do see that with Gene.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
to watch too :!: