The Big Shakedown - 1934 (Day 17)

My Take:

One of the last films to be made before the Hays code kicked in and sanitized most of Hollywood. This is a good old noir/crime that’s uneven throughout, but I kinda like it.

The end of prohibition has the mob investing in new ventures, including bootlegging pharmaceuticals. 

It has an underlying attitude, knowing the end of the line is almost here. Bette Davis played the good girl in this film, but still manages to be one of the best aspects. This was her twentieth film is a three year span at Warners. Ricardo Cortez, who plays Dutch Barnes, looks a lot like Michael Fassbender, a baddie I enjoyed watching. The acid bath scene in the end (and plenty others) would never have flown a year later when the code went into effect.

What I Liked:

The fact that it’s a pre-code film, they're fascinating to watch.

What I Didn't Like:

Very little.

What I Learned:

What digitalis is… (AKA Foxglove) it’s used for drug preparations containing cardiac glycosides, particularly one called digoxin, extracted from various plants of the genus to help control the heart rate.

The Sniper - 1952 (Day 16)

My Take:

This was a dark movie all around. A sexually depraved man goes on a killing spree targeting women who’ve scorned him.

See, Eddie Miller has some mother issues and wants to connect with someone, anyone, but his compulsiveness overpowers him and takes aim at the big city.

The subject matter was bleak and the movie was stark… Part noir, part social study, think of it as an after work special for the adults. I was surprised they showed as much violence as they did in this film due to the censors.

What I Liked:

Arthur Franz, who plays the antagonist, didn’t overact in this one, because there was plenty of real estate where that could have happened.

What I Didn't Like:

A little too slow for me, the film should have been shorter.

What I Learned:

This was the first movie directed by Edward Dmytryk since his Hollywood blacklisting years earlier. He went to jail for not talking but then changed his mind a few months later, giving up the names, and in return ruining his career.

Come September - 1961 (Day 15)

My Take:

The cast had me intrigued to watch this film. Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee. A nice mix of Hollywood A-listers, teen music idols and Gidget.

Familiar romantic comedy… full of misunderstandings and musical interludes. The film was so-so; it didn't give me anything to latch onto, although I did like the fact that it was shot entirely in Italy.

It’s full of frivolity, merriment and good old fashioned sixties hijinks, but little else, the script is weak, the acting is mediocre and the singing gets tiresome.

What I Liked:

Sandra Dee was fun to watch as a lovelorn teen determined to grow up. Dee and Bobby Darin fell in love on the set and married soon after... collaborating on the screen in two more films in the next four years.

What I Didn't Like:

There wasn't much chemistry between Rock and Gina, not that I was looking for romance, but this is supposed to be a ROM-COM.

What I Learned:

Due to weather issues, this film took almost a full year to film… they should have taken the hint from Mother Nature and stepped away.

The Jazz Singer - 1927 (Day 14)

My Take:

This film is famous for various different reasons, some good… some bad. It’s widely praised as being the first film with synchronized dialogue in the era of silent movies, but there are only a few short scenes that contain actual speaking, most of the film plays like a silent. The intention of Warner Brothers was to use the Vitaphone technology to showcase Al Jolson’s singing (which contain dialogue) as the first film with synchronized sound. It must have been something almost ninety years ago to experience this revelation.

The black face scene towards the end of the film wasn't shocking, but rather uncomfortable, distracting and far removed from where we are today. The story here is really the son breaking away from his family to strike it out on his own and deciding not to follow in his father’s footsteps. The religious aspect was a big theme back then, sure there were other Jewish films, but this one delved deeper and kept it grounded.

Jazz was much different back in the twenties than it is today, with the inclusion of ragtime and minstrel. The slower jazz songs here just drag on.

What I Liked:

Jolson’s rendition of Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies,” because it shows the most genuine moment in the film and he’s able to ‘speak’ to his mom after the performance. And, I grew up on Willie Nelson’s version, which I still dig.

What I Didn't Like:

The third act.

What I Learned:

Warner Brothers quickly abandoned the Vitaphone process in 1932 due to the cumbersome nature of the product and the advancement of better technology.

Russian Ark - 2002 (Day 13)

My Take:

I’m not sure why this film, released just twelve years ago, was on TCM but I'm thankful I stumbled across it.

In a word: Remarkable! One continuous steadicam shot, over ninety minutes, through the halls of The Hermitage, involving over 4,500 people in front/behind the camera.

Told in part from the POV of an unseen man who has no idea where he is until he meets an aristocrat from the 19th century who becomes the storyteller. The two stroll through the entire Hermitage museum in St Petersburg, Russia, encountering people from the past and present. It took a few moments to acclimate at the beginning with the mixture of subtitles and loads of people, but once I knew where I was, it was fascinating.

What I Liked:

Sergey Dreyden who plays the aristocrat, was a trip to watch, both eccentric and smart, he had my attention throughout… and I loved the way he held himself, literally.

What I Didn't Like:

Nada

What I Learned:

The Hermitage agreed to shut down the museum for one day to accommodate filming and capture everything. The first three takes were busted due to technical difficulties, but the fourth was a success.

Wildcat Bus - 1940 (Day 12)

My Take:

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Fay Wray, blah blah blah blah. Blah, blah blah blah blah blah swell blah blah, blah, and blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah; bus wars blah blah Federation Bus Line, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Charles Lang?!

Blah! Blah! Blah!

Blah B-movie blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah? Revenge blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Wildcatters.

What I Liked:

Blah blah blah blah blah 1933 blah blah blah blah blah blah. King Kong blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, Hubba – Hubba blah blah blah blah blah blah. 1928 - 1940 blah blah blah blah blah.

Frank Woodruff blah blah blah blah.

What I Didn't Like:

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah car chase blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

What I Learned:

RKO Radio Pictures blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah… blah and blah.

The Gay Divorcee - 1934 (Day 11)

“Chance is the fool’s name for fate.”

My Take:

I’m not much of a song and dance man, and I still won't be after viewing this film… BUT... this musical farce was a classically great flick through and through. It had me enthralled from the start. Astaire’s character is immediately smitten with Rogers and chases her around London unaware that she’s married, but wants out of it. High jinx ensue and then everybody breaks out in song and dance.

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers really did have incredible chemistry together. This was their second film collaboration and after the first (Flying Down to Rio) Astaire didn't want to pair up with Rogers again. It wasn't that he didn't like her, but rather he wanted to strike it out on his own, but he relented and the rest is history.

Up for best picture against the likes of The Thin Man, Imitation of Life and It Happened One Night, it would lose to the latter, but it did win Best Original Song (the first time this award was given) for “The Continental.”

What I Liked:

The “Let’s K-nock K-nees” scene was bizarrely fascinating and featured an eighteen-year-old Betty Grable, the future number one pin up girl during WWII.

What I Didn't Like:

The last dance scene lasted over seventeen minutes (the longest in history until Gene Kelly broke the record) and I was getting bleary eyed half way through.

What I Learned:

The Hays Office was insistent that the name be changed from The Gay Divorce to The Gay Divorcee because they didn't want divorce to be portrayed as something that was lighthearted in nature.

Journey Into Fear - 1943 (Day 10)

My Take:

Clocking in at a brisk one hour and eight minutes, Journey Into Fear tells the story of a Navy Engineer (Cotten) pursued by Nazis aboard a ship bound for America. I’m a huge film noir fan and I’ve seen my share, but there was a reason why this film was so short… there was nothing to it, a very thin storyline. I needed more Orson Welles; every time he shows up on screen, it propels the story forward ten fold. The man had such gravitas! The Mexican born Dolores del Rio (Josette) was quite a looker. Getting her start in the silent film era, she rose to fame through the thirties and eventually hooked up with Orson Welles off-screen for a long running Hollywood affair.

What I Liked:

Even though most of the film took place aboard a ship, the lighting was throughout was perfect.

I also, liked the creepiness of the opening scene with Banat (the baddie).

What I Didn’t Like:

The ending. It was building up to be pretty epic, but fell flat.

What I Learned:

Never leave the ship cabin without your gun. 

The Bride Goes Wild - 1948 (Day 9)

original artwork by Scott Hays / 

My Take:

Typical yarn about two mismatched people thrown together who eventually fall in love. Van Johnson plays a womanizing playboy and an author of children’s books. June Allyson is an artist who has won a nationwide contest to bring his latest character to life. The problem? She’s a tea-toddler and he’s likes the hard stuff. The film was light on its feet and funny at times; I thought Hume Cronyn, who played Van’s publishing agent, was the best part of the film. There’s a nice foreshadowing moment for Hume, at an hour and five minutes into the film, that references one of his best-known modern films from the 1980’s.

What I Liked:

June Allyson, she has a pinch of Judy Garland in her, yet very unique. She had perfect comedic timing and smoky voice to boot.

What I Didn’t Like:

Not much, it’s a brisk little comedy with nothing too offensive.

What I Learned:

All about coffee Tasmanian style... and that the hat Van Johnson was wearing was called a beaver, which June's character was sitting on at one point... he makes a racy comment about it (if you watch it, you'll see).

The Hunchback of Notre Dame - 1939 (Day 8)

original artwork by Scott Hays

My Take:

If you were to compile a list of the most important advancements in human history, you would have electricity, vaccinations, the wheel and the steam engine, just to name a few. But the one that stands above them all is the printing press. Gutenberg’s creation sparked the age of enlightenment and was the first innovation to spread the democratization of knowledge throughout the world. This theme is reflected throughout the film threatening the sanctity of the church. If you were to give the common man knowledge on paper, would they stop coming to church to listen to the word of God… a new way of communication that would erase the past? This was just one of the many themes that still resonate in today’s society, which makes The Hunchback of Notre Dame a timeless classic.

I enjoyed the film, but I wasn’t fully wowed by it. It’s heartbreaking, insightful and epic, but the overacting, especially Edmond O'Brien as Gringoire, was a turn off.

What I Liked:

The energy and insight in the opening of the film was a smart setup.

What I Didn’t Like:

The ending might have seemed epic in 1939, but was ultimately a letdown and the last line delivered by Quasimodo left me wanting more.

What I Learned:

Trial by ordeal was simply put… messed up! There was absolutely no common sense attached to the practice of proving guilt or innocence by guessing correctly while being blindfolded. Now, there were other ways to conduct trial by ordeal throughout history, such as trial by fire or even Sassywood… but WTF?

The Roaring Twenties - 1939 (Day 7)

original artwork by Scott Hays

My Take:

1939 was a banner year for movies. The Wizard of Oz, Gone With The Wind, Wuthering Heights, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington… the best picture nominees from that year were all indelible classics. One film that gets lost in the shuffle is The Roaring Twenties. I was engaged from the start, mainly due to James Cagney, he has an aura about him that you just can’t ignore. Set mostly during the prohibition years, the story follows Eddie as he leaves WWI and can’t find a decent job anywhere, until prohibition hits, and then he’s running liquor. The movie does cross the famous Black Friday stock market crash in 1929, so the situation starts to dry up for old Eddie. A rise and fall theme, that’s totally engrossing.

Cagney loved to shove objects in people’s faces; the most famous being the cantaloupe in Mae Clarke’s kisser from “Public Enemy,” and he continues that theme here. Cagney also hits a lot of folks in this film, but have you ever noticed how he tucks his thumb underneath his fingers when doing so? That is not a proper technique.

What I Liked:

At two hours, the movie moved quickly, it didn’t linger anywhere, the pacing was ahead of its time.

What I Didn’t Like:

Seeing Bogart scared, that scared me.

What I Learned:

How to make bathtub gin

Bright Leaf - 1950 (Day 6)

original artwork by Scott Hays

My Take:

“The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire, we don't need no water, let the mother***er burn.” And so goes the story of Brant Royal (Gary Cooper), the cigarette baron of Kingsmont, Old White Man Country. You could create a drinking game based off of how many times Brant utters the word burn towards the end of the film. Brant wasn't always the kingpin of Kingsmont though; Major Singleton, the local cigar czar in the area, once drove Brant out of town for making out with his daughter (Patricia Neal) in the sugarcane fields, or copping a feel in the pasture, one of the two. Now, Brant is back to make the Major pay for what he done by funding the world’s first cigarette machine.

As it turns out, both Cooper and Neal were having an affair off-screen, carried over from the previous film they made, but it was ended after Cooper failed to leave his wife. Check out Neal's bio, she was a very fascinating woman.

What I Liked:

The late great Lauren Bacall as a local prostitute who has a soft spot for Brant and helps bankroll the smoky venture.

What I Didn't Like:

The film wore like an overstuffed shirt, no levity whatsoever.

What I Learned:

How much Neal and Bacall look and sound alike, especially the bedroom eyes.

Go Naked in the World - 1961 (Day 5)

original artwork by Scott Hays

My Take:

Or as it should have been called, “How I got Hooked by a Hooker.” That’s an actual line from the film delivered by Nick Stratton, played by Anthony Franciosa who it turns out had a pretty lengthy career in Hollywood. And then there’s the sultry Gina Lollobrigida (Guiletta), playing the object of Nick’s affection and who happens to be San Francisco’s priciest call girl. Va-Va-Voom! The two fall in love early on, but tensions arise when she fails to inform him of her profession. The truth comes out at his parents wedding anniversary party and all hell breaks loose.

The main storyline in this film is actually the relationship between Nick and his overbearing father played with gusto by Ernest Borgnine. Pops want his son to go into the family business, but the son wants nothing to do with following in pops footsteps.

The only other film I’ve seen the aforementioned Gina, was in the Humphrey Bogart noir “Beat the Devil.” She does bring the sexy to this film, but not much more. The love-making montage a third of the way into the film is pretty comical, if this was made today, it could have rivaled the marionettes doing the nasty from “Team America,” or at least “9 1/2 Weeks.”

What I liked:

The line: “No dirty talk on the porch,” uttered by Ernest Borgnine’s character more than once.

The final moments of the film were unexpected; it definitely wasn't a happy Hollywood ending.

What I didn't like:

The video transitions throughout were a mess and a distraction. I’m not sure if this film was ever restored, but someone needs to hit the render button, stat.

What I learned:

A hooker with a heart of gold doesn’t always get what she wants in the end.

Wait Until Dark - 1967 (Day 4)

My Take:

Every time I saw Alan Arkin, all I could think of was “Argo-fuck yourself.” Which is a compliment in the highest order. I worked at a video store for years and would always come across this title, but it just didn’t look appealing to me. Maybe it was the box art; maybe it was the fact that it was the final destination in returning the massive stacks of VHS’ to the shelves on a daily basis. I was sucked into this film from the start with the creepy score and the opening airport sequence, one of the only outdoor scenes in the film. Films that take place primarily in a single location are hard for me to get used to, but this one did a fantastic job at keeping my attention and ratcheting up the tension throughout. Audrey Hepburn was as great as she’s always been; she never really starred in a film that sucked.

What I liked:

The trio of Arkin, Richard Crenna and Jack Weston as the baddies were intriguing in an irreverent way.

What I didn’t like:

Even the blind Susy should have noticed that her bedroom closet door was unlocked and opened with a dead body hanging on the rack, instead of being locked as it usually was.

What I learned:

This was the only feature film for the little girl who played Susy’s helper/neighbor Gloria, and when you see her act you’ll know why.

Fixer Dugan - 1939 (Day 3)

My Take:

The original fixer! I dug this film; it clocked in at a breezy one hour and fifteen minutes and explores the world of a fast talking fixer in a traveling circus played by Lee Tracy. Trouble ensues when the main attraction, a high wire walker played by Rita La Roy, falls to her death leaving her daughter as an orphan among the carnies. This is the first time I’ve seen Lee Tracy in anything and thought he did a great job; I’ll have to check him out in Doctor X, which I hear is a pretty cool pre Hays Code film.

What I liked:

The opening title credits were very original and germane to the film.

What I didn’t like:

I wasn’t too impressed with Virginia Weidler, the young orphan who seems to be just a device in the film, rather than I true character.

What I learned:

Peggy Shannon, who plays the lion tamer and the orphan’s de facto maternal figure, was chosen to replace Clara Bow in the film The Secret Call, after Bow suffered a nervous breakdown. Shannon died two years after Fixer Dugan was released at the age of 34 from a heart attack.

The Rack - 1956 (Day 2)

My Take:

I felt bad for Paul Newman in this film. Not because his character is being brought up on charges of treason against his country, but rather that he got stuck in this paper-thin excuse for a film. Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling wrote this teleplay that deals with the court martial of decorated Captain Edward W. Hall Jr. Sure, it grapples with big themes such as communism and loyalty, but it just wasn’t engaging and exciting, especially when they entered the courtroom. The acting is flimsy at best, but you do get to see glimpses of the great Lee Marvin and a very brief cameo by Cloris Leachman.

What I liked:

The defense attorney played by Oscar winner Edmond O’Brien.

What I didn’t like:

The abrupt and unfulfilling ending

What I learned:

Drab is not an appealing color

Parrish - 1961 (Day 1)

My take:

At the start of the film, I said to myself, self, Troy Donahue is not a very good actor, which he’s not, but he grew on me slightly. He’s a ladies man and that’s what the studio was after when they cast him, and the guy was already lip locked with two of the main stars thirty minutes into the film. There was a lot of sexual tension and family drama afoot in this one. The film was attempting to be epic, ALA Giant, but never quite pulled it off. And once Troy’s character shows up in James Dean’s classic red jacket from Rebel Without a Cause, it lost a few points with me.

What I liked:

Karl Malden. He’s a badass! I really enjoyed him in “Streets of San Francisco” growing up, but I never watched many of his films. The guy has a motor that will not stop.

The women were great, from an older, but very capable Claudette Colbert to both Diane McBain and Sharon Hugueny (who has quite a tragic real life story you should check out).

What I didn’t like:

The score jumped around too much and was too predictable.

What I learned:

All about tobacco farming - from wireworms to blue moss to tobacco poisoning.