The Great McGinty.

Review #2381: The Great McGinty.

Cast: 

Brian Donlevy (Daniel McGinty), Muriel Angelus (Catherine McGinty), Akim Tamiroff (The Boss), Allyn Joslyn (George), William Demarest (Skeeters), Louis Jean Heydt (Thompson; "Tommy"), Harry Rosenthal (Louie), Arthur Hoyt (Mayor Wilfred T. Tillinghast), and Libby Taylor (Bessy) Written and Directed by Preston Sturges (#188 - Sullivan's Travels, #431 - The Palm Beach Story).

Review: 

"It's taken me eight years to reach what I wanted. But now, if I don't run out of ideas – and I won't – we'll have some fun. There are some wonderful pictures to be made, and God willing, I will make some of them."

Call it spring cleaning, call it overdue, it does seem right to return to the beginning of a worthwhile career with Preston Sturges as a director. Born in Chicago to parents that divorced when he was young, he actually served as a lieutenant in the United States Army Air Service in the late 1910s but did not see action in World War I. He had become a published writer when his essay about humor was printed when in camp, but he became an actual playwright later, after, well, a litany of stuff done that ranged from developing a kiss-proof lipstick to stage manager. The Guinea Pig, premiering in January 1929, came on a suggestion. Sturges apparently was spurred to come up with a play because a woman he was dating apparently was trying to write her own play. She wasn't actually writing a play, but Sturges and his efforts paid off with a small run on Broadway. He did a few plays but soon went to doing scripts-for-hire. Among the first scripts Sturges contributed as a writer-for-hire in Hollywood was the dialogue for The Big Pond in 1930. Probably his most noted script of the time came with The Power and the Glory (1933), a movie that happened to involve a recollection of the life of a now-dead tycoon by the people that knew him. So, how did Sturges become a director? Well, he had a script that seemed interesting to Paramount Pictures, and he sold it to them for apparently $10 with the stipulation that he direct it. The script originally was written in 1933 with Spencer Tracy in mind, but it had been unsuccessfully shopped around (even the Saturday Evening Post rejected it); apparently, Sturges was inspired by the tenure of William Sulzer as Governor in New York, where he was elected in 1912 as a Tammany Hall machine guy before he decided to pursue reform and was soon impeached and removed in nine months. The movie was shot in roughly a month, and the result was that Sturges won the first ever Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) for his work here. Sturges would have a busy next couple of years, with this film being followed months later with Christmas in July. While his career would peak in 1944 because of quibbles with producers, Sturges ultimately directed twelve movies prior to his death in 1959 at the age of 60, such as The Lady Eve (1941), The Palm Beach Story (1942), and Hail the Conquering Hero (1944). Donlevy and Tamiroff would reprise their roles for The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1942). 

Sure, of course this is the kind of movie that starts with a text screen: "This is the story of two men who met in a banana republic. One of them was honest all his life except one crazy minute. The other was dishonest all his life except one crazy minute. They both had to get out of the country." What you get is a recollection of grafting and the mockery that comes in seeing waste and corruption on display for the public that reminds you that the past wasn't merely just "the good ol' days" for everyone. Granted, we don't go around giving money to the bread-liner who votes, but who is going to say that people are more aware of their local politicians playing the grift game? But then again, how many honest people do you see in public anyway? In that regard, Donlevy makes for a quality lead performance, one that can be smooth in his ways of words that can bully/sweet talk plenty of people in the film because of how he makes it sound. In other words, when you get the chance at a hustle, you might as well jump at it in full force. Of course, it just so happens he does fall for Angelus because, well, there is a certain type of interest that she generates in her casual nature of normalcy even when playing a part in the initial scam of a happy family. Tamiroff* happens to make for quite the booming figure of the man behind the strings, a baron of his surroundings with plenty of timing to match in what you might call good ol' boy bluster. The 83 minutes passes through with ease and a worthy sense of biting wit for the ridiculousness that comes through in politics and people in general with what they believe is worthy for the people to see from the public and the real price of truth and power. The movie chuckles along with itself in the manner of someone who knows a cynical ditty and is all the more ready to make a yarn about it, and this is a worthwhile debut for Sturges and company, managing to be a funny film of grifts and grafts gone by the wayside of influence that is a neat gem for those to encounter all these years later.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars. 

*Orson Welles once called him "the greatest of all screen actors."

Souls for Sale.

Review #1995: Souls for Sale.

Cast: 

Eleanor Boardman (Remember "Mem" Steddon), Lew Cody (Owen Scudder), Richard Dix (Frank Claymore), Mae Busch (Robina Teele), Frank Mayo (Tom Holby), Barbara La Marr (Leva Lamaire), Arthur Hoyt (Jimmy Leland), David Imboden (Caxton), Roy Atwell (Arthur Tirrey), Forrest Robinson (Rev. John Steddon), Edith Yorke (Mrs. Steddon), William Orlamond (Lord Fryingham), Aileen Pringle (Lady Jane), and Snitz Edwards (Komical Kale, the Klown) Written and Directed by Rupert Hughes.

Review: 

Well, there's always room for movies about Hollywood. The movie is adapted from the novel of the same name, which was written by none other than Rupert Hughes. Born in Lancaster, Missouri, he studied at both Case Western Reserve University and Yale University and graduated from each with degrees before the turn of the 20th century. Eschewing the idea of teaching, he decided to become a writer, turning his attention to novels alongside reporting on occasion. He entered film in the 1910s as a writer with films such as The Deaf Mute (1913). His first film as a director was The Wall Flower (1922). In total, he was a director-writer on seven films from 1922 to 1924, although he continued to dabble in screenwriting, which included him introducing his nephew Howard (yes, that Hughes) to the film industry; Hughes died in 1956 at the age of 84. Boardman was actually in her first starring role here. She had dabbled in the stage, but when she lost her voice, she assumed it was dwindling down. Hearing about a contest for "New Faces" by the Goldwyn studio, she entered it and became one of two winners (the other was William Haines) among hundreds of entrants. Paul Bern, a director/writer of what became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, helped her with the screentest, turning a disastrous first take into one that got her a contract (incidentally, Haines appears in a small role in this film). She made her debut with The Strangers' Banquet (1922) and did supporting roles with two further films before appearing as star with this film, which ironically is a role about an aspiring actress trying to make it in Hollywood; she retreated from acting after 1935, having had highlights in films such as The Crowd (1928). The film was thought lost for many years until it surfaced in vaults in the late 1980s before it was restored in 2006.

As a whole, the movie is light fun in melodrama and mythmaking. It varies wildly in what genre it wants to be, mostly because it can't settle between the perils of Hollywood on a youth or an oddball serial killer that likes young brides. It doesn't exactly gel well with each other, with only the offbeat title cards (interestingly, "simp" is used here about trying to sell oneself to a person when it comes to trying to act) coming in second in making an odd tone. It is generally involving at 90 minutes though, mostly because one can't help but wonder what little surprise cameo you could see coming, whether that involves Charlie Chaplin at work or whatever. I find it more interesting when it tries to play perspective in what it means to try and be an actor in a grueling industry and the emotions that come with it rather than, well, the moralizing that happens with those title cards. My favorites: an oddball that says when an actor gets into trouble, "they blame the screen" or movie folk that are "factory hard" when rising and leaving early and late. Bottom line, the movie thinks to try and put the stars on a pedestal too highly, especially considering that Hollywood actors like Roscoe Arbuckle had just gone through two trials (with a third happening in the very month this film was released) for manslaughter. In other words: actors may have interesting lives and troubles, but you really can't expect me to believe they have a hard factory life like this. Anyway, the movie itself is just fine, because Boardman does fine with the material, malleable in drama and plucky ambition (despite probably having the corniest name seen in a silent lead character in quite some time). Dix and Mayo try to make this a love triangle, but honestly, I forget sometimes which is which, so go figure that the director is the one who gets the girl over the actor. Interestingly, this was one of Dix's first roles as a film actor. Cody evidently was known for "male vamp roles", so this makes an interesting adversary, even if it tries to play it both ways a bit with the ending (you can do creeping or you can do sympathetic, don't try both). Really, it is the light relief provided by people such as Busch (a future associate of the Laurel and Hardy films) or with La Marr (a vamp icon until her premature death) or with Edwards and his usual presence. As a whole, I wanted to like the film more than I did when it comes to films that have not had the pleasure of being discovered as long as other silent films, but it mostly is just okay. As a weird and odd mess that tries to play melodrama and Hollywood sunshine, it comes off as a strange amusement that can work if one is in the mood for certain expectations.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Five to go.

The Lost World.

Review #1614: The Lost World.

Cast: 

Bessie Love (Paula White), Lewis Stone (Sir John Roxton), Lloyd Hughes (Edward Malone), Wallace Beery (Professor Challenger), Arthur Hoyt (Professor Summerlee), Alma Bennett (Gladys Hungerford), Virginia Brown Faire (Marquette the half-caste girl), Bull Montana (Apeman/Gomez), Francis Finch-Smiles (Austin), Jules Cowles (Zambo), Margaret McWade (Mrs. Challenger), and George Bunny (Colin McArdle) Directed by Harry O. Hoyt.

Review: 

"I have wrought my simple plan

If I give one hour of joy

To the boy who's half a man

Or the man who's half a boy."

What better time is there to cover a creature feature than a pioneering one? Oh sure, there is much to highlight with films such as King Kong (1933) or Mighty Joe Young (1949), but each film has one striking similarity: They all had effects work done by Willis H. O'Brien. The Oakland native worked in a variety of fields in his youth, which ranged from cattle ranches to cowboy before finding an interest in dinosaurs. He eventually honed a talent for architecture into sculpting, and a model-making session with dinosaurs and brief footage led to his first chance with a short feature. The result was The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy (1915), which garnered notice from Thomas Edison (inventor and businessman with his pioneering film company). O'Brien would make more work with dinosaurs, with a key highlight being The Ghost of Slumber Mountain (1918) that he directed and starred in (alongside producer Herbert M. Dawley), which showed live actors and stop-motion creatures together (the short was sadly cut from the original print of 40 minutes to 12, and only seven further minutes have been recovered). There are quite a few firsts with this film: It was the first full-length film with stop-motion animation (with regard to the creatures), and it was the first film to be shown in an airplane during flight. It is the fact that one can access the film at all that is just (thankful, since it has existed in numerous cut versions over 95 years, with various versions that ranged from 60 to 90 minutes (because of one attempt to destroy the copies of the film to make the effects more exclusive when King Kong came around) - in any case, one can now see the film (it was intended (originally it lasted 106 minutes, but now it runs at 110) because of recent restorations (which combined portions of 11 film elements to make the most complete version), and it happens to lurk in the public domain. The film was written by Marion Fairfax (listed as screenplay and editorial direction), that was an adaptation of the 1912 novel of the same name written by Arthur Conan Doyle (writer of the Sherlock Holmes series of adventures, which equally were inspired by a real person). One can't forget about the director in all this. Hoyt (listed as providing "dramatic direction" in the credits) was a screenwriter and director over the course of three decades from the silent era to 1945 (doing a variety of films until 1933 alongside shorts) while being a graduate of Yale University in literature. O'Brien (listed as research and technical director) would do over a dozen films with effects work in decades of work (despite being hampered at times in raising funds to do what he wanted), and he liked to add a rubber bladder to his models at times to make them seem more alive. His work (helped by three associates for the models while he did animation) was grueling, spending hours at a time just to get a few seconds of footage with his metal skeleton, rubber skinned creatures, and test footage done in 1922 was shown by Doyle to the Society of American Magicians, who he apparently wanted to trick into believing the footage was actually of living dinosaurs (which worked for a time).

There were numerous adaptations of the book in the following decades (including one with minimal input from O'Brien directed by Irwin Allen), although none have matched the power of the original. The film begins with the esteemed author Doyle introducing the story, with a brief poem delivered by intertitle (as noted above), before it moves to the story it sets itself up before dinosaurs come around, which involve Hughes' reporter character yearning to prove himself (and face death) to win the affections of a girl. It just happens to coincide with a professor who claims to have seen living dinosaurs within the back country of the Amazon, but he has to prove it because most of his records were washed away in a canoe accident (which is amusing in of itself from the next intertitle, which say he nearly killed three reporters sent to interview him!) - and so he demands folks to go with him back to the Lost World and satisfy the doubters (particularly with his hatred of reporters...oops). You'd better believe that makes for a fun time. What we have for the main quartet is a field of actors with recognizable talent for the era required and beyond. Love was not a presence to be trifled with, owing to her vast presence in film, radio, and television for nearly 70 years, with this falling into the range of wholesome charm - it works well within the confines of the film, where one doesn't lose sight of her or find other things to focus on besides her soulful expression. Stone was a soon to be known character presence and MGM mainstay, and it is evident to see why: he makes a worthy warm presence to the proceedings, dignified in his hunt for game in contrast to the big spectacle and bombast present elsewhere - a true sportsman, as the film suggests. One would hope to be familiar with Hughes, since he and Berry starred together in The Sea Hawk (1924), one of a string of films with him as a leading man (he would appear in over 90 productions as star/support in 21 years of work). He does fine with a long face destined for a few curious gestures, which is what one needs for a film like this. Beery is obviously quite a force of stature to be reckoned with, and it only makes sense to see him in a key part since he was in the middle of a lengthy career with plenty of film credits that ranged from heavy villain roles to comedy and more - obviously he does well with not getting lost in that bushy beard and bombast spirit, a man up to the challenge. The climax of the film goes to the big presentation: bringing a "living proof" Brontosaurus right to the face of the doubters a year later...only to see the dinosaur roam the streets of London due to an accident. My favorite part is the creature knocking down a statue right before it starts to bob its head around at various things. Clearly, what we have is a movie to stoke fascination in the magic that makes cinema so much fun to look upon. Sure, other movies followed in its wake with furthered advancement in effects like Jurassic Park (1993), but one cannot deny the power that comes from a mysterious world full of imagination and eclectic actors to make it all worthwhile (the subsequent follow up to that book/film, interestingly enough, proved a homage with its title, for which it shares the same name as this film). 95 years have shown the age of its effects and story at times, but it is still a worthwhile time to experience at least once, serving as the important link of creature features made in the backbone of silent films that thankfully is available for all to see any time.

300! Holy cow, Movie Night has reached 300 reviews in one calendar year, which I did not certainly did not see coming at the beginning of this year (I'm sure that statement can be applied several times over). I figured as long as the output (and quality, obviously) was better than 2019 or 2018, one would be satisfied, so I hope one has enjoyed what has proved in my mind to be Movie Night's greatest year in ten years on the Internet, which was exactly ten years ago. While I doubt there will be many years of 300 reviews, I would hope that the next year of Movie Night will prove just as worthy to read upon for you folks. 

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

The Grim Game.

Review #749: The Grim Game.

Cast
Harry Houdini  (Harvey Hanford), Thomas Jefferson (Dudley Cameron), Ann Forrest (Mary Cameron), Augustus Phillips (Clifton Allison), Tully Marshall (Richard Raver), Arthur Hoyt (Dr. Harvey Tyson), and Mae Busch (Ethel Delmead) Directed by Irvin Willat.

Review
Ah 1919, where the word spendthrift can be used, and cities (like mine) can be formed (and named) after a land company. Before I get to the film, let me talk a little about the history of the film in the next paragraph.

The Grim Game was Harry Houdini's first feature-length film (though the serial The Master Mystery was released in early 1919) and Houdini would star in films until 1923. Houdini (an expert magician who also debunked spiritualists) died on Halloween Night in 1926, though his legend still shines through today. As for the movie, it also has an interesting story of its own. This film had been considered lost for over 90 years. As it turned out, Larry Weeks, who considered himself Houdini's biggest fan, had a copy of the film in his collection after claiming it from the Houdini estate in 1947. Through the help of film scholars, TCM and the owners of the Houdini Museum and some negotiating, the film was acquired by TCM. A restoration and a new score were done, and TCM showed it as part of their Film Festival on March 29, 2015, with the world television premiere being just this Sunday night.

After all that history, how is the film? Not too bad. For an adventure-drama, it does have its shares of thrills, especially due to Houdini. You get to see him escape from chains and even a straight-jacket, and at one point he even manages to make a gun come out of his sleeves, which surprised me. The "Grim Game" turns out to be a plan hatched by Houdini's character to get his paper that he reports from to survive...by framing himself for the disappearance of his uncle, all by circumstantial evidence. He actually enlists the help of five people (including his fiance) to get this plan done, which includes taking the uncle out for a while to make it seem like he has disappeared. But it goes wrong (naturally), as the uncle is actually killed...by someone. It turns out to be the one person I didn't expect, mainly because I assumed that the one that would get to marry the heiress to the uncle's fortune did it...that, and because he wants to put Houdini in the asylum. But it's not, which I guess makes it less predictable...either way, the movie is at least entertaining, though it does take a while to get to the aforementioned grim game. The climax of the movie is entertaining...because you get to see a mid-air plane collision! Naturally, everyone (real life and plot life) is okay, but getting to see the climax in the air is very well-done. The movie (running at 71 minutes) is well paced, while also showing off some of Houdini's talents.

Countdown to #750: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: It Happened One Night.

Review #456: It Happened One Night.

Cast
Clark Gable (Peter Warne), Claudette Colbert (Ellie Andrews), Walter Connolly (Alexander Andrews), Roscoe Karns (Oscar Shapeley), Jameson Thomas (Westley), Alan Hale (Danker), and Arthur Hoyt (Zeke) Directed by Frank Capra (#102 - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and #319 - It's a Wonderful Life)

Review

It's been a while, but after a little (six day) break (also replace that word with: laziness), I got back on to watching a movie, and this was the film I landed on. Clark Gable does a fine job in this film, he doesn't overcrowd the film itself, Colbert also does a fine job, she manages to be engaging, and she also shines well in the hitchhiking scene, probably one of the more memorable scenes ever filmed. It's just so amusing to see her lift up her leg and immediately get a ride. Capra as usual does a fine job with his characters, and it has its moments of amusement. It's the basis for many, many, many romantic comedies, but this one is still the best. It's a fine film overall.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.