If I Were King.

Review #2018: If I Were King.

Cast: 

Ronald Colman (François Villon), Basil Rathbone (King Louis XI), Frances Dee (Katherine DeVaucelles), Ellen Drew (Huguette), C. V. France (Father Villon), Henry Wilcoxon (Captain of the Watch), Heather Thatcher (the Queen), Stanley Ridges (Rene de Montigny), Bruce Lester (Noel de Jolys), Alma Lloyd (Colette), Walter Kingsford (Tristan l'Hermite), and Sidney Toler (Robin Turgis) Produced and Directed by Frank Lloyd (#099 - Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), #1321 - The Sea Hawk, and #1339 - Cavalcade)

Review: 

Based on the early 20th century play and novel of the same name Justin Huntly McCarthy that involved the noted French poet François Villon, it probably doesn't surprise you to see this film among the list of ones done in the 1930s when it comes to literary inspirations. It wasn't the first adaptation, as Fox Film did one in 1920 with William Farnum as Villon. John Barrymore took his crack at it in 1927 with The Beloved Rogue. A 1925 operetta adaptation was turned into a 1930 musical operetta film with Dennis King. Two further adaptations have followed since this film, with François Villon (a French 1945 film) and The Vagabond King (1956). Who better to do a historical drama than Frank Lloyd? Sure, he may not be the most noted name among famed folks with multiple Academy Awards, but Lloyd specialized himself as a reliable director in both the silent and sound era. He had been born in Glasgow, but he only became an actor after seeing his travels in Canada as a would-be rancher and telephone company worker turn to Los Angeles in 1913. Needless to say, he made a variety of films, with Berkeley Square (1933) being his favorite. If I Were King was actually made in the latter stage of Lloyd's career, as he would retire for the first time in 1946 before a brief comeback with Republic Pictures in the 1950s. A studio man in the most complimentary of senses, he did films for studios from Fox Film to Paramount to Warner Bros. Oh, and this is a film that saw a script written by Preston Sturges. Sturges had made his way to Hollywood as a contributor to dialogue and script work in the 1930s (having first served as a playwright on Broadway) with films such as The Big Pond (1930) and The Power and the Glory (1933). Two years after the release of this film, he would become a director by selling his script The Great McGinty for "ten dollars" and the rest is history. 

It probably isn't surprising to see that even the reign of King Louis XI can lend itself to interesting biodrama with a bit of action and light touch of comedy. Well, having Ronald Colman as the lead actor is a pretty big help, because he brings a great presence of dignity that you would expect from a man of his talents. This time around, playing a poet with elements of the scoundrel that makes a mostly interesting film about the nature of what it really means to say one could do things on the level of a king (defender of the faith, don't forget), especially when playing a loose interpretation of an author that no one knows the fate of after his banishment in 1463 (incidentally, Louis IX became king in 1461 and reigned until 1483). Rathbone provides the support required in an eccentric that plays along in the charade (it is a romanticization after all) in a way that generates some amusement while never forgetting his place on the throne and the ways that he maneuvers people like pawns on a chess board. The little game that the two play of seeing how one would do "if I were King" is really more than just a series of little royal hijinks, instead serving as a trial of pride, one where the King can play both observer and executor. Of course, the romance between Colman and Dee is meant to be the real game of guesswork, and they do make a fine pairing for what is needed beyond the illusions that arise from the film (one built on it because of the very nature of Villon's fate). The rest of the cast do just fine in support, all serving as pawns in this weird little game of "who's playing who" that range from winded father figures in France or friends of the once-low man in Drew or Toler. The 101-minute runtime goes without many hitches, setting up its key conceit within the first 40 minutes without dawdling, and the climax is apt enough to patch things out handily enough. So yes, it is a ham-handed telling of poet and king in who is really setting who up, but it is an enthusiastic film with a useful script, a servicable director and worthy lead performances in Colman and Rathbone to carry things over the finish line with plenty to recommend in the long run, as one would hope from a film of its ilk.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Unconquered (1947).

Review #1371: Unconquered.

Cast:
Gary Cooper (Captain Christopher Holden), Paulette Goddard (Abby Hale), Howard Da Silva (Martin Garth), Boris Karloff (Guyasuta, Chief of the Senecas), Cecil Kellaway (Jeremy Love), Ward Bond (John Fraser), Virginia Campbell (Mrs. John Fraser), Katherine DeMille (Hannah), Henry Wilcoxon (Captain Steele), C. Aubrey Smith (Lord Chief Justice), and Victor Varconi (Captain Simeon Ecuyer) Directed and Produced by Cecil B. DeMille (#1245 - The Squaw Man)

Review: 
"Creativity is a drug I cannot live without."

When it comes to innovators and crucial pieces of cinema to link past and present, Cecil B. DeMille serves as a key member of sound and silent cinema for America. He made 70 films from 1914 to 1958 that were known for their epic scale and showmanship. He developed a love of the theater from his playwright father (who suddenly died when Cecil was 11), and he graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (after time with military college) in 1900. He started his career as an actor that same year, and he would later turn to directing and producing plays in the 1910s. He was soon introduced to Broadway producer Jesse L. Lasky by his producer mother Beatrice, and the two would join forces with Samuel Goldwyn alongside Oscar Apfel to form the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company in 1913, with their studio being a barn in Hollywood, one of the first in the region that is now a state landmark (named after Lasky and DeMille). Their landmark first feature was from DeMille and Apfel with The Squaw Man (1914), which was DeMille's debut (he of course would later film two remakes of the material). DeMlle spent his time directing numerous films nonstop, with his style soon being characterized by having extensive research that turned into collaboration with writers to mold a story together in his vision, which also applied to his efforts on visuals along with editing and lighting. He did not tend to give direction much to actors, preferring to work with them in the office with read-throughs as opposed to doing so on set, where he was an authoritarian that commanded attention from his cast and crew, no matter how big they could be. Actors who did not want to take physical risks for the sake of the film could incur his wrath, such as with this film, where Goddard objected to risk herself for a scene with hurling fireballs (which not surprisingly was proven correct when the stuntwoman later got burned for the scene). He didn't speak to her for years and later denied her a role in one of his subsequent films. Although he is known for his spectacle epics, he directed a variety of genres over the course of his career, ranging from Westerns to romances to comedies, with numerous highlights being Cleopatra (1934), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952, his lone Best Picture win), and The Ten Commandments (1956, a remake of his 1923 film that served as his last venture), and he has served as influence and inspiration to directors such as Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese.

The film was written by Charles Bennett, Fredric M. Frank and Jesse Lasky Jr, with un-credited work by Jeanie Macpherson. DeMille had been inspired by The Judas Tree, Neil Swanson's novel about people who had been sent to 18th century America to be sold as slaves after conviction in England. Despite hiring two experts to research about the topic of colonial slavery, he wanted to romanticize the American colonial conquest more than anything else, which means that the final result is a film that seems to go anywhere it wants with its colonial setting, certainly seeming the part with costumes and its cinematography from Ray Rennahan than with other aspects, a ridiculously watchable curiosity. It certainly does seem a bit bloated at 146 minutes, complete with a $4.3 million budget and a shooting schedule that was just as excessive and a battle sequence that had over 800 extras and plenty of dynamite. Cooper (in his fourth and final collaboration with DeMille) pulls off a subtle performance as usual, one that we care to follow along with no trouble because of how natural he plays the hero. Goddard drives the screen with some passion, rolling just fine in chemistry with Cooper in a rustled role that seems fitted for a dime-store novel, complete with color to really emphasize her bright hair for sequences such as the impromptu auction or the bathing one. Da Silva (known for his stage work alongside his work in film) makes for a conniving adversary that the audience can seethe at whenever sharing the screen with either lead, although the climax certainly proves anticlimactic for both sides. Karloff (who was asked to study the Seneca language for the role) seems reserved here for his brief time on screen. Kellaway and Bond give a moment of levity or two, at least. One may very well call this film kitsch and get away with it because of how silly it can get with characters and situations (particularly when relating to history) so overblown that might make The Outlaw and Duel in the Sun bat an eye. It doesn't mean I despise the film however, since there are aspects in terms of cast and design that do tend to work out well - if you are going to make a film resemble a damsel-in-distress novel with big costumes, one can't go too wrong with something like this, which is too long, too big and too perfect for a few moments to gawk and perhaps have amusement with, for better or worse.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Mrs. Miniver.

Review #1360: Mrs. Miniver.

Cast: 
Greer Garson (Kay Miniver), Walter Pidgeon (Clem Miniver), Teresa Wright (Carol Beldon), Dame May Whitty (Lady Beldon), Reginald Owen (Foley), Henry Travers (Mr. Ballard), Richard Ney (Vin Miniver), Henry Wilcoxon (The Vicar), Christopher Severn (Toby Miniver), Brenda Forbes (Gladys), and Clare Sandars (Judy Miniver) Directed by William Wyler (#509 - Roman Holiday and #1022 - Jezebel)

Review: 
War-time films could come in many genres, and 1942 is a prominent one to spotlight. After all, this film dominated the Academy Awards for its year, winning for Best Picture, Director, Actress, Supporting Actress, Screenplay, and Cinematography. The film is based on a series of newspapers columns for The Times by Jan Struther, which had started in 1937 (with a collection of those columns being published into a book in 1939) on an ordinary sort of woman with ordinary sort of life, with most of the essays being done before World War II was declared, and four writers were credited for adapting it to the screen: Arthur Wimperis, George Froeschel, James Hilton, and Claudine West. At the hand is a director with a prime like no other in William Wyler, who came from working at Universal Studios as a stage cleaner and mover to director of Western quickies in two years. In the next decade, he would hone his craft in a variety of genres from drama to comedy that would lead to plenty of notice with films such as Dodsworth (1936) and Wuthering Heights (1939). A noted perfectionist, he would generally insist on multiple re-takes, which proved to be worth it for several actors, directing 36 actors to Academy Award nominations and 14 to wins, both records. He directed films in six decades until his last with The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970). Garson and Pidgeon make for a well-rounded bunch of leads (with this being the 2nd of eight collaborations, including a sequel with The Miniver Story eight years later), both having risen from stage to screen (the former in the 30s, the latter in the late 20s) to carry a movie that certainly rouses plenty of spirit and inspiration to make for a solid romance war drama, one wrapped in sentiment under propaganda that makes its mark most of the time.

It certainly rose plenty of spirits, with Winston Churchill once stating that it had done more for the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers, and Franklin D. Roosevelt had ordered the final speech (involving how this is a "war of the people", not just soldiers) broadcast over radio. That speech was written by Wilcoxin (the one who says the striking words) and Wyler the night before filming it. Regardless of its war elements, there is a tender touch to the film that manages to resonate in drama after nearly eight decades that can't be lost to time. It works with a 133 minute pace in holding its family aspects and the looming war together with patience and skill. Garson commands the screen with grace, a courage in the manner of the stiff upper-lip that resonates for her time on screen. Pidgeon does just as much in conveying charm with capable chemistry in the ways you would expect with Garson alongside other scenes when dealing with the war efforts. Wright makes her presence clear any time she is on screen, a vivid and ideal one in a weary-but-able world. A noted actress of the screen (along with her charity work during the first World War) before making her screen debut at 72 in 1935, Whitty strikes attention with no trouble at all, marked with discipline in her nerves in her moments on screen. The other members of the cast do just fine in rounding out the elements necessary to make for capable drama in perseverance. It is the kind of stuff that can drive emotions out for passion, for sacrifice and support that one can still identify with in some way in our trying times today, whether one resides in Europe or elsewhere. For the most part, the film knows where to go in making capable entertainment, and it rightfully endures as a fair gem for both its director and Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Caddyshack.

Review #208: Caddyshack.

Cast
Chevy Chase (Ty Webb), Rodney Dangerfield (Al Czervik), Ted Knight (Judge Elihu Smails), Michael O'Keefe (Danny Noonan), Bill Murray (Carl Spackler), Sarah Holcomb (Maggie O'Hooligan), Scott Colomby (Tony D'Annunzio), Cindy Morgan (Lacey Underall), Dan Resin (Dr. Beeper), and Henry Wilcoxon (Bishop Fred Pickering) Directed by Harold Ramis (#138 - Bedazzled)

Review
Oh gee, an old review that likely needs updating. 2012 me needed a bit more improvement from 2018 me.

Happy...August everyone. Anyway, after 32 years, this film still holds up as a classic. The acting is decent, with Murray stealing the show (who I have covered before: Ghostbusters - #026, Ghostbusters II - #031, Scrooged - #075, Tootsie - #084). The film has some good lines, which are still being repeated to this day. There are some crude gags and there are good gags as well. I hadn't reviewed a golf film until today (could be worse, I could be watching Dorf on Golf). The film is still memorable to this day, gophers and all.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.