The Man with the Golden Arm.

Review #1391: The Man with the Golden Arm.

Cast: 
Frank Sinatra (Frankie "Dealer" Machine), Eleanor Parker (Sophia "Zosh" Machine), Kim Novak (Molly Novotny), Arnold Stang (Sparrow), Darren McGavin ("Nifty Louie" Fomorowski), Robert Strauss (Zero Schwiefka), John Conte (Drunkie John), Doro Merande (Vi), and George E. Stone (Sam Markette) Directed by Otto Preminger (#657 - Laura)

Review: 
Film almost always seems to generate more interest when it is allowed to push the envelope in boundaries for the time, such as the case with addiction with films like The Lost Weekend (1945) or this one. The 1950s had a clash of television and film that had the latter try various techniques and gimmicks to keep people with the cinema (at least until they realized they could utilize television to their advantage), but it was a decade with shifting tastes for a new key audience of teenagers along with challenges to the restrictive Production Code that would lead to it taking a final beating and end a decade later. One key figure in that fight was Austrian-Hungary director Otto Preminger, who had developed interest for the theater in acting before he was approached to direct for film with Die große Liebe (1931), which proved a success for the 26-year old despite having less experience with filmmaking than with the theater. He emigrated to the United States four years later and soon found a chance to direct on Broadway along with 20th Century Fox through Darryl F. Zanuck, which resulted in two completed films (1936's Under Your Spell (1936) and 1937's Danger – Love at Work) before being fired off Kidnapped (1938) by Zanuck that led to a hiatus for five years. Preminger found his way back to Fox and gradually found his way back to doing dramas and noirs (along with occasional acting) over the course of the next eight years that had its high point with Laura (1944). His challenges with the Production Code took place over two of his films in the 1950s. His 1953 film The Moon is Blue attracted complaints about its treatment of seduction and chastity, with United Artists deciding to release the film without Code approval (which resulted in a few places banning the film from being shown or restricted viewings for adults). He received attention from the code for this film, since it deals with drug addiction (implied to be heroin), a taboo subject in their eyes (other subjects included mixed-race romances and kidnapping). However, Preminger and United Artists persisted on and released the film anyway (both films eventually received PCA codes of approval in 1961). By the time he directed Anatomy of a Murder (1959), a frank courtroom drama film, the PCA did not object this time around. The talented but rough director would do over 35 films before his death in 1986.

The film was adapted from Nelson Algren's 1948 novel of the same name, which was significantly bleaker in tone when it came to its main character, with the most notable change being that he does not survive to the end in the book, having found himself trapped with no way out of his predicament caused by his inhibitions after inadvertently murdering his drug dealer. The changes made by screenwriters Walter Newman and Lewis Meltzer, along with a lack of compensation for his work, did not sit well with Algren when it came time to release. When it comes time to having a prime star for an envelope pushing film, one can't go too wrong with famed singer-turned-actor Sinatra, who studied rehab clinics in preparation for this film. He proves to the task of living up to such a fascinating role, proving to be quite gripping to the audience in his attempts to pull himself upward from a whirlpool of city seduction. Parker proves just as well in controlled anguish that does so while spending most of her time sitting down. Novak provides a warm calm presence whenever on screen, while Stang provides his a seedy and loyal dramatic turn for the notably comic actor. McGavin and Strauss both do well with providing the seedy elements of city life with the kind of conviction and allure one would expect from them. In any case, the film does well with showing a look into a person trying to escape the demons that haunt his personal life and himself, with Preminger and Sinatra doing well in making a capable tragedy seem useful to view, such as a cold turkey sequence with the latter that accompanies the climax. While the film may have aged a bit in the six decades since its release, there is certainly still a power that this film has that can't be swept away for curiosity, and it is a feature that can be recommended for public domain viewing without too much trouble.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

The Seven Year Itch.

Review #1390: The Seven Year Itch.

Cast: 
Marilyn Monroe (The Girl), Tom Ewell (Richard Sherman), Evelyn Keyes (Helen Sherman), Sonny Tufts (Tom MacKenzie), Robert Strauss (Kruhulik), Oscar Homolka (Dr. Brubaker), Marguerite Chapman (Miss Morris), Victor Moore (Plumber), and Donald MacBride (Mr. Brady) Directed by Billy Wilder (#106 - Some Like It Hot, #194 - Ace in the Hole, #422 - The Fortune Cookie, #641 - The Apartment, #809 - Sunset Boulevard), and #1384 - Stalag 17)

Review:
"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”

When it comes to bombshell actresses, one that stands out most evidently for their role in popular culture is Marilyn Monroe. She had grown up under a turbulent childhood, with a nonexistent father and a mother that had a mental breakdown that had her committed by the time Monroe was eight years old, which led to years of bouncing around orphanages and lodgers to stay with. She found herself attracting to becoming an actress at a young age, mostly because it seemed like an escape from her real world troubles. Adulthood had plenty of paths for her to take, such as housewife to factory-work to modelling before she eventually took steps to acting, where she made bit part appearances for 20th Century Fox in 1947 before being let go the following year, although it did help her in enrollment to the Actors' Laboratory Theatre, which she found enticing. Her determination in wanting to make it as an actress eventually led to some roles, such as her first lead role with Ladies of the Chorus (1948), or small parts in 1950 films like Love Happy, All About Eve, and The Asphalt Jungle. Soon after she found herself with a contract back with Fox and her popularity gradually rose over the decade that made her a sex symbol, with highlights including Niagara (1953), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Through the course of a career tragically cut short at the age of 36 in 1962, Monroe struggled with trying to branch out in roles beyond the bombshell types alongside struggles in her private life such as anxiety and addiction. In any case, Monroe's stature as an icon has endured long after her death, particularly with films such as this one, with one scene involving her dress being blown up by wind to show her legs being a particularly notable one for the decade.

The film was adapted from George Axelrod's 1952 play of the same name, which had run for over a thousand performances with Ewell on Broadway. However, turning the play into an acceptable film for the censors proved to be quite a challenge, with Wilder later stating that he was "straitjacketed" and wished that he had made the film in a later time that would have allowed the affair to be shown in the film, as opposed to it being in the imagination of Ewell's character, along with the fact that dialogue considered racy had to be omitted. In other words, the sin became one of boredom over lust. In any case, this is a fairly decent film, filled with a good deal of laughs that make an adequate farce firmly in the middle of Monroe and Wilder's careers given the circumstances of the time. Ewell makes for a fine panicky presence to go with, talkative to the audience and others with a few chuckles to deliver that make it palatable when faced without scenes with Monroe. She naturally steals the show, a bright presence of charm that commands our attention along with having fair timing with humor. The other members of the cast are okay, filling the 105 minutes around moments not with Monroe with fair patience. On the whole, this is definitely something that has aged a bit for its time, an envelope pusher in search of more to open within romance that nevertheless will prove adequate for those who like something carefully done by Wilder with plenty to highlight in Monroe.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Stalag 17.

Review #1384: Stalag 17.

Cast: 
William Holden (J.J. Sefton), Don Taylor (Lieutenant James Dunbar), Otto Preminger (Colonel von Scherbach), Robert Strauss (Stanislas "Animal" Kuzawa), Harvey Lembeck (Harry Shapiro), Peter Graves (Price), Sig Ruman (Sergeant Johann Sebastian Schulz), Neville Brand (Duke), Richard Erdman ("Hoffy" Hoffman), Michael Moore (Manfredi), Peter Baldwin (Johnson), Robinson Stone (Joey), Robert Shawley ("Blondie" Peterson), William Pierson (Marko the Mailman), and Gil Stratton (Clarence Harvey "Cookie" Cook / Narrator) Produced and Directed by Billy Wilder (#106 - Some Like It Hot, #194 - Ace in the Hole, #422 - The Fortune Cookie, #641 - The Apartment, and #809 - Sunset Boulevard)

Review: 
"Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else's."

Nobody could quite as versatile as Billy Wilder for film. Born in Austria-Hungary, he found himself wanting to become a journalist from viewing a newsreel (as opposed to prelaw in college or the family business in cakes). He worked for magazines and newspapers in both Austria and Germany, but he eventually found himself wanting to be a screenwriter, with his first credit being for The Daredevil Reporter (1929). During his time in Germany, one notable film he wrote for was People on Sunday (1930), which had notable collaborators such as Edgar G. Ulmer. However, he left the country in 1933 for Paris after the rise of the Nazis. He had his directorial debut with his collaboration with Alexander Esway in Mauvaise Graine (1934) before deciding to leave for America. Over the next few years, he would find himself collaborating on film scripts that gradually found attention, most notably with Charles Brackett. For over a decade, the two would write scripts together (with a few occasions having an additional writer), with the first major hits coming in 1939 with Midnight and Ninotchka. Anxious at the idea of directing and not being confined with just writing, Wilder was given a chance with The Major and the Minor (1942). It was here that he met another important figure in honing the craft in editor Doane Harrison, who had edited Wilder and Brackett's Hold Back the Dawn the previous year. With Harrison on set, Wilder credited him for helping him in technical knowledge in terms of cutting so that there wouldn't be excess footage to deal with. The two would work together for the next two decades. Over the course of the next four decades, Wilder would direct and write plenty of noted successes in genres from noir to comedy drama, such as Double Indemnity (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), and Sabrina (1954). In his career, he would win six Academy Awards on 21 nominations, with three of them being for screenplay, two for direction, and one for Best Picture.

The film is an adaptation of the Broadway play of the same name by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski, who had based it on their experiences in a prison camp named Stalag 17B in Austria. When it comes to a war film about prisoners, there certainly wasn't anything like this film before it came out, one that balances dark humor with suspense alongside a claustrophobic atmosphere that makes for a compelling two hour viewing. One key star that was part of some of Wilder's successes for the decade was William Holden, who appeared in three of his features (with one more years later in Fedora). It was the result of these films that elevated him to prime star status, with this being his one Academy Award winning performance of three nominations, although he felt that he didn't deserve to win (instead favoring Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity). In fact, he actually disagreed with the characterization of the role (which had Charlton Heston and Kirk Douglas thought of before Holden), since he felt it was selfish and he wanted Wilder to make him nicer, which was rejected. In any case, one finds plenty to draw themselves into Holden and his world, a heel-hero with smarmy complex charm beyond the usual expectations for a film with suspense like this one, which plays to the film's favor in drawing out its traitor twist (kept under wraps by filming in sequential order) through subtlety in both Holden and the camera movement. The rest of the cast keep up with him in establishing the close-knit and hard-driven members contrast with the menace and bluster on the other end. In that sense, the ones who shine best are Strauss, Graves, Brand, Ruman, and Preminger, each delivering a distinct layer that makes the film operate as well as it does without feeling monotonous. There is a key balance of drama and humor that earns the film key moments that can go from a sequence involving a telescope on friendly Russian women to the discovery of the traitor to the whole group. In the long run, this is an entertaining film in a long line of Billy Wilder achievements that merits a watch as a key piece for the decade in balancing drama and humor without too much trouble.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

The Atomic Kid.

Review #935: The Atomic Kid.

Cast:
Mickey Rooney (Barnaby 'Blix' Waterberry), Robert Strauss (Stan Cooper), Elaine Devry (Audrey Nelson), Bill Goodwin (Dr. Rodell), Robert Emmett Keane (Mr. Reynolds), Whit Bissell (Dr. Edgar Pangborn), Joey Forman (MP in hospital), Dan Riss (Jim, FBI Chief Agent), Peter Leeds (FBI Agent Bill), and Hal March (FBI Agent Ray) Directed by Leslie H. Martinson (#177 - Batman)

Review:
I suppose the random nature of this show means that any film I happen to come across is fair game for reviewing...and this one (distributed by Republic Pictures) just popped up. I suppose summer vacation is the best time to churn out some more reviews, no matter what the result. This is the first time I'm reviewing a film with Mickey Rooney as the main star, and what better than a movie where he gets an atomic bomb dropped on him? Or one where he eats a sandwich with peanut butter sardines, and horse radish? Of particular note is that the film was written (along with Benedict Freedman and John Fenton Murray) by Blake Edwards, one year before he became a director. This is a movie that clearly aspires to be something easily digestible while being considerably thin in plot. Rooney is somewhat entertaining, managing to have some fun, and he has somewhat capable buddy chemistry with Strauss, though they don't have much screen-time in the middling middle parts of the movie until the end of the film. Devry (billed as "Ms. Mickey Rooney" in the beginning credits) and Rooney are somewhat interesting to watch, but they can't carry the movie to any real enjoyment. It really is just a movie with some mild gags, simply put. This is a movie not worth complaining too much about in part because remembering it is more of an effort than trying to actively give criticism. Is there any highlights? I guess the geiger counter watch is somewhat neat looking, though it is muddled by all the gags involving the main character's neutrons changed anytime he gets in contact with the nurse (get it?). Somehow, the plot includes a spy ring, though it doesn't really go anywhere. Simply put, it's a stale but harmless kind of movie.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.