March/April 2009: Pre-Code

by John Gallagher

BETWEEN ACTION AND CUT  March/April 2009

PRE-CODE: Before the Production Code became rigorously enforced  in late 1934, Hollywood filmmakers made movies with frank, candid attitudes towards life, love, sex, politics, religion, drug addiction -- everything -- that would not be seen again in American mainstream films until the Sixties. Many of these movies snap, crackle and pop with energy, tight 70 minute programmers that are sheer delight, regardless of genre. The Warner Brothers product was especially caustic and brisk, and is on scintillating display in the latest set from Warner Home Video, TCM ARCHIVES FORBIDDEN HOLLYWOOD COLLECTION VOLUME THREE. The focus this time is on one of the greatest of all directors, a filmmaker finally getting his due after decades of neglect. Best known for WINGS (1927), THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931), A STAR IS BORN (1937), THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (1943), THE STORY OF G.I. JOE (1945), BATTLEGROUND (1949) and THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY (1954), Wild Bill Wellman’s resume is loaded with dozens of little-known gems. The good folks at Warner Home Video give us six of these in the new set.

OTHER MEN’S WOMEN (1931) with Mary Astor and a pre-stardom James Cagney, THE PURCHASE PRICE (1932) with Barbara Stanwyck, FRISCO JENNY (1933) with Ruth Chatterton, MIDNIGHT MARY (1933) with Loretta Young and Wellman on loan to the B-movie unit at MGM – all fascinating in-your-face potboilers – and two extraordinary works that confronted the Great Depression head-on, HEROES FOR SALE (1933) with Richard Barthelmess and Loretta Young, and WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD (1933) with Frankie Darro and the future Mrs. Wellman, Dorothy Coonan.

Every one of these movies is graced by Wellman’s superlative direction, regardless of material, with amazing moments sprinkled throughout – Mary Astor’s incredibly modern performance in OTHER MEN’S WOMEN in a triangle melodrama that dubbed in Italian could be an Italian neo-realist melodrama from 15 years on; the brief but electric work by Jimmy Cagney in the same film (Wellman would make him a star later that year with THE PUBLIC ENEMY); Stanwyck’s wedding night with George Brent in THE PURCHASE PRICE; and the climactic fire sequence in which the actress suffered real-life wounds; the 1906 San Francisco earthquake sequence in FRISCO JENNY; Loretta Young’s dazzling beauty in MIDNIGHT MARY and Wellman’s equally dazzling mise-en-scene; HEROES FOR SALE’s mob scene -- in Wellman’s films, characters bleed -- and scenes that evoke 1940’s THE GRAPES OF WRATH; the battle in the railroad yard in WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD between the cops and the armies of teens who have taken to the road to relieve their parents’ financial burdens.

These titles will be new to most viewers, and a guaranteed treat. As with all WHV’s box sets, extras abound. There are two full-length documentaries, Richard Schickel’s 2001 re-working of his 1973 documentary THE MEN WHO MADE THE MOVIES: WILLIAM WELLMAN, consisting of  Schickel’s interviews with Wild Bill himself, telling some of his best Hollywood stories; and William Wellman Jr.’s WILD BILL: HOLLYWOOD MAVERICK, winner of the 1996 NBR Award for Best Cable TV Film, an exceptional documentary about the life and times of the master, featuring interviews with Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Robert Redford, Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Sidney Poitier, Richard Widmark, Jane Wyman, Nancy Reagan, Buddy Rogers, Robert Stack, Darryl Hickman, Tab Hunter, Burgess Meredith, Mike Connors, Robert Wise, Arthur Hiller, Tony Scott, Michael Wayne (son of Duke), Frank Thompson and yours truly.

Each disc has vintage shorts and cartoons; Jeffrey Vance and Tony Maietta contribute the audio commentary on MIDNIGHT MARY; Bill Wellman Jr. and Frank Thompson are a formidable duo on WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD; and I do the honors on HEROES FOR SALE.

Clearly this set is big news for vintage movie lovers, but it’s eclipsed by one of the most exciting developments in home entertainment ever. George Feltenstein, head of WHV’s catalogue titles, honored by the NBR in 2007 with the William K. Everson Film History Award for his presentation of dozens and dozens of classics, has completely outdone himself with the establishment of The Warner Archive, a merchandising-on-demand service to make available titles that would otherwise not make it to retail DVD. One-hundred-fifty titles have been posted on the website and will be constantly updated until EVERYTHING in the catalogue is available. WHV will of course continue to release more sensational standard DVD collections, but the Archive gives us fast access to the rare stuff now. For 20 bucks, you can buy a high-quality DVD-R with studio packaging of a variety of movies – highlights among the first offerings are early Gables, Garbos and Crawfords, the violent, racy Pre-Code Jean Harlow crime picture BEAST OF THE CITY (1932), and three by Raoul Walsh – ALONG THE GREAT DIVIDE (1951) with Kirk Douglas, A LION IS IN THE STREETS (1953) with Cagney, and the director’s last picture, the Western epic A DISTANT TRUMPET (1964) with Troy Donahue and Suzanne Pleshette. This of course is all a preamble to the day when everything will be available to the consumer via movies on demand; for now, there is no question that if the Warner Archive idea clicks, other studios will follow suit. So please buy some of these movies!!!  Here’s the site:  http://www.wbshop.com/New-Releases/ARCHIVENEW,default,sc.html.

WHV also has TCM SPOTLIGHT: DORIS DAY COLLECTION, more wonderful Day movies, four out of five from her early 50s Warner Brothers period. David Butler’s APRIL IN PARIS (1952) stars Doris and Ray Bolger in a crazy comedy with a convolute plot about mistaken identity, diplomats, and an ocean cruise, but it’s the songs and musical numbers that make the movie fun, with Bolger’s amazing dancing and Day’s singing on seven songs, including the Sammy Cahn/Vernon Duke ditties “That’s What Makes Paris Paree,” “It Must be Good,” and “I’m Gonna Ring the Bell Tonight.” Extras include the Joe McDoakes short SO YOU WANT TO WEAR THE PANTS and the Chuck Jones cartoon TERRIER STRICKEN, both from 1952. The set includes two delightful musical comedies set against the movie business, offering lots of fascinating footage of the Warner lot. David Butler’s IT’S A GREAT FEELING (1949) is an often hilarious romp, thanks to Jack Carson playing the screen image of himself as a bumbling loudmouth. No one in Hollywood wants to work with him so he decides to make his own movie! Frequent co-star Dennis Morgan is on board, with Day as a singing commissary plucked by the boys from the studio commissary. The guest star cameos include Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Edward G. Robinson, Patricia Neal, Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan, Danny Kaye, Eleanor Parker and directors Raoul Walsh, King Vidor, Michael Curtiz, and David Butler, all working on the Warner lot at the time of production. Roy Del Ruth’s  STARLIFT (1951) is a Korean War version of Warners’ WWII THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS (1943) and HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN (1944), this time dusting off the one about the G.I. with a crush on a Hollywood starlet. Doris Day, Gordon Macrae and Virginia Mayo play themselves, with cameos from Gary Cooper, James Cagney, Randolph Scott, Jane Wyman, Ruth Roman, Patrice Wymore, Frank Lovejoy, Phil Harris, Gene Nelson and Louella Parson. The IT’S A GREAT FEELING/STARLIFT disc includes the short MUSICAL MEMORIES and the Robert McKimson cartoon SLEEPY TIME POSSUM. Butler’s TEA FOR TWO (1950) was one of Day’s most successful early films, and it’s still fun entertainment of the kind they just don’t make anymore. The musical froth teams Day again with Macrae and Nelson; Eve Arden, S. Z. Cuddles” Sakall, Patrice Wymore, and Billy DeWolfe provide strong support. MGM’s TUNNEL OF LOVE (1958), directed by Gene Kelly, rounds out the set, a light sex comedy based on the PeterDeVries novel and the subsequent Joseph Fields play.

SONY: RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (2008) is a masterpiece from one of our finest filmmakers, Jonathan Demme (2007 NBR Billy Wilder Award winner), with one of the best performances of the decade from Anne Hathaway, honored for this movie by the NBR with the Best Actress prize for 2008. Working from Jenny Lumet’s original screenplay, Demme has captured the dynamic spontaneity, emotional force and often uncomfortable voyeur qualities of the very best of Cassavetes. Painful and hilarious by turns, with an eclectic trademark Demme soundtrack, I think RACHEL is the director’s best film in a career that includes THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and PHILADELPHIA. Demme has always been one of our best actor’s directors, and every performance here is perfection. Hathaway’s remarkable characterization of Kym, released from rehab to attend her sister Rachel’s wedding at the family home, is nothing less than astounding, and Rosemarie Dewitt takes her place as one of our most exceptional young talents as Rachel. Bill Irwin and Debra Winger excel as their divorced parents, Anna Deveare Smith as Irwin’s wife, Tunde Adebimpe as Rachel’s groom; Demme’s mentor Roger Corman is a wedding guest, and singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock, subject of Demme’s musical performance feature STOREFRONT HITCHCOCK (1988), appears and contributes a couple of cool songs. The DVD includes deleted scenes, production featurette, a featurette on the wedding band (which includes the director’s son Brooklyn on guitar), a cast and crew q-and-a panel, and filmmaker and cast commentaries.

Written and directed by Philippe Claudel, I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (2008) made the NBR’s Top Five Foreign Films list, a moving and emotional drama from France with an electrifying performance by Kristin Scott Thomas who goes to live with her sister (Elsa Zylberstein) after 15 years in prison. The chemistry between the two artists is palpable. The DVD includes deleted scenes with optional director’s commentary, and an English-language version of the film with Thomas.

Director Fabrice du Welz (THE ORDEAL) certainly knows his genre mise-en-scene. VINYAN (2008) is a terrifying horror chiller, perfectly made. After a couple (Emmanuelle Beart, Rufus Sewell) lose their child in the Asian tsunami, Mom thinks she’s seen him in a film living the Burmese jungle, and the pair go on a quest into the wilderness. They’re beset upon by gangs of feral children, and … I’ll stop. This is a really terrific movie, a must for genre fans.

PARAMOUNT: The two latest additions to PHE’s Centennial Collection double-disc series are fan favorites TO CATCH A THIEF (1955) and THE ODD COUPLE (1968). Alfred Hitchcock, Oscar-winning Robert Burks cinematography, French Riviera locations, witty, suspenseful John Michael Hayes script, and two of the most attractive movie stars in history, Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, make TO CATCH A THIEF essential viewing. The new set includes commentary by historian Dr. Drew Casper, featurettes on Hitchcock, film censorship, the writing, casting, production and costumes, a contemporary appreciation of the film, and an interactive travelogue. Many people think THE ODD COUPLE (1968), with Jack Lemmon (Felix Ungar) and Walter Matthau (Oscar Madison) was directed by their frequent collaborator Billy Wilder; actually this Neil Simon adaptation of his own play was directed by Gene Saks, who helmed the smash hit on Broadway. It’s comic gold, a tremendous showcase for the prodigious talents of Matthau and Lemmon. Sons Charlie Matthau and Chris Lemmon do the audio commentary, and there are a half dozen featurettes.

BLU-RAY: The studios are pouring out the Blu-ray discs and the highly touted superior image and sound quality is entirely true. My contention is that vintage films wouldn’t necessarily benefit from the high-resolution, but Twentieth Century-Fox Home Entertainment’s restoration of Henry Koster THE ROBE (1953) has erased all doubts – seeing the Blu-ray is like seeing the picture for the first time. The classic Easter perennial about a Roman centurion (Richard Burton) who wins Christ’s robe at the foot of his crucifixation has been painstakingly restored with the help of the Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation. THE ROBE represents the height of Hollywood studio filmmaking circa 1952 – it was the first film in CinemaScope – and benefits from an excellent cast including Jean Simmons, Richard Boone, Jay Robinson and as Demetrius (subject of the sequel DEMETRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS, Victor Mature. TFF’s founder Martin Scorsese, significantly influenced by the film as a child, provides an introduction, and the disc is packed with extras – commentary by film composer David Newman and historians Jon Burlingame, Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman; Alfred Newman’s isolated musical score, featurettes on the production and CinemaScope, interactive features, newsreel footage, and an audio interview with screenwriter Philip Dunne from 1953.

From Disney comes PINOCCHIO (1940), one of Uncle Walt’s greatest achievements, a compelling adaptation of the Carlo Collodi story about the little wooden puppet brought to life by the kindly toymaker Geppetto, and his adventures with Jiminy Cricket. The voice work includes Dickie Jones as Pinocchio, Walter Catlett as Honest John, Christian Rub as Geppetto, Charles Judels as Stromboli, Evelyn Venable as The Blue Fairy and Mel Blanc as Cleo, Figaro and Gideon, and the Oscar-winning score and song (“When You Wish Upon a Star) are wonderful. Watching PINOCCHIO on Blu-ray is a revelation, lush classical animation at its best in a new digital hi-def restoration. The three-disc set includes never-before-seen deleted scenes and alternate ending, trivia games, production featurettes, interactive features and audio commentary by Leonard Maltin, Eric Goldberg and J.B. Kaufman, and a DVD copy of the film.

Fox has a batch of new Blu-ray releases, all worth upgrading for -- Martin Scorsese’s RAGING BULL (1980) with Robert DeNiro in his Oscar-winning performance as prizefighter Jake LaMotta, the format highlighting Michael Chapman’s dazzling black-and-white cinematography. Filmmakers commentaries, a four-part documentary, and vintage newsreel footage of LaMotta are included. Richard Kelly’s dark cult fantasy thriller DONNIE DARKO (2001), with Jake Gyllenhaal. Another cult favorite, the Tarantinoesque crime drama THE BOONDOCK SAINTS (1999), features Willem Dafoe, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Connolly, and Norman Reedus; extras include outtakes, deleted scenes and the script. Caleb Deschanel’s resplendent cinematography on Mel Gibson’s controversial blockbuster THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (2004) is jaw-dropping on Blu-ray. The two-disc Definitive Edition includes the original theatrical version and an edited family-friendly version shorn of the gore, both in Blu-ray, and the theatrical cut in standard DVD. The many extras include deleted scenes, production and historical documentaries, enhanced viewing mode with Biblical footnotes with Mel Gibson, his filmmaking colleagues, and theologians. There’s been some controversy around the Blu-ray release of William Friedkin’s classic cop thriller THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971), winner of five Oscars (picture, director, actor: Gene Hackman, screenplay, editing). Friedkin has re-imagined the look of the filming, desaturating much of the color ala Huston’s MOBY DICK and REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE, stating he wanted to take this approach originally. Cinematographer Owen Roizman objects that this is not the way he shot the film and I think he’s right; I much prefer the original version. John Frankenheimer directed the searing sequel FRENCH CONNECTION II (1975), with Hackman reprising his role as Popeye Doyle, this time travelling to Marseilles. Frankenheimer’s unerring eye for performance and locations makes this one of his, and Hackman’s best films. Star and director provide audio commentary on this neglected picture. Mickey Rourke of course had one of the great comeback sagas of all time with the success of Darren Aronofsky’s THE WRESTLER as Randy “The Ram Robinson.” One of the most honored films of the year, the picture made the NBR’s Top Ten list, and shows the director at his best. The performances by Rourke, Evan Rachel Wood as his estranged daughter, and Marisa Tomei as an exotic dancer are so rich, this is a film you can be rewarded by time and again. The Blu-ray features bonus material including a production featurette and Bruce Springsteen’s music video of the title song.  Danny Boyle’s SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (2008) was last year’s Little-Film-That-Could, and the travails of the project and its eventual NBR and Oscar eminence well-known. Suffice to say that Anthony Dod Mantle’s brilliant Oscar-winning cinematography is well-served in the Blu-ray format, looking practically psychedelic; the second disc of the set contains a digital copy as well. Boyle and NBR Breakthrough Actor Dev Patel do audio commentary, there are a dozen deleted scenes, features on A.R. Rahman’s Oscar-winning music, and several featurettes on the film’s making. Gregory Hoblit’s PRIMAL FEAR (1996) brought Edward Norton a Best Supporting Actor nomination in his debut role as a Kentucky teenager charged with murdering a clergyman. It was also an important early role for Laura Linney as an assistant D.A., in support of defense attorney Richard Gere and psychologist Frances McDormand. Paramount’s Blu-ray enhances the viewing experience once again; the DVD includes cast and crew commentary, and featurettes on the production and the insanity defense.

BOOKS: Molly Haskell (co-winner of the 2008 NBR William K. Everson Film History Award) has written a delicious new book, Frankly My Dear: Gone with the Wind Revisited (Yale University Press) that evaluates David O. Selznick’s 1939 Civil War romantic epic from the perspective of 2009. She delves deeply into the personal histories of Selznick and author Margaret Mitchell to unravel the Scarlett O’Hara-Rhett Butler ethos, and the cultural ramifications of this penultimate Golden Age Hollywood movie. It’s a real page-turner, her writing style a rare blend of academia and entertainment. Her observations on real-life Southern belle Mitchell are especially illuminating.

There are scores of books designed to offer new actors a little tea and sympathy, along with some tricks of the trade; One Less Bitter Actor: The Actor’s Survival Guide (Sentient Publications) by Markus Flanagan is the best book on the current market, essential reading for students and professionals alike. An experienced film, TV, and stage actor, and acting teacher in L.A., Flanagan provides invaluable and dead-on info and insights on headshots, resumes, reels, agents, managers, casting directors, and auditions. There’s an especially thorough procedural about working on a film set, personal career anecdotes, and powerful advice and inspiration. A chapter on NY vs. LA makes fun reading, but I think will actually make a lot of young actors prematurely pack up for some California dreaming! Over the years I’ve seen a goodly number of NYC-trained actors head straight for Hollywood after school and fall off the career tracks, not because of  lack of talent or drive but inexperience and no representation, the town’s permanent vacation atmosphere or just life itself (marriage, kids, steady employment outside the business). I always advise new actors to stay in New York after training, do as much theatre and as many indie films (feature or short) as possible in this capital of indie moviemaking, build up a reel, contacts, representation, then start doing the LA thing if they haven’t been noticed already. Examples of this route include some of the workingest actors in show biz – Adrian Brody, Tom Hanks, Mira Sorvino, Amanda Peet, John Leguizamo, Zach Braff, Michael Imperioli, Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Denis Leary to name just a handful. Regardless of what path a new actor chooses, Flanagan’s book will save them blood, sweat and tears, and serve them knowledge and encouragement in their artistic and/or commercial quest.

The University of Wisconsin Press has re-issued Tonio Balio’s seminal two-volume study United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars: Volume 1, 1919-1950 and United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry Volume 2, 1951-1978. Balio had access to UA’s corporate records, housed at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he teaches, and it is riveting reading. From the revolutionary formation by the four greatest creative powers in the movies at the time – Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin and D. W. Griffith (a fifth, Western star William S. Hart, bowed out) through independent producers Joseph Schenck, Darryl Zanuck, Sam Goldwyn, Alexander Korda, Hal Roach and David O. Selznick; the corporate intrfigue between Pickford and Chaplin; the sale to Krim, Benjamin and Youngstein in 1950; the company’s resurgence to become the pre-eminent film company of the 60s and 70s. While the focus is on the business operations of UA, the book is never dry, as Balio balances scholarship with readability. 

                                                   JOHN A. GALLAGHER

                                                   jgmovie@gmail.com