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CLASSIC
HORROR: Every Halloween, Turner Classic
Movies treats fans to a stellar lineup
of vintage horror, including Dracula
(1931), Frankenstein (1932),
The Mummy (1932) and the Val Lewton
classics like I Walked with a Zombie
(1943) – all uncut and commercial
free, unlike the ludicrously named American
Classic Movies network. For a full lineup
of TCM's October horror festival, go to
www.tcm.turner.com
.
BELA
LUGOSI: A perfect complement to TCM's
lineup is Arthur Lennig's fascinating
biography of Bela Lugosi, The Immortal
Count (University of Kentucky Press).
In this revised and expanded version of
his 1973 biography, the distinguished
historian presents the most detailed account
of this tragic figure, with full analysis
and production histories of Lugosi's best
known films like Dracula , The
Black Cat (1934) and The Raven
(1935) as well as lesser known outings
like Victor Fleming's Renegades
(1930) and Tod Browning's The Thirteenth
Chair (1929). Lennig presents a strong
case for Lugosi as a unique and stylized
artist, a “Method” actor ahead
of his time, and also shatters many of
the myths regarding the star, including
his drug addiction. I love that Lennig
reproduces so much Lugosi dialogue in
the book – the actor had one of
the most mellifluous and often imitated
voices in screen history. Lugosi's story
doesn't end with his death in 1956, and
Lennig traces the estate battles, the
legal conflicts over the use of the Lugosi
likeness, and Bela's resurrecition as
a cult icon. This book is long overdue
and is highly recommended as biography,
film history and pop culture. It is the
last word on Lugosi.
IN
PRAISE OF TCM: Yes, this is the best cable
channel on the air. Here's a heads up
for four films airing next month directed
by one of my favorites, William “Wild
Bill” Wellman (1896-1975) – My
Man and I (1952), Nothing Sacred
(1937), Night Nurse (1931)
and Across the Wide Missouri (1951).
While best known for directing Wings
(1927), The Public Enemy
(1931), A Star is Born (1937),
Beau Geste (1939), The Ox-Bow
Incident (1943), Story of G.I.
Joe (1945), Battleground (1949)
and The High and The Mighty (1954),
these four films illustrate Wellman's
incredible versatility:
MY
MAN AND I (1952) November
2 at 12:15 PM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Copyright: August 14, 1952. New York Premiere:
September 5, 1952 at the Palace. 99 minutes.
Executive
Producer: Dore Schary. Produced by Stephen
Ames. DIRECTED BY WILLIAM A. WELLMAN.
Screenplay: John Fante and Jack Leonard
(and uncredited, Marguerite Roberts, Millard
Kaufman). Story, "Letter to the President",
by John Fante and Jack Leonard. Photography:
William C. Mellor. Editor: John Dunning.
Supervising Editor: Margaret Booth. Art
Direction: Cedric Gibbons, James Basevi.
Set Decorations: Edwin B. Willis, Fred
MacLean. Assistant Director: George Rhein.
Unit Manager: William Kaplan. Location
Managers: Howard "Dutch" Horton,
Charles Coleman. Second Unit Director:
James C. Havens. Special Effects: Warren
Newcombe. Montage Sequences: Peter Ballbusch.
Recording Director (Western Electric):
Douglas Shearer. Makeup: William Tuttle.
Hairstylist: Sidney Guilaroff. Musical
Score: David Buttolph. Themes: "Stormy
Weather" (Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler),
"Jukebox" (Leith Stevens), "Noche
de Ronda" (Maria Teresa Lara), "Swimming
Pool" (Lennie Hayton), "Jump
Right In" (Jeff Alexander), "Looking
for Joe" (Al Columbo), "I Wanna
Be a Dancin' Man" (Harry Warren and
Johnny Mercer). Working Titles: LETTER
TO THE PRESIDENT, LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT,
THIS NIGHT FOREVER, SHAMELESS.
Cast
: Shelley Winters (Nancy), Ricardo
Montalban (Chu Chu Ramirez), Wendell Corey
(Ansel Ames/Floyd Hawkson), Claire Trevor
(Mrs. Ansel Ames/Louise Hawkson), Jose
Torvay (Manuel Ramirez), Jack Elam (Celestino
Garcia), Pascual Garcia Pena (Willie Chung),
George Chandler (Frankie), Robert Burton
(Sheriff), Juan Torena (Vincente Aguilar),
Carlos Conde (Joe Mendacio), Dabbs Greer
(Bailiff), Alec Benson (Truck Driver),
Martha Wentworth (Landlady), Lee Phelps,
Fred Coby (Plainclothesmen), James H.
Harrison (Clerk), Billie Bird (Waitress),
Jay Adler (Bartender), Jack Daly (Bank
Teller), Joe Mell (Deputy Commissioner),
Ralph Moody (Rogers), Edward Hearn (Deputy),
Tom Greenway, John McKee (Patrolmen),
Dennis Fraser (Sailor), Tristram Coffin
(Fingerprint Man), Philip Van Zandt (Doctor),
Alan Dreeben (Prosecutor), Earl Lee (Judge),
Jim Hayward (Foreman), Rhea Mitchell (Nurse),
Lillian Molieri (Bride), Tyler McVey (Defense
Attorney), John Indrisano (Foreman), George
Lynn, Peter Leeds, Cliff Clark (Men).
Production
: According to producer Stephen Ames,
John Fante got the idea for the story
after reading a series of newspaper articles
in 1950. He fictionalized it under the
title Letter to the President .
Production started at a cost of
$945,000 on March 24, 1952, and ended
on April 21, 1952. Most of the locations
were filmed in Calabasas, California,
including the Dreamland Dance Hall at
Main and Fifth Streets; the Calabasas
Market at 23548 Ventura Boulevard; Ventura
Boulevard and Mulholland Drive (the roadblock
sequence); the Noland T. Jones Ranch on
Dry Canyon Star Route; Sancho and Aliso
Streets in Los Angeles; the Arroyo Seco
Underpass at San Fernando Road near Lacey
Street; the Sylmar Railway siding in the
San Fernando Valley; and the Southern
Pacific Railway Tracks in Saugus.
Reviews
: "Top drawer direction"
(Stal., Variety , 8-20-52); also
( New York Times , 9-6-52); Time
(9-15-52); Newsweek (9-22-52);
Nation (9-27-52).
Notes
: My Man and I is an offbeat,
atmospheric melodrama that switches gears
from low comedy to tearjerker, a character
study of a working class hero, with bravura
performances from Shelley Winters, Claire
Trevor, and Ricardo Montalban. The story
revolves around a Mexican migrant farm
worker (Montalban), who is unwittingly
cheated out of his salary by a racist
boss (Wendell Corey). "He's better
than a raghead or a Chink," Corey
tells wife Claire Trevor. Montalban rejects
Trevor's advances, and she frames him
into a jail sentence on a murder rap.
Shelley Winters was superb as the world-weary
floozy who provides Montalban with his
only salvation ("America the Beautiful,"
she says, "You must show it to me
sometime. I've never been there").
Wellman managed to inject a social consciousness
into this character study of a working
class hero, and in its frank condemnation
of racial intolerance, the film harkens
back to Wellman's Robin Hood of El
Dorado .
My Man and I was the last of six
Wellman films photographed by William
Mellor (the others were Reaching for
the Sun , The Next Voice You Hear
, The Minister in Washington ,
Across the Wide Missouri , Westward
the Women ); Mellor went on to shoot
A Place in the Sun , Giant ,
Diary of Anne Frank , and The
Greatest Story Ever Told for George
Stevens.
NOTHING
SACRED (1937) November 5 at
8 AM EST
Selznick-International/United
Artists. Copyright: December 8, 1937.
New York Premiere: November 25, 1937 at
Radio City Music Hall. 75 minutes.
Produced
by David O. Selznick. DIRECTED BY WILLIAM
A. WELLMAN. Screenplay: Ben Hecht (and
uncredited, George Oppenheimer, Sidney
Howard, Moss Hart, George Kaufman, John
Lee Mahin, Ring Lardner Jr., Budd Schulberg,
Dorothy Parker, Robert Carson, David O.
Selznick, WILLIAM A. WELLMAN). Color by
Technicolor. Photography: W. Howard Greene.
Editor: James E. Newcom. Art Director:
Lyle R. Wheeler. Set Decorator: Edward
G. Boyle. Color Consultant: Natalie Kalmus;
associate: Henri Jaffa. Assistant Directors:
Frederick A. Spencer, John Coonan, Charles
Samuels. Production Manager: Raymond A.
Klune. Camera Operator: Arthur Arling.
Aerial Photography: Wilfrid M. Cline.
Special Effects: Jack Cosgrove, Clarence
Slifer. Sound (Western Electric): Fred
J. Lau. Carole Lombard's Costumes: Travis
Banton. Other Costumes: Walter Plunkett.
Main Titles: Sam Berman. Production Secretary/Scenario
Assistant: Barbara Keon. Assistant to
David Selznick: Marcella Rabwin. Publicity:
Russell Birdwell. Musical Score: Oscar
Levant. Musical Director: Louis Forbes.
Novelty Swing Music: Raymond Scott and
his Quintet. Songs by Louis Alter and
Walter Bullock. Dance Director: Dave Gould.
French Title: LA JOYEUSE SUICIDEE.
Cast
: Carole Lombard (Hazel Flagg), Fredric
March (Wally Cook), Charles Winninger
(Dr. Enoch Downer), Walter Connolly (Oliver
Stone), Sig Rumann (Dr. Emile Egglehoffer),
Frank Fay (Master of Ceremonies), "Slapsie"
Maxie Rosenbloom (Max Levinsky), Margaret
Hamilton (Drugstore Lady), Troy Brown
(Ernest Walker), Hattie McDaniel (Mrs.
Walker), Olin Howland (Baggage Man), George
Chandler (Photographer), Claire DuBrey
(Miss Rafferty, nurse), John Qualen (Swedish
Fireman), Charles Richman (Mayor), Art
Lasky (Mug), Alex Schoenberg (Dr. Kerchinwasser),
Monty Woolley (Dr. Vunch), Alex Novinsky
(Dr. Marachuffsky), Katherine Shelton
(Dr. Downer's Nurse), Ben Morgan, Hans
Steinke (Wrestlers), Aileen Pringle (Mrs.
Bullock), Hedda Hopper (Shipboard Dowager),
Dick Rich (Moe), A.W. Sweatt (Office Boy),
Clarence Wilson (Mr. Watson), Betty Douglas
("Helen of Troy"), Eleanor Troy
("Catherine of Russia"), Monica
Bannister ("Pocahontas"), Jinx
Falkenberg ("Katinka"), Margeret
Lyman ("Salome"), Shirley Chambers
("Lady Godiva"), Ernest Whitman,
Everett Brown (Policemen), Vera Lewis
(Miss Sedgewick), Ann Doran (Telephone
Girl), Bill Dunn, Lee Phelps (Electricians),
Cyril Ring (Pilot), Mickey McMasters (Referee),
Bobby Tracey (Announcer), Billy Barty
(Little Boy), Nora Cecil (School Teacher),
A.R. Hayzel (Copy Editor), John Wilson
(City Editor), Louise Clark (Walker's
Girl), Charles Lane (Rubinstein), Hilda
Vaughan (Mrs. Cartwright), Bob Perry,
Art Lasky (Mugs), Helen Brown (Secretary),
Charles Sherlock (Printer), Tenen Holtz
(Sad Waiter), Alex Mellish (D.S.C. Head),
Walter Walker (E.J. Southern), Philippe
Hurlie, Rudolph Chavers, Dolores Lilly
(Walker's Kids), Sammy Stoller (Bit),
Eddie Kane, Emily Fitzroy, Tom Ricketts,
Allen Cavan, Mickey Morita, E.J. Hertz,
Albert Conti, Eddie Dunn, Joe Cunningham,
Chet deVito, Laurie Lane (Guests at Banquet)
Wimpy (Dog), Raymond Scott and His Quintet
(Themselves), "Pearl the Squirrel."
Production
: On May 4, 1937, David O. Selznick
announced that Ben Hecht was writing an
original comedy for Fredric March and
Janet Gaynor, to be directed by Wellman,
as a follow-up to the tean's smash hit
A Star is Born (1937). The next
day, he announced that Carole Lombard
would star instead of Gaynor. In mid-May,
Selznick, Wellman, Robert Carson, Barbara
Keon, and George Cukor were in New York
to plan the next Selznick International
pictures, including Wellman's Nothing
Sacred and Cukor's Gone with the
Wind (he was replaced during production
by Victor Fleming). Selznick, Wellman
and Hecht worked on the Nothing Sacred
script during the train trip west,
arriving in Los Angeles on May 24. Adolphe
Menjou was considered for the newspaper
editor; when Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., was
unavailable
for Gregory LaCava's Stage Door
(1937, RKO), Menjou took over that
part, and his Nothing Sacred role
went to Walter Connolly. In July, Hecht
left the project to write Sweet Land
of Liberty and The Girl on the
Boardwalk (both unproduced) for Sam
Goldwyn. In search of an ending for the
film, Selznick assigned George Oppenheimer
(on loan from MGM) and Ring Lardner, Jr.,
and purchased James Street's Hearst's
International-Cosmopolitan magazine
story "Letter to the Editor"
(October 1937).
Wellman started shooting Nothing Sacred
on June 12, 1937 and completed production
in early August on a $1 million budget.
The picture played three weeks at Radio
City Music Hall, grossing $21,400 its
first day. In 1985, the Museum of Modern
Art restored the film to its original
three-strip Technicolor splendor and screened
it at the New York Film Festival. Nothing
Sacred was remade as Living It
Up (1954, Paramount), directed by
Norman Taurog, starring Dean Martin, Jerry
Lewis, Janet Leigh, and Edward Arnold;
and as a Broadway musical, Hazel Flagg
, with book by Ben Hecht, music by
Jules Styne, and lyrics by Bill Hilliard.
In 1993, producer Ray Stark announced
a remake to be scripted by Larry Gelbart.
A black and white clip from the Wellman
film appears in Chuck Workman's Precious
Images (1986).
Awards
: Best Film of November, 1937 by the
Scripps-Howard newspaper chain film critics.
Reviews
: " Nothing Sacred has
a satiric bite and a ghoulish twist, for
Ben Hecht has burlesqued just about everything,
including death, in his script" (Howard
Barnes, New York Herald Tribune ,
11-26-37); "One of the neatest comedies
of the year, a joyous affair, its direction
revealing a sense of humor more keen and
penetrating than I thought Bill Wellman
possessed" ( Hollywood Spectator
, 11-27-37); also, New Yorker
(11-4-37); New York Daily Mirror
(11-21-37); Motion Picture Daily
(11-22-37); Film Daily (11-24-37);
New York Sun , New York Times
, New York Daily News , New
York World-Telegram (11-26-37); Boxoffice
(11-27-37); Variety (12-1-37);
Script (12-4-37); Time
(12-6-37); Newsweek (12-6-37);
The Nation (12-18-37); Literary
Digest (12-18-37).
Notes
: Nothing Sacred rates as
one of the best screwball comedies, with
a wry sense of black humor that anticipates
the work of Billy Wilder. Wellman was
fortunate to have an acerbic script by
Ben Hecht, an extremely cynical satire
on exploitation in the media. Once again
working in Technicolor, Wellman, Selznick,
and Fredric March were afforded a drastic
change of pace from A Star is Born
. March plays Wally Cook, a reporter
for the New York Morning Star ,
who seizes upon a human interest story
to bolster circulation. Hazel Flagg (Carole
Lombard), a small town girl from Warsaw,
Vermont, is dying of radium poisoning,
and the Star imports her to New
York where she is wined and dined by a
bleary-eyed public. It all turns out to
be a hoax, and March and Lombard slip
into obscurity and, presumably, happiness.
Hecht's script sets the pace with the
opening titles: "This is New York,
Skyscraper Champion of the world, where
the Slickers and Know-It-Alls peddle goldbricks
to each other, and where truth, crushed
to earth, rises again more phony than
a glass eye." The dialogue is rich
with humor, as when Lombard discovers
she is not really going to die ("It's
kind of startling to be brought to life
twice and both times in Warsaw");
March's description of his editor Walter
Connolly ("He has a different quality
of charm. he's sort of a cross between
a Ferris wheel and a werewolf, but with
a lovable streak, if you care to blast
for it"); and the opinion of soused
Dr. Downer (Charles Winninger) on the
subject of journalists ("The hand
of God reaching down into the mire couldn't
elevate one of them to the depths of degradation,
not by a million miles").
Other highlights include a slapstick wrestling
match; an hilarious interlude at a modernistic
nightclub, with patrons sobbing at the
sight of Hazel (March: "For good
clean fun there's nothing like a wake."
Lombard: "Oh please, please, let's
not talk shop."); a slugfest in the
best Wellman style between Lombard and
March; and best of all, a brief bit in
which a small boy (Billy Barty) runs up
to March on a Warsaw street and ferociously
bites him on the leg, a vignette that
provoked The Nation to comment
that Nothing Sacred "discovers
in the boy a perfect device wherewith
to sign itself as a work of art; a device,
too, which would be usable in no other
art than that of the film, the peculiar
genius of which has called it forth."
Wellman's unsentimental, "nothing
sacred" irreverence makes the picture
a classic of American sound comedy, worthy
of the best of Capra, Lubitsch or Sturges.
The director skillfully combined visual
comedy with the dialogue tradition in
one of the funniest films of any decade.
NIGHT
NURSE (1931) November 10 at
5:15 AM EST
Warner
Brothers-Vitaphone. Copyright: July 10,
1931. New York Premiere: July 16, 1931
at the Strand. 73 minutes.
Executive
Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck. Produced by
Hal B. Wallis. DIRECTED BY WILLIAM A.
WELLMAN. Screenplay: Oliver H. P. Garrett.
Additional Dialogue: Charles Kenyon. Based
on the 1930 novel by Dora Macy (pseudonym
for Grace Perkins Oursler). Photography:
Barney "Chick" McGill. Camera
Crew: Bill Whitley, Bobby Robinson, Kenneth
Green, Harry Davis, Leo Hughes, Aaron
Hower.Editor: Edward McDermott. Art Director:
Max Parker. Assistant Director: Frank
Shaw. Second Assistant Director: Sylvan
Karp. Production Manager: William Koenig.
Technical Adviser: Dr. Harry Martin. Script
Supervisor: Fred Applegate. Costumes:
Earl Luick. Makeup: Perc Westmore, Ray
Romero. Props: Robert Priestley, G.W.
Berntsen. Gaffer: Claude Hutchinson. Grip:
Owen Crompton. Still Photographer: Homer
Van Pelt. Sound (Vitaphone): Oliver S.
Garretson. Sound Crew: Alf Burton, Burrell
Kring, Frank Wrixel, Gene Merritt. Vitaphone
Orchestra Conducted by Leo F. Forbstein.
Production Crew: Sorenson, Hegarty, Hanlin.
French Title: L'ANGE BLANC.
Cast
: Barbara Stanwyck (Lora Hart), Ben
Lyon (Mortie), Joan Blondell (Maloney),
Clark Gable (Nick), Blanche Frederici
(Mrs. Maxwell), Charlotte Merriam (Mrs.
Ritchey), Charles Winninger (Dr. Bell),
Edward Nugent (Eagan), Vera Lewis (Miss
Dillon), Ralf Harolde (Dr. Ranger), Walter
McGrail (Drunk), Allan Lane (Intern),
Martin Burton (Second Intern), Betty May
(Surgery Room Nurse), Marcia Mae Jones
(Nanny), Betty Jane Graham (Desney), Lucille
Ward (Mother in Hospital), Bob Perry (Morty's
Pal), Willie Fung (Chinese Man in Hospital
Bed), Manuella Martinez, Prudie Johnson,
Consuelo Flores, Armando Murga, Ko Shimizu,
Gilbert Fong, Angelita Ortega, Gloria
Ulmer, Victor Gonzalez, Rosemarie Moore
(Babies in Hospital), Jed Prouty, James
Bradbury Jr.
Production
: Wellman was assigned to the picture
on December 29, 1930, with the final script
dated December 30. After considering Constance
Bennett for the lead, Warners borrowed
Barbara Stanwyck from Columbia, where
she had just starred in Frank Capra's
The Miracle Woman (1930). Production
was originally to commence on February
2, 1931, with a cast including James Cagney
as an intern and Clark Gable as Nick the
chauffeur. Louise Brooks, Evelyn Brent,
Virginia Valli and Mildred Harris were
considered for the role of Mrs Ritchey;
it went to Charlotte Merriam. On January
13, 1931, Wellman took over The Public
Enemy from Archie Mayo, and Night
Nurse was postponed.
Production finally began on April 11,
1931, and was completed on May 6, 1931.
Cagney was replaced by Allan Lane, since
the intern was a small part and he had
just starred in The Public Enemy .
Gable was paid $750 per week to play Nick.
Night Nurse was filmed at Warners
Burbank Studio; Wilshire Boulevard and
LaBrea Avenue (travelling shots of Stanwyck
and Lyon in car); Warners Sunset Boulevard
Studio; the New York Street at First National
Studios (at Bronson and Marathon), at
a total budget of $139,038. As he had
done on The Public Enemy , Wellman
kept costs down by usually making only
one or two takes. The production reports
note various half-hour delays caused by
malfunction of the Vitaphone recording
equipment; and on April 30, Ben Lyon arrived
a half-hour late for his 9:30 AM call
when he reported to the First National
lot instead of Warners Burbank.
Reviews
: "At times it is exciting ...
(Clark Gable) seems to undertake his role
with considerable enthusiasm" (L.N.,
New York Times , 8-17-31); "Director's
main bid for attention is a death on an
operating table under the camera ... Wellman
deserves a note for his nerve in shooting
it" (Sid., Variety , 8-21-31);
also Life , 8-7-31.
Notes
: Wellman's "man's man"
reputation has obscured his fine work
with screen actresses, especially Barbara
Stanwyck. Their five pictures together
represent some of her best work, and they
shared a great personal and professional
affection for many years. At Warners,
Stanwyck became established as a star,
largely due to Wellman's Night Nurse
and So Big (1932).
Night Nurse takes off immediately
with a hair-raising subjective point-of-view
ambulance ride through crowded city streets,
and it never lets up. The heavy of the
piece was a young Clark Gable, minus his
mustache. Appearing in four scenes, he
made a strong impression as the sadistic
chauffeur. As he had done with Harlow,
Zanuck dropped Gable after Night Nurse
(because he thought his ears were
too big!), and he was picked up by MGM
and groomed for stardom. In Night Nurse
, he's dressed in black and beats
up women and kindly old doctors, starving
the unfortunate tots into anemia. In one
scene, Gable punches out Stanwyck, and
in a typical Wellman touch, the actual
blow happens offscreen, with the camera
panning quickly from Gable's face to Stanwyck
falling to the floor.
Stanwyck gets to show her stuff when she
socks a drunken lecher (Walter McGrail),
and she and Joan Blondell constantly change
in and out of their nurse uniforms to
display the latest in 1931 lingerie; sex
and violence has always meant big box-office,
and Night Nurse became one of
Warners' highest grossing films of the
year. The sordid proceedings were too
much for the Maryland censors, however,
and on July 3, 1931, they banned the picture
in their state.
ACROSS
THE WIDE MISSOURI (1951) November
24 at 8 PM EST
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Copyright: September 17, 1951. New York
Premiere: November 6, 1951 at the Loew's
State. 78 minutes.
Executive
Producer: Dore Schary. Produced by Robert
Sisk. DIRECTED BY WILLIAM A. WELLMAN.
Screenplay: Talbot Jennings (and uncredited,
Albert Lewin and Chief Nipo T. Strongheart
[Indian translations]). Story: Talbot
Jennings and Frank Cavett. Suggested by
the book by Bernard DeVoto. Color by Technicolor.
Photography: William C. Mellor. Editor:
John Dunning. Supervising Editor: Margaret
Booth. Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons,
James Basevi. Set Decorations: Edwin B.
Willis, Ralph S. Hurst. Assistant Director:
Howard Koch. Production Manager: Walter
Strohm. Unit Manager: Ruby Rosenberg.
Location Scout: Orville O. "Bunny"
Dull. Second Unit Director: John Waters.
Second Unit Photography: Harold Lipstine.
Special Effects: Warren Newcombe. Color
Consultants: Henri Jaffa, James Gooch.
Technical Adviser: Chief Nipo T. Strongheart.
Archery Adviser: Howard Hill. Recording
Director (Western Electric): Douglas Shearer.
Location Sound: J.N. Woltz. Location Auditor:
Bill Smith. Costumes: Walter Plunkett.
Makeup: William Tuttle. Hairstylist: Sidney
Guilaroff. Musical Score: David Raksin.
Main Title Music: David Raksin and Al
Sondroy. Themes: "Highland Fling"
(traditional), "Skip To My Lou"
(traditional), "Square Dance"
(arranged by Al Columbo), "Indian
Lament" (Al Columbo), "Indian
Lullaby" (Al Columbo), "Flowers
of the Forest" (traditional), "Alouette"
(traditional), "The Bibroch of Donald
Dhu" (traditional). French Title:
AU-DE LA DU MISSOURI.
Cast
: Clark Gable (Flint Mitchell), Maria
Elena Marques (Kamiah), Ricardo Montalban
(Ironshirt), John Hodiak (Brecan), Adolphe
Menjou (Pierre), J. Carroll Naish (Looking
Glass), Jack Holt (Bear Ghost), Alan Napier
(Captain Humberstone Lyon), George Chandler
(Gowie), Richard Anderson (Dick Richardson),
Henri Letondal (Lucien Chennault), Douglas
Fowley (Tin Cup Owens), Louis Nicoletti
(Roy DuNord), Ben Watson (Markhead), Russell
Simpson (Hoback), Frankie Darro (Cadet),
James Whitmore (Old Bill), Frank Richards
(Tige Shannon), Michael Dugan (Gordon),
John McKee (Killbuck), Bert LeBaron (LeBonte),
Elmer Napier (Shad Skeggs), Tex Holden
(Peg Leg Smith), Elaine Naish (Indian
Girl), Edith Mills, Talzumbie Dupea (Indian
Women), Bobby Barber (Gardipe), Gene Coogan
(Marcelline), Fred Graham (Brown), Fred
Gillman (Harris), Chief Nipo T. Strongheart
(Indian Crier), Andrew Knife (Yellow Plume),
Frank McGrath (St. Leger), Donald House
(Luke), Jack Sterling (Davis), Albert
Pollet, Albert Pettit, Manuel Paris, Maurice
Brierre (French Trappers), Ed Juarequi,
Slim Talbot, Rocky Shahan, Fred McDougall,
Ray Thomas, Henry Wills, Jimmy Van Horn,
Clint Sharpe, Archie Butler, Johnny Indrisano,
Fred Kennedy (Stuntmen), Evelyn Finley
(Stunt Double for Maria Elena Marques),
Howard Keel (Narration).
Production
: In September 1949, O.O. "Bunny"
Dull made a location trip to scout Glacier
Park, Montana; Sheridan, Wyoming; Missoula,
Montana; and Yellowstone National Park.
Wellman was assigned to direct in November
1949, intending to shoot the film in Montana.
By June 1950, Wellman had chosen all of
his locations within a 75-mile radius
of Durango, Colorado, with the company's
camp based in a tent city fourteen miles
north of Durango. Nearby Molas Lake was
also used as a location. The picture was
in production from August 1, 1950 through
September 20, 1950. On December 14, 1950,
the first sneak preview of the film was
held at the Encino Theatre, and the movie
was delivered for negative cutting on
December 29, 1950. A second sneak took
place on February 12, 1951 at the Picwood
Theatre, at which time MGM made the decision
to completely re-edit and re-structure
the film. The picture previewed at the
Bay Theatre in Pacific Palisades on July
24, 1951, and was delivered for a second
negative cutting four days later. Stock
footage of buffalo on the range was used
from Wellman's Buffalo Bill (1944,
20th Century-Fox); stock footage of beavers
and flying geese was purchased from Walt
Disney Pictures.
Reviews
: "A halting, sometimes verbose
Western" ( New York Times ,
11-7-51); "The scenery is breathtaking
and the pioneer and Indian details authentic,
but the story is hardly more than an introduction
to the picture" ( Cue , 11-10-51);
also Saturday Review (10-27-51);
Newsweek , Time (11-19-51).
Notes
: One of the major disappointments
of Wellman's career, this 1830's period
Western adventure still has much going
for it, including a fine Clark Gable performance,
Technicolor locations in the Colorado
Rockies, and several superb action sequences
that help overcome the flawed structure
caused by MGM's extensive re-cutting.
Gable plays Flint Mitchell, a rugged mountain
man who leads a band of fur trappers into
Blackfeet country. He trades for an Indian
wife, Kamiah (Maria Elena Marques), as
security for his venture, making no emotional
ties to his bride. She earns his love
and respect as she reveals her courageous
nature and shows him a safe pass through
the mountains. Gable is plagued by the
lightning attacks of the fiery Ironshirt
(Ricardo Montalban), but he manages to
build a stockade from which the group
can base its trapping activities. Peace
is established with the Blackfeet, to
Montalban's chagrin, when the tribal patriarch
turns out to be Marques' grandfather.
She gives birth to a son, and when the
summer comes, Gable leads the band back
over the mountains to sell their furs.
Montalban ambushes them, and Marques is
killed. Her horse, bearing the baby boy,
takes off into the mountains at breakneck
speed while the trappers battle Montalban's
braves. Gable pursues Montalban, outwitting
him in the woods before rescuing his son.
The screenplay by Talbot Jennings ( Mutiny
on the Bounty , Northwest Passage
) features colorful characters like
the French trapper Pierre and the Scottish
Captain Lyon, and consists of a series
of vignettes. Much of the dialogue is
rendered in the Blackfeet language, but
the constant translation to English slows
scenes down considerably. Consequently,
the finished film works best in the action
sequences. Wellman took great care in
insuring historical accuracy, and it is
to his credit that Across the Wide
Missouri is not just a dry recreation
of a bygone time, but a vigorous and lusty
evocation of the period. There are numerous
scenes depicting the cultures of both
trapper and Indian, with a fair representation
of both sides. Like Ford, Wellman shows
great respect for the Indians, and with
his own Buffalo Bill (1944) and
Delmer Daves' Broken Arrow (1950),
is one of the first mature, unprejudiced
views of American Indians in the Western
genre. Wellman was unhappy with the finished
product, and blamed the producers for
meddling with the film. Under the studio
system, there was not much he could do
about it, but at least he was in good
company: during the same period, MGM also
brutally recut John Huston's Red Badge
of Courage (1951).
(The
above Wellman entries are excerpted from
my forthcoming book on the director and
are copyright c 2004 by John Gallagher.)
In
more Wellman news, two eagerly awaited
aviation movies directed by Wild Bill
and starring John Wayne – Island
in the Sky (1953) and The High
and the Mighty (1954) – will
be released by Paramount Home Video in
early 2005.
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