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Classic
Reviews Roundup #20 - August 2005
In this mid-summer edition of the column, I'll be looking at two
recent collections (The Gary Cooper
Collection, The Film Noir
Classic Collection #2) as well as providing shorter
reviews of some 12 other titles that have been released mainly over
the past couple of months (The Olive
Thomas Collection, Pimpernel
Smith, The Rocking Horse
Winner, This Is Your Life: The
Ultimate Collection Volume 1, It
Started in Naples, Victim,
The Andy Griffith Show: Season Two,
The Wrong Arm of the Law, Waterhole
#3, The Front Page)
or are forthcoming (The High and the
Mighty, The Man in the Gray
Flannel Suit). The usual section on new announcements of
upcoming classic releases can be found after the reviews. As always,
the
Classic
Coming Attractions Database has been updated to reflect
the latest information.
The Gary Cooper Collection
(released on DVD by Universal on May 31st, 2005)
The Film Noir Classic
Collection, Vol. 2
(released on DVD by Warner Bros. on July 5th, 2005)
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It
is with agonizing slowness that Universal has been doling out the
classic Paramount titles that it controls. As a consequence, much of
the work of the likes of actors Fred MacMurray, Marlene Dietrich,
W.C. Fields, Bing Crosby, Claudette Colbert, Gary Cooper, Carole
Lombard, Ray Milland, Mae West, Fredric March, Maurice Chevalier,
Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd, and Bob Hope, as well as directors Josef
von Sternberg, Ernst Lubitsch, Leo McCarey, Mitchell Leisen. Preston
Sturges, Billy Wilder, and George Marshall is still unavailable on
DVD. Every so often, Universal gives us a little taste with a W.C.
Fields set, or a couple of Shirley Temple films for example, but the
approach is not nearly aggressive enough for Paramount fans,
including yours truly. The most recent offering is The
Gary Cooper Collection, which includes five films
spanning the period 1933 to 1939: Design
for Living, Peter Ibbetson,
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer,
The General Died at Dawn, and
Beau Geste. The films are
presented on two double-sided discs and designated as part of
Universal's Franchise Collection line.
Other than the absence of any western films, it's pretty hard to
argue that Universal hasn't given us some prime Cooper in this set.
We get three of his best adventure films, a nice sophisticated
comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch, and an interesting fantasy never
before available on home video (Peter
Ibbetson). Cooper seems miscast in both the latter, but
the others are all Cooper in top form. Despite his Academy Award
wins in the 1940s and 50s and a pretty good stretch of films in the
early 1940s, the 1930s was the decade with his most consistently
good work. In Design for Living,
he plays a painter who along with a good friend who's an aspiring
playwright (Fredric March) falls in love with a young woman (Miriam
Hopkins). The three attempt a platonic relationship while living in
Paris. Based on a play by Noel Coward and directed by Ernst
Lubitsch, the film works quite well although it's a bit of a stretch
accepting Cooper in a sophisticated role such as he essays here. If
you're going to put Cooper in a comedy, it makes more sense to play
upon his homespun nature, in the way that Capra's Mr.
Deeds Goes to Town does three years later. One could
argue in a similar vein about casting Cooper as a Victorian
architect in Peter Ibbetson,
but the film works regardless. The fantasy about a doomed love
between Cooper and his childhood sweetheart (Ann Harding) is
consistently engrossing and handled thoughtfully by director Henry
Hathaway. Cooper generally overcomes the miscasting and Harding is
particularly good. Look for Ida Lupino in a small role. The
Lives of a Bengal Lancer is the real stuff - a boys-own
adventure about the British Army in Northwest India. There's a great
story along with plenty of action, excitement, camaraderie, and
witty dialogue. Franchot Tone is nicely paired with Cooper in the
lead roles, and there's plenty of other familiar faces on hand - C.
Aubrey Smith, Monte Blue, Akim Tamiroff, Douglass Dumbrille, and
Mischa Auer to name just a few. Director Henry Hathaway is in his
element. The General Died at Dawn
finds Cooper playing an American adventurer in China where he tries
to help the peasants against a warlord intent in subjugating the
country. Akim Tamiroff does impressive work as the warlord, but this
is Cooper's film as he imbues his role with sincerity and
underplayed heroics. The actors benefited from a good script by
playwright Clifford Odets. Best of all is the definitive version of
Beau Geste. Cooper heads up a
trio of brothers who join the Foreign Legion. The well-known
adventure tale was previously filmed in 1926 with Ronald Colman, but
Cooper makes the title role his own in the exciting, action-packed
production for which Paramount pulled out all the stops. The
first-rate cast includes Ray Milland and Robert Preston as the other
Geste brothers and features Brian Donlevy in the definitive
portrayal of Sergeant Markoff. William Wellman directs briskly while
fine sets and a rousing score by Alfred Newman add to the film's
lustre. It was a real high point on which to leave Paramount as
henceforth Cooper would free-lance during his film career.
All of the films are presented full frame as originally released
and all look quite attractive. Design for
Living and Peter Ibbetson
(at least, for the most part) both look quite sharp with excellent
contrast and very deep blacks. Grain is evident during both, though
never excessively so. The General Died at
Dawn and The Lives of a Bengal
Lancer both offer acceptable transfers that are a little
less consistent than the first two films. Dirt and debris with some
instances of softness are somewhat more prevalent, with Lancer
having a few very worn-looking sequences. Beau
Geste, by a slight margin, offers the best of the five
transfers. It has the same degree of sharpness and contrast as the
first two but a greater overall level of consistency. The mono sound
on all five films is quite acceptable with minimal background hiss
and all provide English, French, and Spanish sub-titles. The only
supplements are trailers for Beau Geste,
Peter Ibbetson, and The
Lives of a Bengal Lancer. Considering that these titles
work out to less than $6 apiece even at full retail price, this is a
no-brainer of a purchase. Released on May 31st, 2005 by Universal
and highly recommended.
After last year's successful film noir box set, Warner Bros. has
returned with a second dip into its noir catalog. The
Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 2 offers five more
often-requested titles. Four are from RKO, the home of film noir:
Born to Kill and Crossfire
from 1947 and Clash by Night
and The Narrow Margin from
1952. Dillinger, an
independent production from the King Brothers (distributed by
Monogram) in 1945, rounds out the box. This is not quite the
offering that the first volume was, but there is some good stuff
here. Crossfire and The
Narrow Margin are prime noir titles; on the other hand,
Dillinger isn't really even
film noir. Clash by Night and
Born to Kill are lesser but
still solid noir entries.
Crossfire is the film of the
three Roberts: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, and Robert Ryan. Ryan
is superb as a bigoted serviceman who may have murdered a man just
because he was Jewish. Often overlooked in the film is a
magnificently underplayed portrayal of a police detective by Robert
Young, some of his finest work on film. The movie is very capably
directed by Edward Dmytryk, right from the brutal murder that begins
it, shot entirely in the shadows cast by a lamp. In Born
to Kill, Claire Trevor finds Lawrence Tierney's
remorseless killer irresistible. It's a brutal yet fascinating film
whose complications may require several viewings to sort out.
Directed by Robert Wise (his first film noir), it has all the
typical RKO film noir trappings, both visually and psychologically.
Clash by Night presents a love
triangle that finds Barbara Stanwyck vacillating between Robert Ryan
and Paul Douglas after she returns to her home town from the big
city. Ryan is the quintessential noir personage of the man on the
outside looking in, and as usual he handles it masterfully here.
Stanwyck does her usual strong work, but Douglas's one-note
performance almost unbalances things. Fritz Lang directs with
assurance, but the whole thing seems like less than the sum of its
parts. The Narrow Margin is a
real crackerjack of a film that finds a cop bringing a gangster's
moll by train to testify before a grand jury. Of course, there are
others on the train looking to kill her. Charles McGraw plays the
cop while B-movie queen Marie Windsor plays the moll. Not strongly
noir in its trappings, the film gains its noir entrée by
virtue of the confined space within which the action takes place.
Director Richard Fleischer makes the most of the limited resources
at his disposal. The film has justifiably gained in reputation over
the years and even spawned a decent remake with Gene Hackman in
1990. Dillinger is the odd man
out in the set. It's a nifty little portrait of the real gangster
with good work by Lawrence Tierney in the title role, but its noir
pedigree is highly questionable. Just because the film was a low
budget effort made independently, uses a few dark scenes, and deals
with a criminal element doesn't mean it's automatically film noir.
The psychological and environmental underpinnings are given short
shrift in favour of straight-ahead exposition.
Warners have done a fine job with all the transfers. All are full
frame as originally released. The images are generally sharp with
deep blacks and moderate grain that seems appropriate for these
sorts of films. Dark scenes are generally well handled except for a
few instances in The Narrow Margin
and in Dillinger where
murkiness creeps in. Speckles and the odd scratch are in evident in
all the titles, but are never a distraction. Given the nature of the
source elements, the results are commendable. The mono sound on all
the films is in decent shape with only some very mild hiss and the
occasional crackle in evidence. All offer English, French, and
Spanish sub-titles. For supplements, all offer audio commentaries
(the best ones are by Alain Silver and James Ursini on Crossfire
and Peter Bogdanovich on Clash by Night)
and most have trailers. Crossfire
also provides a fine new making-of featurette. Released on July 5th,
2005 by Warner Bros. and highly recommended.
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The
Olive Thomas Collection:
The Flapper (1920)
Olive Thomas: Everybody's Sweetheart
(2004)
Director:
Alan Crosland/Andi Hicks
Theatrical Release:
Selznick Pictures/Timeline Films
Cast: Olive Thomas,
Theodore Westman Jr., Katherine Johnston, Arthur Housman
DVD Company and Release Date:
Milestone (Image), April 26, 2005
Video: 1.37:1 Full Frame;
Colour Tinted/Colour
Audio: DD 2.0 English
Stereo; English intertitles
Supplements: Stills
gallery; Reenactments of anecdotes about Olive Thomas as told by
Billy Bitzer and Lenore Coffee; Illustrated interview with
Olive's first husband, Bernard Krug Thomas; Two songs written
especially for Olive Thomas
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| Since
many reading this may never have heard of Olive Thomas, it's
best to begin with the recent documentary on her. Olive
Thomas: Everybody's Sweetheart reveals that Olive had
a five-year run of popularity beginning in 1916 during which
time she was a model, a star in the Ziegfeld Follies, and a
developing film star. Latterly married to Jack Pickford (Mary
Pickford's younger brother), she died in Paris after swallowing
poison in 1920. The death was ruled an accident, but the truth
of it has never been resolved. The documentary covers all this
territory in detail using photos, film clips, and interviews
with various present-day family members. Narrated by Rosanna
Arquette in a somewhat low-key fashion, it's an effective and
interesting piece that appears to cover all the known facts in
reasonable detail. The many glimpses of Olive's acting that it
provides whets our appetite for the DVD's other offering, the
1920 feature The Flapper
which finds Olive playing a 16-year-old school girl who
precociously finds herself involved with an older man, two jewel
thieves, and adventures in New York. Olive's acting is natural
and quite enchanting and the part is well suited to her, but the
plot's credibility degenerates in the second half reducing the
effectiveness of the film's climax. Still it is a good showcase
for her and makes for an appealing package when combined with
the documentary. Milestone's DVD offers a very nice-looking
tinted print (courtesy of George Eastman House) of The
Flapper that's generally sharp with minimal debris,
accompanied by a fine piano score by Robert Israel. A decent
grab-bag of supplements is highlighted by an interview with
Olive's first husband as read from a 1931 newspaper.
Recommended. |
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Pimpernel
Smith (1941)
Director:
Leslie Howard
Theatrical Release:
Anglo-American
Cast: Leslie Howard,
Francis L. Sullivan, Mary Morris, Hugh McDermott
DVD Company and Release Date:
Reelclassicdvd, 2004
Video: 1.37:1 Full Frame;
B&W
Audio: DD English Mono; No
subtitles
Supplements: Re-release
theatrical trailer
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| In
1935, Leslie Howard gave us an excellent film adaptation of The
Scarlet Pimpernel with himself in the title role and
Raymond Massey as his chief continental nemesis. With the
outbreak of World War II, Howard returned to England from
America to do what he could for the war effort and one of his
first contributions was an updating of the costume picture to
current times in Pimpernel Smith.
He produced, directed, and starred in the story of a Cambridge
professor who assumes contrived absent-mindedness to mask a
quick intelligence which he uses to help refugees escape from
the Nazis. In this outing, his nemesis is the Gestapo head
played in a somewhat caricaturish fashion by Francis Sullivan.
Despite this lapse, the film succeeds very well as an
entertaining adventure tale in addition to being effective
propaganda. Howard is well cast as the professor and directs
with skill. The ending is particularly effective, both in tone
and in execution. Leslie Howard's wartime contributions were
highly valuable and appreciated at home. Unfortunately he died
when a plane he was traveling in while believed to be on an
intelligence-related mission in 1943 was shot down.
Reelclassicdvd's release of Pimpernel
Smith is welcome, but the results are tolerable at
best. The image is rather washed-out throughout and subject to
numerous scratches and debris. The mono sound is understandable,
but there is significant background hiss and crackle. This is
the only DVD release either here or in Region 2 that I'm aware
of. A fine film that deserves a better presentation, but for the
time being, Reelclassicdvd's effort does fill the gap. |
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The
Rocking Horse Winner (1950)
Director:
Anthony Pelissier
Theatrical Release: Rank
Cast: Valerie Hobson, John
Howard Davies, Ronald squire, John Mills
DVD Company and Release Date:
Home Vision, September 24, 2002
Video: 1.37:1 Full Frame;
B&W
Audio: DD English Mono; No
subtitles
Supplements: The
Rocking Horse Winner 20-minute short film shot in
Pixelvision by Michael Almereyda; Public radio broadcast of The
Rocking Horse Winner as read by John Shea; Excerpts
from a chamber opera version of the story; 24-page booklet
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the late 1940s, John Mills tried his hand at producing and the
results were two interesting films, The
History of Mr. Polly and The
Rocking Horse Winner. Both were written and directed
by Anthony Pelissier. Although neither were great successes at
the time of their original release, The
Rocking Horse Winner particularly has increasingly
come to be recognized as a minor masterpiece of British cinema.
It's based on a fantasy by D.H. Lawrence about a young boy whose
parents are in financial difficulties due to his mother's
spendthrift ways. Receiving a rocking horse for Christmas, he
soon finds that by riding the horse in a frenzied manner, the
winners of upcoming horse races are subconsciously revealed to
him. With the help of the family's handyman, he places bets on
the horses and wins substantial sums of money which are provided
to his mother in the guise of bequests. But the more his mother
gets, the more she spends and the more the young boy must ride,
with eventually tragic consequences. While John Mills (as the
handy man and Valerie Hobson (as the mother) both are excellent
in the film, it is the performance of John Howard Davies as the
earnest and innocent young boy that one remembers long after the
film is over. Davies had a brief career as a child actor, also
appearing in Oliver Twist
and Tom Brown's Schooldays,
but eventually became extensively involved in British television
as a producer and director. Home Vision's DVD presentation is
first rate. The image is bright, crisp, and nicely detailed
while the mono sound is clear and generally free of age-related
defects. The various other media versions of the story that are
included as supplements provide interesting comparisons. Highly
recommended. |
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This
Is Your Life: The Ultimate Collection Volume 1
(1953-1987)
Director:
Various
Television Release: NBC,
Syndication
Host: Ralph Edwards
DVD Company and Release Date:
Respond2 Entertainment, May 31, 2005
Video: 1.37:1 Full Frame;
B&W and Colour
Audio: DD English Mono; No
subtitles
Supplements: 32-page
collector's booklet
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| This
Is Your Life is the well-known television series
created and hosted by Ralph Edwards that originated on radio in
1948. The first television version debuted in 1952 and the
program aired weekly for nine years on NBC before continuing in
syndication for another three decades. The format was simple.
Each program would profile the life of a well-known guest mainly
from the world of entertainment by bringing in people from the
guest's past to highlight in person Ralph Edward's narrative on
the guest's life. Normally the whole thing was a surprise to
each week's guest. Eighteen of these programs covering the
period 1953 to 1987 have been gathered on a three-disc set in
what is being billed as presumably the first of a series of such
sets. Disc One (Comedians, Movie Stars & Country Legends)
contains the shows on Lou Costello, Laurel & Hardy, Bette
Davis, Jayne Mansfield, Roy Rogers, and Johnny Cash. Disc Two
(Rock & Roll Stars, Comedians & World War II) covers
Bobby Darin, Dick Clark, Betty White, Milton Berle, Rear Admiral
Samuel Fuqua, and Hanna Bloch Kohner. Disc Three (Music, Horror
Stars & Olympians) covers Richard & Karen Carpenter,
Shirley Jones, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Jesse Owens, and
Duke Kahanamoku. Most of the programs are fascinating to watch
now, particularly those from the 1950s, which make up the bulk
of the set. It's particularly interesting to observe the
reactions of the guests to the whole concept of being profiled
by surprise as well as to the various personages from their
pasts that Edwards is able to unearth. Some are clearly
embarrassed by the whole thing while others quickly warm to the
idea. The image quality of the shows on the DVDs is variable,
with the earlier shows mainly drawn from kinescopes suffering
the most with a fair degree of speckling and debris as well as
some soft sequences. Predictably the more recent shows are in
better shape. No restoration has apparently been done, but all
are quite watchable nonetheless. The mono sound is adequate.
Ralph Edwards provides a newly-shot introduction to each show.
The 32-page booklet that is included in the box set is
attractively put together and provides good background
information on the show in general as well as the 18 shows in
the set in particular. Recommended. |
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The
High and the Mighty (1954)
Director:
William Wellman
Theatrical Release: Warner
Bros
Cast: John Wayne, Robert
Stack, Claire Trevor, Laraine Day
DVD Company and Release Date:
Paramount, August 2, 2005
Video: 2.35:1 Anamorphic;
Colour
Audio: DD English 5.1
Surround, DD English 2.0 Surround; English subtitles
Supplements: DD English
5.1 Surround, DD English 2.0 Surround; English subtitles
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| Here
is the first fruit of Paramount's agreement with the John Wayne
estate to bring a number of the until-now unavailable Batjac
(Wayne's own production company) titles to DVD. The
High and the Mighty has for many years been the most
sought-after of the titles by laserdisc and DVD enthusiasts, in
the course of which it has been elevated to a level not really
justified by the film itself. It is often referred to as the
grand-daddy of airplane disaster films as it introduced the idea
of a group of passengers with disparate backgrounds who are then
put in jeopardy as the aircraft malfunctions with uncertain
results. John Wayne stars as the co-pilot - a veteran flyer who
proves to be the calming influence when the plane's chief pilot
(Robert Stack) becomes rattled by the situation. Anyone who has
seen the various Airport
films and other disaster films of the late 1960s and 1970s will
be familiar with the formula. The
High and the Mighty excels by virtue of its
presentation of the passengers and their relationships, in its
memorable musical score (Oscar winner for Dimitri Tiomkin), and
in Wayne's subdued performance. Less persuasive is the whole
nature of how the plane manages to overcome its mechanical
malfunction and the film's lack of explanation for the pilot's
initial response to the situation. The positives outweigh the
negatives and the film is easily enjoyable despite a hefty 2½-hour
running time, but I suspect the repeat value may be compromised
for some given the more recent disaster films. Paramount has
identified its DVD presentation as a Special Collector's Edition
and for once the product (a 2-disc set) is worthy of the
moniker. The anamorphic transfer based on a thorough restoration
of the source elements is quite good with only a few soft
sequences and some minor speckling to detract from it. The
surround track offers decent fidelity although no significant
surround activity. The commentary is informative and the various
supporting featurettes comprising the making-of the film (some
80-odd minutes) and framed by Leonard Maltin's comments are
comprehensive and well done indeed, utilizing new interviews
with many of the surviving cast and crew members. Recommended. |
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The
Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
Director:
Nunnally Johnson
Theatrical Release: 20th
Century Fox
Cast: Gregory Peck,
Jennifer Jones, Fredric March, Marisa Pavan
DVD Company and Release Date:
Fox, August 9, 2005
Video: 2.35:1 Anamorphic;
Colour
Audio: DD English
Surround, DD French Stereo, DD Spanish Mono; English and Spanish
subtitles
Supplements: Commentary by
author and publisher James Monaco; Movietone News footage of the
film's premieres; Restoration comparison; Theatrical Trailer
plus trailers for four other Studio Classics releases; Stills
gallery
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| Sloan
Wilson's novel was a best seller in the mid-1950s and inevitably
made its way to the big screen with all the trimmings: a great
cast, good script, CinemaScope and colour. The story is a
thoughtful and realistic account of the postwar aspirations of
Tom Rath who seeks out a new job opportunity in the public
relations area in order to meet his family's financial needs.
Working directly with his new boss Ralph Hopkins who has been
highly successful in business but has estranged himself from
family obligations in the process, Rath soon finds that he has
his own decisions to make in terms of what is important - family
or success. The film version is first rate - intelligent and
very well acted. Peck and March are particularly impressive as
Tom Rath and Ralph Hopkins respectively, but even Jennifer Jones
delivers one of her better efforts. The cast has an impressive
roster of supporting players including Lee J. Cobb, Gene
Lockhart, Henry Daniell, Ann Harding, and Keenan Wynn. With
adult themes which are realistically portrayed and resolved (or
not in some cases), the film's various threads are adroitly
handled by director Nunnally Johnson who maintains interest
throughout the 2½-hour running time by drawing convincing
portrayals from the entire cast. The DVD release is part of
Fox's Studio Classics line and reflects that series' high
standard. The 2.35 anamorphic image (not 2.55 as stated on the
packaging) is in very good shape as a consequence of
considerable restoration efforts. The sound track offers good
directional stereo effects typical of films of the time, though
it's billed as Dolby surround. It does a fine job of
highlighting a typically impressive Bernard Herrmann score. The
main supplement is a mediocre commentary by film author James
Monaco. Highly recommended. |
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It
Started in Naples (1959)
Director:
Melville Shavelson
Theatrical Release:
Paramount
Cast: Clark Gable, Sophia
Loren, Vittorio De Sica, Paolo Carlini
DVD Company and Release Date:
Paramount, July 12, 2005
Video: 1.85:1 Anamorphic;
Colour
Audio: DD English Mono;
English subtitles
Supplements: None
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| At
the end of his career, Clark Gable found himself starring in
films with major young female stars of the time. Some of these
pairings worked well, as in Teacher's
Pet with Doris Day, while others, such as It
Started in Naples with Sophia Loren, didn't. Gable
plays a Philadelphia lawyer who travels to Italy to tidy up the
estate of his recently deceased brother. Expecting a
straight-forward situation, Gable finds instead that there's a
son he was unaware of and a fiery young aunt (Loren) who's
acting as the boy's guardian. Gable and Loren soon become
involved and the inevitable plays its way out after a few false
starts. Naples and Capri sure look great and we get a nice
performance from Paolo Carlini as the boy, but the story is
pretty thin stuff and strictly predictable. Gable looks bored
with the whole thing and Loren proves she can't dance. In a
word, tedious! Paramount gives us its usual fine transfer. This
time Paramount's usual lack of supplements is a blessing.
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Victim
(1961)
Director:
Basil Dearden
Theatrical Release: Rank
Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Sylvia
Syms, Dennis Price, Peter McEnery
DVD Company and Release Date:
Home Vision, January 21, 2003
Video: 1.66:1 Anamorphic;
B&W
Audio: DD English Mono; No
subtitles
Supplements: Dirk
Bogarde in Conversation filmed interview; Theatrical
trailer
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| After
a lengthy career as a British matinee star, particularly in the
"Doctor" films of the 1950s (e.g. 1954's Doctor
in the House), Dirk Bogarde decided to concentrate on
more artistic ventures than the commercial efforts for which he
was known. His first such endeavour was 1961's Victim,
the first British film to portray homosexuals in a sympathetic
light. Bogarde plays Melville Farr, a successful barrister who
is married but also a closet homosexual. A blackmail scheme that
is preying on a number of gay men (homosexuality was illegal in
Britain at the time) eventually forces Farr to take a stand
although his career and marriage will both be threatened. The
role is very well played by Bogarde who gives the Farr character
both sensitivity and resolve. Bogarde himself was very happy
with the results even though he alienated some of his fans who
could only see him in the "Doctor" roles. The film
also benefits from a fine array of supporting performances from
the likes of Sylvia Syms, Dennis Price, John Barrie, and Nigel
Stock. Basil Dearden's direction is spare and uncluttered. Home
Vision's DVD is very good looking, offering a crisp image for
the most part (there are a few soft sections) with good contrast
and very fine image detail. The mono sound is in good shape. The
supplementary interview with Bogarde (done near the time of the
film's original release) is quite informative. Recommended. |
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