Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942)

It’s 1938 and an American with a past (Ginger Rogers) is engaged to an Austrian Barron, who may or may not be a Nazi (he may). Newsman Patrick (Cary Grant) is dying to get an interview to find out who she is and more about this Barron guy. Gosh, she sure is pretty.

Ostensibly this is just a Cary Grant/Ginger Rogers rom-com with war as a backdrop, but the stakes are raised as they try to avoid the Nazi’s and do … whatever it is they are trying to do. Unfortunately, the screenplay was, as Grant famously said, rubbish. Bad dialog, bad jokes, scenes that either undermine the tone or simply don’t work. It could have been so much closer to mediocre.

Interestingly this is one of the few war films of the time that make a direct reference to Jews. There is a Jewish maid whose life is in danger and our heroes even visit a concentration camp. They deserve credit for that even if the tonal balance was way off. It wanted to be a serious war film but with a love interest and star power, but it failed in the execution.

Our Jewish maid is played by Natasha Lytess who was Marilyn Monroe’s acting coach. They were close friends and outlived her by less than a year. Cancer is a bitch. A young Nazi is played by a slim John Banner, Sargent Shultz himself. I rewatched the scene to see if I could spot any Shultz in his face. I could not. What a difference twenty years makes. And sixty pounds.

Director Leo McCarey has a better than fair reputation, but I can’t help but lay the blame at his feet. The writer provides the script and the studio provides the resources, but the director has to make it all work. And it didn’t. He could have evened the tone and made sure the scenes had weight. I think he just went with what he was handed. AMRU 2.5.

West of Zanzibar (1928)

The wife of circus magician Phroso (Lon Chaney) leaves him for another man (Lionel Barrymore) and in the scuffle, Phroso is injured and loses the use of his legs. Wife Ann returns dead (not sure how that happened) with her lover’s child. The treacherous Crane becomes an ivory trader in Africa so Phroso follows suit to plot his revenge.

It has been over five years since I saw the talkie remake but I remember the major beats of the story. The biggest difference in this shorter version is that the backstory is fleshed out better. If memory serves the remake starts in Africa and we learn in hindsight about the wife, child, and treachery.

So, Dead-leg’s plan is to lure Crane to his compound to show him his daughter, raised in a brothel and abused by Phroso. Based on the same play, both movies play out the same. Walter Houston starred in the stage version and Chaney was perhaps the perfect substitute at the time. Mary Nolan, cast because she had "tragic eyes", is exceptional as the horribly abused damsel. She would later take her own life. Probably.

It would be hard not to compare the two films, the biggest difference being the sound element. Both are pretty ugly films aesthetically, in subject matter, and in how they treat the Africans. The natives are primitive and childlike, easy fooled by sleight of hand and parlor tricks, allowing the white men to become like kings. All this while not being able to walk.

West of Zanzibar is an interesting, if a somewhat hard to watch film. The people and events are not pleasant, but that's what makes it stand out. AMRU 3.

Cry of the Werewolf (1944)

The estate of a lady werewolf is now a museum based on her legend. When her tomb is located her gypsy daughter is determined to protect it. Oh, and she’s a werewolf too.

Taking a cue from Son of Dracula they set the story in Louisiana, but still gave it an Eastern European feel. Nobody spoke with a southern accent and they wore winter clothes inside and out. It was December, but it still felt out of place.

The story centers on the son of the museum curator and a pretty museum worker from Transylvania. Gosh, they sure do make a cute couple. They are trying to solve the mystery of the professor’s death. And so are the cops. They have trouble putting it all together despite having all the clues handed to them. Suspicious people act suspicious.

I wanted to like Cry of the Werewolf. I really did. I wish I could edit the script while watching to fix the dialog and straighten the story out. It wouldn’t have been that hard. But it could have used more than a little tinkering. We know all the secrets early on. There is no mystery, no ambiguity, and it's a shame. I think the filmmakers simply didn’t want to ask much from the audience. We got them into the theater, why make them pay attention?

Clearly there was no budget for makeup and special effects. The wolf transformation is simply a dissolve from the shadow of the Gypsy Princess to that of a medium sized dog. Couldn’t even afford a big dog. And don't get me started on the rubber bands. On the plus side, Nina Foch was very good as the Gypsy princess trying to protect her mother’s grave. She went on to a long, successful career, so don’t feel bad for her.

As I said, I wanted to like this film, but it felt like the film didn’t want to be liked. An atmospheric werewolf story set in a spooky museum and a gypsy camp has promise for a B horror film, and the performances were pretty good. But clumsy dialog and an underdeveloped story sabotaged this effort. AMRU 2.5.

Room Service (1938)

Stage producer Gordon Miller (Groucho Marx) is scamming the hotel where his acting troupe is staying, while trying to find a financial backer right up to opening night. The writer shows up to play the Zeppo character.

This is the first Marx Brothers film not specifically written for them, and it shows. Apart from a couple thrown in bits, there is very little of the Marx Brother style. No Margaret Dumont, and little verbal wordplay or insult comedy. They didn’t even give Groucho a funny name. But when compared to earlier films, it does have a more conventional story line. For a screwball comedy, that is.

The premise is that the play has no financier, the writer arrives looking for his payout, they’ve racked up huge bills, and the hotel is being audited. In other words, zany antics ensue. Lucille Ball has a sizable role, even if they give her little funny to say. Ann Miller appears for no other reason than to give the playwright a love interest. She was fifteen at the time. Why does this keep happening?

Room Service is a lesser Marx Brothers film, and the only one they did for RKO. I can’t say I laughed audibly at any time, but it is by no means unwatchable. Thank god they didn’t include a boring harp solo. AMRU 3.

High Sierra (1941)

After being released from prison, Roy Earle (Humphrey Bogart) does one last job to set himself up for life. From his hideaway High in the Sierra Nevada mountains, he plans the robbery of a California resort. Along the way he helps a man and falls in love with his underaged granddaughter, and has to deal with incompetent co-conspirators, a floozy tag-along (Ida Lupino), and a cursed dog.

Bogart’s Roy Earle was loosely based on John Dillinger. It was Bogart’s performance in Petrified Forest that made studio heads consider him for a lead role, but that too was hard fought. Paul Muni and George Raft had to first turn down the role. Bogie’s ability to make this role his own convinced them to cast him in the Maltese Falcon. The rest is cinema history.

Joan Leslie played the good girl that Roy wants to love. Throughout there is a theme of keeping with your own kind, and Velma’s wholesome goodness contrasted too much with Roy’s hardened criminal nature. Besides, Joan turned sixteen the day after the film was released. Ida Lupino’s Marie with her hard knock life was more his type.

Not in real life, however. Ida didn’t like working with Bogie and would refuse in the future. Too bad because she spent the bulk of her career in lesser film-noirs and might have seen a bigger hit had they got along. But at this point the 22 year old Lupino was the bigger star and got top billing. After climbing the studio ropes in B movies (frequently as an underaged love interest - I sense a trend) she would get better roles and better movies through the later 1930’s and 1940’s, some of which she directed. In the 50’s she would retire from movies and act and direct in television before returning to cinema in the 1970’s.

High Sierra plays more like a melodrama than a crime film. Roy is the great guy/hardened criminal who goes out of his way to help some people, and plug others. He wants to be good but it’s just not in the cards for him. The old man he befriends was Clarence the Angel, Henry Travers. He shows up whenever an affable old man is needed. Unrecognizable in Colonel Sanders cosplay is Henry Hull, the Werewolf of London himself. I thought he was a Brit but being from the Bluegrass state I suppose his country gentleman character is closer to reality. On the topic of Colonels, or more precisely Cornels, the Wilde variety appears here in his first credited role. Too far to go for that one? I may edit it out later.

A film on the cusp between traditional Gangster flick and film-noir, it clearly sits in the former category. Which may explain why Raft and Muni were uninterested. They had been making this kind of film for a decade. While the end result is somewhat unremarkable, it’s not uninteresting. Bogart makes for a compelling character, hero and villain alike. AMRU 3.5.

"Remember what Johnny Dillinger said about guys like you and him. Said you were rushin' toward death. Yes, just rushin' toward death."

Konga (1961)

Dr. Decker (Michael Gough) was lost in Africa for a year and returns with witch doctor secrets to grow animals to enormous size. With the help of his trusty cook/housekeeper/lab assistant/lover Margaret, he recreates the formula. They injects it into a baby chimp causing it to grow into a regular sized chimp! Once again and Konga grows into a man in a gorilla suit! The commercial applications are limitless, and by applications I mean to murder people he sees as a threat.

I’ve hit quite a few giant ape films and I heard this one was terrible. Then I watched it and saw that it was terrible. I playfully knocked the others for playing fast and loose with scale. Here, the filmmakers don’t appear to be trying at all. With his third injection Konga grows out of control, but nothing is consistent. See exhibit A, before he crashes out of the house. Notice the doll victim compared to the counters behind him. And who has a basement laboratory with ceilings this high? Jealous. His size varies up and down through the conclusion of the film.

Gough’s Decker simply shouts exposition about the relentless pursuit of science, except all he seems to do is sic Konga on personal rivals. There is a side plot where he gracelessly tries to upgrade his cook/housekeeper/lab assistant/lover with an air-headed hottie student we are to believe is smart. In fact none of the acting performances are terribly good. Except for Konga himself. Acting principally with his eyes, I thought the ape man did a pretty fair job.

Sadly, Dr. Decker is an uncompelling villain. Projecting his lines at the top of his vocal range makes for a very two dimensional character, with no flesh and blood. His year in the jungle was rather mysterious but is not explored. Konga brings little new to the giant ape story, except maybe cool puppet plants. Sorry, Alfred. AMRU 2.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

When the good King Richard is taken captive during the crusades, his treacherous brother Prince John (Claude Rains) does what all monarchs do and seizes control. He taxes the poor Saxons to the brink of starvation while Robin Hood (Errol Flynn) makes friends. Oh, and steals from the rich. Stuff like that.

Our villains hatch a plan to capture Robin by holding an archery competition. They would arrest the winner, who would obviously be Robin Hood. Seeing the obvious trap, Robin hatches a plan of his own. He will win the competition but when they try to capture him, he will try to run away. Despite the plan’s brilliance, it doesn’t go off all that well. It is up to pretty Lady Marion (Olivia de Havilland) and daring swashbuckling action to rescue him.

Claude Rains is delightful as the tyrannical Prince John, and Basil Rathbone seemed born to play Sir Guy. For the record, Alan Rickman played the Sheriff, not Sir Guy. Skipper’s Dad Alan Hale played Little John in this and the 1922 version. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., son of the 1922 Robin Hood, turned down the lead role because he didn’t want to be remembered as his father’s son. Too bad because if he were successful, he might be remembered as something other than his father’s son.

The effect of having arrows stuck into extras was accomplished by having an archer ACTUALLY SHOOT ARROWS AT THEM! They were paid $150 per arrow that hit them. Where is OSHA when you need them? The character Much is the catalyst of the story, being saved by Robin after arrest for killing the King’s deer. After that point he is mostly comic relief. The much older Una O’Connor played his comedic love interest. Friar Tuck too is mostly comic relief, as is Little John. Will Scarlet is mostly forgotten.

The Adventures of Robin Hood is a fun romp. The story is so well worn that it’s a bit threadbare, but we can’t blame the most famous version for that. It was a lot of fun. Goodbye, Olivia, and good job. AMRU 4.

Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

A one-armed stranger (Spencer Tracy) arrives in a tiny, remote town asking about a farmer. The locals are none too keen to city slickers poking their noses where they don’t belong, but this Macreedy fellow doesn’t take hints.

The war had just ended and back at the beginning something bad happened at Black Rock. This film acts as an unconventional mystery. We understand the broad strokes but can’t be sure exactly what. Who knows, who was involved, and who can be trusted.

Set in 1945, war vet Macreedy is played by 54-going-on-100 Spencer Tracy, and this stretches credibility more than a little. The studio recruited Tracy hard who wasn’t initially interested. Making his character crippled seemed to have cinched the deal. The studio threw every talented character actor on the payrolls into this vanity project. Robert Ryan and Lee Marvin play principal antagonists, Anne Francis was adorable, Ernest Borgnine in an early role, Dean Jagger as a toothless sheriff, and Walter Brennan to argue politics with Tracy.

Bad Day at Black Rock isn’t actually a mystery but like any good film the details unfold over time. What specifically happened is less of a question than what Macgreedy’s backstory and motivation is, which isn’t explained until the final minutes. But this is an engaging story and an impulse watch. It came on right when I wanted to see something new (and not the dozen or so films I’ve already recorded), and I had never heard of it. Very progressive for it's time, I found it a pleasant surprise. AMRU 4.

“I believe a man is as big as what'll make him mad. Nobody around here seems big enough to get you mad.”