This Gun for Hire (1942)

A hired killer (Alan Ladd) is double-crossed and sets out for revenge. Pretty Ellen (Veronica Lake) is caught in the middle. World War II propaganda is shoehorned in.

Here is the second of seven films that paired Ladd and Lake. Ladd was a talented actor with leading man good looks, but at only 5’6” there were few leading ladies he could play opposite. Lake, at 5’2” or shorter, fit the profile. Here they are not a romantic pair, Lake’s Ellen was with Detective Crane (Robert Preston).

A box office success, This Gun for Hire made Ladd a star, affording him the opportunity to take hero roles. Friends but not romantic in real life, Ladd and Lake had much in common. Both struggled with substance abuse and died at fifty.

Life has been (and will continue to be) busy, so it has been about a month since I saw this film. I did enjoy it but I had to do some reading to refresh my memory. Perhaps that in itself isn’t a great sign, but I did like it.. Anyhow, AMRU 3.5.

Random Harvest (1942)

A soldier (Ronald Colman) suffering from amnesia wanders away from an asylum just as Armistice is declared. On the verge of being discovered, he is assisted by a stage actress (Greer Garson) who for some reason takes a shine to him. Love blooms, but there are complications.

Neither Garson nor Colman had particularly long careers and I had only seen one film each. But they have been in some pretty noteworthy films, a couple on my watch list. Una O’Connor makes an appearance. This is the seventh film we’ve seen her in. Reginald Owen (A Christmas Carol) and Alan Napier (Batman) have brief appearances.

Pretty Susan Peters has a problematic role and I won’t go into detail. She had a sad, short life. Already a screen veteran, twenty year old Peters was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar. Three years later a hunting accident would put her into a wheelchair and end her Hollywood career. One comeback was attempted but she would shortly pass, a victim of pneumonia, depression, and anorexia. She was 31.

I don’t believe this film would have been on my radar had it not been for a young woman on YouTube, who absolutely loves it. A pure romantic film and unapologetically sentimental, Random Harvest is squarely outside of my cinematic wheelhouse. And were I to pick nits, there are some story issues. Let's just say in a world that even vaguely resemble our real one, things would not play out anything like this.

Still, Random Harvest a well written, very well acted, and beautifully shot film. Call it fluff, but it’s expertly crafted fluff. AMRU 4.

The Major and the Minor (1942)

Susan (Ginger Rogers), disillusioned with life in New York City, decides to move back home. Unfortunately, fares have increased and she can no longer afford her ticket. So naturally she dresses as a minor to get a half fare. The train ushers don’t buy it so she hides in the cabin of an Army Major (Ray Milland). He doesn’t doubt her for a second and they strike up a friendship.

Ginger Rogers has a youthful appearance and pulls off the child look to a degree, but it is a big ask of the audience to think that anyone taking a close look would actually believe she is a child. Major Kirby’s fiance sees Sue-Sue without pigtails and get’s the “wrong” idea, only to become convinced once the pigtails return.

Let’s get the big issue out of the way, which is the budding relationship between a 35 year old, engaged Army Major and someone he believes to be under twelve years old. That the viewer knows full well from the beginning that Susan is an adult helps keep the creep factor at bay, aided by the fact that Rogers is simply not believable as a preteen. Also, Billy Wilder’s comedic script keeps the tone light and deftly side-steps problematic notions.

Susan stays with the Major’s fiancee (Rita Johnson, two years younger than Ginger), bunking with her little sister (Diana Hill). Hill’s Lucy not only sees through the ruse but explains in detail why. They live at the cadet training institute that fiance's dad runs and Susan attracts the sometimes toxic attention of the none-the-wiser teenaged cadets.

Longtime screenwriter Wilder was given a chance to direct a Hollywood feature, and the result isn’t bad. It’s not one of his best, but certainly not a misfire. Not as funny or moving as his best work, and I didn’t care for the conclusion, but that’s setting a high bar. AMRU 3.

Tortilla Flat (1942)

Troubled Danny (John Garfield) inherits two houses from his grandfather, and his good friend Pilon (Spencer Tracy) is there to keep him from the pitfalls of property ownership. By this I mean he scams him at every turn. Danny has an eye for Dolores, a hot Portuguese girl (Hedy Lamarr).

Based on the John Steinbeck novel, it is set in a humble California village populated by Mexican-Americans and other poor immigrants. A comedy in the “pleasantly amusing” rather than “actually funny” model, we follow the character’s antics as life goes on.

One issue is that the principal characters are of either Mexican or Portuguese descent, but as far as I can tell only Frank Morgan, who has an Argentinian grandparent, can claim this. This should come as no surprise. During Hollywood’s golden era it was considered progressive to even have Hispanic characters. But to the studio’s credit, they did make an attempt (Anthony Quinn, Desi Arnaz, Rita Hayworth, Maria Montez) but had to settle for Tracy, Garfield, Lamarr, and Betty Wells.

A bigger issue is that the actors spoke in a stilted manner that felt disrespectful. Maybe that's because that’s how Mexican characters spoke in looney tunes. But it was very distracting, especially out of Spencer Tracy’s mouth. I got over this before the film’s end and far be it for me to be offended on someone else’s behalf. I would be interested to know how Mexican-Americans feel.

Tortilla Flat is an amusing story, with many familiar faces in character roles, and my first Hedy Lamarr film, which is the reason I watched it. She invented WiFi, not really, but read about it if you are so inclined. AMRU 2.5.

Saboteur (1942)

An airplane factory is set on fire, and Barry’s (Robert Cummings) buddy is killed. When it is discovered that his fire extinguisher was filled with gasoline, Barry is suspected. To clear his name he flees the police to search for the suspicious Frank Fry (Norman Lloyd) who was clearly responsible.

No train here, but man does it hit all the other Hitchcock points. Innocent man on the lam with a hot blond (Priscilla Lane) he can’t trust? Check-a-roo! That’s four in one sentence. Much of the film was reminiscent of The 39 Steps.

Hitch was disappointed with this one mostly because he couldn’t get any of the actors he wanted. Robert Cummings was more of a light comic actor and Hitch felt he didn't bring the sense of danger the role demanded. I thought Priscilla Lane was great but you know how particular Hitch can be with his hot blonds. She played Cary Grant’s fiancee in Arsenic and Old Lace a couple years later then faded from Hollywood.

Hitch was almost impossible to see in his cameo. Apparently his first attempt was cut because of a rude hand gesture. Old friend Ian Wolf appears again, the thirteenth time we’ve crossed paths. Tony Randall has a small speaking part that I had to go back and search for. Another I felt compelled to search for was Will Lee. He was a minor character actor and would rise to fame as the owner of a store on some street. Robert Mitchum is rumored to be in a crowd scene but I never saw him.

Allegedly Barry’s ill-fated buddy was played by an electrical assistant who looked the part. Best I can figure, that would be Jeffrey Sayer, who at 40ish seemed too old to be the boyish character. The woman playing his mom was three years older. That said, Sayer appeared, mostly uncredited, in 516 films! Including TV, he has over six hundred screen credits. I suppose if he is already on set working the gaffers tape, it is easy to pull into a background scene. This is our twenty first film together, which is comically small, considering.

The real saboteur was played by Norman Lloyd in his first feature role. Remembered mostly for St. Elsewhere, he seem to be forgotten when discussing remaining actors from Hollywood’s golden era. Norman turned 106 last month. Give the man a little respect. He was a delightfully slimy villain.

Saboteur is what I would describe as a Worthwhile Lesser Hitchcock. At its heart it is a World War II fifth-column film of which there are a few. Bogart’s All Through the Night is a recent example. But it’s better than most. The plot is a little convoluted, has a few hokey scenes, and drags for a bit, but it is engaging enough and well worth your time. Classic Hitchcock. AMRU 3.5.

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.

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Back in 1870’s there were these Ambesons, see, and boy were they magnificent. That is to say, they were rich and the height of polite society. Young Eugene (Joseph Cotten) is in love with the beautiful Isabel Amberson, but he broke his cello so she married someone else. I'm not sure I completely understand that part. Anyhow, Eugene also gets married, raises a daughter Lucy (Anne Baxter) and becomes a widower. A successful inventor, he starts courting the now middle-aged Isabel while her husband hides in his bedroom. Isabel’s atrocious son takes a fancy to Lucy but not her dad. Years later he would prospect for gold with Humphrey Bogart.

Orson Welles’ follow up to Citizen Kane, he adapted the story, directed, and narrated it (including the closing credits). RKO, wanting a conventional money-maker, re-edited the film while Orson was in Brazil. They shot a new, happier ending and removed about fifty minutes. I would like to have seen the more somber version but maybe not at the cost of another hour of my life. At 88 minutes, I didn’t find myself needing to watch more.

Like Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons is a visually impressive film. With interesting use of shadow, and layered mise en scene, it’s photography feels like a refined version of the previous film. But because of how dull the story is, I had to remind myself to pay attention. In the third act is an impressive long take where atrocious George is saying goodbye forever to pretty Lucy while she pretends not to care. At about two minutes fifty, it's an amazing shot and Anne Baxter was amazing in it. And there are other aspects to the story worth exploring, but it simply wasn't that interesting.

I needed to watch the film a second time to fully understand what's going on, but I don’t find myself wanting to. Very mannered and cinemagraphic, but something of a bore. AMRU 3.

“Well, that’s a horse on me.”

All Through the Night (1942)

Crooked sports gambler ‘Gloves’ Donahue (Humphrey Bogart) learns that the baker of his favorite cheesecake has been bumped off, so he decides to investigate. Mostly because a hot chick is somehow involved. He uncovers a bigger conspiracy. Could it involve Nazis? Yes. Yes it could.

Could this be a highly rated (7.1 on IMDb) Bogart film-noir that I had never even heard of? That sounds too good to be true. Sadly, it is. Released between The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca, All Through the Night is principally a comedy. This explains how Phil Silvers and Jackie Gleason got invited to the party. Still, the story plays out as a crime mystery/drama. Everyone’s favorite uncle William Demarest plays sidekick Sunshine whose major contributions are cracking wise and knocking stuff over.

Additionally, Casablanca alumnae Conrad Veidt and Peter Lorre have principal roles. Freaks star Wallace Ford has a smaller role. Our femme fatal stand-in is played by Kaaren Verne (Ingeborg Greta Katerina Marie-Rose Klinckerfuss to her friends). Three years after the film’s release, she and Lorre divorced their respective partners and hooked up for five years of marital bliss.

Bogart at this time was a star but not yet a legend. He plays a tough, but lacks the cynicism of his better roles. Remember, he is motivated by hot chicks and cheesecake. There isn’t much mystery here. Bad guys coerce good people to do their bidding. Why? We learn soon it’s because Nazis and World War II. So many B pictures in the early part of the war tread this ground. All Through the Night is no different, and little better. It keeps your interest well enough, and Bogart raises the level of any production, but it is what it is. An unfunny comedy, a film-noir with little atmosphere, a mystery with little mystery, a crime film that doesn’t take itself serious. Just a movie that holds your attention. And Humphrey Bogart. AMRU 3.

Holiday Inn (1942)

A song and dance team breaks up because Jim (Bing Crosby) wants to run a country inn in Connecticut. Lila and Ted (Fred Astaire) decide not to retire along with him because they are in love. Jim’s plan for his inn is to be open only on holidays. Thus, Holiday Inn.

Lila goes off and marries a millionaire so Ted shows up drunk at the Inn and sees his future dance and maybe love partner performing. But sneaky Bing … I mean Jim tries to keep her secret and all to himself, so let the conniving begin.

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas was written for the movie and fast became the number 1 selling single of all time. Bing would sing it in a Christmas musical two more times. Director Mark Sandrich called it the ABC of American musical comedies: Astaire, Berlin, and Crosby. All three were and would continue to be on quite a tare.

The characters say that there are fifteen holidays but they show only eight or nine. But it’s Lincoln’s Birthday that garnished the most praise. No, praise isn’t the right word. What do you call it when white people sing in black face? Whatever that is, it garnished the most of it. To be fair the intent was to be respectful and it made sense in context. The scene is frequently removed from TV airings but TCM showed it uncut.

The song and dance numbers could be tedious and the story is paper thin, but the charming on-screen chemistry and witty banter pulled it through. If the musical numbers are your thing, then you’ll love it. AMRU 3.5. Oh, and yea. The hotel chain stole their name from this.

The Man who Came to Dinner (1942)

Unpleasant lecturer Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Woolley) is to have dinner with a rich, industrialist family when he slips on ice and hurts his back. He is forced to stay there for weeks and makes their life miserable. Whiteside’s life becomes complicated when his personal assistant Maggie (Bette Davis) takes a fancy to a local reporter and flirts with the idea of moving on from her thankless job. Let the conniving begin.

Films from plays can occasionally be quite entertaining. Clever, fast paced dialog that sometimes skirts the Code, when done right, they can be a joy. Spoiler alert, this one was.

As the Whiteside character hobnobs with celebrities, there is a large amount of playful name dropping throughout the film. They mention Cary Grant and the Barrymores. John Barrymore and Grant both were considered for the Whiteside role (talk about casting a wide net) but Davis objected to Grant and Barrymore was barely able to function at that time, dying just after the film’s premiere. Jimmy Durante played a vaudeville style movie comedian based mostly on Harpo Marx. I wonder if he approved of the caricature.

Ann Sheridan plays the high maintenance actress Lorraine Sheldon. Apparently she was quite popular in films I don’t care for, as I’ve never seen her in anything. The gossamer dress she wore in the film really, ahem, stood out. Towards the end of a very successful career, cancer would take her at age 51. I used to be 51.

I quibble with aspects of the ending but The Man who Came to Dinner really is a joy to watch. Solid script, tight performances, and a well done production. AMRU 4.

“Nobody's home! The Stanleys have all been arrested for peddling dope! Go away!”

Rings on her Fingers (1942)

A pretty shop girl (Gene Tierney) is enticed into working for a pair of con artists. She uses her womanly wiles to lure rich prey into their traps. One such is millionaire John Wheeler (Henry Fonda) who is convinced to buy a boat that they don’t own. Turns out he’s really a working stiff and has lost his life savings. He only led on that he was rich because she was, gosh, just so pretty. Her con friends want her to move to a new mark but she’s actually in love.

It was strange to see Tierney in the Barbara Stanwyck-esque role in what amounts to a slight retelling of the somewhat better Lady Eve, but she did a fine job. It was a departure for her and she was absolutely charming, as always. Fonda was basically the same character as in Eve.

Rings on her Fingers is a nice screwball comedy material, but nothing terribly original or surprising. Fonda and Tierney had good chemistry and I suppose that’s all that matters. The story clunked from time to time, but I think my mom would have liked it. AMRU 3.5.

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942)

What, Sherlock again? There’s fourteen of these suckers and I am determined to get through them by years end. So, this time Holmes and Yo-Yo transport a scientist out of Switzerland before he and his Secret Weapon fall into the hands of the Gestapo. This proves difficult because even eccentric scientists need a booty call every now and again. So when man and machine turn up missing, our heroes must track down both before the Evil Moriarty discovers their secrets. Based ever so loosely on The Adventure of the Dancing Men.

Ah, the middle section where I find something interesting about an actor or behind-the-scene happening. Yea, this is totally where I do that. It seems this Holmes series was factory production and they click off like clockwork. So …. good job, guys!

Crossing studios and eras, the Sherlock Holmes series is amazingly consistent in quality and tone, which is especially surprising as they don’t yet share writers or directors. In fact, different actors have played Moriarty. The story, humor, and atmosphere are what we come to expect. Chalk another nice watch for Holmes. AMRU 3.5.

“Brilliant man, Sherlock Holmes. Too bad he was honest.”

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)

The inner council requests the help of Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) because the citizens of London are being terrorized by radio broadcasts from Nazis. Wait, what?

That’s right, Nazis. Holmes and Watson (Nigel Bruce) are transported about fifty years to the (then) present day to do their part in the war effort. This is possible because “the immortal character of fiction created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is ageless, invincible and unchanging”, so, yea. That. Not sure how a modern day Sherlock played to audiences back then, but since it’s been seventy five years since the movie came out, it still plays somewhat as a period piece.

Anachronisms aside, The Voice of Terror is a better than fair mystery (there's a spy) with all the wit and charm of the earlier films. Given my druthers, I’d prefer it set in Victorian London, but while America escaped the war to the cinemas, England had no such option. We had difficulty getting meat and gasoline, they were eating acorns. Universal did a good job picking up the franchise. AMRU 3.5.

“There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson. And a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind nonetheless and a greener, better, stronger land that will lie in the sunshine when the storm is cleared.”

Eyes in the Night (1942)

A woman disapproves of her ex-lover knocking boots with her teenage step daughter (Donna Reed). When hot teen meets her oldie boyfriend, she finds him dead and step-mom lurking in the shadows. Who can solve this mystery and prove the innocence of step-mom? A blind detective with his wonder dog Friday, that's who.

This is the second of three Duncan Maclain detective movies, the first apparently lost the the other two starring Edward Arnold (not THAT Edward Arnold) as the eyeless private eye. Author Baynard Kendrick made a dozen Maclain books over two dozen years, but only these made it into film.

Typical of the day, the audience is not left in suspense very long. The only real mystery is what exactly the bad people are after and how will our hero save the day. Everything else plays out exactly as anticipated. Given the genre and premise you just know there's a blind mans bluff scene. I would have been disappointed otherwise. So, how would you handle it? Just turn the camera off and see things as Mac does. Brilliant in its simplicity.

The movie features but doesn't properly use amusing black stereotype Mantan Moreland. He's the butler, of course, but doesn't have nearly enough to do.

This low budget quickie is not without charm. The acting isn't terribly good, the story isn't terribly original, but some of the dialog is amusing, and it's not a bad way to spend 80 minutes on a cold winter night. AMRU 3.

I Married a Witch (1942)

A distant ancestor of aspiring Governor Wallace Wooley (Fredric March) condemned a witch (Veronica Lake) and her father to death and planted an oak tree planted above their graves to trap their souls. Before she died, she cursed the Wooley family to only marry the wrong woman. Centuries later, the tree is struck by lightening and the souls of the witches are freed. Jennifer decides to take on a new body so that she can torment poor Wallace. Susan Hayward played his shrewish fiancee. The magician from The Mummy's Hand played her father.

Way to spoil an ending in a film title! Anyhow, Lake was a huge star back in the '40s and not so much thereafter. Apparently she was very difficult to work with. Despite their on-screen chemistry, she and March did not work well together. She would do things like hide weights on herself for scenes where he would have to carry her. Reportedly, he referred to the movie as "I Married a Bitch." Apparently Joel McCrea (remember him from Bird of Paradise?) was set to play opposite her, but after working with her in Sullivan's Travels, he decided to skip it, saying life is too short to do two movies with Lake.

On set behavior aside, I can see how the diminutive Lake became a star. She was both charming and adorable. Her film roles dried up in the later part of the decade as her difficult reputation grew, and she went into television. She did two more movies, one in '66 and another in '70 to no particular acclaim. She died in '73 of hepatitis at age 50, alcoholism and unstable behavior hastening her end.

The movie was bright, cheerful, and entertaining. Internal drama aside, Lake and March worked well together. AMRU 3.5.

Pride of the Yankees (1942)

Young Lou Gehrig (Gary Cooper) wants to play baseball, but his mom wants him to become an engineer like uncle Otto. So he goes to university, where he plays baseball. Mom Gehrig needs an operation so how can a young man raise money to pay for it? He plays baseball. So, Little Louie becomes the star of the New York Yankees and his mother has no idea. Aw, shucks.

We follow Louie through his baseball life, his love life, and ultimately, his demise. All in all, he considered himself rather lucky. What was mom thinking naming him after a deadly disease? Aw, shucks.

I saw a small part of this movie ages back and the same thing struck me now as then. It is off putting watching Gary Cooper, age 41 going on 51, play the athletic Gehrig as a teen, who incidentally died at age 37 (17 months before the movie premiered). Apparently makeup had not been invented yet. 24 year old Teresa Wright was positively yummy as Mrs. Gehrig. Four years later she'll play a teen in The Best Years of Our Lives.

Walter Brennan plays Lou's sports writer friend and The Babe himself steals a few scenes. He seemed hearty and hale but apparently there were delays because of his health. In six years he'll join Lou in the ground.

Pride of the Yankees takes a few liberties with the life of Lou, but all in all is a better than fair love story. What it isn't is a Baseball Movie ala Bull Durham. If you are looking for a story about your baseball hero, this isn't it. Nor does it need to be. That said, it would have been cool had they added a little Joe DiMaggio reference in there. By films release he was a bonafide Yankee star.

Lou Gehrig was a quiet, unassuming family man. And he was a spectacular hitter. He was the model for the durable, hard working athlete and his body dissolved before he reached 40. For a man overshadowed most of his career by a crass, gluttonous, womanizing pig, his story rightly touches a nerve. If one is going to idolize someone with as useless of an occupation as baseball player, Lou is probably the best choice.

As far as this movie goes, despite it's flaws it held my interest and was clearly well made. AMRU 3.5.

To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Husband and wife stage actors Joseph and Maria Tura (Jack Benny and Carole Lombard) are in Warsaw when a young pilot (Robert Stack) falls in love with Maria. She tells him to visit her dressing room when her husband starts his soliloquy. You know the one. Very famous.

Anyhow, when the Nazi's invade, Lt. Sobinski flies to England to help with the war effort there. Professor Siletsky, working for military intelligence, lets slip that he will be going undercover to Warsaw, Sobinski asks him to deliver the message "To Be or Not to Be" to Maria. When it becomes clear that Siletsky has never heard of the great Maria Tura, our young Lieutenant becomes convinced he is a double agent. He flies to Warsaw ahead of him to warn the underground. The theatre company uses their theatrical skills to thwart the Nazis.

It was fairly brave of Hollywood to release a movie, early in US involvement (filmed before, actually), that showed the plight of civilians caught up in the crossfire. Heroic Americans Doing Everything Right was de rigueur when they strayed from fluffball musicals. Still, they weren't brave enough to use the word Jew. They implied the Hebrew heritage, but never said it.

This is a comedy, folks. In fact, my 11 year old declared it the funniest of dad's crappy old movies, high praise indeed. It's an interesting blend of grave seriousness and screwball comedy, and done so well that they augment each other rather than detract. Jack Benny, whom I've never seen before, was hilarious. I remember back in the day people trying to explain who Jack was by impersonating him. "Oh, he acted gay", I'd say. Seriously, look at a Benny impersonation and not think that! Anyhow, he was great and the chemistry with Poor Carole was pitch perfect. She would die before the movie was released.

And of course, Lionel Atwill pops up unexpectedly yet again! I didn't notice his name in the credits, but instead recognized him dressed as a Nazi. It was a small role. The movie encouraged me to see the Mel Brooks remake, which wasn't bad. But, sorry Mel, it doesn't hold a candle to the original. AMRU 4. By the way, Brooks isn't afraid to use the word Jew ...

"Maria Tura: It's becoming ridiculous the way you grab attention. Whenever I start to tell a story, you finish it. If I go on a diet, you lose the weight. If I have a cold, you cough. And if we should ever have a baby, I'm not so sure I'd be the mother.

Josef Tura: I'm satisfied to be the father."

The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

The villagers aren't satisfied with the destruction of the monster. Now they want to destroy the castle and kill Ygor again (apparently a broken neck and several bullets to the body aren't enough to kill him). Ygor (Bela Lugosi) runs to the laboratory while the castle is being destroyed and discovers the body of the monster (Lon Chaney Jr, this time) still living, encased in sulfur. The monster is weakened but they escape the destruction.

Ygor and his pal decide to make their way to another village where the OTHER son of Frankenstein lives, who apparently lives in Pemberley. Ludwig Frankenstein (Cedric Hardwicke) is a brain specialists. What is it with these people? Anyhow, Ygor decides to blackmail Ludwig into recharging the Monster's batteries, promising to tell everyone of the dark family secret. How the misadventures of the Frankenstein family could still be a secret by the forth movie is a mystery to me.

Anyhow, Ludwig agrees to hear him out and is desperate to isolate his comfy life from the family curse. But this Frankenstein isn't so eager to dabble in the black arts, even though brains is his specialty. Instead he decides to destroy the monster. His colleague, Doctor Bohmer (Lionel Atwill) sees this as murder and refuses to assist. Back story: Dr. Bohmer's scientific reputation was apparently ruined when an experiment went wrong. Sorry, no details other than that.

Then Ludwig gets an idea! What if he put the brain of a recently deceased nice person into the monster's body? That would solve everybody's problems! No more reckless monster. And what luck! He happens to have a dead assistant conveniently lying around with a perfectly good brain. Ygor has a better idea. Put HIS brain into the monster! Then Ygor and Buddy can be one and the same! Frankenstein doesn't like this idea but Ygor convinces Bohmer to go along.

All in all, not a bad movie. Certainly every bit as good as Son of. The weakest part, of course, is old friend Creighton. On the surface he appears to be the perfect choice. Large frame, ugly mug, and bad in the verbal department. But Karloff showed that even when covered with makeup and limited to grunts, real acting skill shows through. Also, they looked much different. The other-worldly stare and hollow cheeks being replaced by Chaney's chubby face and half-baked eyes. This story centered around Ludwig and Ygor for obvious reasons.

Even though Atwill's character didn't die in the last one, he played a very different part here. Ralph Bellamy once again plays a cop in search of a monster played by Chaney. Apparently filming started right after The Wolf Man wrapped. Karloff didn't return because he was appearing on Broadway and had no interest in reprising the role. He would later have a role in House of.

One thing that might be missing is the Gothic scenery. The Evil laboratory, the creepy castle, the desolate grave yard. A lower budget made concessions and we have a nice house, a surgical operating room, and a courthouse.

One plot point has the monster befriending a small girl. This gave him a level of humanity to audiences of the day, but seemed a little creepy in this age. I'll leave that one right there. AMRU 3.5.

Cat People (1942)

Flavorless dork Ollie (Kent Smith) sees the exotic Irena (Simone Simon) at the zoo and falls in love. Creepily, he invites her up to his apartment and she, as a friendless stranger in an unfamiliar city, agrees. Love blooms.

But Irena has a problem. Apparently her Serbian village was cursed many years ago and if she were to become "intimate", she would turn into a savage cat-beast and devour her true love. Ollie comforts her by saying things like, that's foolish, and you should have your head examined, and that's foolish. For some reason that doesn't comfort her much, but they get married anyhow.

By the way, "intimate", in 1942's Hollywood lingo, meant to kiss. We don't see the actual marriage ceremony, so I'm not sure how that went over.

Anyhow, hot Irena agrees to see the shrink (Tom Conway) who'd like to test that, and some other, theories out, nudge, nudge, wink, wink. When marriage troubles start to get poor Ollie down, he starts to seek out the company of plain-jane co-worker, Alice. Also, jealousy too will summon the evil cat-beast.

Is it all in her head? Will Poor Ollie ever learn to act? Will the Doc get his comeuppance? Dark and moody, you should watch to find out.

I was sure I had saw Kent Smith before. His blank stares and cardboard acting struck me as familiar, but I hadn't seen anything else he was in. He had a very Buster Crabbe quality about him. Simone Simon, despite being the advanced age of 32, was absolutely captivating. Her accent was adorable. She alone is worth the cost of admission.

But the movie has more to offer. It's slower pace and ambiguous ending differed greatly from the genre of the 30's. Producer Val Lewton was also responsible for I walked with a Zombie and The Body Snatcher which had a similar tone. I will look for more of his work.

I like to end with a good quote, but the one I wanted to use I can't find. The doctor asks Irena something like "You think if I were to kiss you, you would turn into a vicious animal?" and Irena responds "I know that I wouldn't want you to". Cute. AMRU 4.

The Palm Beach Story (1942)

Well, I was going to do The Invisible Man, but another blog I follow beat me to the punch. So, for the sake of professional courtesy, I'll hold off for a bit.

Next on the list is The Palm Beach Story, a Claudette Colbert screwball comedy. It seems that Gerry Jeffers (Claudette) is married to Tom Jeffers (Joel McCrea), who is hard working but ... what was that? Tom and Gerry Jeffers? Tom and Gerry? Seriously?

Whatever. Back to the story. Tom can't get a break and Gerry believes she is holding him back. She respects him, but says it's mostly a loveless marriage. She decides to take money from an old looney guy and go to that stereotypical place that people get divorces at. That's right, Palm Beach. Then she can somehow help him out. Seems Tom has this idea of building an airport out of netting. I guess this sounded plausible during the war.

Well, ol' Tom isn't totally on board with this quickie divorce thing, so he ALSO borrows money from an old looney guy and is in hot pursuit. That's right. Tom is chasing Gerry. Along the way, Gerry meets millionaire J.D. Hackensacker the third (Rudy Vallee). Gerry is going to marry him and funnel his money back at her future Ex. What nice people she is. Mary Astor plays Rudy's sis. How she ever got confused for a beauty, I'll never know.

The opening sequence made absolutely no sense and I was convinced this was a sequel. After viewing I searched for part one, but it doesn't exist. The opening plays into the story but it could have been skipped and not effect the story. When I read on Wikipedia what it meant, my reaction was "Oh, whatever".

Witty dialog and frank talk about divorce and infidelity made this movie interesting. Excellent pace, acting, and production all around. I didn't love it, but it very well might be worth a second look. Eventually. AMRU 3.5.

"That's one of the tragedies of this life, that the men most in the need of a beating up are always enormous."