Guys and Dolls (1955)

Gangster Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra) is trying to organize an underground poker game, but for some reason can’t afford the rent on a location. So he makes a bet with high-roller Sky Masterson (Marlon Brando) that he can’t go on a “date” with a woman of his choosing. Sky agrees and Nathan chooses  the prudish do-gooder, Sarah Brown (Jean Simmons).

What is hyper-realistic, non-singing Marlon Brando doing in a hyper-stylized musical? I understand Sinatra was annoyed at losing the lead to Brando, whom he called Mumbles. I’m strongly in Sinatra’s camp here. Brando seemed like he was in a different movie.

Old friend Sheldon Leonard is here. I have realized that his and the other gangsters’ non-use of contractions is used by the legitimate businessmen in The Simpsons. In fact, Fat Tony is a dead-on impersonation of Sheldon’s Harry the Horse. Jean Simmons is new to me and I found her quite charming.

Guys and Dolls is has a pretty nonsensical story. Some of the musical numbers were tedious and I found the distinct and unique style was a bit off-putting, but in the end I came around, mostly. The numbers that worked, worked. I find my view softening the more time that passes since I watched it. I really want to give it a 3, but, what the hell. AMRU 3.5.

The Barefoot Contessa (1954)

Maria (Ava Gardner), a beautiful Spanish club performer, is recruited by Hollywood looking for a fresh face. Despite Hollywood, Maria isn’t all keen to go. She likes to keep her feet in the dirt, whatever that means.

The movie begins at Maria’s funeral. The story is about her rise to fame, her struggle with what is truly important to her, the rich and powerful men that court her, and her ultimate fate. It is told from the perspective of the lives she touched, mostly Director Harry Dawes (Humphrey Bogart).

What I was expecting to be a pretty standard rom-com turned out to be something else. There are comedic elements but it is by no means a comedy. And romance is in short supply. That’s right faithful reader. Bogart does not get the girl. Leave it to Mankiewicz to do a regular Hollywood production that doesn’t exactly follow genre conventions. Typically wordy, intelligent, and high quality. Despite much of the film taking place directly in Hollywood, it has a European feel in a way I can’t exactly explain. I also get the feeling that it was a longer film (128 minutes as it is) and cut down. There are characters introduced who seem to have more story in them.

The Barefoot Contessa is an interesting, if not riveting, character study. It’s witty, visually appealing, does not lull, and keeps you invested to the conclusion. The tone was a little unexpected and maybe not Mankiewicz’s best, but it was most certainly interesting. AMRU 3.5.

“I *have* never done a day's work in my life - honest OR dishonest, but neither have you... To make 100 dollars into 110 dollars, this is work. To make 100 million into 110 million, this is inevitable.”

A Carol for Another Christmas (1964)

Grumpy old man, visits from ghosts, Christmas spirit, everyone lives happily ever after. Only this time, instead of Ebenezer Scrooge: Victorian miser it’s Daniel Grudge (Sterling Hayden): modern day grieving dad. He’s rich, but money isn’t the problem here. He lost his son seven years ago this very night in the war (Korea, I presume) so now he … what, hates war? After an exchange with his nephew Fred (Ben Gazzara), he sees a reflection of his son, Marley Grudge (Ugh!), passes out, and is then visited by three ghosts. Roll credits. Please.

Written by Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame, A Carol for Another Christmas is chuck full of his other-worldly sensibility as well as his wordy preaching. What is Grudge’s problem really? Hating war seems perfectly natural. His grief is getting in the way of embracing his extended family? I don’t see how. Who does Grudge hold a grudge against? The message is amazingly muddy.

Christmas Past is hep cat Stevie Lawrence who shows Grudge the history of war being bad, which he already knew. He also shows him his own experience in the Good War, apparently demonstrating that Grudge was always an asshole. No clue what lesson is learned here.

Christmas Present does a little better. Grudge is shown how bad off some people have it, and that we have a responsibility to help. Intervene, we should. That’s his quote down at the bottom. But it’s yet to come where the wheels truly come off. Robert Shaw, the most talkative grim reaper this side of Billy & Mandy, shows Grudge an absurdist post-apocolyptic future let by populist isolationist Imperial Me (Peter Sellers). Don’t trust people outside of the group, only follow him, yadda yadda yadda.

A Carol was a made for TV event intended to be watched once. Written by Serling and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, it is a wordy mess. Is this a pro-Vietnam involvement film? The dialog is so convoluted it’s hard to say what it’s point is. To its credit it refrains from borrowing too much from the supposed source material. Just the names Fred and Marley, plus the convention of Christmas and the three ghosts. Dicken’s dialog didn’t get shoehorned in, and the entire Cratchitt family is blissfully absent. Thank god because It’s unwatchable enough as it is. AMRU 2.

“Mankind, Mr. Grudge, in there. The hungry part of mankind, the anguished part. The dispossessed. If you shared a loaf of bread with them, how would you be relinquishing your freedom? Or if you joined other nations to administer vaccinations to their children, how would you have desecrated your flag? Or if you had offered them solace and hope and comfort, how would you have made yourself susceptible to tyranny?”

All About Eve (1950)

Aging theater diva Margo Channing (aging movie diva Bette Davis) is introduced to an obsessed young fan, Eve (Anne Baxter). Margo gives her a job handling her personal affairs, which she does very well. Slowly Eve ingratiates herself into Margo's life to become a professional, and romantic, rival.

All About Eve is a fascinating character study rife with excellent acting performances. It earned five acting Oscar nominations, two best actress, two best supporting actress, and one supporting actor. The dialog is rather dense so people not into chatty movies take note.

Remember George Sanders from Village of the Damned. Here he played a kind of a Waldo Lydecker type character and was amused to learn he played him in a TV version of Laura. He would later commit suicide.

Here also, in a small role, is ingenue Barbara Bates, fresh off her success with The Inspector General. She would later commit suicide. Also featured is a very young Marilyn Monroe playing the Marilyn Monroe-type character. She was quite charming in a very Marilyn Monroian sort of way. She would go on to commit suicide, tin-foil hat conspiracy theories aside.

Old friend Hugh Marlowe was the playwrite. Remember him as the hero in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and the douche from The Day the Earth Stood Still. He didn't commit suicide.

Very well made, well acted character driven story. The story centers on the female characters in a way very uncommon in Hollywood. That said, at no point does it feel like a chick flick. Just an interesting, well crafted movie. With one terribly filmed street sequence. AMRU 4.

"Don't cry. Just score it as an incomplete forward pass."

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

At the turn of the century, recent widow Lucy (Gene Tierney) rents a seaside house against the wishes of her in-laws and the realtor. Turns out the house is haunted by the salty sea captain (Rex Harrison) who committed suicide there four years earlier. Soon, love blooms.

The Ghost is a romantic drama period film. A post-war remembrance of a simpler time. Gene and Rex both are wonderfully restrained in their performances. Here the ghost-romantic drama was invented, later to be ruined by Ghost.

Anna Lee, right off her success in Bedlam, has a small role. Her on-screen charisma muted to fit the roll. Lucy's daughter is a young Natalie Wood. The Gaelic word "muir", I learned, means "sea", the only woman a sailor can truly love.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir is a very well crafted if cloyingly sentimental film. The sets, acting, and dialog is spot on, but there are no mysteries here. If you are surprised where the story leads, then you must hide your own Easter eggs. This movie is exactly what it intends to be. Tone and performances are spot on. Not exactly in my wheelhouse, but enjoyable never-the-less. AMRU 3.5.

"My dear, never let anyone tell you to be ashamed of your figure."