Stalag 17 (1953)

Prisoners in a German POW camp suspect there is a snitch in the barracks.

I grew up watching reruns of Hogan’s Heroes, which I understood was adapted of Stalag 17. I believed this while watching. There are many parallels, for instance barracks life, the word Stalag, and William Holden’s Sgt. Sefton is not a terrible analog for Bob Crane’s Col. Hogan. They both also share a Sgt. Schultz. Obviously the show has a more comedic, family friendly tone and while you can draw a line between show and film characters, they don’t line up perfectly.

In reality, while I believe the show was greatly inspired by the film, it was not an authorized adaptation. In fact the authors of the play the film was based on sued the TV show and initially won. The judge, however, reversed the decision. They can do this.

The film is somewhat episodic. The exploits of Sefton as well as Shapiro and “Animal” provide comedic interest. But the through line of the story is the Nazi spy they are trying to find, and there the stakes are high. Sefton becomes a prime suspect.

Peter Graves has a significant role, as does Richard Erdman, who is best remembered as that guy who reviews snack foods on youtube. There are a great many notable character actors throughout.

While I had never seen this film, I was well aware of it even as a boy. Unfortunately it was spoiled for me in an unexpected way. Mad Magazine would do satirical renditions of famous movies, and Stalag 17 was one of them. I read this issue in maybe 1980 and remembered the reveal to this very day. Still, it is a greatly enjoyable film. AMRU 4.

"I see nothing!"

Born Yesterday (1950)

A millionaire thug visits Washington DC to make a shady deal with a crooked congressman. He worries that his dumb showgirl girlfriend (Judy Holliday) will embarrass him and screw things up, so he hires the pest reporter (William Holden) teach her something. Will love … yes, love will bloom.

Judy Holliday appeared in the Broadway version of the story but studio execs weren’t interested in taking a chance on an unproven commodity. But Katherine Hepburn beefed up her role in Adam’s Rib (basically the same character) to demonstrate that she could handle it. It worked, she got the role, and won the Oscar, Marisa Tomei style.

A very surprising element is how racy the script is by 1950’s standards. In the first scene between Holliday and Holden’s Billie and Paul she asks if he is a gigolo. Later she outright propositions him. Stage adaptations seemed to be able to get away with this sort of thing. See The Moon is Blue. Seriously, it’s pretty good.

Here again we have the trope where a smart person throws a couple books and big words at a dummy and transforms them into a deep thinker. We suspend our disbelief because despite Billie’s amusingly poor diction, we sense that she is smarter than that. Also, unlike My Fair Lady, the romance is plausible.

Born Yesterday is smart and witty, and the principles give excellent performances. I wanted to like it more than I did, and I don’t know what stopped me. That’s not to say I didn’t like it. Maybe my expectations were too high. Or maybe it was the clunky conclusion. I may watch it again, if for no reason than to see if it grows on me. As for now, AMRU 3.5.

“Are you one of these talkers - or would you be interested in a little action?”

Sabrina (1954)

Young Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn) is the daughter of the Chauffeur. She has a life long crush on the playboy son of her father's employer (William Holden), but he hardly notices her. She is sent off to Paris to learn to cook and returns with a new outlook, and the attention of the Larrabee boys.

Responsible older brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) arranges for brother David to marry the daughter of a sugar plantation owner as part of a larger plastics deal, when David finally notices Sabrina. Linus' solution is to get David out of the way, make her fall in love with him, then ship her off to Paris again with a half-hearted apology. Nice guy this Linus.

For most of this film I was loving it. Hepburn was absolutely charming and the dialog was great. But I really struggled with Bogart as the rich, responsible, leading man-type. Also, in his mid fifties, he was creepy grandpa next to Hepburn's porcelain skin. Cary Grant was originally cast, but he turned it down. Grant was only a couple years younger than Bogart, but looked much younger and was way more appropriate for the role.

Early critics said Holden should have played the older brother and someone younger play David, and I agree. He seemed old as playboy David, and Bogart was older than the man playing Sabrina's father!

Bogart also didn't think much of Hepburn or Holden, or even Billy Wilder. He wanted wife Lauren Bacall for the lead, but I can't imagine anyone matching Hepburn's charm. In three years he would be gone.

Sabrina is rather charming and well written, but what started well ended up being a fairly generic rom-com by the third act. Maybe I'm holding the fast start or questionable casting choices against it, but there's no helping that. At worst, it's still a fine film. AMRU 3.5.

"A woman happily in love, she burns the soufflé. A woman unhappily in love, she forgets to turn on the oven."

Network (1976)

Howard Beal (Peter Finch) was once a respected name in TV news. But a string of personal set backs and slipping ratings placed him at a crossroads. After being told he was being fired, he announced on the air that in one week he would kill himself. When he spoke honestly and profanely in his later apology, and the rating were through the roof, a power struggle started to keep his "mad profit of the airways" act running for as long as possible.

Network is an amazingly prescient movie. A cautionary tale that caused the news media to look up and say "what a great idea!" If writer Paddy Chayefsky thought the industry was becoming sensationalized, well, he hadn't seen anything yet. And he almost hadn't. He would die of cancer five years later.

Jimmy Stewart was considered for a role? I presume the William Holden part, but really? I can't imagine him trying to charmingly bumble through Holden's cutting and profane dialog. That would have been a movie-killer. Finch's performance earned him an oscar but he would die before the ceremony. The first posthumous award.

Iconic, witty, wonderfully acted (four acting oscar nominations, and three wins), and overall excellent filmmaking. Faye Dunaway was fantastic. This movie will stay with me for a long while. AMRU 4.

"Why is it that a woman always thinks that the most savage thing she can say to a man is to impugn his cocksmanship."

The Moon is Blue (1953)

Donald (William Holden) pursues a chaste and unusually honest young woman. His ex-girlfriend and her father (David Niven) interfere with the evening.

I know this film, as most people do, from the 11th season episode of M*A*S*H. where Hawkeye and Hunnicut are trying to get a copy of this movie, believing it to be a "blue movie". They are disappointed by this RomCom, but I wasn't.

As many movies based on a play, it is rather wordy. The story is focused on the relationships between the characters. Accepting it for what it is, I was quite charmed. Very sharp, witty, clever dialog. Good acting and better photography than you normally get from a play conversion. Controversial in it's time, it's rather tame by today's standards. Patty asks frank questions, discusses her virginity, and the men are left to question their own motivations.

By the time of the M*A*S*H episode, the film was just under 30 years old. The two leads had passed by then, and in four more years every actor with a speaking role, and the director, would be gone. Our virginal lead took her own life. It's been almost 32 years since the episode, and the M*A*S*H cast is doing quite a bit better. Maybe they learned of the dangers of the whiskey and cigarette diet, what with them being doctors and all.

Don't watch this if you expect overt sexuality. Or hate movies with a lot of talking. If what I wrote appeals to you, make a point to find it (won't be easy). I left it on my DVR in hopes of convincing the wife to give it a try. No dice, and it expired. AMRU 4. There was a lot of wonderful dialog in this movie. I can't pick one quote, so I will go with ...

"You talk too much."

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) needs to build a bridge in short order and uses prisoners of war as labor, officers included. New recruit British Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) is all for building the bridge, good for morale, you know - pip pip!, but takes exception to the part about him doing some heavy lifting. The two strong headed leaders play a war of brinkmanship. This amuses American Major Shears (William Holden), who decides to high-tail it.

Nicholson obsesses on building the bridge his way, Saito is so pressed for time and has to concede, and Shears, rescued by the British, is voluntold to embark on an operation to destroy the same bridge. A fun time is had by all.

Bridge on the River Kwai is a wonderful character study. The three main characters (plus others) are fundamentally different in their perspective. Duty and self interest collide with obsession. Watching them interact was great. Some of the best acting I've seen yet. Sure, it's long. Sure, not much in the hot babe department. Watch it anyways. Now let's talk about the bridge.

The movie is based on a true story. Some details were changed to make it a fictitious story. The Japanese Colonel wasn't all mean, the bridge wasn't built in three months, and the whole ending part didn't happen at all. In fact, historians took exception to a great many things. Please don't get hung up on such matters and think of it as a great movie BASED on a true story. Like Lord of the Rings. AMRU 4.

"I know how you feel, but there's always the unexpected, isn't there"

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Gloria Swanson was a 50 year old washed up silent film star trying to make her comeback. She plays Norma Desmond, a 50 year old washed up silent film star trying to make her comeback. One thing Gloria has over poor Norma is that her comeback film is good. Very good, in fact.

William Holden plays Joe Gillis, a hack writer down to his last straw. While escaping the men who would reposes his car, he hides in what he believes to be an abandoned mansion on the famous boulevard. The mansion is in fact occupied by the above mentioned prima donna and her faithfully loopy butler.

Norma wrote an enormous and ridiculous script that would be her 'return' to cinema but it needs the touches of a hack writer to clean it up. Joe needs cash and has no appointments on his social calendar. Slowly, Joe falls under the thumb of the melodramatic Norma. Every time he attempts to assert himself, she pulls him back in.

In the final analysis, everybody is a phony. Everybody is trying to get something from somebody else. Except the hot Nancy Olson.

Here are a couple cool things: It is reveled that butler Max Von Mayerling is really Norma Desmond's first director. He is played by real life director Enrich von Stroheim. There is a scene (which I missed most of because my library DVD was, well, from the library) where he runs the projector for a screening of an old Norma Desmond film, which is in fact Queen Kelly, an old Gloria Swanson film that was directed by Stroheim! 1950 and Hollywood had turning it's critical eye onto itself!

Also, there is a scene where Joe, Norma, and a few friends play cards, which I missed most of because ... you know. Anyhow, the other card players were washed up has-been silent film stars Buster Keaton (a favorite of mine from my youth) and Anna Q. Nilsson.

There are a lot of other things to explore with this film (like, what's Jack Webb doing in the movie, and what's up with the dead monkey?) but I'll leave them to other people. I really enjoyed the movie. AMRU 4.

"She was the greatest of them all. You wouldn't know, you're too young. In one week she received 17,000 fan letters. Men bribed her hairdresser to get a lock of her hair. There was a maharajah who came all the way from India to beg one of her silk stockings. Later he strangled himself with it!"