These titles will be available for FREE STREAMING all month long on the CMH Channel. All you need to do is click on the movie/show of your choice, then click ‘play’ — you do not have to opt for a 7-day trial.
In celebration of June Birthdays, we’re featuring the one and only Errol Flynn (born Jun 20, 1909) with Michael Curtiz’s Santa Fe Trail. We’re also celebrating a birthday ‘two-fer’ ala Rosalind Russell (Jun 4, 1907) and Ralph Bellamy (Jun 17, 1904) in Howard Hawk’s rapid-fire screwball comedy His Girl Friday! We’ll also be featuring films starring Jane Russell, Gail Patrick and Basil Rathbone, born Jun 21, 1921, Jun 20, 1911 and Jun 13, 1892, respectively.
…..
We’re also celebrating Fond Memories this month with some personal favorites, two of which are perfect for Father’s Day.
…..
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the service, Best Classics Ever is a new mega streaming channel built especially for classic movie and TV lovers. The idea of the channel is to make lots of classic titles accessible and affordable for all. That said, Classic Movie Hub is curating titles each month that our fans can stream for free on the Classic Movie Hub Channelat Best Classics Ever. If you’d like access to the entire selection of Best Classics Ever titles, you can subscribe to everything for a low monthly fee of $4.99/month (Best Stars Ever, Best Westerns Ever, Best Mysteries Ever, Best TV Ever) or for an individual channel for only $1.99/month.
You can read more about Best Classics Ever and our partnership here.
For those of you who
are unfamiliar with Cinemallennials, it is a bi-weekly podcast in which I, and
another millennial, watch a classic film that we’ve never seen before, and discuss
its significance and relevance in today’s world.
In today’s episode, I talked with James Wilson about The Great Escape, directed by John Sturges and starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough. The Great Escape is often considered the pinnacle of classic World War II action films and is also the film that ensured Steve McQueen’s status as a Hollywood legend. While known for its depictions of valor and defiance in the face of danger, The Great Escape exhibits the emotional and empathetic attitudes, often not explored, of those that served in the Second World War.
Captain Virgil Hilts (Steve McQueen) being questioned by Kommandt Von Luger (Hannes Messemer)
While not listed as often as some of his contemporaries as being one of the best directors of all time, John Sturges definitely rubbed elbows with some of them and often took on films whose difficult subjects those directors would be hesitant to approach. Sturges began his Hollywood career as a member of RKO’s blueprint and art department in 1932; from there he eventually rose to production assistant and film editor, and then the Second World War changed his life. Serving as a captain in the U.S. Army Air Forces during the war, Sturges directed over 40 documentaries including Thunderbolt, co-directed with William Wyler, which documented the aerial operations of Operation Strangle, and which would lead to his meteoric rise as a director. After the war, Sturges went on to direct a wide variety of films including dramas, comedies, thrillers, and would even confront racism in films like Right Cross (1950), and his breakthrough film, Bad Day at Black Rock (1955). His most notable films besides The Great Escape were his westerns, especially The Magnificent Seven (1960)which was his adaptation of Akria Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954), and which starred Yul Brenner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson. Kurosawa himself praised Sturges’ adaptation and even supposedly presented Sturges with a samurai sword, which Sturges recalled as the single proudest moment of his life.
James Coburn, John Sturges, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson
Set during 1943, The Great Escape follows the story of a
group of Allied prisoners of war who are obsessed with escaping from a high-security prison
camp. Despite being
experienced soldiers turned notorious escape artists, their plans often go awry and are quickly
dashed. That is,
until American Captain Virgil Hilts (Steve McQueen) and RAF Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett (Richard Attenborough) enter the camp and vow to
attempt the largest escape plan ever, in order to disrupt
the Third Reich’s evil campaigns of hateful death.
During this episode, James and I will be discussing The Great Escape’s influence on films like Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and Chicken Run. We’ll also discuss the greatest generation and their idea of strength, the struggle of putting your trust in strangers in the direst of circumstances, and the role that empathy and compassion play in life or death situations.
What differentiates The Great Escape from other World War II
films of the period,
and even today, is
its emphasis on the characters’ empathy for their fellow man. While the film uses, and in
some cases, creates new archetypes for the genre and the soldiers of the greatest generation, James and I were
surprised to see the emotional subtext throughout the film. As millennials, we
were raised on the notion that
veterans kept their wartime experiences close to the chest to avoid displaying emotions that would lessen their
perceived bastion of physical and emotional strength. Whether it’s because of our
exposure to popular history, popular culture, or even first-hand or second-hand
accounts, the greatest generation is almost always depicted at a near
mythological level. With
that in mind, it was impressive to see the displays of emotional and mental support
between the main
characters in the film.
Blythe (Donald Pleasance) and Hendley (James Garner) playing chess.
Probably the most heartwarming example of empathy in the film is Hendley’s (James Garner) support and compassion for Blythe (Donald Pleasence) when he realizes that Blythe is going blind. This leads to a heroic moment for Hendley, as he volunteers to lead his blind friend to freedom, risking his own life for the life of his friend. Similarly, one of the ‘Tunnel Kings,’ Willie, shows empathy towards fellow ‘Tunnel King,’ Danny, when Danny reveals he has claustrophobia. Willie commits to seeing Danny through the tunnel, and sticking with him. Willie does just that, possibly through one of the scariest moments of Danny’s life.
Willie (John Dudley Leyton) comforting Danny (Charles Bronson) on his way out of the tunnel.
While The
Great Escape has all the
elements of typical
World War II action film archetypes, the film brings to light that the greatest generation
didn’t just fight with
bullets and ammunition, but also with love, empathy, and compassion for each other.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Cinemallennials, which you can find here on apple podcasts or on spotify. Please reach out to me as I would love to hear your thoughts on The Great Escape, especially if you’re a first-time viewer too!
Dave Lewis is the producer, writer, and host of Cinemallennials, a podcast where he and another millennial watch a classic film that they haven’t seen before ranging from the early 1900s to the late 1960s and discuss its significance and relevance in our world today. Before writing for Classic Movie Hub, Dave wrote about Irish and Irish-American history, the Gaelic Athletic Association in the United States, and Irish innovators for Irish America magazine. You can find more episodes of Cinemallennials, film reviews and historical analyses, on Dave’s website dlewmoviereview.com or his YouTube channel.
I’ve had a particular fondness for The Harvey Girls (1946) since the first time I saw it, but my love increased when I visited the El Tovar Hotel in the Grand Canyon some years ago and learned more about the fascinating history of the real Harvey Girls who brought beefsteak and civilized manners to the Western frontier. The exhibit at the hotel included references to the 1946 Judy Garland film, which is dedicated to the women who went West on the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad in order to work in Fred Harvey’s establishments. Sadly, not everyone gets the chance to visit one of the few remaining Harvey Houses, but they can watch Garland and a fantastic supporting cast in this energetic Western musical from director George Sidney. While it’s not a perfect movie, it is one of my very favorite Judy Garland films, not only because I like the protagonist Garland plays but because I absolutely adore Angela Lansbury, Marjorie Main, and Virginia O’Brien, and having all of them in the same picture is really a treat.
Garland plays Susan Bradley, who answers a matrimonial ad and agrees to ride the train all the way to Sandrock to marry a man she only knows through his letters. When that doesn’t turn out as expected, Susan joins a troop of Harvey Girls arriving at the same time and gets to work feeding passengers and locals at the Harvey House. The local saloon crowd isn’t happy about the competition or the idea of Sandrock settling down into a respectable town, but only the duplicitous Judge Purvis (Preston Foster) is villainous enough to terrorize the newcomers with increasingly nasty tricks. Even as they fend off the judge’s attacks, the girls find romance in unexpected places, and sparks fly between Susan and the owner of the Alhambra saloon, Ned Trent (John Hodiak), much to the disgruntlement of Ned’s usual squeeze, saloon singer Em (Angela Lansbury).
On the train to Sandrock, Alma (Virginia O’Brien) and some of the other new recruits review the handbook for Harvey waitress conduct. The real Harvey Girls were bound by strict rules and regulations.
The Harvey Girls offers a distinctly feminine perspective on going West, even if it omits the worst dangers and hardships of the experience in favor of Technicolor song and dance. The girls might be nice young ladies from back East, but they’re hardier than they first appear, a point made abundantly clear in the glorious free-for-all fight with the dance hall demimondes. Susan’s friend Alma (Virginia O’Brien) turns out to be skilled at shoeing horses and working a blacksmith’s forge, while Susan herself grabs a pair of pistols and marches into the saloon to retrieve the hotel’s stolen meat. It’s very satisfying to see the ladies of the film so capable and determined in spite of the obstacles they face, and by the end of the picture, we even see Susan and Em reach an appreciation of each other. Two older women are in charge of the girls, and they’re both sturdy, reassuring presences; Miss Bliss (Selena Royle) doesn’t have enough scenes to be fully developed, but Sonora (Marjorie Main) steals almost every scene she’s in, and she even strikes up a romance of her own with Susan’s mail-order groom, Hartsey (Chill Wills). On the less reputable side of the street, we have Em, a more complicated character but not really a bad one even if she resents Susan for trespassing on her territory.
Handsome Ned Trent (John Hodiak) runs the local saloon but harbors secret depths that attract Susan in spite of her anger with Ned for writing the letters that drew her out West to marry Hartsey.
While the women get the greater part of my devotion, I can’t fault the male cast, either, especially John Hodiak as Ned. His rakish, toothy grin provides good cover for the surprisingly fair-minded and even poetic side of Ned’s personality, and he has excellent chemistry with Garland. Seeing Ray Bolger reunited with Garland is also a delight, even if we don’t get to see much of his character’s developing relationship with Virginia O’Brien’s Alma. Their plotline disappears because Garland’s delays on set caused the pregnant O’Brien to be too far along to hide her condition any longer, and as a result, Alma vanishes about halfway through the picture, right after her wonderful “Wild, Wild West” number. Kenny Baker only has a few scenes as the piano playing love interest for Cyd Charisse, but they look very sweet together in their one big number. Chill Wills actually gets more screen time than Baker, thanks to Hartsey’s initial encounter with Susan and growing camaraderie with Sonora, but he’s a lovable genre stalwart who helps the movie feel more like an actual Western.
Angela Lansbury looks fantastic in the bright costumes worn by saloon singer Em, even if her singing voice is inexplicably dubbed for her musical numbers.
The music for this picture also makes me love it, even if Angela Lansbury’s singing is being dubbed for reasons I will never comprehend. “On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and it really is an earworm, although I also love Virginia O’Brien’s hilarious delivery of “The Wild, Wild West.” The movie has so many song-and-dance numbers that it rockets along, much like the train barreling West. It’s hard to believe that several musical numbers were removed from the picture before its release, and there’s never a point where a song really feels like it’s missing. Dances accompany most of the major musical moments; Ray Bolger’s extended solo at the Harvey party is a highlight, and Cyd Charisse, in her first speaking role as Susan’s friend Deborah, gets a couple of smaller dance scenes. I also really like the quieter segment that features “It’s a Great Big World” with Garland and O’Brien (and Charisse dubbed by Marion Doenges). In fact, the biggest flaw in the movie is that O’Brien is in it just enough to hook us on her performance and then vanishes thanks to the delays and her own impending maternity. When MGM dropped her contract in 1948 they made a huge mistake and cost all of us the chance to see O’Brien reach her full potential as a brilliant singing comedy star.
Cyd Charisse, Judy Garland, and Virginia O’Brien lament together in the musical number, “It’s a Great Big World.”
Hopefully, this delightful movie will inspire you to learn more about Harvey Girls’ history or take a train trip out West yourself. You could even take the Grand Canyon Railway to the South Rim and visit the El Tovar Hotel and Bright Angel Lodge. Another Harvey Hotel still in operation today is La Posada in Winslow, Arizona, whose famous guests have included Betty Grable, John Wayne, and Amelia Earhart. If travel isn’t an option, try more classic movie musicals about Wild West women, including Calamity Jane (1953), Red Garters (1954), and Cat Ballou (1965). Don’t miss Westward the Women (1951) if you want a more dramatic take on women’s frontier experiences.
As dreamy as that sounds for Harryhausen fans, traveling to Scotland, especially for those outside of the United Kingdom, may still not be an option. But I wouldn’t tease you – or me – if there wasn’t a way we could see the exhibit.
Understanding the extensive Harryhausen fandom across the world, the gallery has created a virtual experience we can explore from anywhere. Yes, we’re all feeling “virtual” fatigue right now – especially since virtual events can fall short of the in-person experience – but this is very good and worth your time.
Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema Virtual Exhibition Experienceworks well because it provides a visual experience close to what we would have in the museum – sans fighting with a skeleton. There are original sketches, storyboards, photos, memorabilia and models like Medusa, Gwangi and Pegasus. Video is of Harryhausen’s test footage, dailies and early films. Other videos allow us to hear from the man himself as well his daughter, Vanessa, who talks about watching her father work in their home.
I feel info about the exhibit is important to share because Harryhausen’s films helped make me the movie fan I am today. Without them, I wouldn’t be writing a Monsters and Matinees column. He also inspired some of the greatest talents in film such as Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Tim Burton and Guillermo del Toro. And as George Lucas once famously said, “Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no Star Wars.”
Before we explore more, a bit of background first. The in-person exhibit, Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema, at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two) in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a collaboration with the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation. It was originally planned to open in May 2020 as part of the foundation’s celebration of his centenary, which would have been June 29, 2020. Like most everything in 2020, it was delayed by the pandemic, but finally opened in October and now has an extended run to Feb. 20, 2022.
It’s called the “largest and most comprehensive exhibition ever” of Harryhausen and his work, yet it shows just a fraction of his mementos. (More on that lower in the story.)
So what is it like?
THE EXPERIENCE
Our virtual experience is broken into the same five thematic rooms as the in-person exhibit.
King Kong and the Early Years: SeeingKing Kong when he was 13 put Harryhausen on his lifelong path. This segment includes very early drawings and marionettes inspired by the film, some of his Kong movie memorabilia and work by his mentor Willis O’Brien. A highlight is young Harryhausen’s diary from 1939 turned to May 21 where he wrote he had already seen Kong 31 times.
Imagination to Life:An exploration of Harryhausen’s
creative process from idea to reality including his development of model-making
techniques.
Dynamation:An explanation of Harryhausen’s famed technique of mixing animation and live action as his career transitioned from animation to feature films. This segment includes a look at eight Dynamation movies including The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) and One Million Years B.C.(1966).
Creatures of Legend: Harryhausen moved from creature features to mythology and other stories in his later movies including the Sinbad trilogy plus Jason and the Argonauts (1963) and Clash of the Titans (1981). This segment looks at those movies. Actresses Caroline Munro and Martine Beswick are among those sharing stories.
A Life in Objects:Personal remembrances
of Harryhausen from his daughter, Vanessa.
Each section starts with a video (usually 5 to 8 minutes)
exploring how its theme relates to Harryhausen with guests like animator Barry
Purves and Oscar-winning special effects artist Randy Cook. It also has text,
images from the exhibit, sketches, storyboards and photos of Harryhausen’s
creations.
Additional one-minute videos are sprinkled throughout with clips of dailies, tests and excerpts from his early filmmaking such as Cave Bear (1935) and Evolution of the World (1938). Snippets from his colorful Mother Goose Fairy Tales are especially charming and worth repeated viewings. (He called them his “teething rings.”)
Take it at your own pace in the same way you might look through a coffee table book or photo album: You can quickly scan and flip through material or dive into the details. (Big tip: Click on any photo and another screen pops up with more information.) Your virtual ticket allows you to spend all the time you want exploring as it allows you access as often as you want through Feb. 20, 2020.
Titan of Cinema is not only entertaining, it’s educational. There’s video of the first examples of stop-motion including Princess Nicotine (1909) by J. Stuart Blackton (Vitagraph Studios) and The Camerman’s Revenge (1912) by Ladislas Starevich.
Over a few days, I kept rewinding videos, enlarging photos of sketches and storyboards to look at Harryhausen’s intense detailing, and studying the models and creatures that we’re shown from the in-person exhibit. I thought I knew about Dynamation, for example, but I went back over that segment a few times to learn more.
You’ll see glimpses of the in-person exhibit in videos and this is another spot I was constantly hitting pause to see as much as I could. Look carefully and you can see the setup where visitors “interact” with skeletons and other Harryhausen characters. (There are two clear partitions you stand between as the movie scene is played on the wall.)
In one room, a video plays on a large screen with sketches and photographs hanging nearby. On another wall, shelves are lined with character “replacement heads” used to convey emotion in stop-motion animation. Tables hold clear cases that cover some of his prized original creations. One has the “giant” bee, crab and octopus from Mysterious Island.Seeing them in the original size Harryhausen worked with is a reminder of how truly magical it was for him to bring them to giant-sized life on screen.
Sketches provide a look into his inspirations and creative process. There’s a drawing for the Pteranondon from an unrealized RKO project O’Brien worked on before Kong. Although it was never finished, it provided O’Brien skills and techniques he would use in Kong. That in turn influenced Harryhausen, as seen in a pencil and charcoal Pteranodon sequence for One Million Years B.C.
His original drawings for Beast from 20,000 Fathoms depict a quite evil looking creature with a beaklike mouth and pointy ears that could walk on two legs. He originally drew it as the marine dinosaur the Mosasaur, but changes in the script led Harryhausen to evolve it into a fictional Rhedosaurus.
There are plenty of key drawings, which Harryhausen used to realize his vision and show others how a scene would look in film once he added the creatures. In other words, these acted like storyboards. His key drawings for It Came From Beneath the Sea depict scenes of the octopus with his tentacles wrapped around the Golden Gate Bridge and the Clock Tower that look nearly identical to how they appeared in the film.
Under Mysterious Island, there’s a log crossing scene first done in King Kong and seen again in Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake of King Kong.
A major highlight are the models. Photos detail some of the models in the exhibit including the skeletons, the Cyclops (The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad), UFO’s (Earth vs. the Flying Saucers), and Kenny Key from a 1946 advertisement Harryhausen did.
A papier-mâché marionette he made of Kong as a teen is scrawny and kind of cute, but its quality isn’t the point – rather how Kong and Willis O’Brien inspired him.
One of the two complete Pegasus models from Clash of the Titans is beautiful even with a damaged wing. That happened during filming when glycerin was poured over it to make it look wet. It did the job – but also led to continued deterioration through the years.
There is so much more to see going back 90 years and
following Harryhausen’s entire career. Still it’s only a fraction of the
available material.
Where did it all come from? Harryhausen’s daughter, Vanessa, provides the answer that came from the lasting impact the Depression had on her father.
“He was a bit of a hoarder, he liked to recycle,” she says
in a video. “He didn’t throw away anything. God bless he did because we have
this incredible collection of all his stuff.”
Not only is it evident in his extensive collection that he kept everything he could, but we can see it in his work, too. He never let anything he created go to waste. If it didn’t make it in the project or film it was created for, it would be used at some point even if it took decades. The virtual exhibition shows multiple examples of this.
In the Creatures of Legend room there is a photo of an oil on canvas Harryhausen did when he was only 19. It’s a bright, colorful work of an Allosaurus fighting a cowboy with a terrified horse nearby. If that immediately conjures a scene from The Valley of Gwangi, it’s for a good reason. That original painting was created by the teen Harryhausen for a project that went unrealized; 30 years later it was inspiration for Gwangi.
We also see his vision for unrealized work, mostly through pencil and charcoal drawings, and can’t help but wonder what could have been. For War of the Worlds (1949), a film he long wanted to do, Harryhausen’s design for the alien ship has tripod legs; the alien looks like an octopus with a creepy face that has some creepy human characteristics. The Jupiterian (1937) featured a six-limbed, sinister-looking alien that only exists in the drawings and in about a minute of test footage on 16mm film.
Without Harryhausen hoarding an estimated 50,000 objects – memorabilia, sketches, storyboards, models and so much more – we wouldn’t have the chance to see this treasure trove of cinematic history. It turns out that it’s a gift to his fans, too, so take advantage of the opportunity to explore it, even if it’s from a home computer 3,000 miles away from Scotland.
HOW TO SEE IT
A ticket to the virtual exhibit is 10 pounds or about $14 in U.S. currency. Once you buy a ticket to Titan of Cinema, you have access to the virtual exhibit as often as you want to Feb. 20, 2022, the day the in-person exhibit ends. Your virtual ticket also allows you to access special live interactive experiences that will be posted on the website.
To learn more about the virtual exhibit and to buy a ticket, visit this direct link.
Be sure to look at the main website for the National Galleries of Scotland, too, since there is even more information about Harryhausen.
For more about the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation, visit rayharryhausen.com.
Toni
Ruberto, born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., is an editor and writer at The
Buffalo News. She shares her love for classic movies in her blog, Watching Forever and
is a member of the Classic Movie Blog Association.
Toni was the president of the former Buffalo chapter of TCM Backlot and now
leads the offshoot group, Buffalo Classic Movie Buffs. She is proud to have put
Buffalo and its glorious old movie palaces in the spotlight as the inaugural
winner of the TCM in Your Hometown contest. You can find Toni on Twitter at
@toniruberto.
Noir Nook: Ripped from the Headlines – The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Ever seen an episode of the classic TV show Perry Mason? Remember Mason’s weekly nemesis, Hamilton Burger, played by William Talman? Well, you should check out Talman’s character in the 1953 noir The Hitch-Hiker.
He ain’t no
Hamilton Burger.
Co-written and directed by Ida Lupino, and produced by her production company, The Filmakers, The Hitch-Hiker tells the story of two buddies, Roy Collins and Gilbert Bowen (Edmond O’Brien and Frank Lovejoy), who set out on a relaxing (they think) fishing weekend. But like the best-laid plans of mice and men, things don’t pan out quite as our heroes intended – they make the near-fatal mistake of picking up a hitch-hiker, Emmet Myers (Talman), who just happens to be a murderous psychopath. Myers kidnaps the men, forcing them to drive him to Mexico. Along the way, Collins and Bowen find their attempts to flee are hampered by Myers’s creepy ability to literally sleep with one eye open.
This riveting
feature was based on the real-life case of Billy Cook, a native of Joplin,
Missouri, who killed six people during a murderous three-week spree in January
1951. Saddled with the nickname “Cockeyed” because of a congenital eye defect,
Cook endured a tragic childhood; after his mother died when he was five years
old, his father abandoned the boy and his seven siblings in an old local mine. Eventually,
foster homes were found for all of the children – all except Billy, whose deformed
eye and incorrigible demeanor made him difficult to place. He wound up a ward
of the state of Missouri and, later, after a series of petty crimes, an inmate
in the Missouri State Penitentiary. During his late teens, he got a tattoo
across the fingers of his left hand that spelled out “HARD LUCK.” Upon his
release from prison in 1950, he was briefly reunited with his father, telling
him that he was determined to “live by the gun and roam.”
William Talman as hitchhiker Emmet Myers in The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Later that
year, Cook put his “gun and roam” strategy into effect, hitchhiking his way
first to California, then to Texas where, in December 1950, an auto mechanic
offered him a ride. Cook forced the man into the trunk of his car at gunpoint
but, luckily for the mechanic, he managed to escape. Serendipity wouldn’t be
with Cook’s next victims. In Oklahoma, Cook was picked up by Carl Mosser, a
farmer from Illinois who was traveling with his wife, their three young children,
and their dog. After a terrifying three-day ordeal, Cook murdered the entire
family (including the dog).
Edmond O’Brien, Frank Lovejoy and William Talman in The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
Heading west
again, Cook took a deputy sheriff hostage outside Blythe, California, but he
spared the man’s life. (Some reports say that Cook used to work with the
sheriff’s wife and that she “had been
nicer than anyone had ever been to him in his life.”) Robert Dewey, a salesman
from Seattle, met a less favorable fate; after killing Dewey, Cook took his
car, abandoning it in Mexicali, Mexico. By now, law enforcement agencies
throughout the Southwest United States were hot on Cook’s trail, but he wasn’t
finished yet. Hitching to California, he was picked up by two men on a hunting
trip, James Burke and Forrest Damron. Cook kidnapped the duo, holding them
hostage for the next eight days and forcing them to head for Mexico. The two
men would later say that they were afraid to try to escape because Cook’s right
eye always remained open and they never could tell whether their captor was
awake or asleep.
After the men had driven across the Mexico border to Santa
Rosalia, Cook was recognized by the police chief Luis Parra, who simply walked
up to Cook, removed his gun from his belt, and arrested him. Cook was later
handed over to the FBI; at the time of his arrest, he reportedly declared, “I
hate everybody’s guts, and everybody hates mine.
The arrest of real-life murderer, Billy Cook
After a trial in Oklahoma, Cook was sentenced to 300 years in prison for the murder of the Mosser family and was then convicted and sentenced to death in California for the murder of Robert Dewey. In December 1952, almost two years after the start of his killing spree, Cook was executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin prison.
Ida Lupino interviewed the two hunters who were Cook’s final captives, and she visited Cook in San Quentin shortly before his execution to secure his release to use parts of his life in her film. “I was afraid of him,” Lupino said later. “I could not wait to get the hell out of San Quentin.” Her film, co-written with her ex-husband and business partner Collier Young, was released in March 1953, just a few months after Cook’s execution. Because of the Motion Picture Production Code, which governed the depiction of sex and crime in the movies, Lupino decreased the number of Cook’s on-screen killings. The Code also prevented her from using Cook’s real name in the film, but she did exercise some creative liberties with the capture of the film’s villain, spicing up the real-life, undramatic arrest with two fistfights and a shootout.
If you’ve never
seen this ripped-from-the-headlines gem, do yourself a favor and check it out.
Selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being
“culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant, it’s
available on YouTube and Prime Video, as well as on DVD as part of the Ida
Lupino: Filmmaker Collection by Kino Lorber. And if you’re already familiar
with this feature, give it a re-watch.
You only owe it to yourself.
…
– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub
While the name Joan McCracken may not be familiar to many these days, in her heyday, she was a renowned actor, dancer, and comedian, notable for originating the role of Sylvie in Oklahoma!, taking on the nickname of “The Girl Who Falls Down” for her pratfalls in the show. An instant success and trendsetter in comedy and dance, her career and life were tragically cut short due to diabetes.
Joan Hume McCracken was born on December 31, 1917, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to sports reporter Franklin T. McCracken and Mary McCracken. Her father wrote for the Philadelphia Public Ledger, focusing on golf and boxing coverage.
A promising acrobat, McCracken was awarded a scholarship for her talents and studied dance under ballerina, choreographer, and artistic director Catherine Littlefield. McCracken would attend high school at West Philadelphia High School, though would drop out during her 10th-grade year to study dance under choreographer George Balanchine at the opening of the School of American Ballet in 1934.
Joan as Sylvie “the girl who fell down”, in Oklahoma! (1943)
In the following year, she returned to Philadelphia to join the Littlefield
Ballet, which would become the Philadelphia Ballet. She secured a role as a
principal soloist and garnered praise when the company embarked on a European
tour. Despite the challenges of being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, McCracken
proceeded with the tour and did not adhere to her treatment regimen. Extremely
private and fearing that she would lose opportunities for employment, she kept
her diabetes a secret. Unfortunately, the decision to continue working made her
susceptible to fainting during shows and opened the door to future medical
complications.
In 1940, McCracken married dancer Jack Dunphy and the couple moved to New York, where they both found work. She danced as part of Radio City Musical’s ballet, Jacob’s Pillow (a ballet company in Massachusetts), and Eugene Loring’s Dance Players. McCracken and Dunphy later auditioned for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Away We Go, securing anonymous dance roles in the show. As work on the show progressed, the name of the musical was changed to Oklahoma!, in which McCracken was crafting a more noticeable personality for her given role of Sylvie. Due to the pratfalls, her character made in the “Many a New Day” dance sequence, McCracken was dubbed “The Girl Who Falls Down.”
Jack Coffey and Joan McCracken in Hollywood Canteen (1944)
McCracken’s work in Oklahoma! led to her signing a contract with Warner Brothers, appearing in Hollywood Canteen(1944). Though initially excited to be working in films, she felt that Hollywood Canteen was patronizing and did not reflect well upon her husband and brother who were serving in the military. She also felt a lack of guidance in terms of choreography from choreographer LeRoy Prinz. As a result, she broke her contract and returned to Broadway to appear in Bloomer Girl, considered to be the first Broadway musical about feminism. In addition to receiving praise for her dancing in the show, she also cultivated a comic persona.
June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Patricia Marshall, Ray Mcdonald and Joan McCracken in Good News (1947)
Following the success of Bloomer Girl, she starred in Billion Dollar Baby on Broadway in 1945 to positive reviews of her performance but lukewarm comments about the show. Returning to films, McCracken was hired by MGM to appear in Good News (1947) as Babe Doolittle. Though her dance numbers were enthusiastic, MGM did not renew her contract, with executives feeling she lacked “close-up appeal” and performed more in the style of a Broadway actor versus the understated style of a film actor. Additionally, her vocal range was limited, therefore preventing her from attaining many starring musical roles.
Wishing to advance as a dramatic actress, she began to study acting with Group Theatre alumnus Bobby Lewis, who would co-found the Actors Studio with Elia Kazan and Cheryl Crawford. The school was by invitation only, with McCracken securing a place as one of the Studio’s charter members. Her dramatic role in Galileo opened the door to many more serious and non-dancing roles. McCracken also appeared on television in the role of Essie in You Can’t Take it With You(1950).
McCracken and Dunphy divorced in 1951, with Dunphy going on to be Truman Capote’s partner until Capote’s passing. In relation to Capote and his work, McCracken was actually one of the real-life counterparts of Holly Golightly in his novella, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Golightly’s reaction to the death of her brother in the Army overseas mirrors McCracken’s violent reaction to the death of her brother. Additionally, Golightly is depicted singing songs from Oklahoma! while playing the guitar.
In the meantime, McCracken met choreographer and dancer Bob Fosse while working in Dance Me a Song in a starring role. They were married from 1952 to 1959, with McCracken working to advance his career and support his work. Her influence with producer George Abbott led to Fosse’s first major role as choreographer for The Pajama Game. As her health worsened, Fosse left McCracken for Gwen Verdon.
McCracken would go on to succeed Jean Arthur in a touring company production of Peter Pan as well as appear on the sitcom Claudia: The Story of a Marriage. She also appeared on Broadway in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Me and Juliet.
McCracken’s decline in health hindered her career, as her dance abilities
were impacted. She suffered from a heart attack in 1955 in addition to various
health problems and extended hospital stays. Complications from diabetes made
it difficult for her to work. Her last stage appearance was in the off-Broadway
production of The Infernal Machine in
1958.
McCracken’s final relationship was with actor Marc Adams. She spent her
final years at a beach house in The Pines on Fire Island, New York, dying in
her sleep from a heart attack on November 1, 1961. She was cremated and her
ashes were given to her mother, though they were later lost.
Today, there are some tributes to McCracken. The Girl Who Fell Down: A Biography of Joan McCracken by Lisa Jo
Sagolla offers an intimate portrait of McCracken and her life.
“The Girl Who Fell Down” by Lisa Jo Sagolla
While McCracken herself does not appear in this clip, her Sylvie character
is spotted as the dancer who falls down in this sequence from Oklahoma!
In 1920, McCracken and her parents, as well as her maternal grandmother,
resided at 920 Farragut Terrace in Philadelphia. The family also took in a boarder
who was a fellow newspaper reporter. This is what it looks like today:
920 Farragut Terrace, Philadelphia, PA
By 1930, the family relocated to 616 S. 54th St in Philadelphia,
along with the addition of McCracken’s little brother, Frank. This is the home
today:
616 S. 54th St., Philadelphia, PA
Though few recordings of McCracken exist, we are lucky to have some of her performances captured in films.
Annette Bochenek of Chicago, Illinois, is a PhD student at Dominican University and an independent scholar of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She manages the Hometowns to Hollywood blog, in which she writes about her trips exploring the legacies and hometowns of Golden Age stars. Annette also hosts the “Hometowns to Hollywood” film series throughout the Chicago area. She has been featured on Turner Classic Movies and is the president of TCM Backlot’s Chicago chapter. In addition to writing for Classic Movie Hub, she also writes for Silent Film Quarterly, Nostalgia Digest, and Chicago Art Deco SocietyMagazine.
And — stay tuned right here on the CMH blog, because in a few days we’ll be announcing our next Screen Classics Discussion Video Series Event with University Press of Kentucky and co-host Aurora from Once Upon a Screen, in which Vitagraph author Andrew Erish will be discussing the book! It will be a live Facebook Chat, so you’ll be able to comment and ask questions!
In the meantime, please don’t forget to check out our other author discussions in the series, embedded for your convenience way down near the bottom of this post: “Jane Russell and the Marketing of a Hollywood Legend” and “Growing Up Hollywood”.
…..
…..
In order to qualify to win this book via this contest giveaway, you must complete the below entry task by Saturday, July 3 at 6PM EST. Winners will be chosen via random drawings.
We will announce our four lucky winners on Twitter @ClassicMovieHub on Sunday, July 4, around 9PM EST. And, please note that you don’t have to have a Twitter account to enter; just see below for the details.
To recap, there will be FOUR WINNERS, chosen by random, all to be announced on July 4th.
Aerial view of Vitagraph’s Brooklyn studios, ca 1915. Motion Picture News, August 19, 1922. (courtesy University Press of Kentucky)
…..
And now on to the contest!
ENTRY TASK (2-parts) to be completed by Saturday, July 3, 2021 at 6PM EST
1) Answer the below question via the comment section at the bottom of this blog post
2)ThenTWEET (not DM) the following message*: Just entered to win the “Vitagraph: America’s First Great Motion Picture Studio” #BookGiveaway courtesy of @KentuckyPress & @ClassicMovieHub – #EnterToWin http://www.classicmoviehub.com/blog/vitagraph-americas-first-great-motion-picture-studio-book-giveaway-june/
THE QUESTION: What intrigues you about Vitagraph and/or its history. And, if you’re unfamiliar with this historic studio, why would you like to win this book?
*If you do not have a Twitter account, you can still enter the contest by simply answering the above question via the comment section at the bottom of this blog — BUT PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU ADD THIS VERBIAGE TO YOUR ANSWER: I do not have a Twitter account, so I am posting here to enter but cannot tweet the message.
NOTE: if for any reason you encounter a problem commenting here on this blog, please feel free to tweet or DM us, or send an email to clas…@gmail.com and we will be happy to create the entry for you.
ALSO: Please allow us 48 hours to approve your comments. Sorry about that, but we are being overwhelmed with spam, and must sort through 100s of comments…
Vitagraph Theatre, February 1914. Motion Picture Magazine, April 1914. (courtesy of University Press of Kentucky
…..
If you missed our other chats in the Screen Classics Discussion Series, you can catch them on Facebook and YouTube:
…..
About the Book: Andrew A. Erish provides the first comprehensive examination and reassessment of the company most responsible for defining and popularizing the American movie. This history challenges long-accepted Hollywood mythology that simply isn’t true: that Paramount and Fox invented the feature film, that Universal created the star system, and that these companies, along with MGM and Warner Bros., developed motion pictures into a multi-million-dollar business. In fact, the truth about Vitagraph is far more interesting than the myths that later moguls propagated about themselves. Established in 1897 by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith, Vitagraph was the leading producer of motion pictures for much of the silent era. Vitagraph established America’s studio system, a division of labor utilizing specialized craftspeople and artists, including a surprising number of women and minorities, whose aesthetic innovations have long been incorporated into virtually all commercial cinema. They developed fundamental aspects of the form and content of American movies, encompassing everything from framing, lighting, and performance style to emphasizing character-driven comedy and drama in stories that respected and sometimes poked fun at every demographic of Vitagraph’s vast audience. The company overcame resistance to multi-reel motion pictures by establishing a national distribution network for its feature films. Vitagraph’s international distribution was even more successful, cultivating a worldwide preference for American movies that endures to the present. For most of its existence America’s most influential studio was headquartered in Brooklyn, New York before relocating to Hollywood. Finally, here is a historically rigorous and thorough account of the most influential producer of American motion pictures during the silent era. Drawing on valuable primary material long overlooked by other historians, Erish introduces readers to the fascinating, forgotten pioneers of Vitagraph.
Some of the best-known Western movie locations are beyond Southern California… places like Lone Pine’s Alabama Hills, further north in California, or Monument Valley, where John Ford shot Westerns on the Arizona-Utah border.
However, hundreds of Westerns, typically those with lower budgets, were filmed at Southern California “movie ranches.” Some of these ranches were owned by the studios, serving as an additional “backlot,” while other ranches, such as Iverson or Jauregui, were independently owned entities that made money allowing studios to film on a film-by-film basis.
Corriganville Ranch in Simi Valley, California
One of the best-known Southern California movie
ranches was Corriganville in Simi Valley. The ranch was owned by actor
Ray “Crash” Corrigan, who purchased the land in 1937.
Corrigan was known for playing Tucson Smith in Republic’s Three Mesquiteers Western movie series alongside John Wayne and others; later he appeared in Monogram’s Range Busters films, where his character went by his offscreen nickname, Crash Corrigan.
Ray “Crash” Corrigan
Corriganville was not only a busy movie ranch, it was also a theme park from the years 1949 to 1965, when Corrigan sold the property to Bob Hope. It was something of a forerunner to Universal Studios in Universal City, which opened to the public in 1964, just as Corriganville was close to winding down operations. It also had some similarities to the Knott’s Berry Farm Ghost Town in Buena Park.
During its years as a Western movie attraction, visitors could tour the fort built for John Ford’s Fort Apache (1948), explore Western town sets, watch stuntman shows, enjoy live music, and more.
Corriganville Movie Ranch Attraction Map
Major brush fires swept through the property in the ’70s, destroying the buildings; all that remains of Corriganville today are concrete slabs, stonework, and a lake used for filming water scenes. The property was bought by the City of Simi Valley in 1988 and is now a regional park open to the public, with multiple hiking trails and picnic areas.
Corriganville Movie Ranch Park Entrance Sign
I recently visited Corriganville for the first
time and found it quite interesting. As I share some photos from my visit
I’ll also discuss a few of the movies filmed when Corriganville was in its
heyday.
Set for Fort Apache (1948)
Above is a photo of the Fort Apache set, which was later reused in Ambush (1950) and many other films and TV series. If you look at my photo below, the rocks in the background exactly line up with those seen behind the fort set. It was quite exciting to know that I was standing where John Wayne, Henry Fonda, George O’Brien, and Ward Bond once walked.
Film location for Fort Apache (1948)
Here’s more scenery from the general area
where Fort Apache filmed:
Another location for the filming of Fort Apache (1948)
One of the most interesting things at Corriganville is the remains of a small “lake” where movies including Columbia Pictures’ Jungle Jim series were once filmed.
Pool used for the Jungle Jim series sometimes called “Robin Hood Lake,” “Sherwood Lake,” or “Jungle Jim Lake”
The lake is sometimes known as “Robin Hood Lake,” “Sherwood Lake,” or “Jungle Jim Lake.” A room with thick windows allowed for underwater photography; the building remains but the glass from the windows is gone.
Camera windows used for underwater filming
A door could be slid down into place to dam the
lake and raise the water level as needed:
“Sherwood Lake” dam used to hold water levels
Another look from a different angle. Some sources indicate that scenes for The African Queen (1951) and Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) were among the films which shot here; if that information is accurate, my best guess is that they were brief insert shots needed to supplement the extensive location filming which took place out of state.
Corriganville Ranch “lake” used for films such as The African Queen (1951) and Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)
This view looks across the lake to “Stunt Rock,” from which Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) would dive into the water:
Trail Blazer Cave was a man-made cave located here; it’s named for its appearance in Arizona Whirlwind (1944), part of the Trail Blazers movie series which starred Hoot Gibson, Ken Maynard, and Bob Steele. The cave also appeared in Corrigan’s own The Range Busters (1940) and later in Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966) with John Carradine. The Fugitive TV series starring David Janssen also filmed here.
Trail Blazer Cave
Today visitors can still see concrete slabs
where Western town buildings once stood. In the distance is stonework
from a one-time horse barn.
A location where buildings and stables once stood before a fire in the ’70s
A closer look at the old barn site. Snowfire (1958) with Don Megowan was one of the Westerns filmed here.
What’s left of stables used in films like Snowfire (1958)
Another area where what’s left of set
construction has been overgrown in the decades since the last fire:
Overgrown remains of what’s left of the ranch locations after the fire
Western TV series filmed at Corriganville in its heyday included The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, Sky King, and The Lone Ranger.
Today Corriganville is a Ventura County
Historical Landmark which is open to the public free of charge, and visitors
can walk the trails where cowboy heroes once rode.
Corriganville Ranch Park Map
For those considering a visit to Corriganville Park, it is open from dawn to dusk. There is free parking, with portable bathroom facilities provided next to the parking lot. Picnic tables are provided in multiple areas. Leashed dogs are allowed. I spent just under three hours walking multiple trails and pausing to take pictures; most of the ground is fairly flat but the Fort Apache area is hilly.
…
— Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub
Laura can be found at her blog, Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings, where she’s been writing about movies since 2005, and on Twitter at @LaurasMiscMovie. A lifelong film fan, Laura loves the classics including Disney, Film Noir, Musicals, and Westerns. She regularly covers Southern California classic film festivals. Laura will scribe on all things western at the ‘Western RoundUp’ for CMH.
If you missed our last event, you can check it out on YouTube. It was called “Growing Up Hollywood” in which author Alan Rode chatted with two children of Hollywood legends (understatement) — Victoria Riskin and William Wellman Jr. Here is it is, in all its glory… 🙂
…..
Stay tuned for more in this Discussion Series — which will include conversations about Vitagraph, Jayne Mansfield, Charles Boyer and more!
It’s time for another look at some Western
“Hidden Gems”!
These are relatively lesser-known yet entertaining movies that deserve a look from fans of the Western genre. I’ve found both of these films, which share a cavalry theme, worth multiple watches. Happily, they’re both available on DVD.
Ambush is a very good yet rather overlooked Robert Taylor Western. Taylor made better-known Westerns at his longtime studio, MGM, including the highly regarded Devil’s Doorway (1950) and Westward the Women (1951), but I also find Ambush to be quite enjoyable.
The screenplay by Marguerite Roberts is based on a novel by Luke Short, whose writing inspired a number of excellent movie Westerns. Indeed, three of the four titles in my column on “Noir-Tinged Westerns” were based on works by Short.
Arlene Dahl and John Hodiak in Ambush (1949)
Taylor, an avid outdoorsman off the screen, is completely at home as Ward Kinsman, a civilian Cavalry scout in Arizona Territory. He’s asked by the fort commandant (Leon Ames) to rescue a woman kidnapped by an Indian tribe headed by Diablito (Charles Stevens).
Kinsman is dubious about pulling off a successful rescue mission but encouraged to move forward due to his attraction to the missing woman’s beautiful sister, Ann (Arlene Dahl). Ann is being romanced by Capt. Ben Lorrison (John Hodiak) but is clearly more interested in Kinsman.
Robert Taylor and Alrene Dahl in Ambush (1949)
As with so many Westerns, this Cavalry film has familiar themes, but it’s the unique spins of the filmmakers which give it interest, and in this case, it’s a very polished production.
Viewer attention is
captured from the opening seconds, with Indian drums beating while Leo the Lion
roars in the traditional MGM opening. That’s followed by complete silence as
we’re shown the tragic aftermath of an Indian attack; we next see Indians
riding away as the movie title zooms onto the screen. It’s an exciting and
highly effective way to begin the movie.
Another plus is that the film has extensive location work in Arizona and New Mexico, filmed in black and white by Harold Lipstein; additional scenes were filmed at Southern California’s Corriganville movie ranch. There are moments that are clearly back projections cut into location scenes, but all in all, it’s a very good-looking movie.
Robert Taylor in Ambush (1949)
Taylor is tops as the rugged Kinsman, and John McIntire also deserves particular notice as a grizzled scout. McIntire was a real chameleon; it’s almost hard to believe the bearded, tough scout seen here is played by the same actor who was the quiet, elderly detective with vision problems in the previous year’s Scene of the Crime (1949).
I like Hodiak a great deal although his character here is admittedly mostly an annoying foil for Robert Taylor. Don Taylor and Jean Hagen add interest in a rather unusual subplot about an officer in love with a married, abused wife.
John Wayne‘s Batjac Productions produced a few films which didn’t star Wayne. The best — and best-known — of the non-Wayne Batjac films is Seven Men From Now (1956), starring Randolph Scott and directed by Budd Boetticher.
Escort West is another non-Wayne Batjac Production, released via United Artists, starring Victor Mature. Mature’s Romina Productions co-produced the film.
Victor Mature in Escort West (1958)
While Escort West isn’t a classic on the level of Seven Men From Now, it’s one of those “darn good Westerns” I so enjoy. It’s a relatively low-budget film, shot on Southern California locations, but it provides a solidly entertaining, fast-paced 75 minutes.
Mature is very likable as Ben Lassiter, a widowed Confederate veteran headed to Oregon Territory with his young daughter Abbey (Reba Waters) in 1865.
In Nevada, Ben rescues sisters Beth (Elaine Stewart) and Martha (Faith Domergue), along with an elderly black man, Nelson (Rex Ingram), who are all survivors of a wagon train ambush.
The film utilizes the classic Western theme of travelers banding together against dangerous outside forces, in this case, both Indians and renegade soldiers.
Victor Mature, Faith Domergue, Elaine Stewart, and Reba Waters in Escort West (1958)
Actor Leo Gordon, who plays a Cavalry trooper who is one of the villains, co-wrote the script with Fred Hartsook. I don’t consider the fact that their storyline is familiar to be negative; to the contrary, that’s what makes this film “Western movie comfort food.”
The film has a marvelous cast of familiar faces, with Ken Curtis of TV’s Gunsmoke joining Gordon as a villain; Harry Carey Jr. and Noah Beery Jr. are Cavalry soldiers on the side of the good guys.
Domergue, who was memorable as the villainess in the Audie Murphy Western The Duel at Silver Creek (1952), plays an emotionally disturbed woman, which seems to have been something of a specialty for the actress; she was especially memorable in 1951’s Where Danger Lives with Robert Mitchum.
Stewart, who would appear in Murphy and James Stewart‘s Night Passage (1957) a few years later, is appealing as the calmer, more dependable sister – though viewers should be forewarned she has noticeably odd, inconsistent eyebrow makeup. (What were they thinking?)
Victor Mature and Rex Ingram in Escort West (1958)
Rex Ingram is excellent in his scenes, lending the film considerable gravitas, and Waters is good as Mature’s brave young daughter. The supporting cast is rounded out by Slim Pickens, Roy Barcroft, William Ching, and John Hubbard.
Although the locations are familiar from dozens of low-budget Westerns, the movie is helped by the fact that numerous scenes were filmed outdoors; the movie also does a better than average job mixing in soundstage “exteriors.” The black and white CinemaScope cinematography was by William H. Clothier, who filmed Seven Men From Now and many other fine films, including Dragoon Wells Massacre (1957), which I recommended in my last column on Hidden Gems.
In short, Escort
West is an ordinary Western elevated by top filmmaking talent,
providing viewers with a very enjoyable experience.
Escort West is available on DVD from MGM.
For previous “Hidden Gems” recommendations, please visit Volume 1, posted here in January 2020, and Volume 2 from November 2020.
…
— Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub
Laura can be found at her blog, Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings, where she’s been writing about movies since 2005, and on Twitter at @LaurasMiscMovie. A lifelong film fan, Laura loves the classics including Disney, Film Noir, Musicals, and Westerns. She regularly covers Southern California classic film festivals. Laura will scribe on all things western at the ‘Western RoundUp’ for CMH.
,
