Classic Movie Hub Blog

Classic Conversations: Talking with the Creators of TCM’s Documentary Series ‘The Power of Film’

Posted on January 29, 2024 by Danny Miller

Have you been watching the amazing new original documentary series on Turner Classic Movies called The Power of Film? This riveting six-part series explores some of the most popular and memorable American films of all time. New episodes will premiere every Thursday night through February 8. As someone who is obsessed with classic movies and TCM, I’m in heaven! The episodes are hosted and curated by renowned UCLA professor Howard Suber who organizes the episodes in such a unique way. The series is directed by accomplished documentarian Laura Gabbert, written by filmmaker Doug Pray and Howard Suber, and executive produced by Gabbert and Pray. I so enjoyed chatting with Howard, Laura, and Doug about this excellent series.

Danny Miller: I’m so thrilled that this series exists and that it’s on TCM, the lifeblood for all of us classic movie fanatics.

Laura Gabbert: They’ve been absolute heaven to work with.

Doug Pray: Yeah, they’ve really been great, and so supportive.

I love the organization of this series, centered around the human experience instead of following the chronology in the history of film. Is this the way you taught your courses at UCLA, Howard?

Howard Suber: Yes. I’ve been doing it like this for 50 years!

I wish I had been in your classes. Laura and Doug, I understand both of you were students of Howard’s at some point?

Doug: Yes, and we were actually TAs for Howard at different times. He was and continues to be our mentor so working on this series was kind of like returning home. He definitely had one of the most popular classes at UCLA grad school.

Laura: People would whisper to us, “Don’t even consider leaving school without taking that class!” It was just a different way to think about film.

The use of clips in this series is just masterful. I’d like the three of you to do all the montages from now on that appear on the Academy Awards, please!

(Laughs). Doug, how many clips do you think there are in the show?

Doug: Oh, there are clips from several hundred films, I think, all chosen very carefully by Howard.

What a labor of love! But so effective.

All of the ideas came from Howard. I think the biggest challenge was just trying to navigate 50 years of teaching and breaking it down to six different episodes. If you took all of his lectures, they could probably fill a large barn. So, the hardest process began when Howard started boiling down his themes and principles. It took a long time to say, okay, these are the six days, these are the major themes we’re going to include. There are a lot of great things we learned from Howard that we couldn’t include.

Season Two is writing itself! There were so many concepts I’d never thought of, even in the first two episodes, like the distinctions between fate and destiny and a new way of thinking about movie heroes. Howard, did you feel pressure to include certain movie because they’re universally regarded as “Important Films”?

Howard: I know there are certain films that people expect to see. If I could have, I would have gone all the way to the present and talked about movies like Oppenheimer which I think will probably win big at this year’s Academy Awards. That would have allowed me to go back to the Greeks and look at what so many of these Big Stories have in common: they follow a pattern of a single character around whom all the action revolves.

I love your discussions in the series about films that are long-lasting versus the flashes in the pan. There were so many emotional “trigger points” for me, I think I burst into tears four different times in the second episode alone. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing, if I see even five seconds of that final scene in The Miracle Worker, I am bawling like a baby. The same thing with the scene when they empty the money on the table in It’s a Wonderful Life. Instant emotion, talk about the “power of film!”

Laura: So true. One of the things we loved doing in this series (and being in Howard’s classes!) was looking at patterns. You might have a horror movie next to a comedy next to a romance next to an action film next to a buddy film. And Howard looks for those patterns that go across all of them. It’s so interesting to us when he compares the endings of very different movies. Nobody would think of those two films together but as soon as you get into Howard’s way of thinking about film, you think, “Oh my God, that makes so much sense!”

Doug: And then you can go even further and look at the endings of so many memorable stories, even before film, in books, plays, Shakespeare. It’s that kind of universality that we were after, and I think that’s what we’re most proud of in this series, that it gets you thinking about the power of storytelling in general which applies to everything. Laura and I make documentaries, and it definitely applies to that as well, really every genre and every form of storytelling.

Were there certain types of films you felt it important to expose people to, maybe for the first time?

Howard: Oh sure, many. I’m glad we were able to include Chaplin’s The Gold Rush. For the last 30 years or so I’ve taught only graduate students who are usually quite knowledgeable about film history. But still, many of them have never seen Chaplin.

Oy.

I remember one of the first classes I ever did over 50 years ago was a seminar entirely devoted to Citizen Kane. But students today? Most are simply not interested. That film has moved down to #48 on the IMDB list of greatest films. Sometimes I think that the arts are like the stock market. Some go up, some go down, and once they’re down, they don’t usually go back up. But, to be honest, I’m not one of those professors who tells students, “You really have to see Citizen Kane,” or any other film. The history of art is like everything else in society. People move on, new stuff comes along. And there are only so many hours in a person’s day, let alone for their education. So, by today’s standards, a lot of people think Citizen Kane is boring.

Ugh, this is why I’d be a horrible college professor. I’d be screaming at them, “You’re wrong! Watch that movie, idiots!”

(Laughs.) Well, if somebody tells me they think something is boring, it’s not worth it to argue with them. I’m just going to move on to something they might enjoy and think is good. If you argue with them, it’s a lost cause!

Yeah, even in the classic film community, nothing gets people going more than the idea of someone saying “THIS is the greatest film ever made!” I’m always like, “Um…no, it’s not.”

Laura: One of the things that Howard used to do in his classes was look for something that was coming out that week or month and we’d really analyze that film and whether it was something that we thought was worth our time and would stand the test of time.

Doug: Right. So, for example, when I was in grad school with Howard, we watched Schindler’s List. Then we looked at the original text and then also back at the movie. I think that kind of approach keeps young people energized. We were definitely learning about older, classic movies, but one of the best things about the class is that we were looking at everything.

One of the things I love most about TCM’s annual Classic Film Festival in Hollywood is seeing people of all ages and background there, just loving these movies. Is one of your hopes with this series that people will see these clips and then want to watch many of these films in their entirety?

Laura. Absolutely. We hope it’ll pique their interest in these films. There are many young people who have never seen The Godfather, for example.

Doug: Yes, that is definitely one of our goals. I think this series goes a long way in reframing a lot of these old movies for younger people. We hope some will think, “Oh, maybe I do need to check that out” after they see a film talked about in the same context as one that they love.

I hope this series becomes a gateway drug for a lot of people. I remember one of my gateways into classic film was the annual showing of The Wizard of Oz on TV back in my childhood. They used to have different hosts for it. It really made a big impression on me. We waited all year for it, like a holiday.

Oh, yeah. Episode 6 ends with The Wizard of Oz. It brings together all of the themes that Howard explores in the series.

Before we go, if I dare to ask the dreaded “favorite film” question, which I personally loathe because my list changes by the hour, are there any titles you’d immediately mention?

Blade Runner.

Howard: I usually say I have two: The Godfather and Singin’ in the Rain.

Nice.

Laura: Singin’ in the Rain is probably in my top two as well. I’d also have to mention The Graduate.

Howard: I love that film, too. I did an analysis of that movie for Criterion when laserdiscs first started.

Howard, did I detect a rare moment of personal bias when you mentioned the main character of that film in one of the episodes?

Ha, yes you did. I had to watch that film so many times to do the voiceover for Criterion. And one day it just occurred to me: Benjamin Braddock is a real jerk! (Laughs.) I mean, what redeeming qualities does he have? Is is smart? Is he funny? Not intentionally!

Laura: But the film works anyway, right?

Howard: Oh, definitely.

I love that you included that ending with Benjamin and Elaine on the bus. You could do a whole episode on that scene alone, and how everyone interprets it differently. I once heard Mike Nichols say that it only happened because he decided to keep the camera running and Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross didn’t really know what to do. But the moment has inspired many deep interpretations and fights between couples.

There it is…the power of film!

Watch The Power of Film on Thursday nights on Turner Classic Movies.

…..

–Danny Miller for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Danny’s Classic Conversation Articles Here

Danny Miller is a freelance writer, book editor, and co-author of About Face: The Life and Times of Dottie Ponedel, Make-up Artist to the Stars. You can read more of Danny’s articles at Cinephiled, or you can follow him on Twitter at @dannymmiller.

Posted in Classic Conversations, Posts by Danny Miller, TCM, Turner Classic Movies | Tagged Doug Pray, Howard Suber, Laura Gabbert, TCM, The Power of Film | 1 Comment

Western RoundUp: Lone Pine Locations 2024

Posted on January 28, 2024 by Laura Grieve

Lone Pine Locations

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been a full year since this column last spent time looking at Western locations outside Lone Pine, California.

As many readers will be aware, hundreds of Westerns were filmed in the Alabama Hills and other areas surrounding the small town of Lone Pine, California, located on Highway 395 a couple hundred miles north of Los Angeles.

I’m typically in Lone Pine a couple times a year, and my visits usually include exploring a few movie locations outside town. Most of the Alabama Hills photos in this article were taken during my visits in the 2022 and 2023.

I begin with the Randolph Scott film The Nevadan (1950), which was directed by Gordon Douglas and costars Dorothy Malone and Forrest Tucker.

Here’s a screenshot of Malone in the film:

And here’s that exact spot today:

Forrest Tucker stood at a mine in the movie which can be seen in this scene:

As can be slightly seen from the screenshot, he’s actually standing in a dip in the ground which is still there today, next to the low rock in the front right of this photo. The “mine” front was built over the rock.

Here are Scott and Tucker in a scene from the film:

Nevadan Scott Tucker — Randolph Scott and Forrest Tucker

And here my husband Doug poses with the same rocks in the background. It’s fun to line up what we’re looking at standing in the hills with screen shots and realize when we’re in the right place!

Next we’ll visit a location from another Randolph Scott film, Ride Lonesome (1959), which was directed by Budd Boetticher. I’ve previously shared the campsite location which opens the film. Here’s a screenshot of the isolated stagecoach station in the distance:

And here’s that location today. Compare the rocks in the background, including the large rounded section.

And from Scott and Boetticher’s 7 Men From Now (1956) we have a fun comparison shot. At the top is Scott confronting Lee Marvin for the climactic gunfight. At the bottom my husband is standing in the same spot. We happened to have a toy rifle which belonged to one of our sons which he used to recreate the shot.

Next we’ll pay a quick visit to Yellow Sky (1948), another film I’ve shared location photos from in the past. Yellow Sky starred Gregory Peck and Richard Widmark, directed by William Wellman. Here’s a screenshot of Anne Baxter aiming a rifle through a triangle in some rocks:

Here’s the triangle today, including a closeup with members of a tour group visible through the hole:

Another favorite Lone Pine Western is Henry Hathaway’s Rawhide (1951), starring Tyrone Power and Susan Hayward.

My husband put together a spiral-bound screenshot notebook of places we wanted to track down. When Power and Hayward are sitting in the station doorway in the last scene of the movie, they were approximately where the notebook is being held, looking toward the rocks in the background of our photo.

And here’s a fun comparison shot with Doug standing approximately where Power stands in another scene in the movie.

The Alabama Hills is an endlessly fascinating spot for Western fans. There are many resources available to help find locations, and the annual October film festival features many tours by experienced guides. I encourage anyone interested to make the trek to Lone Pine!

For additional Western RoundUp columns on Lone Pine locations, including previous location photos from Ride Lonesome, Yellow Sky, and Rawhide, please visit my columns from 2018, 2021, and 2023.

The photographs and screenshots accompanying this article are from the author’s personal collection.

…

– 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.

Posted in Posts by Laura Grieve, Western RoundUp | Tagged 7 Men From Now, alabama hills, Lone Pine, Rawhide, ride lonesome, The Nevadan, Yellow Sky | 4 Comments

Silents are Golden: A Closer Look At: The Big Parade (1925)

Posted on January 23, 2024 by Lea Stans

A Closer Look At: The Big Parade (1925)

Renée Adorée and John Gilbert The Big Parade — Renée Adorée and John Gilbert

In 1928, the great star John Gilbert wrote in an article for Photoplay: “Have any of you ever gone through an experience at school, or at college, or while in love, or while on a farm, or in the mountains, or exploring, or on a boat, or somewhere which has been so filled with happiness and work and harmony and well directed effort that you never hope or dream of such a thing reoccurring? If you have, you will understand just how I feel about The Big Parade. It can never happen again.” One of the biggest box office hits of the entire silent era (some sources claim it was the biggest), the World War I epic The Big Parade had a bit of everything: drama, romance, comedy, action, realism, and most of all, respect for the historical events it was trying to recreate–less than ten years after the fact.

The Big Parade was the passion project of the great director King Vidor. A mere decade earlier he and his wife Florence (who was an actress) had arrived in Hollywood practically penniless, but excited to work in a thriving new industry. Vidor’s experience as a photographer and cameraman eventually led to directing jobs, and after making a name for himself he had become an MGM director.

Mainly specializing in lower-tier romantic dramas and Christian Science-themed films at the time, Vidor was longing to make something truly great. He took the possibilities of the motion picture very seriously, even publishing a manifesto of sorts in 1920 stating:

“I believe in the motion picture that carries a message to humanity.

“I believe in the picture that will help humanity to free itself from the shackles of fear and suffering that have so long bound it in chains.

“I will not knowingly produce a picture that contains anything that I do not believe to be absolutely true to human nature, anything that could injure anyone or anything unclean in thought or action.”

King Vidor and wife Florence — King Vidor and his second wife, Eleanor Boardman.

While discussing ideas with MGM producer Irving Thalberg, Vidor suggested making a war film. He wanted it to be from the viewpoint of common soldiers, feeling too many earlier war films had revolved around “officers in their shiny boots and tailored uniforms”. Thalberg recommended he work with writer Laurence Stallings, one of the authors of the Broadway play What Price Glory? and a WWI veteran. The result was an intimate story of ordinary people, without the usual villainous Huns and idealized heroes that abounded in propaganda films from the war era itself.

The Big Parade 2 — Left to right: Tom O’Brien, Karl Dane, John Gilbert and Renée Adorée

Thalberg decreed that the lead actor would be matinee idol John Gilbert, who was happy for the chance to stretch his acting skills. Vidor wasn’t enthralled at first, since he’d worked with Gilbert before and frequently clashed with him on set. But any old resentments quickly disappeared once the new picture was underway. Vidor would later marvel at how in tune he and Gilbert became: “Gilbert never read the script of The Big Parade, and there were other actors of the period like that. They had faith and confidence in you…I actually remember moments when I didn’t say a thing. I’d just have a quick thought and Gilbert would react to it.”

French actress Renée Adorée played Melisande, the love interest of Gilbert’s Jim Apperson. The two were already well-matched, having been in three prior films together. Adorée was quick to improvise and offer suggestions on “bits of business,” as the saying went. Gilbert fondly recalled their scene where Jim gives Melisande some chewing gum: “Only a suggestion was offered in the script, and no one really knew what would happen. Cameras started and away we went. Minute after minute; impromptu; inspired; both Renee and me, guided by some unseen power, expressing beauty.”

Vidor was determined to make the film feel authentic, drawing on his own experiences attending a military academy and the Hollywood Officers’ Training Camp. He obsessively watched hours of Signal Corps footage and had two WWI vets act as advisors. Veterans were also recruited to serve as extras–no doubt a rather surreal experience for them. Huge quantities of explosives were used for the battle scenes, giving them a gritty, frightening realism.

The craving for authenticity was balanced by Vidor’s belief that some artistry should be allowed in period pictures. For instance, the slow pace of the harrowing Belleau Wood sequence was inspired by footage of soldiers carrying a flag-draped coffin. Vidor recorded the pacing with a metronome and had a drummer play it on location. Vidor recalled some of the extras “wondered what the hell I was up to. One of them, an Englishman, asked if he was in some bloody ballet.” The result is arguably one of those most memorable sequences in silent cinema.

It’s rivaled by two other iconic battlefield scenes. One shows Jim, shot in the leg during a battle, crawling into a shell hole and finding a mortally wounded German soldier. The soldier asks for a cigarette and Jim obliges. Soon he looks over to see the German has died, and taking the still-lit cigarette, he finishes it himself. In the other scene, Jim is tormented by his orders to stay put in a shell hole while his friend is in danger. He finally rages: “Waiting! Orders! Mud! Stinking stiffs! What the hell do we get out of this war anyway!” Depicting this kind of anger would never have flown during the WWI era itself, but just enough time had passed for it to be allowable–and in retrospect, understandable.

While it didn’t flinch away from portraying the tragedies of the war, The Big Parade did have plenty of heart and touches of light comedy. Veterans who went to screenings got kicks out of the details of life in training and in the camps, which a writer from The Outlook described warmly: “Little touches–even to the cow stable–the haymow and manure pile thereof! It made me ache to see those buddies getting it off their shoes. As for the company mess–well, you could actually smell those beans and that amazing coffee, so useful in getting gravy or grease off your mess kit…”

The passion that went into making The Big Parade was repaid many times over. It would be MGM’s biggest success until Gone With the Wind (1939), and a milestone in 1920s popular culture. Happily, it survives in excellent quality, waiting for anyone curious to see the film that moved John Gilbert to write: “No reward will ever be so great as having been a part of The Big Parade. It was the highpoint of my career. All that has followed is balderdash.”

–

Most of the quotes are from Kevin Brownlow’s amazing book The War, the West, and the Wilderness – highly recommended reading. Additional Gilbert quotes were from the September 1928 article “Jack Gilbert Writes His Own Story” for Photoplay.

…

–Lea Stans for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Lea’s Silents are Golden articles here.

Lea Stans is a born-and-raised Minnesotan with a degree in English and an obsessive interest in the silent film era (which she largely blames on Buster Keaton). In addition to blogging about her passion at her site Silent-ology, she is a columnist for the Silent Film Quarterly and has also written for The Keaton Chronicle.

Posted in Posts by Lea Stans, Silent Films, Silents are Golden | Tagged john gilbert, Renée Adorée, The Big Parade | 5 Comments

Noir Nook: Ripped From the Headlines – While the City Sleeps (1956)

Posted on January 18, 2024 by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry

Ripped From the Headlines – While the City Sleeps (1956)

Most classic movie fans are well acquainted with the Barrymore acting clan, which began with Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew, and continued down the line to Drew Barrymore. Sandwiched somewhere in there was John Drew Barrymore – John Barrymore’s son and Drew’s father – who had a minor career that spanned two decades in both feature films and TV productions. One of his best was While the City Sleeps (1956), where he was featured as a serial murderer known as “The Lipstick Killer.”

While the City Sleeps was based on a 1953 novel called The Bloody Spur, by Charles Einstein, and centered on several journalists at the Kyne News Service who are competing for the job of executive director by trying to be the first to solve a series of killings. The film stars Dana Andrews as television anchor Edward Mobley, George Sanders as wire service manager Mark Loving, Thomas Mitchell as newspaper editor John Day, James Craig as photo service editor Harry Kritzer, and Ida Lupino as reporter Mildred Donner. Like the novel, the film alternates between the cutthroat antics of the journalists and the gruesome killings that have the city gripped in a vise of fear and paranoia.

Ripped From the Headlines, While the City Sleeps poster — While the City Sleeps was directed by Fritz Lang, who had previously helmed such noirs as *Woman in the Window* (1944), *Scarlet Street* (1945), and *The Big Heat* (1953).

Einstein was inspired by a case involving three murders in Chicago during the mid-1940s. In 1945, two women – Josephine Ross and Frances Brown — were found brutally killed in their homes; on the wall of Brown’s apartment, police found written in lipstick, “For heavens’ sake catch me before I kill more. I cannot control myself.” A few weeks after the second murder, a six-year-old girl, Suzanne Degnan, was taken from her home on the city’s North Side; her dismembered body was found several days after her disappearance. The city’s newspapers dubbed the perpetrator as “The Lipstick Killer.”

After pursuing the killer for six months, police arrested 17-year-old William Heirens, who was found at the scene of a burglary in the neighborhood where the little girl lived. It turned out that Heirens had been breaking into houses for several years, as a “hobby” that he indulged in to relieve the tension caused by his parents’ frequent arguments. The stolen items he collected ranged from guns to handkerchiefs. After attending two youth detention centers, he was found to be an superb student; he skipped his senior year of high school and enrolled as an engineering major at the University of Chicago. He was a student there at the time of his arrest.

Ripped From the Headlines, Dana Andrews, Thomas Mitchell and Vincent Price, While the City Sleeps — Dana Andrews, Thomas Mitchell and Vincent Price

Heirens was charged with murder after police determined that his fingerprints had been found on a ransom note at the Degnan home and local newspapers reported that Heirens had confessed to the crime. He was then charged with the Ross and Brown killings; prosecutors claimed to have incriminating evidence against him for the crimes. In exchange for a guilty plea, Heirens was offered three consecutive life sentences, and his attorneys advised him to accept the deal. He did, only to recant a short time later, saying he’d only entered the guilty plea to avoid a death sentence.

For the rest of his life, Heirens maintained his innocence, claiming that he’d signed a 19-page confession only after he was sedated by police. He spent 65 years in prison – one of the longest prison terms served in U.S. history – dying of complications from diabetes in 2012. During his imprisonment, he became the first prisoner in Illinois to earn a four-year college degree and established several prison education programs. Over the years, Heirens sought his release approximately 30 times; at one hearing, his attorneys charged that the case had more “prosecutorial misconduct, incompetent defense counsel, unprecedented prejudicial pretrial publicity, junk science, probably false confessions and mistaken eyewitness identification than any other case we have studied.” There were even rumors that the lipstick message had been written by a reporter after the killing in order to sell more newspapers.

Ripped From the Headlines, Ida Lupino, Fritz Lang and Dana Andrews, While the City Sleeps — Ida Lupino, director Fritz Lang and Dana Andrews

Directed by Fritz Lang – who had previously helmed such noirs as Woman in the Window (1944), Scarlet Street (1945), and The Big Heat (1953) – While the City Sleeps is as much concerned with the unethical world of yellow journalism and the competition among the journalists as it is with the actual crime; in one scene, the head of the media enterprise tells his staff, “I want every woman to be scared silly every time she puts any lipstick on. Call this baby ‘The Lipstick Killer’, smack across the front page!” And the tagline on one of the film’s posters announces that the journalists would “sell out their own mothers” in their attempt to catch the killer. The film was the second-to-last feature that Lang directed in America; within two years, he would return to his home country of Germany and direct four more films there before ending his career in 1960.

If you’re a Fritz Lang fan, a true crime enthusiast, or a lover of interesting noirs – or you’re simply curious to see John Drew Barrymore on screen – you’ll want to check out While the City Sleeps.

You only owe it to yourself.

…

– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Karen’s Noir Nook articles here.

Karen Burroughs Hannsberry is the author of the Shadows and Satin blog, which focuses on movies and performers from the film noir and pre-Code eras, and the editor-in-chief of The Dark Pages, a bimonthly newsletter devoted to all things film noir. Karen is also the author of two books on film noir – Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film and Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. You can follow Karen on Twitter at @TheDarkPages.
If you’re interested in learning more about Karen’s books, you can read more about them on amazon here:

Posted in Films, Noir Nook, Posts by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry | Tagged dana andrews, drew barrymore, Fritz Lang, george sanders, ida lupino, james craig, john drew barrymore, the blood spur by charles einstein, thomas mitchell, while the city sleeps | 2 Comments

Silver Screen Standards: Storms and Silence in The Spiral Staircase (1946)

Posted on January 11, 2024 by Jennifer Garlen

Silver Screen Standards: Storms and Silence in The Spiral Staircase (1946)

Gothic atmosphere churns tempestuously in Robert Siodmak’s 1946 mystery, The Spiral Staircase, with a terrific storm in the natural world that mirrors the psychological turbulence experienced by both heroine and killer. This moody, tense thriller teems with menace as an elusive murderer stalks women with disabilities, but its protagonist, played to great effect by Dorothy McGuire, is no mere victim, despite her inability to speak. Ethel Barrymore gives a particularly rich performance as the ailing matriarch of the fractious Warren family, but the supporting cast is full of iconic players, including George Brent, Kent Smith, Rhonda Fleming, Elsa Lanchester, and Sara Allgood. A true classic, The Spiral Staircase rewards repeat visits once its central mystery has been revealed, leaving the viewer free to appreciate the themes and performances that elevate the whole beyond the old dark house genre with which it shares many of its foundational elements.

The Spiral Staircase, George Brent and Dorothy McGuire — Professor Warren (George Brent) warns Helen (Dorothy McGuire) to be careful as the number of murdered women increases.

McGuire stars as the silent but capable Helen, a young woman left unable to speak after an earlier traumatic event. Helen works as a companion to the elderly, temperamental Mrs. Warren (Ethel Barrymore), who begins to fear for Helen’s safety as disabled young women in the town turn up murdered one after another. Mrs. Warren’s affection for Helen is countered by her disappointment in the younger Warrens, both her stepson, Professor Albert Warren (George Brent), and her feckless biological son, Steve (Gordon Oliver), who has returned to the house after a long absence. While Helen attends to Mrs. Warren, the half-brothers clash constantly, especially over Steve’s romantic pursuit of Albert’s secretary, Blanche (Rhonda Fleming). Helen’s suitor, Dr. Parry (Kent Smith), wants to get her away from the Warren house in the belief that specialists in Boston might be able to restore her speech, but his patients and the weather conspire to delay Helen’s departure until a violent storm traps her in the house where a killer lies in wait.

The Spiral Staircase Ethel Barrymore — Mrs. Warren might be elderly and infirm, but with Ethel Barrymore in the role she’s a powerful presence.

The storm makes plenty of noise throughout the movie, but silence also has power, as McGuire’s emotive performance proves. In many ways it’s a throwback to the silent era, with Helen communicating through gestures and body language instead of speech. We first see her attending a silent film screening, which helps to set the era of the story but also prepares us for McGuire’s performance. In every scene, McGuire keeps us focused on her heroine without a single line of dialogue, no mean feat in a movie where everyone else talks. Helen constantly reveals her lively nature, intelligence, and sense of humor, and she’s never a passive victim or less than a fully fledged individual. She handles Mrs. Warren with grace and patience, daydreams about marrying Dr. Parry, and fights for her life when the killer strikes. Of course, Helen’s forced silence is a crucial plot point because it prevents her from calling out for help or using the telephone, and it’s her difference that attracts the deranged killer in the first place. Dr. Parry’s obsession with curing her seems overbearing and even cruel at times, his excuse being that her silence is purely psychological and not physical, but modern perspectives on disability and ableism push back against the idea that Helen needs Dr. Parry to “fix” her. That critique also exists within the movie, as Steve Warren actually questions the doctor’s actions, while the insane killer views women like Helen as deserving of death merely because of their disabilities.

The Spiral Staircase, Elsa Lanchester and George Brent, Candle — Housekeeper Mrs. Oates (Elsa Lanchester) accompanies Professor Warren to the wine cellars in one of many scenes featuring women holding candles.

In addition to Helen’s psychological trauma, the movie also probes the causes and effects of the emotional trauma experienced by the two Warren sons, both of whom were disappointments to their hypermasculine father. Helen’s childhood suffering when her family died in a fire was acute and sudden, but Albert and Steve have endured years of emotional neglect and abuse, and both are damaged by it. Although the late Mr. Warren despised his sons for their perceived “weakness,” Mrs. Warren perpetuates the abuse in her treatment of the two men, proving that mothers can be dangerous advocates for toxic masculinity, too. Throughout the house there are symbols of this deadly heritage in the form of hunting trophies, especially tigers, all of them emphasizing a “kill or be killed” attitude toward strength and power. The troubled history of the Warren family casts a Gothic gloom over the house akin to that of the House of Usher or Wuthering Heights, and it gives Mrs. Warren’s warnings to Helen a palpable sense of urgency. Nothing good can happen in this house full of secrets, shadows, and festering wounds, and the building violence eventually breaks open like the storm raging overhead. The titular spiral staircase, a central feature of the Warren house, suggests the twisted hearts that lie at the center of the story, and we repeatedly see women carrying candles as they descend into the psychological underworld embodied by the mansion’s dark cellars. What – and who – they find at the bottom reveals the extent to which the elder Warrens’ sins have come home to roost. This densely packed symbolism really merits repeated viewings of the picture so that every detail and subtle motif can be fully appreciated.

The Spiral Staircase, Dorothy McGuire, Stairs — Shadows loom as Helen descends the titular spiral staircase in the Warren family’s mansion.

Don’t try to figure out the killer’s identity based on the eye repeatedly seen in closeup; that voyeuristic orb belongs to director Robert Siodmak himself. You can see more of Siodmak’s work, if not his eye, in Phantom Lady (1944), The Suspect (1944), The Killers (1946), and Criss Cross (1949). Dorothy McGuire also stars in The Enchanted Cottage (1945), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), and Gentlemen’s Agreement (1947). Stage legend Ethel Barrymore earned her second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Spiral Staircase, having already won the award for None but the Lonely Heart (1944). She would be nominated again for The Paradine Case (1947) and Pinky (1949), but I also really like her in the lesser-known Moss Rose (1947). For a thematic double feature, try pairing The Spiral Staircase with Johnny Belinda (1948), Wait Until Dark (1967), or even the 2018 Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water (2017).

…

— Jennifer Garlen for Classic Movie Hub

Jennifer Garlen pens our monthly Silver Screen Standards column. You can read all of Jennifer’s Silver Screen Standards articles here.

Jennifer is a former college professor with a PhD in English Literature and a lifelong obsession with film. She writes about classic movies at her blog, Virtual Virago, and presents classic film programs for lifetime learning groups and retirement communities. She’s the author of Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching and its sequel, Beyond Casablanca II: 101 Classic Movies Worth Watching, and she is also the co-editor of two books about the works of Jim Henson.

Posted in Films, Posts by Jennifer Garlen, Silver Screen Standards, Uncategorized | Tagged Dorothy McGuire, elsa lanchester, ethel barrymore, kent smith, Rhonda Fleming, Robert Siodmak, sara allgood, the spiral staircase | 1 Comment

Western RoundUp: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

Posted on December 31, 2023 by Laura Grieve

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

This month it’s back to Tombstone with a look at Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a first-time watch for me, part of my ongoing series of reviews of Wyatt Earp films. Five years ago I covered a trio of Earp movies, Frontier Marshal (1939), Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die (1942), and Wichita (1955).

I also wrote a 2021 review of Hour of the Gun (1967), starring James Garner as Earp, and in the spring of 2023 I covered Tombstone (1993), with Kurt Russell in the lead.

In Gunfight at the O.K. Corral the upright Wyatt Earp is played by Burt Lancaster, with Kirk Douglas as a sneering, almost feral Doc Holliday.

Gunfight at the OK Corral, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, John Hudson, DeForest Kelley — Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, John Hudson and DeForest Kelley

Wyatt’s brothers appear in this version of the story only briefly, played by John Hudson (Virgil), DeForest Kelley (Morgan), and Martin Milner (James), while Lyle Bettger plays villainous Ike Clanton.

I’ll note at the top that, as with my previous Earp film reviews, I assume that readers are familiar with the general outlines of the story of the Earps and the Clantons. I will necessarily indulge in some spoilers as I critique and compare this film with others.

Those wishing to approach the movie spoiler-free will want to watch it first and then return to this review. I’ll add here that I watched an attractive Blu-ray released by Paramount Pictures in 2017, and I recommend the print.

In this version of the famous story we initially follow Wyatt Earp as he upholds the law in towns like Fort Griffin, Texas, and Dodge City, Kansas. Earp runs into Holliday in each place he travels, and in some cases Holliday travels along with him. Holliday owes Wyatt a debt of honor, though he also claims not to like him very much.

While in Dodge City Wyatt falls in love with gambler Laura Denbow (Rhonda Fleming), but although they plan a future together, she leaves him when he tells her he’s been urgently summoned to help his brother Virgil (Hudson) in Tombstone. She insists that he hang up his guns and is unwilling countenance to Wyatt having “just one more job,” even if it’s to aid his brother.

Wyatt, of course, feels it’s a matter of family honor that he must answer his brother’s call for help. The film then comes to a climax in Tombstone, where Wyatt, Virgil, Morgan, and Doc go up against the Clantons to avenge the death of young James Earp and stop the Clantons’ reign of terror.

I would class Gunfight at the O.K. Corral as a “mid-range” Earp film. It was a pleasant enough watch, but while it wasn’t boring, I also didn’t find it particularly compelling. Indeed, while it’s watchable, I found it surprisingly colorless.

My husband opined that the movie’s parts are better than the whole, and I found that apt. Despite being made by top filmmakers, including an excellent extended supporting cast, this version of the story is relatively bland, which I attribute in part to a meandering script by novelist Leon Uris.

The movie struck me as misusing its 122 minutes, moseying along on the way to the O.K. Corral, with time spent on scenes without substantial story and character value.

A good example of this is Earp’s confrontation with Sheriff Cotton Wilson (Frank Faylen) over Wilson not arresting the Clantons, which does little to propel the actual story forward. Wilson later reappears as a Clanton henchman and is generally a thorn in Earp’s side, but the character could be completely excised and the movie wouldn’t miss a beat, especially as many other scenes depict the frustrations and sacrifices of being a lawman.

Similarly, lovely Rhonda Fleming appears in a few scenes as Wyatt’s love interest. The fictional Denbow seems to be a stand-in for Wyatt’s wife, Josephine Marcus, who was played by Dana Delaney in the later Tombstone.

The Wyatt-Laura romance is fairly routine — it’s incredibly obvious Wyatt will kiss her when he takes her for a buggy ride — and curiously much of it takes place offscreen. We fade from a Wyatt-Laura kiss to Wyatt telling Doc they’re getting married. Fleming’s great beauty and spirit enliven the film, but the filmmakers should have either explored the relationship in greater detail or cut it. Fleming simply disappears from the film, with a hopeful throwaway line about her tossed out by Wyatt at the end.

Lancaster is fine as Earp, though he perhaps underplays too much — or is it that the role is underwritten? Perhaps both.

Douglas, on the other hand, is the most unlikeable Doc Holliday I’ve ever seen, which was certainly an interesting choice from both Douglas and the screenwriter.

Douglas’s Holliday is a nasty man, downright abusive to his mistress, Kate Fisher (a boring, whiny Jo Van Fleet). Actors in other Earp films have offered wildly contrasting takes on Doc which make clear some of his varied issues while still keeping him relatively likeable and interesting to watch. Douglas is neither.

That said, I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve never been much of a Douglas fan, so his performance may be more appreciated by others.

Dennis Hopper shines as young Billy Clanton, who promises his mother (Olive Carey) to reform but ultimately feels that it’s a matter of honor to accompany Ike to the O.K. Corral. It’s a small part, but Hopper is considerably more “alive” and nuanced than most of the movie’s cast, and I really appreciated his short but memorable performance.

I also enjoyed John Ireland, who pops up periodically as hotheaded Johnny Ringo. There’s not much depth to his character, yet I always find Ireland fun to watch. On the other hand, Kenneth Tobey was sadly completely underused as Bat Masterson.

The deep cast includes many other great faces, including Lee Van Cleef, Jack Elam, Earl Holliman, Whit Bissell, Don Castle, and Ted de Corsia. I really enjoyed seeing each of them pop up in turn, even though they weren’t all used to full effect.

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was directed by John Sturges, who directed some other Westerns I really like, including Escape From Fort Bravo (1953), Saddle the Wind (1958), The Law and Jake Wade (1958), and, most famously, The Magnificent Seven (1960).

Uris based his script on an article by George Scullin. The movie was filmed by Charles Lang in VistaVision, with Old Tucson standing in for Tombstone.

Other top talents worked on the film, including costumer Edith Head and composer Dimitri Tiomkin. The title song, by Tiomkin and Ned Washington, was sung by Frankie Laine.

In the end, I’d class Gunfight at the O.K. Corral as a “serviceable” entry in the Earp movie canon. There are several stronger versions of this classic Western tale but despite its flaws, it’s reasonably entertaining and worth seeing by Western enthusiasts.

…

– Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub

Posted in Films, Posts by Laura Grieve, Western RoundUp | Tagged burt lancaster, deforest kelley, Gunfight at the OK Corral, john hudson, John Sturges, Kirk Douglas | 6 Comments

Silents are Golden: Jessica Borthwick, A Forgotten Front Lines Filmmaker

Posted on December 21, 2023 by Lea Stans

Jessica Borthwick, A Forgotten Front Lines Filmmaker

We’re all familiar with the adventurous silent era cameramen who coolly took their equipment into dangerous situations, whether by trekking Arctic tundras or crossing broiling deserts. The excitement of capturing actual life led many to take greater and greater risks to find the most fascinating footage. Soon the most intrepid filmmakers were even tramping the front lines of war. One of the most surprising personalities who risked life and limb to capture battlefield footage was Jessica Borthwick, who decided to film the Second Balkan War at the young age of twenty-two–after only three days of learning to use a motion picture camera.

Likely the first woman to ever capture war footage, Borthwick’s family connections made the venture possible. Her father was General George Colville Borthwick, a high-ranking officer in the Turkish army in Eastern Rumelia, now part of southern Bulgaria. Thanks to him she was allowed to spend a year traveling with the Bulgarian army, armed with both a revolver and a remarkable self-reliance.

The Second Balkan War had broken out in the summer of 1913 when tensions between the Bulgarians, Serbs and Greeks came to a head. Considering her lack of experience with both location filming and filming in general, we might wonder why Bothwick decided to turn war photographer. She later explained it was partly due to “curiosity pure and simple,” and partly due to her deep interest in the welfare of the Balkans, considering how well known her father was in the area. In fact, she would discover that everywhere she traveled in Bulgaria she would be admired as “General Borthwick’s daughter”–a big help during several tough situations.

Her only equipment during the adventure was one small plate camera for taking still photos and one motion picture camera designed for her by Arthur Newman. Newman and his business partner James A. Sinclair were known for their lightweight, reliable cameras, one of which was the Aeroscope favored by many explorers. Although lacking an assistant, a proper dark room, an instruction manual, or even decent tools to fix the camera when it inevitably needed repairs, Borthwick managed to keep it cranking for the full twelve months.

Described as a slender, youthful-looking gal whose voice was “deep and like a resonant organ note,” Borthwick was apparently gifted with nerves of steel. She described the difficulty of trying to set up her tripod at the various scenes of action, where the action was usually over by the time she started cranking. While in Macedonia her tripod was smashed by a shell–luckily both the camera and Borthwick survived intact. While on the battlefields, she would sometimes salvage working cameras from the dead bodies of officers, “but most of these I lost again.”

Bulgarian soldiers at the time of the war.

She would also recall witnessing a bad breakout of cholera in Adrianople, Turkey, where the carts used to haul away cholera victims and the coffins used to bury them were all painted black. This lead to a grim experience when a number of citizens noticed Borthwick’s black box camera and assumed it was some unusual new technology for fighting cholera: “Quickly surrounding me, they came and knelt upon the ground, kissing my feet and clothing, and begging with dreadful pathos that I should cure them. It was a task as sad as it was difficult to explain that their hopes were mistaken, and that I was impotent to help them.”

Adrianople was also the scene of a more darkly amusing event. After losing one of the screws from her tripod, Borthwick attempted to explain to a Turkish officer that she needed a new one. Seeming to understand her gestures, he hailed a taxi and they drove together across the city to…a nearby prison. “However,” Borthwick recalled, “I turned the misconception to advantage by securing some excellent snapshots and having some very interesting talks with the prisoners. One convict–a German of considerable education–invited me to go and see him hanged the next morning, and gave me a souvenir.”

Another story not only dealt with a language barrier, but the awkwardness of dealing with camera issues at the time when many rural areas had never seen one in use. While in a small village in the Rhodope mountains of southern Bulgaria, Borthwick’s camera broke and she needed to scramble to create a makeshift dark room so she could open it up without ruining the film. Coming upon a man making rugs out of sheeps’ wool, she managed to convince him to cover her with the rugs and in that “unusual and very stuffy ‘dark room’” was able to save the film–no doubt to the man’s utter confusion.

Rare shot of Borthwick on horseback among locals in the Rhodope mountains.

Following her year abroad, Borthwick returned to her home in England with her stockpile of footage, although some of it was unfortunately ruined by Bulgarian customs authorities. She gave an illustrated lecture series on the Balkan War in London, although it was less successful than she hoped and she was sued by her projectionist for a lack of wages. Undaunted, she then headed to Spitsbergen, Norway where she farmed reindeer and hunted seals, hoping one day to start a colony “for the cure of consumption and other diseases.”

World War I interrupted these dreams, and she would volunteer the use of her steam yacht the Grace Darling to deliver Red Cross supplies and help refugees escape out of Ostend, Belgium. She then worked as an ambulance driver in Belgium, eventually being recognized as an honorary corporal for her efforts. During the last half of the war, she saw a gap in the toy market thanks to the lack of German imports and started a doll manufacturing business.

Borthwick on the Grace Darling — Borthwick on the *Grace Darling. *

Borthwick would spend her later years living with her mother among the “artsy” set in South Kensington, known for her sculpting and fondness for pipe smoking. She would arrange concerts of Russian traditional music and went through a period of promoting herself as a psychologist. Unfortunately, none of the Balkan War footage she risked so much to obtain survives today. She would pass away in 1946 of accidental gas poisoning, a tragic end to a most unusual and adventurous life.

–

Quotes source: “A Girl Cinematographer at the Balkan War: An Interview With Miss Jessica Borthwick.” The Bioscope, May 7, 1914, pages 625 and 627.

…

–Lea Stans for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Lea’s Silents are Golden articles here.

Posted in Posts by Lea Stans, Silents are Golden | Tagged jessica borthwick | 1 Comment

Noir Nook: No Femme Fatale Required

Posted on December 19, 2023 by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry

Noir Nook: No Femme Fatale Required

Film noir movies have numerous characteristics in common – voiceover narration, flashbacks, use of shadows and light, unusual camera angles, anti-heroes, and, of course, the ever-popular femmes fatales.

All noirs, of course, don’t have all of these traits – not even, contrary to popular belief, the femme fatale. In this month’s Noir Nook, I’m here to set the record straight by stating unequivocally that a film doesn’t have to have a femme fatale in order to be a noir – and I’m looking at five films that prove my point.

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

This feature stars Sam Jaffe as Doc Reidenschneider, a recently released ex-convict who corrals a group of men to carry out an intricately designed jewel heist – only to see the scheme collapse like an ill-prepared souffle. The others involved in the plan include Dix Handley (Sterling Hayden), described as a “hooligan” and the muscles of the group; safecracking expert Louis Ciavelli (Anthony Caruso); Gus Minissi (James Whitmore), expert driver of the getaway car; and Alonzo Emmerich (Louis Calhern), the attorney charged with fencing the stolen jewels.

On the distaff side, there are several femmes in the film – but none are fatal. Doll Conovan (marvelously played by Jean Hagen) is Dix’s wish-she-was girlfriend. She accepts his off-handed treatment, but she’s unflaggingly loyal – it’s Doll who cares for Dix when he gets shot and risks her own safety to help him realize his dream of returning to his cherished home in Kentucky. Then there’s Angela Phinlay (Marilyn Monroe), the light-hearted girl-toy of Alonzo Emmerich (whose invalid wife serves as the film’s third female). Angela is harmless – she just wants to go to Cuba with her “Uncle Lon” and show off her new bathing suit.

…..

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock (and, by all accounts, his favorite film), this feature centers on Charlotte “Charlie” Newton (Teresa Wright), who is languishing in the small town of Santa Rosa, California, bemoaning the fact that nothing exciting ever happens in her life. She gets more than she bargained for when her beloved Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) comes to visit, and young Charlie becomes increasingly convinced that her relative is a murderer.

Loyal and trusting, but also smart and inquisitive, young Charlie is like a dog with a bone when it comes to ferreting out the truth. She’s fearless and outspoken, but she’s certainly not fatal. Aside from Charlie’s precocious younger sister (played by Edna May Wonacott who, as of this writing, is still with us), the only other female is Charlie’s mother, Emma Newton (Patricia Collinge), and she is nothing but sweet and loving, unable to see anything but good in her wicked brother.

…..

Key Largo (1948)

John Huston helmed this film, starring Humphrey Bogart as Frank McCloud, a WWII veteran who travels to the title town to meet James and Nora Templeton, the father (Lionel Barrymore) and widow (Lauren Bacall), of his deceased war buddy. He arrives at the hotel owned by “Dad” Templeton to discover that it’s been taken over by a trio of hoods led by the ruthless Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson).

During the occupation of the hotel by Johnny’s gang, Nora displays numerous characteristics – she’s caring and thoughtful when it comes to her father-in-law, warm and welcoming to Frank, fearless and feisty with Johnny. But spitting in the face of a gangster does not a femme fatale make. Also in the cast is Johnny’s old flame Gaye Dawn (played by the Oscar-winning Claire Trevor). A former torch singer who’s now a little too fond of the drink, Gaye is a pitiable character, treated with disdain by Johnny at best, and unconcealed contempt at worst.

…..

Phantom Lady (1944)

Ella Raines stars as Carol “Kansas” Richman, loyal (and secretly lovestruck) secretary to engineer Scott Henderson (Alan Curtis), who’s accused, convicted, and sentenced to death for the murder of his wife. Henderson’s alibi is that he spent the evening in the company of a woman he met in a bar, who wore a large, distinctive hat, and whose name he never learned. Problem is, the woman can’t be found and everyone who saw the two together is emphatically denying it. It’s up to Carol to unearth the evidence to save her boss before it’s curtains for Mr. Henderson.

Carol is beautiful, intelligent, and persistent, and she doesn’t let anything stand in her way when it comes to proving her boss’s innocence. But that’s about it. Nothing nefarious here. An argument could be made that the “phantom lady” of the film’s title might be considered as the film’s femme fatale – but I would shoot that argument down like one of those clay targets after you yell, “Pull!” And the third female in the cast, Estela Monteiro (credited only as Aurora), is a singer who starred in the performance attended by Scott on the night of the murder, and who just happened to have a hat identical to the one worn by the mysterious phantom lady. Estela was no femme fatale – she was just petty (“No woman wears hats like mine!” she insists. “What woman besides Monteiro could wear those and not look ridiculous?”).

…..

The Big Combo (1955)

This late noir entry depicts a triangle between Mr. Brown (Richard Conte), a conscienceless mobster; police lieutenant Leonard Diamond (Cornel Wilde), who is determined to bring Mr. Brown to justice; and Susan Lowell (Wilde’s then-wife Jean Wallace), who is loved by both men. Despite her longtime relationship with Mr. Brown, it’s ultimately Susan who helps to topple his empire.

Fragile and suicidal, Susan is tortured by her relationship with Mr. Brown and her growing understanding of just how brutal he can be. And both Mr. Brown and Leonard seem completely incapable of rational thought when it comes to the beautiful blonde. But Susan is far too weak to ever be considered a femme fatale. Another female on the scene is Leonard’s part-time lover (Helene Stanton) who, as a burlesque dancer, certainly looks the part of a deadly dame, but is merely a tragic figure who loves wisely but not too well. And then there’s Mr. Brown’s ex-wife, Alicia (Helen Walker), who knows where the bodies are buried, but is really just another casualty of the cold-blooded mobster. No femmes fatales here.

————-

Don’t forget – there are no absolutes in film noir, even when it comes to fatal femmes. So, if you don’t see one in the area, don’t dismiss a movie from noir consideration.

Femmes fatales aren’t required.

…

– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Karen’s Noir Nook articles here.

Posted in Noir Nook, Posts by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry | Tagged Cornel Wilde, ella raines, humphrey bogart, Key Largo, lauren bacall, louis calhern, marilyn monroe, Phantom Lady, shadow of a doubt, teresa wright, the asphalt jungle, the big combo | 3 Comments

Silver Screen Standards: The House on Telegraph Hill (1951)

Posted on December 12, 2023 by Jennifer Garlen

The House on Telegraph Hill (1951)

Set in its own modern day in the wake of World War II, The House on Telegraph Hill (1951) merges elements of the female Gothic and film noir to present a gripping story about survival, deception, and maternal devotion with a rich subtext for viewers to ponder after the final scene closes. It’s not as celebrated as other noir pictures directed by Robert Wise, like Born to Kill (1947) and The Set-Up (1949), but it reflects his ability to handle psychologically complex women’s narratives just as much as his work on The Curse of the Cat People (1944) and The Haunting (1963). The endangered heroine in the titular house is, however, made of stronger stuff than Hill House’s fragile Eleanor, having already survived the horrors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the war. With its subtle treatment of trauma, its shifting loyalties, and its moral complexity, The House on Telegraph Hill suggests far more than it tells, making it a movie you need to watch at least twice to appreciate its many layers.

Valentina Cortese house on telegraph hill Camp — When we first meet Victoria (Valentina Cortese), she is struggling to survive brutal conditions in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Italian actress Valentina Cortese stars as Polish heroine Victoria Kowelska, who assumes the identity of her dead friend, Karin (Natasha Lytess), in the hope of reaching America and Karin’s young son, Christopher (Gordon Gebert). After many obstacles, Victoria, now living as Karin, meets and marries the boy’s legal guardian, Alan Spender (Richard Basehart), and Victoria moves into the stately San Francisco home that previously belonged to Karin’s wealthy aunt. Nobody remembers the real Karin to reveal Victoria’s deception, but her conscience troubles her deeply, as does her attraction to handsome Marc Bennett (William Lundigan), an American Army Major at Belsen during the camp’s liberation and also a friend of Alan’s family in San Francisco. Victoria soon discovers that everyone on Telegraph Hill has secrets, including her relentlessly attentive husband and the boy’s caretaker, Margaret (Fay Baker), but some secrets are deadlier than others.

Valentina Cortese and Richard Basehart Juice house on telegraph hill — Newlywed Allan (Richard Basehart) introduces his Polish bride to his habit of drinking a glass of orange juice every night before bed.

We often hear the commonplace assertion that war changes people, but The House on Telegraph Hill makes the change literal rather than metamorphic by having Victoria abandon her old identity entirely in order to step into the life Karin might have pursued if she had survived. It isn’t really necessary to the plot for Victoria to be an imposter because Alan’s actions are unrelated to her deception, but the extra layer of identity reminds us of the differences between the original Karin and her replacement. When we see the real Karin in the Nazi camp, she yearns for her son but is hopeless, passive, and unable to fight for survival even for his sake. Victoria, however, fights for both of them, stealing food and medicine for Karin, encouraging her to eat, and protecting her from the other desperate prisoners. As her name suggests, Victoria will never admit defeat, and she is determined enough to reach America despite years of setbacks. While she appears to settle into the pretty clothes and domestic routines of her American post-war life, Victoria never loses her survivor’s instinct for danger, and she doesn’t let Alan’s pleasant manner or Marc’s doubts seduce her into a false sense of safety. Here is a heroine who cannot be gaslit because her sense of self-preservation has been sharpened by years of constant use. Karin was a victim, but Victoria prevails, which ironically makes her a better mother to Christopher, who needs as much fierce maternal protection as he can get.

Valentina Cortese Closeup house on telegraph hill — As she settles into her home on Telegraph Hill, Victoria begins to suspect that her new life as Karin might not be as safe as she’d hoped.

Wartime experience and duality reverberate through other aspects of the story, as well. Victoria briefly reveals her home and life before the war; she had a husband and a beautiful estate before the Nazis took everything. We see her first as a starving, unwashed prisoner and later in beautiful gowns with food always around her. The scene of casual abundance at the grocery store contrasts with the opening when Victoria fights for a meager bowl of broth to feed her friend. Glasses of orange juice – symbolic of sunny California life – seem celebratory at first but later turn sinister. Marc first appears as an American Army officer trying to sort out the human wreckage of Bergen-Belsen; later he re-enters Victoria’s life as a wealthy civilian lawyer. Marc provides an alternative to Alan and is also the object of Alan’s envy because of his family’s greater wealth, and it’s noteworthy that no mention is made of Alan having served in the war as Marc did. When Victoria eventually confesses her deception to Marc, their shared knowledge of the concentration camp makes him sympathetic. He knows what she endured there and why she might gamble on a new life and identity. Victoria doubles for Karin, but so does Margaret, who has raised Karin’s son and protected him for years, and the tense relationship between Victoria and Margaret is much more about Chris than Alan. In a later decade the story of Victoria and Margaret might have ended with more resolution about their ultimately common goal, but the best we get in 1951 is an open ending that suggests some tantalizing possibilities.

William Lundigan house on telegraph hill — Victoria’s domestic situation is further complicated by her attraction to family friend, Marc (William Lundigan), whom she first met during the camp’s liberation.

Richard Basehart and Valentina Cortese must have enjoyed good chemistry offscreen in spite of their characters’ conflict; they married in 1951 and remained together until 1960, and their son, Jackie Basehart, also became an actor. For more of Cortese’s film career, see Thieves’ Highway (1949), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), and Day for Night (1973). Basehart also stars in He Walked by Night (1948), Tension (1949), La Strada (1954), and Moby Dick (1956). Fay Baker, who gets her best scenes at the very end of The House on Telegraph Hill, turns up in Notorious (1946), Double Deal (1950), and Deadline – U.S.A. (1952), but she also made many television appearances and wrote novels under the pen name Beth Holmes.

…

— Jennifer Garlen for Classic Movie Hub

Jennifer Garlen pens our monthly Silver Screen Standards column. You can read all of Jennifer’s Silver Screen Standards articles here.

Posted in Films, Posts by Jennifer Garlen, Silver Screen Standards | Tagged richard basehart, The House on Telegraph Hill, Valentina Cortese, William Lundigan | 2 Comments

Classic Movie Travels: Mary Kornman

Posted on December 5, 2023 by Annette Bochenek

Classic Movie Travels: Mary Kornman

Mary Kornman was born Mary Agnes Evans on December 27, 1915, in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Her parents were David Lionel Evans, a railroad manager, and Verna Comer. Eugene Kornman, cameraman for Hal Roach, married Verna and adopted Mary.

Soon enough, Kornman found herself a leading actress in the Our Gang series, working in over 40 shorts. Kornman’s first appearance in the series was in Young Sherlocks (1922). Kornman’s little sister, Mildred, also worked in the series as a regular but did not have a speaking part.

As Kornman grew and was phased out of Our Gang, she and fellow former Our Gang actors Scooter Lowry and Johnny Downs performed as a vaudeville act. During this period, she also attended Beverly Hills High School.

In 1934, she married cameraman Leo Tover in Yuma, Arizona. She appeared alongside former Our Gang actor Mickey Daniels in the teenaged version of the series entitled The Boy Friends. She and Tover divorced in 1938.

Kornman continued her acting career in several Bing Crosby shorts in addition to films like Flying Down to Rio (1933), The Desert Trail (1935) as a love interest to John Wayne, and Queen of the Jungle (1935) serial. In Flying Down to Rio, she has several brief lines. Among them is, “What have these South Americans got below the equator that we haven’t?”

In 1940, Kornman retired from acting and married horse trainer Ralph McCutcheon. They met when she purchased a horse and was looking for a trainer to teach it some tricks. Their love for animals brought them together and they were married until her passing. McCutcheon’s ranch was named Rancho Maria in honor of Kornman. They enjoyed living on their ranch and Kornman kept in touch with friends from her Hollywood days.

Kornman passed away on June 1, 1973, in Glendale, California, from cancer. She and McCutcheon are buried at Linn Grove Cemetery in Greeley, Colorado.

Today, there are few points of interest pertinent to Kornman’s life. In 1920, she lived with her mother and step-grandfather, Wilbur Fowler, before her mother married Eugene Kornman. The home was located at 5452 Romaine St., Los Angeles, California. This home no longer stands.

In 1930, she lived at 215 S. Hamilton Ave., Beverly Hills, California, with her mother, sister, and lodger Pauline Brown. This home stands today.

hamilton - Mary Kornman she lived at 215 S. Hamilton Ave., Beverly Hills, California, with her mother, sister, and lodger Pauline Brown — 215 S. Hamilton Ave., Beverly Hills, California

In 1940, she resided at 1321 Alta Vista Blvd., Los Angeles, California, which also stands.

Mary Kornman resided at 1321 Alta Vista Blvd., Los Angeles, California — 1321 Alta Vista Blvd., Los Angeles, California

Rancho Maria remains at 25933 Sand Canyon Rd., Santa Clarita, California, and has been the site of numerous film and television shoots.

…

–Annette Bochenek for Classic Movie Hub

Annette Bochenek pens our monthly Classic Movie Travels column. You can read all of Annette’s Classic Movie Travel articles here.

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.