Overlooked Classics: Seven Men from Now (1956)

 

When one thinks of great director/actor combinations in western film history, the first that comes to mind is John Ford and John Wayne. However, there are other great combinations that don't get as much attention. One of these is that of Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott. The duo would make seven films together, of which their first would be the wonderful and too often overlooked Seven Men from Now. 

In this movie ex-sheriff Ben Stride (Randolph Scott) is hunting down and killing the seven men responsible for a Wells Fargo robbery that resulted in the death of his wife. On his mission he travels with young husband and wife couple John and Annie Greer (Walter Reed, Gail Russell) and runs across a criminal he had previously put behind bars named Bill Masters (Lee Marvin). 

This deceptively simple storyline hides a real emotional and moral complexity. This is not a simple western where the good guys wear white hats and the bad guys wear black. While Ban Stride is very clearly the hero, he is not that we envy or would aspire to be. His is cold and stoic, letting nobody truly in, not even the audience. Though he is on the side of right, he is doing so with a heart full of pain and revenge. Watching though we know that even if he completes his mission, it will relieve him of nothing. Randolph Scott is absolutely perfect in this role, capturing the heart and pain of this character so well in a very minimalist performance. On the contrast, Lee Marvin as the villain is fun to watch being truly dynamic and compelling. In fact, his character even gets the best comedic moments in the film. The young married is also very compelling, as their relationship is not the typical romantic western leads, especially as their relationship to each other is more complex than that. For a movie that really focuses on just these four characters each of them is extremely well defined and complex. The basic storyline serves as a catalyst for studying these four characters and it does this masterfully. 

This movie also greatly benefits from some absolutely beautiful location shooting at Lone Pine California. About Lone Pine Boetticher would later state, "If you're going to make a western, you can't make a bad shot in Lone Pine. It's the greatest western location in the world. You had the mountains, the volcanic rocks, and across the road you had sand dunes and rivers. I [could] do my whole picture there.... In Seven Men from Now, I wanted one of my villains to get shot as he tries to escape through a crack in the rocks. And when he's dead, he just hangs there - he never falls to the ground. I found the crack and then I built the rest of the scene around [it] and it really worked."

This film's writer was Burt Kennedy, a screenwriter and actor, who had been working for John Wayne's production company, Batjac. Kennedy later remembered, "they just put me in a room with a title, a legal pad and a pencil, and six weeks later I had written Seven Men from Now." At first the script received little attention. However, Robert Mitchum found it and offered Kennedy $150,000. When John Wayne heard about this, he reread the script and loved it. On the last day of shooting the movie, The Killer Is Loose (1956), Budd Boetticher received a message from John Wayne. Since John had given the director a chance and produced Budd's movie Bullfighter and the Lady (1951), Budd felt he owed it to The Duke to meet him. John handed the director the script for Seven Men from Now and told Budd to read it. Budd came back in an hour and told, Wayne that he loved it. Wayne explained that Boetticher couldn't have read it in only an hour. Boetticher explained "I read 35 pages. That's all I had to read to know that it's great. I'd like to meet this Kennedy fellow." Wayne stated, "So shake hands with him," and motioned to the man standing next to him. That began a major partnership and the two would go on to work on many films in the future. The casting of Lee Marvin was Burt Kennedy's idea. Budd Boetticher later wrote, "Burt and I agreed that western heavies over the years had been portrayed as much too heavy. They rode black horses and wore black hats. You never saw anything good about any of them. Well, we set out to make our villains extremely attractive. Sure they were going to get killed - eventually - by our hero, but we wanted our audience to really love 'em while they were still kickin'." 

John Wayne was hoping to play the main role but was busy filming the John Ford classic, The Searchers (1956). Boetticher remembered, "Wayne said, 'Let's use Randy Scott. He's through.' Well, the Duke's desire to throw poor Mr. Scott a crumb was the basis for five of the finest films I've ever made." Budd would add,  "I thought the Scott character, before the pictures we made with him, was a pretty stuffy guy."

Boetticher and Scott's future collaborations would be The Tall T (1957), Decision at Sundown (1957), Buchanan Rides Alone (1958), Ride Lonesome (1959), Westbound (1959) and Comanche Station (1960). 

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used

Leonard Maltin's Best 151 Movies You've Never Seen by Leonard Maltin

https://www.tcm.com/articles/111462/seven-men-from-now

Overlooked Classics: The Tale of the Fox (Le roman de Renard) (1937)

Though Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is often times called the first animated feature, that statement is actually false. I am not saying this to deny the historical importance of Snow White as that film is still extremely important and an incredible movie, but rather to give attention to what has come before. The Tale of the Fox was the sixth animated feature film released and was released just eight months before Snow White. The animated features before Tale of the Fox include El Apostle (1937), Without a Trace (1918), The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), Peludo City (1931), The New Gulliver (1935), and The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda (1936). Tale of the Fox was the first animated feature to come from France.

This film was directed by Ladislas Starevich and Irene Starevich. Ladislas Starevich was one of the greatest pioneers in animation history. He was one of the earliest directors to define animation as an art instead of just a novelty. He worked mostly in stop motion animation, creating such brilliant shorts as The Cameraman's Revenge (1912), The Mascot (1933), The Frogs Who Wanted a King (1922) and The Insects' Christmas (1913). The Tale of the Fox is his only animated feature though he did direct a live action feature called The Night Before Christmas (1912). Irene Starevich was his wife. It is hard to say how much or what she contributed to this film because she worked on very few films and in all those films she worked with her husband. Other than this movie the other films she co-directed with her husband were The Mascot's Wedding (1935) and Fétiche en voyage de noces (1936).

This was completed in 1930, but due to audio problems it would not be released until 1937.

The story of this film centers around a fox named Reynard that tricks other animals and then eats them. This causes the king (a lion obviously) to pass a law saying that animals cannot eat other animals (making an exception for himself of course). Reynard does not listen to these orders and the king decides to have the fox arrested (something easier said than done).

This film is quite easily a masterpiece it has a brilliant and very funny sense of dark humor. The animation is downright incredible. It is amazing to think that this is the first feature film to be completely done in stop motion (The New Gulliver featured a mixture of live action and stop motion), because it is so incredibly well done here. The story is great. The pacing is fantastic. Most of all though these characters really come to life on the screen. This film is a great work of art and a fantastic beginning to French animated features.

Resources Used
http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/reynard-the-fox-in-animation/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021309/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt
Cartoons: One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation by Giannalberto Bendazzi

Overlooked Classics: Platinum Blonde (1931)

 I have said a few times that one of my favorite things about watching old movies is finding these great gems that are heavily overlooked today but happen to be just as great as any of those that have gone down in history as classics. Frank Capra's Platinum Blonde very easily fits in this category. This film is just as funny, smart and simply fun to watch as many of the later Capra classics.

One should remember at this time; Frank Capra wasn't the household name he would become. Capra's big breakthrough film would be released three years later with the surprise smash hit, It Happened One Night (1934). Frank Capra had made his feature length directorial debut directing Harry Langdon in the great silent comedy The Strong Man (1926) and continued to direct many features before It Happened One Night. 

This film however was not originally intended for Capra though. It was originally intended for Edward Buzzell, who is probably best remembered for directing the Marx Brothers in At the Circus (1939) and Go West (1940), as well as The Song of the Thin Man (1947). By the time Frank Capra joined the production Dorothy Howell, Jo Swerling and Robert Riskin's script was nearly finished. Capra would later write off this film, but it has also been speculated that this was because he had so little to do with it. This was however still the first time Robert Rimskin and Frank Capra would work on the same film. This turned into a good relationship as he also was a writer for It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and Meet John Doe (1941).  

Despite such well-known names as Jean Harlow and Loretta Young appearing in this film's cast the real star of the movie is Robert Williams. Despite much talent his career would never take off because of his sudden death shortly after this film's release (he had appendicitis). He only appeared in 6 other known films in his career, The Vengeance of Winoma (1914), Thoughtless Women (1920), Two Masters (1928), The Common Law (1931), Rebound (1931), and Devotion (1931). As you can tell from these years even with a appearances in silent films, his film career was really just beginning to become a regular job in 1931. This will seem unfortunate to many movie fans as he does a great performance here. Jean Harlow was not that big of star as she would later become. She did have some great performances in big name films such as Hell's Angels (1930) and The Public Enemy (1931), but she was mostly cast due to her looks and had a while to go before becoming a big star. However, she certainty was on her way. This film contains an amazingly good performance from her. Despite how good she was in this film though Frank Capra did have problems with her. The main one being she couldn't pronounce "library" right, and she was playing a high society woman. It took fifteen takes for her to say this word right. This film is also rounded out with many other great actors of the time. One who does an especially good job is Walter Catlett (my fellow Disney lovers may know him as the voice of Honest John in Pinocchio (1940)). Also, great here is Halliwell Hobbes as the butler, and Lousie Closser Hale as the snobbish mother. In fact, the whole cast is just great.

The story centers around a young reporter, with a quick wit and just as quick of a mouth, named Stew (played by Robert Williams). This young reporter works with a young woman named Gallagher (played by Loretta Young), who has more than a bit of a crush on Stew. However, during a story, he falls for a rich young socialite named Ann (played by Jean Harlow). He marries Ann. However, this marriage isn't quite happy for him. Ann tries to make Stew fit into high society and a reporter for a rival newspaper (played by Walter Catlett) makes fun of him for not wearing the pants and for being a bird in a gilded cage. A bird in a gilded cage is exactly what Stew feels like, and he needs to find some way out.

This movie is extremely funny, as well as having a delightful story. Much of the humor comes from the clever dialogue that populated many Hollywood comedies of the early 1930's ("Anne Schuyler's in the blue book; you're not even in the phone book. Think that one over... sucker!", "Yeah, I know those bluenoses. Their ancestors refused to come over on the Mayflower because they didn't want to rub elbows with the tourists... so they swam over!"), and is just as funny, smart and unlike anything you hear in today's movies as you could ever want it to be. As stated, before all the cast gave great performances. As well as all this the film just supplies the great sense of pure fun, and charming simplicity that we all know and love Frank Capra for doing.

After an early preview screening the film shortly switched its name to The Gilded Cage. However, it was changed back to Platinum Blonde on September 24, 1931, when it had its last preview showing because of Jean Harlow becoming a bit of a bigger star due to Public Enemy.

The film received decent reviews, but they were far from great.


Resources Used
http://www.jbkaufman.com/movie-of-the-month/platinum-blonde-1931
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3747/Platinum-Blonde/articles.html

Overlooked Classics: Sweet Music (1935)

 I love the Warner Brothers musicals from the 1930's. This of course includes beloved classics like 42nd Street, but it also includes overlooked gems like Sweet Music. It amazes me how little talked about Sweet Music is among classic movie fans. It has everything that makes me love these musicals so much. Great songs, lavish looking musical numbers, a great cast (Rudy Vallee, Ann Dvorak, Ned Sparks, Allan Jenkins...) and great humor are all here. Yes, it is a corny and silly movie, but I think we could all use a little more corniness and silliness in our life and this film is very entertaining to boot.

The director of the film is Alfred E. Green. Green was never a director who had a distinctive style or genre. He directed films as diverse as Dangerous, The Gracie Allen Murder Case, Ella Cinders, The Jolson Story, Baby Face, Smart Money and this film. However, he did bring us a list of usually consistently good movies. Most of his films were usually B-movies but this is a rare A-movie for him and he pulls it off very well.

One of the main reasons for this film existing is it's star Rudy Vallee. Rudy Vallee was one of the biggest music stars of this era, and Hollywood was quick to take advantage of his popularity. His first film appearance was in 1929 with the short Radio Rhythm and that same year he would appear in his first feature The Vagabond Lover. He would have a great career as a movie actor as well with films such as The Palm Beach Story, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, I Remember Mama, and Gold-diggers in Paris, and this film. He would prove he was a great performer whether an actor or a singer. However this film was made to show off Rudy's music. He would often times clown around when performing on stage and that is taken to full advantage here. For instance Rudy does an imitation of radio star Fred Allen during a great comedy song called Outside and there is much slapstick with him and his band on stage. This film truly lets Rudy Vallee show his very likable stage image at its best.

Rudy Vallee isn't the only great thing about film's cast. Especially of note are Ned Sparks and Allan Jenkins (who my fellow Hanna-Barbera lovers might know as the voice of Officer Dibble in Top Cat). Both of these actors played smaller roles in many Warner Brothers musicals. They were always quite funny in those small roles and they are even better in their larger roles here. Their parts in this film are hilarious (Ned Sparks as Ann Dvorak's agent and Allan Jenkins as a nutty publicity agent). Also what works well here is that Ann Dvorak and Rudy Vallee have great chemistry.

The song writers for this film are the great team of Al Dublin and Harry Warren (42nd Street, Gold-diggers of 1933) as well as the team of Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal (Footlight Parade) and another songwriting team of Mort Dixon and Allie Wrubel (Flirtation Walk). One of the highlights of the film is the great ending musical number written by Dublin and Warren.

Critics and audiences both enjoyed the film when it was released, and I am sure many classic film fans will love it today.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Recourses Used
tcm.com/this-month/article/410227%7C409219/Sweet-Music.html

Overlooked Classics: Emma (1932)

 It amazes me that Marie Dressler and so many of the films she appeared in are so forgotten today. From 1930 to her death in 1934, Marie was voted as the biggest box office drawl in Hollywood. She was not your typical Hollywood star, mostly because she was in her 60's at this time, but she was extremely popular with early 1930's audiences. One of her best performances was in the 1932 film Emma.

This film was directed by Clarence Brown, who had previously directed Marie in Anna Christie (1930, Greta Garbo's first talkie). Brown was a big director of the silent era directing such movies as Flesh and the Devil (1926), Kiki (1926), and The Trail of '98 (1928). He would continue to have a great career in the talkie era with The Yearling (1946), National Velvet (1944), and Conquest (1937), among many others.

In this film Marie plays a nanny named Emma, who is essentially a mother in all but name of the children. After the children grow up, she decides to take a trip to Niagara Falls. She is worried about leaving the family. The family's father (Jean Hersholt) decides to go with her and ends up asking Emma to marry her. The father passes away and leaves the money to Emma. His children are angry and want to sue Emma over this money. The exception to this is Ronnie (Richard Cromwell) who has a stronger connection to her than the other children.

This film also featured Myrna Loy in her first role for MGM. She was also working on two other films at this time and was very stressed. Marie told Myrna "Get your chin up, kid. You've got the whole world ahead of you." Helping Loy to gain back her confidence and put on a great performance. Loy had nothing but nice things to say about Marie Dressler in her autobiography Being and Becoming. She would go on to a great career at MGM especially with the classic Thin Man movie series. 

Emma is an amazing film. Marie Dressler's performance is near perfect, the script is great, the film is fantastically directed, and everything just works. The story is sentimental but is extremely effective and the sentiment never feels forced. This is a must watch movie, for all lovers of classic film.

The movie was a big success at the box office and Marie Dressler was nominated for an academy award for this film (though she didn't win).

Recourses Used
tcm.com/tcmdb/title/1546/Emma/articles.html

Overlooked Classics: Music For Millions (1944)

 In 1944 Margaret O'Brien won a special Academy Award for Outstanding Child Actress. One look at her output that year and it is not hard to see why. After all it was the year she played her most famous role, as Tootie in Meet Me in St. Louis. That same year she also acted in Jene Eyre, The Canterville Ghost, Lost Angel and this overlooked gem Music For Millions. There is little need to state that she plays a big hand in making this movie so delightful.

This movie also marks the first time she played sisters with June Allyson. They would later play sisters again in the 1949 film version of Little Women. Their chemistry is very apparent in this film, and in fact so was there chemistry off screen. The two became very close and June Allyson always kept a picture of little Margaret on her dresser. They had even more in common too. They were considered the best actresses at crying at this time and had earned the nickname "The Town Criers". Director Henry Koster (who is best remembered today for directing The Bishop's Wife (1947) and Harvey (1950)) even remembered Margaret O'Brien being able to control how much of her tears would be visible for the camera.

This film boasted another excellent team behind the camera as well. Henry Koster and producer Joe Pasternak. They had previously both helped save Universal from financial problems, with a series of successful musicals starring Deanna Durbin. This was the first film the team had made together after moving to MGM. It was also Koster's first MGM movie. However, it was Pasternak's sixth.

The story revolves around little Mike (Margaret O'Brien) visiting her sister Barbara (June Allyson). Barbara is a member of an orchestra and many of the women in that orchestra take Mike in. Meanwhile though Barbara is waiting for a letter from her husband (who is fighting in World War 2) but no letter comes. 

This film is a tearjerker, but it never feels forced. The storyline always feels real because the characters feel real. This is achieved through a great script (by Myles Connolly) and great performances from the whole cast.

The main stars of the film aren't the only ones who put on great performances. The whole cast does. However Jimmy Durante stands out here as being at his best. His slowly growing to love Mike is very heartwarming. One of the highlights of this film is him preforming a song number called Umbriago. His performance of this song is just dripping with pure energy and enjoyment of what he is doing. I don't see how anybody can not like this scene.

Adding to the musical fun is real life conductor and pianist José Iturbi. He and his orchestra help treat us to some great renditions of various classical music standards including an especially good finale of Handel's Messiah.

Overall this movie is a must see.

  Resources Used
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2704/Music-for-Millions/articles.html

Overlooked Classics: Meet The Baron (1933)

 

Like how today movies get made based off TV Shows, back in the 1930's there were movies based off of radio shows. Meet the Baron was based off a comedy radio show about the fictional Baron Munchausen. Jack Pearl, the radio actor for the character was hired here to play the Baron (or at least someone who is believed to be the Baron) for the screen.

This film would be directed by Walter Lang. Walter Lang is a director who is mostly associated with musical films like State Fair (1945), The King and I (1956) There is No Business Like Show Business (1954). One of the writers for this film was Herman Mankiewicz, who is known by film fans today for co-writing Citizen Kane. One interesting thing in here is that there is a mule named Rosebud in this. I am not saying this film would have inspired any of Citizen Kane, but it is still an interesting tidbit. On top of this the film has a great cast including Jimmy Durante, Edna May Oliver and Zasu Pitts. 

However, what this film is most watched today for is that it includes a group soon to be known as The Three Stooges. At this time they were known as Ted Healy and his Stooges. Ted Healy was originally the boss and leader of the group, yet after some personal problems between them they would separate, and the group would become The Three Stooges. Meet the Baron was the first feature film to feature Curly (although he had appeared in some shorts with this team before). Earlier Shemp would appear in these films with Moe, Larry and Ted. However, Shemp was not happy with Ted and left the group. Shemp was replaced by his and Moe's younger brother, Curly. However, when in 1946 Curly would have a stroke, he would be replaced again by Shemp, who now was willing to be part of the team since they were no longer working with Ted. In this film Curly was credited as Jerry Howard, as his real name was Jerome Howard. This is one of the very few times he would be credited as such. Walter Lang would later direct the Stooges again in the feature film, Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961).

Curly wasn't the only star to have Meet The Baron as a feature film debut. This was the film debut (not just feature) of Lynn Bari, who would star in quite a few B-movies including Return of the Cisco Kid and Hotel For Women.

The story begins with the real Baron (Henry Koller) and his two assistants (Jack Pearl and Jimmy Durante) traveling through the jungle. The Baron discovers they are low on supplies and leaves his assistants out to die. At this time some explorers find the two assistants and mistake one for the Baron (Jack Pearl) and take him and his friend to the U.SA. The phony Baron must keep up the facade and not be found out.

This film is very entertaining, it has a good sense of humor, a great cast and even a great musical number. Most of all though this film is just good corny, silly fun.

Resources Used

The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons by Michael Fleming

Overlooked Classics: It's Love I'm After (1937)

 In 1936 Archie Mayo directed a famous film starring Bette Davis and Leslie Howard called The Petrified Forest. This was a fantastic movie and has gone down in many film fans minds as a classic. However just a year later the director and stars would reteam for a much less appreciated movie called It’s Love I’m After. Despite the fact that this movie does not receive anywhere near the amount of attention The Petrified Forest does it is a completely delightful movie, that is a sheer joy to watch. 

 This movie came about because Leslie Howard wanted to show he could do more than just drama. Howard had been acting in many various serious roles at the time and wanted to take a break and do something comedic. Producer Hal Wallis was skeptical about making a comedy with this big dramatic star, but eventually accepted. 

After this came the problem of finding a leading lady to act with Howard. At first stage actresses Gertrude Lawrence or Ina Claire were considered. After watching Lawrence in the movie Men Are Not Gods (1936) though Wallis and Howard both decided that she was an actress better suited for the stage. After this Wallis came up with the idea of casting Bette Davis opposite Howard. This seemed naturally because the two had previously costarred in both Of Human Bondage and The Petrified Forest and proved to have great chemistry. The idea also came with Wallis deciding Davis needed a break from the more dramatic roles she was in lately. Bette was originally very reluctant to take the role. She had been working a lot lately and wanted a vacation. She also felt that Olivia de Havilland had a better role than she would have. To convince Bette Davis to be in the film Hal Wallis, told her the change of pace would be good for her career (she had been doing mostly dramatic pictures lately) and he replaced the originally planned cinematographer, James Van Trees, with Tony Gaudio, one of Bette's favorite cinematographers.

This movie centers on Shakespearean actor Basil Underwood (Leslie Howard). Basil and his co-star Joyce Arden (Bette Davis) are in love with each other but can't stop bickering. After much fighting the two finally diced to put it behind them and get married as soon as possible. However, Harry Grant Jr. (Patrick Knowles), the son of a man who helped Basil out when he was down on his luck, comes get revenge on Basil. Harry's finance, Marcia West (Oliva de Havilland) has seen Basil perform in plays and has fallen for him. Basil and Harry come to the conclusion that Basil could visit her family’s house and act like such a jerk that Marcia would begin to hate him. He views this as a way to renew himself before getting married. However, Joyce does not see it this way and is upset about their wedding plans being delayed. On top of that everything Basil does just seems to make Marcia fall more in love with him.

This is an absolutely hilarious film, full of laugh out loud moments. This is due both to a great script by Casey Robinson (based off a play by Maurice Hanline) and amazing on-screen chemistry between the cast. In fact just everything in this movie works great. Despite this film not being well known this is a truly classic screwball comedy.

Overlooked Classics: Brother Orchid (1940)

 

Brother Orchid is definitely one of the more oddball Warner Brothers gangster films of the 1930’s and 40’s. This film starts as a rather normal Warner Brothers gangster movie, but then takes a turn for the strange and never quite comes back from that. However this is exactly what makes this film so enjoyable to watch. 

Edward G. Robinson stars in this movie however he was originally very hesitant about playing the part. He felt he was being too typecast as a movie gangster and he knew he could play other roles just as well. One movie Robinson especially wanted to be in was Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939, which he would star in). This was heavily because he was Jewish and felt that movie would be a great service to his people. Robinson agreed to be in Brother Orchid only after the studio also offered him the lead role in The Sea Wolf (1941). Playing a bit part in this movie was a then fairly unknown but promising up-comer named Humphry Bogart. This is the fourth movie that both appeared in and they wouldn’t appear together again until Key Largo (1948). Like the previous movies they costarred in, Bogie played an evil gangster with absolutely no redeeming qualities, while Robinson played a more fully fleshed out character, we are allowed to like and relate to.  This movie was directed by Lloyd Bacon, one of my favorite studio directors. A studio director was a director, who did as the studio told him and directed whatever type of film he was given. Out of these directors Lloyd Bacon’s movies were possibly the most consistently great. His other films include 42nd Street (1933), Action in the North Atlantic (1943), Marked Woman (1937), The Good Humor Man (1950), Footlight Parade (1933), and many more pure classics. 

The wacky premise of this movie truly gets underway when gangster, Johnny Sarto (Edward G. Robinson) is set up to be murdered. After surviving this attempt on his life Sarto is taken in by kindly monks and nursed back to health. At first he tries to use this situation to his own advantage but as he spends more time there he grows a greater respect for the monks and considers this his new home. However he learns the new boss of his gang Buck (Humphry Bogart) is stopping the monks from selling flowers, and of course you know this means war.

Beyond just its odd and intriguing premise, this is just a very fun movie. Like almost all of Lloyd Bacon’s movies this film moves at a fast pace, and crams as much fun as it can into its run time. The humor is excellent, the characters are quite well written and most of all there is not a dull moment in the film. Despite his reluctance to be in this film, Robinson sure appears to be having a lot of fun making this movie. His performance is just as full of energy as Bacon’s direction. Honestly, I don’t see how any classic movie fan, cannot have fun watching this movie, I sure do. 

Overlooked Classics: Below the Sea (1933)

 There is little doubt that Below the Sea is a cheesy little B movie but it is just so fun.

The story is very simple. A wealthy woman (Fay Wray, the same year she was in King Kong) decides to fund and join a sea expedition to search for marine life. Because she is so unexperienced she gets on the nerves of a sea diver (Ralph Bellamy). However they soon start a romance. At the same time some of the crew is looking for a buried treasure.

This film is nothing too original, but it is just so fun. The humor hits home very well, the characters are very likable and the cinematography is fantastic. The underwater photography is absolutely amazing and just gorgeous to look at. It is well ahead of its time, and still remains quite impressive today. As well as this the movie has a lot of action and these scenes are very exciting (especially one involving an octopus). These scenes are also quite well filmed. This excitement is only helped by the fact that we like these characters. They may not be complex characters, but they are charming enough for us to care about what happens to them. Such a predictable movie as this needs to still keep the viewers’ interest on its way to what we all know will happen. Luckily this is just what the film provides. The film moves at a fast pace and is just so fun to watch.

For one romantic scene, director Albert Rogell thought it would work better if there were seagulls in the background. Food was put on the ground to attract some. However the seagulls quickly grabbed the food and flew away before the camera stopped rolling. Rogell then got angry and shouted to make the birds fly through one at a time.

 

Supposedly color footage under the ocean was shot for the film, but it didn't wind up in the finished film for some unknown (at least to me) reason, the film instead is completely in black and white. Critics still praised the black and white undersea cinematography at the time.

The movie also became a big box office hit, but unfortunately has become almost completely forgotten today. It doesn’t deserve this obscurity and hopefully one day more classic movie fans will discover that a fun film this is.

An article in The Film Daily (dated June 10, 1933) gives us insight into another title for this film. This article states “Originally released as ‘Below the Sea’ and playing in the Rialto under the title, this picture will be titled ‘Hell’s Cargo’ following its Rialto run, though exhibitors have the option of using either name. ‘Below the Sea’ is not a particularly sparkling title, implying more a travel film than an active drama. While ‘Hell’s Cargo’ is considerably more lively as a name, it has the unfortunate inclusion of the word ‘hell,’ which is occasionally noted by exhibitors as not readily salable.”     

Overlooked Classics: Dark Command (1940)

 Having John Wayne and Roy Rogers in the same movie, would be enough to make this film an interesting curio for fans of old westerns. To be honest with how this was made before either became iconic images of western movies, I expected little more than a movie that was historically fascinating but critically not that good. However this film instead managed to be an excellent film in its own right.

A cowboy named Bob Seaton (John Wayne) comes to a town in Kansas. A naïve young southern gentleman named Fletch (Roy Rogers) is taken with the newcomer wanting to become a cowboy himself. The two start up a fast friendship, that is not hurt at all by Bob being in love with Fletch's sister, Mary (Claire Trevor). When Bob decides to run for Marshall his competitor is a man named William Cantrell (Walter Pigeon), who is also his rival for Mary's love. However it turns out that Cantrell despite his appearance of a good hearted school teacher is actually a man who plans to get what he wants through the most sinister means possible.

This film was made at a turning point for the careers of both of its stars. The year before John Wayne had made his first film with director John Ford and the movie that many consider Wayne's first great film, Stagecoach (1939). With this film John Wayne was starting to finally be taken seriously as an actor. In fact with the success of Stagecoach, Republic Pictures (known for cheap B films) actually made this a much bigger budget film than normal for them. In 1938 Roy Rogers received his first starring role in a feature film. Around this time Roy would no longer be a country singer who was also an actor, but instead an actor who was also a country singer.

John Wayne is unquestionably the star of this film, but the actor who impresses the most would be Roy Rogers. I love Roy Rogers movie as I am sure many of my readers do. However it is no secret that Roy played basically the same role in almost all his films. This causes many of Roy critics to state that he was only capable of playing one role. This movie is definite proof that such a statement is false. Roy plays a very different role here. We are used to seeing him as a hero with zero to little faults and who is always smart enough to be one step ahead of the villains. This could not be further from the truth here. Fletch is not always in the right and can sometimes do things that we would not consider morally right. Though he has more book learning than John Wayne's character, he does not possess the same maturity to handle himself in the outside world. He is essentially still a kid in many ways. He can lose his temper at the worst times, he has a hero worship of Bob similar to the type many young boys would later have for Roy Rogers, he has a childlike and romanticized view of what cowboys are and he is easily outsmarted by the movie's villain. Roy plays this part excellently turning in one of his finest performances. He even makes us fans of his many B-westerns and his classic TV show, forget we are watching Roy Rogers and instead only see the character he is portraying. Considering the icon of good and purity Roy represents to us classic movie fans this is no small feat. He truly was a great actor and I would have liked to see him be given more roles like this. I would have also liked to see him in more movie with John Wayne. The two had perfect chemistry with each other and it is a joy to watch them share the screen. Speaking of John, he plays a part much more similar to what we except from him. Even at this early stage this film shows the John Wayne persona almost fully formed. He plays the part here with the same charm and charisma that one should except from him. The supporting cast is also fantastic. Standing out is one of the great character actors, Gabby Hayes. Gabby made a career playing sidekicks to western heroes and here he plays a sidekick to John Wayne. He plays this part to perfection getting plenty of good laughs into this more serious story. However he also gets some chances to play dramatic scenes (a rarity for him). He does just as excellent of a job at these scenes.

As well as having a great cast in front of the camera this film also had a great director behind the camera. This was the one and only Raoul Walsh. This man's excellent filmography includes The Thief of Bagdad (1924), What Price Glory (1926), Sadie Thompson (1928), The Roaring Twenties (1939), High Sierra (1941) and White Heat (1949). He does an incredible job directing this movie giving us some fast paced action scenes (which he was always very good at ), great use of montage and an incredible sense of atmosphere. Writers Grover Jones, Lionel Houser and F. Hugh Herbert provide us with a smart and literate script that doesn't forget to also be entertaining.

A review in Modern Screen magazine stated "If all doses of history were as easy to take as this, there would be fewer kids playing hooky from school - and more adults reading history books." A review in The Film Daily stated "Few historically dramas in film annuals have packed more popular appeal." Other critics were just as positive when talking about this film. The movie also proved to be a Boxoffice success, helping John Wayne and Roy Rogers to grow even more in popularity.

Appropriate for a movie with two of the stars of Stagecoach (John Wayne and Claire Trevor) and actual stagecoach was driven down the streets of Fall River, Massachusetts to advertise the film's opening at the Empire Theatre. The theatre's manager, Bill Canning and assistant manager, Tommy Dries rode in this stagecoach.

This is a delightful movie that deserves to be better known or appreciated today.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Overlooked Classics: The Steel Helmet (1951)

There have been many movies over the years about World War 2, but very few about the Korean War. However The Steel Helmet stands as not only a great film about the Korean War, but a fantastic war movie on any level. 



Samuel Fuller (the movie’s director, writer and producer) was a veteran of World War 2 (he would later make a World War 2 film that was essentially autobiographical called The Big Red One). He felt previous war movies were often dishonest and naïve about what soldier’s went through, and that the full brutality of war had never yet been depicted on screen. Since this film was made on a rather small budget of $100,000, this brutality was not shown through excessive violence or massive battle sequences (in fact there were only 25 extras (all students from UCLA) and they played both American and Korean soldiers), but rather through the characters’ psyche. The characters were filled with thoughts of hopelessness and desperation. To show soldiers at war as this beaten mentally was something that had not been seen in almost all previous war movies.



The film was not only shot on a low budget but in only ten days of shooting. This may have helped create the real, gritty, and natural feeling of this film that is so different from any big budget Hollywood studio film from this era. This is not an action movie by any means, nor is it an inspiring story of how the U.S. army can defeat powers of pure evil leaving good victorious. Rather it is a film about the mental hardships that those who fight in wars face every day. This film leaves me with more respect for those soldiers fighting overseas for my country. What they have gone through is something I could never imagine, and the mental pain they push themselves through is incredible. I am not a veteran, so I cannot say how real this film represents that mental torture, but I can say to me it feels unbelievably real.



This movie was a center of great controversy when released. It was considered by many to be anti-American. This was because throughout this movie the characters were always unsure exactly what they were fighting for or even who their enemy was. The main cast included a black soldier (James Edwards) and a Japanese-American soldier (Richard Loo). A prisoner of war tests their allegiance by bringing up Jim Crow laws and Japanese internment camps. There was also an American soldier (Steve Brodie) who was a clear racist. This sat uneasy with some who felt Fuller was trying to make America look like a racist country. Fuller denied this saying he was just trying to be brutally honest about history and what happened in war. All the decisions that created this controversy help make the film even more powerful and shocking to audiences then and now. The movie has a feeling of brutal honesty that few movies can capture so well.

A review in Variety stated "Lippert Pictures has what would seem a sure money film in 'The Steel Helmet.'" (To read the whole review click here.) This turned out to be true as the film earned over $2 million at the box office and made big studios take notice of the film's director.

-Michael J. Ruhland 

Overlooked Classics: Ridin' the Cherokee Trail (1941)

I have made several posts about Gene Autry and Roy Rogers on this blog. However these were far from being the only singing cowboys in the movies in the 1930's and 40's. One of the best singing cowboys was Tex Ritter. From 1936 to 1945, Tex stared in a whole slew of B westerns that featured fantastic country music, fast paced action and corny humor. A great example of this is Ridin' the Cherokee Trail, a movie that is simply pure fun.

The storyline of this movie like in many of these B westerns is very simple. Tex and Slim Andrews are Texas Rangers. A notorious outlaw (Forrest Taylor) has been hiding in the Cherokee Strip so the law can't catch him. Tex and Slim pretend to be fellow outlaws so that they can lure this man over into Texas where they can legally arrest him.

With this very simple story, this movie gives us all the entertainment we could want from a film like this. This film offers some great songs. As well as Tex performing some of these songs we also get some performed by the country band, The Tennessee Ramblers, who also worked with another singing cowboy in the movies, Gene Autry (in the films Ride Ranger Ride (1936), Yodelin' Kid From Pine Ridge (1937)). They were a very talented band and it is a delight to hear them here. Two of the members of that band (Jack Gillette and Harry Blair) wrote the majority of the songs used in this film. Costar Slim Andrews wrote two of the songs himself and cowrote one with Tex Ritter. This simple story leads to a fantastic action filled climax that is simply a heck of a lot of fun. Another treat in this movie is its sense of humor. Slim Andrews is the comedy relief in this movie (a role he played in quite a few Tex Ritter movies), and he is quite good. For instance him pretending to be a tough guy in the bar definitely made me giggle. One of the best scenes of humor in this movie though is when Tex tries to turn a classic piece played by the villain into a cowboy song (one he claims to have wrote himself).

This movie made its premiere on February 24, 1941 at the Tryon in Charlotte, North Carolina. At this premiere The Tennessee Ramblers gave a live performance before the movie.  

The film's director was the very capable Spencer Gordon Bennett. At this time he was directing many B westerns, and some very fun ones.

No one would ever call this movie high art but it certainly is top notch entertainment.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Overlooked Classics: Heat Lightning (1934)

Aline MacMahon is a name that is unfortunately not as familiar with old movie buffs as much as it should be. As a film actress she spent much of her career playing supporting roles in movies staring bigger name actresses. Heat Lighting is a movie that proves that she could handle a leading role just as well as any big name actress could. This is not to say the movie is all her. Having a talented and versatile director like Mervyn LeRoy and an amazing supporting cast included Ann Dorvack, Edgar Kennedy, Preston Foster, Glenda Ferrell, Lyle Talbot and Frank McHugh certainly do not hurt. Still MacMahon's performance here is an incredible one and she commands the screen completely. Here she plays a woman who has shut herself off from the world and her emotions. People view her as a hard-bitten tough woman, but underneath her rough exterior she is just as vulnerable as anyone else. This is not an easy part to play and MacMahon plays it perfectly with a subtle ease. Even in her toughest scenes, we can always see the humanity and vulnerability in her and this is what makes her character more than just a two dimensional emotionless stick in the mud. Instead what we see here is a character that is just as real to us as ourselves.

Olga (Aline MacMahon) is a hard-bitten and seemingly emotionless owner of a gas station out in the middle of a desert. She works here in isolation with her sister, Myra (Ann Dvorak). Myra does not understand her sister's reason for isolating herself form the world and instead wants to go out. When Myra falls for a man named Steve Laird (Theodore Newton), who is no good, Olga takes it upon herself to protect her younger sister. Why Olga feels this way is shown when her old boyfriend a criminal on the lam named George (Preston Foster) shows up at the gas station.

As well as the performance of the star another thing that makes this movie so good, is the atmosphere. The filling station is an environment so unlike the big city where so many of this hard edged Warner Brother's movies of the 1930's take place that it gives the movie its own unique an memorable feeling (it is true that later The Petrified Forest would take place in a similar setting, but I would still argue, Heat Lighting has a feeling all its own). It is also helped by great location shooting at Vacaville, California. This atmosphere is so vid and real that it is hard not to get swept up in it. The story of this move is simple and uses that simplicity to its best advantage. The story feels rather small as for the majority of the movie not much really happens. Instead for most of its length this is a leisurely paced study of the characters and the environment. However this all leads to a shocking and powerful ending that is perfect.

This movie was released not long before the production code would take over Hollywood. This movie would be one of the first to banned by the Legion of Decency. This movie was released in April of 1934 and the first list of banned films would be on May 14th of the same year. This movie would appear on that list.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Overlooked Classics: All-American Co-Ed (1941)

In many ways All-American Co-Ed is a perfect example of a B movie musical comedy. There is nothing in this movie that tries to be anything more than silly escapist entertainment and the film successeds marvelously at providing just this. Of course helping this was that the film was made at the Hal Roach Studio (Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang, Charley Chase), which was one of the best studios for this type of entertainment.

A college fraternity likes to dress and drag and put on musical shows. A female college is offering a dozen free scholarships for “unusual girls”. The winners would be showcased in a big musical extravaganza. However the advertisement for this contest makes fun of the fraternity and bans them. The boys however send one of their own, a young man named Bob Shepard (Johnny Downs) to infiltrate this contest disguised as a girl. This becomes complicated when he falls for a girl he meets there (Frances Langford).

This may be a simple film, but there is a lot to recommend it. The humor is often really funny, the musical numbers are fantastic, the performances are great and the 49 minutes just flies by. Johnny Downs is delightful as the lead and completely believable and it is tons of fun to watch Frances Langford on screen here. However one performance that especially stands out is Harry Langdon as a newspaperman. Though Harry Langdon was one of the greatest comedians in silent film, most of his sound work is disappointing. This movie is a delightful exception. Harry brings some fantastic laugh out loud moments and just great comic energy to this film, and he shows that the old timer still had it. All in all this movie is one for which if you just turn your mind off there is plenty to enjoy.

This movie was directed by LeRoy Prinz. Prinz as a director mostly directed musical short subjects. This was one of the only two feature films he directed (the other being Feista (1941)). He is better known and more prolific as choreographer. He choreographed such famous films as Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Road to Singapore (1940), The Ten Commandments (1956) and South Pacific (1958). 

A review in Photoplay was not very complimentary stating “Frances Langford sings – which is very easy to take, but it’s a non-entertaining little musical.” A review in The Exhibitor was much more positive stating “Langford and Downs carry the big load in this entertaining ‘streamliner’, which has a snappy production and tuneful songs.” A review in The Independent Exhibitors Bulletin stated, “’All American Co-Ed’ has one of the funniest openings we have ever seen in a motion picture. For ten minutes thereafter it is one of the most amusing shows we have ever seen on screen. Thereafter it was permitted to go to pieces, so badly in fact that at the preview the audience openly derided its puny efforts to get laughs.”

This film was nominated for two Academy Awards. One was for Edward Ward’s score and another was for the song Out of the Silence (Written by Lloyd B. Norlin)


-Michael J. Ruhland