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    Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics
    Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics
    Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics
    Ebook602 pages7 hours

    Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics

    By John Howard Reid

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    Professional Reviews: Rodney Bourke in International Movie Making: MOVIES MAGNIFICENT is truly a magnificent publication. John Howard Reid's movie books go from strength to strength. If you collect classic movies on film or DVD, or if you just enjoy reading about them, then these are the books for you. Written by a true enthusiast, these classic books include such titles as "Hollywood Movie Musicals", "Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics", "These Great Movies Won No Hollywood Awards: A Film-Lover's Guide to the Best of the Rest", "CinemaScope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge", "Movies International: America's Best, Britain's Finest", "New Light on Movie Bests", and a round-up of " 'B' Movies, Bad Movies, Good Movies". These books are crammed full of facts about each selection of films, including stars and the characters they play, synopses and critiques. John Howard Reid is to be congratulated! ... Wayne Howell in The Sun News-Pictorial: Guide to the films of yore! Be warned! This book's title may be confusing. It is called "Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics", and you may think you have found some important omissions. But there is a reason. This is one book in a series on the films of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Films like the classics, "Casablanca", "Gone With The Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz" are included in other volumes by author, John Howard Reid. All Reid's books are interesting and useful. This present book deals with an impressive range of film landmarks, including credits, reviews and interesting background details on films like Algiers, Anna and the King of Siam, The Bells of St Mary's, The Best Years of Our Lives, Blood and Sand, Blossoms in the Dust, Citizen Kane, Cover Girl, Dinner at Eight, A Double Life, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Gaslight, The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Going My Way, The Grapes of Wrath, The Harvey Girls, Henry V, Holiday Inn, Key Largo, Kitty Foyle, Leave Her to Heaven, Lost Weekend, Miracle on 34th Street, My Sister Eileen, The Naked Spur, Now Voyager, Phantom of the Opera, The Philadelphia Story, Pinocchio, Pete Kelly’s Blues, Psycho, The Razor's Edge, Rebecca, Scaramouche, Sergeant York, The Seventh Veil, Spellbound, Sullivan's Travels, Suspicion, Thief of Bagdad, We're No Angels, White Christmas, The Yearling, and many more. But the book also does take a swipe at some of the sillier, popular film "classics" like "Andy Hardy Meets Debutante" and "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" which Reid describes as "a ghastly film" which bears absolutely no relationship to the famous true-life account on which it is allegedly based. The book also includes some contemporary reviews and other comments by critics who know their cinema and always try to be balanced. The notes on the films are also most interesting, listing awards and nominations the films won when first released, how they fared at the box-office and other behind-the-scenes stories. Unfortunately, the book is sparsely illustrated with only a few black-and-white photos, although most seem unfamiliar. I love the happy trio shot of Erich Von Stroheim, Anne Baxter and Franchot Tone in "Five Graves to Cairo". A beautiful full-color cover shot of Janet Leigh also compensates to some extent.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Howard Reid
    Release dateMay 4, 2011
    ISBN9781458170101
    Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics
    Author

    John Howard Reid

    Author of over 100 full-length books, of which around 60 are currently in print, John Howard Reid is the award-winning, bestselling author of the Merryll Manning series of mystery novels, anthologies of original poetry and short stories, translations from Spanish and Ancient Greek, and especially books of film criticism and movie history. Currently chief judge for three of America's leading literary contests, Reid has also written the textbook, "Write Ways To Win Writing Contests".

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      Book preview

      Movies Magnificent - John Howard Reid

      MOVIES MAGNIFICENT

      150 Must-See Cinema Classics

      John Howard Reid

      ****

      Published by:

      John Howard Reid at Smashwords

      Copyright (c) 2011 by John Howard Reid

      ****

      All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

      Smashwords Edition Licence Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

      ****

      Original text copyright 2011 by John Howard Reid. All rights reserved.

      Enquiries: johnreid@mail.qango.com

      ****

      reviewed by John Howard Reid

      --

      HOLLYWOOD CLASSICS NUMBER ELEVEN

      2011

      Books in the Hollywood Classics series:

      1. New Light on Movie Bests

      2. B Movies, Bad Movies, Good Movies

      3. Award-Winning Films of the 1930s

      4. Movie Westerns: Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West

      5. Memorable Films of the Forties

      6. Popular Pictures of the Hollywood 1940s

      7. Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Supporting Program

      8. Hollywood’s Movie Miracles of Entertainment

      9. Hollywood Gold: Famous Films of the Forties and Fifties

      10. Hollywood B Movies: A Treasury of Spills, Chills & Thrills

      11. Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics

      12. These Great Movies Won No Hollywood Awards

      13. Movie Mystery & Suspense

      14. Movies International: America’s Best, Britain’s Finest

      15. Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome and Fantastic

      16. Hollywood Movie Musicals

      17. Hollywood Classics Index Books 1-16

      18. More Movie Musicals

      19. Success in the Cinema

      20. Best Western Movies

      21. Great Cinema Detectives

      22. Great Hollywood Westerns

      23. Science-Fiction & Fantasy Cinema

      24. Hollywood’s Classic Comedies

      25. Hollywood Classics Title Index to All Movies Reviewed in Books 1-24

      --

      Additional Movie Books by John Howard Reid

      CinemaScope One: Stupendous in Scope

      CinemaScope Two: 20th Century-Fox

      CinemaScope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge

      Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills

      Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD

      WESTERNS: A Guide to the Best (and Worst) Western Movies on DVD

      British Movie Entertainments on VHS and DVD

      --

      Table of Contents

      A

      Affair of the Heart (see Body and Soul)

      Air Force (1943)

      Algiers (1938)

      All That Money Can Buy (1941)

      Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940)

      Andy Hardy’s Double Life (1942)

      Andy Hardy’s Private Secretary (1941)

      Anna and the King of Siam (1946)

      the Apartment (1960)

      April in Paris (1952)

      Arise My Love (1940)

      B

      Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)

      Bachelor Knight (see Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer)

      Bells of St Mary’s (1945)

      Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

      Big Heart (see Miracle on 34th Street)

      Bird of Paradise (1932)

      Bishop’s Wife (1947)

      Blithe Spirit (1945)

      Blood and Sand (1941)

      Blood on the Sun (1945)

      Blossoms in the Dust (1941)

      Body and Soul (1947)

      C

      Canterville Ghost (1944)

      Champagne for Caesar (1950)

      Circle (see Strictly Unconventional)

      Citizen Kane (1941)

      Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942)

      Cover Girl (1944)

      D

      Dance, Fools, Dance (1931)

      Dimples (1936)

      Dinner at Eight (1933)

      Dixiana (1930)

      Doctor Broadway (1942)

      a Double Life (1947)

      Down Went McGinty (see Great McGinty)

      E

      Escape (1948)

      F

      Farmer’s Daughter (1947)

      Fifteen Maiden Lane (1936)

      Fighting Westerner (see Rocky Mountain Mystery)

      Fighting Sullivans (see Sullivans)

      Find the Blackmailer (1943)

      Five Graves to Cairo (1943)

      Forever and a Day (1943)

      49th Parallel (see Invaders)

      For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)

      Frenchman’s Creek (1944)

      G

      Gaslight (1944)

      George Washington Slept Here (1942)

      Ghost and Mrs Muir (1947)

      Going My Way (1944)

      Gorgeous Hussy (1936)

      Grapes of Wrath (1940)

      Great Gabbo (1930)

      Great Lie (1941)

      Great McGinty (1940)

      Gun Moll (see Jigsaw)

      H

      Harvey Girls (1945)

      Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)

      Henry V (1945)

      Here Comes Mr Jordan (1941)

      Holiday Inn (1942)

      House on 92nd Street (1945)

      Human Comedy (1943)

      I

      Invaders (1941)

      I Wanted Wings (1941)

      J

      Jigsaw (1949)

      Johnny Eager (1941)

      Johnny in the Clouds (see Way to the Stars)

      Junior Miss (1945)

      K

      Key Largo (1948)

      Kitty Foyle (1940)

      L

      Lady Be Good (1941)

      Lady Hamilton (see That Hamilton Woman)

      Late George Apley (1947)

      Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

      Lloyds of London (1936)

      Lost Angel (1943)

      Lost Weekend (1945)

      Love on Wheels (1932)

      Love Parade (1929)

      Lucky Cisco Kid (1940)

      M

      Mask of Dimitrios (1944)

      Meet Boston Blackie (1941)

      Men Are Not Gods (1936)

      Men with Wings (1938)

      Millionaire for Christy (1951)

      Million Dollar Legs (1932)

      Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

      Modern Times (1936)

      Monte Carlo (1930)

      Moonrise (1948)

      More the Merrier (1943)

      Mother Wore Tights (1947)

      Movie Crazy (1932)

      Murder in Thornton Square (see Gaslight)

      Music for Millions (1944)

      My Gal Sal (1942)

      My Sister Eileen (1955)

      N

      Naked Spur (1953)

      Ninotchka (1939)

      Nob Hill (1945)

      None But the Lonely Heart (1944)

      Northwest Mounted Police (1940)

      Northwest Passage (1938)

      Now, Voyager (1942)

      O

      Outside the Law (see Strange Case of Doctor Meade)

      P

      Pépé le Moko (1937)

      Perfect Strangers (see Vacation from Marriage)

      Pete Kelly’s Blues (1955)

      Phantom of the Opera (1943)

      Philadelphia Story (1940)

      Pinocchio (1940)

      Pride and Prejudice (1940)

      Pride of the Yankees (1942)

      Princess O’Rourke (1943)

      Psycho (1960)

      R

      Razor’s Edge (1946)

      Reap the Wild Wind (1942)

      Rebecca (1940)

      Rocky Mountain Mystery (1935)

      S

      Scaramouche (1952)

      Secrets of an Actress (1938)

      Sergeant York (1941)

      Seventh Veil (1945)

      Silverspurs (1936)

      Song of Bernadette (1943)

      Spellbound (1945)

      Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)

      Stars in My Crown (1950)

      Strange Boarders (1938)

      Strange Case of Doctor Meade (1938)

      Strange Impersonation (1946)

      Stranger in Town (1932)

      Street With No Name (1948)

      Strictly Unconventional (1930)

      Strike Up the Band (1940)

      Submarine Patrol (1938)

      Sullivans (1944)

      Sullivan’s Travels (1941)

      Suspicion (1941)

      Sutter’s Gold (1936)

      Sweet Devil (1938)

      Swiss Miss (1938)

      T

      That Hamilton Woman (1941)

      Thief of Bagdad (1940)

      Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

      This Above All (1942)

      This Is the Army (1943)

      This Land Is Mine (1943)

      To Each His Own (1946)

      Torrid Zone (1940)

      Treasure Island (1934)

      Two Years Before the Mast (1946)

      U

      Upperworld (1944)

      V

      Vacation from Marriage (1945)

      W

      Watch on the Rhine (1943)

      Way to the Stars (1945)

      We’re No Angels (1955)

      Westerner (1940)

      What a Blonde (1944)

      When Ladies Meet (1941)

      Which Is Witch (1949)

      While the City Sleeps (1956)

      White Christmas (1954)

      Wild Over You (1953)

      Wilson (1944)

      Winterset (1936)

      Woman for Joe (1955)

      Woman Who Was Forgotten (1929)

      Women (1939)

      Wonder Man (1945)

      Y

      the Yearling (1946)

      --

      Air Force

      John Garfield (Sergeant J.B. Winocki), Gig Young (Lieutenant William Xavier Williams), Harry Carey (Sergeant R.L. White), George Tobias (Corporal B.B. Weinberg), Arthur Kennedy (Lieutenant T.C. McMartin), Johnny Mack Brown (Lieutenant T.A. Rader), John Ridgely (Captain Michael A. Quincannon), Stanley Ridges (Major Mallory), Warren Douglas (control officer), Murray Alper (demolition squad corporal), Ray Montgomery (Private Henry W. Chester), Charles Drake (Lieutenant M.W. Hauser), Moroni Olsen (commanding officer), Edward S. Brophy (Sergeant J. J. Callahan), Richard Lane (Major W.G. Roberts), Bill Crago (Lieutenant P.T. Moran), Ann Doran (Mary Quincannon), Faye Emerson (Susan McMartin), Dorothy Peterson (Mrs Chester), Ward Wood (Corporal Gustave Peterson), Tom Neal (marine), James Millican (marine with dog), William Forrest (Group Commander Jack Harper), George Neise, (officer at Hickham Field), Henry Blair (Quincannon’s son), James Bush (2nd control officer), Walter Sande (Sergeant Joe), George Offerman Jr. (ground crew man), Theodore Von Eltz (1st lieutenant), Ross Ford (2nd lieutenant), Rand Brooks (co-pilot), Ruth Ford, Leah Baird, Lynne Baggett, Marjorie Horshelle (nurses), William Hopper, Sol Gorss (sergeants), Willard Robertson (Colonel Chapman), Addison Richards (Major Daniels), James Flavin (Major Bagley).

      Director: HOWARD HAWKS. Original screenplay: Dudley Nichols. Uncredited screenplay contributors: Arthur T. Horman, and William Faulkner (Faulkner worked on two sequences including the death of the pilot of the Mary Ann). Photographed by James Wong Howe. Aerial photography by Elmer Dyer and Charles Marshall. Film editor: George Amy. Art director: John Hughes. Set decorations: Walter F. Tilford. Gowns: Milo Anderson. Special effects directed by Roy Davidson and photographed by Byron Haskin, Rex Wimpy and H.F. Koenekamp. Music composed by Franz Waxman and directed by Leo. F. Forbstein. Assistant director: Jack Sullivan. Make-up: Perc Westmore. Chief Pilot: Paul Mantz. Sound recording: Oliver S. Garretson. A Howard Hawks Production. Producer: Hal B. Wallis. Executive producer: Jack L. Warner.

      Copyright 20 March 1943 by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. A Warner Bros.-First National Picture. New York opening at the Hollywood: February 1943. U.S. release: 20 March 1943. Australian release: 3 May 1945. 11,421 feet. 127 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: December 1941. The adventures of the U.S. fighter bomber Mary Ann in the Pacific theatre of war.

      NOTES: George Amy won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ award for Film Editing, defeating Owen Marks (Casablanca), Doane Harrison (Five Graves to Cairo), Sherman Todd and John Link (For Whom the Bell Tolls), and Barbara McLean (The Song of Bernadette).

      Air Force was also nominated for Original Screenplay (lost to Princess O’Rourke by Norman Krasna); Cinematography — black-and-white (lost to Arthur Miller for The Song of Bernadette); and Special Effects (lost to Crash Dive).

      Air Force was selected by Bosley Crowther of the New York Times as one of the Ten Best Films of 1943. One of the seventeen critics in the New York Film Critics panel voted Air Force as the number one film of the year. (That critic was not Mr Crowther, who voted for the ultimate winner, Watch on the Rhine). Air Force was selected as number three on the National Board of Review list (behind The Ox-Bow Incident and Watch on the Rhine).

      Domestic gross: $2,700,000.

      COMMENT: Many World War 2 propaganda films now appear excessively dated to-day. Unfortunately, Air Force is no exception. The characters are the usual reluctantly gung-ho types, the dialogue is forced and the incidents strained. Even the action sequences are undermined by obvious process and model work.

      The players do what they can with their two-cent parts, acting out all the false camaraderie with a too-eager patina of sincerity. Hawks’ deliberately eye-level direction comes across as strictly pedestrian. Even Howe’s photography (particularly in its ineptly filtered day-for-night sequences) is not up to his usual classy standard — though he was doubtless striving to give the film a grainy, washed-out (i.e. an image with no highlights) newsreel look. As for Amy’s Award-winning film editing, it’s routine hand me another shot of that stock footage stuff which doesn’t light a candle to Casablanca.

      Hawks’ auteurist admirers will find plenty of their hero’s usual themes, but most viewers will be either bored silly or downright irritated by such unlikely and phoney devices as the rebel who turns into a hero, the lovable little dog who becomes the bomber’s mascot, the softly-spoken Southern officer-gentleman who is actually made of steel, the rough-voiced sergeant whose heart is chockers with loving kindness, etc., etc. 127 minutes of such drearily dated clichés is more than enough for any man. I hope I never see Air Force again.

      OTHER VIEWS: Under-rated Howard Hawks war film with the director in superb form. Although the story has the usual heroics it is all brought vividly to life with superb performances, especially John Garfield. It’s the perfect culmination of an interest that began with The Air Circus.

      — E.V.D.

      A high ranking general in the Army Air Corps who was a friend of Hawks asked him to make this film as a contribution to the war effort. The air battles are a fine example of Hawks’s remarkable ability in handling action sequences; their editing and composition was better than anything up to 1943.

      — Richard Roud.

      A straight propaganda film, pushing the U.S. Air Force for rather more than it’s worth, with excessively slapstick comedy, spectacular action, and the usual sentimental passages; but beautifully made and having an exciting climax in the attempt to get the reconstructed bomber off the ground as the Japanese advance. Hawks, Garfield and the whole Warner production unit of the time, contribute characteristic work, with photography the major asset.

      — B.P.

      Captain Hewett T. Wheless and Captain Sam Triffy helped me prepare this complicated production… Nichols wrote a fine script involving characters that were a cross section of the Allies: an Irishman, a Pole, a Swede, a Jew, a Welshman and an Englishman… Dudley and director Hawks condensed the script and Joe Breen made more cuts on censorship grounds. He wanted army air force men to talk like choirboys. Typical cuts were: Let’s go after those sons of heaven; This place is a hell-hole; He’s a pain in the pants; This is a lousy war; Go thumb your nose at him.

      In August 1942, Hawks and a very large cast left for Tampa, Florida… There was trouble as usual on location. Hawks had a tendency to rewrite dialogue… Tenny Wright, my production manager, reported constant changes and re-arrangement of scenes. I wired Howard to stop meddling with the script… I became more and more furious at the rapidly escalating budget caused by added sequences and Hawks’ slowness… On August 19, I lost patience, and demanded that Hawks wind up production and return home immediately. He flatly refused to do so, insisting he had three more days’ work — shooting a flight of B-17’s coming back to the airfield at dusk… It made a great shot… Jimmy Howe, a wizard, and one of my favorite cameramen… was marvelous.

      — Hal B. Wallis in Starmaker

      by Hal Wallis and Charles Higham

      (Macmillan, New York, 1980).

      According to Lawrence Howard Suid in his Introduction to the published screenplay (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1983), technical adviser Samuel Triffy did an enormous amount of uncredited work on the screenplay and on supervising the production generally (including the writing of dialogue, the shaping of the story, the construction of sets, the co-ordinating of Air Force co-operation, and piloting in the flying sequences). Suid notes that the dialogue in Nichols’ Final Revised shooting script bears only a general relationship to what the characters actually speak on the screen. Suid attributes the re-writing of the dialogue to Hawks and Triffy.

      --

      Algiers

      Charles Boyer (Pepe Le Moko), Sigrid Gurie (Ines), Hedy Lamarr (Gaby), Joseph Calleia (Inspector Slimane), Gene Lockhart (Regis), Alan Hale (Grandpere), Walter Kingsford (Chief Inspector Louvain), Paul Harvey (Commissioner Janvier), Stanley Fields (Carlos), Johnny Downs (Pierrot), Charles D. Brown (Max), Robert Greig Giraux), Leonid Kinskey (L’Arbi), Joan Woodbury (Aicha), Nina Koshetz (Tania), Claudia Dell (Marie), Bert Roach (Maxim), Ben Hall (Gil), Gino Corrado (trigger-happy plainclothesman), Luana Walters (native waitress), Stanley Price (native with hookah), Armand Kaliz (police sergeant).

      Director: JOHN CROMWELL (following Julien Duvivier). Screenplay: Henri La Barthe, Julien Duvivier, Jacques Constant, John Howard Lawson. Additional dialogue: James M. Cain. Based on the 1931 novel Pepe Le Moko by Henri La Barthe (under the pseudonym, Detective Ashelbe, a homophone for the author’s initials, HLB). Photography: James Wong Howe. Film editors: Otho Lovering, William Reynolds (following Marguerite Beaugé). Art directors: Alexander Toluboff, Jacques Krauss. Music composed by Vincent Scotto and Mohammed Ygerbuchen. Costumes designed by Irene (for Miss Lamarr) and Omar Kiam (for Miss Gurie). Associate art director for Mr Toluboff: Wade Rubottom. Hair styles: Nina Roberts. English lyrics: Ann Ronell. Stills: Robert Coburn. Camera operator: Arthur Arling. Grip: Buzz Gibson. Chief electrician: Guy Gillman. 2nd unit photography: Lloyd Knechtel. Technical advisor: Jamiel Hasson. Production manager: Daniel Keefe. Assistant director: Horace Hough. Sound recording: Paul Neal. Western Electric Sound Recording. Producer: Walter Wanger.

      Copyright 8 August 1938 by Walter Wanger Productions, Inc. Released through United Artists. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 14 July 1938 (ran three weeks). U.S. release: 5 August 1938. Australian release: October-December 1938. 10 reels. 96 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: A leading French criminal, Pepe le Moko, is holed up in the Casbah, a slum section of Algiers were the police are unable to lay hands on him. A shrewd native police inspector forges a plan to force Pepe to venture into the streets.

      NOTES: Charles Boyer was nominated for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Annual award for Best Actor, losing to Spencer Tracy in Boys Town.

      The picture also received nominations for Supporting Actor, Gene Lockhart (losing to Walter Brennan in Kentucky); Cinematographer, James Wong Howe; and Art Director, Alexander Toluboff [only Toluboff was nominated, not his associate, Wade Rubottom, nor even Jacques Krauss whose designs Toluboff and Rubottom scrupulously followed] (losing to Carl Weyl’s Adventures of Robin Hood).

      An outstanding success at box-offices worldwide, the film made an international star of Hedy Lamarr, here making her first English-language film. Hedy was borrowed from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at the insistence of Charles Boyer (who himself was forever identified with his role in this picture).

      Although Algiers did not make Frank S. Nugent’s Ten Best Films of 1938 for The New York Times, the movie does figure prominently in his supplementary list.

      COMMENT: Virtually a 90% shot-for-shot remake of the Duvivier Pepe le Moko (see later in this book), even down to the casting of the support players and their costumes. True, Boyer does create an individual portrait, much softer and more romantic than Jean Gabin’s. He is helped by changes in the script which make Le Moko far less vicious and by a slightly different ending which preserves his romantic image. Otherwise, this is simply Pepe le Moko re-visited, with slight changes of emphasis and camera angles here and there, some for the better, some neutral, but fortunately none for the worse. The acting is easier to compare. Leonid Kinsky (of all people) comes over with particular effectiveness in this version and—thanks to some clever bits of business of his own invention—easily outshines an extremely skilful Marcel Dalio. All the other players, however, including Miss Gurie and Miss Lamarr, are either equaled or outclassed by their French equivalents. Gene Lockhart’s portrayal is scrupulously modeled on Charpin’s even down to his facial expressions, while Joseph Calleia gamely attempts to imitate Lucas Gridoux right down to the way he twirls his swagger stick. Nonetheless, if you’re imitating someone or something that’s really first class, you can’t do better than that!

      --

      All That Money Can Buy

      Edward Arnold (Daniel Webster), Walter Huston (Mr Scratch), Jane Harwell (Ma Stone), Simone Simon (Belle), Gene Lockhart (Squire Slossum), John Qualen (Miser Stevens), Frank Conlan (sheriff), Lindy Wade (Daniel Stone), Geo Cleveland (Cy Bibber), Anne Shirley (Mary Stone), James Craig (Jabez Stone), H.B. Warner (Justice Hawthorne), Jeff Corey (Tom Sharp), Sonny Bupp (Martin Van Aldrich), Eddie Dew (farmer), Alec Craig (Eli Higgins), Fern Emmett (wife), Robert Emmett Kean (husband), Carl Stockdale (Van Brooks), Walter Baldwin (Hank), Sarah Edwards (Lucy Slossum), Virginia Williams (3-month-old baby), Stewart Richards (doctor), Patsy Doyle (servant), Anita Lee (infant), Harry Hood (tailor), Harry Humphrey (minister), Ferris Taylor (president), Robert Dudley (Lem), Frank Austin (spectator), Jim Toney (another farmer), Bob Pittard (clerk), Charles Herzinger (old farmhand), Robert Strange (clerk of court), Sherman Sanders (caller), James Farley (studio gateman), William Alland (guide), Sunny Boyne (bit), Bob Burns (townsman).

      Directed by WILLIAM DIETERLE from a screenplay by Dan Totheroh and Stephen Vincent Benet, based on the 1937 short story The Devil and Daniel Webster by Stephen Vincent Benet. Photographed by Joseph August. Film editor: Robert Wise. Music composed and directed by Bernard Herrmann. Art director: Van Nest Polglase. Set decorations: Darrell Silvera. Costumes: Edward Stevenson. Special photographic effects: Vernon L. Walker. Dialogue director: Peter Berneis. Assistant director: Argyle Nelson. Sound recording: Hugh McDowell, Jr. Sound re-recording: James G. Stewart. Associate producer: Charles L. Glett. Producer: William Dieterle. William Dieterle Productions.

      Copyright by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., 6 October 1941. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 16 October 1941. U.S. release: 17 October 1941. Australian release: 20 November 1941. 9,746 feet. 108 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: Faust up-dated to 1840 and re-set in New Hampshire.

      NOTES: Bernard Herrmann won the AMPAS award for Music Scoring of a Dramatic Picture (defeating a huge line-up of 19 other contenders including his own Citizen Kane — and Edward J. Kay’s King of the Zombies). Huston was nominated for Best Actor, but lost to Gary Cooper’s Sergeant York.

      COMMENT: Of important, critically praised U.S. feature films released 1940-1950, there are very few I haven’t seen. One, alas, is All That Money Can Buy, co-scripted by Stephen Vincent Benet himself from his famous short story, The Devil and Fdaniel Webster. Although reissued so many times that it has accumulated no less than four alternate titles (The Devil and Daniel Webster, Here is a Man, Daniel and the Devil, A Certain Mr Scratch), it has never re-surfaced in my neck of the woods — not even on television — after its original 1941 release. Huston’s charismatic performance (he replaced Thomas Mitchell, who was injured early on in the production), along with Dieterle’s always stylish direction, Herrmann’s award-winning music score and August’s atmospheric camerawork are assets to fire the anticipation of any movie fan.

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      Andy Hardy Meets Debutante

      Mickey Rooney (Andy Hardy), Lewis Stone (Judge Hardy), Fay Holden (Mrs Hardy), Cecilia Parker (Marian Hardy), Judy Garland (Betsy Booth), Sara Haden (Aunt Milly), Ann Rutherford (Polly Benedict), Tom Neal (Aldrich Brown), Diana Lewis (Daphne Fowler), George Breakston (Beezy), Cy Kendall (Carrillo), George Lessey (Underwood), Addison Richards (Benedict), Charles Trowbridge (butler), Charles Coleman (head waiter), Erville Alderson (bailiff), Gladys Blake (Gertrude), Clyde Wilson (Francis).

      Directed by GEORGE B. SEITZ from a screenplay by Annalee Whitmore and Thomas Seller, based on characters created by Aurania Rouverol. Photography: Sidney Wagner and Charles Lawton, Jr. Film editor: Harold F. Kress. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons, Gabriel Scognamillo. Set decorations: Edwin B. Willis. Costumes: Dolly Tree. Songs, Alone by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed; I’m Nobody’s Baby by Benny Davis, Milton Ager and Lester Santley. Music composed by David Snell, arranged by Roger Edens. Sound recording: Douglas Shearer. Producer: George B. Seitz.

      An MGM Picture, copyright 1 July 1940 by Loew’s Inc. New York opening at the Capitol: 1 August 1940. U.S. release: 5 July 1940. 9 reels. 89 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: The deb in question is not Judy Garland but Diana Lewis. Needless to say, the gormless Andy pursues this attractive young lady with his customary vigor, so that by film’s end he can confide to his pal, Betsy Booth, that Deb Daphne was just another milestone in my career.

      NOTES: In 1942, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented a Special Award to MGM "for its achievement in representing the American Way of Life in the production of the Andy Hardy series of films".

      COMMENT: One has to wait 20 minutes for Judy Garland to come on and an equal length of time for her to sing Alone. This and Miss Garland’s other number are the only points of interest in this tedious, sententious, and embarrassingly gauche piece of boredom. The direction is as dull as usual and the acting as hammy.

      Diana Lewis is a winning lass, but loses out in her efforts to offset the camera-hogging of her team-mate Mickey Rooney.

      So why am I including this movie in 150 Must-See Cinema Classics? Simple! There are actually more than 150 movies in this book. That gives me plenty of room to include a few lesser endeavors – like those of Mr Joseph Yule, Jr.

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      Andy Hardy’s Double Life

      Mickey Rooney (Andy Hardy), Lewis Stone (Judge Hardy), Fay Holden (Mrs Emily Hardy), Cecilia Parker (Marian Hardy), Ann Rutherford (Polly Benedict), Sara Haden (Aunt Milly), Esther Williams (Sheila Brooks), William Lundigan (Jeff Willis), Susan Peters (Sue), Robert Pittard (Botsy), Bobby Blake (Tooky), Arthur Space (Stedman’s attorney), Howard Hickman (Lincoln’s attorney), Frank Coghlan, Jr. (Red), Mantan Moreland (butler), Addison Richards (Benedict), Erville Alderson (bailiff).

      Directed by GEORGE B. SEITZ from a screenplay by Agnes Christine Johnston, based on characters created by Aurania Rouverol. Photography: John Mescall and George Folsey. Film editor: Gene Ruggiero. Music score: Daniele Amfitheatrof. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons, William Ferrari. Set decorations: Edwin B. Willis, Richard Pefferle. Sound recording: Douglas Shearer. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Carey Wilson.

      An MGM Picture, copyright 1 December 1942 by Loew’s Inc. New York opening at Loew’s State: 11 January 1943. U.S. release: December 1942. Australian release: 23 December 1943. U.S. length: 8,281 feet (92 minutes). Australian length: 8,326 feet (92½ minutes).

      SYNOPSIS: Shuttling between Ann Rutherford and Esther Williams, Andy Hardy finally decides on…

      NOTES: In 1942, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented a Special Award to MGM "for its achievement in representing the American Way of Life in the production of the Andy Hardy series of films".

      Number 13 in the series.

      Film debut of Esther Williams.

      COMMENT: Even with Esther Williams in the cast, this overload of homespun philosophy is pretty hard to take. MGM evidently didn’t want Andy to get to college too soon. In fact, this film’s final sequences are used as the beginning for the next film in the series, Andy Hardy’s Blonde Trouble. This film is really nothing more than some tedious padding and marking time. The direction of George B. Seitz is, as usual, aggressively nondescript.

      Still 19-year-old Esther is a very nice girl and is most attractively photographed by photographer Folsey. It’s an impressive debut. Her scenes positively sparkle. What a shame the rest of the movie is such a bore!

      So why am I including this movie among the 160 or so in this book? Simple! As implied above, I love Esther Williams.

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      Andy Hardy’s Private Secretary

      Mickey Rooney (Andy Hardy), Lewis Stone (Judge Hardy), Fay Holden (Mrs Hardy), Ian Hunter (Steven Land), Sara Haden (Aunt Milly), Ann Rutherford (Polly Benedict), Kathryn Grayson (Kathryn Land), Todd Karns (Harry Land), John Dilson (Davis), Addison Richards (Benedict), George Breakston (Beezy), Margaret Early (Clarabelle Lee), Gene Reynolds (Jimmy MacMahon), Donald Douglas (Harper), Bertha Priestley (Susan Wiley), Joseph Crehan (Peter Dugan), Lee Phelps (Barnes), Hal K. Dawson (shop assistant), Governor John S. Spaulding (himself), Noel Kent (shop assistant).

      Directed by GEORGE B. SEITZ from a screenplay by Jane Murfin and Harry Ruskin, based on a story by Katherine Brush utilizing the characters created by Aurania Rouverol. Photography: Lester White. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons, John S. Detlie. Set decorations: Edwin B. Willis. Film editor: Elmo Veron. Musical program: The Voices of Spring by Johann Strauss; an aria from Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti; I’ve Got My Eyes On You by Cole Porter. Music director: Herbert Stothart. Sound recording: Douglas Shearer. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Lou L. Ostrow.

      An MGM Picture, copyright 17 February 1941 by Loew’s Inc. U.S. release date: 21st February 1941. New York opening at the Capitol: 6 March 1941. Australian release: 18 December 1941. 10 reels. 9,090 feet. 101 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: Andy is such a go-getting know-and-do-it-all in his last year at Carvel High that he flunks his graduation exam.

      NOTES: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented a Special Award to "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio for its achievement in representing the American Way of Life in the production of the Andy Hardy series of films". (Presented at the 1942 Awards Ceremony).

      Kathryn Grayson’s film debut.

      COMMENT: A screaming bore! In this one, the judge’s homespun axioms, Rooney’s frantic facial mugging and the cornball situations come uppermost. Seitz’s direction is at its most monotonously routine. One prays for Miss Grayson to sing to relieve the tedium and when she does (finally) one is sorry one asked. Worst horror of all, the film never seems to come to an end. Up with the land of the free is just another excuse for circular dialogue padding.

      Miss Grayson is not served well by MGM’s tacky sound department, particularly in her Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor. Still, she has a certain youthful charm (which transcends her somewhat unattractive clothes), but all told it’s not a particularly auspicious debut. Not her fault though. She agrees with me that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s sound department, under the leadership of Norma Shearer’s brother, was a distinctly hit-or-miss affair. Mostly miss. Douglas Shearer was actually a genius in reverse, Kathryn told me. That man could take a 90-piece orchestra and make it sound like a tin whistle!

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      Anna and the King of Siam

      Irene Dunne (Anna), Rex Harrison (king), Linda Darnell (Tuptim), Lee J. Cobb (Kralahome), Gale Sondergaard (Lady Thiang), Mikhail Rasumny (Alak), Dennis Hoey (Sir Edward), Tito Renaldo (man prince), Mickey Roth (boy prince), Richard Lyon (Louis Owens), William Edmunds (Moonshee), John Abbott (Phya Phrom), Leonard Strong (interpreter), Connie Leon (Beebe), Diana Van den Ecker (Princess Fa-Ying), Si-lan Chen (dancer), Marjorie Eaton (Miss MacFarlane), Helena Grant (Mrs Cartwright), Stanley Mann (Cartwright), Addison Richards (Captain Orton), Neyle Morrow (Phra Palai), Julian Rivero (government clerk), Chet Vorovan (Siamese guard), Dorothy Chung, Jean Wong (Amazon guards), Yvonne Rob (Lady Sno Klin), Loretta Luiz, Chabing, Marianne Quon, Lillian Molieri, Buff Cobb, Sydney Logan (King’s wives), Olie Chan (old woman), Ted Hecht (judge), Ben Welden (3rd judge), Aram Katcher, Rico DeMontes (guards), Pedro Rigas (guide), Hazel Shon (slave). Joe Garcio, Constantine Romanoff (whippers).

      Directed by JOHN CROMWELL from a screenplay by Talbot Jennings and Sally Benson, based on the 1944 book by Margaret Landon. Photography: Arthur Miller. Film editor: Harmon Jones. Art directors: Lyle Wheeler and William Darling. Set decorations: Thomas Little and Frank E. Hughes. Music composed by Bernard Herrmann. Special photographic effects: Fred Sersen. Make-up: Ben Nye. Costumes: Bonnie Lashin. Assistant director: Saul Wurtzel. Sound recording: Bernard Freericks, Roger Heman. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Louis D. Lighton. Executive producer: Darryl F. Zanuck.

      Copyright 20 June 1946 by 20th Century Fox Film Corp. U.S. release date: August 1946. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 20 June 1946. U.K. release: 30 September 1946. London opening at the New Gallery, and Tivoli, Strand: 11 August 1946. Australian release: 2 January 1947. 14 reels. 11,548 feet. 128 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: English governess meddles in state affairs in 19th century Siam.

      NOTES: Winner of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ award for Best black-and-white Cinematography: Arthur Miller (defeating George Folsey’s The Green Years).

      Also winner of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ award for Best black-and-white Art Direction (defeating Kitty, and The Razor’s Edge).

      Also nominated for Supporting Actress, Gale Sondergaard (Anne Baxter in The Razor’s Edge), Adapted Screenplay (The Best Years Of Our Lives), and Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (The Best Years Of Our Lives).

      Number three in The Film Daily annual Poll of U.S. film critics.

      Cutting-room floor players: Sir C. Aubrey Smith (Sir John Lawford), Margaret Bannerman (Mrs Hillary).

      Rex Harrison worked out his interpretation of the king in conjunction with his drama coach, Elsa Schreiber, much to the displeasure of director John Cromwell, who complained to studio head, Darryl F. Zanuck. When Harrison was supported by Zanuck, however, the director refused to even speak to Harrison on the set, concentrating all his attention on Irene Dunne.

      COMMENT: A disappointingly boring piece of feminist propaganda, somewhat overshadowed by its musical remake, The King and I. Cromwell’s direction is surprisingly dull and the film would benefit by some sharp cutting. Most of Lee J. Cobb’s scenes could go for a start. He is miscast and looks most incongruous as a native head-of-state. Then we would slice into quite a few of Miss Dunne’s scenes and eliminate some of her close-ups from the ones we left. Rex Harrison’s rounded portrait of the king is the film’s chief asset, though he is not as dynamic as Yul Brynner. Gale Sondergaard has a few effective moments as the king’s first wife and Linda Darnell is surprisingly powerful as the unstable Tuptim.* But the rest of the cast is completely overshadowed by the script’s and the director’s relentless concentration on Miss Dunne. The film is lavishly produced (though the sets and costumes cry for color).**

      OTHER VIEWS: An exotic soap opera. Irene Dunne and Rex Harrison as the leads are a help but running gags like everyone singing No Place Like Home as part of Dunne’s campaign for separate accommodation or Harrison’s drinking soup from a plate don’t really mesh with the remarkably bizarre incident where Linda Darnell as the defecting favorite is burned at the stake; and the child’s death finally plunges the whole film into the lavish weepy bracket. Cromwell’s direction is indecisive. Anna and the King of Siam used to be a must-see experience for Siamese traveling away from their homeland where it was banned.

      — B.P.

      * Originally, Gene Tierney was assigned to this role but she rejected it as she felt "it was too

      small".

      ** Nevertheless, the film won The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards for Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography — in the black-and-white division. The Yearling won these three awards for color.

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      the Apartment

      Jack Lemmon (C. C. Baxter), Shirley MacLaine (Fran Kubelik), Fred MacMurray* (J. D. Sheldrake), Ray Walston (Dobisch), Edie Adams (Miss Olsen), Hope Holiday (Margie MacDougall), Jack Kruschen (Dr Dreyfuss), David Lewis (Kirkeby), Joan Shawlee (Sylvia), Johnny Seven (Karl Matuschka), Naomi Stevens (Mrs Dreyfuss), Frances Weintraub Lax (Mrs Lieberman), Joyce Jameson (blonde), Willard Waterman (Vanderhof), David White (Eichelberger), Benny Burt (bartender), Hal Smith (Santa Claus), Dorothy Abbott (office worker).

      Director: BILLY WILDER. Screenplay: Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond. Photographed in Panavision by Joseph LaShelle. Art director: Alexander Trauner. Set decorations: Edward G. Boyle. Film editor: Daniel Mandell. Music: Adolph Deutsch. Songs Lonely Room by Adolph Deutsch; Jealous Lover by Charles Williams. Make-up: Harry Ray. Special effects: Milton Rice. Production manager: Allen K. Wood. Assistant director: Hal Polaire. Sound: Fred Lau, Gordon E. Sawyer. Associate producers: Doane Harrison, I. A. L. Diamond. Producer: Billy Wilder.

      A Mirisch Company production, released by United Artists in July 1960 (U.S.A.), 25 September 1960 (U.K.), 1 June 1961 (Australia). (11,277 feet). (125 minutes). New York opening simultaneously at the Astor and the Plaza: 15 June 1960.

      SYNOPSIS: Junior executive has an apartment which he loans to senior management personnel for use as a rendezvous with various girl-friends.

      NOTES: Prestigious Hollywood awards for Best Picture, defeating The Alamo, Elmer Gantry, Sons and Lovers, The Sundowners; Best Directing, defeating Sons and Lovers, Never On Sunday, Psycho, The Sundowners; Best Original Screen Story and Screenplay, defeating Angry Silence, Facts of Life, Hiroshima, Never on Sunday; Best Black-and-White Art Direction, defeating Facts of Life, Psycho, Sons and Lovers, Visit to a Small Planet; and Best Film Editing, defeating The Alamo, Inherit the wind, Pepe, Spartacus.

      Also nominated for Awards for Best Actor, Jack Lemmon [Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry], Best Actress, Shirley MacLaine [Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8], Supporting Actor, Jack Kruschen [Peter Ustinov in Spartacus], Black-and-White Cinematography [Sons and Lovers], Sound Recording [The Alamo].

      Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay — New York Film Critics.

      Best Picture — Film Daily poll of over 500 film critics.

      Best Film — British Film Academy.

      Best American Film — Foreign Language Press of New York.

      VIEWERS’ GUIDE: Adults.

      COMMENT: In many ways, the best of Wilder’s comedies and of Lemmon’s performances, and by any standards one of the best films of its period. Scene after scene is worked out in terms that are both moving and funny, as when Lemmon tries to cheer MacLaine with such housekeeping tricks as straining the spaghetti with a tennis racquet (You should see me serve the meat balls!) or the ending with the build-up of the run along the street turned into a laugh by the shot of Lemmon standing with the champagne pouring over his hand.

      The film has a remarkably bitter strain even for Wilder, with lift-girl MacLaine saying, Just ’cos I wear a uniform doesn’t mean I’m a girl scout! and the office heads selling out the hero only to be outclassed by four-star swine MacMurray as the boss who is prepared to use his power as dispenser of keys to the executive washroom to reward the underling. Each of the characters is beautifully caught by an excellent cast.

      The Apartment relates to Wilder’s other movies in its realistic settings (Double Indemnity, Lost Weekend, Kiss Me Stupid) and in such marvellous gags like the Santa Claus who rushes into the bar explaining that his sled is double-parked, or the landlady who accuses Lemmon of being a beatnik because he uses paper towels.

      Trauner manages to work harmoniously in a number of different studio styles — the modern office, the dilapidated apartment, which almost become characters themselves. The photography is superlative and it is surprising to see how many important scenes take their key from the music.

      — Barrie Pattison.

      The last black-and-white movie to win a Best Picture Oscar, The Apartment holds the attention rigidly throughout, despite its somewhat tawdry premise. Partly this is due to the skill of the writing, which has a sharp, caustic, realistic cynicism; partly to the deft direction with its involving lighting and camerawork, its rapid pacing and rhythmic film editing; but mostly to the brilliance of the interpretations. The portraits Wilder has drawn from his players are amongst the best of their careers. As the heavy, MacMurray is an absolute stand-out.

      — G.A.

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      April in Paris

      Doris Day (Ethel Dynamite Jackson), Ray Bolger (S. Winthrop Putnam), Claude Dauphin (Philippe Fouquet), Eve Miller (Marcia Sherman), George Givot (Francois), Paul Harvey (Secretary Sherman), Herbert Farjeon (Joshua Stevens), Wilson Millar (Sinclair Wilson), Raymond Largay (Joseph Weimar), John Alvin (Tracey), Jack Lomas (cab driver), Veronica Pataky (Mimi Fouquet), Dee Carroll, Jill Richards (secretaries), Don Brodie (employee), Donald Kerr (usher), Harry Tyler (janitor), Maurice Marsac (representative), Eugene Borden (master chef), Nestor Paiva (ship’s captain), Andrew Berner (Jacques), Robert Scott Cornell (Charles), Pat Mitchell (Marie), Patsy Weil (Jeanne), Delfina Salazar (Yvonne), Bess Flowers (numerous walk-ons, including airline passenger, theatregoer, diner on board ship).

      Director: DAVID BUTLER. Original screenplay: Jack Rose and Melville Shavelson. Photographed in Technicolor by Wilfrid M. Cline. Film editor: Irene Morra. Art director: Leo K. Kuter. Set decorator: Lyle B. Reifsnider. Costumes: Leah Rhodes. Make-up: Gordon Bau. Technicolor color consultant: Mitchell G. Kovaleski. Assistant director: Phil Quinn. Sound recording: C.A. Riggs and David Forrest. Producer: William Jacobs.

      Songs: April in Paris (chorus, reprised Day, reprised Dauphin, reprised Day and Dauphin, reprised chorus), lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, music by Vernon Duke; It Must Be Good (Day and chorus), I’m Gonna Ring the Bell Tonight (Day, Bolger and ensemble), That’s What Makes Paris Paree (Day, Dauphin and chorus), Isn’t Love Wonderful? (Day, Dauphin and Bolger), Give Me Your Lips (Dauphin), The Place You Hold in My Heart (Day), I Know a Place (Day), I’m Going to Rock the Boat (Day), State of the Union (Bolger), I’m On My Way — Life Is Such a Pleasure (Bolger), French Verbs (Day, Dauphin and male chorus), all by Sammy Cahn (lyrics) and Vernon Duke (music); Aupres de Ma Blonde (Day, Dauphin), traditional. Music director: Ray Heindorf. Orchestrations: Frank Comstock. Musical numbers staged and directed by LeRoy Prinz. Vocal arrangements: Norman Luboff.

      Copyright 3 December 1952 by Warner Bros Pictures, Inc.

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