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The Far Country (1954)
Grossly Underrated--one of Stewart-Mann's best
It vies with The Naked Spur as the best Stewart-Mann western, although Bend of the River and Winchester '73 are also excellent. What I particularly like about this Stewart-Mann western is Stewart's hero is presented as flawed, often maimed psychologically, and never more so than here. The hero is superior but not superhuman. He's very human. Jeff Webster is taciturn, even righteously egotistical. Which, I guess, means Stewart is playing against type and does so expertly. Jeff's credo is totally solipsistic: he'll look out for himself (and in a pinch his sidekick Walter Brennan) and no one else. Of course, there's a price to pay. In a sense, Stewart's take and that of the movie is on It's A Wonderful Life. Only here Jeff Webster gets to see the effects of his willful withdrawal from the community in real time. Definitely top-notch.
Brothers in Law (1957)
Bertie Wooster as barrister
An excellent English period comedy with Ian Carmichael as lead. I started to write "starring..." but although Carmichael is definitely the leading actor here, he is not given star billing, not even lead billing. This is not the only time this happened in the '50s, or the only time it happened to Carmichael (and others). The English didn't seem to understand how to showcase its young would-be stars.
It is, though, a superb comedy about a young barrister fresh out of law school trying to get his foot in the big time law practice. The supporting cast is expert, especially Miles Malleson and Edith Sharpe who plays Carmichael's mother and has a nice bit at the end. If you liked I'm All Right, Jack, you will like this, too, even if this one doesn't have Peter Sellers or Dennis Price.
Carmichael would later play Bertie Wooster in the BBC production, and then go on from there to play Dorothy Sayers's Peter Wimsey in a series, which is appropriate as the mature Wimsey is Bertie all grown up, if that can be imagined.
The Three Musketeers (1973)
A Masterpiece--funny and thrilling
A combination adventure/comedy/romance, it is simply superb. It has flair and it moves fast. Everyone is good in it, even, surprisingly, Racquel. There's more than a touch of parody and self-parody. It's like they all watched too many swashbuckling movies. To wit: D'Artagnan (York) tries to extinguish a candle with a flourish of his sword across the flame. It doesn't work; he shakes his head, removes his gauntlet; and puts it out with his finger and thumb. Racquel's husband, Spike Milligan, keeps trying to arrange to have sex with her, but something always goes wrong, including and especially the interference of the Cardinal Richelieu and his henchmen.
And Heston is superb as Richelieu. Great turn as villain. Great because he plays it straight. That's what makes him so effective. He and Christopher Lee play off each other brilliantly. (He walks into his torture chamber, talking to either Spike or Chistoperher Lee (I forget which), and one of the victims hanging from within one of the cages says very respectfully, "And how are you, Your grace." The fey king who has his courtyard lawn manicured like a chessboard plays the game with live dogs. He is perfect, too.
The swordplay, of which there is plenty, is brilliantly choreographed. They actually had to learn to fight with swords. Lee almost was killed. If there is a hero, it's D'Artagnan's man-servant. When I saw it as a young man when it came out, the audience cheered loudly when the guys came to the rescue at the end.
O. Henry's Full House (1952)
Ransom of Red Chief the best
Each segment is well done, but most are quite predictable, even if expertly produced and performed.
The Ransom of Red Chief is the exception. It still seems fresh and original. Both Allen and Levant are good, as is the kid. Hawks's direction is eminently assured. The general predictability of the stories as a whole, though, is probably unavoidable, as it emanates directly from the source, O. Henry's tales. O. Henry is strictly minor league stuff and has not worn well.
But, still, they are professional executed and well-done for the most part.
Only Red Chief seems inspired, however.
Speed (1936)
This is not James Stewart's first starring role
That honor goes to Next Time We Love with Margaret Sullavan. Indeed, she specifically chose Stewart to play opposite her. What stands out here is how even in his early raw period, his naturalness before the camera stands out.
Most everyone's style of acting is rather dated, but not Stewart's. This is so even in the musical he did with Eleanor Powell, Born to Dance. Not even in those early roles where he was honing his skills. He even stands out against Powell and Loy and Company in After the Thin Man, where he shows an early surprising edge. Speed demonstrates that Stewart did drunk well--see The Philadelphia Story for later confirmation of this.
He's also quite sexy in some of that early stuff.
Comanche Station (1960)
One of Scott's best movies
A fine, fine movie. It's a movie about a man on a quest to find his wife who was abducted by the Indians. He's been searching for her for ten years. The movie is about staying true to yourself by refusing to forsake your commitments. By chance he runs across another woman who was abducted by Indians, buys her from them, and the relationship between them develops into a close one, but not a romantic one. What's unusual is that this movie is about respect between a man and a woman. It doesn't settle for the easy score. You get the sense that a romantic relationship might have developed between them had it not been for their respective prior commitments, but both of them must stay true to those commitments and to their core sense of themselves.
Scott has never been more laconic. He gets a lot out of a few words and a look. He doesn't play the role; he is that lonely man on what is probably a fruitless quest. When complications arise in the form of outlaw bounty hunters, you see how the Scott character might have turned out if he had no code and no sense of self. What's more, he realizes it. He knows the line that he didn't cross is a thin one, and it's always there. Maybe his wife had something to do with that, but most definitely his commitment to his code does. The young men who have taken a wrong turn are particularly poignant. It's a really well-structured and dramatically developed movie. The ending is touching, exactly right. This was to be Scott's valedictory, but a couple of years later he came back and re-teamed with his great western star rival of the '50s Joel McCrea in what many consider another western masterpiece, Ride the High Country, which also is similar in theme and character.
Hands Across the Table (1935)
MacMurray Steals the Show!
Fred MacMurray's line readings here are simply impeccable--on par with, oh, say, Cary Grant in His Girl Friday. Another not wholly sympathetic leading role in a comedy. Unfortunately, the movie ends up being kind of muddle-headed toward the end. Still, the chemistry between the two stars is fully evident, and I like that the movie doesn't crassly gloss over the Bellamy character's hurt and resentment. It gives the movie body. The domestic scenes between Lombard and MacMurray are particular good--sort of a warm-up, too, for what Liesen does with Jean Arthur and Ray Milland in their glorious cohabitation scenes at the Hotel Louie in Liesen's Easy Living. Liesen is an unfairly forgotten director of romantic comedies. Besides this one, and Easy Living, check out also Remember the Night and Midnight.
The Great McGinty (1940)
What's Up is Down, What's Wrong is Right
The Great McGinty grabbed me with its verve and jaunty iconoclasm from the beginning. "This is the story of two men who met in a banana republic. One of them never did anything dishonest in his life except for one crazy minute. The other never did anything honest in his life except for one crazy minute. They both had to get out of the country." In McGinty, a guy on the outs votes for a politician something like 72 times, and for this he is rewarded with a political boss's favor--"The Boss," and what a boss. Akim Tamiroff is simply wonderful: "Where you get that horse blanket?" And: "What a wonderful opportunity. This state needs everything. ... We'll need - you'll kiss me for this - a new dam. ... You think a dam is something you put a lot of water in. A dam is something you put a lot of concrete in. And it doesn't matter how much you put in there's always room for a lot more. ..." As the lead, "The Boss's" counterpart and equal, it's Brian Donlevy as he never had been before, never was again. McGinty (and Sturge's second movie, Christmas in July) may not quite be up there in the stratosphere with his absolute best like The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels, or Unfaithfully Yours, but they are nevertheless both wonderful movies with the Sturges stamp of buoyant uniqueness.
Love on a Bet (1936)
Deserves to be better remembered
Superb comedy starring two underrated comedy performers, Gene Raymond and Wendy Barrie. Helen Broderick, she of many a stalwart supporting comedy roles, especially at her best in the Astaire/Rogers musicals. And here. Like many comedies, it's a road picture. Raymond makes a bet with his rich Uncle that he can cross the country without any money, or clothes for that matter. One of the incidental, but prime, delights of the movie, is that it serves as treasure trove of all sorts of little bits of Americana--traveling highways before interstates and four-lanes, motor courts, homemade preserves, the apparel of the time, etc. The banter among the three principles is of a high order, Raymond's line readings are on par with the best--Gable in It Happened One Night; Powell in a number of thirties comedies like Libeled Lady, The Thin Man, and My Man Godfrey. He especially reminds me of McCrea in Woman Chases Man and The Richest Girl in the World. And Barrie keeps up with him all the way--in later collaborations with Raymond (as in Cross Country Romance) she was a little too strident, but here she's perfect. Raymond would also team with Ann Sothern in some like comedies, some of which are quite good, but this is the best one Raymond made. The plot of Love on a Bet is loose enough for the movie to seem improvised, almost leisurely at times, yet tight enough to create real tension, and to threaten our hope that everything works out. But of course it does.