Laughter in Paradise

I mentioned yesterday that I had recently picked up Laughter in Paradise on a cheap, bare-bones DVD. It's more than worth a watch, and worth a buy at the low price.

Henry Russell (Hugh Griffith), one of those people who is known for being known; in this case, he's a famous practical joker. Or, more accurately, was known, since he's on his deathbed and his death is what kicks off the action of the movie. It turns out that Henry had four relatives of various closeness, and he's included each of them in his will. Henry has left each of those four relatives the princely sum (for the early 1950s) of £50,000. But there's a catch. Each of them has to perform certain actions to earn the money, and for all of them, those actions are out of character:

• Agnes Russell (Fay Compton) is Henry's sister. She lives alone, childless, with a maid whom she treats like dirt. Henry's task for her is to take on a job as a domestic servant and do it for a month without getting fired.
  
• Deniston (Alastair Sim) is a successful writer, except that he writes pulp fiction under a series of aliases. He's engaged to Elizabeth (Joyce Grenfell) who doesn't know anything about Deniston's real job. His task is to get himself arrested and spend 28 days in jail in the manner of the characters he writes about.
  
• Herbert (George Cole) is a distant cousin who works as a bank clerk, and is very meek, constantly badgered by his boss. Henry wants Herbert to don a mask and get a gun, and then hold up his boss without being discovered for a full two minutes.
  
• Simon (Guy Middleton) is a smarmy Jack Carson type who mooches off of everybody and uses women and discards them. Henry's job for Simon is to marry the first unmarried woman he talks to.

Naturally, all four have difficulties fulfilling the terms of their job. Agnes winds up working for an irascible Scot; nothing goes right for Herbert; and no matter what Deniston tries, he can't seem to get anybody to notice him and arrest him. There's a lot of scope for comedy here, and much of that scope is utilized. Sim is delightful as always, while Cole and Compton both do well too.

The movie is overall strong, with a well-handled ending, although there are some problems. First of all, I can't imagine any jurisdiction making it legal to have a will that forces the beneficiaries to commit crime in order to receive what's bequeathed to them, as two of the characters here have to do. But that's minor suspension of disbelief; the bigger problem I had was with Simon's character, who is really an obnoxious jerk. You want everybody else to smack him.

TCM ran Laughter in Paradise recently as part of their Star of the Month salute to Audrey Hepburn. She's in the credits under "Introducing", and she only gets one scene as a cigarette girl Simon talks to (and by the terms of the will, he should be marrying her).

Serendipity

One of the TCM themes this night is the European vacation. No; they're not showing the Chevy Chase movie by that title; they're running a bunch of movies about people travelling mostly to Europe, although I think there are one or two movies like M. Hulot's Holiday (early tomorrow morning at 3:45 AM) about Europeans on vacation within the continent.

Anyhow, I bring this all up because I wasn't paying attention two weeks back when I blogged about The Pleasure Seekers. That movie, about three young American women working in Spain (well, two of them are working and a third joins them for a sojourn), will be on tonight at 10:30 PM as part of the European vacation theme.

The other thing I didn't notice was that Laughter in Paradise was on the TCM schedule early this week because Star of the Month Audrey Hepburn has a very small role as a cigarette girl. I just bought the movie on DVD from Amazon because when I was looking something up Amazon suggested a lot of British movies on inexpensive DVDs. So I picked up this one, a couple I already blogged about, and another one I haven't as well as some other box sets like an ultra-cheap Carole Lombard box set with movies that I don't think I've seen at all. All of the DVDs had been in my shopping cart for several weeks, and I bought them, including Laughter in Paradise, without realizing it was on the TCM schedule. At any rate I know what I'm blogging about this weekend.

Thursday Movie Picks #152: Double Features

This being Thursday, it's time for another edition of "Thursday Movie Picks", the blogathon run by Wandering Through the Shelves. This week's theme is double features. I used Diabolique a couple of weeks ago, so there goes my dobule-bill of that and Psycho, but I've got some other perverted ideas rattling around in my brain:

One Foot in Heaven (1941) and One Foot in Hell (1960). These two movies share nothing in common other than the title. The earlier movie is a nostalgic biopic about a Methodist minister who received his calling at the beginning of the last century, and spent the next several decades serving the church, and dealing with parishioners who don't really want to engage in Christian charity. The latter is an enjoyable western about a man who wants to rob a bank to get back at the town that he feels negligently killed his wife.

Perhaps I should have paired One Foot in Hell with the latter of the movies in this double-bill: Thank God It's Friday (1978) and Violent Saturday (1955). You probably know Thank God It's Friday; Violent Saturday is about three men who come into a town in Arizona to rob the bank, not realizing that everybody in town has their own dirty secrets. It's not particularly good to be honest, but it's one of those movies that's a hell of a lot of fun. One of the really fun things is Ernest Borgnine playing the part of... an Amish farmer! And he might be able to be the hero if only he could be un-Amishly violent himself.

Finally, there's The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) and Soylent Green (1973). I don't think anything more needs to be said. Everybody was fed up with (or is that fed on) Sheridan Whiteside by the film's denouement.

TCM Guest Programmer June 2017: Billy Bob Thornton

So we've reached that point of the month where we get another Guest Programmer on TCM. This month, it's Billy Bob Thornton, star of movies like Sling Blade and former Mr. Angelina Jolie; he sat down with Ban Mankiewicz to present three of his favorite movies. Those movies, with the intros, are running tonight:

The Man With the Golden Arm, starring Frank Sinatra as a heroin addict, kicks off the night at 8:00 PM;
Giant, yet another overrated James Dean movie about the sprawling life of a Texas family, follows at 10:15 PM; and
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Sam Peckinpah's version of the western story of Billy the Kid, comes on at 2:00 AM.

I note that once again there are only three movies. I suppose that with Giant in there you could say there are time constraints, but I seem to recall Donald Trump selecting Gone With the Wind when he ws part of the month of Guest Programmers in November 2007, and he still presented four movies. I don't know if this is a permanent change or not.

Midnight Lace

I watched Midnight Lace some months back because I'd seen TCM hawk that four-film Doris Day box set from Universal and figured since I hade Midnight Lace on my DVR, I'd watch it and do a full-length post on it. It turned out that the box set is now out of print. But a standalone DVD was in the works, and that DVD is being released today.

Doris Day plays Kit Preston, an American in London who's living there because she got married a few months back to businessman Anthony (Rex Harrison). They're well-to-do, as Kit doesn't need to work, and they even have a maid. Anyhow, today she's dealing with her new passport and then is going to do some shopping. But she's warned that it's one of those days where London's stereotypical fog has rolled in, and if she wants they'll call a taxi for her.

Kit decides to walk home, which sets in motion a series of events that changes everybody's lives. While going through Grosvenor Square, she hears a voice that tells her he's watching her, and that he's coming to get her. Needless to say, this sends Kit into a panic -- I mean, who wouldn't be shocked by some strange voice calling you out in the fog where you can't see it?

So Kit tells everybody when she gets home, but of course people don't particularly believe her. At most, it's just the sort of practical joke that people play on each other when the fog rolls in and nobody can see who's doing what. But then Kit gets a call at home from the same guy, which really stuns her. After all, who has their phone number? And why would anybody call her at home. But still it always seems to happen when there's nobody else around to confirm it.

On Kit's side are her husband, fellow tenant Peggy (Natasha Perry), and Kit's Aunt Bea, about to visit from London (Myrna Loy). Oh, and there's the Scotland Yard inspector (John Williams). And of course, there are several obvious suspects. First off is the son of her housekeeper, Malcolm (Roddy McDowall). He seems to be short of money all the time, and frankly, his constant attempts to grasp for money bother Kit. She liks the housekeeper, but not Malcolm. Then there's Brian (John Gavin), a construction foreman at a building site next to the Preston's building. He always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Finally, there's a man who seems to be following Kit, but always just out of sight.

Doris Day didn't get too many chances to do serious drama, and for the most part she does well. This is a part in which the character has good reason to question her own sanity, which is a tough role for anybody to play. It's easy to go too far over the top and turn things into an unintentional parody. Day comes close to the line at times, but generally gives a good performance. (It may just be that I don't like her vocal quality and it's this that makes her sound like she's going over the top.) Rex Harrison is good but nothing special. Myrna Loy does her usual fine job in a supporting role while John Gavin is solid in a role that calls for him to be nothing more than solid. McDowall probably comes closest to going over the top, as he makes his character too much of a jerk. Herbert Marshall and Richard Ney also lend support.

Midnight Lace is a pretty good thriller. Sure, there are plot holes, but it entertains right up until the end. And the standalone DVD is relatively inexpensive.

TCM Star of the Month June 2017 Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn (the only woman in the scene) in Roman Holiday (1953)

We're in the first full week of a new month, which means that we're going to get a new Star of the Month on TCM. This time, it's Audrey Hepburn, whose glamour always shone through even in roles that don't quite call for it, such as Wait Until Dark. Audrey's films will be on TCM on Mondays in prime time, and it's reasonably appropriate that the month starts off with the film that won her an Oscar, Roman Holiday at 8:00 PM. The photo at left is a publicity shot from How to Steal a Million, which is going to be on the 19th at 8:00 PM. In fact, that's right before the aforementioned Wait Until Dark, which will show up at 10:15 PM that night.

One notable absence is Sabrina, although that's not one of my favorite movies, so I'm not as disappointed by its absence as a lot of people might be.

Private Property

I watched Private Property off my DVR today because I noticed that it was rediscovered and got a DVD release at the end of last year. I'm sorry to say that I wouldn't pay the prices they're asking for the DVD.

The film starts off with a pair of drifters showing up at a gas station on the coastal highway somehwere north of Los Angeles. Duke (Corey Allen) is clearly the stronger personality in the pair, while the more submissive is Boots (Warren Oates). Duke is also something of a petty criminal, as he initiates what would be a hold-up if it weren't for the fact that the gas station attendant wisely gives in and lets the two guys have the bottles of soda they want. At the station, they run into a nice mid-50s car being driven by appliance salesman Ed (Jerome Cowan who only has the one scene) down to a convention in Los Angeles. They basically carjack him, as they're going to Los Angeles too.

It's not a hitch-hike because at the station they also meet Ann (Kate Manx), who is driving down to Los Angeles and only stopped to ask directions. Duke makes Ed drive them to Ann's house, high in the hills overlooking Los Angeles. As they're dropped off, they notice another house further up the hill that doesn't seem to be occupied, so they take up squatting.

Duke and Boots start ogling Ann from afar. Duke kindly tells Boots that Boots can have the sexual conquest, because Boots has never actually had sex before, somthing that will surprise audiences watching today that they'd talk about something liek this in a movie from 1960. However, it turns out that Duke is just as interested in Ann as he thinks Boots is. Duke goes down the hill to visit Ann several times. Of course, Ann already has a husband, which is going to cause problems. Fortunately for Duke, however, that husband is going away on a business trip of his own....

As I implied in the opening paragraph, I'm not particularly a fan of this movie. There's something about Duke's manipulativeness that really turned me off. There are certainly some good characters who can be manipulative; I'm reminded of Alan Arkin's Roat in Wait Until Dark. But Duke comes across as a creep. The fact that it's Duke who dominates proceedings throught the movie makes it a bit of a slog for me. Warren Oates is good as Boots, and there's some lovely black-and-white cinematography of the way the Los Angeles suburbs looked back in 1960. But that wasn't enough for me to make the movie one I'd like. But watch for yourself and draw your own conclusions.

The Captain's Paradise

Alec Guinness in The Captain's Paradise (1953)

About a year ago, I mentioned this five-movie Alec Guinness set. It still seems to be available, but I don't know if they're running out of stock since it says there are only three left. Anyhow, I watched The Captain's Paradise off of it this morning.

The opening scene has Guinness being taken to a firing squad for execution, although it doesn't exactly say where. Cut to his funeral aboard a ship, with a Mr. St. James (Miles Malleson) interrupting. St. James asks the captain Ricco (Charles Goldner) about a nephew, one Henry St. James, who was supposedly the captain of the ship. Ah, but he was, and it turns out that it was Capt. St. James for whom they were holding the funeral.

Mr. St. James was asking about his nephew Henry because Henry was apparently searching for the secret to happiness, and Rico claims that Henry had in fact found that secret. So why the execution? Well, you'll have to watch the rest of the movie for that. At any rate, Henry's ship, the Golden Fleece, is a ferry running from Gibraltar to a place across the Strait of Gibraltar the name of which I didn't recognize. (Tangier would be the obvious choice since that's the big city, although the nearest port of call would actually be the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, and this would also explain the fact that the customs agents all speak Spanish.) In port, Henry has a wife in Nita (Yvonne de Carlo). She enjoys the night life, going out with Henry every time he's in port.

But then he goes back to Gibraltar. And when he gets back to Gibraltar, he goes home to his wife Maud (Celia Johnson). Yes, that's right, Henry has two wives, one in each port. And Maud is the exact opposite of Nita, in that she seems to be extremely domestic and the other half of what Henry wants in a wife. Now, as you can probably figure from a guy having two wives, you have to assume that somehow this is all going to be found out. And as it turns out, Ricco already knows about ti, but he seems to be the only person who knows. One day, Maud decides to go across the strait to Africa and suprise Henry, which is most certainly a surprise! It's up to Ricco to keep the two wives from finding out about each other.

I have to admit that I found The Captain's Paradise to be the weakest of the five movies in the set. In part that's because the other four are all so good, but the other part is that I found the movie to be meandering, with the type of main character I don't find particularly sympathetic. I've stated quite a few times that I don't really care for the plot line that has a character lying and then telling ever bigger lies to keep people from finding out. The Captain's Paradise isn't quite like that, but is a main theme. Something about the whole production just comes across as not quite right to me.

Of course, the box set contains those other four movies, so if it's still in stock for you, you could do worse to get those four movies at a good price. And who knows; maybe you'll enjoy The Captain's Paradise a lot more than I did.

Treasures from the Disney Vault, June 2017

It seems to be once every three months that TCM runs another installment of Treasures from the Disney Vault. Not that we get the real treasures, of course; Disney wants to keep the animated features for itself. But at any rate, once every three months seems to be a good schedule since it's easy to put these in March, June, September, and December, and not run afoul of 31 Days of Oscar or Summer Under the Stars.

Tonight's lineup has two themes: Hayley Mills and horses. Unless, I suppose, you think Hayley Mills has something to do with a horse. Hayley Mills' best-known movie is probably The Parent Trap, which isn't on tonight's lineup. Instead we get a pair of small-town movies in Summer Magic (which I hadn't heard of) at 8:00 PM followed by Pollyanna at 10:00.

The rest of the lineup is horse-themed, with one traditional Disney cartoon short (in the sense of having Mickey Mouse and his friends) at 12:30 AM followed by a bunch of stuff I haven't heard of. Looks like a couple of TV episodes and a couple of lesser-known live action features.

Thursday Movie Picks #151: Tall Buildings

This being Thursday, it's time for another edition of "Thursday Movie Picks", the blogathon run by Wandering Through the Shelves. This week's theme is tall buildings, and being a fan of older films, I've picked a couple of older movies once again:

Skyscraper Souls (1932). Warren William plays a businessman who owns the tallest building in New York, and is trying to keep control over it. Meanwhile, he's also trying to balance a love life against his business interests. That's the main plot thread; there are several sub-plots involving people who work in the building. Maureen O'Sullivan plays one of the love interests.

Baby Face (1933). Barbara Stanwyck plays a woman who, having been pimped out by her own father, is told by a fan of Nietsche, "Use men to get the things you want. Stanwyck then proceeds to go to the big city and sleep her way to the top, discarding one man after another along the way. (John Wayne, early in his career, is one of those men.) Every time she sets off on a new conquest, there's an establishing shot of the façade of the building where she works, panning up a few more stories, to show that yes, she really is working her way to the top.

An Affair to Remember (1957). Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr meet on board a transatlantic cruise and fall in love although each is already engaged to another outside person. They agree to meet six months later on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Grant makes it, but Kerr gets hit by a car and winds up in a wheelchair, leaving Cary to wonder if Kerr remembered or not. It's a sappy love story, but I didn't want to use King Kong for the Empire State Building.