Posts Tagged ‘classic’

Cass Timberlane

Saturday, February 28th, 2009
Movies Online

“Cass Timberlane” is a drama based on the novel by Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Sinclair Lewis. The movie version of the novel follows the story of a beautiful and spirited working class girl, Virginia Marshland (winningly played by Lana Turner) who meets and falls in love with a respected judge, Cass Timberlane (earnestly portrayed by Spencer Tracy).

Cass is a widower who first encounters Virginia, aka Ginny, on the witness stand. Ginny is an artist. After her testimony, she inadvertently leaves behind her sketchbook in the courtroom. The sketches include one of Judge Timberlane as an angel clutching a gavel. Someone finds the sketchbook and returns it to the judge. When Ginny sees the judge about recovering her artwork, Cass tells her that he is flattered and amused by her drawing of him. Ginny gives the drawing to Cass, and he takes it home to proudly display on his mantle.

Cass and Ginny next cross paths when Cass is visiting an area of town that he explored as a child. As it happens, Ginny is the pitcher at a nearby baseball game. Cass and Ginny accidentally meet again when a stray ball finds the judge. Ginny persuades Cass to act as umpire in her baseball game. The two hit it off. Courtship and marriage follow.

Ginny is truly in love with her new husband. But she finds that most of his wealthy friends are snobbish and/or corrupt. One of Cass’ friends is a handsome single lawyer named Bradd Criley. Bradd has more than a slight interest in Ginny. Zachary Scott portrays Bradd with appropriate amounts of shallowness, charm and a hint of menace.

A tragic event, restlessness in Ginny, and external influences create strain in the Timberlane marriage. Can their union survive?

Sinclair Lewis’ realistic depiction of life in upper class suburbia is elegantly condensed by scenarist Donald Ogden Stewart (of “Philadelphia Story” fame). A glamorous all-star ensemble led by Tracy and Turner, the direction by George Sidney, the photography, sets, costumes, and music score are all first rate in the great MGM tradition.

By the way, pet lovers should also like this movie because of an irresistibly adorable tabby cat named Cleo who is part of the cast. Cleo is a natural who manages to upstage larger-than-life legends Tracy and Turner whenever she shares a scene with them. (Yes, the cat is really that good!)

“Cass Timberlane” is an entertaining and satisfying drama which is definitely worth your commitment.

Cast

  • Spencer Tracy as Cass Timberlane
  • Lana Turner as Virginia Marshland
  • Zachary Scott as Bradd Criley
  • Tom Drake as Jamie Wargate
  • Mary Astor as Queenie Havock
  • Albert Dekker as Boone Havock
  • Margaret Lindsay as Chris Grau
  • Rose Hobart as Diantha Marl
  • John Litel as Webb Wargate
  • Mona Barrie as Avis Elderman
  • Josephine Hutchinson as Lillian Drover
  • Selena Royle as Louise Wargate
  • Frank Wilcox as Gregg Marl
  • Richard Gaines as Dennis Thane
  • John Alexander as Dr. Roy Drov

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Rosemary’s Baby

Saturday, February 28th, 2009
Movies Online

“Rosemary’s Baby” is one of Roman Polanski’s best films and a first-rate, faithful adaptation of the Ira Levin novel which tells the story of witchcraft on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. It’s basically a spin on the Doctor Faustus tale, but with a decidedly 1960′s sensibility.

Rosemary (a superb Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse (equally well cast John Castavettes) move into an atmospheric and beautifully detailed, four-room apartment in the elephantine Branford Apartment house on Manhattan’s Upper West Side (actually it is the Dakota that is used for the exteriors), but shortly learn that it has a dark history of suicide, black happenings and witchcraft.

When a young neighbor (gorgeous Victoria Vetri) commits suicide shortly afterward by jumping from the window of her apartment, the Woodhouses encounter their nosy neighbors, an elderly couple Minnie (Ruth Gordon) and Roman Castevet (Sidney Blackmer) whose nasal brayings they have previously only heard through the wall. Soon Minnie and Roman have imposed themselves on the young couple’s life and although Rosemary finds it distasteful, Guy seems to take a peculiar liking to them, seeing them (as Rosemary believes) as parental figures. But the truth is more sinister. The elderly couple and their cronies are actually a coven of witches and Guy agrees to allow the Devil to father Rosemary’s baby in exchange for success in his career. He does this by deceiving Rosemary and allowing her to be used in a ritual while drugged.

Oh, what fun this movie is! One of my favorite movies of all times! Mia Farrow as Rosemary has the proper gamine look and a fragility, yet interestingly, she is also strong and feisty, taking things into her own hand and becoming a heroine of sorts. Castavettes is wonderfully cast as the husband — brooding, handsome, sexy and at times almost sinister with his eyes staring out from beneath wild brows — almost diabolical. Ruth Gordon is delicious as Minnie and won an Academy Award, if I’m not mistaken — her toreador pants, the bracelets jangling on her wrists, her ingratiating yet obnoxious manner are all perfect. Even the bit parts are cast with wonderful old character actors like Patsy Kelly and Maurice Evans. The casting is fortuitous all the way round.

Add to that a wonderful script, sticking closely to the novel; great off-kilter camera angles; dream sequences; incredible sets (that apartment is to die for!); and then the whole 60′s thread, even incorporating in a Time Magazine cover that proclaimed “Is God Dead”; and you have a top-notch film. It’s very understated, not a blood-and-cheap-thrills horror flick.

The only thing that truly annoys me is that tendency of the 60′s to make the “older generation” the bad guys and youth the heroes, as they sort of do here, since all the witches and warlocks are actually quite old. But there’s such wit about all of it, I don’t quibble. It’s a wonderful touch to have the respected doctor, the Japanese shutterbug, the benign-looking gossipy little old ladies and an aging warlock, a mousy dentist — all members of this sinister cult and retaining their colorful New York personalities. The characters are richly detailed, believable and alive, and their immersion in everyday stuff as the horror enfolds around them is wonderful.

Cast

  • Mia Farrow as Rosemary Woodhouse
  • John Cassavetes as Guy Woodhouse
  • Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet
  • Sidney Blackmer as Roman Castevet / Steven Marcato
  • Maurice Evans as Hutch
  • Ralph Bellamy as Dr. Abraham Sapirstein
  • Charles Grodin as Dr. Hill
  • Angela Dorian as Terry Gionoffrio
  • Emmaline Henry as Elise Dunstan
  • Hanna Landy as Grace Cardiff

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Penny Serenade

Saturday, February 28th, 2009
Movies Online

If one was to sit down and write about the film career of Cary Grant it certainly would not be easy. A good formula might be that if you take most of his roles and try to put any other actor in them to see how they would turn out.

For Example, ” My Favorite Wife” , one of the three teamings of Dunne and Grant( this film and ” The Awful Truth” are the others), was remade with Doris Day and James Garner, two pretty fare comedic actors themselves.It is pretty painful to watch this film if you have seen Grant and Dunne go at it.

Their timing is uncanny, the close ups are multi dimensional, and in this sentimental film ,their interplay is unique. ” Penny Serenade” gives us a real look into this teams total charisma on the screen. Their future is somehow buried in their past love for each other. Edgar Buchanon( former dentist) acts as an interface for their problems.

Cast

  • Irene Dunne … Julie Gardiner Adams
  • Cary Grant … Roger Adams
  • Beulah Bondi … Miss Oliver
  • Edgar Buchanan … Applejack Carney
  • Ann Doran … Dotty ‘Dot’
  • Eva Lee Kuney … Trina (at the Age of 6 Years)
  • Leonard Willey … Doctor Hartley
  • Wallis Clark … Judge
  • Walter Soderling … Billings
  • Baby Jane Biffle … Trina (at the Age of 1 Year) (billed as Baby Biffle)

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3 Godfathers

Saturday, February 28th, 2009
Movies Online

I’m giving this four stars instead of five simply because five stars is reserved for true masterpieces – for films virtually without flaw. This film is flawed, but oh so wonderfully lovable. I won’t bother to retell the plot, as others have already done a better job than I can, but I will just say what I love about it.

The performances: Pedro Armendariz & Harry Carey Jr. are wonderful. I think of the scene where Pedro steels his resolve and heads into the tattered covered wagon to help deliver Mildred Natwick’s child; his face reveals a wonderful mixture of dread, awe, responsibility, resolve, strength, determination… And John Wayne is at his irascible, lovable best – at turns impatient and scolding, tender and understanding – truly avuncular. He is clearly the leader of the group, and being 6’4″ of John Wayne, he commands (and gets!) most of our attention, but never in a way that diminishes the other two men or moves them too far into the background. The relationship between the three characters is wonderfully drawn and complementary; obviously they all had great chemistry together.

The story: The desert is a harsh and unforgiving place, but this film shows that even in the desert you can find redemption. Robert Hightower’s soul is in a spiritual desert and it is for this reason that he must be the one to bring the baby to New Jerusalem. He has to find his own redemption and his own peace walking with God, which the other two men already seem to have. I know some may not share in the Christian faith that John Ford obviously had and thus may find the symbolism in this film heavy-handed, but I for one think it lent a great deal of emotional depth. Every soul is longing for something more, and for something greater than itself, and though I know little about Ford as a person, it seems to me that he knew this something more can only be found in Christ. There is so much more I could say about the symbolism in this film – the water, for example, that the men are constantly craving and aching for – think of the Samaritan woman at the well in the Bible and what Jesus tells her (John 4). This is a highly spiritual film!

It is also at times highly comic. The funniest part, and one I could watch over and over again, is when the men are puzzling over what to do with their godson. Just the sight of John Wayne holding the tiny infant in his huge hands is downright sweet and endearing. Then the Kid pulls out Doc Meecham’s book of baby advice, advice that prompts JW to say he wouldn’t trust a “sick polecat” to the good doctor’s care. One of the things the doctor suggests is rubbing the baby down with olive oil or clean lard. Pedro finds some axle grease, and the next thing we see is Wayne’s huge hand dipping into the yellow grease and “greazing” the tiny baby’s body, a sight that strikes the characters as funny as it strikes us. But it’s much better seen than described so I will leave off. Suffice it to say that this is a highly enjoyable film that moves easily between sad & funny moments, and one I will be turning to often.

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