"The Misfits" and Me - by Christian Esquevin

Where does the first step begin on a journey to fate? For me it was sometime in August of 1960, just a kid on a camping trip with his parents and their friends. Lake Tahoe was the destination, with side trips to Squaw Valley, Reno, Carson City, and Virginia City, Nevada. Little did I know, nor anyone else in our little party, that we would run into the production of The Misfits, starring Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, and Montgomery Clift, as directed by John Huston. It was clear from the entourage around Gable and Marilyn that this was a very big deal. And my father reinforced this message with his excited exclamation, “there’s Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable!” although he probably uttered this in French, my parents’ and their friends’ native language. 

My recollections of this event are from the mists of time, and likely distorted by accretions of images and later reflections on the significance of the occasion, and the powerful warping auras of the stars themselves. As a kid turning twelve I was already highly aware of the significance of stardom. We did after all live very close to Hollywood, and in those days before paparazzi, seeing stars was not uncommon. But seeing Marilyn and Clark Gable at work was like entering the stratosphere. My best recollection of the scene was that it was taking place in a casino in Reno, likely Harrah’s Club. Production personnel were orbiting around the magic couple.  An aura emanated from Marilyn. In spite of the effects on her of nerves or drugs, which I wouldn’t have known anything about, she was glowing from the lights and the sheen of her platinum blonde hair. I don’t believe a scene was being filmed at the moment, since she seemed to be smiling and basking in the rapt attention of the small audience that was there, of which we were a part. Clark Gable was smiling too, though in a sort of cool, smirky way, aging, but still the king of the jungle. I couldn’t see their figures very well, and I was old enough to know that Marilyn’s figure was very special. But with the big stars, then and now, “we had faces” was all-important, and with these two in particular, their very unique faces reverberated in the room.  I had a particular affinity to Clark Gable. I grew up with prominent ears, the cause of a childhood complex, and my father would always tell me that this physical feature was what made Clark Gable famous. I believed him, and as a chubby kid with a funny name, I believed in the possibility that there was hope for me yet. Seeing Clark Gable in person might just provide that twist of fate that would correct my negative self-image. “See what I mean,” my father said to reinforce his message. 

That perception of Clark Gable, directly seen and experienced, provided me the kind of connection that seems magically possible to children; a more direct connection than just seeing him on the screen, as I had done, during a re-release of Gone with the Wind.  

Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift

Marilyn seemed even more magical. Here in real life and in plain sight she still seemed ethereal. Perhaps it was that very quality that made people, especially men, want to possess her, and somehow to hold onto a cloud. She was the embodiment of contradiction, an ethereal, almost angelic image that was hotly desired for her earthly body, and that most famous of movie stars, capable of moving mountains, yet unable to control her own life or emotions.

Finally we moved away from all the action, onward to seeing other sights, me looking backward at the marvel just beheld. Alas, the whole scene was destined to be an ethereal vision. Clark Gable, “the King” died of a heart attack three months later in November 1960. The Misfits premiered in February 1961, to mixed reviews.  Then my father died on June 5, 1962 and Marilyn Monroe died two months after that on August 5, 1962, now fifty years ago.  How could these giants just disappear? My own fate had indeed led me to The Misfits, a rendezvous with the realization that I too might become one.  Marilyn’s star now shines ever more brightly, a testament to film and the power of image. We continue to try to hold onto a cloud.

The Misfits was not a hit in 1961. No one then knew, of course, that it would be the last film that both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe would ever star in, nor that Montgomery Clift would also die five years later. The audience wasn’t ready for this modern, existential film in 1961. Its reputation, because of all its baggage, doomed it to the “missed opportunity,” or “underrated film” category. Today it is being rediscovered. The Misfits is not a fun film to watch, its barren landscape parallels its wounded characters. But it is a true reflection of the human condition, and for film buffs, a unique view into the life of several movie legends. For me, it was a rendezvous with destiny – an opportunity to see those legendary stars before they faded, and the passion to now write about them and the world they lived in, a world I briefly transited.

Christian Esquevin is the author of Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label, published by the Monacelli Press in 2008. The book is about the life and career of MGM’s famed Golden Age costume designer Gilbert Adrian and his subsequent fashion business. Christian also produces his Silver Screen Modiste blog covering classic film fashion. This is Christian's third guest contribution to this blog, and for each piece I am eternally grateful...
TLE

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Ticket(s) Giveaway: "Singin' in the Rain" on the Big Screen

Singin' in the Rain returns to theaters nationwide on Wednesday, August 22, for an encore presentation of a stunning new print of the film.

I'll be giving away three pairs of tickets for the event. Click here for a listing of all participating theaters.  Please send your entry, including your name,  mailing address and theater selection (I need all three), to: ladyevesidwich@gmail.com. A random drawing will be held on August 13 and winners will be contacted immediately. Tickets will be sent directly from the the event coordinator.

Update: Congratulations to winners Lindsay, Barry and Dawn - and thanks to Melanie of Pure Brand Communications for providing tickets for this drawing.

This event, a celebration of the film's 60th anniversary, is sponsored by Turner Classic Movies, NCM Fathom Events and Warner Home Video. Along with the film, a special TCM original production hosted by Robert Osborne will screen. This featurette includes behind-the-scenes footage and an interview with Debbie Reynolds, who starred in the film with Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor.

Don't miss your chance to see Stanley Donen's iconic musical, the film that ranks #1 on the American Film Institute’s list of the “25 Greatest Movie Musicals,” on the big screen. Enter now!

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Click here for Pulitzer Prize winning critic Lloyd Schwartz's August 9 review of Singin' in the Rain on NPR's Fresh Air.

 

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Marilyn Monroe: Out of a Dream

photo by Jack Cardiff

One chilly winter morning in 1953, a 15-year-old boy took a bus from his home in New Jersey to New York City in search of adventure. His conception of the city then was of Times Square and he roamed the neighborhood until daylight began to fade. As he made his way to the Port Authority Terminal and his bus trip home, he noticed a long black limousine driving slowly toward him. The limo came to a stop and its driver jumped out and opened the back door at the curb. As he did, he motioned the boy to stay where he was so his passenger would have a clear path across the sidewalk. Nearly 60 years later, the man who had been that boy remembered,"...a white-gloved hand reached out for help and it was given. Then came a face of dizzying beauty..." She was blonde and she wore a long gown that appeared to be made of "tiny white pearls seemingly flung at her in wild abandon and clinging to every pore. Around her neck, over her wrists and on her ears were brightly sparkling diamonds." The boy's heart was already pounding when, as she turned, the woman noticed him, smiled and whispered, "Hi."

photo by Richard Avedon

The bedazzled boy, Frank Langella, who grew up to be an Oscar-nominated, three-time Tony-winning actor, was stunned. He had serendipitously encountered Marilyn Monroe, "the girl" who enraptured the world that year in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire and would soon create pandemonium with The Seven Year Itch. Years later Richard Avedon, one of many famed photographers for whom the actress posed, would comment, "There was no such person as Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn Monroe was an invention of hers. A genius invention that she created like an author creates a character."

The vision that materialized before wide-eyed young Frank Langella on a New York street was the painstaking creation of the former Norma Jeane Baker, but the realization of this fantasy creature had required inspiration and encouragement from others. Not too unlike an orphan on a quest in a folk tale, she rose from humble origins, faced great obstacles and setbacks and, with the aid of others along with her own hard work and desire, transformed her life.

Norma Jeane Baker, age nine

In 1935, Grace McKee, a friend and co-worker of Gladys Baker at a Hollywood editing lab, became her unstable friend's court-appointed guardian and the legal guardian of the woman's nine-year-old daughter, Norma Jeane. A childless peroxide blonde with "stage mother" instincts, McKee filled the little girl's imagination with lavish fancies of one day becoming a bombshell movie star like the one with whom she herself was obsessed - Jean Harlow. When Grace married "Doc" Goddard, Norma Jeane was, for a time, sent to live in the red-brick mansion that served as the Los Angeles Orphans Home. Grace would take the girl out to lunch and a movie most Saturdays and regularly had the child's hair styled at a beauty parlor. Norma Jeane would be returned to the orphanage with her hair freshly curled and be-ribboned and, on occasion, wearing makeup Grace had applied to her very young face. The guardian coached the girl on her smile and paraded her in front of friends crowing "isn't she pretty?" and bragged that the child was going to grow up to be beautiful and famous. It would be little more than a decade after becoming Norma Jeane Baker's guardian that Grace Goddard would, because her charge was not yet 21, sign the girl's first contract with 20th Century Fox.

When Johnny Hyde, a powerful William Morris agent on the West Coast, met 22-year-old Marilyn Monroe on New Year's Eve 1949, she was a starlet adrift in the wilderness of the "party circuit" looking for a break. At one time known as producer "Joe Schenk's girl," she had been under contract to Fox for a year, from 1946 to 1947, and with Columbia Pictures for just six months in 1948. It was during her stint at Fox that she had adopted her screen name with the help of Ben Lyon, the studio's casting director. "Monroe" was her mother's family name; Lyon suggested "Marilyn." He had known and loved Broadway star Marilyn Miller before his marriage to Bebe Daniels, and Norma Jeane Baker reminded him of the talented and lovely blonde, blue-eyed actress who had died young.

Marilyn Monroe in 1950

For Johnny Hyde, meeting Marilyn Monroe led to an enchantment that brought an end to his marriage and the beginning of his tireless promotion of her career. He saw a singular quality in the sensuous blonde and worked to make things happen quickly for her. By the time of his sudden death in 1950, Hyde had negotiated parts for her in John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and Joseph Mankiewicz's All About Eve (1950). Her success in these roles led to a new, more generous contract with Fox, an agreement that was secured by Hyde.

Howard Hawks had been unimpressed with the starlet when he first met her in 1948. But after seeing her in The Asphalt Jungle, he realized she had something. And when she was cast in a supporting role in one of his films, Monkey Business (1952), he took a closer look at her potential. Hawks became convinced that Fox chief Darryl Zanuck was misreading Marilyn's appeal, too often casting her in the wrong sort of films. He told Zanuck, "You're making realism with a very unreal girl. She's a completely storybook character..." and urged him to produce Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, a studio property, and cast her in it; furthermore, he agreed to direct.

In 1949 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes had made Carol Channing a Broadway sensation; in 1953, the screen adaptation had an even more powerful impact on the career of Marilyn Monroe. With the film's tremendous success, Marilyn left behind forever her years as a struggling cheesecake model/rising newcomer and emerged a bona fide superstar. She proved to have a talent for comedy and a fine sense of timing and, with Howard Hawks creating the ideal vehicle for her and overseeing an elegant Technicolor upgrade of her look and style, she embodied to scintillating perfection a funny, sexy, sweet and unique confection that produced fireworks on the screen.

In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Marilyn Monroe and top-billed co-star Jane Russell are well-matched as a pair of gorgeous gal-pal showgirls on the loose on the high seas and in Paris. Delectably dizzy/witty blonde Lorelei and droll, down-to-earth brunette Dorothy cut loose in clever comic scenes and dynamic musical routines. Both perform renditions of the centerpiece number, "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend." Marilyn's version became legendary. 

Fox strikes again! This video clip has been blocked.

Fox's next assignment for its new star was not as solid a film as her last, but it was even more popular. How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) teamed Marilyn with not just one but two other glittery leading ladies - Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall. Another glamor-fest, the story follows three models who rent a ritzy penthouse in Manhattan for a year in hopes of luring and marrying wealthy suitors before their lease expires. Bacall's is the central storyline and hers is the commonsense character; Grable and Marilyn are both ditzy-but-dear dumb blonde types. Marilyn, of course, is the knockout in the trio and, next to her, Betty Grable seems a decade out-of-date. How to Marry a Millionaire was the #5 box office hit of 1953, with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes close behind at #6. As for Marilyn Monroe, she was on top.

Marilyn in a classic Travilla gown

By the time Darryl Zanuck conspired with Billy Wilder to adapt the Broadway adultery romp, The Seven Year Itch, to the screen for Marilyn in 1955, there was no longer any need to pair her with another actress or even an established leading man to bolster the film's box office appeal. Though it is minor Wilder, The Seven Year Itch is the film that certified Marilyn as a phenomenon. On Broadway, George Axelrod's play centered on the brief affair of a married man with his gorgeous neighbor while his family is away on vacation. Even though Hollywood's Production Code demanded that there be no adultery in the adultery comedy, the onscreen presence of Marilyn Monroe was enough to tantalize and satisfy a worldwide audience. The studio's enticing publicity campaign - it was all about Marilyn in a billowy white dress - created a furor.

For a while the sensitive but wily star was able to navigate Hollywood's treacherous rapids. She managed to use the scandal of nude calendar photos to her advantage; she explained away the revelation that she was not, technically, an orphan; and she weathered the outcry stirred by the public remarks of Joan Crawford who implied she was lewd and vulgar. But Marilyn could never cope with her performance anxiety. 

Billy Wilder, ever outspoken and eminently quotable, quipped about his tribulations in working with Marilyn, "I had no problems with Monroe. It was Monroe who had problems with Monroe."

Marilyn sans makeup

Fritz Lang, who had directed her in Clash by Night (1952), remembered that she was "...scared as hell to come to the studio, always late, couldn't remember her lines..." And Howard Hawks noted, "The more important she became, the more frightened she became." Whitey Snyder, Marilyn's makeup artist from her Fox screen test to her funeral, thought her anxiety was connected to her appearance. He said that though she knew every makeup trick there was and used them to marvelous effect, "...it was all an illusion: in person, out of makeup, she was very pretty but in a plain way, and she knew it." It was more than that, though. Marilyn Monroe wasn't simply at the mercy of a fantastical physical image that required scrupulous upkeep. Her ever-shifting entourage included more than hair, makeup and massage professionals, she was also closely attended by personal confidants, studio advisors, talent agents, attorneys, psychotherapists, trophy husbands - and drama coaches.

Determined to be more than a pretty onscreen face with a voluptuous body, she took acting seriously. Teacher Natasha Lytess, employed by Fox at Marilyn's insistence, coached her even as the actress performed in front of the camera. Howard Hawks balked at this and successfully barred Lytess from the set of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Billy Wilder referred to her as "that creature Lytess" but put up with her on The Seven Year Itch.

By the mid-'50s, Marilyn was studying with "method" guru Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York. Julie Newmar, a member of the Studio at the time, remembered her performance of a scene from Anna Christie with Maureen Stapleton. She recalled that Marilyn's hand actually shook as she lifted a drink from the bar. In her view, Marilyn reflected precisely the essence of Strasberg's teachings - she had become Anna Christie. Of Lee Strasberg, Newmar mused that he favored three kinds of artists, "the highly gifted; the injured, tortured souls; and the beauty queens. He adored Marilyn." Soon Lytess was replaced as Marilyn's personal acting coach by Paula Strasberg, Lee's wife.

...with Brando promoting a 1955 Actors Studio benefit

Billy Wilder happily agreed to tackle another project with Marilyn in 1959; her natural luminosity was "something extra, something special" that he believed no one else could bring to the film. He would struggle mightily with her on the comedy masterpiece Some Like it Hot and was critical of the effect method acting seemed to have had on her. Before she took up Strasberg's approach, he said, Marilyn came before the camera as if she were about to walk a tightrope over a pit. After adopting "the method" it seemed to him that she focused her full concentration on only the pit...

Over the years, perhaps in an attempt to deal with her terror of "the pit" and other personal woes, Marilyn became dependent on drugs - pills that lifted her up or calmed her down or put her to sleep - and alcohol. Her reputation for being unreliable and difficult grew to epic proportions. Those who worked on her later films reported that she sometimes appeared on the set as if in a daze and, during the filming of Some Like it Hot, screenwriter Izzy Diamond recalled that she sipped liquor from a thermos that ostensibly contained coffee.

photo by George Barris

When Marilyn returned to Hollywood in 1960 after years of making her home in New York, she sought the care of Freudian analyst Ralph Greenson. The doctor, who treated her until her death, diagnosed her as "a borderline paranoid addictive personality." Norma Jeane Baker had endured a confusing and chaotic childhood, passed from home to home among friends and family - to an orphanage and back - until she was handed off in marriage at just 16.  Young Marilyn Monroe was also passed around - among the powerful men of Hollywood - during her years as an aspiring starlet. From a psychological standpoint, then, it's no surprise that her relationships were intense and volatile, her identity unstable, her emotions erratic and her actions impulsive. Greenson, who viewed her as a perennial orphan, discarded traditional therapeutic methods and took up a highly unorthodox approach in treating her. In a misguided attempt to "save" her, he welcomed Marilyn into his home and family and took on the role of "father" as well as therapist. He had set for himself an impossible task.

Something's Got to Give (1962)

Even at the peak of her popularity, Marilyn was considered risqué, a sex symbol, and was not taken seriously. Her film roles changed little over time and became, for her, a deadly repetition – the artless, often giddy showgirl, or ex-showgirl. Cherie in Bus Stop (1956), Elsie in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), Sugar in Some Like it Hot, Amanda in Let’s Make Love (1960) and even Roslyn in The Misfits (1961) are variations on a type the actress wanted to break. With her final, unfinished film, George Cukor’s Something’s Got to Give, she was cast in a role that might have helped her broaden the "Marilyn Monroe" persona; Ellen Wagstaff Arden was beautiful but she was also married and the mother of two small children. Had she been able to finish the film, Marilyn might have gone on to romantic comedy roles a la Doris Day or Shirley MacLaine. It’s also possible she could have moved into mature dramatic roles as Ava Gardner, Lee Remick and others did. But this was not to be. Life as a cultural metaphor and brand-name commodity may simply have been too much for a woman already consumed by an array of insecurities.

50 years ago Marilyn Monroe stepped out of the dream and into eternity. Her extravagant fulfillment of a childhood guardian’s fuzzy fantasies had taken her on a journey both harrowing and exhilarating, but her life would come to no fairytale ending. Only with death would come transcendence, and the mythical being she so carefully fashioned and brought to vibrant life lives on, unforgettable and bewitching.

photo by Bert Stern

This post is my contribution to the Summer Under the Stars blogathon hosted by Jill of Sittin' on a Backyard Fence and Michael of ScribeHard on Film. Click here to learn more...

 

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Notes:
Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto, Harper Collins (1993)
Marilyn Monroe by Barbara Leaming, Crown (1998)
On Sunset Blvd.: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder by Ed Sikov, Hyperion (1998)
Marilyn Monroe: Metamorphosis by David Wills and Stephen Schmidt, It Books (2011)
Dropped Names by Frank Langella, Harper (2012)

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A Different Star Every Day in August...

Every year in August, Turner Classic Movies presents its popular month-long salute to 31 stars, each honored with a full 24 hours devoted exclusively to their films. August 2012 marks the movie channel’s 10^th annual Summer Under the Stars celebration and among those being showcased for the first time this year are Marilyn Monroe, Tyrone Power, Anthony Quinn, Eva Marie Saint, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Kay Francis and Warren William.

In addition, Jill of Sittin' on a Backyard Fence and Michael of ScribeHard on Film  will be celebrating with a month-long blogathon to complement TCM's August event. Click here for more information...and check back here on August 4...

And now, a glimpse, with a little commentary, of what this year's Summer Under the Stars has in store. 

Aug. 1 - John Wayne - Three iconic Ford Westerns, Stagecoach (1939), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and The Searchers (1956); two great Hawks Westerns, Red River (1948) and Rio Bravo (1959) - plus  seven more.

Aug. 2 - Myrna Loy - 14 of Loy's films will be presented including several from the Pre-Code era as well as some of her best known films - like The Thin Man (1934), Libeled Lady (1936), Wife vs. Secretary (1936) and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).

Aug. 3 - Johnny Weissmuller - TCM's first nod to this Summer Under the Stars honoree will spotlight 13 Tarzan adventures and three Jungle Jim features. 

Marilyn Monroe in Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Aug. 4 - Marilyn Monroe - She received credit in only 26 films and had only bit parts in several of them. TCM will air 12 of her best-know films, including every film she made from 1953 forward except her last (1961's The Misfits).

Aug. 5 - Claude Rains will be honored with 13 films, from 1933's The Invisible Man to his final film, Twilight of Honor from 1963. Included is the “four” series: Four Daughters (1938), Four Wives (1939) and Four Mothers (1941).

Aug. 6 - Van Heflin is being recognized for the first time with 13 films including Act of Violence (1949), Battle Cry (1955) and 3:10 to Yuma (1957).

Aug. 7 - Sidney Poitier - A twenty year span of Poitier's career will be covered, from 1952 (Cry the Beloved Country) to 1972 (Buck and the Preacher, also directed by Poitier), with 12 films.

Aug. 8 - Rita Hayworth - Cary Grant called her "Judy" in Only Angels have Wings (1939), but everyone remembers her as Gilda (1946). These are just two of the 13 Hayworth films scheduled on her day.

Aug. 9 - Toshiro Mifune, one of Japan's preeminent actors, receives his first nod from TCM with six of his best-known Kurosawa films. Also featured Samuarai I (1955), II (1955) and III (1956) from Hiroshi Inagaki, Samurai Rebellion (1967) and Inagaki's Muhomatsu, The Rickshaw Man (1958).

Aug. 10 - Lionel Barrymore - 14 films will commemorate Barrymore, from the silent West of Zanzibar (1928) with Lon Chaney, to one of his very last onscreen appearances: Lone Star in 1953 with Clark Gable and Ava Gardner.

James Mason as Field Marshall Rommell in The Desert Fox (1951)

Aug. 11 - James Mason, the handsome actor with the incomparable voice, will be honored with 10 films, among them The Desert Fox (1951), A Star is Born (1954), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), Kubrick's Lolita (1962) and Lord Jim (1965). If only 5 Fingers (1952) was part of the schedule!

Aug. 12 - Ginger Rogers - Four of her films with Astaire - Swing Time (1936), Shall We Dance? (1937), Carefree (1938) and The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) - are among the 13 films that will celebrate her career.

Aug. 13 - Deborah Kerr will be honored with 12 films, including her own favorite among them, Jack Clayton's The Innocents (1961), and one of Powell and Pressburger's (The Archers) legendary masterpieces, Black Narcissus (1947).

Joan Blondell and James Cagney in Footlight Parade (1933)

Aug. 14 - James Cagney - 13 Cagney films, from Pre-Code Hollywood to his late career, plus the 1992 documentary James Cagney: Top of the World, hosted by Michael J. Fox.

Aug. 15 - Lillian Gish - This is Gish's first year as a Summer Under the Stars honoree. D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916) will be featured as well as his Broken Blossoms (1919) and Orphans of the Storm (1921). 12 films in all, including two from Victor Sjostrom, The Scarlet Letter (1926) and The Wind (1928), plus Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter (1955) and The Comedians (1967), with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

Aug. 16 - Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock (1957) and Elvis on Tour (1972) are the highlights. 12 more are also on the schedule.

Aug. 17 - Katharine Hepburn - Four films co-starring Spencer Tracy are on tap - Woman of the Year (1942), Adam's Rib (1949), Pat and Mike (1952) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) - plus the ever-popular Bringing Up Baby (1938) and seven others.

Aug. 18 - Freddie Bartholomew - This is the one-time child star's first turn on Summer Under the Stars. His signature pictures - David Copperfield (1935), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), Captains Courageous (1937) and Kidnapped (1938) - are among his 13 films set to air.

Aug. 19 - Eva Marie Saint is also in the August spotlight for the first time. 10 films, including North by Northwest (1959) will be shown, along with the documentary, Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest (2000), which she hosted. Also screening: On the Waterfront (1954), A Hatful of Rain (1957) and All Fall Down (1962).

Aug. 20 - Anthony Quinn - Another SUTS first-timer, Quinn will be honored with 11 films, including The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Lust for Life (1956), Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) and Zorba the Greek (1964).

William Powell and Kay Francis in One Way Passage (1932)

Aug. 21 - Kay Francis, the one-time Warner Bros. leading lady is yet another first-time SUTS honoree. 17 Francis films are on the bill and the majority are Pre-Code, including two with William Powell, Jewel Robbery and One Way Passage, both from 1932.

Aug. 22 - Jack Lemmon - 11 of his dozens of films will be shown, beginning with the delightful Phffft! (1954) co-starring Judy Holliday and ending with the last film Billy Wilder directed, Buddy, Buddy (1981) with Walter Matthau. Two of his best, The Apartment (1960) and Days of Wine and Roses (1962) are part of the mix. 

Aug. 23 - Gene Kelly is being honored on his centenary this year. In conjunction with that anniversary, the Classic Movie Blog Association is sponsoring a blogathon in his honor...I’ll be blogging on one of his lesser films, the Marilyn Monroe vehicle (see August 4) Let’s Make Love (1960), in which he made a cameo, but other bloggers will take a look at many of the films TCM will screen on the 23rd, including: An American in Paris (1951), Singin’ in the Rain (1952), On the Town (1949), Invitation to the Dance (1956)

Aug. 24 - Irene Dunne - 13 of Dunne's films, from the obscure to her best known and loved, will screen - including my all-time favorite screwball, The Awful Truth (1937).

Tyrone Power in Jesse James (1939)

Aug. 25 - Tyrone Power - Was he the handsomest man ever to grace the silver screen? I thought so the first time I saw his dark, striking face. Robert Osborne has written that Power was often described as “illegally handsome” and TCM will feature some of the films in which he stopped my young heart: Jesse James (1939), Johnny Apollo (1940) and A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941). All that’s missing from this handsome-a-thon are The Rains Came (1939), Blood and Sand(1941) and one or two others. TCM will also present some of the films in which Tyrone Power was given the opportunity to display his ability as an actor: The Razor’s Edge (1946) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957).

Aug. 26 - Gary Cooper - 11 films and one documentary will honor the actor on his day. One of the two films for which he won a Best Actor Oscar, Sergeant York (1941), will be shown, as well as one for which he was nominated, The Pride of the Yankees (1942). And there's even one I'd never heard of, One Sunday Afternoon (1933) with Fay Wray...

Aug. 27 - Jeanette MacDonald is best known for her partnership with Nelson Eddy, and seven of their films are among the 12 of hers set to air. Also on the schedule: Ernst Lubitsch's The Merry Widow (1934), San Francisco (1936) with Clark Gable and Smilin' Through (1941) with Gene Raymond.

Aug. 28 - Ava Gardner is one of very few who qualify as a true “Film Goddess.” She will be featured in pictures from her early days in Hollywood - Hitler’s Madman (1943) and Maisie Goes to Reno (1944) - along with some of her most interesting films – Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) and Seven Days in May (1964) – and the one containing her best performance - The Night of the Iguana (1964). Also interesting is The Bribe (1949), a glossy MGM noir. One I haven’t seen and will be recording is My Forbidden Past (1951) with Melvyn Douglas and Robert Mitchum.

Aug. 29 - Ingrid Bergman - An interesting mix of Ingrid's films this year -  Hitchcock's misfire, Under Capricorn (1949) is followed by the two films she made next with future husband Roberto Rossellini, Stromboli (1950) and Europa '51 (1952). Also, Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata (1978). Of course, Gaslight (1944) and Casablanca (1942) are among the 12 Bergman films on the bill.

Loretta Young and Warren William in Employee's Entrance (1933)

Aug. 30 - Warren William - Cliff Aliperti of WarrenWilliam.commust be in seventh heaven! Some of William’s best known pictures will screen - Skyscraper Souls (1932), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Lady for a Day (1933) and Cleopatra (1934) - along with many less known. Thursday, Aug. 30, will be a day to find out a whole lot more about the film work of "Pre-Code cad" Warren William. Click here for Cliff Aliperti's SUTS preview at his Immortal Ephemera website.

Aug. 31 - James Caan receives his first SUTS nod this year. Missing is the film that made him a star, The Godfather (1972), but Michael Mann's debut film, Thief (1981), is well worth watching. Also among the 12 Caan films on the schedule is The Rain People (1969), the last film Francis Coppola made before The Godfather; it co-stars Robert Duvall.

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A TV Tour of Hitchcock Film Locations and Edna May Wonacott's First On-Camera Interview

Bodega School House

Eye on the Bay, a feature of KPIX, CBS’s San Francisco TV outlet, was recently on the trail of director Alfred Hitchcock, traveling around the Bay Area to take an up-close look at locations used in his films. The 20-minute piece, Hitchcock Step-By-Step, focuses on sites featured in Shadow of a Doubt (1943), The Birds (1963) and Vertigo (1958). Aaron Leventhal, co-author of the definitive Hitchcock-in-the-Bay-Area guidebook, Footsteps in the Fog, discusses the director’s work in the region, providing fascinating production background as well as information on many locations. Hitchcock’s granddaughter, Tere Carruba, talks about her grandfather from a personal point of view and Edna May Wonacott, the last surviving featured cast member of Shadow of a Doubt, speaks on television for the first time about how she was chosen for the film and what it was like to work with Alfred Hitchcock.


Clips from each movie accompany location visits. Eye on the Bay host Brian Hackney, a Hitchcock fan, guides the tour.

Note: A brief (15 sec.) commercial spot opens each segment. Closing spots at the end of segments can easily be skipped.

Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa

Click here to view Part 1. An 8-minute segment with a tour of Santa Rosa locations for Shadow of a Doubt and an interview with Edna May Wonacott Green ("Ann Newton"), now living in Arizona.

Click here to view Part 2, a 5-minute segment shot in Bodega Bay, where The Birds was filmed in 1962. The Hitchcock production has had a lasting effect on the small Bay Area town; it’s estimated that 10,000 tourists come each year specifically to visit locations featured in The Birds.

Click here to view Part 3, a 5-minute segment that spotlights sites seen in Vertigo. This tour takes us from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Mission at San Juan Batista and many locations in between.

Click here for Part 4. Just over 1-1/2 minutes long, it references Rebecca (1940) and Marnie (1964) and ventures to the estate Hitchcock purchased in Scotts Valley while shooting location footage for Rebecca, his first American film. It was Hitchcock’s much beloved home away from Hollywood.

Edna May Wonacott on the set with Alfred Hitchcock, 1942

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Woody Allen, Master of Suspense?

This post is my contribution to The Best Hitchcock Films Hitchcock Never Made blogathon hosted by Tales of the Easily Distracted and Classic Becky's Brain Food. Click here for more information and links to participating blogs.

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On the face of it, the only thing Alfred Hitchcock and Woody Allen seem to have in common is the distinction of being aknowledged as preeminent auteurs. As Michael Newton put it in The Guardian earlier this year, "Along with Alfred Hitchcock, Allen must be the most recognizable director in the history of cinema."

Hitchcock, who spent most of his career working within the studio system, developed the habit early on of planning and shooting his films so carefully that they were virtually immune to being re-cut by anyone else. Then, in 1954, he entered into a deal with Paramount that allowed him to work autonomously, provided generous production budgets and gave him ownership of those films he both produced and directed. Allen‘s career as a director took off in the 1970s, just as a new generation of independent-minded filmmakers swept into Hollywood. Almost from the beginning he had a remarkable arrangement with his financiers and distributors: as long as he stayed within budget he would have complete artistic freedom. Hitchcock, who began in the silent era where he gained experience in art direction, was influenced by German expressionism and Soviet montage theory and approached film as visual storytelling. Allen began as a writer and, naturally, has relied more on dialogue and use of the long master shot in his films. Hitchcock became synonymous with big movies with high production values while Allen has made films with an "art house" sensibility and appeal on relatively small budgets.

And yet, in 2005 Woody Allen made a film of distinctly “Hitchcockian” elements. Match Point is a sexy thriller about luck and morality set in modern-day London. The film showcases two intensely magnetic stars, Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Bend it Like Beckham, Mission Impossible III, The Tudors) and Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Iron Man II, The Avengers).

 
With a little luck it goes forward and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose...

Chris Wilton (Rhys Meyers) is a former professional tennis player hired by a posh London tennis club as an instructor. There he meets Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode), scion of an extremely moneyed British family. The two become friendly and when Tom discovers Chris enjoys opera, he invites him to join his family in their box at the Royal Opera House for a performance of La Traviata. There Chris meets Tom’s parents and his eligible and instantly smitten sister, Chloe (Emily Mortimer); romance blooms. Soon after, Chris meets Nola Rice (Johansson), Tom’s luscious fiancée, an aspiring American actress. While the Hewett progeny are attractive enough physically, their wealth, position and lifestyle of culture and privilege are even more appealing. Chris and Nola are good-looking, charismatic creatures and, much as each knows they are onto a good thing with their respective lovers, sparks fly between them.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Scarlett Johansson as Chris Wilton and Nola Rice

This Woody Allen-penned, Oscar-nominated story could easily have appealed to Alfred Hitchcock who knew not only the value of a good, well-scripted story, but also made two films about tennis playing protagonists with problematic relationships and status issues who become involved in murder. In Strangers on a Train (1951), competitive tennis player Guy Haines aspires to a loftier position in life and hopes to divorce his small-town floozy wife so he can marry the daughter of a U.S. senator. In Dial M for Murder (1954), retired tennis player Tony Wendice, who has discovered that his wealthy wife has been carrying on a serious love affair, fears he may lose his meal ticket and cushy lifestyle.

But before any inkling of murder surfaces in Match Point, Chris, who is headed for marriage to Chloe and a good job with “one of” her father’s companies, develops a fascination with Nola. When, one day, he runs into her on the street, the two end up having drinks together. They talk about themselves and their relationships with Chloe and Tom and the elder Hewetts. Nola remarks that Eleanor, Tom and Chloe’s mother, hates her but that Chris is more fortunate, he’s “being groomed.”

Nola: You’re going to do very well for yourself, unless you blow it.

Chris: And how am I going to blow it?

Nola: By making a pass at me.

Chris: What makes you think that’s going to happen?

Nola: Men always seem to wonder. They think I’d be something very special.

Scarlett Johansson will portray Janet Leigh In "Hitchcock" (2013)

The two laugh, but Chris is powerfully tempted. Scarlett Johansson's Nola Rice begins as an assured, almost taunting beauty confident of her sexual appeal. She isn't quite the Grace Kelly version of the Hitchcock blonde, but falls somewhere between the worldly hedonism of Ingrid Bergman at the beginning of Notorious (1946) and Kim Novak's subdued sultriness in Vertigo (1958). A blonde who flirts with danger, Nola is Hitchcock's kind of woman.

When fate eventually provides the moment, the two indulge in a frenzy of passion, but Nola warns, "this can't lead anyplace." Chris goes on to marry Chloe and Tom later breaks off with Nola (Tom: "mother poisoned the well"). Chris adapts to life on the corporate fast track, he and Chloe move into a spectacular, glass-encased apartment overlooking the Thames and she is soon fixated on becoming pregnant. The vitality begins to drain from Chris's life. As luck will have it, he and Nola meet again and this time she, who is beginning to lose her self-confidence and show slight signs of wear, is available. A torrid affair begins. As Chris embarks on a double life, the atmosphere quickens with tension. When his romance with Nola hits the wall of reality and she begins to pose a threat, unrelenting suspense mounts until a neatly executed plot twist brings unexpected resolution.

The man who said, "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life...

What helps to create the film's tension and suspense are themes and motifs that echo Hitchcock:

• The Wrong Man - Occasionally Hitchcock turned this theme on its head and the-innocent-man-accused would be a secondary character rather than the protagonist. This character's sudden death puts an end to further police investigation. The device is employed in both Blackmail (1929) and Shadow of a Doubt (1943)  - it also occurs in Match Point.
• Doubles - A recurrent Hitchcock theme in which two characters seem kindred spirits until their bond is broken. Classic examples are the relationships between Guy Haines and Bruno Anthony in Stangers on a Train and "the two Charlies" in Shadow of a Doubt. Chris and Nola appear to be two of a kind when they meet over a ping pong table. But, as she learns, he plays "a very aggressive game."
• Obsession - Vertigo is a virtual meditation on obsession, but Hitchcock contemplated fascination several times. Young Charlie is enchanted by her Uncle Charlie in Shadow of a Doubt, Bruno is obsessed with Guy in Strangers on a Train, two young men are enthralled with a philosophy in Rope (1948), in Rear Window (1954) L.B. Jeffries becomes obsessed with his neighbors' lives and his belief that a murder has been committed. In Match Point, Chris develops a fixation on Nola; later, their roles reverse.
• The staircase motif is an image Alfred Hitchcock used frequently - famously in Suspicion (1941), Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, Vertigo and Psycho (1960). Staircases are prominently featured in Match Point.
• The dominant mother is another Hitchcock trademark. Mrs. Bates is a powerful unseen presence in Psycho; in Notorious, Mme. Sebastian has all but emasculated her son. Outspoken Eleanor Hewett's disapproval of Nola in Match Point is pivotal.
• Landmarks are common backdrops for important scenes in Hitchcock films - the list is long, from the British Museum in Blackmail forward. Match Point showcases London landmarks including The Tate Modern museum, The Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the stunning Parliament View Apartments and The Queen's Club. Unlike Allen's treatment of New York in Manhattan (1979), Match Point is no homage to a city, rather, the attractions of London enhance the film's narrative.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers

As well known for his ability to cast a film as Alfred Hitchcock, Woody Allen has said that his philosophy is to “hire the best actors, shut up and get out of their way.” One of Match Point’s great strengths is its cast, especially Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the central role. His Chris Wilton subtly and evocatively transforms from a beguiling “boy from Ireland come to London” who would like to do something special with his life, to a remote and preoccupied rising executive with dark secrets on his compliant conscience. Rhys Meyer’s sympathetic introduction along with selective point-of-view camera work engages the viewer; Chris is captivating. By the time he has fallen into desperation and is entangled in murder, we find ourselves complicit and anxious about his fate. Hitchcock managed this trick many times with his proclivity for point-of-view editing and masterful casting. Who could help but identify with Robert Walker’s Bruno Anthony in Strangers on a Train as he struggles to retrieve a lighter from a drain so that he can plant it as false evidence? Who doesn't share the nervousness of Anthony Perkins’s Norman Bates in Psycho as he waits for a car to sink after he’s pushed it into a swamp?

Woody Allen was elated with Match Point and was quoted widely at the time of its release saying he considered it his best film to date. Everything had come together, he said, and the production had been blessed with luck. Every actor exceeded his expectations, there was no trouble gaining access to desired locations and even the weather cooperated. He reflected that the storyline lent itself to the film medium and he’d been able to take advantage of that, focusing on action as much as dialogue. The movie, best described as a “moral thriller,” was his first successful drama and reinvigorated his career. Allen’s screenplay was nominated for an Oscar and Jonathan Rhys Meyers was awarded the Chopard Trophy at Cannes.

Filming Match Point: Scarlett Johansson and Woody Allen on the set

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Sources:
Conversations with Woody Allen by Eric Lax, Knopf (2007)
Woody Allen: cinema's great experimentalist by Michael Newton, The Guardian, January 13, 2012 (quote only)

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Singin' and Dancin' into a Theater Near You

Gene Kelly, "singin' and dancin' in the rain..."

In honor of the 60th anniversary of its original release, Singin’ in the Rain returns to theaters nationwide next Thursday, July 12, for one night only.

This perfect opportunity for classic film fans to see one of the great Hollywood classics on the big screen is presented by Turner Classic Movies, NCM Fathom Events and Warner Home Video. The festivities will begin with a special TCM original production hosted by Robert Osborne that includes behind-the-scenes footage and an interview with Debbie Reynolds, who starred in the film with Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. Next, Stanley Donen's Singin’ in the Rain will screen, fully re-mastered and it promises to be more dazzling than ever.

 

To further celebrate Singin’ in the Rain’s milestone anniversary, Warner Home Video will release a special 60th Anniversary Edition on July 17. The three-disc set will include the re-mastered film on DVD and Blu-Ray and will feature a new documentary entitled Singin’ in the Rain: Raining on a New Generation.

This tribute marks the fourth classic movie anniversary event co-sponsored by NCM Fathom and TCM who have similarly commemorated the 70^th anniversaries of Casablanca (1942) and The Wizard of Oz (1939) as well as the 50^th anniversary of West Side Story (1961). 

First released in 1952 and nominated for two Academy Awards, Singin’ in the Rain ranks #1 on the American Film Institute’s list of the “25 Greatest Movie Musicals.” Tickets for the July 12 screenings are available online at the Fathom Events website and through participating theater box offices.

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