Tag Archives: John Carradine
The Films of 1939 at 75 (Part I): Adventures with Gunga Din, Boyer and Dunne's Love Affair, and John Wayne's Stagecoach to Stardom
Fante's Inferno commemorates the 75th anniversary of the films of 1939 (considered one of the greatest years of moviemaking) with a four-part retrospective posted in conjunction with the quarters in which they were released.
Part One: January to March of 1939:
Starring John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Thomas Mitchell, John Carradine, Andy Devine, George Bancroft
Directed by John Ford; Screenplay by Dudley Nichols and Ben Hecht (based on Ernest Haycox's short story The Stage to Lordsburg)
Six passengers on a stagecoach from Tonto, Arizona to Lordsburg, New Mexico, each with their own reasons for leaving town. Along the way they pick up a fugitive and shoot their way through Apache territory to reach their destination. John Ford's Stagecoach revitalized the Western genre and made John Wayne a star. The story does get a bit too heavy handed with several characters written to represent hypocrisy in society (i.e. a kind prostitute forced from town by the "decent" women; a businessman that preaches patriotism but is embezzling funds, etc.) that it tends to become a distraction. Regardless, each character is woven into the script so perfectly the story would be unbalanced should one of them be removed, from John Wayne as the Ringo Kidd hell bent on revenge, to Dallas (Claire Trevor) forced out of town with the weight of her past and "proper society" on her shoulders, even down to the comic relief of stagecoach driver Buck (Andy Devine). Cinematographer Bert Glennon's photography of Monument Valley is majestic and the editing is seamless. When you hear the title Stagecoach, how can you not think about John Wayne's first shot in the film?
Starring Cary Grant, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Victor McLaglen, Sam Jaffe, Joan Fontaine
Directed by George Stevens; Screenplay by Joel Sayre and Fred Guiol based on the story by Rudyard Kipling
Three hell-raising British soldiers (Grant, Fairbanks and McLaglen) are sent to a investigate a military outpost in Tantrapur, India after a break in the communication line. They arrive to find the town deserted with no sign of soldiers or civilians, are quickly attacked by Thuggees, and fight their way out with the three sergeants and their detail barely making it out alive. Back at their camp, Sergeant Cutter (Grant) befriends Gunga Din (played by Sam Jaffee), a water carrier with dreams of being a bugler in the British Army. He tells Cutter of a temple of gold, and against the orders of Sergeants MacChesney (McLaglen) and Ballantine (Fairbanks) Cutter and Din sneak out of camp. They find the temple, which unfortunately is inhabited by the murderous Thuggees. Cutter is captured, but Din escapes to bring reinforcements.
This was my first screening of Gunga Din, and it was a pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting to be an adventure/comedy that borders on the screwball. I'm a big fan of Cary Grant and even in screwball comedies like Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday I've never seen him play comedy quite this hammy. Regardless, it's a fun performance and Grant's chemistry with McLaglen and Fairbanks carries the film, but at the expense of the title character. Sam Jaffee gives the character of Gunga Din heart and pathos, but isn't given enough screen time to present his backstory or motivations. But overall it's a fun, fast paced adventure.
Starring Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer, Maria Ouspenskaya,
Directed by Leo McCarey; Screenplay by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart based on a story by Mildred Cram
Painter and bon vivant Michel Marnet (Boyer) and singer Terry McKay (Dunne) meet on an ocean liner bound for New York for their respective weddings. Their "meet cute" occurs when a breeze blows a romantic telegram from Michel's hands into Terry's. She's actually amused that the telegram about a romantic night in Lake Como is from his future sister-in-law, and they strike up a conversation that leads to a somewhat innocent tour of her suite. They take a liking to each other but decide to keep their distance during the next eight days of the voyage in order not to stir up rumors that would leak to the press and interfere with there upcoming weddings. Try as they might, they just can't seem to shake each other to the point where it becomes a joke among the passengers. Along the way, the ship stops in Spain and Terry joins Michel on a day trip to meet his grandmother (played by Maria Ouspenskaya). She confesses to Terry that she's concerned about Michel's lifestyle…unless the right woman can change him. By the end of the voyage, Michel and Terry are in love and make a pact to meet at the top of the Empire State Building on July 1st. Michel eventually cancels his wedding and tries to support himself selling his paintings (while painting New York City billboards) as he counts the days to July 1st. Terry calls her wedding off and bides the next several months as a headline act in Philadelphia. But as they make their way to the Empire State Building, a cruel twist of fate could keep them apart.
It's hard to watch Leo McCarey's Love Affair without automatically comparing it to his 1957 remake An Affair to Remember starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. Despite An Affair to Remember's popularity and Grant and Kerr's unforgettable performances, the 1939 original stands on its own and in my opinion is the better film of the two. It's no wonder Love Affair was remade twice (the third version was 1994's Love Affair starring Warren Beatty and Annette Bening): Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne are fantastic their roles, and (in my opinion) their chemistry actually surpasses Grant and Kerr's. Go into a screening of Love Affair without comparisons to An Affair to Remember and you'll enjoy the film on its own merits.
Other notable films from January-March 1939:
The Son of Frankenstein
Directed by Rowland V. Lee; Starring Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi
Directed by Henry King; Starring Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda
The Oklahoma Kid
Release Date: 3/3/39
Directed by Lloyd Bacon; Starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart
Directed by Mitchell Leisen; Starring Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche
Directed by Sidney Lansfield; Starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce
Tagged 1939, Adventure, An Affair to Remember, Andy Devine, Cary Grant, Charles Boyer, Claire Travor, Deborah Kerr, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., George Stevens, Gunga Din, Irene Dunne, Joan Fontaine, John Carradine, John Ford, John Wayne, Leo McCarey, Love Affair, Maris Ouspenskaya, Monument Valley, Romantic Comedy, Sam Jaffe, Stagecoach, The Films of 1939, Victor McLaglen, Western
The Summer of '82: The Secret of NIMH
Fante's Inferno revisits the Summer of 1982, considered to be the greatest movie summer for fantasy and sci-fi fans.
The Secret of NIMH
Directed by Don Bluth; Written by Don Bluth, John Pomeroy, Gary Goldman and Will Finn; based on the novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
Starring: Elizabeth Hartman, Derek Jacobi, Arthur Malet, Dom DeLuise, Peter Strauss, Paul Shenar, Aldo Ray, John Carradine
See the trailer here.
The Secret of NIMH is one of my favorite animated films of all time along with Watership Down, Fire and Ice, and Heavy Metal. One thing that always concerns me when I revisit an animated feature from the 70's or 80's is the possibility of losing the excitement I had for the film when compared to present day animation. Luckily this didn't happen when I watched NIMH earlier this week.
As amazing as 3D animation looks, I still have more of an appreciation for the technique of 2D, hand drawn animation. I still consider The Secret of NIMH to be one of the best examples of traditional animation in the last 50 years, and I say this knowing that many Disney fans will disagree with me. One thing I forgot over the years was how striking the background paintings were. Each of them stood on their own as more than just background, they were works of art that set the mood and tone of the film.
One game I like to play when I research a film on iMDb is a "where are they now" of the cast. Of the films I've revisited so far in my Summer of '82 series of posts, the cast of The Secret of NIMH surprised me the most. I easily remembered Derek Jacobi as Nicodemus and Dom DeLuise as Jeremy the crow, but I was surprised to find the voice of Mrs. Brisby was Elizabeth Hartman, who earned an Oscar nomination for her performance as Sidney Poitier's blind love interest in the 1965 film A Patch of Blue. Other surprises were Shannen Doherty and Wil Wheaton as Mrs. Brisby's children Teresa and Martin, and Peter Strauss as Justin. Aldo Ray was the voice of Sullivan. And how about John Carradine as the Great Owl! Don Bluth and Gary Goldman pulled out all the stops with this film (their first animated feature after they left Disney) and they definitely invested in a great cast.
I was surprised The Secret of NIMH was given a G rating considering many of the darker elements in the film. I remembered the scene of the rats going through the tests at NIMH as being too much for a child to be able to handle at a young age, but even scenes such as Mrs. Brisby's meeting with the Great Owl and her first encounter with the rat Brutus might scare the bejeezus out of out of a young child.
Thirty years later, The Secret of NIMH doesn't only hold up, it reminds me of why I love animation. The story, characters and especially the animation drew me back in and brought me back to my local theater back in 1982. All I needed was a large Coke and a 1/2 pound bag of strawberry Twizzlers.
Tagged 1982, Aldo Ray, Animation, Cinema, Derek Jacobi, Don Bluth, Elizabeth Hartman, Gary Goldman, John Carradine, Peter Strauss, Summer Films, The Secret of NIMH, The Summer of '82