Bullets for Ballots

Bullets for Ballots.
1936 Warner Bros.-First National Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell, Barton MacLane, Humphrey Bogart, Frank McHugh, Joseph King
Director: William Keighley
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or part of the Warner Gangsters Collection, Volume 2 (Formerly Tough Guys).

It's another "Warner Night at the Movies" presentation, which is an option available for viewing on this DVD. If you were alive in 1936, and wanted to go see Bullets for Ballots, here's what you would've been treated to at your local cinema:

* A trailer for The Charge of the Light Brigade, starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and David Niven. Warner Bros. dubbed this one an "epic re-release". I'm sure it was back in '36. (Available for sale at Amazon here, or as a single DVD)
* Crazy Newsreel: Two "news of the weird" features in under three minutes, covering a Canadian family who won nearly a million dollars from an eccentric millionaire for having fifteen children, tiger cubs in an incubator, and a flying bicycle contraption that never gets airborne.
* George Hall and His Orchestra, a short film featuring aforementioned orchestra, as they're unable to secure lodging at a hotel, so they move into a condemned building for the night. They rehearse some numbers, and scare the wits out of a drunken intruder who stumbles in. There's also some humor that can definitely be construed as racist today.
* I'm a Big Shot Now, directed by Friz Freleng, 1936. Cartoon time! In Birdville, the citizens all go about their business until a gangster stereotype bluebird sings the title song before wreaking havoc. Birdville's crack police force get to work, complete with a car chase, a shootout, and the bird criminal locked up, and woefully singing "I'm just a jailbird now". Tough break, kid.
* Main feature:

Edward G. Robinson is detective Johnny Blake, who goes undercover in a New York City mob, befriending a gangster named Al Kruger (MacLane), who is the subject of a recent movie about racketeering produced by a newspaperman named Ward Bryant (Henry O'Neill). Bryant has turned up murdered, and Kruger's partner, Nick Fenner (Bogart) is suspected of the crime. Blake is fired from the police force, and he later gets into an altercation with a police captain, Dan MacLaren (King) at a boxing match.

Blake quickly gains the trust of Kruger, although Fenner begins to rightfully suspect that Blake is secretly tipping off the police, and it's inevitable that both men are headed for a violent showdown. Who will survive?

The DVD also includes as an extra the Lux Theater radio broadcast featuring Robinson, Bogart, and Mary Astor in Joan Blondell's role, which first was aired on April 16th, 1939. As for the film, it's a recommended movie with an excellent transfer to DVD.

Marathon Man

Marathon Man. 1976 Paramount Pictures.
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, William Devane, Roy Scheider, Marthe Keller
Director: John Schlesinger
Buy Marathon Man from Amazon.

"Is it safe?" Number 70 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes list.

Dustin Hoffman is Thomas "Babe" Levy, a running enthusiast who is also working towards his Ph.D. in history researching the same field as his dad, who killed himself after he was investigated during the Joseph McCarthy era. His brother Henry (Scheider), or "Doc" if you prefer, poses as an oil company executive, but unknown to Babe, he is a government agent working for one Peter Janeway (Devane). Doc is in New York under the guise of visiting his brother, but in fact, he is tracking a Nazi war criminal named Dr. Christian Szell (Olivier), whose brother possesses a key to a safety deposit box containing an extremely valuable collection of diamonds (we learn later on that the diamonds were taken from Jewish victims that Szell personally executed at Auschwitz during World War II). Szell's brother dies following a road rage incident with a short-tempered Jewish American motorist. Meanwhile, Babe starts dating a fellow student named Elsa Opel (Keller), who says she's from Switzerland. One day, they're mugged in the park by two men in suits. Later, Doc takes them both to lunch, where he tricks Elsa into admitting she was lying about her past, because Doc suspects she has some kind of tie to Szell.

Doc is later stabbed by Szell, and he manages to make it back to Babe's apartment where he dies before telling him anything. The police interrogate Babe for hours, until Janeway and his men arrive. Janeway informs Babe of Doc's past as a government agent, and is convinced that Doc made his way back to Babe's apartment to share vital information. Later, Babe is abducted by the same two men who attacked him and Elsa in the park, who bring him to Szell, and Babe is tortured by the Nazi who repeatedly asks "Is it safe?" Babe denies any knowledge of what's happening, and is rescued by Janeway. After informing him of Szell's intentions for the cache of diamonds, and after Babe again stresses that Doc did not share any information with him before dying, Janeway reveals he is in cahoots with Szell. Szell had agreed to inform on his fellow Nazi war criminals in return for immunity. Babe is sent back to Szell, who is surprisingly gentle in his explanation why he's being held captive: he suspected Doc would attempt to seize the diamonds, or inform the authorities, and Szell wants to know if it's "safe" to withdraw the diamonds. Babe again says he knows nothing, and following more torture (dental torture!!), Babe escapes, outrunning Janeway and Szell's henchmen.

After this, Babe formulates a plan for revenge, and it could prove fatal for more than one person involved.

Laurence Olivier was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role as Dr. Szell, and he won a Golden Globe in the same category. Olivier was also suffering from cancer at the time of filming, and Paramount initially didn't want to use him during production, but producer Robert Evans called on his friends Merle Oberon and David Niven to meet with the House of Lords in England to convince them to urge Lloyds of London to insure Olivier. In the end, Olivier's cancer went into remission, and he lived for another thirteen years.

Highly recommended thriller, thanks to the performances of Hoffman and Olivier, although some might find the dental torture scenes a little too hard to watch. Be forewarned!

Alfie

Alfie. 1966 Paramount Pictures.
Starring: Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin, Julia Foster, Jane Asher, Alfie Bass
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Buy Alfie (1966) from Amazon.

Yes, this one was remade in 2004 starring Jude Law and Marisa Tomei.

The original, however, stars Michael Caine as Alfie Elkins, a promiscuous young man who seems to be shagging most of the female population of London when he isn't breaking the fourth wall trying to justify his actions. Usually, what Alfie tells the audience is the opposite of what we see him doing onscreen. Alfie is seeing Siddie (Martin) for little more than romps in parked cars, while his live-in bird Gilda (Foster) waits at home

Alfie's life begins to change when he ends his relationship with Siddie, and subsequently gets Gilda pregnant. Fatherhood seems to mellow Alfie out a little bit, but his reluctance to commit to Gilda drives her to marry a bus driver (Graham Stark). Alfie is then diagnosed with "shadows on the lungs", which means that he won't be able to go near his son. Checking into a convalescent home, Alfie meets another patient named Harry (Bass), whose wife he gets pregnant in a one-night stand. Harry's wife chooses to terminate the pregnancy, which devastates Alfie.

Having met an older, American woman named Ruby (Winters) while taking holiday pictures, Alfie decides to abandon his carefree ways, and settle down. Alfie chooses Ruby, but the day he finally tries to tell her, he finds Ruby in bed with a younger man.

Alfie was based on Bill Naughton's novel and play of the same name, and it earned several Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor for Michael Caine. Recommended movie!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Planes, Trains and Automobiles. 1987 Paramount Pictures.
Starring: Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Robins, Michael McKean, Kevin Bacon, Edie McClurg, Ben Stein
Written, produced and directed by John Hughes
Available from Amazon (Those Aren't Pillows edition).

Ad exec Neal Page (Martin) is stuck in a meeting that seems to drag on forever, which may mean that he won't be able to catch a taxi to JFK to connect to his flight to Chicago, two days before Thanksgiving. Neal plans to be at home "by nine". That ain't happening. He first encounters Del Griffith (Candy) when the latter inadvertently gets into the cab that Neal hailed for himself. Neal does get to JFK just in time, only to find out two things:

1. The flight to Chicago is delayed, thanks to the mother of all snowstorms, and
2. While waiting, Del recognizes Neal. To Neal's annoyance, he's stuck in coach right next to Del!

The flight to the Windy City is diverted to Wichita due to the storm, which not so coincidentally clears up shortly after Del and Neal land, and settle into a crummy hotel in a rough part of town. Being robbed of nearly a thousand dollars by an unidentified thief does not help matters. Neal and Del are stuck together, and they gradually overcome their differences after much arguing, and they pull together to make their way back to Chicago over the course of the next three days, using just about every method of transportation they can. Once they make it back home, Neal realizes that Del, the seemingly happy-go-lucky kind of fella, actually is a widower (he has been carrying around a framed picture of his deceased wife Marie), and he has nowhere to go home to.

Highly recommended film, perfect for the Thanksgiving holiday.

...those aren't pillows!

At the Circus

At the Circus. 1939 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: The Marx Brothers (Groucho, Chico, Harpo), Kenny Baker, Florence Rice, James Burke, Margaret Dumont, Nat Pendleton, Eve Arden
Director: Edward Buzzell
Available as part of the Marx Brothers Collection from Amazon.

Circus owner Jeff Wilson (Baker) is in danger of losing his business to a crooked creditor named Carter (Burke) and his two accomplices Goliath the Strongman (Pendleton) and Little Professor Atom (Jerry Maren). Wilson's assistant Antonio (Chico) takes it upon himself to enlist the help of an attorney called J. Cheever Loophole (Groucho), as well as another circus performer, Punchy (Harpo). Carter and his men aren't the only ones looking to take over the circus; aerialist Peerless Pauline (Arden) has also aligned herself with them. Wilson is mugged in the animal car and robbed of $10,000 with only one witness: a gorilla. It's up to Loophole, Antonio and Punchy to save the circus as only the Marx Brothers can...and that does involve Groucho running rings around a slightly bewildered Margaret Dumont (who plays Wilson's wealthy aunt, Mrs. Dukesbury). Will the gorilla come into play?

One of the film's musical numbers is "Lydia the Tattooed Lady", which became one of Groucho's signature songs, and it also references Captain Spaulding from Animal Crackers. Buster Keaton also worked on the film, contributing various sight gags, which did not mesh well with the Marx Brothers' style of comedy. During an argument, Keaton told Groucho that he's only doing what he's being paid to do, and that "you guys don't need help".

Recommended, of course, but it isn't the greatest Marx Brothers movie out there.

MST3K: Mr. B's Lost Shorts

Mystery Science Theater 3000 presents: Mr. B's Lost Shorts.
Available on the sixth MST3K collection.

Featuring for your perusal...

Mr. B Natural, from experiment 319, War of the Colossal Beast.
X Marks the Spot, from experiment 210, King Dinosaur.
Hired! (Part One), from experiment 423, Bride of the Monster.
Design for Dreaming, from experiment 12 to the Moon (also available on Shorts, Volume 3).
Johnny at the Fair, from experiment 419, The Rebel Set.
Are You Ready for Marriage?, from experiment 616, Racket Girls.

Next to Manos, Mr. B Natural is arguably MST3K's most memorable film, and just about every MSTie is very familiar with Betty Luster's over the top performance as the androgynous "hep pixie" embodying the spirit of fun in music. Evidentally, his/her day job is shilling for the now-defunct C.G. Conn company, and persuading awkward teenagers named Buzz into taking up the trumpet. As you all know, playing an instrument increases confidence around teenage girls. Or something.

Sadly, Mr. B doesn't appear in the rest of the shorts, so we do not get to see his/her influence over short films concerning reckless driving in New Jersey (and death), learning how to become a more efficient Chevrolet salesman, surreal showcases for new General Motors products, Johnny getting lost at a fair, or helping a young couple in love recognize that waiting to get engaged would definitely be a good idea. But, you know, Mr. B Natural is there, subtlely influencing everyone involved. Why did Johnny get lost? Blame Mr. B! How did Joe Doakes from New Jersey die in a car accident? That was Mr. B's doing.

This disc is definitely the best of the MST3K shorts collections, so get it while you can. Highly, highly recommended!

The mini Turkey Day marathon is over. My next post will be a review of an actual movie.

MST3K #604: Zombie Nightmare

Mystery Science Theater 3000 experiment #604: Zombie Nightmare.
Original Comedy Central airdate: November 24, 1994.
Available on the fifteenth MST3K collection.

Back in the olden days before South Park and Jon Stewart, Comedy Central used to have MST3K marathons on the Thanksgiving holiday, and this episode debuted during 1994's marathon.

Canadian bodybuilder and heavy metal musician Jon Mikl Thor starred in (and contributed music to) this 1986 film about a muscular, long-haired teenage baseball player named Tony, who one night, falls victim to a hit-and-run by a car full of teenagers. Those teenagers also include Tia Carrere (as Amy) in her first film role, and are led by a practicing sociopath named Jim (Shawn Levy).

After the death of Tony, his mother seeks out the neighborhood voodoo priestess (Hey! Every neighborhood has one!), who revives Tony as a zombie. Tony the Black Lanternzombie goes on a killing spree, hunting down and murdering the teenagers who ran him down late one night. As the body count goes up, the local police captain, Tom Churchman (Adam West) begins taking a particular interest in the case, especially after learning that aforementioned voodoo priestess is somehow linked to the deaths. We also learn that Churchman and Jim's father killed Tony's dad long ago after he foiled their attack on the girl who grew up into a life of voodoo.

We open on the SOL with Crow and Tom as Secret Service agents relentlessly protecting Mike (and predictably causing him more harm than good), until they learn that they too could fall victim to an assassin's bullet. The Mads have embraced voodoo, and send up a voodoo kit to the satellite, which Mike and the bots use to do nice things for people like Jimmy Carter and Cokie Roberts. We won't even mention the naughty things they do to Dr. Forrester, though. Later, Crow falls victim to a hit-and-run courtesy of Tom Servo, but they do make up enough for the next scene, where they go hot tubbing. No one told them that Mike was also in the tub, fishing! Crow's Batman play is next for rehearsal, with Mike as a gigantic Robin and Servo as a dimunitive Batman, but Crow neglected to tell them he had scrapped the project. After the movie, the 'bots read letters to Adam West, and TV's Frank accidentally turns Dr. F. undead. Oh no!

Recommended episode, especially if you're a big fan of Hank Peters, Italian grocer, not to mention endless jokes about Canada.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.
Original CBS airdate: November 20, 1973.
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or part of the Peanuts 1970s Collection, Volume 1.

We open our first review in quite some time with one of the three best known Peanuts holiday specials, which opens with the time honored tradition of Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown, a tactic that you just never see in any football game these days, professional, collegiate, high school, or just playing for fun in the backyard.

Charlie Brown and his sister Sally have plans to go to their grandmother's place for Thanksgiving. Then, Peppermint Patty calls the Brown residence, inviting herself over to the Browns' for dinner, followed up by two successive calls where she tells Charlie Brown that her two neighborhood friends Marcie and Franklin are also coming by. As usual, Charlie Brown can't bring himself to say no, and agonizes over what to do...until Linus simply suggests that they hold an earlier dinner at home before it's time to visit Grandma. Unfortunately, all Charlie Brown knows how to make is cold cereal and "maybe toast". Recruiting Snoopy and Woodstock, the boys do the best they can.

The feast at the Brown residence consists of cereal, toast, popcorn, pretzel sticks, and jelly beans. This does infuriate Peppermint Patty, who is oblivious to the fact that she invited herself over until Marcie reminds her. Apologies are given out, and Charlie Brown realizes that they're running behind, and they're supposed to be at Grandma's house very, very soon. Fortunately, after calling her to explain what happened, Charlie Brown's grandmother cheerfully suggests that everyone can tag along and come over for a real Thanksgiving feast. After everyone leaves, Snoopy and Woodstock have their own dinner, complete with all of the staples that were missing from Charlie Brown's first attempt at hosting Thanksgiving dinner.

The Warner Bros. reissue of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving also includes "The Mayflower Voyagers", the first episode from the 1988-89 miniseries This is America, Charlie Brown as an extra. Recommended disc, although the entire This is America, Charlie Brown series is available separately on a two DVD set.

Burden of Dreams

Burden of Dreams (Criterion #287).
1982 Flower Films & Janus Films.
Starring: Werner Herzog, Claudia Cardinale, Klaus Kinski, Mick Jagger, Jason Robards
Narration: Michael Goodwin (writer), Candace Laughlin (spoken)
Directors: Les Blank with Maureen Gosling
Buy Burden of Dreams at Amazon.

Les Blank, with some help from Maureen Gosling, directed this documentary examining German filmmaker Werner Herzog and his nearly-five year struggle to film Fitzcarraldo in the South American jungle. Fitzcarraldo is the story of Brian "Fitzcarraldo" Sweeny Fitzgerald, a European living in Peru who loves opera music enough that he decides to build a music hall in the middle of the Peruvian rain forest, simply so Enrico Caruso can christen it with a performance. Fitzgerald breaks into the rubber industry, Peru's most profitable industry at the turn of the 20th century, to realize this vision.

From the very start, the production seems cursed, as original star Jason Robards becomes ill, and returns to America, where his doctor orders him to stay. His co-star, Mick Jagger, has to drop out of the film to honor commitments with the Rolling Stones (recording Tattoo You, and touring to support that record). Herzog replaces Robards with his frequent collaborator Klaus Kinski, and deletes Jagger's role from the script. The film's production also is hindered by unpredictable weather, and dealing with hostile local tribes, not to mention hostilities between Peru and Ecuador military units. Kinski was also difficult to deal with during the shoot, and he clashed with Herzog and other crew members many times, upsetting the local extras enough that a native tribe leader offered to murder the actor. Herzog turned down the offer...because he needed Kinski to finish filming.

Herzog wanted his movie to be as realistic as possible, which meant that instead of using models or other special effects, he hired hundreds of local residents to help move a 320 ton steamship over a hill (the real life Fitzgerald simply dismantled his boat before transporting it). The director believed that no one had ever performed a similar feat in history, and likely would never try it again, so he called himself "Conquistador of the Useless". Regardless, despite all of the hardships and setbacks, Herzog never gave up, and Fitzcarraldo was released to theaters in 1982, garnering great critical success.

As for Burden of Dreams, it is a very interesting documentary depicting the efforts of a nearly impossible and at times ridiculous film production that would've broken the wills of many directors, actors, or other film crew members. Highly recommended.

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.
1932 Warner Bros. Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Noel Francis
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or as part of the Controversal Classics box set.

Based on the autobiography written by World War I veteran and Georgia chain gang member Robert Elliott Burns (while he was still on the run in New Jersey), I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang, this film not only contributed to significant changes in the United States penal system when it came to prison chain gangs, it also was a big enough hit at the box office to save Warner Bros. from financial ruin. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang was banned in the state of Georgia, where Burns served his stint, even if the movie took place in an unnamed state.

Also, before this picture was made, it was almost unheard of for any studio or filmmaker to tackle serious social issues.

Sergeant James Allen (Muni) returns from World War I planning to find work in construction, but soon finds himself having a hard time finding work, or at least a job that he's completely happy with. Allen is so broke at one point that he pawns his war medals. One night, he is accidentally caught up in a robbery, and finds himself sentenced to ten years in a chain gang.

After several months, Allen makes his escape, and winds up in Chicago. In the Windy City, he finds great success in the construction business, and Allen marries the proprietor of his boarding house, Marie Woods (Farrell). Marie discovers Jim's secret, and blackmails him into entering an unhappy marriage. Later on, Allen meets and falls in love with Helen (Vinson). When Jim asks his wife for a divorce, Marie betrays him to the authorities. Allen is offered a pardon if he turns himself in; he does so, only to find that it was a ruse, prompting him to escape back to Chicago.

Allen finds Helen at her home, and tells her that he is going back on the run. When asked questions about where he's going, and if he needs any money, Jim tells her "I steal" before disappearing back into the darkness. The lighting during the final scene was a happy accident (the lights either failed, or were turned off too soon), and it was kept in the final print.

Highly, highly recommended pre-Code film.

Casablanca

Casablanca.
1942 Warner Bros. Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, Dooley Wilson
Director: Michael Curtiz
Available from Amazon as a single DVD (snapcase!), or as a two-disc special edition, which I own. Casablanca is also part of two box sets: the first Humphrey Bogart Signature Collection, and the Best Picture Winners installment of TCM's Greatest Classic Films Collection. Or, you could always invest in the ultimate collectors' edition.

"Here's looking at you, kid."

"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

"Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By." *

"Round up the usual suspects."

"We'll always have Paris."

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."

One of the all time classic American films. Casablanca won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and Best Director for Michael Curtiz.

Humphrey Bogart is Rick Blaine, a nightclub owner in Casablanca during the early days of World War II. Rick's Café Américain is an upscale nightclub slash gambling den that attracts a wide base of customers, notably Vichy French and Nazi officials, as well as refugees and thieves. One day, a petty criminal called Ugarte (Lorre) shows up in the club with "letters of transit" that he got after two German couriers were murdered. These documents will allow the bearer to travel as they pleased through Nazi-controlled Germany, into neutral Portugal, and from there into the United States. Obviously, these are very valuable and highly coveted, and Ugarte plans to make a killing by selling them to the highest bidder who is eager enough to get out of Casablanca, but the criminal is arrested by the local police under the command of the corrupt Captain Louis Renault (Rains) before he could sell. He still entrusts Rick with the letters (Ugarte dies offscreen while in police custody).

And then, Ilsa Lund (Bergman) arrives in the club with her new husband Victor Laszlo (Henreid), a fugitive Czech Resistance leader. Rick and Ilsa were lovers, but she left him without explanation. Ilsa and Victor need Rick's letters to eventually escape to America so Victor can continue his work, and the German Major Strasser (Veidt) shows up to make sure Laszlo doesn't succeed. Laszlo has also met with Rick's business rival, Signor Ferrari (Greenstreet), voicing his suspicion that Rick has the letters. When Laszlo and Rick meet privately, he refuses to hand over the letters, suggesting that he ask his wife for the reason. Just then, Stresser and his fellow officers begin to loudly sing "Die Wacht am Rhein". Laszlo, with Rick's approval, gets the house band to play the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise", triggering long-suppressed patriotic fervor in the crowd, and quickly drowning out the Nazis. Strasser retaliates by having Captain Renault shut the nightclub down.

Later, Ilsa confronts Sam and demands the letters, but he refuses to hand them over. She tries to shoot him, but can't bring herself to pull the trigger, confessing that she still loves him. The truth comes out: Laszlo was believed killed in a concentration camp, but as the Germans were on the brink of capturing Paris, Ilsa learned that Laszlo was still alive; hence her wordless break-up with Rick, she left to tend to an ill Laszlo. Rick's bitterness towards Ilsa fades, and he agrees to help, making her believe that she will stay in Casablanca with Rick when Laszlo leaves for America.

Rick, as everyone knows, has other ideas, and his future does not involve a permanent reconciliation with Ilsa.

There's really not much else I can add. Of course, this one is highly, highly, highly recommended.


* Often mistaken for the simpler "Play it again, Sam".

The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon.
1941 Warner Bros. Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Barton MacLane
Director: John Huston
Available from Amazon as a three-disc special edition, which is also part of the second Humphrey Bogart Signature Collection.

This will be a special "Warner Night at the Movies" edition, which is an option available on the DVD. Had you gone to see The Maltese Falcon back in '41, this all would've awaited you at the theater:

* A trailer for Sergeant York.
* A very brief Newsreel.
* The Gay Parisian (short), directed by Jean Negulesco. Basically, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo dance to the music of Jacques Offenbach. It's in Technicolor, so it looks great, but it really doesn't go anywhere. Pass on it, even if it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject.
* Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt, directed by Friz Freleng, 1941. Bugs Bunny is hunted by a pint-sized Hiawatha in between trying to read Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha. One of the earliest cartoons starring Bugs, and the first directed by Freleng.
* Meet John Doughboy, directed by Robert Clampett, 1941. Porky Pig hosts a parody of a newsreel with an armed forces theme, complete with caricatures of Jack Benny and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. This one is also available on the sixth and final Looney Tunes Golden Collection.
* And of course, the main feature...

John Huston's directorial debut is a screen adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel, and it received three Academy Award nominations. It also helped turned Humphrey Bogart into a major star.

Bogart, as everyone knows, is detective Sam Spade, a man with his own personal code of honor. One day, a Miss Ruth Wonderly (Astor) breezes into the office Spade shares with his partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan), and offers them a healthy incentive to protect her from someone named Floyd Thursby. Archer takes the offer, simply because he saw the woman first. Later that evening, he and Thursby are shot to death. After some confusion about Spade's possible involvement in the murders (a motive that he might be attracted to Archer's wife Iva, played by Gladys George), the detective meets Wonderly again, but she's now calling herself Brigid O'Shaughnessy. Brigid explains that Thursby was her partner, and he may have shot Archer, but she doesn't know who offed Thursby.

Spade also meets the effeminate Joel Cairo (Lorre), and a criminal named Kasper Gutman (Greenstreet), and everyone involved is looking for a 12 inch high, jewel-encrusted statuette in the shape of a falcon. Spade is offered small fortunes by Cairo and Gutman to find the treasure, but they are not above committing violent crimes to attain the bird themselves. As usual, many things are not what they seem, or appear to be.

Highly, highly recommended movie.

Night and Day

Night and Day.
1946 Warner Bros. Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Cary Grant, Alexis Smith, Monty Woolley, Mary Martin, Jane Wyman, Eve Arden
Director: Michael Curtiz
Available at Amazon as a single DVD, or as part of the Cary Grant Signature Collection.

Michael Curtiz directed this biographical film about the life and career of Cole Porter which understandably (for 1946 audiences) left out any hint of Porter's homosexuality. Those looking for a more realistic film about Porter should perhaps look into De-Lovely, starring Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, and Jonathan Pryce.

Night and Day covers the years 1912 to 1946, when Porter (Grant) attended Yale, and found himself uninterested in studying law, so he became involved with amateur theatricals under the tutelage of Monty Woolley, who plays himself. Cole signs up for the army and becomes an ambulance driver in World War I, and he meets his future wife Linda Lee (Smith) while stationed in France. After the war, Porter becomes a prolific songwriter, writing hit after hit, and drawing inspiration from mundane things like rain falling and the ticking of a grandfather clock. His marriage begins to suffer, as Linda starts feeling neglected when Cole's career takes off.

Later, Porter is seriously injured in a polo accident, but refuses to have his useless legs amputated and makes a big comeback, which draws praise from none other than a World War I veteran who just happens to be an amputee.

Recommended for fans of Cary Grant, although no one who comes across this one should expect a serious and 100 percent accurate biopic of Cole Porter.

Dinner at Eight

Dinner at Eight. 1933 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore, Lee Tracy
Director: George Cukor
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or part of the Classic Comedies Collection.

This one is a film adaptation of the play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber.

Billie Burke is Millicent Jordan, a social butterfly who arranges a dinner party that would benefit the business of her husband, Oliver (Lionel Barrymore). A week before the big shindig, Millicent is overjoyed that Lord and Lady Ferncliffe have accepted her invitations, even though she seems unaware of her husband and daughter Paula's (Madge Evans) not being as enthusiastic as she is. Paula's fiance Ernest DeGraff (Phillips Holmes) is due back from Europe, and Oliver's shipping firm has been struck hard by the Great Depression; bad enough that a former flame from his past is offering to sell her holdings, and Oliver doesn't have the cash to buy the stock back. Millicent's next task is to fund an escort for her only single female guest, former stage star Carlotta Vance (Marie Dressler), who is now broke, and is essentially a "professional guest" now.

Oliver confides in mining mogul Dan Packard (Beery) about his financial problems, asking him to take over some of his stocks until business improves. Dan eagerly agrees, then goes home to brag to his gold digging wife Kitty (Harlow) that the Jordan Line is a valuable property that he plans to devour through crooked stock purchases. The Packards are also extended invitations, mostly to make Dan hesitant about buying the stock. Kitty jumps at the chance, but Dan only agrees when he hears about the Ferncliffes attending the party.

Meanwhile, Kitty is secretly having an affair with Dr. Wayne Talbot (Edmund Lowe), and Millicent finds herself inviting alcoholic silent film star Larry Renault (John Barrymore) as Carlotta's date, unaware that Paula is having an affair with him! Larry accepts, then urges Paula to forget about him and return to Ernest, which she doesn't take seriously. Carlotta sees Paula leaving Larry's hotel room.

Basically, nothing goes right at the party. The Ferncliffes cancel and go to Florida instead, and Oliver falls ill from the stress of his business problems. Kitty and Dan argue, where she reveals her affair with Dr. Talbot (who is also caught by his wife Lucy, played by Karen Morley), then blackmails him into not divorcing her, since she will tell the Cabinet about his crooked business dealings. Larry's comeback attempt fails when he's removed from the lead role of his newest stage play, and goes on a bender that leads to his suicide right before he's supposed to be at the party. Millicent, upon learning of Larry's death and her own husband's illness, finally realizes she's been focusing too much on social gatherings and not her own family. Paula ultimately stays engaged to Ernest, and Dan backs down from his takeover of the Jordan Line.

Recommended movie.

The Apartment

The Apartment.
1960 The Mirisch Corporation & United Artists; distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Edie Adams
Director: Billy Wilder
Buy The Apartment Collectors' Edition from Amazon.

The Apartment was nominated for ten Academy Awards, and won five, including Best Picture, and Best Director for Billy Wilder.

C.C. Baxter (Lemmon) works for a Manhattan-based insurance company with the less than ideal home life, as four different company managers take turns commandeering his apartment (on West 67th Street) for various extramarital trysts. Baxter is obviously unhappy with this arrangement, but he's unwilling to challenge it directly, as his supervisors are returning the favor with glowing reviews of his work, which leads to a big promotion later on. His neighbors assume that Baxter is a lothario who brings home a new woman every evening to get them drunk, which he does nothing to disprove.

Baxter is also trying to catch the eye of the elevator operator, Fran Kubelik (MacLaine). After his promotion, he finally asks Fran to a Broadway show, which she accepts...and stands him up. When Baxter returns home, he finds Fran dressed in his bed, having overdosed on sleeping pills. Before the promotion, Baxter had also allowed his company's personnel director Mr. Sheldrake (MacMurray) to use his place, and he was present the night Baxter was away at the show. Fran reveals that he had been involved with Sheldrake the previous summer, but it ended when his wife returned from a vacation. She still caved into his promises later that fall, but attempted suicide after Sheldrake offered her money instead of a Christmas gift.

After Fran recovers, and Sheldrake's marriage finally collapses thanks to a tattletale secretary who also happens to be a former lover, Baxter finally takes a stand against his superiors taking advantage of him and using his quarters for their affairs. Baxter quits the firm, and Fran ditches Sheldrake on New Year's Eve, having realized who truly cares for her. They spend the big holiday playing gin rummy.

Highly, highly recommended. Now, shut up and deal!