Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Jason McCullough: Why do these jaspers always have to hit town at meal time?
Prudy: You gonna kill another man?
Jason McCullough: Well, I'm sure we all hope it turns out that way.
Joe Danby: [about his father] He's got a heart as big as the whole outdoors, but he don't have one brain in his poor old head.
Jake: You want me to tell Joe Danby that he's under arrest for murder? What're you gonna do after he kills me?
Jason McCullough: Then I'll arrest him for both murders.
Jason McCullough: Now it wouldn't have done my finger a hell of a lot of good either, would it? What can I do for you, Mr. Danby?
Jason McCullough: I don't know what I could have said to give you that idea, Mayor.
Pa Danby: The way I hear'd it, he killed a man in a fair gunfight.
Jason McCullough: I was standing right there.
Pa Danby: You was standin' right where?
Jason McCullough: In the saloon when Joe killed him.
Pa Danby: Well, now that was real smart of him, weren't it?
Jason McCullough: I've been around Joe all afternoon and I haven't seen him do one smart thing yet.
Pa Danby: Whadda ya mean, AGAIN?
Tom Danby: Nothin'. It just looks better in spots, that's all.
Pa Danby: Whadda ya mean, SPOTS?
Henry Jackson: We are gathered here today to consign the mortal remains of Millard Frymore... or whatever his name really was. I ain't really got a whole lot to say about Millard because he only rode amongst us two days ago, and was promptly struck down by whatever deadly disease it was struck him down. We can only hope that whatever deadly disease it was, it wasn't particularly contagious. And with that in mind, I suggest we all bow our heads in devout prayer.
Fred Johnson: It's gold, Henry.
Henry Jackson: Gold?
Fred Johnson: Down there in the grave.
Henry Jackson: Well, let's get this coffin out of the way and have a look.
Mayor Olly Perkins: Well, it sure would have, if it hadn't been for all them other bullets flyin' in from everywhere.
Joe Danby: I hear you're gonna try and arrest me. You know you don't look near as tough as some of them other sheriffs we've had lately. Particularly that old boy that done run off about an hour and a half after he took the job.
Jason McCullough: Joe, you just make me feel tired all over when you talk like that.
Joe Danby: Now, what do you mean by that?
Jason McCullough: It's bad enough to have to kill a man without having to listen to a whole lot of stupid talk from him first.
Jake: Well, I did odd jobs... for one thing, I was a Orr holder at Madame Horse's, uh, horse holder at Madame Orr's House.
Luke Danby: Yeah, but you always said that the Danbys fight their own battles.
Pa Danby: Well, maybe I was talkin' 'bout another branch of the family.
Jason McCullough: You beat that poor man to the draw. He's dead and you're alive. That's the idea of this game, isn't it? [after Joe shoots the cardplayer in the saloon, he claims it was self-defense]
Jason McCullough: Well, it may have been a lot of things, but self-defense it wasn't. And he didn't draw first - you did.
Joe Danby: What do you mean by that?
Jason McCullough: Oh, it's an old trick. You did it pretty well - not real well - but pretty well. You feinted with your left shoulder, getting him to go for his gun, while you were goin' for yours with your right hand at the same time. It's an old Arizona trick; but I... I have seen it used as far north as Montana.
Joe Danby: Are you callin' me a liar?
Jason McCullough: Well now, you heard every word I said and I didn't call you a liar. All I said was you feinted him into drawin' with your left shoulder while you were goin' for the gun with the right hand.
Joe Danby: So what?
Jason McCullough: You beat that poor man to the draw. He's dead and you're alive - that's the whole idea of the game, isn't it?
Joe Danby: What's your name?
Jason McCullough: Jason McCullough. What's yours?
Joe Danby: Joe Danby. And you had better remember it.
Jason McCullough: Oh, I'll remember it, Joe. That's about all I'm gonna do the rest of my life is go around rememberin' your name.
Jake: How come nobody ever heard of you? I mean, a man that can shoot like you do and draw as fast as you can... how come you ain't got a reputation?
Jason McCullough: What would I want with a reputation? That's a good way to get yourself killed.
Pa Danby: Well, now they've built one!
Joe Danby: Aww.
Pa Danby: You'll have to stay here for a couple of days.
Joe Danby: But we run this town.
Pa Danby: I gotta throw in with that sheriff that you don't exactly dazzle nobody with your intelligence.
[after Pa Danby leaves the sheriff's office] Jason McCullough: You know... he strikes me as bein' a lonely man.
Jake: Lonely? Danby? Why he's a mean, no-good, lowdown bushwhacker!
Jason McCullough: Well, there you see? No wonder he's lonely.
Jake: Now the way this story ends... is that they get married and he goes on to become governor of the state. Never gets to Australia, but he keeps readin' a lot of books about it. I get to be sheriff of this town... and then I go on to become one of the most beloved characters in Western folklore.
Jake: Now the way this story ends... is that they get married and he goes on to become governor of the state. Never gets to Australia, but he keeps readin' a lot of books about it. I get to be sheriff of this town... and then I go on to become one of the most beloved characters in Western folklore.
Jake: One end or the other. Of course, I come about it natural. My daddy stole horses for a living. They hung him.
Pa Danby: Now I'm gonna take a little trip tomorrow and I want you two to behave yourselves while I'm gone. I don't want nobody to make no martyr out of this here sheriff.
Pa Danby: Now I'm gonna take a little trip tomorrow and I want you two to behave yourselves while I'm gone. I don't want nobody to make no martyr out of this here sheriff.
Tom Danby: What's a martyr?
Pa Danby: Oh, I'm sorry. They didn't use words like that in the third grade, did they?
Tom Danby: Well, how would I know? I didn't get that far.
Jake: I'd hate it! Even if I lived through it, I'd hate it!
Mayor Olly Perkins: Do we have a jail? A brand new one with two cells that the whole community pitched in and built last month!
Fred Johnson: Just like a barn raising.
Henry Jackson: Even the dancehall girls showed up. They made sandwiches and carried on like crazy.
Mayor Olly Perkins: It was designed to be practically escape proof.
Jason McCullough: Well, good, because I think I'm going to have to throw a couple of people in it. Mayor Olly Perkins: There's only one thing. This new jail has sure got everything.
Fred Johnson: Even a new stove with a coffee pot already on it.
Mayor Olly Perkins: The only thing it hasn't got is iron bars for the cells.
Mayor Ollie Perkins: I wanted you to meet my daughter, Sheriff. She's a good cook, a mighty fine looking girl. Takes after her dear, departed mother.
Jason McCullough: Mother died, huh?
Mayor Ollie Perkins: Nope, she just departed.
Mayor Ollie Perkins: She's a rich little old gal in her own name, Sheriff. Sole owner of the Millard Frymore Memorial Mining Company.
Jason McCullough: You meanin' whoever marries her gets the mine.
Mayor Ollie Perkins: Shaft and all!
Jason McCullough: Is this the kind of town you people want for yourselves? Is this the kind of life you want to lead? I mean, three killings in one saloon alone! The sun hasn't even gone down yet. Any more of this foolishness, and I'm gonna close this place up tight.
Bartender: Remember what the sheriff said: no more shootin' till the sun goes down.
Townsman: Is that what he said?
Bartender: That's close enough, brother. Drinks are on the house!
Henry Jackson: I did too, And at the time I heard it, I remember saying to myself, "That sheriff has his head set squarely on his shoulders."
Prudy: Well, now he's NOT gonna leave town.
Mayor Ollie Perkins: And I'd like to get my hands on whoever it was that caused him to change his mind.
Henry Jackson: Me too. Man with that good an idea oughta be encouraged to hold on to it. Prudy: What is the matter with all of you? Don't you remember how long we waited to find a man who'd stand up to the Danbys? Don't you remember what this town was like before - murderings, lynchings, miners shooting up the town day and night?
Fred Johnson: And aside from the few things that you just mentioned, it wasn't a bad place at all!
Mayor Olly Perkins: [talking about Prudy] She's had some terrible shocks this year. She got wealthy almost overnight - I think maybe it unhinged her a little bit. Then she was always kind of big for her age and "pooberty" hit her hard - that'll do it you know.
Mayor Olly Perkins: [talking about Prudy] She's had some terrible shocks this year. She got wealthy almost overnight - I think maybe it unhinged her a little bit. Then she was always kind of big for her age and "pooberty" hit her hard - that'll do it you know.
Jason McCullough: I didn't know that.
Mayor Olly Perkins: Well, it will!
Jason McCullough: How's Joe?
Jake: Oh, he figures he's going to be out of here and we're going to be dead about this time tomorrow.
Jason McCullough: Did he seem to feel any sorrow over the fact that we might all be killed?
Jake: No, it's more like he planned to dance and spit all over our graves.
Jason McCullough: Sounds like Joe.
Tonight on TCM!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The scene opens with Frank Devereaux (Rod La Rocque), the son of a wealthy businessman, taking Ann Carter (Barbara Stanwyck), his father's secretary, to a floating bar for a date. Among the witty cinematography we discover that the public forum is full of drunken patrons. Devereaux has reserved private dining room and though things seem innocent at first, they turn sinister quickly. Devereaux locks Ann in the room and presumably rapes her. Meanwhile, the boat is being raided by the police who eventually discover Devereaux and an extremely distraught Ann. Their picture is taken by a news photographer as they are being arrested. We later find out that Deveraux used his influence to attain the picture and keep it out of the paper.
In the next scene we come upon Lawrence Reagan (William 'Stage' Boyd- that name is a story in itself. Look it up sometime.) whom Ann is now married to. While Ann and Reagan's kid sister, Helen (Betty Bronson) admire the gifts that Reagan just got them, Devereaux calls on Helen. Turns out she is his next conquest. Reagan is aware of how disastrous Devereaux is- not because of what he did to Ann but because he has just learned that his friend's wife has been having an affair with Devereaux. Ann tries to convince Helen that Devereaux is no good to no avail because she cannot let on that she knows him. Reagan questions whether she knows him or not and informs her that if they had ever had an affair he would divorce her. Ann convinces him she has not.
Later that evening, Ann goes to Devereaux to try and convince him not to let Helen run off with him. He laughs at her when she threatens to go to her husband. He shows her the police photo as evidence of their past. While Ann is there, Reagan shows up. He wants to tell Devereaux to get out of town because his friend is after him for breaking up his home. Ann hides upstairs and during the confrontation between Reagan and Devereaux, the latter is accidentally shot. Ann becomes locked in the room with the body and tries to convince the operator that she shot Devereaux. When the police come, she confesses to the crime saying Devereaux tried to rape her. The story doesn't hold up and Reagan is called in for his side of the story, he admits his guilt but then Devereaux reveals on his deathbed the actual circumstances.
The Locked Door was Barbara Stanwyck's first starring role. Contrived, melodramatic, and suffering under the weight of being one of the first talkies, the movie was far from perfect. Only La Rocque and Stanwyck shine through. La Rocque's face makes him competently smarmy looking and befits his creep status in the film. Stanwyck's facial expressions bring out her inner turmoil and anger. Zasu Pitts, in a bit part as the operator, provides comic relief. However Boyd is equally flat to Bronson's hyper- enthusiam over everything.Decades later, when Stanwyck (who never thought much of her earlier films) was asked about The Locked Door, she replied, “They never should’ve unlocked the damned thing.”
Tonight on TCM!
Bride Wore Black, The (1968) A woman seeks revenge on the five men who murdered her fiance. Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Jean-Claude Brialy, Michel Bouquet, Charles Denner Dir: François Truffaut
Monday, September 28, 2009
Members of a secret society hold a meeting to determine whether a powerful and dangerous man whom they have been studying closely for the past three months must die. Once they all agree that he deserves to die, cards are drawn to see who will be dealt the ace of hearts and chosen to complete the deadly task. Two club members, Farallone (Lon Chaney) and Forrest (John Bowers), are both in love with Lilith (Leatrice Joy), the only female member. But Lilith is devoted to the cause and turns down both their advances. However, when Forrest draws the ace of hearts, Lilith agrees to marry him, in order to give him courage. After their first night together, Lilith discovers she actually loves Forrest and begs him to reject the assignment and flee with her. Forrest, ruled by honor, cannot quit the cause and leaves to follow through on his task. While he is gone Lilith beseeches a heartbroken Farallone and begs him to stop Forrest. Believing that Forrest will not complete the task, he strikes up a deal with Lilith- if Forrest does not complete the task he will save Forrest and Lilith from the society’s wrath. If Forrest does complete the task but is fatally wounded in doing so, Lilith must marry him. Lilith agrees to the terms. Forrest returns to the society declaring his inability to fulfill his task because he would have caused the death of two innocents that were in the vicinity. He gives the bomb that was made for the execution back to the society and leaves with Lilith. When the members meet to decide their fate, death for Forrest, Farallone sets off a bomb, which kills them all.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Fredric March gets tight with Jim.
Virginia Bruce prefers a Woodbury nightcap.
Natalie Wood purifies with Lux.
John Wayne can't risk thoat irritation, so he smokes Camels. Poor sap.
Sure it's a good color, but that style Joan. That style!
Bob Hope for Paravox hearing aids.
June Allyson cremes her hair with Lustre-Creme.
Tonight on TCM!
Scandal Sheet (1952) A tabloid editor assigns a young reporter to solve a murder the editor committed himself. Cast: Broderick Crawford, Donna Reed, John Derek, Rosemary DeCamp Dir: Phil Karlson
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Eva Phillips (Joan Crawford) dominates the Georgia mansion she shares with her husband Avery (Barry Sullivan), an alcoholic mill owner and his sister Carol (Betsy Palmer). When Eva's cousin, Jennifer Stewart (Lucy Marlow), visits she is at first naive to what is going on in the household and defends Eva anytime Carol or Avery say a bad word against her. However, the longer Jennifer stays the more she doesn't like what she sees. She watches as Eva ruthlessly maneuvers to prevent the marriage of Avery's sister to Judson Prentiss (John Ireland) by telling Carol that she and Judson were once lovers. When Carol learns the truth, she commits suicide. When Eva senses the developing relationship between Jennifer and Avery, she threatens to make Avery's life miserable if he leaves her, reminding him that the last time he thought to do so resulted in his face being scarred. Avery decides then that he will publicly display his love for Eva and vows to her that he has changed. He will now go to her social gatherings with her, stop holing himself up in his room and drinking, and give her the second honeymoon she deserves. Judson suspects this is a hoax on Avery's part and figures out that Avery plans to kill Eva and himself via an automobile accident. However, Judson beats him to the punch as he feels responsible for avenging Carol's death. Now Jennifer and Avery are free to be together.
The advent of TV made most movies in 50's, to my way of thinking, unbearable to watch. Queen Bee is a testament to Joan Crawford's talent in that flagging era of cinema as well as a testament to the lackluster stars who also performed in that era. Crawford simply outshines everyone involved in this movie. I think, like any other viewer, you're simply waiting for her next screen entrance and everything in between is boring filler. Not only because Crawford plays such a ruthless character, but also because she has the talent to make you feel sorry for her being so ruthless. Carol and Avery warn Jennifer that Eva will never let her go once she has you in her clutches and it's believable because Crawford holds the viewer in her clutches as well. Even as you cringe at the selfish things she does, these spiteful things she says, her manipulative ways have captivated you.
Queen Bee is bearable only because Joan Crawford made it so. Which is a shame since the plot is a good one. Both Marlow and Palmer fell flat in their performances, their faces garish masks of emotion while there are too many unnatural pauses between dialogue. Sullivan portrays too well what a man defeated by life looks like, not even getting riled up when his sister falls prey to his wife. Ireland does little better, spouting cutting barbs as his face remains in stone. The movie also moves at an unnatural pace, though the time lines are established (everything that happens in the movie is over the course of a few weeks) there is no time to mourn the loss of Carol, in fact, no one seems to at all. There are not enough scenes between Jennifer and Avery to convince the viewer that she has fallen in love with him, and the combination of Sullivan's performance and the timeline of one afternoon does not convince the viewer that Eva should believe Avery really loves her and wants to start over again.
An interesting aspect of the film is the recurring nightmare that Eva and Avery's son Ted has. As Carol explains to Jennifer, he keeps seeing himself in a car with his mother as they drive towards a mountain. Ted wakes up screaming every night right before the mountain is reached. As Eva and Judson topple over in the car, a close up of Eva's face while screaming is suddenly replaced with Ted screaming as he awakens. Jennifer settles him back in as he mumbles that it's happened, it's finally over.
I hope I look this good at fifty!Tonight on TCM!
Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)In this silent film, a student tries to win a rival captain's daughter after taking over his father's riverboat. Cast: Buster Keaton, Ernest Torrence, Tom Lewis, Tom McGuire Dir: Charles F. Reisner
Friday, September 18, 2009
Robert Montgomery and George Hurrell.
Ruth Chatterton most likely on the set of Frisco Jenny. 
Burton and Taylor on the set of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 
Director Clarence Brown on the set of Anna Karenina with Garbo and March.
On the set of Gone With the Wind.
Herbert Brenon and Alla Nazimova. 
Orson Welles
Tonight on TCM!
Strange Cargo (1940) Devil's Island escapees are changed forever by a prisoner who thinks he's Jesus.Cast: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Ian Hunter, Peter Lorre Dir: Frank Borzage
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Synopsis:The struggle between an atheist girl and the male head of a Christian youth organization result in the death of a student. Thrown into reform school, the couple fall in love and try to escape only to be caught and brought back to the school where a fire breaks out and their beliefs are tested.
The Godless Girl was DeMille’s last silent feature that flopped against the advent of talkies. Advocate for more realism in films, DeMille’s spectacle set out to expose the atheism in high schools and the hidden tortures of reform school. The character Judy Craig (Lina Basquette) and the storyline for The Godless Girl were based loosely on two events. One: the controversy surrounding Hollywood High School in 1927 when atheist pamphlets were found in student lockers. Two: at the age of twelve, child prodigy Queen Silver wrote a pamphlet on evolution that came to national attention with the Scopes Monkey Trial that made it unlawful, in any state-funded educational establishment in Tennessee, "to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals."DeMille spent six months researching reformatory schools, going so far as to have a girl go undercover to get information. His research team collected affidavits from the inmates that testified that such things as whipping, water torture, use of straightjackets and solitary confinement were the norm for these establishments. However, DeMille only used that research to his advantage when it came to the portraying the boys side of the reformatory school, subjecting Bob Hathaway (Tom Keene) to being sprayed down with a powerful fire hose and having him beaten and locked into solitary. At another point in the film the head guard (played almost too perfectly by a Beery- Noah Beery) beats Samuel Johnson (Eddie Quillan) unconscious. Judy, by comparison, gets off easy only being subjected to menial tasks such as butcher and garbage duties, suffering torture only once when she and Bob are electrocuted by the charged fence that separates them. The latter resulting in a form of stigmata that has both Judy and Bob questioning their faith, only this time with the roles reversed now that Bob experiences what hell is like and Judy feels the presence of something more powerful for the first time. Either way, they are bound together by that torture and Bob vows to save Judy from the hell they have landed in.
Despite the over baked scenes and the tendency DeMille has for loose realism, I was mostly surprised by the stance DeMille took towards the youth’s atheistic beliefs. For a man so deeply entrenched in stories from the bible as evidenced through his epic filmmaking, it’s odd or perhaps insulting (to the youth of that era) that DeMille does not vilify those who renounce God. Instead he seems to give both sides a voice and send the message that atheism is allowable when it comes to enthusiastic youths since they really don’t know any better while simutaneously putting them in very adult situations and giving them very mature ultimatums. He even gives Bob, the head of the religious group a harder time of it than he does Judy who is the atheist. Satisfying an already loose censorship code, DeMille simply had to display belief in God at the end of the movie to get away with the more uncomfortable aspects of The Godless Girl such as the pamphlets distributed in the school with messages like Kill the Bible and insults written on the backs of those kneeling to Jesus. I can’t imagine what audiences of that era were thinking when those powerful images marched across the screen. However, it was the end of a very decadent decade, the market crash hadn't taken full effect and questioning God and evolution was part of the norm.
Though the film is full of Judy and Bob’s melodrama, the film has some comedic relief because of Mame (Marie Prevost) and Samuel. Both actors have the ability to emote without making it look histrionic and lighten the story with their antics.
Overall the film was good. Like any DeMille film, it tended to run a little long. However, he doesn’t come off preachy and allows the viewer to come to their own conclusion about their religious beliefs.
Tonight on TCM!
Trouble With Harry, The (1955) A corpse creates a world of trouble for several passersby who each believe they may have caused the death. Cast: Edmund Gwenn, John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick, Mildred Dunnock Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
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