Happy Birthday Fredric March!

Ernest Frederick Mcintyre Bickel

August 31st, 1897

In honor of this special day and because he is my all time favorite classic actor, I have decided to dedicate the entire month of September to the most distinguished and versatile American actor that has ever graced the stage or screen. In the process of picking through his past, and reviewing quite a few (but not all, he is an actor to be savored) of his movies, I hope to discover and put into words how and why I consider this man such a wonderful asset to classic film.

Fredric March on TCM! He's the star of the month in October!!!

September 1st: Middle of the Night

September 26th: Nothing Sacred*

October 2nd: Seven Days in May*

October 5th: Anna Karenina*

October 5th: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

October 5th: ...Tick...Tick...Tick

October 5th: Christopher Columbus*

October 5th: I Married a Witch

October 5th: The man in the Gray Flannel Suit

October 6th: Executive Suite*

October 8th: We Live Again*

October 12th: One Foot in Heaven

October 12th: Make Me a Star

October 12th: A Star is Born*

October 12th: Bedtime Story*

October 12th: The Best Years of Our Lives

October 13th: Alexander the Great

October 19th: Susan and God

October 19th: Mary of Scotland*

October 19th: The Barretts of Wimpole Street

October 19th: Design for Living*

October 20th: It's a Big Country*

October 26th: Anthony Adverse*

October 26th: Inherit the Wind*

October 26th: The Young Doctors*

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Newman's Own: Harper (1966)

Harper’s a down and out private detective who’s addicted to his job despite not really liking any of his clients. He’s sacrificed his marriage to his passion for solving crime but doesn’t quite get why his wife (Janet Leigh) wants to divorce him. Harper is hired, on recommendation by his good friend Albert Graves (Arthur Hill) to find one of his missing clients, a Mr. Sampson, a millionaire who likes to womanize, drink heavily and then give away small fortunes. Harper’s encounter with Sampson’s indifferent wife, Elaine (Lauren Bacall) is the first indication that he has signed himself up for more than he bargained for. He is suddenly surrounded by neurotic characters like Miranda Sampson (Pamela Tiffin), Sampson’s spoiled and man-hungry daughter, Alan Taggert (Robert Wagner) the family pilot given to narcissism, Fay Estabrook (Shelley Winters) an aging and gluttonous starlet, Betty Fraley (Julie Harris) a seemingly lonely and drug addicted jazz singer, and Claude (Strother Martin), the crazy man living on top of a mountain that Mr. Sampson gave him. All are somehow connected and it will take Harper being beat up, chased by vehicles, and shot at to solve this crime that goes way beyond Mr. Sampson’s disappearance.

Harper is full of funny dialogue, intrigue and action. Obviously comfortable with his past successes, Harper is the type of film I enjoy seeing Newman in. He isn’t taking himself too seriously and the result is an actor who’s comfortable playing the anti-hero who pokes fun at himself and more hilariously, at others. This film is the continuous result of Newman becoming an icon of what can essentially be summed up in one word- cool.





Sidenote:
The character in Ross MacDonald’s book is actually name is Lew Archer however, Newman was considered box office gold with movies like Hud and The Hustler under his belt so, probably due to studio superstition, they changed Archer to Harper to keep the H streak going. A year later there was also Hombre.


Tonight on TCM!
Lee Remick!

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Picnic (1955)

On the morning of a small town Labor Day picnic, drifter Hal Carter (William Holden) arrives in town to visit his old college buddy Alan Benson (Cliff Robertson) hoping to get a high paying job or at least some sort of hand out. Hal is a man full of bravado with a penchant for tall tales and bragging. His biggest desire is to get rich and live the easy life but he’s lazy, impatient and quick tempered- not a good combination for holding down any sort of real work. Underneath it all, there is a really sensitive side to Hal who hasn’t had an easy upbringing and lives in fear of being a loser like his alcoholic father. However, when he meets Madge Owens (Kim Novak), the town beauty queen and girlfriend of Alan, he feels, for the first time, a desire to earn a living honestly, not for himself but for her.
William Inge’s play is full of complex characters. Madge is tired of being known and loved only for her beauty, tired of her mother, Flo (Betty Field) pressuring her to marry Alan simply because he has money. Flo’s a lonely woman who has struggled to bring up two children after her husband abandoned them. She is so blinded by the security that Alan can offer Madge, security that she has always desired, that she doesn’t see that Madge doesn’t love Alan and that her younger daughter Millie (Susan Strasberg) is suffering from all the attention Madge is getting. It’s hard being the younger, tomboy sister to the town beauty. Millie feels like an ugly duckling and she sees in Hal a kind man who gives her an ego boost by being her date to the picnic. However, that much needed attention falls to the wayside when Madge comes around. Hal only has eyes for her. Then there is schoolmarm Rosemary Sidney (Rosalind Russell), a renter in the Owens home. She’s a self-proclaimed spinster who brags much about the love she would have had if she weren’t so independent. She’s as full of bravado as Hal is and after getting drunk at the picnic and giving Hal a piece of her mind, she begs her longtime beau Howard (Arthur O’Connell) to marry her, admitting that she lives a miserable existence. Long suffering Howard does not know how to handle this side of Rosemary. She’s always been so upright, prudish, and fiercely independent. He’s come to count on that and is settled in his own ways. And lastly there is Alan, the rich boy in a small town with responsibilities to his father’s company and a reputation to uphold- at least according to his father. But Alan loves Madge, wants to marry her and doesn’t care how his family feels about it.




Adapted from William Inge's Pulitzer prize-winning play, Picnic, a box office draw and star -making vehicle for Kim Novak, was highly acclaimed and considered quite racy for 1955 but in my opinion, quite disappointing. It's one of those movies that was ill adapted for the screen, playing more like a play than a film. Despite its potential the movie is full of overdramatic moments seriously overacted and slightly embarrassing to watch. Disappointing too is Holden's Hal Carter, who is much like Holden's Joe Bonaparte from Golden Boy (1939), tempermental, desperate, and at times downright childish. Though this would have been a good part for Newman (who performed this role onstage), Brando, or Dean- it's definitely not a part suited for Holden who was too old and in my opinion, established for the role. When I see him in films like Stalag 17 (1953), Executive Suite (1954), and The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954) I have to wonder who thought it was a good idea to put him in a vehicle like Picnic...or who said these pictures would really sum up the film. What?



As for Kim Novak, besides Vertigo (a film I believe she is best known for), this is the only film I have seen her in. I think she is better known for her beauty than her acting, Picnic helped prove that. Her super wicked mullet caught more of my attention than anything else.



Tonight on TCM!
The lovely Lauren Bacall!

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I Walk the Line (1970)

This is my favorite Gregory Peck role yet, simply because his emotional range in this film goes beyond the calm exterior that is ever present in the few films I have seen of his. Namely, The Valley of Decision, Spellbound, The Yearling, The Paradine Case, The Great Sinner, Man with a Million, Designing Woman, and To Kill a Mockingbird. He gets close in Spellbound and The Great Sinner but I think the key element in his Tawes character is the complete lack of concern over leaving his family for a very young girl. It adds richness to Peck's range, this lack of compassion. When we should despise Tawes for succumbing to his baser needs and ignoring his wife's pain, Peck inspires sympathy. There is no discussion of the mistakes he’s made in life, the regrets he harbors, or his reason for doing what he’s doing with Alma (Tuesday Weld), the words are not necessary, it’s written on his face, in the way he moves. He desires Alma but not for the same reasons Mrs. Stone in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone succumbs to her Paolo, he wants to be Alma’s protector, her mentor, her everything. Instead of feeling good about Tawes ultimately being denied by Alma, to the point of violence, Alma is considered the aggressor, the enemy, despite how young and innocent she seems.
The storyline is a simple one as is the background of the film. Tawes and Alma live in poor country, people’s lives are written on their bodies. Despite the lushness of the land, the people are withered and sluggish. We get a good dose of this in the opening credits with ordinary country folk being filmed in their natural habitat. It’s a great set up for the parallel plot of the film. The arrival of Federal Agent Bascomb (Lonny Chapman) to Tawes small town of Sutton, Tennessee in search of moonshiners causes a riff between Tawes and his deputy Hunnicutt (Charles Durning). Tawes believes that whatever helps the people get by shouldn't be hunted down and destroyed whereas Hunnicutt is out for blood and maybe a little recognition.

Alma's father and older brother are moonshiners, force Alma to seduce Tawes as a way to gain legal protection. When both Tawes wife and his deputy begin to suspect what is going on, things start to spin out of control.

Tonight on TCM!
Katharine Hepburn!

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The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961)

After a disastrous performance in an ingénue role, stage actress Karen Stone (Vivien Leigh) decides to give up her career and take a vacation to Italy with her husband. Unfortunately, he passes away enroute, leading Karen to become a recluse in Rome where from her balcony she sees she is being stalked by a strange young man. One day Karen is visited by Countess Magda Terribili-Gonzales (Lotte Lenya). The Countess is a nasty crone who makes her living as a procuress. With her she has brought Paolo di Leo (Warren Beatty), a potential lover for Karen. Though it takes him some time to get Karen to warm up to him, something you’re led to believe he respects about her, Karen is eventually unable to resist his charms. He reads her well, sees how lonely she is and predicts she has never been in love, not even with her husband.
When she finally succumbs to by Paolo, she buys him expensive gifts but never gives him money, much to the Countesses dissatisfaction since she is supposed to get fifty percent of whatever by Paolo receives. When Paolo tires of the no money situation; he allows the Countess to set him up with Barbara Bingham (Jill St. John), a rich young Hollywood star. This arrangement is flaunted in front of Karen causing her to confront Paolo who rejects her and taunts her with the knowledge that her pursuit of him has made her the laughing stock of Rome. Having had her first taste of love and heartbreak, Karen summons the young stalker to her room in hopes that he will murder her.

An entertaining if predictable, adaptation of the Tennessee Williams novel, I like the contrast between the Leigh and Lenya’s characters. Mrs. Stone’s melancholy is palpable; she’s lost in it and withdraws from life because of it. Comparatively, Countess Terribili-Gonzales, who is materially in much dire straits, has a zest for life and fights to get what she can out of it. She doesn’t withdraw from life but rather clutches to it. Beatty too plays his character well, seeming more a petulant child than a romantic lothario. The point being, I assume, that Mrs. Stone fell mostly in love with youth and what it represents and not the gigolo himself. If you can get past Beatty’s unfortunate attempt at an Italian accent, you’ll find he plays plays sleazy well.



Fun Fact!
Lotte Lenya was an Austrian singer and actress. In the German-speaking and classical music world she is best remembered for her performances of the songs of her husband, Kurt Weill. Weill was the original composer of my favorite oldie Mack the Knife. With lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their musical drama The Threepenny Opera, Mack the Knife is best known today because of Bobby Darin. However, it was Louis Armstrong who first popularized it in 1956. Lotte Lenya was present in the studio when Louis Armstrong recorded Mack the Knife, and he added her name to the list of Mack's female conquests by improvising the line "Look out for Miss Lotte Lenya!"


Tonight on TCM!
Maureen O'Hara with my favorite John Ford in the mix- The Quiet Man (1952)!!

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Autumn Sonata (1978)

In her last feature film that summed up a career that spanned forty years, earned her three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress, Ingrid Bergman plays a world renowned concert pianist, ironically the same profession she had in her role as Anita Hoffman in Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939), the film that began her American career. The similarity ends there. As generous and self-sacrificing her character Anita Hoffman is in Intermezzo, she is as selfish and self absorbed as Charlotte Andergast in Autumn Sonata.




When Charlotte Andergast’s (Ingrid Bergman), comes for a visit to her daughter Eva’s (Liv Ullmann) after her long time partner Leonardo passes away, she quickly realizes that she is in for a large dose of reality. Eva, who was formerly a journalist, lives a simple life with her minister husband Viktor (Halvar Björk), and has not seen her mother in seven years. Upon arrival, Charlotte learns that her other daughter, Helena (Lena Nyman) is now living with Eva as well. Helena is crippled by a degenerative nerve disorder and was formerly institutionalized by Charlotte who simply didn’t want the hassle of caring for her. With the loss of her four year old son due to accidental drowning, Eva takes on the care of Helena quite competently. The fact that Eva did not mention this turn of events puts Charlotte on the defensive and she expresses her displeasure immediately after leaving Helena’s presence. As Eva spends more time with her mother, her feelings from childhood re-emerge, and she feels compelled to let her mother know how her neglect has affected Eva in the most negative way. When Eva finally decides to tear into Charlotte, dirty secrets and true feelings are revealed. Charlotte, in turn, tries to explain why she wasn't such a great mother. Though it’s too late to make any real amends and the story doesn’t end neatly, all hope is not lost.






Director Ingmar Bergman and Ingrid Bergman had long wanted to work together however, when the chance came with Autumn Sonata, a film Ingmar wrote himself, they quickly found that they did not work well with one another. Ingrid showed up to the set prepared to play Andergast complete with gestures and mannerisms that harked back to old Hollywood, much to Imgmar's despair. In turn Ingrid was also dealing with a subject matter closely relating to her personal life and was difficult to direct, constantly arguing with Ingmar and delivering her part in a manner that actually benefited her since Andergast is a self-absorbed woman of fame who cares more about her career than her family.

Despite the tension, it worked in their favor and Autumn Sonata is a wonderfully executed swan song for Ingrid Bergman. But I would be remiss if I did not say that Liv Ullmann who plays Bergman's daughter did not hold her own quite masterfully. She more than delivers in the emotionally climactic scene of the film. I literally shivered when she tells her mother she is a menace who should be locked up and rendered useless. There is very powerful dialogue throughout the film which is in Bergman's native language, personally making me wish I did not have to read subtitles and missing out on some of the reactions Bergman and Ullmann were sparking in one another. A truly great film and must see if you are a Bergman fan.

Tonight on TCM!
Robert Stack

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The Best of Everything (1959)

The Best of Everything is a shabby precursor to 1967’s Valley of the Dolls, poorly played out and often as cheap as the paperback books Fabian publishes. Though old hat for girls of my generation, the movie still has the ability to discomfort and confuse. With the alcoholic and often too touchy boss (played by Brian Aherne, sadly), the snide and predicting male anti-hero who falls under the spell of love after several pitfalls, and the ever constant suggestion that women should simply stay at home and care for their men which is ironically paralleled with the equally constant display of how men are selfish pigs, it leaves one to wonder why a girl wouldn’t strike out on her own. If anything, the film depicts the second-class citizenship attitudes men liberally practiced in the workplace.
Amanda Farrow (Joan Crawford) a jaded and cynical editor at Fabian Publishing House is involved in a disappointing affair with a married man and can’t help but take out her frustrations on the girls under her charge. Namely Gregg Adams (Suzy Parker), an aspiring actress involved with playboy stage director, David Savage (Louis Jourdan), Caroline Bender (Hope Lange), a suddenly ambitious secretary cum editor recently jilted by her longtime boyfriend and April Morrison (Diane Baker) a young typist who is seduced by rich playboy Dexter Key (Robert Evans) and soon finds herself pregnant and abandoned. Turning to one of the senior editors Mike Rice (Stephen Boyd) for consolation, Caroline finds little sympathy and much encouragement from him to get married and stay at home. She handily plays into his prediction that she will become another Amanda Farrow and despite the strength she displays throughout most the film she crumbles quickly when she realizes that she can’t handle being a successful businesswoman. Whaaa???







There are several aspects of this film that left me cold, not the least of which having glamorous stars such as Aherne and Crawford relegated to playing a horny old man and an embittered old woman. I kept wishing the movie wouldn't be so predictable, that Caroline would prove Mike wrong and that Gregg would see that she was so much more than her relationship with a greasy stage director and that April would not instantly fall and start darning socks! for the male nurse who attended her at the hospital. All too cheesy and wrapped up too easily for me.

Tonight on TCM!
A whole evening with the lovely, if slightly annoying at times, Norma Shearer!
I'll be DVRing The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927) and Marie Antoinette (1938)

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