Executive Suite (1954)

A slice of 50's Americana, complete with little league baseball and the world of high finance business.

Intro.

I'm taking a break from my November writing challenge to update this blog.  I had watched Executive Suite awhile back, and want to write about while it's still fresh in my mind.  November was supposed to be dedicated to Westerns, and it will be, but for now I'm focusing just on what I have time to watch and review.  At a modest 104 minutes, the film promised to be tight and easy to follow.  Plus it featured June Allyson and William Holden, so of course I had to watch.

Overview

Executive Suite focuses on the lives and struggles of half a dozen Board members trying to find a replacement when their chair and CEO of Tredway Corporation, Avery Bullard, drops dead on the sidewalk outside.  We get a good sense of characters from the beginning, when each is called in for a six o'clock conference with the CEO, and then one by one as they find out what has happened.  George Caswell (Louis Calhern) witnesses the death first and immediately calls his stock broker.  He is then at risk to lose his shirt when the quarterly sales reports are released at the same time, which causes the stock to rise, not fall as he had predicted.  The woman in love with Avery, Julia Tredway (Barbara Stanwyck), is crushed by his death, even contemplating suicide, despite the fact that he never had time for her when he was alive.  Perhaps the most touching response is that of his friend and Vice President of Design and Engineering, McDonald "Don" Walling (William Holden).  Don still holds Avery's original ideas - that of expanding and growing, that the company should be dedicated to progress and making furniture in which they could all take pride, not just something fast and cheap to make a quick profit.  Unfortunately, the main candidate to take over as CEO, Loren Shaw (Fredric March), is an accountant who is only interested in dollars and cents, not about the workers' integrity.  A corporate battle erupts, filled with power plays and unofficial meetings.  Finally Don puts his name in for president and comes head to head with Shaw at the final Board meeting.

Highlights

I loved how this film opened.  The camera shot from Avery's point of view, moving with him, seeing the reaction of people to "his" presence.  In this sense, the audience becomes Avery, making him not only a great man of power, but in a sense, the everyman (and woman).  It ends, of course, when he dies in the first five minutes, but it's a powerful enough opening and an interesting one.  I can't think of any other film which featured that as the opening sequence.  It ties in nicely to the narration just before which says that those people way up in the executive suites of all those skyscrapers aren't high and above temptation. 

The acting was very good in this film.  I particularly loved June Allyson, who didn't just fall into the dutiful wife role - she's the one telling her husband Don what to do, even suggesting that he take the position.  She's also a great mother, stepping in to play catch with their son when Don has to go off on meetings.  I really liked watching their dynamic - Holden and Allyson - as they portrayed a typical American couple of the fifties.  But what really impressed me was Barbara Stanwyck, who is her usual dynamic self.  I loved seeing her and William Holden reunite in this film, and although their scene alone together is too short, it is still one of the best in the whole picture.

I'm not sure what exactly to write about Executive Suite.  It was a well constructed film, pretty easy to follow and an interesting look at the culture's view of business in the 1950s.  Holden's characteristic cynicism is rampant throughout the process, that is right up until his final speech about saving the company and saving themselves (against a lovely stained-glass window too - should we call him St. Don?).  It's a cry against big business and manufacturing - against disrespecting the factory workers and saving their jobs, their livelihoods, their self-respect.  It reminded me in part of some of the 1930s films with respect to the rage against factory labor and bosses not caring about the "little people" who worked behind the scenes.  It's important that Don then gets the vote, because he is introduced not in on office suite, but down in the factory, working alongside the others to test a new molding process.  Don comes to represent the best intentions of the building and progress boom of the forties and fifties - build it bigger, faster, better.  Improve the world through business.  But Don is rare amongst his peers, giving us an awful feeling of encroaching corruption.  Had this movie been made in in the 1960s or later, I'm sure Don would have become president only to lose his own self-respect, to neglect his family and even worse, to become himself just as awful as the people he once hated.  It says a lot about the culture that none of this addressed, that it ends instead on a positive note.  I left the movie feeling empty, wondering how long would Don be able to hold onto his ideals of progress.  It almost broke my heart that he won; but at the end he is still the family man at heart and I hope he remained that way. 

Review and Recommendation
I liked this movie.  It's not one of my favorites and I'm not sure I'll watch it again for awhile, but it still poses some interesting questions and I think is a great piece of Hollywood history.  I recommend it for history buffs studying the 1950s and those interested in the presentation of business in American film. 

P.S. I should mention that the film lost me about halfway through with a lot of complications around Calhoun's character's work with the stock market.  He arranged for a short sell, but didn't have the stock so he was going to go broke when the stock price rose.  Anyway, I used to work for a financial publisher, and I had some trouble following at first.  Then I realized we weren't really supposed to understand - these were the tycoons talking, those who didn't care about the common people on the ground floor or in the audience.  They literally don't "speak our language".  It's a brilliant contrast to straight-shooting Holden. 

Golden Boy (1939)

Violins and boxing rings don't go together, even if you are William Holden with fabulous hair.

Intro.

Just when I thought that William Holden month was over, I came home Friday night and discovered that I had long ago set up some recordings and two of his films were waiting for me.  It was a very pleasant surprise, and after a lot of errands, cooking and general chores, I finally let myself unwind with some popcorn and Golden Boy. 

Overview

Golden Boy opens with struggling sports agent Tom Moody (Adolphe Menjou) telling his girlfriend Lorna (Barbara Stanwyck) that he can't afford to divorce his wife and marry her.  He only has one client, a boxer, but as luck would have it, a lanky young man with floppy curls barges into his office to tell him his client just broke his hand.  The young man follows Tom and Lorna down to the gym, asking to be given a chance to sign with them as a fighter.  Tom only listens though when he learns that the young man, Joe Bonaparte (William Holden) is the one responsible for breaking his prize fighter's fist.  So Joe gets signed and starts boxing.  He's never had any formal training, but he learns quickly and has a beginner's enthusiasm and reckless courage.  He also has a very loving family who know nothing about his first fight.  His father, an Italian storekeeper, has saved up enough money to buy Joe a beautiful $1500 violin for his upcoming 21st birthday.  Joe's played the violin since he was very young and has earned a music scholarship, but with the tempting new world of boxing and fast money, Joe comes to a difficult decision.  Which life should he pursue?  He loves music, but he wants to provide for his father and earn enough money for them to live comfortably - boxing allows for big money like that.  Joe's talented in both fields.  But nothing is that simple.  Lorna, trying to help Tom stay in business, charms Joe and convinces him to keep boxing.  Joe rises to become a great sensation, but at the price of his music - 8 months on the road without playing have made his hands tough and shaky on the violin.  To make things even worse, Mobster Fuseli (Joseph Calleia) wants a piece of Joe's contract.  And he keeps raising his price in exchange for Joe's signature.  Joe accepts, much to the dismay of Lorna, who has met Joe's family and has found herself falling in love with Joe.  What it all comes down to is a big fight against the middle-weight champ in Madison Square Gardens and devastating consequences.

Highlights
I am now a Barbara Stanwyck fan.  What an actress!  She's one of those actresses that steals every scene with her talent, charm and beauty.  Not to mention her strength.  She is outstanding as Lorna, both the "girl Friday" to Tom and yet the compassionate friend and then lover of Joe.  We can see her character transform from a middle-aged cynical spinster into a warm, devoted part of a family.  She has a real presence and gives the film its heart.  I am looking forward to finding more of her films to watch and enjoy!

Barbara Stanwyck lobbied to get unknown William Holden into this film as the title character.  I read somewhere that something like 5000 actors had been considered for the role, but it was Barbara Stanwyck that really pushed for Holden and in the end, got him cast.  It did more than that too - it launched his whole career and even earned him the nickname of "The Golden Boy" of Hollywood.  Check it out - if you search IMDb's site for "Golden Boy" you'll get William Holden listed before the movie itself.  Holden was so grateful to Barbara Stanwyck for her support that he reportedly sent her flowers every year on the anniversary of their first day of shooting.  He also trained pretty hard for this role, taking both boxing and violin lessons so as to make his performance look more natural.  It's the stuff that movie legends are made of.

Although the story line was a plot that I'd seen in variations before (youth trying to choose between two different worlds/careers), it was very well done here.  Most of that is due to the fine acting of Stanwyck and Holden, but a good part of it is also due to the way the events unfold.  There is a great deal of love and tenderness in the film and Joe's family (although sadly stereotyped) is one of the happiest families on screen.  We come to care for them the same way Lorna does.  This is just as much her story of finding happiness and a family just as much as it is about Joe finding out who he really is and accepting his destiny.  It isn't nearly as straightforward as my overview might make it seem, and the ending will definitely come out of left field.    

Review and Recommendation

What did you accomplish when you were 21?  If you were William Holden, you were making a film that would jump-start your career.  It's astonishing to think about where I was at 21 (probably struggling through my class in organic chemistry) and to see how cool and confident he appears on screen.  His performance and the great performance by Barbara Stanwyck make this film worth seeing.  If you're interested in a Hollywood legend or like films about boxing or even if you just want a good, solid hour and a half of entertainment, give Golden Boy a try.  


P.S. Also, just to satisfy my fan-girl side, I have to say that when Holden appeared at first, tall, a bit lanky and sporting some gorgeous, floppy dark curls, I thought for a moment there was a mix-up because he looked an awful lot like Tom Hanks in the movie Big.  Just now I'm watching the opening of Sunset Boulevard and man, there's a scene where I swear he could be Hanks.  Or would that be, Hanks could be Holden?  I wonder if Tom Hanks could be considered the "Golden Boy" of modern films.  I know he's been called the Jimmy Stewart "everyman", but I think he definitely follows Holden's footsteps too.  That's a post I'll have to write another day.

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Was it the sun, the war or the addictive theme song that drove them all mad?
Intro.
I'm breaking one of my blog rules today, but for good reason.  I've seen The Bridge on the River Kwai many times already; there was a time when, as a teenager, I would watch it every day.  I'm not sure what it was about the movie that had such drawing power for me.  Maybe it was something about the utter futility of war that resonated with some of the usual teenage angst.  But that's a story for a whole other blog.  This weekend, after I realized that September had been turning into William Holden month, I decided to watch it again.  As I curled up to watch, I thought about how funny it seems that some actors become identified with one specific role.  Yul Brenner is a good example - for years he played The King in The King and I, and had a lot of trouble being cast outside of that role.  William Shatner is the same way; I just watched his new sitcom and yup, the thought was first "Captain Kirk" not William Shatner.  In much the same respect, watching from my generation's viewpoint, Alec Guiness was not known to myself or any of my friends as anyone but Obi-Won Kenobi.  That must have been awful for him, especially since he was first in such amazing films as The Bridge on the River Kwai, and gave what could be argued as the performance of a lifetime.

Overview (with a possible spoiler - sorry!)
The Bridge on the River Kwai begins with a company of British soldiers surrendering to the Japanese during WWII, somewhere in the thick Burmese jungle.  The men are marched into a prisoner-of-war camp, where the last two surviving members of the original camp are digging graves.  One of these men is Commander Shears, US Navy (William Holden), cynical and certain that everyone in the camp will eventually die.  Commanding the British troops is Lt. Col. Nicholson (Alec Guiness), and with him is medical officer Maj. Clipton (James Donald), who knows more about compassion than about the rules of war.  The Japanese commander is Col. Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), who advises the men to "be happy in their work." He is much like Nicholson in that both men will stick to their principles and refuse to lose face.  This stubborness leads to a difficult battle of wills when Saito orders that officers will do manual labor in his camp.  Nicholson refuses on the grounds that it is against the Geneva convention.  For that, he and all of his officers are shut up in small metal huts (called "the ovens") on the compound, right in the blazing heat.  Meanwhile, Shears, his fellow gravedigger, and one of the young men from the British soldiers decide to escape.  Only Shears makes it away from the guards alive, but he is hurt, lost and in the middle of nowhere.  He barely makes it into a village alive, where he recovers and then makes his way to a hospital on the coast.  Back at the camp, though, things do not bode well.  Clipton acts as a go-between for Saito and Nicholson, only to find that the men are close to identical and neither one believes in compromise.  In the end Nicholson prevails, and sets out not only to build a bridge in the allotted time-frame, but to build a better bridge that will stand the test of time.  As they push towards the short deadline, Nicholson begins to employ some of the measures threatened by Saito, but under Nicholson's direction, they pass as reasonable means.  So back to Shears in the hospital.  It turns out that an Allied team is being assembled to go and blow up the bridge.  Shears winds up volunteering (more like blackmailed into going).  It's rather difficult traveling, with the leader, Major Warden (Jack Hawkins), getting shot in the foot and then Japanese patrols showing up and such.  If you hadn't guessed it from the film's beginning, yes the bridge blows up.  But who does it and what is destroyed in the process is what ends the film with an even bigger emotional blow.

Highlights

You really can't get any finer acting.  Alec Guiness won an Oscar for Best Actor, and it was richly deserved.  Likewise Holden and Hayakawa give strong performances too.  However my favorite character, and one that really holds the heart of the film, is James Donald's Maj. Clipton.  We see a great deal as he does, as he is the only one to have conferences with both Saito and Nicholson during the standoff.  After seeing them both, stubborn and unwavering, he says "are they both mad?  Or am I going mad?  Or is it the sun?"  He reminds me a bit of Horatio in Hamlet in that he is very close to all of the proceedings, but most importantly he is alone, on a hillside, watching the horror of the bridge's explosion.  He is the only one left who can put words to it all - "Madness."

The film's construction was remarkable too, especially the bridge itself.  Filmed on location in Ceylon, some of the scenes with Shears and the Allied party are beautiful.  It's so well written too; I loved how they paid attention to both what was said and what was left unsaid.  In particular, Nicholson's speech at the end of the film about what a man leaves behind him when his life is through is both touching and yet still reserved, in keeping with his character.  That speech alone and how Guiness delivered it earned those Oscars.  On a side note about the Oscars, the film won for best Screenplay.  The writers were Pierre Boulle, who wrote the original book, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson.  Foreman and Wilson had been blacklisted, so at the time of the film's release, only Boulle was listed as the writer, despite the fact that he didn't know much English.

Speaking of the book, I'd like to bring up what is often a debate between film scholars and literature scholars - book versus movie.  Usually I'm on the side of the book, with some exceptions (I liked The Godfather film better than the book).  In this case, I think it would be a tie.  What really struck me about the novel was just how similar Nicholson and Saito were.  They echo each other.  In the scenes where Clipton first talks to Saito and then immediately afterward talks to Nicholson, I thought I was reading the same pages over again - that's how close these two men were.  That parallelism comes across better on the page than on screen, though they do a very good job in the film.  I also started to think about what war films were truly about - the lower layer, if you will.  Specifically POW escape movies - is it something to do with bucking the system?  An escape from not only a physical prison, but an emotional one too?  The idea of an individual making it out to safety, the lone man against the world? (Think of Steve McQueen on that motorcycle in The Great Escape.)  I don't know enough about war genre studies, but I still think it's an interesting idea to keep in mind while watching.

Review and Recommendation
The Bridge on the River Kwai may be my favorite war film.  It's a classic by every standard.  I know a common downside people seem to cite is that it feels a bit long, but all of the details in writing and acting make it worthwhile.  All this time after I first saw the film and then picked up the book, I still recommend both the film and book very highly.

P.S. I forgot to mention that the theme song, "Colonel Bogey March" really is addictive.  I'm whistling it now just writing about it.  

Sabrina (1954)

Bogart's a little too old, Holden's a little too blond, but Audrey is just right.

Intro.

I think everyone is familiar with the story of Sabrina. An ordinary girl falls in love with a rich man who doesn't know she exists, she goes away and transforms into a lady and upon her return, he falls in love with her.  There's more to it, of course, but at its heart, Sabrina is in every sense a Cinderella story.  With a seemingly perfect combination like Billy Wilder, William Holden, Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn, Paramount was excited to see what a great film would be created.  They were right, though the off-screen story was far from a fairy-tale.

Overview
"Once upon a time, on the North Shore of Long Island, some thirty miles from New York, there lived a small girl on a large estate."  So begins the story of Sabrina Fairchild (Audrey Hepburn), the timid young daughter of the chauffer employed by the very wealthy Larrabee family.  She is in love with the younger of the Larrabee sons, David (William Holden), who is a playboy with three divorces to his name and no work ethic.  That ethic is instead present in his older brother, Linus (Humphrey Bogart), who is a regular workaholic with no time for fun.  Distraught because David doesn't know she exists, Sabrina tries to commit suicide, only to be stopped by Linus.  Her father has saved his money and sends her to Paris the next day to cooking school.  Over the next two years, she not only learns how to cook, but also how to live and returns to Long Island as a sophisticated, knowledgeable and absolutely beautiful lady.  David is quick to notice her now and finds himself ignoring his fiancee in favor of Sabrina.  Linus won't stand for that, though, as David's marriage is part of a company merger in a multi-million dollar plastics manufacturing deal.  So Linus decides to distract Sabrina so that she'll forget about David; he'll even pay her off it that's what it takes.  None of them expect what happens next, as Linus learns to loosen up some and winds up falling for Sabrina himself.  When Sabrina gets two tickets to sail back to Paris, just who will accompany her?   
 

Highlights

Sabrina has all of the charm and humor of a classic romantic comedy.  It is one of the best examples of the genre and I believe a lot of that has to do with the fine writing and even finer performances.  You can tell Bogart and Holden are well versed in acting, and even though this was only Audrey Hepburn's second film, she is captivating and ideal for the role.  I know I wouldn't want to be in her shoes as Sabrina, having to choose between Linus and David.  What a sweet, funny movie.  Sabrina proves my point that a great film doesn't need violence, awful language or sex to be entertaining.  I swear if you don't at least smile when David is getting broken glass removed from his rear end (yes, he sat on two champagne glasses) and Linus calls out "goodbye, Scarface," you don't have a sense of humor.

As I mentioned above, the back-stage story is even more interesting than the one on the celluloid.  I have a DVD of Sabrina, and watched the short documentary for the first time.  Like the film it was upbeat, innocent and featured a voice-over that sounded more like a trailer introduction than a documentary.  Originally Cary Grant had held the role of Linus, but had to back out one week before shooting began.  Paramount needed an older, well-established star and turned to Bogart.  This was unlike any role he had previously held, and he was excited for it.  He even remarked during production that "if I were as handsome as Bill Holden, I wouldn't have any doubts as to why Bacall married me."  That's all well and good, but I knew something was a bit off, so I pulled out my copy of Bogart by A.M. Sperber and Eric Lax (a fabulous book that I highly recommend!) and checked into it.

There's a very funny story from Bogart.  In 1939, Bogart was a bit upset that he took fourth billing after much younger William Holden in a film called Invisible Stripes.  On set, Holden insisted on doing a stunt by himself, where he drove a motorcycle with Bogart as the passenger.  The book has it written this way: "Bogart objected - 'That S.O.B., he'll crack it up!' - but Holden insisted. He promptly ran the bike into a wall.  Only egos were injured. (pg. 103)"  No wonder Bogart was a bit leary when he worked with Holden again. 

According to Sperber and Lax, Bogart was excited to do Sabrina, but that excitement faded once he realized that Holden and director Wilder were already buddies (they had just made Sunset Boulevard and Stalag 17 together), and along with young Hepburn, they formed a sort of clique that left the older star out in the cold.  As they wrote in their biography, Sperber and Lax talked about the private meetings and lunches between the others.  "Evidently no one thought of inviting Bogart.  Then again, probably no one observing one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, with one of the loveliest women waiting for him at home, would have guessed the wells of insecurity tapped by this exclusion." (pg. 492)  He just wanted to be asked, to be recognized.  He became difficult to work with, arguing and throwing tantrums, though he wasn't the only difficult one - Wilder was just as difficult, and would sometimes get Hepburn to pretend to be sick because he didn't have the day's script finished yet.  None of those problems show in the finished film, however.  Bogart and Wilder made peace a few years later, but what happened during the filming of Sabrina is still a part of Hollywood history.

One last point I should make is that the Paramount costume and wardrobe designer was Edith Head, whom I adore.  She designed all the gowns in What a Way to Go! and those absolutely jaw-dropping dresses for Grace Kelly in Rear Window.  So when Audrey Hepburn decided to ask new fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy to make her clothes for the post-Paris part of the film, I was a bit disappointed.  Not by the gowns, because they are gorgeous.  Still, I should say it must have been harder to make dresses for Audrey Hepburn that made her pretty but still a bit school-girlish.  And those were entrusted to Edith, who did as wonderful a job as ever.  I think I have a bit of a crush on her, or at least on her work.

Review and Recommendation
Sorry to make this such a long post!  All in all, Sabrina is a true classic.  Funny, charming and sweet, it's a perfect example of a romantic-comedy.  I highly recommend it for the great acting, the beautiful Audrey Hepburn, and those early dresses from Edith Head.  Can I say the obvious tagline?  Let your heart be stolen by Sabrina!

P.S. Bogart really is one of the best biographies I've ever read.  Maybe even the best.  It's by A. M. Sperber and Eric Lax, published by William Morrow and Company, New York, 1997.  No copyright infringement intended. 

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Intro.

Everybody knows the line.  "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."  And just about everyone knows the image that goes with it - Gloria Swanson decked out in a gown and glitzy headpiece from the 1920's, descending the stairs, her chin up and huge eyelashes held on unblinking eyes.  I knew this line well, but had never seen the film which featured it: Sunset Boulevard.  I just watched it a few nights ago and I have to say, it's my new favorite film.  I've always liked movies about Hollywood and the film business, but Sunset Boulevard outdoes any of the others I've seen.  

Overview

Sunset Boulevard opens on its namesake following a squad of homicide police cars past palm trees and luxuriant mansions.  A voiceover tells us he's going to tell us the real story, before you get the messed up version from the reporters.  The police all gather around a swimming pool, where we see a dead man floating face-down.  The narrators says he's been shot twice in the back and once in the stomach.  He's "nobody important.  Just a movie-writer with a couple of B-pictures to his name."  We get a look at the poor guy's face again as the narrator adds, "poor dope.  He always wanted a pool."  Then the film goes back to six months earlier, and the narrator switches to telling us about himself.  His name is Joe Gillis (William Holden), and he's a penniless writer cranking out two stories a week which he can't sell.  The finance company shows up to repossess his car, but he says he lent it to a friend.  Joe of course does have the car, and goes to Paramount to talk to a producer friend of his about a story he sent in.  The reader's department has given the story a poor rating, so Joe's out of luck.  He goes to see his agent, who says that losing his car will be great because he'll be inspired to write more.  Just as Joe's driving back, the finance company guys spot him and start to pursue him.  Joe pulls into one of the big estates on Sunset Boulevard and hides in a deserted garage.  Safely hidden, he goes towards the house, thinking it's deserted.  That's why he is so startled to see a butler appear at the door and usher him inside.  Turns out that Joe has been mistaken for an undertaker because the homeowner's pet chimp has died.  And the homeowner is just as extravagent and outrageous as the house - her name is Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), famous silent film era movie star.  "You used to be big," Joe nods in recognition.  "I am big," she corrects him.  "It's the pictures that got small."  She asks Joe to stay and read the script she's been writing for several years - her big picture to mark her return to the screen.  She hires Joe to help her rewrite the script.  He spends the rest of the day there reading and when he wakes up the next morning, he finds all of his belongings have been moved in for him.  Before Joe realizes it, he becomes a kept man.  His car is repossessed, Norma won't let him leave, and soon she's buying him clothes and cigarette cases.  On New Year's Eve, she throws a party but he's the only guest.  He snaps, tells her he wants a life of his own, and storms out to go to his friend Artie's party.  He comes back, however, because Norma was so overcome, she took the razor from his room and slit her wrists.  She survived, but the night changed them both.  Joe stays with Norma after that and she confidently readies herself for her great return to the screen.  She even manages to go to Paramount and see Mr. DeMille, who doesn't have the heart to tell her that her script is awful.  While at the studio though, Joe sees Artie's girlfriend, Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson), who proposes making a script out of one of Joe's old short stories.  He agrees to start meeting her late at night and continue working on the script.  There are a few complications though, as first Betty falls in love with Joe and then Norma discovers a copy of the script with Betty's and Joe's names on it.  It all comes to an end when Norma calls Betty to warn her about Joe, but Joe interrupts and tells Betty to come over and see his situation.  I won't give away exactly what happens, but it's a wonderful ride all the way to the very end, where the camera finally gives Norma her close-up.

Highlights
I love how Sunset Boulevard is written.  The dialogue and the narration are both outstanding.  Besides the line I quoted at the beginning of this post, there's also the wonderful descriptions and reflections of Joe Gillis.  He speaks like a writer, which is probably why it comes across so well.  He sees the big mansion and calls it "a big white elephant of a house."  He realizes how deeply troubled Norma is as he narrates, "she was still sleepwalking along the giddy heights of a lost career."  Then we have Norma's madness-induced lines like "no one ever leaves a star - that's what makes one a star."  Through it all we get a keen sense of Joe's cynicism and Norma's desperation.  That's what the film really comes down to - two people who have seen the dark side of Hollywood.

Gloria Swanson gives an amazing performance as Norma.  I didn't know it at the time, but Gloria had been a star back in the days of silent films, and those movies Norma watches are actually Gloria's old ones from the 20's.  As Norma, she is both pitiable and detestable - I really didn't make up my mind about her character until the very last scene, where you can't help but feel sorry for her.  The best word for her is denial.  In Joe's words, she's "still waving proudly at a parade that had long since passed her by."  Her fans, her friends, everyone in the cold world of show business has given her the brush, but she refuses to believe it.  Her denial is narcissistic perhaps, but very human.  She refuses to believe that she's getting older, that she's past the best years of her life.

Just as Gloria Swanson is a perfect fit as Norma Desmond, William Holden is just as perfect for the role of Joe Gillis.  I think very few actors could have delivered that dead-pan cynical narrative as well as Holden.  Maybe it was the kind of character he usually played or maybe it was a bit of his own personality, but there's something very engaging in his performance.  Just as engaging is the sweet, optimistic Betty, played by the beautiful Nancy Olson.  She too has been snubbed by Hollywood, but has adjusted rather well.  She and Norma are polar opposites, which may be why Joe is so drawn to Betty.  Their dynamic is fun to watch and gives the film a lot more depth.

Finally, I have to comment a little on the satiric look at Hollywood.  Entire books have been written about it, so I'm just going to make this short.  I loved how real shots of Paramount studios and Schwab's Drugstore were used - it gives a realistic feel to the film.  I also loved how real celebrities were discussed - Joe Gillis mentions Selznick, Tyrone Powers, Alan Ladd.  And to make it even better, Cecil B. DeMille appears as himself!  Also keep your eyes out for Hedda Hopper and Buster Keaton, also playing themselves.  It makes the impact of the film more pronounced, more identifiable. It also doesn't shy away from how quickly stars can be forgotten or how cruel fans and reporters can be.  We see it every day in pop culture headlines - which celebrities are in rehab, which are in jail, which are causing the latest scandal.  But when the publicity stops altogether, that can be the end of a career.

Review and Recommendation
Honestly, I could write a lot more about why Sunset Boulevard is a great movie, but I won't.  What I can do is give it one of my strongest "must-see" recommendations.  If I had a 5-star system, this would get 8 stars.  It's a film about films and movie-lovers everywhere will find something to like and admire.  It's easy to see why it won 3 Oscars.  So sit back, enjoy and be prepared for Norma Desmond to stare directly at you, you "wonderful people out there in the dark."

P.S. For any Stephen King fans out there, this film definitely reminded me of a non-gory version of Misery.  Don't believe me?  Watch it and see!

The Moon is Blue (1953)

Intro.

As much as I am a fan of movies, I am also a bit of a television nut.  It helped that I lived with two friends during college who also watched a lot of television, and our inevitable "television nights" became a great refuge.  One of my favorites was (and still is) M*A*S*H, which I watched every day in reruns as a kid.   One episode I remembered involved some of the M*A*S*H surgeons, Hawkeye and BJ, trying to get a copy of a film called The Moon is Blue, which had recently been banned in Boston.  It's a pretty funny story of trying to wheel and deal in order to get that film, which turns out to be very inoffensive after all. I thought of that when I saw the listing on television and my curiosity got the best of me.

Overview

Donald Gresham is an easygoing architect, full of charm and swagger.  When he exchanges smiles with a pretty stranger, Patty O'Neill (Maggie McNamara), he has no idea what he is in for.  He follows her to the top of the Empire State Building, where they meet and begin talking.  He tries to pick her up and succeeds when one of his coat buttons comes off.  She offers to sew it back on, but he conveniently "loses" the needle.  So they head over to his office, where there are no needles.  Donald starts to realize that Patty is an odd mix of naivety and cynicism when it comes to men, and he becomes determined to pursue her.  They decide to go to dinner, but first Donald must change his coat (it's still missing a button, and that isn't fit for a restaurant), so he gets her to go to his apartment.  It begins to pour, so instead of a rain-drenched date, Patty offers to cook for them.  Donald leaves for the corner store to get some groceries.  While he's gone, his upstairs neighbor David Slater (David Niven) comes down and finds Patty.  They start to talk about love, marriage, children and he finds her to be very inquisitive and opinionated.  She only wants to marry an older man.  "I want to be appreciated, not drooled over," she says.  Oh and she adds, "romance is for bobbysoxers."  What she learns though, is that David's daughter, Cynthia (Dawn Addams), just broke up with Donald and is still very angry.  Donald returns, then Cynthia shows up and things go from funny to crazy.  One angry father, a black eye, lots of misunderstanding and two marriage proposals later, Donald and Patty end up where they started on top of the Empire State Building, but a lot happier.   

Highlights

I couldn't help but wonder how on earth such an innocent romantic comedy as The Moon is Blue could wind up breaking censorship codes so much it would be banned.  Turns out the director, Otto Preminger, set out to do just that - to test the limits of the Breen code.  The Moon is Blue was the very first film to use the word "virgin" as well as other banned words like "seduce" and "mistress".  And I think all of these words are used by Patty, who is a girl determined not to give in to playboys and keep her virtue until marriage.  There's no nudity, no blood and gore, no depictions of sex, just a few words.  However, all of the conversations center on sex, love, marriage and the like.  It isn't so much suggestive or erotic as it is a hard look at what relationships in the 20th century really were.  It's so different from films today, where there are no holds barred.  The more sex, violence and foul language, the bigger the hit seems to be.  Hollywood and American culture have both come a long way.  I'm just not so sure I like where we're headed.

Although it's a bit of a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy, The Moon is Blue does feature some good acting.  William Holden is charming as ever as Donald, but David Niven gives a great performance as an equally charming (though a bit more lecherous) playboy.  I think what surprised me the most was how good Maggie McNamara was.  A newcomer to the film business, she gives life to such a complicated role.  Patty is both a modern woman and an old-fashioned one.  You're torn the whole movie between thinking she's really smart and really naive.  The key moment in the film comes near the end of the film, where Patty hesitates outside of Donald's bedroom door, wondering if her morals are really what she wants them to be.  As David puts it, "understanding is almost as precious as virtue."  We don't know what she's really going to do and her hesitation speaks volumes.

Review and Recommendation
The Moon is Blue is a fun piece of Hollywood history.  Preminger eventually got those bans dropped, but the entire incident was the first blow to eventually bring down the staunch Breen code.  I recommend it as a light, entertaining romantic comedy not to be taken too seriously.  The ending is a bit too cute, but sometimes that's what we really want to see, right?  Good old fashioned comedy.

P.S. Want to read more about the Breen code?  Check it out here.

Picnic (1955)

Intro.

Very few people I know today who are in their twenties recognize the name William Holden.  I don't have an exact number, but in conversations with my friends, I've realized most of them know Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, but not Bill Holden.  In the mid-1950s, he was the leading male star in Hollywood, and known as America's Golden Boy.  I recommend most of his films (of the ones I've seen), starting with the epic The Bridge on the River Kwai.  But now I have to add Picnic to that list - what a great film!  And a perfect film to watch on Labor Day!

Overview

Picnic opens with a train slowing down in a small Kansas town and the engineer waking a passenger.  The passenger is a wandering vagrant (Bill Holden), who has an easy, friendly manner.  He goes to the first house he can find and asks for work.  The old woman, Mrs. Potts, tells him no one works on Labor Day and invites him to breakfast.  He soon is working in her yard anyway and without a shirt, which attracts the attention of next door neighbors: mother Flo (Betty Field), daughters Madge (Kim Novak) and Millie (Susan Strasberg), and their boarder, an aging, single schoolteacher named Rosemary Sidney (Rosalind Russell).  The man gets cleaned up and goes off to meet up with his old college buddy, Alan Benson (Cliff Robertson in his film debut).  Alan, son of the wealthiest man around, relives some good old times with Holden's character, who we learn is Hal Carter, the former college football hero.  Alan is taking his girl, Madge, to the Labor Day picnic and encourages Hal to take Millie.  The whole group, including Rosemary's date Howard, goes to the picnic and has a great time.  Madge is crowned Neewollah queen (a big honor in the town), uptight Rosemary relaxes as she enjoys a bottle of liquor smuggled in by Howard, and Millie starts crushing on Hal.  Things heat up after sundown, as Madge and Hal give in to a growing attraction and dance together.  It's a pretty intense performance that gets out of hand when a jealous Rosemary (who's already having problems dealing with the loss of her youth) breaks them up, tearing Hal's shirt.  Then teenaged Millie grows ill, having stolen the liquor to deal with her own jealousy.  After getting chewed out by almost everyone, Hal takes off, but Madge follows him.  They spend the night together, but come morning Alan has reported his car stolen (he had lent it to Hal).  Hal has to get out of town and Madge has to finally choose what she really wants out of life.

Highlights   
This was only Kim Novak's fourth credited film, but she is wonderful in it.  It's very easy to see why she rose to be such a big star.  She and William Holden make a good, believable couple, despite Holden being a few years too old for this role.  There was a 15 year difference in their ages, but I think Holden's charm and box-office appeal helped make the film a success.  Of course, I think the number of shirtless scenes probably didn't hurt either.  When I started watching the film, all I could think of was that the whole plot really revolved around his half-naked shots.  It makes sense then that the studio wanted the top male actor of 1955 in the role after it was turned down by the actor who had made it a hit on Broadway.  They wanted a built-in audience and they got it.      

I really liked how this film was shot.  There are so many elements that go into a frame, and in Picnic each one seems to fit together like a well-woven quilt.  Everything that is mentioned or seen once comes back later in the film - no loose ends.  The scene where Rosemary tears Hal's shirt is reminiscent of his arrival that morning when he took his shirt off to be cleaned (I told you the whole plot revolved on him being shirtless).  In the opening sequence, Hal cleans up at the river by a small waterfall - he returns to this same spot with Madge and then later when he is running away from the police.  It's a key point in the film, because it's at those falls where we learn the most about his character.  The shots themselves are also really well-constructed, particularly during the dance sequence, which features many shots at waist level.  All we see of Hal and Madge is from their elbows to their knees.  Framing alone can tell a great story.

Characters are great in this film.  You can't say the film is solely about Hal.  We learn just as much about Madge and Rosemary, and even quite a bit about Millie and Flo.  None of them are all good or all bad, but completely and entirely human.  They could be your next door neighbors.  Well, neighbors in 1955 maybe.  There's a side story about Madge and Flo too.  Flo is still hurt by her husband walking out on her some ten or twelve years earlier, and wants Madge to marry the "right kind of man" like Alan.  She keeps stressing that Madge should convince Alan to propose soon, before her beauty starts to fade.  At one point, Madge says "I'm only 19!" To which Flo responds, "Then next summer you'll be 20.  Then 21.  Then 40."  As if in answer to this warning, we see Rosemary, almost or already 40 and angry at still being an old maid.  Through the course of the picnic (and steady intake of alcohol), she goes from sarcastic to jealous to downright crazy.  Her resentment is aimed at the young lovers Hal and Madge, which is why she so viciously goes after Hal.  Howard, as boastful and unattractive as he first appears, becomes a sympathetic character by first helping Hal and then by marrying Rosemary.  Finally, Millie really makes an impact as the kid sister growing up.  During the course of one day she goes from being a stubborn tomboy to a lovely young lady.  She and Hal get along so well because in many ways he's still a fourteen year old boy.  Millie might still be a child, but she's also the one who has insight enough to tell her sister what to do in the end.

Picnic turns out to be no picnic for any of the characters, if you'll pardon the awful pun there.  It's a great film that encompasses not just one day in the life of these people or a holiday celebration in a small 1950s town, but also the hard choices we have to make about love and our own destinies.  I think Mrs. Potts says it best.  At the end, she admits that she liked Hal because he was so different and shook everyone out of their routine, everyday lives.  It's ironic since Hal only wanted to reinvent himself and have a shot at a normal life.  Whether he gets that or not is left up to us.      

Review and Recommendation
I loved this movie.  And not because William Holden was shirtless (although, I have to admit, he's really handsome).  It's masterfully done, with great cinematography, acting and story-lines.  It's one of the strongest character-driven films I've seen, and one of Holden's best performances.  It's also great to see Rosalind Russell and Kim Novak together, as two such talented actresses share the same screen!  I am definitely adding this to my Top Films list and recommend it to anyone interested in the real classics of Hollywood's golden age.

P.S. Thanks to TCM for all the movie backstory!  Also on their website, I saw that Picnic was remade in 2000 with James Brolin and Gretchen Mol.  I wonder if it can even come close to being as good as this version.

P.P.S. I was talking about this film at work the other day, and a woman in the breakroom told me that she had done the play of Picnic in high school and had hated it.  She said it was the worst play.  I think it could have been great if only Bill Holden had been there to take his shirt off.  It's always good to hear other people's responses to works - be it the film itself or the original play or book, the medium can often affect the story itself.      

Rachel and the Stranger (1948)

Intro.

You know you are addicted to old movies when, after a very busy period that leaves no time for film-viewing, you go through a serious withdrawl.  Such is my case recently, as circumstances have kept me so busy I haven't been able to watch much of anything, let alone write a review.  So finally I got some time and decided to watch a film I'd never heard of before - it's called Rachel and the Stranger, which to me sounds like a kid's movie about the dangers of talking to strangers or perhaps a follow up to Sarah and the Squirrel.  It's far from both of these things luckily, and quite an enjoyable film.

Overview

Rachel and the Stranger is a pretty typical Western drama/comedy.  Rachel (Loretta Young) is a woman working off her father's debts as a bond servant.  Recent widower and father David (William Holden) decides that he needs a wife to care for his son Davey (Gary Gray), so he first buys her and then legally marries her, but only for convention as they will be living under the same roof.  Things get off to a rocky start as Rachel is treated more like a servant and outsider who is constantly compared against David's late-wife Sarah.  Everything changes though when David's long-time friend Jim (Robert Mitchum) - the typical free-spirit backwoodsman - comes to visit with the announcement that he's looking to finally settle down and find himself a wife.  Jim's bright spirits and good nature are a big contrast to the coldness Rachel's been getting from David, so it's only natural that she responds to Jim's growing attentions.  David begins to grow jealous and realize that he has married such a wonderful woman, not just a bond servant.  The two men come to blows when Jim suggests buying Rachel from David, and Rachel, so upset at the idea of being bartered for, ups and leaves.  It isn't safe though, as the local Indians are starting to raid nearby farms and set cabins on fire.  When their own cabin is targeted, all of the characters must come together.  And it's there under fire that true feelings finally bring a good ending to the film.

Highlights

I don't know where to start.  One of the reasons this film listing caught my eye was also one of the best parts of the film - the cast.  Holden, Young and Mitchum are great together!  Solid acting on all parts, even if it is a bit unusual to see William Holden in a Western.  Gray is also a lot of fun to watch and gets the feeling across that he misses his mother and really resents Rachel for taking her place.  I also enjoyed the initial interaction between Jim and David - Jim returns to learn of Sarah's death and in only one quick exchange we get an entire backstory between the men:  Jim loved Sarah and wanted to marry her, but as he was too wild and outgoing, she married David, a simple farmer.

The story is simple, but very well done in this film.  It did remind me of so many other films, but I think what is special about Rachel and the Stranger is that it so succinctly tells the story and each scene is very rich - there's one part where Jim and Rachel are singing and you see David in the background with Sarah's metronome, obviously still grieving.  It's so well told without too much explanation that you have to both laugh and cry at times (not to mention cheer out loud when Rachel finally gets a clean shot off with her rifle!).  I think the storytelling and cinematography reminded me of Angel and the Badman, Loretta Young's performance reminded me of her role in The Bishop's Wife, the relationship of Jim and David reminded me of Ethan and Aaron Edwards in The Searchers, and the general plot reminded me of everything from North to Alaska to The Grass is Greener and River of No Return (all of which I recommend!)**.

Finally, a few last points from my fangirl perspective.  First of all, Robert Mitchum gets to sing in this film (HOORAY!!!)  He has a great voice and he's just all around fantastic.  He is obviously enjoying his role in this film and I was delighted that he sang a few songs.  Also, William Holden is great - and shirtless in one scene (I had no idea he had so much chest hair).  I can clearly see now why so many women went crazy for him back in the day.  Finally, Loretta Young gets to kick butt with a rifle and instead of running off to civilization for help, as she rides back to the cabin under fire and starts to shoot alongside the men.  Talk about a woman turning into a strong female lead!  She does a complete 180 from the shy fragile servant and that in itself is what the film is really about.

Review

Although the storyline may be familiar, Rachel and the Stranger delivers a fine overall performance.  A wonderful cast and entertaining scenes keep the pace light and enjoyable.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in a good old-fashioned Western that doesn't take itself too seriously.  

**A word of caution - of the films I listed, I would suggest reading up a bit on The Searchers before watching it for the first time.  If you watch it without any sort of reference or understanding, it comes across as a crass Western that comes dangerously close to comedy and can be very off-putting to some viewers.  There is a reason for almost everything in a Ford Western, even the humor.