The Caddy (1953)

About eight or ten years ago, I walked into my local Blockbuster and spent a few minutes looking through the racks.  It wasn't a large store, but seemed to have a pretty nice variety just the same.  I finally spotted a sales associate at the counter and asked her if she could help me.  I asked if they had any of the Martin and Lewis films.  She looked like a high-schooler and had the typical bored teenage attitude.  She gave me a blank stare as if I had spoken French.  She turned up her nose and asked, "who?" and that's when I knew I was in trouble.  Of course Blockbuster didn't have any of the Martin & Lewis films, so why should the staff know about them?  I left soon after and went home.  I felt disappointed, not because they didn't carry the films, but that most people today have no idea who these guys were.  If you had asked someone back in the late forties and fifties, he or she would probably have told you all about the Italian singer from Steubenville (Dean Martin) and the skinny Jewish comedian from Newark (Jerry Lewis).  You might even hear about Times Square.

But since this is 2011, I'll tell you about Times Square.  There are very few times in history when New York's Times Square has been completely shut down by a crowd of people.  I'm not including New Year's, either.  No, I'm talking about swarms of people gathering and physically shutting down the intersection.  It happened back when Martin & Lewis were on top - they were the number one act in America and growing in popularity around the world.  The story goes that the guys were performing in Times Square and had gone to their hotel room in one of the places on the Square.  They were leaning out the window and all their fans saw them and began to crowd in to see them.  I don't know if they threw fliers for their show or autographed photos or what from their window, but they drew one of the biggest crowds in New York's history.  If you can't imagine it, the footage of the event was kept and integrated into one of their films - 1953's The Caddy.  

I just finished reading an incredible book by Mark Rotella called Amore: The Story of Italian American Song.  I can't give it enough stars.  It chronicles not only the history of Italian American singers, but also provides a history of where that music started and the journey and hardships of Italian immigrants as they came to settle in America.  The book mentions the film The Caddy for a number of reasons.  The movie focuses on an Italian American family in San Francisco, where the father is a fisherman.  His son, Joe Anthony (Dean Martin), hates fishing and tries his hand at playing golf, hoping to win enough money to support his family.  His soon-to-be brother-in-law Harvey (Jerry Lewis) is the son of a pro-golfer, and takes on the job of Joe's caddy.  The Caddy references Joe DiMaggio's real life, as he too was a son of Italian immigrants.  His father was also a fisherman, he grew up in San Francisco, and he later left the family business for a life in sports.  My favorite line in the film comes from Joe's first introduction to a group of upper-class golfers at the country club.  The group (all very wealthy and noticeably with a WASP background) asks Joe what business his family is in, to which Joe replies "fish."  An English gentleman asks "exporting or importing?"  Joe, without missing a beat, replies just as arrogantly, "catching."       

Did you know that Joe DiMaggio refused to eat garlic?  He refused to eat it later in life because he didn't want the stereotypes that went with such an "Italian" smell.  While the movie's Joe Anthony didn't have that problem, you can't help but notice the "Americanization" of the name Joe Anthony.  That name change is common with many Italian-American singers; even Dean Martin was born Dino Crocetti.  The only one that I've read about who kept his given name was a blue-eyed crooner from Hoboken named Francis.  But I'm getting off track.  The second reason Mark Rotella discussed The Caddy in his book was because it features the very first time Dean Martin ever sang "That's Amore."  The scene (and the song) is so stereotypical that it borders on insulting, which is why Dean Martin initially refused to record the song.  In the movie, Joe's family throws him a huge welcome home celebration at the family restaurant.  A feast of traditional Italian foods is served and the guests are all clearly Italian families (with the exception of Harvey).  Joe's mother asks him to sing and he obliges, belting out the song, "That's Amore."  The song would not only sell millions of copies, but would define both Martin's career and the image of Italians in America.  Italians knew about love.  They knew how to laugh at their own stereotypes.  They weren't just the garlic eating laborers; they were the opera stars, baseball heroes and entertainers who could stop traffic in Times Square.

I know Martin and Lewis weren't the first comedy team to try the crooner-comedian formula.  Crosby and Hope had perfected it years earlier when they began making their "Road" pictures.  And Martin and Lewis aren't the most memorable of all comedy duos.  I wonder if that girl at Blockbuster would have recognized Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello.  But what Dean and Jerry had really was magical - the right balance of comedy, music, and good old fashioned fun, not to mention a great working relationship.  And they knew their audience.  That being said, today we might cringe at some of Jerry's clowning (and heaven knows his fake voice is like nails on a chalkboard at times).  During the peak of their popularity, they made The Caddy.  It isn't a monumental film or even a great one for that matter, but it is a wonderful slice of history.  It shows us what made people laugh in the 1950s and also captures something in the course of Italian American history.  The presentation of the Anthony family is a horribly stereotyped character sketch, but one thing hits home - Joe's ability to transform from the son of immigrants to a famous celebrity.  It's the American dream, served up with an unforgettable song.

*A note on the photo -  I couldn't figure out how to format a caption, so here's the story.  The church is Sts. Peter & Paul Church in the Italian neighborhood of San Francisco.  It's the church where Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe posed for wedding photos (they had been married in the courthouse).  I made sure to find the church and snap a photo during my trip there.  So not only could the son of an Italian fisherman become an American hero, he could also marry the most desired actress in Hollywood.

House of Wax (1953)

Further proof that my uneasiness in wax museums is completely justified.

Intro.

I definitely went through classic movie phases even as a kid.  There was a period where all I wanted to watch were musicals and then came old horror films.  My favorite horror film was the original House of Wax, starring my favorite horror movie actor, Vincent Price.  I can remember going to the local video store and making a beeline straight to the Classics section and asking my mom to rent it again and again.  I hadn't seen the movie in something close to twelve years, and was delighted that it was featured on TCM this Halloween.   

Overview

Vincent Price stars as Prof. Henry Jarrod, a gifted sculptor of wax figures.  His museum, studio and home are all in one building, and the small space, while filled with well-crafted figures from history, fails to draw in as many crowds as other wax museums which feature scenes of torture and horrors.  His partner Matthew Burke (Roy Roberts) wants a return on his investment, and losing his patience, sets fire to the museum.  Jarrod cannot bear to part with his "children" as he calls his wax figures, and many believe he dies in the fire with them.  In the aftermath, we see a strange, misshapen man in a black cape appear in Burke's room and kill him, hanging him in the elevator shaft.  It's a ghastly crime, and only made worse when the scene is revealed in a brand new wax museum specializing in the macabre and recent headlines in crime.  Running this new museum is Jarrod, who is now wheelchair bound and without fine motor control in his hands.  His apprentices now carve his figures under his guidance, and he is determined to recreate all of his best pieces.  One of the couples visiting his grand opening are Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk) and Scott Andrews (Paul Picerni).  Sue's dear friend Cathy (Carolyn Jones) was recently murdered, and Sue had walked in on the murder - the same man in black who killed Burke.  Once at the museum, Sue can't help but notice the similarity between the figure of Joan of Arc and Cathy.  Every line of Cathy's face is there, right down to her only having one ear pierced.  Jarrod explains that he often uses photographs from the newspaper as models for his work, but Sue isn't convinced.  Scott begins working for Jarrod as well, and begins work on a new Marie Antoinette, using Sue's face as a model.  But of course this creepy film gets even spookier when Sue goes into the museum one night alone to get another close-up view of Joan of Arc (seriously, how does she think that's a good idea?).  Of course she discovers that Joan actually is Cathy, and Jarrod and his other assistants decide to make her a permanent fixture of the museum.  Can Scott and the police save her?  And just who is it among them that's been killing people across the city?

Highlights

I love Vincent Price.  In any horror film, he adds a certain level of creepiness.  Not only is his voice pitch perfect for any horror film (in fact his is also the voice you hear in "Thriller"), but he is also a  remarkable actor.  It's so easy to forget how good of an actor he really was when you watch films designed to showcase other things (like the novelty of 3D effects).  But he's always a great actor to watch and to learn from*, and I think part of the reason I was so drawn to this film was because of his work.  He is so easy to admire and empathize with from the beginning, then we see his change after the fire and the loss of his world.  It's as much about his loss of sanity as it is about Sue's own descent into what she fears is madness.  She just has to know if it's really Cathy beneath that layer of wax.  It's a good thing she does question it too, for her story starts the police investigating into Jarrod's life.

House of Wax was a remake of an early horror film from the 1930s, but was remade at this particular time in Hollywood for two reasons.  One, it would make a great showpiece shot in color and second it could be made into 3D to attract movie audiences.  Theaters were losing business in the 50s with the widespread ownership of television, so many sensational tactics began deployment in the film industry.  3D effects were one of those ideas, and did bring viewers in to see films like House of Wax.  While I have not seen the film in 3D, I can attest to the brilliance of color in the movie, with particular attention paid to the details of the wax figurines.  It's very well shot and composed, with a good eye for color.  It is also very amusing to see which shots were constructed solely for the purpose of coming right at the camera for that 3D effect.  The hawker outside Jarrod's new museum is the most out of place, having no effect on the plot and interacting directly with the audience with his paddle-board.  It's an amusing reminder of the fad and a reminder of what was once on the cutting edge of Hollywood.    

There were a few things I didn't particularly like in the film on this viewing, particularly the supporting characters.  It's most apparent with Cathy, but several of them are a bit stereotyped and almost corny, as is the bad pun which ends the film.  Still, I have to admit that the novelty of wax museums and the drawing power of Vincent Price makes this an enjoyable film.  It's still one of my favorite horror films, although I may still be biased towards my childhood favorites.  And the scene where Jarrod's true face is revealed (arg, I can't really make this spoiler-free) still makes me gasp.  That's what always terrified me as a child and today it still gives me the creeps.

Before I sign off, one quick funny story.  As I began to write this post, I looked up House of Wax on IMDb, because I knew that Jarrod's assistant Igor had looked really familiar.  Turns out it was a very early appearance by Charles Bronson, who was listed in the credits as Charles Buchinsky.  I just told my friend who had also watched with me, and we both said in tandem "I knew he looked familiar!"

Review and Recommendation
Although a bit stereotyped and somewhat predictable, House of Wax is still a very enjoyable film and an example of new techniques tried in the 1950s.  A wonderful vehicle for Vincent Price (and probably one of his best performances), I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a more tame horror film.  What a great way to wrap up my month of horror films!

*I've seen Vincent Price in only two non-horror films, one of which was His Kind of Woman.  Now, you talk about an acting range - I almost didn't recognize him because he was so funny!  Of course, his voice was unmistakable.  :-)          

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.

Scared Stiff (1953)

Intro.

We all have those feel-good movies that we watched when we were younger, right?  When I was in middle school, I started watching the old Martin and Lewis comedies.  My mom recently gave me a box full of my old VHS tapes, among them all of my Martin and Lewis movies.  This past week was horrible, so one night when I was stressed to the max, I decided to settle down with my old friends, Dean and Jerry.  And sure enough, that old charm of those 50s comedies came back and melted my stress away.

Overview

Scared Stiff opens in a nightclub where we find Larry Todd (Dean Martin) as the star singer who is having a fling with one of the showgirls.  She, however, is the main squeeze of the biggest mob boss in town - Shorty.  Shorty orders Larry to come to his hotel room to "work things out" but Larry's best friend, bumbling busboy Myron (Jerry Lewis) decides to go first and scare Shorty into leaving Larry alone.  Larry goes after him and of course things go from bad to crazy as Larry thinks he has accidentally shot someone.  With the police after him, he and Myron escape with the help of a beautiful woman named Mary Carol (Lizabeth Scott), who has just inherited Lost Island, just south of Cuba.  Lost Island is supposedly haunted, populated by zombies, you name it.  Mary will not be stopped, even after voodoo threats and offers to buy her out.  Larry, who has become quite taken with Mary, promises to go with her to check out the island.  Myron of course comes too and after a lot of terrifying run ins with ghosts and a zombie, the threesome finally find the real secret of Lost Island - a secret that people are willing to kill for.

Background and Highlights
Martin and Lewis became the leading comedy act in the US in the early 1950s.  They teamed up in a nightclub in 1946 and stayed together until 1956.  They made a total of 16 films together and starred on the Colgate Comedy Hour.  In fact, they were so popular, they once completely stopped traffic in Times Square when they leaned out of their hotel room window and all of their fans gathered around.  The fans themselves filled Times Square and inspired a scene in the film The Caddy.  Theirs was perhaps the most successful of the crooner-comedian pairings and it made national news when they broke up and went their separate ways.  Some of their films are very silly, some good and innocent fun, and still there are a few that touch on that once close but then strained brotherly relationship.  Scared Stiff came in the middle of their film career, and is still in that innocent fun mode, where they had the formula to make America laugh.

There is a good balance in this film - Jerry is able to have some great comic routines like the argument with himself in a mirror and his amazing impersonation of Carmen Miranda (oh my gosh, Jerry trying to dance in those heels while keeping all that fruit balanced on his head makes the whole film worth watching).  And Dean has some fantastic musical numbers, including what may be my favorite in all of the Martin & Lewis films - "When Someone Wonderful Thinks You're Wonderful".  They are great together too, and Lizabeth Scott is a wonderful addition as a great leading lady.

What really struck me when I watched this time, was how funny Dean Martin could be.  I knew that when he later performed with Frank Sinatra on stage, he was responsible for writing their jokes, but I've heard it wasn't so clear who wrote what for Martin and Lewis.  Regardless, he delivers some of the best lines in this film.  A few favorites include: "Don't give me away, please!  Someday you may have a little boy and he'll grow up and commit an innocent murder too!" and "I'm just dropping a few eaves." 

Review
Scared Stiff isn't necessarily a classic - it's not in the ranks of The Philadelphia Story or Some Like It Hot.  It is a wonderful comedy though and a great example of what Martin and Lewis could accomplish at the height of their career.  It has something for everyone - Jerry's juvenile antics appeal to younger crowds while Dean's more subtle jokes (and crooning) appealed to older crowds.  It's also a good look at what entertained audiences in the early fifties.  As I wrote earlier, this was one of my favorite movies from when I was about thirteen and I love it even more now.  It still has that innocent, feel-good quality that so many of today's comedies are missing, and I recommend it.

Fun Facts
First, there is a great, great cameo at the end of the film, which I won't spoil, but it relates to a cameo that Dean and Jerry had in an earlier film.  Also worth mentioning is how Larry, upon seeing the underground railroad tracks and spooky lanterns says "reminds me of my hotel room in Steubenville."  Steubenville, Ohio is, of course, Dean Martin's hometown.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Intro.

As March was supposed to be Musicals Month, I went in search of musicals tonight and stumbled across Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which I had always assumed was a comedy.  In fact it was cross-listed online as romantic comedy, classic comedy, and classic musical.  Watching the film, I thought back to a film class I once took where we talked about what defines a movie's genre - I mean really, what makes a musical a Musical?  Certainly the genre conjures memories of Singin' in the Rain, Oklahoma!, Cabaret, West Side Story and a long list of similar titles.  But what about films like the melodramatic Young at Heart or even something more lighthearted like Robin and the 7 Hoods or Road to Morocco?  Is it the story line?  The number of songs?  What?  I think we finally formed a blurry definition that a musical earns its genre title when it contains three songs performed by characters in the film as a part of the story.  Of course there will always be gray areas, like the super traditional Western Rio Grande (imagine telling the Duke he was in a Musical!), but all in all, I think it's a pretty good rule, and as such Gentlemen Prefer Blondes would be more in the sophisticated, buddy-film type of classic musical.      

Overview

Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw (Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell) are American entertainers with their own successful show.  Their beauty and their talent gets them plenty of attention, most notably of which is Gus Esmond, a shy ordinary guy with a lot of family money.  He is engaged to Lorelei despite his father's wishes.  Instead of them sailing to Europe to marry, he sends Dorothy as a chaperon with the promise that he will meet them in Paris.  While Lorelei is more concerned with money as the basis of a secure marriage, Dorothy is more in line with the idea that love alone is all that a good marriage needs.  On that point they differ, but they are clearly best friends, making the most of their voyage.  Unfortunately, the guy Dorothy meets and falls for, Ernie Malone (played by Elliott Reid), is actually a private detective hired by Gus's father to trail the ever-flirtatious Lorelei.  When he catches her with an older man (who happens to own a diamond mine), he takes pictures.  Dorothy catches him though, and the girls then have to figure out a way to steal the photos back.  Once they do, in gratitude for their work, the mine owner (Charles Coburn) gives Lorelei his wife's diamond tiara.  By the time the girls land in France, they find that not only have their letters of credit and hotel lodgings been canceled by a jealous Gus, but the police are after them for a "stolen" tiara.  The results are hilarious and well choreographed in more than one sense!

Highlights

Most musicals are well remembered because of their unforgettable songs.  In this case, I only have 6 little words for you: "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."  In that number alone, Marilyn Monroe makes the entire picture, not to mention her legend.  However, Jane Russell is just as amazing and a great scene stealer earlier in the film with "Bye Bye Baby" and "Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?"  And the girls are also great together with their signature song, "Two Little Girls from Little Rock" and "When Love Goes Wrong" (the latter of which is my favorite from the show).

Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell are phenomenal in this film, and would be even without the music.  I think they make a great team and give an interesting picture of two very confident, independent women who stick together no matter what.  But as free and fun-loving as they are, you have to remember that it's a 1950's romantic comedy, so there's only one way it can really end (I won't say more, I promise!).  Even with the obvious sexual stereotypes, it's nice to see women have the upper hand, and no one handles it better than these two actresses.  And you can't help but laugh at the line: "If we can't empty his pockets between the two of us, we don't deserve the name 'woman'."

Review

Whatever you want to call it - a comedy, a musical, or a buddy film - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is definitely worth watching.  The humor, the music, and the great relationship between two such dynamite actresses all make for a great time!