The Conspirators (1944)

“This may seem to you melodramatic, but indulge me, please, I like melodrama.”

            I enjoy watching old films that were made during World War II. This is a time when American patriotism was true and pure and films of this time reflect that patriotism. While this is all good and nice I really like seeing films that deal with the European side of the war. It seems only fair that the studios made films dealing with the struggles of Europeans since many stars of during this time came from the Continent. Casablanca had been a huge hit for Warner Bros. in 1942 and they tried to cash in on the popularity two years later in 1944 with The Conspirators starring Austrian actors Hedy Lamarr and Paul Henreid.

            Vincent Van Der Lyn (Henreid) was a freedom fighter in Holland. He is now wanted by the Germans for his bombings. Vincent manages to run away to Lisbon where he is to leave for England. At the airport a German officer hears Vincent’s name as well as that he did not cross German border patrols  in Spain and reports him. Vincent manages to get in touch with a contact outside a train station. The contact pretends to be a blind man. The contact sees the German following Vincent and gets on the payphone to warn others.

            Irene Von Mohr (Lamarr)was passing along a message to a man. The man is shot and the police come. Irene runs into the café where Vincent is. To avoid the police she sits down with Vincent. The police cannot find her and leave. Unfortunately Irene notices a German officer. After the unexpected interruption Vincent notices Jan (Peter Lorre) who is another contact.

            Vincent manages to track Irene down to a casino. She makes like she does not know who he is.

            Vincent and Irene spend more time together and they begin to love each other. They both want to go to England together but they cannot since Irene is entangled with another man.

            The casting was perfect. Hedy Lamarr and Paul Henreid were beautiful and wonderful as a screen couple. I did not mind the film so much but I wish they had been casted in another film together something better than this. Their acting was top notch and fantastic. Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet were supporting characters. I have noticed from their other films that they were so good at acting that they almost steal the films from the main actors in their scenes and they were no exception here. To me Greenstreet and Lorre epitomize Warner Bros. studio in the 1940s.

              I have to mention a dress that Hedy Lamarr wore in a scene. It was a beautiful white dress. On Lamarr is was stunning. It is not flamboyant or outrageous it is simple in design and fit but the dress and wearer manage to enhanceeach other. Lamarr was ridiculously gorgeous and the dress brought out all her stunning facial and body features. I unfortunately cannot find a better picture than the one I have posted below but trust me in the film, my mouth was on the floor I could not get over the her beauty in the dress and the dress itself. 

            The Conspirators to me was a bit confusing in some scenes and it was too much like Casablanca to be a good story on its own. I suggest just watching The Conspirators for Hedy Lamarr and Paul Henreid. And also because it is telling a European (melodramatic) side of World War II. 

Casablanca 70th Anniversary Event

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world she walks into mine.”

            I can remember the day I first bought Casablanca on DVD. I had never seen it before but at the time I was getting into Ingrid Bergman and I saw her on the cover so I had to buy it. I do not, however, remember what I first thought of it but I do remember that the more I watched Casablanca the more I fell in love with it. Every time I see it I fall in love with over and over again.

            Tonight I had the great opportunity to see Casablanca in theaters as part of TCM’s seventieth anniversary event for the film. I cannot even begin to describe how utterly and completely beautiful seeing the film in theaters on the big screen. I was in absolute awe the entire time I could not believe I was seeing my favorite classic film in theaters.

            Author Mick LaSalle wrote in his fantastic book Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood that actresses like Greta Garbo with these incredible faces who were filmed in these gorgeous close ups were meant to be seen on thirty foot screens where their beauty and glamour had the most astounding effect. As soon as the first close up of Ingrid Bergman’s face came on the screen I knew what LaSalle wrote about, Bergman’s face with the glamour lighting on this thirty foot screen was beautiful beyond words. When Bergman was on the screen either in a close up, half shot, or full shot she was breathtaking and that is because she was larger than life the way we are meant to see these idols of the silver screen. This was the best part of seeing Casablanca in theaters seeing the stunning Ingrid Bergman and her immense talent larger than life.

 

 

 

            Casablanca is one of those rare films that is perfectly made. It is a melodramatic story but with some of the best comedic lines. The cast is one that every film since then has died to put together from their starring cast members down to the smallest person in the background. The cast is the casting twist of fate of ever; Humphrey Bogart is Rick Blaine the world weary man who has some sort of sordid past trying to run away with it, Ingrid Bergman is Ilsa Lund a confused woman who loves her husband but has a beautiful past with Rick, Paul Henreid is Victor Laszlo he has the look of a dignified dedicated man, and Claude Rains has the perfect sleazy look to him that you would not want to touch Louis Renault with a ten foot pole. The direction by Michael Curtiz is something all film major should study his camera work is inspiring. The lighting I drool over especially when Rick gets drunk after seeing Ilsa for the first time since Paris, when Ilsa goes to Rick for the letters of transit, and when Rick opens the door to reveal Ilsa to Carl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

            As I sat in my seat close to the front with my neck smashed from looking awkwardly up at the screen I felt like I was sitting in a movie theater back in 1942. The only things that were missing were the mindset of the time during World War II and the 1940s and the clothing. You can watch Casablanca on your TV at home and you can watch it in film classes on a projector but nothing in world will ever be able to compare to seeing this beautiful iconic film on a big screen in a theater.

 

Dead Ringer (1964)

“I've gotten so I'm afraid to turn around for fear of what will happen next.” 

            Dead Ringer was the first time I have seen Bette Davis in a film outside the Golden Age of Hollywood. This is also the first time I have ever seen her in one of her later creepy roles. Here role here is made even creepier because she plays twins with totally different personalities. The plot is unbelievable and crazy but I had a good time sitting through it.

            Edith Phillips (Davis) attends the funeral of her brother-in-law Frank DeLorca. She has not seen her twin sister Margaret in years. Margaret sees Edith and invites her sister back to her house. Once the sisters get to talking we find out that Margaret stole Frank away from Edith by claiming she was pregnant. Edith never forgave her sister and was even more upset over the fact that there never was any baby her sister just flat out stole the man she truly loved from her.

 

 

            Edith goes back to her place above a bar that she owns. The owner of the building says she has until the following week to move out because she is very late on the rent. Her friend Jim Hobbson, a local cop, stops by for a few minutes. He really likes Edith it is noticeable on his face and the way he is made comfortable in the home. Jim sees that Edith is a little shaken up when she asks him to take her out anywhere that night just to get out.

            When Jim leaves Edith calls Margaret to come over, she wants to talk to her. Edith plans to kill her ungrateful sister and take her place in her big house and have all her money. She carefully arranges her apartment and fixes her hair to look like Margaret’s. She even hides a gun in a drawer besides a chair. When Margaret comes over Edith has her sit in the chair by the drawer where the gun is. Edith pulls the gun out and kills her sister.

 

 

            Things go pretty well for Edith as Margaret for a while. But after a while Jim starts pocking around investigating “Edith’s” death and Margaret’s lover Tony Collins (Peter Lawford) comes into the picture. Tony knows something is off about his lover when he notices her smoking which Margaret had quit and the dog all the sudden liking her. He tells her he knows her secret and begins to blackmail her. Jim has Tony looked into and they find that he had purchased arsenic. He concludes that arsenic has the same symptoms of a heart attack and has Frank’s body dug up.

            In the end Edith gets a kind of payback from her Margaret for killing her.

            I am not a huge fan of Bette Davis, I like her but I am not like a huge fan I can usually take or leave her films. I have to say though after sitting through this film I think I like Davis better in her later films! I have read that Davis was a bit of a bitch and it seems that with her later roles that side of her was able to come out! She definitely played the bitchiness very well here. Davis did a good job of playing the twins with the different personalities at the beginning.

            Now the whole reason I even wanted to sit through this film was because Jean Hagen is in it. Anyone who does not recognize her name ought to be ashamed of themselves because Hagen played the absolutely fabulous and completely hysterical Lena Lamont in Singin in the Rain. She was only in like two or three scenes but I love seeing her in anything no matter how long her screen time is. Her character Dede Marshall is shallow and a very fast talker. If you have never seen Jean Hagen outside of Lena Lamont you may not even recognize her at all because the woman did not have blonde hair nor did she have a squeaky high pitched voice.

            Peter Lawford in his short scenes was a creep. The guy fit the part perfectly because he did look like a slimeball who just looked out for themselves.

 

            Paul Henreid, who I have only ever seen act in Casablanca and Devotion, directed the film. He did a fantastic job in creating a suspenseful atmosphere and got some great shots. Henreid gave the film a Noir look and feel which added greatly to the unbelievable plot.

            Dead Ringer has an unbelievable plot but a critic at the time perfectly said that the film is farfetched but fun. I liked how if Margaret had lived her whole plan most likely would have worked her husband’s death would have just stayed at natural causes but because Edith was upset and killed her and Jim got involved everything fell apart. It was interesting to see how Edith’s/Margaret’s life unraveled the way it did. 

 

Devotion (1946)

“All our lives there has been too much left unsaid between us. Loving is the only thing that really matters, Charlotte. It's worthwhile being hurt a bit to find that out.”

            Last summer my brother Anthony had to read Wuthering Heights for his AP English class. My mom read it too so she could help him out with the story and he could have someone to talk it over with. By the time Anthony finished the book and watching a BBC production of the story I was so sick of hearing about Heathcliff and Cathy I wanted to scream. I seriously never want to read the book the story annoyed the hell out of me. Then I realized since the book was published how many other great literary novels and films (Gone with the Wind in particular in both mediums) were based off Emily Brontë’s literary masterpiece. I have seen the 1939 film version with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon in a film class and wanted to scream my head off.

            I love to read but I tended to stay away from literature with my preferences leaning towards mysteries, history books, biographies, and film books. But after reading Gone with the Wind I now have an interest in reading literature masterpieces… well ones I know I will understand, I do not have the patience to sit and try to decipher the meaning.

            Now you may be wondering why on earth I am ranting about Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, and reading literature. Well two weeks ago when I was home by myself for the weekend I got to peacefully watch Devotion that I had recorded off of TCM. Devotion tells the (dramatized and romanticized) story of Branwell (Arthur Kennedy), Charlotte (Olivia de Havilland), and Emily Brontë (Ida Lupino) (as well as a little bit of their sister Anne). Branwell is like the black sheep of the family; he drinks too much and causes scenes when he is drunk. Charlotte wants to see the world in order to write her stories while Emily is very content to stay home on the moor near their Yorkshire home.

            Charlotte, Anne, and Branwell get the opportunity to travel to London for a few months. While away a new priest named Reverend Arthur Nichols (Paul Henreid) comes to help their father at his church. He and Emily spend an awful lot of time together. They even fall in love a bit but there is no sharing of feelings between them. In time the three traveling Brontë siblings return home. The first time Arthur lays eyes on Charlotte he falls in love with her but she does not like him.

            Branwell has not been behaving himself and feels awful he wants to do something nice for Emily and Charlotte. He sells one of his paintings and sends his sisters to school in Brussels to further their education as well as to teach. Charlotte is loving the experience and she is falling in love with the married school master. Emily misses the moor and England. She repeatedly has dreams of Death on a horse where she cannot see his face. She dreams of Death while in Brussels and she finally sees his face and to her this means she does not have time left and must go home.

            Both sisters return home. Charlotte begins to see Arthur loves her and begins to fall for him. Emily is upset because now she will never be with him. She pours all her feelings about Arthur and her lost love into Wuthering Heights. Charlotte finishes writing Jane Eyre and has it published along with Wuthering Heights. Both books are huge successes. Charlotte lives it up in London with all the attention on her. But yet again she finds herself returning home and this time it is because Emily is very sick.

            I know this is a very short description with not too much detail but I do not want to give away too much detail and the film was long. If you really want to know what happens to the sisters and brother look them up online.

            I really, really liked the cast. I have never seen Ida Lupino in a film before and I found myself liking her a lot. Her best scene is when Emily was walking in the moors with Arthur. There is a house on the hill of the moor and she tells Arthur that she calls the abandoned house Wuthering Heights. Just then her vision of Death on his horse appears in the distance. The description was incredible and Lupino’s acting was superb. That scene I now count as one of my favorite scenes from a film it was just acted, filmed, and written so well. Lupino may have gotten top billing but the film definitely belonged to Olivia de Havilland. De Havilland was in the film the most and she was, as always, so amazing. She was adorable in one scene where Charlotte goes on a date with the married head master of the school in Brussels. They go on the Tunnel of Love ride and she wonders why they named the ride so. Well when they emerge they definitely found the reason! Their hair is a mess and their hats are out of place and de Havilland has the best look of bliss on her face. This was the first time I have ever seen Paul Henreid outside of his role of Victor Laszlo in Casablanca. I liked him as the reverend and I now see that he was a very good actor.

            The film was finished filming in 1943 but was not released until 1946. At this time Olivia de Havilland was fighting Warner Bros. for adding extra time to the end of her contract with a suspension. Jack Warner held the film back for three years and gave the actress third billing in an attempt to damage her career. This is when she sued the studio going all the way to the Supreme Court and winning her case. After winning her case and leaving the studio de Havilland went on to win two Academy Awards. The de Havilland Decision is the reason why TV actors are only contractually obligated to a show for six years and no actor can sign a contract for longer than six years.

            The score was created by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. I like Korngold’s scores they were always dramatic and fit perfectly with the stories of the films. He created a great score for Devotion especially in the scene where Emily is in the moor with Arthur looking at Wuthering Heights and sees Death on his horse.

            Devotion, although a highly dramatized story based off the Brontë family, is very well done. The acting by all the actors is amazing, the writing is excellent, and the direction and cinematography are perfect. After seeing this film I am now thinking about giving Wuthering Heights a chance and I now would really like to read Jane Eyre (I find it funny that Olivia de Havilland played Charlotte who wrote the novel and her sister, Joan Fontaine was in the first film version of the story playing the main character). My brother liked Wuthering Heights, he likes anything with a tragic ending (except for Gone with the Wind he was so upset that Rhett and Scarlett did not get back together). I can always ask him if I am confused with the story. I do plan on getting Devotion on DVD and will be showing it to my brother.

            Definitely see Devotion it is a very well made film but just remember it is a film telling of the Brontë family it is not going to be completely accurate.