Under Capricorn (1949)

Never heard of Alfred Hitchcock’s film Under Capricorn? Do not worry if you have not heard of this you are not missing too much. I adore Ingrid Bergman and Alfred Hitchcock and I am a fan of Joseph Cotton but this was the wrong film for all three of them to make.

            Charles Adare has gone with his cousin Richard to Australia. Richard has been named by King William of England (the film takes place in 1831) to be the new governor of the colony. Charles hopes to strike it rich but is not sure how he will do so. He goes to a bank and an employee Mr. Potter tells him that he does not have enough to invest in anything too big. A man named Sam Flusky (Cotton) has come to speak to Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter tells Charles that Sam is one of the smartest investors and richest men in Australia. Charles asks the man how Sam came to live in Australia and is told that it is an unwritten rule not to ask anyone of their past in Sydney. Charles seems to think he knows the name Flusky it sounds very familiar but he cannot place it. Mr. Potter tells Charles not to go to Sam’s house under any circumstances but does not get the chance to explain as Sam is standing right outside the door. Sam and Charles walk out of the bank together. Sam makes Charles an offer. He wants Charles to buy some land since he has bought all of the crown land he legally can and that if Charles buys it he will buy it from him for much more than Charles bought it. Sam then asks him to dinner the following night and Charles accepts the invitation. Charles goes to see his cousin. Richard seems to have heard of the name Flusky before but he also cannot place it. He thinks the name has something to do with a woman. Richard tells Charles not to be associated with Sam it would not be good for either one of them.

            Charles goes to Sam’s house for dinner. When he gets to the house he hears voices and follows them instead of ringing the bell. He hears Sam ordering his servants around and he sees him whip the women in the kitchen out of a fight. Sam catches Charles looking into the kitchen and brings him into the house. The other invited men begin to arrive. Each one makes an excuse of why their wives could not join them. Sam says it is alright because his wife cannot join them either she is not feeling too well. When they have sat down to eat, Sam’s wife Henrietta (Bergman) comes down. Henrietta sits next to Charles. They realize they know each other from Ireland, she had been best friends with his sister. Henrietta returns to her room not feeling so well. She asks for Charles’s help to the stairs. When she gets to her room she screams for Charles to come and help her. Henrietta is a wreck she thinks there is something at the end of her bed and wants Charles to shoot it. He shoots at the fireplace. When he returns downstairs he tells Sam that Sydney seems to have a rat problem to explain why he shot his pistol.

            After the other men Sam explains to Charles about why he and Henrietta are in Sydney. He used to be her family’s stable boy. He taught her how to ride. The family did not like him after a while and wanted to get rid of him. Henrietta wanted to be with him so she sold all her possessions and came down to Australia to wait for him to serve his sentence. Charles asks Sam if he can come and call on Henrietta. Sam thinks that is a good idea figuring maybe Charles can help cure Henrietta. The first day Charles comes over he tries to get Henrietta to run her own household instead of the maid Milly. Milly has overheard this conversation and she is not happy. The women in the kitchen laugh at her and to make matters worse Milly has gone to Henrietta’s room, brought down all the liquor bottles, and showed them to the women. They howl with laughter at Henrietta and she runs upstairs locking herself in her room for days. Charles tells Sam what Milly has done to Henrietta. Sam with not hear any of it after all that Milly has put up with taking care of his wife. Feeling bad Charles climbs up to Henrietta’s room. She wants him to go back to Ireland to tell he family she has died she has no courage to do anything.

            Sam gets rid of Milly. Henrietta is a wreck that Milly has gone but Charles quickly helps her to gain control and take charge of the household. Henrietta does well for some time. Charles is over one night and he has invitations to the Governor’s Ball on behalf of an Irish society. Henrietta is thrilled. Sam said he will not go because he cannot dance as well as the rest of them can. When Charles and Henrietta leave Milly walks in the door. She asks to stay for the night in her old room and Sam agrees. Milly begins to make Sam jealous of his wife with Charles. She gets Sam so upset he goes to the ball to get his wife ruining her night. Henrietta runs out of the ball and returns home with Charles. At the house she confesses to Charles that Sam is not a murderer. When she and Sam had been married at an inn in Dublin her brother came in a rage. Her brother was going to shoot her but Sam protected her. She reached for his gun and shot her brother. Sam took the blame for the murder. Sam comes home he is angry and upset to see them alone together. Charles goes to leave and take Sam’s horse. Charles comes back he thought the gate was open and he thrown off the horse and the horse broke its leg. Sam returns the two men go to fight and Sam’s gun goes off shooting Charles in the shoulder.

            Since the shooting was Sam’s second offense he could be sent to die. Henrietta confesses to Richard that she was the one who shot her brother not Sam.

            After this things become annoying and complicated and remain boring. Too many things go back and forth.

            Hitchcock confessed to Francois Truffaut that he “… would have made the picture if it hadn’t been for Ingrid Bergman. At the time she was the biggest star in America and all the American producers were competing for her services, and I must admit that I made the mistake of thinking that to get Bergman would be a tremendous feat; it was victory over the rest of the industry you see.” He felt Bergman was a commercial asset that there she would make the film a success on her own. Unfortunately “That was bad thinking, and my behavior was almost infantile.” He goes on to say that having her in the picture proved costly in many ways. Bergman’s services drove the cost of picture too high and when this was released she was caught in the famous scandal with Roberto Rossellini. Movie theaters across America band the film because of her and it flopped miserably in the country. I do not blame Ingrid Bergman for the failure of the film alone. Hitchcock does not even solely blame her there were many other issues with the film. If anything Bergman was an asset because she had the capability to be amazing even when the material was total garbage and that is true with Under Capricorn. The acting by Bergman, Joseph Cotton, Michael Wilding (Charles) and Margaret Leighton (Milly) was perfect the material was just horrible. Luckily all four actors were very good at their craft and were able to perform well with the material. I loved Joseph Cotton and Ingrid Berman together. I was so mad that the material was so bad they were perfect together. It would have been great if they had made another film together after this. Hitchcock said Burt Lancaster would have been better in the role of Sam Flusky. No offense to Burt Lancaster but he would not have been good he would have dragged the film further into a hole. The film character required a good actor like Cotton. Margaret Leighton was creepy and fantastic as Milly. Michael Wilding I really do not have that much of an opinion of. He was good but not the greatest.

            Under Capricorn I found to be a disappointment. As soon as the film started I could not believe that Alfred Hitchcock the Master of Suspense made such a bad period piece. From start to finish it did not feel like a Hitchcock film. It was as if I was watching a cheap romantic film by a second rate director there was nothing special about it. It is crazy to think Under Capricorn was voted by the French as one of the ten greatest films ever made and when it was released in the country it was a huge hit. The only thing I liked seeing was how Henrietta was like The Second Mrs. de Winter and Milly was like Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca. And I also like seeing Ingrid Bergman in color when she was still young. Under Capricorn is a Hitchcock film I would either skip/drag your heels to see or only watch if you are a huge fan of either the director or Ingrid Bergman or Joseph Cotton. Under Capricorn is available to view on Youtube. 

Meet the Stewarts (1942)

“Darling, can you live on budgets?”

“I never ate any but I bet I’ll love ‘em.”

            The plot of Meet the Stewarts is a plot we go through in real life. We worry about our jobs and the income they provide. We question if the income will be enough to survive on with a house, furniture, food, and whatever life throws at you. Unless you have an extremely good job where you can throw caution to the wind and buy whatever you want everyone else in the world has to budget their money. Budgeting is the lesson Mike Stewart tries to teach his formally rich high living wife Candy to manage.

            The film starts off with Mike (William Holden) in a tree. He wants to get down from the tree but his girlfriend Candy (Frances Dee) will not let him unless he agrees to marry her. Mike tells Candy he cannot marry her because he has no money for her type if rich living and besides her father thinks he is a fortune hunter. Candy’s father comes out to speak to her thinking they were alone. He tells her that if she marries Mike he will cut off her money. Up in the tree Mike asks Candy if she thinks she can change her ways and live on just his salary.

            Mike and Candy do eventually get married and buy a house. When they arrive at their house after their wedding there are no lights on because Mike could not pay for them to be turned on. Fortunately someone from Candy’s family has given them beds as a wedding present but they have no blankets. Candy has brought some furniture and it comes a few days later. All the furniture she has bought puts them at forty-nine dollars and seventy-six cents over their budget. Mike tells his wife to send back one or two things. Candy has a very hard time deciding what to send back and eventually convinces him to allow her to keep everything.

            Candy invites mother and sister and her family over for dinner. She tries to prepare a meal all by herself but nothing is coming out right. Her family cook from her father’s house, Wong, comes over to help her. Mike comes back from work early and Candy struggles to hide Wong since she wanted to prove to him that she can cook a meal herself. Mike sees Wong’s hat and thinks Candy has another man in the house. Wong just casually strolls out of the closet Candy shoved him into and out the door. Mike is not angry with his wife but he makes promise to tell everyone that she did not make the meal herself. Dinner with the family does not go over too well. Something burned in the oven so all the windows had to be opened and it was cold out. Mike’s sister in front of everyone says he made a mistake in marrying Candy because she is not practical. He defends his wife by saying she made the meal herself.

            Things begin to go wrong for Mike and Candy. She believed her father had let her keep her life membership to the club they belonged but he got rid of it for the whole family. Mike was gambling and lost a lot of money that would take him a long time to give back. Mike once again makes his budget and Candy says they make it and pay off the debt to the club if she goes to work. Mike is not happy but they have no other choice. On the way home from work together one night Candy tells Mike her friend asked her if they wanted to join them at a club for dinner and dancing on a pier. She wants to go so much and Mike tells her no because it is not in their budget. Candy snaps saying she has had enough of budgets and living like she has been. She goes back to her family.

            Mike and Candy have not seen each other in months. His sister calls him to meet her so they can talk. He tells her Candy never did go back to her parents. She has rented the house out and taken double shifts to pay off the debt to the club. She has been living in an apartment in town. Mike decides to go to see Candy at her apartment to take things over. Before he got there she made an apartment switch with her male neighbor. Mike sees the man in her apartment and thinks he is a man Candy has been seeing. Both men get into a brawl. The police have been called. Candy sees the fight and sees the police officer hit Mike so she hits the officer back. Both of them wind up in jail. They have it out with each other arguing over budgets and other such married adult things. Their families come to bail them out. Candy’s father tells them that he has paid the bill at the club for them and combined with the money they both have been paying they now have built up a credit there.

            Now happy again and willing to work together on a budget, Mike and Candy return to their own house. This time they have done it right with furniture and working lights.        

            I liked Frances Dee and William Holden as a couple but at the same time I found it odd. The reason I found it odd was because Dee was nine years older than Holden. If you know this you can see the difference in their ages. Despite their age differences they worked very well together. Now I adore Frances Dee but I do not think she should have played this role. She is a fantastic actress she did a great job but I do not think she was right for the role. I hated seeing her as this spoiled annoying brat. I liked her more at the end when Candy gets her head screwed on right. William Holden was adorable. He was the perfect husband who wanted to take care of his wife and be the man of the house. My mom probably wishes my dad was like Mike caring about budgets and the expenses, she is the one who worries about money in the house and my dad has no clue.

            Meet the Stewarts is a cute film that I am sure hits close to home with the modern viewer. I would recommend seeing this film if you are a fan of Frances Dee because for some reason it is very hard to find any of her films. Fortunately someone has posted Meet the Stewarts on Youtube (just be aware that for some reason part three is broken down into A and B) and it is also available on DVD.  

Rear Window (1954)

“Why would a man leave his apartment three times on a rainy night with a suitcase and come back three times?”

           

            When I first watched Rear Window a few years ago I was not too much of a fan of it. James Stewart as always bothered me and he was made even worse just sitting around in a wheelchair being weird and creepy spying on his neighbor. But like most of Hitchcock’s later films I have seen and not been too crazy about I gave it another go. I never mind doing rewatching a Hitchcock film especially because I have a better understanding of classic films and his other works. Rear Window I had wanted to watch again and I finally did with my brother Anthony who is majoring in film. We had a good time watching it together with our current, more mature film knowledge.

            L.B. Jefferies (Stewart) has been confined to his Greenwich Village apartment since breaking his leg. As the camera shows us when it pans L.B.’s living room he is a photographer who has traveled all over the world. It also shows us a photograph of a race car crashing with parts scattered all over heading towards L.B. and his camera. His closeness to the crash has caused his broken leg. He has positioned himself and his wheelchair in front of the window which faces a very active courtyard with several neighbors and their different personalities. One neighbor dances around her apartment in her underwear, an older couple with no children dote on their dog and sleep on the balcony at night, a lonely old maid sits her house wishing for someone to love her, a man is being nagged by his invalid wife, and a song writer taps way on his piano trying to compose a hit.

            L.B. has been asleep in his chair for most of the afternoon. He is woken by his girlfriend Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) moving in to kiss him. Lisa has come with the intentions of feeding L.B. dinner made by the 21 Club and to spend the night. The couple discusses the idea of marriage. They both love each other but they have different ideas of married life- Lisa wants L.B. to settle down and stop traveling while, on the other hand, L.B. does not want to stop traveling he does not want to become a high society portrait photographer. Both of them become upset by the conversation and winds up with Lisa changing her mind about spending the night.

            Out of boredom, L.B. begins to look in on his neighbors around the courtyard. He pays special attention to the man and his invalid wife across the way. One day L.B. notices the wife is no longer around and the husband is acting suspiciously. He plants the idea in his mind that he man has murdered his nagging wife. Concerned L.B. calls a detective friend of his to investigate. The detective thinks L.B. has an over worked imagination because he does not have anything to do but he gives in and looks into the couple. He finds out their last name is Thorwald and that Mrs. Thorwald has gone on a trip by train since he found of her luggage had been unloaded at a station.

            L.B. is not happy with what his friend has found. He decides to investigate Thorwald on his own. He gets Lisa involved in his spying and manages to convince her Thorwald has killed his wife. L.B. even manages to get his physical therapist Stella (Thelma Ritter) involved. L.B.’s curiosity has no become dangerous since Thorwald now knows he is being watched.

            Hitchcock, as always, manages to grab his audience’s attention by making real life activities, and even the weather, suspenseful. He creates the tension by having the story take place during a heat wave in a crowded New York City courtyard made up of several apartment complexes. The tension is also created by L.B.’s boredom, he is anxious and going out of his mind sitting in his wheelchair unable to travel and take pictures. Ken Mogg in his book The Alfred Hitchcock Story best explains how the director grabs our attention- “Stella’s opening remark from the doorway, ticking Jeff off for being a Peeping Tom, rivets our attention.” The reason her remark “rivets our attention” is because we are all guilty of being Peeping Toms. Whenever a window is open no one can resist seeing how someone else lives or see what they do when they think no one is looking.

            Rear Window is the perfect type of film Hitchcock liked to make. Hitchcock described the film best to Francois Truffaut in their sessions of interviews, “What you see across the way is a group of little stories, as you say, mirror a small universe.” As I mentioned every neighbor shown in the courtyard has their own personalities and comforts. They are all living in their own small universe which unfortunately is being scrutinized by this one man. I think the most brilliant aspect of the film that I had not picked up until I read about is how the murderer and his wife mirror L.B. and Lisa. L.B. is confined to his wheelchair as Mrs. Thorwald is confined to her bed while Lisa and Mr. Thorwald are able to move about in the world. Hitchcock compares this symmetry to Shadow of a Doubt which is a story of good versus evil. Truffaut brings up another fantastic aspect of the film which looking back on it should have been so obvious (well it was I picked up on this but only slightly because I was trying not to let James Stewart get to me). He states, “All the stories have a common denominator in that they involve some aspect of love. James Stewart’s problem is that he doesn’t want to marry Grace Kelly. Everything he sees across the way has a bearing on love and marriage.” After reading this I believe this bearing brings about more tension to the story. Time and again Hitchcock explored love and tense relationships- the perfect examples being Spellbound and Notorious. I believe that Lisa puts a burden on L.B.’s shoulders when she brings up the subject of love and wanting to marry him and that burden is also put on our shoulders because we wait to see what his final decision is and we have the burden of the thought of what he will decide.

            Even though I am not a super hug fan of James Stewart I thought he was alright in this role- meaning he did not drive me up a wall like he usually does. Stewart is just awkward with whomever he is paired with in films and I thought he was incredibly awkward looking paired with Grace Kelly. He was not like Cary Grant who just kept getting more handsome as he got older and could look right with younger actresses (Grant and Kelly were incredibly sexy together in To Catch a Thief). Stewart just looked like a creepy old man with Kelly as his love interest.

            Grace Kelly also usually bothers me in her films but I really like her as Lisa Fremont. Much of the character of Lisa was based off Kelly herself. The screenwriter John Michael Hayes had observed Kelly while she was filming Dial M For Murder. He had seen her sense of humor and sexiness. In a sense Kelly was playing herself which worked out quite well.

            Edith Head designed the costumes for Grace Kelly. The designer said that Kelly as one of her favorite actresses to work with. You can see why. Kelly was gorgeous and anything she wore fit her so well and looked amazing on her. This was the first time that I could truly see how Edith Head designed her clothes for the characters. Lisa Fremont is a society model for fashion magazines. She is stylish, sophisticated and glamorous yet simple at the same time. Head made the most perfect costumes for the character of Lisa Fremont. Her costumes helped to bring Lisa to life. Looking back on the costumes Edith Head designed for other films she always designed for the character not the actress she seemed to design strictly for the characters’ personalities. When I was in London in three years ago I had the fortunate opportunity to be there when the Victoria and Albert Museum had an exhibit of Grace Kelly’s clothing entitled Grace Kelly: Style Icon (there is a fabulous book about it as well which I highly recommend taking a look at if you are interested in fashion or the actress). One of the pieces of clothing on display was the all black dress Kelly wore in Rear Window. I can remember seeing it and just staring at it for several minutes. I could not believe that I was standing in front of something from a Hitchcock film as well something Edith Head had designed. As a Hitchcock and an admirer of costume designing it was absolutely surreal to see this beautiful yet simple dress in person.

            When Hitchcock made Rear Window he said that he had recharged and was feeling creative again. You can see his creativity in every facet of his direction. As I said at the beginning of this post I am very happy to have watched Rear Window again because I understand film and Hitchcock’s style more than I did a few years when I first sat through it. I think I can now say that Rear Window is one of my favorite Hitchcock films

I Thank a Fool (1962)

I Thank a Fool begins with a doctor named Christine Allison (Susan Hayward) mercy killing one of her dying patients. The patient begs her in agony to take his life as she promised she would. Christine tells the nurse she will give the man his injection herself and asks the nurse to leave. Before Christine gives the man his injection she purposely drops the bottle in the floor to break it. Not long after this incident Christine is put on trial for murder. One of the prosecutors named Stephen Dane (this takes place in England) brings out the fact that Christine and the man she has killed were having an affair long before they had moved to Liverpool. He left Canada with her and left his wife behind. Christine is eventually found guilty of manslaughter and only gets two years in prison.

            Once out of prison Christine cannot find a job. She lies about her credentials even her name but no one will hire her. One day Christine receives a call from an old woman named Heather. The two women eventually meet and the older woman tells Christine that her nephew wants to meet her. It turns out Heather’s nephew is Stephan Dane. As soon as Christine is left alone with Stephan she immediately refuses the job she does not want to be working for the man who put her in jail and ruined her career. He begs her to reconsider. She would be there to care for his wife, Liane, who suffered brain damage in a car accident the year before. Stephan eventually manages to convince Christine to work for him.

            Things in the house are not as they appear. One night Christine is woken by yelling and in the morning she sees a scratch across Stephan’s face. She begins to notice that her new boss is not telling her the whole truth about his wife and her condition.

            I do not want to give away the rest of the story. First of all it is a bit complicated to explain and second the story unfolds in suspense and intrigue that is better left to be seen.

            Susan Hayward was excellent. Hayward had a way of playing these characters that are accused of something or are going through hell and through their ordeals she manages to keep calm on the outside and persevere. I love that about her because she was so good and believable at playing those types characters. I also liked how her character in this film was curious but she was not obnoxious about it. Christine did sneak behind Stephan’s back once but she did not do it all the time like in the middle of the night around the house or ask around time. She was observant in her curiosity and investigating. I have never seen Peter Finch in a film before this. I did not think too much of him. I did not find him that great of an actor.

            I Thank a Fool is a good film not one of the best suspense films. There are plot holes and some scenes where you are left questioning what on earth just happened. Also some of the motives and logic of the characters are unusual and questionable. Even with some of its flaw I Thank a Fool is definitely worth the time to watch. 

Silent Sundays: Shoulder Arms (1918)

“Peace on Earth- Goodwill to mankind”

            Charlie Chaplin was and will always be a master of taking current events or social issues and giving them heart and hilarity. In his short film Shoulder Arms he has his Tramp character off to the trenches of World War I in France.

            The Tramp is part of the “awkward squad”, basically the squad that has the odd balls. The head of the squad keeps having to tell The Tramp to put his feet together when he walks but when The Tramp puts his feet together he cannot walk correctly.

            His squad is brought to the trenches. Bombs and debris fly all around the trench and The Tramp just stands around as if nothing is happening. As he keeps watch one night in the pouring rain he thinks about being back home and going to his favorite bar for a drink. As he is waiting the mail comes. At first there seems to be nothing for him and then someone comes back with a package for him. It is a package of Limburger cheese which is so smelly he has to put a gas mask on. When The Tramp’s watch is over he returns to his room that he shares with four other soldiers. The rain has completely flooded the room. He ingeniously takes the horn from the Victrola and lays down under the water.

            The following day the squad is sent over the top. The Tramp’s ID is number thirteen. He flips a coin to see if he will be lucky. The look on his face tells us he may not be. Fortunately the squad has great luck and captures some of the bad guys. Back at his trench The Tramp is shooting at the enemy. After he shoots he marks off how many soldiers he has shot.

            The squad leader asks the men if any one of them would like to volunteer to do something. The Tramp enthusiastically volunteers. His mission is to stand out in the middle of enemy territory as a tree and spy on the enemy if they come along. The Tramp gives up his cover not by choice, he was going to be chopped down! He is chased around the woods and fortunately ducks into a drain. He comes across a bombed damaged home that belongs to a young woman (Edna Purviance). The enemy soldiers have tracked him down to the house. He manages to get away but unfortunately the girl is captured.

            At the end of the film The Tramp is a hero.

            There is also a bit of a good twist that I will definitely not give away.

            Shoulder Arms was hysterical. Charlie Chaplin made what been a horrible war and a horrible experience for the soldiers light and creative. His iconic Little Tramp outsmarted the dreaded Germans. Chaplin created a film to make people laugh. He would do almost the same exact thing in The Great Dictator he took a dark subject, pointed out it insanities, and exaggerated them to make the subject light and funny. I cracked up with some of his facial expressions and I could not take it with the scene with the cheese it was genius. I enjoyed Shoulder Arms from beginning to end I highly recommend watching this. It is available to view in full on Youtube. 

I Like Your Nerve (1931)

I think I have finally seen an old Hollywood film where the title actually fits the plot. I never thought I would see the day! I Like Your Nerve is a very fitting title for this film where Douglas Fairbanks Jr. actively pursues Loretta Young in any way he can even though there are several people in their way of being together.

            Larry O’Brien (Fairbanks Jr.) is roaming around South America. He has apparently gotten into some kind of trouble and has been kicked out of that country into another. While waiting at the gate Larry sees a beautiful in the backseat of a car. He follows the car and crashes the gate into San Pedro. The guards immediately surround his car and all Larry does is laugh.

            Larry is thrown in a local jail but his lawyer friend is able to get him out. He drives to a roadside dive for a drink when he sees the car with the beautiful woman in the backseat. She pretends to hide her face in disgust behind her umbrella but smiles to herself. The car drives off down the road. Larry asks one of the workers at the dive who the young woman is. The worker tells him her name is Diana Forsythe (Young), her stepfather is the Minister of Finance and she is set to marry a much older American man in the next few days. The worker adds that with all this it will be impossible to see Diana in person she has so many people around her. With those words Larry now makes it his mission to be alone with Diane. He comes up with the idea to break classes from the dive across a stretch of road to pop the tires on Diane’s car. The plane works and somehow manages to be alone with Diane. Larry offers to drive her home. Diane sits in the back so Larry sits in the back with her until she moves to the front with him. He brings her back to her house and is introduced to her stepfather. The stepfather says he will send Larry an invitation to the wedding and Larry responds that he will not need one because he will be the one marrying Diane. Before he leaves the property Larry incessantly blows his car horn waiting for Diane to come to the window. She does and smiles at him. Diane finds that she likes his flirtatious attention.

            Diane is very unhappy. She does not want to marry Clive Lattimer who is so much older than her and barely pays attention to her. She finds that she likes Larry and thinks of him all through a party that night. At the party is Larry’s lawyer friend Archie. Diane asks Archie about his friend. Meanwhile, Larry is trying to get into the party but he is turned away at the door. He manages to fool with Diane’s chauffer and takes his place. Diane wants to leave the party she is so bored. Larry drives up and takes Diane away down to a lake. Diane tries to get away; Larry says he has the keys. She gets mad at him and he loves it.

            Dressed as the chauffer Larry goes to Diane’s stepfather to tell him he wants to marry her. The stepfather confesses the only reason he is marrying Diane off to Lattimer is because the old man will give him twenty thousand dollars which he desperately needs to balance the country’s finances. Diane sees Larry walking out of the house. She is nervous thinking her stepfather will do something to Larry. She tells her stepfather that if he does anything to Larry she not marry Lattimer no matter the consequences.

            Larry manages to get Diane out of the country and con Lattimer out of his twenty thousand dollars. As with all happy love endings in old Hollywood, Larry and Diane get married.

            I loved Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Loretta Young together. They had great chemistry and I think that comes down to the fact that they were young and fresh faced and that Fairbanks Jr. was charming and Young could be a tough chick with a soft side. I am not sure if this was their first film pairing together I know they made several other films together in the thirties. I cannot wait to watch those.

            I Like Your Nerve is not one of the greatest films. The plot of a young girl marrying an older man she does not want to marry and meets a younger man she falls in love with has been done to death but here it is sweet and cute because Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Loretta young were perfect together. It gets a little silly with the secondary characters. Watch I Like Your Nerve if you are a fan Loretta Young and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. The film is not available on YouTube I had it recorded from TCM I think from a few months ago. 

Argo (2012)

“This is the best bad plan we have, sir.” 

            Argo was a movie I had no intention of seeing. It looked very good but once I saw Ben Affleck starred in and directed the movie there was no way I wanted to see it (unpopular opinion- I hate Ben Affleck). I changed my mind when my brother was watching it and I caught the first few minutes of it before I had to leave for class. The beginning hooks you in right away.

            Since the movie is based on something that is based on a historic event that happened thirty-three years ago and the fact that this is a new film with reviews all over the place I will not go into too much detail.

            The United States embassy in Iran has been taken over by revolutionaries. Of the fifty or more people working in the building six workers manage to escape and take cover in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Now the American government needs to get the six hostages out of Iran before they are found out and killed.

            The CIA calls in exfiltration specialist Tony Mendez (Affleck). None of the plans the CIA came up to get the six out of the country are any good. Tony comes up with the idea to pretend he is shooting a movie that is set in the desert and the hostages will be part of the film crew. Even this plan sounds does not sound great but it is a lot more credible than the other plans. Tony gets in contact with two guys out in Hollywood and they agree to produce a fake movie. They have to make it sound and seem like they are actually going to be making this movie so the Iranians will buy into it as well. There needs to be posters and write up and drawings of the layout of the movie. Tony finds an awful sounding movie called Argo that takes place in the desert.

            With a load of tension that made my heart race out of control Tony is able to get the six hostages out of the country. Unfortunately the mission is classified which means the Canadian government is given the full credit for the rescue.

            I really had no issues with the movie which is surprising given my hatred of Ben Affleck. I actually liked him!! I give him credit he is a very good director. The rest of the cast was great. Alan Arkin is hilarious he always seems like he has no time for anything and he seems constantly annoyed and I love it.

            If you ignore the fact that the events were dramatized for the sake of a story for a movie Argo has a great story. The tension in this film is fantastic I love it when I movie can me go crazy with nerves. I also like how there was humor. The humor almost feels uncomfortable given how dire the circumstances are. Argo is absolutely worth viewing from beginning to end it is tense and exciting. I am happy I sat through this and happy that Affleck won the Oscar for Best Movie he deserved it.