Silent Sundays: Johanna Enlists (1918)

“Oh Lordy- when I prayed for a man- WHY did you send me a thousand?”

            Every year I go back to my high school history teacher’s class to give a presentation on the Imperial War Museum in London. I went to the Museum three years ago (goodness it feel like yesterday!) and ever since then I have gone back to my history teacher’s class. I have a good time teaching the kids, through my photographs of the museum, the different aspects of both World Wars (I go usually in the winter for WWI and then in the spring for WWII). When is started giving this talk three years ago I was not into classic films and the history of Hollywood as I was now (and I was not a very good teacher I was quite dull and not that interactive. I guess my museum education classes have been coming in handy after all) I had no idea that there were propaganda films during WWI. I thought if I did not know this for the longest time neither would have classes of sixteen to eighteen year olds so I thought it would be cool as an aside for my picture of film and photograph camera to tell them about a few films from that era.

            I remembered reading in a Mary Pickford biography that she had made two films dealing with The Great War- The Little American and Johanna Enlists. I put the posters of these two films on my PowerPoint and gave the little tidbit that although Mary Pickford was “America’s Sweetheart” she was actually from Canada. I cannot remember what made me choose Johanna Enlists over The Little American but I am so happy I did because Johanna Enlists is hysterical.

            Johanna Renssaller (Pickford) is a young girl coming of age on a farm out in the middle of nowhere. There are no young men her age for miles. She flirts with the married handyman much to her family’s disliking and her father chases him away with a shot gun. Her life is a dull farm life getting up every day at 6am and doing back breaking work until dusk. At night she prays for a beau to come and break the monotony of her life and to take her away from the farm.

            The following day Johanna’s wish for a beau comes true- in the form of a thousand man army regiment! The regiment is on their way to head to the front until they get orders to stay put for a while. Johanna is thrilled that all these men will be around to flirt with and pay attention to her. She starts to read beauty magazines to make herself look pretty and even tries to educate herself by trying to dance like a muse she sees in a book.

            Johanna gets much more flirting and attention than she bargained for. A Lieutenant named Frank LeRoy and a High Private named Vibbard vigorously vie for Johanna’s attention. This fight for her attention leads Vibbard to almost being Court Martialed.

            From beginning to end I was laughing so hard at this film. The title cards are so hilarious. Since Johanna and her family are supposed to be uneducated so everything is spelled wrong or used in the wrong context. I was dying with the way college was spelled- “collitch”- and the way education was spelled- “ejjicatun”. The title cards were fabulously dry and sarcastic almost to a point of being cruel but you cannot help but laugh every time they come up.            

            Mary Pickford was a riot. I can see why audiences loved her she did anything to get a laugh and was totally believable as this young girl doing all she could to get a beau (Pickford was young at the time she was twenty-five). I was dying laughing at the park where Johanna tries dancing like a muse. Her father comes out and calls for the mother and they think Johanna has come down with a case of the fits. The father gets a bucket and throws water on her while she is rolling around on the ground!

            Johanna Enlists despite being outrageously funny is really interesting to watch for its use of an actual regiment. At the end a title card lets you know that the soldiers were all actual members of the 143 Field Artillery Regiment and that Mary Pickford was their Godmother and Honorary Colonel. So not only do I get to tell my teacher’s classes how this is a good example of a propaganda piece from World War I, I also get to them this is a lot of fun to watch. If you want to have a good time laughing at a silly old film with some of the best title cards you will ever see watch Johanna Enlists. As of right now it is available to watch on YouTube. 

21 Days Together (1940)

21 Days Together is a film I am sure not many of you have never heard of unless you are a fan of either Vivien Leigh or Laurence Oliver or the two of them as a couple. I am a fan of Vivien Leigh and apparently I went looking this a while ago on Youtube because when I searched for it again today it came up that I had already looked for it. Thanks to Hulu this weekend I was able to view 21 Days Together as part of the sites promotion to watch their collection of Criterion films for free.

            Keith Durrant has just been named to be a new judge in a town court. That day his brother Larry (Olivier) turns up. Larry is the family that is never mentioned. He is not a bad man he just causes unwanted trouble for the family. Keith is not too pleased to see his brother since he has gotten the position he has wanted for so long.

            Larry has been seeing Wanda (Leigh). While walking to her house they see the lights are on. Wanda says she did not leave the lights on when she left someone could be in her house because she lost the key the week before. When they walk in they see a man. The man is Wanda’s husband who she has not seen in three years. The man tries to blackmail Larry to disappear. The two men get into a fight. It ends after Larry has accidentally strangled the husband. Larry takes the body to an alley way and leaves it there to be found.

            A police officer finds the body the next night. Larry goes to his brother and confesses. He tells Keith he wants to go to the police to confess his crime. Keith cannot have this happen since he has just gotten his new position. He tells his brother to leave the country to go down to Rio. Larry asks what Wanda do he does not want to leave her alone. Keith says she can follow later for now they have to burn anything they have given each other. Being either a nice older brother or trying to tie up loose ends for his own sake Keith goes to visit Wanda to talk about the night of the murder. Wanda explains that she got married after a week because she was starving. Not long after she was offered a job in London and had not seen her husband until that night in three years.

            A man is apprehended for the murder of Wanda’s husband. All the evidence is circumstantial. Keith is convinced that the man will not be punished based off the lack of evidence. Larry is not so sure and claims that if the man is found guilty he will turn himself in if the man is innocent he will not say anything. The poor man is convicted of the murder. Larry now has three weeks of freedom before he is to turn himself in. He and Wanda get married and he lavishes her with clothes and even a boat trip to an amusement park.

            The night Wanda and Larry come home his landlord throws them a going away party since they all think the couple is going off to New Zealand for some time. Larry quietly leaves the party to turn himself in. Just as he walks a few blocks down the street Wanda reads in the newspaper the man that was convicted of the murder died on his way to the gallows. Wanda races after Larry and gets to him just as he is about to walk into the police station.

            The film was made in 1937 but was not released in America until 1940. You can tell that both Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier were younger looking. Before I read this I could not get over how much different Oliver looked in Rebecca I thought that could have been down to the makeup that could have been put on his face. The couple were amazing actors there is no denying either one of them had tremendous talent. But in this early film of both their careers their film acting is not too great. Laurence Olivier kind of drives me crazy either way he was too much of a stage actor always going a little over the top for my taste. With Vivien Leigh I knew there was something going on because she obviously awesome as Scarlett O’Hara and even more incredible as Myra Lester in Waterloo Bridge that was released the same year. She looks so young and even her acting was a little too much.

            21 Days Together is definitely not the best film ever made. If it had not been for the fact that Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh were in it am sure it would not be known at all. Even though the film has quite a few faults it is worth seeing at least once. Right now 21 Days Together is available to view on Hulu for free and will be available to see on Hulu Plus if you pay for it. 

Hitchcock (2012)

“You may call me Hitch. Hold the Cock.”

I remember the first time I ever sat through a Hitchcock film like it was yesterday. Rebecca was the film. I can remember buying that along with Notorious and Spellbound. I can remember seeing the scene where Maxim tells his new wife the night his first wife died and the camera pans the movements of the woman. That was the moment I saw why Hitchcock is considered a genius. Ever since then Alfred Hitchcock has been my favorite director from the way he films his scenes, casts his characters, and chooses his stories.

            You never talk about Alfred Hitchcock without Psycho coming into the conversation. Psycho is by far the film the director is most known for. Book after book has been written about the film especially of the famous shower scene. Psycho is not my favorite Hitchcock film by far but I do appreciate what it did for film and do understand its impact at the time and now.

            It is only fitting that a movie should be made about the making of the famous 1960 film. Simply titled Hitchcock, this movie starts after North by Northwest has become a hug success and now the director does not know what kind of story he wants to make. He wants to make something different but the studios keep offering him spy movies like his current success. In his office Hitchcock comes across the story of Ed Gein a serial killer from Wisconsin who killed countless women and kept his dead mother in the house. Hitchcock read the book Psycho that is based off of Ed’s murders and immediately wants to turn the story into a movie.

            Of course Paramount hates the idea since it is a horror movie that will be considered too violent. Hitchcock makes his way around the studio system saying that he will finance the movie himself.

            The movie goes into his private life during the making of the film and his interactions with Janet Leigh and Vera Miles.

            Anthony Hopkins was too perfect to describe as the director. Helen Mirren plays Hitchcock’s wife Alma Reville. Now Alma Reville had as much a hand in her husband’s films as he did. She wrote several of the scripts for many of his famous films including Psycho but she never put her name in the credits. In the movie Alma is supposed to have been writing a script with another man which made Hitchcock jealous. I am not sure how much that is really true. I can imagine Hitchcock being a hard man to deal with and live with but it felt as if a lot of their interactions were dramatized. I can also imagine that it must have been hard living with him when he was so infatuated with his blonde leading ladies especially Grace Kelly. Scarlet Johansson I was little worried how she would pull of playing Janet Leigh but she was great. I was so mad to see Jessica Beal as Vera Miles. First off let me say that I am in no way a fan of Jessica Beal I think she is annoying and a bad actress. I have seen Vera Miles in several films and think she is a good actress. I really like Miles in Psycho. So that being said I think you know full well my feelings on Jessica Beal playing Vera Miles. Also had another issue with this portrayal of Miles- before making Psycho Miles had made a film where she had to shave her head so she wore a blonde wig for the role of Lila Crane. In the movie they had Miles with long brown hair and had her wear the wig when filming. Now this film was almost stolen by James D’Arcy playing Anthony Perkins. He was so spot on it was scary! I have to mention that Toni Collette is in this movie as the director’s secretary. I had no idea she was in it and I barely recognized she was great.

            Hitchcock was a very good movie. I am actually looking forward to it being out on DVD. I am extremely interested to know what Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Reville’s daughter Pat Hitchcock thought of the movie. After all she did have a small part in Psycho she was the other secretary where Marion worked. 

Silent Sundays: Waxworks (1924)

Waxworks is a different telling of a story. Well, maybe not so different to us today I am sure once I explain the story you can name about four films that follow a similar line. At least it is something different for an early 1920s silent film.

            The owner of a wax museum hires a poet to write the stories of his three famous figures for visitors. The three figures are of the Caliph Harun al Raschid, Ivan the Terrible, and Jack the Ripper. The Poet draws inspiration from the owner’s pretty daughter as well as the figures.   

    

            The first figure of Harun al Raschid, his arm fell off. This gave The Poet the idea to write a story of how the figure lost his hand. He writes that a Caliph of a foreign land had a different woman as a companion for everyday of the year. There was one woman he had yet to see. Her name was Zarah, the wife of the baker Assad. Assad and Zarah were very much in love but she was unhappy always being stuck in the house with no new clothes and pretty dresses. Assad gets the idea to go steal the Caliph’s wishing ring from his hand. The Caliph and the Grand Vizier at time like to put on disguises and roam about the town. That night the Caliph decides to go out to see Zarah for himself after he had heard so much about her. The Caliph reaches the house as Zarah and Assad are in the middle of an argument. When Assad leaves the house the Caliph enters the house and sweet talks her. He tells her who he is and that she can have anything she wants. Assad gets into the palace and thinks he cut off the Caliph’s arm with the ring. The guards in the palace immediately respond to the noise and chase after Assad all the way to his house. The Caliph tells Zarah that when he goes out at night he places a wax figure in his bed. Assad gets to his house and bangs on the door for Zarah to let him in. She quickly hides the Caliph in a baker’s oven. Assad breaks in and the guards after him. She Zarah plays a trick and gets the guard to back off.   

 

            The second story of Ivan the Terrible is the scariest part of the film. Ivan is an evil man who tortures men on a whim. Ivan uses a man as a decoy when he hears that he is to be killed. The man is killed by assassins who believe him to the evil Russian king. The man is killed in front of his daughter on her wedding. Ivan makes everyone at the wedding go on as they usually would making them dance, eat, and drink when they are so full of sorrow. Ivan does get his comeuppance when his astrologer tells him that he has been poisoned and his time on earth with be done when the last grain from an hourglass falls. Ivan was not really poisoned the astrologer told the mad king that to make him go crazy and watch for the grains to fall all the rest of the days of his life.

            The third story of Jack the Ripper is told in a dream of The Poet. Having worked on the stories all day The Poet is tired and falls asleep. In his dream he and the owner’s daughter are chased throughout town by a murderer who wants to take her away. No matter where they run and how fast they run the Ripper is always right behind them. The Poet is woken up by the daughter and the owner when they hear him panic in his dreams.

            Waxworks was good. I felt the stories of the Caliph and Ivan the Terrible were a bit too long and dragged out. I thought the story of the Caliph was very creative and was the only one that was clearly written. The plot of Ivan the Terrible was a little hard to follow and the acting from Conrad Veidt was too over dramatic and took away from the character and the story. Jack the Ripper was neat to see because of the Expressionist sets. I was not too much a fan of Waxworks but it was not terrible that I would say do not watch it. The film is in full on Youtube so if you are interested give it a watch.

 

The Deer Hunter (1978)

“You have to think about one shot. One shot is what it's all about. A deer's gotta be taken with one shot.”

            The subject of war is loaded. Think of all the stories of war that have been told throughout history. Think of all the stories of World War II alone that have been told since it was still happening. So many men and women sacrificing their lives for their countries and their freedom. So many families and towns sacrificing their sons in the name of freedom. One war it seems not too many speak of the Vietnam War. I say “it seems” because I remember barely learning about in school and most likely because it was never covered in my academic career I do not understand why America even had to enter the conflict in the first place. What I have taken most from watching some programs about Vietnam or other movies about it is that the generation of men who fought were worse off when they came home then those who fought in World War II or Korea. The young men and women at this time were more vocal about politics than at any other time in America. They were vocal about their opposition. That is what I know most about the Vietnam War, all the opposition and the horror of what the men faced fighting it.

            When I chose to watch The Deer Hunter I had not read anything about the plot until I looked it up as the movie was starting. Had I known the plot I most likely would not have watched it but I hear about it a lot amongst the film community I follow online and from some of my film major friends.

            Three friends Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken), and Steve have grown up together in a small coal mining town. All three have signed up to fight in Vietnam. Steve gets married the day before they are about to leave. His wedding also acts as their going away party. They all have something to lose. They do not discuss leaving even with their other friends.

            In Vietnam Steve, Nick, and Michael are captured and tortured by the Viet Cong. Their preferred method of torture is making each of the captured men play Russian Roulette. Steve has a break down waiting for when he will be called hearing the click of the guns over and over. Michael manages to kill their captors and get away with Steve and Nick. Unfortunately all three get separated.

            Nick is placed in an army hospital. He has a difficult time processing questions a doctor asks him. He has a very lost look in his eyes. Michael has been sent home. The night he gets home his friends and family are waiting for him but he tells a cab driver to keep driving and he spends the night in a motel he cannot face anyone. Steve has returned home but his wife will not tell anyone where he is. Michael eventually finds out that Steve is in a local hospital. He is missing both legs. Steve shows his friend that he has been receiving a lot of money from someone. Michael figures out that it must be Nick. He and the whole time believe that Nick has been missing. Michael goes back to Vietnam to find Nick. He tracks Nick down to a place where men play Russian Roulette and other men bet on who will die. Nick looks terribly thin, withdrawn, and angry at the world. He make Michael play him in the deadly game. Unfortunately, Nick’s life ends that night in the game.

            The movie was three hours long! I in all honesty have ADHD and my attention started to drift so between the length and my horrible attention what I have written is what I was able to get out of it.

            I watched The Deer Hunter mostly for the cast. As soon as I saw Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, and Christopher Walken on the DVD I had to check it out. Meryl Streep plays Nick’s girlfriend. She was, as always, excellent even though her part was small. Robert De Niro’s character does not say much. I liked Michael and how little he had to say. To me Michael was the audience’s eyes into the small town, the people in the small town, and to one story of the Vietnam War. In De Niro you can see Michael’s mind working, thinking about what is going on around him. Of the movies I have seen De Niro in The Deer Hunter is my favorite. Christopher Walken is an actor I am usually on the fence about. He really did not have too much to do in the movie either but his character at the end really moves you. Walken did a great job with Nick after he was rescued and did not return home. But, before that there is really nothing interesting about Walken or his character. It was cool watching these three great actors in an early role especially De Niro and Streep who went on to make incredible movies and became such acting giants.

            The Deer Hunter was not a bad movie. For its length it went along at a nice pace. The only scene that dragged to me was the wedding scene. That could have been a bit shorter. I felt terrible seeing these three men so torn up after they went through war and being captured. I always feel terrible seeing men and women come home from war broken physically and mentally. The movie was excellently filmed and acted. Of most of the war movies I have seen this one has felt the most realistic and most heartbreaking. It was not so much a story of men fighting in a war it was what the war did to them before and after they fought. We only get maybe forty-five minutes to an hour of Michael, Steve, and Nick in Vietnam. That was another aspect of the movie I liked that the war scene was not long. I do not have any plans on sitting through The Deer Hunter again in the near future but I would definitely recommend seeing it if you are a movie fan or not.

Woman Chases Man (1937)

One of my biggest pet peeves that can happen to a film is when the story is either so boring or so ridiculous that it becomes a chore to finish it. My brothers think I have a problem where even if a movie is not that good or even if it’s boring I have to finish it (I have only ever turned off one movie in my life because it was terrible and it was Napoleon Dynamite). In my adventures of being a classic film fan I have come across so many that have been a chore to sit through. Woman Chases man was one of those several classic films.

            B.J. Nolan is a former millionaire. He had invested in a neighborhood that was to be named after him but now his money has been dried out. The building company now wants to pull out of building the new homes unless he can come up with a million dollars. A few moments after B.J. hears this news a young woman named Virginia Travers (Miriam Hopkins) comes into his office. She is an architect looking for a job designing homes for Nolan Heights. Virginia really believes in this project. When B.J. tells Virginia she collapses not from the bad news but from not having eaten in a long time since she does not have a job.

            B.J. takes Virginia back to his home. He tells Virginia that he has squandered his fortune on bad investments on inventions that did not pan out. His son Kenneth (Joel McCrea) has a million dollars his mother left him when she passed away. Unfortunately Kenneth will not loan his father a cent after all his bad investments. B.J. comes up with the idea to have Virginia get the money from him by pretending to be interested in him.

            Kenneth returns home to find his father not home (B.J. pretends that he has gone away to Chicago on business) and Virginia as a guest. All the regular servants have been replaced by two of Virginia’s friends. Kenneth has returned home with a woman Nina who is only after his money and a man who is supposed to be her uncle but is really her lover. Nina and Virginia find out that Kenneth does not drink because the last time he was drunk he begins to bet and spend money.

            The rest of the film is just shambles. It gets ridiculous and embarrassing for Joel McCrea and Miriam Hopkins.

            I normally like Joel McCrea and Miriam Hopkins together usually their films together are very good. This film was such a waste of their talents. The writing of these characters was just terrible and you can see that both actors did as best they could with what they were given.

            Woman Chases Man is a film to find only if you are a fan of Miriam Hopkins or Joel McCrea and honestly even then it is almost not worth wasting your time. I was actually angry watching how badly this whole film played out.

The Harvey Girls (1946)

“Yeah, they say they have hair on their chest, the only thing I've seen is just a fancy vest. Holy smackers, milk and crackers but it's wild in the wild, wild west.” 

            The Harvey Girls was not a film I had planned on watching in the near future. I like Judy Garland, but to a certain extent. I will not go out purposely looking for a Judy Garland film unless there is someone I really like in it. Well before I watched this I had no idea Virginia O’Brien or Cyd Charisse were in it so they were not the reason why. I actually sat through The Harvey Girls to see Ray Bolger. Besides The Wizard of Oz I have only ever seen him in The Great Ziegfeld but his role was very small. Even in this film his role is small but he is so good.  

            Susan Bradley (Garland) is on her way out west to get married to a man she had been communicating with by letters. She loves the way he writes so passionately and lovingly she is so excited to meet him. On the train with Susan are a group of young women who will be working for a chain of Harvey restaurants. They see that Susan does not have any food left and offer some to her.

            When Susan gets to the town she finds that Hartsy the man she has been writing to is nothing but a dumb hick. They both see they are not a match for each other and try to talk each other out of marriage by saying what they are terrible at doing. Hartsy tells Susan that he was not the one who wrote the letters he cannot write so he had the local saloon owner Ned Trent (John Hodiak. Susan is so upset she goes into the saloon without fear looking for Ned. She runs into Em (Angela Lansbury) who happens to be Ned’s girlfriend. Em and the other girls are not happy about the Harvey restaurant opening up across the street from them because it is a nice place and soon the saloon will be closed. Ned comes to the scene and Susan gives him a piece of her mind.

            Since Susan is no longer getting married she gets a job at the Harvey restaurant. That night Ned comes to the restaurant and Susan winds up being his waitress. He tells Susan he wants a sirloin. When she puts in the order the kitchen tells her all their steaks have been stolen. Susan knows immediately where it has disappeared. She sneaks into the dinning where she steals two guns and sneaks out the front door. She walks over the saloon nervously. Somehow Susan manages to stick up the entire saloon and bring back the stolen steaks.

            The reason the saloon manages to stay open in the town is due to Judge Sam Purvis (Preston Foster). By his order and the fact that the priest left the town church has been closed for a long time. Along with some of the bawdier men of the town Sam makes his mission to scare the Harvey Girls out of town. In the middle of the night he shoots out the lights in the girls’ room. This incident does scare off some of the girls but Susan along with Alma (O’Brien) and Deborah (Charisse) are determined to stay. Sam goes to the girls the next day and is the perfect gentleman. He knows that Susan has taken a liking to Ned. To make Susan mad at Ned he tells her that Ned does not want the church to reopen (Ned does want the church to reopen). Angry Susan goes looking for Ned in the saloon and is again confronted by Em. Susan has enough of Em’s bullying and puts the woman in her place.

            Deborah has come out the west to try her hand at dancing for a living. During the day she hears a man singing at the piano in the saloon. She goes over and there is instant chemistry between them. He sings her a song of his and she dances to it. Susan looking for Deborah storms into the bar. Em is of course there and this time has her girls surround Susan. Deborah runs across the street to get the other girls. All the sudden a big brawl breaks out!

            After this moment the film is a blur because stupid me did not pause it when my grandma called. All I remember is the restaurant being set on fire. And I do know that Susan and Ned get together but I cannot remember how.

            The cast was excellent. Judy Garland was good. The woman had so much talent that it is a shame to hear that she caused so much delay filming it. I was dying in the brawl scene she was hilarious. Virginia O’Brien from the moment I saw her face I was laughing so hard. I have been a fan of her since I saw her performance of “Salome” in Du Barry Was a Lady. Her character unfortunately disappears after a number because she was pregnant and Judy Garland delayed filming so much that her pregnancy was becoming a problem to hide. Alma was a wise cracking character and O’Brien was perfect she kept such a great straight face. Cyd Charisse was outrageously adorable and gorgeous. I loved it when she met the man in the saloon and during the brawl they hid under the table and I think they kissed. Charisse had a very good number with Garland and O’Brien it was beautifully done by all three women. Ray Bolger was barely in the film but he almost stole it. He was so funny. He had a pretty decent dance number. It was cute seeing Bolger dance with Garland. I am convinced Bolger was born dancing he was so limber and active with his dancing. He did not let me down with him being the reason I wanted to see The Harvey Girls. Angela Lansbury was perfect! She was only nineteen years old when she made this. Along with Bolger she almost stole the film. Lansbury had a very commanding presence in this, I am not sure if that was because of her acting, her character or costumes… maybe it was all three. I liked John Hodiak but I felt he was out of place in this light naive musical. He could fit into a western but not an MGM musical western. 

            The Harvey Girls was a cute musical. There were some very good numbers, some hilarious scenes, and every single cast member did a wonderful job in their roles. The Harvey Girls is one of MGM’s long list of great musicals that should not be missed.