Silent Sundays: Spies (1928)

“Almighty God, what is at play here?”

            Fritz Lang’s 1928 Spies is one of the best silent films I have viewed. Like his 1927 epic Metropolis, Spies is nonstop from the first scene to the last. You get caught up in the world of espionage, who is the good guy and who is the bad, and even a love affair (why spy movie would be complete without a little romance?).

            The German government’s secret service has been after a criminal mastermind named Haghi. He is always steps ahead of the agency and has recently had several of their agents killed. Mr. Jason head of the secret service brings in Agent No. 326 to find Haghi. Haghi’s latest objective is to get his hands on a treaty that is supposed to be signed by the Japanese and returned to the country. He goes so far as to bring in and blackmail a government official’s wife to make her tell where her husband will be signing the treaty.

            Haghi’s agent inside the secret service has photographed 326. Haghi gives the photograph of 326 to his Russian female agent Sonja. He wants Sonja to fall in love with the agent and kill him. Sonja has some reservations one that Haghi points out is her falling in love with the mark. The inevitable happens. Sonja has been working with a man named General Jellusic who has been selling secrets to Haghi. 326 sees Sonja with Jellusic and believe she has betrayed his love. When 326 is out drinking away his sadness he is told that Sonja is a spy. For her betrayal of falling in love and refusing to do what she commanded Haghi takes Sonja prisoner and says she will only be free when either he or 326 succeeds.

            Hopefully you have seen enough spy films to know that the good guy succeeds and gets the girl. The ending to this film is very good. The reason for Haghi always being one step ahead of the secret service is someone you would truly never figure out.

            Fritz Lang was amazing. His direction was flawless. There is a scene with the Japanese agent Matsimoto that was filmed to perfection it is a tragic scene but so well filmed. There are so many great scenes besides the one I mentioned. German silent films are becoming some of my favorite types of films and this is mostly due to Lang’s films because of his direction, sets, and stories. Lang wrote the film as well. The story is a spy story you would see written for the screen today. I wish spy movies today would have twists and turns like Spies.

              I found Haghi to be one of the best bad guys in I have ever seen in a spy film. He was sinister looking you could just tell he was evil. What made Haghi scarier was how he was always ahead of the good guys. It seemed at one point in the film the good guys would never catch up even though they did literally right at the last minute. 

            Spies is an excellent silent film. It drags in some areas especially the “love” scenes between 326 and Sonja but the rest is just nonstop and intense. You will like Spies if you like James Bond, Alias or anything that has to do with the spy genre. Youtube currently has Spies in its original 146 minute cut rather than the 90 minute American cut (just know that the user who uploaded the film put terrible music to it).

 

A Star is Born (1937)

“Tragedy is a test of courage. If you can meet it bravely, it will leave you bigger than it found you. If not than you will have to live all your life as a coward, because no matter where you may run you can never run away from yourself.” 

            This is the original 1937 of A Star is Born. I have not seen the later remakes and I am sure that compared to this original they cannot hold a candle. The film is all around perfection.

            Esther Victoria Blodgett (Janet Gayrnor) lives in a small town in Minnesota. She loves going to the movies and reading fan magazines. She dreams of going to Hollywood to become an actress. Unfortunately her aunt thinks she is crazy and hates the fact that Esther loves the movies and wants to be an actress. The only person in the house who believes in Esther is her grandmother. The grandmother comes into her Esther’s room one night and gives her granddaughter all her savings so she can go live her dream. That night Esther boards a train for Hollywood.

             Esther is thrilled to be in Hollywood. One of her first stops is to see Grauman’s Chinese Theater. She sees the names of several great actors and actress and even stands in the foot impression of Norman Maine. As soon as she finds a place she goes out looking for work as an extra. In the boarding house she lives in she meets Danny McGuire (Andy Devine) an assistant director who is also looking for work. One night they go out together to the Hollywood Bowl to see a concert. In front of them is the actor Norman Maine (Fredric March). Norman is drunk and they witness him getting into a fight with a photographer.

            Danny rushes into Esther’s room one day and tells her he has a waitressing job for her. He knows it is not what she wants but the job is at a party for the movie he just finished working on and all the cast and crew will be there. To try to make an impression Esther does her best imitations of Katharine Hepburn, Greta Garbo, and Mae West. Meanwhile, Norman’s producer Oliver Niles (Adolphe Menjou) has just received a call at the party that Norman has stolen an ambulance. He has his publicist Libby keep everything Norman does out of the papers. Norman finally shows up at the party and is completely drunk. He orders more drinks. Because he drinks so much no one wants to work with him anymore Oliver is having a hard time finding him a movie to make. Esther is working in kitchen putting away dishes. Norman saw her out on the floor and followed her to the kitchen. He flirts with her a little as he helps her put away plates. Norman then begins to break some plates. The actress he hangs around comes into the kitchen. She sees Norman has been flirting with Esther and breaks something over his head. She blames Esther and runs out of the room to tell someone. Luckily Norman gets up and he takes her away before she can get into any trouble.

            Later that morning Norman calls Oliver telling him about Esther. He really likes Esther and he is so sure about her that he is willing to make a screen test with her. The tests come out well and Oliver wants to sign her. As Esther sits with Libby he has a fit over her name. He goes into Oliver’s office and the two brainstorm what they can call her. They decide on the name Vicki Lester. After that Esther is put through the ringer. She takes voice lessons, two men in the makeup department try to change her face, and works on her posture.

            While sitting in the commissary Esther works on how she wants to say her line for a small part she has in a film. Norman hears her practicing. He tells her he is working on a film but they are having trouble finding the right leading lady. Norman realizes Esther is the right actress for the part and convinces Oliver to put her in the starring role. At the preview the audiences love Vicki Lester.

            Vicki Lester becomes an overnight sensation. She begins to spend more time with Norman. At a boxing match Norman asks Esther to marry him. At first she says no because he drinks and spends his money foolishly. He says he can change and means it. They go to Oliver with their news. Libby and Oliver want to make a big deal out of their engagement and throw them a huge wedding. All Esther and Norman want is to elope. They sneak out of the office and elope in a small town.

            Norman’s career starts coming to an end. His popularity as a top movie star is no more. The press only wants photographs and news of Vicki. Norman’s films do not do well and Oliver is forced to buy out the rest of the actor’s contract. Norman falls so far down that the night Esther wins the Oscar for Best Actress he barges in drunk and yelling. Esther does not even react nor does she become angry. She goes her husband’s side.

            Norman gets help but then spirals out of control after he gets into a fight with Libby at a race track. He goes missing for four days before he is picked up by the police. Norman hears Esther saying to Oliver that she is willing to give up her career to go away somewhere and take care of him. He cannot bare to hear his wife say that. Norman gets out of bed and tells Esther is going to go for a swim. He asks her to turn around as she walks away so he can see her one last time before he goes out. A few days later Norman’s body washes up on a beach. The papers say it was a swimming accident.

            Esther wants to give up acting and go back home. Her grandmother travels out to Hollywood to see her. She tells Esther is proud of what she has accomplished and likes to say that her granddaughter is a famous movie star. She also tells Esther that there was always going to be sacrifice but she has to keep moving in spite of those sacrifices.

            A few months later Vicki Lester makes a triumphant return to the movies.

            The entire cast was fantastic. Janet Gaynor and Fredric March were incredible. Before this film I had only seen Gaynor in Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans.  Sunrise is a silent film and Gaynor was made to look like a peasant woman. So going into this film I had no idea what her voice sounded like or what she looked like with darker hair because she wears a blonde wig in Sunrise. I was taken aback a little when I first heard her speak because she has a high voice. Gaynor was awesome right from the beginning. She was perfect as the small town girl turned famous actress. Fredric March just nailed played Norman Lester the once famous movie star with demons. March and Gaynor had excellent chemistry. None of the main characters are cruel… well except for Libby he was not nasty to Norman.

            What makes A Star is Born a perfect film is how real everything is. One review I read said they loved how this film did not try to prove anything. It does not prove anything it just tells a story one that happened in Hollywood so many times before and after this was released. You can feel every emotion of what the characters are going through. You want to throw your arms around Norman and Esther to protect them. I felt terrible for Vicki when she is walking out of the church for Norman’s funeral. Fans are waiting outside the church to see her face and ask for autographs. One woman says Vicki is better off without Norman she was a good for nothing. After that comment she screams out in frustration and sadness. That was the saddest scene of the whole film. The scene was based on Irving Thalberg’s funeral where fans swarmed around Norma Shearer.

            William Wellman was one of the writers for the film as well as the director. The more films I see of Wellman’s the more I like him. He and the other writers must have felt deeply about the stars they saw or directed around Hollywood. They knew Hollywood was a tough and horrible town. I liked Wellman and the writers did not make the film over dramatic and dealt with real life issues. They made the characters sympathetic and only made Libby and the “public the real villains.

            A Star is Born is one of the greatest classic films ever made. I was drawn into this world of these two actors. A Star is Born stands out among the films made about Hollywood and so many films made in the 1930s. 

The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933)

The Prizefighter and the Lady is such a melodramatic film title. The story is a bit melodramatic but not too badly. It actually has some surprises where you think clichéd things might happen which is odd for an early MGM melodrama.

            Steve Morgan (Max Baer) works in a bar. He sees a guy starting a fight with another guy who has no idea what is going on. Steve knocks the guy who started the fight and his friend out and drags them out of the bar. Witness the whole incident is a man simply called The Professor (Walter Huston). The Professor gets on the phone and calls some fight promoters that he has a new guy he wants to try out in the ring. After he gets off the phone The Professor tells Steve that if he fights for three rounds and wins he will make fifty dollars. Steve agrees.

            The next day while training out on a stretch of road they accidentally make a car go off the road. Steve pulls a woman named Belle Mercer (Myrna Loy) out of the car and takes her to a nearby farm house where they call for a doctor. Right away Steve is taken with Belle. He gives her a ringside ticket for his fight that night. Steve wins the fight without a problem. Belle comes to him after the fight to congratulate him. He tries his hardest to win her over by asking her out for dinner. When she leaves The Professor tells Steve that Belle is a gangster’s girl. This information does not bother Steve in the slightest.

            Belle’s gangster boyfriend is Willie Ryan (Otto Kruger). He becomes a bit jealous when he hears that she went to see Steve fight. Almost as soon as they sit down in his club Steve walks in just wanting to have something to eat and drink. Willie invites him over to the table. As Belle sings Willie kicks Steve out of the club. Much later after being dropped off at her apartment, Belle sees Steve waiting for her. She wants him to go away she does not want to fall for him especially because she believes Willie will have him killed. All her pleas are in vain.

            The following day Willie is frantic looking for Belle. Her maid tells him her club clothes were left on the floor and her traveling clothes were nowhere to be found. Belle walks into Willie’s office as if nothing is wrong. She tells Willie she and Steve were married that morning. Willie believes that something will go wrong and Belle will come back to him but for now no one is to touch Steve.

            The Professor does not trust Belle. He thinks that Belle just married Steve for his muscle. Both have a good talk and she sets him straight that she really loves Steve more than anything. A boxing promoter who knows The Professor comes to the house. He tells The Professor he is setting up a fight that he wants Steve for. The fight will be held at Madison Square Garden and Steve can make a thousand dollars. Steve and The Professor agree to the fight. The Professor takes Steve to a resort so he can train without distractions. Unfortunately Steve is able to find a distraction in another woman.

            Steve wins the fight. He goes from one fight to the next winning and becomes famous. The more famous Steve becomes the more he cannot keep his eyes off other women. The full drama of the film happens when Steve calls Belle to tell her he will not be home because The Professor has him training all night. Not more than two minutes after she gets off the phone with Steve The Professor walks in the door. Belle knows Steve is not being faithful to her. Steve begins to spiral out of control. Belle has enough and returns to Willie but Willie being a good gangster does not do anything to Steve because he can see Belle still love her husband.

            And like any nice MGM melodrama the ending is all wrapped up nicely and happily.

            Max Baer was not an actor and in some scenes it is obvious. Baer was outrageously charming with this huge presence that completely dominated everyone and everything else in his scenes. He and his character were very likeable which made the scenes where Steve cheats a real downer. Myrna Loy was one year away from getting her big break. W.S. Van Dyke saw so much potential in her that he apparently went yelling around the commissary at the studio that Loy was going to become a big star. And with his help Loy did become a big successful star. Loy’s scene with Walter Huston when they are talking about Belle loving Steve was cute. The Professor is talking and as he talks he walks and holds on to his coat. Belle walks with The Professor and imitates him. She put on the same cheeky smirk she would do as Nora Charles when tells Nick she will have a drink after she had originally said no. Otto Kruger I have only ever seen in Hitchcock’s Sabotage. This time he was not as oily and nasty. Kruger actually played a nice guy.

            The film was written by Frances Marion. She was a very prolific writer from the teens into the late thirties writing several hit films for MGM Anna Christie, Their Own Desire, and Camille. All the mentioned films are melodramatic but the one melodramatic film I will always associate Marion with is the 1921 Mary Pickford film The Love Light which is melodramatic with a capital M. Marion was a very good story teller and all the films I have seen that she has written have been very good, even The Love Light.

            The Prizefighter and the Lady has a terrible title but do not let that ruin the story even though it is a little cheesy. The performances and the direction make The Prizefighter and the Lady worth a viewing.  

Nothing Sacred (1937)

“It's kind of startling to be brought to life twice”

            For a while now I could not for the life of me see why Carole Lombard is called The Queen of Screwball… until now. Nothing Sacred was hilarious. Lombard was the perfect comedic actress given one of the perfect comedic scenarios.

            Wally Cook (Fredric March) was not on good terms with his boss Oliver Stone (yes the character’s name is Oliver Stone) when he convinced the man to let him do a story on a young woman named Hazel Flagg (Lombard)who is supposedly dying of radium poisoning. Hazel lives in the small Vermont town of Warsaw. She has lived there all her life. On the day Wally comes to town looking to speak to her, Hazel goes to her doctor who tells her he made a mistake she is not dying of radium poisoning. In a way Hazel is happy and upset at the same time; happy because she is not going to die and sad because she wanted to take the two hundred dollars the town would be giving her and live it up in New York City. Wally finds her at the right moment just as she is walking out of the doctor’s office and tells her he is a reporter and wants her to come to New York where she will be a symbol of courage.

            Hazel does indeed live it up in the city only everyone she sees around her and meets is always sad. At a party given in her honor at a night club Hazel has a little too much to drink. She is asked to come on stage and passes out. Wally and all the club patrons believe she fainted because of the radium poisoning when in reality she is just very drunk. The next day Wally tells a recovering hung over Hazel that he is going to see the governor about her funeral. He also throws in that a radium specialist from Europe will be coming by the check on her even if there is no hope that she can be cured. This is news Hazel does not want to hear. She dramatically cries and tells her doctor who came along from Warsaw that the only way she will not shame herself and anger the people of New York is if she kills herself. She leaves a note that is eventually found by someone and that someone calls Oliver. Oliver then sends out all the fire and police departments around the city. Wally finds Hazel first. He accidentally pushes her into the river. He jumps in as well and then he realizes he cannot swim. Safely on the pier Wally and Hazel kiss and he asks her to marry him even if it would be for a brief time.

            Hazel is found out by the radium specialist and his colleagues. Oliver is furious with her. He sends some men to pick her up but apparently she has pneumonia. He has told Wally the news. Wally is not mad he is happy because now he can marry Hazel without her dying. He gets to her apartment before the specialists are set to arrive again. Hazel is faking pneumonia but Wally insists that she has to look like she is sick. He makes her try to fist fight him to get into a cold sweat and make her heart race. Wally actually punches Hazel to knock her back onto the bed. Oliver comes in and has heard everything that was going on. He confesses the specialists are not coming. Hazel gets off the bed and gives Wally a good right hook to the chin.

            With the newspaper and Wally’s help Hazel makes it seem as though she has vanished from New York. The paper publishes her letter to the city saying that she has had a good time and now she has to leave. Wally and Hazel along with the doctor are out to sea headed to Europe for their honeymoon.

            Carole Lombard as I said mentioned was perfect. She was a little over the top but not fully. She had funny facial expression and body movements. I loved the scenes where Hazel was at the night club drinking and then passes out. Lombard played that wonderfully. It was a bit sad to hear her character talking about dying and living since she died five years later. Hell I got a little sad and cringed seeing her in a plane. On the other hand I loved seeing her character want to live her life even if she did it all on a big lie she had a good time and even fell in love. Fredric March I felt was playing the part of the woman. He was the one who got all broken up about Hazel dying and wanted to marry her and was all sad and depressed. He was alright. His best scene was when he was trying make Hazel fight with him. I must mention that Margret Hamilton makes an appearance as a shopkeeper in Warsaw.

            Ben Hecht, my favorite screenwriter, wrote the film. Actually he had started writing the film. When the Selznick would not hire John Barrymore for the role of Wally Hecht quit and stopped working on anymore drafts of the film. I adore Hecht as a writer. He was very unforgiving. A lot of what he wrote still rings true today with the media- they are obsessed with sad stories and will nickel and dime everyone’s feelings until no one cares about it anymore. Hecht always seemed to be giving reporters and newspapers a bad rap. Hecht was a newspaper man himself for a while, maybe the job left a bad taste in his mouth and the only way he could work it out was to belittle it in a way by making the business look terrible.

            Nothing Sacred is one of the best classic Screwball comedies I have seen. Besides the fact that the character of Wally is too sentimental (which I guess was a point, Hecht was making fun of the sentimentality of this sad story) the film was hilarious. Nothing Sacred is worth watching for so many reasons especially because anyone watching it with a modern mindset can understand all the sad things the media will do to a story and to a person. 

Strangers May Kiss (1931)

“We don’t believe in the awful necessity of marriage.”

            There are some actors and actresses that play the same types of characters over and over again. This is especially true in old Hollywood. If you were good at playing a bad guy the studios had you playing a bad guy for the rest of your career. If you were good at playing sexy women who just wanted to have a good time but also wanted to be loved by one man you were cast as the amoral woman who the audience could sympathize with. Norma Shearer played the woman who was amoral and free with her sexuality but one the audience could sympathize with over and over again. Sometimes when actors and actresses play the same type of character in all their films it gets boring. With Norma Shearer I can never get bored seeing her play the promiscuous type of woman in her Pre-Code films. She was so good at it and knew just how to rope her men in and make them look like fools. In Strangers May Kiss, Shearer gets jilted and then goes looking for a good time leaving a string of men her in wake.

            Lisbeth (Shearer) is in love with Alan Harlow. She has a childhood friend named Steve (Robert Montgomery) who is in love with her. Lisbeth tells Steve that she loves him but she is not in love with him. Her aunt Cecilia asks her when she is going to marry Steve. Lisbeth does not believe in marriage and has no plans to do in the near future.

            Lisbeth, Alan, Steve, and Cecilia go out for the night. Cecilia has sent a cable to her husband Andrew who was supposed to be in Boston that they would be going out that night. At the restaurant Cecilia sees her husband with two women at his side and his friends at another table. Alan tells Andrew that his wife is there and drags him over to their table. The one girl Andrew was with is made that he was dragged away from her as they were having fun. She storms over to the table demanding he come back with her. Lisbeth and Steve take Cecilia home. Cecilia tells them to go back to the restaurant she will be alright by herself. Lisbeth tells Steve her aunt will never get over what has happened because she thought her marriage was beautiful. When they enter the lobby there is a lot of commotion. Steve walks over to see what has happened. Cecilia has killed herself by jumping out the window.

            Alan has been away for two months. In that time Lisbeth has only received two letters from him. He comes back on Christmas Day just as Steve is coming back from Boston. Alan tells Lisbeth he does not want to marry her because he likes his freedom his job offers him and he does not want what to have to deal with anything like what Cecilia went through. Alan is leaving the next morning for Mexico for a year or two. Lisbeth decides to go down with him she cannot bare to be away from him anymore. While down in Mexico Alan tells Lisbeth he has a wife in Paris. She does not react she just asks him why it has taken until that moment for him to tell her. He just says that his marriage is not really anything. Later on, Alan is sent down to Panama. He tells Lisbeth that he is sending her back to New York. It is the end of their relationship but she cannot say goodbye.

            For the next two years Lisbeth travels around Europe having a good time with men wherever she goes. Steve show up while she in Spain. He tells her he has heard so many things about her especially in Paris. She receives a telegram from Alan from Paris asking her to marry him. When Lisbeth returns to Paris and calls Alan he does not want to come over. She goes to him and he says he has heard too much about her. He tells her she should have waited for him even if he was not coming back. Lisbeth rightly argues that she did not know that she would ever see him again.

            Sadly, Lisbeth ends up with Alan after he was a jerk to her.

            All the Pre-code films I have seen so far have been mostly ones staring Norma Shearer. It is funny to think that MGM has some of the best Pre-Code ever made and after the Code was past they came out with all these wholesome family films. The studio went from being probably the sleaziest to the most family friendly.  I find it odd that Norma Shearer of all actresses was the one who set the standard for Pre-Code women. She was never a siren she was not pretty enough to be one. Yet it was Shearer who was the sexiest and boldest of these women. Her characters were never a shamed for what they did they never apologized. Lisbeth went on a sex binge for two years, what is more bold and outrageous than that? Imagine a film with this type of character being made today? There are so many good lines in this film. The best one was when Lisbeth was staying with a Spanish count at his villa. The count was holding a party with seductive dancers. He leans over and tells her “This dance is to educate you. How you should arouse a man.” She replies, “A man shouldn’t need it.” In her case you can believe it.

            This is the second or third time in a Norma Shearer Pre-Code where Robert Montgomery winds up being the other guy the one she does not go home with. Montgomery was a handsome man but he in a way he is like Shearer he is not that handsome but there is something charming and a little sexy about him at the same time. I was mad that Montgomery was the man who kept getting pushed aside when it was his character Steve who really loved Lisbeth.

            Strangers May Kiss is not the best film or Pre-Codes ever made. It is worth a viewing just because Norma Shearer was the “Pre-Code Queen” and you can clearly see why.

 

The Black Watch (1929)

The Black Watch is a film I am not entirely sure how I felt about it. I did not hate it but I did not like it that much. This is an early sound film and many early sound films have several issues such as sound and acting. The acting was alright the sound was good you could hear what was happening and the direction by John Ford was top notch. To me the problem with this film was the story, it was awfully boring.

            The story takes place during World War I. Donald King (Victor McLaglen) is a Scottish soldier in the Black Watch regiment. His regiment is schedule to be shipped out to the front in France when he is called to see his commanding officer. The officer asks Donald about how he grew up in India and can speak several dialects of the country’s language. Donald is assigned on a secret mission to go to India to stop a rebellion that is being lead by a woman named Yasmani (Myrna Loy). Her followers see her as a goddess on earth and will do whatever she wants. She also has a stockpile of weapons. Donald does not want to go to India he wants to fight the war with his regiment. The officer gives him no choice he must go. Donald returns to his regiment and tells his superior that his request for a transfer to India has been approved he will not be going to the front. Donald’s younger brother Malcolm and their fellow soldiers think he is a coward for not going to the front with them.

            Donald begins his mission by walking past Yasmani’s home everyday to catch her attention. Men around the town gossip about how Donald constantly drinks whenever he is in town. One night he gets into a fight with another soldier and kills him. The fight is fake to make Yasmani believe that Donald is now a rogue from the Scottish army and will be willing to join her rebellion. Yasmani is immediately taken with Donald and wants to seduce him. Her top followers do not like how she is falling for this westerner and worry their whole empire will crumble because of her desires.

            Yasmani brings Donald and some of his fellow Indian soldiers in disguise to her hide out in the hills the Cave of Echoes. Slaves turn the door to the cave open. The slaves are captured British soldiers one of them being a friend of Donald’s. Yasmani has Donald brought to her private chambers. She tries desperately to seduce him but he will not give in. She shows him her crystal ball as a way to show him that he is not missing fighting in the war. He sees his brother is either dead or hurt and he becomes upset that he is not there with his friend. Unable to bear what is doing Donald tells Yasmani that he was sent there to stop her. She knew what he was doing the whole time and does not care. He gets Yasmani to speak to her followers to tell them there will be no fighting. Angry that she has turned her back on them two of the followers shoot her. Donald and the Indian soldiers are able to stop the rebels from attacking them and put an end to their rebellion.

            Donald returns home during a break for Christmas to his regiment where he has been reinstated.

            Myrna Loy at this stage in her career was still in her vamp phase. Even in this part of her career and at twenty-four years old she had great talent. She was the only actor who was not wooden or over the top with their performance. Victor McLaglen was very rigid. At times his acting made me laugh it was so bad. Loy wrote in her autobiography that McLaglen was not at all comfortable with their love scenes because he was nineteen years older than her and saw her as a little girl. You can see a lot of awkwardness in their “love” scenes.

            The Black Watch was directed by John Ford. His direction is not terrible at all. The story is what I feel brings the film down. As I said it was awfully boring and longer than it should have been. It was not a terrible film but it definitely is not one of the best. Only view The Black Watch if you are a fan of Myrna Loy or John Ford. 

Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954)

Demetrius and the Gladiators is a sequel to The Robe which had been released the previous year. I have not seen The Robe. I would have watched it had I known that Demetrius was a sequel. But I did not find it difficult to follow even though I had not seen the previous film.

            The film begins exactly where The Robe left off with two characters Marcellus and Diana being lead to their execution for believing in Jesus. Before Diana is executed she hands Peter the robe Jesus was wearing when he was crucified.

            Caligula, the emperor of Rome, is furious over the fact that Marcellus and Diana were not afraid to die. His uncle Claudius has been looking into Jesus. He reports to his nephew that other philosophers concur that there is no possible way a person can have eternal life as Jesus had promised his followers. Caligula will not listen he wants Christ’s robe thinking it has the power of eternal life. He sends out his guards to look for the robe. He tells the guards to relay to the people that if they know where the robe is they will be given twenty pieces of gold and the penalty for having it is death. 

            Peter is leaving Rome to preach Jesus’ word in the north. He leaves the robe with Demetrius (Victor Mature) who was one of Christ’s faithful followers. Demetrius returns to his part of the city. Almost as soon as he returns Caligula’s guards enter the town. Demetrius’ friend Lucia was holding the robe when the guards came through and hid it. The guards become rough with Lucia. Demetrius protects her by fighting the guards and they arrest them.

            Demetrius is sentenced to be a gladiator. Since he is a Christian he refuses to fight because he cannot take a life. He tries to run away from the gladiator training ground but he is instantly caught. Messalina (Susan Hayward), the wife of Claudius, sees Demetrius’ attempted escape. She is immediately taken with Demetrius. Messalina knows that he refuses to fight because of his religion so she has him put in the arena to see what he will do under pressure. The night before they are all to fight to the death the gladiators are given a big feast with lots of women. One woman named Paula (Anne Bancroft) sits next to Demetrius. Paula is kind to Demetrius, even more so after she finds out he is from Corinth just like her. Soon after Demetrius almost gets into a fight with another gladiator. He refuses to fight the man so another gladiator named Glycon steps in to protect Demetrius. Messalina witnesses this scene and sets up a fight in the arena the next day between Demetrius and Glycon.

            Demetrius and Glycon are the last gladiators left standing in the arena. They fight making it look as if they are both so good that they cannot kill each other. When the fight is declared over by Caligula Demetrius has Glycon freed but the emperor wants the Christian killed and has him fight two tigers. Demetrius defeats the tigers but he is injured. Messalina helps to heal Demetrius. Instead of fighting in the arena Messalina has Demetrius become her personal slave. She uses him for her own amusement and tries to tempt him out of his religious ways whenever she can. After some time Demetrius has enough and tells Messalina in so many ways that he refuses her advances. In anger she has him returned to the arena.

            Paula finds Lucia and brings her to Demetrius disguised as one of the many women who come to entertain the men. Messalina sees Lucia and Demetrius speaking to each other and becomes jealous. She has him taken away. As soon as Demetrius is taken away Lucia is ravaged by the other gladiators. Demetrius asks God to help her but it his prayers are not heard and Lucia collapses. The following day after his fight, Demetrius denounces his faith in Christianity and tells Caligula that he is the only god.

            After some time fooling around with Messalina and living his life without worries Demetrius returns to his religion through a miracle. He and Glycon are made head guards after Caligula is murdered and are free to worship their Christian religion.

            The only stand out performance in this film is Susan Hayward. I loved how she was this femme fatale, this temptress. Hayward was not outrageously seductive and sexy it was her attitude and how she said certain things that made her this wonderful temptress. Anne Bancroft had a small role as Paula but she was great. The more films I see of Bancroft’s from her early career I find that no matter how large or small her role is she stands out because of her talent. I actually put effort into seeing this film because I saw that Hayward and Bancroft were in the same film. I was not impressed with the rest of the cast. Victor Mature’s face started to bother me after a while. He was not bad but he was not good either.

            Demetrius and the Gladiators is a good film. It is a typical Christian story of how a man was a faithful Christian, then lost his faith, and then he found it again. I am a bit over these stories from all the years I spent going to church and CCD. I did not find it difficult to follow even though I did not see The Robe. I would like to see The Robe so I can get some of the references and more background. I would only recommend seeing Demetrius and the Gladiators if you have seen The Robe or if you like Susan Hayward (which was why I watched it) other than these reasons it is not a must see film.