Since the Seattle International Film Festival 2020 has been canceled and local movie theatres are closed due to the Corona virus, everything cinematic I've watched this past month has been from my own DVD collection or on Netflix or HBO on the TV, one of my least favorite ways to view film. Still, it's been a good time to catch up on some classics I've not seen for a long while.
ALL ABOUT EVE 1950---Certainly one of Bette Davis' finest performances and one of the wittiest screenplays written is this backstage theatre comedy drama with some pithy lines and famous scenes, including the famous "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night" Davis plays an "ageing" actress who is in danger of being aced out of being Broadway's top star by her young protege Eve, played slyly by a smooth Anne Baxter, with Celeste Holm as her faithful best friend (although in real life they had little liking for each other.) George Sanders won his supporting Oscar playing a backstabbing cynical critic, Thelma Ritter steals her limited scenes, and the film features one of Marilyn Monroe's early successes as, what else, a dim sexy young actress. Nearly every scene works wonderfully and the sexual tension between Davis and Gary Merrill who plays her script writing husband is palpable--they met on this film and fell in love--both married to other people at the time, but soon they divorced their spouses and married in real life. I used to think that the final 10 minute coda after the award show for Eve was a great, "what goes around comes around moment," but this time I feel that the film would have been better ended when Davis congratulates Baxter and says "You can always store your award where your heart should be." I am currently reading a book called ALL ABOUT "ALL ABOUT EVE" by Sam Staggs, which is full of back stage stories about each actor, filming and history, which is nearly as fun as watching this wonderfully adult, sophisticated film. GRADE----------A
THE LADY EVE 1941--Director and writer Preston Sturges is running on all engines with this witty, charming film of a sheltered scientist just off a year in the Amazon collecting snakes (!) who meets and falls for a beautiful, clever card shark who is traveling on the same cruise with her card shark father. They have a whirlwind romance and agree to marry, but a misunderstanding has them parting badly. To seek revenge, she arranges to meet him a year later as a British royal with a similar name but in disguise, and to seduce him and then abandon him. The first half of this film is the best, with funny lines, clever card playing, and the feeling that these two will be in love together forever. It's amusing to see Henry Fonda playing so innocent and so much in lust/love and Barbara Stanwyck is his equal. The second half isn't so magical because Stanwyck is so vicious in her playing, and Fonda has a more slapstick part, so awkward that you would wonder what she even saw in him on the ship. But the film is romantically clever, and both characters so likeable, and there is fine support from William Demerest as Fonda's guardian and Charles Coburn is Stanwyck's wicked but amusing father. GRADE----------A-
THE RAT RACE 2001--Here's a great, funny guilty pleasure of mine--this is the forth time I've seen it and I laugh out loud throughout most of this silly comedy, until I kid you not--water comes squirting out of my eyes. It's basically an updated version of IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD and on the negative side it takes a good 20 minutes to warm you up to (nearly) all dozen or so comic actors but they each have their very funny moments. Classic favorites: English speaking challenged Italian character Rowan Atkinson suddenly falls asleep at inoppertune times, a Jewish family headed by Jon Lovitz inadvertently visits a "Barbie" museum which celebrates alt-right Nazis (instead of the doll), Cuba Gooding Jr hijacks a full bus of .....Lucille Ball lookalikes, cow-tipping in an air balloon, desperate Whoopi Goldberg steals a rocket car--there are a dozen more riotous scenes. John Cleese, Kathy Najamy, Breckin Meyer, Amy Smart, Seth Green, Paul Rodriguez, Wayne Knight, Dave Thomas and especially Kathy Bates all get opportunities to steal their scenes. GRADE----------------A-
A LETTER TO THREE WIVES 1949--A year before he wrote and directed ALL ABOUT EVE (above) Joseph L. Mankiewicz also won writing and directing Oscars for this comedy/drama of three women friends in a small town, who leave for the day on a boating excursion, but find a letter for them on board, stating that a fourth friend--a flirt--has left town with one of their husbands. The film is spent in flashback telling the story of each wife and husband and their relationship with the flirt. Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Southern, Kirk Douglas, Jeffrey Lynn and Paul Douglas are the leads, with comic relief from Thelma Ritter, and the film, about trust, love and friendship, is amusingly witty and sad but honest. GRADE------------B+
ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO 1940--It's 19th century Paris, and a surprisingly restrained governess Bette Davis has a chaste relationship with the father, a Nobleman Charles Boyer, but paranoid wife Barbara O'Neill suspects the worst causing a scandal to spread and tragic things to happen. I thought O'Neil acted over the top (and she could have used a good spanking at times) but she was nominated for a supporting actress Oscar for this role. She also had roles as Scarlet O'Hara's mother in GONE WITH THE WIND and THE NUN'S STORY. GRADE-------------B+
PILLOW TALK 1959--This Rock Hudson/Doris Day sex comedy won the best original screenplay Oscar and it's witty to be sure, especially with the help of Tony Randall and the ever reliable Thelma Ritter, who plays the usually drunken housekeeper to Day. If these films are done right, and if you can overlook the occasional sexist comment or two, these comedies can be a lively tonic to the grim realities of today. GRADE-----------B+
EDIE 2017--British actor Sheila Hancock plays 83 year old EDIE, who decides to climb a Scottish mountain that she wasn't able to climb after getting married many years before. A kind stranger Kevin Gutherie (currently featured in THE ENGLISH GAME mini series BBC) tries to help her but she's quite stubborn. Some of the scenes seemed a bit contrived (having climbed a few mountains myself years ago like Mt. Rainier and Mt St. Helens) but overall the actors are likeable and the progression is fairly logical (if unlikely) and you find yourself rooting for these characters. Hancock has been in a lot of small British films and British TV and was married to John Thaw (INSPECTOR MORSE) for many years until his death. GRADE----B+
DECEPTION 1946--Here's another fine Bette Davis film, this one with Paul Henreid and Claude Rains. She plays a piano teacher who looses the love of her life in Europe during the war and relocates to New York City. Assuming he is dead, she takes up with a genius composer and musician, played well over the top by Claude Rains, who has a wild shock of grey hair (much like Einstein) and is temperamental and cruel, extravagant and jealous. When she discovers her former lover (Henreid) by accident in NYC, she wants to marry him, much to the displeasure of Rains, and she tries to keep her past relationships separate from both men. Obviously this is not a good idea, but creates a lot of tension from scene to scene. Henreid seems to be the most clueless, since her eye popping apartment (which I remembered from seeing this film over a decade ago) and the art works and mink coats that stuff her closet are clear indications that some major "monkey business" has occurred between Davis and Rains. The film was the first of dozens of Davis films to loose money for the studio, yet despite the fact that this film was based on a stage play, the film opens up nicely and creates a lot of suspense between the well played characters. GRADE---------------B
THE ANNIVERSARY 1967--This low budget British film, based on a stage play, has a major bonus to it: Bette Davis chews up the script like a bull dog, wearing an eye patch that changes color with her wardrobe, and demeaning her three grown sons (and their frightened spouses/girlfriends) while spouting out insults and threats, all the while celebrating her wedding anniversary (though her spouse is long dead) and demanding loyalty and gifts from her weakling children. It's a wild, campy, cruel performance, and while you may not like the film, you must agree that it is memorable in many ways. Think Trump insult rants, Elizabeth Taylor in WHO"S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOLF, the child in THE BAD SEED, and you have this wicked black comedy. It was interesting for me to see Sheila Hancock (see EDIE, above) as the daughter in law who tries to stand up to Davis. GRADE-----------B
HEAVENS ABOVE 1963--Minor British film features the amazing Peter Sellers as an optimistic prison chaplain who is mistakenly assigned a newer bigger church, then tries to help out the poor community by distributing free food, causing chaos among the town businesses. Unfortunately much of the plotting is drawn out and belabored, muting much of the humor, but Sellers in an early role is splendid. A small part by Brock Peters as his assistant is charming. GRADE------------------B-
THE WILDE WEDDING 2016--This made for TV Prime movie has a large and mostly impressive cast, including Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Patrick Stewart, Minnie Driver and over 20 other actors playing various family members--unfortunately that's way too many to keep track of in a less than 2 hour movie, and despite some likeable performances from the top mentioned, it's difficult to keep track of all the others. While it's easy to watch, the final result is unmemorable due to overloaded plotting and characterizations. GRADE-----------C+
BAD EDUCATION 2019--Based on a true story, this HBO TV film features some clever plotting and some fine acting, especially from Alison Janney and Hugh Jackman, and there are some pithy moments. Janney is accused early in the film of absconding with school district money through fraud but it isn't long before the blame is shockingly widespread. I appreciated the fact that this was a true story, but it felt a bit too pat and predictable and I wasn't too engaged in the characters to care. GRADE----------C+
THE LAUNDROMAT--2019--This Netflix movie, based on a true story, features the always interesting Meryl Streep who looses her husband in a boating accident, but finds the insurance company is a fraudulent shell business run by Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas in a tiresome campy manner. There are some amusing scenes but I didn't care much about the characters. Directed by Steven Sonderberg--it's one of his less memorable films. GRADE--------C+
TWO WAY STRETCH 1960--This minor British film also features a great Peter Sellers, who plays a prison convict who abuses the system for perks, and becomes involved with Alfred Hyde White who from the outside plans the robbery of gems, although again, the plotting is distracted with so many unnecessary characters and devices that the humor is muted. GRADE---------C+
TO PLEASE A LADY 1950--Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck were both well past their movie star prime in this modest car racing love story, although Stanwyck would find major success on TV starting with THE BIG VALLEY in 1965 and THE COLBYS in 1985. Still, what pleasures there are (and there are few) come from the readings of these two pros who manage to find a few sexual sparks in this odd couple coupling, and managed to keep me awake mainly by the dignity they give their relationship. Otherwise this story of a cracker jack gossipy news reporter who meets and is pursued by a possibly reckless race car driver (he drives "dwarf" cars which seemed more like bumper cars to me!) is forgettable. GRADE---------------C
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Bingeing this past month on some eight unseen Jane Marple/Agatha Christie thrillers that I somehow missed more than a decade ago.
Also watched the entire 6 years of GLEE. I must admit that even though some repetition occurs in the plotting (how many times can Sue make jokes about Will's hair, how many times can certain characters make up and break up and make up again and again, how many times can teacher Sue physically abuse and insult students walking down the hall and she never loses her job!!!!!! and how many Journey songs can be sung at state competitions, ETC.)------- I will gladly admit that I love GLEE. The mixture of classic dance, pop, rock, show tunes, movie tunes, new mixes, hip hop and current songs were usually delightful, and the young actors were all terrific---many of them have gone off to bigger and better roles as adults.
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