Author: thehorsesheadblog

#103) Now, Voyager (1942)

OR “How Charlotte Got Her Groove Back”

Directed by Irving Rapper

Written by Casey Robinson. Based on the novel by Olive Higgins Prouty.

Class of 2007

The Plot: Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) is a spinster living with her domineering mother (Gladys Cooper). Her family suspects she is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, so she is sent to a local sanatorium, where kindly Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains) helps Charlotte become rehabilitated. Feeling liberated, she takes a cruise to Brazil where she meets and falls for the handsome Jerry Durrance (Paul Henried). He is married with children, so their love can never be, but that doesn’t stop Charlotte from finally starting to live her life.

Why It Matters: The NFR calls it “[a] resonant woman’s picture” and gives special mention to “one of the most famous endings in romantic cinema”. Film historian (and former Library of Congress employee) Charlie Achuff makes a strong case for the film in his essay.

But Does It Really?: One of the reasons I selected this film is because I had gone this far in the blog without watching a Bette Davis film. And I’m glad I started with “Now, Voyager”. Most of Bette Davis’ current legacy is devoted to her later career, where she played essentially a campier version of her screen persona. But “Now, Voyager” shows us why we should remember Bette Davis in the first place; the consummate actor, the radiant screen presence, and a complete understanding of a character that is 180 degrees away from the other “bitchier” roles we associate her with. “Now, Voyager” may not be the most romantic or dramatic film ever, but Bette Davis is the glue that holds it together, and you root for Charlotte the whole time.

Everybody Gets One: Director Irving Rapper started off as an assistant director and dialogue coach at Warner Bros. Having worked together on a few films, Bette Davis handpicked Rapper to direct “Now, Voyager”, though Rapper learned too late that this was a tactic on Davis’ part to maintain control of the film. After a lifetime on the stage, Gladys Cooper** turned to more film work, finding steady employment as everyone’s socialite mother. I remember her best in two musicals she appeared in during the ‘60s, “My Fair Lady” (where she doesn’t sing) and “The Happiest Millionaire” (where she does).

Wow, That’s Dated: Rear projection, pay phones, and the lost art of weenie roasts. But perhaps the film’s most famous dated quality is that it allows cigarette smoking to be sexy.

Title Track: Charlotte says “Now, voyager” once about 22 minutes into the film, reading the Walt Whitman poem the film gets its title from.

Seriously, Oscars?: While “Now, Voyager” missed out on a Best Picture nomination, it did win an Oscar in the most deserving category; Best Dramatic Score for Max Steiner’s iconic composition. Bette Davis and Gladys Cooper lost to, respectively, Greer Garson and Teresa Wright for their work in 1942’s Best Picture winner, “Mrs. Miniver”.

Other notes

• “Now, Voyager” is actually the third of five novels that Olive Higgins Prouty wrote about the Vale family. This one is the only novel to center around Charlotte and is based on Prouty’s own experiences in sanatoriums.
• I get the feeling that the film has deteriorated over time, or that the original print is missing. The credits in the print I watched seemed to be still frames rather than the original cards, and a few shots here and there used freeze-frames with audio over them. Not too conspicuous, I just wonder what happened.
• The first shot of this film is of a racist lawn jockey. And we’re off and running!
• God I love Gladys Cooper. It’s a shame she didn’t live long enough to play Madame Armfeldt in “A Little Night Music”.
• Interesting choice to use page-turning to indicate a flashback.
• Also note that after Dr. Jaquith breaks Charlotte’s glasses, she never needs them again. Was she near-sighted or far-sighted? I feel like either way this would come up at some point.
• Co-stars Paul Henried and Claude Rains worked on “Casablanca” immediately after filming wrapped on “Now, Voyager”. And I mean immediately; Claude Rains finished this film and started “Casablanca” the next day.
• Did we miss a makeover montage for Charlotte? Apparently they did film one, but producer Hal Wallis had it cut at the last minute.
• While approaching Copacabana, Jerry says “there’s music in the word.” He was on to something. And no, I’m not including a link to that song. Find it yourself.
• This movie felt it necessary to have not one but two comic relief characters; Frank Puglia as Giuseppe the confused cab-driver, and Mary Wickes as Dora the sassy nurse. Don’t know how I feel about either of them.
• Jerry first kisses Charlotte while she is asleep. Creepy or charming? You decide.
• Jerry’s daughter Tina reminds me of another troubled 12-year old Tina.
• That last line is a classic, and a good reminder of a time when people said “Don’t let’s” instead of just “Don’t”.

Legacy

• “Now, Voyager” is featured prominently in the coming of age film “Summer of ‘42”. And I swear if the NFR puts it on this list and I have to sit through that boring movie one more time…

• Five years after the film’s release, Olive Higgins Prouty wrote “Home Port”, which focused on the minor character of Murray. It was written with the intention of making it into a film, but that never happened.
• The major pop culture takeaway from this film was, of all things, a maneuver. Though he didn’t invent it, Paul Henried definitely popularized the romantic gesture of lighting two cigarettes in your mouth at once and handing one to your partner. Everyone’s done it. I took up smoking once just to do that move.

** 2018 Update: Gladys Cooper has two additional films on the 2018 roster: “Rebecca” and “My Fair Lady”.

#102) The Curse of Quon Gwon: When the Far East Mingles With the West (1916/1917)

OR “Where’s the Rest of Me?”

Directed & Written by Marion E. Wong

Class of 2006

For some reason this version has music and fake title cards throughout. You can watch the unaltered version on the film’s Wikipedia page.

The Plot: This is a tough one. The film begins with text explaining that what you are about to see are the first two reels of an incomplete silent film with missing title cards. As far as I can tell the story concerns a Chinese couple living in America who have started to assimilate to western culture, much to the anger of a statue of a Chinese god, who places a curse on the two. After that, your guess is as good as mine.

Why It Matters: The film’s discovery and restoration are discussed in the NFR’s brief write-up, as well as the film’s claim to some of this country’s earliest ethnic filmmaking.

But Does It Really?: Due to its lost status, I could easily label this a “Belloq film” and move on. But unlike other rediscovered silent films, this one actually has more historical significance behind it. “Curse of Quon Gwon” was written and directed by a Chinese woman, a rarity of both ethnicity and gender. And because this was all done outside of the Hollywood studio system, it’s also one of the first surviving independent films. Check your basements, Oakland. Let’s find those missing reels! Or at least some title cards so I can find out what the heck is happening!

Everybody Gets One: Marion E. Wong created the Mandarin Film Company after visiting China at 16 years old and seeing the stark differences between eastern and western culture for the first time. With financial support from her uncle, Marion wrote, directed, and produced “The Curse of Quon Gwan”. She also designed the costumes and cast her family in various parts, including her sister as the lead. When the film failed to receive a distribution deal after its premiere, Marion shut down her film company and never spoke of the film again. Her children were unaware she had ever made a film until after her death in 1969.

Other notes

• This may be the only film on the list that mentions its NFR standing in the opening.
• Despite no title cards, we do get a main title, which predates the “Bonanza” set-your-title-on-fire technique by over 40 years.
• Pretty sure they dissolve to the same scene at one point.
• One of the indoor scenes is pretty windy. Obviously this film follows the then-common film practice of shooting sets outside (It saves you a fortune on lighting equipment).
• Marion E. Wong definitely showed promise as a filmmaker. If nothing else, she understood the power of the close-up.

Legacy/Further Viewing

• While researching his documentary “Hollywood Chinese”, Arthur Dong came in contact with Marion’s grandchildren, who gave him the surviving two reels of “The Curse of Quon Gwon”. After turning the reels in to the Academy Film Archive, they were restored and featured prominently in Dong’s film.

#101) The Music Man (1962)

OR “The Grift of Song”

Directed by Morton DaCosta

Written by Marion Hargrove. Based on the stage musical by Meredith Willson, in collaboration with Franklin Lacey.

Gold Medal, Class of aught-five

The Plot: Con artist “Harold Hill” (Robert Preston) arrives in 1912 River City, Iowa with a plan to trick its citizens into financing a boys’ marching band. Aided by his old friend Marcellus (Buddy Hackett), all goes smoothly until Harold starts to fall for Marian the town librarian (Shirley Jones). And this causes Trouble with a capital T, and that rhymes with P, which stands for…Perfectly Enjoyable.

Why It Matters: The NFR calls the film “Americana at its finest” and wonders how Robert Preston didn’t get an Oscar nomination for his performance. We’ll talk about that later, NFR.

But Does It Really?: If you aren’t tapping your toes and singing along by the end of this movie, you have a problem. It’s not as bold as “West Side Story” or as epic as “The Sound of Music”, but “The Music Man” is just as entertaining as many of the other great Broadway musicals-turned-films of the era. Though I can’t help but wonder if this spot on the Registry could have gone to Warner Brothers’ other Broadway musical adaptation with a non-singing lead; 1964’s “My Fair Lady”. Regardless, “The Music Man” is a feel-good film that represents the end of the movie musical’s reign in Hollywood.

Everybody Gets One: Director of both stage and film version Morton DaCosta, original cast member Pert Kelton, choreographer Onna White, and of course Leonard Hacker, aka Buddy Hackett.

Wow, That’s Dated: This has got to be one of the last movies where Technicolor gets a big mention in the opening credits. Also the idea of a big budget movie musical that isn’t, ya know, awful.

Seriously, Oscars?: A commercial and critical success in the summer of 1962, “The Music Man” was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It lost in most of its categories to “Lawrence of Arabia”, but did win the Oscar for Adapted Score. And yes, Robert Preston (along with the rest of the cast) went unnominated. But when Best Actor has the likes of Peter O’Toole, Jack Lemmon, and Gregory Peck (in “To Kill a Mockingbird”, no less), what chance do you really have?

Other notes

• Can “Babes in Toyland” sue these guys for the stop-motion wooden soldiers opening credits?
• All copies of this film should come with a 1910s Phraseology Reference Guide. Mainly just because I want to incorporate more of it into my own vocabulary.
• “Iowa Stubborn” goes a long way for that “American Gothic” joke. Too bad the painting won’t be a thing for another 18 years.
• Robert Preston is just so damn charismatic in this film. I’d buy what he’s selling too. As for Shirley Jones, it’s unfair to compare her to the late great Barbara Cook, but she more than holds her own against Preston, who had been playing the role for five years at this point.
• Everyone in this movie is lip-synching for their life. But the important distinction is that, to the best of my knowledge, all of the principals did their own (pre-recorded) singing. No need for Marni Nixon here.
• There’s a 20 year age gap between Shirley Jones and her on-screen brother Ronny Howard. Did Mrs. Paroo have another dozen kids we never see?
• I always forget about the scene where Eulailie and the other ladies dress in Indian regalia. Yeesh.
• What’s with the blackouts that have a single spotlight on the principals? A little too theatrical if you ask me.
• Surprise cameo by the banjo kid from “Deliverance”.
• Yes movie, we get it, a bunch of women together is like a brood of hens. Very insightful. Move on.
• You want to talk about not getting an Oscar nomination, how about Hermione Gingold’s delivery of “Balzac”?
• Should they be singing “Sadder But Wiser Girl” in front of Amaryllis?
• As I did during my first viewing of this film, I burst into applause at the end of “Marian the Librarian”. Easily one of the most underrated dance scenes in a film.

• This film is the best commercial Wells Fargo ever got.
• There are two things musically that I am a sucker for: barbershop quartets and good counterpoint. So naturally “Lida Rose” is my favorite song in this score, hands down.

• Speaking of “Lida Rose”, what’s with the camera set-up? Am I supposed to be watching through a knotted fence?
• Just a reminder that Winthrop is directing the new Han Solo movie. Keep this in mind as you watch him lisp his way through this film.
• The finale gives me chills every time.

Legacy

• The stage version of “The Music Man” has come back to Broadway a few times, and was remade for television in 2003 with Matthew Broderick and Kristin Chenoweth. It’s the film that made us notice that Matthew Broderick was really starting to phone it in as an actor.

• Conan O’Brien loves “The Music Man” and has referenced it throughout his career, most memorably in his “Simpsons” episode “Marge vs. the Monorail”. He also did his own rendition of “Trouble” at the 2006 Emmys.

• Seth MacFarlane also cites “The Music Man” as a favorite. Watch him croon a classic, and then turn another song into a “Family Guy” gag.

• The Beatles covered “Till There Was You” on their second album, and is the reason Meredith Willson’s estate never has to worry about running out of money.

• The “con artist starts a con and then has a change of heart” trope has been used again and again, perhaps no more entertainingly than here and “School of Rock”.

Listen to This: You want your Sousa, I got your Sousa.

#100) Unforgiven (1992)

OR “Old West Action”

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Written by David Webb Peoples

Class of 2004

The Plot: Two cowboys cut up a prostitute in the small town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming. When the town’s seemingly reformed Sheriff Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman) lets them off easy, the prostitutes place a bounty for any man who will kill the cowboys. Hearing of this, the Schofield Kid (Jaimz Woolvett) attempts to recruit William Munny (Clint Eastwood), a former gunslinger who is now a widowed farmer and father. Munny finally agrees to do “one last job” and enlists the help of his former partner Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman). Oh, and Richard Harris shows up as someone named English Bob.

Why It Matters: The NFR’s listing for “Unforgiven” is two sentences; the first is the plot of the film, the second a rundown of the supporting cast. No essay, no additional information, no commentary on why the film has been included in the NFR.

But Does It Really?: Well if the NFR can’t come up with anything to say, what can I possibly add? It’s a little too early to call this film a classic, but “Unforgiven” is a well crafted Western and worth at least one viewing. The film’s meditative view on gun violence and its consequences will help it age better than others of the genre. Eastwood directs with a confident hand, and Clint the director lets Clint the actor show colors otherwise unseen in his other performances. Clint went on the record saying this was going to be his last western, and a quarter of a century later he is still going and true to his word.

Shout Outs: Several westerns are referenced throughout, notably Eastwood’s own “The Outlaw Josey Wales”. Screenwriter David Webb Peoples cited “Taxi Driver” as a major influence on his screenplay.

Everybody Gets One: Most of the crew, as well as actors Frances Fisher** and, most surprisingly, Richard Harris.

Wow, That’s Dated: This film actually avoids any major ‘90s filmmaking tropes. You win this round, Clint.

Take a Shot: No one says “unforgiven” at any point in this film.

Seriously, Oscars?: After giving up on winning an Oscar anytime in his career, Clint walked away with both Best Picture and Best Director at the 1992 Oscars. Along for the ride were Gene Hackman for Supporting Actor and Joel Cox for Film Editing. Eastwood directed himself to a Best Actor nomination, but lost to Al Pacino’s overdue turn in “Scent of a Woman”. After waiting 15 years for his screenplay to become a film, David Webb Peoples lost Best Original Screenplay to “The Crying Game”.

Other notes

• “Prostitute cutting” may be the weirdest MacGuffin in film history.
• Ladies and Gentlemen, Quick Mike.
• Gene Hackman’s good in anything.
• There is something very upsetting about watching Clint not being able to shoot a gun or ride a horse.
• This film was made before California State Law required that Morgan Freeman narrate all films that he appears in.
• I have been to the train station used in the film. It’s in Sonora, California and looks pretty much the same as it does here.
• At one point William and Ned talk about former gang member Quincy, who left to enter the world of forensic medicine.
• There are a few shots where English Bob looks a bit like The First Doctor. He also looks a bit like The First Dumbledore, but that’s another story.
• W. W. Beauchamp is played here by Saul Rubinek, who I always remember best as Daphne’s one-time fiancé Donny on “Frasier”.
• The Schofield Kid beats the Elliot Page record for most questions asked by a film character.
• In true film tradition, when a gang confronts one person, everyone in the gang attacks one at a time, rather than all at once. How unrealistically polite of everyone.
• A treat for MST3K fans, the boom operator for this film was Kelly Zombor of “The Final Sacrifice” infamy.
• “Unforgiven” is dedicated to two of Clint’s previous collaborators and mentors: spaghetti western master Sergio Leone and “Dirty Harry” director Don Siegel.

Legacy

• While not the first Clint Eastwood directed film by a long-shot, “Unforgiven” was the first Clint film to receive major Oscar attention, and the one that made all his future films instant Oscar bait. Clint would repeat his “Unforgiven” Oscar wins 12 years later with “Million Dollar Baby”.

• “Unforgiven” was remade in 2013 by Lee Sang-il. In a move I’m calling the “Reverse ‘Magnificent Seven’” the story was relocated to Japan’s own frontier period around the 1860s and stars Ken Watanabe in the Clint Eastwood role. It looks remarkably faithful.

• Surprising no one, the anti-violent “Unforgiven” is referenced in the ultra-violent “Kill Bill: Vol. 1”.

• Bonus Clip: This is as good a place as any to reference #FakeBaby.

Thanks for making it to my 100^th film with me! (Despite the fact that you are most likely reading this in the future and out of order) On to the next 100!

**2017 Update: Frances Fisher now has “Titanic” on the list as well.

#99) One Froggy Evening (1955)

OR “Frog In His Throat, Song In His Heart”

Directed by Chuck Jones

Written by Michael Maltese

Class of 2003

The full short is tough to track down online (almost like it’s copyrighted or something), but here’s the clip you’re really here for.

The Plot: While demolishing an old building, a construction worker finds a frog (voiced by William Roberts) who can dance and sing ragtime. The man tries to exploit the frog’s talents, but learns that the frog will only sing and dance when no one else is around.

Why It Matters: The NFR cites the film as being “on every short list of the greatest animation”.

But Does It Really?: It’s still really funny with solid animation and storytelling throughout. Who am I to say no?

Everybody Gets One: Though his identity was unknown for years, famous L.A. baritone William Roberts was the voice of Michigan J. Frog. Roberts’ singing career didn’t transition to the movies, where he only appeared in bit parts throughout the ‘40s. “One Froggy Evening” is his last film appearance.

Wow, That’s Dated: Three words: Tin Pan Alley!

Seriously, Oscars?: No nomination for “One Froggy Evening”. The Looney Tunes choice that year was “Speedy Gonzales”. Only one of these two shorts can still be shown on TV.

Other notes

• Everybody remembers “Hello! Ma Baby”, but that is just one of many songs Michigan sings throughout the short. Among the others are “I’m Just Wild About Harry” and cartoon staple “Largo al factotum”.
• Interestingly, “The Michigan Rag” was an original song written for this short by Michael Maltese, and was the reason the frog was eventually named Michigan.
• A quick question about the year 2056; Why is he wearing a space helmet? What happens to Earth’s oxygen in less than 40 years?

Legacy

• Michigan & Chuck Jones returned to the big screen 40 years later in “Another Froggy Evening”. Despite the fact that it treads almost exactly the same water as the original short, it’s still very entertaining. Plus that’s the original Officer Lockstock as Michigan!

• For those who remember a time before the CW, Michigan J. Frog was the mascot for the short-lived WB network.

• “One Froggy Evening” has been spoofed many times over the years, but will any of them top “Spaceballs”?