The Horse's Head

The Plot: While admiring a panther at the Central Park Zoo, Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) has a chance encounter with Oliver Reed (Kent Smith), and the two begin a courtship. Irena tells Oliver of her belief that she is descended from a group of Serbian cat-worshipping witches who were all but eradicated by King John in the 1500s. She also believes that if she ever becomes sexually aroused, she will turn into a black panther herself. Oliver encourages Irena to see psychologist Dr. Louis Judd (Tom Conway), who dismisses these beliefs as childhood trauma. Oliver and Irena marry, but the marriage is never consummated, which leads to Oliver spending more time with his young assistant Alice (Jane Randolph). At the same time, Alice starts getting stalked by a black panther that has appeared seemingly out of nowhere. But I’m sure that’s totally unrelated to Irena’s ancestral claims in this classic from RKO’s horror movie unit.

Why It Matters: The NFR calls the film “a spine-tingling horror movie”, though admits that “[t]he film’s tension outweighs its thin story”. An essay by film critic Chuck Bowen looks at the film’s subtext and symbolism.

But Does It Really?: I really wanted to like “Cat People”, but it just didn’t work for me. I will admit, however, that this is partially my own fault: I went into “Cat People” thinking it was going to be a cheaper, schlockier B picture. Turns out these filmmakers were going for clever and subtle, which is great if you know that going in, but I found “Cat People” to be too subtle to the point of being uninteresting. Still, it has its supporters, and is one of the more influential and iconic movies in the horror genre. “Cat People” might have made the NFR a little too early (it got in before “Dracula“!), but I won’t argue with its inclusion as a significant American film.

Everybody Gets One: Born Volodymyr Leventon in Yalta (now Ukraine), Val Lewton emigrated to America when he was a child, and started his writing career as an author and journalist before getting hired at MGM’s publicity department. A script treatment written for David Selznick never materialized but did get Lewton hired as Selznick’s editorial assistant (during his tenure, Lewton declared the novel “Gone with the Wind” unfilmable). In 1942, Lewton left Selznick to head RKO’s new B movie horror unit, with the stipulation that the final films be cheap, short, and based on a title selected by his supervisors. Lewton used his Selznick connections to hire his team, including Jacques Tourneur and DeWitt Bodeen, to work on the first of RKO’s proposed titles: “Cat People”.

Wow, That’s Dated: A lot of fun ’40s movie staples like Oliver wearing a full suit while lounging around his own apartment! Significantly less fun: Oliver surprises Irena with a kitten placed in a very small box with air-holes. That may be the scariest thing in this movie.

Seriously, Oscars?: No Oscar nominations for “Cat People”. RKO fared better at the 1942 Oscars with “The Magnificent Ambersons“, and two films they distributed but did not produce: “Bambi” and “The Pride of the Yankees“.

• I’ve already forgotten about Kent Smith’s performance in this movie, which isn’t necessarily his fault. Honestly the most memorable thing about his character is that his name is Oliver Reed, like the British actor from the ’70s. I’m sure Kent was better with alcohol consumption and respect towards women than the other Oliver Reed, though admittedly that’s a low bar.
• Tom Conway has a Basil Rathbone vibe to him, which served him well playing a wide variety of British gentlemen throughout his career. Fun Fact: Tom’s younger brother was fellow actor George Sanders (Tom’s birth name was Tom Sanders).
• I don’t know why, but I love any scene in a movie set in a psychologist’s office where the main character is lying down on a couch while their doctor is putting them under some kind of hypnosis. We’re a long way from cognitive behavioral therapy.
• I’m enjoying Jane Randolph as your standard issue wise-cracking Girl Friday. Randolph only made about 20 movies, but she’s got two on the NFR: this and “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein“.
• Oh my god, why is this so slowly paced?. By the time something happens in this movie, it’ll be over.
• No offense to Simone Simon, but as far as cat women go, she’s no Julie Newmar/Eartha Kitt. Heck she’s not even Halle Berry.
• Despite my issues with this movie, it does have one very good scene going for it. When walking down the street in the dark, Alice becomes increasingly aware that someone or something is following her. There’s a delightful build of suspense as she quickens her pace, culminating in the sudden sound of a nearby city bus applying its air brake, which sounds suspiciously like a cat hissing. This abrupt end to the sequence was later dubbed “The Lewton Bus” and was one of the first modern jump scares in a horror movie.

• So Irena turns into a cat when she wants to torment Alice? I’m beginning to think these filmmakers may have had issues with women. And while we’re on the subject, I thought Irena only turns into a cat when she’s aroused. Does the thought of her husband’s possible adultery get her hot and bothered? No kink-shaming, I just want to make sure I understand cat people rules.
• The second “Irena stalks Alice” scene takes place at a community pool, which is suspenseful, but compared to the previous bus scene it treads a lot of the same water (Please forgive the pun…Wait, come back!). Also, why is Irena trying to freak out Alice in a pool? I thought cats hated water.

• Today I learned that there is such a thing as too much restraint. I get that not showing Irena as a panther is intentional, not only to build suspense but also to keep production costs down, but if you hold out for too long it deflates the tension (not unlike my feelings about “The Shining“). This kind of restraint would be later perfected in “The Birds” and “Jaws“, but here it just feels like a missed opportunity.
• [Spoilers] Based on the film’s Criterion DVD cover, I was ready to see Simone Simon in some cat-human hybrid makeup for her big reveal. Nothing incredible, but something fun. Turns out Irena’s cat form is just an actual black panther shown fleetingly during the climax. Kind of a letdown after an hour plus of waiting to see her in cat form.

Legacy

• “Cat People” was released in December 1942, and while critical reception was mixed, the film was a box office hit. The film’s final gross total is disputed, but it made at least 10 times its production cost. Val Lewton produced 10 more films for RKO, including such pre-approved titles as “I Walked with a Zombie” and “The Leopard Man”.

• Another film from the RKO Lewton unit was 1944’s “The Curse of the Cat People”. While advertised as a sequel to “Cat People” and starring all three original leads, “Curse” has a very tenuous connection to the first film (there’s not even a cat!). On a positive note: “Curse” marked the directorial debut for one of its co-directors: Robert Wise.

• Speaking of before-they-were-famous directors: the editor of “Cat People” was Mark Robson, who Lewton promoted to director on another of his unit’s films: 1943’s “The Seventh Victim”. Robson’s subsequent filmography includes “Champion”, “Peyton Place”, “Von Ryan’s Express”, and “Valley of the Dolls”.

• Lewton’s time at RKO abruptly came to an end in 1946 following the death of RKO vice president and Lewton supporter Charles Koerner, with Koerner’s less supportive successors shutting down Lewton’s unit. Although Lewton eventually landed at Columbia, his ill health (exasperated by two heart attacks) led to his premature death in 1951 at age 46.
• While Val Lewton has gone on to be reappraised and celebrated by film critics and scholars, his reputation among his peers wasn’t the best. Case in point: Lewton is one of several Hollywood figures (including his old boss David Selznick) who served as the basis for Jonathan Shields, Kirk Douglas’ despicable movie producer character in “The Bad and the Beautiful“. Look no further than one of Jonathan’s first movies within the film: “Doom of the Cat Men”.

• Like many a classic, “Cat People” has gotten the remake treatment. Directed by Paul Schrader, the 1982 version ramps up the violence and sexuality, but follows some of the scarier scenes more faithfully to its 1942 counterpart. While not as well-regarded as the original “Cat People”, any movie where David Bowie sings the theme song can’t be terrible.

The Plot: In the hills of rural West Virginia, teenager David Kinemon (Richard Barthelmess) dreams of being seen by his family as a responsible adult and not just as tolerable (or “tol’able” as the intertitles say). Life on the family farm takes a turn when the Kinemon’s neighbors Grandpa Hatburn and his granddaughter/David’s crush Esther (Forrest Robinson and Gladys Hulette) take in their fugitive cousins (Walter P. Lewis, Ernest Torrence, Ralph Yearsley), who terrorize everyone in sight. When the Hatburn cousins injure David’s older brother Allen (Warner Richmond), which leads to the fatal heart attack of their father (Edmund Gurney), David takes over Allen’s job as the town mailman and becomes the family’s sole source of income. As the Hatburns continue to wreck havoc, David must gain the courage needed to stand up to those goliaths (get it?) and become a man. Because nothing says responsible adulthood like violent vengeance.

Why It Matters: The NFR calls the film “a powerful drama” that “was tremendously influential on subsequent filmmaking.” An essay by silent film expert Fritzi Kramer is mostly a recap of the movie, but also takes time to praise the contributions of both Henry King and Richard Barthelmess.

But Does It Really?: This is definitely on the “historical significance” side of things. “Tol’able David” was a nostalgic crowd-pleaser in its day, but over 100 years later it was a real slog for me to get through. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the movie, but there was a barrier between me and the film that I could never penetrate. Part of that is the film’s sluggish pacing, but part of that is also the casting of Barthelmess as David (more on that later). As one of the best received films of 1921, “Tol’able David” is as worthy of its NFR induction as any other silent film, but any modern viewing should be reserved strictly for film buffs.

Wow, That’s Dated: I had never heard of a “hack” before, which everyone refers to regarding the mail position David covets so much. Short for Hackney carriage, hacks were rentable horse-drawn carriages; the first ride-share, if you will.

Seriously, Oscars?: Obviously there were no Oscars when “Tol’able David” was released, but the film did win the second ever Photoplay Medal of Honor award for Picture of the Year: the first major American movie award. Also of note is that when the Oscars finally did come around, Richard Barthelmess was one of the first Best Actor nominees for his performances in the crime drama “The Noose” and the WWI drama “The Patent Leather Kid”.

• Between “Tol’able David” and D. W. Griffith’s “Way Down East”, Richard Barthelmess’ film career hit its peak in the early 1920s. As the 1930s started and Barthelmess was aging out of his boyish leading roles, he pivoted to supporting turns in sound films. We’ll see Barthelmess again when I get around to covering “Only Angels Have Wings“.

• Like many a classic silent film on this list, “Tol’able David” was remade with sound in 1930. Twenty-year-old Richard Cromwell played David (which is a little better I guess) and the cast includes a very young John Carradine.
• The one bit of pop culture that gets brought up in almost everything I’ve read about “Tol’able David”: It’s featured prominently in the third act of “The Tingler”, a 1959 William Castle horror movie with his infamous “Percepto” gimmick. The titular tingler is let loose in a revival movie house, and guess what movie is getting revived?

December 3^rd, 1992: After receiving its first renewal the previous June, the National Film Registry is back with another 25 movies, reaching the important milestone of 100 movies! Having just finished watching the last of this group, it’s time for me to take a look back. Here again is the National Film Registry Class of 1992, along with my previous write-ups:

• The Birth of a Nation (1915) (“[It’s] even worse than you think it is.” “totally indefensible.”)
• Within Our Gates (1920) (“the earliest surviving film to be directed by an African-American”, “a powerful reminder of…what filmmaking from different voices can accomplish.”)
• The Big Parade (1925) (“not the greatest movie ever made, but it is an undeniably important film”, “the silent film medium at the height of its artistry”)
• The Gold Rush (1925) (“the first essential in Chaplin’s filmography, but his best work as an artist was still ahead of him.”)
• Big Business (1929) (“[Laurel & Hardy] are hilarious throughout this short, but I miss hearing them speak.”)
• Morocco (1930) (“Am I missing something with [von Sternberg]?”)
• Footlight Parade (1933) (“too much backstage/not enough musical”)
• The Bank Dick (1940) (“the most polished of [W.C. Fields’] inducted films”)
• Double Indemnity (1944) (“filmdom’s quintessential film noir entry”)
• Detour (1945) (“the best of the B [movies]”)
• Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) (“an enjoyable classic Hollywood melodrama and a fine representation of Max Ophuls.”)
• Adam’s Rib (1949) (“the ‘two steps forward, one step back” of feminism in film, but Tracy and Hepburn’s natural chemistry help smooth over the rough patches.”)
• Carmen Jones (1954) (“a testament to the career of Dorothy Dandridge.” “Preminger, you’ve done it again!”)
• Salt of the Earth (1954) (“the only blacklisted movie in film history.”, “a message that still rings true…70 years later”)
• The Night of the Hunter (1955) (“quite bizarre, but admittedly it’s that bizarreness that has helped it endure”)
• Paths of Glory (1957) (“has ‘minor classic’ written all over it, but it’s fun to see where Stanley Kubrick got his ‘start’.”)
• What’s Opera, Doc? (1957) (“one of the most revered and influential pieces of classic animation”)
• Psycho (1960) (“a game changer for the thriller genre”, “I’ll be damned if this movie still can’t scare the crap out of me every time.”)
• Dog Star Man (1961-1964) (“One hell of an experimental trip”, “a sort of cinematic Rorschach test.”)
• Ride the High Country (1962) (“a well-made, character-driven western enhanced by [Sam Peckinpah’s] unique perspective.”)
• Castro Street (1966) (“I could not get into [this movie], but it’s my own fault for not doing my homework.”)
• Bonnie and Clyde (1967) (“helped define a new era of filmmaking, and is a no-brainer for NFR inclusion.”)
• Salesman (1969) (“the subject matter is fascinating…but I just couldn’t get into this one.”)
• Nashville (1975) (“a bit slow by today’s standards, [but] there are enough dynamic characters and performances to hold your interest.”)
• Annie Hall (1977) (“a great film…[a]s difficult as it is for me to separate the art from the artist”)

Well that was fun. On to 1993! Stay safe, keep taking care of each other, and happy viewing!

Tony

The Plot: At the turn-of-the-century in a much less wild west, aging lawman Steve Judd (Joel McCrea) is hired by a bank in Hornitos, California to transport gold from the mining camp Coarsegold in the Sierras (the high country, if you will). Aware of the trek’s potential hazards, Steve enlists the help of his former partner Gil Westrum (Randolph Scott), who in turn recruits his young assistant Heck Longtree (Ron Starr). What Steve doesn’t know is that Gil plans to double-cross him and take the gold for himself. En route, they meet Elsa Knudson (Mariette Hartley), who joins them on their travels to escape her oppressive father (R.G. Armstrong) and marry her fiancé Billy Hammond (James Drury), currently mining near Coarsegold. Once everyone arrives in Coarsegold, things do not go as expected in this rumination on morality in a changing world and only the second feature film from Sam Peckinpah.

Why It Matters: Unusually for an early NFR pick, there is no major superlatives in the film’s write-up. Instead we get a detailed plot synopsis, and reference to the film’s “poignant finale.” An essay by Peckinpah expert Stephen Prince is much more praising, highlighting the film’s uniqueness among Peckinpah’s later filmography.

But Does It Really?: I liked, but didn’t love, “Ride the High Country”. Admittedly my issues with the movie were my own genre bias, as well as a few other factors we’ll get to, but overall, it’s a well-made, character-driven western enhanced by a young director’s unique perspective. While I don’t object to the film’s NFR induction, I do question how it got on the list in only the fourth year. If you want Sam Peckinpah on the list, why not “The Wild Bunch”? If you want older actors revisiting their western days, why not “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” or “Rio Bravo”? I’ll designate “Ride the High Country” as Peckinpah’s steppingstone film; the movie that was successful enough to get him the creative freedom that would lead to his better-known work. “Ride the High Country” is worthy of NFR preservation, but at the very least it should have switched places with “The Wild Bunch”, which had to wait another seven years before finally making the cut.

Everybody Gets One: Upon arriving in Los Angeles in 1927, Randolph Scott started out in the movies as a bit player and very quickly worked his way up to leading man status. Although he acted in a variety of genres, Scott’s domain was the Western: first in the 1930s in a series of movies based on the work of Zane Gray, and in the ’40s onwards as various lawmen trying to tame the west (I suspect this is the reason he is so revered in “Blazing Saddles“). Initially cast as the more law-abiding Steve Judd in “Ride the High Country”, Scott agreed to switch roles with Joel McCrea to play against type. Scott also successfully secured top billing over McCrea by winning a coin toss while the two were at lunch with Sam Peckinpah.

Title Track: N.B. Stone Jr.’s original screenplay went by the name “Guns in the Afternoon”. Among the numerous improvements Sam Peckinpah made in his re-write was the title “Ride the High Country”, an apt allegory for Steve’s morality. Composer George Bassman co-wrote a title song with lyricist Ken Darby that doesn’t appear in the film but was released as a single.

Seriously, Oscars?: No Oscar nominations for “Ride the High Country”, although the BAFTAs nominated Mariette Hartley for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. The only non-Brit in a category with Terrence Stamp and Sarah Miles, Hartley lost to Tom Courtenay for “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner”. Home court advantage, I guess.

• Even in his later years, McCrea continues to look like William Holden dubbed by Gary Cooper. He’s also still very tall, which is tough in a widescreen movie when he shares a shot with significantly shorter actors. Things improve when he’s paired with the equally tall Randolph Scott, and once they hit the Sierras everyone else can stand on a higher elevation level to match them.
• This is Mariette Hartley’s film debut (she even gets the “Introducing” credit in the opening). It’s a capable performance where she more than holds her own against her two established leads. And although Mariette Hartley’s film career never really took off, you can see her star quality that would make you believe that career path was possible. Elsa’s presence in the movie reminds me of McCrea’s great line in “Sullivan’s Travels”: “There’s always a girl in the picture. What’s the matter, don’t you go to the movies?”
• One line that made me laugh out loud comes from Gil, after watching Steve and Mr. Knudson tensely exchange Bible verses over dinner: “You cook a lovely ham hock, Ms. Knudson, just lovely. Appetite, Chapter One.”
• Ugh, I don’t need to see Joel McCrea or Randolph Scott in long johns! Make it stop!
• No offense to Ron Starr, who as of this writing is still with us, but he is not great in this. Starr’s acting career petered out within a decade of “High Country”, and hopefully he moved on to better things in another venue. Thankfully, his car navigation and safety systems seem to be much more effective.
• Another issue with this movie that is also my fault: I have no history with either McCrea or Scott. Aside from “Sullivan’s Travels”, I’ve never seen either of them in anything else, unlike someone my age in 1962, who would have watched their careers happen in real time and understand their history with westerns that’s baked into the film’s subtext. The closest thing I can equate this to is watching De Niro and Pacino all my life and then watching them revisit the gangster genre in “The Irishman”.
• Once everyone arrives in Coarsegold, I got massive flashbacks to my grade school field trip to Columbia, California, which is partially preserved in its gold rush aesthetic. Good times.
• Gah! Enough close-ups of the Hammond brothers! They’re all so off-putting. Side note: Henry Hammond is played by Warren Oates, aka GTO from “Two-Lane Blacktop“. If Henry is the kind of underdeveloped character Oates played in every Western, I see how the critics took notice of his work in “Two-Lane”.
• In one of my least favorite recurring themes on this blog, the whole Elsa & Billy wedding sequence is uncomfortable (though admittedly that’s the point). It leads to another round of unpleasant close-ups of the guests, particularly the Hammond brothers as they creepily leer at their new sister-in-law. All right cinematographer Lucien Ballard, you’ve lost your close-up privileges. Give me your keys.

• The last third of the movie takes its time, but we get some solid morality debates between Steve and Gil, the kind of gray area that started to crop up more and more in westerns. This all leads to the final showdown, which made me appropriately tense as I waited to see how it would all end.
• [Spoilers] In the original N.B. Stone draft, Gil was killed during the climactic shootout as an act of sacrificial redemption, but Peckinpah switched it so that Steve is killed, and Gil redeems himself by taking the gold to the bank. It’s a real downer of an ending, but also a surprising and more complex one. Even though I wasn’t fully engaged with the movie by then, I was genuinely saddened to see Joel McCrea slowly slink to the ground as the credits roll.
• I think the moral of this movie is don’t trust anyone under 50.

• Sam Peckinpah’s next film was 1965’s “Major Dundee” starring Charlton Heston, who hired Peckinpah based on his work in “High Country” (Side note: Heston also tried to remake “High Country” in the late ’80s starring him and Clint Eastwood, but nothing came of it). Although the production of “Dundee” was a disaster (not helped by Peckinpah’s chronic alcoholism), Peckinpah bounced back with his next and most famous film: “The Wild Bunch“.

It’s mid-April: the weather is less depressing, you’ve filed your taxes (if that’s your thing), and the Library of Congress has inducted 25 new recordings into the National Recording Registry! Here is the Class of 2024 in chronological order:

• “Clarinet Marmalade” – Lt. James Reese Europe’s 369^th U.S. Infantry Band (1919)
• “Kauhavan Polkka” – Viola Turpeinen and John Rosendahl (1928)
• Wisconsin Folksong Collection (1937-1946)
• “Rose Room” – Benny Goodman Sextet with Charlie Christian (1939)
• “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” – Gene Autry (1949)
• “Tennessee Waltz” – Patti Page (1950)
• “Rocket ‘88’” – Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats (1951) 
• “Catch a Falling Star” / ”Magic Moments” – Perry Como (1957)
• “Chances Are” – Johnny Mathis (1957) 
• “The Sidewinder” – Lee Morgan (1964)
• “Surrealistic Pillow” – Jefferson Airplane (1967)
• “Ain’t No Sunshine” – Bill Withers (1971)
• “This is a Recording” – Lily Tomlin (1971)
• “J.D. Crowe & the New South” – J.D. Crowe & the New South (1975)
• “Arrival” – ABBA (1976)
• “El Cantante” – Héctor Lavoe (1978)
• “The Cars” – The Cars (1978) 
• “Parallel Lines” – Blondie (1978)
• “La-Di-Da-Di” – Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick (MC Ricky D) (1985)
• “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” – Bobby McFerrin (1988)
• “Amor Eterno” – Juan Gabriel (1990)
• “Pieces of Africa” – Kronos Quartet (1992)
• “Dookie” – Green Day (1994)
• “Ready to Die” – The Notorious B.I.G. (1994)
• “Wide Open Spaces” – The Chicks (1998)

Other notes

• First off, the NRR made a playlist with this year’s inductees available wherever you listen to music.
• As is typical with each year’s NRR inductees, I recognize about half of the recordings and artists on this list, and I will take the NRR’s word that the other half is also historically significant. These 25 are a good eclectic mix and bring the NRR’s total to a respectable 650. If I had focused my blog on this Registry rather than the other one, I’d be done by now.
• To the best of my knowledge, 24 of the 25 recordings are musical in nature. We get the comedy album “This Is a Recording”, but no radio programs or news coverage. Better luck next year, National Public Radio.
• Shoutouts to Jefferson Airplane and Gene Autrey, both making their NRR debuts after I have written posts pointing out their conspicuous absences. Bonus shoutout to Jefferson Airplane, whose song “Somebody to Love” I recently mentioned in my “Apollo 13” post. Along with the induction of CCR’s “Fortune Son” in 2013, the NRR now has two songs that serve as movie shorthand for “turbulent ’60s”. All they need is Jimi Hendrix’s cover of “All Along the Watchtower” for the hat trick.
• Thanks to this list, my current earworm is Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine”, but just the part where he sings “I know I know I know I know I know” about 187 times.
• I really should listen to Lily Tomlin’s comedy albums one of these days. Speaking of, along with Debbie Harry, Benny Goodman, and the aforementioned Gene Autrey and Jefferson Airplane, Lily Tomlin is part of a growing group of artists whose work has been inducted to both of the Library of Congress’ national registries.
• Interesting that The Chicks are credited here by their current name, even though in 1998 they were known as The Dixie Chicks. The NRR write-up mentions the name change in 2020 because…well it was 2020 and that’s what we were doing. Between this, tearing down racist statues, and closing Splash Mountain, we kept ourselves busy during lockdown.
• Did you know that The Notorious B.I.G.’s real name was Christopher Wallace? I definitely did not.
• Pop sensation ABBA is this year’s reminder that the NRR is more open to international recordings that have become part of American pop culture than their counterparts at the NFR. I am genuinely curious if the NFR will ever consider adding international films, and the massive floodgate that will open if they do.
• And finally, you can nominate recordings for the National Recording Registry’s Class of 2025 right now! According to the NRR, a record-breaking 2899 recordings were nominated that year, so let your voice be heard. Nominations can be submitted at the Registry’s website, with a deadline this year of October 1^st, 2024. They also have a list of artists not yet on the Registry. It needs an updating, but it’s a good starting point.

Happy Listening, stay safe, and…Oh for the love of – Who put Green Day on the list?

Tony