With a break between his last British Gaumont pic (THE LADY VANISHES/’38) and his first for David O. Selznick in Hollywood (REBECCA/’40), Alfred Hitchcock signed on to this Erich Pommer/ Charles Laughton production, his last job as hired-hand, and instantly regretted it. A big period piece about cutthroat ‘shipwreckers’ and their secret Lord Advisor/Protector (Laughton in a role beefed up from the Daphne Du Maurier novel), the intractable script was rewritten, but hardly fixed. Laughton, after much trouble, came up with a lulu of a makeup & character, looking like a grounded Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloon, he paws debuting co-star Maureen O’Hara and ogles undercover law officer Robert Newton, out to smash the gang of profiteers (Emlyn Williams; Leslie Banks). Loaded with inanities & absurdities, the tone feels ‘off’ right from the start. Yet, the film catches on as it goes along, with special effect miniatures & trick camera shots that are fun to watch in spite of (or because?) looking like the toys they are, lending the production the kick of a jolly puppet show. Characterizations out of a puppet show, too. After decades of subfusc editions, it looks incredibly handsome (Harry Stradling lensed) in a restoration out on Cohen Media that lets you revel in the ludicrous doings.
DOUBLE-BILL: Laughton & O’Hara made good later that year in Hollywood, sumptuous & superb in THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME.
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