KEEPER OF THE FLAME (1942)

Like Elia Kazan’s SEA OF GRASS/’47, this earlier pairing of Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn (the second of nine) sidesteps sexual politics & romantic comedy for dark, brooding Gothic-tinged melodrama. It’s not exactly better than Kazan’s eminently forgettable pic, in fact, this George Cukor film is faintly ludicrous, but it’s also fascinating; an up-to-the-minute cautionary tale on the pitfalls of hero worship, false patriots and the ever-present appeal of bromides, self-proclaimed leaders & fascism. Hepburn plays the great man’s recent widow, a teary specter of woe & mystery, she holds the key (literally) to the truth behind the legend. Tracy’s a renowned, world-weary reporter, back from a rapidly darkening Europe (it’s just before Pearl Harbor) and startled to spot feet of clay supporting the dead man's monumental reputation. Except for a couple of sharpies in the press pool, the rest of the fabulous cast (Richard Whorf, Frank Craven, Margaret Wycherly, Howard da Silva, Percy Kilbride, Forrest Tucker, Donald Meek, even Darryl Hickman as an hysterical boy) might have stepped right out of a Universal horror pic. But the main influence, visually & thematically, was undoubtedly CITIZEN KANE/’41, though scripter Donald Ogden Stewart may have been spending his nights rereading Sinclair Lewis’s IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE. The pace lifts off in the final reels, but there’s so much business to wrap up, the ominous tone gets lost amid long explanations & rides to the rescue. It all a bit ridiculous, yet the film’s concerns aren’t easily sloughed off.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Until she pulls herself together in the last reel, this is uncongenial material for Hepburn. Greta Garbo would have been the likely candidate, but she & Cukor had just made an embarrassing flop (TWO-FACED WOMAN/’41) after which she never worked again. (Hepburn also took over on Tracy’s Frank Capra pic, STATE OF THE UNION/’48, when Claudette Colbert walked.) This helps explain why Garbo’s regular cinematographer, William Daniels was on the film and it surely explains why stage legend Pauline Lord originally filmed all of the scenes that Margaret Wycherly reshot as Hepburn’s mother-in-law. Cukor was always trying to work with the great stage divas of his youth. But Pauline Lord had an even better reason for playing what she thought would be Garbo's mother-in-law. Back in 1921 she was B’way’s original Anna Christie, the same role Garbo took on as her first Talkie. What a missed opportunity! . . . if it really played out this way. And whatever happened to that missing Pauline Lord footage?

THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1948)

Painfully cheerful, and about as convincing as a Renaissance Fair, this over-stuffed version of the Dumas perennial, from producer Pandro Berman & megger George Sidney, shows the rapid post-war decline in just about every department @ M-G-M. With his whippet frame & athletic panache, Gene Kelly should be a fine D’Artagnan, and at 36, he’s a tad younger than Doug Fairbanks was in the 1921 version. But he piles on so much youthful zest & enthusiasm, you want to give him a sedative instead of a sword. (Kelly’s equally manic in THE PIRATE this same year. It’s his default swashbuckle mode.) As the musketeering trio, Van Heflin, Gig Young & Robert Coote may be oddly cast, but they’re to the manner born next to the ladies! Lana Turner is Milady of the Streets; June Allyson, the drabbest of sacrificing virgins; Angela Lansbury, clueless as Queen of France; and two truly bizarre turns from a silent Marie Windsor and a shrieking Patricia Medina in support. As the villainous Richelieu, Vincent Price looks positively subtle in comparison. Now & then, Robert Planck (who lensed the indie MAN IN THE IRON MASK/’39) pulls off an atmospheric shot, but Walter Plunkett’s risible costumes & Herbert Stothart’s kitschy-Tchaikovsky score are shockingly bad. And wait till you see what passes for a Parisian park!

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: A 1993 version with Chris O’Donnell, Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Platt & Charlie Sheen was mockingly dubbed YOUNG SWORDS. But the boys are good company and there are nice turns from bad-girl Rebecca De Mornay & good-girl Julie Delpy, plus a delicious villain in Tim Curry’s Richelieu. (For Dumas' sequel, THE IRON MASK, stick with Douglas Fairbanks’ dashing & melancholy masterpiece of 1929. Best on KINO’s restored 103 min. cut.)

THE GORGON (1964)

This Hammer Studios Horror pic sounds like one of the good ones. Peter Cushing is a mysterious surgeon, Christopher Lee plays an eccentric investigator & Barbara Shelley is the love interest/victim. Plus, there’s a Gorgon: the witch with the heinous head, snakes for hair and a paralyzing look that turns men to stone! So convenient for a ready-made graveside monument! Alas, even with Hammer’s mainstay megger Terence Fisher calling the shots, this is an exceptionally tedious offering that moves at a stone’s pace. Oh well, the Hammer color-processing is always a treat, the trailer is worth a look and the snakes are adorable. (NOTE: Now coupled with SCREAM OF FEAR, this got an accidental second Write-Up. It's just that memorable!)

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: One of the episodes in Mario Bava’s BLACK SABBATH/63 tells a similar tale in a third the time to twice the effect.

ICHIBAN UTSUKUSHIKU / THE MOST BEAUTIFUL (1944)

It’s wartime!, and the Lady Volunteers at Nippon Kogaku Optical are in a funk. Production quotas for the men have just been doubled, but the women are only being asked to boost output by 50%! How insulting! That’s the set-up for this early Akira Kurosawa pic, a straightforward bit of propaganda he remained oddly fond of. Maybe it was the camaraderie that cast & crew developed shooting on real factory locations, living & eating dormitory-style with the workers. Maybe it was because Kurosawa met his future wife in the cast. It couldn’t have been the banal little story about shared sacrifice & ‘can-do’ spirit. It’s more dreary than uplifting, and noble as a Soviet Union motivation lecture. A lens grinder skips her mother’s funeral to stay at her station. Another dear soul, a guilt-ridden section leader, pulls an all-nighter to find a miscalibrated lens that’s gone missing. That sort of thing. Sacrifices, made in secret, but resented for not being adequately acknowledged. What a busy beehive of passive/aggressive victimization! Technically, it’s well made and not too painfully jingoistic, but who wouldn’t prefer to see Bettys Hutton & Grable do their Hollywood homefront routines with jivey musical numbers & solid laughs added in to lighten the patriotic twaddle.

TASTE OF FEAR (aka SCREAM OF FEAR) (1961)

Jimmy Sangster, who wrote some of the best Hammer Studios horror pics, was rightly pleased with this chamber-sized psychological shocker. Shot by Douglas Slocombe in moody monochrome that might have served Ingmar Bergman, the story recalls DIABOLIQUE/’55 and GASLIGHT/’40,’44, but stirs them up to its own design while adding new devilish twists. Under Seth Holt's steady-paced helming, Susan Strasberg is really good (no kidding!) as a wheel-chair bound prodigal daughter, home after ten years to find her father unexpectedly away on business and her step-mother unexpectedly nice. Ann Todd oozes concern as the step-mom, especially when the poor girl starts seeing her father all over the house . . . DEAD. Christopher Lee is also all over the house, but very much alive. He’s the local doctor who gives Strasberg sedatives and spends entirely too much time with step-mom. Something’s up, but the only person the girl can trust is the hunky chauffeur. At least, he believes her . . . doesn’t he? You’ll guess some of the plot turns, but probably not all of them; and there are a couple of real scream-worthy moments amid the ghostly gloom.

DOUBLE-BILL: British films had a productive case of the creeps in 1961, try THE INNOCENTS, adapted from Henry James’ classic ghost story THE TURN OF THE SCREW, for a literary bump-in-the-night.

THE TOWN (2010)

Ben Affleck megs & stars as the brainy member of a Boston-based brotherly band of bank robbers. The main twist in the story brings Affleck into contact with a pretty witness to their last heist, and then falling for her. Now, he’s getting squeezed on all sides: from the investigating cops & F.B.I.; from his hotheaded pal who wants another quick score; from the big boss who won’t let him quit; from his old girlfriend who wants him back; and even from the new girl who’s getting suspicious. While the violence, swearing & bared skin all hit modern thresholds (and the camera roams about in current default mode), this is decidedly old-fashioned filmmaking in its construction, in its carefully ‘rhymed’ pay-offs and in the neat action sequences that put plausibility (and character) ahead of CGI effects. It’s not hard to see why this caught on. But like that neighborhood joint that’s still dishing up the same old hash, the drama feels both comforting & pre-digested. Maybe if Affleck were a more resourceful actor, we might not notice. But steely looks & a dropped voice for sensitivity are all he’s got. (Not counting the showy muscle-bound exercise montage he indulges himself in as director.) The girlfriends, Rebecca Hall & Blake Lively, look ready for anything, even in their largely reflexive roles, but what’s with Jeremy Renner’s award-mongering as the trigger-happy pal? Anyway, they’re all blown off the screen whenever Jon Hamm’s G-man shows up. He puts out so much natural screen presence it throws the story resolution out of whack.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: For a real whiff of Boston mob lowlife, try Peter Yates’ fine (and still little seen) THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE/’73 with masterful perfs from Bob Mitchum & Richard Jordan.

TELMISSEOMDING / TELL ME SOMETHING (1999)

Inexplicably popular serial killer pic from So Korea is dark, dank, bloody and almost as senseless as the crimes on display. The gimmick has a batch of dismembered victims turning up in bags around town, but with mismatched parts. (Just like chicken at the SuperMarket!) But there’s a link between the three victims, the same ex-girlfriend. So, when the cop on the case starts falling for her, that makes him the next likely target. It’s a perfectly workable premise, but director Youn-Hyun Chang is so busy pouring on the spooky atmosphere, bumps in the night and misdirection that he can’t be bothered with clues or police work. The method is all icing and no cake. The leading players are handsome in a blank sort of way, and there’s a nice character turn from the detective’s partner, but everybody is so slow on the up-take, you’re happy to get out after two long hours. Even with a twist ending that makes mincemeat of everything we’ve seen.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: David Fincher’s creepy SE7EN/’95 was an obvious influence, but there’s more than a pinch of JAGGED EDGE/’85 in here, too. Mixed blessings all.

ALLIGATOR (1980)

This monster pic should be a lot more fun than it is. It’s a half-comic/half-scary version of the old Urban Legend about a baby alligator who gets flushed down the toilet only to grow to epic proportion before reemerging to terrify the populace. John Sayles dashed off the workable script, just before starting his own RETURN OF THE SECAUCAS 7/’80, and he keeps things from getting too jokey even when alligator logistics get in the way of moving the plot along. A bigger problem comes from megger Lewis Teague who doesn’t do much for the suspense or action scenes, even when Mr Alligator isn’t involved. (The crummy effects are part of the fun in these things.) As the lead cop on the case, Robert Forster is the best thing in here with some neat character touches and a believable note of resigned weariness. Everybody else sinks, especially the vet actors who try kidding their roles. Worst is the background score which yuks it up with near-quotes from John Williams’ JAWS theme.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: Two years before this, Sayles got his first writing credit on Joe Dante’s PIRANHA which mined similar territory to better effect.

LADIES IN RETIREMENT (1942)

This is one of those genteel melodramatic thrillers that lost its chills in the move from stage-to-screen. It's not alone. Barnstorming examples of the genre like PAYMENT DEFERRED/’32; NIGHT MUST FALL/’37; KIND LADY/’51; DEATHTRAP/’82; even the musical PHANTOM OF THE OPERA/’05 survived Ladies’ Matinees, theater parties, summer stock revivals & aging performers, only to come up short as movies. This one’s not bad, but where’s the oomph? Ida Lupino is housekeeper/companion to retired Music Hall actress Isobel Elsom (a holdover from the stage cast). Why, there’s even a maid in their isolated country home. (Evelyn Keyes with a darn good British accent.) And then came the storm . . . in the form of Lupino’s relatives: two loony sisters with no place to go (Edith Barrett and Elsa Lancaster in a truly disturbing perf), plus that scapegrace nephew who’s always broke and always up to no good (Louis Hayward, married to Lupino at the time). Resentment, blackmail, murder, a bricked up vault, all the ingredients for a fine bit of skullduggery. But helmer Charles Vidor can’t get the pot to boil on a play with so many dangling set-ups. Lenser George Barnes works hard for a bit of painterly ambiance on the purposefully stage-bound sets (the cyclorama looks like it came straight from the touring production), but Lupino apparently missed his memo and has to take some of the blame for a grimly realistic perf that works against the general tone of dark-and-stormy-night theatrics.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: GASLIGHT (aka ANGEL STREET), in the lean 1940 British version or the deluxe 1944 Hollywood edition, is the exemplar in this genre, but you might want to try the lesser known THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE/’46 to see how much easier it is to adapt one of these things out of a novel.