Movies I watched in May, Part 2
Continuing the roundup of last month's movies...
The great Lee Tracy (one of my favorite Pre-Code actors) stars in this comedy/drama about a fresh-faced young fast-talker (Tracy, natch) who storms into Washington figuring he can straighten things out and makes a lot of powerful enemies when he tries to do something about all that awful corruption. Originally released in 1932, it's like a less wide-eyed version of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," with Tracy (much) more savvy than Jimmy Stewart's character and the ending (much, much) darker. In the Capra film, corrupt politician Claude Rains makes a half-hearted suicide attempt but is stopped by his colleagues. In this movie, Tracy leaves the villain alone with a gun with no one doubting what he's supposed to do next. And sure enough, the movie ends with a gunshot. Grim year, 1932. Grim year.
A lot of fun, and there's no doubt Benedict Cumberbatch makes a truly great villain. I like these J.J. Abrams versions of old "Star Trek" stories, but without spoiling anything, let me say this: I could've done without the specific lines (assigned to different) characters aimed at playing off the other time this story was told. If you saw the movie, I think you'll know what I mean. Also, even though the bad guy was beaten, it seems like he accomplished what he set out to do: the death toll in downtown San Francisco must've been somewhere in the low millions, right?
More of the great Edward Arnold, this time playing a blind detective investigating a secret Nazi spy ring that's using a regional theater as its base of operations. (It was 1942, after all.) The plot is beyond ridiculous, with a dedicated scientist working on some MacGuffin aimed at winning the war, his wife an old friend of Arnold's, and his daughter (Donna Reed, a mere 21-years-old) in love with one of the Nazis. None of that matters, however, because the fun comes from watching Arnold outfox, outfight and generally outperform everyone else in this movie blessed with a pair of working peepers. He's pretty convincing as the sightless hero, and he seems to be having a blast playing the part. His dog Friday (playing, apparently, himself) is no slouch either.
About eight years before he started playing a paragon of virtue in MGM's "Andy Hardy" movies, Lewis Stone co-starred with Dorothy Mackaill in this would-be scandalous shocker about the women who fall in love with rich executives and the rich executives who fall in love with them. As pre-Coders go, this one is tame, with the central romance fairly chaste and Stone's wife sliding effortlessly out of the marriage with a lover of her own. However, it is worth watching for two reasons: One: Joan Blondell, in only her second full-length film (she's still partly brunette, in fact), plays Mackaill's roommate and shows up every so often to strip down and give the movie a little zip and zing. And two: Blanche Friderici plays an author named Kate Halsey, who happens to be working on a book exposing the scandal of (what else?) "office wives." What makes ol' Kate so memorable is that, without any actual mention of her sexual leanings, she's the most blatant screen lesbian I've ever seen -- man-style suits, cigars, and a more masculine bearing than wishy-washy Lewis Stone, that's for sure. It's always amazing what they managed to sneak into those old movies.
Still on her "Star Wars" kick, Allie wanted to watch "the one where Darth Vader throws the Emperor," so I popped "Return of the Jedi" into the player. It's definitely the weakest of the original three, but it still has its moments, including the speeder bike chases and just about everything involving Luke. This, like my other DVDs, has the "special edition" additions, and the musical number added to Jabba's palace might be the greatest crime on Lucas' resume ... until, of course, the prequels. By the way, as long as we're talking about "Jedi," can someone explain why Boba Fett is so beloved? He does absolutely nothing in any of these movies aside from following the Millennium Falcon to Bespin in "Empire," then he idiotically trips and falls into that monster in the Tatooine desert. What a loser.
Beautifully animated, sure, but one very grim movie. Have you seen it lately? When Pinocchio is taken to Pleasure Island (as Admiral Akbar from one movie up would warn, "It's a trap."), he's partly turned into a donkey but escapes with the help of Jiminy Cricket. Trouble is, all those other boys (hundred? thousands?) do not escape and are, in fact, completely turned into donkeys and shipped of to serve as slave labor all over the globe. At the end of the movie, when Geppetto is celebrating the fact that his little puppet has become a real live boy, plenty of former real,live boys are working themselves to a slow death just because they once misbehaved a bit, too. Where's the justice in that? (I have to say, though, that the idea of a beautiful house that exists only to be wrecked is a pretty appealing idea, and I was never even that bad a boy. I would've been doomed to donkey-hood for sure.)
Beautifully done biopic that's supposedly the last film from director Steven Soderbergh, and if so, that's a damned shame. (Why can't someone like Tyler Perry or Michael Bay call it quits instead?) Michael Douglas plays a perfect Liberace, giving the role the necessary flamboyance (how could he not?) while still reminding us that there was an actual human being under all those rhinestones (and, it turns out, those toupees). Matt Damn is just as good as Scott Thorsen, creating a character who gets caught up in a crazy -- but intoxicating -- world he can barely understand. What's really surprising about "Behind the Candelabra" is that it makes that crazy world believable and makes the love story at the center of it genuine and powerful. It would've been so easy for all involved -- especially Douglas -- to deliver one big gay joke, but this is a much richer viewing experience than that. If you're a fan of Liberace, showbiz, Vegas or all-American kitsch, I highly recommend you tune in.
About three years before he became a major star in "The Maltese Falcon," Humphrey Bogart was second-billed to the Dead End Kids in this 1938 movie about a bunch of good-hearted bad boys (guess who?) tossed behind bars because they wouldn't squeal on each other. There's not a whole lot that's interesting about this movie, I'll admit, so instead of rambling on here, I'll share the comments I Tweeted while watching it. (Follow me on Twitter at @willpfeifer if this is the sort of old movie nonsense you crave)
The great Lee Tracy (one of my favorite Pre-Code actors) stars in this comedy/drama about a fresh-faced young fast-talker (Tracy, natch) who storms into Washington figuring he can straighten things out and makes a lot of powerful enemies when he tries to do something about all that awful corruption. Originally released in 1932, it's like a less wide-eyed version of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," with Tracy (much) more savvy than Jimmy Stewart's character and the ending (much, much) darker. In the Capra film, corrupt politician Claude Rains makes a half-hearted suicide attempt but is stopped by his colleagues. In this movie, Tracy leaves the villain alone with a gun with no one doubting what he's supposed to do next. And sure enough, the movie ends with a gunshot. Grim year, 1932. Grim year.
A lot of fun, and there's no doubt Benedict Cumberbatch makes a truly great villain. I like these J.J. Abrams versions of old "Star Trek" stories, but without spoiling anything, let me say this: I could've done without the specific lines (assigned to different) characters aimed at playing off the other time this story was told. If you saw the movie, I think you'll know what I mean. Also, even though the bad guy was beaten, it seems like he accomplished what he set out to do: the death toll in downtown San Francisco must've been somewhere in the low millions, right?
More of the great Edward Arnold, this time playing a blind detective investigating a secret Nazi spy ring that's using a regional theater as its base of operations. (It was 1942, after all.) The plot is beyond ridiculous, with a dedicated scientist working on some MacGuffin aimed at winning the war, his wife an old friend of Arnold's, and his daughter (Donna Reed, a mere 21-years-old) in love with one of the Nazis. None of that matters, however, because the fun comes from watching Arnold outfox, outfight and generally outperform everyone else in this movie blessed with a pair of working peepers. He's pretty convincing as the sightless hero, and he seems to be having a blast playing the part. His dog Friday (playing, apparently, himself) is no slouch either.
About eight years before he started playing a paragon of virtue in MGM's "Andy Hardy" movies, Lewis Stone co-starred with Dorothy Mackaill in this would-be scandalous shocker about the women who fall in love with rich executives and the rich executives who fall in love with them. As pre-Coders go, this one is tame, with the central romance fairly chaste and Stone's wife sliding effortlessly out of the marriage with a lover of her own. However, it is worth watching for two reasons: One: Joan Blondell, in only her second full-length film (she's still partly brunette, in fact), plays Mackaill's roommate and shows up every so often to strip down and give the movie a little zip and zing. And two: Blanche Friderici plays an author named Kate Halsey, who happens to be working on a book exposing the scandal of (what else?) "office wives." What makes ol' Kate so memorable is that, without any actual mention of her sexual leanings, she's the most blatant screen lesbian I've ever seen -- man-style suits, cigars, and a more masculine bearing than wishy-washy Lewis Stone, that's for sure. It's always amazing what they managed to sneak into those old movies.
Still on her "Star Wars" kick, Allie wanted to watch "the one where Darth Vader throws the Emperor," so I popped "Return of the Jedi" into the player. It's definitely the weakest of the original three, but it still has its moments, including the speeder bike chases and just about everything involving Luke. This, like my other DVDs, has the "special edition" additions, and the musical number added to Jabba's palace might be the greatest crime on Lucas' resume ... until, of course, the prequels. By the way, as long as we're talking about "Jedi," can someone explain why Boba Fett is so beloved? He does absolutely nothing in any of these movies aside from following the Millennium Falcon to Bespin in "Empire," then he idiotically trips and falls into that monster in the Tatooine desert. What a loser.
Beautifully animated, sure, but one very grim movie. Have you seen it lately? When Pinocchio is taken to Pleasure Island (as Admiral Akbar from one movie up would warn, "It's a trap."), he's partly turned into a donkey but escapes with the help of Jiminy Cricket. Trouble is, all those other boys (hundred? thousands?) do not escape and are, in fact, completely turned into donkeys and shipped of to serve as slave labor all over the globe. At the end of the movie, when Geppetto is celebrating the fact that his little puppet has become a real live boy, plenty of former real,live boys are working themselves to a slow death just because they once misbehaved a bit, too. Where's the justice in that? (I have to say, though, that the idea of a beautiful house that exists only to be wrecked is a pretty appealing idea, and I was never even that bad a boy. I would've been doomed to donkey-hood for sure.)
Beautifully done biopic that's supposedly the last film from director Steven Soderbergh, and if so, that's a damned shame. (Why can't someone like Tyler Perry or Michael Bay call it quits instead?) Michael Douglas plays a perfect Liberace, giving the role the necessary flamboyance (how could he not?) while still reminding us that there was an actual human being under all those rhinestones (and, it turns out, those toupees). Matt Damn is just as good as Scott Thorsen, creating a character who gets caught up in a crazy -- but intoxicating -- world he can barely understand. What's really surprising about "Behind the Candelabra" is that it makes that crazy world believable and makes the love story at the center of it genuine and powerful. It would've been so easy for all involved -- especially Douglas -- to deliver one big gay joke, but this is a much richer viewing experience than that. If you're a fan of Liberace, showbiz, Vegas or all-American kitsch, I highly recommend you tune in.
About three years before he became a major star in "The Maltese Falcon," Humphrey Bogart was second-billed to the Dead End Kids in this 1938 movie about a bunch of good-hearted bad boys (guess who?) tossed behind bars because they wouldn't squeal on each other. There's not a whole lot that's interesting about this movie, I'll admit, so instead of rambling on here, I'll share the comments I Tweeted while watching it. (Follow me on Twitter at @willpfeifer if this is the sort of old movie nonsense you crave)
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