Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!

Leo McCarey: Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (US 1958). Joanne Woodward (Grace Bannerman), Stanley Livingston (Peter Bannerman), Ralph Osborn III (Danny Bannerman), Paul Newman (Harry Bannerman).

Rakettirakkautta / Raketkärlek. US © 1958 Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. P+D: Leo McCarey. SC: Claude Binyon, Leo McCarey – based on the novel by Max Shulman (1957, in Finnish: Ohjukset irrallaan [Missiles on the Loose], Juhana Perkki / Otava, 1959). DP: Leon Shamroy – CinemaScope – colour: De Luxe. AD: Lyle R. Wheeler, Leland Fuller (art dir.). COST: Charles LeMaire. Make-up: Ben Nye. Hair: Helen Turpin. M: Cyril J. Mockridge. Song: "Seein' As How You're Mah Boojum" (comp. + lyrics: Leo McCarey). Conductor: Lionel Newman. Orchestra: Edward B. Powell. S: Eugene Grossman, Harry M. Leonard. ED: Louis R. Loeffler. CAST: Paul Newman (Harry Bannerman), Joanne Woodward (Grace Bannerman), Joan Collins (Angela Hoffa), Jack Carson (Capt. Hoxie), Dwayne Hickman (Grady Metcalf), Tuesday Weld (Comfort Goodpasture), Gale Gordon (Gen. Thorwald), Tom Gilson (Opie), O.Z. Whitehead (Isaac Goodpasture). 108 min. A Twentieth Century-Fox studio print viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 22 April 2009. - A fine print with good colour. - Leo McCarey's last comedy, after a comedy directing career of over 30 years, starting with Laurel & Hardy and other Hal Roach greats. One can still recognize the zany impulse, but although the cast is great, the actors are not as funny as the Hal Roach ensemble or Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. Not bad but not one of his best.

My Son John

Agentti 52 / Agent 52. US (c) 1952 Paramount. P+D: Leo McCarey. SC: Myles Connolly, Leo McCarey - adaptation: John Lee Mahin - based on a story by Leo McCarey. DP: Harry Stradling. AD: Hal Pereira, William Flannery. Song: "Alma Mater" (composed by Leo McCarey and Robert Emmett Dolan, lyrics by Leo McCarey). COST: Edith Head. ED: Marvin Coil. CAST: Helen Hayes (Lucille Jefferson), Van Heflin (Stedman), Dean Jagger (Dan Jefferson), Robert Walker (John Jefferson), Minor Watson (Dr. Carver), Frank McHugh (Father O'Dowd). 122 min. A Paramount (Hollywood) print viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 21 April 2009. - A brilliant print. - A seminal anti-communistic film made with total devotion by Leo McCarey, who not only wrote, directed, and produced, but also dubbed John's final speech and composed and wrote lyrics to the final song that accompanies it. - After this film, there was a five year hiatus in McCarey's filmography. - A strange film beneath McCarey's usual intelligence, wit and sense of humour. - McCarey had certainly demonstrated audacity in treating serious political issues in Hollywood entertainment in Once Upon a Honeymoon. - Before this, he had made one non-comedy, Make Way for Tomorrow, but there was a profound sense of humour in it. - It seems that for McCarey, Communism was a force of evil, of Satan (as in Satan Never Sleeps). - The strange conclusions in this film include that intellect, intellectuality, and academic achievements become suspect. And a fatally dysfunctional family (a weak, conformist and alcoholic father, and a mother on the verge of nervous breakdown) becomes the ideal of America. - Robin Wood has remarked that if this film had been properly understood, McCarey, himself, might have been hauled before the Un-American activities committee. - A pervasive sense of unease, fraud, and phoniness. - A terrible film with a lot of fascinating unconscious content. - An apology of naming names, informing, and espionage. - Robert Walker plays John for a monster. - Helen Hayes is great as the neurotic mother, who also makes fun about her condition (pretending to catch a fly).

Going My Way

Kulje tietäni / Vandra min väg. US 1944. PC: Paramount. P+D: Leo McCarey. CAST: Bing Crosby (Father Chuck O'Malley), Barry Fitzgerald (Father Fitzgibbon), Rise Stevens (Genevieve Linden). 126 min. A Universal print viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 17 April 2009. - A brilliant print. - Revisited: a masterpiece made during WWII about spiritual regeneration. - The old St. Dominic church is deteriorating, and even finally burns down, but Father O'Malley comes to start a revival with his high spirits. The generation clash (qf. Make Way for Tomorrow) with the old Father Fitzgibbon. - The music is based on the contrast between the Metropolitan Opera, where Genevieve sings the habanera from Carmen, and the church, where Bing Crosby leads a magnificent performance of "Adeste fideles". - It seems that O'Malley has been in love with Genevieve, but because of a misunderstanding had come to believe that Genevieve was not interested in him anymore. - This is a film about the joy of helping, about the pain of the generation gap, and the difficulty of giving up. - It is played as a comedy, but there is a profound sense of sadness and disappointment, also because of the human condition in 1944, as in The Bells of St. Mary's. - Going My Way was made in order to make The Bells of St. Mary's, which was Leo McCarey's original project.

The Bells of St. Mary's

Pyhän Maarian kellot / Klockorna i St. Mary. US 1945 © Rainbow Productions, Inc. P+D: Leo McCarey. SC: Dudley Nichols – from a story by Leo McCarey. DP: George Barnes. COST: Edith Head. M: Robert Emmett Dolan. Songs: "The Bells Of St. Mary's" (Douglas Furber, A. Emmett Adams); "Aren't You Glad You're You?" (Johnny Burke, James Van Heusen); "In The Land Of Beginning Again" (George W. Meyer, Grant Clarke); "Varvindar friska"; "Adeste fideles (O, Come All Ye Faithful)" (John Francis Wade); "O sanctissima" (trad. virsi). CAST: Bing Crosby (Father O'Malley), Ingrid Bergman (Sister Mary Benedict), Henry Travers (Horace P. Bogardus), William Gargan (Joe Gallagher), Ruth Donnelly (Sister Michael), Joan Carroll (Patsy Gallagher), Martha Sleeper (Mrs. Gallagher), Rhys Williams (Dr. McKay), Dickie Tyler (Eddie), Una O'Connor (Mrs. Breen). 125 min. A UCLA print viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 15 April 2009. - This is a much screened print of a restored version apparently based on partly challenging materials. Mostly the definition of light is beautiful. - A masterpiece revisited. - I am not a religious person, but as years go by, my respect and admiration for religious work keeps growing. - There are several profound ideas in this film produced during WWII. - There is a fight among the schoolchildren in the yard. Bing Crosby defends the boy who wins: "On the outside it's a man's world". Ingrid Bergman: "How are they doing?". - "I turned the other cheek. Then he really let me have it". - The funniest scene is the "boxing nun" scene; it's also very thought-provoking. It brings to mind that Leo McCarey was the co-creator of the Laurel and Hardy "tit for tat" concept. - The story of the troubled millionaire who finally donates the schoolhouse to the nuns. The message of the film is that doing good for others is good for your heart, even literally. - It is the story of the joy of giving, when every day is Christmas. - If we don't fail sometimes our successes don't mean anything. - You don't become a nun to run away from something but because you've found something. - The final prayer: remove all bitterness from my heart. - The final, breathtaking scene: "You have a touch of TB". "Thank you... you have made me very happy". The misunderstanding of Ingrid Bergman's transfer is cleared (it is to save her). - The beautiful close-ups of the protagonists who have sworn abstinence. - The film is humoristic, but there is also a sense of hidden profound sadness and disappointment which the protagonists fight to overcome.

Love Affair

Sanovat sitä rakkaudeksi / Det handlar om kärlek... US (c) 1939 RKO. D: Leo McCarey. SC: Delmer Daves, Donald Ogden Stewart - based on a story by Mildred Cram and Leo McCarey. DP: Rudolph Maté. AD: Van Nest Polglase, Al Herman. M: Roy Webb. Theme song: "Plaisir d'amour" (1780, Jean Paul Egide Martini). ED: Edward Dmytryk, George Hiveley. CAST: Irene Dunne (Terry McCay), Charles Boyer (Michel Marnay), Maria Ouspenskaya (grandmother). 88 min. A MoMA restored print with funding provided by The Film Foundation. Viewed at Cinema Orion, 9 April 2009. - This is the best print; the restoration has been conducted from partially worn and scratched materials. - A masterpiece revisited. - The Madeira turning-point. Two shallow people who have been drifting through life experience a moment of gravity. - The story of spiritual regeneration through love.

Once Upon a Honeymoon

Leo McCarey: Once Upon a Honeymoon (US 1942). Cary Grant (Pat O'Toole), Ginger Rogers (Katie O'Hara von Luber or Katherine Butt-Smith).

Paronitar painuu maan alle / Baronessen går under jorden / Lua sem mel. US 1942 © RKO Radio Pictures. P+D: Leo McCarey. SC: Sheridan Gibney – based on a story by Sheridan Gibney and Leo McCarey. DP: George Barnes. AD: Albert S. D'Agostino, Al Herman. Set dec: Darrell Silvera, Claude E. Carpenter. COST: Miss Leslie. M: Robert Emmett Dolan. S: James G. Stewart, Richard Van Heussen. Montage: Douglas Travers. ED: Theron Warth. CAST: Cary Grant (Pat O'Toole), Ginger Rogers (Katie O'Hara von Luber or Katherine Butt-Smith), Walter Slezak (Baron von Luber), Albert Dekker (Le Blanc), Albert Bassermann (General Borelski). 116 min. A Cinemateca Portuguesa print. Viewed at the Finnish Film Archive, Orion, Leo McCarey retrospective, Helsinki, 7 April 2009. – A print from less than perfect start material. – A wonderful film which faces the fatal world historical situation in the Hollywood way, a remarkable film that can be juxtaposed with Chaplin's The Great Dictator and Lubitsch's To Be Or Not To Be. The three greatest comedy directors active in Hollywood each handled Nazi invasion, persecution of the Jews and concentration camps in a topical comedy. – A film rich with surprises, and Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers handle their difficult roles very well.

...

SUOMEN ELOKUVA-ARKISTO

Finnish Film Archive

Program note based on Robin Wood, edited by Antti Alanen

Once Upon a Honeymoon

Paronitar painuu maan alle / Baronessen går under jorden

 

USA 1942 © RKO Radio Pictures. Tuottaja, ohjaaja: Leo McCarey. Apulaisohjaajat: James Anderson, Harry Scott. Käsikirjoitus: Sheridan Gibney – Sheridan Gibneyn ja Leo McCareyn tarinasta. Kuvaus: George Barnes. Lavastus: Albert S. D'Agostino, Al Herman (art directors), Darrell Silvera, Claude E. Carpenter (set decorations). Puvut: Miss Leslie. Musiikki: Robert Emmett Dolan. Ääni: James G. Stewart, Richard Van Heussen. Montaasi: Douglas Travers. Leikkaus: Theron Warth. Pääosissa: Cary Grant (Pat O'Toole), Ginger Rogers (Katie O'Hara von Luber eli Katherine Butt-Smith), Walter Slezak (paroni von Luber), Albert Dekker (Le Blanc), Albert Bassermann (kenraali Borelski), Ferike Boros (Elsa), Harry Shannon (Ed Cumberland), Natasha Lytess (Anna), John Banner (Kleinoch), Hans Conried (ranskalainen sovittaja). Helsingin ensiesitys: 23.5.1947 Capitol, maahantuoja: RKO Radio Film – vhs-julkaisu: 1990 Mistar – tv-lähetyksiä: 26.3.2003 YLE Teema, 19.3.2004 YLE TV1, 11.6.2006 YLE TV1 – VET 27351 – S – 117 min 

Elokuvassa Paronitar painuu maan alle Leo McCarey leikkii hienovaraisesti klassisen Hollywood-kerronnan sovinnaisilla keinoilla. 

    Kun Gestapo-upseerit löytävät Patin (Cary Grant) ja Katien (Ginger Rogers) varsovalaisen rauniotalon kellarista, toinen upseereista kompastelee raunioissa niin monta kertaa, että Grant sanoo, mahdollisesti improvisoiden: "Lopeta jo, tuo ei ole hauskaa". Tokaisu perustuu siihen, että natsien esittämiselle oli Hollywood-elokuvassa jo vakiintuneita konventioita, ja se leikkii niillä kahdella tavalla: olettamalla ironisesti, että natsi yrittää viihdyttää meitä ja muistuttamalla meitä koko näytöksen illusionismista.

    Tätä ennen Katie on kohdannut koomisen naiivin ja intomielisen natsinuorukaisen, kapteeni von Cranachin. Seuraavassa jaksossa hänet ammutaan kylmäverisesti omiensa toimesta, ja nuorukaisen viimeisiksi sanoiksi jäävät: "Heil... Hitler?" Komiikan ja kauhun rohkea ja hämmentävä vuorottelu on tyypillistä elokuvalle. 

    Production Coden säätelemissä 1940-luvun elokuvissa sankari ja sankaritar eivät saaneet mennä sänkyyn ennen avioliittoa. Monessa elokuvassa konventiolla leikittiin niin, että tarinassa kaikki viittaa siihen, että sänkyyn mennään, mutta mukana on myös todiste siitä, että niin ei olekaan käynyt. Tuon ajan elokuvien katsoja oppi luottamaan viittaukseen ja ignoroimaan todisteen. Pariisi yöllä: Pat ja Katie ovat ravintolan kattoterassilla kuvassa, jossa heidän välillään sojottaa Eiffel-torni. Seksuaalinen hellyys läpäisee koko jakson, mutta seuraavan aamun keskustelusta hotellin conciergen kanssa saamme tietää, että Pat ja Katie ovat nukkuneet eri huoneissa. Monimieliseksi loppuvaikutelmaksi jää tavaton hellyys.

    Kokonaisrakenteen tasolla McCareyn leikki konventioilla on uskallettua. Paronitar painuu maan alle on kevyt romanttinen komedia, jonka juonen kulku johtaa puolivälissä kysymykseen kirurgisesta sterilisaatiosta. McCarey oli vankan maineen omaava menestysohjaaja. Cary Grant oli noussut uransa huipulle. Ginger Rogers oli edennyt Fred Astaire -musikaalien partnerista itsenäiselle tähtiuralle. Saksalainen Walter Slezak sai elokuvassa ensimmäisen englanninkielisen roolinsa. Elokuva sai ensi-iltansa marraskuussa 1942. Vaikka USA oli jo lähes vuotta aikaisemmin vedetty mukaan toiseen maailmansotaan, kysymys fasisminvastaisesta sitoutumisesta ei ollut vielä mikään itsestäänselvyys (eikä siitä milloinkaan tullutkaan sellaista). Hollywood-viestinä Paronitar painuu maan alle oli selväpuheinen. Eräässä kohtauksessa Ginger Rogers esiintyy Vapaudenpatsaana (samoin kuin oli tehnyt Leo McCareyn aikaisemmassa elokuvassa Belle of the Nineties Mae West), ja hän työntää kirjaimellisesti yli laidan miehen, joka aikoo levittää natsismin verkostoa Amerikkaan.

    Vuonna 1942 oli rohkea ja edellä aikaansa se, joka käsitteli elokuvassa natsien juutalaisvainoa. Vaati erityistä suuruutta käsitellä sitä komediassa. Charles Chaplin oli tehnyt niin Diktaattorissa (1940); Ernst Lubitsch teki niin elokuvassa Ollako vai eikö olla (1942). "Lopullisen ratkaisun" toteuttaminen oli käynnistynyt vasta vuonna 1942. Leo McCareyn siirtoleirikuvat – niiden yö ja usva – tuovat mieleen keskitysleirit. Näemme sumussa selittämättömiä kumpareita (hautoja? vainajia? vaatepinoja?). Sterilisaation teemaa käsitellään suorapuheisesti, ja se liittyy myös elokuvassa keskeiseen "potenssin" teemaan.

    Elokuvan keskeistä liikettä voidaan kuvata kahdella tavalla, jotka liittyvät siinä vallitsevaan rakenteellisten vastakohtien verkostoon (ks. luettelo alla). Ensinnäkin Katien kehitys kohti sitoutuneisuutta antaa elokuvalle sen kerronnallisen rakenteen. Kehityksessä on useita askelia: kohtaus, jossa Pat esiintyy räätälin sovittajana; vodkanjuonti varsovalaisessa hotellissa ("this above all, to thine own self be true... ", Laertesin sanat pojalleen Shakespearen Hamletissa); Katien kommentti paronille kahdesta natsista; Katien reaktio kenraalin ja nuorukaisen murhaan; tajutessaan, että juutalaisen kotiapulaisen lapsia vainotaan Katie antaa tälle oman passinsa; siitä alkaen häntä ja Patia itseään kohdellaan juutalaisina ja heidät lähetetään siirtoleirille; nyt Katie on valmis avainkohtaukseen, jossa valokuvaaja-kaksoisagentti (Albert Dekker) värvää hänet vakoilijaksi; Katie työntää natsin yli laidan.

    Kehitykseen liittyy elimellisesti se, että Katie löytää (uudelleen) oman todellisen identiteettinsä. Hän on teeskennellyt olevansa Katherine Butt-Smith Philadelphiasta, josta on tulossa paronitar von Luba, mutta vähitellen paljastuu hänen todellinen taustansa: Katie O'Hara, burleskitanssija ja "Queen of them all". Butt-Smith-teeskentelyyn on liittynyt naisellisen laskelmoitu tyhmänä esiintyminen, jonka tarkoitus on mielistellä miestä. Katie ei kuitenkaan pysty täysin tukahduttamaan spontaania reaktiotaan koomiseen absurdiikkaan, ja luonnollisen identiteetin palautuminen liittyy saumattomasti vastuun ottamiseen ja sitoutumiseen.

    Elokuvassa ovat vastakkain päälinjat demokratia vastaan fasismi ja Amerikka vastaan Eurooppa. Edellinen päälinja on ehdoton, jälkimmäinen on monimielinen ja juontaa juurensa aina en-simmäisten pyhiinvaeltajien aikakauteen asti. Päälinjat kohtaavat paronin hahmossa, jonka McCarey loi kiehtovasti yhteistyössä Walter Slezakin, loistavan koomikkolahjakkuuden, kanssa. Von Luba on sekä natsiroisto että aristokraattinen hurmuri. Hahmotus on sukua Jean Renoirin herra Batalalle (Jules Berry) Herra Langen rikoksessa.

    Seksuaalisten pohjavirtausten merkitys elokuvassa on suurempi kuin on ilmeistä. Puvunsovituskohtauksessa Patin mittanauha on jatkuvasti sojossa. Junassa Tshekkoslovakiasta Puolaan Pat saa yllättäen haltuunsa saksofonin, jonka ääniin Katie reagoi, kunnes paroni toteaa viimein: "I hope that doesn't keep up all night". Katien seuratessa syvästi hengittävää Patia Katie alkaa hengittää rytmissä tämän kanssa; Pat herää ja muistaa Katien nimen; Katie korostaa heidän yhteyttään: "O'Toole, O'Hara, O, O". Eiffel-tornista on ollut jo puhetta; sen vastakuvana on kuuluisa parvekekuva Hitleristä taustallaan Eiffel-torni. Voidaan vielä muistaa Vapaudenpatsas ja Patin maininta, että Katie olisi vielä "carrying the torch" paronin suuntaan; ja hämmentävä lisäys, että "in fact I've swallowed it". Elokuvassa kehitellään seksuaalisen kaksoisagentin teemaa, jota vei pidemmälle Alfred Hitchcock elokuvissaan Notorious ja Vaarallinen romanssi. 

    Teeskentelyn ja aitouden vastakohtapari on elokuvassa keskeinen. Natsit pyytävät Patia teeskentelemään kahta ominaisuutta radiolähetyksissään Amerikkaan: spontaanisuutta ("shpontanuity") ja vilpittömyyttä. Ne ovat McCareyn tuotannon avainhyveet. Niidenkin kautta Paronitar painuu maan alle kytkeytyy kahteen McCareyn hienoimpaan 1930-luvun elokuvaan, Ruggles of Red Gap ja Make Way for Tomorrow.

– Robin Woodin mukaan (esseestä "Democracy and Shpontanuity. Leo McCarey and the Hollywood Tradition", Film Comment, January 1976), AA 7.4.2009

Robin Wood: rakenteelliset vastakohdat elokuvassa Paronitar painuu maan alle: Elokuvan arvomaailmaa voidaan kuvata vastakohtapareina, ja elokuvan rikkaus juontuu osaltaan niiden vuorovaikutuksesta.

1. Fasismi / demokratia

2. Armottomuus / avaramielisyys

3. Laskelmointi / improvisaatio

4. Keinotekoinen valta / luonnollinen potenssi

5. Sterilisaatio / luovuus

6. Rotupuhtaus / monirotuinen yhteiskunta

---

7. Eurooppa / Amerikka

8. Philadelphia / Brooklyn

9. Katherine Butt-Smith / Katie O'Hara

10. Aristokraatit / plebeijit

11. Paronitar von Luba / "Queen of them all"

12. Vaatteet statusesineinä / striptease

13. Browning – Shakespeare – Irving Berlin

14. Teeskentely / rehellisyys

15. Joutilaisuus / työ

16. Vastuuttomuus / sitoutuneisuus

Oikeanpuoleiset kohdat ovat niitä, joita elokuvassa kannatetaan. Ensimmäisissä kuudessa vasemmanpuoleiset kohdat tuomitaan selvästi. 

Lopuissa vasemmanpuolisia kohtia käsitellään humoristisesti, satiirisesti ja jopa sympaattisesti.

Make Way for Tomorrow

[The film has never been released in Finland, nor transmitted on tv, nor published on video or dvd]. US (c) 1937 Paramount. Presented by: Adolph Zukor. EX: William LeBaron. D: Leo McCarey. SC: Viña Delmar - based on the novel Years Are So Long (1934) by Josephine Lawrence and an unpublished play based on the novel by Helen Leary and Nolan Leary (1935). DP: William C. Mellor. AD: Hans Dreier, Bernard Herzbrun. Interior Decorations: A.E. Freudeman. M: Victor Young, George Antheil. Song: "Make Way For Tomorrow" (Leo Robin, Sam Coslow, Jean Schwartz). "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" (Leo Friedman, Beth Slater Whitson). S: Walter Oberst, Don Johnson. ED: LeRoy Stone. CAST: Victor Moore (Barkley Cooper), Beulah Bondi (Lucy Cooper), Fay Bainter (Anita Cooper), Thomas Mitchell (George Cooper), Porter Hall (Harvey Chase), Barbara Read (Rhoda Cooper), Maurice Moscovitch (Max Rubens), Elisabeth Risdon (Cora Payne), Minna Gombell (Nellie Chase). 91 min. A Universal print. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 2 April 2009. - A fine print. - Revisited: Leo McCarey's masterpiece of the generation gap, or, rather "a canyon between us". - The motto is "Honour Thy Father and Mother", but the film is a satire about that theme. - Parents living with children: never has worked out for anybody else. - Grandmother Lucy spoils her daughter-in-law's bridge class. - The kind shopkeeper Rubens reads Lucy's letter to Barkley. - The first half of the film is the story of the embarrasment as the old Cooper couple gets evicted from their home and cannot fit to live with their children, even separately. - The second half is their "second honeymoon" 50 years after the first one (their golden wedding), for one day only, which they spend in New York, in Central Park, in front of the car store, in the restaurant and the dancing hall of the Vogard hotel, and in the railway station. - Everybody else is very nice to them. - "We have five children". "It must be a lot of pleasure". "I bet you haven't any children". - Barkley doesn't know that Lucy is going to an old people's home. "It's been very nice knowing you". - The train leaves. A medium shot of the lonely Lucy. The End.

The Awful Truth (2009 viewing)

Leo McCarey: The Awful Truth (US 1937). Ralph Bellamy (Daniel Leeson), Irene Dunne (Lucy Warriner), Esther Dale (Mrs. Leeson) and Cary Grant (Jerry Warriner).

Rouvani sulhanen / Min fru har en fästman.

    US © 1937 Columbia Pictures. 

    P+D: Leo McCarey. SC: Viña Delmar – contribution to screenplay construction: Dwight Taylor – based on the play by Arthur Richman (1922). DP: Joseph Walker. AD: Stephen Goosson, Lionel Banks. Interior Decorations: Babs Johnstone. Gowns: Kalloch. M: Ben Oakland, MD: Morris Stoloff.

    Song: "My Dreams Are Gone With The Wind" (Ben Oakland, Milton Drake). "Home On The Range". "La serenata" sung by Irene Dunne. 

    CAST: Irene Dunne (Lucy Warriner), Cary Grant (Jerry Warriner), Ralph Bellamy (Daniel Leeson), Alexander D'Arcy (Armand Duvalle), Cecil Cunningham (Aunt Patsy), Molly Lamont (Barbara Vance), Esther Dale (Mrs. Leeson), Joyce Compton (Dixie Belle Lee), Skippy (Mr. Smith). 

    91 min

    A SFF print with Swedish subtitles by Torsten Manns. 

    Viewed at Finnish Film Archive, Orion, 1 April 2009.

Other film adaptations of the play: 1925, 1929, 1953.

Print was intact but with low contrast.

Revisited: a film I had seen only on tv before. I had not unreservedly liked it because I sensed a mean streak in the parody of the characters around the Warriner couple. I have preferred the Lubitsch approach which makes fun of everybody, with tenderness underneath.

I still find that the film's weakness is that all except the Warriners are made too ridiculous, and as we feel no sympathy for them, the whole story is diminished. Having said that, the film has joys to offer. Even as I watch it I want to see it again, because there are too many touches to savour during a single viewing.

Cary Grant and Irene Dunne: sophisticated comedy acting at its best. The skill of Cary Grant of making Irene Dunne's remarriage plans look ridiculous as he pretends to defend them. The affection of Cary Grant as he rises to Irene Dunne's defense when her reputation is questioned. Cary Grant's girlfriend's skirt-blowing song scene and its parody by Irene Dunne. The dance scene with the waltz and the jitterbug. The scene with the two hats and the dog. Ralph Bellamy: "Well, I guess a man's best friend is his mother".

The final sequence is magnificent. The couple drive together on the final evening before their divorce is legal. The seriousness behind the fun. Irene Dunne tricks them to Aunt Patsy's cabin, a trysting place of affairs. There is between the two bedrooms a creaking door that won't stay shut. There is a black cat, a wind from the window, and a cuckoo clock with a male and a female figure. "Things are the way you made them". "Things could be almost the same, only a little different". The eroticism and sensuality of Irene Dunne in the final bedroom image is of Lubitsch caliber (resembling Jeanette McDonald's nightgown scenes).

Belle of the Nineties

Kaunotar ja lemmenoikut. US (c) 1934 Paramount. D: Leo McCarey. SC: Mae West. DP: Karl Struss. COST: Travis Banton. M performed by: Duke Ellington's Orchestra.
    "Pom Tiddley Om Pom (Beef Trust Chorus)" (comp. Walter Passmore, lyr. R. H. Douglas, arr. Sam Coslow)
    "My Old Flame" ( Arthur Johnston, Sam Coslow)
    "Troubled Waters" (Johnston, Coslow)
    "My American Beauty" (Johnston, Coslow)
    "I Met My Waterloo" (Johnston, Coslow)
    "I'm In Love With A Tattooed Man" (Johnston, Coslow)
    "When A St. Louis Woman Comes Down To New Orleans" (Johnston, Coslow, Gene Austin)
    "Meet The King" (Arthur Johnston, Leo McCarey)
    "The Royal Wedding" (Johnston, McCarey)
    "Memphis Blues" (trad.)
    CAST: Mae West (Ruby Carter), Roger Pryor (Tiger Kid), John Mack Brown (Brooks Claybourne), John Miljan (Ace Lamont), Katherine de Mille (Molly Brant), Duke Ellington's Orchestra. 73 min
    A brilliant Universal Paramount print.
    Viewed at Cinema Orion, 18 March 2009.

Revisited: a marvellous Mae West film. She is a master of sexual parody, making fun of sexual hype and sexual inhibition. "My American Beauty" where she transforms from a butterfly to the Statue of Liberty could be her signature production number. This film has her best music numbers, thanks to Duke Ellington, and their "Memphis Blues" would be my all-time favourite Mae West performance. This film, one of the working titles of which was "It Ain't No Sin", fell victim to the tightening of the Production Code, but there is still enough life in it.

Six of a Kind

Rehellinen mies / Äventyr på brollopsresan. US (c) 1934 Paramount. D: Leo McCarey. Cast: Charles Ruggles (J. Pinkham Whinney), Mary Boland (Flora Whinney), W. C. Fields (Sheriff ["Honest"] John Hoxley), George Burns (George Edward[s]), Gracie Allen (Gracie Devore), Alison Skipworth (Mrs. K. Rumford), Bradley Page (Ferguson), Grace Bradley (Goldie), William J. Kelly ([A. B.] Gillette). 65 min. A brilliant Universal-Paramount print. Viewed at Cinema Orion, 17 March 2009.
The six of the kind are presented during the opening credits: six aces, the pairs:
- Charles Ruggles and Mary Boland, planning their 20th anniversary honeymoon trip coast-to-coast: from New York to Hollywood and back in two weeks
- George Burns and Gracie Allen, sharing the trip to cut costs, turning the trip to disaster
- W.C. Fields and Alison Skipworth in Nuggetville, Nevada, where the two couples stop
The funniest performer is W.C. Fields with his twisted pool stick routine and an incomprehensible account on why he is called "honest John".
The plot is also about a bank robbery. A crooked bank teller colleague slips 50.000 dollars in Charles Ruggles' suitcase in order to retrieve them later.
Ok, not great.

The Milky Way

Aivotärähdys / Folkets jubel. US (c) 1936 Paramount. D: Leo McCarey. Starring Harold Lloyd (Burleigh Sullivan), Adolphe Menjou (Gabby Sloan), Helen Mack (Mae Sullivan), Dorothy Wilson (Polly Pringle), George Barbier (Wilbur Austin), Lionel Stander (Spider Schultz), Bonita (landlady). 92 min. A Harold Lloyd Entertainment print. Viewed at Cinema Orion, 10 March 2009. - A good, clean print but not brilliant [a victim of Paramount's negative-burning?]. - Revisited: most of this very good comedy, which I last saw last year on dvd. - This film may not have the same excellent reputation as the Harold Lloyd 1920s masterpieces, but it is a perfectly enjoyable comedy with so many delicious touches that the film is worth revisiting every now and then. A great difference to the 1920s films that the women are now more independent, and even more charming. Helen Mack portrays Harold's sister, and Dorothy Wilson his girlfriend, who distances herself from him when his personality changes as a result of his phony boxing success. - There are psychological depths in the Harold Lloyd comedies: big themes of self-esteem, self-image, illusion vs. reality, self-awareness, self-confidence. This film is rich with them.

The Kid from Spain

Härkätaistelija / Tjurfäktaren. US (c) 1933 Samuel Goldwyn. D: Leo McCarey. SC: William Anthony McGuire, Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby. DP: Gregg Toland. AD: Richard Day. COST: Milo Anderson. MD: Alfred Newman. SONGS: "In The Moonlight", "Look What You've Done", "What A Perfect Combination" (Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby). CHOREO: Busby Berkeley. ED: Stuart Heisler. CAST: Eddie Cantor (Eddie Williams / Don Sebastian II), Lyda Roberti (Rosalie), Robert Young (Ricardo), Ruth Hall (Anita Gomez), John Miljan (Pancho), Noah Beery (Alonzo Gomez), J. Carrol Naish (Pedro). AFI: 118 min, 101 min, 90 min. The print viewed was 82 min and seemed complete as for plot. At Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 3 March 2009. - This film does not have a good reputation, but it is a wacky comedy that is completely enjoyable, and there was an applause after the movie. - The huge Busby Berkeley setpieces are comically disparate from the plot, starting from the girls' dormitory with patterned swimming in a huge pool. A mixup with robbers brings Eddie to Mexico. Even there the women are gorgeous. Eddie needs to pose as the bullfighter, Don Sebastian II. - What an imperfect combination!

Laurel & Hardy: the Birth of the Comedy Duo

Fred Guiol: The Second Hundred Years (US 1927), Hal Roach Studios, produced by Leo McCarey, photographed by George Stevens and starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

The Second Hundred Years / Toiset sata vuotta / De andra hundra åren. US 1927. 16 mm, 20 min
Big Business / Joulukuusikauppiaat / Svindlande affärer. US 1929. 35 mm, 20 min
Liberty / Vapaus / Friheten. US 1929. 35 mm, 20 min
    PC: Hal Roach Studios. EX: Hal Roach. P: Leo McCarey. DP: George Stevens.
    Bonner Kinemathek prints with e-subtitles in Finnish by Aretta Vähälä and piano interpretation by Joonas Raninen.
    Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 18 Feb 2009.

The starting programme of our Leo McCarey retrospective. McCarey was with Stan Laurel the co-creator of the concept of the Stan and Ollie comedies at Hal Roach Studios. It was good to see on screen the full-length The Second Hundred Years, and 35 mm screenings (good prints, too) of Big Business and Liberty, so familiar from home viewing. Comedy at its best, funniest, laughingest.