An Old Movie and An Even Older One

It's been awhile since Ive written about movies, so let's take a look at a couple of older flicks.  One from 2018 and one from 1954.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018)

This was the musical biopic of the British rock band Queen and, more specifically, its lead singer, Freddie Mercury.  I skipped this movie when it came out despite all of the Academy Award buzz that it received.  The reasons?  I was not that big a fan of Queen,  and some critical voices that I respect were, at best, lukewarm about the movie.  Even when Rami Malek won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Mercury, I just shrugged it off.  Anyway, last night was a movie night here at our house, and Linda picked this one, insisting that I would like it.

Did I?  Well, yes, I did.  The acting was quite good, and so was the storytelling.  I'm sure there were liberties taken.  I don't expect that "We Will Rock You" came about as easily as it was portrayed in the movie.   The music was good.  It seems I was more familiar with Queen than I recollected.  The final scenes of Queen performing at Wembly Stadium in the 1985  Live Aid concert were simply incredible.  As for Malek's Oscar, he certainly did do a terrific job as Mercury, and when you look back at his competition* that year, it was a well deserved award.

It was quite entertaining and worth Two and One-Half Stars from The Grandstander.

*Who did Malek beat out for that Oscar, you ask?  Christian Bale, "Vice"; Bradley Cooper, "A Star Is Born"; Willen Dafoe, "At Eternity's Gate"; Viggo Mortensen, "Green Book"

"River Of No Return" (1954)

One of the places that we visited when on my Canadian Rockies vacation this summer was the Beau River Falls on the Beau River in Jasper National Park near Banff.  Like much of what we saw on that trip, it was spectacular and breathtaking to behold.

One of the interesting factoids mentioned by the tour guide was that in 1954, and American film crew travelled to Banff and the Beau River to film a movie called "River of No Return".  It was western movie that starred Robert Mitchum and, get ready for the clincher, Marilyn Monroe.   Of course, having had someone like MM spend any length of time in your vicinity was a big deal, and no wonder it is still talked about today.  

Anyway, this prompted me to seek out the movie.   I simply had to see a movie that depicted such natural wonders like Miss Monroe and the Beau River Falls.  Yep, it was all about seeing those waterfalls on film.  It wasn't easy to find.  "River of No Return" is not available on any of the streaming services to which I subscribe, so I needed to seek it out from my local library.

The movie itself was no great shakes, although the Canadian scenery was spectacular. The plot involved, well, who cares, but the climactic scene involved Monroe and Mitchum, and young Tommy Rettig (Jeff, from Lassie) riding the Beau River rapids on a raft and going over the the powerful Beau River Falls.  Yep, I spent ninety minutes watching a so-so movie just to see that one shot of the Falls.  It was cool to see a place on film, albeit a sixty-eight year old film, that you just visited, and any chance to see Miss Monroe is well worthwhile. 

Two Stars from The Grandstander.

As for the Beau River Falls, take a gander at this video that I took of the Falls this past June.

Critical Commentary, Old Movies Division - "Niagara"

Last night I put out one of my "DVR Alerts" for the 1953 movie, "Niagara", that was being shown on Turner Classic Movies, on Facebook, and the posts generated a lot of commentary. Rather than wait to watch it via DVR whenever I got around to it, I decided to watch it as it aired.

I have seen this movie many times, and it is a pretty good one.  It is a Hitchcock-type thriller that revolves around a couple of honeymooners, played by Jean Peters and Casey Adams, who visit Niagara Falls on their delayed honeymoon.  Staying at the same motel is another married couple played by Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotton.  Cotton is a troubled Korean War vet, much older than his hot-to-trot wife, and Monroe, Peters accidentally discovers, seems to be occupying her spare time with a much younger and more handsome man.

I'll say no more, but will tell you that this is pretty good thriller.  It is directed by Hollywood vet Henry Hathaway, and it is done in a Hitchcock-like style.  Some critics say it is the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock didn't actually direct.  It has also been described as the first film noir that was filmed in technicolor, and it was the first movie that Monroe made that was filmed in color, and it was, according to TCM's Ben Mankiewicz, the movie that took Marilyn Monroe from "up-and-coming, sexy starlet" to full-fledged Movie Star.  1953 was big year for her, as "Gentleman Prefer Blondes" and "How To Marry a Millionaire" were also released that year.

A tip of the cap also does out to Jean Peters for her performance in this one.  She was very good and quite beautiful and lovely herself, but it's tough to be the second female in a movie with Marilyn Monroe, and make no mistake about it, this was Miss Monroe's movie.  As Rose Loomis, she positively defines the word "sultry" in this one, as this one photo from the movie will attest.

The only weak spot in the movie was Casey Adams in the role of Peters' husband.  He was a complete dork in the part (or maybe the part was just written that way), and what did a babe like Jean Peters ever see in him in the first place?  Also in the movie as Adams' over-the-top boss was Don Wilson, the long time second banana to Jack Benny.

Allow me to divert a bit here with a couple of Fun Facts about Casey Adams.  He was one of the guys who you have seen a million times on television and in the movies over the years in small supporting character parts.  IMDB lists 101 acting credits for him.  At some point in his career, he reverted back to his real name of Max Showalter, and he was originally cast in the role of Ward Cleaver in "Leave It To Beaver", before Hugh Beaumont was eventually given the part.  He had an uncredited role as a travelling salesman in the opening train scene in "The Music Man" ("Cash for the merchandise..."), and he played one of Molly Ringwald's grandfathers in "Sixteen Candles".

Okay, diversion over.  If you've never seen "Niagara", I urge you to do so.  It is a pretty good thriller, and Marilyn Monroe isn't the only natural wonder in the movie.  There are some spectacular scenes of Niagara Falls in this one too.  As we watched it last night, we decided that we need to make a trip back there sometime soon.

Classic Movie Review - "How to Marry a Millionaire" (1953)

"How To Marry a Millionaire" played last night as part of The Essentials series on Turner Classic Movies, and, having never seen it, and spurred on in part by the recent death of Lauren Bacall and by an ever-abiding interest in Marilyn Monroe, we settled in for a Saturday Night at the Movies to watch this one.

The premise of this movie is probably one that could not get made in 2014:  three attractive, but poor, models, set themselves up in a swanky New York City apartment in the hopes of attracting, snagging, and marrying  rich men.  Essentials co-host Drew Barrymore admitted that she, as an actress and producer today, found the concept that "a woman needs a rich man to survive in the world" made her a bit squeamish, but that the dialog and the performances of the three stars, Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, and Lauren Bacall overcame her misgivings over the premise.

(As an aside, I initially agreed with Barrymore on this point, and thought that this is a movie that would never get made in 2014, but then I thought - throw in some raunchy language and some occasional gratuitous nudity, and what you have here was the early 1950's version HBO's "Sex and the City", but I digress.)

Anyway, I am not sure I'd call this movie a "classic" but it was frothy and fun and the performances off the three leads were quite good.  In his introduction to the movie, Robert Osborne made some interesting points:

• This was the first movie that Bacall, 29 at the time, made in color, and that while she was third billed, she was perhaps the catalyst of the trio, and delivered her comic lines perfectly.
• The movie represented a passing of the torch of Hollywood glamor girls from Grable, 36, to Monroe, 27.  It has been said that during the filming Grable said to Monroe, "Honey, I've had mine, now you go get yours!"
• The movie cemented Monroe's stature as a comic actress, and she was brilliant in it.

The movie also featured William Powell as one of the rich millionaires upon whom Bacall sets her sights.  Powell was 61 years old when this movie was made, and still terrific in a comic role as the wealthy sophisticate, a la Nick Charles of the "The Thin Man" franchise.  Powell would make only one more movie after this one, "Mister Roberts" in 1955, before retiring from the movies.

There were a couple of funny "inside" lines in this one.  In one scene, Grable listens to music on the radio and mentions that its a recording by that "dreamy Harry James" and Bacall, in talking about how she likes older men, mentions that she is even crazy about "that old  guy in The African Queen".  The historical timing wasn't quite right or I am sure that Monroe would have been given a Joe DiMaggio line to deliver as well.

I mentioned that the movie made Monroe's reputation as a comic actress, and I will point to one scene in particular to emphasize this.  One of the gimmicks in the movie is that Pola, Monroe's character, needs to wear glasses, is "blind as a bat" without them.

Of course, she never wears them because, as she puts it, "you now what they say about girls who wear glasses".  This leads to such goofy things as her holding a book upside down while pretending to read, but the best scene occurs while she is wearing this spectacular dress:

In this scene, the three girls meet and strategize in the Ladies Room of a posh night club. Monroe primps and checks her hair and make-up, and the lines of her dress in the mirror, removes her glasses, and then walks right into a wall when she tries to exit the ladies room. Simple, but very funny when done right, and Monroe did it right in this scene.

There are time lapses and plot holes in the movie that one could drive a truck through (for example, how does Grable get back with her ranger, after she and Fred Clarke are photographed on the George Washington Bridge?), but who cares?  As I said, it was frothy and fun, and it answers the question, When it comes to finding true love, is money really all that important?

This one will turn up again on my DVR Alerts.

Oh, in a specially taped introduction to The Essentials opening, Robert Osborne paid special tribute to Lauren Bacall, and mentioned that TCM will be devoting the entire day of September 15th to her with a twenty-four hour marathon of her movies.  Something to watch for.

Marilyn Monroe

If you have opened the newspaper or looked at the Internet today, you know that August 5 is the 50th Anniversary of the death of Marilyn Monroe.  If you are a regular reader, you know that I am a fan Miss Monroe, so I won't belabor the topic.  However, allow me to share two things.

First, the op-ed piece by Sally Kalson in today's Post-Gazette:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/sally-kalson/goodbye-norma-jeane-647628/

And a picture posted on Facebook today by friend Michael Austin.  I can't recall having seen this picture before, but it really is a pretty one.

To Absent Friends: Leroy Neiman, Victor Spinetti

While on vacation last week, we learned of the passing of two pop culture figures, artist Leroy Neiman and British actor Victor Spinetti.


Neiman is most known, I suppose, for his paintings of sports figures, an example of which is included at the top of this post.  However, a Google Images search under Neiman's names reveals lots of other cool works that he did over the years, including artwork for Playboy magazine back in the '60's and '70's, and one very cool portrait of Marilyn Monroe.  He was 91.





Spinetti died at the age of 83, and IMDB shows a long list of credits for him, as well as the fact that he won a Tony Award in 1965.  He may be best known, however, for his role as the frenetic TV director in The Beatles' 1964 classic, "A Hard Day's Night."  Spinetti also appeared in both "Help" and "Magical Mystery Tour" and, thus, he is the only actor, other than The Beatles themselves, to appear in all of their movies.  He was 82.







RIP Leroy Neiman and Victor Spinetti.

Movie Review: "My Week With Marilyn"

If you are looking for a good movie to see, try "My Week With Marilyn" starring Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branaugh. Of course, you will have to look hard because this movie, for which Williams received an Academy Award Best Actress nomination, is playing on exactly ONE screen here in Pittsburgh, the Galleria in the Great State of Mt. Lebanon.

In looking for something to do on Leap Day, Marilyn and I made that long, long trek out to Mt. Lebo - had to cross two rivers to do it! - and went to see this flick with only mild expectations. We found it to be really good movie. My wife proclaimed that she "loved it." Terrific performances by Williams as Marilyn Monroe and Branaugh as Laurence Olivier, and a very fascinating true story of one brief interlude in the life of one of Hollywood's most famous movie stars.

There was a great line in there when one character was comparing Monroe to Olivier. "He's a great actor who wants to be a movie star, and you are a movie star who wants to be a great actress."

No great revelation to anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of Monroe's life, but hers is a very sad story.

Anyway, put this on on your "to watch" list.