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Celebrate the Golden Age of the Silver Screen!
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JANUARY 2
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
(LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE)
Once upon a time... A Beast threatens to kill a man unless he gives up one of his daughters. Agreeing to take her father's place, Beauty finds the monster horrifying. But at last she realizes she loves him -- just in time. French, with English subtitles. "One of the most magical of all films... haunting... a poetic film made by an artist."--Roger Ebert. 1946
"Children believe what we tell them. They have complete faith in us. They believe a rose plucked from a garden can plunge a family into conflict... I ask of you a little of this childlike simplicity, and, to bring us luck, let me speak four truly magic words, childhood's 'open sesame': 'Once upon a time...'" (From the introduction)
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The Beast teaches Belle about love... and vice versa.
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FYI
A poet, novelist, actor, and painter, director Jean Cocteau puts his stamp on this sumptuous version of the French fairy tale. Intriguing nighttime scenes, the Beast's smoking hands after he has killed, candelabra held by living arms emerging from the walls--these are just some of the touches he includes.
Jean Marais, who plays the Beast, also has two other roles in this movie: he is the Prince as well as the neighborhood friend.
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FEBRUARY 6
EASY LIVING
Dreary job. Empty piggy bank. Jean Arthur needs a change. She gets it when a mink coat falls on her head. Suddenly she's unemployed, living in a sumptuous hotel, and reeling at the center of zany mixups. Plus she's in love. "Jokes, sight gags, furies, attacks of cool sense - there are always three things going on at once."-The New Yorker. 1937
"You expect us to believe that a complete stranger--"
"I didn't want you to know that I was so extravagant. I'm not good at making up stories at all. You see, I bought the coat out of my own savings..."--Jean Arthur making a mess as she attempts to explain her coat to her boss
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Jean Arthur has no money -- but she does have a fur coat!
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FYI Mitchell Leisen directed this screwball comedy. He was wonderful with actresses and had worked as an art director and costume designer before leaping into the fray as a director.
But a terrific comedy needs more than a good director: it needs a terrific screenwriter. And Easy Living has it in Preston Sturges. The critic David Thomson says that he was "at his best the organizer of a convincingly cheerful comedy of the ridiculous." As a result, of course, we have a typical Sturges comedy: bright and quick, with dialogue tumbling and stumbling over itself.
In the 1930s, it was understood that a single woman who suddenly appeared wearing a fur coat couldn't possibly have earned the money for it herself. So she may insist she's a good girl, but everyone knows she's lying. Wink, wink.
Ray Milland stars as the love interest -- the son of grouchy Edward Arnold, who furiously throws his wife's umpteenth fur coat out the window to land on Jean Arthur's head. Since we have rich people in this movie, we must have someone obsequious and fussy to serve them. So look for Franklin Pangborn.
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MARCH 6
THE STRANGER
Edward G. Robinson has traced the Nazi war criminal to this Connecticut town. His one clue: his prey is obsessed with clocks. Only Orson Welles matches this description. They play a deadly game of cat and mouse, with Loretta Young caught in the middle. "Socko... spinning an intriguing web of thrills and chills... suspenseful [and] relentless."--Variety. 1946
"Murder can be a chain, Mary, one link leading to another until it circles your neck."--Orson Welles warning his wife of impending danger
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He can run from Edward G. Robinson... but he can't hide.
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FYI
Orson Welles directed, co-wrote, and starred in this movie. According to Pauline Kael, it was "the only conventionally made narrative film" that he ever made. "He has said that there is nothing of himself in it." He hated it, said it was his worst. He was clearly looking for something else, but as viewers, we are treated to an intriguing film noir, well paced and suspenseful.
Welles had Agnes Moorehead in mind for the role of the agent tracing the Nazi criminal. But the studio said no, and cast Edward G. Robinson instead.
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APRIL 3
MURDER, HE SAYS
Pollster Fred MacMurray, befuddled, bothered, and bewildered, battles a family of homicidal hillbillies, a bloodthirsty bunch hunting for $70 grand a cousin has stashed somewhere on the homestead. If only he can avoid Marjorie Main's whip! "Truly bizarre and frequently hilarious... It simply must be seen to be believed."-scifilm.org. 1945
"I'm with the Trotter Poll. We're like the Gallop Poll but not as fast."--Fred MacMurray helpfully introducing himself
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Fred MacMurray doesn't know what he's getting into!
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FYI
Fred MacMurray's the guy next door, the well-meaning dad or the friendly neighbor. You know his face. Everybody knows his face. He was one of the busiest actors in the 1940s, after moving from vaudeville and the bandstand.
Did Marjorie Main ever play a character we didn't laugh at? We don't want to be her child here, but we know her, we like watching her, and we know we can trust her to be funny. In The Film Encyclopedia, Ephraim Katz calls her a "salty, crusty character player of numerous Hollywood films; notorious as a devastating scene stealer."
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