Hitchcock Goes to War

Film: Foreign Correspondent
Format: DVD from NetFlix on various players.

I didn’t realize before today that Foreign Correspondent was an Alfred Hitchcock film until the disc showed up. I’m certain that this is merely more evidence for the “You’re an idiot” crowd, but I’m okay with that. I’m not an encyclopedia. Anyway, Foreign Correspondent comes at an interesting point in Hitchcock’s career. In a lot of ways, it’s a throwback to films like Sabotage and The 39 Steps, yet has some similarities to a lot of his later films. This is something like a war film without really being one. When it was created, England and most of Europe were at war, but the U.S. (where Hitchcock had moved) was still neutral, a fact that will become part of a minor plot point at the end.

A newspaper editor (Harry Davenport) is unhappy with the quality of reporting he’s getting out of Europe as the continent slowly gears up for World War II. He decides that the best way to get the story is to stop relying on the “foreign correspondent” types and send over a solid writer more attuned to a crime beat. Enter Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea), who is sent off to Europe to find stories. He is also introduced to Stephen Fisher (Herbert Marshall), the leader of a collective seeking peace on the continent. Because the name “Johnny Jones” doesn’t strike the editor as exotic or impressive enough, he christens his reporter Huntley Haverstock, which sounds like a name that comes equipped with a trust fund and a monocle.

The Devil Went Up to New Hampshire

Film: The Devil and Daniel Webster
Format: Streaming video from Hulu+ on rockin’ flatscreen.

I don’t always understand the Academy. I understand exactly why Walter Huston was nominated for an acting award for The Devil and Daniel Webster. I’m just not sure why it was for Best Actor and not Best Supporting Actor. Huston is the heart and soul of this film without a doubt. He, and the music are the best reasons to spend your time with what would otherwise be a pretty trite morality play.

To get a grip on the story, take two parts Faust, one part A Christmas Carol, mix well, and cook at 350 for about 106 minutes. Seriously, this is about as close to high concept as you can get. A farmer who is experiencing a series of trials sells his soul to the devil for seven years of worldly success. At the end of those seven years, he begs American political legend Daniel Webster to come and argue his case and save his skin. That’s pretty much it.

You Don't Pick Your Parents

Film: I Never Sang for My Father
Format: Turner Classic Movies on rockin’ flatscreen.

Lots of people have a strained relationship with one or both parents. Because of this family stories are fertile ground for drama. I suspected from the title I Never Sang for My Father that we’d be heading in that direction here, and I wasn’t wrong. This film explores the relationship between father and son, primarily from the son’s perspective, and it does so beautifully.

Gene Garrison (Gene Hackman) is a college professor whose wife has recently died. We find him in the airport waiting to great his parents on their return from Florida. We also learn virtually everything we need to know about their relationships when his parents get off the plane. Gene’s father Tom (Melvyn Douglas) is a man who is the very definition of self-made. He thinks highly of himself and a lot less of everyone else, including Gene. His mind is also starting to go a bit; moved forward to a more modern setting, and Tom Garrison would be in the early to middle stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Gene’s mother Margaret (Dorothy Stickney) is physically frail, having survived a heart attack, but mentally strong.

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 2001

The Contenders:
A Beautiful Mind (winner)
Gosford Park
In the Bedroom
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Moulin Rouge!

Et Cetera, et Cetera, et Cetera

Film: The King and I
Format: DVD from Northern Illinois University Founders Memorial Library on laptop.

While I’m not a massive fan of musicals, there are a few that are, more or less, required; you pretty much have to like them. I’d put The King and I into that category, or would have without question before today. It’s still a film that I have a great deal of respect for, but I can’t say that I’m as excited by it now as I may have been a couple of years ago since it had been years since I had seen it. Well, I’ve watched it again now, and it hasn’t aged quite as well as I could have hoped it would have.

The story is almost high concept in its simplicity. A traditional British widow named Anna Leonowens (Deborah Kerr) and her son Louis (Rex Thompson) agree to come to Siam in the 1860s to act as a tutor and teacher for the many children of the king, Mongkut (Yul Brynner). The film is very much a clash of cultures, as Anna learns to deal with the extremely non-British culture of Siam and Mongkut learns to appreciate a point of view very different from his own. And, since this is a musical, there’s a lot of singing and dancing involved. This is a more traditional musical in the sense that the songs are not so much performances, but instances of people publically singing their feelings.

Rules for Dating

Film: Of Human Bondage
Format: Streaming video from NetFlix on rockin’ flatscreen.

I’ve been married for close to 23 years, so I’d understand it someone dismissed any dating advice I might give. Because it has been a number of years since I’ve been in that part of the world, there’s only one dating rule I remember for heterosexual men. Pardon the crudity, but that rule is, “Never stick it in crazy,” and I can’t but imagine that there’s variations of this for women and for men of different proclivities than mine. I think it’s a rule to live by, although I’ll certainly let my wife give this particular bit of advice to my daughters when they need it. I bring this up because Of Human Bondage is a short film about a guy who spends the whole film attempting to, well, stick it in crazy.

Or course, since this is from 1934, it’s going to be pretty tame in a lot of respects. Timid Philip (Leslie Howard) is cursed with a club foot, which has made him something of an emotional pushover. After spending a few years in Paris attempting and failing to be a painter, he decides to return to London and pursue a medical degree. It is there that he meets Mildred (Bette Davis), a server at a local café. Mildred is regularly terrible to Philip, which does not dissuade him from chasing after her. Mildred is regularly scornful of him and always non-committal. His infatuation with her causes him to fail his examinations. When he proposes marriage to her, she essentially laughs in his face and runs off to marry one of her wealthy customers.

Sumimasen Deshita

Film: Sayonara
Format: DVD from Northern Illinois University Founders Memorial Library on laptop.

Hollywood has certainly been backward at times on any number of topics. One of the trickiest its had to deal with is racism. What I find interesting is how often a film that was progressive for its time comes across as incredibly backward when viewed today. Take, for instance, Sayonara. It wouldn’t be hard to argue that it was a film that genuinely helped to normalize Japanese culture in the United States, or at least de-mystify and de-romanticize it. And it deals with interracial relationships in a very real way. But it also suffers from a prominent instance of yellowface and portrays Japanese women as an extremely harmful stereotype. In some ways, the fact that a film so progressive for its time is so backward today is a testament to how far we have come.

The film takes place in 1951 at the height of the Korean War. Ace pilot Major Lloyd “Ace” Gruver (Marlon Brando) has racked up a number of MiG kills and, surprisingly, is transferred to Japan. Gruver, we learn, is the son of a 4-star general and is also romantically involved with Emily Webster (Patricia Owens), the daughter of another general. The main reason he has been moved to a desk job in Japan is because Patricia’s parents are surprising him by bringing their daughter over in the hopes that the two will marry.