Lloyd Wins Dad's Approval - Wings is a Fine War Pic - Hitchcock's First Great Film and Chaplin's Brilliant Take on Der Fuhrer

I was the caretaker of my dreams
I danced to the tune of your laughter
I lived the perdition of yesterday's ecstasy
And still
Still I am here with this blog trying to defy the norms
(Oh yes and sometimes I write about films. Kazowie!)

I watched some films and wondered if they were watching me back. Like maybe they've got their eye on me. I can't explain it but I can sure feel it. Wonderful things films are. They can set are minds at ease or get them working furiously or mine our minds for mindfulness. They can devilishly bedevil us. But can they watch us from another dimension? 

Harold Lloyd is The Kid Brother (1927) fighting villains chasing the girl trying to earn the love and respect of dad the sheriff and his older brothers. That's a reality for a lot of sons. Wanting dad's approval (and daughters too). I've been a son and I am a dad. In one role you try to please in the other you try to show your pleasure. Lloyd had to bring in the bad guy to win pop's admiration. That's a tough go for a bespeckled lad of less than average build. But in the silent comedy world our heroes win the day no matter their size and best of all provide us with chuckles aplenty. Oh yes he may also get the girl (whatayou think?). It's not my favorite Lloyd but he made so many good ones that's hardly a slight.

Wings (1927) was the first Oscar Best Picture winner. It was a crowd pleaser then and still is. It set the precedent for the academy awarding the best pic Oscar to to a film that was not the best picture Sunrise was). Still it has nice moments most of which are in the air. It is a World War I aviator movie with a love story a story of brotherhood and friendship and it has a bit of Shakespearean tragedy to its melodramatic ending. But mostly its entertaining fun from director William Wellman who had been a flyer during the Great War. He was later to direct some of our greatest pre code films some outstanding westerns and WWII movies. Clara Bow is in Wings. Her life began and ended sadly but she left behind some good work as this film evidences.

Blackmail (1929) was shown recently at the PFA as part of their series of nine newly restored Alfred Hitchcock silents. It was my favorite. I had previously seen the talkie version of the same film which cannot hold a candle to this one. (Candle holding is difficult for intimate objects.) An attempted rape becomes a murder although at worst a manslaughter if viewed objectively and through modern eyes. Our heroine (Marie Ault who is wunderbar ) has a police detective boyfriend who is put on the case. Meanwhile a dastardly criminal has evidence of her role and threatens -- what else? -- blackmail!  From the director who was to go on to make some of the greatest films of the 20th century, Blackmail is -- for me -- easily one of his ten best. He was no novice at this point. This was film number 11 and his stride had been hit. Great stuff.

The Great Dictator (1940). This is a stunning movie to look back on. My god the brilliance of Charlie Chaplin to make this film when Hitler was not just in power but at his greatest glory. Of course Chaplin said he'd never have made it had he known just how bloody awful the Nazis were. We are fortunate that he was ignorant of the facts (while it is tragic that so many in power were either similarly ignorant or chose to ignore). In the nearly 75 years since no one -- no one -- has done a better job of satirizing lampooning and skewering Hitler. To do at that time and to evoke such genuine laughter is as much a testimony to Chaplin as you can come up with. And that speech at the end? You know the one the Little Tramp assumes the dictator's place on the podium and delivers an impassioned speech for humanity and against everything the evil tyrant stands for? That one. It has at times seemed hokey, overly long and repetitive to me. No more. We could use a little more of its sentiments today.

There have been other films that I've watched recently. But. Maybe I didn't care for one and don't like writing about movies I don't like. Maybe I have already written about the film. Maybe I have nothing much to say about the film. Maybe I am suffering from dengue fever or cholera or yellow jack or amoebic dysentery or dropsy or diphtheria or lockjaw or typhus or scurvy and so can't write more. Who knows?

Three Favorite Films From Some of my Favorite Directors Much Annotated And This is Part 2

Here I am trying to live, or rather, I am trying to teach the death within me how to live.- Jean Cocteau

Here is what I said before part one of this series which I have by the way decided will have three parts:
The title says it. I take a favorite director and pick my three favorite films he's done or did. Then I write something though sometimes off topic and not necessarily about all three films. I'm calling this part one which suggests that there will be parts to follow. When I don't know. Who can know such things. Truly.

Roberto Rossellini. Roma, citti aperta (1945). Stromboli (1950). The Flowers of Saint Francis (1950). Neo realism as it was meant to be. The human drama. In World War II. In a lonely fishing village. Among monks. The evil the beatified the depraved the tortured. I've never seen a spectacular shot within a Rossellini film but I've seen the spectacular. How do you film desperation or fear or moral decay or certitude? Seems impossible but he did it. There was magic in his style in that he created such depth and drama so effortlessly to our eyes and senses. It just sank in. Sinks. His films don't won't age.

William Wellman. Wild Boys of the Road (1933). Heroes For Sale (1933). Westward the Women (1951). Someone asked me the other day what films most captured the spirit of John Dos Passos and his novels that comprised the USA Trilogy. I said the pre code films of William Wellman which include Wild Boys and Heroes. Like Dos Passos these stories had the power of relevance truth honesty and authentic American style characters often bucking up against the rich and powerful. The struggle of individuals to survive in a cold mechanized and heartless society. Usually finding strength and comfort in numbers. Wellman was a truly American film maker who never bent his films in the direction of easy popularity. He didn't soften characters or stories. There is a timeless quality in his films just as there is in the novels of Dos Passos.

Stanley Kubrick. A Clockwork Orange (1971). 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Barry Lyndon (1975). Here comes the kitchen sink. Stanley did not play ladies and gents. Everything went into the picture all his energy and creativity and attention to detail. And it showed. What spectacular visions. Creations of worlds. Beautiful to behold even when what was taking place in the was repellant. The people were props used masterfully. Kubrick had a way of exaggerating characters to help fill the frame and fill out the story. Films that lasted in your mind and heart and ideas and wow.

Louis Malle. Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987). Elevator to the Gallows (1958). Murmur of the Heart (1971). What is he? New Wave? Noir? There are war pictures. Romances. Family drama. Philosophical meditations. There is Jeanne Moreau in the rain. There is a young Jewish boy being taken away by Nazis. There is oedipus. Lurking lurching loving and leaving and moving and heaving. Camera left and stage right and the eyes of man wandering the city. The artful director and the precise moment captured that lives a lifetime in our memory and can never be wiped away. That indelible moment. That moment. The expression. That sigh. That sign. That director. That man Malle.

Aki Kaurismaki. Ariel (1988). Le Havre (2011). Lights in the Dusk 2006). My Finnish brother. don't come to his films looking for beautiful people or action scenes or special effects. Come for the humanity and the simplicity and the beauty of human experience. The luck good and bad of being alive and going through whatever comes. How people handle the mundane and the interruption of that by the wildly unexpected. Dude is very Finnish. My father told me the Finnish proverb about a man being chased by a bear. He is relieved to come upon a river knowing the Bear won't follow him. Half way across the river he sees another bear waiting for him on the other side. He laughs.

Frank Capra. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). Meet. John Doe (1941). It's A Wonderful Life (1946). A softer gentler America then Wellman but a liberal sentimental fighting underdog loving one. Capra was a Republican but his films were often about battles with powerful establishment figures. A neo fascist tycoon in John Doe a predatory banker businessman in IAWL and a corrupt political machine in Smith. One man taking on the vested interest against impossible odds. Very American characters played by the likes of Gary Cooper Barbara Stanwyck James Stewart and Donna Reed. Good clean believable dialog. Easy to root for stories.

Francois Truffaut. Jules and Jim (1962). Shoot the Piano Player (1960). 400 Blows (1959). Exuberant and stylish but never showy. An attention to the little movements and the short seconds that can fly by unattended. But he was a joyful director with a free floating and happy camera. Grounded in his art and telling the story just so. Just so that we would appreciate -- almost like he did -- what an amazing story he was telling.

Charlie Chaplin. City Lights (1931). Modern Times (1936). The Great Dictator (1940). The pathos. The little tramp. The comic genius. The pratfalls the chases the choreography the cute man the pretty girl the darling child the adorable mutt the pulling of heart strings...the tear -- never two. Then the silents ended and Charlie adapted but never yielded. Still mostly silent realizing that words can be so limiting. The sheer brilliance of the above three films. The painstaking attention to detail that created the  large gaps between pictures but resulted in such fine craftsmanship. Such great art. No one to compare him with before during or after.

You Can Watch a Classic Film, a Great One or Just One That's A Helluva Lot of Fun, I Offer Ten Examples of the Latter

There are only so many films that a given cinephile will rank among the greatest of all time. Unlike in, say, choosing a life partner, you can afford to occasionally select a film  that you know going in is just for fun. However there is a hard and fast rule about just- for-fun films, they still have to be good. No need you wasting your time with rubbish. While there are few classics, there are enough fun films to keep you from knowingly dipping into the real stinkers.

Just-for-funs are generally light hearted fare. They may feature some belly laughs, toe tapping songs or exciting chase scenes, but they don't challenge you intellectually. There are some films that would seem to qualify as just for fun films that I don't consider as such. This would be a picture like Duck Soup (1933) which I hold in such high esteem that is more than just for fun -- it's sacred. In a similar vein Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Cabaret (1972) are too important to qualify.

When I watch a just-for-fun film I need a gentle comfy experience, not something I'm going to be awed by. After all a body can only take so much lobster, occasionally one just wants a tuna sandwich. So now that I've beaten this point into the ground, I present ten examples of movies I watch....all together now: JUST FOR FUN!

High Society (1956). On the one hand its a musical remake of The Philadelphia Story (1940) that pales in comparison to the real Mccoy. On the other hand its got Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Grace Kelly and Celeste Holm in the cast. Plus you get Sinatra and Crosby crooning. Their duet of Cole Porter's "Did You Evah?" makes it worthwhile to sit through the rest of the picture. This is such an light and airy film that you swear it can float away. But it is the very definition of what the posting is all about -- fun.

Follow the Fleet (1936). Really, any Astaire and Rogers film could qualify. They are all about fun and nothing else. The character development (such as it isn't) and the stories (as heavy as a 1950s sit com) are all just props around Fred and Ginger's dancing. And when they danced to a song it stayed danced to. I offer Follow the Fleet because the story (with Fred in the Navy) is particularly weightless and it has my favorite all time dance number done to the song "Let's Face the Music and Dance."

Dr. No (1962). Last Summer oldest daughter and I watched all the Sean Connery James Bond films (I refuse to acknowledge the others). Truly any one of them would qualify for this list but why not start with the first one? (However if you want the best of the lot I'd suggest From Russia With Love (1963)). The story lines of the Bond films strain credulity beyond the breaking point, the special effects look silly, but their is stronger emphasis on character development then you see today. And besides, it's Sean Connery for crying out loud.

The Jerk (1979). Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a stupid movie. True, true. But it is also a very funny one. Any film that starts with Steve Martin saying, "I was born a poor black child" is announcing itself as being stupid. And funny. It would be silly to describe The Jerk so I'll just leave you with this soliloquy from it:  I know we've only known each other four weeks and three days, but to me it seems like nine weeks and five days. The first day seemed like a week and the second day seemed like five days. And the third day seemed like a week again and the fourth day seemed like eight days. And the fifth day you went to see your mother and that seemed just like a day, and then you came back and later on the sixth day, in the evening, when we saw each other, that started seeming like two days, so in the evening it seemed like two days spilling over into the next day and that started seeming like four days, so at the end of the sixth day on into the seventh day, it seemed like a total of five days. And the sixth day seemed like a week and a half. I have it written down, but I can show it to you tomorrow if you want to see it. 

Catch Me if You Can (2002). Leonardo DiCaprio has surprised many of us by emerging as a serious acting presence, but in CMIYC he's more the adorable scamp. Steven Spielberg  directed this true story of one the great young con artists of any generation. Tom Hanks is the FBI agent in hot pursuit and he's wonderful too. It's a perfectly charming story and while meaty at two hours and twenty minutes, positively flies by.

After the Thin Man (1936). You'll note the presence of several sequels on this list, they almost never measure up to the original but as in the case of ATTM they're often okay. There were several Thin Man sequels and though I wouldn't swear to it I think they get progressively worse. In any event, this is the second of the series and it's good fun. Nick (William Powell) Nora (Myrna Loy) and Asta are in San Francisco. The story commences on New Year's Eve and don't you know it our heroes can't enjoy their homecoming without a murder needing investigation. There are suspects aplenty including one portrayed by a young actor named James Stewart (whatever became of the lad?). With Powell and Loy leading the way, and tippling away, these stories are always a delight.

Battleground (1949). Ladies and gentlemen I gave you the quintessential World War II film of the immediate post war period. It is also one of the best. This is good ole G.I. Joe at the Battle of the Bulge fighting Nazis and the elements. You have the wonderful stew of a bunch of different sort of Yanks being thrown together and fighting the good fight. There is the camaraderie, the squabbles, the sad death of buddies and heroic deeds. Battleground doesn't flinch at violence as many war films of its era did, but there's not blood and brain matter spewing every which way like in recent cinema. William Wellman directed so you know its good.

The Town (2010). Last year Ben Affleck wrote, directed and star in this wonderful heist film. Jon Hamm played the FBI agent pursuing our anti heros. Rebecca Hall and Blake Lively played the love interests and it is a testimony to Affleck's wisdom that he cast these two lovelies opposite himself. Hall has appeared in and greatly enhanced several films in the past few years. The Town is an improbable story but believable enough to make the action, romance and tension genuine fun. So, yeah, this is a fun movie worth a second look.

Aliens (1986). This is the sequel to the classic Alien (1979) from director Ridley Scott. It pains me to include a film directed by the odious James Cameron, but this is a lot of gory fun. While the original was more a Gothic horror film than sci fi thriller, this is played just for thrills and of those there are plenty. Sigourney Weaver is back and this time she is more the prototypical action figure than the gallant hero of the first film.

Rio Grande (1950). John Ford cranked out countless Westerns and its hard to find a bad one in the lot. Rio Grande is not among his best but it'll do. There is the wonderful teaming of John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara a few years before The Quiet Man (1952). Also much of Ford's usual players were in the cast including Harey Carey Jr., Victor McLaglen and a young Ben Johnson. Oh yes, there are Apaches on the warpath, battle scenes, laughs, beautiful scenery and another Ford tip of the cap to the cavalry.

Hey everybody, this was my 600th Post!!! In lieu of gifts please send money.

So You Want to Start Watching Westerns, an Introduction

So You Want to Start Watching _______is an occasional feature here at Streams of Unconsciousness. It is a guide to anyone unfamiliar with a particular star, director, genre, or time period in films. After a brief introduction, I will provide a sampling of films to watch. Although I will always strive to include the best possible films for each chapter in the series, I will also look to present representative work. I'll say a little bit about each film, all of which will be provided in chronological order. This is the third of the series. In the first I provided an introduction to the films of Humphrey Bogart the second was an intro to screwball comedies and in the third I introduced films of the 1970s.

Howdy Pardner. Y'all new to this here genre? No need to saddle up or tote your shootin iron, just mosey on over to yer Netflix queue or rustle up a DVD from the local livery stable or saloon.

Westerns, as the following list will help prove, span the entire history of cinema. Like any other genre there are within it classics, stinkers and the utterly average. A Western is generally agreed to be a story set in the area that constitutes the present day U.S. Usually from west of the Appalachians to east of the Sierra Nevadas. Sometimes spilling south into Mexico and north into Canada. The time period depicted is usually between Lewis & Clark (1806) and the end of WWI (1918), though most are in the post Civil War pre 20th century period.

Because there are a seemingly infinite number of Westerns that have basic stories of good guys and bad guys that are plainly told, the Western has gotten a bad rap with many snooty types like yours truly. Except yours truly appreciates movies of all stripes so long as they're good -- and boy howdy they's some Westerns that are doozies.

Westerns make for good cinema in large part because a director can paint his story across a grand canvass. Most good Westerns embody some aspects of the great length and breadth that was the America West of bygone times. While the wildness of the wild west has been greatly exaggerated, there was a fair amount of colorful outlaws (colorful so long as you didn't cross their paths) and heroic figures. And the west really did feature all manner of what we call characters. Odd, quirky, "touched" and sadistic. There was also the added element of the Native tribes who, as you may well know, where there first. For the most part they were done dirty in Westerns for the first 70 or so years of films. Stereotypical "ugh" spouting savages were convenient villains and foils. There has been a corrective to that over the years and depicting Native tribes in a more sympathetic light has added dimension to their stories and thus to the genre. Truly, the West is a setting that practically begs for myth making.

I set myself the ridiculous challenge of coming up with a starter set of only ten. I failed. Here are 12 films to wet your appetite. This is not a compilation of the greatest Westerns ever made nor a list of my favorites. This is designed to give the novice a broad sample of what's out there. I've attempted to  spread the choices out to represent various time periods in film (over 100 years) with a variety of directors and stars. This meant the inclusion of only two John Ford films on the list. He was the grand master of the genre.

I list plenty of other choices at the conclusion of this writing.

The Great Train Robbery (1903). Why not start at the beginning with a western made when the west was still wild? It was innovative, influential but only 12 minutes long. Still a fun film, not to mention a relic from the past.

The Big Trail (1930). A fairly early talkie and a much neglected film that finally was masterfully restored on DVD three years ago. Raoul Walsh directed this epic story of a wagon train on the Oregon Trail. It is replete with the requisite good guys, bad guys and romance. It was shot in wide screen well ahead of its time. This is a great Western to start with, containing, as it does, all the classic elements, including John Wayne.

Stagecoach (1939). The film that brought the Western back into fashion and helped revolutionize film making in the process. Orson Welles watched it repeatedly as he prepared to make a little film called Citizen Kane (1941). Ford masterfully contrasts the claustrophobic interiors of the stagecoach and other dwellings, with the wide open spaces.

The Westerner (1940). Yup, Even William Wyler directed a Western. Course it didn't hurt none that he had Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan in the cast, two old and future hands at Cow Poke stories. This is the best of the many cinematic tellings of the story of Judge Roy Bean, with Brennan playing the ole cuss.

Westward the Women (1951). Women as western heroes? Yup. From director William Wellman comes the story about a wagon train of women and one fella (Robert Taylor) making their way west to marry up with some lonely settlers. It's chock full of adventure and human drama. Also features fine performances from a relatively anonymous cast, Taylor aside. If you ain't a seen it, do so, pronto.

The Naked Spur (1953). James Stewart as you've never seen him before. Or rarely anyway. He's one tough, borderline mean hombre, pushed by desperation to extrememe measures. Robert Ryan is the real bad guy here (there's someone who could really play mean) and Stewart wants to bring him in for the reward. He just might get the scrumptious Janet Leigh as a boobie prize (watch it!)

The Searchers (1956). Is this the best Western ever made or is Stagecoach? I'll call it a toss up. John Ford directed both. This is a beautifully told story with many layers. And it includes Wayne's best performance. For more on this masterpiece, see this post of mine from two years ago.

Ride the High Country (1962). Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott were veterans of Westerns when they co-starred in this Sam Peckinpah directed film. It seems at first a rescue story (Mariette Hartley is the damsel in distress) but turns into a morality tale. Gorgeous scenery and two leads at the essentially finishing their careers playing men finishing their careers.

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). Will wonders never cease, Henry Fonda playing a low down dirty snake of a bad guy. In a spagehetti western no less. The director was Sergio Leone who was a master of the Pasta Oater. Fonda was an actor first and so had no trouble convincing audiences he was a rat. Charles Bronson is the hero.

McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971). Yes there's even a Western film with 1970s cinema sensibilities and it was directed by the iconclastic Robert Altman and starred, of all people, Warren Beatty. I told you that Westerns come in all shapes and sizes. Beatty is the McCabe of the title and the delicious Julie Christie is Mrs. Miller. At the very least its an intersesting Western and to many its superb film making.

Dances With Wolves (1990). If it hadn't gone an beaten out the vastly superior Goodfellas for the best picture Oscar, this sprawling Western from Kevin Costner wouldn't suffer the bad rap that plagues it today. It's got action, romance, wide vistas and the "Indians" as good guys. I unashamedly showed it as part of my US History curriculum for the zillion years I taught and the young uns loved it. So did I.

True Grit (2010). Hokey smokes even the Coen Brothers made a Western and by gum they did a bang up job. It's a classic revenge story. Jeff Bridges is an ideal old west crumudgeon lawman and Haillee Steinfeld adds a twist as the super precocious teen seeking justice for Pa's murder. They didn't make Westerns like they used to it, until of all people, the Coens came along. Let's hope it brings the genre roaring back.

Lookey here for what other Westerns are worth a look or 12. Red River (1948), Shane (1953), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Wild Bunch (1969), Little Big Man (1970), The Iron Horse (1924), The Good the Bad and the Ugly (1966), The Man From Laramie (1955), The Ox Bow Incident (1943), My Darling Clementine (1946), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Dodge City (1939), Destry Rides Again (1939), Winchester 73 (1950),  Unforgiven (1992), High Noon (1952), Fort Apache (1948),The Long Riders (1980) and a bunch of others that I'm sure I'll catch hell for leavin' out.

For Veteran's Day, Some of the Best Movies of Our Lives, With Veterans Even

You'll see a lot of suggestions for films to watch on or around Veteran's Day and I'm here to provide still more. However, unlike other bloggers, critics or reviewers, the suggestions here are not just war pictures. Mine all feature a war veteran or two. It is, after all, veteran's who we honor on November 11 (nee Armistice Day). Brief digression: I can't be the only one who's excited about next year's Veteran's Day, specifically when the clock tolls 11:11 am. Yes, it'll be 11:11 on 11/11/11. How cool is that?

A second brief digression. It is a scandal that while the United States "honors its troops" at every possible occasion, veterans here practically have to go begging for the most basic services, especially those who are disabled as a consequence of combat.

Here are now are a few films for your Veteran's Day, all with veterans featured prominently.

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). This is the mother of all veteran's films. The multi Oscar winner is first and last about the fates of three veterans returning to their hometown at the end of World War II. It has the immediacy of having been made at the very time it depicts. Some of the best movies about an event or time period are ones that are made contemporarily. This is a case in point. While Hollywood has churned out umpteen films about WWII, this is one of a handful to deal specifically with the lot of those fighting men upon their return home. Dana Andrews, Fredric March and Harold Russell play the trio and, along with co stars Myrna Loy and Teresa Wright, form one of the greatest ensemble casts of all time. You'll not see a better depiction of the difficulties faced by ex servicemen in adjusting to civilian life. The idea of picking up where one left off after facing the holocaust of war is laughable. Nothing is the same even when returning to a stable family. Imagine being without such a home or without one's hands. The Best Years of Our Lives is one of the better films of any kind ever made. On the topic of veterans, it's the gold standard.

Heroes For Sale (1933). Among the scars and hardships a solider can return from war with is an addiction to drugs, often painkillers that were administered to ease the suffering caused by battle injuries. Meet Tom Holmes (Richard Barthelmess) the main character in this tale. His addiction costs him his job and after rehab, sends him on the road seeking better prospects. Add to that, the medal for bravery in the line of fire he deserved has gone to another, a coward at that. Holmes overcomes hardships only to be one of the many victims of the Great Depression. A terrific film from America's most under appreciated director, William Wellman.

The Roaring Twenties (1939). Another wonderful movie that follows the exploits of an American GI returning from the Great War. This time its Eddie Bartlett played by James Cagney in one of his many outstanding performances. Talk about not honoring vets, Bartlett can't get his old job back! One thing leads to another and the next thing you know Eddie is in the bootlegging game. And before you know it he's got his own gang and is raking in the dough. Sadly, this is a rise and fall story. It's not too much of a stretch to suggest that the failure of the country to take care of its vets led the previously honest Eddie to a life of crime, a life cut short at that.

Born on the 4th of July (1989). Strictly in terms of showing the lot of veteran, this Oliver Stone film is second only to Best Years. This is the true story of Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic who entered the army a gun ho "love it or leave it" patriot and returned from the war a paraplegic as the result of a gunshot wound. It was not long after coming home that Kovic made the radical transformation into a an outspoken opponent of the war. Born on the 4th follows Kovic's life from entering the war, fighting, hospitalization and through anti war activism. Tom Cruise gave the best performance of his career to date in the starring role.

The Manchurian Candidate (1962). It's bad enough to re-adjust to society after fighting in a war but when you've unknowingly been brainwashed into being a political assassin, well that just sucks. Such is the fate of returning Korean War POW Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) in this political thriller from director John Frankenheimer. Fellow POW Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra) was not similarly programmed but he's dealing with some serious post traumatic stress disorder in the form of cryptic dreams about their experiences. Not terribly realistic (or is it?) but still a helluva film and a powerful look at PTSD.

Movies and Trains, As Natural as the Cream in Your Coffee

Trains and movies go together as naturally as jazz and saxophones. Directors are afforded a contained area which is at once limiting and liberating. Passageways are narrow and quarters confined and there's no terra firma. On the other hand there's movement, scenery, and challenges for the camera that can create memorable cinema. It's remarkable how many chase scenes successfully take place on trains, along with fist fights, love scenes and silly shenanigans.

Spacecraft, ships, aeroplanes and even submarines have provided moving set locations for films, but not with the degree either of frequency or success as have trains. Train travel was much more common in the United States up until the 1960s. Except for the Northeastern Seaboard, trains in the U.S. are infrequent, expensive and stop everywhere, making such travel tedious and impractical. It's a sad loss for Americans who as such strong individualists all want their own modes of transportation (i.e. cars) and can't abide their tax dollars subsiding a seemingly archaic mode of travel.

So aside from visiting or re-locating to Europe your best bet to enjoy riding the rails is to watch a movie.  There are literally oodles ("did he just write 'literally oodles'"?) of movies, most from the first half of the previous century, that feature lengthy or important scenes on choo choos. I can not even pretend that what I provide below is anything more than a sample. This list could easily be twice, three times, even four times longer. But I do think I've got a representative sample of excellent films where trains were integral to a good story.

The 39 Steps (1939) or Escape on a Train. Alfred Hitchcock frequently used trains and invariably to great effect. In The 39 Steps a man (Robert Donat) wrongly suspected of murder must elude the coppers while on board a moving a train. This first creates drama when a newspaper with his mug on it is purchased and then when the law gets wind he's on the train. A woman is of no help but a bridge is, in this delightful film full of derring do, dash and whimsy.

The Lady Vanishes (1938) or International Intrigue on a Train. Another Hitchcock film. This time there's a charming little old lady on a train and then there's not. Where'd she go and why does no one believe our heroine (Margaret Lockwood) who insists the woman was on board? It won't surprise you to know that there are the proverbial bad guys in this film, most of which is set on a train.  There's also eccentric English gents, romance, a handsome leading man (Michael Redgrave) and a shootout. Great fun in one one of Hitch's most under appreciated efforts.

The Train (1964) or World War II on a Train. In this film from director John Frankenheimer, trains co star with Burt Lancaster in a thriller about the French resistance trying to save rare works of arts from the clutches of the Nazis. The villains are trying to get the artwork out of Paris via -- take a guess ... who said train? Lancaster leaps about trestles, tracks and the trains themselves in his effort to thwart the bad guys. Action aplenty much of it on moving trains. Great stuff for WWII, train and film aficionados. (If you're all three you're in for a real treat.)

Twentieth Century (1934) or Theater on a Train. John Barrymore and Carole Lombard hamming it up and us viewers cracking up. This is great stuff. The film starts in a theater where Barrymore is an impresario and Lombard his discovery. But much of the action takes place aboard a train called the Twentieth Century, a few years later when Lombard is a big star and Barrymore's fortunes are on the wane. He's trying to woo her back with guile, a wing and prayer. Howard Hawks directed the twosome and let em have it. So you get two thespians feasting on the scenery, which remember, is a train.

Go West (1940) or The Marx Brothers on a Train. By rights this shouldn't be here as it's not a terribly good film, especially for the Marx Brothers. But it features one of the great trains scenes of all time. It is an elaborate chase sequence in which the train is veritably cannibalized to fuel itself. It is the embodiment of madcap antics and its on rails.

Shanghai Express (1932) or Scandal and Civil War on a Train. This folks is a great film and its long past high time it got its much due DVD release. Almost the whole shebang takes place aboard a train, namely the Shanghai Express. Marlene Dietrich stars as the notorious Shanghai Lil a well known, shall we say working woman, who's one of several intriguing passengers aboard the express. The journey will find itself right in the  middle of the Chinese Civil War. Joseph von Sternberg directed.

Wild Boys of the Road (1933) or The Depression on a Train. Riding the rails was a common form of transportation for the colorfully named hoboes of America's Great Depression. In this classic from William Wellman, it's teenagers searching for where the grass is greener. They hop a freight, meet compatriots and even get into a brawl with cops. Hoping a freight epitomized those desperate times when cars were abandoned and people searched the land for some sort of break. This movie captures that time as well as any other.

Palm Beach Story (1942) or The Ale and Quail Club on a Train. Folks, this is train abuse pure and simple. What the wealthy and intoxicated members of the hunting and imbibing club do to this train is a scandal. Their gunplay (harmless in intent) terrorizes a porter and provides unwanted air conditioning to a club car. Meanwhile they go on a hunt for a young lady they've taken under their wing, utilizing their beagles. That young lady (Claudette Colbert) not surprsingly hides from her besotted benefactors and in the process meets a very wealthy bachelor (Rudy Vallee). You get it, it's more madcap fare from director Preston Sturges and is howling good fun.

Schindler's List (1993) or The Holocaust on a Train. I never said this was going to be all yucks and giggles. There is a tragic iconography in the trains pulling into Auschwitz with their doomed cargo. Stuff to haunt your dreams (its done mine) for its grim reality. Schindler's List evokes that horror and particularly the horribly crowded cattle cars.

Some Like it Hot (1959) or Men in Drag on a Train. What could be better than sharing intimate quarters on a train with Marylin Monroe? Not much although watching her cavort with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, with the latter two in drag, comes pretty close. This classic comedy's key middle third takes place aboard a Miami bound train. The three stars were never better.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) or Bandits on a Train. Behold the dedicated bank employee who stands steadfast aside his company's safe refusing to yield to the Hole in the Wall Gang. No, he'll not let them near the loot though they threaten to blow it and him to kingdom come. Our persistent thieves are led by Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford). Imagine their surprise when too much dynamite is used and money blows hither and yon. And imagine their shock when out of some of the trains cars come armed horseman. The law! The chase is on and birthed by a train.

Strangers on a Train (1951) or A Train With Strangers On It. There's actually not a lot of this film (another from Hitchcock) set aboard a train but what there is is crucial. Strangers opens with the chance meeting of two men who strike up what is to one of them a most interesting conversation (to the other it all seems rather macarbe and odd). Our oddball suggests that they each commit a murder on behalf of the other. Each will have an air tight alibi and thus neither will be suspected. The train and most especially the tracks, provide some key symbolism as well as a starting point.

You Know You Really Like A Director If... (Part Four)

My weekly look at my favorite directors continues with William "Wild Bill" Wellman, the best film director that not enough people have heard of. As with previous directors that I've raved about there are so many films of his that I like that creating a list of ten favorites was no problem. Aside from having to exclude a few good ones.

Wellman had an amazing run from 1931-1933 in which he directed half the films on this list. But he started making excellent films in the Silent Era and continued well into the 1950s.

While his reputation is built largely on manly Western and War films, Wellman was adept at all genres. He worked with a wide variety of great actors. James Cagney, Henry Fonda, Frederich March, Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck, Carole Lombard, Loretta Young and Lauren Bacall. To name but a handful.

Wellman was no slouch before he started his film career. Despite coming from a wealthy family (he was a descendant of a signer of the Declaration of Independence) he started working on the nickname that would stick with him all his life, Wild Bill, at an early age. Wellman and trouble were close friends. He loved sports and one of those was joy riding. Wild Bill was quick to engage in fisticuffs, a habit that endured throughout his directing career.

With the advent of World War I, Wellman wasn't going to wait around for U.S. entry to participate. Through connections he was able to join the air branch of the French Foreign Legion. Despite being shot down once, he survived the war, joining U.S. forces before it was over.

Though his friendship with Douglas Fairbanks he became involved in movies, first as an actor. But he hated acting and longed to direct. Wild Bill worked his way up though a series of jobs, making his directorial debut in 1923.

Wellman's films were concise, straightforward and unflinching. His heroes were given to action, not words. He packed a lot into his stories seemingly never wasting a shot. Wellman used exteriors and weather but never let the camera linger on them. If his camera paused at all it was on a face. An expressive one. This was a appropriate because his films so often focused on ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Whether his characters were facing enemy tanks, a lynch mob, a vengeful crook or the person they loved, the focus was on them and their response. Wellman’s movies were character driven.

Wild Bill was comfortable with gangster films (Public Enemy, Midnight Mary), comedies (Small Town Girl, Nothing Sacred), war pictures (The Story of G.I. Joe, Battleground), Westerns, (The Oxbow Incident, Westward the Women) and even directed the original A Star is Born. Here are my ten favorites:

The Public Enemy (1931). The first great gangster film ever made. Much well deserved kudos has gone to star James Cagney for his stunning performance but Wellman had a little bit to do with the film as well. It is as tough and taut a film as you'll ever see. A no holds barred look at the rise and fall of a gangster. A familiar enough story but Cagney and Wellman breathed real intensity into the story. For more see my post of last Fall.

Wild Boys of the Road (1933). You'll note a pattern in Wellman's work in that he excels at realism and his stories pull nary a punch. Wild Boys is one of the best films about the Depression Era to come out of the Depression Era. It follows a group of teens who've left their homes to relieve the burdens on their families and see if they can make a go of it on their own. The school of hard knocks awaits. See my post from earlier this Spring for more.

Heroes For Sale (1933). Thank God this film is finally available on DVD and has been shown on TCM. Now it may finally get the recognition it so richly deserves. Wellman was a very economical film maker, particularly in the early Thirties. Here was a story of bravery, cowardice, drug abuse, labor strife, poverty and more. In less than 80 minutes! It's another powerful look at the Depression that was gripping the nation when the film was released. Richard Barthelmess starred and a strong supporting cast included Aline MacMahon, Loretta Young, Grant Mitchell and Charley Grapewin.

Wings (1927). The first great aerial war picture and still one of the best. The romance at the core of this World War I flying aces story is a tad on the hokey side but that doesn't detract from the spectacle that is Wings. The photography is amazing. Clearly Wellman brought is own experiences from the war to the production. Won the first Best Picture Oscar.

Midnight Mary (1933). The delicious Loretta Young stars as Mary Martin, a woman on trial for murder. As the jury deliberates, Young recalls her life and the circumstances that brought to her a possible death sentence. Mary grew up in poverty and things went downhill from there. She took up with a group of gangsters led by Ricardo Cortez but found love in the person of a wealthy young man played by Franchot Tone. Conflict. Old habits die hard especially when the bad guys have something on you and don't want to let you go. Thoroughly entertaining.

Westward the Women (1951). Go West young woman, and find a husband. Westward the Women is one of the few Westerns to focus on women. A California farmer in the mid 19th century recruits 150 women from Chicago to take the arduous wagon train journey west to provide brides for the overwhelmingly single male population. The wagon master is Robert Taylor and in a decidedly less glamorous role than he was accustomed to, he's excellent. But the real stars of the film are the women and the at times beautiful and at times hazardous trail. See more in my post from last year.

Battleground (1949). One of the better WWII films ever made, certainly from among those made during and immediately following the war. Absent the full color spewing blood and intestines protruding from wounds audiences see today, this is one realistic film. The emphasis is on the soldiers, in this case America GI's at the battle of the bulge. there is enough of lightness, thanks to cast members such as Van Johnson and George Murphy, to make this a thoroughly watchable film. See more on Battleground from a recent post.

The Ox Bow Incident (1943). Okay, I admit it, I overuse the word "powerful" when describing films, particularly Wellman's. That being said, this is one powerful story. Two cowboys, (Henry Fonda and Henry Morgan) are home from the range. It is through them that we see a town's reaction to cattle rustlers develop into a lynch mob mentality (literally) that grips a group of vigilantes and imperils a trio of drifters. The film was ahead of its time as evidenced by this snippet from variety's review of January 1, 1943: "Hardly a gruesome detail is omitted. Where the pleading by the three innocent victims doubtlessly was exciting on the printed page, it becomes too raw-blooded for the screen. Chief fault is that the pictureover-emphasizes the single hanging incident of the novel, and there's not enough other action." Great fun. It’s hardly tame stuff today, but the Variety review is over wrought.

Small Town Girl (1936). This delightful comedy proves Wellman's versatility. The sweet as candy Janet Gaynor is the title character. She "accidentally" marries a wealthy young man played by Robert Taylor. This puts him a fix as he’s a big city fellow with a big city fiance. What will they do? It's a winning romantic comedy, quite a departure from the usual Wellman fare. An aspiring young actor named Jimmy Stewart plays Gaynor's jilted lover.

Night Nurse (1931). If you're a dirty old man like me (God forbid) you'll thrill to see the scantily clad duo of Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Blondell as a couple of nurses. You may also get a kick out of a most nasty Clark Gable, sans mustache. Stanwyck plays a street wise dame knew to the nursing profession who uncovers a plot to murder the two kids she's charged with minding. She calls upon a would be suitor, who happens to be a small time crook, to foil the heinous plot. Great fun.

War, What is Good For? Films, Of Course

I missed out on being in a war. Never shot at. No sleeping in mud. No seeing my buddy's brains blow out. No being under heavy artillery attack. No charges at enemy lines. No going out on patrol. No wounds. No medals. No shipping out. No furlough. Nothin.

My dad fought in the Winter War, aka the Finno-Russian War. He was also on merchant marine ships during WWII that came under airplane fire and was at the helm of one that was sunk by a Japanese submarine. I heard his stories. But me? Closest I come was being tear gassed at anti war demonstrations when I was in high school.

I've read a lot about wars, particularly the two world wars. I mean A LOT. Being an expert is relative. I'm certainly an authority on such arcane things as growing up Finnish American in Berkeley in the Sixties. I'm an expert on teaching 8th grade history. I know one helluva lot about other things like baseball, movies and World War II. But an expert? That's another thing.

There's so much to know about wars. I'm never interested in generals and their tactics. My eyes glaze over when I read that stuff. I am fascinated with certain leaders. I'm currently reading my 896th book on FDR and he had a lot to do with US response to and actions in WWII. But besides a few civilian leaders what really interests me is the men who do the fighting. Generally speaking you're taking an ordinary guy out of his comfort zone and throwing him into most unusual and horrifying circumstances. He's not only in danger of being killed or maimed, he's often called upon to do some killing of his own. And what they go through! Hard to imagine. It's not just the being shot at, it's the conditions a solider lives in. if you can really call it living. The lack of privacy, the discomfort, the anxiety are just the tip of the iceberg. Disease has been rampant in most war zones. Showers, hell, even being able to just wash your hands can be the stuff of dreams. And toilets and toilet paper? Let's not even go there.

Something that can help one understand the life of a soldier is film. There are a lot of good and many superior films that are set in war time. I dedicated a post to 25 great World War II films last summer and I've got a follow up I hope to post tomorrow. I also had a post on World War I films last Fall. The point is war, as disagreeable as it is (and there's very little mankind has come up with that's worse) makes compelling material for film.

The world's greatest TV station, TCM, is in the midst of their annual 72-hour Memorial Day weekend marathon of war related films. I've got the old DVR set to record several and have already watched a couple: Battleground (1949) and The Story of G.I. Joe (1945). Both directed by the great William Wellman.

The later, is based on the experiences of America's greatest war correspondent, Ernie Pyle. It hit theaters before the war was even over and even featured extras who'd recently seen combat. Indeed many of them shipped out to the Asian Theater of Operations after filming and several were killed in action as was Pyle himself.

Faces.

The story of G.I. Joe is all about the soldier's faces. Wellman had the camera hold on faces. The power of the story is etched in their mugs. We see them react. We see them listen. We see them think and pray and wonder. We see their courage and fear. Those faces tell the story, everything else is backdrop. The film is dark. The soldier's humor and bonhomie is fleeting and tinged with the reality of where they are, what has happened and what may yet come.

Like the soldier's lament, it's hurry up and wait. The soldier's are either moving to the next battle site or stock still, sitting in pouring ran or blazing sun awaiting orders. There is intermittent action and by action I mean battle, which can mean death. There is nothing glamorous about it. We admire the soldier's for their perseverance, their ability to keep on. One finally cracks, but a slug in the jaw from Robert Mitchum settles him long enough to that he can later rejoin the fray. Knowing the ultimate fate of the central character, Pyle (played by Burgess Meredith) adds to the sense of gloom. When another central character dies near the end of the film and the soldier's must press on... well, it makes for a powerful story. 

Battleground was made four years later and in comparison seems light and breezy. But taken on its own terms it too is an unflinching and unglamorous look at men at war. The story centers on the infamous battling bastards of Bastogne, those brave souls of the 101st Airborne who helped stem the tide at the Battle of the Bulge.

Van Johnson adds glitz and charm but with frozen toes, buddies blown to bit and James Whitmore spewing tobacco juice, this is not exactly Brigadoon (1954). What I find surprising in Battleground is the effective performances of George Murphy and Ricardo Montalban, not exactly heavyweights. Ultimately Battleground is the more accessible film. We get to know the characters better, they're funnier and there is more optimism. Perhaps the fact that the film was made when the war was starting to fade a bit in the rear view mirror helped. Both were in glorious black and white and that adds to their grittiness. There is at times a documentary feel to each. They feel immediate.

The battle scenes in both films lack the in-living-color blood and intestines of later films like Saving Private Ryan (1998) but we get the idea. You don't need technicolor gore to appreciate the exacting wages of battle.

Like literature, films have done us the favor of showing what war is like. Sadly, too many people get the wrong message from the wrong films or ignore the right messages from the right films. They still see war as the ultimate expression of man's virility and if they're not in a position to jump into battle themselves are glad to cheer lead politicians who will send young people into carnage. One grows sick at the happy willingness of Americans to send young men and women to die or have body parts blown off in Iraq, in an utterly unnecessary and indeed self-defeating cause.

I suppose the truth is that all the great books and films in the world are not going to sway some people who don't get the idea that war is really, literally hell and should be avoided at all costs.

For the rest of us, war films can give us pause to appreciate or at least understand what our forebearers have gone through. They can be great studies of the human condition. Thankfully very few of us today face the prospects of going into battle. But we do deal with dramatic situations and dangerous foes and must come to grips with our own cowardice and bravery. War films can help us explore our inner demons.

They can also help to illuminate and inform the human condition and not incidentally are often ripping good yarns in the bargain.

A Story As Timely as If Ripped From Today's Headlines!

Rape.
Manslaughter.
Hunger.
Amputation.
Mass unemployment.
Mobs of juveniles attacking police.


Not exactly the fare one associates with films of the 1930's. But it's all part of director William Wellman's, Wild Boys of the Road (1933). As is a teenager complaining to a judge about how banks, soldiers, farmers and breweries are getting help, but "What about us? We're kids!" This is not the "let's put on a show!" hokum most are accustomed to from 1930's cinema. Wild Boys is part of the truly Golden Age of American film known as the pre code era. Censorship was not rigidly enforced and films tackled mature and controversial subject matter in a way they would not be able to again for several decades. (See my recent posts on the pre code era. The first is linked to this sentence. And the second to this one.)

I hope you all saw Wild Boys on TCM the other night or that you taped, Tivo'd or VCR'd it. If not thank your lucky stars that it's finally come out on DVD.

This is a movie that pulls no punches; I submit as evidence the beginning of this post.

Two teens in Depression Era America take to the road to relieve their hungry families the burden of feeding them. The central character, Eddie, is so selfless he's already sold his beloved jalopy and given the cash to dear old dad. Along the way our friends meet a fellow traveler, a lovely young girl badly disguised as a boy. Not surprisingly their numbers soon multiply as other adolescent vagabonds join them. They ride the rails seeking an elusive job, along the way providing each other with company and solidarity.

Meanwhile they constantly run afoul of authorities, who after all have to enforce the laws of the land. These desperate times call for desperate measures and the waifs take on first railroad bulls and later the police. The results of this latter battle are inevitable.

Wild Boys is a great companion piece to John Ford's Grapes of Wrath (1940). Both show a bent but not broken country in which the American dream has given way to nightmare. The rich and powerful have survived the Depression relatively unscathed while the masses have taken a direct hit. (This would be an appropriate point to pause and read the great Langston Hughes poem "Let America Be America Again" which this sentence is linked to.) Both Wellman and Ford were depicting an American in which the indomitable will of the people could take on and perhaps even overcome any hardship. Their films show the ugly truth of America during the depression. Good people resorting to any measure, even slipping into lawlessness, in a desperate attempt to maintain their dignity.

What is dignity if not a roof over your head and a full belly for you and yours? Is it not also self sufficiency? The myth perpetrated over the years by conservatives is of legions of American with their hands out begging for government relief or welfare checks. That's not most Americans. Most Americans will accept a temporary handout but truly desire a long term solution. As far as these people are concerned a government that has done so much for businesses is more than welcome to help. That law abiding Americans were forced to resort to crime speaks of America's great peril. This also, not incidentally, serves as a primer to what poverty does to those who suffer it in, even the best of times.

Wellman and Ford have captured the struggle that ripped not just at the social fabric of the country, but within the souls of Americans. Whether it is Henry Fonda as Tom Joad or Frankie Daro as Eddie or anyone of dozens of other characters, the bewilderment mixed with moxie combined with faith are etched in their faces. And thankfully Wild Boys shows that not all such faces are white. These films are prescient today as America teeters precariously on the brink of another Depression and its citizens rage at corporate heads handed huge bonuses as rewards despite public records of incompetence.

Wild Boys ends with a note of hope. Our arrested heroes face a kindly judge who gives a personal pledge to help. Eddie's somersault down the sidewalk bespeaks the renewed optimism Americans were starting to feel at the time of the movie's release. After all they had just elected a new president who offered hope after the failed policies of a Republican. Wait, that really sounds familiar.....

Your Pre Code Films Primer Part II

A few days ago I listed ten wonderful films from the pre code era. A brief explanation and introduction of what I was going on about was provided and this sentence is linked to that intro. Suffice it to say that the list of ten wasn't near enough. So here is another ten (wouldn't be funny if I had a list of nine or eleven?). If someone wanted to make a case that this list is better than the first one they wouldn't get much of an argument from me. Anyhoo with the first ten I was looking for a representative selection and I'm trying to do the same again. All 20 films are guaranteed to be great examples of cinema from any era. 'Nuff said, here's another half score.

Heroes for Sale (1933). Finally coming to DVD next week as part of TCM's third set of pre codes. It works on numerous levels but most of all tis a great Depression era social drama. Its about war heroes, both the real ones and the phony baloney kind. It's about labor struggles its...Oh it's no good to try to capsulize it in so short a space; there's so much that Heroes (pictured above) has to say. Director William Wellman made a slew of great films during the pre code era alone. He had a knack for telling stories by creating worlds that were so real you couldn't help but react viscerally. Heroes is totally unsentimental and compelling in the way of many pre code dramas. Not to be missed.

Three On A Match (1932). How's this for starters: the three on the match are Bette Davis, Joan Blondell and Ann Dvorak. Did someone just say 'who's Ann Dvorak?' The lovely Ms. Dvorak is one of those all too forgotten gems of bygone days. She's not just a pretty face. Ms. Dvorak exudes vulnerability and strength of character. The kind of dame men fall for all these years later, even if there’s an even prettier one in the room. When you've got the incomparable Bette Davis and the utterly delightful Joan Blondell rounding out the cast...Pure quality. Mervin LeRoy, a pretty fair director himself, brought to screen this story of three young women who were girlhood friends catching up on old times. We get to follow their new times which are wildly divergent. There's redemption, tragedy and heroism. All of it packed into a very pre code running time of 63 minutes. Zowie!

The Divorcee (1930). Let this be a lesson to anyone interested in marrying Norma Shearer: she don't put up with no mess. Naughty Norma seeks revenge on her adulterous husband with a fling or two of her own. This is the kind of stuff Hollywood shied away from once the production code was enforced. Sure its about sex, but its more about a woman with her own mind and own body who'll do as she pleases, thank you very much. The pre code era gave actresses like Shearer great roles, this is the perfect example.

The Public Enemy (1931). They made some terrific gangster films during the pre code era, none better than this classic starring James Cagney. I could go on and on about Public Enemy but I already did. Read an earlier post that this sentence is linked to. Come on, read it....

Trouble in Paradise (1932). Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins formed a great duo of roguish thieves in this Ernst Lubitsch film. Indeed to me this is Marshall's signature role. He's letter perfect as the high class jewel thief plying his trade in European capitals. Has he met his match in the lovely Ms. Hopkins? What fun they had! And what fun for audiences! And in pre code days there was none of this film noir crap about crime never paying.

Morocco (1930). Marlene Dietrich is obsessed with Gary Cooper. Can you imagine her not getting her man? Joseph von sternberg directed Morocco in one of his many parings with Marlene. What a team they made! He had "a thing for her" (keep it clean) and it resulted in camera shots that veritably caressed the star. You loved Marlene doing a cabaret act in a gorilla suit in Blonde Venus and you'll dig in her tux too. The on screen romance between Dietrich and French legionnaire Cooper is a sight.

Footlight Parade (1933). As great as Cagney was playing gangsters he was equally good doing some song and dance. Problem was he rarely got the chance. See him here with frequent co-star Joan Blondell (goodness she was in a lot of terrific films in those days). See also the delightful pairing of Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler along with beloved character actors Guy Kibbee and Frank McHugh. Sub plots aplenty but most off all some fine patter and toe tapping numbers. The incomparable Busby Berkeley staged the extravaganzas.

Employee's Entrance (1933). You can't have enough of the youthful Loretta Young on any list. Here she is a salesgirl seduced by a tyrannical boss (Warren William, who was made for the role). While she carries on with the head honcho she also falls for someone closer to own age and station in life played by Wallace Ford (what a fine and interesting career he had). Roy Del Ruth directed.

Waterloo Bridge (1931). For God's sakes make sure you're seeing this the original and not the poxy 1940 version with Vivian Leigh and Robert Taylor. James Whale directed and Mae Clarke stars. Ms. Clarke gives a heartbreaking performance as a chorus girl in London during World War I who's forced to turn to another "older profession". She falls for a solider and there's a sense of tragic inevitability to the ensuing romance. Whale's direction is top drawer. Such stories were not told so honestly in the intervening years as the sappy watered down remake proves.

Five Star Final (1931). This is an all time favorite of mine. Mervin LeRoy directed this powerful look at the sensationalistic press. Edward G. Robinson is the editor who comes to understand the direct human cost of sleazy journalism. Boris Karloff is creepy, but this time as a reporter who'll go to any lengths to get a story. The film is relevant today although an exploitative media is more in evidence through TV and the internet. More on this film in a forthcoming post on movies and the newspapers.

The more alert of you will notice that the two films on this list (Five Star Final and Employee's entrance) have not yet been released on DVD. Someone needs to get with the program.

The Public Enemy, It's Not Just About the Grapefruit

"I wish you was a wishin' well. So I could tie a bucket to ya and sink ya." - Tom Powers as played by James Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931).

First of all, that doesn't make any sense. How do you sink a wishing well? Secondly, anyone who would say such a thing is likely a real jerk. Thirdly disregard the first point and realize the second one is irrelevant.

Huh?

Here's the thing about cinema. You can take the story of a gangster like Tom Powers, even show him shoving a grapefruit into his girlfriend's face, and create a thoroughly compelling story. Hell, you even end up rooting for the dirty rat.

Public Enemy is, in my estimation, a great film. The then-young Jimmy Cagney gives a performance that even he was only able to equal a couple of times (Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and White Heat (1949)). At first look he may just seem all snappy dialogue and tough guy bravado. But watch him move. Cagney is as graceful as a ballet dancer and as powerful as a running back. No actor has ever looked more comfortable in his body. Watch him lean against the bar and give a confederate the affectionate air punch to the jaw. Watch him squire around Jean Harlow or run from the cops or just walk into a room. He's mesmerizing.

Powers is an uncompromising character in the uncompromising story of a gangster's raise. Director William Wellman (the best director you've never heard of) tells a story filled with sex and violence and death. But it's mostly all off camera (modern directors, take note). When Cagney shoots a former boss who betrayed him, we hear the shots but watch Cagney's partner react. In one of the best scenes you'll ever see we watch a grim faced and determined Cagney stride purposefully into his rivals' lair. We watch him disappear into the building and are left to listen to the ensuing shots and screams. Even the slaying of a horse is off camera, though audible.

We don't need to see people getting shot. We do need to see Cagney -- and we get lots of him.

Public Enemy doesn't really moralize. Sure it shows the rise of street punk to his inevitable fate and no this is no glamorizing of the gangster life. But the story is more documentary than fable. The reality of it stylized only by Cagney's performance.

Hollywood has produced some terrific gangster films from Little Caesar (1931) to Goodfellas (1990) with many before after and in between. The Public Enemy rates with the best of them. Like others of it genre it gives the vicarious thrill of rooting for the outlaw. We can imagine doing what we want, taking what we want, not bound by society's conventions. Usually there is an anti hero to root for. He (invariably it's a man) doesn't just break the law but does it with panache. Maybe he's handsome, he can even be charmer, usually he's quite smart. He probably loves his dear old ma too.

But the best of them, like Cagney's Tom Powers, have got charisma. Anyone interested in Cagney, the gangster genre or good films, will want to see The Public Enemy. And not just once.

12 Movies From the Last Depression to Help You Through the Next Depression

Is another Great Depression just around the corner? Or is prosperity? Who cares? If the bottom totally falls out of the U.S. economy maybe we'll see some of the same kind of great cinema that both mirrored and helped America through the last such crisis.

As the Depression took a toll on the US through much of the 1930s Hollywood was Johnny-on-the-spot with a passel of films reflecting the crisis. These same movies often eased the cares of struggling Americans. Here's a sampling of that wonderful fare.

1. My Man Godfrey (1936). The ultimate Great Depression screwball comedy stars William Powell and Carole Lombard. Powell is Godfrey "rescued" from a hobo village to serve as butler in Lombard's wealthy but wacky family. A bit of social commentary gets mixed in with the laughs.
2. Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933). The ultimate Great Depression musical. This Busby Berkeley choreographed film plays up the forgotten man theme, adding great songs and comedy in the bargain. A stellar cast is led by Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell. Thrill to the strains of Ginger Rogers singing "We're in the Money" in pig latin.
3. Grapes of Wrath (1940). No laughs or songs here. This John Ford classic is a superb film adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel about Okies escaping the Dust Bowl for what they hope will be a new and improved life in California. Henry Fonda is Tom Joad. His closing speech is one of cinema's great moments.
4. Sullivan's Travels (1941). Preston Stuges wrote and directed this hilarious spoof of Hollywood. It also takes a look at the depression. Joel McCrea stars as a famous film director who wants to see how the other half lives. He befriends the lovely Veronica Lake. The two take to the rails where lessons are learned and laughs abound.
5. I Am A Fugitive Form A Chain Gang (1932). Mervin LeRoy directed this scathing look at a Southern state's prison system. Paul Muni is the escapee. While the film focuses on a morally corrupt criminal justice system it is also a powerful look at the depression. As effective today as it was upon its release. Based on a true story.
6. Wild Boys of the Road (1933). One of the classic pre code message films. Here the focus is on the how the depression ripped families asunder. Youngsters leave home to be less a burden on the family and perhaps help support them. William Wellman masterfully directed a cast of relative unknowns. Why don't they make more movies like this today?
7. Stella Dallas (1937). The quintessential tear jerker stars Barbara Stanwyck as the title character. Stella is a single mom who sacrifices everything for her daughter in already tough times.
8. Rafter Romance (1933). Ginger Rogers and Norman Foster play roommates -- but it's not how you think. They share a bed but not at the same time. One works a night shift the other the day. The story is predictable but fun.
9. Modern Times (1936). What's a little economic down turn without The Little Tramp? The inimitable Charlie Chaplin wrote, directed and starred opposite Paulette Goddard in his last silent feature (there's sound but no yakking). The two find love amid poverty, homelessness, prison, and tedious jobs. Their dreams, love and pluck see them through.
10. Easy Living (1937). Preston Stuges wrote, Mithcell Leisen directed, Jean Arthur, Ray Milland and Edward Arnold star. Joblessness, high finance and sudden wealth are all explored. Laughs are provided and romance wins out. Not only a diverting little comedy but some keen commentary as well.
11. Possessed (1931). It stars Joan Crawford and Clark Gable early in their careers when they were particularly attractive. Crawford is from the proverbial wrong side of the tracks and is determined to join Gable on the other side. She quickly manages that feat but complications ensue.
12. Heroes For Sale (1933). Another powerful Wellman film. Heroes looks at the effects of the Depression on one man in particular and thousands in general. One of the most underrated films of all time.