Classic Film Guide » Essays

100 Years

Rob — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 16:25:34 +0000

Oscar’s Best

Snubbed Films | Gems | 100 Years | AFI

This is a short that was compiled by Chuck Workman celebrating “100 Years at the Movies” for the 1994 Academy Awards. It is nine minutes long; it includes clips from at least 225 movies. Here is my labor of love, the clip-by-clip detail of this much discussed short. I used a combination of information already posted on TCM’s message boards, what I found on imdb.com, and my own movie knowledge. This listing has been recently enhanced by Tim Dirks on his (Best of the Web) film site here.

Opening Credits (sometimes through the number 100, like binoculars)

Snubbed Films

Rob — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 16:24:05 +0000

Oscar’s Best

Snubbed Films | Gems | 100 Years | AFI

Just so you don’t get the idea that “the Academy” is flawless, here is a list of some great films which weren’t nominated for a single Oscar in ANY category which I think are worth seeing … to name just SEVENTY:

Runaway Brides and Other Interrupted Weddings

Rob — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:22:23 +0000

Runaway Brides and Other Interrupted Weddings

The musical comedy Cover Girl (1944) features Rita Hayworth in two different roles as singer-dancer Rusty Parker in the film’s present day and as her grandmother Maribelle Hicks in flashback sequences. Within both storylines her character becomes engaged to a wealthy man she doesn’t love and as a bride each leaves her groom at the altar for the poorer man she does. Watching this movie reminded me of other cinematic runaway brides like Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night (1934) Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story (1940) and Katharine Ross in The Graduate (1967); each of these actress’s performances were nominated for an Academy Award (Ross’s in the Supporting category) and Colbert won the Best Actress Oscar.

Of course technically Hepburn’s Tracy Lord was not a runaway bride. In fact she and Grace Kelly (who played the character in the musical remake High Society (1956)) were left at the altar by their respective grooms after their indiscretions with another man following their rehearsal dinners though each was “rescued” at the last minute by a willing ex-husband so that the wedding could proceed. Bing Crosby who played Kelly’s ex-husband in the remake played a similar wedding day savior five years earlier in Frank Capra’s Here Comes the Groom (1951) for Jane Wyman’s character. However the situation in this musical (late screwball) comedy which features the Oscar winning song “In the Cool Cool Cool of the Evening” was entirely manipulated by Crosby’s character and therefore also doesn’t qualify as a runaway bride film.

In nearly every one of the movies mentioned so far the bride spurns a wealthier beau for another man she loves “proving” that “love conquers all” (a popular theme among screenwriters). The debutante that Joan Bennett plays in the early Technicolor musical Vogues of 1938 (1937) jilts her rich bore of a groom (Alan Mowbray!) without another lover in the wings but she does end up marrying Warner Baxter’s character in the end. There have been other interrupted wedding plots as well:

Fathers who don’t want their sons or daughters to marry an inappropriate partner (e.g. one with a past or without money) and therefore take steps to prevent the wedding is a popular story featured in Five Star Final (1931) and its remake Two Against the World (1936) aka One Fatal Hour (1936) B movies like The Footloose Heiress (1937) and Tarnished Angel (1938) or the second (and last) pairing of James Cagney and Bette Davis in The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)
Fred Astaire’s would-be father-in-law in Swing Time (1936) decides to raise the bar of qualifications when his daughter’s fiancé fails to arrive on time to their wedding ceremony
A bride that’s about to be wed against her will and has to be rescued – like Sigrid Gurie’s Chinese princess did (by Gary Cooper) in The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938) or Joan Bennett (who rescues herself) in The Son of Monte Cristo (1940) whereas
The Middle East princess in Dream Wife (1953) played by Betta St. John decided not to marry for another reason – she realized that Cary Grant should be with Deborah Kerr instead
War was a factor in the runaway bride in We Dive at Dawn (1943)
Sometimes the bride (or groom) is killed just before or during the ceremony like in Lorna Doone (1922) and any of the three versions of Smilin’ Through (or The Age of Consent (1932)) or she could be kidnapped like the one in The Girl Said No (1930)
It’s even possible that someone might “speak now” instead of “forever holding their peace” like at the beginning of the Colbert-Robert Ryan drama The Secret Fury (1950)
And there are countless (e.g.) romantic comedies in which an engaged woman is swept off her feet before the wedding ceremony by another man that wins her over just in time like in Vagabond Lady (1935) Beg Borrow or Steal (1937) June Bride (1948) etc.

Lastly I want to mention a truly unique (and largely forgettable) B movie titled Public Wedding (1937) with Jane Wyman because it introduced me to the titled concept: during the Depression a couple could open their ceremony to paying guests especially if (like in this film) they offered an additional sideshow attraction (they take their vows in the mouth of a whale!).

One Hit Wonders of the Academy Awards

Rob — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:22:23 +0000

One Hit Wonders of the Academy Awards

While there have been quite a number of budding actors and actresses that have received Academy recognition – e.g. a nomination or even an Oscar – for their very first movie roles some non-actors have also been rewarded similarly. Although it doesn’t happen very often over the years there have been persons with unique talents and/or attributes that have been chosen – for their excellence in another (artistic) field or even plucked from obscurity – to play a needed part in a given film. Additionally there have been others whose sole contribution to moviemaking has been recognized or was unforgettable in some way.

Opera singer Miliza Korjus who was signed to a film contract by MGM’s Irving G. Thalberg shortly before his death was finally cast in her first movie – opposite Fernand Gravet as Johann Strauss II (and with top billed two time Best Actress winner Luise Rainer) – in a fictionalized biography of the Austrian composer titled The Great Waltz (1938) and earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for what turned out to be her only role in an American production. Korjus was seriously injured in a car accident that crushed her left leg shortly before she was to begin work on her next picture (featuring Robert Taylor as Sandor Rozsa) and though she eventually recovered later made just one more movie in Mexico.
Army instructor and double amputee Harold Russell whose hands had been replaced with hooks after he’d lost them in an accidental explosion while working on an army training film for paratroopers won two Oscars for his role as a disabled returning World War II veteran in producer Samuel Goldwyn’s The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) directed by William Wyler and also starring MovieMorlocks’ heartthrobs Fredric March (who won his second Best Actor Oscar) and Dana Andrews. Russell took home the gold for Best Supporting Actor and received another Honorary Award “for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance”; it’s the only time that anyone has ever won two Academy Awards for the same performance.
Although nine year old Czech Ivan Jandl’s performance opposite Best Actor nominee Montgomery Clift’s acting debut in The Search (1948) wasn’t nominated for an Oscar he did receive the infrequently given (and no longer awarded) Juvenile Award from the Academy.
Tahitian native Jocelyne LaGarde received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her first and only film role as the likeable Queen Alii Nui of Maui in MGM’s version of James Michener’s Hawaii (1966) .
Cambodian physician Haing S. Ngor was chosen to portray photographer Dith Pran in The Killing Fields (1984) opposite lead actor Sam Waterston (who received his only Oscar nomination to date) and won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance. Though Ngor then began a career in acting with modest success it was cut short by his murder in 1996.

Similarly diminutive Japanese vocalist-nightclub artist Miyoshi Umeki (who earned a Best Supporting Oscar alongside veteran actor Red Buttons in Michener’s Sayonara (1957)) and New York playwright Jason Miller (who was nominated for a Best Supporting Oscar for his performance as Father Karras in The Exorcist (1973)) continued acting after their auspicious debuts though Umeki is best remembered for playing little Brandon Cruz’s surrogate mother-housekeeper Mrs. Livingston in TV’s The Courtship of Eddie’s Father featuring Bill Bixby as the titled character.

Others who have been recognized by the Academy for their first and only contribution to filmmaking include Paul Wing who won a Best Assistant Director Oscar for his work on Henry Hathaway’s adventure drama The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) RCA sound recordist Watson Jones was nominated for Stanley Kramer’s doctor drama Not as a Stranger (1955) producer Michael Todd (who also helped to develop the short-lived widescreen technique dubbed Todd-AO) won the Best Picture Oscar for his only production Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) and choreographer Jerome Robbins who shared the Best Director Oscar with Robert Wise for West Side Story (1961) – the only time that’s been done.

Some other significant one-time contributors that weren’t recognized by the Academy include Maria Falconetti who gave one of the best silent film performances ever in The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) aka La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc before the awards were established child Edmund Meschke (aka Moeschke) who made an indelible impression in Roberto Rossellini’s post WW II drama Germania anno zero (1948) and Anton Karas whose zither music were among the many elements that made The Third Man (1949) a classic. I also wanted to mention ballerinas Moira Shearer and Tamara Toumanova who gave such memorable performances to enrich less than a handful of films each from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes (1948) and Vincente Minnelli’s The Story of Three Loves (1953) to Alfred Hitchcock’s Torn Curtain (1966) and Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970).

Films about Fathers

Rob — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:22:23 +0000

Films about Fathers

As a father I’m particularly “affected” by films which portray relationships between fathers and their children particularly their daughters. No I’m not talking about Godfathers or other “sick” fathers like John Huston’s in Chinatown (1974) nor do I mean pathetic fathers like Kevin Spacey AND Chris Cooper in American Beauty (1999). I mean movies which show a more idealized view of the role especially if the father has to learn what that means themselves. Having recently seen several films which contain unforgettable scenes (at least for me) that reflect these I thought I’d jot a few down. Let me know if I’ve left out any movies about fathers which have “touched” you.

Louis Mann in his only real screen role does an excellent job teaching his children particularly his youngest daughter Alma to curb her temper in Sins of the Children (1930) (which could perhaps be a better known film today if it weren’t for its awful title!). It’s clear that he’s guilty of overindulging them which leads to some problems when they’re grownup but the uncompromising love he exhibits throughout the film is exemplary.

You Can’t Take It with You (1938) – wealthy businessman Edward Arnold who struggles with his son (James Stewart) learns a valuable lesson from Lionel Barrymore the father of a “poor” but happy family of eccentrics whose daughter (Jean Arthur) his son wants to marry.

Watch on the Rhine (1943) – Paul Lukas must find a way to explain to the three children he has raised so well that though he is an honorable man and has been an excellent example for them thus far the horrors of the conflict in their native Germany can cause even good men to do bad things. And that even if a good person is “forced” to commit them the acts themselves are still bad.

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) – While watching his daughter (Judy Garland) sing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to his youngest (Margaret O’Brien) father Leon Ames finally realizes what a move to New York would mean to his family.

Mr. Skeffington (1944) – there’s a terrific touching mature scene between Claude Rains (the title character) and his daughter (played by an uncredited Sylvia Arslan) in which his character has to explain as gently as he can about his separation from his wife (played by Bette Davis) anti-Semitism and more while he tries to hold back his tears and maintain his dignity in the public place (a fancy restaurant) they’re in.

This Happy Breed (1944) – there are several wonderful moments with Robert Newton in this British (comedy) drama from Noel Coward and David Lean not the least of which is a father (Newton) to son (John Blythe) discussion about their differing politics or another on the son’s wedding day (about the “facts of life”).

Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945) – lots of terrific scenes in this one between Edward G. Robinson and Margaret O’Brien

The Yearling (1946) – Gregory Peck knows what it means to be a boy and shoulders much of the responsibility for raising his son (Claude Jarman Jr.) because his wife (Jane Wyman) is afraid to get too emotionally attached to him after the premature deaths of their other infants.

Life With Father (1947) – Oh Gad! This film is really more about William Powell’s relationship with his wife played by Irene Dunne. But it’s so good and after all its title that I couldn’t leave it out.

Cheaper By The Dozen (1950) – Clifton Webb portrays real-life efficiency expert Frank Gilbreth who along with his wife Lillian (played by Myrna Loy) raised 12 children! Frank’s handling of family matters utilizing his trade to teach is unique given their circumstances. Webb’s portrayal is tender and kind yet firm. Especially memorable moments include having his tonsils removed also to make it easier for his children and his sensitive approach in handling his eldest daughter Ann (Jeanne Crain) who towards the end of the film is just beginning to date.

Father of the Bride (1950) – Spencer Tracy is the father of Elizabeth Taylor who is engaged to be married. There are several touching and humorous scenes between father and daughter in this classic. Remarkably this (the previous film and another Tracy role in The Actress (1953)) may be the only great film from the 1950’s which shows an idealized father though there are several which portray more dysfunctional (particularly father-son) relationships. Of course there is Joseph Schildkraut in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) & Dean Jagger in The Nun’s Story (1959) but neither of these characters get much screen time relative to their (remarkably similar looking) daughters though both provide them noble examples and/or quiet support. Plus Gary Cooper does provide a strong role model for his son Anthony Perkins in Friendly Persuasion (1956) as well.

To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) – Gregory Peck (again) this time playing a single father to perfection.

Mary Poppins (1964) – David Tomlinson plays a father who needs to learn what he’s working for before it’s too late.

The World of Henry Orient (1964) – Ten years before becoming known as the Dad who always seemed to have the right thing to say (as Howard Cunningham on TV’s Happy Days) Tom Bosley played a disconnected businessman father of an imaginative 14 year old daughter played by Tippy Walker in this Peter Sellers film. However when the daughter runs away he is the parent in lieu of the mother (Angela Lansbury) who is sensitive to the situation and takes steps to “repair” the relationship in a tear jerking scene payoff! Directed by George Roy Hill The Sting (1973).

Shenandoah (1965) – James Stewart as the father of a large family mostly consisting of young men that he’s largely raised by himself after his wife died giving birth to their youngest. He instills an independent spirit in each of them fostering free thinking and open discussion during their family dinners together.

The Sound of Music (1965) – Christopher Plummer reconnects with his children after his wife passes away with the help of a special nanny.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) – Spencer Tracy must deal with his own values and those that he has taught his daughter when she effectively “calls his bluff”.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) – This screen adaptation of the Ian Fleming novel has Dick Van Dyke as Caractacus Potts inventor and father of two small children whose imagination he has cultivated. Though he may spoil them a bit he is very emotionally “connected” to them puts them to bed with song etc. and is even shown to care for orphaned children as well.

Breaking Away (1979) – working class used car salesman Paul Dooley has an awkward relationship with his strange son (Dennis Christopher) who emulates the Italian cyclists he idolizes. But by the end of the film the father has bonded with his son even as he continues to change.

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) – After he is “forced” into taking on sole responsibility for raising his son (Justin Henry) Dustin Hoffman learns to cherish the relationship such that he must fight Meryl Streep for custody of him.

Ordinary People (1980) – Donald Sutherland is a father who stresses over the well being of his remaining son (Timothy Hutton) who attempted suicide after his eldest was lost in a boating accident. He is very concerned especially because he must fill the gap left by the mother (Mary Tyler Moore) who has withdrawn from him emotionally. He arranges for his son to see a psychiatrist (Judd Hirsch) and unlike his wife is not threatened by their relationship or “how it looks” for their son to be in treatment.

Sixteen Candles (1984) – Paul Dooley (again) has a particularly touching scene as the father of daughter (played by) Molly Ringwald when he realizes that the family has missed her birthday in all the pre-wedding activities for her sister. They talk about boys how beautiful she is inside how lucky any boy will be that comes to learn it etc..

Just so you know there were several other films normally associated with this topic which I intentionally left OUT of this essay (reread my opening paragraph) for instance: The Champ (1931) & I Never Sang for My Father (1970) are more focused on the son and the father in both of these films is too self-possessed to be considered an exemplary role model in my opinion. I also have to plead ignorance in the case of the Andy Hardy series starring Mickey Rooney (and primarily Lewis Stone) with the exception of A Family Affair (1937) which features Lionel Barrymore as Judge Hardy in this first film.

Submarine Movies

Rob — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:22:23 +0000

Submarine Movies

I saw something rather unique the other day when I was watching one of those World War II propaganda films wrapped around a romance drama a love triangle that involved Tyrone Power Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews; the movie (Crash Dive (1943)) featured a human periscope! Late in the story the captain of an American submarine (played by Andrews) on a sabotage mission finds that his boat’s eyes – the periscope – has been blown off by some German artillery. Of course he does what comes naturally: he becomes the periscope himself. After strapping himself to the conning tower he radios instructions to his crew to submerge the sub to twenty foot depth and then (his head above water) directs them how to blow up the enemy and the harbor’s sub netting to allow them to escape. Though I’ve seen a lot of submarine dramas this was the first I’d ever seen to incorporate such a stunt (and the film won the Oscar for Special Effects that year).

Some other notable submarine movies are:

20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) – this terrific telling of the frequently produced Jules Verne story also won Special Effects gold and the Color Art Direction-Set Decoration statuette as well. This live action Disney feature also earned Academy Award winning editor Elmo Williams his last Oscar nomination. James Mason plays Captain Nemo who’s given up on the surface world so he aims to destroy any warships he encounters with his powerful ahead of its time monster of a submarine he’s dubbed the Nautilus. All this is discovered during an expedition led by a professor (Paul Lukas) his assistant (Peter Lorre) and a whaler (Kirk Douglas) who must later battle a giant sea squid.

Das Boot (1981) – perhaps no film gives one a better feel for the dirty sweaty and perilous conditions faced by a wartime submarine crew than this German made one from screenwriter-director Wolfgang Petersen. It received six Oscar nominations (including two for Petersen). The titled U-boat is under attack from British destroyers that protect the shipping lanes from the English Channel through the Mediterranean Sea in early World War II.

Destination Tokyo (1943) – also set during early WW II but from an American perspective this first film directed by screenwriter Delmer Daves details the story behind a submarine crew that was charged with infiltrating Tokyo Bay shortly after Pearl Harbor in order to provide reconnaissance information to James Doolittle’s bombing raid in April 1942. Ironically Britisher Cary Grant played the sub’s captain; additionally John Garfield plays a gunner Alan Hale is a cook Dane Clark plays a crewman with an ax to grind Robert Hutton and John Forsythe (making their screen debuts) are other crewmen and John Ridgely plays a Naval intelligence officer with knowledge about Japan. Steve Fisher’s Original Story earned an Oscar nomination.

The Enemy Below (1957) – several aspects of this drama make it uncommon among the other dramas listed here: it was one of only a few films produced and directed by hoofer come film-noir actor Dick Powell it gives the surface destroyer’s perspective versus just the sub crew’s view and it steals what had been a fairly unique scene from an earlier WW II propaganda film about the merchant marines (Action in the North Atlantic (1943)) in which the destroyer’s captain (Robert Mitchum in this case) orders his men to build fires on his ship’s decks to fool the u-boat’s captain (Curt Jurgens) to surface; the destroyer then rams the sub broadside sinking it. This film also won the Special Effects Academy Award for all its depth charge explosions.

The Hunt for Red October (1990) – Tom Clancy’s thrilling (first?) novel made a pretty good addition to the submarine war movie genre and yet its setting was present day (Cold vs. World War) at the time. Naturally it won the Special Effects Oscar and was nominated in the other categories in which such films have been regularly recognized: Editing and Sound.

Operation Petticoat (1959) – the fact that this one’s a comedy from director Blake Edwards makes this WW II-based Cary Grant feature an unusual entry on the list. Grant is again the captain with an enterprising first mate played by Tony Curtis; he and his crew must transport Dina Merrill and her equally lovely nurses in the tight confines of their “pink” submarine to safety. The story (and screenplay written directly for the screen) was Oscar nominated and the cast included future television stars Dick Sargent Gavin MacLeod Marion Ross and Arthur O’Connell.

Run Silent Run Deep (1958) – Robert Wise directed the conflicts between two “heavyweight” actors of the screen Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster in this WW II drama of an American sub captain (Gable) obsessed with sinking the specific Japanese destroyer that had sunk another of his ship’s earlier. Lancaster plays a Lieutenant who’s passed over for promotion to captain in order that Gable’s character might enact his revenge. The two spend a considerable amount of time engaging each other in lieu of the enemy.

Torpedo Run (1958) – by the time this Glenn Ford-Ernest Borgnine WW II drama was released (six months after Run Silent Run Deep (1958)) virtually all of its storyline had become cliche. Much like Gable’s character Ford plays a tortured sub captain determined to sink a specific Japanese aircraft carrier (dubbed “flat top” just like the actor’s preferred hair style); Borgnine plays the Lieutenant who covers for his commander that passes up other targets in pursuit of this “holy grail”. The film features Academy Award nominated Special Effects.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) – like the first one listed this is another non-war movie which features an advanced (unrealistically huge nuclear powered) submarine designed and built by someone (Walter Pidgeon in this one) who’s trying to escape the surface world. But this Irwin Allen sci-fi adventure is high camp and sub-par as a drama; the story is a hoot and the special effects were too poor to earn any attention from Academy voters. Appearing again is Peter Lorre as well as several other recognizable (and obviously payday motivated) actors.

Disney’s LL Remake Trilogy

Rob — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:22:23 +0000

Disney’s LL Remake Trilogy

I recently watched The Parent Trap (1961) again – thanks to TCM – with my daughter since it’s a movie we both enjoy and we’ve also watched The Parent Trap (1998) a couple of times together as well. TCM’s December 2008 Spotlight – The Family Classics – not only featured the original but also included the two other Disney productions that the studio later remade with (pre-rehab) Lindsay Lohan: Freaky Friday (1976) which starred Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster and The Love Bug (1968) with Dean Jones Michele Lee David Tomlinson and Buddy Hackett (among others). We actually saw LL’s Freaky Friday (2003) – which also stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Mark Harmon – before the original and though neither of my kids has seen the ‘Bug’ movies (LL’s updated version is titled Herbie Fully Loaded (2005)) I watched them both recently (I hadn’t seen the original since I was a kid myself) in order to complete this article. Therefore you should appreciate my sacrifice (if not what follows).

The original Parent Trap was the second Disney feature starring Hayley Mills daughter of British actor Sir John Mills and younger sister of Juliet Mills; it was preceded by Pollyanna (1960). The story is about a pair of identical twins who discover each other’s existence at summer camp – they’d been separated at a very young age by their parents who’d divorced when they were too young to have remembered (one twin for each parent) – then decide to switch places in order to meet their non-custodial parent and subsequently plot to ‘trap’ their parents into a reconciliation when they learn that their wealthy dad is about to remarry a much younger blond gold-digger. Even though the story’s eventual outcome holds no mystery (and despite the absurdities: the parents’ original arrangement and inability to distinguish the child they’d raised from her twin) the formula worked so well that it could be successfully remade with only minor updating thirty-seven years later. Of course both movies succeed in large part due to the cute charisma of their child stars – Mills and Lohan playing both twin roles with sufficient credibly – and the considerable (comedic) acting abilities of its title characters: Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith in the original Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson in the remake. As an added bonus for classic film fans the original also features Charles Ruggles (as O’Hara’s father) Una Merkel (as Keith’s longtime housekeeper) and Leo G. Carroll in a hilarious role as a reverend that’s tickled by the circumstances which transpire. In addition to Joanna Barnes (who plays her character’s mother in the remake) as the gold-digger there’s Ruth McDevitt and Nancy Culp as camp counselors and John Mills himself (before his knighting in 1976) in an uncredited role as Keith’s caddy. Even though the remake’s supporting cast isn’t nearly as strong I’d recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it (especially for the chance to see preteen Lohan who was such a talented little darling before she morphed into a cliché).

Purchase the original on DVD now at

or buy the LL Remake here

While I’ve definitely been critical of remakes in this space in the past I have to say that Freaky Friday (2003) is a much better movie than the original which comes off today as silly and terribly dated due in large part to its poor special effects (which were overused for too many sight gags). Fourteen year old Jodie Foster had already established herself in Disney television and film productions and she would soon earn her first recognition from the Academy for her supporting role in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) – released in February of that year – shortly after Freaky Friday (1976) was launched in theaters across the country in January 1977. Though her performance as a more typical wholesome teenager in the Disney movie is adequate she can’t overcome the overacting of her counterpart Barbara Harris (whose over-the-top phony psychic role in Alfred Hitchcock’s last feature film Family Plot (1976) seems to have carried over to this one) as her mother. One of the only reasons to watch the original is to play “name that TV actor” among the supporting cast appearances which include: The Addams Family’s John Astin Eight is Enough’s Dick Van Patten Laugh-In’s Ruth Buzzi The Mother-in-Law’s Kaye Ballard (film noir’s) Marie Windsor and Dallas’s Charlene Tilton. On the other hand despite its tired body switching plot (the mother’s soul temporarily inhabits her daughter’s and vice versa giving each a chance to experience the other’s POV) – which Hollywood finds a way to recycle in some form or another every few years – the up-to-date remake features surprisingly lively performances by Lohan and Curtis who happens to share my birth date (though she’s a little bit older than me) and a catchy soundtrack.

Purchase the original on DVD now at

or buy the LL Remake here

After watching The Love Bug (1968) and LL’s Herbie Fully Loaded (2005) back-to-back let me first say that the latter movie is not so much a remake as it is a sequel. Its story does mimic much of the original while it simultaneously plays homage to it in several scenes but it begins with a montage (of clips from the original and its earlier sequels) that recounts the lovable bug’s glory days through the ‘present’ day when proud Herbie finds himself in a junkyard (where he’s destined to be crushed into scrap metal). Even though the titled car is still a pearl white 1963 Volkswagen Beatle deluxe ragtop sedan the 2005 movie’s incarnation is a mechanically-animated humanized character: its headlights (and their covers) operate like eyes opening and closing winking and blinking to reveal emotions – ‘we’ even get to see the world from Herbie’s viewpoint – and its bumper curls like a mouth into a frown its chassis lowers to shrug or raises up to strut. In the original the other characters (and the audience) had to project and attribute feelings upon an inanimate object. In both movies Herbie improbably wins races by besting a seemingly more capable rival (Tomlinson’s auto racing enthusiast role is played by Matt Dillon as the reigning NASCAR champion in the most current movie; both are the foil primarily used for comic relief) and is responsible helping the lead character to find and fall in love with another: Jones falls for Lee while Lohan finally realizes that Justin Long (the Mac guy in Apple Inc.’s TV commercials) who kind of plays Hackett’s role (a supportive friend) is for her. There are some minor differences in the remake-sequel’s narrative (for instance Lohan’s character accepts Herbie’s ‘unique personality’ rather quickly whereas Dean Jones’s didn’t until nearly the end); the most significant is the addition of a few extra characters: Michael Keaton and Breckin Meyer as Lohan’s father and brother respectively. Both add emotional depth to the story: for instance Keaton’s has reasons why he wants his son to follow in their family’s racing tradition while as a widower he doesn’t want his daughter (the “spitting image” of her mother) to die from a mishap on the track. Thankfully the latest film’s soundtrack features only a brief interlude of that annoying Caribbean reggae music (which played in the background during the races of the original); instead it’s been replaced with a more contemporary sound chockfull of classic rock and roll hits.

Purchase the original on DVD now at

or buy the LL Remake here

As for Lohan while she’d played her age in each of her three previous Disney feature films – Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004) was the third – at eighteen years of age in Herbie Fully Loaded (2005) her character (who graduates from college at the beginning of the movie) was perhaps four years older than the actress was at the time (not that she doesn’t pull it off; like Mouseketeer Annette Funicello she matured physically earlier than most). Earlier this year she finally turned her Herbie movie age twenty-two but only after many public tribulations. I wonder if she wishes that she could have skipped over those same years in her personal life.

Sherwood Pictures’ Films about Faith

Rob — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:22:12 +0000

Sherwood Pictures’ Films about Faith

It’d been more than four and a half years since my first Films about Faith essay; I added to the original article (after watching Martin Luther (1953) A Man Called Peter (1955) and One Man’s Way (1964) in fairly quick succession in the fall of 2011) but hadn’t written about the most deeply spiritual and openly Christian films I’ve seen until this essay.

Alex and Stephen Kendrick of the Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany Georgia have written directed acted in and/or produced four commercial movies for Sherwood Pictures over the past 8 years. All are unabashedly Christian message pictures in which the lead characters openly profess their faith in God and/or ultimately proclaim their trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In so doing – by using their talents to do His will (vs. their own) – the plots’ main conflicts are resolved. Each of the four films was made (and is set) in Albany with their casts featuring many of the church’s pastors and members.

Flywheel (2003) was the Kendricks’ and Sherwood’s first effort and it shows. While its production values and quality is not as amateurish as say The Blair Witch Project (1999) it can be rather rough viewing. But the acting is just good enough that it shouldn’t detract from the story’s message if your heart is in the right place while watching it. The movie is about a stereotypically shady used car dealer named Jay Austin (played by Alex Kendrick) whose business – and marriage – is suffering due to his lack of character. Even though he occasionally goes to church and would probably claim to be a Christian Jay is a hypocrite at best: he brags about how much he overcharges his customers and even cheats his own pastor setting a terrible example for his employees and his impressionable young son. His business descends into debt and he verbally abuses his wife in front of his son. But seeing a preacher on TV helps Jay to realize what kind of “man” he’s become so he repents and turns his life over to the care of God. Jay then begins to “walk the walk” and not only changes his business practices but makes amends for past transgressions. Although Jay’s new path is not entirely smooth its trajectory is true.

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If you’re an NFL football fan and by chance have seen Facing the Giants (2006) then you probably had a feeling of déjà-vu during the remarkable run and inspired play of the 2011 Denver Broncos whose quarterback Tim Tebow is an outspoken evangelical. Sherwood Pictures’ second feature is about a similarly motivated team’s success. Alex Kendrick again plays the lead character Grant Taylor the coach of a Christian high school football team that’s yet to have a winning season during his tenure. Because football is a religion of another kind in the Southeast some of the fathers who want their sons to have a chance to play at the next level begin to organize in order to fire Coach Taylor and replace him with one of his assistant coaches. Grant and his wife are also struggling with infertility. A colleague reminds Grant that God that has a plan for everybody and that it’s no accident that he is where he is at the present. Realizing the position he’s in the coach decides to change his approach. He begins with the most talented member of his team who is somewhat of a prankster and helps him to accomplish a seemingly impossible task by encouraging him throughout and not letting him quit. Grant encourages another player to reconcile with his father and leads the entire team by demonstrating his faith in them and in God. What follows is reminiscent of Remember the Titans (2000) and there is yet another miracle off the gridiron as well. Georgia Bulldogs’ Head Coach Mark Richt – whose testimony can be read here – appears as himself in the film.

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Sherwood Pictures’ third film Fireproof (2008) is unique among the four to date because it doesn’t feature Alex Kendrick as a main character. Instead Kirk Cameron who starred in the TV series Growing Pains in the 1980’s and is also known for his “born-again” Christianity and evangelism ministry was chosen to play Caleb Holt a firefighter whose marriage is in crisis and headed for divorce. Encouraged by his father Caleb embarks on a “Love Dare” a 40 day ‘journey’ to strengthen his (self discipline and) marriage. On a budget of just $500000 and with box office receipts in excess of $33 million for its four month run Fireproof (2008) was one of the highest grossing independent films of that year.

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Released September 30th Courageous (2011) is the most critically acclaimed of the Sherwood Pictures and it too features Alex Kendrick in a leading role as Adam Mitchell. However the plot also features several other men – four of whom are police officers – that after a tragedy befalls the Mitchells strive to establish their positions as the spiritual leaders of their families. Although each of the men’s stories is different the central theme stems from the impact of their fathers (or a father-figure) on their lives the men’s realization of the importance (and their stewardship) of this role in their children’s lives (and as husbands) and their subsequent “courage to change”. As with the other three films the men’s faith in God – particularly Adam’s and Nathan’s (played by Ken Bevel a retired Marine whose other screen credit is Fireproof (2008)) – has a major influence on the proceedings. Most viewers will find the movie to be a potent tearjerker throughout evoking a mix of both sorrow and joyfulness. However there is a healthy dose of comic relief – most of which involves Robert Amaya’s character – along with an uplifting conclusion which keeps it from becoming heavyhearted. Ultimately this movie’s message and purpose – like Flywheel (2003) Facing the Giants (2006) and Fireproof (2008) – is a call to action.

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Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Rob — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:22:12 +0000

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

This film is not just a kids’ movie. Indeed much of the dialogue and several subtexts within the film are too advanced for many children younger than ten (and a lot of it would bore a seven year old).

The script is very well written which undoubtedly accounts for the fact that it won two Oscars for Best Writing Original Story and Screenplay. Precise wording and deliberate interruptions (e.g. of characters who are about to do or say something “wrong”) are techniques cleverly utilized throughout the picture enabling it to be viewed by children who still believe without upsetting them. It was also nominated for Best Picture but lost to Zanuck’s Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) (a story about anti-Semitism ironically). Also notable is the fact that it was originally released in May. It was added to the National Film Registry in 2005. #9 on AFI’s 100 Most Inspiring Movies list.

Though the basis of the film is belief in Santa Claus the conflicts (e.g.) from the wannabe psychiatrist responsible for institutionalizing Kris and within the judge & district attorney as they try to at once uphold the principles of law and their reputations without alienating voters & their families contribute much (amusingly so) to the story. These story-lines are seamlessly combined with the “love” story between the two main adult characters parenting philosophy the theme of faith (“believing when common sense tells you not to”) and the commercialization of Christmas. The plot’s only flaw in my opinion is the lack of any real on-screen development of the love between the adults (who presumably are married after the film ends).

Particularly memorable is young Natalie Wood’s character’s transformation from “practical” loner child to one that learns for the first time to pretend (to be an animal in a zoo) and the (sanity hearing) courtroom scenes including the DA being completely “disarmed” by his own son and of course when postal workers pour 50000 letters on the judge’s desk which prompts his well worded ruling “if a branch of the United States government recognizes this man as the one and only Santa Claus I’ll not dispute it … case dismissed!”.

The acting is also superb. Edmund Gwenn won the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Award probably in part because it was more of a Best Actor role given his screen time. FYI Ronald Colman (A Double Life (1947)) beat out John Garfield (Body and Soul (1947) and William Powell (Life with Father (1947)) among others for the Best Actor award that year. I’ve seen each of these performances as well and would definitely recommend them though I’d have given the nod to William Powell (that Irene Dunne was not nominated for her performance in that film is a mystery unless they were trying to give someone else a chance for a change but I digress).

Maureen O’Hara is excellent as always (of course I’ve only seen a little more than a dozen of her films) but I think John Payne’s (underrated? certainly under appreciated) “Fred Gailey” is what holds the film together. The incredibly talented supporting cast of character actors includes:

Porter Hall (who also played memorable bits in Preston Sturges’ films) as the “psychiatrist”
William Frawley (Fred in I Love Lucy; Bub in My Three Sons) as the judge’s campaign manager – remember this marvelous scene with veteran actor Gene Lockhart as judge
Thelma Ritter’s debut film as the skeptical mother and even
Jack Albertson as the postal sorterI think that compared to other more recently released comedy-fantasy “kids” movies also made for adults it stands up quite well today. Wouldn’t you agree?
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Lead Actors in Oscar’s Best Picture Winners

Rob — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 12:22:12 +0000

Lead Actors in Oscar’s Best Picture Winners

Several (male) actors have appeared in more than one movie that won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences highest award (e.g. the Best Picture Oscar); in fact a few have acted in back-to-back winners! Not surprisingly though some of the best known actors from the studio era never appeared in an Academy Award winning Best Picture. For instance Fred Astaire Richard Burton James Cagney Kirk Douglas Errol Flynn Henry Fonda Cary Grant Lee Marvin Steve McQueen Robert Mitchum Edward G. Robinson Mickey Rooney Robert Ryan Robert Taylor Spencer Tracy and John Wayne are among the most well-known leading actors who never appeared in a movie that one the Best Picture Oscar.

Additionally were it not for Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) which featured cameo roles for many leading men Charles Boyer Ronald Colman and David Niven would not have appeared in an Oscar winner either; also Frank Sinatra (From Here to Eternity (1953)) would not have appeared in two nor John Gielgud in three (see below). Plus excluding the two Godfather films (not that anyone should) would drop Robert Duvall and Al Pacino from the list of actors who’ve appeared in Best Picture Oscar winners and Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront (1954)) and Robert De Niro (The Deer Hunter (1978)) from these multiple BP winner appearance listings:

Actors who have appeared in two non-consecutive Academy Award Best Picture winners include:

Lionel Barrymore – Grand Hotel (1932) and You Can’t Take It with You (1938)
Ernest Borgnine – From Here to Eternity (1953) and Marty (1955)
Marlon Brando Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall (as mentioned above)
Barry Fitzgerald – How Green Was My Valley (1941) and Going My Way (1944)
Alec Guinness – The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Gene Hackman – The French Connection (1971) and Unforgiven (1992)
Charlton Heston – The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) and Ben-Hur (1959)
Karl Malden – On the Waterfront (1954) and Patton (1970)
* Jack Nicholson – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and Terms of Endearment (1983)
Laurence Olivier – Rebecca (1940) and Hamlet (1948)
Al Pacino (as mentioned above)
* Robert Redford – The Sting (1973) and Out of Africa (1985)
George Sanders – Rebecca (1940) and All About Eve (1950)
Robert Shaw – A Man for All Seasons (1966) and The Sting (1973)
Frank Sinatra (as mentioned above)
Rod Steiger – On the Waterfront (1954) and In the Heat of the Night (1967)
James Stewart – You Can’t Take It with You (1938) and The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

* No I didn’t forget Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven (1992) Million Dollar Baby (2004)) Russell Crowe (Gladiator (2000) A Beautiful Mind (2001)) or other more recent actors who have appeared in multiple Best Picture winners; I was trying to confine this list to studio era actors as best I could.

Actors who have appeared in CONSECUTIVE Academy Award Best Picture winners:

Clark Gable – It Happened One Night (1934) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) **
John Gielgud – Chariots of Fire (1981) and Gandhi (1982) **
Walter Pidgeon – How Green Was My Valley (1941) and Mrs. Miniver (1942)
* Christopher Walken – Annie Hall (1977) and The Deer Hunter (1978)

** Gable (Gone With the Wind (1939)) and Gielgud (Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)) each appeared in three Oscar winning Best Pictures; currently they share this distinction with only one other actor – Dustin Hoffman – who appeared in Midnight Cowboy (1969) Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) & Rain Man (1988).

Some other TCM favorites who have appeared in ONE of the Academy’s Best Picture winners include: Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca (1942)) Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster (From Here to Eternity (1953)) Gary Cooper (Wings (1927)) Bing Crosby (Going My Way (1944)) John Garfield and Gregory Peck (Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)) William Holden (The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)) Leslie Howard (Gone With the Wind (1939)) Gene Kelly (An American in Paris (1951)) Fredric March (The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)) Ray Milland (The Lost Weekend (1945)) Sidney Poitier (In the Heat of the Night (1967)) William Powell (The Great Ziegfeld (1936)) Anthony Quinn (Lawrence of Arabia (1962)) and Orson Welles (A Man for All Seasons (1966)).

In addition to leading men several character actors have appeared in more than one Oscar winning Best Picture such as John Cazale (both Godfathers and The Deer Hunter (1978)) Donald Crisp (Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) The Life of Emile Zola (1937) How Green Was My Valley (1941)) Jack Hawkins (The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Ben-Hur (1959)) Stanley Holloway (Hamlet (1948) My Fair Lady (1964)) Roscoe Karns (Wings (1927) It Happened One Night (1934)) Claude Rains (Casablanca (1942) Lawrence of Arabia (1962)) and Vincent Schiavelli (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) Amadeus (1984)) to name a few.