Fifty Years of Film in 50 Weeks, #22: My Sister Eileen, 1942

"Eileen, I don't think you were ready to leave Ohio!"

My Sister Eileen, 1942

Director: Alexander Hall
Writers: Joseph Fields & Jerome Chodorov from their play based on stories by Ruth McKenney
Cinematographer: Joseph Walker
Produced by: Max Gordon for Columbia Pictures
Starring: Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Janet Blair, George Tobias

Why I chose it
In my pre-classic-film-loving days, I saw a revival of Leonard Bernstein's musical Wonderful Town on Broadway and loved it, but had no appreciation of the source material, and had no idea there were movies based on the story. Until now, that is, when this one was recommended by a film friend. It then tied in my Twitter poll with Kings Row, but my need for a change of pace and the Bernstein connection prompted me to watch it.

'No-spoiler' plot overview 
Sisters Eileen and Ruth Sherwood (Janet Blair and Rosalind Russell) are two aspiring career women in acting and news writing respectably, who have bumped up against their limits in their hometown of Columbus, Ohio, and set out to make their names in New York, much to the chagrin of their father and grandmother (Grant Mitchell and Elizabeth Patterson). Once in NYC, they struggle to find a suitable apartment and make do with a basement-level apartment with an open window to the sidewalk above (!). All kinds of unsavory characters try to take advantage of the greenhorns, especially beautiful, vivacious but somewhat dim Eileen, while they pound the pavement in search of their big break. Meanwhile, as the brains of the outfit, Ruth gets offered a contract to sell her autobiographical story My Sister Eileen for The Mad Hatter magazine, thanks to handsome editor Robert Baker (Brian Aherne), except that he gets fired for his efforts before she can sign.

Production Background 
Ruth McKenney was a writer who moved from the Midwest to NYC with her sister Eileen and wrote about it for the New Yorker magazine. The stories captured the public's imagination and were converted to a Broadway play, which, like many of the successful ones, found its way to Hollywood, with Columbia paying over $200K for the film rights.

The two lead actresses clashed on set, with Janet Blair apparently trying to upstage Russell (who would blame her, as Russell was quite the force). After getting a talking-to, Blair graciously accepted Russell's offer to coach her. The film earned Russell the first of her four Oscar nominations.

Some other notable film-related events in 1942 (from Filmsite.org):

• Best Picture-winning Casablanca (1942), based on the play Everybody Comes to Rick's and set in 1941 war-time Morocco, premiered in New York. Its studio, Warner Bros., capitalized on the war-time events occurring (the Allied landings in N. Africa that mentioned the city). Although one of the most quoted movies of all time, it has one pervasive misquote: No one said, "Play it again, Sam."
• During a War Bond promotional tour, 33-year-old popular star Carole Lombard, Clark Gable's wife, was killed in a plane crash near Las Vegas, Nevada on January 16, 1942, just before the release of her final film.
• The Hollywood Canteen was founded (by Bette Davis, John Garfield, and others) and opened its doors on Cahuenga Blvd. to provide free entertainment (food, dancing, etc.) to servicemen by those in the industry. It operated for just over three years as a morale booster, during the war years, and was the impetus for the Warners' film Hollywood Canteen (1944), featuring lots of stars in cameo roles.
• Lena Horne was the first African-American woman to sign a long-term contract with a major studio (MGM) as a specialty performer, meaning that she was initially cast in parts and subplots (usually separate singing scenes) that could be edited out for showings in Southern theaters.

My Random Observations

• I think of screwball comedies being more a thing of the 1930s, but this film is proof that the genre lasted into the early 1940s at least. Wild, wacky, and not the least bit realistic, this farce is a showcase for the performers hamming it up/doing their schticks. It's amusing but not laugh-out-loud funny. It's appropriate that Columbia stars The Three Stooges make an appearance during the proceedings.
• Rosalind Russell is fresh off her brilliant role as Hildy Johnson in His Girl Friday, and in this film she plays maybe an earlier version of this character, just learning her way in the big city. She has the smarts and wisecracks ready to go. She's good here, but I would have liked to see a younger actor who could project small town optimism a bit more than thirty-something Russell.
• Russell and Brian Aherne, her potential (?) love interest, were a good match, but I would have liked to see a bit more sparring between these two, a la Beatrice & Benedick in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.
• Despite the farcical tone, there are several suggestive scenes scripted around Eileen's attractiveness and naivete, but one, in particular, showed her about to get raped...and the tone of that seemed dead serious to me. That one could be deleted with no ill effects.
• I'm now eager to see the 1955 film version with Janet Leigh and Jack Lemmon (I imagine Lemmon is a bit zanier than Brian Aherne as his character is billed as a "playboy"). Seems it's a new screenplay by Blake Edwards.
• I may never get the little ditty "I'm a rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech but a heck of an engineer" out of my head. TOO many repetitions of this one sung by "Wreck Loomis". Here is the college's fight song performed by the Glee Club in 1953. (Told you so!)

Screenshots

The tone of this one is set at the beginning when Eileen (Janet Blair) looks
clownish when despairing to Dad that she lost her part to the boss's daughter.

 

Ruth (Russell) takes encouragement from Granny (Elizabeth
Patterson) who doesn't oppose the sisters running off to NYC.

"Somewhere in Greenwich Village there is an apartment for us!"

Landlord Appopolous (Tobias) explains to the ladies that
the lack of a window means they get to watch all that goes
on on the street.

Allyn Joslyn plays a newspaperman who takes an "interest"
in Eileen's career.

Ruth and Robert Baker try to convince his boss at The Mad
Hatter magazine that Ruth's opinions might be worth listening to.

Eileen tries to entertain a new beau (Richard Quine, right)
when simultaneously being hit on by Chic Clark (Joslyn).

Baker and Ruth get to know each other in the backseat of a cab.

"The Wreck" Loomis (Gordon Jones) does the ironing in 
exchange for crashing at the ladies' apartment to escape 
his mother-in-law.

Former renter "Effie" (June Havoc) tries to explain to the ladies
why strange men keep showing up uninvited to the apartment.

The uncomfortable scene I mentioned above.

Yes, even sailors from the Portuguese navy end up as 
uninvited guests.

Donald MacBride is appropriately sour as the neighborhood cop.

Recognize that mug bursting up through the floor? (Just
when you thought it was safe to sleep in your basement apartment)

Where to Watch: Not available now on any streaming platform, you can get it as part of the "Icons of Screwball Comedy" DVD set. Check out your local library or purchase on Amazon.

Further Reading: I highly recommend this essay by fellow CMBA blogger Blonde at the Film, for many more plot and production details and a comparison between this film and the 1955 version.

Fifty Years of Film in 50 weeks, #8: Underground, 1928

Underground, 1928

My first--and mostly likely NOT last--British film of the series is a visual feast and emotional ride on the Tube.

Director: Anthony Asquith
Writers: Anthony Asquith
Cinematographer: Stanley Rodwell
Produced by British Instructional Films
Starring: Brian Aherne, Elissa Landi, Cyril McLaglen, Norah Baring

Why I chose it
When a good film friend recommended this one and offered to loan me her copy, I jumped at the chance to include my first British film in this series. I had considered watching one of Hitchcock's silents, or the lauded Lillian Gish vehicle, The Wind, but Underground rose to the top. I was especially curious to see Brian Aherne in a silent film, and also Norah Baring, who I had only seen in Hitchcock's early talkie Murder!

The following gifs are shared by permission of my friend Vânia from aintthatakick.tumblr.com:

Lovers above ground.

Brian Aherne is the film's protagonist.

'No-spoiler' plot overview
Bill (Aherne) is a porter/attendant in the London Underground who immediately becomes smitten with retail salesgirl Nell (Landi) when he notices her on a long escalator at an Underground station during the morning commute. In the same setting, though, she also meets and charms Bert (McLaglen), an electrician who works for the transit system. Bert pursues Nell aggressively, but the only problem is Bert is loved by his neighbor, the sweet Kate (Baring), who runs her own dressmaking shop. This love quadrangle heats up in multiple ways, with jealous rages and dirty tricks, until tragedy strikes. The film culminates in an incredible chase scene.

Production Background and 1928 in Film History
Anthony Asquith, the son of a UK Prime Minister, studied filmmaking in the U.S. before he began as a director in his native England. He was only 26 years old when he made Underground, his second feature. I loved this quote from Asquith: "In England when you make a movie, even the weather is against you. In Hollywood, the weatherman gets a shooting schedule from all the major studios and then figures out where he can fit in a little rain without upsetting MGM too much." Asquith later developed a reputation for directing theatrical dramas like Pygmalion and The Winslow Boy.

Anthony Asquith (IMDb.com)

Underground is notable for its stunning visuals, of course, thanks to cinematographer Stanley Rodwell, but perhaps even more for the location settings: the London Underground scenes were filmed in and around the Waterloo Station, and the power station scenes were filmed in the Lots Power Station, now defunct. The film was little seen after its release, and I couldn't find details of its release in the U.S. although it must have screened in NYC at least, as it was reviewed by Mordaunt Hall in the NY Times. In 2009 the film received a restoration by the British Film Institute, and was burned to DVD. It was released to UK cinemas again in 2013 to celebrate the 150-year anniversary of the Underground subway system. 

Some other notable film-related events in 1928*:

• After their success with The Jazz Singer, Warner Brothers releases their first 'all-talking' film, The Terror.
• RKO Productions, evolving originally from the Mutual Film Corporation (1912), was created in the merger of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), the Film Booking Office (FBO) and Keith-Albee-Orpheum.
• The animated character soon to be dubbed "Mickey Mouse" made his debut in the Disney short film Plane Crazy.
• Charlie Chaplin released The Circus, the fourth feature-length film he directed.

*Thanks to Filmsite.org

My Random Observations

• If anyone wanted to argue that silent film is a lesser art, this film would be among those I would show them. The masters of this art created a new medium of storytelling through moving black and white images that is worth discovering nearly 100 years later. In this film, Asquith delighted in contrasting scenes of dark and light, 'underground' and above ground', and he juxtaposed the beauty of his protagonists (Aherne and Landi, and McLaglen and Baring to a lesser extent) with the ugliness and idiosyncratic visages of random people around them. The camera was as active as the actors, taking along audience members as we journeyed along the tracks and streets.
• Based on the amount of shadows and canted angles, it is hard not to recognize the impact of German expressionism. There were some obvious symbolic shots that some viewers may find 'over the top', but I absolutely loved them. See some of them in my screenshots below.
• It was fun to see Elissa Landi and Norah Baring again, two actresses that I'd only seen in a total of three films to date: After the Thin Man and The Count of Monte Cristo for Ms. Landi, and Alfred Hitchcock's Murder! for Ms. Baring.
• I had no idea prolific character actor Victor McLaglen had an acting brother; it turns out that he had four! Cyril McLaglen was his younger brother and didn't resemble his more famous brother much in my opinion, yet his rugged face was tremendously expressive, moving from bashful to menacing within moments.
• I can't wait to see more of Brian Aherne. A native Brit, he made many films in Hollywood in the early talkie era when he was at his most handsome, leading-man phase (although his career lasted into the 1960s). It won't be long before I pick out of few of these to watch (What Every Woman Knows, The Constant Nymph and The Fountain all look interesting).

Screenshots

We're on the train as it approaches the station platform
teeming with passengers.

Bert (McLaglen) eyes Nell (Landi) as they sit side
by side riding the Underground.

Superimposition of images telegraphs tragedy ahead
as Kate (Baring) confronts Bert.

Bert's hair and face in shadows enhance our fear of 
him in a crucial scene.

We see the back of Kate as she approaches
the ominous Lots Power Station as dark clouds hover.

Nell hides while observing Bert.

Kate pretends to have a fainting spell to distract Bill.

The local barmaid isn't missing a thing.

Bert flicks a piece of lint off Bill's shoulder in a parallel
act of Bill's from earlier in the film. 

A shadow covers Kate's eyes as she looks out her 
window to watch Bert approach.

The initial intimacy between Bill and Nell is
caught only as a shadow.

First close-up of handsome Bill (Aherne)

At the film's end we pull away from the largely vacant platform.

Where to Watch

I expect this can be found by subscribing to the BFI streaming channel, but it doesn't appear to be accessible anywhere else online. Otherwise, there is the DVD release from the BFI on Kino Lorber.

Further Reading
The British publication The Guardian published an article on the 2013 re-release of the restored film in cinemas here.

Fellow blogger Laura of Laura's Miscellaneous Musings posted a review of the Kino DVD release of the film. 

September Classic Film Screenings in Greater Boston

After August delivered an abundance of classic film screening riches in the Boston area, with a bit of a chill in the air fast approaching, September is 'cooling down' on the number of options for cinephiles.  However, there are some exciting and notable offerings to report.

Somerville Theatre  -- Sept 16-24
The Somerville in Davis Square celebrates the start of fall with a Festival of screenings mostly devoted to the 70 mm format -- this includes both classic film in the era of epics shot originally on 70 mm, in addition to some more modern films adopted this format.  Films in this format are weightier, and in many cases offer more detail than even you'll see on your home Blu-Ray.  This is what makes these films ideal for big screens, as film-makers in the 1950s and 1960s learned, to compete with the increasing popularity of television.  Today, film-makers use this format to draw people to cinemas in the age of advancing home video technology and the proliferation of quality visual media offerings.

For those interested in attending most or all screenings, you can buy a festival pass for $200 (adult); individual features will cost $15.00 (The cost of making or restoring 70mm prints is higher than digital or 35 mm).  

Great classic & modern titles will be screened, including: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962), BEN-HUR (1959), WEST SIDE STORY (1961), SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959), just to name a few.  I'm particularly excited to see THE WILD BUNCH (1969) on Monday Sept 19 & SPARTACUS (1960) on Saturday Sept 24.

Shockingly, both these well-regarded films have yet to be seen by me.  THE WILD BUNCH would continue my exploration of the Western film, and is directed by Sam Peckinpah and showcases aging classic actors known to apparently good effect:  William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, and two personal favorites, Ben Johnson and Edmond O'Brien.  In a film that is more than mildly influenced by Vietnam War politics, if I can tolerate the violence, I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

THE WILD BUNCH

SPARTACUS is a picture known for Kirk Douglas showing off his pecs, and more seriously defying the blacklist by hiring famed screenwriter Dalton Trumbo back under his own name.  Stanley Kubrick directed this period epic, and if I load up on caffeine for the 3+ hour running time, I'm sure the 70mm presentation on the big screen will provide quite the experience, indeed.

SPARTACUS

Harvard Film Archive

The retrospective of the films of Rouben Mamoulian finishes up Friday Sept 2 with BLOOD AND SAND (1941) starting at 7PM and THE SONG OF SONGS (1933) to follow.  I'm thrilled to be attending these screenings. Again, neither film I've seen, but I did see the 1922 Valentino version of the famous tale of the ill-fated love triangle in 19th century Spain, which was nothing if not entertaining.  In the 1941 technicolor version we get three of the brightest and most gorgeous stars to feast our eyes on: Tyrone Power, Rita Hayworth, and Linda Darnell.  The mise-en-scene created by Mamoulian is said to take on 'painterly dimensions' with masterful use of color and noir shadows (HFA website).

Rita Hayworth and Tyrone Power throw sparks in BLOOD AND SAND

Rudolph Valentino and Nita Naldi as lovers in the earlier BLOOD AND SAND

THE SONG OF SONGS is a lesser-known film made in the pre-code era (1933), and it stars Marlene Dietrich coming off of her apex with director Josef von Sternberg.  Here she apparently starts out as a naive young country girl but rapidly changes her character after getting involved with Brian Aherne. It seems to be an interesting melodrama with 'touches of humor.'  If I can stay awake I will definitely catch this one (in 35 mm)!

Brian Aherne & Marlene Dietrich in THE SONG OF SONGS

Coolidge Corner Theatre
The Coolidge is presenting their perennial favorite JAWS (1975) on Monday Sept 5 (Labor Day), which is a great choice of a date because I doubt anyone is planning to return to the beach after that date anyway(!).  It will no doubt be a fun crowd.

Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Schneider and Robert Shaw in JAWS

Brattle Theatre 

It's not my favorite Hitchcock, but it is for many and deserves a shout-out for Sunday Sept 25 -- REAR WINDOW (1954) screens in 35 mm film format at the Brattle.  Starring a mostly immobile James Stewart character and the lovely Grace Kelly playing amateur sleuth.  

REAR WINDOW

Sat Sept 24 deserves special mention here as it is the first annual "Art House Theater Day" -- in which over 160 theaters around the country have joined on to take part in showcasing their role in "celebrating the legacy of independent theaters as advocates for cinema arts."  For participating theaters there will be special screenings and giveaways.  In the Boston area both the Coolidge and the Brattle are taking part.  The Brattle is even extending the celebration to 'Art House Theater Week' from Sept 16-24, for which their screening of REAR WINDOW is a part.  Sounds like the start of a great tradition.  

A final 'special mention' for New Englanders is the weekend Telluride-by-the-Sea film festival Sept 16-18 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  This quaint seaside town and its historic theater 'Music Hall' bring patrons a selection of 6 films that are screened at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado earlier in the month.  This is a lot of fun and a nice way to welcome in fall while seeing some newer films making the festival rounds -- highly recommended!