Fifty Years of Film in 50 Weeks, #44: The Night of the Iguana, 1964

 "He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls."
Proverbs 25:28(KJV)
-from a sermon by the Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon in The Night of the Iguana

The Night of the Iguana, 1964

Director: John Huston
Writers: Anthony Veiller and John Huston from the play by Tennessee Williams
Cinematographer: Gabriel Figueroa
Music: Benjamin Frankel
Producer: Ray Stark for Seven Arts Productions, distributed by MGM
Starring: Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr, Sue Lyon, Skip Ward, Grayson Hall

Why I chose it
Life inserted itself with a vengeance over the past several weeks and my series went on hiatus. I needed to come back with a blockbuster, and this one fit the bill - a star-studded production with one of the centuries' best directors at the helm, based on a work by one of the centuries' most-celebrated playwrights. 

'No-spoiler' plot overview 
The Episcopal priest Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon (Burton) has a problem - he's been booted out of his congregation after a sex scandal and struggles to hold down his job as a tour guide employed to take a group of teachers from a Baptist college to see sights in Mexico. A combination of the temptations of a young seductress, Charlotte (Sue Lyon), and precarious mental health prompt him to take refuge at a remote inn in Puerta Vallarta with his unhappy tourists in tow. He's greeted warmly by earthy widow Maxine, who runs the inn. Shortly after, a prim but penniless single woman, Hannah Jelkes (Deborah Kerr), and her grandfather arrive looking for shelter. Over a single night, Maxine, Shannon, and Jelkes confront their life choices and bounce ideas off of one another. All three are changed by morning.

Charlotte (Sue Lyon in foreground) captures the attention of the Rev. 
Shannon (Burton) as her concerned chaperone Mrs. Fellowes (Grayson Hall) looks on.

Production Background

The production of The Night of the Iguana has entered the orbit of legend. First, without John Huston's decision to film in Puerta Vallarta, the remote town would most likely not have become the popular resort it is today. In fact, Huston, who favored on-location shoots, chose that location because of its remoteness, as the particular village was only accessible by boat. (Williams' play was set in Acapulco.) Williams himself apparently relished the opportunity to be an on-site advisor. Once the stars began arriving, the locals and the international press took notice. 

Of particular interest was Elizabeth Taylor, who accompanied her new boyfriend Burton to Mexico. The two stars were the talk of the universe after wrapping Cleopatra (1963), where their love story ignited. Ava Gardner was reported cavorting with local young men, similar to her character, Maxine. And Deborah Kerr was all too aware that her husband, writer Peter Viertel, was previously involved with Gardner. Yet by all accounts peace was maintained and everyone enjoyed the experience.

The film won one Oscar, for costume design (Dorothy Jeakins), but had been nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Grayson Hall), Best Cinematography, and Best Art Direction.

John Huston (back to camera) presents his cast
gold plated Derringer pistols on the set of 
The Night of the Iguana

Some other notable film-related events in 1964 (from Filmsite.org):

• The mockumentary A Hard Day's Night (1964), the first Beatles film, premiered. The behind-the-scenes lives of the Fab Four were highlighted as Beatlemania erupted worldwide. The Beatles had made their first live TV appearance in the US on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on February 9, 1964.
• To obtain film rights to the intellectual property My Fair Lady (1964), to be directed by George Cukor and starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison, Warners paid a record sum of $5.5 million in February 1962. (See Annie (1982) when the record was broken.)
• Ronald Reagan's last feature film appearance before his retiring from the screen was in director Don Siegel's post-noir crime thriller The Killers (1964) in which he played 'heavy' or bad-guy crime boss Jack Browning - the first time he had ever played a villain. Two years later, he would be elected governor of California.
• The first feature-length made-for-TV movie, an action film titled See How They Run (1964) and starring John Forsythe and Senta Berger, was broadcast on NBC-TV for its world premiere. It was the first broadcast of Project 120, an innovative deal between Universal and NBC.

My Random Observations

• Wow, were most of the characters in this annoying or just plain odd! The film opened with a flashback to the moment that the Rev. Shannon lost his congregation, by having a breakdown on the pulpit and yelling angry nonsense. His agitated state persists for most of the movie. His nemesis, Mrs. Fellowes (the aunt of young sexpot Charlotte) is close behind him in the hysterics department. The eccentric Miss Jelkes and her grandfather are on the other side of the spectrum, poised, relaxed, and calm, despite their precarious circumstances. 

  

  Rev. Shannon loses it in the pulpit.

  

  Bus tour passengers wonder where their guide
  is taking them.

• As I was watching this, I was getting distinct Mogambo vibes. That 1953 film shared so many elements with this one: an exotic setting (on safari in Kenya); a love triangle between a middle-aged man (Clark Gable), an earthy hostess (a very similar role for Ava Gardner), a prim newcomer (Grace Kelly), and life and career choices that must be made. Instead of iguanas, there were tigers in Mogambo. That story was based on the 1928 play Red Dust (also made into a movie) by Wilson Collison.

Maxine and Rev. Shannon negotiate the price of hospitality for his
tour group and the terms of their relationship.

Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, and Clark Gable in Mogambo

• There were so many visually interesting shots, thanks to director Huston and his cinematographer Figueroa. When I began to lose interest in the story or the characters because of the absurdity of the plot, I was pulled back in by the visually interesting shot compositions and beautiful lighting. Huston had argued to film in black and white and it is stunning, but even he thought later that color would have enhanced the emotional experience.

Maxine cavorts on the beach with her Mexican companions.

Miss Jelkes shares her life philosophy with Rev. Shannon.

• Having been included in the title, the unnamed iguana only got a couple of brief scenes. I wanted more.

The iguana is not quite ready for its closeup.

Where to Watch
It's readily available on DVD and can be streamed for a small fee on most services.

Further Reading
While I haven't read the book, I listened to a fascinating interview with the author that convinced me that the book would be well worth reading: Johns, Howard: A Stolen Paradise, (The Making of The Night of the Iguana). For a deeper analysis of how the film adapted Williams' play, read this article.

Harry Carey in Hell Bent (1918) & The Shepherd of the Hills (1941): Part II of The Carey Family in the John Ford Western Universe

I never met Paddy (Patricia Nolan-Hall), but she mentored me from afar almost immediately after I joined the classic movie blogging ranks, with supportive comments on so many of my posts and on Twitter. (How is it that she had seen nearly every film I wrote about?😄) When the word came that she had passed, part of me couldn't imagine continuing my blog without her inspiration. Her loss was a profound one for so many of us, most of all her family, so I offer my condolences here.

Click on the image above to read all the posts
in honor of our friend Paddy. And check out Paddy's blog
at www.caftanwoman.com

I was delighted that Jacqueline of Another Old Movie Blog and Patty of Lady Eve's Reel Life decided to host a blogathon in her honor. At first, I struggled to identify a subject to write about. Then it came to me: it had to have a Western theme. On her Blogger profile, Paddy asserted, "John Ford is my religion." My idea then crystallized into a focus on Harry Carey. Why? A few years ago I wrote about the Carey family for a CMBA blogathon on movie history. While I was particularly proud of my post, I was embarrassed that I hadn't seen that she had written something very similar a few months earlier. I let her know how I felt, and she was most gracious, commenting, "Great minds think alike! I can't wait to read your post." 

I think of this post as a follow-up to my earlier post. Here I focus on Harry Carey Sr., and his far-reaching influence in film history, by reviewing two films he starred in: first, a recently-recovered silent film he made with John Ford: Hell Bent (1918), and second, a late-career film in which the father-son dynamics between Carey and Ford's protege, John Wayne, were on full display: The Shepherd of the Hills (1941).

Harry Carey in the 1920s

Harry Carey (1878-1947) was born Henry DeWitt Carey in the Bronx, the son of a judge on the New York Supreme Court. Young Carey was following his father's footsteps into the law when he got sidetracked by a stint on a ranch in Montana that dramatically altered his career path. He began to write and act in local plays and eventually met D.W. Griffith through an acting friend; soon he was back in New York working for Biograph in a brand new industry called motion pictures. After six years at Biograph, he hopped over to Universal and began a prolific association with young John "Jack" Ford.

In fact, according to Ford biographer Scott Eyman, Carey pressed Universal studio head Laemmle to let Ford direct him, as he was impressed with Ford's uncanny storytelling abilities. The two became fast friends, and Ford even lived with newlyweds Harry and Olive Carey acting out their fascination with all things Western, sleeping outside and such. Sixteen years Ford's senior, Carey did nearly as much directing on the 20+ films they made together as did Ford. And the two often collaborated on the scripts and experimented together during production. It's not an exaggeration to say Ford's matured into one of film history's top directors under Carey's mentorship.

Ford's first feature-length film was Straight Shooting (1917), which starred Carey as "Cheyenne Harry," a rugged, complex, but heroic cowboy character. This role was created by Carey and suited his significant acting range perfectly. It made Carey a star and a wealthy man, as story after story was written and filmed, especially with Ford, to create more and more complex and enjoyable films. Sadly, most of those were lost as were the majority of silents from those early days.

Hell Bent (1918)
This film was made in Ford and Carey's fertile collaborative period, and like a few others, was discovered in The Czech Republic as a nitrate print. Universal restored the film in 2019 and re-released it, with Kino Lorber publishing it on DVD/Blu-Ray format. 

In Hell Bent, Cheyenne Harry confronts a gang of murderous thieves in a small Western town who have abducted his love interest, who in turn has been betrayed by her own brother. With the help of Cimmaron Bill, Cheyenne Harry must do battle with them out in the desert to rescue her.

Carey and his leading lady, Neva Gerber.

Ford fans should watch the film to see Ford's signature style begin to emerge. What I noticed here that would be expanded in his top features of the 1940s and 1950s include expansive panoramic shots of stunning landscapes, and those through small enclosures: doors, windows, etc., to frame characters and action. There was an extended scene with Cheyenne Harry and his potential rival, Cimmaron Bill (Duke R. Lee) in which Harry takes his horse up the saloon stairs to the rental rooms to try to convince Bill to let him share the room. Bill is not amused when Harry's horse starts eating the straw out of his mattress! But over time, the two men become fast friends. It's an extended and comic scene reminiscent of the male-bonding scenes in Ford's "cavalry trilogy" of the late 1940s.

Life in small Western towns can get out of hand sometimes.

One of the first times Carey displays his characteristic
arm grab pose. In this moment he had just taken a bullet
 in the right arm!

Despite the pedestrian plot, I had great fun with this one as a result of the comic relief, the action scenes, and particularly Carey's nuanced and charismatic performance. His rugged features are just handsome enough, that despite him being nearly 40 years old, you believe that he wins the girl in the end. And unlike the other male characters, who rely on heavy makeup and facial contortions, Carey is natural. Watch the entire film here.

The Shepherd of the Hills (1941)

With the advent of talking pictures, Carey's age prevented him from taking on leading roles in top films, with the exception of Trader Horn (1931), but he continued his steady work headlining B Westerns at various "Poverty Row" studios. In the 1930s and 1940s, he occasionally snagged plum supporting parts, including that for which he garnered his only Oscar nod, as the Senate President in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). But perhaps more important during this time than his acting contributions to cinema was his relationship with an actor on the way up, John Wayne. 

According to Wayne's biographer Scott Eyman, Wayne looked up to Carey and his wife Olive as surrogate parents, with Carey Sr. as supportive and nurturing as his other father figure, John Ford, was strict and distant. Further, apparently, Olive Carey impressed upon Wayne the necessity to stick with what works for maximum career success. She said, "Be like Harry. Be John Wayne - be what people want you to be." From then on, Eyman said, Wayne gave up any notion of branching out to take on radically different roles and worked to adopt the central core personality to build a relationship with audiences, like Carey had done, that would last throughout a long career.

Perhaps appropriately, the first time that Wayne and Carey acted together was in this film, where they portrayed father and son. For that reason, I was particularly interested in watching it.

This film was an 'A' picture made by Paramount, directed by Henry Hathaway; it starred Wayne, fresh off the success of Stagecoach, contract player Betty Field, Carey, and featured well-known and loved supporting actors including Ward Bond, Beulah Bondi, Marjorie Main, and John Qualen. I had no idea it was the third film adaptation of a popular novel (Harold Bell Wright) about a family drama playing out in the 19th century Ozark Mountains of Missouri. Not exactly a Western, but with the rural, early 20th-century setting, stunning scenery, and struggle for land and dominance, it qualifies as a close cousin.

Residents of the Ozarks gather as a medical "miracle" 
is revealed.

Carey played the titular "shepherd": a stranger returning to his home in the Ozarks after being absent for the last 25 years. In the interim, his son Matt Matthews (Wayne) has sworn to kill his father (Carey, of course) because he blames him for leaving his mother to die at a young age. As a result, Carey must keep his identity secret, and he begins building relationships with the local moonshiners, by doing good deeds despite the hostility directed at him as a mysterious stranger looking to make changes to a long-abandoned homestead. He's befriended by young Sammy (Betty Field), who begins to act as his ambassador/daughter figure, and there are a few twists and a few tears before the closing credits.

Carey and Wayne in The Shepherd of the Hills

The film is beautifully filmed and the characters are all drawn somewhat eccentrically. Each actor inhabits their part and creates a forward momentum despite a somewhat sluggish script. Perpetually cranky New York Times reviewer Bosley Crowther said this, which I just couldn't resist quoting: "With a beatific Technicolor smile and a mouthful of platitudes, "The Shepherd of the Hills" walked into the Paramount yesterday, busily shedding sweetness and light as he came. Never, since Harold Bell Wright first sent the shepherd back to Moanin' Meadow to face the curse of the Matthews has there lived a man whose mere presence was so benedictive, whose utterances were more suitable for framing as wall samplers, or who wore his halo more rigidly fixed."

Beulah Bondi (right) throws vitriol at Carey (left) while
a concerned Betty Field looks on.

But Crowther went on to praise Carey, saying, "Harry Carey as the shepherd is invariably more convincing than his material." I agree. The ratio of benefactor to tough guy in his character is about 75/25, about the inverse of Cheyenne Harry in Hell Bent. Both sides of his persona are convincing and natural. And despite his premature aging, clearly evident on the screen, he's magnetic. 

Carey bonds with Marjorie Main, her character blind from birth.

Carey with his broad grin.

Wayne is fine, too, but the real revelation for me is Massachusetts native Betty Field, who is spunky and delightful with her mountain-gal naiveté, and who realizes the kind stranger's true identity before anyone else does. She's a great foil to both Carey and Wayne, and her lines and her delivery seemed like she was reciting Shakespeare translated to Appalachian. I need to see more of her. The only film I'd seen her in before this one was The Great Gatsby (1949) with Alan Ladd, where she seemed miscast and wooden as Daisy Buchanan. 

I adored Betty Field in this film.

Bonus Tidbits

Watch John Wayne discuss his admiration for Harry Carey, and how he played tribute to him in one of his finest films with John Ford, 1956's The Searchers, in this clip from the series "Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film". 

Fun fact: The Shepherd of the Hills is a stage show perennially mounted in Branson, Missouri as a tourist attraction. If you're planning to be anywhere close to there, check it out!

And don't forget to check out all the posts honoring our virtual blogging friend. RIP, dear Paddy.

Selected Sources
Eyman, Scott, John Wayne, the Life and the Legend, Simon & Schuster, 2014.
Eyman, Scott, Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford, Simon & Schuster, 1999.
Kitses, Jim, Horizons West, The British Film Institute, 2004.

Fifty Years of Film in 50 Weeks, #43: 8½, 1963

 "All the confusion of my life... has been a reflection of myself! Myself as I am, not as I'd like to be."
-Guido Anselmi

 

8½, 1963

Director: Federico Fellini
Writers: Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Brunello Rondi
Cinematographer: 
Music: Nino Rota
Producer: Gianni di Venanzo
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimee, Sandra Milo

Why I chose it
I have made multiple attempts to watch this classic of Italian cinema, but for various reasons that I believe are completely unrelated to the quality or watchability of the film, like the film's protagonist, I couldn't complete it. Here was a golden opportunity.

'No-spoiler' plot overview 
Popular and celebrated film director Guido Anselmi (Mastroianni) is trying to make a new movie. While on the verge of commencing shooting, he can't seem to finalize the script and faces increasing pressure from his producers, actors, and the press. At the same time, he takes a working vacation in a sumptuous spa, but cannot escape his own personal stresses. He juggles dysfunctional relationships with various women, most notably his wife and (primary?) mistress. To cope with what seems an increasingly vague line between the film's script and his own life, he retreats into fantasies and visions of his past.

Mastroianni as Guido looks in the mirror and is not happy with 
what he sees.

Production Background
I've discovered there are books written about the making of this film, multiple interviews with cast and crew, and commentaries by eyewitnesses. So here are just a few tidbits that I picked up as I dipped into the tip of the proverbial iceberg. First, it's true that director Fellini wrote into the script much of his own life's memories and his struggles as a famed director on the way up. In fact, the title refers to the total number of films Fellini had made at the conclusion of production of this one. Yet unlike Guido, Fellini was a more confident director, and the film is widely believed to be only semi-autobiographical. In fact, Fellini described the film as portraying "three levels of which our minds live: past, present, and conditional (fantasy)." But he apparently struggled with the tone of the film, as he had a note taped to his camera, which read, "remember, this film is a comedy."

Fellini (left) on the set of 8 1/2 with Mastroianni.

At what was probably the apex of his career, Fellini apparently had a great gift for being the center of gravity on set such that everyone orbited around him or wanted to be close to him. Actress Sandra Milo (Carla) confesses to having intense feelings for Fellini. 

Fellini was obsessed with actors' physical characteristics and made casting choices accordingly. The American singer Eddra Gale, who had never acted in a film, was cast as Saraghina because her voluptuous body had just the right look. But with the exception of megastar Marcello Mastroianni, no other actor in the film was hired more than twice by Fellini in his long career. 

8½ wowed the critics around the world and was a big hit in the U.S. as well. It went on to win the Oscar for best foreign-language film. As an important piece of film history, the film is lauded especially by directors today who see it as being an authentic portrayal of the struggles of film-making.

Some other notable film-related events in 1963 (from Filmsite.org):

• Elizabeth Taylor was the first actress to sign and be paid a record $1 million for a film, for her lead role in the legendary epic film Cleopatra (1963) from 20th Century Fox.
• Ampex, which had developed the world's first practical videotape recorder in 1956 for TV studios, began to offer its first consumer version of a videotape recorder, sold through the Neiman-Marcus Christmas catalog for $30,000 - a non-consumer-friendly price.
• Director Tony Richardson's Best Picture-winning UK film, a period comedy titled Tom Jones (1963), was noted for its many freewheeling cinematic tricks (a slapstick mock-silent prologue with inter-titles, quick edits, stop-motion, freeze-frames, wipe-cuts, sped-up motion, audience asides, and breaking of the fourth wall, tongue-in-cheek narration), and the eating scene that cross-cuts between roguish Tom Jones (Albert Finney) and Mrs. Waters (Joyce Redman).
• Sidney Poitier won the Best Actor Academy Award (awarded in 1964) for Lilies of the Field (1963), thereby becoming the first Black actor to win this award for a leading role, and the only one in the 20th century.

My Random Observations

• On first viewing, I found the film fascinating but frustrating, and I even stopped periodically to check to see how much time was left. I liked it better the second time with the commentary track running. Its scenes are consistently odd, and they are linked together with the slimmest of plots. Those with obvious surrealism blend into others that may also be surreal, but can we be sure of anything that's happening? I would compare this in an odd way to some of David Lynch's work. No doubt that 8½ has riches to be uncovered, with views on identity crises, the vagaries of fame, traditional and modern gender relationships, religion and superstition, to name the most obvious, but to have any hope of decoding those messages, you'll need to commit to multiple viewings.
  

  

  In a possible fantasy, Guido and his wife dance as all his players
  parade in a circle on his location set.

  
  
• I don't mind surrealism, as my commentary on another Italian film with surreal elements, Miracolo a Milano (1951), will attest. In fact, the scene in which Guido flies high into the sky to then be pulled back down reminded me of the broomstick riders taking off into the sky near the Duomo in the earlier film. Another film that I absolutely adored, also with some surreal and spooky visuals but a clearer plot through-line, is Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries (1957).
  
  

  

  Guido flies into the air.

  
  

  

  A very creepy surreal scene at the film's beginning.

  
  
• Despite everything, I will say that the visuals grab you with their brilliance, whether it's the lighting, the costumes, or how the camera captures the revealing expressions of the actors. Here are just a few snaps: 
  

  

  From a childhood memory of Guido's, an old woman in her house.

  
  

  

  The spectacular spaceship launchpad set at night.

  
  

  

  Claudia Cardinale shares the frame with Mastroianni, but we 
  never see both their faces at the same time.

  
  

  

  A strange scene in a cafe. Carla, in her furs, is the center of attention.

  
  
• This week's Bit Player Bingo features the French actress who I didn't realize had a career outside of her brief but memorable role as the patriot in Casablanca (1942) who shouts "vive la France!" at the end of a rousing rendition of the Marseillaise: Madeleine Lebeau. To be fair, her role in 8 1/2 (as a French actress!) is arguably more than a bit part, but she has a totally different manner here.
  
  

  

  Madeleine Lebeau (right) as actress Madeleine pumps Guido (Mastroianni)
  for info about her part in his film.

  
  

  

  Lebeau in her memorable scene in Casablanca.

Where to Watch
The film has been released on DVD by the Criterion Collection, and is currently streaming for subscribers of their online channel. It's also available for free now for subscribers of HBO Max, Kanopy, and Direct TV. It can be streamed for a small fee on other services as well.

Further Reading
Go here for a detailed discussion of the film background as well as interviews with Fellini and Mastroianni.

Fifty Years of Film in 50 Weeks, #42: The Days of Wine and Roses, 1962

Days of Wine and Roses, 1962

Director: Blake Edwards
Writers: J. P. Miller
Cinematographer: Philip H. Lathrop
Music: Henry Mancini
Producer: Martin Manulis for Jalem Productions, distributed by Warner Bros.
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Charles Bickford, Jack Klugman

Why I chose it
After last week's veering into farce, I decided to once again dip into hard-hitting drama. This film had been on my radar for years as it's been on TCM a number of times, and I was curious about how difficult it was going to be to watch. As difficult as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I decided to find out.

'No-spoiler' plot overview 
Joe Clay is a successful and somewhat smarmy public relations worker at a large ad firm in San Francisco. Among his important job duties is procuring women for visiting high-ranking clients and tossing back copious amounts of liquor. One evening he meets Kirsten, the teetotaling secretary in his firm and mistakenly assumes she is expected to be part of the "entertainment". Angry, she rejects his later advances, but then gives in to his courting and finds drinking may be fun after all. They get married, have a baby, but in the next few years, the drinking dominates and destroys, first Joe's career, then the marriage, and finally their mental and physical health. Joe finds AA, and Kirsten returns to her father's house, but they struggle through sobriety and relapse.

Production Background
Director Blake Edwards was a director on his way up, mostly working on TV series until the early 1960s. His first big hit was the ever-popular Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and after Days of Wine and Roses, he mostly helmed comedies like the blockbuster Pink Panther series. When he had the opportunity to direct this extremely serious feature film, which was originally presented in 1958 as a play on TV (teleplay) by J.P. Miller, he got megastar Lemmon to help boost the picture. (In the TV version, Cliff Robertson played Joe and Piper Laurie played Kirsten. Charles Bickford portrayed Kirsten's father in both the TV and theatrical film.)

According to the book Film: A World History by Borden, Duijsens, Gilbert, and Smith, Edwards and his two leads actually drank quite a lot during production. It's not clear if their drinking added verisimilitude to some of the most intense scenes! Both apparently also attended AA meetings and visited jails and hospitals that housed and treated drunks.

The film accrued 5 Oscar nominations, including Best Actor for Lemmon and Best Actress for Remick, but only took home Best Song for Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini.

Some other notable film-related events in 1962 (from Filmsite.org):

• The 7th and final "Road to..." film (starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour) was released -- The Road to Hong Kong (1962). It was the last of seven escapist 'Road pictures' (beginning in 1940 with The Road to Singapore). 
• 36-year-old sex symbol Marilyn Monroe was discovered dead (August 5) in the Los Angeles area in her Mexican style bungalow of an apparent drug overdose, a death the coroner ruled as "a probable suicide." She was in the midst of filming with director George Cukor in Something's Got To Give (1962). 
• The action/spy film Dr. No, which launched in the UK in 1962, inaugurated the successful, long-running, and highly profitable James Bond series of action films. Based upon Ian Fleming's works, this film cast as the series' first Agent 007, unknown actor Sean Connery. Ursula Andress also starred as Honey Ryder, the first iconic Bond girl. 
• Patty Duke won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as young Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962). She was the first minor (under age 18) to win a competitive Oscar.

My Random Observations
*Special thanks to my friend Vânia for her gif image files, which I've featured throughout this post. Check out her blog at aintthatakick.tumblr.com.

Camerawork can be striking.

• Considering Joe's initial happy-go-lucky corporate persona, who is a willing conspirator  to sexist debauchery, the film rather struck me The Apartment (1960) meets The Lost Weekend (1945). The latter was a film from the 1940s showing one man's weekend battle with a serious alcohol problem, considered quite realistic and forward-thinking for the era. In some ways, the present film may be more painful because of the extended family devastation not really the focus of the earlier film.

The Apartment, anyone?

Joe in the throes of a harrowing withdrawal.

• The film is superb in letting us feel that all-consuming power of the bottle. Through the excellent performances, script, and cinematography we feel we are in the heads of our protagonists.

The lure of alcohol: one can have fun when drinking.

Kirsten realizes that the bottle makes for poor
company, when all is said and done.

• This is my third film in this blog series featuring character actor (and one-time leading man) Charles Bickford. Last time we saw him was in the noir Fallen Angel (1945), and before that in Anna Christie (1930) opposite Greta Garbo. He's a good actor, and versatile, but it seems all his characters have one trait in common: they are strong and rugged. As Kirsten's father, he initially seems stern and to be feared, but we learn that he is an upstanding man who tries to help as his daughter's life spins out of control, and it's appropriate that the couple find him attractive to lean on.
• So the verdict on if I find the film hard to watch: yes, but, not as difficult as I was expecting. There surely are painful scenes: when Joe is suffering withdrawal, when the couple's daughter suffers neglect or abuse, or when they confront how much love is able to overcome addition. The choice of black and white at once sets a somber tone and helps us keep slightly distant from the horror. Considering how these issues may be filmed in the modern era (Leaving Las Vegas comes to mind), I couldn't help but feel a bit spared from the worst.
  

  

  This can't be the life together that Joe and Kirsten
  had envisioned.

Where to Watch
The film can be rented to stream on a variety of the most popular streaming services, and can be purchased on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Further Reading
An excellent article on TCM.com provides interesting production tidbits, while this blogger posts a detailed comparison between the TV movie and the film.

Fifty Years of Film in 50 Weeks, #41: Lover Come Back, 1961

"Okay, so I've sewn a few wild oats.:

- Jerry Webster

"A few? You could qualify for a farm loan!"

- Carol Templeton

Lover Come Back, 1961

Director: Delbert Mann
Writers: Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning
Cinematographer: Arthur E. Arling
Producer: Robert Arthur, Stanley Shapiro, and Martin Melcher for 7 Pictures Corporation-Nob Hill Productions, Inc.-Arwin Productions, Inc. Production
Starring: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall, Edie Adams, Jack Oakie

Why I chose it
After a few ultra-serious films, I was in the mood for a frothy comedy. When this one popped up on my list, I was especially attracted to it as a way to start filling in the gaping hole in the Rock Hudson-Doris Day films. When I saw Jack Oakie was in the cast, that sealed the deal for this secret Oakie enthusiast!

'No-spoiler' plot overview 
Carol Templeton (Day) and Jerry Webster work for rival ad agencies on Madison Avenue. Even though they haven't met, they often fight to win the same potential client, which engenders a bit of an (un)friendly 'in name only' rivalry. Womanizer Jerry doesn't hesitate to go to extreme lengths to win a client, much to the consternation of his neurotic boss and company owner, Pete Ramsey (Tony Randall). A major ruse is unleashed when in the midst of trying to keep one of his girlfriends (Edie Adams) from walking out, he makes up a product name (Vip) and promises she can be the "Vip Girl". Jerry then has to actually get Vip to materialize and enlists the help of brilliant chemist Linus Tyler (Jack Kruschen) to come up with something (anything). Hot on the trail of Vip, and not knowing there is no such product, Carol is introduced to Jerry who pretends to be Tyler to access to some of her business secrets. Of course, the two begin a relationship. Viewers must stay tuned to see what Vip will really turn out to be, and how long Jerry can keep his real identity hidden from Carol!

Carol (Day) tries to console Linus (Jerry in disguise) when
he just doesn't know what to do with his feelings for her (!).

Production Background
The first film pairing of the dynamic Rock Hudson and Doris Day in Pillow Talk (1959) was a huge success with late 1950s audiences, and co-producer Stanley Shapiro, who also wrote Pillow Talk, looked to pair them again in a similar tale of mistaken (or unknown) identities, and personality mismatches. 

Lover Come Back was also a hit, and oft-grumpy NY Times critic Bosley Crowther even loved it. He said, "Pillow Talk was but a warm-up for this springy and spirited surprise, which is one of the brightest, most delightful satiric comedies since It Happened One Night."

Despite the lauds it received from critics, Lover Come Back only garnered one Oscar nomination, for Best Writing, Screenplay.

Some other notable film-related events in 1961 (from Filmsite.org):

• The action war film The Guns of Navarone (1961) starring Gregory Peck, had one of the most expensive budgets of films at the time, at $6 million, and was one of the top-grossing films of 1961, along with Disney's animated 101 Dalmatians (1961).
• Method actor and maverick auteur John Cassavetes' low-budget film Shadows (1961) was his first directorial effort - deliberately created as a contrast to Hollywood's studio system. The self-financed, self-distributed cinema verite film was a story set in New York about an inter-racial couple. Shot on 16-mm film and using a non-professional cast and crew, the film symbolized the emergence of the New American Cinema movement, and inspired the growth of underground films and other independent ("indie") and personal works.
• A search commenced for the first James Bond actor, after UA announced it would produce seven films based upon Ian Fleming's 007 British super-spy, to be produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. Cary Grant, James Mason, Patrick McGoohan, and David Niven, were considered for the role, ultimately given to 30 year-old actor Sean Connery.
• Marilyn Monroe's last completed film, before her death in 1962, was director John Huston's anti-western The Misfits (1961) -- it was also the last film of screen icon Clark Gable.

My Random Observations

• ANOTHER film in which a chemist is portrayed as a socially-awkward misfit? Oh my. So it's especially hard to imagine that Doris Day is supposed to believe gorgeous Rock Hudson is a chemist, even if he wears a beard, along with an ill-fitting suit and bowtie, and acts ultra naive. That's OK, I suppose we are supposed to believe that Doris as Carol is a bit naive herself, even if she is a savvy marketing executive.
  

  

  The chemist vs. the leading man - which do you choose?

  
  

  

  Hudson as Jerry as Linus (!) feigns shock watching a strip show
  with Carol. Carol either doesn't like the show or is embarrassed by 
  Rock's wardrobe.

  
  
• With the prevalence of social media, business sites like LinkedIn, etc., it did strike this modern viewer as quaint that the main plot revolved around Carol having no idea what her well-known but hated rival Jerry actually looked like!
• Jack Oakie's role was much too small. This comedy star of early talkie cinema had a unique slapstick style and loved to put on accents (think 'Napaloni' in The Great Dictator (1940)). Here he is a rich Virginia gentleman who plays into the hands of Jerry and Carol who duke it out to win his account. As a mere tool to set up the characters and scenario for the film, he disappeared after the first ten minutes, much to my chagrin. This film was the last Oakie made.
  

  

  Jack Oakie (right) being treated to a good time by
  Rock Hudson as a prelude to a deal.
  

  
  

  

  The good time was just a bit too good. Carol 
  (Day, left) looks at the aftermath in horror.

  
  
• How much inspiration did Matthew Weiner, the creator of TV's smash hit Mad Men, get from this movie, set in precisely the same era, with the focus on sexual politics interfering with work politics? For fans of the series, I would strongly recommend this film, even if the romantic comedy angle is not the main theme of the series. I really enjoyed the film and felt that the pacing, performances, script were perfect, and the set and costume design were scrumptious.
  

  

  Jon Hamm (left) and John Slattery in a scene from Mad Men

  
  
• Tony Randall is wonderful. He underplays a comic role that could tempt most actors to slice the ham a bit too thick, but his interactions with Hudson are believable enough to be downright hysterical.

Tony Randall (left) as the boss uses a horn to beckon moose as 
the clearly unamused Jerry wishes here were anywhere else.

• For Bit player bingo this time, I present Ann B. Davis, well known as the smart-aleck but loveable maid Alice in The Brady Bunch, here playing Day's assistant.
  

  

  Ann B. Davis (right) looks uncannily like Alice when she helps
  Doris Day with her outfit.

Where to Watch
It's available on DVD and can be streamed for a small fee on many standard streaming services.

Further Reading
Check out this piece in Vanity Fair detailing the lives of Doris Day and Rock Hudson, and how they intersected inside and outside the movies they made together.