October Man, The (1947)
“An injured brain isn’t always logical.”
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Mr. Skeffington (1944)
“I married the woman everyone else wanted to.”
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… who’s never at a loss for suitors (who in turn come across more like a comedic Greek chorus than realistic supporting characters). Rains is as invested as always in the title role — but he’s really secondary to the proceedings; this tale should have been called Fanny Skeffington instead, given that it’s primarily concerned with tracking Davis’s predictably disastrous fall-from-grace, hastened by a convenient bout of appearance-wracking diphtheria. To that end, the final portion of the film — in which the hideously transformed Fanny finally gets her comeuppance — provides the most entertainment value, in a gruesomely baroque manner; one can’t help thinking of Davis’s later Grand Guignol performances when viewing her mask-like visage (see still below). Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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Bad Girl (1956)
“Kindly allow me to choose my own friends!”
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Meanwhile, Wooland is simply forgettable as her conveniently understanding and handsome suitor. The best feature of the film is Sylvia Syms (in her screen debut) as the pretty young protagonist, who’s torn between a desire to remain her mother’s “good” eldest daughter, and her itch to explore the wild-and-woolly world of soul-corrupting jive. The screenplay becomes needlessly melodramatic in its final third, as Neagle and Syms are provided with further opportunities to explore their complicated mother-daughter dynamic, and the overall tenor of the film begins to feel more like a “women’s weepie” than anything else. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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Devil Commands, The (1941)
“Your mother is not dead – not really. She’s come back to me!”
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Also lifting the film a notch above average is a strong performance by Anne Revere, playing a quietly psychopathic “medium” whose love of money overrides all other concerns, even her own safety.
Other elements of the quickie screenplay (just over an hour long) feel somewhat conventional, but there’s certainly enough here — including a typically committed performance by Karloff:
… and atmospheric cinematography —
… to recommend this one for fans of the genre. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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Paper Chase, The (1973)
“I need a way of living that I can rationalize!”
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Indeed, in its depiction of Bottoms’ relentless quest to earn Houseman’s respect — and its overall presentation of the rigors of law school, complete with plenty of heady dialogue and ruthlessly competitive interactions —
The Paper Chase fully succeeds, and we remain enthusiastically engaged; as Vincent Canby points out in his review for The New York Times, it’s refreshing to see a movie that “acknowledge[s] the existence of a mind”. Unfortunately, however, this focus is interrupted time and again by a poorly developed romantic subplot, one which ultimately feels both contrived and unsatisfying.
Wagner’s character, while potentially fascinating, is insufficiently developed to earn our interest; instead, she functions merely as a distraction for Bottoms — someone who happens to conveniently possess an insider’s perspective on the man Bottoms is single-mindedly obsessed with. Meanwhile, Bottoms’ character eventually becomes so callously self-absorbed that we stop rooting for him — a dangerous outcome for a film predicated on whether or not our dauntless protagonist will succeed in his quest.
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Barefoot in the Park (1967)
“Corie, if it’s a good marriage, it’ll last until 5:30.”
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(Many actresses were apparently considered for the role of “Corie”, yet she’s so poorly written that it’s actually difficult to imagine anyone having better success with her than Fonda.) We’re presumably meant to sympathize with poor Redford’s character (a stand-in for Simon himself) — an every-man who simply wants to go to work and earn a living; but he’s so dull and under-written that we don’t care much for him, either. Another critical concern is that we aren’t given sufficient motivation to care about the ultimate survival of this couple’s sexually charged yet perilously unstable marriage, which suffers from seemingly irreconcilable personality differences (she’s free-spirited and likes to walk “barefoot in the park”, while he’s more conservative). Meanwhile, a critical subplot involving Fonda’s attempt to set up her single mother (Mildred Natwick) with an enigmatic foodie neighbor (Charles Boyer) is simply tiresome — as are the running “gags” about how tiny and elevated the couple’s new apartment is. Note: Simon would rework the basic concept of conflicting personality types attempting (unsuccessfully) to live together in his infinitely more clever and enjoyable comedy The Odd Couple (1968). Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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In Name Only (1939)
“I’ll see Ms. Eden whenever and wherever I can.”
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… thanks to the evil machinations of a gold-digging wife-from-hell.
Grant and/or Lombard fans hoping for anything close to a screwball comedy will be disappointed, given that In Name Only takes itself quite seriously, with no laughs to be had — but the entire affair is competently directed, acted, and photographed (by J. Roy Hunt), making it fairly easy to sit through. Watch for a fun supporting performance by Helen Vinson as a philandering socialite who makes a play for Grant. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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Four Daughters (1938)
“So they flipped a coin: heads he’s poor, tails he’s rich.”
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It’s primarily notable today for affording John Garfield his memorable screen debut:
Indeed, Garfield’s Oscar-nominated supporting performance as a philosophizing cynic who plucks Ann’s pity strings is likely why Peary includes this title in his GFTFF, and was enough to make the New York Times’ reviewer take note:
Otherwise, the film remains a fairly straightforward product of its era — a tearjerking romance full of conveniently implausible twists and turns, all taking place within the idyllic white-picket borders of a happy small-town household, presided over by avuncular Rains (in a throwaway role):
… and no-nonsense May Robson as “Aunt Etta”.
With that said, the script is surprisingly well-written for its genre, and contains quite a few lines of thoughtful and/or amusing dialogue (see examples below) — you’ll likely be pleasantly surprised if you decide to check this one out. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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Different Story, A (1978)
“Yes I have, several, and not particularly.”
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Review: The Gay [and Lesbian] Activists Alliance wrote a letter of concern upon the film’s release, and it’s easy to see why: a movie which posits that a gay man and woman can suddenly find not only love but sexual satisfaction with one another feeds directly into the toxic fantasy that homosexuality can be “cured”, especially once a kid arrives on the scene. Clearly, this kind of scenario does occasionally happen — see IMDb user posts for at least one example; but it’s handled here with such lack of insight and nuance that this story really would have been better off not being told at all. Note: King’s status as a Belgian illegal immigrant (purely a plot device — it’s the reason Foster marries him to begin with) is clumsily handled as well: when Foster asks him why he doesn’t have an accent, he declares it’s because he “doesn’t want one” (!!!). Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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Abraham Lincoln (1930)
“Do you suppose there’s a human being who wants peace more than I do?”
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Abraham Lincoln has been somewhat unfairly maligned over the years — most notoriously by Harry Medved and Randy Dreyfuss in their book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (1978), where the authors call out (among other things) the melodramatic acting style of Merkel (who they refer to as “very simply beneath contempt”):
… the occasionally clunky dialogue (“Oh, Ann! I love you so!”), and the screenplay’s revisionist tendencies (i.e., Lincoln spouting part of his inaugural address before settling down to watch his final play at Ford’s Theater).
However, Medved and Dreyfuss’s attack simply comes across as mean-spirited — as is their entire book, come to think of it. While Abraham Lincoln hasn’t dated all that well, and is far from accurate as a nuanced history lesson, it’s not nearly the clunker these authors claim it to be. Abraham Lincoln is primarily a victim of its own era — the transition between silent films and talkies, a time when few directors were getting things completely “right”. In addition, the episodic nature of the screenplay doesn’t do the subject any favors, with far too much material covered in too short a time. Huston does a fine job as Lincoln:
… though I ultimately prefer Henry Fonda’s more introspective interpretation in John Ford’s superior Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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