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Synopsis:
When the editor (Kay Thompson) of a women’s fashion magazine declares that she wants a fresh face for the new edition, a photographer (Fred Astaire) points her towards a waifish, philosophy-loving bookstore employee (Audrey Hepburn) who agrees to become a model in exchange for a trip to Paris.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Audrey Hepburn Films
• Fred Astaire Films
• Models
• Musicals
• Photographers
• Romance
• Stanley Donen Films

Review:
From its vibrant Technicolor palette, to George Davis and Hal Pereira’s stylized art direction, to Givenchy’s seemingly endless display of stunningly chic couture, Stanley Donen’s Funny Face is a stylishly retro visual treat, one it’s truly difficult to tear your eyes away from. The storyline itself, unfortunately, is a little less impressive. Essentially a Pygmalion-tale about an innocent waif seduced by an older mentor into a world of glamour and fame, Hepburn’s “transformation” never rings quite true. She’s a philosophy-loving beatnik who inexplicably falls in love with the much-older Astaire the first time he kisses her, and allows both her weird crush on him — as well as her desire to travel to Paris to meet the fabled philosopher Emile Flostre (Michel Auclair) — to convince her to give the glamorous world of modeling a try. (Oh, how would-be models in the audience at the time must have been simultaneously drooling and seething at the fairy-tale opportunity Hepburn nearly gives up!)

Yet the entire affair — like most musicals at the time — is best viewed simply as a fairy tale, one that shouldn’t be analyzed too closely; as DVD Savant puts it, “Funny Face is meant to be a carefree bubble of jokes and music, and on those terms there’s little to complain about.” While the age difference between Hepburn and Astaire really is too much to swallow (after all, Astaire is no debonairly graying Cary Grant), it’s nonetheless a delight to watch these two dancing on-screen together — or apart, for that matter. Indeed, Hepburn’s best dance is her stunning solo outing in the Beatnik cafe, which is out of sight, man! Meanwhile, Astaire does a fine ditty with a “red cape” outside Hepburn’s apartment window, and there are numerous other fun songs (courtesy of a fine Gershwin score) and dances sprinkled throughout. Film fanatics will also surely be interested to see polymath Kay Thompson — known, among other things, for being one of Judy Garland’s closest confidantes, as well as the creator of the children’s book character Eloise — in one of her precious few screen appearances, here playing the delightfully acerbic, Diana Vreeland-esque fashion magazine editor who drives the entire narrative.

Note: Even non-fashion-lovers will be tempted to rewind the lovely Parisian fashion shoot montage several times — quelle magnifique!

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Audrey Hepburn as Jo
  
• Kay Thompson as Maggie
  
• The opening “Think Pink” musical montage
  
• The Givenchy fashion shoot montage across Paris
  
  
  
• Hepburn’s dazzling beatnik dance
  
• Astaire’s solo “bullfight” dance
  
• Marvelous sets, costumes, and art direction
  
  
• Ray June’s luminous Technicolor cinematography
  
• Chic opening titles
  
• A fine and memorable Gershwin score

Must See?
Yes, as a classic and stylish ’50s musical.

Categories

• Genuine Classic

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• Spinning Image Review
• DVD Savant Review
• TCM Article
• Tired Old Queen at the Movies Video Review

Synopsis:
A young midwestern woman (Judy Garland) travels to the Southwest to marry a rancher (Chill Wills) she’s never met; but when she learns he’s a hick, she decides to become a “Harvey Girl” waitress instead, and finds herself falling for the owner (John Hodiak) of a rival saloon.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Angela Lansbury Films
• George Sidney Films
• Historical Drama
• Judy Garland Films
• Musicals
• Preston Foster Films
• Ranchers
• Westerns

Review:
I was disappointed to revisit this MGM musical western (inspired by the Broadway success of Oklahoma!), which features a memorably catchy Oscar-winning tune — “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe” — but fails to really deliver on most other counts. The remainder of the Harry Warren/Johnny Mercer score is largely forgettable (though I did enjoy Virginia O’Brien’s droll delivery of “The Wild, Wild West”), and the story’s dramatic tension hinges upon an overly simplistic division between two types of erstwhile “working girls” (saloon performers — a.k.a prostitutes, though naturally they’re not named as such here — and waitresses). Other than through one musical montage (“The Train Must Be Fed”), we don’t learn nearly enough about what life was really like for Harvey Girls, other than to believe they were consistently badgered by nefarious townsfolk threatened by their “civilizing” presence. Ray Bolger is on hand to offer a bit of comedic dancing relief, but his presence seems calculated simply to remind audiences of his former pairing with Garland in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Garland is as charming and sassy as ever (she has one especially good scene when she goes on a rampage to collect some stolen steaks); however, this ultimately remains one of her lesser roles for MGM.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Judy Garland as Susan
  
• Virginia O’Brien singing “The Wild, Wild West”
  
• The “Atchison-Topeka” musical sequence
  

Must See?
No; this one is only must-see for Garland fans.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Spinning Image Review
• NY Times Original Review
• DVD Savant Review
• TCM Article
• Tired Old Queen at the Movies Video Review

Synopsis:
While on tour in London, world-famous singer Jenny Bowman (Judy Garland) visits her former lover (Dirk Bogarde) and asks to see her son (Gregory Phillips), who was adopted by Bogarde and his recently deceased wife years earlier. Soon Bowman finds herself wanting to spend more and more time with Phillips, much to the anger and chagrin of Bogarde.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Dirk Bogarde Films
• Father and Child
• Judy Garland Films
• Musicals
• Singers

Review:
Judy Garland’s final movie — released after John Cassavetes’ A Child is Waiting (1963), though it was actually filmed before — remains a personal favorite of many diehard Garland fans, given how closely it seems to mirror certain aspects of her own fabled (but deeply troubled) existence. As a melodrama, it’s flawed and often overly maudlin; for instance, presumably to add to the film’s narrative tension, we don’t learn about the circumstances behind why Garland gave up her own child until very late (far too late) in the story — and even once we do, what we hear is simply not very convincing. [This is not to imply that someone like Bowman wouldn’t give up her own child the way she does here; just that the explanation given doesn’t suffice.] Meanwhile, Garland’s erstwhile romance with Bogarde never quite rings true, either — we see evidence of Garland’s lingering infatuation with him, but, quite honestly, wonder why they ever ended up together in the first place.

However, what saves the film from its own faults are the truly fine central performances by Garland and Bogarde, who somehow manage to transcend the limitations of both the script and their respective characterizations. Even if we (I) don’t believe in the viability of their romantic potential together, there’s nonetheless a clear “charge” between the two — one which, more than anything, comes across like immense professional respect and regard. Garland in particular immerses herself in her role to an extent light years away from her pallid performance in A Child is Waiting; more than ever before, we feel we’re being given a glimpse into the soul of Garland herself through her character here, particularly in her phenomenal final interaction with Bogarde. Phillips, for his part, holds his own admirably in the face of two such estimable co-stars; Garland’s enormous base of gay fans will surely be tickled by his cross-dressing performance in an all-boys rendition of HMS Pinafore (see still below). (What a curious choice to include in the script! It surely must have been intentional…)

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Judy Garland as Judy Bowman
  
• Dirk Bogarde as David
  
• Gregory Phillips as Matt
  
• Garland’s final emotional interaction with Bogarde
  

Must See?
Yes, simply for Garland’s outstanding final performance on the big screen.

Categories

• Noteworthy Performance(s)

Links:

• IMDb entry
• DVD Talk Review
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
Three young women find their lives upended once they become “Ziegfeld girls”: an elevator girl (Lana Turner) loses her trucker boyfriend (James Stewart) when she allows a wealthy suitor (Ian Hunter) to wine and dine her; a teenage singer (Judy Garland) must ignore the dated performance advice of her vaudevillian father (Charles Winninger); and the exotic wife (Hedy Lamarr) of a classical violinist (Philip Dorn) finds her marriage strained when a suave singer (Tony Martin) pursues her.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Aspiring Stars
• Dan Dailey Films
• Eve Arden Films
• Hedy Lamarr Films
• Ian Hunter Films
• Jimmy Stewart Films
• Judy Garland Films
• Lana Turner Films
• Musicals
• Showgirls

Review:
MGM’s follow-up to its Oscar-winning biopic of Broadway showman Flo Ziegfeld (1936’s The Great Ziegfeld) was this fictionalized exploration of how life was changed for those girls (un)lucky enough to be touched by the magic wand of Ziegfeld’s selection committee. Originally intended to star Joan Crawford, Eleanor Powell, Walter Pidgeon, and Virginia Bruce, by the time the film actually got made the studio had recast the central roles, thereby providing upcoming starlet Lana Turner an opportunity to shine in one of her first memorable starring performances. Indeed, while Jimmy Stewart, Judy Garland, and Hedy Lamarr are all top-billed above Turner, she’s the character given the most screen time and complexity, and is clearly the film’s central (tragic) protagonist. Riffing on her celebrated (albeit apocryphal) discovery as “the Sweater Girl” at a drug store counter, her character — Sheila Regan — is “discovered” by Ziegfeld himself while she’s operating an elevator, and is quickly lured into a life of glamour and wealth she doesn’t seem to want to resist. While we feel some sympathy for her plight, her eventual comeuppance is nonetheless well-deserved. She does a surprisingly fine and nuanced job in the role, only occasionally dipping into melodrama (as when she “counts her blessings”; eek!).

Meanwhile, Garland’s dilemma of old-versus-new performing styles is eerily reminiscent of that in Babes in Arms (1939), down to the presence of Charles Winninger as her resistant vaudevillian father (he was Rooney’s resistant vaudevillian father in Babes… — same difference). Clearly, audiences at the time were receptive to watching and exploring the angst inherent in this profound cultural and generational shift. One wishes Garland’s character were given more prominence, but at least she shines in several musical numbers, most notably her plaintive rendition of “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows”. Lamarr’s role is the least fleshed out and least interesting of them all; without giving too much away, her story seems to primarily serve as a counter-balance to the bad relationship choices consistently made by Turner. Stewart is fine but not particularly remarkable in the top-billed role as Turner’s rejected boyfriend, who turns to bootlegging out of cynical desperation; After making this movie, Stewart left to serve in the war and wouldn’t return to the screen until It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Lana Turner as Sheila
  
• Judy Garland’s melancholy performance of “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows”
  

Must See?
No, though it’s recommended for one-time viewing.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• Classic Film Guide
• Digitally Obsessed Review
• TCM Article
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
Flo Ziegfeld (William Powell) looks down from heaven and imagines a new Follies show starring the best and brightest Hollywood stars — including Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, and more.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Edward Arnold Films
• Ensemble Cast
• Fred Astaire Films
• Gene Kelly Films
• Hume Cronyn Films
• Judy Garland Films
• Kathryn Grayson Films
• Keenan Wynn Films
• Lucille Ball Films
• Musicals
• Vincente Minnelli Films
• William Powell Films

Review:
Famed Broadway impresario Florence Ziegfeld was well and honorably memorialized by Hollywood — starting in 1936 with the Oscar-winning biopic The Great Ziegfeld, followed in 1941 by Ziegfeld Girl (which chronicled the rise and/or fall of several fictional Ziegfeld starlets), and culminating with this lavish Technicolor ensemble film, which reimagined Ziegfeld’s fabled revue in light of MGM’s most recent stable of talent. Viewed today, many of the vignettes come across as undeniably creaky, though still of some interest historically: while it’s nice, for instance, to see Fanny Brice on-screen (she appeared in only a handful of movies), the dated humor in her comedic sketch “A Sweepstakes Ticket” (performed with Hume Cronyn) makes it somewhat painful to sit through; meanwhile, though Esther Williams’ underwater performance in “A Water Ballet” doesn’t offer many surprises, it remains the only chance Peary-followers will have to see her on film, given that he doesn’t list any of her feature-length movies in his book.

Thankfully, while several of the vignettes are somewhat snooze-worthy (viz. Kathryn Grayson’s tiresome finale song, “Beauty”), none are outright clunkers — and, as DVD Savant states, “The show [does have] plenty of good material”, with “at least a third of [the film] terrific, keeper material.” A personal favorite remains Judy Garland’s “A Great Lady Has an Interview”, wherein Garland is given a rare opportunity to mug mercilessly in front of the camera, and does a smash-up job impersonating — well, Greer Garson (who was originally slated to star in the role herself, but apparently wasn’t quite up for such rampant self-skewering). Perhaps the most noteworthy performances, however, are given by Fred Astaire and Lucille Bremer (best known for playing “the oldest sister” in Meet Me in St. Louis) in their two numbers together: the sleek “This Heart of Mine”, in which Astaire plays a gentleman thief, “Raffles”, intent on stealing jewels from Bremer’s society dame, and in the show-stopping “Limehouse Blues”, which remains the most visually stunning of all the vignettes (see stills below). Also of enormous interest is the opportunity to see Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire in their one and only dance performance together on-screen. Their vignette — entitled “The Babbitt and the Bromide” — is humorously conceived and executed, though sadly doesn’t really offer either one an opportunity to show off his uniquely gifted dancing chops.

As indicated in my assessment of the Fanny Brice vignette, none of the comedic (non-musical) sketches in Ziegfeld Follies are really all that funny — but they do remain an interesting historical glimpse at what was once considered funny in the original Follies (Brice, after all, was a regular performer on the show). Red Skelton’s increasingly drunken turn in “When Television Comes” is about as dated as you could imagine, as is the central conceit in Keenan Wynn’s “Number Please”; and while Victor Moore and Edward Arnold do a fine job in “Pay the Two Dollars” (nicely portrayed as a Kafka-esque mini-nightmare), the sketch simply goes on too long. On a more positive note, the opening puppet show remains quite clever and unique; see still below. A final comment: if you blink for an extended period of time, you may miss Lucille Ball in her moment of glory early on, wielding a whip which she cracks at a bevy of black-clad “cat women”; it’s a strange visual, and doesn’t really pay off the way it could or should, but is mildly amusing.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Both of Fred Astaire’s dances with Lucille Bremer
  
  
• Judy Garland’s “Great Lady” interview
  
• Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in their only dance together on-screen — “The Babbitt and the Bromide”
  
• Fabulous sets and vibrant Technicolor cinematography
  
  
• The clever opening puppet sequence
  

Must See?
Yes, once, simply for its historical relevance as a showcase of MGM’s talent at the peak of the studio’s influence; as DVD Savant so cleverly describes it, it represents a valentine from MGM to itself.

Categories

• Historically Relevant

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• TCM Article
• Digitally Obsessed Review
• DVD Savant Review
• Time Out Capsule Review

Synopsis:
A beautiful Jewish woman (Sirpa Lane) endures rape, torture, and prostitution at a Nazi concentration camp before becoming the personal favorite of an S&M-loving officer (Giancarlo Sisti) who elevates her to madam of a high-level brothel.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Concentration Camps
• Nazis
• Prisoners of War
• Prostitutes and Gigolos
• S&M

Review:
As with Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS (1975) and its sequel, the less said about this egregious “Nazisploitation” flick the better. We’re exposed to torture, gang rape, S&M, and utter degradation on all levels, leading one to wonder what the point of any of this is — other than (perhaps) a minor revenge twist near the end.

This film is also “notable” for including some explicit adult content. Be duly forewarned.

Note: Finnish actress Sirpa Lane died from HIV/AIDS at the age of 47.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Reasonable historical detail and cinematography
  

Must See?
No; stay far away from this one. Listed (very appropriately) as Trash in the back of Peary’s book.

Links:

• IMDb entry

Synopsis:
The kleptomaniac wife (Gene Tierney) of a successful psychoanalyst (Richard Conte) is intercepted by a conning hypnotist (Jose Ferrer), who promises to help cure her sleep issues, then manipulates her into appearing culpable for a murder.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Charles Bickford Films
• Falsely Accused
• Gene Tierney Films
• Jose Ferrer Films
• Marital Problems
• Mind Control and Hypnosis
• Otto Preminger Films
• Richard Conte Films

Review:
Scripted by a blacklisted Ben Hecht (whose real name eerily shows up in the apparently touched-up DVD release), this noir-ish Otto Preminger flick — based on the novel Methinks the Lady… by Guy Endore — features Broadway-star Jose Ferrer in his first leading screen role, prior to his Oscar-winning performance in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) the following year. Instead of possessing a femme fatale, however, Ferrer stands in as a somewhat fey homme fatale — a manipulative shyster who uses his estimable skills as a hypnotist to prey on vulnerable wealthy women caught in compromising situations. Hecht’s script possesses just enough sass and originality that it’s unfortunate to find it couched within a decidedly dated psychoanalytic premise, much like his previous outing for Hitchcock (1945’s Spellbound). Both milk the then-current obsession with psychoanalysis for all it’s worth, positing overly simplistic causes for mental illness, and utilizing the suggestive power of hypnosis as a conveniently sinister narrative device.

Ferrer’s performance is at times a bit too broad for comfort (it appears he was still getting his screen-acting legs wet), but definitely makes an impact; he’s fearless in his depiction of a truly despicable yet clever cad, someone we hate almost immediately yet can’t help admiring for his ingenuity. Richard Conte is fine if a bit too reserved as Tierney’s puzzled, distant husband, while Tierney is perfectly cast (though given little room to stretch beyond her stereotypically icy demeanor) in the central female role. Meanwhile, Preminger and d.p. Arthur Miller infuse the entire affair with an appropriately atmospheric air. Watch for a fine supporting performance by Charles Bickford as the lieutenant assigned to the murder case; in some ways, his performance feels more natural than any of the others.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Jose Ferrer as David Korvo
  
• Charles Bickford as Lt. James Colton
  
• Fine noir-ish atmosphere
  

Must See?
No, though it’s recommended for one-time viewing.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• Digitally Obsessed Review
• Time Out Capsule Review