Since You Went Away

Since You Went Away focuses on the Hilton family’s struggles after the man of the house has enlisted in the military for WWII.  The suburban family consists of the mother, Anne (Claudette Colbert), two teenage daughters, older Jane (Jennifer Jones), younger whinier Bridget (Shirley Temple) and a bulldog who seems to have his own bassoon theme music.  The ladies have a friendly black housemaid, Fedilia (Hattie McDaniel) and are regularly visited by their longtime friend Tony (Joseph Cotten), a naval officer.  The daughters want to do what they can to help in this time of war, so Bridget suggests renting out a room to an officer in need.  Jane, being seventeen full of girlish fantasies about older military men likes the idea, until old Colonel William G. Smollett (Monty Woolley) arrives as the new tenant.  He quickly becomes the cranky old man of the household.  When his grandson, Bill (Robert Walker), comes to visit to tell his grandfather that he’s in the army, we see a struggling relationship between grandfather and grandson.  Bill and Jane become friends and eventually fall in love, but as most WWII home front dramas do, they are pulled apart by war just as their love is at its fullest.  And to make sure the whole family is hurting, they are informed that Mr. Hilton is missing in action.

I’m sure back in 1944 this was a great film that touched the hearts of so many people living the struggles and tragedies these characters depict.  There’s a great sense of pride in the military men and the younger women back home are willing to do their part to help the war efforts.  Later in the film, Jane decides to put college off so she can help by being a nurse.  She’s willing to sacrifice some of her upper-middle class lifestyle to help those in need and it makes Anne question what she can do.  Surely she shouldn’t be like that snooty lady at church, Mrs. Hawkins (Agnes Moorehead), who acts like she is too good to help with any war aid or become a lady welder.

While this film is a great representation of the struggles and sacrifices families made, its sappy melodramatic style is very old and dated and may be very hard for today’s viewer to get into.  Honestly, it feels like an episode of Leave it to Beaver at times, only with teenage girls and they can make petty drama out of anything.  From Jane’s silly girl crush on Tony to Bridget’s fourteen going on nine demeanor, I could not take either of the daughters seriously.  And Bill becomes little more than the sweet, shy boy who uses words like gee and swell too much.

Many will recognize the iconic train departure scene, not because of this film, but because of it’s parody in Airplane!.  The parody does a great job playing off the dialogue and only replaces pillars with runway equipment.  It’s cheesy enough to be a perfect gag in one of the greatest spoofs ever.  If you can take the rest of the film seriously after that scene, you’re a stronger person than I am.

The film did win the Oscar for best music and I can see why.  There is a lot of music and it all goes with the scenes very well, it swells and wanes with the rising and falling dramatics perfectly.  It provides a great background for the trite small talk that we only need to half listen to.  Then it strikes up perfectly on cue with the dramatic slam of a door.  My absolute favorite moment was early in the film when Anne is to spend the first night with her husband gone.  She’s in her bed looking worried and suddenly with a swipe of the harp and a quick swell of music she hops across the room into her husbands twin bed and cries.

Off the top of my head, I can think of two films of the forties that focus on families dealing with WWII on the home front that are much better than Since You Went Away: The Human Comedy and Mrs. Miniver.  These films have both better quality acting and a more intriguing storyline.  Unless you really want to kick back for three hours with some melodramatics that teeter on the edge of extra-cheesy, skip this and go with one of the other two.

“Cry, darling.  Cry your heart out.”

The Smiling Lieutenant

Style-wise, this is basically a cookie cutter copy of One Hour with You and it doesn’t help that it also stars Maurice Chevalier.  That would be alright, but The Smiling Lieutenant doesn’t have the same silly, toe tapping feel that made me fall in love with One Hour with You.

When Austrian Lieutenant Niki (Maurice Chevalier) and Franzi (Claudette Colbert) become lovers everything is perfect and he can’t help but smile and be happy.  But he smiles and winks to Franzi as the king and princess of Flausenshaum ride by, and the princess believes that the Lieutenant was laughing at her.  The nerve!  Especially when they have felt less than welcome in their travel to Austria.  When the king asks Niki to explain himself, Niki charmingly wins them over, but perhaps too much.  Suddenly, the naive Princess Anna (Miriam Hopkins) wants to marry Niki, and he is in no position to say no.  What will happen to Franzi and Niki’s happiness?

What makes this film feel so different to a film so similar is how the main conflict is treated.  Here, when Niki does not want to marry Anna, he’s helpless and forced to.  What’s worse, is we see him broken down and sad about it.  That doesn’t make for an easy-going, fun film.  Yet, in the end, the whole conflict becomes so trivial when ***SPOILER ALERT*** we realize that Anna just needs to look the part for Niki to warm up to her.  Typical guy.

The songs aren’t so great either.  This goes back to abruptly breaking into song again.  Franzi plays the violin and Niki the piano at times, and I guess that’s a way to justify their need for musical boisterousness.  I’d happily take a duet with no vocals.

There are also two bits where Maurice Chevalier sings directly to the audience again, just like in One Hour with You.  Problem is, he does it at the beginning and the end, like tidy bookends.  But with so much space in the middle without our eyes meeting it makes it feel more awkward, forced and less personal.  With less 4th wall breaking, I also got the feeling that Niki was not as warm and friendly a person as Andre.

There’s little need to see two film that are so similar.  Unless you really love Claudette Colbert or Miriam Hopkins you’re better off with One Hour with You.

“I don’t know very much about life. I got all my knowledge out of the Royal Encyclopedia. A special edition arranged for Flausenthurm, with all the interesting things left out.”

 

It Happened One Night

Ah yes, the classic that first shaped a romantic comedy.

Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) has just married against her father’s will, so he takes his daughter back to his yacht, only for her to jump ship and try to return to her husband.  Peter Warne (Clark Gable) is an out of work newspaper reporter searching for a real juicy story that will get him back in the game.  Peter and Ellie end up sitting next to each other on a bus and Peter realizes soon who Ellie is and that there’s a search out for her.  Seeing that she’s a spoiled little rich girl, completely helpless and can’t even return to a bus on time, Peter decides to help her out in exchange for the story.  If she doesn’t accept, he’ll let everyone know where she is and she’ll be back with daddy.  Of course, along the way these two charming people fall in love with each other, compromising their original agendas.

Like I said, this is what many people consider to be the first romantic comedy and set a standard (that most today fall far below).  According to It Happened One Night, a good romcom needs:

-two good looking people we can enjoy watching

-put together by fate

-needing each other more as the story progresses, possibly rescuing each other

-a lot of fun moments that help them bond

-a conflict in their eventually realized romance

Am I missing anything?  That sounds like the minimalist sketch of any decent romcom.  Notice how sex jokes, flat characters, bad actors, the guy being a complete dufus, a final chase to the airport and a way too long kiss we all knew was coming with a top pop song of the week playing in the background are not part of that list.

Things are kept respectable, the Walls of Jericho are a prime example of that.  When Ellie and Peter are stuck sharing a little motel room together, it’s obvious they’re uncomfortable with the idea.  So Peter puts up a little clothes line in between and drapes a sheet over it to separate the room in half.  What a gentleman.  And to lighten the mood he dubs their barrier as the Walls of Jericho.  As we watch the relationship between Ellie and Peter grow, we realize the walls between them are starting to tumble, will the Walls of Jericho eventually fall as well?

Another great scene is where the two are trying to hitchhike.  I bet you’ve seen the punch line even without seeing the film.  Peter explains to Ellie the different kinds of hitchhiking that can make you appeal to drivers in different ways.  After a fruitless effort with cars whizzing by, Ellie decides to show him how it’s done.  She simply sticks her leg out and raises her dress to show just enough ankle and calf to get the next car to screech to a halt.  Classic!

Now come on, why wouldn’t you want to see this movie?  It’s got two of the greatest classic film stars together, the plot is engaging, the comedy is hilarious and the whole thing is a fun ride.  Let me put it this way, are you really going to waste your time with The Bounty Hunter this weekend when It Happened One Night can run circles around it in every way?  Here’s a good reason to chose wisely:

“I want to see what love looks like when it’s triumphant. I haven’t had a good laugh in a week.”

Imitation of Life

Bea Pullman (Claudette Colbert) has been taking care of her husband’s maple syrup business since he died, but being a single mother is already enough of a job.  One day, while trying to get her three year old daughter ready for day care, Bea gets a knock on her door.  A large African-American woman is standing there inquiring about a housekeeper job.  Unfortunately, she has the wrong address.  Moments later, they both hear Bea’s daughter falls into the bathtub, her clean dress ready for daycare soaked.  Seeing what a pickle Bea is in, the lady, Delilah (Louise Beavers) offers to be her housekeeper, asking for no more than a place for her and her young daughter to live.  Bea’s hesitant at first, but connecting with the sympathy of being a single mother, she agrees.  This is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

After a while of Bea selling syrup and Delilah taking care of the home running smoothly, Bea hatches a grand idea.  Using Delilah’s amazing pancake recipe, they’ll open a pancake house right on the boardwalk.  At first, it seems they’re way over their heads and can never turn enough profit to keep the place, but just a few years later they’ve got things paid off and talk hopefully about their daughters.

Now for the racial tensions that cause dilemmas.  You see, even though Delilah is very dark, her daughter, Peola (Fredi Washington), is very light skinned.  From an early age, she realizes that she will be held back and accepted less if people know she’s really black, that means none of her friends can know who her mother is.  But when Delilah comes to school one day to bring Peola her rain clothes, her whole class is shocked to see her mother.  As Peola leaves, kids whisper, “I didn’t know she was colored.”  Poor Peola knows she’ll never be treated the same there.

Even more sad, is that Peola takes her anger out on her poor mother.  She openly blames her mother for making her black.  Later, these tensions mount to heartbreaking proportions.

There’s also mother-daughter issues with Bea and Jessie (Rochelle Hudson) as she gets older.  At a business party, Bea meets Steve Archer (Warren William) and they begin a romantic relationship.  But before they get married, Bea wants Steve to win Jessie over, so they can feel like family.  The problem is, Jessie believes that with all the attention Steve is giving her, that they’re falling in love.

Daughters always cause trouble around those late teenager years, don’t they?

As much as I enjoyed the story, I did not care for the acting.  When things turn dramatic, it gets over-dramatic.  Other times, the dialogue during more pressing events seems that it’s delivered way too light.  It made me feel a little uncomfortable when rested upon a solid storyline.

Finally, I have to commemorate this film for being the least blatantly racist film I’ve ever seen from the ‘30s.  I’ve felt like so many films of the decade don’t even realize how horribly racist it can be (I’ve found multiple uses of black-face so far.)  Imitation of Life is the first that tackles the subject straight and it was very refreshing.

I don’t know who to recommend this film to.  If you’re in some racial studies class, this is a gold mine.  If you enjoy working women of yesteryear, this is it.  Perhaps this could be a good mother-daughter bonding movie as well.  May I suggest making pancakes for the occasion?

“After all, what’s the good of algebra and all that stuff to a girl?”

Cleopatra

Cecil B. DeMille directing Cleopatra.

First off, if you’ve seen the 1963 version of this film, you don’t need to see this one.  If you’ve seen this one, you shouldn’t waste six hours of your life on ‘63’s.  The main differences are color, actors and length.

With an elementary understanding of ancient history, you already know the plot to Cleopatra.  Julius Caesar (Warren William) has been expanding the Roman Empire, but Cleopatra (Claudette Colbert) still holds Egypt.  Cleopatra seduces Caesar with the idea of combining their empires and they both rule as king and queen, which of course grants Caesar to more royalties with the beautiful Queen of the Nile.  How could he say no?

But the Roman Senate with Brutus and Marc Antony (Henry Wilcoxon) realize what a horrible idea this is and plot to kill Caesar.  (Et tu Brute?)  With Caesar dead, it looks like Cleopatra’s plan to become Empress over Rome is dead as well, so she scampers off to her elaborate boat to Egypt.  Marc Antony is elected to negotiate with her, but Cleopatra’s more cunning than that and it’s onto seducing Roman leader number two.

Directed by Cecil B. DeMille, Cleopatra is a sight to see.  From the sprawling sets, the elaborate parades and the throngs of girls in grass skirts that serve as cheap animal entertainment it’s all pretty eye popping, even in black and white.  The battle scenes are surprisingly exciting and more graphic than I expected.  The great use of quick editing and some well choreographed shots really goes a long way here.  Just further proof that you don’t need everything CGI or slow motion to make it exciting.

The musical score goes a long way in this film, especially in one of my favorite scenes on board Cleopatra’s ship.  The shot starts on her throne and moves backwards through the ship showing a beautiful display of her servants running around, men rowing on two levels and finally the man beating the drum to row to.  It’s all done to sweeping music, with drum beats being very dramatic crashes.  It’s one of those moments where your eyes just grow wider and wider, you wish they could just float right out of your head.

I think most people today would be surprised how much they would enjoy this film.  It is not boring, yet, most of us know what’s going to happen.  I found it very visually inspiring, perhaps one of the best visual black and white films I’ve seen.

And everything is big.  Big sets, big action, big idea and all done very well.

If you think you’d rather watch the ‘63 version of Cleopatra, just don’t.  That review won’t be coming up for a while, but here’s a little tip: six hours is far too long to put up with Elizabeth Taylor’s overacting.  I felt like it was trying to one up DeMille and Ben Hur at the same time.  The attempt can be best described as EPIC FAIL.  See a great piece of DeMille’s work instead.

“It certainly couldn’t be me, queens don’t hiccup.”