Naughty Marietta

Originally an operetta, Naughty Marietta is the story of a rebellious eighteenth century French princess, Madame d’Annard (Elsa Lanchester).  When told that she is being forced to marry Don Carlos de Braganza (Walter Kingsford) and will be imprisoned for refusing, she takes the identity of one of her servants, Marietta (Jeanette MacDonald) who is to sail for New Orleans the next day.  In exchange, she left the real Marietta enough money to marry her love.

The ship for New Orleans is filled with young available women, destined to become wives to the new settlers.  Over the long voyage, the ladies swoon and dream of the strapping farmers and soldiers they will find.  However, Madame d’Annard, now answering to Marietta, does not want to marry or be tied down, which seems confusing to the other women.  The time for worrying about the new Marietta’s agenda is cut short when the ship is captured by ruthless pirates.

With my love for pirates, I thought the film was about to really perk up for those of us who would be more into a swashbuckling adventure.  Unfortunately, this is short lived and a group of strapping men from the colony, led by Captain Richard Warrington (Nelson Eddy) save the ladies.  Between the rescue and arrival to New Orleans, Richard and Madame d’Annard begin a sort of anti-friendship.  They sing together for the sake of the original operetta and 1930’s cinema, he flirts and she continually shoots him down.  But when men start wanting to marry her, after all that’s what this heard of women were brought for, and she refuses, it takes the help of an anti-friend to convince the men that she can be an entertainer.  Everything seems perfect, until French authorities show up looking for the missing princess.

There are some silly moments the move the plot that simply would never work, but they are all in good fun.  When the ship to New Orleans is about to set sail, the way Madame d’Annard tries to convince the authority of her fake identity is hilarious, especially when she pretends the drunk in the crowd is her brother.  Later, when Richard is helping the princess escape, they go by rowboat, slowest means of transportation possible, and he starts to sing very loudly.  Stealth is not their strong suit.  Of course, when Madame d’Annard is not very good at reading a letter aloud, she decides to sing it instead.  Whatever, if I were stuck on that ship any bit of entertainment would be appreciated.

Naughty Marietta is simply a cute tale of mistaken identities, though we do not get much story of what happens to the real Marietta.  The focus is the princess, her nearly independent woman ideals, a love story to save her and singing.  The movie is fun and has some great moments, but lacks enough substance to keep an Oscar loving film junkie satisfied.

“There went that chin to the moon again.”

Witness for the Prosecution

Directed by Billy Wilder and based off Agatha Christie’s play, Witness for the Prosecution is an intriguing courtroom drama full of well thought out characters, engaging dialogue and plot that delivers surprise after surprise.

British lawyer, Sir Wilfred Robarts (Charles Laughton), has just been released from the hospital after suffering a heart attack that put him in a coma for two months.  He has a nurse (Elsa Lanchester) fussing over him every minute begging him to take it easy for a while, but when a juicy murder case comes up, the wily old man cannot resist.

Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power) is accused of murdering a rich widow, whom he met by chance, befriended and idly hoped for an endorsement on his eggbeater invention.  The fact that he did not mention his marriage to her and that she left him a great deal of money looks like he led her on.  Leonard swears he is innocent and had no ill intentions.  The only person that can back up his alibi is his wife, Christine (Marlene Dietrich).

Christine is a cold, calculating type of person from Germany.  It turns out that she was already married when she went through a marriage ceremony with Leonard.  This means that she can testify in court on his behalf, but the whole case is turned on end when she instead decides to be a witness for the prosecution, brutally incriminating Leonard.

Charles Laughton earned a nomination for playing Wilfred as such a wonderful, crafty old man.  The way he slips away from his nurse, hides his cigars and brandy is just like any stubborn man.  He’s genuinely quirky and fun when he discovers his new lift for the staircase and rides it up and down.  His monocle test to see if Leonard and Christine are telling the truth is smart, intriguing and shows us that Wilfred has some interesting tricks up his sleeve.

Witness for the Prosecution is one of the best courtroom dramas I have ever seen.  The way flashbacks are set up throughout the film makes it feel more like a mystery, giving us pieces of the puzzle along the way.  All the characters feel real and intriguing, never flat and they never deliver stale or wooden dialogue.  The whole film seems to move like an old train, slow and chugging at first, but then flying at top speed at the very end, where a sudden twist creates a screech of metal on metal, nearly throwing the whole train off the tracks.  Sorry for the train metaphor, but the ending is so surprising and great that the voice during the credits politely asked me not to give anything away.  My lips are sealed.  You need to see this film.

“I am constantly surprised that women’s hats do not provoke more murders.”

 

The Private Life of Henry VIII

When I pick up a film from the early thirties with a long ridged title like The Private Life of Henry VIII, I have my doubts.  Honestly, I expected some dry, very historical account of Henry’s life with a stuffy British narration.  I could not have been more wrong.

The first clue to how this film will play out is in the opening text explaining that Henry’s first wife is of “no particular interest.  She was an honorable woman, so he divorced her.”  Then the film starts just before Anne Boleyn’s execution.  While Anne (Merle Oberon) is enjoying her neck while she can, Henry (Charles Laughton) and his whole royal staff is getting ready for his wedding to Jane Seymour (Wendy Barrie).  She dies in childbirth, but thankfully produces a son.  Soon, the whole kingdom is saying that Henry should marry again.

During a dinner scene, we see the classic Henry VIII everyone would love to play.  He’s on his throne, a huge turkey in front of him just tearing it apart and rambling with his mouth full.  “There’s no delicacy nowadays. No consideration for others. Refinement’s a thing of the past! Manners are dead!”  And he proceeds to burp and toss the bones behind him casually.  When the topic of remarrying comes up at dinner he starts to bellow, “What am I, a breeding bull?”

He then goes on to marry Anne of Cleaves (played by Laughton’s wife Elsa Lanchester).  This short marriage is one of the funniest moments in the film.  Before the marriage, Henry doesn’t even want to marry this dopey girl, but if he sent her back to Germany they would be outraged.  Just before he enters the chamber for his wedding night he sighs, “The things I’ve done for England.”  Even better, Anne of Cleaves is completely oblivious to wedding night activities.  “That story about children being found under gooseberry bushes isn’t true,” Henry tells her.  The scene only gets better.

Seeing that this was the first non-US film to be nominated for Best Picture, this could have been one of the first looks the world had at British comedy.  Some of the jokes are hysterical and feel nearly Monty Python inspired.  When peasants are gathering for the execution a man asks, “Do you mind taking off your hat, we can’t see the block.”  Later, in a bit of dialogue a British man tells the French executioner, “Enough British executioners are out of work as it is.”  And when Henry is trying to sneak up to Cathrine Parr’s bed chamber every guard he passes loudly announces him.

I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this film.  It’s a great mix of history, biography and keeps fluid and personable with a great amount of comedy.  The characters feel like a great ensemble around Laughton and he executes his Henry perfectly and earned that Best Actor award.  If you want a fun brush-up on Henry VIII or want to see some early British comedy, I would suggest this film.