Dangers on a trainAmerica is divided against itself as a controversial presidential contender takes the White House and the country prepares for war… and it’s all the Republicans’ fault!
Surprisingly, we’re talking about a movie set in 1861 and the divisive Commander in Chief is now universally beloved Illinois rail-splitter Abraham Lincoln. Following the recommendation of several posters to my blog entry about movies set aboard moving trains, I caught up with Anthony Mann’s antebellum conspiracy thriller The Tall Target (1951). The screenplay by George Worthington Yates (Them!) and Art Cohn (fated to die in the same airplane crash that claimed the life of Mike Todd) from an original story by Yates and Daniel Mainwaring (signing himself as “Geoffrey Homes”) begins in New York City in February of 1861, as President-Elect Abraham Lincoln prepares for his inauguration against a backdrop of civil unrest that we all know will lead to the American Civil War in less than two months.
Dick Powell stars as Manhattan police sergeant John Kennedy, who has in the performance of his duties as a presidential bodyguard learned of a conspiracy to kill Lincoln before he can deliver his inauguration speech in Baltimore. Presenting his evidence of a secret society that has bankrolled twenty assassins to converge on the inauguration site at once, Kennedy is laughed out of his supervisor’s office… prompting the maverick cop to turn in his badge in disgust and fly solo. Boarding the 10:00 Nightflyer to Baltimore, Kennedy is shocked to find police contact Reegis Toomey murdered… and worse yet, the corpse falls off the train, so that Kennedy has no physical evidence the crime was even committed. Now a civilian with no official standing or even a service revolver, Kennedy must use his wits to keep ahead of an assassin whose face he does not know… but who knows his face all too well.
The list of potential suspects is as long as the list of passengers. Could the shooter be uptight West Point lieutenant Marshall Thompson, his Georgia peach of a sister (Paula Raymond), “smooth-talking rascal” Leif Erickson, “fuddy duddy abolitionist” Florence Bates, the reclusive Mr. Gibbons, whose medical condition requires absolute peace and quiet and who communicates to the outside world via his hatchet-faced wife (Katherine Warren), or perhaps even brevet Army colonel Adolph Menjou, who seems a little too helpful to be entirely trustworthy. As in The Parallax View, Powell’s unofficial snooping eventually marks him as a suspect, forcing him to think fast to evade the very police whose job he’s trying to do.
Not surprisingly for an Anthony Mann film, The Tall Target clips along at an invigorating pace. Cinematographer Paul C. Vogel captures some beautiful images of the steaming locomotive that look like O. Winston Link photographs and the cast is chockablock with familiar faces, including Will Geer as the taciturn conductor, Victor Killian as the train’s apoplectic engineer, Barbara Billingsly as a woman traveling with precocious tot Brad Morrow (who does Kennedy a good turn for a cash payment) and Peter Brocco as a sinister Baltimore barber who’s a demon with a straight razor.
The dialogue is snappy and literate, but one particular speech stands out. Confiding in slave Ruby Dee, Powell’s disenfranchised lawman delivers a surprisingly rhapsodic whispered endorsement of Lincoln:
Look, Rachel… I’m no Republican or abolitionist. But I guarded Mr. Lincoln while he was campaigning in New York. I opened a window for him. He held a door for me. I found a parcel for him, some nightshirts back from the laundry. I was only with him forty-eight hours, but when he left he shook my hand, thanked me and wished me well. I was never so taken with a human man. Brought in at an economical 78 minutes (would that contemporary political thrillers be this concise), The Tall Target is both a crackerjack Old School thriller and a fascinating reminder of how little American politics have changed over the course of the last century and a half. This “forgotten chapter in American history” is particularized with interesting period details, such as an under-construction Washington Capital building, the use of muzzle-loading handguns rather than six-shooters and a scene in which the Nightflyer is pulled by horses through Baltimore so as not to soil local clotheslines with the black soot from its locomotive. Hanging over the film is the fact that Abraham Lincoln would die from an assassin’s bullet only five years later – a grim reminder that gives The Tall Target an added layer of meaning that lingers long after the final fadeout. Always the Twain
Beginning with very early silent films, the movies often turned to Twain when in need of a property with plenty of audience appeal. According to A year after Selznick’s Sawyer, MGM made The
The time-traveling comedic adventure A Connecticut Mark Twain died in 1910 at the age of seventy-four Silent Film Star Heartthrob & Bachelor for LifeI found a newspaper clipping dated February 2, 2004 from the local paper this morning that was written by Silvia Pettem, a Boulder historian. The subject was Eugene O’Brien, a silent-film actor who worked with the likes of Mary Pickford, Norma Talmadge, and Gloria Swanson. O’Brien was born Louis O’Brien (he later changed his name to Eugene). He was raised here in Boulder, Colorado and, at the age of 21 in 1902, he got his first minor acting role at Elitch Gardens in Denver. He was a University of Colorado medical school drop-out who then moved to New York City. An amusing excerpt relating to his ambitions relates the following: After leaving college, he studied to become a doctor, hoping all the time that something would prevent him from realizing the ambition, which was wished on him by his family. His idea of a career was to go on the stage, but in a family of professional men this was not to be considered for a moment. So he studied a little and went in for athletics. At last, after the family saw that he would never succeed as a surgeon, they permitted him to switch to civil engineering. He took that up, vowing that it would be but a temporary avocation. (The Blue Book of the Screen, 1923) And, sure enough, it was. In New York, O’Brien landed a part in a vaudeville play, was praised by critics, got bigger parts, and eventually broke into the movie business. Pettem observes that “Boulder family and friends finally got to see O’Brien perform when he appeared in his first silent film, The Lieutenant Governor. It was shown in February 1915 at the Curran Theater, the current site of the Boulder Theater on 14th Street.”
O’Brien’s status as a heartthrob was helped along by his dashing good looks and athletic build. He was six feet tall, came in at a trim 160 pounds, had light brown hair and blue eyes. “A female reporter who interviewed him on the set of The Perfect Lover found him only a bit better looking than I ever imagined any man could be.’” (Pettem.) That was in 1919. O’Brien never transitioned into the talkies and, in 1928, he left the movie industry.
My favorite excerpt from Pettem’s article is one that should serve as a source of inspiration for single men everywhere: “In 1929, at the age of 48, O’Brien moved into a Hollywood hacienda, ‘untroubled by girls and reveling in athletics, gardening, and most of all bachelorhood.’ He told a reporter that he would never marry because women were too possessive. He said he liked to do as he pleased at all hours and particularly enjoyed mornings alone.” O’Brien died when he was 85 in 1966. A funeral was held in Hollywood, but his body was buried in the Green Mountain Cemetery in Boulder, in a family plot next to his parents and brothers. I decided to visit the cemetery on my way home tonight and snapped a couple pictures with my phone in the twilight. Rest in peace, Eugene. It sounds like you did a pretty good job of attaining it in life, too.
A Visit to Carvel
I’ve been to Carvel, USA and come back to tell the tale. Maybe it was the L-tryptophane semi-coma induced by Tom Turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Or perhaps it was the desultory feeling induced by that “day-after-a-holiday” fog that colored my judgment, but something led me to check out a few of the 16 Andy Hardy movies aired by TCM last week. I thought that these movies lost their allure for me about the time that I stopped reading about the adventures of Archie and Jughead in comic books—but the Hardy series, along with the Henry Aldrich, Nancy Drew and others marked the emergence of adolescence in the 1930s as a commercial and social force in America. These films still have some effective moments, despite the distance between us and the era when they were made. READ MORE Honk if you love horror
Highly visible among the normally faceless scribes of cinefear were Masters of Horror Mick Garris and Stuart Gordon (pictured right and flanking Cynthia Garris), as well as veteran scribes Daniel Farrands (Hall6ween: The Curse of Michael Myers and the upcoming The Girl Next Door), Stephen Susco (The Grudge, The Grudge 2) and David J. Schow (The Crow, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning). Although protester placards promised terrible things to those caught crossing the picket line, the demonstration was carried off peaceably, with motorists passing on Olive Avenue honking their horns in support of the horror writers. Monster icons Michael Myers and Chucky were also in attendance, but in solidarity with the striking writers, they said not a word. Their silence spoke volumes.
WGA Horror Writers Strike… Back!
"A mob is an ugly thing… and it's just about time we had one!" from Young Frankenstein (1974) As the Writer's Strike of 2007 (and hopefully only of 2007) reaches its fourth week, picketers are facing the reality that when the going gets tough the tough get medieval. Today, November 27th, 12:10 pm (PST), the horror writers of the WGA will hold their own special picket at Gate 4 of Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank… an exorcism to shame the Devil (or whomever is possessing The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) and drive out the demons of stinginess! The official word:
The Movie Morlocks will put in their presence and lend their support. Check back later today for pictures from the event. Required Reading: Sweet Old Bob Benchley
Born in 1889 in Worcester, Mass. , Benchley was a Harvard-educated stand-out who started his comic writing career at the famed Harvard Lampoon It was at Vanity Fair that Benchley first met and worked with fellow wit and writer Dorothy Parker, starting a friendship that would last many years and Leaving Vanity Fair certainly didn’t hurt his career, which prospered on freelance writing assignments and eventually a long stint at Life magazine and Though he continually avowed that he was primarily a writer and not an actor, As the 1940s began, Benchley’s career matured into a series of well-received character roles in films like You’ll Never Get Rich, Take a Letter, Darling, The Major and the Minor, I Married a Witch, Flesh and Fantasy, and several In addition to his career-spanning humorous talents, Benchley was also known as a tireless crusader for justice, a political animal who frequently wrote and commented on some of the controversial issues of the day (and today, too) such as racism and government witch-hunting. Personally, Benchley was a fascinating individual. A teetotaler a great deal of his life, he finally succumbed and had his first drink at the age of thirty-one, and with a hard-drinking crowd like the Round Table It was his drinking which evidently led to health problems in 1945. Benchley had been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, a condition he kept secret from everyone, but which was beginning to manifest in frequent nosebleeds and internal bleeding. His health was failing, but massive vitamin injections and Benzedrine–administered to enable him to fulfill his work obligations–plus his continued drinking took a toll on his physical and mental well-being. Friends who had never seen him less than kind and polite, ever, saw an uncharacteristic moody side, a side-effect of his deteriorating wellness. Finally, in November, Benchley was plagued by a series of serious nosebleeds on many days, and the frequency and severity got him admitted to a hospital, where doctors temporarily stopped the bleeding but feared the worst. As Benchley’s wife Gertrude stood vigil by his bed, dozens of his friends Despite all best efforts, Robert Benchley suffered a severe cerebral hemorrhage and slipped away on November 21, 1945. His friends and family remembered him fondly; John Hay Whitney, philanthropist and U.S. Anyone who has ever read Robert Benchley or seen him in one of his short subjects or movie roles will understand exactly what they are saying. Such a kind face, such a delightful man, such a brilliant creative force. Sweet Old Bob, indeed. Didja ever notice – “picnic basket raffles” – in film?To refresh your memory, the purpose of “didja ever notice” is to find out just how well you pay attention to the tiny seemingly obscure details when you’re watching movies. If TCM is on all the time in your home (like mine) then, in addition to learning the names and faces of dozens of unique character actors, you’ve probably noticed other minutia that’s not catalogued anywhere else except this MovieMorlocks.com blog. If you google the keywords didja ever notice, you’ll find that this series has made the front page (e.g. it’s within the first 10 responses)! For those of you who are new (or relatively new) to our blog, here is a list (with links) to the first nine entries in the series (in chronological order): 1. Didja ever notice – “runs on the bank” in film? 2. Didja ever notice – “milk trucks” in film? 3. Didja ever notice – “hiding out in a small town” in film? 4. Didja ever notice – “train wreck” in film? 5. Didja ever notice – “an exclamation point” in film (titles)? 6. Didja ever notice – “marriages with delayed consummation” in film? 7. Didja ever notice – “Taxes or I.R.S. issues” in film? 8. Didja ever notice – “prescience” – in film? 9. Didja ever notice – “movies that mix black-and-white with color” in film? Feel free to respond to any of the above and/or this month’s challenge: Didja ever notice – “picnic basket raffles” (otherwise known as “box socials”) – in film? I could only think of three; can you add any others? The Busher (1919) – premiered on TCM last October 14th (actually, the wee hours of the 15th for those of us who were in EDT); it’s a silent sports drama featuring Charles Ray in the title role. He’s the baseball star of a small rural town. He’s also smitten with Colleen Moore, but so is John Gilbert, who has more money but is also something of a jerk. Ray gets a chance to shine when the St. Paul Pink Sox get stranded in their small town. Later, the men must bid for what they hope is their sweetheart’s picnic basket, because the winning (e.g. highest) bidder gets to share the prepared meal with the basket’s owner. What’s unique about the raffle in this film is that the ladies appear behind a screen – all the men can see (e.g. to bid on) is a silhouette. One Sunday Afternoon (1933) – I finally got around to watching this original which was remade twice by director Raoul Walsh: as The Strawberry Blonde (1941) with James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, Rita Hayworth (in the title role), and Jack Carson (among others) and the Technicolor musical One Sunday Afternoon (1948) with Dennis Morgan, Janis Paige, Don DeFore, and Dorothy Malone. I don’t remember a picnic basket raffle in the former, and I haven’t seen the latter, but this one contains a scene in which Gary Cooper (as future dentist Biff Grimes) tries to win Virginia Brush’s (Fay Wray) favors by outbidding all others (including Neil Hamilton as Hugo Barnstead) for her basket with a telltale ribbon, as Amy Lind (Frances Fuller) watches. Oklahoma! (1955) – contains perhaps the most famous (and drawn out) box social sequence in all of cinema, and director Zinnemann milks it for all it’s worth. Aunt Eller (Charlotte Greenwood’s best role?) starts and runs the proceedings at Skidmore’s farm with gavel in hand, hoping the event will raise enough money to finish the community’s schoolhouse. Ali Hakim (Eddie Albert) would rather not marry Ado Annie (Gloria Grahame) but her daddy’s (James Whitmore) shotgun makes it inevitable unless Will Parker (Gene Nelson) can come up with $50; so Ali buys Will’s gifts from Kansas City to make it so. Unfortunately, Will is too dim-witted to hold on to the bounty, and he bids the entire amount for his sweetheart’s basket, forcing Ali to outbid him and overpay for a three day bellyache. Then, both Curly (Gordon MacRae) and Jud Fry (Rod Steiger) want to win Laurey’s (Shirley Jones) basket. Jud tops every man’s bid adding “and two bits” until Curly enters the picture. The exchange gets quite heated and both men end up bidding all that they own in the world before it ends. What other classic movies can YOU think of which feature a “picnic basket raffle”? SIDNEY LUMET – 83 and Going Strong
Without spoiling any of the film’s unexpected twists and turns – and I recommend avoiding the movie’s trailer if you want to come to this cold – all you need to know about the film is that it deals with a middle-class family thrown into crisis mode brought on unintentionally by two members of the family whose desperate need for money has led them into the abyss. A nightmare vision of an American family unraveling, this is Greek tragedy on a grand scale and bares comparison with Lumet’s stark adaptation of Eugene O’Neil’s “Long Day’s Journey into Night,” another film which descended into hell by degrees, taking you into deeper, blacker depths with each step. And like the best of Lumet’s work BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD is an actor’s showcase with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke and Albert Finney working at the peak of their powers. Hoffman, in particular, continues to take risks as an actor which pay off spectacularly, taking us places on a dramatic and emotional level which can be incredibly uncomfortable yet revelatory. Hawke is no less impressive, playing against his handsome charmer of “Before Sunrise” (1995), “Before Sunset” (2004) and “Great Expectations” (1998), and creating a portrait of an over-30 ne’er-do-well who is completely incapable and unprepared for life as an adult. Albert Finney remains in the background for the first half of the film, muted and low-key, but comes forward in the second half when his gradual realization of what is really happening brings him to the point of blind rage and then decisive action. It’s a powerful performance and Lumet honors him with the final, devastating fade-out.
In a role only slightly less important than the three male leads, Marisa Tomei provides a vivid portrayal of Hoffman’s self-centered wife whose self-image is based almost completely on her attractiveness and sex appeal which is considerable – but not enough to improve her lot in life. Rounding out the supporting cast are Rosemary Harris and Amy Ryan who make their brief scenes stand out in ways that come back to haunt you later.
Probably the only thing about BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD that could be construed as trendy and typical of contemporary movies is the structure which avoids a linear narrative as if that is something to be avoided at all costs. Maybe this is continual fallout from Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” and even current films such as “Michael Clayton” are guilty of it but it’s doesn’t undermine the power of Lumet’s film. And some viewers may find that this fragmented, time-hopping approach works fine when applied by a master like Lumet.
BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD may not be the holiday movie that you want to take the whole family to see. Or maybe it is. As a cautionary moral tale or a portrait of a contemporary American family rendered as a spectacular train wreck, you won’t find a more riveting emotional experience on movie screens this season.
As for those who have written Lumet off after a rather lackluster decade or more of disappointments – “A Stranger Among Us” (1992), “Guilty as Sin” (1993), “Critical Car” (1997), “Gloria” (1999) with Sharon Stone, “Find Me Guilty” (2006) with Vin Diesel – I’m here to tell you THE MAN IS BACK!!! And rumor has it he is already working on his next picture.
Logoredux
Oddly, I never attempted the classic Warner Brothers shield (below), which is as strong and brassy a logo as they come… yet I never warmed to it. You can’t argue with the effect but it was never close to my heart.
I really liked the new American International Pictures logo (below), which was put to use around the turn of the decade. There was something about the shade of orange-yellow they used for the A and the I that just signaled danger to me. But maybe that was guilt by association, as AIP tended to broker in movies that bitch-slapped you to attention and then kicked you out of the cinema to think about what you had just seen.
This logo is just cool and way better than the austere, cod-presidential seal the company went with before this. Speaking of cold and hard-to-love, that’s the Paramount logo for me all over. (See below for a modern version of a logo that has stayed largely the same over the years.) As with the 20th Century Fox symbol, the Paramountain occasionally gets pulled into the action of the movie it’s fronting (Raiders of the Lost Ark comes immediately to mind) but beyond that it’s just a big old hill to me.
Brr! More palatable to me is the Columbia Pictures logo, which has since 1924 depicted a stately lady holding a torch in the manner of the Statue of Liberty.
The Columbia logo changed over the years and is now represented by the rather underwhelming presence of model Jenny Joseph, who brings to the job of Torch Lady the narrow-shouldered stature of a soccer mom. (Wikipedia mistakes this Jenny Joseph, a Huston-based muralist, for the British poet Jenny Joseph, who would have been about 60 at the time the painting was done.) There were rumors for years that the model for this painting by Michael J. Deas was the actress Annette Benning, a bit of misinformation fueled by the fact that Benning's mug was superimposed over the Lady's face for the 2000 comedy What Planet Are You From?. Apparently Mrs. Warren Beatty bought the rumor at face value and began to tell interviewers that she was the inspiration. Critic Roger Ebert finally put paid to the myth in an October 31, 2004 Movie Answer Man column. To be continued… References: The History of a Logo: The Lady with a Torch, Reel Classics, 2001. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About American Film Company Logos but Were Afraid to Ask by Rick Mitchell, Hollywood Lost and Found |
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