Old Ironsides: To the Shores of Tripoli

(1926)          D: James Cruze

Charles Farrell ('The Commodore'), Esther Ralston (Esther), Wallace Beery ('Bos'n'), George Bancroft ('Gunner'), Charles Hill Mailes (Capt. Preble), Johnnie Wallier--as Johnnie Walker (Lt. Stephen Decatur), Eddie Fetherston (Lt. Somersom), George Godfrey ('The Cook'), William Conklin (Esther's Father), Duke Kahanamoku (Pirate Captain)

  
                                                                                       "Shall we borrow money to buy dishonor?"

When most people think of motion pictures from the silent era, there is a horrendous misconception. They tend to think of these wonderful films running about at a herky-jerky clip, not realizing they are being shown with a projector that ran them at the wrong speed.  In the silent era, the performers had to be able to express their emotions without the assistance of dialogue and did so wonderfully.

One of the highlights of this period was 1926's Old Ironsides.  Cruze had recently scored with his epic The Covered Wagon, and was the perfect choice to helm the picture.  Unfortunately, he didn't make it in the sound era and died a destitute alcoholic in 1942.

The only woman in the cast, Ralston wore bloomers that went down to her ankles.  For the scene where she by the ship's wheel, Cruze had the actress remove them as the wind blowing against her dress would outline her figure.  For years, men commented to Ralston about that particular scene.  

When asked if it would bother him to climb the rigging, Farrell stated he used to dive off ships' riggings as a child.  Extras included Gary Cooper, Richard Arlen and Boris Karloff.

Old Ironsides is an outstanding look at rivalry and camaraderie.  Throughout the film, 'Bos'n' and 'Gunner' fight and harass one another, both men willing to fight at a second's notice.  Yet both men see to it 'The Commodore' is protected, and when the chips are down, unite for a common cause.

One of the more interesting features is the treatment of 'The Cook.'  Although the man's a Negro, he's not portrayed as a caricature, which many movies from that era did.  Heavyweight boxer Geoffrey did the role with dignity.

The picture's additionally a fine view at courtship.  Although it's love at first sight with 'The Commodore' and Esther, he wins her gradually.  In the long run, he has to kill to win her.  And when he risks his life to save her, he goes from being her lover to the woman's hero.

Yet more than anything, Old Ironsides is a stirring look at patriotism.  Although a young nation, the United States is irked at the Tripoli Pirates' actions, thus decide to end their reign on the seas.  Though a rowdy bunch, the sailors have pride in fighting for their country.  When things look bleak for them, they never quit, but press on, as they knew it's what their fathers did.  And their descendants will follow on in the same manner.

No matter what era you grew up in, this is an exciting motion picture.  Old Ironsides made Farrell a star.  The marvelous fight scenes raised the standard for action films and Lawrence Stallings' ('What Price Glory') fervently patriotic script combines with the excellent work from everyone to deliver one of the greats. 

The Prisoner of Zenda: Duty, Honor, Country

(1937)          D:  John Cromwell, W.S. Van Dyke (uncredited)

Ronald Colman (Maj. Rudolf Rassendyl/The Prisoner of Zenda), Madeline Carroll (Princess Flavia), C. Aubrey Smith (Col. Zapt.), Raymond Massey (Black Michael), Mary Astor (Antoinette de Mauban), David Niven (Capt. Fritz von Tarlenheim), Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (Rupert of Hentzau)

                          "I see you want to let the drawbridge down.  Well, well.  I just killed a man for trying that."       

                          "An unarmed man, of course."

                         "Of course."

  Anthony Hope's classic 1895 novel has been turned into a motion picture several times.s  The most notable version was filmed by producer David O. Selznick, who'd been inspired to make it after the abdication of England's Edward III.  Selznick stated, "the case had made very topical an old problem-that of king and commoner and queen and commoner."  The deciding factor was having Colman under contract, as the filmmaker said he wouldn't have purchased the right had he not had the actor.

  Fay Wray and Anita Louise were tested for the part of Flavia.  Fairbanks wanted the lead, and nearly rejected Rupert, as it wasn't a starring role.  His father said to take it, adding Rupert was "probably one of the best roles ever written," adding, "Nobody has ever played Rupert and failed to steal the show . . . It is so actor-proof in fact, Rin-Tin-Tin could play the part and walk away with it."

  Having trouble getting into his character, Massey approached Smith, saying he couldn't get into Michael's skin.  The elder actor replied, "Ray, in my time I have played every part in The Prisoner of Zenda except Princess Flavia.  And I always had trouble with Black Michael."  With that, he went back to reading his newspaper.

  While thoroughly entertaining, this movie is an excellent look at love, honor and duty.  We see the love story between Rudolf and Flavia and Antionette's love for Michael.  Both are cases where the people are more than hopeful their love comes to fruition, and both wind up being examples of hopeless causes.  

  The Prisoner of Zenda deals with honor as Rudolf is offered a vast fortune to betray the king.  Instead of taking the easy way out and accepting it, he scoffs at it, as he's an honorable man.

  When Antionette gives Michael's plan to Rudolf, the woman feels she's betraying her lover.  Yet she also knows in her heart she's aiding her country, which her sense of honor leads her to do.  

  As Rudolf impersonates the king, then attempts to rescue him, he does so out of duty.  Although not a citizen of Zenda, the man realizes it's the proper thing to do as a human being, and proceeds.  Call it conscience if one must, but Rudolf knows the difference between that and duty.

  Zapt and Fritz proceed with their mission as they love their king and country.  The duo also comprehends what will happen to their nation should a man with a heart as evil as Michael take power.  They do what they must as it's their jobs.  The men exceed expectations as they realize it's expected of them.  Both understand what duty is.

  Everyone scores, but Fairbanks did exactly as his father predicted and ran away with the picture.  Max Steiner's music would be used again for the 1952 version.  Added to the Library of Congress in 1991, this is a film lover's feast.

Command Decision: Put the Blame On ?

D:  Sam Wood     (1949)

Clark Gable (Brig. Gen. K.C. Dennis), Walter Pidgeon (Maj. Gen. 'Woody' Kane), Van Johnson (T/Sgt. Immanuel T. Evans), Brian Donlevy (Brig. Gen. Clifton Garnett), Charles Bickford (Elmer Brockhurst), John Hodiak (Col. Edward Martin), Edward Arnold (Congressman Arthur Malcolm)

                                               "Whose idea was that?"

                                               "Sir, we never would have gotten rid of them without photographers."

Originally a novel by William Wister Haines, who eventually turned it into a successful Broadway play (Paul Kelly and James Whitmore would win Tony Awards for their roles.  Also in the cast were Paul Ford and John Randolph.), Command Decision saw its origin as a motion picture as a film when Gable got wind of it and requested that MGM purchase the rights.  The studio paid Haines $100,000 with the offer going to $300,000 should the book become a play.

Wood decided to use the choreography of the play, shooting all the scenes at ground level.  Additionally, there are literally no action scenes, as Command Decision deals with the men planning the missions, not the ones flying them.  The only active crew members to have ample screen time are Jenks and Ted.

Kane's a necessity of modern warfare.  He knows how to handle the people in Washington who not only don't know warfare or flying--they don't care.  Kane cares for the men lost on the bombing runs as the man understands what combat's like, and to get the necessary funding for equipment, he has to butter up the money men and their spouses.  And he hates himself for it.  He's looked at as more as a politician himself than a general, but at heart the man is Army Air Corps through and through.  He's pure flier.

Dennis has a mission to fulfill, and knows what it'll take to get it done.  Unfortunately, in order to complete this particular mission, a mood amount of men must be sacrificed.  In the first several stages of Operation: Stitch, the men--with the exceptions of Martin, who understands the importance of the job, think their leader's either gone made or is simply hungry for glory.  Yet all Dennis wants is to get this job done, as in the long run, what they're doing will save untold numbers of lives and help bring about the end of the war.

As with Martin, Dennis is one of the last warriors.  The general personally counts the planes as the return from each mission as each man lost is a notch on his soul.  Yet no matter the cost, the man knows what has to be done.  The crews might not realize the importance of what they are doing at the moment, but they will with time's passing.  And it will eventually dawn on them how great a commanding officer they had.

Over the course of time, Command Decision has been considered a box office and critical failure, both of which are false.  Reviewers praised the picture, which was a success where ticket sales were concerned.

The following year 20th Century Fox released Twelve O'Clock High, which had a somewhat similar tale and film historians have chosen to remember.  A successful television series based on the latter film helped to keep its name around.

The entire cast is marvelous to watch, but Gable and Pidgeon are downright electrifying, both giving the performances of their careers.  Definitely the finest postwar role Gable had, Command Decision is a motion picture for anyone who's interested in viewing excellent acting and a fine dramatic plot.

Executive Suite: Changing Of the Guard

William Holden (McDonald Walling), June Allyson (Mary Walling), Barbara Stanwyck (Julia Treadway), Fredric March (Loren Shaw), Walter Pidgeon (Frederick V. Alderson), Shelley Winters (Eva Marderman), Paul Douglas (Josiah Dudley), Louis Calhern (George Caswell) Dean Jagger (Jesse Q. Grimm), Nina Foch (Erica Martin)

                                                                                    "No use.  I tried.  It's only water."

One of the more interesting movies about corporate America, Executive Suite boasts not only one of the finest casts of the 1950s, but an excellent script by Ernest Lehman.  Adapting Cameron Hawley's novel, this was Lehman's first screenplay, and he went on to pen them for Sabrina, Sweet Smell of Success, North By Northwest and The Sound of Music among others.  Producer John Houseman noted that within a few years, the writer was earning close to one hundred times what they'd paid him.                                                                              

Executive Suite is a rarity, in that the movie has no score.  The only music in the picture are when the company's clock chimes, and then the situation has to do with death.  The filmmakers chose to use the sounds of the city, this MGM's sound department chief Douglas Shearer served as their 'composer.'

                                                               

Her star power not what it used to be, Stanwyck had an extremely small role compared to the others.   The actress stated, "Size has never bothered me.  If it had, I would not have done Executive Suite.  I liked the role and I wanted to do it, no matter how short it was."  Her work on the film lasted one week, according to her.

Don's the guy from the other side of the tracks who makes it to the top, proving that in America, each and every individual has an opportunity.  The made has made it where he is via hard work, and has earned every accolade he has.  Yet he wants the company he'll be leading to be profitable, but also wants them to take pride in what they do, something they haven't been able to do for a long, long time.

                                                                         

Fred and Jesse are tired, both worn down by the manipulative Bullard, whom they won't miss.  Both would have made a good president, but Bullard has the men mentally exhausted.  They realize the man pretty much has wrecked the company with his 'leadership,' but were unable to do anything about it.  As Don speaks at the meeting, he's supported by both men who are suddenly energized, and Jesse--who was about to retire--is ready for action.

                                                                   

Erica is a lonely figure.  We don't know much about her, but can tell she loved Bullard quietly.  (The man kept Julia as a mistress, then discarded her.)  Yet it seems her family's her job, and Don understands this, letting her know he'll need her assistance as well.  The woman knows it will be lonely, as her aid will be only in a secretarial sense.  Yet that's really all the woman wants--to be wanted.  And at the end of the day, this dear woman will go home--alone.                                                                      

Executive Suite has proven to be highly influential over the years, as Oliver Stone stated it had a direct bearing on Wall Street  As they developed the script for the latter film, Stone and his collaborators viewed the earlier film several times.  When the 1954 movie was released on DVD, Stone provided the commentary, and showed his fandom not only for Executive Suite, but each of the actors.

Director Wise and a powerhouse cast provide a fascinating look into the way corporate America turns its wheels.  With Lehman's script and powerful performances, this is a must.

                                                                     

36 Hours: Time In A Bottle

D: George Seaton     (1964)

James Garner (Maj. Jefferson Pike), Eva Marie Saint (Anna Hedler), Rod Taylor (Maj. Walter Gerber), Werner Paters (Otto Schick), Alan Napier (Col. Peter MacLean), John Banner (Ernst), Sig Ruman (German guard), Martin Kosleck (Kraatz)

                                       "You came here wanting to remember.  I wanted just as desperately to forget."

A motion picture viewer will often not want to see a movie that deals with historical aspects for one reason or another.  Some feel they're watching a documentary, even though they're not.  Others, feeling if it deals with an aspect of history they studied in school, refuse as "I know how it ends."  (And most of the time they're wrong.)  These individuals are missing out, as they've skipped some of the most intriguing and exciting films ever made.

A perfect example of this is 1964's 36 Hours, which deals which an intricate psychological plot of the Germans to get the secrets of the D-Day invasion.  Taken from the short story 'Beware of the Dog' by Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach), additional story ideas were obtained from Carl K. Hillerman and Luis H. Howe.                                                                    

Pike has been trusted with the most intricate secrets of the biggest military operation in history.  The enemy's aware he's heading to Spain in order to obtain information and drug the man.  When he awakens, it's 1950, and he doesn't know what's happened to him.  And that's merely the beginning.  Although bewildered at his turn of events, he never forgets who he is and his sense of duty remains.

                                                                           

While she is sympathetic to Pike's plight, Anna aids the Germans in order to stay out of the concentration camps.  One can tell she doesn't care for her participation in the scheme, as the Nazis are everything she's against.  The viewer despises what the woman's doing, yet totally comprehends why  she is doing it.  As the nurse begins to assist Pike, Anna truly begins to understand the importance of him, therefore his sense of duty.  And it aiding him, she discovers her own.

                                                                             

Gerber is the most tragic figure of 36 Hours.  A brilliant man raised by German-born parents who'd moved back to their homeland when he was a teenager, he's not an ardent Nazi.  As a matter of fact, he despises the teachings of Adolf Hitler.  The man considers himself loyal to Germany, not the party, and by the film's end, he's remembered to be loyal to himself.  Like Pike, and like Anna, he has his own sense of duty.

                                                                         

Best known for Miracle On 34th Street, Seaton is one of filmdom's unheralded writer-directors.  He collaborated with producer William Perlberg on more than thirty motion pictures, most of which Seaton helmed.  36 Hours was co-produced with Garner's Cherokee Productions.  (This was the first movie for Garner's company to produce.)

Garner expressed his admiration for his director when he told of being mentally prepared for a challenging scene that took the entire day to film.  On the way home, Garner thought about it, realizing he'd done it completely different from the way he'd originally intended due to Seaton's guidance.  The actor wrote in his memoirs, "George had changed everything and I never knew it.  That's a good director."

                                                                         

Garner confessed later he didn't think 36 Hours worked due to the fact history has let us know who was victorious at D-Day.  In this aspect, the actor's incorrect, seeing how anything can happen in a motion picture.  Throughout film history, we have seen children with naturally green hair, watched cars fly and viewed men on the moon before there were two-seater airplanes.  We've even seen films were the Axis powers won World War II.  Therefore, Garner should have recalled Alfred Hitchcock's saying in that, "It's only a movie."  And it's one of the finest of the suspense genre.

The star trio's very enjoyable, and the camera work by Philip H. Lathrop is marvelous.  But the true star of the movie is Seaton's script, with its clever deceit, multiple twists and sharp dialogue.  A masterful and tragically forgotten presentation that shouldn't be missed.  An excellent look at duty.

                                                                     

                                                                         

                                                                     

Network: Sheep Led To the Slaughter

                         "Good Morning, Mr. Beale.  They tell me you're a madman."

Faye Dunaway (Diane Christansen), William Holden (Max Schumacher), Peter Finch (Howard Beale), Robert Duvall (Frank Hackett), Wesley Addy (Nelson Chancey), Ned Beatty (Arthur Johnson), Darryl Hickman (Bill Herron), Beatrice

Straight (Louise Schumacher)

A motion picture is very much like a human being in that both can amaze you.  They can excite you, or stupefy you.  The can make you laugh, cry, sometimes doze off, and most importantly, think.

 An example of one that does a good amount of these things is 1976's Network.  Paddy Chayefsky's biting script is a severe condemnation of the world of television that gave Chayefsky his fame. Therefore, while the author came up with an utterly brilliant screenplay, he was condemning what had made him famous, biting the hand that had fed him and the man proved to be hypocritical in nature.  "It's all madness," the writer said," adding, "Thanks to TV, we have developed a ten-minute concentration span."

As film buffs discuss this movie, the character of Howard Beale is best recalled, along with his line, "I'm mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!"  Yet while Beale is Network's most memorable individual, he's not its central one.  The character though, is the catalyst, as it's his descent into madness which sets everything off.

Diane Christensen is closest to being the heart of the picture, an ironic thing to call her as the woman has no heart.  The woman sold her soul a long time ago for high network ratings.  As her worth in the television world rises, the less she cares about anyone or anything.  Diane's immensely successfully in the broadcast world, but an utter failure as a human being.                                                           

Max Schumacher is said to be the picture's conscience, and he is--partly.  The man speaks out against the way the network takes advantage of Howard's madness and attempts to halt things.  As a result, he loses his job and watches the destruction of not only his friend, but all sanity at the place he used to work for decades, knowing he can nothing about either one.

Yet if Max is the conscience, he's a poor one, as while he's righteous in his stand concerning Howard, he fails in his home life.  His affair with Diane despite the fact he's wed to Louise shows what a weak man the movie's 'conscience' truly is.

The casting for Network proved to be interesting.  For Diane, Chayefsky turned down Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave due to political reasons.  Kay Lenz rejected the part, which Jill Claybugh, Marsha Mason, Diane Keaton and Candice Bergen were all considered for. National news anchors Walter Cronkite and John Chancellor said no to the part of Howard, as did Henry Fonda, Holden, George C. Scott, and Glenn Ford.  James Stewart turned down the part due to the excessive profanity. The other finalist for the role of Max was Ford.

Some in television looked at Network as a satire.  Cronkite (whose daughter appeared in the film as a terrorist) stated when he watched it with other newsmen, they laughed.  On the other hand, Barbara Walters feared it would damage television's image, claiming there would never be "that kind of show-biz approach to the news, because we would never let it happen."  She would forget those words when she created her gossipy talk show, 'The View.'

This 1976  motion picture unwittingly predicted the reality TV craze more than two decades before the genre's actual appearance.  Director Sidney Lumet pointed out many events depicted in Network--including an on-air assassination--have come true.

Everyone's on top of their game here, with Chayefsky, Finch, Straight and Dunaway winning Oscars.  A sterling piece of work, it was named to the National Film Registry in 2000.

While a ravishing condemnation of greed and the television industry, the film is also a startling look at how easily we are led like sheep by those who not only don't know us, but frankly, don't care about us.  We should recall the words of Howard Beale, and "be mad as hell and not take it anymore."