Tuesday's Overlooked (or Forgotten) Film: THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1939) starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard.

Tuesday is Overlooked (or Forgotten) Films day, a weekly meme hosted by Todd Mason at his blog, SWEET FREEDOM. Check in with Todd to see what other overlooked movies other bloggers are talking about today.Now, here's my entry:

Watched THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1939) for the first time the other night. Yes, strange as it may seem I've never seen this film before. Though I am very familiar with the 'companion' film to this one (at least in people's memories) THE GHOSTBREAKERS, starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard in the second of three pictures, they made together.

I wrote about THE GHOSTBREAKERS on the blog sometime ago - it's one of my all time favorite movies - the perfect combo of comedy, mystery, murder and voo-doo. There's even a haunted castle and a zombie. What more could you want?

For years now I've been wondering if I'd ever get a chance to see THE CAT AND THE CANARY which everyone told me was better than THE GHOSTBREAKERS - being that they have similar plots. But for whatever reason, C&C has never been shown on television - at least not when I've been around, plus Netflix doesn't have it and neither does Amazon rentals. So I finally decided enough was enough, and bought the dvd.

Now after having watched both, I'd say the THE GHOSTBREAKERS is still the better picture but THE CAT AND THE CANARY has the creepy quotient down pat. There were a couple of moments in the film when I was actually frightened.When was the last time anyone was frightened by a Bob Hope movie? Frightened in the regular way, I mean.  C&C is also a lot of fun, maybe not as much fun as I expected, but still quite good enough.

The plot:

Which, by the way, is based on an earlier silent version (1927) of the film which is based on the play by John Willard. Obviously, this is a pretty popular plot, variations of which have been used again and again in books and films. It never loses its strange allure.

Old man Norman has died in his creepy-crawly, shadowy, mysterious house deep in the Bayou outside New Orleans. The house is only approachable by boat (sound familiar?) though the lawyer (George Zucco) arrives by dug-out canoe, or at least, that's what it looks like. You'd think a motor boat would have been more convenient and/or comfortable. But I digress.

An aside: you really do have to wonder how the house-keeping, cooking, food purchasing and general up-keep of the mansion is handled, since there are no servants and only a housekeeper. I'm sorry but these are the sorts of things that distract me.

Okay, back to the story. Old man Norman was a rich, cantankerous old coot who is already dead and buried ten years by the time the heirs gather at the house for the reading of the will. (I know, it made no sense to me either.) Why the ten year wait? Who knows? Maybe old man Norman wanted to make good and sure that he was truly dead before the will was read. PLOT DEVICE! An old man's whim must be strictly followed. Is it legal? Probably not, but that's the movies for you. (In the earlier movie, they had to wait 20 years which made even less sense.)

So, are we to assume that the housekeeper has been living all alone in the house for ten years? Why?
In hopes of inheriting something? Well, if so, she's in for a bit of a disappointment.

The housekeeper is played by the wonderfully sinister Gale Sondergaard - she of the perpetually snarling lip. Even when there's no mystery, she makes sure there's a mystery. Her very presence makes mystery. That's just the way of it. Oh, and she claims that the strange noises we hear in the house are ghosts telling her when someone will die. Why not? It makes as much sense as anything else that goes on.

Okay, so the heirs (all of them cousins, near and far) show up by means of various boats on this dark and spooky night to find out if they're any richer than they were that morning.

There's Aunt Susan, an elderly woman with snippy delusions of grandeur though it's obvious she's seen better days. She is played perfectly by Elizabeth Patterson, a familiar actress who played this same part in about a hundred movies over the years. Her ditzy companion Cicily (a cousin, I believe)  is played by the wonderful Nydia Westman.

Then there are two men who, for vague reasons, are at odds with each other from the getgo. Something to do with one of them getting and then losing the girl (he cheated on her) and the other wanting the girl for himself. Result: the other behaves like a boorish ass for the entire movie and you wish someone would kick him down the flight of stairs into the dark dungeon of a basement. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Charles Wilder (Douglass Montgomery) is the unreliable swain who is supposed to be something of a playboy and n'er do well. He has the kind of glossy looks that give me the creeps, but maybe that's just me. The boorish ass is Fred Blythe played in the most annoying way by the perpetually scowling
John Beal.

But wait, there's yet another man who shows up hoping for his share of the loot, Wally Campbell (Bob Hope), who appears never to have met any of the other heirs except...wait for it, wait for it, Joyce Norman (Paulette Goddard) who is the last to arrive.

Yes, Joyce and Wally were childhood pals though they haven't seen each other in years. And yes, she's the 'girl' that Wilder is wild about though they broke up some time back. She's also the 'girl' who makes Fred behave like a truculent fool.

Will you be my housekeeper too, Miss Lu?

Okay, so long story short, once the will is read, it turns out that Joyce is the only heir. But the will has a very strange proviso. If Joyce dies or goes mad within the next 30 days, then a second person becomes the heir which is practically an invitation for that second heir to commit murder.

However, no one except the lawyer is supposed to know who that second heir is. Wanna' bet?

As if things aren't interesting enough, there's a loud knock on the door at midnight and who should it be but a guard (carrying a shotgun) from the local insane asylum (I know, I know, what can you do - it's the way of these things) who tells them that a homicidal maniac has escaped and been spotted near the house. Turns out the man is called 'the cat' because of his claw-like hands and his strange habit of creeping about on all fours like a....well, like a cat - just before he pounces on his victim. (I'm not making this up, I promise.)

The large house, of course, is loaded with secret passageways and panels that swing open when, for instance, one is trying to get some sleep in a dark and gloomy bedroom. Yikes!

Before too much time passes there is murder most foul and we realize the escaped lunatic must be hiding out in the house, using the secret passageways to get around. One of reasons we know this is that the large portrait (of old man Norman) in the library has cut-outs for eyes and when Joyce is in the room, the eyes are watching her. Yes, the old hackneyed real eyes behind the fake eyes routine. When I saw it I let out a laugh. It's just such a deliciously fiendish joke. Works every time.

But there are a couple of truly spooky scenes and you can't beat the setting, an isolated old house full of dark comings and goings, not to mention clanging clocks and strange music. Paulette Goddard and Bob Hope work together to solve the mystery like a pair of old relaxed hands who are fond of each other.

Some say that this is Bob Hope's best picture, but I give the nod to THE GHOSTBUSTERS. Still, he's pretty damn good in this and what's more, he's not encumbered by a lot of the annoying silliness which make some of his films almost unwatchable.

Now if only the plot and the denouement made a bit more sense, but maybe that's expecting too much. I'm happy enough with what I got, glad finally to have had the chance to see a movie which had eluded me for so many years.

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200,000 Hits and Counting!

Art by the incomparable J.C. Leyendecker.

(Jeez, I feel like a hitman keeping score.)

I checked my blog stats today and was amazed to see that in so many words... has amassed over 200,000 page views. Now this seems incredible to me since I've only been blogging for a little under two years. I began mid-2010. (Though the google overseer thinks I began in Jan. Not so.)

I'm thinking maybe google blogger is counting my own views, the fussing I do every day on my blog. I pressed the button on the stats page to stop my views being counted, but, you never know. I can hardly believe that 200,000 people across the world are that interested in anything I have to say about anything. I mean, really.

But they count the mistaken hits too, so the crop of them are probably people on google searching for who knows what and stumbling across me by accident. Hopefully those who do, look around and stay awhile.

Be that as it may, I am very pleased.

And who am I to thank for all this?

Why you, of course. It is a verifiable truth that I could not have done it without you. A goopy cliche but that doesn't make it not true. It's your encouragement that keeps me going even on days when I feel like the hangiest dog that ever hanged. Even when I'm down in the dumps or feeling out of sorts with the universe, you guys cheer me up.

Your comments, emails and just general neighborly-ness make me feel there's a reason to keep going on with this blogging thing. Here's the secret: blogging can be a lot of fun - if you don't let it take over your life. When I start feeling the pressure, I take a step back and slow down. I always said that when blogging stopped being fun, I'd stop. Well, it hasn't, so I haven't.

You guys make me keep on keeping on. So for that and for many other things, I thank you today with all my heart.

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Saturday Salon: A Favorite Painting...or Two.....or Three!

This is the one that made me gasp out loud.

I don't usually feature contemporary artists on Saturday Salon, but today I'm making an exception. Christine Lafuente's paintings bowled me over at first glance. I mean, I gasped. That's the way certain art affects me sometimes. I love when that happens.

 Lafuente's technique is astonishingly good. How she manages to control it, I can't guess. But the mystery of it is part of the charm. The way she handles her brush strokes, paint so thickly applied and vivacious. It looks random but I know it can't be. The depth and intensity of her color choices dazzle me. There's nothing about her still life work I don't like.

If I could I would collect the originals. Yes, I am definitely smitten. This is contemporary art that speaks to me.

Christine Lafuente is an American painter who studied at Bryn Mawr College, The Bradford Foundation and the Pennsylvania School of Fine Arts. To learn more about this talented artist, please use this link which, in turn, will lead you to other links.

Christine Lafuente

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Friday's Foreign Film Poster

The Lady From Shanghai (1947). The French poster.

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Friday's Forgotten Book: RAVISHED (1992) by Amanda Quick aka Jayne Ann Krentz

If it's Friday, then it's Forgotten Books Day - the weekly meme hosted by Patti Abbott at her blog, PATTINASE Check in to pick up today's links to other bloggers talking about other forgotten books.

Today I'm talking about romance of the historical kind. Years ago, Amanda Quick aka Jayne Ann Krentz wrote some wonderful romance novels, each with a one word title. I have them all and occasionally indulge in a re-read. Yes, I admit it.

But in truth I stopped reading Quick's books when she went into serial novel mode and moved away from what she'd been doing (heaven knows why) - but I know I'm in the minority because she's still selling up a storm with every new book.

The same holds true for Jayne Ann Krentz's contemporary output, too. I stopped years ago at DEEP WATERS because everything after that just didn't appeal to me. Something changed in her story arcs and even in her characterizations.

Unfortunately, that happens sometimes with prolific long-term writers and the widening readership they're trying to please.

Either I moved on or Krentz did - one of us was no longer in sync with the other. But those early books sure were terrific.

********************************

RAVISHED, set during the Regency era, has elements of Beauty and the Beast, but only just. The story is filled with Quick's usual humor, suspense and romantic entanglements. No one really gets ravished (well, maybe a little), but it's an eye catching title, nonetheless.

Our heroine, Miss Harriet Pomeroy is a single-minded blue-stocking (before the term was coined) intent on keeping an anthropological discovery from being ruined. She dotes on fossils and bones and has basically turned her cottage into Skeleton Central.

In the caves near her home on the English coast, Harriet has discovered a prehistoric skeleton. Harriet's enthusiasm for this discovery has led her to write a letter to Viscount St. Justin, the owner of  Blackthorne Hall and the surrounding lands, which include the caves. She summons St. Justin (a man she's never met) to visit his property (he tends to avoid Blackthorn Hall, the setting of tragic memories) and take care of the thieves which have begun storing their own loot in the caves at low tide. Her prehistoric skeleton is at risk!

Here's the story synopsis from the back cover in all it's romantic heart-fluttery exuberance:

There was no doubt about it. What Miss Harriet Pomeroy needed was a man. Someone powerful and clever who could help her rout the unscrupulous thieves who were using her beloved caves to hide their loot. But when Harried summoned Gideon Westbrook, Viscount St. Justin, to her aid, she could not know that she was summoning the devil himself.

Well, hardly, but that's the way of these back blurb writers - to continue:

Dubbed The Beast of Blackthorne Hall for h s scarred face and lecherous past, Gideon was strong and fierce and notoriously menacing. Yet Harriet could not find it in her heart to fear him. For in his tawny gaze she sensed a savage pain she longed to soothe....and a searing passion she yearned to answer.

Now, caught up in the beast's clutches, Harriet must find a way to win his heart - and evade the deadly trap of a scheming villain who would see them parted for all time.

Phew! Harriet and Gideon have a lot on their plate.

Turns out that Gideon is one of Amanda Quick's best creations. His local reputation (when the housekeeper sees him for the first time, she screeches and faints) is based on deception and lies not of his doing. The Beast of Blackthorne Hall turns out to be one honorable dude.

The scenes between Gideon and his father are especially touching and convincing.

The writing, as usual is top notch. Amanda Quick in her prime was writing these tales in a way that made them very hard to put down. She had a knack for romance and 'what happens next' which very few of her contemporaries could match. She also was a genius at pointed, humorous dialogue in keeping with the tone of the times. While reading these books you can almost hear the clipped British accents whirling about in your head.

Regency folk obviously spent a lot of time bandying wit back and forth. This is my favorite part of all the Quick books. The main reason I'm recommending one today.

To see a complete list of Amanda Quick's books, please use this link.

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Review: THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET by Brian Selznick

This is a marvelous sort of book, a Pandora's Box of illustration and text combined in perfect union. I must thank my friend Jean in Colorado for having sent it to me. I've been meaning to write about it for a while now.

I have the movie, HUGO (it arrived in the little red envelope a couple of days ago), which is based on Seltzer's book but I haven't watched it yet - didn't want to be influenced away from the feel of the book. Wanted to write about the story without having the movie version interfere.

Hugo Cabret.

In fact, the book itself is like a movie and the story is very much about the movies - the days of the early movies (the story takes place in 1931) when the industry was still feeling its oats and dreams were part of the film-making and film-going experience. Awe was still a fresh notion..

Brian Selznick's book is part graphic novel, part written text and like nothing you've ever experienced.

Looking.

The story centers on Hugo Cabret, a destitute boy who is, indeed a dreamer - an orphan, part thief, part opportunist, part mechanical genius and at heart, a young boy very much missing his lost father..

He lives within the walls of a Paris train station having been taken there by a reprobate uncle after Hugo's father's death in a terrible museum fire. A death for which Hugo occasionally blames himself. For it was at his eager request that his father had been working late in the attic/storage room at the museum and become trapped in the fire.

Hugo and his father.

Mr Cabret had made an amazing discovery - a broken down automaton - a mechanical man whom no one at the museum remembered - the thing had never been put on display. The man was created in the action of writing and once fully functional, it should have been able to write something on a piece of paper. Hugo and his father are intrigued and determined to bring the automaton back to life again.

Hugo's drunken uncle works at the train station winding the many large clocks around the building. He has a musty old room there and that's where he brings Hugo after the boy's father's death.

Winding one of the many station clocks.

But the uncle's drinking gets the better of him and one night he goes out and fails to return. With no where else to go, Hugo takes over the job of winding the clocks (he'd carefully watched his uncle do his work) and pretends his uncle is still around.

Hugo in the vast train station.

It is a precarious existence for if the station inspector should discover the truth, Hugo would be thrown out on his ear - forced to live in the street.

Hugo and the automaton.

From the ashes of the museum fire, Hugo had secretly rescued the damaged mechanical man and brought him to the room at the train station, determined to continue his father's work. Hugo is convinced that when the automaton becomes functional, it will write Hugo a message from his father.

The train station toy shop.

To that end, Hugo has been stealing bits and pieces of mechanical toys from an old toy shop in the train station. The shop belongs to a grumpy old man named Georges.

One morning Hugo is caught stealing and the old man pockets Hugo's small sketch book filled with drawings and schematics - Hugo's most precious possession. Trying to get the workbook back is no easy task.

Papa Georges

Eventually Hugo becomes caught up in the life of the rather mysterious old man, his goddaughter, a young girl named Isabelle, and the stuff that dreams are made of.

Isabelle

Papa Georges - as Isabelle calls him - has a long lost and forgotten past which the message written by the mechanical man (Hugo does get him fixed) will, unexpectedly, bring back to life.

Hugo and Isabelle looking out at the city of Paris from behind a clock face.

This book is all about the magic, the mystery of movies and of the dreams that made them.

As much as I love the story, it is the brilliance of the many halftone illustrations that captured my imagination. The story is revealed in movie-like images - some parts revealed in just drawings alone, minus any text; as in a mad chase sequence near the end.

Hugo fixing a mechanical mouse.

If you look closely,  you can see the multitude of cross-hatching pencil lines which go into making up each individual drawing. I can't over-emphasize the brilliance in execution of these splendid drawings which pace the story, adding atmosphere and a kind of frenetic energy.

Near the end, there are also actual scenes from a very early silent movie created by the real life movie magician and early pioneer, Georges Melie. I'm sure all of you know at least one scene from one of his early movies, A TRIP TO THE MOON. The face of the man in the moon with a rocket poking him in his right eye. That was a Melie creation.

Papa Georges, Isabelle and Hugo. 

Yes, that is who old man turns out to be. But you have to read and absorb the book to get the full story.

To see more of Selznick's glorious illustrations from the story and learn a bit about automatons, please use this link.

By Georges Melie

Thanks again, Jean, my dear friend, for sending me this wonderful book.

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10 More Fabulous Character Actors

Eric Blore (1887 - 1959)

The squinchy faced, oh-so terribly English Eric Blore appeared in over 80 Hollywood films, usually playing a butler or some variation thereof. He had the kind of face one would always remember and he made good use of it. I remember him most from the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films. He came across as a sweety with a devilish glint in his eye.

Blore, born in London, had an active career mostly in comedy, though he did play in several dramas as well.

To learn more about Eric Blore, please use this link.

Nigel Bruce (1895 - 1953)

Of course, Nigel Bruce will be remembered as Dr. Watson to Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes, until the end of time. But he did play other roles. He was in two of Alfred Hitchcock's most memorable films, SUSPICION and REBECCA. He also played the portly Prince of Wales in THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL with Leslie Howard.

Bruce was the son of an English Baron and oddly enough was born in Mexico. He served in WWI, receiving 11 bullet wounds in one leg for his trouble. A brave man and a terrific actor. He is immortalized on screen as Dr. John Watson.

To learn more about Nigel Bruce, please use this link.

James Robertson Justice (1907 - 1975)

The multi-lingual (he spoke as many as 20 languages) James Robertson Justice was born in South London and studied science in school. Early on he became a journalist for Reuters and from there went on to various and sundry jobs, including a stint as a hockey coach. He served in WWII and was wounded. 

It wasn't until 1944, that he began acting in films.

He was an imposing physical presence, helped along by his aggressive, booming voice - a voice with resonance. I remember him as the 'invalid' Crackenthorpe in MURDER SHE SAID with Margaret Rutherford to whom, in the film, he makes a hilarious proposal of marriage.

He also played the part of Little John in the 1952 film, THE STORY OF ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRIE MEN, in which Richard Todd played Robin Hood.

To learn more about James Robertson Justice, please use this link.

Robert Armstrong (1890 - 1973)

Speaking of immortality, when Robert Armstrong starred along with Fay Wray in the original KING KONG, I wonder if he realized that he'd forever be associated with not only KONG, but two other films featuring a gigantic ape: THE SON OF KONG and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG. But life is funny that way, especially in the movie biz.

He did, though, work in over 150 films over his long career, usually playing a brash professional man. I loved him best in MIGHTY JOE YOUNG as the brash nightclub impresario who realizes the error of his ways. He helps Terry Moore and Ben Johnson break Mighty Joe out of jail and escape (in a truck) on a wild ride into the night where a burning orphanage is waiting.

To learn more about Robert Armstrong, please use this link.

Alice Pearce (1917 - 1966)

Alice Pearce was a rubbery faced character actress who is probably best known as the next door neighbor, Gladys, in BEWITCHED. A role cut short (she played it for about a year and a half) by Pearce's death from ovarian cancer at the age of 48. Though Sandra Gould took over the role and played if for years, it's Alice Pearce I always remember as Gladys.

I also loved her in ON THE TOWN where she played a girl on a blind date with Gene Kelly - he is pining after Vera-Ellen. Kelly brought Pearce (who'd played the same part in the Broadway production) over to the film. His scenes with Pearce are really rather sweet.

Needless to say, Alice Pearce died too young.

To learn more about Alice Pearce, please use this link.

C. Aubrey Smith (1863 - 1948)

Far as I'm concerned, C. Aubrey Smith was the standard by which all older British officers (on film) should be judged. He was perfection as that self-same officer of the old school - hale, hearty, principled, upright, uptight, stiff-upper-lipped, things strictly by the book. But he could also play a bemused and elderly father or grandfather type. Smith was always one of my favorite actors as I began to watch and appreciate him in the older films showing up on early television.

He was not only an actor, he was also a famed cricketer. Of course he was part of the British clique busy colonizing Hollywood in the 1930's and early 40's. He was intensely patriotic and critical of those English actors who did not immediately head for Britain to enlist during the war.

He appeared in many classic films, including THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, THE FOUR FEATHERS, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, ANOTHER THIN MAN, TARZAN THE APE MAN (in which he played Jane's father) and many others. I remember him fondly in one of my favorite films, FIVE CAME BACK, where he played a professor forced to make a tragic decision in the end of the film.

To learn more about C. Aubrey Smith, please use this link.

Hillary Brooke (1914 - 1999)

Hillary Brooke was one of the more beautiful actresses of her day and yet that beauty never really made her star. I think it was because the camera picked up some essential coldness (which may not have even been apparent in reality).

Though she was born in Astoria, Queens, NY, she usually played British. She brought a sophisticated, aristocratic bearing to almost every role she played over her long career which included television. She had the duty of playing Lou Costellos' love interest (?!) on the old Abbott and Costello Show. She'd also played the comic foil to the duo in a couple of their films.

She was in several of Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes movies and I also remember her in MINISTRY OF FEAR with Ray Milland, as the sinister fortune teller. Hillary Brooke was always effective at radiating mystery.

To learn more about Hillary Brooke, please use this link.

Horace MacMahon(1906 - 1971)

If you needed to cast a cop, then Horace MacMahon was probably at the top of your list. He had the look and the gravelly voice to suit. He was always my idea of the perfect, work weary, seen-it-all NYC cop.

In his early career he played thugs and mostly bad guys, but later he came into his own as the Lieutenant in the play, DETECTIVE STORY. He went on to play the part in the film as well, alongside Kirk Douglas and Eleanor Parker.

He also starred in the television show, NAKED CITY, as Lieutenant Mike Parker. But he also showed up in many films as the cop, usually in fedora and tweed overcoat. He had the best New Yorkese kind of accent, though he was born in Norwalk, Connecticut. He did go to school at Fordham and he was a newspaper reporter (among many other jobs), so maybe that accounts for the Runyon-esque talk and walk.

To learn more about Horace MacMahon, please use this link.

Erik Rhodes (1906 - 1990)

Erik Rhodes enhanced any film he was ever in and he usually made more of the part he was playing simply by being unafraid to be ridiculous. He is one of my all time favorite actors and I always remember smiling when he showed up on the screen - he just had that effect on me.

In his first film, THE GAY DIVORCEE (1934), he repeated the role he'd played on Broadway, that of Rudolfo Tonetti, an absurdly transparent and very Italian divorce 'correspondent'. His job is to be found in Ginger Rogers' hotel room by her husband - the only action for divorce in those prehistoric times.

There is a famous sequence on the steps of the seaside hotel where Tonetti is given the secret pass word he is to use so that Ginger Rogers will recognize him. The actual words are (I think) "Fate is the fool's name for chance." You can only imagine what Tonetti makes of it. (My favorite: "Fate is foolish, give me a chance.") It is hilarious. Tonetti is part fool, part serious working man (with a union!) and part romantic being duped by his own wife. By the end of the film you adore him as much as you do Fred Astaire.

Rhodes also went on to play in TOP HAT, another Astaire and Rogers film. He played a fashion designer with designs on his model, Ginger Rogers. Hilarity ensues when they all show up in Venice and everyone mistakes everyone else for someone else.

After his work in Army Intelligence during WWII, Erik Rhodes went back to Broadway and later, television work beckoned. Despite his European appearance and manner, Rhodes was born in Oklahoma (when it was known as 'Indian Territory') and died there in 1990, of pneumonia.

To learn more about Erik Rhodes, please use this link.

I've just realized that this is the second time I've written about Rhodes in my continuing series on great character actors. Sorry about that if you noticed. If you didn't notice then pretend you're not reading this.

P.S. If you check google for info on Erik Rhodes, be careful. It seems that there's a porn star with the same name and some of the pix that show up are rather offensive.

And before you begin lamenting that I've left out your favorite, all I ask is that you please check my previous character actor posts. Scroll down a bit and you'll find the link on my right hand side-board. Thanks.

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