Tuesday's Overlooked (or Forgotten) Film: SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED (2012) starring Aubrey Plaza, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni and Mark Duplass.

SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED (2012) (a dumb name for a picture if I ever heard one) is a film directed by Colin Trevorrow and written by Derek Connolly, starring Aubrey Plaza, Jake Johnson, Karan Soni and Mark Duplass. A cast of plucky unknowns to be sure - at least, unknown to me.

This very pleasant surprise of a film - an independent from last year - came totally out of the blue for me (but then, I'm not very familiar with 'independents'). From the set-up you might think that you're going to see one sort of film when in reality, it's another sort of film altogether. More or less.

Saw this listed on Netflix and since it mentions 'time travel' I took a look at the synopsis and decided - why not? With independents, I can usually tell within the first few minutes whether it's going to work for me. I'm hyper-sensitive to foul language (it is just so jarring to the ear) unless totally necessary and I have low tolerance for bull, not to mention the 'grunge realism' ubiquitous to these sorts of films. I also have a weird sense of humor (I know, I know, everyone says that) which often means I'm the only one laughing.

Question: Is Seattle, Washington really as grungy and moribund as it's depicted in movies? Just wonderin'. I mean, everything reeks of dampness, the people look miserable and let me tell you, the clothing they wear doesn't help matters, neither does their unwashed hair. (That goes for this film as well as the 'set-in-Seattle' thriller series, 'The Killing".)

Obviously I'm very big on 'kempt'. 

But other than these grooming and humidity issues, SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED is a delightful, fast-paced romantic comedy with hints of sci-fi and no special effects to speak of except for one scene. It's the sort of film that occasionally makes you laugh out loud, but mostly makes you smile and role your eyes. It's not often I can say that a movie with a sci-fi premise is sweetly and gently done, but I'm saying it about this little gem.

Kenneth, an odd loner in a dead-end job - he works for a 'Wal-Mart' type store - places an ad in Seattle Magazine, requesting a partner in a time travel adventure. Desperate for article ideas, the mag's chief editor (Mary Lynn Rajskub from 24)) sends an editor and two interns out of town to investigate the strange ad.

Jeff (Jake Johnson), the cynical, obnoxious and rather foul-mouthed, politically incorrect editor is the sort of thirty-something man who fools himself into thinking he's a wild and crazy guy, primarily because he gets a lot of sex. In truth he's coasting and not tremendously happy. He's returning to the tacky coastal town he grew up in not so much to fulfill the 'Kenneth' assignment, but to re-connect with an old girlfriend.

The two interns are Darius (Aubrey Plaza), a morose young woman with attitude problems and Arnau (Karan Soni), a geeky computer nerd who is not only a virgin but likely to remain so.

Turns out that Kenneth (Mark Duplass) is serious about his proposed hush-hush 'mission', insisting that he's being followed by 'enemies' and must take every precaution to prevent being 'captured'. Hence the 'safety not guaranteed' in the ad.

When the obnoxious Jeff strikes out as the proposed 'travel' partner, he sends Darius in. Bored with everything in her life, Darius is a kind of 'sleeping beauty' type in grungy sweats. 'Everything cool is gone," she says at one point and means it.

She is a remarkably good actress who should be 'going places' if there's any justice in the world.

When Darius and Kenneth form a 'connection' of sorts, he begins 'training' her in weapons near his ramshackle little house in the woods (hence the rolling of the eyes I mentioned earlier).

Slowly he begins to reveal to her, the object of his 'mission'. When asked why she wants to go back in time, Darius says she wants to prevent her mother's death. Kenneth too has a similar plan in play.

The plan involves breaking and entering into a lab ('...the security is a joke.") and getting away with some gadgets he still needs to finalize the time travel machine. (Though if he's 'done it before' why is he just now 'finalizing' the thing?) The lab break-in is hilariously done by the way.

In the meantime, obnoxious Jeff has found his one time girlfriend and at first is taken aback because she's dyed her hair red and put on weight - she's not the blond sylph he remembers. The girlfriend is played with gusto by gloriously zaftig Jennica Bergere. But on second thought, Jeff decides to overlook her 'faults' and take a chance. This makes for a nicely bittersweet interlude and I found myself liking Jeff as he realizes what's missing from his life, but...

The entire cast is just wonderful. Not movie star handsome or gorgeous by any stretch of the imagination, they just look like what they are supposed to be: a bunch of misfits trying to do a job because, really, what else have they got to do?

Don't miss this little movie with a mysteriously memorable 'big' ending, which, in retrospect, seems not so little to me and on triple retrospect, seems just about perfect.

Uh-oh...

Don't forget to check in at Todd Mason's blog to see what other Overlooked (or Forgotten) Films and/or other audio visuals, other bloggers are talking about today.

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Sunday Salon: A Gathering of Clouds...

American Golden Age Illustrator and Painter, N.C. Wyeth (1882 - 1945) - source

Flemish painter Simon Alexander Clement-Denis (1755 - 1813) source

Contemporary American Illustrator/Painter Rob Colvin - Vermillion Cliffs - source

Contemporary American Illustrator/Painter Rob Colvin - Blind Mesa - source

Hungarian Painter Vaszary Janos (1867 - 1938) - Lake Balaton with Wreathing Clouds 1905

American Contemporary Emily Jeffords - source

American Contemporary Anne Packard - Winter's Night - source

American Contemporary Painter Logan Maxwell Hagege - Unveiling the Clouds - source

Spanish Painter Antoni Utrillo Viadera (1867 - 1934)

American Painter Gerald Cassidy (1869 - 1934)

American Contemporary American Painter Ed Mell - source

American Landscape Painter Martin Johnson Heade (1819 - 1904) source

Dutch Contemporary Designer/Painter Berndnaut Smilde 2012 - source

American Contemporary Illustrator/Painter Dennis Ziemienski - source

Dutch Master Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1890) source

American Landscape Painter Albert Bierstadt (1830 - 1902) Storm in the Mountains - source

American Contemporary Painter Ed Mell - source

American Contemporary Painter Phil Epp - source

An exuberance of clouds by various artists. Remember this is only a smattering of what's out there - it's impossible to include everything. But I think this is a nice representation.

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Forgotten Book Friday: THE SIAMESE TWIN MYSTERY (1933) by Ellery Queen

As a rampaging, out of control fire races up a mountain-side, Ellery Queen and his intrepid dad Richard, are trapped in a house with a murderer. Not to mention, a pair of Siamese twins and an assorted group of crazies. Actually, the Siamese twins are the sanest of the whole bunch.

"I'm wary of everything in this grotesque melange of wickedness." So says Ellery at one point and who could blame him?

THE SIAMESE TWIN MYSTERY is not only a rather good mystery, but also a thriller in its own hair-raising way. It's also the first Ellery Queen I've read in which the two sleuths are on their own, away from New York and their normal cop retinue of specialists and muscle. Nor are father and son accompanied by Djuna (one wonders why not) their devoted will o' the wisp servant.

The two detectives (okay, one 'official' detective and one genius detecting son) are traveling out west somewhere when they find themselves driving along a deserted stretch of road (these are the days before McDonald's et al, littered the highways and byways of our land) which seems to lead nowhere but to a house atop a mountain. It is night and the Queens are lost, exhausted and out of patience. Thinking they've found a temporary safe haven, the Queens are immediately put on their guard by the disjointed conversation and general unease of the house's few inhabitants. What goes on here?

Well, of course, if the house were full of normal people engaged in normal pursuits, there'd be no mystery and we could all go home. But the Queens have stumbled (almost literally) across a house full of shadowy secrets - at first glance, a Bleak House of incipient horrors.

"Brr!" muttered Ellery in his father's ear as they followed the stately figure of their host down the hall. "Nice place for a murder. Even the wind is performing in character. Listen to that silly howling, will you? The banshees are out in full force to-night." 

Of course, Ellery is totally prescient. Murder will occur sooner rather than later.

Not immediately, of course, give our detecting duo a couple of hours to take the measure of the place. But before the night is over, Dr. John Xavier, famed medical man currently conducting heathenish experiments (there are a variety of Siamese critters in little cages in the lab - enough to give anyone the creeps), attempting to discover a way to successfully separate human Siamese twins, will be shot dead. Who, among the ill-at-ease bunch of guests is the killer?

The twins in this instance are two pleasant, good-natured teenage boys who are remarkably adept at dealing with their condition. Though when Richard Queen first glimpses their combined shadow in an unlit hallway, he is frightened nearly out of his wits. The old man has a vivid imagination.

Dr. Xavier is later found dead in his office, clutching a torn playing card - the six of spades - in his bloody hand. This being an Ellery Queen mystery, the card may or may not give an actual clue to the killer and even then, may or may not give an actual clue to the killer. Know what I mean? One never knows with the Queens.

At any rate, the whole question of who is guilty may be a moot one, as a forest fire at the base of the mountain currently rages out of control, heading right for the house which, by the way, is perched on a precipice.

An aside: Given a choice of being burnt to death or jumping to my doom, I think I'd jump.

Anyway, as the prickly but stalwart group desperately tries any and all exhaustive measures to save themselves and the house from the blazing inferno, there is still a murderer to catch.

A good book for a dark and stormy night.

Don't forget to check in at Patti Abbott's to see what other forgotten or overlooked books other bloggers are talking about today.

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Tuesday's Overlooked (or Forgotten) Film: THE V.I.P.s starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Louis Jourdan, Maggie Smith, Margaret Rutherford, Rod Taylor and Orson Welles.

The V.I.P.s is a film directed by Anthony Anquith and written by Terence Rattigan, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Louis Jourdan, Margaret Rutherford, Maggie Smith, Rod Taylor and Orson Welles.

(Note that the poster claims this to be a 'modern love story'. The mind boggles.)

Watched it the other night, late at night, kind of in my zombie mode. (Just kidding, folks!) The sheer bloody-minded awfulness of it kept my interest until the very end. Some films are fascinating in their awfulness and this is one of them. Reason for watching in the first place? Well, obviously I must have been in the mood for an all-star Technicolor spectacle of human emotions run amok - set in an airport.

Who wouldn't want to watch a movie in which fate plays fast and loose with a bunch of Very Important Persons hemmed in by London fog (the atmospheric thing not the raincoat) at Heathrow. I mean, the story practically tells itself.

Before we go any further I have a confession to make: I saw this film the first time around in a theater near me. But I was young then - what did I know? Plus I wanted to see the famed duo of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton fresh from CLEOPATRA scandal.

Back then, real life soap opera had dimmed the allure of movie soap opera, but not the allure of films set in an airport. Airport horror stories. It's the sort of thing that could happen to any of us. Right? And aren't we just a bit curious to see what goes on in the V.I.P. Lounge? That holy place denied to most of us?

At any rate, here's the plot and no I am not exaggerating. There are four main intertwined story-lines. Please remember that the rich are different from you and me.

Story number one:

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor play a married couple with Problems. Well, actually it's the wife who has the problem, he is oblivious to her Wretched Unhappiness. He is Paul Andros, billionaire tycoon too busy acquiring companies to notice that he is taking his wife Frances (Elizabeth Taylor) for granted.

Frances, notes pitifully that she would rather have a bunch of flowers from the 'five and ten' picked out personally by Paul, than yet another luxurious diamond bracelet picked out by a flunky. (May I point out that this is the sort of argument only the very rich seem able to make with a straight face.)  To add fuel to the marital discord, Paul has the audacity to give Frances a diamond bracelet just before she is due to depart (he thinks) on a plane to Jamaica. I mean, how dare he?

This churlish behavior is the main reason - unbeknownst to Paul - Frances is running off with playboy/gigolo Mark Campselle (gorgeous Louis Jourdan) who promises to change his playboy ways and settle down in New York with Frances.  He can't figure out what he'll do to earn a living but Frances reassures him that her father left her $300,000 (this was back in the day when this was 'real' money) - she will not begin her new life by taking any of Andros' largess. She has principle.

Keep this in mind: Frances has left a letter of goodbye in the one place that only Paul would know to look. It is meant to be found once the plane is in the air carrying Frances and Mark away to their new life. Uh-oh.

Story number two:

Rod Taylor plays Les Mangrum, head of Mangrum Tractors. He is in London fighting a take-over by Amalgamated Piffle - well, not really, but that's the name I always think of when the word Amalgamated shows up in text or conversation.

Keeping control of Mangrum Tractors (they make very good tractors) means everything to Les and his devoted secretary Miss Mead (Maggie Smith). But just when the deal seems done in Les's favor (reason why he's flying to New York), he is betrayed by a friend. To save his company, Les posts a check for more funds then he currently has in the company account. But it's okay, he reassures Miss Mead, he'll be in New York within a few hours and he'll take care of the imbalance then. Uh-oh.

Maggie Smith, as always, is a natural scene stealer - in particular in a key scene with Richard Burton late in the film. An actress who can do no wrong.

Story number three:

Margaret Rutherford (another natural scene stealer) in her Oscar winning role, plays the Duchess of Brighton - as unlikely a movie duchess as you will meet in her rumpled tweeds and floppy felt hat. To save her family home, the Duchess is flying to Miami to play hostess at some hotel (because of her title). She hates the idea but needs the money. Rutherford is wonderfully touching - another actress who can do no wrong.

Story number four:

Orson Welles plays Max Buda, a film producer of indeterminate nationality traveling with his mistress to Switzerland, where he lives to avoid paying British taxes.

The problem is that his financial deadline expires at midnight. Caught in England the next day, he will have to pay one million in taxes - something he very much wishes to avoid. Welles is unique, let's face it. One might tsk. tsk. to see him wasting his time in this sort of film, but in his own way Welles can't help but make you smile. The relationship with his little groveling accountant is quite funny. Welles just looks as if he's having a good time.

 ****************

You know what they say about mice and men and plans. When a dense fog roles in, everyone is unexpectedly stranded at Heathrow - no planes can take off until the following morning.

Needless to say, the letter left behind for Paul Andros is found and read too soon. He shows up at the airport in fine fettle, carrying a gun in his pocket, ready to do anything to keep his wife from flying off with her intended. He cannot believe she would prefer a penniless gigolo to him - a captain of industry. Oh how little he understands Frances. Mark needs her, you dolt.

Mysteriously, Burton is photographed rather badly in this film. Not to put too fine a point on it, he looks in need of a bath. It's all that tacky airport lighting I suppose. He just looks icky. Not to mention that his acting is overwrought, his beautiful speaking voice wasted. In his scenes with Taylor he appears ready to pounce and devour her. Scary. And as usual when it came to these two, there is zero on-screen chemistry between them.

The other man, Louis Jourdan, for whatever reason, appears in need of a constant shave - and not in a good way. Although Jourdan, being so damned good looking, can get away with most anything. But his constant five o'clock shadow just adds to the general air of grubby grooming.

Miss Taylor (whom I have a sneaking fondness for) looks good, but is almost a caricature of herself. She is burdened with a horrible hair-do and clothes by Givenchy which don't flatter her short, womanly figure. I don't think she's photographed especially well either. Taylor was at the age when that caricature thing was setting in and really, would plague her for the rest of her career.

Of the four main stories told in the film, the Andros' soap opera is the least interesting. At least in my view.

A word about the sets: Were things really so ugly way back then? Everything plastic imitation leather and wood, drenched in orange, avocado and mustard? Yes, I'm afraid so.

But don't let me totally discourage you, if you're in a certain sort of mood, this film can be a fun way to wile away the time.

And of course - don't forget to check in at Todd Mason's blog, Sweet Freedom, to see what other Overlooked (or Forgotten) Films other bloggers will be talking about today.

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Literary DOPPELGANGER DUOS IN PAINT

Is this Ellery Queen?

No it's a portrait of Jan Lechon by Roman Kramsztyk (1885 - 1942)

Is this Inspector Richard Queen - minus the snuff?

No, it's a self-portrait of artist Tomas Viver Aymerich (1876 - 1951)

Is this a portrait of Imogen Robertson's intrepid creation, Mrs. Harriet Westerman? (Yes, Mrs. Westerman has red hair, but this looks like powdered red hair. The outfit is perfect.)

No, it is portrait by Francis Wheatley (1747 - 1801) 

Is this a portrait of Imogen Robertson's creation, Gabriel Crowther, reclusive 18th century coroner?

(Crowther doesn't wear a wig or powder his hair, but other than that...)

No it's a portrait by Henry Raeburn (1756 - 1823)

Is this Laurie King's detecting genius Mary Russell?

No it's a self portrait by Margaret Foster Richardson (1881 - 1945)

Is this Laurie King's Sherlock Holmes minus the pipe?

No, it is a self-portrait by Australian painter Rupert Bunny (1864 - 1947)

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

A bit of a short Salon. I did a longer 'Doppelgangers in Paint' post a few months ago - it was a lot of fun. If you missed it the first time around, here's the link.  

Today it's three sleuthing duos.

I've been reading up a bunch of Ellery Queens lately, so father and son lead the pack. Richard Queen is described as a little gray man in the books but this brown suit will do, I think. Ellery, well you know - he's a detecting genius besides being a book-a-holic and more than a bit of a showy eccentric.     

Harriet Westerman and Gabriel Crowther are the brilliant creations of Imogen Robertson. The only crime solving duo operating within the societal strictures of the 18th century. A dazzling series. My three reviews (so far) of Robertson's books.      

Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are the extraordinary genius detecting duo created (in Holmes's case, secondarily created) by the brilliant writer, Laurie R. King (there's that word brilliant, again - can't seem to help myself) - Links to a couple of my reviews: O JERUSALEM,  THE BEEKEEPER'S APPRENTICE (a short overview).                                             

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Forgotten (or Overlooked) Books Friday: THE FRENCH POWDER MYSTERY (1930) by Ellery Queen

THE FRENCH POWDER MYSTERY has the greatest beginning - not surprising that the rest of the book doesn't quite live up to it. But this is still a pretty good puzzle mystery. An improbable crime, no question, but it has tons of mystery impedimenta and many suspects (which I love). And as usual Ellery gathers up clues like a human vacuum cleaner, but this time out (in the second Ellery Queen book in the series) he's not as annoying as he seemed in the first book. (Not reason enough NOT to read the books, by the way.) I do like the warmth of feeling between father  (Inspector Richard Queen) and eccentric son.

Cyrus French, retail giant and owner of French's Department Store in central Manhattan (sort of like Macy's) is also head of the Anti-Vice Squad - his own personal war on drugs, gambling and other assorted human vices. He is a man full of rectitude who doesn't realize that vice has slowly crept into his family sphere. Imagine his surprise and shock when his second wife's dead body makes a startling debut in a French Department Store window during a room and furniture design demonstration. When the model pulls down the wall bed, out pops the dead body of Mrs. Winifred French.

Great beginning.

I loved the hubbub of horrified street-side gawkers, uniformed cops trying to keep order, the confused bustle of shoppers in the store being corralled before anyone knows what's really going on, store detectives attempting to take charge, executives and other hirelings running to and fro while Cyrus French takes one look at his wife's body and collapses. Fabulous furor. The sort of thing that starts a mystery off with a very satisfying bang.

When a harassed (the new Police Commissioner is an officious pain in the butt) Inspector Richard Queen arrives on the scene, his son Ellery in tow, they are met with the kind of Important Crime which must be solved asap if not sooner.

As if the murder wasn't enough, it turns out that French's step-daughter Bernice Carmody has gone missing and not only that, she appears to be a drug addict - unknown to the elderly French, head of the Anti-Vice Squad, as I mentioned. Talk about shock and awe.

Atop French's Department Store is a convenient apartment used exclusively by Cyrus French and other French family members as a kind of pied-a-terre and setting for important business meetings. Only a limited few have keys (with incised initials) to the pent-house which is reached by private elevator. The authors supply a handy map for the reader's edification.

What is the motive for this heinous crime? How are access to the apartment and the murder linked? Where is Bernice? Is this a case of unspeakable matricide? How is the wife's ex-husband, an imperturbable antique-dealer involved? What about the European interior decorator? And what to make of the mysterious doings in the store's book department? What about the board of directors who very conveniently were having a meeting that morning in the store-top apartment? Is it true that one of the store's directors was Mrs. French's lover?

Ellery soon figures it all out with the help of an old school friend who works for French's as the old man's assistant. As I said, it is all very improbable but I don't really mind - improbability is often key to a good mystery.

We have lots of suspects from which to choose and while I did, once again, pick the killer, it was more or less done by guess work on my part based on my own personal mystery reading experience and my recognition of certain mystery story telling tropes. So I take no credit.

I do find the final chapter in which Ellery lectures everyone - cops and suspects and even, the Police Commissioner - and grandly announces his methods and how the clues came together, a bit much. Okay, Nero Wolfe does the same, but it seems somehow more do-able when Wolfe does it.

I'm currently reading THE SIAMESE TWIN MYSTERY, so it's obvious I am immersed in all things Ellery Queen at the moment.

Stay tuned.

Don't forget to check in at Patti Abbott's blog to see what other Forgotten (or Overlooked) books other bloggers are talking about today.

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Tuesday's Overlooked (or Forgotten) Film: NANCY DREW, REPORTER (1939) starring Bonita Granville, John Litel and Frankie Thomas

NANCY DREW, REPORTER, a 1939 film directed by William Clemens starring Bonita Granville, John Litel and Frankie Thomas is based on the series of popular books by Carolyn Keene which for many girls (including myself) were reading rites of passage once upon a time.

The movie's not a bad way to waste a little over an hour if you're in the mood for a jaunty little mystery minus the mystery, but like the whole idea of Nancy Drew, girl detective, getting into improbable scraps while trying to nab a killer.

Truth to tell, my favorite parts are the scenes between Nancy and her father Carson Drew (played by John Litel). The comfortable house they live in is the sort of place many of us dreamed of when we were kids - it comes complete with spacious, homey interiors, a wonderfully classic staircase and a sweet old housekeeper. Looked at with 2013 eyes, it seems almost like life on another planet...

With a spot of murder thrown in for good measure.

As usual with these sorts of things, the cops don't have a clue (they're portrayed rather unflatteringly), the wrong person is in jail and it's up to Nancy Drew (along with her eternally hapless boyfriend Ted - Ned in the books) to set things to rights. In this story the two youngsters are hampered in their quest for justice by Ted-Ned's obnoxious younger brother and sister who tag along at inappropriate times and enjoy putting explosive devices under the hood of Nancy's car.

"Oh Ted, why do you have to have a little brother?"
"Ask my mother."

As part of a school project, Nancy and a few other students will spend three days 'working' for the town newspaper. Whoever does the best reporting job will win fifty bucks and a medal.

Nancy immediately gets involved in the murder case of Mrs. Lambert, a rich old woman who was killed with a rare chemical poison only available to photographers. The young woman currently accused of the crime lived in the house with the old woman and was keen on photography - uh oh. Of course there's a huge inheritance involved. The spoils have been left to the accused languishing in jail insisting (rather lamely) that she's innocent.

Soon Nancy and Ted are chasing around town in Nancy's nifty convertible roadster (my dream car), breaking and entering, absconding with evidence the police have overlooked (of course). Poor skinny Ted is then coerced into a ridiculous boxing match with a bad guy sporting a cauliflower ear, and when the kids stop to eat at a Chinese restaurant (complete with live band and a dance floor) they're forced to sing for their supper. (They're minus the 65 cents needed to pay the tab.) All in a day's work.

In the end, Nancy and Ted and a cop dressed like an old woman (Olin Howland pretending to be the kids' grandmother) set up a recording device to trap the real killer at a hotel in town all without benefit of police back-up - the way they did things in the old days.

It's all preposterous fun plus Bonita Granville is adorable and Frankie Thomas is a cutie.

NANCY DREW, REPORTER is currently available to watch on youtube.

Don't forget to check in at Todd Mason's blog, Sweet Freedom to see what other Overlooked (or Forgotten) Films other movie mavens are talking about today.

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