John Grant

A hard-hitting movie from Warner Brothers came out in 1933 that depicts the ravages of the Great Depression on adolescents.  “Wild Boys of the Road,” directed by William Wellman, tells the story of an honest boy named Eddie (Frankie Darro) who must leave home and ride the rails to find work in the big city.  He sets off across America with his friend Tommy (Edwin Phillips), but finds only hardship, hunger and police harassment everywhere he goes.  The movie holds up well as a subversive indictment of the effects the “Great Depression” had on families and the nation’s youth.

From left, Rochelle Hudson, Frankie Darro and Edwin Phillips in “Wild Boys of the Road.”

The movie begins with Frankie and Tommy being normal teenagers as they escort their dates to a dance. Lacking half of the admission fee, Tommy dresses up like a girl (girls get in free) and the two couples crash the event. Soon, the organizers discover the ruse and toss them out, but not before Frankie puts up a good fight.  Later, the 2 couples ride around in Frankie’s jalopy that seems like a honeymoon compared to their later difficulties.  When Frankie gets home, he finds out that his father lost his job, and money will be tight.  Although Frankie and his parents get along fine, Frankie soon realizes he’ll have to hit the road to find work.
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Frankie and Tommy then begin their Odyssey as they hop a freight train and tuck into their packed lunch.  But when they can’t find their sandwiches, they disturb a sleeping fellow who turns out to be a girl named Grace (Rochelle Hudson).  Grace is a tough and determined tomboy, with enough charm and intelligence to make the trip a little easier for the boys for a while. However, the railroad police soon come after the train, emptying it of dozens of desperate young squatters.  Life on the road becomes squalid, bitter and very dangerous, especially for Tommy who suffers a serious injury in the rail yard.

Despite the hardship, the two boys and Grace never lose their dignity.  The roving band of youths even establish their own codes and arrange a primitive government, especially when they’re forced to live on a garbage dump in a hostile town.  The movie’s realism must have shocked viewers in 1933.  Warner Brothers’ penchant for making movies out of current events makes me believe this story could possibly be true for most part.  As for the acting, Frankie Darro is convincing as the energetic leader of the itinerants, but Rochelle Hudson steals every scene she’s in.   Edwin Phillips plays the unfortunate Tommy with an impressive level of restraint, but he only made three movies in his career.

I always thought there was a dark underpinning to much of Charles Chaplin’s comedy, but some people that I meet at silent film festivals tend to dismiss him for being too light.  However, their complaints about his sentimentality will be rightly put aside by “Monsieur Verdoux,” a 1947 talking picture he wrote and directed about a French serial killer and bigamist who finds rich widows, marries them and then kills them.

Charles Chaplin with Martha Raye in “Monsieur Verdoux.”

The film begins in a graveyard, where we see Verdoux’s grave and hear his voice telling us that he killed for the money he needed to support his invalid wife and son.  In flashback, we then see Chaplin’s Verdoux working at his villa, taking great care with the roses in his garden. He’s in the process of selling the property he stole from his murdered wife. He receives a visit from a real estate agent who brings the rich Marie Grosnay (Isabel Elsom) to see the property.  As soon as he gets Marie alone, Verdoux throws himself at her, spouting poetry and proclaiming his total enchantment with her.  She rejects him completely and leaves, but Verdoux later continues to stalk her.

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Verdoux wants to test the poison on a lovely and young Belgian refugee, played by Marilyn Nash.  However, her honesty, humanity and integrity force him to reconsider his decision.  Later, Verdoux meets his match with Annabelle Bonheur, a grating lottery winner played by Martha Raye.  Although not a very sympathetic character, Raye confounds every hysterically funny attempt by Verdoux to poison her.  He later attempts to drown her in a lake in a funny and well choreographed sequence.

Chaplin called Monsieur Verdoux one of his most satisfying pictures, but the anti-Chaplin feeling at the time doomed it at the box office.  Chaplin and Raye and marvelous in the movie, and the writing is first rate.  Chaplin, as Verdoux, makes an analogy about the great war, saying that we call someone who commits one murder a villain, while the despots with their destructive weapons that kill millions are hailed as heroes.  The film leaves us with a message and little sentimentality.

Before TV, jet planes and cell phones, there used to be a big difference between the city and the country.  Just look at the countless Hollywood movies that play on the misunderstandings between the sophisticated city dweller and the rube. In the more ironic world of instant access, these types of stories don’t have the same affect.  But I still like the old Ma and Pa Kettle movies, and I enjoyed “Green Acres” on TV.  And I recommend a viewing of “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House,” where Cary Grant decides to buy a fixer-upper house in the Connecticut “wilderness,” only to find that the locals move at their own pace.

From left, Zazu Pitts, Charles Laughton, Charles Ruggles and Maude Eburne in “Ruggles of Red Gap.”

One of the most outstanding movies of this type happens to be “Ruggles of Red Gap,” a classic made by Paramount Pictures and released in 1935. This film, directed by Leo McCarey, stars the brilliant Charles Laughton as Marmaduke Ruggles, a gentleman’s gentleman in Paris to the English Earl of Burnstead (Roland Young). The Earl loses Ruggles in a poker match against Egbert Floud (Charles Ruggles), and his crass but social climbing wife Effie (Mary Boland) is determined to take Ruggles back to their modest and unsophisticated town of Red Gap, Washington, USA.

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Much to Ruggle’s surprise, he takes a liking to the people of Red Gap, including a widow named Mrs. Judson (Zazu Pitts).  She pulls Ruggles even further away from his former life and makes him feel like he can make it go of it in America. It’s fun to watch Ruggles slowly come out of his shell and finally make some important decisions for himself.  Later we learn that Ruggles always appreciated the American spirit as he performs a beautiful and perfect recital of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

Charles Ruggle’s (no relation to Marmaduke) over-the-top performance as Egbert grates at times, but he nevertheless delivers some of the most hilariously corny lines.  Roland Young shines as the pragmatic earl, who eventually joins with Egbert in having some fun in Red Gap.  Leila Hyams plays Nell Kenner, a popular and lovely woman in Red Gap who throws the best parties. Her musical performance on piano with Roland Young on the drums is a highlight of the film.

From Belgium and released in 2011, “The Kid With a Bike,” written and directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, gives us a slice of life about a boy abandoned by his father.  The boy, Cyril, played with unrelenting sternness by Thomas Doret, cannot accept the new circumstances of his life in a foster home. He’s angry, hurt and wants an explanation.  And he also wants to know what happened to his bicycle.

Thomas Doret (Cyril) and Cécile De France (Samantha) in “The Kid With a Bike.”

The film opens as workers at the foster center chase Cyril as he escapes and heads towards the housing projects where he last saw his father.  Having no respect for adults, Cyril demands a visit to his father’s last address so he can find his bike.  Cyril flees into a doctor’s office, where the confused receptionist asks him if he’s hurt.  The foster center worker bursts in and Cyril knocks a woman off her chair and squeezes her tightly.  The woman, a hairdresser named Samantha (Cècile de France), remains calm and tells him it’s all right to hold her but don’t squeeze so tightly.

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Samantha helps Cyril locate his father, which turns out to be a turning point in the movie.  Cyril seems unredeemable and bitter, and the loss of his father’s love makes him mean and uncontrollable despite Samantha’s compassion. Cyril gets involved with a local tough named Wes (Egon Di Mateo), a gang leader who recruits boys for robberies.  Wes becomes the worst kind of surrogate father to Cyril, much to the dismay of Samantha. She warns him to stay away from Wes, but Cyril is desperate enough to defy her.

The film shows a lot of scenes of Cyril riding around on his bicycle.  In one sequence, he even does a wheely to impress Samantha.  A boy of his age, 12 or 13 years old, would do that.  But for someone who loves his bike so much, Cyril always leaves it unlocked. When someone steals it, Cyril runs after the thief and fights him until he gets his bike back.  I wondered why Cyril is so careless about his most treasured possession.  A small investment in a bike lock would have saved Samantha and everyone else a lot of trouble.

Even though I try to see every Woody Allen film, I became particularly intrigued by “Blue Jasmine (2013)” because Allen filmed some of it in San Francisco. I’m used to seeing my city portrayed in many films as a romantic destination and a place to find true love.  As a consequence, I find that the romanticized version of San Francisco in many films does not quite fit the reality of this big city.  Allen’s film depicts the city in a decidedly “overcast” mood.

Cate Blanchette in “Blue Jasmine.”

Blue Jasmine tells the story of Jasmine Francis (Cate Blanchette), a women who goes from influencing the social calendar in New York City to moving in with her sister in a small apartment in the Mission District, San Francisco.  As a privileged wife of the very successful but crooked businessman Hal (Alec Baldwin), Jasmine spent her days in New York doing yoga and Pilates while arranging lunches and parties with her rich girlfriends. Meanwhile, Hal swindled investors while cheating on Jasmine with a parade of au pairs, personal trainers and other assorted romantic accomplices.  Allen tells the New York part of the story in flashback.

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Ginger can do little to help her pill-popping, vodka swilling sister Jasmine. This movie is a portrait of an arrogant and unrelenting “mess,” with little apparent chance at redemption.  Things go from bad to worse as Jasmine clings to reality, talking to herself and blurting out inappropriate comments that nevertheless elicit a small degree of sympathy from people unaware of her plight.  The viewer can only marvel at Blanchette’s mesmerizing intensity in the title role.  Her performance makes the movie a must-see.

A major part of Jasmine’s downfall concerns her loss of influence.  Whatever respect she garnered as a socialite in New York means nothing in San Francisco.  However, she does influence her sister to rethink her attraction to her current boyfriend Chili (Bobby Cannavale), who Jasmine thinks is a “loser.”  Ginger begins to look for a new man, which causes even more family discord. Cannavale’s Chili and Ginger’s former husband Augie (Andrew Dice Clay) are not really losers but just simple and good guys.  But, they seem more like guys you’d see in New York rather than types you see here in San Francisco. Blue Jasmine is an engrossing tale of two cities.