John Grant

MGM put the great talents of Greer Garson and Ronald Colman together in a 1942 movie called “Random Harvest.”  Colman plays a soldier just back from World War 1 in France, where an explosion has wiped out his memory.  He spends his time in an asylum in the English town of Melbridge, where the benevolent head psychiatrist works diligently to restore his memory.  Nevertheless, Colman’s character loses hope and walks out of the asylum.  A local shop proprietor sees him and threatens to turn him in, but lovely Paula (Garson) arrives and hides him in her boarding house.  Later, the couple take off for a quiet village in the north country where Colman’s character — who Paula calls John Smith — begins a writing career.   “Smithy” and Paula marry and soon have a son.

Ronald Colman forgets Greer Garson in “Random Harvest.”

Things change drastically when Smithy suffers a road accident in Liverpool.  A bump on the head and Smithy instantly remembers his true identity; he’s actually Charles Rainier, a nobleman in line to inherit a fortune.  Charles completely forgets Paula and his life with her, and focuses on his business interests and adopted niece Kitty (Susan Peters) who loves him.  The film follows Charles now completely, leaving me to wonder when Paula will show up.  She doesn’t reappear until much later in a total surprise that’s quickly explained but seems only slightly plausible.  Nevertheless, Paula’s presence puts the film back on track as she does all she can to make Rainier remember her.
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Paula works as Rainier’s secretary, and Rainier feels a level of trust with her that he can’t explain.  Of course, at this point, it would make sense for Paula to just tell Rainier about their life together.  But the head psychiatrist from the Melbridge Asylum, Dr. Benet (Philip Dorn) warns her not to do that, since the cure for Rainier’s amnesia involves him regaining his memory on his own.  Dr. Benet also carries the torch for Paula, so perhaps he secretly hopes Rainier won’t recall his past.

Ronald Colman creates a striking contrast between the Smithy character and Rainier.  While Smithy is weak and easily distracted, Rainier gets right to work becoming a industrial baron.  Rainer projects patience and calm while Smithy is jittery and unsettled. The cliched plot point of getting a bump on the head to restore a memory is compensated by the moving and beautiful chemistry between Greer and Colman.  Their lovely and clear voices make up for the slow pace of the film, and the interesting story provides a great opportunity for them to display emotional depth.  I found the ending to be very moving and satisfactory.

Clark Gable supposedly didn’t get along with Jeannette MacDonald while the two filmed “San Francisco,” the great MGM film from 1936.  Despite their lack of chemistry off the set, their relationship in the film seems believable and effective.  In San Francisco, Gable plays a saloon owner on the Barbary Coast named Blackie Norton.  In those loose times around 1900, Norton buys and sells influence and fights the big shots living in the Nob Hill mansions.  All kinds of vice happens at his club, which is named the “Paradise Cafe.”

Spenser Tracy consults with Jeannette MacDonald in “San Francisco.”

MacDonald shows up in full innocence as Mary Blake, a girl from Colorado who sings opera.  Blackie gives her a job, and she begins performing for his rowdy crowd.  Slowly but surely, Blackie begins to respect her talent, beauty and spirit. He signs her to a 2-year contract, which becomes a problem when the local opera impresario, Jack Burley (Jack Holt), attempts to sign Mary to his Tivoli Opera Company.  Mary must decide whether to honor her contract or jump to the opera.  She also falls in love with Blackie, an incongruous event that drives the plot of the movie.  The enormously powerful Burley, a Nob Hill baron, falls in love with Mary as well.  Spenser Tracy’s Father Mullin looks after her too, only because, as Blackie’s best friend, the good priest wants to shield Mary from Blackie’s darker side.

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I am very happy to report that the great singer Jeannette MacDonald sings “San Francisco” in the movie in a naturalistic style.  I often wished she would abandon the operatic style but it’s almost always there and you can’t argue with her immense talent.  I just prefer the cabaret style for certain songs.  The film also shows her doing “Faust” at the opera house, so we get to see her versatility.  Gable doesn’t sing at all, but since he is his usual powerful and brash self, a song or two from him would have been too much.

Jacques Becker’s “Touchez pas au grisbi,” a french-language film from 1954, can be described as a meandering gangster film, with underworld figures more interested in food and romance than material gain.  It features Jean Gabin in a riveting performance as Max, a well-respected ex-convict with a secret stash of stolen loot.  The characters in the film, including Max’s partner-in-crime Riton, refer to the loot — 8 heavy gold bars worth 50 million francs — by the slang term “grisbi.”  However, Max seems little concerned with the grisbi until he learns a heavy named Angelo (Lino Ventura) may be out out to get it.

Lino Ventura (left) faces off against Jean Gabin in “Touchez pas au grisbi.”

The film opens with Max finishing his meal at Madame Bouche’s restaurant, where it becomes clear from Madame Bouche (Denise Clair) and all the restaurant patrons that Max is an admired man.  At this point, the movie establishes Max’s friendship with Riton, a less imposing man played by René Dary.  Max and Riton then drive to a cabaret with chorus girls Lola (Dora Doll) and Josy (played by the incomparable Jeanne Moreau).  Lola promises Max a night of ecstasy, but Max begs off and leaves the cabaret early after explaining his weariness.  Max’s reticence in accepting Lola’s advances remains unclear until later, when we learn that Max knows the hiding place of the loot.
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Despite Max’s careful planning to fence the gold bars, he faces a major obstacle when 2 men follow him back to his apartment.  He manages to ditch the pursuers, but he must warn Riton.  Max shows Riton the loot’s hiding place at the location of his secret apartment and, in a moving scene, Max prepares a supper of bread and pâté.  He warns Riton about Angelo, and later the colleagues slowly prepare to sleep for the night — they make their individual beds and brush their teeth.  Although these domestic activities do not move the plot along, they express Becker’s desire to show that the everyday lives of underworld figures are banal.

Max lives in a world of violent men, so it doesn’t take long for Becker to delve into that aspect of his life.  Angelo puts the heat on Riton and Max must decide whether to give up the grisbi for the life of his friend.  Riton appears somewhat hapless, but nevertheless, Max does his best to remain a trusted friend.  When the film turns violent, it changes deftly from a quiet character study to a high-tension standoff between Angelo and Max.  What happens to the grisbi at the end becomes a major surprise.

Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn and Carolyn Jones star in a terrific western called “Last Train to Gun Hill.”  The 1959 movie features Douglas as Matt Morgan, a Marshall who learns that a pair of cowhands from Gun Hill have raped and murdered his wife.  The killers leave a monogrammed saddle behind — with the initials of Matt’s oldest friend, the tough cattle baron Craig Beldon, played by Quinn.  The grieving Matt wants revenge, but he’s a man of integrity.  The killers must be caught and face a murder trial.

Kirk Douglas and Carolyn Jones in “The Last Train From Gun Hill.”

The film, ably directed by John Sturges, opens as American Indian woman and her young son travel on a road through the woods.  Two men follow.  The woman speeds up her carriage, and whips one of the men on the side of the face, opening a long, deep gash.  The men run her down and kill her, while her son steals one of the men’s horses (with the fancy saddle) and races to town.  The murdered woman turns out to be Matt’s wife.
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While Matt travels to Gun Hill to return the saddle and find the killers, we get our first view of Craig, who is a tough and strident alpha male who won’t take interference from anyone.  He runs all the businesses in Gun Hill and even controls the sheriff.  Meanwhile, Matt meets Linda (Jones) on the train; she’s Craig’s girlfriend.  One would expect Linda to take Craig’s side in the dispute, but she makes her own decisions throughout the film.  When Matt arrives in Gun Hill, Craig welcomes him with open arms.  Matt tells Craig he’s looking for a man with a deep cut on his face, and he’s sure it’s Craig’s son.  Matt also tells him he’s not leaving (on the last train) without without him. That will be difficult because Craig not only won’t give up his son, but he possesses an overwhelming advantage in firepower.

It’s common in these showdown westerns to have an invincible good guy.  Kirk Douglas’ Matt Morgan fits the bill, but he does it with such passion, fortitude and style that the film keeps the viewer very involved.  He gets a little help from Linda, but Craig holds all the cards.  Both Matt and Craig cannot change their essential natures, and Linda enters her first scene having already gone though an epiphany.  Never for a second do we see a compromise from any of the three, while everyone else is Gun Hill is a whining follower of Craig.  As good as Quinn and Douglas are, I think Jones steals the movie.  She understands the foolishness of mankind, but is stuck in the consequences of that folly.

There is no need to wonder about the motivation of the lead character in “The Story of Qiu Ju,” a 1992 Chinese language film directed by Yimou Zhang.  Li Gong plays the title character, a pregnant peasant woman seeking justice after her village chief kicks her husband.  The arrogant village chief (Kesheng Lei) refuses to admit he did anything wrong, even though Qiu Ju only wants him to apologize.  When he refuses, she goes to the village to report the incident to a minor official, Officer Le (Zhijun Ge).  Officer Le spends the rest of the movie playing the supreme mediator, but he cannot convince Qiu Ju to give up her quest for an apology.  For his part, the village Chief just wants to “save face,” and an apology would subject him to scorn and ridicule from other officials and the public.

Li Gong as the title character searches for justice in “The Story of Qiu Ju.”

After failing to get satisfaction from Officer Le’s solution, Qiu Ju brings the case to “The District,” where she files a case against the Chief.  She pays 20 yuan to a letter writer, who asks her if she wants a mild letter or a strong one.  The letter writer warns her that a strong letter might lead to a much harsher sentence for the accused, so Qiu Ju opts for the mild letter.  Her actions should clear up the matter, but the District officials simply use the letter to uphold Officer Le’s original decision.
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Still unsatisfied, Qiu Ju takes her case to “The City.”  The City (a big one, but not Beijing) is full of much more sophisticated people than Qiu Ju, who stands out as a country bumpkin as she plods around the crowded streets with her equally unsophisticated sister -in-law.  She’s come a long way, and is very pregnant, but it doesn’t take long for a crooked pedal-cart driver to cheat her out of a lot of Chinese Yuan.

The contrast between the petty arrogance of the Chief and Qiu Ju’s unrelenting quest for justice provides a satisfying profile of extreme stubbornness.  For most of the film, Qui Ju’s husband, a chili farmer, waits passively at home as his wife continually travels to find a solution.  He remains a non-factor in her quest, and the nature of the assault indicates his essential weakness.  Here we have a pregnant and unsophisticated woman in the new China grappling with an old tradition that requires officials to save face.  The Story of Qiu Ju is certainly an inspirational film, even though Qiu Ju’s quest might not necessarily achieve success.  Viewers of this film will admire her tenacity above everything else.

Having Myrna Loy and William Powell in a movie works every time, especially when the script provides an interesting story and hilarious situations.  That’s the case with “Love Crazy,” the 1941 movie directed by Jack Conway and also starring Jack Carson, Gail Patrick and Florence Bates.  Loy looks her usual luminous self while Powell produces some amazing physical antics as they play a married couple experiencing some misunderstandings in their marriage brought on by a botched 4-year anniversary celebration.  Love Crazy is the 10th Loy/Powell collaboration, and it shows their magnificent chemistry.

William Powell goes insane in “Love Crazy.”

The story begins when Powell, playing Steve Ireland, gets out of a cab singing a song praising marriage and carrying a portable phonograph.  He arrives at his apartment to meet his wife Susan (Loy), and then lavishly praises her.  Their normal anniversary ritual includes a 4-mile walk to the justice of the peace, a boat ride and dinner at midnight.  Steve wants to skip it all and stay at home, but this brings them bad luck when Susan’s mother arrives and Steve runs into old flame Isobel Grayson (Patrick) on the elevator.  This leads to a misunderstanding that escalates into a divorce case.  Susan files for divorce while Steve goes through a series of calculated antics to prevent the case from following through.
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Jack Carson plays a neighbor that Susan pulls into the events when she learns about Steve and Isobel.  He’s a world champion archer who pushes Susan to rid herself of Steve.  Steve is also up against Susan’s mother (Bates), a meddling and manipulative woman who openly encourages Susan to move on from Steve.  The crazy part of the story involves Steve feigning insanity to stop the divorce.  It seems the law says couples can’t divorce for 5 years if the wife or husband is pronounced insane.

Of course, Steve begins doing crazy things, particularly at an elegant party in front of the couple’s friends.  He doesn’t push it too far but further misunderstandings and accidents land him in an insane asylum.  The fun part occurs when things continually backfire on Steve and he has to adjust in his relentless efforts to win Susan back.  Steve’s even more outrageous behavior during the last 20 minutes of the film are not something I expected, but it empathizes the comedic range and skill of William Powell.  Loy plays it straight, as usual, but delivers an elegant and funny performance.  Love Crazy and “I Love You Again,’ a 1940 film, are 2 of my favorite Loy/Powell collaborations.

The 1938 French film “Le Schpountz,” was released as “Heartbeat” in the USA; however, the English title hardly makes sense since the lead character is referred to as Le Schpountz throughout the film.  A Schpountz is a foolish fellow, perhaps a clown or an idiot, and actor Fernandel certainly acts that way for most of the movie.  Fernandel plays a grocery clerk named Irénée Fabre, who infiltrates a film crew stopping in his village near Marseilles.   Irénée does a performance for the crew, which they find laughable, but as a joke they present him with a fake movie contract.  Irénée takes it seriously and reports to the studio in Paris.

Fernandel performs for a movie crew in “Heartbeat.”

Although this very talky movie takes a lot of time getting from scene to scene, it aims to skewer the smug movie types working at the Paris studio — including a pompous ham actor playing Napoleon, a director who may be Russian or Italian (the studio can’t tell), and a studio boss named Meyerboom who bears a striking resemblance to Louis B. Meyer.  Irénée’s determination and naivety drive him to succeed, with lots of help from love interest and film editor Françoise, who plays Irénée for a fool several times before deciding to push his value to Meyerboom.
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With all the talking, the script for this film must have succeeded several hundred pages.  It feels like one of MGM’s talky comedies such as “His Girl Friday,” the 1940 Howard Hawks film starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell.  Of course, this one came 2 years earlier, but director/writer Marcel Pagnol certainly enjoyed hearing his own words.  Pagnol adapted his own novel and probably found it hard to edit out much of it.  The director seems to repeat one scene involving Irénée reciting a prop list, but perhaps I miss the irony since the version I saw does not subtitle the scene the second time through.

Fernandel, playing Irénée, has an expressive face but he doesn’t do a lot of physical comedy in this movie.  He’s full of rubbery smirks and an occasional funny walk, but he doesn’t stay quiet for very long.  He looks funny carrying props around and wearing funny suits.  Fernand Charpin, who plays Irénée’s uncle and the owner of the grocery store, provides a lot of argumentative dialogue that seems mean-spirited at the beginning of the film but turns more loving towards the end.  Nobody in Irénée’s village knows much about the movie business, but they are all sure he’s been tricked and will fail.