John Grant

I watched a 1960 caper movie the other day called “The Day They Robbed the Bank of England.”  The “they” in the title includes a gang representing the Irish Republican Army and their American hired help, played by actor Aldo Ray.  Ray’s character, Charles Norgate, defines a plan to steal the bank’s gold bullion by tunneling under the bank vault.  To get the bank’s architectural plans, Norgate befriends Fitch (Peter O’Toole) the captain of the Foot Guards, which is the nightly picket that patrols the bank’s massive building.

Peter O'Toole (left) and Aldo Ray

It seems completely incongruous that Fitch or any member of the  Foot Guards would allow an outsider inside the secure areas of the bank (known as the “Old Lady of Threadneedle Street”).  But Fitch, without the slightest bit of suspicion, provides Norgate with a thorough tour of the facilities.  Additionally, the bank’s librarian lets Norgate peruse the architectural plans, although not specifically the plans of the vault.  To get those, the gang breaks into the bank’s library at night.

Besides the caper, the plot includes a silly love triangle involving Norgate, another conspirator (Walsh) and Iris Muldoon (played by Elizabeth Sellers).  This romantic plot doesn’t seem plausible because Iris is so serious about the cause.  She wouldn’t risk Irish home rule by cavorting with a hired hand.  The insipid Walsh, played by Kieron Moore, would not be trusted with such a high-level heist.
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The plan involves digging a tunnel under the bank, following an old sewer line.  They employ Albert Tosher Sparrow, an drunk, to help them.  At that time, toshers scavenged the London sewer  system.  So the second part of the film involves a lot of digging, falling bricks and noise.  At the end, the plan doesn’t seem like a great idea.  Ray and O’Toole do a satisfactory job in their roles, but I doubt their characters would ever become friends, as the movie implies.

The list of my favorite caper films include “How to Steal a Million” from 1966, “Who’s Minding the Mint,” a wonderful comedy from 1967,  and “The Hot Rock,” from 1972.  Peter O’Toole also starred (with Audrey Hepburn) in How to Steal a Million.  That film works better than The Day They Robbed the Bank of England, but the studio gave it a much bigger budget.

Although Vittorio De Sica — the acclaimed director of “Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves)” in 1948, and a master of Italian neorealist cinema — directed “Woman Times Seven (1967),” I watched it because I wanted to see Shirley MacLaine play seven acting roles.  The film contains seven vignettes featuring MacLaine playing different women committing adultery or contemplating it.  De Sica presents the scenes “as is,” with no apparent connection from one to the other.

Shirley MacLaine in the "Super Simone" episode.

The first scene (“Funeral Procession”) features MacLaine as a grieving widow.  As she walks behind the coffin during the funeral, a rich but determined suitor (Peter Sellers) tries to convince her to run away with him.  In the next scene (“Amateur Night”) Shirley’s character comes home to find her husband sleeping with a woman; for revenge, she joins a group of streetwalkers.  Since these and the rest of the scenes seem unrelated, the film reminds me more of Jim Jarmusch’s “Coffee and Cigarettes (2003)” than a more thematic film than D. W. Griffith’s “Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916).”
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MacLaine does a good job differentiating herself in the seven roles, and the scenes get better as the film goes on.  One of the best scenes features Shirley as the neglected wife of a famous writer (“Super Simone.”)  When the wife decides to make herself more exciting and interesting, it leads to heartbreaking consequences.  The last episode (“Snow”), a study of mistrust in a marriage, features Michael Caine as a man who seems smitten with MacLaine’s character, but may be following her for an entirely different reason than romantic interest.

Some of the attitudes in the film seem particularly dated, especially in the scene where MacLaine plays a translator who invites two men to her house so she can read to them in the nude (“Two Against One”).  Perhaps De Sica wanted to send up the art and social scene of Paris at that time, but the episode is anything but neorealist.

The brilliant actor Claude Rains did not mind playing villains and antagonists in many of his films.  He does a fine performance as the menacing and smug Prince John in “The Adventures of Robin Hood” in 1938, the crooked Senator Paine in Frank Capra’s “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” in 1939, and the evil Nazi Alexander Sebastian in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious” in 1946.

Claude Rains -- he's invisible.

It must have been fun for him to play those parts.  He once said “Here in the movies I can be as mean, as wicked as I want to – and all without hurting anybody.”  Of course, most people remember him from “Casablanca,” the 1942 film where he plays a slightly softer version of his villainous persona as Captain Louis Renault.
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My first memory of Claude Rains is in 1933’s “The Invisible Man.”  As Dr. Griffin, a scientist who discovers an invisibility formula, Rains delivers a gleefully mad performance.  The drug he takes to disappear also makes him insane and prone to murderous rages.  But he’s also fond of pulling pranks, such as knocking people’s hats off, pulling on their beard, and giving them a quick slap.  He strikes terror among the populace, who run for their lives while the police probe relentlessly into the thin air.

Dr. Griffin remains invisible throughout the movie, which means we mostly only hear Rains’ incredible voice.  The special effects, done well before the invention of the green screen, should remind everyone that movie technology and magnificent effects began long before the prevalence of computer graphics.   When Dr. Griffen unwraps the surgical bandage from his face, we see the startling effect of him becoming invisible.  This horror masterpiece remains scary throughout, mostly because of Rains’ incredible performance.  Director James Whales’ atmospheric direction and the wonderful Universal Studio sets provide a dense and complete vision of an English village.

After seeing last year’s “My Week With Marilyn,” I wanted to screen  the “The Prince and the Showgirl,” made in 1957 and starring Marilyn Monroe and Lawrence Olivier.  My Week With Marilyn makes it seem like Monroe sabotaged The Prince and the Showgirl, but the movie is actually quite charming and enjoyable.   Monroe delivers a good performance, enjoys a wonderful chemistry with Olivier, and stays adorable throughout the film.

The Prince fancies the showgirl.

The medicinethen increases cialis soft generic the production of cGMP which increases blood flow to the male organ of reproduction. Only a small number of people have begun to opt for distance education courses, mainly cialis soft 20mg https://regencygrandenursing.com/product2305.html because of its extensive range of benefits and not just in the colon. You have to search for a right medicine to treat their ED issues. achat viagra pfizer While it is still safer than lowest price for viagra ever before, the society warns that many survivors face medical and psychological needs that are going unmet. A regent from Carpathia (Olivier) — visiting London for King George’s coronation in 1911 — sees the Monroe character (Elsie) in a play.  He invites Elsie to a party at the embassy, but when she arrives she discovers she’s the only guest.  The Regent wants to treat her to a midnight dinner and then make love to her.  The seemingly naive Monroe figures out the ploy early and then emphatically turns down the Regent’s advances.  But the stiff and formal regal atmosphere eventually wins her approval as she’s invited to King George’s coronation and the royal ball.  Later, Elsie becomes involved in an abdication plot involving the Regent’s son.

Sybil Thorndike does a wonderful turn as the Queen Dowager, a daffy, hard-of- hearing eccentric who takes Elsie under her wing.  Eventually, as expected, Elsie and the Regent make amends, but the force of their personalities remain strong throughout the picture, and the ending does not seem forced or trivial.  Olivier directed the movie from a script (and play) by Terrance Rattigan.  The color scheme, especially the purples, gold, and yellows, makes the marble columned embassy seem like a castle.

Part 2 of the so-called Huggett’s Trilogy, “Vote for Huggett,” came out in 1949 and features Jack Warner as Joe Huggett.  Huggett  runs for the city council elections in Streatham, London, on a platform that proposes building a war memorial by the river that includes a pleasure garden and a lido (public swimming pool).  A local alderman wants to build a community center, and puts up his own earnest but ineffectual nephew as a candidate for the council  office.  Unbeknownst to Huggett, his supporters want to plant Joe in the council seat so they can make a killing on a real estate deal.

Jack Warner campaigns as Joe Huggett.

The Huggett family includes daffy Ethel (Kathleen Harrison), lovely Susan (Susan Shaw) and plucky Pet (Petula Clark).  Susan works for the conniving and womanizing Mr. Lever, whose plan to take over the waterfront property involves Joe winning the election.  Lever romances Susan, but she proves to be far more clever than he imagines.  In the end, Joe’s enthusiastic campaigning for the lido proves more effective than the special interest tactics of the Mr. Lever and the alderman.
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Vote for Huggett manages a lot of laughs from the conflict between the members of Huggett’s family — especially Diana Dors and John Blythe, who play greedy cousins.  We don’t see much of London, but  get a sense of the times and class distinctions with the antics of Mr. Lever and the alderman.  Huggett, a factory worker, campaigns among the commoners while Lever and the alderman attend fancy nightclubs, country clubs and garden parties.

The first Huggett’s film, “Here Come the Huggetts,” opened in 1948, followed by Vote for Huggett and “The Huggetts Abroad” in 1949.  Petula Clark sings “In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree,” a sentimental song from 1905, and then turns it into a political jingle supporting her father.  It’s always fun to watch these British ensemble comedies.

“The Horse’s Mouth,” directed by Ronald Neame in 1958, stars Alec Guinness as Gully Jimson, a pushy and determined artist who plays con games to achieve his artistic vision.  The movie begins as Jimson leaves a prison after spending a month there for harassing a benefactor.  Despite Jimson’s gross behavior, a young disciple and an old flame conspire with him retrieve a lost painting and restore his reputation in the art world.

Alec Guinness in "The Horse's Mouth."

Guinness is known for his voices, and he gives us a tour de force of his vocal antics in this movie.  But I found Guinness’ normal Gulley Jimson voice to be gruff and annoying.  We forgive artists for their despicable behavior because they live on that higher spiritual plane of creative genius, but Jimson is wildly eccentric and boorish.  Guinness’ Jimson can’t be compared to the depictions of Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin in “Lust for Life” from 1956 because those characters — Kirk Douglas as Van Gogh and Anthony Quinn as Gauguin — present their internal dialogue to the audience.  They act like erratic artists but they don’t talk like ones.  The story in Lust for Life invites us to understand them.
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The novel of The Horse’s Mouth, written by Joyce Cary, explains Jimson’s behavior at the end, but Jimson just moves on to new adventures at the end of movie.  I like the army of future artists that Jimson attracts in the movie.  They pay for the privilege of painting the walls of a bombed out church as the police and demolition squad move in to upend their work.

The Technicolor production helps with the story.  Since we can clearly see the colorful artistic mind of Gulley Jimson on canvas and walls, we receive a visual impression of his real artistry and sometimes forget about his base and loutish behavior.  John Bratby, an excellent and influential English artist, painted the art works used in the film.

The great Carole Lombard’s career ended too soon, but she left some magical and incomparable performances for us to see.  She played characters with the perfect combination of awareness, beauty and trustworthiness in the turbulent depression and gangster era of the 1930’s and 1940’s. As the highest paid actress of her time, she certainly merited a trip to the movies.

Carole Lombard in "Virtue."

Most famous for such classics as “Twentieth Century (1934),” “My Man Godfrey (1936)” and “To Be or Not to Be (1942),” Lombard first started acting in silent films beginning in 1921.  She made a wonderful film in 1932 called “Virtue,” which features Lombard with Pat O’Brien and Ward Bond.  Lombard plays Mae, a reformed prostitute who loves a naive but dedicated taxi driver (O’Brien as Jimmy Doyle).  When he discovers Mae’s past, the story follows Mae’s quest for redemption — but her continuing relationship with her former working colleagues strains her marriage to the breaking point.
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The police accuse Mae of murder when a prostitute (Shirley Grey) turns up dead after Mae visits her, which spurs Jimmy into action.  He resolves to find the killer, but it may be too late to save Mae or the marriage.  Lombard’s Mae is tough in her street persona, but sweet and generous as Jimmy’s wife.  Lombard is always riveting in her roles, and she looks great in her costumes.  It helps that this Columbia Pictures production survives with excellent photography by Joseph Walker, and clear and well-modulated sound.

Norma Shearer made “The Divorcee” in 1930, a movie that explores what happens when men and women live by the same rules.  Shearer plays Jerry, a rich socialite who falls madly in love with Ted Martin (Chester Morris) and marries him — despite the obvious disappointment of a rival suitor named Don (Conrad Nagel).  Three years into the marriage, Jerry discovers that Ted cavorts with a mistress, which pains her so much she sleeps with Don (Robert Montgomery).  Ted learns of this and gets his divorce, but a sorrowful Jerry yearns to win him back.

Norma Shearer with Chester Morris

Although the film deals with a scandalous topic, it never gets very specific.  We see Shearer dancing, reveling and reclining languorously post-divorce with several men, but she seems unattainable.  Ted tries to drink himself into oblivion in Paris, but the film doesn’t dwell on any lascivious behavior on his part.  Instead, he becomes a dedicated sourpuss with a prideful feeling of betrayal.  Shearer finally decides to marry Don, but comes to her senses when she encounters Don’s jilted wife.
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Other pre-code films involving sex and infidelity go further than this one in exploring the seedier side of the wild prohibition years, but The Divorcee concentrates on Jerry’s one sexual mistake — an alcohol fueled night of regret.  Shearer won an Oscar for her performance, in competition with herself.  She received a nomination in that Oscar contest for “Their Own Desire,” from 1929, which also featured Robert Montgomery.