Two Sisters from Boston

 
(1946)
Directed by Henry Koster
Written by Myles Connolly
Starring Kathryn Grayson, June Allyson, Jimmy Durante, Lauritz Melchior, Peter Lawford
IMDB
Entry

I stumbled upon a list of movies that Martin Scorsese thinks everyone should see. It's an eclectic list, but the one that stood out for me --  because it seemed so far from what Scorsese was known for -- was Two Sisters from Boston. So I had to check it out.

The story is set in the early 1900s. The Chandler family, a group of snooty Boston Brahmins, is scandalized to hear their daughter Abagail (Kathryn Grayson) is working as a singer at a saloon on the Bowery in New York (and -- even worse -- showing her legs!). They go to see her. Abagail tells them that she is actually performing at the Metropolitan Opera. The next day.  She gets help from her stage partner Spike (Jimmy Durante), who takes it upon himself to get her onto the stage, which he does by implying that she is the mistress of the opera manager. She sings, but incites the wrath of the company's tenor, Olaf Olstrom (Lauritz Melchior). Her sister Martha (June Allyson) discovers the truth, and goes to the opera manager, but meets with his son Lawrence (Peter Lawford), who believes in Jimmy's rumor and thinks it's  a blackmail attempt. 

The movie is inarguably fun. It plays with the stuffy Bostonian stereotype and the reaction to the rumor about Abagail. It's notable that they can imply that she's the opera manager's mistress, but it's never actually stated, so younger viewers of the time wouldn't catch it. The songs are also quite good and all of them are performed where they would naturally be singing.

Jimmy Durante, of course, plays Jimmy Durante. He has several amusing scenes where he convinces someone that he's a long lost friend so he can help Abagail. Kathryn Grayson was a leading star in MGM musicals of the 40s.  June Allyson* was also busy with musicals of the era. The two women are both overlooked today. 

Director Henry Koster has a long career in Hollywood, helming a lot of musicals. His best-known film these days is probably the classic Jimmy Stewart vehicle, Harvey.

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*Cast as a replacement for Judy Garland

James Bond (comic strip)

 (1958-1977)
Written by Henry Gammidge from the books by Ian Fleming. Art by John McCluskey, Yaroslav Horak
Wikipedia Entry

James Bond is a media phenomenon, the movies being the longest running series in film history. So it's not surprising that it was successful in other media. In 1958, the UK paper Daily Express noticed the success of his novels, and asked to serialize them. Ian Fleming was skeptical, but finally gave the OK.

The strip dramatized Fleming's novels. starting with his first Bond novel, Casino Royal. It was a straight adaptation of the book: Bond is assigned to bankrupt the Russian agent Le Chiffre by winning at Baccarat.

The strips follow the book quite closely.* Ian Fleming was given writer credit, but did little other than sketch out a drawing of what he thought Bond looked like -- which was promptly ignored.

The strip continued to dramatize the books in the order they were written, allowing for some decent continuity. For instance, when Felix Leiter is badly injured in one book, he retains those injuries from then on.

A new writing and art team took over in 1966 and continued adapting books. After Fleming died, they adapted his short stories and then eventually came up with new material.

The strip never made it to the US. 

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*I read a few of them back in the day. The movies quickly stopped using Fleming plots and just grabbed titles.

The Mystery of Mr. E

 

(2023)
Directed by Martyn Tott
Written by Sophie Hannah, Martyn Tott, Annette Armitage (music)
Starring Harry W. Knight, James N. Knight, Kevin Dixon, Martin Spendlove, Martyn Tott, Rachel Dobell. Anna Macleod Franklin, Nicola Wright
IMDB Entry

Finding things to write about here often includes a bit of serendipity. After I finished watching Nando Fodor and the Talking Mongoose, Youtube suggested The Mystery of Mr. E. I've been enjoying a lot of UK cosy mysteries and thought I'd give it a chance.  

But this wasn't just a mystery. It was a musical, and I love musicals.

George and John Danes (James N. Knight and Harry W. Knight) are generalists -- the opposite of specialists (it's explained in the first song) who are called to Idlewyld House, a country house and the home of the late Harriet Landrigan (Nicola Wright). Landrigan was a wildly successful romance novelist who died after falling down stairs. As they're about to go to the British manor, they are approached by the mysterious Mr. E (Kevin Dixon), who introduces himself as the murderer, then leaves. When the Daneses reach Idlewyld, they find that no murder has been committed. The house is run by Harriet's sone Peter (Martyn Spendlove) and his wife, the overbearing Clemence (Anna Macleod Franklin), and their son Oscar (Aidan Broderick). There are also three obnoxious houseguests, Swithun Kirk (Martyn Tott), a hammy actor; Irene Coggins (Rachel Dobell), a fan who knows everything about Harriet's books; Max Russell (Judson Vaughan), her publisher; and several others to fill out the requirements of the cozy mystery. 

We find out that Harriet suddenly stopped publishing her novels. She wrote them, bound them secretly, and put them under glass for no one to read. The guests all had reason to want to see them.

Then there's a murder (of course).

This is just another iteration of the cozy mystery form, but the songs add an extra dimension. Sophie Hannah, who wrote the lyrics, is an accomplished poet and mystery writer.* Annette Armatage's music is just right.

As a quibble, the final scene where everyone gathers together and the murderer's true identity is revealed,** goes on too long, and the reason for Harriet's death is pretty tenuous.

But the movie is a lot of fun if you love mysteries and musicals.

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*The Agatha Christie estate has had her write new novels featuring Hercule Poirot. 

**As is the motive for Harriet stopping publication of her books.

Nando Fodor and the Talking Mongoose

 

(2023)
Written and Directed by Adam Sigal
Starring Simon Pegg, Minnie Driver, Christopher Lloyd, Neil Gaiman,* Gary Beadle, Tim Downie, Ruth Connell, Jessica Balmer
IMDB Entry

Nando Fodor and the Talking Mongoose. Sounds like the title for a whimsical children's movie. But it turns out to be a light drama with some interesting elements.  And it's based on a true story.

Nando Fodor (Simon Pegg) is a debunker of psychic phenomena. Fellow skeptic Harry Price (Christopher Lloyd) alerts him to a report of a talking mongoose living on the Isle of Man. Price had looked into it and never saw or heard the creature, but a sample of its fur seems to come from no known animal. Fodor and his assistant Anne (Minnie Driver) go to investigate, where they meet the Irvings, including the daughter Voirrey (Jessica Balmer), who also is a talented ventriloquist. The mongoose, named Gef (voice of Neil Gaiman), is elusive and shy, but most of the people vouch for his existence. except for the Irvings' hired man, Errol (Gary Beadle) who thinks it a fake. Fodor eventually talks to Gef, but is still unsure.

The title may sound like whimsical nonsense, but Nando Fodor was a real person and there were newspaper reports of the story. The film dramatises the incident.

And though the film is billed as a comedy, it's more dramatic and thoughtful that just getting laughs. Fodor's speech at the end is quite insightful.

This is a rather subdued role for Simon Pegg, who underplays Fodor, but still shows some good dramatic chops when they're called for.  I've been a fan of Minnie Driver for a long time and she does not disappoint. Christopher Lloyd also underplays, but still does a good job.

The film never got a wide release, and was mostly shown in the UK, if at all.

One note -- stay until the end of the credits, when the actors trash talk the director. The funniest part of a movie, though I don't think the movie was really trying to be a comedy at all.

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*The movie was made before his issues were publicly known.