The Horse's Mouth

 

(1958)
Directed by Ronald Neame
Written by Alec Guinness from a novel by Joyce Carey
Starring  Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh, Renée Houston, Mike Morgan, Robert Coote, Veronica Turleigh. Michael Gough, Ernest Theisinger
IMDB Entry

Most people these days remember Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi or Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai and categorize him as one of the British dramatic actors. But Guinness was a gifted comic actor, too, and The Horse's Mouth shows this off.

Guiness plays Gully Jimson an artist with a strong ego and utter disregard for what others think about him. We first see him leaving prison for harassing one of his sponsors, Mr. Hickson (Ernest Theisinger). He is met by Nosey Barbon (Mike Morgan), who idolizes him and wants to be his protege. Jimson tells him to leave him alone. He continues his campaign against Hickson for buying his art from his ex-wife for a very low price. Lady Beeder (Veronica Turleigh) contacts him for a commission, and after seeing a blank wall, he insists on painting his masterpiece "The Raising of Lazarus" on it. When the Beeders leave for six weeks on vacation, he sneaks into his house and begins to paint. A second artist, Abel Bisson (Michael Gough) catches wind of the plan, and uses the house for a major sculpture, which leads to some slapstick disaster.

The movie is most a character study of Jimson. He is crude, egotistical, devious,and selfish. Speaking in a raspy voice, he tries to dominate anyone who gets in his way. Guinness is superb in the role, making the character likeable despite his flaws. Guiness also wrote the screenplay, and got an Oscar nomination for it.

The other characters are adjuncts to Guiness. Kay Walsh stands out as the woman who admires him despite all is flaws. Renée Houston is his ex-wife, who can  be just as devious as Jimson. Ernest "Dr. Pretorius" Thesiger and Michael Gough (Alfred in the Burton Batman) are familiar faces.

The music soundtrack was all taken from a single source, Prokofiev's "The Lieutenant Kijé Suite." It's up there as one of the most familiar pieces of classical music that most people can't name:  the "Troika" portion of it has become a popular Christmas piece, though it's only used once in the film.

Homicide Hlls (Mord mit Assicht) (TV)

(2006-2022)
Created by Marie Reiners
Starring Caroline Peters, Bjarne Madel, Meike Droste, Petra Kleinert
IMDB Entry

One of the great things about the Internet and TubiTV is the ability to find TV shows from all over that the standard streaming services don't carry. I happened to stumble upon Homicide Hills, a charming German police series.

Sophie Haas (Caroline Peters) is a chief of detectives in Cologne who is sent to be the head of the police in Hengasch, a small town in the Eifel mountains.* It's a small force, with Dietmar Schaffer (Bjarne Madel) and Barbel Schmied (Meike Drost) the only other cops. Thing rarely happen in Hengasch, but when Haas arrives, there are murders galore. Dietmar's wife Heike (Petra Kleinert) is a nosy type who gets involved with the police business.

Caroline Peters** is great as Haas. She is very expressive and her expression is a source of the show's humor. Bjarn Madel is amusing as the slightly clueless deputy who is overwhelmed by his busybody wife. Meike Drost is the more serious of the two officers. All have quirks to make the show so watchable.

___________________________________________________________________

*Hengasch in German sounds like "hanging butt." 

**The name sound English, but she was born in and lives in Germany.

The Beautiful Blonde from Bashville Bend

 

(1949)
Directed by Preston Sturges
Written by Preston Sturges from a story by Earl Felton
Starring Betty Grable, Cesar Romero, Rudy Vallee, Olga San Juan, Porter Hall, Hugh Herbert, El Brendel, Margaret Hamilton, Sterling Holloway
IMDB Entry

A few years ago, I did a series of posts on Preston Sturges and stopped after covering his major films. Sturges's career fell apart in the late forties, and I wondered if any of his work was worth considering. So I'm starting with a film from 1949 and his last film from his Hollywood years, The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend.

It begins with a short scene about a grandfather teaching his granddaughter how to shoot. Years later, the girl, Winnifred "Freddy" Jones (Betty Grable) is a saloon singer with a boyfriend Blackie Jobero (Cesar Romero). When she catching him romancing another woman, she shoots -- hitting Judge O'Toole (Porter Hall) in the butt. He vows to put her in jail, so, with her friend Conchita (Olga San Juan) she jumps on a train with a stolen ticket to Bashful Bend. She is mistaken for the new schoolteacher and takes up the job, attracting the eye of Charles Hingleman (Rudy Vallee). But Blackie tracks her down and there's a price on her head, leading to complications.

The movie misses the wild bawdiness that was a part of Sturges's stock in trade. The Hayes Office loosened up on its censorship during World War II, but it was back in place by 1949. There are hints of it, but nothing like his earlier films.

The film is also hurt by the lack of Sturges's stock company. There are plenty of great character actors in it, but they are not as wild and revolutionary as things were at his peak. The ending was an extended gunfight scene that just goes on too long.

Still, there are some funny scenes. The judge being ministered to by the town doctor is very amusing, as are several of the bits in the schoolroom.

There are some very good actors in the film. Betty Grable is just fine as a character that seems to be highly influenced by the story of Annie Oakley.* Cesar Romero makes a good cad, but one who isn't really all that bad, if having a bit of a wandering eye.

There is a whole host of memorable character actors.  Porter Hall is best known today as Mr. Sawyer in Miracle on 34th Street. Margaret (Wicked Witch ) Hamilton, Hugh Herbert (well known enough to be charactured in Looney Tunes occasionally), and El Brendel (famous for his Swedish characterization) all appear.  

Most notable is Sterling Holloway, best known for being the voice of Winnie the Pooh and other characters with Disney and also a busy actor in television, where his squeaky voice made him memorable. I remember him well playing a couple of mad scientists in The Adventures of Superman.

The movie flopped. Sturges already had a dicey reputation in Hollywood and no one was willing to hire him. Time had passed his type of comedy by, and he was discarded by the studios, directing only one more film (in France) after this.

____________________________________________________________
*She later played the role in Annie Get Your Gun when Judy Garland was removed from the part.

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife

 

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Written by Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett from a play by Alfred Savoir
Starring Gary Cooper, Claudette Colbert, Edward Everett Horton, David Niven
IMDB Entry

Billy Wilder is one of the giants of film, one of the first writer-directors.* He often collaborated, first with Charles Brackett and later with I.A.L. Diamond. Bluebeard's Eighth Wife was the first of his collaborations with Brackett and an odd take on a romantic comedy.

Michael Brandon (Gary Cooper) is an American millionaire who insists on getting his way. He shows this in a store, where he insists on buying just the top of a set of pajamas. The store won't budge until a passing woman named Nicole (Claudette Colbert) offers to buy the bottoms. All is settled and they go their separate ways. Brandon later insists on getting a different room in his hotel because of his insomnia and when shown it, the previous resident, the Marquis de Loiselle (Edward Everett Horton) is in the bed despite being evicted from non-payment. Brando sees that de Loiselle is wearing the pajama bottoms that Nicole has bought and learns she is his daughter. He decides he wants to marry her. Nicole already has a platonic relationship  with Albert De Regnier (David Niven) who turns out to work for Brandon. Brandon romances Nicole and it blows hot and cold until she finally falls in love with  him.

There are a couple of snags. The Marquis is a small-time con artist and sees this as a way to pay off his debts. But the bigger snag is that Brandon has been married. Seven times before. A couple of his exes have died, but most divorced him. Nicole is appalled and refuses to go through with the marriage, but her father insists she does so he's not arrested.  Brandon offers a prenup** that will pay Nicole $100,000 -- twice what his other wives are getting -- if they divorce. Nicole marries Brandon, but keeps her distance from her husband.

The movie is a tug of war as the two spouses fall in and out of love.

The movie was directed by Ernst Lubitsch and has his trademark touch and hints of sex that push the Production Code without actually crossing the line.  There are many good touches and jokes.

Gary Cooper is a fine actor, but really not a romantic leading man. In his best work, any romance is secondary and it just doesn't seem right to be at center stage, though he makes a good effort. Claudette Colbert does have a knack for this sort of film and is fun to watch. Edward Everett Horton is also cast in a different type of role than usual, but he's not really convincing as a con man.

The film was a disappointment at the box office, possibly because Cooper was miscast. Still, Wilder and Brackett were a wildly successful pairing, with thirteen films together and two Oscars.

______________________________________________________________________

*The great Preston Sturges preceded him as a writer-director in Hollywood, though Wilder had co-directed a film before coming to America.

**It's not called that in the movie, but it has the same effect.

The Bigamist

 

(1953)
Directed by Ida Lupino
Written by Collier Young, Lawrence B. Marcus, Lou Schor
Starring Edmond O'Brien, Ida Lupino, Joan Fontaine,  Edmund Gwenn
IMDB Entry

During the studio days, women were rarely allowed to direct. One of those who bucked the prejudice and who made several films was Ida Lupino. Lupino is best known today for her starring role opposite Humphrey Bogart in High Sierra, the film that made Bogart Bogart. But she liked the idea of being in charge of a film and thought directing was more interesting than acting. Eventually, she formed her own production company so she could do that and one of her better films was The Bigamist.

Harry and Eve Graham (Edmond O'Brien and Joan Fontaine) wish to adopt a child and apply to Mr. Jordan  (Edmund Gwenn) at an agency. Jordon investigates to see if they are truly fit parents. The Grahams run a business with branches in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Harry often spends time in LA when Eve stays home. Jordan, who gets some odd vibes from Harry, goes to Los Angeles and tracks him down to an apartment. While talking outside, a baby cries. Jordon follows and finds that Harry has a son and is also married to Phyllis Martin (Ida Lupino).

Harry explains what happened. Lonely and bored in LA, he takes a bus tour of the stars' homes, where he meets Phyllis. They start to date and when she becomes pregnant, he marries her. His plan was to adopt a child with Eve and then divorce her, but Jordan will have nothing to do with it.

Edmond O'Brien plays the part very sympathetically. He is a decent man and want to do the right thing, but things spiral out of his control. Ida Lupino also makes Phyllis very sympathetically. She doesn't know that Harry is married, of course, but tries to do the right thing herself, refusing to trap Harry into marriage. Joan Fontaine is also strong as Eve, who dives into the business -- neglecting Harry -- when she learns she can't have children.

Edmund Gwenn is, of course, great. I've yet to find him in a bad movie, and he is representative of the law and of society, who understands Harry's behavior, even though he disapproves of it strongly.*

The film was produced by the Filmakers  Inc. Lupino formed it with her then-husband Collier Young,*  a special project to allow her to overcome  sexism and direct and produce her own films. They produced a dozen of them, with Lupino directing five.***

Lupino continued to direct and act as time went by, moving to television as movie gigs became hard to get. In The Bigamist, she became the only woman to director during the studio system years to direct herself. 

____________________________________________________________
*One minor joke is that, while touring the houses of the stars, the driver shows Edmund Gwenn's house and mentions his role in Miracle on 34th Street. It looks like the tour showed actual houses of stars of the time.

**Young later produced Ironside and Wild Wild West. 

***She also wrote and acted in some of them.

Perfect Murders (Crimes Perfait) (TV)

 

(2017-2023)
Starring Isabel Gélinas, Arthur Mazet, et al.
IMDB Entry

My local library offers Hoopla as a service to patrons where you can borrow books and video on your library card. That was how I stumbled upon Perfect Murders*, an interesting addition to the detective genre.

Its structure is similar to Columbo: we first see the meticulously planned murder take place. The police are called in to investigate. Like Columbo, the detective latches onto the clues until they prove what happens, but one twist is that the motive is not revealed until the end. The police are often quite blunt as to who they suspect, but they have to add up the clues.

Another twist is that there are multiple detectives. I have trouble keeping them straight, partly because the show is a French/Belgium co-production and they are all unfamiliar.** They are all nicely drawn, smart detectives, with interesting outside lives. The one that stood out best for me was Agnès Gélinas (Isabel Gélinas) and Thibaud (Arthur Mazet). Agnès refuses to used computers or cell phones, and has two husbands. Thibaud is more straitlaced and a bit nonplussed by her attitudes, but she is a crackerjack detective.

This doesn't give short shrift to the other detectives, all of whom have their own quirks, but the multiple detectives do make it hard to keep them straight.

The plots are cleverly done and the motives, once revealed, are cleverly constructed. 

Read my novel, The Cadaver Princess, a tale of body snatchers in early Victorian London.

_________________________________________________________________

*The French title translates to "Perfect Crimes," so I think they decided to jazz it up for English speaking audiences.  Of course, the crime is usually a murder, but not always.

**The show is in French with subtitles.

Green for Danger

(1946)
Directed by Sidney Gilliat
Written by Sidney Gilliat, Claud Gurney from a novel by Christianna Brand
Starring Alastair Sim, Trevor Howard, Sally Gray, Rosamund John, Judy Campbell
IMDB Entry

Alastair Sim achieved filme immortality for his definitive version of Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. But, of course, he didn't come out of nowhere and his first lead film role was in the mystery Green for Danger.

It's during the Blitz and England is being plagued by attacks by the V-1* jets. After one attack, the local postman is badly injured. While they operate on him, he dies. One of the nurses, Sister Bates (Judy Campbell) claims he was murdered and immediately after, she is stabbed to death. Inspector Cockrill (Sim) investigates and decides that the postman was also murdered.  The suspects are all those in the operating room, including Dr. Barnes (Trevor Howard) who doesn't like how Cockrill is handling the investigation. The murderer is eventually revealed, but with a surprising twist.

Overall, a decent British cozy mystery. I'm dubious about the timeline, but the motive is interesting. Sim plays Cockrill as a major wiseass who rubs everyone the wrong way in getting to the bottom of things he is a softer version of the pre-ghosts Ebeneezer Scrooge. Trevor Howard was the epitome of the stiff-upper-lip Englishman, often playing military officers. Sally Gray play Nurse Linley, who is used as bait to trap the killer.

________________________________________________________

*Called "doodlebugs" by the Brits. They were a pulse jet that made a buzzing sound as they flew overhead. If you heard the buzz, you were safe, but when it stopped, it meant the V-1, out of fuel, would fall and destroy. It caused more damage than the rocket-powered V-2 because it would fall onto the surface, while a V-2 would bury itself and dampen the explosion.

Chuck Rothman's novel, "The Cadaver Princess," is available from Amazing Stories Selects.