The Amazing Adventure (1936) - Ernest Bliss? Really?

Dateline: London - Millionaire playboy Ernest Bliss was diagnosed today as having come down with a bad case of being too rich and indolent. Offended by his doctor's diagnosis, or perhaps only confused about the meaning of the word indolent, Mr. Bliss immediately bet the doctor that he could spend a year living solely on his wits instead of his fortune. Taking only his suitcase and a five pound note, Bliss set off to actually find a job and a new place to live. If he can make it through the entire year without resorting to using his fortune for his own gain, then Mr Bliss will win an apology and a handshake from the doctor. If, on the other hand, he does not make it, then he will have to pay the doctor 50,000 pounds.

Royal Wedding (1951)

"How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life?" Believe it or not, kiddies, that song title is one of the least memorable things about this Fred Astaire dance vehicle.

By 1951, when this film was released, Astaire had already been in more than twenty films, including the perennially popular Holiday Inn in which he teamed with crooner Bing Crosby and songwriter Irving Berlin for a film that gave us the song "White Christmas", and Easter Parade which, of course, included not only the famous title song, but paired Astaire with both Ann Miller and Judy Garland. He had also made ten films with legendary partner Ginger Rogers. Astaire had also, by this time shared the screen with famed tap dancer Eleanor Powell, Latina bombshell Rita Hayworth, and friend and friendly rival Gene Kelly.

Romance Thursday - Love Affair (1939)

A beautiful girl meets a handsome man while they are both on a cruise. they fall in love, even though each is engaged to marry someone else. They agree to ditch their current loves and meet six months later at the top of the Empire State Building. On the way to the planned rendezvous, however, she is struck by a car and paralyzed. Rather than tell him of her condition, she simply lets him think that he has been stood up. Fate, however, has other plans.

If that sounds like a synopsis of a movie you remeber and brings to mind 1994's Love Affair starring Warren Beatty and Anette Bening, well, first of all, I'm sorry for reminding you of that movie but it's not too surprising. If, on the other hand, it sounds to you like the plot of 1957's An Affair to Remember, which starred Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, then at least I can say you have better taste in films than those 1994 people, and again it's not too surprising. There is one other option, though. If what I wrote above reminds you of 1939's Charles Boyer / Irene Dunne film Love Affair, well, then let me compliment the diversity of your movie viewing and admit that I am pretty surprised.

Yes, today's film is the original. And a very good movie it is. It was actually nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Writing. Unfortunately (well, unfortunately for this film, but fortunately for movie lovers), 1939 was an incredible year for movies as it was up against (among others) The Wizard of Oz, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Of Mice and Men, and Best Picture winner Gone With the Wind. In succeeding years it has also unfortunately been overshadowed by the 1957 remake. (Let's just all agree to forget the 1994 version, shall we, except perhaps to note its being awarded that year's Razzie for Worst Remake.) Which is actually the better film? Well, there can be no denying the presence and charm that Grant brings to the screen, but in some ways, I almost find Boyer and Dunne more convincing as lovers.

How about if instead of a trailer today, we take a look at the same scene (well, pretty much, anyway) from both movies:



And now, the Skinny:
Title: Love Affair
Release Date: 1939
Running Time: 87min
Black and White
Starring: Charles Boyer, Irene Dunne
Directed by: Leo McCarey
Produced by: Leo McCarey
Distributed by: RKO Radio Pictures

(Just to be clear, only the 1939 version of Love Affair is in the public domain. An Affair to Remember and the 1994 remake are both still under copyright.)

Love Affair is available to watch or download for free here.
It's also available to purchase on DVD from Amazon: Love Affair

It's also available for rental or to "watch instantly" at Netflix: Love Affair.

Until next time, Happy Treasure Hunting,
-Professor Damian

Thursday Romance - Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946) - starring Mickey Rooney

You know, kiddies, there are those who think that irony is a recent development in films, who think that the films of the 40's were way too straightforward and earnest, and that there is no hint of self-awareness or realism, especially in the romances of the period. Today's movie, however, definitely proves that not to be the case. The irony is dripping from the film right from the moment the title flashed on the screen. Because though love may be laughing at Andy Hardy, hardly anyone in the audience will be.

Except for an aborted attempt to revive the character in 1958's Andy Hardy Comes Home, this was the last of Rooney's 16 films as Hardy, and it is easy to see why. The film actually has a number of potentially good comic set-ups, but each time pulls back as if afraid to really follow through with them. The result is a movie that is genteel and at times amusing, but never really takes off and provides the viewer with any genuine laughs.

The basic plot revolves around young Andrew Hardy, the son of the town judge, who has just returned home from fighting in World War Two. Battle-hardened, both his mind and body scarred by the things he experienced overseas, his plan is to return to college and take back up with the girlfriend he left behind.

However when his girlfriend is shot down on the streets in front of him by Nazi conspirators and his rival for her affections makes the joke that if Hardy had been taller the bullet would not have whizzed over his head and into his girl's once-lovely face, Hardy snaps, gets the machine gun he brought back with him from the war and goes on a rampage of carnage throughout the college campus. Now hunted as a fugitive, he makes his way back to the small town where he was raised, seeking shelter in the care of his father the judge. Instead, the stern man rejects him, threatening to turn him over to the police because he must pay for what he has done. In a fiery cataclysm, Hardy blows up himself and the courthouse, though his father narrowly escpaes. Looking at the destruction his son has wrought, the judge is forced to reconsider not only his own attitudes, but the effects that war can have on a young man, and he is left shaking his head as debris rains around him.

Or maybe not.

Actually, Hardy seems as affected by his time at war as if he had instead been on a weekend vacation in the Hamptons. Other than the fact that time has passed and he spends part of the film dressed in his khakis, there really is no indication of what he might have been doing. The actual plot of the film involves Andy's desire to get his college sweetheart to agree to marry him. I'd love to say that much mayhem ensues, but unfortunately...

Ok, here's a preview - this is the "jitterbugging" scene the above still is taken from. The disapproving older couple, by the way, are Andy's parents who have come to the dance thinking they are going to meet the girl that Andy is planning to ask to marry him. (She unfortunately had to miss the dance because of a family emergency.) Unfortunately, again, what could have been an extended bit of humorous misunderstanding is cut short when the judge quickly realizes what is going on and lets Andy off the hook.



Ok, here's the skinny:
Title: Love Laughs at Andy Hardy
Release Date: 1946
Running Time: 93 min
Black and White
Starring: Micky Rooney
Directed by: Willis Goldbeck
Produced by: Robert Sisk
Released by: MGM

Love Laughs at Andy Hardy is available to watch or download for free here.
It's available on DVD from Amazon: Love Laughs At Andy Hardy .
And Netflix has it available for rental: Love Laughs at Andy Hardy

Until next time, Happy Treasure Hunting,
-Professor Damian

Thursday Kisses - Eternally Yours (1939) - starring David Niven and Loretta Young

Echoing the debonair adventurousness of  William Powell's Nick Charles, today's feature finds David Niven in the starring role of a stage magician/escape artist whose greatest trick may turn out to be reclaiming the love of his wife. Unfortunately, like most echoes, Niven's portrayal lacks both the sharpness and lushness (in all senses of the word) found in the Thin Man series. And Loretta Young, who plays Niven's wife/onstage assistant lacks the fire and wit of Myrna Loy's Nora.

Of course, this really isn't a fair comparison, because we never actually get to see Niven and Young react to poisonings, theft, or kidnappings. Instead, the problems faced by this couple are both more simple and more complicated, for it turns out that while Niven's Arturo lives for the stage, the travelling, and the thrill, Young's Anita longs for a simpler life... or at least so she thinks. She has even sold some jewelry given to her by her husband in order to build a home in the country where the two can finally settle down. True conflict comes, however, when Arturo's latest stunt, jumping from a plane with his hands cuffed behind his back and having to escape from them so he can pull the ripcord on his parachute, proves not only successful, but an immense hit, and he is offered a two year contract to travel the world and put on his act. Realising that they simply want two different things from life and that Arturo is never going to settle down, Anita leaves him and eventually remarries.

This, of course, puts Arturo's life and act on the skids and he is eventually reduced to performing mind reading and hypnotism tricks at private parties. When he happens to be hired by the boss of Anita's new husband to perform at his winter retreat, a chance meeting of the two shows that the spark of their love is still there. The question though, is what can be done, since no matter how the two may feel, Anita is now married to another man. All of this climaxes when an out-of-practice Arturo is scheduled to perform his handcuff-parachute escape at the 1939 New york World's Fair, only to show up and find that the plane he was planning to use has been changed and he no longer has his secreted lockpick. Will Arturo find some way out of his predicament, or will Anita wind up declaring her true love to a greasy spot on the ground?

Lightweight yet engaging, this romantic comedy finds all of its players in fine form. Niven is, of course, quite dashing, and Young plays well off of him. Broderick Crawford plays Anita's new husband, a man who basically finds himself battered on every front and swept up in events over which he has little control. C. Aubrey Smith portrays Anita's father (a bishop!) and practically steals every scene he is in.

Like so many of these films, a proper trailer is not available online, but here's the first few minutes of it just to give you a taste of this fine little film:



Now for the skinny:
Title: Eternally Yours
Release Date: 1939
Running Time: 95 min.
Starring: Loretta Young, David Niven, Broderick Crawford
Director: Tay Garnett
Producers: Tay Garnett, Walter Wanger
Distributed by: United Artists

Eternally Yours is available for free for viewing or download here.
It's also available on DVD from Amazon: Eternally Yours.
And it's available for rental from Netflix: Eternally Yours


Until next time, Happy Treasure Hunting,
-Professor Damian

Thursday Romance - Made for Each Other (1939) starring Carole Lombard and James Stewart

How soon is too soon? That's the question asked (and answered?) by Jimmy Stewart and Carole Lombard in today's feature. Though the real question may well be "how sweet is too sweet?"

Released in the same year that Mr. Smith was sent to D.C. (Stewart actually had four movies come out in 1939, the second of three years straight that would see him perform that feat), and seven years before George Bailey found out how angels get their wings, one can't help but wonder if Frank Capra didn't see this film and figure that Stewart would be perfect to play the over-blown, overly-earnest saps that he was trying to cast, because that's certainly what he brings to the table here.

From the premise (A lawyer is sent to represent to represent his firm in D.C.. While there, he meets a beautiful woman and after a single day of courtship, they get married. When he's suddenly called back home by his demanding boss, they must return to meet not only the boss, but the groom's extremely disapproving mother, and to try to figure out how to make a go of this new life together.) you might expect a broad comedy along the lines of the movies Cary Grant was making with any number of leading ladies at the time, but if you go into this film expecting that you are going to be sorely disappointed. Instead the film quickly turns maudlin as Stewart is passed over for a partnership in his law firm, Lombard can do nothing to please her harridan mother-in-law, and their newborn baby falls ill to a disease which requires medicine to be flown in from 5000 miles away through a horrendous storm, which of course the young couple can't afford without Stewart begging his boss for a loan.

Throughout the movie, Lombard is, of course, radiant and stalwart, and Stewart plays the part of the earnest, stammering, put upon husband with his usual style and grace, but in the end the script simply falls too much into melodrama that at the end the relief that the viewer feels is not that of joy that these two have finally found that their love can conquer any hardship, but that we don't have to endure those hardships with them any longer.

Still, there is certainly an audience for this film. If you are one of those who believes that the people of Bedford Falls were right in bailing out George Bailey after he almost drove his savings and loan company into bankruptcy by overextending loans to those who had no way to repay them, or if you believe that Jefferson Smith was right in staging a filibuster that was only stopped by his collapse and another senator attempting suicide in order to get his pet earmark passed, then you'll probably also enjoy this romance.

Again, there doesn't appear to be a proper trailer online, so I've embedded the first few minutes of the movie below to give you a taste:



Ok, time for the skinny again:
Title: Made for Each Other
Release Date: 1939
Running Time: 92 min.
Black and White
Stars: Jimmy Stewart, Carole Lombard
Director: John Cromwell
Producer: David O Selznick
Studio: Selznick International Pictures

You can watch or download the movie here.
The movie is also available for purchase on DVD from Amazon: Made For Each Other.
Or you can rent the DVD from Netflix: Made for Each Other.

Until next time, Happy Treasure Hunting

-Professor Damian