Movie Review: The Constant Nymph (1943)

A love triangle featuring a subdued underaged romance, The Constant Nymph offers plodding treatment of a controversial subject.

In Belgium, classical music composer Lewis Dodd (Charles Boyer) learns that his most recent composition was performed in London and flopped. In need of fresh inspiration, he relocates to the rural Swiss mountain farm of his friend and music aficionado Albert Sanger (Montagu Love). Albert is in ailing health, but his four spirited teenaged daughters are excited to welcome Lewis. In particular, Tessa (Joan Fontaine) harbors a deep crush, and hopes that one day Lewis will notice her, although she suffers from a weak heart and fainting spells.

But Lewis meets Tessa's sophisticated older cousin Florence Creighton (Alexis Smith) and they quickly get married, crushing Tessa's hopes. The extended family relocates to the London home of Florence's wealthy father Charles (Charles Coburn). Tessa and her sister Paula (Joyce Reynolds) are hustled off to a boarding school, while Lewis starts resenting Florence's conceited lifestyle and friends. When Tessa moves back into the Creighton house, the smoldering passion between her and Lewis becomes undeniable, igniting Florence's fury.

An adaptation of a novel and play by Margaret Kennedy, The Constant Nymph was out of general circulation for close to 70 years after initial release. Turner Classic Movies reached agreement with Kennedy's estate and the restored film re-emerged for broadcast in 2011. This 1943 version was already Hollywood's third take on the book, after adaptations in 1928 and 1933.

With the Lolita-like difficult subject matter of a fourteen year-old girl-woman dreamily lusting after a much older man who eventually awakens to her love and reciprocates (here in words only), director Edmund Goulding deserves credit for steering a steady path away from sordid implications. An overall sense of blandness helps, and Boyer rather flatly portrays Lewis as mostly oblivious to Tessa's passion until late, generally treating her as a younger ardent sister.

Fontaine, at 26 years old, does her best with unconstrained physical mannerisms to portray a barefoot farm-raised young teenager, but she can only do so much. On the screen Tessa is never anything other than an accomplished actress pretending to be a girl.

A stage director before moving to films, Goulding settles for lumbering theatricality and uninspired camerawork. Many of the scenes slowly sink due to length and listless talkiness. Somewhat saving the day is Alexis Smith in fine form as Florence Creighton. Finally here is a woman who knows what she wants and how to get it, but who also pays the price for the hurriedness with which she snags Lewis. Florence emerges as the most emotionally involved woman, and her struggle to control her rage and not lose her man gives The Constant Nymph some verve.

The cast also includes Brenda Marshall as Tessa's oldest sister Toni, and a rather wasted Peter Lorre as Toni's shifty suitor then husband Fritz.

Kennedy infuses the relationship between Tessa and Lewis with an inspirational subtext to soften the troublesome age difference. Wise well beyond her years and inspired by her father, Tessa deduces Lewis will only unleash his musical creativity when he finds true love and experiences heartache. The Constant Nymph follows a predictable narrative path to misery as a gateway to inspiration. Pity the film itself is more stilted than imaginative.

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Movie Review: Thunder In The East (1952)

A war drama and romance set in India, Thunder In The East aims for a Casablanca vibe but settles for methodically mixing the ingredients without any of the magic spices.

It's 1947, and India has just won independence from the British. Jaded American arms trader Steve Gibbs (Alan Ladd) lands his plane loaded with machine guns and ammunition in remote Ghandahar province, intending to sell the weapons to the local Maharaja. A local rebel group under the leadership of the elusive Newah Khan is threatening to seize power, but Prime Minister Singh (Charles Boyer) believes in Gandhi-like peaceful negotiations and blocks Gibbs' sale, instead impounding and storing the weapons.

The stymied Gibbs mingles with a group of foreigners caught up in the violence, and starts to fall in love with blind British woman Joan Willoughby (Deborah Kerr), the granddaughter of local priest Dr. Willoughby (Cecil Kellaway). Seductive French woman Lizette Damon (Corinne Calvet) throws herself at Gibbs to try and win a seat on his outbound plane. But with Khan's men making rapid progress and Singh refusing to authorize the use of heavy weaponry in defence of the government, options to evacuate the city start to diminish, and Gibbs reveals his true colours.

Alan Ladd tries his best to channel his inner Humphrey Bogart, the character of Steve Gibbs intermittently aligning with Bogart's emotionally independent mercenary persona. But the Thunder In The East script, based on the novel The Rage of the Vulture by Alan Moorehead, patently lacks the bright spark and sharp wit needed to ignite the drama and romance around its cynical anti-hero. The film settles into average territory and oscillates between an awkward love-hate relationship between Gibbs and Joan as the romantic anchor, while Singh's internal conflict, his abhorrence of violence confronting increasingly desperate surroundings, represents the dramatic counterweight.

In support of Ladd, Deborah Kerr flirts with abject boredom as the too-pure Joan who may have enough angelic dust to save Gibbs' soul, but certainly doesn't offer anything else of interest. Charles Boyer just about overcomes the bizarre spectacle of a French actor playing an Indian Provincial Prime Minister.

Director Charles Vidor does a decent job of creating an exotic India location out of the Paramount Studios sound stages, although some of the backdrops are painfully clear paintings and rolling footage. Vidor conjures up a modest sense of overlapping sweaty crises and subplots, with relatively minor characters like Lizette, the retired General Harrison (John Williams) and Dr. Willoughby adding welcome depth in several sequences. The action-oriented scenes of siege, shoot-outs and explosions are mostly held in reserve until late in the proceedings, and then handled proficiently.

With the situation desperate, Thunder In The East finds a surprisingly potent emotional crescendo, but then lands a bewilderingly abrupt ending. Once the bullets start to fly with steely intent, there is apparently not much more to say.



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Movie Review: Love Affair (1939)

A classic romantic drama, Love Story is brilliantly crafted and elegantly delivered with restrained passion.

Celebrated international playboy Michel Marnet (Charles Boyer) meets American aspiring singer Terry McKay (Irene Dunne) on an ocean liner crossing the Atlantic. Despite both being in relationships with other people, they cannot help but fall in love. During a stop at the island of Madeira they visit Michel's elderly grandmother Janou (Maria Ouspenskaya). She reveals that Michel is a talented painter lacking the motivation to dedicate himself to his craft.

On the approach to New York City, Terry and Michel arrange to meet again six months later at the top of the Empire State Building if they succeed in settling their affairs and launching their careers. Both break off their prior relationships, Michel works hard to start painting again and Terry proves herself a successful singer. But on the appointed date and at the agreed-upon time, destiny has a surprise for the seemingly perfect couple.

Directed by Leo McCarey, Love Story has stood the test of time remarkably well. A great deal of credit goes to the idyllic and timeless story of two people finding each other while literally drifting through life, but McCarey makes it all work by tuning down melodrama in favour of pragmatism. The film avoids lingering in one place or overplaying any one moment. For all the romance on display, the story concludes in a brisk 87 minutes, with the power derived from the strength of attraction rather than any sense of inflated sentiment.

Using essentially the same script, McCarey remade his own film as An Affair To Remember in 1957 with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. The remake is glossier, but also loses Boyer's international charm while unnecessarily inflating the running time to nearly two hours.

Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer are perfectly matched, and both bring a mischievous glint to the proceedings. On the confined yet artificially secluded boat, they are adults alone but attached, and afforded the freedom to flirt. The relationship pull is presented with warmth and recognizable realism. The unexpected highlight of the evolving romance occurs during the Madeira interlude with grandmother Janou, one of those serendipitous moments in cinema, transcending the screen to achieve an ethereal quality with Maria Ouspenskaya sprinkling the magic dust.

Back in New York the action moves swiftly as they separate to sort out their emotions and lives, McCarey wisely aware that the strength of the film resides when his couple are in close orbits.

Love Affair reaches a quite magnificent climax, Michel and Terry succumbing to the forces of destiny despite strong side winds. Boyer and Dunne rise to peaks of performance in a final scene where the words being spoken hide the genuine conversation underneath, until Boyer pulls off a shattering moment of realization.

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The Movies Of Charles Boyer

All movies starring Charles Boyer and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Algiers (1938)

Love Affair (1939)

The Constant Nymph (1943)

Gaslight (1944)

Thunder In The East (1952)

The Buccaneer (1958)

The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse (1962)

How To Steal A Million (1966)

Barefoot In The Park (1967)

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Movie Review: The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse (1962)

A melodrama set mostly in Paris under Nazi occupation, The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse enjoys some juicy character dilemmas but otherwise falls foul of a turgid romance that never sparkles.

Madariaga (Lee J. Cobb) is the patriarch of a proud Argentinian clan. One of his daughters is married to Frenchman Marcelo Desnoyers (Charles Boyer), while the other daughter is married to German Karl von Hartrott (Paul Lukas). Julio (Glenn Ford) and Heinrich (Karl Boehm) are the now adult offspring of Marcelo and Karl respectively. With the clouds of war gathering over Europe, Madariaga is horrified to learn that Karl and Heinrich have joined the Nazi Party. Madariaga dies during a raucous family dinner, haunted by images of the biblical four horsemen of the apocalypse: Conquest, War, Pestilence, and Death.

Marcelo and Julio relocate to Paris along with Julio's sister Chi-Chi (Yvette Mimieux). Julio enjoys the playboy life, and wants no involvement in the world of politics and conflict. War does indeed erupt, but not before Julio meets and falls in love with Marguerite (Ingrid Thulin), although she is married to harried newspaper publisher Etienne (Paul Henreid). With the Germans threatening Paris, Etienne is shipped to the front lines, creating space for the romance between Julio and Marguerite to blossom. Paris falls and soon Karl and Heinrich make their presence felt as part of the occupation force, Karl as a local German military administrator and Heinrich as an influential member of the feared SS.

With high level contacts among the German occupiers, Julio finds himself in a position of unwanted privilege. He has to fend off the brutish advances of General von Kleig (George Dolenz) towards Marguerite, but then events turn serious when Etienne is released from a prisoner of war camp, Chi-Chi starts to demonstrate sympathies with the French resistance, and Julio realizes that despite his natural inclination to remain uninvolved, the war will demand he chooses a side.

MGM's 1921 adaptation of the Vicente Blasco Ibáñez novel is fondly remembered as a star-making vehicle for the young and virile Rudolph Valentino. By the late 1950s the studio was scrounging around for properties to help revive its fading fortunes, and settled on this epic remake, resetting the story to World War Two and bringing in director Vincente Minnelli to infuse the project with prestige. It didn't quite work as intended. The 1962 version does enjoy some moments of cinematic grandeur, but it is also relatively slow, bloated, and lacking in charisma.

A large part of the problem resides in the casting of the two central characters. Glenn Ford is most unconvincing as a Latin playboy. He instead comes across as Rick Blaine's boring cousin, an American in Paris passively observing events passing him by. Julio's romance with Marguerite enjoys an initial 10 minutes of glamour, then collapses into tiresome domesticity, bickering, and passive aggressive tension, a very poor foundation on which to build a 150 minute movie. Even when Julio swings into action in the final third, both the missions and the execution are unconvincing.

Ingrid Thulin is just as cold in the role of Marguerite, not the fault of the actress, but again a poor casting choice that shifted the romance to an older age where rationality trumps devotion. For most of the film there is hardly any genuine chemistry between Ford and Thulin, undermining Julio's reasons to hang around Paris and deal with the mess of the occupation.

As the feisty Madariaga, Lee J. Cobb expires spectacularly within the first half hour. Cobb takes his role to the extreme end of theatricality, submitting his resume to join the ranks of the horsemen as the harbinger of dramaturgy.

It's not all a loss, and despite the film's stodginess, there is plenty to admire. The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse looks good, with Minnelli recreating a wartime Paris where opulence persists behind closed doors while tensions rise on the street corners. The special effects to create the galloping horsemen in the clouds are impressive, but undoubtedly overwrought. At least Minnelli shows restraint by using them in small doses. The other cast members are more reserved and often more than adequate, with veterans Henreid, Boyer and Lukas showing that good things happen when actors are properly fitted to roles.

And eventually, the film does build some epic weight in the story of individuals caught up in the whirlpool of history, with Julio facing a triangular moral dilemma: his partial French heritage demands that he act, his beliefs require him to remain on the sidelines, and his German uncle and cousin offer him the prestige of high-level connections at a time when knowing the right people is the difference between life and death.

The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse ride into the bloodiest conflict in world history. After stumbling around in somewhat questionable manner, they emerge still holding the flag, albeit a rather tattered one.

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Movie Review: Algiers (1938)

A sweltering romantic drama set in a faraway and mysterious land, Algiers marked Hedy Lamarr's first Hollywood film, an appropriately exotic debut for an alluring beauty.

Pepe Le Moko (Charles Boyer) is a jewel thief, wanted in his native France for a series of daring robberies. Pepe has taken refuge in Algeria, and specifically the sprawling, labyrinthine Casbah portion of the capital city Algiers. A pompous French detective arrives to lead a determined search to flush out the fugitive. But Pepe is well protected by the Casbah residents and his inner circle, including the gypsy Ines (Sigrid Gurie), and manages to escape and disappear into the convoluted alleyways. Local police officer Inspector Slimane (Joseph Calleia) is more practical and more patient. He interacts with Pepe everyday, but awaits his chance to lure the criminal out into the City proper, where he can be easily apprehended.

Rich French tourist Gaby (Lamarr) stumbles into Pepe while exploring the sights of the Casbah, and they are immediately smitten with each other, arranging to surreptitiously meet over several days. Gaby finds Pepe suave and dangerous, while she reminds him of all that Paris has to offer, and he begins to feel imprisoned within the suffocating narrow passages of the Casbah. With the clumsy help of informant Regis (Gene Lockhart), Slimane senses an opportunity and tries to devise a plan that will tempt Pepe into the open.

A predecessor to more famous foreign adventures such as Casablanca, Algiers is perhaps not as perfectly magical but just as captivating. The film is tightly scripted by John Howard Lawson with additional dialogue by James M. Cain, and efficiently weaves a character-rich story of policing, crime, romance, jealousy and double-cross.

Lamarr has little to do except flash a lot of jewelry, stare rather awkwardly into the camera, and deploy a stately and somewhat sad smile. She is a regal presence rather than a performer, but she also undoubtedly adds a touch of class to a production filled with otherwise scrappy characters.

While Lamarr's step up to glamorous movie roles is Algiers' most famous calling card, the real star of the film is the set design. The Casbah is the playground of the unwashed and those who want to remain visible but outside the law's reach. Director John Cromwell glides through the nooks, tight corners, steep staircases, hidden passages and cascading roofs to capture a world within a world. It is both a place to keep out intrusive influences and a prison that suffocates its inhabitants, as Pepe gradually finds out.

Charles Boyer as Pepe is the perfect noble criminal, surrounded by a clutch of unsavoury associates tasked with the dirty work, all the better to make him appear more sophisticated, a director of plots who makes sure that it is others who get their hands smudged. Joseph Calleia delivers the most memorable performance, his Slimane carrying a patience for the ages, a detective playing the long game with a smile, confident that the field is ever so slightly tilted in his favour and it's only a matter of time before the ball rolls into his court. A colourful, well-developed set of secondary characters helps to turn Pepe's circle into fertile grounds for conflict and chicanery.

Algiers cleverly sets up its central location as both a melting pot for locals and a curiosity for tourists, a place where foreigners can visit but not necessarily stay. Both Gaby and Pepe will need to leave the Casbah, at different times and under different circumstances. They can taste the pleasures and enjoy the shelter offered by the secret world, but ultimately they both belong elsewhere, and the old city has the wisdom to send them on their way to meet their destiny.

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Movie Review: The Buccaneer (1958)

A fictionalized account of the Battle Of New Orleans, the final major encounter of the War Of 1812, The Buccaneer is a mix of piracy and politics, with a focus on pirate leader Jean Lafitte.

The British have sacked Washington, and the strategic port of New Orleans is their next target. United States General Andrew Jackson (Charlton Heston) is dispatched to organize the defences of a disorganized city. Jackson finds little to work with, the local troops lacking training and supplies. Both the British and Americans recognize the strategic importance of a large swath of sea-side territory on the outskirts of the city, controlled by the charismatic pirate Jean Lafitte (Yul Brynner) and his well-armed, battle-hardened band of merry men including second-in-command Dominique You (Charles Boyer).

Lafitte is allied with no one, and has problems of his own with insubordination from Captain Brown, one of his key lieutenants. Brown's scrappy daughter Bonnie (Claire Bloom) harbours a secret crush on Lafitte, but he is only interested in winning the heart of Annette Claiborne (Inger Stevens), the daughter of the New Orleans Governor. With the battle for New Orleans drawing ever closer, Lafitte has to decide which warring army he wants to align with.

Overseen by Cecil B. DeMille, whose failing health prevented him from taking a more active role, The Buccaneer aims for an epic-like scope but is limited by the confines of indoor sets and artificial-looking backdrops. Even the brief scenes of naval combat are constrained by the walls of a rather small sound stage. The film has the look and feel of ambitious theatre exceeding available resources, rather than the relaxed breadth of grand location-based story telling.

DeMille's son-in-law (at the time) Anthony Quinn took over directing duties, the first and only time that Quinn went behind the camera. His work here is best described as perfunctory, as apart from some good use of fog, there is little visual flair to speak of.

But despite reaching for and missing the requisite grandeur, The Buccaneer is still a boisterous adventure, mostly thanks to the charismatic Yul Brynner as Jean Lafitte. Brynner exudes the relaxed confidence of a man comfortable in his own skin, sure of his leadership capabilities and sharply focused on getting what he wants. In a rather small role Charlton Heston adds his hefty, serious presence as Andrew Jackson, and together Brynner and Heston provide The Buccaneer with formidable star power.

In support, Charles Boyer thrives in the well-written role of Dominique You, purportedly a former soldier in Napoleon's army, his pockets filled with dubious medals, his soul darkened by disappointment to the point where a life of piracy appears to be a genuinely fun, an alcohol-drenched opportunity to dispense jaundiced wisdom.

Of course historical accuracy is sacrificed for the sake of enhanced drama. Nevertheless, The Buccaneer sets a brisk sail in its final 45 minutes and enjoys two back to back peaks: the Battle Of New Orleans itself is recreated, with Lafitte's pirates playing a prominent role in a literal fog of war, and then a lavish celebration of unexpected victory turns dour when the past catches up with the present. Even a buccaneer, it seems, can't escape the winds of reputation.

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Movie Review: Gaslight (1944)

A suspense-filled thriller fuelled by a long-ago murder and a husband's nefarious ill-will towards his new wife, Gaslight has an enjoyably sinister plot, a haunting examination of emotional turmoil, and slick black and white execution.

Paula Alquist (Ingrid Bergman) was a young girl when her aunt Alice was murdered in their London townhouse. Alice was a world-renowned opera singer, and Paula had the misfortune of discovering the body. The murder case was never solved. Many years later, Paula is living in Rome where she meets and falls in love with the suave pianist Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer). They get married and move back to London, living again in the townhouse where the murder occurred.

Gregory is not all that he seems to be, and he starts to mentally abuse Paula into thinking that she is losing her mind. He manipulates her into believing that her memory is failing, that she is quick to lose precious items, and that she irrationally moves objects around the house. He forbids her to see other people, and every night when Paula is left alone in the foreboding townhouse, the intensity of the gaslight is mysteriously dimmed and she starts to hear baffling noises from the attic. Family friend Brian Cameron (Joseph Cotton), now a police detective, is intrigued by Paula's return to London, and starts to investigate the circumstances around the unsolved Alice murder.

For a performance filled with the fragility brought upon by self-doubt, Ingrid Bergman won her first Best Actress Academy Award for Gaslight. Paula is caught between the horrors of the past, her current love for new husband Gregory, and the race between doubting her sanity and her unwanted suspicion that Gregory may be behind her apparent descent into madness. Bergman dominates with tenderness and vulnerability, fighting but softly, objecting submissively, and taking stands meekly, Gregory knocking her two steps backwards whenever she tries to take one step forward.

Boyer plays Gregory as dripping with questionable intent, a man with the dangerous combination of romantic charm, sophisticated taste, and cold-hearted plotting. Gregory stays just behind the line of overt hostility, convincing Paula that she is losing her sanity while staying for the longest time on her good side as husband and protector. A close examination of the screenplay (based on an original play) would result in questions regarding the efficiencies of Gregory's methods (could he have achieved his objectives using less complex means), but with the story's main selected thrust of control by implied insanity, Boyer is irresistible.

Joseph Cotten is relatively bland in the relatively underdeveloped role of Brian Cameron, too astute as a hero and deploying impeccable timing to provide help on exactly the pivotal evening. More interesting is a sassy Angela Lansbury, making her debut as Nancy, the outspoken and flirtatious maid adding agony to Paula's life and tension to the surrounding neighbourhood. Lansbury received a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination for her efforts.

Director George Cukor makes excellent use of the spooky multi-level London townhouse that effectively becomes Paula's prison, the narrow staircase and many dark corners providing plenty of opportunities for a base level of delicious creepiness. The gaslight intended to provide illumination serves mostly to throw shadows in all directions, and Cukor delights in revealing what is needed and hiding all else for the pure pleasure of adding tension.

Gaslight keeps the tension simmering, a quality psychological drama of skulking darkness in the house and in the mind.

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