Movie Review: Dream Wife (1953)

Genre: Romantic Comedy  

Director: Sidney Sheldon  

Starring: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Walter Pidgeon, Betta St. John  

Running Time: 100 minutes  

Synopsis: While on a trip to the oil-rich country of Bukistan, American businessman Clemson Reade (Cary Grant) is offered a marriage to the ruler's daughter Princess Tarji (Betta St. John), who has all the attributes of a perfect traditional wife. Back in the United States, Clemson breaks off his engagement with his workaholic fiancée Effie (Deborah Kerr), a State Department official finalizing a critical oil deal with Bukistan. Tarji accepts Clemson's marriage proposal and travels to the US, with Effie is assigned to chaperone the couple.

What Works Well: Some chuckles are found in the sharp contrasts between Clemson's idealistic vision of a dream wife dedicated to her man's every need and Effie's no-nonsense, all-business, always-on-the-phone modern woman.

What Does Not Work As Well: The tin-eared plot stumbles to develop the simple be-careful-what-you-wish-for battle-of-the-sexes premise, and sacrifices all common sense and cultural continuity in search of cheap laughs. From the State Department micromanaging a courtship to Tarji's quick acclimatization, the comedy disintegrates into silliness. The foundational cracks include the supposedly suave and sophisticated Clemson being dumb enough to propose marriage across oceans to a woman he barely knows, who can't speak his language, and who comes from a culture he does not understand. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr drift through the dross with noted disinterest.

Key Quote:

Clemson (arguing with Effie): I want a full-time wife and you want a part-time husband, it's as simple as that.



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Movie Review: The Rack (1956)

A military courtroom drama, The Rack has good intentions to explore mental torture, but is snagged by an unimaginative narrative.

Decorated Captain Ed Hall Jr. (Paul Newman) was held prisoner by the enemy for many months during the Korean War, while his brother Pete was killed in combat. Now Ed returns to the United States and spends time recovering at a military hospital, but has difficulty reconnecting with his father Ed Sr. (Walter Pidgeon) and sister-in-law (Pete's widow) Aggie (Anne Francis). At the hospital, Captain John Miller (Lee Marvin), another recuperating soldier who was also held captive by the enemy, hangs a "traitor" sign around Ed's neck.

Once Ed makes it home, he is charged with collaborating with the enemy. Major Sam Moulton (Wendell Corey) is the reluctant lead court-martial prosecutor, and Lieutenant Colonel Frank Wasnick (Edmond O'Brien) is assigned as the defence lawyer. What happened to Ed in the prison camp will be revealed at the trial.

Written by Stewart Stern and based on a Rod Serling story, The Rack's origins are as an hour-long television drama, and it shows. Director Arnold Laven is unable to evolve the narrative much past small screen confines, and requires a contrived structure of unnecessarily holding back information to extend the running length to 100 minutes.

The objectives of exposing new forms of psychological warfare and the impact on soldiers subjected to non-physical torture are admirable, and the better parts of The Rack work as a lightweight precursor to 1962's The Manchurian Candidate. Paul Vogel's black and white cinematography is suitably stark for the institutional hospital and courtroom settings, and an intense but still sympathetic Paul Newman, in his third role, adequately conveys the damage caused by guilt and intense mistreatment.

But after a prolonged build-up towards explaining exactly what happened in the Korean prison camp, The Rack falls well short. Laven is all about tell, don't show, and the revelations from the witness chair related to Ed Hall's mental state, his relationship with his father, broader societal and military responsibilities and whether or not Ed reached an emotional breaking point all land with a confused thud. A father-son moment of attempted reconciliation is more awkward than rewarding.

The supporting cast is strong, Walter Pidgeon, Wendell Corey, Edmond O'Brien and Lee Marvin lending robust if static support. Anne Francis is also stoic, but Aggie's role and function between Ed Sr. and Ed Jr. never quite latches.

The Rack attempts to interrogate with passion, but is often overruled.



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Movie Review: Executive Suite (1954)

A drama about a duel for dominance in the corporate boardroom, Executive Suite takes an admirably direct route towards its objectives, but in the process sacrifices character depth and elaboration on plot subtext.

In New York City, Avery Bullard, the President of large Pennsylvania-based furniture manufacturing firm Tredway Corporation, drops dead on the sidewalk. Avery never appointed a successor, and at the company headquarters office building a power struggle erupts as the Vice Presidents immediately start to manoeuvre themselves to succeed him.

The men in contention are the ambitious Finance chief Loren Shaw (Fredric March); the womanizing Sales VP Walter Dudley (Paul Douglas); the elderly Treasurer Frederick Alderson (Walter Pidgeon) who was closest to Bullard; the young and idealistic VP for Design and Development Don Walling (William Holden); and Jesse Grimm (Dean Jagger), VP for Manufacturing. Matters are complicated by majority shareholder Julia Tredway (Barbara Stanwyck), the daughter of the company's founder, and Board of Directors member George Caswell (Louis Calhern), who is looking to financially profit from Avery's unexpected death.

The women in the lives of the men are Don's wife Mary (June Allyson), who is urging her husband to quit Tredway and pursue his dreams away from corporate politics; Eva Bardeman (Shelley Winters), both secretary and mistress to Walter Dudley; and Erica Martin (Nina Foch), Avery's loyal secretary. As the Board of Directors gets ready to meet and appoint a new President, Shaw pulls all the strings to try and control the outcome in his favour. But his uncompromising bottom-line focus does not sit well with Alderson and Walling, who start looking for an alternative with unexpected results.

Directed by Robert Wise, Executive Suite is an almost mechanically-tuned examination of boardroom politics. The film is brisk and pointed, with the all-star cast in fine form. But the Ernest Lehman script is a bit too crowded with many similar middle-aged men, and a bare minimum of texture is offered to differentiate them. Tredway is plunged into a crisis, the power plays kick-off, and not enough breathing room is afforded for the men to establish who they are and why they may or may not deserve a promotion to the top chair.

Eventually Shaw emerges as the beady-eyed schemer and Don as the optimistic designer harbouring dreams of technical breakthroughs. Don gets the luxury of a family background to juggle with the unfolding workplace crisis, but the other men remain mostly office-dwelling creatures. The power struggle and tension builds to a nice sizzle, but the sub-plot involving Julia Tedway and her strained relationship with the deceased Avery never quite gains traction.

Executive Suite frequently circles the theme of driven men sacrificing everything, and mostly their families, for the sake of corporate ladder-climbing. The women are victims of neglect, pining either secretly or openly for attention they will not receive. Later the film explores the still relevant conflict at the heart of company priorities in the age of shareholders demanding instant gratification. Short-termism competes with loftier ideals of longevity and quality that demand investment in research and development.

The stellar cast members share the screen time, with Fredric March leaving the biggest mark as Shaw schools his competitors in the art of backroom company politics. William Holden is less convincing as the waffling Walling, while the other actors are somewhat trapped in straightforward characters. Barbara Stanwyck adds some drama as the economically powerful but emotionally weak link to the company's past, but her character is susceptible to slipping into melodramatics all too quickly.

Dispassionate and cold, Executive Suite is as ruthlessly efficient as the business world it represents.

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Movie Review: Mrs. Parkington (1944)

A sprawling family drama and a grand love story, Mrs. Parkington offers intrigue among the filthy rich and a sweet story of a life-long romance between a simple girl and a swashbuckling entrepreneur.

The Parkingtons are one of New York's richest families. 84 year old matriarch Susie Parkington (Greer Garson) presides over vast wealth, having survived the death of her long-time husband Major Augustus Parkington (Walter Pidgeon). At a Christmas gathering the extended family members reveal themselves to be a fractured, lazy, greedy and back-stabbing bunch. Things are so bad that Susie's great granddaughter Jane (Frances Rafferty) wants to flee the country with fiancé Ned Talbot (Tom Drake), because Ned has uncovered rampant corruption while working as an accountant at the business of Jane's father Amory Stilham (Edward Albert).

While Susie ponders what to do to help Jane and keep Amory out of prison, in flashbacks she recalls her own history and humble beginnings. Born and raised in a small Nevada town, Susie was working at her mother's boarding house when the Major, a flamboyant businessman, rode into town and swept her off her feet. Once in New York, Susie quickly adapted to her husband's upper class social circles with the help of Baroness Aspasia Conti (Agnes Moorehead). Aspasia always loved the Major, but also became close friends with Susie. Through the ups and downs of business cycles, Susie proved herself a worthy partner to the Major, tolerating his wandering eye, defending her marriage, and setting the Major back on the right course when he veered towards cruel and vexatious business practices. Back in the present, Susie has to apply the lessons learned from a lifetime with the Major to sort out her family's latest crisis.

Directed by Tay Garnett, Mrs. Parkington is lavish old-fashioned film-making. This is an enjoyable and memorable romp through the years and within the luxuriously decorated halls of the Parkington mansion. The rags to riches story of Susie's life with the Major serves as an attractive backdrop to the current rich-are-awful narrative. The past and the present come together as Susie draws on a combination of her extraordinary experience, down-to-earth character and the Major's influence to chart a rescue path for her extended family.

Not everything about Mrs. Parkington works quite as well as intended. Garson's make-up at age eighty-four is only partially convincing, and her performance as an old woman is also never quite credible. The film also ekes out a final chapter of the flashback story in England, with Susie traveling to the old country to rescue the Major from the amorous clutches of Alice, Duchess de Brancourt (Gladys Cooper). Susie gets help from none other than the jovial Edward, Prince of Wales (Cecil Kellaway). It's a lively affirmation of Susie's persistence in loving the Major while saving him from his own poor judgement, but the episode arrives quite late in the proceedings and unnecessarily stretches the film to over two hours.

Other scenes work much better, and a particular highlight is an extravagant dinner party that the Major throws to celebrate Susie's first pregnancy. Little goes according to plan, and Garnett creates a tragicomic disaster of a social gathering as the evening unravels, setting the Major off on a vindictive war path.

Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon add immensely to the appeal of Mrs. Parkington, as their on-screen chemistry again clicks effortlessly. Beyond all the dramas past and present, this is a story of an enduring love and the woman who made it work despite all her husband's foibles. Garson is at her luminous best, a mischievous glint in her eye hinting at how far ahead of the Major she is in thinking about both of their futures. Pidgeon wears the bombastic cloak of the rich and confident, a self-made man who augments his wealth with loads of ego. He gives Susie the nickname Sparrow in honour of a bird he once saved, but she will return the favour and save his soul more than once. Together they make for a most imperfect perfect couple.

In support, Agnes Moorehead delivers a most engaging against-type performance as Aspasia, silent lover of the Major but nevertheless friend to Susie. Peter Lawford, Dan Duryea, and Hugh Marlowe contribute small roles.

Mrs. Parkington is a heartwarming story of one woman's rise to meet life's challenges, good and bad, in the only way she knows how: with honesty, humility, perseverance and a positive spirit.

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Movie Review: Madame Curie (1943)

A biography of Marie Curie from her student days to world renowned fame, Madame Curie finds drama and romance in the exalted world of scientific discovery.

Paris, in the 1890s. At the prestigious Sorbonne, Marie Sklodowska (Greer Garson) is a high achieving student from Poland, planning to finish her scientific degree and return to her homeland. Her talent and dedication are noticed by Professor Perot (Albert Bassermann), and he places her in the laboratory of physicist Pierre Curie (Walter Pidgeon), a renowned but rather shy researcher. As the months pass, Marie and Pierre grow fond of each other as colleagues, and she meets his parents (Henry Travers and Dame May Whitty). Finally Pierre hesitantly proposes marriage and Marie agrees. It's a match based on logic, compatibility and affection rather than passion and love.

Intrigued by the findings of another colleague who discovered that some rocks seemingly radiate their own energy, Marie starts to investigate the phenomenon. With Pierre's help she is able to detect the theoretical existence of a new element, termed radium. The Sorbonne reluctantly provides the Curies with a rudimentary shed as a headquarters to continue their research, but isolating radium to conclusively prove its existence will be much more difficult than anticipated, testing Marie's patience and scientific talent to the limit.

Madame Curie is a relatively unique achievement: a film about a scientist that also manages to embrace the topic of science. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy and adapted from Eve Curie's book, the movie spends a fair amount of time looking over the shoulders of Marie and Pierre as they nudge their experiments and research towards success, with progress made in sometimes incalculably small increments. The highlights of the film are tied to Marie Curie's scientific achievements, and LeRoy respects his audience to understand the scientific quest and methods deployed.

Narrator James Hilton helps at critical junctures by adding context to the scenes of scientific discovery, and LeRoy captures the frustration, toil, creativity, patience, and moments of brilliance that combine to crack stubborn mysteries. Every failure is a successful confirmation of a method or hypothesis that does not work, and Marie's genius emerges in the form of persistently thinking up new alternatives to test on the convoluted path to success. However, Madame Curie does suffer from a few contrived "Eureka!" moments, Marie either staring into space or gawking at the stars and solemnly revealing some serious milestone. The theatricality is unnecessary and equivalent to a triple underline plus an exclamation mark.

Better is the portrayal of the dynamic between Marie and Pierre. Madame Curie is a warm celebration of a marriage of equals, built on trust, collaboration and mutual respect. It is a refreshing representation of a fully functioning union where love blossoms deep into a relationship initially built on intellect. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, coming off their success in Mrs. Miniver and into the third of what would be eight on-screen collaborations, contribute immeasurably to the success of the film. After the initial awkward courtship phase between Pierre and Marie, the comfortable charisma of Garson and Pidgeon as a couple serves as an easy gateway into the world of science. Both were nominated for Academy Awards, as was the film.

Respectful, educational and entertaining, Madame Curie is a fitting tribute to a remarkable woman.

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Movie Review: The Bad And The Beautiful (1952)

A fictional biography of a Hollywood producer, The Bad And The Beautiful is a riveting exposé of the power games that make an industry tick.

A-list director Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan), movie star Georgia Lorrison (Lana Turner) and Pulitzer prize winning screenwriter James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell) all refuse to accept a phone call from producer and former colleague Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas), who is now residing in Paris. Movie producer and Jonathan's long-time partner Harry Pebbel (Walter Pidgeon) gathers the three in his office and asks them to reconsider. Jonathan wants to work with them again, despite their tumultuous history.

The movie is then structured into three flashback chapters. The first charts Jonathan's rise from obscurity. After the ignominious death of his father, Jonathan vows to create his own legacy and restore glory to the Shields name. He teams up with struggling director Fred Amiel and together they start cranking out Z-grade movies for Poverty Row producer Harry Pebbel. Once they learn their craft, Jonathan and Fred set their sights on more ambitious projects, and before long Jonathan's courage and vision propel them towards the big time. Pebbel will end up working for Shields; while Amiel will learn just how ruthless Jonathan can be in his quest to succeed as a studio head.

The second chapter finds Jonathan at the height of his success. He plucks unknown actress Georgia Lorrison out of obscurity and casts her as the leading lady in his latest big-budget production. Georgia has lived her life in the shadow of her infamous and now deceased father. Jonathan cajoles Georgia into overcoming her demons and quitting the bottle, and helps her commit to the role, giving her the chance of a lifetime to become a star. But Georgia will find out the hard way that he is as persuasive as he is insincere.

In the final chapter Jonathan convinces professor and author James Lee Bartlow to adapt his book into a screenplay. The problem is that Bartlow's wife Rosemary (Gloria Grahame) is a constant source of interruption, and sometimes irritation, preventing Bartlow from concentrating on his writing. Jonathan spots the obstruction and arranges for movie star "Gaucho" Ribera (Gilbert Roland) to distract Rosemary. The results are unexpected, both for Jonathan's studio and the Bartlow marriage.

Back in the present, Pebbel reminds his three guests that despite Jonathan's driven personality and abrasive methods, they all owe their career success to him. Fred, Georgia and James Lee have to again decide whether to accept the phone call from a man they vowed to shun.

In just under two hours, director Vincente Minnelli packs plenty of Hollywood into a potent film. The Bad And The Beautiful is navel gazing at its best, a film that strips naked the drive, ambition, and desperation of the people behind the images on the screen. Filled with oblique references to real people, shots of films in the making, cutthroat backroom deals, and glitzy parties, as well as the arm twisting, false ego pampering and emotional manipulation that goes into the making of every movie, The Bad And The Beautiful shines the spotlight on the larger than life personalities that create the silver screen magic.

The three chapter format works surprisingly well, and at around 35 minutes each, ensures brisk pacing. Several secondary characters make appearances in all three segments, including Pebbel, Gaucho, and pompous director Von Ellstein (Ivan Triesault), helping to tie together Jonathan's story from obscurity to ostracism. Even Georgia's character has tiny roles in the first and third story, perhaps to justify Lana Turner's top billing.

Star rankings aside, this is undoubtedly Kirk Douglas' movie, Jonathan Shields proving to be one of his most suitable and memorable roles. Douglas' features are put to best use as a driven, manipulative executive, his mind always working overtime to further his own cause while leading others along unfamiliar garden paths.

The Academy Award winning Charles Schnee screenplay (based on the book Tribute to a Badman by George Bradshaw) creates characters that are real and sympathetic without being necessarily always nice or honest. Jonathan Shields and his industry colleagues display strong streaks of selfishness and raw self-interest. But they are all true to their career ambitions, and achieve success laced with the regret of hard lessons, lost relationships and failed ventures. Fred, Georgia and James Lee travel along impressive character arcs, and all undergo profound but credible transitions under Jonathan's influence.

The Bad And The Beautiful exposes the ruthless conniving at the root of the surface glamour, and finds human intrigue worthy of the full Hollywood treatment.

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Movie Review: How Green Was My Valley (1941)

A family drama rich with longing for bygone days, How Green Was My Valley is an irresistible homage to the bright eyed innocence of childhood awakening to the convolutions of an adult world.

In Wales of the 1800s, members of the respected Morgan family make a living by working in the local coal mine, much like everyone else in their scenic village community tucked into the lush countryside. The family patriarch Gwilym (Donald Crisp) still works in the mine, while his wife Beth (Sara Allgood) maintains the household with help from daughter Angharad (Maureen O'Hara). The eldest five sons Ianto, Ivor, Davy, Gwilym Jr and Owen work with their father, while 10 year old youngest son Huw (Roddy McDowall) is smart enough to go to school, but is also eager to follow in the footsteps of his father and brothers.

Change slowly but surely comes to the valley. Wages are driven down due to the availability of too many workers, triggering a strike and calls for a union that create a wedge between the more traditional Gwilym and his sons. Ivor gets married to the beautiful Bronwyn (Anna Lee), and Huw develops an immediate crush on his sister-in-law. The handsome Mr. Gruffydd (Walter Pidgeon) arrives as the new preacher in the village and catches Angharad's eye. Huw and his mother are hurt on a snowy night, while Angharad is pressured into marrying Mr. Evans, the son of the mine's owner. Huw has misadventures at school, there are tragic accidents within the mine, and Angharad tries to find a way to once again be with Mr. Gruffydd.

The adaptation of the 1939 Richard Llewellyn novel is a nostalgic celebration of childhood, family and simpler times. Told through the eyes of young Huw, How Green Was My Valley unapologetically pines for days of yore, and yearns for people who have since departed and places that have forever changed.

With a Wold War rendering filming in Europe a difficult proposition, California locations and Irish accents have to suffice as representations of Wales. Director John Ford nevertheless strikes all the right notes, creating the most picturesque of mythical villages, where all the miners sing their way to and from work, the community is united, laughter is aplenty and families look out for each other and respect their elders. Then reality starts to creep into Huw's perspective, as labour strife, family divisions, economic realities and impossible affairs of the heart start to tear the family apart, and the community of his childhood disintegrates.

The film touches on a broad range of issues, including social class divisions, workers' rights, religion, and economic immigration. As Huw experiences more adult interaction, he is exposed to hypocrisy within the church community, business imperatives dispensing with surplus workers, malicious community gossip, loveless marriages, physical trauma and harrowing bullying by classmates and teachers alike. It's a lot to pack into a two hour movie, which means that no one topic dominates, but Ford keeps the film pointed in a steady direction and the pace remarkably measured, while making sure that every scene is worthy of a postcard.

Roddy McDowall was 13 years old at the time of filming and had already been acting for three year. He delivers a remarkably mature performance, the events in the valley unfolding from his viewpoint, and Huw emerging as the central character in a changing landscape. McDowall displays a range of emotion including respect for his father, worry for his family, fear for the future and the courage to adapt, all without resorting to bathos. The other performances are steady and more traditional, Maureen O'Hara as Angharad provided with the most promising adult role but ultimately not much evolution.

How Green Was My Valley succeeds as an attractive trip down memory lane tugging at the heartstrings that connect family and community, a case of the grass being greener on the other side of childhood.

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The Movies Of Walter Pidgeon

All movies starring Walter Pidgeon and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Dark Command (1940)

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

Madame Curie (1943)

Mrs. Parkington (1944)

Quo Vadis (1951, uncredited narrator)

The Bad And The Beautiful (1952)

Dream Wife (1953)

Executive Suite (1954)

The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)

Forbidden Planet (1956)

The Rack (1956)

Funny Girl (1968)

Skyjacked (1972)

Two-Minute Warning (1976)

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Movie Review: Mrs. Miniver (1942)

World War Two through the eyes of a British middle class family, Mrs. Miniver eloquently captures the resiliency of civilians in the face of adversity.

Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) lives with her architect husband Clem (Walter Pidgeon) in the fictional village of Belham, a suburb of London. With the winds of war blowing across Europe, the Minivers carry on a normal suburban life, looking after their two young children Toby and Judy while eldest son Vin (Richard Ney) attends college. When Vin comes home for a visit, he starts a relationship with local girl-next-door Carol Beldon (Teresa Wright), the granddaughter of the haughty Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty).

Britain finally declares war on Germany. Vin joins the Royal Air Force, while Clem helps to organize local civil defence efforts. When the Battle Of Britain erupts Kay and Clem have to spend long nights in their front yard cramped underground shelter, comforting Toby and Judy, listening to the continuous sounds of air raids, bombs, and anti-aircraft guns. Clem is recruited to help in the Dunkirk evacuation, news from Vin is often patchy, and Kay has a harrowing encounter with an unexpected visitor. Still life goes on, the romance between Vin and Carol becomes ever more serious, and Lady Beldon is unhappy to be challenged at the local gardening competition. The war eventually arrives at Belham's doorstep, and the Minivers are not spared their share of carnage.

Conceived as an inspirational film to bring home to an American audience the suffering of the British, Mrs. Miniver started filming before the US joined the war but was released after Pearl Harbour. The film became a rallying call and a symbol of the civilian war experience, families and communities coming together to stand up to a common enemy and support their fighting men. It is also a heartfelt portrait of war's ripple effects on civilians far from the front lines.

A film about war but without any battle scenes, Mrs. Miniver's appeal lies in its astounding normalcy. Director William Wyler takes his time and dedicates the first 30 minutes to life before the war. Kay and Clem are portrayed as a loving but quite ordinary middle class couple, occupied by work, shopping, over-spending, and dealing with the challenges of their children and neighbours. The Minivers are no heroes, but they will need to act heroically when their life is disrupted by a global conflict, and their heroism lies largely in carrying on with life as best as possible.

When death becomes a daily possibility, the war heightens the importance of emotional attachments, as the family gets tightly packed into the confined shelter, and the romance between Vin and Carol gets condensed into a hurried courtship and accelerated talk of marriage. Ironically the war makes the family stronger and more resilient, decisions are made quickly and every moment is enjoyed and celebrated with a mixture of defiance and pathos.

And Wyler gradually brings the strands of society together into a stronger whole. Working class, middle class and upper class come together to create a united home front, the gardening show providing a metaphor not just for life carrying on, but for the blurring of previously divisive lines as a country unites against a common enemy.

Mrs. Miniver deservedly scooped six Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress for Garson, and Best Supporting Actress for Wright. It has stood the test of time, and remains a moving portrayal of what it means to Keep Calm and Carry On.

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Movie Review: Forbidden Planet (1956)

A psychological interplanetary science fiction adventure, Forbidden Planet is an impressive romp through the galaxies, briskly paced but without fully avoiding all the space debris.

In the distant future, humanity has conquered travel at multiples of light speed and colonized deep space. Commander John J. Adams (Leslie Nielsen) captains United Planets Cruiser C57-D towards Altair IV, a distant desert-like planet with a life-sustaining atmosphere. Adams' mission is to discover the fate of the Bellerophon expedition that landed on Altair twenty years prior, but subsequently lost contact with Earth. Approaching the planet, Adams makes contact with Dr. Edward Morbius (Walter Pidgeon), a language expert and apparently the only survivor from the Bellerophon. Morbius warns Adams to stay away from Altair, but the commander insists on landing anyway.

Once on the ground, Adams and his crew meet the resourceful Robby the Robot, who escorts them to Morbius' compound. The scientist explains that an unknown force killed all the other members of the expedition but spared Morbius and his wife, and she subsequently died of natural causes. Morbius now lives with his daughter Alta (Anne Francis), and her innocent sexuality and skimpy outfits cause havoc among Adams' companionship-starved crewmen. Morbius is studying the scripts and inventions left behind by the Krell, a technologically advanced but now extinct race that used to inhabit Altair. With Alta falling in love with Adams, a rampaging, indestructible and invisible monster attacks C57-D and its crew, forcing Adams to untangle the secrets of Morbius and the Krell.

An entertaining gallop to the inner recesses of space and the human mind, Forbidden Planet boasts good special effects for the era, and a combination of wonder, science and mental sparring. Walter Pidgeon dominates his surroundings with a towering, almost theatrical performance as a scientist engrossed in studying superior works, and now with a mental capacity far ahead of his race. The eternally cute Robby the Robot, created by Morbius thanks to his learnings from the Krell, earns his cinematic legend as an essential member of the cast.

Despite the many highlights, the film is not without weaknesses, and director Fred M. Wilcox, working from Cyril Hume's script, sometimes struggles to find the right balance amongst all the puzzle pieces. Once C57-D lands on Altair, too much time is invested in sex-deprived men lusting after Alta. The scenes featuring Adams and his Lieutenant "Doc" Ostrow (Warren Stevens) clumsily wooing Alta or castigating her for wearing what she likes are creaky in the extreme and have not aged well. The cast is mostly stuck in 1950s earnest stiffness, Leslie Nielsen failing to add any sort of nuance to Commander Adams and his crewmates playing their role straight out of a World War Two naval deployment.

The film hits its peak with the introduction of the Krell technology, Morbius unveiling the massive machinery, inexhaustible power supply, and intelligence-enhancing inventions left behind by the ancient race. The battle with the monster as it attacks the spaceship is another highlight, the special effects team creating a virtual rampaging presence, able to withstand everything that Adams' defensive batteries can throw at it.

The final explanation linking the monster, the Krell and Morbius is rushed, perhaps to avoid any unnecessary scrutiny as unconstrained scientific achievements collide with the in-built frailties of both the Krell and human minds. The climax is satisfying nonetheless, Forbidden Planet ending with a literal and figurative bang. Traveling in space is dangerous, but the dark secrets of the brain could be as treacherous as any intergalactic expedition.

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Movie Review: The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)

A romantic drama, The Last Time I Saw Paris is a passionate tale of flawed soulmates struggling against life's challenges. The loose adaptation of an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story is filled with the hard consequences of reality failing to live up to unattainable idealism.

Paris has just been liberated by Allied troops. In the ensuing wild celebrations, Charles Wills (Van Johnson), a reporter for a US military journal, meets the spirited Helen Ellswirth (Elizabeth Taylor), and they are immediately infatuated with each other. Although the grounded Charles and the wildly unpredictable Helen could not be any different, they fall in love and get married. Helen takes after her father James (Walter Pidgeon), a fun-loving, larger than life man who lives beyond his means. Her sister Marion (Donna Reed) is much more disciplined, but also jealous of Helen's carefree attitude to life and love.

Forced to live within relatively limited means, Helen and Charles try to settle into a life of unsatisfying domesticity in Paris, and daughter Vicki joins the family, while Marion marries the steady Claude (George Dolenz). Charles struggles to establish himself as an author and starts drinking heavily, while Helen finds ways to remain a source of embarrassment for her husband. With the marriage seemingly growing stale, both face severe tests of fidelity, Charles with socialite Lorraine (Eva Gabor) and Helen with suave tennis player Paul (Roger Moore, in one of his earliest notable roles).

The Last Time I Saw Paris is a grand love story, inspired by Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited. Meeting fortuitously in the chaos of Parisian streets overflowing with revellers celebrating liberation, Helen and Charles were meant for each other. But in a case of love alone not being enough, both are reaching for something unattainable: Helen for wealth and the perceived richness of an always exciting life, and Charles for success as a respected author. They both allow their dreams of what cannot be get in the way of what is, and the resultant struggles will strain their love to its limits.

The film is limited by the scope of the two main characters, and they are both more flawed than flourishing. Once the fundamental boundaries of Helen and Charles are defined, she playful, ambitious, and hopelessly flirty, he earnest, reliable but with a weakness for drink, the narrative of their life is confined into a sharp-edged box. Neither will rise above their standing to give the movie a lift, and both in fact yield to the worst excesses of their failings. The film follows along, a chronicle of two people having a go at happiness but confronted by foibles of their own making.

Elizabeth Taylor and Van Johnson bring a pleasing surplus of vitality to their roles. Taylor lets her inner fire burn bright, Helen never surrendering to the realities of life in her pursuit of fun, but giving her man every chance to keep up with her game of frolicking grown-ups. Johnson succeeds in allowing Charles' lurking demons to gradually emerge and dominate, his lack of success as a writer and inability to match Helen's lust for life driving him to the bottle. With one or both on the screen for almost the entire length of the film, Taylor and Johnson ensure The Last Time I Saw Paris is never less than engaging. Walter Pigeon nails the congeniality of Helen's dad, full of optimism, joie de vivre and love of the good things, affordable or not. He is the tree from where she fell, and she landed quite close to the trunk.

Director Richard Brooks co-wrote the screenplay with Julius and Philip Epstein, and infuses the early parts of the movie with a jubilant yet poignant post-occupation Paris vibe. For a narrative driven almost entirely by the thoughts and conversations of two people, Brooks then does well to find dynamism in a variety of settings, including corner cafes, grand banquets, fancy restaurants and lush parks.

Paris delivers on its promise as the city of love, but after the flame of passion is initially lit, not even Paris can guarantee a trouble-free ride.

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Movie Review: Dark Command (1940)

A western set in the shadow of the impending Civil War, Dark Command mixes a love triangle with good performances and hefty action to deliver robust entertainment.

As the Civil War looms, Kansas is the scene of a large in-migration from both the north and the south, and the divided loyalties cause friction. Originally from Texas, Bob Seton (John Wayne) arrives in Lawrence, Kansas without much of a life plan, a simple but principled man who uses his fists to good effect. Local girl Mary McCloud (Claire Trevor) is the daughter of powerful banker Angus (Porter Hall), and as soon as Bob sets his eyes on Mary he decides that she's the woman he wants to marry. Meanwhile Mary's younger brother Fletcher (Roy Rogers) starts to idolize Bob.

Lawrence's school teacher William Cantrell (Walter Pidgeon) has been wooing Mary for years, and is none too impressed that she seems to be quickly falling in love with newcomer Bob. Cantrell is further rattled when Seton beats him to the newly created position of Marshall for the growing town. With nothing in his life working out, and the Civil War erupting and creating a law and order vacuum, Cantrell turns to a life of adventurous crime as a leader of a militia of thugs, setting him on a collision course with Seton.

Loosely inspired by the story of real-life confederate guerrilla leader William Quantrill, Dark Command is an engaging, character-rich western. John Wayne and Walter Pidgeon are well-balanced foes, and Claire Trevor provides a sparkly third point to the romantic triangle.

Wayne plays Bob Seton as a laid-back, none-too-bright do-gooder, unable to read or write but filled with hokey Texas anecdotes. Wayne's physical stature and screen presence are impressive. Director Raoul Walsh had discovered Wayne ten years earlier, and here the director makes the emerging star the focal point for every shot that he is in, Wayne's relaxed demeanour enough to win over new friends and overcome the ill-intent of all foes.

Mary McCloud: I thought they bred men of flesh and blood in Texas. I was wrong. You're made of granite!
Bob Seton: No, Mary, just common clay. It bakes kind of hard in Texas.

Walter Pidgeon leaves a lasting impression as the no-good William Cantrell. With darkness hovering behind his eyes, a murky relationship with his mother, and the weight of repeated failures pushing him in the wrong direction, Pidgeon makes Cantrell an excellent counterpoint to Seton, and the various duels between them in pursuit of power, in pursuit of Mary, and to influence Fletcher, propel Dark Command forward.

However, one of the film's weaknesses is an insufficient delving into Cantrell's background and motivation to resort to a life of crime. It all seems to happen too suddenly, and there was more of a story there that needed to be told rather than obliquely hinted at.

With Wayne not quite yet a superstar, Claire Trevor, his co-star from 1939's Stagecoach, gets top billing. In Mary McCloud she creates a feisty, independent woman, already able to control her powerful father (she treats him like a child) and looking for a man who can keep up with her.

Walsh keeps the tension simmering at a good temperature, adding plenty of seasoning with animated secondary characters, throwing in conflict points at regular intervals, including Fletch McCloud getting himself into trouble and forcing Seton to take a moral stand despite his love for Mary, and giving Roy Rogers plenty of screen time in the process. Walsh also uses the turmoil of the Civil War as a solid backdrop to heighten the drama, while the script offers taut dialogue and some edgy zingers in the exchanges between Seton and Cantrell.

Bob Seton, accepting Cantrell's dinner invitation: This is the first time I've had two kinds of bird for dinner - turkey to eat, and buzzard to look at.

Good guys, bad guys, murder, trial, bank runs, slave running, gun running, posses, war, guerrillas, romance, and some humour: Dark Command offers plenty of western meat to chew on, and it's all well done.

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