Dane Clark Rocks

[moira finnie]

Hey, let the meeting come to order, please, folks--sit right down front if you are among the silent minority who like Dane Clark! Please speak up, shout out your favorites and those you'd like to see aired, won't you? (I'd like to see Action in the North Atlantic for the umpteenth time). Here's how TCM honored him today with scads of obscure Dane sightings in the following films:

6:30 AM
The Very Thought Of You (1944)
In-law problems threaten a wartime marriage. Cast: Dennis Morgan, Eleanor Parker, Dane Clark. Dir: Delmer Daves. BW-98 mins, TV-G, CC

8:15 AM
God Is My Co-Pilot (1945)
A flyer dismissed as too old fights to prove himself against the Japanese. Cast: Dennis Morgan, Raymond Massey, Alan Hale. Dir: Robert Florey. BW-88 mins, TV-PG, CC

10:00 AM
Her Kind Of Man (1946)
A singer can't choose between a charismatic gangster and an honest newspaperman. Cast: Dane Clark, Zachary Scott, Janis Paige. Dir: Frederick de Cordova. BW-78 mins, TV-G

11:30 AM
Deep Valley (1947)
A farmer's daughter helps an escaped convict. Cast: Ida Lupino, Dane Clark, Wayne Morris. Dir: Jean Negulesco. BW-106 mins, TV-PG, CC

1:30 PM
That Way With Women (1947)
An elderly millionaire makes a hobby of playing cupid. Cast: Sydney Greenstreet, Dane Clark, Martha Vickers. Dir: Frederick de Cordova. BW-84 mins, TV-PG

3:00 PM
Embraceable You (1948)
When he accidentally injures a young girl, a gangster risks his freedom to nurse her. Cast: Dance Clark, Geraldine Brooks, S.Z. Sakall. Dir: Felix Jacoves. BW-80 mins, TV-G

4:30 PM
Fort Defiance (1951)
A Civil War veteran returns to his hometown to avenge his brother's death. Cast: Dane Clark, Ben Johnson, Peter Graves. Dir: John Rawlins. C-82 mins, TV-PG

6:00 PM
Never Trust a Gambler (1951)
A small-time gambler goes on the lam from a murder charge. Cast: Dane Clark, Cathy O'Donnell, Tom Drake. Dir: Ralph Murphy. BW-78 mins, TV-14

___________________________________________

My favorite of the bunch is Deep Valley, which I've written about here. Moonrise is a close second, which I blathered about here.

One movie that I'd never seen before but that I got completely sucked into was the lachrymose Embraceable You today, (which seemed to be a shorthand version of Moonrise) but will try to catch up on the others that were shown. I LOVED Embraceable You 'cause it had Dane, Geraldine Brooks, "Cuddles" Sakall being bullied by bad guys, a wedding scene that made me cry when Cuddles performed the traditional breaking of the glasses, and wall to wall Gershwin tunes (so glad that Warners got their money's worth after they bought the rights to George and Ira's songbook for the highly imaginative if rather air-brushed biopic, Rhapsody in Blue). Embraceable You was a "B" movie, but Dane + Geraldine were a good combination. I liked the way she seemed tougher than him as the movie progressed.

Did anyone have a chance to record Her Kind of Man?? I bolloxed up the DVR around then and didn't get to see it.

[JackFavell]

I guess I will start the ball rolling here by saying that I have thoroughly enjoyed Dane Clark's tribute today, and not just because Fort Defiance was on, with Ben Johnson as co-star!

DEEP VALLEY SPOILERS

I watched Deep Valley with Dane Clark and Ida Lupino, which has Wuthering Heights overtones. I just loved this movie - except for the ending. It wasn't bad, I just wanted a different outcome for the characters.








These photos don't do justice to how beautiful Ida Lupino looked in this movie. It was so nice to see her loose and imperfect and natural. She was gorgeous.

The cast was just right, with Henry Hull and Fay Bainter exceptional as Ida's hate filled parents. Their love story mimics Dane's and Ida's in a way. I find it fascinating that Ida's running away forces her parents to confront their demons. In a way, she sets them free. She has always tried to be the buffer between them, to keep their anger at each other from boiling over. They don't even see one another, but send Ida to communicate between the two.

Fay's character is an invalid, though it is clear that she really has simply abdicated all responsibility in the world because her husband once hit her. She is passive aggressive to the nth degree. Hull is mad that he has to carry the load of the entire household on his shoulders, and his guilt over having hit his wife makes him despise even looking at her. When Ida runs away, they are forced to face themselves, their own failings. It is touching how they tentatively test the waters. He brings her a tray of food. She dresses for the first time in years and comes downstairs. They actually try - they start to help one another. The anger just melts away. The two realize that without each other, they have no one. These two actors are just incredible, adding unwritten dialogue and nuance to the film in a big way. Fay Bainter could read one listing in a phone book and make a treasure of it.

Their angry and bitter relationship sets up Ida's own story - why she hates violence, and wants Dane the escaped convict to give up his gun, and also why she is drawn to Clark in the first place - he is kind to her dog, and is berated and beaten for it while working on the more modern equivalent of a chain gang. She understands what it is to be trapped. She longs for love and tenderness just as he longs for freedom and open spaces. The two are flip sides of a coin. She even mimics Cathy's line in Wuthering Heights - "For a minute, I thought I WAS him."

These two leads are simply wonderful together. Ida and Dane have such chemistry! I was on the verge of tears just watching them work together. You would think the two intense personalities would clash or make for emotional overload, causing you to back away from the movie, but it works just opposite of that, drawing you closer and closer to the lost pair. You can physically feel the sparks and electricity of two lonely souls meeting, two who really understand each other.

This is now my favorite Ida Lupino role. She is so very beautiful here, never more so. She is so relaxed while playing this role! She has a lot to do, and she seems relieved that she had a director who kept her busy running here and there. She does her strongest character work ever at the beginning of the film - stuttering and stammering in quiet frustration (it wouldn't be Ida without frustration), and as soon as she meets Dane, my goodness, she fairly glows. It's almost indecent how the two play against one another. And her stuttering around her family is perfectly done, never put on. She held my attention throughout, from the way she hurried to get breakfast at the beginning, until her quiet sadness the very end. She totally carried the movie on her slim shoulders. I believed that she +was+ that naive girl, which I wasn't expecting - I mean it's Ida! She can't possibly play naive like that! But then she did it and I never once even thought that she was "acting".

Dane Clark is great, I love him as a character actor - his war movies and his part in *A Stolen Life* really get to me, and his appearances on TV always really impressed me as a kid. Once in a while his intensity doesn't work, but usually he redeems himself. Here, he is wonderful. The scene where he finally throws away his gun out of love for Ida is +brilliant+, he is so open and soft and scared you want to cry. I wanted him to watch out - you know he is at his most vulnerable without his hard shell to protect him. He has given it all up for her, and can't protect himself anymore. Maybe he doesn't want to. And the later scene when he is caught in the barn loft, with Wayne Morris downstairs and he realizes that he could have killed Ida is heartbreaking.

Ida and Dane just vibrate with love and their scenes are so romantic, always set apart from other people, and the outdoor scenes at the little cottage are filmed beautifully, with light streaming through the trees and into open doorways. The two lovers are like Romeo and Juliet, and as I said before, the love and longing is palpable, it's hanging in the air around them. I began to think that this was filmed in the same place as Trail of the Lonesome Pine and Shepherd of the Hills, it was so rural and gorgeous. The feeling Jean Negulesco, the director, evoked in those outdoor locations is of bees on a spring day, heavy and sensual, like love, and yet somehow also innocent, pure.

I wanted so badly in the end for the two to get away! I was sure that Fay Bainter was going to help them - I longed for that scene, but it did not happen. I thought that the way love softened everyone in the movie would make a difference in Fay, and in the ending. But if there is anything we know from the movies, it is that Dane and Ida just aren't meant to be happy in this lifetime.

[JackFavell]

Moira - I think you and I posted a new topic at the same time - I would love it if you could move my post over here and delete my thread!

That photo of Dane Clark is wonderful!I am going to go read your article about Deep Valley right now.

[moira finnie]

Sorry about the confusion, but I think that you and I posted simultaneously. I merged the topics as requested. I love your images from Deep Valley, which I adore. I am going to read what you wrote about it and drink in the images of Ida and Dane.

[JackFavell]

This was my first time watching the movie! I never heard of it before, and I have no idea why...it was wonderful!

[moira finnie]

This was my first time watching the movie! I never heard of it before, and I have no idea why...it was wonderful!

I'm glad to read that someone else feels this way about Deep Valley. Interesting, isn't it, that this was Ida's last film at Warners. I wish that the studio had given her more opportunities, though, as many actresses knew at WB in that period, it was Bette Davis who had first picks of scripts. It is one of my favorite Ida Lupino films and started me re-evaluating Dane Clark's work. He was so often the dese, dem and dose sidekick or is dismissed as a "poor man's John Garfield," his energy and sensitivity needed a good story and director to bring these qualities out in him. Also, DV is proof of how beautiful Jean Negulesco's black and white films could be. Must be because Negulesco was an artist before he was ever a director. He certainly was a deft director of women (Ida, Joan Crawford in Humoresque, Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda), but he got some great performances out of his actors--Dane, John Garfield in Humoresque, Charles Bickford and Lew Ayres in Johnny Belinda).


I love that last shot of Ida on the hilltop looking out to sea in Deep Valley. She has such a lovely and believable presence in roles that allow her to play a person who lives much of the time inside herself.

Have you seen this movie? I don't think I ever have...

[youtube][/youtube]

Two other movies that Clark made that I would like to see again:

Go Man Go (1954) about Abe Saperstein, who helped create The Harlem Globetrotters. This was an indie production that Dane helped to produce. He has a great on-screen affinity with a young Sidney Poitier. The films basketball sequences were very excitingly photographed but that's not surprising since this movie was directed by James Wong Howe and DP was William Steiner.


Whiplash (1948) with Dane as a combative artist who is a beach bum with an attitude and lots of palaver about art vs. money, male vs. female, etc. (yeah, just like he was in A Stolen Life, except his character doesn't disappear). He is in the thrall of Alexis Smith as a femme fatale who is involved with oily Zachary Scott (whom I like). Personally, I wish he'd cozied up with Eve Arden, who looks resplendent and is certainly a match for him in feistiness.


With Alexis in Whiplash.


With Eve in Whiplash.


I do have a hard time buying Dane Clark as a cowpoke, though. I wasn't super impressed with Fort Defiance or Outlaw's Son (1957), which shows up on Encore once in awhile. I also don't like it when Clark seems to try too hard, which he sometimes did to juice up a poor part in a lame-o movie.



I hope others will chime in with their faves or least liked Dane Clark roles.

Btw, did you know that a very earnest Clark, who was born Bernard Zaneville, was conned by Humphrey Bogart into believing that Warner Brothers intended to change his name from that perfectly okay name (which was believed to be a bit "too ethnic" for the period) to "Jose O'Toole" when they were working on Action in the North Atlantic together? What a tease...ha. ha.

[Professional Tourist]

.

[JackFavell]

Oh, holy cow, Moira!I can't believe Dane Clark was ever that gullible... and I can see Bogie laughing to himself as he told his whopper....what a riot! I am going to picture that scene every time I think of Dane Clark now!

I agree about Clark being over the top sometimes, or just plain wrong for a part, or maybe even wrongheaded in his approach to a role. He did win me over in Fort Defiance, at the end, he got his moment. My first description of him was less flattering, as I remembered some of his more vein popping performances, but I changed it, since this is his thread. On the whole, I really like the guy. I think this stems from my childhood, when he was on virtually every TV show - and I became mesmerized by his performances on Ellery Queen and maybe Police Story? I'm not sure, but I think that must have been it. He really got to me emotionally, somewhere in those myriad TV shows. I do remember being shocked the first time I saw him in a classic movie - you mean he was that old guy? and that same sensitivity came through.

Now that you list some of Negulesco's other movies, he seemed to be able to give his harder characters a sensitivity - in each film you talked about, the tough guy has a moment (or two)where the hard boiled outer shell comes apart. This is very appealing in a lead character, and helps a movie greatly in supporting characters. It turns out that the rough guy has a weak streak or a softness you never imagined... now that I think about it, this is what I found most charming about Fay Bainter and Henry Hull in DV, not to mention Barry the convict. They were not what they appeared to be at the beginning of the film. The same could be said of Charles Bickford and Agnes Moorehead in Johnny Belinda - they both turn out to be quite complex characters. Even Stephen McNally and Jan Sterling had their odd soft moments.... I really like that open-minded, grey approach to what would normally be black and white characters.

Is that last photo from his modeling days?

[ChiO]

My favorite Dane Clark movie:

http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/vie ... =18&t=3522

But the snippet of NEVER TRUST A GAMBLER that I saw made me glad I recorded it.

Dane Clark: The poor man's Richard Conte, with even more sweat?

[Jezebel38]

I’ve always liked Dane Clark, so I’d already had this day marked off in my Now Playing guide, planted myself on the couch after breakfast and watched most of the day’s line-up, with the exception of FORT DEFIANCE ( I’m not much into westerns, and like Moira, can’t see DC as a cowpoke). I’ve seen THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU several times before, probably one of my first DC films, and also the wonderful DEEP VALLEY which I would rate up with MOONRISE as my favorites. I’m always reminded of HIGH SIERRA when we get to the climax of DEEP VALLEY; you know, with the manhunt in the mountains, the dog and Ida trying to get to her man before the cops. The rest of the titles shown Monday were new to me; these were mostly Columbia titles, weren’t they? Glad TCM has the licensing to show these, although it seemed Dane was playing pretty much the same character. Didn’t make it through all of NEVER TRUST A GAMBLER, though; I got really perturbed with Cathy O’Donnell letting that creepy drunk detective through her door – you just know DC is gonna loose his cool and cover and bust him in the chops. I could see where this one was going, so tuned out. I did enjoy the soapy EMBRACEABLE YOU; so what is with the doctors in the 1940-50’s movies not telling the women their fatal prognoses? Seems to happen often; I hope it wasn’t this way in real life, but then I remember Kay Kendall.

So yeah, I like Dane Clark quite a bit, and although he doesn’t rank up with Garfield and Conte in the acting department, I find him very appealing and perhaps less “threatening” than the other two. And gee Moira, thanks for the beefcake photo!

[moira finnie]

I believe the only Dane Clark film I've seen is 1949's Without Honor -- and guess why I've seen that one? Mr. Clark's character is most unlikeable, but not his performance. It's a short film, a little over an hour, and available on DVD.

I'll have to catch that one. Any movie with Agnes is worth seeing, though I'm not sure I believe that about all of Dane's movies, as much as I like him.

Dane Clark: The poor man's Richard Conte, with even more sweat?

Dane was without Richard Conte's innate elegance, but he had more heart. Perhaps if Clark had been less emotive, he might have been more successful ultimately. I also think very highly of Richard Conte.

And gee Moira, thanks for the beefcake photo!

[/quote]
That was the first image that came up in my google search. I was kind of shocked, since I don't really think of ol' Dane as an exhibitionist. Hope no one was too offended. It didn't say if it was from Destination Tokyo or Action in the North Atlantic, but it looks like one of those. I like your point about Deep Valley being similar to High Sierra. Btw, Ida Lupino suffered several serious injuries during the filming of DV, falling and hurting herself more than once on the rural locations. She was also under considerable stress trying to cope with leaving the studio that had been her home for a decade. I am always impressed by the acting of everyone in Deep Valley--and thought that Henry Hull and Fay Bainter made a believable dysfunctional couple--just as Lupino and Clark did too.

Btw, did you notice how in some movies (not the best ones) Dane Clark's hair was teased to give him more height? It was particularly noticeable in the negligible That Way With Women (1947) as was Richard Erdman's spikey pompadour. I didn't think that Martha Vickers was much taller than him, though Dane had to compete with her hats in that loud and fairly dumb movie.


One movie that really needs to be shown again is Pride of the Marines. When Clark gives Garfield a lecture on the train going home from the VA hospital to Philly, I bet there was cheering in the theater. Moonrise is a remarkable film and one I would love to see in a theater someday.

I like Cathy O'Donnell, and was quite impressed with her work in BYOOL and They Live By Night, so I found her inability to cope with that handy-andy Rhys Williams and Dane Clark disturbing. She was just too vulnerable in NEVER TRUST A GAMBLER, though I like Tom Drake in everything (I ♥ squares).

[Jezebel38]

Btw, did you notice how in some movies (not the best ones) Dane Clark's hair was teased to give him more height?

YES! I was going to mention that too, but didn't want to sound petty - I was trying to figure out it he was wearing a toupee!

[moira finnie]

Moira, any thoughts about the overall shape of Negulesco's career? He crafts his own blend of noir and romance in the 40s, with subtler shadings and more rounded characters than the norm. His 50s films like Three Coins in the Fountain, How to Marry a Millionaire, and Phone Call from a Stranger are enjoyable, but perhaps not at the level of accomplishment of his best 40s work.

Oh, King! Don't get me started on what Gigantism in American Film, CinemaScope, Color, Father Time and Darryl F. Zanuck did to Jean Negulesco's painterly talent as a director. I know the '50s flicks can be enjoyed as popcorn movies--which I do (at times, since they are great travelogues, and can be fun like The Best of Everything, which is a hoot)--but did Negulesco's subtle characterizations and detailed attention to composition and human nuances have to be coarsened and distorted along with his aspect ratio? Economics and a lower public taste is also part of this nightmarish picture, but it seems such a shame that a talent like his was no longer feasible as the studio era waned.

From what I've gleaned, the die-hard auteurists spurn the company of Negulesco, since when things were hopping in his career in the '40s, he didn't seem to have an identifiable style and was regarded as a contract director, who just cleaned up after the big boys. I beg to differ for the reasons you have cited, and have yet to find a black and white Negulesco movie that didn't have a touch of poetry.

I'm so glad that Dane Clark Day enabled more people to check out one of Negulesco's finest, Deep Valley. Btw, you might enjoy reading the director's circumspect autobiography, Things I Did...and Things I Think I Did (Simon & Schuster, 1984). I bought a used copy for under $5 and see that there are more floating around the internet. Mr. N. cut quite a swath through LaLa Land from all reports, but that isn't touched on much in the book, which is filled with his drawings that helped him conceive of some of his storytelling ideas for films, along with some brief commentaries about working with certain producers and actors (I hope that Casey LaLonde has read this book, since Negulesco seemed to sense his grandmother's vulnerability when he worked with Joan Crawford).

Just this month the LA Times had used Mr. N. for their Mystery Photo contest--and followed it up with a wealth of images and info here. Enjoy:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2010/09/movieland-mystery-photo.html

[JackFavell]

I didn't realize Negulesco directed Three Strangers, Boy on a Dolphin and The Last Leaf too. These are all movies I enjoyed.

I love his artwork. I want that tall room, the one with the gigantic lamp and modern art - though I could do without the masks after watching Secret Beyond the Door day before yesterday.

So I've now seen two wonderful, great looking movies in the last couple of days, Deep Valley and Secret, that no one else seems to like except for you two. I am just glad you guys are here to talk to.