Screen Directors Playhouse 1-18-11

[JackFavell]

You guys are a tough crowd!

I missed Rookie of the Year but have it recorded.

I liked Tom and Jerry...even with the Awful Truth line thrown in - it's an awfully good line. Charles Lane delivered it with perfect timing. The story was icky, but I thought the direction and timing was good, and there was a little something to say about forgiveness - you can spend your time getting in nasty cracks and get even with someone you love, or you can try to make it work. While Peter Lawford's fooling around went on too long, and it would have been nice if he had made even a little effort, I thought that Nancy Gates was very good, and I enjoyed the playlet. I must have had my suspension of disbelief cap on.

I liked Ryan and Bickford, though the plot was a little cutesy.

I hated The Silent Partner. I wish that George Marshall had let Buster direct, because the comedy sequences were a mishmosh, Keaton would have made clear, singular choices rather than muddying up the main action. I thought Buster was great and I am glad he got the job, and Zasu was swell. Jack Elam was very good at taking a fall! Who knew? Maybe that's how he got those wall eyes.

I really enjoyed Number 5 Checks Out, I thought it was great, tightly directed and well acted.

kinrat - I can't wait to see Laraine and Leo - for once he didn't have to get jealous of Laraine's leading man.

I haven't seen the rest yet, and I didn't get the last two recorded.

[moira finnie]

I just watched the Errol Flynn episode, The Sword of Villon, and found it mildly entertaining. Errol brought a weary expertise the story, and the twist ending and the presence of Hillary Brooke really was a plus. I liked the moment when a guard paused in mid duel, and just before further swordplay took place, when in a jaunty way, Villon said simply, "Let's go" to the man. You're right, though, the fewer close ups for Flynn, the better. Nothing to be ashamed of, however, for Flynn or Brooke.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

The twinkle in the eyes, the Peter Pan costume, and that unbridled panache--it was all still there for Flynn to some degree.

I am so glad that you alerted all of us, Miss G.

I especially enjoyed Buster Keaton, Zasu Pitts and Joe E. Brown in "The Silent Partner" was one of my favorites. Even with sound, the sight gags still worked.
Buster Keaton's deadpan and Pitts sunny disposition in that checkered hat and shoulder cloak were enchanting to me.

The story also had a kind of O.Henry quality to it that makes you want to see everything turn out all right in the end, no matter how many twists and turns the
plot line takes....


And I enjoyed seeing Jeannette MacDonald and young Alfred Caizza (Thank you for his name, kingrat! I missed it!) It was a sweet story of a mixup.
And yes, Jane Darwell did steal every minute she had in front of the camera! "Ham and eggs, anybody?"


And that Ida Lupino episode (#5 Checked Out) with Theresa Wright was great... a little bit High Sierra, Bates Motel,
and the same forest in all the Andy Griffith episodes... I never thought I would ever hear Hamilton Burger (William Tallman)
exclaimm "I'm no good!"

Chris and Moira, Robert Ryan and Charles Bickford were so good. Very enjoyable.

Did anyone ever hear of Werle who did Jeanette MacDonald's gowns?

[moira finnie]

Did anyone ever hear of Werle who did Jeanette MacDonald's gowns?

Daniel Werle was a New York-Beverly Hills designer who dressed many ladies on and off screen, and is particularly remembered for designing many of Loretta Young's dresses on her show, but he also designed for Barbara Stanwyck and Marlo Thomas, among others. My Mom had a blue and white silk dress that was a sort of wrap number (it was almost like a poufier Diane von Furstenberg wrap design) that she had purchased in the mid-fifties off the rack at Saks Fifth Avenue, though he made items to order for those rich gals too. This particular dress was so well made, Mom wore it until around 1970. The sight of her on a summer's day wearing it at a party in the back yard was one of my first memories. Mom said she liked it because it kept its shape and crispness, (it was some kind of crinkly silk with an underskirt that gave it shape). She also liked it because it was comfortable and she could wear it when she was pregnant as well as when she could cinch the waist in after the baby.

You can see more of his clothes on sites like Etsy and his clothes show up on vintage-wearing actresses occasionally today too. Here is his obit from the LA Times. You have a good eye, Christy!

[moira finnie]

Hair and makeup for Robert Ryan as Lincoln were a bit amateurish, though the episode about Lincoln's Doctor's Dog was nicely done, otherwise. The only very cringey moment came when Bickford visited the stables and just happened to find a band of gospel singers polishing up a carriage. Interesting to see James Wong Howe as cinematographer on that one.

My other fave so far was the one with George Montgomery, Angela Lansbury and "Pywacket," that Siamese cat who was apparently building some career momentum toward his starring role in Bell, Book and Candle (1958). As an actor, George M. was a great woodworker and Angela was stuck playing a good girl on the surface but bad, bad, bad underneath it all several times in the '50s (see Please Murder Me from 1956 for more). I kept expecting this one to turn into a Perry Mason episode, though the story arc wasn't nearly convoluted enough to be a part of that series.

The Buster Keaton-Zasu Pitts-Joe E. Brown episode was quite sad and sloppily done--except for the welcome appearance of Percy Helton as a barkeep and the moment when Jack Elam haughtily explained that "I am from the theatuh!" You'd never know that the barroom bully Jack Kruschen really could be funny based on this segment, unfortunately.

I liked the Jeanette McDonald episode best of all among the ones I've seen. Jane Darwell was such a scene stealer!

[movieman1957]

I liked Buster's episode better than you. The sets certainly were cheap compared to a few other shows I watched. I saw Jeanette McDonald and while she looked really good I had trouble with two things about her episode. If the Leo and Larraine were such good friends you think she would have met the boy before. So the whole pre-dinner banter was a bit of a stretch for me. And as good a singer as she is some songs aren't made for that kind of voice. Opera singers just don't seem to fit well with "pop" songs. And that even goes, more often than not, for Kiri Te Kanawa.

(That is true in reverse as well. Antone ever see Bernstein try and make "West Side Story" as an opera recording with her?)

[moira finnie]

My eyes glazed over when the people sang in that episode, to be honest, Chris. I didn't take any of the singing seriously in the Jeanette McDonald episode, but liked seeing the supporting players a lot in that episode, especially Darwell, Jerome Cowan and Jacqueline De Wit. I guess if I really thought about it, it might have been unlikely that Jeanette would have met Durocher and Day's kid, since I had the feeling that their friendship was of the cocktail party variety when people indulge in polite chit-chat and say hi and goodbye.

I know what you mean about operatic singers trying to be one of the gang by singing pop songs, though The Three Tenors almost made it go over for me, and I did like Kiri Te Kanawa's pop work, though I wouldn't go out of my way to hear it again. Renee Fleming's recent pop album Dark Hope got great reviews. Though I didn't think it was bad, she doesn't sound like herself on that one either.

I know that you are a far more sophisticated judge of singing and music than I'll ever be, and I can definitely see what you mean about certain singers just not being able to sing in a certain, looser style.

[movieman1957]

Moira said:

I know that you are a far more sophisticated judge of singing and music than I'll ever be,

Nothing sophisticated about it. It is just what sounds good. (Though that is kind of you to think it.)

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Moira, thanks for the whirlybird through Werle world. (I felt Loretta's spirit hanging around that dress.)

My Mom was a fashionista from the 30's -50's and one of my very talented aunts used to make her clothes just from
a description or a picture or a drawing.... Mom also went to millinery school and had comments about all the hats
and clothes from every movie we watched together...

That outfit your Mom had sounds like a dream. Blue and white silk..love those colors together. That's a great memory.

And any dress that can be adjusted for "extra baggage" is always welcome...

I also agree about Ryan's makeup as Abraham Lincoln. It distracted from his characterization a bit, but he was so wonderful..

But my favorite episodes out of the ones I viewed were Keaton's and MacDonalds...

I really enjoyed the recreation of a silent film, and from "The Silent Partner," it's obvious that Keaton still had that genius to orchestrate with his timing, his athletic abilities (he was in his early sixties in this Marshall-directed episode), and the deadpan man he always had in his bag of tricks.
I don't know if I could have done all those crazy stunts in my sixties!...yikes...(I'm not there yet, but I'm gaining on 'em...)

[JackFavell]

Holy joe, Jerome Cowan was in that???? I'm popping it in the player as soon as I can get time! He's a doll!

[pvitari]

Watched a few more.

Can't remember the titles. The Jeannette Macdonald one, directed by David Butler... it was cute fluff (and Jeannette warbled for us too!) but would she REALLY not know the kid is the son of her famous friends? Also that boy did not come from the same gene pool as Leo Durocher and Laraine Day. ;)

The George Montgomery/Angela Lansbury one. I think it was pretty good but it was my memory of it was blotted out by the scene with George Montgomery in a pair of very brief, very tight bathing trunks. (Plus medal on a chain round his neck.) Yowza! They should warn a girl!

The Ray Milland/Rod Steiger one directed by Fred Zinnemann. So far the most visually intriguing one and the one that actually kept me in suspense. Maybe because the source was a story by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Most frustrating moment: brief preview of an episode directed by Frank Borzage. Aw criminy, couldn't they have included that one in the TCM selection?

[moira finnie]

I watched the John Wayne episode directed by John Ford. I was underwhelmed, though I see what Miss G. means about some actors being too big for the small screen. It was quite noticeable that the Duke was emoting for a larger stage than the idiot box though I worried about all his smoking, which he even did in the preview shown at the end of another episode, with Wayne and Ford sharing a match. Loved seeing Jimmy Gleason as a big city reporter and Pat Wayne looked far too young to be a professional baseball player.

Markheim directed by Fred Zinnemann was the best acted of all the episodes I've seen thanks to Rod Steiger and Ray Milland (though they should have said Milland was 46 or 50, not 36!!). That epi was so imaginative visually in comparison to the rest of the episodes I looked up the cinematographer, Paul Ivano, who also shot The Sword of Villon episode, which had that interesting opening glimpse of Errol Flynn on top of the wall. I think that the Stevenson story was one reason why this was so good, though writers Paul Osborn and John McGreevy had good track records too.

Given the quality of most of these, it would be great if the remaining episodes from this series could be shown someday.

[MissGoddess]

Two things strike me the most with the "Rookie of the Year". First, what stood out to me about Pat was that his extreme youthfulness made me feel protective of him, which was necessary to make Wayne's calculated exposure of his father seem as wrong and damaging as it could be. Like innocence being blotted out, Pat's guileless face being the picture of hope and decency (especially how he called the men "sir"...oh, I admit I am a huge sucker for polite kids) Of course, today this issue wouldn't even come up and they would have exposed his father for every pimple on his face let alone the Black Sox scandals.

The other thing I took from the show was what it hints about the value of a lie (concealed truth) vs. exposure of the facts (a variation of the "print the legend" theme). This is the mark of the director on even a short thirty minute TV sketch.

[moira finnie]

Good point about the concealed truth as another form of mythmaking!

[pvitari]

A very nice write-up by Steve Bowie on screenwriter John McGreevey, who wrote "Markheim," by far (IMHO) the best of the Screen Director's Playhouse episodes recently aired on TCM.

http://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/