Chester Morris

[moira finnie]

Do you like Chester Morris? If so, you really ought to check out this beautifully designed and well researched website that has just premiered:

http://www.chester-morris.com/

[moviesrgr8]

Moira, You are so right about the new Chester Morris website. Chester Morris was a good actor and so very masculine and sexy. I believe it is a real shame that someone hasn't writtten his biography. I would love to hear all about his childhood, his training as an actor, his work in Hollywood, and of course, his love life!! Thanks for letting me vent -- this is my first post on SSO.

[feaito]

Thanks for posting the link Moira. The Website's layout is beautiful and it is very informative. I'll add it to my favorites

[moira finnie]

Welcome, moviesrgr8. I'm so glad that you found the Chester Morris site enjoyable too. You are welcome to vent, especially about Chester Morris. I like the sarcastic spin he tended to give his lines--even in the least likely roles. My favorite role of his is in Three Godfathers (1936-Richard Boleslawski), my favorite version of that much filmed tale. (He was VERY appealing in his bandit role too).

Morris, Walter Brennan and Lewis Stone are all terrific in Three Godfathers (1936).

Fernando, I was thinking of you when I posted this note. I thought you'd enjoy it too. I just love the website design as well as the multi-layered content.

[ChesterMorrisWeb]

Hey guys,

I'm the webmistress of The Chester Morris Web and I came across this thread and had to respond to say thank you for all the nice things you are saying about the website. I am so glad you appreciate it. I put a lot of hard work into it and am still trying to get the word out about it and thank you for helping me out a bit. I'm glad to see there are other Chester Morris fans out there and I'm not alone in admiring this man. Btw, I Promise to Pay from 1937 starring Chester Morris and Helen Mack is coming on TCM tonight at 4:30 a.m. EST. So, check it out guys! I can't wait to see it as it's one of his films I haven't had the pleasure to see yet.

[moira finnie]

Hi ChesterMorrisWeb,
Your site is one of the best I've seen in some time. I have been reading the interviews with Morris from over the years. My first memory of "Chet" was a dim awareness of his very outspoken and realistic political views in the late '60s, which created a bit of a flurry since his career had a bit of a renaissance at that time thanks largely to his non-stop touring in various plays and his association with The Great White Hope on stage and in the movies.

I do have one question for you. Do you think that this characteristic bluntness might have been one of the reasons he never quite achieved the status that his talent merited in the film industry? I have seen references over the years to his self-confidence and brashness in his early years, especially during his tenure at MGM. Thanks in advance for sharing any of your thoughts.

Uh-oh. I just realized that the dreadful The She Creature (1956) is being broadcast on AMC this morning. Poor Mr. Morris! I hope I had enough memory in my dvr to record I Promise to Pay last night.
Thanks for stopping by.

Moira

[moira finnie]

Three Godfathers (1936-Richard Boleslawski) with Chester Morris, Lewis Stone and Walter Brennan giving great performances in this gritty version of the Kyne story is on TCM at 7:30am EDT, Monday, April 5th. One of Morris' very best, if you are susceptible to the guy.

(FYI: Time Warner cable lists this presentation as the 1948 Ford version, for some reason).

[moira finnie]

Chester Morris Alert!!

Tonight on TCM Feb. 3rd

12:30 AM ET
The Big House (1930)
An attempted prison break leads to a riot. Cast: Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Robert Montgomery. Dir: George Hill. BW-87 mins, TV-PG, CC

2:00 AM ET
The Divorcee (1930)
The double standard destroys a liberal couple's marriage. Cast: Norma Shearer, Chester Morris, Robert Montgomery. Dir: Robert Z. Leonard. BW-82 mins, TV-G, CC

[feaito]

Both films are must-see for Pre-Code fans too! The should have scheduled "Red-Headed Woman" (1932) as well!

I need to watch "Alibi" (1929) ASAP and to revisit the Widescreen version of "The Bat Whispers" (1930)....

[moira finnie]

I need to watch "Alibi" (1929) ASAP....

I was hoping that Alibi (1929) would be broadcast, but at least it is out on DVD now. I love the William Cameron Menzies sets--and Regis Toomey is as cute as Chester Morris is dangerously appealing in that movie.

[JackFavell]

I've always liked Chester Morris. My sister was a big Boston Blackie fan when I was a kid, since this was one of the very few classic film series we could get on TV in Oklahoma when I was growing up. I still have a soft spot for George E. Stone as well.

Morris had a nice ingratiating way about him, a quite natural way of speaking; and that odd Louis Wolheim nose of his lent character to his gorgeous looks. I kind of wonder why he wasn't a bigger star than he was.

[klondike]

I kind of wonder why he wasn't a bigger star than he was.

Myself as well, Wendy - he's just so dang fun & easy to watch, without in any way hogging scenes or dominating the slant of dialogue . . is it maybe as simple as his having peaked too early on in a laid-back career arc?
One thing that is reinforced to me every time I watch old Chet do his thing, regardless of the vehicle: this man was so confident & spontaneous in his masculinity, he comes across as someone that any viewer, male or female, could share an afternoon with sans pretense, or the need of occasion.
In short, this cat's realness is spot on, toute-suite.

[JackFavell]

You really put that well, Klonny! There doesn't seem to be any pretense with Morris, he's just strong and good looking and relaxed. I liked what you said about his not hogging the screen. I was trying to find a way to say that he kind of reminds me of Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable - just say-the-lines-and-hit-your-mark kind of actors, who also had a lot of belief in their own masculinity.

[charliechaplinfan]

I was wondering the same thing, I've managed to see a few precodes lately, I love precode movies but find quite a few of the men bland whilst the women are powerhouses, Chester Morris though he is sexy in the same way Gable was. After watching The Divorcee, The Big House and Red Headed Woman I've often wondered why he wasn't a bigger star. Looks like I'll be digging out The Three Godfathers to watch him in that.

[moira finnie]

I think you nailed it, Klon.

Chester Morris did seem to have a confident masculinity, (please see the above photo from The Big House for Exhibit A of this quality...hubba...hubba) as well as intelligence, remarkable verbal dexterity and humor. All these came into play in good and bad movies and raised so-so projects from the programmer level. An example of this working in his favor may be when he and Carole Lombard were cast in a small scale movie such as The Gay Bride (1934), which is quite a lot of fun, despite the script. (I suspect that some of the byplay between them was improvised).

Chester Morris and Carole Lombard in The Gay Bride.

Morris seemed quite capable of playing the flipside of the confident male too, as he demonstrated in Blind Alley (1939) as a gangster who invades the home of an analyst (Ralph Bellamy). Naturally, this being a Hollywood movie, the psychological problems are explained away much too simply, but Morris and the always appealing Ann Dvorak raised the level of the material, suggesting far more depth than the script may have had originally under the direction of Charles Vidor.

With Ralph Bellamy and Ann Dvorak trying to help Chester Morris' troubled gangster in Blind Alley (1939)

Regarding why Chester Morris wasn't a bigger star, he was never a diplomatic man and even though he had some good studio contracts at MGM and Warner Brothers, (the one studio that seems like it would be a natural fit for Morris) but his steadiest paycheck throughout the '40s came from working with Harry Cohn at Columbia as Boston Blackie. The following will give some idea of the kind of gutsy but impolitic stance that Morris could take. In one article I came across about Morris he told a reporter in 1958 that "Any guy who paints up his face and acts is really kind of ridiculous. Now take me. I never really liked this business. But, I grew up in it and that is sort of like being born into a family of acrobats--nobody ever expects you to do anything else. I'm ham enough to love to watch the replays of my old movies on television, [though] Blackie kind of messed up my career. Even now the public usually visualizes me as 'Blackie.'

Despite being typecast as Boston Blackie, Morris eventually became well known for his acting on stage and for his out-spoken remarks. This caused a bit of controversy that got his play and his opinions some national press attention in the following article, which stemmed from Chester Morris' unvarnished remarks about government and police brutality during a national tour in the play Advise and Consent. When the tour hit Milwaukee, Morris spouted off once more, provoking a public scolding from Milwaukee County Executive John Doyne, who seemed shocked! shocked! that gambl--er I mean corruption might show its face in his corner of the globe.

Chester Morris around the time of the Advise and Consent tour.

It's a bit long, but I think some might enjoy getting a taste of Chet in high dudgeon:

The Milwaukee Sentinel - Jan. 19, 1962

Actor Stands Firm: 'Politics Dirty'

Actor Chester Morris refuses to back down on his assertion "politics is a dirty game" despite a rebuke from
County Executive Doyne for saying so. "As long as men continue to fight for power, there will always be 'dirty politics,' said Morris in a letter to Doyne.

He is starring in the current Pabst Theater attraction, "Advise and Consent," adapted from Allen Drury's
best-selling novel about intrigue and political blackmail in the higher echelons of Washington. "You're an intelligent man," continued Morris, "I needn't elaborate. It has ever been thus. I am proud of the fact
that the American people eventually ferret out the cheats, liars and demagogues (you will recall Joe
McCarthy - from Wisconsin, wasn't he?) and right triumphs, as it should.

"Unfortunately, however, many lives and reputations are ruined in the process. You and your county may well be proud of your clean, honest government responsibility, I salute you." Morris, who plays Sen. Orrin Knox, deeply admired for his integrity and ability, said, "Fortunately, we live in a society where a man is entitled to speak his mind." Drury, a Washington correspondent, wasn't afraid to "air his convictions concerning politics," and his Pulitzer Prize novel was a best-seller for 103 weeks and read by millions, said the actor.

He expressed regret Doyne wouldn't attend the show because of the off-stage allusion to politics. In New
York, where the play ran nine months, it was seen by such diverse political figures as Sens. Goldwater, Mansfield and Javits and Vice President Johnson. Morris, who was in the original cast, said they all were "seemingly impressed" by the play. Sen. Goldwater, conservative Republican leader, extolled it on the Senate floor. Doyne would be impressed, too, Morris was sure.