THE ARNELO AFFAIR
John Hodiak, George Murphy, Eve Arden and FRANCES GIFFORD.
I came by
”The Arnelo Affair” on the back of a glossy big-budgeted, M-G-M, war-time drama: “Cry Havoc.” There was one actor who stood out among veterans Bainter, Blondell and Sothern and newbies like Ella Raines. Her name was
FRANCES GIFFORD and she hit me with a wallop.
So, doing an IMDB search on her, seeing a trailer for the movie and reading Board members’ posts on it, I knew I had to see it. I did.
I loved it.
Let me get this out of the way for the first of many times I might mention this: I found Frances Gifford stunningly beautiful in this film. Oh, I don’t mean in the blinding way of Hedy, Gene and Vivien. Or in the glam queen mode of that triumvirate of pin-up of Ava-Lana-Rita. Gifford is beautiful in a down-to-earth, approachable, easy kind of way. If she arched her eyebrows and dropped her voice a register, she’d be a hard-boiled dame. But as she presents herself in this movie, she’s beautiful.
Now I know…you go for the story and plot and cinematography and composition and mise-en-scene and deus ex machina of it all. Me too but here, it took me a while to get passed Frances Gifford before I could look at the rest of the elements; as it is, I'll probably have to see the movie again. But I did…finally; and found a nicely woven plot.
“The Arnelo Affair” (I like the title) is simple enough.
A married woman is implicated in a murder she did not commit. You’re smart…movie savvy. You’ve seen this ilk before and can probably figure it alllllll out. But there’s wonderful performances in this drama, starting and hinging on Frances Gifford. She's where the emotional investment lies (I see now what you're saying Miss Goddess about Bette in "The Letter.")
Look, I can’t write with the structured disciplined essayistic style of Molly H. or Pauline K., so I’ll just do it the CineMaven way.
The movie’s initially constructed as a flashback with the distraught Gifford in Hodiak’s car. I don’t know if I was really crazy about the use of voice-overs in this. I usually don’t mind it, but here I guess I just wanted the story to unfold on its own. Admittedly for me, the music is kind of way over the top throughout the proceedings with foreboding and repetitive echoes of what already has happened. It practically hit me over the head. I get it. I get it: Hodiak is a
Bad
Guy. And yes, he apparently goes to Zachary’s Scott barber, but he’s not quite as oily. Hodiak’s Tony Arnelo is really not all bad. He puts a different, more sensitive spin to the Bad Guy who wants what he wants. Upon meeting Gifford for the first time he is literally thunderstruck by her.
He offers her a job interior decorating his place (her hobby as her husband puts it). She declines but he’s gently insistent. Her husband, played by the wooden-headed, ex-hoofer George Murphy has his head buried in his briefs. I’d say
”neat trick” but that’s his
LEGAL briefs (Nyuk! Nyuk!). Hodiak is very clear; he wants to get to know her.
And Gifford is fairly starving for attention. (By God George, is you crazy?) She makes conjugal overtures but her gestures go unanswered and absent-mindedly rebuffed by workaholic Murphy. Was love rationed too? Hodiak is handsome, virile and attentive. What’s
not to like?
Gifford’s the one to watch because she’s the one who struggles with her emotions, her sense of place. Yup, she’s a wife and a mom. But she has the talent for interior decorating and doesn’t use it. She could “lunch” but her friend is Eve Arden who is a designer and working woman. (Perhaps Gifford worked with Arden b4 she married Woody Woodpecker??)
When we first see Gifford, she’s waltzing with her son before a night out on the town as part of a foursome including the always wonderful Eve Arden. Gifford’s scenes with her son, played by young Dean Stockwell, were very cute and believable. You just know he had the prettiest, wholesomely sexiest Mom in his third grade class. He and her are pals, but she’s still a Mom. I’ve always found Dean Stockwell one of the most natural child actors of 1940’s Hollywood. I love seeing boys and moms. Gifford is all dolled up and ready to go, but hubby Murphy cancels the evening for work. Sharp-tongued and eagle-eyed Arden sees all; she sees Gifford’s disappointment and Hodiak’s interest.
Gifford vacillates about going to see Arnelo (Hodiak) or not. She gives in, walking to his nightclub, but then runs away, quick fast and in a hurry. Runs away from herself. Another rebuff from husband Murphy sends Gifford back over to Hodiak. She looks very stylish and sophisticated in her turban. He’s polite and attentive.
“You have a sweet smile.” He feeds her a grape. Wow, I have to confess...that
got me. A grape. I thought it was a very sexy inviting tempting gesture; something kind of Garden of Eden about it except the snake hits on Eve
not Adam. He sees she’s skittish but he keeps pitching. He talks about his Mom and as any guy should know…you talk lovingly about your mom and you most surely will score. We see Gifford melting a bit. He says:
“She never liked any of the others I’d brought over. She’d like you. You’re what she’s been telling me about.” <SIGH!> Oh he’s a charmer alright; soft, quiet, wooing. When he sees she’s succumbing, he escorts OUT. Huh?! Yep…out. He gives her a key to his place…
for next time. Oh yeah, the dude’s a playa!
Frustrated and dangerously close to falling, Gifford tries again to appeal to Murphy. She flat out states she wants him to take her away. But noooooooooooo, control-freak Murphy wants to tinker with a toy plane or play Mr. Fix-It or work work work. I say he leaves her no choice
but to see her attraction for Hodiak to its fruition. Who can blame the girl?
Gifford goes back to Hodiak’s. The camera follows her footsteps up the stairs, the voice-over’s voicing, the music’s kicking, we see her reservation but she uses the key.
Eve Arden is her usual Eve Arden-self. She’s a career woman and a viper. She sees Hodiak sniffing around Gifford and calls him
“the man with the four-alarm eyes.” She does her usual thing with the witticisms and the one-liners and sometimes I do wish they’d give Eve a part she can sink her teeth into with
out all that. But then I’d miss her take on lines like:
“You know Ann, just give me a plate of bacon and eggs, a full pocketbook, a chinchilla coat and a man and I’m happy. I’m such a simple girl.” How can I give that up?
I’m not really into clothes (in real life or reel life). My favorite movie outfit was Dorothy Malone’s plaid shirt and peddle pushers in “Written on the Wind”
or that black smoking jacket Hepburn wore in “Woman of the Year.” But I have to say the outfits Gifford, Arden and the Other Woman wore in this little films were
FIERCE! Sharp, masculine, tailored. Fashionistas out there…watch this movie; hats, shoulder pads,
nice.
But mainly I hope you see this little “B” film for the twists and turns it takes with plot and character. Soft-spoken Hodiak has Gifford in his cross-hairs. He’s gangsta but he sees something good and clean and wants it. No he doesn’t earn it…but wants it all the same. That's why his decision surprises me.
And Gifford’s pain is heart-wrenching. The guilt almost kills her. The plot puts her through the wringer. I find her very believable. She has a presence, a stillness. I believe her. I believe her fear and trepidation. I believe her playfulness and longing. “The Unfaithful” “The Letter” touches on a married woman straying. And we already knows a woman pays a harsher penalty for infidelity. But the emotional impact is stronger here because of the way Frances Gifford plays her and the way Hodiak “plays” her.
If you check this out,
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0317519/bio, you will see a mini-biography on Gifford. I’m not sure why her career didn’t really take off becuz I really thought she had a presence. Her life took a sad turn but I hope she is someone you will look out for. And
“The Arnelo Affair” is definitely worth viewing.