High, Wide and Handsome: A Review

 

HIGH, WIDE AND HANDSOME

This review is for the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon. Today's star is Randolph Scott.

High, Wide and Handsome is I would venture a pretty forgotten film save for hardcore Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott fans. It's a shame, for despite feeling like two films in one High, Wide and Handsome has some lovely songs that should be better known.

Traveling medicine show huckster Doc Watterson (Raymond Walburn), his daughter Mary (Irene Dunne) and "Indian chief" Mac (William Frawley) are selling their latest snake oil in Pennsylvania when their wagon accidentally burns down. Despite her misgivings Grandma Courtland (Elizabeth Patterson) does the Christian thing and lets them stay overnight at her homestead.

That overnight quickly turns into two weeks while Doc and Mac repair an old wagon. Mary makes herself useful tending to the animals and keeping Grandma company. She also catches the eye of Peter Courtland (Randolph Scott), who is prospecting for oil on his property. It is obvious that they have fallen in love, and when the Watterson party leaves, Grandma makes clear her grandson ought to catch Mary.

Now that they are married, Peter promises to build Mary a house on the hill that is special to them, but that's the same day oil is struck. Soon, Peter is distracted by business affairs, leaving Mary lonely. Her loneliness is cured somewhat when, over the objection of self-righteous neighbors, they take in Molly (Dorothy Lamour), a shantyboat chanteuse who was close to dying when the boat was raided. 

Peter now has to face off against the evil railroad baron Walt Brennan (Alan Hale, Sr.) and his henchman, Peter's sworn enemy Red Scanlon (Charles Bickford), who wants to squeeze the various oil ranchers out of their holdings. It's a battle royale between Peter and Brennan, pushing Mary out of Peter's life until through a curious turn of events, she manages to help the ranchers with her showbiz contacts.

It's a curious thing that High, Wide and Handsome feels like two films put together. The first half is the Peter-Mary romance, while the second is the Peter-Brannan war.  As such, I got the sense that the oil war was placed there to keep things going. The love story between Peter and Mary was, in my view, enough to make one film.

I also found that High, Wide and Handsome had some elements of Oklahoma! to it. It was probably the rural setting and the two people clearly in love but not really willing to admit it. The connection is also, I figure, there due to that both High, Wide and Handsome and Oklahoma! have lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. In this case, however, it is Jerome Kern who provides the music.

The songs from High, Wide and Handsome are mostly sung by Dunne in her lovely semi-operatic voice. There is one song, Will You Marry Me Tomorrow, Maria? that is sung by William Frawley. The sight of the future Fred Mertz doing a jaunty little song and dance might be a bit startling, but it works very well here. There's an unabashed joy in the performance, mirroring the joy of the marriage. It's a funny little song that is a treat to hear.

Dunne does marvelous in two standout numbers. Can I Forget You? is a beautiful love song, full of longing and romance. The other, The Folks Who Live on the Hill, has a similar feel, one with a sense of optimism on starting a new life with the one you love. It's a credit to the songwriting mastery of Kern and Hammerstein that these numbers are both lovely to hear and express characters' feelings.

Acting wise, Dunne played Mary as a strong woman but also one deeply hurt by her husband's neglect. She comes alive when doing a duet with Lamour, Alleghany Al, but when she learns that Peter has sold their hill, her heartbreak is moving. 

Scott was not asked to sing, so I imagine he couldn't. Despite this, I can see the appeal of Randolph Scott, at least early in his career. He is the definition of "rugged", an extremely good-looking man who is able to command the screen. At times he did appear a bit overenthusiastic when rallying his men to keep building the pipeline to circumvent the railroad barons, but I cut him some slack here. 

He plays his love scenes with Dunne beautifully. The love in his eyes reveals more than words could, a credit to him as an actor here.

Patterson was delightful as the wise Grandma. She was playful but also direct. Most importantly, she played a Christian woman aware of her own flaws. When she sees Molly in her house, she's shocked. "A shantyboat woman? In MY parlor?!", the disbelief registering her moral outrage. When Mary tells her that Molly was suffering from hypothermia and badly injured, Patterson's face quickly changes from moral outrage to genuine concern. "Guess I better heat some water," she says, recognizing her Christian duty to care for others trumped her indignation at Molly's profession.

It is a surprise to see Charles Bickford and Alan Hale as villains, and they did a good job even if they did seem a bit over-the-top. However, I think that was the point. 

High, Wide and Handsome is a pleasant enough film which should entertain. It has some beautiful songs and might, with some work, be worth a remake.  

DECISION: B-

They/Them: A Review

 

THEY/THEM

I think it fair to start my They/Them review with a confession. I have yet to see a single Friday the 13th film. Despite that, I am well enough aware of the trappings in a slasher film to know that They/Them (which I understand is meant to be pronounced as "They Slash Them") is meant to evoke a camp horror film. A slasher film that almost forgets to slash anyone, They/Them has nothing worth even the $5.40 Peacock premium subscription.

A group of campers arrive at Whistler Camp. Headed by surprisingly progressive pseudo-Christian Owen Whistler (Kevin Bacon), the campers are informed that while this may be a "gay conversion" camp, there won't be any Bible in sight and God won't be mentioned.

Our group of campers are all gay, transgender or in the case of Jordan (Theo Germaine), both trans and nonbinary. They range from the very flamboyant Toby (Austin Crute) to the jock Stuart (Cooper Koch), perhaps the closest thing They/Them has to a homo/transphobe. He does not care for the swishy nature of Toby, the pronoun they/them of Jordan or the trans Alexandra (Quei Tann), who is sent from the female to the male cabin after another camp counselor discovers Alexandra's penis.

At this point, I openly wondered that, given Alexander identifies as a female Alexadra, wouldn't Alexandra have been left in the female cabin? Not that we see the female cabin, as a lot of They/Them is where Jordan opted to stay, which is the male cabin.

As the camp counselors torture the kids psychologically and physically, we eventually find that there is a killer stalking the camp. Who the killer is and why only the straight-acting counselors or their fake camper sent out to seduce other campers are killed is eventually revealed.

They/Them has been praised for only one thing: having "representation" with the cast and characters. To my mind, it does no one any good to have "representation" without giving the various actors anything to work with. Writer John Logan (here making his directorial debut) has a long track record of excellent screenwriting: three Oscar nominations in Original Screenplay (Gladiator and The Aviator) and Adapted (Hugo). He's also written several successful plays and television work, so why did They/Them flounder?

It could be that Logan was more focused on sending a message than on telling a story. They/Them, for all the trappings of a teen camp murder film, pretty much forgets that there is a killer allegedly stalking the camp. Instead, after opening the film with a killing (which is never mentioned by anyone), most of They/Them involves the lives of our various campers. If one had come in late, one would not have thought They/Them was about a killer in the woods. He/she would have thought it was close to a CW teen drama about LGBTQ kids. 

We see how awful the counselors are, sometimes psychologically torturing them by pushing the boys to kill a dog. Other times, they openly hit on them, such as when a female counselor attempts to seduce Kim (Anna Lore), who is the most openly feminine of the lesbians, down to enjoying baking pies.

It is curious that for all the praise They/Them has received for its cast of openly gay/trans actors, their characters are shockingly one-note. Their whole persona can be reduced to one or two words: flamboyant (Toby), jerk jock (Stu), angry (Monique Kim's Veronica). These are not characters but types, and it is irrelevant if an openly gay cast and crew created these characters that trade in simple stereotypes.   

Worse, again for all the trappings They/Them envelops itself in, none of the kids are in any danger. Instead, once we remember we have a killer on the loose, said killer never targets the kids, even after they have sex. I admit this is a bit of speculation, but I suspect Logan was exercising some personal demons in They/Them given that the only people he opted to kill were the adults who either were overtly creepy straight men or any gay characters who "collaborated" against their fellow LGBTQ members.

Once we find out who the killer is and the motives, it will elicit one of two reactions: eyerolls or laughter. Both will be from the performance of the killer (a hint: it is probably the only name performer not named Kevin Bacon) which is close to so unhinged that it almost comes across as funny. The killer, in a strange turn, also trades in a stereotype of sorts: the murderous lesbian.

There are no performances here. Germaine, ostensibly the lead, has nothing to suggest that Jordan will be a leader. Jordan has suspicions that sound curious, such as when Jordan says that Whistler Camp is strange because there is no Bible-thumbing or queer bashing. I thought well of Koch as the not-quite closeted Stu only in that his character was not a gay stereotype. Oddly, he was a straight stereotype: that of the obnoxious jock who does not care for gay people.

However, the alleged Stu/Toby romance was completely unbelievable. Toby mentions that they are "practically engaged" but we never see them interact much. Moreover, the few times they do, it almost appears that Stu has contempt for Toby's fabulousness versus any sexual let alone romantic interest. 

That was nothing, though, compared to what is the nadir of They/Them: when the campers join in a performance of Pink's F**kin' Perfect, a song which I confess not knowing. This sequence, where the various campers join in some impromptu musical number, seems to come from Glee than from a Friday the 13th inspired film. Even the target audience appears to think this moment is groan-inducing versus empowering. 

Bacon plays the character as if we all should know he is malevolent, but not as over the top as Boone Platt's Zane, the excessively macho counselor who needs thirst pictures of twinks to get excited for sex with his female fiancée (who herself needs pictures of cute girls to get excited too).

To be fair, Zane was meant to be over-the-top, so I cut him some slack here. At least I hope the character was meant to be over-the-top.

My colleague at Society Reviews believes They/Them could not kill off the campers because it would be accused of homophobia and/or transphobia. I am not sold on that, but I do wonder if They/Them could have placed the kids in danger, or at least made them aware of any danger. As they did not know there was a crazed killer out there until almost the very end, there are no stakes for them. 

They/Them may congratulate itself on having more LGBTQ characters and cast/crew than other films. That, however, does not excuse anyone from making a bad film. I think all pronouns would look at They/Them and think it is not worth the time or the $5.40 to see it. 

DECISION: D-

The Comedians: A Review (Review #1625)

 

THE COMEDIANS

This review is for the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon. Today's star is Elizabeth Taylor.

Haiti is a long-suffering nation. Poverty, crime, a long history of unstable governments and stable dictatorships. The most infamous Haitian dictatorship was that of Francois Duvalier, better known as "Papa Doc". The Comedians, a film set during the early period of Duvalier's reign, is not exactly using the Voodoo-tinted country as backdrop to a story of extramarital liaisons. It however is a slog to sit through, with unintentionally funny moments popping out amidst the Creole chaos.

Hotel owner Brown (Richard Burton) wants to dump the Port-au-Prince resort his late mother dumped on him. He, however, finds no buyers and few guests shortly after Papa Doc comes to power. The only guests are Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Paul Ford and Lilian Gish), who once ran for President under the Vegetarian Party ticket. They've come to set up a vegetarian farm, hoping to create a vegan paradise in Haiti.

Also coming is Major H.O. Jones (Alec Guinness), who has lucrative Haitian contacts for military gear. Unfortunately, changes in leadership put him in prison. Major Jones is sprung thanks to the little cache and cash Smith and Brown have. Jones isn't out of danger, but Brown has greater issues on his mind.

There's the dead government official in the empty hotel pool. Add to that the machinations of a planned rebellion against Duvalier by Brown's friend Dr. Magiot (James Earl Jones) and the minister's poet son Henri Philipot (Georg Stanford Brown), who has embraced the Voodoo. By this time Jones is out of prison and currying favor with Captain Concasseur (Raymond St. Jacques), a major figure with Duvalier's henchmen, the Tonton Macoute. 

The biggest issue on his mind is Martha Pineda (Elizabeth Taylor), the German-born wife of a South American ambassador, Manuel (Peter Ustinov). She is his mistress, but both struggle with their affair. With Haiti closing in on a more vicious dictatorship, not all of them will live to leave the haunted island.

The Comedians, made a decade after Duvalier came to power, is the only film I know of that tackles the Papa Doc Duvalier era. It should not be a surprise that the actual Haitians play a secondary role. Perhaps given that The Comedians is part of the Burton-Taylor catalog, the focus on the troubled love affair between Brown and Martha would take precedence over the human rights violations of the Duvalier pere era. 

The Comedians suffers from a certain misplaced level of seriousness that ends up making things hilarious. Already the thought of the pacifist Vegetarian Party candidate having enough sway to visit Jones is odd. However, the sight of Lilian Gish facing down and talking back to the Tonton Macoute while dressed like she had wandered off the set of The Napping House film adaptation makes things uproarious.

This, however, does not compare to what is the ghastliest moment in The Comedians. While the film takes pains to explain the situation, the sight of Alec Guinness in both blackface and in drag, attempting to pass himself off as a large black woman is more horrifying than anything else. Even by 1967 standards, Obi-Wan Kenobi trying to pass himself off as Mammy is beyond tawdry or insulting.

A major problem in The Comedians is the casting. The sight and sound of the very British Peter Ustinov as a South American diplomat is, granted, not as horrifying as Guinness in his blackface drag act. However, his British tones were clearly audible, making the idea that his first language is Spanish laughable. 

He, at least, was one of the better performances in The Comedians. Gish, judging from her performance, was supposed to be daft and daffy, waxing rhapsodic about the benefits of vegetables. If so, then I cut her some slack. Guinness too did better as the extremely chipper Jones, whom one suspects is not what he claims to be. The quip about Lawrence of Arabia was amusing though.

It is in our great lovers that The Comedians flounders. Taylor's accent shifted all over the place. One moment she sounded British, another American, and then we learn her character is German, but that Teutonic accent shifted too. The accent only underlies the overwrought manner to her acting, sometimes bored, sometimes overblown. What is meant as a great romance looks like two people bored with each other.

Burton does himself no favors when playing at romance, though I thought he was better when against anyone other than La Liz. However, he too seemed to be slumming his way through The Comedians, sometimes looking half-asleep. Perhaps he was hit with a zombie curse by Papa Doc?

I think director Peter Glenville was more interested in showing off the odd transitions from one scene to the next (for example, shifting from lifting a corpse to having a body jump into a pool, or from a scene of a character about to scream out to seeing another joyfully say "Welcome to Haiti"). If he did care about the performances, they were from the small group of future notables playing Haitians.

James Earl Jones did much better as the doomed Dr. Magriot where his end is shocking, even if he too seemed more quiet than necessary. Georg Sanford Brown's rebel leader is also strong, particularly when he abandons his Western ways to embrace the Voodoo. Roscoe Lee Brown as suave journalist Petit Pierre also stole the scene from anyone he was with.

The highlight was St. Jacques as the villainous Captain Concasseur, cool but delighting in his murderous ways.

I think it was a mistake to have Graham Greene adapt his own novel. It is a case of the author loving his work too much, giving the characters rather grand things to say that end up sounding silly. That is hard enough to hear, but the notion that Richard Burton would truly believe Alec Guinness was schtupping Elizabeth Taylor is laughable, made more so by Burton's performance.

I think The Comedians is worth watching for the secondary actors, like Jones, Brown and Browne and Cicely Tyson in an early role of a prostitute. Apart from them and Laurence Rosenthal's score, there is nothing particularly good in the film. The Comedians does in the end up funny, though for all the wrong reasons. 

DECISION: D-

Listen to Me Marlon: A Review

 

LISTEN TO ME MARLON

This is part of the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon. Today's star is Marlon Brando.

Marlon Brando is held up as the definitive screen actor, one who is the model, good or bad, for every actor that has come after him. The popular perception of Brando is that of a great talent done in by his own hungers, degrading himself for money, who shifted from being passionate about his craft to simply not caring about it. Listen to Me Marlon is his story, told in his words, that reveal the how of his life and career. Perhaps they even reveal the why, though that requires more digging.

Culled from thousands of hours of audio recordings he made throughout his life, Listen to Me Marlon has Brando speak what we would call "his truth". He speaks of everything: his fraught childhood, his entry into acting and the powerful influence of acting mentor Stela Adler, the transition from stage to screen. He also speaks of the various triumphs and tragedies personal and professional.

There is the highly troubled life of his son Christian, from the kidnapping he endured to the murder trial that brough the reclusive Marlon out into the harsh light of infamy. There is the disillusionment he had with the art of acting, recounting how Mutiny on the Bounty was his worse experience film-wise apart from the discovery of Tahiti. He calls a now-forgotten film, Candy, the worst movie he made, bringing him shame long after its debut. 

Brando also speaks of how he did get into the part of Vito Corleone in The Godfather, his openness and rawness in Last Tango in Paris (even if he felt director Bernardo Bertolucci dug too deep into Brando) and how despite how he understood Kurtz in Apocalypse Now he had contempt for both the film and its director, Francis Ford Coppola. From taking $14 million for twelve days work in Superman to how there are better scenes than "I could have been a contender" in On the Waterfront, Marlon Brando hides nothing.

We do not get a background on why Brando recorded his deepest thoughts and memories (some tapes are marked "Therapist" but whether he meant a literal therapist or himself for therapy is unclear). We also do not get anyone else speaking outside of interviews where Brando was not the only person being interviewed (such as his father or Adler). As such, we get Brando and Brando only. 

This is a positive in that no one is "explaining" or "contextualizing" his thoughts, his words, his memories. Instead, director and cowriter Stevan Riley (writing with Peter Ettedgui) shapes only the structure of Listen to Me Marlon, not the words, via archival footage and newly shot scenes of nature.

What we hear from Brando is an elegant, intelligent usage of words. "You are your memories", he says early in the film. From those memories, we hear Brando speak to us on something surprisingly contemporary: the digital use of actors. A few times we see a computer-generated Brando recite Shakespeare, which is in turns frightening and mesmerizing.

This is an uncensored Brando, one who recognizes his sexual prowess when A Streetcar Named Desire took Broadway and later Hollywood by storm. We also learn that he was nothing like the brutish Stanley Kowalski. Far from it, he hated the character for that brutishness. He also dismisses the oft-praised "I could have been a contender", insisting that it is not his best scene or performance. Rather, the reason it resonates according to Brando is because the audience identifies with Terry Malloy, not with Brando's performance.

Despite his reputation for seriousness, Brando realized that actors are entertainers as well as serious storytellers. As such, he saw nothing wrong with going from the deep drama of A Streetcar Named Desire to the musical Guys and Dolls. He, in his own words, said that acting was "lying for a living".

We see Brando in unguarded moments, such as his clowning around with fellow Method actor Montgomery Clift. We see him being flirtatious with female reporters (though that flirtation might now be considered sexual harassment). Aspiring actors can learn from his advice, such as "You have to know your subject. You have to know the character". 

Listen to Me Marlon is as open a portrait of the artist in full, as if Marlon Brando had us over and began his long confessional. We learn from and about him, beyond the parody of himself he presented on and off screen at the end of his life and career. The promise, the cynicism, the great highs and tragic lows: Marlon Brando touches on them all, unguarded and unafraid to see the truth.

"These are old tapes, no longer usable, no longer useful. Chuck 'em", he says near the end. Whether he ever intended for others to hear his thoughts is something no one can answer. Fortunately, we do hear them, and learn much about this most fascinating and frustrating of film figures. We are all glad that we did listen to Marlon.

DECISION: A+

Room at the Top: A Review

ROOM AT THE TOP

This review is part of the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon. Today's star is Laurence Harvey.

Ambition to move up in the world is a double-edged sword. To build a life better than what your parents or grandparents had is a positive. To sacrifice love, and even yourself, to reach a certain level of success is a tragedy. Room at the Top works well due to some of its performances and its story of ambition run amok.

Joe Lampton (Laurence Harvey) yearns for a life far from his humble, bitter working-class roots. Newly arrived to Warnley from Dufdon, Joe has a respectable government job. However, that won't get him to The Top, the fashionable upper-class part of town. 

One person who can get him there is Susan Brown (Heather Sears), daughter of a wealthy industrialist. However, Joe faces some obstacles. There is Jack Wales (John Westbrook), Susan's haughty, wealthy fiancée. Another is Alice Aisgill (Simone Signoret), the French wife of an Englishman who like Susan, keeps herself busy by participating in local amateur theatrics.

Despite being older, Alice and Joe begin an affair. While for Alice it is love, for Joe it is more complex. He may love Alice, and even be in love with Alice. He, however, also loves Susan's position and wealth. Joe is warned against pursuing wealth over romance on all sides, but he will not be dissuaded. 

One virginity taken, one unplanned pregnancy, and one car accident all clear the way for Joe Lampton to get all he wants, but he finds that it is not all roses at The Top.

It is said that a tragedy in life is to get everything you want, and Room at the Top captures that bitter truth. Despite his outward charm and good looks, there is something dark, bitter and desperate in Joe. He is driven by a blind desire to "get ahead", but he sees too late that he does not know that there are many ways of "getting ahead". 

At times, I thought Laurence Harvey was a bit over-the-top as the brittle, angry Joe, forever driven by that massive chip on his shoulder. However, there are times when Harvey shows what shaped him into being this social climber with a heart of brass only occasionally touched by genuine affection.

On a return visit that is really a set-up to get him out of the way, he goes to what was his home, which is a bombed-out ruin destroyed by the Second World War. As he looks on a child playing in what she calls "her house", Harvey's performance shows that Joe's needs to move up are not purely predatory but also about self-preservation. In his provincial manner (such as mispronouncing "brazier" as "brassier") and almost prudish working-class morality, Harvey shows Joe to be not evil, but a tragic figure.

He is outacted however by Signoret as the loved and lost Alice. In her Oscar-winning performance, Signoret shows Alice as someone who has grown to love Joe for who he is. She, however, is not ashamed or afraid of who she is. In a strong scene where she reveals she posed for an artist once, Alice is able to make a strong case that she should not be ashamed of making her own decisions, especially as she did not have sex with the artist but merely posed for him.

Alice is aware that Joe is driven by other needs, but she still loves the young man he can be. Signoret managed to make Alice into a strong yet vulnerable woman, humiliated by an unfaithful husband and abandoned by her lover in this foreign land. It is a strong, beautiful performance.

Hermione Baddeley earned a place in Oscar history by receiving a Supporting Actress nomination for two minutes and 19 seconds of screentime, the shortest performance ever so recognized with an acting nomination. Her performance as Elspeth, the woman whose apartment serves as Alice and Joe's love nest, is good: the mix of rage and hurt at the loss of her dear friend leaving an impression. Sears struggled at times to make the naive, lovelorn Susan into an intelligent person, but as she was a woman in love unaware of the cruelties of man, perhaps that is how it should be.

Room at the Top is a tragedy, where the protagonist learns too late that not all that glitters is gold. With strong performances and an involving story, it is worth looking into how having it all leaves you with nothing.

DECISION: B-

Queen Christina: A Review

 

QUEEN CHRISTINA

This review is part of the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon. Today's star is Greta Garbo.

Before His Majesty King Edward VIII gave up the British throne to marry a twice-divorced American woman, another monarch gave up power for love.  Three years before the world knew of the love affair between the future Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the biopic Queen Christina told the tale of the Swedish monarch whose romance with a Catholic Spaniard forced this unmerry monarch into romantic exile. At times theatrical, Queen Christina has some beautiful moments and a strong central performance.

Ascending the throne at six, Queen Christina (Greta Garbo) has carried the heavy weight of kingship, leading Sweden through the Thirty Years War. She, however, wants an end to war. She wants peace, with agreeable terms for her foes. She also wants to avoid marriage to her cousin, Prince Carl Gustav (Reginald Owen). She does not want marriage, but she is not disinterested in love.

Love comes her way when, while taking a secret sabbatical from the Palace, she encounters Spanish envoy Antonio Pimentel (John Gilbert). Antonio, unaware both that "he" is a she and that she is the Queen, first jokes then falls in love with her. She reciprocates, but their duties collide with their passions.

Count Magnus (Ian Keith) whips up the Swedish people into anti-Spanish (and anti-Catholic) frenzy as the Christina/Antonio affair becomes more open and intense. Now that Antonio has been sent back due to his original mission of arranging a marriage with the Spanish king has fallen through, Queen Christina now must decide between love and duty. She chooses the former, but at a tragic cost.

Queen Christina the film, like the final shot in it, can be read many ways. Some interpret a gay subtext, particularly due to the queen's relationship with Countess Ebba (Elizabeth Young), her pretty young courtier. The queen kisses her on the lips not once but twice (though the second kiss is obscured by Christina's hat). A pretty barmaid flirts with Christina when the latter was in drag and kept being called a boy. There is her declaration that she will not die an old maid but die "a bachelor". 

Add to that the open way she is declared "King" and that how it is openly stated that she was brought up as a boy. If there is any gay coding in Queen Christina, it was barely subtle.

I would not argue for or against such an interpretation. I would make a case that Queen Christina is very daring in its portrayal of love and sex. The Innkeeper all but says he can bring a woman to keep "His Lordship" company at night. The not-married Queen and Count spend three days together, and there is a scene where we see a member of Antonio's entourage speak to him behind bed curtains, the suggestion that he and Her Majesty are sharing a bed pretty clear.

It's almost daring how Queen Christina says much by saying so little, the film making things both clear and opaque enough to read what one wants to. It is a benefit to see that we did not have to hide the Antonio/Christina romance while simultaneously not have to see everything.

The film is a showcase for Garbo both as actress and as a beauty. She and John Gilbert had been the silent era's great screen lovers, and there is a sequence where Christina wanders around the room silently, making sure to remember everything there. This is a beautiful scene done well by Garbo, where we see the luminous beauty that she was.

In terms of acting, Queen Christina is one of Garbo's best performances. She was able to draw on her silent film acting and use her face and eyes to express so much. As the mob stormed the palace, Christina faced them down. We see a mix of fear, anger, and contempt rolling through her without her having to say a word. When she does speak, she is capable of moving you. It would be hard not to be emotionally moved when she abdicates, her speaking and looks blending to reveal a conflicted woman.

John Gilbert has been derided for having a weak, high voice, but Queen Christina disproves that long-held myth. I was expecting something almost Mickey Mouse to emerge, but Gilbert's voice was strong. He does look better than sound better, his acting something being a bit bigger than it should be. That being said, it is sad that Gilbert did not survive the transition as Garbo did. I would put it down to style than speech: Gilbert at times acting with his face than his voice. 

Nevertheless, the on-screen pairing of Gilbert and Garbo reveal some of what made them such formidable screen lovers. Their scenes were filled with humor and passion, even a bit of tenderness.

Gilbert's acting was certainly better than Lewis Stone, who did survive into sound. His performance was comically theatrical, to where one wondered if he was deliberately spoofing the script.

There were excellent touches from director Rouben Mamoulian that went beyond the directing of the actors. One particularly clever moment was when Christina had given up the crown. As she spoke to her Court, we could see the crown on the throne rise over her head, a metaphorical crown still upon her as she bids farewell.

Queen Christina is a beautifully shot film, with an excellent performance from Greta Garbo and a strong one from John Gilbert. Perhaps not as lavish as it could have been, and more than likely not historically accurate, Queen Christina still holds up well.  

1626-1689

DECISION: A-

Damien: Omen II. A Review

DAMIEN: OMEN II

This review is part of the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon. Today's star is William Holden.

Growing up is never easy, even more so for the Son of Satan. Damien: Omen II picks up our tale of the Antichrist, still having nefarious forces helping him in the planned rise to power. Strong performances and a surprisingly logical story work for this sequel.

Seven years after the original The Omen, we find that young Damien Thorn (Jonathan Scott-Taylor) is being cared for by his wealthy industrialist uncle Richard (William Holden) and his second wife Ann (Lee Grant). Both of them love Damien as much as they do Richard's son Mark (Lucas Donat).   

The Thorn boys attend a top military academy, but various friends and family think Damien is a dangerous being. Aunt Marion (Sylvia Sydney) and journalist Joan Hart (Elizabeth Shephard) meet sometimes gruesome deaths, with a raven foretelling their impending deaths. So too does Bill Atherton (Lew Ayres), the elderly Thorn Industries executive virulently opposed to plans to shift into pesticides.  

Damien, however, is also helped along by various figures, such as Sergeant Neff (Lance Henriksen), who reveals to Damien his true identity. Damien is at first horrified to learn his origins, but eventually starts embracing his destiny. Anyone attempting to stop his rise meets violent ends, for Damien has many secret allies. Even those allies, including the Whore of Babylon herself, will not escape the wrath of the impending Antichrist.

Damien: Omen II does require a bit of knowledge with regards the first film. I have seen both the original and remake of The Omen, so perhaps it is difficult for me to judge whether those who do not know the story can follow Damien. However, to the film's credit at least it has a brief introduction via Leo McKern and Ian Hendry's pre-title scene which pretty much fills one in on the demonic goings-on. 

Damien does not stray from the formula originated in The Omen. We have a family unit caring, even protecting Damien which continues to believe that various people who come against Damien dying in sometimes gruesome ways is plausible. We have the male (Holden) slowly coming to realize that Damien is the Antichrist and must be destroyed, but not being able to get to the necessary act in time.

We even have Jerry Goldsmith returning to score Damien. While he did not repeat his Oscar-winning score save for a brief reprise of Ave Satani at the end, the score is similar enough to stay within this universe.

Some of the performances are quite good. Jonathan Scott-Taylor is simultaneously angelic and demonic as Damien, whose lovely face can shift into pure wickedness. He does not play Damien as evil from the get-go. In fact, he recoils in horror when he learns his destiny, running from the academy after reading Scripture that suggests he is the Antichrist. However, his smirk at the deaths and injuries at the Thorn Industries lab, and the chilling conclusion of his walking away from the burning Thorn Museum, suggest that sense of evil emerging. That Scott-Taylor could suggest regret at having to kill someone he loved made Damien sympathetic, or almost so. One does not know if his scream was that of grief or part of the plan to help find the body.

Holden is strong as Richard Thorn, a man who slowly, too slowly, realizes his nephew is the literal Spawn of Satan. As a businessman with a loving family, Holden is also sympathetic and caring. His horror at the realization that Damien is responsible for various deaths, including of loved ones, is excellent. Lucas Donat as Damien's cousin Mark is also good, that of someone who has taken in his cousin as a brother to discover that there is danger behind the eyes.

Out of the main cast, I would argue that Lee Grant was the one who was slightly over-the-top in her performance, particularly at the end. However, given how things worked out perhaps I can be more forgiving of her manner. Damien was an early role for Hendricksen and Meshach Taylor, whose end was a bit funny but also gruesome. Fortunately, Damien was not as graphic in the deaths as it could have been, so it has that.

If I find fault in Damien, it is in some other performances like with Sydney and Ayres, though their roles were smaller. Damien himself did not have long to develop in his acceptance of his evil, but I put that more to Stanley Mann and Mike Hodges' screenplay (good as it was) than in the actors or Don Taylor's direction. 

Damien: Omen II is the rare sequel that seems rational as opposed to superfluous or a money-grab. It is not needed, but it also does fit within what came before. There is still no sympathy for the devil, but Damien: Omen II works well both as a continuation of The Omen and as a separate film.

DECISION: B+

THE OMEN FILMS

The Omen (1976)

The Final Conflict: Omen III 

Omen IV: The Awakening

The Omen (2006) 

The First Omen