What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Rats Rateye]

View attachment 312964
Forsaking All Others from 1934 with Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery and Clark Gable

Forsaking All Others starts out as a harsh look at a woman publicly and painfully jilted at the altar. And while it maintains its focus and energy initially, it, unfortunately, loses both in the last third.

As the movie opens, we see childhood sweethearts Joan Crawford and Robert Montgomery seemingly ecstatic to be getting married. Also in town for the wedding is the couple's mutual childhood friend, Clark Gable, who is carrying a covert torch for Ms. Crawford.

But the fly in the ointment for this one is Montgomery's ex-girlfriend Frances Drake (I know, even as a stage name, it's a bit of an odd nod to history). Despite being an obvious and manipulative witch-with-a-B, she convinces Montgomery to jilt Crawford and elope with her the night before the planned marriage - ouch.

And while, as was oddly common in Depression-era movies, this is a tale of rich people doing stupid rich-people things, Crawford's pain and humiliation are real. After recuperating from the shock in a very nice cabin in the woods, where Gable comes by to comfort her as a friend, Crawford returns to society and quickly begins having an affair with, now, unhappily married Montgomery.

Here's where the movie, which up till this point is a reasonably poignant and real-to-life tale of a woman left at the alter, gets goofy as we see her and Montgomery "escape" from the city only to have a prank-and-pitfall-filled day in the country resulting in them staying over night, but obviously not having sex (thank you silly Motion Picture Production Code for that nonsense).

After that, we jump forward (I'm guessing) about a year where, once again, Crawford and now-divorced Montgomery are to be married the next day. However, (spoiler alert) this time, at the last moment, Crawford sees that reliable-and-decent Gable and not the nice-but-frivolous Montgomery would make the better husband. Hence, she now returns the jilt of a year ago and leaves Montgomery all but at the altar as she, literally, sails away with Gable.

It's not a bad movie, but the restrictions of the Production Code and a rushed last third addled the effort. Had it been made a year earlier in the pre-code era, instead of a screwball day in the country of not having sex, Crawford and Montgomery, cheating on his wife, would have been shacked up somewhere while the wife stewed. Not nice, but life is often not nice.

Also, instead of a bemused, but cheerful Montgomery waiving Crawford and Gable goodbye at the end, pre-code Montgomery would have been more solemn and reflective about the mess that he's made of his life and relationships. The three leads have enough talent to hold this wobbly toward the end effort together, but one can see the better pre-code movie suffocating inside this code-approved one.


N.B. There is some very real and rapid dialogue early on as Crawford, Montgomery and Gable discuss the fallout from Crawford's jilting. It is refreshingly frank and visceral, but unfortunately, that quality of writing all but disappears by the last third of the movie. Separately, if you do watch it, look for the roadside hamburger shack scene - great time travel to a place you'd love to visit (I tried, but couldn't find a pic of it anywhere).

Looking forward to it. I just have to wait for my local library (Who would have known that libraries have good movies available?) to have it returned and delivered.

 

[Spiney]

Watched Reservoir Dogs last night, hadn’t seen it in probably 10 years. An epic but bizarre movie.

 

[Fading Fast]

Looking forward to it. I just have to wait for my local library (Who would have known that libraries have good movies available?) to have it returned and delivered.

It's a shame it fell apart in the second half, but still, I think you'll enjoy it. Looking forward to hearing your post-viewing thoughts.

Watched Reservoir Dogs last night, hadn’t seen it in probably 10 years. An epic but bizarre movie.

I need to see it again as, like you, it's been at least ten years.

 

[Touchofevil]

Odds Against Tomorrow on TCM this morning. It is kind of playing in the background and stumbled in on it late, but I like what I have seen. Nice cast, and entertaining cinematography, and seems to be an interesting story.

 

[AmateisGal]

That sounds sharp. What year is it from?

From 1943!

 

[crawlinkingsnake]

Odds Against Tomorrow on TCM this morning. It is kind of playing in the background and stumbled in on it late, but I like what I have seen. Nice cast, and entertaining cinematography, and seems to be an interesting story.

I also saw it this morning and loved it. TCM's "Noir Alley" with Eddie Muller (https://noiralley.tcm.com/about-eddie) airs every Saturday midnight and Sunday 10:00am. Since I'm usually not awake by midnight (unless out galavanting around), I do occasionaly catch it Sunday mornings. Eddie Muller is the best!

 

[crawlinkingsnake]

Recently on NETFLIX watched "Mudbound" (https://www.netflix.com/title/80175694). Story of two families, one white, one black, from the Mississippi Delta post 1927 flood, through post WW II. Both families had sons who served during the war. Goes into detail on how both veterans were treated after their return to civilian life in Mississippi. It was interesting for a while but became quite depressing.

 

[Zombie_61]

With not much worth watching on TV last night my wife and I resorted to Netflix and chose Cool Hand Luke (1967). She had never seen it, and it had been several years since I watched it last. Good movie (well, I like it) with solid performances throughout. It was the first time I'd seen it without having been "edited for television", and was a little surprised by how tame it is by modern standards.

 

[Worf]

It is more than good enough for me for whatever that is worth!

Where is the REAL ToE and what have you done with the body!??!!! Compliments???? Who ARE you????

Worf

 

[Fading Fast]

The Killer that Stalked New York from 1950 with Evelyn Keyes, Charles Korvin, Lola Albright and an underused Dorothy Malone as a mousy nurse, but look closely and you'll still see her flash those famous come-hither eyes (above left) from the classic bookshop pick-up scene in The Big Sleep.

Movies can walk and chew gum at the same time - tell two stories at once - but it does take some skill to seamlessly knit the separate threads together. In The Killer that Stalked New York, the writers and director Earl McEvoy failed to complete the knitting, so this overall solid movie suffers from being a bit of a bifurcated effort.

The main tale is one of New York City on the brink of a smallpox outbreak with eerily similar overtones to today's Covid pandemic. But it is also the story of Treasury Department officers tracking stolen diamonds smuggled in from Cuba to be fenced in New York. The connection between the two stories is diamond "mule" Evelyn Keyes who knowingly brings the gems into the city while unknowingly bringing in smallpox.

The knitting problem is mainly one of tone and style. The smallpox story is told kinda like a public service announcement film with a resonating-voiced narrator guiding us through how a city organizes its resources to prevent a pandemic. Conversely, the diamond-heist story has a traditional noir vibe of bad people doing bad things to both their friends and foes.

With Keyes as the link between the two tales, we see her arrive in the city already feeling sick and, thus, spreading the disease. She immediately tries to connect with her husband, Korvin, who is going to sell the gems. Yet unknown to her, while she was away, he was having an affair. And upping the noirness, he wasn't just cheating on Keyes with another woman, but with her sister - damn, people can do really bad things to each other. Pause on that for a moment, while Keyes is down in Cuba getting the stolen diamonds and risking arrest smuggling them into the country for her husband, he's banging her sister, ouch.

And if that isn't enough, while Keyes lies sick in bed, hubby takes the diamonds and whatever money she has and, employing a scorched-earth policy, skedaddles on both of the sisters. Keyes, with the sickness advancing to the point where her skin is showing the blisters - she's a bit frightening to look at now - is hellbent on finding her, no other word for it, scumbag husband. But all this noir stuff plays on in the background as the movie mainly focuses on the politicians' and healthcare community's efforts to stop the spread of the disease.

Here, the parallels to today's Covid pandemic are jarring: an initial test and trace efforts fails; a public education outreach includes discussion of how the virus is transmitted through the air and by touch; once available, a huge public campaign ensues to convince everyone to get vaccinated; at times, there is not enough vaccine and, finally, we see a push by others against the vaccine who believe it is some sort of conspiracy. I know, it's frighteningly similar to today.

Both stories are good and are, at the end, connected, once again, through Keyes because the Treasury officers and healthcare officials eventually team up to find her as the latter are now looking for her as patient zero. Unfortunately, the distinctive style and arc of the two stories leaves the viewer feeling as if he or she is almost watching separate movies at the same time. The combined effort is worth it, but you just can't help wishing the two narratives had been harmonized better.


A double N.B. for this one. One, the 1950 on-location footage of New York City is time-travel heaven. And, two, in the opening scene, Keyes wears a houndstooth wool suit with a hat and coat lined in the same fabric (see below, it's the best pic I could find, but it doesn't do it justice). She looks impressive; she's a woman to be reckoned with, but that outfit must have cost a small fortune and probably explains why she needed to steal the diamonds in the first place.

 

[crawlinkingsnake]

With not much worth watching on TV last night my wife and I resorted to Netflix and chose Cool Hand Luke (1967). She had never seen it, and it had been several years since I watched it last. Good movie (well, I like it) with solid performances throughout. It was the first time I'd seen it without having been "edited for television", and was a little surprised by how tame it is by modern standards.

Great choice Zombie! It's been a favorite of mine for a long time.

 

[Touchofevil]

Where is the REAL ToE and what have you done with the body!??!!! Compliments???? Who ARE you????

Worf

Just wait...

 

[sal]

Bogey in “The Black Legion” interesting to see him stretch his abilities

 

[Trenchfriend]

He's fan of the 50s:

 

[MisterCairo]

Friday night movie night, three words:

"Birdie num nums"...

 

[Zombie_61]

He's fan of the 50s:

Das mag sein, aber die meisten von uns sprechen kein Deutsch.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Das mag sein, aber die meisten von uns sprechen kein Deutsch.

But you see.

 

[Touchofevil]

The last half of the Sweet Smell of Success on TCM. I have seen it many times. The last scene for Tony Curtis is my favorite scene in the movie not because of what happens to Curtis, but for its cinematography. It is a pretty darn good movie overall with a nice cast.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Blue Dahlia from 1946 with Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix, Hugh Beaumont and Howard Da Silva

Yes, The Blue Dahlia is another noir pairing of Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd, but it's also a disturbing look at a returning WWII serviceman with severe PTSD and, if that's not enough, it's also a fine "who killed the cheatin' wife" murder mystery.

Character actor William Bendix delivers a career performance as the damaged veteran who can't keep the noises in his head straight and whose violent anger is sparked by loud music (or, sometimes, nothing). This man needs serious medical attention, but other than hanging with his two former service buddies, Ladd and Hugh Beaumont, he's on his own.

When those three return from the war, Ladd finds his wife partying at their Los Angeles bungalow apartment where she is clearly having an affair with local nightclub-owner Howard Da Silva. Ladd and the wife fight, then after the party, they fight again and he leaves (and leaves his service revolver behind, gun-wall-hung). Later that evening, separately, Da Silva (looking for nooky) and Bendix (looking for Ladd) come by - all spied on by the slimy apartment-complex house detective.

But when the wife is found shot dead the following morning, Ladd is the lead suspect owing to, one, the loud and public fight he had with his wife at the party and, two, his gun being the murder weapon. Realizing he looks guilty, Ladd goes on the lam so that he can find the real killer and clear his name.

In a fortuitous occurrence that only happens in movieland, Veronica freakin' Lake drives by and stops to pick up Ladd as he's walking down the road. And in another movieland-only occurrence, she just happens to be the somewhat estranged wife of the man, Da Silva, who was having an affair with Ladd's wife (yes, it's a bit confusing). So, these two kinda sorta team up to help Ladd clear his name.

The rest of the movie is solid noir - no surprise as the screenplay was penned by Raymond Chandler - as Ladd mixes it up with Da Silva and his henchmen, he and Lake quarrel on the surface but fall in love beneath it, the police stay a step behind both the bad guys and Ladd and damaged Bendix is all but beaten by the police into confessing, true or not, to killing the wife.

Chandler's original ending, according to the TCM host, was changed for the movie, at the request of the Navy, to a new ending that you might or might not like, but as with most noir movies, the journey is the real joy. And the journey in this one is greatly enhanced by Lake and Ladd who have palpable screen chemistry as they are, arguably, the first couple of Noirland. And if all that's not enough, there's plenty of 1940s period details, noir cinematography and Art Deco architecture to make it a fun time capsule for us today.


N.B. Check out the early on massive-downpour scene that runs for at least twenty minutes of screen time and that has the actors constantly soaked to the bone. It had to be challenging to film and unpleasant to act in, but it is powerfully effective in setting the mood by subliminally telling the viewer that this noir movie will be no sunny Los Angeles story.


Three returning WWII vets showing us what men looked like in the 1940s.

Really wanted to post another pic of Veronica Lake, but this one ⇧ was just too good to pass up.

 

[Touchofevil]

As usual, the last half of another movie, From Russia with Love.
Also saw part of another movie the name of which I cannot remember. I believe it was Rage of Honor. Yes, it was Rage of Honor. There was no honor in the making of this movie. It made Steven SeagalVanDammeNorris look like masters of cinema. Bad all the way around and yet it kept my attention for way longer than any roadside accident should.