What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Fading Fast]

Began this morning with The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man on TCM. If Lady ToE and schoolwork allows for it, I will follow this up with The Third Man, Charade, Laura, Vertigo, and Rear Window. What a lineup for a rainy Sunday.

TCM really pulled out a lot of big guns for today.

 

[Fading Fast]

Topaze from 1933 with John Barrymore and Myrna Loy


Topaze takes full advantage of its pre-code freedom to expose several deeply embedded societal hypocrisies, shockingly, without attempting to clean up a single one of them.

The hero of the movie, instead, goes from being a naive school teacher to a successful businessman by dropping his code of honor and embracing the chicanery and duplicity, shown here, as necessary for success.

John Barrymore initially plays the title character Topaze as a humble schoolmaster deeply devoted to teaching his pupils the values of honesty and integrity as guiding principles for life.

Proving true to this code, he is fired when he won't inflate the grades of the son of an influential Barron. In a movieland-style follow-up twist, that same Barron hires the now-unemployed teacher to be the lead scientist behind the Barron's new health-water business.

Barrymore takes his new work seriously as he invents several techniques to make water purer and full of vitamins, but the Barron really only hired Barrymore to use Barrymore's public reputation for scientific integrity to help sell the water.

Cynically and unbeknownst to Barrymore, the "health" water that the Barron sells is just tap water that contains none of Barrymore's improvements. Yet, once it is successful, even the politicians get in on the act, bestowing on Barrymore a public honor for his scientific work, an honor that was withheld from him when he was a school teacher.

Naive Barrymore also doesn't even realize that the Barron's friend, played by Myrna Loy, is really his mistress as Barrymore's innocent mind isn't yet trained to see the hypocrisy and muddled morality of real life.

With that long but very engaging set up, the movie has a classic scales-falling-from-his-eyes climax as Barrymore realizes that he's being used for his reputation and not his scientific abilities.

If this movie had been made after 1934, when The Motion Picture Production Code was enforced, Barrymore would now publicly expose the scheme, the Baron would be arrested and Barrymore would be hailed by one and all as a hero, but pre-code moviedom quite often didn't do things that way.

In a breathtaking twist, Barrymore proves a quick study as he turns everything - the water business, the peacock politicians, his old school and even the Barron's private life - to his advantage. It's shocking, even by today's low standards, for its embrace of cynicism.

John Barrymore's lively public life often overshadowed his acting career, but here we see Barrymore's outsized acting talent on full display in an unusual role for him as a milquetoast teacher forced out of his ivory tower and to face life's compromises. He brilliantly captures the character of Topaze, making his late-in-the-movie transition believable, even chilling.

Myrna Loy also stands out in this one as the mistress who can only take so much hypocrisy and lying, especially when she sees, in Barrymore's character, something better than the seedy, albeit luxurious, life she's been living. Plus, at the peak of her youth and beauty, Loy looks incredible in one after another crazy 1930s Hollywood high-fashion outfit.

Topaze wonderfully uses its pre-code freedom to brazenly expose academic, business, political and personal hypocrisies that, even in the 1930s, had become so common as to be accepted.

With crisp and, often, modern-sounding dialogue, its aforementioned impressive performances, timeless themes and confident directing that moves the story along quickly, Topaze would be recognizable and entertaining to present-day viewers who often shy away from "old" movies.

 

[Touchofevil]

TCM really pulled out a lot of big guns for today.

Yes, they have. Each time I watch The Third Man, I find that I like it more and more. The story, the the visuals, the actors/characters are the tops. Too often Charade has just been a background film for me. Actually paying attention to it, I find it to be pretty darn entertaining. A great mix of wit and mystery. The cast is of course top notch as are the visuals of life from yesteryear. I am also enjoying the music by Henry Mancini. The movie feels Hitchcockian In so many ways which is a plus for me.

 

[Fading Fast]

Yes, they have. Each time I watch The Third Man, I find that I like it more and more. The story, the the visuals, the actors/characters are the tops. Too often Charade has just been a background film for me. Actually paying attention to it, I find it to be pretty darn entertaining. A great mix of wit and mystery. The cast is of course top notch as are the visuals of life from yesteryear. I am also enjoying the music by Henry Mancini. The movie feels Hitchcockian In so many ways which is a plus for me.

I agree on both movies and, like you, have come to enjoy "Charade" more over the years. You are spot on, you can feel the attempt to make it Hitchcockian.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Began this morning with The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man on TCM. If Lady ToE and schoolwork allows for it, I will follow this up with The Third Man, Charade, Laura, Vertigo, and Rear Window. What a lineup for a rainy Sunday.

Man and I thought I'd busted a window with Perry Mason season uno in one shot.

 

[Denton]

View attachment 499593
Topaze from 1933 with John Barrymore and Myrna Loy


Topaze takes full advantage of its pre-code freedom to expose several deeply embedded societal hypocrisies, shockingly, without attempting to clean up a single one of them.

The hero of the movie, instead, goes from being a naive school teacher to a successful businessman by dropping his code of honor and embracing the chicanery and duplicity, shown here, as necessary for success.

John Barrymore initially plays the title character Topaze as a humble schoolmaster deeply devoted to teaching his pupils the values of honesty and integrity as guiding principles for life.

Proving true to this code, he is fired when he won't inflate the grades of the son of an influential Barron. In a movieland-style follow-up twist, that same Barron hires the now-unemployed teacher to be the lead scientist behind the Barron's new health-water business.

Barrymore takes his new work seriously as he invents several techniques to make water purer and full of vitamins, but the Barron really only hired Barrymore to use Barrymore's public reputation for scientific integrity to help sell the water.

Cynically and unbeknownst to Barrymore, the "health" water that the Barron sells is just tap water that contains none of Barrymore's improvements. Yet, once it is successful, even the politicians get in on the act, bestowing on Barrymore a public honor for his scientific work, an honor that was withheld from him when he was a school teacher.

Naive Barrymore also doesn't even realize that the Barron's friend, played by Myrna Loy, is really his mistress as Barrymore's innocent mind isn't yet trained to see the hypocrisy and muddled morality of real life.

With that long but very engaging set up, the movie has a classic scales-falling-from-his-eyes climax as Barrymore realizes that he's being used for his reputation and not his scientific abilities.

If this movie had been made after 1934, when The Motion Picture Production Code was enforced, Barrymore would now publicly expose the scheme, the Baron would be arrested and Barrymore would be hailed by one and all as a hero, but pre-code moviedom quite often didn't do things that way.

In a breathtaking twist, Barrymore proves a quick study as he turns everything - the water business, the peacock politicians, his old school and even the Barron's private life - to his advantage. It's shocking, even by today's low standards, for its embrace of cynicism.

John Barrymore's lively public life often overshadowed his acting career, but here we see Barrymore's outsized acting talent on full display in an unusual role for him as a milquetoast teacher forced out of his ivory tower and to face life's compromises. He brilliantly captures the character of Topaze, making his late-in-the-movie transition believable, even chilling.

Myrna Loy also stands out in this one as the mistress who can only take so much hypocrisy and lying, especially when she sees, in Barrymore's character, something better than the seedy, albeit luxurious, life she's been living. Plus, at the peak of her youth and beauty, Loy looks incredible in one after another crazy 1930s Hollywood high-fashion outfit.

Topaze wonderfully uses its pre-code freedom to brazenly expose academic, business, political and personal hypocrisies that, even in the 1930s, had become so common as to be accepted.

With crisp and, often, modern-sounding dialogue, its aforementioned impressive performances, timeless themes and confident directing that moves the story along quickly, Topaze would be recognizable and entertaining to present-day viewers who often shy away from "old" movies.

I haven't posted here in several years, but I have been following this thread, and today I am dropping in to express my enthusiasm for Topaze. I love John Barrymore. His performance as Topaze is maybe my favorite role of his. (Other favorites are Counsellor at Law, and, yeah, what he does in Grand Hotel is quite special.)

Topaze has John Barrymore speaking lines from a screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles Macarthur, adapted from a play by Marcel Pagnol. It really does not get better than that. The Hollywood ending differs from the French ending -- an improvement, I think (although it's been a while since I compared them). The return to the schoolroom at the end is hilarious and devastating.

I also remember thinking that Myrna Loy is not given enough to do.

 

[Fading Fast]

I haven't posted here in several years, but I have been following this thread, and today I am dropping in to express my enthusiasm for Topaze. I love John Barrymore. His performance as Topaze is maybe my favorite role of his. (Other favorites are Counsellor at Law, and, yeah, what he does in Grand Hotel is quite special.)

Topaze has John Barrymore speaking lines from a screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles Macarthur, adapted from a play by Marcel Pagnol. It really does not get better than that. The Hollywood ending differs from the French ending -- an improvement, I think (although it's been a while since I compared them). The return to the schoolroom at the end is hilarious and devastating.

I also remember thinking that Myrna Loy is not given enough to do.

Great to see you posting.

Can only agree with this, "Other [Barrymore] favorites are Counsellor at Law, and, yeah, what he does in Grand Hotel is quite special." I love both of those movies.

And I also agree with this, "I also remember thinking that Myrna Loy is not given enough to do."

 

[Worf]

TCM's cavalcade of WWII Movies. "12 O'clock High", "All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and "Air Force". Seen em all at least a dozen times each but still love to watch em when they're on or available on the TCM Roku app.

Worf

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

TCM's cavalcade of WWII Movies.

Worf

I read James Jones' humongous From Here To Eternity over a college Christmas holiday. Penned by virgin novelist and
South Pacific Second World War veteran Jones, it struck a chord with the public. Hollywood took note and the rest is history. Easily a favourite film, set in pre-Pearl Harbor Hawaii and quite romantic with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr featured star crossed lovers, while Montgomery Clift is private Pruitt, smitten by Donna Reed, a Honolulu cat house queen bee. Intrigued by book and candle, I took time to study the film and its novel, learning author Jones
though decorated had been cashiered out before war's end. He returned home with a bad discharge so instead of taking the post war college GI Bill for American veterans he wrote From Here To Eternity.

English native Deborah Kerr is buried in Surrey. I do not believe she won an Oscar for the film, nor did Clift, cited four
or five times including From Here To Eternity. Clift crapped out with Oscar and died quite young in New York, only forty-five from cardiac arrest. Ms Kerr I believe received an honourary Oscar. Frank Sinatra, also in the film and Donna Reed
I think both won Oscar for Eternity. Lancaster, cannot remember.

A great film that I never tire of watching with wine or whiskey. One of these years I'll reread the book again.

 

[Fading Fast]

Dodsworth from 1936 with Ruth Chatterton, Walter Huston, lovely Mary Astor, David Niven, Paul Lukas, Maria Ouspenskaya and John Payne


To understand Dodsworth, you have to understand that the then twenty-year-old marriage at the center of the story started with a middle-aged man marrying a young girl.

That young girl is now in her forties; her husband has just sold his automobile company; he's set to retire and their married daughter will soon be giving birth to their first grandchild.

Walter Huston plays the retiring auto magnate who sees this new phase of life as a time to "slow down;" whereas, his wife, played by Ruth Chatterton, is not at all ready to "slow down."

She's having a midlife crisis and wants to "speed up" her life by joining the young international society set when she and her husband embark on a European tour.

Huston, a kind husband, tries to give his wife what she wants, but he is congenitally not able to participate in the silly sport of putting on airs, nor is he interested in the gossip and game playing of that clique.

Chatterton is excited to put her and her husband's "provincial town" of Zenith behind her, but as their trip goes on, she discovers that might mean putting her husband behind her, too, as she drifts, with more intent as time goes by, into more affairs.

From here, the movie is Chatterton having a series of affairs - with lovers played by David Niven (young and English suave), Paul Lukas (cultured European) and Gregory Gaye (titled and aristocratic), while actively pushing her husband away from her.

Huston is a more understanding husband than most. He gets that his wife is younger than he and that she is fighting getting older, but her affairs and her new obnoxiously faux class condescension is becoming too much for him.

Chatterton finally asks Huston for a divorce so that she can marry her titled German with a tough-as-nails Teutonic mother, played by the wonderful actress Maria Ouspenskaya. Mama, to Chatterton's dismay, has other plans for her son.

Huston, now going through the divorce ritual, is a bit lost until he re-encounters a "drifting around Europe" American woman played by lovely Mary Astor.

Astor appreciates Huston in a way Chatterton never did, even inspiring Huston to take on a new challenge in business, which it becomes obvious, will keep him young. After watching Huston genuflect to his spoiled wife all movie, his relationship with Astor is refreshing.

Just when all is good with those two, though, Chatterton, having been knocked back on her heels by Mama Ouspenskaya, drops the divorce and comes to reclaim Huston.

Will Huston, a man of honor, take Chatterton back and give up lovely Mary Astor or will he, finally, move on from his spoiled wife and choose his own happiness?

It is the engaging performances of these three principals that bring this story, based on a Sinclair Lewis novel, to life.

Huston is wonderful playing a decent and honest Midwest man who still has some grit and fight in him, but who only uses it when absolutely necessary. You felt his wounded pride and broken heart time and again.

Chatterton is equally good as the selfish and spoiled woman who is arrogant and insecure at the same time. Her nervously fast dialogue delivery, only when she is scared or contrite, is wonderfully nuanced acting.

Mary Astor portrays charm and kindness without becoming treacly. She, like Huston, shows some punch when fighting to keep him from going back to Chatterton. She's equally moving when quietly but poignantly expressing hurt when she thinks she will lose him.

Dodsworth is impressive 1930s movie making. The sets are clearly sets, but in a beautiful "dream-factory" way that places most of the story in a lovely world of pretty European make believe.

Director William Wyler paced his movie well by neither rushing the story along nor letting what is, effectively, a one-note plot get bogged down. It helps that he had an incredibly talented cast which includes actors like Nivens and John Payne popping up in small roles.

Dodsworth is a sweeping story about a small matter: will a wealthy couple's marriage survive a wife's midlife crisis? No one is dying; no one is going to jail and no one will be poor whether the husband and wife get back together or not.

The Depression is impoverishing America (and much of the world), but movie goers in the 1930s showed an incredible desire to see how the few remaining rich messed up their comfortable lives with extra-marital affairs.

It's escapism for the ten-cent price of a ticket and Hollywood was glad to accommodate it with lavish productions like Dodsworth, which even today, owing to its talented writing, directing and acting, is still entertaining viewing.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Great review, as usual!

I consider Dodsworth to be one of the most mature dramas of the thirties, and it's a big personal favorite... I've owned a complete 16mm print since the pre-VHS days.



For starters, I think Dodsworth is one of Sinclair Lewis' absolute best books, and the film adaptation is excellent, really doing justice to the novel. Part of its feeling truthful stems from the story being vaguely autobiographical, in that Lewis did divorce his first wife and remarry a stronger, more understanding and artistic woman. It's worth noting that the film's screenplay by Sidney Howard (*) is based on Howard's earlier successful Broadway play adaptation... which had also starred Walter Huston.

(* A couple of years later, Howard received a posthumous Oscar for the screenplay of Gone with the Wind.)

With that glossy Goldwyn production (it won the Oscar for art direction, and received seven nominations altogether), a dream cast, and William Wyler's always sensitive direction, Dodsworth is a pinnacle of mid-thirties dramatic filmmaking. The characters ring true, the performances are outstanding.

Walter Huston is always great, but this may be his best role. Astor, Chatterton, Niven, etc., are all dead-on, and Maria Ouspenskaya (*) gives a one-scene-wonder performance for the ages. She received a best supporting actress nomination for that single scene.

(* Soon to be Maleva the Gypsy in The Wolf Man.)

Anyway, I love this movie and never miss a chance to recommend it.

 

[AmateisGal]

The utterly delightful and charming film, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, about a English widow who heads to Paris so she can buy a Christian Dior dress. Set in 1957. One of those rare films that is just perfection.

 

[Fading Fast]

City of Fear from 1959 with Vince Edwards, Patricia Blaire, Lyle Talbot, Joseph Mell and Sherwood Price


The late 1950s saw many low-budget noirish crime dramas like City of Fear that, to this day, still have an entertainment value even if the writing, directing and acting are uneven and the production quality, often, equal to nothing more than a TV crime drama of that era.

Vince Edwards, who had a mini career in low-budget noirs before famously playing TV's Ben Casey, here plays a murderous drug dealer who breaks out of prison with what he thinks is a sealed container of $1 million worth of heroin.

Unfortunately for him and everyone else, what he really has is a container of the highly radioactive Cobalt-60, which if released, could poison the population of a major city.

Edwards makes his way to Los Angeles to find his girlfriend/moll, played by Patricia Blair, and his antagonistic business partner and front, Joseph Mell. Edwards plans to sell the heroin and, then, "disappear" with Blair for a life of ease.

The police, fully aware that Edwards has Cobalt-60 with him, and wanting to avert panic in the city, engage in a quiet city-wide manhunt neatly using geiger counters and a grid search to look for Edwards.

Ramping everything up even more, the Cobalt-60 is so deadly that, despite being sealed in a steel container (unfortunately, not lined with lead), close contact with it will still make someone sick.

With that setup, most of the movie is Edwards getting sicker, he thinks he has a cold, and more desperate to sell what he believes is heroin, as the police, led by pre-code-era heavy, Lyle Talbot, slowly get closer to Edwards.

The story has so many holes that you just have to run with it, which you can do for a few reasons. Edwards is compelling as the sociopath getting sicker but only thinking about all the money he'll get selling his "heroin."

In Hitchcockian terms, he literally carries the macguffin around with him the entire movie. You never root for him - he's psychotic - but you can't help being fully engaged with him even as he becomes all but unhinged when it becomes obvious to him that he's going to fail, but he still can't quit trying.

His gun-moll girlfriend Blair, looking appropriately hot and sordid, is enjoyable as she repeatedly tells the police to "eff off" even as she begins to suffer the ill effects of close exposure to the Cobalt.

Also enjoyable in a sleazy way is Mell - he runs a high-end shoe store and has 1950s movie-era hints of being gay. He also, in engaging scenes, goes toe-to-toe a few times with Edwards as each crook tries to dominate the other. Rounding out Edward's shady circle is Sherwood Price playing a slimy hood who tries to glam on to Edward's "big score."

Shot on location all over Los Angeles and with the police having a TV's Dragnet get-the-job-done vibe, City of Fear is fun time-travel to mid-century LA. Also, the camera work is ahead of its time with realistic shots that "bounce around" with the action.

Despite its low budget, challenged production quality and some cringe-worthy dialogue and moments, at only eighty-one-minutes long and with several enjoyable performances, plus a bumpy but engaging story and a wonderful 1950s LA noir vibe, City of Fear proves to be more entertaining on screen than it sounds like it should be on paper.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

A chase tracker is always good eating. Make mine medium, with thick cut chips, and a cold beer.

 

[Worf]

"The Cursed" (Eight Silver Pieces) - This 2021 indie horror film breaks the mold in many places. First, the production values are top notch. Second, it's a period piece, France in the mid to late 1800's. Third, the action and writing are singular as is the acting. And lastly... it puts a new "twist" on the werewolf mythos. I heard about this flick on YouTube where it was praised in several videos. We watched it last night and were stunned by this beautiful and haunting piece. No spoilers here, and no subtitles either... however if you're in the mood for a good, recent monster/horror flick I heartily recommend it.

Worf

 

[Maxwell Von Chesapeake]

Right now I'm watching The House On 56th Street (1933) with Kay Francis for a second time. Yesterday I watched Trog (1970).

What was the last movie you watched?

I just finished watching "The Human Condition: No Greater Love" from 1959.

 

[Fading Fast]

Uncertain Glory from 1944 with Paul Lukas, Errol Flynn, Lucile Watson and Jean Sullivan


Uncertain Glory is a WWII propaganda movie that, for no good reason, flies below the radar today as its story is engaging, its performances excellent and its theme of sacrifice is explored with nuance and passion.

In occupied France, Errol Flynn plays a Frenchman about to be executed for murder who escapes Paris only to be caught a few days later by his arch nemesis, a police detective played by Paul Lukas.

On their return trip to Paris, Flynn and Lukas learn that one-hundred Frenchmen are to be executed by the Nazis unless the saboteur who, a few nights ago, blew up a nearby bridge is caught or turns himself in.

Preferring to be shot by a firing squad as the Nazi do with saboteurs than guillotined as the French do with murderers, Flynn strikes a deal with Lukas offering to turn himself in as the saboteur if Lukas will let Flynn have three more days of life until the Nazi deadline.

Against his better judgement, but wanting to save one-hundred Frenchman, Lukas hesitantly agrees. The two spend those days in the village near where the bridge was blown up so that Lukas can train Flynn on how to convince his Nazi interrogators that he is really the saboteur.

This sets up the heart of the movie, as we have the antagonists-begin-to-respect-each-other dynamic in play as Flynn and Lukas spend three days together where they have a series of faceoffs, close calls, and dangerous encounters.

The locals are not simple cardboard "good" Frenchman as they try to set Flynn up to be arrested as the saboteur by the Nazis to save their own sons, fathers and brothers.

The village priest presents the Christian and, one could say, moral argument against this plan, but the locals' answer, not without reason, is to see it as a math problem where one innocent dead person is better than one hundred, no matter what machinations make that happen.

Flynn, himself, is initially just trying to buy time to escape, but being Flynn and playing to his personal movie-star brand, he is also trying to make time with a pretty local girl, played with guileless charm by Jean Sullivan.

Lucile Watson, as Sullivan's employer and surrogate mother, and as she always does in her performances, brings grit, intelligence and charisma to the role of a village elder trying to do the right thing in an all but impossible situation.

Also thrown into the mix is Lukas getting sick, the Nazis getting suspicious of the two "strangers" hanging around the village, a pivotal encounter with the real saboteur and some ugly vigilante justice, all while the clock ticks down to the time of execution.

It's a propaganda film, so you can probably guess the outcome, but director Raoul Walsh still builds credible tension up to the critical point when Flynn has his come-to-Jesus moment.

Flynn and Lukas have wonderful chemistry in an early and genuinely stress-filled version of a "buddy" movie. They rightfully do not trust each other, but extreme circumstances and experiences force each to come to respect the other. It's professional actors at their best creating a believable and nuanced relationship.

It's also an early version of a two-person formula Hollywood has used to build movies and movie franchises around for ever. Lukas plays the straight man with sincerity and dignity against Flynn's incredible on-screen charm that makes him an always likable rogue, even when you know he's no good.

The movie is contrived and riddled with plot flaws, like most movies, especially propaganda ones - do you think the Germans would really have honored the letters of transit in Casablanca? - but it succeeds in spite of its drawbacks.

Engaging acting, a smart story and an ability to look at complex moral issues with thoughtfulness and balance, along with quietly stirring moments of patriotism and self sacrifice, make Uncertain Glory a WWII propaganda movie that should be better known today.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Uncertain Glory never heard of. Damn fine story plot. I love a film that really kicks hard with a solid punch, leaving indelible callous thought for my brain to chew on.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

William Dieterle, the German-born director who enchanted us with Fog Over Frisco, thrilled us with A Midsummer Night's Dream, and stunned us with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, delivers the goods with 1952's The Turning Point, sort of a noir and a crime story blend.

William Holden is a cynical newspaper reporter, Edmond O'Brien is the government-appointed chair of a crime-busting committee, and Alexis Smith is O'Brien's secretary/scheduler/policy advisor. O'Brien and Smith think they are in love with each other.

Tightly told, we see O'Brien launch his attack on mob boss Neil Eichelberger, who runs his empire with the presumed safety of a crooked cop who tips off Eichelberger of police and city hall plans. Who the crooked cop is makes things complicated for the committee and the courts.

The hoods are really rotten people, and they get pretty brutal in trying to eliminate the leaders of the opposition. Murder, arson, intimidation drive the story. In the midst of all this a romantic triangle evolves.* Watch till the end, you may be caught off-guard by what happens to whom.

Clearly filmed in Los Angeles, with a trip up the Angels Flight railway, stores with names like Pacific Fixtures Supply, et cetera, yet at one point a character talks about the mob "taking over a Mid-Western city like this. " An innumerable host of fedoras populates most scenes.

* O'Brien is the Ralph Bellamy side of the triangle. Who could stand a chance against Holden?

 

[AmateisGal]

View attachment 500920
Uncertain Glory from 1944 with Paul Lukas, Errol Flynn, Lucile Watson and Jean Sullivan


Uncertain Glory is a WWII propaganda movie that, for no good reason, flies below the radar today as its story is engaging, its performances excellent and its theme of sacrifice is explored with nuance and passion.

In occupied France, Errol Flynn plays a Frenchman about to be executed for murder who escapes Paris only to be caught a few days later by his arch nemesis, a police detective played by Paul Lukas.

On their return trip to Paris, Flynn and Lukas learn that one-hundred Frenchmen are to be executed by the Nazis unless the saboteur who, a few nights ago, blew up a nearby bridge is caught or turns himself in.

Preferring to be shot by a firing squad as the Nazi do with saboteurs than guillotined as the French do with murderers, Flynn strikes a deal with Lukas offering to turn himself in as the saboteur if Lukas will let Flynn have three more days of life until the Nazi deadline.

Against his better judgement, but wanting to save one-hundred Frenchman, Lukas hesitantly agrees. The two spend those days in the village near where the bridge was blown up so that Lukas can train Flynn on how to convince his Nazi interrogators that he is really the saboteur.

This sets up the heart of the movie, as we have the antagonists-begin-to-respect-each-other dynamic in play as Flynn and Lukas spend three days together where they have a series of faceoffs, close calls, and dangerous encounters.

The locals are not simple cardboard "good" Frenchman as they try to set Flynn up to be arrested as the saboteur by the Nazis to save their own sons, fathers and brothers.

The village priest presents the Christian and, one could say, moral argument against this plan, but the locals' answer, not without reason, is to see it as a math problem where one innocent dead person is better than one hundred, no matter what machinations make that happen.

Flynn, himself, is initially just trying to buy time to escape, but being Flynn and playing to his personal movie-star brand, he is also trying to make time with a pretty local girl, played with guileless charm by Jean Sullivan.

Lucile Watson, as Sullivan's employer and surrogate mother, and as she always does in her performances, brings grit, intelligence and charisma to the role of a village elder trying to do the right thing in an all but impossible situation.

Also thrown into the mix is Lukas getting sick, the Nazis getting suspicious of the two "strangers" hanging around the village, a pivotal encounter with the real saboteur and some ugly vigilante justice, all while the clock ticks down to the time of execution.

It's a propaganda film, so you can probably guess the outcome, but director Raoul Walsh still builds credible tension up to the critical point when Flynn has his come-to-Jesus moment.

Flynn and Lukas have wonderful chemistry in an early and genuinely stress-filled version of a "buddy" movie. They rightfully do not trust each other, but extreme circumstances and experiences force each to come to respect the other. It's professional actors at their best creating a believable and nuanced relationship.

It's also an early version of a two-person formula Hollywood has used to build movies and movie franchises around for ever. Lukas plays the straight man with sincerity and dignity against Flynn's incredible on-screen charm that makes him an always likable rogue, even when you know he's no good.

The movie is contrived and riddled with plot flaws, like most movies, especially propaganda ones - do you think the Germans would really have honored the letters of transit in Casablanca? - but it succeeds in spite of its drawbacks.

Engaging acting, a smart story and an ability to look at complex moral issues with thoughtfulness and balance, along with quietly stirring moments of patriotism and self sacrifice, make Uncertain Glory a WWII propaganda movie that should be better known today.

View attachment 500921

This is a fantastic movie!