What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Fading Fast]

Skippy from 1931 with Jackie Cooper, Robert Coogan, Willard Robertson and Enid Bennett


Skippy is a family drama or really a kids' movie, 1931 style, where the Depression isn't tucked away from the public. It's entertaining enough if you want to get an idea of what being a kid in 1931 was like; otherwise, it's tough sledding.

Titular Skippy, played by child star Jackie Cooper, is the only child of a wealthy doctor, played by Willard Robertson, who is the head of the town's Board of Health. Skippy's kind mom is played by Enid Bennett.

Skippy, like most kids, doesn't like doing what he's told, such as washing his face and brushing his teeth, but his real "bad behavior" is sneaking over to "Shanty Town," the poor part of town where his father fears he'll catch a disease.

Skippy, inappropriately dressed like Little Lord Fauntleroy, finds a sense of freedom in Shanty Town, playing with the ragamuffin kids in a way that contrasts sharply with his more solitary life in his upscale home.

While his father sees danger and disease, Skippy finds camaraderie and fun, highlighting the innocence of childhood amid socioeconomic disparity.

It is also in Shanty Town where he befriends Sooky, played by Robert Coogan. Sooky is worried he's going to lose his dog because his mom, who lives alone with Sooky, can't afford a dog license for him.

Of greater concern to all in Shanty Town is that they are being forced to move because the Board of Health, again, headed up by Skippy's father, is shutting it down, believing it is a breeding ground for disease.

The plot, and it's pretty straightforward, is Skippy trying to raise the $3 necessary for the dog license, which leads to a bunch of little kid money-raising efforts like breaking into a piggy bank, putting on a show with the neighborhood kids, and opening up a lemonade stand.

Skippy starts out worshipping his father as an important doctor who helps others, but as he learns about Shanty Town, he begins to question that view. It doesn't help that his dad is almost always too busy for him, even when he needs the money for the dog licence.

That plot summary doesn't do justice to the movie's real value, which lies in its ability to capture a child's point of view. You're with the kids when they break a window and run or use kid "logic" to not cross the railroad tracks by scooting through a drainage pipe that runs under them.

Whatever is happening to them, at that moment, is the most important thing in the world, but even at a young age, some develop sympathy for others, as Skippy does for Sooky and his mother.

The two worlds - the kids' and the parents' - as they usually do in kids movies, come together in the climax as Skippy's father finally sees what his edicts mean to the people of Shanty Town. It's heartwarming in a very obvious but effective way.

It's also a timeless lesson in the dangers of well-meaning but powerful bureaucracies as Skippy's dad becomes so focussed on data that he forgets his decisions impact real people. It's an evergreen lesson Washington and even local school boards need to learn today.

Kudos to Paramount Studios and the writers for not making all the Shanty Town residents good and kind souls, or all the rich people heartless and mean-spirited, as happens in many movies, both then and now.

The Shanty Town dog catcher and his kid are mean little bullies and Skippy and, eventually, his dad are shown in a positive light. In real life, one's bank account balance is not shorthand for one's character.

For us today, it's eye-opening just to see how truly free-range these eight-or-so-year-old kids were back then. They roam around their neighborhoods unsupervised all day, something shocking to modern generations.

Cooper, Coogan and many of the other child actors, already pros at the time, were able to show on screen the unique mannerisms, characteristics and thoughts of children. They were ably supported by the talented adult actors like Robertson and Bennett.

Skippy will only be your cup of tea if you like seeing long scenes of kids being kids. Today, it would be interesting to watch with your children to get their reaction to how kids grew up in the 1930s, when a radio was modern technology and "playdates" were spontaneous and unsupervised


N.B. Kids putting on a show (a stage play or musical review) to raise money is a stock storyline in many movies from the 1930s to the 1950s. To each his own, but I find it hard to not fast-forward through every single one of these scenes, and I very rarely fast-forward through any scene.

 

[Fading Fast]

September Affair from 1950 with Joseph Cotton, Joan Fontaine, Jessica Tandy, Francoise Rosay and Robert Arthur


The pieces are here for a classic Romantic-Era-style movie in September Affair, but slow directing, a believability issue and a muddled ending, perhaps required by the Motion Picture Production Code, leave you with only the pieces of a very good movie.

Joseph Cotton plays a wealthy American businessman, husband and father of a teenage son who meets a single woman, played by Joan Fontaine, while he is vacationing alone in Italy where Fontaine, an American concert pianist, is currently living.

They strike up a friendship as both begin a multi-legged trip back to the United States. While sightseeing together during a brief stopover in Naples, a romance blossoms. Paris might be the city of love, but Naples is doing a darn good job of it here.

They then just miss their flight out. When that plane crashes, a plane they are believed to have been on board, they are reported as dead. Now in love and very much alive, they face a decision.

Cotton is estranged from a wife who won't give him a divorce and Fontaine has few ties. So they make the completely idiotic and unbelievable decision to let the world continue to think they are dead, allowing them to start a new life together in Italy.

A couple of deus ex machinas and the help of Fontaine's close friend, played by Francoise Rosay, deal with the details of identity papers and money. Effectively, it's abracadabra and Cotton and Fontaine are living in a huge villa in Florence.

They are together, but both of their careers, perforce, are over as is Cotton's relationship with his son – ponder that for a moment. Back in the States, we see Cotton's wife, played by Jessica Tandy, and son, played by Robert Arthur, trying to adjust to the loss.

Cotton and Fontaine, who truly love each other, slowly realize that just loving each other isn't enough, especially when two impressive and challenging careers, plus ties to former family and friends, had to be jettisoned as the price of that love.

Tandy and Arthur, reeling from the loss, make a trip to Italy to follow up on a lead from Cotton's death. They don't suspect anything, but Tandy, who never appears to be the difficult woman Cotton implies she is, needs closure.

You know there is a reckoning coming, which is where the movie twists itself into knots trying to do right by everyone or right by the Motion Picture Production Code or right by some mysterious guiding light.

The only two legitimate outcomes to this story are Fontaine and Cotton saying "love at all costs" as Romantic-Era throwbacks or everything smashing up horribly as Tandy and Arthur - a boy whose father pretended to be dead - confront Cotton.

Either of those ending would have had an integrity, but the forced one presented muddles the entire effort, which is a shame as there is a lot of good in the movie.

Cotton and Fontaine are talented actors who create likable characters. Their scenes of two middle-aged people falling in love are charming. When, later, they are remorseful about all they gave up, but trying to hide it from each other, it's professional acting at its best.

Tandy is excellent in a role that is poorly defined by the writers. Is she a bitter wife or a misunderstood one? Kudos to her for doing an outstanding job trying to square the circle of her not-well-defined character. She's the unsung hero in this one.

The on-location shooting in Italy is beautiful. In 1950, the movie probably served as a travelogue for American audiences at a time when international travel was not yet common. Today, the footage is a wonderful time capsule of post-war Italy.

Director William Dieterle understands romance and creates some lovely intimate scenes, but he also lingers too long on some shots. His movie's runtime is, at least, a quarter of an hour greater than it needed to be, which prompts your mind to wander at times.

September Affair didn't have the courage of its convictions to either go all in on its classic Romantic-Era theme or to blow everything up. Instead, its "safe" conclusion leaves the viewer feeling cheated, feeling like the whole of the picture is worth a bit less than the sum of its parts.

 

[GHT]

https://www.nowtv.com/watch/the-music-of-buddy-holly...-2005/A5EK4nmp9qb64u5jFxvHs

More of a documentary than a film. One and a half hours of nostalgia. It features so many celebrities of that era, many of whom I was surprised had managed to avoid the grim reaper.