1941-42 Welsh Miners and Polish Thespians

Overjoyed as I was at the fortuitous pairing of Sergeant York and For Me and My Gal, now I’m stuck with To Be or Not to Be and How Green Was My Valley. Two shorter reviews:

to be or not to be

Ernst Lubitsch graces this WWII-era comedy with his signature cleverness and wit. I rarely laughed out loud, but the movie’s ironies and tense, yet comical scenes tickled my mind. The story concerns a theater troupe whose players learn that Professor Alexander Siletsky, a Nazi spy, has gathered information about the Polish resistance movement. The actors conspire to prevent the secret files from getting to Nazi intelligence and prepare for the operation no differently than they might for a play.

Jack Benny and Carole Lombard star as Joseph and Maria Tura, an acting couple, whose competitiveness becomes a running gag. A young Robert Stack plays Lt. Sobinski, a Polish pilot and fan of Maria Tura. He goes to meet Maria backstage every time Joseph Tura as Hamlet begins his soliloquy “To be or not to be . . .” Joseph is horrified and outraged, of course, to see a member of the audience walk out on him. Perhaps, though, he shouldn’t be so surprised. As a Nazi colonel says of Tura: “What he did to Shakespeare we are doing now to Poland.”

To Be or Not to Be delights with its well-composed foreshadowing, irony, and satire. For example, Jack Benny has two excellent scenes back to back: first he plays a Nazi colonel and convinces the Professor to give him the files on the underground resistance, then he must play the Professor when he actually meets the real Nazi colonel. He ingratiates himself with the colonel and quickly gets the jovial, but buffoonish man in his pocket (watch here). Meanwhile, the Jewish member of the theater company, Greenberg (Felix Bressart, who frequently appears in Lubitsch movies and is one of my favorite character actors), has always wanted to play Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. He finally gets his chance when the troupe needs to create a disturbance and asks him to do so by delivering the famous speech: “If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? and If you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” Members of the troupe successfully “arrest” Greenberg and make their escape all together on a Nazi plane (watch here).

An irreverent comedy, To Be or Not to Be didn’t receive a warm reception in 1942 (Wikipedia). It doesn’t possess the rah-rah spirit of other wartime movies and it faces current events head on unlike Sergeant York or For Me and My Gal. From the safety of my couch in 2013, I find To Be or Not to Be has aged well and, though not as sublime or as powerful as The Great Dictator, in its own way it is an act of resistance and defiance.

how green was my valley

After exploring the trials of Dust Bowl refugees in The Grapes of Wrath, John Ford depicted the tribulations of Welsh coal miners in How Green Was My Valley, which won numerous Oscars, including best picture and director. To my modern eye, however, How Green Was My Valley didn’t pack the punch of Grapes. The movie seems flat: it follows the Morgan family’s endless troubles and the changes in their daily life without explaining why this particular family should be so interesting. The episodic movie, darting from event to event — a wedding, a strike, an accident, another wedding, a birth, a death, another death — left me emotionally adrift. I found myself most drawn to a side plot following the budding romance between the local preacher (Walter Pidgeon) and the Morgans’ only daughter (Maureen O’Hara). Their furtive, tentative courtship brought me to giggles when I contrasted it with the hookup culture of my youth. What bothered me most however? I could not tell how much time passed over the course of the movie. The narrator, young Huw Morgan (Roddy McDowall), and his sister seem to age, but the only clue is a change in hairstyles. Of course, the movie contains strong performances (particularly from Mr. and Mrs. Morgan — Donald Crisp and Sara Allgood) and some wonderful scenes that capture the highs and lows of small village life (great folk music at parties; lots of bored gossipy women). Yet, having just finished Sons and Lovers, I’d recommend reading that D. H. Lawrence classic over watching some humdrum Hollywood for a closer look at the ways the lives of coal miners and villagers changed at the start of the 20th century. 

Here’s my favorite scene. A snotty teacher despises Huw, “genius of the coal pits”, and finds any excuse to cane him. Friends of the Morgans decide it’s time to teach the teacher a lesson.

1940 Undercover Lovers

In The Philadelphia Story and The Shop Around the Corner, men disguise their true motives and feelings from their righteous lovers. The women get their comeuppance and when all is revealed, they fall happily in love with the good-hearted tricksters.

the philadelphia story

Intelligent, high-society lady Tracy (Katharine Hepburn) plans to marry George, a self-made man and industrialist. On the day before the wedding, Dexter, Tracy’s ex-husband (Cary Grant), and his “friends” Connor (James Stewart) and Ms. Imbrie suddenly appear. Dexter, though much loved by his former mother- and sister-in-law, gets bitter treatment from Tracy, who figures out that Connor and Imbrie are, in fact, tabloid reporters. Tracy hates the invasion of her privacy and assumes the writer-photographer team plans to expose her father’s affair with a New York dancer. Tracy and her little sister conspire to take the reporters for a ride and parody the stereotypes of upper class, educated women.

As the day goes on, Tracy has a series of disturbing conversations. She and Dexter fight over the reasons for their failed marriage. When Tracy blames Dexter’s alcohol abuse, Dexter counters by faulting Tracy for her lack of empathy and support and likens her to a virgin goddess. Later, fiancee George echoes the same theme and thinks he’s being romantic when he tells Tracy he wants to worship her and build an ivory tower for his queen. Finally, Tracy’s father brings her to tears by comparing her to a bronze statue. That night at a family party, Tracy drowns the pain of the dehumanizing comments in glasses of champagne and finds a friend in Connor. Tracy and Connor had made immediate assumptions about the other, but they come to find that they have much in common. Furthermore, Connor thinks Tracy burns with life, not at all like a cold queen or statuesque goddess. Although Connor is the catalyst for Tracy’s new understanding of herself and her poor match with George, Dexter ultimately reveals himself as the hero: he saves the family from scandal by blackmailing the tabloid editor and comforts Tracy through the dissolution of her engagement and the cancellation of the wedding. Her wedding with George, at least.

As in his 1939 film, The Women, director George Cukor explores the ways communication between two partners goes awry due to misunderstandings, suspicion, and distrust. George assumes the worst when he learns that Tracy was out all night with Connor. He decides to spurn her without knowing she exchanged only two drunken kisses with Mr. Connor. Tracy’s “fall” the night before her wedding teaches her an important lesson. Like The Women, The Philadelphia Story also makes the argument that the modern woman, who’s smart and vivacious, should not forget that the traditional virtues (feminine or not) of compassion, understanding, and forgiveness.

The strength of the film stems from the lively performances by Grant, Hepburn, and Stewart. I enjoyed seeing Cary Grant in a straighter, not so zany role, while Hepburn and Stewart really sparkle. I’ll end with a clip of Tracy and Connor’s somewhat inebriate romance. As happy as I was that Dexter and Tracy ended up together, I felt a little sadness that Tracy-Connor fling couldn’t have lasted a little longer.

the shop around the corner

Ernst Lubitsch directs this romantic comedy about two antagonistic coworkers who don’t realize that they are also loving pen pals. James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan star as Mr. Alfred Kralik and Ms. Klara Novak, employees of the Matuschek store in Budapest, on sour terms after Alfred opposed Klara’s hire. When Alfred goes to meet his pen pal in person for the first time, he’s surprised to find Klara at the designated spot. Alfred doesn’t identify himself as the pen pal; instead, he uses the chance to try to understand Klara a bit better. The conversation quickly turns mean, however, and after Klara hurls her final insult (calling him a “little insignificant clerk”), Alfred is left to wonder how she could possibly be the same person as his dear correspondent. Alfred doesn’t give up on reconciling the two Klaras. He slowly acquires her friendship so that by Christmas Eve when he finally reveals the truth, she happily falls into his arms.

The stories of daily work at the shop complement the main romantic plot. The employees rally around Mr. Matuschek (Frank Morgan of the Wizard of Oz) after he discovers his wife’s infidelity and attempts suicide. Meanwhile, family man Pirovitch (Felix Bressart of Ninotchka) and the smart-mouthed Pepi (William Tracy) provide comic relief. As the film comes to a close, all the employees go home to spend Christmas Eve with their loved ones. In a delightful display of Christmas spirit, the lonely Mr. Matuschek takes joy in inviting Rudy, his newest employee who has no family in town, to join him for a decadent Hungarian dinner.

The Shop Around the Corner is an adorable movie and a special thrill for those of us who love irony. The Turner Classic Movies website features a few scenes from the film. Here’s one of my favorites, in which Alfred struggles with Klara’s brutal comparison of him to her pen pal.

1939 I Lost My Heart in Paris

Ninotchka and Midnight, two romantic comedies with female leads and Billy Wilder writing credits, deliver on laughs and present entertaining love stories.

ninotchka

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, Ninotchka brilliantly shows how circumstances can totally change one’s approach to life. Greta Garbo stars as a hardened Russian revolutionary who falls prey to the city of light and love, Paris. She and three of her comrades are in France to sell seized imperial jewels to raise funds for the starving Russian people. However, the Duchess Swana tries to get her jewels back when she learns that they are in France. Her friendly lawyer, Leon (Melvyn Douglas), manages to prevent any sale, but he also becomes the Russians’ beloved companion. Leon takes it upon himself to show Ninotchka the freedom and joy of Western living and slowly he melts Ninotchka’s stern exterior. Meanwhile, the bitter Swana forces Ninotchka to choose between fulfilling her duty as a Russian envoy and staying with her new love, Leon.

John and I watched this together and we both adored the three Russian clowns and the over-the-top roboticism of Ninotchka. I also appreciated the balanced portrayals of the revolutionaries and the deposed royalty. Though Ninotchka was always a sympathetic character, the view we get of her Russia is not at all heartening, while Swana, with whom we might sympathize for having lost her country and her people, is portrayed as conniving and two-faced. Leon and his city Paris come out as the heroes. Even though Swana tries to keep Leon and Nintochka apart, Leon’s determination ensures their eventual reunion.

Here’s Ninotchka’s first appearance in the movie. Her three comrades have not handled the task of selling the jewels very well and Ninotchka has been sent to finish the job. The most biting and funniest line of the whole film is in this scene. A final plug: if you want your Valentine’s Day to contain a streak of Communist Red, watch Ninotchka!

midnight

Eve Peabody (Claudette Colbert) arrives in Paris from Monte Carlo with only the evening gown she’s wearing and her empty handbag. A plucky Hungarian taxi driver, Tibor Czerny (Don Ameche), takes pity on her and gets her out of the pouring rain. As he drives her around to clubs to look for work, he realizes that she is “the one”, but Eve has her sights on bigger fish. She doesn’t let herself get too comfortable with Tibor and a few minutes after she’s escaped from the taxi, she finds herself mistaken for an invited guest to a high society concert (she fools the footman by using a pawn shop ticket in place of the real invitation card!). The scene below shows Eve as she constructs her new identity as Baroness Czerny on the fly. The skeptical George (John Barrymore) both goads Eve on and tests the extent of her act. However, when he sees that his wife’s lover, the suave Jacques, now has his eyes on Eve, George decides to help Eve carry on the charade so that he can get his wife (Mary Astor) out of Jacques’ arms. Of course, Tibor won’t let Eve out of his life so easily and when he shows up to play the part of Baron Czerny, everyone’s plans and desires get totally scrambled.

Midnight builds on a tradition of comedies where, for example, unmarried couples masquerade as married (Libeled Lady), or ambitious women realize that the road to love is not paved with gold (The Girl from Missouri). In some ways, I think of this movie as the happy Hollywood version of The Rules of Game. Rich and poor alike are mixed up in love and affairs abound, but in the end the former chorus girl and taxi driver go home happy. Though not as romantic and exuberant as Ninotchka, Midnight‘s chaotic comedy where all the characters at odds and the stakes are high brings plenty of fun.