LUST IN RED DUST. “I’ve been with her kind since my voice changed,” says the rubber plantation Romeo in the 1932 Gable-Harlow classic film “Red Dust.” I first saw this pre-code gem at a storefront retro theater in the UC Berkeley district in 1964. Memorable lines include: “What did you eat, cement,” Harlow queries a parrot as she cleans his cage. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023382/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
BAD BOY MAGNETS. Lustful parks fly between Lana Turner and Robert Taylor in the 1941 classic “Johnny Eager” wherein the villian practices manipulation to unheard of heights. A similar character was played by Lawrence Tierney as ‘The Hoodlum” in 1951 at Eagle Lion. Loathsome anti-heroes generally meet an untimely demise but are magnets for the ladies in these films. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033774/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
ACTOR RICHARD CRENNA had a very long career starting in the 1940s as Walter Denton on CBS Radio’s Our Miss Brooks, then co-staring with Julie Andrews in the 60s in the ill-fated “The Star.” Crenna’s character was the love interest for blonde bombshell Cleo Moore in “Over-Exposed” and finally in 1981 he was Kathleen Turner’s inconvenient and doomed husband in “Body Heat.” Coincidentally he was the lead in the TV remake of “Double Indemnity.” Miss Brooks or Osgood Conklin should have counseled him about dangerous women. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001077/bio
SAD CLOWN — Writing this I listen to the theme from “Limelight” composed by Charlie Chaplin for the film of the same name. Travel down that road with Robert Downey Jr. in the timeless film “Chaplin”. His art was slapstick plus poliical commentary. Chaplin didn’t have Trump to lampoon but he was pursued by another monster, his nemesis J. Edgar Hoover.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103939/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
CLASSIC GABLE. Director Frank Capra thumbs his nose at the censors with this “Persian walls” blanket on a clothes line scene. Spoiled rich girl leaves home, meets an aggressive news hound and experiences dignities of the common folk. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025316/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
TRANSFORMATIONS. In this ’56 blockbuster drama a character holding racist attitudes begrudgingly learns that brown-skinned people have the right to inhabit Texas alongside whites. The female lead played by Elizabeth Taylor is the catalyst for this miraculous transformation in the Hollywood spin on the Edna Ferber novel. Many viewers are attracted to the “Giant” DVD because it’s James Dean’s final film and the tea party scene with Ms. Taylor and Dean is memorable and shocking.
Director George Stevens shows how Texas is transformed from a beautiful prairie into an ugly mess of oil wells. The Dean character is the catalyst for this giant change. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049261/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
DESPERATE HOUSEWIFE. Our Liz has a trunk full of stolen cash in her car and is headed for the border leaving LA littered with the corpses of 2 or 3 men she has murdered in recent days. Here’s a delightful film noir with stalwarts of the gender, Lizabeth Scott and Dan Duryea. https://www.flickeralley.com/too-late-for-tears-lizabeth-scott-triumphs-in-an-underrated-noir-classic/
REBUILDING lives after tragedy including monsoon, earthquake and an epidemic is the theme of the 1939 epic drama The Rains Came with Tyrone Power and Myrna Loy. Ty is the go to guy in a storm, according to this movie. Kind of a timely film. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031835/
DANCING HOODS. Yes, teen hoodlums dance and very well in “West Side Story,” a tale of love, hate and tragedy. After more than 50 years, it’s still amazing. A remake is anticipated. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055614/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3
1944 was a big year for Hollywood noir with Double Indemnity and The Woman in the Window. Both feature Edward G. Robinson who plays a professor who is fascinated with Joan Bennett in Window. Dan Duryea recreates the creepy character that was his trademark. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037469/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_2
“HISTORY is a commentary on the various incapabilities of men,” says a character played by Frances De La Tour in the engaging British comedy “History Boys.” Centered around preparing for entrance exams to Oxford, the boys exchange lively banter. Dominic Cooper, Richard Griffith and James Corday are part of the cast that appeared in this West End play before it was a movie. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464049/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1
TIMELY FILM. James Edward Olmos gives a very nuanced performance as a high school math teacher in the outstanding American Playhouse film “Stand and Deliver.” The racist dismissal of students of color is explored in “Stand and Deliver” (1988) wherein the students are taking tests in calculus for Advanced Placement college credits. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094027/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
