jht176 Reviews

Playhouse 90: Where's Charley? (1957) Season 1, Episode 26

Charley's Aunt Revised for TV and Its Guest Stars

[8/10 · 17 August 2006]

Playhouse 90's 1957 adaptation of that comedic chestnut from the 1890's stands up well against Jack Benny's 1941 film even with its revisions.

Art Carney's portrayal of "Fanny" Babberley rather than "Babbs" Babberley as in the Benny classic film is quite good even if it does add a shtick reminiscent of Carney's portrayal of Ed Norton on The Honeymooners and includes several musical numbers to showcase Carney's vocal prowess that had already become a footnote by 1957.

Richard Hayden, the Charley of the 1941 film, becomes the avaricious guardian in this live TV adaptation. Edmund Gwenn was superb in the 1941 film, and Hayden, complete with his most nasal voice, admirably holds his own in this Playhouse 90 production. Jackie Coogan as the Oxford coach also holds his own.

For a live TV production from the Golden Age, this 1957 Playhous 90 production of Charley's Aunt holds up admirably against the more polished 1941 film.

Gene Raymond, Miss MacDonald's husband and one of this production's two "guest stars" gives a yeoman performance but one that is no match for Laird Cregar's in the 1941 film.

Jeannette MacDonald, the real Dona Lucia D'Alvadores, appears on screen even less than Kay Francis did in the 1941 film, but she still gives a memorable performance.

***Possible Spoiler***

The storyline is altered so that Dona Lucia instead of professing love for Lord Babberley suddenly becomes Sir Francis's old flame and they pledge undying love and become engaged when he thinks she is a penniless widow rather than a millionaire from Brazil, where the nuts come from. I can only assume this was done because MacDonald and Raymond were man and wife in real life and had little opportunity to play opposite each other on screen.

Charley's Aunt (1941)

Benny Superb as Charley's Aunt

[9/10 · 17 August 2006]

1941 was the season for two comedies starring the inimitable Jack Benny with Charley's Aunt released in 1941 and the filming of Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not To Be starring Benny and Carol Lombard in what was unfortunately her last film which was released early in 1942.

Both are great ensemble films, and both stand the test of time. I find it difficult to say which of Benny's two characterizations I find the better; so, I must group them together as proof that Jack Benny was one of film's best but also one of its most under-appreciated comic actors.

Benny is Charley's aunt just as he is Joseph Tura in To Be or Not To Be. Yes, some of Benny's persona with its slow takes that was a mainstay of his TV persona for so many years is evident in both films but, I might add, in entirely different ways and definitely in keeping wit the two roles.

Benny is not just Benny but a great actor who has managed to assume the character of the two roles.

Charley's Aunt continues to be performed and continues to be filmed; nevertheless, I recommend any film buff and any troupe planning on presenting Charley's Aunt to watch the Jack Benny version again and then again.

The Night Listener (2006)

Good but not great. . . .

[8/10 · 11 August 2006]

I have just returned from seeing The Night Listener on its first day of general release and can unequivocally state I do not feel my early afternoon was wasted.

Unlike many of the film's IMDb critics I have not read Armistead Maupin's novel and cannot comment on how true the movie is to the novel; however, I note that Maupin and Terry Anderson are both listed as screenwriters and as executive producers. This would indicate to me they are satisfied with the screen treatment the novel received.

The story, except for the very final scene, is told as Gabriel Noon(e) remembers events to he knows to have actually happened. He is not certain whether the abused child dying of AIDS is real or not; so, how can we the audience be certain of the reality of the tale when viewed through Gabriel No one's eyes? We are left with a lot of loose ends left untied at the end of the film which seems to have upset a number of our IMDb critics, but that's life.

For my money, The Night Listener was an enjoyable good but not great movie and one I would recommend to friends.

Dancing Pirate (1936)

Technicolor it ain't!

[10 July 2006]

The only things this turkey has going for it are the claim that it is in Technicolor and Rita Hayworth "stars" in it.

My VHS copy is in color; however, nowhere in the credits do "Technicolor", "Technicolor Director" or "Technicolor Consultant" appear. I cannot see the Technicolor Corporation allowing any 1935 movie using its process to be released without there being ample credit given to Technicolor.

If Rita Hayworth or rather Margarita Cansino appears in the film, she is totally unrecognizable. I am familiar with the Rita Cansino with the sleek black hair and low forehead who danced in the Spencer Tracy/Claire Trevor film Dante's Inferno; so, I was not looking for the flamboyant redhead of the characterized Hayworth -- except for the shorn platinum blonde of The Lady from Shanghai -- during her zenith on the silver screen.

All pans aside, it does have Frank Morgan at his bumbling best; although, even at $5.00 with a poor copy of the American English language truncated version of von Sternberg's The Blue Angel, it was no real bargain.

The Balcony (1963)

Still Grips Me 43 Years After First Viewing

[10/10 · 20 June 2006]

I really was expecting a "skin flick" based on its lobby cards when I first saw this film adaptation of Jean Genet's "The Balcony" in the summer of 1963, but I was definitely in for an awakening -- rude perhaps but definitely an awakening.

I recommended the film to the owner of Gainesville, Florida's independent movie theater based on the original road show I had seen; however, I had to eat my words when he was only able to book the bowdlerized version that was available for distribution only a few short months after the film's original release. Perhaps too many people had been lured into theaters by the lobby card promise of a "skin flick" and were upset when they were greeted with a film that actually made the audience think for a change.

I rented the DVD today and watched the uncut version of "The Balcony" for the first time since that original viewing some 43 years ago. I took notice of the grainy stock footage used in most of the exterior scenes and compared them with the crisp images of the interior of the TV studio sound-stage, Madame Irma's house of illusions, and I wondered if this might not have been deliberate -- reality is actually grainy and slightly out of focus while our fantasy world is crisply delineated but still patently phony as when Peter Falk as George, the Chief of Police, breaks through the kraft-paper door or when the rocks -- in the Leonard Nimoy as Roger fantasy -- oscillate when touched.

Shelley Winters was ideal as Irma; I cannot think of another actress working in 1963 who could have done better in the part. The rest of the cast was also exceptional.

One note concerning another comment about Peter Falk's accent being Southern and German -- surely this was said in jest? Falk's accent was a combination of his native New York accent and a put-on Latin American/Spanish accent if it was anything. Again, that mixture of accents was in keeping with the part and with the fantasy.

"The Balcony" was definitely worth watching again some 43 years after I saw it during its first run. Will I still think so if I watch it after another 43 year interim? I think I probably will. . . .

To Be or Not to Be (1942)

U S Not in World War II When Lubitsch Classic Conceived and Filmed

[9/10 · 28 May 2006]

So many of the comments about To Be and Not To Be dwell on Lubitsch and everyone else's poor taste in making a comedy about war during World War II. However, this movie was conceived and shooting -- but perhaps not editing -- probably already finished by Sunday, December 7, 1941, when the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor followed by Nazi Germany's declaration of war against the United States brought the USA into a global war.

Yes, many did think it was inevitable that America enter World War II as a combatant to assist the Western Democracies, but few probably thought that time would come as early as the late Fall of 1941 and as a result of a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

This Lubitsch masterpiece does have some loose ends; but all in all, it is a superb comedy. Comedy, in my not so humble opinion, is not necessarily a vehicle that promotes side-splitting guffaws which To Be or Not To Be does not except in a few places --"Concentration Camp Ehrhardt" with its repeated repetitions by the real and fake Professor Siletskys as well as the fake and real Col. Ehrhardts.

Jack Benny's timing is superb. Carole Lombard, to quote Louella Parsons's oft-written and quoted comment about Marion Davies, "never looked lovelier." Lombard, one of the queens of 1930's madcap comedies, of which To Be or Not To Be is definitely not, underplays her role with a consistency that is magnificent -- had she matured so much as an actress since The Twentieth Century and Nothing Sacred or is this a testament to Lubitsch's magic as a director?

One needs to remember when this film was actually made not when it was released to put it into true perspective. It is a sad thing that it has taken so many years for the Ernst Lubitsch production of To Be or Not To Be to be recognized for the magnificent comedy it actually is instead of being panned for being politically incorrect in light of what occurred or was made known of after it was made.

This movie does hold up with repeated viewings. So, do not watch it just once and go onto the latest Tom Cruise release on DVD, watch To Be or Not To Be again and again.