GSC Films: S-Z Saboteur 1942 Alfred Hitchcock 3.0 Robert Cummings, Patricia Lane as not so charismatic love interest, Otto Kruger as rather dull villain (although something of prefigure of James Mason’s very suave villain in ‘NNW’), Norman Lloyd who makes impression as rather melancholy saboteur, especially when he is hanging by his sleeve in Statue of Liberty sequence. One of lesser Hitchcock products, done on loan out from Selznick for Universal. Suffers from lackluster cast (Cummings does not have acting weight to make us care for his character or to make us believe that he is going to all that trouble to find the real saboteur), and an often inconsistent story line that provides opportunity for interesting set pieces – the circus freaks, the high society fund-raising dance; and of course the final famous Statue of Liberty sequence (vertigo impression with the two characters perched high on the finger of the statue, the suspense generated by the slow tearing of the sleeve seam, and the scary fall when the sleeve tears off – Lloyd rotating slowly and screaming as he recedes from Cummings’ view). Many scenes are obviously done on the cheap – anything with the trucks, the home of Kruger, riding a taxi through New York. Some of the scenes are very flat – the kindly blind hermit (riff on the hermit in ‘Frankenstein?’), Kruger’s affection for his grandchild around the swimming pool in his Highway 395 ranch home, the meeting with the bad guys in the Soda City scene next to Hoover Dam. The encounter with the circus freaks (Siamese twins who don’t get along, the bearded lady whose beard is in curlers, the militaristic midget who wants to turn the couple in, etc.) is amusing and piquant (perhaps the scene was written by Dorothy Parker?), but it doesn’t seem to relate to anything. Plot line takes us from LA sabotage up Highway 395, then over the Hoover Dam (in reality 395 doesn’t go to Hoover Dam), and suddenly to New York. The characters are often sappy and incomprehensible, such as the kind blind hermit who believes firmly in Cummings’ innocence (real Americans know who is good and who bad?); also hard to chart the thought processes and movements of Lane, who changes her mind a lot and tries to turn Cummings in, and who turns up in New York rather inexplicably. The bad guys, who are supposed to be ruthless saboteurs, are easy going and allow our principals to remain impeccably coiffed and never personally harmed. Obviously a bit of wartime propaganda with one good patriotic anti-Nazi and pro-democratic speech by Cummings at the dance party. Debts to previous films abound – the handcuffs and the antagonistic connection with attractive young woman, being trapped and in danger at a high society party, the cross country journey to find the real culprit (all ’39 Steps’), the villain seen against back-projected movie on screen (‘Sabotage’), etc. Movie is picaresque and fun. (2006) Sabrina 1954 Billy Wilder 2.5 Audrey Hepburn beautiful, radiant, charming, compelling as chauffeur’s daughter who moves up the social ladder; William Holden with blondish hair and a not-very- rakish straw hat as playboy member of wealthy Larrabee family whom Hepburn falls for; Humphrey Bogart rather badly miscast as older brother with no love life and obsessed with managing the Larrabee businesses; John Williams perfect and dignified as Hepburn’s father, who sends her to Paris for two years in order to improve her station in life; Joan Vohs as vapid blond that Bogart wants Holden to marry in order to further the business interests of the family. Weak romantic comedy about a modern-day Cinderella; it has a vapid script and cookie-cutter characters and is redeemed only by its all-star cast and the radiant Hepburn at the center. Her adolescent love for Holden is not returned; her father sends her to cooking school and she returns as the beautiful, classic Hepburn turning everyone’s head; Holden, whose head is turned more than anyone else’s, abandons the proposed marriage to Vohs for her; Bogart, though, campaigns to wean Hepburn from her affection for Holden by various devious maneuvers, but ends up falling in love with Hepburn himself; feeling noble, Bogart relents and arranges for Hepburn and Holden to sail off to France together (unmarried!); but Holden has the last laugh, confronts Bogart in the Larrabee boardroom, punches out his brother (one supposes in retaliation for the earlier scene where Holden punches out Bogart), and then sends him on a tugboat to join Hepburn on the French ship ‘La Liberté’, which just happens to be passing in front of the picture window; the film ends with Bogart and Hepburn falling into a tepid embrace on board. Wilder seems to be gazing constantly at Hepburn, who charms immeasurably with her pixie-like hairdo, her broad, innocent smile, her muscled lithe body (seen especially in the scene where she wears short shorts), her show-stopping fashions, her ability to swoon 1 romantically when dancing cheek-to-cheek with her men at various (boring) parties. Bogart should not have been cast as the older brother: he does ok as a businessman, but he looks way too old, tired and creased to be the man with whom the ardent Hepburn decides to spend the rest of her life. The class division subtext is played way down: true, John Williams warns Sabrina that “there is a front seat and a back seat with glass in between” and that she should not aim so high, but all the characters are too smitten with Hepburn’s grace and beauty to make serious objections to her proposed union with the Larrabee family. In this film Wilder trades his snarky critique of American social mores for a fluffy romantic fantasy. The long sequence in which Bogart pseudo-courts Hepburn is also sloppily written: several scenes are repetitive and the viewer is left in confusion and indifference as to what Bogart is up to. One has to give Wilder credit for some beautiful mise-en-scène; and the 50s black and white film is beautifully restored. Somewhat typical of Hepburn films: she is so beautiful and glamorous that her films turn out to be less interesting. (2011) Sadie Thompson 1928 3.5 Raoul Walsh Based on Somerset Maugham’s ‘Rain’. Gloria Swanson cute, sprightly, gay, good-hearted (treats the simple soldiers well), seductive, tough and independent as the “brazen woman” with dark painted lips and a flashing smile who smokes, chews gum, jokes around and flirts with crowds of drunk marines; Lionel Barrymore as the fervent and powerful missionary reformer (apparently not an ordained minister) who is determined to clean up the morals of the island and who is of course outraged by Swanson’s behavior – clean-shaven he looks a little like Abe Lincoln; Walsh as Marine sergeant who becomes Sadie’s good-humored suitor and who carries her piggy back when it rains (it never stops). Takes place on rainy South Seas island garrisoned by Marines who are bored stiff and yearn for “white women”; Sadie, a former prostitute from San Francisco, stops by on the way to a neighboring island where she plans to start a new life. Film takes a dim view of religious reformers, who don’t know how to smile, who intimidate politicians, complain about the locals having no sense of sin, and threaten “sinners” with destruction and retaliation, insist that Sadie return to San Francisco instead of going to Sydney even though it means returning to prison (she claims she is innocent of the crime of which she is accused); “three tortured days of loneliness – repentance – redemption”. When Sadie turns down Barrymore’s offer of salvation, he has the governor order her to leave the island; she is furious, and with flashing eyes denounces him violently; then she implores him pitifully; and then she is wide-eyed and insane when she faces returning to prison. Donnybrook confrontations between Barrymore and Swanson work well on silent screen – light on the title cards and heavy on mime, facial expressions, etc. The scene in which Barrymore makes her kneel and pray is heart-wrenching. In another dramatic scene Walsh tries to force Swanson to leave on a fishing boat, but she resists saying that her salvation is the only thing that counts and she wants to go to prison; by this time Sadie has been thoroughly programmed. Barrymore then becomes obsessed with Sadie and apparently rapes her (or just has sex?) – we don’t know since last reel of film is missing. The next morning his body is found in the ocean by a fisherman – an apparent suicide. Film ends happily with Sadie set to go to Sydney to wait for her sergeant. Although film is not well restored (grainy with passages marred by serious damage to the negative and the end missing) one can see that cinematography (Academy Award) is very effective, especially in lighting faces during the dramatic confrontations. Effective use of environmental symbols – the heavy rain, the wind blowing outside the window. A daring movie before the full Hayes Code; quite arty showing the sophistication of editing and cinematography in the late silent era. (2009) Safety Last 1923 Fred Newmeyer, etc. 4.0 Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis (Lloyd marries her shortly after the completion of the film in summer 1922). Stunning 20s comedy with almost incredible invention. Lloyd as naïve, somewhat shy, enthusiastic, earnest, serious, extremely energetic, fast movement (not as acrobatic as Keaton?); resourceful, inventive; very amusing rodent walk; great upper body strength.