Metapost: Down Time.

Because of an unexpected change in my vacation schedule, updates here will be sporadic over the next few weeks. Hang tight, and I'll be back with the cinematic goodness in no time.

While you're waiting, check out Charles, who has a licking problem:

The Old Dark House (1932).

The Scoop:
Although he's remembered mainly for "Frankenstein" (1931), this is the essential James Whale film. Given more creative freedom, he made a film full of eccentric humor, moments of poignant tenderness, creepy sexuality and a few subversive touches.

The plot, from the J.B. Priestley novel "Benighted," is a cliché by now -- a group of travellers are forced to take shelter from a storm in a remote mansion full of sinister goings-on. Whale and the cast have great fun tweaking the conventions, although many of the more dysfunctional aspects of the family living in the mansion are glossed over in deference to the Production Code. (But the hints are still there, if you look for them.)

The cast, all in tip-top shape, includes Boris Karloff, Charles Laughton, Melvin Douglas, Raymond Massey and Gloria Stuart (a full 66 years before her Oscar-nominated performance in "Titanic"). This film is one of those rare treasures that doesn't deserve its obscurity.

Best Line:
"No beds! They can't have any beds!"

Side Note:
The family's patriarch, 102-year-old Sir Roderick Femm, was actually played by a woman, Elspeth Dudgeon. She was billed as John Dudgeon to get her gender bending past the censors.

Companion Viewing:
"The Cat and the Canary" (1927) and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1976).

Links:
IMDb.

Take a Look:
"Laughter and sin! LAUGHTER AND SIN!"

Norma Jean and Marilyn (1996).

The Scoop:
A great script anchors this HBO original movie about the life and death of Marilyn Monroe. The gimmick that works unusually well is having two leads play the same character -- Ashley Judd as Norma Jean Baker, the ambitious, sexually abused orphan, who transforms herself into Mira Sorvino as Marilyn Monroe, the troubled sex symbol who can't escape Norma Jean's inner voice.

The film does a good job chronicling her drug use and the way she exploited men and sexual politics to rise to the top, but ignores many of the rumors and speculation that surround her death. Both actresses give strong performances, but Judd's is especially captivating. I absolutely fell in love with her in this movie -- and not just because she spends a great deal of time nude. This is one of my favorite Hollywood biopics -- right up there with "The Man of a Thousand Faces" (1956), "Chaplin" (1992) and "Ed Wood" (1996).

Best Line:
"I'm going to be in the movies, even if I have to fuck Bela Lugosi to do it!"

Side Note:
Judd and Sorvino both shared Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for lead acting.

Companion Viewing:
"Gia" (1998).

Links:
IMDb.

Take a Look:
For reasons only know to the creator, someone made a short montage of some of Ashley Judd's cigarette smoking scenes from the film:

I Was a Male War Bride (1949).

The Scoop:
One of the truisms of comedy is that nothing guarantees a hearty laugh quite like seeing men wearing women's clothing. It long ago became a cliché, but each generation still manages to produce performers and performances that pull it off and give it a fresh spin.

While Howard Hawks' "I Was a Male War Bride" sticks to the cheap laughs inherent in cross-dressing, it keeps it to a minimum and more than makes up for it in other ways. The incomparable Cary Grant works his usual charm on a script that examines a little-known historical curiosity following the second World War -- the military offered special help to American GIs who met women in Europe or Asia and wanted to marry them and bring them to the United States. However, the cases of American military women who wanted to bring home husbands were overlooked. This movie fully exploits the comic possibilities inherent in this situation. Grant is a French army officer (based on the travails of the real life Henri Rochard, who gets story credit here) who plans on marrying American officer Ann Sheridan. Unfortunately, the apparatus set up to benefit military spouses isn't prepared to handle husbands. So, Grant must become a war bride instead. This is a hilarious film, and one of Grant's better performances.

Best Line:
"The process of turning a man into a woman is enormously complicated -- but I'll do my best."

Side Note:
After Sheridan's luggage was lost during her trip to Europe to begin shooting, a group of military wives pitched in to give her new clothes. They were repaid by being cast as extras.

Companion Viewing:
"Ball of Fire" (1941) and "Bringing Up Baby" (1938).

Links:
IMDb.

Take a Look:
This clip doesn't involve cross-dressing, and it's one of the lamer gags in the movie, but it's online, so here ya go...

The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929).

The Scoop:
This slow-moving affair was conceived as a showcase for MGM's roster of stars, as well as their new sound equipment. Basically, this means we get a string of musical numbers broken up by quasi-comedic exchanges between the stars. Mostly for fans of music from that period (ukeleles!), although there are plenty of historical curiosities (Marion Davies!) as well. Probably more fun to watch at the time than it is now. Still, it would be fun to see today's stars do something like this...

Best Bit:
Bessie Love's solo number, with its self-deprecating lyrics and athletic dancing.

Side Note:
Includes an early Technicolor sequence of Norma Shearer and John Gilbert, two of the most popular romantic leads of the time, doing the balcony scene from "Romeo and Juliet." Seven years later, Shearer would finally get make the full-length movie version of the play she had been pushing for for years, but because Gilbert had destroyed his career by that point, her Romeo was Leslie Howard.

Companion Viewing:
"Hollywood Party" (1934) and "Hollywood Canteen" (1944).

Links:
IMDb.

Take a Look:
Laurel and Hardy work their magic:

Megapost: Let's Twist!

The last post about "Don't Knock the Rock" got me thinking about it's knock-off, "Don't Knock the Twist." That, in turn, brought up all the rest of that wave of Twist movies, so here's your introduction to four of them.

Twist Around the Clock (1961).
The Scoop:
After Chubby Checker's success with "The Twist," there was a movement afoot in the early '60s to establish the Twist as separate musical genre to itself. Never mind the fact the music sounded identical to rock 'n' roll and that all the lyrics were about the Twist and nothing else -- obviously, this was an effort doomed to failure. Still, that didn't stop Hollywood from making a wave of Twist movies to cash in on the burgeoning craze. The first was, appropriately enough, "Twist Around the Clock," which (as the title would suggest) is a remake of the pioneering rock 'n' roll film "Rock Around the Clock." Only this time, instead of rock 'n' roll supplanting sentimental big band music, this features Checker trying to get the Twist to supplant rock 'n' roll. A severe miscalculation, although it is fun to see Dion and the Belmonts on hand to do a couple of their big hits, "The Wanderer" and "Runaround Sue."

Best Bit:
The line of kids sandpapering their shoes.

Side Note:
The screenplay credit went to "Rock Around the Clock" screenwriter James B. Gordon (real name, Robert E. Kent), because the producers essentially used the same script, only changing a few Twist-related details here and there.

Companion Viewing:
"Rock Around the Clock" (1956).

Links:
IMDb.

Take a Look:
Tom Funk gets the gang rockin':



Hey, Let's Twist! (1962).
The Scoop:
Devised as a star-making vehicle for Joey Dee and the Starliters and to capitalized on their hit "The Peppermint Twist," "Hey, Let's Twist!" tells the story behind the opening of New York's famed Peppermint Lounge. Like any true Twist movie, it's underwritten and poorly acted, but at least the music is entertaining. What sets it apart from the other Twist movies, though, is the sheer Noo Yawk Italian-ness of it. The non-musical scenes come off like G-rated Scorcese, and the fleeting presence of Joe Pesci (in his film debut) only reinforces that.

Best Bit:
The Starliters' performance of "Shout."

Side Note:
Joey Dee's still working the nostalgia circuit -- he's even available to play your event!

Companion Viewing:
Oddly enough, "Mean Streets" (1973).

Links:
IMDb.

Take a Look:
Check out the trailer, which tries to work in celebrities who had absolutely nothing to do with the movie:



The Continental Twist
(a.k.a., Twist All Night) (1961).
The Scoop:
A momentary diversion in the Twist movie cycle, this one barely even features the dance. Instead, the wonderful (although very un-Twist-like and un-rock-like) Louis Prima fights to save his night club from a greedy art forger. The plot really doesn't matter. All that matters is Prima's incredible music, performed along with Sam Butera and the Witnesses. Watch it for that alone.

Best Line:
"Oui! Le Twist!!

Side Note:
Originally released with a 9-minute color prologue called "Twist Craze" directed by Allan David.

Companion Viewing:
"Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (1959).

Links:
IMDB.

Take a Look:
The interwebs seems to be pretty silent on this movie, so here's a vintage clip of Louis, Sal and the boys doing "Oh Marie":



Don't Knock the Twist (1962).
The Scoop:
Oh, the strange, strange world of the Twist movies. It's an alternate universe where Chubby Checker is revered as a demi-god, and where every aspect of culture is revitalized by hip youth with a special Twist flair -- there is Twist music, Twist dance, Twist cuisine and Twist sociology. In this particular movie, the focus is on Twist fashion. It's not immediately discernible how the Twist clothes on display here are different than regular clothes of the period, but they are. The filmmakers insist that they are. There's also a plot about a TV producer having to stage a "Twist Spectacular" to save an orphanage and restore his discredited girlfriend's good name. Odd.

Best Bit:
Vic Dana's creepy song "Little Altar Boy."

Side Note:
Our old screenwriting pal Robert E. Kent is back, not only writing the script, but also many of the lyrics for the Twist songs in the movie.

Companion Viewing:
Any other Twist movie you can find.

Links:
IMDb.

Take a Look:
Checker and Dee Dee Sharp perform "Slow Twistin'":

Don't Knock the Rock (1956).

The Scoop:
Another of the vast crop of early rock 'n' roll films, this isn't among the best, but it has its own charm nonetheless. The wholly incidental plot (about a famous singer, played by Alan Dale, who goes back to his hometown to fight anti-rock prejudice) is beside the point. The whole reason to see this movie is for the terrific performances by the likes of Bill Haley and the Comets and Little Richard (who does his classics "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally"). Alan Freed is also along for the ride, for no good reason other than self-aggrandizement. But the music -- woo-hoo!

Best Bit:
"Rock 'n' roll is for morons!"

Side Note:
Screenwriter Robert E. Kent, who wrote for the original "Wild, Wild West" TV series, wrote this using the pseudonym James B. Gordon, which he also used to write "Rock Around the Clock."

Companion Viewing:
"Rock Around the Clock" (1956) and "Mr. Rock and Roll" (1957).

Links:
IMDb.

Take a Look:
Everybody jitterbug!


Bill Haley and the Comets do "Rip It Up":


Little Richard tearing through "Long Tall Sally":


The Treniers doing "Rockin' on Saturday Night":

Cop Land (1997).

The Scoop:
James Mangold's film packs a punch. Oh, sure, it has it's flaws -- namely, Sylvester Stallone's lunkheaded acting (the role presented a bigger physical stretch for him, with its self-induced "flabbiness," than an acting stretch), the mere presence of Michael Rapaport, and that constant pet peeve of mine, having characters talk to themselves as a means of exposition -- but these shortcomings don't amount to much when compared to the rest of the movie.

Sly's character Freddy is the sheriff of Garrison, New Jersey, a small town just across the river from New York City and populated almost entirely by crooked NYPD officers. An old injury has kept Freddy from realizing his dream of working in the City, so he must occupy himself with turning a blind eye to the actions of the cops on the take. Eventually, the moral abuses pile up too high and Freddy must make a critical decision.

The cast of Oscar-caliber heavyweights do what they do best, and it's great to see Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel play off each other again, two and a half decades after "Mean Streets" (1973), even if it is only for one scene. Unfortunately, De Niro's small role does not also give him the opportunity to reunite with Cathy Moriarity, who plays Keitel's wife and was De Niro's costar in "Raging Bull" (1980).

Despite the "Joisey" trappings and the heavy debt to Martin Scorcese's '70s work, the film is, at heart, a classic western -- the sheriff must clean up his small town by taking on a gang of gun-toting desperadoes by himself. Here, the "cowboy" mentality of many cops is given a more literal rendering and the elastic conventions of the movie western are enlarged even futher.

Best Line:
"Being right is not a bullet-proof vest, Freddy!"

Side Note:
Stallone gained 40 pounds for the role, and was only paid scale.

Companion Viewing:
"High Noon" (1952).

Links:
IMDb.
Henancius Entertainment.

Take a Look:
Here's the trailer, although the audio doesn't appear to be synced right:


And episode of Charlie Rose with an interview with Mangold, Stallone and co-star Ray Liotta: