Frankenstein 1931 movie herald image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Carl Laemmle and Universal Pictures delivered the horrific Frankenstein to movie theaters in 1931. Boris Karloff plays the monster and Colin Clive its sinister, god-like creator. It’s alive! It’s alive!

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Frankenstein is based on the 1818 novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley and the subsequent 1927 stage production by Peggy Webling. Frankenstein, starring Charles Ogle, was first filmed in 1910 by the Edison Company. That was followed by Life Without Soul in 1915 and an Italian picture titled Master of Frankenstein in 1920.

Carl Laemmle’s Frankenstein owes its impetus to the success of another Universal Pictures horror film, 1931’s Dracula starring Bela Lugosi, which had debuted ten months earlier. Universal was looking for another horror vehicle in which to cast Lugosi, with writer-director Robert Florey coming up with several possibilities, including The Invisible Man, The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Frankenstein.

Florey fashioned a five-page Frankenstein outline which was later followed by a full-length screenplay. A two-reel test was then filmed using the old Dracula castle set, with a heavily made-up Lugosi playing the monster in the pivotal creation scene.

Dissatisfied with Florey’s direction and Lugosi’s sympathetic portrayal of the monster, Universal released both. In order to avoid legal complications, however, the studio quickly assigned Florey to another of its pictures, Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), starring Bela Lugosi.

James Whale Directs Frankenstein

Frankenstein was produced by Carl Laemmle Jr., the 23-year-old son of the head of Universal Pictures. John Balderston, Francis Edward Faragoh and Garrett Fort wrote the screenplay, with James Whale in the director’s chair. David Broekman and Bernhard Kaun delivered the eerie, primitive music score and Arthur Edeson and Paul Ivano served as cinematographers.

Colin Clive (Dr. Henry Frankenstein), Mae Clarke (Elizabeth), John Boles (Victor Moritz) and Boris Karloff (The Monster) head the cast. Other players include Edward Van Sloan (Dr. Waldman), Frederick Kerr (Baron Frankenstein), Dwight Frye (Fritz), Lionel Belmore (Herr Vogel), Marilyn Harris (Little Maria), Francis Ford (Hans) and Arletta Duncan (Bridesmaid).

Frankenstein Filmed at Universal City 

Budgeted at $291,000, Frankenstein was filmed from August to October 1931 at Universal City, Universal Pictures’ sprawling 230-acre municipality located in California’s San Fernando Valley.  Other California locations used included Lake Sherwood,  Malibou Lake in Agoura and Busch Gardens in Pasadena, with the latter serving as the convalescent scene.

Makeup artist Jack P. Pierce had the monumental task of turning Boris Karloff into the hideous Frankenstein monster. Karloff’s imposing ensemble consisted of a square rubber head with lizard eyes, two pairs of pants, steel struts for stiffening the legs, a pair of 30-pound boots, gobs of blue-green greasepaint, mounds of heavy padding and lots of plaster. In all, the makeup process took five hours each day, with an additional two hours needed for removal.

Karloff’s monster costume was kept a closely guarded secret until the movie’s release, with Uncle Boris taking his meals in private and donning a black hood while being transported to various sound stages.

Frankenstein: It’s Alive! It’s Alive!

Frankenstein opens in a fog-shrouded cemetery at midnight where Dr. Frankenstein and his hunchback dwarf assistant, Fritz, are trolling for freshly-buried bodies. The Doc then takes his human cargo back to his old watchtower laboratory where he stitches the male corpses together, forming a single lifeless cadaver.

Fritz is sent to a nearby university in order to retrieve a preserved human brain. In a panic, the dwarf accidentally grabs a jar bearing the ominous label, “Criminal Brain,” and delivers it to his master.

With the horrified Dr. Waldman, Victor Moritz and his fiancee Elizabeth in attendance, Dr. Frankenstein proceeds with his latest experiment. Raising the cadaver on a huge platform to the top of the tower, Frankenstein captures the strikes of a series of lightning bolts that transfer their energy into his creation.

Initially, the creature remains motionless, but then a hand suddenly twitches. Catching this small movement, the power-mad Frankenstein shouts in triumph, “It’s alive – it’s alive – it’s alive…Oh, in the name of God. Now I know what it feels like to be God!”

Taunted by the slow-witted dwarf, the lumbering monster breaks free of its chains and escapes its dungeon home. Now on the loose, the monster terrorizes the nearby village and subsequently murders a little girl. Cornered by its creator and a mob of angry, torch-carrying townspeople, the monster meets its fiery end at an old windmill.

Frankenstein Opens in New York City

Frankenstein opened at New York City’s Mayfair Theater on December 4, 1931. The movie made its official West Coast premiere on December 6, 1931, in Santa Barbara, California, with Colin Clive and Mae Clarke in attendance.

“James Whale…has wrought a stirring grand-guignol type of picture, one that aroused so much excitement at the Mayfair yesterday that many in the audience laughed to cover their true feelings,” reported Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times (12/5/31).

“Looks like Dracula plus, touching a new peak in horror plays and handled in production with supreme craftsmanship…Appeal is candidly to the morbid side…” observed Variety (12/8/31).

Frankenstein Box Office, Trivia, DVD

• Frankenstein grossed a staggering $12 million at the American box office.
• Frankenstein and Dracula were re-released in 1938 and shown as a double feature. At one theater, packed with 4,000 restless fans, a riot nearly broke out when the show failed to start on time due to the late arrival of the prints.
• Frankenstein had a tough time with motion picture censor boards, both in the United States and abroad. The U.S. censors didn’t like Dr. Frankenstein’s pseudo-blasphemous “God” claim while U.K. censors objected to the monster’s murder of Dr. Waldman and its overt threats to bride-in-waiting Elizabeth.
• As per Carl Laemmle Sr.’s  orders, Boris Karloff in full Frankenstein makeup was never to be seen by his office staff. His reasoning: “Some of our nice little secretaries are pregnant and they might be frightened if they saw him.”
• Carl Laemmle Sr. viewed the rushes from Frankenstein and was horrified by what he saw. He then told his producer son that moviegoers must be warned, which led to Edward Van Sloan’s prologue/disclaimer as featured at the beginning.
• Bette Davis had auditioned for the part of Elizabeth, but James Whale deemed her “too aggressive.”
• Boris Karloff was invited to audition for the role of the monster after James Whale had spotted him in the Universal Pictures commissary. “Your face has startling possibilities…” he told the actor.
• One male moviegoer was so upset after viewing Frankenstein that he phoned the theater manager at 3 AM the next morning, telling the startled man: “I saw Frankenstein at your place last night and can’t sleep – I have no intention that you should either!”
• In its 1998 list of the “20 Scariest Movies,” TV Guide placed Frankenstein at #9.
• On DVD: Frankenstein 75th Anniversary Edition (Universal, 2006).

“The brain you stole, Fritz. Think of it. The brain of a dead man waiting to live again in a body I made with my own hands!” Colin Clive declares.

Far out…

White Christmas 1961 reissue lobby card set image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Director Michael Curtiz and Paramount Pictures delivered White Christmas to movie theaters in 1954. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye play the hotshot entertainers, with Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen as the singing Haynes Sisters.

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas Origins

White Christmas owes its origins to Irving Berlin (1888-1989), America’s legendary songwriter who composed over 1,500 popular tunes during his remarkable career. According to Irving Berlin: A Daughter’s Memoir by Mary Ellin Barrett, her father began sowing the seeds for the song “White Christmas” while working in Hollywood in December 1937. But it wasn’t until 1942 when “White Christmas” was officially introduced, with Bing Crosby doing the honors in the movie musical Holiday Inn.

With the United States now fully engaged in World War II, “White Christmas,” winner of the 1942 Academy Award for Best Song, became a huge hit, touching many on the American home front whose loved ones were now in service and far from home. In 1946, Bing Crosby once again rendered his version of “White Christmas” for Hollywood, this time in the Paramount Pictures musical Blue Skies.

Michael Curtiz Directs White Christmas

Robert Emmett Dolan produced White Christmas for Paramount Pictures. Norman Krasna, Norman Panama and Melvin Frank wrote the screenplay and Michael Curtiz (Yankee Doodle Dandle, Casablanca, Mildred Pierce) directed. Joseph J. Lilley served as musical director, Loyal Griggs as cinematographer and Robert Alton as choreographer, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin.

Bing Crosby (Bob Wallace), Danny Kaye (Phil Davis), Rosemary Clooney (Betty Haynes) and Vera-Ellen (Judy Haynes) head the fine cast. Other players include Dean Jagger (General Waverly), Mary Wickes (Emma Allen), John Brascia (John), Anne Whitfield (Susan Waverly), Herb Vigran (Novello), Sig Ruman (Landlord), Johnny Grant (Ed Harrison), I. Stanford Jolley (Station Master), Barrie Chase (Doris Lenz), Percy Helton (Train Conductor) and George Chakiris (Dancer).

White Christmas Filmed in Hollywood

Filming for White Christmas was to have initially begun in January 1953. But when 40-year-old Dixie Lee Crosby, Bing’s wife, died on November 1, 1952, the production schedule was pushed back to mid-August 1953.

White Christmas was primarily shot on Stage 9 at Paramount Pictures. The train station scenes were filmed at Twentieth Century-Fox Studios in Century City.

Irving Berlin penned the musical’s entire soundtrack: “White Christmas,” “The Best Things Happen When You’re Dancing,” “Sisters,” “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep,” “Mandy,” “Gee, I Wish I Was Back in the Army,” “Snow,” “Choreography,” “The Minstrel Show,” “Let Me Sing,” “What Can You Do with a General?,” “The Old Man,” “Abraham,” “Blue Skies,” “Heat Wave” and “Love, You Didn’t Do Right By Me.”

Trudy Stevens provided the singing voice for Vera-Ellen in practically all of her numbers.  

White Christmas in Vermont

White Christmas opens on Christmas Eve 1944 in war-torn Europe. Captain Bob Wallace and Private First Class Phil Davis are staging a show in a forward area. Putting in a surprise visit is Major General Thomas F. Waverly, who is being replaced as the division’s commander.

An enemy bombing raid hits the forward area, whereby Pvt. Davis saves Captain Wallace’s life. At the hospital, Davis informs Wallace that he has a song the latter might be interested in, and proposes that the two get together as a team.

Fast forward ten years, where ex-servicemen Bob Wallace and Phil Davis are now the hottest musical act in the country. As a favor to Benny Haynes, a.k.a. “The Dog-Faced Boy,” Bob and Phil check out a sisters act playing The Florida nightclub in the Sunshine State. The Haynes Sisters are headed to Vermont for the holidays, with the infatuated Bob and Phil deciding to forgo their trip back to New York and join the girls in Pine Tree instead.

The Haynes Sisters are booked at the Columbia Inn, which happens to be owned by the boys’ old division commander, General Waverly. Unseasonably warm weather, however, has put the damper on snow skiing and other winter activities and threatens to financially ruin the retired general.

As a favor to General Waverly, the boys bring the entire Wallace & Davis show to Vermont. Bob then goes on The Ed Harrison Show, asking that all former members of the 151st Army Division report to the Columbia Inn for a surprise reunion on Christmas Eve.

White Christmas Opens in New York City

White Christmas opened at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on October 14, 1954.

“Director Michael Curitz has made his picture look good. It is too bad that it doesn’t hit the eardrums and the funnybone with equal force,” reported Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (10/15/54).

“Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, along with VistaVision, keep the entertainment going in this fancifully stage production, clicking well,” observed Variety.

White Christmas Box Office, Academy Award Nomination, Trivia, DVD

• White Christmas grossed $12 million at the American box office, earning the #1 position on the list of the top moneymaking films of 1954.
• One Oscar nomination: Best Original Song “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep.”
• Donald O’Connor was Paramount’s first choice for the role of Phil Davis. But when he had to withdraw because of an injury, Danny Kaye was brought in as his replacement.
• White Christmas was the first movie to be filmed in VistaVision, Paramount’s answer to Twentieth Century-Fox’s CinemaScope.
• Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer plays homely Benny Haynes in the photo Vera-Ellen produces at The Florida.
• Playing Around is the title of Wallace and Davis’ two-year hit on Broadway.
• The cost of Bob and Phil’s last-minute train tickets to Vermont which enable them to sit in the dining car all night: $97.24.
• The four deceased stars: Bing Crosby (1903-1977), Danny Kaye (1913-1987), Rosemary Clooney (1928-2002), Vera-Ellen (1921-1981).
• On DVD: White Christmas (Paramount, 2007).

The Flight of the Phoenix color still set image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Producer-director Robert Aldrich and Twentieth Century-Fox flew The Flight of the Phoenix into movie theaters in 1965. James Stewart plays the veteran pilot, with Hardy Kruger as the abrasive airplane designer.

Elleston Trevor’s The Flight of the Phoenix Novel

The Flight of the Phoenix is based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Elleston Trevor, a pen name for Trevor Dudley Smith (1920-1995). A taut thriller, the book begins: “The wind had flung the sand thirty thousand feet into the sky above the desert in a blinding cloud from the Niger to the Nile, and somewhere in it was the airplane.”

Following a review in Life magazine, several Hollywood agents tried to purchase the movie rights to Trevor’s fantastic novel, including one representing actor James Stewart. But eventually winning the bidding war was director Robert Aldrich, who then agreed to cast Stewart in the starring role.

Robert Aldrich Directs The Flight of the Phoenix

Lukas Heller penned the screenplay for The Associates & Aldrich Company. Robert Aldrich (Vera Cruz, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, The Dirty Dozen) produced and directed. Frank De Vol created the original music score and Joseph Biroc served as cinematographer.

James Stewart (Frank Towns), Richard Attenborough (Lew Moran), Peter Finch (Captain Harris) and Hardy Kruger (Heinrich Dorfmann) head the small cast. Other players are Ernest Borgnine (E. “Trucker” Cobb), Ian Bannen (”Ratbags” Crow), Ronald Fraser (Sergeant Watson), Christian Marquand (Dr. Renaud), Dan Duryea (Standish), George Kennedy (Mike Bellamy), Gabriele Tinti (Gabriel), Alex Montoya (Carlos), Peter Bravos (Tasso), William Aldrich (Bill), Barrie Chase (Farida) and Stanley Ralph Ross (Arab Singer).

Connie Francis delivers a wonderful rendition of “Senza Fine,” a romantic Italian ballad which emanates from Ernest Borgnine’s transistor radio.

The Flight of the Phoenix Filmed in Arizona and California  

The Flight of the Phoenix was filmed from April to August 1965 in Arizona (Buttercup Valley, Yuma) and California (Pilot Knobb and Imperial County). Principal props employed were three Fairchild C-82 Packet cargo planes and an experimental aircraft called the Tallmantz Phoenix P-1.

Filming went reasonably well until the morning of July 8, 1965, when Paul Mantz, a veteran pilot with over 25,000 flying hours, along with co-pilot Bobby Rose, took to the air. In order to simulate the Phoenix’s attempt to become airborne, Mantz had to guide the plane over cameras placed at opposite ends of Buttercup Valley. Although the first take was adequate, the director called for a second “insurance” take, with Mantz and Rose duly complying.

The second take proved disastrous, with the experimental plane’s landing skids catching a rough patch of ground. The Phoenix then broke apart and crashed, with Rose suffering a broken pelvis and left shoulder and Mantz killed instantly. The Federal Aviation Administration later determined that the plane’s airframe had failed due to overload stresses. The FAA also ruled that alcohol consumption by Mantz prior to the flight had contributed to the crash, impairing the 61-year-old stunt pilot’s “efficiency and judgment.”

With their lead stunt pilot dead and the Phoenix in shambles, the production company rented a vintage North American O-47 observation plane from the Ontario Air Museum, which was used to complete the flying sequences.

The Flight of the Phoenix: Survival in the Sahara Desert

The Flight of the Phoenix opens in North Africa, where a cargo plane owned by Arabco Oil takes off for Benghazi in northern Libya. Manning the aircraft are pilot Frank Towns and navigator Lew Moran, with a small group of company employees and two British Army personnel comprising the sparse passenger list.

A mammoth sandstorm soon engulfs the sky truck, crippling the engines and forcing Captain Towns to set down in the vast emptiness of the forbidding Sahara Desert. As the days pass by and rescue seems more remote, the survivors contemplate their options. Captain Harris, a by-the-book British officer, proposes that he and Sergeant Watson march their way out, producing a map which shows that the nearest water point is a “mere” 106 miles away.

Heinrich Dorfmann, a German aircraft designer, informs Captain Towns that they have all the necessary components to construct a new, smaller plane that can safely fly them back to civilization. A wary Towns reluctantly goes along with the idea, with construction getting underway.

Towns and Lew Moran later learn the truth about Dorfmann. The German works for NEU, a maker of model airplanes whose biggest design boasts of a wingspan of only two feet. “He’s crazy, Lew. The man builds toy airplanes,” Towns tells his friend, who then lapses into the hysterical laughter of a madman.

Dorfmann’s aeronautical creation, dubbed “The Phoenix” by Standish, is finally completed. With Frank Towns at the controls, Dorfmann directly behind him and the other passengers strapped onto the wings, the Phoenix’s single engine is finally ignited and the survivors brace themselves for take-off from their desert hell.

Release and Reviews

The Flight of the Phoenix opened in selected theaters on December 15, 1965, although many would not see it until 1966. The picture did not come to New York City until January 31, 1966, where it opened at the Astor Theater.

“…With the characters all being fellows of limited fascination, at best, who accumulate nothing as time passes except horrible sun blisters and beards, the attraction of being with them in their ordeal is miniscule. It’s as grim and implausible as being with Charlton Heston while he is doing that big interior decorating job in The Agony and Ecstasy,” reported a cranky Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (2/1/66).

“Robert Aldrich’s filmic translation of the Elleston Trevor book is an often-fascinating and superlative piece of filmmaking highlighted by standout performances and touches that show producer-director at his best,” observed Variety.

The Flight of the Phoenix Oscar Nominations, Trivia, DVD

• Academy Award nominations: Best Supporting Actor (Ian Bannen), Best Film Editing (Michael Luciano).
• Over 400 people attended the funeral for stunt pilot Paul Mantz, including James Stewart and World War II flying legend Jimmy Doolittle. Mantz is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
• A tribute to Paul Mantz is carried at the end of the picture: “It should be remembered…that Paul Mantz, a fine man and a brilliant flyer gave his life in the making of this film…”
• James Stewart served as a bomber pilot with the U.S. Eighth Air Force during World War II.
• Flight of the Phoenix was remade in 2004 with Dennis Quaid as Frank Towns. The setting was Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.
• On DVD: The Flight of the Phoenix (20th Century-Fox, 2003).

“I’ve lost five men, Lew. Gabriel in there, he’s on the way, that’ll be six. Are you asking me to try to kill the rest of them trying to get a deathtrap off the ground?” James Stewart tells Richard Attenborough.

Not an easy decision…

This movie is notable for several reasons. First, it was director John Ford’s first Western made using sound. It was also Ford’s first of many movies made in Monument Valley. But more importantly for you Western fans, it was John Wayne’s breakthrough role, the first movie that did big with him in it. Wayne plays an outlaw named Ringo Kid who rides along with a prostitute, a banker and others as they travel to Lordsburg, New Mexico, through Apache territory. To my way of thinking, this was the first real modern Western film.

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Lots of stars in this picture. Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Charles Bronson, Steve McQueen, just to name a few. The story is simple. Seven gunmen are hired to protect a village from bandits. During the build-up to the conflict, and during the main conflict, the gunmen fall in love with the village. At least those who survive the battle do. Plenty of action here, and a touch of comedy here and there, also. This is a pretty standard Western for a big cast, basically having become an iconic screen favorite. Worth seeing time and time again.

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

This particular film is director Sergio Leone’s first in what came to be called the Dollars Trilogy, three spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood as the Man With No Name. Based upon the Japanese samurai movie Yojimbo, this film is about a bounty hunter caught up in the fight between two families in a small town. Truly, one of the first post-modern Westerns, and a worthy Western film debut for star Clint Eastwood. For anyone thinking I’ve left out The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, don’t fret. That movie made it onto my original article, 10 Movies Every Western Fan Must See, so check it out there.

For a Few Dollars More (1965)

This is the sequel to A Fistful of Dollars. Clint Eastwood returns as a bounty hunter, but this time he’s joined by Lee Van Cliff. Clint and Cliff team up to take on a band of bank robbers, but there’s more than money at stake. Vengeance is the name of the game in this movie. And so I don’t forget it, the score by Enio Morricone is just as good here as it is in Sergio Leone’s other spaghetti Western flicks.

Django (1966)

Though much of the world thinks of Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone when it comes to spaghetti Westerns (Western movies in the 1960s and 1970s that were mostly made by Italian directors), there were plenty of other films in the genre. This is probably the next-best known of the lot after The Dollars Trilogy. Starring Franco Nero as Django, the story is a complicated one of a gun runner who becomes involved in a conflict between two warring generals. After much bloodshed, Django finally gets his revenge against the generals.

The Wild Bunch (1969)

If you like movies with lots of bullets and blood, this should be right up your alley. Truly, one of the most violent Western flicks ever made. Just about everyone is killed by the end of this one, which sounds kind of sad and pathetic in some ways, but it really works here. Director Sam Peckinpah originally meant for this movie to show theater crowds the ugliness of violence, but so many people loved the movie he eventually became somewhat disillusioned with his own message. The plot? A group of aging bank robbers try to survive the waining years of the cowboy age. Pretty simple, right? Not for this group of guys. A classic. Much like The Magnificent Seven, this one has a huge cast of stars, including William Holden, Ernest Borgnine and more.

The Cowboys (1972)

This is another one featuring John Wayne. It’s not a traditional Western by most standards. You won’t find gunslingers and sheriffs and Indians here, though there are a few outlaws. Wayne portrays a cattle rancher who has to drive hundreds of cows, but he’s got this problem. All his ranch hands have run off to a gold rush. In fact, nearly all the men but Wayne have shot off looking for gold. So who is going to drive these steers? Boys. Yep, I said boys. This is the tale of a bunch of boys and John Wayne herding cattle across the prairie. Doesn’t sound too adventurous, does it? Well, it is. There’s a good bit of action and comedy both. The ending is one of my favorites of a Wayne film, though it is somewhat bitter sweet.

Jeremiah Johnson (1972)

Partly based on fact and partly on legend, this film starring Robert Redford isn’t quite a Western. Though it sort of is. It’s just set before the traditional time period of most Westerns, before six-guns were slapping against thighs and black powder rifles were the end-all, be-all weapon. But that being said, in my opinion, this is the best movie on this list. It’s tale of mountain man Jeremiah Johnson, how he came to the mountains and the travails he faced once there. The tale is slow at times, but always thoughtful, and the action comes along often enough to keep the interest of more traditional Western fans.

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Okay, I can hear some folks complaining now. But I don’t care. Blazing Saddles is a Western. Quite probably the funniest Western of all time. Director Mel Brooks brought a classic piece of comedic and Western cinema to the scree when he filmed this one. Starring Cleavon Little as a black sheriff stuck in a small town of whites who mostly hate him, other than gunslinger Gene Wilder. Loaded with laughs, and makes fun of plenty of Western stereotypes.

The Shootist (1976)

We started with John Wayne and we’ll end with him. This is Wayne’s final movie, which also starred Lauren Bacall and Ron Howard. The story concerns the last days of a dying gunfighter, which was fitting considering Wayne would die three years later of cancer. This isn’t the best Western ever made, but it is a pretty decent one and it includes not only Wayne’s final role, but one of his best.

Related movie links

10 Movies every Western fan must see

5 Cigars that will make you look like Clint Eastwood

10 Cop Movies every Action Fan Must See

Lee Marvin in The Big Red One, image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Director Samuel Fuller and United Artists delivered the gripping war drama The Big Red One to movie theaters in 1980. Lee Marvin plays the old, grizzled sergeant, with Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Bobby Di Cicco and Kelly Ward as his young charges.

Samuel Fuller and U.S. Army’s First Infantry Division 

The Big Red One garners its title from the United States Army’s First Infantry Division, whose members sport the distinctive big red 1 patch on their uniforms. The division’s history begins in 1917, when the American Expeditionary Force arrived in France under the command of General John “Blackjack” Pershing. The “Fighting First” would later distinguish itself in a number of WW I battles at places like Cantigny, Soissons, St. Mihiel and the bloody Argonne Forest. The division’s exploits would continue into World War II, Vietnam, Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Samuel Fuller served with The Big Red One in World War II, where he fought in the division’s campaigns from North Africa to Europe. Awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart, Fuller and his division completed their long journey across Nazi-occupied Europe in 1945 when they liberated the Falkenau Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia. Following a pitched battle between the Americans and die-hard Nazi SS guards, Fuller had employed his own 16mm movie camera, personally recording the camp’s horrors.

Lee Marvin Stars in The Big Red One

Produced by Gene Corman for Lorimar Productions, The Big Red One was scripted and directed by Samuel Fuller (The Steel Helmet, Hell and High Water, Merrill’s Marauders). Dana Kaproff created the original music score and Adam Greenberg served as cinematographer.

Lee Marvin (The Sergeant), Mark Hamill (Pvt. Griff), Robert Carradine (Pvt. Zab) and Bobby Di Cicco (Pvt. Vinci) head the cast. Other players include Kelly Ward (Pvt. Johnson), Stephane Audran (Underground Asylum Fighter), Siegfried Rauch (Schroeder), Serge Marquand (Rensonnet), Charles Macaulay (General/Captain), Alain Doutey (Broban), Maurice Marsac (Vichy Colonel) and Perry Land (Pvt. Kaiser).

Samuel Fuller makes a cameo appearance as a cigar-chomping Army cameraman who instructs the soldiers to wave at the camera.  

The Big Red One Filmed in Israel

Much of The Big Red One was filmed in Israel. It was a little unsettling for some to see Israelis playing German Wehrmacht and SS soldiers. When a scene was completed, they would take off their helmets, often revealing yarmulkes underneath. And in between takes, Jewish actors could be glimpsed lounging around the set in full Nazi costume, conversing in Hebrew or reading the Torah.

Other aspects of the picture were shot in Ireland and California. The brutal winter war scenes were filmed at Big Bear in California’s San Bernardino National Forest.

The Big Red One in World War II

The movie opens in 1918, where The Sergeant is locked in deadly hand-to-hand combat with an enemy soldier. Upon killing the German, The Sergeant returns to headquarters only to learn that the Great War had ended four hours earlier and that the “Hun” was merely trying to surrender.

Fast forward to World War II, where The Sergeant is once again in combat, leading his raw recruits in Operation Torch, the 1942 Allied invasion of North Africa. This is only the first leg on their long, arduous trek as the Sicily campaign, the D-Day landings at bloody Omaha Beach, the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest and the final push into Nazi-held Czechoslovakia await them.

Along the way The Sergeant and his “Four Horsemen” experience the horrors and pathos of war, losing comrades in battle, delivering a baby in a tank and coming face-to-face with Hitler’s Final Solution at Falkenau Concentration Camp. One of the film’s strongest scenes takes place at the latter, where a young American soldier, confronted with the Nazi death ovens, continues to shoot an SS guard long after the man has died.

The Big Red One Opens in New York City

The Big Red One opened in New York City on July 18, 1980.

“A handsome, technically first-rate, almost leisurely recollection of the World War II experiences of five American soldiers, from the landings in North Africa in 1942 until the collapse of Germany in 1945,” reported Vincent Canby of The New York Times (7/18/80).

“Sam Fuller’s The Big Red One is a lot of war stories strung together in a row, almost as if the director filmed it for the thirty-fifth reunion of his old Army outfit, and didn’t want to leave anybody out,” observed Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“The Big Red One was two years in the making and 35 years in Samuel Fuller’s head. It’s a terrific war yarn, a picture of palpable raw power which manages both intense intimacy and great scope at the same time,” announced Variety.

The Big Red One Trivia, DVD

• Lee Marvin (1924-1987) saw combat with the U.S. Marines during World War II.
• The Big Red One began filming in 1978. At over four hours, the movie was edited by Lorimar Productions to a more commercially feasible two hours, much to the dismay of its progenitor.
• Samuel Fuller passed away at age 85 in Hollywood, California, on October 30, 1997.
• The Big Red One: The Reconstruction Two-Disc Special Edition DVD was released by Warner in 2005, along with an accompanying documentary titled The Real Glory: Reconstructing The Big Red One. The former was produced by film historian Richard Schickel who with film editor Bryan McKenzie collected additional footage found in a vault in Kansas City, Missouri. The two then worked from Sam Fuller’s shooting script, creating a longer movie which they felt more resembled the director’s original version.
• “The Reconstruction, which clocks in at 2 hours, 43 minutes, with not a single extraneous frame, elevates the work from a robust genre film to a full-blown epic…” crowed Kevin Crust of the Los Angeles Times (1/21/05) on the restored DVD.

“You know how you smoke out a sniper? You send a guy out in the open and you see if he gets shot. They thought that up at West Point,” Private Zab informs the viewer.

Private Zab doesn’t like the Army brass…

This charming period drama is the perfect antidote to modern life. Lyrical and sedately paced, it’s a beautiful if feather-light elegy to Regency manners and dress and to the poetry of the Romantics. Telling the true story of the love affair between talented but penniless Romantic poet John Keats and wealthy but socially awkward seamstress Fanny it’s crammed with elegant costumes, sparkling dialogue and bewitching performances.

Written and directed by Jane Campion, best known for 1993’s “The Piano”, this has a similar melancholic tone as her more famous work, managing to stretch a thin and rather basic plot into something deceptively well layered, combining a heart-wrenching love story, social commentary, intriguing historical details and dazzlingly beautiful poetical extracts, including a mesmerising reading of “Ode to a Nightingale” over the end credits, which admittedly makes it impossible to read any of the names. Abbie Cornish is marvellous as Miss Brawne, handling the transition from level-headed businesswoman to hopelessly obsessed lover with both realism and pathos. Ben Whisahw is suitably otherworldly and distracted as Keats himself, capturing the fragility of the young poet. There are also surprising turns from Thomas Sangster and Edie Martin as the two younger Brawne siblings, neatly summing up attitudes to childhood and responsibility: Martin has a endearingly childish playfulness about her, while Sangster is perpetually at that transitional point between boy and man lurking in the background as a chaperone. Paul Schnieder adds a touch of ambiguity as the rude but practical Charles Armitage Brown, while Kerry Fox is suitably sensible as Fanny’s mother. In one particularly charming scene, for example, Fanny, parted from Keats, has filled her bedroom with butterflies caught by her siblings and is wallowing in her self-created dream-world; Mrs Brawne is thoroughly perplexed by her daughter’s actions and when Fanny warns her not to step on one of the butterflies, her reaction is simply, “well move it.” There’s a wonderful sense of understated realism in the clash of personalities.

It looks and sounds lovely, and though it might not be the most novel or innovative film to be released this year, it’s certainly an enjoyably tragic portrait of Regency life and proof that literature can still provide a fascinating story.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington insert movie poster image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Producer-director Frank Capra and Columbia Pictures delivered Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to movie audiences in 1939. James Stewart plays the idealistic junior senator, with Jean Arthur, Claude Rains and Edward Arnold along for the bumpy campaign.

Lewis R. Foster’s The Gentleman from Montana

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is based on the story “The Gentleman from Montana” by Lewis R. Foster (1898-1974). Originally a newspaperman, Foster had moved to Hollywood in the 1920s to work as a gag man for Hal Roach Studios. After directing several Laurel & Hardy shorts, Foster graduated to feature films and television, working prolifically as both a writer and director.

Foster’s story treatment, alternately called “The Gentleman from Montana” and “The Gentleman from Wyoming,” was originally purchased by Columbia Pictures as a starring vehicle for Ralph Bellamy and as a possible sequel to the 1936 film comedy Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. When Gary Cooper, the title character in the aforementioned picture, proved unavailable, James Stewart was brought in from MGM under the working title Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Sidney Buchman penned the screenplay, with Frank Capra producing and directing. Dimitri Tiomkin created the original music score and Joseph Walker served as cinematographer.

James Stewart Stars in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

James Stewart (Jefferson Smith), Jean Arthur (Clarissa Sanders) and Claude Rains (Senator Joseph Harrison Paine) head the cast. Other players include Edward Arnold (Jim Taylor), Guy Kibbee (Gov. Hubert “Happy” Hopper), Thomas Mitchell (Diz Moore), Beulah Bondi (Ma Smith), Eugene Pallette (Chick McGann), H.B. Warner (Senator Agnew), Harry Carey (Henry), Astrid Allwyn (Susan Paine), Ruth Donnelly (Emma Hopper), Charles Lane (Nosey), William Demarest (Bill Griffith) and Jack Carson (Sweeney Farrell).

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Filmed in Hollywood

Budgeted at $1.9 million, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was filmed from April to July 1939. The movie was shot primarily on the Columbia Pictures lot in Hollywood, where a full-replica of the United States Senate chamber was constructed. Backdrop scenery employed included various Washington, D.C., landmarks: Union Station, the Capitol Building, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Supreme Court Building and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

Serving as Frank Capra’s technical adviser was James D. Preston, former superintendent of the Senate press gallery. Preston proved invaluable in recreating the august U.S. Senate chamber.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: A Capitol Movie

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington opens with bad news: United States Senator Samuel Foley has unexpectedly died. After consulting with media magnate/political boss Jim Taylor, the spineless Governor Hubert Hopper appoints Foley’s successor, Jefferson Smith, the popular head of the state’s Boy Ranger youth organization. Smith is a political newcomer and something of a country bumpkin, viewed by his backers as a “safe” choice and one they can easily manipulate.

The idealistic Senator Smith comes to the nation’s capital, wowed by the various historical landmarks and naively demonstrating his bird calls for an amused press. But when the freshman senator accidentally catches wind of a questionable dam project back home involving Terry Canyon, he develops a streak of independence, running afoul of his political backers.

Now the target of a vicious smear campaign, the embattled Senator Smith is ready to quit and return home to the Boy Rangers. But old Washington hand Clarissa Saunders urges him to fight back, with Smith challenging the powerful Boss Taylor and his well-oiled political machine.

Taking to the Senate floor, the energetic Smith engages in an exhausting 23-hour filibuster in an attempt to right the wheels of democracy. “Either I’m dead right, or I’m crazy!” he argues his conscience.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Release and Reviews

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington premiered at Washington, D.C.’s Constitution Hall on October 17, 1939.

“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is typically Capra, punchy, human and absorbing…” reported Variety in a special trade industry preview at Los Angeles’ Pantages Theater (10/3/39).

“Mr. Smith is one of the best shows of the year. More fun, even, than the Senate itself,” observed Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times (10/20/39).

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Academy Awards, Trivia, Movie Memorabilia, DVD

• Eleven Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Stewart), Best Supporting Actor (Carey, Rains), Best Music Scoring, Best Film Editing (Gene Havlick, Al Clark), Best Art Direction (Lionel Banks), Best Story (Foster, won), Best Sound (John P. Livadary), Best Screenplay.
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington drew the ire of several establishment newspapers, most notably Colonel Robert R. McCormick’s conservative Chicago Tribune. Joining in the chorus of boos were several outraged congressman and Senate Majority Leader Alben Barkley, who called the film “grotesque.” Montana Senator Burton Wheeler, seated next to Frank Capra at the premiere, was so offended that he walked out midway through the picture.
• Senator Smith’s home state is never identified, but it is located out west.
• Auction results for original Mr. Smith movie memorabilia, courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries, Dallas, Texas: one sheet poster rare style A ($15,535), insert poster ($3,585), half sheet poster autographed by Jimmy Stewart ($7,170), title lobby card ($1,792.50), window card ($1,195), 8×10 b/w publicity still picturing Frank Capra on the set ($119.50), midget window card ($1,015.75).
• On DVD: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Special Edition (Columbia/Tristar, 2000).

“You think I’m licked. You all think I’m licked. Well, I’m not licked, and I’m gonna stay right here and fight for this lost cause even if this room gets filled with lies likes these…” James Stewart tells his Senate colleagues.

Boy, is he in the wrong place…

There seems to be a genuine fear of British youth at the moment. Last year we had children torturing holiday makers in tense horror “Eden Lake” and this year we have “Harry Brown”, a gritty thriller starring Michael Caine as a pensioner turned vigilante. Now, as a twenty something living in Britain I can’t help but find this sort of thing disturbing, especially as both films refuse to show any nice, non-violent kids to level out the balance, but fear of the ASBO generation is, admittedly, understandable.

“Harry Brown” has received remarkably positive reviews thus far, due in the most part to Caine’s phenomenal performance and to the glorious opening. The first half of the film, showing the intense loneliness of the central character and the growing dread and isolation he feels as his comatose wife dies and his best friend is brutally killed by a local gang of youths. The slow pace seems to reflect an empty life, the only constant being the sound of the radio. It’s stark, bleak and upsetting, and Caine’s acting is beautifully subtle and genuinely heartbreaking.

Unfortunately this beautiful opening is then systematically destroyed by an over-the-top and largely unconvincing second segment, in which nice ex-marine pensioner Harry Brown loses control, first killing a mugger with his own knife, then buying a gun from a pair of junkies and going on a rampage. It’s an interesting idea which is sadly misused: the scene in which Harry “snaps” and kills the mugger is underplayed, and his subsequent decision to start attacking the gang just doesn’t seem plausible. It’s just too great a step for the character to turn from awkward self-defence to outright murder. A few scenes between these two events might have helped but not enough is done. Following the intense and unrelenting realism of the former section of the film, this just seems too much, far fetched and over stylised. It’s not that the latter half of the film is necessarily bad, but it sits awkwardly following the earlier scenes. It’s a little like watching two separate films haphazardly spliced together.

 Still there are plenty of redeeming features for this second half. The violence of the attacks is handled reasonably well, extreme enough to be affecting but generally shown in darkened rooms allowing the imagination to take over. The performances of the supporting cast are relatively believable, if grotesque, and Caine remains remarkable throughout. Unfortunately, however, even these positive aspects are shamed by a preposterously predictable final “twist”, very similar to the “blame the parents” motif already shown in films like “Eden Lake”, but again sloppily realised and perplexingly presented.

It’s a real shame. The opening hinted at such majesty but the final result is awkward, bizarre and unremarkable. Watchable but mediocre, sadly butchering the tone and finesse of the first section.

Holiday Inn lobby card set image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Director Mark Sandrich and Paramount Pictures brought the delightful Holiday Inn to movie theaters in 1942. Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire star, with Der Bingle crooning the classic “White Christmas” for the first time.

Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn

Irving Berlin had gotten the idea for Holiday Inn after penning the song “Easter Parade” for his Broadway musical As Thousands Cheer, which opened at New York City’s Music Box Theatre on September 30, 1933. A big success during the depths of the Great Depression, As Thousands Cheer would log 400 performances until its closing on September 8, 1934. Berlin later pitched his movie idea of a star-studded salute to American holidays to producer Mark Sandrich, who finally brought the film project to fruition nine years later.

Elmer Rice and Claude Binyon wrote Holiday Inn for Paramount Pictures. Mark Sandrich (Top Hat, Follow the Fleet, Skylark) produced and directed. Robert Emmett Dolan served as musical director, with original music by the prolific Irving Berlin.

Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire Star in Holiday Inn

Bing Crosby (Jim Hardy), Fred Astaire (Ted Hanover), Marjorie Reynolds (Linda Mason) and Virginia Dale (Lila Dixon) head the fine cast. Other players include Walter Abel (Danny Reed), Louise Beavers (Mamie), Irving Bacon (Gus), Marek Windheim (Francois), James Bell (Dunbar), John Gallaudet (Parker) and Shelby Bacon (Vanderbilt).

Playing an orchestra leader at the Midnight Club is Harry Barris, Bing Crosby’s old Rhythm Boys partner. Also making a cameo appearance is Bing’s younger brother, Bob Crosby, along with his orchestra.  

Holiday Inn Filmed in California

Budgeted at a healthy $3.2 million, Holiday Inn was filmed from October 1941 to January 1942. Filming locations included the original Holiday Inn in Monte Rio, California, which is still in operation today as the Village Inn & Restaurant.

One of the picture’s more spectacular scenes was a Fourth of July sequence titled “Let’s Say It with Firecrackers,” which thrilled moviegoers of the era. “The firecracker number, in which I threw torpedoes to explode in a rhythmic conglomeration at my feet, took an awful lot of planning and rehearsing,” reported Fred Astaire in his autobiography Steps in Time (Harper & Brothers, 1959). “I also had the stage wired to set off what looked like strings of firecrackers with visible flashes as I stepped in certain spots. It was great satisfaction, that dance…”

Holiday Inn: A Musical Celebration of America

Holiday Inn opens on Christmas Eve in New York City, where entertainers Jim Hardy, Ted Hanover and Lila Dixon are appearing at the Midnight Club. In her dressing room, Jim tells Lila that this is their final show. He produces a wedding ring, and announces that after their marriage they will retire to Midville, Connecticut, for life on the farm.

There’s one complication: Lila is in love with Ted. Clued in about their secret romance, an embittered Jim quits the act and heads to Connecticut alone. Here the months and holidays roll by, with Ted working on his farm.

A reconciled Jim and Ted later open a nightclub in Connecticut called Holiday Inn, which caters exclusively to the 15 or so American holidays populating the calendar. Later joining them at the inn is the blond singer/dancer Linda Mason, discovered by agent Danny Reed while working at a flower shop, who becomes Jim’s girlfriend.

Holiday Inn proves to be a successful business venture, with Hollywood getting wind of the establishment. The men from Tinseltown express their desire to make a motion picture on Holiday Inn, featuring the new dynamite dancing team of Ted Hanover and Linda Mason, along with Jim Hardy’s music.

Romantic entanglements ensue, with Jim learning in a movie magazine that Linda is now engaged to Ted. A despondent Jim is urged by his maid Mamie to head out to Hollywood in order to win back his girlfriend.

Holiday Inn Opens in New York City

Holiday Inn premiered at New York City’s Paramount Theater on August 4, 1942.

“That man Irving Berlin has been whistling to himself again. Not content with turning out the most rousing Broadway show in years, he has scribbled no fewer than thirteen tunes for Holiday Inn, the light-heartedly patriotic musical…” reported Theodore Strauss of The New York Times (8/5/42).

“Loaded with a wealth of songs, it’s meaty, not too kaleidoscopic and yet closely knit for a compact 100 minutes of tiptop filmusical entertainment,” observed Variety.

Film Analysis

Holiday Inn is just what the good Hollywood doctor ordered in the grim, early years of World War II. It’s an unabashed flag-waving musical, featuring Bing Crosby as the crooner and the incomparable Fred Astaire as the hoofer. Add to that the talents of Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale, and Holiday Inn ranks as one of Hollywood’s greatest music fests.

Irving Berlin fashioned an array of energetic toe-tappers especially for Holiday Inn: “I’ll Capture Your Heart Singing,” “Lazy,” “You’re Easy to Dance With,” “Happy Holidays,” “(Come to) Holiday Inn,” “Let’s Start the New Year Right,” “Abraham,” “Be Careful, It’s My Heart,” “I Can’t Tell a Lie,” “Let’s Say It with Firecrackers,” “Song of Freedom,” “(I’ve Got) Plenty to Be Thankful For” and “White Christmas.” Also included are two earlier Berlin tunes, 1933’s “Easter Parade” and the 1918 World War I ditty “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning.”

For “White Christmas” lovers, the song is performed twice in the film. The first outing comes with Bing Crosby at the piano, joined by Marjorie Reynolds whose singing voice is dubbed by Martha Mears. “White Christmas” is heard a second time, with Mears once again dubbing for Reynolds with the Bob Crosby Orchestra in accompaniment.

One of Holiday Inn’s big highlights is Fred Astaire’s superb Drunk Dance scene, in which his tipsy character arrives at the inn and does an impromptu fling with Marjorie Reynolds. “I took two stiff hookers of bourbon before the first take and one before each succeeding take,” Astaire reported in his autobiography. “I had to fall down on my face and be carried out for the finish. It was hot on that stage, too! All in all we did it seven times. The last one was the best.”

Holiday Inn Box Office, Oscar Nominations, Trivia, DVD

• Holiday Inn grossed $3.8 million at the American box office.
• Academy Award nominations: Best Original Song “White Christmas” (Berlin, won), Best Scoring of a Musical Picture (Dolan), Best Original Story (Berlin).
• Producer-director Mark Sandrich wanted two comparatively unknown girls to work with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, hence Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale were signed. And don’t get them confused: Marjorie Reynolds is the blonde and Virginia Dale the brunette.
• Martha Mears (1908-1986) not only did the singing for Marjorie Reynolds in Holiday Inn, but dubbed for other stars as well, including Rita Hayworth, Audrey Totter, Julie Bishop, Hedy Lamarr, Veronica Lake and Lucille Ball.
• The so-called “Abraham” sequence celebrating Lincoln’s birthday, in which Bing Crosby disguises Marjorie Reynolds in blackface, is often deleted from television showings. Some TV station managers view it as racially insensitive, even degrading.
• Twelve years after the release of Holiday Inn, Irving Berlin brought White Christmas (1954) to movie theaters.
• Deceased Holiday Inn stars: Bing Crosby (1903-1977), Fred Astaire (1899-1987), Marjorie Reynolds (1917-1997), Virginia Dale (1917-1994).
• On DVD: Holiday Inn Special Edition (Universal, 2006).

The Men Who Stare at Goats is a different kind of Comedy. It has more of a subtle humor, with some of the normal in your face stuff that most modern comedies have. A lot of people aren’t fans of subtle humor due to the fact that they don’t catch it all the time, so if you don’t catch, or get a joke, it’s not funny. Well I’m a big fan of that kind of humor. It ranks up there with Stranger than Fiction, another comedy with subtle humor. Still not quite as good as it, but close.

The cast was great for this kind of film. In fact I don’t think it would have been as good without the ensemble cast it has. You can’t go wrong with George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, and Ewan McGregor. Each character they all played brings all the more fun to the movie.

Over all I give The Men Who Stare at Goats a 7 out of 10. I suggest if you enjoy movies like Stranger Than Fiction, then you’ll enjoy this film.