"Annie Christie" - Grets Garbo, Marie Dressler and Charles Bickford (1930)

 

Anna Christie (1930) is a pre-Code film of the Eugene O'Niell play. Starring Greta Garbo, this was her first "talkie". The advertisements all said "Garbo Talks!" Directed by Clarence Brown, it is the story of an alcoholic woman with a past in prostitution who reunites with her long estranged alcoholic father. 

She then falls in love with a sailor, which infuriates her father, who is a sailor himself and deserted his family. He fears for her future based upon his own past. With both men holding her up on a pedestal, and both telling her what to do with her life, she is forced to confront her past. 

The film was a huge success, and was also released in a German-language version with Garbo in both, and is notable for its gritty and powerful performances. Garbo and Marie Dressler were exceptional, as well as Garbo's would be lover, played by Charles Bickford.

The film garnered 3 Academy Award Nominations including Best Actress for Garbo in her riveting performance. All doubts about her ability to act in "talkies" disappeared with this fim.

"Jolson Sings Again" with Larry Parks and Barbara Hale (1946)

As a kid growing up in New York I used to watch a lot of the old movies on WOR-TC channel 9. They were what was referred to as an “independent” station and along with WNEW Channel 5 were the only alternatives to the “big three” networks. This arrangement was a sort of blessing in disquise for an inquisitive kid like me. I really enjoyed the older black and white movies these stations ran, rather than the newer ones on the networks. And occasionally they even outdid themselves; like the time one of them showed the first talkie “The Jazz Singer” withal Jolson.

My regard for Jolson came mostly from my Uncle Irving. He used to do the shimmy and a bit of the Charleston now and again when he heard me playing a record like “Winchester Cathedral” or “Hello, Hello” by the Sopwith Camels.  Even “Words of Love” by the Mamas and Papas could set him off. At these times he would regale me with stories of Al Jolson, “the greatest entertainer in the world!” So, when The Jazz Singer was scheduled to air, I was all set. I even had my little reel to reel battery operated tape recorder set up with the microphone up against the TV speaker to record the musical numbers.

This film brings to life the music and career of Al Jolson, beginning with his attempt at making a comeback in the years just before the outbreak of World War Two. So much had changed in the years since Jolson had been top of the heap. Bing Crosby had come along, changing the way people interpreted songs. The difference was in the phrasing. Crooning was out. This was the environment in which he was attempting to make his return to the stage and radio audiences he had left more than a decade earlier.

In the film previous to this one, “The Jolson Story”, Larry Parks portrays Al Jolson and chronicles his rise to fame and his decision to retire. In this follow up film he reprises his role as the greatest entertainer of all time, picking up the story in the late 1930’s. As Hitler is marching across Europe, Jolson is enjoying life as a former star, traveling all over and visiting all of the race tracks. He was living the life of a playboy. But, with a little push from history, his father, and his manager, that was all about to change.

As the war in Europe became a war against the Jews, Jolson’s father; a Cantor; was upset that his son didn’t seem to care about what was happening in the world around him. He was living a life of wine, women and song; fiddling like Nero while the world around him burned. The elder Jolson (Yoelson), along with his son’s manager Steve Martin; played by the irascible William Demarest; conspire to push him back towards doing something constructive with his life.

Jolson joins the efforts to entertain the troops at training camps across the country, where he is surprisingly well received. His travels abroad lead to his coming down with malaria; forcing him to go home after collapsing on stage. When he comes to and sees the most beautiful woman he has ever laid eyes upon, he begins to sing “Baby Face” to her before passing out again.

In real life he met Erle Galbraith; an X-ray technologist at a military hospital Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Though instantly smitten with her it takes him over a year to track her down again. When he does locate her he offers her a job and the two are later married, adopting two children before his death in 1950. He had one previous child by adoption with his third wife, Ruby Keeler in the 1930’s.

Even if you are not a fan of Al Jolson, or the music of the era, this film has a lot to offer. Larry Parks is excellent as Jolson, and Jolson does make a brief cameo in the film; just as he did in the first Larry Parks vehicle “The Jolson Story.”

Two things worth noting about Jolson are; the Elvis classic “Are You Lonesome Tonight” was recorded by many people. The song was written in 1926 and recorded the following year. Jolson picked it up in 1950, a decade before Elvis. And also, although Bing Crosby gets the credit most of the time for the change in phrasing vocals rather than crooning, it was really Jolson, with his minstrel style, who influenced Crosby.

As a matter of fact, as you watch this film and study Larry Parks’ movements, you will see a lot of Dean Martin in those performances. The singing is all done by Jolson; Larry Parks is just lip-synching, although his movements are exactly the same as Jolson’s. Watch him strut, leaning backwards and using his arms to animate each song.

The cast is composed of the following;

Larry Parks plays Al Jolson as well as himself. Barbara Hale plays the fictional Ellen Clark, who is really Erle Galbraith; and William Demarest plays manager Steve Martin; while Ludwig Donath   plays Jolson’s father, Cantor Yoelson with a gleam in his eye and love for his son in his heart.  

Here’s a clip of Jolson performing from the 1927 classic “The Jazz Singer”;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD_YRnuuKyY

"Singing In the Rain" - Debbie Reynolds,

This is one of those films which I watch a couple of times each year. And one of those times is usually around New Years. It's a habit of mine to stay up a bit later than anyone else on New Year's Eve/early morning. I especially enjoy watching a musical, all alone while the rest of the world sleeps.

In this number, "Good Morning", from the classic film "Singing In the Rain", Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor celebrate the wee hours in riotous fashion. The late night hours have spawned a solution to a very perplexing problem for the trio and they kick out all the stops in celebration.

Obviously I won't be watching this one tomorrow night, having just watched it. But, you can be sure that I will be sitting; wide eyed; and watching an old musical tomorrow night/New Year's morning around 2 AM. I have no explanation; it's just something I do. "Gee, it's great to stay up late..."

"All Quiet On The Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque

Every now and then I get around to doing what I had intended upon doing when I began this blog; that is, to compare books and the movies that are made from them. I don't seem to get around to it that often, but it is what I'm supposed to be doing here.

In the opening years of the 1930's, Hollywood had a new toy to play with, "talkies."At first the template was set with films such as "The Jazz Singer" and then a plethora of musicals came along. These were all very fine and showcased the advent of sound by creating lavish musical numbers and featuring singing. But literature was about to weigh in, and it would change what people expected from motion pictures forever.

The 1930's saw the first real effort to bring great literature to the screen. And one of the first books chosen was the contemporary best seller by Erich Maria Remarque, "All Quiet On the Western Front." The book is one of the best anti war pieces of literature ever written. Bringing it to the screen was a challenge, in that sound was new and "talking" motion picture actors were still a rare commodity. So many of the silent screen idols couldn't speak a line, while many of the finer stage actors considered movies, particularly "talkies", to be a passing fad, geared only towards slapstick comedies, or overly emoted love stories and westerns.

"All Quiet On the Western Front" has stood the test of time as a novel. It's characters are brilliantly painted, the story finely developed. It centers around a group of students and their war mongering teacher. The teacher gives them all the bravado they need to go out and fulfill their destinies on the field of battle. The town cheers as they march off to war. The local postmaster becomes dictatorial in his treatment of the recruits, and the boys get a taste of what war is really all about. And in the end, all of the deaths are revealed as having been worthless.

One of the most poignant passages in the book speaks volumes about the war and the men who lived, or died in it. "We are forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, we are crude and sorrowful and superficial - I believe we are lost."

The book is fluid and the prose flows like water. It states coherently the message that war is hell. It underscores the abuse of authority by those who have no right to it in the first place. In comparison, the movie is stilted and choppy. The direction is almost chaotic.

But the one saving grace of this film is that it opened the door for filming more of the great classic literature. Within the the next few years classics such as "David Copperfield", "Oliver Twist", "Mutiny on the Bounty", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", and so many others, would come to the screen; not as silent synopsis' of these great works, but as feature films with actors who actually spoke. Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore, and scores of others would leave the stage and bring some of the world's finest literature to the screen. The techniques would change, and the sound and direction would improve. But for all of it's flaws, "All Quiet On the Western Front" is still a good movie to watch, if only to see the rapid advances made once sound was introduced to the movies.