Returning to theme of my 2020 post about the cinematic offerings of the Regal Cinema in the Wellington suburb of Karori, here's a glimpse at their offerings for 80 years ago today, Friday 27 August 1943, plus the following day too, because the cinema listing advertisement in the Evening Post covered both.
7.30pm: The Affairs of Martha
(MGM, dir. Jules Dassin, 1942, Marsha Hunt, Richard Carlson, 68 mins)
"The memorial of a personal maid who sees all - knows all - tells all" - in which a Long Island maid Martha is secretly writing a tell-all book about her employers, while at the same time pining for their adventurous son Jeff, who is shortly to return from an expedition studying the Eskimos. To complicate matters, Jeff got drunk before he departed on his expedition and married Martha, only to repent the next day (presumably with the marriage having been unconsummated due to drunken stupor). Despite giving Martha the money for an annulment, Martha refrains from carrying it out because she secretly loves Jeff. Despite unsurprising complications, cupid rules once Jeff sees the error of his ways and chases Martha down, declaring his undying love.
Director Jules Dassin was later blacklisted in Hollywood and mainly worked in Europe - chiefly France and Greece. He died in Athens in 2008. Marsha Hunt was also blacklisted, and spent more of her time as a humanitarian worker, raising awareness about world hunger and homelessness. She died in Los Angeles last year, aged 104. Richard Carlson worked in film and television, including appearing in the successful King Solomon's Mines (1950) and later specialised in horror and science fiction. He died in Los Angeles in 1977, aged 65.
Also showing: Flight Lieutenant
(Columbia, dir. Sidney Salkow, 1942, Pat O'Brien, Glenn Ford, 80 mins)
In which a WW1 pilot Doyle (O'Brien) with a drinking problem accidentally causes the death of his co-pilot, thereby earning the enmity of the dead pilot's brother (Warren Ashe), who later becomes Doyle's commanding officer. Coincidences abound, because not only do the men not recognise each other, but Doyle falls in love with his commanding officer's niece. In another unlikely coincidence, Doyle's son (Glenn Ford), whom he fostered out in his post-war doldrums, is now grown up and a pilot himself, and is about to test a frightfully dangerous prototype fighter. Luckily dear old dad steps in at the last minute to fly the beast, sacrificing his life for that of his son, and presumably disappointing the C.O.'s niece. The New York Times was definitely not impressed with Flight Lieutenant, reporting in its 31 July 1942 edition that 'Occasionally Pat O'Brien and Glenn Ford get off the ground for a spin in the clouds, but most of the time they are wallowing in a lot of mawkish sentimentality, which appears to be the chief ingredient in this dreary father-and-son tale'.
Film and later TV director Sidney Salkow was prolific, and later retired aged 59 to teach film courses. He died in Los Angeles in 2000, aged 89. 'Professional Irishman' Pat O'Brien (who was actually born in Milwaukee) had a long career including multiple films with James Cagney. He appeared in classics including Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Knute Rockne, All American (1940), and Some Like It Hot (1959), and was a friend of Ronald Reagan, who issued a White House statement on his death in 1983, aged 83. Quebec-born actor Glenn Ford appeared in a range of well-known movies, including Gilda (1946), The Big Heat (1953), Blackboard Jungle (1955), 3:10 to Yuma (1957) and Superman (1978). He received a Golden Globe for his role in Pocketful of Miracles (1961). He died in Beverly Hills in 2006, aged 90.
===
Tomorrow (Saturday) 2.15pm - Children's Matinee - "a wonderful children's programme"
Don't Lie (Our Gang comedy short, 11 mins - 'Buckwheat's accurate report of a wandering monkey is ignored because of his past fibs, with resulting confusion')
Dog Trouble (Colour Tom & Jerry cartoon, 8 mins - 'Tom and Jerry put their adversarial relationship on hold after their cat-and-mouse shenanigans awaken a sleeping bulldog')
Self Defense (Pete Smith Specialty short - 'Humorous demonstration for women in defending themselves')
Men in Fright (Our Gang comedy short from 1938, 11 mins - Hospital capers as the gang visit a pal in for a tonsillectomy and start mucking about with laughing gas, generally get into and out of scrapes)
Episode 1 of a new serial: Overland Mail (Universal, 1942, Lon Chaney Jr, Noah Beery Sr. & Jr.)
Plus: Laurel & Hardy in The Flying Deuces
(RKO, dir. A. Edward Sutherland, 1939, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Jean Parker, 69 mins)
One of Laurel and Hardy's most beloved buddy comedies, in which they joint the French Foreign Legion. Wronged in love whilst visiting Paris from their home in Des Moines, the duo join the Legion to forget a thwarted amour, only to be tasked with the most menial of labour - mountains and mountains of army laundry. The boys manage to set this alight, through incompetence rather than malevolence, and are charged with desertion and sentenced to death by firing squad. Through the auspices of a secret tunnel they escape and make off in a very-badly-flown plane, which they promptly crash. And I won't spoil the genuinely excellent joke that concludes the film!
No comments:
Post a Comment