IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)

HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN AGE

(Post 40 of 50)

Frank Capra's romantic comedy is pretty much a prototype of all romantic comedies that followed. The plot has a spoiled runaway heiress (Claudette Colbert) and a cynical newspaper (Clark Gable) reporter finding each other on the road. She wants to get to New York. He wants a story. They bicker. They bond. They fall in love. My favorite scenes are the ones in the auto camp where the two begin to bond and conspire to avoid detectives on their trail. A must for film buffs.

And the Elisha Cook Jr. supporting player award goes to..(tie) Ward Bond/Alan Hale. Ward Bond has a small but funny role as the bus driver who simply can't get the best of Clark Gable. Ward would later have a more significant role for Capra as Bert the cop in It's a Wonderful Life (Who wants to see liver pills on their honeymoon?). He could also be seen in numerous John Ford movies, as well as Sergeant York, The Maltese Falcon, Gone With the Wind (as the Yankee captain) and many others.

Alan Hale Sr. has the role of the guy that picks up Gable and Cobert during the famous hitchhiking scene. His character sings loudly to his hitchhikers, singing improvisationally based on whatever his passengers most recently said. And he's pretty funny. His character also apparently has the strange criminal scheme of driving off with whatever possessions his riders have when they aren't looking. Oh, well. It's a plot device to give the two leads a car late in the movie.

Hale was one of most heavily used character movie actors in the 30's and 40's (frequently with Errol Flynn), racking up 250 movie credits before his death in 1950.

THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS (1942)

HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN AGE

(Post 39 of 50)

It has been a long time since I last saw The Magnificent Ambersons, Orson Welles's follow-up to Citizen Kane. It is based on Booth Tarkington's classic story of a rich family whose fortunes are off-set by progress and the coming of the automobile personified in the person of entrepreneur and suitor (Joesph Cotten) to Isabel Amberson (Dolores Costello). The leading character is the spoiled son of Isabel, George Anderson (Tim Holt).

The film is beautiful to look at and features lively performances and Welles uses his famous quick cuts to maximum effect and the story moves along at a rapid pace. Some like this film more than Kane, but I'm not willing to go quite that far. The major flaw is the happy ending tacked on by the studio. Damn studio execs strike again!

And the Elisha Cook Jr. supporting player award goes to..Agnes Moorehead. Agnes had a nice but small role in Citizen Kane as Kane's mother. Her role in Ambersons is larger and she has a field day as George's emotional Aunt Fanny. Agnes runs the gamut of emotions from bitterness and jealousy to ultimately resignation and acceptance.

After many years in movies, Agnes appeared in one of the most famous episodes of The Twilight Zone (The Invaders). She is probably best known as Endora, the wicked witch from the 60's sitcom Bewitched.

GOING MY WAY (1944)

HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN AGE

(Post 38 of 50)

I'm not sure that there are too many film buffs who wouldn't take exception to Going My Way winning the Best Picture Oscar for 1944. It's a nice film, but the story of a radical (as much as Bing Crosby can be radical) priest being assigned to a floundering parish under the guidance of the crusty but lovable Father Fitzgibbon doesn't seem exactly groundbreaking. But it's a pleasant enough film, and a good one to check out to remember the time when Bing Crosby was Hollywood's biggest movie star. But should this really have beaten out Double Indemnity for Best Picture?

Speaking of Double Indemnity: The short career of ingenue Jean Heather (eight film credits) featured the interesting coincidence of her having important supporting parts in Going My Way and Double Indemnity, the two top contenders for the Best Picture Oscar that year. She plays Barbara Stanwyck's step-daughter in Double Indemnity and the young girl who Bing Crosby teaches about singing in Going My Way. 

Carol James in Going My Way

Carol James in Double Indemnity

And yet another Little Rascal alert: Going through these fifty films, I first came across former Little Rascal Stymie Beard in Jezebel. Then I came across former Little Rascal Dickie Moore in Sergeant York and Out of the Past. And Going My Way features former Little Rascal Alfalfa Switzer as one of the tough kids Bing teaches to sing. I guess I should consider adding Fritz Lang's The Woman in the Window to this list just to include Spanky McFarland's bit part as a boy scout in that one!

"Stymie" in Jezebel

"Dickie" in Sergeant York

"Alfalfa" in Going My Way

"Spanky" in The Woman in the Window

And the Elisha Cook Jr. supporting player award goes to..Barry Fitzgerald. It's hard not to give this to Barry, even though he already won Best Supporting Actor and was also nominated for Best Actor for the same film! Other memorable roles for the Irishman include And Then There Were None, The Quiet Man and Bringing Up Baby, but its' the role of Father Fitzgibbon that he is best remembered for.

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944)

HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN AGE

(Post 37 of 50)

Meet Me in St. Louis was probably my mother's favorite movie. Seeing what she loved about this movie is pretty easy. Beautiful technicolor, elaborate period costumes, a nostalgic look back at a simpler time (1944 looking back at 1903), a youthful and vivacious Judy Garland, lots of light comedy, a plot with some peril that you know will be fully resolved by the end and of course those songs-"The Trolley Song," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Meet Me in St. Louie," and "Skip to My Lou." I really can't believe I haven't seen this one before. 

Criticism? I offer none because I loved my mother too much.

And the Elisha Cook Jr. supporting player award goes to..Marjorie Main. I was in a play by Larry Shue called The Nerd where there is a line about how the last person to have gumption was Marjorie Main. Meet Me in St. Louis seems a typical role for the old girl, playing the gruff housekeeper with a heart of gold. Marjorie's best know role originated as a supporting part in The Egg and I, where she played the Ma half of the rustic Ma and Pa Kettle team. The popularity of these characters led Marjorie (and Percy Kilbride as Pa Kettle) to get her own series of very successful films with these characters as the stars.