Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 18, 2020 7:54:03 GMT -8
This is an odd movie, mixing melodrama with a metronomic click of: boy-loves-girl / tragedy happens / boy-loves-girl. Throw in a few “girl is apparently crazy” as well.
There’s just something odd about the story. Oddest of all is Robert Cummings wearing so much eye makeup. He looks like he just stepped out of a silent film which typically pancakes on the makeup, if only to try to compensate for how skin tones appear on black-and-white film (normally too dark). If you’ve every noticed how eerily white those faces can look in a silent film, you’ll know what I mean…they often overdid the powder. In his case, the face tones are fine but his eyes look like the old makeup artist for Valentino was on the set. I can’t find a great example of it, but this will do:
Cummings plays the yute, Parris Mitchell, who grows up in a small town with his pal, Drake McHugh (The Gipper). We see their life early-on as kids for a while and then it fast-forwards to young-adult life. Drake was born on the right side of the railroad tracks and comes from a monied family. But rural settings break down any such barriers and Drake and Parris become friends.
Then there isn’t much more I can say without giving the plot away. I will say that Ronald Reagan is pretty good in this, as is Ann Sheridan as Randy Monaghan. Betty Field is just plain strange as Cassandra Tower. This is the frustrating part of the film. It’s one of those instances where someone merely need say three words or so about what is going on. But they never do. Maybe that reflects real life. I don’t know. But it seems pretty dumb.
Anyway, Cassandra Tower and her father, Dr. Alexander Tower (Claude Rains), have some dire secret. This is so over-melodramatically played, it’s almost comical. I was close to turning this one off. But the metronome keeps clicking and we move onto another boy/girl relationship and another tragedy. We need not stay mired in one for too long.
I like the role played by Harry Davenport as the kindly and wise Colonel Skeffington. You’ll remember that distinctive voice for sure of Dr. Meade from Gone with the Wind, even behind all that beard.
Robert Cummings is somewhat of a nice-guy stiff in this, but is reliable as such. Reagan, on the other hand, evokes that boyish charm and exuberance. And it’s generally not presented as too over-the-top. And, ahhh, we should all meet a nice Eilse Sandor (Kaaren Boom-Boom Verne) when all is said and done.
As a movie in its entirely (and beyond some of the rough particulars), I liked it and can recommend it as one of the better-than-average old ones.
There’s just something odd about the story. Oddest of all is Robert Cummings wearing so much eye makeup. He looks like he just stepped out of a silent film which typically pancakes on the makeup, if only to try to compensate for how skin tones appear on black-and-white film (normally too dark). If you’ve every noticed how eerily white those faces can look in a silent film, you’ll know what I mean…they often overdid the powder. In his case, the face tones are fine but his eyes look like the old makeup artist for Valentino was on the set. I can’t find a great example of it, but this will do:
Cummings plays the yute, Parris Mitchell, who grows up in a small town with his pal, Drake McHugh (The Gipper). We see their life early-on as kids for a while and then it fast-forwards to young-adult life. Drake was born on the right side of the railroad tracks and comes from a monied family. But rural settings break down any such barriers and Drake and Parris become friends.
Then there isn’t much more I can say without giving the plot away. I will say that Ronald Reagan is pretty good in this, as is Ann Sheridan as Randy Monaghan. Betty Field is just plain strange as Cassandra Tower. This is the frustrating part of the film. It’s one of those instances where someone merely need say three words or so about what is going on. But they never do. Maybe that reflects real life. I don’t know. But it seems pretty dumb.
Anyway, Cassandra Tower and her father, Dr. Alexander Tower (Claude Rains), have some dire secret. This is so over-melodramatically played, it’s almost comical. I was close to turning this one off. But the metronome keeps clicking and we move onto another boy/girl relationship and another tragedy. We need not stay mired in one for too long.
I like the role played by Harry Davenport as the kindly and wise Colonel Skeffington. You’ll remember that distinctive voice for sure of Dr. Meade from Gone with the Wind, even behind all that beard.
Robert Cummings is somewhat of a nice-guy stiff in this, but is reliable as such. Reagan, on the other hand, evokes that boyish charm and exuberance. And it’s generally not presented as too over-the-top. And, ahhh, we should all meet a nice Eilse Sandor (Kaaren Boom-Boom Verne) when all is said and done.
As a movie in its entirely (and beyond some of the rough particulars), I liked it and can recommend it as one of the better-than-average old ones.
