"Happy Christmas, Harry!" "Happy Christmas, Ron!"

Well, I had a very nice Christmas, getting more than half a dozen classic movie box sets that I can't wait to break open. I love what Warner Bros. has done with their classic dvds, the whole "Warner's Night at the Movies" feature with classic shorts, cartoons, and trailers. I'm almost more excited about them than I am about the movies themeselves!

I've also seen some great films these past couple of weeks, and I may write about them and I may not, but regardless, I've enjoyed myself. I have a particular weakness for corny and sentimental movies around Christmas, so take that into account when you see some of these grades:

Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (Roy Rowland, 1945, A-)
Holiday Affair (Don Hartman, 1949, B)
The Ladykillers (Alexander Mackendrick, 1955, A-)
The Human Comedy (Clarence Brown, 1943, A-)
Kitty Foyle (Sam Wood, 1940, B-)
L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997, A-)
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Marc Rothemund, 2005, A)
The Secret Garden (Fred M. Wilcox, 1949, C+)
All Mine to Give (Allen Reisner, 1957, B+)
The Holiday (Nancy Meyers, 2006, B-)
We Are Marshall (McG, 2006, B)

Quote of the Week

"Genres were never rigid. Creative filmmakers kept stretching their boundaries. This was a classical art where personal expression was stimulated rather than inhibited by discipline."

Martin Scorsese (on classic Hollywood)

This has nothing to do with movies

In order to waste time and avoid studying for finals, I took this quiz (via Barb Nicolosi):

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North   You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

And it's one-hundred percent right! Even about the pop!

Tortilla Flat (Victor Fleming, 1942, B-)

This is an adaptation of the John Steinbeck book about a group of paisanos in California who work hard at not working hard. Danny (John Garfield) is the "hero" of the piece, trying to change his ways to impress Dolores (Hedy Lamarr), while his best friend Pilon (Spencer Tracy) spends most of the film conning people and trying to keep Danny away from Dolores. Tracy's accent is laughable, and the attempts at humor for the most part fall flat. Hedy Lamarr, who can give a good performance as evidenced by her work in H.M. Pulham, Esq. (King Vidor, 1941), spends most of her time overacting in a poorly written plot. My suspicion is that Lamarr needed a stronger director, someone more adept at handling women's parts, than Victor Fleming, who was often thought of as a "man's director." Myrna Loy and Vivien Leigh have given great performances under Fleming, but they were better actresses than Hedy. Lamarr needed more help than Fleming was able to provide.

The other great surprise was that Tracy could be so annoying. The bad accent had something to do with it, but most was due to the unlikable character he played. Pilon is selfish, sometimes cruel, and even as he tries to help Danny, it still feels like he's only doing it to make himself feel better. I suspect we were supposed to find Pilon's antics somewhat humorous, but instead he comes across as immature and destructive. The only thing funny about the movie is the accents and I doubt that was the intent (also, it's interesting to note that, once again, classic Hollywood hears someone with a foreign accent -- Lamarr -- and thinks they can play anyone with an accent, nevermind that Hedy's accent is German while her character's is Spanish -- kinda ruins whatever illusion of verisimilitude they were going for).

What saves the film is Frank Morgan's (Oscar-nominated) performance as Pirate, the old vagabond with a touching piety and gentle heart. It's no coincidence that Morgan has the best accent of the bunch and gives the best performance: he takes his character seriously, embodying the spirit of a simple man who loves dogs and St. Francis. Tracy, for all of his skill as an actor, never seems to take Pilon seriously as a character; Tracy always seems to be winking at the audience throughout his performance. Morgan's storyline -- a poor man who saves all of his money in order to buy a candle for the church -- is actually more interesting than the main one about Danny, Dolores, and Pilon. The scene where Pirate prays to St. Francis in the woods while his dogs yelp and jump at his feet is one of the truest displays of religious feeling I've seen in a film.