I've been featuring a lot of cheese on the blog lately. This film is no exception - in fact, this film is an exemplary specimen of ripe, pungent, aromatic cheese, courtesy of Aaron Spelling. After flight 502 for London takes off from New York, a letter is discovered in the first class lounge warning of murders that will take place during the flight. Only the first class passengers are involved, and they include mystery writer Mona Briarly (Bergan), pop star Jack Marshall (Bono), international thief Paul Barons (Fernando Lamas), Jewish mother Ida Goldman (Molly Picon), bratty teenager Millard Kensington (Danny Bonaduce), Charlie Parkins (Walter Pidgeon) as well as a flight crew including Captain Larkin (Robert Stack) and stewardess Karen White (Fawcett). Who is responsible for the letter and who is or are the targets? As people start to die (in the "yanked from view into a closet" style of murder) we learn that the person who wrote the letter isn't joking. Red herrings abound, are dismissed and then the characters involved in them are relegated to the background. Also look for Brook Adams, Laraine Day, Ralph Bellamy and Hugh O'Brian in the cast.
Due to Farrah Fawcett's involvement in the film, it was released on DVD in the late 90's. Most of the reviews I've read seem to have missed the campier aspects of the film, but it's worth seeing for just those aspects. In addition to DVD, it can be seen in full above, thanks to a YouTube upload by smpr12.
Obscurity factor: 7 (on DVD and YouTube, known to Fawcett fans, otherwise forgotten)
Showing posts with label Walter Pidgeon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walter Pidgeon. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Greer Garson & Walter Pidgeon in The Miniver Story (1950)
The rousing success of the wartime melodrama Mrs. Miniver (1942) led MGM to reprise the franchise with this story of how the family adjusts to post war life. We pick up the threads of their lives on VE Day as Clem (Pidgeon) and Judy (Cathy O'Donnell) return home from their duties overseas. As they settle into old routines we begin to suspect something is amiss with Kay (Garson). It turns out that she hasn't long to live, but she's decided to keep that a secret until the time is right. She goes about making the time right by helping the family find their happiness.
This drama is super soapy and not as rousing as its predecesor but it does have some very satisfying moments in it. If you know the original you may wonder what became of the Miniver's oldest son Vin. Well, the actor who played him (Richard Ney) married Greer Garson shortly after the film was completed, and by the time this film came out they had called it quits. So it seems the studio decided not to remind the movie going public of the affair and cut the character from the film. Look for a young James Fox in his first role playing Toby, the Miniver's youngest son, just back from America. You'll enjoy him later as Jimmy in Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
This film is not yet available on DVD, though it's occasionally aired on TCM. Above is the trailer from the TCM website.
Obscurity factor: 6 (dimly remembered, not on DVD, scenes available on YouTube and TCM website)
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| MoviePosterShop.com |
This film is not yet available on DVD, though it's occasionally aired on TCM. Above is the trailer from the TCM website.
Obscurity factor: 6 (dimly remembered, not on DVD, scenes available on YouTube and TCM website)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Cary Grant & Deborah Kerr in Dream Wife (1953)
Obscurity factor: 6
TCM has programmed a series of films this month on the portrayal of people from the nations of the middle-east, and last night they featured this film. It's certainly interesting in its skewed portrayal of middle-eastern royalty, but that's not what I found fascinating about it. Unlike many films of its kind it features a very strong career woman, Pricilla Effington (Kerr) who works for the state department. She's in a relationship with ad man Clem Reade (Grant) who objects to her career taking her away from her future duties as a wife. After a big blow-up they break off their engagement and, on the rebound, Clem proposes marriage to Tarji, a beautiful young middle-eastern princess of his acquaintance who "has been trained with 5000 years of tradition" to serve her man's every whim.
Of course the expected culture clash ensues, but what's remarkable about the film is how Kerr's character fares by comparison. In other films of the era she would have "discovered" that sublimating her own desires and ambitions to her husband's wishes was the most fulfilling path she could pursue. Not so in this film. Effie's skills as a diplomat actually save the day and she triumphs at the end, not having to compromise that part of herself for a relationship. It's not a brilliant film (the reception of it convinced Cary Grant to retire from films for two years), but it is uncharacteristic of the era and a nice foreshadowing of the woman's movement to come. Look for Walter Pidgeon as an official that works with Kerr at the State Department.
This film is available on DVD, and though obscure has been screened on TV, thanks to TCM. The trailer for it is above, uploaded to YouTube by skipjacktuner.
Obscurity factor: 6 (not well known, available on DVD)
TCM has programmed a series of films this month on the portrayal of people from the nations of the middle-east, and last night they featured this film. It's certainly interesting in its skewed portrayal of middle-eastern royalty, but that's not what I found fascinating about it. Unlike many films of its kind it features a very strong career woman, Pricilla Effington (Kerr) who works for the state department. She's in a relationship with ad man Clem Reade (Grant) who objects to her career taking her away from her future duties as a wife. After a big blow-up they break off their engagement and, on the rebound, Clem proposes marriage to Tarji, a beautiful young middle-eastern princess of his acquaintance who "has been trained with 5000 years of tradition" to serve her man's every whim.
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| MoviePosterShop.com |
Of course the expected culture clash ensues, but what's remarkable about the film is how Kerr's character fares by comparison. In other films of the era she would have "discovered" that sublimating her own desires and ambitions to her husband's wishes was the most fulfilling path she could pursue. Not so in this film. Effie's skills as a diplomat actually save the day and she triumphs at the end, not having to compromise that part of herself for a relationship. It's not a brilliant film (the reception of it convinced Cary Grant to retire from films for two years), but it is uncharacteristic of the era and a nice foreshadowing of the woman's movement to come. Look for Walter Pidgeon as an official that works with Kerr at the State Department.
This film is available on DVD, and though obscure has been screened on TV, thanks to TCM. The trailer for it is above, uploaded to YouTube by skipjacktuner.
Obscurity factor: 6 (not well known, available on DVD)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon & Van Johnson in Weekend at the Waldorf (1945)
Obscurity factor: 7
The plot of this film may seem familiar. It's a war time remake of Grand Hotel. It follows the fortunes of a bored film star (Rogers), exhausted war correspondent (Pidgeon), ambitious stenographer (Turner) and a wounded air force captain (Johnson) as they spend their weekend at the glamorous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. Of course romance is in the air and before long the leads are paired off. Will the star lose her boredom in love? Will the stenographer forsake her career for the man she loves? Will the captain survive the only operation that can save his life? Only time will tell.
This film, though long, at 2 hours and 10 minutes, has a charming wartime feel to it, despite the fact that it was released a month after the war was over. Also in the cast are Xavier Cugat, Robert Benchley, Leon Ames and the irrepressible Keenan Wynn. It's interesting to note the differences between this and Grand Hotel - those differences are really indicative of the differences between the eras both films were made in.
Weekend at the Waldorf was a very successful film in its day - finishing 11th at the box office the year it was released. It has faded into obscurity since then, overshadowed by it's more successful forebarer, Grand Hotel. It's recently been released on print-on-demand DVD and the trailer is above, uploaded to YouTube by skipjacktuner.
Obscurity factor: 7 (popular in its day, largely unknown today, available on DVD)
The plot of this film may seem familiar. It's a war time remake of Grand Hotel. It follows the fortunes of a bored film star (Rogers), exhausted war correspondent (Pidgeon), ambitious stenographer (Turner) and a wounded air force captain (Johnson) as they spend their weekend at the glamorous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. Of course romance is in the air and before long the leads are paired off. Will the star lose her boredom in love? Will the stenographer forsake her career for the man she loves? Will the captain survive the only operation that can save his life? Only time will tell.
 |
| MoviePosterShop.com |
This film, though long, at 2 hours and 10 minutes, has a charming wartime feel to it, despite the fact that it was released a month after the war was over. Also in the cast are Xavier Cugat, Robert Benchley, Leon Ames and the irrepressible Keenan Wynn. It's interesting to note the differences between this and Grand Hotel - those differences are really indicative of the differences between the eras both films were made in.
Weekend at the Waldorf was a very successful film in its day - finishing 11th at the box office the year it was released. It has faded into obscurity since then, overshadowed by it's more successful forebarer, Grand Hotel. It's recently been released on print-on-demand DVD and the trailer is above, uploaded to YouTube by skipjacktuner.
Obscurity factor: 7 (popular in its day, largely unknown today, available on DVD)
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