Joan Crawford in The Damned Don't Cry (1950)

Obscurity factor: 2

In some ways this is the ultimate composite Joan Crawford film. In it she gets to go through the full range of styles and emotions from the films of her Warner Bros. pictures - grief, hard-as-nails determination, shame, sophistication, passion... Ethel Whitehead lives a bleak existence amongst oil derricks and poverty. She and her husband and son share a home with her doting mother and heartless father. When she decides to buy her son a bike it touches off a familiar argument with her husband, who is sensitive of not being able to provide more than the basic essentials for his family. When the son is killed it effectively breaks the bond between husband and wife and Ethel leaves to make her own way. She starts out as a model at a dress company, but, using men as her stepping stones, is able to scheme her way into the heart of an organized crime syndicate - and a glamorous life. She becomes Lorna Hansen Forbes, a fabulously wealthy oil heiress and lives a beautiful life. That is, until the syndicate boss decides to use her in his play to get the western territory back from a rebellious associate.

This film has a Mildred Pierce on steroids quality to it - the death of a child, the struggle to achieve, the realization that the top isn't all its cracked up to be... It's fun to see Joan play the scenes to the hilt, as usual and to see her go from know-nothing fit model to confident society woman.

This film has a big cult following among Crawford fans. It's available on DVD. The trailer is posted above, courtesy of felixxxx999 on YouTube. The poster above is available from MoviePosterShop.com.

Obscurity factor: 2 (well known to Crawford fans, otherwise obscure, available on DVD)

John Ritter & Harvey Korman in Americathon (1979)

Obscurity factor: 8

With the recent threat of a government shutdown, I thought this would be the perfect film to profile. It's about what was, at the time of this film's release, 19 years in the future -1998 and the USA is in trouble. The country is broke and has borrowed 4 billion dollars from its richest citizen, Sam Birdwater - a native American who is about to call in the debt. President Roosevelt (John Ritter), who is into EST and Scientology has decided that the best way to finance the debt repayment is to hold a 30 day telethon. Preparations for it begin with hiring the host - a former film star (Korman) who now has a successful television series called Mother & Father where he plays a gay father who works as a female impersonator. Undermining the effort is the president's assistant (Fred Willard) who is working with a united Arab-Jewish state Hebarab to make a grab for the country by buying it from San Birdwater when he repossess it.

What's remarkable about this film is not the plot or acting, both of which are passable, but the amazingly prescient predictions about future life. Among them are China embracing capitalism and becoming a world power, peak oil, native American wealth, the casualization of American fashion, the ascendancy of reality television, the acceptance of alternative lifestyles in popular culture and the rise of gold being touted on television as an alternative way to secure wealth. Inevitably they get a few things wrong as well, including predicting North Dakota as the first all gay state. Look for Richard Shcaal, veteran of MTM sitcoms and Valerie Harper's former husband as the vice president and cameos by Elvis Costello, Meatloaf, Tommy LaSorta, Howard Hessaman, Jay Leno and the Del Rubio Triplets.

This film, by Neal Israel, the director of Bachelor Party was just released on DVD in January of this year. It can also be see on Veho. Above is the trailer, uploaded to YouTube by wholmes. The poster above can be found at MoviePosterShop.com.

Obscurity factor: 8 (Never screened, just available on DVD, largely forgotten)

Dudley Moore & Ralph Richardson in The Bed Sitting Room (1969)

Obscurity factor: 7

This film is where theater of the absurd and the cold war threat of nuclear holocaust meet. It concerns the remaining citizens of London, who wander the ruins of the city after the Third World War (which lasted 2 minutes and 28 seconds, including the signing of the peace treaty). The effects of radiation on the few survivors have led to strange mutations. We meet the doctor, of sorts (Michael Hordern), who is treating a lord (Ralph Richardson) who is convinced he will become a bed sitting room. He eventually does. We also meet a family, living on a tube train. They leave to wander the ruins with the rest of the meager population. The mother (Mona Washbourne) turns into a cupboard, and the father, a parrot, who is eventually eaten by the other family members because of the food shortage. There is no shortage of irreverence and humor in this portrayal of a truly bleak subject. The point being that even after nuclear holocaust people will cling to the meaningless customs and habits of society. The brilliant visual and circumstantial gags that so artfully make that point include a wandering reporter (Frank Thornton) for the BBC who positions himself inside your hollowed out television set and proceeds to give the news, and policemen (Dudley Moore and Peter Cook) who attempt to keep everyone moving to avoid being targets in an unlikely followup attack.

There is no shortage of available information on this film, which has become the darling of film bloggers everywhere (count me among the guilty!). It's such a brilliant example of the off kilter British humor that became a hallmark of shows like Monte Python. It has certainly attained cult status. It is, however, still quite obscure in mainstream circles. The settings include recognizable landmarks of London as if they had been decimated and bleak expanses of rubble and sand meant to represent the center of the city. The conventions of the city, like the tube are used to great effect both for mood and comedy. Look for Rita Tushingham and a very beautiful, young Richard Warwick as the young couple and Marty Feldman as a male nurse.

This is hard to find on DVD, though it has been released in Great Britain by the BFI on both DVD and BlueRay. Above is the trailer, which was been uploaded to YouTube by BritHumor2. You can also see the full film on YouTube in the playlist linked to here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX3ltFkrngY&playnext=1&list=PLDD7471C7CCBC03A2.

Obscurity factor: 7 (on DVD, has cult following, otherwise virtually unknown)

Spotlight on Julian Eltinge

Most people don't know the name Julian Eltinge, even though there's a Broadway theater named after him. He's not, after all, Helen Hays. He was, however, a huge star in his day, and he became a star by impersonating women.

photo: crossdressflorida.com

His career reportedly started with a cadet show in 1900. His break came when E.E. Rice took him under his wing and bought the rights to a British play (Mr. Wix of Wickham) for him. His reviews were particularly good and led to a vaudeville career. By 1910 he had become a top tier headliner and took to the boards in legitimate Broadway shows. His popularity brought about a Hollywood career as well. 1917 found him working with producer Jesse Lasky on such titles as The Countess Charming and Clever Mrs. Carfax. His success allowed him to build a palatial home in Hollywood called Villa Capistrano for himself and his mother. His success lasted through the end of the silent era and though he tried to make his way in a changing Hollywood, he never really found footing in the sound era. There are two known sound films that feature his talents - Maid to Order (1931) and he has a small part playing himself in If I Had My Way - a Bing Crosby vehicle. He died in 1941 at the age of 59. 

You can find lots of pictures of Julian Eltinge online. He was an extremely prolific model in service to the promotion of his career, but I've only been able to find one film of his. Above is The Isle of Love, uploaded to YouTube by The Huntly Film Archives. It's a 1922 feature starring Eltinge and Rudolph Valentino (with whom Julian Eltinge was rumored to have had an affair - though frankly, who wasn't?). It was originally filmed in 1918 and was conceived as a WWI spy picture, however before they could release it the armistice occurred, so it was shelved, re-cut and released as a Valentino vehicle after his success in The Sheik.

I first became fascinated by Julian Eltinge when I stumbled across The Julian Eltinge Project. Mark Berger has assembled a delightful trove of information on Eltinge. I highly recommend you take a look at the site. It's where most of my information for the profile has come from. My second encounter with Julian Eltinge came shortly after I discovered who he was. I ran across a postcard with a picture of his home. I was charmed by the coincidence and still have the postcard.

Picture: SilentsAreGolden.com

Audrey Hepburn & Ben Gazzara in They All Laughed (1981)

This film tells the story of a pair of detectives - John Russo (Gazarra) and Charles Rutledge (John Ritter) both assigned to follow supposedly unfaithful wives (Hepburn and Dorothy Stratten). Both fall in love with their quarries. The tenor of the film is very gentle and sweet with the characters all forming warm friendships with each other despite the curious circumstances. Unlike the usuall portrayal of New York City it's depicted as a town where people meet and instantly become friends, a place where understanding and human interaction trump circumstance an influence.

This is Peter Bogdanovich's favorite of his films, and has a real charm and warmth to it. It was not a success at the time of its release, partially because it was Dorothy Stratten's last film before she was murdered by her estranged husband. It was one of the films that spelled the death knell for director driven cinema in Hollywood. It's since been reappraised and is now thought of as a forgotten gem by many critics.

There was a 25th anniversary release of the film on DVD in 2006. It can also be seen online at CinemaxX.ru, a Rumanian film site.

Obscurity factor: 5 (known in film circles, unknown to the general public. Available on DVD)

Dick Van Dyke, James Garner & Ethel Merman in The Art of Love (1965)

Obscurity factor: 8

Paul Sloan (Dick Van Dyke) is a painter living in Paris. He rooms with his friend Casey (James Garner), a writer. Paul has become disenchanted with painting and has decided to go home to America and his rich fiance, Laurie (Angie Dickinson). Casey sees his meal ticket flying the coop, so he gets Paul drunk and they toy with the idea of faking his suicide to increase the value of his paintings. When Paul jumps off a bridge to save a girl, Nikki (Ekle Sommer) who jumps before him Casey thinks he's gone and done it. Of course Paul is fine and rescues the girl and they end up on a barge floating downstream. Casey is distraught, but not upset enough not to capitalize on the "posthumous" success of his paintings. When Paul turns up alive in their flat, Casey convinces him play dead and continue painting so they can rake in the loot. Things get more and more complicated as Nikki comes back and Laurie flies to Paris. Nikki falls in love with Paul and Casey and Laurie start to spark. Out of jealousy Paul decides to frame Casey for his murder.

This film is, by no means a great one, but there are moments of charm to be had. Ethel Merman plays Madame Coco, the owner of a nightclub where Paul hides out. She's her delectable self. James Garner throws a wonderful tantrum in a jail house scene, Carl Reiner plays a delightfully unctuous lawyer and there are historical and literary references threaded throuhgout - Toulouse Lautrec, Madame De Farge...

This film is available in its entirety on YouTube but has not been released on DVD. Above is part one, uploaded by jkcPhog2001.

Obscurity factor: 8 (largely forgotten, not on DVD, available on YouTube)

Ingrid Bergman in From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1973)

Obscurity factor: 7

This film and the book it was based on are very fond memories from my childhood. Claudia Kincaid (Sally Prager) is dissatisfied with her life. She yearns for drama and glamor. So she enlists her brother Jamie (the one who is the best at saving his money) in a scheme to run away. Sally is no ordinary, run of the mill runaway though. She has a plan. She and her brother will become guests of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. While there, between bouts of sleeping in Marie Antoinette's bed and bathing in the reflecting pool in the restaurant they find themselves returning to look at a beautiful statue that was just given to the museum and has a great mystery attached to it. As they become more convinced they know the secret of the statue, it becomes imperative that they track down the reclusive donor, Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Bergman).

This story was very empowering to me as a child. It celebrates the ingenuity children have innately and doesn't devolve into a sugary sweet story of frantic parents and wayward, helpless waifs. Look for Richard Mulligan and Madeline Kahn in small roles early on.

Though I could only find a small snippet worth watching online, you can get this film on DVD under it's European title - The Hideaways. Don't be fooled into buying the condensed 30 minute version under the original title, go for the full 105 minute original cut. Above is a delightful scene with Claudia and Jamie exploring the galleries of the museum uploaded to YouTube by phoenixfilmandvideo.

Obscurity factor: 7 (hard to find, a fond memory for children who grew up in the 70's, available on DVD)