a woman's face

Known for his classic sparkly comedies, A Woman's Face is somewhat of a departure for director George Cukor.  This unusual and dark story was originally a play by Francis de Croisset that was later adapted as a 1938 Swedish film with Ingrid Bergman.   Joan Crawford is haunting in the lead role, the facially disfigured Anna--a notorious blackmailer.  Her beauty is restored with the aid of renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Segert (Melvyn Douglas).  She then becomes a governess for the prominent uncle (Albert Bassermann) of Torsten (Conrad Veidt), with hopes of abandoning her shady past and making a fresh start.  Mostly told in flashback from the courtroom testimonies of an eclectic array of characters (a unique storytelling device which works fairly smoothly here with such a vivid cast).  This is one of Crawford's most emotional roles and at times she is devastating.  The make-up is effective as well.  The film works less well in the third act when she moves to a chateau to take care of the almost unbearably shrill Lars-Erik (Richard Nichols), even though there's a few suspenseful scenes between them, including one that takes place in a cable car high above a mountain range.  Overall A Woman's Face is a fairly compelling mystery enhanced by Crawford's enigmatic presence. ***

-Jeffery Berg

ball of fire!

Check out my list of the best movies I saw in 2011 that aren't from 2011 on the excellent blog Rupert Pupkin Speaks.

see you on 'flamingo road'

Flamingo Road is a classic tale of an outsider shaking up an idyllic town.  Joan Crawford is Lane Bellamy, a salty and street-smart carnival dancer, who, with the help of deputy sheriff Fielding (what a name!) Carlisle (Zachary Scott), finds a new job as a waitress in a sleepy southern town.  Lane and Fielding hit it off a bit romantically, much to the disdain of abominable, corrupt Sherriff Titus Semple (an excellent Sydney Greenstreet) who has his sights on shaping Fielding to be Governor.  Lane and Fielding soon clash, thanks to Semple's meddling, and Lane winds up working in a roadhouse run by tough, well-respected  Lute (Gladys George).  There she meets and wins the affection of a rich business man Dan Reynolds (David Brian).  Soon enough Lane ends up in fur coats, living in a mansion on the town's most enviable street, Flamingo Road, but not without some bumps along the way.

Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) shows fine craftsmanship with this clunky but winningly entertaining drama.  Crawford is strong in the lead role and George makes an appealing, no-nonsense roadhouse ringleader but it's really Greenstreet, in one of his last film roles, who makes this thing burn.  Utterly contemptible and creepily hostile, with his slick, fat white face, he makes the perfect villain (and reminded me somewhat of John McCain).  The scenes between him and Crawford are a hoot and the most emotionally compelling.  This also became a short-lived, early-80s primetime soap (NBC's answer to Dynasty) of which I am now curious to see! ***1/2

-Jeffery Berg

timeless clooney: a guest post by dan braun

You know he's not perfect. Of course he's not. Minus the luxuries, the casual grin emanating from countless magazine covers, ultimately he's as human as you and I are. But if there was ever anyone who, as a guy, you'd want to be your wing man in the Meatpacking District on a Saturday night or, as a lady, proof that velvet ropes are sometimes little more than a formality, it's George Clooney.

It's the rare screen talent who qualifies as timeless. Meryl Streep, Russell Crowe... a short list and one that Clooney fits in with ease. His early acting credits are typical of just about any actor or actress looking to establish a professional foothold: the TV series one-off appearances and recurring roles ("Riptide," "Hunter," "The Facts of Life," "Roseanne") and the cluster of B-movie roles (Return to Horror High, Return of the Killer Tomatoes!, Red Surf). Then came the breakthrough; "ER" and the part of Dr. Doug Ross. Suddenly an established star and the eventual transition to feature films.

Confidence, charm, talent, and an underlying sense of humanity can open a million doors and it's that combination of traits which have allowed Clooney the ability to slip with seeming ease into the shoes of characters from several walks of life - among others, bank robber, U.S. Army Major, television news producer, corporate downsizing expert, and, in his most recent role, a business and family man trying to hold his life together in The Descendants.

Some of his most notable performances:

Out of Sight (1998) - The first pairing of a highly successful professional partnership with director Steven Soderbergh (the Oceans films, as well as the vastly underrated Solaris remake and The Good German) featured Clooney as a career bank robber who breaks out of jail and kidnaps a U.S. Marshal (Jennifer Lopez) in the process. Fun and loose, with a highly palpable on-screen chemistry between Clooney and Lopez.

Three Kings (1999) - Clooney - as U.S. Army Major Archie Gates - and his fellow soldiers (Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Spike Jonze), post-Persian Gulf War, go in search of a cache of gold stolen from Kuwait which they hope to keep for themselves and encounter an unexpected humanitarian crisis.

Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) - With Senator Joe McCarthy at the height of his anti-Communist crusade, CBS News reporter Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn), with the support of his producer Fred Friendly (Clooney), decide to take on McCarthy and expose his tactics, but at a great personal cost for both Murrow and Friendly. A stunning film and powerfully subtle.

Up in the Air (2009) - In a performance which lingers within one's mind long after, Clooney portrays Ryan Bingham, a specialist in corporate downsizing and a motivational speaker who approaches his personal life with as minimal an amount of emotional involvement as he does his professional one.

The Descendants (2011) - Alexander Payne's first feature since 2004's Sideways and similar in its observations on the complexities of human emotions and relations. Clooney is Matt King, a Honolulu-based lawyer who, with his wife on life support after a boating accident, works to build a relationship with his two daughters (Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller) he's barely made time for previously, and finds himself dealing with the news of an affair his wife was having at the time of her accident, all while handling a complex family trustee matter. His performance brilliantly embodies the unenviable position most of us have been in at one time or another: dealing with a series of personal crises coming at us in rapid succession and presenting a bold front while, on the inside, we've never felt more scattered.

-Dan Braun

a woman 'possessed'

Joan Crawford often played characters desperately in love with men who didn't love back.  Brave, serious, and bold, Crawford could illuminate complex emotions with a simple glance.  The 1947 film Possessed, directed by Curtis Bernhardt, begins with Crawford aimlessly wandering the streets of Los Angeles.  She's admitted to a hospital, where she begins to remember what led her to her disoriented state.  Possessed is a rather sudsy (though bleakly filmed), unusual story of Louise (Crawford), in love with a pipeline engineer named David (Van Heflin) who is tired of Louise's smothering affection.  Their weak love affair is kept secret from David's neighbor, Dean Graham (Raymond Massey).  Louise takes care of Graham's invalid wife (shades of Norma Bates here) until her death.  Graham falls in love with Louise; David falls in love with Graham's college-aged daughter (Geraldine Brooks) who is disapproving of Louise.  Louise is both haunted by Graham's dead wife and driven to madness and despair in her unrequited love for David.

Possessed is often described as film noir--the shadowy and shaky shots mimic Louise's deteriorating mental state.  The camera is a bit more unflattering toward Crawford than it is in her other star vehicles.  In fact, the opening glimpses of her are in distant, overhung shots with her in shadow (vividly done on location; nicely disconcerting and seemingly modern for a big '40s studio pic).  Like the aforementioned Psycho, there's an unfortunate, talky coda where a psychiatrist gives a lengthy explanation of Louise's psychosis.  Yet Bernhardt gives the picture a languid, gloomy air and Crawford is our anchor in a female performance unique for its time. ***

-Jeffery Berg

the claws come out

"No pride at all.  That's a luxury a woman in love can't afford."  These are the final lines Norma Shearer utters in George Cukor's classic 1939 comedy The Women featuring a stellar all-female cast.  The Code may have toned down the original satiric bite though watching this film today and uncomfortably witnessing its politics (women are compared to animals in the opening credits), it's fortunate to see how much things have changed.  Yet fluffy romantic comedies revolving around a man's affections do still exist.  Hollywood even attempted to remake this in 2008.  It isn't too different from watching an episode of "Real Housewives of New York," except these Park Avenue fur-wearing queens have better dialogue, fights, and wardrobe.  Shearer plays likable Mary, whose husband Stephen (unseen in the picture, one of the brilliantly clever choices of Cukor and the film's female screenwriter Anita Loos, an adaptation of a play by Clare Boothe Luce) is cheating on her with Crystal (Joan Crawford), an icy shopgirl who pushes expensive fragrances like 'Summer Rain.'  Rosalind Russell is Syliva Fowler who joyously and deliriously dishes out the gossip to the Park Avenue set with 'Jungle Red' nails.

Overall The Women is a fun, glossy flick from the Golden Age. It's a treat for the eyes with all the fabulous costumes (those dazzling patterns and drapes and Shearer's enormous, fluffy white fur coat!) and oddball sets (exercise rooms and spas galore).  There's even a hilariously bizarre and flamboyant fashion show for the ladies (tennis apparel!) in Technicolor.  The patina-thin plot buried under mile-a-minute dialogue sometimes grows tiresome and the picture occasionally lags in energy but it zings to life whenever Russell (a comic marvel) and Crawford appear.  There's a brawl between Russell and Paulette Goddard that's one for the ages.  Legend has it that Russell left a permanent scar on Goddard's leg.  A hilarious emotional breakdown from Russell is a highlight and perhaps where Kristen Wiig's Bridesmaids meltdowns originated. ***

-Jeffery Berg

making music in the dark, a review of 'humoresque'

Jean Negulesco's 1946 film Humoresque is a far cry from Dvoark's sprightly lilt.  It's a gloomily lit portrait of two love affairs: a violinist's (John Garfield) unrelenting passion for his musical craft and his relationship with a hardened, alcoholic socialite.  The film begins in a dark room with a mournful Paul Boray reflecting back upon his more carefree years when he first discovered the violin.  Soon Boray devotes his young life to playing and practicing the instrument and becomes quite good.  As a promising young musician, he struggles a bit to survive.  His friend Sid (Oscar Levant) offers some help (and the film's comic relief). Then Boray meets the wealthy, unhappily married Helen Wright (Joan Crawford) who wants to see him "only as an artist" and she ends up jumpstarting his career.  As Boray becomes more and more successful, Wright and him become cautiously enamored with each one another.  After Wright's marriage crumbles, it seems as if they could begin a love affair.  Yet there is something cold and distant about their relationship.  They both suffer in their unrequited loves: Boray is in love with his music, Wright in love with Boray.

Humoresque is bolstered by a gorgeous selection of music impressively adapted by Franz Waxman.  Including both classical and (of its time) contemporary songs (a painfully sad cocktail bar singalong to "Embraceable You" is pulled off beautifully by Crawford), the music both speaks for and in spite of the language of the characters' longings.  An orchestral version of Bizet's music from Carmen is featured in a scene where Helen is unnerved by Boray's insensitivity.  The music is loud, jaunty and joyful in contrast to her emotions.  Gorgeously photographed by Ernest Haller, the riveting finale features Crawford on a windswept beach set to a radio broadcast of Wagner's "Liebestod" from Tristan and Isolde.  This memorable scene is definitely one of the highlights of the film and of Crawford's career. ***

-Jeffery Berg