1936's Fury: Noir in Its Infancy

Recently I watched 1936's Fury, director Fritz Lang's first American film. Although one would not know from the early passages of the film (which are in a rather different vein from the rest of the film, but still excellent, especially when performed by two such wonderful performers such as Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sidney), this film could be called the first Noir. From the moment when Tracy's car is stopped by a small-town policeman while e (tracy) is on his way to meet Ms. Sidney after a long time apart, the whole film changes course. Little details in the first 20 minutes (Tracy's habit of eating peanuts, his constant mix-up of the words memento and momentum, an engagement ring, a hole sewn with blue thread) begin to become important. The lighting becomes increasing darker. The musical score becomes more tempestuous. Tracy has been wrongfully accused of a kidnapping and no one in the small town believes in his innocence. Tensions and tempers start rising, and ultimately the locals build a lynch mob and burn down the jail. But, against all odds, Tracy survives. (His ill-fated dog, Rainbow, was played by the dog who would later play Toto in The Wizard of Oz) But he is a changed man. He has become one of the first noir characters, an anti-hero out for vengence. Gone is the idealistic character of the opening passages, here now is a vindictive character keeping a low profile so that the 22 "killers" will end up getting the death penalty for a murder which never happened. Meanwhile, Sylvia Sidney has gone through mental troubles sinces she was one of the eyewitnesses to the heinous event, and still believes for much of the film's runtime that her boyfriend had died among the flames. Tracy has not even bothered to tell her that he is alive. In the courtroom, the "killers" reveal their true natures by refusing to say they were involved until an incriminating newsreel turns up which shows their behavior on film. It is during one of these courtroom scenes that Sylvia finds out that Spencer is still alive (because of a letter with his typical memento/momentum typo), goes to him, and begs him to reveal that he is still alive. After he fights with her, and is then haunted by what he was planning to do in several hours of gloomy introspection, he reveals his secret in the film's final scene and is embraced by Sylvia who he plans still to marry. But this is not  a truly happy ending. While the 22 individuals are no longer charged with murder, they still killed Tracy's trust in other people, his humanity, and his belief in justice. Despite the embrace, one wonders whether Tracy's troubles have just begun. Certainally, he is no longer the happy-go-lucky character that the audience was introduced to. Nor is Sylvia Sidney the same. And the townspeople, if not murderers, are still guilty  of wrath and vengence, arson, battery, and attempted murder. Like a noir, the ending of Fury leaves one uneasy for the future.

Reap the Wild Wind (Paramount;1942)

Reap the Wild Wind was Cecil B. DeMille's epic of 1942 , and was, in a sense, his reaction to the shattering success of Gone With the Wind. For while this tale of the land and the sea had little to do with the sweeping saga that burnished its way across screens in 1939, its heroine is just as feisty as Scarlett O'Hara. Her name is Loxi Claiborne, and she is played by Paulette Goddard. Given that Goddard barely missed out on playing Scarlett, this role might have been of some consolation to her. Loxi is not one's usual Southern belle. She is at home navigating ships, being part of salvage crews, and delights in shocking society by singing a salty sailing song in a drawing room ln Charleston. Goddard takes the role and runs with it, playing it to the hilt. Loxi is pursued romantically by two men, Captain Jack Stuart, played by John Wayne, and Charleston attorney (and later owner of a line of cargo ships) Stephen Tolliver, played by Ray Milland. Loxi is more attracted to Captain Stuart than she is to the attourney Tolliver, who she feels is an ersatz snob out to destroy the Captain she loves. But not all is as it seems. Stuart is not the knight in shining armor that he appears to be, as he is secretly collaborating with the duplicitous King Cutler, played with oily zest by Raymond Massey. Cutler, the head of a salvage crew, enlists Stewart to sink a cargo ship so he can profit from the wreck. Tolliver, meanwhile, has a stronger personality than most would expect given his curled hair and penchant for being a ventriloquist supposedly speaking out the thoughts of his pet dog. In actuality, he is a stalwart hero, who attempts to stop the wreck from occuring. But Loxi, still believing in the Captain, lays ravage to her own boat, hindering it immensely. Her actions seal the fate of the doomed ship as well as the life of her cousin, Drucilla, played by Susan Hayward (in a rather thankless role). Ultimately, the case reaches a courtroom, where much of the trial is bungled by Cutler, even to the point of murdering a witness. But when the truth about Drucilla is revealed, Cutler's brother (and the late Drucilla's love), Dan, played by Robert Preston, turns against him and urges the court to investigate the wreck, seting the scene for the movie's climactic scene, a squid attack amidst the wreckage in the watery abyss while Stuart and Tolliver battle it. Only one of the two survives and claims the hand of Loxi.... Ultimately, Reap the Wild Wind, if not the equal of Gone with the Wind, is still an absorbing adventure epic with a fine ensemble cast which also includes Charles Bickford, Hedda Hopper, and Louise Beavers (in a role quite similar to Hattie MacDaniel's in Gone With the Wind) While Goddard gives the best performance, everyone excels in the cast. It is said that John Wayne did not consider his role to be very good, but he plays the role exceptionally well with the nuance required of it. Milland is also atypically cast, but also makes a strong impression. The color photography, art decoration, costumes, and Oscar winning special effects make the film a wonder to behold. For a great adventure epic, look no farther than Reap the Wild Wind.

A Tribute to MGM on Its 90th Anniversary

90 years ago this week, the Metro, Goldwyn, and Louis B. Mayer film comanies merged into one studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM was a company of unparalleled glamor, fine taste, and a haven for some of the greatest classic movie stars. Even though the studio has only been a shadow of what it once was for the past few decades, no other company approached the grandeur of their classic-era films before or since. Their films starred the likes of Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Greer Garson, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Mickey Rooney, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Lana Turner, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and so many other greats. Great directors such as Geirge Cukor, Clarence Brown, Ernst Lubitsch, and Vincente Minnelli triumphed there. The writer's department was home to some of the finest movie writers of them all. The high-toned cinematograpy of MGM films was the best in the industry, as were the lavish sets that emerged from Cedric Gibbons' art department. The music from great composers such as Herbert Strothart and Mirklos Rozka perfectly complemented the action onscreen. It was the studio with the world-famous Freed unit, and the studio where the great Irving Thalberg produced so many of cinema's crown jewels. It was the studio where many of cinema's most memorable films and scenes were created. It is my favorite Hollywood studio of all.  Here is to MGM on its 90th anniversary and long may its leagacy reign!

1968 in Pictures