The DVD Report #68

I’m going to interrupt my chronological coverage of the film years that began with 1957 that has so far gone through 1962 to go back even further in time to talk about the film year 1940.

While most film buffs and historians consider 1939 to be the best in Hollywood history, I think 1940 was an even stronger year and is, in my view, Hollywood’s best. As has become my custom, I’ll start with what I consider the year’s ten best, provide an alternative ten best list of equally fine films and list others worth your time and money. Since most films of 1940 have now been released on DVD, I will reference only those that are unavailable.

Long considered the great American novel, John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath became, in John Ford’s hands, the great American film. It opens in the Oklahoma dust bowl of the late 1930s when whole families lost everything and were forced out of their long time homes. Most of them moved to California in the hope of finding a better life only to be forced to become itinerant workers with no home. Long a paean to itinerant workers everywhere, it has now become a metaphor for our time as well.

While we are not quite in another depression, rising fuel prices and falling real estate values along with the failing industries that support them have put many families perilously close to the dire circumstances of Steinbeck’s Joad family that even Ford’s inherent sentimentality can’t take the pressure off.

Henry Fonda never had a better role than that of everyman Tom Joad, doomed to wander in the night. Nor did Jane Darwell as the indomitable Ma Joad or John Carradine as the once-proud preacher gone to ruin. Gregg Toland’s bleak cinematography and Alfred Newman’s plaintive score add immeasurably to the greatness of the work.

Alfred Hitchcock’s first Hollywood film, Rebecca, was his only work to win a Best Picture Oscar. A faithful translation of Daphne Du Maurier’s suspense thriller, it was a rare film for Hitchcock in that he was not in complete control, working under the authoritarian command of producer David O. Selznick fresh from his Gone With the Wind triumph. Nevertheless there are Hitchcockian touches throughout. Brilliantly acted by a cast that seemed born to play their roles from Laurence Olivier’s brooding Maxim de Winter to Joan Fontaine’s easily manipulated Second Mrs. De Winter to Judith Anderson’s evil housekeeper Mrs. Danvers to a virtual who’s who of the British acting aristocracy then working in Hollywood including George Sanders, Gladys Cooper, Nigel Bruce, Reginald Denny, C. Aubrey Smith, Melville Cooper and Leo G. Carroll, and the obligatory obnoxious American tourist, the inimitable Florence Bates.

Dubbed box-office poison by the Hollywood Press, an undaunted Katharine Hepburnwent back to Broadway to star in The Philadelphia Story, written for her by Philip Barry. With help from Howard Hughes, she purchased the screen rights for herself and sold them to MGM with the stipulation that she star in the film version with Cary Grant and Spencer Tracy. Tracey was unavailable so James Stewart got the part and an Oscar while Hepburn picked up the third of her twelve nominations for her iconic portrayal of spoiled heiress Tracy Lord. Deftly directed by Georg Cukor, the film was a comic blast not only for its three stars but for Ruth Hussey, John Howard, Roland Young, John Halliday, Mary Nash and Virginia Weidler as well. It was remade as the musical High Society in 1956.

Turn-of-the-Century Budapest is the setting for Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner, one of the most beguiling romantic comedies of all time. Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart are clerks in a notions shop who can’t stand one another but unbeknownst to each other are secret Lonelyhearts penpals. Frank Morgan is the shop’s befuddled owner and Joseph Schildkraut, Sara Haden, Felix Bressart and William Tracy lend their charm as other employees. It was successfully remade as In the Good Old Summertime in 1949 and You’ve Got Mail in 1993. It was also the basis of the 1963 Broadway musical She Loves Me.

Howard Hawks put his distinct brand of fast-talking comedy on the famed 1931 newspaper comedy-drama The Front Page when he remade it as His Girl Friday with Rosalind Russell at her comedic best as the star reporter and Cary Grant as the conniving editor who is also her ex-husband. Ralph Bellamy is the mama’s boy to whom she is now engaged. Turning the reporter of the original version into a woman and adding romantic tension greatly improves what was a near-perfect play to begin with. It was remade less successfully in its original incarnation as The Front Page in 1974 and disastrously as a comedy about a female TV anchor and her male boss as Switching Channels in 1988.

Another remake that improved upon the original was Mervyn LeRoy’s production of Waterloo Bridge with Vivien Leigh as the ballerina who turns to prostitution after her soldier lover, Robert Taylor, is presumed dead in World War I. Though some prefer the 1931 version of the film, the MGM gloss and Hollywood production code make this muted version all the more effective for most. Leigh was brilliant, even surpassing her work in Gone With the Wind, and the supporting cast was quite wonderful as well with Lucile Watson as Taylor’s aristocratic mother, Virginia Field as Leigh’s fellow ballerina and prostitute, and Maria Ouspenskaya as the strict ballet mistress are the standouts. It was remade once again as Gaby in 1967. It’s available on DVD only as an import.

Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Frank Morgan were reunited for Frank Borzage’s The Mortal Storm, MGM’s full-on assault against the rise to power of Adolph Hitler in 1933. Morgan as the beloved professor-turned-enemy of the state has never been better, and Sullavan as his daughter, Maria Ouspenskaya as Stewart’s mother and Bonita Granville as his adoptive sister are almost as good. Stewart as the one student not afraid to stand against the rising tide; Robert Young, Robert Stack, William T. Orr and Dan Dailey as young Nazis; and Ward Bond as an older, but equally-virulent Nazi are also memorable.

Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier continued their climb to screen immortality in the first and, for many, still best version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, featuring Garson as Elizabeth Bennett (prejudice), Olivier as Darcy (pride) and the always wonderful Edna May Oliver, Mary Boland and Edmund Gwenn as their elders, Austen’s comedy of manners about five sisters searching for husbands in 19th Century England won an Oscar for its rich art direction. The film also stars Maureen O’Sullivan, Karen Morley, Ann Rutherford and Marsha Hunt.

Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a small New England town, Our Town , was lovingly directed by Sam Wood, who eschewed the minimalistic production values of the stage version and went all out for richly textured sets which helped make the screen version so much more realistic, even in its harrowing, fanciful conclusion. Martha Scott, William Holden, Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi, Thomas Mitchell, Guy Kibbee and Frank Craven all gave magnificent performances, with Scott winning an Oscar nomination in her screen debut.

Still well remembered as an early talkie, W. Somerset Maugham’s steamy melodrama The Letter became a hit all over again as a vehicle for Bette Davis who six years earlier became a star in the first film version of Maugham’s Of Human Bondage. Whereas Jeanne Eagels literally got away with murder in the first version, the Hollywood Production Code demanded stern retribution from Davis and got it under William Wyler’s knowing direction. Great supporting work from Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson and Gale Sondergaard aids in making the tale seem entirely fresh.

That’s ten already, so here’s an alternative list consisting of equally memorable classics:

One of the most lavishly produced fantasy films of all time, the second film version of The Thief of Bagdad took three directors, Ludwig Berger, Tim Whelan and Michael Powell to tell its Arabian Nights tale of evil magicians, flying carpets, genies in bottles and boys turned into dogs. Sabu is at his best as the native boy-wonder who outsmarts evil Conrad Veidt all the while protecting his friend and master, John Justin, and princess, June Duprez. Rex Ingram is also memorable as the genie. Miklos Rozsa’s classic score and the eye-popping special effects deserve special mention.

Three years after providing box office magic with their first full length animated feature, the Disney studios outdid themselves with a lavish production of Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio about the wooden puppet boy who longs to become a real boy. It is emotionally rich and filled with wonderful characters. The Oscar-winning “When You Wish Upon a Star”, voiced by Cliff Edwards as the kindly puppet maker Geppeto, is but one of its major attributes.

Alfred Hitchcock was back in typical Hitchcock mode in his second Hollywood film, the England-based Foreign Correspondent with its thrilling set pieces – the assassination in the rain, the fall from on high and so on. Joel McCrea made a stalwart hero in the title
role of a reporter who uncovers an international spy ring. He is wonderfully supported by Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders, Albert Basserman, Robert Benchley, Edmund Gwenn, Eduardo Ciannelli, Harry Davenport and others.

Four short plays by Eugene O’Neill about men who make their living at sea formed the basis of John Ford’s The Long Voyage Home beautifully rendered by many members of the Ford stock company in atypical roles. Nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture, Ford won the New York Film critics Award as Best Director in conjunction with The Grapes of Wrath. The masterful cast includes Thomas Mitchell, John Wayne, Ian Hunter, Ward Bond, Barry Fitzgerald and Mildred Natwick as a prostitute.

For his first on-screen speaking role, Charlie Chaplin actually gave himself two roles in the long awaited The Great Dictator. He was both the dictator of a fictitious country who looked startlingly like Adolph Hitler, and his doppelganger, a timid Jewish barber. Uproarious from start to finish with a barbed undertone that infuriated the Nazis almost as much as The Mortal Storm, the film featured Jack Oakie as a rival dictator clearly patterned after Benito Mussolini.

Raymond Massey was so into the title role in Broadway’s Abe Lincoln in Illinois that he would absent-mindedly sign his name as Abraham Lincoln during the run of the show. His total immersion into the character transfershandsomely to the screen under John Cromwell’s superb direction. Ruth Gordon is equally memorable as Mary Todd Lincoln and the stalwart supporting cast is led by Gene Lockhart, Mary Howard and Dorothy Tree. Oddly enough, this classic slice of Americana is not available on DVD in the U.S.

Leo McCarey wrote it, Garson Kanin directed it and McCarey’s co-stars from The Awful Truth, Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, starred in it. My Favorite Wife is a hilarious romp about a wife returning from seven years on a desert island the day after she has been legally declared dead and her husband has remarried. Randolph Scott is the man Dunne shared those seven years with and Gail Patrick is Grant’s new wife. The film was remade less successfully as Move Over, Darling 23 years later.

Preston Sturges wrote the screenplay, Mitchell Leisen directed the film, and Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray made beautiful music together in Remember the Night, a little gem of a Christmas movie about a shoplifter and the D.A. who has custody of her until the courts convene after the holidays. It’s deliciously played by the two stars and a wonderful supporting cast headed by Beulah Bondi as MacMurray’s mother, Elizabeth Patterson as his aunt and Sterling Holloway as the family’s handyman. This is another much loved classic oddly missing on DVD.

For many years, Hollywood’s only female director, Dorothy Arzner, had one of her greatest triumphs with Dance, Girl, Dance in what, in lesser hands, could have been a poor woman’s version of Waterloo Bridge about ballerinas who became burlesque queens instead of prostitutes, especially since it featured Bridge‘s Virginia Field and Maria Ouspenskaya. However, there the similarities end with Maureen O’Hara and Lucille Ball both in memorable early screen starring roles, the latter as a character named “Bubbles”. Louis Hayward and Ralph Bellamy co-star.

Raoul Walsh’s melodrama of brother truckers They Drive by Night co-starred George Raft and Humphrey Bogart, the latter in a breakout role from the usual tough-as-nails gangsters that had consumed much of his career up to that point. Ann Sheridan provided considerable charm as the chief female protagonist, but it was relative newcomer Ida Lupino who made the biggest impression as a vengeful woman.

Need more evidence about how great a year it was? How about these?

Preston Sturges’ uproarious comedy Christmas in July about a man who goes on a shopping spree mistakenly thinking he has won a big contest. This is the film that proved Dick Powell could do more than smile and sing. He gets excellent support from Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn, William Demarest, Ernest Truex and Franklin Pangborn.

One of the screen’s nuttiest comedies, The Bank Dick features W.C. Fields at his best as a no-account souse who becomes a bank guard. Directed by Eddie Cline, the cast includes Cora Witherspoon as his wife, Una Merkel as his daughter, Grady Sutton as a prospective son-in-law, and Franklin Pangborn as a bank examiner.

The definitive version of the oft filmed The Mark of Zorro directed by Rouben Mamoulian gave us a splendid Tyrone Power as the fey-by-day, romantic-by-night avenger. Also memorable are Linda Darnell as his lady love, and Basil Rathbone and Gale Sondergaard at their villainous best.

A stirring high seas adventure, Michael Curtiz’s The Sea Hawk gave Errol Flynn one of his best roles as the pirate who becomes an agent for Elizabeth I. The rousing Erich Wolfgang Korngold score is rightfully regarded as one of the best film scores ever. Flora Robson is splendid as Elizabeth.

The search for a cure for syphilis is the theme of William Dieterle’s Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet, scripted by John Huston and featuring Edward G. Robinson in one of his best roles, abetted by Ruth Gordon, Otto Kruger, Donald Crisp, Maria Ouspenskaya, Sig Ruman and Donald Meek. Alas, it is not yet available on DVD.

Pat O’Brien had the best role of his career as Knute Rockne, All American, the famed film about the legendary Notre Dame football coach featuring Ronald Reagan as his star player under the direction of Lloyd Bacon. This is the one with Reagan’s classic line, “win one for the Gipper”. It co-stars Gale Page, Donald Crisp, Albert Basserman and John Qualen.

The source material for Frank Loessser’s never-filmed classic musical The Most Happy Fella, Garson Kanin’s film of Sidney Howard’s They Knew What They Wanted provided memorable roles for Charles Laughton as the fat, homely grape grower, and Carole Lombard as his mail order bride. This is another great one missing on DVD.

From Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, the writing team of Hitchock’s The Lady Vanishes,comes the equally engrossing Night Train to Munich directed by Carol Reed in Hitchcockian style. Margaret Lockwood, Rex Harrison and Paul Henreid star in the espionage thriller.

Gary Cooper had the title role in William Wyler’s The Westerner but it was Walter Brennan who stole the show as the bombastic Judge Roy Bean, winning his third Oscar in the process. Others in the cast include Doris Davenport, Fred Stone, Forrest Tucker and Dana Andrews.

Tyrone Power was out, but Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney had enough star power to keep Fritz Lang’s The Return of Frank James, the sequel to Jesse James, afloat. Tierney made her screen debut in the film which also provided strong roles for Jackie Cooper, Henry Hull, John Carradine and Donald Meek.

All that, and I haven’t even mentioned The Great McGinty (Preston Sturges again), All This, and Heaven Too (another Bette Davis triumph), Kitty Foyle (Ginger Rogers’ Oscar winner), Primrose Path (Ginger and Joel McCrea) and Fantasia (Disney’s other classic 1940 film).

-Peter J. Patrick (August 19, 2008)