High Noon insert movie poster image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Director Fred Zinnemann and United Artists delivered High Noon to movie theaters in 1952. Gary Cooper plays the besieged town marshal, with Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell and Lloyd Bridges in gripping support.

John W. Cunningham’s The Tin Star

High Noon is based on the short story “The Tin Star” by John W. Cunningham (1915-2002), which first appeared in the December 6, 1947, issue of Collier’s.

It was Carl Foreman, in partnership with producer Stanley Kramer at the time, who broached the idea of bringing “The Tin Star” to the silver screen. Foreman wrote the screenplay and Fred Zinnemann (The Men, Oklahoma!, A Man for All Seasons) directed. Dimitri Tiomkin created the original music score and Floyd Crosby delivered the stark b/w cinematography.

Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly in High Noon

Gary Cooper (Marshal Will Kane) and Grace Kelly (Amy Fowler Kane) head the cast. Other players include Thomas Mitchell (Mayor Jonas Henderson), Lloyd Bridges (Deputy Harvey Pell), Katy Jurado (Helen Ramirez), Otto Kruger (Judge Percy Mettrick), Lon Chaney Jr. (Martin Howe), Harry Morgan (Sam Fuller), Ian MacDonald (Frank Miller), Eve McVeagh (Mildred Fuller), Morgan Farley (Dr. Mahin), Harry Shannon (Cooper), Lee Van Cleef (Jack Colby), Robert J. Wilke (Jim Pierce), Sheb Wooley (Ben Miller), Lee Aaker (Boy), John Doucette (Trumbull) and Jack Elam (Charlie).

The role of Will Kane was originally offered to Gregory Peck, who turned it down. Peck’s reasoning: he had just played Johnny Ringo in The Gunfighter (1950), and the two roles were just too similar for his taste.

High Noon Filmed in California

Budgeted at $750,000, High Noon was filmed in California. Locations used included Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, Columbia State Historic Park, the Melody Ranch in Newhall, Railtown 1897 State Historical Park in Jamestown and St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Tuolumne City.

Shot in a scant 28 days, High Noon’s first cut proved unacceptable, with producer Stanley Kramer complaining that it contained too many dead spots. He then ordered Fred Zinnemann to film a series of closeups featuring Gary Cooper’s lined, anxiety-ridden face along with intermittent cuts to various clocks as they ticked their way to high noon.

Kramer also instructed Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington to write a moody ballad which could be used to effectively convey Will Kane’s lone, desperate stand against the Miller Gang. The result was the haunting “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’, performed by Tex Ritter in the soundtrack.

Following completion of the film, writer and associate producer Carl Foreman was blacklisted due to his lack of cooperation before the red-baiting House Un-American Activities Committee. Foreman sold his share of High Noon to Stanley Kramer Productions for a reported $285,000 and promptly departed for Europe.

Marshal Will Kane vs. the Miller Gang at High Noon

Set in Hadleyville, New Mexico Territory (population 650), High Noon opens with the marriage of Marshal Will Kane and his Quaker bride Amy. Will plans to hang up his badge and take up ranching, much to the delight of his young wife.

Word is received that gunslinger Frank Miller, whom Kane had sent away to prison years earlier, is out for revenge against the lawman, with several of his cohorts waiting for his arrival at the train station. Rather than turn tail, Will decides to face Miller and his gang, only to discover that he will have to do it alone as the frightened townspeople now consider it a “private matter.”

Abandoned by his friends and deputies, the clock ticks away, with Frank Miller making his arrival. Meeting him at the train station are three gunfighters: brother Ben Miller, steely-eyed Jack Colby and the grizzled Jim Pierce. Strapping on a six-shooter, Frank Miller leads his boys into town, looking for the lone Will Kane.

A wicked gunfight erupts in the largely deserted Hadleyville, as Marshal Kane takes on the Miller Gang. And when the dust and gunpowder has finally settled, a wounded Kane has somehow prevailed. The marshal then tosses his badge and leaves town in a buckboard, with his loyal wife Amy at his side.

High Noon Opens in New York City

High Noon premiered at New York City’s Mayfair Theater on July 24, 1952.

“Meaningful in its implications, as well as loaded with interest and suspense, High Noon is a western to challenge Stagecoach for the all-time championship,” reported Bosley Crowther of the The New York Times (7/25/52).

“A basic western formula has been combined with good characterization in High Noon…With the name of Gary Cooper to help it along, and on the basis of the adult-appealing dramatic content, the business outlook is favorable,” observed Variety (4/29/52).

High Noon Box Office, Academy Award Nominations, Trivia, DVD

• High Noon grossed $3.4 million at the American box office, good for the #12 position on the list of the top moneymaking films of 1952.
• Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Cooper,won), Best Screenplay, Best Film Editing (Elmo Williams, Harry W. Gerstad, won), Best Music Score (Tiomkin, won), Best Original Song (Tiomkin, Washington, won).
• Frankie Laine’s version of “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’,” released as “High Noon” on Columbia Records single #39770, climbed all the way to #5 on the Cash Box charts.
• High Noon is reportedly former President Bill Clinton’s favorite film.
• Television remake: High Noon (2000) starring Tom Skerritt and Susanna Thompson.
• Auction results for original High Noon movie memorabilia, courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries, Dallas, Texas: one sheet poster ($1,673), insert poster ($1,015.75), half sheet poster ($896.25), title lobby card ($286.80), 40×60-inch poster style Y ($2,151), 1987 reissue Polish poster ($30).
• On DVD: High Noon Two-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition (Lionsgate, 2008).

White Christmas 1961 reissue lobby card set image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Director Michael Curtiz and Paramount Pictures delivered White Christmas to movie theaters in 1954. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye play the hotshot entertainers, with Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen as the singing Haynes Sisters.

Irving Berlin’s White Christmas Origins

White Christmas owes its origins to Irving Berlin (1888-1989), America’s legendary songwriter who composed over 1,500 popular tunes during his remarkable career. According to Irving Berlin: A Daughter’s Memoir by Mary Ellin Barrett, her father began sowing the seeds for the song “White Christmas” while working in Hollywood in December 1937. But it wasn’t until 1942 when “White Christmas” was officially introduced, with Bing Crosby doing the honors in the movie musical Holiday Inn.

With the United States now fully engaged in World War II, “White Christmas,” winner of the 1942 Academy Award for Best Song, became a huge hit, touching many on the American home front whose loved ones were now in service and far from home. In 1946, Bing Crosby once again rendered his version of “White Christmas” for Hollywood, this time in the Paramount Pictures musical Blue Skies.

Michael Curtiz Directs White Christmas

Robert Emmett Dolan produced White Christmas for Paramount Pictures. Norman Krasna, Norman Panama and Melvin Frank wrote the screenplay and Michael Curtiz (Yankee Doodle Dandle, Casablanca, Mildred Pierce) directed. Joseph J. Lilley served as musical director, Loyal Griggs as cinematographer and Robert Alton as choreographer, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin.

Bing Crosby (Bob Wallace), Danny Kaye (Phil Davis), Rosemary Clooney (Betty Haynes) and Vera-Ellen (Judy Haynes) head the fine cast. Other players include Dean Jagger (General Waverly), Mary Wickes (Emma Allen), John Brascia (John), Anne Whitfield (Susan Waverly), Herb Vigran (Novello), Sig Ruman (Landlord), Johnny Grant (Ed Harrison), I. Stanford Jolley (Station Master), Barrie Chase (Doris Lenz), Percy Helton (Train Conductor) and George Chakiris (Dancer).

White Christmas Filmed in Hollywood

Filming for White Christmas was to have initially begun in January 1953. But when 40-year-old Dixie Lee Crosby, Bing’s wife, died on November 1, 1952, the production schedule was pushed back to mid-August 1953.

White Christmas was primarily shot on Stage 9 at Paramount Pictures. The train station scenes were filmed at Twentieth Century-Fox Studios in Century City.

Irving Berlin penned the musical’s entire soundtrack: “White Christmas,” “The Best Things Happen When You’re Dancing,” “Sisters,” “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep,” “Mandy,” “Gee, I Wish I Was Back in the Army,” “Snow,” “Choreography,” “The Minstrel Show,” “Let Me Sing,” “What Can You Do with a General?,” “The Old Man,” “Abraham,” “Blue Skies,” “Heat Wave” and “Love, You Didn’t Do Right By Me.”

Trudy Stevens provided the singing voice for Vera-Ellen in practically all of her numbers.  

White Christmas in Vermont

White Christmas opens on Christmas Eve 1944 in war-torn Europe. Captain Bob Wallace and Private First Class Phil Davis are staging a show in a forward area. Putting in a surprise visit is Major General Thomas F. Waverly, who is being replaced as the division’s commander.

An enemy bombing raid hits the forward area, whereby Pvt. Davis saves Captain Wallace’s life. At the hospital, Davis informs Wallace that he has a song the latter might be interested in, and proposes that the two get together as a team.

Fast forward ten years, where ex-servicemen Bob Wallace and Phil Davis are now the hottest musical act in the country. As a favor to Benny Haynes, a.k.a. “The Dog-Faced Boy,” Bob and Phil check out a sisters act playing The Florida nightclub in the Sunshine State. The Haynes Sisters are headed to Vermont for the holidays, with the infatuated Bob and Phil deciding to forgo their trip back to New York and join the girls in Pine Tree instead.

The Haynes Sisters are booked at the Columbia Inn, which happens to be owned by the boys’ old division commander, General Waverly. Unseasonably warm weather, however, has put the damper on snow skiing and other winter activities and threatens to financially ruin the retired general.

As a favor to General Waverly, the boys bring the entire Wallace & Davis show to Vermont. Bob then goes on The Ed Harrison Show, asking that all former members of the 151st Army Division report to the Columbia Inn for a surprise reunion on Christmas Eve.

White Christmas Opens in New York City

White Christmas opened at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on October 14, 1954.

“Director Michael Curitz has made his picture look good. It is too bad that it doesn’t hit the eardrums and the funnybone with equal force,” reported Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (10/15/54).

“Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, along with VistaVision, keep the entertainment going in this fancifully stage production, clicking well,” observed Variety.

White Christmas Box Office, Academy Award Nomination, Trivia, DVD

• White Christmas grossed $12 million at the American box office, earning the #1 position on the list of the top moneymaking films of 1954.
• One Oscar nomination: Best Original Song “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep.”
• Donald O’Connor was Paramount’s first choice for the role of Phil Davis. But when he had to withdraw because of an injury, Danny Kaye was brought in as his replacement.
• White Christmas was the first movie to be filmed in VistaVision, Paramount’s answer to Twentieth Century-Fox’s CinemaScope.
• Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer plays homely Benny Haynes in the photo Vera-Ellen produces at The Florida.
• Playing Around is the title of Wallace and Davis’ two-year hit on Broadway.
• The cost of Bob and Phil’s last-minute train tickets to Vermont which enable them to sit in the dining car all night: $97.24.
• The four deceased stars: Bing Crosby (1903-1977), Danny Kaye (1913-1987), Rosemary Clooney (1928-2002), Vera-Ellen (1921-1981).
• On DVD: White Christmas (Paramount, 2007).

This charming period drama is the perfect antidote to modern life. Lyrical and sedately paced, it’s a beautiful if feather-light elegy to Regency manners and dress and to the poetry of the Romantics. Telling the true story of the love affair between talented but penniless Romantic poet John Keats and wealthy but socially awkward seamstress Fanny it’s crammed with elegant costumes, sparkling dialogue and bewitching performances.

Written and directed by Jane Campion, best known for 1993’s “The Piano”, this has a similar melancholic tone as her more famous work, managing to stretch a thin and rather basic plot into something deceptively well layered, combining a heart-wrenching love story, social commentary, intriguing historical details and dazzlingly beautiful poetical extracts, including a mesmerising reading of “Ode to a Nightingale” over the end credits, which admittedly makes it impossible to read any of the names. Abbie Cornish is marvellous as Miss Brawne, handling the transition from level-headed businesswoman to hopelessly obsessed lover with both realism and pathos. Ben Whisahw is suitably otherworldly and distracted as Keats himself, capturing the fragility of the young poet. There are also surprising turns from Thomas Sangster and Edie Martin as the two younger Brawne siblings, neatly summing up attitudes to childhood and responsibility: Martin has a endearingly childish playfulness about her, while Sangster is perpetually at that transitional point between boy and man lurking in the background as a chaperone. Paul Schnieder adds a touch of ambiguity as the rude but practical Charles Armitage Brown, while Kerry Fox is suitably sensible as Fanny’s mother. In one particularly charming scene, for example, Fanny, parted from Keats, has filled her bedroom with butterflies caught by her siblings and is wallowing in her self-created dream-world; Mrs Brawne is thoroughly perplexed by her daughter’s actions and when Fanny warns her not to step on one of the butterflies, her reaction is simply, “well move it.” There’s a wonderful sense of understated realism in the clash of personalities.

It looks and sounds lovely, and though it might not be the most novel or innovative film to be released this year, it’s certainly an enjoyably tragic portrait of Regency life and proof that literature can still provide a fascinating story.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington insert movie poster image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Producer-director Frank Capra and Columbia Pictures delivered Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to movie audiences in 1939. James Stewart plays the idealistic junior senator, with Jean Arthur, Claude Rains and Edward Arnold along for the bumpy campaign.

Lewis R. Foster’s The Gentleman from Montana

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is based on the story “The Gentleman from Montana” by Lewis R. Foster (1898-1974). Originally a newspaperman, Foster had moved to Hollywood in the 1920s to work as a gag man for Hal Roach Studios. After directing several Laurel & Hardy shorts, Foster graduated to feature films and television, working prolifically as both a writer and director.

Foster’s story treatment, alternately called “The Gentleman from Montana” and “The Gentleman from Wyoming,” was originally purchased by Columbia Pictures as a starring vehicle for Ralph Bellamy and as a possible sequel to the 1936 film comedy Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. When Gary Cooper, the title character in the aforementioned picture, proved unavailable, James Stewart was brought in from MGM under the working title Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Sidney Buchman penned the screenplay, with Frank Capra producing and directing. Dimitri Tiomkin created the original music score and Joseph Walker served as cinematographer.

James Stewart Stars in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

James Stewart (Jefferson Smith), Jean Arthur (Clarissa Sanders) and Claude Rains (Senator Joseph Harrison Paine) head the cast. Other players include Edward Arnold (Jim Taylor), Guy Kibbee (Gov. Hubert “Happy” Hopper), Thomas Mitchell (Diz Moore), Beulah Bondi (Ma Smith), Eugene Pallette (Chick McGann), H.B. Warner (Senator Agnew), Harry Carey (Henry), Astrid Allwyn (Susan Paine), Ruth Donnelly (Emma Hopper), Charles Lane (Nosey), William Demarest (Bill Griffith) and Jack Carson (Sweeney Farrell).

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Filmed in Hollywood

Budgeted at $1.9 million, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was filmed from April to July 1939. The movie was shot primarily on the Columbia Pictures lot in Hollywood, where a full-replica of the United States Senate chamber was constructed. Backdrop scenery employed included various Washington, D.C., landmarks: Union Station, the Capitol Building, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Supreme Court Building and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

Serving as Frank Capra’s technical adviser was James D. Preston, former superintendent of the Senate press gallery. Preston proved invaluable in recreating the august U.S. Senate chamber.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: A Capitol Movie

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington opens with bad news: United States Senator Samuel Foley has unexpectedly died. After consulting with media magnate/political boss Jim Taylor, the spineless Governor Hubert Hopper appoints Foley’s successor, Jefferson Smith, the popular head of the state’s Boy Ranger youth organization. Smith is a political newcomer and something of a country bumpkin, viewed by his backers as a “safe” choice and one they can easily manipulate.

The idealistic Senator Smith comes to the nation’s capital, wowed by the various historical landmarks and naively demonstrating his bird calls for an amused press. But when the freshman senator accidentally catches wind of a questionable dam project back home involving Terry Canyon, he develops a streak of independence, running afoul of his political backers.

Now the target of a vicious smear campaign, the embattled Senator Smith is ready to quit and return home to the Boy Rangers. But old Washington hand Clarissa Saunders urges him to fight back, with Smith challenging the powerful Boss Taylor and his well-oiled political machine.

Taking to the Senate floor, the energetic Smith engages in an exhausting 23-hour filibuster in an attempt to right the wheels of democracy. “Either I’m dead right, or I’m crazy!” he argues his conscience.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Release and Reviews

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington premiered at Washington, D.C.’s Constitution Hall on October 17, 1939.

“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is typically Capra, punchy, human and absorbing…” reported Variety in a special trade industry preview at Los Angeles’ Pantages Theater (10/3/39).

“Mr. Smith is one of the best shows of the year. More fun, even, than the Senate itself,” observed Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times (10/20/39).

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Academy Awards, Trivia, Movie Memorabilia, DVD

• Eleven Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Stewart), Best Supporting Actor (Carey, Rains), Best Music Scoring, Best Film Editing (Gene Havlick, Al Clark), Best Art Direction (Lionel Banks), Best Story (Foster, won), Best Sound (John P. Livadary), Best Screenplay.
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington drew the ire of several establishment newspapers, most notably Colonel Robert R. McCormick’s conservative Chicago Tribune. Joining in the chorus of boos were several outraged congressman and Senate Majority Leader Alben Barkley, who called the film “grotesque.” Montana Senator Burton Wheeler, seated next to Frank Capra at the premiere, was so offended that he walked out midway through the picture.
• Senator Smith’s home state is never identified, but it is located out west.
• Auction results for original Mr. Smith movie memorabilia, courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries, Dallas, Texas: one sheet poster rare style A ($15,535), insert poster ($3,585), half sheet poster autographed by Jimmy Stewart ($7,170), title lobby card ($1,792.50), window card ($1,195), 8×10 b/w publicity still picturing Frank Capra on the set ($119.50), midget window card ($1,015.75).
• On DVD: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Special Edition (Columbia/Tristar, 2000).

“You think I’m licked. You all think I’m licked. Well, I’m not licked, and I’m gonna stay right here and fight for this lost cause even if this room gets filled with lies likes these…” James Stewart tells his Senate colleagues.

Boy, is he in the wrong place…

Shane lobby card set image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Director George Stevens and Paramount Pictures brought Shane to movie theaters in 1953. Alan Ladd stars as the mysterious gunfighter, with Jack Palance, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin and Brandon de Wilde in solid support.

Jack Schaefer’s 1949 Shane Novel

Shane is based on the 1949 novel of the same name by Jack Schaefer (1907-1991). Set in the American West of 1889, Shane is narrated by a young boy, Bob Starrett: “He rode into our valley in the summer of ‘89, a slim man, dresses in black. ‘Call me Shane,’ he said. He never told us more.”

Schaefer’s other western novels include The Canyon (1953), The Pioneers (1954), Incident on the Trail (1962) and Monte Walsh (1963). In 1985, Shane was honored by the prestigious Western Writers of America as the best western novel ever published.

George Stevens Directs Shane

A.B. Guthrie Jr. and Jack Sher wrote the screenplay for Paramount Pictures. George Stevens (A Place in the Sun, Giant, The Diary of Ann Frank) produced and directed. Victor Young created the original music score, which features the songs “Abide With Me,” “Taps” and “I Ride an Old Paint (I’m A-Leavin’ Cheyenne).”

Alan Ladd heads the cast as Shane. Other players include Jean Arthur (Marian Starrett), Van Heflin (Joe Starrett), Brandon de Wilde (Joey), Jack Palance (Jack Wilson), Ben Johnson (Chris Calloway), Edgar Buchanan (Fred Lewis), Emile Meyer (Rufus Ryker), Elisha Cook Jr. (Frank “Stonewall” Torrey), Douglas Spencer (Axel “Swede” Shipstead), John Dierkes (Morgan Ryker), Ellen Corby (Liz Torrey), Paul McVey (Sam Grafton), John Miller (Will Atkey), Edith Evanson (Mrs. Shipstead), Leonard Strong (Ernie Wright) and Nancy Kulp (Mrs. Howells).

George Stevens makes an audio cameo appearance, shouting out, “Knock him into that pigpen!”

Shane Filmed in Wyoming and California

Budgeted at $3.1 million, Shane was filmed from July to October 1951. Much of the picture was shot just outside of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where George Stevens had constructed a small town and several farms. Stevens had scouted for just the right location for a little more than a year, finally settling on scenic Jackson Hole.

Other locations used included Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park and California’s Big Bear Lake and the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth.

Shane, Come Back!

Shane begins with the arrival of a stranger dressed in buckskins who’s sporting a pearl-handled revolver on his right side. Eyeing the mystery man on horseback is a young, towheaded boy peering through the antlers of a stately deer.

The stranger’s name is Shane, who has happened on the small farm of Joe Starrett and family. Joe is locked into a battle with ruthless cattle baron Morgan Ryker, who wants to add the Starrett homestead to his holdings.

Shane decides to stay on at the Starrett place, working as a hired hand. He soon becomes involved in the escalating feud, engaging in a wild brawl at the general store/saloon. Meanwhile, Ryker has brought in a professional gunfighter from Cheyenne to intimidate the local farmers. The gunslinger, Jack Wilson, quickly earns his pay, goading a sodbuster named Torrey into a fight and then killing him in the mud-soaked street.

Shane later faces off with Jack Wilson. The two professionals go for their guns, with Shane proving to be the faster draw as he blasts Wilson across a table. Shane also kills another of Ryker’s men who was brandishing a shotgun on the balcony.

“Now you run on home to your mother and tell her…tell her everything’s all right. And there aren’t any more guns in the valley,” a slightly wounded Shane tells Joey. He then mounts his horse and rides off into the distance, with little Joey shouting, “Shane, come back! Come back! Shane!…”

Shane Opens in New York City

Shane opened at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on April 23, 1953.

“With High Noon so lately among us, it scarcely seems possible that the screen should so soon again come up with another great Western film. Yet that is substantially what has happened in the case of George Stevens’s Shane…” reported Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (4/24/53).

“Strong boxoffice possibilities accrue to this socko drama of the early west, which draws on sound plot and characters, solid directorial interpretation and fine playing to give it both class and mass appeal,” observed Variety (4/15/53).

Shane Box Office, Academy Awards, Trivia, DVD

• Shane grossed $9 million at the American box office, earning the #5 position on the list of the top moneymaking films of 1953.
• Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Palance, de Wilde), Best Color Cinematography (Loyal Griggs, won), Best Screenplay.
• Rodd Redwing performed Alan Ladd’s gun twirling routine as featured in Shane’s classic showdown scene.
• Due to extensive editing by George Stevens, Shane didn’t make it to the silver screen until 1953, almost two years after filming had been completed.
• The ABC-TV version of Shane with David Carradine in the title role ran for only 17 episodes in 1966.
• Auction results for original Shane movie memorabilia, courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries, Dallas, Texas: one sheet poster ($1,015.75), insert poster ($358.50), set of eight lobby cards ($555.68), collection of 23 b/w 8×10 location stills ($310.70), 40″x60″ poster style Z ($5,676.25).
• On DVD: Shane (Paramount, 2000).

“That was Wilson, all right, and he was fast, fast on the draw,” Shane tells Joey.

But Shane proves faster…

The Blackboard Jungle insert movie poster image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Director Richard Brooks and MGM brought The Blackboard Jungle to movie theaters in 1955. Glenn Ford plays an idealistic teacher struggling to reach his students, with Anne Francis as his sympathetic wife.

Evan Hunter’s The Blackboard Jungle

The Blackboard Jungle is based on the novel of the same name by Evan Hunter (1926-2005). Born Salvatore Albert Lombino, Hunter also wrote under the pseudonyms Ed McBain, Richard Marsten, Ezra Hannon, Curt Cannon and Hunt Collins.

Published by Simon and Schuster in 1954, The Blackboard Jungle was inspired by Hunter’s brief stint as a teacher at Bronx Vocational High School in New York City. The novel, called “nightmarish but authentic” by one critic, went on to become a bestseller in both hardcover and paperback.

In October 1954, the same month in which the unabridged novel was released, a condensed version of The Blackboard Jungle also appeared in a special education issue of Ladies’ Home Journal.

Richard Brooks Directs The Blackboard Jungle

Richard Brooks wrote and directed The Blackboard Jungle for producer Pandro S. Berman and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures. Scott Bradley and Charles Wolcott created the original music score, complete with a rousing rendition of “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and His Comets.

The Blackboard Jungle was filmed from November to December 1954 at El Segundo (California) High School. Built in 1927 and replete with Neo-Gothic architecture, towering pine trees and a well-manicured front lawn, El Segundo High has been a favorite Hollywood filming location for years. The fabled “Anywhere USA” school has played host to such movie and television productions as Logan’s Run (1976), WarGames (1983), Superbad (2007), CSI: Miami, Beverly Hills 90210, The O.C. and 24.

Glenn Ford and Anne Francis Head Cast

Glenn Ford (Richard Dadier) and Anne Francis (Anne Dadier) head the cast. Other players include Louis Calhern (Jim Murdock), Margaret Hayes (Lois Judby Hammond), John Hoyt (Mr. Warneke), Richard Kiley (Joshua Y. Edwards), Emile Meyer (Mr. Halloran), Warner Anderson (Dr. Bradley), Basil Ruysdael (Professor A.R. Kraal), Sidney Poitier (Gregory W. Miller), Vic Morrow (Artie West), Dan Terranova (Belazi), Rafael Campos (Pete V. Morales), Paul Mazursky (Emmanuel Stoker), Horace McMahon (Detective) and Danny Dennis (De Lica).

Other familiar faces dotting the urban jungle are Jameel Farah a.k.a. Jamie Farr (Santini), Richard Deacon (Mr. Stanley), James Drury (Hospital Attendant), Tommy Ivo (Frightened Student) and Emil Sitka (Father).

The Blackboard Jungle Rocks Around the Clock

U.S. Navy veteran Richard Dadier garners his first teaching job at a tough inner-city vocational high school. An English teacher with high expectations, Dadier soon learns the harsh realities after meeting his students, an unruly bunch of underachievers and sociopaths.

The all-male school is headed by Mr. Warneke, who is loath to admit that his fine institution may have a discipline problem. Other staff occupying the school’s combat zone include Jim Murdock, a cynical teacher just biding his time to retirement; Lois Hammond, a young, idealistic female educator, and Joshua Y. Edwards, a passive instructor whose prized collection of jazz records, including Bix Beiderbecke’s classic “Jazz Me Blues,” is trashed by his hoodlum pupils.

Voicing his concerns to his pregnant wife Anne, Richard Dadier seriously considers taking another teaching job at a nice, safe, private school. It’s little wonder, as the new “teach” experiences a series of disturbing incidents, including a sexual assault in the library, anonymous letters sent to his wife alleging an affair and a rough-and-tumble showdown with the violent, knife-wielding punk Artie West.

The Blackboard Jungle Opens in New York City

The Blackboard Jungle made its debut at New York City’s Loew’s State Theater on March 19, 1955.

“As a straight melodrama of juvenile violence this is a vivid and hair-raising film…It is as hard and penetrating as a nail,” reported Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (3/21/55).

“Glenn Ford, Morrow and Poitier are so real in their performances under the probing direction by Brooks that the picture alternatingly has the viewer pleading, indignant and frightened before the conclusion,” opined Variety (3/2/55).  

“An exaggerated account of an increasing problem,” observed Life magazine in an illustrated story/review titled “Bad Boys in the Schoolroom” (3/28/55).

The Blackboard Jungle Box Office, Academy Award Nominations, Trivia, DVD

• The Blackboard Jungle hit movie theaters like a pair of brass knuckles, grossing $5.459 million at the box office, good for the #14 position on the list of the top moneymaking films of 1955.
• The Blackboard Jungle earned four Oscar nominations: Best Screenplay, Best B&W Cinematography, Best B&W Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Film Editing.
• The movie features one of the oldest student bodies in Hollywood history. Portraying teenagers are Vic Morrow (born 1929) at 26-years-old, Sidney Poitier (born 1927) at 28, Paul Mazursky (born 1930) at 25, Jamie Farr (born 1934) at 21, Danny Dennis (born 1927) at 28 and Dan Terranova (born 1930) at 25. Talk about no “child” left behind…
• One classroom features a cardboard alphabet display at the top of the blackboard. Nice touch – if this were a first grade classroom and not a high school.
• In January 1955 The Saturday Evening Post began running a five-part series on juvenile delinquency titled “The Shame of America.” It proved to be fabulous promotional material for The Blackboard Jungle’s March 1955 release.
• On DVD: Controversial Classics Collection (Warner, 2005).

“You ever try to fight thirty-five guys at one time, Teach?” the violent Artie West sneers.

Substitute teaching, anyone?

The Thief of Bagdad window card image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

The sound remake of The Thief of Bagdad came flying into movie theaters in 1940. One of the silver screen’s most beloved fantasy films, The Thief of Bagdad features outstanding special effects and a fabulous cast headed by the incomparable Sabu in the title role.

The Thief of Bagdad Silent Film

The Thief of Bagdad was first produced in 1924 as a 12-reel silent film for United Artists. The brainchild of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. (who wrote the story under the pseudonym Elton Thomas), this $2 million spectacular was directed by Raoul Walsh, with Fairbanks, Snitz Edwards, Charles Belcher, Julanne Johnston, Sojin and Anna May Wong heading the cast.

Featuring elaborate sets by art director/production designer William Cameron Menzies, 1924’s The Thief of Bagdad wowed moviegoers of the era. In 1996, the movie was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

Alexander Korda Produces The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

The driving force behind the second coming of The Thief of Bagdad was producer/director Alexander Korda (1893-1956). Lajos Bira and Miles Malleson wrote the screenplay, with Miklos Rozsa serving up the enchanting music score. Six different directors worked on the picture: Alexander Korda, Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Zoltan Korda, Tim Whelan and William Cameron Menzies.

Sabu Heads Cast

Sabu Dastagir (1924-1963) heads the cast as Abu, the little thief of Bagdad. A native of India, Sabu later became an American citizen, serving with distinction in the U.S. Army Air Forces as a tail gunner during World War II. Sabu died of a heart attack at his home in Chatsworth, California, at age 39 on December 2, 1963.

Other players include Conrad Veidt (Jaffar), June Duprez (Princess), John Justin (Ahmad), Rex Ingram (Djinn), Miles Malleson (Sultan), Morton Selten (Old King), Mary Morris (Halima) and Bruce Winston (Merchant).

Alexander Korda had originally wanted Vivien Leigh to play the Princess and Jon Hall in the role of Ahmad, but both were unavailable at the time.

The Thief of Bagdad Filmed in England and the United States

The Thief of Bagdad began filming in 1939 at London’s Denham Studios. When World War II broke out on September 1, 1939, Alexander Korda and company continued to work at Denham in a studio now populated by sandbags and makeshift air-raid shelters. The war also put the brakes on a planned location trek to Africa to shoot many of the more exotic scenes.

As the war continued to threaten the production, Korda moved his operation to United Artists in Hollywood. Location filming in the United States was completed at the Grand Canyon, where 40 mules were used to haul $40,000 worth of Technicolor equipment in the rugged terrain.

The Thief of Bagdad and the All-Seeing Eye

The Thief of Bagdad opens with Abu bounding from rooftop to rooftop, pilfering items from local merchants. Arrested and thrown into prison, Abu meets Prince Ahmad, who has just been overthrown by his evil grand vizier, Jaffar.

Escaping from their cells, Abu and Ahmad flee to Basra, where they catch a glimpse of the beautiful Princess. The sinister Jaffar desires the girl for himself, plying her father the king with expensive toys and using his powers to turn Ahmad into a blind beggar and Sabu into a dog.

Eventually returned to their former selves, Ahmad and Abu pursue the powerful Jaffar. Separated by a raging tempest conjured up by the grand vizier, Abu hooks up with a giant genie, who transports him to the All-Seeing Eye high up in the Tibetan Mountains. Here Abu learns of Ahmad’s pending execution, and rushes to save his friend.

The Thief of Bagdad Opens in New York City

The Thief of Bagdad made its world premiere at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on December 5, 1940.

“The Thief of Bagdad…ranks next to Fantasia as the most beguiling and wondrous film of this troubled season,” reported Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (12/6/40).

In a preview story titled “Korda Opens Stops On Trick Camera Effects For His ‘Thief of Bagdad,’” Life magazine (10/14/40) called the picture “one-third Arabian nights, one-third Disney fable and one-third Shubert musical.”

The Thief of Bagdad Wins Three Academy Awards

The Thief of Bagdad garnered four Oscar nominations: Best Color Cinematography (Georges Perinal, won), Best Color Art Direction (Vincent Korda, won), Best Special Effects (Lawrence W. Butler, Jack Whitney, won) and Best Original Music Score (Miklos Rozsa).

All three Oscar wins were well-deserved, especially the one for special effects. Employing rear-projection process shots, double exposures, miniature models and matte shots, a battery of talented technicians and artists delivered a dazzling array of movie wizardry. Among the fantastic sights: a flying mechanical horse, a 200-foot genie popping in and out of a six-inch flask, soaring magic carpet rides, a marauding 40-foot spider and a terrifying storm at sea.

The Thief of Bagdad on DVD

• The Thief of Bagdad is available on DVD (Criterion Collection, 2008).

“Allah be with you, but I doubt it,” a cynical old man tells the bedraggled Ahmad and Abu.

Yes, The Thief of Bagdad has humor too…

Image via Wikipedia

It’s a shame really. Though the film is certainly no “Brazil”, “Twelve Monke’s” or “Fisher King”, it’s considerably more enjoyable, inventive and imaginative than most of the films currently showing. Telling the convoluted tale of a thousand-year old showman with a sideshow exhibit that allows its audience to enter their own imaginations following a deal with the devil, its core is a combination of prettily grungy modern-day carnie chaos and surreal flights of fancy through beautifully stylised CGI dreamscapes. There are some other story elements thrown rather -haphazardly into the mix; the coming-of-age and sexual awakening of the doctor’s daughter, a mixture of strained relationships, and the arrival of Ledger’s character, a mysterious but charming con-man. The story can hardly be said to be the film’s strong point; there are plot holes and some gaps in logic, but messy story-telling can’t get in the way of the sheer joy to be had watching the sumptuous visuals and utterly brilliant cast.

The actors are uniformly wonderful: Christopher Plummer brings quirky gravitas to the role of Doctor Parnassus and Lily Cole is dainty but feisty as his daughter, Valentina, but the true scenery-chewing performances come from the marvellous Tom Waits as a charismatic and devious Devil and the late lamented Ledger as the equally charismatic Tony. Filling in the gaps left by Ledger’s absence, with the neat conceit that the character’s appearance can change in the dream-world of the Imaginarium, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell prove similar enough to Ledger’s performance to be convincing, each sparkling with the same wit and energy that Ledger had already established in the character. As though these performances were not mesmerising enough, we have solid and convincing acting from the rest of the cast and spellbinding visuals, music and design to entertain us too. Whether it’s the glorious use of CGI (in a rare case of the technology being used effectively), the beautiful and evocative costuming, the busy and convincing sets, or the soaring but unobtrusive musical score, there’s plenty to hold the audience slack jawed. Even with the story itself being somewhat awkward, it’s well paced and there are some lovely set pieces: particularly fun is a flashback to the doctor’s youth and first meeting with the Devil in a mystical Eastern monastery, or a hysterical Pythonesque sequence involving singing policemen and a quartet of Russian mafia men.

It may not be equal to Gilliam’s earlier brilliance, but there is undeniably brilliance on display here, not least in Ledger’s performance. This film, like “the Dark Knight”, really highlights the tragedy of his loss. The sense of unrealised potential is overwhelming, but anyone saying that this is simply an epitaph for the young actor is exaggerating. It may not be as great a piece of art as some of Gilliam’s other productions, but it’s an enjoyable, even magical experience.

Absence of Malice is a 1981 film written by Kurt Luedtke and David Rayfiel and directed by Sydney Pollack. The movie is an indictment against journalists who don’t bother to check the facts so long as their attention-grabbing story doesn’t get them into trouble. It focuses on journalistic impropriety and accountability, and how the lack of understanding ethical issues can wreak havoc on somebody’s life. It tells the story of Megan Carter (Sally Field), an ambitious investigative reporter for the Miami Standard trying desperately to get a lead on the headline story of a local labor leader’s disappearance. Michael Gallagher (Paul Newman) is a Florida-based businessman and the son of the missing labor leader, but he knows nothing of his father’s shady deals. Elliot Rosen (Bob Balaban), the head of a federal task force investigating the case, knows that Gallagher is innocent. He purposely leaks the story to Megan by unethically leaving a file on his desk while walking out of a meeting with her. The Justice department reckons that  the story’s publication will compel Michael to make contact with his father’s mobster friends and turn him as a state’s evidence.

Megan falls for the bait, and without checking the veracity of the story by corroborating it with another source, she and her sleazy editor (Josef Sommer) decide to publish the story because there’s no chance Gallagher can sue for libel under the Absence of Malice rule for slander. The newspaper’s lawyer insists on Megan’s contacting Gallagher for comment if only to prove “absence of malice” on their part. So Megan makes some half-hearted attempts to reach Gallagher, but does not try to call again when she cannot reach him.

Suddenly thrust into the front page, Gallagher loses his clients and confronts Megan, but she refuses to divulge the identity of her sources.

The slanderous story ruins Michael’s reputation. Michael has an alibi in his childhood friend Teresa Perrone (Melinda Dillon), a devout Catholic, whom he accompanied to arrange her secret abortion at Atlanta, something her parents or the community would disapprove. Teresa is tormented that Michael should pay the penalty for being helpful, so she risks revealing the circumstances to Megan, thinking she would publish the story without revealing her identity just the same way she did earlier.

Megan, in her self-interest in making her story credible, fails to honor the faith bestowed on her; and the news leads to the tragic end of Teresa. Gallagher now comes forward but, in a fitful revenge, turns his enemies against each other.

First, he makes a deal with District Attorney James Quinn (Don Hood) promising support in the investigation if he is publicly cleared of all allegations. Then he lays a trail of clues suggesting a payoff link between himself and Quinn which flusters Rosen into putting illegal taps on his phones. Megan comes to know of this “deal” too. She once again prints this confidential information in the newspaper. The Department of Justice enters the scene now, and the Assistant Attorney General orders an informal inquiry. Megan refuses to provide her source of the Quinn-Gallagher link; Gallagher is cleared, but Rosen is indicted for his illegal investigation with a 30-days notice.

In the last scene U.S. Attorney General gets all the major players in one big conference room to talk under oath.

 



 
The story provides many questions to students for discussing ethical journalism. Was malice involved in Megan’s publishing the story, or was she merely doing her job? Even if there was no malice involved, did she have the right, both legally and morally, to print the accurate but untrue story?

The film raises many other ethical questions. Megan points out to Teressa that the information she gives would be on record, yet chooses to ignore her apprehensions merely to bring credibility to her story. Even if it is legally right to know where the man was during the time he was charged with committing a crime, did the public have a need to know this information, when such publicity could prove disastrous for vulnerable people?

Is it ethical for journalists to become romantically involved with their sources? It definitely isn’t, especially if you choose to use such encounters to elicit confidential information. In this case, of course, Megan empathizes with Gallagher, and her involvement starts only after her story is published. And they break up once she thinks Gallagher has connections with Quinn and she does not know the truth.

Somewhere in the movie is the pithy tagline that summarizes the story: “Suppose you picked up this morning’s newspaper and your life was a front page headline… And everything they said was accurate… But none of it was true.”

Steve Lopez is played with wit and heart by Robert Downey Jr. while Nathaniel Ayers is played with vulnerability and soul. Both characters are extremely complex, and both actors deliver the goods, expressing that complexity through both gesture and dialogue. The script is great – sometimes with true stories of an emotional nature, dialogue can feel overwritten, stilted, or unreal. Here, the screenplay does the story justice, respecting the subject matter by avoiding over-sentimentality. By resisting the overly sentimental, and relying on story there is an honesty in the film that is more effective in tear-making than the most flowery language could possibly produce. I particularly love this film because it also sends the message that art is important, transformative, and redemptive and that writers, even in an age where publishing is in jeopardy and the future of the written word is uncertain, still have an impact on the world.

The true story of The Soloist as well as the film create hope. And that is well worth watching.