GOD'S GIFT TO WOMEN (1931)

 

This Warner Brothers trifle, directed by Michael Curtiz, has the unlikely premise that a marginally attractive, totally uncharismatic gentleman with the equally unlikely name of Toto Duryea (Frank Fay) is the reigning playboy of Paris whom all the women find completely irresistible. However, this paragon of masculine perfection finds he has met his match when he falls in love with an American girl, played by Laura La Plante, who doesn't return his interest. To make his dilemma even worse, Mr. Duryea's' doctor has warned him that if he doesn't give up chasing women, his heart is likely to give out. 

There are very few laughs in this pre-code photoplay that centers on the lives of the idle, and not terribly interesting, rich. This is my one and only experience of actor Frank Fay, so it may not be fair to judge the man's capabilities on this one picture. The only thing I know about him is that he was once married to Barbara Stanwyck.

 

The main reason to give notice to this film is the presence of Louise Brooks in a supporting role as one of the women in Duryea's stable of admirers. The beautiful Miss Brooks had recently returned from Europe after starring in two now-classic German silent films for director G. W. Pabst: PANDORA'S BOX and DIARY OF A LOST GIRL, both in 1929. She also had completed her first sound film: PRIX DE BEAUTE (1930) for director Rene Clair in France. She was hoping to return to Hollywood to find renewed respect and opportunity. However, she was only able to find minor roles in minor films. She is luminous in her brief scenes, and it makes me sad to wonder what might have been if she had been given the important films she deserved. Also in the cast is the marvelous Joan Blondell, always brings quality and heart to any film she appears in, minor or otherwise.

And now, let's celebrate Louise Brooks!

Brooksie takes center stage.

Louise Brooks - God's Gift to Women: Original Trailer (1931)

PHANTOM THREAD (2017)

 

The most fastidious, unlikable man who ever lived meets and marries a woman who turns out to be even sicker than he is. And they live happily ever after.

Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Reynolds Woodcock, a successful, wealthy dress designer in England during the 1950s. He is assisted by his sister, Cyril (Lesley Manville), with whom he has a close relationship. Neither of them has ever married, But Reynolds has been involved with a series of women who share his life and work until he grows tired of them. While on holiday, he meets a young waitress, Alma Elson (Vicky Krieps). She enters into Reynolds' orbit much like his previous women, but she eventually finds life within his strict routine too difficult. And she finds a very innovative way of dealing with it.

The film was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson who previously directed Day-Lewis in THERE WILL BE BLOOD. These two collaborations between director and star couldn't be more different from each other.

The operative phrase to describe PHANTOM THREAD is low key. Slow moving, with a somewhat somniferous effect, there isn't all that much story to speak of. Rather, this is a perfectly realized character study of three extremely strange people and how their lives intersect during the course of the film. I must admit I found myself beginning to nod off in certain places. But things definitely start happening in the last one-third of the movie and I became totally fascinated. Excellent, controlled performances by all three of the stars. Gorgeous locations and art design. Lush musical score by Jonny Greenwood. Absolutely worth seeing.

MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA (1947)

 

Talk about dysfunctional families.

MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA tells the story of the last days of the wealthy and powerful Mannon family of New England in the days following the Civil War. Between patriarch Ezra Manning (Raymond Massey), his wife, Christine (Katina Paxinou), their daughter, Lavinia (Rosalind Russell) and their son, Orin (Michael Redgrave), there are more than enough dark secrets, concealed crimes and truly perverse family relationships to make even Tennessee Williams blush and look away.

The screenplay was adapted from Eugene O'Neil's play, which in turn was based on the Greek legend of Oresteia by Aeschylus. The director was Dudley Nichols. Although this intense and somewhat overwrought film was not a popular or financial success, it did win Oscar nominations for Rosalind Russell for Best Actress and Michael Redgrave for Best Actor. Russell won a Golden Globe and Redgrave won a National Board of Review award. 

Here is a small sample of the dialogue as spoken by Orin Manning late in the film:

"I hate the daylight. It's like an accusing eye. We've renounced the day in which normal people live. Or rather it's renounced us. I find artificial light more appropriate for my work. Man's light, not God's. Man's feeble striving to understand himself, to exist for himself in the darkness. A symbol of his life: a lamp burning out in a room of waiting shadows."

Also starring Leo Genn, Henry Hull, Kirk Douglas and Nancy Coleman.