Orth, Frank

His Girl Friday

The Front Page, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's classic 1928 newspaper play, has had three official film versions and contributed structural DNA to half the movies ever made about professional camaraderie and fierce love-hate friendships. Lewis Milestone's 1931 movie is well respected (Billy Wilder's 1974 version isn't), but this is one case where the remake towers brilliantined head and blocked shoulders above the original.

Howard Hawks had the inspired notion of making Hildy Johnson--the ace newsman whom demonic editor Walter Burns is trying to keep from quitting and getting married--a she instead of a he. What's more, she's not only Walter's star reporter but also his ex-wife. When Hildy (Rosalind Russell) comes to tell Walter (Cary Grant) she's leaving the newspaper business, he bamboozles her into carrying out one last assignment--a death-row interview with a little nebbish (John Qualen) convicted of killing a policeman. It sounds like a snap, but before you can say screwball comedy, the press room of the Criminal Courts Building has become ground zero for all the lunacy a jailbreak, a shooting, an impromptu suicide, a corrupt city administration, and the most Machiavellian "hero" in the American cinema can supply.

His Girl Friday is one of the, oh, five greatest dialogue comedies ever made; Hawks had his cast play it at breakneck speed, and audiences hyperventilate trying to finish with one laugh so they can do justice to the four that have accumulated in the meantime. Russell, not Hawks's first choice to play Hildy, is triumphant in the part, holding her own as "one of the guys" and creating an enduring feminist icon. Grant is a force of nature, giving a performance of such concentrated frenzy and diamond brilliance that you owe it to yourself to devote at least one viewing of the movie to watching him alone. But then you have to go back (lucky you) and watch it again for the sake of the press-room gang--Roscoe Karns, Porter Hall, Cliff Edwards, Regis Toomey, Frank Jenks, and others--the kind of ensemble work that gets character actors onto Parnassus. --Richard T. Jameson

The Lost Weekend

"I'm not a drinker--I'm a drunk." These words, and the serious message behind them, were still potent enough in 1945 to shock audiences flocking to The Lost Weekend. The speaker is Don Birnam (Ray Milland), a handsome, talented, articulate alcoholic. The writing team of producer Charles Brackett and director Billy Wilder pull no punches in their depiction of Birnam's massive weekend bender, a tailspin that finds him reeling from his favorite watering hole to Bellevue Hospital. Location shooting in New York helps the street-level atmosphere, especially a sequence in which Birnam, a budding writer, tries to hock his typewriter for booze money. He desperately staggers past shuttered storefronts--it's Yom Kippur, and the pawnshops are closed. Milland, previously known as a lightweight leading man (he'd starred in Wilder's hilarious The Major and the Minor three years earlier), burrows convincingly under the skin of the character, whether waxing poetic about the escape of drinking or screaming his lungs out in the D.T.'s sequence. Wilder, having just made the ultra-noir Double Indemnity, brought a new kind of frankness and darkness to Hollywood's treatment of a social problem. At first the film may have seemed too bold; Paramount Pictures nearly killed the release of the picture after it tested poorly with preview audiences. But once in release, The Lost Weekend became a substantial hit, and won four Oscars: for picture, director, screenplay, and actor. --Robert Horton

Realistic portrayal of the devastating effects of alcohol on a dissatisfied would-be writer.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 2-JAN-2002
Media Type: DVD

Father of the Bride (Snap case)

This 1950 Vincente Minnelli classic may show its age here and there, but it's still a far sturdier movie than the 1991 Steve Martin vehicle. Spencer Tracy earned yet another Oscar nomination for his wonderfully well observed portrayal of Stanley Banks, a decent (if occasionally long-winded) fellow who gets caught up and cut up in the rudderless spectacle that is the wedding of his only daughter (Elizabeth Taylor, of course). It's a sage commentary on the class mores of the day--how much does one spend? (Or, more accurately, when does one quit spending?) Does one invite one's work colleagues, even if they don't know the bride? Tracy is simply magnificent, gruffly warm and funny, whether he's getting sloppy drunk and discoursing at length or simply sitting by, silently amazed, as his daughter and her beau make up after a spat. The film inspired a sequel (1951's Father's Little Dividend--try getting that title made nowadays), a remake, and a remake of its sequel, as well as a TV series--all in all, almost as many incarnations as Taylor had weddings. --David Kronke

"I would like to say a few words about weddings" a weary man says from the middle of a muddle of rice and scattered bottles. What follows is a warm witty look at what it means to be Father of the Bride. Spencer Tracy is the father and Elizabeth Taylor the bride in this lively Vincente Minnelli-directed classic. Taylor is glowingly showcased - and reflected in three mirrors when first seen in a wedding gown. Tracy's performance captures every loving father's exasperations and joys as the day approaches. It also captured the fourth of his nine* Best Actor Academy Award* nominations. The film also earned nominations** for Best Picture and Screenplay. Here comes the bride there goes dad's wallet - and everyone's heart. What sparkling fun!Running Time: 93 min.System Requirements: Running Time 93 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR UPC: 012569508224

I Wake Up Screaming (Fox Film Noir)

Promoter Frankie Christopher being grilled by police in the murder of model Vicky Lynn recalls in flashback: First meeting her as a waitress Frankie decides to parlay her beauty into social acceptance and a lucrative career. He succeeds only too well: she's on the eve of deserting him for Hollywood...when someone kills her. Now Frankie gets the feeling that Inspector Ed Cornell is determined to pin the killing on him and only him. He's right. And the only one he can turn to for help is Jill the victim's sister who's been cool toward him...System Requirements:Running Time: 82 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE UPC: 024543244547 Manufacturer No: 2234454

The Big Clock (Universal Noir Collection)

What if you were asked to investigate a murder in which you were the prime suspect? From this seemingly impossible notion comes a grandly entertaining nail-biter. Charles Laughton plays the punctuality obsessed, slave-driving head of a publishing empire who won't let his crime magazine's star editor (Ray Milland) take a day off to spend with his family. The overworked Milland, having just upset a delayed honeymoon trip for the umpteenth time, goes on a sorrow-drowning, bar-hopping bender with a mysterious woman who, it turns out, is Laughton's mistress. Later that night after Milland has gone home, Laughton murders her, and the next day he assigns Milland to investigate, since a number of clues point to her having spent time with another man that night. Milland, then, must not only find the real murderer but sidetrack the investigation away from himself. That both characters are solving the crime in tandem yet unwittingly working toward pinning the murder on each other is at the heart of The Big Clock's labyrinthine brilliance. Helping bring out the dark humor in this adaptation of Kenneth Fearing's noir novel (included in the Library of America's Crime Novels collection) is Elsa Lanchester as a high-strung painter who can sketch the prime suspect (Milland), a time-bomb plot device that only adds to the already unbearable suspense. This is a taut, lean thriller, superbly handled by director John Farrow, who never fails to remind his audience through repeated use of clocks, timepieces, and watches that all too often in our lives that ticking sound is the enemy. This was remade in 1987 with Kevin Costner as No Way Out. --Robert Abele

Roxie Hart

This 1942 satirical comedy stars Ginger Rogers as the title character, who agrees to be accused of murder so the publicity will advance her dancing career. Whether she actually committed the crime is irrelevant to the reporters, who fall all over themselves to give Roxie her 15 minutes of fame (well, this compact movie is actually 75 minutes long). Adolphe Menjou costars as the blustery defense lawyer who sees no possibility of losing, and George Chandler plays the meek husband left in Roxie's dust. Among the highlights are the judge, lawyers, and client primping for every photo opportunity, and Rogers's nostalgic tap dance on a metal prison staircase. Roxie Hart was based on the play Chicago, which later became the basis for the Bob Fosse musical with Gwen Verdon (and then Ann Reinking in the 1997 revival) in the Rogers role. --David Horiuchi

After her husband shoots a burglar in their apartment, Roxie Hart (Ginger Rogers) is talked into pretending she did it by a newsman and a theatrical agent who promise to sign her for a vaudeville tour. Realizing she'll become a household name overnight, Roxie agrees and becomes the center of an outrageous trial.

Frank Sinatra - The Early Years Collection (It Happened in Brooklyn / Step Lively / The Kissing Bandit / Double Dynamite / Higher and Higher)

The young, skinny Frank Sinatra was a big-band singer and the heartthrob of the bobby-soxers when he launched his movie career--a moment in time memorably captured by Frank Sinatra: The Early Years Collection. Five movies take the gangly kid from Hoboken through his hesitant first forays into the Hollywood game; everything here is in the minor-but-tuneful category, before he re-launched his career with From Here to Eternity. It's a fun set for Sinatra fans, not so essential for the casual viewer (and no extra features for vintage-movie mavens). Frankie's first feature, in 1943, was Higher and Higher, in which he plays--hmm--a young singer named Frank Sinatra. All right, it's not much of a stretch, but the kid fits quite comfortably into a madcap ensemble that includes Jack Haley, Mary Wickes, Dooley Wilson, and a youthful (practically unformed) Mel Torme. This is the kind of wacky universe in which a scullery maid has a French accent (it's Michele Morgan) and a British nobleman has a Danish accent (it's piano comedian Victor Borge). The film is completely insane, but fun. Step Lively (1944) has the same director, Tim Whelan, and a similarly over-heated farce in play: a theatrical producer (obnoxious George Murphy) tries to whip together a show while dodging hotel managers (Adolphe Menjou, deadpan Walter Slezak). Frankie's in there as a playwright who also sings. It's a version of the Broadway play that also served the Marx Brothers in Room Service, but the whole thing is really too labored to pay off. It Happened in Brooklyn (1947) doesn't offer much in the way of substance (Sinatra is a WWII vet returning to his beloved, but now less friendly, Brooklyn), but at least Frank is teamed with Jimmy Durante. Oh, and Kathryn Grayson and Gloria Grahame are in there too, even if the real love match is Sinatra and Durante singing together. Tunes are by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, including "Time After Time."

1948's The Kissing Bandit became for Sinatra what The Silver Chalice would be for Paul Newman: a source of self-mockery in later years. A truly bizarre concoction about the son of a Zorro-like bandit settling in Boston, the film has one specialty number featuring Cyd Charisse, Ann Miller, and Ricardo Montalban, and a lot of filler. Sinatra's career was sliding by the time Double Dynamite (1951) was released, and the movie did little to help. Frankie's a poor bank clerk who scores on a horse-racing bet but can't prove he didn't actually rob the bank. It isn't great, although Groucho Marx at least has one of his better solo roles, while Jane Russell is stuck in a dizzy-dame part (rather than her preferred sassy mode). For Sinatra, career resurgence would have to wait a while--this box set gives you the superstar-in-waiting. --Robert Horton

Includes Double Dynamite It Happened in Brooklyn Step Lively Higher and Higher and The Kissing Bandit.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/CLASSICS Rating: NR UPC: 883929011520 Manufacturer No: 1000037360

Orchestra Wives

"It's Hep! It's Hot! It's Hilarious!" reads the tagline for Orchestra Wives, a frothy slice of celluloid made in 1942 and featuring the great Glenn Miller Band. And that tagline is, well, sort of true. As is often the case with films of this genre (musical comedy with the occasional touch of drama), the story is largely superfluous: a naïve, smalltown girl (Ann Rutherford) falls for a fast-talking, smooth-playing trumpeter (George Montgomery); he proposes after spending, oh, about fifteen minutes with her (and before he even knows her name); she joins the band on tour, where the female members of the troupe, wives and singers alike, while away the downtime gossiping and rumor-mongering; trouble ensues, but all ends happily (and predictably). The main attraction here is seeing Miller (going by the nom du cinema Gene Morrison), then at the height of his popularity, and some of his fine musicians in action. Though not an innovator on the level of Benny Goodman and some of his other peers, Miller had a band that could swing like mad, and performances of tunes like "At Last," "Kalamazoo," and the rockin' "Bugle Call Rag" are a definite gas. The musicians are virtually all uncredited, but they include singer Marion Hutton, saxophonist-singer Tex Beneke, singer Ray Eberle, and the great drummer Moe Purtill (also look for Jackie Gleason, the Great One himself, in a substantial role as the band's bass player), as well as the Nicholas Brothers, an amazing dance team. The black & white transfer is nice, the music has been remastered in stereo, and the fact that Miller disappeared during a plane flight over the English Channel in late 1944 makes Orchestra Wives (which includes a commentary track by Rutherford and Fayard Nicholas, along with a photo gallery) something of a collector's item. --Sam Graham

A new bride faces the strain of life on the road in this musical romance that features the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Miller is featured as band leader Gene Morrison, who embarks on a whirlwind national tour with his orchestra. While on the tour, trumpeter Bill Abbott (George Montgomery) impulsively marries one of his many ardent fans, a naïve young women named Connie (Ann Rutherford). At first Connie is more than willing to put up with such problems as not spending time with her new husband and the malicious gossip of other wives. But when she comes to believe that Bill is still involved with an old flame, the ensuing quarrel threatens to end both the new marriage and the entire band.

Hello Frisco Hello

In this "lavish and gorgeous" (Hollywood Reporter) romantic musical featuring the Oscar®-winning song "You'll Never Know" Alice Faye portrays a talented singer abandoned by her ambitious saloon-owner beau (John Payne) for a heartless socialite. After becoming a huge star in England she returns when his marriage crumbles hoping that he still loves her.System Requirements:Running Time: 99 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS UPC: 024543536932 Manufacturer No: 2253693

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Barbara Stanwyck mesmerizes as a woman with a past, bound by a crime to a husband she despises. Kirk Douglas quickens our collective pulses in his film debut as her disappointing, dipsomaniac spouse, while Van Heflin and Lizabeth Scott bring texture to supporting roles. Everything about this 1946 film noir is intriguing, from Lewis Milestone's direction to Edith Head's costumes to the edgy and troubled characters. It takes a long, hard look at guilt and the consequences of poorly planned actions. Well worth checking out, despite a wretched title. --Rochelle O'Gorman