Monkey Business (1952)

Monkey Business
November 7, 1952
Fox
Comedy, Sci-Fi
DVD
C-

At the time I reviewed the Marx Brothers' 1931 movie, I didn't yet own this one.  A friend gave it to me recently, and I just now watched it for the first time in about thirty years.  I consider the film a disappointment, and I won't be keeping it.  How did so many great talents produce such mediocre results?  I mostly blame the inane script by I.A.L. Diamond (Some Like It Hot), Charles Lederer (His Girl Friday, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), and Ben Hecht (Front Page, which inspired His Girl Friday), as it would've embarrassed Sherwood Schwartz.  At least Schwartz knew how to make crap fun, while Howard Hawks (the director and also opening narrator) just seems to have told everyone, especially leads Grant and Rogers, to act big and frantically, after the sedate beginning.  Poor Marilyn is stuck playing a simple (in every sense) curvy blonde, without the nuances she'd have in Gentlemen Prefer and Some Like, and none of the dizzy charm of her small plum of a role in All About Eve.  (As for Hugh Marlowe, he's no great shakes as an actor anyway, but at least in Eve he had more appealing things to do than get "scalped" by Grant and a gang of children.)  I'd recommend the Merlin Jones movies over this misfire, because even the monkey is pathetic here.  Still, I won't give it a lower grade, since it's not terrible, just meh.

Kathleen Freeman and Forbes Murray were in Singin' in the Rain.  Melinda Plowman was Susie Kettle in Ma and Pa Kettle.  George Eldredge was in MaPK at the Fair.  Esther Dale, here playing Ginger's mother, is Birdie Hicks in the MaPK series.  Faire Binney would be in MaPK at Waikiki.  Roger Moore (no, not that Roger Moore) would be in Gentlemen Prefer, as would Charles Coburn, Henri Letondal, and gravel-voiced little George Winslow.

All About Eve

All About Eve
January 15, 1951
Fox
Drama, Comedy
DVD
B+

This is a very grown-up movie, and not just because of the smoking and drinking.  The dialogue, especially that of Addison DeWitt (Oscar-winning George Sanders), is sharp and witty, sometimes very literary, or at least theatrical.  Although there's no overt sex, it's clear that these are sexual people.  (Bette Davis and Gary Merrill, as Margo and Bill, fell in love during filming, and that new-relationship energy really comes through in their onscreen performances.)  And there's just an overall sophistication that most movies lack.  The tagline was "It's all about women-- and their men!", probably a spin on The Women's "It's all about men."  However, Addison aside, it's the women you'll remember most from this movie-- Margo, Eve (Anne Baxter), Karen (Celeste Holm), Miss Casswell (comparative newcomer Marilyn Monroe), and of course Birdie (the fabulously down-to-earth Thelma Ritter).

If I can't rate the movie higher, I think it's that it's a bit too long (about two hours and 15 minutes) to spend with such talky and self-absorbed yet gossipy people.  I'll note that this viewing, I found the New York vs. LA aspect to be the least dated, and the amazingly casual plane-boarding the most.  (I've gone through more to take a cross-town bus, and no one could've paid my fare for me the way Eve gets Bill's tickets.)

Franklyn Farnum was in Sunset Blvd.  Snub Pollard would be in Singin' in the Rain, Steven Geray in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Meet Me in St. Louis

Meet Me in St. Louis
January 1945
MGM
Musical, Historical
DVD
D+

The only reason why I have this movie is because it was part of a four-pack that was the only form I could get Singin' in the Rain on DVD.  This is the second time I've seen MMiSL and I still dislike it.  I didn't care for anyone in the Smith family, particularly not the deeply annoying Tootie.  She'd already worn out her welcome in the first half hour, but wait till you get to the part where she claims that their neighbor (who Garland's character Esther has a crush on) tried to kill her, when he was actually protecting her!  And she doesn't get punished!  Even Esther was unlikable, as when she tells her grandfather that he was the first "human being" she danced with that night.  I was glad as always to see Marjorie Main (playing a cook, as she did in Turnabout), although there's not enough of her.  The house looks good in color.  And "The Trolley song" and "Have a Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" were nice, but hardly worth sitting through the rest of the movie, which is so far the worst in my collection.

The script is by Irving Brecher, who also wrote At the Circus and Go West.  Robert Emmett O'Connor was Henderson in A Night at the Opera.  Mary Astor, who's Mrs. Smith, was Marion Manning in Turnabout.  Sam Harris was in Citizen Kane.  That's Hugh Marlowe, the future Lloyd Richards of All About Eve, as Colonel Darly.  Leon Ames, who plays Mr. Smith, would be in The Misadventures of Merlin Jones.  Sid Newman, who's a boy on the trolley, over fifty years later would be in The Wedding Singer.