Casablanca

Casablanca
January 23, 1943
Warner Brothers
Drama
VHS
B

Like Citizen Kane, this is a good movie burdened with the reputation of "great."  It is intelligent, surprisingly witty, and romantic (although not a romance).  However, (as with Kane) I can't say that I cared all that much about the characters, except for maybe Sam, whose dilemmas seemed the most relatable.  It's not the fault of the actors and actresses, or even the writers or director.  I think we're meant to be kept at a distance, so that the morality of this environment is presented as what it is, no more, no less.  For me to love a movie, there has to be something warmer, as in Wizard of Oz.  Also, I'll admit, witty or not, this is unquestionably a drama, and I probably can't love a drama.  All that said, it is interesting to see how the twists and turns play out, even if this is one of the most spoiled, and quoted, movies ever made.  Additionally, I like the use of light and shadow, in a different way than in Kane.  (This is one of those movies that it was madness to colorize.)  Although not a musical, the film uses music well, and not just "As Time Goes By."

Leonid Kinskey, the agitator in Duck Soup, is Sascha here.  Mike Tellegen was in Roberta, Enrique Acosta and Adolph Faylauer in A Night at the Opera.  Georges Renavent was in Turnabout and Road to Zanzibar.  Paul Porcasi was also in Zanzibar.  Carl Deloro and Hercules Mendez were in Citizen Kane.

Dan Seymour would also appear in A Night in Casablanca.  Leon Belasco, Monte Blue, Dick Botiller, Jamiel Hasson, and Michael Mark would all be in Road to Morocco.  William Edmunds and Arthur Stuart Hull would go on to It's a Wonderful Life, Edmunds as Mr. Martini.  Eugene Borden would be in All About Eve.  Norma Varden, who plays the wife of the pickpocketed Englishman, would have a larger role in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, as Lady Beekman.  Jean de Briac, George Dee, and Arthur Dulac would have small roles in Gentlemen.  I've seen a few other Bogart movies but I don't own them.  He and Peter Lorre always play off each other well, although I might not have any other Lorre movies besides Muscle Beach Party.

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
March 29, 1939
RKO
Historical, Musical, Drama
DVD
C

Slow, corny, somewhat depressing movie that somehow ends up being proto-propaganda for U.S. involvement in World War II.  It's set 1911 to 1918 and patriotic Brit Vernon joins up when World War I breaks out.  (Astaire shows no trace of a British accent, although Vernon was nineteen when he emigrated to New York.  No New York accent either, for that matter.)  Before that, it's mostly a tale of the real-life celebrity dancers' rise and success.  Around the midpoint, when Edna May Oliver (Aunt March in Little Women) shows up, the movie sort of springs to life, and the montage sequence seems to have a better, livelier director.  Mostly though, Fred and more particularly Ginger are hamstrung by playing real roles, and ones they're not suited for.  (I really missed the sassy, brassy Ginger of Flying Down to Rio, as she played insecure, innocent Irene.)  I was getting so antsy that I started speculating on Walter Brennan as "Walter" having a threesome with the Castles.  (He does seem very taken with Vernon.)  Some of the dancing's pretty good of course, but you're not missing much if you skip this one.

William Worthington was in Duck Soup, Jean Stevens in Room Service, and Esther Muir was "Flo" in A Day at the Races, which also featured Max Lucke.  Leonid Kinskey, who plays the "bohemian" painter, was in Duck Soup as the agitator and would be in Casablanca as Sascha.  Kay Sutton appeared in Roberta, Brooks Benedict in Follow the Fleet.  Tiny Jones, who'd just done You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, shows how she got her nickname, here appearing as the small woman who goes through a revolving door.  Leyland Hodgson was also in Honest Man.  Donald "Jumping Butterballs" MacBride has a more leering, less angry role than in Room Service.  Douglas Walton was in Thank You, Jeeves!, and incidentally was Percy Bysshe Shelley in The Bride of Frankenstein.

Edmund Mortimer, George Irving, and Frank O'Connor were in previous movies of mine, and Mortimer would soon appear in At the Circus.  Rolfe Sedan would shortly be in The Wizard of Oz.  Jack Gargan would go on to The Bank Dick, Adrienne D'Ambricourt to Casablanca.  Eugene Borden plays a Frenchman in All About Eve as well as here.  Frank Faylen, who's an uncredited Adjutant here, would be much more memorable as not only Ernie in It's a Wonderful Life, but as Dobie Gillis's TV father.

Duck Soup

Duck Soup
Nov. 17, 1933
Paramount
Comedy, Musical
DVD
B+

I recently saw this in a crowd of all ages and they laughed uproariously, the kids included.  I've seen it so many times, I think more than Horse Feathers, that I can't rate it higher, but it is still a near-great musical comedy.  Once again, Kalmar & Ruby did the music, and they also wrote the screenplay.  (Sheekman and Perrin did additional dialogue.)  The musical numbers-- "His Excellency Is Due," "The Freedonian National Anthem," "These Are the Laws of My Administration," and of course the war medley-- are fantastic, and the dialogue is generally sharp.  Some of the corniest jokes ("Dollars, Taxes") and some of the cleverest ("I'll hold your seat till you get there.  After you get there, you're on your own") have been quoted for decades, probably not always by people who know the source.  (The line about shorter hours, starting with the lunch hour, has popped up a whole bunch of places.)

The weakest parts are probably those with Edgar Kennedy as the lemonade seller, although I do like the hat mix-up and the way that Chico tells Kennedy that he and Harpo are spies.  It's partly my bias against silent-movie-style humor, but on the other hand, I still delight in the Groucho & Harpo mirror scene.  It seems like they have more to do with each other than usual in this movie, especially with Harpo (who as in Horse Feathers plays a character named Pinky, I think because of his "red" hair) as Groucho's chauffeur, although the tattoo sequence is good, too.

That scene shows how censorship was enforced, but not strictly.  Harpo's doghouse would've been an outhouse, but they couldn't get away with that.  On the other hand, when Groucho wants to see a tattoo of his grandfather, it's pretty clear that Harpo is going to take down his trousers.  Also, later Harpo seems to be about to go to bed with a woman (and the "Wu-Hu!" sound effect from International House seems particularly appropriate to any Sims player), but instead beds down with, of course, a horse.

Oh, and there is a duck in this movie, a duck-shaped music box that Harpo sets off.  Duck Soup means "an easy task," which I guess running the country is for Groucho, and spying is for Harpo and Chico.  Everyone else in the movie, including Zeppo, seems to find their patience tried.  ("You must come over some time and try my patience.")

This is the movie where Groucho references the song "That's Why Darkies Were Born," whose title out of context sounds more racist than it is.  (The Paul Robeson version makes the irony of the lyrics clear.)  I suppose objections could be raised to "All God's Chillun Got Guns" in the war medley, but I take it as cheerful parody of both spirituals and the hypocritical reasons offered for wars fought for "faith."

I do have a problem with the scene where Harpo breaks into the apartment where the woman's about to take a bath.  Usually, when he's chasing women, it seems less menacing than this.  That said, the pay-off, with the woman's husband (the lemonade seller) finding Harpo in his bath is good.

In contrast, this is probably my favorite movie for the Groucho/Dumont relationship.  Yes, he still insults her, but he's actually kind of sweet to her at different points.  I wish that there had been a Marx Brothers movie with both Dumont and Todd, but Raquel Torres does a nice job as Vera Marcal.

Poor Zeppo is back to playing Groucho's secretary.  (Insert the dictator/dictation joke.)  He was happy to retire from acting after this movie, but his elder brothers were far from through.  Except at Paramount.  This movie did poorly at the box office, the Depression audiences looking for something more optimistic in this first year of FDR.  So it was over to MGM, where they'd listen to "genius" Irving Thalberg.  But that tale must wait till 1935....

As easy as duck soup.