Last week
we drew attention to the fact that one of our very own was about to make his debut on nation television when frequent Poseidon's Underworld visitor and commenter Gingerguy was selected as one of TCM's Fan 25 winners, with the opportunity to introduce and dedicate one of his favorite films. He selected 1940's
The Shop Around the Corner, dedicated to his partner who was shown onscreen in a snapshot, though his family was also featured as classic movies were and are a facet of their lives.
I almost didn't get to see this broadcast even with the DVR set because we happened to experience hellacious storms that evening right as the airtime was approaching! My satellite was out for a fair amount of time, but thankfully fell back into place before the program began. Anyway, it was neat to see TCM host Ben Mankiewicz interacting with someone who - while we have never met - I feel I know thanks to interaction on this site as well as occasional personal correspondence via e-mail.
The merits of the film along with the circum- stances that lead to it having personal meaning in his lifer were discussed in a genial, thoughtful manner. He and Ben established a nice conversational rapport with one another. For his part, Ben has ably stepped up to the (huge!) plate in the wake of beloved Robert Osborne's passing. No one will ever surpass Osborne, but Mankiewicz does a very fine job.
As I noted in the earlier post, I myself had never seen
The Shop Around the Corner. To be perfectly honest, I have long avoided movies featuring Margaret Sullavan. Somehow I just felt I would not enjoy her brand of acting, possibly due to her vague resemblance (with modified pageboy hair and a throaty speaking voice) to one June Allyson, who is often a challenge for me to watch. While I can't say she's now a favorite and I will rush to see all her work, I did appreciate her performance here. But from the picture above-right can you understand my confusion?
The story primarily takes place in a Budepest, Hungary leather goods shop. We're introduced to the cast early on which includes, from left to right, Joseph Schildkraut as a dandified employee, James Stewart as the longest tenured clerk, Felix Bressart as a meek fellow worker, William Tracy as a delivery boy, Inez Courtney as the younger of two female coworkers, Frank Morgan as the sometimes imperious owner and Sara Haden as the prim, older female saleswoman. Their world, particularly Stewart's, is about to be altered by the arrival of Ms. Sullavan.
She weasels her way into the shop and, even after being told that there is no job for her, proceeds to sell merchan- dise to a lady customer and as a result is hired. She and Stewart take an almost immediate dislike to one another, a situation that gets worse before it gets better.
However, unbe- knownst to either of them, they are exchanging thoughtful, romantic letters with one another, arranged through a classified ad in a local paper and handled through anonymous post office boxes. The deeper they fall in love via their inspiration missives, the more their loathing of one another continues at work.
A subplot concerns the store owner Morgan undergoing a personal crisis which threatens to escalate to the point of deadliness. See here with him is the expensively-appointed Schildkraut, in clothing and accessories that likely outweigh his ability to pay for them with his limited salary. Having known this actor principally as Anne Frank's father in the 1959 adaptation of
The Diary of Anne Frank, it was fascinating to see him in this guise.
The film is many things (I sold it short in the first post by describing it as a "romantic comedy" - that term, since shortened for today's audiences as "romcom," doesn't do the movie full justice.) Considered by many to be one of the all-time great movies (it is in the Top 100 of AFI's list of classic romances and Time Magazine listed it as an all-around Top 100 film), it was unbelievably shut out of any and all Oscar consideration.
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| Stewart did, however, win a Best Actor Oscar that year for The Philadelphia Story. |
If nothing else (such as Art Direction, Direction or Adapted Screenplay) could have been nominated, the very least that the movie warranted was a Best Supporting Actor nod for
Frank Morgan. I'm on record as adoring him and his particular brand of befuddled antagonism mixed with touching sentiment, but this time he truly outdid himself. He was my favorite part of the movie.
But the MOST extra- ordinary thing for me about the motion picture was the use of silence and/or ambient sound without the "benefit" of too much scoring. There is precious little music in the movie apart from the delightful music box sound of the Russian folk song "Ochi Tchornya (Dark Eyes.)" Scenes like the one shown here are stunning in their quietness, wherein you can hear Stewart laying a small notebook and pencils on a cloth-covered display table and even hear him place a small key on top. The effect is incredible.
Today's movies and TV shows are mind-numbingly over-scored, with fanciful, "atmos- pheric" music endlessly droning on under any and all scenes as if to telegraph the required emotions to the viewer which the performers and script are not able to muster on their own. No such trouble here...
Stewart, who is incredibly charming in this, was selected by director Ernst Lubitsch because he was "the antithesis of the old-time matinee idol; he holds his public by his very lack of a handsome face or suave manner." Though Sullavan is top-billed and was at the time the bigger star, it is to me Stewart's story. Despite Lubitsch's assessment of his (non!) appeal, he was quite a ladykiller in his day. He practically owed his film career to Sullavan, however. She was his friend from early days in the theatre and the wife of his close friend Henry Fonda and she not only campaigned for him to star opposite her during his earliest days in Hollywood, but worked with him to develop his own unique talents as a actor. (And at thirteen inches taller than her, he was able to afford her flattering close-ups as her face and neck were drawn upwards towards his.)
It was so awesome to feel a certain level of personal investment in this airing of the movie and a rewarding experience to finally get around to watching it. Thanks, Gingerguy, for helping to present it and congratulations on being selected as one of the winners of this contest! I'm gonna have to "up my game" and get my own face on there one of these days! Ha ha!
Well Poseidon, you once told me I would like pond scum if you wrote about it, but this is beyond my wildest dreams. So much beauty and talent lol. I am thrilled you watched and gave it such a great shout out. As mentioned I have only seen this movie recently and love it.
ReplyDeleteI loved how smooth Ben Mankiewicz was in mentioning falling in love while talking about two men, such a non issue these days.
I totally get the June Allyson, they could easily be Sisters. She actually reminds me of Jean Arthur as she is sort of a pill, but remains likable.
Joseph Schildkraut as Vadesh is so Liberace here, including the clothes. His comeuppence gave me my biggest laugh in the movie.
Ditto on Frank Morgan. The Apartment is the only other movie I could think of that is a comedy with suicide attempts. I think you should definitely put TCM's 30th anniversery in your sites, you definitely would slay the competition if there is another contest. This was amazing to see for me and am truly touched.
I'm happy to feature your big moment. It was a thrill for me as your friend. I could write all I want, but it makes no difference if no one reads it! You always find a way to reflect and comment on most every post (as many other treasured P.U. followers do!) and that makes for a far more interactive and meaningful blog experience for me than would otherwise exist.
DeleteI agree it was great how casual Ben was about your relationship. It made me like him even more.
And now I must confess... I also desperately avoid Jean Arthur!! LOL
What an exciting experience. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with your comment about how "noisy" movies and TV shows are these days. Music has its place (Hitchcock originally wanted the shower scene in 'Psycho' to be unscored - Bernard Hermann, thankfully, convinced him otherwise), but many scenes can be so much more suspenseful if there is just the ambient noise - think of the heist scenes in 'Rififi' and 'Asphalt Jungle', or any of the great Universal monster movies, especially 'The Mummy'.
I am familiar with only two other Lubitsch movies, 'Ninotchka' and 'To Be or Not To Be'. Like 'Shop', they combine comedy with sharp social commentary, making fun of some very bad characters without ever making light of why they ares so bad. And, like 'Shop', they just overflow with elusive charm, something I haven't seen in a movie in ages.
Dan, thank you so much for validating my point about background music and for providing great examples. Do you know that I have yet to see Ninotchka or To Be or Not to Be??? Embarrassing..... Clearly I need to explore more of the Lubitsch touch. But then who would shine a light on gems like "The Neptune Factor," "Terminal Island" and "Warlords of Atlantis?" LOL
DeleteExcellent insight about the use of silence and ambient sound. The absence of over-scoring may be what makes the film wear so well with repeat screenings. It also makes what scoring there is more effective, especially the charming theme over opening credits and entering again at the finale. Stewarts soft voice and Sullavan’s low voice twine around each other like instruments in a double concerto.
ReplyDeleteJDM, again, excellent points! After the movie was over, I went to YouTube and Googled Dark Eyes, I'm not about to try and spell the name of that Russian folk song again here in the comments!, and I really didn't enjoy it as much as the very simple version played on the music box in the movie against total silence. There really is something to say for less is more when it comes to music. Now granted, sometimes music makes a scene. For example my own beloved "The Poseidon Adventure"... When the Christmas tree is being raised and placed against the entrance to the rest of the ship. There's no way that scene would be as good without John Williams wonderful music. I've shown it to friends without just to prove it. But you have to know when and when not to use it.
ReplyDeleteHi Poseidon,
ReplyDeleteI missed this presentation of the film. I own it so I don't usually watch the movie when its run though had I known the special circumstances I would have DVR'd it.
Anyway I love the picture for all the reasons you mentioned and many more. It's beyond me how it was shut out come Oscar nomination time. If Jimmy Stewart was going to be given a compensation Oscar for losing for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington why not for this far superior performance to his one in The Philadelphia Story? He's good there but it doesn't call for the depth of feeling this does. Then there's Frank Morgan who is flat out brilliant, his entire performance is wonderful but his final scene on Christmas Eve with Charles Smith as the young boy alone in the city just destroys me every time.
I adore Maggie Sullavan!!! I've seen all her films, though her output was regrettably small since she preferred the stage to film, was plagued with emotional problems and hated Hollywood. I can see how you get the June Allyson vibe, I like the onscreen June even if what I've read of the off screen woman has often been uncomplimentary. Though Sullavan had almost a decade on her they shared a tremulous quality but Sullavan's range was deeper and she imparted a greater perceptiveness of emotion to her roles.
I've never seen much of Jean Arthur in Maggie Sullavan. I'm more neutral to Arthur, she can be magical in her films but a little of her goes a long way for me. Behind the scenes she was almost universally acknowledged as a nightmare to work with-frosty and standoffish or a screaming termagant because she suffered from a version of mike fright which caused her almost paralyzing fear to the point that she would often throw up before going on camera. But the directors would rattle along with her knowing that she would ultimately deliver.
I know you said you're not going to dig deep into Sullavan's filmography, since she cried beautifully a LOT of her movies are melodramas, but Back Street, The Moon's Our Home (a fluffy comedy costarring Henry Fonda after they were already divorced) and Cry Havoc!, with its all female cast-an actress lovers dream-are ones I really enjoyed.
Back to the film, Lubitsch directs with such a sure hand evoking such a sense of harmony that it never occurs to the audience that the entire movie is supposed to be taking place in Budapest but stars a quintessentially American man. He gets really fine work out of the entire cast none of whom ever make a false step and break character. The deftness really shows when you compare it to the remakes. Judy Garland's In the Good Old Summertime is a pleasant diversion with Judy in glorious voice but all the deeper shadows and pathos have been winnowed out for an ultimately cheery musical. The less said about the inert and clunky You've Got Mail which bastardizes the entire idea the better.
Thanks Joel! Loved reading your comments, as usual. I guess I could have given a little bit more of a heads up to people about this programming, but sometimes if you mention something too early it's forgotten by the time it rolls around. And, as if often the case, my life is quite harried these days. I agree with you about Stewart and I'm delighted to see that you agree about Morgan. He was so multidimensional!! It's interesting that James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan had a strong on-screen (and off) connection and then he segued to having June as a frequent costar!! Not that the two ladies are dead alike, but you know how it is (though it's probably been a while!) when you're discovering screen personalities and until you get them locked in your head, some of them sort of blur together. I do think Sullavan had far more range, though Allyson was rarely allowed to even try for any and when she did, audiences recoiled. I feel like surely I saw "Back Street" at some point and I also think I saw one of her movies with Joan Crawford in it? I will keep my eyes out for the ones you mentioned. GREAT point about how smoothly All-American Stewart fits into the alleged Budapest locale without much if any issue. I agree about the cast, too. They were all exquisite. It's rare for me to profile a "good" film. LOL I like wallowing in the bad... take for example my next post, coming out later today! (Oh, and I think "You've Got Mail" was the last Tom Hanks or Meg Ryan movie that I ever saw... Yep! A quick check of imdb.com confirms it! Wow...)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gingerguy and Poseidon, for spotlighting this gem. And well said, JDM, concerning the vocal simpatico of the leads. Poseidon, I also adore the befuddled but lovable qualities of Frank Morgan, but his range was wide indeed. He is brilliant in "The Mortal Storm" of 1940, also with Sullavan and Stewart. That film is an intense, at times melodramatic look at the rise of Nazism (which got MGM movies banned in Germany); an about face from the quiet, subtle, and humorous aura of the Lubitsch film. Well worth a viewing, though.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stefano. I will also watch out for that one. Classic movies can be an endless (but rewarding) rabbit hole as we go back and see this one or that, especially if a person is also keeping up with the 1000s of current movies and TV shows that are, well, everywhere!!! The past is like an almost endless wellspring. I recall in my salad days when I worked very little as a well-paid waiter, there was a video place that rented movies 3 for 99 cents (!!) and I would watch three movies a day on most days!!!! And there are still countless films I've not seen.
ReplyDeleteThat Joan Crawford/Margaret Sullavan costarrer is The Shining Hour and it's just the sort of melodrama (which really should be in all caps!) that I was saying she was frequently cast in. It's a hoot with showgirl (of course) Joan marrying nice wealthy Melvyn Douglas and going home to the family manse in Wisconsin where brother Robert Young who is married to Maggie and domineering sister Fay Bainter all live. Next thing you know Young falls for Crawford while Sullavan looks on long-sufferingly and Fay Bainter who has an unhealthy near incestuous obsession with Mel goes swerving around the bend which leads to a huge and fiery faceoff. Preposterous and utterly delicious!!
ReplyDeleteAs far as Crawford/Young pairings go though I'd heartily recommend the much later Goodbye, My Fancy wherein Joan is a Congresswoman (Eve Arden is her assistant!!) who returns to the college she was expelled from years before, and where Young is now president, to receive an honorary degree. It has it's share of romance but is a surprisingly prescient look at freedom of thought and expression and the attempted suppression of those by close minded blowhards.