Poseidon Quickies: The Meeker the Better

We're thisclose to having our satellite/DVR service yanked out over the never-ending rate increases (and diminished product), but while it's still there, I occasionally record something. A recent item was the 1952 film Shadow in the Sky. I was drawn to it for a couple of reasons; its obscurity, its abbreviated running time (78 minutes) and the presence of certain performers I was curious to see. The movie, a mostly serious psychodrama, was uncharacteristically released by MGM and it lost them a bundle of money. I actually enjoyed it much more than I anticipated, though. I think it was badly marketed. This poster is practically unrelated to the content of the film! Even worse, the iffy artwork seems to be depicting a brother and sister in a romantic clinch, though it could be amalgams of the performers (i.e. - Nancy Davis' face drawn on Jean Hagen's body.) The figure at the door? Who in hell knows... 

The movie opens with the seemingly blissful life of a suburban couple being interrupted by the arrival of a concerned woman driving a Jeep. The woman is played by Jean Hagen, immortal as Lina Lamont of Singin' in the Rain, which came out this same year. (She was Oscar-nominated for that, losing to Gloria Grahame in The Bad and the Beautiful.)

The couple is played by James Whitmore and Nancy Davis (later Reagan.) Hagen has come to inform them that Davis' brother, whose been a mental patient at the Veterans Hospital due to shell shock from WWII, is on the verge of being released. Whitmore served with the brother and was a close friend. 

During their next visit to the VA Hospital, we meet the brother, played by strapping Ralph Meeker. Believe it or not, he isn't about to play "Dick in the Box" here. 

As part of his therapy, he's handcrafted a model sailboat for Whitmore to give to his son. Meeker, who was Marlon Brando's replacement in A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway and who played the studly drifter Hal in Picnic, has a panther-like quality throughout this movie. Always pacing, stretching, posing...

Making his first credited film appearance as a fellow patient and friend of Meeker's is John Lupton. he would proceed to a pretty lengthy and prolific film and television career. 

Though Meeker seems all right (in my opinion, he tends to be one of the more normal and sensible people in the movie!), Whitmore and Davis have their small children to think about. While they might wish to have him live with them, they have concerns. 

As it happens, they don't immediately step up and have the doctor release him right away, but allow him to cool his heels a bit longer.  

During a later visit, Whitmore witnesses Meeker's demeanor change once it begins to rain outside. What Meeker has is now known as PTSD. In 1952, there was no such name for it and far less comprehensive understanding and treatment for it. Considering the way Meeker's denims fit and where they cling, I couldn't help wondering if he had anything on under them...!

When the rain continues, Meeker winds up taking shelter under a ping-pong table and soon begins to think he's still in the deluged Guadalcanal in the heat of battle. 

Later, at one of the hospital's Thursday night dances, Hagen attempts to get Meeker to join her at her father's farm. Clearly smitten with him, she hopes he can stay with them and earn a living. Thing is, the farm is in Oregon! Nah, no pesky rain to worry about there...!

At the same dance, Meeker has to rescue a mousy young lady from Lupton's grasp. He claims he "just wanted to hold on to someone." He's never seen again in the movie, though I would have happily watched him bond more with Meeker, who has his arm around the boy as Hagen looks on. 

Eventually, he does move in with his sister and her family, prowling around in a sleeveless top.

I regret that the print was blurry for this moment in the kitchen but, again, I questioned what he was (or wasn't) wearing under those jeans. 

"See what I mean, Vern?"

When Meeker meets his niece and nephew, their horseplay has him on his back with his li'l shirt ridden up, revealing a then-risque belly button. 

The purported climax of the movie was still a long way off, but this sequence served as the climax for me, premature or not! Ha ha! He and Hagen are enjoying a day at the beach. They're playing cards here, with his chest serving as the table!

As much as I love the skimpy 1950s suit he has on, he cruelly keeps his right thigh up, in the way, as the dialogue plays out. 

Game Over.

If you haven't noticed, top-billed Meeker is almost never given a close-up in his own movie! And when he is, it's often very dim or even darkly-lit. So we take what we can get in two-shots. 

At least the director had the good sense to show us his body from time to time, such as this right flank when he rolls over onto his side. 

Today's young men could only gasp if requested to wear the teensy, barely-there swimsuit he has on here, which was altogether normal at the time.

When he sits up to remove his shoes, we at last get a better look at his chest. 

And his ruggedly handsome face.

As she continues to apply pressure for him to move away with her and not go into business with his friend and brother-in-law Whitmore, he gets up to head towards the water. 

And she isn't finished yet. 

She grapples with him and brings him crashing to the ground...

...next to a strategically-placed piece of driftwood. 

Pre-dating From Here to Eternity (1953) by one year, this beach scene has Hagen as the pursuer with Meeker a somewhat willing captive. 

Meeker escapes her clutches and heads out into the surf. 

There, we're treated to the muscular strokes of our protagonist as he reaches a buoy. Hagen, by the time she joins him, is spent and has to be helped back to dry land. 

Davis can't bring herself to fully trust her brother's sanity and mental well-being. One day while shopping in town, it starts raining and she can't reach Meeker or the children by phone. She swings by Whitmore's service station and makes him take her home to see what's happening. 

Fortunately, it hasn't been raining on that side of town. Meeker is merely working on the mast of a sailboat he's recently purchased for rehabbing.

Later on, Meeker does become erratic and upset, eventually tearing open Whitmore's dress shirt in a panic. He flees the house to go to his boat, which is by now moored at a local marina. 

Said boat does figure into the actual climax of the movie, when a rainstorm hits. At last Meeker gets a close-up, though it's brief and dark. If you like him, I have composed a full on tribute to the actor with, natch, many photos, which can be seen here.

As I mentioned earlier, Meeker has troubles, but the people around him often act as, or even more, neurotic as he does! Whitmore tends to be the most sane of them. He gives a good performance, as usual, bringing sincerity and gravity to a somewhat colorless role. 

Hagen was a gifted performer who was saddled with a drinking problem, even early on. Apart from her iconic role in Singin' in the Rain, she was nominated three times for an Emmy with The Danny Thomas Show (losing to Audrey Meadow of The Jackie Gleason Show and, oddly, twice in the same year for different categories, to Lucille Ball on I Love Lucy and Nanette Fabray on Caesar's Hour.) Heavy drinking for a time cost her her children and her career and the accompanying smoking led to her death from esophageal cancer in 1977 at only age 54.

Because she was never a major movie star, I always expect Davis to be awful when I see a movie of hers, but she was actually decent. Her character is a bit fraught and melodramatic - of the era, but she does well. I also thought that the movie's direction was capable and creative, with moody lighting and unusual camera angles. 

I just don't think audiences were up for this type of picture, especially when it was marketed completely inaccurately. Still, how could people resist a photo like this one?! I watched it a second time here, but it's also available on TCM.com in a nice print.  

Not your everyday slicked-down movie idol. 

The sight of Meeker in his trunks seems to have made quite the impression on members of the MGM art department....!

 

Which just about brings us to...

The End!