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The Lady is Willing

Made in 1942. Bold, eccentric Broadway performer Lisa Madden befuddles her handlers by coming home with a baby she picked up on the street. She wants to keep the baby but has to find a husband to make adoption viable. Why not her new obstetrician Dr. McBain? She offers him help with his research on rabbits in exchange for marriage - and he accepts. The marriage of convenience turns into a marriage of real love. When Dr. McBain's ex-wife comes looking for money, Lisa suspects something and leaves New York. However, a serious illness with the baby brings them together again as McBain operates to try and save the baby's life.

Wonderful 1942 film with Marlene Dietrich as a Broadway star who finds a baby and marries a pediatrician so that she can keep the baby. Of course, the story deals with them finding their way to love eventually as well as the situations they encounter such as phony parents showing up to take the child, and the doctor's first wife showing up to create further havoc. Fred MacMurray is absolutely charming as the doctor and Dietrich showed how quite adept she was at comedy. Aline MacMahon co-stars as a wise-cracking assistant to Dietrich. This kind of role was normally assigned to Eve Arden. Naturally, there is the end-of-film crisis where MacMurray has to operate and Dietrich sheds those tears. It's well worth it.
 
Pillow to Post

Made in 1945. With a war on and most men being drafted, Howard Oil Supply Company has no salesmen left. So daughter Jean hits the road and does not make one sale. She finally gets one tentative sale with the Black Hills Oil Co., but Earl wants dinner with her. With the shortage of housing due to the war, Jean needs a military husband to get a place to stay in Clayfield, which is next to Camp Clay. She gets Lt. Mallory to act as her husband just to register. Then things go wrong as his commanding officer is there and believes them to be married. It gets worse as Don's mother shows up and then Jean's father.

What starts out to be a rather predictable wartime "B" light comedy, emerges shortly as a full-blown screwball comedy of the most delightful sort. Ida Lupino, of all people,shows that she can do comedy as well as Carol Lombard. After her years at Columbia, Warner Brothers finally discovered her broad acting talent. (Would that Columbia and MGM had discovered the comedic abilities of Lucille Ball decades earlier.) This low-budget gem, based on a play, reveals quite a bit about wartime America's economy and socio-economic structure. But mostly it's about a romantic entanglement and mistaken identity, two much-used devices that need first rate acting to pull off. Here, it happens.
 
The Crystal Ball

Made in 1943. Toni Gerard lands in New York with 38 cents to her name and is befriended by fortune teller Madame Zenobia and a neighboring shooting gallery owner. Toni is smitten with Brad, a lawyer/suitor to Jo, one of Zenobia's "clients." When Zenobia is slightly injured, Toni takes her place and uses her newly found influence to meet Brad, and break up the budding romance between him and Jo.

Toni (Paulette Goddard) and Jo (Virginia Field) are both keen to pursue Brad (Ray Milland). While Brad and Jo are already acquainted, Toni sees her opportunity for an introduction with Brad by impersonating a fortune-teller Madame Zenobia (Gladys George) and telling him his fortune lies with someone else who he is about to meet who has red hair and is eating an apple (ie, herself out of her disguise). At the same time, she gives readings to Jo, encouraging her to go away! Its very funny in parts and the film follows Toni's attempts to wrestle Brad away from Jo. There is a good supporting cast including Pops (Cecil Kellaway) and Biff (William Bendix) as Brad's chauffeur. Its a comedy in which the women, in particular, are very funny.
 
I Stand Alone / Seul Contre Tous by Gaspar Noé

A horse meat butcher's life and mind begins to breakdown as he lashes out against various factions of society while attempting to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
 
Man's Castle

Made in 1933. Man's Castle is a wonderful example of a Pre-Code film. It involves realistic events with truly enjoyable and imperfect characters. Spencer Tracy plays Bill, a free soul without a dime in his pocket. He makes a living doing odd jobs and traveling to a new city when he gets bored of his surroundings. One night, he meets Trina, a beauty by any standards who is cold and alone. She has refused to resort to prostitution so she has not eaten for several days, but the two take very well to each other and form a relationship. His free spirit tempts him to leave her, so life is rocky, but there is a true spark between the two, even if they live in a shack by the river.

Tracy is one of the great actors of the silver screen. His characters are amazing and relatable. We can see his thoughts on his face, making him easy to identify with, even if we believe he is behaving badly. Young is great in pre-code films. Her character is very sweet but far from perfect, making her all the more likable.

Pre-code elements include skinny dipping, pregnancy before marriage, and crime.
 
Thursday's Child

Made in 1943. Sally Ann Howes was a most photogenic actress in her best film years.Her two films that spring to mind are "The Admirable Crichton" (1957) playing Lady Mary and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (1968) playing Truly Scrumptious.As an ingénue in "Thursday's Child" (1943) she was very young to take the lead role with Wilfred Lawson but your eyes are constantly drawn to her and the film director is especially generous with close ups of her.It is a simple tale of the making of a child film star and her subsequent very mature decision to renounce temporary fame& fortune for a more substantial general education especially science in the footsteps of her heroine Madame Curie, who along with her husband Pierre invented radium.

I enjoyed this film which you can see in its entirety on you tube.com (as of July 2012) for those viewers who wish to see this rare film and to see how Sally's most impressive looks matured into beauty since 1943.
 
The Man Who Walked Alone

Made in 1945. Of the many "forgotten" films this gem of a screwball comedy deserves resurrection more than most. Produced by an obscure organization (Producers Releasing Corporation) and written and directed by Christy Cabanne (who?), it is a combination of the elements of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT and MY MAN GODFREY but with an entirely original twist in that the identify of our leading man and lady are unknown to each other for most of the film. Indeed we don't know who she is until half way through and we don't learn his identity until the end - with rumor and innuendo rampant throughout. Cabanne directs the leads (B players Kay Aldridge - who bears an uncanny resemblance to Vivien Leigh - and Dave O'Brien) with flair - they are bright, full of personality and their chemistry is marvelous.

The film is peopled with fine character actors - Walter Catlett as a befuddled butler; Isabel Randolph as an exasperated matron; Ruth Lee as a wisecracking aunt and Nancy Robinson as an obnoxious brat of a younger sister. This is sheer delight from start to finish. Its 71 minutes fly by. Although deserving of an Oscar nom for Original Story, the only nod the Academy gave it was one for Original Score (sprightly and humorously orchestrated but rather brief).
 
You Were Never Lovelier

Made in 1942. The Acunas, a rich Argentine family, have the tradition that the daughters have to get married in order, oldest first. When sister #1 gets married, sisters #3 and #4 put pressure on Maria, sister #2, because they have their husbands picked out already. But Maria hasn't yet met a man she likes. Eduardo Acuna, believing that men aren't romantic enough these days, sends his daughter flowers and anonymous love letters, creating a "mystery man" for her to fall in love with. He intends to pick out an appropriate beau for her later, to fill the role. But Robert Davis, an American dancer looking for work, stumbles into the picture. Maria falls for him, but the father does not approve.

Romantic films like this just aren't made anymore, at least not with the class and style of this film. While Fred Astaire may not be much in the looker department, he makes up for that with his grace and charm, so it is not hard to believe that Rita Hayworth would fall for him. Hayworth, one of the screen's great beauties, was also a very talented actress, dancer, and comedian, although her singing was dubbed. As a team, I find Hayworth and Astaire to be even better than Astaire and Rogers.
 
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