Remembering Tony Curtis

I was so sad to hear about the passing of actor Tony Curtis yesterday. Growing up, he was one of my favorite actors – from the moment my parents got cable, and back when AMC showed real classic movies, I developed a huge crush on him. While he’s best known for films like Some Like It Hot or his Oscar-nominated turn in The Defiant Ones, I wanted to take a moment to shine a spotlight on what are perhaps a few of his lesser-known roles, especially the early gems that led to my ten year old self developing a huge crush on the actor. Curtis excelled at playing “lovable rogues,” and that descriptor is a pretty common theme in my favorite Curtis films.

First up, we have two films Curtis made opposite actress Piper Laurie – The Prince Who Was a Thief and Son of Ali Baba. They are also two films high on my wishlist of classics that have yet to make it to DVD. Curtis and Laurie made a fantastic on-screen couple, and if you like Technicolor adventures with a healthy dose of cheese you’ll be hard-pressed to do better than these two films.

The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951):

In 13th-century Tangiers, regent Mustapha hires master thief Yussef to murder the baby Prince Hussein so Mustapha can take the throne in the infant's place. Yussef, too kind-hearted to kill the boy, instead adopts him and rears him as a peasant named Julna, with the mark of the rajah tattooed on his arm. Eighteen years later, Julna now reigns as the city's master thief and ladies' man, but becomes smitten by Prince Mustapha's beautiful and cunning daughter, Princess Yasmin.

You can read the rest of the film’s summary at the TCM website.

Son of Ali Baba (1952):

In medieval Persia, Kashma Baba is a military cadet by day and a roisterer by night. The morning after a rowdy banquet, Kiki, an escaped slave, takes shelter under Kashma's roof. Word comes that the wicked Caliph is looking for her; but Kashma, by this time in love, flees with her to his father's palace. Alas, there's more to Kiki than meets the eye. Will the evil schemers succeed? The sons of the Forty Thieves to the rescue! (Summary from TCM)



This next film is another one of my all-time favorites. Yet another one of my long-time obsessions has been with stories of knights and their chivalrous exploits. The Black Shield of Falworth is a fun, fast-paced, colorful, epic adventure that features Curtis opposite his wife of the time, actress Janet Leigh. Happily, this film is available on DVD through Amazon.

The Black Shield of Falworth (1954):

Technicolor & tights. In the days of King Henry IV, stalwart young Myles and his sister Meg have been raised as peasants, without any knowledge of who their father really was. But one day they journey to Macworth castle. There Myles falls in love with the Mackworth's daughter Anne, makes friends and enemies, and learns to be a knight so that, through the planning of Mackworth and his friend, Prince Hal, Myles can regain his true birthright from the evil Albon, and bear the black shield of Falworth. (Summary from TCM)

I first saw Kings Go Forth when TCM celebrated the life of Frank Sinatra by making him the Star of the Month (I guess this was about two years ago). Well, I’m a fanatical Sinatra-phile, so a month devoted to the film work of the Chairman of the Board was a dream come true. I’m long overdue for a re-watch of Kings Go Forth, but it left a deep impression on me as a highly watchable film filled with understated performances and a thought-provoking storyline.

Kings Go Forth (1958):

Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood star in this searing war drama that packs plenty of explosive excitement and fervent passion. Directed by Delmer Daves (The Badlanders) from Joe David Brown's gripping postwar novel (screenplay by Merle Miller), Kings Go Forth weaves elements of romance, war and miscegenation into a powerful, compelling and riveting film. In WWII France, Corporal Britt Harris (Curtis) is assigned to work alongside war-weary Sgt. Loggins (Sinatra) a man he soon rivals for the affections of the beautiful Monique Blair (Wood), an American who grew up in France. But when the men learn that Monique's parents are racially mixed, it tests the character of each...and provides the powerful thematic framework that shapes Kings Go Forth into a hard-hitting and still timely film. (Amazon product description)

Here's the film's trailer:



I was introduced to the film Captain Newman, M.D. when I received a boxed set of Gregory Peck films one year for Christmas. While Peck is the star of the movie, Curtis’s character is memorable and all of his scenes are quite enjoyable. You can watch this movie on YouTube starting here, or purchase it as part of the Gregory Peck film collection from Amazon.

Captain Newman, M.D. (1963):

In 1944, Capt. Josiah J. Newman is the doctor in charge of Ward 7, the neuropsychiatric ward, at an Army Air Corps hospital in Arizona. The hospital is under-resourced and Newman scrounges what he needs with the help of his inventive staff, especially Cpl. Jake Leibowitz. The military in general is only just coming to accept psychiatric disorders as legitimate and Newman generally has 6 weeks to cure them or send them on to another facility. There are many patients in the ward and his latest include Colonel Norville Bliss who has dissociated from his past; Capt. Paul Winston who is nearly catatonic after spending 13 months hiding in a cellar behind enemy lines; and 20 year-old Cpl. Jim Tompkins who is severely traumatized after his aircraft was shot down. Others come and go, including Italian prisoners of war, but Newman and team all realize that their success means the men will return to their units and combat. (Summary from the IMDB)

 
I can’t remember when I was first introduced to the movie Goodbye Charlie, but it’s been a favorite ever since. It is too funny for words! The film can’t be purchased on DVD, but thankfully it can be rented or purchased through Amazon’s Video On Demand service. You can also watch this movie on YouTube starting here.
 

Goodbye Charlie (1964):

When a cavorting Hollwood writer is killed by the angry husband of a woman he was having an affair with, he comes back as a spirit in the form of a beautiful woman and moves in with his/her best friend as a base of operation for enacting sweet revenge. (Summary from TCM)
 
And here's a scene where Tony meets the "new" Charlie (a.k.a. Debbie Reynolds):
 

 
If you're a fan of classic romantic comedies like Pillow Talk starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson, I highly recommend my final film in this little "tribute" list, Sex and the Single Girl starring Curtis opposite Natalie Wood. This movie is available on DVD through Amazon, or you can watch it on YouTube starting here.
 

 
Sex and the Single Girl (1964):
 
A womanizing reporter for a sleazy tabloid magazine impersonates his hen-pecked neighbor in order to get an expose on renowned psychologist Helen Gurley Brown. (Summary from the IMDB)
 
It's dated, sure, but Curtis and Wood have great on-screen chemistry, and Tony Curtis is, frankly, quite adorable by the end of the film. Plus, there's the added fun of seeing Henry Fonda and Lauren Bacall ham it up for the camera as a perpetually bickering married couple that live near Curtis. Here's the film's trailer:
 

 
Well...this turned into a post of epic proportions, no? :) If you've made it this far, congratulations. My hope is that this little retrospective of mine might inspire you to seek out some great classic movies. Mr. Curtis - you were a larger than life figure in Hollywood and your presence will be missed. Thanks for the memories.

movie poster love, part 2

Since it's Thursday already, and I can't seem to find the opportunity to get back into some sort of blogging routine, I give you movie poster love, part 2. :) I love TCM, but there's something extra special about their Summer Under the Stars tradition, don't you agree?

First up tonight is this fabulous new poster for one of my favorite films, North by Northwest, starring Cary Grant and James Mason - and prominently featuring the latter, since this poster was designed to celebrate his film marathon earlier this month. I blogged rather extensively about this movie a couple of weeks ago, you can read my thoughts here. I just have to say that I love how they abbreviated the title to NXNW, it cracks me up because that would so happen today. I also love the map overlay, it's a nice touch given the territory this movie covers.


I absolutely love and adore Elvis, yes, even a good number of his movies in all of their cheesy glory. Considering my love affair with the "King" started when I was six or seven, I don't understand how I've lived my life to this point without seeing perhaps his most famous film, Jailhouse Rock. This was only his third movie, but I've got to rate it as one of his better flicks. Sure, he's a bit wooden, but the movie hints at some acting potential that was sadly generally not developed later on (the follow up to this film, King Creole, is a notable exception). Anyways, I love how this poster just focues on the very iconic, black and white images of Elvis's jailhouse performance. After all - that image pretty much tells you all you need to know, doesn't it? ;-)

Roman Holiday is a wonderful little movie, but goodness the ending tears me up every time I see it (yummy Gregory Peck...forget all that duty nonsense, Audrey, I'm just sayin'...I would totally understand). I simply adore the bright pink background, and the way it provides such great contrast for the colorized image from the film - it really makes it pop. I love the fun and whimsical feel. My friend Lori & I were discussing the design of some of these posters, and we came to the conclusion that if Roman Holiday was made today, it would be an indie/art house type flick, probably only coming out in "limited release," distributed by Pathe! or Miramax. LOL! It's been ages since I've seen this movie, I need to rewatch it sometime soon - after I gear myself up to have my heart wrenched by the ending. ;-)

The next few days are going to be a little crazy...so I'll go ahead and say have a marvelous weekend everyone!

Summer of Hitchcock: Spellbound

This week's entry in My Friend Amy's Summer of Hitchcock film festival is the 1945 psychological thriller Spellbound, starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck. It's been several years since I've made time to watch this film, so I feel like I was able to approach it with fairly fresh perspective this time around. Spellbound was meant to capitalize on the public's newfound fascination with psychoanalysis, a fact the filmmakers make abundantly clear by a proclamation on the screen before the film even starts, extolling the virtues of psychoanalysis in healing the disturbances of sane minds.

A bit about the story...

Ingrid Bergman plays Dr. Constance Peterson, who works at a mental hospital called Green Manors. (Seriously, why do asylums in movies always have words like "green" or "manors" in their names? It cracks me up...) She is completely devoted to her work, until the new head doctor, Anthony Edwardes, arrives - played by a positively yummy Gregory Peck in only his fourth film role. The two are, of course, instantly attracted to each other - you can almost see the sparks fly when they first meet - and wonder of wonders, Constance the ice queen begins to thaw. But Dr. Edwardes' strange behavior jeopardizes Constance's newfound romance he has this strange, almost violent aversion to parallel lines, and then a breakdown in the hospital operating room follows, raising the suspicions of the entire staff. Edwardes is not who he claims to be, and Constance must use all of her skill to discover whether or not he's a victim or - perish the thought! - the perpetrator of the crime that's tormenting his mind.

I don't think Spellbound has stood the test fo time quite as well as some of Hitchcock's other efforts (such as Rear Window). Admittedly I am the last person who could accurately judge the psychology as its presented on-screen, but I'll go out on a limb here and say the methods come off as a little dated. Plus there's the rather bipolar style of the film. On one hand you have scenes (such as when Constance and Edwardes ditch work and go for a picnic lunch) that are filmed in a highly romanticized style, very much like "women's pictures" of the time period (think Dark Victory or Now, Voyager), with soft focus lenswork and swelling, romantic music. Miklos Rozsa's score is undeniably beautiful, but more often than not it feels out of place and distracting within this film. And then you have the sharp, tense clarity of the Salvador Dali-designed dream sequence. I've never been one to gravitate towards surrealist art, but the sequences are undeniably striking, particularly in how they treatment of those scenes differs from the rest of the picture.

All that aside, the main reason I still enjoy this film is Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman's off-the-charts chemistry. As Tasha points out in her review of Spellbound, it's a surprisingly sexy movie, especially considering it was made over 60 years ago! Maybe it was the Freudian references that let the double entendres get by the censors, LOL! ;-) One of my favorite scenes is when Constance visits Anthony's rooms in the middle of the freaking night, wakes him up and makes some lame excuse about wanting to read his book on the guilt complex. Then they kiss - and really, it's a great screen kiss - but Hitchcock had to cut away to a scene of all the "locked doors" in Constance's mind blowing wide open. That scene cracks me up every time I see it, it's so delightfully random by today's standards. Any cheesiness aside, I just love watching Bergman and Peck together on-screen. Peck still had a real boyish charm to his good looks that would only become more rugged and defined over time, and Bergman positively glows - the camera just loves her here. Some of their scenes together are still a bit swoon-worthy. :)

The Spellbound DVD is chock-full of interesting special features that (since I bothered to watch them, HA!!) really enhanced my appreciation of the film. "Dreaming with Scissors: Hitchcock, Surrealism, and Salvador Dali" delves into the making of the dream sequence (for example, the original sequence was about 20 minutes long, but was deemed "too disturbing" for the final cut), and the touches on some of the trouble Hitchcock had with producer David Selznick of over this project. The "Guilt By Association: Psychoanalyzing Spellbound" featurette gives some really interesting context to this project in terms of just how ground breaking the subject matter was back in 1945. Widespread public interest in psychoanalysis stemmed from (at least in part) soldiers returning from war with post-traumatic stress disorder (as its now known) and how they were treated. Fascinating stuff! There's also a short featurette on Rhonda Fleming ("A Cinderella Story"), giving her perspective on the film and her start in Hollywood (Spellbound was her first credited role). I rolled with laughter when she talked about being assigned the part of the nymphomaniac patient seen at the beginning of the film - only since she & her mother didn't know what a nymphomaniac was, they had to look it up. Her mother was relieved to discover that the studio wasn't typecasting her daughter (LOL!!). ;-)

While Spellbound may be a bit dated, especially when compared to some of Hitchcock's other films, it's still worthy viewing - particularly as a document of the time, and first and foremost for Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman's fantastic love story. :)