McGuffin List - San Francisco (1936)

In San Francisco, two men are rivals for the talent and affection of a singer with a wonderful voice. One man owns a saloon, Blackie Nortie (Clark Gable); the other man runs an opera house, Jack Burley (Jack Holt).  The incomparable Jeanette MacDonald plays the singer, Mary Blake, who can sign well in both venues. Spencer Tracy plays Father Tim Mullin, a lifelong friend of Blackie's who also sometimes serves as his conscious. 

There's lots of back and forth in the romance. McDonald signs several opera songs and a rousing, peppy version of the song "San Francisco", written especially for the film that today serves as an anthem in the city on earthquake memorial days. Some of the best scenes in the film are after the earthquake when Blackie is roaming through the ruins looking for Mary. The water lines are broken and the fireman are unable to put out the fire. They call in the Army to dynamite buildings to try to stop the fires. Amid the explosions, I really feel Blackie's grief as he wanders through the ruins looking for Mary. 

The earthquake and aftershock scenes come near the end of the film. In order to create the effects used to make buildings tumble, they built sets on hydraulic lifts and shakers which were moved violently for the earthquake sequence. The Best Special Effects category of the Academy Awards was created in light of the advancements that the film San Francisco made in advancing technology in the film industry. The film wasn't honored for its groundbreaking works because the category did not yet exist!

Spencer Tracy had Jeanette MacDonald to thank for being cast in this film. Previously he had been cast in roles as heavies, and this role as a priest turned his career around. He was very believable in this role and again played a priest two years later in the film Boys Town. Interestingly, one of the gowns Mary wears was reused a few years later in The Wizard Of Oz for Glinda, the Good Witch.

Reportedly, both Erich von Stroheim and D.W. Griffith contributed to the film, although they are uncredited. San Francisco is a good movie worth watching even if it didn't have the thrilling special effects seen in the film. There is also great acting, writing and singing!

Nominated for six Academy Awards and winner of one: Best Sound, Recording to Douglas Shearer. The other nominations went to: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Leading Role to Spencer Tracy; Best Director to W.S. Van Dyke; Best Writing, Original Story to Robert E. Hopkins; Best Assistant Director to Joseph M. Newman. This was the first of Tracy's eventual nine nominations. 

Side note: The office of Supervisor for the city of San Francisco that Blackie Norton (Clark Gable) runs for is the same position held by Harvey Milk decades later when he was assassinated while in office.

Film Studies Professor, Dick Cermele - obituary

I want to also add Professor Cermele's obituary here too, before it's lost on the web. I took several classes with Dick, I especially remember his Genre class as it was informative and challenging!

Cermele, Dominick Joseph "Dick" 

Age 82, formerly of Minneapolis, Minnesota died on Saturday, July 9, 2011. Dick received his undergraduate degree from Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1957, Master's degree from Boston University, and PhD. from the University of Minnesota in 1977. Dominick was a professor of theater and film at University of Toledo, University of South Florida, Tampa, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota and St. Cloud State University where he also served as chair of the theater department. He was a highly educated man who loved teaching and directing. He was a founding member of, and director of numerous productions at the Trotwood Circle Theatre in Ohio. Other theater groups he directed for were the Theater L'Homme Dieu, Alexandria, Minnesota and the Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was also active with the Antioch Area Theatre and the Antioch Shakespeare Festival. Dominick was a proud Marine serving for eights years during WWII and the Korean War. Preceded in death by his brother, Michael Cermele; sister, Marion Cermele; grandson, Samuel John Mullen; and former wife, Carrie Baldwin. Dominick is survived by son, Jonathan Cermele of Delafield, WI; daughter, Lisa Cermele (Mullen) of Oakwood, OH; grandchildren, Alicia (Mike) Balderas, Alexandria (Scott) Mente, Amanda Cermele, Angela Cermele, Wilson Mullen, Charlie Mullen, Julia Mullen and John "Henry" Mullen; brother, Tony Cermele of Charlotteville, VA; three great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. The family will greet friends from 5:00-8:00 PM on Friday, July 15, 2011, at Dayton Country Club, 555 Kramer Rd., Dayton, OH 45419. A memorial service will be held at 6:30 PM, also at the Country Club. The family would like to especially thank the staff at The Spring Cottages at Spring Hills Singing Woods. Contributions may be made in Dominick's name to The Hospice of Dayton, 324 Wilmington Ave., Dayton, OH 45420. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.routsong.com

Published in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from July 12 to July 14, 2011

The Hitchcock 2020 Project - Professor Dale Swanson - obituary

I took Dale Swanson's class on the films of Alfred Hitchcock when I was a student at Saint Cloud State University and minoring in Film Studies. I was a casual Hitchcock fan before this, and armed with a bit more knowledge of his style, I became a huge fan! 

In 2012 I watched all of the Hitchcock movies that I could get my hands on and in the end wrote a summary of what I thought were his major themes. What I didn't do was write reviews about the movies as I watched them. 

So now, in 2020, I will begin to watch the films again and this time, to write something about each one with the end goal of expanding on my summary of themes in order to put together enough for a presentation on the films of Alfred Hitchcock. There are several Hitchcock films in my AFI project, but I will write fresh reviews for all this go round. And I recall that I really loathed the silent films I had to watch, so am opting to skip them. So instead of watching all 53, I imagine to land somewhere in the 40s. Wish me luck!

I'm going to add professor Swanson's obituary below before it disappears from the web. He was a great teacher!

Nov. 1, 1929 - Dec. 15, 2012

Services celebrating the life of Dale Lawrence Swanson, age 83, of Waite Park, will be at 11:00 AM Friday, January 11, 2013 at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in St. Cloud. Pastors Dee Pederson and Stephen Cook will officiate and inurnment will take place immediately following the service. Dale passed away early Saturday morning on December 15, 2012 at Quiet Oaks Hospice House after an eight year battle with cancer. There will be a visitation one hour before the service at the church. Arrangements are being made with Miller-Carlin Funeral Home in St. Cloud.

Dale was born on November 1, 1929 to Borghild (Hanson) and Lawrence Swanson in Mankato and spent his boyhood there. His education included a Bachelor of Science in Speech and Theatre from Mankato State University, a Master of Arts in Theatre from the University of Wisconsin, and post-graduate work at the University of Minnesota. Dale taught for forty-three years, beginning in the high school in Fairmont, Minnesota and continuing at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Minnesota, and in Robbinsdale and Cooper High Schools in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, the school district where he was known for his direction of musicals. In 1966, Dale joined the Department of Speech and Theatre at St. Cloud State University where he taught for twenty-six years. During his tenure there, Dale chaired the Department of Theatre for several years and initiated the Film Studies program. Always interested in travel, he taught in St. Cloud State's Denmark program, and between the years 1979 and 1984, he led four fine arts tours to Europe. In 1987, he accompanied an SCSU production of The Wizard of Oz to China. After his retirement in 1992, Dale and his wife, Gretchen, enjoyed traveling throughout the United States, spending winter months along the coastal areas, in their home in Tucson, Arizona, and later in Bella Vista, Arkansas. He enjoyed summers at Big Fish Lake near Cold Spring.

He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Gretchen; daughters Debra McAlister and Tamara McClintock; grandchildren Jeremy (Paula) Heydman, Eric Heydman, Ian McClintock, and Molly McAlister; and great-grandchildren Colin and Ryan Heydman, and Lauren and Kendall Heydman.

1939 - Wuthering Heights (William Wyler)

Wuthering Heights is the tragic love story of Cathy and Heathcliff. It all begins when Cathy's father, Mr. Earnshaw (Cecil Kellaway), brings home a ragamuffin boy he plans to raise and calls him Heathcliff (Rex Downing). It's not long before Earnshaw dies, and Cathy's pompous brother, Hindley (Douglas Scott), kicks Heathcliff out of the house and makes him live as a stable boy and servant. Heathcliff's bond with Earnshaw's daughter, Cathy (Sarita Wooten), is strong and they escape often to the moors to play and dream of a life together. As they get older, Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier) has no means for a future with Cathy (Merle Oberon) and eventually flees the homestead, called Wuthering Heights. When he does return several years later Cathy has married Edgar Linton (David Niven). Heathcliff is devastated that she did not wait for him. Edgar's sister, Isabella (Geraldine Fitzgerald) sees her opportunity and arranges a marriage to Heathcliff. 

The story of the lovers is told and narrated by Ellen Dean (Flora Robson), a household servant, to a stranded traveler named Lockwood (Miles Mander). Ellen has been witness to the their love story from the beginning, and she shares it all. Based on the novel by Emily Bronte, the 1939 film version is considered the very best of the adaptations of her novel, Wuthering Heights.

Nominated for eight Academy Awards and winner of only one for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White to Gregg Toland. The other nominations went to: Best Picture to Samuel Goldwyn Productions; Best Actor in a Leading Role to Laurence Olivier; Best Actress in a Supporting Role to Geraldine Fitzgerald; Best Director to William Wyler; Best Writing, Screenplay to Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur; Best Art Direction to James Basevi; Best Music, Original Score to Alfred Newman.

1939 - Goodbye, Mr. Chips (Sam Wood)

Goodbye, Mr. Chips tells the story of Charles Edward Chipping (Robert Donat) and his years of teaching at Brookfield Academy. Brookfield is an English boys boarding school and his first teaching job. It takes him awhile to get his bearings and in fact, after teaching a generation of boys, he's fallen into a rut and is passed over for a promotion. He is almost shanghaied into traveling abroad with another teacher, Max Staefel (Paul Henried), for their summer break. Here, in the Austrian Tyrols, he meets the love of his life, the much younger Katherine Ellis (Greer Garson). When Chipping returns to Brookfield, he is a new man. Kathy helps Chipping loosen up with the boys, and he becomes one of their favorite teachers. She's the cheerleader that shy Chipping needs. Facing both triumphs and tragedies, we watch as Mr. Chipping grows up, finds love, and grows old. 

Robert Donat was only 34 years-old when he played Mr. Chipping, a role that takes his character over sixty-three years of life! "As soon as I put the mustache on, I felt the part, even if I did look like a great Airedale come out of a puddle," he said. In the competitive race of 1939 he won the Academy Award for Best Actor In A Leading Role for his impressive performance as Mr. Chips.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips was nominated for an additional six Academy Awards: Best Picture; Best Actress in a Leading Role to Greer Garson; Best Director to Sam Wood; Best Writing, Screenplay to Eric Maschwitz, R.C. Sherriff & Claudine West; Best Sound Recording to A.W. Watkins; and Best Film Editing to Charles Frend.

Be sure to watch Donat's wonderful and Oscar-winning performance in Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

1939 - Midnight (Mitchell Leisen)

In Mitchell Leisen's Midnight, Claudette Colbert plays Eve Peabody, a broke chorus girl fresh off the train in Paris. She hawked her suitcase in Budapest for her fare. She literally just has the clothes on her back! Always a good start to a movie, right?! She meets a handsome cab driver, Tibor Czerny (Don Ameche), and she promises him double fair if he'll driver her around until she finds a job. She doesn't find a job. He's working the night shift and literally offers her his bed. She see's a haughty party going on and sneaks away while Czerny is filling the cab with gas. And this is where things get complicated! She soon finds herself in-over-her-head in a game of bridge. Her fellow bridge players include wealthy Helene Flammairon (Mary Astor) and her gigolo boyfriend Jacques Picot (Francis Lederer). Helene's husband George (John Barrymore) comes in just as the bridge players are settling the bet and saves Eve! And then he has a proposition for her! Before long she's a baroness in-over-her-head! You're sure to love this modern-day Cinderella comedy!

This is a fun comedy from a script by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett. Midnight was the movie that inspired Billy Wilder to become a director so that he could have more control over his scripts. He didn't like that Leisen was more concerned with the style and look of the movie, and not the script. Alcoholic John Barrymore was famous for refusing to memorize his lines, instead he relied on cue cards!

Often lost in the shuffle of amazing films that came out in 1939, if you haven't seen Midnight, you should put it at the top of your To Be Watched List!

1939 - Susannah Of The Mounties (William A. Seiter)

Inspector "Monty" Montague (Randolph Scott), of the Royal Canadian Mounties, discovers the orphaned Susannah Sheldon (Shirley Temple) while out on patrol in remote western Canada in Susannah Of The Mounties.  Her grandfather has been killed in an Indian attack on their wagon train and she was afraid for her life. Back at the fort Monty takes her in to the home he shares with his aide, Pat O'Hannigan (J. Farrell McDonald). It's the early 1880s and the Canadian Pacific Railway is being built, with the protection of the Mounties. 

One of the best scenes of the film has Sue teaching Monty how to dance. He's squated down to her level with a book on his head for balance. Then they cut away to Monty's feet, still dancing, but standing tall with his love interest, Vicky Standing (Margaret Lockwood), at the fort dance. 

My complaint about this film is one typical of many films of its era--it's very racially insensitive. Sue quickly gets over her terror as the only survivor from the wagon train massacre. Before long Chief Big Eagle (played by white man Maurice Moskovitch) rides into the fort with Monty for a peace treaty and young Sue charges right up to him to give him a piece or her mind. In true Temple form, but not realistic at all considering what her character has been through. And then the unusual way they portray her befriending the chief's son, Little Chief, (Martin Good Rider). They smoke a peace pipe and dance to drums around a fire. The studio did hire extras from the Blackfeet tribe, but the lead Native American characters were white dudes in paint. 

Directed by William Seiter (and an uncredited Walter Lang), Susannah Of The Mounties is based on the book by Muriel Dennison. I adore Randolph Scott. And Shirley is adorable in her last big hit for MGM. But it's hard to watch for its cultural insensitivities.

1939 - Confessions Of A Nazi Spy (Anatole Litvak)

The first half of the film shows several Nazi spies gathering information in America and sending it back to Germany. In the second half we watch Edward Renard (Edward G. Robinson) and his FBI team unravel the spy ring and bring them to justice. There are so many spies that the plot gets a little confusing until Renard appears and starts arresting them!

Confessions Of A Nazi Spy was the first major Hollywood movie to talk about Nazi's and  use "Nazi" in the title. Adolf Hitler reportedly planned to execute the makers of this film upon winning the war. Based on a real spy-ring conspiracy discovered in 1938 in New York, some actors declined roles in the movie over fears of retaliation against family members still living in Germany. Others appeared under false names. A very bold and brave production for 1939.

And by the way, just how many 1939 films was Ward Bond actually in?!

McGuffin Files - Bad Day At Black Rock (1955)

John J. Macreedy (Spencer Tracy) pulls into Black Rock, Arizona on the Streamliner train. It's 1945, World War II has ended a few weeks before, and the train hasn't stopped here for years. Macreedy starts asking how to get to Adobe Flats and is met with icy cold hostility from everyone in town. There are no rooms available in the empty hotel, there is no taxi or cars to rent, the sheriff is a drunken stool pigeon, and the next train out of town won't come until morning. Why is Macreedy here? Can he make it out alive? What's the town secret?

This is such a strikingly different picture from the typical Hollywood film. There was a very limited score (only ambient sounds and occasional light orchestration) to highlight the desolation of the location. There's not a lot of action, the tension builds through the brilliant screenplay and acting. And it's xenophobia is sadly as timely today as it was in 1955. 

John Sturges' 1955 film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Actor for Spencer Tracy, Best Screenplay to Millard Kaufman and Best Director for John Sturges. The supporting cast includes Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, Walter Brennan, and Lee Marvin. This widescreen film has an unusually short running time at 1 hour and 21 minutes. Bad Day At Black Rock is a very well done film in which the tensions remains taut throughout. Tracy's character, despite having a lame left arm, stays cool almost throughout. And when he does have to fight back the locals are surprised that a one armed man can be such a well rounded, and even superior foe. If you haven't seen this film yet, please do! It's a must watch classic!

The Technicolor Film Process

The earliest motion pictures were in black and white. The closest one could get to color was by hand painting each frame, which was very labor intensive. No one had created a process for color film until Herbert T. Kalmus created the Technicolor film process. He was a chemical engineer from Boston and a graduate of MIT (Massachusetts Institute Of Technology). In 1912 Kalmus formed Kalmus, Comstock and Wescott with fellow MIT graduate Daniel Comstock and mechanic W. Burton Wescott as an industrial research and development firm. After their firm was hired to test an inventor's flicker-free motion picture system they became interested in the art and science of filmmaking, especially advancements towards achieving a color film process. By 1915 Wescott had left the company and the two graduates of MIT or "Tech" were left. When Kalmus needed a name for the color process he was working on he conjoined "tech" with "color" and Technicolor was born. 

Initially the process Kalmus created was a two-color process that was composed of red and green only. Since there was no blue shots of the sky, for example, looked off. Some silent pictures had Technicolor sequences using this primitive two-strip process. 

The advancements that became the Technicolor process that movie buffs would recognize today (think Wizard Of Oz) would not be developed until the middle 1930s. Kalmus had invented a three-strip process that recorded images in red, blue and green. This required a huge, specially made camera that simultaneously recorded on three separate strips of film. This camera was so noisy that it required a special sound-proof housing, altogether this equipment literally weighed a ton! Technically this still wasn't color film. Those three strips of black and white film were shot through three different colored filters, then soaked in their appropriate color so they could absorb the color. These film strips were then combined one on top of the other to create the Technicolor film process. I'm simplifying that, I'm sure, because this is really a complicated process to understand, let alone turn around and explain! But the advancement from two-strip to three-strip was the key to finally seeing vibrant and realistic colors on screen. In the 1950s advancements were made to reduce the bulkiness of the three-strip process down to one strip of film (which is what we still use today), which also meant they did not have to use the huge, bulky cameras anymore. This also meant that they could see the daily rushes in color, instead of a black and white work print that they had to use as the Technicolor process took time to develop.

The Technicolor company also physically owned all of the three-strip cameras, so they had a monopoly on color film production. For The Adventures Of Robin Hood in 1938, for example, the production used all eleven of the cameras in existence and all eleven were returned each evening to Technicolor. Which is also what lead to the demise of the three-strip process--triple the cost of film and the rental of special cameras. It added up quickly. Cheaper film options did become available over time, but Technicolor could still process the film, meaning some movies are labeled with "Print by Technicolor", this was especially scene in the late 1950s. 

Finally, audiences saw a motion picture that looked as real as everyday life. It was lush, vivid and vibrant!

An interesting side note is that a true Technicolor print will not fade. Which cannot be said for the Eastman prints that followed. 

I referenced this article from reelclassics.com for this article. And also recommend this video from YouTube for more information.

WATCH THIS FOR MORE INFORMATION

13 features released in 1939 filmed wholly or partly in the three-strip Technicolor process:
Dodge City
Drums Along the Mohawk
The Four Feathers
Gone with the Wind
Gulliver's Travels
Hollywood Cavalcade
Jesse James
The Ice Follies of 1939
The Little Princess
The Mikado
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
The Wizard of Oz
 The Women