Showing posts with label Leslie Howard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leslie Howard. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

It's Love I'm After (1937)


"I can't understand why a man I'm so crazy about takes such a fiendish delight in tormenting me." - Bette Davis as Joyce Arden

They hate each other. They love each other. Stage actors Joyce Arden (Bette Davis) and Basil Underwood (Leslie Howard) have the most tempestuous romance. Under the lights and in front of an eager audience they deliver stunning performances, but backstage things can get ugly. After one rousing rendition of Romeo and Juliet, Basil is cornered by an infatuated fan. What he doesn't realize is this is no ordinary fan. She's wealthy socialite Marcia West (Olivia de Havilland). She truly believes she's in love with Basil, much to the dismay of her fiancee Henry Grant Jr. (Patric Knowles).

"Love for breakfast. Love for lunch. Love for dinner."

When Henry confronts Basil about this dilemma, Basil offers to help. Especially to repay the debt Henry's father paid him when the stock market crashed back in 1929. As Basil and his butler and partner-in-crime Digges (Eric Blore) act out one of Basil's original plays, Henry has an idea. Basil should visit Marcia's family and cause such a ruckus that she'll fall out of love with him. It'll be exactly like a performance in a play! But there are two major obstacles awaiting Basil. He doesn't realize that the woman he's fooling with dramatics is the same fan who visited him in his dressing room on New Year's Eve. Also Basil promised Joyce that they'd get married on New Year's Day and she's about to throw his plans for a loop. Can Basil save Henry and Marcia's relationship and his own or will it all end in tragedy?






"From now on I doff the mantle of a Romeo and assume the role of a cad." - Leslie Howard as Basil Underwood

Based on the original story by Maurice Hanline called Gentlemen After Midnight, It's Love I'm After (1937) was directed by Archie Mayo for Warner Bros. The project was born out of Leslie Howard's request for a comedic vehicle. He needed a break after a succession of dramatic roles, one of them which happened to be Romeo in MGM's Romeo and Juliet (1936). Olivia de Havilland, a fairly new contract player for Warner Bros. had recently appeared in Mayo's Call It a Day (1937). Two years later de Havilland and Howard appeared in Gone With the Wind (1939) together, clinching their status as Hollywood legends. De Havilland was added to the cast pretty early on and in fact they started shooting scenes with her, Knowles, Howard and Blore even before a leading lady was secured.

Getting a leading lady for the film was easier said than done. Leslie Howard initially wanted Ina Clare or Gertrude Lawrence, two stage veterans, to appear opposite him. In the end, neither had the screen presence to be viable options. Howard had worked with Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage (1934) and the Archie Mayo directed movie The Petrified Forest (1936). The two didn't get along and Howard was hesitant about working with her again. But if they wanted an actress who sparkled on screen they could do no wrong with Davis. When Davis was cast, the production was already well on its way. In fact, a July 1937 issue of Screenland shows behind-the-scenes pictures of the making of the film but does not mention Bette Davis whatsoever. Her character appears more so at the beginning and end of the film so plenty of scenes could have been shot without her. Before It's Love I'm After, Davis was hospitalized for exhaustion. She took a tumble into the orchestra pit during the filming of the Romeo & Juliet scenes and suffered a minor injury.




When I came across this movie, I was immediately drawn by the star power. Davis, Howard AND de Havilland? Of course I had to watch this! All three play to their strengths. Davis as the tempestuous actress who runs hot and cold, Howard as an actor's actor and de Havilland as a starry-eyed youth with a tender heart; not a stretch for any of them by any means. And one of my favorite child actors, Bonita Granville, plays to her strengths as the bratty spoiled teenager.

But it's not Davis, nor Howard, nor de Havilland, nor Knowles nor even boisterous little Granville who steals the show. It's character actor Eric Blore. If you enjoy Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies, Blore is a familiar face. He often played waiters and butlers and in It's Love I'm After he plays Digges, Howard's underpaid but devoted assistant. The script really gave Blore many moments to shine. He's got a lot of terrific scenes, delivers some great lines and serves as both straight man and comic throughout the story. He's the most sensible character but he's also caught up in the magic of the theater. Blore's Digges anchors the movie and I'd go so far as to say he's the #1 reason you should watch it.

It's Love I'm After (1937) is a zany film with lots of great witty one-liners and insults. Come for Leslie Howard, Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland and stay for Eric Blore.




It's Love I'm After (1937) is available on DVD-MOD from the Warner Archive Collection. When you use my buy link you help support this site. Thanks!


Warner Archive Wednesday - On (random) Wednesdays, I review one title from the Warner Archive Collection. I purchased It's Love I'm After (1937) from the WB Shop.

Friday, March 16, 2018

Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939)



1939 was a good year for David O. Selznick. While in the midst of working on what would become recognized as one of the greatest movies of all time, Gone with the Wind, Selznick was also making strides at his studio Selznick International Pictures. He had his talent scout Katharine Brown (aka Kay B. Barrett) constantly on the lookout for new faces. A young elevator operator in New York City mentioned the Swedish film Intermezzo (1936) to Brown. She watched it in a small art house theatre and then immediately had the film sent to Selznick in Hollywood. Selznick was sold and he invited Bergman to Hollywood to remake the movie in English and to sign a contract with his studio. In her 1973 interview with British TV host Parkinson, Ingrid Bergman said, "I owe my career in America to the elevator boy." Bergman was immediately groomed for stardom. She had to work on her English, they had to figure out what to do with her figure (a curvaceous 5'10 actress was not the norm), and her name. She had already made a career for herself in Europe with her real name and didn't want to let it go. Her name was hers and it was here to stay. Selznick and his team had to concede. It was fortuitous for everyone involved that they had come to this agreement because Bergman was now on a trajectory to become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.

Merriam-Webster definition of intermezzo:
1: a short light entr'acte
2 a : a movement coming between the major sections of an extended musical work
b : a short independent instrumental composition
3 : a usually brief interlude or diversion

Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939) stars Leslie Howard as Holger Brandt, a celebrated composer and violinist who has just finished his tour with retiring pianist Thomas Stenborg (John Halliday). After many months away from home, he finally returns to his devoted wife Margit (Edna Best), his son Eric (Douglas Scott) and his daughter Ann Marie (Ann E. Todd). Ann Marie is following in her father's footsteps and has taken up classical music. She's been taking piano lessons from Anita Hoffman (Ingrid Bergman). Holger pays Anita no mind until he witnesses her incredible talent at the piano. Their mutual passion for music intertwines with their feelings for each other. Anita becomes Holger's new accompanist and the two leave everything behind them to live a new life of romantic bliss. However the past begins to creep up on them. And there is Holger's family to think of, especially little Ann Marie who keeps hoping her father will come home soon. Holger and Anita must decide whether their love will be forever or if it'll just be a brief intermezzo.


Leslie Howard and Ingrid Bergman in Intermezzo

"I haven't any right to be happy the way I'm happy with you... I'm fighting to be sensible." - Anita
"Love isn't sensible." - Holger

The film was directed by Gregory Ratoff whom Selznick borrowed from 20th Century Fox. William Wyler was going to be the director but had to drop out due to a delay in production and other commitments. It was a huge hit and launched Bergman's career into the stratosphere. A few years later she'd star in another film, you might have heard of it, Casablanca (1942). 1939 was a good year for Leslie Howard too. He also starred in Gone With the Wind and Intermezzo was his film producing debut. Selznick made Intermezzo for $4.8 million and it went on to make $153.8 million at the box office. It was nominated for two Oscars, Gregg Toland for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White and Louis Forbes for Best Music, Scoring.

Ann E. Todd and Ingrid Bergman in Intermezzo

The story of Intermezzo had parallels to the lives of some of it's stars. Child actress Ann E. Todd, who plays the Holger's classical music loving daughter Ann Marie, was the daughter of musicians, notable Burrill Phillips, a composer and pianist. She was raised by her grandparents and encouraged to become an actress. It wasn't her calling through and after she gave up acting in the early 1950s she pursued her interest in classical music. She got a masters degree in music history and became a college professor in San Francisco. Star Leslie Howard had his own intermezzo with Hollywood secretary Violette Cunnington. The two had an extramarital affair. She passed away of sepsis at the age of 32 just months before Howard perished in a plane crash during WWII. Howard left one of his houses to Cunnington in his will which hadn't been updated after she had passed. Ingrid Bergman suffered a huge scandal when she left her husband Petter Lindstrom for director Roberto Rossellini. The affair made her persona non grata in Hollywood for years until she returned in 1956.

When I watched this film years ago, I was surprised how this made it through in the era of the Hays Code. According to the AFI "materials contained in the MPAA/PCA disclose that Joseph Breen insisted that 'Anita' be punished for her adultery." That seems to suggest something different than what actually happens in the story. Intermezzo is an ultimately heartbreaking film that doesn't leave you completely destroyed. You know what has to happen but you still find yourself enjoying the journey.




Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939) is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber. The disc includes audio commentary from Film Historian Kat Ellinger and a few trailers.

Thank you to Kino Lorber for sending me the Intermezzo Blu-Ray for review!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

The Petrified Forest (1936)


The Petrified Forest (1936) is an English major's delight. For those of use who use literature and poetry as a filter through which we see the world. Sometimes we feel isolated when everyone around us takes life as is and doesn't try to see some other type of meaning. So I can sympathize with Gabrielle (Bette Davis) and her plight. She stuck in the middle of the desert working at a Gas Station/Bar-B-Que Joint. She reads the poetry of Francois Villon and dreams of going to Bourges, France where her like-minded mother is from and currently resides. Gabrielle is surrounded by people who are perfectly content with what fills their lives, even if it is clouds of dust from a sandstorm. It's just her luck that a wandering novelist, Alan (Leslie Howard), stumbles upon Gabrielle's oasis, hungry for food and intellectual stimulation. They find themselves in each other and in the poetry and literature they love, while everyone else around them is pretty oblivious to what they share. After Alan goes on his way, criminal on the lam, Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart) brings the couple back together in a way that only a true literature-phile could appreciate. Oh this is a film I can watch over and over again. Anyone who has big dreams but is stuck in their situation due to whatever circumstances can see themselves in Gabrielle. What a way to kick off this marathon!


Doesn't Bogie look a little Ben Affleck here?

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