The Miracle Woman (1931)

"Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing..."

Barbara Stanwyck stars in The Miracle Woman (1931) as Florence Fallon, the daughter of a preacher. Her father dies of heartbreak when his parish replaced him with a younger man. The disillusioned Florence lashes out at the parish. Witnessing this is con man Bob Hornsby (Sam Hardy). The delivery of her impassioned speech inspires him and he convinces her to use her talents to make a tidy profit. He proclaims, "religion is great if you can sell it, no good if you give it away." Bob transforms Florence into Sister Fallon, a radio evangelist whose religious messages make her a nationwide sensation. They put on elaborate shows at Fallon's tabernacle using trickery to fool the masses into believing she can perform miracles.

Everything goes to plan until John Carson (David Manners) comes into Florence's life. John is a former Air Force pilot gone blind. He spends his days in his apartment, composing music, practicing with his ventriloquist dummy and interacting with his landlady/helper Mrs. Higgins (Beryl Mercer). Depressed about his situation, he writes a suicide note and plans to jump out of the window. He hears Florence's radio broadcast and her words save him. John seeks out the woman who gave him a new lease on life. During one of Sister Fallon's tabernacle spectacles, John joins Florence on stage while they are both in a cage of lions. John doesn't realize Florence is a scam artist when he falls in love with her. As the two spend time together, Florence falls for John too. Florence starts to doubt herself, the people she's hurting and starts to imagine a different life. Will she be able to get out of her situation and keep John? And can she wrangle herself away from her manager Bob's stronghold?

Barbara Stanwyck and David Manners in The Miracle Woman (1931)

The Miracle Woman (1931) is a Pre-Code film with a critical eye and a tender heart. It explores the dangers of using religion for greed and also what it means to see someone for who they truly are rather than what they pretend to be. Florence and John experience awakenings and rebirths as their stories progress. One could see this as a criticism of religion but I saw it as a warning against using faith for personal gain. I was enamored with the love story which is the heart and soul of the film.

Directed by Frank Capra for Columbia Studios, The Miracle Woman was based on John Meehan and Robert Riskin's play Bless You Sister and acquired by Harry Cohn. The story is loosely inspired by Aimee Semple McPherson, a Pentecostal evangelist famous in the 1920s and 1930s. The original play was a failure on Broadway. However Capra saw potential in the story especially after the success of George M. Cohan's The Miracle Man which was later adapted into a movie in 1919. Capra brought on Riskin to adapt the screenplay. Riskin was still traumatized by the failure of his Broadway production didn't think the story would work as a film. Capra then hired screenwriter Jo Swerling to take over. With a hat tip to The Miracle Man the title was changed to The Miracle Woman. Some details were changed including the name of the protagonist as well as the details involved with Florence meeting John Carson.

The movie was Capra's second of five collaborations with Barbara Stanwyck. David Manners was loaned out by First National for his part. He became famous for his role as John Harker in Dracula (1931). In later years he claimed to have never seen Dracula and asked that fans not send him copies of the film. Manners is absolutely charming in his role as John Carson. And it's clear that Capra was captivated with Stanwyck. The close-up shots and lighting of her character demonstrate the camera's attraction to its subject. Stanwyck and Manners would put in two very dangerous situations. This was in the days when the technology of movie making could only go so far. In the lion den scene Stanwyck and Manners were separated from the lions by an invisible net. During the film's climactic scene, both actors risked their lives as real flames shot up around them.

Unfortunately The Miracle Woman (1931) was a box office failure. With all of Capra and Swerling's good intentions not to make a movie that was anti-religion, audiences still didn't flock to the theaters for this one. The film was rejected by the British Board of Film Censors for its content and as a result never released theatrically in England. The box office failure had no effect on Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Capra's careers which were both on the rise.

The Miracle Woman (1931) is available on DVD through Sony Classics Choice Collection series. I recently watched the film on TCM. I highly recommend checking out Danny's excellent piece on the movie, completely with lots of visuals, over at Pre-Code.com.

Sources:
TCMDB
A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940by Victoria Wilson

Since You Went Away (1944)

Jennifer Jones, Claudette Colbert, Shirley Temple in Since You Went Away (1944)

"This is a story of the Unconquerable Fortress: the American Home..."

During WWII, producer David O. Selznick was searching for a way to contribute to the war effort. He was offered two opportunities by the government. The first was to produce a radio program, an idea he flatly turned down. Then the Navy approached him about starting a bureau of photography. Selznick took interest in this proposal but the project never materialized. Instead Selznick would produce a movie. But he didn't want to make a war movie. He needed to tell the story of WWII as it was experienced on the home front by those left behind. Fearful that he would be forever known as the producer of Gone With the Wind, this was an opportunity to not only make a great movie but to move from under his own shadow of fame.


The year was 1942 and Selznick was looking for a WWII home front story to be produced at Selznick International Studios. It took him more than a year to find just the right story. Author Margaret Buell Wilder had written a column in the Dayton Journal Herald called "Letters to a Soldier from His Wife." Wilder was a mother of two teenage daughters and while her husband was off at war she made ends meet by taking in boarders. The column proved popular and was even picked up later by the national women's magazine Ladies Home Journal. The letters were compiled into a book and published with the title Since You Went Away. Once Selznick discovered Wilder's book he knew this would be the film he wanted to make. At first Wilder adapted the screenplay but the final result was unsatisfactory to Selznick who would dominate every aspect of the making of the movie. He took Wilder's screenplay, broke it down and rebuilt it from the ground up.

The end result was the 3-hour family melodrama Since You Went Away (1944). The movie stars Claudette Colbert as Anne Hilton. Her husband Tim has gone off to war leaving her behind with their two teenage daughters Jane (Jennifer Jones) and Brig (Shirley Temple). The Hilton family face hardships ahead including rationing, cut backs, opening their home to boarders to make ends meet and worried about the family patriarch when they get the news that he is MIA. In their circle is Lieutenant Tony Willett (Joseph Cotten), Anne's former flame who still holds a torch for her. Then there is retired Colonel William Smollett (Monty Woolley), the crotchety old boarder who likes his breakfast a certain way and has unrealistic expectations for his shy grandson. Corporal Bill Smollett (Robert Walker) is said grandson. He wants nothing but to make his grandfather proud and to spend every waking moment with the object of his affections Jane Hilton. Helping keep the Hilton household together is Fidelia (Hattie McDaniel) who pitches in to help the family even when they can't afford to pay her. Threatening to break the resolve of the Hiltons is uppity socialite Emily Hawkins (Agnes Moorehead). To her the war is an impediment to her expectations of a proper social life. The saga follows the family as Anne, Jane and Brig journey through the tough months ahead and deal with major sacrifices, death and the unknown.

One of the aspects about WWII that fascinates me is life on the home front. What was it like for those left behind? The anticipation of the safe return of their loved ones who are fighting overseas. The struggle to keep the family going through a time of uncertainty. The rationing, the cut backs, the housing shortage, the buying and selling of war bonds and more. Since You Went Away is on the surface a sappy melodrama but explores all of the aspects of home front life in a profound way.

Cast of Since You Went Away (1944)

The movie was mainly directed by John Cromwell but he also had help from Andre De Toth who worked on some of the scenes and Selznick who stepped in as director when Cromwell fell ill. Max Steiner produced the score which includes an overture and an intermission. Since You Went Away features a grand cast of players. Lionel Barrymore has a small role as a preacher. Guy Madison makes his film debut as a rival for Jane's affections. Alla Nazimova appears in the final role of her career. A sharp eye will spot Dorothy Dandridge, Butterfly McQueen and Rhonda Fleming in certain scenes. Jennifer Jones and Robert Walker were married at the time of filming but separated. Jones and Selznick would later marry.  Selznick had coaxed Shirley Temple out of her early retirement for this film. Actress Katharine Cornell campaigned for the role of Anne but lost out to Claudette Colbert who was a bigger star.

Since You Went Away (1944) proved to be a success. It struck a chord with contemporary audiences who flocked to the theaters to see it. The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards and Max Steiner won for Best Score. A newspaper announcement prior to the film's release proclaimed that Since You Went Away would be four hours long noting that it was longer than Selznick's Gone With the Wind. The film was edited down several times and the final version is just a few minutes shy of 3 hours.

I had avoided this film for years mostly for fear of watching Jennifer Jones and Robert Walker together. The way their marriage ended has always pained me. I'm glad I overcame that to finally watch the film. Since You Went Away is a favorite of my good friend Jessica of Comet Over Hollywood  who encourage me to see it. I fell for the story hook, line and sinker and was a sobbing mess at the end. It's overly long and sentimental but if you want to immerse yourself in the history of WWII especially the films of that era, it's not one to miss.

Since You Went Away (1944) is coming out from Kino Lorber on Blu-Ray later this month. The disc includes the Roadshow edition featuring the full overture and intermission of Max Steiner's score as well as a selection of trailers as well as closed captions. The Blu-Ray will make a great present for the classic film enthusiast and WWII history buff in your life.

Many thanks to Kino Lorber for sending me the Blu-Ray to review!

Sources
TCMDB
Google Newspaper Archive
Hollywood Enlists!: Propaganda Films of World War II by Ralph Donald

Seduced by Mrs. Robinson by Beverly Gray

Seduced by Mrs. Robinson
How The Graduate Became the Touchstone of a Generation
by Beverly Gray
Algonquin Books
304 pages
November 2017

Amazon - Barnes and Noble - Powells

No movie studio would touch it. Producer Lawrence Turman had shopped around Charles Webb's quirky novel The Graduate without much success. It wasn't until larger-than-life film promoter and producer Joseph E. Levine decided to finance the project that it moved forward. Turman brought on director Mike Nichols who had just completed Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and the project began to take form. Dustin Hoffman, a relative newcomer, was considered an odd choice. They tried to get Robert Redford on board but he just didn't understand the character. Little did anyone know that Hoffman would be the perfect candidate for the title role and that his character would resonate so profoundly with young people for decades to come.

"The Graduate lasts party because it has something for everyone: the restless youth; the disappointed elder; the cinephile who values artistic innovation." - Beverly Gray

The Graduate had everything going against it yet everything going for it at the same time. It triumphed because of many factors. It spoke to a generation that was coming-of-age during the Vietnam War and unsure about their future. The Graduate's Benjamin was their hero; one who was willing to say no to plastics and imagine a different life for himself. Audiences cheered on because he represented themselves. And there was more. Simon & Garfunkel's music, the visual artistry, the performances by the cast, the brilliant work by the screenwriter, director, producer, and the rest of the crew. It all melded together to make one beautiful movie.

Behind the scenes of The Graduate

"The turbulent year 1967 turned out to be a high-watermark for new American cinema." - Beverly Gray

Releasing on the 50th anniversary of the film, author Beverly Gray's new book Seduced by Mrs. Robinson explores every aspect of The Graduate's history from its birth as Charles Webb's novel, to the production of the film and the aftermath of its legacy. Gray did extensive interviews with producer Lawrence Turman and also talked with other important figures in the making of the film including the star Dustin Hoffman and screenwriter Buck Henry. Readers can tell this is a passion project because of how much time and effort has gone into exploring every facets of this very important film. Gray inserts herself in the narrative. As a young woman coming-of-age in Los Angeles, when The Graduate released she was part of that generation that the film resonated so strongly with. The book is not only about the journey of the film but also her journey in discovering it's impact on our culture.

"This is as close to The Catcher in the Rye as anything I've found." - Mike Nichols

As someone who reads a lot of film books, it's rare that I find a book so brilliantly written. Gray has a fantastic voice. Her writing style is approachable and as a former story editor for Roger Corman she has a knack for storytelling. Gray offers a lot of interesting insights and information about the film that will give readers a new appreciation for this classic.

There are lots of nuggets of trivia to be taken away. Doris Day turned down the role because it offended her values. Anne Bancroft was dressed in animal prints and put in jungle-like settings (poolside with tropical plants) to visually convey her character. This was inspired by Nichols' reading of Henry James The Beast in the Jungle. Haskell Wexler lacked the enthusiasm to the film's cinematographer and was replaced by Robert Surtees.  And those are just a few bits of information. The book is chock full of them.

I learned more than I ever needed to know about The Graduate. I was quite shocked to see how big of a deal Dustin Hoffman's appearance was at the time and how everyone made rather rude comments about his nose. I've always thought he was a rather good looking guy. On my first viewing of The Graduate the impact of the story was completely lost on me. Over time I've learned to appreciate it more and Gray's book definitely made me understand the film's importance.

I have two quibbles with the book. One is that there is absolutely no mention of storyboard artist Harold Michelson who contributed significantly to the visual style of the movie. He's not even listed in the "Roll Credits" section in the backmatter. I know the author disputes just how involved Michelson was in the movie but I was surprised he was skipped over completely. The second is that there is one 60 page section of the book completely devoted to scene-by-scene plot description. I wasn't sure this was necessary. However, this reads fairly quickly and there are some insights and interesting observations embedded that can make it worth your while if you don't mind a refresher of the movie.

I had the pleasure of meeting Beverly Gray at the 2017 TCM Classic Film Festival. You can watch my interview with her here.

Thank you to Algonquin Books for sending me a copy of this book for review!

GIVEAWAY

UPDATE: Congrats to Sal the winner of the giveaway. Thanks to everyone who participated!