Showing posts with label Katharine Hepburn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Katharine Hepburn. Show all posts

Sunday, January 22, 2023

The Classic Film Collective: Career Women in Love: Ex-Lady (1933), The First Hundred Years (1938) and Woman of the Year (1942)

This was originally published in the former The Classic Film Collective Patreon.




As someone who appreciates classic movies while also watching them through a contemporary lens, I look for the subtle or not so subtle signs of feminism in early films. I want to see how the role of women evolved over the 20th century and how Hollywood packaged these portrayals for mass consumption. Woman of the Year (1942), George Stevens’ delightful comedy starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, is one of those films that has an interesting feminist angle which is then canceled out by the ending. And yes you can love a movie even though you hate how it ends. Hepburn plays Tess Harding, a successful newspaper correspondent specializing in international affairs. Tracy is the sports writer with whom she falls in love. Their marriage can’t withstand Tess’ hectic schedule and their impasse is resolved in just the sort of way you would expect of a 1940s Hollywood film. I’ve watched this film many times over the years, sometimes skipping the ending and imagining another outcome for Tess. Compromise is a key element to relationships, on screen and off, but usually it’s the women who have to sacrifice something. And for a working woman it’s giving up her career to raise a family. The ending is never a surprise. Hollywood liked to keep the status quo. However, the joy in watching these early films about career women in love are those moments where the woman stands her ground, planting seeds of dissent in an otherwise male dominated world.



“I don’t want to be like my mother, the yes-woman for some man. I want to be a person of my own.” Bette Davis as Helen in Ex-Lady (1933)

 

There are two 1930s films that broach the same subject matter and face the same dilemma. Ex-Lady (1933), a Pre-Code directed by Robert Florey for Warner Bros., stars Bette Davis as Helen Bauer, a talented illustrator who is at the top of her game. She’s in a relationship with Don (Gene Raymond) but refuses to marry him. Instead they live “in sin”. When keeping up this lifestyle becomes too much, Helen agrees to marry Don and that’s when everything goes haywire. Don’s talent agency takes a nosedive and the two begin to see other people. The story is partly inspired by the real life relationship of writers Edith Fitzgerald and Robert Riskin, who were also in a long-term relationship in which they lived together but remained unmarried (Riskin went on to marry actress Fay Wray). Bette Davis has some great lines in this film questioning the institution of marriage. She finds it dull and fears that it will strip away both their independence and individuality. There are two key scenes early on in the film when Davis and Raymond contemplate their relationship. Davis declares ”no one has any rights about me except me.” At the time, Davis was fighting Warner Bros. for better parts and eventually faced the studio in court. According to film historian Sloan De Forest, Davis accused “the studio of ‘slavery’ by forcing her into ‘mediocre pictures.’ Bette lost the court case, but she won Warners’ eventual respect…” Even though Davis looked poorly upon Ex-Lady, in many ways she was playing herself.: a successful woman who craved the independence that a studio contract/marriage would deprive her of.



“Can I love you and still be interested in something else?” - Virginia Bruce as Lyn in The First Hundred Years (1938)


When I was shopping the Warner Archive Collection’s final 4 for $44 sale (you can watch my haul here) I discovered a film I had never heard of: The First Hundred Years (1938). It’s an MGM film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring two of my favorite actors of that era: Robert Montgomery, Virginia Bruce and Warren William. Reading the synopsis the film immediately reminded me of Ex-Lady and I quickly added it to my shopping cart. Virginia Bruce plays Lynn Conway, a top talent agency at a big New York City firm. She is highly sought after by authors, actors and directors to land theatrical gigs and regularly travels to Hollywood to book movie deals. Robert Montgomery plays her husband David, a shipbuilder who receives word that there is a job waiting for him in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Neither of them want to give up their jobs or the marriage but something here has to give. Because we’re now in the era of the strictly enforced Hays Code, The First Hundred Years is stripped of any of the sexual chemistry and innuendos that you’ll find in Ex-Lady. Where Raymond and Davis lust for each other in the Pre-Code film, Montgomery and Bruce have a sweet and tender romance. Any lust is relegated to secondary characters like Warren William who plays the hard-drinking talent agent and Binnie Barnes who plays a socialite trying to steal Montgomery’s David away from his wife. And yes The First Hundred Years has just the sort of ending you would expect. However, it doesn’t quite feel like a disappointment. Perhaps because the film does a good job at slowly distancing the female protagonist from her job so she can be more consumed with the social aspects of her life.


As a married career woman myself I find this sub-genre of classic movies endlessly fascinating and I’ll always be on the lookout for more. Even if I know exactly how they’ll end.

Sunday, May 12, 2019

Sylvia Scarlett (1935)


This post is sponsored by DVD Netflix.

"I'll be a boy and rough and hard. I won't care what I do."

Bookkeeper Henry Snow (Edmund Gwenn) is in a terrible jam. To pay off his gambling debts he's been dipping into the company finances. When his coworkers catch wind of Henry's transgressions, he's desperate to escape Marseilles for London in an effort to avoid jail time. It seems risky to take his daughter Syliva (Katharine Hepburn) with him. What if they're caught? Sylvia, who refuses to be left behind, cuts off her long braids, dresses like a man and adopts the name Sylvester Scarlett. While on the boat to England, Sylvester and Henry meet con artist Jimmy 'Monk' Monkley (Cary Grant). Monk has a way about him with his cockney accent and ability to charm anyone out of their hard earned cash. The trio join forces to con well-to-do Londoners. While Monk and Henry are perfectly content to live as criminals, Sylvester wants to earn income the old-fashioned way, through honest work. They meet Maudie (Dennie Moore), the maid to a wealthy family and when Sylvester spoils the plot to steal the household jewels, the four to head to the seashore. It's here that Sylvester meets Michael Fane (Brian Aherne) a curly haired artist who makes Sylvester wish she was Sylvia again. When Michael's girlfriend Lily (Natalie Paley) shows up, Sylvia must decide whether to continue as Sylvester or to transition back to Sylvia to win Michael's affections.

Directed by George Cukor, Sylvia Scarlett (1935) was produced by Pando S. Berman for RKO. The story is based on Compton Mackenzie's novel The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett published in 1918. That story is the sequel to Sinister Street, published in 1914 and offers the origin story of the Michael Fane character. In 1919, Mackenzie followed up Sylvia Scarlett with the novel Sylvia and Michael. Sylvia Scarlett was adapted to the screen by author John Collier and screenwriters Gladys Unger and Mortimer Offner. According to the AFI:

After Collier had completed his draft, Cukor brought in Gladys Unger and Mortimer Offner to tone down the sexual implications of the story and to write a ten-minute prologue and a fifteen-minute ending that would make Sylvia a more sympathetic and comprehensible character.

Sylvia Scarlett was the first of four films pairing Hepburn and Grant. Both actors are well-suited to their parts. Hepburn is perfect as Sylvester/Sylvia and Grant, who was on loan from Paramount, was in his element as the playful con artist. The film was also an auspicious debut for actress Dennie Moore who doesn't get on screen credit but plays a substantial role as Maudie the flighty maid who dreams of being a singer.

The film was not well received both by critics and by audiences. It was a box office failure and lost a significant amount of money. Hepburn later became branded as "box office poison" until her comeback with The Philadelphia Story (1940) which also stars Cary Grant. Sylvia Scarlett was a pet project for both Hepburn and Cukor. They tried but failed to make amends with producer Berman who was disappointed with the final result.



Sylvia Scarlett suffers from a convoluted plot that doesn't hold the viewer's interest or attention. However, I still really enjoyed the film and found that I was willing to deal with the messy storyline to get at all of the subversive goodness. I've always been drawn to stories that explore gender dynamics, sexual politics and identity and in this regard Sylvia Scarlett delivers. Contemporary audiences will be more apt to appreciate the film's exploration of gender identity. It's truly ahead of its time. We're also more likely to cast a discerning eye on the gendered representations of women as weak and emotional and men as tough and carefree and how the film both relies on those stereotypes and attempts to break them down. I'm not one for remakes but Sylvia Scarlett seems like a prime candidate for a 21st century makeover.




Disclaimer: As a DVD Nation director, I earn rewards from DVD Netflix. You can rent Sylvia Scarlett on DVD.com.

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Undercurrent (1946)


Undercurrent (1946)

In 1946 Robert Mitchum was under contract to RKO. They had loaned him out to MGM for two pictures Undercurrent (1946) and Desire Me (1947) which were filmed back-to-back. He had relatively small roles in both as the third person in a romantic melodrama. Both films turned out to be box office failures. Not that this hurt Mitchum's career trajectory at all. In fact, placing Mitchum in movies with the type of high-caliber stars that were missing from RKO's line-up, in this case MGM heavyweights Greer Garson in Desire Me and Katharine Hepburn and Robert Taylor in Undercurrent, was incredible exposure for Mitchum. And the following year he'd make Out of the Past (1947) which would help secure him a spot as a popular leading man in Hollywood.


Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor and Robert Mitchum in Undercurrent (1946)
Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor and Robert Mitchum's shadow in a publicity shot for MGM

Directed by Vincente Minnelli, Undercurrent (1946) is part film noir, part neurotic melodrama. Katharine Hepburn stars as Ann, a scientist and 30-something daughter of well-respected Professor Hamilton (Edmund Gwenn) whom she lovingly refers to as Dink. She's a tomboy, wears pants, loves chemistry, and doesn't fuss too much over her appearance. But in the world she lives in she's really just a dowdy woman on the verge of spinsterhood. When charming young inventor Alan Garroway (Robert Taylor) comes to visit Professor Hamilton, Ann is soon swept away by his romantic gestures. Garroway is attracted to Ann much in the same way he would be to a new idea for an invention. He sees possibility to transform her into a glamorous socialite. All seems well in their marriage until it becomes apparent that Garroway harbors dark secrets. He's severed his relationship with his brother Michael Garroway (Robert Mitchum) and in conversation with Ann he paints the picture of unforgivable sibling betrayal. Ann believes him until she discovers Alan's first lie and things begins to unfold. Ann suffers the internal battle between her love for Alan and her desire for the truth. Is Alan really the man she fell in love with? And where is Michael?

Katharine Hepburn and Robert Mitchum in Undercurrent (1946)
Katharine Hepburn and Robert Mitchum in Undercurrent (1946)

 "Is there good swimming?" - Ann
"No, riptide." - Michael
"Looks very calm." - Ann
"You can't always see that undercurrent." - Michael
"Like life." - Ann

Clearly I watched this movie for one reason: Robert Mitchum. While his character Michael is central to the story, Mitchum himself doesn't appear until 62 minute mark of a 2 hour movie and his total screen time is probably less than 10 minutes. Needless to say this was a disappointment for me but I was grateful for to check off another Mitchum movie off my to-be-watched list.

While it's categorized as a film noir, I like the term "neurotic melodrama" a lot better. It really captures the overall theme of the movie. The build up of tension is slow and methodical. None of the roles suited the main players. Ann was a weak role for Katharine Hepburn whom we all know shines when she has strong characters to play. Mitchum as the mysterious brother was also a weak character for him. Robert Taylor's performance was decent. I grew more fearful of his character as the story progressed so I thought that was an effective part of the movie. I think this film is worth watching for the main players, the melodrama and the build up of tension. This was Jayne Meadows film debut. She plays Sylvia Benton, a no-nonsense socialite who was unwillingly caught in a love triangle with the two brothers. She has a small but fantastic part as the tough woman who opens Ann's eyes to what's happening around her. Clinton Sundberg plays Taylor's right-hand man. Marjorie Main has a small role in the beginning of the film as the Hamilton's maid and mother figure to Ann.

This movie was a departure for Minnelli so he wasn't the only one on set who out of his element. From what I've read, Hepburn and Mitchum didn't get along which could be why there is very little to no tenderness between them in what should be tender scenes in the film. In an interview with Dick Lochte, Mitchum remembered overhearing Hepburn refer to him as a "cheap flash actor." This was the only time they worked together which was probably for the best.

The film didn't perform well in theaters. In 1947 playwright Fay Elhert sued MGM for using the title of his play, one he submitted to MGM for consideration, for this movie. Laraine Day had been promised the title role of Ann in exchange for her appearing in Keep Your Powder Dry (1945). MGM didn't hold up their end of the bargain and Day severed her contract with them.

I'm conflicted about this movie. I want to like it but something pulls me back. I can't quite put my finger on it. It could be shorter with even more tension. Maybe other actors better suited to the roles would have improved the film for me. But otherwise it's just an ordinary movie that I just happened to enjoy but not too much.

If you've seen this film I would love to know what you think!

I watched this film on iTunes. I missed an opportunity to see it at the Brattle Theatre as part of their Robert Mitchum centennial repertory series but hope to catch another screening soon.

Sources:
TCMDB
Robert Mitchum: Baby I Don't Care by Lee Server
Mitchum in His Own Words edited by Jerry Roberts

Popular Posts

 Twitter   Instagram   Facebook