Warner Archive Wednesday ~ Miss Pinkerton (1932)

Source: Cinemagraphe

Joan Blondell as Nurse Adams in Miss Pinkerton (1932). Nurse Adams is sick of the monotony of being a hospital nurse and is quite vocal about her discontent. But things are about to change for the bored nurse. She's given the exciting opportunity of working at the home of the well-known Mitchell family. The head nurse informs Nurse Adams that she'll also be assisting the police in a homicide case that happened at that same home. When she arrives, she finds herself in a situation that is a lot more than she bargained for. Her situation brings to mind the common saying: Be careful what you wish for because it might come true.

George Brent plays Police Inspector Patten who is continuously at the house investigating the suspicious death of the Mitchell family heir Herbert Wynn. He enlists Nurse Adams to help him look for clues and dubs her Miss Pinkerton, a reference to the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. It's a reference that someone from 1932 would have gotten right away but a contemporary audience might scratch their head in confusion.

The film has a rather convoluted plot and there is quite a lot going on including murder disguised as suicide, insurance fraud, a secret marriage, affairs, poisoning, forgery, tricks and more. The film tries to spook audiences but in my opinion it falls flat and loses itself in its own plot. Even Joan Blondell couldn't save the movie for me. And I absolutely adore her and will watch just about any movie she's in. In Miss Pinkerton, Blondell's wide eyes grow even wider whenever she screams in fear. She does the frightened look well. But her character is in no way a victim even when she's put in various dangerous situations. She's sassy, clever and scrappy: the perfect detective. If I had to chose one thing I really liked about the film, it was Miss Pinkerton as a pre-code woman!

Source: Pre-Code.com

Nurse Adams/Miss Pinkerton and Inspector Patten (George Brent) have a romance which I thought could have been played up a bit more. The love story is rather neglected. It isn't given enough time to develop and because of that we don't really see any sparks between the two love birds. That whole plot line seems to have been added as after thought rather than an important part of the story.

It was nice to see actress Mary Doran in the film. She plays Florence Lenz, a gopher of one of the story's villains. Doran also played the other woman in one of my favorite pre-codes The Divorcee (1930). Also, Lyle Talbot has a bit part early on in  Miss Pinkerton as newspaper reporter.

Miss Pinkerton (1932) is one of five films in Warner Archive's Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 5 DVD set. If you are a Pre-Code enthusiast, I recommend watching this film at least once to add to your repertoire.

Warner Archive Wednesday - On (random) Wednesdays, I review one title from the Warner Archive Collection. I purchased Miss Pinkerton as part of the Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 5.

Campus Rhythm (1943)

Campus Rhythm (1943) is a Pathe and Monogram picture that belongs to one of my favorite sub-genres of classic film: the collegiate film. It stars Gale Storm as Joan Abbott, a famous radio performer sponsored by the cereal company Crunchy Wunchy. Joan has been in show business all her life and she's sick of it. She dreams of going to college and experiencing campus life. She's underage and still under the control of her uncle Willy (Douglas Leavitt) who just renewed her contract with manager J.P. Hartman (Herbert Heyes) for another 6 months. Joan runs away and joins Rawley University under the assumed name Susie Smith, a moniker she borrowed from her manager's new secretary.

Even at Rawley she can't escape performing life because music just happens to be very much a part of campus life. She finds herself surrounded by talented people. Buzz O'Hara (Robert Lowery) is the head of the fraternity, leader of the campus band and known prankster. Scoop (Johnny Downs), the editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper and Joan/Susie's new love interest. Scoop is as stiff as a freshly starched shirt and is opposed to anything but serious studies on campus. There is always one of those types in a collegiate movie! There is also Harold (Candy Candido) a humorous voice artist and Babs Marlow (GeGe Pearson) a budding singer. Writers, dancers, singers, voice artists, the campus is full of talent just waiting to be discovered.

Susie is always at risk of being found out as Joan Abbott. Her father and manager are on the search for her but Joan is hard to find under her very common assumed name. They come up with a publicity stunt to encourage college students around the country to find Joan Abbott if she is hiding at their school. Most people don't know what she looks like so it's a fun challenge for the students. Another nation-wide college contest seeks to find the next big band.

How long can Joan hide under assumed name when it seems like everyone is looking for her? Especially when a jealous sorority girl is on to her scheme and will do anything to expose Susie as Joan.

The premise of Campus Rhythm is very similar to that of Dancing Co-Ed (1939) starring Lana Turner. Both feature a performer hiding in a college campus under an assumed name and a nation-wide collegiate publicity stunt. In the case of Campus Rhythm, the protagonist's intentions are always genuine.

The plot can be considered rather weak but that didn't stop me from enjoying this film immensely. I liked it so much I started watching again immediately after my first viewing. There are some great songs including "But Not You", "Swing Your Way Through College" and "You Character".  Hollywood seems to love a good yarn about a fake college student or one incognito. The new person dynamic in these cases really shakes things up on campus in a very entertaining way. And what is it with nation-wide collegiate contests? Was this a thing? I'd love to learn more about the collegiate life of early to mid-twentieth century America.

Gale Storm is a delight to watch and she's one of three talents to take note of in this film. There is also Candy Candido who was famous for his ability to effortlessly switch between three different octaves. He was already a well-known radio star, was establishing himself as a voice artist and bass player in film and went on to become a voice actor for animated film. I enjoyed watching radio actress and singer GeGe Pearson who plays campus singer Babs Marlow and performs a few songs in the film.

Also watch for prolific character actor Tom Kennedy who has a small but funny role as a Police Seargant. He's a favorite of mine and I was glad to see a familiar face in the movie.

I wasn't expecting much from Campus Rhythm and was pleasantly surprised. If you love 1940s music, radio culture and collegiate films, this is definitely one to add to your repertoire. It's available on DVD through the MGM Limited Collection. I rented it through ClassicFlix only to discover I had it available to me this whole time through Netflix Instant. Oh well!

 

The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969)

The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969) is a Western and the last film produced by the independent outfit Robert Goldstein Productions. The film was directed by Burt Kennedy and features a wonderful cast including Robert Mitchum, George Kennedy, both David and John Carradine and Martin Balsam. Other notable supporting actors include Marie Windsor, Tina Louise, Buddy Hackett, Douglas Fowley, Lois Nettleton who I recognized from having seen Period of Adjustment (1962) and Kathleen Freeman who is in just about every TV show there ever was.

Robert Mitchum stars as Flagg, the aging Marshall of an isolated town called Progress. Mayor Wilker (Martin Balsam) has just kicked out the local prostitutes (albeit temporarily) in an effort to clean up the town and improve his chances at becoming re-elected. Flagg has just heard that legendary outlaw John McKay (George Kennedy) is heading to Progress with a band of young up-and-coming outlaws. They plan to rob a train, carrying a significant load of money, when it makes it's stop at a Progress depot. Flagg wants the help of the Mayor and the Deputy plus 20 men to stop the outlaws. However, the Mayor laughs off the threat and forces Flagg into retirement.

That doesn't stop Flagg however from finding McKay and his posse and trying to stop them. What he witnesses is interesting. McKay's men don't respect him and a lot of that is because of his age. Flagg and McKay go way back and although they are on opposite sides of the law, they see pretty much eye-to-eye when it comes to how things should be done. There is a big difference between the old outlaws and the new brand of ones. The young outlaws have no respect for their elders, don't have any sense of honor, kill even when it's not necessary and will shoot a man in the back without giving him a fair chance to fight back. McKay is under Flagg's arrest and together they try to stop the outlaws from their big heist.

While the title of the film is The Good Guys and the Bad Guys this really is more about The Old Guys and the Young Guys. But I'm sure that title wouldn't have sold very many movie tickets. The main conflict here is not between good guys and bad guys but between the old and the young. Let's take Mayor Wilker on the one hand. He's technically a good guy but he clearly has bad intentions. He likes to manipulate the young including his younger sidekick Boyle (Dick Peabody) and others, notably a young married woman (Tina Louise) with whom he has an affair. He can't successfully manipulate Flagg however who is closer to him in age than his other victims. Lots of characters are paired by age. Flagg is romantically pursued by the much younger Mary who runs the boarding house he lives in. McKay and Waco (David Carradine) are always at odds. Polly (Marie Windsor) turns down the attention of a young outlaw for the platonic company of the older Grundy (Douglas Fowley). And so and and so forth. In the end, the battle is really between age and wisdom and youth and bravado.

Young, Old, Young and Old. That's a young David Carradine in the back!

I have never been a fan of Westerns but I think that is quickly changing. As I work through the canon of Robert Mitchum's work, I am finding that I enjoy his Westerns a great deal. The Good Guys and the Bad Guys is a light Western in the respect that there is a comedic undertone that keeps it from taking itself too seriously. It has a great cast and it's just fun to watch. I was not very familiar with George Kennedy, having only seen a few of his films, and I discovered that I liked him very much indeed. I'll have to watch more of his movies (recommendations are welcome).

The movie posters play up the "sex" in the form of Tina Louise (Ginger from Gilligan's Island) who had a very small role in the film.

The film has a great theme song called The Ballad of Marshall Flag sung by folk artist Glenn Yarbrough. You can listen to it with the player below. Yarbrough also sang the theme song for the film Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965). Fans of Yarbrough might like to know that his daughter runs a Facebook page for him and keeps fans up to date and also relays fan messages to her father.

Many thanks to my friend Frank who let me borrow his DVD copy!