Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956) at the Paramount

My name is on the ticket!!!

I was recently invited by ArtsEmerson to attend one of the Noir Nights screenings being shown at the Paramount Theatre. While I wish I could have seen them all, but I only had time to catch Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956). Although it is the only film in the series that was available on DVD (through Warner Archive), they did show a rare print and it was great to watch it on the big(gish) screen.

The film was shown in the Bright Family Screening room which is part of the Paramount Theater building . While I was hoping to see a film in the grand 1,700 seat theater, I realize that the screening rare noir won't fill up a space that large. In fact, about 35-40 people attending this particular screening. However, I was very, very happy for any excuse to be inside the great Paramount Theater!

Now most currently active classic film bloggers are too new to the blogosphere to remember Ginger (of Asleep in New York) and her scathing and spoiler-ridden review of Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956). I remembered it though. At least I remembered it was scathing. That's pretty much all I remembered because when I went to the screening of the film I had absolutely no idea what it was about. Just that Ginger didn't like it. And you know what, coming to a film almost completely ignorant makes for a very interesting experience. Carlos, who came with me to the screening, had seen the 2009 remake of the same name and knew the plot and most importantly the major twist. So he was expecting what I wasn't.

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt  is Fritz Lang's last American film and stars Dana Andrews and some chick named Joan Fontaine. Dana Andrews is Tom Garrett, a writer who just had a lot of success with his first published book and is struggling to write the second. He's in a relationship with Susan Spencer (Joan Fontaine), the daughter of newspaper magnate Austin Spencer (Sidney Blackmer). Austin Spencer is against capital punishment and is out to prove to District Attorney Roy Thompson (Phillip Bourneuf) that circumstantial evidence could bring an innocent man to the electric chair. When a burlesque dancer is murdered, Spencer recruits Garrett to pretend that Garrett is the murderer. They place fake evidence in various places all the while taking  pictures and records of the acts to prove later that Garrett is innocent and that the evidence led prosecutors to the wrong man. Garrett even ingratiates himself with the two burlesque dancers who were the last to see the murdered woman alive. Garrett goes on trial. Then, as I like to say, things get complicated.

1956 is pretty late for the film noir era. I believe by that point audiences were so used to film noir fare that they were hungry for something new and different. Well Fritz Lang gave them what they asked for with this noir. The film has two major twists. It's those twists that make you either love the film or hate it. Most folks hate it. While I didn't love it, I didn't hate it either. I'm somewhere in the middle. Without providing too many spoilers, I agree with Ginger that the twists make the whole plot implausible. The major flaw is that there is no indication in the beginning of the film about what is to happen at the end. If there were, it would have saved the film for sure. Rebecca Myers from ArtsEmerson introduced the film and read to us from a quote which asked people to watch the film twice (unfortunately I forget the exact quote). I'm curious enough to watch the film a second time in case I missed something the first. However, overall I enjoyed the film. It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time wondering what was going to happen next. Joan Fontaine was just blah. This is not her film. This is Dana Andrews film. And don't you forget it!

Thank you to ArtsEmerson for giving me the opportunity to check out the Noir Nights program! I enjoyed this screening and hope to be back soon.

Paramount Theatre in Pictures

I recently went to the Paramount Theatre in Boston for the Arts Emerson Noir Nights repertory series (post about that to come). The theater opened in 1932 as an Art Deco style movie house but closed in 1976. Emerson College renovated it and added a performing art center to it between the years of 2005 and 2008. The Paramount had it's grand reopening in 2010. I attended Emerson College during the years of renovation, restoration  and building so I never got a chance to go to the Paramount during my grad school years. Visiting the building was a real treat. I didn't get to see the main 1,700 seat theater unfortunately but hope to one day soon. Perhaps I'll have a follow up post with even more pictures then. For now, here is a glimpse of what I got to see. 

A lot of the original Art Deco decor was damaged. So although the theatre is gorgeous, the Art Deco style has a modern feel to it. Well, not really modern. I saw it as Art Deco meets 1970s.

If I were a wealthy bidder at Debbie Reynold's auction...

I would buy the following.

Images from Debbie Reynolds: The Auction

Norma Shearer's Purple Velvet Dress from Romeo & Juliet (1936)

Norma Shearer's Silk Velvet Dress by Adrian from Marie Antoinette (1936)

Norma Shearer's Three Tiered Rhinestone Earrings from Marie Antoinette (1936)

Norma Shearer's Ivory with Black Velvet Gown by Adrian from Marie Antoinette (1936)

Ann Blyth's Grey Two Piece Suit from Mildred Pierce (1945)

(for when I'm feeling bitchy)

Peter Lawford's Raccoon Coat from Easter Parade (1948)

I've always had a fascination with men's fur coats.

Jean Hagen's Period Costume in Singin' in the Rain (1952) 

I WANT THIS ONE SO BAD IT HURTS!

Debbie Reynold's Flapper Dress from Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Marilyn Monroe's Subway Dress from Seven Year Itch (1955)

If this isn't iconic, I don't know what is.

Grace Kelly's Dress from To Catch a Thief (1955)

Shirley MacLaine's Dress from Some Came Running (1958)

What would you bid on if money were no object?

Frank: The Voice by James Kaplan

Frank: The Voice by James Kaplan
800 pages
Hardcover November 2010 9780385518048 $35.00
Paperback November 2011 9780767924238 $18.95
also available in ebook and audio book formats
Anchor (an imprint of Random House)


Before I say anything else, let me warn you that this 700+ page tome stops at 1954. There is no volume 2. There is no printing error. In the life of Frank Sinatra, the book comes to an abrupt halt at 1954 when he won the Oscar for his performance in From Here to Eternity (1953). 1954 is a pinnacle year for Frank Sinatra. After having a tremendous singing career and some nice roles in a few key films, Sinatra's career was in a major slump. Rock 'n Roll was making waves and girls stopped swooning over Frank Sinatra and started swooning over other singers. It seemed like his career was over and his tumultuous second marriage to Ava Gardner didn't help much.

While it was interesting reading about the early life and career of Frank Sinatra, I really want a volume 2. Why? Because the 1960s Sinatra fascinates me the most. The Sinatra of the Rat Pack, Las Vegas, Ocean's Eleven (1960), Tony Rome (1967), The Detective (1968), etc. Heck, I even like the late 1950s Sinatra of The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Pal Joey (1957),  High Society (1956), The Frank Sinatra Show and Come Fly With Me. Sinatra was living large during these years after living small for a while. I want to read about what happened after the big comeback! But alas, Kaplan's book is not going to give any of us that.

While I can complain all day about there is no volume 2, I cannot say that this book was no good. Frank: The Voice was beautifully written, well-researched, very organized and most important interesting. It's the perfect book for die-hard Frank Sinatra fans (especially ones who prefer his earlier career as a singer), lovers of unique biographies and avid nonfiction readers.

In the book, we learn a lot about Frank's early years and the effect his mother Dolly had on him. His mother problems started right when he popped out of the womb. The delivery was so horrendous that Dolly she never had another child and in fact wanted to make sure no one else went through that experience too and became a midwife and abortionist. It also didn't help that the forceps the doctor used to pry out Sinatra gave him a permanent scar. Not a very auspicious start for our Sinatra.

Frank Sinatra wasn't the nicest guy. He was short-tempered and his mob connections made him more dangerous than your average skinny Italian singer. In fact, when Sinatra heard that Peter Lawford had dined with Ava Gardner he threatened Lawford to the point where Lawford was scared for his life. But he had good moments too. Kaplan sad "Frank's commitment to tolerance [for minorities] was genuine and profound." He didn't discriminate in the way many other stars in that era did. Kaplan really delves into Sinatra's first two marriages, first with Nancy Sinatra and then with Ava Gardner. We really learn a lot about him as a person when he's put side-by-side these two totally different women.

Frank Sinatra's rise was slow at the beginning but sped up very quickly. In his early days, he was popular with young women in the same way Elvis would be years later. Instead of having Elvis' height, build and hips, it was Sinatra's thin frame and magnificent blue eyes that made women want to bring him  home to feed him and worship his golden voice. It wasn't long before Sinatra got a film contract to act in movies but even that start was a big rocky. He had a 7 year contract with RKO but he barely made any movies with them and MCA got him out and into a contract with MGM. He was recording, performing and filming like a mad man and it seemed like the work (and the fame and the money) would never run out but it did.

By 1953, his marriage with Nancy Sinatra had long ended, his marriage to Ava Gardner was about to end, he was going into debt, Capitol Records booted him out the door and it seemed like there was no hope. Then the novel From Here to Eternity made it's way into his hands. He read it over and over again dreaming about himself in the Maggio role. Kaplan says:

From Here to Eternity was his big chance, in every possible way: not only because of the distinguished material and company and the huge conspicuousness of the project, but also because of where Frank was in his life. His first legitimate shot at a big dramatic role had arrived at a moment when he was truly old enough, and experienced enough, to give a complicated performance.

Makes you want to see the movie again, huh?

One adverse affect the book had on me, was that it made me despise Ava Gardner more than I had already. The author by no means bashes her. In fact, he attempts to make us understand that Gardner's actions, much like Frank Sinatra's, were born out of those formative early years that mess us all up. However, her but because her actions and her words (from her autobiography) showed what a self-centered, childish and manipulative woman she was. On particular passage (pg 701 in the hardcover) almost made steam come out of my ears. If you can read this book and still love Gardner, you are a bigger person than I am.

One last note. I do have a beef with who ever designed the jacket of the book though. While it's very gorgeous, I love the skinny Frank Sinatra on the spine, they used a post 1954 image of Frank Sinatra on the back of the jacket. Most likely because it had him at a microphone. But I think it's disingenuous to the book to not acknowledge the 1954 cut off by including a picture from a later time. Here is the picture in question:

It's a John Bryson photograph circa 1960s.

Below is a preview of the book, I hope you'll check it out!

Full Disclosure: I won a copy of Frank: The Voice by James Kaplan on Goodreads.