Robert Hutton, Joyce Reynolds and Janis Paige in Wallflower (1948)
Sisters Jackie (Joyce Reynolds) and Joy (Janis Paige) are polar opposites. Joy is the flirtatious fun-loving one, always getting attention from the opposite sex. Jackie is the sensible one. A bit too sensible. She scares all the guys away with her straightforward demeanor. While on leave from college, Jackie and Joy are back home with their rather ditzy but well-meaning parents Mr. Linnett (Edward Arnold) and Mrs. Linnett (Barbara Brown). Jackie is excited to see her old pal Warren James (Robert Hutton). Warren is smitten with Jackie and the feeling is mutual. After having not seen each other in 5 years they both are surprised and pleased to see each other again. However, the voluptuous Jo, clad in a scintillating bathing suit, catches Warren's eye. Much to Jackie's chagrin those two start dating. When Mr. and Mrs. Linnett sponsor a local country club dance, everyone's got a date except for Jackie. Will Jackie be able to come out of her shell and blossom from wallflower to desirable match for Warren? Will Warren realize that Jackie, not Joy, is the girl for him?
Released by Warner Bros. Wallflower (1948) is a whacky screwball comedy. Just the sort of light fare needed for a post-WWII generation. It's directed by Frederick De Cordova who is best known as the longtime executive of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He worked on the show for 22 years and stayed on in an advisory capacity when Jay Leno took over and did so until his death in 2001. In the mid-to-late 1940s De Cordova was mostly working on romantic comedies. Wallflower was based on a play by Reginald Denham and Mary Orr. It was adapted to the screen by husband and wife team Henry and Phoebe Ephron. The Ephrons worked together on numerous films including There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), Daddy Long Legs (1955), and Captain Newman M.D. (1963). They're also the parents of one of my favorite directors/writers Nora Ephron.
The story starts off as a sweet family comedy about two very close sisters, as different as can be, and their meddling yet clueless parents. When Hutton's Warren steps into the picture it escalates into a screwball comedy complete with a drunken attempt at elopement. Several scenes in the film reminded me of Good News (1947) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946). There's nothing earth shattering here. This is light 1940s fluff for people who love 1940s fluff. And if that's not your thing then this movie is not for you.
As of the publication of this article, female leads Joyce Reynolds and Janis Paige are still with us. This is quite remarkable for a film from the 1940s! Reynolds had a very short lived career with Warner Bros. Just as she was getting more starring roles in films, she abruptly retired from the film industry after making her final movie Girl's School (1950). Paige went on to have a long career in TV and film. Reynolds and Paige are a delight in Wallflower. I love that their characters are not pitted against each other even with their differences and competition for the same man. There's no real animosity between the two.
George, Matt and D.W. discuss Wallflower on the Warner Archive Podcast's October Sweet Horror episode (about 18 minutes). George Feltenstein calls the film "buoyant and charming".
Warner Archive Wednesday - On (random) Wednesdays, I review one title from the Warner Archive Collection. Thank you to Warner Archive for sending me a copy of Wallflower (1948) for review!
In collaboration with the Library of Congress, Kino Lorber and film historian Shelley Stamp have curated an impressive and comprehensive collection of early female directed films. Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers is a 6 disc Blu-ray set (also comes in DVD format) that contains over 50 films ranging from shorts, feature films and incomplete movies. The set also includes 8 short informational documentaries, various commentary tracks and original music. What began as a Kickstarter campaign now is is a bonafide piece of film history that any movie buff would be proud to own.
We talk about Pre-Codes, that time period after the silent film era and before the strict enforcement of the Hays Code, when filmmakers had more free rein on releasing films with explicit content. But what about the pre-studio era of silent films? In the early days of motion pictures, the art form wasn’t taken seriously. This opened doors for African-American, Jewish and Female filmmakers to use their creative talents in a new field. Being a film director was a viable career for women because there was no set gender standard. According to film historian Cari Beauchamp, there were over 100 movie studios in the 1910s and between 1920 and 1933 those consolidated into only 7. Along with the male-dominated unions and guilds that sprung up during this time, female filmmakers were shut out making room for the male directors who would take over Hollywood. For one glorious period in early film history however, there was an output of great films that ranged in breadth, depth and subject matter.
“The films that these female pioneers wrote, produced, and often directed have an emotional depth one doesn’t find in other films.” – Ileana Douglas
Included in Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers are 58 of these films, each offering a look into an incredible time in the early history of film. Each disc is arranged by theme and a handful of the films included are exclusive to the Blu-ray set which makes that one even more valuable. With 80% of silent films lost, it’s incredibly important to appreciate what we have and that includes incomplete films. According to Rob Stone, Moving Image Curator for the Library of Congress, fragments tend to languish in vaults and are even more forgotten than whole surviving films. I’m grateful that the Pioneers set includes fragments as well films with some damage, restored to the best of the ability of the preservationists who worked on this project.
Each of the 6 discs contains extras, either commentary tracks or documentaries, averaging about 15 minutes each, on different subjects. These documentaries add real value to the set and I encourage you to watch them before tackling any of the films. They provide context and background information that is crucial to appreciating the movies you are about to see. The talking heads in these docs include principal curator Shelley Stamp as well as other curators, film historians, experts, archivists, preservationists, etc. My only small critique is that these extras start rather abruptly and could have used a short intro for more ease in viewing.
In addition to the docs and commentary is a 76 page booklet which includes an introduction by Ileana Douglas, an essay on the history of female filmmaking by Shelley Stamp, essays on the restoration and spotlights on one particular film and one particular filmmaker, information about the Women’s Film Preservation Fund and a thorough index of credits for the films included in the set. It’s a substantial booklet that reads like a film history book on its own. Another element that adds a lot of value to the set is the original music by silent film accompanists and composers such as Ben Model, the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra, Renee C. Baker, Makia Matsumura, Maud Nelissen, Dana Reason, Aleksandra Vrebalov, etc. I was particularly struck by the score for Back to God’s Country (1919) by Dana Reason and Salome (1923) by Aleksandra Vrebalov.
Going through the Pioneers set was an education in itself. It’s feminist film history in a box. These trailbrazers set a precedent that film history has forgotten and it’s up to us to make sure those lessons are not lost. The subject matters range from gender identity, marriage, adultery, birth control, religion, sexual abuse, etc. However not all of these directors were progressive proto-feminists. Lois Weber for example was a former missionary and had very conservative views. As we’ve learned over the years of studying the history of film, the more perspectives the better.
Some of my favorite films in this set include Mabel Normand’s comedies, Alice Guy Blache’s rags-to-riches-to-rags short A Fool and His Money (1912), Zora Neale Hurston's ethnograph vignettes of African-American life in rural Florida circa 1928, Lois Weber’s controversial feature Where Are My Children? (1916) (starring Tyrone Power Sr.!), Weber’s marital drama Too Wise Wives (1921) (featuring a very young Louis Calhern), Nell Shipman’s Back to God’s Country (1919) (she’s my favorite of the early female filmmakers) and Nazimova’s fantastical Salome (1923).
The Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers set contains the following:
Disc 1: Alice Guy-Blaché Disc 2: Lois Weber Disc 3: Genre Pioneers Discs 4 & 5: Social Commentary Disc 6: Feature Films Era
Directed by Alice Guy-Blaché Greater Love Hath No Man (1911) Tramp Strategy (1911) Algie the Miner (1912) Canned Harmony (1912) Falling Leaves (1912) A Fool and His Money (1912) The High Cost of Living (1912) The Little Rangers (1912) Burstup Homes' Murder Case (1913) The Coming of Sunbeam (1913) A House Divided (1913) Matrimony's Speed Limit (1913) The Ocean Waif (1916)
Directed by Lois Weber On the Brink (1911) Fine Feathers (1912) From Death to Life (1912) Hypocrites (1912) The Rosary (1913) Suspense (1913) Lost By a Hair (1915) Sunshine Molly (1915) Idle Wives (1916) Scandal (aka Scandal Mongers) (1916) Where Are My Children? (1916) Too Wise Wives (1921) What Do Men Want? (1921)
Directed by Helen Holmes Hazards of Helen Ep. 09: Leap From the Water Tower (1915) Hazards of Helen Ep.13: The Escape on the Fast Freight (1915) The Hazards of Helen Ep. 26: Wild Engine (1915)
Directed by Grace Cunard Purple Mask, The; Episode 5, Part 1 (1917) Purple Mask, The: Episode 12 (Vault of Mystery) (1917) Purple Mask, The; Episode 13, Part 1 (The Leap) (1917) A Daughter of "The Law" (1921)
Directed by Mabel Normand Caught in a Cabaret (1914) Mabel's Blunder (1914) Mabel Lost and Won (1915) Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day (1916)
Directed by Nell Shipman Back to God's Country (1919) Something New (1920)
Directed by Ida May Park The Risky Road (1918) Bread (1918) Broadway Love (1918)
Miscellaneous 49 - '17 (1917) directed by Ruth Ann Baldwin The Colleen Bawn (1911) script by Gene Gauntier That Ice Ticket (1923) directed by Angela Murray Gibson Ethnographic Films (1929) directed by Zora Neale Hurston The Call of the Cumberlands (1916) directed by Julia Crawford Ivers Motherhood: Life's Greatest Miracle (1925) directed by Lita Lawrence Eleanor's Catch (1916) directed by Cleo Madison Her Defiance (1916) directed by Cleo Madison The Song of Love (1923) directed by dir. Frances Marion Salome (1923) produced by Alla Nazimova The Red Kimona (1925) directed by Dorothy Davenport Reid Linda (1929) directed by Dorothy Davenport Reid When Little Lindy Sang (1916) directed by Lule Warrenton The Cricket (1917) directed by Elsie Jane Wilson The Dream Lady (1918) directed by Elsie Jane Wilson Curse of Quon Gwon: When the Far East Mingle with the West (1916) directed by Marion E. Wong
Extras/Short Documentaries
An Introduction to Series
About the Restorations
Alice Guy-Blache
Lois Weber
Mabel Normand
Serial Queens
Social Commentary
The End of an Era
Thank you to Kino Lorber for sending me a copy of Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers for review.
Christmas in the Movies 30 Classics to Celebrate the Season
by Jeremy Arnold
Turner Classic Movies/Running Press
Hardcover ISBN: 97807624924801
October 2018
208 pages
You can’t watch 30 Christmas movies in one day. But you can experience them all in one afternoon with Jeremy Arnold’s new book Christmas in the Movies: 30 Classics to Celebrate the Season. Starting with Miracle on Main Street (1939) and ending with Love, Actually (2003), this new genre book from Turner Classic Movies’ joint imprint with Running Press captures the spirit of the holiday with the most beloved of the beloved Christmas classics.
Each of the 30 films gets a 5-6 page treatment with photos, credits, an overview of the plot, and information on how the movie came to be made and how it uses the holiday to tell its story. There is also a Holiday Moment aside which describes a particularly Christmassy scene from the film. All the classics are here including Remember the Night (1940), Holiday Inn (1942), Meet Me In St. Louis (1944), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), The Bishop’s Wife (1947), White Christmas (1954), etc . And my personal favorites Christmas in Connecticut (1945) and Holiday Affair (1949) are in here too. Arnold spotlights films that either completely framed within the holiday or they feature Christmas in a significant way. Some of the latter include The Apartment (1960), Gremlins (1984), and Die Hard (1988) (which people love to proclaim is or is not a Christmas movie). Modern classics featured in the book include Little Women (1994), Elf (2003) and Love, Actually (2003) among others.
Why are Christmas movies so enduring? Arnold explains that they conjure up feelings of nostalgia, they focus on family dynamics, they lend themselves to the rituals of the holiday and their feel-good vibes and happy endings make them utterly enjoyable to movie going audiences.
Reading about each of these movies taps into the pleasure that the films themselves. I really enjoyed Arnold’s narrative voice which is very welcoming. The book goes down easy like a cup of hot cocoa with extra marshmallows. While the articles featured are not ground-breaking, I found some nugget of information to take away from almost every single one. You may know everything there is to know about Christmas movies (or can easily Google the information you need) but I don’t think that will hamper your appreciation of this book. I learned the most from the Love, Actually article, a film I used to adore but have grown to dislike over the years and have been meaning to revisit, and was interested in the background of how the story came to be. And there are a few films I had never seen before, including Miracle on Main Street and The Holly and the Ivy (1952) that I bookmarked for future viewing.
Some interesting tidbits include:
The original and final lyrics for “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", the song written for Meet Me In St. Louis, are presented side by side in the book. I’m glad they were changed because the original song was quite dark.
There was a backlash against Alastair Sim starring as Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 adaptation of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge.
Warner Bros. threw a parade in Norwalk, CT for the premiere of Christmas in Connecticut.
I got a newfound appreciation for how TV was instrumental in making so many overlooked Christmas movies into widely appreciated classics.
The idea for The Apartment came to Billy Wilder after he saw one particular scene in Brief Encounter (1945)
Christmas in the Movies is a keepsake treasure perfect for gift giving. And it’s very likely that if your loved one doesn’t watch classic movies that they’ve seen several of the classic Christmas films listed in the book. It’s beautifully designed and I particularly liked its more compact size. If you’re looking for a coffee table type book this is not it. It’s better suited on your mantle next to your Elf on the shelf and above your Christmas stocking.
Thank you to Jeremy Arnold and Running Press for sending me a copy of Christmas in the Movies for review.
