7 out of 10
nm
I Worship The Goddess Amber Tamblynshare
6/10. Kind of corny. Dramatic, though.
"Did you make coffee...? Make it!"--Cheyenne.
The first hour and a half was generally upbeat and lighthearted so I wasn't expecting the dramatic change of tone which left me with somewhat mixed feelings.
shareThat first half hour of the film I kept chuckling. With Paulette Goddard, the little monkey animal and the darkie maid in it, I was convinced I was watching a comedy. But as you say all that falls away after a time. So I think with this confusion of genres going on, I can only give it 6/10. Great setting though.
shareThis film definitely is dated. For example it is hard for contemporary audiences to deal with the black servant part (portrayed by Louise Beavers).
Paulette Goddard's over the top southern belle was probably considered hot stuff in 1942 and now at times is risible. However, many of the characterizations (Milland, Wayne, Massey, Preston, Bickford, Overman) hold up well and the underwater sequences are still exciting. Pure escapist fair but still highly entertaining.
[deleted]
I was thinking the same thing; wondered why nobody had mentioned, one of Duke's overlooked villainy traits was how casually King Cutler offered him a job commanding a slave ship ??? He didn't even blink. Did he think they came along willingly?...
shareOne of the interesting things about this film, in my opinion, is the fact that many of the primary characters are highly nuanced, exhibiting "good" and "bad" qualities at the same time.
shareI noticed that too -- they kept it interesting; just when you thought you could predict one character's attitude, they'd surprise you... Loxie, you could get a tennis neck trying to figure out which one she'd end up with.
My favorite scene was when Raymond Massey acted like he was gonna take on Duke
single-handedly and then locked the door and seduced him into joining him !!
I remembered reading on wiki that Duke thought he got hired to make Milland look good -- but I thought Duke came out as the real working-class hero trying to not get taken advantage of and still have a chance to win the girl.
And how many times does one get to see the massive Duke Wayne lifted up in the air and tossed aside like a rag doll? The film is worth viewing for that bit alone.
shareAgree with that.
Another thing "The Quiet Man" did so well, the fight choreography.
Duke's fighting, in this film, always looks good to me, but some of the set-ups between pirates and sailors in this film seemed wooden and stagey, the silent-movie style o' fighting?
I was surprised that I liked it because, aside from the QM, the Cowboys and one other, I wouldn't pick a John Wayne picture, myself; I picture dry westerns and war movies.
The one other, can't remember the name, can someone tell me? A very, very young Duke as a sailor trying to take his pay and sail for home, who spends the whole story in danger of being robbed, shanghaied or both? set in an English or Irish port with this foggy, Diagon-Alleylike brick lane of pubs and hovels like the settings for Oliver Twist?
And yeah, Duke and Ray and Robert were all hot in this, but Raymond Massey just did me in! He steals every scene. Ooh! I love to play that game, where you have to cast the old movie from current actors. Brendan Gleeson would make a perfect King Cutler...
The film to which you refer is "The Long Voyage Home" (1940), based on three plays by Eugene O'Neill and directed by John Ford.
The country bumpkin type is certainly not the sort of role one would associate with John Wayne. Of course, it was made rather early in his career, before he was truly established as a major star with a defined screen persona.
You probably have a point about the staging of at least some of the fight sequences. I will say that I thought most of the action sequences were handled well, but DeMille's style could look rather artificial and "stylized". Sometimes it's ineffective editing. He also had a tendency to speed up the action slightly at key points with the end result looking clumsy and forced.
thank you! O'Neill, I knew it was based on something like that --
silly me, equating it with silent screen days, forgetting the director
was De Mille.
I had originally left off the word "Home" in "The Long Voyage Home". One of the three O'Neill plays upon which the film is based is so entitled. I'm pretty sure I read all three of the plays many years ago as part of a course in American Literature. I don't recall much about them, and I think I've seen the film only once and that was probably back in the 90s.
shareI wholeheartedly agree about Massey's performance in this film. Of course, he gave many fine performances in varied roles over his illustrious career spanning more than four decades.
In many respects he was that rare and special character actor. While he always exhibited his own type of commanding presence, he wasn't simply playing "himself" from role to role. Therefore, he could be equally convincing playing an American icon (Abraham Lincoln) or a conniving, treacherous but brilliant villain (Cutler).
I admired those too, and the turn in Arsenic, but
for me, its The Fountainhead. Those speeches about
being defiantly proud of being whupped, turning
it into a private brand of sorts...
hmmm...did Herbert Marshall ever play a villain?
I was amazed at that story about
his leg...no wonder he played "suffering" so well.
with a longer black wig and goatee, I coulda seen
John Garfield as Cutler if he had gotten old enough.
The great Herbert Marshall. When he performed that magnificent voice could carry the day all by itself.
I've seen him in a lot of stuff and don't recall ever seeing him play an out and out bad guy. He may have however and if there's an undiscovered gem our there I'd love to know about it. As an aside, I think he would have been good as King Cutler. Inspired offbeat casting.
I am glad you liked the idea! How interesting a topic that would be, all
on its own; wonderful voices, wonderful personas, flipped, so that the 3rd
act reveal would be as startling to the current audience as to the protagonist!
I never quite expected a lot from Walter Pidgeon's characters; I automatically think, 'ohhh, okay, they needed someone with a tall fatherly presence and voice, but he isn't really key in the action...', but tonight, in "Mrs. Parkington", he's gotten burned up at the 400 for snubbing lovely Greer Garson, and now he's ruining people and causing suicides! Bravo, Walter!
Another (this could use its own topic!) is Burgess Meredith. The Pengin just doesn't count, but did he ever play a real villain? Even when he complained to Lenny in "Mice n Men" about all he could do if he wasn't saddled by an old promise, I thought it only human. That's one autobiography (Meredith's) I am dying to get a read on...
As a contract player for many years with MGM, Pidgeon (like many others), was compelled to take a number of undistinguished parts in undistinguished films. However, if one looks at his entire body of work you are looking at a solid career which included numerous impressive performances in good films. I'm thinking of Dark Command (1940), Man Hunt (1941), Command Decision (1948), Executive Suite (1954), Forbidden Planet (1956), The Rack (1956), Advise & Consent (1962), Harry in Your Pocket (1973).
In the Civil War era drama "Dark Command" Pidgeon portrays the heavy, a thinly disguised version of the infamous renegade William Quantrill. I think he could have done a good job as Cutler. Meredith, while a fine and versatile performer for most of his career, was not the physically imposing figure that I think the part called for.
Yeah, I was unbelievably sexist for not realizing that. I wouldn't have pegged any of our great actresses for the parts they were stuck in, before and/or never getting their chance to show more.
And actually its a testament to his acting that I had him pegged as one of his roles...!
Meredith, yes, was less imposing. One of the feelings I had about that remake done recently of Mice N Men with Gary Sinise and John Malkovich. JM was a little taller, but he didn't actually have the size the part needed. Hmm. I wonder about Sean Penn and the late Chris Penn, but no. Dennis Quaid and Randy Quaid? They wouldn't have to be brothers...
Incidentally, I know George & Lenny weren't related, I was just thinking of males with a relation to each other. The physical resemblance of 2 brothers might actually hurt in this case...
I still remember when they used that idea in "The Long Riders", where all the brothers parts were played by the Keaches, Carradines, Guests and Quaids.
For more than thirty years the major Hollywood studios operated essentially as factories, churning out "products" to fill all those movie theaters, most of which were owned or controlled by the studios themselves. In an era largely without television, let alone home computers, video, the Internet,etc there was a tremendous demand for "product", that is films in large quantities;and most of them didn't have to be very good. Many were made on the cheap and only ran about 60 to 80 minutes.
In line with this a stable of actors and actresses were under contract with weekly salaries. The idea was to keep them constantly working. If their studio didn't have enough "product" in the pipeline they could be loaned out to other studios at a nice profit. Very few were in a position to refuse assignments and hold out for prestige roles. Generally, those that refused assignments were put on suspension with their contracts extended for the length of time they weren't working.
Regarding the "Of Mice and Men" remake, while I haven't seen it, I would be inclined to agree with you about Malkovich playing Lenny. IMDb lists him as six feet even and as I recall his build (at least when that film was made) is on the lanky side not a powerfully built man who could crush a woman to death without meaning to. Randy Quaid does come to mind (of course he's too old now, but maybe 25-30 years ago) as Lenny. I think George should be played by a rather small man, around Burgess Meredith's size.