Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: All These Years Edition, Part III

Wonderland Burlesque's 

Let's All Go To The Movies: 

All These Years Edition, Part III

What's a year? 365 days... and the key word for the third installment of this series of Let's All Go To The Movies.

This is part three of a five part run. Yes... the years, they stretch out before us in a never-ending fashion, until the day they finally end.

Don't worry, I've mixed them up extremely well - variety being the spice of life. I've also included a slew of foreign films and documentaries, for whom among us couldn't use our horizons broadened?

Well, time is a ticking, so let's take yet another look at All These Years...

Part III

First Year 

(1932)

(Based on a 1920 Broadway play by Frank Craven, this film centers on the first year of married life and the hijinks which take place when the husband invites an important financial investor to his house for a homecooked meal.)

(Starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, a pair of bankable stars who made almost a dozen films together.)

(Turns out their on screen chemistry came to life behind the scenes, too. The duo was romantically involved throughout their work together in silent films, but chose to keep it from the public. They were frequently assisted by mutual friend, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Looking back, Fairbanks would recall, "We three were so chummy that I became their 'beard,' the cover-up for their secret romance. I would drive them out to a little rundown, wooden house well south of Los Angeles, near the sea. I'd leave them there and go sailing or swimming until time to collect them and then we'd all have a bit of dinner.")

 (Reportedly, Farrell proposed marriage in 1929, during the filming of Lucky Star. However, they never followed through with it. In later years, when asked why the two drifted apart, Gaynor remained vague, offering differing accounts and reasons.)

(Gaynor holds the distinction of being the first actress to win an Academy Award for Best Actress. After retiring from acting in 1939, Gaynor married designer Adrian. She went on to become an accomplished oil painter. In September of 1982, she sustained multiple injuries when a drunk driver struck a taxicab in which she was a passenger - she never recovered. The injuries sustained eventually caused her death two years later.)

Charles Ferrell

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The Dangerous Years

(1947)

(The Gopher Hole, a new roadhouse restaurant outside of town, threatens life in a small town, as residents are certain it will bring about the ruination of their teenage kids.. A local teacher who runs a youth club for the boys, investigates and ends up being killed during a botched robbery. A fervent district attorney intent on bringing the killers to justice, with secrets of his own, soon finds the tables turned and his world turned upside down.)

(Marilyn Monroe makes her first onscreen appearance as Evie, the waitress. Producer Sol M. Wurtzel paid her $125.00 for a week's work. Originally slated to play a 'secretary,' she only worked a single day.)

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Germany Year Zero

(1948)

(A young boy struggles to survive in war-torn Berlin after WWII.)

(Directed by Roberto Rossellini, it is the final film in his war film trilogy.)

(Filmed on location in Berlin, Rossellini hoped to convey the hardships faced by Germany people during the year after World War II. Images of bombed out Berlin and of the human struggle for survival capture the total destruction of Nazi Germany.)

 (Visiting Berlin in March 1947, Rossellini had only the vaguest of notions regarding this film, casting non-professionals he met on the street. He discovered Ernst Pittschau sitting on the front steps of a retirement home and learned that he had been a silent film actor some forty years earlier. Former ballet dancer Ingetraud Hinze was spied standing in a food line. Struck by the look of despair on her face, she was cast immediately. Franz-Otto Krüger came from a family of academics and had been imprisoned by the Gestapo during the war. Others cast included: a former Wehrmacht general, an ex-wrestler, a literature and art history professor, a model, and a group of children living on the streets.)

(For the lead role, Rossellini wished to find a young German boy who resembled his recently deceased son, Romano Rossellini. Several boys auditioned, but none were found workable. Then, one night, Rossellini went to see the Barlay circus.  There he saw an eleven-year-old acrobat named Edmund Meschke. An audition was arranged. Rossellini combed Meschke's hair to resemble that of his son and, the transformation complete, cast him in the lead role. The finished film began would begin with a title card: "This film is dedicated to the memory of my son Romano. — Roberto Rossellini.")

(Without a script in place, filming began mid- August of 1947. Rossellini instructed the actors to improvise their dialogue, while directing the film in French, using a translator. Shooting on location in the streets of Berlin, Rossellini was amazed how little attention people, who were preoccupied securing food, shelter and necessities, paid to a film crew.)

 (At one point, Rossellini, who was having a torrid affair with actress Anna Manani, abandoned the production, flying to Rome to spend a week with his mistress. Carlo Lizzani stepped up to direct several scenes during his absence. By mid-September, filming in Berlin was completed and the production moved to Rome to film the interior scenes. 

(However, when the German actors arrived in Rome they discovered the sets had not been built and had to wait until November to resume shooting. A further delay was caused due to all the weight gained by the previously malnourished Germans. In order to preserve continuity, the cast was placed on crash diets.)

(Once filming in Rome was complete,  most of the German actors didn't want to go back to Berlin. Many of them escaped and disappeared into to the Italian countryside.) 

(The film's final budget? $115,000.)

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The Happy Years

(1950)

(Based on the 1910 novel The Varmint by Owen Johnson, this film tells the story of Dink Stover, a rebellious boy who attends the Lawrenceville Prep School in New Jersey. His family, who reside in Eastcester, New York, had just about given up on his education because he is such an incorrigible child. At school, he is in and out of trouble, quickly finding himself on the outs with his classmates. Their opinion of him changes once he challenges several of them to a fight. While home for the summer, he meets Miss Dolly Travers, who wants nothing to do with him due to his immaturity. This causes the young man to act out even more. However, once back at school, his heart and mind are changed by a wise teacher.)

(The film bombed at the box office, resulting in MGM losing $1,096,000; equal to $11.6M in 2018.)

(This served as Robert Wagner's film debut.)

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Next Year, Same Time

(1967)

(An advertising editor spends Christmas every year with his family in Münster. This year is no exception, except... he has his new girlfriend waiting for him in a nearby hotel!)

(This West German drama was directed by Ulrich Schamoni and stars Ulla Jacobsson, Sabine Sinjen, and Johannes Schaaf. It won three German Film Awards and was entered into the 17th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Jury Prize.)

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In The Year 2889

(1967)

(After nuclear war has wiped out most of Earth's population,  group of survivors, who are holed up in a secluded valley, must protect themselves from rising radiation levels, mutants, and in some cases, each other.)

(An American made-for-television horror science fiction film from American International Pictures starring Paul Petersen, Quinn O'Hara, Charla Doherty, Neil Fletcher and Hugh Feagin. AIP commissioned low-budget cult film auteur Larry Buchanan to produce and direct this film as a color remake of Roger Corman's 1955 film, Day the World Ended.)

(The title has nothing to do with the film.  In the Year 2889's title is borrowed from a short story by Jules Verne and his son, Michael Verne - which AIP just happened to own the rights to. Not only does the film not take place in 2889, it also has nothing in common with the Vernes' short story. The screenplay is credited as 'written' by Harold Hoffman. but that's not quite true. See, AIP gave Buchanan the script from the 1955 Roger Corman film Day the World Ended, as written by Lou Rusoff and instead of reinventing the film or coming up with something original, Buchanan handed in an almost line-for-line, scene-for-scene remake of the Corman picture.)

 (AIP decided that they would make color remakes of all their vintage sci fi films.  Paul Blaisdell, who worked on those original films during the  1950's as a special effects technician and handled the effects seen in Corman's Day the World Ended, happened to come across the film while channel surfing on a Saturday afternoon. "I recognized some of the dialogue coming out of the actors' mouths because it was a direct steal from Day the World Ended. I sat there, staring at it, and I just couldn't believe it. I was absolutely spellbound. It's just absolutely unbelievable that they [remade] those. I don't want to know a damn thing about them. I hope I never see them. One was more than enough!")

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The Year Of The Sex Olympics

(1968)

(In a future society, the world is divided between common laborers and their wealthy superiors, who control the government and media. The upper class controls the lower class via the constant broadcast of pornography which the upper class believes will pacify them and keep them in their place. A rebel  pushes for change, demanding that the media should be used for educational purposes and the betterment of the laboring class. However, after the accidental death of a participant in The Sex Olympics results in unprecedented ratings, the broadcast station's coordinator creates a new program: The Live-Life Show. The rebel, along with his partner and daughter are stranded on a remote Scottish island. When audience reaction is not what they expected, the coordinator decides to introduce an element of danger to the island in order liven things up. It does the trick, and the show is a huge success.)

(This 1968 television play was created by the BBC and first broadcast on BBC2. It stars Leonard Rossiter, Tony Vogel, Suzanne Neve and Brian Cox, was directed by Michael Elliott and was written by Nigel Kneale, who is best known as the creator of the popular Quatermass.)

(Earlier, Kneale had adapted George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four resulting in a great deal of   controversy for the  BBC. This new play reflected much of Kneale's assimilation of Orwell's concern about the power of the media and his own experiences as part of the evolving media industry.   Influenced by concerns about overpopulation, the counterculture of the 1960's, and the societal effects of television, the play is often cited as having predicted the birth of reality television.)

(At the time Kneale, who had a long, successful track record writing for the BBC, had since become disenchanted with the broadcast giant. The issue? Money.  When the BBC sold the film rights to his work, The Quatermass Experiment, they neglected to pay Kneale what was due him. Because compensation was not forthcoming, he began to freelance; writing and producing scripts for Associated Television and Hammer Films. When the BBC approached Kneale for a new play, Kneale turned them down flat. That's when The Director General of the BBC, Sir Hugh Greene, learned of the slight and arranged for Kneale to be given a £3,000 ex gratia payment. Accepting the payment, Kneale then agreed to create a new piece for the broadcast company, The Year of the Sex Olympics.)

(The play immediately attracted the attention of  'Clean-Up TV' campaigner Mary Whitehouse of the National Viewers and Listeners Association, who, after reading the script, attempted to block its production. However, once again, Sir Hugh Greene came to the rescue and Whitehouse's objections were overruled.)

(BBC2 was the only UK television station broadcasting in color at the time. The Year of the Sex Olympics was presented a production featuring gaudy sets, costumes and makeup in order to take advantage of this innovation. Sadly, as it frequently happened during this media era, the color master tapes were erased some time after broadcast, and the play was believed lost completely until the 1980's when a 16mm black-and-white  recording was discovered and released on DVD with commentary.)  

(Audience Research Report reported that much of the viewing audience "found the play impenetrable.")

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Brazil Year 2000

(1969)

AKA: Brasil Ano 2000

( This drama follows the adventures of a girl and her mother as they explore a devastated Brazil during the year following WW III.)

(Directed by Walter Lima Jr.,  he cast and film crew spent three months in Paraty before moving to Rio de Janeiro. Locations used include the National Museum of Brazil and the Brazilian National Archives.)

(Entered into the 19th Berlin International Film Festival,  it won a Silver Bear.  It also won the Best Film Award at the 1970 Cartagena Film Festival and Best Director at the Manaus Film Festival.)

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The Year Of The Hare

(1977)

AKA: Janiksen Vuosi

(A young advertising executive in Helsinki walks away from his career and entire life, choosing instead to spend time in the Finnish wilderness. A wounded rabbit hit by a car becomes his traveling companion. Together they journey to the Finnish Lapland, only to be disturbed by a noisy group of foreign tourists and their pretentious Finnish hosts. When the rabbit becomes ill and is in need of a vet, he returns to the city, where he must choose between his old and new life.)

(Based on the 1975 book of the same name, this drama stars Antti Lija and was directed by Risto Jarva,  who perished in a car accident when returning home from a VIP-screening of the film.)

In a letter accompanying  the first draft of the film sent to the Finnish Film Foundation the production company included the following manifesto: "The meaning of the film is to show how precious nature is and how preserved it should be. The film is also meant to show how beneficial nature's influence is on the hectic and distressed urban human mind which has been pushed forward by the competition-mentality and the selling of oneself. The Year of the Hare is a story about a flight to the countryside, a flight to nature, to a lifestyle which is simpler and more agrarian. It is an idealistic tale in the spirit of Henri Rousseau and Frank Capra. The Year of the Hare is a story about aligning with the one who is weaker, a story about how goodness makes one's life pleasant - even today."

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The Year Of The Jellyfish

(1984)

(After seducing a married friend of her parents and undergoing an abortion, a teen girl goes on holiday in Saint-Tropez with her mother while her father remains at work in Paris. She is looking for new sexual adventures and initially falls for an older man whose main interest is supplying young girls to rich men. For himself, the man is far more interested in the mother, who gradually warms to his overtures, eventually becoming his enthusiastic lover much to the chagrin of her daughter. After having a threesome with a married German couple during which the husband walks out on the wife, the teen girl begins a romance with the abandoned women. The daughter, in an act of jealousy, then murders her mother's new lover in order to destroy her mother's happiness.) 

(This drama was directed by Christopher Frank, the author of the novel which inspired it. Starring Valérie Kaprisky and Bernard Giraudeau, it ended up being the 23rd highest-grossing film in France during 1984.)

(Emmanuelle Seigner's film debut.)

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Year Of Enlightenment

(1986)

AKA: El Ano de las Luces / The Year Of Awakening

(Set in Portugal in April of 1940, two brothers, ages sixteen and eight, are placed by their older brother, a lieutenant in the Army, in a sanatorium for children suffering from tuberculosis. Once they make themselves at home the sixteen year-old, surrounded by much younger boys, quickly acclimates and assumes a leadership role. The only other man around is a handyman who tends the gardens and looks after the place and lives with his wife who serves as the institution's cook. As hormones take control, the teen interacts with the woman who runs the sanatorium, a crabby, spinster school teacher, and the school nurse. It is the latter with whom the teen has his first sexual experience, albeit as a voyeur. When the nurse leaves her position, it is assumed by a young girl from a nearby village with whom the teen falls head over heels in love.)

 

(Based on the real life experiences of the director's father in-law. Directed by Fernando Trueba and starring Jorge Sanz and Maribel Verdú, this coming-of-age story set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War was awarded the Silver Bear at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival.)

(The teenage leads, Jorge Sanz and Maribel Verdú, proved so popular they were subsequently cast opposite one another in a number Spanish films throughout the 1980's and 1990's.)

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Year Of The Comet

(1992)

(The mousy daughter of an esteemed wine merchant discovers a magnum of wine, vintage 1811, bearing Napoleon's seal. It is sold to the merchant's best customer who sends a friend to retrieve it. The sale attracts the attention of all sorts of unsavory characters, including: a Greek billionaire, to whom the wine merchant's unscrupulous son has independently sold the bottle; a French scientist, who believes it contains the secret to eternal life, a secret he is willing to kill for; and a murderous thug, who wants to sell the bottle to the highest bidder. The bottle changes hands several times as the various parties race across Europe from the Scottish Highlands to Èze. In the end, the criminals are defeated, as the daughter and courier fall in love. It all ends at a private auction, where the bottle sells for $5 million to an anonymous bidder whose identity, when revealed, is a surprise to all.)

(Directed by Peter Yates and starring Timothy Daly, Penelope Ann Miller, and Louis Jourdan, in his final film role, the film was written by William Goldman and produced by Alan Brown and Phil Kellogg. Goldman said he was inspired to write the film due to his love of red wine, and a desire to do a romantic adventure comedy thriller in the vein of 1963's Charade. He also wanted to set it in the most romantic places he knew: London, the Scottish highlands, and the French Riviera.

The script was completed in 1978 and was to be the second of a three-picture deal he had with Joseph E. Levine. Goldman's original choice for the female lead was Glenda Jackson, while Cary Grant served as his inspiration for the male lead. Levine had another star in mind... he wanted Robert Redford.

 (However, the film never made it beyond the planning stage, and, when Levine died. rights passed to his wife Rosalie who sat on it until Castle Rock Productions, for whom Goldman had written two very successful films - The Princess Bride and Misery. Goldman approached the widow and asked to purchase the rights to the screenplay, then known as A Very Good Year.)

 (Penelope Ann Miller, coming off Kindergarten Cop and Timothy Daly, star of the popular television show Wings were cast in the leads. "It's a great role," said Daly. "This movie has an old-fashioned feel to it-in the best possible sense. It's almost swashbuckling. My character is the kind of guy I've been dying to play for a long time. He's got a lot of strings: he's tough, resourceful, funny, irreverent, he has a skewed view of things and a few emotional walls that he keeps up.")

(The film did poorly with preview audiences, which was attributed to their lack of enthusiasm for red wine. A new opening sequence was filmed where Daly's character proclaims he hates red wine and has to be dragged to a tasting, however it failed with the audience as well. "There was nothing we could do," said Goldman, "because, no matter how we fussed, this was a movie about red wine and the moviegoing audience today has zero interest in red wine.") 

 (Daly summed it all up best: "What a bummer, man. I loved that movie, I loved doing it. It was just a great part for me! And that was my shot, right? That was my shot to be a movie star. I mean, on paper, it was a William Goldman script, Peter Yates directing, it was a Castle Rock production, it had a good budget - and the movie just did not work. But I still think, as I recall, I think I was pretty good in that movie. I mean, I don’t blame myself for the lack of success. There was also the added novelty that it was released the weekend of the Rodney King riots, where every white person in the United States was locked in their safe room. So I don’t think a lot of folks were traipsing out to the movies. I think it may still hold the record for being the biggest flop in Castle Rock history. A dubious distinction.")

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And that's all for now.

Tune in next week...

Same time, same channel.

Happiest Years - Jaymes Young