Wonderland Burlesque's
Let's All Go To The Movies
She's A Lady!
Part XX
Yes, sometimes? It takes a lady.
Or so these films would have us believe.
They promise lots of drama, the occasional comedy or musical, and a little bit of dirt!
Let's take a walk down Hollywood Blvd. and shine a light on these magnificent classic films.
This way, if you please. But remember...
Ladies first!
--- ---
Lady In Ermine
(1927)
The story was remade as an early talkie musical in Technicolor under the title Bride of the Regiment (1930). It was remade again in 1948 by 20th Century-Fox as That Lady in Ermine, starring Betty Grable and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
This is now considered a lost film, as no copies can be found.
--- ---
The Lady In Scarlet
(1935)
When a wealthy art dealer is murdered, the private investigator hired for the case discovers a web of blackmail, corruption and stolen bonds.
--- ---
The Lady In The Morgue
(1938)
Based on the 1936 novel The Lady in the Morgue by Jonathan Latimer, this American mystery was directed by Otis Garrett, written by Eric Taylor and Robertson White, and stars Preston Foster, Patricia Ellis, Frank Jenks, Thomas E. Jackson, Wild Bill Elliott, Roland Drew and Barbara Pepper.
In 1937, Universal Pictures made a deal with the Crime Club, who were published of whodunnits. Over the next few years Universal released several mystery films as part of a series. This film was the third in Universal's Crime Club series.
The Lady In Question
(1940)
The project was a pet of director Charles Vidor, who also guided the two stars, Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth, through both Gilda (1946) and The Loves of Carmen (1948). He was taken with French director Marc Allégret's Heart of Paris (1937) and he lobbied Columbia boss Harry Cohn to procure the remake rights.
This was the first of five films in which Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth appeared together, most famously in their second film, Gilda (1946). They also teamed together in The Loves of Carmen (1948), Affair in Trinidad (1952) and The Money Trap (1965). Their off-screen liaisons ultimately transformed into an enduring, lifelong friendship.
Although made to look older, Brian Aherne was only 14 years older than Glenn Ford, who plays his son in the film. Aherne reportedly relished the role of the middle-aged Andre, enjoying the challenge and the change from the stolid, stiff-upper-lip Briton to which he'd been frequently typed. "After I got into the swing of creating that bourgeois father, living his nature and working it out through the torturous path of the story, it proved more stimulating than any other role that came my way," the actor declared to The Saturday Evening Post.
Evelyn Keyes, who is most famous for her role in Gone With The Wind (1939), plays the daughter Francois Morestan in this film. She married the director Charles Vidor in 1944. She also married John Huston, Artie Shaw and lived with Mike Todd (who left her for Elizabeth Taylor). In addition she had affairs with Glenn Ford, Sterling Hayden, Dick Powell, Anthony Quinn, David Niven and Kirk Douglas. Keyes said of her many love affairs: "I always took up with the man of the moment and there were many such moments." She had to routinely rebuff the advances of the head of Columbia Pictures, Harry Cohn, was raped by director Andrew Stone (she became pregnant, had an abortion, and he fired her from the picture they were working on), and was sexually assaulted by her adopted son. Her first husband, an alcoholic, abused her and committed suicide with a shotgun in her car after she left him. "The note said it was because I had left him. I never left a man again. I made them leave me."
This film can be seen in its entirety on YouTube for free!
--- ---
.
The Lady In Red
(1979)
AKA: Guns, Sin, and Bathtub Gin. Kiss Me and Die
After being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Polly, a young countryside girl decides to leave for the city and all it has to offer. She starts a relationship with John Dillinger and soon discovers that city life isn't as easy as she hoped. She soon finds herself entangled in a world of crime and prostitution. The movie is partly based on the life of John Dillinger.
From a screenplay by John Sayles, this American crime drama was directed by Lewis Teague and stars Pamela Sue Martin and Robert Conrad, Louise Fletcher and Christopher Lloyd.
John Sayles had previously written Piranha for producer Roger Corman which had done very well. He said Corman told Sayles the producer wanted "a female Godfather story about the woman who was with John Dillinger when he was shot” and that was all. According to Sayles, "I wanted to do more than I knew Roger Corman wanted to do with that script. He basically wanted Bloody Mama Part Three; I wanted to get into other things about the Thirties. So I said, “Roger, I will not write you a treatment, I’ll write you a full draft.” And that way I was able to show him things that, if I had just said, “I wanna go into this area, I wanna take her to jail, take her to a sweatshop,” he’d say, “Oh no, that’s beside the point”; whereas when I put it in the script he sort of got to liking the story. So I was able to campaign for the script that I wanted, and get him to agree that he liked that, too."
According to Sayles, Teague had "no voice in casting the first four leads." The writer says that even though the lead character is aged from 17 to 21, the first actress offered the lead was Angie Dickinson who "almost took it... It would have taken a total rewrite to make it make any sense at all. Angie Dickinson, luckily, realized that, and realized that a total rewrite probably wasn’t going to happen and there she would be, making a picture about an 18-year-old woman, and she’s over 40."
Director Lewis Teague was paid eleven thousand dollars to direct this film. However, since this movie was made non-union, he had to pay his entire salary as a fine to the Director's Guild. "I was given that script and told to go with it. I didn't really have a chance to mold or change it. It was very socially conscious for an action picture about the Great Depression. I had 20 days to shoot it, and three to edit and a budget of less than a million."
This includes Pamela Sue Martin's only nude scene in her career. She said she had no issue with the nudity because before making this film she posed fully nude in Playboy in July 1978. She decided to do Playboy because she was starring in the family friendly Nancy Drew series at the time and wanted to break away from her image as a young innocent girl by showing in her nude photos that she had grown up. That pictorial led to the offer to do this film.
Shot in four weeks. Robert Conrad does not appear in the first 51 minutes of the film.
Louise Fletcher's third film after winning the Oscar for Best Actress for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Christopher Lloyd, who was also in that film, appears in this one, too.
This film performed poorly at the box-office. Roger Corman re-released it in 1980 under the title Guns, Sin, and Bathtub Gin, but it did not fare much better. It was also marketed as Kiss Me and Die.
The cast features several soap opera stars: Pamela Sue Martin who played Fallon Carrington on Dynasty, Laurie Heineman who won a daytime Emmy award, and Robert Hogan were both on Another World. Ilene Kristen is known for her long run on Ryan's Hope and One Life To Live.
First credited score for composer James Horner (Titanic). During his career, he would be Oscar-nominated ten times, winning twice!
The Los Angeles Times liked the photography but thought "the film is corrupt and offensive because it sensationalizes racism and sexism."
The Observer called it "a feminist, sex, sadism and socialism picture".
--- ---
And that's all for now.
Tune in next time...
Same place, same channel.
The Lady In Red
(1935)
No comments:
Post a Comment