Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Great fun. Great dancing. Singin' in the Rain is a great movie.

Too bad it's taken this movie fan so many years to finally see this wonderful dance film co-directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly.

This is a must-see movie that, strangely, only garnered two Academy Award nominations - and no wins.

Singin' in the Rain gives an affectionate nod to Hollywood's silent era and the publicity machine that built up its stars, acknowledges studio politics, celebrity worship - love how the fans react to the stars arriving at a film premiere at the movie's start and how a movie can either captivate an audience's interest or send them disgusted to the exits.

It's the late 1920s in Hollywood. The first talkie, Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer, is released. The stars and bosses at Monumental Pictures aren't worried - initially. Novelty. Flash in the pan. That is until Jolson's movie starts doing boffo business at the box office. Suddenly, the silent screen pairings of supposed real-life couple Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) now provoke roars of laughter from movie-goers. It doesn't help that Lamont, a beauty on the screen, has a voice that can crack glass.

Lockwood needs a Plan B, pronto, or he figures his run on the big screen is kaput. Buddy Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor) and the girl he's really sweet on, Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), decide to take his latest project and turn it into a musical. Lockwood can sing. He can dance. Substitute Kathy's voice for the irritating tones of Lina and all should be well.

Lina has other plans.

Kelly's dance sequence, in the rain, after he bids Kathy a good night is impressive, but so are many other scenes in this wonderful film. Check out Kelly's work with Cyd Charisse. I felt like I was in a Salvador Dali painting. Donald O'Connor's Make 'em Laugh dance. Fantastic.

There's some great dialogue too - especially between Lockwood and his supposed girl, Lina. He calls it a "cooked up romance." The sparks are real with Cathy though, despite a less-than-promising introduction.

Examples:

Lockwood to Lina: "I don't like her half as much as I hate you."

Lina: "I gave an exclusive interview to every paper in town."

Nice touch at the end. Movie is shot in "Hollywood, USA."

RATING: 9/10

NOTES: Millard Mitchell is always fun to watch. Here, he's studio boss R.F. Simpson. Mitchell died in 1953 at age 50. He'd appear in two other films after Singin' in the Rain.

You're in the Navy Now (1951)

This comedy isn't quite ship-shape.

That's too bad because look at the talent associated with this 1951 release - director Henry Hathaway (Call Northside 777, True Grit) and actors Gary Cooper (high noon, Meet John Doe), Eddie Albert (The Longest Day) and, in his film debut, Charles Bronson.

You're in the Navy Now is based on a true story from the Second World War. The United States Navy experimented with a steam engine that would boost the speed of a sub chaser by 10 knots. Project XP11204 is pretty neat, a slice of WWII history this history buff didn't know about.

Said engine never seems to work for long, prompting numerous replacements and returns to sea to make it right. Dubbed the Tea Kettle, the boat and its crew becomes the joke of the navy. Morale is poor. Skipper Lt. John Harkness (Gary Cooper) is flustered. He's an engineer who was quickly educated in the ways of the military and pressed into service. Almost all of the crew is also new to the navy too, save George Larrabee (Millard Mitchell), an old salt who wonders what he's done to get his latest assignment. He calls his comrades "a lot of misfits."

There are numerous problems with this film. Let's start with Harkness' wife, Ellie (Jane Greer). She's way too young for him. Cooper would have been about 50 when he made this film. Greer was half her age. I complained about a wide age difference last week with The Pink Panther. The same argument stands here. It's hard to believe these two are a couple. There's no chemistry. I'd suggest not offering this line to your better half, "You smell better than an engine room."

Some of the acting is just plain bad. I'm a big fan of Mitchell, who I first discovered in the excellent war film twelve o'clock high. But there's a scene in this film where he reacts with laughter that makes him look like he's making his debut in a high school drama production. My beef isn't just with Mitchell. There are other scenes in this film that look like they involve a bunch of amateurs, not a major studio effort from 20th Century Fox and a decent talent like Hathaway.

Here's another complaint which isn't really fair since this movie was made in 1951. But I think viewers will definitely notice. The funniest scene in the film involves the Tea Kettle racing along at an unstoppable speech. Numerous collisions appear imminent. But, to a viewer in 2013, it's so obvious scenes of other ships, or structures, are cut in. Sigh. But I do love how the brass react to the bumpy ride along the way.

And, how about the top secret angle associated with the project. Doesn't that make things hush-hush? Yet everyone and his brother on the naval base knows what's going on with the Tea Kettle. New steam engines are loaded on in broad daylight. Loose lips sink ships. Wouldn't the Germans and Japanese figured out what the Americans were up to with all that chit chat?

There are funny moments in the film. Efforts to move the ship from its berth with an impatient port commander (Ed Begley) are quite well-done.

But You're in the Navy Now comes close to being a shipwreck.

RATING: 5/10

Thieves' Highway (1949)

It takes a lot of work to be a workingman in this film.



Kenny, reviewed on this site three weeks ago, was an incredibly funny, but also touching look at a content employee for an Australian portable toilet company.



Thieves' Highway, from director Jules Dassin (The Naked City, Riffi), paints a much bleaker picture of life as an average Joe just trying to make a buck.



In this 1949 release from Twentieth Century Fox, blue collar workers are ripped off, work long hours in dangerous conditions, get beat up and die. Happy Labour Day to you, too.



Nick Garcos (Richard Conte) returns home after a lengthy spell working on the sea. He's done well for himself, literally showering his parents and sweetheart Polly Faber (Barbara Lawrence) with money. The homecoming celebration doesn't last long once Nick learns his father lost his legs in a trucking collision.



Yanko Garcos (Morris Carnovsky) blames crooked fruit buyer Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb) for causing the collision that cost him his legs and a nice payout for services rendered.



Nick vows payback and swings into action. He wants to repossess his father's truck from Ed Prentiss (Millard Mitchell), but ends up going into business with him. Prentiss knows where they can score Golden Delicious apples and get them to market before anyone else. It's when these two men meet that audiences see another challenge for the workingman - getting stiffed. Slob (Jack Oakie) and Pete (Joseph Pevney) want their own deal with Prentiss, but he blows them off. They figure something is up and decide to tail him.



Garcos and Prentiss get their apples, but problems soon follow with their trucks and fatigue. Nick gets to market in San Francisco first where he encounters Figlia for himself. His reputation as a shyster is well-known, even the police know about his crooked dealings. Garcos wants a good price for his apples. Figlia is looking for an angle to take a bite out of Garcos' approach. Enter Rica (Valentina Cortese), a streetwalker who Garcos can't figure out. Is she trying to help him or get him killed?





Kenny was an easy character to love. He was a hard-worker and had a lot of funny things to say. It's not as easy to cheer for Garcos. This chap is not above using violence to settle scores. He's supposed to be marrying Polly, but is definitely attracted to Rica. Garcos is kind of dumb too. He makes a long-distance call in a restaurant telling Polly of his big cash score from Figlia. You think some of those diners might want to get their hands on his billfold, let alone Figlia?





Thieves' Highway offers several strong performances, especially from Conte (The Godfather, Ocean's Eleven) and Cobb (Call Northside 777, 12 Angry Men). Mitchell (Twelve O'Clock High) is solid as a veteran driver who is also a player when it comes to dealing with other truckers.





The Criterion Collection release of Thieves' Highway does a fine job of making cinematographer Norbert Brodine's work look top notch.





RATING: 8/10



FUN FACTS: Brodine was director of photography of Libeled Lady, one of this site's favorite films.



A.I. Bezzerides wrote the screenplay for Thieves' Highway. It's based on his book.



Two principal members of the cast are still alive at this writing: Valentina Cortese (b. 1923) and Barbara Lawrence (b. 1928). Lawrence also appeared in A Letter to Three Wives, reviewed earlier on this site.



Jack Oakie received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for The Great Dictator.

Twelve O'Clock High (1949)

This is a must-see film.



Twelve O'Clock High ranks alongside All Quiet on the Western Front, Saving Private Ryan and The Great Escape as one of the finest films movies ever made about war. The 132-minute drama earned four Oscar nominations and won two for supporting actor (Dean Jagger) and sound.



THIS BATTLE IS IN THE MIND



Most of the combat we see in this fine 1949 drama from director Henry King (The Gunfighter, The Song of Bernadette) is in the minds of the American bomber crews. These men were tasked with early daylight bombing raids against German targets. Casualty rates were high. The demands to fly more missions was relentless.



Audiences only see one actual combat sequence at the film's end. The rest of the drama is at 918 Group's base in England.



918 Group is going through a tough stretch. Its men are dying. Objectives are not being hit. Leader Col. Ernie Davnport (Gary Merrill) is given the boot because he's spending more time worried about his men than reaching the air force's objectives. Discipline isn't enforced because he feels bad about what his men are enduring.



NEW BOSS, NEW RULES

His friend, Gen. Frank Savage (Gregory Peck), takes his place and quickly clamps down on what he sees as too many lax attitudes around the base. A guard is demoted. Davenport's second-hand man is arrested and called yellow. The worst of the lot are assigned to a bomber dubbed The Leper Colony. Savage brushes away suggestions of taking it easy on his men. He drives them harder, determined to build pride in the unit through success in the air.



The pilots bristle at Savage's demands and ask for transfers. He turns to his assitant, Maj. Harvey Stovall (Jagger), to tie up the paperwork for as long as possible.



The group starts to achieve success, but Savage soon faces the same conflicts as Davenport. The inevitable deaths of his men are starting to take a toll on him too.



Peck delivers an outstanding performance which rightfully earned him an Oscar nomination. His Savage is curt and driven, determined to get the job done despite all the flack he gets from his men. He has a wonderful chemistry with Jagger, whose Stouvall was a First World War veteran who wanted to fight again against the Nazis.



Millard Mitchell is solid as Maj. Gen. Pat Pritchard. This military leader sees how problems with 918 Group could spread to other units and cripple the American war effort.



Made four years after the Second World War ended, Twelve O'Clock High doesn't dance around war's impact on combatants. Within the film's first five minutes audiences learn of a gunner losing his arm and another man losing part of his head. This ain't no rah-rah war movie.



Watch for Savage's reaction as he leads a raid into German territory. He gets a bad case of the sweats, similar to Tom Hanks' hand that won't stop shaking in Saving Private Ryan.



See this movie. That's an order.



RATING: 10/10

FUN FACTS: Gary Merrill's final two credits were for episodes of the Canadian television show The Littlest Hobo in 1980.

Millard Mitchell died in 1953 of lung cancer (Thank you Internet Movie Database). He was 50.

Dean Jagger was Maj. Gen. Thomas Waverly in White Christmas.

Robert Arthur, who appears as the often promoted and demoted Sgt. McIhenny quite acting in the 1960s. His last credit was in television's Gomer Pyle in 1966. Twelve O'Clock High was nominated for best picture, but lost to All the King's Men.