Classic Films in Focus: IN OLD CHICAGO (1937)

Mrs. O'Leary and her troublesome cow make their obligatory appearance in this 20th Century Fox tale of urban disaster, which lets the viewer know up front that In Old Chicago (1937) is more a fable than a history lesson. Like the earlier San Francisco (1936), this picture sets a very personal story against the backdrop of a critical moment in American history, and it also sports an impressive round of special effects to demonstrate the scope of its climactic conflagration. Until the fire breaks out, however, there are plenty of fireworks between the stars to keep the audience watching, with Tyrone Power and Don Ameche as sparring siblings and Alice Faye as the love interest who may or may not be enough to make Power's opportunistic heel go in for reform.

Power plays Dion O'Leary, the son of Irish immigrants and a shrewd if unethical businessman. His brother, Jack (Ameche), is a straight arrow type who becomes a lawyer and eventually a politician, thanks largely to his scheming brother's secret efforts. In the sprawling, dangerous city of Chicago, the two represent starkly different visions of the city's future, although they unite in their love for their hard-working mother (Alice Brady) and affable baby brother (Tom Brown). Each is eager for the downfall of crooked Gil Warren (Brian Donlevy), who runs the city as his personal domain. Dion also nurses a passion for his business partner and star singer, Belle Fawcett (Alice Faye), but his unscrupulous methods constantly undermine their chance for romantic happiness.

Power, Ameche, and Faye were among Fox's most reliable stars, and the studio cast them in a variety of pictures in different combinations, but In Old Chicago offers an excellent opportunity to study the differences in the two leading men. Both charismatic, dark-haired, and talented, the two actors work in opposite directions as the clashing brothers. Power shows the darker side of his relentless energy, while Ameche's debonair persona inclines toward gentility. Faye, always compelling with either leading man, does her musical numbers with her usual charm but becomes most interesting when thrown into company with the disapproving Mrs. O'Leary, especially after the fire erupts and plunges the city into chaos. In a cast of first-rate players, Alice Brady stands out in the role of the Irish matriarch; she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, which combines all of the classic images of maternal strength and suffering, along with some adorable beer swilling and a fanatical devotion to her dead husband's portrait.

Two years before the burning of Atlanta in Gone with the Wind (1939), In Old Chicago offers a spectacular display of flaming ruin, which serves as the film's climax and thrusts our protagonists into life or death peril. Fox lavished money on the fire sequence, which includes enormous sets blazing and expansive views of people fleeing the disaster and then suffering through the smoke and misery of the aftermath. The Academy Awards didn't yet have a category for Special Effects; otherwise, In Old Chicago would certainly have been a strong contender. Still, as impressive as the effects are, they wouldn't have the same impact without our attachment to the terrified members of the O'Leary family, who find themselves separated and struggling to survive through the very worst moments of the fire.

Be sure to appreciate character actor Andy Devine in a supporting role as Dion's pal, Pickle. In Old Chicago earned six Oscar nominations and won two, including Brady's award for Best Supporting Actress. Director Henry King reunites with Power, Ameche, and Faye for Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), and his other pictures include the Power vehicles Jesse James (1939), The Black Swan (1942), and Captain from Castile (1947). Power and Faye also star together in Rose of Washington Square (1939), with Power once again playing the heel. Ameche stars with Faye in Hollywood Cavalcade (1939), Lillian Russell (1940), and the delightful comedy, That Night in Rio (1941). Alice Brady, sadly, was near the end of her career in 1937; she died in 1939 at the age of 46. See more of her in The Gay Divorcee (1934), My Man Godfrey (1936), and her final picture, Young Mr. Lincoln (1939).

Classic Films in Focus: THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1939)

Among adaptations of Alexandre Dumas' classic novel, this 1939 version is certainly a lightweight, and not nearly as elaborate an affair as the 1948 MGM production starring Gene Kelly. The Fox incarnation, directed by Allan Dwan, revises the original tale as a musical comedy vehicle for The Ritz Brothers, who had a brief film career in the late 1930s and early 40s. They never really took off, and here they prove more of a distraction than a feature. If you like Don Ameche, however, The Three Musketeers has its charms, since the movie provides the amiable star with the kind of swashbuckling role usually reserved for his Fox peer Tyrone Power. It also features worthwhile performances from Gloria Stuart, Binnie Barnes, and Lionel Atwill, as well as brief appearances by John Carradine and Douglass Dumbrille.

Ameche plays D'Artagnan, who arrives in Paris to become a Musketeer, only to pick quarrels with Athos, Aramis, and Porthos on his very first day. The heroic trio, however, succumb to a drinking contest with The Ritz Brothers, who assume their outfits and identities before D'Artagnan arrives to fight his duels with them. Along with D'Artagnan, the fake Musketeers are then swept along into a dangerous political plot involving Queen Anne (Gloria Stuart) and her lady-in-waiting, Constance (Pauline Moore). Their adventures bring them into direct conflict with the devious Milady De Winter (Binnie Barnes) and the scheming Cardinal Richelieu (Miles Mander) as they try to retrieve the queen's brooch before its absence sparks an international scandal and war.

The Ritz Brothers get some modest laughs, but the movie shows why they never really took off as screen stars. They are neither as violent as the Stooges nor as cerebral as The Marx Brothers. The "Chicken Soup" song that introduces them sums up their comedy style; there's a lot of winking and silliness but not much thought to the act. Kids might find them sufficiently entertaining, but most adults will wonder how they manage to merit top billing with Ameche. The movie also falters by wasting Douglass Dumbrille and John Carradine, both terrific character actors, in very small roles; Dumbrille barely has a single scene, and Carradine disappears after just a few minutes. Instead we get lots of shenanigans with The Ritz Brothers as they stumble through one mishap after another, never really varying their gags or developing their characters as anything more than props.

Ameche is the real attraction; he looks quite dashing in his period hair and costumes, and his infectious charm goes a long way to make up for the movie's failings. His D'Artagnan is a gleeful combatant and an energetic romancer, and he really seems to be having a good time waving his sword and playing the swashbuckling hero. Even if the songs are not that memorable, Ameche sings them with zest, especially the "Voila" number. His leading ladies also help to move the picture along. Pauline Moore makes a lovely Constance, and Gloria Stuart is beautifully regal as the imperiled Anne. Binnie Barnes doesn't vamp as much as some Milady actresses, and she has to endure a really awful search scene with the Ritz Brothers, but she sells the character's smiling menace to great effect. Sadly, Milady's worst crimes - and best scenes - are cut to keep the picture firmly in comedy territory. Lionel Atwill, another great character actor and a reliable heavy, gets a heftier part than Carradine and Dumbrille as De Rochefort, one of the schemers working against the queen.

The 1939 adaptation is by no means the place to start with Musketeer films, but it's worth visiting for fans of Ameche's charismatic persona. Try the 1948 version for a more developed, but still imperfect, classic adaptation. Allan Dwan, a prolific director and silent film veteran, also made The Iron Mask (1929) and Heidi (1937). See more of Don Ameche in Midnight (1939), That Night in Rio (1941), and Heaven Can Wait (1943). Gloria Stuart is probably best remembered today as old Rose in Titanic (1997), but her early career included The Old Dark House (1932), The Invisible Man (1933), and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938). If you really get into The Ritz Brothers, you'll find them in One in a Million (1936), The Gorilla (1939), and Argentine Nights (1940).

Classic Films in Focus: MOON OVER MIAMI (1941)

Walter Lang’s musical comedy is another of the frothy, fun Technicolor amusements produced by Fox during the early 1940s, with the usual assortment of studio players and plenty of eye candy in the form of pretty girls, glamorous costumes, and lively dance sequences. This one actually has more plot than several of its peers, but Moon Over Miami (1941) also benefits from very winning performances by its leading ladies and supporting cast. Fans of Betty Grable will find a lot to like in her turn as the gold-digging heroine, and other notable performers include Carole Landis, Don Ameche, and Robert Cummings, with scene-stealing appearances by character actors Charlotte Greenwood and Jack Haley. Intentionally light and airy, Moon Over Miami promises nothing more than a good time, which it dutifully and energetically delivers.

Grable and Landis star as sisters Kay and Barbara Latimer, who leave Texas for Miami with a plan to snag a wealthy husband for Kay. With their aunt Susan (Charlotte Greenwood) posing as their maid, the girls take up residence in a posh resort, where Kay soon meets the suitably rich Jeff Boulton (Robert Cummings) and his friend, Phil McNeil (Don Ameche). The two men compete relentlessly for Kay’s attention, but Jeff also attracts Barbara’s admiration, and Kay has to choose which suitor to lure into a proposal. All the while, the truth about the girls’ finances and intentions threatens to get out, especially with hotel waiter Jack (Jack Haley) constantly hanging around Susan.

The classic narrative structure of the romantic comedy dictates the course of this story, which has its obligatory pairs of lovers, counterpoint clowns, and Forest of Arden atmosphere. Grable and Ameche, as the primary leads, are of course destined to be together, although their road to union proves riddled with potholes shaped like dollar signs. Landis and Cummings make a more subdued secondary couple; her quiet interest in him is telegraphed early on, but it takes his flighty character a long time to see what’s right in front of him. Of the four principal actors, Landis has the smallest role but also the most nuanced one; disguised as her sister’s secretary in glasses and sensible shoes, Barbara is more introverted than Kay but also kinder, more thoughtful, and more sincere. The funny stuff happens when Greenwood and Haley get together; their big number, “Is That Good?” is a highlight of the picture, with Greenwood launching into her signature high kicks and Haley making those most of his big, expressive eyes.

The movie includes a number of memorable dance sequences, thanks to the efforts of choreographer Hermes Pan, who makes his own appearance on screen as Betty Grable’s partner during the “Kindergarten Conga” piece. Grable does part of the dance for “You Started Something” sitting down, which is an entertaining twist on the usual routines; her partners during this segment are the impressive specialty dancers, the Condos Brothers, who appear again in the Seminole dance near the end of the picture. Don Ameche’s performance of the song, “I’ve Got You All to Myself,” is also fun because it opens a zany montage of the two rivals constantly horning in on each other’s dates with Kay, which culminates with a memorable shot of a shirtless Robert Cummings underwater. Ameche actually sings quite a bit in this picture, more than any other performer, but his delivery is predictably good, and his songs are well-integrated into the flow of the story.

Walter Lang also directed Betty Grable in Tin Pan Alley (1940), Song of the Islands (1942), and Coney Island (1943); he earned his only Oscar nomination for directing The King and I (1956). For more of Betty Grable, Don Ameche, and Charlotte Greenwood, try Down Argentine Way (1940); Grable also stars with Carole Landis in I Wake Up Screaming (1941) and Four Jills in a Jeep (1944). Robert Cummings has memorable roles in Kings Row (1942), Saboteur (1942), and Dial M for Murder (1954). The world remembers Jack Haley as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz (1939), but he also appears with Betty Grable in Pigskin Parade (1936) and with Don Ameche in Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938).

Classic Films in Focus: HOLLYWOOD CAVALCADE (1939)

Fox’s Technicolor Tinseltown retrospective is by no means one of the most significant pictures to come out in 1939, but Hollywood Cavalcade has its charms as a sentimental tribute to the silent film era. Like the later - and much better - MGM musical, Singin’ in the Rain (1952), this story follows the changing fortunes of silent movie stars as the sound age arrives, with Alice Faye and Don Ameche as the leads in a cast that also includes some real veterans of the earlier era. Silent movie fans will find Hollywood Cavalcade worthwhile for its cameos and silent segments, even if its vision of cinema history is both romanticized and compressed, while Fox devotees will be glad to see strong performances from Faye, Ameche, and the very likable J. Edward Bromberg.

Don Ameche plays rising filmmaker Mike Connors, who signs Broadway actress Molly Adair (Alice Faye) and stakes his career on making her a star. Once they arrive in the infant Hollywood, still awash in orange groves, Mike and Molly start making pictures together, and Molly soon becomes a huge success. Molly pines for Mike’s romantic attention, but his single-minded obsession with the movies leads her to marry her handsome leading man, Nicky (Alan Curtis), which provokes a rift with the outraged Mike. Even Mike’s long-suffering friend and backer, Dave Spingold (J. Edward Bromberg), eventually walks out on the difficult and self-destructive director, but Molly, Nicky, and Dave never stop hoping for reconciliation and a chance to help Mike get his career back on track.

Oddly enough, Alice Faye never sings in this picture, and although the silent film sequences contain a lot of slapstick the central narrative is really a drama that focuses on the collateral damage caused by Mike’s intense dedication to his art. Ameche therefore carries most of the story’s punch, and he’s very good, especially as Mike spirals downward after Molly and Nicky marry. We understand, of course, that Mike has his chance with Molly and ignores it, but to Mike her marriage seems like an unforgivable betrayal, and it becomes a catalyst for the rise of his darker side. Mike’s movie-making combines the efforts of Mack Sennett, D.W. Griffith, Cecil B. DeMille, and other early innovators, and we see him run through the major styles defined by the silent directors in the inevitable march toward sound.

Alice Faye takes most of the comedy work in stride, getting pies in the face from Buster Keaton and being chased around by the Keystone Cops. Some of her silent film segments run a bit long, but they’re sincere homages to the earlier age, and it’s nice to see some of the old stars reliving their glory days, especially Al Jolson in the climactic recreation of The Jazz Singer (1927). Mack Sennett plays himself, as do Ben Turpin, Chester Conklin, and Lee Duncan, although Rin-Tin-Tin Jr. stands in for the original Rin-Tin-Tin. In the regular supporting cast, handsome Alan Curtis makes an attractive second choice as Molly’s love interest but has little to do, while J. Edward Bromberg brings a lot of heart to his loyal sidekick character. Modern viewers will probably find Willie Fung an irritating stereotype, but Donald Meek has a good small role as the studio head who first clashes with Mike.

Although Irving Cummings is the credited director for Hollywood Cavalcade, both Buster Keaton and Malcolm St. Clair made contributions to the film. Cummings, a silent film veteran himself, also made Curly Top (1935), Lillian Russell (1940), and Down Argentine Way (1940). For more Hollywood commentaries on motion picture history, try Footlight Parade (1933), Sunset Boulevard (1950), or The Artist (2011). Alice Faye and Don Ameche also star together in In Old Chicago (1937), Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938), and That Night in Rio (1941). Catch J. Edward Bromberg in Strange Cargo (1940), The Mark of Zorro (1940), and Son of Dracula (1943).

Hollywood Cavalcade is included in the Alice Faye Collection Volume 2, and the DVD includes some several good bonus features, including a featurette about the film.

Classic Films in Focus: THAT NIGHT IN RIO (1941)

Don Ameche fans can get a double dose of the charismatic leading man in That Night in Rio (1941), a frothy musical romance costarring Alice Faye and Carmen Miranda. Directed by Irving Cummings, this South American story features Ameche playing not one but two characters, which drives a complicated plot of romantic substitutions and mistaken identity. Technicolor splendor enhances its lively musical numbers, and the supporting cast includes familiar character actors S.Z. Sakall, J. Carrol Naish, and Leonid Kinskey. Like many of the Fox musicals of the wartime era, That Night in Rio is a fun escape from the seriousness of real life, light on substance but rich with music and glorious color.

Ameche stars in a dual role as American entertainer Larry Martin and aristocratic ladies’ man Baron Duarte. When the baron lands in financial trouble and leaves town, his anxious colleagues hire Larry to impersonate him, but Larry uses the opportunity to flirt with the beautiful baroness, Cecilia (Alice Faye). Meanwhile, Larry’s jealous girlfriend, Carmen (Carmen Miranda), turns up at the baron’s estate and recognizes Larry in disguise. When the real baron returns, he and Larry take turns pretending to be one another, much to the confusion of the baroness.

With its jealous lovers and character doubles, That Night in Rio has something of the air of a Shakespearean forest romance, although it was actually adapted from a play called The Red Cat. Ameche certainly seems to be enjoying himself in both roles, and he’s particularly debonair as the Baron, replete with monocle and distinguished, silver-streaked hair. The set-up ensures that Ameche will get both girls by the film’s end, no matter how the pairings sort themselves out, or perhaps it ensures that each girl will get an Ameche, since the two women are pretty aggressive - if sometimes surreptitiously so - in pursuing their partners. Alice Faye and Carmen Miranda make good foils to one another; Faye’s cool blonde look and deep, dreamy voice contrast perfectly with Miranda’s hot Latin energy, and each has plenty of opportunity to shine in musical numbers. Miranda, however, definitely wins in the spectacle contest; few performers were ever more perfectly formed for Technicolor, and Miranda’s wild outfits and oversized personality practically leap off the screen during her songs.

The identical protagonists provide That Night in Rio with an excuse for lively visual hijinks to go along with its music and romance. When Larry and Baron Duarte appear together, the film indulges in fun effects shots that still look very convincing some 70 years later, although a few scenes are clearly using a stand-in actor for the character not facing the camera. One gag involves the baron, Larry, and a very confused J. Carrol Naish with a dressing screen around which the two men swap places. Reacting to the ongoing confusion are the very funny S.Z. Sakall and Curt Bois as the baron’s nervous associates, who get a lot more than they bargained for when they employ Larry’s unique services. Leonid Kinskey, whom viewers will recognize as Sascha in Casablanca (1942), appears as Pierre, an amorous Frenchman who hopes in vain to impress the baroness as a potential lover.

The Red Cat was also adapted by Hollywood as the 1951 film, On the Riviera, starring Danny Kaye in the double lead. For more of Don Ameche and Alice Faye, see In Old Chicago (1937), Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938), and Lillian Russell (1940). Faye and Carmen Miranda both appear in Weekend in Havana (1941), The Gang’s All Here (1943), and Four Jills in a Jeep (1944). Irving Cummings also directed Ameche and Miranda in Down Argentine Way (1940); for more of his work, see the Shirley Temple films Curly Top (1935) and Little Miss Broadway (1938) or yet another Faye and Ameche picture, Hollywood Cavalcade (1939). Look for various combinations of the director and the three stars with other usual suspects like Betty Grable and Tyrone Power.