97/30 years ago today...

"Say it again, it keeps me awake"
"I love you"

Today is Ingrid Bergman's birthday - she would have been 97. It's also the 30th anniversary of her death. Reason enough to share a choice moment (I make no apologies for the superlatives).

Notorious is one of Hitchcock's very best and certainly his most obviously romantic film. It's gone on to become a template in how to make a spy/love story that is gorgeously romantic, chock full of quotable dialogue (unusual for Hitch and courtesy of Ben Hecht) and, because this is Hitchcock, is extremely exciting. It's also, for me at least, Bergman's most moving performance.
Alicia is a the original fallen woman - the daughter of a Nazi, a drunk and a whore - and not only is she well aware of it ("Mata Hari, she makes love for the papers") but everyone around her makes sure she is reminded of it at every turn: Devlin, who recruits her and falls in love with her and so has to hide his true feelings behind a steely veneer for fear of exposing her; the government agents they work for who are happy to throw her to the wolves and yet still look down on her; her Nazi mother-in-law.  And, of course, in the best tradition of Hollywood Melodrama, she has to prostitute herself and risk her life to prove that she is both a patriot and good girl after all.
The finale aches with the outpourings of the long-restrained emotions of the lead characters and the stair-case sequence is the very lesson in suspense. It is, most definitely, magnificent.

When did escapism become such a dirty word?

Deception (Irving Rapper)

Coming as it does, not only on the cusp of Hollywood's golden age but also Davis's at Warners, 'Deception' is often forgotten or dismissed in favour of the previous classics she made with Warners or the gothic hysterics of her later films. Not fair!
A recent re-evaluation has convinced me that this is a bit of a classic. And, I have to admit, an out and out camp classic. But, more than this, the camp of 'Deception' is positively elevated to high art. The story is complete hokum of course and is performed with such overwrought feeling and pungent relish that you are constantly expecting the characters to burst into song. Opera-noir anyone??
But this was still a time when people cared and cynicism hadn't taken over so much that now anything not total po-faced realism (outside of a comedy proper) is sneered at knowingly or declared "so bad it's good" by a seemingly more 'sophisticated' audience. It was a time when they cared enough about high production values and reveled in artifice, glamour and the pure indulgence of escapism. Pah! When did we learn to stop letting go of grim reality??

Some would have us believe that 'Deception' is one solely for the die-hard Davis fans - those more willing to forgive her more arch mannerisms or looking a little 'past it'. But, despite withering opinion, those not enamoured of Davis's charms will still find much to smack their chops over as well.
Korngold's stunning score is not merely a refreshing change to Warner's over reliance on Max Steiner's often intrusive bombast - it's actually one of the best scores of the period. It also helps that Davis and Henreid don't look phony when 'playing' the music - Davis is particularly convincing because she could actually play the piano and Henreid, despite looking a little awkward, was helped with the same trick as Garfield in Humoresque. Rains, having an absolute field day as the unhinged musical genius, bangs and smacks at the poor keyboard as an unhinged musical genius in a camp melodrama would.
The sets are incredible and have a whole life of their own - huge luxurious drawing rooms, shadowy stairwells, grand staircases made for dramatic death scenes, lots and lots of cine-rain spattering windows and flooding the street of the evocative opening sequence. Combined with the noirish lighting and deep focus of Davis's favourite cinematographer Ernie Haller, all goes to making 'Deception' a visual feast for any jaded cinephile.

Less than four years after 'Deception' came All About Eve. It seen as possibly Davis's finest performance (she is great). But, as ever, a performance is what it is (Davis the original show-off). 'Eve', despite its high critical pedigree, is very much the beginning of the end for Davis as a 'serious' screen actor. As Margot, she is the absolute star of the production - positively chowing down on the furniture in one of her most hand-swivelling and eye-rolling turns. She will never top Margot. As any drag queen worth her weight in false eye-lashes will testify, from this point on, her most significant roles are never less than monstrous or crazy - Dead Ringers, Baby Jane, The Anniversary, The Star, Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte. 'Deception' feels almost subtle in comparison (who am I kidding??).
What 'Deception' doesn't deserve is to languish in the shadows of these inferior (though hugely entertaining) efforts. At the very least it's the equal of her well-known previous classic films (time has been kinder to it than The Old Maid or Dark Victory). It may be no masterpiece, but it's still a marvelous example of the golden age of over-ripe melodramas and that's surely good enough reason to drag it out of the closet and brush the cobwebs off.

Wicked Women? You decide...

Leave Her To Heaven (John M. Stahl 1945)

Don't be fooled by the sugar coated first half of Leave Her to Heaven: The cute and romantic way the leads meet, Gene Tierney's luminous beauty (quite something in Technicolor), and the way everyone seems so happy! It's almost cornball. But it's easy not to spot that this particular angel cake contains one or two razor blades beneath the sweet icing.
There is the occasional hint at the wickedness bubbling below the surface - the appearance of Vincent Price, her jealousy, her unnatural fixation with her dead father (not to mention the breathtaking scattering of his ashes), but nothing prepares you for the first jarring cut of those hidden blades.
Up until the first shocking realisation of Ellen's wickedness, I was on her side. After all, she only wants to be alone with her man, Richard (Cornel Wilde looking as bland as ever - Technicolor making him a lovely shade of beige!) And her crushed expression when her whole family turn up at their love-nest is so perfect, it makes me laugh out loud that Richard can't see it! - they are already sharing with Richard's invalid brother (who says "Gosh!" far too much) and Richard's friend (the rather annoying Chill Wills). When the mother admits to Ellen's sister that they shouldn't have come, you think "Hell, yes!" they are on their honeymoon!!
Well, she has had enough and resolves to do something about it and when it happens... your jaw hits the floor! (This is a woman who is quite unhinged) Then she does it again and again! She will stop at nothing to stop anyone getting close to her man.
There are moments of pure cinema here and Tierney captures the moment perfectly - even when she is hidden behind sunglasses, her monotone delivery and glacial expression says it all. And the scene with the staircase, she knows what to do and her eyes tell you everything you need to know about what she's thinking.
Gene Tierney is a stunningly beautiful actress and quite often she is dismissed as a serious performer because of this. But under the right director she can be electric. Her films with Otto Preminger are a case in point and she is also very good in The Ghost and Mrs Muir. This for me though is her finest performance.
By the end of the film though, I wonder to myself how evil Ellen really is. Yes, she does really wicked things but obviously this is a manifestation of here mental illness. Yet no-one does anything to help her! Her mother especially, many times in the film, admits to knowing something is amiss with her daughter. Then do something - wringing hands never helped anyone! Incidentally, even Ellen's jealous paranoia of her husband's fidelity is, ultimately, shown to be justified!
Is Ellen Berent really a monster or a victim?? In 1945 it would have been easy to say "hang the bitch" but in our more enlightened times our analysis has to be less black & white.

A Woman's Face (George Cukor 1941)
Sometimes I actually prefer 'A Woman's Face' over Mildred Pierce - Cukor seems to have subdued Crawford a little, making her seem less histrionic - softer and less brittle. But I suppose that's why it's less popular - we want the brittle glamour and we love to see Joanie "suffering in furs". In 'Mildred Pierce' we don't quite believe her as a frumpy house-wife, wearing a pinnie, baking pies, so as soon as she dons the shoulder-pads and starts bashing Vida about, we cheer! But Anna Holm is a great character too and just as exciting to me. The 'softening' of her performance adds an extra layer of ambiguity to what could have otherwise been a more obviously villainous character.
Scarred physically as well as mentally, Anna takes her misfortunes out on the silly 'beautiful' women of the film with blackmail. It's not long before she is falling for the insidious charms of Conrad Veidt and is seduced into the worst of all crimes - the murder of a child. This poses a troubling flaw in her characterisation (probably not intentional) as you don't know till the end of the flic whether she carries out her heinous act or not, (this being Hollywood you maybe have a fair idea though). But the fact that she, at least, considers it seriously is infinitely harder to forgive than her blackmail endeavours. It does add to your interest in Anna but at the same time you sympathise with her less.

It's a marvelous film and Crawford is great - possibly my favourite performance of hers. Veidt, as usual, is wonderfully malevolent as the villain of the piece and their scenes together are eery and spellbinding (despite some seriously dodgy dialogue) .
Many of the minor characters do a fine job too - I particularly liked Albert Bassermann's crusty old Consul and Ossa Massen is a delight as one of Crawford's 'silly' victims (Crawford gets to give her a good slapping). Melvyn Douglas, on the other hand, is only adequate. To me he seems to be in the wrong movie - his screwball and matinée idol pedigree doesn't ring true in such a dark and gothic tale.
It's surprisingly cinematic for a Cukor pic (as great as I think his films are, sometimes I do find them a little visually flat), looking very noirish and gothic (as ever, Crawford is perfectly lighted). And it has a very exciting chase in the snow for a finale.

Even though both films instill a certain amount of ambiguity and doubt about how 'evil' either woman really is, personally I don't feel that either of the women are really bad. I'm more inclined to think Anna Holm is more of a villain than Ellen Berent, as Anna seems to act through spite and greed whereas Ellen's actions seem to be dictated by a mental illness. Yet, ironically, poor Ellen is portrayed less sympathetically (not showing remorse for her actions for example) so of course Hollywood dictates that she should pay the ultimate price. To me that makes her the more tragic of the two.
So, would I invite Ellen or Anna round for tea and biscuits? Well I'm sure I would feel quite safe... but I may just hide the knives!