Hotchka Movies by the Decade feature #175 :: November 29 to December 5

Warner Bros. Pictures

A lot of new films premiered this week heading into December, but quantity does not equal quality as relatively few of this week’s films are remembered with any fondness today. One 1923 film is notable for the introduction of a new child star, while 1933 had the last film of a popular silent star. 1943 saw the second pairing of one screen couple and the last film of another, and had a film that introduced audiences to the world’s most popular collie. 1953 stuck Joan Collins on an island with three men, had the third CinemaScope film, a 3D Western, and a film directed by its female star. 1963 paired two popular stars in a Hitchcockian comedy-thriller. 1973 saw Al Pacino take on a real life role. 2003 saw Jessica Alba dance and Tom Cruise wield a samurai sword, and 2013 belonged to the UK. Check out this week’s list of new releases and tell us if any of your favorites are celebrating!

1923

• November 30 – The Satin Girl (USA, Grand Asher Distributing Corporation)
• November 30 – Im Schatten der Moschee (Germany, John Hagenbeck-Film GmbH)
• December – The Apache Dancer (USA, Aywon Film Corporation)
• December – The Courage of Despair (UK, short, Moss)
• December – The Fair Maid of Perth (UK, Anglia Films)
• December – The Man Without Desire (UK, Atlas Biocraft)
• December 1 – Innocence (USA, CBC Film Sales Corporation)
• December 1 – Three O’Clock in the Morning (USA, Mastodon Films)
• December 2 – Kentucky Days (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
• December 3 – Fashion Row (USA, Metro Pictures)
• December 3 – The Darling of New York (USA, Universal Pictures)
• December 4 – His Mystery Girl (USA, Universal Pictures)

Im Schatten der Moschee (The Shadow of the Mosque), The Courage of Despair, The Fair Maid of Perth and The Man Without Desire have no known US theatrical release dates.

The Apache Dancer was released in the UK in 1929 as Apache Lover. The Fair Maid of Perth was based on the 1828 novel of the same name by Sir Walter Scott. Innocence was released by CBC Film Sales Corporation, which later became Columbia Pictures. Three O’Clock in the Morning is considered a lost film.

The Man Without Desire was the feature directorial debut of Adrian Brunel. The film’s budget was £5,000 which allowed for travel to Venice for location scenes. Studio filming took place in Berlin.

The Darling of New York featured Baby Peggy in her first film role. Only the last reel of the film survives and is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive. A copy of His Mystery Girl is held in the George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection.

1933

Fox Film Corporation

• November 30 – Hoop-La (USA, Fox Film Corporation)
• November 30 – Mrs. Dane’s Defence (UK, Paramount British Pictures)
• November 30 – Twin Husbands (USA, Chesterfield Pictures)
• December – Ask Beccles (UK)
• December – Aunt Sally (UK, Gaumont British Distributors)
• December – The Constant Nymph (UK, Gaumont British Distributors)
• December – The House of Trent (UK, Butcher’s Film Service)
• December 1 – Advice to the Lovelorn (USA, United Artists)
• December 1 – If I Were Free (USA, RKO Pictures)
• December 1 – Rainbow Over Broadway (USA, Chesterfield Pictures)
• December 1 – Should Ladies Behave (USA, Loew’s Inc.)
• December 1 – Song of the Plough (UK, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• December 2 – Lone Cowboy (USA, Paramount Pictures)
• December 2 – Waltzing Matilda (AUS, Pat Hanna Productions)
• December 3 – Shadows of Sing Sing (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• December 3 – The Worst Woman in Paris? (USA, Fox Film Corporation)

Mrs. Dane’s Defence, Ask Beccles, The House of Trent, Song of the Plough and Waltzing Matilda have no known US theatrical release dates. Aunt Sally was released in the US as Along Came Sally on June 14, 1934 by Gaumont British Picture Corporation of America. The Constant Nymph was released in the US on April 7, 1934 by Fox Film Corporation. The House of Trent is also known as Trent’s Folly. Advice to the Lovelorn was based on the novel Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West. If I Were Free was based on the play Behold, We Live by John Van Druten. Should Ladies Behave was adapted from the play The Vinegar Tree by Paul Osborn. Song of the Plough, a ‘quota quickie’, was re-released with the title Country Fair.

Hoop-La was the final film of Clara Bow, who retired from acting and became a rancher in Nevada after marrying Rex Bell in 1931. The film was based on the play The Barker by Kenyon Nicholson, which was also filmed in 1928 under the same title as the play. The story was remade in 1945 as Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe starring Betty Grable. The film was restored and screened at the Classic Film Festival in Hollywood in 2011.

Mrs. Dane’s Defence was an adaptation of the 1900 play of the same name by Henry Arthur Jones, which had previously been adapted into an American silent film in 1918. Ask Beccles, produced as a ‘quota quickie’, was based on a play by Cyril Campion.

The Constant Nymph was an adaptation of the 1924 novel by Margaret Kennedy, and the 1926 stage play adaptation. Ivor Novello, who appeared in a 1928 silent version of the story, was asked to reprise his role but declined the offer, with the part going to Brian Aherne.

Waltzing Matilda featured the first screen appearance of Coral Browne, who later became Mrs. Vincent Price. A contest was held to name the film, and a prize of £10 was shared amongst the 20 people who suggested Waltzing Matilda.

1943

• November 30 – There’s Something About a Soldier (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• December – Keeper of the Flame (USA, Loew’s Inc.)
• December – Lassie Come Home (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• December – Rookies in Burma (USA, RKO Radio Pictures)
• December – Whistling in Brooklyn (USA, Loew’s, Inc.)
• December 2 – Girl Crazy (USA, Loew’s Inc.)
• December 2 – The Heat’s On (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• December 3 – Death Valley Rangers (USA, Monogram Pictures)
• December 3 – Riders of the Deadline (USA, United Artists)
• December 4 – An Itch in Time (USA, short, Warner Bros. Pictures)

There’s Something About a Soldier takes its title from a popular song of the same name. Rookies in Burma is a sequel to 1943’s Adventures of a Rookie. Whistling in Brooklyn was the third and last film to feature Red Skelton as radio personality and amateur detective Wally ‘The Fox’ Benton. Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher made his screen debut in the film playing himself.

Keeper of the Flame was adapted from the unpublished 1942 novel by I. A. R. Wylie. The film was shot completely on a sound stage with no location filming. RKO Pictures originally acquired the rights to the story but had difficulties in casting and sold it to MGM, whose vice president then realized the story was political in nature and tried to abandon the project. The attack on Pearl Harbor convinced the studio to move forward with the project, and the novel was finally published in April 1942 after the film went into production. Louis B. Mayer assigned the script-writing duties to Donald Ogden Stewart because of his left-leaning politics. Stewart relished taking down ‘the fascist mice who are nibbling away at our country while we’re busy fighting a good war’, but he encountered issues with the adaptation which caused filming to be delayed for several months. Katharine Hepburn received an unfinished draft of the screenplay and was fascinated by the character of Christine. She felt doing the film would be her way of contributing to the war effort, but MGM felt it was inappropriate for her to follow up her previous film with Spencer Tracy with another film with Tracy. She insisted and MGM relented. Hepburn had already started her affair with Tracy, and became his guardian as he drank heavily during the filming. The film’s premiere at Radio City Music Hall did not go well, and Mayer stormed out of the theatre, enraged that he encouraged the making of a film that equated wealth with fascism. Republican members of Congress complained about the film’s leftist politics and demanded the Production Code establish guidelines regarding propaganda in films. Director George Cukor was dissatisfied with the finished film. MGM pushed Tracy for a Best Actor Oscar nomination, but none was forthcoming.

Lassie Come Home was based upon the 1940 novel by Eric Knight. It was the first of seven Lassie films from MGM. The film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1993. MGM executives were so moved by early footage from the film they ordered more to be added. The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography – Color, and Lassie received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Girl Crazy was based on the stage musical, previously filmed in 1932, which was written by Guy Bolton and Jack McGowan, with music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin. It was the last of nine movies in which Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney co-starred. Fred Asatire and Eleanor Powell were originally announced as the film’s stars. Busby Berkeley was the film’s original director but he was replaced with Norman Taurog shortly after production began. The film marked the debut of June Allyson. The film was remade in 1965 as When the Boys Meet the Girls.

The Heat’s On marked the return of Mae West to Hollywood after a three year absence when she starred on Broadway. Unlike her previous films, West had no input into the script and the film was a box office failure. She would not make another film until Myra Breckenridge, 27 years later.

Sara Berner provided the voice for A. Flea in An Itch in Time, except when the character screamed ‘T-Bone!’ which was performed by Mel Blanc. Blanc also did the voices of the dog and cat, while Arthur Q. Bryan voiced Elmer Fudd.

1953

• November 29 – Fighter Attack (USA, Allied Artists Pictures)
• November 29 – The Wedding of Lilli Marlene (UK, Monarch Film Corporation)
• December – Escape by Night (UK, Eros Films)
• December – Operation Diplomat (UK, Butcher’s Film Service)
• December – The Large Rope (UK, United Artists)
• December – Three Steps to the Gallows (UK, Eros Films)
• December – Tumbleweed (USA, Universal Pictures)
• December 1 – Our Girl Friday (UK, Renown Pictures Corporation)
• December 2 – Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (USA, 20th Century Fox)
• December 2 – Forbidden (USA, Universal Pictures)
• December 2 – Man Crazy (USA, 20th Century Fox)
• December 2 – The Nebraskan (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• December 3 – El Alamein (USA, Columbia Pictures)
• December 3 – The Bigamist (USA, Filmakers Releasing Organization)
• December 4 – Terror Street (USA, Lippert Pictures)
• December 4 – Escape from Fort Bravo (USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
• December 4 – The Robe (France, 20th Century Fox)

The Wedding of Lilli Marlene, Escape by Night, Operation Diplomat have no known US theatrical release dates. The Large Rope was released in the US in 1955 as The Long Rope through Associated Artists Productions. Three Steps to the Gallows was released in the US on January 1, 1954 as White Fire by Lippert Pictures. Our Girl Friday was released in the US on May 17, 1955 as The Adventures of Sadie through Twentieth Century Fox. The Robe originally opened in the US on September 16, 1953. Terror Street was released in the UK on October 25, 1954 as 36 Hours.

The Wedding of Lilli Marlene was a sequel to 1950’s Lilli Marlene. Tumbleweed was based on the story ‘Three Were Renegades’ by Kenneth Perkins, originally published in the December 1938 issue of Blue Book. El Alamein is also known as Desert Patrol. Working titles for Escape from Fort Bravo were Rope’s End and Fort Bravo.

Our Girl Friday was based on the Australian writer Norman Lindsay’s 1932 novel The Cautious Amorist. The film’s working title in 1948 was Sadie was a Lady, and Lucille Ball was going to star. As rights changed hands, Jane Russell was slated to star with the film titled The Girl on the Island. A few more years passed and Joan Collins became the film’s lead, borrowed from J. Arthur Rank. Collins has stated she wore no makeup and was the first actress to appear on screen in a bikini (her character tears up a man’s shirt to make one). The film was shot mainly on location in Majorca, Spain, with some studio work in London. An uncredited Peter Sellers provides the voice of a cockatoo.

Beneath the 12-Mile Reef was the third motion picture produced in CinemaScope, and the first shot underwater in the then-new process. The original title was Twelve Mile Reef. Kathleen Crowley and Debra Paget were both announced as the female lead opposite Robert Wagner, but Terry Moore was eventually cast. The film was shot on location in Key West and Tarpon Springs, Florida. Wagner nearly drowned in Tarpon Springs when he was accidentally kicked in the stomach by another actor, sinking to the bottom of the water and rescued by a crew member. The film’s cinematography earned an Oscar nomination.

The Nebraskan was produced in 3D, and was one of seven films from director Fred F. Sears released in 1953. The Bigamist is notable for being the first American feature film made in the sound era in which the female star of a film, Ida Lupino, directed herself.

The Robe, adapted from Lloyd C. Douglas’s 1942 novel, was the first film released in CinemaScope, but the second produced in the widescreen process. The film’s sequel, Demetrius and the Gladiators, picks up exactly where The Robe ends. The rights to the novel were originally purchased by RKO in 1940, but the studio eventually sold the rights to Fox. Victor Mature signed to play Demetrius in both films. Since not all theaters at the time were set up to exhibit the film in CinemaScope, a standard version was also produced with some different shots and dialogue. The standard version was the one usually seen on television before the advent of widescreen TVs. The American Movie Classics network (aka AMC) may have been the first to show the widescreen version. The CinemaScope version, with the original stereophonic soundtrack, has been available for home video.

1963

• November 29 – Live It Up! (USA, Universal Pictures)
• December – A Stitch in Time (UK, Rank Film Distributors)
• December – The Man Who Finally Died (UK, British Lion Film Corporation)
• December – The Raiders (USA, Universal Pictures)
• December 5 – Charade (USA, Universal Pictures)
• December 5 – What a Crazy World (UK, Warner-Pathé Distributors)

Live It Up! was released in the US by Universal Pictures on November 4, 1946 as Sing and Swing. A Stitch in Time opened in the US on June 23, 1967 through Zenith International Films. The Man Who Finally Died was released in the US in 1967 by Goldstone Film Enterprises. What a Crazy World has no known US theatrical release date.

Live It Up! featured young actor Steve Marriott, who would go on to become a well-known guitarist for Small Faces and Humble Pie. Actor Mitch Mitchell later became the drummer for The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The film was so successful in the UK that a sequel, Be My Guest, followed two years later. What a Crazy World was a pop musical adapted from the stage play by Alan Klein, who also co-wrote the screenplay.

The Man Who Finally Died was based on a 1959 ITV series of the same name.

Charade has been called ‘the best Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never made.’ The film’s animated titles were created by Maurice Binder, who would become famous for his opening Bond film titles, and the score was by Henry Mancini who received an Oscar nomination for the original song ‘Charade’ with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The film’s screenplay was submitted to Hollywood studios as The Unsuspecting Wife, but it garnered attention by the same studios that initially rejected it only after it was turned into a novel and serialized in Redbook magazine. Stanley Donen quickly snapped up the film rights. Cary Grant was uncomfortable with the age difference between him and Audrey Hepburn — 25 years — so dialogue was added to comment on his age and to portray Hepburn’s character as the pursuer. About half of the film was shot on location in Paris, where Hepburn had recently completed Paris When It Sizzles (which was not released until after Charade due to difficulties with the production). When the film was released in 1963, Hepburn’s line ‘at any moment we could be assassinated’ was dubbed over with ‘at any moment we could be eliminated’ due to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November. The dubbed word was quite obvious. Official video releases of the film have restored the original dialogue while some public domain prints carry the redubbed line. Grant and Hepburn were both nominated for BAFTA’s, with Hepburn winning for Best British Actress. They were also both nominated for Golden Globes.

1973

Paramount Pictures

• December – Cries of Ecstasy, Blows of Death (USA, Golden Web Enterprises)
• December 5 – Crystal Voyager (AUS, The Australian Film Development Corporation)
• December 5 – Serpico (USA, Paramount Pictures)

The Italian release of Cries of Ecstasy, Blows of Death (Sesso Delirio) incorporates footage from George A. Romero’s The Crazies in the opening in an effort to explain the lead up to the nuclear war.

Crystal Voyager was released in the US on October 17, 1975 through The United States Travel Service. The film was written and narrated by surfer, photographer and filmmaker George Greenough, and serves as a loose biography. The closing sequence, Greenough’s short film Echoes, is generally considered to be the highlight of the film. Filmed with a camera in a waterproof housing strapped to Greenough’s back, the sequence is composed entirely of slow-motion footage shot inside the curl of waves, edited to the 23-minute song ‘Echoes’ by Pink Floyd. The group reportedly allowed director David Elfick and Greenough to use the music in their film in exchange for the use of the footage as a visual background when they performed the song in concert.

Serpico was adapted by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler from the book of the same name written by Peter Maas with the assistance of its subject, Frank Serpico. John G. Avildsen was the film’s original director but he was replaced with short notice by Sidney Lumet. F. Murray Abraham and Judd Hirsch appear in uncredited roles. Paul Newman was in early talks for the role of Detective David Durk with Robert Redford as Serpico, and Sam Peckinpah directing but they all exited the project as did Serpico himself. Dino De Laurentiis purchased the rights to the book, but Paramount Pictures felt there had been enough cop movies made. Agent Martin Bregman suggested Al Pacino for the lead, but no one liked the first script, and while a rewrite was considered a massive improvement Pacino still did not find it interesting. A meeting was set for Pacino to meet Serpico and after the meeting Pacino accepted the part. The film had 107 speaking roles and 104 different locations. The film had to be shot in reverse order to accommodate Pacino’s facial hair, with a full beard and long hair for the end of the film that was trimmed and cut to clean shaven with short hair for the beginning of the film. The film was shot in July and August so winter conditions had to be simulated with trees defoliated and shrubs cut, the use of special sweat absorbing makeup and the actors’ skin looking bluish with visible breath while they wore winter coats. The NYPD cooperated with the production, allowing filming in four active police stations. As the tone of the story becomes darker, Lumet made the costumes darker as the film progressed. The film was completed in 51 days and on budget. The film earned Oscar nominations for Best Actor and Adapted Screenplay, three BAFTA nominations for Direction, Leading Actor and Original Music, and two Golden Globe nominations for Motion Picture – Drama and Actor, with Pacino winning.

1983

• December – Growing Up (USA)
• December – Slayground (UK, Columbia-EMI-Warner)

Growing Up was originally released in Taiwan as Xiao Bi de gu shi on January 29, 1983 by Ten Thousand Youth Company. Slayground opened in general release in the US in February 1984 through Universal Pictures.

Growing Up was the film that brought broad critical and popular attention to the movement known as New Taiwan Cinema. It was submitted in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 56th Academy Awards but was not accepted as a nominee. Slayground was an adaptation of the 14th ‘Parker’ novel by Donald E. Westlake, although the main character was renamed ‘Stone’ for the film.

1993

• December 3 – Bank Robber (USA, I.R.S. Releasing Corporation)

Bank Robber was Nick Mead’s directorial debut.

2003

Miramax Films

• December 3 – Evil Alien Conquerors (Norway, First Look International)
• December 5 – Honey (USA, Universal Pictures)
• December 5 – The Last Samurai (USA/Canada, Warner Bros. Pictures)
• December 5 – The Station Agent (USA, Miramax Films)

Evil Alien Conquerors has no known US theatrical release date.

A number of popular hip hop and R&B artists appear as themselves in Honey including Missy Elliott, Jadakiss, Sheek Louch, Shawn Desman, Ginuwine, Rodney Jerkins, 3rd Storee, Tweet, and Blaque. Rumors have circulated that Aaliyah was originally intended for the role of Honey, but Jessica Alba was cast after Aaliyah died in a plane crash. The film’s director has debunked the rumor stating the role was intended for Beyoncé, who could not accept because of her touring schedule to promote her first album Dangerously in Love.

The plot of The Last Samurai was inspired by the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion, led by Saigō Takamori, and the Westernization of Japan by foreign powers. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards and three Golden Globes. The film was shot in New Zealand with a mostly Japanese cast and American production crew (and star Tom Cruise, who did his own stunts). The Taranaki region was selected because Mount Taranaki resembles Mount Fuji. Some village scenes were filmed on the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank.

The Station Agent was shot on 16 mm film in 20 days with a budget of half a million dollars in several New Jersey locations as well as Bucks County, PA. Tom McCarthy won the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay.

2013

• December 1 – Christmas Hear Kids (UK, Orphanage Films)
• December 2 – In Mid Wickedness (UK, short)
• December 3 – It’s a Love Thing (UK/USA, limited, A72 Films)
• December 4 – The Harbinger (UK, Image Productions)
• December 5 – Third Contact (UK, limited, BodyDouble Productions)

Christmas Hear Kids, In Mid Wickedness, The Harbinger and Third Contact have no known US theatrical release dates. Third Contact was shot on a camcorder with a budget of less than £4000.

A car used in It’s a Love Thing would not start so the crew had to push it for most of the takes. It eventually did start and the sequence was completed. Claire Hickman auditioned for the role of ‘older Jessica, but was cast as Andrew’s mother … and became the film’s publicist and production manager.