Tom Neal and Ann Savage take a fatal "Detour"

Detour (1945) is an American film noir directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starring Tom Neal and Ann Savage. It was released by Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC), a Poverty Row movie studio that operated during the 1930s and 1940s.

Al Roberts (Neal) is depressed that his career as a piano player is going nowhere. To top it off, his girlfriend Sue Harvey (Claudia Drake) quits her job as a singer in a New York City nightclub to pursue a career in Hollywood. With little money in his pocket, Al decides to hitchhike across the country with the hopes of marrying Sue when he gets there.

Charles Haskell Jr. (Edmund MacDonald), an Arizona bookie gives Al a ride in his Lincoln convertible. During the ride, Haskell takes several pills and at one point asks Al to drive. Al pulls over to put the top up with Haskell asleep in the car during a rainstorm. Al tries to rouse Haskell from his sleep but he appears dead. Al opens the passenger side door and Haskell tumbles out and hits his head on a rock.

Fearing that the police will think he killed Haskell, Al hides the body and assumes his identity along with his money and clothes. Al picks up a woman named Vera (Savage) who knows that he isn’t Haskell and doesn’t own the car he is driving.

What happens next is a battle of wills between Vera and Al as they travel West.

 

Edgar G. Ulmer (1904 – 1972) was an Austrian film director noted for the B movies he made at Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). He worked as a set designer for Max Reinhardt’s theater in Europe. He was an apprentice to F. W.  Murnau. He also worked with the directors Robert Siodmak, Billy Wilder, and Fred Zinneman. His most famous films include The Black Cat (1934) starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff made at Universal Pictures and Detour (1945) at PRC.

Tom Neal (1914 – 1972) was an American actor and amateur boxer. Born in Evanston, Illinois, Neal was the son of a banker and grew up in a ten-room home in Chicago. He enrolled at Northwestern University where he majored in mathematics. Neal dropped out of Northwestern after a year and began appearing in various stage productions including Summer Stock. He made his Broadway debut in 1935 and his movie debut three years later in Out West with the Hardys, the series starring Mickey Rooney.  He appeared in many B movies, with Detour (1945) being his most famous. His personal life was tempestuous and it derailed his career resulting in his being blackballed in Hollywood.

Ann Savage (1921 – 2008) was an American film and television actress. She starred in several B movies with actor Tom Neal with their most famous pairing being Detour (1945). As a teenager, she failed a screen test with M-G-M and decided not to show up at a screen test for Twentieth-Century Fox because she felt they had plenty of pretty blondes. Savage worked at Columbian Pictures co-starring with Rosalind Russell in What a Woman (1943). Savage was a popular pin-up model during World War II. During the war, she sold war bonds on two nationwide drives. After her film career faded, Savage became a businesswoman and took flying lessons, becoming a licensed pilot in 1979.

 

Detour trivia

• While setting up the hitchhiking scene, a driver tried to pick up Ann Savage.
• The 1941 Lincoln Continental V-12 convertible driven by Haskell was Ulmer’s personal car.
• Ann Savage and Tom Neal didn’t get along at all during filming and spent days not speaking to each other except when filming movie scenes.
• Director Wim Wenders called Ann Savage’s performance as Vera “30 years ahead of its time.”
• The film was made in 28 days.
• Ann Savage’s autobiography was titled Savage Detours, acknowledging her most famous film role.

 

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Ann Savage and Tom Neal

 

Discussion questions

1. Supposedly, this film had a budget of $100,000. Would it have been a better film with a higher budget?
2. Director Ulmer was famous for making the best use of the money he was given to direct his features at PRC. Does Detour look like a low-budget film?
3. What did you think of the onscreen relationship between Tom Neal and Ann Savage? Were their characters believable?
4. Did this film remind you of any other films noir you’ve seen?
5. Were you surprised by anything in the film?

 

 

Lawrence Tierney is “Born to Kill”

Born to Kill (1947) is an American film noir directed by Robert Wise and starring Lawrence Tierney, Claire Trevor, and Walter Slezak. The supporting cast includes Esther Howard, Elisha Cook Jr. Philip Terry, and Audrey Long. The cinematography was by Robert De Grasse (Stage Door, Carefree, Kitty Foyle).

After obtaining her divorce in Reno, Nevada, San Francisco socialite Helen Brent (Trevor) meets Sam Wilde (Tierney), a mysterious man who intrigues her. Little does she know that he is responsible for two murders.

Wilde follows Helen back to San Francisco and begins to court Helen’s sister Georgia (Long). Helen believes Sam is marrying Georgia for her money. Georgia inherited the largest newspaper in the city and lives in a beautiful mansion. Sam quickly convinces Georgia to marry him and that’s when the trouble starts.

 

Lawrence Tierney and Claire Trevor

Robert Wise (1914 - 2000) was an American director, producer, and editor. Wise began his movie career at RKO as a sound and music editor. For several years, he worked with senior editor William Hamilton. Wise’s first solo film editing credits were on Bachelor Mother (1939) and My Favorite Wife (1940). He was the film editor on Citizen Kane and was nominated for an Academy Award for Film Editing. Wise got his chance to direct at RKO from Val Lewton, the producer of horror classics like Cat People (1942). The Curse of the Cat People (1944) was the first film that Wise received director credit for. He eventually directed films noir, westerns, melodramas, and science fiction. Some popular films directed by Wise include The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Executive Suite (1954), I Want to Live! (1958), which earned Wise his first Oscar nomination for Best Director. He went on to win Best Director Oscars for West Side Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965).

Lawrence Tierney (1919 – 2002) was an American film and television actor best known for his roles as gangsters and tough-guys. He became a popular star with the release of Dillinger (1945). His performance as the notorious gangster led to a string of popular films noir. Some of his famous films include The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947) Born to Kill (1947), Bodyguard (1948), and Kill or Be Killed (1950). Once Tierney’s film career slowed, he appeared on television guest starring on shows like The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

Claire Trevor (1910 - 2000) was an American actress who appeared in over 60 movies. She received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Dead End (1937), and The High and the Mighty (1954). She won the award for her performance in Key Largo (1948). Trevor got her start on the New York stage and made her film debut in 1933. She also appeared on radio with Edward G. Robinson in the popular radio program Big Town. Trevor’s most famous role is probably Dallas in Stagecoach, but she had other memorable roles in Murder, My Sweet (1944), and Born to Kill (1947). Her last film role was in Kiss Me Goodbye (1982) where she played Sally Field’s mother.

Walter Slezak (1902 – 1983) was an Austrian-born film and stage actor. Slezak started in silent films as a leading man, often directed by his friend Michael Curtiz. As he aged and gained weight, Slezak played character roles. He made his American film debut in Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942) starring Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers. He appeared in over 100 films. He also worked on Broadway where he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his work in Fanny. Slezak also worked on radio and television. In 1974, he appeared on the soap opera One Life to Live, playing the godfather of Victoria Lord, played by his daughter Erika Slezak.

 

Born to Kill trivia

• Tallulah Bankhead was considered for the role of Helen, but she was unavailable and the role went to Claire Trevor.
• Phillip Terry divorced Joan Crawford the year before the film’s release.
• Esther Howard, part of Preston Sturges’ stock company, does a rare dramatic turn.
• Claire Trevor wears more hats in this film than probably any other film actress.
• Although not a box office success when first released, it is considered a classic film noir by many of today’s critics and fans.

 

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Discussion questions

1. What did you think of Lawrence Tierney’s tough-guy performance?
2. The film was considered shocking in its day with many contemporary critics considering it unsavory. Did you find it shocking?
3. What did you think of Claire Trevor’s performance as Helen? She’s not the typical femme fatale. Instead of leading the man astray, Helen is drawn to his brutality.
4. Did the film remind you of any other films noir?

 

Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward in “Ladies in Retirement”

Ladies in Retirement (1941) is an American gothic suspense film directed by Charles Vidor and starring Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward. The movie was based on the play of the same name by Reginald Denham and Edward Percy. The cinematography was by George Barnes who won an Academy Award the previous year for his work on Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca.

The plot involves Ellen Creed (Lupino), a middle-aged spinster forced to work as a housekeeper/companion to Miss Leonora Fiske (Isobel Elsom), a wealthy retiree and former chorus girl in her youth. Ellen gets a letter about her two sisters Emily (Elsa Lanchester) and Louisa (Edith Barrett) who are odd, to put it mildly. The letter threatens to evict the sisters and send them to an institution.

Ellen suggests to Miss Fiske that her two sisters come for a visit. The visit turns disastrous with Miss Fiske ordering the sisters and Ellen to leave her home. To complicate matters, Albert Feather (Hayward), a distant relative shows up at the most inopportune moment.

Charles Vidor (1900 – 1959) was a Hungarian film director whose career started during the early days of talking pictures. Vidor is most famous for the work he did under contract to Columbia Pictures including Ladies in Retirement (1941), Cover Girl (1944), Together Again (1944), A Song to Remember (1945), and Gilda (1946). After leaving Columbia, Vidor directed Hans Christian Andersen (1952) for Sam Goldwyn, Love Me or Leave Me (1955) for M-G-M, and The Joker is Wild (1957) for Paramount. Vidor suffered a heart attack and died three weeks into filming.

George Barnes (1892 – 1953) was an American cinematographer who began his career during the silent era and worked into the early 1950s. Barnes was competent in both black-and-white and color cinematography. He won an Academy Award for black-and-white photography in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940). Some other films Barnes photographed include Jesse James (1939), Meet John Doe (1941), Jane Eyre (1944), Spellbound (1945), Samson Delilah (1949), and The War of the Worlds (1953).

Lupino and Hayward at home with their dog

Ida Lupino (1918 – 1995) was an English-American actress, director, and producer. She appeared in over 50 films and was one of Warner Bros.’s biggest contract players during the 1940s starring in High Sierra (1941), The Sea Wolf (1941), and The Man I Love (1947). After she left Warner Bros., Lupino formed her own production company, producing, writing, and directing films that tackled subjects the big studios wouldn’t touch. During the 1950s, Lupino was the only female director working in Hollywood. She directed several small independent films but made a name for herself directing for television. Lupino directed episodes of The Twilight Zone (starred in one too), The Rifleman, Bonanza, Gilligan’s Island, It Takes a Thief, Family Affair, and Columbo. In 1966, she directed her one-and-only big-budget studio picture, The Trouble with Angels starring Rosalind Russell and Haley Mills.

Charles Laughton visits the set of Ladies in Retirement

Louis Hayward (1909 – 1985) was a British-American actor. He worked on the London stage under the tutelage of Noel Coward. He made some films in England in the early 1930s and came to Broadway in 1935 working with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in Noel Coward’s Point Valaine. His Broadway fame brought him to Hollywood where he was cast in some minor roles before getting starring roles in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), My Son, My Son! (1940), and The Son of Monte Cristo (1940). Hayward was married to Ida Lupino from 1938 to 1945.

Ladies in Retirement trivia:

• Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward were married during the filming.
• Rosalind Russell was originally announced as the film’s lead.
• Lupino was 23 playing a woman in her mid-40s.
• The film was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White; Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture

Click HERE to watch the movie on YouTube.

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Questions for discussion:

1. What genre would you classify this film?
2. Did Ida Lupino make a credible middle-aged woman?
3. Why do you think Miss Fiske gave money to Albert?
4. What did you make of the two “batty” sisters?
5. Did you have any sympathy for Ellen?

  

Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, and Henry Fonda in Otto Preminger's Production of “Daisy Kenyon”

Daisy Kenyon (1947), based on the best-selling novel by Elizabeth Janeway, is one of many films referred to as “women’s pictures” during Hollywood’s Golden Age. In many ways, it fits that genre perfectly, especially with Joan Crawford—“an old hand at being emotionally confused” according to The New York Times review—playing the title role. However, in director Otto Preminger’s hands, it’s so much more, with the male protagonists, Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews, also grabbing the spotlight.

Andrews plays prominent attorney, Dan O’Mara who is married to Lucile (Ruth Warrick). They have two daughters Rosmund (Peggy Ann Garner) and Marie (Connie Marshall). O’Mara leads a double life: On the one hand, he’s a family man, and on the other, he’s a philandering husband carrying on an affair with Daisy (Crawford), a single career woman. The relationship is a strained one primarily because O’Mara refuses to divorce his wife and marry Daisy. Daisy is torn between her love for Dan and her desire for a relationship that doesn’t need to be kept secret. To complicate matters further, Daisy meets World War II veteran, Peter Lapham (Fonda). Not as exciting a character as Dan, but a safe one.

Who will Daisy choose? 

Otto Preminger (1905 -1986) was an American film director who made more than 35 feature films during a five-decade career. Born in Austro-Hungarian into a Jewish family. Preminger was drawn to acting from an early age and became the apprentice of famed stage director Max Reinhardt. In 1935, he was recruited by Twentieth Century-Fox to apprentice as a director at the studio. After a rocky start, Preminger established himself as an A-list director after Rouben Mamoulian was fired from Laura (1944). The film noir classic made major stars of Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews and is considered one of the best film noirs of all time. While under contract to Fox, Preminger directed Fallen Angel (1945), Centennial Summer (1946), Forever Amber (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947). After he left Fox, Preminger became a maverick, constantly clashing with members of the Production Code. He released two films without the approval of the Production Code: The Moon is Blue (1953) and The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). Both films were financial successes and helped bring an end to the Code entirely. Later successes for Preminger include Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and Exodus (1960).

Crawford at the top of the triangle.

Joan Crawford (190? – 1977) was an American actress. A former dancer, Crawford was signed to a movie contract by M-G-M in 1925. She started out in small parts in silent films, sometimes doubling for established star Norma Shearer. Crawford was an amazing self-promoter and by the 1930s, her popularity rivaled Shearer and Greta Garbo. She was famous for playing shop girls who somehow made it big. During the height of the Depression, women flocked to her films. But by the late 1930s, her popularity was beginning to wane. She left M-G-M and was absent from the screen for almost two years. She signed with Warner Bros. and made a successful comeback in Mildred Pierce (1945). The film was a hit with audiences and critics alike and won Crawford her one-and-only Academy Award for Best Actress. She went on the star in Humoresque (1946) with John Garfield, Possessed (1947) with Van Heflin, and Flamingo Road (1949). 

Dana Andrews (1909 – 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor. During the 1940s, Andrews was a major star and leading man starring in Laura (1944), State Fair (1945), A Walk in the Sun (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1946), Boomerang! (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947), the latter co-starring Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda. During the 1950s, film roles were harder to come by, but he had success in Elephant Walk (1954) co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch, While the City Sleeps (1956), and Curse of the Demon (1957). In 1958 he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw. Andrews worked a lot on television guest-starring on shows like The Twilight Zone, Checkmate, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Ben Casey, The Love Boat, Ironside, and Falcon Crest. He also starred in the daytime soap opera Bright Promise (1969 - 1971).

Trouble in the O’Mara household

Henry Fonda (1905 –1982) was an American stage and film actor. Fonda came to Hollywood in 1935 and became a star overnight. Early starring roles include Jezebel (1938), Jesse James (1939), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), and The Grapes of Wrath (1940) for which he received his first Best Actor nomination for playing Tom Joad. Fonda played opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve (1942), My Darling Clementine (1946), and Mister Roberts (1955). In 1981 he finally won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as Norman Thayer Jr. in On Golden Pond.

Daisy Kenyon triva

• Joan Crawford requested both Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews as her co-stars.
• Fond and Andrews didn’t want to make the film but had to it to fulfill their contracts.
• During an interview during the 1970s, Otto Preminger said he had no recollection of Daisy Kenyon.
• Crawford was borrowed from Warner Bros. for her role as Daisy.
• Andrews had already worked with Preminger on Laura (1944) and Fallen Angel (1945).
• John Garfield appears as an extra sitting at the bar in the Stork Club.
• Columnist Walter Winchel, writer Damon Runyon, and New York Post columnist Leonard Lyons all have cameos as themselves.

Dan O’Mara at the Stock Club with Leonard Lyons and check out
John Garfield drinking far left!

Click HERE to watch the film on the Internet Archive.

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Discussion questions

1. When the film was released on DVD, the film company classified it as a film noir. Do you think this film fits that genre? How would you classify it?
2. Did you find the relationships between the three stars believable? 
3. Do you think Daisy made the right choice?
4. Were you surprised by anything?
5. Was the ending satisfying?

Ida Lupino stars in “The Man I Love”

The Man I Love (1947) is a melodramatic film noir directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Ida Lupino, Robert Alda, Andrea King, and Bruce Bennett.

Petey Brown (Lupino) is a lounge singer who is homesick for her family in California. She leaves New York City to visit her two sisters (King and Martha Vickers) and brother (Warren Douglas) on the West Coast. She gets a job at a Long Beach nightclub owned by a local hood, Nicky Toresca (Alda).

While avoiding passes from Toresca, Petey falls in love with a down-on-his-luck ex-jazz pianist, Sam Thomas (Bennett).

Will Petey make a life for herself in California or will she go back to New York City and the jazz clubs where she feels most at home?

 

Raoul Walsh (1887 - 1980) was an American director, actor, and founding member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Walsh got his start acting on the stage in New York. He eventually began acting in silent films and worked as an assistant director alongside D.W. Griffith. Eventually, he became a director working with major silent-film stars Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria Swanson, and Anna May Wong. He lost his right eye in a freak accident in 1928 and never acted again, instead of focusing exclusively on directing. Some of his notable films include The Roaring Twenties (1939) starring James Cagney and Priscilla Lane, High Sierra (1941) starring Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart, The Strawberry Blonde (1941) starring Cagney and Olivia de Havilland, White Heat (1949) starring Cagney and Virginia Mayo, and Captian Horatio Hornblower (1951) starring Gregory Peck and Mayo.

Ida Lupino (1918 – 1995) was an English-American actress, director, and producer. She appeared in over 50 films and was one of Warner Bros.’s biggest contract players during the 1940s starring in High Sierra (1941), The Sea Wolf (1941), and The Man I Love (1947). After she left Warner Bros., Lupino formed her own production company, producing, writing, and directing films that tackled subjects the big studios wouldn’t touch. During the 1950s, Lupino was the only female director working in Hollywood. She produced and directed several small independent films but made a name for herself directing for television. Lupino directed episodes of The Twilight Zone (starred in one too), The Rifleman, Bonanza, Gilligan’s Island, It Takes a Thief, Family Affair, and Columbo. In 1966, she directed her one-and-only big-budget studio picture, The Trouble with Angels starring Rosalind Russell and Haley Mills.

Ida Lupino and Robert Alda

Robert Alda (1914 – 1986) was an American stage, screen, and television actor. He got his start in vaudeville and after winning a talent contest moved on the burlesque. He toured with Jack Carson and Marion Hutton (Betty Hutton’s sister) supporting Jack Carson’s radio show. Alda’s most famous film roles were as George Gershwin in Rhapsody in Blue (1945) and as the talent agent in Imitation of Life (1959). He created the role of Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls on Broadway for which he won a Tony Award. He made numerous appearances on television throughout his career and was host of several game shows during the 1950s. He is the father of Alan and Antony Alda.

Andrea King (1919 – 2003) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. King got her start as a child actress and worked on Broadway. Her most famous stage role was as Mark Skinner (replacing Teresa Wright) in Life with Father. In 1944, she signed a contract with Warner Bros. She appeared in several uncredited roles but was eventually elevated to leading lady status in The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) and The Man I Love (1947). King never achieved star status but she continued to work in supporting roles in film and television.

Bruce Bennett (1906 – 2007) was an American actor, college and Olympic athlete. He won a silver medal in the shot put at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam. Bennett was all set to play Tarzan in 1931 but broke his shoulder filming the football film Touchdown. He was replaced by Johnny Weissmuler. Bennett would eventually play the lead in a Tarzan serial film. His film career was interrupted by World War II, where he served in the United States Navy. Bennett was busy in the 1940s appearing in Mildred Pierce (1945), Nora Prentis (1947), Dark Passage (1947), The Man I Love (1947), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).

 

The Man I Love trivia

• Ida Lupino’s singing voice was dubbed by Peg La Centra.
• Lupino became ill during the production and fainted during a scene with Robert Alda. She had to be cut out of her tight-fitting gown.
• Filmed in mid-1945, it wasn’t released until 1947.
• The film was originally planned for Ann Sheridan and Humphrey Bogart.
• Martin Scorcese credited The Man I Love as the inspiration for his film New York, New York.
• Alan Hale appears with Lupino in The Man I Love. Lupino directed  his son, Alan Hale Jr. in several episodes of Gilligan’s Island

 

Click HERE to watch the film on YouTube.

 

Click HERE to join the online discussion on October 7, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

 

Discussion questions

1. Would you consider The Man I Love more of a melodrama or a film noir, or a combination of both.
2. Did you find the love story between Petey and Sam believable? Why or why not.
3. Was Robert Alda a convincing small-time hood?
4. Was Lupino convincing as a nightclub singer?
5. Was the film’s ending satisfying? Was it realistic? Did it remind you of other films you’ve seen?

 

Technicolor Noir: “Leave Her to Heaven” starring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, and Jeanne Crain

Leave Her to Heaven (1945) is a Technicolor film noir directed by John Stahl, produced by William A. Bacher and Darryl F. Zanuck, and starring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, and Jeanne Crain. It is based on the best-selling novel by Ben Ames Williams published in 1944. Jo Swerling adapted the screenplay.

Cornel Wilde and Gene Tierney

Tierney plays Ellen Berent, a rich socialite who meets novelist Richard Harland (Wilde) on the train to New Mexico. She thinks Richard resembles her dead father and that mesmerizes Ellen. Ellen’s relationship with her father seems to have been a strange and obsessive one. Ellen lives with her mother (Mary Phillips) and adopted sister Ruth (Crain). Ruth is really Ellen’s cousin and someone that Ellen sees as a rival rather than a beloved family member.

Ellen’s infatuation with Richard quickly turns into marriage. Richard introduces Ellen to his brother Danny who is crippled due to the effects of polio. In short order, they all move to Richard’s lodge in northern Maine called Back of the Moon. At first, all seems idyllic, but then Ellen begins to resent anyone occupying Richard’s time including Danny and her own family. Things go downhill when Ellen accuses Richard of enjoying Ruth’s company more than her own.

Will Ellen get control of her jealousy or will it destroy her and all the lives she’s touched?

John M. Stahl (1886 – 1950) was an American film director and producer who began his career in silent movies in 1913. In 1919 he signed with the film company Louis B. Mayer Pictures, which would eventually become Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Stahl transitioned to sound and directed Imitation of Life (1934) starring Claudette Colbert which was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. In 1935, he directed Magnificent Obsession starring Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor. Other films of note include Back Street (1932) starring Dunne and John Boles, and The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) starring Gregory Peck. Many believe that director Douglas Sirk was influenced by Stahl’s melodramatic style. Sirk remade Magnificent Obsession (1954) and Imitation of Life (1959).

Darryl F. Zanuck (1902 – 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive. Zanuck began his career as a writer for silent films. Zanuck worked successfully at Warner Bros. but left the studio to become a partner in 20th Century Pictures. Zanuck and his business partner bought out Fox Studios in 1935 to form Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. He won three Academy Awards as a producer for How Green Was My Valley (1940), Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), and All About Eve (1950).

Jo Swerling (1897 – 1964) was an American screenwriter who collaborated with Frank Capra on such films as Ladies of Leisure (1930) and Platinum Blonde (1931). Other screenplays by Swerling include Double Wedding (1937), The Westerner (1940), Blood and Sand (1941), and The Pride of the Yankees (1942) for which he was Oscar-nominated. Swerling was one of the dozens of writers who worked on the script (not credited) for Gone with the Wind (1939).

Leon Shamroy (1901 – 1974) was an American cinematographer under contract to 20th Century-Fox studio. He was famous for his Technicolor work, which is exemplified in Leave Her to Heaven (1945) for which he won the Academy Award. He won four Academy Awards during his long career and shares the record for most Oscar nominations with Charles Lang (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir). Other films Shamroy shot include The Robe (1953), Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), The King and I (1956), South Pacific (1958), and The Planet of the Apes (1968).

Gene Tierney (1920 – 1991) was an American actress. Tierney got her start on the stage where she played the ingenue lead in The Male Animal. Tierney made her movie debut in 1940 in The Return of Frank James starring Henry Fonda. She worked steadily in the early 1940s but established herself as a top box office star with Laura (1944). She starred in Leave Her to Heaven the next year which was the biggest hit of the year and Fox’s biggest moneymaking success until The Robe (1953). Other successes for Tierney include Dragonwyck (1946), The Razor’s Edge (1946), and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947).

Cornel Wilde (1912 – 1989) was a Hungarian-born American actor and film director. Wilde had small roles in films like High Sierra (1941) until he was signed by 20th Century Fox. He was loaned out to Columbia to play the role of Frederic Chopin in A Song to Remember (1945) for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. At Fox, he was a popular leading man. For that studio, he starred in Centennial Summer (1946), Forever Amber (1947), and Road House (1948). With the decline of his acting career, Wilde produced and directed several independent productions including Beach Red (1967) and No Blade of Grass (1970).

Jeanne Crain (1925 – 2003) was an American actress who began her movie career with a bit part in The Gang’s All Here (1943). Now under contract to Fox, Crain was featured in Home in Indiana (1944)  filmed in Technicolor and was a big hit. Crain was given top billing in her next feature In the Meantime Darling (1944). She made another film that same year, Winged Victory. In 1945 she co-starred with Dana Andrews in State Fair. She was now one of Fox’s top female stars. Margie (1946) was another popular success. She had another critical and box office success with Apartment for Peggy (1948). Her peak came in 1949 with A Letter to Three Wives and Pinky for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Jeanne Crain and Gene Tierney

Other actors in the cast are Vincent Price as Russell Quinton, Ray Collins as Glen Robie, Gene Lockhart as Dr. Saunders, Chill Wills as Leick Thorne, and Darry Hickman as Danny Harland, Richard’s younger brother.

Below is the link to the movie on YouTube. Please use this link because several versions on the channel are inferior to this one. I recommend you watch this on your TV. The Technicolor is amazing and you will appreciate it more on a larger screen.

Click HERE to watch the film on YouTube.

Click HERE to join the discussion on September 30, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to join us on Zoom.

Discussion Questions:
1. This is considered the first film noir shot in color. Do you think this film would have been as effective if shot in black and white?
2. What do you think motivated Ellen’s jealousy? Do you really think she loved Richard or anyone?
3. Do you think there was any sympathy for Ellen’s character in 1945? Do you have any sympathy for her today?
4. What did you think of the contrast between Ellen and Ruth?
5. This is one of Martin Scorsese’s favorite films from Hollywood’s Golden Age. He thinks Gene Tierney was one of the most underrated actresses from the 1940s. Would you agree with Scorsese on his assessment of Tierney?

Book Review – MOGULS: The Lives and Times of Hollywood Film Pioneers Nicholas and Joseph Schenck

Title: MOGULS: The Lives and Times of Hollywood FilmPioneers Nicholas and Joseph Schenck

By: Michael Benson and Craig Singer

Publisher: Citadel Press

ISBN 978-0-8065-4308-6 (hardcover)

ISBN: 978-0-8065-4310-9 (ebook)

When you think about movie moguls from Hollywood’s Golden Age, who comes to mind? You’ve probably heard or know something about Louis B. Mayer, Darryl F. Zanuck, Samuel Goldwyn, and maybe Harry Cohn. All of these men were the public faces of powerful movie studios. But were they really the ones in charge?

Authors Michael Benson and Craig Singer examine the lives of two brothers: Nicholas and Joseph Schenck. Russian Jewish immigrants, both came to America with dreams and ambitions and fulfilled them in ways almost impossible to believe.

The brothers grew up on the mean streets of New York City’s Lower East Side. Eventually, the Schenck family moved uptown to Harlem. An upgrade for sure, but not an easy life. The boys helped their families by selling newspapers and working other odd jobs to earn money.

Joe got his high school diploma by attending night classes while working during the day. Later he took night courses at the New York School of Pharmacy and became a licensed pharmacist.

Together the brothers worked in several pharmacies in the city and worked hard to purchase one of their own. Eventually, they owned several pharmacies and could have made a comfortable living but they wanted more.

They opened a beer hall with dancing and  Paradise Park, an amusement park that would eventually be called Palisades Amusement Park atop the cliffs of New Jersey. It became one of the most famous amusement parks on the East Coast and the United States. It had rides to rival Coney Island and the world’s largest saltwater pool. But the success of the amusement park wasn’t enough for brothers Nick and Joe.

Norma Talmage

The two were always drawn to the movies. From the early days of the Nickelodeons, the brothers were eager to get into the movie business. As if by fate, the brothers met Marcus Lowe who owned penny arcades, nickelodeons, and movie theaters. He told the Schenck brothers he wanted to open a concession at their amusement park. Before you knew it, Nick and Joe were in the movie business and developed a life-long friendship and business association with Lowe. Lowe would become a legend in his own right as the head of Lowes, Inc., the parent company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He was Louis B. Mayer’s boss.

Joe eventually became a vaudeville talent booker and movie producer. Fatty Arbuckle, a silent film comedian whose films were produced by Joe, whose popularity rivaled that of Charlie Chaplin, introduced Joe to Norma Talmage, an actress Arbuckle felt could be a major movie star. It was love at first sight for Joe. They eventually married and Joe spent most of his time doing everything he could to promote Talmage’s career.

Where Joe was outgoing and everyone’s friend, brother Nick was more reserved and conservative. Joe loved publicity and being in the public eye, but Nick hated it. In fact, Nick had a “publicist” whose job was to keep his name out of the papers. Joe was liked by everyone and everyone was afraid of Nick. Nick was a family man and Joe, before and after his marriage to Talmage, was a playboy. Despite their differences, they were devoted to each other and worked well together.

The brothers became entrenched in the movie business. They held controlling interests in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Twentieth Century-Fox, and United Artists. Unlike the moguls we know, the brothers preferred being behind the scenes, often pulling the strings of Louis B. Mayer, Irving Thalberg, and Darryl F. Zanuck.

Buster Keaton

So many film legends passed through the brothers’ lives: Buster Keaton, Fatty Arbuckle, Thelma Todd, Merle Oberon, and Marilyn Monroe. So many in fact that it’s hard to keep track and almost unbelievable. 

The authors have written a nonfiction account of the Schenck brothers that reads like a novel. They have presented Nick and Joe in a way that brings their characters alive; you come away feeling like you know them. The book is filled with so much fascinating history of film and Hollywood that it’s hard to put down.

Nicholas and Joseph Schenck may not be household names. However, without the grit and determination of the brothers, classic Hollywood, as we know it, may never have existed.