George Sanders and Linda Darnell in Douglas Sirk's "Summer Storm"

Summer Storm (1944) is a romance melodrama directed by Douglas Sirk, starring George Sanders and Linda Darnell. The supporting cast includes Edward Everett Horton, Hugo Haas, and Anna Lee. The film is based on the novel The Hunting Party (1884) written by Anton Chekhov.

The film, told in flashback, tells the story of Judge Fedor Petroff (Saunders) and his infatuation with the beautiful Olga Kuzminichna Urbenin, (Darnell) in early-19^th century Russia.

Before Petroff became acquainted with Olga, he was engaged to Nadena Kalenin (Lee), the daughter of a Russian book publisher. One day, Nadena discovers Petroff kissing Olga, and Nadena calls the wedding off, reluctantly because she still loves Petroff.

Petroff’s affair with Olga continues but things do not go well. Olga has her own ideas and she plots to improve her station in life and Petroff isn’t necessarily at the center.

Will Petroff be able to work out his feeling for Olga? Will Olga set her sights on another man who can give her financial security and social position?

 

Summer Storm trivia

• This was director Douglas Sirk’s second American movie.
• Sirk wrote the screenplay with “Michael O’Hara.” O’Hara is a pseudonym for Sirk.
• Sirk had planned to film Anton Chekhov’s The Shooting Party before he fled Germany in 1937.
• George Sanders was born in Russia in 1906; he left with his family in 1917 during the Russian Revolution.
• Sanders did his own singing in the tavern scene.
• Linda Darnell campaigned hard to get the role of Olga. This role changed the arch of her career; she went from a sweet, virginal girl next door to a major Hollywood sex symbol.

To watch the movie on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on May 22, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you’ll receive an invitation and a link to join the discussion on Zoom

 

Discussion questions

1. Douglas Sirk is famous today for his Technicolor melodramas like Written on the Wind and All That Heaven Allows. Do you see any hints in Summer Storm that foreshadows Sirk’s later work in the 1950s?
2. What did you think of George Sanders’s performance? Did it remind you of any of his other performances?
3. What did you think of Linda Darnell’s performance? Darnell was only 21 when this film was released.
4. Were there any performances that you thought were particularly good?
5. Did the ending surprise you or was it what you expected?

George Sanders and Linda Darnell

Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane in "Arsenic and Old Lace"

Arsenic and Old Lace is an American black comedy directed by Frank Capra and starring Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane. The excellent supporting cast includes Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Jack Carson, James Gleason, and Edward Everett Horton. Jean Adair, Josephine Hull, and John Alexander reprised their roles from the Broadway production.

The screenplay was written by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein and based on the play of the same name by Joseph Kesselring. The film score was by Max Steiner and the cinematography was by Sol Polito.

Mortimer Brewster (Grant), a writer who has written extensively on how marriage is “an old-fashioned superstition,” falls in love with Elaine Harper (Lane), the minister’s daughter next door to his family home. Mortimer and Elaine get married on Halloween day. Elaine returns to her father’s house and Mortimer goes to his childhood home where his Aunts Abby and Martha raised him and still live. Along with his aunts, his older brother Teddy, who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt, lives there too.

While looking for the manuscript notes for his next book, Mortimer discovers a body in the window seat. He immediately thinks it's Teddy who must have been the murderer. But to Mortimer’s horror, he discovers that it’s his two aunts who are responsible. Not only are they responsible for the man in the window seat, but they are serial killers who “minister” to old bachelors by putting them out of their misery. And all these “gentlemen” are buried in the basement!

Besides his serial-killer aunts, Mortimer's brother Jonathan (Massey) is also a serial killer who is on the lamb and hiding out in his childhood home.

How in the world will Mortimer be able to save his aunts from going to prison and protecting them from the menacing Jonathan?

Frank Capra (1897 - 1991) was an American film director, producer, and writer. During the 1930s and 1940s, Capra’s films were among the most popular and awarded films. By 1938, Capra has won three Best Director Academy Awards. Born in Italy, Capra immigrated to the United States with his family when he was five years old. By sheer determination and his self-described cockiness, Capra talked his way into the movie business. He found a great home at “Poverty Row” studio, Columbia Pictures. At Columbia he had a major success with It Happened One Night (1934), which swept all the major categories at the Academy Awards that year. This helped turn Columbia Pictures from a Poverty Row studio into a major one. Other Capra successes include You Can’t Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).

Cary Grant (1904 – 1986) was an English-born American actor who became one of the most popular leading men in film history. Grant started his career in vaudeville before heading to Hollywood. He became a superstar in the late 1930s in a series of screwball comedies including The Awful Truth (1937) with Irene Dunne. He was a memorable C. K. Dexter Haven in The Philadelphia Story (1940) opposite Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart. He received two Best Actor nominations for Penny Serenade (1941) and None but the Lonely Hearts (1944). Other classic Grant films include Gunga Din (1939), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). He made four popular films with Alfred Hitchcock: Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955), and North by Northwest (1959). He was presented with an Honorary Oscar at the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970.

Priscilla Lane (1915 – 1995) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for her film roles in The Roaring Twenties (1939) co-starring James Cagney, Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur (1942), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) co-starring Cary Grant. Before she became a star, she had a screen test at age 16 at MGM offices in New York City. Other actresses being tested that day included Katharine Hepburn and Margaret Sullavan. All three flunked their MGM auditions. Not to be dismayed, Priscilla and her older sister Rosemary were signed to a radio contract with Waring’s orchestra. In 1938, she and her sister Rosemary were signed to seven-year contracts with Warner Bros. Priscilla starred in Four Daughters (1938), the film that introduced John Garfield to moviegoers. Other popular films starring Lane include Brother Rat (1938), Dust Be My Destiny (1939), again co-starring with Garfield, Three Cheers for the Irish (1940), and Blues in the Night (1941). Disillusioned with the roles Warners was offering her, she left the studio in 1942. She made five more movies, the last one in 1948, and then retired from films to raise a family.

Priscilla Lane and Cary Grant in a publicity still

Arsenic and Old Lace trivia

• Bob Hope was the first choice for Mortimer Brewster but his home studio wouldn't release him so he couldn't accept the role. Jack Benny was considered but when Frank Capra found out that Cary Grant was interested, he was offered the role.
• Frank Capra requested Priscilla Lane for the role of Elaine.
• Archie Leach (Grant's real name) is on one of the tombstones near the Brewster home.
• Cary Grant considered this the least favorite of all his films.
• Capra had to pay $25,000 each for the services of Jean Adair and Josephine Hull to the producers of the Broadway play. Adair and Hull were paid $10,000 each for their film roles.
• The film was completed in eight weeks under budget.
• Filmed in 1941, but released in 1944.

To watch the film on YouTube, click the link below.

To join the discussion on October 31, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation to join the discussion along with the Zoom link.

Discussion questions

1. Grant hated his performance in this film. Why do you think he was unhappy with the final cut?
2. The supporting cast is pretty amazing. Do you have any favorites? Did you have a favorite aunt?
3. Did you have a favorite scene or piece of dialogue?
4. If the movie was remade today, would you set it in the 1940s? Who would you cast as Mortimer, Jonathan, and the aunts?
5. In spite of Grant's opinion of his performance and the film, it's often sighted as a favorite among film fans. What's your opinion? Do you consider this one of Grant's best performances?

Frank Capra (hat), Cary Grant, and Priscila Lane on the set

Here comes Robert Montgomery in "Here Comes Mr. Jordan"

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) is an American fantasy romantic comedy directed by Alexander Hall and starring Robert Montgomery, Claude Rains, and Evelyn Keyes. The screenplay was written by Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Segall and the cinematography was by Joseph Walker (It Happened One Night, It's a Wonderful Life).

Boxer and amateur pilot Joe Pendleton (Montgomery) while flying to his next bout in New York City. A severed control cable cause him to crash his plane. An overly conscientious Angel 7013 (Edward Everett Horton) retrieves his soul concluding that he couldn't survive the crash. Upon further examination, Angel 7013's superior Mr. Jordan (Raines) determined that Joe should have lived another 50 years. 

To make amends, Mr. Jordan has Joe's soul enter the body of a crooked banker named Bruce Farnsworth who was murdered by his wife and his secretary. 

Can Joe find happiness and resume his boxing career in the body of another man?

Alexander Hall (1894 - 1968) was an American film director. He was working on the stage at age four and continued acting. As an adult, he worked in silent film before becoming interested in film production. Hall worked as a film editor and assistant director until 1932. His first directed film was Sinners in the Sun. In 1937, he signed a contract with Columbia Pictures and worked there almost exclusively. He gained a reputation for directing sophisticated comedies. Some of the films he directed include Little Miss Marker (1934), My Sister Eileen (1942), They All Kissed the Bride (1942), Down to Earth (1947), and The Great Lover (1949). 

Robert Montgomery (1904 - 1981) was an actor, director, and producer. Montgomery began his career on the stage but was soon signed by M-G-M becoming one of that studio's most popular leading men. The actor was adept at both dramas and comedies. Montgomery was twice nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award. In 1937, he was nominated for his performance as a murderous Irish handyman in Night Must Fall, and for his comedic performance in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1942). While at M-G-M, he worked with all of the great leading ladies of the day including Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Ann Harding, and Greta Garbo. Before the United States entered World War II, Montgomery joined the American Field Services in London and drove ambulances in France. When the United States entered the war, he joined the Navy. He starred opposite Carole Lombard in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, They Were Expendable (1945), and two film noir classics The Lady in the Lake (1947) and Ride the Pink Horse (1947). From 1950 to 1957, he hosted the Emmy Award-winning series Robert Montgomery Presents. In 1955 he won a Tony Award for his direction of the play The Desperate Hours. He was also the father of actress Elizabeth Montgomery.

Edward Everett Horton, Robert Montgomery, and Claude Rains

Claude Rains (1889 - 1967) was a British actor whose career lasted almost seven decades. He was one of the most highly regarded character actors during Hollywood's classical period. He appeared in a number of classic films including The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Wolf Man (1941), Casablanca (1942), and King's Row (1942). Later in his career, he starred in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). He starred in four films with Bette Davis including Now, Voyager (1942), and Mr. Skeffington (1944). Rains was a four-time Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nominee. Many of his contemporaries consider him one of the greatest actors of the 20th century.

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

Here Comes Mr. Jordan trivia

• The film was originally meant to be a vehicle for Cary Grant.
• It won two Academy Awards for Best Writing, Original Story, and Best Writing Screenplay. The film was nominated for five other Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nods for Robert Montgomery and James Gleason.
• Columbia Pictures Studio Chief Harry Cohn was reluctant to finance the picture, thinking it wasn't the type of story that would be popular with the public.
• Montgomery was loaned out from his home studio, M-G-M.
• The movie was remade as Heaven Can Wait (1978) starring Warren Beatty.

To join the discussion on May 2, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. When you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and Zoom link to the discussion.

Discussion questions:

1. Was Robert Montgomery convincing as a New York City boxer?
2. Did this film remind you of any others you've seen?
3. If you saw Warren Beatty in Heaven Can Wait, how does it compare to the original?
4. The film is filled with great character actors; did one character actor stand out to you?

John Emery, Rita Johnson, Robert Montgomery, Evelyn Keyes, Claude Rains