Panic in the Streets, Pinky and Splendor in the Grass

Elia Kazan’s films ahead of their time

BOTTOM: NATALIE WOOD and Warren Beatty in “Splendor in the Grass.”

CENTER: JACK PALANCE in “Panic in the Streets.”

TOP: JEANNE CRAIN plays African-American “Pinky.”

I always liked director Elia Kazan’s movies.
A few years ago I found myself engrossed in “A Face in the Crowd,” in which a not-so-nice, narcissistic Andy Griffith plays a musician who is nothing like his alter-ego on “The Andy Griffith Show.”
I must have ordered a bunch of Kazan films on Netflix back when and have been enjoying film after film after film as they appear in my mailbox.
The first of the Kazan films was “Panic in the Streets” from 1950. Richard Widmark is a low-paid military doctor who must find people infected with the pneumonic plague.
While he is out trying to save the world from a major catastrophe, his wife, played by the under used Barbara Bel Geddes, is trying to negotiate with their grocer because she doesn’t have the money to pay the bill.
The story begins with Jack Palance, as vicious hoodlum Blackie, who kills an illegal immigrant who made too much money playing cards.
When authorities examine the body, they find it filled with the plague and the race is on.
Given the times, it looks like Kazan is using the plague as symbolism, equating the plague with the communist scare.
Kazan was excellent at bringing important issues into the plots of his films.
A year before, Kazan directed “Pinky,” starring Jeanne Crain as Pinky Johnson, who returns to her backwater town with a nursing degree and a professional demeanor. What we don’t realize initially is Pinky is African-American and by not mentioning the subject, passes herself off as white.
Her granny, played in real mammy style by the great Ethel Waters, says it’s a crime against God to not mention she is black or well, “colored.”
Now what is amazing about this film is it tackles the question of racism head-on, even though it was filmed in 1949 when discrimination was still well established.
You have to wonder how “Pinky” made out in the deeply-segregated South of 1949.
Pinky gets jolted into remembering she is a woman of color when she is nearly raped by two men who try to track her down and grab her in their car. After all, raping a black woman was OK.
In another scene, a white woman puts up a fuss and demands satisfaction from a store manager when a clerk asks the woman to wait a second until she rings up a sale for Pinky. White women do not wait for blacks, even if their skin is almost the same color.
After the near rape, Pinky decides to leave, but agrees to stay to nurse a dying Miss Em, the stern old lady who helped granny out and lives in the big house. She is played wonderfully by the great Ethel Barrymore.
The film tackles racism at a time when racism was perfectly acceptable and legal.
The third film was “Splendor in the Grass,” a rich, beautiful-looking film starring Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty.
The film tackles raging teen hormones and societal norms. It takes place in the South in the late 1920s. Boys will be boys and handle their teen desires with a certain kind of girl. Yet another type of girl was used for marrying purposes.
Beatty, as Bud, came from a rich family headed by loud, obnoxious Pat Hingle. Bud is head-over-heels in love with the lovely Natalie character and doesn’t really want an alternate girl.
Hingle pushes the idea of finding a less moral extra girlfriend, not realizing his own daughter is fulfilling the same role, sometimes with married men.
Teen sex kicks in to high gear as Wood finds herself consumed with love or, um, the like and ends up in a mental hospital, after his father cashes in bonds to pay for it. (The bonds wouldn’t have been worth much soon anyway, as October 1929 approached.)
While Wood struggles in the mental hospital, Beatty blows his chances at success at Yale. He would rather run the family ranch.
It is a compelling film of almost epic proportions, shot in beautiful Technicolor. Again, Kazan tackles issues you rarely saw discussed in motion pictures at the time.
Kazan definitely didn’t dodge controversy during his years of directing. You would be amazed at how contemporary his work plays today. His last film was “The Last Tycoon,” which came out in 1976. He died in 2003.
You might know him by other pictures, including “On the Waterfront,” “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “East of Eden.”
He’s well worth revisiting.

The Woman in the Window

‘Woman in the Window’ offers ending with twist

EDWARD G. ROBINSON and Alice Reed in "The Woman in the Window."

Edward G. Robinson plays Professor Richard Wanley from Gotham College.
As the film “The Woman in the Window” opens, he is giving a lecture on crime and murder. At the time, we don’t realize just how little he knows.
The professor is middle aged and leads an uneventful life. His dowdy wife and son live in the country. He spends his time in his club, one of those places that only exists in the movies.
There he and his friends sit in their suits and ties, with brandy and cigars, discussing such weighty subjects as the photo of the beautiful woman in the adjoining storefront window.
This is one of those clubs with the English butler types in their tuxedos, serving drinks.
It’s a way for the good professor to pass time after bidding good-bye at the train station to wife and son.
Later, as he leaves the club, he passes the portrait of the woman and gazes again at her beauty. Except suddenly she appears in the reflection behind him.
Played by Joan Bennett, she invites the learned professor back to her apartment for a drink. Mmmm, lucky for him, especially since the film was made in 1944.
Ah, but the Bennett character has been, um, friendly with others besides the Robinson character.
Suddenly, a jealous boyfriend played by Arthur Loft barges in the room, slams his fist into the Bennett character’s face and soon is in a struggle with Robinson.
In fact, he begins choking Robinson to death. Bennett saves the day by giving him a pair of scissors he can nicely plant in the assailant’s back.
As quick as the attack begins, it is over. The boyfriend is dead on the floor. Robinson and Bennett are shaken.
But let us remember, Robinson is playing a professor who knows all about crime. The assailant has no connection with the Robinson character. There’s no link. So why not drag the corpse into his car, drive him to an out-of-the-way place and dump him?
Veteran director Friz Lang knows how to build suspense, as Robinson has a couple of close encounters with the law on the way to his body dumping, not to mention a toll road worker. (The toll is 10 cents.)
Raymond Massey plays the district attorney and a member of the club, who gives Robinson inside information, never dreaming he is the murderer.
In fact, Massey invites Robinson to the scene of the crime. This results in some funny scenes, such as when Robinson unintentionally leads the group to where the body was found. Everybody laughs, figuring it is a good guess.
Robinson also learns he left incriminating evidence, like part of a torn sleeve of a jacket, blood from a pricker bush, shoe prints and tire tracks.
But the laughs quickly stop when the bodyguard of the murdered man, a rich industrialist, shows up on Bennett’s door, seeking blackmail money.
Suddenly the cushy life of Professor Wanley has fallen apart.
This is a well directed, well acted film noir piece, with special kudos going to Dan Duryea as the blackmailer.
You feel sympathy for the good professor, who does little but defend himself against an attacker.
But in the movies, especially back then, those who sin must be punished.
But there’s a twist and turn along the way.
Lang uses suspense, music and a bit of comedy to keep this fun and suspenseful. For once, Robinson plays a good guy who just does one bad thing and may pay dearly for it.
It’s a great example of 1940s filmmaking and worth taking a look at. If you are a Netflix subscriber, you can watch it tonight via streaming.

WOMAN IN THE WINDOW Directed by Fritz Lang Runtime: 107 minutes May be too intense for young children 3 stars out of 4