My Best Girl

Pickford more than sweetheart in film

VIDEO VIPER for May 15, 2009
CHARLES ROGERS and Mary Pickford in "My Best Girl."

I discovered a gem of a movie the other day.
It has first-rate acting, a sweet story, wonderful cinematography and good-looking actors to boot.
It only took 82 years to discover it.
Well, maybe a few people have seen this film before I stumbled over it and added it to my Netflix collection.
The movie is “My Best Girl,” starring America's sweetheart, Mary Pickford. OK, she isn't America's sweetheart any more. She's been dead 30 years.
But in the Roaring 20s she was the nation's sweetheart and after seeing this film, I understand why.
As a romantic comedy, this 1927 film certainly doesn't break new frontier, at least to the modern viewer.
But when you consider how old the film is and how much has changed, it certainly has a modern flair to it.
Maybe that can be credited to director Sam Taylor. It was written by a woman, Kathleen Norris, which probably wasn't as common as it is today.
Dashing Charles "Buddy" Rogers, plays Joe Merrill, whose wealthy family owns a chain of five-and-dime stores. The film actually opens with a well-done montage mixing coinage and merchandise, letting you know early on what type of store we are dealing with.
Anyway, Joe decides to pose as a lowly stockboy, Joe Grant, to spy on employees and get a better look at how a store functions.
Pickford plays Maggie Johnson, a witty, engaging young lady who has dedicated her life to her work and caring for her mal-adjusted family. Her father is clueless (Lucien Littlefield), her mother (Sunshine Hart) is perpetually crying and her sister (Carmelita Geraghty) keeps getting in trouble with the law. She must solve their problems, cook dinner nightly and work at her modest job. Who has time for romance, especially with the son of the owner of the store chain?
The story was probably built around Pickford's status in the film industry at the time, but this movie is much more.
We see Pickford and Rogers walking through rain-soaked downtown streets in a long, tracking shot which must have been pretty amazing in 1927.
I thought Hobart Bosworth did a fine job in a supporting role as rich Joe Merrill's father. He plays a firm, interested but eventually understanding father in what must have been a difficult role.
There are plenty of memorable scenes and like today's romantic comedies, you know how it will end.
As a side note, Pickford married Rogers for real nine years later in a Hollywood wedding. Except this marriage lasted until Pickford's death in 1979.
The quality of this DVD is especially good, although I yearned for more extras.
If you ever wonder why Pickford was called America's sweetheart, check out this movie. It will give you a real good idea.

MY BEST GIRL
• Directed by Samuel Taylor
• Written by Kathleen Norris and Hope Loring
• Silent with titles
• Runtime: 80 minutes
• Not rated but fine for all audiences
• 4 stars out of 5

Grey Gardens

Mansion the star of ‘Grey Gardens’
BOB LEBZELTER / VIDEO VIPER for May 8, 2009

HBO

DREW BARRYMORE (left) and Jessica Lange in "Grey Gardens."



There has been a lot of hype about the HBO film “Grey Gardens.”
The film debuted on the pay channel a few weeks ago and will soon make it to DVD. There was no theatrical release.
It has been reported actress Drew Barrymore withdrew from the world for a few months, to better discover the mindset of her character, Little Edith Bouvier Beale.
Jessica Lange plays her mother, Big Edith.
The story is about the two women, switching back and forth between the 1930 through the 50s and the 1970s.
Big Edith just happens to be Jackie Kennedy Onassis' aunt and Little Edith's cousin. You see young Jackie at their fashionable Long Island summer home in the 1930s.
Big Edith enjoys the social life, hosting parties in the 1930s, singing, dancing for her guests, with her accompanist, a much-younger music instructor, played by Malcomb Gets. Big Edith has the hots for this musician, who is employed as Little Edith's music teacher.
The affection isn't returned and we see early that Big Edith has become somewhat of a caricature.
Barrymore's Little Edith senses this and decides to go to New York with her father, played by Ken Howard, to find fame and fortune as a singer and dancer.
Um, it doesn't happen. Instead she spends her time as a mistress to Truman cabinet member Julius Krug, played by Daniel Baldwin.
When that disintegrates, she returns home to her increasingly reclusive mother.
Eventually, they are placed on a $150 per month budget.
While the hype has been on Drew and how this challenging film Is supposed to prove she is indeed worthy of the Barrymore name, Lange might be even more exceptional, creating a character under all of those miles of wrinkly makeup to play Big Edith later in life.
But to tell you the truth, the biggest, most unforgettable character for me, is the house. As it deteriorates, it is like the woods retakes it. There are gaps in the roof, no electricity or running water, it is overrun by cats and raccoons take up residency.
At one point we see tree branches growing through broken windows into Big Edith's room.
By then, the two are so out of it, they don't notice the total mess that was once their house. They don't wretch from the smell, the way others do. They comment about the interior design to visitors, not noticing piles of old cans or a cat urinating on a family painting.
Into this mess comes documentary directors Albert and David Maysles, played by Arye Gross and Justin Lewis, best known for the Rolling Stones film “Gimme Shelter” about the murder of a fan at a concert by Hells Angles in 1969.
Their documentary, the original "Grey Gardens," made celebrities of the Beales.
The original documentary is on my Netflix list. Unfortunately, there's a long wait.
"Grey Gardens" is a topnotch film with exceptional acting and oh, that house.

GREY GARDENS
• Directed by Michael Sucsy
• Written by Sucsy and Patricia Rozema
• Runtime: 104 minutes
• Not rated, but might be disturbing to young children, some sexuality

Paper Chase

Smart TV series finds way to DVD
Video Viper for May 1, 2009




JOHN HOUSEMAN in "The Paper Chase."

In some ways, television really hasn't changed much.
Back in 1978, CBS rolled out a new series, “The Paper Chase.” John Jay Osborn, Jr. finished Harvard Law School back in 1970 and promptly wrote a novel about his experiences called “The Paper Chase.”
In 1973 the book was made into a motion picture with Timothy Bottoms as James T. Hart, a first-year law student at a university that appears much like Harvard. The frightful, no-nonsense, powerful and respected Prof. Kingsfield was played by John Houseman.
The film was so respected it became the CBS series. Fortunately, Houseman reprised his role as Kingsfield, even though he was 76 at the time. James Stephens took over the role of Hart.
Unfortunately, the series was well written, well directed, with good characters and solid, varied plotlines. So of course, ratings were low.
And even in 1978, ratings ruled television, despite the lack of a myriad of cable rivals and only three commercial networks.
CBS said it would give the show a chance, but after one season and 22 episodes, it was gone. “Paper Chase” was dubbed “The series too good for television.”
But the series wouldn't die. PBS picked up the first season and ran the reruns for awhile, but didn't have the money to produce new episodes.
Eventually, in 1983, Showtime pay TV picked up the series, reran the first season and produced three more seasons, concluding with “Paper Chase the Graduation Year.”
Houseman was well into his 80s by the time series concluded. He owned the role for more than 10 years.
His crusty Kingsfield accepted no excuses. He was rigid in his methods. He expected perfection and would accept nothing less. Houseman was born to play the role and it is truly one of the most stunning roles ever on television.
The first episode introduces us to Hart, a boy who grew up on a farm and loved it, but yearned to become a lawyer. He ends up at an Ivy League school surrounded by legacy would-be attorneys who wear sweaters and bowties.
It is a TV series about who makes Law Review and scenes taking place in study groups.
It opens with Hart, late for school, because his new alarm clock fails to work. Like those who have nightmares about waking up and having to go to class for a big test unprepared, Hart doesn't realize he is supposed to know certain material for his first class.
Of course the gruff Kingsfield calls on Hart, mostly because he stumbles into class late and looks bewildered. When Hart admits he doesn't know the material, Kingsfield places a ceremonial shroud over him, declaring him dead in his class.
Hart eventually finds a way to make himself unshrouded, something never done before at Harvard, er, wherever this takes place. The little smirk on Houseman's face at end of Show 1 is priceless. What an actor!
If you want to sample a series about smart people talking about and doing smart things, that first season is out on DVD through SHOUT video.
It's worth researching.

PAPER CHASE
• Directed by Georg Stanford Brown, Mark Cullingham and others
• Written by John J. Osborn Jr. and many others
• Runtime: 57 episodes, 60 minutes each, the first season minus commercials
• Not rated. Good for children to watch to introduce them to academics and studying
• 5 stars out of 5

Stuck

‘Stuck’ takes off with bizarre, bloody plot




STEPHEN REA in "Stuck."

Stuart Gordon directed a bloody B-type horror picture called “Re-Animator” back in 1985.
It was so over the top and goofy, it turned out to be a lot of fun, once you got past the blood and gore.
It's sort of the same way a generation later with his film “Stuck.”
I didn't plan to like this picture, oh those of us with preconceived ideas.
But like “Re-Animator,” Gordon went over the top. But then he went down the next valley and to the top of the next hill and by then, by gosh, it started working.
It would probably make a great cult film, much like "Re-Animator." Even more interesting, it is grounded in fact. Bizarre fact, but fact just the same.
The film opens with two stories that soon converge. Mena Suvari is a young woman working in a nursing home who wants to advance. She doesn't mind handling the problems of senile-old men who can no longer control their bowels. When a supervisor asks her to work another Saturday with the promise of a possible promotion, she agrees.
Outside the nursing home, this seemingly dedicated and responsible young lady enters a different world.
She starts drinking heavily at a bar where she meets her drug-dealing boyfriend who pops a pill in her mouth, presumably to get her in the mood for some later bedroom activity.
Meanwhile, we have everyman Stephen Rea, who plays Thomas Bardo, a seemingly intelligent guy who had been downsized from his job and is about to be evicted by his nasty landlord from his crummy apartment.
It doesn't matter he has a job interview. Landlord won't let him take anything out of the apartment until the rent is paid. So the Bardo character grabs his clothes and runs out, with landlord in tow.
The poor guy goes to the interview carrying his clothing. He doesn't have anywhere to put them.
That night, he is homeless, walking the street. A bum gives him a spare shopping cart to push his meager belongs around in.
Suddenly the Suvari character careens down the street in a drunken stupor, trying to call druggie BF while Bardo is crossing the street. The two plots literally merge at that point.
Bardo flies into the windshield of the car while the drunken lady drives home, with Bardo's head bleeding onto her seat and his feet hanging out the front of the car.
You may recall a woman actually hit a man and like the Suvari character, drove home undetected to place the car and the wounded victim in her garage. The real story had the man begging the woman to call an ambulance because he was bleeding to death and she refused. In real life, the man died. It was also the topic of a "CSI" episode.
In this version, the victim tries every way imaginable to break free and get help while coping with pieces of jagged, bloody glass hanging from his body.
He seems to get a break when he finds a cell phone on the seat or when a young boy discovers him in the garage or when a young dog finds him and thinks he might make a nice meal. Yeah, it gets gross. But each time his hope for rescue is trounced.
Russell Hornsby plays the drug-dealing boyfriend who isn't as tough as he would like to be.
There are twists and turns and unexpected events. Nothing is too bizarre. Nothing is too crazy.
Just be warned. Don't watch this movie the night before you donate blood.

STUCK
• Directed by Stuart Gordon
• Written by John Strysik and Gordon
• Rated R for strong violence, disturbing content, sexuality/nudity, language and drug use
• Runtime: 85 minutes
• 3 stars out of 5

The Visitor

‘Visitor’ nice break from car chases, sex comedies

Overture Films 

RICHARD JENKINS and Haaz Sleiman in "The Visitor."

You may have heard about the film “The Visitor” because Richard Jenkins was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role as a depressed college professor.

It was a rare instance where you could watch an Oscar-nominated film being streamed to your computer via Netflix before the awards were held.

Jenkins didn't win but it was nevertheless an outstanding performance in a beautiful, thought-provoking film that deals with the complicated world of illegal aliens.

Jenkins plays Walter Vale, whose piano virtuoso wife has died. He tries to learn to play but just doesn't have the talent. In fact, one of his piano teachers tells him nicely that it doesn't always work out for untalented people and if he decides to give up, she'd like to buy his piano.

You can tell immediately what you need to know about Walter from Jenkins’ acting ability and the talent of director Thomas McCarthy.

Walter is a professor at a Connecticut college who has no love for the job. He's been teaching exactly the same way for 20 years. He is set in his ways. He is supposedly working on an “important” book so has a reduced teaching load.

We know instantly the book isn't important and he's not really working on it, but resists a request to take over some classes of a fellow teacher.

He has a Manhattan flat he hasn't visited in two months. When he does, he discovers a woman taking a bath there!

He remains unruffled and even apologetic that he has disturbed the woman, played by Danai Jekesai Gurira. Her character's husband, Tarek, (Haaz Sleiman) and herself had been duped into subleasing the apartment by a crook. Tarek is at first angry but when he learns they are in the wrong, agrees to quickly leave. But Walter takes pity and allows them to stay. Walter is very much the meek, mild, no-humor scholarly type, but takes an interest in Tarek's drum playing. He becomes fascinated by musicians who line up outside to play each day.

Ever so slowly, he loosens up. He and Tarek become unusual friends, although wife seems creeped-out by the middle-aged prof. 

When a misunderstanding results in Tarek being arrested, there is no easy solution. The couple are illegals and he is held in a detention center. There we learn people are abruptly moved from one place to another. Walter hires an attorney. Tarek's mother, wonderfully played by Hiam Abbass, comes from Michigan to stand vigil.

Walter comes to grips with his life. He learns what is truly important. He learns life is more than what he has done for the past 20 years. And Tarek's mother and wife learn about humanity and unselfishness from Walter. 

There are many outstanding performances in this warm, fluid drama.

It could well be a different type of film to watch with older children, too. Suitable for discussion afterward.

If you are ready for a break from car crashes and serial killers and grossout comedy, even for a bit, give "The Visitor" a try. It's worth the visit.

THE VISITOR

• Written and directed by Thomas McCarthy

• Rated PG-13 for strong language

• Runtime: 104 minutes

• 4.5 stars of out 5

Pinocchio

‘Pinocchio’ looks great in high-def

Walt Disney
PINOCCHIO and Jiminy Cricket and friends in "Pinocchio."
WEEKENDER for April 3, 2009

A quarter of a century ago, when the Viper had hair and Ronald Reagan was president, those masters of marketing, Walt Disney Co., released my favorite animated film, "Pinocchio," in those ancient formats of VHS and Beta.
The cost was $89 and for some reason, back then there were no discounts. The thing really cost $89.
And for that price you got the movie and that is it. No commentary, no extras. Zilch.
Heck, I was ready to pluck the money down for it, but Mrs. Viper yelled "Noooooo" and threw herself between me and the store clerk.
Months later I came across an advertisement that there would be yet another rerelease of the film. The only difference this time, the price was $29.98. Baby, that film was mine.
Well, recently I plucked down a penny more at Conneaut Kmart for the 70th anniversary edition in Blu-ray with an excellent commentary, Disney Live, which lets you discuss the film with others over the Internet, deleted scenes, alternate ending, trivia and a making of video.
The film is available for about $10 less on standard DVD. What is cool about the Blu-ray version is it includes a second copy of the movie in standard definition.
If you have a high-definition TV and Blu-ray player, you can watch the film in its gorgeous high-definition splendor. But maybe the kids want to watch it in the family room or the DVD player in the van or one of those portable DVD players that keeps them quiet at the doctor's office.
That's where the standard disc comes in handy. I understand adding a standard version of a film will become a regular part of Blu-ray, much like the now extinct HD-DVD used to have a high definition version on one side of a disc and standard on the other.
You know the story. Papa Geppetto carves a boy out of wood and a fairy turns it into a living puppet. But the puppet, Pinocchio, must prove himself brave and fearless to become a real boy. The guy who helps move the story along, our narrator, is none other than Jiminy Cricket.
Pinocchio gets involved in the wrong crowd. He ends up on Pleasure Island, an amusement park where kids can smoke and drink and shoot pool and smash up a luxury house. What happens there gets pretty scary.
Then there's the unforgettable part when Pinocchio saves Geppetto from Monstro the whale.
The animation, long before computers, is absolutely stunning. You see subtle shadows in the background. Scenes we enjoy and take for granted took much talent and timing and planning, we learn from the commentary.
And speaking of commentary, this one is a beaut. Leonard Maltin and film historians appear as inserts around the screen during the movie, discussing what is going on. When they discuss how a character evolved, we see original drawings. We see and hear people who worked on the film.
Did you know Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and so many Warner Brothers character, was an uncredited voice in "Pinocchio?"
I watched this film the first night possible, watched it again with the commentary and viewed it a third time the next morning.
The cliché it is great for young and old alike really, really holds true in this instance. The scenes on Pleasure Island and escaping Monstro may be a bit much for very young children the first time around, but once they realize Pinocchio and company escape, they will enjoy subsequent viewings.
"Pinocchio," Disney's second fully-animated film effort, is a true triumph and this new Blu-Ray and DVD version makes it that much better.

PINOCCHIO Directed by Hamilton Luske and Ben Sharpsteen Written by Carlo Collodi and Ted Sears Runtime: 88 minutes Rated G for general audiences 5 stars out of 5

Cadillac Records

It all began with guys in ‘Cadillac Records’
WEEKENDER, March 27, 2009

Eric Liebowitz/Tristar Pictures
Adrien Brody as Leonard Chess in "Cadillac Records."

The film “Cadillac Records” uses a phrase I was unfamiliar with: "race records."
That means music by African-American artists. It hardly evokes a positive image.
“Cadillac Records” brings up a lot of different topics in its nearly two-hour run.
It's main shortfall — and that's probably because of the time element — is it doesn't give us much of the background, the motivation for the talented artists who eventually form the core of what becomes rock 'n roll, rap and hip-hop.
“Cadillac Records” chronicles the life of one Leonard Chess, played by Adrien Broady, who operates a Chicago junkyard in 1941 but decides what he really wants to do is open a club and eventually a legendary recording studio on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.
The club spotlights African-American artists whose ancestors were slaves and truly know the blues.
But they also know how to play guitar. Boy can they play guitar.
Among the early artists are Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer, who narrates), Little Walter (Columbus Short) and Jimmy Rogers (Kevin Mambo.)
The club is a mecca for the blues. It is frequently the scene of fights, gunfire and the place is a haze of smoke.
Much of the film takes place during years of racial tension and inequality.
While in the South, black artists had to pretend to be Chess' chauffeur, since blacks and whites couldn't hang out together.
As lively and fun as the music is, the film really takes off with the introduction of Mos Def, one of our great young actors, playing a dead-on Chuck Berry. Berry isn't really a bluesman and in the mid 1950s, nobody really knows for sure what he is. Is he country?
When a white nightclub owner accuses him of trying to pass for white in his posters, a seething Barry smiles and says he's Indian, before pulling down the poster and leaving, losing the gig.
It is Berry who breaks the color barrier. In one tremendous scene, he is singing and duck-walking across the stage. A barrier keeps blacks to the left, whites to the right. But the flimsy barrier is soon shredded and the races are dancing and enjoying the music together, much to the disdain of the police.
The police are very much the villain in this film.
The time element is somewhat bothersome. In midfilm we seen five guys who are supposed to be the Rolling Stones but look nothing like them shaking hands with Muddy, saying they got the name of the band from one of his songs.
We then hear some of the Stones’ cover of Muddy's “I Can't Be Satisfied. “(It's not to be mixed up with the Stones' own “I Can't Get No Satisfaction,” released a year later.)
OK, the Stones visited Chess Records in Chicago in 1964. Later we see film snippets on TV of Elvis joining the Army. That was 1958. In the film, Chess sells his record company and dies. Afterward, Howln' Wolf (Eamonn Walker) is amazed as he visits England and sees all of his fans, or as many fans as a film on a budget can afford to have.
Except the film has him going to England in 1967, but Chess doesn't die until 1969.
Still, the film works. Beyonce Knowles is very credible as the drug-addicted, troubled Etta James, a tremendous talent who somehow escaped an early death and is alive today.
The movie title comes from the fact that owning a Cadillac was considered a real sign one has arrived as an artist. So Chess gave them out to his artists in lieu of real cash. They were happy and it was cheaper for him.
See "Cadillac Records" for the music, for the history. It is like a 1-hour, 49-minute crash course on rock 'n roll.

CADILLAC RECORDS • Directed and written by Darnell Martin • Rated R for pervasive language, drug use and some sexuality • Runtime: 1 hour, 49 minutes • 4 stars out of 5