MY DVD Collection - 09 Feb 2007

(Dinner um acht [de])

USA 1933
d: George Cukor
Warner Home Video (Region 0 de)

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Edna Ferber/George Kaufman play about sophisticated New York society, adapted for the screen by Frances Marion and Herman J Mankiewicz and perfect material for Cukor's satirical touch, despite his forebodings that Marie Dressler, starring as a haughtily impoverished Broadway star, 'looked like a cook and had never played this kind of part'. The laughs are mainly at the expense of the nouveau riche couple, a comedy of manners in which Harlow reveals her natural gift for humour and Beery confirms his status as the definitive boor. But the film also reflects the vagaries of the 1930s social scene, and John Barrymore virtually plays himself as the all-time lush. Perfect viewing for a wet Saturday afternoon.
— MA, Time Out Film Guide
•••••
A gorgeous, high-gloss deco mosaic, overloaded with star power, and a curious triumph over all by the electroplated Venus, Jean Harlow. DINNER AT EIGHT was the second all-star vehicle from MGM (after GRAND HOTEL) and did much to establish Selznick as a producer to be reckoned with. The script, expertly adapted from the Kaufman-Ferber stage play by Frances Marion, Herman Mankiewicz, and Donald Ogden Stewart, polished the comedy elements of the original to further balance the existing melodrama. The MGM constellations twinkle as Gotham strata of society are invited to dine by Lionel Barrymore and Billie Burke. Underneath the patina of luxe, hearts break, plans go up in smoke, dreams are dashed.
This is the beginning of the end for John Barrymore, playing a has-been that had been patterned after him; it's a bitchy casting idea, chilling to watch. Other good parts would follow but DINNER AT EIGHT would mark the point where he began careening into parody. Burke and Barrymore turn in definitive portrayals of their star personas. Dressler's shrewd grande dame in decline (based on Mrs. Patrick Campbell) is a textbook of brilliant comic business, and Beery turns in his usual workmanlike despisable grizzly.
But it's Jean Harlow who elevates herself to the big guns here. Her gold-digging, amoral little hussy, spitting out the chocolates she doesn't like back into her fancy candybox, is just as self-centered as the others. But despite the whinny voice, rock candy cosmetology and bratty manipulation, she still manages to infuse heart into her characterization. Cukor, who expertly directed, claimed she did it on her own; it's proof positive that the legendary sex symbols always have an undeniable element of humanity. (It may have helped that she and Beery hated each other's guts.) Madge Evans plays the ingenue, a role Joan Crawford pulled out of at the last minute, wisely, given the Harlow victory. Devotees of Hollywood costume design should enjoy the platinum blonde's outrageous costumes, the last word in Adrian vulgarity.
The Breen Office took exception to DINNER AT EIGHT (Joseph I. Breen being the West Coast assistant to Will Hays, who headed the censorship board affixing production codes to films at the time). Breen told Selznick that he seemed to have a predilection for suicide in his movies, citing such films as ANNA KARENINA and WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD. To calm the censors, the scene where John Barrymore actually turns on the gas was cut. The producer would remain forever proud of this film, taking particular delight that the chic set decorations of the movie (especially Harlow's bedroom set) helped popularize art deco in the early 1930s.
— TV MovieGuide
•••••
Like "Grand Hotel", "Dinner at Eight" draws much of its force from its extraordinary set design and art decoration, which bespeak an era and a milieu. Under the skillful direction of George Cukor, the screen adaptation of a George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber play also holds up remarkably well dramatically. "Dinner at Eight" finds Wallace Beery (a vulgar magnate), Jean Harlow (his guttersnipe wife), John Barrymore (a now destitute matinee idol) and Marie Dressler (decaying Grand Dame) seated at the posh table of New York social climber Billie Burke and her husband Lionel Barrymore. The story is composed of elegantly linked vignettes in which each guest is cynically revealed, and an exposé of Depression "high life" unfolds. John Barrymore is particularly memorable as the once-shining star, and all give tour-de-force performances in what is perhaps the best MGM all-star attraction, and is certainly one of the most entertaining films of the thirties.
— PFA

Holiday

(Die Schwester der Braut [de])

USA 1938
d: George Cukor
Columbia Tristar Home Video (Region 2 de)

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Marvellous 'sophisticated comedy' about a prototype dropout (Grant in one of his best performances) who takes a rich upper class family by storm: arriving engaged to the conventionally snobbish younger daughter (Nolan), stirring up latent doubts and resentments through his carefree disregard for material proprieties and properties, he ends up by showing the yearningly dissatisfied elder sister (Hepburn) the way to a declaration of independence. Despite some very funny barbed dialogue, mostly centering on two clashing couples among the engagement party guests (one liberal, the other proto-Fascist), the film is less a satire on the rich than an acknowledgment that privilege has its drawbacks; its key scene, accordingly, takes place in the nursery playroom, a place redolent of childhood hopes and dreams, which Hepburn and her unhappily alcoholic brother (Ayres) unconsciously use as a retreat from their unwelcome social obligations. Often underrated by comparison with The Philadelphia Story (both are based on plays by Philip Barry), but even better because its glitteringly polished surface is undermined by veins of real feeling, it is one of Cukor's best films.
— TM, Time Out Film Guide
•••••
A delightful comedy with all the sophistication that Cukor could muster, the famous Barry play is enhanced by the fine talents of Hepburn and Grant. ... This was Cukor's special kind of light humor film, a casual study of the wealthy so ironically popular in the 1930s when most filmgoers were poor. Nolan is the epitome of the malaise of the rich which characterized these portrayals. Ayres is outstanding as the dissolute, heavily drinking brother who has condemned his class as worthless and has a fatalistic view of the world and his own future, as is Horton. Wry humor pours from the script like a dry martini, the kind of quick wit without emotional resolution for which scriptwriter Stewart was famous.
Much of it seems sadly dated today, redeemed only by Grant's down-to-earth stance and Hepburn's incredible ebullience. Grant had nothing but praise for Hepburn after completing this comedy, and she needed the bolstering in 1938. The Independent Theatre Owners Association had recently given her her walking papers, claiming that she was box office poison. Columbia's answer was this top flight production. Studio boss Harry Cohn had paid RKO about $80,000 for HOLIDAY, THE AWFUL TRUTH and some other scripts in 1936; RKO had made HOLIDAY in 1930 with Ann Harding, Robert Ames, and Mary Astor, but it was an unsuccessful effort. Cohn originally wanted Irene Dunne to play the lead, but when he got Hepburn at Cukor's insistence, he backed her 100 percent. The film did not make money, so Cohn refused to put Hepburn into another Columbia film. (Even Hepburn's finest film for RKO, BRINGING UP BABY [1938] lost $365,000.) Stewart, however, became one of the actress' favorite writers; he would go on doing scripts for her, including THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940), KEEPER OF THE FLAME (1942) and WITHOUT LOVE (1945).
— TV MovieGuide

The Women

(Die Frauen [de])

USA 1939
d: George Cukor
Warner Home Video (Region 0 us)

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Cukor is often credited with a similar feminine sensibility, but on this high-register farce the slant was inescapable: adapted by ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blonde’s’ Anita Loos and Jane Murfin from Clare Boothe’s stage play, it featured what the publicity notes claimed was a cast of 135 women – Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard and Joan Fontaine among them – versus no men. (Even the animals were billed as all-female.) But it’s no proto-feminist declaration: from the make-up counter to the divorce train to Reno, men are either common cause or bones of contention. The tone ranges from flappy catfights to lusty intrigue to sweet mother-daughter confidences; Cukor at one point bursts the black and white with a dreamily commercial Technicolor fashion-show (this was 1939, when he’d just been replaced on ‘Gone with the Wind’ by ‘The Wizard of Oz’s’ Victor Fleming), but otherwise inscribes the film with his usual subtle sophistication, typically putting the element of performance centre-stage. A more eccentric film than the following year’s ‘The Philadelphia Story’, with which it shares a couple of faces, it’s almost as fabulous.
— NB, Time Out Film Guide
•••••
Filled with witty repartee and vicious gossip, THE WOMEN portrays a world where women seem to do nothing but obsess over men. Playwright Clare Boothe always defended her work, claiming that only empty-headed, spoilt rich women were being satirized here. Close examination of the film script, though, reveals considerable insight into female bonding. The several mother-daughter relationships are interestingly portrayed, and even the fights over men, as dramatized in this vast improvement on Boothe's original, are not without their lessons about the roles imposed on women by society.

All the performances are joys. Shearer has never been more restrained, and but for two moments (dropping to her knees to cry at her mother's feet, and the final reconciliation), her performance never falters. Her crying jag in Reno is one of the most convincing of its kind; even technically better actresses like Davis and Hepburn couldn't always pull tears off this well. Another great moment to look for is the way Shearer hits the flowers her errant husband sends her. Crawford, meanwhile, brilliantly revitalized her career with one of her finest acting achievements, a funny, spot-on portrait of the scheming, sexy Crystal. Hard as nails throughout, she uses her velvet voice to great effect, and her parting salvo at the end is a killer ("There's a word for you ladies, but it is seldom used in high society, outside of a kennel"). Russell (in a showcase part that made her a top star) and Goddard (rarely better) are equally good, though perhaps the funniest performance is contributed by the marvelous Boland. Cukor's direction is rich and confident, and the whole production fairly shimmers.
— TV MovieGuide

The Philadelphia Story

(Die Nacht vor der Hochzeit [de])

USA 1940
d: George Cukor
Warner Home Video (Region 0 us)

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Cukor and Donald Ogden Stewart's evergreen version of Philip Barry's romantic farce, centreing on a socialite wedding threatened by scandal, is a delight from start to finish, with everyone involved working on peak form. Hepburn's the ice maiden, recently divorced from irresponsible millionaire Grant and just about to marry a truly dull but supposedly more considerate type (Howard). Enter Grant, importunate and distinctly sceptical. Also enter Stewart and Hussey, snoopers from Spy magazine, to cover the society wedding of the year and throw another spanner in the works. Superbly directed by Cukor, the film is a marvel of timing and understated performances, effortlessly transcending its stage origins without ever feeling the need to 'open out' in any way. The wit still sparkles; the ambivalent attitude towards the rich and idle is still resonant; and the moments between Stewart and Hepburn, drunk and flirty on the moonlit terrace, tingle with a real, if rarely explicit, eroticism.
— GA, Time Out Film Guide
•••••
With such a stellar cast, a fine director working in the type of picture he did best, and some genuinely witty dialogue, this film has all the ingredients for a great comedy. And it is great, though there have been many funnier comedies. The film has an unfortunate tendency to take itself too seriously for long stretches. Mike's shameless adoration of Tracy and the cloying speeches he's forced to deliver in her praise try our credulity and patience. A very strong case is being made here for the sheer irresistibility of the film's female star. The film also strenuously drives home the point that people born poor aren't necessarily noble while men born rich aren't necessarily cads. No need to stop the presses for this little news bulletin!
This was a project especially dear to Hepburn. Two years prior to the release of THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, Hepburn had been branded "box-office poison" by a leading exhibitor, thus prompting her to look for a Broadway show suitable for her talents. Playwright Barry wrote the role of Tracy expressly for Hepburn, who covered 25 percent of the play's cost and took no salary, shrewdly opting to take 45 percent of the considerable profits. Joseph Cotten played the Cary Grant role while Van Heflin originated Stewart's part. The cagy actress also purchased the film adaptation rights and eventually succeeded in getting Louis B. Mayer not only to pay her $250,000 for them but also won the right to select her own director, screenwriter, and costars. Grant accepted his role only on the proviso that he receive top billing, which he did. He then demanded a then-whopping salary of $137,000 and got it. (Grant later donated his entire salary from the film to the British War Relief Fun.)
The film became a box-office smash. It broke all records at Radio City Music Hall with a return of almost $600,000 in six weeks.
— Tv MovieGuide

Gaslight

(Das Haus der Lady Alquist [de])

USA 1944
d: George Cukor
Warner Home Video (Region 1 us)

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Adam's Rib

(Ehekrieg [de])

USA 1949
d: George Cukor
Warner Home Video (Region 1 us)

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A Star Is Born

(A Star Is Born [de])

USA 1954
d: George Cukor
Warner Home Video (Region 1 us)

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Of all Hollywood's heartbreakers, this must be one of the saddest. Made at a time when Garland was fast approaching final crack-up, the story of the rise of a young singing star at the expense of the actor she loves and yearns to keep intact (Mason) seemed to touch exactly the right raw nerves in its performers to make it a major discomfort to watch. Garland's tremulous emotionalism, which so often left her unwatchable, is here decently harnessed to a story which makes good sense of it and to a man worth yearning for. But the acting honours belong to Mason: whether idly cruising the LA dance-halls for a new woman, sliding into alcoholism, or embarrassing everyone at an Oscar ceremony, he gives a performance which is as good as any actor is ever allowed. Previewed at 182 minutes, the film was promptly trimmed by Warners and released at 152 minutes. The version reissued in 1983 features much of the excised footage, rediscovered in archives. Many scenes admirably fill gaps in the original, a few are redundant, but it's a major work of movie archaeology, and a very good wallow.
— CPea, Time Out Film Guide
•••••
Judy Garland is at her peak, pulling out all the stops, daring the gods in this dark, weighty fable of the price one pays to be at the top. This version, directed by Cukor, is lent all manner of mythic significance by Garland, teetering on the abyss before the slide. There would be other triumphs in concert, but this is the peak of her film career. Here she finally exposed her powerful dramatic range, coupled with the magnificent singing voice that she pushed further than anyone could imagine. Her genius is attached to an uncomfortable, intense plot that allows reason for the tremulous mannerisms and bottomless, dark eyes. ...
Director George Cukor previously filmed the story as WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD? in 1932. Here he delivers a much more savage film, allowing moments and characters to speak for themselves in a way that give A STAR IS BORN that much more power. Garland is well matched by Mason, who imbues Norman's hellish descent with a deep sense of self-understanding, a dignified awareness of what is transpiring and ultimate acceptance of fate. And in the scenes of drunkenness, a threatening aura of danger that seems to give him an unhuman kind of vigor and strength. If Mason looks healthier than Garland sometimes, it works. Policing and caretaking an addict takes enormous energy; sometimes the toll is greater on the spouse than the addict themselves. Mason's work on STAR is the equal of any good performance you can name.
Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin provided Garland with songs that would become standards in her concert repertoire, including the ten-ton torch song, "The Man That Got Away" (which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Song), rendered by Garland with incredible emotional power. Leonard Gershe's classic "Born in a Trunk" sequence is also one of Garland's finest moments, a near-autobiographical musical sequence that shows the star's rise, incorporating the songs "I'll Get By," "You Took Advantage of Me," "Black Bottom," "Peanut Vendor," "My Melancholy Baby," and "Swanee." After Garland's Oscar-nominated performance lost to Grace Kelly's amateur thesping in THE COUNTRY GIRL, many in Hollywood felt that she was being punished by her peers for her past troubles, and Groucho Marx sent a telegram to Garland saying that the loss "was the biggest robbery since Brink's."
Warners stupidly cut A STAR IS BORN considerably after its premiere, but Cukor's version was eventually partially restored through the reinsertion of recovered soundtrack with production stills and some alternate takes that had somehow survived, giving the film a continuity that unfeeling hands had removed. Seemingly vindicated, Cukor passed away the night before he was to see his restored film, which reopened in 1983 to enthusiastic crowds. George Hoyningen-Huene consulted on the color, which gives the film either somber depth or hysterical, raw splashes of color--it's exactly right. If this version is more closely aligned with showbiz tradition than the 1937 version, it works, largely because it underlines the Garland legend. With Jack Carson in a definitive role as a bastard press agent, and Lucy Marlow and Joan Shawlee as putrid starlet and columnist and Tommy Noonan, surprisingly effective as Garland's jazz musician pal, in the best role of his career.
— TV MovieGuide