We got the news this week that Britain's composer and lyricist, Monty Norman, passed away at age 94. You may not be familiar with the name. However, Mr. Norman definitely secured his place in movie history as the man who composed the James Bond theme for the 1962 action thriller, Dr. No, starring Sean Connery as the suave hero spy. The theme was used in the 007 spy adventures that followed through the decades.
It was reported by the BBC News that, when approached to compose the theme for the 1962 hit film, Monty Norman dusted off one of his previous compositions that had not been used and rewrote it to fit the hip spy movie. The rewrite really didn't quite work for Norman until he replaced the sitar riff with an electric guitar.
Did you know that the distinct electric sound was inspired by the music in the first five minutes of a 1960 British teen movie called BEAT GIRL? Watch and listen.
Did you hear it? Did you see young Oliver Reed be-bopping along to the music?
Rest in peace, Monty Norman, and thanks for the iconic movie theme music.
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view -- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." ~ from Harper Lee's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
It's July 11th.
Author Harper Lee (whose first name was Nelle) won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. I urge you to get off social media for a while this summer and read a good book. A book I enthusiastically recommend is TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. It was published on this day in 1960.
My paperback copy is a bit worn, I'm proud to admit, because I've read it a few times. I re-read it in the last couple of years and I was stunned at how current it felt. There is a definite strong thread of Black Lives Matter in the novel, especially in the scene in which we learn that innocent, disabled and unjustly jailed Tom Robinson has been murdered. He was the Black man defended by lawyer Atticus Finch. He was accused making a sexual advance on a white woman. Tom has only one good arm. The other is shorter. It was mutilated when he was working as a child laborer down South.
An all-white, all male jury found him guilty. When Tom is in the prison exercise yard, he's so overcome with the obvious racism of his sentence that he runs to climb the fence and escape. He tries to climb it with his one good arm. Guards shoot the disabled Black men 17 times in the back.
Reportedly, Harper Lee was inspired to write the novel after the horrible racist murder of young Emmett Till, a visiting teen accused of whistling at a white woman down South. The white men who kidnapped, mutilated and murdered him after the woman made the accusation were put on trial and found not guilty by the all-white, all male jury. The men later admitted that they did indeed kill young Till. This became a national news story in the 1950s. a story and crime that is still talked about today.
When a social media discussion about a classic film adaptation starts, some person will inevitably chime in with "The book was different." Well, in Hollywood, that's long been the case since movies learned how to talk. It's more a rarity for a move adaptation to be faithful to its literacy source. Examples of movies that showed such faithfulness are PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1948), THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST (1988), BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)...and 1962's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.
That is a must-see movie. It's still relevant. The movie got Peck the Oscar for Best Actor and the film was an Oscar nominee for Best Picture.
I also recommend the under-seen, under-publicized and very smart 2006 film, INFAMOUS. This drama should have brought Sandra Bullock her first Oscar nomination. In a supporting role, she plays Harper Lee, the best friend and confidante to Truman Capote, when Lee struggles to write a new novel following the enormous success of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. She accompanies and advises Truman as he travels to research what will become his masterpiece book, IN COLD BLOOD, the account of a real-life crime. Two convicts killed a Kansas family. INFAMOUS is an excellent story about fact vs fiction, truth vs self-deception and how one can become a prisoner of fame. Toby Jones is remarkable as Truman Capote. INFAMOUS also features Sigourney Weaver, Isabella Rossellini, Jeff Daniels, Gwyneth Paltrow and, as one of the killers, Daniel Craig.
Capote's IN COLD BLOOD was also adapted into a 1960s film that received Oscar nominations.
Have a good summer. Read a good book. Utilize your local library.
When I was a boy, Dad wasn't the most talkative character as opposed to Mom. Mom could -- and did -- hold her own filibusters in the house when she didn't get something she wanted and took her frustrations out verbally on the family. I learned about Dad's innermost feelings and sensibilities by the films he liked from his youth and my youth. Some of those films were KINGS ROW (1942), FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS (1943), PARIS BLUES (1961), LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962), the 1963 comedy GONE ARE THE DAYS! starring Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and Godfrey Cambridge and A PATCH OF BLUE (1965).
Another one of those films was 1949's HOME OF THE BRAVE, a drama about the emotional effects that serving in World War 2 had on one Black soldier. I remember how Dad sat in his favorite living room chair giving full attention to the movie when it aired one weekend afternoon on local KCOP/Channel 13. Dad pointed out actor James Edwards who was playing the Black war vet undergoing psychoanalysis to free him of the mental block that may have been caused by racism. In my adult years, I'd come to realize what a groundbreaking role that was. An educated Black man, a WWII veteran, in therapy with a white psychiatrist. This often-overlooked film really helped usher in a new era of Black images for men in Hollywood films. Private Peter Moss (Edwards) was not a butler, an enslaved field hand or a railroad porter -- roles Black actors were saddled with through most of the 1930s and 40s. In school, Private Moss's best friend was a white fellow played by Lloyd Bridges. Moss was a breakthrough character for African American moviegoers.
I also learned of the significance of the tall, lean, handsome and talented James Edwards. Before Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte, there was James Edwards. In the 1950s, he should've received the same kind of roles and stardom that Poitier achieved. However, white Hollywood executives limited his opportunities. About six years ago, I was interviewing Oscar winner Lou Gossett, Jr. in his L.A. home. After we finished taping, I asked him about Edwards and Gossett replied that, basically, Edwards was blacklisted in Hollywood because he dated white women. Two of the women keen on dating him, he added, were Lana Turner and Ava Gardner. Hollywood gossip columnists in the 1950s would've had a field-day with that news.
Whereas Poitier and Belafonte got lead roles, James Edwards -- who definitely deserved lead roles as well -- got supporting roles.
After 1949's HOME OF THE BRAVE, he seemed to be Hollywood go-to guy to play a military character, a Black man in uniform. Watch him in THE STEEL HELMET (1951), THE CAINE MUTINY (1954) as one of the Navy mess hall workers who served Captain Queeg strawberries, in BATTLE HYMN (1957), FRAULEIN (1958), PORK CHOP HILL (1959), THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) and PATTON (1970).
Edwards had a key role in 1951's BRIGHT VICTORY. This drama brought Arthur Kennedy an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. It's a tale of change and redemption. Kennedy plays a G.I. who was blinded while fighting in World War 2. The blindness is not permanent. While he's recovering in a military hospital, he becomes buddies with another veteran in the ward. In conversation, the blinded soldier makes casual racist remarks unaware this his new buddy is Black. James Edwards plays that other soldier.
BRIGHT VICTORY, not shown on TV a lot, gets the DVD treatment in September thanks to Kino Lorber.
That's Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Famed Broadway songwriter Irving Berlin was no stranger to Hollywood. In the classic film days, musicals were made featuring a Berlin music catalogue. Musicals such as ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND (1939), EASTER PARADE (1948), WHITE CRHISTMAS (1954) and THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS (1954) featured Irving Berlin classics from Broadway and new tunes he wrote for the films.
Paramount's 1942 hit, HOLIDAY INN, was no exception. It entertained with Irving Berlin standards and new songs for Crosby and Astaire to introduce. One new song that Crosby introduced got Irving Berlin the Oscar for Best Song. It was "White Christmas."
To acknowledge the 4th of July, here are Bing and Fred performing Irving Berlin songs from HOLIDAY INN.
Here are "Song of Freedom" and "Let's Say It With Firecrackers."
When Russia's Putin first attacked peace-loving Ukraine and started a war, we learned about 40-something Volodymyr Zelensky, the short and strong President of Ukraine. We've seen on the national news frequently since war started. With his working-class attitude and soulful eyes, he's won millions of hearts here in America. I pray that he's victorious and that Ukraine can rebuild. We also learned that he'd done comedy and appeared in a foreign version of DANCING WITH THE STARS before his political career began.
Today, I was taking an online stroll through Netflix and saw a show called SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE. I clicked on to read a description -- and discovered that, not only is it a subtitled sitcom, it starred....Zelensky!
His presidential career started in 2019. SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE aired from 2015 to 2019. It's the story of a pretty ordinary guy -- an unmarried history teacher who lives with his parents -- who's elected President of Ukraine "in a democratic fashion," as TV journalists report, adding that he is "the Ukrainian people's choice." There are some who don't acknowledge the election results. (Hmmm. Does this all sound vaguely familiar?)
One day in his classroom, after class had been dismissed, he ranted to a buddy about how people need to take their votes more seriously and make wiser choices. A student, who was not visible to him, sees the rant records it on his cellphone and posts clips online. The rant is popular on social media. The students in his high school class unanimously tell him that their parents would vote for him in a heartbeat.
In the first episode, Vasyl (Zelensky) gets elected president -- and continues to live with his parents.
This subtitled sitcom has a very hip HBO vibe to it. It is smart and funny. Also, what our network news didn't tell us, is that Zelensky is excellent at comic acting. If his was living here in the States, if he wasn't fighting Russia, he'd be getting TV and film work. He's that good an actor. Here's a taste of the show.
Again, SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE is currently on Netflix. This sitcom truly is a case of life imitates art.
One of my favorite classic films to watch this time of year is YANKEE DOODLE DANDY with James Cagney as the famous Broadway song and dance man and songwriter, George M Cohan. When I was a youngster, KHJ-TV/Channel 9 was the local independent station that was connected to the Warner Bros. and RKO film libraries. Cagney had raised the goosepimples on my elementary school skin with his riveting performance as a cold-blooded gangster in 1931's THE PUBLIC ENEMY. Channel 9 aired that one and Cagney's other hoodlum films ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES and THE ROARING TWENTIES.
Then one weekend, when I was in the 3rd grade, Channel 9 aired the patriotic, extremely pleasing musical/comedy biopic YANKEE DOODLE DANDY with a wonderful singing and dancing performance from Cagney. It brought him the Best Actor Oscar for 1942. I was awestruck. The same man who sent chills up my spine as a vicious killer was absolutely lovable and touching as an all-American Broadway showman.
How do I remember I was in the 3rd grade? Well, when the movie was over, I went outside in the backyard and tried to imitate Cagney's rather eccentric but totally cool style of dance in the movie. Come Monday, during lunch hour on the playground, a guy named Steven Grady was telling some classmates about the movie and tried to imitate some of Cagney's dance steps for them. We were all in Mrs. Anderson's 3rd grade class.
If you love Cagney as much as I do in that role, dig this: George M. Cohan starred in a 1932 Paramount comedy called THE PHANTOM PRESIDENT. His co-stars were Claudette Colbert and Jimmy Durante. Cohan has a dual role. He plays a rather bland presidential candidate and the charismatic, non-famous entertainer who looks exactly like the candidate. As the election approaches, members of the candidate's team draft the entertainer into service. He pretends to be the candidate to bring in votes while the real candidate checks his relationship with his girlfriend.
Colbert plays the candidate's girlfriend. Durante practically steals the picture with his zany comedy.
Cohan dances near the end of the movie, which runs about 80 minutes. However, he's wearing a patriotic Yankee Doodle Dandy-like costume --- but he's in blackface.
When you see him dance, you realize how accurate James Cagney was in his choreography. Cagney recreated Cohan's unique style of dance. A brilliant performance. He deserved that Oscar. This shows you that Cohan really was in a Hollywood film.
July 4th. One of my favorite holidays of the year. Not just because of its historical significance here in the U.S.A., but because it brings back great childhood memories of my dad barbecuing in our backyard and then lighting festive fireworks in the front yard for us that night.
Just for the heck of it, for fellow classic film fans, I'm going to recommend a few classics that TCM could air -- if they were available -- for the 4th of July.
1776 (1972): I know TCM has this historical musical. Based on the Broadway hit of the same, it's about the signers and drafting of the Declaration of Independence. William Daniels and Ken Howard, two future presidents of the Screen Actors Guild, play future presidents of the United States -- John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Blythe Danner stars as Mrs. Jefferson. Veteran player Howard Da Silva, once blacklisted in the 1950s, should have been a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee for his spirited performance as Benjamin Franklin. This musical's dramatic core is seeing the frustrations and conflicts the men had as they tried to arrive at the perfect language for the document and the guilt at language they had to exclude as a political compromise. Specifically, language about slavery and equality.
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS (1934): From Paramount Pictures, this patriotic and breezy comedy really stays aloft thanks to the warm and charming performance of Francis Lederer (seen five years later wooing Claudette Colbert in the excellent screwball comedy, MIDNIGHT.) It's September 1776 and King George in England buys....yes, buys....Hessians (Germans) to fight on the British side in the Revolutionary War. Max, played by Lederer, is not interested in fighting even though he's a Hessian who was purchased for war. As Max says, "I'm no soldier, I'm a musician..." Max loves what America has to offer. He's thrilled by its Declaration of Independence. When the British troops, with Hessians, reach New York, some get messages from George Washington telling them they were bought and inviting them to come over to the American side. That's just what Max does. He defects and makes his way to a Connecticut farmhouse where he hides out. It's the home of a married couple, a lusty housekeeper and the couple's demure daughter, Prudence. Prudence is played by a blonde Joan Bennett.
When the friendly Hessian with the boyish giggle sees her, it's love at first sight. She becomes attracted to him as he tries to convince New Englanders that there's no need to fear him. The town pastor preaches fear of them to his congregation and bundling is another major topic in his sermon.
A lot of us classic film fans first heard of bundling in the NOW, VOYAGER starring Bette Davis. Her character mentions it. In THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS, a character defines it. In New England, bundling is the custom of a man and woman sleeping together fully clothed.
One of the best scenes in the movie is when Prudence has Max over for some conversation. She's attracted to him but she's being very demure. He's quite adorable and is now in love with her. The living room area is rather chilly and she suggests they relocate to another room to continue their talk.
When Prudence says to Max, "Shall we get into bed?" his jaw practically drops down to his boots. They're in the bedroom, her parents are away, and she introduces him to bundling. That makes him love American even more.
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS is a sweet little film about "...liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Mary Boland (the Countess in 1939's THE WOMEN) and Charlie Ruggles provide laughs as Prudence's parents. The film runs about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
CENTENNIAL SUMMER (1946): This original screen musical from 20th Century Fox, was obviously inspired by the critical and box office success of MGM's MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS starring Judy Garland and directed by Vincente Minnelli. CENTENNIAL SUMMER was directed by Otto Preminger. The story takes place in Philadelphia in 1876 as folks prepare to celebrate the centennial of the 4th of July. Two upscale sisters gently compete for the affection of a handsome Frenchman visiting the city to help decorate a pavilion as the city gets set for the 4th of July festivities. Also visiting is the girls' ultra-sophisticated, lovely and single aunt played by Constance Bennett (sister of Joan Bennett).
"All Through the Day" and "In Love in Vain" are two of the original songs co-written by Jerome Kern for the movie. Fox's CENTENNIAL SUMMER stars Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Cornell Wilde and, as the parents, former silent screen star Dorothy Gish and Walter Brennan. He does his own singing. So, if you're up for a Walter Brennan musical, this is the film for you.
Here's a clip of the number that got an Oscar nomination or Best Song -- "All Through the Day" written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein.
