She Blogged By Night

March 25th is the birthday of our favorite universally-hated comedian El Brendel, who was born in 1891. As a rather belated present to El -- he died in 1964 -- we at She Blogged By Night have created an "El Brendel" tag just for him. Click it to see all the posts that feature El.

And as a present to my loyal readers, I promise to post less about Brendel and move on to other things. It will be hard, but with a bit of work and a spot of good weather, luck and determination and the love of a good woman, I think we can do this.

Group hug, everyone?

I discovered this movie in the most roundabout way possible. A few months ago I was on a quest to find everything I could about El Brendel and I stumbled across this film, which excited me more than it really should have. A bad 1950s B-movie with The Elster in it? Starring Chester Morris, the angry star of all those 1930s pre-code wonders? Available on DVD with another 1950s B-movie? Heaven! I must have this film! I ordered a copy and camped out by the mailbox waiting for Acme Delivery to arrive.

After a day or so of leaning against the mailbox I started getting pity waves from the neighbors, thus decided I should finish waiting inside. Waiting involved watching "Mystery Science Theater 3000", one of my favorite TV shows, so I grabbed a disk and read the label. The next MST3K episode in my pile to watch? "The She-Creature". Oh. It was a season 8 episode of the show. A little more hunting online and I found nearly a dozen blogs who have already reviewed and summarized this film, probably a hell of a lot better than I'm going to.

Oh.

But as you know, I was in a film funk for a while, and I thought "The She-Creature" would be just the thing to snap me out of it. I love watching 1950s B-movies, the stuff that filled the programs in drive-ins across the country, and this is one of the more competent and fun B-films I've seen. I trudged on and I have to say that I'm glad I did, even if I does mean blogging about something that's pretty much blogged out.

"The She-Creature" opens on the beach at night, where Dr. Carlo Lombardi (Chester Morris) silently ponders his role in the release of something sinister, something we haven't yet seen. The movie is called "The She-Creature" after all, so I doubt many people will wonder what Lombardi is referring to.

We cut to a swanky 1950s cocktail party. Don't you just want to jump into the screen and join parties like these? All those pretty women in crinoline skirts and big clunky bracelets, all those men in their dark suits and thin ties, sipping martinis in an impeccably decorated living room filled with Danish Modern. Beautiful. A lovely blonde and her date, Dr. Ted Erickson (Lance Fuller, best known as Brack from "This Island Earth") talk about the party -- really, when you're at a fabulous party like this, there is nothing else to talk about -- and Ted makes it clear that he's not comfortable around all these high-falutin' rich people. He's just a simple country boy from Ioway. A simple country boy from Ioway who is now a PROFESSOR OF HYPNOTISM, might I add.

Ted and Dorothy (Cathy Downs) go for a walk on the beach under the watchful eye of Dorothy's mother, Mrs. Chappell (Frieda Inescort). The Missus feels nervous tonight; Dr. Lombardi informed her earlier that something sinister is coming, and she feels it on the wind. Her husband Timothy (Tom Conway, brother to George Sanders) thinks his wife is being silly, especially when she continues to mention Dr. Lombardi's patient, a woman who can age-regress back 300 years to a past life.

Age regression was a popular subject in the mid-1950s. In 1952, hypnotist Morey Bernstein attended a party with housewife Virginia Tighe and performed past-life regression hypnotism on her, apparently for entertainment. Everyone was surprised to watch Tighe regress back to an allegedly previous life where she was a 19th century Irish woman named Bridey Murphy. Bernstein hypnotized Tighe many times and published the transcripts as a book called The Search for Bridey Murphy. It became a best-seller, and "The She-Creature" was one of the first films made to capitalize on the sensation.

While walking on the beach, Ted and Dorothy observe Dr. Lombardi entering a beach house some distance away. The film cuts to Dr. Lombardi finding a couple dead in the house, obviously the victims of a violent crime. Lombardi sees a large webbed footprint and seaweed in the house, gets a knowing look, and leaves.

Ted goes into the house to investigate and finds the couple. Some incompetent police arrive and schmutz up the crime scene with flour. When Ted tells the police lieutenant Ed James (Ron Randall) that Dr. Lombardi was seen going into the house, he somehow decides that Dr. Lombardi committed the murder, despite Lombardi only being in the house for a few moments. Ted should know this, and he also should have known there was no noise coming from the home while Lombardi was in there. Hard to wreck up a place without making some noise.

Meanwhile, Dr. Lombardi arrives at the local carnival where he has a hypnotism show, and where he also apparently lives. That's charming. No wonder Lombardi is such a sourpuss. A carny tells him the lady in his room -- someone he's known for years as a carny follower -- was screaming so he checked on her, but the woman was completely out. Dr. Lombardi warns him to stop snooping around. Foreshadowing!

Laying in Lombardi's office/stage/house/whatever is the beautiful Andrea (Marla English) in a clingy, sheer white dress. He brings Andrea out of hypnosis. She immediately objects to him putting her under hypnosis for so long. Lombardi has Andrea under his complete control due to his hypnotic powers and her susceptibility to hypnotism; "You've taken my soul," she says. Lombardi clearly wants Andrea but she, understandably, hates him and would leave if she could. Despite his ability to control her, he cannot have her.

Inspector James and Ted show up at Lombardi's just in time to see Andrea emerge from behind a dressing screen. She's wearing the tightest sweater imaginable, and Ted unabashedly looks straight at her breasts for several seconds before finally being distracted. James takes Lombardi in for questioning while Ted and Andrea go for a stroll. Before she gets far, though, Lombardi's spell prevents her from continuing her walk with Ted.

According to Alex Gordon, one of the producers of the film, Chester Morris was hired after a request to his casting agency for an experienced actor who would be able to do a week's worth of shooting for about $5,000. Originally Gordon wanted to cast Peter Lorre in the part of Dr. Carlo Lombardi. This idea came about because Gordon and director Edward L. Cahn wanted to cast veteran actor Edward Arnold as businessman Timothy Chappell. Arnold and Cahn had worked together previously and Cahn was sure he could get him, and they thought pairing Arnold with Peter Lorre would be great for the film. Arnold's agency agreed to the role but wanted Cahn to confirm that Arnold would do a small independent picture. Cahn tried to contact Arnold about confirmation, only to discover that Arnold had passed away that very day.

Meanwhile Peter Lorre refused to do the picture, saying that it was "a piece of junk". When his agent at the Jaffe Agency said they'd already agreed Lorre would do the role, Lorre fired the Jaffe Agency in anger.

Chester Morris eventually took the role of Dr. Lombardi, and was just one of many "old-timers" deliberately hired by Gordon. Jack Mulhall, who plays a small role as Lombardi's lawyer, was a silent movie leading man back to the 1910s. By the 1930s, however, he was playing uncredited and small roles because he was uncomfortable with talkies, at least according to Alex Gordon. Another leading man in very early silent films, Edward Earle, was cast as one of the scientists in Ted's lab, and Edmund Cobb was cast as the superstitious detective who works with Lieutenant James. These actors were in hundreds of films during their lengthy careers.

Speaking of old-timers, "The She-Creature" features not only El Brendel but his wife Flo Bert. Gordon loved El Brendel's vaudevillian act, and during filming they shot "reams" of stuff of El Brendel and Flo Bert. Almost all of it was cut out of the picture because it slowed the pace of the film. Gordon said Brendel was a nice guy, and he thought talking to Brendel was a hoot because he had a plain Midwestern accent instead of the Swedish accent everyone assumed he would.

Brendel plays the butler to the Chappels. We return to the Chappels house where Dorothy's father Timothy, a businessman, is enjoying breakfast on his porch balcony. Dorothy's dog starts barking when Brendel arrives with breakfast, causing Brendel's bow tie to pop off. "He gives me the yeepers," says Brendel.

Ted arrives at Chappel's request, and the two begin discussing the murder of the couple and Lombardi's claim that a creature from another time came out of the ocean and killed them. Chappel is an unscrupulous businessman who thinks he can make a fortune by acting as agent and publicist for Lombardi. Ted makes a lot of funny faces while trying to act like he's paying attention. Ted comments that he's trained to "fight stupidity", which is a really funny line for him to say after accidentally wandering face-first into a prop branch while trying to thoughtfully pace about. Ted asks if the public will believe Lombardi's tales. Chappel says, "They'll swallow it whole and they'll like it." Poor Lance Fuller is completely outgunned by Tom Conway, a solid actor who seems to be having a ball with this film.

Chappel goes to the carnival to visit Lombardi, who opens the door to greet Chappel before he even knocks. Lombardi is psychic, you know. Lombardi agrees to the publicity scheme as long as he can live at the Chappels' home. After Chappel says yes and leaves to start work, Lombardi hypnotizes Andrea and summons the She-Creature. We first see the creature here, coming out of the water in an odd double-exposure shot, and apparently covered in phosphorescent paint.

Paul Blasdell, special effects and monster creator for films such as "Teenage Cave Man", "Teenagers from Outer Space" and "The Amazing Colossal Man", created and wore the She-Creature's suit. The She-Creature was called "Cuddles" on the set and was originally constructed to look only vaguely feminine. It was decided to make her look more like a woman, so Blaisdell ordered that breasts be put on the suit. The next day he arrived to see the addition of two enormous breasts to the front. Somehow, no one ever worried that the breasts would cause a problem, and I guess they never really did, although to this day they are one of the most memorable parts of the film -- the creature is often referred to as "the mammary monster".

Blaisdell said the suit was comfortable and flexible, although it did soak up water and made it difficult to walk through the ocean. The night the suit was created, Blaisdell and a friend terrorized the neighborhood and scared a passing driver. Later Blaisdell lent the suit to a friend who wore it while walking to a party. He ran into a little girl who was so scared that she fled, tripped over a curb and chipped her teeth.


After watching the She-Creature emerge from the ocean, Lombardi disappears, but the creature continues on and kills the carny who was worried about Andrea earlier. See, I told you it was foreshadowing. Meanwhile, we're back at another fabulous dinner party at the Chappel's. The dinner party is full of more old-timey actors such as Franklin Farnum and Creighton Hale. El pulls his bow-tie-popping trick again when offering a drunken guest a tray of martinis; he's so surprised that the guy took two martinis that his eyes bulge and his tie pops off. Behind him we see Dorothy watching the drunken partier closely while Ted notices nothing, what with being self-absorbed and sulky and all. The drunk approaches Dorothy and we find he used to be her fiance.

Chappel and a guest discuss the financial merits of Lombardi's hypnotism. The guest tries to sound like some upper crust businessman but comes across as an inexperienced high school kid in a play impersonating of Cedric Hardwicke. Would any high school kid even know who Hardwicke is? Probably not, but I stand by my comparison. We pan to Mrs. Chappel and two twittering friends. Inescort is caught looking off-camera for her cue just as the camera hits her, and the two friends read their lines as though they just learned them phonetically 5 minutes ago.

El keeps showing up in the background of the party shots. What a ham! Eventually he walks to the bar where he and the maid, played by El's real life wife Flo Bert, do a little shtick about the drunken party guest. Everything they say is a one-liner and they deliver it as though they expect live laughs. (In the MST3K version of the film, Tom Servo makes a little ba-dum-ching! drum noise after every line in this bit.)

Dr. Lombardi arrives to the party, resplendent in an overwrought tuxedo and heavy Dracula-esque cape. Lombardi and Andrea go right into their act: "I shall touch you and soon you will be asleep," he commands. Heh. Yeah, I'll bet. (Ba-dum-ching!) Andrea succumbs to the hypnotism and starts speaking in a bad British accent, yammering on about various historical things from the 1600s or whenever this past life existed, answering questions and generally showing off her mad history skills. Lombardi also mentions that the creature is the manifestation of someone's past life from many thousands of years ago. He doesn't specifically say it, but it's obvious that it's Andrea from, oh, a million years ago or so, give or take a millennium.

After the act, Ted goes outside on the porch to mull over the amazing -- er, I mean "amazing" -- events he has just witnessed. The She-Creature shows up, sneaks up behind him, lifts her arms and... nothing! Aw, man. Andrea psychically intervened and saved Ted's hide. The creature skulks away and Ted didn't hear a thing. Later Lombardi finds Andrea on the beach. The beach scenes were filmed in Paradise Cove, according to Alex Gordon, but for some reason here the beach turns into a very obvious set in the middle of the scene. It's just some sand and plants in front of a standard grey backdrop.

There were several nicely-filmed scenes in "The She-Creature," however. Alex Gordon said these shots were not by the cinematographer Frederick West, who was known for competent but uninspired filming due to the speed at which he created sets and lighting, but rather created by Eddie Cahn. Many of the beach shots are quite good for being day-for-night, and the composition of a few other scenes was clearly worked out carefully. Unfortunately these scenes are random, rare, and somewhat mitigated by the sparse sets like the one that appeared in the middle of the beach scene.

The next day Ted does psychological research by donning a lab coat and horn-rimmed glasses, smoking a pipe, and fussing with some colored liquids in beakers. Lieutenant James shows up along with two other scientists, also bedecked in their scienterrific lab coats, to watch Lombardi hypnotize Andrea under super-scientific conditions. By "super-scientific" I mean "a set with random sciencey stuff tossed about." Lombardi makes Andrea's soul leave her body. Her soul, represented by superimposed smoke, is not visible to anyone in the film. Why it's visible to the audience, I have no idea.

Chappel continues to work on publicizing Lombardi's act, mainly by saying words like "loot" and "big chips" to indicate he's greedy. Lombardi is enjoying living at the Chappel's home because he gets to be near Dorothy, the young blonde who is supposed to be in her twenties but is clearly in her forties. Lombardi does eventually leave the house by taking the act on the road. We see the tour in montage, with one clip of Andrea and Ted in a car together, but with no explanation.

By now we know that the creature is one of Andrea's past lives, but Lombardi is no longer in control of it. He also may not be in control of Andrea anymore, as Ted has been helping her build up resistance to Lombardi; maybe that's what they were doing in the car. Ted has fallen for Andrea, of course, and when he lets Dorothy know she just goes back to her drunken ex.

During the tour a random teen couple making out near a cliff above the beach get attacked by the She-Creature, who pushes the car over the ledge, killing them. I think the shot of the car off the cliff is some old stock footage, as the car looks to be 15-20 years older than the film. Lombardi, this time dressed like a guest star on "Maverick", is questioned but denies everything.

In a show-down at Chappel's and on the beach, the creature kills Lt. James and Mr. Chappel, both of whom tried to shoot the creature but learned that the bullets didn't affect her. She then turns on Lombardi himself. Lombardi apparently releases Andrea from his psychic grasp before he dies. Meanwhile, the creature goes back to the beach, and Ted follows it out and tells the cops where to shoot. I never did fully understand why they can't see the creature, but they can't, so they randomly shoot at a creature they can't see which cannot be harmed by bullets. GENIUS. The creature runs off, Andrea and Ted are finally together, and the film ends with a huge "?", implying there will be more to the story. Don't worry, there isn't.

Not only is the movie a real treat for fans of 1950s B-movie flicks, the MST3K version of "The She-Creature" is a lot of fun, although I understand that the show isn't to every cinephile's taste. There's no good way to end this entry, much like there was no good way to end the film. Plenty has been written about "The She-Creature", and I recommend starting with some of the links below.


SOURCES:
Paul Blaisdell, Monster Maker: A Biography of the B Movie Makeup and Special Effects Artist by Randy Palmer

Science Fiction Confidential: Interviews with 23 Monster Stars and Filmmakers by Tom Weaver

FURTHER READING:

And You Call Yourself a Scientist!
"The She-Creature" review at Exclamation Mark
"The She-Creature" review at 1000 Misspent Hours
The MST3K Summary of "The She-Creature", episode 808
The story of Bridey Murphy

When "The Big Trail" (1930) arrived at the house a few weeks ago, it was the last of a long string of John Wayne films I'd decided to watch for what might be called "educational purposes". To say Wayne is not my favorite actor is to understate the situation, yet I hadn't given Wayne much of a chance recently. I figured if I was going to continue to publicly state my rather strong opinion about his films and his acting ability, I should do so with at least a couple dozen Wayne films under my belt. After viewing "The High and the Mighty", "The Searchers" and "The Long Voyage Home", the arrival of "The Big Trail" was no surprise to me, although by the time I popped it into the player, I had completely forgotten my original reason for wanting to see it: my hero, El Brendel.

You've heard me say this before, and you'll hear me say it again: "The Big Trail" is not a good film. John Wayne was young, tall, and beautiful -- my gods, he was beautiful -- but he couldn't act his way out of a cool damp sack. He was clearly hired for his beefcakey attributes. This is made clear early in the film when he gets his hair wet and tousled and strikes an obvious pose for the camera. Not that I'm complaining, I'm just here to inform.

This early talkie could be used as a checklist for all the techniques that had been utilized in silents but were once again absent, thanks to the limitations of sound technology. The film features static blocking, poor dialogue, dated acting and unintentionally amusing microphone placement. The plot is thin and the tension nonexistent. This film isn't a total loss: it can always serve as a bad example.

The film begins when Breck Coleman (John Wayne) catches up with a large wagon train on the Oregon Trail. He and his old friend Zeke talk a bit, and we learn that Coleman is after the killers of his friend, a fur trapper. A "certain lowdown coyote" robbed and murdered the fur trapper, and Coleman is out for revenge, which takes him on a different trail than the wagon train: "Our trails fork here," he tells Zeke.

In some rather unsubtle editing, we immediately cut to the grizzled visage of Red Flack (Tyrone Power, Sr.), the nasty, mean, flea-ridden wagon train boss. He and his sidekick Lopez are clearly responsible for the murder of the fur trapper. Within minutes Coleman finds some of the stolen furs and suspects Red of the murder, too, so he decides to stay with the wagon trail. It helps that Coleman has just met David and Ruth (Marguerite Churchill), brother and sister who are traveling by wagon to meet their family who has gone ahead of them. Coleman immediately takes a liking to Ruth, but she is decidedly uninterested.

Bill Thorpe (Ian Keith), a Louisiana gambler, also finds Ruth attractive. Thorpe first met Ruth on their steamboat journey to meet the wagon train, and he asks her repeatedly to return to Louisiana with him. At some point early in the film, though, Thorpe's murderous past is discovered and he is told he cannot board the steamboat when it continues on to Louisiana, but he's also not allowed to stay in the port town without risking hanging. He approaches his old friend Red about his dilemma, and Red offers to let Thorpe come along on the wagon trail. He, like Coleman, plans to spend his time on the trail wooing the beautiful Ruth.

And of course there's El Brendel, who plays Gus, the "comical Swede". Gus arrives at the same time Ruth and Thorpe do, I assume on the steamboat. Gus is accompanied by his wife, her sister, and their mother. Thank goodness for the portly mother-in-law! Otherwise we wouldn't have jokes involving El carrying her large butt over some slick mud and shoving her large butt up into a wagon. Wait, was that sarcastic enough?

I shouldn't complain about El Brendel's lowbrow humor, as Brendel is clearly one of the best actors in this film. This is ironic, as I just got into a bit of a snit with someone on a film forum who was angry because he thought I considered El Brendel an actor. At the time I didn't consider him an actor, more of a comedy personality, but now I realize I was wrong: he is an actor, and is quite natural in front of the camera. His old Vaudevillian shtick just doesn't translate well into film.

Another actor, Tully Marshall as Coleman's pal Zeke, is quite good, and Ian Keith as the Louisianian is bland but competent. These three actors are the most accomplished and confident of the bunch, and they are the sole reason that this film doesn't devolve into a complete joke.

Marguerite Churchill has an astonishing lack of presence and shows occasional confusion in her motivation. As long as she's scowling she's okay, but when she gets out of that comfort zone she's clearly lost. Wayne reads every line as though he were struggling just to remember the words.

Power's gruff, nasty-looking Red is played so broadly that he's more suited for a Hal Roach comedy short than for this film. Every line Power utters is spoken in a forced, over-pronounced dialect. When he says "thar" or "whar", he says it exactly as it's spelled. Indicating a jug of liquor, Red says to Thorpe in a slow, deliberate voice: "That rum's for you and me, HAR HAR HAR!" He doesn't laugh, he instead says the word "HAR" three times in a row. It's terrible, just terrible. What the heck was Raoul Walsh doing during this film? He certainly wasn't directing his young, inexperienced, and confused cast.

Yet, like other bad movies before and since, "The Big Trail" has a definite place in movie history. It's John Wayne's first starring role, and it's a prime example of an early, epic talking film. What "The Big Trail" achieves in cinematography is important. The film was shot with the Grandeur filming system, a 70 mm early widescreen method developed by Fox Film Company. Grandeur was in use primarily in 1929-1930 and almost completely discarded by 1931, so it has a rather limited legacy.

"The Big Trail" was filmed in both standard 35 mm Movietone process and 70 mm Grandeur, so there are two versions of the film in existence. Probably the most famous Fox film to be filmed in both Movietone and Grandeur is "The Bat Whispers"; you can see a comparison of the title screens in 35 mm versus 70 mm here at the Widescreen Museum. Cinematographer Arthur Edeson wrote an article about the use of Grandeur during filming of "The Big Trail", which you can read here, also thanks to the Widescreen Museum.

The version available on DVD is the Movietone version, although I have heard that Fox Movie Channel shows the Grandeur version of "The Big Trail" on occasion. Unfortunately I just didn't know enough about "The Big Trail" to go searching for the Grandeur version before watching it. According to several sources, many scenes available in the Grandeur version of "The Big Trail" are not shown in the Movietone version. This includes two El Brendel scenes, but that's okay; we didn't need more fat mother-in-law jokes, anyway.

Many of the scenic shots are nice in the Movietone version, but I would love to have seen them in Grandeur. In Movietone, the backgrounds look flat and lifeless, almost like backdrops, as you can see in the footage filmed at Devil's Tower. The foreground action is spectacular, though, especially for a 1930 film. It gives it a modern feel which is a stark contrast to the old-fashioned intertitles that pepper the film.

The scene where the wagon train first moves out is enormous in scope and a real treat to watch. Later scenes with buffalo are the same. Unfortunately, these scenes are nearly ruined by incompetence. First, the microphone placement is so poor that you can hardly hear the sound of the wagons or buffalo. Instead, you can clearly hear a single extra hooting and hollering in authentic frontier gibberish, drowning out almost all other sounds. The second problem is the editor's decision to use fast motion. It's distracting and, let's face it, fast motion has never achieved anything but laughter. It's great for "The Munsters" but not for a serious film.

Once on the trail, very little happens. Coleman tries to woo Ruth, but she is only hostile toward him. Red and Lopez realize Coleman knows they killed the fur trader, so they decide to get their Louisianian friend Thorpe to murder Coleman to save their hides. (No pun.) Gus provides humor on occasion, first when his wagon falls off a cliff -- his mother-in-law was unfortunately not in the wagon at the time -- and later when his wife has twins. He's pleased to discover they're both his, and he celebrates by having two drinks, one for each twin. The wagon train survives an Indian attack and crosses a harsh desert on the way to California.

Meanwhile, Coleman's friend Zeke discovers Thorpe's plan to shoot Coleman. Zeke shoots Thorpe while he's searching for Coleman, but complications arise when Ruth's brother sees Thorpe get shot but doesn't see the shooter. When he tells Ruth, she assumes Coleman murdered Thorpe in cold blood. She tells everyone that Coleman is a murderer, and when Coleman returns from a walk in the woods, the wagon train has decided to hang him. Zeke intervenes and tells them what really happened and why. Both Zeke and Coleman are spared, of course, and Ruth realizes she's been wrong about Coleman all along, and you know what that means: true love.


Later that night Lopez tries to kill Coleman but fails. Figuring their luck is up, he and Red run off into the winter to escape Coleman's (and the wagon train's) wrath. Coleman goes after them the next morning after saying goodbye to Ruth, telling her "Our trails will cross again." During the chase, Lopez becomes frostbitten and falls into the snow, unable to go on. The evil Red leaves Lopez to die as he screams and begs not to be left alone, but not before taking all the valuable furs off Lopez' body.

Coleman comes across the frozen stiff body of Lopez and continues on until he catches up with Red who, under cover of a very obvious snow machine, is skulking about the wilderness. Coleman shoots Red Flack, who dies in the traditionally bad silent movie way: hands straight up in the air and twirling. Coleman returns to Ruth, who has set up home in a cabin in California, and all is well.

A bit of a personal note is in order. I've been working on this post for more than a week, but have had no motivation to finish it. I could not get interested in this movie. It was just one in a long line of bad films I've recently watched in an attempt to educate myself in film. And that's what this blog is: a record of my travel through the world of (mostly) American films. I focus on films and actors which are lesser-known or almost impossible to find because I want to provide information that may not be widely available. What I've discovered is that not all hard-to-find films, not even the ones recommended to me by fellow cinephiles, are the kind of films to agree with me. I really pushed it too far with this recent John Wayne project of mine; I failed to recognize my own limitations.

So instead of getting bogged down in all this no-good not-fun nonsense, I plan on taking a diversion through my old friends Cult Films and Pre-Code Films. I want to watch and blog about a bad film that is fun, maybe even a little naughty. Every effort will be made to keep things safe-for-work, but I may push the limits now and again. I hope it will still be entertaining for my loyal readers, and it may be more educational, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch "Road House".

Much of my information came from online sources (listed below) and the book pictured here, Anthony Slide's Eccentrics of Comedy. Originally, my plan had been to thrill you all with a quick one-two punch, er, I mean series of El Brendel-related posts. That is, until my plans were waylaid by an uncooperative fact that involved a few days of research... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

There's nowhere else to begin but at the beginning. Elmer Goodfellow Brendel was born March 25, 1891, in Philadelphia, PA. When I first heard of El Brendel many years ago on the Usenet group alt.movies.silent, I thought El Brendel was a Latin name which meant something like "The Silly Person." Imagine my relief when I discovered "El" was short for "Elmer".

Contrary to his famous stage and screen persona, Brendel did not come from a Swedish family; his father was German and his mother was Irish, and Brendel spoke with with no descernable accent. In 1913 Brendel started in vaudeville as a German dialect comedian. However, because of anti-German sentiment during WWI, he changed his shtick to a faux Swedish accent. This characterization became known as "The Simple Swede" and, by all accounts, was a success. His trademark accent routinely swapped a "y" for "j", which lead to his most famous catchphrase, "yumpin' yimminy!" This catchphrase is occasionally referenced even to this day, although most people don't know where it originated.

By the late teens, Brendel was playing larger shows in vaudeville and on Broadway, often with his future wife Sophie "Flo" Bert. Brendel and Bert were married in 1924 after partnering on stage for several years. Bert was in some well-known Broadway productions in the teens and early 20s, and recorded many popular songs of the day.

One of Bert and Brendel's biggest stage hits was "Cinderella on Broadway" in 1920. There are a few online reviews and notices of other shows, such as "Over Here" from 1918 and "The Mimic World", which played in 1921. The New York Times' archive of the August 18, 1921 review states that Brendel played a "Swedish youth of possibilities", a role which "coaxed an occasional gaggle". Otherwise, the "dreary" play fell flat, and "all was silence".

El began acting in movies in 1926 when he signed with Famous Players-Lasky. He made several films in 1926 alone, the first being "The Campus Flirt" (1926), which was released just two days before his next film "You Never Know Women." His first major role was in the 1927 classic "Wings," where he plays the comic relief character Herman Schwimpf.

And it's here where things got kind of sticky. I have a copy of "Wings" and El's character is, indeed, Herman Schwimpf, a mild-mannered German-American who runs into trouble when trying to enlist for World War I. His patriotism is questioned because of his heritage, but he always proves himself by revealing an American flag tattoo on his arm. Schwimpf joins the U.S. Signal Corps (later the Air Force) with the leads, and although he flunks out of the Corps, he becomes a mechanic and is stationed at the same base the two male leads are.

Anthony Slide's book, however, makes a large point of stating that Brendel's character was an Irishman named "Patrick O'Brien". I thought that was odd, as Slide is an excellent historian and it's unlikely he'd make such a mistake. What was even odder was that many online sources agreed with Slide, most notably the "Wings" commentary on Silents Are Golden and the "Wings" entry on the Progressive Silent Film List.

The fact is, though, that it is indeed a mistake, although programs for the movie list Brendel's character as "Patrick O'Brien". This seems to be a mistake and not the result of a re-cut or last minute change. Rodney Sauer, member of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, confirmed on alt.movies.silent that his copy of the original score for "Wings" refers to Brendel's character as "Herman". Daniela on the same group was kind enough to point out that the German word for "dishonor" is "schimpf", which is extremely close to Herman's last name.

Although I was unable to find the source of this incorrect character name, I am still looking into it, and would love to unearth more promotional material for "Wings" to see how many show Brendel's character as O'Brien rather than Schwimpf. One day I hope to be able to tell you the mystery is solved. But back to El...

Brendel was allegedly unhappy with his small roles in films, including "Wings", where he claimed much of his work wound up on the cutting room floor. Personally, I find that an odd thing to say, as his role in "Wings" was significant. Regardless of whether his complaints were valid or not, Brendel left Famous Players-Lasky and went to Fox, just in time for talkies, especially musicals. Between 1929 and 1931, Brendel was featured in most of Fox's major releases, including "Sunny Side Up" and the "New Movietone Follies of 1930".

In 1930, Brendel was given the lead role in the science fiction romantic comedy musical "Just Imagine", which I blogged about recently. This was followed just 5 months later with "Mr. Lemon of Orange", a comedy where Brendel played the double role of a mild-mannered Swedish immigrant and a gangster who spoke with no accent at all. "Mr. Lemon of Orange" was billed as being El's first starring role, despite his lead status in the previous "Just Imagine." While many claim that "Just Imagine" is what caused Fox to decide Brendel couldn't carry the lead, it's most likely that his second starring film was the reason. A New York Times review said, "Mr. Brendel is mildly funny in some of the scenes, but a little of this Swedish-accented comedian goes a long way."

Indeed, according to several sources, Brendel was the most popular comedian in 1930-31. In the 1931 musical "Delicious" -- described as "yet another Fox retread of 'Sunny Side Up'" -- Brendel popularly performed the Gershwin song "Blah Blah Blah". His popularity was short-lived, though, likely due to this limited repertoire. Anthony Slide reports that Brendel actually had no desire to continue with the Swede character, but studio executives wouldn't let him change the formula that had made him popular. Yet by 1932 his contract with Fox was being renegotiated to a lower salary, and in 1933 they declined to renew his contract. Within a few years he was playing only supporting or bit roles in films such as the Shirley Temple film "Little Miss Broadway" and the Bing Crosby vehicle "If I Had My Way" (1940, pictured, with Bing Crosby and Gloria Jean.)

In the 1940s Brendel found himself getting smaller parts in feature films, but starring roles in some Columbia Pictures two-reel comedies. Nearly 20 of these were produced, although most were "some of the worst produced by a major Hollywood studio." A few shorts were well made and one, "Blitzkiss" (1941), was nominated for an Academy Award. Brendel was first paired with Tom Kennedy, and when that didn't work out, he was paired with Elsie Ames as a "scatterbrained former eccentric dancer". When that pairing didn't pan out, Brendel went solo, but by 1945 he was paired with Harry Langdon. The Langdon shorts are notable only for being the last pictures Langdon ever made. Many of these shorts were remade into Three Stooges shorts which were much better received by audiences and critics.

His career on a steady slope downward, Brendel received some unexpected help from director Preston Sturges in 1949. Sturges gave Brendel a featured role in "The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend", but the film flopped and it didn't lead to better roles for Brendel. El's final film, "The She-Creature" (1956), is a sci-fi Z-grade cult classic which has been featured on "Mystery Science Theater 3000". It will be featured on this blog, too. Brendel's wife Flo Bert also has a small part in the film.

In the 1950s and 60s, Brendel had a few small parts in television shows, but for the most part he had disappeared completely. He died of a heart attack in April, 1964.

You'll notice that I've made it this far without mentioning once that El Brendel is almost universally loathed. When I first joined alt.movies.silent, El Brendel was mentioned only in sarcastic tones or in-jokes. As I began to delve deeper into the silent and early talkie/pre-code era of American films, I discovered a tangible, visceral hatred of the guy lurked just below the surface of the film community.

Brendel has been described, in more charitable moments, as "inescapable" and "history's most irritating comedian". Richard Barrios seems to have a specific hatred for the little fellow. As much as I like Brendel, I have to confess that his comedy can get really old really quickly. It's stale vaudevillian shtick reminiscent of Zoidberg's uncle Harold Zoid in that "Futurama" episode nobody likes. Brendel's Swedish characterizations were unflattering and occasionally racist. But it's a mistake to judge an early 20th century comedian entirely with our 21st century sensibilities. It's impossible for us to completely step outside our own culture, yet we should in some capacity try to understand the culture that, for a brief moment, made El Brendel the most famous comedian in America.

LINKS & SOURCES
El Brendel obituary from Time, April 17, 1964
Descriptions of some of Brendel's Columbia shorts
New York Times biography on El Brendel
Sophie "Flo" Bert info page, includes songs
All Movie Guide's summary of "Ham and Yeggs"
New York Times archive (garbled) listing Brendel in "Over Here"
Eccentrics of Comedy by Anthony Slide on Amazon
1931 New York Times review for "Mr. Lemon of Orange" (may require registration)
Time article on "If I Had My Way" (1940)


OTHER BLOGS:
The Third Banana's post on "Just Imagine"
Vitaphone Varieties blog post "Dancing the Devil Away", features "Just Imagine"

CREDITS
"Defective Detectives" poster from the terrific "The Wonderful Christine McIntyre" page
Thanks to Rodney Sauer and Daniela on alt.movies.silent
Thanks again to amy_jeanne of LiveJournal and DVRBS for the El Brendel performance ad

INTERESTING STUFF
A what-if scenario about Charlie Chaplin and El Brendel
Lyrics to "Blah Blah Blah"
YouTube clip from "Just Imagine", similar to Brendel's vaudeville act

Edited 12-10-07

In July I participated in the 2007 Blogathon for charity. During the 24-hour Blogathon I "live blogged" two movies, one of which was "Just Imagine" (1930). I didn't finish it that night, so I decided to finally do the film justice and finish it here. You can read my two Blogathon entries about "Just Imagine" here and here. The film is not available commercially, but it does show on Fox Movies occasionally. The copy I have is borrowed from a friend who taped it off the Fox Movie Channel a few years ago.

"Just Imagine" is a unique American film. Made in 1930, it's a romantic musical science fiction comedy set in the then-futuristic year of 1980. It was designed to be a vehicle for comedian El Brendel, as well as an entertaining, uplifting version of the future for audiences in the middle of the Depression and Prohibition.

The problem with "Just Imagine" is that it pretty much fails as romance, musical, and comedy. It was a solid hit in its day -- modern accounts that claim the film was a flop are simply incorrect -- but Fox rightly realized that while El Brendel was popular, he certainly couldn't carry a film as a leading man by himself. They took a risk using Brendel as the lead in such an expensive project, and it paid off this time; it probably wouldn't pay off again.

The film begins with one of its more interesting features: title cards. This holdback from the silent era stands out in a 1930 film, and while the title cards at the very beginning are narrated, later ones are not. Even though the film had quite a budget, it's clear they cut corners, as the use of title cards show. These introduction cards ask us to compare the New York of 1880 to the current New York of 1930 and, once the audience realizes how different New York 50 years ago was, they're asked to imagine a New York 50 years hence. We fade to a spectacular view of immense skyscrapers and crowded skyways, all in a gorgeous art deco style. This super futuristic world of 1980 features numbers for names, personal flying machines, and a government that decides who gets to marry.

Fortunately, the numbers for names don't get much in the way. The leading lady, Maureen O'Sullivan, is LN-18, or "Ellen" for all intents and purposes. Her boyfriend (John Garrick) is J-21, or "Jay". The numbers-for-names bit seems to have been an attempt at humor more than social commentary, but I often suspect that the writers of "Just Imagine" didn't actually know what humor was. Take this poor shaved dog for example (pictured). Have you ever seen anything more sad? That unfortunate, humiliated dog has been shaved in the name of humor, and it's not funny.

But back to the movie. The secondary couple is D-6 (Marjorie White) and RT-42 (Frank Albertson). We're immediately informed that LN's boyfriend has been trying to marry her, but is unable to because she signed a marriage contract with another man, MT-3 (Kenneth Thomson), before she met J. A decision had been made by the court that day that LN would marry MT-3, not J, but J has a chance to appeal in 4 months.

"Just Imagine" gets a few things right about the future, most notably hand driers and the fact that men's suits don't change much. What it doesn't get right is the fact that the world isn't divided into 2 groups of "white men" and "everyone else" anymore, and as such women are treated as "everyone else" throughout the film. LN doesn't know anything about what's going on with J's attempt to marry her, and she claims to have been told to sign the contract with MT-3 because her dad told her to. Aim high, sister. LN's wimpishness wouldn't rankle so much if O'Sullivan was a better actress. This is early in her career and while she's cute as a button, she's clumsy and unfocused in her performance.

J goes back to his gorgeous art deco bachelor pad -- everyone has a gorgeous art deco pad -- to sulk about the court's decision. While there he laments about modern women, how they're allowed to be officials and think for themselves and have their own keys and opinions. Well, okay, it's not that bad, but when a female census taker arrives, J's roommate RT-42 makes fun of her. She's made to be unappealing, as she's stern, outspoken, and approves of the Volstead Act (i.e. Prohibition). However, she rightly points out that women aren't allowed any part of the decision-making process when it comes to marriage. Men and the courts hold all the power. She finds it unfair, but in this film, equal rights are considered just as ridiculous as Prohibition.

J then launches in to the first song of the film, "Old Fashioned Girl". He longs for the days of the 1930 party girl, which means "flapper", not the strong, no-nonsense working woman of the 1930s. This bit made me realize that "Just Imagine" was filmed in that brief period where the 1920s hedonism hadn't been completely replaced by 1930s practicality.

RT's girlfriend, D-6, arrives to show off her new outfit, which is nothing more than a reversible dress. Actually, it's just an excuse to show Marjorie White in her undies. White is game for most of the unfunny comedy, and she adds some much needed zing to the film, but ultimately her character falls flat. (Her talents were put to better use in other films of the era, but sadly, White died in 1935 in a car accident.)

The reversible dress isn't spectacular, but many of the costumes are. The famous Dolly Tree was one of the costume designers on this film, and you can tell. Several dresses are quite lovely, including one of my favorite dresses from a 1930s film (on O'Sullivan, pictured), and the otherworldly costumes are beautiful and elegant.

D tells the boys that the doctor she works for is bringing a man back to life. This was a man who died in 1930 while golfing, and since no one has ever been brought back to life before, RT and J rush over to see the unveiling of ... well, of a dead guy.

The doctor's lab is crammed with large gadgets, bright with chrome and neon. The set for this lab is really lovely, and it's no wonder "Just Imagine" was nominated for an Academy Award for set design. The cityscapes mentioned above, the lab, and the later Mars sets are spectacular. Some online reviewers have confused some sets from "Just Imagine" with "Metropolis" (1927) sets, and while I don't doubt that many of the same techniques were used, there are no shared sets between the two movies. However, some of the "Just Imagine" sets and props were later used for Flash Gordon serials.

The dead guy is brought back to life with little or no effort, and we discover it's El Brendel, popular Vaudevillian comedian. Brendel is dressed in his Sunday finest (most certainly what he was buried in) and he thinks he's still golfing. Eventually he realizes he's in the future and that the doctor who resurrected him doesn't plan on helping him one bit. "I don't care about you. You were just an experiment," he says, in some of the worst dialogue written for the screen.

El Brendel immediately begins yucking it up with his faux Scandinavian accent and one-liners galore. Many people hate El Brendel. No, that's not the right word... many people nowadays loathe El Brendel, but he does bring some funny to this movie. The first real laugh I had was at El Brendel's distraught reaction when he decides he'll get help from the Elks, only to realize he is no longer a member.

After getting a shot in the hinder to keep him alive, Brendel hooks up with J and RT. They tell him all about this brave new world, including numbers used for names. RT tells him he can't get a number, because "they're all taken." (In the future, math is still hard.) Brendel chooses "Single-0", an old reference to a type of single-performer circus act, and they go about their way. First Single-0 gets something to eat, and discovers they eat only pills. (Silly movie: people don't eat pills until the 22nd century! Don't you watch "Star Trek"?) Single-0 looks at the pill and laments the loss of the "good old days".

Turns out there's still Prohibition in 1980 -- how depressing -- but there's an abundance of liquor pills. Again, Single-0 wishes for the good old days. When they stumble across a couple buying a baby out of a machine instead of making it the old-fashioned way, guess what Single-0 says? Go ahead. Guess.

Now you know what the humor is like in this film: labored and clumsy. But the film trudges on, and so shall I. Back at LN's house, she feigns a headache with the help of her friend D, just so she can skip a date with MT. She wants to see J instead, of course, and her ruse works. Her father and MT and leave while J and RT sneak in to see the girls. J and LN sing another slow, plodding song, "You Are the Melody", but their time together is cut short when MT comes back early. J and his friend hide, but a completely sloshed Single-0 accidentally blows their cover.

Despondent, J leaves to sing and sulk. It's a good thing John Garrick is good at both, because he does an awful lot of both in this film. After a depressing round of "Without a Melody" -- a riff on the "You Are the Melody" duet he sang moments earlier -- a stranger (a simply beautiful young Mischa Auer) approaches him and suggests he meet with an important man who can change his life. J agrees and meets with Professor Z-4 (Hobart Bosworth, who looks a lot like character actor John Hoyt), who tells him about a super secret mission to Mars. He needs astronauts, and J agrees to go on this dangerous mission, in hopes that it will distinguish him and win points with the court during the marriage appeal.

J and RT both sign up for this mission, but don't tell their girlfriends where they're going. It's assumed they're doing something dangerous, so their military regiment -- did we even know J and RT were in the military? -- sings them a rousing drinking song and throws them a huge party in their honor. The party is just an excuse for the movie to throw in more crazy "entertainment", the kind of song-and-dance stuff audiences loved back in the early 1930s.

At the party, El Brendel talks with a beautiful woman, who cheerfully points out the latest fashion on a woman across the room: her dress is so low in the back most of her hinder shows. El Brendel is impressed and says, "Nuts to the good old days!" This offends the beautiful lady near him, though I can't imagine why. Then RT and D do an embarrassing musical number called "Never Swat a Fly", and Single-0 takes the stage to do a hat-changing bit that must have been a hit in 1919. It's amusing enough, though, and the double entendres were chuckle-worthy.

J and RT leave for their secret mission late that night. The rather phallic rocket (pictured in the Photoplay ad) may look familiar, as it was later used for Dr. Zarkov's rocket in Flash Gordon serials. Again, it's another example of terrific science fiction design, and is one of the few things this film got right. LN discovers what J is up to and quickly flies to the launch site, where she ineffectually runs towards the rocket, trips, whines, whimpers, then trots over to the rocket again, but is too late, of course.

Inside the rocket we see J and RT covered in some very silly latex suits. They quickly realize Single-0 has stowed away on the ship with them, and they don't much mind. When they arrive on Mars they are greeted by a scantily clad Martian woman, and Brendel again makes me laugh by pulling out a bow tie from his pocket and putting it on to impress the lady.

The planet is not only filled with half-clad ladies, but is ruled by a beautiful queen, played by dancer Joyzelle. I think it's interesting to see the "queen of the planet" staple of 1950s science fiction appear so early in film. The queen and other Martians speak another language (take that, Star Trek!) but it's a silly language, sounding a lot like "Ging gang galla gacka." The queen takes a liking to J, of course, and calls for her personal guard to meet the Earthlings.

The guard Loko (Ivan Linow) immediately takes a fancy to Single-0, causing Brendel to quip, "She's not the queen, he is." If you think Loko's outfit looks like it's covered in nipples, you'd be right. Brendel tweaks one later in the film, and because this is a pre-code movie, he gets away with it. The guard calls some lovely ladies over and they all go into a back room, where J, RT and Single-0 are apparently supposed to be bathed. J stays behind to mack on the queen a bit while RT and Single-0 get embarrassed over gorgeous women trying to undress them. They have no problem with the gay guard Loko undressing them, though. After they get in the water, they express relief that those icky girls didn't touch them, then are horrified when more gorgeous women... er, I mean icky girls arrive to dance for them. RT and Single-0 hide under the water.

That night is entertainment, and El Brendel is escorted to the dinner by his new pal Loko. Single-0 and Loko are best buddies through the rest of the film. The entertainment starts and it's clear that this Martian society is modeled after a pseudo-African society. That's why it's so creepy that the entertainment is a bunch of people dressed up as monkeys. Fortunately war breaks out, which is a lot more tolerable. Everyone fights everyone else with spears and you realize that it's twins fighting each other. The Earthlings are taken prisoner and brought to a queen who looks exactly like the previous queen, but she hates them immediately, and Loko's twin has no use for Single-0. They're thrown in a prison but must escape, as they have only 4 days to leave the planet before their opportunity to fly back to Earth is gone.

Outside their prison window they see more entertainment, this time from the evil Martians. Lots of nearly-nude ladies dance around an enormous idol, a kind of mash-up of Asian, Indian, and African cultures. The dancers eventually end up writhing all over the idol, and while it's titillating, it's not particularly well done. One of the dancers accidentally falls off the idol and has to scramble back up onto the statue, where she jumps right back into the writhing like nothing happened.

Loko shows up to rescue Single-0, who in turn rescues J and RT, who have been knocked out cold. They make it back to the rocket but not before Single-0 ends up fighting with the evil Loko twin. Much slapstick ensues. He finally gets on the rocket and launches it himself.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, LN is upset that J isn't back yet. B-36 (Mischa Auer) speculates that if they aren't back by now, they won't be back, but at the last minute the rocket arrives. J is late for his marriage appeal, so D goes to stall the judge with a lot of embarrassingly corny one-liners. J finally arrives and tells the judge he's late because he's just been to Mars. MT accuses him of lying, so J brings in Single-0 with some proof that they were on Mars: Loko's evil twin. No one believes that Single-0 beat up the burly man, until Single-0 shows everyone that a Martian can be defeated by a simple squeeze on the earlobe.

The day is saved! J gets the girl! Meanwhile a really old man reading off cue cards and glancing at the camera recites some clumsy lines at El Brendel. The old man is El's son, which is funny. Except it's not. It's also impossible, because this man is about 329 years old, yet El's son would really only be in his 50s. Looks like someone forgot the movie was set in 1980.

While the set designs and the early examples of standard sci-fi plots are interesting, this film just really stinks to high heaven. Don't get me wrong, I love bad movies more than I love really good films. However, it's hard to watch the film without getting irritated at the poor acting, half-hearted jokes, and maudlin songs. It's worthwhile to note that the film was marketed as a silly lampoon (see the Photoplay ad above), so perhaps the bizarre tone of the film was intentional. It's a film that fans of science fiction simply have to see, though, so hopefully it will be released in an official DVD soon.




LINKS & SOURCES
Photoplay ad (December, 1930) scan and publicity still courtesy amy_jeanne at LiveJournal

Photoplay article & other interesting tidbits

SciFi entry on "Just Imagine"

YouTube clip of the drinking song

YouTube fan-created video of "credits" from the film - very fun!

Note: this post originally appeared on my other blog, Stacia's Stuff, on the 80th anniversary of the premier of "Wings" to a general audience. Due to formatting constraints, the pictures on this entry will be wonky until my layout update is complete. Thanks for understanding.

Eighty years ago today the silent movie classic "Wings" premiered to general audiences. "Wings," directed by William Wellman and starring Clara Bow at the height of her career, originally premiered on April 12, 1927, at the Criterion Theater in New York, four months before its general release.

"Wings" is about two young men, Jack (Charles Buddy Rogers) and David (Richard Arlen), who sign up for military service as pilots in the U.S. Signal Corps during WWI. However, complications arise through a classic love quadrangle: Mary (Clara Bow) loves her neighbor Jack, but the poor boy is oblivious. He's in love with Sylvia (Jobyna Ralston), so much so that he doesn't realize she and David are lovers. Just before he leaves for the war, he visits Sylvia and mistakenly believes a locket she's intended for David is actually for him. Sylvia doesn't have the heart to tell Jack that the locket was for David, and lets Jack take it.

David and Jack end up in basic training together, along with comedy relief Herman Schwimpf (El Brendel). Now, I know it's not cool to like El Brendel, but I can't help but be charmed by the little guy. He was the personification of the goofy Vaudeville ethnic performer, and his trademark line "Yumpin' yimminy!" wouldn't elicit even a chuckle today. What viewers need to remember, though, is that Brendel was a relatively fresh face in 1927. After a career on Vaudeville, he entered films in 1926, and "Wings" was only his fourth movie appearance. He was wildly popular and, according to film critic Richard Barrios, was the most popular comedian in the country by 1930. Today, he's largely forgotten.

I had intended on including El Brendel in one of my "In the Background" posts, but Brendel's role in "Wings" is no bit part. After providing the comedy relief during basic training, we discover Herman (Brendel) has flunked out, only to become an airplane mechanic who appears throughout almost the whole movie.

The real bit part in this movie is Gary Cooper's role. Cooper became a star soon after "Wings" was originally released, and movie posters for the 1929 re-release of "Wings" list Cooper as a co-star. In fact, Cooper is only in the film for about two minutes, and gives one of his trademark half-bored performances. I'm not a fan of Gary Cooper, and it's somewhat disheartening to see his stiff acting style so solidified even in his small early roles. Many critics have complained that Richard Arlen was only hired for his good looks, but I think in this film that charge can be leveled more squarely at Gary Cooper.

Jack and David dislike each other at first, but by the end of basic training, they're fast friends who support each other throughout the war. They always bunk together, fly together, and even go on leave together. What keeps this from becoming a trite and boring buddy film is the simmering intensity of Richard Arlen's performance, especially when contrasted with Charles Buddy Rogers' boyish enthusiasm. David always appears to be brooding over something that no one else around him knows, or would even understand if told.

Rogers gives a good performance as the naive Jack, especially during the scenes where he and David are on leave in Paris and have hooked up with some French floozies. After drinking too much champagne, Jack charmingly hallucinates bubbles during his extended drunken stupor. Mary (Clara Bow) is now a soldier herself, having joined the Women's Auxiliary as a driver, and she sees Jack while he's on leave. She immediately realizes Jack's about to lose his virtue to a floozy and, in a scene that's almost believable, she rescues Jack by changing out of her uniform and into gorgeous slinky dress. The thin plot here is of no importance: while Clara's getting back out of the evening dress, the audience gets a brief glimpse of her breasts. Who's going to complain about that? Nobody, that's who.

Clara Bow is absolutely luminous in this film. She's perky, charming, lovable, and wears her heart on her sleeve. It doesn't hurt that she's drop-dead gorgeous. Her role isn't particularly meaty, even in the more salacious Paris scenes, but she gives it a fun-loving realism that's incredibly entertaining to watch.

"Wings" is often criticized for having a weak, uninspired plot. I feel that's far too harsh. The comedy and romance isn't deep by any means, but if you're expecting deep, you're expecting too much. The comedy is simply relief from the war, and the romance provides little more than the necessary friction between Jack and David.

The battle scenes and dogfights are as intense now as they must have been eighty years ago. The effects are simply amazing. Wellman not only filmed experienced pilots re-enacting WWI dogfights, but he attached cameras to the fronts of the planes to film the pilots head on as they flew. The effects of burning planes crashing to the ground are quite good for the time. Smoke canisters were attached to the planes while flames were added via animation in post-production. The result is spectacular.

"Wings" doesn't hold back when it comes to wounded or dead soldiers. In one scene a huge explosion results in a soldier being thrown violently across the screen. Wounded pilots cough up lots of blood and writhe in half-unconscious pain until their plane crashes into the ground.

"Wings" was one of three films given an Academy Award at the first Oscar ceremonies in 1928. The three awards given were "Outstanding Production" for "Wings", along with "Outstanding Artistic Quality of Production" for "Sunrise" and "Pioneering Outstanding Production" for "The Jazz Singer". By the next year's ceremonies, there was only one award for films: "Best Production" (given to "Broadway Melody").

The winners of the first Academy Awards were announced months before the ceremony. The dinner and ceremony itself, held at the Hollywood Roosevelt, attracted almost no media in the small audience (pictured). However, the 1928-29 awards the next year attracted quite a bit of attention, including the first live radio broadcast.

Midway between the date of general release and today, "Wings" celebrated its 40th anniversary by appearing on an episode of "Petticoat Junction". Stars Arlen and Rogers attended the "premier" of the film at the Hooterville theater; the joke, apparently, was that the theater was so far out in the sticks that it didn't get a chance to show a 1927 film until 1967. In 1967, the audience for "Petticoat Junction" could be counted on to remember a 40 year old film. That's just no longer true.

Despite being touted as the first movie to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, "Wings" is difficult to find. It's available in old laserdisc and VHS versions, as well as in two recent Hong Kong DVD releases which have Mandarin subtitles that can't be removed. However you can get it, "Wings" is definitely worth watching, and I hope to see it released in an English DVD version soon.

Links:
The First Oscars
About.com on the first Oscars
Silents Are Golden, "Wings" Review
Silents Are Golden, Commentary on "Wings"
Wikipedia entry on the U.S. Signal Corps
"Wings" movie facts