Casino Royale (The second one)

I saw Casino Royale (1967) when it first came out, once again at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA.  I don't think I have seen it in full since that time, when I was just 17 years old.  I recently purchased it because the DVD also includes "Casino Royale" from the TV series "Climax!" and I have never seen that one.  (I still haven't, but I will get around to it!)

Ian Fleming wrote the novel in 1953, introducing James Bond to the world.  The rights to the novel were bought by CBS for $1,000 and the "Climax!" offering was presented the next year starring Barry Nelson (1917 - 2007) as the very first James Bond.

In 1955 Fleming sold the film rights for $6,000 to producers Michael Garrison and Gregory Ratoff, and they had a few failed attempts to sell the idea.  The rights eventually came to Columbia Pictures and it was decided that a satire would be the best way to produce a money maker.

The 1967 release of Casino Royale is somewhat less than true to the novel.  Actually, it is a lot less than true.  This movie is, in my opinion, one of the best satires made in the 1960s, and belongs on the shelf with movies like Barbarella (1968).  They are a statement of the times and the changing mores of the sixties, and I would suggest that they may have inspired Mel Brooks to make Blazing Saddles in 1974.  Casino Royale is not a bad film, as some have said in other reviews, it is simply not a typical James Bond film.  That's why they call it satire.

The cast is nothing short of amazing.  As I try not to focus on the main stars in my blog, they will speak for themselves.  Orson Welles is ominous as Le Chiffre, Peter Sellers has a few wonderful (probably ad libbed) moments, Woody Allen is Woody Allen, and David Niven is as suave as I have ever seen him.  Need I mention Ursula Andress and Deborah Kerr?

The film is also filled with incredibly beautiful women, dressed (or rather almost dressed) in sixties style.  As my wife pointed out, the use of these girls is just a bit on the sexist side, but consider the era.  It was obviosly made as a movie for men.  We see Joanna Pettet (b. 1942) as Bond's daughter, Barbara Bouchet (b. 1943) as Miss Moneypenny, and a young Jacqueline Bisset (b. 1944) in her fourth film role.  All in their twenties, and they all went on to successful acting careers.

The cameo appearances speak for themselves, but I think I may have to watch it again, as I missed Charles Boyer and Richard Burton!  It is impossible to miss George Raft who shoots himself with a trick gun, and Peter O'Toole who is "the finest man who ever breathed."

Here are some cast members that you may not know.  David Prowse (b. 1935) has a walk-on as the Frankenstein monster.  This was his first film.  Prowse went on to fame playing the screen part of Darth Vader, the man with James Earl Jones' voice in Star Wars.

This was also Anjelica Huston's (b. 1951) first film, but we only see her hands.  Of course, she is John Huston's daughter and the elder Huston appears in the movie as M, and directed some scenes.  Finally, Charlie Chaplin's daughter, Geraldine Chaplin (b. 1944) is unrecognizable as one of the Keystone Kops in a very quick clip.

If you thought Casino Royale was a bad movie, please see it again.  Keep in mind that it is a treasure of the sixties, not a James Bond film.  And don't try to follow the story...that is almost impossible.  A closer story to the original novel was made with Daniel Craig, in his first Bond appearance, in 2006.  I believe the story has also increased in value since 1955.  In 1999 MGM paid $10,000,000 for the rights.

My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady (1964) is a classic musical, and one of the best.  I was lucky enough to see it at Radio City Music Hall in New York when it was released, on 70mm film with six track RCA sound.  That is the way to see a movie!

As everyone knows, the play My Fair Lady (1956) was made into the movie, and they are the musical remake of Pygmalion (1938, the film starring Leslie Howard), which is adapted from the 1912 George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950) play by the same name.  In fact, Shaw worked on the screenplay for the 1938 film.

Music is by Lerner and Loewe, and it doesn't get much better than that.  A great many of the songs went on to become hits by artists like Nat King Cole and others.  And as everyone knows, Marni Nixon (b. 1930) dubbed the signing voice of Eliza Doolittle due to the good, but untrained voice of Hepburn.  It is curious that Nixon did not receive screen credit, but I am sure she was well paid.

I don't need to go into the stars of My Fair Lady.  Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Wilfred Hyde-White and Stanley Holloway are easy to remember.  Enough has been said of the movie and their parts in it. 

Let's just take a quick look at a few of the smaller parts.  This was a big movie with a big cast, many of whom are just extras.  I just noticed that Grady Sutton (1906 - 1995) was one of those extras.  Grady has a huge filmography with 230 titles, including W. C. Fields' The Bank Dick (1940) where he played Og Oggilby.  Fields said it sounded like a bubble in a bathtub.

Alan Napier (1903 - 1988) was a gentleman who escorted Eliza to the queen at the ball.  Napier is most famous as the television butler, Alfred, to Adam West's "Batman."  Napier's career of 145 titles spans more than 50 years.

Some other wonderful names include stunt man Clyde Howdy (1919 - 1969) and Queenie Leonard (1905 - 2002).  I know nothing about those two, but they had great names. 

Betty Blythe (1893 - 1972) is also an extra.  Her career of 158 titles started in 1916, and My Fair Lady was her last film.  You can see Blythe in such great movies at Anna Karenina (1935) and Topper (1937). 

Lastly I want to mention Theodore Bikel (b. 1924) who played Zoltan Karpathy, the Count who tried to figure out where Eliza came from and got it all wrong.  Bikel is a wonderful character actor with 152 titles on IMDb, starting in 1949.  His third film was The African Queen in 1951.  You can also see him in The Enemy Below (1957) and he did a lot of TV work starting in the 1960s.  His versatile voice and command of dialects is impressive.

My Fair Lady, directed by George Cukor (1899 - 1983), is a classic and should be in every collection.

J. Farrell MacDonald

Here's a name that you may not know, but most likely you have seen him in several classic films.  J. Farrell MacDonald (1875 - 1952) worked in 327 movies from 1911 to 1951, and he also directed 43 silent films.

MacDonald was a favorite of John Ford and also Frank Capra.  Good company to be in.  He made about 25 films with Ford as director or writer, including some 18 silents when he was still being billed as Jack Ford.  He worked in three Capra films.

In his silent films, he worked with some of the greats such as Mary Pickford, Tom Mix and Harold Lloyd.  MacDonald successfully made the transition to talkies through the evolutionary period of 1927 to 1928.  The early sound films had music and sound effects played on a record during the movie, with hit or miss synchronization. 

Just a few years after sound was invented, or at least added to film with some success, he was cast as a detective in The Maltese Falcon (1931).  This is, of course, the earlier, pre-Hayes Code version, long before Humphrey Bogart played Sam Spade in 1941.  Ricardo Cortex (1900 - 1977) had that honor, and we also see film greats Una Merkel (1903 - 1986) and Thelma Todd (1906 - 1935) in it.

MacDonald also worked in three Spencer Tracy films in the 1930s.  Me and My Gal (1932), The Power and the Glory (1933) and Riffraff (1936).  He is in two of the Shirley Temple films in her earlier years and one of her last films, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer in 1947.

I hesitate to say any of his films were better than others.  Back in the 1930s and 1940s, movies were turned out at a phenomenal rate because it was inexpensive entertainment and the demand was so high.  Character actors like J. Farrell MacDonald were in needed, hence the reason he made so many films.  They can't be all great, and the certainly aren't all bad.

In 1940 he is in Dark Command with another great cast.  John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Roy Rogers, Gabby Hayes, Walter Pidgeon and Marjorie Main.  Over the years he made seven films with William 'Hopalong Cassidy' Boyd, and four with The Duke.

Meet John Doe (1941) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946) were two of his Capra films.  He played the man whose grandfather planted the tree in Wonderful Life.  It was a role that you didn't think about twice, but he played it well, and I bet you remember it.

The last movie he made where he received screen credit was Superman and the Mole People in 1951, starring George Reeves (1914 - 1959).  I suppose there were a few films where MacDonald had top billing, but he mostly used his talent to make the stars look good.  That's what a Bit Actor does best.

Three on a Match

Three on a Match (1932) was another of the Forbidden Hollywood movies of the pre-code era.  It was the twelfth movie for a very blond Bette Davis (1908 - 1989) in what was a pretty small part, but her future is evident even back then.  The stars of this film were Ann Dvorak (1912 - 1979), Warren William (1894 - 1948), and Joan Blondell (1906 - 1979). 

Back in the early days of talkies, you turned out a lot of films if you wanted a decent income.  This was before residuals and advertising, and also before an actor could negotiate for a portion of the profits of a film in lieu of a salary.  The big studios controlled everything.

Ann Dvorak made a total of 86 titles including a few TV shows in the early 1950s.  I must admit that I am unfamiliar with her work and most of the movies she made.  In fact, I have never heard of the TV shows she made, including "Gruen Guild Theater" and "The Bigelow Theatre."

Warren William is a bit better known, at least to me.  He was a big star and has 65 movies in his filmography.  In Gold Diggers of 1933 he played Dick Powell's brother who eventually falls in love with Joan Blondell.  I think everybody in Hollywood knew everybody else in those days.  Look for him as Julius Caesar in the Claudette Colbert version of Cleopatra (1934).  In 1941 he appears in The Wolf Man with Lon Chaney, Jr., Claude Rains, and Bela Lugosi. 

What can I say about Joan Blondell?  A former Ziegfeld Girl, Joan also worked in five of Busby Berkeley's best musicals of the era.  She appeared in the movies and on TV 156 times.  At 72 years old she appeared in Grease (1978).  Blondell is one of my favorites, perhaps because she was usually portrayed as an honest working girl, but she also had an angle!  And she's not bad looking!

The Bit Actors included Humphrey Bogart (1899 - 1957) in a small role.  This was his ninth feature and was two years before The Petrified Forest, one of his defining roles.  I like looking at the early careers of famous stars, just to see where they came from.

We also see Lyle Talbot (1902 - 1996) in one of his many roles.  This was also his ninth film, and his list goes to 309 titles from 1930 to 1987.  Trying to list his highlights would take more time than I have today.  He was famous in B-movies and worked for Ed Wood.  Toward the end of his career he did a lot of television work, including everything from "The Lone Ranger" to "Who's the Boss?" and "Newhart."

See the movie!  Three on a Match touches on some tough topics of the day, and deals with them in a frank manner.  It doesn't glamorize the prohibition era drinking and drug use, and it comes to a tragic end, but somehow you are gratified by it because you know everything will be OK.

Dean Martin

Let's think about Dean Martin (1917 - 1995) the Bit Actor and King of Cool.  Of course Everybody Loves Somebody, and Dino is one of my favorite singers, which probably gives away my age.  His music is heard in the soundtracks of over 160 films and TV shows.

He also appears as an actor/comedian in eight TV shows, including the very first broadcast of "Toast of the Town," which would later become "The Ed Sullivan Show."  But let's Sway over to his 55 films as an actor.

His most famous roles were certainly as half of the Martin and Lewis team with Jerry Lewis, which was the real start in movies for both of them.  They made 16 movies as a team, and also appeared together in Road to Bali (1952) with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

By 1956 the team was finished.  Dean wanted to have his own movie career, but he had to reinvent himself to a certain degree for it to work.  His first solo film, Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957), was not a box office success.  It also starred Anna Maria Alberghetti (b. 1936).

Dean's next film was a war movie called The Young Lions (1958) and it proved that he had some quality acting ability, so his new career was off and running.  In 1959 he played the drunken deputy in Rio Bravo with John Wayne, Ricky Nelson (1940 - 1985), and Walter Brennan (1894 - 1974).  In that one, I could have done without the singing!

The next year he starred with Judy Holliday (1921 - 1965) in Bells Are Ringing, and also made Ocean's Eleven with the Rat Pack.  I was sad that Ocean's Eleven didn't have more music.  Only Sammy Davis Jr. has a number.  Dean made several more movies with his Vegas buddies in the next few years, including a total of six with Frank Sinatra.

I think Dean liked serious westerns.  He worked with John Wayne in two, Rio Bravo and The Sons of Katie Elder (1965).  He also made Rough Night in Jericho in 1967, Bandolero! and 5 Card Stud in 1968, among others and some TV westerns.

In his Matt Helm series, we see the over-the-top comedy that worked for a while, but I tend to get tired of it.  Here is part of the story line of The Ambushers (1967) from IMDb:

"A government space saucer is hijacked mid-flight by a powerful laser beam under the control of Jose Ortega, who then proceeds to rape the female pilot, Sheila Sommars. ICE sends agent Matt Helm to Acapulco with Sheila to recover the saucer, under the guise of Matt taking fashion photographs of beautiful models."

I think you see what I mean, but That's Amore.  He made four Matt Helm movies, until everybody else got tired of it.

Just after the last Helm movie, The Wrecking Crew (1969), Martin takes a dramatic role in Airport (1970) as the co-pilot with marital problems and a broken plane to land.  I thought he played the part well, using his humour in some scenes, but also allowing his softer side to show through.

Somehow he managed to end his film career on a low note by making The Cannonball Run (1981) and Cannonball Run II (1984).  Ain't That a Kick in the Head?  Well Dean, because of the rest of your career, and your wonderful voice, I forgive you.

Dean Martin was a star, but I also think he had Bit Actor parts in some of these movies.  As Dean would croon, Memories are Made of This.

Night Nurse

I just received a wonderful collector's set from Turner Classic Movies, called Forbidden Hollywood.  My first purchase in the series is Volume 2, because I wanted to see Night Nurse (1931).  The other movies in this set are The Divorcee (1930), A Free Soul (1931), Three on a Match (1932), and Female (1933). 

The Forbidden Hollywood series includes movies that were released before the Hayes Code was enacted, and these are particularly risque.  It is a chance to see the raw side of such stars as Clark Gable, Norma Shearer, Humphrey Bogart and Joan Blondell, among others.

I chose Night Nurse to see some early Barbara Stanwyck, and I was not disappointed.  Stanwyck plays a young woman who wants to become a nurse.  After convincing the hospital to allow her to study, despite being a high school dropout, she gets her cap and is assigned to a private home to watch over two children.  Lovely Joan Blondell is another nurse in the story, who befriends Stanwyck.

She eventually finds out that the children have a large trust fund and they are being starved to death by an unscrupulous doctor, so the family can get the inheritance.  She sets out to blow the whistle on them.

The bad guy in this one is played by Clark Gable.  Here is one kicker...the good guy is a bootlegger that Stanwyck met at the drug store, and at the end of the movie he has Nick the chauffeur (played by Gable) rubbed out, and they have a good laugh over it!

Throughout the movie, Stanwyck keeps undressing so she can change into or out of her nursing uniform.  She is never completely naked, but the thought of showing her undergarments in 1931 must have been simply shocking! 

We also see quite a bit of drunken debauchery at the home of the children, plus some implied sex.  Not to mention the very thought of killing off the innocent heirs as the topic of a movie.

Just to mention some Bit Actor names, look for Ralf Harolde (1899 - 1974) as the bad doctor, Charles Winninger (1884 - 1969) as the good doctor, Vera Lewis (1873 - 1956) as the nurse manager, and Blanche Friderici (1878 - 1933) as the housekeeper.

The actors in the small parts of these early talkies have loads of wonderful experience that they bring to their work.  Vera Lewis has over 180 titles listed in her filmography including great silents like Intolerance (1916).  Of course you will remember Winninger as Washington Dimsdale in Destry Rides Again (1939). 

The early talkies may not be the best movies ever made and they were churned out in huge numbers, but they are enjoyable, supply us with a history lesson, and many of them are true classics.

Goodbye, Jack LaLanne

The man who started the fitness craze in the USA just passed away.  Jack LaLanne (9/26/1914 - 1/23/2011) lived to be 96 years old.  He hadn't had a dessert since 1929.

I guess he was never a bit actor, but perhaps some of his screen work as himself, could be considered bit work.  IMDB credits him with six acting roles and 33 appearances as himself.  It was not all TV either, he was in a few movies and documentaries. 

His own fitness show on television ran for more than three decades.  He played himself in the 1961 Jerry Lewis movie, The Ladies Man; and in 1990 in Repossessed with Linda Blair (b. 1959), Ned Beatty (b. 1937) and Leslie Nielsen (1926 - 2010).  In 2006, in his final TV movie (a stinker called "The Year Without a Santa Claus"), he played Hercules when he was 92 years old!

Some of his fitness stunts amazed me.  In 1936 he opened the first health club in the nation.  In 1950 he performed 1033 push ups on TV in 23 minutes on "You Asked For It."  When he was seventy years old, he swam a mile and a half, pulling seventy boats with a person in each one, while handcuffed and shackled.  He is responsible for designing many of the exercise machines that are still in use today.  And his TV show was aimed at helping us normal people attain fitness using things found around the home.

Now, not that I would want to become a nay-sayer on LaLanne, but it came to mind that George Burns (1896 - 1996) lived to be over 100 years old.  Burns drank and smoked cigars.  I am almost positive that he frequently had dessert.  And he was a womanizer.  An acquaintance of mine, some years ago, had been in a George Burns show somewhere.  Burns was probably in his late 80s at the time.  She needed a ride to the airport and Burns offered her a seat in his limo.  All the way there she had to refuse his advances!

I guess there is no figuring it out.  Just do the best you can.  Goodbye, Jack, and I really do think your effort has helped many people over the years.  If you see George up there, say "Hi" from all of us.

Movie Music

In my last two posts I mentioned the importance of music in movies.  In the Hitchcock Blogathon, I wrote about Bernard Herrmann who added atmosphere to many of Hitch's movies.  In the Laurel and Hardy post, I mentioned T. Marvin Hatley and Leroy Shields, and the use of their music by Hal Roach.

I remember owning a long playing record of the soundtrack to King of Kings (1961) with the music of Miklos Rozsa (1907 - 1995).  I loved that record and played it often.  The movie came out when I was eleven, so I probably got the LP shortly after seeing the movie at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA.

Rozsa started as a musician and composer in Leipzig, and worked in Paris and London before moving to the USA to be nearer the movie industry.  He composed for many films, but his works were also used as stock music in many others. 

Perhaps his best known score was for Spellbound (1945).  And apparently Hitchcock didn't like it very much.  He said it got in the way of his directing.  I liked it.  I actually had a recording of "Spellbound" on a 78 rpm record, which was probably directed by the composer.

But don't stop there.  I was amazed when I looked at Rozsa's work.  He was well known for his music during the Film Noir era.  Films such as Double Indemnity (1944) and Lady on a Train (1945).  He then went into historical dramas like Quo Vadis (1951), King of Kings and El Cid (1961), and the exciting fantasy The Golden Voyage of Sinbad in 1974, produced by Ray Harryhausen (b. 1920).

He wasn't afraid to be inovative and used the newfangled electronic instrument known as the Theremin.  His final original music was written for Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) starring Steve Martin.  And it doesn't end there.

Some of his compositions were used as stock music for the TV show "Superman" in the 1950s, and he wrote "Dum-De-Dum-Dum" long before "Dragnet" was on television.  The "Dragnet" theme is still being used.

His music can also be heard in Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951), Francis Covers the Big Town (1953), Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955), Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956), Ben-Hur (1959) and The Dirty Dozen (1967).

I believe Mikos Rozsa touched many more lives of movies fans than most would imagine.  His music could do wonderful things for a movie, and he is right up there with Dimitri Tiomken, Bernard Herrmann, and John Williams. 

Interestingly, I remember his name being misspelled on that old LP.  It was listed on one side of the cover correctly, and on the back as Rosza.

A Perfect Day to be Blotto

After Blogging my heart out on Hitchcock, a return to my roots is in order.  Turner Classic Movies is running Hal Roach movies and TV shows all this month.  Here are two Laurel and Hardy shorts that were on last week.

Perfect Day (1929) - Only Laurel and Hardy can turn a Sunday picnic into a disaster movie.  Uncle Edgar, played by Edgar Kennedy (1890 - 1948), is suffering from the gout in his foot, so it is well wrapped.  L&H start a ruckus in the house and Kennedy's foot keeps getting bumped.  Even the dog grabs it and won't let go.  After destroying all the sandwiches while packing the food, the boys and their wives, plus Uncle Edgar and the dog, all pile into the car.

Trouble with the car, including two flat tires with Stan trying to use a car jack, keeps them stuck.  Then there is an altercation with a neighbor and bricks start flying.  Back in the car, and it won't start.  Ollie is cranking and Stan flips the spark advance lever to cause a huge explosion.  Ollie tells Stan to throw out the clutch, so he rips out the pedal.  You get the picture.  When they finally get moving, there is a big puddle to drive through.  You can guess what happens.

Blotto (1930) - I hesitate to say this is one of my favorites because where will it end?  I have too many favorites as it is.  Stan and his wife, played by Anita Garvin (1906 - 1994) (whom I have had the pleasure to know personally), are at home.  Anita is playing solitaire and Stan wants to go out with his friend, Ollie.  She forbids it so the boys work up a scheme to go to the Rainbow Club.

Anita has a hidden bottle of liquor and the boys plot to take it with them.  She finds out and replaces the contents with cold tea and Tabasco.  At the club, the boys order their two cents plain and pour in the booze.  Amidst some wonderful entertainment at the club, they get blasted and have a great time.  Then they see Anita at another table, with her new double barrel shotgun.

Blotto includes Tiny Sanford (1894 - 1961) as one of the waiters, in a non-speaking role.  Tiny made over 130 films, and over 50 Hal Roach films, and can be seen in many of Charlie Chaplin's classics.  The singer at the club is played by Frank Holliday (1912 - 1948) who was also in It Happened One Night (1934) and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936).

The best part of Blotto is watching the emotional reaction of the boys to the booze, the singing, and finally the realization that they got blotto on cold tea.  Stan goes through crying fits and then laughing fits, and I dare you to keep a straight face whilst watching.

Copyright 1979 Allen Hefner

One other item to mention as you watch the Hal Roach movies this month.  Listen to the music.  Roach used the same music in many Our Gang, Laurel and Hardy, Charley Chase and other movies of the time.  Most of it was written by T. Marvin Hatley (1905 - 1986) and Leroy Shield (1893 - 1962).  My guess is that the same tunes made it less expensive to make so many movies, but there is also a continuity created.  You know you are watching a Hal Roach comedy.

There is still time to catch some of today's movies on TCM.  You can see some of the Thelma Todd (1906 - 1935) shorts this afternoon.  Todd had a tragically short life, but she did shine in her films.  Starting on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 8:00 p.m., make sure to catch the Hal Roach features, beginning with the best of the best, Sons of the Desert (1933) starring L&H.

Please respect the photographs I have taken.  If you want to use them, please ask first.  It's probably OK, I just want to know and maybe receive credit under the pic!

CMBA Hitchcock Blogathon: The Trouble with Harry

I had written about the Bit Actors in this movie a few months ago and I was going to expand on that post for the Blogathon.  It turned out to be much more fun to write a new post instead.  This one may wind up being a bit longer than my usual offering.

Let’s start with the trivia.  Quick…what was Shirley MacLaine’s (b. 1934) film debut?  This is an Alfred Hitchcock Blogathon so that should give you a hint.  (Oh yeah, the answer may be found somewhere in my title.)  The Trouble with Harry from 1955 was MacLaine’s first film, made when she was just 21 years old, and it was the fifth film for young Jerry Mathers (b. 1948, and not as the Beav) who was only seven.

This was also the first pairing of Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980) and composer Bernard Herrmann (1911 – 1975), who went on to a long relationship, making seven films together.  I think that Psycho (1960) would not be the same without Herrmann’s wonderful score.  

The Trouble with Harry is Hitchcock’s favorite Hitchcock film and Herrmann’s score for it was his favorite as well, according to the all-knowing trivia page on IMDb.

This was Edmund Gwenn’s (1877 – 1959) last of four Hitchcock films.  And finally, Philip Truex (1911 – 2008) played Harry, who was dead through the entire film.  This was Truex’s second and final big screen film.  The other was This is the Army (1943) with Ronald Reagan.  And poor Harry gets exhumed four times in the movie.

Alfred Hitchcock didn’t make many comedies, and this one was actually an experiment on his part, to see how a more British style of comedy, made with relatively unknown actors, would fare in America.  Apparently it didn’t fare very well, and was a box office disappointment.  Hitch bought the rights back and held the film out of circulation for about 30 years.  It was re-released in 1984, thank goodness!

I would imagine that die-hard Hitchcock fans may not appreciate Harry.  It does not contain the gripping suspense of most of his other work.  In fact it is more comedy than mystery.  But it contains a lot of Hitchcock.  The way the shots are framed in the camera is unmistakable.  The excellent direction of many newcomers to film, which may have been instrumental to their future success, came only from Hitch.  And the Bernard Herrmann score adds to the feel of the movie.

In short, the story is about a dead man found by a small boy.  Several of the town residents are convinced they caused Harry's demise.  And then there is the problem of the what the law would say, and how to dispose of the body.  After Harry is identified and it is thought he would not be missed, a simple burial in the field seems the best solution.  But Hitchcock adds twists and turns to complicate things.

The cast in Harry is short, only 14 strong, including Hitchcock's trademark walk-on.  The major Bit Actors are:

Royal Dano (1922 - 1994), the deputy sheriff, was a character actor who did a lot of westerns, including a bit part in Cahill US Marshal(1973) with The Duke, and a bigger part in The Outlaw Josey Wales in 1976 with Clint Eastwood.

Mildred Natwick ( 1905 - 1994) had over 80 roles in film and on TV.  She plays Mrs. Gravely (!) who befriends Edmund Gwenn.  Perhaps her most famous film was her last, Dangerous Liaisons in 1988 with Glenn Close.

Mildred Dunnock (1901 - 1991) is the shop owner, Mrs. Wiggs.  She has played in over 70 parts, including BUtterfield 8 in 1960 with Elizabeth Taylor.

I don’t want to give away the entire plot by going into the rest of the story.  Since this is an unusual film for Hitchcock, you may not have seen it, so I don’t want to ruin the ending for you.  Let me say that it is definitely worth seeking out.  The beautiful, scenic, outdoor shots of New England in glorious Technicolor are quite a dichotomy to the story of a dead body found on a beautiful fall day.  And Hitchcock uses it to weave a fun, almost believable story, with a cast that works well together.

I hope you enjoy the entire Classic Movie Blog Association Hitchcock Blogathon.  As of this writing there are twenty of us participating.  Its good today is a holiday!  Here is the entire list of Blogathon entries.  If any of the links don't work, just click on the link to the CMBA site, just above here.  Have fun!

1. The Birds – Classic Film & TV Café http://classic-film-tv.blogspot.com/

2. Dial M for Murder – True Classics: The ABCs of Film http://trueclassics.wordpress.com/

3. The Lady Vanishes – MacGuffin Movies http://macguffinmovies.wordpress.com/

4. Lifeboat – Classicfilmboy’s Movie Paradise http://www.classicfilmboy.com/

5. The Man Who Knew Too Much – Reel Revival http://reelrevival.blogspot.com/

6. Marnie – My Love of Old Hollywood http://myloveofoldhollywood.blogspot.com/

7. Mr. and Mrs. Smith – Carole & Co. http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/

8. North By Northwest – Bette’s Classic Movie Blog http://bettesmovieblog.blogspot.com/

9. Notorious – Twenty Four Frames http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/

10. The Pleasure Garden – Thrilling Days of Yesteryear http://www.thrillingdaysofyesteryear.blogspot.com

11. Rear Window – Java’s Journey http://javabeanrush.blogspot.com/

12. Rebecca – ClassicBecky’s Film and Literary Review http://www.classicbeckybrainfood.blogspot.com/

13. Rope – Kevin’s Movie Corner http://kevinsmoviecorner.blogspot.com/

14. Shadow of a Doubt - Great Entertainers Media Archive http://greatentertainersarchives.blogspot.com/

15. The 39 Steps – Garbo Laughs http://garbolaughs.wordpress.com/

16. Three Classic Hitchcock Killers – The Lady Eve’s Reel Life http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/

17. Torn Curtain - Via Margutta 51 http://www.via-51.blogspot.com/

18. The Trouble with Harry – Bit Part Actors (That's me!)

19. Vertigo – Noir and Chick Flicks http://dawnschickflicks.blogspot.com/

20. The Wrong Man – The Movie Projector http://movieprojector.blogspot.com/