NFR Project: 'Oklahoma!' (1955)

 

NFR Project: “Oklahoma!”

Dir: Fred Zinnemann

Scr: Sonya Levien, William Ludwig

Pho: Robert Surtees

Ed: George Boemler, Gene Ruggiero

Premiere: Oct. 11, 1955

148 min.

The opening of Oklahoma! on Broadway in 1943 marked a new chapter in the history of the American musical. With a few exceptions, musicals in the first half of the 20^th century were scattershot affairs – the songs usually had nothing to do with the story. Now, numbers grew organically out of the plot and out of the characters’ development. You can read my notes on that original production here.

It’s a simple story. Cowboy Curly (Gordon MacCrae) loves Laurey (Shirely Jones in her film debut). However, Laurey is claimed by hired hand Judd (Rod Steiger). This romantic triangle takes up the bulk of the film, although there is a second one involving Ado Annie (Gloria Grahame), peddler Ali Hakim (Eddie Albert), and cowboy Will Parker (Gene Nelson).

When time came for a film version, no expense was spared. Utilizing Technicolor and wide-screen filming, the story takes on an epic quality. This was director Fred Zinnemann’s only musical; he was also challenged by shooting in 70mm. His compositions are awkward, and many times he simply resorts to shooting the singer statically in the center of the screen.

Neither Steiger nor Grahame can sing, which retards the movie’s appeal. The real highlight of the film is Laurey’s dream sequence, in which she vacillates between Curly and Judd. It’s danced out in an elaborate number choreographed by Agnes DeMille. Inserting a ballet into the middle of a musical was unheard of before this; fortunately, the movie preserves this innovation.

The NFR Project is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Rebel Without A Cause.

NFR Project: 'Night of the Hunter' (1955)

 

NFR Project: “The Night of the Hunter”

Dir: Charles Laughton

Scr: James Agee

Pho: Stanley Cortez

Ed: Robert Golden

Premiere: July 26, 1955

92 min.

This haunting, barely redeemed nightmare of a film is a Southern Gothic horror story/fairy tale that registers as the only directorial outing of actor Charles Laughton. It’s an extraordinary movie that makes me wonder what other wonders Laughton might have produced if he had been given the chance.

Read Peter Rainer’s comprehensive essay on this entry here at the National Film Registry.

The story is shot plainly and given a heavily shadowed, storybook-like illumination filled with resonant images. We are introduced to the story by Mrs. Cooper (Lillian Gish), who speaks to us suspended in the starry sky. She is telling a group of children a story, and she warns of wolves in sheep’s clothing – and the camera swivels down to earth and shows us the deranged and murderous “preacher,” Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) in flight. He likes to kill widows and steal their money and belongings. He converses with God, convinced that his homicidal impulses are blessed by Him.

Powell has a complex about sex. He sits with the crowd at a burlesque show, inwardly disapproving of the goings-on there. (His switchblade knife protrudes its blade from his pocket as he watches – an obscene erection.) He is nabbed by the police for stealing a car and goes off to jail.

We move on to the children John and Pearl, whose father Ben Harper (Peter Graves) has killed two men and made off with $10,000. He is hunted down by the police, but he manages to hide the money in Pearl’s doll. He makes John swear to protect Pearl and to never reveal the location of the money, then is hauled away to jail.

In jail, Powell and Harper bunk together. Powell tries to get Harper to tell where the money is, to no avail. Harper is hanged – and when Powell is released, he heads down to Harper’s place to find the money. Flashing in and out of bouts of anger, Powell harasses and cajoles the children, trying to find out where the money is. He courts John and Pearl’s mother Willa (Shelley Winters), mouthing sanctimonious sentiments that fool all the adults, but not the children.

Powell and Willa marry; Powell withholds sex from here and convinces her that she is a woeful sinner. She takes his condemnation to heart, and testifies at his revival meetings. She prepares herself for him with prayer at night, but he cuts her throat and sinks her body in the river.

He takes control of the children and torments them into confessing where the money is. However, the children escape him via the river and float downstream in a skiff. Finally, they wash up at the home of Mrs. Cooper, a saintly but tough woman who takes in stray children. Powell follows them and finds them, but Cooper holds him off with a shotgun. Powell returns at night to kill everyone and grab the money, but Cooper shoots him. He hides in the barn and is rousted out by the police. Upon his arrest, John inadvertently reveals the money.

Powell is tried and found guilty. A lynch mob comes after him, and he barely escapes a necktie party. The children settle into life at Mrs. Cooper’s, and enjoy Christmas with her.

Laughton creates a mythic dream world, shooting a majority from the viewpoint of the children, turning us into their accomplices. They get a crash course in the battle between good and evil, and good wins out – this time.

The NFR Project is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Oklahoma!

NFR Project: 'Marty' (1955)

 NFR Project: “Marty”

Dir: Delbert Mann

Scr: Paddy Chayefsky

Pho: Joseph LaShelle

Ed: Alan Crosland Jr.

Premiere: April 11, 1955

93 min.

Paddy Chayefsky (1923-1981) was a genius writer. Acclaimed with three Oscars, he is still considered one of America’s outstanding dramatists.

After serving in World War II, Chayefsky went to work in the new medium of television. Beginning in 1949, he cranked out scripts for what then were uniformly live broadcasts. The challenges of creating compelling drama in a studio, live, with limited resources did not daunt him. He was a master of naturalism, of “real-life” dialogue that was informal, direct, and elegant. Chayefsky reached people.

On May 24, 1953, “Marty” premiered on The Philco Television Playhouse. It starred Rod Steiger in a career-making performance, and featured Nancy Marchand as well. The broadcast made such an impact that a plan to make a movie of the script went into development immediately. It was the first time television impacted the world of moviemaking.

Chayefsky demanded creative control, consultation on casting, and the use of the broadcast director Delbert Mann as the film’s director. He got what he wanted.

Ernest Borgnine took over the role of Marty, and Betsy Blair played his date Clara. Filming took place in the Bronx for 16 days, another boost for New York City as a viable filming center. Such was the power of the result was that the film earned Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Borgnine, and Best Screenplay at the Oscars that year.

It’s a simple story, really. Marty is a butcher, 34 years old, still living with his mother in the Bronx, his brothers and sisters all married. It seems that everyone he runs into nags him about getting married. Marty bears this harassment patiently, until his mother questions him and he loses his temper.

He calls himself “a fat, ugly man.” He continues, “Ma, sooner or later, there comes a point in a man's life when he's gotta face some facts. And one fact I gotta face is that whatever it is that women like, I ain't got it. I chased after enough girls in my life, I went to enough dances. I got hurt enough, I don't wanna get hurt no more.”

Still, he is persuaded by his buddy Ange (Joe Mantell) to go with him to the Stardust Ballroom and look for women to pick up. He reluctantly complies. There he is accosted by a guy who wants to give him five bucks to take his date home, as he thinks she’s homely. She is Clara, 29, a sensitive single teacher. Marty declines – but he looks at Clara, goes over to her, asks her to dance.

They start talking and talk for hours. Marty takes her to his home, and briefly tries to kiss her. She rebuffs him, but she makes it very clear that she wants to see him again. Marty’s mother comes home and tries to interrogate her. Marty takes Clara home, promising to call her the next day.

The next day, he has second thoughts. His pal Ange and his mother both speak out against Clara, dismissing her and her impact on Marty. The butcher stews quietly until the early evening, when he cuts loose.

“You don't like her. My mother don't like her. She's a dog. And I'm a fat, ugly man. Well, all I know is I had a good time last night. I'm gonna have a good time tonight. If we have enough good times together, I'm gonna get down on my knees. I'm gonna beg that girl to marry me. If we make a party on New Year's, I got a date for that party. You don't like her? That's too bad.”

He goes to the pay phone to call her, and the film ends.

Borgnine, after playing villains and brutes for years, finally gets to ACT, and he does wonderful job as Marty, who is gentle, thoughtful, shy, and painfully polite. Betsy Blair was not the choice of the producers for Clara – she was a leftist, and this being the Red Scare – but, being the wife of Gene Kelly, she got her way.

Extra kudos to Esther Minicotti as Marty's mother, and Augusta Ciolli as the perfectly bitchy Aunt Katherine. 

It’s a great story about two lonely people. We watch Marty and Clara fall in love, and this beautiful, quiet little drama touches our hearts.

The NFR Project is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: The Night of the Hunter.