NFR Project: 'Modesta' (1956)

NFR Project: “Modesta”

Dir: Benjamin Doniger

Scr: Benjamin Doniger, Luis A. Maisonet, Rene Marques

Pho: Luis A. Maisonet

Ed: Paul Falkenberg

Premiere: 1956

35:55

This remarkable little film shows us a way of using cinema to implement an agenda.

Read Daniel Eagan’s essay at the National Film Registry here; it is good and comprehensive about this film and the context in which it was made.

It is but one of 65 short films made by Puerto Rico’s Office of Community Education between 1950 and 1975. These informational films were directed at rural audiences, seeking to improve their lot.

Here we have a tale of primitive feminism. A husband comes home and disrespects his wife. She hits him in the head with a stick, driving him away. She becomes the leader of the local group of women, who all take up sticks in solidarity with her. They and the men confront each other; the men back down.

A simple story, well and efficiently told, using local talent in front of and behind the camera, and sometimes utilizing non-acting locals. Director Benjamin Doniger was an experienced cinematographer – he had worked for director Robert Flaherty on Louisiana Story (1948) -- and he, straightforward and efficient, tells us a story.

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

NFR Project: 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' (1956)

NFR Project: “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”

Dir: Don Siegel

Scr: Daniel Mainwaring

Pho: Ellsworth Fredericks

Ed: Robert S. Eisen

Premiere: Feb. 5, 1956

80 min.

First, read the definitive essay on this film, by the great Robert Sklar, at the National Film Registry.

To it I can only add:

Here is a portrait of an alien invasion, insidious and silent. The many vectors of interpretation of the political or social ramifications underlying the movie simply prove the universal terror of being taken over by The Other, any other, of being reduced to something less (or even more) than human. It resonates with all manner of people, in all sorts of ways.

A small-town doctor notices a bunch of appointments being made at his clinic and then cancelled. Citizens stumble in, claiming that their relatives and loved ones are not themselves anymore. The doctor (Kevin McCarthy) tries to rationalize his way through the problem – until he encounters large seed pods that spawn identical copies of their intended human hosts.

From that point on, it’s a race for survival that is, again, nightmare fodder. Imagine a whole town turned against you, seeking to change you into one of them. Their reasonableness. Their persistence. Mainwaring and Siegel evoke the fight-or-flight impulse straight to the reptile brain. Our hero is prey for an alien race. And there is no mercy for Miles.

The source material is impeccable. The original novel The Body Snatchers was written by Jack Finney, a noted science-fiction writer. Daniel Mainwaring, who wrote the screenplay, had crafted such excellent scripts as his noirs Out of the Past, The Big Steal, and The Phenix City Story. Here he captures Cold War paranoia in a crisply-moving succession of uncanny setups in a nondescript rural town in California.

The protagonist, Miles Bennell, is played by the iconic Kevin McCarthy, whose reputation rests largely on his accomplishments here. He plays the hero as a reasonable man driven to madness as he warns an oblivious world of a conspiracy against its very human soul. The original ending of the movie has him ranting in the midst of traffic. “You’re next! You’re next!” he roars, and we drive past him, sheepishly. What does he know that we don’t?

Considering the lack of A-list resources at their creation, the results achieved with light, analog special effects, and subtly pitched performances make this a believable and haunting classic, a common nightmare brought to life. Ellsworth Frederick's cinematography is beautiful and well thought out. The score by Carmen Dragon is surprisingly top-notch.

The studio intervened and had them construct a framing story, a la The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Miles is brought into the nuthouse as he’s been found wandering in traffic. After the film originally ends, a scene informs us that Miles’ worst fears have root in reality.

The authorities react appropriately. Miles is left gasping as they sweep into action. He is disoriented, grieving (despite gobbling speed, his lover Dan Wynter falls asleep and instantly transforms into the Other). He lost everyone he cared about. The End. A bitter note seeps into the finale despite the studio’s rewrite. Body Snatchers resonates because it’s about first being swept away by the majority – and then hunted by it.

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

NFR Project: 'High Society' (1956)

NFR Project: “High Society”

Dir: Charles Walters

Scr: John Patrick

Pho: Paul C Vogel

Ed: Ralph E. Winters

Premiere: July 17, 1956

111 min.

The premise was golden. Remake the classic screwball comedy The Philadelphia Story (1940) as a musical. Get Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, the two greatest singers of their respective generations, to act and sing together. Have Cole Porter write the songs. Throw in Louis Armstrong. Throw in Grace Kelly in her last starring role.

Fortunately, it works. An excellent screen adaptation by John Patrick draws on both the Oscar-winning original screenplay and the original 1939 Broadway play, written expressly for Katharine Hepburn by Philip Barry.

The story is this: young socialite Tracy Lord (Kelly) in fashionable Newport, Rhode Island is on the eve of her wedding to an earnest dullard (John Lund). Her ex-husband, songwriter and incidentally crooner C.K. Dexter Haven (Crosby), decides to woo her back. Added to this is an intrusive reporter, Mike Connor (Sinatra), who also falls for Tracy. Complications ensue. Safe to say all is sorted out by film’s end, which culminates in the remarriage of Dexter and Tracy.

Now, the plot is shoehorned into the frame of a musical fable narrated by none other than the immortal Louis Armstrong. With his sidemen, he introduces the story, comments on it, and wraps it up at the end. It’s always a pleasure to watch him play and sing, and the movie captures his performance with Bing of “Now You Has Jazz.”

Now it’s a little creepy as Bing was 53 when he made this film, and Grace Kelly was 26. He’s old enough to be her father. (Evidently the two did have an affair.) Still, the Old Groaner aka Der Bingle floats easily through the film, exuding quips and serenely taking Tracy back. Sinatra is fine as Mike – and who wouldn’t want to have a record of Crosby and Sinatra singing together? Celeste Holm and Louis Calhern have fun with their respective characters as well.

The biggest surprise is that Grace Kelly can do comedy. It’s not something she was called on a lot to do in her brief career (she married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in April), but she handles the gags with charm, and reacts splendidly throughout. The songs are good, of course, especially “True Love” and “Well, Did You Evah!” Director Charles Walters seems to have trouble with the broad VistaVision format. He divides the screen into thirds, and places something in each third. The scenes are static. The performers stand in their places and crack wise and sing soulfully.

So the movie rests on the charisma of the three primary players. Crosby, Sinatra, and Kelly manage to put the thing over.

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