Thursday, May 20, 2010

Superman, Captain Marvel and Captain Midnight

Oscar Noir: Week 2
Shadow of a Doubt
Monday, May 17, 2010


I drove down to Beverly Hills right after work and had a lot of time before I could park in the structure, so I drove to MILK and got a Manchego salad and a hazelnut madeleine.  I might go there every week just to try something different each time.  I love that place.  When I returned to the area near the theater, I parked on one of the residential streets and ate my dinner.  I waited for Liz, and after she parked, we realized that we had parked in a Permit Only zone, and moved our cars to the parking structures.  Oops.  There was a long line for the holders of the series pass this time, and Linda found us, then went to her short ticket holder line and saved us seats. Liz and Linda were excited about the movie we would see, because they love it.   

Before we get to the films, look at that avatar over there on the right, concocted just for this series.  She is really cool if you watch the entire animation, which is available at that link underneath.  Unfortunately, the code is too large to export onto the blog, which is usually the case, so I'll be including the link from now on.  Now, on to the show.

Cartoon:  "Superman in Showdown" (1942)
A mobster hires a guy to dress as Superman and rob people and banks.  He is soooo not as handsome as Superman.

Short:  "Adventures of Captain Marvel, Chapter One: Curse of the Scorpion" (1941)
This is the setup for how Billy Batson becomes Captain Marvel, out in the Middle Eastern desert.  His powers are given to him by the Captain Marvel that grew old, and all he has to do is say "Shazam!" and he gets his powers.  He says the word again, and he's back to being Billy.  Captain Marvel doesn't look like Billy at all, which kind of stunned me.  I guess I forgot how that also happened in the TV series I watched in the 70s.  This episode is longer than the others will be, since it was the premiere.  Great cliffhanger at the end with the bridge exploding and the car falling.

We had a special guest in the audience: Louise Currie, who played Betty Wallace in this series. At 97 years old, she was still dressed in old-Hollywood glamor, in a white gown, and a fur-lined wrap.  She was funny and thought that the microphone was merely a prop instead of being used as a sound device.  She said that she hopes she lives until the next episode (she was one of the people in the car).  That was really cool.

Feature Attraction:  "Shadow of a Doubt" (1943), story by Gordon McDonell, script by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson and Alma Reville, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, and Macdonald Carey.
  • The MC read a letter from the actress who played little sister Ann, who is now living happily in Arizona or New Mexico or something like that.
  • The film was introduced by Dick Clement, writer of "Flushed Away", "The Commitments", and "Across the Universe".  He had actually never seen the film before being asked to do the introduction, but really enjoyed it.  He thankfully didn't give any spoilers away, and the audience applauded when he mentioned that he hated when critics give spoilers in their reviews.
  • We were supposed to look for all of the things done in twos.  Ah, duality.  
  • Ann (Edna May Wonacott) reminded me a LOT of Abigail Breslin, by the way she looked and her precocious manner.  I loved this character.  So now I see the connection between the cartoon, the short, and this film: Ann asked God to bless "Captain Midnight, Veronica Lake and The President of the United States."  Always be appreciative of your superheroes.
  • I was a little bit uncomfortable with the relationship between Uncle Charlie and his namesake niece.  I think that if the movie had been done in present day, that might have been pushed to some kind of sexual abuse thing.  I like that it didn't do that in Hitchcock's film, but it still made me uncomfortable whenever they were physically close to each other. Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright played off of each other beautifully, though.  Lots of tension where it was supposed to be.
  • I know Macdonald Carey as the patriarch of "Days of Our Lives", and was happy to see him in his younger movie star days.  I so would have had a crush on him back then, had I grown up in that time.
  • The story was mainly set and filmed in Santa Rosa, CA.  I thought to myself, "I don't remember Santa Rosa looking like that when I saw Rockapella there", and have now realized that it was probably because we never actually went into town that day.  Oh, wait, there were earthquakes that affected the town anyway.
  • I am now always going to think of this movie when I hear the "Merry Widow Waltz."
  • Wow, that score, by Dimitri Tiomkin, really got me nervous at the climax.
  • Loved the crime-buff relationship between Joseph (Charlie's dad) and their neighbor Herbie, as they talked about how they'd kill each other. 
I really enjoyed this movie.  Every time I see a HItchcock film that's new to me, I think to myself, "I need to watch more Hitchcock films."  It happened this time, too.

2 comments:

  1. *Love* the new avatar!

    Given the plethora of Hitchcock's films, I think I've only seen two or three. I would have loved a class of his films as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. cool avatar. love it. :)

    ReplyDelete