Classic Film Review: The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)

The Glass Bottom Boat stars Doris Day as Jennifer Nelson. At work she begins a relationship with the head of the aerospace research lab, Bruce Templeton (Rod Taylor), but their relationship becomes complicated when he starts to suspect she's a Russian spy out to steal his latest invention. The cast includes Arthur Godfrey as Jennifer's father, Dick Martin as Bruce's colleague and friend, Zack, and Paul Lynde as Homer Cripps, security guard.

Perhaps the first thing to say is that the glass bottom boat of the title only plays a small part in the film. Yes, it makes for a catchy title but that's about all, aside from some laboured metaphors that you really have to reach for. The action really takes place at the research facility, documenting Jenny's romance with Bruce and how his colleagues come to suspect she's leaking secrets to the Russians - it is rather suspicious to make phone calls several times a day and never speak to anyone but that's the way Vladimir the dog gets his exercise. It's also unfortunate that her father communicates with her via radio instead of phone. It all adds up to a pretty funny farce that really comes alive in the last half an hour or so.

Doris Day is excellent as widower Jenny while Rod Taylor works well opposite her as Bruce. The gems are the supporting cast though, with many others aside from the ones mentioned above putting life into little characters. For me, though, the highlight of them all is Paul Lynde, if only for his drag escapade to entrap the spy. The party that forms part of the climax of the film is full of hilarious moments and if the entire film had been at that pace it would've been brilliant. However, setting up all the dominoes early on seems to take far more time than it should've done and, unfortunately, the attempts to create a plausible romance between Jenny and Bruce take too much time for a farcical comedy. There are little interludes, such as the trip on a boat using electronic controls that goes disastrously wrong. There's an element of technology-gone-wrong about the film that works very well. And, strangely, watching Doris Day interact with a dog-like vacuum cleaner isn't that different to watching her interact with the real animals in the film.

Nonetheless, this was very funny and definitely worth watching. It might not be all about the glass bottom boat but it is all about Doris Day being brilliant and I could never say no to that.

Classic Film Review: Footlight Fever (1941)

Footlight Fever is the sequel to Curtain Call (1940, reviewed here). Alan Mowbray and Donald MacBride return as Don Avery and Geoff Crandall, theatre producers who are desperate to get their next venture off the ground. They are hampered by their backer pulling out, leaving them desperately in need of money. Their leading man's girlfriend has an aunt who is rich enough to manage it but she's under the thumb of her business manager. Don and Geoff try to persuade her to invest by posing as friends of her lost love but she's soon wise to them. Will the show go on?

I found this more enjoyable than Curtain Call, perhaps because it didn't rely on the premise of an aspiring writer being exploited and blown to pieces by everyone around her. Aunt Hattie Drake (Elisabeth Risdon, who I've previously seen and loved in Higher and Higher (1943, reviewed here)) may be a recluse but once she's out of her mansion she's hilarious and Risdon plays her to perfection.

Mowbray and MacBride's partnership isn't all that enticing, though in the scenes where they're trying to persuade Aunt Hattie that she should produce the play they're very enjoyable. I think they work better apart: for instance, when Avery decides he should be the leading man and does a very good 'will not die' routine. It's much easier to like Avery than MacBride but perhaps the problem in this partnership is that neither character is exactly likeable. They only made these two films and it's easy to see why.

That isn't to say Footlight Fever is an altogether bad film. It has moments of greatness but many moments of mediocrity and scenes/characters that serve no purpose. However, it's better than Curtain Call and doesn't quite let the tricksters get away with it.

Classic Film Review: Government Girl (1943)

Government Girl stars Olivia de Havilland as Smokey, secretary to a new man in Washington, Ed Browne (Sonny Tufts). Browne needs to oversee the production of as many bomber planes as he can but finds himself faced with a wall of bureaucracy. He circumvents it but ultimately comes up against angry people who would rather he respect the red tape. Meanwhile, his feelings for Smokey have been growing but she's seeing Dana McGuire (Jess Barker), an ambitious man who finds himself on the opposite side to Browne and Smokey.

The problem with this film is that it tries to be two things at once. It could either be a drama about bureaucracy impeding the war effort or it could be a romance. It tries to be both and this just doesn't work. Sonny Tufts is ill-fitted to the role of leading man with very little character consistency. Olivia de Havilland saves the film from complete disgrace simply by being Olivia de Havilland but it's not enough. The plot is fragmented, trying to focus on the subplot relationship between May (Anne Shirley) and Joe Blake (James Dunn) who are desperately trying to have their honeymoon. There is a mad motorcycle ride involving Smokey and Browne then a completely nonsensical subplot involving a spy trying to obtain secrets from Smokey and May. It all adds up to a bizarre film.

The patriotism is undeniably and to be expected. However, it hammers home the messages of 'bureaucratic mess' and those 'good government girls' to the point where I ceased to care. It switches between seriousness and farce, quite badly in my opinion, and that is ultimately its failure. Even the rich character played by Agnes Moorhead disappointed through a complete lack of characterisation. It's interested as a piece of wartime propaganda but perhaps not as a film of artistic merit, although the mad motorcycle scene is quite amusing in its way.

When Real Life Is Farcical

I spent yesterday with my sister, two small nieces and my brother's one year-old. It was a pretty enjoyable, if exhausting, day but one little incident sticks out. It's the one where I made a complete idiot of myself - which tends to happen on a regular basis. This, however, was You've Been Framed hilarious.

Picture it: we're waving off my nephew and sister-in-law when a wasp begins prowling around the little girls. I waft it away, try and get the girls away from it. Then it lands on my nose. I panicked. I mean, who wouldn't panic?! I jumped backwards but hadn't considered my proximity to the large family car behind me. To cut a humiliating story short, I hopped back and went flying onto the floor after bouncing from the bonnet. Did hurt a bit. But the more painful aspect was the enjoyment my delightful sister got out of it! I wouldn't have laughed in a similar situation... Ahem.

Anyway, if I wrote that into a novel or - more likely, as it's a very visual scene - a script, I'd probably get accused of farce, of describing something that would happen to no normal person. I blogged last year about the coincidence of chance encounters and how the audience would probably sigh at the contrivance. This is a similar thing: how do you do little more than document a real life occurrence without sounding like you're reaching into the depths of farce for your inspiration?

The only solution I can think of at the moment is this: make it feel real. Logical solutions spring from logical occurrences. I was fighting with that damn wasp because we were five feet away from a bin. Now I seem like less of a maniac and the plausibility of falling backwards over a car escaping from a wasp is increased.

Am I going to write this into a story? Possibly, but only after the hand I landed on stops hurting.