African Queen (1951)

Why it's here:
We knew Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart separately (and younger) from other films and were anxious to see them together in this highly acclaimed one.

Specs:
1 hour and 45 minutes; color. We watched on dvd from the library
Set in 1914

Our family's average rating:
8.0

More about the film and our reaction to it:
This movie is amazing. And so unexpected. I mean, of course, I'd heard of it and figured it had to be good, but it's not the type of film that succeeds in the way you are expecting it to. You really just don't see it sneaking up on you until you are already deep within its grasp.

So, the film starts out with a middle-aged missionary and his sister (Katherine Hepburn) in Africa -- then enters an ugly, disheveled Humphrey Bogart looking worse than you can imagine. The missionary dies (not really a spoiler since it happens right away in the film) and Hepburn and Bogart are left travelling together for the rest of the film. Getting to know each other as they float down a river may not sound like compelling film making. But it is so stunningly well made and well acted that it's all that is needed to carry the film.

We were all impressed. And that is really saying something when a teenage and preteen boy 50 years later can watch what is basically as much a romance between two middle-aged people as it is an adventure film, and LOVE it. Their story is so believably done that it still engages. But, when I stopped to think about it, our whole family taking to this movie makes total sense because it is much like It Happened One Night. It's a simple, well-written, well-acted, believable, fantasy adventure between two people and the countryside.

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Fuller Brush Girl (1950)

Why it's here:
Although we know Lucille Ball is primarily a TV star, we also knew that she had been a movie actress before she hit it big on TV. Although none of her films are particularly well known, I really wanted to include something from Lucy in the festival and thought this one sounded good.

Specs:
Not quite an hour and a half, black and white.
Might be available on dvd somewhere, but we couldn't locate a copy. We were glad that Amazon instant video had it available. It was worth the $2.99 rental.

Our family's average rating:
7.0

More about the film and our reaction to it:
The Fuller Brush Girl is a movie where Lucille Ball plays a woman who wants to work for the Fuller Brush Company, selling makeup door to door. I hadn't done much research on the film but picked it because it had Lucy in 1950, right on the threshold of her big TV career. So... I was expecting... I don't know, some light silly mediocre comedy about Lucy selling items door to door.  In fact, this was a murder mystery/comedy that was much better than and also very different from what I'd expected.

The film also stars Eddie Albert, who, like Lucy, was also more famous for his TV career (notably Green Acres) than his film career. But both made suitable film stars. They were funny and fearless and had a nice chemistry as an engaged couple that stumbles into their employer's illegal activity.

I really enjoyed this pre-I-Love-Lucy version of Ball. She is just as funny and there's a lot less whiney crying. She does a great deal of physical comedy that is really funny. The plot is interesting, not fantastic, and does a great job of giving us opportunities to enjoy Lucy's talent.

Content warnings:
Parents should note that there are some questionable scenes involving a burlesque show. Luckily, the dancing is not too bawdy and the idea of this type of performance will probably go over kids' heads. Lucy does a suggestive, but very funny, dance routine where she appears in just a slip. The whole scene is played for laughs and not for sensuality. Lucy also wears what would be considered a very short skirt for 1950) throughout the last part of the film and performs many stunts in it that reveal a great deal of leg (for 1950). (I also just gotta say this here, Lucy has fabulous legs!) A final content caution would be about the murder/crime part. Although this movie is played for laughs, there's no question that there are darker themes of shady crime and gang activity that ends with two characters being shot. (The murders are not shown, but the bodies are). And there are some tense, scary moments when our heros are evading bad guys who would like to kill them. By modern standards this stuff is tame, but worth mentioning.

Other than those parent cautions (which you'll have to decide on how troublesome for your family), this was an awesome film that we'd highly recommend.

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All About Eve (1950)

Why it's here:
I couldn't let us go through this festival and not see Bette Davis. Problem is, I had a hard time picking from among her films; none of them really seemed to suit us and we were getting to the end of her era. All About Eve, a highly acclaimed film, seemed a good choice.

Specs:
Over two hours, black and white. Available in a beautifully restored version on dvd.

Our family's average rating on a scale from 1-10:
7.17

More about the film and our reaction to it: 
Bette Davis plays Margo, a middle-aged stage actress who is part talent, part arrogance, and part good hearted woman in an exceptional performance. Anne Baxter is also wonderful as the young ingenue, Eve, who apparently idolizes Margo and spends the film alternately winning over then alienating various people in Margo's life. The supporting cast is uniformly excellent; we especially liked George Sanders as the film critic who is ultimately in control. And I was totally stunned when Marilyn Monroe walked into the frame part way through. I had not realized she was in the picture, as she was still an unknown bit-player. But there is no mistaking Monroe and she was wonderful in a small role as a air-headed actress who is nonetheless sharp about her career

The great acting and fascinating story idea make this a top notch piece of filmmaking.

Because my younger son and I had just seen Sunset Blvd., we kept noticing the many parallels between the two films. Although we both enjoyed this film and appreciated the acting, we also both agreed that Gloria Swanson's was the better performance and Sunset Blvd. the better film.

However, while watching, we had the unfortunate logistical problem that we were on the laptop while riding in a car, and we could not hear the dialog very well. The dvd was already overdue at the library and we were on the last day of our grace period! We had to watch, and we had to watch NOW, so we sucked it up. ... maybe the film was better than we realized.

Overall, although the film is certainly well-made, we doubt it would be the best choice for most families, as the themes are troubling and of more grown-up interest.

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Broken Arrow (1950)

Why it's here:
For the simple reason that it was filmed at Old Tucson.

Specs:
1 and 1/2 hours. Color! We watched on a dvd from our local library
Set in the 1870s

Our family's average rating:
7.67

More about the film and our reaction to it:
I didn't know much about the film when I chose it for the festival, but when I picked up the dvd from the library and read the back, I was amazed to see that the story sounded just like Dances with Wolves -- Later, when I read the back of the case to my kids, my older son said: "that sounds just like Avatar." It turns out that we were both somewhat correct, and it certainly could have been an inspiration for both movies.

Jimmy Stewart, as always, gives a great performance -- this time as a disenfranchised Union soldier, Tom Jeffords, who stumbles upon a tribe of Apache Indians, is tasked by his government with convincing them to allow the U.S. mail to go through their territory unmolested, and who ultimately finds beauty in their lifestyle, makes enduring trust-based friendships, falls in love with and marries a native woman, and endures tragedy due to the clash of cultures and advancing white men.  Sound like DWW? Yes. But, unlike the latter, Stewart's character stays connected to the white people in Tucson throughout the film and does not completely leave "his kind." According to my sons this is also pretty much the same story you find in Avatar with a few key plot differences, such as the two cultures aren't already at war when our hero joins them and their is no element of attempted peace treaty. The themes are good ones, so no wonder the movie gets made over and again.

To watch a film like this is a bit of a test for a modern viewer. I found it troublesome and distracting that the lead Apache characters were played by actors who were clearly not natives. In the case of the character Cochise, Jeff Chandler was at least very capable and quite convincing as an Apache chief. However, the leading "lady" (and I have to put that in quotes because Debra Paget was a girl - just 16 when the film was made) was woefully inadequate in acting skill and in "look" to manage the task of compelling love interest/Indian maiden. I don't know if orange spray tan had been invented in 1950, but that seemed to be the approach to make this clearly Anglo girl an "Indian." How sad that this ever seemed acceptable. Some of the Apaches in the background scenes did appear to be Native actors, and the character Geronimo, though a very small part, was played by Jay Silverheels. The lack of Native actors in key parts is troublesome, but not as much as the attempt at the optimistic tone the film seems bent on sharing. It is hard to see this film strive for a positive if not happy ending, when we know that there is no Chiricahua Apache land preserve anywhere near us in southern Arizona and no chance that the Americans kept their word to keep the peace and stay out of Apache lands.


Still, one has to appreciate that this film boldly portrayed the Apaches as sympathetic and honorable people. An unusual touch for 1950.

Probably the film's biggest failure was with it's strained love story. Debra Paget is an unbearably and inappropriately young love interest for Jimmy Stewart. We've seen plenty of May-December romances in Hollywood films of this era, think Judy Garland/Fred Astair. But in Easter Parade, Garland was at least a fully grown woman of 26 choosing a much older man after a long build up that made it clear why she liked him. Paget's character here is given no such build-up, no motivations, and no reason why she would fall for Stewart's.  Paget is a teenager. She seemed hardly able to manage to kiss him, and even Stewart seemed only slightly less troubled by the match-up. They were horribly unsuited. I wished heartily that the film makers had not tried to make this a love story!

Interestingly enough, in researching the movie, we learned that much of the story is true. Tom Jeffords was a real person who did become close friends with Cochise and much of the plot based on that friendship seems accurate or at least based on real events. (However, not surprisingly, the romance was entirely made up. Jeffords never married an Indian woman.)

One final note: It was wonderful but strange to see a Technicolor Western, especially one filmed around Tucson. However, it almost seemed wrong to see this story in color, as Westerns just seem like they should be black and white.

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Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Why it's here:
Technically, it's not. I had no intention of including this film. I watched because, how could I not after all the film experiences of the last few months? I knew it to be far too dark and unsettling for our family, and my husband wasn't interested in it, so I watched alone. Fortuitously, I discovered it on Netflix just as our family got to the end of the 1940s, so I watched it right in date order.  But I was so blown away by this film that I couldn't help describing it in detail to my kids. What happened next surprised me: my younger son was dying to see the film. What happened then surprised me even more: he LOVED it.

Specs:
Almost 2 hours, black and white. Not a silent film, but dealing with themes of the silent era.
Available on dvd and on Netflix.

More about the film and our reaction to it:
I am feeling proud right now. Justifiably proud I think. For I doubt there are many 10 year olds who could watch and love Sunset Boulevard with a real appreciation for what that film is trying to say. To really get it and also to love it, is amazing for a modern kid. And there is no way, my son would have done so a few months ago, before this festival. He gets the deep sadness; the elated iconic status; the fast loss of the silent era and the quick way the movies changed, like a tornado blasting out old things and leaving destroyed lives in their wake. He was moved to see Buster Keaton in the short cameo as a washed up relic. He appreciated the contrasting acting styles from the overblown and slightly crazy performance of Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, to the 1950s cool William Holden. We had seen and been to the places in LA where the 1920s movie star mansions were -- he understood about the level of fame they had attained.

The film is fantastic. Part black comedy, part film noir, part disfunctional romance, the movie is not really scary, but its definitely freaky. It is sad and depressing and shows Hollywood at its worst. It is also brilliantly filmed and acted. Swanson as Norma Desmond gives a performance so visceral and real it hardly seems possible she's acting.

One of the best lines ever spoken in any movie ever:
"You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big."
"I am big. It's the pictures that got small."

And I love it when Norma speaks of the golden age of silents:
"There was a time in this business when they had the eyes of the whole world. But that wasn't good enough for them. Oh no. They had to have the ears of the whole world too. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk talk talk!"

While watching herself onscreen in one of her star roles:
"Still wonderful isn't it. And no dialog. We didn't need dialog; we had faces."

I love that line so much, because she's right. As a fan of silent film, I see exactly what she meant and I really feel that loss.

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