On Blu-ray: Young Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet (1944) and Ivanhoe (1952)

 

 I’ve always felt like Elizabeth Taylor doesn’t get enough credit. Attention and admiration yes, but not enough praise for the variety she managed in her career. She was unique in the way she triumphed as a child actress and then moved through her teenage years gracefully before progressing to a higher level of acting and winning the greatest praise her industry had to offer. I thought about this as I watched a pair of new Warner Archive Blu-rays featuring the star in two early films: National Velvet (1944) and Ivanhoe (1952). 

Taylor showed the special passion for life that would fuel her many triumphs in her breakout performance as the horse-obsessed Velvet Brown in National Velvet. She glows with enthusiasm, entirely unable to show any teenage gawkiness despite the metal brace plate she keeps clicking in and out of her mouth. 

As a young rider who masquerades as a boy to compete in the Grand National Steeplechase, she emulates the strength of her mother (Anne Revere), a former champion swimmer who has a glint in her eye that implies a past of wild times behind her calm, maternal façade. As drifter and former jockey Mi, Mickey Rooney guides Velvet to the top, showing her the ropes when his initial impulse to take the race entry money and bolt is trumped by her infectious enthusiasm. This was the first time I tapped into Rooney’s talent. I never understood why he was so beloved until I saw him here, working in a lower-key register, revealing depths that could never come out in a musical. 

The rest of the cast is full of actors that always bring a smile; they’re like visual comfort food. There’s a young and pretty Angela Lansbury as Velvet’s sister and the always reliable Donald Crisp as the Brown patriarch. Freckle-faced, gap-toothed, sleepy-eyed Jackie “Butch” Jenkins is also there as Velvet’s brother, stealing scenes as he always does. 

I always find the middle part of the film drags, but the final race scene offers enough excitement to make up for the slack. Overall it’s a great tribute to the worth of taking risks simply because it makes you feel more alive. 

The sole special feature on the disc is a theatrical trailer.

While I am not generally a fan of period pictures like Ivanhoe, I find this production objectively pleasing. It is filmed in bold, beautiful color, the stars, costumes, and sets are attractive, and there are some decent action scenes. 

In the title role Robert Taylor is pretty, but bland. In one of his standard villain roles George Sanders is more exciting, though it’s creepy to see him put the moves on a young Elizabeth Taylor as a Jew who loves and strives to protect Ivanhoe. Her romantic rival is Joan Fontaine, who has almost nothing to do but look lovely. 

Taylor’s role is not much more substantial. While this is a movie of men, she can’t help but have a little steel behind her words, though she has clearly been directed to look passive and pretty. After the fire of youth roles like National Velvet, it’s hard to see her playing such a bland character, but she already had A Place in the Sun (1951) under her belt and more engrossing films were yet to come. 

The jousting scenes in the final portion of the film are the most rousing part of the action, with more thrills than any of Ivanhoe’s romantic life. 

Special features on the disc include the Tom and Jerry cartoon The Two Mouseketeers and a theatrical trailer.

Many thanks to Warner Archive for providing a copy of the film for review.

Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941) on Blu-ray

Following The Wrong Man (1956) and I Confess (1953), Warner Archive has released yet another Alfred Hitchcock film, Suspicion (1941), on Blu-ray. This film has the distinction of containing the only performance in one of the director's films to win an Academy Award. Leading lady Joan Fontaine took home the Oscar for that year and Cary Grant is well-matched with her as a man who steals her heart and upends her life.

Fontaine is Lina, a timid, wealthy woman who has yet to find the love of her life. She meets the notoriously irresponsible Johnny Asquith in a train carriage. He is handsome, and judging from a photo she sees of him in the social pages, catnip to the ladies, but there's an early red flag when he bums a stamp off of her to upgrade his third class ticket to first.

It turns out the two circulate in the same social circles, and Johnny quickly sets his sights on Lina. Being the object of romantic affection thrills her, and soon they are married. It is then that the new bride realizes just how irresponsible her husband can be, as in his quest for wealth he bets, steals and lies, and all without a bit of shame. Before long, she begins to suspect he is also willing to kill to increase his bank balance.

I've always found Suspicion a well-made, but difficult film. It's so painful to watch Lina being constantly disappointed by Johnny. She is so desperately in love and she wants to believe in him, but he continues to let her down. He has as little chance of playing it straight as she does of leaving him.

There are plenty of pleasant distractions to help manage the discomfort of Lina's situation though: beautiful landscape shots, lux interiors and two of the most beautiful and fascinating stars to ever work with Hitchcock.

Grant and Fontaine could be incredibly sexy together. In an early scene where he's pinning up her hair, the way he briefly touches her neck is simultaneously erotic and calculated. Both the sensuality and his intense, if somewhat devious focus on her pack a charge. 

These oddly-matched characters are a perfect fit for Grant and Fontaine. It seemed impossible for Cary Grant to play a part in which he wasn't handsome and full of confidence in himself. Even in Bringing Up Baby (1938) he is impossibly hunky in his geeky glasses, and sure of his intellectual prowess. On the other hand, Fontaine, one of the most beautiful women to ever appear on the big screen, was expert at convincing audiences she was actually mousy and entirely lacking in self confidence. I can't think of anyone else who could play these roles. 

The supporting cast helps to keep the tension from becoming too unbearable. As Johnny's bumbling friend Beaky, Nigel Bruce is the perfect palate cleanser and mood lightener. It's also amusing to see Dame May Whitty and Sir Cedric Hardwicker playing Lina's humorously rigid parents. As a murder-obsessed crime novelist, Auriol Lee is amusingly morbid.

Painful or not, the film works as an exploration of a woman's experiences with suspicion. It plays with perception throughout, putting the audience in Lina's unsteady shoes. It's a much different take on the story than in the original novel Before the Fact, by Anthony Berkeley (written under the pen name Francis Iles), in which Lina's suspicions have a more chilling basis in fact.

While the notorious ending may seem like a cop-out, I tend to see it as courting danger in a different way than in the novel. It's hard to believe that someone as morally corrupt as Johnny would suddenly find a way to change himself. Perhaps he might not be a killer, but that doesn't mean he can't still be a psychopath.

The Blu-ray image is nicely balanced, with a bit of softness, but not so much that it lacks the necessary definition. Special features include a trailer and a short featurette about the film, a carryover from the previous Warner DVD edition, which has some interesting theories about how Hitchcock really wanted to end the film.

Many thanks to Warner Archive for providing a copy of the film for review. To order, visit The Warner Archive Collection.

Quote of the Week

When you become a legend, people become experts on your life.

-Joan Fontaine

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Quote of the Week

At age 108, flying around the stage in Peter Pan, as a result of my sister cutting the wires. Olivia has always said I was first at everything—I got married first, got an Academy Award first, had a child first. If I die, she'll be furious, because again I'll have got there first!

-Joan Fontaine, in answer to the question, "How do you want to die?"

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Joan Fontaine on What's My Line?--1973

I've never seen the 1970s version of What's My Line. Joan Fontaine is adorable as the mystery guest. She actually has the panel believing she's a man for quite a while!

TV Tuesday: Joan Fontaine, Richard Basehart and The Love Boat

Look at this--Joan Fontaine and Richard Basehart on a 1981 episode of the Love Boat! I need to make a master list of all the classic movie star appearances on this show. I know there were a ton of them.

TV Tuesday: Joan Fontaine for Bufferin

Joan Fontaine is so elegant in this 1965 commercial for Bufferin. She makes pain relief sound fancy.

Four with Joan Fontaine

Today Ms. Joan Fontaine turns 92 years old. In celebration, here is a selection of her movies that, for good or ill, has always fascinated me:

Jane Eyre (1944)
I’ve always felt that Fontaine should have received more praise for her work in this gothic romance. It is miraculous that she was able to pull off such a complex, but subdued performance opposite supremely hammy Orson Welles as Edward Rochester (I found him amusing, but I can see how his bluster might turn some against the movie). They’re an odd pair, but Fontaine makes up for that with her delicate portrayal of a heroine who is strong and wise, but also painfully vulnerable.

September Affair (1950)
I’ve always found it interesting that though I tend to see Joan Fontaine as a romantic heroine, she has rarely had great chemistry with her male leads. That’s why it is such a pleasure to see the cozy affection she enjoys with Joseph Cotten in this low-key drama. Their bond is the best element of a simple story about a couple who decide to grab an opportunity escape the world together.

Born to Be Bad (1950)
This swift little drama isn’t very good: the stars deserve much better material and the plot alternates between unbelievable and ridiculous, but I keep going back to it. Yes Fontaine has a goofy hairdo, and she is sometimes unbearably coy, but it is fascinating to see her go against type to play a bad girl whose bag of tricks isn’t quite deep enough to make her a true femme fatale. The interaction between delicate Fontaine and blunt Robert Ryan has a ragged energy that adds a jolt to the drama. I also wonder if there’s a bit of the real Fontaine in this calculating woman; I have a hard time believing she was as angelic as she claimed in her autobiography.

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
Fontaine is at her most effective in this bittersweet romance about a woman obsessed with a philandering pianist. As she takes her character from a dreamy childhood crush to a more adult longing, Fontaine demonstrates the destructive effect of consuming passion with painful precision. The production itself is also top notch, with lush settings, a strong script and Louis Jourdan as the perfect romantic cad.

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