Parkland Picks with Popcorn #8

 

Pop Goes: Three Men in White, The Spider, and The Las Vegas Story

THREE MEN IN WHITE (1944) --- Three Men in White stood for what Metro meant to accomplish with all their product … “a solid guarantee of good entertainment for the whole family,” good in italics for assurance that yes, here “drama is keen, exciting … but this is not heavy nor serious drama.” Might such be credo for all Leo did, all of what Hollywood ideally did? “The lightest fastest, funniest, most bubbling story … Dr. Gillespie has ever become involved in.” I belabor these quotes from trade publication The Lion’s Share to show what amusement, particularly wartime amusement, was meant to accomplish. The Gillespies like all series, certainly those from MGM like Andy Hardy, Maisie, the Thin Man, Tarzan … were soft upholstery, predictable in ways radio “drama” was and television in a future would be. Gillespies revolved around medicine, all afflictions addressed and cured within ninety minutes, no suffering acute or unfixable. I don’t recall anyone perishing at Blair Hospital, would note tragic end for Laraine Day as Dr. Kildare’s wife-to-be, which surely was disorienting as would be Lew Ayres’ exit from the series soon after. Lionel Barrymore’s function was to console as well as amuse, a voice to assure that illness, indeed war, would pass. He will mentor the young, resolve their doubts, counsel their romances, Gillespie a guiding light through uncertain times. Here too was era of doctors driven by instinct rather than corporate and insurance carrier protocol. I don’t know when trusted and veteran faces were more vital to films. Barrymore broadcasted from firesides not unlike what Roosevelt spoke from, as would Charles Laughton, latter on marathon duty to sell bonds as were others a public knew and trusted in many instance since youth. A dose of Lionel Barrymore as Gillespie was tonic sure as what real medicos offered. At Blair Hospital, every malady had its cure.

Blair’s was revolving door for Metro stars in making. Much learning of craft went on here. Van Johnson had been in a dreadful car crash that nearly took the top of his head off but came back to studio applause and what sage Lionel called fresh-won skills as an actor, him knowing wisdom forged from hardship. Young players finding their wings, as here with Johnson and newcomer support Ava Gardner, was ongoing to the series, auditioning for us who would judge star potential. Fans could/did determine careers, no personality force-fed, at least not for long. Marilyn Maxwell for Three Men in White suggested another Lana Turner, that not to be, so Marilyn drifted eventually away, as must all whose dream goes unfulfilled. There were numerous of these in/out of MGM, post-career the fruit of whatever momentum they accumulated while there, Maxwell, James Craig, Tom Drake, all instance of this. 1957’s The Cyclops has latter two clinging to residue of polish applied at Metro. We could wonder why Van Johnson and not James Craig, but what was stardom other than an intangible, chance-driven process? Van courts Marilyn Maxwell by constantly ducking her advances, his “Aye, Yai, Yai” at her persistence itself too persistent. Was this calculated to increase Johnson’s femme following? It escapes me how, assuming that was intent. For the record, “Aye, Yai, Yai” was an expression akin to “oh boy” denoting excitement, frustration, or attraction. I don’t envision it coming back to vogue any time soon. Three Men in White after two Gillespie chapters to build suspense reveals who Barrymore’s new assistant will be, Van Johnson or Keye Luke, both youngsters having established following, Luke especial when he draws a chart to demonstrate a medical problem for Dr. Gillespie and we get glimpse of art background Keye Luke came from prior to acting. Three Men in White is available from Warner Archive in a set with other Gillespies.

THE SPIDER (1958) --- Misses greatness achieved by Tarantula, which sort of ruined us for giant spiders after 1955. Bert I. Gordon was brain behind this, him congenial with AIP worldview and a cut-rate master of special effects that really looked cut-rate, part after all of Bert’s charm. Here’s a secret of why sci-fi appealed to teens: So many used them for ID figures, sighting aliens or monsters and being doubted by grown-ups until threats become real and adults realize they were wrong not to take the word of their offspring. Note that at AIP at least it was often youth that routed other-worldlies, so maybe we should give them a better listen next time. The Spider at 73 minutes gets right on with scares, the monster attacking within moments of the title. AIP doubled this with The Brain Eaters, the two near point where Jim Nicholson realized black-and-white pairs were on ways out and said so to an exhibitor conclave. The Spider did AIP’s best B/W sci-fi business since The Day the World Ended, a surprising $374K in tills. There was speculation that AI’s Spider fed off sensation of Fox’s Fly, both infesting summer 1958 theatres. Some of The Spider was shot at Bronson Caves where monsters dwelt before. What a convenient filming site this proved to be. Atmosphere was supplied also by Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, a special credit to that effect, but close inspection, in fact it needn't even be close, reveals still images of the caverns were used with actors superimposed in front of them, more instance of Bert Gordon movie magic. I like how the giant spider is parked in a high school gym where kids rehearse their rock and roll band before the creature awakens and frightens them out. The Spider stayed available to theatres for years past ‘58 release, even after TV got it in 1964-65, being a title I’d see listed often at drive-ins and kiddie shows in Winston-Salem, for which I was years later told by an exhibitor there that rental for AIP oldies hovered usually around fifteen to twenty dollars. Seems hardly enough to cover expense of delivery.

THE LAS VEGAS STORY (1952) --- Of quaint era when Vegas was still a small town easily managed by a sheriff like Jay C. Flippen and deputy Victor Mature, this being casinos case where “outside interests” maintained rigorous law/order all their own. Later treatments like Bugsy and Casino explained those truths and we can wonder if tourists, gamblers, civilians, were safer on streets in Las Vegas than in other busy burgs of the time. Was this unique instance of law enforcement by private, as in very private, enterprise? I need to read more about history of the town, and whether it is so transformed now as surface suggests. Does it remain “Disneyfied” now that the Disney model itself has collapsed? The Las Vegas Story is reshuffle off His Kind of Woman deck, Mature rather than Mitchum, Jane Russell back, Vincent Price her husband now rather than paramour. Howard Hughes liked familiars. He especially enjoyed Price in all of works, putting him again to menace Mature in two years' later Dangerous Mission! (not me but the title with an exclamation mark) I enjoy Hughes’ cracked mindset and each familiar aspect of The Las Vegas Story, at least here was break from Mexico as a location, question being what ownership interests did Hughes have in Vegas? I know later he lived there in secrecy at a hotel he owned. Did HH enter casinos in disguise and mingle among guests? Probably not as he was so paranoid about germs. There seems little evidence of Hughes tampering with The Las Vegas Story after director Robert Stevenson completed it, this not to be confirmed what with RKO records locked up and inaccessible. Victor Mature was, with Mitchum, a most reliable leading man the company had. What with casting of both, they could have, probably did, swap parts right up to moment of shooting on one or other of respective vehicles. It was types they played that merged, pleasingly so for my watching, as who’s around now of Mitchum-Mature stripe? Final inquiry: Would Terry Moore have dared claim previous marriage to Hughes had he still been alive? I get a feeling he could be a dangerous guy if seriously crossed, a sort of real-life Blofeld where circumstance called for Blofeld solution to problems.