It's a Wonderful Life

Arguably the most beloved holiday classic of all time, this is a movie that is unfairly lumped into cynic's "overrated" lists because of the vague imprints this movie has left on even the least movie savvy of peoples' minds. Annual airings on television have insured that this movie is part of pop culture society whether you like it or not, and whether you and whether you know it or not. Thanks to the film's rights lapsing into public domain (due to the dissolution of the film's company, Liberty Pictures, a failed noble venture by directors Frank Capra, George Stevens and William Wyler) any television station that wanted to could air this film during the holidays. Unfortunately now people see it as some kind of joke, a film remembered more for people vaguely remembering it always being on once a year, but not for the actual film itself. It is true, the movie is pure cinematic corn, sweet to the core, and is easy fodder for contemporary cynics to tear apart. But there is also a great story here, and a great cast, led by Frank Capra's go-to "everyman" Jimmy Stewart as "everyman"George Bailey, the guy who sacrifices everything for his family, in the process not realizing how many lives he's touched. Capra's moving Christmas card is aided immensely by the presence of screen veterans like Lionel Barrymore as the evil Mr. Potter (the most intimidating man in a wheelchair ever!) and Thomas Mitchell as forgetful Uncle Billy. The screen also shines courtesy of the radiant Donna Reed in her screen debut as George's sweetheart Mary. Under the sure-handed direction of Capra, marking the first film he and Jimmy Stewart both made after their time spent in World War II, this is a film that deserves to be recognized more than just once a year.

The film opens with an Ed Wood-esque galactic matte shot. Two clusters of stars begin talking to each other, one presumably some type of higher being, and the other, an angel named Clarence. During the first half of the movie, Clarence sees the life of George Bailey, leading up to the point where Clarence has to intercede. George is by all accounts a saint. He saves his brother's life at a young age, forgoes college to work for his family's perpetually failing savings and loan company, and is the only person in town brave enough to stand up to Mr. Potter, the evil old miser who has financial control over almost all of Bedford Falls. George does all of this because he loves his family and would literally sacrifice his dreams to see them happy. However, one Christmas Eve, George's Uncle Billy loses (Mr. Potter steals) a large sum of money George needs to keep his family's company afloat, the last thing in town Mr. Potter does not own, and the only alternative poor families have to dealing with the villain. George is so distraught he plans to kill himself, leaving behind a wife and children he thinks he can no longer provide for, and a family, and town, he feels he has let down. As he is about to leap from a bridge to his death, Clarence appears and offers to show him his life if he had never been born. The point being, George, who feels he has failed, has made a far greater impact then he has given himself credit for.

The latter half of the movie involves George and Clarence omnipotently viewing Bedford Falls (now named Potter Falls) sans George Bailey. The town is in financial destitution, everyone and everything dependent on the malevolent Potter. All of the people George knows and loves are bitter and morose, and slowly George realizes he is the difference in their lives. It is not until he sees Mary, and how unhappy she is without him, that he regrets his decision and wishes to return to his real life. Reunited with his family (after running down the street screaming "Merry Christmas Bedford Falls!" in the film's impossibly satisfying climax) George realizes that his sacrifices have made a difference, not only for Bedford Falls, but for Clarence as well, who is granted his wings for helping George, a fact we find out courtesy of George's daughter who instructs us "every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings!". While the film is extremely sentimental, its message, and most importantly its heart, are definitely in the right place. It is no wonder, the original story's author, Charles Van Doren, intended to use the tale as a Christmas anecdote he would write on the backs of cards he sent to family and friends. The feeling of compassion and good will is also indicative of the mood Capra and Stewart were going for, having returned from the battlefields of WorldWar II, they were seeking to make a film that warmed audiences' hearts after years of heart ache. Perhaps audiences of 1946 were not ready for so much sacchrine however, because oddly enough, the film was a financial disappointment. It was not until countless airings on television that its true value was realized (much like George Bailey!), however, subsequent decades of being re-aired has effectively squashed its legacy to as I said, more a feeling of indifference rather than nostalgia. For those willing to cut through the cynicism, "It's a Wonderful Life" is still a magical, heart warming film that is a true classic, regardless of the season.

The Lives of a Bengal Lancer

Much like "Scaramouche" is to the swashbuckler sub-genre, "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" is to the "men-on-a-mission" action/adventure sub-genre. While "Gunga Din" is regarded as the authority here, "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" takes almost the same plot, character archetypes and exotic locale and manages to create a fresh, fun adventure story. Maybe that is because this film was released four years before "Gunga Din"! Establishing the standard which "Gunga Din" would later mint in gold, "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" pits three soldiers of the British Empire against seemingly an entire army of bloodthirsty natives, led by the sadistic Mohammed Khan. Led by Gary Cooper's stoic soldier-of-fortune Lieutenant MacGregor, he and his two mates, wisecracking Lieutenant Forsythe and green rookie Lieutenant Stone end up captured by Khan, tortured, then forced to watch helplessly as Khan plans his secret attack on the unsuspecting British forces. Of course the trio escapes and manages to turn the tide in the crucial, climactic battle, doing so without any assistance from a courageous water boy. Joking aside, this film captures all of the action, adventure and intrigue that "Gunga Din" is famous for, and might even surpass that film because of its incredibly visceral action scenes, an extremely impressive climactic explosion, and a shockingly graphic torture scene. While not as funny and rousing as "Gunga Din", "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" still packs quite a punch.

As the film opens, MacGregor's men have just suffered another attack from Mohammed Khan, and he needs to call in two new recruits. The colonel's son, Lieutenant Stone, ends up being one of the men called, much to the dismay of everyone in camp, mostly because he has no field experience, let alone the perils of serving on the dangerous Indian frontier. The other recruit turns out to be wisecracking, flute playing Lieutenant Forsythe. Mac picks them both up at the train station and is definitely not happy about his new compatriots. In an art imitating life portrayal, Gary Cooper's Mac is the strong, stoic type. He likes his men to be like him, and immediately clashes with the more laid back Forsythe, and resents the rookie Stone getting such a significant responsibility. Over the course of the film however Mac begins to grow a fondness for his two new recruits. He sympathizes with Stone because he sees the way the Colonel treats him, like any other soldier, perhaps giving him even less attention. Forsythe too begins to grow on Mac, but not before he gets his comeuppance for being too laid back. After incessantly bothering Mac with his flute playing, Forsythe gets a huge scare when his music inadvertently charms a deadly king cobra. After letting him sweat it out for a moment, Mac shoots the snake, and laughs, knowing Forsythe will now think twice before letting out any more hot air.

The three men are now a tighter, more cohesive trio, a relationship which ultimately saves them as they are captured by Khan on their next scouting mission. Thrown into a dank prison cell, Khan subjects each man to sadistic torture, attempting to extract the rest of the army's location so that they can launch a sneak attack with their new gatling guns. Mac and Forsythe persevere (having burning bamboo shoots jammed under their fingernails!), despite Khan's warning "We have ways of making men talk!" (a catchphrase which would survive in film lore subsequently), however poor Stone cannot take the pain and gives up the army's location. After being returned to his cell, where Forsythe and Mac are passing the time betting on cockaroache races, and telling them what happened Mac and Forsythe know something needs to be done. After knocking out the guard Mac volunteers for the suicide sprint from their cell to a storage facility housing boxes and boxes of dynamite. With Forsythe drawing Khan's fire, Mac hopes to blow up the entire arsenal, except he gets pinned down by the gatling gun's spray of bullets. Stone who had been knocked cold, comes to and attempts to blow up the arsenal, but Mac pushes him out of the way at the last moment, saving his life in the process, but sacrificing his own. Khan's arsenal destroyed, the army easily defeats his remaining forces and Stone, Forsythe receive medals for their courage and valor, while Mac receives a posthumous honor as well. The theme of sacrifice, duty and honor is one that would be revisited in the more popular "Gunga Din", but for a film largely forgotten today, "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" is one that strikes many positive similarities to its more celebrated counterpart, and is definitely worth revisiting.

Cleopatra

The 1950's and early 1960's were the time of the period epic in Hollywood. But as with most fads and phases, something always comes along at the height of its decadence to put the nails in the coffin. "Cleopatra" effectively ended Hollywood's obsession with period/biblical epics. As it stands now, "Cleopatra" can be seen as the end of Old Hollywood. While there were still many Old Hollywood films still to come in the latter half of the 1960's, the writing was on the wall. Public tastes and audience expectations were changing, and by 1969, a mere six years after "Cleopatra", when "Midnight Cowboy" won Best Picture with an X rating, "NewHollywood" was essentially born. "Cleopatra", when considered in this context, represents one ofHollywood's last great efforts to compete with T.V., a battle it had reluctantly undertaken about ten years prior, attempting to woo people back to theaters with innovations like 3D and super formats like Todd AO, and event films like "The Ten Commandments" and"Ben-Hur". "Cleopatra" is the end of an era, but marked this passing with quite an exclamation point: one historic love affair, cast and director carousels, bloated (to put it mildly) budgets, editing butcher jobs, and over three years of principal photography. In short, the culmination of Old Hollywood's gaudy characteristics, packaged into the film which threatened to ruin 20th Century Fox, one of Hollywood's oldest studios.

In 1958, Fox had a relatively modest Cleopatra biopic set to go into production with Joan Collins as the titular Egyptian queen and stage and screen veteran Rouben Mamoulian behind the camera. Collins' schedule changed though and Fox began to consider replacements, ultimately pitching the idea to Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor dismissed the proposal, jokingly offering to do the role for the then unheard of sum of $1 million dollars (or 25% of the original Joan Collins version budget). Thinking this outlandish request would keep her out of a toga, Fox stunned Hollywood by agreeing and Taylor was shipped to England to begin work on what would now be one of Fox's tentpole event films of 1961. Mamoulian stayed on board, bringing everyone together to begin shooting only a few months off schedule. His leading men were Peter Hinch as Julius Caesar and Stephen Boyd as Marc Antony. By the time the film was released, these three men would have been long gone. The biggest delay can be attributed to the notoriously diva-like Taylor complaining of the weather so much in England that production was halted for months to allow her to "recover". When filming resumed six months later, the entire production had shifted to Rome (at an unimaginable cost to be sure), veteran Mamoulian had been replaced with veteran Joseph L. Mankiwiecz, and both Peter Hinch and Stephen Boyd had left, being replaced with (to Fox's slight credit, both substitutions are inspired choices and definitely benefit the film in my opinion) Rex Harrison as Caesar and Richard Burton as Marc Antony.

With the cast and director finally in place, filming flew by. Only two years (!!) later, Fox's $44 million dollar roll of the dice was ready for its world premiere. (For those keeping score, that would put the budget at roughly $270 million in 2005 dollars). By this point, Taylor and Burton were household names for an entirely different reason: their torrid love affair. Taylor was a known man-eater, going through husbands at an incredible rate. Burton was also a known ladies man and carrouser (fueled by his chronic drinking problem) and the star couple's affair captured the nation's fascination. Fox by this point had no choice but to release the film, after pouring the studio's financial future into it, enduring the firestorm of controversy surrounding its married stars affair, two directors, and three years of filming on two continents, they really had to roll out the red carpet and simply hope for the best. While the finished product is long (four hours and nine minutes), Mankiwiecz would later say that he envisioned two films, each three hours long, one chronicling Cleopatra and Caesar, the other Cleopatra and Antony. Fox, showing unusual modesty in regards to this project, refused, and thus a slightly disjointed, yet still lavishly sprawling epic unspooled for audiences in the summer of 1963. Some final fun facts about the film: (without even getting into the plot: Caesar comes to Egypt, falls in love with Cleopatra, is killed byRome. Antony comes to Egypt, falls in love with Cleopatra, is killed by Rome. The end.) the first 40 minutes are devoted entirely to Caesar, when Cleopatra makes her first appearance around 40 minutes in, she is rarely ever off screen again. Antony does not appear until 70 minutes in, then he too is rarely off screen. Caesar is killed at around 150 minutes in, the films effective halfway point. Taylor would ultimately make closer to $10 million for her role, thanks to a percentage of the film's gross, and her salary for production overruns and re-shoots. Is it any wonder that Hollywood stopped making films like this after 1963?

The Mark of Zorro

Situated somewhere in between "Adventures of Robin Hood" and "Scaramouche" is "The Mark of Zorro". I say in between because while this is definitely (in my opinion) the definitive Zorro film, it does not share the same "definitive" status as Errol Flynn's "Adventures of Robin Hood" but also has escaped the anonymity of Stewart Granger's "Scaramouche". "The Mark of Zorro" simply stands as a fine swashbuckler, a brilliant product of Fox's system in the late 1930's to early 1940's, during which time Tyrone Power starred in virtually all of their biggest hits, and a rollicking good time. Not revered as a classic (though it should), but still celebrated in its own right. While that does not seem like an overwhelming vote of confidence, considering the praise I usually heap upon my favorite classic movies, please note: I was merely stating how I feel the film is perceived today in general. Personally I feel that the film is a wonderful example of good old fashioned action and adventure. I believe the reason that Columbia's 1998 film, "The Mask of Zorro" was so popular was because it played like an Old Hollywood film, completely devoid of any of the more cynical and less entertaining themes and motifs so common in contemporary cinema. Instead, it relished its Saturday matinee serial roots, piling on generous helpings of laughs, thrills and romance, all on a grand late 20th century budget. Most significantly, like its predecessor almost 50 years before, "The Mask of Zorro" succeeded by remembering one key thing: give the audience a good time. This is where Rouben Mamoullian's 1940 film set the standard.

While on paper the film seems missing a few key aspects, director Michael Curtiz and leading lady Olivia de Havilland most conspicuously (two key members of many of Warner Brothers' similar spectacles), Fox more than made up for it by shrewdly filling out smaller roles with familiar faces. Thus we have villain extraordinaire Basil Rathbone as Zorro's nemesis, the sneering Captain Pasquale, and Eugene Palette as the jovial Fray Felipe, themselves both key supporting players in Warners' seminal action/adventure "The Adventures of Robin Hood". Fox had its own leading man though, and Tyrone Power is extremely engaging and appealing in the dual role of Don Diego and the masked avenger, Zorro. While he lacks some of Errol Flynn's unique charisma, Power plays the fop more convincingly than the rougish Flynn ever could have, and for the Zorro story that element is crucial. Whereas Robin Hood does not have to lead a double life, Zorro is the comic book hero archetype: bored aristocrat by day, costumed administrator of justice by night (see Bruce Wayne/Batman for the most obvious parallel, but also dozens more superheroes. An interesting side note to the correlation between Zorro and Batman; in the original Batman comic, the film young Bruce Wayne was seeing with his parents the night they were killed was "The Mark of Zorro"). With these elements in place, the story is a relatively simple "origin" story, extremely common among present day comic book movies.

After finishing school in Spain, young Don Diego comes home to his father's estate in present day California. At first ignorant and uninterested in the plight of the peasants that are kept in economic destitude by the cruel taxes imposed by Diego's father and the rest of the artistocracy, as is typical with comic book heroes, they reach a point where they feel they "must" do something, because no one else can or will. In Diego's case those who would fight, Fray Felipe or the beautiful Lolita Quintero, cannot due to physical limitations, while those who could are too busy trying to feed their starving families. Thus Diego assumes the mask and sword of Zorro, fighting the fight for the people who cannot. If this sounds like the height of corn, well that is because it is. Movies like this have become cliche because they have ripped off properties like Zorro for so long, that when you consider the original material, it is unjustly viewed as old hat. Watching "The Mark of Zorro" however, the action is fresh, the script is sharp, and the sense of excitement is genuine. The final duel between Captain Pasquale and Zorro is amazing, and features one of my all time favorite "moments": when the cocky Pasquale attempts to intimidate Zorro by slicing a candle in half with his sword, a chunk of it goes flying. Zorro calmly takes a measured stroke through another candle and at first nothing happens, prompting Pasquale to laugh. Zorro then walks over to the candle and picks up the top half of it, his stroke perfectly slicing the candle in half without disturbing it. It is moments like these that make "The Mark of Zorro" so much fun, and put it on the same level as the more celebrated "The Adventures of Robin Hood".