In the book Richard Burton Prince of Players –  in the chapter “Lust and Life at 20th Century Fox”, there is this paragraph where the author recalls Richard Burton telling him that one of the pleasures of making The Robe was working with Victor Mature.
Richard Burton said:
“I’ve never known an actor so happily aware of his limitations. He rejoiced in them. He liked to joke that he was no actor and he said he had 60 films to prove it. But against him I looked like an amateur. We had a scene where the robe falls on to me and I scream like a girl before becoming overcome with religious fervour. And all the time Victor just stands there gazing into heaven with great conviction. I asked him, “How do you do it? What are you thinking?” He said, “I’m thinking of the money they’re paying me”. What a wonderful man.”

Above – Victor Mature in The Robe kneels before the cross. 

Just watch this Youtube clip of The Robe Premiere below:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1CfMl1AJ7M&feature=player_detailpage#t=0s

Another Story about Victor Mature – The film composer, William Alwyn, used to tour film societies showing a clip from a western, in which Victor Mature played a settler who had just found his family massacred by Indians.

The director, according to Alwyn, had spent multiple retakes trying to conjure grief from Mature’s rocklike expression. The actor became the joke of the set. However when the film was previewed, audiences during the scene in question wept.

“That man knew something about film acting which we didn’t,” Alwyn said.

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Jim Backus told this story about working with Victor Mature on the 1952 period film “Androcles & the Lion,”which was set in ancient Rome. Both actors were playing Roman soldiers from that era,Victor Mature as a captain,Jim Backus as a centurion.On a lunch break they walked into a restaurant,fully dressed in their Roman military costumes.The owner of the restaurant simply stared at them in mute disbelief when Mature asked for a table.  Finally Victor Mature said to him “What’s the matter,don’t you serve men in uniform?”

This was a good Boys Own Type British Adventure film  set in India

This is British Cinema at it`s best, a rousing Northwest Frontier picture with all the right ingredients, lots of ‘goodies’, a real ‘baddie’, and a dashing hero, with a fiesty female lead in the form of Lauren Bacall.
Things do pile up on the characters in the old train as it goes from place to place in an effort to save a young Prince, but things never go over the top, and the acting is first rate, as well as the direction.

Kenneth More, as always, is top rate, also note worthy is I.S.Johor as the train driver, Wilfred Hyde White as the British Diplomat, and Herbert Lom as as bad a baddie as l have ever seen him….

                                                                                                                 Herbert  Lom

The  Story –

A young prince who is the sole survivor of a massacre that includes his family escapes a revolution with the help of Kenneth More and a band of supporters – at least we think so.  Their means is an old steam engine and a short train of wagons and carriage. With this, they run a blockade and must escape from the ‘Northwest Frontier’.
Set at the turn of the (20th) century, Kenneth More is, as usual cast as the thoroughly decent and honourable Brit. The cast in a shrewd mix of popular characters. Lauren Bacall provides an unlikely American love interest for More as the boy-prince’s governess. Wilfred Hyde-White does a great dithery bachelor inclining to old-age. Herbert Lom is a mixed-race reporter and Eugene Deckers does well as an arms dealer.   Ursula Jeans is the modestly authoritative MemSab.

I always remember the first time I ever saw the film at the cinema on the big wide Cinemascope screen, the scene where the main characters  are very high up on a broken bridge and have to walk along a single rail line which is still intact – and the prince has to do this with that enormous drop below – and waiting to catch him is Herbert Lom, who we just know by that stage is not exactly a force for good.

I S Johar turns out to be the most appealing character playing  ‘Gupta’ the Indian engine driver, with humorous and sympathetic panache.
Along the way, there are adventures. But no less entertaining is the spirited dialogue between the passengers, each of which has a conflicting or complementary viewpoint as the conversation waxes.
Although a tongue-in-cheek adventure movie, it doesn’t shy away from the darker elements of human nature. These are explored in the intelligent dialogue, but exposed in the circumstances too. At one point, they encounter an earlier train which has been intercepted by bandits. Everyone aboard has been slaughtered. It is very simply but grimly presented. No needless gore; just a sad pensive silence broken by the buzzing flies and caw of vultures. Herbert Lom’s character isn’t the impartial observer he pretends to be because he sympathises with the insurgents, and means to murder the boy himself if he can.

The movie is beautifully filmed, with great vistas of wilderness and excellent colour. Train-spotters will enjoy the railway details.
This is highly recommended family viewing that – like so many of those 50’s adventure tales – it  is great fun !!!
Great actors, good script, fine views, bags of excitement, a villain in the party and moral messages. What more do we need from a movie?

Doreen Hawkins

Doreen Hawkins, who has died aged 93, was a member of an Ensa unit which toured the battlefronts of Africa, India and Burma during the Second World War; after the war she married her glamorous boss, Col Jack Hawkins, who would become one of Britain’s most respected actors.

Doreen Hawkins with her husband Jack boarding the boat train at Waterloo bound for America in 1956

Subtitled ‘Wartime adventures of an actress’, it follows her life  high-spiritedly from her first stage appearance at the age of four, through her  time as an enthusiastic teenager in the flourishing weekly repertory theatres;  from there to a hasty ill-starved marriage after the outbreak of war and a  period as an ambitious hard-working actress performing amidst the blitz and the  blackout.

Soon she joined the Indian Repertory Company – the first acting troupe to be  sent abroad to entertain the forces. They were the product of ENSA: the acronym  for Entertainments National Service

Association or, according to Tommy Trinder, Every Night Something Awful.

Subsequently in Bombay Doreen met Jack Hawkins, later to be a major film star  but already an established stage one in charge of ENSA in the Far East. Their  mutual falling in love is very convincingly described. After a harrowing time in  war-devastated Burma and a further engagement in India Doreen returned to  austere post-war London.

She faced a freezing winter and an acrimonious divorce suit. Undaunted she  rented a cheerful bohemian flat near Convent Garden and resumed life as an  actress on home territory. At last she was granted a decree absolute and was  free to marry Jack Hawkins. She gave up her acting career as his flourished more  than ever.

Even if this book had been a duller one, it would have been well worth  writing. It gives a uniquely detailed documentary account of life in a war time  entertainment company of which fewer and fewer people can have first-hand  memories. Doreen Hawkins memory is quite simply phenomenal; her story far from  dull. It is romantic, often drily humorous, also dramatic, moving and at times  horrific with near-death, illness and nightmare journeys on primitive trains and  packed troopships; war continually raging in the background.

Doreen herself seems an admirable character – starting as an exuberant  stagestruck girl, briefly engaged to an equally exuberant Peter Cushing. She  inevitably matures with her marriage breakdown and gruelling wartime experiences  but seldom complains and never loses her wide-eyed curiosity.

From her brief comments on her craft, I imagine she was a charming, skilful  light comedy actress; her company providing sparkling entertainment for  exhausted and wounded troops.

Her eye for detail is outstanding – whether describing revolting food or  glamorous clothes. Her unpretentious writing brings past events back to life as  fresh as if they had happened yesterday.

I have just purchased Eunice Gayson’s autobiography. I remember her from the fifties more so for her occasional appearances on the BBC TV panel game Whats My Line – although why I remember this I’m not sure because she didn’t appear in that many of them.

She did seem to be in BBC TV drama a lot in those days and was in a number of films from the late forties onwards.

However there is one particular story that should be told – her meeting – face to face – with Howard Hughes.  The film she had starred in along with Victor Mature had had its premiere in New York – and a very successful one at that – and probably, because of the film, she was featured in a big American magazine in an article headed ‘the most beautiful Engish actresses’ and not long after she was approached by an American man after a performance of the play she was in, asking if she had ever heard of Howard Hughes. Of course she had and he promptly asked her to ask her agent to ring a specific Hollywood number.  From the subsequent call, she accepted a free trip to meet Hughes in Hollywood. She was flown over there in a special private section of the plane and put up in luxury in Hollywood.

When eventually she did meet him at his office she describes him as ‘this rather emaciated man dressed in what looked like an all-in-one cotton suit, sporting a very bushy beard with very long nails. But far from looking as he sounds, he was actually quite well groomed; weird looking but well groomed’.

He then said ‘ Good Evening Miss Gayson. I’m Howard Hughes and I have been looking forward to meeting you.’  She asked if he had a specific film part for her but he didn’t have exlaining that this was just a general meeting. Eunice was aware that Anita Eckberg had signed up with RKO which Howard Hughes owned, and then she had virtually disappeared from the public eye. She then told him that she was tired and needed to retire.

After this she seemed to be escorted around Hollywood by various ‘minders’ and would have been  treated to almost anything she wished for but she did not latch on to this at all. Then it was made known to her that Hughes wanted her to sign a long term film contract. She told his  secretary that she was unsure. She phoned her agent and he explained that she would be a millionaire within 18 months if she accepted but she was still wary and was uncomfortable and wanted to return home to England. This proved more difficult than she had imagined as she seemed to be chaperoned by the Howard Hughes organisation wherever she went although she tried to escape through all sorts of ways including the laundry shute from her hotel.

When  all else failed she got permission to stay with her aunt in New York who was troubled by these events, and managed to get her to the airport to fly home. Even then there was a considerable worry because the airline was TWA – owned by Howard Hughes.

With the help of her aunt , she finally escapoed the clutches of Howard Hughes and his entourage and arrived back in England. One of the first things she did on her return was to change agents

This, to me, nearly  coincides with another seemingly unrelated story – but I wonder. Around this time, or actually a little before this, Richard Todd had flown to the USA to make the film ‘A Man Called Peter’ and his co-star was Jean Peters. However he said that he never seemed able to meet her or have any social time with her for the whole eight to ten weeks or so. She had flown in just before the filming commenced and seemed to have a female minder with her at all times. He only discovered after the film was made that she was in a similar situation, again with Howard Hughes – and she married him shortly after this incident.

Jean Peters married Howard Hughes in 1957 and A Man Called Peter was released in April 1955. The Eunice Gayson episode was in very early 1957, so in a way these two stories do have a link.

Jean Peters.

Jean Peters was a very beautiful actress – and this is another angle on the story.

In 1957, after her divorce , Jean Peters married Howard Hughes. Soon after that, he retreated from public view and became considered an eccentric recluse.    The couple had met in the 1940s before she became a film actress.  One source said said that Jean Peters was “the only woman [Hughes] ever loved.” He reportedly had his security officers follow her everywhere even when they were not in a relationship. The actor Max Showalter confirmed this, after becoming a close friend of Peters during shooting of Niagara (1953).

In 2004, Showalter said in an interview that Hughes’ men had threatened to ruin his career if he did not leave her alone.

During her marriage, which lasted from 1957 to 1971, Jean Peters retired from acting and social events in Hollywood.

In 1971, Jean Peters and Howard Hughes divorced. She agreed to a lifetime settlement of $70,000 per annum, adjusted for inflation, and she waived all claims to Hughes’ estate. Despite being divorced from her though, a handwritten will was found three weeks after Hughes’s death where he gave US$ 156 million to split equally between Jean Peters and Ella Rice (his other ex-wife). In the media, she refused to speak about the marriage, claiming she preferred to focus on the present and future.   She said that she hoped to avoid being known as ‘Mrs. Howard Hughes’ for the rest of her life, although knowing that would be difficult.”I’m a realist. I know what the score is, and I know who the superstar is.”

Later in 1971, Peters married Stan Hough, an executive with 20th Century Fox.  They were married until Hough’s death in 1990.

Hammer Films were riding on a high when this film was made. Following on from The Curse of Frankenstein and The Mummy – both very good films and ones that did well worldwide and particularly in the USA.

 Peter Cushing starred as Sherlock Holmes with Andre Morrell another favourite of mine and I really don’t know why, along with Christopher Lee as Sir Henry Baskerville who is in mortal danger from the legendary hound.

Also cast was Ewen Solon, Miles Malleson and the great John Le Meseurier.

Miles Malleson appears as the local vicar who is an expert in spiders – this was a part written into the story for the film version only becuse it does not appear in the book at all.

The story opens with a sequence back in history which tells of the origins of The Hound of the Baskervilles when the wicked Sir Hugo brutally deals with his staff and particularly his women – one of whom refuses his advances and runs away. He pursues her with a pack of hunting hounds but they turn back in fear when they get into the marshes – there is obviously something that they don’t like.   Sir Hugo in his wild mood just carries on and attacks and kills the young woman – and at that point he hears the growl of a wild animal. He looks terrified and his end comes at that point although we do not see it.

See this excerpt in the Link below :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=VEbPcsIcJ_8

This was Hammer Films at their best almost –

Shortly after their brilliant adaptations of the classic tales of Frankenstein and Dracula,  British Hammer Studios decided to have their take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s immortal detective Sherlock Holmes with “The Hound of the Baskervilles” (1959). This turned out to be a splendid idea, as the Hammer formula works magnificently with Doyle’s work. Hammer once again teams up Horror’s greatest duo, Peter Cushing (as Sherlock Holmes) and Christopher Lee (as Sir Henry Baskerville).  In addition, the film features André Morell (who would also star in several other Hammer productions including “The Plague of the Zombies” of 1966) as Doctor Watson. Hammer’s trademark eerie Gothic atmosphere with foggy grounds, dark forests etc. fits the “Baskervilles” story like a glove.
The film begins truly creepy, with a prologue set in the early 18th century, when Sir Hugo Baskreville, a cruel nobleman who likes to play sadistic games with peasants, gets what he had coming when he makes the encounter of a mysterious beast. From then on, the wild, dog-like creature is known and feared as the ‘Hound of The Baskervilles’; according to a curse, this hound is supposed to return and kill any Baskerville who dares to enter the moorlands where Sir Hugo found his end… In the 1880s, the great detective Sherlock Holmes is told about the sudden and mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville, a descendant of Sir Hugo.  Holmes and Doctor Watson travel to the Dartmoor in England  to investigate and to meet the new owner, Sir Henry Baskerville, who does not believe in what he considers to be ‘old wive’s tales’… at first…

The film does change the original story in some details, mainly by adding Horror elements that underline the Hammer-typical creepiness and Gothic atmosphere. Peter Cushing simply is the perfect choice to play Sherlock Holmes. This brilliant actor was fantastic in any role he played, of course, but that of the most famous detective in fiction is one of those that he is particularly predestined for. André Morell is great as Dr. Watson and Christopher Lee is, as always, good  in his role. Cushing and Lee truly were the ultimate duo in Horror cinema.  It is easy to see why Christopher Lee and the late Peter Cushing were best friends in real-life, when watching their ingenious work in any of the films they did together.   Directed by Hammer’s  Terence Fisher, “The Hound of the Baskervilles” is another great example for Hammer’s glorious style of eerie yet beautiful settings, haunting atmosphere and suspenseful storytelling. The settings and photography are wonderful as in most classic Hammer tales, and the entire film is greatly crafted.

Private eye ‘listened to Marilyn die’

To many readers this is may not be a name that you will know.   However to people of North Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire he was a very well known and well respected figure from the world of Cinema – not to mention one of the most knowledgeable people about films.

He passed away just days after receiving his MBE, awarded in the Queen’s New  Year Honours, at Grimsby’s St Andrew’s Hospice, where he was being cared  for.

His death was officially announced to filmgoers this morning, who responded  with a round of applause in tribute.

R

Bob Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003)

Son Of Paleface (1952) — directed by Frank Tashlin and co-starring Jane Russell and Roy Rogers (and Trigger, seen here) — is not only one of the best Western spoofs, but also it must be a strong contender for Funniest Movie Ever Made.

The original “Paleface” feature was pretty good, but this sequel is actually better, in large part due to the addition of Roy Rogers and Trigger. Rogers and Bob Hope are two of the most likeable performers that the movies have seen, and together they seem like old friends who have stopped by for an enjoyable visit. Jane Russell is also back from the original movie, though in a different role.
The story is good fun as long as you don’t take it seriously. It’s actually rather well-written, in that it accommodates all three stars with material well-suited for them.

Bob Hope gets plenty of one-liners and similar gags, and he pulls off even the goofiest of them with energy and aplomb.  Roy Rogers gets the chance to do some singing and to have some action sequences, and Trigger gets several good moments. Jane Russell is given a character that allows her to stay within the role of the tough, glowering beauty.
There are enough connections to the first movie to add to the enjoyment if you have seen it, but “Son of Paleface” could also easily stand on its own, and in fact overall it is probably the better film.

Towards the end of the film, is a chase with Bob Hope in the covered wagon, resulting in this great matte shot of the wagon careering along very close to a cliff edge – I love this shot –  above.   Maybe not the best matte in the world but pretty effective on screen.

Another great picture – above – shows Roy Rogers and Bob Hope with Trigger and Jane Russell laughing along in the background.

What a gem of a film this is – and so colourful. Showing my age a little now, I remember in the early days of British Colour Television I was out with friends at a local pub and showing on this NEW Colour TV was this film ‘Lili’ and that memory still remains with me to this day purely because of the  bright colour – actually on a TV screen !!!   That seemed miraculous after all the TV years in Black and White – although I have to say television was very good in those days too. This film though was perfect to show off colour – and still is I think.

The film was released in 1953.

An absolutely perfect little film, “Lili” is probably Mel Ferrer’s best known movie role. He plays ex-dancer and crippled puppeteer Paul Bertholet opposite Leslie Caron in one of her most famous roles as the titled heroine. A musical fantasy based on a short story by Paul Gallico, Lili is a 16-year-old orphan left unexpectedly alone in a harsh world. She attaches herself to a glamorous magician called Marcus the Magnificent (played with just the right touch of shallow charm and careless concern by Jean-Pierre Aumont) and guilelessly follows him back to the carnival where he performs. When Marc’s half-hearted attempt to get her a job proves disastrous, the destitute Lili contemplates suicide, but the lame puppeteer Paul – who’s been watching from afar – uses one of his puppets to lure her back to safety and straight into his impenetrable heart.

Paul hires Lili to be part of his act and the new show, which features Lili interacting with his four puppets, becomes an overwhelming success. But Paul is too bitter and jealous to express his love for Lili except through the puppets, and after a particularly ugly argument with him, Lili decides to leave the show. Miles away from the carnival, she daydreams that her only true friends –  the four puppets – are walking beside her. As she dances with each of them, they transform one by one into their puppeteer, and she understands at last that the puppets who love her are in fact Paul.

Much of the charm of Lili rests with the casting of the film and Charles Walters’ crystal clear conception of the fantasy that borders on reality. Lili’s dreams are expressed in dance sequences, immaculately choreographed by Walters.  Ex-ballerina Leslie Caron is still as much dancer as actress in 1953, and both her male co-stars have enough dance in their backgrounds to be effective. Mel Ferrer in particular brings elegance and musical style to the final ballet sequence.

This film was a huge hit for MGM, adored equally by critics and the public, and receiving Academy Award nominations for Leslie Caron in the leading role, director Charles Walters, a nomination for the film itself and most significantly an Oscar win for the enormously popular song used throughout, “Hi Lili,” written by Bronislau Kaper.

 The song was sung in the film by Leslie Caron as Lili and Mel Ferrer as the puppet Carrottop, and residuals from sales of released recordings still accrue, indicating how much the music continues to be loved. Variations on the tune were used effectively for the final ballet sequence, as well.

While many reviews indicate the film belongs to Leslie Caron, who is truly inspired as the sweetly innocent Lili, the success of the film owes as much to the ensemble cast. It’s difficult to imagine any of the roles with other actors. The final ballet owes much to Mel Ferrer’s dance background, but his radio experience and fluent language skills also helped him create the unique characters of the four puppets, all of whom were voiced by the actor. And the surly Paul with his tortured romantic soul suited him perfectly. After 50 years, it’s still the role for which Mel Ferrer is best known, a true tribute to his part in this flawless gem.

Ironically – given the film’s enormous success – “Lili” was to become Mel Ferrer’s final starring role in a movie made in Hollywood. Although he co-starred in two more movies for MGM they were filmed overseas, and it was while shooting “Knights of the Round Table” in England that he met Audrey Hepburn. After their marriage in 1954 he lived and worked predominantly in Europe, never really capitalising on his biggest cinema triumph. “Lili” played a pivotal part in their romance, however. Apparently Miss Hepburn fell in love with Paul Bertholet before ever meeting Mel Ferrer and it prompted her to ask Gregory Peck to introduce her to him during the summer of 1953 while all three were in London.  Less than a year later Mel Ferrer was seated next to Audrey Hepburn when her name was announced instead of Leslie Caron’s for the coveted Oscar.

Leslie Caron (b. 1931) was the star of this film.  She was 22 years old when it was made, playing a 16 year old girl.  Her first film was An American in Paris (1951) with Gene Kelly (1912 – 1996) and is certainly the film she is most remembered for.  Lili was her fifth film.

Lili had in it many of those 1950s actors and actresses that nobody remembers. It also included Zsa Zsa Gabor (b. 1917) as a magician’s assistant, also in her fifth film but this was very much a bit part.

For Mel Ferrer (1917 – 2008)  Lili was his seventh film.  Look for him in later hits; The Longest Day (1962), Sex and the Single Girl (1964), and on TV in “Falcon Crest.”

Leslie Caron – above – seen interacting with the puppets, who come alive for her and for the viewers.

I am also copying in this review from the IMDB site which I thought was a good one:-

‘Lili’ opens in the bright atmosphere of a French town with a likeable 16-year-old orphan looking for a job with her deceased father’s old friend… Lili soon discovers that the place is close and the baker with whom she came to work with has died a month ago…
With no money, no family, and no place to go, Lili meets Marc, a delightful entertainer who offers her a job as a waitress in a traveling carnival show…
Marc’s hilarious blend of comedy and magic leaves the wistful Lili roaring with laughter… Marc is breathtakingly good on stage… He is blessed with the fastest hands in the business… Lili is fired, that same night, for spending too much time watching his whole act…
Feeling intensely sad, hopeless, drained and helpless, Lili thinks of killing herself… She begins to climb a highly wooden staircase, ignoring a gently voice calling her to come along… She is distracted by a group of character puppets, who helps her forget her sorrow…
Lili is introduced to Carrot Top, the interesting fellow capable of running his life and everybody else; to Golo, the cowardly giant longing to be loved; to Reynaldo, the thief and opportunist full of compromises and lies; and finally to Marguerite, the vain, jealous beauty obsessed with self…
Childishly happy with the colourful puppets, and not realising that she is having a big impact, Lili receives the ovation that ignites her creative spark, responding to the four unique puppets losing herself in their questions and imaginations…
When she is asked to sing, Lili belts out an old song of love… The entire company of puppets behind her joined in for a stirring chorus… This was executed to perfection that night – accompanied by the waltzing music of the accordion…
The show is a hit! Lili’s childish manner proves she can entertain, persuade and appeal…
But Lili remains dazzled by Marc, who reinforces his spoken humor with visual effects… She dislikes the boss, Paul Berthalet, believing him to be cruel, heartless, frustrated and always angry…
Mel Ferrer had the talent for improvisation… He uses his puppets with humor, voice sound effects, stories and more…He captures Lili’s heart and soul… And by speaking through his models he was able to express his anxiety, curiosity, austerity, and confusion…
Lili, touched by the magic of romance, comes to understand the meaning of love much later… She tells Marcus: ‘I’ve been living in a dream like a little girl, not seeing what I didn’t want to see.’ She discovers that the love exuding from her adorable puppets comes from the loves of that unreasonable, mean, jealous, bitter puppeteer…
Jean-Pierre Aumont adds his charm to the whole story, and remains the beautiful magician armed with an exceptionally likable stage personality…
Kurt Kaszner continues to be Paul’s loyal and peaceful friend who explains to the delicate girl that the boss had once been a great dancer until his leg was injured in the war and could no longer dance…
Zsa Zsa Gabor behaves as the glamorous assistant whose fervent desire is to reveal to everybody her secret…
Charles Walters’ motion picture is not very musical, but his film culminates in a delightful dream ballet… Caron demonstrates a graceful dancing…
The movie received six Academy Award nominations including Leslie Caron as Best Actress in a Leading Role, and won the Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, and accommodated the hit song “Hi Lili, Hi Lo.’