Young Cassidy - a John Ford film directed by Jack Cardiff

YOUNG CASSIDY Or: SEAN O'CASEY IN LOVE ? One of 1965's under-rated gems is this biopic of Irish writer Sean O'Casey, a perfect example of American film-making in England in the '60s. It was a project dear to John Ford, but he only spent a few weeks on the film due to illness, so esteemed photographer Jack Cardiff took over, having directed the successful D.H. Lawrence adaptation SONS AND LOVERS himself in 1960.



Ford may only have directed a couple of scenes - the pub fight and meeting Daisy Battles (the radiant young Julie Christie) and the death of Sean's mother, the noble Flora Robson. The cast here is the thing: Rod Taylor is an agreeable presence, ideal in THE BIRDS etc, and certainly makes for a brawling playright! Maggie Smith is Nora, the bookshop girl he loves, but she cannot deal with his growing success and the world he wants to live in. Julie (just before DARLING and DR ZHIVAGO that year) is the happy prostitute he meets a few times, Dame Flora is perfect as the ailing mother, Sian Phillips his poverty-stricken sister - and then theres Edith Evans as Lady Gregory who runs the Abbey Theatre, and Michael Redgrave as W.B.Yeats - heavyweights indeed. Add in Pauline Delaney as the randy landlady, Donal Donnelly, Joe Lynch, Jack McGowran and other assorted Irish characters.


Ford and Cardiff on set, above right.

The Easter Rebellion of 1916 plays out in the background as O'Casey steals books from Maggie's shop and gets his first play written and staged, but he cannot cash his first cheque to pay for his mother's funeral! Finally, he leaves for England and the successes waiting for him. The Dublin backgrounds are nicely staged along with the poverty of the time and its all a breezy romp touching certainly on events in the early O'Casey's life. O'Casey's plays are still being revived, I am off to a National Theatre revivial of JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK in the new year.

My Week With Marilyn - a first review, by Liz Smith

American columnist Liz Smith has given her view on MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, it has not opened here in the UK yet (next week) but I can quite agree with her individual point of view, particularly on Dominic Cooper (who is also playing Uday Hussein currently) as Milton Greene, and then there is Dougray Scott as Arthur Miller - lightweight or what? (MM was staying with Milton Greene and his wife then, he took some the best photographs of her during that time).

Here is Smith's view:

"Much has been said — mostly by the film’s star, Michelle Williams — about the difficulty of portraying the many sides of Marilyn, her variety of voices and personas. Miss Williams is a wonderful actress and no doubt she means every word she utters, but the Marilyn of her creation is a dreary, depressed, dim creature. In fact, it is the Marilyn of Arthur Miller’s “The Misfits.” (Marilyn hated her role in that film, complaining endlessly of the girl’s passivity.)

This movie is based on the highly suspect memoirs of Colin Clark, a lowly go-fer on the set of “The Prince and the Showgirl,” which was filmed in London, in 1956. Colin and Monroe became “close” he averred. The characterization offers nothing of Monroe’s wit, humor, intelligence or — and this is vital — her anger. Her reactions to events were not always a depressed collapse. She was capable of intense, extraordinary rages. She had a sharp tongue. She could fight back, and she did. But “My Week With Marilyn” presents nothing but her fears. Or a perceived stupidity. Williams has to utter lines like, “Gee, I wish I could read all these books” when entering a library, or, “I met the Queen. She said my dress was pretty.”

Worse, all the other characters in the film — Kenneth Branagh as Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench as Dame Sybil Thorndike, Julia Ormond as Vivien Leigh, Eddie Redmayne as Colin — are compelled to say how “extraordinary” Monroe is, despite her neurotic behavior. Then we see Miss Williams enacting various scenes from “The Prince and the Showgirl.” Problem? She is not Marilyn Monroe. And so, she does not seem extraordinary at all. I admire Miss Williams for her efforts and sincerity, but in the end, she has given one more imperfect impersonation of Marilyn.

HOWEVER, the worst served by “My Week With Marilyn” is the late photographer Milton Greene. This man admired and loved Marilyn, encouraged her ambitions, supported her financially during her year-long strike against 20th Century Fox. He co-produced “The Prince and the Showgirl.” Their partnership ended badly, but he never spoke ill of her, never exploited their relationship or her image. Dominic Cooper plays Milton like a foul-mouthed NYC gangster, just another user. One wonders what Amy Greene, Milton’s ex-wife, who lived through The Marilyn Years with Milton, would think of this portrayal. (I ran into Amy Greene by chance, just last year. Still razor-sharp, she spoke lovingly of both Marilyn and Milton, “That was their golden time,” she said.)

You know what? Just check out “The Prince and the Showgirl” the next time Turner Classic Movies runs it. It is a testament to the talents of Monroe and Milton Greene.

No more pretty blonde ladies playing dress up, pretending to be Marilyn. It just doesn’t work. Sorry, Michelle."

Now let's see how the English critics respond! As I have said before here, Jack Cardiff who photographed THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL caught Marilyn at her loveliest, he liked her a lot and has a very perceptive chapter on her in his essential autobiography MAGIC HOUR which renders all those other MM books redundant.

A movie I loved: The Misfits

Let's go back to the early '60s, that great era of black and white pictures and intense dramas (DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES, THE MIRACLE WORKER, ALL FALL DOWN, LOLITA etc) - few generated such interest as the shoot for THE MISFITS in Reno, Nevada back in 1960, I would have been 14 and remember reading various location reports, it seemed like every journalist and magazine was covering it. The film when it appeared in 1961 seemed too downbeat to be a popular success - maybe it was not what was expected from a Marilyn Monroe film, and Gable looking old at 59 had just died; then with Monroe's death in '62 and Clift's in '66, by the end of the '60s onwards the film was a ghostly elegy for a vanished Hollywood era. Its been marvellous though seeing Wallach now still acting in his 90s.

Marilyn and Clift on location:

But since then this John Huston production took on a life of its own, as that Monroe cult took root and grew as the '60s progressed. We had to have those early MM books picturing her as a tortured genius or damaged goddess, like "Marilyn The Tragic Venus" (I liked the red cover), or Fred Guiles "Norma Jean" with that silver Cecil Beaton shot on the cover, and of course "The Films of Marilyn Monroe", and all the other books focusing on her 20th Century Fox period, Marilyn in New York, every photograher of the time seemed to have their own collection of Marilyn photos (Bob Willoughby, Sam Shaw etc and those terrific pictures by Milton Greene, and Cecil Beaton - and of course Eve Arnold of Magnum who covered the making of THE MISFITS and knew Marilyn and had taken some great shots of her, as featured in several of Arnold's books [right]. Then of course came the sensational Norman Mailer volume in 1973 highlighting those late great photo sessions by George Barris and Bert Stern, cementing Marilyn's legend. Throughout all this THE MISFITS was the movie MM buffs had to keep returning to, watching it every time it screened on televsion or at a revival house, in that pre-video age. (The later books of course sought to portray her as a murder victim, we got the morgue shot, finally Spoto's tome seemed to portray what really happened....)

I over-dosed on it myself, and knew every frame of it so well, this odd, haunting tale of lost people trying to connect in that divorce town Reno - Roslyn Taber awaiting her divorce, a lost soul, rooming at Thelma Ritter's (who has some lovely moments here), Gable as Gay Langland the ageing cowboy, Perce the rootless rodeo player (Montgomery Clift), Guido (Eli Wallach) resentful that his wife died and his uncompleted house, he also desires Roslyn as she and Gay drift together. Those moments like Roslyn hugging the tree in the moonlight, and the party at Guido's unfinished house. Then (what must have attracted Huston to the concept) the scenes of hunting the wild horses which will be used for dogfood, and Roslyn's disgust and making the men face up to themselves. Then we are so involved as the horses are freed and Gay and Roslyn drive home - that fadeout for two of Hollywood's greats... it got me every time, so much so that once when I and my then partner were going away for the weekend in a motor caravan and the BBC was screening THE MISFITS I had to take a portable televison with me, to watch it once again. Russell Metty's photography, particularly the climactic scenes with the horses, is so brilliant, and of course Arthur Miller's screenplay. Stories from the location became legend, the breakdown of the Miller-Monroe marriage, her trouble getting to the set, and so on.

I used to have this quad poster framed on my wall back in the 70s and 80s, and still have the poster now.

Over the years one's fascination with THE MISFITS waned, as one returned to Marilyn the comedienne and those Fox movies like NIAGRA, GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE and I particularly like how she looked and sang in those 2 1954 films where she glows and which cemented her stardom: THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS and RIVER OF NO RETURN. After THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH and BUS STOP there was that new Marilyn who never looked lovelier (as shot by Jack Cardiff) in THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL, and then the legendardy shoot for SOME LIKE IT HOT (still only the best comedy ever) and then her return to Fox for the damp squib of LET'S MAKE LOVE and that new look early '60s Marilyn for SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE - as per other posts on her at the Marilyn link. We will always though have THE MISFITS, even if I don't need to see it again. It is a key Huston film too of couse, fitting in with that great run he had in the late '50s/early '60s: HEAVEN KNOWS MR ALLISON, THE UNFORGIVEN, THE MISFITS and NIGHT OF THE IGUANA. And now we have Michelle Williams' take on Marilyn in MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, where it seems she is capturing the essence of MM ?

My week with Marilyn ?

This is going to be one fascinating movie - but will it work? Michelle Williams who was so great in MEEK'S CUTOFF (review at Westerns label) is hardly one's first choice as Marilyn, but judging by the clips she somehow seems to convey the essence of MM without impersonating her. All the other girls who played Marilyn (ususally in cheesy telemovies) were of course hilariously awful, this though could be interesting. Some unusual casting too - Kenneth Branagh should be able to suggest Olivier, and Judi Dench Dame Sybil Thorndike - but Dougray Scott as Arthur Miller?

It is of couse based on the book by Colin Clark and captures Monroe at an interesting juncture. She has been tired of being the 20th Century Fox sex symbol and had moved to New York where her friend Milton Greene and others had taken some wonderful studies of her and then they set up this filmTHE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL to be made in England and directed by Laurence Olivier who also stars, and photographed by ace cameraman Jack Cardiff, who liked her a lot, as per his book MAGIC HOUR. It was of course a legendary troubled shoot, as detailed in all those Monroe books, but did she ever look lovelier even crammed into that tight dress? We will always have the film, I saw it again a while back, not entirely successful but it has some lovely moments [review at MM, Cardiff labels]. It should be fascinating then to see how it is presented here ....

6 very good-looking films

Six of the best colour films ever? certainly 6 of my favourites ...





I have written plenty on here on the above favourites of mine, as per labels, but here is a toast to some great photography: BLACK NARCISSUS and PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN by Jack Cardiff, PLEIN SOLEIL by Henri Decae, THE LEOPARD by Guiseppe Rotunno, MODESTY BLAISE by Jack Hildyard, BLOW-UP by Carlo Di Palma - all 40 or 50 years ago!

The Prince and the Showgirl, again

Nice to spend a lazy afternoon having another look at this enduring 1957 title, which like RAINTREE COUNTY and FUNNY FACE and LES GIRLS were key movies for me that year. Jack Cardiff's glowing photography certainly renders Marilyn looking her loveliest - though squeezed into that tight white dress she looks positively chubby if not downright fat (or zaftig?) by today's skinny standards. One can now appreciate a lot more Olivier's sly performance as the Prince Regent, and of course those legion stories of the difficulties of it's making - there is even going to be a film on it, from the book by Colin Clark [with, would you believe, Judi Dench as Sybil Thorndike! - Kenneth Branagh and Michelle Williams impersonate the warring leads...).

The period detail is nice and there is a good supporting cast of British reliables: Sybil Thorndike, Jean Kent, solid Gladys Henson as the theatre dresser and best of all a good substantial role for splendid Richard Wattis - that stalwart of almost every British film of the '50s and early '60s - as the equerry. He has some nice scenes with Monroe, as indeed does young Jeremy Spencer (below) as the young prince - but what happened to him thereafter? He is one of those young actors who seem to define an era, here the late 50s, but then seems to vanish. I dare say as the '60s began there was a whole new raft of actors emerging ... but there he was with Marilyn here, a scene with Katharine Hepburn in SUMMERTIME, the young man stalking Vivien Leigh in THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS STONE to whom she throws down the keys at the end, and he was also in a few other films, then he seems to have disappeared! Most other actors keep working in smaller roles or on television once their hot years are over...



This is also Terence Rattigan's centenary year - and this is one of his scripts. Some lovely moments include Marilyn's closeups in the carriage and cathedral scenes where she never looked more radiant, despite the turmoil going on at the time. Cardiff's book MAGIC HOUR on his illustrious career has a chapter on Monroe which really makes all the other books on her redundant. Highly recommended, as per other Cardiff posts here, at label.

Pandora, again, on the big screen!

I did a rave about PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN a while back, Albert Lewin's fantastically styled delirious surreal swoonsome melodrama from 1951. Yesterday a friend and I saw it again on the big screen at a special matinee at the local art cinema, and it was a revelation. There is just so much in it to savour - those interiors, Ava's endless supply of amazing dresses and lush close-ups of her. There couldn't have been anyone more beautiful than her then, and James Mason is also magnetic as the mysterious Dutchman whose schooner arrives in that Spanish bay, as the expats enjoy the local culture, headed by playgirl Pandora and her admirers including Marius Goring drinking himself to death and motor racer Nigel Patrick who will send his beloved car over the cliff when Pandora asks him to, and then that bullfigher who wants to eliminate the competition so he can have Pandora to himself - but the Dutchman cannot be got rid of that easily, as Pandora finds out that "the measure of one's love is what one will give up for it". Jack Cardiff's photography is up there with his work on BLACK NARCISSUS. Its a movie one can sink into and watch again just to savour those moments. Its now in my top 20!

Next up on the big screen: revivals of BONJOUR TRISTESSE [more on that later with some nice photos] and maybe THE INNOCENTS [already discussed here as per label] in the current Deborah Kerr season in London.

Another perfect Jack Cardiff moment ....

I loved the 1958 Henry Hathaway adventure LEGEND OF THE LOST when I saw it as a kid and had become fascinated by Sophia Loren (from the previous year's BOY ON A DOLPHIN and that Italian film WOMAN OF THE RIVER) and its still terrific now - call it what you will: a Sahara western, an oater, a programmer - its still terrific entertainment as John Wayne (iconic as ever), 23 year old Sophia, and Rosanno Brazzi trek into the Sahara from Timbuktu in search of lost treasure and find that ancient Roman ruined city (below) which looks rather like Leptis Magna in Libya (one of those places I must get to see...).

What rises this above the usual films of its type though is that it was photographed by Jack Cardiff - the desert never looked more attractive, well apart from in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Whether its Sophia cooking by sunset (above) or deep in the ruined city it always looks terrific. The shots are as good as any in those other classics lensed and lit by Cardiff: BLACK NARCISSUS, PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA, THE RED SHOES, A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH etc. Jack also pulled off the same trick with Fleisher's THE VIKINGS - that too still looks perfect now, as does his work on THE AFRICAN QUEEN, WAR AND PEACE, THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL etc - Ekberg, both Hepburns, Loren, Monroe, Ava, Leigh etc all look their best when lit by Jack Cardiff.

Pandora, Ava, Cardiff, Lewin ... Magic Time

A new print of PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, 1950, is the centrepiece of retrospectives on Jack Cardiff and Albert Lewin at London's BFI at the moment (as well as on Agnes Varda - but more on her and Jacques Demy later). Everything about PANDORA is everything that cinema should be - unlike say that drearily predictable new Robin Hood of Crowe and Scott! From that lush Technicolor and Cardiff's way with lighting Ava Gardner and James Mason in their swooning romanticism; I found myself pausing several scenes just to take in the astonishing detail and those great Cardiff shots (as in that fabulous restaurant scene with the blue sky and Ava in that yellow dress) its very surreal in places ... it has a lot in common actually with Mankiewicz's THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA which Cardiff also lit and photographed in '54. (I've just realised Ava and Mason were Franz Joseph and Elizabeth of Austria [Sissi] in Terence Young's MAYERLING in '68 but can't remember any scenes they had together...it succeeded though in making Deneuve and Sharif pallid and uninteresting, at least Genevieve Page was also briefly on board.)

Albert Lewin was one of Hollywood's eccentric talents with that legacy of fascinating films like the 1945 PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY and THE AFFAIRS OF BEL AMI where George Sanders excels, as ever. Cardiff - who died in his 90s last year - has related how he shot all those great films in his memoir "Magic Hour": the Powell-Pressburger productions in the '40s, rousing adventures like THE VIKINGS and that Sahara western LEGEND OF THE LOST (where he relates a chaste romance he had with young Sophia Loren (before her marriage to Ponti) and did Marilyn Monroe ever look more adorably beautiful than in THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL? His chapter on Monroe makes all those other books on her redundant.

Cardiff turned to directing himself - his 1960 SONS AND LOVERS has some great black and white photography and is a terrific version of Lawrence with that great pairing of Wendy Hiller and Trevor Howard as the warring parents, and Mary Ure in one of her rare film roles. YOUNG CASSIDY in 1965 - taken over from ailing John Ford - is an adequate version of Sean O'Casey's early life (as depicted by Rod Taylor) and is a great example of American movie-making in England in the '60s with again a superlative cast: Maggie Smith, the radiant young Julie Christie, Edith Evans, Michael Redgrave, Flora Robson, Sian Philips and a lot of familiar Irish faces.

But back to PANDORA - delirious wonderful film-making at its best, as of course are BLACK NARCISSUS, THE RED SHOES, A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH.