1963. The 35th Academy Awards were given out in April 193, and recognized films released in 1962. The nominees for Best Picture are “Lawrence of Arabia” (Columbia, David Lean, director; Sam Spiegel, producer), “The Longest Day” (20th Century Fox, Darryl Zanuck, producer), “The Music Man”, Mutiny on the Bounty” (MGM, Lewis Milestone, director), and “To Kill a Mockingbird” (Universal International, Alan Pakula, producer). The screenplay for “To Kill a Mockingbird” was written by Horton Foote, a first cousin of one of my colleagues. Foote wrote many plays. I remember seeing “The Chase” being produced at Saint Edwards University with Carl Betz (who at the time was the actor who played the husband in “The Donna Reed Show” and would go on to star in “Judd for the Defense”) in the starring role. (“The Chase” was later made into a so-so movie with Robert Redford as the escapee who was being chased.) Horton is also a third cousin of the historian Shelby Foote, who wrote the script for the great Ken Burns series “The Civil War”. “Lawrence of Arabia” is a historical drama based on the story of T. E. Lawrence in the early 20th century. It has a virtual all-star cast, including Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, and Omar Sharif. It recounts Lawrence’s self-conflict over war and being a military man, his work with the Arab population, and his involvement in a guerilla war against the Turks. In the end, he was removed from the area by being ordered home. There are some interesting things about this film. First, the music of Maurice Jarre played an important part in contributing to the passion of the film. Second, O’Toole was a relatively unknown actor; the first choice to play Lawrence was Albert Finney (who would go on to play Tom Jones in the move of the same name). After he turned it down Marlon Brando, Anthony Perkins (late of “Psycho”) and Montgomery Clift were also considered. Nowadays it is impossible to imagine anyone except O’Toole (who would also produce a great performance in “Network” a number of years later) in the role. Many rank “Lawrence of Arabia” among the greatest movies of all time. “The Longest Day” is a film about World War II based on a book by Cornelius Ryan. It is a compendium of interwoven stories of persons who participated in the invasion of Europe by the Allies. There are so many great actors who played parts in this movie, it is impossible to name them all. I shall however mention Paul Anka, who wrote the music for the movie and Gert Frobe (who would go on the next year to play one of the great villains in all of the James Bond films). Many of the actors had seen service in World War II, and thus brought a sense of realism to their roles. “The Music Man” is a musical based on the hit Broadway musical of the same name (and starring some of the persons who starred in the Broadway production). The great composer, songwriter, orchestrator, Meredith Willson wrote the musical. (Although his Broadway shows are well-known, Willson wrote all kinds of music including symphonies and scores for many films.) The musical is a paean to his childhood in Iowa and many of the things that make it delightful are the eccentricities with which he imbues the characters. From the very first piece (with multiple singers in Sprechstimme grousing about a particular traveling salesman who is giving a bad name to salesmen set to the tempo of the train’s wheels) to the last, it is filled with joyful music. The story is of the salesman (played by Robert Preston) and his conniving to get the people of River City (sounding a lot like Willson’s home of Mason City) to buy musical instruments. He meets the local librarian, who is also the piano teacher (played by Shirley Jones), whose younger brother has a lisp (played by Ron Howard). Somehow she knows the man is a conniver, but she likes what happens and falls in love with him. Hermione Gingold and Paul Ford play the leading citizens with all their eccentricities. The great Buddy Hackett plays a friend of the Music Man who has settled in River City, and the Buffalo Bills play the city council. Ultimately (in a musical scene somewhat reminiscent of “Picnic”) the librarian goes to a picnic where she comes to see the Music Man and goes with him to a private lovers’ area at a bridge. (“Ms. Marian, you are about 25 years too late in getting a fellow to the bridge.”) The play ends happily for everyone when the kids show they can play the great march (“76 Trombones”). A joyful movie that is carried by Preston and Jones, with the help of a great cast. “Mutiny on the Bounty” is a historical movie based on a novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Hall. It is the story of the mutiny that happened on the Bounty in the eighteenth century against Captain Bligh, led by Fletcher Christian. Twenty-seven years earlier a film of the same name, with essentially the same story, was released. The story of the mutiny is fairly well known, so I shall not repeat it here. The film starred Marlon Brando as Fletcher Christian, and Trevor Howard as William Bligh. Also in the movie was Richard Harris, who would star in several other interesting films in the next years. A great movie. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is, in my view, one of the finest movies of all time. Filmed in black and white, it is an adaptation of the novel of the same name (the only novel written by Harper Lee). The story is appropriate to the time, as it deals with black-white relations in the South, and about how an honorable white man who deals with the unjust trial of a black man. The story is told through the eyes of the man’s daughter. For me, this is one of those emotional movies, because I believe in the intrinsic goodness of decent people, and that is what Harper Lee tried to portray. Gregory Peck is excellent as Atticus Finch, the lawyer. How can anyone not be moved by final scene in which all of the black citizens in the gallery stand up as Atticus walks out of the courtroom, having failed to earn an acquittal, but earning the respect of the community. Scout is there in the gallery and is told “Stand Up, Miss Scout. Your father is passing by.” A truly great movie. With several great nominees, the Academy gave the award to “Lawrence of Arabia”. That decision is something with which one cannot really disagree, but I really wish there were a second award because “To Kill an Mockingbird” is a wonderful, emotional, honest picture. Among the other films of 1962 I could recommend are “Advise and Consent”, “The Birdman of Alcatraz”, “Cape Fear”, “David and Lisa”, “The Days of Wine and Roses” (a tragic story, with beautiful music by Henry Mancini, and great performances by Lee REmick and Jack Lemmon), “Gypsy” (with music by the great Jule Styne, and great performances by Rosalind Russell and Karl Malden), “Hatari” (Everyone remembers “The Baby Elephant Walk” by Henry Mancini), “How the West Was Won”, “Light in the Piazza”, “Lolita” (with interesting performances by James Mason, Sue Lyon, and Shelley Winters), “Long Days Journey into Night” (from the play by Eugene O’Neill and directed yb Sidney Lumet), “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (a John Ford Western with music by Cyril Mockridge and a theme song by Bachrach and David), “The Manchurian Candidate” (a scary movie in which Angela Lansbury plays an evil mother with aplomb), “The Miracle Worker” (the story of Helen Keller with Patty Duke as the young Keller and Ann Bancroft as her teacher), “Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation”, “Requiem for a Heavyweight” (with a screenplay by Rod Serling), “Ride the High Country” (with two great Western heroic actors, Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott), “The Road to Hong Kong” (the last “road” picture by Hope and Crosby), “State Fair” (a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical with the great Tom Ewell, Ann-Margaret, and Pat Boone, and of course the pig), “Sweet Bird of Youth” (Richard Brooks version of the Tennessee Williams play with Geraldine Page), “Taras Bulba”, “Tender is the Night” (based on the novel by F Scott Fitzgerald), “Walk on the Wild Side (with Jane Fonda), and “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” (in my book, one of Joan Crawford’s best acting jobs ever, and Bette Davis is always superb),
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 12:58:48 +0000