Today's Bill Collins Midday Movie is proudly brought to you by Chandler's.
Williams's.
And a very good afternoon to you. Do you like the old poster? That came from Photo Player
magazine in 1940 when Slightly Honourable was the main feature at the Embassy Theatre
in Sydney. Alas the Embassy is no more. It became a theatre for showing mainly British
films in the 1940s and so many good films I saw there. Well Slightly Honourable is rather
interesting. It was directed by Tay Garnett. Now Tay Garnett was a director who made many
good films. Trade Winds, which you're going to see this week, it's tomorrow strangely,
two Tay Garnett films in the one week. Tay Garnett, I think if memory serves me correctly,
directed one of my favourite Greer Garston films, The Valley of Decision, from a novel
by Marcia Davenport. A very intelligent man, a very quick witted director. Tay Garnett
had something to say about this film that's not very nice. As a matter of fact this film
caused virtually a permanent rift for many years between him and the producer Walter
Wanger. You know Walter Wanger? He's the producer who married a woman who appeared in a few
of his pictures, Joan Bennett. More about Walter Wanger this week because we have no
less than I think two or maybe even three Walter Wanger films during the week. Now Tay
Garnett had finished the film and then he was sick for a while so it had nothing to
do with its editing and he went to the premiere of the film in San Francisco, took Pat O'Brien
with him and I think one of the other actors and I quote from his autobiography, what we
saw at the premiere in San Francisco was a badly mutilated unfunny comedy. It had been
cut with a jigsaw and reassembled with a mix master. It was awful. So that's what Tay Garnett
thought. In actual fact Slightly Honorable is a very clever film, very funny. The dialogue
is really sharp and bright and you've got to listen. Now you've got to listen for two
reasons. One is to hear some fabulous dialogue spoken by a fabulous cast of character players.
The other reason is the plot is not all that easy to follow. Just enjoy the scenes. It
goes from film noir mean and moody and dark shadows to some very sparkling comedy and
a couple of scenes of inspired nonsense. Now a lot of the plot revolves around Claire Dodd.
Now Claire Dodd plays Alma. She's the one who says very early, how did I know I was
marrying the face on the bar room floor. So watch out for Claire Dodd. No, this is not
Claire Dodd. In this shot, it's not a good shot but I wanted to show you a couple of
people, Pat O'Brien with a moustache plays someone who's pretty sharp-witted too and
he rather likes Alma and Ruth Terry is a nightclub entertainer who takes a liking to Pat O'Brien.
Now Ruth Terry never became a big name in movies but she's a bright, perky little person
and adds a lot to the general fun and mayhem of Slightly Honourable. I like Ruth Terry.
And now here, one of my favourite character players, perhaps one of yours too, Edward
Arnold. Now this particular scene is one of the most unusual ideas I've never seen it
happen in a movie before where a whole lot of people are gathered in one room and they've
all got to take their shoes off for a special reason. Now can you imagine everybody taking
their shoes off? Watch Edward Arnold because something very, very funny happens and there's
a comment and all. You'll love the scene. I adore it. Now do you recognise two people
here? Eve Arden plays the secretary. Eve Arden is the secretary to Pat O'Brien and here's
an interesting actor still making his way. I mean, top star, and was to allude him for
a few years yet, Roderick Crawford. He and Pat O'Brien make a good team. Now also in
the cast we have Evelyn Keyes. Evelyn Keyes plays the secretary and she's quite scatterbrained
and a few other interesting people. I wonder if we might take another look. Yes, see Alan
Dinehart on one side of the screen. I like Alan Dinehart. He always impresses. And the
man in the rear of the shot, that's Bernard Nadel, who always looks as if, well he always
looks as if he's got some mean thoughts. Several other people in the cast to watch, people
we like like Douglas Dumbrill as George Taylor and Addison Richards as the inspector, Douglas
Fowley. I like all the people in it. And you know that this film is going to be quite witty,
not by the forward that you'll see, but by a remark that Pat O'Brien says. And right
at the opening where he and several other characters, Edward Arnold included, are carrying
a coffin out of a church at a big funeral and Edward, and Pat O'Brien makes the remark,
I had to write this one down. This is the first time he's been on the level. A lot of
witty moments and strictly honourable. Be considerate. The soundtrack could be a little
bit better, but the dialogue is witty, the film is fast. Enjoy the scenes, just enjoy
the fun. And I think you'll like, very much, much more than you expect, Slightly Honourable.
Today's Bill Collins midday movie was proudly brought to you by Chandlers. I hope you've
enjoyed Slightly Honourable. Were you surprised? You must have realised in the scene in the
car who the guilty party was. At one little point, I thought that was rather clever and
a marvellous scene in the cemetery. See, Slightly Honourable, I can understand why Tegar Nett
was upset because the film was a little bit, you know, like a fruitcake. Everything's all
in there together and you're not quite sure, there's no pattern to it. But I still think
the film works because of the people and because of some of the wit in the dialogue. I just
thought some of it was very funny, particularly the scene involving everybody having to take
the shoes off. That was a delightful notion. Well, that's Slightly Honourable. Tomorrow's
film is one that I like, I'm sure you will. It's also directed by Tegar Nett and it's
called Tradewinds. And Tradewinds stars Joan Bennet, Frederick March and Southern Ralph
Bellamy and Thomas Mitchell. I love the story of Tradewinds. I think in the first three
minutes Joan Bennet plays the Chopin Prelude. There's a murder and she's supposed to be
drowned and changes her hair colour. That happens about within about the first three
minutes of Tradewinds and that's enough to get any plot going. However, enough about
Tradewinds for the moment. I know you're going to like it. It's suspenseful, it's witty
and has a good cast. So I think you'll like that tomorrow. Music by Alfred Newman and
that's always an advantage. In a few minutes we have the return of Lorraine Bailey. Well,
I'm very pleased to say that Lorraine Bailey between rehearsals or rehearsal periods has
found time to come to the studio again today. Now the play is The Gingerbread Lady by Neil
Simon. Lorraine is preparing at the moment. It opens very soon at the Ensemble Theatre
in Sydney as almost certain to go to Melbourne and hopefully to Brisbane as well. But I know
everybody wants to hear what Lorraine has to say about a lot of things. Lorraine, The
Gingerbread Lady by Neil Simon, what is the play about and is it too much to say what
the title actually means? No, the title is actually mentioned in the play. The daughter
talks about a present that she was given when she was a child of this little gingerbread
lady. But it was biscuit, you know, the gingerbread man's biscuit. And that's, I think, where
the title comes from is The Gingerbread Lady, the crumbs, she can easily crumble. That's
why I think she's got a tough facade but she's a very vulnerable woman. And she's just come
out of a dry-out centre, you know, the equivalent of like Liz Taylor, Liza Mellon, all these
things. Oh, in the Betty Ford Clinic and all that, yes. So it's very timely in that regard.
And she's just come out and she's lost a lot of weight, which I have after the challenge.
And also she's gone off alcohol. She's an alcoholic. And so it's her trying to cope
after having come out of ten weeks in this dry-out centre and the obstacles that she
comes up against and the way she overcomes them. And generally that's how it starts.
And you have to see the play, you see, to see how much progress there is. In telling
me about The Gingerbread Lady, because I haven't seen the film, the film was... Only when I
laughed. Marsha Mason played the woman. Who was the girl? Krista McNicholson? That's right.
I played the daughter. But it was totally, totally different. They changed the story.
And I don't know why, because I don't think it's as good as the play. It says at the end,
you know, based on the play The Gingerbread Lady, but that based on is very loosely because
it's a pity. The play is so good and the movie, it was a good movie but it wasn't any more
interesting. It's not the same thing. Oh no. It doesn't have any content. You know, if
I don't even mention that, I recently saw Crimes of the Heart. Beth Henley, I think,
wrote the play. The name means a bit. Ideal vehicle for you. I know that you could play
any of the three characters and have a ball. But you know what they do in it. I mean, it's
a kitchen set in the play, but in the film they have flashbacks and I thought they destroyed
it a little. What did they break up about the flow? Well, we go into the past. It just
breaks the flow. I mean, the interesting thing about that is you have Diane Keaton, you have
Sissy Spassack and Jessica Lang together. It's funny, I nearly said Anne Bancroft, then
why? I know why because Sissy Spassack, that's right, yes, yes. And I thought, I don't want
these flashbacks because I don't want to see all these things that I guess you only heard
about in the play. And see, and then you set your own imagination going. That's right.
I think it can be more potent than anything sometimes. However, I love it, but my first
thoughts to Diane Keaton when we saw it was, I want to read the play. I want to read the
play or see the play to see what it's really like before it was transformed. However, getting
back to Gingerbread Lady, it sounds very interesting to me. It sounds, along the lines of what
we talked about yesterday, terribly serious, but treated very whistily. Yes, it is. She's
got all these wonderful one-liners and the other characters are so funny as well. There's
Jimmy, which is the male lead and that's played by Frank Garfield and it's a very, very funny
role as well. But again, he's also got the deeper side to him as well. And the girlfriend
Toby, who has a 40th birthday and never wants to grow old. I think. I think. It's a wonderful
role. And then the daughter has got so much guts and wanting and longing and, you know,
torn every which way trying to get this mother to be a mother. And then there's the lover,
Lou. That's the mother's lover. Yes, yes. And he's an interesting character.
It sounds terrific. I'd like to see this. And the grocery boy. And then there's the
grocery boy too that she kind of flirts with this newfound figure of hers and attractiveness
that... Like testing the wings of it. Absolutely. But she's a bit of an informant, too, you
see. I see. So it says in the play. So this is exactly as you say, testing it. Listen,
Lorraine, you're a long way from playing Eileen Bond in the challenge, aren't you? It's so
different. Yes, but then Eileen Bond was so different to so many other things that I'd
done. I mean, I'd never got to ride a motor scooter like that before. That was my favorite
part in it, actually. I'm putting on the weight. You know, I think actors and actresses are
very lucky people. You do get to learn to do certain things sometimes, don't you, that
otherwise you would never learn. It must broaden your view of life even. And people, the thing
is, each character you play, if you study that character, you learn so much about so
many different types of people. That's the part that I find absolutely fascinating, because
I love people and I love the way, you know, seeing how they tick and putting it all together.
You know, recently I presented Rhapsody in Blue in, I think, Melbourne and Sydney. I
saw it. Well, you know, I was thinking about it. Did you enjoy it? Yes, very much. Very
much. I said at the time, and I was thinking about it, you know, how lucky those actors
were in that film, that they were able to get in touch with Gershwin's music. And what
a special thrill Gershwin's music should have for them now. And what it does for us
after seeing the movie, it gives you such more insight, you know, so much more insight
into his music and the man and why certain music evolved. And you know what? It just
increases your enthusiasm for things. Like you have an enthusiasm for Neil Simon, whether
it be Neil Simon movie or a Neil Simon play. I mean, it means something. That's right.
Which leads me to say something I'll say it before and I'll say it again. Always read
the credits. I'll be back in just a moment. I'm talking to Lorraine Bailey. We're talking
about the gingerbread lady played by Neil Simon that Lorraine is busy rehearsing at
the moment. We've got a couple more minutes. Lorraine, let me ask you a few questions about
movies. Yes. First of all, do you have any particular favorite people on the screen?
Well, yes, I do. But they tend to be more in the in some of the older movies like Humphrey
Bogart. I think Humphrey Bogart is terrific. I always like Bette Davis, Joan Crawford type
movies. Yes. Always have. What is it about Joan? I think Joan's been underrated, you
know. I think she was a dynamo on this screen. Oh, so do I. But I mean, she was in movies
for years and years and years. And I mean, it's fun to see some of the little clips of
her way, way back in the very early movies. Oh, isn't it? 20s hairstyle and doing and
the dancing and all that. You just don't think of her when you see her in the 40s, you know,
with the lips and the hair. No, of course not. And the shoulders and all that. I find
the personalities are fascinating to me. Yes. Of the newer ones. Is this the space I like?
I like her. I find her very interesting and I always sort of want to see what she's doing.
You know, I always watch her in anything. Yes. Meryl Streep. Interesting. But I find
her a bit alienating. Yes. She doesn't, I don't think, oh, Meryl Streep movie, I must
go and see it. Whereas I would with some of the older. You know, Lorraine, now you've
mentioned that. I think an actress or actor must not do is alienate the audience. And
I may be a bit misguided here and correct me if I'm wrong, please do. I always feel
that if an actor alienates you, even if he's playing a heavy or she's playing a heavy,
then the thing isn't going to work quite so well. You've got to care. You've got to get
involved and you can't get involved if someone's alienating. For example, I find David Warner
alienates me. Sarah Miles alienates me, even in Ryan's Daughter. But I wonder why it's
interesting to know what is it they do that does alienate you? Is it their personality
or is it the way they're performing? Well, Sarah Miles always looks to me as if she's
on the edge of a nervous breakdown in a movie. David Warner is so cold. He does, he does
so well that if ever he's in a part which requires a little bit of sympathy, I can't
relate to him at all. I feel like with so many actors and actresses in movies today,
you don't care what happens to them in the end. I remember when I was studying acting
and Hayes Gordon was the teacher and he's such a clever man. I remember him saying once
that always keep something in reserve. When you're playing something, have the character
loaded but don't shoot your balls, I think it was the expression he used to use, until
it's absolutely necessary. And then that can give the character just more substance. I
see. And it's interesting because some of these people you're talking about, they seem
to give out, show everything too much, whereas look at your Crawford's and look at your Davis's
and your Humphrey Bogart and your Spencer Tracey's. They've got such loading underneath
and they just dole out what they want at the particular moment and maybe that has something
to do with it, that there's that extra something there you just don't quite know what's going
to happen. Right. They're built up inside them. We do wonder sometimes if a performance
in a play or a film, say it's a mystery where in the end we know who's going to be the culprit,
I wonder if it changes the performance to know who the villain is. You know what I mean?
If it's a mystery, say it's an Agatha Christie play and you're one of six people in that
play who could be the murderer. I wonder if it affects the performance. If you were never
told. Yes, if you were never told. I think we've got to say to all the people, the one
of you is and the one who is knows. Yes. And then you go on with the play. I just wonder,
it'd be interesting to know if people are affected by that. I'm sure it would. I think
it would be great, but I mean how could you? You've got to play it every night. Every night
of course. It would be interesting, wouldn't it? But what a challenge. I still think one
of the most interesting plays to do must be Witness of the Prosecution. Yes. Lorraine,
my music is playing. It's time to go. Tomorrow's movie is Trade Winds with Joan Bennett and
Frederick March and Anne Southern and Ralph Bellamy. Thank you Lorraine Bailey. Best of
luck with The Gingerbread Lady. Have the ensemble theatre cura billy. Have the ensemble theatre
cura billy. Good afternoon everyone.