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Sebastian and Violet, Violet and Sebastian

5/12/2015

Psychodrama: Swimsuit Edition

Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)

I considered posting this review on Mother's Day, because nothing says "mom" like a Southern Gothic tale about an aging matron's massive Jocasta complex. But it seemed more fitting to pick Katharine Hepburn's birthday, because her performance as Violet Venable, the mother in question, in the screen adaption of Tennessee Williams's play, Suddenly, Last Summer, is one of her best.

Mrs. Violet Venable, monied New Orleans widow, has lost her beloved only son, Sebastian, a handsome, sophisticated, low-output poet, to a freak "heart attack," while he was on vacation in Spain with his young cousin, Cathy (Elizabeth Taylor). Ever since this summer vacation, Cathy has been in residence at a psychiatric facility run by crabby nuns, having lost a number of her marbles after witnessing Sebastian's death...of a "heart attack." No one knows what really happened and Cathy's "obscene ramblings" haven't made it any clearer.

Aunt Violet is concerned that her niece's mad chatter is casting aspersions on Sebastian's reputation, so she elicits the help of a young lobotomist, Dr. Cukrowic (Montgomery Clift) to perform his specialty operation on Cathy to help her calm the hell down and shut the hell up. You see (thinks Violet), if Violet had gone traveling with Sebastian -- as they did and had done for years and years, as friends, not mother and son, companions -- none of this would have ever happened and Sebastian's summer poem would be written and done.

To sweeten the deal, Violet has offered her sister-in-law (Cathy's mother), Grace Holly (Mercedes McCambridge), some much-needed cash to grant consent to the operation and maybe even persuade Cathy to go willingly. Dr. Cukrowic, observing all these maternal maneuverings and not entirely convinced Cathy is all that nuts, would rather find out what the girl witnessed and perhaps help her past the trauma with therapy, rather than cutting out bits of her frontal cortex; indeed, he seems to be the only one who finds that solution extreme.

In spite of the intense pressure -- from Mrs. Venable and the hospital administrator who has also been promised money if the operation goes through -- Dr. Cukrowic puts Cathy in a hypnotic state to get to the truth. And the truth is that Sebastian was a (barely) closeted homosexual, who used his beautiful mother and later his stunning cousin, to attract pretty young men on their travels to have sexual relations with him. In Sebastian's opinion, Violet had become too old to be of any use to him in that endeavor, so he asked young Cathy to be his summer companion instead. Cathy eventually figured out what he was up to, but before she could beg off, the Terrible Thing happened and suddenly, last summer, Sebastian died. And Violet never forgave Cathy her youth and usefulness to Sebastian.

I am not going to reveal how Sebastian died, because it is worth all the strange late 1950s ideas of mental illness (particularly that experienced by the ladies) and pointless references to this all happening in 1937, to watch it unfold. The screenplay was written by Gore Vidal, so it's crackling with just the right amount of mean, and the set design is other-worldly. You've got teeming, jungly, lush New Orleans (and that's just the interiors) set against white hot beaches of coastal Spain.

Elizabeth Taylor is OK in the role of Cathy, but her best contribution to the picture was in lobbying director Joseph L. Mankiewicz to hire her friend Monty Clift in the role of the lobotomizer. Suddenly, Last Summer was shot just two years after the terrible car accident that left Clift with painful, disfiguring injuries to his face. He had since become addicted to painkillers and had been self-medicating with alcohol, making him unreliable and all but unhireable as a performer. Mankiewicz apparently made Clift's life miserable on set, which upset everyone, especially Katharine Hepburn, who had theretofore respected and liked Mankiewicz.

The film is strange, but very much worth seeing. It's streaming on you-know-what-largest-South-American-river for a nominal rental fee. If ever I held a Hollywood Mental Illness Film Festival (and one of these days...), this would be right up there with The Snake Pit (1948).

Just Because, But Mostly for Hayes's Hepburn Impersonation

This post is my contribution to The Great Katharine Hepburn Blogathon, sponsored by the great Margaret Perry.

Please take a moment to read through the other entries, and wish Miss Hepburn a very happy 108th while you're at it.

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Blockbusters and Bobby-Soxers: Bugs Bunny Gets Annoyed

5/4/2015

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Bugs in Distress

Little Red Riding Rabbit, Shorts Blogathon

Bugs in a Dress

This old picture of my son always reminds me of the title card for Little Red Riding Rabbit. Included, because he's cute.

Oh, Mur-Der

Fans of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies know of the famous "Termite Terrace," the workspace for Warner Bros.'s brilliant short subject animators, so named for the dilapidated condition of their original back lot studio. Even after the artists moved to grander quarters, they kept the nickname and the irreverence until members of the group moved on to different studios or television. The output from Termite Terrace -- particularly from 1938 to 1949 -- include some of the best cartoons ever made, in my opinion (which is correct).

From the beginning, Warner Bros. cartoons were known for caricaturing Hollywood stars, satirizing current events, and making musical and anecdotal references to pop culture. That attention to what consumed the popular imagination continued throughout WWII, mixing in soft lampoons of real-life anxieties, like the draft, rationing, and espionage, with overt (occasionally racist) propaganda.

I picked two wartime beauties for this Blogathon, because I like to imagine myself sitting in the balcony of the Castro Theatre in 1944, waiting to see Arsenic and Old Lace after my shift at one of the Bay Area shipyards in among my friends and neighbors -- a newsreel, the coming attractions, then Bugs Bunny (Mel Blanc) giving some jerk his come-uppance. I imagine it would have felt remarkably comforting.

Falling Hare (1943)

Bugs Bunny is hanging out at an airbase reading a book that describes how Gremlins (which are an actual mythological Thing, apparently) sabotage airplanes. As he is mocking the idea, a real life gremlin walks by and begins to wreak havoc. Bugs tries to best the creature and is hilariously frustrated until nearly the end.

There's many a great gag in this picture, made all the better by director Bob Clampett, that dark genius, who was also responsible for Russian Rhapsody, another gremlin-themed short starring Hitler (best Hitler EVER) beset by tiny Russian saboteurs.

The angry rabbit is my favorite rabbit.

Little Red Riding Rabbit (1944)

Bespectacled Bobby Soxer, Red Riding Hood, is taking Bugs Bunny to grandmas (ta HAVE, see?), but the Big Bad Wolf has other plans. Red is grating, grandma is out working the swing shift at Lockheed, and (spoiler) Bugs is not eaten by the wolf.

Soooo many references in this short that I didn't get until much older, especially in the music: "Five O'Clock Whistle," about a factory worker who doesn't know when to quit; "They're Either Too Young or Too Old," a woman's lament that all the good men are away at war [which is (sorta) sung by Bette Davis in Warner's Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)]

The great radio and television actress Bea Benadaret. known best as George & Gracie's neighbor in The Burns and Allen Show, provides the unforgettable voice of Red Riding Hood. I defy you not to incorporate some of the things she says in your regular life after watching this. Billy Bletcher provides the voice of the Big Bad Wolf, which is extra funny, because he was the voice Disney's wolf about a decade earlier in The Three Little Pigs.

This is a weird one, but a good one.

Wouldn't you much rather see a cartoon or two instead of 20 minutes of Coke ads and 12 minutes of previews?

Me too.

This post is my contribution to the Shorts! Blogathon, hosted by Movies, Silently

Please take a moment to peruse the many excellent entries in yet another fab-themed event.

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