Lady in the Iron Mask

It took me several decades, but I finally got to see LADY IN THE IRON MASK (1952) which for many years was one of my most sought-after titles.

It wasn’t under idyllic circumstances that I saw it. The bootleg DVD of this color film was in black and white, and was eight minutes shy of its 78-minute running time. But my curiosity has been satisfied and I was glad to finally see it under any circumstances.

Was it worth the wait? I would say yes. I didn’t have particularly high expectations of it and its less than perfect version is not the ideal way to judge it.

But what I saw I enjoyed.

Why did I want to see LADY IN THE IRON MASK so much? Well, it’s a swashbuckler, one of my favorite genres, and starred Louis Hayward, one of my favorite actors in that genre.

For many years I assumed it was a Fox film, so couldn’t understand the difficulty to see it. But the credits read a Walter Wanger Production - a little easier to understand its relative rarity. Independent films often fall through the cracks. Still, the film was distributed by Twentieth Century Fox, so I assumed the production values would be high, as other Wanger productions were. .

Plus, it had a Dimitri Tiomkin score and I was very interested to hear how the Russian maestro would handle a swashbuckling film.

I must say, Dimitri didn’t disappoint as the main title is a marvelously rousing piece, and sets the stage for the adventure to follow, which, let’s face it, is really nothing more than what the title explains, a distaff version of the famous Alexandre Dumas novel “The Man in the Iron Mask.”

Instead of a king being kidnapped and having his head wrapped in an iron mask, it’s a queen this time. Patricia Medina plays twin sisters Queen Anne and Princess Louise. John Sutton plays the Duc de Valdac who replaces the Queen with her sister.

The musketeers, including D’Artagnan (Hayward), Porthos (Alan Hale, Jr.), Aramis (Judd Holdren) and Athos (Steve Brodie) are charged with finding the real queen before the coronation can take place, and strop the Duc de Valdac’s plans to be the real power behind the throne. One of the clues is the placement of a birthmark on the real queen. There’s some innuendo as to where the birthmark is located, but this being the 1950s, its locale is not as salacious as one led to believe at the beginning.

Nothing new here, but it’s played with the right amount of gusto. Director Ralph Murphy has a decent eye for composition that I could discern through the murky bootleg quality of the DVD. There are some effective tracking shots during a chase on horseback and some inventive staging during a duel scene in a torture chamber. Said chamber is manned by the massive Tor Johnson. It’s always fun when he turns up.

LADY IN THE IRON MASK was filmed using a cheaper color process called Naturalcolor, one of the cheaper processes and one I am not familiar with. Due to the DVD being in black and white, I can’t judge what the color was like.

Still. I’m a fan of these medium-budget swashbucklers, and Louis Hayward is the first name that comes to mind with them. He starred in quite a few gems, especially his first forays into the genre, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK (1939) and my favorite, THE SON OF MONTE CRISTO (1940).

He may not have had the cache of a Flynn, Power, Fairbanks or Granger, but if producers wanted a swashbuckler hero to carry their “B” swashbucklers, then Hayward was the man.

In addition to being a hero on screen, Hayward was a World War II hero in real life, though at enormous personal cost. Compare the pre-war Hayward to the post-war one, and one can see the effect his war service took on him. The swashbuckling portrayals he did after the war are less ebullient, more grounded.

I can think of few actors whose portrayals before and after the war are so stark in their contrast. The vivacity on display in THE SON OF MONTE CRISO is considerably muted in such roles as THE RETURN OF MONTE CRISTO (1946) or THE BLACK ARROW (1948). I’m not implying he’s moping around, but there’s a weariness and ennui not present in those earlier roles. The post-war Louis Hayward would not be able to give as appealing a performance as he gives in THE SON OF MONTE CRISTO.

“Stars in the Corps: Movie Actors in the United States Marines” by James E. Wise, Jr. and Anne Collier Rehill (Naval Institute Press, 1999) gives a very interesting account of Hayward’s wartime service.

The South African-born Hayward became an American citizen on Dec. 6, 1941, one day before Pearl Harbor. He enlisted in the Marines on June 8, 1942. Because of his film background, he was commissioned on July 1, 1941 as a first lieutenant, in the Marine Corps Photographic Section.

He and his camera crew filmed the Marines landing at Tarawa. Not from a ship, but Hayward and crew jumped from the landing craft onto the beach along with the Marines, cameras running the whole time through a gauntlet of bullets and explosions from the defending Japanese. Their footage found its way into the documentary film WITH THE MARINES AT TARAWA which was awarded the Oscar for Best Documentary of 1944.

Despite the film’s success, the experience took a heavy toll on Hayward. As Wise and Rehill write:

“He came home a changed man: pale, withdrawn, deeply disturbed about the violent death he had managed to crawl away from while leaving so many others there forever. From time to time he began to tell (then wife Ida Lupino) about some things about Tarawa, but then he would fall suddenly silent….He was then assigned to assist in processing the film footage for the final cut of WITH THE MARINES AT TARAWA.  Day after day he had to relive the battle, shown in grotesque scenes that the general public would never see. He grew even more moody and nervous at home and suffered severe asthma attacks. In the end, he and Ida, unable to recover their former intimacy, separated, remaining on friendly and mutually supportive terms.”

In June of 1944, Hayward suffered a complete physical collapse, and he spent his remaining two months in the Corps as a patient in naval hospitals.

He was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps on November 9, 1944.  He was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat “V” with the following citation:

“For meritorious service as Assistant Intelligence Officer in Charge of Combat Photography of the Second Marine Division, prior to and during operations against Japanese forces on Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, from 20 to 28 November 1943. Personally going ashore with the assault units of the division despite grave hazards, Captain Hayward skillfully and daringly directed his men in their efforts throughout the battle and afterwards while photographing the enemy defenses for intelligence studies. By his efficient preparation in training his men in all phases and techniques of combat photography and his tireless leadership ashore, he succeeded in producing a comprehensive and technically excellent coverage of our forces in battle. Captain Hayward’s professional ability, courageous conduct and tireless devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. Captain Hayward is authorized to wear the Combat “V.”

He resumed his film career with one of his finest films, the best adaptation of the famous Agatha Christie mystery AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (1945).  Few actors were as lucky Hayward for their return to the screen.

Hayward’s last film before joining the service showcases probably his best performance in LADIES IN RETIREMENT (1941), a terrific melodrama that ranks with one of the best movies in one of the greatest movie years ever. Like Tyrone Power’s greatest performance in NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947), Hayward demonstrated his acting talents by playing against type. Both actors seem to relish the opportunity these roles offered and really deliver the goods.

Costume adventure films were big in the post-war years. The European markets were again open and these types of films always played very well overseas. So Hayward again donned sword and cape for these medium-budget swashbucklers, many of them for Columbia.

Four of them co-starred raven-haired Patricia Medina, making them a B-team Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Ironically, their first film together was FORTUNES OF CAPTAIN BLOOD (1950), echoing the first film Errol and Olivia made as a team. This was followed by THE LADY AND THE BANDIT (1951), LADY IN THE IRON MASK (1952) and CAPTAIN PIRATE (1952). Medina was pleasant enough, if lacking in the spirit de Havilland brought to her roles.

In yet another nod to the great Flynn, Flynn’s friend and frequent co-star Alan Hale played Porthos in Hayward’s THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK.

In LADY IN THE IRON MASK, Alan Hale, Jr. plays Porthos. The same year, he was the son of Porthos in RKO’s AT SWORD’S POINT, one of the liveliest of the “B” swashbucklers. He would play Porthos one last time, in THE FIFTH MUSKETEER (1979), another Iron Mask take-off which features a cameo by Olivia de Havilland as the Queen Mother. Kevin Bacon has nothing on these folks.

LADY IN THE IRON MASK is no world-beater, but I enjoyed it. I hope to see the complete film in color one day. It’s a nice showcase for Hayward, who for me remains one of those actors like Tom Conway. While they may have headlined their movies, they never attained the super star status. But I’m always happy to see them in a movie. Louis Hayward was one of the most appealing actors to ever wield a sword on screen and I was very glad to finally see this most elusive of titles.

3 Godfathers

When one thinks of the classic Christmas movies, John Ford’s “3 Godfathers” (1948) doesn’t normally come to mind, but there’s no reason why it shouldn’t. After all they did celebrate Christmas in the old west and “3 Godfathers” elicits as much good cheer, warmth and hope as other fabled classics.

Despite owning the DVD and having the opportunity to catch it on TCM three times this month, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to catch it on the big screen at the Tivoli Theater in Downers Grove as part of their holiday film series.

It was a fabulous evening.

“3 Godfathers” details what happens when three bank robbers (John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz and Harry Carey, Jr.) stage a holdup in an Arizona town. Chased by a posse and having their water bags shot in the ensuing chase by the town’s marshal (Ward Bond), they make their way across the desert. They lose their horses in a sandstorm and continue the trek on foot.

They come across an abandoned wagon with a dying woman (Mildred Natwick) alone and about to give birth. She asks the men to be the godfather of her child and see to his safety. A baby boy is successfully delivered and the mother dies. The three new godfathers, bereft of horses and short of water, decide the child’s safety is more important than their freedom and decide to bring the child to a town called New Jerusalem. Where is it? Well, there’s a real bright star in the sky over their destination that helps guide them toward the town. And it’s Christmas Eve.

Like a lot of Ford’s films, this offers equal doses of action, humanity, comedy, drama, pathos and a loving sense of community. Thanks to Winton Hoch’s stunning Technicolor cinematography, the famous Lone Pine, California locations never looked lovelier, or when needed, more desolate, than here.

The scenes with the men tending to the baby’s needs are not played for broad comedy, but instead are infused with a gentle humor.

This was the screen debut of Harry Carey, Jr. and the film opens with a touching dedication to his father, who had recently died and had appeared in many of Ford’s silent westerns. Carey Jr. went on to a distinguished career in many westerns and is thankfully still with us, having recently provided an audio commentary to Ford’s classic “Wagon Master” (1950).

Despite being bank robbers, the three are really not bad men. Before robbing the bank, they engage in some good natured ribbing with Bond and his wife (silent screen star and Ford favorite Mae Marsh). Other members of the John Ford Stock Company on hand include Ben Johnson, Hank Worden and Jane Darwell. The film’s composer, Richard Hageman, appears as a piano player in a saloon, playing Christmas carols on Christmas Day.

I was a tad nervous at last night’s presentation, as there was a large number of what appeared to be grandparents accompanies by their young grandkids. Would they be bored and start to get antsy? I needn’t have worried as there was very good audience attention throughout. I’d say there were about 150-200 people there, not packed but more than respectable for a 1948 western. The kids exhibited no restlessness at all. Maybe they had never seen a western before, so it was as alien to them as a new planet in a “Star Wars” movie.

Two nights before the Tivoli had shown “Miracle on 34th Street” (1947) but I left after a few minutes when the image was stretched to fill the whole screen. AARGH, I hate that. I complained the next day and received a very nice call from Chris Johnson, with Classic Cinemas. He was very apologetic and said it should have been projected in the right aspect ratio. He said they would make ensure “3 Godfathers” was screened in the right aspect ratio (square shaped) and it was. What a treat it was!

He said I was the only one to complain and I was surprised at that. Didn’t anyone else notice that Kris Kringle appeared shorter and squatter? A friend of mine has a theory that so many people now have big screen TVs and they want the whole image filled that they don’t even notice. Makes sense to me.

Anyway, if you’re tired of the traditional Christmas classics, and want to give a year’s rest to George Bailey, Ebeneezer or Bing and Rosemary, give “3 Godfathers” a chance. I think you’d be pleasantly surprised.

Wagon Master, The Friends of Eddie Coyle

I hit the gold jackpot in movie watching recently, catching two titles in a row that are the best movies I’ve seen in ages. They both deal with community – one celebrating different groups of outcasts banding together in a temporary truce, while the other is a grim, depressing affair about a beaten man trying to escape a community of criminals.

The films are John Ford’s “Wagon Master” (1950) and Peter Yates’ “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” (1973). Two films that could not be more different, yet both make for thrilling and engaging movie watching.

Wagon Master

“Wagon Master” was supposedly John Ford’s favorite movie. It has an easy rhythm to it; like its wagon train traveling across Utah - it’s not in a hurry to get anywhere. There’s no story per se, but it’s packed with incident. There’s no opening or closing studio logo; the movie just begins. It’s like we’re witnesses to history, a story we just happen to arrive right in the middle of.

No marquee actor like John Wayne, James Stewart or Henry Fonda here, which is likely why it’s not more known. Hopefully the new DVD (a stunning transfer by the way) will go a long way in making the film better known.

Ben Johnson and Harry Carey, Jr. are two horse traders grudgingly convinced by a Mormon elder (Ward Bond) to lead a wagon train to a new settlement. The Mormons are being run out of town, so have no choice but to head across uncharted territory to a new settlement. Johnson and Carey know the way so agree to lead them.

The picture opens by placing us right in the middle of a bank robbery by the Cleggs. Uncle Shiloh (Charles Kemper) is the leader of his four sons (two of which are played by a young James Arness and Ford stock player favorite Hank Worden) who, after shooting an unarmed bank teller in the back, hijack the wagon train and use it to as a cover to hide from a pursuing posse.

Kemper is a revelation as the physically imposing Uncle Shiloh. He’s one of the most memorable bad guys in western film history. I think he has a grudging admiration for the Mormons and their manners, yet won’t hesitate to kill anyone who stands in his way. I was not familiar with Kemper and wondered why he wasn’t better known. It turns out he was killed in a car crash in 1950. His final film, “On Dangerous Ground” (1952) was released posthumously.

In addition to the Cleggs, the wagon train’s community grows with the addition of a medicine show troupe (Alan Mowbray, Joanne Dru and Ruth Clifford). They were also run out of town, so the two outcast groups temporarily join together.

There’s also a very memorable sequence where the Mormons are asked to join the Navajos at a dance. The Navajos like the Mormons, saying they are less corrupt than other white men.

That’s not the only dance in the film. There are several wonderfully staged square dance sequences with accompanying songs performed by the Sons of the Pioneers, a well-known vocal group also utilized by Ford in his other 1950 western “Rio Grande.”

Ford never directed a musical but this is the closest he ever came. Ford had an innate sense of where to place the camera to get the best shot possible at all time. He likely would have been bored by all the rehearsing necessary to film a musical, but watching “Wagon Master” you regret that he never did.

The Sons of the Pioneers also perform several songs throughout the movie written by Stan Jones. Wonderful songs they are too. If the movie was better known, the songs would be too.

The beauties of Monument Valley, Ford’s favorite local, are stunningly captured by Bert Glennon’s camera in beautiful black and white. There’s hardly any action until the end, but it’s as quick and violent a shootout as a 1950 western would allow.

The movie ends with a wonderful montage of wagon crossing, dancing and romantic stories tied up. We do get a title card that reads “The End’, but it really doesn’t. The film continues for another 15 seconds or so after “The End” title card disappears, as we see the wagon train a herd of horses cross a river, with a new young foal in the lead. Life goes on, and the community presses onward. There’s no end cast list and no end studio logo. The picture ends like it began – an ongoing story that will continue on long after the audience leaves.

“Wagon Master” only runs 85 minutes but each minute is a jewel. I enjoyed every minute of it and look forward to sharing it with others.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

Much of the praise lavished on Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” mentions the brilliant opening dialogue sequence at a French farmhouse between a French farmer harboring Jewish neighbors and self-proclaimed Nazi killer Col. Hans Landa. Tarantino shows how intense well-written and delivered dialogue sequences can be, as thrilling as any large-scale action set piece. Viewers who thrilled to Tarantino’s movie would also likely enjoy “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” which is a whole series of beautifully written and performed meetings between criminals, undercover cops, informers and suppliers. It’s riveting from beginning to end.

Sporting a dead-on Boston accent, Robert Mitchum is Eddie Coyle, a beaten, low-level hood who is looking at jail time after being busted for smuggling illegal booze over the Canadian border. He’s willing to do anything to stay out of jail so his wife and kids won’t have to go on welfare. He’s even willing to turn informer, albeit reluctantly. His cop contact (Richard Jordan) wants more dirt than Eddie is willing to deliver. His friend (Alex Rocco) heads a bank robbery gang who look to Eddie to supply their guns. Eddie’s gun supplier (Steven Keats) also has a deal with some rebel Army kids to steal machine guns from the local Army base. His best friend (Peter Boyle) is a bartender who is also a stoolie for the cops. There’s no criminal code of honor on display here. Everyone is out to get whatever they can from each other.

All this is played out in a series of meetings in parking lots, cafeterias and all night restaurants in late autumn in Boston. The air of regret, lost hopes and dead avenues permeates every frame of this movie.

Eddie Coyle is one of Mitchum’s very best performances and that’s saying something, as he has delivered many seriously great performances. (Admittedly, Mitchum slept walk through just as many films if the project or role didn’t interest him. Have you ever seen him in the TV miniseries “The Winds of War” (1983)? He’s positively catatonic in that).

I’m sure Quentin Tarantino is a huge fan of this film. The gun runner’s name is Jackie Brown. When Tarantino adapted Elmore Leonard’s novel “Rum Punch” he changed the name of the character from Jackie Burke to Jackie Brown. It can’t be a coincidence.

Here’s sample of the dialogue, beautifully delivered by Mitchum when Jackie Brown tells Eddie he can’t make good on a gun delivery Eddie wants.

Coyle: All you got to know is I told the man that he could depend on me because you told me I could depend on you. Now one of us is gonna have a bit fat problem. Another thing I learned. If anybody’s gonna have a problem, you’re gonna be the one.

Brown: You finished?

Coyle: No, I am not finished. Look. I’m gettin’ old, you hear? I spent most of my life hanging around crummy joints with a buncha punks drinkin’ the beer, eatin’ the hash and the hot dogs and watching the other people go off to Florida while I’m sweatin’ out how I’m gonna pay the plumber. I done time and I stood up but I can’t take no more chances. Next time, it’s gonna be me goin’ to Florida.

This is 1970s cinema in the very best way, eschewing Hollywood glamour and stereotypes. It will stick with me for a long time.