This week’s mystery movie has been the 1932 First National Pictures film “Frisco Jenny,” directed by William A. Wellman, from a screenplay by Wilson Mizner and Robert Lord, based on a story by Gerald Beaumont, Lillie Hayward and John Francis Larkin. It was photographed by Sid Hickox with period gowns by Orry-Kelly.

It featured Ruth Chatterton, Louis Calhern, Helen Jerome Eddy, Donald Cook, James Murray, Hallam Cooley, Pat O’Malley, Harold Huber, Robert Emmett O’Connor and Willard Robertson.

Jan. 4, 1933, “Frisco Jenny” is opening in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Times review by Muriel Babcock (a byline I don’t recall) describes “Frisco Jenny” as “a tear-jerker of the first water, the kind that brings handkerchiefs to the fore in profusion.” She added that the movie “is good melodrama, good box office and good fun — if you like to weep. It is not a great picture — it is much too lurid for such designation.”

She said: “….It gives Ruth Chatterton an opportunity to emote such as she hasn’t had since she painted in strong emotional hues the mother character of ‘Madame X,’ since she enacted ‘Sarah and Son.’ And it shows that the able Ruth Chatterton of drawing room comedies is probably at her best when she is yanking heart strings.”

The New York Times (Jan. 7, 1933) review by Mordaunt Hall was unenthusiastic:  “It is a narrative of an unfortunate unwed mother which is reminiscent of ‘Madame X.’ Miss Chatterton does splendidly by her role, but even her acting does not compensate for the unedifying incidents, which make bootlegging seem like a wholesome adventure.”

According to the New York Times (Dec. 4, 1932), Chatterton unsuccessfully fought with Warner Bros. to have a voice in selecting scripts, but the studio delivered an ultimatum that no star had a right to “dictate on vehicles.” “Her displeasure is said to have been acute,” the New York Times said. As for “Frisco Jenny,” Chatterton “opposed the selection with vigor, but the ultimatum had been delivered and there was little she could do.”

The New York Times said that although Chatterton’s films were profitable, Warners felt she was being paid too much.

According to her obituary in the New York Times (Nov. 25, 1961), Chatterton left Hollywood after appearing in “Dodsworth” (1936), made several pictures in England and returned to the stage. She was the author of several best-selling novels, including “Homeward Borne,” “The Betrayers,” “The Pride of the Peacock” and “The Southern Wild.”

At the time “Frisco Jenny” was made, Chatterton was married to George Brent, whom she divorced in 1934. She died Nov. 24, 1961, at the age of 67.

“Frisco Jenny” was released on DVD in 2009 as part of TCM’s “Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume Three,” but apparently is no longer available from TCM. The collection is listed on Amazon for about $140.

Continue reading →

This week’s mystery movie has been the 1945 RKO picture “The Enchanted Cottage,” starring Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, Herbert Marshall, Mildred Natwick, Spring Byington, Hillary Brooke, Richard Gaines, Alec Englander, Robert Clarke and Eden Nicholas. The screenplay was by DeWitt Bodeen and Herman J. Mankiewicz, adapted from a play by Sir Arthur Wing Pinero. The film was photographed by Ted Tetzlaff, with special effects by Vernon Walker, with art direction by Albert S. D’Agostino and Carroll Clark. Music was by Roy Webb, orchestrated by Gil Grau and conducted by C. Bakaleinikoff. The producer was Harriet Parsons and the director was John Cromwell.

As Michael Ryerson noted, “The Enchanted Cottage” was also made as a silent in 1924 starring Richard Barthelmess and May McAvoy. The play was first produced in London in 1921, prompted by the British government to lift the morale of soldiers who were injured or traumatized by World War I. RKO bought the property in 1929 as a vehicle for Helen Twelvetrees and revived it in the late 1930s as a project for Ginger Rogers, but neither film was made.

David O. Selznick loaned McGuire to RKO for the film after she made “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” at Fox, according to the New York Times. Cromwell was also under contract to Selznick, as was Alan Marshal, who was previously cast as the male lead according to the New York Times.

The film opened in Los Angeles at the Pantages theater in Hollywood and the RKO Hillstreet in downtown Los Angeles.

In a May 28, 1945, review, Los Angeles Times critic Edwin Schallert faulted the updated version of the film, saying: “For those who know ‘The Enchanted Cottage’ the picture is jarring at the outset. This is partly due to setting it in America, and bringing it up to date. It becomes inevitably a slap at the plastic surgery of today, because there seems no sound reason why Young should appear as disfigured as he does, due to being a war casualty, in view of modern scientific progress.”

He concluded: “With its faults properly discounted one can proceed to appraise ‘The Enchanted Cottage’  as both a pleasing and a moving novelty in its basic attraction. It might have been made to better advantage in some other age than right now, but at least it has the merit of departing tellingly in its finest scenes, which are very excellent indeed, from the routines of entertainment.”

The film is available from Warner Archive for $16.59. It will air Feb. 22 on TCM.

Continue reading →

This week’s mystery movie has been the 1921 picture “Seven Years Bad Luck,” starring Max Linder, sometimes called “the Charlie Chaplin of France,” who died in a double suicide with his wife on Oct. 31, 1925.  The movie was his first five-reel feature and his first film since being badly wounded while serving in the French army in World War I. It opened in Los Angeles at Tally’s Broadway.

The DVD is available from Amazon.

“Seven Years Bad Luck” at Tally’s Broadway, June 21, 1921.

Continue reading →

This week’s mystery movie has been the 1961 MGM picture “Ada,” starring Susan Hayward, Dean Martin, Wilfrid Hyde White, Ralph Meeker, Martin Balsam, Frank Maxwell, Connie Sawyer, Ford Rainey, Charles Watts, Larry Gates, Robert S. Simon and William Zuckert. Music was by Bronislau Kaper.

It was photographed with Panavision lenses in CinemaScope and Metrocolor by Joseph Ruttenberg.

The screenplay was by Arthur Sheekman and William Driskill from Wirt Williams’ novel “Ada Dallas.” An Avon Productions Chalamar Picture, the movie was directed by Daniel Mann.

A Feb. 12, 1961, article in the New York Times described filming certain scenes inside the California Capitol, and said it was the first time filming had been allowed inside the building.

Daily Variety (July 26, 1961) called it “a far-fetched story rescued by sharp dialogue.” The movie opened in Los Angeles on Aug. 17, 1961, and received a lukewarm review from Times critic Philip K. Scheuer, who said: “On the screen, it is a tall tale, hard to believe, a kind of ‘Elmer Gantry transferred from the religious to the political arena, from soul-saving to spoils-saving.”

“Ada” opened in New York on Aug. 25, 1961, but apparently was not reviewed in the New York Times.

Footnote: Ford Rainey is the father of Variety reporter (and former Los Angeles Times colleague) James Rainey.

The movie is available from Warner Archive for $19.49.

Continue reading →