54, Children on their Birthdays, The Innocents, and Beat the Devil: Movies about Writing

These are films that either feature Capote or were written by him. This will be fairly short, despite that it will be about 4 different movies.

54

Remember this movie? Don’t worry about it if you don’t. It’s just okay. I’ve heard that the director’s cut was a better film that gave a more realistic portrayal of the swinging 70s club (apparently Harvey Weinstein demanded the cuts). I regret that I couldn’t find the director’s cut streaming for free as it also has a gross cameo cut out. Ryan Phillippe plays Shane, a bartender with disco fever hired by the club’s owner Steve Rubell (a real person played by Mike Myers). The movie also includes Salma Hayek, Breckin Meyer, Neve Campbell, and a brief scene of Mark Ruffalo as additional young people with celebrity status or trying to obtain celebrity status. The part I want to talk about is in the first ten minutes. Steve stops the music at Studio 54 and calls for Truman Capote (played by Louis Negin in an appropriately ham way). To celebrate Truman’s facelift, Steve has a boy dressed as a golden cupid descend from the ceiling and hand him a mirror. Capote jokingly reaches for the boy and then dances with a man not wearing a shirt. Capote is not the only older person at the disco trying to re-capture their youth through anonymous sexual encounters. The part that made me laugh was Shane confessing he had no clue who Truman was. Of course, Shane doesn’t know any media personalities (not Andy Warhol or Erroll Flynn or half of the people he meets), except Grace Kelly because his mother named his sisters after her.

Real Capote at the real Studio 54

Phillippe at the fake Studio 54

Children on their Birthdays

I’ve read this story by Capote which is yet another one based loosely on childhood experiences. It’s Billy Bob’s 13th Billy Bob (played by Joe Pichler who tragically went missing as an adult, this was his last film). He, his mother (hey, it’s Laura Palmer . . . I mean, Sheryl Lee), and best friend Preacher (look at baby Jesse Plemons) meet a precocious girl named Lily Jane Bobbit (Tania Raymonde). The girls in town hate Lily Jane and the boys all start to compete for her affections. Billy Bob is also upset that his mother is finding love with town mechanic and lawman Speedy (Christopher McDonald) even though his father has been dead for years. He also feels intense shame when he doesn’t stop Preacher from picking on a little Black girl named Rosalba Cat (Brazhal Brewer) and both his mom and Lily Jane see. Unlike the Lily Jane of the story, this Lily Jane comes down from her high horse for the sake of another girl in need of a hero. However, her longing for a life on the stage is the same as in the story. A con man (Tom Arnold) comes to town and convinces Lily Jane that he could make her a star.

I won’t give away the entire plot, but unlike Capote’s other stories of childhood, this one is less about him as a child and more about observations of people through a child’s eyes. However the movie is kinder all around. It makes Lily Jane kinder and more a of child. It makes the interactions between the children and adults more like a coming-of-a-story than a tragedy. And (spoiler alert) it completely changes the ending.

The Innocents

I used to hate this movie as a child because I was literally haunted by the novella The Turn of the Screw. Every time I’d find a Victorian ghost story on TV, it would turn out to be an adaptation of Turn of the Screw. After several years of escaping the story, I finally went back and reread it then re-watched some of those adaptations I was so dogged by. And this is the best version (not counting the Netflix min-series since it does combine a lot of stories). I’m not sure if it was Capote’s idea as the screenwriter or the director’s to make you wonder whether the ghosts were real just like in the original book, but this is the movie where it works the best.

Beat the Devil

This is an odd film that I feel like you need to watch multiple times to get the entire plot. Long story short, Humphrey Bogart, Gina Lollobrigida, Jennifer Jones, Robert Morley, and Peter Lorre star in this story about uranium, land deals, and taking advantage of naive British people (somebody had to). The reason I am including this is not that it’s about writing, but that, despite being based on a book, Capote had to work on the screenplay as they were filming. This probably accounts for plot holes and disjointed scenes. Still, Bogart and Lorre - I’m in. Capote was also all in because he got to hang out with the entire cast.

Infamous: Movie about Writing

I confess this is not as good of a film as Capote, but there are some interesting changes. Where the movie Capote is a more subdued look at Truman Capote’s relationship with Perry Smith, one of the Clutter family killers he writes about within In Cold Blood, Infamous is more a film about Capote himself, publicly, privately, and during his investigation for his “true crime fiction”.

Toby Jones does a fantastic Capote impression which starts with just the sassy, silly nature that made him popular in wealthy circles, then starts to melt into those moments of depression and self-realization. His Swans, a group of wealthy women he adored until he eventually betrayed their secrets and they dumped him, are included and played by Hope Davis, Sigourney Weaver, Juliet Stevenson, and Isabella Rossellini. The movie delves a little into his relationship with these wealthy socialites. You see a large difference between how the Swans react to Capote versus how Nelle “Harper” Lee (Sandra Bullock) and Jack Dunphy (John Benjamin Hickey) behave with him. While the Swans encourage his bad behavior, Nelle and Jack try to make him more likable to the masses or just a better person overall. I especially liked a scene in a diner where Nelle reminds Truman repeatedly to say thank you to a waitress. That having been said, they do not try to change who he is either. The movie does mention both the fame of To Kill a Mockingbird, Nelle attempting to write a second book, and how Jack is struggling with his own novel.

Still, the main plot revolves around Capote writing In Cold Blood. He and Nelle go to the small town in Kansas (where everyone keeps calling him “ma’am”) and instantly get the cold shoulder from Agent Alvin Dewey (Jeff Daniels). However Mrs. Dewey doesn’t like that he and Nelle are alone in town at Christmas, so she invites them to dinner. Nelle brings a fruit cake and Truman responds, “And she doesn’t mean me.” He wins Dewey over by telling stories of his time working in Hollywood on Beat the Devil (it’s an odd film, but I still recommend it). This gives him an in to several other families in town who finally speak to him about the Clutters and give him a start to his book.

The movie points out how Truman doesn’t take notes, instead using a memory technique. Nelle proves to be both a better researcher and a voice of reason to Truman as he starts to work out his idea for a “true crime novel”, pointing out that these were real people and he should stick to the facts. He points out that To Kill a Mockingbird was an embellishment on the truth, which is funny since so many of his short stories do the same thing.

The second act is his meeting the killers, Dick Hickey (Lee Pace! Oh, how I love him) and Perry Smith (is that Daniel Craig with black hair? He didn’t have to be the blonde Bond). Nelle suggests that Truman use the same tactics he uses to get his Swans to dish the dirt. Truman and Perry begin to build a relationship and he sends him a copy of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Perry states that the stories lack kindness, which I found super interesting, a statement that rattles Truman. Perry is portrayed as more violent towards Truman than in the film Capote where there is more empathy between the two men right away. There is also a scene where the two men make out which would have never happened in a jail where others could have seen them. The film also changes the actions of the murders, claiming that Dick shot the wife and daughter. As far as we know, in reality Perry killed them all.

The third act of the movie is much more about the preparations for publishing the book and Truman’s attempt to make it sound “kinder”. He struggles with the idea that the men being hanged gives his book the correct and satisfying ending, however, it means Perry still swings. Capote lies that Perry apologized before death. After all, that is a kinder ending for his book. The whole movie ends with Nelle stating how writing something meaningful can take a little piece of a writer’s life away, yet all people want to know afterwards is “what’s next?”. The camera pans in on Truman attempting to write Answered Prayers, a novel he would never finish about his Swans.

In Cold Blood: Movies about Writing

This isn’t actually about writing, but I couldn’t do blog about Capote without re-watching the critically acclaimed movie based upon his most famous work. But since this film isn’t actually about being a writer or the process of writing, I’ll keep this short.

Capote called In Cold Blood the first nonfiction novel, which I think was just his way of admitting that he embellished the truth. Technically, that’s just historic fiction, however Capote is dead and difficult to argue with at this time.

If you don’t already know, In Cold Blood was the case of two young men, Dick Hickok and Perry Smith, brutally killing a family of four during a botched robbery attempt. The Clutters are presented as an average farm family with chores, hopes, friends, and a community who had no issues with them. Capote actually interviewed Smith extensively for his book (see blogs about the movies Capote and Infamous). This film pulls no punches as Agent Alvin Dewey (John Forsythe) and a team of cops hunt for the killers who reveal more of their backstories in an attempt to understand why they committed the crimes. Still, Perry even confesses that none of it makes sense. He never knew exactly why he murdered the Clutters.

Grass Harp: Movies about Writing

I read the novella before watching the movie so I could nitpick, but I won’t.

This is yet another Capote tale based upon the aunts/cousins he lived with in the south, however, this time the story is more fictionalized. And the cast is stacked!

Edward Furlong (in a time after Terminator 2, but hopefully before the substance abuse) plays Colin, the nephew and narrator who lives with his older cousins. Aunt Dolly (Piper Laurie) is another version of Capote’s sweet and somewhat eccentric cousin Sook. Dolly makes a herbal remedy popular in their small town. Her sister Verena (Sissy Spacek) has controlled Dolly and Colin’s lives for years. When she brings home a snake oil salesman (holy crap - it’s Jack Lemmon) who wants to buy Dolly’s medical recipe, it drives Dolly, Colin and the servant/friend Catherine (Nell Carter) literally up a tree. They are soon joined by other people done with society - a judge (Walter Mathau), the coolest teen in town (Sean Patrick Flanery- one of my first crushes), and a family of traveling evangelists led by Mary Steenburgen. The people of the town start to take sides on whether they think the tree dwellers have lost their minds or if they deserve a break from the world. By the way, the townspeople include Joe Don Baker, Charles During, Scott Wilson, and FREAKING Roddy McDowell. Did they just send out a casting call for all character actors who weren’t busy that month?

The movie tries to add more backstory, showing Colin’s life before he lives with his Aunt Dolly and Aunt Verena. There is a little more of his talk about daydreaming, stories he’d make up, and Colin’s enjoyment of thinking up adventures he and his Aunt Dolly would never have. No major spoilers here, but I will say that later, Colin leaves for the city in order to get experience as a writer. The Judge gifts him a fancy notebook to get him started and Colin takes the Judge to listen to the “grass harp”, voices “inside his head” and the loudest voice is Dolly’s.

Capote Related Films I Couldn't Find: Movies about Writing

Going back to the Capote them for a few weeks. Before I jump back into full movies, here are two things I couldn’t find anywhere (not streaming or in the used media store . . . at least not without signing up for subscriptions I can’t afford).

Life on Mars (A Simple Secret of the Note in Us All):

Life on Mars was a British crime drama about a 2006 cop who ends up in 1973. If you never saw it, it had an excellent soundtrack. Since it was successful, the U.S. of course had to copy it. Episode 12 was about, “While investigating the murder of a newspaper columnist, Sam crosses paths with a dangerous killer from one of his cases in the future and is convinced that he is guilty of this crime.” according to imdb.com. I don’t know how Truman Capote fits into this, but I can imagine he was thrown into the episode just to make a witty, biting remark.

Other Voices, Other Rooms:

Couldn’t find this movie, but I’ve seen the trailer and read the novella. The trailer was not well edited and I kept getting bored in the 2 minutes and 40 second span. The book is a coming-of-age story loosely based on Capote’s childhood including a strained relationship with an ill father, an older gay relative who influences the young main character’s views, and a tomboy best friend who is obviously based on Harper Lee. The book had things I did not enjoy (the part at the fair), so I probably would not have enjoyed seeing that part played out on screen.

Trilogy:

According to rarefilmm.com, “Three Truman Capote stories are presented in this anthology: In “Miriam,” a heartbroken nanny is told she isn’t needed to care for a new child. In “Among the Paths to Eden,” a lonely old woman visits a cemetery and meets a widower placing flowers on his late wife’s grave. In “A Christmas Memory,” a boy and his aunt prepare for Christmas by making fruitcakes for their family in small-town, pre–World War II Alabama.” Apparently, this has been on TCM, but I’ve never seen it. This suggests they play it very rarely. Of course, now that I say that it’ll probably be on tomorrow.

One Christmas:

This is another story based on Capote’s childhood with his beloved Aunt Sook and his estranged father. Apparently Henry Winkler and Katherine Hepburn are in it. Honestly, I did find it. I didn’t want to pay money for it. And who watches a Christmas movie in June?

Phoenix Fan Fusion

That’s right! It’s that time of year again. I know the economy is tough right now, but you should treat yourself . . . to plush and books at our table. See you there!

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Sex and the Single Girl: Movies about Writing

You need to suspend a lot of beliefs about feminism and doctor/patient confidentiality for this one. If you are a fan of Some Like It Hot, it’s worth a watch for the Jack Lemmon jokes. By the way, this screenplay was by Joseph Heller. Spoilers ahead.

Bob Weston (Tony Curtis) works for Stop magazine. Stop was family magazine started by his boss’s grandmother and his boss has turned it into best selling yellow journalism. The chief is played by one of my favorite character actors, Edward Everett Horton. That has no importance to this blog, I just like pointing it out. The chief praises Bob for being the most vulgar writer on his staff. He plans on exposing a psychologist who specializing sexuality and relationships for modern women, as a fraud and a virgin. Natalie Wood plays Dr. Helen Gurley Brown, a fictionalized version of a real person who wrote a real book called Sex and the Single Girl. That’s where the comparison ends. The real Brown went on to be editor for Cosmo magazine and I found several nasty quotes from Betty Friedan on her.

Helen’s bestseller (based on the real bestseller the movie takes it’s name from) is causing men to feel uncomfortable about how much independence it encourages in unmarried women. Even Helen’s co-workers, a group of older male psychologists who are among the men afraid of what her book will do to society even though it has been good for their practice. All of the secretaries in her office want signed copies.

Bob borrows the life of his next door neighbor, Frank, in order to become a patient in Helen’s office. Frank (Henry Fonda) owns a successful stocking company whose marriage to Sylvia (Lauren Bacall) is on the rocks due to her jealous nature. Bob tells Frank’s tale to Helen and adds to the woes by claiming to be “inadequate”. Little blue bill hasn’t been invented yet.

Helen is weirdly naive about seduction and how alcohol works except when it comes to her coworker played by Mel Ferrer. She has no trouble knowing when he’s hitting on her but maybe that’s because he says things like he became a psychiatrist to hear “dirty stories”. Anyway, the pair realize they are falling in love, so Helen goes to Sylvia and encourages her to save her marriage. This makes the real Frank very happy. However, it’s fake Frank aka Bob who panics when his chief accuses him of growing soft and has his casual girlfriend, Gretchen, pretend to be Sylvia. I rather like Gretchen as a character, which is why she is a secondary character who gets a tacked on happy ending.

When Gretchen is unable, Frank asks his secretary to go, not knowing that Helen is meeting with the real Sylvia at the same time. Three “Sylvias” show up at Helen’s office and she thinks he has multiple wives. She hears hoofbeats and thinks zebras. Anyway, the real Sylvia reveals who fake Frank is and Helen realizes that Bob is using her for his filthy tabloid article. At the same time, Bob is quitting his magazine job for Helen’s sake.

Shenanigans ensure with a car chase and a who’s who of character actors that takes way too long. Followed by a happily ever after with pretzels.

Back to the topic of writers. Helen claims her book is scientific, which can’t be true if it’s a bestseller. I can name all the science best sellers on one hand And most of them are about physics and space. No, I am not including the Kinsey report in this list. As for Bob, he seems to be very proud of being a writer yet only in the sense that he loves being a peddler of sleaze. I mean, all professions have their reprobates.

Blessed Event: Movies about Writing

OMG! Gossip time! Well, 1930s gossip so I guess blow your wig for the low down of this off the cob movie.

Alvin Roberts (vaguely based on famed gossip columnist Walter Winchell) has put his newspaper on the map by printing private information about the wealthy and elite. Most notably he reports on scandalous pregnancies, referring to them as “blessed events”. Despite people suing the paper and lining up to complain, the editor loves what this has done for circulation and encourages Alvin to continue. Alvin becomes a celebrity in his own right with people blowing up the phones to sue him and young journalists admire him.

Al gets most of his dirt through trickery and observation, all skills his crush, fellow journalist Gladys, find disgusting. For example, a radio singer named Dorothy begs him not to print a story about her and he uses her begging to get the story out of her, promises not to print it, then PRINTS IT ANYWAY (he feels guilty later, but it’s not like he prints a retraction and refuses to speak to her). Gladys warns him that one of these days his stories will get him hurt and she’s correct. He crosses paths with both a gangster and a crooner, both of whom threaten his life and livelihood. Turns out that Dorothy’s boyfriend is the gangster who is ready kill Al for exposing her secret. Al also has a weird vendetta against the crooner (a man named Bunny Harmon who is played by Dick Powell) which the gangster uses to lure Al to a convenient killing spot. I won’t give away the ending but as this is a movie from 1932, I’m sure you cats will figure it out.

Alvin doesn’t appear to be the best writer. He set up clipped little passages that remind me of telegraph messages. He also doesn’t know how to type, at one point expressing he needs the x key to “x out” a misspelled word. Then again, the ability to type is being lost left and right these days, so maybe he was just a glimpse at the future of America. He’s willing to put himself in danger and ruin lives for the slop he writes. He’s proud that something he created is so talked of. The movie also addresses how gossip effects women in trouble more than the men who put them there. Nothing changes.

Side note: There’s a joke in here about how television will never take off. Ha!

The Petrified Forest: Movies about Writing

Time for some 1930s melodrama!

Leslie Howard plays Alan Squier, a writer “looking for something to believe in” by hitchhiking across America. This is after his novel only sold 600 copies and landed him in a disastrous marriage. He arrives at an Arizona gas station and befriends the owner’s grown daughter, Gabrielle, (Bette Davis) who desperately wants to move to France where her mother lives and learn to paint. Their meeting coincides with the arrival of dangerous bank robber, Duke Mantee (Humphry Bogart) who holds up the car of wealthy couple.

Despite Duke’s menacing appearance, Alan attempts to calmly out-talk the killer and henchmen. “I’m eternally right, but what good does it do me.” Duke isn’t without morals, something Alan observes as a study of human character. Alan also thrills at ideas of immortality and that his published work would be appreciated after his death. He uses these ideas to poke at Duke about his own love life.

As I live in Arizona, I did enjoy little details in the film like a sign for “Apache Beer”, a real brewing company from Phoenix. There are also interesting historical observations to be made about the Great Depression, the role of women in society, individualism, and 1930s race relations. There’s an especially intriguing conversation when a Black man who chauffeurs for the rich couple meets a Black member of Duke’s gang. The gang member asks the chauffeur if he’s never heard of the “great liberation” and I wince thinking of how civil rights failed back then.

Back to this being a blog about writing. Alan has many observations that are intellectual and not always useful. He compares himself to the petrified wood and charm Gabrielle with what he keeps telling her is useless information. A true writer, if you’ve ever seen one. His philosophical views and lack of true motivation lead to his heroic ending - becoming more like a fictional character than an author who created them.

Boy Meets Girl: Movies about Writing

James Cagney and Pat O’Brien play Law and Benson, two screenwriters in the studio system with writer’s block. Instead, they hook up a records playing back typewriter sounds while they gallivant around the lots pretending to be disgruntled chorus members and ruining takes of pictures. However, now they are being bullied by a cowboy actor named Larry Toms to write his final contract picture. Toms is not happy with any of this because He didn’t used to need a script, “people came to see his face alone”. Law declares that he used be a novelist and nearly won the Pulitzer Prize, but now is “writing dialogue for a horse”. Cagney so rarely got to be clever and a comedian that this a delightful change.

Law and Benson have amazing energy. They are like a pair of Groundlings improv. performers who just can’t stop. They are wind-up toys with literary skills. They are the cleverest men in the room . . . or at least they think so. Never mind that they have been fired from multiple lots for pranks and shenanigans. The only thing that is serious about them is Mrs. Benson, an unseen character who spends her husband’s money to replace a void from him working all of the time.

Their boss, C. Elliot Friday, tells them he needs something well written. Not “Kipling who’s a good storyteller”, but more of the “greatness” of “Proust”. I should point out that this is the same man who mentions that the wives should start learning languages because it “gives them something to do”. So he’s pompous and sexist. Still, Law and Benson point out that movies have the same great American story: “boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl.”

Enter Susie (Marie Wilson), a young woman who works in the studio commissary and happens to be pregnant. Gasp. Benson and Law are the only ones who instantly want her taken care of and ask to be godfathers. They come up with Toms’s movie story where he’s a cowboy who finds a baby (played by Susie’s baby Happy so she’ll have money for his upbringing) and falls for the mother. Toms objects because babies are scene stealers. Still, the studio head approves and the movie goes forward after Happy is born. Furthermore, Happy is such a hit that he gets a multi-picture deal and Susie goes back to high school.

Spoilers ahead:

Susie is sweet on an English extra Rodney Bowman (Bruce Lester), but Larry Toms starts flirting hoping that Susie married him. Unbeknownst to Susie (but known-est to us), but Toms really just wants legal control over Happy’s career so he doesn’t have to do cowboy-baby films anymore.

Law and Benson want to save Happy and Susie from Toms clutches . . . and so they can keep making money off Happy. They hire Bowman to pretend to be Happy’s father at a movie premiere where - ACK!!! Ronald Reagan! Make the bad man go away!

And as Reagan is always a bad omen, After his scene, things go belly-up for our main characters. Bowman reveals the truth. A measles ridden Happy is fired due to scandal. Benson and Law are fired. Benson’s wife leaves him and Law plans on going to Vermont to write about “real” people He states that it’s going be so real, he won’t even use a typewriter. He’s going to handwrite everything in pencil. Ug. Pencil.

Still, before Benson and Law depart, they ask a friend to send a telegram from London claiming to be a Studio owner wanting to buy the studio they worked for, but only if Happy is on a long term contract. However, Bowman (who it turns out is the younger son of a lord) wants to marry Susie and raise Happy in England. Benson points out that this was realism - “boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl.” The good news is that they get their jobs at the studio back. The bad news is that Benson’s wife doesn’t come back so I’m not sure if he really learned a lesson about putting work first.

The Animal Kingdom: Movies about Writing

This is more about creativity than purely writing. Tom (Leslie Howard) is a publisher and is the black sheep of his wealthy family. After years of living in sin with a fashion icon and artist, Daisy (Ann Harding), Tom is settling down with socialite Cecelia (Myrna Loy). Cecelia is manipulative, slowly convincing Tom to give up his old life and friends. Her own friends find Tom and his ilk unusual. Publishers must “hobnob” with weirdos (meaning other creatives). She also tries to keep him away from Daisy, despite his desire to keep her in his life as a friend. Cecelia also convinces Tom to print a trash novel that does well, but embarrasses him as it’s not the sort of lofty title he usually publishes. His former friends along with Daisy pity how he’s clearly miserable meeting with Cecelia’s expectations for him as a husband. It’s evident how his wife thinks these artists and authors are immoral. She slowly and quietly takes away so many of Tom’s mental outlets and happy moments, he doesn’t even notice.

It’s Daisy who critiques him as he talks art with her. Their words are meant to be helpful, two people who with similar brains who know how to sandwich the poor reviews with the important little triumphs. Their circle of friends have similar views, that being around other creatives is healthy for their collective well-being. Tom and Daisy’s group are “scandalous” and rough in the eyes of the swells of society, who dismiss their talents as mere amusements. One of Cecelia’s friends comments that Tom’s author friend will “use them all for characters in a book” and he grumbles, “Oh, that’s a very good idea.” It’s a movie about substance and artistry versus what makes money. Granted, that’s not practical or realistic. However, I don’t think this movie was going for reality. There are too many starving artists living in nice apartments and large roomed houses at the start of the Great Depression for reality to be a priority.

Through My Window: Movies about Writing

Sorry. Can’t give details about this one. My mother sometimes reads this blog.

What I can say is that Raquel has a huge crush on her rich neighbor Ares - so huge that she basically writes fan fiction about him all the time. He hacks into her computer and reads some of what she writes. You’d think she’d be embarrassed, but basically states she only wants to be a part of his life if he’s all in. Insert lots of typical “wealthy family objects to poor girlfriend” drama mixed with commitment issues and you’ve pretty much got this movie (yes, I’m skipping over the many - ahem - intimate moments).

When it comes to her writing, Raquel is not 100% confident about allowing others to read it, believing that her father’s excellent novel failed when he attempted to get a publisher. Ares keeps telling her that she has talent (even though her topic always seems to be their relationship), however she’s convinced that if her dad couldn’t get published, then neither could she. Eventually, her mother tells her that her father was never rejected because he was too afraid to ever try. In the end, Raquel turns her year of dating Ares into a book that people applaud at a reading. So whether or not the couple stays together - at least she got a good story out of it.

The Smiling Ghost: Movies about Writing

Here’s another one about a journalist (although she’s one of four leads in this story). Lucky Downing (Wayne Morris) is an out-of-work engineer who take a job pretending to be a wealthy woman’s fiancee for a month. The woman in question is Elinor Bentley Fairchild (Alexis Smith) who comes from an eccentric wealthy family and Lucky likes her instantly. What Lucky and his “valet” Clarence (Willie Best) aren’t aware of is that Elinor’s last three engagements ended in tragedy, each man dying or meeting a terrible fate in bizarre circumstances. The only living former fiancee, Paul Myon, asks a local reporter who has been following the strange events, Lil Barstow (Brenda Marshall), to warn the latest engaged man of the “smiling ghost” and that Elinor is cursed. Also, there’s a weird old man in the house who wants to add Clarence to his collection of shrunken heads. Do you have all that? Good. Let’s talk about writing and journalism.

Even though her first thought is of her newspaper, Lil does act like a decent person as well as a reporter. She warns Lucky about the fact that he’s being used as a “guinea pig” to lure out a killer, but still wants her story. When he decides to stay because of some fake tears from Elinor, Lucky becomes Lil’s girl Friday as she investigates the murders (and attempted murders). They make a deal that she will not print a word of what is going on until she had Elinor’s permission. Of course, Elinor doesn’t know they’ve made this agreement. Lil is also respectful of Paul Myron who is trapped in an iron lung and convinced that the ghost of fiancee #1 is behind everything. She’s logical and calm in the face of danger even as she starts to enjoy Lucky’s company. The only time she slips from her journalistic integrity is when Elinor declares she really wants to marry Lucky.

Spoilers!

Elinor insults Lil by calling her stories sappy and “hysterical”, yet allows Lil to come to the ceremony so she can finish her article (and rub it in Lil’s face that Elinor won Lucky). Lucky isn’t aware that Lil likes him as he’s too busy saving Clarence from the crazy man who wants his head. As the wedding begins, Lil excuses herself to a different room with a typewriter where the “smiling ghost” kidnaps her. Clarence accidentally find a secret passage the “ghost” has been using to get around the house and Lucky follows it to a tied up Lil. The “ghost” threatens them and Lil figures out that the killer is actually Paul Myron in a mask. Elinor had dumped him after his paralyzing car accident. When he healed (not paralyzed after all), he determined to both punish Elinor and make sure no other man could have her. And he would’ve gotten away with is to if it’s wasn’t for those meddling kids. Also, it turns out that the crazy man only wanted to use Clarence to make a model of his head, not actually kill him.

I assume Lil will remain a reporter after she and Lucky marry as, by the end of movie, he still doesn’t have a job.

In Caliente: Movies about Writing

Here’s another short blog about yet another 1930s film.

Larry (Pat O’Brien) is a magazine writer and editor who is taken to Mexico by his friend and publisher Harold (Edward Everett Horton) to escape a manipulative girlfriend named Clara (Glenda Farrell). Despite just helping Larry to escape a woman, Harold decides that a good distraction for Larry is famous dancer Rita (Dolores Del Rio). What Harold doesn’t know is that Larry wrote her a terrible review in his magazine which she memorized. Personally, I’d have been more insulted that he wrote such a scathing, hateful critique and didn’t bother to remember her face. She and her gambler manager plan to humiliate Larry for what he wrote about her. Shenanigans ensue.

This film includes several stereotypes of writers (and of Mexico, but that would be something for a different blog topic). Larry is an alcoholic who wants to have reckless fun between assignments. He waxes poetic when he sees a pretty face and thinks he’s more charming than he actually is. He uses his job as an excuse to avoid responsibility, stating exact word numbers like one of Hercules’s labors.

The Feminine Touch: Movies about Writing

One more Rosalind Russell film.

John Hathaway (Don Ameche) is a college professor with a realistic view of the world around him. He is writing a book about jealously in the human psyche. He hopes the book will make enough money that he and his wife Julie (Rosalind Russell) can leave the university town. This is especially true when the dean tries to force him to pass an athlete who refuses to put in any effort. John decides to give up his job and talk to publisher Elliot Morgan (Van Heflin) about his book.

John’s academic approach to relationships drives Julie nuts, wishing he would be jealous every once in a while. Still, she supports his writing, encouraging healthy habits around his obsession at the typewriter. She is also he biggest cheerleader, stating that someday Morgan’s office will be lined with copies of John’s books. John replies that he’s know plenty of books that never get published. The character is a realist, through and through.

Enter Nellie (Kay Francis), Morgan’s assistant and girlfriend who has excellent knowledge of the literary world. She starts by saying that they don’t often publish scholarly works (to which Julie jokes that her husband can’t help being smart), however Nellie expresses an interest in the book if he focuses only on martial jealousy. As Nellie convinces him to change the book, Morgan flirts shamelessly with Julie. Julie worries about Nellie spending so much time with John. Nellie is frustrated with Morgan ignoring her for Julie. And John is completely secure in his marriage, continuing to upset Julie. She even has a ridiculous dream in which her husband dressed in prison stripes punches every man who looks at her. Oh, 1940s shenanigans! Of course none of these highly intelligent people think to get counseling and have healthy relationships. Nope. The women start screaming and the men eventually swing fists. Sigh.

There are several good jokes about the book world. Morgan grows a goatee because “Shakespeare had a beard”. The group attends a party full of drunk writers, self-deprecating critics, and smarmy lawyers making light of what terrible people agents are. The process of rewrites and publishing are shown through silly one-liners. Yet the film also makes it seem rather simple to sell a book, even one with an academic topic - if it’s skewed the right way. Lastly, there is the idea of what principles you have to give up in order to be printed.

No Time for Comedy: Movies about Writing

What can I say? I like Rosalind Russell movies. Plus in this one, James Stewart plays a guy named Gaylord Esterbrook. Heh heh heh. No one is laughing? Fine. Here’s the movie. Spoilers ahead.

Gaylord has taken a break from small town reporting to write a comedy about life in New York City (a place he’s never been to until a group of producers bring him and his play there). While working on rewrites, Gaylord is mistaken for an usher by the leading lady Linda (Russell). In fact, no one believes he’s a writer at first based on his usual Jimmy Stewart looks. However, he has a refreshing view of tourism. For example, he wants to travel by subway during rush hour so he can “have the experience”.

Despite the rough writing of his third act, Linda convinces the cast and crew to give the play a chance. When it’s a hit, Linda and Gaylord marry. He continues to write comedies all starring her, which their director friend Morgan says have the same story every time. Linda declares how strange it is to pace the corridor “waiting for your husband to give birth to a play”. However, he falls into the stereotypical pattern of New York writers when he hits a block - drinks and takes trips out of New York.

At a party, the couple meets Amanda and Philo Swift. Philo asks what Gay does for a living and he says playwright, Philo responds, “Yes. Er, yes, I have a hobby, too. What I meant was, what do you do for a living?” The financier finds the job of “writer” rather juvenile, however his wife finds it fascinating. Gay declares that he doesn’t want to write anything else unless it has an important message, an idea given to him by bubble-headed Amamda. Linda states that if Gay and Amanda affair, Amanda should at least leave his writing style alone.

Gay writes a play about immortality, fascism, and general human drama which 1) has no part for Linda, 2) causes their friend/maid to hold it out in front of her between her thumb and forefinger, and 3) is unintentionally funny because it’s so badly written. Not wanting to hear Linda’s criticism or jokes, Gay leaves her for Amanda and Philo agrees to marry Linda since they become friends.

Amanda shows how she truly does not understand how a creative mind works when she can’t understand Gay’s opening night jitters. And the play is awful. No one has a single positive word to say between each act. Morgan says how he’d never feel bad for a playwright, but he can’t help pitying Gay. We as the audience should pity Morgan as Amanda tries to get her hooks into him at the end of the night. After it all, Linda tells him that 4 hits and 1 flop is not a bad record. They talk about how to turn the drama into satire about the rise of dictators. And he realizes that even if she’s not his muse, she’s better for him and his writing because she’s a constructive critic.

Design for Scandal: Movies about Writing

Oh 1940s shenanigans! As much as I love Rosalind Russell in comedies and Walter Pidgeon in general, this movie rubbed me the wrong way. Still, I watched it, so I’ll write a short blog.

Pidgeon plays Jeff Sherman, a reporter who agrees to dig up dirt on Judge Cornelia Porter (Russell) after she rules in favor of his bosses ex-wife in a divorce hearing. Sherman finds out that Porter has an interest in art and pretends to be a sculptor. He follows her on vacation with her sister, spoiled nephew, and associate Walter who is helping her edit a legal book she is having published. You know how the story goes from there. The pair fall in love under false pretenses. Boy gets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy wins girl back. Still, Sherman does not deserve her. He so condescending and made up of playboy stereotypes that his dialogue is pretty much predictable.

Jeff is not much of a reporter. He does not seem to have much of a story nor does he actually plan out any thing realistic that would sell in a paper. He claims he’s going to trap her in a scandal and use a news article about said scandal to force her to overturn the alimony payments his boss is paying. See. Not a great plan. Cornelia is more the legitimate writer. Walter and she spend several moments throughout the movie checking chapters, fixing citations, and using a critical eye to make sure her book is polished. Maybe I should hire them as editors.

Nora: Movies about Writing

Hey there! Do you like James Joyce? Nope. Too bad! It’s St. Patrick’s Day!

There’s very few summaries of this movie online, so I’m gonna go ahead and go through most of it in this blog. Here there be spoilers.

Ewan McGregor (a Scotsman) plays the famed Irish author and Susan Lynch (one of Ireland’s only actresses in the 90s) plays his wife Nora Barnacle. Yes, her last name was really Barnacle and I love that fact. The movie opens with Nora’s hard home life and - Is that young Andrew Scott as Nora’s boyfriend? Oh and he’s gone. Nora moves to Dublin to escape screaming guardians and a poor reputation. James sees her on the street, is instantly smitten, and she gives a very public sexual act on their first date. Not to shame another woman, especially one living before voting rights, but not a great way to save your reputation. Anyway, this first date inspired events in Ulysses and Dublin’s annual Bloomsday (pretty sure the holiday does not actually mimic the events of the first date).Jim

Jim is rather an ass of a boyfriend at first. He accuses her of being in unfaithful. He’s frustrated that she won’t “go all the way”. But most ridiculous is about a letter. He gets upset when his friends tell him that a love letter she writes him sounds copied out of a book. She states that even writers need to use the same words as everyone else.

She forgives him pretty quickly and they leave for Switzerland where Joyce gets a job as a singer, but is really there to stretch his writer’s wings.

Despite Nora’s intelligence (she learns Italian and French In the midst of giving birth to her first child), James acts like she doesn’t fully understand his genius. His brother, Stan, comes to visit from Ireland when James’s drinking gets worse and he can’t get any publishers to print The Dubliners, a book which includes scenes inspired by Nora’s younger life (something he doesn’t tell Nora until after he’s written it). Still, the story makes her happy and they’re lives become a little more peaceful as their daughter comes along.

That is until Joyce goes home to Dublin for a visit and starts listening to his friends again who plant the sane ideas that Nora is unfaithful. Stan comes back to take care of the depressed Nora, trying to remind her of his brother’s writer’s madness. “He sees rejection everywhere”. Seriously, Stani is too lovable here as he takes care of their daughter.

James comes to his senses and they send each other the infamous “sex” letters until he comes home. Nora declares that getting him to come home through letters proves “she’s beating him at this writing game”. Really, Stan was also a writer who would later prove both his brother’s genius and childishness in his own books.

A man interested in James’s writing becomes obsessed with Nora. Of course, this messes with the insecure author’s head and Nora accuses him of wanting her to have an affair so he can use it for a story. She reveals that she’s stopped reading his work because she’s tired of seeing her life “twisted up”, but he argues that he’s “celebrating” their lives together. The row results in him trying to burn several pages and Nora having to rescue them from the stove. To escape his jealousy, Nora goes back to Ireland with the children and stops to talk with Jim’s publisher about why The Dubliners still isn’t in print. The man states that some stories seem “dirty” including the one based on Nora’s teen years.

James comes to get her and the children. They return to the continent to live near Stani and find a different publisher for the Dubliners. The film ends there without going into the publication of ulysses or how the couple’s daughter suffered from mental health problems. But Ewan McGregor Sings over the credits, so that’s good.

My Favorite Year: Movies about Writing

This film really isn’t about writing as much as it’s about being a writer. Loosely based upon a moment Mel Brooks life when he was a TV comedy writer in charge of keeping Errol Flynn in line.

Set in 1954, Benji Stone nee Steinburg (Mark Linn-Baker) is the freshman writer on the King Kaiser Comedy Cavalcade and determined to prove himself without anyone caring that he is young and Jewish. He’s written a sketch specifically for Alan Swann (Peter O’Tool), an aging adventure movie actor with a reputation for alcoholism and womanizing. Hilarity ensues as Benji has to babysit Swann to make sure that he shows up for his live TV appearance. And if Swann lets his bad behavior get in the way, Benji might lose his coveted job in a television studio. Furthermore, it is a story of how we can’t always live up to the legend or expectations that are set by the world around us. I think you should watch this movie yourself to find out more. It’s very underrated.

Although Benji is thrilled that Swann liked the skit he wrote, he is still a little unsure about being the youngest man in the writers’ room. If you ever watched the Dick van Dyke Show, the television writer’s room in this will look similar as many of the same people were the basis for both. There’s the hard-headed lead writer who throws a tantrum when something he came up with is rejected by the boss - until the boss is within earshot. There’s the solo woman, someone who has to be fairly thick-skinned and clever since she’ll be hit on by half of the building. Then there’s the oddball. This brain trust’s oddball comes in the form of a man who doesn’t like talking out loud and whispers everything to the female writer for translation. The movie show the pressure these four are under each week in order to produce something funny. Because, as the old quote goes, “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.”

Follow Me Quietly: Movies about Writing

I quite enjoyed this short poverty-row noir directed by Richard Fleischer. A police Lieutenant is on the hunt for a serial killer who gives himself the name “The Judge”. His victims appear to be random, but his killing style is always the same and always during rain.

But enough about the lurid details of a fascinating killer. Let’s talk about writing!

First, I want to point out that one of the victims who survives the Judge’s attack Is the editor of a local paper. He survived by falling out a window, and even as he lies, broken on the sidewalk, he demands that one of his reporters take his statement for that day’s edition. I would say that’s dedication, but I’d say it’s more stupidity Especially since he was face-to-face with the killer and couldn’t ID him.

The character I’m going to focus on Is actually Ann, A reporter for a magazine, which the main character describes as worse than a yellow rag. She is so determined that she get an inside scoop, Ann starts following the lieutenant around, including breaking into his apartment. Her boss is only willing to print the story if she gets some information that no other print media has gotten yet. However, this would upset the investigation.

Eventually, she reveals that she knows her publication is trash, but she was desperate for a writing job. She agrees to use her inside knowledge of magazine distribution to help catch the killer without upsetting the case. My question is, she wanted so badly to be a writer, did she get a better job after the film was over?