warrenk-2

Two for Tea is a standard musical from the early 1950s enhanced by Gene Nelson's dancing and Eve Arden's characteristic wisecracks. Doris Day and Gordon MacRae are obviously fine singers and work well together. But I prefer Day in the musical western Calamity Jane and in her mid-decade dramatic turns in Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much and the Ruth Etting biopic Love Me or Leave Me. MacRae always seemed wooden to me but that may have been what was required during the period. I haven't seen him in other roles which demanded more from him other than to stand up and sing. The dancing gives the film life as in the Charleston number. Nelson shines when the film becomes his in the Crazy Rhythm jungle sequence and the solo dance on the staircase. I wonder what might have happened if he had been under contract to MGM instead of Warner Bros. Would two Genes at MGM have been one Gene too many? Who can say now, but it's pleasurable to imagine Nelson in a film directed by Stanley Donen.

I saw "Girls Under 21" at the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque as part of a Noir festival. I went with low expectations but the film surprised me. It moved at a brisk pace, had many snappy, funny, irreverent lines, and its ending seemed socially progressive rather than one artificially moralistic to satisfy the Production Code. Paul Kelly, Rochelle Hudson, and the young actresses who played the delinquents all gave good performances. Bruce Cabot, although good, really had nothing more to do than to advance the plot. The film is worth viewing.

The IMDb plot description indicates Frances, the Rochelle Hudson character, had been the wife of Smiley Ryan (Bruce Cabot) before she spent time in prison as a result of his illegal activities. This piece of information was lost on me. I don't remember any mention of a divorce or of Frances still being Smiley's wife which should have come up given her friendship with the high school teacher (Paul Kelly) -- and his interest in her -- and all the gossip and disapproving looks she receives from the women in the neighborhood. I assumed Frances and Smiley had had a less formal relationship, but one he wanted to continue given his 'your my woman' attitude. Of course, it may have been brushed over quickly in the sequence when Frances returns to her old neighborhood, spectacularly well dressed and looking so healthy after her time in jail that I was puzzled attempting to figure out why this beautiful, articulate, and stylish woman was on the steps of a tenement talking to a group of delinquent teenage girls while a multitude of dowdy women looked on with disapproval. But this was Hollywood in 1940.

"Cafe Hostess" seemed promising because of its star, Ann Dvorak, an intriguing actress whom Hollywood didn't seem to know what to do with. The film begins stylistically but immediately slows down. It's not until about midway that the drama engaged me mainly because it gives Dvorak something to do other than schmooze with potential johns while picking their pockets. Preston Foster's romantic lead performance is good even though his character is poorly written, presenting him more as a romantic ideal than a real person. I was waiting for a surprise about him that didn't happen. Wynne Gibson is fine as an aging "hostess" even though the script telegraphs early on how she will save the day. Douglas Fowley as the misogynistic gangster is properly menacing and despicable, an interesting surprise since he played the comical, exasperated film director in "Singin' in the Rain" twelve years later. I saw this film as part of a Noir festival at the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque.