White Banners

Just happened to wake up very early this morning and stumbled upon "White Banners" on Turner Classic Movies. What a nice little film. Fay Bainter, normally known for her outstanding support of many a fine lead actor, is given a chance to shine in a more substantial and pivotal role. Claude Rains turns in his usual fine performance and there is fine work from young actors Bonita Granville and Jackie Cooper. In lesser hands this film could easily lapse into a puddle of maudlin sap, but these fine performers truly elevate this moving and interesting story. The film is based on a Lloyd C. Douglas short story. Douglas was also the author of "Magnificient Obsession" and "The Robe. Would love to see this one on DVD someday. Until then, I'll be watching TCM's schedule for it. A film not to be missed!

I caught this gem early one morning, after waking up early unable to fall back asleep. How fortunate, White Banners is a movie I had never heard or knew about. I really did not expect much. Was I surprised how quickly I was drawn into this wonderful light drama. Wonderfully written and directed. The casting superb in all choices and Fay Bainter was simply magnificent and unforgettable. Truly a most memorable and haunting performance. Claude Rains, always great, gives a spunky and marvelously slightly eccentric touch to his masterful performance. Cooper and Granville are great together. Kay Johnson (Madam Satan) what a surprise! Very nice subdued performance. I was really glad to have discovered this forgotten classic. As wonderful as A Wonderful Life. I highly recommend making time to catch this, it's worth every minute of it's 92 minutes; wish it was longer.

It's nice to see FAY BAINTER in a starring role opposite CLAUDE RAINS. Bainter has the sort of role you might expect BARBARA STANWYCK to do in one of her "Stella Dallas" moods about a mother whose love for her son has to be from afar until she comes to live in a household where she's able to be a part of his life again.

And thanks to a good script, there's no settling for a happy ending. Having satisfied herself that he's on the right path, she leaves him thinking that his adopted mother was his real mom and she walks off into the wintry landscape just as she drifted into the household at the beginning.

It's a warm story, full of Lloyd C. Douglas touches (he wrote the original Cosmopolitan magazine story) and it's nicely played by a cast that includes JACKIE COOPER (the boy inventor with the likable personality), BONITA GRANVILLE (his love interest in a puppy love sort of way), and JAMES STEPHENSON as Cooper's father who has a reunion with the son given up for adoption years ago, but keeps the secret from him.

Of course the flaws are there, as they are in any story of this kind penned by Mr. Douglas. The sentiment is poured on pretty thick at times, the speeches seem like pearls of wisdom coming from characters who always know exactly what to say in any sort of predicament, and Bainter's character, in particular, is a bit too noble and self-sacrificing to be really believable.

But she gives the role her personal warmth, dignity and intelligence in this story of a struggling inventor (Raines) who gets a lot of his inspiration from a woman with a penchant for helping others.

Summing up: A little known film, dated now, but still has some interesting things to say. The 1909 era is nicely evoked and the patent process for new inventions is something rarely dealt with in stories of this kind.

Trivia note: FAY BAINTER had two Best Actress nominations in 1938: one for JEZEBEL (she won Best Supporting Actress) and the other for Best Actress in WHITE BANNERS.

Today on Turner Classic Movies I watched a tribute to Jackie Cooper on his birthday. After seeing Jackie play children who always had some kind of drama going on in his characters lives and crying all the time, it was nice to see him as a nice young man who grew from being immature and selfish to mature, unselfish, and grateful.

In many of Jackie Cooper's films he played characters who were much younger than his actual age (ex: O'Shaunessy's Boy (1935), in real life he was about 12 or 13, but in the film, he is playing someone who is about 10 or 11, same in Dinky and in Tough Guy (1936), he was really 13 or 14, but in the film he is probably between the ages of 9-11). So, in White Banners it was nice seeing him someone his own age and he gave a touching and challenging performance. I also must commend Fay Bainter (1938 Academy Award nominee Best Actress (Banners) and supporting actress (Jezebel)), for she gave an excellent performance as a mother who sacrifices the best for her child. Also the rest of the cast was great. An excellent film!

WHITE BANNERS has a couple of very odd but satisfying plots running through the film. The first involves Fay Bainter who plays a woman who just moves in with a family and becomes the perfect housekeeper--in many ways a lot like an earlier incarnation of Mary Poppins! However, her hidden agenda and why she works for mere "peanuts" is interesting and unfolds throughout the film. The "why" exactly isn't all that hard to predict--there are lots of pretty obvious clues thrown out to the audience. The second plot, and this IS an odd one, is about Rains and Cooper working together to try to create the first home electric refrigerator and sell the idea. While this may sound dull, I actually liked this--it reminded me a lot of movies like YOUNG TOM EDISON.

This is not exactly a perfect movie, but I enjoyed it and appreciate how the studio at least tried something different. Plus, some of the performances were very good. Claude Rains was his usual wonderful self, but I also appreciate the teen parts played by Jackie Cooper and Bonita Granville--Bonita was bouncy like a teen and it was nice to see Jackie doing a more mature role than what he'd been previously doing for MGM when he was a bit younger. Also, Fay Bainter was generally excellent, but there were a few times when her character seemed a bit "sappy" and too good to be true. The bottom line is that this is an excellent movie and a good one for old movie buffs who want a change of pace.