3 for Bedroom C

One of the most bizarre career choices perhaps in the history of cinema was when the once has-been silent film star Gloria Swanson, after playing has-been silent film star Norma Desmond in SUNSET BOULEVARD, turned down script after script attempting to turn HER into what she easily could have been...

Something like, say, a female Vincent Price since, while deemed a Drama/Film Noir, SUNSET is nothing short of a terrifying claustrophobic Horror that inspired the likes of PLAY MISTY FOR ME that inspired FATAL ATTRACTION, both involving obsessive women desperately clinging to a man by slitting their wrists, and even MISERY...

But BOULEVARD was obviously too dark and serious for Swanson, proven by her next role in THREE FOR BEDROOM C that, while the lightest of lightweight romantic comedies, does have similarities to the ominous Billy Wilder classic...

As Ann Haven, she's again a movie star, but this time not a has-been, sustaining fame despite really wanting to quit... And along for the ongoing train ride is another SUNSET actor, Fred Clark, as her nervous manager backed by an even more neurotic publicity agent Hans Conried...

Both turn in their usual capable performances for an entertaining curio that, when not taking place in the dialogue-driven dinner car, settles into that titular "bedroom" (technically a roomette)...

This where Swanson had stowed-away, igniting a romance with an equally famous professor/scientist played by tall spectacle-wearing James Warren, instantly attracted to the screen star... without even knowing who she is... and despite the baggage...

Providing child starlet Janine Perreau most of the lines and overall screen-time, a cute and talkative go-between between celebrity mom bickering with Clark while befriending the subtle anti-leading man Warren, so mellow he often doesn't seems invisible...

Yet there's genuine chemistry, despite the age difference... she's once again the older woman... while the plot's mostly carried by those two character-actors like character-actors are supposed to: But the third banana's horribly miscast in portraying a Broadway star ready to become a movie star...

Overweight everyman Steve Brodie not only doesn't fit the part, but his part of the film... when the central romance is inevitably threatened by peripheral jealousy... is the only downside to an otherwise neat little time-filler...

And the last picture Swanson would attempt for years, resting on her SUNSET laurels and yet, with such a grounded performance here, it's as if she never played so overboard a psychotic... obviously her intention all along.

It can truly be said that an "uncredited co-star" in this film is the Santa Fe Railway's luxurious, all-Pullman "Super Chief" streamliner. Nearly all the action takes place aboard the train, but the set pieces used are NOT studio mock-ups. In late 1951, the Santa Fe had just taken a large order of brand-new equipment to upgrade their flagship train, and they allowed Brenco Pictures Corp. to disassemble the interiors of a brand-new Sleeping Car, Dining Car, and Vista-Dome Lounge Car, and truck these interiors over to their sound stages for filming. Thus, the tables, chairs, lighting fixtures, and other accoutrements are not some director's "concept" of first-class passenger train travel, but are the actual interiors of the actual cars on the real-life "Super Chief." Anyone who's not a railfan will probably find this irrelevant, but for those who care about such things, this now qualifies as rare archival footage.

Whatever your feelings about trains, one of the highlights of the film is Hans Conreid, who turns in a superb bit of physical comedy in the train's on-board Barber Shop.

A movie star and her young daughter sneaked on the off-road train to California. The compartment they invaded belonged to a famous biology professor; romance bloomed. The star's manager appeared; complications followed.

Those who put down B type movies will most likely automatically put down this movie. But don't be so quick to judge. I'll agree that it is far from being an Academy Award winner, but that is due more to poor dialog writing and cheaper sets than the acting. In fact, I was very surprised to see so many first class character actors in the movie. The lead,Gloria Swanson,is a movie actress traveling with her young daughter on the Santa Fe's Super Chief to California. She meets a professor on the train and falls for him, tired of the Hollywood types. I love traveling by train which made the movie more appealing to me. Yes, some of the sets that were supposed to be inside a train were obviously on a stage somewhere, but not badly done. There was also some outside footage shot of "real" 1950's SF engines and passenger cars along the way and at stops. There is eating in the dinning car, sitting in the club car and the observation car. Many were stage sets with scenes running in the background for passing landscape, but fun none the less. As most know, the movie stars of the 1950's were constantly traveling back and forth by train between Chicago and California. During the trip, Swanson's agent tries to talk her into publicity she doesn't want to do. People in stuffed shirts probably shouldn't watch it as it's not top shelf, but it is worth watching as low key 1950's fun. If you are interested in looking behind the history of actors in a movie, stick with me. Let's start first with the leads of Gloria Swanson and James Warren. Of course Swanson was the professional actress she portrayed. However I felt no attraction to her or the male lead. James Warren will probably be accused of being wooden or stiff but let's remember that, that was the exact part he was playing. He was a geeky college professor who falls in love with a movie star on a long distance train trip. He actually did a good job given the part and dialog provided and he reminded me of a young Sterling Hayden. He did only one more movie, then returned to his first love of art and illustrating. Although he didn't have the charm of a Gary Cooper, he did an adequate job. Gloria Swanson's history is well known including her Sunset Blvd. Off screen she had an affair with Joseph Kennedy (President Kennedy's father) who produced her in "Queen Kelly". Swanson's autobiography was in response to information in Rose Kennedy's autobiography. Gloria's first marriage was to one of my favorites - Wallce Beery. The number of top character actors in "Three for Bedroom C" was amazing, with familiar faces popping into the picture. Let's start with Gloria's agent in the movie played by Fred Clark, who was also in Sunset Blvd. with her. He supported in many works on TV and movies but I remember him best playing Harry Morton the neighbor on "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show". He was also in Rosalind Russell's "Auntie Mame". Then came was Hans Conried, remembered right away as Uncle Tonoose from the Danny Thomas show on TV. As a character actor he had a long list of accomplishments and was a member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and the voice of Captain Hook in Disney's Peter Pan. The little girl in this movie was played by Janine Perreau. She was so good I can't believe she had a short career. Probably the old going from child actor to adult problem. She played her part perfectly though. She has a sister GiGi who had more luck in the movie business. Toward the end Steve Brodie from many TV shows made his appearance just when I thought they were finished popping in supporting actors. Then sitting there in the club car and playing an old alcoholic was one of the best professionals, Percy Helton, who often played the timid little man in more movies and TV shows than I can think of. He had that wispy voice from shouting himself hoarse in a part many years before. He was the drunk Santa in Miracle On 34th Street and was the train conductor in Music Man. The train steward in this one was was played by Ernest Anderson who also played a porter in North by Northwest, and George M Cohan's valet in Yankee Doodle Dandy. Here he was the ever patient Fred Johnson who helped along the romance with good advice to anyone smart enough to ask for it, and played the part intelligently. There is a part for famous Margaret Dumont whom Groucho Marks called "practically the fifth Marx brother". Then near the end came another familiar face as a photographer - Jimmy Dodd whom you will remember as the adult Mousketeer on Disney's Mickey Mouse Show when he sang songs on each show and led the group as Jimmy. And you will also recognize the train conductor as Charles Lane. He was a supporting character actor in a whole list of movies and TV shows. Remember him as Mr. Potter's tax man in It's A Wonderful Life? Yes, that's him, always a curt, no-nonsense part. As you can see, the supporting actors and actresses in Bedroom C really make the movie worth watching in addition to the train travel theme. If you watch it you are not going to come away with some great message long remembered. However, you will enjoy some lighthearted thoughts of yesteryear's movies and train travel. It's not a must see, but if you get a chance, why not?

Two years after her phenomenal success in SUNSET BOULEVARD, Gloria Swanson returned to the screen in this low-budget but very charming comedy.

Swanson plays Ann Haven, a runaway actress who stows away on a train headed for the West Coast. She and her daughter (Janine Perreau) barge into the compartment and life of a famous scientist (James Warren) who gets embroiled in their crazy Hollywood life because Swanson's manager and publicist are also on the train.

Furious that she has been passed over for the role of Cleopatra, Swanson is headed west to have it out with her studio. Her yes men (Fred Clark and Hans Conried) try everything to dissuade her from quitting the studio. In the meantime, she has a fling with the professor. Others onboard include a ditzy socialite (Margaret Dumont), a drunk (Percy Helton), a Brandoesque actor (Steve Brodie), and an accommodating steward (Ernest Anderson).

Swanson, who looks terrific out of her severe Norma Desmond drag, is the whole show here as the temperamental actress why finds love. She has a nice breezy comedy style, and after nearly 40 years in front of the cameras (she made her film debut in 1914), she knows every trick of the trade. Warren, stuck with the dumb- cluck professor role, doesn't get much of a chance to do anything. The rest of the cast is solid.

Not the funniest film you'll ever see, but worth a look to see the legendary Gloria Swanson in action. Despite the "B" status of this film, Swanson was determined to not play more Norma Desmond parts, which is what she was offered after the huge comeback she made in SUNSET BOULEVARD. At age 52 (or so) parts were rare. Although this film was a box-office bomb and did nothing to cement her comeback, she probably made a wise choice in trying a comedy.