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Arabella's Notes
Melvyn Douglas |
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Tonight or Never 1931 |
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The script was adapted from a play by Lili Halvany and produced on Broadway by David Belasco starring Helen Gahagan and Melvyn Douglas. But when Samuel Goldwyn bought the screen rights he put Gloria Swanson opposite Douglas who had mixed feeling about his new leading lady. Goldwyn finally decided to cut Swanson’s singing and Melvyn heartily agreed. “Her voice would dispel any illusion as to her being an opera star.” Swanson’s wardrobe was also in constant flux because she was pregnant at the time.
Goldwyn felt that in Melvyn Douglas he had found a “strictly American leading man” possibly a reference to the current rage over Rudolph Valentine types. The new York Times wrote that Melvyn’s “bright interpretation rather puts Miss Swanson in the shade…(her performance) falls short of Helen’s ( in the stage production).”
The Broken Wing 1932 |
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Based on a play by Paul Dickey and Charles Goddard, this western was made to showcase the Mexican Spitfire, Lupe Velez but Melvyn held his own. The story revolved around the tempestuous Lolita (Velez), the Mexican bad man who sought her hand in marriage (Leo Carrillo) and the pilot (Douglas) who crashes his plane near her house. Is this airman the King of hearts that her fortune foretold? Will he survive the wrath of her unsuitable suitor?
Melvyn had begun to miss the challenges the stage provided…and the live audiences. Movies made in segments lost the “thrill of creation” an actor received as he helped the character and the story evolve slowly. But his income in those dire times more than provided for the needs at home and for his parents and Gregory. On the other hand, Goldwyn began seeing Melvyn as too much like William Powell and now only loaned him out for poverty row roles.
The Old Dark House 1932 |
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This film, based on a play by J. B. Priestley, brought together the same successful team that made “Frankenstein” a big hit in 1931….James Whale and Boris Karloff. The cast was also star-studded with Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Gloria Stewart and a host of marvelous character actors.
The storyline takes some storm-drenched travelers to seek shelter in…an old dark house! Of course we have the usual bunch of weird inhabitants that try to turn this into a really scary story but the irony and humor of the dialogue often gives it away. This is Boris Karloff’s first starring role….he was listed as “ ? “ in Frankenstein. And because Whale couldn’t get a male actor who looked old enough to play 103 year old Sir Roderick Femm, he hired Elspeth Dundgeon (credited as John Dundgeon). All in all, Melvyn had a good time working with this stellar cast.
Theodora Goes Wild 1936 |
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Melvyn gets the benefit of the new Irene Dunne! After a plethora of tragic, noble roles the studio finally convinces Irene to try comedy and she finds herself with a bona fide hit and an Oscar nomination, to boot. She plays Theodora Lynn, a prim, small-town schoolteacher raised by two spinster aunts, who causes a furor by writing a steamy, romantic best-seller. She gets into further hot water by having a fling with the married illustrator (Douglas) who designed the cover of her book. He is also having problems trapped in an unhappy marriage. But as luck would have it, they solve their problems and find their happiness in each other.
The reviews rolled in…Variety called it a film masterpiece….Time called it “a rollicking farce”…and Hollywood Reporter said “ (it) will stand with the very best..”
Back home in California, Helen was planning concerts while Melvyn was suffering from overwork. He even called in sick once to get the day off and was appalled when the studio sent out a doctor. He had to hurry up and make up symptoms.
I’ll Take Romance 1937 |
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Frothy and predictable, screenwriter Stephen Morehouse Avery could have done this on his lunch hour with time to spare. Grace Moore was typecast as an opera diva on the run and Melvyn was the opera company agent sent to bring her back to fulfill her contract. Grace sang arias from several operas and also the title song that became a bigger hit than the movie.
Off the set both Melvyn and Helen were becoming increasingly active on the political scene. They had joined the Anti-Nazi League organized by screenwriter Donald Ogden Stewart, composer Oscar Hammerstein, actor Frederic March and director Fritz Lang in 1936. 10,000 people gathered for the first meeting where speakers included Eddie Cantor, Dorothy Parker and Gale Sondergaard.
That Certain Age 1938 |
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Screenwriters Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett and Bruce Manning tailored F. Hugh Herbert’s short story to fit Deanna Durbin perfectly. But it doesn’t do much for Melvyn Douglas. He isn’t allowed to sing and the girl is much too young for him. Jackie Cooper gets the prize in this one. Of course there’s always a chance he may win Nancy Carroll after the fade-out.
Back at the house on the hill, Melvyn is getting hate mail from Nazi sympathizers. A petition to boycott imports from Nazi Germany was drawn up at a meeting held at Edward G. Robinson’s house and Melvyn was the prime organizer. It was also signed by many of his friends including Claude Rains, James Cagney, Paul Muni, John Garfield, Groucho Marx, Henry Fonda and Myrna Loy.
Oh, and Melvyn was also now an expectant father for the second time.
Ninotchka 1939 |
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Another Garbo/Douglas film and this time even Greta has fun. Again we find Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett penning the screenplay. It is a fascinating, witty romantic comedy perfectly played by both stars. Greta is the cold, humorless envoy sent by the Czar to facilitate the sale of jewels belonging to the Grand Duchess Swana (Ina Claire). Now the Grand Duchess isn’t too pleased to have to part with them and since Count Leon (Douglas) makes it his mission in life to please the Duchess, he has to woo the envoy. He must break through that icy exterior and make her laugh. And when he does, it is well-worth all the Swana’s jewels. Of course, the Duchess loses Leon.
Look for Bela Lugosi in one his rare non-horror roles as Kommissar Razinin. The film was nominated for four Oscars (Best Picture, Best Actress, Best original Story and best Screenplay) but lost everything to “Gone With The Wind”.
Too Many Husbands 1940 |
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This was the Americanized version of W. Somerset Maugham’s play “Home and Beauty”. Vicky (Jean Arthur) is a socialite who believes her husband Bill (Fred MacMurray) has died in a shipwreck. So she marries his best friend Hank (Douglas) only to have Bill turn up on her doorstep. The two men vie for her affections providing the movie with some rather risqué moments in a Production Code era. Another star in this film has to be Jean’s gorgeous wardrobe designed by Irene.
A remake of this film was the 1955 musical comedy “Three For The Show” with Jack Lemmon and Marge and Gower Champion.
That Uncertain Feeling 1941 |
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Lubitsch decided to take another stab at Victorien Sardou’s play “Divorcons”. He did it first in 1925’s “Kiss Me Again”. This time he gave it a contemporary American setting, a first for a Lubitsch film.
Merle Oberon plays Jill Baker, the bored wife with a case of psychosomatic hiccups. So her busy husband Larry sends her to a noted psychoanalyst (Alan Mowbray) who only makes it worse. Soon she feels alienated from Larry and more in tune with a flaky pianist (Burgess Meredith) she meets in the doctor’s office. Larry has a plan but is it good enough to save his marriage?
Of all the Lubitsch films, it seems that this one got the least respect. But no matter what audiences thought, the cast loved doing this movie and enjoyed the atmosphere Lubitsch always created on his sets. Melvyn said working with Lubitsch on three films (the others: Angel with Marlene Dietrich (1937), Ninotchka (1939)with Greta Garbo ) was one of the highlights of his career because the director always “collaborated with his actors.”
A Woman’s Face 1941 |
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This movie was taken from a play by Francis de Croisset and adapted for the screen by Donald Ogden Stewart, Elliot Paul and Victot Saville. It was also one of Joan Crawford’s best roles and well suited to stand up to even her 1945 Oscar-winning role in “Mildred Pierce”. But of course Joan had Melvyn and a top-notch supporting cast behind her.
As the plastic surgeon who gives Joan a new face while falling in love with her, Melvyn gives an outstanding performance. As her cruel lover Torsten, Conrad Veidt chills you to the bone. Add to that the excellent acting talents of Osa Massen, Reginald Owen, Marjorie Main, Donald Meek, Connie Gilchrist and Albert Basserman (who spoke his lines phonetically because he couldn’t speak English). And kudos to the makeup crew for that horrible scar!
Two-Faced Woman 1941
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This was Garbo’s last film. She had been off the screen for 2 years but promised to do just one more and with Melvyn Douglas, their third together.
The storyline deals with a whirlwind marriage, hubby’s aggressive ex-gal pal and a plot to defuse the situation by becoming your own twin. The tag lines for the film read “Not only does Garbo laugh but playing the dual role of twins she swims, wears a new and feminine hairdo, dances the rumba, skis and wrestles with a man!” Immediately an alarm went off and the powers-that-be at the Production Code office swarmed onto the set. As a result the script was hacked and re-shot until what the audience got was a mere shadow of the film first envisioned.
Off the set, Melvyn was now director of the “Fight for Freedom” branch in California devoted to gaining support for sending aid to Britain despite the Neutrality Act. On March 11,1941 Congress approved the Lend-Lease Bill and auto makers began making bombers for Britain.
Hud 1963 |
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Melvyn’s second film after his decade-long Hollywood exile earned him a Best Acting Oscar and acknowledged that this leading man had now become one of cinema’s most distinguished character actors.
Nothing was lost in this adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s best seller “Horseman, Pass By”. Scriptwriters Harriet Frank, Jr. and Irving Ravetch (who co-produced the film with Martin Ritt) allowed no Hollywood gloss to contaminate the cold, brutal truth in McMurtry’s saga. It is the story of Homer Bannon (Douglas, the principled patriarch and his unprincipled son, Hud (so brilliantly played by Paul Newman) and their struggle that almost destroys everyone else ….the younger son (Brandon de Wilde) and their housekeeper, Alma (Patricia Neal).
The picture won 3 Academy Awards out of 6 nominations….Best Actress (Patricia Neal), Best Supporting Actress (Douglas) and Best Black and White Cinematography (camera wizard James Wong Howe). Paul Newman was also nominated for Best Actor but lost to Sidney Poitier (“Lilies of the Field”).
I Never Sang For My Father 1970
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Robert Anderson adapts his own semi-autobiographical play to the constraints of the screen and does it very well. The story is one that resonates with audiences….how does a son have a private life on one coast while tied to an aging parent on the other? The film was nominated for 3 Oscars…Best Actor (Douglas), Best Supporting Actor (Gene Hackman) and Best Screenplay.
At home Melvyn was very worried about Helen who was mourning the death of her younger sister, Lilli from cancer. It would be the same disease that would eventually take her life as well.
Being There 1979 |
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Another Oscar for Melvyn! This one was for Best Supporting Actor as Ben Rand, the man who gave “Chance” a chance. Peter Sellers who played “Chance” was nominated for the Best Actor award but lost to Dustin Hoffman (“Kramer vs. Kramer”). It was the last Sellers picture released before his death. He had already completed “The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu” but he died before it was released. The later movie “Trail of the Pink Panther” used archival clips to complete the picture.
In this story Sellers plays “Chance” a very unworldly gardener thrust suddenly into a very confusing world by the death of his benefactor. While looking in a shop window, Chance is hit by a car driven by businessman Ben Rand (Douglas). His simplistic accounts of his past are misconstrued and Chance is suddenly looked upon as a wealthy eccentric with uncanny business acumen. By the time his real identity is uncovered, the dying Rand has willed him his wife and worldly goods giving Chance a life the world already thought he possessed.
Ghost Story 1981 |
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Take a spooky old house, mix in some ghosts and strange accidents, and then throw in four old guys with a secret they’ve lived with for over half a century and you got a horror movie. When those four elderly gents are played by Fred Astaire, Melvyn Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and John Houseman you have a classic!
The story is told in a series of flashbacks and no one learns the nature of the ‘secret’ until well into the film. But all the old gentlemen belong to the Chowder Society….in fact they are the only members of the Chowder Society. By the time the secret is out, there have been several strange accidental deaths to those directly connected to the four men. Also in the cast; Patricia Neal as Astaire’s wife, Alice Krige as Eva/Alma and Craig Wasson as Fairbanks’ son.
Melvin Douglas made only one other film. “”The Hot Touch” was released on December 10, 1982 16 months after his death.