THEN AND… THEN AGAIN

Out in California… awaiting some kind of notice… to evacuate or…

And so, once again, I was up far too late to watch yet another Hollywood classic on TCM. This year’s candidates for Oscar consideration will do that to a guy. Frank Capra’s Meet John Doe came into view. I cannot count the number of times I have seen this film, nor will I reiterate yet again what a fan I am of Mr. Capra’s work.

I am not sure where Meet John Doe ranks in Capra’s pantheon, but I am absolutely, positively secure in the statement that this is one great movie. Gary Cooper is wonderful, and Barbara Stanwyck is perfection. Are there cornball moments? Hey… is this a Capra movie or is this a Capra movie?

If you are not crying at the end of this flick, please do not write me. I don’t even want to know you. Lest it go unsaid, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, and James Gleason are also all wonderful in this movie which actually was responsible for laws being changed by the US Congress. Laws that were passed around the time of the film’s release in the early 1940s, only to be rescinded a few years back to the benefit of Rupert Murdoch and his empire. Whatever is left of those early regulations will, I am sure, be bent even more out of shape during the current administration for Messieurs Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg.

Meet John Doe is not only an outstanding example of Hollywood cinema, but also a model of good citizenship. Over 80 years after its creation, this motion picture remains a powerful and valuable civics lesson. It should be required viewing in classrooms all over the country.

Also seen on TCM was Bachelor Mother, starring Ginger Rogers and David Niven… a precursor to the version with Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher (Bundle of Joy). The former, made in 1939, is cute, and Ms. Rogers is… as she most often was… quite delightful. It is no Meet John Doe, but then director Garson Kanin, while good, is no Frank Capra (face it: far too few can legitimately enter that competition).

I ended the TCM trifecta with Remember The Night, directed by Mitch Leisen, with Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray as its stars. A credit that should not have had to wait for the second sentence in the paragraph is that Preston Sturges wrote the movie. It was the last of his scripts that he would allow to be directed by anyone other than himself.

Sturges would go on to greatness as one of the best of the best of Hollywood filmmakers; Leisen, the more prolific of the two, would make another half a hundred films… none of them as good as the one based on that singular work of Mr. Sturges.

Remember the Night is a solid movie/movie. Not necessarily a classic but you will wait a long time to see two more likeable or capable stars than Stanwyck and MacMurray.

One more vote for nostalgia brought me to revisit Homeland, the series made for Showtime in 2011 starring Claire Danes as the flawed but fabulous CIA operative, Carrie Mathison. Damian Lewis and Mandy Patinkin head up a terrific ensemble of actors in support of Ms. Danes. The show is now available on Hulu, and I do not think I allowed four days to pass before I had screened the 12 episodes of the first season and one from season two (which is to be continued in this household, I assure you).

I will write about Homeland at least one more time whenever I get around to putting together a column on the ten best Television series ever made. Homeland will be at, or near the top, of that collection of titles.

It has been over ten years since I first saw the show, and it has lost none of its originality or its relevance. It is smart, sexy, and truly wonderful. If you have never seen this series, contact HULU immediately and subscribe. Even if you have seen it in the long ago, it is worth your time for a revisit.

Powerful, wonderful work by the actors, the directors, writers, and producers. Well-deserved applause for all.

Happy as I am that the threat of fires in California has lessened, there is still the waiting around for official notices from the fire department and the ultimate “all-clear.” Under the heading of being grateful for small favors, there are those six plus seasons still to watch of Homeland.

 

Barney Rosenzweig