Showing posts with label Raymond Burr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Raymond Burr. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

I didn't love 'Love Happy'

Love Happy (1949)
Starring: Harpo Marx, Vera Ellen, Chico Marx, Ilona Massey, Groucho Marx, Paul Valentine, Melville Cooper, Raymond Burr, and Marilyn Monroe
Director: David Miller
Rating: Five of Ten Stars 

A struggling Broadway play gets drawn into the game of cat-and-mouse of a psychopathic jewel thief (Massey) and an oddball private detective (Groucho Marx) when the theater's gopher (Harpo Marx) happens to take diamonds she was smuggling in a sardine can while on a shoplifting spree.

Harpo Marx and Vera Ellen in "Love Crazy" (1949)

There are two historically noteworthy things about "Love Happy". First, it was the last time that the three-man center of the Marx Bros. comedy team appeared together in a film. Second, it was the first film appearance for future star Marilyn Monroe. Beyond that, there really isn't to recommend this film for anyone but the most entertainment-starved viewers--even huge Marx Bros. fans will be saddened by how the passage of time appears to have dulled their comedic edges. The frenetic pace and escalating insanity that was present in their great films from the 1930s is almost completely absent here, with just some faint echoes of it hovering around Harpo's character.)

Reportedly, the film was originally conceived to revolve entirely around Harpo Marx, and he also came up with the the story--which could be why the strongest echoes of what the Marx Brothers had once delivered is found around his character. While Chico is here, his character serves no purpose (other than to make references and a couple musical performances that remind us of much better Marx Brothers vehicles). Similarly, Groucho's role in the film is entirely incidental to the main action, and, although his character serves a purpose in the story, nothing would be lost--other than a few mildly amusing jokes--if it wasn't present at all. Although there's a widespread belief that both Groucho and Chico were added late in the development process, the only character that feels completely irrelevant is Chico. In fact, if most of his lines had been given to the Vera Ellen character, the film would have been much stronger for it. It would have put a greater emphasis on the relationship between Vera Ellen and Harpo Marx's characters, which would have made the film feel more coherent, as well as giving the two best performers and characters in the film more screen-time together.


The best parts of the film are all the scenes involving Vera Ellen; she's a bubbly, cute, and talented dancer playing a bubbly, cute, and talented dancer. Her song-and-dance production number at roughly the halfway point through the film is a definite highlight. Her scenes with Harpo are also great, even if a little sad since it's clear that he loves her, but she's got him squarely in the "Friend Zone." The plot elements advanced in those scenes are also among the most engaging in the film, both when they cross-over with the jewel thief plot, or are just there to advance mushy romance. Sadly, the film is so poorly scripted that neither Vera Ellen's character's relationship with Harpo, nor the main romantic subplot with Paul Valentine are given a proper resolution. Instead, after a wanna-be madcap chase around the theatre and across the rooftop involving the Marx Bros., the film's villains, the diamond necklace and some costume jewelry being passed back and forth, the film ends on the character portrayed by Groucho Marx. Some take this as evidence to the theory that he and Chico were forced into the film late in the process, but production notes and correspondence implies that Groucho was intended to be part of the project from the outset. He has some funny lines, but the fact the film ends on him--and in a way that is completely nonsensical and disconnected from just about everything that's been established previously in the film--is the final and most obvious sign of how poorly written this film is.

The low quality of the script also manifests itself in the fact that even otherwise funny gags are allowed to drag on to the point they become dull--like Harpo shoplifting; the bad guys (one of which is played hilariously by future Perry Mason Raymond Burr) pulling an impossible amount of items from Harpo's jacket; and the climactic rooftop chase where multiple antics on the part of Harpo and other characters start funny and end up tedious. The continuity issues and the attempt to augment comedic performances hampered by bad writing with dumb sound effects (which pretty much ruins some of Ilona Massey's scenes) only make the experience of watching this film more miserable.

I thought Vera Ellen and Harpo were so charming in this film, and their scenes together so enjoyable that I couldn't bring myself to give it the Four Rating that "Love Happy" probably deserves. I wish everything else around them had been better (and that their characters had gotten the proper story wrap-up they deserved.)


Wednesday, August 5, 2020

The Incarnations of Perry Mason


Although long-time Perry Mason fans will probably always think of him as looking like Raymond Burr, Burr is actually one of six actors to have portrayed the character. With the triumphant return of Perry Mason to the screens of the world (via HBO's streaming service), we here at Shades of Gray bring you a look at all the actors who have brought him to life from 1934 to 2020--and beyond.


THE INCARNATIONS OF PERRY MASON
The first actor to portray Perry Mason on screen was Warren William. He played the character in four films--"The Case of the Howling Dog" (1934), "The Case of the Curious Bride" (1935), "The Case of the Lucky Legs" (1935), and "The Case of the Velvet Claw" (1936).

Warren William


Warren William



After William wrapped up his stint as Mason, Ricardo Cortez played the character in "The Case of the Black Cat" (1936).

Ricardo Cortez as Perry Mason
Ricardo Cortez
Ricardo Cortez


Next up, there was another mustachioed Mason, in the form of Donald Woods for "The Case of the Stuttering Bishop" (1937).

Donald Woods





















It would be 20 years before another actor lent his face and body to bringing Perry Mason to life. In 1957, Raymond Burr took on the role, and he eventually became, quite properly, the actor who is most closely associated with character. No one else has spent more time in Mason's shoes than Burr. Additionally, Earl Stanley Gardner--the creator of Perry Mason--thought Burr was the perfect in the role.

Raymond Burr, in the 1960s

Burr first portrayed Mason in a long-running television series (from 1957 to 1966), and returned to the role for 26 made-for-television movies (between the years of 1984 and until his death in 1993). The last of Burr's appearance as Perry Mason ("The Case of the Killer Kiss") aired two months after he passed away, and the film was dedicated to his memory.

Raymond Burr, in the 1980s



Between Raymond Burr's long stretches portraying Perry Mason, Monte Markham took on the role in 15 episodes of "The New Perry Mason" (1973-1974).

Monte Markham



Most recently, Michael Rhys has played the character of Mason in a series for HBO that chronicles his journey to becoming the greatest criminal defense attorney on the West Coast. The first eight episodes aired in July and August of 2020, and a second batch will be coming in 2021.

Michael Rhys

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If you enjoyed this article, click here to take a look at the many faces of Della Street.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Hell hath no fury like an evil witch scorned

Bride of the Gorilla (1951)
Starring: Raymond Burr, Barbara Payton, Lon Chaney Jr, Tom Conway, and Carol Varga
Director: Curt Siodmak
Rating: Three of Ten Stars

Brutish plantation foreman Barney Chavez (Burr) rejects his Indian lover Larina (Varga) after starting an affair with his boss’s wife, Dina (Payton). After dispatching his boss in a staged accident, Barney gets both the wife and the plantation. Although Police Commissioner Taro (Chaney) suspects from the beginning that the accident was staged, he can’t get enough solid evidence to prove Chavez’s guilt. However, Chavez soon faces justice more severe than the law, as a twist in the plot proves that hell hath no fury like the mother of a woman scorned… particularly a mother who has access to deadly folk-magic.


“Bride of the Gorilla” occupies a space somewhere between an overblown melodrama and a horror film. Unfortunately, its story is a bit too thin and the characters way to stock to allow it to rise above the quality of the most feeble of “Tales from the Crypt”-type chillers. (The ending is also very remincent of those types of stories.)

Given the material they have to work with, the actors all do a respectable job, but the reason one would have for watching “Bride of the Gorilla” would be to admire the classic starlet beauty of Payton and Varga. There really isn’t anything else to recommend the film to modern audiences.



Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Raymond Burr is a lawyer duped
in 'Please Murder Me'

Please Murder Me (1954)
Starring: Raymond Burr, Angela Lansbury, Lamont Johnson and John Dehner
Director: Peter Godfrey
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

When idealistic attorney Craig Carlson (Burr) realizes that he was manipulated into assuring the acquittal of a murderess (Lansbury), he sets about making sure that she is brought to justice, even if if costs him his own life.


"Please Murder Me" has a plot that's reminicent of a "Columbo" episode, with the main character basically harrassing the perpetrator of a near-perfect crime into revealing their guilt to the law. Craig Carlson, however, goes much further than Columbo ever did!

Part courtroom drama, part film-noir thriller, fans of crime movies will enjoy the fact that this movie keeps to a very unexpected course. (You may think you know where things or going, or that a twist is about to put upon a twist, but you will in all likelihood be guessing wrong.) It's a well-acted movie with a creative script that's all the more fun to watch due to Raymond Burr playing the role of a grandstanding lawyer. While the Carlson character is far more faithful and loyal to the letter and spirit of the law than Burr's more famous Perry Mason character ever was, "Please Murder Me" still feels like what could have been an episode titled "Perry Mason and the Final Curtain."