'Second Chorus' is an obscure gem

Second Chorus (1940)
Starring: Fred Astaire, Burgess Meredith, Paulette Goddard, Charles Buttersworth, and Artie Shaw
Director: H.C. Potter
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When a pair of musicians, Danny and Hank (Astaire and Meredith), attempt to dodge Ellen (Goddard), a debt collector, by (literally) charming the pants off her, they end up on the fast track to fame with her as their booking agent. When she is later hired away by the famous band leader Artie Shaw (Shaw, playing himself), the two friends begin to sabotage each other in a bid to earn Ellen's romantic attention.

Fred Astaire described "Second Chorus" as his worst movie. He may not have liked it, but it's a lot of fast-paced fun, and chockful of great musical numbers and strong performances from the entire cast. Goddard is spectacular, as usual, and Meredith's comedic performance here really makes one wonder what sort of super-star he might have become if his career hadn't been detailed by McCarthyism during the 1950s.

The only complaint I have about the film is that the main protagonist, played by Astaire, is a king-sized jerk. I understand that the tricks he plays on his friend Hank to gain the upper-hand romantically and professionally are supposed to be viewed as comedic by the audience, but time and again, he resorts to an almost scorched earth sort of approach with an apparent desire to destroy his supposed best friend just so he can tell himself that we "won." In the process, he ends up sabotaging himself as well--and this karmic justice keeps the character from becoming completely unsympathetic--but his 11th-hour conversion to Nice Guy comes a little too late to win me over as a viewerm even if it does get him the girl. (That's not a spoiler... given that it's Fred Astaire vs. Burgess Meredith, it was a foregone conclusion who Paulette Goddard would end up with. Except, of course, in real life, where Meredith and Goddard ended up as a couple and eventually married.)

Hardcore Fred Astaire fans may be disappointed in the film for the same reason I suspect Astaire rates it as the worst of his efforts: He does very little dancing in it. There's really on one remarkable routine where he takes to the floor with Goddard at roughly the halfway point. But of those who enjoy big band swing music and 1940s comedies, "Second Chorus" is going to be time well spent.

Halloween is almost here...

... and Paulette Goddard is already in costume! Do you have yours picked out yet?

Halloween is coming...

... and Paulette Goddard is picking out the mask she's going to wear. How about you?

Halloween is coming...

... and Paulette Goddard is ready. Are you?

Paulette Goddard is Jill Trent?

As some of you know (or will momentarily learn), I am the publisher and co-editor the Science Sleuth series from NUELOW Games. In the course of preparing the Jill Trent, Science Sleuth stories for publication, I came across something interesting.

Here's a drawing of Jill Trent, cropped from a panel in "Bubble Trouble," a story that originally appeared in Wonder Comics #12 (cover date June 1947) and reprinted in ROLF! Christmas Special III in July of 2013:

Jill Trent
(from ROLF! Christmas Special III)

I think it's safe to say that Al Camy, the primary artist on Jill Trent, Science Sleuth based Jill on actress Paulette Goddard. Why do I say that? If you don't see Paulette Goddard in that drawing, how about after looking at this 1942 photo (from a series of bathing suit shots she posed for):

Paulette Goddard in 1942

Coming August 1946 from Century Pictures: SCIENCE SLEUTHS! Starring Paulette Goddard as Jill Trent, Bob Hope as Eddie O'Malley, Lionel Atwill as Dr. Knight, Turhan Bey as Lefty Rubio, and Linda Turner as Daisy Smythe. Produced by Joseph Steiner, Directed by George Marshall.

Picture Perfect Wednesday:The Catty Paulette Goddard

'The Ghostbreakers' features a great cast, great cinematography, and a weak script

The Ghostbreakers (1940)
Starring: Bob Hope, Willy Best, Paulette Goddard, Paul Lukas, and Anthony Quinn
Director: George Marshall
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A risk-taking radio reporter (Hope) and his butler Alex (Best) set out to protect an heiress (Goddard) when it seems a sinister Cuban businessman (Lukas) is going to try to scare her out of her ancestral home with a fake haunting.

"The Ghostbreakers" is a fast-paced, messily plotted horror comedy that has Bob Hope playing an oddly contradictory character--one who constantly talks about how scared and cowardly he is, but who invariably chooses the most direct and dangerous path toward problem solving at every opportunity. He is ably supported by Willie Best, who plays his man-servant and is slightly more prone to fear than his boss but who also seems to be a little smarter; and by Paulette Goddard, the chipper and stubborn heiress who refuses to be intimidated and who doesn't understand the meaning of the word "no." This trio of performers play fabulously off each other, each displaying fine perfect timing and switching back and forth between the roles of "straight man" when the jokes are flying.

The comedic performances of the stars is both enhanced and contrasted by stylish and moody cinematography and great sets that puts a number of straight horror movies from the 1940s to shame (including some of Universal's later Mummy pictures and all the "House of..." monster mashes). A number of sequences would be perfectly at home in a horror film, such as when the characters arrive on the island housing the haunted castle, and the one where Paulette Goddard is stalked by a zombie.

Unfortunately, the excellent cast and crew are laboring in the service of a badly done script. While each joke and comedic set-piece are funny by themselves, the plot that links them together is so badly constructed that it can't even be described as flimsy. Several of the red herrings obscuring who the true bad guy is are left to just flop around on the floor without any tie-in whatsoever to anything else that's going, and no explanation is offered as to how the weird caretaker of the castle and her zombie son fit into things. Presumably, they are in league with the villain, but that's never made clear, nor is there any sort hint provided to whether the son truly is a zombie or not. Worse, the zombie is the object of one of films pure moments of slapstick when within this space of a few minutes it manages to put on (or be placed in) a suit of armor and ambush Hope and Best with a morning star. Did the zombie disguise himself? Did his mother? Did the villain? It's just one of many disconnects in the film that cause its second half and conclusion to be less-than-satisfying.

Speaking of zombies and disconnects, this is one of those films I've heard is supposed to be racist through and through, because Willie Best plays a character that is a spooked black servant who is the butt of a number of jokes from Bob Hope. However, if one actually watches the movie, one sees that Best's character actually gives as good as he gets--lobbing more than just a few zingers Hope's way--and is no more or less cowardly or scared than any other character in the film. Yes, he's a clear-cut comedic figure in the film, where Hope swings between comedic and heroic, but he stands watch over the lady in distress even while knowing a killer is on the prowl, and he joins with Hope in a physical fight against the zombie. I had the same reaction to this film as I had to "King of the Zombies", another film featuring a supposedly horribly racist portrayal of a black character, but in actually watching the film, the black servant turns out to be the brightest character in the film. (Admittedly, the Mantan Moreland-portrayed character in that film is the stereotypical "scared negro servant" who happens to be working for a racist moron.)

And in both those supposedly racist films, the racist stereotypes are mild when compared to black characters in modern films, such as the over-sexed, loudmouth cop that Chris Tucker portrayed in the "Rush Hour" series, or just about any film you care to mention that has featured a rapper or former rapper trying his hand at acting. It seems to me that some commentators should actually try watching this movies instead at coming at them with preconceived notions.

Despite its flaws, "The Ghostbreakers" is an entertaining comedy in the "creepy old house" vein that lovers of that sub-genre would do well to check out. Bob Hope fans will likewise find the film interesting, as the character he portrays is a little different from what emerged later once his comedic film persona was firmly established. All in all, it's a movie that should bring extra fun to the Halloween season.

Charlie Chaplin mocks fascism, bucks Hollywood mainstream

The Great Dictator (1940)
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, and Jack Oakie
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

A Jewish barber (Chaplin) is mistaken for the Great Dictator of Tomania, Adenoid Hynkel (also Chaplin) and the opportunity to free a nation from tyranny is created.


"The Great Dictator" was Charlie Chaplin's first film that featured a full soundtrack, and it is perhaps his greatest masterpiece. It is a spot-on skewering of Hitler and Mussolini and a sharp criticism of fascism made at a time when much of America's intellectual elite could still be heard saying nice things about it. It was also made at a time when Hollywood's powerbrokers were concerned about making movies that might offend the fascist regimes of Europe for fear of their bottom lines.

This movie is one of the few true classic films that have ever been made. Although its exact political context is gone, the message is carries--a defense of freedom, peace, and equality--remains as relevant today as it was then.

The warning it carries is also relevant, because just like in 1940, the "intellectual elite" and the powerful media moguls are once again refusing to use their platform responsibly and speak out against an obvious threat to peace and freedom that grows steadily worse with each passing week... and whose actions claim hundreds of innocent lives all around the world every week. No, I'm not speaking of Barack Obama or his predecessor George Bush... I'm speaking of Islamo-fascism and its terrorist foot soldiers.

If only there were filmmakers who would point fingers at the real evils that are threatening peace in the modern world instead of attempting to ingratiate themselves with it and appease it. Oliver Stone should not be white-washing Hitler in accordance with the agenda held by his buddies in Iran HIS version of "The Great Dictator". Amercian newspapers shouldn't be censoring or ignoring cartoons that mock Islamic fascists--they should be printing more of them.

Filmmakers across the free world should watch "The Great Dictator". They should attempt to do what Chaplin did, or they should hang their cowardly heads in shame. Scumbags like Danny Glover, Sean Penn and Oliver Stone should be FORCED to watch it until they break down like some character in Clockwork Orange.

(Regardless of your opinions of geo-politics, past or present, you need to see this movie, which unfolds like a nifty little fable. Chaplin is fabulous in a dual role of a Jewish barber who just happens to be an exact twin for the and the fascist dictator of Tomania, Hyenkle. Chaplin's Hitler impersonation is hilarious, and the legendary scene where he dances with a globe of the world in full Fuehrer get-up in one of cinema's Top Ten Greatest scenes. That said, this classic film is currently out of print. I wonder if it hits too close to home for whoever presently controls the rights to it, that whoever it is can see that the Hollywood mainstream and powerful are just as cowardly and misguided now as they were in the 1930s and 1940s.)