Every August TCM does their Summer Under the Stars series, when they feature films of one specific actor/actress every single day. And I participate every year – every day I watch films starring the featured star. The thing is, I don’t live in the US. And I do not have TCM. But I do check the stars picked each year and watch whatever films of theirs I was meant to view but didn’t get around to yet. So these are the films I watched – I don’t know if TCM even featured any of them. But I did.
Day One is Henry Fonda Day! Here’s what I saw:
Blockade (1938)
I started out with the 1938 drama Blockade, the story of Spanish Civil War. Henry Fonda, of course, is Spanish in the film (of course). He plays a peasant, a shepherd, who forced by circumstances later becomes a soldier (of course). During the war it turns out that the charming and sophisticated lady he was enchanted by one summer day is actually connected to Russian espionage (and he kills her father).
Fonda is fresh-faced and driven and even though I would never cast him is such a role myself, he did seem like an actual idealistic soldier.
Here’s the thing: Blockade is not a good movie. Somehow it manages to be tragic and melodramatic and pretty soulless at the same time. But I’ll be honest, some scenes where Fonda’s character calls out the cruelty and senselessness of war pulled some strings of my heart. John Howard Lawson, who wrote the screenplay, received an Academy Award nomination. Later he would be blacklisted as part of the Hollywood Ten. I guess Fonda calling war a „murder of innocent people” would be read as communist propaganda in the 50s.
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
Young Mr. Lincoln is probably one of the most famous films starring Fonda and I am kind of surprised I haven’t seen it before. The title is very accurate (can you believe?) – the film follows Abraham Lincoln as a young lawyer. A large part of it is his defense of two young men accused of murder that the locals want to lynch. And that surprised me because I am used to biopics trying to do the most – and this is simply a courtroom drama for the most part.
Still, of course, Lincoln is presented as a Remarkable Man through and through.
I enjoyed some visuals of the film – from Fonda’s make-up (he does look like Lincoln which surprised me) to several pretty gorgeous shots, especially those romantic in nature.
Rings on Her Fingers (1942)
Now for something completely different – a romantic comedy. I have to be clear from the start, though – in this one it was definitely Gene Tierney who stole my attention.
Tierney plays a shopgirl from a high-fashion store. She dreams of having all the glamorous dresses she’s surrounded by everyday herself and of marrying a handsome „prince”. One day a couple of con artists invite her to join them in scamming the rich – she gets to live her dream at last! One day she meets a handsome rich young man (here’s Henry) and they decide he’s going to be their next victim. Unfortunately, Fonda is not actually rich and Tierney actually falls for him.
I don’t really have a lot to say about the film itself, to be honest – it was a pleasant comedy that was appreciated after seeing two movies back to back already. Three observations:
- It was nice to see a beach for a moment on this summer day, when I am no even close to the sea.
- Henry Fonda really reminded me of his daughter Jane here, I can’t even say why.
- I don’t think we consider Fonda a romantic comedy guy too often but he actually made a lot of them!
On Our Merry Way (1948)
Now that’s weird. On Our Merry Way is a collection of episodes and Henry Fonda is only in one of them. The basic plot is that of a struggling journalist (played by Burgess Meredith, the real lead of the film – someone who wasn’t even on the posters I saw) tries to find a story by asking random people about their personal memories involving babies.
Henry Fonda is paired up with James Stewart here and they play jazz musicians who thought that Meredith meant „babe”. And so they recall a time when they met a girl, a trumpeter, they were both into and who caused them both to make fools of themselves.
This whole thing was pretty odd and I’m not sure if I liked it. But it would feel weird to be too harsh on the film which seemed like a really fun experience that everyone involved enjoyed. At least the kids had fun…
Fort Apache (1948)
Fort Apache was released in 1948 just like On Our Merry Way. So maybe Henry didn’t have time to do more in the latter. Fort Apache could not be more different than On Our Merry Way. I don’t know how Henry felt about that but he seemed like a serious guy so maybe he was glad to do a serious film. Fort Apache was directed by John Ford whom I think Henry must have at least respected since he already worked with him on Young Mr. Lincoln which I saw earlier today.
There has already been a lot said about this film, for many it’s the quintessential western. And I agree – it shows white people fighting Native Americans, it can’t get any more western than that (and it has John Wayne, I mean…).
It was interesting to see Henry Fonda playing a role like that, of a respected military man and a father of an *almost* adult daughter after watching him either really young or in really silly roles all day.
BTW, look what someone did on Wikipedia:
And that was my August 1st! I think it was a success, I managed to see five films. I don’t know if I will have time to watch that much again but I am excited for what the month has in store.
Swingin' at the Seance 