Celeste Holms « Twenty Four Frames

“Road House” is one of those films that could possibly be classified as a noir or a melodrama ,still the look, the style, especially in the second half of the film makes it hard to deny its film noir lineage. This is especially due to cinematographer Joseph LaShelle’s (Laura, Fallen Angel, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Psycho) ominous lighting crammed with and fog and darkness in the climatic final scenes. The plot is a ménage a trios right from hell, two men in love with a beautiful woman. A tawdry tale filled with booze, smokes and unrequited desires. Jefty Robbins (Richard Widmark) has just hired Lily Stevens, bringing her in from Chicago, to sing at his roadhouse located a couple of miles from the Canadian border. Jefty’s long time friend, Pete Morgan (Cornel Wilde) manages the place for him and sees Lily as just another in a long line of babes Jefty has hired and Pete has to fire after Jefty gets tired of them.

Jefty inherited the roadhouse from his father. While he may not be a spoiled rich kid, he seems to be someone who has had everything handed to him without much effort on his part and when he tires of any possession they get disposed of, women included. For Jefty, Lily though is different, he wants to marry her though she has displayed no interest or given any encouragement to him on her part.

Pete takes an instant dislike to Lily; however after Jefty goes off with some friends for a few days on a hunting trip they get to spend time together and fall in love. When Jefty returns with a marriage license all set to marry Lily he is instead confronted by Pete who tells him he and Lily are in love. Jefty, who up to this point in the film has been a regular guy, suddenly metamorphoses’ into Tommy Udo, Widmark’s psychotic gangster in “Kiss of Death.” Jefty frames Pete for a robbery at the roadhouse, getting him convicted and facing a two to ten year stretch in prison, only to convince the Judge just before sentencing, to suspend the sentence on the condition that Pete serves two years on probation in Jefty’s charge. Jefty’s maniacal games attempting to control Pete and Lily’s lives eventually leads to a deadly and decisive chase through the woods as they approach the Canadian border.

Ida Lupino has top billing and earns it! She is smart, tough, sexy, vulnerable and all shades in between, a no-nonsense, hard bitten, tough woman whose backstory one must assume is filled with a pocketbook full of bad dreams. Our first shot of her is in Pete Morgan’s office, her bare leg up on his desk, a cigarette dangling from her sensuous lips as she plays solitaire. Lupino even does her own singing and frankly her voice is limited though if you have ever been in a similar small town joint like Jefty’s you have probably seen worst. Give her credit for not insisting on a voice dubbing. Among her four or five songs is the classic “One for My Baby, One More for the Road.” My only complaint with Lupino is her Princess Leia hairdo that she wore throughout the film. It reminds me of another noir hair disaster, the Barbara Stanwcyk blonde wig in the otherwise magnificent “Double Indemnity.” One has to wonder in both cases, what the filmmakers were they thinking. As for Cornel Wilde, the best that can be said is that he is stiff.

In only his third film Widmark who had fourth billing battles Lupino for who is going to steal the show. I would say Lupino owns the first half of the film but once Widmark releases his inner Tommy Udo in the second half, it is all Richard. Celeste Holms is the fourth member of the cast. As Susie, she works for Jefty at the roadhouse and has had a crush on Pete. She also has some of the best lines in the early part of the film. When Sam the bartender (Jack G. Lee), after hearing Lily sing for the first time says, “Hey, Susie, What do you think of this one? She something, isn’t she? Susie’ sarcastically responds “If you like the sound of gravel” She also tells Jefty “She does more without a voice than anybody I ever heard.” The screenplay is courtesy of Edward Chodorov based on a story called “Dark Love” by Margaret Gruen and Oscar Saul which was originally commissioned by Lupino.

If anything hinders “Road House” it is the artificial setting which today stand out as typical movie sets. Coming from a studio that in the past year or so prior to this film released realistic location shot films like “Boomerang!”, “The Naked City” and “Call Northside 777” makes it a bit disappointing . Still the film’s storyline leads to a good climax and the performances by Lupino and Widmark along the some nice photography make this a film well worth seeing.

****

There were few films in 1948 that match up to the power of Anatole Litvak’s “The Snake Pit,” a film that was groundbreaking in its day. Mental Illness was not dealt with on screen, at least not at the level and detail seen here. The institutional living conditions these people were forced to live in was swept under the rug, as they say. Mary Jane Ward’s novel was based on her own experiences as a patient in a psychiatric hospital. After reading Ward’s first person novel, director Anatole Litvak wanted to bring the harrowing story to the screen. Naturally, the subject matter was considered too controversial and downbeat for most studios. 20^th Century Fox finally agreed to make the film, which Litvak would not only direct but co-produced.

Olivia de Havilland was not the first choice for the role, that spot went to Gene Tierney who had to bow out due to a pregnancy. de Havilland threw herself into the role, spending time researching, personally watching shock therapy treatments and visiting institutions, talking with doctors, nurses and patients. She apparently also was able to spend time in doctor/patient therapy sessions. Director Litvak wanted the actors and crew members to visit mental institutions in order to experience first hand what it was like.

The film tells the story of Virginia Cunningham, a young married woman who has a nervous breakdown and is committed to a mental hospital. We follow her as she slowly finds her way back from depths of insanity. At her lowest point, Virginia is incapable of remembering who she is, where she is or why. She is subjected to electro-shock therapy and other treatments, forced to live in a dorm like environment with other patients. Eventually with the help of a caring doctor (Leo Glenn) Virginia begins to explore her subconscious delving back to her childhood, (through flashbacks), the strict upbringing by her mother and the loss of a considerate father. Here she discovers the roots of her illness, the pain and guilt she has been carrying inside, and ultimately she is cured.

The conditions inside the institution are horrid. The nursing staff headed by Nurse Davis (Helen Craig) an obvious relative to Nurse Ratched who seems to derive pleasure, in one of the film’s most shocking scenes, when she turns on the juice over and over again during the administration of Virginia’s Electro-Shock sessions.

While Virginia’s illness is portrayed realistically, her cure is a little too straightforward though one must remember the medical treatments are limited to knowledge and practices of more than 60 years ago. The film also gives us a strong flavor of other patients in the wards. There is Marty (Betsy Blair) who does not like to be touched and will strangle anyone who comes near her. Celeste Holms is Grace, seen early in the film who tries to comfort Virginia soon after her arrival and a host of others portrayed by some fine character actors among them Beulah Bondi, Ruth Donnelly, Minna Goombell and Katherine Locke.

There is one particularly visually stunning sequence when, after Virginia has a “relapse,” she is put into a pit like area with other patients. The theory as it is explained is that putting normal people into this pit like area would drive them insane, subsequently, putting insane people into the pit would cure them. As this sequence is filmed, Litvak’s camera is shooting down from extremely high above toward the pit, continuously pulling back revealing a long deep pit with the patients walking aimlessly around.

Other films have dealt with mental disease over the years, (The Bell Jar, Frances) but this film still remains a harrowing experience. After its release, the film led to reforms in mental institutions in various states across the country. In England a disclaimer was added at the beginning of the film stating that everyone appearing in the film was an actor and that similar institutions in England were not like the one portrayed in the film.

In the 1960’s there was a backlash against this film by feminist who claimed that Virginia only improved once she accepted that her role in life was subservient, first to the nurses and then as she prepares to accept a life of that of a mother and a housewife. A closer look at the film reveals that throughout the film, Virginia fights the authorities the best she could under the stringent circumstance and as a writer never reveals any sign that, she is giving up her career upon her release.

The film received multiple Academy Award nominations that year including Best Actress, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Music Score. The film won an Oscars for Best Sound Recording.