Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 14-July-02
 

My Wonderful Weekend

One lazy Saturday three years ago, I trotted over to the video store hoping, as always, to rent something that would really hit the spot. After wandering around looking at countless video boxes with uninteresting, semi-nude women on them (have you ever noticed that at least 65% of all video boxes have semi-nude women on them?), I became frustrated and immediately turned to my trusty Plan B: when nothing strikes your fancy at the video store, pick up something made before 1960. Trust me; if you just want to grab something and get out of there, your odds of being entertained are much, much higher when you use this plan.

So, having decided to go with Plan B but still feeling restless, I grabbed the next two oldies I saw on the rack, neither of which I had ever heard of. The first was "The Farmer's Daughter" (1947), which particularly caught my eye because it featured Joseph Cotten, and I had missed it during my Cotton Blitz. The second was "The Talk of the Town" (1942), which offered the enticing combination of Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, and Ronald Colman (whom I had only recently discovered).

I trotted back home to an uncertain future and sat down to see what I had found. Two hours later, I was grinning at my good fortune at having discovered a treasure; four hours later, I was doing a jig across the living room floor in pure cinematic delight at what I now fondly remember as My Wonderful Weekend.

The Farmer's Daughter (1947)

I watched this one first and then immediately got on-line and ordered my own copy. Loretta Young stars as Katie Holstrom, a simple rustic gal who heads to the big city in the hopes of becoming a nurse. To pay her way through school, she finds employment as a maid in the household of Congressman Glenn Morely (Cotten) and his mother (Ethel Barrymore). The inevitable romance between the urbane politician and the naive but capable hayseed is sweet and predictable, but what really makes the movie memorable is the strength of its female characters and its unabashed optimism in the power of common sense to guide our government. When Morely's fellow congressman dies unexpectedly, the farmer's daughter suddenly finds herself put forward as a candidate to replace him, based on the potency of her convictions and her straightforward way of expressing them. Fighting against romantic complications, smarmy politics, and sexual iniquities, she manages to win the election as well as the man. Cotten is solid, as always; Young shines in her Oscar-winning role; and Barrymore eats up a great scene where she drives a slimy bigot from her house with intrepid cunning. This movie is sweet, smart, and stirring --- a real treat.

The Talk of the Town (1942)

I was sure my second video would be a letdown, but I was happily surprised by "The Talk of the Town"'s inventive script, which provided ample room for its trio of fantastic and fascinating actors to flourish. Grant plays Leopold Dilg, a reputedly dangerous criminal who has escaped from jail to avoid a likely death sentence after being charged with an act of arson that killed a man. He takes refuge in the rented summer home of an old flame, Nora (Arthur), who reluctantly agrees to his hiding out for a short while. Things get complicated, however, when Nora's lodger (Colman) shows up and turns out to be a prestigious jurist, thus setting up one of the most delightful and unlikely threesomes ever to occupy one roof. This movie has it all: not one, not two, but three interesting leads (add a couple of good supporting characters, too, and it's really a smorgasbord); comedic deceptions; blossoming romance; true friendship; an exciting manhunt; contemplation of the nature and administration of justice --- even a Supreme Court nomination! Although the screenplay gets a little weak at the end (I've read that it was determined by a viewer poll), by that point you're too enamored of all three principals and their story to walk away anything but satisfied.

Copyright © 2002 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.