Robert Lewis Movies
A former contract player for MGM and 20th Century Fox during the '40s and '50s, Robert Lewis' greatest contribution came not from his performing career but from his ability to teach and direct the acting of others. In 1947, he, director Elia Kazan, and Cheryl Crawford co-founded the Actors Studio in New York. Lewis has also taught at the Group Theater, the Yale School of Drama, the Lincoln Center Training Program, and at his own Robert Lewis Theater Workshop. Many of the late 20th century's brightest stars, including Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Sally Field, Meryl Streep, Eli Wallach, Faye Dunaway, and John Garfield, have benefited from his tutelage.The New York City native launched his own acting career in 1929 when he joined Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory Theater. While working at the Group Theater in 1931, Lewis became a staunch follower of Konstantin Stanislavsky's acting techniques, which are not to be confused with Lee Strasberg's Method, which Lewis felt represented a misinterpretation of Stanislavsky. In 1938, Lewis started his own acting studio. The following year, he made his Broadway directorial debut with a production of William Saroyan's My Heart's in the Highlands (1939).
Lewis came to Hollywood in 1940 and after signing with Fox made his acting debut in Dragon Seed (1943). The highlight of Lewis' film career came when Charles Chaplin cast him as Maurice Botello in Monsieur Verdoux (1947). That year, Lewis went back to Broadway and became one of the Great White Way's most respected directors. He was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 1991. That year, Kent State University established the Robert Lewis Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Theater Research in his honor.
Lewis published three books. The first, Method -- or Madness? (1958), represented his take on Stanislavsky's teachings. The second, Advice to Players (1980), was a training guide for actors. His third, Slings and Arrows: Theater in My Life (1984), contained his memoirs. Lewis died of heart failure November 23, 1997, in New York at the age of 88. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
Anything Goes is a Technicolor-and-Vistavision remake of the 1936 film of the same name, which in turn was based on Cole Porter's hit 1934 Broadway musical. The 1956 bears little relationship plotwise to its predecessors, except for the fact that most of the story takes place aboard a luxury liner. Bing Crosby and Donald O'Connor star as Bill Benson and Ted Adams, a pair of top Broadway tunesmiths who agree to collaborate on their next musical just as soon as they complete their respective vacations. Complications arise when, unbeknownst to one another, Bill and Ted each sign up a potential leading lady; Bill's choice is ballerina Gaby Duval (Zizi Jeanmaire), while Ted's selection is brassy chanteuse Patsy Blair (Mitzi Gaynor). Retained from the original Cole Porter score are such standards as "You're the Top", "I Get a Kick Out of You" (with appropriately laundered lyrics), "Blow, Gabriel Blow", and the title tune. New songs, penned by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, include "You Gotta Give the People Hoke" and "A Second-Hand Turban and a Crystal Ball". To avoid confusion with the 1956 adaptation of Anything Goes, the 1936 version was for many years retitled Tops is the Limit for television. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Donald O'Connor, (more)
- 1950
The Lost Volcano is the 3rd entry in Monogram's "Bomba the Jungle Boy" series. Johnny Sheffield, formerly "Boy" in the Tarzan pictures, stars as Bomba. In this outing, Our Hero sets out to rescue David (Tommy Ivo), the kidnapped son of husband-and-wife zoologists Paula and Ruth Gordon (Donald Woods and Marjorie Lord). David has been kidnapped by scurrilous jungle guides Barton (John Ridgely) and Daniel (Robert Lewis), who hope that the kid will lead them to a valuable treasure. Bomba is forced to race against time when a reactivated volcano threatens to swallow up David and his captors. Elena Verdugo, years removed from her Marcus Welby MD stint, co-stars as an alluring native girl. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Johnny Sheffield, Donald Woods, (more)
"Von Clausewitz said that war is the logical extension of diplomacy; Monsieur Verdoux feels that murder is the logical extension of business." With his controversial "comedy of murders" Monsieur Verdoux, Charles Chaplin makes his final, definitive break with the Little Tramp character that had brought him fame and fortune. Verdoux (Chaplin), a mild-mannered family man of pre-war France, has hit upon a novel method of supporting his loved ones. He periodically heads out of town, assumes an alias, marries a foolish, wealthy woman, then murders her for the insurance money. He does this thirteen times with success, but wife #14, brassy Martha Raye, proves impossible to kill (nor does she ever suspect what Verdoux has in mind for her). A subplot develops when Verdoux, planning to test a new poison, chooses streetwalker Marilyn Nash as his guinea pig. She tells him so sad a life story that Verdoux takes pity on her, gives her some money, and sends her on her way. Years later, the widowed and impoverished Verdoux meets Nash once more; now she is the mistress of a munitions magnate. This ironic twist sets the stage for the finale, when Verdoux, finally arrested for his crimes and on trial for his life, gently argues in his own defense that he is an "amateur" by comparison to those profiteers who build weapons for war. "It's all business. One murder makes a villain. Millions, a hero. Numbers sanctify..." Sentenced to death, Verdoux remains calmly philosophical to the end. As the condemned man walks to the guillotine, a priest prays for God to have mercy on Verdoux's soul. "Why not?" replies Verdoux jauntily. "After all, it belongs to him." The original idea of Monsieur Verdoux originated with Orson Welles, who'd wanted to make a picture about notorious modern "Bluebeard" Landru. Welles wanted to cast Chaplin in the lead; Chaplin liked the idea, but preferred to direct himself, as he'd been doing since 1914. It is possible that Chaplin might have gotten away with the audacious notion of presenting a cold-blood murderer as a sympathetic, almost lovable figure. Alas, Monsieur Verdoux was released at a time when Chaplin was under a political cloud for his allegedly Communistic philosophy; too, it came out shortly after a well-publicized paternity suit involving Chaplin and Joan Barry. Picketed in several communities, banned outright in others, Monsieur Verdoux was Chaplin's first financial flop. Today, it can be seen to be years ahead of its time in terms of concept, even though the execution is old-fashioned and occasionally wearisome. Monsieur Verdoux doesn't always hit the bull's-eye, but it remains one of Charles Chaplin's most fascinating projects. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charles Chaplin, Ada-May, (more)
The presence of William Powell as legendary showman Flo Ziegfeld at the beginning of Ziegfeld Follies might lead an impressionable viewer from thinking that this 1946 film is a Technicolor sequel to the 1936 Oscar-winning The Great Ziegfeld. Not so: this is more in the line of an all-star revue, much like such early talkies as Hollywood Revue of 1929 and Paramount on Parade. We meet a grayed, immaculately garbed Ziegfeld in Paradise (his daily diary entry reads "Another heavenly day"), where he looks down upon the world and muses over the sort of show he'd be putting on were he still alive. Evidently Ziegfeld's shade has something of a celestial conduit to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, since his "dream" show is populated almost exclusively by MGM stars. Vincente Minnelli is given sole directorial credit at the beginning of the film, though many of the individual "acts" were helmed by other hands. The Bunin puppets offer a tableau depicting anxious theatregoers piling into a Broadway theatre, as well as caricatures of Ziegfeld's greatest stars. The opening number, "Meet the Ladies", spotlights a whip-wielding (!) Lucille Ball, a bevy of chorus girls dressed as panthers, and, briefly, Margaret O'Brien. Kathryn Grayson and "The Ziegfeld Girls" perform "There's Beauty Everywhere." Victor Moore and Edward Arnold show up in an impressionistically staged adaptation of the comedy chestnut "Pay the Two Dollars". Fred Astaire and Lucille Bremer (a teaming which evidently held high hopes for MGM) dance to the tune of "This Heart is Mine." "Number Please" features Keenan Wynn in an appallingly unfunny rendition of an old comedy sketch (performed far better as "Alexander 2222" in Abbott and Costello's Who Done It?) Lena Horne, strategically placed in the film at a juncture that could be edited out in certain racist communities, sings "Love". Red Skelton stars in the film's comedy highlight, "When Television Comes"-which is actually Skelton's classic "Guzzler's Gin" routine (this sequence was filmed late in 1944, just before Red's entry into the armed services). Astaire and Bremer return for a lively rendition of "Limehouse Blues". Judy Garland, lampooning every Hollywood glamour queen known to man, stops the show with "The Interview". Even better is the the historical one-time-only teaming of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in "The Babbitt and the Bromide". The excellence of these sequence compensate for the mediocrity of "The Sweepstakes Ticket", wherein Fanny Brice screams her way through a dull comedy sketch with Hume Cronyn (originally removed from the US prints of Ziegfeld Follies, this sequence was restored for television). Excised from the final release print (pared down to 110 minutes, from a monumental 273 minutes!) was Judy Garland's rendition of "Liza", a duet featuring Garland and Mickey Rooney, and a "Baby Snooks" sketch featuring Fanny Brice, Hanley Stafford and B. S. Pully. A troubled and attenuated production, Ziegfeld Follies proved worth the effort when the film rang up a $2 million profit. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, (more)
- 1945
The Hidden Eye was the second of two MGM films featuring mystery writer Baynard Kendrick's blind detective Duncan McLain. As in Eyes in the Night, sightless sleuth McLain is played by Edward Arnold. This time, our hero tackles a series of murders apparently tied in with an ancient oriental cult. The one clue to the killer's identity is the scent of a rare Oriental perfume. Refusing to jump to conclusions, McLain, accompanied by his faithful seeing-eye dog Friday, meticulously follows the trail of evidence to the Least Likely Suspect. The finale finds the judo-trained McLain taking on his evil adversary; though it's obvious that stunt doubles are used, it's an exciting sequence all the same. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward Arnold, Frances Rafferty, (more)
Son of Lassie is about a courageous collie named Laddie, played by a dog named "Pal". A sequel to Lassie Come Home, the film stars Peter Lawford and June Lockhart as the grown-up counterparts of the characters played in the earlier film by Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor. When WW2 breaks out, young Yorkshireman Joe Carraclough (Lawford) signs up with the British air force, bringing Laddie along. The inquisitive canine sneaks aboard the plane which takes Joe on his first mission. Their aircraft hit by enemy fire, Joe and Laddie are forced to parachute into Nazi-occupied Norway. Injured in the landing, Joe lies in a daze while the dog seeks help for his master. Once Laddie ascertains that the Nazis aren't his friends, the film evolves into one long chase, as dog and master try to make their way back to their own lines?while back at home, Joe's sweetheart Priscilla (June Lockhart, who of course would later costar in the Lassie TV series) bites her nails in anticipation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Lawford, Donald Crisp, (more)
This lavish, 145-minute cinemadaptation of the Pearl Buck best-seller Dragon Seed was intended by MGM as a followup to the studio's successful film version of Buck's The Good Earth. In true Hollywood fashion, the Chinese protagonists are all played by Caucasian actors, with fascinating if not always convincing results. When a peaceful Chinese village is invaded by the Japanese prior to WW2, the men elect to adopt a peaceful, don't-rock-the-boat attitude towards their conquerors-and it is understood that the women will stoically acquiesce as well. But Jade (Katharine Hepburn), a headstrong young woman, intends to stand up to the Japanese whether her husband Lao Er (Turhan Bey) approves or not. She even goes so far as to learn to read and to handle a weapon, so that she may properly equipped for both psychological and physical combat. Jade's attitude spreads to the rest of the village, convincing even the staunchest of male traditional that the Japanese can be defeated only by offering a strong united front-male and female. Alas, there are a few Quislings in their midst, notably avaricious merchant Wu Lien (Akim Tamiroff), who learns all too late the terrible cost of collaboration. While it seems odd to see so many non-Orientals-Walter Huston, Agnes Moorehead, Hurd Hatfield, J. Carroll Naish-in the major roles, Dragon Seed manages to retain its power and entertainment value even 50 years after the fact (Incidentally, there are a few genuine Chinese in the cast-most of them playing Japanese!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Katharine Hepburn, Walter Huston, (more)
A timely film when first released in 1943, Tonight We Raid Calais survives as an entertaining adventure some fifty years later. John Sutton plays a British intelligence officer, sent into occupied France with a small unit to local a German munitions depot. While travelling under cover of darkness, Sutton confronts a French maiden (Annabella) who hates the British and the Germans with equal fervor. She eventually determines which side is the right side and allows Sutton to continue his mission. The officer is captured by the Nazis, but his comrades locate the munitions plant and notify the Allied bombers. The screenplay for Tonight We Raid Calais was written by future blacklistee Waldo Salt, whose liberal stance was politically correct during wartime but considered a "no no" once peace was declared. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Annabella, John Sutton, (more)
- 1943
An American pilot swears to get revenge on the German ace who shot his brother in this war movie set in war-torn Europe. Montgomery is the pilot. After he sees his brother die while trying to parachute to safety, Montgomery's plane is shot down over Germany. He is placed in a POW camp. There he meets a Russian medic and a Czech. Together the trio escapes. Along the way it is discovered that the Czech is a Nazi spy. The medic, Annabella, makes it to England through the underground. Montgomery, discovers a local airport, impersonates a German pilot, steals a plane and flies home. He also manages to kill the flying ace who shot his brother. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Montgomery, Annabella, (more)
- 1943
This French Underground melodrama stars George Sanders as a seemingly apolitical Parisian doctor who is actually a resistance leader. Sanders' nurse (Brenda Marshall) is likewise a French patriot--less so the nurse's husband (Philip Dorn), who has become disillusioned after two years in a POW camp. The husband changes his mind and joins the Resistance, though he and several other freedom fighters lose their lives to German bullets. Worth noting in Paris After Dark is the fact that several of the personnel involved were actual French refugees, including director Leonide Moguy and husband-and-wife supporting actors Marcel Dalio and Madeleine LeBeau. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Sanders, Philip Dorn, (more)
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