The Man on the Eiffel Tower (1949)

This is not a very good film, in my opinion. I watched it on a very poor-quality DVD and the picture looked grainy and the editing very choppy. I read somewhere that this was the first (and last) movie directed by Burgess Meredith. This might be acceptable for a film student, but I would expect better from a film set in Paris with an international cast like Charles Laughton, who plays an inspector who walks around town with a pipe in his mouth like a cartoon character. The villain is played by Franchot Tone and there are only two scenes in the Eiffel Tower, so the title is even misleading. I was disappointed in this movie. This seems like a movie that had high ambitions, but failed miserably along the way.

Deanna Durbin in Because of Him (1946)

A lighthearted screwball comedy set in the world of the Broadway theater, with a top-notch musical score by Miklós Rózsa.


Deanna is a New York waitress dreaming of becoming a Broadway star. Her restaurant manager is played by Charles Halton who played the bank examiner in It's A Wonderful Life, my favorite movie.

Her favorite actor is famed British thespian John Sheridan (Charles Laughton), who is working on a new play, "Strange Laughter".

One day Laughton comes into her restaurant to eat, and Deanna cleverly schemes to get into the play. She also bumps into the playwright on the street (Franchot Tone), who is smitten by her at first sight.

Laughton is funny in this. I like the scene where he visits a bedridden Deanna and sees her shrine of photos of him on her dresser. He also teaches her how to faint properly. Also, it's funny when they both rehearse a scene and one of the characters in the play is named "Tony Randall" - the real actor was not famous yet.

Another funny scene comes during a rehearsal when Deanna breaks down and sobs uncontrollably. Everyone thinks she's trying impress with her acting abilities. But is she faking it? Ha ha. You have to see it!

The film's posters are a little misleading because it gives the impression it's a romance between Durbin and Tone. They really don't light any sparks until much later on in the picture, and even then it's on-again/off-again.


Highlights of the film include Deanna singing "Danny Boy" and "Goodbye", and seeing the two stars of Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 version) reunited on screen.

A deck of cards with classic movie stars

Screen Legends of the WW2 Era

Video (4 minutes)


Update: Some readers have wrote in and pointed out a few mistakes:

1. I mispronounced Adolphe Menjou's name...I always mess that up
2. I forgot His Butler's Sister, with Deanna and Franchot.

Midnight Mary (1933) starring Loretta Young

From 1933, MGM: Loretta Young stars in this thrilling story of a woman on trial - who may or may not be guilty of murder.

We first see Mary (Loretta) in court. As the jury deliberates, she finds a relaxing place to wait: in the office of the court stenographer. He's an older man, and tells her he's been doing this for almost 40 years. She is stunned. "The same job"? she asks him. He tells her he hopes the jury comes back soon because he'd like to make his grandaughter's birthday party later that afternoon. His office is filled with books, and Mary looks around at all the years on the spines and remembers her life.

The rest of the movie is told in flashback. We see Mary as a young orphan girl (Loretta is convincing as a 9 year old). As she gets older she and her best friend (Joan Blondell) start hanging out with the wrong crowd. The boys they hang out with become gangsters, and she descends deeper into a dangerous life. One day she meets a handsome playboy bachelor (Franchot Tone) who falls head over heels for her at a party. He turns out to be a millionaire publisher and offers her anything in the world, including a job as a secretary.

She tries to "go straight", but she just can't escape her past.

We don't want to see Franchot get mixed up with the gangsters, and neither does Mary, a testatment to her character. I won't tell you any more. You just have to see this movie. It's a great story, well written and paced. Directed by William Wellman.

Judy wrote an impressive review of this film at her blog Movie Clasics, and you can read the review here. Another great review can be found here at the blog MONDO 70, and here at Curious Mel.

It's available on DVD part of the Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 3

Deanna Durbin in Nice Girl (1941)

It's time for the first Deanna Durbin post of the year! Deanna and Robert Stack are together again in a delightful little rom-com from '41 (released several months before the US entered into WW2). Not to be confused with "Three Smart Girls", "Nice Girl?" also features a trio of sisters (Deanna, Anne Gwynne, and Ann Gillis), daughters of high school principal (Robert Benchley), who is obsessed with nutrition so much that he's working on a book. One day a handsome chap (Franchot Tone) comes to the house to do business with the father, and all the girls are smitten by him, including the flirty youngest sister Nancy, played by scene stealing Ann Gillis. Gillis is the only actress in the principal cast other than Deanna still living. Her credits include "Little Orphan Annie" (1938) as Annie, "Bambi" (1943) as the voice of Adult Faline, and "2001" (1968) as Poole's mother.

In a small role is Walter Brennan as a nosey mailman.

Stack plays Deanna's boyfriend, and Deanna sings a handful of tunes in this that are delightful to listen to as always. (pun intended)



The film ends with Deanna singing "Thank You America". Another ending for British audiences has Deanna singing, "There'll Always Be An England".

Watch Both Versions here:'