The Producers (1967)

 "Deutschland is happy and gay...."

I haven't blogged much in recent days because I'm cramming for a big interview on Wednesday morning for a potential promotion at work, after which normal blogging will resume. Tonight, however, is my night of rest, with good Cornish ale and entertainment of the strictly relaxing kind.

It's absurd that I should see this film for the first time at forty-four, but there are so many seminal films I still haven't seen, even having blogged more than 750 of them over the last ten years. It is, of course, no less brilliant for the fact that I haven't been living under a rock all my life and am very much aware not only of the concept (if not the precise accounting subterfuge) but of the signature song.

It's surprsing, I suppose, how long it takes to get to the theatrical performance, but this is a surprisingly linear film, plot-wise, setting up and executing the conceit with very little deviation. Yet it's very Mel Brooks somehow, even if his films don't usually show such focus. This very Jewish comedy about Nazis is full of grotesques, not least Max and Leo themselves. I knew that Gene Wilder was a good comedy actor but Zero Mostel, whom I've never previously seen in anything at all, acts him right off the set. We also have the parade of randy old ladies, the Nazi scriptwriter, and the camp director and his associate who perhaps show us how far we've come in LGBT+ representatives in cinema over the past half century.

This was 1967, though. I suppose it was somethging to have LGBT+ representation at all. And this film is a comedy triumph. Just the thing to prepare me for three whole evenings of soul-destroying interview prep...

Batman: Penguin Is a Girl's Best Friend / Penguin Sets a Trend / Penguin’s Disastrous End

Penguin Is a Girl's Best Friend

“That's it! Skewer the scrofulous scullion!"

I wasn't enormously fond of the previous three parter a few episodes ago, so I was somewhat apprehensive about this one. I needn't have worried: a sparkling script and fantastic chemistry between Burgess Meredith and Carolyn Jones- not to discount some superb comic acting from Adam West itself- elevates this (or at least the two episodes I've seen as I blog the first two episodes on Tuesday evening) to one of the series' true highlights.

The cheeky opening gives us an unusual premise- the Dynamic Duo are contracted as actors for Penguin's film which is, of course, as his exposition to the wonderful Marsha shows, a front. It is, of course, gloriously silly that the Caped Crusaders should appear in their usual costumes in a Roman epic, but that's part of the fun. And yes, I know I criticised the last three parter for treating the Penguin as second fiddle to the Joker, and this time Marsha is playing no less of a supplementary string instrument to the now promoted Penguin. But this time it seems to matter less- Marsha may not be the criminal mastermind here, but she gets to be archly cool and steal scenes. Her wonderful witch of a mother is back too, and the to ladies are a real comic joy in their scenes together. I love Mortimer. He's now one of my favourite Muppets.

We end with a superbly classical cliffhanger wit Batman and Robin in a catapult, about to be splatted halfway across Gotham. This is exactly what Batman should be.




Penguin Sets a Trend

“Call the cavalry!"

"We haven't had any cavalry since 1910..."

This is one of the most fun cliffhanger resolutions ever- Batman calculated exactly where Robin and he are set to splat and sends the Batmobile there with a big net by remote control- stopping for some children crossing the road, naturally.

Even more fun is Batman playing up to the cameras about his love of the limelight so Penguin will re-hire him- I really can't emphasise enough what a splendid comic actor Batman is. He's so very multifaceted, and the part of Batman calls for superb talent as a straight man- and being a good straight man is hard.

And yes, I know Marsha and Old Hilda are only in one scene where they, er, look for some old toads. But they completely steal said scene, and the whole episode is such enormous fun that I can't really make myself resent this blatant neglect of the guest villain. Not where we have a comedy general played by Alan "voice of Fred Flintstone" Reed and a Keystone Kops US Army being manipulated like fools by the Penguin? These days it would be unthinkable for a mainstream American TV drama to be so irreverent about its armed forces. Perhaps, in this sense, it is a little less free.

And the cliffhanger- the Capred Crusaders, wearing clunky suits of armour, about to be crushed as scrap metal, promises to be no less enjoyable than the last one...


Penguin’s Disastrous End

“Do you know how much vitamin B there is in the average toad?"

This episode is completely and utterly bonkers. I love it.

Oh, the cliffhanger resolution is the usual type of silly- saved by the utility belts again- but we then find out that Marsha and Aunt Hilda are back, with their old toads(!), all poised to help Penguin get into a bank vault by means of love potion and the dance of the seven veils. Yes, really. And if that sn't enough we get Penguin whispering quietly to his "finks"- through a loudspeaker.

And then we get the long days with Penguin, Marsha and co seemingly holed up in the bank vault with no means of escape- until the use the plans from last episode to make a World War Two tank. Out of, er, solid gold. Yes, really. Fortunately it's Batzooka to the rescue, but this is the most delightfully random and absurd scheme ever concocted. I love everything about it.

This three parter has been an absolute joy. So have Marsha and Aunt Hilda whom we will, sadly, not be seeing again.

Batman: Marsha, Queen of Diamonds & Marsha’s Scheme with Diamonds

Marsha, Queen of Diamonds

"Batman's never rude to a lady, Marsha. But you're no lady."

Phew. After yesterday's blog turning out to be a bit of a spanking, I'm relieved to say that this two-parter, with guest villainess Morticia from The Addams Family, is absolutely marvellous. A top notch baddie helps, of course, as do the legendary Estelle Winwood as the magnificent Aunt Hilda and even the chief henchman played by Woody Strode himself but, as ever with the best episode, the star is the script.

Yes, there's a somewhat dated and definitely pre-feminist take on the sexes here, but it's done with humour and tongue in cheek. And this script is creative- altering the formula to show the Dynamic Duo already in costume when we see them, for the first time ever, and showing us a baddie who gets what she wants via love potions concocted by her aunt, a witch and ex-chemistry professor, who has a bubbling cauldron. This is all such fun and, although it relies on gender stereotypes which are certainly sexist, its charm wins you over, a bit like one of Cupid's darts here.

It's fun to see both O'Hara and Commissioner Gordon fall under Marsha's spell, as well as the stereotypically Irish names of all the cops. Adam West shows superb acting in resisting the potion, while the cliffhanger is a genuinely refreshing change, with Batan about to publicly marry Marsha. Yes, this is probably a somewhat sexist metaphor for the trope of crafty women ensnaring innocent blokes in marriage, but I love it.


Marsha’s Scheme with Diamonds 

"Take it from me- when you've seen one Batcave, you've seen them all."

The cliffhanger resolution is at once clever, funny, and makes good use both of Alfred and of Aunt Harriett- although it's amusing to note that it must be '60s America, where every Englishman is from Liverpool. What's not to love? And then there's the hilarious scene where Comminssioner Gordon and O'Hara wonder what to tell their wives.

Best of all is the clever bit of humorous misdirection with the toad Batman and toad Robin at the end. And yes, I know I excoriated last week's episode for its absurd reliance on fantastical elements, but note how restrained this is: none of Aunt Hilda's more outlandish potions actually work, and the misirection at the end is just a wink at the fourth wall. This is a perfect example of how far you can stretch the fantastic in Batman.

Wonderful. Yes, this is light on action but every minute is a joy.More Marsha please.

The Misfits (1961)

“Because we're all dying, aren't we?"

This is a film well known for ominous reasons. It had a troubled production, with John Huston frequently drunk and Marilyn Monroe frequently late or absent through the heavy drinking and prescription drug use that would eventually kill her. And Arthur Miller may be one of the twentieth century’s finest playwrights (A View from the Bridge is sublime), but this script is essentially a love letter to his wife- but during filming his marriage to Monroe was falling apart. Add to this that Clark Gable was past his prime and, while a superb leading man, not necessarily the greatest actor.

And yet the film, while tragic, is extraordinarily good. Miller’s script is literary, subtle and multi-faceted but Huston manages to raise this tale of how feminine compassion takes the tough men of the west into something even more poetic, and the performances of Clark and the troubled Monroe, along with the extraordinary method man Eli Wallach, are elevated into something special. This is a film where the Old West is gone and everybody knows it, but the few surviving cowboys band together to eke a living that way because “anything’s better than wages”- but they know they’re a dwindling band, they have no future and they know it. And Gay (yes, I know, and his son is called Gaylord...), Perce and Guido all have their demons, whether parental estrangement, abandoned ambition or being away from children- Gay’s drunken longing for his kids is a shockingly vulnerable moment.

The three men are all doomed, in a sense, while Roslyn is lonely after her divorce and deeply compassionate but fundamentally melancholy- did Miller write this part for his wife because he saw her like that? The film ends on a note of hope for Roslyn and Gay, as they seem to have a future together- but the future beyond that is full of foreboding for everybody.