Best Pictures #72: 2020 (93rd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Mank

 by A.J. 

Best Pictures #72: 2020 (93rd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Mank

“What writer failed to notice the Screen Writers Guild needs an apostrophe?”

At first glance, Mank seems like a movie I would very much enjoy, and, if I’m being honest, probably be lenient towards. It is a combination of all of my favorite movie things: it is a movie about making movies, about a writer, set in classic Hollywood, depicting real life figures and events, and directed by a modern master filmmaker. The only thing it is missing for me is a role for Judy Greer or Natalie Portman or Anne Hathaway. Specifically, Mank is about the screenwriter Herman J.Mankiewicz and his professional and personal experiences working in Hollywood in the 1930’s that led to him to write Citizen Kane. The master filmmaker is David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, The Social Network). I believe he is one of the truly great directors working today, but Mank does not come close to measuring up. Mank is not a bad movie at all, but it is an underwhelming one. 

Mank opens with a conventional biopic setup. Having recently broken his leg in a car accident, semi-washed up, semi-alcoholic Herman Mankiewicz, referred to by everyone—and quite frequently—as Mank, is taken to a bungalow to recover, dry out, and write a screenplay for the highly anticipated film debut of Broadway and radio wunderkind Orson Welles. An English typist played by Lily Collins is assigned to take dictation and as Mankiewicz works, he reflects on his past. 

The “present” of Mank is 1940, but the bulk of the film takes place in flashbacks to Mankiewicz’s days as a contract writer for the studio system in the 1930’s. Gary Oldman (now in his early 60’s) plays Mankiewicz in 1940 (when Mankiewicz was in his early 40’s) and also in the flashbacks (when Mankiewicz was in his 30’s). The age difference between the actor and the character is worth noting because it means that Oldman is always in makeup or shadow or peculiar lighting. No matter where we are in the timeline, Mankiewicz always feels like a weary soul. Gary Oldman is without a doubt one of the most versatile actors, capable of disappearing into a role (with or without the aid of makeup and costumes). He does a fine job playing the principled, semi-alcoholic writer whose talents are for his craft, not the social and political side of Hollywood. Just like everything else in the movie, Oldman’s work is adequate and neither sinks nor saves the movie.

Mank is filled with inaccuracies that go beyond the usual dramatic license you expect from a movie based on a true story. This is bound to frustrate those familiar with the events and people depicted and leave those that aren’t familiar with the wrong impression. It is well known that the main character of Citizen Kane is based, in part, on newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who was very involved in Hollywood to bolster the career of his girlfriend/mistress, Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried). It is also true that the Hollywood studios created fake newsreels for the 1934 California gubernatorial election to derail the campaign of progressive Democratic candidate Upton Sinclair and swing the election to the Republican candidate. There is little to no evidence that Mankiewicz found himself at the center of the studio executives’ election scheme or that he wrote Citizen Kane as a shot at Hearst for the part he played in producing the fake newsreels. The screenplay, written by Jack Fincher, director David’s father, seems to take its cues regarding the writing of Citizen Kane from the largely discredited essay “Raising Kane” written by Pauline Kael, in which she claims that Orson Welles played no part in the writing of Citizen Kane and simply added his name to the screenplay.

I was really disappointed by the attention paid to Mankiewicz’s friendship with Marion Davies and her portrayal overall. Of course, Davies was more than just the actress turned trophy girl of a rich man, but she has only a few scenes, one of which of which gives her no lines. I did not get a real sense of her as a person or her friendship with Mankiewicz. Amanda Seyfried has earned a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance as Davies; I wish I had seen what the Academy saw.

Screenwriters do not usually get A-level biopics—I can’t remember any aside from Trumbo, another lackluster movie. I’m glad that Mank turned the spotlight from Welles to Mankiewicz, even if the film is less interesting than its subject. Hopefully Mank inspires its audience to learn more about the writer, his work, and the at times unsavory, but nonetheless interesting, behind-the-scenes of classic Hollywood.

P.S.

You will find a fuller but still incomplete portrayal of Marion Davies and her relationship with Hearst in the films RKO 281 and The Cat’s Meow. Those films also give a fuller picture of the seemingly unlimited power and influence of Hearst. Neither of those films has the heavy-duty credentials of Mank, but they leave a deeper impression. 

Nominees: Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth, Douglas Urbanski, producers

Director: David Fincher

Screenplay: Jack Fincher; 

Cast: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins

Production Companies: Netflix International Pictures, Flying Studio, Panic Pictures, Blue Light

Distributor: Netflix

Release Date: November 13th, 2020

Total Nominations: 10, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Actor-Gary Oldman; Supporting Actress-Amanda Seyfried; Director-David Fincher; Cinematography-Erik Messerschmidt; Costume Design-Trish Summerville; Makeup and Hairstyling-Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri, Colleen LaBaff; Original Score-Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross; Production Design-Donald Graham Burt (production design), Jan Pascale (set decoration); Sound-Ren Klyce,Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance, Drew Kunin

Best Pictures #20: 1928-29 Academy Awards Outstanding Picture Nominee, The Hollywood Revue (1929)

by A.J.

Best Pictures #20: 1928-29 Academy Awards Outstanding Picture Nominee

The Hollywood Revue (1929)

I’m not sure how one goes about reviewing a revue… The numbers are entertaining and with Jack Benny as one of the masters of ceremonies, Conrad Nagel being the other, it is hard to go wrong. The Hollywood Revue was put together by MGM to showcase its major stars making their talkie debut with this collection of comedy skits and musical numbers. The cast includes, Jack Benny, Conrad Nagel, Charles King, Anita Page, Bessie Love, Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, William Haines, Lionel Barrymore, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Marie Dressler, Laurel & Hardy ,and more. However, MGM’s biggest star, Greta Garbo, is noticeably absent from the star studded cast because she decided that Anna Christie would be her speaking debut.

The stars of MGM’s other big musical from 1929, The Broadway Melody, all make an appearance in The Hollywood Revue. Charles King sings and banters with Conrad Nagel, who then serenades Anita Page, King’s love interest in The Broadway Melody, with “You Were Meant for Me,” a droll reference to a scene from that musical. Bessie Love, the other co-star of The Broadway Melody, takes part in a special effects bit with Jack Benny. She appears in miniature size and sets up punchlines for Jack Benny who holds her in the palm of his hand. When he sets her down on stage she grows to normal size and performs a delightful number called “I Never Knew I Could Do a Thing Like That.” Bessie Love is also quite delightful herself in her banter with Benny and musical performance. She sings but doesn’t dance so much as she is literally tossed around by the male chorus line. It’s fun to watch, especially when they flip her completely over from one chorus line to the next, but I can’t imagine how disorienting that all must have felt for her.

The Hollywood Revue is the film debut of Jack Benny who, as you might imagine, is very entertaining and funny as the master of ceremonies. There’s a running gag of him being slapped by women he thinks he "recognizes." One of the several humorous interludes he has is with actor William Haines in which Haines tears a piece of Benny’s suit for every city where he has seen Benny on the stage. The next time we see Benny he is wearing a suit of armor. This is one of a few skits in which stage and screen actors take playful jibes at each other and have fun with the rivalry between stage and screen actors. What an actor could do on stage versus on screen had a clear and distinct delineation during the silent era but with the advent of sound that line was gone. Jack Benny’s one-liners and violin could now be heard on film the same way they could only previously have been experienced by attending a stage performance.

The screen could now be filled with elaborate musical numbers like “Tommy Atkins on Parade” performed by Marion Davies. A full marching band and dancers take up the entire screen. Davies does a tap number and dances with a line of men dressed like palace guards. Many people today, myself included, think of Marion Davies primarily as the mistress of publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, the inspiration for Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane. This was the first time I had seen any of Davies’ work and I’m glad to put a real face and voice to her name. Laurel and Hardy showcase their comedy in a skit in which they play inept magicians. Buster Keaton has a comical dance number, but he does not sing or speak. In the final musical number in which every cast member gathers on stage to sing “Singin’ in the Rain,” Buster Keaton is the only one not singing.

The Hollywood Revue might be most known, by those that know it at all, for the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene with John Gilbert and Norma Shearer. This sequence is thought by some to be the catalyst for the decline of Gilbert’s career after audiences heard his high pitched voice. Further rumors say that this sequence was the inspiration for the plot of the 1952 Gene Kelly musical, Singin’ in the Rain. It is thought that audiences felt Gilbert's voice did not match the onscreen persona he had cultivated in the silent era. There are other likelihoods for the decline of Gilbert’s career that have nothing to do with his voice, but this is the narrative that has persisted. The sequence itself is one of the more enjoyable ones in The Hollywood Revue. Gilbert and Shearer play themselves playing Romeo and Juliet and are being directed by Lionel Barrymore, also playing himself. Barrymore tells them he received studio notes to make the dialogue snappier and modern. Their performance of the updated balcony scene loaded with peppy slang of the era is pretty amusing. As for Gilbert’s voice, though he is certainly not a baritone, the phrase “high pitched” does not accurately describe his voice either. I think he sounds very contemporary and casual, and maybe that is not the tone of voice you would expect to hear from someone in a period costume. This scene is one of two that was shot in technicolor which I’m sure impressed audiences of the day, however, on the DVD, available through Warner Archive, it is the only scene in technicolor.

The Hollywood Revue is certainly a curio of the early sound era. It does a good job of giving the viewer the feeling that they are an audience member for a stage show. The camera is mostly stationary. There are some close ups and medium shots and an occasional pan, but the static shots of the actors and performances actually works for this particular movie. The camera is your POV from your seat in the theater watching this impressive all-star revue. The Hollywood Revue is pretty entertaining though it runs a bit long for a film of its era, nearly a full two hours. There isn’t much to The Hollywood Revue, but that is not necessarily something negative for this particular musical movie. It is certainly an interesting viewing experience for a modern moviegoer.

Nominee: MGM

Producer: Irving Thalberg, Harry Rapf

Director: Charles Reisner

Screenplay: Al Boasberg and Robert E. Hopkins

Cast: Conrad Nagel, Jack Benny

Release Date: June 20^th, 1929

Total Nominations: 1, including Outstanding Picture
Win(s): N/A

Classic Movie Picks: January

by Lani

Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies Now Playing guide for upcoming films that I can't miss. The highlights are posted here for your reading and viewing pleasure! (All listed times are Eastern Standard, check your local listings or TCM.com for actual air times in your area. Each day's schedule begins at 6:00 a.m.; if a film airs between midnight and 6 a.m. it is listed on the previous day's programming schedule.)

My New Year's resolution is to "discover" a new film each month by watching something I've never seen before. January has many interesting prospects; in fact, of the 21 films I've listed here, I've only seen 7! Happy New Year, and here's to another year of classic movies!

Star of the Month: Angela Lansbury
I first came to know Lansbury on TV, as novelist & amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote. At that time, I had no idea that television was just the latest arena of entertainment in which Lansbury had made her mark. As Robert Osborne details in his Star of the Month article, Lansbury's long career includes great successes in film, on Broadway, and on television - a feat that arguably no other entertainer can claim. TCM is airing her films each Wednesday in January and I've singled out some of my favorites below; however, the entire month's line-up looks strong. I am especially looking forward to the TCM premiere of a production of Sweeney Todd which was filmed for television in 1982, and stars the Broadway cast. I also highly recommend TCM's Private Screenings interview with Lansbury, airing on January 25. True to form, her interview is one of the best of the series!
1/4, 12:15 AM - The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
1/11, 10:15 PM - The Three Musketeers (1948)
1/18, 10 PM - The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
1/18, 2:15 AM - The Court Jester (1956)
1/25, 8 PM - Private Screenings: Angela Lansbury
1/25, 9 PM - Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1982)
1/25, 11:30 PM - Death on the Nile (1978)

Starring Joseph Cotten
He may not be the Star of the Month, but Joseph Cotten is an actor who I always enjoy watching. Cotten gets the spotlight in prime time on January 2nd. That evening I'm especially interested in the premiere of The Steel Trap (1952), a race-against-the-clock thriller co-starring Teresa Wright (another of my faves) as Cotten's wife. He also stars in the period drama Under Capricorn (1949) on January 19, part of the month-long tribute to cinematographer Jack Cardiff, and in Love Letters (1945), a romance co-starring Jennifer Jones. In one of those "only in Hollywood" situations, Cotten had previously starred opposite both Wright and Jones - in Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and Since You Went Away (1944), respectively - but both times he played the actress's older uncle, not a love interest!

1/2, 11:15 PM - The Steel Trap

1/19, 8 PM - Under Capricorn

1/21, 10 PM - Love Letters

1/3: Happy Birthday, Marion Davies!

6 AM - 6:30 PM, 9 films

These days Marion Davies is probably better known for her real-life role as William Randolph Hearst's girlfriend, rather than for her many films. Hearst's championing of Davies' film career, for better and worse, is the stuff of Hollywood legend. Teen-aged Marion was already a Broadway veteran when Hearst vowed to make her a star in pictures. He used his newspapers to give Davies publicity and even created a production company devoted to making her films; however, Hearst's insistence that Davies star in serious dramas, rather than the comedies at which she excelled, also hampered her career. Despite the behind-the-scenes machinations on her behalf, the truth remains that Davies was a charming performer whose talent speaks for itself.

1/31: Governor's Award Winner - James Earl Jones

12 AM - Claudine (1974)

2 AM - Gardens of Stone (1987)

As a prelude to February's "30 Days of Oscar" programming, tonight's films honor the Governor's Awards recipients for 2011, including two TCM premieres starring James Earl Jones. I'm especially interested in Claudine, a working-class romance that was made as a conscious alternative to the blaxsplotation films of the 70s. It was the first, and unfortunately last, project of the Third World Cinema Corporation, a partnership of famous black artists that set out to train minorities in film production and make films which presented a dignified portrayal of African-American life. Gardens of Stone is a story of soldiers stationed at Arlington Cemetery during the Vietnam War; it boasts a rich cast of character actors, including Elias Koteas, Dean Stockwell, and Laurence Fishburne, and was directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

BONUS: TCM is honoring more pioneering African American filmmakers - Charles Burnet, Gordon Parks, Ossie Davis, Sidney Poitier, Melvin Van Peebles - on January 16.