"The Reckless Moment" Review

 

by Daniel White

A fascinating look at the American middle class, Max Opul's The Reckless Moment (1949) is a must-see for all those interested in film from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Opuls (dumbed down from Ophuls), with the clarity of an outsider, directs this absorbing tale of a housewife (Joan Bennett) being blackmailed after covering up her daughter's accidental killing of her much older boyfriend.

Opuls and his team of scenarists waste no time getting the story rolling. In just under 25 minutes Lucia Harper (Bennett) has confronted cad Ted Darby (Shepperd Strudwick), warned him away from daughter, Bea (Geraldine Brooks), discovered his lifeless body and disposed of it. She is one efficient lady! However, there's a fly in the ointment -- blackmailer Martin Donnelly (James Mason). In possession of love letters Bea has written to Darby, he demands 5000 dollars from Lucia. Darby's body has been discovered and is being investigated as a homicide.

The under-appreciated Joan Bennett is fabulous as the taut, finagling, exasperated Lucia. With her husband overseas at work and no capable man around to help her (her father-in-law is too old, her son too young), Joan must do EVERYTHING to protect the self-absorbed Bea. And she does, or at least attempts to. Opuls has presented a tribute, of sorts, to the proficiency of the modern American woman: tend house, take care of children, and oh yes, find money for blackmailer to prevent daughter from going to prison for manslaughter!

James Mason is his usual brooding self as the Irish Donnelly. A conflicted con artist out to make a quick buck, he soon falls under Bennett's spell and begrudgingly begins to admire her for being so industrious! This flick is both camp and convincing! Of course no woman can do it completely on her own and Joan gets some much-needed assistance from her live-in housekeeper, Sibyl (Frances E. Willams). Treated as an equal and allowed to behave like a human being and not a caricature, Williams is a formidable Ethel to Bennett's Lucia.

The movie is based on the story "The Blank Wall", by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. Distributed by Columbia Pictures, with the talented Burnett Guffey handling the cinematography, Walter Wanger has produced another suitable star vehicle for wife Joan Bennett. The Reckless Moment is currently available on YouTube.

Final note: The film was remade in 2001 as The Deep End, with Tilda Swinton in the Joan Bennett role. Both flicks are worth viewing.

"Lady Sings the Blues" Review

 

by Daniel White

Despite what the movie poster proclaims, Diana Ross in Lady Sings The Blues (1972) is definitely NOT Billie Holiday. She doesn't look like her and she certainly doesn't sound like her. More important, most of the events that are portrayed in this mildly engrossing flick didn't even happen to her. Diana Ross turns in a decent performance as a famous drug-addicted jazz singer, but it sure as hell ain't Billie Holiday's life we're seeing unravel.

Directed by Sidney Furie, warning bells went off in my head with the movie's opening. NEW YORK CITY, 1936 is emblazoned across the screen as we watch a semi-conscious Holiday being dragged into a police station. Wait a minute, wasn't the blues singer only 21 in 1936? And didn't her arrest for narcotics occur over a decade later? As music appropriate for a Universal horror flick blares, the credits begin to roll and there it it is: produced by Berry Gordy. Mr. Berry and pals have fashioned a film tailored to the talents of Miss Ross. Disregarding the truth, they have manufactured a tale that has little to do with the genius that was Billie Holiday. In clothes by Bob Mackie, Ross looks fabulous and emotes satisfactorily, but this is not a movie biography; it's a film fantasy.

Concentrating primarily on a romance that never happened (at least not to the extent it's portrayed here) and Holiday's struggle with heroin, Lady Sings The Blues may serve Diana Ross well, but it does a great disservice to Billie Holiday. However, the movie managed to do something that made enduring it's almost 2 1/2 hour running time worthwhile. Immediately after this melodramatic, overwrought fakery ended, I skedaddled over to YouTube to listen to the real thing. Why settle for adequacy when brilliance is at your fingertips?

With Billy Dee Williams playing sympathetic love interest Louis Mckay and Richard Pryor as a character that never even existed, Lady Sings The Blues is currently available on YouTube.

"At Long Last Love" Review

 

by Daniel White

Peter Bogdanovich's much maligned At Long Last Love (1975) deserves a second chance. Hardly the fiasco critics declared it was, the film is actually quite enjoyable. While no masterpiece, it is an amiable jaunt. Most important, it provides us with 20 or so Cole Porter tunes, all worth listening to, performed competently by three out of our four headliners. Only Cybill Shepherd disappoints and even she is not excruciatingly bad. Just a wee bit annoying.

Burt Reynolds is the real surprise here as millionaire playboy, Michael O. Pritchard. He can't really sing and isn't much of a dancer, but his screen persona is so relaxed and pleasant it doesn't matter.

Madeline Kahn can sing and dance, and it's satisfying to see the lovable comic screwball playing a romantic role for perhaps the only time in her film career. From a weightless, barely there screenplay (courtesy of Bogdanovich), she is able to conjure up real emotion. Her Kitty O'Kelly, a Broadway musical comedy star, may be madcap, but as her plans for romance start to unravel, Kahn poignantly shows us her wistful side as well. Duilio Del Prete plays the other male lead and he certainly is personable. An Italian, who cares if he occasionally sounds like a third rate impression of Maurice Chevalier?

Thankfully, pros like Eileen Brennan, John Hilllerman and Milfred Natwick are on board to adroitly pick up the slack when one of our four protagonists occasionally stumbles. The real star is Cole Porter and his music. The players gamely tackle his more famous tunes and some obscure ones, and they are delightful, delicious, and yes, delovely. Nobody excels, but nobody is a total embarrassment (not even Cybill) and the score is wonderful. Sung live while performing the numbers, it may not be 100% rewarding but it's grand to be reacquainted with Mr. Porter's music. Fetchingly evoking 1930's Manhattan, At Long Last Love is currently available on YouTube.

"Crashout" Review

 

by Daniel White

"Money is a lot like love; there's a dirty kind and a clean kind. No good comes out of the dirty kind!" Beverly Michaels doles out that piece of hard-earned wisdom to prison break escapee Arthur Kennedy in 1955's CRASHOUT. Amen, sister! Put together by some of the same gents who worked with Ida Lupino and her husband, Collier Young, the flick has a gritty feel, much like their forceful stuff.

William Bendix receives top-billing as the hardened con who orchestrates the title melee and he's great. Bendix could easily swing from playing a lovable buffoon to a heartless killer. Here, he embodies the latter and does it cold-eyed and calculating. Arthur Kennedy, William Talman, Luther Adler and Gene Evans expertly support our sociopathic star. This kind of no-frills film needs talented actors to make it work and thankfully CRASHOUT has them in abundance.

It also has a smart screenplay that rarely stumbles and keeps the proceedings believable. Kudos to director Lewis R. Foster who co-wrote it with Hal E. Chester. He efficiently delivers a tight, crackling one-two punch that ably does the trick. Throw in crackerjack cinematography from Russell Metty, suspenseful music courtesy of Leith Stevens, and fifties, sometime scream queen, Gloria Talbott (I Married a Monster from Outer Space) and you've got yourself a feisty little film noir/crime thriller.

One final note: Unmarried mother Alice Mosher's (Michaels) admittance that she gave birth to her son out of wedlock must be a near-first in a flick from this era. Another example of Ida Lupino's far-reaching influence. Gotta love the Ida! With wheezy Percy Helton as a doomed doc, CRASHOUT is currently available on YouTube.

"A Royal Scandal" is a Mess

 

by Daniel White

Poor Tallulah Bankhead. After making a big splash (heh heh), in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat, her follow-up vehicle, A Royal Scandal (1945), is nothing more than a wishy-washy chatter-fest (will someone PLEASE stop me from making any more water wisecracks!).

It's directed unimaginatively by Otto Preminger, stepping in for an ailing Ernst Lubitsch (it's trumpeted as a Lubitsch film and he receives sole credit as producer). I don't think it really matters who directed this tepid bedroom comedy about Catherine the Great or who produced it; the screenplay sinks it. Except for a handful of clever remarks and one or two witty exchanges, the film feels dull and sluggish. Additionally, farce demands skillful timing, and when denied that, dies a painful death. Such is the case here.

However, it's a pleasure to watch Miss Bankhead working overtime to provide sparkle and she delivers when most others would have failed. She is supported by a wily Charles Coburn and a couple of other movie magicians (Sig Rumann, Mischa Auer), who shine despite the dire circumstances. Only Vincent Price stumbles glaringly, grappling with one of the lousiest french accents ever heard on screen.

The flick cries out for garish, loud Technicolor but unfortunately was shot in drab B&W. I suspect studio head Darryl Zanuck didn't have much faith in the project and was reluctant to toss buckets of money at it. With a wan, low-wattage William Eythe and a wasted Anne Baxter, A Royal Scandal is currently available on YouTube. It's a soggy mess (sorry!)

"That Lady in Ermine" Review

 

by Daniel White

Alice Faye may have possessed a more melodious set of pipes, but Betty Grable was the better actor. She certainly was a fine farceur, a talent she demonstrates with impressive comic broadstrokes in Twentieth Century Fox's That Lady in Ermine (1948). It is the last film Ernst Lubitsch would be credited with as director. However, he did very little directing, dying of a heart attack eight days into filming. Otto Preminger would take over and complete the movie, but insisted his friend, Lubitsch, received sole credit.

A charming Douglas Fairbanks Jr. co-stars as an Hungarian colonel who falls in love with Grable while occupying her castle in a mythical European country she rules over. Fairbanks claims that Preminger ruined the film with his leaden technique but I disagree. If anything, it's the less-than-spectacular musical score by Leo Robin and Frederick Hollander that harms it the most. But even the so-so songs can't detract from this frisky film that is much more of a delight than a debacle.

I love Betty Grable and she's in excellent form here in dual roles as Countess Angelina and her ancestress, Francesca. A potent combination of risque ribaldry and girl-next-door gumption, Grable is wonderful. Cesar Romero assists Miss Grable nicely as bridegroom Mario who flees the castle on their wedding night. Lubitsch originally wanted Jeanette Macdonald for the lead but THAT would have been a sure misfire. Miss Jeanette had plenty of sizzle and spark at Paramount when they worked together. However, a decade of soggy operettas at MGM had sucked all the humor out of her screen image.

No, saucy, sassy Betty Grable was the right choice. That Lady in Ermine may not be perfect, but La Grable makes it more than watchable; she makes it a helluva a lot of fun. Outfitted by Rene Hubert and choreographed by Hermes Pan, Betty Grable was in great hands. With splashy, sumptuous Technicolor, handled by cinematographer Leon Shamroy, That Lady in Ermine is currently available on YouTube.

"Shotgun Wedding" Review

 

by John Zenoni

Well, I am sure I will get slammed to the wall and back with my review of ‘Shotgun Wedding.’ Let me preface this by saying that I had already made comments to others about this film - based on the trailer alone and not having actually seen it - and I can tell you that those comments still stand.

For those not familiar with this formulaic rom-com, starring Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel, they play Darcy and Tom, respectively, who pull their families together for a destination wedding, only to have the ceremony get sabotaged when gunmen take everyone hostage. Naturally, all of that is taking place while Lopez and Duhamel are on another part of the island, questioning whether or not they are actually right for each other. Once they realize what is going on they have to help each other long enough to stop the kidnappers. I am sorry but everything in this film was predictable.

Here are a few of my key issues with this film (note - SPOILER ALERT!):

In the first few minutes of the film, Duhamel ‘forgets’ the rehearsal dinner? He falls into the water at the same time but proceeds to go to the dinner with wet hair? Also in this film is Jennifer Coolidge, playing Duhamel’s mom, Carol, and she gives a rusty old cake knife to Lopez as a gift, in what is supposed to be a funny moment? Carol also later in the film, as she and the other guests are all held hostage in the resort pool, proceeds to stand up and give a speech about deserving to live, then the others follow? During an escape/runaway sequence, Lopez’s character somehow gets hold of a grenade with the pin pulled out and yet she manages to keep hold of it while running, going down a zip-line, and more (including Duhamel hitting one with a baseball bat) without ever blowing themselves up? Right…and finally, the most stupid thing is at the end when everyone starts singing in the pool and the enemy joins in as well.

I have actually read a few other reviews where people say the film has some redeeming qualities…where, pray tell? The only thing is perhaps Lenny Kravitz, who does a fairly decent acting job. Anyway, that is my take on it…

"Boxcar Bertha" Review

 

by Daniel White

What do you get when Roger Corman meets Martin Scorsese? The free-wheelin', easy goin' Boxcar Bertha (1972). Free and easy that is, until the movie ends in an orgiastic blast of exaggerated violence. Barbara Hershey stars as Bertha, and she is quite beguiling. Known to me mainly as Bette Midler's sidekick in Beaches, Miss Hershey is near perfect as the high-spirited, freight-hopping Bertha. It's not an easy task to play golly-gee innocence while toting a gun or turning tricks in a brothel, but she pulls it off believably. However, its Mr. Scorsese who captures top honors here. By taking producer Corman's tale of lovable bandits of the open road and infusing it with heft and meaning, he has delivered a flick that transcends the constraints of its genre.

Set in the Great Depression, Boxcar Bertha is the story of Bertha, the daughter of a crop duster. Forced to fly because of another man's greed, his plane crashes, rendering Bertha an orphan. It's that age old saga, the struggle between the haves and the have-nots, and what happens when the latter refuse to take it anymore.

Playing a character loosely based on American Socialist William "Big Bill" Haywood, David Carradine registers nicely as Bertha's fellow hobo and love interest. It's especially fun to see him sparring against his dad, John Carradine, as a grasping railroad owner.

But it's Scorsese, in only his second feature, who turns cornpone into caviar. In a remarkable scene, he ably demonstrates the conflicts of Big Bill Shelly (D. Carradine). Disgusted that he's gone from labor organizer to train robber, Bill rushes down a hallway that Scorsese has cinematically turned into a claustrophobic boxcar. Trapped by his criminal behavior, yearning to resume the life of a man of morality, the camera reveals his internal struggle. The director has merged cartoon exploits and actual inner turmoil and it resonates strongly.

Barry Primus and Bernie Casey also do well as Bertha and Bill's accomplices in crime. The film benefits immensely from the rightness of its four leads. A rural romance/crime drama/social justice tale that Martin Scorsese manages to make a little extra special, Boxcar Bertha is a worthwhile trip to take. Boxcar Bertha is currently streaming on Tubi.

"Memphis" Book Review

 

by John Zenoni

‘Memphis’, by Tara M. Stringfellow, is a wonderful and engaging novel about three generations of very strong and hard-working Black women that hope and desire to change their futures and those of their children and family. The story tells different events that happen to each woman of their respective generations that change them all in some way. The cast of characters in this novel pulls you in and you root for these women in hopes that they will all be ok. There are some definite hard times experienced by these women as individuals but also as a family, not to mention as a culture. They go through marriage, divorce, rape and death (including by lynching) as well as national tragedies, such as the assassination of Dr. King and 9/11. The development of these characters is so well done and you get so into them as individuals that it's almost hard to see the novel come to an end. Very well done, indeed!

"Knock at the Cabin" Review

 

by John Zenoni

M. Night Shyamalan is one of those directors I have still yet to decide if I really like or not because his films are so hit-and-miss. From his big breakout film in 1999, ‘The Sixth Sense’, through the 2004, ‘The Village’, I thought, ‘This guy is really a terrific storyteller.’ Then he came out with ‘Lady in the Water’, in 2006, and I couldn't figure that one out. Well, let me just say it, I didn't like it at all. Since then he's had some other releases come out that have been pretty good, with my favorite being ‘Split’, released in 2016. But nothing released since 2004 has matched what I feel like is the mystique and twists of his earlier films. Needless to say, his latest, ‘Knock at the Cabin’, doesn't do any better. Not that it is a bad film, and if nothing else, it does make you think, which I like.

The premise is that four strangers show up one day at the cabin of husbands Eric and Andrew, along with their daughter, Wen, telling them that they must decide to sacrifice one in their family in order to save the world. Pretty strange and there are some rough moments, as each time Eric and Andrew refuse, one of the four is killed by the others in the name of humanity. It's really disturbing, to say the least. Anyway, ultimately it gets down to sacrifice, but without giving anything away, the film’s ending left me scratching my head but at the same time making me think about what I believe the intent is. It definitely is one that can be interpreted many ways. Overall, it had some pretty good acting - although not necessarily believable scenarios - and some plot lines that could have been expanded on.

I have to give the director credit for one thing and that is that he at least tries to change things up with his stories.

"The Big Parade" Review

 

by Daniel White

A sure sign a movie is not working for me is when I start reimagining it as being parodied by The Carol Burnett Show. Unfortunately, this happened while watching The Big Parade (1925). As John Gilbert wailed histrionically about the futility of war (silently, natch) in a fox hole with his buddies, I began turning it into a farce. Featuring Harvey Korman and Tim Conway as the pals and guest star of the week (Steve Lawrence?) playing Jack. Of course, our Carol will shine, mugging as the feisty French farm girl, and with Vicki Lawrence tackling the love interest back home, Voila! You have the makings of a side-splitting comedy sketch.

Directed by King Vidor for MGM, The Big Parade's reputation as one of the greatest silent films of all time made it a must-see for me. A difficult flick to find (most of MGM's films are next to impossible to watch gratis), it inexplicably turned up on YouTube the other day. The copy was exceptional and even with no musical accompaniment, I was giddy with high expectations.

What a disappointment. The story of Jim Apperson and his journey from idle rich boy to seasoned WWl vet is a sprawling, episodic epic that barely registers. Corny, dated and uninspiring, it rolls along and rolls along but never really gets anywhere. Gilbert is fine as the lead. It's easy to see why this and The Merry Widow, a much better movie released the same year, made him a big star. The roly-poly Renee Adoree is fine as Melisande, Jack's overseas fling, but Karl Dane's portrayal of Slim, one of his army pals, is grotesque. Constantly chewing tobacco, then spitting out the juice, while making garish faces, the performance practically sinks the whole flick. What a relief it was when the "Heinies" finally shot him. A mercy killing if there ever was one.

I love silent cinema and have seen enough non-talkers to know many of them transcend their time and place. However, The Big Parade is not one of them. At 2 1/2 hours, it's about 2 hours too long. The Big Parade is currently available on YouTube.

"Sunrise" Review

 

by Daniel White

I want to thank an annoying Facebook film-buff for admonishing me for preferring the majestic Sunrise over the well-made Wings. His insistent provocation that I was mistaken prompted me to watch F. W. Murnau's movie again. Well friends, I'm here to report that the 1927 Fox film is without question a masterpiece, one of the greatest flicks, silent or sound, ever made. And yes, it is better than William Wellman's exercise in expert mechanics. The proof: Murnau's flick brought me to tears, something Wings, with its manipulative sentimentality, was unable to do.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is a deceptively simple story about love. An unsophisticated farmer (George O'Brien), at the urging of his city-bred mistress, attempts to murder his wife (the effective Janet Gaynor). Unable to carry through with the scheme, he follows her to the city, where they reconcile. There they spend the day together, rekindling their feelings for each other. On the return trip home by boat that night, a storm capsizes their tiny vessel, and the man fears his wife is lost. Unfaithfulness, redemption, punishment, salvation and eternal love. Murnau, with the help of his talented cast and superb creative team, explores these complex themes and makes them as timely now as they were then. And, I might add, he tells his tale succinctly. Something the arduously overlong Wings failed to accomplish.

The movie was one of the first to be released with a synchronized musical score, complete with sound effects. The industry was on the brink of catapulting (stumbling?) into the talkies. Sunrise is silent film at its most realized. With Margaret Livingston as the wicked city woman and Charles Rosher and Karl Struss providing lyrical cinematography, Sunrise: A Tale of Two Humans is currently available on YouTube.

"The Letter" Review

 

by Daniel White

"Your whole life was just wrapped up in rubber!"

As a keen admirer of Bette Davis's restrained performance in William Wyler's excellent 1940 film, The Letter, I approached the 1929 original with low expectations. It's a good thing I did, for it's a clunky mess. However, even clunky messes have their merits, and if only for the chance to see the legendary Jeanne Eagels in action, it's worth catching. Not that Eagels is very good (she's isn't), but I suspect if she'd been given a better production to emote in, she may have risen to the occasion. Or maybe not. By the time the tragic Broadway star made this murky melodrama, she was past her prime, soon to be dead from the alcohol and drugs upon which she'd become dependent.

Set in Singapore, Eagels stars as Leslie Crosbie, the unfaithful wife of a rubber plantation owner (Reginald Owen). Rejected by her lover (Herbert Marshall), who's taken up with a local Chinese gal, Leslie loses it, pumping a whole bunch of bullets into his hide. Claiming self defense, it looks like Leslie's going to get away with it, until a letter she wrote to her flame inconveniently turns up. Uh oh, white lady in big trouble.

A stagey, talky bore, director Jean de Limur has more or less turned the camera on and let it whir, forcing our actors to do all the work. The bird-like Eagels gallantly attempts to draw us in, but she looks distracted and wan. Only Herbert Marshall as the ill-fated love interest manages to avoid being completely defeated by the technical deficiencies of the flick (he would go on to play the husband in the 1940 remake).

There are some interesting departures from the Wyler/Davis classic worth noting. The dramatic showdown between Leslie and her lover's bitter lady friend is handled quite differently. In the remake, the two rivals dramatically face each other alone. Here, Leslie's humiliation is witnessed by a group of Asian women, who gawk and guffaw at her shaming by her nemesis. In another striking departure from the original, Leslie is not punished for her transgression (this is Pre-Code, after all). Instead of having to answer for the murder of Geoffrey Hammond (Marshall), she must remain in Singapore, trapped in a loveless marriage. In some ways, a much more dire outcome for the wayward woman.

Jeanne Eagels received a posthumous Academy Award nomination for her work in The Letter (the first performer to do so, and to date, the only woman). She achieved immortality portraying Sadie Thompson on the stage. I wish she had been better served here.

With Lady Tsen Mei as Li-Ti, Leslie's female foe (unlike Gale Sondergaard in the remake, she is of (partial) Asian descent), and distributed by Paramount Pictures, The Letter is currently available on YouTube.

"Ordinary Grace" Book Review

 

by John Zenoni

Oh my goodness, what a novel ‘Ordinary Grace’, by William Kent Krueger, is. This one is definitely on my ‘fave’ list as it's written so well and has such a heartfelt story. It has so many quotes that I love that I'm going to have to get a hard copy so I can use a marker to highlight them all.

The story is told by Frank Drum, who recounts a time in his life forty years earlier, when several tragedies took place in his hometown one summer. It's a story about growing up and coming of age, relationships with siblings and parents, experiencing the ups and downs in life and growing spiritually.

All I can say is that if anyone reads this one and is not moved then something must be wrong. This novel won several awards after its release and I can certainly understand why. Excellent read!

"The Personal Librarian" Book Review

 

by John Zenoni

What a wonderful novel ‘The Personal Librarian’ is. Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray do a masterful job telling the fictionalized story of real-life librarian, Belle da Costa Greene. Greene was the personal librarian of the extremely wealthy J.P. Morgan, who amassed antique manuscripts, books and artwork, with the intention of keeping it all as a private collection. Greene, who actually managed to collect a large portion of these items on her own, was in fact an African-American woman who passed as a white woman during her time with the Morgan empire. It was after Mr. Morgan’s death that she convinced the son, Jack Morgan, to donate the library as a gift to New York City.

Greene and her family were intentionally raised by her mother as white in order to protect her children from racism and rejection that was rampant at that time. This novel gives insight into Greene’s life and her conflict with her family, society and herself by pretending to be someone she was not.

Very well done and I highly recommended!

"Wings" Review

 

by Daniel White

Winner of the first Academy Award for Best Picture, the silent film Wings (1927) has not aged well. It certainly isn't of the same caliber as Sunrise, another flick in contention that year (while Wings won for "Outstanding Picture," F. W. Murnau's classic received "Best Unique and Artistic Picture," the only time the Academy included such a category). Overlong, the WWl action/romance movie's prestige centers around its spectacular special effects (think Titanic, only instead of one big ship sinking, a bunch of little airplanes are falling). Director William Wellman has done an impressive job staging the aerial scenes but the novelty of such derring-do soon wears thin. The problem is the story unfolding on the ground is not that compelling. Like James Cameron's overrated, waterlogged dud, the fiction attached to the historic event is yawn-inducing.

Richard Arlen and Charles "Buddy" Rogers play a pair of young men from the same home town who get caught up in the fervor of war and enlist. Both in love with the same girl (Jobyna Ralston), an animosity exists between them. However, their rivalry soon subsides, replaced by an affectionate camaraderie.

But the top acting honors go to Clara Bow. She plays Mary Preston, next door neighbor to Jack Powell (Rogers). A vivacious gal, full of gumption, she carries a torch for Jack. Joining up as an ambulance driver, she follows him over to France. Bow is magnetic and lights up the screen every time she's on (which, unfortunately is not enough). The visual of tiny Clara tooling around in a huge supply truck put a slap-happy smile on my face. The film may be dated but Clara Bow is remarkably fresh and alive.

Lanky Gary Cooper has a cameo as a doomed flying ace. According to director Wellman, Cooper and Bow "began a tumultuous affair" on the set of Wings. Not only that, she was a notorious flirt, carrying on with cast and crew.

Of special interest is a scene in a Paris nightclub where two lesbians are observed, sharing a kiss.Such provocative and modern touches are welcome but they can't save Wings from being a dullish, repetitive romp. However, we'll always have Clara. Wings may have been lauded for its action in the skies, but it's the heavenly Clara Bow who makes a lasting impression. Distributed by Paramount Pictures, Wings is currently streaming on Tubi.