Na Noite do Passado (1942) / Random Harvest (1942)

 

Um dos filmes mais românticos de todos os tempos e o filme favorito do grande Gene Wilder, “Na Noite do Passado” é um filme cuja existência eu conhecia já há algum tempo. Com minhas Resoluções de Ano Novo de 2024, finalmente assisti a ele pela primeira vez - e foi ótimo! Trata-se realmente de um filme tocante, que brinca com nossas emoções sem nos incomodar e nos faz suspirar em muitas ocasiões.

One of the most romantic movies of all times and the favorite movie of the great Gene Wilder, “Random Harvest” has been on my radar for quite some time. With my 2024 New Year Resolutions, I finally watched it for the first time - and had a blast! It’s really a touching movie, one that plays with our emotions without us getting upset and makes us swoon in many occasions.

Outono de 1918. Smith (Ronald Colman) está internado num hospício na Inglaterra, porque ele perdeu a memória durante a guerra e desenvolveu também um problema de fala. No Dia do Armistício, ele sai para a rua e conhece a artista Paula (Greer Garson). O dono do grupo de teatro do qual Paula faz parte não aceita Smith, temendo que ele seja um lunático perigoso. Paula e Smith seguem então para o campo.

Autumn, 1918. Smith (Ronald Colman) is staying in an asylum in England, because he lost his memory during the war and developed a speech issue. On Armistice Day, he goes to the streets and meets the artist Paula (Greer Garson). The owner of the theater group Paula works with doesn’t accept Smith, afraid that he is a dangerous lunatic. Paula and Smith leave for the countryside.

O namoro é breve e eles se casam. Smith consegue um emprego escrevendo para um jornal e o casal tem um filho, batizado de “John” como o pai. Tudo vai bem, até que Smith é atropelado por um carro... e recobra a memória. Ele se esquece de Paula e do pequeno Johnny e volta para sua velha mansão, onde descobre que seu pai havia falecido e que ele, Charles Rainier, herdou o local. Rainier se transforma no “Príncipe da Indústria” e, depois de ver a foto dele no jornal, Paula se torna sua secretária, sob o nome de senhorita Hanson. Ela espera que ele se lembre dos anos que passaram juntos, mas a única coisa que acontece é que ele vai se casar com outra mulher, Kitty (Susan Peters). Será que ele vai se lembrar da noite do passado antes que seja tarde?

The courtship is brief and they are married. Smith gets a job writing for a newspaper and the couple has a son, named “John” after the father. Everything is fine, until Smith is hit by a car… and recovers his memory. He forgets all about Paula and Little Johnny and goes back to his old mansion, where he finds out his father has died and he, Charles Rainier, inherited the place. Rainier becomes “The Industrial Prince” and, after seeing his picture in the newspaper, Paula becomes his secretary, under the name Miss Hanson. She’s waiting for him to remember their years together, but the only thing that is happening is that he’s getting married to another woman, Kitty (Susan Peters). Will he remember it all before it’s too late?

Em 1942 Greer Garson fez dois filmes, este e “Rosa de Esperança”, pelo qual ela ganhou o Oscar de Melhor Atriz. Nascida em Londres, Garson começou sua carreira como atriz nos palcos em 1932 e fez seu primeiro filme em Hollywood em 1939. “Rosa de Esperança” não deu a ela apenas um Oscar, mas também um marido: em 1943 ela se casou com Richard Ney, que era 12 anos mais novo que ela e havia interpretado seu filho no filme. O casamento durou quatro anos e Ney abandonou o cinema nos anos 60. Garson trabalhou até o fim dos anos 70 tanto no cinema quanto na televisão.

In 1942 Greer Garson appeared in two films, this one and “Mrs. Miniver”, for which she won a Best Actress Oscar. Born in London, Garson had started her career on stage in 1932 and made her first Hollywood movie in 1939. “Mrs. Miniver” didn’t give her only an Oscar, but also a husband: in 1943 she married Richard Ney, who was 12 years her junior and had played her son in the movie. The marriage lasted four years and Ney abandoned cinema in the 1960s. Garson worked until the late 1970s on both film and TV.

Ronald Colman ganharia seu Oscar cinco anos depois, mesmo tendo sido indicado a um por “Na Noite do Passado”. Nascido na Inglaterra como Garson, ele fez sua primeira peça de teatro em 1914, aos 23 anos. Assim como seu personagem Smithy, ele lutou na Primeira Guerra Mundial e foi ferido em batalha. Ele voltou para os palcos e fez seu primeiro curta na Inglaterra em 1917. Sua estreia em Hollywood em 1923, “Irmã Branca”, fez dele uma estrela do dia para a noite e daí em diante ele fez 61 filmes e programas de TV, até sua performance final em “A História da Humanidade” (1957).

Ronald Colman would win his Oscar five years later, even though he was nominated for one for “Random Harvest”. Born in England like Garson, he appeared in his first play in 1914, aged 23. Like his character Smithy, he fought in World War I and was wounded in battle. He returned to the stage and made his first short film in England in 1917. His Hollywood debut in 1923, “The White Sister”, made him a star overnight and from then on he appeared in 61 films and TV shows, until his last performance in “The Story of Mankind” (1957).

Uma atriz que merece ser destacada é Susan Peters. Sua carreira havia começado em 1940 e por “Na Noite do Passado” ela recebeu sua única indicação ao Oscar na categoria Atriz Coadjuvante. Seu mentor, George Cukor, disse que ela o lembrava de uma jovem Katharine Hepburn. Infelizmente, sua vida foi interrompida por uma tragédia: no Ano Novo de 1945, ela sofreu um acidente enquanto caçava e ficou paraplégica. Ela recebeu e recusou várias propostas da MGM por não querer interpretar heroínas paralisadas. Ela teve uma volta aos filmes em 1948 no papel de uma vilã, mas sua saúde estava frágil e ela ficava sem comer com frequência. Peters faleceu em 1952, aos 31 anos de idade. Greer Garson e Ronald Colman estavam entre as estrelas que compareceram ao seu funeral.

One performer to highlight is Susan Peters. Her career in film had started in 1940 and for “Random Harvest” she received her only Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category. Her mentor, George Cukor, said she reminded him of a young Katharine Hepburn. Unfortunately, her life was cut short by a tragedy: on New Year’s Day of 1945, she suffered an accident while hunting and was left paraplegic. She received and refused several scripts from MGM, not wanting to play paralyzed heroines. She made a comeback in 1948 in the role of a villain, but her health declined as she started starving herself. Peters died in 1952, aged 31. Greer Garson and Ronald Colman were among those who attended her funeral.

O diretor Mervin LeRoy nasceu em San Francisco em 1900, sobreviveu junto com seu pai ao terremoto de 1906 na cidade, e despontou no vaudeville como imitador de Chaplin. Aos 19 anos, ele pela primeira vez trabalhou em um filme, e ficou intrigado por todas as técnicas cinematográficas. Ele faria 11 filmes como ator entre 1922 e 1946. Ele trabalhou dobrando figurinos, como técnico de laboratório, assistente de câmera e escritor de gags antes de dirigir seu primeiro filme em 1927. Seu período de maior sucesso foram os anos 1930, mas ele seguiu dirigindo até 1968.

Director Mervin LeRoy was born in San Francisco in 1900, survived with his father the 1906 earthquake in the city, and appeared on vaudeville as a Chaplin impersonator. At 19, he experienced working on cinema for the first time, and became intrigued by the whole modus operandi. He would appear in 11 films as an actor between 1922 and 1946. He worked folding costumes, as a lab technician, assistant cameraman and gag man before directing his first film in 1927. His most successful period was the 1930s, when he worked for Warner Bros, but he directed until 1968.

Um filme cheio de surpresas, do começo ao fim, “Na Noite do Passado” é um verdadeiro tesouro. Sua cena final nos lembra de outro lacrimoso fim: o de “Luzes da Cidade” (1931) de Chaplin. Na trigésima sexta posição na lista de filmes mais românticos do Instituto de Cinema Americano, “Na Noite do Passado” é mais que um filme: é uma experiência que brinca com tudo o que pensamos que sabemos sobre amor.

A film full of surprises, from start to finish, “Random Harvest” is truly a gem. Its end scene reminds us of another teary famous ending: Chaplin’s “City Lights” (1931). Appearing as the 36^th film in the AFI list of Most Romantic films of all time, “Random Harvest” is more than a film: is an experience that plays with all we think we know about love.

Tempero do Amor (1963) / The Thrill of It All (1963)

 

No começo do filme, uma mulher em êxtase faz todas as pessoas dentro de um elevador rirem histericamente. Ela tem motivos para rir: depois de vinte anos tentando, ela finalmente engravidou! Esta mulher é a senhora Fraleigh (Arlene Francis), e ela não teria engravidado sem a ajuda de seu obstetra, Gerald Boyer (James Garner). Para comemorar, a senhora Fraleigh convida o doutor e a esposa Beverly (Doris Day) para jantar.

In the beginning of the film, an ecstatic woman makes everybody in an elevator laugh histerically. She has reasons to laugh: after twenty years trying, she finally got pregnant! This woman is Mrs Fraleigh (Arlene Francis), and she couldn’t have become pregnant without the help of her obstetrician, Gerald Boyer (James Garner). To celebrate, Mrs Fraleigh invites the doctor and his wife Beverly (Doris Day) over for dinner.

No jantar os Boyers conhecem o sogro da senhora Fraleigh, Tom (Reginald Owen), um homem de negócios. Beverly conta que ela está usando o produto que ele vende, o sabão Happy. Tom convida Beverly a fazer uma propaganda do sabão. A experiência é um desastre, mas os consumidores amam Beverly, que é então convidada para ser garota-propaganda do sabão.

At the dinner party the Boyers meet Mrs Fraleigh’s father-in-law, Tom (Reginald Owen), a businessman. Beverly tells she’s using the product he sells, Happy Soap. Tom invites Beverly to appear in an advertisement for the soap. The experience is a disaster, but consumers love Beverly, who is then invited to be the spokeswoman for Happy Soap.

Estamos na época da televisão ao vivo. As atrações, como peças, eram encenadas ao vivo em frente às câmeras e transmitidas para todos os aparelhos de TV. E assim eram também feitos os comerciais: ao vivo, sem segunda chance. Há uma piada no filme, sobre as histórias das peças para TV serem todas iguais, de modo que até uma criança poderia apontar a semelhança entre os programas. A TV e o cinema tinham, ainda naquele tempo, uma rivalidade, e, ao contrário do que é mostrado no filme, a minoria das casas tinha TV a cores.

This was the time of live television. The plays were acted out live in front of the cameras and broadcasted to all the TV sets. So were the commercials made: live, without a second chance. There is a joke in the movie, about the plots of these TV plays being always the same, so similar that even a child could tell the similarities. TV and the movies had, at the time still, a rivalry, and, contrary to what is shown in the film, most houses didn’t have color TVs.

Numa cena Beverly lê numa revista que, em alguns casos, tarefas domésticas não são suficiente para uma mulher se sentir realizada, não sendo elas gratificantes o bastante. Ela usa isso para convencer o marido, que não quer que ela tenha uma carreira paralela, que está tudo bem se ela trabalhar com propaganda. Ela pode ter hobbies como ir a reuniões na escola e fazer seu próprio ketchup, mas ela quer mais.

In a scene Beverly reads from a magazine that, in some cases, household chores are not enough for a woman to fill fulfilled, they’re simply not gratifying enough. She uses this to convince her husband, who doesn’t want her to have a parallel career, that it’s OK if she works in advertisement. She may have hobbies such as PTA meetings and making her own ketchup, but she wants more.

O horário de trabalho do doutor Gerald é confuso porque bebês nem sempre nascem na data calculada. Ele frequentemente tem de sair de casa no meio da noite para ajudar num parto, algo que hoje não é tão comum por causa das desastrosas cesáreas agendadas, que são boas para os médicos, mas péssimas para os bebês e as mães. Com Beverly fazendo os comerciais à noite, Gerald e ela mal se veem dentro de casa.

Dr Gerald’s work schedule is hectic because babies aren’t always born on their due dates. He often has to leave house in the middle of the night to deliver a baby, something that is not so common anymore because the unfortunate advent of the scheduled C-sections, that are good for doctors, but awful for babies and mothers. With Beverly doing the commercials at night, Gerald and her often don’t meet in their house.

Gerald se enfurece não somente porque não encontra Beverly em casa. Ele fica bravo quando ela é reconhecida num restaurante e ele é ignorado. Ele até mesmo diz que o fato de que ela está ganhando seu próprio dinheiro “sufoca seus direitos de homem”. E então ele luta com a única arma que ele acha que Beverly vai entender: o ciúme.

Gerald gets bitter not only because he and Beverly don’t see each other often at home. He becomes angry when she’s recognized in a restaurant and he’s ignored. He even says that the fact that she’s earning her own money “suffocates his rights as a man”. Then he starts fighting with the only weapon he thinks Beverly cares about: jealousy.

Foi arriscado explorar a condição da senhora Fraleigh no film, pois o Código Hays proibia que o cinema tratasse de gravidez e parto, mas esta proibição já estava mais relaxada em 1963. Não era somente proibido: era pouco elegante mostrar uma mulher grávida, por isso elas escondiam a barriga em roupas bastante largas.

It was tricky to explore Mrs Fraleigh’s condition in this film, as the Hays Code prohibited to talk about pregnancy and childbirth on film, but it was already weaker in the early 1960s. It wasn’t only prohibited: it wasn’t fashionable to show that a woman was pregnant, so she hid her bump in oversized clothes.

Como Olivia, empregada dos Boyer, temos ZaSu Pitts. Seu papel é mais uma participação de luxo, pois Olivia tem duas ou três cenas antes de ir embora no meio do filme. Pitts faleceu seis semanas antes da estreia de “Tempero do Amor”. O IMDb lista 223 créditos para a atriz tanto no cinema quanto na televisão, começando em 1917. Como ela costumava roubar as cenas, em muitas ocasiões suas cenas eram cortadas, o que levou o diretor Alfred E. Green a declarar que o rosto dela “esteve em mais chãos de salas de edição do que qualquer outra atriz”.

As the Boyers’ maid Olivia we have ZaSu Pitts. Her role is more like a deluxe cameo, as Olivia has two or three scenes before going away in the middle of the film. Pitts died six weeks before “The Thrill of It All” was released. IMDb gives her 223 credits on both film and TV, starting in 1917. Because she was a great scene-stealer, in many occasions her scenes ended up being cut, which led director Alfred E. Green to say that her face “has been in more cutting-room floors than any other actress”.

Indicado a sete Oscars, o diretor Norman Jewison começou sua carreira na televisão em 1952. “Tempero do Amor” foi apenas seu segundo longa-metragem. Jewison foi duramente criticado pelo crítico de cinema britânico Richard Whitehall, que odiou o filme e disse que Jewison tinha de ser um “gênio pervertido” para transformar uma ideia engraçada em um filme tão sem graça. Nós discordamos.

Seven-time Academy Award nominee, director Norman Jewison had started his career in 1952 on television. “The Thrill of It All” was only his second feature. Jewison was heavily criticized by the British film critic Richard Whitehall, who hated the movie and said that Jewison had to be “a perverted genius” to transform a funny idea into this unfunny movie. We disagree.

A moral do filme ainda é antiquada: “não há nada mais recompensador na vida do que ter um bebê”. É impossível não sorrir com Doris Day, mesmo como a atrapalhada dona de casa que virou uma estrela, mas o charme da conclusão só é parcialmente agradável. Não podemos esperar modernidade de um filme feito há mais de 60 anos, mas este aponta que os tempos e as coisas estavam mudando em 1963.

The moral of the movie is still old-fashioned: “there is nothing more fulfilling in life than having a baby”. It’s impossible not to smile with Doris Day, even as the clumsy housewife-turned-star, but the charm in the conclusion is only partially pleasant. We cannot expect modernity from a film that is over 60 years old, but this one points that times and things were changing in 1963.

This is my contribution to the Norman Jewison blogathon, hosted by Rebecca at Taking Up Room.

Book review: Alfred Hitchcock’s Moviemaking Master Class, by Tony Lee Moral

 

“He pioneered and revolutionized the way all kinds of stories were told on screen.” Who could be that we’re talking about? None other than the Master of Suspense - and, as described in the book, suspense is the stretching out of anticipation -: Alfred Hitchcock. Because every story - even the love stories - could use a bit of suspense, Hitchcock’s influences can be seen in all of cinema and even in other arts. I once searched and found out that there were more than 2,600 books written about Hitchcock, according to the Goodreads database. Another one comes to the batch: Tony Lee Moral’s “Alfred Hitchcock’s Moviemaking Master Class”. Is it a good addition or an unnecessary new book? Let us see.

Through examples from Hitchcock’s oeuvre, the book teaches things such as pitching a story to a producer, choosing the theme of the film, writing the screenplay, exploring your background scenario and props to the maximum, storyboarding key scenes, working with actors (who are not cattle), exercising camera logic, the importance of editing and how to advertise your film.

The sub-sections of the chapters are short and straight to the point. Nothing is discussed in a deeper focus, and this isn’t a problem. Once the point has been made about the section’s title, it’s time to move on. This makes reading easy and in a nice flow. However, to Hitchcock’s experts, there is very little that they haven’t heard about. In the end of each chapter, something different appears: exercises and tips about movies to watch and books to read to further the ideas presented in the chapter.

Writing the screenplay is given a whole chapter. A job divided in the outline, the treatment and the screenplay, this is explored in deep focus, which is no surprise considering that writing the screenplay was Hitchcock’s favorite part of making a movie. He closely followed the writing of the screenplays for his movies, but, preferring to focus on telling a story visually, he left the dialogues for his screenwriters.

There is also a whole chapter devoted to how Hitchcock cut and assembled his films. The author explains how the director portrayed a character’s reaction through cutting - using the Kuleshov effect - and how he created fear and depicted violence also through cutting - by choosing to show several close-ups instead of the violent act: this is what happens in the shower murder scene in “Psycho” (1960). We then learn about how Hitch used jump cuts, match cuts and cross-cuts to establish ideas and develop the plots of his films.

We can find the definition and exemplification of terms such as the famous McGuffin and the “ice box syndrome”, that is, the holes left in the plot that become debates once the viewers leave the movie theater and hit home. One very interesting term I learned - and something Hitchcock used in many movies - is the double chase: when the hero is persecuted at the same time by the police and the villains. Another learning opportunity came with the discussion of the Vertigo Shot and how it was achieved, zooming in on camera and having the camera dollying back simultaneously.

We have the comparison between leading men Cary Grant and James Stewart. Grant was the debonair seductive man Hitchcock wanted to be, while Stewart was the boy-next-door type. The author said Stewart was the man Hitchcock actually was, but I just partially agree with this affirmation.

There is, of course, valuable advice and many great catchphrases, such as: “When characters are unbelievable, you never get real suspense, only surprise.”; “Surprise takes 10 seconds; anticipation can take an hour.”; “A successful movie juxtaposes tension and relaxation, and relieves horror with humor.”; “He was a purist and believed that film is a succession of images on the screen; this in turn creates ideas, which in turn creates emotion, which only seldom leads to dialogue.”

There are quotes from other directors about how Hitchcock influenced them, and plenty of examples of Hitchcockian non-Hitchcock movies. We can also find quotes from stars who worked with Hitch, such as Eva Marie Saint and Kim Novak, as well as quotes from people who were part of the crew in some Hitchcock movies.

There are also plenty of inspiring quotes from Hitchcock himself, such as: “A film cannot be compared to a play or a novel. It is closer to a short story, which, as a rule, sustains one idea that culminates when the action has reached the highest point of the dramatic curve.”; “Mystery is an intellectual process, as in [solving] a ‘whodunit’…but suspense is essentially an emotional process. With suspense it’s necessary to involve emotion.”; “I think a director should understand the psychology of audiences,”; “People don’t often always express their inner thoughts to one another; a conversation might be quite trivial, but often the eyes reveal what a person thinks or feels.”; “For me, suspense doesn’t have any value unless it’s balanced by humor,”; “A woman of elegance, on the other hand, will never cease to surprise you.”; “ The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture”; “ Sex on the screen should be suspenseful, I feel. If sex is too blatant or obvious, there’s no suspense.”; “You can’t direct intelligent men, the things that should come to them naturally, such as hesitancies.”

Alma Reville, Hitchcock’s wife and constant collaborator who helped shape many screenplays, is only briefly cited as the one who saw that Janet Leigh blinked after her character Marion was murdered in “Psycho”. Another mistake in the book is saying that the French term for “pre-production” is “mise-en-scène” - it simply isn’t. Some sentences are poorly written and there are some typos that a more accurate revision would have erased, as well as factual errors - Anny Ondra wasn’t on the cast list for “The Lodger” (1927).

The Master of Suspense - who was also the master of branding - is as relevant as ever, no matter that he died over forty years ago. As the book says, there is always something new and exciting to find out when rewatching Hitchcock’s films. We, creatives, can also learn something new by rewatching his movies. Tony Lee Moral, an expert in Hitch, offered us valuable advice in this tight and thought-provoking book.