More Film Noir Favorites 2023

Below are brief reviews of ten films that my wife and I enjoyed watching in 2023. Usually known as film noir, these black and white films were a staple of what is known as Hollywood’s Golden Age. They feature some of the leading stars of the era and were done by directors and other craftsmen who not only were true artists, but who also knew how to gain and hold an audience. In addition to being good stories they also provide a real window into the world of my childhood. 

I like to view these films on DVD, but most are available on streaming services. CC indicates that close captioning is available for the hearing impaired.

 

Laura. Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews star in this 1944 thriller that is now regarded as one of the best films of all time. Tierney, one of Hollywood’s most beautiful actresses, catapulted to stardom in the title role. Clifton Webb, in his first screen role, received a best supporting actor nomination, and Vincent Price, and Judith Anderson rounded out the superb cast. Otto Preminger directed this film marked by great writing, cinematography, set design, and a music score based on the haunting Laura theme. The DVD version comes with an excellent commentary by Jeanine Basinger, creator of the Gene Tierney collection at Wesleyan University.  88 minutes.  CC.

 

Boomerang.  Director Elia Kazan won critical acclaim for this 1947 film based on a true-life story about the murder of a beloved priest. Dana Andrews starred as a District Attorney out to bring the suspected murderer to justice. Filmed on location in Stamford, Connecticut, this naturalistic court room drama was based on a pivotal case in the career of Homer Cummings, who would go on to become Attorney General of the United States. Jane Wyatt, and Lee J. Cobb play supporting roles. 85 minutes. CC.

In a Lonely Place.  In this 1950 film Humphrey Bogart, who appeared in more outstanding films than any other male actor, gave one of his best performances as a veteran screenwriter whose career is plagued by anger issues. After a chance meeting with a young hat-check girl he becomes a prime suspect when the girl is found murdered. Film Noir favorite Gloria Grahame matched Bogart’s performance in this film directed by ground-breaking director Nicholas Ray, who also happened to be her husband at the time. 94 minutes. CC.

The Burglar. This little known 1957 crime thriller with typical noir twists and turns stars Dan Duryea as a cunning jewel thief hoping to pull off a final big heist. Jayne Mansfield, before she became a blond sex-bomb, is very effective in her role as one of the burglar’s accomplices. This film, based on a novel by famed crime writer David Goodis, marked the directorial debut of Paul Wendkos who showed he was a noir master from the surprising opening scene, through the suspenseful burglary, and finally to the tragic end shot on the boardwalk of Atlantic City. Oddly enough, Wendkos is best known for directing “Gidget.”  90 minutes. No subtitles.

Witness to Murder. Barbara Stanwyck stars in this 1954 film noir as a woman fighting to convince police that one sleepless night, she saw a young woman being strangled in an apartment across the street. When a body cannot be found, the police suspect that she has either been dreaming or out of her mind. George Sanders and Gary Merrill co-star. Roy Rowland directed this film with help from innovative cinematographer John Alton. 83 minutes. No subtitles.

I Wake Up Screaming. In a rare dramatic role Betty Grable plays the sister of a beautiful, murdered model in this tense 1941 thriller. While police search for the murderer, Grable is falling in love with the prime suspect played by Victor Mature, the first Italian American to become a leading man. The many plot twists and turns leave viewers guessing right to the end. Some critics consider this film to be the first film noir. It was shot at the same time as the Maltese Falcon and has even more noir features that would show up again and again in subsequent films. In addition to the plot twists, there are the many flash-backs characteristic of noir, the police interrogation room with its bright light and dark shadows, and the haunting strains of Street Scene, a song that can be heard in many later noir dramas. 82 minutes. CC.

Lady from Shanghai. Orson Welles directed and starred in this spellbinding 1948 film that also starred beautiful femme fatale Rita Hayworth. Hired to work on a yacht belonging to Hayworth’s wealthy but disabled husband, Welles is drawn into a web of intrigue and murder. Everett Sloane, a Welles favorite turns in a masterful performance especially in the courtroom scene. The climax of the film takes place in a Hall of Mirrors in a deserted amusement park. It is one of the greatest scenes in film history. 88 minutes. CC.

The Asphalt Jungle. John Huston directed this 1950 classic noir heist drama that has often been copied but never equaled. Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe, and Louis Calhern star as the principals in a plot to steal a fortune in jewels. Huston humanizes his criminals. They have their flaws, often fatal, but they are not all bad. The film also features Jean Hagan, best known as silent film star Lina Lamont in the great musical Singing in the Rain, as a down and out “B” girl, and Marilyn Monroe in a fine early performance. Her body and personality later made Monroe an international icon, but she could act. As Ginger Rogers noted in one of her films with Fred Astaire: “It takes brains to act dumb.” 112 minutes. CC.

Nightfall. Aldo Ray and a young Anne Bancroft star in this 1957 film noir about a young man innocently trapped in a web of crime and murder. The film features some of the best work of two film noir masters: director Jacques Tourneur, and Burnett Guffey, the cinematographer whose dark city scenes and winter landscapes are classic noir. This film is very loosely based on a novel by crime writer David Goodis. 79 minutes. CC.

Christmas Holiday. Although the action takes place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, this 1944 film, based on a novel by Somerset Maugham, is not typical Holiday fare. Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly star in unfamiliar roles. Durbin’s singing voice and wholesome personality had made her a box office favorite but here she appears in a serious role as a night club singer with a dark history who meets a stranded soldier on Christmas Eve in New Orleans. Despite its dark theme, the film features some outstanding music. Durbin sings two songs including Irving Berlin’s haunting Always; a symphony orchestra performs Wagner’s Liebestod, often used in films about doomed lovers; and there is even a dramatic filming of a Midnight Mass in a packed cathedral. The director was Robert Siodmak, regarded as the best of all noir directors by TCM critic Eddie Muller. 93 minutes. No subtitles.

 Happy New Year.

###

Home for Christmas 2023

I find it hard to understand why some people don’t like Christmas, or why some even go out of their way to criticize or even attack it. I have wonderful memories of Christmas and for me it is hard to imagine what life would have been like without Christmas. It is true that most of these memories have been blurred together by the passage of time. I have written about some of these memories on earlier posts but here are a couple of others. 

Many, many years ago when my eldest son was just a boy, he had a best friend named John, but everyone called him by his nickname, “Stepper.”  Stepper was often at our house and one day just before Christmas we were discussing the fact that Christmas Day that year would be on a Monday, just like this year. When we explained to Stepper that not only would he have to attend Mass on Sunday, he would also have to attend on Monday, the day of the feast, he erupted vehemently and protested: “WHAT A RIP-OFF!" 

I suppose my favorite memory is just being home for Christmas when all our kids were young. As our family grew larger, Linda and I decided to just stay home on Christmas, and not visit relatives. It was our custom to put up the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. We usually put it in its stand early in the day, but waited until after dinner to decorate it. All six children would pitch in to put on the lights, and the other decorations. However, no presents would be placed around the tree until after the kids went to bed. We left that to Santa.

It was only about one or two in the morning that my wife would take the presents from secret hiding places, that we now know were not so secret, and place them under and around the tree. Next morning, sometimes even before break of dawn, the kids would come clambering down full of excitement even though there were some years when the pickings were sparse. After opening the presents we would sit down around the table for Linda’s wonderful breakfast.

Inevitably, while all this was going on I would play Anne Murray’s Christmas album, “Christmas Wishes.” Anne Murray was a particular favorite of mine and I still believe that her album is the best Christmas album. My favorite song was her rendition of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” The kids are all grown now and my wife and I will be alone this Christmas morning, but like Anne, I’m “dreaming tonight of a place I love”:  that home when Linda and I were sitting around the tree with all the kids: Fran, Ed, Anne, Kate, Jane, and DD.

 

Merry Christmas to all.

### 

Christmas History 2023

 

The birth of Jesus is recorded on the gospels of Matthew and Luke, but they only have one fact in common: that the Holy Family was in Bethlehem, the birthplace of King David, when Jesus was born.

Nevertheless, scholars now agree that the accounts have a firm basis in history and complement each other. Modern biblical scholars argue  that the birth occurred in what we call 7 B.C. The gospel of Matthew says that Jesus was born during the reign of King Herod who died in 4 B.C. The gospel of Luke states that the birth occurred during a Roman census ordered when Quirinus, a Roman official, was governor of Syria. This official was governor in 6 A.D. but now we know that he was also governor between 10 B.C. and 7 B.C. During both terms he ordered a census.

The date Is also confirmed by astronomy. It appears that the star followed by the Three Kings or Magi is no pious fiction. There is no record of a comet or super nova in 7 B. C., but in the seventeenth century, famed astronomer  Johannes Kepler claimed that there had been a conspicuous conjunction of the two largest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, in the area of the constellation Pisces visible for months in 7 B.C. Only in the twentieth century did scientists confirm Kepler’s observation.

What about the Magi? Historians now doubt that they were kings but claim that they were astrologers (scientists) who were keen observers of the stars and planets. In fact, scholars now believe that they were Jewish astrologers living in the large Jewish community in Persia who were continually searching the skies for signs of the coming Messiah. 

What about Bethlehem? Joseph would have been required to travel with his wife the 70 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the hometown of his family to register for the census. The small town situated on a hill six miles from Jerusalem would have been crowded with others coming for the census. It would have been very likely that they would have had to stay in a stable or cave used to shelter animals.

There were certainly grazing fields around the town where shepherds could be watching their flocks, but scholars now believe that the flocks would not have been grazing at the onset of winter. The gospel accounts do not specify an exact date, and it seems most likely that December 25 is a later addition to the story.

Nevertheless, after all these years, it is hard to imagine a better date to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Winter is coming on, and we are faced with three months of cold and gloom. What’s wrong with a ray of light to pierce the darkness?

The birth of Jesus 2030 years ago was an actual event that took place in a specific time and place. It is confirmed by historians and scientists. No matter what you believe, you cannot doubt that it changed the world forever.

Maybe we still have not achieved peace on earth and goodwill toward men, but we can always hope. Years ago I heard this lovely rendition of "Peace on Earth" by famed country singer Vince Gill, and his daughter Jenny, now a star in her own right. Click on this link or view the video below.

###

Note: The image above is a painting by the Venetian Renaissance artist Giorgione. It is usually called The Three Philosophers, but I agree with those who believe it depicts the Magi when they first behold the star.

War Stories

                                          

 

Two recent news items about the war in Ukraine caught my attention. The first was about a 58-year-old Ukrainian sniper who had just killed a Russian soldier who was 2.5 a miles away.  He claimed the shot set a new world’s record as if it were an Olympic event. He was depicted with his rifle and spotter sitting on a couch somewhere. I wonder what the deceased soldier’s mother, wife, or sweetheart thought of the killing. It sounds like murder but how can we possibly understand the hatred Ukrainians feel for Russians, especially after the Soviet induced famine of the 1930s? 

A couple of days later, a second article appeared about Russian criminals released from prison to serve in the Ukraine war. If they agree to serve on the battlefield for six months, they can return home, and their sentences are commuted.  Apparently, if they survive, many return to their life of crime. One even murdered six people and burned down the house in which they resided.

It would appear that the Russian army has been seriously depleted by the struggle since they have to recruit convicted criminals. Mohammed Ali was the most famous American who refused to fight in the Vietnam war, but many chose to avoid the draft or even leave the country rather than go to war. I suspect that this is happening in Russia today and that many young men are seeking to flee the country. Reports indicate that some have even made it to our southern border.

As the saying goes, “War is Hell” but many commentators on both sides seem to regard it as a game that can be won or lost. The Biden administration is pressing for billions of dollars of military aid for Ukraine, but I am sure that no one in the Administration would be willing to tote those weapons on an actual battlefield. It is always the young men on both sides who will bear the burden and face the horror.

Lawrence Kirby

 

Speaking of young men, I have been reading Lawrence Kirby’s Stories from the Pacific, a book about his experience as a young Marine in World War II. I was told about this book by my brother-in-law Richard Gardella who knew Larry Kirby briefly before the former Marine died at the age of 99 in a Senior residence. The stories in Kirby’s book are a real eye opener and at times extremely heart rending. 

In one especially moving chapter he describes one incident that took place while fighting in the jungle of the island of Guam. He was on a scouting mission when suddenly he came upon a young Japanese soldier about 20 feet away. Their eyes met in stunned silence but after a brief pause the Japanese hurled a grenade and Kirby rushed him and opened fire. Kirby was wounded by the grenade shrapnel, but the Japanese soldier was dead. Kirby never forgot that tragic experience. Years later he wrote this poem.

I met a youthful enemy 

My fear reflected in his eye

I loathed him not, nor did he me

But we must fight and one must die.

No longer boys but not yet men

Just sad young soldiers sick with fright

Flag and face our difference then

One’s timeless sleep would come that night

Panic grew with every breath

I had to kill, I had to try.

Why do I seek a stranger’s death?

With vain despair I wondered why?

I could be his friend, not foe

Such wish was true, not foolish whim.

The brave, young lad will never know.

With tragic skill I murdered him.

Long years have passed since when he fell

My heart still aches, no sense of pride.

Though I seem here I live in hell.

On that cruel day I also died. *

Lawrence Kirby believed that soldiers did not like to talk about their experiences mainly because no one would believe how horrible war could be for the young men who actually fought. He wrote, 

The ultimate desecration of the human spirit is the conscious activity of cruel inhumanity, predicated and justified—at least in the minds of those who sent us—as noble and patriotic duty, a privilege and responsibility accepted willingly by only the brave, offering their lives in this crusade and, further, willing to kill other equally brave and misguided young men in the cause of patriotism and in the name of duty…. (53)

My war ended with Iwo Jima. I was one of the very lucky few to survive the terrible bloodshed. It was my last campaign, thank God. The killing, the screaming, the torn bodies, the shattered limbs the suffering—it had become too much to handle! There were times when I thought I would welcome death. Ending the terror seemed more important than living. (56)

###

 

*Lawrence F. Kirby: Stories from the Pacific. P. 102

Senior Advice

 My brother-in-law Richard Gardella moved to a Senior living facility this year at the age of 88. For most of his life he was a practicing attorney but from his earlier days as a newspaper reporter he loved to write about people. He still believes that everyone has their story. In his new home he has continued his practice of writing by profiling the seemingly ordinary people who reside in the facility as well as members of the staff. His first profile was about Larry Kirby, a decorated veteran of WWII, who published a book, Stories From the Pacific, about his experience during the war. Larry died at the age of 99 shortly after Richard completed his profile. In that profile Richard included Larry's written advice to seniors entering the facility. It is good advice for anyone, and I repeat it here with Richard's permission. 

Some people embrace their golden years, while others become bitter and surly. Life is too short to waste your days on the latter. Spend your time with positive, cheerful people, it’ll rub off on you and your days will seem that much better. Spending your time around bitter people will make you feel older and harder to be around.

Try to keep a healthy life. Pains and discomfort go hand in hand with getting older. Try not to dwell on them but accept them as part of life. Try doing moderate exercise (like walking every day), eat well and get your sleep. It is easy to become sick, and it is hard to remain healthy. That is why you need to keep yourself in good shape and be aware of your medical and physical needs. Keep in touch with your doctor, do tests even when you’re feeling well. 

Don’t stress over the little things from the past. You’ve already overcome so much in your life. You have good memories and bad ones, but the important thing is the present. Don’t let the past drag you down and don’t let the future frighten you. Small issues will soon be forgotten. Feel good in the now! 

Regardless of age, always keep love alive. Love life, love your family, love your friends, and remember: Love is more precious than the finest jewels.

Be proud, both inside and out. Don’t stop going to your barber or hair salon, do your nails, go to the dermatologist and the dentist, keep your perfumes and creams well stocked. When you are well maintained on the outside, it seeps in, making you feel proud and strong.

Don’t lose sight of fashion trends for your age but keep your own sense of style. You’ve developed your own sense of what looks good on you—keep it, and be proud of it. It’s part of who you are.

Always stay up to date. Read newspapers, watch the news. Go online and read what people are saying. Make sure you have an active email account and try to use some of those social networks. You’ll be surprised at what old friends you’ll meet.

Respect the younger generation and their opinions. They may not have the same ideas as you, but they are the future and will take the world in their direction. Give advice, not criticism, and try to remind them that yesterday’s wisdom still applies today. Never use the phrase: “in my time.” Your time is now. As long as you are alive, you are a part of this time.

Never regret not living with your children or grandchildren. Sure, being surrounded by family sounds great, but we all need our own space. They need theirs and you need yours.

Don’t abandon activities. Each evening after dinner, check the activity sheet and the next day get involved in at least one activity. Be active, be friendly, be happy.

Speak in courteous tones and try not to complain or criticize too much unless you really need to. Try to accept situations as they are.

If you’ve been offended by someone—forgive them. If you’ve offended someone—apologize. Don’t drag around resentment with you. Someone once said: “Holding a grudge is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Forgive, forget, and move on with your life.

Laugh. Laugh away your worries. Remember, you are one of the lucky ones. You managed to have a life, a long life. Many never get to this age, never get to experience a full life. Dear friends, enjoy a peaceful time at this point in your life.

Don’t worry…be happy. 

Larry Kirby in WWII.

###

Happy Thanksgiving 2023

    

                                            

 

My wife and I are just thankful that we've made it to another Thanksgiving Day. Here is my annual Thanksgiving message.

To say I was born and raised in New York City would be a little misleading because in my memories of New York in the 40s and 50s, the city was a collection of small towns or villages. I was born in Woodside, a section of the borough of Queens, and the skyscrapers and streets of Manhattan were as remote for me as China would be to my grandchildren today.

Because of our insularity I can’t be sure if a Thanksgiving custom we had back then was unique to Woodside or whether it could have been found elsewhere throughout the great metropolis. Anyone else I’ve mentioned it to had never heard of it including my wife who was born a little bit north of the City in White Plains, the hub of Westchester county.

Anyway, on Thanksgiving morning the children in our neighborhood would dress up as bums or hobos. It didn’t take much since back then we would usually wear our clothes until they literally fell apart. We would take our most worn and tattered clothing and rip and tear them a little more. Then, we would blacken a cork over a candle and smear it over our faces to simulate dirt. I remember my grandmother giving me a little pouch with a drawstring, or was it a pillowcase, that we hobos could sling over our shoulders.

Then, we were ready to make the rounds of our neighbors to ask, “anything for thanksgiving?” Inevitably, they would answer our plea with some of the bounty from the meal they were preparing. Usually it would be apples, or walnuts, or sometimes a few pennies. Don’t laugh. Twenty pennies were enough to buy a Spalding (Spaldeen), the elite of bouncing rubber balls used by us in so many street games.

I don’t know where the “anything for thanksgiving” custom came from. We lived in a small neighborhood that seemed to have been mainly Irish with a mixture of Italians. In my nearby Catholic school the majority of the kids seemed to have Irish names. There were Ryans, Regans, Dunphys, Moylans, and Healys. However, A few blocks down busy 69^thStreet were the Napolitanos who ran the grocery store. In the other direction lived the dreaded Gallos whose kids were the toughest in the school. 

But I’m not sure that “anything for thanksgiving”  was an ethnic custom. We were a predominately Catholic neighborhood and the idea of thanksgiving was part of our religious heritage even though none of us knew that the word “Eucharist” meant “Thanksgiving.” On the other hand, it could have been a peculiarly American response to the end of the Great Depression and the Second World War. Nothing had marked the depression so much as homeless men on bread lines or riding the rails. These were the hobos that we children imitated. Even though most of us could be considered poor, at least we and our neighbors would be able to sit down that afternoon in our homes to the best meal of the year. We did have a lot to be thankful for. The Depression was over, the men had returned from the terrible war, and the NY Yankees were on the verge of recovering their past glory.

Over 75 years have passed since those childhood years but I can truly say that my wife and I have much to be thankful for. Our grandparents came to this country from Italy with nothing but their own traditions, customs, and religion. Like most children of immigrants our parent came to love America and worked hard to provide for their children and give them a standard of living that is still the envy of the world. 

Even today, after a pandemic and divisive political campaigns, there is more reason to hope than to fear. I would just like to end this post with George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789. Thanksgiving did not become a National holiday until after our terrible Civil War, but Washington’s words are as meaningful today as they were in 1789.  

Thanksgiving Proclamation
Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789

 


Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”



Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favor, able interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.


And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.



Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.


 

Go. Washington 

###

Tokyo Stories

 

                                                                                          

Yasujiro Ozu is regarded by film historians and critics as one of the world’s great film directors. Born in 1903, Ozu is not as well known in this country as Akira Kurosawa whose Samurai epics were transformed into hit westerns. Nevertheless, Ozu was a prolific filmmaker whose career began in the silent era and only ended with his death in 1963. More than anyone else he depicted in his films the simple beauty of the lives of ordinary families especially as Japan emerged from the devastation of World War II. 

Ozu’s style was unique. He just seems to set his camera down low as if we were participants sitting low in Japanese style around the table as family members converse or enter or exit each scene. We just watch their comings and goings as the simple plots develop. He was also a master of film composition. Each frame is carefully filled as if it were a painting. There are no tricky or dazzling special effects, just ordinary life. 

Here is a list of some of these films, most of them named after the seasons: Late Spring (1949), Early Summer (1951), Tokyo Story (1953), Early Spring (1956), Floating Weeds (1959), Late Autumn, (1960), End of Summer (1961), and Autumn Afternoon (1962). All deal with every day, ordinary life. 

Perhaps the best example is Tokyo Story, regarded as Ozu’s crowning masterpiece. The film follows an aging couple’s journey to visit their grown children in bustling postwar Tokyo. The couple are from the countryside and find it difficult to adjust to city life, especially when their grown children prove to be too busy with their own careers and children to pay much attention to them. It is only their widowed daughter-in-law, who lost her husband in the war, who seems to have any time and consideration for them. She works in an office and wears Western clothes but still retains the traditional Japanese charm and courtesy. Setsuko Hara, one of the most beautiful and charming actresses in film history, and an Ozu regular, plays the daughter-in-law in this deeply moving film.

Another personal favorite is the 1959 film Floating Weeds, Ozu’s first color film and a remake of one of his early silent films. An aging actor takes his traveling theatrical troupe to a small seaside town to perform traditional Japanese drama to small and barely interested modern audiences. At the same time he reunites with his former lover and their illegitimate grown son to the chagrin of his current mistress, a member of the troupe. It is a beautiful story of human relationships in a changing world. The DVD set contains the 1959 color version as well as the original silent version of this timeless tale.

Most of Ozu’s films were filmed during the period of Japan’s recovery from WWII but Yakashi Yamazaki’s 2006 film, Always Sunset on Third Avenue takes a nostalgic look back at the period. The film was a huge success in Japan and won Japan’s equivalent of the Oscars in 12 of the 14 categories for which it was nominated. 

The Third Avenue of the title is a busy, crowded Tokyo street in a working-class neighborhood that will be very familiar to senior Americans who grew up in places like Brooklyn and Queens back in postwar America. The lives of these people bring back my own memories of days gone by. We see primitive electric refrigerators replacing iceboxes and putting the iceman out of business. We see residents crowding into the home of the first neighbor to buy a small black and white TV to watch wrestling. We see them buying Coca Cola at a neighborhood candy store and drinking it out of the bottle.

The neighbors are also familiar. There is a small auto repair shop run by a war veteran who is optimistic about the future of the automobile industry in Japan. Meanwhile, he and his homemaker wife and young son live above the shop. There is a young writer who ekes out a living by running a candy store and selling lottery tickets. He too has dreams of becoming a famous published author. There is the young woman who runs a small sake bar to pay off her father’s debts. There is even a doctor who like American doctors of the past makes house calls. He lives alone having lost his wife and daughter in a bombing attack during the war.  Just as in America they all have hope in the future now that the war is behind them. The symbol of their hope is the Tokyo Tower. We see it gradually rising to symbolize Japan’s recovery.

The film’s popularity led to two sequels that while not as good, tie up some of the loose ends from the original. I do not know if these films are available on streaming services. I used the DVD but one word of caution about the DVD. The directions to access English subtitles are in Japanese. It looks difficult but just takes a little trial and error to see this beautiful film. Here is a link to a brief video clip of one especially moving scene.

Watching these films it is hard to have anything but respect for the Japanese people, and it is sad to think that we had to engage in such a devasting war with them. On the other hand, Japan’s revival after the War is a tribute not only to them but to America. We had learned the lesson of WWI and rather than trampling our defeated enemy underfoot like Soviet Russia did in Eastern Europe, we worked to ensure the recovery of both Japan and Germany. More than the war itself, the peace that followed the war might have been the greatest achievement of the Greatest Generation.

###

 

Obama's Complicity

Former President Barack Obama recently called the October 7 massacre of over 1400 Israeli civilians by gun toting Hamas terrorists “inexcusable,” but then went on to offer an excuse by claiming that it could be only understood by considering years of history in the area. In his remarks he went even further and said that “all of us are complicit to some degree.” Just who was he referring to when he said that all of us are complicit?

 

Was he referring to himself? Was he referring to his own failure to solve the problems in the Middle East during his eight years as President. Was he finally assuming responsibility for the attack on the American embassy in Benghazi, or for the rise of ISIS during his tenure? Was he referring to his own wife and daughters? To what degree were they complicit?

 

Was he referring to the current President. After all, didn’t Obama say of his own Vice-President, “If you want something f---ked up, give it to Joe.” To what degree is Biden and his administration complicit? Actually, the leading members of the Biden foreign policy team were all members of the Obama administration. What is their degree of complicity?

 

Maybe he means that the whole Democratic party is complicit, including progressive radicals like the so-called Squad, some of whose members have openly expressed their detestation of Israel? Can he mean that the protestors on college campuses are complicit? 

The answer to all these questions is No, No, No, No, No.  Of course, when Obama says that all are complicit, he is not referring to his own family or political friends and allies. He is referring to an abstraction. Politicians like him can never bring themselves to blame a real person who commits a crime. Whether it be a mugger, a looter, a rapist, or Hamas gangster, they cannot call them out but implore us to consider their actions in context, or in the light of history.  Some progressives even consider looting and shoplifting to be a form of reparations.

 

On the other hand, when protestors entered the Capitol on January 6, 2021, people like Obama never urged us to put the event in context or consider the historical background of that protest. The protestors were immediately branded as insurrectionists out to overthrow the government. Eventually, some were brought to trial, convicted, and given prison sentences unlike the left-wing protestors who attacked and burned Federal buildings in the previous summer. 

 

###

August Wilson: Fences

 

 “Fences” stars Denzell Washington who also directed this 2016 film adaptation of the stage play of the same name by August Wilson. Actually, “Fences” is one of a series of ten stage plays by Wilson about life in a Black neighborhood in Pittsburgh. Wilson wrote the screenplay for this film and received a nomination for best screenplay despite having died in 2005.*

Denzell Washington does a great job as the lead character Troy, a garbage man for the city of Pittsburgh, who has never gotten over the fact that he was born too early to break the Major League Baseball color barrier. He is angry and bitter despite the devotion of his loving wife, played beautifully by Viola Davis. 

Troy also has two grown sons neither of whom is he able to appreciate or even understand. The eldest son, the product of his first marriage, is a  musician whom the father will never go to hear. The other son is a seventeen-year old high school football standout who is being recruited to play in college, an idea totally opposed by his father. Troy has toiled for years to support his wife and children, as well as a brother who was permanently mentally damaged by a head wound while serving in WW II. Troy is a man who understands his responsibilities despite the fact that he ran away from home in Alabama at the age of 14 after a brutal beating by his own father. 

Watching the story play out on the screen I could not help but think that the situation of Troy in Pittsburgh was not much different from my own father’s in New York City’s borough of Queens back in 1956. Like Troy my father had somehow managed to buy a home in a poor to lower middle-class neighborhood. We lived in a two-bedroom apartment with one tiny bathroom. There was a kitchen with an old table where we had our meals. There was no dining room. It makes me laugh today when I watch home shows on TV where the young people insist on granite or better countertops. We had no counters at all. 

My father was born about the same time as Troy to parents who had migrated to New York City from impoverished, rural Italy. He was of that second generation that had one foot in the old world and one in the new. In a sense, Troy’s situation was similar. He was an immigrant to industrial Pittsburgh from rural Alabama. After running away from home Troy turned to robbery to survive but wound up in prison where he learned to play baseball.

But August Wilson’s Troy is a man who was never able to fulfill his baseball dream. He is a strong talented man but still winds up in Pittsburgh working on a garbage truck. My father was a mechanical genius who could fix practically anything but never even got through grade school. He was working in his father’s grocery store when he got married but went to work in a defense plant when WWII broke out. After the war he became a shop supervisor or foreman, and even invented a couple of valuable processes for which he got little reward or recognition. 

There were so many things about Troy that reminded me of my father. He was outgoing and sociable. He had many friends with whom he talked, drank, and played cards. They all liked him. My mother died when I was just 11 and though my father would never forget her, he soon found another caring woman in much the same way as Troy did.

I was 17 in 1956, the same age as Troy’s younger son. I was not an athlete but I was an outstanding student. In both cases our teachers were expecting and urging us to go to college, something our fathers did not value or understand. Troy’s son became a Marine but I went to Fordham University the same school that Denzell Washington attended.

August Wilson’s film is about the Black experience in America but Wilson also claimed that he wrote to show Whites that Blacks experienced many of the same things as they did. He wrote,

I think my plays offer (white Americans) a different way to look at black Americans," … "For instance, in Fences they see a garbageman, a person they don't really look at, although they see a garbageman every day. By looking at Troy's life, white people find out that the content of this black garbageman's life is affected by the same things – love, honor, beauty, betrayal, duty. Recognizing that these things are as much part of his life as theirs can affect how they think about and deal with black people in their lives.

He certainly succeeded in "Fences." The film did not win the Best Picture award, but could have. Denzell Washington did not win the Academy Award for Best Actor but his performance was also good enough to win. Viola Davis should have won the award for Best Actress but apparently she and her advisors decided to seek only the nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

 

###

* Wilson was from a bi-racial family. His father was a German immigrant but Wilson took his Black mother's name after the father walked out.