From Those Were the Days:

1944 - Leonidas Witherall was first broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System. Witherall was a detective who looked just like William Shakespeare.
8:24:24 PM    comment []  trackback []  

“When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

Yesterday, after listening to Glenn Ford on The Adventures of Christopher London, I also caught an episode of The Six Shooter (6/10/54) starring James Stewart. I’ve always marveled at how well Stewart took to radio; many of the big silver screen names weren’t too effective in an aural medium—with Clark Gable and Joan Crawford being two notable examples, as both of them suffered from mike fright. But Stewart was indeed a rare breed, as anyone who’s heard The Six Shooter is aware, and the program’s inability to secure a proper sponsor is what kept this extraordinarily fine western from becoming a hit in the mold of, say, Gunsmoke.

So since I had the night off, I decided to settle in with a pair of Jimmy Stewart movie classics—starting off with Anatomy of a Murder (1959). It’s funny, I bought this on DVD many moons ago (part of an enrollment agreement with Columbia House, if memory serves) and when I pulled it off the shelf I discovered that I had never even unwrapped the darn thing. (This is an all-too-frequent occurrence here at Casa del Ivan, I’m ashamed to admit.) I could have sworn I’d seen the movie not too long ago.

Anatomy is one of the silver screen’s all-time classic legal dramas, with Stewart playing a “humble country lawyer” (but cagey as hell) who agrees to defend a hothead soldier (Ben Gazzara) after Gazzara shoots and kills the man who allegedly raped his wife (Lee Remick). The film was considered quite groundbreaking and controversial in its day, and although more daring movies have since come down the pike, it still holds up remarkably well—it’s about 2 hours and 40 minutes, but it never seems that long. Directed by Otto Preminger (one of the few Preminger films I’m a fan of) and based on the novel by John D. Voelker, it showcases a memorably superb supporting cast: Arthur O’Connell, Eve Arden (Our Miss Brooks!), Kathryn Grant, George C. Scott, Orson Bean, Murray Hamilton. John Qualen,Duke Ellington (who also contributed to the film’s knockout score) and Joseph M. Welch, whose claim to fame was representing the Army in the infamous Army vs. McCarthy hearings during the 1950s (“…have you no sense of decency, sir?”). For OTR fans, there’s Ken Lynch, Ned Wever, Joseph Kearns and Howard McNear in small but effective roles.

After this, I put on the 1962 John Ford classic The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (this DVD was also unopened, I need to catch up on some movies around here), which I swear gets better and better with each passing year. Joining Jimmy is the Duke himself, John Wayne, with Vera Miles, Lee Marvin (as the titular bad guy, one of Marvin’s nastiest portrayals), Edmond O’Brien, Andy Devine, Ken Murray, John Carradine, Jeanette Nolan (one of my favorite OTR actresses!), John Qualen and Woody Strode, among many, many others. My Dad even put down his paper to watch this one (he’s not too keen on b&w movies, but if he sees someone on a horse while surfing TV channels—there it stays), so if that’s not a seal of approval…well, I don’t know what you can do about it.
8:22:52 PM    comment []  trackback []