All the Secrets of the Universe and Some Really Important Stuff Too!
I have great sympathy for these guys as they go through the massive headache of switching platforms. Sundance has a nice site that links to lots of good stuff.
The Treehouse is Deplatformed…
He’s got a large readership and that was bound to make him a target for the Leftists who want to silence all dissent. I guess we all really are dissidents now. Our heresy is we don’t want to be slaves.
As in a game of cards, so in the game of life, we must play what is dealt to us, and the glory consists, not so much in winning, as in playing a poor hand well.
Henry Wheeler Shaw
In this film noir Dick Powell is John Forbes, a married man who works as an adjuster for an insurance company. He lives in the suburbs with his pretty wife Sue, played by Jane Wyatt and his young son Tommy. Based on the domestic scenes, we see that Forbes is bored with his humdrum existence of work and tame suburban monotony.
One day an insurance investigator, J.B. MacDonald (played by truly creepy Raymond Burr) comes to Forbes with a case that requires him to interview a woman, Mona Stevens played by frequent femme fatale actress, Lizabeth Scott. Her fiancé, Bill Smiley, has passed along to her gifts paid for with money he fraudulently obtained against his insurance. During his meeting with Forbes MacDonald indicates that he is lusting after Stevens and will be making a play for her while her boyfriend is in jail. We can tell that Forbes despises MacDonald but in order to maintain a working relationship with the investigator ignores the crudity of MacDonald’s plan.
When Forbes meets Mona Stevens at her apartment he blandly and uncaringly requires her to surrender her engagement ring and other gifts given by Smiley. She upbraids him for his callousness and just to show her disdain for his power she tells him about an asset he didn’t know about, a small speed boat that she loves more than anything else. Now Forbes feels remorse for being such a heel and while going out to see the boat he apologizes and tells her he’ll buy her a drink to show her that he has nothing against her. The couple go to the dock and at her invitation they go out on the boat and she even allows him to drive it. They both enjoy the ride and each other’s company. Afterwards they go to a bar and have some drinks and Forbes tells Mona that he won’t include the boat in his report. During the scene sexual attraction is on display on both sides and afterwards they head back to Mona’s apartment. Meanwhile we are shown MacDonald skulking around watching them. In the next scene Forbes is shown arriving at his home very late in the night and he sneaks into his bedroom where his wife is asleep. His guilt over betraying her is plain to see on his face.
The next day MacDonald shows up in Forbes’ office and tells him he doesn’t want Forbes interfering with his play for Mona. Also, he informs Forbes that he has added the speed boat to the list of assets that Mona must relinquish. Forbes tells MacDonald to stop annoying Mona and not to interfere with his actions either professionally or personally. Forbes meets with Mona and tells her about the speed boat and MacDonald’s part in it. Mona volunteers that MacDonald has been annoying her. When Forbes gets home that night MacDonald is waiting for him in front of his garage and administers a serious beat down on Forbes. Forbes tells his wife and the police that he had been robbed by strangers. His doctor tells him he’ll have to stay in bed for a couple of weeks and Forbes tells his job that he has a bad cold.
When Forbes doesn’t show up for a few days Mona calls his office and is informed that he is home sick. She drives to his house with some soup and there discovers that Forbes is a married man. She actually speaks to his wife in front of the house claiming that she is looking for a house on a different street. When Forbes finally gets well, he goes to speak to Mona and she tells him she has discovered his secret. Forbes admits his deception and apologizes. Now Mona tells him that Macdonald is pressing his demands for a relationship, hounding her at work and is threatening to tell her fiancé in prison that she is having an affair with Forbes. Apparently, MacDonald who is a former policeman has connections in the prison. Forbes promises to fix the situation.
Forbes goes to MacDonald’s apartment and administers a beating that at least matches the one he got from MacDonald. And he warns him to stay away from Mona and Forbes’ family. Time passes and Smiley will be getting out of jail. MacDonald has been visiting him in jail and filling his mind with stories that Mona is having an affair with Forbes. Smiley shows up at Mona’s apartment drunk and armed with a pistol that MacDonald gave him. He accuses her of infidelity with Forbes and says he’s going over to his house to settle things. Mona phones Forbes and warns him. Forbes arms himself and when Smiley arrives, he pulls the gun on him and tells him to leave or be shot. Smiley leaves but as soon as Forbes goes back in his house Smiley smashes through a large window in the living room and enters the house. As soon as he steps foot in the house Forbes shoots him several times. Forbes pretends that the man is a prowler in his statement to the police.
Meanwhile MacDonald is at Mona’s apartment and listens on her radio to the police channel where they hear about the shooting at Forbes’ address. When the radio reports add homicide to the message MacDonald calls a friend at the precinct and learns that Forbes has killed Smiley. MacDonald then informs Mona that with Smiley dead and Forbes entangled with his death and Macdonald’s connections with the police, Mona will have no choice but to go away with MacDonald and be his girlfriend. As he starts packing her clothes her face becomes bleak and she reaches into a drawer, pulls out a pistol and puts several bullets into MacDonald.
Back at Forbes’ home he is racked with guilt and confesses to his wife his relationship with Smiley’s fiancé and the reason for the break in. He then wanders off into the night preparing himself for the consequences of his actions. He ends up at police headquarters and makes his statement to the district attorney and there learns that Mona has shot MacDonald and depending on whether he lives will be indicted for either murder or attempted murder. No charges will be brought against Forbes but the DA rebukes him. He says that Forbes’ attempt to conceal his infidelity is responsible for the shootings. Otherwise he could have called the police and prevented the incidents. As Forbes is leaving the building, he sees Mona being led away by the police.
As he leaves the building, he sees his wife Sue waiting for him in their family car. He gets in and as she is driving him home, they discuss their situation. Forbes is contrite and assumes she will want a divorce. Sue admits that she has considered it but isn’t sure that is what she wants. She does think they will have to move to another town and suggests that he asks for a transfer from his company. When he asks her how she will take up her life with him after the betrayal she admits that things will not be the same but says she is willing to give it a chance.
I find this movie interesting for a number of reasons. The fact that the adulterous husband avoided all legal consequences and might not even lose his wife was a very atypical ending in 1948. The Hays Code required that the guilty be punished and that included moral offenses that might not have a jail sentence specified. Also, the reality of a pillar of the community being bored with his “American Dream” existence was sort of heretical. But the reality of post-war America is a fitting subject for a realistic appraisal of how men would adapt to a world that no longer needed war heroes but rather expected a boring but dependable “Father Knows Best” husband and dad. Interestingly, Jane Wyatt who played the wife is best known for her part as the loyal, dependable wife in that show Father Knows Best. The crisis and resolution of John Forbes’ transgression is handled in a more realistic and nuanced way than what would have been seen in the 1930s and early 40s. Forbes breaks the accepted boundaries of morality but instead of paying with his life or his freedom he is stuck with his conscience and the knowledge that his wife can no longer believe in him. One man is dead because of him and an innocent woman will go to jail. This is much more like what life is really like. Lots of gray, not so much black and white. Flawed people living with the consequences of their mistakes and hopefully learning from them.
And on a personal basis, I find the fact that Mona filled Raymond Burr full of lead very satisfying and admirable. It shows the right attitude. Interesting movie with nuanced characters and lots of things to think about. Highly recommended.
Pardon the dearth of posts in the last few days. Like everyone else I have been pondering on the reality and circumstances of our troubled land. I was contemplating waiting on the Supreme Court’s decisions on the election fraud appeals being submitted for their decisions. But I think I will write a essay on the path forward without regard to whether the Supreme Court does its job or not. I no longer think that further proof is needed to convince the reasonable men among the American people that there is no longer one law that applies to all Americans. And what we have to decide is what we want to do about that. That’s what I will be working on.
I also have some more movie reviews. I have a book review of Jim Butcher’s latest addition to his Dresden Files’ series, “Peace Talks.” I don’t think I have done reviews of this series before so maybe this will require a review of the series overall as a start. And as the holidays near I think music and movie reviews for holiday themed works will be forthcoming.
I have been very negligent on the photography front. I’m still posting photos of the day from back in the summer. That is because photo work takes a bunch of time to prep. I keep promising to put together some larger posts on technique and various subjects but I’ve been unable based on time. I have promised myself I’ll have to do better. And I will.
And as promised I’ll get guest contributors busy on some things outside of my areas of expertise.
So once again apologies for the drought but things will improve.
Don’t mistake vivacity for wit, there is about as much difference as there is between lightning and a lightning bug.
Henry Wheeler Shaw
This was a British production based on the stage play of the same name by George Bernard Shaw. It is a fictionalized account of Julius Caesar’s actual campaign in Egypt during the Roman Civil War. Caesar had defeated his former ally Pompey in a battle at Pharsalus and pursued him into Egypt. The Egyptians inform Caesar that they have assassinated Pompey and so he is left with the task of deciding whether Cleopatra or her younger brother Ptolemy will be the ruler of Egypt.
The play presents Cleopatra as a childlike woman who combines vivacity, intelligence and cruelty in equal measures. As opposed to the actual sexual relationship between the historical Caesar and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar is presented as an avuncular figure trying to teach Cleopatra how to grow into the responsibilities of a queen. And over the course of the stories she does grow. We see her go from a selfish child into a shrewd player who uses her relationship to Caesar to destroy her enemies and get what she wants.
Claude Rains as Caesar is remarkably amiable and if the real Caesar had been as pleasant you could imagine him having avoided all those daggers in the Senate that day in 44 B.C. G.B. Shaw’s script gives him any number of wonderful lines and speeches. They combine wit, philosophy and humanity.
Vivien Leigh as Cleopatra is charming both to look at and to listen to. She is given free rein to indulge herself and the audience with the spectacle of a child who thinks herself a goddess and a beast. And she portrays both. She can be delightful and winning or she can be a heartless murderess dripping venom from her fangs.
The supporting cast surround us with the spectacle of a “swords and sandals” epic with Roman legions and Macedonian phalanxes squaring off in the sands of Egypt. We see the burning of the Library of Alexandria and cavalry charges across the desert. The gruff but powerful Roman soldiers are contrasted to the cultured but ineffective Egyptian nobles.
Caesar and Cleopatra are still immortal names that stand for power, strength and passion. Their story can’t help but fire the imagination. But it’s also clear that G.B. Shaw is using the Romans as a stand in for the British Empire of his day. The dynamism of the Romans is shown to be the reason for their dominance of the older, more cultured but less powerful nations that surround them. And Caesar, the confident, competent and intelligent man is the prime example of this power. But we know that in just a few years Caesar will be dead and the Roman world will be plunged into civil war. The comedy of Caesar and Cleopatra will become the tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra. But that is no different than the First and Second World Wars that obliterated the British Empire in the modern world. And it doesn’t prevent us from marveling at the courage and daring that planted the British flag on every continent and archipelago on this planet.
Shaw has given us this sunny story of court intrigue, war and a pretty girl. It is amusing and diverting and allows us to enjoy his witty script and the considerable acting skills of Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh. Recommended for those who enjoy history, the stage or both.
It is comparatively easy to repent of the sins that we have committed, but to repent of those which we intend to commit, is asking too much of any man, nowadays.
Henry Wheeler Shaw