Mervyn LeRoy | Heat Lightning | Happiness Ahead | The King and the Chorus Girl | Johnny Eager | Quo Vadis | Strange Lady in Town | The Devil at 4 O'Clock

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Mervyn LeRoy

Mervyn LeRoy is a Hollywood film director.

Subjects in Mervyn LeRoy films:

Minorities and the Oppressed: Imagery: Architecture: Costumes:

Heat Lightning

Heat Lightning (1934) is a drama set in the American Southwest.

Like LeRoy's Strange Lady in Town, the film has a vivid US desert setting. Both films show a respect for their Hispanic characters.

LeRoy made films about medical clinics in remote areas: Strange Lady in Town, The Devil at 4 O'Clock. The gas station/cafe/motel in Heat Lightning resembles them, in that it is a compound in a distant, isolated locale. However, it does not offer medical care. Providing car repair might be something of an equivalent, however.

The Heroine

The heroine is like a proletarian version of LeRoy's woman scientists to come. Madame Curie is a physicist and the heroine of Strange Lady in Town is a doctor. The heroine of Heat Lightning runs a garage and specializes in auto repair. She is explicitly doing what society believes is "man's work", doing it very well, and deliberately smashing sexist stereotypes, and showing the world that a woman can do anything. While she is not a full-fledged scientist, she is a technician with huge skills.

Also, she is explicitly helping people, like the idealistic characters in Strange Lady in Town, The Devil at 4 O'Clock. She fixes cars better than they were before, and the mere existence of the service station is a huge help to distressed desert motorists, as the dialogue emphasizes.

LeRoy's films are full of well-to-do people who have run away from home, and founded new lives. Once again, the heroine of Heat Lightning was never well-to-do. But she has indeed run away from her old frivolous life in Tulsa, and created a new profession and existence for herself in the desert.

The heroine is linked to imagery that suggests she might be lesbian. She wears exceptionally mannish work clothes, and makes speeches denouncing heterosexual relationships as leading to disaster. She does have a straight side, in her past and in later sections of the film, however. The heroine is highly sympathetic, and the film seems to respect her alternative approach to gender and sexuality.

Bad Boys

Leading man Preston Foster plays another of LeRoy's Bad Boys: sexy men who are evil and up to no good. Foster's bank robber ruins the lives of everyone he encounters. Like Robert Taylor in Johnny Eager, Foster is duded up to the max in dressy clothes. Both men are definitely city slicker types.

Some LeRoy films square off a Bad Boy against a Good Guy rival. In Heat Lightning, such a Nice Guy is the heroine's gentle local friend Everett (Willard Robinson). He is dressed in clothes that recall State Troopers or forest rangers: what might be called "country macho".

LeRoy's Bad Boys hurt men who are under their thumb, too. Robert Taylor victimizes best friend Van Heflin in Johnny Eager. In Heat Lightning, Foster keeps getting his much more decent fellow crook Lyle Talbot in worse and worse trouble.

Architecture

The service bay under the cars perhaps relates to the secret rooms that run through LeRoy - although it is not secret. Like the area behind the curtain in The Wizard of Oz, it is a technological center.

Happiness Ahead

Happiness Ahead (1934) is a little musical comedy. Its first half hour is much better than the rest of the film: it is a typically uneven LeRoy movie.

Links to Gold Diggers of 1933

Many of the themes recall Gold Diggers of 1933:

Pro-Business, Pro-Work

However, Happiness Ahead is actually very sympathetic to its upper class businessman. Unlike Sergei Eisenstein, who loathed wealthy businessmen and made them the center of his satire, Le Roy reserves his scorn for rich people who are idle, do not work, and who spend their time in Society. Unlike Eisenstein, LeRoy's philosophy here is not Communism, it is the plain old Capitalist Work Ethic. LeRoy also glorifies the Dick Powell character, a working class guy who is trying to start a business of his own. He is not too proud to work along side his men, but he wants to be their boss and business owner as well.

Superimposition - and Sky Figures

Happiness Ahead opens with a striking shot of Dick Powell singing, superimposed against a sky. The effect is if he were a supernatural being, offering advice from a higher and better world. His song is a prediction of Happiness Ahead for the audience, so it is a futuristic forecast, as well.

Superimpositions and dissolves were at their height in this era: see Sternberg's extraordinary dissolves in Shanghai Express (1932), for instance. Allan Dwan had superimposed shots of the Three Musketeers over clouds at the end of The Iron Mask (1929), to convey that they were immortals. Here LeRoy does something similar right from the start. The people on the silver screen have always looked larger than life anyway. LeRoy's startling effect underscores this in spades.

Later in the LeRoy produced The Wizard of Oz (1939), Glinda will appear superimposed in the sky above Dorothy, working her magic protective spells. Glinda is an actual fantastic being with magical powers, something that was only suggested in the earlier film. In both cases, the sky being is benevolent. In both, it is trying to help and watch over someone, Dorothy in Oz, the audience in Happiness Ahead. One also recalls the giant figurine which is set afire as part of the fiesta in Strange Lady in Town. It too is designed to help people magically with their troubles.

New Year's Eve

After this, the film moves fairly rapidly to its great set piece, the New Year's Eve celebration in the Chinese restaurant. LeRoy loved New Year's Eve scenes. This is a bigger, fancier and longer version of the one in Little Caesar (1930), which was already pretty elaborate and impressive. While at the restaurant, Dick Powell sings the film's other best song, "Pop Goes Your Heart".

The sympathetically presented, non-caricatured Chinese characters are a symbol of the film's democratic leanings.

The King and the Chorus Girl

The King and the Chorus Girl (1937) is a very sweet romantic comedy.

Fun-loving Men

The character types in this movie recall previous LeRoy films. Little Caesar (1930) set up an opposition between the strong, tough Rico, and his weak willed friend, played by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. This young man wanted to dance, not to take part in crime, and the film virtually condemns him as a wimp. However, he is a figure of glamour and romance as well. The King in the later film seems like an extension of the Fairbanks character, adapted to the needs of comedy: The King in this film is treated as a likable if easily satirized figure. This is a much more sympathetic treatment than was meted out to the Fairbanks character. I like this treatment much better. What are its underlying causes? Partly, this is a comedy, and comedies are always more sympathetic to human failings. But also, this film is not trying to glorify gangsters. I have felt a great deal of reservations about Little Caesar: Fairbanks' reluctance to get involved with crime seemed reasonable to me, but it is virtually condemned as cowardice in that film. In real life, a desire to have fun and to dance is a much more desirable quality than Little Caesar makes it appear. This latter film recognizes it.

Staircases

Both LeRoy films show a fondness for staircases. These are apartment staircases, and twisted around in spirals. Little Caesar also has a fire escape.

There are no baroque staircase angles, of the type we associate with film noir. Instead, the staircases are shown from the front, in a straight-on angle shot. They are shown as a whole. LeRoy's camera steadily watches a person climb their entire length. These staircases tend to be shot slightly from below, from a ground floor level. This emphasizes the height of the staircases.

These scenes have plenty of drama. They are related more to the spectacular sets of the silent and early sound era, than they are to the enclosed spaces and dramatic angles of film noir.

Automotive Scenes

Many LeRoy films of the 1930's alternate between interiors and automotive scenes. These show people riding in cars, and being picked up and dropped off on the sidewalk. The automotive scenes are so common as to almost be a trademark. These scenes are usually upbeat: people usually seem happy, even festive, when they are out driving to some party or event.

Johnny Eager

Johnny Eager (1942) is a sort-of gangster movie. Its characters are less tough than those of the gangsters of the 1930 era. Instead, the film is notable for the number of juveniles among its main players: Robert Taylor, Van Heflin, Barry Nelson, Robert Sterling.

The heroine is another of LeRoy's upper crust characters, who want to get a new life among ordinary people. However, in Johnny Eager this develops a tragic twist. The heroine winds up among gangsters, not ordinary honest people. And her life turns to tragedy, rather than the fun in LeRoy's more comic films.

Secret Rooms

Johnny Eager has a hidden suite of lavish rooms. LeRoy's earlier gangster film, Little Caesar, eventually hid its hero in a tiny secret room at Ma Magdalena's. There is also the space "behind the curtain" in The Wizard of Oz.

Gay Themes

Van Heflin's friend is another of the gay characters who run through LeRoy's films. He is also an alcoholic, like the hero of The Devil at 4 O'Clock. I have never been a fan of Van Heflin. This is his famous, Oscar winning performance. It is impressive, but not really enjoyable.

Robert Sterling's big offer to Robert Taylor late in the film, also has gay subtexts. It has masochistic sexual undertones. It also shows an admirable aggression. A Bad Boy vs Nice Guy romantic duel will return in Million Dollar Mermaid.

The opening has Robert Taylor working his charm on a uniformed policeman. This shows Taylor's appeal is to men, as well as to women.

Crime Plot

The murder scheme is really sick. It had been anticipated by a prose short story, "The Assistant Murderer" (1926) by Dashiell Hammett, in Hammett's collection Nightmare Town.

Costumes

Robert Kalloch creates more of his spectacular double-breasted suits for men. His clothes for Cary Grant in His Girl Friday are the archetypal dapper dressy 1940's suits. In Johnny Eager, Barry Nelson's suit and Robert Sterling's double-breasted tuxedo are remarkably glamorous.

Quo Vadis

Quo Vadis (1951) is an epic about the persecution of Christians under Emperor Nero in Ancient Rome.

Non-Violence

Quo Vadis has major anti-war themes, showing how Roman militarism and conquest should be replaced by Christian love and non-violence. These scenes show that people have to change their thinking, and that this is not going to be easy. The hero, for example, is a glib spokesman for traditional Roman values, which he accepts unquestioningly.

Such later Roman films as Demetrius and the Gladiators (Delmer Daves, 1954) and The Fall of the Roman Empire (Anthony Mann, 1964) will also express non-violent or pacifist themes.

Minorities and Scapegoating

Quo Vadis goes into detail showing the process of how minorities are scapegoated, to deflect criticism away from people in power. Here, the government tells lies about the Christian minority, blaming them for the burning of Rome. The film clearly wants the audience to learn a general lesson, about how such scapegoating is a common way minorities are blamed in the modern world. This is related to LeRoy's lessons of tolerance in The House I Live In, and the consistent concern for minorities that run through his films.

The film emphasizes that St. Paul is a Jew. This is an important reminder.

Roman Glamour

The opening and other scenes show the hero glamorously driving his chariot. This is an example of happy rides in vehicles in LeRoy. He will soon enter the great, and exotic, city of Ancient Rome, the way the heroes entered the Emerald City of Oz. One of LeRoy's huge civic parades soon follows.

The hero and others are in a series of spectacular metal breast-plates, in the Roman style. They are examples of LeRoy's interest in metal clothes. At various times, the hero is in silver, gold, and in a fascinating coppery color armor. Late in the film, wicked Empress Poppea is in a gold dress.

The Burning of Rome

The Burning of Rome is one of the film's major set pieces. It anticipates the erupting volcano in The Devil at 4 O'Clock. In both films, the hero has to lead children and other locals to safety, through a terrifying fiery disaster.

The sequence involve huge bursts of flame, a LeRoy image. The hero eventually gets the good idea to go down into the sewers that lie underneath the street. The sewers perhaps reflect the hidden room imagery in LeRoy. They are underneath the street, the way the service bay is underneath the cars in Heat Lightning.

The hero defies many commands, to go aid the ordinary people of Rome. And for much of the rest of the film, he will live among Christians. He is another of LeRoy's upper class characters who run away and live with ordinary people.

Meanwhile, decadent Nero is composing a song, to celebrate his burning of Rome. Nero has elements of an "intellectual musician". It is a very negative portrait of "art music", consistent with the skepticism LeRoy showed towards modern day classical music in Gold Diggers of 1933.

Circular Architecture

The throne room in Nero's palace is a huge circular chamber. Its roundness is emphasized by circular markings on the floor. The room is often shot from overhead angles, that bring out the circular shape of the chamber.

Outside, the square platform for pagan worship is surrounded by circular designs on the ground. It too is often shot from above.

Staircases

Nero's palace has steps outside. In between sets of steps, the fountain also has water moving down over a staircase-like series of steps.

Strange Lady in Town

Woman Scientists - and Fleeing to a New Life

Strange Lady in Town (1955) is one of LeRoy's best dramas. It deals with a woman doctor (Greer Garson), who winds up in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the 19th Century West. The film has a good script, and is vividly acted by a bunch of talented performers. It depicts in a forthrightly feminist way with the issue of women trying to break into professions controlled by men. Greer Garson had previously starred in LeRoy's Madame Curie, another feminist film about a woman scientist. So this is a natural progression for their characters.

Like the King and the heiress in other LeRoy films, here Garson is an upper crust Bostonian who has run away from her home, to start a new life among ordinary people. But Garson is not a spoiled rich woman; instead, she is fleeing discrimination against her as a woman doctor. She is hoping to make a fresh start in Santa Fe. She charms everybody, including a troop of cowboys and most of the locals.

Native Americans

The sympathetic treatment of the Native American characters is also typical of LeRoy's regard for minorities.

Happiness

There is less violence here than in many 1950's Westerns. Its female protagonist also makes this atypical of Western films. There is a bubbling sense of happiness running through many of the scenes.

The time period is too early for automobiles, but the film is full of people riding buggies and horses. These are full of Le Roy's usual joy at such activities.

There is also one of the dance sequences that run through LeRoy's films. These tend to involve public dancing by groups of people. They are always happy social events.

Dana Andrews and Civilization

Dana Andrews is an unusually refined leading man for a Western. He specialized in playing successful urban types, such as the news executive he depicted in Fritz Lang's While the City Sleeps (1956), and the psychologist in Jacques Tourneur's Night of the Demon (1956). Here he is equally civilized, being both a ranch owner and a doctor. He conveys a sense of advancing civilization in the West, something LeRoy regards as an entirely good thing. So does Garson's doctor. Andrews is also as well dressed as the typical LeRoy hero, being in a series of sharp suits, and culminating in white tie and tails, like many other LeRoy males.

The Devil at 4 O'Clock

The Devil at 4 O'Clock (1961) is an early example of the Hollywood "disaster movie". Here, a South Seas island is threatened by a volcano.

Several of the characters are people who've abandoned previous lives, to work on the island. One of these might have been rich in the outside world (the doctor). This is a familiar LeRoy subject. There are also poor characters who have run away to the island, such as Marguerite - this is less typical.

Links to The Wizard of Oz

The Devil at 4 O'Clock resembles The Wizard of Oz:

A Scientific Film

The Devil at 4 O'Clock is a film deeply oriented towards science: LeRoy had previously made a major film about scientists, Madame Curie.

The film also recalls Strange Lady in Town. Both have doctors setting up clinics in remote areas, in need of medical attention. Both deal sympathetically with persecuted minorities. The two films share a common idealistic, liberal point of view.

A Late Semi-Documentary

The Devil at 4 O'Clock recalls a bit the semi-documentary films made a decade earlier in Hollywood: However, unlike the typical semi-docs, the government workers are not the film's heroes. And The Devil at 4 O'Clock is not really a crime film, although it has both convicts and government officials as characters.

A Gay Character?

Marguerite (the Matron at the clinic) can sure seem like a Lesbian. A big, tough looking woman with interesting tastes in reading material, Marguerite is not actually labeled "gay". She is a 100% sympathetic character.