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Friday 19 September 2014

Mr Belvedere Goes to College (1949)

After the rather soft-core horrors of FrightFest, the time has come to reintroduce some classic whimsy into the mix. The above movie is the first of two spin-offs from the inimitable Clifton Webb's pouring-porridge-over-baby's-head triumph in "Sitting Pretty" (1948), as self-proclaimed 'the world's greatest genius' Lynn Belvedere.

Webb is amongst the most unlikely of Hollywood leading men, coming to talkies well into middle-age with his caustic performance as the suave villain in "Laura" (1944). Indeed he made several silents back in the 1920s and was a professional ballroom dancer and Broadway star in his earlier career. As a matter of interest, he originated the male leading role in Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit" both in New York and in London.  The characters he played in his second late-life film career were often remarkably close to his own waspish personality: debonair, cultured, slightly effete but never effeminate. A bachelor, he lived with his mother who was apparently his best friend, until her death in her early nineties, six years before his own. He left us with a treasury of memorable films including the original "Cheaper by the Dozen", "Stars and Stripes Forever" as John Philip Sousa, and the Barbara Stanwyck version of "Titanic". Even in some of his lesser-known flicks like "Dreamboat" and "Heavens Above", he was never anything less than terrific.

After the unexpected success of "Sitting Pretty", the Belvedere character was revived in this movie to examine how the self-educated genius who left formal schooling after two exasperating weeks in kindergarten (!), reacts to the campus scene when he finds that a college diploma is a prerequisite to receiving a literary prize that he has been awarded. Mind you, it is his intention to complete the four year course in under one year. Not that we ever see him attending classes, but we do get to witness his response to Freshman hazing, his unlikely impressive abilities as a pole-vaulter, and his civilising a bunch of unruly sorority sisters. His bumptious ways are always winning and Webb is, in effect, the only reason to both watch and enjoy this movie, despite oneself.

It pains me to say, that he acts his co-star, a late-teen Shirley Temple, off the screen. I have never made a secret of how charming I (and most of Depression-era America) found the young actress when she was but a toddler. Later, rather thankless, roles like this one probably account for her early retirement. Here she plays a young war widow, who has gone back to college under her maiden name, with her three-year old son in tow, but discreetly hidden away. She is determined to write a tell-all magazine article about the notorious Mr Belvedere and he is determined that she will do nothing of the kind. She also has a low-key romance with would-be suitor Tom Drake, whose mother (Jessie Royce Landis) is horrified when she learns about the scandalous child. This whole sub-plot is completely dispensable, but it would have left the feature a rather short film. One must therefore relish Webb's indelible performance, like when Belvedere is arrested by a young cop (Jeff Chandler in an early bit part), works his way out of the handcuffs, and claims that, yes, he did teach Houdini a few tricks. He also uses his one free phone-call to contact his friend J. Edgar Hoover to intervene. As always, the prickly yet super-confident Webb is the most memorable thing in this rather patchy movie.

I will soon watch the third Belvedere movie "Mr Belvedere Rings the Bell", which I have never seen (but I have the disc on order). There he takes on the nursing home challenge -- I kid you not. I bet he quickly sorts out the wrinklies and their problems. What a man! What a character!


1 comment:

mgp1449 said...

Clifton Webb was one of those actors who found
it impossible to give anything other than a
memorable performance