Blogging By Cinema-light

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

The Criminal Code

The Criminal Code (Howard Hawks, 1931) The Hawks canon has always been about liberte, egalite, fraternite, and of the power of the group to come together to create something greater than the whole. So...a Howard Hawks prison movie?

Depends on the story, of course. But, The Criminal Code fits right into the Hawks niche, right down to the central authority figure who will give you a fair shake as long as you prove yourself worthy by adhering to their code as a "professional."

That figure is newly-installed warden Mark Brady (played by John Huston's dad, Walter) who's been brought up from his previous position as District Attorney. He's overseeing the imprisonment of some of the very men he sent to prison, so the resentment in "the yard" is palpable. So much so that his first day on the job, when he looks out of his office window overlooking the prison yard, he is greeted with cat-calls and "boo's" and the mutterings of threats. He responds, as any member of the court would, by confronting his accusers and going amongst them to talk and let them know what "the rules" are—look them eye to eye to say that as long as they kept their noses clean, there won't be any issues.

He's not without a heart, and he knows that he's responsible for the cons...and for a lot of them being there. He takes an interest in one young man (Phillip Holmes) that he sent away, now on his sixth year in the stretch, who's about to crack from the strain. He offers the kid, Robert Graham, a job as his valet, hoping that the change in situation and out of the harsh conditions of the prison's jute mill, will improve his psychological condition. It should come as no surprise that it does, especially once Brady's daughter (played by Constance Cummings) takes an interest in young Graham.

But, it's a prison movie, and it wouldn't be one if there wasn't an escape attempt made that would put Graham's improved life in peril. Three hoods—one of them Graham's former cell-mate Ned Galloway (Boris Karloff)—plan an elaborate escape, but during the attempt one of the prisoners is shot and killed. Galloway discovers that the other of the escapee's ratted them out, violating the prison code of silence, and he secretly plans revenge, warning Graham to stay away from that particular prisoner.

Even without seeing his face you can see the menace of Karloff

But, Graham is found, by happenstance, near the body, and even though evidence isn't found that he did it, and despite Brady's ministrations to save himself and tell him who the culprit is, Graham won't betray the ethic of the prison yard, even if it means taking the fall himself. Reluctantly, Brady sends him to solitary confinement.

It is unusual, for a Hawks film, for the communal spirit be the one amongst the prisoners, but the emphasis on the code of silence as the one mark of the professional prisoner that must be kept above all else runs right alongside the usual stoicism, the "keep-it-amongst-ourselves" attitude of the enclave that you'll find in most of the director's work. That it is among the criminal element makes The Criminal Code (with the title's double meaning) stand out from every other posse of professionals, be they cowboys, pilots, race-drivers, newspapermen, even big-game trappers.

The Criminal Code is a "pre-code" film, meaning it was made before the establishment of The Hays Code—Hollywood's attempt to police itself, amid calls that films were starting to depict too many immoral acts and that it might have an effect on the country. Even though there is quite a bit of violence and some of the prison guards are seen as corrupt, the "bad guys" end up punished and the "good guys" are given a second chance. It was still early in the days of Hollywood's own "code" and a few listed improprieties could be seen to still eke their way onto the silver-screen. Over the next few weeks, we'll occasionally be looking at some of those films to see what Hollywood was getting away with, so soon after the advent of "the talkies."

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Don't Make a Scene: Help!

The Story: Okay, a little fun. I recently went to a reunion of sorts, where among the many things said during the evening was the repetition of the phrase..."we could...(dare I say it?)...RULE the WORLD!"

That line always makes me crack up, as it comes out of left-center here.

But, then, just about all of it does. Charles Wood's screenplay (after Mark Behm's story) is an absurdist romp around the world, where The Beatles are, as always, victims of their own fame, this time pursued by a blood-thirsty "Eastern" cult (led by Leo McKern?) as a result of a ring sent to Ringo by a fan—who just happened to be the designated virgin about to be sacrificed in their rituals.

The ring needs to be retrieved for the victim to be sacrificed, and if that's not possible, the bearer of the ring must be sacrificed in her place. At some point, you'd think Brian Epstein would step in to protect his business interests, but the band-members have to fend for themselves, seeking advice once it becomes apparent that "there's more to this than meets the eye." The wildest of these episodes is with Professor Foot (played by the late and irreplaceable Victor Spinnetti), who thinks he can shift molecules around to expand the ring, were it not for British equipment, British funding, British voltage, and all things British.

That would include his (as John Lennon puts it) "fiendish, semi-human assistant" Algernon (played by Roy Kinnear, in the first of what would be many, many appearances in Richard Lester's films). The two scientists will put in their own pursuit of the band throughout the film in an attempt to (dare we say it?)...

No.

The Set-Up: They're threatening to break up The Beatles again! This time, a blood-thirsty cult is trying to re-claim a ring from the hand of Ringo Starr, the band's drummer. Multiple attempts have left the band-mates, crunched, pelted, doused and nearly chopped, and, aware that their lives are in danger, they're seeking expertise...from an Indian restaurant, a famous jeweler's, and now, a scientist.

Action!

TITLE: Finally, undismayed...THE NEAREST SCIENTIST.

RINGO: I like operations. They give you a sense of outlook, don't they?

FOOT, a Scientist: Well, it won't work. I don't expect it to work! It could work if the government would spend some more money.

FOOT: Made in America, you see.
(raps the console)

Lennon raps the console right back.

JOHN: You're another failure, aren't you, scientist?

ALGERNON, His Assistant: The idea is...

ALGERNON: The idea is, as I see it is that we expand the molecules and the ring grows bigger and it drops off.

GEORGE: What's your electricity bill like?

ALGERNON: It's sort of a long counterfoil...

RINGO: It's not dropping off.

JOHN: Not even a tingle?

FOOT: Voltage!

FOOT: Voltage! Up.

FOOT: Up...up.

FOOT: Up, up!

PAUL: Up, up!

RINGO: Are you sure I'm earthed?

ALGERNON: Oh, no! uh, hold on! Thank you.

FOOT: Made in America, you see. Streets ahead of anything we've got!

JOHN: This is English!

ALGERNON: Is it green, the earth in America?

PAUL: In some places, it's brown, you know.

ALGERNON: He's not earthed.

FOOT: He's an idiot. Degree in woodwork, I ask you.

ALGERNON: Done!

ALGERNON: 5...4....

FOOT: Come ON!

ALGERNON: 3, 2, 1, go.

ALGERNON: I do observe the correct procedure, you see. He'll thank me for it in the end.

JOHN: Scientist, you're getting nowhere, are you, scientist?

ALGERNON: Well, it's the plugs, you see. The main thing is the plugs. Good British plugs. All this American rig. Wrong voltage. That's what foxes me.

JOHN: How d'ya feel?
RINGO: I used to use me hands.

JOHN: "He used to use his hands"...her-her

GEORGE: His hands. Will he still be able to drum, eh?

ALGERNON: Did he do a lot of it?

FOOT: Voltage! Up!
ALGERNON: I'm no mean hand at the old sticks meself, you know.

Algernon smacks away at the chair-back, getting a look of disdain from George.

FOOT: The voltage...up-up, up-up.

PAUL: Hey, he's talking to you, Up-up, Up-up.
FOOT: Up, up!

FOOT: Up, up, up! Up, up, up!
Ringo begins to glow alarmingly as the voltage increases.

FOOT: The bunker!

GEORGE: I can't watch.

One by one, rings start falling off Ringo's fingers....

FOOT: It's working!

FOOT: Give it the gun, Algernon!

The sacrificial ring, however, refuses to budge...

JOHN: Stop it!

GEORGE: Stop it!
ALGERNON: It's more than my job's worth it to stop him when he's like this.

ALGERNON: He's out to rule the world...if he can get a government grant.

JOHN: This is outrageous! You're nothing but a trite-acted mad scientist!

Despite having no effect on the ruby ring, the voltage does unzip Ringo's trousers...

And they, too, drop.

FOOT: Fantastic!

FOOT: With a ring like that, I could—dare I say it—rule the world.

FOOT: I must have that ring!

FOOT: Algernon, the laser!

JOHN: AND your feindish, semi-human assistant! Get off his hand or I'll call the Metropolitan scuffers in!

ALGERNON: The la-ser...

RINGO: Get him off.

FOOT: I MUST have this ring. The laser!!

AHME: Hold!

AHME: Release him or I'll shoot! And I am a dead-eye shot, shooting.

ALGERNON: I've got it.

AHME: Switch off that machine.

Paul and George, still hiding in the bunker begin to whack at the equipment.

FOOT: (whispers) The laser...
ALGERNON: The laser, yes...

ALGERNON: I'm better with animals than I am plugs and transistors.

FOOT: MIT was after me, you know.

FOOT: Wanted me to rule the world for them.

ALGERNON: Daddy being the local master of the hounds. That's where I get it from—my love of animals. They trust me. I should have been in vivisection.