The Pittsburgh Press (February 11, 1946)
Murder films now in favor
So R. Chandler is ‘in the money’
By Maxine Garrison
HOLLYWOOD – Hollywood cycles are really something to follow – or to try to follow. A few years ago, murder melodramas were a drug on the market, and nobody would produce them except as routine B products to be shoved onto any unsuspecting double bill. But something – maybe “The Maltese Falcon” – changed all that, and murder stories became top properties.
Everything Raymond Chandler ever wrote, or is likely to write, is guaranteed a market. His “Murder, My Sweet” (nee “Farewell, My Lovely”) gave Dick Powell a new lease on life, and his “The Big Sleep” and “The High Window” are scheduled for early release or production. His screen version of James Cain’s “Double Indemnity” in turn put Mr. Cain on the market.
Cain’s “The Postman Always Rings Twice” had been bouncing around for years without much hope of ever being made into a movie, but now it’s ready to show, with Lana Turner and John Garfield sharing stellar honors. His “Mildred Pierce,” also long regarded as un-filmable, has gotten an Academy nomination for Joan Crawford.
Dick is starred
Now I note that Cain is to do a screen adaptation of a novel by Marty Holland, “The Glass Heart,” which will star Dick Powell in a role similar to the one he played in “Murder, My Sweet.” It may be the end of a circle, and again it may just be another of the Hollywood twists that couldn’t possibly be used in a story. No one would believe them…
Speaking of filming, 20th Century Fox is really all set to go on “Forever Amber,” after any number of hold-ups, with newcomer Peggy Cummins and Cornel Wilde assigned to leading parts. I understand that the story has been “de-sexed” for screen purposes, which leads me to wonder what sort of a story is left. Or maybe I have Amber all wrong…
And, also in the meantime, Paulette Goddard is coming up in “Diary of a Chambermaid” and “Kitty,” both of which are much along the Amber line. Does that make “Forever Amber” entirely too forever before it even reaches the screen, or are we quibbling? …
Many delays
Then we can come, if we’re strong enough, to something like “Christabel Caine.” Some time ago, RKO announced this as a new film to star Joan Fontaine. But Joan got sick, and her illness delayed starting the film. Then Alan Marshall, another leading player, fell ill, and there was more delay.
Henry Fonda was supposed to play the lead, but by the time everyone was hale and hearty, it was too late to start the film in time to finish it by April 1, which is the starting time for another picture Henry’s promised for, “My Darling Clementine” with John Ford at 20th. In the meantime, Paul Stewart, slated to direct “Christabel,” walked out. Now Joan is talked of for a lead opposite Bing Crosby in Brackett and Wilder’s “The Emperor Waltz” – that’s providing Bing really gets back to Hollywood after all the fuss and feathers over his trip East – and goodness knows when, if and who will make “Christabel.”
There now – aren’t you glad it isn’t up to you to pick stories for the movies and then to see that they get screened?