Man on a Tightrope is no low-budget film with second-tier actors. Veteran actor Fredric March could “disappear” into a role so you'd forget that he was acting at all.
In this film Adolf Menjou plays a soft-hearted Communist, while beyond movies he was a staunch anti-Communist. Along with John Wayne he joined the “Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals,” which was dedicated to exposing those in Hollywood who were attempting to insert “proper ideological messages” into films.
There were quite a few men who were arch-conservatives in Hollywood at that time -- women too, for that matter (Irene Dunne). But Wayne, Walter Brennan, Joel McCrea, Karl Malden ... And even a lot of the liberals were masculine sorts who wouldn't recognize what has become of their political position: hard to imagine Robert Ryan going for the current madness. But who knows, alas ....
Thanks. I will revisit this movie which I have not seen since childhood. My favorite prison movie is “Brute Force” which has a great cast headed by Burt Lancaster and Hume Cronyn. And one of my favorite convict lines, “I wonder who Flossie’s fleecing now.”
I am surprised you don't mention March's role as Valjean of the original (and best) film of Les Miserables, with the always terrific Charles Laughton as Javert...
Reading the piece about the film (which definitely sounds good), I was immediately reminded of a similar, yet quite different story, using 2 episodes of the original Mission: Impossible series. Ep. 4-5 of the first series--with the team headed NOT by Peter Graves, the more familiar leader, but by Steven Hill (as Dan Briggs) the leader in series 1 (who later played DA Adam Schiff on Law & Order).
The title of the 2 part was "The Old Man Out"...........And involved the IM team sent in by the US gov't to free a Catholic cardinal form an Eastern Bloc prison--- "Cardinal Vossek", based on real world Cardinal József Mindszenty who was imprisoned by the communists in Hungary.
For the escape, the IM team creates a traveling CIRCUS, with the team playing various performers, and using it as both the cover and the means to get the cardinal free from the communist prison and from the country. One of my favorite stories from the series.
The Mission: Impossible tv show remains FAR superior to the movies...including the music for the series by the brilliant Lalo Schiffren.
That is a GREAT recommendation. I've seen Steven Hill as Mr. Briggs (not Mr. Phelps), and when I did, I said, "Wait a second -- isn't that --?" and yes, he was the best of the DA's in Law and Order. I don't remember the episodes you're describing -- I'll check them out. I see that Old Wrinkle Face -- Cyril Delevanti -- played the Cardinal...
You are right about the music. I think that Schiffren also did the music for Bruce Geller's other series, Mannix. And here we are, fans of March and Laughton (huge fans of Laughton), and I have not seen that production of Les Miserables. Great recommendation -- and of course it would be another Hugo novel-to-film that Laughton was central to.
Laughton is a favorite.......there are so many great films he did, including (as with Les Miserables) being the first in a string of subsequent re-makes...Hunchback of Notre Dame and Mutiny on the Bounty...
I had the 2 LP's of Schiffrens' Mission: Impossible music, and now the CD--still listen to it a lot.
We did see this one not too long ago, and I remember it as thrilling, and highly worthwhile. Thank you for the recommendation!
In this film Adolf Menjou plays a soft-hearted Communist, while beyond movies he was a staunch anti-Communist. Along with John Wayne he joined the “Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals,” which was dedicated to exposing those in Hollywood who were attempting to insert “proper ideological messages” into films.
There were quite a few men who were arch-conservatives in Hollywood at that time -- women too, for that matter (Irene Dunne). But Wayne, Walter Brennan, Joel McCrea, Karl Malden ... And even a lot of the liberals were masculine sorts who wouldn't recognize what has become of their political position: hard to imagine Robert Ryan going for the current madness. But who knows, alas ....
Thanks. I will revisit this movie which I have not seen since childhood. My favorite prison movie is “Brute Force” which has a great cast headed by Burt Lancaster and Hume Cronyn. And one of my favorite convict lines, “I wonder who Flossie’s fleecing now.”
I am surprised you don't mention March's role as Valjean of the original (and best) film of Les Miserables, with the always terrific Charles Laughton as Javert...
Reading the piece about the film (which definitely sounds good), I was immediately reminded of a similar, yet quite different story, using 2 episodes of the original Mission: Impossible series. Ep. 4-5 of the first series--with the team headed NOT by Peter Graves, the more familiar leader, but by Steven Hill (as Dan Briggs) the leader in series 1 (who later played DA Adam Schiff on Law & Order).
The title of the 2 part was "The Old Man Out"...........And involved the IM team sent in by the US gov't to free a Catholic cardinal form an Eastern Bloc prison--- "Cardinal Vossek", based on real world Cardinal József Mindszenty who was imprisoned by the communists in Hungary.
For the escape, the IM team creates a traveling CIRCUS, with the team playing various performers, and using it as both the cover and the means to get the cardinal free from the communist prison and from the country. One of my favorite stories from the series.
The Mission: Impossible tv show remains FAR superior to the movies...including the music for the series by the brilliant Lalo Schiffren.
That is a GREAT recommendation. I've seen Steven Hill as Mr. Briggs (not Mr. Phelps), and when I did, I said, "Wait a second -- isn't that --?" and yes, he was the best of the DA's in Law and Order. I don't remember the episodes you're describing -- I'll check them out. I see that Old Wrinkle Face -- Cyril Delevanti -- played the Cardinal...
You are right about the music. I think that Schiffren also did the music for Bruce Geller's other series, Mannix. And here we are, fans of March and Laughton (huge fans of Laughton), and I have not seen that production of Les Miserables. Great recommendation -- and of course it would be another Hugo novel-to-film that Laughton was central to.
Laughton is a favorite.......there are so many great films he did, including (as with Les Miserables) being the first in a string of subsequent re-makes...Hunchback of Notre Dame and Mutiny on the Bounty...
I had the 2 LP's of Schiffrens' Mission: Impossible music, and now the CD--still listen to it a lot.