THE TALK OF THE TOWN: 4K UHD (Columbia, 1942) Sony Home Entertainment
Famed
filmmaker/actor, John Cassavetes once said, “Maybe there really wasn't an
America. Maybe it was only Frank Capra.” Perhaps…although Cassavetes’ quote
could - and should - be expanded to encompass a few other pioneers from
Hollywood’s golden age who helped to shape the global impressions of America at
large. Chiefly, director, George Stevens. There is little to deny Hollywood’s
hand in crafting the collective persona of a great nation with stars like James
Stewart and Gregory Peck as its noblemen, Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart, its
he-men, Ava Gardner and Lana Turner, its sex bombs, Mary Pickford, America’s
sweetheart, June Allyson – its proverbial girl next door, and Esther Williams,
its bona fide mermaid. No, Hollywood of yore gave America not only its’
worldwide cultural identity, but also its legacy of prestige as an untouchable
panacea for prosperity, joy, sophistication, chic good taste and supreme
beauty.
The men behind
the camera were no less prolific in disseminating other intangible as
discriminate tastes and values that helped to inculcate our impressions of the
United States. Hence, when we think of America – the beautiful – very often, we
conjure Frank Capra to mind. Incongruously, this same distinction eludes George
Stevens. Odd, since Stevens, perhaps even more than Capra, was responsible for
reevaluating the American ideal, and far more critical about analyzing its
perceptions about itself – particularly in the 1950’s, with maturing thoughts
to have transgressed to the other side of atypical ‘Capra-corn’. The
obscenities Stevens witnessed first-hand while liberating Nazi concentration
camps as part of the American camera corps, left an indelible mark on his
picture maker’s point of view. Virtually all of his post-war movies benefited
from this culture-shocking epiphany. Arguably, it refocused his innate
forthrightness and moral code already well ensconced from within, but given
only limited expression in the kinds of movies Stevens made during the first
half of his career. Even so, George Stevens was very much interested in
celebrating the triumphant American ideal as a salvation of the human spirit.
The case holds
particularly true for Stevens’ deliciously served up cause célèbre in
jurisprudence, The Talk of The Town (1942), a seemingly featherweight
comedy, centered on a trio of attractive misfits: emotionally pixilated
schoolmarm, Nora Shelley (a sublime and enchanting, Jean Arthur),
devil-may-care escaped convict, Leopold Dilg (a fascinating departure for the
usually put together, Cary Grant) and stuffy academic, Michael Lightcap (the
stoic and gentlemanly, Ronald Colman). Actually, the comedic machinations
unraveling in Irwin Shaw/Sidney Buchman’s screenplay (based on Dale Van Every’s
adaptation of Sidney Harmon’s story) are in service to a dire and deadly
serious critique of the justice system. At once, The Talk of the Town is
an unapologetic appraisal of the spirit of the law, as well as an indictment of
its fundamental flaws that can allow for wrongful misdirection by corrupt
external forces.
Our hero,
Leopold Dilg, is an old campaigner for the spirit of the law. As he puts it to
Nora, “Well, it's a form of self-expression. Some people write books. Some
people write music. I make speeches on street corners.” But Dilg harbors an
unmitigated scorn for the machinery itself, justified, so it seems, in lieu of
a battle about to be waged against such intolerance and hypocrisies after Dilg
is accused of torching the mills belonging to local fat cat/industrialist, Andrew
Holmes (Charles Dingle). The suspected arson is also ‘possibly’ responsible for
the death of one of Holmes’ foremen, Clyde Bracken (Tom Tyler). Dilg is ripe
for the framing. Ah, but is he guilty? The first six-minutes immediately
following the main titles are a brisk jaunt in montage through this seemingly
idyllic New England community, rocked by scandal and blindly interested in
seeing Dilg hanged for a crime he more than likely did not commit. George
Stevens takes us on this Cook’s Tour of this fictional ‘every town’ in America
– Lochester – is not without its secrets and lies; also, duplicity shared
between big business and local government, herein represented by a corrupt,
judge, Grunstadt (George Watts), who has already decided the case against Dilg
without even first considering the evidence, and, the nervously complicit,
Chief of Police (Don Beddoe), more interested in a speedy resolution that fits
in neatly with Grunstadt’s assumptions, than uncovering the cold hard facts for
himself.
The irony here
is Michael Lightcap has come to Lochester for a recuperative vacation, far
removed from the stresses of his teaching post at Harvard. Regrettably, rest
and relaxation are not in the cards. Lightcap’s stay at Sweet Water, the rented
cottage belonging to Nora Shelley and her mother (Emma Dunn) is further
complicated by Nora’s harboring of a fugitive from justice in the attic; none
other than Leopold Dilg who, wounded in his prison escape and presently on the
lam, has assumed the post of Sweet Water’s groundskeeper to be near Lightcap
and ply him with his own interpretations of the law in order to ease Lightcap
from his rudimentary and clinical impressions.
The law is clear. Alas, the circumstances in Dilg’s case are severely
muddled.
“I don't approve
of…but I like people who think in terms of ideal conditions,” Dilg explains
to Lightcap, “They're the dreamers, poets, tragic figures in this world, but
interesting.” The Shaw/Buchman screenplay is intent on illustrating this
near tragedy from both sides, enticingly coated in a refreshing shell of pure
slapstick. Like a great seismic shifting of the earth, director Stevens builds
his dramatic tempo from a joyous cacophony of comedic crescendos, diametrically
opposed to the legitimate tensions being created by these otherwise serious
subtexts emanating like tectonic plates; the rupture, occurring when the
townsfolk, stirred to furor by Grunstadt’s grandstanding and a mountain of
negative press, call for Dilg’s execution, storming the county courthouse to
exact their brand of vigilante justice.
The supreme
eloquence in Ronald Colman’s delivery of the following lines spares us the
film’s sanctimonious morality, nonetheless potent and satisfying, as he
declares with adamant conviction, “This is your law and your finest
possession - it makes you free men in a free country. Why have you come here to
destroy it? If you know what's good for you, take those weapons home and burn
them! And then think... think of this country and of the law that makes it what
it is. Think of a world crying for this very law and maybe you'll understand
why you ought to guard it; why the law has to be the personal concern of every
citizen…to uphold it for your neighbor as well as yourself. Violence against it
is one mistake. Another mistake is for any man to look upon the law as just a
set of principles. And just so much language printed on fine, heavy paper.
Something he recites and then leans back and takes for granted: that justice is
automatically being done. Both kinds of men are equally wrong. The law must be
engraved in our hearts and practiced every minute to the letter and spirit. It
can't even exist unless we're willing to go down into the dust and blood and
fight a battle every day of our lives to preserve it…for our neighbor as well
as ourselves!”
Between such
substantial recitations we get a more traditional lover’s triangle, expertly concocted
to buttress the emphasis of the story. Both Dilg and Lightcap are, in fact,
quite taken with Nora Shelley…albeit, for decidedly different reasons.
Fascinatingly, neither seems to be the ideal suitor. Lightcap’s arrival, one
windswept and rainy evening, causes him minor distress. He coolly accuses Nora
of “monumental inefficiency” for not having the cottage ready (despite
the fact he has arrived a whole day ahead of schedule) before phrasing his own
general contempt for the fairer sex with some fairly sexist remarks about a
woman’s mind becoming “unhinged by the prospects of marriage.” By
contrast, there is a sexual earthiness to Dilg’s declaration for Nora’s
affections. Almost from the start of their unanticipated reunion, Dilg praises
Nora’s beauty with hungry eyes. He commits himself to a playful search for the
truth. Alas, Dilg can promise Nora nothing, not even a guarantee of his own
freedom.
After some
initially awkward screwball moments (Nora hiding Dilg in the attic, smuggling
herself back into the cottage after Lightcap has already gone to bed, only to
be discovered by Lightcap, thus having to lie to him about a supposed
disagreement with her mother so she can stay the night - and finally - a
joyously obtuse moment in which Lightcap is stirred by Dilg’s monumental
snoring overhead, assuming it is Nora and declaring, “She must have
adenoids!” to which Nora later fibs, “You know, they’re as big as your
fist!”), The Talk of the Town settles more comfortably into its
second act, a curiously domestic series of debates, in which Lightcap’s
clinical views of the law are repeatedly challenged by Dilg’s more pragmatic
ideas. After all, what good is it to have all this theory unless it can be put
to use in common practice?
As for the
‘romance’ between Nora and Michael, Lightcap is far more cerebral in his
restraint, but decidedly growing more devoted to Nora by the hour, enough to
realize his turn with her has already passed them by, and, nobly stepping aside
in the eleventh hour, after accepting his rightful appointment to the U.S.
Supreme Court. He tenderly reminisces to Nora, “Look at me, a dream of
twenty years come true. More happiness than any man deserves, that chair. But
now there's something Else, Nora: My friends. I want to see them as happy as I
am. Nothing less will do. And Leopold, what a fine fellow - and I've been
thinking, Nora, that if someone were to take his hand and say ‘Leopold, my
reckless friend, here's love and companionship, forever.’ Well, some day that
man would... You see what I mean, Nora?”
The crux of The
Talk of the Town’s comedy is centrally related to its colossal case of
mistaken identity. Lightcap thinks Dilg is Joseph, the groundskeeper. Joseph’s
keen mind is a source of great amusement for Lightcap. Quickly, however, Dilg
brings a more pressing sense and greater moral principle to bear on their
discussions. Often, he is confrontational, though always knowing exactly when
to pull back and re-frame the argument so as not to insult Lightcap’s
intelligence. Under Dilg’s constant prodding to have Lightcap ‘involve himself’
in putting to practice the spirit of the law he so obviously believes in, also
with occasionally coaxing from local attorney, Sam Yates (Edgar Buchanan), who
firmly believes in Dilg’s innocence, Lightcap begins to do some pro bono
investigating of the facts pertaining to the charges levied against Dilg – a
man he, presumably, has never met.
At the same
time, Lightcap learns he is a nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Such an
appointment would fulfill his lifelong ambitions. But would it wholly satisfy
him in the long run? Momentarily setting aside his own future and, arguably,
personal safety, Lightcap makes plans to woo the deceased foreman’s old flame,
Regina Bush (Glenda Farrell), who inadvertently gives up the ghost by letting
on that Clyde Bracken may not have died in the fire or, in fact, been killed at
all. Lightcap is intrigued by this turn of events, regarding himself as a
superior sleuth, only to be wounded by discovering the truth about Joseph; that
he and Dilg are one in the same.
Disheartened,
but more determined than ever to prove Dilg’s innocence, Lightcap convinces
Dilg to give himself up to the authorities while he and Nora hightail it to
Boston. At the last possible moment, the plan is changed and Dilg accompanies
the pair on their search for Bracken. Clyde is found out, still very much alive
and ‘persuaded’ by Lightcap to return to Lochester to confess his complicity in
the crime, thereby exonerating Dilg of any wrong doing. It was Clyde who set
the fire at the mill under Andrew Holmes’ own directive to collect some badly
needed insurance money to shore up his debts.
By now, the tide
of public resentment toward Dilg has reached its fevered pitch. In a scene
reminiscent of the villager’s revolt against the monster in James Whale’s Frankenstein
(1932), the townsfolk of Lochester, armed with torches, clubs and pitchforks, charge
the courthouse at the darkest hour of Dilg’s sham trial. Justice, it seems,
will be administered by mob rule if not under Grunstadt’s corrupt gavel.
Mercifully, Lightcap arrives in the nick of time, exposing the truth and
challenging the blind-sided rabble to reconsider what it means to excoriate the
law for nothing more than immediate – and thoroughly misguided –
satisfaction. Dilg is pronounced
innocent and the crowds, only a moments ago hellbent on a hasty demise, now
hoist Dilg on their shoulders as a crusader for their own rights and
freedom. Not long thereafter, Nora and
Dilg attend Lightcap’s swearing in as a Supreme Court justice, Dilg electing to
step out and head for home. Nora, however, has politely declined Lightcap’s
proposal of marriage; also, his offer to remain as his assistant in
Washington. Dilg seems to want no part
of Nora, even after she throws herself at his head in the antechamber. But only
a moment into this rejection, Dilg thinks better of it, grabbing Nora by the
hand and dragging her off in his direction, presumably back to Lochester.
The Talk of the
Town is exuberant. Yet, too little has been written about the liquidity with
which director, George Stevens manages to, mostly – if not completely – migrate
from drama, to comedy, to romance, to screwball, juggling these disparate genres
with exceptional ease. For Cary Grant, The Talk of the Town proved a
pleasurable reunion. He and Stevens had previously worked together on the
boisterous adventure yarn, Gunga Din (1939). And Grant, by his very
conflicted nature, is capable of giving us two sides to Leopold Dilg. The
opening montage, documenting Dilg’s incarceration for the crime of arson, and,
his escape from prison by strangling unconscious an unsuspecting guard, reveal
a sinister Grant previously unseen in the movies. Fair enough, Grant gave us a
fairly unscrupulous cockney con in 1935’s Sylvia Scarlett, and, a
brutally authoritarian butch boss in 1939’s Only Angels Have Wings. Yet,
in hindsight, these characterizations were immune to further scrutiny because
of Grant’s highly polished public persona. By contrast, Grant’s debut in The
Talk of the Town deliberately suggests he is, in fact, the bad guy of this
piece; a notion, almost immediately dispelled when he succumbs to the pain of a
twisted ankle, soaked through to the bone and collapsing in Nora Shelley’s
living room.
The conversion
Grant’s Leopold Dilg undergoes from this moment forward cannot be overstated;
Grant, playing the uncompromising fop to Ronald Colman’s stalwart professor.
Colman does, in fact, take much longer to sway Lightcap’s personal investment
from clinical theorist to pragmatic applier of the principles of law. Some of The
Talk of the Town’s most captivating vignettes are dedicated to each man
getting to know the other on his own terms; Dilg, lending Lightcap an ounce of
fortitude to step beyond the safety of those ivy-covered walls and Lightcap,
reciprocating in kind by opening Dilg’s mind to the concept that even the most
impassioned defense of the law must be filtered through the rubric and
high-minded ethics, devoted to its legal process. Such dilemmas, undeniably,
drew Stevens to make The Talk of the Town and are, in fact, moments that
enrich and elevate the purpose of this otherwise seemingly straightforward
screwball comedy. In some ways, though particularly in hindsight, The Talk
of the Town may be regarded as George Stevens’ first serious work with
Stevens, no longer contented to take his cast through the paces across
points ‘A’ to ‘B’.
The Talk of the
Town is remarkably non-linear in this regard - especially in its second act,
as our triumvirate settles into a sort of strained domesticity with the
constant threat of Leopold’s discovery dangling over their heads, though only
Leopold and Nora are aware of their predicament, as yet. One recalls with a
smile the innocuous recovery of the morning paper from the stoop, its front
page splashed with a tabloid headline and Leopold’s mug shot, forcing Nora to
cut a swath from kitchen to the dinette and deliberately drop Lightcap’s
double-yolk egg breakfast in the very spot where he might otherwise have
discovered his gardener’s true identity. Or the instant when Lightcap, as yet
unaware of Leopold’s existence – even as his alter ego, Joseph – is narrowly
missed with a bang on the head from a boot falling out a second story window;
Nora, pitching the errand footwear back into the attic, before pretending to a
bewildered Lightcap, with arm still extended, to be suffering from acute
tendonitis. These are joyously silly moments, to be sure, attesting to some of
the visual gags George Stevens showed a mastery and proclivity for in earlier
hits like the Astaire/Rogers musical, Swing Time (1936) and slap-happy
screwball darling, Vivacious Lady (1938). Even more remarkable, they seem
perfectly at home within The Talk of the Town’s more densely packed
narrative.
While some
movies are an obvious credit to the people behind the camera, as well as those
set before it, The Talk of the Town manages to make us forget about those
invisible minions. Frederick Hollander’s score is sparse but affecting. The
main title is reused at interpolating tempos as the picture’s love theme. Ted
Tetzlaff’s cinematography is first rate, yet never to draw attention to Lionel
Banks’ sets. This is not to suggest either is out of place. On the contrary,
each proves the perfect complement to this star-driven morality play. And
George Stevens knows he has box office gold even if not one of its three leads
was Oscar-nominated in a movie otherwise to receive no less than 7 nods for
consideration. Shamefully – with no wins.
Kudos ought to
have at least gone to Sidney Buchman and Irwin Shaw for their bristling bombast
and expertly placed bon mots. Grant, Arthur, and Colman are three of the most
expertly skilled thespians of their generation, and, their on-screen chemistry
is superior to anything else, except the script. Interestingly, Colman’s popularity at the box
office had dipped at the time The Talk of the Town went before the
cameras. The picture’s colossal smash put him right back on top. In the final
analysis, The Talk of the Town is both magical and memorable. In an era
when so many movies cannot even juggle a single premise, much less two or
three, this movie effortlessly navigates through a myriad of genres and styles
with a chameleon’s penchant to entertain us, whatever our tastes. Succinctly
done and with great flourish and gusto. Bravo!
The Talk of the
Town arrived on my stoop earlier this evening, and, naturally, I simply had
to watch it at once, and, happy to report that I have just come away from the
experience of seeing Sony’s new 4K quite pleased…mostly, if not altogether. My
displeasure is minimal, though worth noting, and stems entirely from the fact
that, while this new 4K represents a monumental upgrade from the withering and
worn-out DVD of yore, it nevertheless has not been able to rectify all of that
previous effort’s shortcomings. First and foremost, there remains some
shimmering of fine details. This was egregious on the DVD with manipulated edge
enhancement creating havoc. Save a handful of shots on the 4K, this has all but
been eradicated. But it is distressing to still find its presence intermittent
in a meticulous 4K scan. The scenes
immediately following Michael Lightcap’s first night at Sweetbrook, including
his morning breakfast, show untoward shimmer in background detail in the upper
left corner, as well as lower foreground where spectral highlights on a tea pot
and silver cutlery create needless image instability.
The other
concern here is contrast. While the DVD was obscenely boosted and faded
throughout, 90% of this image looks pretty spiffy in 4K, showing off Ted Tetzlaff’s
cinematography to its best advantage. It’s the other 10% that still bleaches out fine details in faces in long and medium
shots. And several scenes still appear as though to have been artificially grainier. Given Columbia’s decade’s
long disregard for archiving vintage treasures like The Talk of the Town,
long before Sony and Grover Crisp became the custodians of Columbia’s
illustrious history and back catalog, I am uncertain how much of this new 4K
was sourced from either an original camera negative or, at least, first-generation
print source. Sony’s official press release claims this new 4K to be George Steven’s
‘original version’ (whatever that means), as comparing it to the old DVD,
the narrative structure and editing are virtually identical. This means the old
DVD was also Steven’s ‘original’ or someone inside Sony’s PR department
just doesn’t know what they’re talking about!
My final bone of
contention is the lack of a standard Blu to accompany the 4K (as this will
surely limit sales of this deep catalog release to those who are only set up
for 4K) and, last but certainly not least of all, the atrocious, colorized artwork
used for this slip-case cover, indictive of no actual scene from the movie (Cary Grant never wears a tux as Dilg), but
a composite, presumably used in lobby card promotions. The DVD included
original poster art. This should have been the standard bearer here too. Alas,
it’s not, and the blurry quality of the cover art on this 4K really does the
movie a disservice, especially for those unaware of just how great the actual
movie is.
Now, for the pluses. Image quality throughout, with exceptions paid to the aforementioned anomalies, is rather striking. Blacks are deeply saturated and fine detail could scarcely be improved. The movie is, after all, 82 years young. And while the acting hasn’t aged, the film elements have. So, Sony’s desire to go straight to 4K for this deep catalog release is an impressive inference 4K benefits more than 2K. But does it? Well, the B&W image looks gorgeous when the aforementioned anomalies are not present and contrast pulls in at a respectable register. A handful of shots have softer than anticipated focus, likely owing to some sort of second or third generation source being used where nothing more substantial has survived. Age-related artifacts have been thoroughly eradicated.
The DTS 2.0 mono
audio is a minor curiosity. During Ronald Colman’s early scenes, his voice has
a deeper sonic resonance than his costars, which suggests, either his vocals
were dubbed in post-production, or the new audio refurbish has a weird glitch.
Can’t say for certain which is the case. But while Grant and Arthur’s voices
derive a natural ambiance, Colman’s first few lines sound as though he were reciting
them in a tunnel. It all improves shortly thereafter, and sounds solid for the
duration of the film’s run-time. We get an audio commentary from author,
Marilyn Ann Moss, only occasionally informative, but lethally rambling. There’s also a ‘featurette’ that ‘talks’ about The Talk of the Town, produced for the DVD release. It’s brief and not
terribly prepossessing. Bottom line: The Talk of the Town is a watershed
classic, deserving of our renewed admiration. The extras are colossally disappointing,
especially for a 4K release. But the 4K offers a mostly competent, and, at
times, very impressive rendering. Is it perfect? Alas, no. Recommended, with
caveats.
FILM RATING (out
of 5 – 5 being the best)
5
VIDEO/AUDIO
4.5
EXTRAS
1.5
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