O.HENRY'S FULL HOUSE
US, 1952, 105 minutes, Black and white.
Narrated by John Steinbeck.
The Cop and the Anthem.
Charles Laughton, David Wayne, Marilyn Monroe.
Directed by Henry Koster.
The Clarion Call.
Richard Widmark, Dale Robertson.
Directed by Henry Hathaway.
The Last Leaf.
Anne Baxter, Jean Peters, Gregory Ratoff.
Directed by Jean Negulesco.
The Ransom of Red Chief.
Fred Allen, Oscar Levant, Lee Aaker.
Directed by Howard Hawks.
The Gift of the Magi.
Jeanne Crain, Farley Granger.
Directed by Henry King.
Full House was a popular omnibus film of stories before the vogue for them really began. The film boasts a commentary by John Steinbeck who gives us some background to O.Henry's kind of story about ordinary people in ordinary situations. Five popular 20th Century Fox Directors of the 50s take a story each. Two stories are comic, the first and the fourth. The other three are serious, with the third and the fifth coming on strongly with sentiment. There is a great collection of stars performing in expected ways which does not detract from the overall entertaining film and its brief insights into human nature.
1. The Cop and the Anthem: The paint, the nature of a tramp, his personality, elegant con-man. The irony of his not being able to get himself into prison, the significance of his admiring companion (why did he admire him?) The encounter with "the lady". The irony of his church visit and the arrest for loitering. How funny were the sequences of the tramps trying to get himself into prison? How moving was the story?
2. The Clarion Call: The dilemma of the policeman who knows the criminal, is in his debt, yet wants to act honourably. The obtaining of the money, the pleading, the unwillingness to arrest. The crook - his cheapness, fickleness, challenge, vanity, pride, leading to a fall, the function of the editorial and the resolving of the problem? Was the moral issue raised well? Did each actor convincingly portray the situation swiftly so that its real impact was made?
3. The Last Leaf: The conventionality, Victorian melodrama, the two sisters, the illness, the unwillingness to live and languishing, the sister's care for the other. How moving was this? The artist - what kind of man, second-rate or before his time, not understood, a difficult yet friendly man, helping the sisters with the money, yet abused by everyone. Yet he gives his life by painting the last leaf - a real work of art, a personal achievement. How genuine was this? Was the film sentimental or did it offer a balanced feeling?
4. The Ransom of Red Chief: The con-men, the out-back hill-billy types, the comedy with the boy, the grown men like boys. The irony of the situation and the wry observation of the characters. What points were made or was this just funny comedy?
5. The Gift of the Magi: This was a film of sentiment. Was it sentimental or was it genuinely moving? The picture of the poor in New York, the overtones of Christmas - love, giving. Young love, marriage and the longing to give something the other would appreciate. The idealism and sense of unreality in the idealistic love. Yet their sacrifice to buy what turned out to be useless gifts. The charm of the couple in this film in an acutely observed American situation. How did the title relate to the story?
