Films/DVD Asylum

"Kings Row," with Robert Cummings, Ann Sheridan, Ronald Reagan, and Betty Field.

136.37.101.134

This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

This is Grand Guignol at its best (or worst): a melodramatic cauldron of crises, emotional train wrecks, and unforeseen and unforeseeable disasters. I found it oddly fascinating and certainly no less "believable" than a zombie film--- and far more entertaining.
A young man (Cummings), orphaned at an early age, aspires to become a doctor and finds a mentor in a mysterious (Claude Rains!) physician who forces his daughter to become a recluse--- much to the chagrin of the interested Cummings. Reagan plays his loyal best friend, a wealthy playboy-type. Hollywood's "oomph girl," Ann Sheridan, portrays the girl from the wrong side of the tracks.
Now, the film is considered interesting because it was the picture that made Reagan a star--- and it's easy to see why. He commands the screen in his scenes. The war intervened and he never again received such stellar reviews.
Bob Cummings was an interesting fellow: he held the first US flying instructor's license ever awarded, plus: "(he) started looking for work in 1930, but was unable to find any roles, forcing him to get a job in a theatrical agency.[5] Seeing that at the time, "three quarters of Broadway plays were from England"[12] and English accents and actors were in demand, Cummings decided to cash in an insurance policy and buy a round trip to Britain.[13]
He was driving a motorbike through the country, picking up the accent and learning about the country. His bike broke down at Harrogate. While waiting for repairs, Cummings came up with a plan. He invented the name "Blade Stanhope Conway" and bribed the janitor of a local theatre to put on the marquee: "Blade Stanhope Conway in Candida". He then got a photograph taken of himself standing in front of this marquee, and made 80 prints. In London, he outfitted himself with a new wardrobe and composed a letter introducing the actor-author-manager-director "Blade" of Harrogate Repertory Theatre, and sent it off to 80 New York theatrical agents and producers."
Cummings' resourcefulness didn't end there: when films veered towards song and dance--- he learned how to do so, professionally. When Westerns came to the front, he taught himself a Texas accent (one director said it was the only believable one in the picture). Same with musicianship. He bragged he could fake anything...
Betty Field was a very successful Broadway actress who at one point was considered too "plain" for films! See how crazy that is...
Ann Sheridan starred in many films, dying at a relatively young age of cancer.

Edits: 09/30/20

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