Johnny Eager: Robert Taylor's Filmic Redemption

Johnny Eager (played by Robert Taylor) earns his living as a cab driver by day but, on a closer look, he’s a gangster by night who talks to everyone (mostly to dames) with a vaguely disdainful chivalry, even to his parole officer Verne. Two sociology students, Lisbeth Bard (played by a sumptuous Lana Turner) and her friend visit Verne researching for a sociology study and Lisbeth gets especially interested in the “rehabilitated” ex-con Johnny Eager. At first sight, she’s surprised by Johnny’s elegant demeanor and good looks. Sadly, Lisbeth’s father turns out to be District Attorney John Benson Farrell (Edward Arnold), the same man who sent Johnny to jail a few months ago.

As the film advertising claimed “T'N'T burn up the screen in a sizzling romance”, an actual attraction is lit between Johnny & Lisbeth and between Taylor and Turner in real life (the mere sound of Lana’s voice saying “good morning” made Taylor “melt”). Lisbeth is oblivious to the fact Johnny’s leaving a double life and is involved in an operation to reopen the Algonquin dog track – which Lisbeth’s father has threatened with closure. Johnny and Lisbeth continue their clandestine affair behind her fiancé’s back while Farrell insists on unmasking the evil nature percolating beneath Eager’s suave façade.

As if there were not enough shady characters in town who would like to give Eager a .38 lead dose, a rival gang manages to enlist Eager's henchman Lew Rankin in a twist of betrayal. During the early ’40s, the United States had experienced a series of social changes that reflected on the noir subgenre, invoking a more pessimistic portrait than the previous nostalgic gangster pictures from 1930s. Johnny Eager‘s director Mervyn LeRoy (who had filmed top-notch crime dramas as 'Little Caesar', 'Five Star Final', 'Three on a Match'. or 'Hard to Handle') achieves a superior tale of redemption enhanced by Harold Rosson’s shimmering lighting.

Robert Taylor on the set of "Johnny Eager" with director Mervyn LeRoy, 1941

Robert Taylor specifically asked to play the cold-blooded hood in the title role, since he was very impressed by the script, based on a short story by James Edward Grant and John Lee Mahin’s screenplay. Van Heflin plays Johnny’s only real friend, an alcoholic writer who spouts philosophical ramblings, comparing Lisbeth with Cyrano de Bergerac’s Roxane. Although Van Heflin won the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his poignant performance as Jeff Hartnett, a tormented drunkard who has established a suspiciously intimate bond with Johnny, Robert Taylor’s biographer Charles Tranberg contends ‘this is Taylor’s picture.’

One of the reasons Taylor impacts so deeply on the viewer is the irresistible blend Johnny’s character projects of a misogynist emotional naïvety (showed in his scenes with moll Garnet, played by Patricia Dane) and paradoxically a harrowing need to decipher the meaning of true love (exposed in his revealing interaction with prior girlfriend Mae Blythe).  Mae (Glenda Farrell) asks him a favor for old times’ sake, that is Johnny use his influences to relocate her husband -policeman Joe Aganovsky- back to his old precinct. Then Johnny remembers when Mae was his sweetheart in Miami and she was the only dame he’d slug a man over. Seconds later, Johnny’s heart seems to stop in cold blood and he denies her help, in realising Aganovsky is the Agent 711 (a honest cop who was transferred because he would not accept any bribe from the rackets).

“You don’t even know what I’m talking about”, are Mae’s heartbreaking last words to Johnny, when he sardonically needles her about love and old times. These interludes infuse the film’s tone with a relentless pace until the moment we'll end up wondering about Johnny’s doomed destiny. Also, Mae's scene will eventually manifest its value of justice poetic at the last minute.

Precisely, despite of the melodramatic resonance of Taylor’s scenes shared with Turner and Van Heflin, I consider Johnny’s rencounter with Glenda Farrell (Mae Blythe) the best act in the film. Robert Taylor and Glenda Farrell were habitués in Mervyn LeRoy's films: Glenda, beside having played the female lead in 'Little Caesar', had appeared in 'I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang', 'Heat Lightning', 'Hi Nellie!' and 'Three on a Match'. Robert Taylor, in addition to 'Johnny Eager', would work with LeRoy in 'Escape', 'Waterloo Bridge', and 'Quo Vadis'.

On December 8, 1941 United States declared war upon Japan in response to the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. 'Johnny Eager' was released in theatres on 9 December 1941. As Charles Tranberg remarks in his biography, Robert Taylor made a contribution to the war effort by donating his monoplane, which was given to the Los Angeles Sheriffs Air Squadron in 1942. The war accelerated the longstanding trend in social stigma of illicit romances, they were nonetheless validated on-screen.

Robert Taylor (despite of having being labeled in his early career as a matinée idol) proves in 'Johnny Eager' he could play perfectly an obscure racketeer, an outlaw who continues to pull off tricks even against his own integrity, and whose aspirations weren’t too different from his film audience’s. The film, a romantic MGM noir thankfully free of the ambigous morality through which modern cinema tries to justify or condemn a defiant character, flows in a cynical (at times sentimental) fashion, and in the end we just want Johnny redeemed in the dark yet relucent streets although his individuality suffers definitively for it.

Article first published as Movie Review: ‘Johnny Eager’: Robert Taylor’s Filmic Redemption on Blogcritics

Robert Taylor: Magnificent Obsession

Barbara Stanwyck had seen Robert Taylor in 'Magnificent Obsession' and 'Broadway Melody of 1936', admired his work, and told him so. 'Magnificent Obsession' was the John Stahl picture from Lloyd C. Douglas’s best-selling novel. In it Taylor was the selfish rich boy who becomes a great doctor in order to care for the woman —Irene Dunne— he accidentally blinds in a drunken selfish state and whom he comes to adore.

Taylor saw Irene Dunne, then thirty-seven years old, as “dignified.” He had “felt the strength of her great experience” and said that her “confident poise could not fail to help anyone with whom she played.” Taylor’s assurance, agility, and depth surprised critics. Women by the hundreds of thousands were fantasizing about Robert Taylor as the dream combination — the perfect lover (full of spirit and play, cocky but not rough) and husband (knowing, presentable, steady, caring).

Robert Montgomery’s world-weary sophistication seemed acidic and faded next to Taylor’s openness and purity. Lloyd C. Douglas’s novel ('Magnificent Obsession', 1929) was brought to John Stahl’s secretary by Joel McCrea, who was tested for the part with Rosalind Russell. The director felt that neither actor was right and instead cast Robert Taylor and Irene Dunne. Following the release of 'Magnificent Obsession' thousands of fan letters were delivered to Metro addressed to Robert Taylor written by women across the country, until ten thousand letters were arriving each week.

'Magnificent Obsession' was a sellout and played to held-over business, as did Taylor’s next picture, Broadway Melody of 1936, from the Moss Hart story “Miss Pamela Thorndyke,” in which Taylor danced with the rangy twenty-three-year old Eleanor Powell in her first major picture and sang Nacio Herb Brown’s “I’ve Got a Feelin’ You’re Foolin’” to June Knight. Louella Parsons called Taylor the most promising actor of the moment.

Hedy Lamarr had been named Glamour Girl of 1938, called the “Dream Girl of 50 Million Men,” all on the basis of one picture, Algiers, made on loan-out to Walter Wanger and United Artists. Lamarr, while shooting Lady of the Tropics , taught Bob how to kiss more convincingly for the cameras. “His usual kiss seemed much more like a school-boy’s when photographed in close-up,” she said. The picture was directed by Jack Conway, Bob’s frequent coyote-hunting partner, and written by Josef von Sternberg, Jules Furthman, Dore Schary, John Lee Mahin, and Ben Hecht, with Hecht getting final screenplay credit.

Barbara and Bob, soon after they met, were one night looking up at a marquee of the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Taylor’s name was in lights for the first time —"Robert Taylor And Loretta Young" in 'Private Number', with his name first. Bob was impressed with it all. “Don’t let it go to your head,” said Barbara. “Loretta has been working for years to get her name up there; you’ve been at it for six months. The trick is to keep it up there.” She believed that Flaubert’s observation to de Maupassant about writing was true about acting: “Talent is long patience.”

While shooting 'Waterloo Bridge' (1940), LeRoy got the flu and was laid up for five days. Woody Van Dyke stepped in. Bob was working late and asked Barbara to visit him on his set. She had never been on one of Bob’s sets. She hesitated and said, “Miss Leigh might not like it.” Bob assured her that Vivien wasn’t like that, that it would be fine. Barbara agreed to have Bob drive her onto the Metro lot. She had Bob park his car a short distance from the soundstage where he was shooting. At the last minute Barbara thought it better for her to stay in the car and read a book while Bob worked. -"A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940" (2013) by Victoria Wilson

Taylor told Louella Parsons that he considered "Bataan" (1943) one of his four personal favorite pictures of those he made. The other three were Magnificent Obsession, Waterloo Bridge and Johnny Eager.

Robert Taylor had an old-fashioned appreciation for women. He was courtly and very much a gentleman who had an idealized view of the type of woman he was attracted to. "I couldn’t care for a woman who didn’t respect herself, who didn’t have a passionate desire for making the most of life. It is easy for a girl to be ordinary; that demands no will at all. [...] I’ve invariably been drawn to women who are tolerant, who are good sports. I’m not above relishing a dash of glamour, but to me glamour is not bleached hair and plucked eyebrows and gobs of make-up. It’s that intangible understanding and sweetness that only the woman who has a first-rate heart has. Artificial girls bore me.”

Since the break-up with Barbara, Bob was staying busy with picture making. He was also re-establishing himself as a potent box-office star at the studio. Bob was about to start a film which meant a great deal to him and would team him with one of his favorite leading ladies, Eleanor Parker. The film was 'Above and Beyond', with Bob playing the part of Lt. Col. Paul Tibbets and Parker cast as his wife Lucey. It’s a very human performance in that Bob is playing a man who truly is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. It may be his all-time best motion picture work.

The chemistry with Parker was strong off screen as well as on. They began an off-and-on affair that would last almost up to the time of Bob’s marriage to actress Ursula Thiess. The affair was an open secret among their friends and at the studio, but they worked assiduously to keep it out of the press. Bob was genuinely fond of Parker, but he never considered marriage. Parker was a take-charge type of woman who wouldn’t let any man dominate her. In too many ways she reminded Bob of Barbara.

Reading the newspaper at his Dorchester Suite, in London, one day in 1952, Bob saw a picture that knocked his socks off. It was of a stunningly attractive woman whom the paper dubbed “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World.” Bob couldn’t disagree. He thought she was stunning with her full lips, dark hair, expressive eyes and luscious figure. Her name was Ursula Thiess and Bob definitely wanted to get to know her better. Ursula was born on May 15, 1924, in Hamburg, Germany. Bob was able to locate Ursula thru the help of her agent, Harry Friedman of MCA. Friedman telephoned and told her that Robert Taylor wanted to meet her for dinner and dancing. Bob took Ursula to the Coconut Grove where they met their companions, Harry Friedman and his wife.

She later recalled that what attracted her most to Bob was his, “down-to-earth, unassuming manner and his beautiful, searching eyes, which were the open windows to his incredible sex appeal.” Bob enjoyed introducing his friends to Ursula and showing her the sights of his hometown. Ursula later recalled that his friends “received us with open arms, making me feel reinstated once more as his woman and his love.” The official announcement of their engagement was made on April 30, 1954. “It was the biggest diamond I ever saw,” Ivy Pearson recalled [about Ursula's engagement ring]. “I asked him if it was real!”

In "Party Girl" (1958) Nicholas Ray came to admire Bob’s dedication to his part and growth as an actor: "I saw Taylor working for me like a true Method actor.” One Ray biographer later wrote that Party Girl, “moves effortlessly from action-packed scenes of violence to more meditative and touching sequences that helps the film to surpass its generic origins. Marked throughout both by his [Ray’s] great professionalism and by his feelings of sympathy for his ill-starred lovers, the movie transcends the conventions of the nostalgic gangster picture to become a passionate, involving tale of moral and emotional rebirth.”

Ursula completed Bob. “I’ve never known such complete happiness as I have since I’ve been married to Ursula,” he told Hedda Hopper. “She’s a really attractive woman... She’s so self-sufficient. Nothing seems to upset or worry her. She’s well-adjusted. I’ve never seen her in a situation she was unable to handle in a quiet sort of way.” Ursula had managed to do something that Barbara never did, nor had the inclination to do, she won over Ruth. “Ursula won Bob’s mother over by her kindness, devotion to Bob and wonderful homemaking skills,” accords to Ivy Shelton-Mooring.

Bob liked the idea of a ranch, especially with an expanding family. He thought it would be a great way for his children to grow up with plenty of time for the out of doors on 113 acres. It also reminded him of his upbringing in rural Nebraska. His daughter Tessa was named after the character from the book 'Tess of the Storm Country', which Bob had read as a child. “Bob’s attitude had taken a complete turn,” recalled Ursula. “While he was reticent to even touch his son as a small baby, this new little female was overindulged with attention.” He affectionately nicknamed her puss-puss.

The ranch was Bob’s refuge and the place he loved the most. “When I think of Daddy, I think of the ranch,” his daughter Tessa says. “It was a great place to be. A great way to grow up.” Bob liked the fact that Terry and Tessa were growing up on a ranch and finding an appreciation for the outdoors and learning respect for the land and the animals that inhabited it.”

In 1988 the Lion’s Building on the Lorimar Telepictures Lot (formerly the MGM Studio Lot) was renamed as the Robert Taylor Building. In 1990 the building was renamed “The George Cukor Building”. According to director Judy Chaikin, the reason was the days of the blacklist. Ironically, in 1983, Cukor was quoted as saying, “Robert Taylor was my favorite actor. He was a gentleman —that is rare in Hollywood.” -"Robert Taylor: A Biography" (2010) by Charles Tranberg

"Robert Taylor was indeed the best combination of gentleman and actor that ever graced the big screen." -Terry Taylor (Robert Taylor's son)

Robert Taylor (Love is Here) video

A video featuring stills and photos of Robert Taylor, his co-stars: Eleanor Powell & June Knight ("Broadway Melody of 1936"), Vivien Leigh ("A Yank at Oxford", "Waterloo Bridge"), Lana Turner ("Johnny Eager), Greer Garson ("Remember?"), Audrey Totter ("High Wall), Ava Gardner ("The Bribe", "Ride Vaquero", "Knights of the Round Table"), Deborah Kerr ("Quo Vadis), Eleanor Parker ("Above and Beyond", "Many Rivers to Cross"), Elizabeth Taylor ("Conspirator", "Ivanhoe"), Cyd Charisse ("Party Girl"), Nicole Maurey & Linda Christian ("The House of the Seven Hawks"), Tina Louise ("The Hangman"), Dana Wynter ("D-Day The Sixth of June"), Jean Harlow ("Personal Property"), Hedy Lamarr ("Lady of the Tropics"), Maureen O'Sullivan ("The Crowd Roars", "A Yank at Oxford"), Dorothy Malone ("Tip on a Dead Jockey"), Esther Williams ("A Guy Named Joe"), Janet Leigh ("Rogue Cop"), Marilyn Maxwell ("Stand by for Action"), Virginia Bruce ("Times Square Lady"), Arlene Dahl ("Ambush"), Katharine Hepburn ("Undercurrent"), Florence Rice ("Stand Up and Fight"), Glenda Farrell & Patricia Dane ("Johnny Eager"), Janet Gaynor ("Small Town Girl"), Joan Crawford ("The Gorgeous Hussy"), Myrna Loy ("Lucky Night"), Norma Shearer ("Escape"), Irene Dunne ("Magnificent Obsession"), Barbara Stanwyck ("My Brother's Wife", "This is My Affair"), Denise Darcel ("Westward the Women"), Loretta Young ("Private Number"), Greta Garbo ("Camille"), Margaret Sullavan ("Three Comrades"), Ann Blyth ("All the Brothers Were Valiant"), Helen Twelvetrees ("Times Square Lady"), Julie London ("Saddle the Wind"), etc. Also pictures of Ursula Thiess (Robert Taylor's second wife), son Terry Taylor and daughter Tessa Taylor.

Soundtrack: "In The Mood" by Glenn Miller & Orchestra, "Love Is Here" by Artie Shaw & Helen Forrest, "Paradise" by by Gordon Clifford & Helen Forrest, "You're the Reason" by Hank Snow, "Smooth'n'Easy" by Artie Shaw & Orchestra.

"This is My Affair" starring Barbara Stanwyck & Robert Taylor

"This Is My Affair" (1937), starring Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor, was originally intended to be about the McKinley assassination; then the career of the detective Allan Pinkerton; and then the sinking of the Maine. It ended up a romantic secret agent saga called The McKinley Case from a story by Melville Crossman, a.k.a. Darryl F. Zanuck, set at the turn of the century in the midwestern United States. Zanuck used it to write a story about the young nation’s stability being threatened by a gang of bank robbers, about President McKinley enlisting the help of a young naval officer (Taylor) in a secret mission to find the robbers, with those in government believed to be involved. Barbara was the nightclub singer implicated in the plot.

Barbara believed that friendship was more powerful than love, that when one reached the heights of romantic love,there was no place to go but back, but with friendship there was a goal that could never be completely attained. It could be built upon by years of devotion, but it was always possible to intensify it; friendship grew with the years, “while love can only lose,” she said. She believed her friendship with Bob could withstand the inevitable loss of the passionate nature of their love. “If you could fall in love with your best friend,” she said, “I suppose such a marriage would come as close to perfection as marriage can come.”

Barbara was wary of marriage, even in her present state of happiness. Bob’s idea of marriage was based on his memory of his parents’ love for each other. He wanted a married life to be as happy and loving as theirs had been. “I’m finding it a little difficult,” said Barbara, “to keep from being skeptical that such marvelous happiness can last—but I’ll try not to tempt Fate.” -"A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940" (2013) by Victoria Wilson

-Q: You did an amazing job showing Robert Taylor's personal growth throughout his lifetime. Whether it be because of the domineering personalities of his mother and Louis B. Mayer, I had the feeling Taylor didn't really have the opportunity to sew his oats and enjoy a true adolescence until the time of his marriage to Barbara Stanwyck. Was it this relationship more than other life experiences which helped Taylor evolve most finally reaching a point in his life where he truly was comfortable in his own skin?

-Linda Alexander: That’s exactly what I intended. If a biography simply lists facts, basically a chronological recitation of stats, it’s too easy. When I read a life story, I want to find out what make that person tick, and that’s what I wanted to do with Taylor. Putting pieces together, it became evident to me that he never really had a childhood. He’d never been allowed to as you put it, sow his wild oats. He wasn’t even allowed to really play with children when he was young, and even when he developed friendships in later school years, they were metered, adult-like. It was only a few years later when he was under contract to MGM and while everything was offered to him, he was carefully monitored by Louis B. Mayer and as someone who lived to that point as a rule-follower, it never crossed his mind to do much otherwise. Marrying Barbara Stanwyck was, again, a move of self-control, in my opinion.

-She was a dominant figure and helped him learn the ropes of Hollywood, expecting his love and loyalty, and in some ways obedience, in return. He grew up while he was married to her and the result was that they no longer fit. It wasn’t that he didn’t love her. He truly loved her. Yet he had become his own man, finally, and it was something of an epiphany for him that he could run his own life, and he enjoyed doing so. Source: immortalepherema.com

Happy Anniversary, Gene Tierney!

Happy Anniversary, Gene Tierney!

Gene Tierney, early 1940s

Between the year Daria was born and the year she was put into Langhorn, Gene made four of the best films of her career and received an Academy Award nomination for Leave Her to Heaven. It was not a coincidence. Oleg explained, "It was as if the birth of Daria had emptied her, and she was now filling herself up with these roles."

During the time that Gene Tierney and Oleg Cassini were at Fort Riley (while she was pregnant with Daria), a script came in the mail. Although she was taking the rest of that year off while pregnant, she took the time to read it. The movie was Laura. Laura began shooting on April 27,1944. Otto Preminger would produce and direct a cast of actors that would forever be remembered as one of the best "film noir" ensembles of their time. Two months before filming began, Bonnie Cashin and her team of designers started on the costumes for the film. Preminger spared no expense.

With a $15,000 budget the designers had a field day in creating the most luxurious costuming in a long time. Even Gene's underwear was meticulously designed with black lace panels threaded with baby blue ribbon. Her pink pajamas were embroidered with sequins. She stood for hours, passing the time by chewing jellybeans as the designers pinned and poked and tucked the many outfits into position. Preminger insisted on real diamonds and pearls being rented for the duration of the shooting.

Zanuck was reluctant to have Preminger cast Webb because of his known homosexuality. He thought Webb too effeminate for the role. Preminger would not back down and was known to have many open battles with Zanuck about his reasons for casting Webb as Lydecker. History tells us he won the argument, and Clifton Webb in turn won a Best Actor nomination for his performance.

The second half of the picture is told from the detective's viewpoint. Vincent Price plays Laura's slimy fiance, Shelby Carpenter. A very clever plot has Laura, in the first half of the picture, believed to be the victim of foul play. When she eventually turns up toward the second half of the picture the roles are reversed. Laura now becomes a suspect.

Laura was nominated for five Academy Awards. Otto Preminger was nominated as Best Director. The film was nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Screenplay. The cameraman, Joe LaShelle, was nominated and won the Academy Award for Best Photography. He was the only nominee who took home an Oscar.

Oleg saw many comparisons between Gene's festering illness and her role of Laura Hunt. He explained, "When I think of Gene's illness, I think more of Laura, which was her most famous role. It is ironic that through much of the film she played a girl presumed dead who was actually alive, in some ways, Gene was quite the opposite. After Daria's birth, she seemed to die inside. There was a ghostly quality, an evanescence, to both Laura and Gene. Even after Laura is found to be alive, she has a certain mystery, an aura, that permeates the film and gives it much of its magic.

Gene Tierney and Cornel Wilde in "Leave Her to Heaven" (1945)

Darryl F. Zanuck wanted Gene to play the part of Ellen Berent. This was a role much different from any she had ever played before. The personality of Ellen was a long way from the real life personality of Gene Tierney. The part of Ellen called for Gene to play the bitchy, psychotic wife of Cornel Wilde's character, Richard Harland.

Ellen's intense beauty masks the evil of her character. The bright sunny setting among breathtaking scenery masks the darkness of the unfolding story line. As the story plays out it sends chills up the audience's spine, especially when it's quickly realized that the devil can be disguised in such beautiful form. Highly acclaimed for its breathtaking Academy Award winning cinematography, the film was shot in several locations, including New Mexico and Wyoming. The famous lake scene was shot on Bass Lake in Madera County, California.

Although her role called for Gene to be a nasty and vindictive character, her humor never wavered on set. In between shots at the end of a very long day she would say, "Now, I'm getting very nervous and tired and I might just collapse and cost the studio millions of dollars." She had a fantastic sense of humor, and everyone laughed when she put on the drama queen act.

Joseph Mankiewicz was a noted screenwriter and producer at the time, and Dragonwyck was his directorial debut. It was a film that held a personal memory far greater than any professional memory associated with the making of the picture itself: a memory that Gene would never lose. One day while filming a scene with Walter Huston she was told by director Mankiewicz to turn and look directly into the camera. Just as she made the pivot to turn, right there just beyond the camera stood a young man in a Navy lieutenant's uniform. He smiled at Gene and her heart skipped a beat. She was still in the middle of a scene so she couldn't acknowledge his smile until Mankiewicz yelled, "Cut."

Vincent Price plays the main villainous character who sets the tone for his many horror roles to come. The picture is set in the mid-1800s. Nicholas van Ryn (played by Price) is a wealthy Dutch immigrant now living in Hudson Valley, New York. Living a bitter and hateful existence with his wife because she bore him a daughter instead of a son, he becomes infatuated with Miranda Wells (Gene) after she comes to live at his estate as an an pair. He soon plans to poison his wife so that he and Miranda can marry. -"Gene Tierney: A Biography" (2005) by Michelle Vogel