Mitchum @ the Beach

Robert Mitchum @ Cannes in 1954. He was 36 going on 37.


I always think of him as an old man... even when I think of him in his early movies. Strange. Mitchum was busy busy busy in the 1950s. He had headlined two motion pictures released earlier that year (River of No Return with Marilyn Monroe and She Couldn't Say No with Jean Simmons) and he had one more coming in the winter (Track of the Cat with Teresa Wright). The following year would bring the world his (arguably) greatest triumph, the utterly brilliant thriller The Night of the Hunter though he's maybe better remembered for being the original Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962). If you haven't seen either, do so.

While I was looking up Mitchum info to go with this image -- I never thought of Mitchum as a dancer so it prompted incongruous delight -- I learned that his grandson is a popular model named Kian (pictured left) whose favorite Mitchum film is also Night of... I love this quote from the prettyboy:

He died when I was 13, so I remember him as the big scary guy in the corner with this incredible voice that I didn't want to get near. But now that I'm older I can appreciate where it all came from.

I'm not related but I relate. As a kid I didn't like Mitchum. I had only really seen him in the television miniseries The Winds of War and I didn't 'get' him. I didn't understand his style of acting and he freaked me out: too detached, stiffly masculine, gruff, sinister (?) ...not any of the things I responded to in male leads. In the 80s when I fell in love with movies I was all about William Hurt, Harrison Ford and --when it came to old movies on TV --Gene Kelly and James Dean. Here's a couple more 50s images for you...

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In the first image Simone Sylva surprises Mitchum in Cannes with her ample bust (what is it with Cannes & boobs? Please to explain... anyone) and in the second, also taken in 1954 though I'm not sure where, Mitchum sits with Night of the Hunter author Davis Grubb.

time capsule: In May 1954 France was ending its long complicated involvement with Vietnam (glossily movie-documented in the 30s set Indochine with Catherine Deneuve and The Quiet American with Michael Caine which takes place in 1952) after losing the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Over in America the U.S. Supreme Court handed down their decision in Brown vs. Board of Education famously ruling for integration, important 'wind beneath my wings' groundwork for the huge civil rights movement of the '60s. In US movie theaters Indiscretion of an American Wife (starring Montgomery Clift), Johnny Guitar, Hitchcock's Dial "M" for Murder, the smash hit Three Coins in the Fountain (eventually a Best Picture nominee --my review) were all opening. The less famous, still underappreciated ensemble business drama Executive Suite also opened in May. I love that one.
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Spoon Me Some Icey!

I'd like to quickly highlight a performance that is generally forgotten or ignored or overlooked but nevertheless is wonderful to experience and one that makes me smile from ear to ear each time I see it: Evelyn Varden as Icey Spoon in The Night of the Hunter.

Varden had a career on the stage for years before coming to film with a minor role in Pinky (1949). She died in 1958 having only been featured in fifteen films. Her biggest movie was probably The Bad Seed (1956) which got better box office and recognition at the time. But The Night of the Hunter is the icing on the cake of Varden's acting career. In a film with as dynamic and creepy a central performance as Robert Mitchum's it's amazing anyone could stand out but Varden, as Icey Spoon, manages to do just that.

There is an old saying that goes "Some people think they're very generous because they give alot of free advice." Let's just say that Icey Spoon must consider herself among the most generous women on the planet. Free advice is her forte, it's what she does.

My favorite Icey Spoon moment comes at the picnic when she delivers a speech on love and sex that sails clear past the "Too Much Information" benchmark set by most people.

Giving the young ladies present at the picnic advice on what's important in a marriage - and to Icey it ain't sex - she says this about making love to her husband (with him present eating a fried chicken leg): "When you've been married to a man for forty years you know all that don't amount to a hill of beans. I've been married to my Walt that long and I swear in all that time I just lie there and think about my canning." The camera then cuts to Walt, dropping the chicken leg from his mouth with a look that can only be described as "priceless."

Evelyn Varden received no nomination for this or any other performance from her all too brief film career. It's too bad. Evelyn Varden may not have been a Hepburn or Stanwyck or Davis and she may not even have had much of a range beyond this role. Nevertheless, for this role she did a fantastic job. All hail Icey Spoon!