Thursday, July 04, 2013

The Inside Story

Not released in Finland. The Big Gamble. US © 1948 Republic Pictures Corporation. D: Allan Dwan. Dal racconto omonimo di Ernest Lehman e Geza Herczeg. SC: Mary Loos, Richard Sale. DP: Reggie Lanning. ED: Arthur Roberts. AD: Frank Arrigo. M: Nathan Scott. C: Marsha Hunt (Francine Taylor), William Lundigan (Waldo Williams), Charles Winninger (zio Ed), Gail Patrick (Audrey O'Connor), Gene Lockhart (Horace Taylor), Florence Bates (Geraldine Atherton), Hobart Cavanaugh (Mason), Allen Jenkins (Eddy), Roscoe Karns (Eustace Peabody), Robert Shayne (Tom O'Connor), Will Wright (Jay Jay Johnson), William Haade (Rocky). P: Allan Dwan per Republic Pictures. Premiere: 14 marzo 1948. 35 mm. 87'. B&w. Da: UCLA Film and Television Archive e Paramount Pictures per concessione di Park Circus Films. Cinema Jolly (Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna), 4 July 2013

Preserved in conjunction with Paramount Pictures from a 35 mm nitrate composite fine grain master
Laboratory Services by The Stanford Theatre Film Laboratory, Audio Mechanics, DJ Audio. Preservation funded by The Packard Humanities Institute

Dave Kehr: "Filmed in 1948, when a dip in the economy seemed to threaten a return to the worst of the 1930s, The Inside Story remains a surprisingly relevant fable, told largely in a flashback to the Depression years, about the need to keep cash in circulation in order to keep the economy alive. Dwan's stimulus package is an envelope containing 1000 dollars which a befuddled clerk (Charles Winninger) places for safekeeping in the strongbox of a New England hotel. Thanks to a series of misunderstandings, the cash begins to circulate through the community, allowing the owner of the hotel (Gene Lockhart) to save himself from bankruptcy, a merchant (Will Wright) to stave off a foreclosure, a struggling artist (William Lundigan) to pay his rent, and a floundering lawyer (Robert Shayne) to reconsider his decision to commit suicide. An air of magic realism - coincidence happily piled upon coincidence - pervades this narratively complex but delightfully relaxed,  observant and  optimistic film, in which another pair of  supernaturally gifted outsiders - New York bootleggers, played by Allen Jenkins and William Haade - intervene to set everything right. This time, Dwan's social network, spun from an excellent screenplay by Richard Sale and Mary Loos, includes a trio of strong women (Marsha Hunt, Gail Patrick and Florence Bates) whose dignity and composure is played in contrast to a collection of agitated, self-pitying males." Dave Kehr

A picture with a topical message in favour of fiscal stimulation and against the policy of austerity. "Money is life blood. It's no good if it isn't circulating". Paul Krugman would like this movie.

This is a story about the Great Depression with some of the same points as in Frank Capra's American Madness. It's about the mutual trust that is the foundation of a healthy economy and a healthy society.

This may be a fairy-tale, but there is a lot here that is factual: a sharp résumé of the Great Depression ("Who started it?"), and a backstory to even earlier days: 1869, 1884, 1908, 1929, 1933...

As Dave states above, women survive much better in this story than men who seem lost in the crisis.

A brilliant UCLA print.

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