Festival Film Night Monkey Shines

Inherit the Wind (1960 film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Rialto tying its film night in with Brighton Festival is entirely unofficial, I should point out, but as the

biggest arts festival in the country is in full swing locally I couldn't resist becoming part of it...

This week the Rialto's official programmer "Arthur Pringle" arrived with the usual beer and an interesting mixed bag of film goodness. The pies were already in the fridge this time as we had some left from last week.

The programme this time consisted of Inherit the Wind (not a reference to genetic flatulence problems but a quote from the Bible) and Seven Days in May. An exciting new innovation was announced as Arthur had got his hands on a glut of Bilko DVDs and I eagerly accepted his proposal to watch an episode in "the interval".


Tea having been dispensed as usual, the first film was inserted into the Rialto's tape-player (back to VHS again this week) and proceeded to stun us all over again. Inherit has not lost its power, or indeed its relevance given the recent shenanigans in the colonies and the bizarre collection of loonies proposed as presidential candidates there.

Henry Drummond (Tracy, left) and Matthew Harrison Brady (March), right) in Inherit the Wind (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The film, directed by Stanley Kramer (Defiant Ones, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner) in 1960 concerns the famous "Scopes Monkey Trial" which occurred in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925. The real trial was rather a trumped up publicity stunt to some extent and succeeded in putting Dayton well an
d truly on the map. Scopes (who becomes Cates, played by Dick York in the film) was a school teacher who agreed to stand trial for teaching the theory of evolution which technically contravened the "Butler Act" which had become state law that same year. The Act, which was still on the books at the time the film was made, forbade educators in state schools or universities

to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals. The film strays from the reality quite a bit, and indeed the original play apparently denies being based on fact, however much of the trial detail follows the historical facts and whole sections of the dialogue are taken straight from the trial transcript. Key differences are the "love interest" and role of Cates' fiancée who, in the film, is the daughter of the local hell-fire preacher, but in reality didn't exist at all, and the witnessing of Cates teaching Darwin's theories. In reality Scopes couldn't recall if he actually had ever done such a thing and was therefore kept off the witness stand by the defence, however he pointed out that the theory was actually in an official school text book and therefore Tennessee state teachers were obliged to teach it in contravention of the law. In the film this defence is undertaken by Spencer Tracy in a stand out performance as famous Photo taken of Clarence Darrow (left) and William Jennings Bryan (right) during the Scopes Trial in 1925. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) lawyer Henry Drummond in imitation of celebrity lawyer Clarence Darrow who was part of the defence team in the real case. In reality Darrow was neither the sole lawyer on the Scopes' side nor the one who made the most effective speech, however, much of the trial and its outcome are accurately portrayed in a gripping and impressive manner by Frederic March and Tracy in what must be one of the best trial movies ever made. Harry Morgan from the trailer for Inherit the Wind (Photo credit: Wikipedia) In perhaps a rather odd role for him, Gene Kelly plays a cynical journalist (based on H.L. Mencken) who gives the local fundamentalist "yokels" a hard time in the press. Again real-life somewhat differs in that Mencken left after the judge ruled out all the defence's expert witnesses and refused to allow the jury access to their testimony. He, therefore, wasn't actually there in real life for one of the key points portrayed in the film when Darrow/Drummond puts his opposite number William Jennings Bryan/Matthew Harrison Brady on the stand as a bible expert in an attempt to point out the illogicality of taking Genesis and the Old Testament as literal truth. The actual result of the trial was realistically portrayed in that the judge, played here by Harry Morgan,  M.A.S.H.'s beloved Colonel Potter, fined Scopes one hundred dollars, the minimum allow Stanley Kramer receives an Award at the 1960 Berlin Film Festival for Inherit the Wind (Photo credit: Wikipedia) ed under the Act. This verdict was overturned later in reality as it was beyond the power of the judge to impose such a large fine (in today's money more than fifteen hundred dollars) which should have been decided by the jury. After the film I described it as a "stonker" and it truly is. The performances are marvellous, and relishable including those of the scenery-chewing March and the powerful Tracy but not forgetting Kelly's acid wise-cracking "E.K. Hornbeck", Donna Anderson as the aformentioned love interest, a moving moment involving Noah Beery Jnr, Claude Atkins as the mouth-frothing hell-fire and damnation priest and Florence Eldridge in the important role of Brady's wife who bridges the gap between the lawyers who are bitter opponents but also old friends. I was very glad of the opportunity to be knocked out of my hosiery by this blockbuster again. It's hard to imagine such a topic, still controversial in the bible-belt states, being given such a big treatment in these risk-avoiding times in Hollywood, with actors of the status of Tracy. Publicity photo of Phil Silvers as Ernie Bilko in the television show You'll Never Get Rich. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Getting our breath back we began our pies and beer in the company of the much loved (by Arthur and me anyway) Phil Silvers. The chosen episode featured Dick Van Dyke as "Lumpkin" a naive hill-billy with a gift for throwing that Bilko spots as a potential goldmine in the world of top flight baseball. The episode features several high-profile New York Yankees of the era playing themselves including a priceless turn by the legendary Yogi Berra pretending to be a fellow southern hill-billy  to convince the Dixie-loving Lumpkin that it is ok to join a team called the Yankees. The Phil Silvers show was the first thing I ever recall seeing on television, on my grandmother's Ferguson, probably in the late fifties (this episode dates from 1957). Bilko remains fresh and funny, a testament to the personality, skill and presence of Silvers and the rest of the regular cast and the writing talent of Nat Hiken. We had some technical difficulties with the final film of the evening, Seven Days in May, but the tape damage didn't become obvious until the the denouement so we soldiered on, only to have the flickering, blanking screen stabilise into a clear picture of the "The End" caption. Most of the film had been in good quality, however and presented us with a striking cold-war thriller made in 1964 and starring a chilling Burt Lancaster with Kirk Douglas as a principled soldier forced into opposing a former hero. Arthur likes to put together programmes with connections it seems and this one was connected to the first feature not only by its background in real-life American politics but by the presence of Frederic March, this time in a much less histrionic performance as a decent but disliked president. In the first film March played a character who had stood three times but not been elected. Image via Wikipedia A very enjoyable film, directed by John Frankenheimer from a screenplay (adapted from a novel) by Rod Serling, it envisages an attempted coup by the joint chiefs of staff in revolt at the possibility of a nuclear treaty with the USSR drawing the teeth of the US leaving it vulnerable to first strike. The fact that overthrowing the government would itself send destabilising signals to "the enemy" was pointed out by President Fred but ignored by the increasingly fanatical Lancaster whose character could have been based on Curtis Le May or any of a number of hawkish military leaders of the period.  The changing face of world politics has dated this somewhat but perhaps more in perception than actuality. I grew up in fear of the button being pressed which would result in nuclear armaggedon. The threat of this may have appeared to have receded but the arsenals of horror weapons still exist and indeed are proliferating around the world. There is still much that is relevent here but if that isn't obvious it is still very enjoyable for the tense performances from some top films stars of the day. And, as one might observe in connection with the first film too, plus ça change...