You Never Can Tell (1951)

There's something about the comedies of the early 1950s that I find so likeable. Even when they have silly and incredulous plots, they are entertaining. You Never Can Tell is one of those films with an amusing yet decidedly implausible plot. In fact, it was publicized as "A Picture for People Who Think They've Seen Everything!" 

You may have heard of a man turning into a dog, but this film is about a dog turning into a man. Dick Powell stars as the reincarnated dog who continues to munch on kibbles and scratch behind his ear while in human form.

Powell plays Rex Shepard, a man who was known as "King" during his life on earth as a German Shepherd. King inherited millions from his eccentric owner and then was poisoned in order to clear the way for Ms. Ellen Hathaway (Peggy Dow) to be the next in line to inherit. 

When King goes to the Beastatory - the afterlife of animals - he requests to return to Earth to avenge his murder and clear his mistress Ellen of suspicion. Hence, private detective Rex Shepard suddenly appears along with his private secretary Goldie (Joyce Holden), who was formerly "Golden Harvest," a prize-winning racehorse. While the two-legged Palamino spends some time visiting her filly friends, Rex sets off to investigate his own murder and, in the process, falls in love with Ellen. 

You Never Can Tell sounds ridiculous and yet it is really an amiable bit of whimsy that's doggone addictive. The script - by David Chandler - is brimming over with canine quips and the casting is spot-on. Charles Drake plays a seemingly great guy and is re-united with his Harvey co-star Peggy Dow, while Albert Sharpe (of Darby O'Gill and the Little People) has an amusing role as Ellen's sea captain uncle. Also in the cast is Frank Nelson as a police chief. 

Shipmates Forever ( 1935 )

Singing sensation Dick Powell and dancer Ruby Keeler were a match made in musical heaven and they had great success in the early 1930s as an on-screen duo. In 1934, Warner Brothers teamed them up in Flirtation Walk, a light-hearted musical set at the West Point Military Academy. The studio reeled in a large profit on the picture and so they reteamed them to star in a similarly themed production - Shipmates Forever - this time set at the Annapolis Naval Academy. The publicity department even promoted the film with the line "Hats off to the Navy's Flirtation Walk!".

Dick Powell stars as Richard "Dick" Melville III, a popular New York nightclub singer who has no intention of joining the Navy and following in the footsteps of his father Admiral Melville (Lewis Stone). He is determined to lead his own life and singing is the career he chose. However, his father's claim that his only son is a coward, leads Richard to enter the Annapolis Naval Academy solely to prove to him that he has the brains to become an officer. Of course, while he is there he learns just what it means to be a "Navy man" and has a change of heart. 

During the 1930s, there were a lot of movies made that dealt with life in military academies (it was as if the studios knew a war was looming in the distance). Along with Navy, Blue and Gold, Shipmates Forever stands out as one of the best and, thanks to Frank Borzage's fine direction, the film has a lot of heart to it. For those who are especially fond of the Navy, you'll need to keep some handkerchiefs nearby for the closing scenes. 

Shipmates Forever gives audiences a great behind-the-gates look at Annapolis with plenty of on-location footage. The movie also features a sweet romance between Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell and some catchy Harry Warren/Al Dubin numbers including the "Don't Give Up the Ship", "I'd Love to Take Orders from You", and "I'd Rather Listen to Your Eyes", but the best part of the film is Dick Powell's fine acting performance. 

Powell was never given credit for being the talented actor that he was until he appeared in the noir Murder, My Sweet (1944) but, even in his early films, he was such a natural actor and always gave a winning performance. He is truly convincing as Dick Melville, a young man who seems torn between loyalty to his father, his best gal, and following his own dream. Even though he shuns his roommates at the Academy, they still look up to him as a classmate and eventually draw him into the comradery that was so much a part of life at Annapolis. These classmates are played by Ross Alexander and John Arledge (both from Flirtation Walk), Eddie Acuff, and Robert Light. Also in the cast is Dick Foran as a snooty upperclassman, Mary Treen and James Flavin. 

Shipmates Forever was released in October 1935 and did very well at the box-office, cementing Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler's standing as one of the top on-screen couples at Warner Brothers studio at the time. 

Hollywood Home Tour: Dick Powell & June Allyson

After the Hollywood Home Tour bus broke down last season due to mechanical errors, the tour was canceled until further notice, but I'm happy to report it has been repaired and is ready to set off once again. Our bus driver, Al, will tell you more about where the Greyhound will be heading this summer.....

"Welcome, passengers! We are in for an exciting tour this season for not only will we be driving by the homes of some of the most famous movie stars, we'll also trek to the outskirts of Hollywood to see some of the ranches and larger estates of the stars. In a few moments, we will be heading west of Los Angeles to drive by one of these larger spreads, the 68-acre estate of crooner Dick Powell and his wife June Allyson, affectionately known as 'Junie'. 

"This estate is often called Amber Hills and is an enormous 12,000 square-feet in size. It was built in the early-1940s and has seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a library, its own private lake, tennis courts, and acres of land for horses to roam. 

3100 Mandeville Canyon Road

"Here it is now, folks, coming up on your left. These are just the front gates, the driveway is a quarter of a mile long before you reach the house. It overlooks a canyon and Robert Taylor's equally large spread, which we'll be driving by soon as well. 

"Dick Powell is a hands-on kind of guy and he likes to remodel parts of the house, take apart the furniture to refinish it, or chop down the trees on the property for firewood. He often uses the workshop on the property. 

"June Allyson recalled that Dick Powell had driven her to the property and asked if it was too remote for her, 'Heavens, no', she replied, 'It's a nice community. How many people live here?' Powell's response, 'Just you and I, Junie. It's our 68 acres.'

Up-to-date Info: In 1962, Dick Powell and June moved to the Marie Antionette Apartments when effects from his lung cancer was getting the best of him. In the 1970s, the exterior of the house was used at the Harts property in the "Hart to Hart" television series. On June 25, 2018, the property went up on the market again - with a price tag of $35 million.  

Mrs. Mike ( 1949 )

Speakeasy and Silver Screenings are hosting the O Canada Great White North Blogathon for the second year in a row, and for this event we wanted to write a little bit about Mrs. Mike, an overlooked gem from 1949. 

Evelyn Keyes stars as the titular Mrs. Mike, a gentle young Bostonian who, for the love of the Mountie she married, forsakes the comfort of the city to go off and face hardships and loneliness in Northern Alberta in 1907. 

Kathy O'Fallon has the youthful woman's zealous thoughts of what life would be like married to such a heroic figure as Mike Flannigan ( Dick Powell ), a sergeant of the Northwest Mounted Police, whom she meets while visiting her uncle in Canada. Mike warns her of its hardships -- "It's no life for a city gal" he proclaims -- but, being staunchly Irish, she boldly declares she is plucky enough to persevere. And persevere she does! Mr. Mike was mighty proud of her, and so were audiences by the end of the picture, but she had to learn many a lesson before she came to realize just what fortitude becoming a Mountie's wife required. 

Mrs. Mike was based upon the real-life adventures of Katherine Mary O'Fallon Flannigan, a city gal who went to visit her uncle in Alberta and fell in love with a Mountie. Kathy took the stories of her Canadian adventures to Hollywood believing it to be good material for a film. A talent agent felt it would make a better book however, and introduced her to husband-and-wife authors Benedict & Nancy Freedman, who fictionalized her 5-page outline into a novel. 

"Mrs. Mike" went on to become a best-selling book, republished and translated around the world into over twenty different languages. Surprisingly, none of the major studios purchased the screen rights to "Mrs. Mike". An independent producer, Samuel Bischoff, eventually approached the Freedmans for the rights to the novel, casting crooner Dick Powell in the lead. Powell had found great success with his first dramatic role in Murder, My Sweet ( 1945 ) and continued to play in dramatic pictures from then on. In this film, he portrays Mike as a very noble servant-of-the-people, level-headed in all situations and courageous. Dudley Doright could pick up a tip or two from Mike Flannigan. 

Most American's conception of Canada is that it's cold and densely wooded with Mounties guarding every five square miles, ready to aid anyone in danger or capture an errant criminal. Films like Mrs. Mike helped forge these conceptions, showing us a region of Canada that is beautiful but isolated from the rest of civilization. Only stout-hearted souls are brave enough to endure the loneliness of the country and survive on their own. These Albertans are strong people who have come to expect hardship. They do not regard life as easy, but they do not complain. As a Mountie, Mike is required to live in these isolated outposts and protect and serve the villagers, but the villagers themselves choose to stay, wanting to create a new settlement and make a better life for themselves and their children. 

When Kathy first arrives at Fort Wilderness, the second outpost Mike gets transferred to, she is amazed at the other women's patience and courage. But the coldness and ruggedness of some of these women frighten her and she fears that in ten or twenty years she will turn into the kind of people she and Mike were sent out to aid. It is not until she sees the lifestyle of these hearty folk that she realizes the comforts and conveniences of the city that she took for granted. Women give birth to babies without doctors or medication and parents must be grateful if their children lose only a limb in an accident or an epidemic and not their life. So many women that she speaks to talk of their "first" family and their "second" family, since they often lost all of their children at once to some malady. To Kathy it seems as though life in the wilderness is not living at all, but merely surviving and she begins to wonder if she should have just stayed in Boston. 

Mrs. Mike is a gentle drama and a very entertaining picture. It is a testimony to all pioneers who had the courage to venture into unknown lands and create settlements. In addition to Powell and Keyes, the film also features K.M Kerrigan, Angela Clarke, Will Wright and Nan Boardman. 

Be sure to check out all the other great posts about Canadian films and actors over at the O Canada Great White North Blogathon's main page available here!