From the Archives: Good Neighbor Sam ( 1964 )

Jack Lemmon as Sam Bissell, proudly posing with his "junk art" in this publicity photo from Good Neighbor Sam ( 1964 ). As Bissell's mother so aptly put, "I don't know a thing about art, I just know what I don't like". Such a great comedy film. 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store : http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures

Le Voyage en ballon ( 1960 ) aka Stowaway in the Sky

After the success of the award-winning short film The Red Balloon ( Le Ballon Rouge, 1956 ), French director Albert Lamorisse embarked on creating a feature-length film with a similar visual emphasis to the narrative.

Le Voyage en Ballon follows the journey of an inventor/balloonist ( André Gille ) and his stowaway grandson Pascal ( Pascal Larmorisse ) as they circle high above the skies around France. The boy is delighted to join his grandfather on his adventure and we, the audience, are able to share in this young balloonist's view of France, soaring high above Brittany, sailing along the southern coast, and traversing the Alps. 

This scenic tour of the country is reminiscent of PBS's travel series "Visions of..." which featured helicopter aerial footage of France, Italy, Germany, England, etc. accompanied by classical and regional music. 

Le Voyage en Ballon has a storyline but it is the view of France itself that takes center stage. Jean Prodromides composed a magnificent soundtrack to accompany the tour with each piece tailored to the featured location of the scenes. The segment featuring "Les grands voiliers - Goëmons" ( "The Tall Ships" ) is especially grand and the music seems to capture in its melody the rich history of the men at sea as well as the thrill that Pascal feels of seeing sailing vessels racing on the open waters. 

This little boy was director Albert Lamorisse's son Pascal. He had previously starred in Le Ballon Rouge and later, when his father was killed in a helicopter crash while filming the documentary Le Vent des amoureux ( The Lover's Wind ), Pascal and his mother completed the picture. Today, he oversees his father's film company and the restoration of his short films. 

Le Voyage en ballon also featured Maurice Baquet as Tout-Tout the mechanic, a character similar to Passepartout from Around the World in 80 Days. He is a loyal companion to the balloonists but has a tendency to get himself into mischief. 

In the United States, Le Voyage en ballon was issued as Stowaway in the Sky two years later with Jack Lemmon as narrator. Lemmon loved the picture so much that he purchased the American release rights to it. The film was beautifully filmed in Eastman color and was nominated for a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1960. 

Currently, it is not available on DVD but the English-narrated version can be found online. 

Jack Lemmon Delivers a Patriotic Speech

Happy Birthday America! You're a grand old gal, and at 240 years old, you're looking as young as you ever did. And Happy Independence Day to all of our readers! 

There are a lot of great classic films to watch on this day ( if you don't plan on enjoying the fireworks ) but I wanted to share this clip from a very unlikely July 4th film - It Happened to Jane ( 1962 ) starring Doris Day. I doubt that anyone views this movie as a patriotic classic, but if you look at its message - and the small-town American charm it exudes ( plus the presence of Miss America, Doris Day, herself ) - it really is quite fitting for Independence Day. 

The film focuses on a young widow ( Day ) who operates a lobster-farming business in Maine. One day a shipment of 100 lobsters gets returned to her because her client, a restaurant, claimed they were dead-on-arrival. The culprit is the Eastern and Portland Railroad, who let the lobster sit in a warehouse over the weekend. She turns to her dear friend and lawyer ( Jack Lemmon ) to ask that she be reimbursed from the train company. A few days pass and they oblige, only by then Day doesn't want to accept the amount offered for the dead lobsters because her business reputation has been ruined by the incident in the meantime. No restaurant will take the risk of buying dead lobsters. When her small case is brought to court it snowballs into a town event; later, when a big-town newspaper picks up on the story, she becomes a national hero, a "David" who is attempting to knock down a "Goliath" of big enterprise.

The town initially is in great support of her....until the president of the railroad company cancels all trains in and out of their town, then they blame her for the trouble they're in. It's at that moment that mild-mannered lawyer George Denham stands up and addresses the town hall: 

Professor Fate of "The Great Race" ( 1965 )

Blogathon season is in full force and Speakeasy, Shadows and Satin, and Silver Screenings have teamed up to devise the fiendishly clever Great Villain Blogathon to add to the mix. In our opinion there is no dastardly scheming archetypal villain greater than Professor Fate and so, naturally, we have chosen to spotlight him as our contribution to the event. 

The maniacal evil laugh of Professor Fate rings throughout The Great Race, Blake Edward's 1965 epic homage to the Golden Age of slapstick comedy. When he is not playing his four-tiered player-organ, Fate spends his energy hatching deviously diabolical plans to foil the Great Leslie. His all consuming passion is to become the greatest daredevil in the world, and only the tan-faced, spotlessly clean, lily-white clad Leslie stands in his way. When Leslie proposes a world-wide automobile race - the ultimate test in endurance - Professor Fate cannot resist the challenge to prove his superiority and what results is a wild and wacky adventurous match of two of the greatest slapstick daredevils filmdom has ever seen. 

Blake Edwards had great success in the early 1960s with such blockbuster hits as Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark, but he had yet to make a epic comedy ( which he later became known for ) in the vein of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World ( 1963 ).

The Great Race was to be his greatest comedy to date and, with such lofty intentions in mind, he plunged the generous sum of $6 million dollars into the project. Natalie Wood was - reluctantly - cast as the beautiful heroine of the picture, Maggie DuBois, a spunky suffragette who was always more than willing to put herself in peril for "the cause". 

Robert Wagner was Edwards original choice for Leslie Gallant III, but when he turned it down Edwards offered it to Charleton Heston, who thought it highly amusing, but nevertheless declined the part as well. George Peppard and Burt Lancaster were also considered before Tony Curtis was given the part ( Jack Warner's original choice ). 

" Ha, ha, ha.....Haaaaaaaa! "

While choices for the lead actors were hopping to and fro, there was no doubt in Edwards mind that Jack Lemmon was the man he wanted as Professor Fate. Complete with curling mustache, black cape and his sinister crooked top hat, Lemmon created a magnificent character role that defined what we have come to know as cliches of the "master villain". 

Peter Falk, who had given a marvelous performance as the Brooklyn taxi cab driver in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was cast as Professor Fates faithful servant, mechanic, henchman, and all-around dog, Max. Kennan Wynn, Arthur O'Connell, Dorothy Provine, Vivian Vance, and Larry Storch rounded out the "Great" cast. 

The Great Race took five months to complete and by the time it was ready for release, the enormous sum of $12,000,000 had been racked up on its bill. It became the most expensive comedy every made. In spite of Edward's great hopes for the film, it floundered desperately upon its initial release, with critics giving it mixed reviews ranging from "weak" to "adequate" in terms of belly-laugh ratings. Since then it has gained an enormous following with Professor Fate's engaging character being one of its most notable drawing features.

Professor Fate's Inventions

For years Fate and Leslie have been building elaborate contraptions to break speed records, soar to new heights, and make ladies swoon in terror of their unabashed bravery and continually Fate has tried to sabotage Leslie and send him to his doom. When the Great Leslie announces he will strap himself in a stray-jacket, hang upside down while an air balloon carries him high in the sky and wriggle free in time to descend safely to the ground, Fate is there - with a missile in hand - prepared to shoot him down. 

Like Wiley Coyote, destroying Leslie becomes Fate's all-consuming passion and he is ever ready with his ACME inventions to hail disaster down on his singular enemy. 

" Maaaaaaaaax!!!! "

When the Great Leslie attempts to break the speed record on water in his glittering white speedboat, Professor Fate and Max bring out their latest sound-seeking torpedo to blow him to smithereens. The plan backfires on him.

When the Great Leslie announces that he will drive the custom-built Leslie Special in an automobile race to end all automobile races, Fate hovers above in a two-cycled powered miniature zeppelin, prepared to destroy the car before it is even unveiled. He blows himself and Max up.

Fate is not just foiling the Great Leslie at every chance he can get....he is busily working at establishing himself as a great daredevil too. However, while Leslie has women swarming around him with puckered lips ready for kissing, the only crowds Fate manages to draw are jeering children and skeptical reporters. With his skull-faced equipment and loyal Max by his side, Fate always attempts the impossible, begins to get away with it...and then finds himself covered in the dirt of a humiliating crash. 

When the Great New York to Paris automobile race is announced, Fate takes up the gauntlet and enters himself and his greatest invention to date into the race - the Hannibal Twin-8. This machine, which hardly resembles an automobile, was built with endurance and villainy in mind. It features six wheels ( complete with caterpillar tracks ), an ice-melting heat iron, miniature cannon, smoke generator and an escalating mechanism. 

Jack Lemmon took the typical silent-era style villain and raised him to magnificent heights in his portrayal of Professor Fate, creating a character that entices the audience to hiss, jeer, boo, and cheer all in one breath. What other villain inspires children to write "Fate is a Fink" on the gates outside his house? He is a failure through and through ( even his initials bring to mind the dreaded school grade of "F" ) and yet one can't help applauding him for his marvelously cunning mind and unstoppable drive. 

Professor Fate became such an inspiring creation that Hanna-Barbera continued the character on in their cartoonified Great Race animated series, The Wacky Races. Fate became the famous Dastardly Dan, while Max was incarnated into what he truly was - a big shaggy dog. Today, children the world over still love these cartoons and they are introducing them to the great film that is The Great Race. 

Hot Like Sugar

Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in a scene from the classic Billy Wilder comedy "Some Like it Hot" ( 1959 ). Sugar Kane and Jerry are having a ball while Joe poses as the millionaire heir to Shell Oil. When Some Like it Hot was released it was issued a "C" rating from the National Legion of Decency and this film, along with Hitchcock's Psycho, contributed to the end of the Production Code. Well, some like it hot and some do not.