And you thought we have it bad: Depression era movies at New York's Film Forum

Fiction films aren't documentaries, but they can nonetheless be a powerful window onto the past.

Case in point: Breadlines & Champagne, Film Forum's February 6mdash;March 5 line up of movies made during the Great Depression. The series is peppered with newsreels and timely cartoons, but what's really amazing is the mainstream Hollywood features. It's a cliche that Hollywood responded to the misery and deprivation of the Depression by churning out frothy entertainments that, for a couple of hours at least, took ordinary people's minds off the fact that they were unemployed, broke and had little reason to believe that things were going to get better any time soon. And like most cliches, it didn't get to be one without being at least partly true.

But let me tell you, there are some pretty stunning surprises lurking in the most unexpected places. The lavish Gold Diggers of 1933, a parade of Busby Berkley musical numbers, ends with a sequence in which desperate, impoverished women (including streetwalker Joan Blondell and African-American housewife Etta Moten, who's got a voice that won't quit and isn't played as any of the stereotypes common at the time), sing about the men who were used up and thrown away by a society that only cared how hard they could work or fight, not what happened to them (or their wives, girlfriends and mothers) after they'd done their duty.

The first half of this clip may strike you as a little slow, but stick it out for the expressionistic WWI scenes, followed by some flat-out Berkely spectacle built around soldiers and homeless men rather than leggy chorines. The chorus, "Remember my forgotten man," alludes to a 1932 campagn speech in which Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke of "the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid."

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt later asked Moton to sing "Forgotten Man" at FDR's birthday party in 1934, making her the first black woman to sing in the White House.




Gold Diggers is showing on March 1, on a double bill with Footlight Parade.

The series also includes Frank Borzage's Man's Castle (1933), in which footloose tramp Bill (Spencer Tracy) invites destitute Trina (Loretta Young) to share his Hooverville shack in Central Park (for those unfamilair with the term, a Hooverville was a shanty town and yes, there was one in Central Park), warns her that he's a ramblin' man and gets her pregnant anyway. Yes, it's a romantic fairy tale, but it's a fairy tale shot through with painful reality. Just as My Man Godfrey (1936) is a screwball comedy. But it's a comedy in which which madcap heiress Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard), playing scavenger hunt with her obscenely rich friends, impulsively hires the homeless hobo (William Powell) she finds in an East River garbage dump to be her dysfunctional family's butler. Can you say, "the unfortunate make great accessories?"

Sure, bum "Godfrey Smith" is really a wealthy Bostonian financier who went to pieces after a failed love affair and found redemption among homeless men who somehow maintained their dignity and human decency in the face of poverty and societal indifference. And yes, he eventually rescues the socialite's clueless family from financial ruin, hires his out-of-work friends to staff the glitzy riverside night club he names "The Dump" and marries the fundamentally decent, if flighty, Irene. But let me tell you, the scene in which "Godfrey" takes his old friend Tommy Gray to the squalid "village of forgotten men" and tells him that "the only difference between a derelict and a man is a job" packs an emotional punch.

Man's Castle will be shown on February 7th, 8th and 9th, while Godfrey is scheduled for February 14th, Valentine's Day, on a double bill with Mitchell Leisen's Easy Living.

The complete schedule will be posted on Film Forum's site soon.

All robots go to heaven...

Stuntman and actor Bob May, the man inside the robot that regularly stole scenes from every member of the cast of TV's Lost in Space, died yesterday, January 18, 2009, at the age of 69.

May wasn't the voice of Robot B9, who warned "Danger, Will Robinson!" That was announcer Dick Tufeld. And the story is that May was cast because he happened to be on the lot one day and producer Irwin Allen told him that if the robot suit fit, he had a gig. But kids loved the robot, and when they grew up they loved May, who made regular appearances at memorabilia shows and sci-fi/autograph conventions. May's website, Robot B-9.com is here.

Robot B9 is sometimes referred to as "Robby," though May's suit wasn't the same design as the Robby the Robot from the classic sci-fi movie Forbidden Planet (1956). But the confusion is understandable: Both Robby and B9 were designed by veteran art director/producrtion designer Robert Kinoshita, and they look like cousins. Not Identical cousins, but cousins nonetheless; Robby even appeared on the Lost in Space episodes War of the Robots and Condemned of Space. Freaky, man!

Bob May's grandfather was vaudevillian Chic Johnson, of the Swedish-American comedy team Olsen and Johnson — their anarchic comedy Crazy House (1943) is a favorite of Quentin Taratino's. As a small child, May appeared in their comedy revue "Hellzapoppin," which was made into a film in 1941, its total unavailability on commercial video or DVD is a matter of ongoing dismay to many readers who wrote me during the years I did my Ask FlickChick (scroll past the first item) column for TVGuide.com.

May went on to appear in movies, cabaret and TV, apparently impressing everyone with whom he worked as a lovely man. He will be missed.

Watchmen set free!

Warner Brothers and 20th-Centur Fox have come to terms over Watchmen, which means that Zack Snyder's eagerly awaited adaptaion of the Alan Moore-Dave Gibbons graphic novel will open on March 9th, as announced.

The alwsuit that put the film's release in jeopardy hinged on rights ownership, with Fox claiming that it had had the right to distribute the film because it had purchased rights to the graphic novel back in 1986, and that producer Larry Gordon had obligations to Fox when he took Watchman to Warners, even though he was unable to get the film made at Fox (and, subsequently, Universal and Paramount).

As is so often the case in Hollywood, money fixed everything — a lot of money. See the Variety story for details.

Farewell, Prisoner Patrick McGoohan...

Actor Patrick McGoohan died yesterday at the age of 80. Call me perverse: I like The Prisoner, but I love Secret Agent/Danger Man.

I know, I know: The Prisoner was a thinking man's fantasy series, so far ahead of the curve that it looped back on itself like a moebius strip. And it was totally cool.

But I was hooked by McGoohan's John Drake in the B&W Secret Agent (1960-'61, 1964-'67). I was too young to have followed either version of the series when it was new, but I caught up with Secret Agent in syndication in the late 1970s (around the same time I discovered the magnificently pessimistic The Fugitive), and I couldn't get enough of its vision of a principled espionage agent trying to navigate in an increasingly amoral world. Secret Agent had a touch of The Avengers' pop surreality, but its primary appeal was as a corrective to the boys' own adventure excesses of the James Bond novels and films.

Born in Astoria, Queens, on March 19, 1928, McGoohan's family moved back to Ireland shortly after he was born. He began acting in the early 1950s, starting on stage and segueing into UK television in 1954. He knocked around in supporting TV and movie roles for several years, including one of my favorite films as a child, 1964's The Three Lives of Tomasina, about the travails of a plucky puss cat. Secret Agent's original incarnation, Danger Man, didn't last long. But version 2.0, Secret Agent, made McGoohan an international star.
And I can't help but feel that show's appeal was due at least in part to Johnny Rivers' amazing version of Steve Barri and P.F. Sloan's title song. I can't tell you how many times I heard it covered in the 1970s and '80s — I especially like the version by a long forgotten NYC band called Crayola — and I even own a 45 single. And it sounds as good today as it did 40 years ago -- one of my co-workers at TVGuide.com used it as his ring tone and it was awesome.



McGoohan's The Prisoner was a stroke of genius, the surreal story of what happened when a secret agent who bore a remarkable resembleance to John Drake decided to leave the spy game. Everytime I read that Hollywood filmmaker wants to remake it, I die a little inside.

McGoohan had a fine post-Secret Agent/Prisoner career, but for me — and, I suspect, many others — he's always be some version of John Drake.

Slumdog sweeps Golden Globes and more...

Let's get this out of the way first: The Golden Globe Awards are nutty and people take them way too seriously. Whatever your issues with the Academy Awards, they at least represent the collective opinion of close to 6000 filmmakers &mdash writers, actors, directors, cinematographers, editors, production designers et al.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is made up of fewer than 100 people who cover the American movie scene for non-US publications. Most aren't even critics and again, whatever you think of movie critics in general, they write about movies. Not industry news, not celebrities, not gossip. Movies.

That said, HFPA does a great awards show, mostly because rather than trap the nominees,presenters and guests in theater seats for three hours, they have them at tables where they can eat and drink until they get their moment in the spotlight. Especially drink. Liquoring people up and then giving them the floor can make for some great TV. Do you really think Darren Aronofsky would have playfully given Mickey Rourke the finger when Rthe actor called him "one tough son of a bitch" if they'd been at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. Nuh-uh.

And now, some thoughts:

Go Slumdog Millionaire: The Dickensian fable took four major awards — best drama, director for Danny Boyle, screenplay for Simon Beaufoy and score for Bollywood legend A.R. Rahman — more than any other film.

Given that HFPA is the foreign press association, why are their foreign-language film picks so relentlessly middle of the road. You'd think that if any group might recognize underappreciated foreign films like Jar City and Let the Right One In, it would be this one.

Ditto the animated film nominees: French filmmaker Michel Ocelot's Azur and Asmar, anyone? It wouldn't have stood a chance of winning against Wall-E, but a nomination might have raised its profile a little.

Great night for Kate Winslet, who walked away with both the best actress/drama and the best supporting actress awards. Thank goodness one was for Revolutionary Road, directed by her husband, Sam Mendes. If she'd won an award for The Reader and Revolutionary Road had wound up completely unrecognized (it was nominated in several categories, but Winslet's was the only win) things might have been a little chilly on the homefront.

The HFPA doeswn't have seperate categories for original and adapted screenplays; curiously, every one of this years nominees was an adaptation. Coincidence, or a sign of the grim way in which Hollywood business practices make it much harder to produce an original screenplay than one that comes with some kind of pre-sell, whether its the nostalgic appeal of an old TV show or the imprimateur of an acclaimed novel or play?

You could make a solid argument that Sean Penn should have won best actor/drama for Milk, but I was really glad to see the award go to Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler. Penn has always gotten his critical due, and Rourke hasn't; he may be a legendary pain in the ass (as is Penn, come to think of it), but he's a hugely talented actor and he did some of the best work of his career in The Wrestler, even if much of it was just exposing his ruined face to the camera's merciless eye.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona was a comedy? Kudos to Colin Farrell for his best actor/comedy or musical win for In Bruges , and not just because it was directed by one Martin McDonagh. To the best of my knowledge, we're not related, though "McDonagh" is the least common spelling of a relatively unusual name. Christopher Nolan, really lovely acceptance speech on behalf of the late Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight.

Complete Golden Globe Nominees and Winners in Film Categories:

BEST MOTION PICTURE/DRAMA
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
*Slumdog Millionaire

BEST MOTION PICTURE/MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Burn After Reading
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Mamma Mia!
*Vicky Cristina Barcelona

BEST DIRECTOR
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road
*Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

BEST SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Roth
Doubt, John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan
The Reader, David Hare
*Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhof Complex, Germany
Everlasting Moments, Sweden/Denmark
Gomorrah, Italy
I've Loved You for so Long, France
*Waltz with Bashir, Israel

BEST ANIMATED MOTION PICTURE
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
*WALL-E

BEST ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE / DRAMA
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kristin Scott Thomas, I've Loved You So Long
*Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

BEST ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE/COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Rebecca Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
*Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Frances McDormand, Burn After Reading
Meryl Streep, Mamma Mia!
Emma Thompson, Last Chance Harvey

BEST ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE/DRAMA
Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
*Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

BEST ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE/COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
*Colin Farrell, In Bruges
James Franco, Pineapple Express
Brendan Gleeson, In Bruges
Dustin Hoffman, Last Chance Harvey

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
*Kate Winslet, The Reader

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE
Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Ralph Fiennes, The Duchess
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Frost/Nixon
*Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Down to Earth," WALL-E
"Gran Torino," Gran Torino
"I Thought I Lost You," Bolt
"Once in a Lifetime," Cadillac Records
*"The Wrestler," The Wrestler