I think most would say that Farrah Fawcett gave two very good performances: The Burning Bed and Small Sacrifices. I'll give her one of those, but I actually think her best performance is here in "Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story," a sudser that is a gift to any actress because Barbara Hutton's life had everything dramatic imaginable. There's so much to play here! In the three miniseries about some of the 20th Century's wealthiest women, this one is right in the middle. "Little Gloria, Happy At Last," is sublime, even if it's only about Gloria Vanderbilt as a young child. "Too Rich" with Lauren Bacall as Doris Duke is a lot tougher to get through than the others. This one is right in the middle with Farrah ideally cast as tragic oft-married Barbara Hutton.
Let's go back to 1917, where F.W. Woolworth (Burl Ives) is opening his 150th store. He's giving a speech at the opening, giving Burl Ives a cheesy speech into which to sink his considerably over-ripe chops and then gives an even harsher one to his daughter, who has married Franklyn Hutton (brother of E.F.), all of this witnessed by five-year-old Barbara, his granddaughter. Old F.W.'s speech about the lout Franklyn reminds his daughter all super rich people need to start life out on a tragic foot (or at least the rich who make it to TV, and let's face it, Barbara's life was TV-ready the whole time it was happening), so she kills herself so Barbara can have that drama. Yup, less than five minutes after the credits, Mom is dead. But not pretty on the bed with her hands clasped, slumped in a couch in a fluffy nightgown.
Franklyn Hutton (Kevin McCarthy) isn't much of a father either, giving Barbara the old "Mommy is in heaven" speech and then heaping presents on her instead of his love. Absentee parentism, another theme of these pieces. Franklyn, seemingly on one glass of wine, gets raging drunk and goes into dinner with the Woolworth family, where old F.W. is anything but pleased and the rest of the family pecks at hime. His speech about anyone being able to parent a child is heard by Barbara, setting up a complex that will haunt Barbara for the rest of her life (both a good Psychiatrist and anyone who watches these types of movies will tell you that).
Barbara is packed off to live with her grandparents, though Mrs. Woolworth doesn't have any lines and F.W. dies after a frightening scene explaining the scary organ he plays in the middle of the night to Barbara. Franklyn still can't be bothered to play father, but laughs to remind everyone that F.W. died before making a will leaving everything to charity, so once Granny dies, Barbara gets a massive fortune. The governess notes that Franklyn left without saying goodbye to Barbara (now Fairuza Balk, who is supposed to be 12 even though it's only two years later in the story--Barbara was born in 1912). Barbara has no friends, so the servants wrangle some up, but they are rather bitchy, setting up a second theme, that of Barbara giving away anything she has to people who pay her attention so they will like her. The girls traipse out with everything but a chotchke from her mother (Barbara won't part with it, so the nastiest little girl in TV history whines, "then what can I take?").
Granny Woolworth kicks and Barbara gets a house and a stepmother at the same time, only dad and stepmom live next door, leaving Barbara all alone in her house with only servants. The poor thing sits at her window at New Year's watching a hearty party next door. Cousin Jimmy Donahue, playing the gay best friend role (yes, even as a child), pops by to note how "different" they are from everyone else. They promise always to stay together.
And finally Farrah takes over as Barbara, with eternal sidekick Bruce Davison as Jimmy. She's at her own coming out party where Franklyn name drops, but Barbara is unimpressed. She still has no friends except Jimmy, as everyone is forced to be there. Aunt Marjorie Merriweather Post (Anne Francis) is kind to her, but all of the girls, now grown up, are as spiteful as possible. But, they introduce her to Prince Mdvani (Nicholas Clay), an impossibly handsome fellow. "If a guy's going to marry awful rich, he better be very in love," a drunk guy notes, which Barbara overhears, hammering in our theme again. "I feel like I've been entered at the Westminster Kennel show," Barbara glowers, while men drool after her money.
Barbara is packed off to London to meet the royal family to get her away from her lover, whom drunk Franklyn thinks is a drunk who wants to marry for money (no irony there, eh?). She meets all the royals, but things finally get going when Barbara is invited to France by Elsa Maxwell (played as a bull dyke by Miriam Margoyles). It's there she again meets Prince Mdvani. He says all the right things to her, that "people will always be fascinated by you," but lays on the charm as only an impoverished Prince from Georgia (not the state) can. Most importantly, he pretends to be into Barbara for Barbara herself. Barbara also meets Pauline de la Rochelle (Stephane Audan), who is sympathetic to her plight. Moments later, Barbara hears the latest song rage, "I Found a Million Dollar Baby (In a Five and Ten Cent Store)" and is horrified. "Doris Duke has more money than me," she bleats, begging people not to talk about her money. Pot and kettle?
Prince Mdvani, still making it all about Barbara, gets his woman into bed in an overly under-lit scene where he starts at her toes and works works up, only to be interrupted by a gaggle of "friends," one of whom purposely brought everyone to the cabana to show them together.
It's now 1931 and Franklyn arrives in London (Barbara stays at The Dorchester, where Liz and Dick would stay years later) to talk Barbara out of playing around with Prince Mdvani, who is, oh, I didn't mention this, married. Franklyn offers $500K to Prince Mdvani to go away, and the Prince and his sister insist it's all about love. The sister would be happy to take $1 million, $500K apiece, and the Prince informs Franklyn he's getting a divorce. The sister gets the wife to divorce Prince Mdvani so they can get to Barbara, but Barbara and her loyal friend Jean (Zoe Wanamaker) are onto the scheme, but Barbara wants Prince Mdvani to work for it and makes him chase her around the world. He finds her in Bali, where they FINALLY get to finish that sex scene started earlier. They force Franklyn to announce their engagement and Prince Mdvani fires off a cable to his sister. "I've won the prize."
The Prince and Franklyn make a business deal before the marriage, making sure we understand he's doing this for the money. Barbara is upset, still thinking the Prince loves her as she loves him, but dad tells her the blunt truth. Farrah gets her first hot-tempered scene and she handles it well. She goes through with the marriage anyway. On their wedding night, Barbara coos about how much she loves his body and he tells her she's too fat. She still buys him a boat, a small one, dependable Pauline clucking her disapproval. "He's a baby really, a big baby," Barbara says, as if that's a good trait in a new husband.
As her bastard wastrel husband spends her money and squires around other women, we get a bizarre montage of Barbara's weight loss regime, which is essentially Farrah in a series of increasingly less padded outfits. With Barbara about to take control of her own fortune the way she has her figure, suddenly the Prince wants her again. After a jewel buying spree, Barbara loses her temper on the Prince, but he manipulates the conversation to his advantage, as usual. Barbara tosses the Prince's clothing into the Venice canals, yelling, "you forgot your marriage!"
Barbara comes into her own money and spends it so fully that we have to suffer through a ridiculous scene where Barbara and the Prince are attached at the theater by the Depression-era poor.
Barbara meets Count Reventlow (making sure to knock down the Prince's empty title), a Danish prince who enchants Barbara, and Jimmy too. Prince Mdvani is less excited. The Count helps Barbara forget the increasingly horrid behavior of the Prince, who is clearly on his way out. Since the movie is about Barbara, we have to make sure all non-Barbara characters who fell out of her favor are painted in the worst light, so Prince Mdvani gets a scene of such bad behavior that they actually have him fallen on the floor laughing like a true movie villain.
Franklyn goes to her side and is not helpful in telling her to curb her cursing. "Watch your language! What's your language! Why can't you just hold me?" Barbara howls. It's hard not to laugh at dialogue like that. That scene has to be topped by one with the Prince. "You never really loved me, did you?" she asks Mdvani, who doesn't deny he and his sister wanted the money.
Ta-ta Prince Mdvani, hello Count Reventlow, who seems far more down-to-earth than the Prince. "We live in castle, but it's not a fairy-tale castle, just a big family home," he says. Is that supposed to sound unpretentious or are we supposed to take that seriously? The Count promises to protect Barbara, who needs that attention, as we've known since Mom left her (I will not allow anyone to forget out themes--if the movie isn't subtle, I don't have to be!).
Hold on for the hoot scene where Reventlow tells her he is excited by being in control of her and then screws her in a horse stable. And then on a train. Barbara doesn't seem to see the warning signs here.
In the middle of her time with Reventlow, Prince Mdvani is killed. Just thought you would want to know what happened to her first ex. The movie cares enough to tell us.
Barbara gets pregnant by Reventlow, to the dismay of Jean and Jimmy, who seem to know she's not exactly a candidate for motherhood. Barbara tells Reventlow to "come here" in a sweet moment, but he tells her once again she can never give orders (orders?) and then has his way with her again. Barbara, still anorexic from her time with the Prince, neglects to eat, much to the Count's dismay and goes into premature labor.
Reventlow won't let Jimmy or "his friends" hold little Lance, because, well, you know. "I may be a queen, but I earned my title," Jimmy snaps, delivering the movie's best line and waking it momentarily from the stupor of dull husbands into which it's fallen.
It's the 1930s, so any rich dame with a kid gets kidnapping threats and Barbara buys a house outside of London, which Reventlow fixes up for about $5 million. Barbara carps at the money, but he gives her the "I'm in charge" speech again.
We meet Baron Von Cramm (Sascha Hehn), a famous tennis player and Barbara is smitten (I hate to ruin any surprises, but don't get too attached to him yet because there are three husbands after Reventlow before she marries him). Reventlow is jealous, but there are bigger problems. There is a strike against Woolworth's and Reventlow tosses away a cable asking for help. Barbara is very concerned about the poor workers (as if) and she is even more upset that he's still controlling her. He gets physically abusive. Yet Barbara doesn't want to divorce him because she wants her son to grow up with two parents living with him, unike the zero she had. Reventlow, supposedly to save her money, wants her to renounce her US citizenship. But, Franklyn's lawyer pipes in that all of the money will technically become Reventlow's, so another hubby contract has to be signed. He agrees, so Barbara renounces her citizenship, barely holding back tears and wearing make-up to make her look as haggard and upset as possible, though the fur and jewels must be helping her feel better. All of this pisses off the strikers at Woolworth's even more. One of the four (we're not spending money on extras when we have jewels and husbands to pay for) throws a trash can through a Woolworth's window.
Pauline convinces Barbara to buy some fabulously expensive jewels to help her feel better. Just then, dead Prince Mdvani's sister shows up, poor and sickly. Cue an explosion from Reventlow, who see the sister holding Lance and forbids it ever again because she's a morphine addict. He wants all "undesirables" out of her life. Sound Nazi-like? It should, because the Nazis are on the move and Von Cramm is not a Nazi sympathizer.
Even worse, Reventlow takes her to a sex club, where she is horrified and when they get home, he rapes her because she behaved so poorly. To add insult to literal injury, Reventlow takes Lance as he dashes from their house.
The divorce proceedings in 1937 are a circus in the British courts. Reventlow accuses Barbara of having affairs, but can't prove it and Barbara gets to provide evidence of his cruelty. The trial is having an effect on Lance, who has to sleep in an oxygen tent. Oh, and World War II is on its way and Barbara's friends urge her to leave, to ask for Joe Kennedy for help, but Barbara has less than fond memories of that womanizer. Unfortunately, Barbara is no longer an American citizen, so going back to the US will not be easy. Want another level of misery? Von Cramm is arrested in Germany on a charge of homosexuality. Want another level? Loyal Pauline gives Barbara some pills to help calm her nerves. You know that that leads to in a TV miniseries...addiction! Oh, yes, always.
As World War II advances, Barbara and Lance go to Los Angeles and the notorious Countess Difrasso, who raises money for the war effort. Barbara matches all money raised, but the tit-for-tat is that the Countess can help get Von Cramm out of Germany.
Since it's LA, it's time to meet husband #3, and the most famous of them all, Cary Grant (James Read, looking fantastic and doing a dead-on impersonation), the only one who didn't marry her for her money. The hook here for Barbara is that Cary is every bit as famous as her, so they are sympatico. On top of that, Cary seems to adore Lance from the beginning (taking him in his arms so he can dance with Cary and Barbara). However, this means for the oft-bedraggled viewer that Barbara as a character is given some depth and introspection. Depth isn't a strong suit of this type of fluff. It gives Farrah a chance to stretch a little, but making Cary Grant the indoor anti-fame whore type isn't as interesting as scandalous Mdvani or beastly Reventlow.
Barbara is fighting for Von Cramm's release (spied on by the Americans since the money to do it is going through Axis channels) and there is yet MORE bad news: Franklyn is dying. When Franklyn says he loves her, Barbara whines, "don't say that now. I needed to hear it then!" This launches her into a tantrum about the way he's treated her as Kevin McCarthy gets to play one hell of a deathbed scene, with tears, recriminations and confessions, just the stuff of Emmy nominations...I mean, good television. Note that as she holds his hand for the last time, Barbara is wearing a diamond that would make Elizabeth Taylor jealous. She immediately tells her son she loves him, so as not to be the same parent her father was.
Though Cary is so sympathetic when Barbara finds out she can't have children, he adores Lance and he ignores her increasing pill addiction, out of nowhere, they have a fight. He hates being "Cary Grant" to her friends and she thinks he spends too much time without her. "I hate Cary Grant!" she bellows as he storms out. "I love Cary Grant," she whispers to herself when he leaves. But folks, that ain't the end of it. The studio wanted to put Barbara in a Cary Grant movie and he refused. "I'll buy the studio and fire you," she shouts, but it ends up in laughter (I was already laughing, because Barbara was discussing throwing her maid a party where all the guests come as maids and all the maids as her friends and her maid can wear her jewels).
Barbara is given that moment of levity with Cary, but life is not rosy. Lance goes to visit his father and Mrs. His Father finds his name stitched in his clothing as "Lance Grant" and coded letters to Barbara. Just when you thought screeching Reventlow was out of the picture, he returns to create more drama. Reventlow is so angry, he wants to take Lance somewhere Barbara can never see him. And, if you are the type who cares about history, World War II ends.
So does marriage to Cary, as they both realize it hasn't been working. Barbara gets Lance away from Reventlow and parks him in boarding school in Tucson, but on the way, they stop at a drive-thru where waitress on roller skates seeing Barbara crash into each other. This is the reason why Lance can't stay with Barbara, who needs to keep on the move. "Look what just happened. All I have to do is walk down the street and someone ends up in the hospital," she explains to Lance. With a straight face. As if ego like that is healthy. Do we know a rich TV or movie character with a child who doesn't get tossed into boarding school, putting her life ahead of the kid's? Of course not!'' Have we fogotten about poor Ann Grenville's kid? He jumped out the window due to absentee partenting.
Babsy licks her wounds in Europe, going to fancy parties wearing tiaras, helping prop Jimmy up (he was booted from the army with a dishonorable discharge) and giving jewelry to Pauline. Best of all, she is reunited with Von Cramm. He seems to be the love of her life, but he has to go back to Germany the next day, so he's put on ice again after they spend a night together.
One place we haven't been is Tangier, so why not go? Barbara can spend a fortune there and remain fairly anonymous. She buys a house, outbidding Franco for it, and her possessions make their way via donkey and men with hats around a set with extras that looks like Mexico more than North Africa. Tangier also gives Bruce Davison a chance to get plastered and ride a camel. Barbara literally dresses like royalty and even gets Lance in on the act when he visits. It is excessive, but she seems happy.
But we can't have happiness for our Barbara, can we? Cue Prince Igor Trubestkoy (Leigh Lawson), another impossible stunning man who asks her what it's like to have everything as a second sentence introducing himself. Rather than run from him, Barbara is drawn. Well, he does have a title, he's good looking and he pays her dutiful attention. We're back to our theme! "I don't want to be dominated and I'm terrified of being alone," Barbara says when he proposes perhaps maybe they should think of kind of falling in love. That line sums up the whole movie, but there's still over an hour to go.
We should worry that when Barbara and Igor, in bed during the above scene, finish it, Barbara goes down on Igor and he wears a look of supreme surprise.
Lance is pissed at Barbara because she won't break the agreement with Reventlow and keep him permanently. "Every time we part, something leaves me," Barbara sighs as angry Lance goes back to his father and Igor doesn't even try to comfort her. He then becomes husband #4, but things immediately turn sour when he objects to her drugs, her anorexia, her smoking (she's a richer Judy Garland, I guess). In Igor's defense, Barbara has turned into a raving bitch. He's trying to help and she snaps at him that he's only unhappy because she's not taking care of him ("I always take care of my husbands," she says with a nasty tone and dismisses him). She even admits to Lance that she doesn't love Igor, but Lance is soooooo over his mother and her nonsense. He tells her to stop calling!
Seven years pass and we find Barbara and Jimmy frail and addicted to an assortment of pills and drink that are all over the place. Igor has been discarded and they chat of soon-to-be husband #5, and my personal favorite, Porfirio Rubirosa (he of pepper mill fame). Lance is now an adult with a girlfriend to whom he wants to introduce Mummy. Barbara is so bad off from the drugs, the booze and the lack of eating that she can't even apply her make-up and stumbles around her house in a haze. It's a sure bet the meeting with Lance's girl will not go well. In fact, Lance and the girl bolt as soon as they walk in because Barbara is too drunk to even stand up.
Then comes her suicide attempt, though it's treated as only a blip. Winchell then tells us the entire history of her marriage to Rubirosa in six seconds. It only lasted that many weeks, or $66,000 a day considering what she spent on him. Lance turns 21 and there is a huge black tie affair, where even Cary Grant and Uncle Jimmy show up, but not Barbara. "Do you think your next father is here today?" Jimmy snarls after Lance introduces him to his fiance Jill St. John (Debbie Barker).
Lance has another surprise: he's now a race car driver. Friends, I don't want to alarm you, but no one in a miniseries becomes a race car driver without, well, you know (although this "you know" will have a twist). Lance has a terrible accident during one race where there is a wildly bad moment of continuity. Every time they show the crowd, it's very obviously stock footage of racing fans from the 80s, rather than the 50s. Barbara is so freaked out that she tries offering Jill money to get Lance to stop, but Jill refuses, saying, "if I can't him to stop for love, I certainly won't do it for money." We have to be nice to the character of Jill as she alone among the major characters was still alive when this movie aired (Prince Igor was still alive, but somehow I doubt he had any sway).
Barbara finally marries Baron Von Cramm, husband #6, the man she's always wanted, but there's a hitch. She sees it firsthand when she bursts into the bedroom one day and finds him with another man. Yeah, that hitch. I hate to side with the Nazis, but they did label him a homosexual and they were right. If it's any consolation, he has excellent taste, because the boy in the bed is hot! Barbara claims to have known all along, but didn't want to know about it. Barbara does depression in an interesting way, buying gifts for her friends, a house for the nanny, a villa for Pauline, pearls for Jean, who turns them down because she is a TRUE friend and wants nothing. With Jean in the room, Barbara hits on Jean's husband, and when they try to talk sense into her, she kicks them to the curb. This is the saddest break-up in the whole movie because Barbara only does it to spare them the agony of watching her downward spiral and they genuinely love her.
In Venice, Countess Barbara, haggard and ridiculous, gives a bracelet to a hanger-on who admires it, but a good-looking stranger, James Douglas (Tony Peck) intervenes, gets her back the bracelet and then goes to bed with her. Pillow talk reveals that he has a trust fund too. James is different, because he not only returns all her gifts, but he also tells her the truth about her drinking, drugging and spending. This monologue he delivers in a multi-colored satin dressing gown, so it's hard to take him seriously. She begs James to stay with her, but he says he'll do it only without her friends, even Pauline. Pauline had lavishly spent Barbara's money, so she should have been tossed years ago, but now we're finally rid of her.
The new couple goes off to Mexico, where she has a Japanese-style mansion, and she summons Lance, who is a pissy little brat. He takes an immediately dislike to young James. He also lays it all on the line for his mother, calling her a "drunken slut." "Face it, you never wanted a child," he says, before reminding her that her father didn't want her and now her son doesn't either. "You son of a bitch," James pipes in. "That's right, I'm a real son of a bitch. Good luck, maybe she'll raise you better than me," Lance carps as he storms out. She decides to to back to Tangier, where she can revel in her riches and ignore the rest of the world.
On the plane over, Farrah gets another showy scene where she's so drunk and hopped up that she has a nervous breakdown in the lavatory, calling out for her nanny and thinking James is Reventlow. She even tries to open the hatch. Things are not going well for our heroine (but great for Farrah).
At a party in Tangier, Barbara doesn't make an appearance and the guests won't leave. "Then pay them to go!" she roars at James, who is still trying to save her. Barbara pushes him away too, as she does all positive influences (Pauline is back with the rest of the leeches). James has no choice but to leave. It was nice knowing him, but watching Barbara crash is more fun, so stick-in-the-mud sober James wasn't going to be around long.
Meet Raymond Doan (Neville Jason) whose brother decides "they" will marry Barbara for her money and plot like greedy children. Their conversation is overheard by a friend, so Pauline and Barbara's boyfriend tell her to watch out, but she takes Raymond's side, getting rid of both of them. Pauline gets a teary "I've been a loyal friend" scene, but frankly, she won't be missed. Barbara quickly marries Raymond, much to the dismay of Cousin Jimmy and Graham, her longtime lawyer (David Ackroyd).
Jimmy has a teary goodbye scene with Barbara, which, by the television playbook should mean he will die in the next scene, but it's Lance who bites it in a plane crash as Barbara is having a nightmare about him. She senses the moment of death. Okay, that's a bit much, even for TV dramatics.
It's 1977 now and Graham has had to sell off Barbara's assets because she has no money. Barbara is basically bedridden, her skin see-through, looking far older than her 60some years. She battles Graham, accusing him of stealing her homes, her jewels and her money. She has nothing left, so Graham rips the pearl necklace off her neck to raise some cash. She tells him she thinks he's "the biggest con artist" she's ever met and dispenses with him too.
The finale has Barbara aged beyond recognition, even down to her wrinkled hands, unable to get out of bed and looking 150 years old. She puts on the finery she has left and accepts a visit from Cary Grant, the only man who didn't use her for her money. Farrah gets her last chance to go for the gold with her deathbed speech, looking horrendously ugly and regretting her life. The narrator tells us Barbara died in 1979, worth less than $3500.
Geez, by the time Barbara divorces Cary Grant, not one good thing happens to her and I'm not sure if "Poor Little Rich Girl" is really a glossy miniseries anymore or a high-budget morality tale. I still go with the former, because if the lesson is don't be like Barbara Hutton, none of us have to worry. There are too few people in the world who could afford that lifestyle, and they probably don't watch miniseries anyway.
Seven husbands, umpteen lovers, bad friends, a dead son, a dead mother, a bad father, a scary grandfather and a gazillion dollars. "Poor Little Rich Girl" came along at exactly the right time, at the height of the 80s flashiness. It made perfect sense at the time and still packs a kick, if only to gape at the reality of Barbara's life, as delivered to us through ideally-cast Farrah Fawcett, who would die her own untimely death after much drama (though not as much as the Hutton dame).
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Monte Carlo (1986)
For those who like their war stories dripping in glamour, or at least the illusion of glamour, there is "Monte Carlo" an utterly ridiculous piece about shenanigans in that pleasure capital during World War II. Believe it or not, "Monte Carlo" has just about everything the serious war miniseries have (Nazis, heroes, diamonds and spies), but this one is all for laughs. Don't get me wrong, everyone in it takes it VERY seriously, especially the leads, but the camp factor is insanely high. Unfortunately, "Monte Carlo" goes on way too long as it glides to a soapy conclusion, but there is a great deal of fun to be had.
Joan Collins, at Katrina Petrovna, steps off the train in Monte Carlo looking every bit the way Joan Collins should look: statuesque, dripping fur, pulling in her cheeks, a complete movie star, or performer as she is here.
Then there is George Hamilton as a washed-up writer, a drunk who manages to sport a tuxedo and look smashing whether in a sports car or in a hotel bar.
Oh, if you care about world events between costume changes, it's World War II and Germany has just swept through Holland on his way to France. Joan does not care. She's renting a house and which blocks of ivy are cut is her biggest worry.
The only person who seems to notice the war is Lauren Hutton, George's lover, who wants to go home to New York City as all her friends have done. He rebuffs her offer to go with her, with no desire to be a "pet writer" she can show off to her high-fallutin' friends. You see, he thinks, as war is bursting out all over, that he will suddenly crash through is writer's block.
At dinner that night, George trades barbs with Peter Vaughn, a German businessman. George manages some snaps at "the little man with the mustache," but Peter matches him with two-snap comments about his lack of writing. We also meet Malcolm McDowell, a friend of George's.
When Joan flounces into the dining room in sleeveless marabou with an Italian officer, most of our leads are present, everyone eyeing everyone. One would expect a body with a knife stuck out of it and Hercule Poirot, but this is a miniseries, not a mystery.
The British command in Monte Carlo decide they need someone to do some easy spying and discuss "a woman" who is there already who can handle the "social contacts." She has apparently done some previously, and as long as she can work a camera, she'll do just fine.
Malcolm is trying to get petrol across the sea when Lisa Eilbacher sees him and decides she wants to know him. Her grandfather has just left her tons of money and she wants to "see Europe while it's still here." Good thing the rich have no worries!
You guessed it! Joan is the woman the Brits were discussing. Indeed she knows how to work a camera, but more surprising to me is the fact that she knows how to wear flats. Yes, our Joan Collins can dress simply and even ride a bike. She's caught taking pictures and pretends not to speak French to avoid giving up her camera, when George shows up to save this damsel by pretending they are tourists from Ohio. Yes, they look like Ohioans. Especially with Joan's British accent. Ah, and FYI, George asks her why she's Russian with an English accent and she has an answer ready. Phew, that solves that issue!
Joan, back in a killer outfit, with heels, a hat and polka dots, goes to drop off the film, but the operation in Monte Carlo has hit some snags and thus ensues a ridiculous conversation in code between Joan and the film developing lady, when it would have been so much easier to just say what they meant, as no one was anywhere near them (okay, Peter is lurking outside, but he wouldn't have heard).
"Believe you me, I'm not a friend to the Nazis...I'm a great admirer of the Jewish people," Malcolm tells a Jewish diamond dealer looking to arrange "transportation." It's all happening so quickly and I don't want you to lose any of the plot threads.
Here comes the hilarity, get ready. In the world's smallest can-can club, the emcee introduces Joan in the audience and begs a song. She demures, not having anything prepared and with a "touch of laryngitis," though it might have been easier to tell the truth: she can't sing! So, she goes into a version of "The Last Time I Saw Paris" that is more breathed than warbled, with her eyes closed half the time. It's supposed to be sexy (not that the song asks for sex), but it's anything but.
The next day, Joan has some spying to do. Remember that ivy she didn't want the caretaker to cut? Well, that's where she hides the microphone! Over and over she orders the servants to do things that will get them conveniently out of the way of her operation, but they just think she's a bitch. One more thing: Joan is a wizard when it comes to Morse Code.
After another evening at the can-can (in all of Monte Carlo, is this the only place to go?) Joan takes her Italian home for spiked brandy. He is all hands on our Joan, wearing a complex gown with very long gloves, but she manages to stop him by complaining of all his metals, as "they are squashing me."
Clement Harari, the Jewish man with the diamonds, brings one to Malcolm, who wants one diamond per person he helps smuggle out of France, but Clement wants one per family. "Some of these families are very large," Malcolm quips, because it's always good to make jokes about those fleeing torture.
Joan's Italian, complete, by the way, with the most phony of Italian accents, wants Joan badly, but she's waiting for her potion to kick in, with every ruse in the female spy handbook, but finally he passes out. This gives Joan the chance to play high comedy, because every time she approaches his pockets, he stirs and she has to stop. She's so versatile, our Joan! She manages to find his papers, steam open the envelope, take pictures and return it to his coat before having his driver take him away.
Our heroine is breaking hearts all over A drunken George wants her, complaining to the bartender. "When I heard that woman sing, it was the first time I'd been to the movies," George says, though I didn't realize why that made any sense until George said her eyes were like Heddy Lamarr's, forcing the bartender to say it like "Eddy" and George corrects him in a goony back and forth that is no preparation for what is about to happen: France surrenders. They made it longer than I did, as I had to get up and take a break after George's drunk scene.
Once again, Lauren is the practical one. She's leaving, but gives George the car and the hotel suite. He swears he'll pay it all back and she cries over their ending affair of six months (yeah, six months).
Peter takes over the fortress in Monaco, despite the fact that they are neutral, though said politely by the police. "You people are behaving like gangsters," the head of police says, but a threatening outburst from Peter reminds him how powerless he is. Neutrality hasn't exactly been a barrier for the Nazis.
The Brits discuss the information Joan has been able to get them, which is pretty important. It seems that Monte Carlo is THE place for Axis meetings and since the Beach Club is actually in French territory, this might be the launch place for an invasion of England. This is a chapter of World War II history I don't remember. They think it's best if "their woman" stays clear of the Beach Club, at the very moment she's making a date with her Italian to be there. I see a climax approaching!
In a drunken attempt to woo Joan, George somehow manages to insult her by insinuating that she hangs out with Fascists ("the little spaghetti with all the medals"). That tactic does not work, alas. Having considerably more luck are Malcolm and Lisa, who stretch a double entrendre about an elevator operation into a big dipping kissing scene. That takes us to the next morning, where George shows up at Joan's to apologize, though he does in a kiss as they discuss where each stands on the war issue. Joan, as a spy, obviously has to play it closed to the shoulder pads and tells him "not to become intrigued by me." Intrigued? Talk about your strong emotions!
Joan has a nigthmare memory about why she got into the whole racket, and it has to do with the murder of a man she loved. It was not, alas, her singing voice.
Malcolm, in the middle of making love to Lisa, is summoned to the fortress by Peter, who actually has one good quality: he doesn't allow smoking. Go figure, a Nazi with health restrictions. Anyway, Peter warns Malcolm not to get involved with the Jews escaping racial quotas. Peter offers more money if Malcolm turns sides and then invites him to, what else, the party at the Beach Club.
All six members of the RAF then plan the raid on the Beach Club. The American on their team (why?) says it will be so easy they may even get to stop and enjoy some women and gambling. We know he's a goner from that speech alone!
Malcolm is chased through the streets of Monte Carlo by the Nazis, but gives them the slip and makes it to Clement where they exchange the jewels for the shipping information. But things are very serious for Joan. She has to make it home by midnight in order to get the latest message from HQ. George tries to stop her again, but she refuses to get involved because he doesn't believe in anything. He's just after a good time. Um, is she trying to tip him off that she's a spy, because she's supposed to be a good time gal herself.
Anyway, Joan races to get home by midnight, but everything gets in her way. She makes it through a road block by pretending she has to get home to a sick child, and for a few autographs, the police let her through. Unfortunately, she's late. The message from HQ was to stay clear of the Beach Club, but she's too late and doesn't get it. The very next scene (lest we forget) shows the RAF planes leaving for Monte Carlo as Joan is reminded of her date at the Beach Club.
And it's a swank affair, naturally. Peter and his Nazi cohorts have spared no expenses. Lisa thinks it's "swell" (if she doesn't have a cover story and is simply this stupid, I'm going to be mighty upset), though Malcolm cautions her that "the place is crawling with Gestapo." George is there, though why he would be invited is any one's guess. Naturally, Joan arrives after everyone is already there, looking fetching in white with an enormous hat. She apologizes to George, because she did bite his head off as she was rushing to get home. He forgives her if she'll dance with him (the planes are getting closer, FYI). The angry Italian sees Joan with George and decides to dance with a woman wearing a similar gown.
"We're going to have an air show!" Lisa chirps, but everyone else realizes it's the RAF and bolts. The Italian is killed with a whole bunch of extras doing the worst death falls in TV history. Joan is horrified when she realizes it was the RAF. That's the end of the movie's first part.
Lisa has been wounded, but Malcolm assures her all will be okay. George drives Joan home. "Why do we always say goodbye or apologize to each other?" George wonders, as if they haven't just been shot at by planes! Joan hustles inside to make contact with HQ, but gets no answer. Make-up smeared, dress torn, Joan slumps in a chair. "How could you do that? How could you do that to all those people?" Joan cries.
Robert Carradine, the American on the RAF team, is shot down (we actually don't see that and I'm not sure who has a gun), ending up in Peter's hands, given some serious dunking in a bathtub. Even the RAF command wonders why an American was flying in the mission. It's a valid question. The RAF decides Joan has to get Robert out of harm's way before he can be shipped to Berlin. This ought to be good!
Lisa can't feel her legs, but the nurse refuses to tell her what the problem is. Only the doctor can help and he's at lunch (how very French of him), but Leslie gets so hysterical that the nurse relents.
Joan goes to her French contacts and they don't want to help because she doesn't know the full code and because they feel they don't have to help. But, Joan, in all her Joan Collins splendor, somehow convinces them. They remind her to know all the code next time or she will end up dead. "Are you always this charming?" she snaps.
Malcolm shows up at Lisa's. She's overwhelmed by the roses he brings (okay, maybe she really is that dim). He's even brought champagne. That will make her forget all about her paralysis. Lisa breaks down into crying incoherence (with no tears), managing to wipe away the rest of the cast's mistakes as she hits the worst acting moment of the miniseries. That's a major achievement.
Joan, returning us to the acting level this piece deserves, goes to the POW camp under the guise of wanting to give a concert in her dead Italian's memory. She then insists on meeting Robert as the other prisoners swarm her for autographs. They haven't heard her sing or they wouldn't be wasting their paper. Joan berates Robert for the raid, but he doesn't know her. "I'm Katrina Petrovna! I'm known throughout Europe," she fumes before attacking him in order to drop a message into his shirt. She's good. Forget Tokyo Rose, our Joan could single-handedly win this war for the Allies.
When Malcolm finds Clement dead, he realizes he needs to get out of neutral Monte Carlo, but he needs a fake passport, which will only cost him $50K.
In the who-the-hell-cares part of the plot, George is still romancing Joan. He's complaining about his time in Hollywood, where he wrote screenplays and bought suits, but he never wrote. Joan talks about her time in boarding school learning to speak British English, but she does miss her dacha in Russia, not to mention her parents, executed by the Reds. The two are lit splendidly, which at least gives us something to watch since nothing we hear is of any consequence at all. The big kiss and bed scene are next, though as George is nibbling away, Joan yet again remembers her lover being mowed down by bullets. She tells George a bogus story and he's gallant enough to listen. Then, realizing he's not getting any, he goes to leave. "There hasn't been anyone since him," she tells George. Really?
Malcolm's room is ransacked, but luckily he's put the incriminating evidence in Lisa's room. She's not using it, after all. He then asks George to take the diamonds to Lisbon for $10K. George is beginning to care about the world around him and asks Malcolm what it's all about. Malcolm then fetches Lisa from the hospital and takes her to her to an expensive lunch. Sure, she's in a wheelchair, but otherwise, she seems just ducky, at least in every other sentence. Sometimes she does blubber and get incoherent again.
Robert escapes from the POW camp in a garbage truck using Joan's intel, and he decides a tuxedo is the best disguise because why would anyone suspect a man in a tuxedo? It's Monte Carlo, I guess he has a point. But, he's such an ugly American, he's bound to screw it up somehow. He goes to the casino, sticking out horribly as his contact's house is raided by Peter and his goons. Joan and George are at the casino and Peter shows up as well. She hustles Robert out and then explains the whole thing to George, whom she asks to help. He's awfully slow on the uptake, but eventually he catches on and slips Robert out from Gestapo clutches.
Malcolm has to leave for Paris because he's in trouble, but he confesses his love for Lisa before he goes. He gets his phony passport, but of course he's been followed the whole way by Peter and his goons in the loudest car in all of France. Malcolm realizes when it's already too late, meaning he has to run AGAIN through the twisting streets of Monte Carlo and ultimately shot. Lisa and George are hauled to the police station and Lisa gets in a howler of a speech in lieu of answering questions. She wonders why it would even help, because they won't put the Gestapo on trial! At his funeral, attended only by George and Lisa, the latter says, "nobody knew Quin. Not even Quinn." But, he had clean shirts. Ah, good to know.
Over with that gloom, George spirits Joan off to the countryside, where he reveals he was wounded in World War I and she admits to speaking French (fair trade, I guess). When a boy's toy gets stuck on Joan's roof, the caretaker goes up to fetch it and discovers her hook-up. It hasn't done her much good lately anyway, now has it. "Who is Katrina Petrovna?" George asks Joan on a long walk after she tells him she doesn't think about the future. "Who are you REALLY?" he pushes, but she squirms out of each question with a kiss or a flirt. Joan refuses to answer any questions, which is a shame, because her caretaker has called Peter to tell him about Joan's apparatus. She could use an ally right about now.
But, she doesn't know that and wants to get it on instead. "Are you sure?" George asks before they maul each other in an appropriately geriatric fashion. Peter and his goons go to the hotel where George and Joan are staying. How in the WORLD did they find out where they were? There literally were no clues. Peter arrests Joan for espionage.
Lest we think the Nazis are totally intelligent, they do let George see Joan before he is freed, and she confesses the true story. Peter then interrogates Joan, starting with "How could you? The Fuhrer is one of your greatest fans," he says. "The feeling is not mutual," Joan replies, adopting her toughest tough girl stance before Peter threatens to disfigure her unless she tells him all.
Seeing Peter enjoying himself in a restaurant, Lisa wheels herself over to him and stares him down before yelling and swinging at him, in a hissy fit even the most drunk of drag queens could better. She goes up to George's room to say goodbye and warns him to leave as well. She also confesses she has Malcolm's diamonds and she intends to take them to Lisbon. "Something I gotta do," she says.
The maid pulls a gun on George and takes him to Joan's French friends. He says he can help them, as they are about to kill him, because he thinks he knows the secret way in and out of the fortress. Really, when did he figure that out?
Joan is also being interrogated, though she's a guest of the Nazis, who are using acid. Just a drop of it on her lovely arm leaves an awful blotch. She's lucky that George and company are scaling the walls of the fortress before Peter can get any further on Joan. FYI, George is still in a suit and ascot doing this brave rescue. Did you think he would dress down for the occasion? He's George Hamilton, after all. The SLOWEST gunfight in all of WWII ensues and George breaks Joan out of her cell. He kills a Nazi and they make a dash for it (okay, a shuffle). Peter is lukewarm on their trail (hot is too much to expect of this crowd) and just as George and Joan are about to jump, Peter steps in, but is shot by Joan's French friends and they escape.
Joan confesses her love for George as they race to the airport for Lisbon and then to the United States.
"I don't need papers. My face is my passport!" Joan says before listing all of her credits in hopes that they will let her through the barricade. It's just easier for George to drive through it and they make it to the plane as it's ready to leave.
"Monte Carlo" is actually played in full seriousness. I don't think the players really know they are in terrible crap. Joan Collins could do this role without even getting out of bed, but she goes all out, as she always does. She never actually disappoints, mainly because the bar is low. However, we expect nothing out of George Hamilton and we get nothing. But, let's be honest: a script about the brave heroes and heroines of fancy Monte Carlo at the beginning of WWII isn't exactly the kind of project that inspires a steely attitude. It's not Poland, it's not Berlin. Hell, it's not even Paris. It's just "Monte Carlo."
Joan Collins, at Katrina Petrovna, steps off the train in Monte Carlo looking every bit the way Joan Collins should look: statuesque, dripping fur, pulling in her cheeks, a complete movie star, or performer as she is here.
Then there is George Hamilton as a washed-up writer, a drunk who manages to sport a tuxedo and look smashing whether in a sports car or in a hotel bar.
Oh, if you care about world events between costume changes, it's World War II and Germany has just swept through Holland on his way to France. Joan does not care. She's renting a house and which blocks of ivy are cut is her biggest worry.
The only person who seems to notice the war is Lauren Hutton, George's lover, who wants to go home to New York City as all her friends have done. He rebuffs her offer to go with her, with no desire to be a "pet writer" she can show off to her high-fallutin' friends. You see, he thinks, as war is bursting out all over, that he will suddenly crash through is writer's block.
At dinner that night, George trades barbs with Peter Vaughn, a German businessman. George manages some snaps at "the little man with the mustache," but Peter matches him with two-snap comments about his lack of writing. We also meet Malcolm McDowell, a friend of George's.
When Joan flounces into the dining room in sleeveless marabou with an Italian officer, most of our leads are present, everyone eyeing everyone. One would expect a body with a knife stuck out of it and Hercule Poirot, but this is a miniseries, not a mystery.
The British command in Monte Carlo decide they need someone to do some easy spying and discuss "a woman" who is there already who can handle the "social contacts." She has apparently done some previously, and as long as she can work a camera, she'll do just fine.
Malcolm is trying to get petrol across the sea when Lisa Eilbacher sees him and decides she wants to know him. Her grandfather has just left her tons of money and she wants to "see Europe while it's still here." Good thing the rich have no worries!
You guessed it! Joan is the woman the Brits were discussing. Indeed she knows how to work a camera, but more surprising to me is the fact that she knows how to wear flats. Yes, our Joan Collins can dress simply and even ride a bike. She's caught taking pictures and pretends not to speak French to avoid giving up her camera, when George shows up to save this damsel by pretending they are tourists from Ohio. Yes, they look like Ohioans. Especially with Joan's British accent. Ah, and FYI, George asks her why she's Russian with an English accent and she has an answer ready. Phew, that solves that issue!
Joan, back in a killer outfit, with heels, a hat and polka dots, goes to drop off the film, but the operation in Monte Carlo has hit some snags and thus ensues a ridiculous conversation in code between Joan and the film developing lady, when it would have been so much easier to just say what they meant, as no one was anywhere near them (okay, Peter is lurking outside, but he wouldn't have heard).
"Believe you me, I'm not a friend to the Nazis...I'm a great admirer of the Jewish people," Malcolm tells a Jewish diamond dealer looking to arrange "transportation." It's all happening so quickly and I don't want you to lose any of the plot threads.
Here comes the hilarity, get ready. In the world's smallest can-can club, the emcee introduces Joan in the audience and begs a song. She demures, not having anything prepared and with a "touch of laryngitis," though it might have been easier to tell the truth: she can't sing! So, she goes into a version of "The Last Time I Saw Paris" that is more breathed than warbled, with her eyes closed half the time. It's supposed to be sexy (not that the song asks for sex), but it's anything but.
The next day, Joan has some spying to do. Remember that ivy she didn't want the caretaker to cut? Well, that's where she hides the microphone! Over and over she orders the servants to do things that will get them conveniently out of the way of her operation, but they just think she's a bitch. One more thing: Joan is a wizard when it comes to Morse Code.
After another evening at the can-can (in all of Monte Carlo, is this the only place to go?) Joan takes her Italian home for spiked brandy. He is all hands on our Joan, wearing a complex gown with very long gloves, but she manages to stop him by complaining of all his metals, as "they are squashing me."
Clement Harari, the Jewish man with the diamonds, brings one to Malcolm, who wants one diamond per person he helps smuggle out of France, but Clement wants one per family. "Some of these families are very large," Malcolm quips, because it's always good to make jokes about those fleeing torture.
Joan's Italian, complete, by the way, with the most phony of Italian accents, wants Joan badly, but she's waiting for her potion to kick in, with every ruse in the female spy handbook, but finally he passes out. This gives Joan the chance to play high comedy, because every time she approaches his pockets, he stirs and she has to stop. She's so versatile, our Joan! She manages to find his papers, steam open the envelope, take pictures and return it to his coat before having his driver take him away.
Our heroine is breaking hearts all over A drunken George wants her, complaining to the bartender. "When I heard that woman sing, it was the first time I'd been to the movies," George says, though I didn't realize why that made any sense until George said her eyes were like Heddy Lamarr's, forcing the bartender to say it like "Eddy" and George corrects him in a goony back and forth that is no preparation for what is about to happen: France surrenders. They made it longer than I did, as I had to get up and take a break after George's drunk scene.
Once again, Lauren is the practical one. She's leaving, but gives George the car and the hotel suite. He swears he'll pay it all back and she cries over their ending affair of six months (yeah, six months).
Peter takes over the fortress in Monaco, despite the fact that they are neutral, though said politely by the police. "You people are behaving like gangsters," the head of police says, but a threatening outburst from Peter reminds him how powerless he is. Neutrality hasn't exactly been a barrier for the Nazis.
The Brits discuss the information Joan has been able to get them, which is pretty important. It seems that Monte Carlo is THE place for Axis meetings and since the Beach Club is actually in French territory, this might be the launch place for an invasion of England. This is a chapter of World War II history I don't remember. They think it's best if "their woman" stays clear of the Beach Club, at the very moment she's making a date with her Italian to be there. I see a climax approaching!
In a drunken attempt to woo Joan, George somehow manages to insult her by insinuating that she hangs out with Fascists ("the little spaghetti with all the medals"). That tactic does not work, alas. Having considerably more luck are Malcolm and Lisa, who stretch a double entrendre about an elevator operation into a big dipping kissing scene. That takes us to the next morning, where George shows up at Joan's to apologize, though he does in a kiss as they discuss where each stands on the war issue. Joan, as a spy, obviously has to play it closed to the shoulder pads and tells him "not to become intrigued by me." Intrigued? Talk about your strong emotions!
Joan has a nigthmare memory about why she got into the whole racket, and it has to do with the murder of a man she loved. It was not, alas, her singing voice.
Malcolm, in the middle of making love to Lisa, is summoned to the fortress by Peter, who actually has one good quality: he doesn't allow smoking. Go figure, a Nazi with health restrictions. Anyway, Peter warns Malcolm not to get involved with the Jews escaping racial quotas. Peter offers more money if Malcolm turns sides and then invites him to, what else, the party at the Beach Club.
All six members of the RAF then plan the raid on the Beach Club. The American on their team (why?) says it will be so easy they may even get to stop and enjoy some women and gambling. We know he's a goner from that speech alone!
Malcolm is chased through the streets of Monte Carlo by the Nazis, but gives them the slip and makes it to Clement where they exchange the jewels for the shipping information. But things are very serious for Joan. She has to make it home by midnight in order to get the latest message from HQ. George tries to stop her again, but she refuses to get involved because he doesn't believe in anything. He's just after a good time. Um, is she trying to tip him off that she's a spy, because she's supposed to be a good time gal herself.
Anyway, Joan races to get home by midnight, but everything gets in her way. She makes it through a road block by pretending she has to get home to a sick child, and for a few autographs, the police let her through. Unfortunately, she's late. The message from HQ was to stay clear of the Beach Club, but she's too late and doesn't get it. The very next scene (lest we forget) shows the RAF planes leaving for Monte Carlo as Joan is reminded of her date at the Beach Club.
And it's a swank affair, naturally. Peter and his Nazi cohorts have spared no expenses. Lisa thinks it's "swell" (if she doesn't have a cover story and is simply this stupid, I'm going to be mighty upset), though Malcolm cautions her that "the place is crawling with Gestapo." George is there, though why he would be invited is any one's guess. Naturally, Joan arrives after everyone is already there, looking fetching in white with an enormous hat. She apologizes to George, because she did bite his head off as she was rushing to get home. He forgives her if she'll dance with him (the planes are getting closer, FYI). The angry Italian sees Joan with George and decides to dance with a woman wearing a similar gown.
"We're going to have an air show!" Lisa chirps, but everyone else realizes it's the RAF and bolts. The Italian is killed with a whole bunch of extras doing the worst death falls in TV history. Joan is horrified when she realizes it was the RAF. That's the end of the movie's first part.
Lisa has been wounded, but Malcolm assures her all will be okay. George drives Joan home. "Why do we always say goodbye or apologize to each other?" George wonders, as if they haven't just been shot at by planes! Joan hustles inside to make contact with HQ, but gets no answer. Make-up smeared, dress torn, Joan slumps in a chair. "How could you do that? How could you do that to all those people?" Joan cries.
Robert Carradine, the American on the RAF team, is shot down (we actually don't see that and I'm not sure who has a gun), ending up in Peter's hands, given some serious dunking in a bathtub. Even the RAF command wonders why an American was flying in the mission. It's a valid question. The RAF decides Joan has to get Robert out of harm's way before he can be shipped to Berlin. This ought to be good!
Lisa can't feel her legs, but the nurse refuses to tell her what the problem is. Only the doctor can help and he's at lunch (how very French of him), but Leslie gets so hysterical that the nurse relents.
Joan goes to her French contacts and they don't want to help because she doesn't know the full code and because they feel they don't have to help. But, Joan, in all her Joan Collins splendor, somehow convinces them. They remind her to know all the code next time or she will end up dead. "Are you always this charming?" she snaps.
Malcolm shows up at Lisa's. She's overwhelmed by the roses he brings (okay, maybe she really is that dim). He's even brought champagne. That will make her forget all about her paralysis. Lisa breaks down into crying incoherence (with no tears), managing to wipe away the rest of the cast's mistakes as she hits the worst acting moment of the miniseries. That's a major achievement.
Joan, returning us to the acting level this piece deserves, goes to the POW camp under the guise of wanting to give a concert in her dead Italian's memory. She then insists on meeting Robert as the other prisoners swarm her for autographs. They haven't heard her sing or they wouldn't be wasting their paper. Joan berates Robert for the raid, but he doesn't know her. "I'm Katrina Petrovna! I'm known throughout Europe," she fumes before attacking him in order to drop a message into his shirt. She's good. Forget Tokyo Rose, our Joan could single-handedly win this war for the Allies.
When Malcolm finds Clement dead, he realizes he needs to get out of neutral Monte Carlo, but he needs a fake passport, which will only cost him $50K.
In the who-the-hell-cares part of the plot, George is still romancing Joan. He's complaining about his time in Hollywood, where he wrote screenplays and bought suits, but he never wrote. Joan talks about her time in boarding school learning to speak British English, but she does miss her dacha in Russia, not to mention her parents, executed by the Reds. The two are lit splendidly, which at least gives us something to watch since nothing we hear is of any consequence at all. The big kiss and bed scene are next, though as George is nibbling away, Joan yet again remembers her lover being mowed down by bullets. She tells George a bogus story and he's gallant enough to listen. Then, realizing he's not getting any, he goes to leave. "There hasn't been anyone since him," she tells George. Really?
Malcolm's room is ransacked, but luckily he's put the incriminating evidence in Lisa's room. She's not using it, after all. He then asks George to take the diamonds to Lisbon for $10K. George is beginning to care about the world around him and asks Malcolm what it's all about. Malcolm then fetches Lisa from the hospital and takes her to her to an expensive lunch. Sure, she's in a wheelchair, but otherwise, she seems just ducky, at least in every other sentence. Sometimes she does blubber and get incoherent again.
Robert escapes from the POW camp in a garbage truck using Joan's intel, and he decides a tuxedo is the best disguise because why would anyone suspect a man in a tuxedo? It's Monte Carlo, I guess he has a point. But, he's such an ugly American, he's bound to screw it up somehow. He goes to the casino, sticking out horribly as his contact's house is raided by Peter and his goons. Joan and George are at the casino and Peter shows up as well. She hustles Robert out and then explains the whole thing to George, whom she asks to help. He's awfully slow on the uptake, but eventually he catches on and slips Robert out from Gestapo clutches.
Malcolm has to leave for Paris because he's in trouble, but he confesses his love for Lisa before he goes. He gets his phony passport, but of course he's been followed the whole way by Peter and his goons in the loudest car in all of France. Malcolm realizes when it's already too late, meaning he has to run AGAIN through the twisting streets of Monte Carlo and ultimately shot. Lisa and George are hauled to the police station and Lisa gets in a howler of a speech in lieu of answering questions. She wonders why it would even help, because they won't put the Gestapo on trial! At his funeral, attended only by George and Lisa, the latter says, "nobody knew Quin. Not even Quinn." But, he had clean shirts. Ah, good to know.
Over with that gloom, George spirits Joan off to the countryside, where he reveals he was wounded in World War I and she admits to speaking French (fair trade, I guess). When a boy's toy gets stuck on Joan's roof, the caretaker goes up to fetch it and discovers her hook-up. It hasn't done her much good lately anyway, now has it. "Who is Katrina Petrovna?" George asks Joan on a long walk after she tells him she doesn't think about the future. "Who are you REALLY?" he pushes, but she squirms out of each question with a kiss or a flirt. Joan refuses to answer any questions, which is a shame, because her caretaker has called Peter to tell him about Joan's apparatus. She could use an ally right about now.
But, she doesn't know that and wants to get it on instead. "Are you sure?" George asks before they maul each other in an appropriately geriatric fashion. Peter and his goons go to the hotel where George and Joan are staying. How in the WORLD did they find out where they were? There literally were no clues. Peter arrests Joan for espionage.
Lest we think the Nazis are totally intelligent, they do let George see Joan before he is freed, and she confesses the true story. Peter then interrogates Joan, starting with "How could you? The Fuhrer is one of your greatest fans," he says. "The feeling is not mutual," Joan replies, adopting her toughest tough girl stance before Peter threatens to disfigure her unless she tells him all.
Seeing Peter enjoying himself in a restaurant, Lisa wheels herself over to him and stares him down before yelling and swinging at him, in a hissy fit even the most drunk of drag queens could better. She goes up to George's room to say goodbye and warns him to leave as well. She also confesses she has Malcolm's diamonds and she intends to take them to Lisbon. "Something I gotta do," she says.
The maid pulls a gun on George and takes him to Joan's French friends. He says he can help them, as they are about to kill him, because he thinks he knows the secret way in and out of the fortress. Really, when did he figure that out?
Joan is also being interrogated, though she's a guest of the Nazis, who are using acid. Just a drop of it on her lovely arm leaves an awful blotch. She's lucky that George and company are scaling the walls of the fortress before Peter can get any further on Joan. FYI, George is still in a suit and ascot doing this brave rescue. Did you think he would dress down for the occasion? He's George Hamilton, after all. The SLOWEST gunfight in all of WWII ensues and George breaks Joan out of her cell. He kills a Nazi and they make a dash for it (okay, a shuffle). Peter is lukewarm on their trail (hot is too much to expect of this crowd) and just as George and Joan are about to jump, Peter steps in, but is shot by Joan's French friends and they escape.
Joan confesses her love for George as they race to the airport for Lisbon and then to the United States.
"I don't need papers. My face is my passport!" Joan says before listing all of her credits in hopes that they will let her through the barricade. It's just easier for George to drive through it and they make it to the plane as it's ready to leave.
"Monte Carlo" is actually played in full seriousness. I don't think the players really know they are in terrible crap. Joan Collins could do this role without even getting out of bed, but she goes all out, as she always does. She never actually disappoints, mainly because the bar is low. However, we expect nothing out of George Hamilton and we get nothing. But, let's be honest: a script about the brave heroes and heroines of fancy Monte Carlo at the beginning of WWII isn't exactly the kind of project that inspires a steely attitude. It's not Poland, it's not Berlin. Hell, it's not even Paris. It's just "Monte Carlo."
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Holocaust (1978)
In order to even considering making "Holocaust," I would think that the powers behind it needed assurance themselves that this was going to be a first-rate project, something honorable, critic-proof and engaging to audiences who could easily have turned away in disgust. After all, if they came up with a 7.5-hour mistake or even a mass of boredom, it would have been not only embarrassing, but culturally inept. The Holocaust is certainly one event in history over which people cannot complain. There are no two sides to the story. The Germans do not get to defend it or their actions. The miniseries thrives on these events (WWII and The Civil War as the two best examples) because good and bad are so clearly defined before the credits even roll.
But, "Holocaust" is, very nearly, the perfect miniseries, at least as attention-grabbing historical pieces that were such a force of the genre in its first decade. There is one plot flaw that stands out to me, but it's handled nobly and without fuss, but otherwise, I do not have too many complaints to lob at it. At this point, it's become known as a Meryl Streep property, but that's because of who Meryl became in the years since 1978. There is no denying that she is utterly brilliant here, as always, but I think the centerpiece of the movie is Rosemary Harris. Dignified and elegant, it's her character that gives the piece its moral strength and the most character arc. She starts as someone almost alarmingly unaware of the world around her and comes to be the most calm and accepting of her fate. In essence, her character is the world at the time: first blissfully unconcerned, then purposely naive, then knocked down peg by peg until there is no escaping what is really going on. To play such a role requires the talents very few actresses posses and luckily Rosemary Harris (who has never given a bad performance that I'm aware of) is one of them. This is not a showy performance, mind you. It's serene and intelligent.
The movie starts in 1935 with the marriage of Jewish James Woods and shiksa Meryl Streep. James' proud father Fritz Weaver proposes a toast to his new in-laws, his Polish brother Sam Wanamaker, his in-laws, etc. On Meryl's side, there are some definite Jew haters. Rosemary Harris' father was in the first World War, which he thinks bonds him to Meryl's family, in Hitler's army. James' siblings Blanche Baker and Timothy Bottoms are typical young kids. Politics are there only on the non-Jewish side, but not taken too seriously.
Dr. Fritz Weaver treats a typical German couple, Michael Moriarty and his wife Deborah Norton, who has a slight heart murmur. Nothing serious. He's an unemployed lawyer with no political bend at all. She wants him to look into a government job, but he's a baker's son, what does he know of politics? Off he goes to David Warner, who likes him immediately because of his honesty. The guy just wants a job, rather than ingratiating himself with the party. All he knows about the SS is that they are the police, though David Warner tries to get him to think more like the Nazis. "What do you think of Jews?" "Neutral," Michael says. He gets the job and his wife immediately becomes the most calculating character. She insists he wear his SS uniform (which scares his child) everywhere so they can get the best cuts of meat, etc.
A few years pass and Michael returns to Fritz's office to tell him it's illegal for him to treat "Aryans" and to leave German. Fritz is practicing against heavy odds, since most rights for Jewish doctors have been taken away. "Don't come to me for help," Michael blandly spits out. He just wants the Jews gone. Fritz goes to Rosemary hoping that perhaps now she will want to move, but she is against it, unafraid. She still believes that a country that produced Schiller can't be all that bad. But it is. Timothy can barely play a game of soccer without being trounced, punched, unfairly treated and called harsh names. With quotas set and Jews welcomed nowhere, Rosemary decides once again they will stay. "Hitler has Czechoslovakia. He has Austria. What more does he want?"
When a high-ranking party member is killed, reprisals are needed. It's Michael who comes up with a solution that will not anger the press. They can send the SS in without uniforms, a totally civilian operation. So, dressed in mufti, the Germans go hog wild and tear up the Jewish quarter. Rosemary's father is severely beaten his store burned and he's made to thump a drum wearing a sign saying he's Jewish. He's stunned, but so is the whole neighborhood. Rosemary again says they should do nothing, but Timothy and Blanche run out to save their grandfather and only because a relative of Meryl's knows them, are they allowed to get to him. Kristallnacht.
James wants to get out of the country, even leave Meryl because she is in no danger, but they are too much in love. Then Meryl's mother lets the Nazi's in to arrest him, blaming Meryl for having brought Jews into the family. Off they go with James, Meryl trailing behind. Fritz has to put Mr. Lowy back together again after he's beaten, since he's still allowed to treat Jewish patients. Rosemary's parents are forced to move in with the family. When Rosemary hears that James has been arrested, she finally breaks down. "We are being punished for my pride." She's made her first transition, at least realizing that there is a problem. But, she quickly recovers herself, sends Fritz back to work and goes to help her parents get settled.
Fritz does just what he was told not to do. He goes to Michael to find out how he can get James freed. Michael, having been promoted, refuses to help, long having been converted to party indoctrination and beginning to invent some of his own. Deborah, as usual, insists that he boot Fritz to the curb. "You can't endanger your career."
James is sent to Buchenwald, beaten when he won't answer the question, "name of the whore who gave birth to you?" Fritz is ordered to leave Germany. At Meryl's church, the priest vows to help and pray for the Jews. Michael is there to watch a steady stream of people leaving at such blasphemy, including Meryl's parents. She stays.
Fritz is forced to leave for Poland, though with George Rose (Mr. Lowy) and his wife in tow. Even now, though, they fight for some normalcy. Blanche is to continue playing her piano. "Love conquers all," he says, very naively trying to be brave.
Because James is an artist, he is assigned to the Buchenwald tailor shop where he sews labels on uniforms, now wearing one himself. He's most horrified to learn about the label for people who are insane or handicapped. Since they are useless, they are simply gassed.
Rosemary and her family are forced to move from their house, going to live with Meryl's family, not at all happen to have Jews there. Rosemary believes the Germans when they say there will be reimbursement for taking her husband's practice. All she takes is his diploma, still proud. Blanche has one last opportunity to play the piano since there is no room at their new place. Worst of all, Rosemary's parents kill themselves, wisely escaping the future.
In comparison, Michael is in glory. He and the family are meeting with Eichmann himself at a park with a noisy carousel. Deborah is starting to dress better.
Fritz is dumped into Poland (Germany has not invaded yet), literally let go on the other side of the border. His brother Sam Wanamaker is there to greet him, and takes in George and his wife too since they have no one. Meryl is fighting with her family to keep her in-laws. "I want that Jew bitch and her children out," her father rails, but she holds firm. Timothy decides he cannot stay and wait. He leaves the family.
In Poland in 1939, a synagogue is burned with people inside and Michael Moriarty gleefully shows slides to David Warner of Jews killed in various forms. What bothers Michael most is that there is no clean pattern to the killings. It all needs to be more organized. He takes Deborah to a party and she's fully glamorous now, totally given over to the power of her husband's position. Also at the all is Michael's Uncle Robert Stephens, who has a contract to build roads for the Nazis.
Fritz is on the Jewish council in Warsaw, a canny idea by the Germans so that it looks like the Jews are making their own decisions. He has the power of life and death, or at least has to take credit for those decisions. Tony Haygarth, who has been anti-Jewish since Meryl's wedding, pays lip service to Meryl when she tries to find out what has happened to James. Once again, she refuses to abandon her Jewish family.
Blanche has an hysterical scene where she rips into Rosemary, castigating her for being so upright and blind. Nothing she says is wrong and she runs off, maybe to go like her brother. She brazenly rips the yellow star from her coat on the way out and runs into the New Year's celebration on the streets. Deciding to return home, she encounters some drunk German soldiers and tries to hide from them. She tries to run, but they catch her and rape her in a truly horrifying scene, especially since they are smiling while doing it.
For fighting over a piece of bread, James and his friend are put on display for all to see what happens to rule breakers. James' spirit is broken and he hasn't hear from Meryl in a year. At the other end of the spectrum, Michael is thriving, having been sent to Poland to oversee the organizational plans there. Uppermost in his plans is a wall built around the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, where thousands are shipped from all over occupied territories.
Since the rape, Blanche does not speak and Meryl, being a non-Jew, can take her to a doctor, who arranges to get her to a sanitarium. It all seems to make sense to Meryl, who has become a very tender sister to her, though she does wonder to the doctor as to whether she's "doing the right thing." It's all a cover. Taken with the lame and retarded, she is immediately gassed. If this scene doesn't get you, well, it should! Rosemary is sent a letter saying Blanche died of pneumonia. Note her version is beating her chest as she reads the news. Unlike the typical harsh thumping, she merely tabs her heart, handkerchief in hand, as she reads the letter. She's still trying to believe it's all not happening. It's Meryl who breaks down.
Timothy has made it to Prague, where Tovah Feldshuh runs a store and is a link to the rebels. Timothy spots her and goes to follow her, but she intervenes. She pretends he stole his backpack and the police leave him alone. She wants to know why he's run away and there are instant sparks of attraction between them, though it's really more about Timothy having not seen a woman in a very long time. They sleep together immediately (hey, we need a dash of sex even in the midst of World War II). Timothy wants Tovah to come with him on the run.
Rosemary is deported to Warsaw, reunited with her husband, but now that she is there, we can finally get a glimpse of the actual ghetto and its poverty. We need this character of refinement in order to show the disparity. She even tells Fritz that he can tell her the truth, that she fully understands everything now. She tells him about Blanche, and as upset as he is, she's now the comforting person. Fritz says life is better than death. "I'm not so sure anymore," Rosemary says, making that arc I spoke of earlier.
Meryl sets off for Buchenwald and Tony, who has summoned her. His letter said he would arrange a meeting for Meryl and James, but now he's going back on it, saying restrictions are making it tough to manage that. Instead of showing her into a "visitor's room," Tony takes her to his bedroom, where Meryl immediately knows what will be required of her, though the scene plays out wonderfully slowly so give Meryl a chance to ponder how to maneuver this supremely evil man. Tony claims he can get letters back and forth and even get James a job in the art studio rather than outside, taking off his clothes to show what he expects in return. Though disgusted, she has to allow it.
Tovah is so serious about the resistance movement, she wears a beret, the international symbol of people series about the resistance movement. They are caught in Hungary, but Timothy overpowers a guard and steals a gun. Tovah wants to give up, but Timothy convinces her to keep going. They end up in Soviet-occupied territory. The leader wants to send them back to the Germans, but Timothy has Tovah tell him the Germans are turning on them and that her father was a good Communist (and he even has her kiss him). They go off to Kiev in the back of a hay wagon.
Tony is still playing go-between for Meryl and James, telling James that he receives payment, non-monetary, for his services. James is aghast, swearing no more letters. He's as upset at Meryl as he is at Tony.
Michael shows up on the Russian front to watch a demonstration killing. He's annoyed that there are Ukrainian civilians watching, that movie cameras and war correspondents are there, and that bullets are being wasted on "a carnival." He has no sympathy for the people being killed; he's only interested in efficiency. The officer he berates forces him to shoot some, to make him understand. There's a twinge of perhaps understanding, but he goes through with it, no worse for the experience.
Even in Warsaw, Rosemary clings to what she knows, teaching the kids to sing French songs. The class includes the ghetto's best smuggler, who can get through the wall. The Jewish council is told of what is happening in Eastern Europe, and that the only way to safety is to fight back, to smuggle in guns and ammo. Fritz encounters an interesting character when one of his nurses is arrested: a Jew who converts from the faith to stay in good with the Nazis. For the time being, no doubt his life is spared as he follows orders, but does he really think the Nazis won't circle back and kill anyone born Jewish? Sam decides to go with the Zionists and find ways to fight back.
Very conveniently, Meryl's soldier brother's life is saved by Timothy and Tovah, and he tells them about Timothy's various family members. But, when it comes time to save their lives, the brother rats them out. Don't worry, he gets blown up by the Red Army seconds later. They are marched to a work camp, but manage to escape on the way, only moments before the rest of the prisoners are gunned down en masse. Michael is watching, amazed that no one fights back. "That just proves they don't deserve to live," he's told. "Simply fantastic," he bleats in amazement at how many people are about to die. "Nobody will believe us. They will say we lied," Timothy says as he sees the shootings (and after Tovah's inevitable "hold me"). On his way back from the shooting, Michael encounters Uncle Robert. Uncle Robert sees through the party lines Michael shows, giving Michael a chance to defend it, making him more evil than ever.
Though Rosemary has no illusions anymore, she does keep photos of their family on the wall, as a way of hoping that somewhere someone might be safe. In fact, she's willing to give up the money she sewed into her coat to help the cause. When a Jew slips into the ghetto telling of what's really going on, the elders decide they have to get arms and fight back. Rosemary hands over all of her cash after overhearing the meeting.
It's Christmas at Michael's house, where Deborah is playing the Bechstein that once belonged to Rosemary and Fritz. Uncle Robert once again starts to question where the piano really came from, and Michael's son chirps that it came from Jews who "went away." The family is totally isolated from the truth of what Michael really does. When they find pictures of the family, Michael coldly tells his daughter to get rid of them and she tosses them into the fire. How prophetic.
James is transferred to the art department where he is supposed to make propaganda posters. He gets a letter from Meryl and he's still very angry. But, he's being transferred to Theresienstadt, which is the ghetto the Germans show to the rest of the world, a model ghetto with parks and painted buildings, all of it a phony facade.
Tovah is in a complaining mood, but Timothy finds raw potatoes, the two joking when they are surrounded by...resistance fighters!
In Theresienstadt, the artists paint the truth, but hide it in the radiators when the place is checked. This is something James can understand. When the Swedes come through, the workshop looks idyllic, with pictures of happy children and people at cafes.
Timothy is put on guard duty and Tovah follows him, and he asks if the rabbi will perform a wedding. In the midst of everything, they actually hold a wedding, complete with a veil, a huppa and a few instruments. It's a welcome bit of happiness in the middle of such strive and tenuous life. Unfortunately, as soon as the dancing starts, they find out the Nazis are coming and have to dash.
Himmler (Ian Holm) comes to pay a visit, watching executions with whole tables of food set up for a buffet. Himmler doesn't react well to the violence, insisting that they "find another way." Shooting is inefficient. However, he praises his soldiers in a doozie of a speech that compares Jews to bedbugs, a strange little lapse in writing here. But, he's supposed to be a buffoon. Other offices are tired of Michael's high-handed behavior, so they decide to destroy him. Unsigned letters arrive in Berlin about his Communist father and possible Jewish blood, none of which is true (the father was a socialist at best). He needs to come up with an idea quickly. He also knows who has been writing the letters, and he won't hesitate to turn them in if they don't come up with a mass murder solution quickly.
Timothy and company stage an ambush and Timothy has to kill for the first time. "I thought I was so tough," he says. But he is! He's managed to escape Berlin, Prague and every other center of horror in order to fight against the Germans. Tovah wants desperately to go to Palestine and Timothy agrees, but even in a miniseries of stellar as "Holocaust," the maxim holds: those who talk of the future rarely get to see it.
Back in Warsaw, Sam and his urchin friend sneak through the wall in order to buy the first gun for their opposition movement. They were expecting 12 guns, but there is only one. The Zionist gives them a lesson in how to use it. "Now all we need is ammunition," Sam says. "It's a beginning."
The Nazis have decided that Auschwitz will be increased in size, their grandest jewel. The man hired to run it is a devoted Nazi, taught to obey since childhood. Michael, of course, will be his liaison between the Nazis and this new horror master. Michael is at least realistic about the war, telling Deborah it was over for Germany the minute the US entered it. "Someday, people will tell monstrous lies about what we did," Michael says, crying that all he did was obey orders. It's his touch of conscience, but it's way too late. Any attempt to bring sympathy to this character has come too late. And he's not even telling the truth. He's done more active than passive work. David Warner is almost assassinated and all Deborah can worry about is that it might be a promotion for him. Michael comes across Zyklon B, the gas agent that will revolutionize mass murder, and it's cheap too, always a benefit.
We haven't seen Meryl in a while, but she's on her way to church, with Tony following her. He confesses his love for her, but she wants to be left alone. She's looking for the kindly priest who talked about the Jews, but he's been taken away to Dachau. Here comes the plot point that bothers me. Meryl ASKS to go to the concentration camp to be with her husband. It makes her the ultimate Christian martyr, and gives her a lot to play, but there has to be a better way to get her inside than simply asking to be sent!
The sketches that have been made in secret by James and his cohorts are in Nazi hands. But, one fool in the studio sold them for cigarettes and marmalade. But, it doesn't stop James and the others from painting their grim truths. Meryl arrives in the studio, having gotten her way, now part of the camp. He hasn't forgiven her for the way she made the letters happen, but she justifies her actions, hating him the whole time. She does not back down. She loves him that much.
The Nazis insists of the Warsaw elders that 6000 people per day be transported to "work camps" in Russia. But, it turns out it's really Treblinka and this is the first time the people in Warsaw hear of the mass gassing with proof. Even the BBC radio says something bad is happening in Poland, but nothing specific about gas chambers or the ghettos. They desperately need guns, and Fritz has an idea for saving at least a handful every day by setting up a clinic at the rail station. It's a good cover, but it can only save a few a day.
All of James' paintings have made it to the big cheeses. Michael intends to crush them, but he's worried about his own position since this happened on his watch. The artists are brought in to see Michael and Eichmann. The questioning doesn't get very far, and Michael targets James as the link he can break, talking "Berliner to Berliner." "That's the problem with you people, you can't forget the past," Michael tells him, but James does not crack. The artists are taken for a more severe questioning, as Meryl goes for the gold yelling in the street running after the truck bearing her husband. The three artists are taken for torture, suffering severe beatings in the most grizzly scene so far. As James is suffering a beating, Meryl is helping to smuggle out the pictures.
Deborah finds out the truth about Michael's work, and can't understand why he has any reservations about it. This makes her easily one of the top ten most frightful women in television history. Michael and the Nazis are awful, of course, but here is a character who has no reason to be involved or hate, but she's more interested than the Nazis themselves! Perhaps this is a way to help humanize Michael's character, but it doesn't work. That cannot possibly happen at this point, but she sure as hell does top him now.
Michael brings a hygiene expert to Auschwitz, where a band of prisoners, in costume, play classical music at this "family camp." Michael is clearly sickened by what he sees, but his career is such a concern, he has to make sure no one suspects. Again, it's too late to make us care about him or sympathize. A "demonstration" is put on for the visiting expert. He's thrilled to look through the viewing hole as people howl for their lives.
The fake clinic scam is figured out and everyone involved with it is ordered on the next train. Rosemary is teaching the kids the "Kadima" when she is arrested, putting up a pretense for the kids that she will be back the next day and they should finish out their day with Shakespeare. Now she's come around to knowing and even accepting the full truth, but comforting those around her. She's still the earth mother, still the calming presence, but this time completely in the know. She and Fritz, with George and his wife, are sent to Auschwitz.
It's been a while since we checked in with our resistance friends. Timothy dresses up in a German military outfit and kills two guards so the others can go in and raid a beer hall where the officers are having a party. It's a complete success. They shoot nearly everyone there and take heaps of ammunition. Timothy get shot in the leg, but it's not fatal..
As the final episode begins, Timothy is having a bullet pulled out of his leg, with Tovah a supportive, if over-protective, wife. She has her going-for-the-Emmy speech, and her speech is right: they can kill a few Germans here or there, but they will most likely die themselves.
James' friends have died from the beatings, but he's still alive, his hands destroyed so he can never paint again. He is being sent to Auschwitz, though he's allowed 30 minutes to say goodbye to his wife, who is pregnant. He wants her to get rid of the baby, but she insists, not on her Catholic beliefs, but on the words of the rabbis, that she will not and before he leaves, he tells her to show the child all the pictures they have drawn.
In the Warsaw ghetto, plans are still afoot for an uprising. Three hundred thousand have been taken from the ghetto and only 50,000 remain, but the Nazis are suspicious, going from house to house checking for contraband. Sam gets his first chance to kill and he does not hesitate. Even the smuggling boy knocks a few off. "There is a God after all. Jews fighting back!" Sam declares. After killing a slew of Nazis, the latter retreat. They are even brave enough to take off their arm bands.
At Auschwitz, Rosemary still clings to her family pictures. Fritz is able to sneak into her barracks. Fritz thinks there is still a chance they will survive, but Rosemary is now the more realistic one. She knows the truth. A young girl is given to the care of Rosemary who is like her own daughter, mute after shock. It's then that the guards come in and take everyone away. She leaves the pictures and takes the mute girl. To the last, Rosemary holds the girl with her.
Then comes the moment that, for me, defines the whole movie: Rosemary is led into the gas chamber and it's James who comes in to collect the clothes of those just sent in. It's utterly heartbreaking, more so because the characters have no idea.
Fritz and George are part of the road crew, but Fritz is having breathing trouble due to the tar. Uncle Robert is running the crew and takes pity on him, having him tend the fire rather than pave the road. At this very moment, Michael shows up. They are feet away from his old doctor, Fritz, and Michael does not see him. He and Uncle Robert have a frank discussion, with Michael clinging to his beliefs. "I should strangle you as a favor to your father," Uncle Robert snaps before tossing Michael out of his little hut.
Fritz and George find out their wives are dead from the Jewish woman who led them to the gas chamber, though she barks the now stomach-turningly familiar, "I was just following orders," the excuse of an entire nation. Fritz at least finds Rosemary's pictures and her sheet music (that she took all over the place?).
Sam has turned into a gun-toting realist. It's Passover and Himmler has promised Hitler to liquidate the ghetto for his birthday. The Nazis send a truck in with Passover wishes, but they shoot the truck back. Unfortunately, the Nazis have a big force to send in. That posse flees in an instant. The Nazis return in full force as the Seder is going on. Okay, I admit, the dichotomy is being laid on awfully thick, but it's impossible not to be swept up in the moment. A big battle ensues, and the Nazis retreat, but that leaves the Warsaw Jews have no food or medicine as the weeks wear on. They print up leaflets and the smuggler kid helps the guy take them out. Now they are even out of paper. The guy with the leaflets is shot right as he gets through the wall, but the papers are strewn around so people can see them. The Nazis bomb with gas and some of the warriors have cyanide tablets. Others try to run for it. Those who left the buildings are found by the Nazis and shot up against a wall.
Michael makes one last attempt to save his career by turning in Uncle Robert's Jewish work detail (Jews are marked for death, not work). So, that means Fritz and George are taken off the road and send for "delousing."
Timothy and company have planned to blow up a convoy, but they Nazis somehow know and chase the fighters through the woods. Tovah is killed by a bullet and the survivors end up in Sobibor, where an escape plan is in full swing.
Himmler wants the camps dismantled because he knows the war is lost. But, Michael, now so crazed by doctrine that he's pretty much insane, says the camps should remain as monuments to what they have done, which was pre-destined in European history. It's a rah rah speech that a few years earlier would have had him promoted up the ranks, but with the war nearly over, it just seems pathetic.
James finds out his parents were killed in the same camp, but his friend from Buchenwald thinks they will be saved as the Americans and Soviets are advancing.
At Sobibor, Timothy is a major part of the escape, which works. He and the Russian soldiers flee the camp. They Russians go east and Timothy decides to go west to search for his family. There won't be anyone to find, as James has died doing one last drawing before the Nazis went on a killing rampage. Michael is hauled in by the Americans to explain his acts and does his best to stick to the party line, as always. Though he winces or swallows now and then, he refuses to tell the truth. After one last look through his beloved pictures of the atrocities, he swallows his poison tablet, a coward to the end.
Deborah gets a letter saying her husband died a hero, and Uncle Robert says it's untrue. He tells her the real story of his death, but she and her kids will not listen to what he has to say. He refuses to back down, feeling guilty that he stood by and watched. "I won't be silent," he says as he goes to leave. One can only hope the final suffering goes to Deborah when she finally admits the truth.
Timothy is still alive and has made it to the great ghetto where he finds Meryl and her son, having stayed on once the camps are all liberated. They are the only ones left, having not seen each other for seven years. She still has the drawings as well. "I'm a kind of blank. No hate, no love, like the living dead walking through the camps," he says, unable to place any blame.
The film ends almost where it began, with Timothy playing soccer with kids. It will be his job to teach the next generation. He is offered a job helping get Jews to Palestine.
So it ends, with a note of hope, but a mind full of heartbreaking memories. "Holocaust" is brave and honest, as brave and honest as the lead characters it shows us over 7.5 supremely memorable hours. In the annals of historical miniseries, this ranks as one of the greatest history lessons ever, gritty and unyielding, but true through and through.
But, "Holocaust" is, very nearly, the perfect miniseries, at least as attention-grabbing historical pieces that were such a force of the genre in its first decade. There is one plot flaw that stands out to me, but it's handled nobly and without fuss, but otherwise, I do not have too many complaints to lob at it. At this point, it's become known as a Meryl Streep property, but that's because of who Meryl became in the years since 1978. There is no denying that she is utterly brilliant here, as always, but I think the centerpiece of the movie is Rosemary Harris. Dignified and elegant, it's her character that gives the piece its moral strength and the most character arc. She starts as someone almost alarmingly unaware of the world around her and comes to be the most calm and accepting of her fate. In essence, her character is the world at the time: first blissfully unconcerned, then purposely naive, then knocked down peg by peg until there is no escaping what is really going on. To play such a role requires the talents very few actresses posses and luckily Rosemary Harris (who has never given a bad performance that I'm aware of) is one of them. This is not a showy performance, mind you. It's serene and intelligent.
The movie starts in 1935 with the marriage of Jewish James Woods and shiksa Meryl Streep. James' proud father Fritz Weaver proposes a toast to his new in-laws, his Polish brother Sam Wanamaker, his in-laws, etc. On Meryl's side, there are some definite Jew haters. Rosemary Harris' father was in the first World War, which he thinks bonds him to Meryl's family, in Hitler's army. James' siblings Blanche Baker and Timothy Bottoms are typical young kids. Politics are there only on the non-Jewish side, but not taken too seriously.
Dr. Fritz Weaver treats a typical German couple, Michael Moriarty and his wife Deborah Norton, who has a slight heart murmur. Nothing serious. He's an unemployed lawyer with no political bend at all. She wants him to look into a government job, but he's a baker's son, what does he know of politics? Off he goes to David Warner, who likes him immediately because of his honesty. The guy just wants a job, rather than ingratiating himself with the party. All he knows about the SS is that they are the police, though David Warner tries to get him to think more like the Nazis. "What do you think of Jews?" "Neutral," Michael says. He gets the job and his wife immediately becomes the most calculating character. She insists he wear his SS uniform (which scares his child) everywhere so they can get the best cuts of meat, etc.
A few years pass and Michael returns to Fritz's office to tell him it's illegal for him to treat "Aryans" and to leave German. Fritz is practicing against heavy odds, since most rights for Jewish doctors have been taken away. "Don't come to me for help," Michael blandly spits out. He just wants the Jews gone. Fritz goes to Rosemary hoping that perhaps now she will want to move, but she is against it, unafraid. She still believes that a country that produced Schiller can't be all that bad. But it is. Timothy can barely play a game of soccer without being trounced, punched, unfairly treated and called harsh names. With quotas set and Jews welcomed nowhere, Rosemary decides once again they will stay. "Hitler has Czechoslovakia. He has Austria. What more does he want?"
When a high-ranking party member is killed, reprisals are needed. It's Michael who comes up with a solution that will not anger the press. They can send the SS in without uniforms, a totally civilian operation. So, dressed in mufti, the Germans go hog wild and tear up the Jewish quarter. Rosemary's father is severely beaten his store burned and he's made to thump a drum wearing a sign saying he's Jewish. He's stunned, but so is the whole neighborhood. Rosemary again says they should do nothing, but Timothy and Blanche run out to save their grandfather and only because a relative of Meryl's knows them, are they allowed to get to him. Kristallnacht.
James wants to get out of the country, even leave Meryl because she is in no danger, but they are too much in love. Then Meryl's mother lets the Nazi's in to arrest him, blaming Meryl for having brought Jews into the family. Off they go with James, Meryl trailing behind. Fritz has to put Mr. Lowy back together again after he's beaten, since he's still allowed to treat Jewish patients. Rosemary's parents are forced to move in with the family. When Rosemary hears that James has been arrested, she finally breaks down. "We are being punished for my pride." She's made her first transition, at least realizing that there is a problem. But, she quickly recovers herself, sends Fritz back to work and goes to help her parents get settled.
Fritz does just what he was told not to do. He goes to Michael to find out how he can get James freed. Michael, having been promoted, refuses to help, long having been converted to party indoctrination and beginning to invent some of his own. Deborah, as usual, insists that he boot Fritz to the curb. "You can't endanger your career."
James is sent to Buchenwald, beaten when he won't answer the question, "name of the whore who gave birth to you?" Fritz is ordered to leave Germany. At Meryl's church, the priest vows to help and pray for the Jews. Michael is there to watch a steady stream of people leaving at such blasphemy, including Meryl's parents. She stays.
Fritz is forced to leave for Poland, though with George Rose (Mr. Lowy) and his wife in tow. Even now, though, they fight for some normalcy. Blanche is to continue playing her piano. "Love conquers all," he says, very naively trying to be brave.
Because James is an artist, he is assigned to the Buchenwald tailor shop where he sews labels on uniforms, now wearing one himself. He's most horrified to learn about the label for people who are insane or handicapped. Since they are useless, they are simply gassed.
Rosemary and her family are forced to move from their house, going to live with Meryl's family, not at all happen to have Jews there. Rosemary believes the Germans when they say there will be reimbursement for taking her husband's practice. All she takes is his diploma, still proud. Blanche has one last opportunity to play the piano since there is no room at their new place. Worst of all, Rosemary's parents kill themselves, wisely escaping the future.
In comparison, Michael is in glory. He and the family are meeting with Eichmann himself at a park with a noisy carousel. Deborah is starting to dress better.
Fritz is dumped into Poland (Germany has not invaded yet), literally let go on the other side of the border. His brother Sam Wanamaker is there to greet him, and takes in George and his wife too since they have no one. Meryl is fighting with her family to keep her in-laws. "I want that Jew bitch and her children out," her father rails, but she holds firm. Timothy decides he cannot stay and wait. He leaves the family.
In Poland in 1939, a synagogue is burned with people inside and Michael Moriarty gleefully shows slides to David Warner of Jews killed in various forms. What bothers Michael most is that there is no clean pattern to the killings. It all needs to be more organized. He takes Deborah to a party and she's fully glamorous now, totally given over to the power of her husband's position. Also at the all is Michael's Uncle Robert Stephens, who has a contract to build roads for the Nazis.
Fritz is on the Jewish council in Warsaw, a canny idea by the Germans so that it looks like the Jews are making their own decisions. He has the power of life and death, or at least has to take credit for those decisions. Tony Haygarth, who has been anti-Jewish since Meryl's wedding, pays lip service to Meryl when she tries to find out what has happened to James. Once again, she refuses to abandon her Jewish family.
Blanche has an hysterical scene where she rips into Rosemary, castigating her for being so upright and blind. Nothing she says is wrong and she runs off, maybe to go like her brother. She brazenly rips the yellow star from her coat on the way out and runs into the New Year's celebration on the streets. Deciding to return home, she encounters some drunk German soldiers and tries to hide from them. She tries to run, but they catch her and rape her in a truly horrifying scene, especially since they are smiling while doing it.
For fighting over a piece of bread, James and his friend are put on display for all to see what happens to rule breakers. James' spirit is broken and he hasn't hear from Meryl in a year. At the other end of the spectrum, Michael is thriving, having been sent to Poland to oversee the organizational plans there. Uppermost in his plans is a wall built around the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, where thousands are shipped from all over occupied territories.
Since the rape, Blanche does not speak and Meryl, being a non-Jew, can take her to a doctor, who arranges to get her to a sanitarium. It all seems to make sense to Meryl, who has become a very tender sister to her, though she does wonder to the doctor as to whether she's "doing the right thing." It's all a cover. Taken with the lame and retarded, she is immediately gassed. If this scene doesn't get you, well, it should! Rosemary is sent a letter saying Blanche died of pneumonia. Note her version is beating her chest as she reads the news. Unlike the typical harsh thumping, she merely tabs her heart, handkerchief in hand, as she reads the letter. She's still trying to believe it's all not happening. It's Meryl who breaks down.
Timothy has made it to Prague, where Tovah Feldshuh runs a store and is a link to the rebels. Timothy spots her and goes to follow her, but she intervenes. She pretends he stole his backpack and the police leave him alone. She wants to know why he's run away and there are instant sparks of attraction between them, though it's really more about Timothy having not seen a woman in a very long time. They sleep together immediately (hey, we need a dash of sex even in the midst of World War II). Timothy wants Tovah to come with him on the run.
Rosemary is deported to Warsaw, reunited with her husband, but now that she is there, we can finally get a glimpse of the actual ghetto and its poverty. We need this character of refinement in order to show the disparity. She even tells Fritz that he can tell her the truth, that she fully understands everything now. She tells him about Blanche, and as upset as he is, she's now the comforting person. Fritz says life is better than death. "I'm not so sure anymore," Rosemary says, making that arc I spoke of earlier.
Meryl sets off for Buchenwald and Tony, who has summoned her. His letter said he would arrange a meeting for Meryl and James, but now he's going back on it, saying restrictions are making it tough to manage that. Instead of showing her into a "visitor's room," Tony takes her to his bedroom, where Meryl immediately knows what will be required of her, though the scene plays out wonderfully slowly so give Meryl a chance to ponder how to maneuver this supremely evil man. Tony claims he can get letters back and forth and even get James a job in the art studio rather than outside, taking off his clothes to show what he expects in return. Though disgusted, she has to allow it.
Tovah is so serious about the resistance movement, she wears a beret, the international symbol of people series about the resistance movement. They are caught in Hungary, but Timothy overpowers a guard and steals a gun. Tovah wants to give up, but Timothy convinces her to keep going. They end up in Soviet-occupied territory. The leader wants to send them back to the Germans, but Timothy has Tovah tell him the Germans are turning on them and that her father was a good Communist (and he even has her kiss him). They go off to Kiev in the back of a hay wagon.
Tony is still playing go-between for Meryl and James, telling James that he receives payment, non-monetary, for his services. James is aghast, swearing no more letters. He's as upset at Meryl as he is at Tony.
Michael shows up on the Russian front to watch a demonstration killing. He's annoyed that there are Ukrainian civilians watching, that movie cameras and war correspondents are there, and that bullets are being wasted on "a carnival." He has no sympathy for the people being killed; he's only interested in efficiency. The officer he berates forces him to shoot some, to make him understand. There's a twinge of perhaps understanding, but he goes through with it, no worse for the experience.
Even in Warsaw, Rosemary clings to what she knows, teaching the kids to sing French songs. The class includes the ghetto's best smuggler, who can get through the wall. The Jewish council is told of what is happening in Eastern Europe, and that the only way to safety is to fight back, to smuggle in guns and ammo. Fritz encounters an interesting character when one of his nurses is arrested: a Jew who converts from the faith to stay in good with the Nazis. For the time being, no doubt his life is spared as he follows orders, but does he really think the Nazis won't circle back and kill anyone born Jewish? Sam decides to go with the Zionists and find ways to fight back.
Very conveniently, Meryl's soldier brother's life is saved by Timothy and Tovah, and he tells them about Timothy's various family members. But, when it comes time to save their lives, the brother rats them out. Don't worry, he gets blown up by the Red Army seconds later. They are marched to a work camp, but manage to escape on the way, only moments before the rest of the prisoners are gunned down en masse. Michael is watching, amazed that no one fights back. "That just proves they don't deserve to live," he's told. "Simply fantastic," he bleats in amazement at how many people are about to die. "Nobody will believe us. They will say we lied," Timothy says as he sees the shootings (and after Tovah's inevitable "hold me"). On his way back from the shooting, Michael encounters Uncle Robert. Uncle Robert sees through the party lines Michael shows, giving Michael a chance to defend it, making him more evil than ever.
Though Rosemary has no illusions anymore, she does keep photos of their family on the wall, as a way of hoping that somewhere someone might be safe. In fact, she's willing to give up the money she sewed into her coat to help the cause. When a Jew slips into the ghetto telling of what's really going on, the elders decide they have to get arms and fight back. Rosemary hands over all of her cash after overhearing the meeting.
It's Christmas at Michael's house, where Deborah is playing the Bechstein that once belonged to Rosemary and Fritz. Uncle Robert once again starts to question where the piano really came from, and Michael's son chirps that it came from Jews who "went away." The family is totally isolated from the truth of what Michael really does. When they find pictures of the family, Michael coldly tells his daughter to get rid of them and she tosses them into the fire. How prophetic.
James is transferred to the art department where he is supposed to make propaganda posters. He gets a letter from Meryl and he's still very angry. But, he's being transferred to Theresienstadt, which is the ghetto the Germans show to the rest of the world, a model ghetto with parks and painted buildings, all of it a phony facade.
Tovah is in a complaining mood, but Timothy finds raw potatoes, the two joking when they are surrounded by...resistance fighters!
In Theresienstadt, the artists paint the truth, but hide it in the radiators when the place is checked. This is something James can understand. When the Swedes come through, the workshop looks idyllic, with pictures of happy children and people at cafes.
Timothy is put on guard duty and Tovah follows him, and he asks if the rabbi will perform a wedding. In the midst of everything, they actually hold a wedding, complete with a veil, a huppa and a few instruments. It's a welcome bit of happiness in the middle of such strive and tenuous life. Unfortunately, as soon as the dancing starts, they find out the Nazis are coming and have to dash.
Himmler (Ian Holm) comes to pay a visit, watching executions with whole tables of food set up for a buffet. Himmler doesn't react well to the violence, insisting that they "find another way." Shooting is inefficient. However, he praises his soldiers in a doozie of a speech that compares Jews to bedbugs, a strange little lapse in writing here. But, he's supposed to be a buffoon. Other offices are tired of Michael's high-handed behavior, so they decide to destroy him. Unsigned letters arrive in Berlin about his Communist father and possible Jewish blood, none of which is true (the father was a socialist at best). He needs to come up with an idea quickly. He also knows who has been writing the letters, and he won't hesitate to turn them in if they don't come up with a mass murder solution quickly.
Timothy and company stage an ambush and Timothy has to kill for the first time. "I thought I was so tough," he says. But he is! He's managed to escape Berlin, Prague and every other center of horror in order to fight against the Germans. Tovah wants desperately to go to Palestine and Timothy agrees, but even in a miniseries of stellar as "Holocaust," the maxim holds: those who talk of the future rarely get to see it.
Back in Warsaw, Sam and his urchin friend sneak through the wall in order to buy the first gun for their opposition movement. They were expecting 12 guns, but there is only one. The Zionist gives them a lesson in how to use it. "Now all we need is ammunition," Sam says. "It's a beginning."
The Nazis have decided that Auschwitz will be increased in size, their grandest jewel. The man hired to run it is a devoted Nazi, taught to obey since childhood. Michael, of course, will be his liaison between the Nazis and this new horror master. Michael is at least realistic about the war, telling Deborah it was over for Germany the minute the US entered it. "Someday, people will tell monstrous lies about what we did," Michael says, crying that all he did was obey orders. It's his touch of conscience, but it's way too late. Any attempt to bring sympathy to this character has come too late. And he's not even telling the truth. He's done more active than passive work. David Warner is almost assassinated and all Deborah can worry about is that it might be a promotion for him. Michael comes across Zyklon B, the gas agent that will revolutionize mass murder, and it's cheap too, always a benefit.
We haven't seen Meryl in a while, but she's on her way to church, with Tony following her. He confesses his love for her, but she wants to be left alone. She's looking for the kindly priest who talked about the Jews, but he's been taken away to Dachau. Here comes the plot point that bothers me. Meryl ASKS to go to the concentration camp to be with her husband. It makes her the ultimate Christian martyr, and gives her a lot to play, but there has to be a better way to get her inside than simply asking to be sent!
The sketches that have been made in secret by James and his cohorts are in Nazi hands. But, one fool in the studio sold them for cigarettes and marmalade. But, it doesn't stop James and the others from painting their grim truths. Meryl arrives in the studio, having gotten her way, now part of the camp. He hasn't forgiven her for the way she made the letters happen, but she justifies her actions, hating him the whole time. She does not back down. She loves him that much.
The Nazis insists of the Warsaw elders that 6000 people per day be transported to "work camps" in Russia. But, it turns out it's really Treblinka and this is the first time the people in Warsaw hear of the mass gassing with proof. Even the BBC radio says something bad is happening in Poland, but nothing specific about gas chambers or the ghettos. They desperately need guns, and Fritz has an idea for saving at least a handful every day by setting up a clinic at the rail station. It's a good cover, but it can only save a few a day.
All of James' paintings have made it to the big cheeses. Michael intends to crush them, but he's worried about his own position since this happened on his watch. The artists are brought in to see Michael and Eichmann. The questioning doesn't get very far, and Michael targets James as the link he can break, talking "Berliner to Berliner." "That's the problem with you people, you can't forget the past," Michael tells him, but James does not crack. The artists are taken for a more severe questioning, as Meryl goes for the gold yelling in the street running after the truck bearing her husband. The three artists are taken for torture, suffering severe beatings in the most grizzly scene so far. As James is suffering a beating, Meryl is helping to smuggle out the pictures.
Deborah finds out the truth about Michael's work, and can't understand why he has any reservations about it. This makes her easily one of the top ten most frightful women in television history. Michael and the Nazis are awful, of course, but here is a character who has no reason to be involved or hate, but she's more interested than the Nazis themselves! Perhaps this is a way to help humanize Michael's character, but it doesn't work. That cannot possibly happen at this point, but she sure as hell does top him now.
Michael brings a hygiene expert to Auschwitz, where a band of prisoners, in costume, play classical music at this "family camp." Michael is clearly sickened by what he sees, but his career is such a concern, he has to make sure no one suspects. Again, it's too late to make us care about him or sympathize. A "demonstration" is put on for the visiting expert. He's thrilled to look through the viewing hole as people howl for their lives.
The fake clinic scam is figured out and everyone involved with it is ordered on the next train. Rosemary is teaching the kids the "Kadima" when she is arrested, putting up a pretense for the kids that she will be back the next day and they should finish out their day with Shakespeare. Now she's come around to knowing and even accepting the full truth, but comforting those around her. She's still the earth mother, still the calming presence, but this time completely in the know. She and Fritz, with George and his wife, are sent to Auschwitz.
It's been a while since we checked in with our resistance friends. Timothy dresses up in a German military outfit and kills two guards so the others can go in and raid a beer hall where the officers are having a party. It's a complete success. They shoot nearly everyone there and take heaps of ammunition. Timothy get shot in the leg, but it's not fatal..
As the final episode begins, Timothy is having a bullet pulled out of his leg, with Tovah a supportive, if over-protective, wife. She has her going-for-the-Emmy speech, and her speech is right: they can kill a few Germans here or there, but they will most likely die themselves.
James' friends have died from the beatings, but he's still alive, his hands destroyed so he can never paint again. He is being sent to Auschwitz, though he's allowed 30 minutes to say goodbye to his wife, who is pregnant. He wants her to get rid of the baby, but she insists, not on her Catholic beliefs, but on the words of the rabbis, that she will not and before he leaves, he tells her to show the child all the pictures they have drawn.
In the Warsaw ghetto, plans are still afoot for an uprising. Three hundred thousand have been taken from the ghetto and only 50,000 remain, but the Nazis are suspicious, going from house to house checking for contraband. Sam gets his first chance to kill and he does not hesitate. Even the smuggling boy knocks a few off. "There is a God after all. Jews fighting back!" Sam declares. After killing a slew of Nazis, the latter retreat. They are even brave enough to take off their arm bands.
At Auschwitz, Rosemary still clings to her family pictures. Fritz is able to sneak into her barracks. Fritz thinks there is still a chance they will survive, but Rosemary is now the more realistic one. She knows the truth. A young girl is given to the care of Rosemary who is like her own daughter, mute after shock. It's then that the guards come in and take everyone away. She leaves the pictures and takes the mute girl. To the last, Rosemary holds the girl with her.
Then comes the moment that, for me, defines the whole movie: Rosemary is led into the gas chamber and it's James who comes in to collect the clothes of those just sent in. It's utterly heartbreaking, more so because the characters have no idea.
Fritz and George are part of the road crew, but Fritz is having breathing trouble due to the tar. Uncle Robert is running the crew and takes pity on him, having him tend the fire rather than pave the road. At this very moment, Michael shows up. They are feet away from his old doctor, Fritz, and Michael does not see him. He and Uncle Robert have a frank discussion, with Michael clinging to his beliefs. "I should strangle you as a favor to your father," Uncle Robert snaps before tossing Michael out of his little hut.
Fritz and George find out their wives are dead from the Jewish woman who led them to the gas chamber, though she barks the now stomach-turningly familiar, "I was just following orders," the excuse of an entire nation. Fritz at least finds Rosemary's pictures and her sheet music (that she took all over the place?).
Sam has turned into a gun-toting realist. It's Passover and Himmler has promised Hitler to liquidate the ghetto for his birthday. The Nazis send a truck in with Passover wishes, but they shoot the truck back. Unfortunately, the Nazis have a big force to send in. That posse flees in an instant. The Nazis return in full force as the Seder is going on. Okay, I admit, the dichotomy is being laid on awfully thick, but it's impossible not to be swept up in the moment. A big battle ensues, and the Nazis retreat, but that leaves the Warsaw Jews have no food or medicine as the weeks wear on. They print up leaflets and the smuggler kid helps the guy take them out. Now they are even out of paper. The guy with the leaflets is shot right as he gets through the wall, but the papers are strewn around so people can see them. The Nazis bomb with gas and some of the warriors have cyanide tablets. Others try to run for it. Those who left the buildings are found by the Nazis and shot up against a wall.
Michael makes one last attempt to save his career by turning in Uncle Robert's Jewish work detail (Jews are marked for death, not work). So, that means Fritz and George are taken off the road and send for "delousing."
Timothy and company have planned to blow up a convoy, but they Nazis somehow know and chase the fighters through the woods. Tovah is killed by a bullet and the survivors end up in Sobibor, where an escape plan is in full swing.
Himmler wants the camps dismantled because he knows the war is lost. But, Michael, now so crazed by doctrine that he's pretty much insane, says the camps should remain as monuments to what they have done, which was pre-destined in European history. It's a rah rah speech that a few years earlier would have had him promoted up the ranks, but with the war nearly over, it just seems pathetic.
James finds out his parents were killed in the same camp, but his friend from Buchenwald thinks they will be saved as the Americans and Soviets are advancing.
At Sobibor, Timothy is a major part of the escape, which works. He and the Russian soldiers flee the camp. They Russians go east and Timothy decides to go west to search for his family. There won't be anyone to find, as James has died doing one last drawing before the Nazis went on a killing rampage. Michael is hauled in by the Americans to explain his acts and does his best to stick to the party line, as always. Though he winces or swallows now and then, he refuses to tell the truth. After one last look through his beloved pictures of the atrocities, he swallows his poison tablet, a coward to the end.
Deborah gets a letter saying her husband died a hero, and Uncle Robert says it's untrue. He tells her the real story of his death, but she and her kids will not listen to what he has to say. He refuses to back down, feeling guilty that he stood by and watched. "I won't be silent," he says as he goes to leave. One can only hope the final suffering goes to Deborah when she finally admits the truth.
Timothy is still alive and has made it to the great ghetto where he finds Meryl and her son, having stayed on once the camps are all liberated. They are the only ones left, having not seen each other for seven years. She still has the drawings as well. "I'm a kind of blank. No hate, no love, like the living dead walking through the camps," he says, unable to place any blame.
The film ends almost where it began, with Timothy playing soccer with kids. It will be his job to teach the next generation. He is offered a job helping get Jews to Palestine.
So it ends, with a note of hope, but a mind full of heartbreaking memories. "Holocaust" is brave and honest, as brave and honest as the lead characters it shows us over 7.5 supremely memorable hours. In the annals of historical miniseries, this ranks as one of the greatest history lessons ever, gritty and unyielding, but true through and through.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Backstairs at the White House (1979)
Solid historical drama in the vein of "Roots," (with many cast members to share), "Backstairs at the White House" is a warm miniseries, a strange thing to say about what should be a dry political lesson. We rip through all of the Presidents and First Ladies from the Tafts to the Eisenhowers, all with varying degrees of charm or difficulty, but in an obvious ape at its obvious British counterpart, more important here is the story of Maggie Rogers and her daughter Lillian who work at the White House and observe all that goes on. I'm not sure that any miniseries has ever boasted so many fancy guest stars, but it's the main characters that really keep up the sweet and confident pace. I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Presidents and First Ladies are often mere window dressing.
It's 1961 and John F. Kennedy is being inaugurated. A young taxi driver drops Lillian Rogers Parks (Leslie Uggams) at Levi Mercer's (Lou Gossett Jr.) place where the two old timers have settled in to watch the inauguration, the driver not at all believing Lillian's claim that she has been to the White House. Lillian notes it's her ninth inauguration, and Levi knowingly rebuffs her, saying she's too young.
Ah, but she's not. She can remember all the way back to the Taft inauguration. Actually, it wasn't the inauguration she remembered most, but her father's return home (a jovial Paul Winfield). Lillian and her brother are thrilled, but mother Maggie (Olivia Cole) is more reserved. He's no good, gone for months at a time and Maggie needs stability. Paul says all the right things, but Maggie knows better and has gotten herself a job where she can bring her kids. She fails to mention it's at the White House!
On her first day, Maggie encounters a cow on the lawn and Mrs. Jaffray, the head of the household. Maggie is the first black maid to work with the first family, and though the salary is meager, the perks are better than anywhere else. As Mrs. Jaffray goes to market, Maggie meets Ike Hoover (Leslie Nielsen), who runs everything and the rest of the staff at breakfast. Even in the servant's quarters, there is a hierarchy, not race-based, but experience-based. Mrs. Jaffray had warned Maggie about gossiping, but they sure as hell do a lot of it on their own.
It's tough work and it's long into the first day when she meets Mrs. Taft (Julie Harris), who actually does check the plants for dust (Maggie had already done them). As hard and laborious as it is, Maggie is very impressed by the White House, the furniture, the walls, everything. Maggie was brought on because of her skill at doing hair, and gets to hear an awful lot while doing it. Mrs. Taft is always worried about appearances (she won't allow bald men), so careful to keep the President from being made a fool of.
At one point, with Mrs. Taft gone, Maggie is needed back at the White House at night, bringing Lillian with her. Crippled in one leg with polio, Lillian is full of spunk, and amazed by the President's bathtub. It's here that we finally meet Taft himself (Victor Buono), who is very friendly, even inviting little Lillian to snack with him, holding her hand. He indeed has a very hearty appetite and rambles on about ghosts and politics to Lillian, but he seems like a harmless lonely man.
Fellow staff members help Maggie to make extra money, even getting her son Emmett a job in the garden. Charlie Taft gets in him into trouble, which horrifies Maggie. Even worse is Lillian earning money by helping men bet on horses, which gets her sent off to Catholic school.
There are times when the narrative gets a bit cloying in its stretch to go both upstairs and downstairs. For instance, Maggie goes to get her curling iron, trapped in the bathroom when the Tafts come up unexpectedly. She overhears Taft complaining about being President, summarizing pretty much his entire career in three minutes. Or, right after that, Maggie tells one of her wealthy clients about poor Lillian's leg, and the client offers to pay for the surgery.
Naturally, during the surgery, Mrs. Taft has a stroke and Maggie is called back to the White House. She has to work, so she leaves the hospital to tend to Mrs. Taft. Luckily, the operation is successful, and all of the servants are so relieved, giving Maggie the good news as she brushes delicate Mrs. Taft's hair. Both Lillian and Nellie Taft recover well (so well that Leslie Uggams has taken over as Lillian now), though Lillian will always need her crutches.
For the Butler's Ball, Maggie dresses up in one of Mrs. Taft's old dresses that Lillian has redone for her, but neither of Maggie's growing kids is happy. Lillian stays inside sewing, afraid to be seen handicapped and Emmett is tired of Charlie Taft's hand-me-downs and leftover duck.
Taft loses his bid for re-election and the staff members are all upset to see the Tafts go. It's time for the Wilsons (Robert Vaughn and Kim Hunter), far less friendly, but more thrifty. Wilson can't be bothered to meet the staff, but will go around turning off lights. The Wilson daughters are a bit more fun, joining a White House tour and pretending to be tourists. Maggie adores the Wilson daughters, much to Lillian's jealous dismay.
A charitable do-gooder, the first Mrs. Wilson actually pays Maggie a visit to see how they live, promising to "fight for the Negroes with the very last ounce of my energy." You say a thing like that in a miniseries and you are a goner. Indeed, the first Mrs. Wilson expires in the very next scene. Luckily, before she died, she told Wilson how much she liked Maggie and he orders that Maggie is "never to be on her knees again."
The first Mrs. Wilson is soon forgotten as Wilson marries for a second time (Claire Bloom). Maggie asks for a raise and is told that is not going to happen as then she would be making the same amount as a white maid, the first time we've encountered obvious racism. "There's a new Mrs. Wilson now," Mrs. Jaffray snaps at Maggie's reminding her that Mrs. Wilson had promised. Maggie then tries to get a maid's job for Lillian once Emmett goes off to the army, but Mrs. Jaffray knocks that down too as Lillian is not fast enough.
Maggie is doing Mrs. Wilson's hair when she and her husband are arguing against women getting the vote. Unlike the Tafts, they don't seem to notice Maggie at all. She literally stands a foot from them as Wilson bashes everyone, and then Mrs. Wilson suggests they send Maggie outside to find out what the female protesters are saying. Vapid Mrs. Wilson then tells Maggie how easy she has it, going home from work every night while the President sits up worried. "Backstairs at the White House" is never mean-spirited, but it does have its little moments of acidity. Plucky Lillian is outside marching, to the horror of her mother!
With World War I on, the staff is worried that Wilson won't eat. As one of their own goes off to fight, a letter comes from Emmett. He's been promoted, thrilling everyone, but Mercer notes the return address is a hospital. He's been gassed, they find out through the White House chain. Wilson tells Maggie that Emmett is on the way home, but then a telegram arrives. It's not what you think, because Emmett arrives home safely (though with a nasty cough). It's Emmett Sr. coming home, $112 in need. Maggie is utterly thrilled with everything. When one is that happy... Well, the next telegram says Emmett Sr. is not coming home.
The war ends and the servants are overjoyed, even stuffy Mrs. Jaffray. But Wilson loses his League of Nations battle. Wilson forgets his glasses and then gets a chill. Students of history know what is coming next: Wilson's big stroke. That it happens in the middle of a big monologue delivered to Mercer is a bit much. The story gives Wilson far less sympathy than Mrs. Taft after her stroke. Mrs. Wilson full intends to take over and run things. A big deal is made over finding Lincoln's bed for the big show Mrs. Wilson wants to put on to make everyone think Wilson is just fine, and it's heavy-handed, but it's only 1979 and the miniseries is hardly subtle at this point. Okay, it will never be subtle, but it did do some learning.
Surprisingly, there is some sympathy given to the second Mrs. Wilson, who never gets any in real life. She's worn out from running the country and has a touching scene with Maggie where they discover they must be "blood sisters" as both have Indian heritage. The Prince of Wales pays a visit, giving way to a comical scene where everyone learns how to bow and address him properly. Even Mr. Wilson is able to greet him. Maggie and Mercer are proud of their Wilsons, but it's time for them to leave the White House.
No one is eager for the Hardings. They have to put spittoons in the rooms! And sauerkraut! Mrs. Jaffray tries to get Maggie back to scrubbing the stairs, but Maggie says she's been spared that by Presidential order. Lillian is there hear her finally stand up to Mrs. Jaffray, but they do not agree about Lillian's new bob hairdo. It goes with her new job at a dress shop, where Washington ladies are already full of gossip about Harding and his affairs.
Celeste Holm is immediately pushy as Mrs. Harding, brandishing a dog and a bird as she makes her first appearance. She's quirky, confusing Maggie. She wants a facial every day and sings "Look For the Silver Lining" before saying she gets "good psychic vibrations" from Maggie. The formality of the previous First Ladies at least made sense to Maggie.
It's Prohibition, but President Harding (George Kennedy) has the White House staff supplying him with alcohol, must to Maggie's dismay. Mercer takes full advantage and drinks what is available. Harding is a fun-loving people person who plays poker with his cronies in the White House, easily the least stiff of the Presidents so far (and he's making Taft Chief Justice, which Taft had wanted to be years earlier). The corruption goes on right under his nose and he seems to have no idea because his friends, including the Attorney General (Barry Sullivan) make it seem legal.
Maggie does what she does best, comforting First Ladies. Florence Harding is exhausted from shaking hands and smiling all day long, but not too tired to blather on about Harding's destiny and her psychic notions. Let's not mention her bird that sings at night, a "bad omen."
Lillian has found the family a new apartment, bigger than before and with furniture. Emmett comes home from the hospital for a meal...not leftover duck, but pork chops that Maggie herself made. Both of the kids know about the house on K Street, infamous during the Harding administration as THE place for illegal activity. Fiercely devoted Maggie refuses to believe anything bad about any of her employers. Once again, she chooses the job over her family. Mrs. Harding wants her back while Emmett is choking at the kitchen sink. Mrs. Harding is right to be worried. On top of everything else, there are rumors that the President has black blood in him.
For the first time, we meet a future president before he's in office. Silent Calvin Coolidge (Ed Flanders). Harding brings him to the White House in desperation to see how he'll vote should the Senate need his tie-breaking vote. He refuses to give an answer, ever the Sphinx. He'll arrive soon enough as Harding's problems mount. One of his best friends kills himself and the Senate is bouncing around various charges, including Teapot Dome. We hear of this in one of the miniseries' annoying "coincidences." Maggie is tending to Mrs. Harding who tells Maggie to open the door, allis owing us to hear/see what Harding and his friends are doing a room away. Poor Mrs. Harding--her husband is a bum with multiple mistresses and a crumbling presidency. She has only her Maggie to keep her company, though Maggie is exhausted by it.
It comes time for the Hardings' fateful trip to the West. For Mrs. Jaffray, it's only a chance to give the White House a big cleaning. Mercer shows up at Maggie's in the middle of the night to break the news that President Harding as died. Weeks later, Florence Harding is refusing to leave, and Coolidge is not pushing to move in. When she finally does leave, it's without her pets. She leaves the damn bird to Maggie.
There are changes in staff, so many that Mercer and Maggie are near the head of the table and the Irish maid Annie, who gave Maggie such a hard time early on, is retiring after 25 years. Maggie is the new first maid! Coolidge is the kind of man who rings for the servants just to see them hurry in and who also expectes change when Mercer gets him the paper. And he keeps a pet racoon.
Mrs. Grace Coolidge (Lee Grant) insists her husband has a sense of humor, but she seems to be the only one who can see it. He's the kind of man who visits the White House kitchen, instructing everyone on stretching soup by adding water, saving stale bread, etc. There will be no leftovers for the staff as Coolidge wants them for himself.
Lillian is caught up in living on credit, as is the rest of the country. She's happy to buy her mother a Victrola on credit, much to the delight of the staff members who visit Maggie. At 26, Lillian has a date, the first one we've known about yet!
The only time President Coolidge shows any excitement is with his family. But even then he's sour, telling his sons, "don't get too comfortable, boys, we're only temporary tenants." Mrs. Coolidges's biggest worry is sneaking a few moments away from the Secret Service. Hell, she even makes her own bed, but will defend her husband to the end as a "good man." Beware the slightest hint of pain in a miniseries. One of the Coolidge boys complains of a blister on his foot and in the next scene...dead. Both parents are utterly undone, but after a while, they manage to get back their lives (Mrs. Coolidge has all of those creepy dolls to help).
However, it's Silent Cal Coolidge who has the best line of the entire miniseries. He's in the attic with the servants helping to patch a buckling roof when Mrs. Jaffray starts wailing at them all, not realizing he's there. "Mrs. Jaffray, wouldn't you be more comfortable at Buckingham Palace?" and she resigns. Having taken care of that, he's off to his wife full of dire warnings about the economy, that someday there will be a depression.
On the homefront, Emmett has been moved to Arizona for a better climate, thanks to the President. So, that leaves Maggie to worry about only Lillian, who goes to speakeasies and boys. Lillian chides her once again about her devotion to the White House. "It's like taking the veil," she huffs.
We find out Coolidge is done when the Republican party fails to nominate him in 1928, going for Hoover instead. It's suddenly 1930 and the Great Depression is in full swing. The dress shop where Lillian works is going out of business and the movie theater where she worked has closed. Things are so bad the refrigerator is taken by the repo man. In fact, she does something she said she would never do; she takes a job at the White House. "I've come to take the veil," she announces during breakfast one morning and takes her place at the end of the table.
President Hoover (Larry Gates) is also not the friendliest of men, and even Maggie is caught up in the gloom, ordering around Lillian mercilessly. The first time we meet Mrs. Hoover (Jan Sterling) is when she summons Lillian, who is schooled in Mrs. Hoover's finger gestures by her mother. And Maggie wasn't wrong. Mrs. Hoover is definitely an imperious broad, with a bird yet. She wants to "fatten up" Lillian and sends a boat of ice cream her way, with a servant to make sure she eats every bit of it.
Mother and daughter are having trouble because Maggie is so tough on Lillian at work. Lillian is worked to the bone, but Maggie puts it in perspective: there are a lot of people out of work and everyone at the White House knows someone who needs a job, so if she were easy on Lillian, everyone would want to bring in someone. On top of it all, everyone has to take a pay cut!
Mercer, Maggie and Lillian's savings are all wiped out when the banks fail. Maggie has been putting even coins aside and now gets a big actorly scene of tears and mourning. "Backstairs at the White House" has been relatively free of these, as it races at break-neck speed through history, but since Oliva Cole can handle it, she might as well have a scene like this every now and then.
A crazed man has gotten into the White House and threatened the President, so security measures are ramped up, meaning the servants have to be even more out of sight than ever. The Bonus Army is a big worry for the Hoovers, who have everyone working overtime. Maggie looks ready to drop. An old army buddy of Emmett's shows up as part of the Bonus Army (much to the consternation of Frazier, their boarder/coworker).
The Hoovers are the first couple given no sympathy. Yes, the President speaks to Maggie once, by accident, and Mrs. Hoover, on her way out, has a scene with mother and daughter for a split second and then they have their own scene where they speak of the good things they have done. His achievements are minimal, but a bit overdone is Hoover's speaking Quaker.
Maggie collapses while working. The doctor orders rest, but Maggie is stubborn.
The loud Roosevelts show up. Eleanor (Eileen Heckart, no looker herself, is way too pretty for Eleanor) chatters endlessly and even helps out in the kitchen. She's a dynamo. But right behind her is FDR's secretary, Miss LeHand, who lives next to Lillian's sewing room We first see FDR (John Anderson), appalled at the bell system the Hoovers put in to scatter the servants. FDR and Lillian immediately bond over their affliction by polio. He insists no more steps for Lillian, only the elevator! I know it's mushy and calculated, but it works. It's a moment that chokes one up. Ike Hoover finally retires.
Maggie is horrified to hear Lillian's stories from the White House. She's training maids. The staff calls the First Lady Eleanor. They even gossip about things that are not in the paper! Times are chaning, but Maggie is stuck back in the Taft administration. Maggie is even grouchy over Lillian's suitor, who very much wants to marry her.
Lillian and Missy have a nice chat, where Missy explains how she helps the President swim, and both note the lack of free time they have. Hey, if we can humanize poor Missy LeHand, we probably could have found a way to make nice with the Hoovers, but whatever, they are gone.
Well, Lillian finally gets married, but without telling Maggie. They stall at the movies rather than face her, understandably. She's not happy. She fears for Lillian's job and the husband doesn't even have one. At the heart of it is Maggie's fear of losing everyone. Lillian assures her she'll never leave her mother. Unfortunately, that means even on her wedding night, she sleeps in her room with Maggie and hubby is out on the couch.
There's another pay cut, this one 25%. However, FDR is understanding, noting in a letter to Eleanor that they need to cut back too.
In a hoot of a scene Eleanor moves into Lillian's sewing room because there is no room in the house, especially with Alexander Woolcott staying on and on. She formulates a plan to get him out, literally stripping the room bare right out from under him.
It's 1939 and Hitler is on the move, with Roosevelt thinking of a third term. Maggie is supposed to retire, but Eleanor has asked her to stay on through a royal visit. Lillian's husband is laid off and very crabby that he gets to spend no time with his wife, the breadwinner.
The King and Queen of England come for a visit and frumpy Eleanor wears a wool dress with an uneven hem, but she doesn't care. "That's my lady!" Lillian says proudly. "Not quite yet!" Maggie says with each word taking a full minute. But, four days later, it is indeed her time to retire, after 30 years. Franklin and Eleanor give her an inscribed pocket watch. She has as sweet goodbye speech and of course Mercer is sad to see her go, having obviously loved her from the first day they started together, "I want to go out the way I came in...by myself," she says in a very Miss Jane Pittman moment.
As Maggie is leaving, we hear an ambulance and Lillian thinks something has happened to Maggie, but it's actually Missy LeHand who has had a stroke. Mercer takes that moment to remind us of all the death and decay he's seen in the last 30 years, as if we hadn't remembered.
Suddenly it's Pearl Harbor Day and we're in World War II. Now it's Maggie who is lonely and begging Lillian not to work so hard. She's without purpose. Wheatley also hasn't seen Lillian, but does so just long enough to tell her he's enlisted. When he gets back, he also wants a divorce. It's the old "you're not married to me, you're married to the White House" speech we've all heard so many times in life.
Jackson and Mays aren't holding up so well. Jackson is coughing and Mays has memory trouble. But, with Mercer, they keep going. Maggie is still around too, but also having memory issues, confusing the two wars. When she shows up at the White House, Mercer and Lillian think she is confused, but Eleanor has sent for her to help with Madame Chiang Kai-Chek's visit. Eileen Heckart and Olivia Cole have a beautiful scene sitting in the kitchen talking about the horrors of war.
Maggie collapses on those darn backstairs and for once asks to go home to rest. Now she's telling Lillian she's doing too much. Poor Frazier, who had been living with Maggie and Lillian before the war, is killed in an air raid.
Flashing off to March, 1945, FDR is only weeks away from death, old and haggard after years of service. He and Lillian have another one of their personal chats. Lillian knows the house history and FDR notes she would make a fine tour guide, which of course she wanted to be years before. It is, of course, their last chat. "Good night, Little Girl," he says as she lives.
Harry Truman (Harry Morgan) is now in the White House with fumpy Bess (Estelle Parsons, in a strange fright wig) and Margaret in tow. The servants are split on the Trumans. There's a lot to make fun of, but the old-timers like Lillian, are sounding an awful lot like Maggie used to, defending whoever lives there no matter what. Harry is homespun and Bess makes muffins to share with the staff. The only problem is the one that always emerges...economizing. They won't even be feeding the staff breakfast anymore, but both Harry and Bess' mothers are moving in.
Mrs. Jaffray's position has never been an easy one to fill, with a succession of women. The latest, Mrs. Nesbitt, is fired after denying Bess a stick of butter. Harry has bigger problems. Big as in the atom bombs that end the war.
Would you believe Maggie is still alive? Yup, still pasting clippings into her scrapbook for that book she's always wanted to write, ignoring her health. The White House is in even worse shape, so bad that the Trumans famously had to flee it temporarily so it could be patched up. Jackson has retired, but Mays and Mercer are still at it. Mays and Mercer even make the cut when the Trumans move to Blair House, the only two of the whole staff to stay on. But, that doesn't last long because Truman squeeks out a win and Bess wants Lillian back.
Then it's 1950 and Korea creeps into the regular vocabulary. One of history's more forgotten episodes happens right outside Lillian's sewing room window when assassins target Blair House and kill a policeman. The Secret Service wants to stop Harry from a speech, but he refuses.
On Inauguration Day, Dwight Eisenhower (Andrew Duggan) refuses to come in and do the hand-off properly. This time, the goodbyes are very small, as only a handfull of staff members are still around, but it gives Mercer a nice last bonding moment with Truman before he disappears from the story. But, at least everyone is back at the White House, Lillian in her sewing room. Eisenhower bucks tradition again and banishes the portraits of Truman and FDR to the attic.
Lillian is summoned by Mamie (Barbara Barrie), a stickler for small details, such as calling drapes drapery. She has a habit of not addressing people directly, only through her housekeeper. Mamie and Ike are as bland as Mamie's Pepto pink. The first time we actually see Ike, he's off to golf. Mamie can't stand footprints on carpet. One already misses Bess' antics, though Ike's personally-made soup (on a hot pot) is somewhat endearing. Lillian doesn't have to mend the linen anymore, instead having to make them brand new.
Mamie demands to see Lillian, who is ready to quit due to Mamie's demands, but it's only a ruse to get her downstairs for a surprise birthday party. By now, we're really stretching for things to do in the White House. That night, Lillian comes home just in time to see Maggie going back to the White House, confused about where she is and when it is.
Mercer and Mays are still in the White House, though they complain they aren't really noticed. They have been there since the Tafts and even Lillian has nearly 30 years on the job.
The last of the illnesses in the story is Eisenhower's heart attack, kept a secret from everyone except the staff, much to the chagrin of a dressmaker who wants to fit Mamie. Mays has to have a leg removed and then dies. Mercer, Maggie and Lillian are present at the funeral, making Mercer the only old-timer left in the White House. As Maggie breathes her last, Mercer finally admits his love for her.
But Lillian and Mercer return to work, admitting the only people they know now in the White House are each other. Mays had gotten a nice parting speech before he was dispatched, so now it's Mercer's turn. He decides to retire once Kennedy is elected. "The presidents, their families, they are temps. We are the ones who live here," Lillian tells him when he says he no longer belongs.
Then it's back to where we started, Inauguration Day, 1961. Lillian leaves her sewing room for the last time. She gets the 30-year tray and autographed pictures of Dwight and Mamie, though Lillian wonders who told Ike her name, since they had no contact in his years in office. Going down the staires for the last time, Lillian says she intends to write a book, the one her mother had wanted to write, but one that can now be about their summed 50+ years on the job.
There couldn't be a better Cliffs Notes version of presidential history than "Backstairs at the White House." Made at a time of organized simplicity, it's really a very elegant and streamlined production. The main characters are given delightful easygoing personalities, without any trace of soapiness in the plot once Emmett Sr. leaves the family after the first scene. There is a great deal of fun to be had at the expense of the Presidents and First Ladies, but the comedy is never downright bitter. This all gives the miniseries an expert tone, not political and not preachy, but a sweet story that just happens to take place at the very center of 50 years of American history. The final praise goes to the three leads. Olivia Cole is a tender and solid presence as Maggie, a rock solid center. Lou Gossett, always looking at his favorite ladies with love, is as kindly a Mercer as can be imagined, and Leslie Uggams hits just the right notes of feistiness and knowing drama, as always.
It's 1961 and John F. Kennedy is being inaugurated. A young taxi driver drops Lillian Rogers Parks (Leslie Uggams) at Levi Mercer's (Lou Gossett Jr.) place where the two old timers have settled in to watch the inauguration, the driver not at all believing Lillian's claim that she has been to the White House. Lillian notes it's her ninth inauguration, and Levi knowingly rebuffs her, saying she's too young.
Ah, but she's not. She can remember all the way back to the Taft inauguration. Actually, it wasn't the inauguration she remembered most, but her father's return home (a jovial Paul Winfield). Lillian and her brother are thrilled, but mother Maggie (Olivia Cole) is more reserved. He's no good, gone for months at a time and Maggie needs stability. Paul says all the right things, but Maggie knows better and has gotten herself a job where she can bring her kids. She fails to mention it's at the White House!
On her first day, Maggie encounters a cow on the lawn and Mrs. Jaffray, the head of the household. Maggie is the first black maid to work with the first family, and though the salary is meager, the perks are better than anywhere else. As Mrs. Jaffray goes to market, Maggie meets Ike Hoover (Leslie Nielsen), who runs everything and the rest of the staff at breakfast. Even in the servant's quarters, there is a hierarchy, not race-based, but experience-based. Mrs. Jaffray had warned Maggie about gossiping, but they sure as hell do a lot of it on their own.
It's tough work and it's long into the first day when she meets Mrs. Taft (Julie Harris), who actually does check the plants for dust (Maggie had already done them). As hard and laborious as it is, Maggie is very impressed by the White House, the furniture, the walls, everything. Maggie was brought on because of her skill at doing hair, and gets to hear an awful lot while doing it. Mrs. Taft is always worried about appearances (she won't allow bald men), so careful to keep the President from being made a fool of.
At one point, with Mrs. Taft gone, Maggie is needed back at the White House at night, bringing Lillian with her. Crippled in one leg with polio, Lillian is full of spunk, and amazed by the President's bathtub. It's here that we finally meet Taft himself (Victor Buono), who is very friendly, even inviting little Lillian to snack with him, holding her hand. He indeed has a very hearty appetite and rambles on about ghosts and politics to Lillian, but he seems like a harmless lonely man.
Fellow staff members help Maggie to make extra money, even getting her son Emmett a job in the garden. Charlie Taft gets in him into trouble, which horrifies Maggie. Even worse is Lillian earning money by helping men bet on horses, which gets her sent off to Catholic school.
There are times when the narrative gets a bit cloying in its stretch to go both upstairs and downstairs. For instance, Maggie goes to get her curling iron, trapped in the bathroom when the Tafts come up unexpectedly. She overhears Taft complaining about being President, summarizing pretty much his entire career in three minutes. Or, right after that, Maggie tells one of her wealthy clients about poor Lillian's leg, and the client offers to pay for the surgery.
Naturally, during the surgery, Mrs. Taft has a stroke and Maggie is called back to the White House. She has to work, so she leaves the hospital to tend to Mrs. Taft. Luckily, the operation is successful, and all of the servants are so relieved, giving Maggie the good news as she brushes delicate Mrs. Taft's hair. Both Lillian and Nellie Taft recover well (so well that Leslie Uggams has taken over as Lillian now), though Lillian will always need her crutches.
For the Butler's Ball, Maggie dresses up in one of Mrs. Taft's old dresses that Lillian has redone for her, but neither of Maggie's growing kids is happy. Lillian stays inside sewing, afraid to be seen handicapped and Emmett is tired of Charlie Taft's hand-me-downs and leftover duck.
Taft loses his bid for re-election and the staff members are all upset to see the Tafts go. It's time for the Wilsons (Robert Vaughn and Kim Hunter), far less friendly, but more thrifty. Wilson can't be bothered to meet the staff, but will go around turning off lights. The Wilson daughters are a bit more fun, joining a White House tour and pretending to be tourists. Maggie adores the Wilson daughters, much to Lillian's jealous dismay.
A charitable do-gooder, the first Mrs. Wilson actually pays Maggie a visit to see how they live, promising to "fight for the Negroes with the very last ounce of my energy." You say a thing like that in a miniseries and you are a goner. Indeed, the first Mrs. Wilson expires in the very next scene. Luckily, before she died, she told Wilson how much she liked Maggie and he orders that Maggie is "never to be on her knees again."
The first Mrs. Wilson is soon forgotten as Wilson marries for a second time (Claire Bloom). Maggie asks for a raise and is told that is not going to happen as then she would be making the same amount as a white maid, the first time we've encountered obvious racism. "There's a new Mrs. Wilson now," Mrs. Jaffray snaps at Maggie's reminding her that Mrs. Wilson had promised. Maggie then tries to get a maid's job for Lillian once Emmett goes off to the army, but Mrs. Jaffray knocks that down too as Lillian is not fast enough.
Maggie is doing Mrs. Wilson's hair when she and her husband are arguing against women getting the vote. Unlike the Tafts, they don't seem to notice Maggie at all. She literally stands a foot from them as Wilson bashes everyone, and then Mrs. Wilson suggests they send Maggie outside to find out what the female protesters are saying. Vapid Mrs. Wilson then tells Maggie how easy she has it, going home from work every night while the President sits up worried. "Backstairs at the White House" is never mean-spirited, but it does have its little moments of acidity. Plucky Lillian is outside marching, to the horror of her mother!
With World War I on, the staff is worried that Wilson won't eat. As one of their own goes off to fight, a letter comes from Emmett. He's been promoted, thrilling everyone, but Mercer notes the return address is a hospital. He's been gassed, they find out through the White House chain. Wilson tells Maggie that Emmett is on the way home, but then a telegram arrives. It's not what you think, because Emmett arrives home safely (though with a nasty cough). It's Emmett Sr. coming home, $112 in need. Maggie is utterly thrilled with everything. When one is that happy... Well, the next telegram says Emmett Sr. is not coming home.
The war ends and the servants are overjoyed, even stuffy Mrs. Jaffray. But Wilson loses his League of Nations battle. Wilson forgets his glasses and then gets a chill. Students of history know what is coming next: Wilson's big stroke. That it happens in the middle of a big monologue delivered to Mercer is a bit much. The story gives Wilson far less sympathy than Mrs. Taft after her stroke. Mrs. Wilson full intends to take over and run things. A big deal is made over finding Lincoln's bed for the big show Mrs. Wilson wants to put on to make everyone think Wilson is just fine, and it's heavy-handed, but it's only 1979 and the miniseries is hardly subtle at this point. Okay, it will never be subtle, but it did do some learning.
Surprisingly, there is some sympathy given to the second Mrs. Wilson, who never gets any in real life. She's worn out from running the country and has a touching scene with Maggie where they discover they must be "blood sisters" as both have Indian heritage. The Prince of Wales pays a visit, giving way to a comical scene where everyone learns how to bow and address him properly. Even Mr. Wilson is able to greet him. Maggie and Mercer are proud of their Wilsons, but it's time for them to leave the White House.
No one is eager for the Hardings. They have to put spittoons in the rooms! And sauerkraut! Mrs. Jaffray tries to get Maggie back to scrubbing the stairs, but Maggie says she's been spared that by Presidential order. Lillian is there hear her finally stand up to Mrs. Jaffray, but they do not agree about Lillian's new bob hairdo. It goes with her new job at a dress shop, where Washington ladies are already full of gossip about Harding and his affairs.
Celeste Holm is immediately pushy as Mrs. Harding, brandishing a dog and a bird as she makes her first appearance. She's quirky, confusing Maggie. She wants a facial every day and sings "Look For the Silver Lining" before saying she gets "good psychic vibrations" from Maggie. The formality of the previous First Ladies at least made sense to Maggie.
It's Prohibition, but President Harding (George Kennedy) has the White House staff supplying him with alcohol, must to Maggie's dismay. Mercer takes full advantage and drinks what is available. Harding is a fun-loving people person who plays poker with his cronies in the White House, easily the least stiff of the Presidents so far (and he's making Taft Chief Justice, which Taft had wanted to be years earlier). The corruption goes on right under his nose and he seems to have no idea because his friends, including the Attorney General (Barry Sullivan) make it seem legal.
Maggie does what she does best, comforting First Ladies. Florence Harding is exhausted from shaking hands and smiling all day long, but not too tired to blather on about Harding's destiny and her psychic notions. Let's not mention her bird that sings at night, a "bad omen."
Lillian has found the family a new apartment, bigger than before and with furniture. Emmett comes home from the hospital for a meal...not leftover duck, but pork chops that Maggie herself made. Both of the kids know about the house on K Street, infamous during the Harding administration as THE place for illegal activity. Fiercely devoted Maggie refuses to believe anything bad about any of her employers. Once again, she chooses the job over her family. Mrs. Harding wants her back while Emmett is choking at the kitchen sink. Mrs. Harding is right to be worried. On top of everything else, there are rumors that the President has black blood in him.
For the first time, we meet a future president before he's in office. Silent Calvin Coolidge (Ed Flanders). Harding brings him to the White House in desperation to see how he'll vote should the Senate need his tie-breaking vote. He refuses to give an answer, ever the Sphinx. He'll arrive soon enough as Harding's problems mount. One of his best friends kills himself and the Senate is bouncing around various charges, including Teapot Dome. We hear of this in one of the miniseries' annoying "coincidences." Maggie is tending to Mrs. Harding who tells Maggie to open the door, allis owing us to hear/see what Harding and his friends are doing a room away. Poor Mrs. Harding--her husband is a bum with multiple mistresses and a crumbling presidency. She has only her Maggie to keep her company, though Maggie is exhausted by it.
It comes time for the Hardings' fateful trip to the West. For Mrs. Jaffray, it's only a chance to give the White House a big cleaning. Mercer shows up at Maggie's in the middle of the night to break the news that President Harding as died. Weeks later, Florence Harding is refusing to leave, and Coolidge is not pushing to move in. When she finally does leave, it's without her pets. She leaves the damn bird to Maggie.
There are changes in staff, so many that Mercer and Maggie are near the head of the table and the Irish maid Annie, who gave Maggie such a hard time early on, is retiring after 25 years. Maggie is the new first maid! Coolidge is the kind of man who rings for the servants just to see them hurry in and who also expectes change when Mercer gets him the paper. And he keeps a pet racoon.
Mrs. Grace Coolidge (Lee Grant) insists her husband has a sense of humor, but she seems to be the only one who can see it. He's the kind of man who visits the White House kitchen, instructing everyone on stretching soup by adding water, saving stale bread, etc. There will be no leftovers for the staff as Coolidge wants them for himself.
Lillian is caught up in living on credit, as is the rest of the country. She's happy to buy her mother a Victrola on credit, much to the delight of the staff members who visit Maggie. At 26, Lillian has a date, the first one we've known about yet!
The only time President Coolidge shows any excitement is with his family. But even then he's sour, telling his sons, "don't get too comfortable, boys, we're only temporary tenants." Mrs. Coolidges's biggest worry is sneaking a few moments away from the Secret Service. Hell, she even makes her own bed, but will defend her husband to the end as a "good man." Beware the slightest hint of pain in a miniseries. One of the Coolidge boys complains of a blister on his foot and in the next scene...dead. Both parents are utterly undone, but after a while, they manage to get back their lives (Mrs. Coolidge has all of those creepy dolls to help).
However, it's Silent Cal Coolidge who has the best line of the entire miniseries. He's in the attic with the servants helping to patch a buckling roof when Mrs. Jaffray starts wailing at them all, not realizing he's there. "Mrs. Jaffray, wouldn't you be more comfortable at Buckingham Palace?" and she resigns. Having taken care of that, he's off to his wife full of dire warnings about the economy, that someday there will be a depression.
On the homefront, Emmett has been moved to Arizona for a better climate, thanks to the President. So, that leaves Maggie to worry about only Lillian, who goes to speakeasies and boys. Lillian chides her once again about her devotion to the White House. "It's like taking the veil," she huffs.
We find out Coolidge is done when the Republican party fails to nominate him in 1928, going for Hoover instead. It's suddenly 1930 and the Great Depression is in full swing. The dress shop where Lillian works is going out of business and the movie theater where she worked has closed. Things are so bad the refrigerator is taken by the repo man. In fact, she does something she said she would never do; she takes a job at the White House. "I've come to take the veil," she announces during breakfast one morning and takes her place at the end of the table.
President Hoover (Larry Gates) is also not the friendliest of men, and even Maggie is caught up in the gloom, ordering around Lillian mercilessly. The first time we meet Mrs. Hoover (Jan Sterling) is when she summons Lillian, who is schooled in Mrs. Hoover's finger gestures by her mother. And Maggie wasn't wrong. Mrs. Hoover is definitely an imperious broad, with a bird yet. She wants to "fatten up" Lillian and sends a boat of ice cream her way, with a servant to make sure she eats every bit of it.
Mother and daughter are having trouble because Maggie is so tough on Lillian at work. Lillian is worked to the bone, but Maggie puts it in perspective: there are a lot of people out of work and everyone at the White House knows someone who needs a job, so if she were easy on Lillian, everyone would want to bring in someone. On top of it all, everyone has to take a pay cut!
Mercer, Maggie and Lillian's savings are all wiped out when the banks fail. Maggie has been putting even coins aside and now gets a big actorly scene of tears and mourning. "Backstairs at the White House" has been relatively free of these, as it races at break-neck speed through history, but since Oliva Cole can handle it, she might as well have a scene like this every now and then.
A crazed man has gotten into the White House and threatened the President, so security measures are ramped up, meaning the servants have to be even more out of sight than ever. The Bonus Army is a big worry for the Hoovers, who have everyone working overtime. Maggie looks ready to drop. An old army buddy of Emmett's shows up as part of the Bonus Army (much to the consternation of Frazier, their boarder/coworker).
The Hoovers are the first couple given no sympathy. Yes, the President speaks to Maggie once, by accident, and Mrs. Hoover, on her way out, has a scene with mother and daughter for a split second and then they have their own scene where they speak of the good things they have done. His achievements are minimal, but a bit overdone is Hoover's speaking Quaker.
Maggie collapses while working. The doctor orders rest, but Maggie is stubborn.
The loud Roosevelts show up. Eleanor (Eileen Heckart, no looker herself, is way too pretty for Eleanor) chatters endlessly and even helps out in the kitchen. She's a dynamo. But right behind her is FDR's secretary, Miss LeHand, who lives next to Lillian's sewing room We first see FDR (John Anderson), appalled at the bell system the Hoovers put in to scatter the servants. FDR and Lillian immediately bond over their affliction by polio. He insists no more steps for Lillian, only the elevator! I know it's mushy and calculated, but it works. It's a moment that chokes one up. Ike Hoover finally retires.
Maggie is horrified to hear Lillian's stories from the White House. She's training maids. The staff calls the First Lady Eleanor. They even gossip about things that are not in the paper! Times are chaning, but Maggie is stuck back in the Taft administration. Maggie is even grouchy over Lillian's suitor, who very much wants to marry her.
Lillian and Missy have a nice chat, where Missy explains how she helps the President swim, and both note the lack of free time they have. Hey, if we can humanize poor Missy LeHand, we probably could have found a way to make nice with the Hoovers, but whatever, they are gone.
Well, Lillian finally gets married, but without telling Maggie. They stall at the movies rather than face her, understandably. She's not happy. She fears for Lillian's job and the husband doesn't even have one. At the heart of it is Maggie's fear of losing everyone. Lillian assures her she'll never leave her mother. Unfortunately, that means even on her wedding night, she sleeps in her room with Maggie and hubby is out on the couch.
There's another pay cut, this one 25%. However, FDR is understanding, noting in a letter to Eleanor that they need to cut back too.
In a hoot of a scene Eleanor moves into Lillian's sewing room because there is no room in the house, especially with Alexander Woolcott staying on and on. She formulates a plan to get him out, literally stripping the room bare right out from under him.
It's 1939 and Hitler is on the move, with Roosevelt thinking of a third term. Maggie is supposed to retire, but Eleanor has asked her to stay on through a royal visit. Lillian's husband is laid off and very crabby that he gets to spend no time with his wife, the breadwinner.
The King and Queen of England come for a visit and frumpy Eleanor wears a wool dress with an uneven hem, but she doesn't care. "That's my lady!" Lillian says proudly. "Not quite yet!" Maggie says with each word taking a full minute. But, four days later, it is indeed her time to retire, after 30 years. Franklin and Eleanor give her an inscribed pocket watch. She has as sweet goodbye speech and of course Mercer is sad to see her go, having obviously loved her from the first day they started together, "I want to go out the way I came in...by myself," she says in a very Miss Jane Pittman moment.
As Maggie is leaving, we hear an ambulance and Lillian thinks something has happened to Maggie, but it's actually Missy LeHand who has had a stroke. Mercer takes that moment to remind us of all the death and decay he's seen in the last 30 years, as if we hadn't remembered.
Suddenly it's Pearl Harbor Day and we're in World War II. Now it's Maggie who is lonely and begging Lillian not to work so hard. She's without purpose. Wheatley also hasn't seen Lillian, but does so just long enough to tell her he's enlisted. When he gets back, he also wants a divorce. It's the old "you're not married to me, you're married to the White House" speech we've all heard so many times in life.
Jackson and Mays aren't holding up so well. Jackson is coughing and Mays has memory trouble. But, with Mercer, they keep going. Maggie is still around too, but also having memory issues, confusing the two wars. When she shows up at the White House, Mercer and Lillian think she is confused, but Eleanor has sent for her to help with Madame Chiang Kai-Chek's visit. Eileen Heckart and Olivia Cole have a beautiful scene sitting in the kitchen talking about the horrors of war.
Maggie collapses on those darn backstairs and for once asks to go home to rest. Now she's telling Lillian she's doing too much. Poor Frazier, who had been living with Maggie and Lillian before the war, is killed in an air raid.
Flashing off to March, 1945, FDR is only weeks away from death, old and haggard after years of service. He and Lillian have another one of their personal chats. Lillian knows the house history and FDR notes she would make a fine tour guide, which of course she wanted to be years before. It is, of course, their last chat. "Good night, Little Girl," he says as she lives.
Harry Truman (Harry Morgan) is now in the White House with fumpy Bess (Estelle Parsons, in a strange fright wig) and Margaret in tow. The servants are split on the Trumans. There's a lot to make fun of, but the old-timers like Lillian, are sounding an awful lot like Maggie used to, defending whoever lives there no matter what. Harry is homespun and Bess makes muffins to share with the staff. The only problem is the one that always emerges...economizing. They won't even be feeding the staff breakfast anymore, but both Harry and Bess' mothers are moving in.
Mrs. Jaffray's position has never been an easy one to fill, with a succession of women. The latest, Mrs. Nesbitt, is fired after denying Bess a stick of butter. Harry has bigger problems. Big as in the atom bombs that end the war.
Would you believe Maggie is still alive? Yup, still pasting clippings into her scrapbook for that book she's always wanted to write, ignoring her health. The White House is in even worse shape, so bad that the Trumans famously had to flee it temporarily so it could be patched up. Jackson has retired, but Mays and Mercer are still at it. Mays and Mercer even make the cut when the Trumans move to Blair House, the only two of the whole staff to stay on. But, that doesn't last long because Truman squeeks out a win and Bess wants Lillian back.
Then it's 1950 and Korea creeps into the regular vocabulary. One of history's more forgotten episodes happens right outside Lillian's sewing room window when assassins target Blair House and kill a policeman. The Secret Service wants to stop Harry from a speech, but he refuses.
On Inauguration Day, Dwight Eisenhower (Andrew Duggan) refuses to come in and do the hand-off properly. This time, the goodbyes are very small, as only a handfull of staff members are still around, but it gives Mercer a nice last bonding moment with Truman before he disappears from the story. But, at least everyone is back at the White House, Lillian in her sewing room. Eisenhower bucks tradition again and banishes the portraits of Truman and FDR to the attic.
Lillian is summoned by Mamie (Barbara Barrie), a stickler for small details, such as calling drapes drapery. She has a habit of not addressing people directly, only through her housekeeper. Mamie and Ike are as bland as Mamie's Pepto pink. The first time we actually see Ike, he's off to golf. Mamie can't stand footprints on carpet. One already misses Bess' antics, though Ike's personally-made soup (on a hot pot) is somewhat endearing. Lillian doesn't have to mend the linen anymore, instead having to make them brand new.
Mamie demands to see Lillian, who is ready to quit due to Mamie's demands, but it's only a ruse to get her downstairs for a surprise birthday party. By now, we're really stretching for things to do in the White House. That night, Lillian comes home just in time to see Maggie going back to the White House, confused about where she is and when it is.
Mercer and Mays are still in the White House, though they complain they aren't really noticed. They have been there since the Tafts and even Lillian has nearly 30 years on the job.
The last of the illnesses in the story is Eisenhower's heart attack, kept a secret from everyone except the staff, much to the chagrin of a dressmaker who wants to fit Mamie. Mays has to have a leg removed and then dies. Mercer, Maggie and Lillian are present at the funeral, making Mercer the only old-timer left in the White House. As Maggie breathes her last, Mercer finally admits his love for her.
But Lillian and Mercer return to work, admitting the only people they know now in the White House are each other. Mays had gotten a nice parting speech before he was dispatched, so now it's Mercer's turn. He decides to retire once Kennedy is elected. "The presidents, their families, they are temps. We are the ones who live here," Lillian tells him when he says he no longer belongs.
Then it's back to where we started, Inauguration Day, 1961. Lillian leaves her sewing room for the last time. She gets the 30-year tray and autographed pictures of Dwight and Mamie, though Lillian wonders who told Ike her name, since they had no contact in his years in office. Going down the staires for the last time, Lillian says she intends to write a book, the one her mother had wanted to write, but one that can now be about their summed 50+ years on the job.
There couldn't be a better Cliffs Notes version of presidential history than "Backstairs at the White House." Made at a time of organized simplicity, it's really a very elegant and streamlined production. The main characters are given delightful easygoing personalities, without any trace of soapiness in the plot once Emmett Sr. leaves the family after the first scene. There is a great deal of fun to be had at the expense of the Presidents and First Ladies, but the comedy is never downright bitter. This all gives the miniseries an expert tone, not political and not preachy, but a sweet story that just happens to take place at the very center of 50 years of American history. The final praise goes to the three leads. Olivia Cole is a tender and solid presence as Maggie, a rock solid center. Lou Gossett, always looking at his favorite ladies with love, is as kindly a Mercer as can be imagined, and Leslie Uggams hits just the right notes of feistiness and knowing drama, as always.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)