Tonight's Movie: That's the Spirit (1945) at Cinecon

Last weekend I spent two full days at the Cinecon Classic Film Festival in Beverly Hills.

Over the course of Saturday and Monday I saw nine feature-length films, three two-reeler Technicolor musical shorts, and two very short new documentaries. I also met Nancy Kwan when she autographed her memoir for me, and I saw Ann-Margret and Pat Boone in person.

In short, it was a fantastic time! Monday, in particularly, was bliss: 4 "B" movies, all roughly an hour long, followed by a longer musical.

The films I saw were, with perhaps the exception of THE PLEASURE SEEKERS (1964), quite obscure. None are available on DVD, so most or all of us were seeing them for the first time ever.

I'm hoping to write about several of the films here, as they were quite interesting and I'd love more film fans to know about them -- hoping that one day they'll be more widely available for others to see.

I'm starting off with the final film I saw on Labor Day, THAT'S THE SPIRIT (1945). I'd never previously heard of this 87-minute Universal Pictures film, viewed in a beautiful print, but I loved it.

THAT'S THE SPIRIT is a musical fantasy which is quite reminiscent, in various ways, of both HERE COMES MR. JORDAN (1941) and HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1943). It also has a tinge of the sweetness found in the lovely fantasy IT HAPPENED TOMORROW (1944), in which THAT'S THE SPIRIT star Jack Oakie also appeared.

Perhaps even more significantly, it reminded me of CAROUSEL. That may be pure coincidence, as CAROUSEL had opened on Broadway just a few weeks before this film was released in June 1945, but it's noteworthy. And funnily enough, THAT'S THE SPIRIT costar Gene Lockhart would appear in the film version of CAROUSEL (1956) over a decade later. (Update: Please visit the comments for info on CAROUSEL's dramatic predecessor LILIOM, which might have influenced the scriptwriters.)

Lovely June Vincent (BLACK ANGEL) plays Libby, a young lady living with her parents Jasper and Abigail (Lockhart and Edith Barrett) at the turn of the century. Her orphaned relative Patience (Victoria Horne) is also part of the household.

Libby's father is straight-laced in the extreme, controlling every aspect of the lives of the women in the family. Patience is compliant with Jasper's strict edicts, but Libby, not so much, and one day the adventurous Libby takes Patience along to see a vaudeville show and find out what it's all about.

Libby falls in love with entertainer Steve Gogarty (Oakie) instantly, because he makes her laugh -- laughter not really being a thing in her family's household. They quickly marry, but a year later, when Libby is having a difficult birth, Steve says aloud that if anything has to happen to Libby, he wishes it would happen to him instead. And the Angel of Death (Karen Randle) makes a detour from the delivery room and takes Steve off to Heaven.

Steve is anxious to get back to earth and help Libby and their little girl Sheila in some way, but he's told by the Complaints Desk Clerk that he must complete his heavenly training first. The deadpan clerk is played by a funny Buster Keaton, who has just a couple scenes.

Eventually, when Sheila (Peggy Ryan) is a teenager, Steve is allowed to return to earth. Libby's father is still very controlling, and his spirit-crushing disdain for Sheila's interest in performing makes her very unhappy. Steve sets to work helping Sheila's dreams come true, while also trying to reform the constantly annoying Jasper. He's also concerned about the lonely Libby, whom he still loves deeply.

As is probably clear from the above, the screenplay (written by Michael Fessier and Ernest Pagano) has quite a lot of plot packed into under an hour and a half, but it plays very well indeed. My one quibble is that Lockhart's Jasper is allowed to go on being a pain in the neck for a bit too long, but otherwise I loved it. The film has a great cast, a lovely tone, and some incredible dancing as the cherry on top of the proverbial sundae.

I've seen almost none of Peggy Ryan's work, as -- like THAT'S THE SPIRIT -- so much of it is not available for home viewing. (What I wouldn't give for several volumes of a Ryan-O'Connor-Jean-Blyth-Foster Universal musicals collection!) Ryan has a couple very athletic dance numbers partnered with Johnny Coy which are absolutely transcendent, lifting the film to an entirely different level; I was blown away. Coy also has a terrific solo number.

I can kind of take or leave Jack Oakie, but I liked him in this a lot. It's a low-key, mellow, and at times quite touching performance.

Victoria Horne, who plays Patience, would marry Oakie half a decade later; they were wed from 1950 until his death in 1978. Their foundation has given away many thousands of dollars, if not more, to benefit young people and the arts; recipients include my oldest daughter's alma mater, USC, and there was even money awarded from the foundation at Cinecon.

June Vincent, who I've liked since seeing her in BLACK ANGEL, is very good as Libby, capturing Libby's youthful innocence and unlikely love for Steve, as well as the older Libby, a loving mother who is also a bit worn out by both her father and life.

The excellent supporting cast includes Andy Devine, Arthur Treacher, Irene Ryan, and Edward Gargan. Karen Randle, memorably spooky as the Angel of Death, was in films from 1944-52.

THAT'S THE SPIRIT was directed by Charles Lamont and filmed in black and white by Charles Van Enger.

This film is recommended...for those who can find it! Let's hope that one day a company like Kino Lorber comes to the film's rescue and plucks it out of obscurity, as it very much deserves a wider audience.

Tweet