Photos from the Road: Bearizona

On the first day of our May road trip we stopped at the Bearizona Wildlife Park in Williams, Arizona.

It was recommended to us by our son, who had visited Bearizona while attending Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, which is less than an hour's drive away.

Bearizona reminded me a little of Lion Country Safari, which I visited as a child here in Orange County.  Bearizona is a "drive-through" zoo where visitors slowly travel through the park in their own vehicles, enjoying leisurely looks at the various animals who live in the grounds.

Just a few of the many animals seen that afternoon.

Buffalo!

There's also a more traditional "walk-through" section.

I've always loved otters, and it was a lot of fun to watch them in their elaborate exhibit.  Click on any photo to enlarge it for a closer look.

More animals seen as we walked through the park:

We enjoyed our stop at Bearizona, which helped get our trip off to a great start.

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Tonight's Movie: Gun for a Coward (1956) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

This summer I'm in the midst of reviewing numerous new releases from Kino Lorber's Studio Classics line.

Before continuing on with some of the latest titles, I thought I'd first circle back to the final film from a set released by Kino Lorber this spring, the Western Classics II Collection.

All three films in the set were from Universal Pictures. I previously reviewed the other two titles in the collection, PILLARS OF THE SKY (1956) and QUANTEZ (1957).

QUANTEZ starred Fred MacMurray, who is also the star of the final film in the set, GUN FOR A COWARD (1956).

MacMurray plays Will Keough, a struggling rancher who plays a paternal role with his much younger brothers, Bless (Jeffrey Hunter) and Hade (Dean Stockwell), as their father is no longer alive.

The Keough brothers' mother (Josephine Hutchinson) is an unhappy woman who has focused all her love on her middle son, Bless. She hopes to persuade him to move to St. Louis with her and is crushed to realize he wants to continue ranching alongside his brothers.

Will has had an "understanding" with a neighbor, Aud (Janice Rule, A WOMAN'S DEVOTION), that he'll propose when he has the ranch on its feet, but Will has put Aud off for years, and she and Bless eventually confess their love for one another. Telling Will the truth won't be comfortable.

But first, there's a cattle drive...

GUN FOR A COWARD struck me as more of a family melodrama which happens to be set on a ranch than as a pure Western.

It's a bit of an oddball film, with the characters having stilted ways of speaking; the overall tone reminded me a bit of the Robert Mitchum film TRACK OF THE CAT (1954), about another fractured family. There's a similar theme in each movie with a woman trying to encourage a younger son to stand up for himself amidst the family's strong personalities and conflicts.

Despite the awkward dialogue (by R. Wright Campbell) and being fairly predictable, I did like the movie pretty well, thanks to solid performances.

MacMurray and Hunter, two actors I appreciate a great deal, are both very strong in multidimensional roles. MacMurray's Will is a tough man because he's had to be, but he's also sympathetic. He tries as best he can to both coach Bless and give him the room to make his own choices as an adult. MacMurray's scenes as he tries to express his love for his uncaring mother are done without being mawkish and are quite poignant.

While young Hade is hot-tempered and seems destined for trouble, Bless is more sensitive, including having trouble shooting a gun. Bless struggles with being different, while at the same time demonstrating his own style of smarts and courage which is complementary to his brothers. For instance, Bless researches a plan to acquire land from a failing rancher; when the man shows up ready to fight, Bless works to negotiate a fair deal, while his brothers handle the man when he gets physically rowdy.

Rule is interesting as the tomboyish, thoughtful Aud, and Stockwell does a fine job as raucous Hade. Hutchinson is so annoying as the mother that I was frankly glad to see her exit the picture partway through.

Chill Wills, always a welcome presence, plays the ranch foreman who is Will's sounding board. The cast also includes great faces like Bob Steele, Bobby Hoy, Iron Eyes Cody, Betty Lynn, John Larch, and Chuck Hayward.

GUN FOR A COWARD runs 88 minutes. It was directed by Abner Biberman and filmed in CinemaScope by George Robinson.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray is an attractive print with excellent sound. Extras include a commentary track by Lee Gambin, the trailer, and two additional trailers for other Westerns available from Kino Lorber.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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Tonight's Movie: It Happened at the World's Fair (1963) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

Elvis Presley stars in IT HAPPENED AT THE WORLD'S FAIR (1963), recently released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive.

Elvis plays Mike, a crop dusting pilot whose partner Danny (Gary Lockwood) has a gambling problem which leaves them continually strapped of funds. Then they're really left in a bind when a sheriff seizes their plane and they're unable to do their usual work.

While hitchhiking they meet Walter (Kam Tong) and his little niece Sue-Lin (Vicky Tiu). When called away on business, Walter entrusts Sue-Lin to Danny's care to spend a day at the Seattle World's Fair.

Later in the week Walter goes missing, and Danny ends up taking care of Sue-Lin along with a pretty nurse he meets at the fair, Diane (Joan O'Brien, OPERATION PETTICOAT).

I'd class the plot of this film as "lame but likeable," while the movie is distinguished by gorgeous filming of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, making it a "must" for those who enjoy virtual time travel.

As far as the story issues, even in 1963 it seems like a stretch for someone to entrust a seven-year-old child to a total stranger, and the plot gets more peculiar from there. (Eventually someone from Child Services does show up, played by Edith Atwater.) When it comes to Diane, Danny at times seems a little "stalker-ish," as opposed to charmingly persistent.

Perhaps a bigger issue for me is Gary Lockwood's absolutely leaden role as Danny. There are jokes about his gambling, but it's so crippling to both Danny and Mike that it was hard for me to find it funny, and he's also a drinker -- who incidentally thinks it's fine to leave a recently abandoned seven-year-old alone for a couple hours.

Danny is used as a plot device, with his gambling losses moving Elvis from Point A to Point B, but otherwise he simply seems out of place with the rest of the film.

Now for the good stuff! While there aren't any especially memorable songs, they're pleasant, and I thought the best one was "Relax," in which Mike woos future Batgirl Yvonne Craig (seen here). She's striking, and the number reminded me just a bit of "The Lady Loves Me" in my favorite Elvis film to date, VIVA LAS VEGAS (1964).

There's also a fun sighting of Kurt Russell in his very first film role, seen in a photo below. Russell has two scenes as a little boy who kicks Mike in the shins at the fair (it's a long story). I've seen Russell in several movies over the last few years and feel he's developed into an exceptionally fine character actor. How great is it he still has a busy career nearly 60 years after this movie was made?!

Another aspect I enjoyed was the trailer park where Mike and Danny temporarily set up home, which has beautiful mid-Century style colors and design.

And then...there's the Fair! Right off the bat we're treated to a ride on the Alweg monorail; Alweg also worked on the Disneyland Monorail, which opened three years before the World's Fair.

It's wonderful seeing things like the Space Needle and a Firebird "dream car." I thoroughly enjoyed the travelogue aspect of the movie, which really made the film worthwhile for me.

My friend KC, a Seattle native who also enjoyed the World's Fair footage, wrote about the film at her blog and also made me aware that cute little Vicky Tiu grew up to be Vicky Cayetano, First Lady of Hawaii. What an interesting life!

Toby Roan also wrote about the movie for The Hannibal 8, and I loved what he said about "how blessed we are to have old movies look this good today." As someone who fell in love with movies during the days of pan and scan TV prints hacked up with commercials, I hope I never take a beautiful print like the Warner Archive's Blu-ray for granted. It's absolutely gorgeous, with top sound quality.

Norman Taurog directed, with widescreen cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg. The screenplay of this 105-minute film was written by Si Rose and Seaman Jacobs.

The supporting cast includes H.M. Wynant, who incidentally I was fortunate to see in person at a 2014 Loretta Young Centennial Tribute. The Mellomen, including Thurl Ravenscroft and Bill Lee, appear backing up Elvis.

Disc extras are the trailer and a song selection menu.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from the Warner Archive Collection Amazon Store or from any online retailers where Blu-rays are sold.

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Tonight's Movie: Flying Down to Rio (1933) at Mess Hall Market

Last night we had a fun evening attending what was described as a 1930s Drive-in Fly-in Movie Experience hosted by the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles.

The event, screening an aviation-themed double bill of FLYING DOWN TO RIO (1933) and LOVE ON THE RUN (1936), was actually held here in Orange County, atop a parking structure next to Mess Hall Market in Tustin. KNBC News in Los Angeles previewed it with an article last week.

There was a great view of the historic WWII-era Tustin airship hangars from our vantage point, a perfect tie-in with the evening's aviation theme.

The hangars were built in 1942 and remain some of the largest wooden structures in the entire world. A video documentary may be found here, and Huell Howser also filmed a show there.

Here are some photos of the hangars:

Before reviewing the film, here are a few more photos. When we arrived there were several cars in line ahead of us at what proved to be quite a well-attended event.

It was fun to watch the blow-up screen go up. I thought the photos might be of interest to others, as so many similar drive-in opportunities are available these days, and the photos give an idea of what might be expected at other pop-up style screenings.

I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the screen and the crisp picture quality. The tent up shielding the crew from the sun came down before the movies started.

Waiting for darkness to fall:

There was a good turnout! There were some additional cars outside the view of this photo.

The very nice giveaway drawing prizes:

And a photo prop themed to the evening:

In the interest of a full report, there were some organizational issues which I would anticipate will be resolved prior to future events. The advertised concession stand with popcorn and soda didn't appear, and the complimentary candy being passed out never made it to our car.

More significantly, issues with the sound system meant that the first film started 45 minutes late, which caused us to decide to skip the second feature, as it wouldn't have been over until after midnight. Communication with the audience during the delay, if the FM channel providing the pre-movie music could be used, would have been appreciated.

Our FM channel had occasional static mixed in with the soundtrack. (I'd note this hasn't been an issue for our radio at the Post 43 Drive-In in Hollywood.) That said, the picture quality was excellent.

I'm sure for any event like this there is a steep learning curve. Despite the hiccups we had a very good time, and I would definitely attend a similar screening in the future.

On to FLYING DOWN TO RIO! I've seen the other nine Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers countless times and I assumed I'd also seen this one, though I didn't remember it. However, the title isn't in my viewing record, which dates from when I was about 11, and it seemed completely unfamiliar. Is it possible this was my first time to see a Fred and Ginger movie?!

As many film fans will be aware, this was the first teaming of Fred and Ginger, and they're actually in supporting roles, with the stars of the film being Dolores del Rio and Gene Raymond.

Gene plays Roger, a ladies' man band leader who falls for beautiful Belinha (del Rio) at first sight during a Miami engagement. However, her aunt (Blanche Friderici) is determined to break them up...besides which, Belinha is already engaged to Julio (Raul Roulien).

Everyone ends up at a Rio resort, where Belinha will have to make up her mind between Roger and Julio...but first, Roger's friend Fred (Astaire) stages a gigantic airborne show for the guests, with dancers strapped to airplane wings!

I generally like this kind of romantic comedy and have enjoyed several of Raymond's other '30s RKO films, but he and del Rio are pretty bland in this one.

The movie comes alive when Astaire and Rogers (as the band's singer, Honey Hale) are on the screen. Their peppy personalities add zing to any scene they're in.

Astaire and Rogers only have one big dance number, "The Carioca," but their chemistry and that dance were enough to launch them into their own series of musicals starting with the following year's THE GAY DIVORCEE (1934).

The other "indoor" musical numbers, including the parts of "The Carioca" which don't include Astaire and Rogers, feature dancers staged similarly to Busby Berkeley numbers -- Berkeley's greatest Warner Bros. musicals came out the same year -- but are missing any special "something extra" to make them noteworthy.

The "airplanes" number at movie's end is memorable if only because it's so insane! Dancers strapped to the plane and to each other doing Berkeley-style choreographed moves...as if it would actually be possible given the wind forces they'd be facing, among other things. (Could the planes have even taken off?!) It's a slice of crazy good fun and makes the movie worthwhile along with Fred and Ginger.

FLYING DOWN TO RIO runs 89 minutes. It was directed by Thornton Freeland and filmed by J. Roy Hunt. The score was by Vincent Youmans, Gus Kahn, and Edward Eliscu.

FLYING DOWN TO RIO is available on DVD in the Astaire & Rogers Collection Vol. 2, in a TCM Collection, or from the Warner Archive.

Finally, I recently joined the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles.  For anyone interested in supporting the Society's preservation work and events, membership info is here.

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Photos From the Road: Zion National Park

Our May road trip included our first visit to spectacular Zion National Park.

The approach to the eastern park entrance:

A classic postcard-style view of the park entrance:

Shortly after entering the park we went through the 1.1-mile Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel, which was completed in 1930.

The park website says that at the time it was completed, it was the longest tunnel of its type in the United States.

There are so many amazing views in the park that it's difficult to select just a couple to share! So here's a handful:

My husband went on a short climb to a scenic viewpoint.

The unsteady rocks and sharp dropoffs were a no-go for me (grin). Here's one of his shots of the hiking trail:

Worth his effort!

Our 48 hours at Zion also included a horseback ride for my husband, which he really enjoyed.

We stayed in Springdale, Utah, which is where Zion's southern entrance is located.

Our hotel, the Quality Inn at Zion Park, was transitioning away from being a Quality Inn at the time of our visit, so the lack of signs made finding it a bit confusing!

Other than the initial difficulty locating it, we really enjoyed our stay. The room was great, and we had one of these nice patios...

...with a gorgeous scenic view in the distance.

Related post: Photos From the Road: Utah Restaurants.

More road trip photos coming soon!

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