Tonight's Movie: Reunion in Reno (1951) at Cinecon

Yesterday we spent a wonderful day at the Cinecon Classic Film Festival -- where, I'm glad to report, we snagged one of the last open parking spots at the Holiday Inn next door to the Nuart Theatre.

Over the course of the day we saw half a dozen movies, one 10-minute Vitaphone short, and three Technicolor shorts from Paramount. It was quite a full day!

I wasn't particularly enthused with the first film, MY LADY'S LIPS (1925). (What a title!) It was a silent melodrama starring William Powell, Alyce Mills, and Clara Bow. At 70 minutes it ran too long, especially when the characters were given what the narrative card termed THE THIRD DEGREE (in all caps!) by the police. It was just too dark for me to fully enjoy. James P. Hogan directed, filmed by Allen G. Siegler.

The rest of the movies were all interesting in the usual Cinecon kind of way; they weren't great films -- and some of the plots were a bit wild! -- but they were generally all rare, hard-to-see movies which were a lot of fun to see in nice prints on a big screen.

Such was the case with the second film of the day, REUNION IN RENO (1951). This movie was simultaneously weird, cute, and touching. A great cast, performances, and Reno locations clashed with a story which was at times a bit disturbing, though overall I enjoyed it.

Over the years I've been fortunate to see former child actress Gigi Perreau interviewed at least a couple of times, most recently by Dana Delaney at a TCM Classic Film Festival screening of THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW (1956). Delaney's back is to my camera in this photo with Perreau, taken by me last May.

In REUNION IN RENO Gigi plays Maggie, a little girl who travels from Emeryville, California, to Reno, Nevada. She promptly visits a family law attorney; to his shock, she wants him to represent her in a divorce from her parents.

The lawyer she meets is Norman Drake (Mark Stevens), and fortunately he's a nice guy, as is his sometime sweetheart, court reporter Laura Carson (Peggy Dow).

Laura thinks they should notify the police but Norman wants to attempt to contact Maggie's parents and resolve things informally if possible.

It takes a while for Norman to figure out who Maggie's parents are, but when they learn their little girl didn't take the train to summer camp as they had thought, they're shocked and immediately drive to Reno to retrieve her. Reno, I'll add, is over 200 miles from Emeryville, so they make a long trek in a short time frame.

Eventually Norman arranges for a court hearing in front of a kindly judge (Ray Collins) to help clear the air and put things right between Maggie and her parents.

The story is simply odd, no two ways about it, particularly in the way such a very young girl confidently maneuvers herself to the law firm, hitching a free ride in a taxi and following a prospective divorcee (Myrna Dell) into an office building.

While eventually her good upbringing overcomes her flaws, along the way Maggie is both a manipulator and a liar, and it takes a very long time for her uber-confident facade to crack and her underlying emotions to finally show.

Maggie's parents, Doris and B. Frederick, are played by Frances Dee and Leif Erickson. The movie cleverly hides its cards initially over what the parents are truly like; Doris is wan and seems a bit timid, and her husband is blustery. Are they uncaring or mean parents?

Gradually we learn Doris isn't really timid at all and there's a reason she seems frail, and moreover she has a loving husband who clearly loves his daughter.

Some readers will be aware that I'm a big fan of Frances Dee, and I loved seeing her in this part; she's especially good in the courtroom sequence.

This was the only one of the charming Peggy Dow's nine films I hadn't seen yet, and I was delighted to catch up with it for that reason as well. I enjoyed seeing her as a professional woman who runs her own business while also loving homemaking. I'll add that I loved "looking around" both her beautiful little home and office; the film has very nice set design.

Stevens and Erickson (HIGH CHAPARRAL) also do well, and I liked Fay Baker (THE HOUSE ON TELEGRAPH HILL) as Norman's secretary.

Again, it's just an oddball story, but thanks to the congenial cast the movie's 79 minutes pass fairly quickly.  The film was written by Hans Jacoby and Shirley White, based on a Lou Breslow adaptation of a story by Brenda Weisberg and William Sackheim.

REUNION IN RENO was directed by Kurt Neumann and filmed in black and white by Maury Gertsman

This Universal Pictures film is only available in unauthorized "grey market" prints of dubious quality. Universal provided a lovely new print for the festival, so it was very exciting seeing it looking and sounding so great.

Let's hope for a future DVD or Blu-ray release.

Following up on parking concerns expressed in my Cinecon preview, while the next-door parking worked out for us as hoped, the area frankly isn't great and I would not be comfortable purchasing a full fest pass and attending some days alone without advance guaranteed parking at the hotel, which doesn't seem likely. I wouldn't be comfortable walking down the street to a parking lot, especially at night.  If the festival returns to the Nuart, I may again be limited to only going when my husband can accompany me.

The theater itself was clean, had comfortable seats and wide aisles, so from that standpoint it was a good venue. We'll see what the future holds in terms of the announced plans to hold Cinecon 63 next year.

I hope to review a couple more of the films seen yesterday as the week continues.

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