Category Archives: Class V

Blackmail and the British Museum

My Irish counterpart, Colin @ Libraries at the Movies, posted some thoughts on Alfred Hitchcock’s 1929 film Blackmail a little over a year ago — and I’m just now getting around to rewatching this early Hitchcock film. Admittedly not his best film, it was a big commercial hit and was the first British sound film as well as the first example of sound dubbing. Blackmail also includes quite a few experimental touches and echoes of what would become Hitchcock trademarks, and the film features the Round Reading Room of the British Museum. The Round Reading Room — which, alas, was relocated in 1997 — was also the model for the Library of Congress Reading Room.

*SPOILER ALERT*

The final chase scene takes place in the British Museum, culminating in the Round Reading Room.

BlackmailBritishMuseumSign

Although no librarian is featured, landing this film in the Class V category, there are several shots of the library. These shots include a birds-eye view overlooking the famous vista, as well as some behind-the-bookcase chase scenes.

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The finale is atop the library dome, and Hitchcock gets to show off his amazing visual style, silhouetting the blackmailer and the policemen scurrying across the dome. Finally, in his panic, the blackmailer falls through the dome. The policemen rush up and look over the shattered glass, where one can make out shapes of the round bookshelves far below.

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As a librarian, I did gasp out loud and shout at the screen, “No! He’s ruined the library!” Perhaps only a librarian would be so horrified at the thought of a body crashing through a library ceiling. I mean, imagine the gore and mess below with the library resources and furniture!

But that’s the genius of a good director. At his best, Hitchcock created suspense and horror by what he didn’t show.

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So why did Hitchcock feature the British Museum and the Round Reading Room? Colin makes a good case that:

“The library is significant because of where it is — the only way out is up, and up is where Hitchcock characters go to fall or jump off things. The director cares nothing for the library qua library.”

I agree, Hitchcock chose the library because of its visual impact — but what an impact! It’s a pretty powerful statement that the British audience watching this film would have felt immediately connected to the Round Reading Room — and even those American audience members who would have recognized the design behind the Library of Congress. It’s also a study in contrasts; the library’s history of tradition and conservatism is emphasized even more by being tainted by the blackmailer and the indignity of a police chase.

Although based on a play of the same title by Charles Bennett — who also penned some of Hitchcock’s best British films, including 1934′s The Man Who Knew Too Much, 1935′s The 39 Steps, and 1936′s Secret Agent — I have not been able to locate a full-text version of the original play to doublecheck the setting of the final act. The play, which according to Bennett himself was based on real life events, was a commercial flop in 1928 and starred Tallulah Bankhead. If you’re able to locate a copy of the original play, please let me know!

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Slightly dangerous and snappy

The 1943 comedy, Slightly Dangerous, stars Lana Turner as Peggy Evans, a small-town “soda squirt” who leaves town to find adventure, leaving behind a note that makes it seem like she has committed suicide (!). Her former boss (Robert Young) finds her posing as an heiress in New York. The title hints at something risqué, but it’s more in the screwball comedy vein. I know, it’s a strange thing to write that this film is a comedy that starts off with a fake suicide, but there it is.

Searching for a new name (she’s an orphan with no family), Peggy tries out different names on store signs and billboards. After she spots a billboard for the New York Star‘s classified advertising department, she visits the newspaper and accidentally gets knocked out cold. Circumstances lead her to feign amnesia, and to search newspaper archives for articles about missing heiresses.

There’s no official librarian in this Class V film, but about a half-hour in, there is a short, minute-long scene set in the New York Public Library newspaper archives.

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After an establishing close-up of the “New York Public Library” sign, the camera then cuts to a shot of Peggy walking down aisles of bound volumes, in a library setting that feels very Art Deco. Although no librarian in sight, a library ladder does get featured! :) Atop the conveniently placed library ladder, Peggy counts the bound volumes of newspaper archives and hauls one down.

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A brief montage of dates and headlines flashes by, punctuated by Peggy’s facial expressions of frustration. I’m sure an archives librarian would have been helpful in this scenario, just saying… ;) Peggy eventually lands upon her missing heiress, Carol Burden, and gathers the clues of “Baba” (the nickname of the child’s nanny) and “circus” (where Carol disappeared).

Peggy/Carol then begins the charade back at the New York Star headquarters, and the news editors waste no time with the “Baba” clue. They call down to Hillyer in the newspaper archives, pictured below, for anything on “Baba.”

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Hillyer (Harry Tyler, in an uncredited role), and his assistant Andy (another uncredited role), look up “Baba” in the newspaper archives — and they sure do make it snappy! In the movie timeline, it takes them about 10 seconds to locate 3 news clippings related to that particular keyword.

Although they’re not quite fast enough to supplant this guy as the fastest librarian in the West, that’s still amazingly quick. 10 seconds! Like I said,  no official librarians in this movie, but these two newspaper men fulfill a lot of the same cinematic role and purpose as an Information Provider.

Snaps to you, uncredited newspaper men!

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She’s working her way through college — without a library

This 1952 Technicolor film, She’s Working Her Way Through College, stars Virginia Mayo as “Hot Garters Gertie,” a former burlesque dancer who has saved up to go to college. The write-up for this movie on the TCM schedule started out with this eyebrow-raising tagline:

Let other coeds wait tables or shelve library books. Burlesque queen Hot-Garters Gertie is working her way through college one article of clothing at a time!

Hoping for a glimpse of the college library, I watched this musical comedy (which, bizarrely, features a song about inflation), which also co-stars Ronald Reagan as Professor (!) John Palmer. There are closeups of classrooms, the gymnasium and football rallies, but alas, no library — or librarian — to be seen, thereby landing this film into the Class V category.

Interestingly, this film is a loose adaptation of the 1942 film The Male Animal, starring Olivia de Havilland and Henry Fonda as the professor (much more believable, eh?). As the plotline is centered around a college campus, I had also recently watched The Male Animal in hopes of spying a library, but a no-go on that score, as well.

If you would like to see some coeds who do work their way through college by shelving books, etc., in the library (something that I did, as well, during both my undergrad and grad school years!), I would recommend checking out:

By the way, Happy Christmas! :)

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Sitting pretty in the book shoppe

In Sitting Pretty (1948), eccentric Lynn Belvedere (Best Actor nominee Clifton Webb, seen at left) answers a family’s ad for a live-in babysitter and shakes up the family, as well as the neighborhood, with his particular manner and methods. This film spawned a couple of sequels, Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949) and Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell (1951), as well as the 1980s (and personally much-beloved!) TV series Mr. Belvedere, starring Christopher Hewett in the title role.

About an hour into the film, nosy neighbor Mr. Appleton (Richard Haydn) visits the “Hummingbird Hill Book Shoppe” — there’s a closeup shot of this sign as he walks by — in order to engage in a local gossip session with Della (Mary Field, in an uncredited role), the Book Shoppe Proprietress. Although she’s listed on some other film sites as a librarian, it’s quite clear she is the owner of the local bookstore. Therefore, this film belongs in the Class V category of films with no reel librarians.

However, this Book Shoppe Proprietress does exhibit some librarian-like behavior, as showcased in her introductory scene.

Della: Here you are, Mrs. Gibbs. I know you’ll enjoy it. [handing over a book]

Mrs. Gibbs:  Thank you, Della. I certainly liked the last book you recommended.

Della:  Good. Do come in again.

Mrs. Gibbs:  Oh, I will.

Mrs. Gibbs, Della the Book Shoppe Proprietress, and gossipy Mr. Appleton in a scene from ‘Sitting Pretty’

But after this pleasant exchange of reader’s advisory, Della engages in some decidedly UN-librarian-like behavior (I would hope) in gossiping with Mr. Appleton and helping to cause a local scandal. As seen below, even in profile, it’s obvious how much she she delights in this conversation, clasping her hands in anticipation.

Gossip, delicious gossip

A couple of following scenes also feature the bookseller, including a quick montage of Della handing out copies of Belvedere’s “sensational new novel” to a cluster of customers. Also, as secrets of the community come out through Belvedere’s book, later we see a Mr. McPherson walking into the bookshop, seen below, and asking for a copy of the book as he’s heard a rumor that he’s been mentioned in it.

Again, exhibiting librarian-like skills of organizational practicality, she quickly runs her finger down a “who’s who” list of those mentioned in the book, complete with corresponding page numbers. Essentially, she’s made her own index!

Alas, this index ultimately belies her non-librarian status, as this list is in neither alphabetical nor numerical order. Tsk, tsk. So close. ;)

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My super ex-girlfriend is not a librarian

Years ago, I had picked up a $5 used copy of My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), because the trailer mentioned a librarian (see below). And then I forgot about the movie. But one night recently, we finally dug this DVD out. Uma Thurman plays Jenny Johnson as well as her superhero alter ego G-Girl. She starts dating Matt (Luke Wilson), but goes crazy when he breaks up with her — like throwing-a-shark-into-his-apartment-kind-of-crazy. An odd movie all the way around. It’s like the idea for the movie was pitched back in the early ’90s, but it didn’t get the green light until over a decade later.

Oh, and there’s no librarian in it, making it a Class V film. However! Not all is lost. There are some interesting references to librarians and libraries throughout.

About 5 minutes in, we get introduced to Matt, who’s on the subway with his friend Vaughn (Rainn Wilson) and they spy Jenny across the way.

Vaughn’s the first one to notice her:

Oh, dude, check her out. Wow. What do we have here? Kind of uptight librarian on the outside. Ready to rumble on the inside. Go ask her out.

Fast forward to their first date, we learn that she’s NOT a librarian, but rather an assistant curator at an art gallery. And here’s how Matt describes his work:

I’m a project manager at a design firm. We design and build, like, private estates, libraries, hotels. That sort of thing.

Also, in the scene that introduces Luke Wilson’s work environment, there’s yet another library reference. (Also interesting that the references to libraries came mostly in introductory scenes).

Matt and co-worker hottie, Hannah (Anna Faris), are shelving some books. Or rather, Hannah is on the ladder, shelving, while he’s checking out her rear end when his boss, Carla (Wanda Sykes), walks in.

Carla: What are you doing?

Matt: Oh, nothing, just reshelving some reference material, trying to stay ahead.

Carla: You were staring at her butt.

Busted!

The design firm’s reference library — and library ladder! — even make it into the credits:

I wouldn’t have been surprised if the filmmakers had decided to go the librarian route for Jenny’s occupation — and they still managed to sneak in a Naughty Librarian kind of reference, with the whole prim-librarian-on-the-outside but a wild-woman-on-the-inside remark at the beginning. Which they TOTALLY cash in on in the film’s trailer:

It actually was refreshing to hear several compliments regarding Jenny’s appearance in her “real life” disguise. For example, Matt says in a later scene, “You look nice without your glasses. You look good with them, too.” So why the decision to not make her a librarian in real life? Maybe skipping in and out of the library regularly for superhero quests would have been more noticeable than in an art gallery.

And bonus! This shot — when Jenny strips off her glasses to reveal her “true” identity as G-Girl to Matt — could have totally been a promo for a Naughty Librarian, eh?

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