Night of the Living Dead (1968)

My first encounter with director George A . Romero's DEAD films was a midnight showing of the second in his series DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978) at the Tanasbourne theater in Beaverton, Oregon in the early 80's. The theater was crowded and the audience shrieked and cheered when zombies disemboweled humans.  I remember being nervous because the gore was suppose to be graphic but there was a cartoon-ish edge to it, as if director Romero was winking at us, letting us know it was fake blood and intestines. DAWN OF THE DEAD may have kick-started the zombie craze but it was Romero's first in the series that changed the horror landscape for zombies.

Before DAWN OF THE DEAD, Romero made his splash into horror cinematic history with the groundbreaking NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) ten year earlier.  If ever there was a classic horror film title, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was it.  I had always been intrigued by NIGHT but after seeing the colorful and gory DAWN, could NIGHT really live up to the second film?

The answer is a resounding yes. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is almost like watching a documentary, shot in harsh black and white, with lots of hand held camera work, which makes the zombie plague seem authentic and  real. Director Romero and his crew of young filmmakers were making commercials and industrial films in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when Romero and fellow screen writer John Russo decided to make a low budget horror film. With a cast of unknowns, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is not a perfect film. But for 1968, NIGHT has some shocking classic horror scenes as well as a sub-text to the mood of America at the end of the turbulent 60's.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is about a mysterious plague that is turning every day citizens into flesh eating killers.  A group of survivors find themselves barricaded inside a farm house in the middle of the Pennsylvania countryside as zombies roam around outside, waiting to attack and eat. The survivors include Barbra (Judith O'Dea) who was attacked in a nearby cemetery by a zombie (Bill Heinzman); Ben (Duane Jones), an African-American man who discovers the farm house after surviving a zombie attack; Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman) who finds refuge in the farm house basement with his wife Helen Cooper (Marilyn Eastman) and their injured daughter Karen Cooper (Kyra Schon); and a young couple Tom (Keith Wayne) and Judy (Judith Ridley).

Radio reports suggest that radiation from a downed Venus space probe may be the cause of the zombie epidemic.  While the zombies stumble and stagger outside the farm house, inside the survivors bicker about whether to stay trapped inside or make a dash for the highway, using the dead owner's truck to escape. Harry votes for barricading themselves in the basement but Ben convinces Tom to help him take the truck to a nearby gas pump where they can fill up the truck's tank and speed away from the zombies.

Ben's plan goes awry when Tom accidentally starts a fire with the hose. The truck explodes, killing Tom and Judy, and the zombies converge on the burnt corpses as Ben runs back to the farm house. Tension mounts as Cooper and Ben both want to be in charge. Ben shoots Cooper as they struggle for control of the gun. Cooper stumbles back down into the basement where the injured Karen (did I mention she was bitten by a zombie) awaits to snack on her father. The zombies begin besieging the farm house and a catatonic Barbra sees her brother Johnny (now a zombie) and lets them pull her into the night as the house is overrun by zombies. Ben descends into the cellar, shooting the Coopers (who are now all zombies) and awaits the morning night.  NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD ends with a pack of law enforcement officers and hunters roaming the countryside, picking off wandering zombies like it was deer season, throwing their bodies onto a burning pile. One sharpshooter sees movement in the farm house. Is it Ben alive or just another zombie?

As fantastic as NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is, let's not forget that it's a low budget horror film made by a first time director. The first time I saw NIGHT, I was surprised by how slow and talky it was. There were long dialogue scenes between Ben and Barbra with Ben describing action that the film's budget can't show.   Probably for budgetary reasons, the majority of the film takes place inside the farm house.  The acting is passable but none of the actors really shine except for Johnny (Russell Streiner), Barbra's brother, who only appears at the start and end of the film and utters the creepily prophetic "they're coming to get you, Barbra."  Kyra Schon as the young zombie Karen Cooper steals the film with her brief, shocking appearance at the end of NIGHT and she doesn't even have any dialogue.  The music is mostly cheesy and over dramatic.  Even the camera work is uninspired at times and confusing. But even with all those negatives, it's superior than most first time, low budget horror film attempts.

What sets NIGHT apart from bad low budget horror films is that it has zombies.  Never before had an audience seen monsters that look like our friends and family behave in such a hideous manner.  Never had a film shown zombies (or any monster) eat the flesh and intestines of other human beings so graphically.  Director Romero and his actors set the standard for zombie motion - the sluggish movement and shuffling feet that zombie fans copy today at flash mobs and zombie festivals. Even though zombies move slow, their constant patience, their waiting, their hands reaching through boarded up windows, Romero always keeps the mood tense and suspenseful. NIGHT'S zombies appear in their work clothes, pajamas, even in the nude.  What Romero may have lacked in production value, he makes up for it in shock value.

With DAWN OF THE DEAD, Romero poked fun at consumerism, as the band of survivors in DAWN are trapped in a shopping mall, the symbol of consumerism, trying to avoid being consumed by zombies. Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, whether intentional or not, reflects the mood of the country in the late 1960's.  The armed policemen picking off zombies reminded me of the confrontation on college campuses across the country between students and police.  Or the tragedy at Kent State where police fired upon and killed unarmed demonstrators. Romero casts black actor Duane Jones as Ben in the leading role when race relations were boiling and the only black actor playing leading man parts in Hollywood was Sidney Poitier.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD plays against all expectations of the horror genre. The seemingly strong hero Ben's plans ultimately fail.  Tom and Judy die and are eaten because of Ben's doomed decisions.  Ben shoots Cooper, who although not the most friendly guy, hasn't really done anything to deserve it besides question Ben's ideas.  Ben doesn't want to hide in the cellar but when all hell breaks loose, the cellar is his last outpost.  None of the characters are very sympathetic. Barbra is traumatized and hysterical. Cooper is uptight and nervous. Karen, the injured daughter, ends up killing both her parents. The survival rate is not very good for this group. In horror films, the monsters are usually killed at the end.  In NIGHT, some of the zombies are destroyed but the news reports tell of outbreaks all over the state. When the police and law abiding citizens begin shooting the zombies, who really are the monsters?  Us or the zombies?

I would say DAWN OF THE DEAD not NIGHT kick started the zombie craze which has been picking up speed in recent years. Romero followed up DAWN OF THE DEAD with DAY OF THE DEAD (1985) which may be my favorite besides NIGHT but didn't quite have the following of DAWN and NIGHT. Romero has made a few more DEAD films since then including LAND OF THE DEAD (1985),  DIARY OF THE DEAD (2007), and SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD (2009). Director Danny Boyle introduced us to fast zombies in 28 DAYS LATER (2002). Actor Simon Pegg wrote and starred in SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004), a black zombie comedy that was well received as was the recent ZOMBIELAND (2009) starring Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg.  The RESIDENT EVIL video game and movies owe its success to Romero's DEAD films.  Television has gotten into the living dead act with AMC's acclaimed series THE WALKING DEAD based on a graphic comic series that just started its second season. Even Michael Jackson used dancing zombies in his classic music video Thriller. 

The zombie has come a long way from Romero's 1968 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD yet NIGHT is the gold standard for zombie films.  The fact that NIGHT is low budget and shot in a realistic way with actors that are not household names made it seem like a zombie plague may have really occurred.  The zombie is an extension of all of us - curious, stubborn, and always consuming something, even if it happens to be your best friend's intestines.

The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)

One of my favorite things about movies is when a unique pair of actors star in a film together.  Sometimes it's the rising young star matched with the older, mature actor.  Clint Eastwood (young) and Richard Burton (mature, distinguished) in the 1967 war thriller WHERE EAGLES DARE comes to mind.  Or Tom Cruise (young, cocky) starring with older veterans like Dustin Hoffman in RAIN MAN (1988) or Paul Newman in THE COLOR OF MONEY (1986). Newman himself had teamed with younger Robert Redford in BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) and THE STING (1973).  And even Hoffman was the young turk to older star Steve McQueen in PAPILLION (1973).

Other times it's a dream combination of actor and actress.  Hitchcock hit gold twice with the duo of Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart in REAR WINDOW (1954) and Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in TO CATCH A THIEF (1955). Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn in THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951) is another dream team. But one combination that defies believing is the pairing of sex symbol Marilyn Monroe with the world's greatest actor Laurence Olivier in THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL (1957).

Written by Terence Rattigan based on his play, Laurence Olivier had performed THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL on stage with his then wife actress Vivian Leigh (Rattigan's play was called The Sleeping Prince). THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL is an interesting film in which Monroe maybe upstages the great Olivier. It's reported that the two of them did not get along during the film (which Olivier directed and Monroe's company co-produced).  Sometimes that conflict offscreen makes the chemistry onscreen that much better. There's definitely a mystique about the unusual pairing with a new film coming out about the two stars and their acrimonious relationship called MY WEEKEND WITH MARILYN (2011) with Michelle Williams playing Monroe and Kenneth Branagh as Olivier.

Set in 1911, the Regent of Carpathia (Laurence Olivier) arrives in London for the coronation of King George V and the Queen Mary. A new man in the Foreign Office named Northbrook (Richard Wattis) is assigned as the chaperone to the Regent during his visit.  On the night before the coronation, Northbrook takes the Regent to the Avenue Theater to watch The Coconut Girl. The Regent meets the performers backstage before the show. The show's star Maisie Springfield (Jean Kent) has entertained the Regent before but this time the Grand Duke is smitten by the curvaceous and sexy American showgirl Elsie Marina (Marilyn Monroe). After the show, Elsie is presented with an invitation by Northbrook to the Carpathian Embassy for a late night dinner with the Regent.

Elsie is leery of the invitation, having been involved with powerful men and late night parties before but the Regent is a bit different. The Regent is stern and uptight. He enjoys her company but keeps her waiting as he telephones dignitaries and ambassadors, trying to stave off a possible coup in his home country. He treats his son, the future King of Carpathia, Nicolas (Jeremy Spenser) like a child which leads Nicolas to seek alliances with the Kaiser in Germany, Carpathia's enemy.  The Regent has not known love since his wife died ten years earlier.

 The Regent and Elsie's night together will become a comedy of errors as the Regent finally tries to seduce Elsie but is constantly interrupted by Northbrook (at Elsie's request) as well as son Nicolas and various servants.  Finally, the Regent tires of his ill-fated romantic night and asks to have Elsie driven home but Elsie passes out. The next morning, the Regent discovers Elsie's still in the embassy. Afraid of a possible scandal, he urges Northbrook to sneak her out but when his deceased wife's mother, the Queen Dowager (Sybil Thorndike) attendant falls ill, the Queen invites Elsie to be her temporary lady in waiting at the coronation. It's Elsie's one chance to pretend to be a princess as she rides in the procession to the coronation.

With photography by famed cinematographer Jack Cardiff, Director Olivier covers the coronation's rituals and music extensively, catching Elsie's wonder at the pomp and circumstance. Back at the embassy, Elsie prepares to leave when she overhears Nicolas talking on the phone in German, still plotting to overthrow his father. Elsie knows German, having grown up in Wisconsin, and warns Nicolas to behave. Nicolas warms up to Elsie, who becomes a sort of step-mother to the young king.  Nicolas invites Elsie to the Coronation Ball that night, much to the consternation of the Regent.  At the ball, Elsie helps to smooth over the rough relationship between father and son. Elsie also turns the tables on the Regent back at the embassy, seducing and charming him, showing the Regent how to loosen up and more importantly, be a good, loving father to his son. Will the Regent of Carpathia take the American showgirl back to his home country and wed her? You'll have to watch THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL to find out but Olivier and writer Rattigan play the relationship honestly and how it should be.

For those that doubt that Marilyn Monroe was the movie icon of the 1950's, THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL is another example of how mesmerizing her screen persona was.  Monroe stood out in small roles in ALL ABOUT EVE (1950) and MONKEY BUSINESS (1952) but once she became a star, she never let go.  Monroe certainly was sexy and curvaceous and would spawn many imitators (Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren) but she became a very good actress which set her apart from the others.  Monroe's breezy, charming Elsie nearly steals THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL from Olivier's Regent.  Every time Monroe is on the screen, she commands the audience's attention. Much like Judy Garland, whatever personal demons Monroe had off-screen, she hid it on-screen with one captivating performance after another.

Olivier appears to have fun with his Regent character which is a far cry from performing Hamlet or Richard III.  With his monocle and absurd Eastern European accent and funny little laugh, Olivier the actor hams it up as the insecure, uptight ruler who has difficulty expressing his emotions. Olivier's scenes with Monroe are fabulous as his Regent is bewitched and befuddled by the commoner Elsie. As mentioned, the two apparently did not get along off-camera but Olivier coaxes a fantastic performance out of Monroe. As director, Oliver could have sabotaged Monroe's acting in the editing room but he gets a terrific turn out of her.  If Olivier were afraid of being overshadowed by Monroe, he doesn't reveal it in his acting or directing, playing up Monroe's sensuality and comedic abilities. This was Monroe's third film based on a play after THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH (1955) and BUS STOP (1956).  But I think her strength was really in comedy and this may be her most complete comedic performance.

The supporting cast is good especially Sybil Thorndike as the Queen Dowager, the Regent's slightly bewildered and deaf mother-in-law who takes a liking to Elsie, not quite realizing her son-in-law's intentions or why Elsie is wearing the same dress in the morning as when they were first introduced the night before. And Richard Wattis is fun as the non-plussed English bureaucrat assigned to keep the Regent entertained.

Olivier had directed numerous stage plays and his film direction for THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL is like a play.  He shoots most of the film on one big set - the Carpathian Embassy. Olivier doesn't use a lot of fancy camerawork, preferring to let the actors roam around the enormous set.  And the screenplay is divided into three acts: 1) the Dinner Date; 2) the Coronation; and 3) the Coronation Ball. But the film never seems static like a play and Olivier keeps the plot moving along at a good pace.

I find it interesting that in most of her films, Marilyn Monroe was always paired with an older man.  It was almost as if no young actor could handle her star power.  Joseph Cotten in NIAGARA (1953), Robert Mitchum in RIVER OF NO RETURN (1954), and Tom Ewell in THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH are all much older than Marilyn. The trend continued with Laurence Olivier in THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL.  Even when she did act with actors her age like Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959), Curtis and Lemmon were dressed in drag for most of the film. It would  have been interesting to see Monroe act with a contemporary in a film like James Dean or Paul Newman. The closest she came was acting opposite the unfamous Don Murray in BUS STOP.

THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL is the only film that Marilyn Monroe made outside the United States (it was filmed in London) and it came at the tail end of her short film career.  But I think it was a turning point in her progression as an actress and showed what potential Monroe had. The fact that one of the greatest actors in theater and film Laurence Olivier directed her performance is no coincidence. As Elton John so eloquently sang about Marilyn Monroe in the song Candle in the Wind "your candle burned out long before your legend ever did."