Feel the Power

I  believe I promised a Tyrone Power Mini-Marathon? That would be this two-sided disc: Luck of the Irish/I'll Never Forget You.

Luck (1948) is an Irish fantasy: Reporter Power has been rambling around, writing fearless and politically risky articles in post-War Europe. He taking a little break in Ireland before heading back to America to work for a powerful publisher and marry his daughter, Jayne Meadows. But before he does, he meets a leprechaun and an Irish colleen (Anne Baxter).

Back in New York, publisher Lee J. Cobb goes into politics and make Power his scriptwriter. His daughter, Power's fiancee, has plans for him too. For one thing, she installs him in a fashionable apartment and arranges for a valet. But the leprechaun shows up to take the valets place, and colleen Anne Baxter comes to NY as well. The leprechaun is going to make sure Power's dreams come true, whether he likes it or not.

It's a cute comedy, though predictable. Cecil Kellaway as the leprechaun (full-sized, due to some family history he doesn't care to discuss) is funny and charming. The romance is fine, but Jayne Meadows gets the short end - She's just too pushy, too sophisticated, not feminine enough. Baxter's not bad, but what's wrong with a strong woman?

I'll Never Forget You (1951) is a costume melodrama, wrapped in time-travel fantasy. Atomic scientist Power wants to go back to the 18th century. He has the diary of an ancestor that mentions a time when he went mad and thought he came from the future, but before he was committed, he got better. This ancestor married Beatrice Campbell, who becomes Power's dream woman. When a lightning strike does send him back in time, he is enraptured. Then he meets his Campbell's sister, Ann Blythe.

Let me just stop to rhapsodize over Ann Blythe here. If you've heard of her, it's probably for her role as Mildred Pierce's evil daughter. But she had many roles in comedies cast a some version of a dreamgirl. Examples:

• A mermaid - Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
• An oriental princess - The Golden Horde
• A Heidelberg barmaid - The Student Prince
• A girl whose prayers are always answered - Sally and St. Anne
• And my favorite: the rich, beautiful, idealistic, perfume-drenched teenage girl named Killer, who falls madly in love with Robert Montgomery in Once More, My Darling

 It's easy to see how she gets these roles: She has a slightly magical beauty, almost elfin - elegant eyebrows on a high forehead, almond eyes, dark flowing hair. She could deadpan her way through very silly material, or focus with what seemed like real sympathy. So let's just say I was happy to see her in this.

The movie starts in the present in black and white - it has the look of one of those British Hammer sci-fi movies of the time. Then, when it moves into the past, we get technicolor, and costumes, especially Power's, make it pay off. The time travel twists were worked out well - Power wows Dr. Johnson with some witticisms that hadn't been coined yet - like "Early to bed, early to rise". But his flattery seems to knowing, and too much in the past tense. A duchess shuns him, because it sounds like he is reading her obituary.

Still, I can't say I was crazy about this movie. It looked good and sold the time travel story, but it was really just a melodrama romance. I preferred the comedy of Luck of the Irish.

I got through this whole thing without saying much about Tyrone Power. He's darkly handsome in a movie star way - maybe he defines movie-star handsome. He has a kind of John Forsythe kind of seriousness, which makes him great for comedy. I wish he'd done more.