End of Summer Catch-Up
Short takes on a few films:

THE STORY OF ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL (1939): This movie has remained famous, and is always associated with Don Ameche, but it's a fairly bland film and though Ameche is serviceable, this is far from his best movie role. It's a slow and sober account of Bell's life, from his early days as an inventor who also teaches deaf children to his invention of the telephone. Charles Coburn is a rich man who hires Ameche to teach his daughter (Loretta Young); she and Ameche fall in love, and Coburn provides backing for Ameche's inventing career. Henry Fonda is Watson, Ameche's assistant and recipient of that famous first phone call, when Ameche spills chemicals on his lap and calls out for help. There are some good supporting players, including Gene Lockhart, Spring Byington, and Harry Davenport, but none get a chance to shine. [FMC]

NORTHERN PURSUIT (1943): Adventurous spy story set in Canada with Errol Flynn as a Mountie who seems to turn traitor but actually goes "underground" to track German spy Helmut Dantine. Along with Flynn's girlfriend (Julie Bishop), they all head into uncharted territory to piece together a bomber to be used to attack America. There are some good effects, including an avalanche and a sub breaking through the ice in Hudson Bay. John Ridgely is a Mountie who is killed by the Nazis; Gene Lockhart has one of his few bad guy roles here and he's quite good. Overall, nothing special, though it moves along nicely and Flynn is his usual reliable self. [TCM]

SOUTH OF SUEZ (1940): Average exotic melodrama. George Tobias is a greedy diamond owner who fires his foreman, George Brent, after he sees Brent in a compromising situation with Tobias' wife (Lee Patrick), an ex-girl friend of Brent's. Then Tobias tries to cheat kindly old Miles Mander out of a land claim, and Brent takes Mander's side. When a particularly valuable diamond is found on Mander's property, Tobias kills Mander and pins it on Brent, who escapes, gets a new identity, and winds up involved with Mander's daughter (Brenda Marshall). Justice is eventually done. Like BELL above, this has a potentially interesting supporting cast, with Cecil Kellaway, Eric Blore, and James Stephenson, though they aren't given much to do. The beginning sets up a steamy atmosphere, like in Bette Davis' THE LETTER, but when the action leaves the tropics, so does the atmosphere. [TCM]