It’s Wednesday night here at BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Welcome to the victory party. The Cubs are still down, but they are a lot closer
to being back up tonight then they were at this time yesterday. Please come in. There’s no cover charge. We still have a few tables available. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
The Cubs beat the Brewers tonight, 4-3 to keep their season alive. They still have to win tomorrow and on Saturday to keep their season going, but as I keep pointing out, we all remember when the Cubs won three-straight elimination games. I’d rather be the Brewers (except then I’d have to be the Brewers) but if the Cubs win Game 4, then all the pressure falls on Milwaukee as the Cubs head back to Wrigley North.
The Phillies also won tonight, so that means that tomorrow (Thursday) night’s game will start at 8:08 Central time at Wrigley. The Phillies and Dodgers are the early game at 5:08 Chicago time. I’ve defended MLB’s scheduling this fall, but honestly, this one puzzles me. The Dodgers game in LA should be second.
Last night I asked you which team had the better chance to come back and win their National League Division Series, the Cubs or the Phillies. The vote was close, but 52 percent of you said “Phillies” and 48 percent said “Cubs.”
Here’s where I play the music and write about movies. You can skip that if you want.
Keeping in line with the Halloween theme we’re doing this month, here is Chicago’s own guitarist Bobby Broom playing Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” in New York in 2015. This is Broom’s organ-centric combo called “Bobby Broom’s Organi-sation.” Ben Paterson is on organ and the drummer is Kobie Watkins.
With the playoffs and all, I haven’t had much time to watch or write about movies. The only film I’ve seen all week is the pre-code melodrama Rain (1932) based on a short story by W. Somerset Maugham and with a screenplay by Maxwell Anderson. So already you’ve got two of the greatest writers of the first few decades of the Twentieth Century for this one. Rain was directed by Lewis Milestone (very good director) and starred Joan Crawford and Walter Huston, obviously two great actors. It was recently part of Turner Classic Movies’ “Creepy Cinema” series, although it’s creepy not because it’s a horror film, but because Huston plays one of the creepiest characters you’ll ever find.
First off, Rain is a pre-Code film and it plays into that for all it is worth. Here are just some of the ways that Rain could not have been made two years later when the Hollywood Production Code went into effect:
- Crawford plays Sadie Thompson, a prostitute. Prostitution was banned, especially for a protagonist like Thompson.
- Huston plays Alfred Davidson, a thoroughly despicable Missionary in American Samoa. Religious figures could not be portrayed as villains or comic relief under the code.
- There’s a rape. Rape was not permitted.
- There’s a suicide. Suicide was not permitted, especially as a way of villains to avoid punishment.
- Sadie’s life of prostitution and criminal behavior is not punished in the end. That’s a code no-no.
The entire film takes place in American Samoa, where Thompson, Davidson and his wife are stranded, among others, because of a cholera outbreak on the ship they’re travelling on. Sadie is immediately drawn to the American Marines who are serving on the island and of course, they’re attracted to her. But one particular Marine, Tim O’Hara (William Gargan) is particularly infatuated with her. O’Hara doesn’t care that Sadie is a prostitute and is willing to run off with her to Australia when his enlistment ends in a few weeks.
Davidson, on the other hand, is outraged at Sadie’s behavior with the soldiers, even though the film makes it clear all she’s done with them is drink and flirt. Davidson takes it upon himself to pray for Sadie and reform her soul. Sadie says “thanks, but no thanks,” which leads Davidson to pull some strings with the governor to get Sadie deported back to San Francisco. Sadie eventually reveals she’s on the run from a three-year prison sentence and begs to be allowed to stay in American Samoa or go on to Australia. But Davidson insists her soul can only be saved if she does full repentance, changes her ways and serves her prison sentence. Only then can the Grace of God save her immortal soul.
After a while of this verbal browbeating, Davidson beats all spirit of life out of Sadie and she’s willing to go back to San Francisco to serve her sentence and save her soul. But it also becomes creepily clear that Davidson is interested in a lot more than Sadie’s soul.
So I didn’t mean to turn After Dark into a Joan Crawford fest, but that’s how things worked out. But what’s amazing here is that a young, late-20s Crawford is almost a different person than the actress in Mildred Pierce and Sudden Fear 15 to 20 years later. She’s still a ham that commands the entire screen, but it’s a very different look and performance for her. She doesn’t even have her trademark Mid-Atlantic accent yet.
Huston, as I mentioned, is awful. Not his acting job—that’s great. He masterfully plays an evil character who hides behind religion.
Critics and audiences in 1932 weren’t too fond of Rain. It was seen as a bit too far a walk into depravity even for open-minded moviegoers of the time. But with the perspective of almost 95 years and changing mores, it looks a lot better today than it probably did in the Great Depression.
Rain certainly isn’t my favorite Joan Crawford film, but it’s as good as any of those early, pre-Code or silent films of hers that I’ve seen. (To be honest, that’s only about 2 or 3 other films, so take that in mind) Her transformation from fun party girl to repentant sinner is pretty dramatic.
Here’s the trailer for Rain.
Rain is in the public domain, so it’s available almost anywhere, including YouTube.
Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.
As I write this, the Cubs have not yet announced a starter for Game 4. I assume that the starter will have been announced by the time that most of you read this, but tonight we’re just going to ask you who you would start in a must-win Game 4.
This one is tricky because the Cubs don’t just have one must-win game. They have two. The obvious choice is to start Matthew Boyd on four days rest and having only thrown 30 pitches in Game 1. But then Boyd wouldn’t be available for Game 5 back in Milwaukee on Saturday. If you think Boyd on extra rest give the Cubs the best chance to win Game 5, maybe you don’t want to start him in Game 4.
Some of this is also coming down to thinking whether you think Boyd would be better in Wrigley or in Wrigley North. (Although yes, the factors that make American Family Field “Wrigley North” are not in play as much in the postseason.)
Part of this is a desire not to start Shōta Imanaga in Milwaukee again. Starting Boyd in Game 4 means that Game 5 would have to go to Imanaga, Colin Rea or a full bullpen game.
Rea has been good in September, but he threw 60 pitches on Monday so coming back on two days rest seems unwise. So I’m not including him. You can vote “someone else” and explain
The more realistic alternative to Boyd would be a bullpen game, probably started by Aaron Civale or Ben Brown. Civale threw 55 pitches in relief of Boyd on Saturday, so he has the same amount of rest as Boyd. (He also had very good results.) He’s also been a starter throughout most of his career, so starting the first inning wouldn’t be a big deal for him.
Ben Brown would also be an option, who threw two scoreless innings and 43 pitches in Game 4.
Remember, if you want to vote for a bullpen game, Friday will be an off-day. So that may make a bullpen game more palatable.
So who would you have start Game 4?
Thanks for stopping by. We all need to stick together to get through this. Please get home safely. Let us know if you need us to call a ride. Pick up around your table. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again next week for more BCB After Dark. Or not. Let’s hope that we get pre-empted for the National League Championship Series.
