Miss Fisher and The Banker

With so many movies getting delayed by the coronavirus, like Lovebirds and Mulan, I worried that a lot of movie theaters might close or cancel more showings, so I decided to see as much as I could before it's too late. I decided to go see The Banker after all, since I was going to be in the area anyway. It's an interesting period drama, though the story is more complicated than suggested by the trailer. Bernard Garrett and his wife move to Los Angeles and live in a relative's shed temporarily while he sets up his real estate business. Colm Meaney plays his first white business partner, and they make a lot of money. But then he dies, and the widow forces Bernard to sell his half of the company back to her for a fraction of its worth. He can't sue, since his name is on none of the properties. Burned by this experience, Bernard asks Joe Morris, a black businessman, to invest with him in buying the Bankers Building. To clarify, he wants to be a landlord to several major banks, in order to have leverage when getting loans to buy more real estate. This is when they recruit the white man to front for them in the deal. Everything works wonderfully while they expand and fight segregation in Los Angeles. After the initial purchase, Bernard and Joe don't even hide their identities; everything is out in the open, and they succeed in their empire.

However, when Bernard goes home to visit his family in small town Texas, he feels he has to use his talents to help black businesses and homebuyers get fair treatment. He talks his partners into buying a small Texas bank with him. This time he doesn't want to be just a landlord; he wants to run the bank (through Matt) and get black people loans. This is where their scheme starts to unravel, due to resistance from within the bank, and also due to their inexperience with banking. This is where they have to keep up their secrecy and pose as chauffeurs and janitors. The white man Matt has good intentions but makes mistakes, trying to prove himself competent; his wife complains about having to move from Los Angeles, and he also wants to be his own man after this long apprenticeship. However, Matt is gullible and panicky, and through his reckless actions, he gets two different banks in federal trouble. Bernard and Joe have to figure out how to defend themselves from the disaster. They are offered immunity if they testify that they are guilty of intentional fraud, so that a Congressman can use their example to enact tough banking regulations. Bernard instead takes a principled stand, insisting that he was trying to do good, not cheat people out of their money. Bernard and Joe get convicted and sentenced to prison, but the movie suggests that their testimony helped get some fair housing legislation passed. And Matt partly redeems himself by calling Bernard and Joe out of guilt, and agreeing to do them a favor before all their assets are seized. I don't know if that part is true, and Bernard Garrett apparently had multiple wives, not just the one we see in the timeframe of the movie, so clearly there was some fictionalization. Interesting bit of history, nonetheless.

I also saw Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears. It was a pretty fun romp, though some of the dialogue is corny, and the final murderer reveal comes out of left field. Hugh, Dot, Bert and Cec have a brief cameo, but they remain in Australia while most of the story takes place in Palestine and England. Aunt Pru is in some of the England scenes, but the focus is mainly on Phryne, Jack, and the new characters. Apparently, after flying her father back to England, Phryne took a case for a sheikh who needs her to rescue his young niece from prison in Palestine. She rescues the niece, who reveals that her parents were murdered ten years ago; Phryne promises to help her solve the murder, and they escape, by the skin of their teeth. Phryne is mistakenly reported as killed, and Jack comes to England for her memorial.

For some reason the wealthy Lofton family is throwing the memorial with Aunt Pru, and the sheikh is visiting. Phryne shows up, is surprised that anyone thought she was dead, doesn't think to apologize for the misunderstanding, and doesn't greet Jack with enough enthusiasm for their long-awaited reunion. Jack is hurt and storms off, but eventually she is able to lure him back with the mystery, which starts to incorporate more murders and fantastical things like Alexander the Great's tomb, a giant emerald, and an ancient curse. The sheikh at first seems somewhat sinister, dismissing his niece's claims and conspiring with British people to sell out his country for a profitable railway, but later he nixes that deal and believes his niece enough to want to open an investigation. Of course, then he gets murdered, and eventually everyone heads back to Palestine to search for the legendary lost tomb. For some reason, they have to break the curse before the 7th solar eclipse since the emerald was stolen. Any way, it's a little muddled, but well worth seeing Jack and Phryne kiss and make up for their misunderstandings.