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SueSueApplegate

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Posts posted by SueSueApplegate

    Lee Marvin, An Appreciation and a Heckuva Actor

    in Hot Topics

    Posted

    So many good points about Lee Marvin and *Point Blank*, lzcutter!

     

    Miss G, I read that book also. It came with a disclaimer that the publisher was not

    responsible for content and quality.

     

    But it was a great read!

     

    And Fred, you knew him! Wow!! I still play "Wanderin' Star" on my baby grand because I loved that song, and I loved him singing it!

    SUE SUE'S TCM FESTIVAL TRAVEL BLOG...

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Thanks, Eve. I'm sorry if I mislead you on that count. There was no contentious nature or

    animosity towards Robert Osborne. It's just that Ms. Moore, at 94, didn't give necessarily

    expected responses to some of Robert Osborne's questions, but she was frank, funny and honest

    in her answers that revealed her lack of enthusiasm for Cheryl Crane and some of Ms. Crane's

    actions and/or comments, but Susan Kohner and Robert Osborne focused more of their Q and A to the making of the film and its aftermath.

     

    And Robert Osborne was to be commended that afternoon for his composure, his avoidance of negativity, attention to detail, and his commitment to TCM and the audience, and I would add

    that Susan Kohner, who was lovely, by the way, followed his lead, and smoothed over any

    misunderstandings with her opinions,comments, and remembrances.

     

    Morlock Jeff has a great play-by-play of all the TCM Festival action. Follow this link

    to Day 3 for the information about *Imitation of Life*:

     

    http://moviemorlocks.com/2010/04/

    SUE SUE'S TCM FESTIVAL TRAVEL BLOG...

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Friday, April 23, 2010. Dateline: L.A.

    (About 3:15 p.m.)

     

    ***SPOILER ALERT***

     

    Dave, the Buick chauffeur, extended the royal treatment. When we pulled up to Grauman's for the screening, he told me to wait.

     

    "Don't touch that door! I'll get it."

    (He obviously recognized that I was a go-getter, but that I also responded well to command.)

     

    Then he marched around curbside and officially allowed me to begin my entrance to Grauman's most fashion-oriented and biography-rattling feature, *Imitation of Life* , starring Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, Sandra Dee, and Susan Kohner.

     

    As he opened the car door, he lifted me out of the passenger-side back seat of the brand new Buick with one strong, swarthy hold on my baubly, bracelet-laden self.

     

    Nobody noticed that I was strutting and strolling through the handprinted, footfall laden courtyard. Tourists were busy seeing if their feet fit the form or their fingers filled the mold. Lots of folks were bending over, stretching their camera sights, smiling for their personal photo-op, and totally ignoring that I had arrived. Oh, well. It was like that everytime I showed up at a screening. Where were all the cameras and reporters? Wasn't anyone informed of my arrival?

     

    No, I don't guess they were. I was treated just like any Hannah from Hickville. But, that was o.k. I wasn't really expecting anything more.

     

    The real stars attending the post-discussion screening were Robert Osborne, Juanita Moore, and Susan Kohner, and ,of course, the beautiful print of Douglas Sirk's *Imitation of Life*, Universal-International's biggest grossing film at that time. Sirk, who would often turn a genre on its ear and give an audience a much different emotional ride than publicity or conformity would expect, revealed the major players of this epic melodrama to be Moore and Kohner even though Turner and Dee were the names that set the scene and drew the patrons who ultimately benefited from the dramatic peaks of the Moore/Kohner emotional heights.

     

    Yes, it was a glitzy soap opera. Yes, Lana had wardrobe. Yes, Sandra was sweet. But the attitudes of the Pre-Civil Rights era and the classic mother-daughter duality struggle were present in vibrant TechniLana. Would it have had such high production values without Lana and Sandra and Sirk? I don't know. That's a question for historians. I'm just a blogger with some attitude, a little vocabulary, and some cute clothes.

     

    The film was beautiful in its intensity of colors, fashions, and sets. All the jewels, the clothes, and the sighs on screen were merely camouflage for the struggles of the characters. But Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner are the actors that send me for the kleenex. If a viewer doesn't cry when Moore pretends not to be Kohner's mother or when Kohner runs to embrace the hearse with her mother's body, then the viewer probably didn't choose to attend this screening. A passholder was unwittingly forced to accompany someone who already had a dramatic agenda and a packed purseful of tissues.

     

    Applause accompanied the credits and dramatic swell of the score. Some folks knew what they wanted and were grateful for the stylish soap soaking the sensibilities.

     

    The post-screening discussion was just as dramatic as the film itself. Robert Osborne, Juanita Moore, and Susan Kohner were engaging and lively with information about the times, the players, and the contributions of the filmmakers.

     

    Moore's comments were more closely associated with the emotional impact of the moments during the filming , while Kohner's lively comments were filled with specifics dealing with the details of the filming itself, and its aftermath.

     

    Moore, looking lovely at 88, has appeared in 30 films, and most recently was in "The Kid" in 2000. Evidently, Moore still felt some sort of ambivalence concerning Cheryl Crane and her treatment of her mother, because she often contradicted Osborne's leading questions concerning Crane and Turner, and Moore stated sometime during the discussion (and I am paraphrasing) that Lana had been preoccupied during filming with Crane's behavior in light of the Johnny Stompanato scandal and its ensuing difficulties, and Lana's confidences to Moore, as Moore stated them, seemed indicative of their friendship during the shoot. Moore's grandson is also preparing a film or cable program concerning his grandmother's experiences and was introduced at the end of the discussion as he assisted her offstage. (I can't read my notes here, so I am unsure of his name, but if any reader can provide it, please feel free to do so.)

     

    Kohner, who played Sarah Jane, married John Weitz in 1964 to raise her family. Mother of Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, Kohner was perky and energetic about her experiences during filming of *Imitation of Life*, and was forthcoming about her feelings concerning her career and how she felt that she had been stereotyped into certain roles. She seemed happy that so many folks remembered and respected her performance in the landmark film under discussion, and vividly recalled the scene in the film when she was assaulted by Troy Donahue.

     

    Even though Moore didn't respond quite as Osborne might have planned, he was calm, cool, and collected under pressure, as always. Kohner also deflected and redirected some of Moore's comments with her remembrances, and audience members applauded and left the theater chatting about all the interesting and lively comments during the discussion.

    Anna Neagle

    in General Discussions

    Posted

    That sounds like a great book, filmlover. There's so much I don't know about film

    in the UK.

     

    I went to a Media Studies Instructor's conference at the British Film Institute and the most

    important thing I learned was how much I didn't know. But it was great fun!

    2010 Kennedy Center Honors

    in Hot Topics

    Posted

    Burt Bacharach and Hal David are a phenomenal team. It would be nice to have them honored for

    all of their creativity and contributions to the American music scene.

     

    It seems a little too early for Oprah yet. But politics are part of that whole selection procedure.

    Dream Guest List for 2011

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    How about:

     

     

    Joan Collins introducing *The Opposite Sex* ?

     

    Or Sandy Descher discussing her experiences with *The Last Time I Saw Paris,*

    *The French Line, Three Brave Men, Her Twelve Men,* *The Bad and The Beautiful*,

    *The Opposite Sex* and/or *The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit* ?

     

     

    Billy Chapin and Sara Jane Bruce introducing *Night of the Hunter* ?

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