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Swithin

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Posts posted by Swithin

  1. Yes, I agree. I still think (much as I hate to pat myself on the back) that I gave the best example of a star whose religion got in the way of her career. I repeat this for the THIRD time: *Dolores Hart*. Though it's interesting that, now that her order is in financial difficulty, she is (as she should) using her stardom of old to raise funds for the order. So this may also be an example of her acting career/fame helping her religion.

  2. There was great fear, particularly after the time of the Rosenbergs. A few years earlier, Katharine Hepburn read a speech in support of Presidential candidate Henry Wallace. Edward G. Robinson was to have read it, but the great Kate that it would be safer for her to do it, because he was a Jewish immigrant, and she had ancestors who came over on the Mayflower. After the event, she wrote that she couldn't believe that, without overt planning, she had worn a PINK dress! She was mildly scolded for her actions; had anyone else read it, they would have been dealt with much more sharply.

     

  3. I haven't been following this thread, since my comment about Dolores Hart, whose religion definitely got in the way of her career.

     

    But I did look in today. Since the subject has drifted to the blacklisting situation, I do want to point out that I had the great pleasure to know *Kim Hunter*, who was blacklisted (and not Jewish). She really felt betrayed by the zeal with which Kazan (who directed her in Streetcar, on stage and screen) embraced the whole McCarthyist evil, particularly since Kazan had a great career as a theater director, and didn't really need Hollywood for work.

  4. Thanks for reminding me about *Carry On, Cowboy* ! That's one I haven't seen. Sounds promising -- it has Sid James, Joan Sims, Kenneth Williams, and, most promising sounding, based on their roles, Charles Hawtrey and Bernard Bresslaw. I once saw Bresslaw on stage, as Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream. If I had to compare him to an American actor, it would be to B.S. Pully (Big Jule in Guys and Dolls ).

  5. There's been a lot of fresh material on TCM in the last year. I could give many examples, but I'll just mention the four Carry On films that were shown. So great to see them! And in October, TCM will be showing my favorite House of Usher -- the obscure 1949 UK version, which I much prefer to the Corman stodgy version. Plenty more examples of "new" material, too, enough to make me keep my mouth shut when NBNW is shown!

  6. MovieGal, I totally agree with you and with your choice for the inaugural celebrant! Is there anyone who personifies the greatness of classic films as well as *Beulah Bondi* ? I would particularly like to see The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, one of Ms. Bondi's many films in which she truly excels. And the diversity of films that could be shown! She even made a horror film with Karloff and Lugosi: The Invisible Ray.

     

  7. Fascinating, Eugenia! My degree is in History of Religions. I expressed it in my work as a performing arts producer, producing many performances of Bharata natyam, Odissi, Kathak, dance, etc. Also worked on lectures/panels on the tradition, including one with Akram Khan and contemporary choreographers. Presented many musical performances, including one featuring Yesudas and another on the music of the Jewish communities of India. Also worked with Yash Raj films on a couple of projects.

     

    I hope you continue to enjoy your trip!

     

     

  8. A difference of course, Fi, is that Bette Davis is one of very few actresses who deserve to be Queen of these boards! I do like BS and her films -- just think the adulation is excessive. As blond Brooklynites go, I prefer Joan Blondell or Mae West.

     

    Didn't know Eugenia was in India, where did you go Eugenia? Alot of my studies focused on Indian culture, and I was planning a trip overland to India many years ago, but decided to stay in Edinburgh instead. I had a professor who chanted beautifully in Sanskrit. I've produced many performances/lectures related to Indian music and dance, as well as a festival with Ismail Merchant.

     

     

  9. I think *Dark Passage* is an excellent film, certainly my favorite Bogart/Bacall film. Very strange and moody. I think the work of Delmer Daves deserves more attention -- his style was unique. Check out *The Red House*, Daves' film just preceding Dark Passage, also unusual.

     

     

  10. The great E.E. Clive! Always added something, in even the smallest of roles. I would like to see him as SOTM -- IMHO, that's the best thing TCM could do, take a great actor like E.E. Clive, who contributed so much, and show a series of his films. I don't care who the "stars" are!

  11. > {quote:title=Swithin wrote:}{quote}In this 50s schlocker, a woman from Pittsburgh, who is among a group of people who go to Africa to look for treasure, becomes a monster.

    Hint: She's transformed by a mad doctor. The film ends with her coming up from the quicksand, as a monster, then a ? On the screen.

     

  12. *Napoleon* is an amazing film. I saw it at Radio City Music Hall around 1980, with a live orchestra conducted by Carmine Coppola. At the screening the night before, from the stage of Radio City, they telephoned Abel Gance in Paris.

     

    I later saw the film in London (albeit on television), with the score by Carl Davis (a native New Yorker). However, I prefer the Coppola score. I felt that he incorporated French classical music with his own compositions very effectively. I recall not liking Davis's score as much, though I do like his work. I would like to see a DVD set with every conceivable permutation of this extraordinary movie. One of my five top films.

     

     

  13. I live in NYC (aka a cultural paradise) and haven't been at MOMA for years -- even though I could walk there! I keep meaning to visit. I do go to my local cinema, which is the Film Society of Lincoln Center's theaters, though I missed a screening of Terence Davies' House of Mirth last month, which I very much wanted to see. Davies is my favorite contemporary director.

     

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