MissGoddess

Hi Anne! Because not too many of my friends/family like them, I usually watch them alone, at least at first viewing. When a friend comes over they have no choice because it's all I'll play ( ) and so I get to infect them with the "classic bug" occasionally. But it's mostly just me, and in the late evenings and weekends mostly. Being in NYC, there are more opportunities to see them on the big screen at various revival houses and retrospectives, but I'm ashamed to admit I scarcely ever do unless I hear of a Huge Favorite being screened. Last Friday I was all set to see James Cromwell introduce one of his father's old pre-codes at the Film Forum, but then I got sick. I also got sick when I was supposed to see John Wayne in The Searchers so I'm starting to wonder.... Lol! Miss G

Hi Anne! Because not too many of my friends/family like them, I usually watch them alone, at least at first viewing. When a friend comes over they have no choice because it's all I'll play ( ) and so I get to infect them with the "classic bug" occasionally. But it's mostly just me, and in the late evenings and weekends mostly. Being in NYC, there are more opportunities to see them on the big screen at various revival houses and retrospectives, but I'm ashamed to admit I scarcely ever do unless I hear of a Huge Favorite being screened. Last Friday I was all set to see James Cromwell introduce one of his father's old pre-codes at the Film Forum, but then I got sick. I also got sick when I was supposed to see John Wayne in The Searchers so I'm starting to wonder.... Lol! Miss G

I'm glad a few people have mentioned Take Her, She's Mine because that, along with Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation are my favorite of his later comedies, with Dear Bridgitte coming in a more distant third. I also forgot to included SHENANDOAH on my list. What a powerful family film. If I were ever lost or in trouble, I'd want Jimmy to be the one to come looking for me! Nothing stopped him. Miss G

Love the story about him leaping over the bushes. So boyish. He does seem to have had many princely qualities. As for Joan C., though it's upopular to do so, I always feel a great deal of sympathy for her, and even admiration. Unlike some who had perhaps one, maybe even two, parents who loved them, she was abused and exploited by virtually all the adults around her and came up the hard way in every disagreeable sense of that expression. She worked terribly hard and did provide a life that was much better for the kids she adopted than the life they would have faced in foster homes. My mom would be called an "abuser" today too, but I don't feel that way at all. People do the best they can--those that were dealt an even hand have a leg up on everyone else, and if they turn out badly then they really have no excuse. Joan's grandson has a website about her and has only the warmest things to say about her as a grandmother and an individual. "Mommie Dearest" was made for money, don't forget. Miss G

> even though i think bette davis was the best, most > compelling actress of classic hollywood, i must say > that vivien leigh gave the best performances i've > EVER seen in gwtw and snd. > she really was an incredible actress. > i fully believe i'm watching blanche disintergrate > in streetcar, it's so hard to watch. and her fiery > scarlett is still a revelation, no one had the > passion and personality that was uniquely vivien's. > ivien brought so much to her characters, i'll go so > far to say she was a better screen actor than > olivier! > vivien snagged the two biggest female roles in > classic hollywood, scarlett and blanche, and forever > put her stamp on those roles... > seen ann margret & jessica lange attempt blanche, and > although they were good vivien's blanche was > lightyears ahead of them. > the same is true with helen mirren's performance in > "the roman spring of mrs. stone" somehow i was more > moved with vivien's intepretation. > and vivien in "waterloo bridge" ...at lunch with her > future mother-in-law and discovering from the > newspaper that robert taylor was dead... AND that > LOOK ON HER FACE when she's trying to pick-up men at > the railway station...her choices as an actor are > always original, innovative, at times > shocking....there's no one like her. Beautifully expressed, marcco----Vivien accomplished in a handful of films what it took some actresses dozens to acquire (most never did): screen immortality.

There was a biography written about Jean Harlow and several on Errol Flynn that really twisted the facts and people to this day think Harlow was a crazy nymphomaniac with an evil step-father and that Flynn was a Nazi. It's ghastly what some of these writers get away with. And the further we drift from the generation that knew these people, the further we will drift from the truth. Miss G

RE: Cooper's long term relationships---I've personally observed many quiet, undemonstrative men are attracted to volatile, even abusive women. They find the drama exciting at first and only find out until it's too late the price they pay to be with them (jealousy, possessiveness, irrational behavior---the same is true of women to men of that type). Rocky seemed a very strong, even tough woman but a basically serene and down to earth person. So she probably gave him the stability he was sensible enough to prize over "thrills" in the long term. If he hadn't drifted into Hollywood, I think he probably would have been a little more faithful as a husband. As it was, too many temptations kept coming his way and he wasn't one to turn them down. Miss G

Dorothy Parker saw Gary looking really thin after he came back from Europe and told everyone he was "worn to a Frasso". Ha ha ha!! I remember reading about the "Grand Tour" with the Countess in Meyer's book, but it would be interesting to compare Arce's accounts. At any rate, she was respsonsible for giving him a lot of the polish that would make him appear at ease in the glamorous romantic comedies of the 1930s. Miss G

He's a good "straight man", is Chuckie! Which makes him all the funnier. He doesn't "try to be funny" and that's why it works. There are moments in Will Penny which also bring out this quality, but the vast majority of his movies seem relentlessly humorless. Miss G

In no particular order, though I think #1 and #10 contain his best performances. 1. Vertigo 2. Destry Rides Again 3. Rear Window 4. Made For Each Other 5. The Shop Around the Corner 6. The Far Country 7. The Man From Laramie 8. Bell, Book & Candle 9. Thunder Bay 10. It's A Wonderful Life 11. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 12. The Philadelphia Story 13. You Can't Take it With You 14. Magic Town 15. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

I look forward to reading your "review" of both!

I am a little impatient, I know. A long movie has to be really, really good to keep my attention. I like Alfred Hitcock's quote: "The length of a movie should be in direct proportion to the endurance of the human bladder". Lol! Miss G

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> > How about Magambo, I was thinking about netflixing > that one to check it out. Would that be one of > Gable's top 5 movies. After all it does have Grace > Kelly and Ava Garner in it. Silly of me to leave it out! Yes---it's a wonderful movie, a remake of his excellent Red Dust. However, in many ways the focus of the movie is on the women and what happens to them, not to Gable. He's there--present and very much so and yet you feel Ford was giving the movie more to the ladies this time. And to Africa---some stunning footage in it and no music except what the natives play. I think it contains Ava's best performance. She knocks me out every time I watch her in it. Miss G

Lots of people have recommended Lonesome Dove to me, and I did try to watch it once but the first 1/2 hour just didn't hold my interest---all the characters seemed alike and not too pleasant. I know I have to give it another try, but it's so long I have to find the time for it (I will though, eventually). Anthony Mann's films are very violent, too much so but the focus on character development is what keeps me interested every time. I like Budd Boetticher's westerns, the few I've seen, though they are also very violent. But John Ford's are always my favorites, he was king of the directors to me. I can't take the level of violence in Peckinpah's movies which is why I have yet to see his most famous, The Wild Bunch, but I will one day since I like both Ryan and Holden so much. Miss G

Gable's my #2 man so I will watch anything with him in it. You've seen his best work so far, excepting The Misfits. I'd recommend Test Pilot and Manhattan Melodrama, too. I love Capra's films---they are immensly re-watchable. So full of details you can easily overlook on the first viewing and then there are all those marvelous characterizations in the supporting performances. He never lets any part just lie there---they all have some "business" or quirk that sets each one apart and yet all serve the story. You Can't Take it With You is a joyous movie. I also love his "off-beat" dramas, Lost Horizon and The Bitter Tea of General Yen. Miss G

The GWTW SE dvd is a lovely print. I wasn't too happy with the broadcast quality on TCM this time around---I almost put in my dvd instead, too. Much of Selnick's blood, sweat and tears on this baby made the color films of later years possible and much better. Kudos to Lee Garmes and William Cameron Menzies for their spectacular efforts. Miss G

Elliot played some nasty, mean villains in a couple of made-for-TV movies back in the 1980s, I think. That showed he could really act but he has been most identified with his western persona. What a beautiful voice he has. It seems like several actors who appear extremely "masculine" in the traditional sense can suffer from limited casting choices in contemporary cinema. Crowe and maybe Liam Neeson are about the only exceptions I can think of in the younger group---especially Crowe who has made careful decisions to avoid typecasting (and I'm not 100% happy about that). Hackman is one actor who would have fit in just perfectly in the golden age. I like him a lot, too. Miss G.

I haven't really been too enamoured by the modern westerns I've seen. They have their points but seem determined not to show anyone being too noble or heroic, which is a bit too realistic for my tastes. I like escapism in my movies---even westerns. In fact, I feel the western particularly lends itself to the heroic folk tale. I understand there is a new western coming out starring Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan called Seraphim Falls. I'm rather curious to see it. Do you like Clint Eastwood's westerns with Leone? I confess I'm not a fan of them, either. Miss G

> It's a shame they weren't able to make OK Corral b/c > of timing and illness. I would have loved to see > Jimmy Stewart and Coop together but it probably would > have been too expensive. I was watching Gone With the > Wind yesterday and I just kept trying to picture Gary > as Rhett Butler. I sorta can but really Gable was > perfect for that role. Yes, that role fit Clark Gable right down to his bootstraps. > Thought I would have loved to > see Gary tell Scarlett that she's not turning him > down tonight and carry her up those stairs. I'm > getting the vapors just thinking about it Lol! I agree, but then watching Gable do it gives me the vapors, too! P.S. I think Gary's role in Saratoga Trunk comes quite close to being "Rhett Butler-esque".

I haven't seen Tombstone but I suppose I should, because many western fans recommend it. I'll add it to my Netflix "queue". I do like Sam Elliot a lot in westerns. Miss G

> I'm thinking he finally made an "honest woman" of > Belle, LOL... Ha ha! I like that idea too.

The romantic in me used to insist that Scarlett and Rhett did get back together but now I am leaning to the other camp. I sometimes even wish Rhett found someone like Melanie who appreciated him and gave him peace. Lol! How "real" these characters are to us (me, anyway)! Miss G

Cooper and Bogart in anything together would have been glorious, and a story about the O.K. Corral would have been that much better. Too bad! (Though nothing beats My Darling Clementine, for my money!) It's kind of like the dream combination John Huston had originally in mind for The Man Who Would be King: Bogart and Clark Gable. Miss G

> I can > tell you it's about a man who takes a job as a mall > Santa who lacks certain social graces. Being drunk > and cussing at kids and customers are his gift. I > heard there's something similar coming from him next. Oh, that's funny. You know, there was actually an "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" episode called "Santa and the 10th Avenue Kid" which is the same premise. Barry Fitzgerald plays a con on parole and the job his parole officer gets him on Christmas Eve is to be the store santa in a Gimbells/Macy's but he hates kids and is just generally disreputable. It has a nice twist and Barry is delightful in it. I wonder if they based Bad Santa on it? Miss G