MissGoddess
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Posts posted by MissGoddess
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Hi Coopsgirl---you must be counting down the minutes to spring training! Have you ever seen the movie, It Happens Every Spring, with Ray Milland? You might like it, a very cute comedy about your favorite subject.
I liked your appreciation of Pride of the Yankees....I'm not really a sports fan but I feel just the same about his performance. Did you ever see Cinderella Man? I ask because the story is such a good one, about a real boxer (I hate boxing mind you---but love several boxing movies) who was also a good guy but hit hard times. Russell Crowe's performance is really great and it's a very uplifing film in lots of ways. He's one of the few actors today I think could have gotten lots of work in the old days---at least in cowboy movies.
(But he's no Gary Cooper)Miss G
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Hi Mrsl,
Yes I did call and it's over $20 more a month to add Encore. Right now I just don't have a great deal of free time so I don't even know if I could watch it enough to justify the extra cost.
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Garbo's scenes with Barrymore were sheer poetry. He was the only man she ever worked with in Hollywood she considered a "true gentleman". Knowing his often Rabelaisian behavior with the ladies, that he evidently comported himself very differently with her makes me think the respect must have been mutual.
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Thank you, Cinemascope!
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That's really beautifully expressed, Nakis. I couldn't have put it better. Garbo was the perfect actress to personify the ideal. The only actor I though ever matched her perfectly in that respect was John Barrymore. I wish she had made more films with him, rather than John Gilbert.
In contrast, Vivien Leigh's Anna Karenina was of this earth, less about love than about a woman's fears and frailties.
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Thank you Mr. D, for kindly posting that link---and I can only wish your compliment were true! Here's another of GG as "Camille":
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I thought I'd share with everyone this brief critique from The Guardian, of Anthony Mann's, MAN OF THE WEST:
Anthony Mann: Man of the West
Thursday March 23, 2000
The Guardian
When Anthony Mann died in 1967, he was planning a Western King Lear, with sons replacing the daughters. This long-cherished project might have turned out to be a classic, since no director of Westerns made them nearer to classical tragedy - and Mann had a feeling for landscape to equal John Ford. The best also reveal in their protagonists an acute sense of human fallibility and self-doubt.
Many of the Westerns directed by Mann in the 50s, such as Winchester 73 and The Man From Laramie, starred James Stewart. Not only did they give the actor a new lease of life; they remain outstanding within the genre. But the greatest of all, Man of the West, made in 1958, starred Gary Cooper. He was Link Jones, a reformed gunfighter who is forced to betray his new-found pacifism by annihilating one by one the gang who used to be his comrades.
The film brings to the fore all Mann's preoccupations and knits them perfectly together. Lear is paralleled by the fact that Lee J Cobb's gang leader regards Link as his favourite son and, before he realises what is happening, welcomes him back with open arms.
Link is travelling from a community he has helped build to Fort Worth to find a teacher for the new school. His train is ambushed and robbed by his former colleagues. Stranded, he is forced to return to the gang's old hideout for shelter. There he gets into a fight with one of his old friends that ends in him stripping the man of his clothes. They are both humiliated - the crook for obvious reasons, Link because he has had to resort to a violence he has come to hate. If he wants to save himself and his new life, he realises he has to deny everything he now holds dear.
The finale is inevitable: Cooper versus Cobb, and one of them will surely die. Both actors give extraordinary performances. Cooper, in real life getting sick with the cancer that was to kill him three years later, makes one last, successful effort to prove he could be a consummate screen actor and Cobb contributes a dignified performance that does not entirely preclude our sympathy.
Mann's direction is immaculate, making Reginald Rose's clearly allegorical, and sometimes forced, screenplay seem even better than it is.
Mann's career started with low-budget thrillers, progressed to Westerns, and ended with epics such as El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire. He never glorified violence but set it within the context of his stories. He was a film-maker who, at his best, could be compared to anyone in matching the power of his images with his blunt version of psychological truth.
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Thank you---I will do a search on Mann.
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I'd love to see Dishonored. I'm actually more curious about it than about The Scarlet Empress. I admire Garbo, she was exquisite, but Mata Hari is not one of my favorites. I felt very uncomfortable with the rather vulgar dancing they made her do in one scene. She herself always criticized being cast in such a role, rightly saying her personality was too "direct" for a duplicitous adventuress. La Dietrich sounds like better casting.
Miss G
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> yeah Dietrich in a von Sternberg movie, that's
> something else again!
She was his greatest "creation".
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I always start talking to the TV screen in moments like that. Grace! Are you crazy! I almost wish he'd married Katy Jurado, instead. She would fight for her man!!
I must get out my tape of ALONG CAME JONES. I like it alot. Did you know (I'm sure you do) it's the only feature he produced. I also think Loretta Young showed a great deal more spirit than I would have expected. Sometimes she came across as a bit passive, even in her "feisty" roles. Dan Duryea is a scene stealer.
Miss G
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I agree with your take on it. I too, believe strongly in non-violence but can easily imagine the intense inner struggle I would have in such a situation. Especially if my man were someone like Gary Cooper!
And I love the song, too. Actually, I'm growing more and more fond of those old (and in this case, new) folk tunes---John Ford used them beautifully in his films.
Miss G
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I just thought this was cute and shows that his movies still have their fans, and for varying reasons (this from a letter to the Kansas City Star http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/movies/16759206.htm):
Readers? favorite love movies
?High Noon? (1952): I dislike Westerns but adore this movie because of the profound act of love a woman commits for her man. This woman (Grace Kelly), a Quaker, abhors violence and has determined to leave her groom (Gary Cooper) because he must do what a man?s gotta do ? kill or be killed. She is in a moral quandary. I become teary-eyed every time I view this movie. The wonderful ?Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin?, ? sung by Tex Ritter, adds to the enjoyment.?
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Like I said to BHF in my post to her----"There will never, ever be Another You..." is a graceful lyric that could have been written about the inimitable Mr. A.
I'm glad he's not here to see the ghastly things on TV today!
Miss G
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Morning, BHF!
Have you ever seen the movie Kelly directed and starred in called THE HAPPY ROAD? If not, do try to see it if TCM airs it next month (which I imagine they will). I think it's one of the sweetest films ever---one you can watch with the kids, even. It is filmed on location in France (not in color, alas) and is about two children who run away from boarding school to rejoin their respective parent (Kelly and french actress, Barbara Laage). It poses still relevant cultural clashes between very American Kelly and tres French Laage along the way. Cute stuff.
I have always been enamored of Fred's innate and genuine modesty. It was adorable how self-effacing he was on the Dick Cavett interview that was recently released on dvd. "There will never, ever be another you" could have been written just for him.
I seldom read over all the threads like I used to, so I'm not familiar with the latest "wrangles" in General Discussions. What's so controversial about April? Surely it can't be as "bad" as February has been (not that I think it's been bad, just a little "top heavy" if you know what I mean).
Miss G
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Hi BHF!
I don't know as much about pre-codes as I'd like to, but here are my answers as best as I could come up with:
> Like who's your favorite leading man in pre-codes? William Powell
> Leading lady? Barbara Stanwyck
>
> Of all five years, which contains the most of your
> favorite movies? I'm not sure, but probably 1932
>
> Who's your favorite pairing? That's difficult to say. Maybe Powell and Kay Francis in One-Way Passage.>
> What's your favorite pre-code quote?
Office Manager: Have you had any experience?
"Baby Face" Stanwyck: Plenty.
>
> What about a moment that you think really defines the
> era of pre-codes? In Red Headed Woman, when Jean Harlow stands in front of the sunlit window, showing the transparency of the dress she's trying on and she asks:
"Can you see through this?"
Sales Girl: "Yes, you can!"
Jean: "Great! I'll take it!"
>
> What actor/actress do you think attributed the most
> to the pre-codes? Either Kay Francis or Barbara Stanwyck---and I'd also go with Stoney's nomination of Warren William.
>
> What is your favorite pre-code musical? Golddiggers of 1933
>
> And... What is your favorite pre-code of all time? So many! But Jewel Robbery might be the one I can watch over and over the most.
>
> >
> By the way, any opinions are welcome from anyone who
> has seen Untamed, 1929.
Is that the Joan Crawford movie? With our own Bobby M? To borrow an eloquent quote, "It's a hoot!" Joan's "dance sauvage" in the South American jungle at the beginning is something you have to see to believe.
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> My dad has lived around southern California for a
> several years and San Diego is definitely my fave
> place. Costa Mesa was nice too though. One time my
> cousin (his dad and my dad are stepbrothers and we
> were all out there at the same time) and I were
> walking down Hollywood Blvd and we saw a guy just
> peeing in the alley. We were both from the country
> and we got a big laugh out of it b/c it just seemed
> so odd.
Ha! To paraphrase Noel Coward: What is "odd" is "normal" in L.A. and conversely, what is "normal" is decidedly "odd" out there!
Miss G
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I'm sure it will be fine---but I will definitely give my review of both the player and the dvd here!
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Garbo was the queen of tragic romance!
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May I ask where you lived while you were studying in London? I lived there about a year in Chelsea and it was fun. My trips to S.A. and Greece will be first time visits (of many, I hope
) and I can't wait.I also lived in L.A. (I know---I've been like a gypsy!) for a few years but I haven't been back since 2000, I think it was. Santa Barbara was actually my favorite spot. L.A. got too crazy to keep living there but as a visitor it's much more fun. Hollywood Blvd. is a bit sleazy in spots but it is fun to find your favorite "stars". I worked as a temp once for several months in a building exactly opposite Grauman's (it was called "Mann's Chinese" then---glad they changed it back). Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and Malibu are the best neighborhoods to visit (or live!). I've been to San Diego, too, but only on a day trip. It's nicer really, than L.A.
Miss G
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Thank you, Ayres---for that link. My curiosity in Wodehouse was piqued when I saw he co-wrote the screenplay. I had him on my list of "must reads" years ago when I was really into British Lit.
Miss G
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Thanks for the great movie posters & lobby cards, Snarfie---especially those of MM and the one from "How Green Was My Valley"!
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> My favorite movie is, why I couldn't just pick one,
> Gone With The Wind is probably the one that I could
> watch over and over again, It's a Wonderful Life is
> also just as good. When I first watched a movie with
> Jimmy Stuart in Rear Window and Marlyin Monroe in
> Some Like It Hot I went out and bought them online
> that same day that I had watched them. Movies such as
> Doctor Zhivago, North By Northwest, My Fair Lady and
> Dial M for Murder are all amazing movies, just can't
> enough of Turner Classic Movies. Those movies will
> outlast any movie made today, the actors, directors,
> writers today can never beat the movies that were
> created over 50 years ago. I love Turner Classic
> Movies, and couldn't ask for anythig better and I
> pary that the movies still live on and not forgotten
> by the younger and future generations soon to come.
We couldn't agree with you more!
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Hi Bophopefan---long time! I watched as much of A Damsel in Distress as I could this morning before leaving for work. I wish I had taped it as it's been ages since I saw it all the way thru. I love George and Gracie and I have always has a fondness for the supporting actor, Reginald Gardiner. He was so witty and elegant always. Looked like the sort of fellow you would be guaranteed to have a great time with on a night on the town or at parties. Too bad there aren't more like him!
BTW, are you thrilled that March is Gene Kelly month on TCM?
(But he's no Gary Cooper)
James Stewart John Wayne
in Your Favorites
Posted
I pick Liberty Valance, too. I think The Shootist is a terrific movie, but too painful to watch because it was Wayne's last.