VP19

Since I'm in the newspaper business, I'd probably like to enter one of those classic newspaper comedies such as "Libeled Lady," "Nothing Sacred" or "His Girl Friday." While I agree with Charles Foster Kane that I think it would be fun to run a newspaper, the next best thing is working for one...particularly during a time when the industry was far healthier. (Also, who wouldn't mind working alongside Spencer Tracy, William Powell, Fredric March, Cary Grant or Rosalind Russell?) Reflections on Carole Lombard and classic Hollywood: http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/

Wonderful film -- "Libeled Lady" is among my all-time favorites (the only thing I'd change about it is the rather abrupt ending) -- and I'm delighted to see it's inspired such a good thread. Moreover, Madeleine2322 made several accurate observations on L.B. Mayer, whose life indeed was a swirl of contradictions. Reflections on Carole Lombard and classic Hollywood: http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/

"I also appreciate her professionalism and the fact that the guys on the crews who worked with her always said such great things about her. Only Carole Lombard and, believe it or not, Joan Crawford, come close to garnering that kind of consensus of praise from the people who saw them every day." I've often heard that said about Lombard -- it's just one of the reasons she's my all-time favorite actress -- but Crawford? That's a new one on me. Not that I buy the "Mommie Dearest" image either, but she always struck me as the kind who was so driven that it would distance her from some of the niceties of the business. I can't say I'm surprised crews rated Stanwyck so highly; she always seem to have a lack of pretense about her. (Jean Harlow also had a similar good reputation on the set.)

Depends on how you define "pretty," I suppose -- but I certainly see Barbara Stanwyck as sexy.

Powell is brilliant in this (watch the scene where he tries to pass himself off as an expert angler). For Bill, 1936 was his peak year. Loy, Harlow and Tracy are wonderful too, as is Walter Connolly as Loy's father. One of the best newspaper films ever made, up there with "Nothing Sacred," "The Front Page" and "His Girl Friday."

Not all that good, and A.O. Scott of the New York Times conjectures why: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/movies/03scot.html?ex=1359781200&en=e28f5e6b9cd50865&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink My thoughts on the subject: http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/#75200

First in a theater: "The Facts Of Life" with Bob Hope and Lucille Ball (I was five years old or so, and was taken by my older sister).

Carole Lombard... favorite: "My Man Godfrey" least favorite: "Fools For Scandal" Jean Harlow... favorite: "Libeled Lady" least favorite: "Reckless" Myrna Loy... favorite: "I Love You Again" least favorite: "Thirteen Women" William Powell... favorite: "Love Crazy" least favorite: "Double Wedding"

With Mae West as Dolly, Jerry Herman's songs would have sounded quite a bit bluesier...but if we were going to have songs written for the film by a composer in 1936 or '37, I'd probably choose Harold Arlen. Okay, how about this for a "what if"? Suppose Richard Matheson's "The Incredible Shrinking Man" had been filmed a quarter-century earlier, in 1932? (A man shrinking in 1932 probably would've made a good Depression allegory.) Whom do you cast as Scott Carey, the snrinking man...Louise Carey, his loyal wife...Clarice, the circus midget he has a fling with when he's scaled down to her size? I'll go with Paul Muni as Scott, Joan Blondell as Louise and Una Merkel as Clarice. How about you?

You'll learn or see something new on these message boards each day. Glad to have you here.

The irony is, of course, that while Ann Sheridan certainly had "oomph," she personally detested the description.

You can see "White Woman" this Saturday night at UCLA as part of its series on restored Paramount and Universal pre-Code films. Here's an entry on the film: http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/#70069

Now that TCM has more access to early Paramount product, I'm hoping some of Carole Lombard's more obscure films there will pop up -- especially as part of a 24-hour celebration on Monday, Oct. 6, when the centennial of her birth takes place.

In Lou Costello's last film, "The 30-Foot Bride Of Candy Rock" (1959), after a weird exposure of gases and electric charges turns Dorothy Provine's character into the titular giantess, he rushes into town to tell her uncle (Gale Gordon) that she's now "big." Gordon's character, who dominates the town and is seeking to run for governor, miscontrues it as news that she's pregnant and hurriedly orders Costello's character to marry her!

...I've created a special logo, available for any of you to copy if interested. Find it at http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/#64065

I saw "White Woman" a few years ago when Film Forum in New York did a retrospective on Paramount before the Code; it's a middling movie, sort of campy. If you take it with a bit of tongue in cheek, it's okay. Incidentally, while Lombard is seen singing in the film, it's really not her -- she was dubbed. More on this, and Carole's other musical appearances, can be found in this entry at my LiveJournal community, "Carole & Co." http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/11870.html

"Both William Wellman films have fallen into public domain and the Technicolor prints are not the best, especially NOTHING SACRED. The way these two films look today do not represent the lush Technicolor prints from that period. SACRED's color is pretty washed out. Both films badly need restoration." "Nothing Sacred" was restored by UCLA archivists a few years back; I don't know if the print TCM uses derived from it. I don't believe the restored version has yet been issued on DVD.

Here's more on "Virtue": http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/#58016 And to BuffaloChuck: If Carole Lombard can't sway you, you simply can't be swayed. Or you have no pulse.

Yes, MissGoddess, it was. For more on the film, and on Crawford's relationship with Lombard, check out http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/#60134

They are on Wednesday, 12/19..."Nothing Sacred," at 8 p.m. I only hope it's a good print with first-class Technicolor (perhaps the one restored by UCLA's archivists a few years back).

A wonderfully versatile actress in just about any genre. Imagine a Barbara Stanwyck with operatic training.

"Nothing Sacred" (1937), the first three-strip Technicolor comedy.

To me, all blondes are goddesses, but a few who rate especially high in the pantheon are Carole Lombard and Jean Harlow from the Golden Age and Goldie Hawn and Michelle Pfeiffer from more recent times..

To me, the best decade for films was the 1930s, for a few reasons: * In the early part of the decade, the Production Code was not enforced (and wouldn't be until mid-1934), so a number of relatively daring films were made -- films that questioned the sexual double standard ("The Divorcee"), law enforcement ("Scarface," "The Public Enemy") and other topics. * Writing for movies was at its peak during the 1930s, thanks to the likes of newspaper and Broadway emigres such as Hecht, Mankiewicz, Riskin, Donald Ogden Stewart and many others. * It was clearly the best decade for actresses in terms of style and range -- think of Garbo, Loy, Lombard, Harlow, Colbert, Davis, Dietrich, Stanwyck, Crawford, Hepburn and so on. * The movie comedy was at its peak during the 1930s, both the romantic comedy ("It Happened One Night," "My Man Godfrey," "Libeled Lady," "The Awful Truth") and regular farce ("Way Out West," "Modern Times," "Duck Soup," the '32 "Million Dollar Legs"). * Sound moviemaking continued to mature as an art, culminating in the brilliant fare of 1939. While filmmaking technically improved during the '40s, its adventurousness was replaced with sentimentality and sanctimoniousness (think of Mayer's influence overtaking Thalberg's at MGM). Television's influence caused movies to wane in the 1950s, and films never quite regained their place in the general public consciousness. .

Okay, she can't quite be considered a classic-era actress, but let's face it -- many of her films have been in that tradition. Think of "Foul Play" and "Seems Like Old Times" with Chevy Chase; "Housesitter" and "The Out-Of-Towners" with Steve Martin; and a number of other good movies. Goldie's a very lovely and likable lady (her daughter, Kate Hudson, has many of those on-screen qualities, too) who at her best evoked the spirit of the great comedic actresses such as Lombard, Loy, Colbert, etc. Many happy returns, Ms. Hawn.