Bronxgirl48

I opt for pretentious. And I am just fascinated with all these skating scenes in late 40's films: "The Bishop's Wife" and "The Farmer's Daughter". David Wayne is one of my favorite actors, but here playing a very Irish car mechanic given to moody songs like "Yonder, yonder..." which hit us over the head with the metaphysics, he is served very badly. Film buffs will note Irish bar owner Albert Sharpe as Darby O'Gill from that great Disney film, which every Baby Boomer was terrified of, myself included. (who could forget the death coach and the banshee: could we all sleep in the dark after that??) Jennifer Jones is very effective in that girl-next-door-who-made-good-in-films way, as she was in all her films (except maybe the sublimly horrific "Duel in the Sun") and she has a believable mysticism and poignancy. The script and the music are alternately haunting and yet unsubtly subtle. Joseph Cotton is solid, but never rises to romantic heights. Ethel Barrymore as the spinster gallery owner, and Lillian Gish as a nun, are fairly effective. There is even some of that late 40's postwar wisdom and tolerance, as Felix Bressart comments on the sorrows of African Americans. The hurricane is well done, and when Jones tells Cotton that "but you're fighting nothing, Eban, nothing...", the movie does reach a very unexpected spiritual comfort level.

And that's saying something, I know. She's naturally beautiful, but here she's got fantastic hair and makeup (a bit sun kissed, and heavenly) and the Cassini wardrobe doesn't hurt. (especially if you're married to the designer) She displays a pleasant flair for domestic comedy, and in the scenes where she's puttering in the kitchen in shorts, or exercising in the bedroom in a diaphonous nightgown (telling hubby John Lund: "You'll thank me in 20 years"), she's like some ethereal,goddess version of Laura Petrie! And when she's at the piano, with her hair up and looking so chic yet so casual, and she's mouthing "I love you" to Lund, I swear, male or female, you'll fall in love with her all over again. And I must mention her opening scene. She's in a car that is literally teetering on the brink of a ledge, and then she turns around in all her dark lush beauty. I tell you, it's even more sensuously memorable than Rita Hayworth's shaking her hair and saying "Decent?" in "Gilda". Guys, you'll be mesmorized. The movie looks good, and the 50's decor is fun. (check out the wallpaper in their apartment) and Thelma Ritter is wonderful in a large role. Miriam Hopkins makes her presence known.

Let's see, in the 60's we had the French "Jules and Jim"; in Italy, "La Dolce Vita". But let's face it. Could they compare in any way to American movies? Could Oscar Werner or Marcello Mastroianni be any better than Fred MacMurray, with his toupee, pancake makeup, wacky gleam in his eye as the, uh, nutty professor who comes up with Flubber?? I do not think so. Could the flying Jesus statue in "Vita" measure up to MacMurray and Nancy Olson spooning in the clouds in the Flubberized Model T?? And as for romantic triangles (albeit on a chaste level), no "menage a trois" in "Jules and Jim" could equal MacMurray, Olson and the always effete Elliot Reid. Why, it would be positively unAmerican for MacMurray to casually accept his fiancee's attentive boyfriend, when he could maniacally show his love by pounding the rivals car with the Flubber machine. And the Flubber will be used wisely to benefit all the civilized nations of the world. I love this movie. God Bless America. And Fred MacMurray.

Let's see, in the 60's we had the French "Jules and Jim"; in Italy, "La Dolce Vita". But let's face it. Could they compare in any way to American movies? Could Oscar Werner or Marcello Mastroianni be any better than Fred MacMurray, with his toupee, pancake makeup, wacky gleam in his eye as the, uh, nutty professor who comes up with Flubber?? I do not think so. Could the flying Jesus statue in "Vita" measure up to MacMurray and Nancy Olson spooning in the clouds in the Flubberized Model T?? And as for romantic triangles (albeit on a chaste level), no "menage a trois" in "Jules and Jim" could equal MacMurray, Olson and the always effete Elliot Reid. Why, it would be positively unAmerican for MacMurray to casually accept his fiancee's attentive boyfriend, when he could maniacally show his love by pounding the rivals car with the Flubber machin And the Flubber will be used in a positive way to benefit all the civilized nations of the world. And could you get any more patriotic knowing that if a flying car is hoverinig over Washington, D.C., the defense department is at the ready with missles? I love this movie. God Bless America! And Fred MacMurray.

What part of the Bronx are you from?

I've always regarded Ttracy as our finest American actor, so I've avoided this film over the years because people always used to make fun of his so-called Portugese accent, and I was always hesitant to see it. Well, I can now say this: Tracy, on the strength of his talent can convince us that a red-haired, blue-eyed Irishman from the Midwest is indeed a colorful warmhearted fisherman. The greatness of the movie is that although we see how special Manuel is to Freddie Bartholomew (could he be the best child actor ever?), Manuel is just a thread in the tapestry of the heritage of those who go down to the sea in ships. Okay, so the accent isn't perfect, but Tracy creates a living, breathing person, not just a stereotype. What a terrific family film, and so moving at the end, and what a heartfelt and earnest tribute to fisherman that M.G.M. gives. The reconciliation between father and son had me reaching for the Kleenex, and I just adored the last scene with the boat being pulled behind the limosine. Great support by Lionel Barrymore as the crusty but wise captain, whose nautical epithets to his seagoing rival are choice: "You cross eyed mackerel!".

Larry, you really know your film trivia! I actually think that Lana Turner would not have been as good as Lee Remick here or Linda Darnell in Amber, so IMO it all worked out for the best!

"...you've caused enough damage". Love it. This movie really did break new ground with the realistic sexual references; I don't think it looks tame today; just modern. Preminger is usually concise with his direction, but this film goes on far too long. This is, after "The Days of Wine and Roses", Lee Remick's best role. It's always enjoyable seeing Murray Hamilton. James Stewart can play this kind of role in his sleep. Eve Arden sticks out like a sore thumb: how did she get this part? George C. Scott is showy but effective. Mrs. Crosby was better and had more spirit and life in "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad". Ben Gazzara was fascinatingly wiley, creepy and manipulative.

I should have put "The Westerner" in the subject heading; perhaps people didn't automatically know which film I was commenting on.

I wonder if the Academy thought, "We already established our serious slice-of-life, black & white New York teleplay drama creds by awarding the Oscar to Borgnine in "Marty".

Another fine Tom Courtenay performance was as a dyinig priest in the haunting t.v. drama "I Heard the Owl Call My Name". He was also believeable as the intellectual Communist lover of Julie Christie in "Dr. Zhivago".

Ah, "The Dresser"! They were both great in that. I wish TCM would run it.

Apparently, this is Olivier's personal favorite performance. It ain't mine. Here is my question: is he giving a good performance playing someone brittle and empty, or is he giving just an over the top empty performance? The whole film is designed to be tinny and shrill and cheap, just like Archie and his environment. The best acting comes from Brenda de Banzie, who always shines in any performance she gives. This whole movie literally gives me a headache. It's always nice to see Roger Livesey, though.

Could this be Muni's greatest performance? He actually underplays, something he never did in his earlier films. Great support by Luther Adler. What a deathbed scene; didn't you want Ableman to have a few more years left? The film lacks style and pace and is quite preachy. The actor playing nephew Myron is God awful; acting like someone in a Neil Simon play. Why didn't Paul receive another Oscar? Nobody marched to a different drummer here...

Does any film buff know if he said this iconic taciturn word that seemed to define his screen persona, and was made fun of by impressionists ("Nope" being the other word), in any films previous to The Westerner?

Arg! Larry! Old age? We're not our parent's ages when they were our age! Anyway...how fascinating that you knew the Young family. So tell me, what was Loretta like? I've heard terms like "steel butterfly" to describe her. I highly recommend if you haven't seen it already, "Ramona". It was also a silent film, and does have a quaint atmosphere that contrasts nicely with that natural and modern acting style of Young and Ameche that I mentioned. I believe this was the first movie Loretta made after coming back from Europe to have her baby.

bloodofbobby, that was not London After Midnight, but the 1941 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Spencer Tracy.

Thank you so much Larry, for all your info. I could have sworn there was some family connection between Ameche and Young, but you're correct, and I didn't find anything on the IMDB boards of both to suggest otherwise. My Baby Boomer memory is failing me, I guess! I know they both starred in Alexander Graham Bell, and both were practicing Catholics. (but apparently with Loretta she, uh, lapsed a bit...)

This is one of my favorite Xmas pix; I love they reversed the casting and wisely had Grant play the angel, so the delightful conceit of the film is that all the earthly women are a little bit in love with him. (I love the secretary's reactions, as well as the woman at St. Timothy's) I love the cozy and sophisticated little apartment of the Professor. I like Loretta Young here, too, and for years she had never been my favorite actress, for reasons I never understood myself. (Then, I saw her in the picturesque 1936 "Ramona", and her performance was so natural, so "modern", as well as the performance of her real life brother-in-law, Don Ameche.) So I have more of an appreciation of her style. When the skating scene comes on, I sit so close to the screen to be able to see the doubles, but they do it so darned skillfully, with lighting, that you just can't tell. (By the way, which skating scene came first, here or in "The Farmer's Daughter" (ironically, not my fave Young performance, but she wins an Oscar, probably because of the postwar, pro U.N., politically correct atmosphere of the time; her accent is terrible; contrasted with the excellent Nordic accent of Irene Dunne in "I Remember Mama") I always find it funny and sort of embarrassing when they show Cary "playing" the harp. My God - do those hands look anything like his? They are so white and small! This is a badly put together scene! I love the final speech as well, a speech for that postwar new world....Who else has this movie on their fave list?

Rita is so gorgeous and so charming in this film. Kelly seemed somewhat unsure and nervous in his role, almost as if he knew it was an important breakthrough role re: his solo dance sequence with the alter ego. Granted, his character of Danny McGuire was supposed to be a "stubborn Irishman"; nevertheless, Kelly seemed ill at ease. Did anyone else notice this? What saved this film from being just eye candy was the grounding influence of the hauntingly beautiful song "Long Ago and Far Away". And to my eyes this sort of seemed an early prototype of the "On the Town" type of musical, with an "edge", the New York theme, and a sophisticated "revue" feel to it in spots.

I have mixed feelings about this, just saw it for the first time last night. On the one hand, it's got a genuinely mystical feel to it and that glorious color and closeups of a young handsome Charles Boyer; on the other hand, the script seemed like it was dusted off from some silent movie treatment that never got made; a little of Joseph Schildkraut goes a long, long way, and Marlene doesn't have much to do except gaze, and in one scene is doing an awful lot of gazing at Tilly Losch as much as she's staring at Boyer. Not that there's anything wrong that that...This indeed could have been done as a silent with no appreciable difference except the color. I'd like to hear other opinions.

Idon't remember the coat Tony Perkins wore; was it long? He just seemed to represent the nice, solid guy that Ruth Gordon really didn't want to marry. I liked the old "pea-coat" that Tracy wore. The pea-coat actually was quite a fashion statement for women in the late 60's; I had one! It sort of made one look both preppy and funky at the same time, if that's possible. Are you English? (you said "lad") Did you feel that Jean Simmon's British accent helped with her New England accent, since both have those broad "A" sounds? I noticed that Tracy didn't attempt a Boston accent at all, but was effective and believable nevertheless.

After wanting to see this for years, I finally saw it this morning. Spencer Tracy was just wonderful as the ex-sea captain father, with his nautical expessions and Yankee wisdom, but with creative frustrations and restlessness just beneath the surface of his New England exterior that finally finds an outlet in the dreams of his would-be actress daughter. I thought the last shot with the family cat was terrific; it reminded me of perhaps how George Stevens would have directed it. This is a little known Spence performance, and I recommend it highly. Jean Simmons did an o.k. job as Ruth Gordon. Teresa Wright was very good as the mother.

I meant to say, of course, that how could people think that John Gilbert had a good voice. While I'm here again, let me say that I think there could have been more of Lionel Barrymore doing his evil deeds. Actually, Lon Chaney would have been terrific in either the role of the Greek or **** Robin. I loved Harold Lloyd in The Kid Brother. I haven't seen enough of his feature films to consider this his best, but I'm sure it must be up there. I think Lloyd is the most American of comedians, don't you think? Chaplin was all about universality, but, in his sound work, all about socialistic, utopian European philosophies. Keaton was in my opinion the greatest of the 3, with his abstract and very modern styles; way ahead of the bunch. He also is very American, with his tinkering with machines and his logic. But Lloyd, with his "glasses" character, represents the middle class go-getter, always striving to make good, and trying to believe in himself.

Did anyone else love the "leaping lizard"? I thought the iguana was cuter than Rene Adoree (or John Gilbert) I guess back then they were really unusual and scary. I don't understand why some people dispute the idea that John Gilbert had a GOOD voice, and that the rumors he didn't were just because Louis B. Meyer wanted to discredit him and ruin his career. Well, I've heard John Gilbert, and he sounds very high pitched and silly, as though Harvey Korman were doing a spoof on a voice challenged silent screen star. So the rumors are true!