mrroberts

Dargo2, I was briefly in North Dakota , but no one was at home

Fred, when I have traveled into Michigan, including the upper peninsula and over Wisconsin, Minnesota way , I thought a lot of the people sounded "Canadian".

I find *The Sand Pebbles* to be an intriguing story, great acting by Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough. Very well filmed, the ship board action seems very real.

I remember watching Rex's son , Noel Harrison, costar with Stefanie Powers in The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.. Noel looks and sounds a lot like his dad, I wonder how close their personal relationship was?

Such a large number of Hollywood actors (leads and character actors) came from the U.K. and Canada and then lived their lives in the U.S. so consider that it was natural for most of them to lose some of their accent and speak more "American" . I image that some of them sounded a little "foreign" when they returned to their home turf for visits years later. So unless an actor was consciously speaking to a role I guess their normal speaking would then be Mid Atlantic.

Hey, to get back to the thread subject matter here (enough of this Canada stuff, eh ) my favorite Edward G Robinson film *The Sea Wolf* is scheduled on Sept 14th, 8am, est. Sometime ago there was talk about this film being completely restored (maybe some deleted footage being put back in?) and a DVD being put out. I hope that's in the not to distant future. This is definitely one of Eddie's very best films (and that's saying a lot considering he's almost always giving a home run performance), plus there's a great supporting cast here as well.

My contribution to great Canadian tunes, from Canada's premier song writer, Mr Gordon Lightfoot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyW7zhhwyb8 Edited by: mrroberts on Aug 31, 2013 11:58 PM

I get a little upset when I see that little promo on Hitch by Farley Granger, and I don't think its that old either. Several years ago he did a book tour and was right in my area, but I was working and didn't go to see him. And of course now he's gone. I really should have knocked off that day and gone to meet him, get the book and signed and all. You don't get many opportunities especially with so few of the real classic performers that are still with us. --- I have Dr Ingrid on retainer as my personal psychiatrist. You love *Rope* , one of my favorite Hitchcock films is *Dial M For Murder* , done in somewhat of a similar style although Hitch isn't quite so obsessed with long uninterrupted takes.

Misswonderly, don't sell your country short. I spent some time exploring Toronto, Hamilton, and other cities and while they have their issues they pale in comparison to a typical American city that has a lot of run down areas, abandoned building and industrial sites, etc. I think the biggest concern for the Canadian public has to be the remote wilderness areas that are being ravaged for the natural resources (oil, mining, timber, etc) , very little government management there. I believe a lot of the area near North Bay was and still is very big mining country. On a positive note, lets not forget the great musical talent that has come out of Canada.

Couple of interesting points about *Captains Of The Clouds* ; The Canadian government pushed Hollywood for a movie to help inspire the public (Canada's) for the war effort , and remember in 1941 the U.S. was still supposed to be a "neutral " country. Of course by the end of the year that changed, and the movie was just about to be released (good timing, eh?) Cagney initially balked at doing the film (playing that same old "Cagney" type of character). The location filming in and around North Bay, Ontario was very remote in those days, apparently you had to fly in and out, no decent roads (not the case today but its still a long drive). The film did very good box office even in the U.S.

Twinkeee, see this; http://www.pastforward.ca/perspectives/august_292003.htm

No, as was pointed out North Bay is way north of Owen Sound. I can't recall if the Bishop museum mentioned anything about any sets built in North Bay for the movie. I'm sure the people at the museum might know some info. Check the Bishop museum site and maybe you can inquire there about North Bay. Owen Sound is about 3-4 hour drive for you from Niagara area, Its really nice up there, very scenic and if you're in to boating/fishing....

Some Americans also went to fight for the Allies in WW1 before the U.S. entered the war.

I don't think anyone can top Mel Brooks (Spaceballs).

At least using your picture of Peggy McCay doesn't she look a lot like June Lockhart? Edited by: mrroberts on Aug 30, 2013 10:48 PM

I suggest that people do a little research on actor James Edwards and his contributions to enabling black actors to break out of the stereotypical roles they had to play in films.

The Billy Bishop museum is his boyhood home in Owen Sound, Ontario. ( I have family who live near there. ) No aircraft, just the home and a lot of exhibits inside. Some info about the Cagney movie and Bishop's involvement in it.

Two full pages and no "stop calling me Shirley jokes" yet?

Being a Canadian you have to watch for WW1 flying ace Billy Bishop in this film. I've been to the Bishop museum, its really interesting. --- I tend to believe the storyline here is made to order for the star of the picture.

*Picnic* had a lot of very good performances, Arthur O'Connell and Susan Strasberg were both excellent as well. About Mr Holden, my favorite film of his is *Bridges At Toko Ri* . Its an excellent "war" film, very realistic, great action scenes , and Holden's performance as the lead character is Oscar worthy. Very good supporting cast in this as well. Grace Kelly's presence in this is a bit of a stretch to the storyline, but we have to think about the box office don't we? This film doesn't glamorize or demonize war (or the political issues involved here) it just deals with this one, very human character and how his life is impacted by the stress of combat. And as a final note, in real life William Holden had a brother who was killed in WW2.

I would like to think that the on going enthusiasm for Joel McCrea on these boards helped put him over the top. At any given time there are a number of candidates for the future SOTMs. We may have put McCrea on the fast track. Picture the TCM programmers fearing the villagers storming the gates (like a Frankenstein movie). They had to act, or else

Finance, I too am getting tired at all of this Joel McCrea stuff. Next thing you know, people are going to start a campaign to make him a SOTM or something.

Yeah, he was the only good thing in that "Psycho" movie ( Marty, don't go up the stairs! )

I guess there several different approaches to gathering statistics for determining who were the biggest box office draws. Example, I've always had the impression that Abbott and Costello (40's) and Martin and Lewis (50's) were huge box office . They made several pictures each year and did the kind of films that kids went to see multiple times (like Titanic in the 90's). Middle age and older adults would go see their favorites maybe twice but that's all. So the numbers can be looked at in several ways. No Chaplin? Cagney or Robinson in the early 30's? Myrna Loy instead of Vivien Leigh? etc.