CineMaven

I am no fashion maven, Suex2...but these are lovely.

*WHOA!!!* WHAT A WAKE-UP CALL!! Where is Molo and MovieMan?! Grimesy will be analyzing your picks shortly, so let me get in and outta here quick. I love your favorites. But more especially, I love the pictures you've chosen to showcase them. Wowee! This is not haphazard. You had to make an editor's choice in your selection. I like them a lot. *LOMBARD* - Reminds me of someone...someone... *ANGIE* - Simple but fetching. Simply fetching. *LANA* - There she is...cotton candy. *DIETRICH* - Iconic! *NOVAK* - I've never seen her look so friendly and approachable. I know...it's her freckles. *LEE* - You've captured her. She's gorgeous. *JULIE* - Always a big favorite of mine and many folks I know. *INGER* - Awwww. A darned shame things got so tough for her. Was a faithful watcher of "The Farmer's Daughter" when I was little. *TIPPI* - Look at her. So models-60's. Melanie Griffith can't touch her on her best day. *ELIZABETH* - Loved her nose and eyebrows. It still saddens me that she's gone. *CLAIRE* - Fellas, step right up...if you dare. *YVETTE* - Ohhhh she looks like a fawn or a doe. *VERA* - She looks like the prettiest girl in the bunch to me. Hitchcock...Ford. Gee, I wish she'd come out and let TCM treat her like a queen. *BLONDELL* - She's got a great pair of legs. *ISABEL JEWELL* - So ol' Emmy Slattery made the list, ey? I'm kind of surprised to see her, but...welcome to the club. I like all of those actresses as well. Great shots Miss G. You've done your 'sisters' proud!

And A Tip-Top Top O' The Mornin' To You Grimesy Me Boy - *That's been my experience. It's hard for me to fall for an actress if the kind of films she appears in really aren't my speed. Then there's Liz Scott, who seems to fit perfectly in the world of film noir. I recently saw her in the western Silver Lode and she felt all wrong. It was a very weak character for her.* I've seen "SILVER LODE" and didn't care for it. Isn't if funny how some folks fit well in one genre but their persona doesn't translate in another. Can you see Gable in "QUO VADIS?" (Yeah, maybe as a young man). Dorothy Malone can Mambo in her room with a highball glass on her head, but I can also see her carrying a tray of sarsparilla out on the porch in a Western. (Or she and Kim could be dance hall girls...but Malone moreso fits in the West as "Warlock" or "The Last Sunset" can attest to). *I like that you call Marilyn "complicated." That's good. I can see that with her. I pretty much enjoy Marilyn in everything, although the films she stars in aren't always to my liking.* Isn't that a contradiction with what you said in the paragraph I cited above? ...There was a more recent discussion of "The Constant Nymph" here on the Board. *In "Rambles"?* Oooh, I forgot which forum/thread that was in. *Ha! I'm still in little league! All I do is strike out!* Yeah right. Sell me another one, why don'cha... *I speak nothing but the truth.* Then I can only conclude there's something the matter with the women in Upper Sandusky! (Tsk! Tsk!) *It's also a major turn-on with me. If I know I can't talk with a girl, I go cold.* I hear ya. Well, if talking be the food of love...wax on. *The "whys" for my next ten blondes won't be that interesting because I'm just not as familiar with them as my very favorites. My lack of knowledge shows.* That's okay. Your next ten actresses make me smile. And I thank you for indulging me by listing them. Below their names, I've written down what I consider their best or my favorite performance of theirs. I'm glad to see Lana, Harlow and Helen Walker made the cut. 21. *MY FAVORITE FILM: "THE GREAT FLAMARION"* 22. *MY FAVORITE FILM: "MARNIE"* 23. *MY FAVORITE FILM: "THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE"* 24. *MY FAVORITE FILM/BEST PERFORMANCE: "THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE"* 25. *MY FAVORITE FILM: "AND GOD CREATED WOMAN"* 26. *MY FAVORITE FILM/BEST PERFORMANCE: "LOLITA"* 27. *MY FAVORITE FILM/BEST PERFORMANCE: "LIBELED LADY" / "BOMBSHELL"* 28. *MY FAVORITE FILM: "A LETTER TO THREE WIVES" / "CRY 'HAVOC'"* 29. *MY FAVORITE FILM: "THE INVISIBLE MAN"* 30. *MY FAVORITE FILM: "NIGHTMARE ALLEY" / "IMPACT"* Something you wrote to Rey gave me food for thought: *"...A lot of people on the board talk about their favorites but I often wonder if they look to find new favorites by watching films they've never seen. For example, you've been talking about all the films you've seen from the 60s, but are you going to seek new ones to watch? I hope you do."* Gulp! Uh-oh. Guilty as charged. I have often made that "New Year's Resolution", if you will, to watch different movies. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. Yes, I know "The Letter" or "Crossfire" like the back of my hand. (Ha! It's so comforting seeing Bette Davis with a gun in her hand!) But I don't quite venture out to a different Bette Davis film or an unfamiliar Glo-lo movie. I've really got to do that. The last time I did that was with a Davis film called *"PAYMENT ON DEMAND"* which I wound up really enjoying. Bette was older (1950 and one film before her iconic "ALL ABOUT EVE") and not as dramatic, but she was very good. I even came away with a new-found respect for Barry Sullivan. I've got to do this MORE often. It should make me a more well-rounded film buff. *(F.Y.I.)* Gloria Stuart will have four films airing on TCM this Friday nite: 8:00 PM The Invisible Man (1933) 9:30 PM Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935) 11:15PM Here Comes the Navy (1934) 1:00AM Maybe It's Love (1935) Thanx again for indulging my curiosity.

> *Sans Fin* *writes:* *"I would be very happy to do so if I could. It is sad to say there are currently five hundred and ten users on this forum at this moment and I could not hope to make enough for all."* Now see, THAT could have been OUR little secret. Darn it! > *"I can assure you that Capuchin is not a monk!"* Yes, I remember your tale. (When I passed that monastery, which is across the street from Madison Square Garden, I immediately thought of you and couldn't resist sending you the pix I took).

I'm sure we all look forward to the when...with the reasonable expectation that it be sooner rather than later.

Bon Matin, Francois Grimesy - *Well, second favorite.* :-) Ahhhh yes, that's right. How well we know here. *I'm not attracted to Jean in a physical sense, but I'm still in the process of learning her personality. There are times when I like her and then there are times she doesn't interest me.* I hear ya. Comme si, comme ca. *She would be in the next five or ten blondes for me, along with Lana Turner. I'm drawn to Lana in the physical but her personality isn't doing much for me. The kind of films she's in doesn't help, either.* That's an interesting dynamic: The physical, the personality, the film type. All those things do come into account in different measures when we're attracted to film stars. If you have time, the inclination...would you list the next ten blonde actresses you like; just as you did below. I, for one, would be very curious as to who they are. And your "why." *I'd say the biggest upset to me is you liking Marilyn that much. I never knew.* Yes. Marilyn. She is a towering icon of old Hollywood...the glamour... the sex symbol. I see her humor. I see her fear. Sometimes it's a fear that cannot be acted. The actresses of the 30's and 40's go down easier for me. Marilyn is complicated. And incredibly sexy. I like her in "Niagara" and in her short turn in "All About Eve." She had good comic timing and I thought she stood toe-to-toe with her screen partner, George Sanders. *Hey, I like that! I could intersect with Kim.* Haaa! I'll bet. Hold on to your hat, boy. Novak looks like she's a tsunami; but I think it'll be a lovely way for you to drown. < Glub! Glub! > *I will add the film to the next group that I watch. I remember Konway (Hitch fan) talking about it a couple years ago.* Oh good. I will really look forward to your thoughts on it. There was a more recent discussion of "The Constant Nymph" here on the Board. *I'm definitely drawn to playful and sexy. I can't think of a better combination.* Have at it. *Ha! I'm still in little league! All I do is strike out!* Yeah right. Sell me another one, why don'cha... *I'm certainly that way. I prefer a cute, playful girl in reality. I don't like the overly serious women who are above being silly. Proper women bore me. But I do like a lass with smarts. I like a girl I can talk to.* That's good. Because talking really is the basis and understanding of another person.

The taste and texture and relative ease looks like something even I could make SansFin. So far, I bought the ingredients to the first recipe on this thread. Now to get my butt into the kitchen to prepare it. It'd be soooooo much easier if you all would just make the delicious foods you've listed here and send it to: Ms. Cine Maven 623 East 68th Street New York, New York 10025 Thanxxx. And Yummmmmeeeeeeee!

Thanxxx so much for your list of favorite blondes, Grimesy. Nice pithy comments for your reasons for liking them too. So, your favorite blonde is Gloria Grahame. Well who could blame you. She is a pip. Men love her. She looks like she caters to her man...like she loves 'em up. Now I am surprised NOT to see Harlow on your list. Most men like her. Actually I shouldn’t be surprised. I seem to recall you saying you’re not that crazy about her. Would she make your top fifty, at least? We share a fondness for many of the same actresses though they rank differently for each of us. I’ve listed them alphabetically and put our ranking (mine & then yours) before and after each actress’ name. ( *12* ) Carole Lombard ( *3* ) ( *17* ) Claire Trevor ( *7* ) ( *1* ) Doris Day ( *15* ) ( *11* ) Ginger Rogers ( *14* ) ( *3* ) Gloria Grahame ( *1* ) ( *13* ) Grace Kelly ( *2* ) ( *4* ) Kim Novak ( *4* ) ( *2* ) Lizabeth Scott ( *20* ) ( *7* ) Marilyn Monroe ( *8* ) We pass each other like ships in the night only intersecting coordinates at Kim Novak. I think of all the blondes on your list, the surprise to me is the quiet Joan Fontaine. I didn't think she'd be dynamic enough for you. She's very unassuming. But I see your comment below her name. (You like listening to her). I hope you get to see her in "The Constant Nymph." Looking over your list I see you're drawn to the actresses who are playful, sex kittens, who can laugh at themselves. They have poise and are romantic, but can hang on the playground. She'll give as good as she gets and her quietness makes you listen. The sexiness ranges from cutesy to lady-like to full-blown woman. You have very broad tastes which should stand you in good stead for having a wide variety of "experiences" in your real life. But I know...I know...what we like in movies may NOT be what we like in real life. I have a fondness for almost all the ladies on your list.

You seem so strait-laced here that when I saw your comment over "there" I had a big smile on my face and thought "Ah-haaaaaa. So THAT's how to reach MovieMan." :-) Thank you very much for the compliment. I think that, uh-oh. Oh no. OH NOOO! Mon Dieu. MON DIEU!!!! How could I have forgotten?! How could I have forgotten the Gallic and Scandanavian sisters. Those gals that Chabrol and Bergman and Vadim brought into our consciousness!!! AND a mogul's wife...AND a gal whose gun crazy AND one of my all time favorite character actresses. (She played James Dean's mom). Bonjour tristesse!! And a sacre bleu too! :-( I see it's BACK to the LOONEY BIN uhm...drawing board for me. I shall have to bring back some more blondes for everyone's enjoyment. < Sigh! > A Capricorn's work is never done. (Especially when she wants to do avoid doing housework!) Thanx again, MM'57. Hey, put down that butterfly net!! *Edited by: CineMaven on Nov 1, 2011 6:09 PM - Dagnabit!!!*

Hi SueSue...glad you liked it. It was quite a mammoth undertaking. Take good care down in the sunny Lone Star state. B-)

Thank you so much! If I told you how long it took me to do that...you'd really think I was insane. I'm proud of the names that kept popping into my head. And then one blonde begat another blonde and another and... It was a true trivia test. I'm going to take this page to my father...see how many names he can come up with. Hope to see you list your favorites over in the List thread.

>I'm going to assume you've worked with computers for long enough to know that there are times when you can't undo a change when you make it. Formatting a hard drive, for example. Or upgrading an Operating System. Yes, I'm familiar with that. But I'm thinking the changes that have caused problems with smooth navigation of the Board are with programming the "html" language not hardware problems. >I don't know anything specific about the TCM forum, and I am speaking specifically about my experience with other forum software. There are times when changes are necessary because of technical limitations of the server or database. And sometimes, changes cannot be undone without causing massive errors or crashing the entire forum. All the more reason for the "programmers" to be careful with their mucking about in the system. >My point is that just because it used to be one way does not mean it is as simple as flipping a switch to change it back. You are not giving us hope that things will go back to being easily navigable[/b]. Please don't invoke the Greek Gods. You know how upset Hera can get when you question her commands. Please bump up our concerns and requests to Zeus. Apparently these issues are above Hera's pay grade.

Good Evening/Morning Grimesy - "What a spectacular list of blonde favorites, CinemAva! Beautifully done. I love that you selected your favorite film and performance for each. I'm going to try and put together my twenty favorite blondes, too. I struggle with knowing if an actress is blonde or not." Thank you. It was fun to do. I know the blondes will be featured on TCM this month, so I wanted to have a list represent that theme. Do your list. Let us know why you like 'em. That will be interesting to read. Hey Miss G. - "That's a brilliant list of not-so-bashful blondes, CinemAva! I appreciate the mix of stars and character actresses...but no Bette?! I know, I know; she was often a brownette/auburn tressed gal, too. In any case, the hair was never a factor in a Bette Davis performance (though sometimes she could make our hair stand on end!). HA! Could she ever. Bette passed through my mind...but I figured, naaaah. She was really known for her darker hair. Lucy was a blonde too. Actually the real surprise is seeing Grace Kelly on your list...I had no idea you liked her. Oh yes...I thought Kelly was lovely. I too think it's great that you listed favorite films and best performances. It gives insight into why you like them so much. Yeah that's me. Ol' blabby. I hope you as well make out a list of your favorite "sisters." :-)

Strawberry, ash, honey. And then there is platinum. She is hot, icy, brassy, cool, sultry, bombshell, bottle, wise-cracking and Hitchcock. There are all manner of adjectives attached to...The Blonde. She is desired...envied, objectified and derided. She must often prove herself. Whether she's a perennial starlet or well-accomplished; vamp or pure as the driven snow, even the word (Blonde) itself is used as an adjective. Society (or Clairol or is that Revlon?) has anointed her different from all others. This November, TCM will feature the theme: BATTLE OF THE BLONDES. Battle? What battle? There is no battle. This is a lovely parade. All of these actresses have left their mark on movies and on many a person. I did leave out one adjective, because it's not apropos here. I think all these ladies are smart as a fox. BUT just remember this...there WAS one defector among them. And how ironic she left her golden tresses behind, and became even more successful as a raven-haired beauty. Edited by: CineMaven on Nov 1, 2011 9:46 AM - WHEW! Seems like there are more blondes than there are in heaven....

*Get ready. They're on their way.* *No, I haven't seen every film in their filmography. But that doesn't stop me from still having favorites. The first ten spots are in order of preference.* *1. DORIS DAY* * Bubbly, sunny, fresh-scrubbed sexy. Will make you smile if you're open to it. She can sing & dance, and do drama, comedy or musicals. Very well. MY FAVORITE FILM: "SEND ME NO FLOWERS" * *HER BEST PERFORMANCE: "LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME"** * *2. LIZABETH SCOTT* * Pouty, victim, can betray if Noir asks her to. Great voice. Great hair. I'll take her either way. MY FAVORITE FILM: "THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS" * *HER BEST PERFORMANCE: "TOO LATE FOR TEARS"** * *3. GLORIA GRAHAME* * Sexy vixen. Very feline. Oftentimes victimized. Love her cocky confidence. MY FAVORITE FILM: "IN A LONELY PLACE" * *HER BEST PERFORMANCE: "CROSSFIRE"** * *4. KIM NOVAK* * She's a blonde from another world...that's why she speaks as though she were out of breath. Earthy. Enigmatic. Even as a housewife. She's different. MY FAVORITE FILM: "VERTIGO" * *HER BEST PERFORMANCE: "VERTIGO"** * *5. JEAN HARLOW* *THE FIRST...THE PROTOTYPE. THE PLATINUM BLONDE. No one more vivacious than Harlow. She can be a pal too. But what guy would want her for a pal? This gal's got a great sense of humor about herself. Gone too soon.* *MY FAVORITE FILM:* *"LIBELED LADY" / "BOMBSHELL"* *HER BEST PERFORMANCE:* *"BOMBSHELL"*+ + *6. DOROTHY MALONE* * She's no kewpie doll or coquette. A real woman. If she wants you, you'll know it. If she doesn't...you'll know it. A good solid actress. Jumped for joy by her cameo in "Basic Instinct" just to see her again. Used to watch her as a kid on "Peyton Place" and then discovered, 'she used to make movies?!' MY FAVORITE FILM: "WRITTEN ON THE WIND" / "WARLOCK" HER BEST PERFORMANCE: "THE TARNISHED ANGELS" * *(Well, I'm not all the way being truthful...she was great in that over-the-top way in "...Wind").* *7. MARILYN MONROE* * Have no fear at my placing Marilyn 7th on my list of faves. I know she's the Queen. It's just that she's not an easy watch. I must be ready for her pathos and sensitivity or I'll be an emotional wreck. ("Bus Stop" and nice job in "Don't Bother to Knock"). Probably will never be given true credit for her talent. Could do comedy very well. To be MARILYN in the 1950’s...goodness. She owned the world. Who could handle that? Saw a photo exhibit of her at Brooklyn Museum a few years ago. Walls and walls and walls of Marilyn. Overwhelming. MY FAVORITE FILM: "NIAGARA" * *HER BEST PERFORMANCE: "THE MISFITS"** * *8. HELEN WALKER* * No, she's not one of those top-tiered blondes. Career cut short. But in one role, she made me a devotee. She always seems a smart cookie to me. A little imperious. Oh she was cute and silly in "Cluny Brown." But give me Walker straight up, and ice-cold. Yeeeup. MY FAVORITE FILM: "NIGHTMARE ALLEY" / "IMPACT" * *HER BEST PERFORMANCE: "NIGHTMARE ALLEY"** * *9. ANNE FRANCIS* * "Go West, young man. Gohhhhhhh 'Honey West' the ad said. Sigh! It left young girls of 13 out of the loop for adventure. But I still liked her and admired her for being in control of things. Feline, smart, confident. A little haughty. She had an air about her I've always liked. MY FAVORITE FILM / HER BEST PERFORMANCE: ANYTHING.* *MY FRIEND MARVIN'S FAVORITE FILM: "FORBIDDEN PLANET"* *Uhmmmm...he said he liked the special effects, too.* *10. CATHERINE DENEUVE* * Sophistication, class, beauty, sensuous. She's all that and a bag of chips and really has become quite the character actress. MY FAVORITE FILM: "THE HUNGER" * *HER BEST PERFORMANCE: To be honest, je ne sais pas. I guess I'll just have to struggle along, watching her work to discover that. Tough job...but some buff's gotta do it.* *11. GINGER ROGERS* * She looks like she's fun. And her dancing with Fred Astaire is sublime. She's got snap and pizzazz. Ginger has great comic timing. And not afraid to change her hair color either.* *MY FAVORITE FILM/HER BEST PERFORMANCE: It's all a mish-mash for me what with "Swing Time" and "Stage Door" and "The Major and the Minor." ( I accept the premise ). And though I didn't care for the movie, the way she slapped that girl around in "Vivacious Lady" showed spunk.* *12. CAROLE LOMBARD* * Queen of screwball comedy. Would take a dramatic turn every once in a while, but her forte was clearly comedy. Swore like a sailor I heard. Down to earth. That's her real appeal for me. Beautiful. Also known as Mrs. Clark Gable. < ( Sigh! ) > That...and a career too. Some girls have all the luck. MY FAVORITE FILM: "TWENTIETH CENTURY" * HER BEST PERFORMANCE: "TWENTIETH CENTURY" * **Not a big fan of screwball but its manic heights wins me over.* *13. GRACE KELLY* * Poised, pretty, elegant. What a string of hits and leading men she had. Then what does she do? She up and marries and leaves her career behind. What an exit. I’ve liked her in the majority of films she did. What a class act. MY FAVORITE FILM: ”REAR WINDOW” * *HER BEST PERFORMANCE: ”THE COUNTRY GIRL”** * *14. EVA MARIE SAINT* * I think she is a character actor wrapped up in a blonde. She’s another one I just want to see what she does.* *MY FAVORITE FILM / HER BEST PERFORMANCE: Nothing in particular. Just like the cut of her jib.* *15. JOAN BLONDELL* *WOW!!! What energy. You’re going to have a raucous good time with Joanie. Can’t you tell? You can't out-talk her. You just can't. She propped up every leading man her 1930’s contract threw at her. The 1930’s...that was HER TIME. Oh Joanie... what big eyes you have. The better for us to see you with.* *MY FAVORITE FILM:* *“CRY ‘HAVOC’” / “STAND-IN”* *HER BEST PERFORMANCE:* *”NIGHTMARE ALLEY”*+ + *16. LANA TURNER* * Probably THE blonde of the 1940’s. (Started off as a redhead, I think). Yes there was Betty Grable, but really...think about it. Seeeee? Lana was white hot. Kind of M-G-M pouty actressy... but that’s okay. She was a party girl, sexy...had some great leading men. Gable for one...and two and three. Lana was damned good at what she did. Her looks matured and morphed. She was still a star in the 1950’s. Lana. Even her name sounds glamorous. MY FAVORITE FILM: ”THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE” * *HER BEST PERFORMANCE: ”MADAME X”** * *17. CLAIRE TREVOR* * If you were standing in a pea-soup thick fog...blindfolded, Trevor's voice is quite distinctive. I admit I haven’t seen alot of her work...but I’m willing to. I like what I have seen. (”Stagecoach” “Born to Kill” “Dead End” etc.) Western...noir... urban landscape. She’s a chameleon. A character actor. MY FAVORITE FILM: ”MURDER, MY SWEET” * *HER BEST PERFORMANCE: ”KEY LARGO”** * *18. PRISCILLA LANE* *Awwwww, I think she’s sweet. A good foil for Garfield. Girl next door. Voice like maple syrup. And she was one of Hitchcock’s blondes. I think she carried it off pretty good. (Okay...okay, so don’t look at Robert Cummings).* *MY FAVORITE FILM:* *”FOUR DAUGHTERS”*+ + *19. ALICE FAYE* * Never liked the sopranos as much as the contraltos. Her musical “The Gang’s All Here” lifted me out of my doldrums once. Ever sensible...I thought she had a lot of weight as an actress that she was beginning to explore in drama when she walked out of Twentieth Century Fox and didn’t look back for twenty years. She makes me smile.**MY FAVORITE FILM: "FALLEN ANGEL" *20. JULIE CHRISTIE**I’ve liked her since I was a kid. Cool. Mod. Never disappoints. Saw her recently in “Away From Her” and forty odd years later, she STILL does not disappoint. I’ve enjoyed her in “Heaven Can Wait” “Shampoo” “Don’t Look Now” “Far From the Madding Crowd.” Even the execrable but fun “Demon Seed” could tarnish her. I like her in just about everything I’ve seen her in. (...But will avoid “McCabe & Mrs. Miller”).

I am not in a puddle...but you have certainly welled up my emotions with your post on *"BRIEF ENCOUNTER."* Your writing: Touching, emotional, heartfelt. I love the big Hollywood treatment. The color, the lush music, two gorgeous movie stars with sexual heat to spare. Lerve it. "Ross Hunter For President" "Give Me Glossy or Give Me Death!!!" That's my mantra. Those movies are so easy to go down...like Vitajax. But then there's "Brief Encounter." (Even its title is so succinct and very apt). Moreso, there is your description of "Brief Encounter." Two lonely people...lonely within their respective marriages. Two average people with average lives. And average people can fall in love...too; with as much emotion as Heathcliff and Cathy. And you wrote about it. You wrote a thing that probably only has to be felt. It's like apples and oranges ( thoughts / feelings )...but you put it into words. One line in your piece left me devastated: "The never." Oh 'the never.' The toughest thing to live with. Now... how do you teach this to your daughter? How do you teach her how to love...to accept...to be open...to share...to learn to let go...to be responsible. Girl, Mothers have the toughest job...IF they do it right. How to teach this to your daughter when she will not listen to you because you are old...old-fashioned...out of touch...out of date. "Mom leave me alone. YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!! I LOVE HIM!" It was touched upon in that bedroom scene in "The Best Years Of Our Lives" with March, Loy and Wright...her parents not 'understanding.' Is love a paradox? The sharing that would bring you together would also tear you apart. You write: *"I said before I was solitary, but really it isn't that, it's that I am within myself, thinking, in my own life all the time, whether I am with people or not."* Sounds pretty normal. We all should be IN our life. So many sleep away their life...go about like leaves blown from one g... no, just blown about...not seeming to have a clue to HOW they got there (how did I get pregnant? how did I lose my job? where is all my money? You know...clue less). I think about "The Earrings of Madame de..." for a moment, and how Madame de...when she finally fell in love, she became lovesick, being apart from him. It was the best depiction of being love sick that I have ever seen. How palpable and tangible Love became through that pair of earrings. The movie didn't show DeSica's character through the separation. Was he heartsick as well...was he longing. Or was he an 'out of sight, out of mind' kind of chap? We did know he had to have her...at the beginning. Sometimes with a movie, you just cannot physically show all sides of the coin. Grimesy mentions what about Alec? He had a wife and children at home as well. Sometimes a writer/director has to pick the story he's telling. You don't have time...it might be too unwieldly, it might dilute rather than strengthen a story. We have to go with the story we're given. I think, in the most general sense, the British are much more reserved than us Americans. Maybe that's changed now, but way back in the caveman olden times of the 1940's, the Cro-Magnon period of time, there was a difference in our nations' personas, so that "might" account for the 'holding it all in.' As for being written and directed by Coward and Lean and them understanding how a woman would feel about it all, the woman's perspective, my question is: was Coward just writing about LOVE, Period. Is Love, LOVE whether a man feels it or a woman feels it. I wonder what Love Feels Like To Men. Is it the same. We know men see things in more physical terms; what attracts him to her, physically. But Love, actually, TO LOVE, is it a really DIFFERENT thing for men than it is for women? Could Coward know what he was writing about becuz he was IN LOVE himself...the very same Laura way. Perhaps he loved an Alec and both sides could not risk the loss their LOVE would bring? Your post brought tears to my eyes. If you don't mind, I will share it with my Movie Maven Mentor friend. I'm not sure how he feels about "BRIEF ENCOUNTER", but I know how he feels about good writing. Yeah...don't write Jackie. I see you now bleeding and sweating and crying over every word. < Sigh! > (I'm using ev'ry bit of grammatical skill my tenth grade English teacher taught me). Don't write..but if you only knew the effect your words would have. If you only knew...

I have seen ?VERTIGO? on the big screen a couple of times, you're right about that. This might?ve been inside Scottie all this time. A time bomb ticking. Midge didn?t have enough oomph to bring it out in him. I s?pose Kim Novak could turn even Arnold Stang & Wally Cox into a maniacal mustangs too. Thnx Jackie. I?ve been off and on trying to figure out what happened to me. I still want to like/love this film. At the end of the day, I guess Scottie is justified...that was a rotten trick Elster played on him. And brilliant. He got away with murder.

*When I get mad at people, I wish I was Irena. That would be the way to go.... you could just scare the life out of people, like Alice at the pool. I just love the look on Simone Simon's face when she flicks on the light.* I'd rather be Stephen King’s *"CARRIE."* She used her mental telepathy to get revenge. Less running around like a panther. < ( Huff! Huff! ) > Saves wear and tear on your arches. *Oh yes! That's a great description! I am definitely sensitive...* *BERSERK SPOILERS:* *Diana was so asking for it! She was born to be killed....* Hmmmm...I think I'll take back my "sensitive" comment, thank yewwww. Yikes! *Aaah. I'll have to try more of Corman's stuff.* You ought to. He tried to make his "B" list productions look prestigious by doing some of Poe’s work. Corman. He made a dollar out of two cents. Willard (Eeeeeeew!!! Couldn't take it. Had a big problem with Bruce Davison for *years* b'cuz of this movie. It creeped me out!) *I think it's funny. It made me like Bruce. Now who's the sensitive one?* HA!! There's a difference between sensitive and scaredy cat. "Meow!" *Switch to Twizzlers, stat!* I went back out in this cold weather and replenished my stash: *THE INGREDIENTS TO A MOVIE MAVEN’S DAY OF HORROR FILMS* I hope no kids knock on my door. I’ll roll 'em in toilet paper.

*The name of the forum we are on is still missing from each of the forum pages and each thread, so when we are reading posts, we can't tell what forum we are on.* Yes. The posters name being listed half way down his post is confusing because we start reading the message and we don't know who posted it. <======= Yes. Look to your left. *The only place where the "Forum Home" hot link shows up is on the forum home itself, and we are already on the forum home when we are there, so we certainly don't need a hot link to the page we are already on.* Yes. *Why do you suppose someone made these changes? They don't make any sense.* Oh hell yes!

*"...I do not believe that anyone at TCM would deliberately make changes just to disrupt forum users experience. That makes no sense whatsoever. That doesn't mean that changes weren't made. It would seem that the changes that have been made, for whatever reason, had unintended or unforeseen consequences. In some cases, it may not be possible to revert changes."* "Not possible to revert changes..." Huh? What, this stuff is written in stone? These things are man-made not some Divine Order from high up on Mount Olympus. Come on now.

New York City was a rainy drizzly snowy cold mess all day Saturday. (A portent of things to come my fellow NorthEasterners so put those winter clothes in the forefront of your closet! B-r-r!!) So of course that made it perfect day for me to watch a movie. Unfortunately I had to go OUT into the cold arms of Mother Nature, to go INSIDE to see a movie. And I picked going to see "VERTIGO" for the Film Forum?s Bernard Hermann festival. Aaah, nothing warms my heart like a good ol' fashioned tragic love story. The print was pristine, Kim Novak was ethereally beautiful, Hermann?s music underscored emotions perfectly and the circumstances still tragic. As I?ve always done, I felt sorry for Scotty falling in love with this gorgeous cipher with the soft breathy voice. It hit him like a ton of bricks, poor guy. But something happened to me this time around when he finds "Madeleine" again. My pity turned to anger. He's cruel to love. He bends it and shapes it to look like it had before; changing its appearance to re-create the past. He didn't accept a new love, but wanted to bring back the old. Okay, fair enough. We?re only human, creatures of habit, I guess. We want what we want. We respond to what we respond to. But in the end he acted like a murderer, taking his victim waaay out far away from everything to do her in. She recognizes where he?s taking her but acts like she doesn?t know. And he knows she knows. For the first time I found it really rough to watch the scene at the Mission. His anger was palpable. Her struggles useless but struggled on nonetheless. Hitchcock brings us tight on that staircase up to the steeple. And sitting in the theatre?s second row looking up at close ups made the staircase scene all the more claustrophobic. Scotty relays aloud the circumstances, even taunts her ("Did he ditch ya!" "He made you over like I made you over. ) It was very uncomfortable to watch this time.. He's exorcising something on that stairway. And he's going full tilt. The shot of her feet being dragged up along the staircase are especially palpable. His cruelty to her was rough to take this time. I think she's discovering perhaps he's really NOT the man she fell in love with. This new and deranged Scotty is not the same loving man. He's obsessive...and possessive ...and damaged. "Why did you have to pick on me. Why me?!" Oooh boy, it feels so very true when things don?t work out in love if you're the one who's been left. But before his last kiss with Judeleine he says: "Maddie, I loved you so." Scotty made her over, she was resistant but acquiesced to being made over. She probably would have laid in his arms and let him call her Madeleine in the deep dark night, just so long as she had his love. His fury this time caught me by surprise. It didn?t look romantic. It looked pathological. It looked scary. And when Judy falls to her death...is it justice for being an accomplice. Is it justice for tricking an innocent man? It was a cruel trick on Scotty losing her "again." There won't be a third time. I still love the movie...the gazing...the voyeurism... its lushness...all beautifully and unobtrusively accompanied by Bernard Hermann. But that *&%#!!$ Hitchcock. He had me all twisted in knots. Do we love what we see or see what we love. TORTURED LOVERS

Yeah, I kind of surmised that. Your sensibilities are more gentle than mine. I can do gore and blood and guts very easily. But I love the old classic horror films. The ones where Sound is so new, you can hear the spaces. *Theatre of Blood* ( Ha! Saw it a whole bunch of times for Diana Rigg ) *Pit and the Pendulum* - is that Hammer? ( That's Roger Corman ) *Mr. Sardonicus* ( I love it! Krull...you've GOT to love Krull! A true Homolkan performance ) *Psycho* ( IT IS PERECT!) ) *The Haunting* ( My sister ran out of the living room and back into our bedroom as a kid. Love it ) *Willard* (Eeeeeeew!!! Couldn't take it. Had a big problem with Bruce Davison for *years* b'cuz of this movie. It creeped me out!) What surprised me was having a problem with *"VERTIGO"* one of my all-time favorites. I wonder if it was because it was a dark and stormy night when I saw it. *Edited by: CineMaven on Oct 30, 2011 2:32 PM - 'cuz I'm stilll bummed over my popcorn!*

Nothing soft and romantic about Monday's Halloween gorefest. And I've been waiting for this all month. It'll be HAMMER time with their horror fare. Ooooh. I just dropped a half a bag of UTZ Butter Popcorn! DRAT!!! And I just came in from out of the cold and don't want to go back out. The five-second rule can't apply to me. I'm not that great shakes a house keeper. Maybe you can teach me how to make little people?

Haha! I would probably have more luck making little people than I would writing a book. I have no big ideas. I imagine making little people is like baking, which I love to do. Writing is sometimes a chore for me. Excuses...excuses! Awwwwright then. So make your little people. I guess I'll just have to be content reading stuff here. I am ashamed to admit I've never seen Dracula's Daughter! But it's on my list, second from the top right after Mark of the Vampire. Put aside those other movies you're not watching and put "Dracula's Daughter" at the head of the list. It's great. And the cool thing about Friday night, was that the bartender couldn't get the subtitles to work on their DVD (come to find out that the film probably didn't have subtitles though Coppola's "DRACULA" did). So I was watching the movie without sound and without words underneath. The movie STILL worked. Now...where can a girl find a good Dracula when you need him, and don't want to feel guilty. After all...he'll bend you to his will. If I knew that..... I know...you'd be not writing books.

JACK FAVELL writes - *Oh, and I forgot, I am solitary still, but instead of having 50 friends, I have a core group of maybe ten people I hang with now, there are only a few, but they are closer. I do wish I had more friends, but Connecticut is a closed minded place, and I am still the odd man out here. People seem quite judgmental here, or standoffish, or something. They don't share themselves easily.* You keep that core group Jackaaa*A*aay. Friendship is a two-way street. It is about being open enough and vulnerable enough to share, knowing those things won't be used as ammunition against you. You know, this doesn't speak very well of Connecticut, J.F. What a snobby state. Tell you what I'm gonna do...I shall stick my tongue out at it the next time I'm on Amtrak traveling up to Massachusetts. Although my best friend has now moved to Rhode Island to be closer to his job, I shall still stick my tongue out at the CT. Take THAT Hartford! And take THAT New Haven!!! *"Excuse me sir, but dinner won't be for a few hours yet. It's the lamb bein' awwkward..."* *I gotta use that one next time I can't get dinner to come out on time!* Something tells me your other half will not buy it. Get to cookin' Woman! MISS GODDESS writes - *I know exactly the feelings you had as you pored over the book, Jackie. I simply lived in the library during the "dark days" of 'tweenhood. I now believe the book I looked at was a library book, because no one I knew would have ever bought me such a thing.* Gee. There really IS something to the old saying:"There's no frigate like a book." *The first classic-movie related gift I ever received was a poster from my best friend, it was Clark Gable as "Candy" in **** Tonk.* The first movie book I ever got was from my father for my sixteenth birthday: "The Films of Humphrey Bogart." I still have it too. Darn it, I've got to bring my film library over to my new apartment. *I still think it's one of the handsomest images I ever saw. He's [Clark Gable|http://forums.tcm.com/] leaning against the bar, with that unmistakable, taunting smirk on his face. No wonder none of the high school boys had a chance with me. :x (Well, almost none of them)* A-haaaaaa!