CineMaven

Frank Grimes: "...I taped five Sophia films, though. I have Anthony Mann's 'The Fall of the Roman Empire', 'Lady L', 'The Millionairess', 'It Started in Naples', and 'Legend of the Lost'. Mann's El Cid and Houseboat interest me." Hi there Frank. Those films are good starts. I've heard Sophia never looked more beautiful than she did in "El Cid." There are other films of her that I'm much more familiar with, but when you get around to watching these, it'll give you some idea of what folks have been talking about with Sophia for the last fifty years. She's good. And her beauty... Playtime, huh? Awww Frank. ;-)

Does your final film have Marilyn Chambers in it or someone of that "ilk"? FG: Of course not. Aaaaah, Marilyn, the Ivory Snow girl...

Olive Oyl???? Soooo you'd take Audrey Hepburn over Marilyn Monroe, I gather... Jeanne Moreau or Catherine Deneuve?

Olive Oyl???? Soooo you'd take Audrey Hepburn over Marilyn Monroe, I gather... Jeanne Moreau or Catherine Deneuve?

Nils Asther starred in "Wild Orchid" with the great: GARBO

Great thread. I think I'll take the house the Lemps lived in in "FOUR DAUGHTERS." Loved the house in "LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN" too.

Excellent catch. (See Carmen Maura in "MATADOR.")

I wouldn't dare jump in here after reading all the eloquent thoughts you and others have for "The Misfits." Enjoying the read. Little do you know (and I'm telling you now) that I print up certain threads and save them for my 1.5 hour ride to work. The writing makes me wanna see the film again, but seeing and knowing it was the end for those three icons makes me really have to gear up for seeing it. Nicely done.

I thought of another scene thanx to the MacMurray marathon: "ALICE ADAMS". The dinner scene was exquisitely torturous. Alice putting on airs...trying so hard...being so desperate...parents being such plain folks and a bit of an embarassment to Alice. OW! And then to top it off Hattie McDaniel. Sad, though McDaniel's head dress wilting made me chuckle. She said a lot (in more ways than one ) without saying a word.

David Niven was in "THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE" with... Spring Byington (Wasn't that a great name she had?) Message was edited by CineMaven: ...and by the by, wasn't she one of the great fussbudgets of the screen?

Just to put the Double G thread back on top where she belongs, I want to give out a reminder that "COBWEB" will be aired Monday - August 11th @ 10:00AM. Don't miss it. This is just a little taste of Gloria Grahame. She worked with Lauren Bacall and with Bogart.

Casablanca...Film Fatale, thank you.

BETTY WHITE. One of my favorites from Password. And she was great as Sue Ann Nivens on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and as Rose on "Golden Girls." Television has given her a great career!

You folks took all the good ones, so I'll say: Woody Allen and Diane Keaton. Oooooooh and Bette Davis and the great William Wyler.

worked in "Devil and the Deep" with Cary Grant. Or Gary Cooper...what's your pleasure?

Yeah, I've got three scripts under my belt. They're doing no good under my belt. I've gotta get 'em OUT there. Working on it...

Jack, MissGoddess, Bronxgirl..."Beautifully described." "That was beautiful." "Mesmerizing." Geeeez, I have not been able to pull my tee-shirt over my (now swelled) head because of your kind kind comments on my writing on a great motion picture. Your words are very encouraging to me as a fledgling screenwriter. More than you'll ever know. I humbly thank you. BTW Jack, I note and agree that this was the way things were done back then with women not being allowed to have their own bonafide economic power. I understand.

WALDO: "In Other News...I've never seen "Wild Orchids" but the clips contained in the Julie Christie-narrated documentary made it look very exotic and tantalizing..." Would this be the scene in the documentary where Garbo's standing on a boat deck and the camera dollies towards her and she haughtily holds her head up? If so, that was a knockout. If not...nevermind!

I'm a mere amateur at this, but I have a double and a quadruple: double: "Gone With the Wind Across the Everglades." quadruple: "My Six Convicts Four Daughters of the Dust Be My Destiny."

A whole day of Garbo and human beans...they're never satisfied.

Thank you! You're so kind. I'm glad you enjoyed my heartfelt comments, Miss Goddess. And you're so absolutely right about Gaston. It's just I'm on the shallow side and Robert Taylor's looks are blinding, pre-mustache days. Poor boy. D'ya think he ever recovered from Marguerite? I think he's still mourning, one hundred and sixty years later.

I agree Saliano. Another one trying to make his name on the boards. Ugh! I'm going IGNORE.

I am going to ramble. Let me start with a definition: SUBLIME: "adjective ( -limer , -limest ) of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great admiration or awe." To me, this definition describes Greta Garbo's performance in "Camille." SUPPORTING CAST: With friends like these who needs enemies? Henry Daniell as the oily, sleazy, snide, sadistically, elegant Baron de Varville or Baron de Varvile. (I could see the better-looking George Sanders in this part). But I have to admit, Daniell was perfect). Actually he is a man in love but has come to terms with the fact he's only wanted for his money by Camille. And once he comes to terms with that...he no longer has to be nice to her. Camille: "You play beautifully." Baron: "You lie beautifully." Camille: "That's more than I deserve." Baron: "That's not half as much as you deserve." Maybe if Camille hadn't met Armand, Varville would've stood a chance. But can money ever compete with youth...and love?? Camille's friends. They don't care about her. They are unpleasant, frivolous, users and the whole idle lifestyle is captured wonderfully. When she's sick and coughing during a party no one notices or cares. When Camille wants to go to the country with Armand, Prudence threatens to have her creditors hound her. When Camille's on her death bed Prudence (Laura Hope Crews) wants money from her. Laura Hope Crews did a great job as a dressmaker. Nanine (Jessie Ralph)-the faithful servant, Olympe-another airhead prostitute, Gaston, faithful friend were all very good. UNABASHED LOVE: Robert Taylor was absolutely beautiful, youthful full of ideals and vulnerability and sensitivity. He is quite the lovesick girl in this film. In fact, this is a real reversal of roles, gender roles. I daresay Armand is the Rhett Butler role for Taylor's career. He's jealous of the Baron de Varville. He loves her so, but she plays him like a yo-yo becuz of her own conflicts. He gives her his heart and gets kicked in the teeth for it. He is hurt beyond beyond. He is a zombie, he is beaten down by her rejection. He gives an impassioned speech of a deeply wounded young lover whose soul has been shredded: "How could you do what you did. I'll tell you. Because your heart is a thing that can be bought and sold. Yes I know, you gave it to me for a whole summer. But when it came to a choice the jewels and carriages he could give you were worth my love, my devotion, my life." He calls the casino crowd into the drawing room and declares in front of all of Paris: "Come in. Come in here all of you. You see this woman? You know her? Then listen to what I'm going to say. I accepted her favors because I thought she loved me. I let her make sacrifices for me when there were others who had more to give. But bare witness, I owe her nothing! Take it. Go on take it. Buy camelias, buy diamonds, horses and carriages. Buy moonlight. Buy a grave!!" I felt bad for young Armand. My heart broke for him becuz he didn't have this one vital important piece of information: that she does this all for him. I don't think Robert Taylor ever really did any better than he did in this role playing opposite the icon of the movies. He stood toe-to-toe with the great Garbo. If he personified Love, she personified Self-Sacrifice. THE ONE, THE ONLY...: Yeah yeah, there are Garbo threads on board, but hey I'm movie rambling here. Garbo as Camille sacrifices her own happiness, sacrifices the short time she has left to make sure Armand's future in France will be secure and not weighed down becuz he fell for a cheap common courtesan. Armand: "I thought I meant something to you." Camille: "You mean too much. Already." Garbo had the wonderful ability to play opposite emotions simultaneously. I think that is one of the unique things about her performance in this film. She laughs and cries at the same time. Impossible? Nope, watch the scene where the Baron de Varville comes home unexpectedly when she has already made a rendezvous for Armand to come back to her apartment. He knocks, he rings but she can't answer the door. She plays it off to the Baron saying that maybe she's shutting out the great love of her life. Ooh! Ouch! Her Camille is a realist; she knows what she is and doesn't hide it from him. She knows she needs $$$ and will do what she can to get it. She wants to go to the country with Armand but needs $40K to pay off her debts and she asks the Baron. Now really, that's not very nice of her. How tacky to ask one man to finance your dalliance with another man. But she is what she is. Actually maybe Varville is the one making the sacrifices. But I think not. He, too, is a realist. And this relationship with Camille...well even he knows it is what it is. When the Baron doesn't give it to her she pouts and asks why? But of course, he relents becuz he loves her (or let's just say he wants her...wants to own her) and gives her the money. She thanks him with a perfunctory kiss on the cheek. He smacks her. She is hurt; she is disgusted with what she had to do to get the money; but she slightly smiles and chuckles to herself that, hell...she got the money. And I think deep down she doesn't feel she deserves Armand...I believe she believes she does NOT deserve to be loved. Garbo gives a subtle performance here. She's not as "actress-y" as she can be. Most of her emotions are not big; small sighs, a furrowed brow. The exquisite way she teasingly touches. And frankly I think (for me) I found "Camille" to be her sexiest role because she it plays so masculine. She's the dude in control and Taylor is the lovesick girl. She's on top and he's in a submissive position, even sometimes filmed like that. He's a jealous little milksop. The Baron's villa is just beyond the hill and Armand says: ?I always know he?s there.? But Camille replies, ?But I?m always here.? Aaaah silly fool. Tricks are for kidz! When she's asked by Armand's father, played by the great Barrymore (Lionel, this time) to give up his son she goes through a slew of emotions. She tries to fight for herself, for her happiness but know that she loves Armand more than herself. She is being asked to give up her life's blood: Armand's love. She hasn't long to live anyway, why can't she have this happiness. The prospect of giving up his love, of hurting him forever makes her weak and she drops to her knees holding onto the table. She tearfully agrees to do it and Barrymore humbly thanks her. She looks at him with tearful eyes and says in deepened voice: "Make no mistake monsieur. Whatever I do, it's not for you. It's all for Armand." Geez. I couldn't do it. Could you? And when she puts her plan to action, she is cold to him. Cuts him to pieces with a comments like, "Wasn't one summer all you wanted?" It pains her to say it but she tells him: "I loved you as much as I can. If that's not enough, I'm not to blame." And her 'final solution' is to go back to the Baron de Varville. It will put the ultimate nail in her coffin, to end the relationship. She lets her faithful servant know that she is going to "make my love hate me. Make him hate me." This is a big plot point that she obscures with her face in her hands as she speaks. With every cutting word that Garbo delivers, with every dagger she uses to cut Armand down...she's actually placing it deeper and deeper into her heart. For her to give up her happiness for him is as devastating as watching Bogie put Ingrid Bergman on that plane in "Casablanca." This, by Garbo, was a performance for the ages. Wonderful. Sublime. Message was edited by CineMaven ...I had to edit to get it just right. Thank you for allowing me to ramble.

Scar. Silent Movie Garbo or Talking Pictures Garbo?

Keeping us with us? Mon Dieu!