CineMaven

FrankGrimes: Strong list. Love seeing "Fallen Angel" and "Quai des Orfevres." Guess I'll represent the glorious Double G on my list below. Randy: Great choices. I love seeing "The Women" and my Oomph Girl represented with "Nora Prentiss." She looks classic 1940's. Damn, I wish I thought of it. StarStruck: "Pillow Talk." Glad you've represented it. Kirk in Hollywood: "Koyaanisqatsi" Philip Glass, great film. What a great, thought-provoking question Triple H...but what a long-winded answer you?re about to get. Now I know my A-B-C?s... AWFUL TRUTH, The: (Dunne & Grant were pure perfection and that comic timing...). ANATOMY OF A MURDER: (if I weren?t a cinemaven, I?d have been a lawyer; nice grown-up movie). BIG HEAT, The: (Gloria...Gloria...Glorious Gloria). BLAZING SADDLES: (Blazingly funny. I cried with tears of laughter: farting, hanging, weinerschnitzels and attacking racism with humor. Mel Brooks can write his ticket to movie comedy heaven with this one). BRIDE WORE BLACK, The: (Chabrol?s a master...and then there?s Jeanne Moreau: vive la France). CAMILLE: (Put simply: Garbo!) CASABLANCA: (a classic motion picture of unrequited love; Bergman and Bogart and Bergman and Bogart and Bergman and Bogart; how Bogie let her go on that plane is STILL a mystery to me). CABIN IN THE SKY: (Lena Horne is utterly beautiful; Hollywood and America did NOT know what to do with her; what a waste). CROSSFIRE: (Bobbing for apples?? Mitchum, Ryan and Young as the Bobs. Sort of like the Coreys on steroids. Gloria Grahame is a heart-breaking Joan Blondell-type. She's wunnerful, wunnerful!) DESERT FURY: (great twisted characters; an older Astor and young Lancaster, Wendell Corey?s in love with Hodiak and the luscious husky-voiced Lizabeth is in technicolor in all her pouty glory). DESERT HEARTS: (two women fall in love in the 1950?s--beautiful love story and a period piece. You could?ve heard a pin drop during the love scene). DUEL AT DIABLO: (GREAT WESTERN and great score; loved the different threads of a story; cowboys and Indians; racism against Native-Americans...and Sidney as a cowboy. I didn?t understand a Black man as a cowboy when I was eleven. Now at way over -21, I know better. Right on, cowboys!!) DOUBLE INDEMNITY: Finally, MacMurray with a meaty role. Loved Edward G. in this). EASY TO WED: (enjoyable re-make and the 1940?s foursome of Van, Esther, Lucy and Keenan was perfectly cast tossing off lines like pearls). FROM THE TERRACE: (Even if Paul and Joanne don?t get along in this, I love seeing them together, 60?s, color, good meller and Paul Newman?s BLUE EYES). GONE WITH THE WIND: (the only motion picture with everything). GILDA: (put the blame on every red blooded earthling on this planet who watched the fiery red-haired Rita Hayworth and didn?t lose his mind; there?s a reason she?s called a goddess...this is the reason). HEIRESS, The: (a well-deserved Oscar for this sweetly gentle beauty: Olivia DeHavilland. ..."I have been taught by masters.") I WALK ALONE: (love the triangle of Lancaster-Lizabeth & Kirk; archetypal characters). JEZEBEL: (willfull Southern belle is an understatement...after Scarlett O?Hara, there?s Bette?s Julie; not as sexy as the beauteous Vivien Leigh, but a hurricane; I actually am picking this as a way to laud Margaret Lindsay...a dark haired, alto-voiced supporting actress who still remains unsung; I love her). KING?S ROW: (Ronnie did such a great job, Cummings? earnestness melted my heart, and Ann Sheridan is just a pleasure for me in anything she does...her voice...her attitude...her Oomph! Korngold?s music is thrilling). LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN: (Jealousy, thy name is Tierney who personifies the green-eyed monster; no one is safe: not her father, her new husband, her brother-in-law and step sister...oh yeah, did I mention her fetus and intentional suicide? Ya gotta lover her!) LETTER, The: (Bette Davis? performance is written in stone as a blueprint for actresses for future generations to come. ?With all my heart, I still love the man I killed.?) LIBELED LADY: (this is just a joy to watch Harlow, Loy, Powell and even Tracey being funny; crosses and double-crosses abound; did I mention Harlow?) LONG SHIPS, The: (a rousing adventure: the Vikings vs. The Moors; love Sidney Poitier?s Elvis pompadour and Widmark is wild and crazy. Ooooh...someone name Rosanna Schiaffino is worth a second look-a third look - a tenth look. Beware of the Mare of Steel. OUCH!). LOVE LETTERS: (The Cyrano tale with the beautiful Jennifer Jones; her beauty is enthralling). MARNIE: (I enjoyed Tippi?s sexy pyschosexual disfunction and Sean Connery is dangerously handsome...and twisted enough to like a woman who has psychosexual difficulties). MEET THE STEWARTS: (yes yes this innocuous little comedy has won my heart over becuz it is where I fell head over heels in love with the beautiful Frances Dee; even seeing her with the zombies didn?t do it). MILDRED PIERCE: (Spare the rod and spoil the Veda; Ann Blythe was chilling and Joan Crawford was thrilling; Eve Arden...well she can do no wrong!) MUMMY: 1932 (great Caesar?s ghost; wonderful film; Zita Johann is different ; ?...her love for you will bridge the centuries.?) NOTORIOUS: (Okay...okay I confess, even though it?s difficult to watch her go through this: Ingrid Bergman makes torture down right sexually intoxicating; I want to save her, but I don't want to add "Gaslight"). ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST: (Henry Fonda, that likeable mid-westerner plays the most evil heartless killer who ever wore a holster. Great blue eyes). OUT OF THE PAST: (wanna see a film noir before you die? Then this one is it; Kirk...smarmy; Mitchum...laconic; Rhonda... young and yummy. Jane Greer is the reason to watch this; she is the reason to live...she?s magnificent! But don?t trust her. Lovely to watch her walk into a room: ?...I sometimes go there.?) PANDORA AND THE DUTCHMAN: (Ava Gardner has fallen from heaven in the form of a human; she is absolutely and utterly beautiful in this film). PLACE IN THE SUN, A: (poor Monty - at his most gorgeous - happy to settle until he meets mind-blowing eighteen year old Elizabeth Taylor; rich Elizabeth, a budding beauty whose looks are blinding; sad sack Shelley...who toned down her looks to play a girl whose only crime was to fall in love, oh...and get pregnant; one swimming lesson at the local Y would?ve saved her life). PORTRAIT OF JENNIE: (Oh my...Jennifer Jones at her most ethereal). QUEEN, The: (Helen Mirren is one of my favorites...she WAS Queen Elizabeth; sexy and disrobed or older and plain, Helen Mirren can do no wrong). RAINS CAME, The: (I?m liking George Brent more and more and he and Loy make good foils for each other; but it?s all about Tyrone Power. He?s the most handsome man in the history of motion pictures. I drowned in his dark brooding looks...he is literally mesmerizing to look at in all of his movies, but when he removes the turban in this film...my jaw dropped, my heart stopped). RAVEN, The: (?I like to torture.? Great horror movie; the great team of Karloff and Lugosi and one of the great smoking jackets). STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS, The: (Kirk...wonderful and not afraid to play mousey; Heflin...tough; Lizabeth Scott...ooh the husky voice, the victim persona, I want to protect her. And Stanwyck...awwww she?s tough as nails and damaged as a young girl. I love her, I love her, I love her. Stanwyck Steel. She?s made of steel). SEND ME NO FLOWERS: (my fav?rite of their trilogy and married and suburbs and mistaken identity and their familiarity with each other is just heartfelt. I feel them. Rock is handsome personified and Doris? body is banging!) SHANGHAI GESTURE: (Von Sternberg is a madman and I?m glad he made movies; love the hunky beefcake, eyebrowed charm of Victor Mature; Ona Munson is GREAT!! And then there?s Gene Tierney as Poppy...an addictive personality and a pure hot mess by the end of this; love Walter Huston in this better than in ?Dodsworth? or ?Treasure of the Sierra Madre?). STORMY WEATHER: (Lena Horne again...nice musical and Lena?s beauty; she?s, quite frankly, breath-taking). THUNDERBALL: (the best of the James Bond films; Luciana Paluzzi doesn?t succumb to the Bond?s charms; Connery is devastating). UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, The: (lovely musical; lovely Deneuve; I resisted seeing it and when I finally saw it...I fell hard for it). VERTIGO: (threads have been written about this Hitchcock classic; Jimmy has height problems and heart problems; Kim Novak is lovely, mysterious, ethereal, sexy and oh, I can go on and on and on... This goes without saying...is Hitchcock?s masterpiece. Saaaay, how many masterpieces can a person have??) WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: (my favorite Capucine film- she?s so wonderfully European in a Hollywood mess of a movie; Stanwyck is great. If you have to cast a dykey madam of a brothel...Stanwyck is your only choice. Enjoyed the kitschy casting: Mexican Baxter, trashy Fonda, Harvey as a man...great flick. And don?t gorget Saul Bass? opening). XANADU: (Travolta and Newton-John. Hmmm...well it?s the only ?X? movie I?ve seen without looking up imdb). YOUNG PHILADELPHIANS, The: (I?m a big Barbara Rush fan and this is my favorite film of hers, besides her 1950's sci-fi fare. Paul Newman is a young lawyer; didn?t like how they made fun of Alexis Smith trying to be a panther and get young stud-muffin Paul Newman. Wait did I say Paul Newman...yeah I did. Pardon me while I swoooooon). ZOOLANDER...ZORRO: Nah, just needed a ?Z?. Message was edited by: CineMaven WHEW!

I'm going to go with OLIVIA DeHAVILLAND. I've forgotten about her lately and saw her on some YouTube posts and am reminded (as I said elsewhere the other day), I forgot how utterly lovely gentle sweet and delicate her beauty was. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAop8dnGdNo&feature=related

She also had a small part in "Safe in Hell" with Dorothy Mackail.

Minnie Mouse. But seriously folks...did we ever get a definitive winner in this category??I mean who came in second and third since obviously HEDY LAMARR should be first... :-)

I know this thread has grown cold, but I just saw this on YouTube, and am reminded of how utterly delicate and sweetly gentle Olivia DeHavilland's beauty was. Her eyes... My God she was great. Kind of unsung these days, no? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAop8dnGdNo&feature=related

Answer to all features: TYRONE POWER. (No explanation necessary).

No no no no no no! Anthony Hopkins did a fantastic job as the tortured ventriloquist. Ann-Margret did a lovely job in that movie (and in "Carnal Knowledge") as well. Can you think of anyone else besides my little chickadee to cast that won't invoke derisive laughter. Hopkins walked quite a tightrope. I loved that film.

Au contraire mon frere.

You are so right Feaito. In "So Ends Our Night" March walks behind her in a crowded street and says goodbye to her without her turning around. She was soooo beautiful. Geez.

Jack Sooooooooooooooo was cool. Like an Asian Sinatra. Just needed a martini in his hand.

Kay, Joan, Sean...excellent! EXCELLENT!!! (Loved the great unsung Joan Hackett).

"The Chalk Garden" - Burt Lancaster. Check through the archives. We did this already. (Not that we can't do it again, becuz she was one of the greats.

C.K., that's what you culled from Film Fatale's statement below? Yikes! Uh...Film Fatale, wanna re-think my 'tar & feathering' comment? (P.S. I'm hoping Shyamalan is not a one-trick pony--his eye and voice were interesting and refreshing to me in "The Sixth Sense" "The Village" and "Unbreakable." Now let me go make a pact with seventeen TCM devotees to get pregnant. Wanna join me, CelluloidKid)?

Tikisoo: "With all the hype over Audrey these days, I have always felt Jean Simmons to be just as beautiful and elegant. Maybe a little more sexy & womanly beautiful and less boy-like than Audrey. Go ahead & flame me, I'm used to my opinions being unpopular." I'll light no fire to the flame, bro'. Jean Simmons was absolutely sexier...and one of the screen's great beauties. (Check her out in "Spartacus." Wasn't she ravishing??) 'Guess it's just that Simmons didn' t have the box office hits that Audrey had. Simmons' beauty rivals contemporary Elizabeth Taylor. And unpopular opinions are fine as long as you're not seeking negative attention by being unpopular. Now that's something I've notice on our beloved board.

"Libeled Lady" remade to "Easy to Wed" re-made today with: William Powell - Van Johnson -George Clooney Myrna Loy - Esther Williams-Charlize Theron Spencer Tracy- Keenan Wynn - Ben Affleck/Brad Pitt Jean Harlow - Lucille Ball - Eva Mendes I love Doris Day. I think she did really wonderful in dramas. "The Thrill of IT All" is not one of my favorites. James Garner is handsome (should've been Rock), but the sexism ruined it for me, big time!

Great understatements you posters posted here. Fedya: "I'd argue Vertigo is significantly worse than The Man Who Knew Too Much, although Hitch's worse movie of the 50s is probably Stage Fright." I'd agree with you except, I'd argue "Stagefright" is significantly worse than "Vertigo," although Hitch's worse movie of the 1950's is probably "I Confess."

I was disappointed in "The Happening." The acting or the characterizations by Marky Mark and Zooey Deschanel were kind of bizarre and ol' lady Betty Buckley (so sexy in "Carrie") was like huh??? What was her problem? Out of touch with reality?So was M. Night trying to make us agoraphobic?? It worked with Spielberg making us a little afraid of swimming in the ocean (a la "Jaws") or Hitchcock creating a fear of showers (a la "Psycho"). I loved "The Sixth Sense" and was stunned (in a good way) by "Unbreakable." "The Village" captivated me, but I didn't care for "The Signs" and I was physically angry at the end of "Lady in the Lake." "The Happening" didn't make me any happier, either. I'm kind of not looking forward to M. Night's next film. I think he's lost his touch. Yeah, I'll go see it whatever it is...but hmmmmm. By the way, yeah, this is a free country but Stephen, if you don't want to get lambasted or tarred and feathered in the future, you might want to think about sticking to classic films on a message board about classic films. I'm just sayin'.

Cinemaven: "You? Creeped out?" SCSU: "Which reminds me, what did you think of Shemp and Rondo (aka, The Creeper)?" Cinemaven: "I didn't see a resemblance SCSU. Their noses are different and so are their lips. Sorry."

Thank you for that information. Geez...she was lovely.

Bronxgirl: "I had never seen NORTH TO ALASKA before and wanted to watch my Duke, even on AMC. So I turn it on, and am enjoying it..." Sorry to hear your tv going kabloooey. Tell me...what did you think of the lovely Capucine?

You? Creeped out? You...the king of the one-liners?? Geez.

I wonder why that was RV. She had one of the great distinct voices, like Bacall, June, Lizabeth, Thelma, Claire and Gloria. I thought she sounded sexy. Guess I'm in the minority, huh? Message was edited by: CineMaven--Lemme add ELLA RAINES to that, too.

Oh Fred!!!!

Frank, I want you to work for TCM and program the Summer Under the Stars segment. I love many of your choices. As usual, I piggy back on your genius: Actresses: 1. GLORIA GRAHAME: "The Big Heat" and...a www hell... EVERYTHING! 2. Joan Bennett (Bennett Sisters) 3. Carole Lombard: "Twentieth Century" 4. Veronica Lake: "So Proudly We Hail" (Look out, she's got a b...) 5. Madeleine Carroll "The 39 Steps" (Hey, I didn't say I was original). 6. Claire Trevor: "Key Largo"and "Murder, My Sweet" and "Born to Kill" 7. Kim Novak: "Vertigo" (But you knew that). Let me add "Strangers When We Meet" 8. Lizabeth Scott:"Desert Fury" & "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" & "I Walk Alone" (Fourteen yeeers!!!) 9. Marie Windsor: "The Narrow Margin" and "The Killing" (Elisha Cook Jr. didn't stand a chance). 10. Simone Simon: "Maedchen in Uniform" 11. Maureen O'Hara: In technocolor and with a sword in her hand. 12. Thelma Ritter: "Pickup on South Street" and "Pillow Talk" (She'd make a good party girl...for Moscow). 13. Sylvia Sidney 14. Anne Baxter 15. Ella Raines: "Impact" "Tall in the Saddle" "So Proudly We Hail" and any film her dark beauty appeared in! Nope, I didn't fill in all the actresses.

Amy Madigan is one of the great unsung actresses of films (and married to one of the great actors) Ed Harris.