CineMaven

ptrekgirl and chinaseas...I LOVE your choices. I for one would love to see the beautiful Frances Dee featured for a month. She was lovely!

Guess you've got to be cruel to be kind. (Psst! Chandler...Andrea Leeds does favor Olivia deHavilland). Jack...I don't remember Ella smoking cigars.

Silvana Mangano, Rosanna Schiaffino, Anna Magnani, Gina Lollabrigida, Sophia Loren...today's Monica Bellucci...aye yi yi!! And I'm leaving out many many more.

Please go here and get a load of the beautiful Elke Sommers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBURaByY8wU&feature=related Aye yi yi! Oh yeah...Paul Newman's no slouch either.

Violets: "So what does the name Rosanna Podesta mean to you...?" I'll take Sylva Koscina, Hercules' wife.

...and that nude underwater swim scene is no slouch either. She was attractive, wasn't she. But look at that picture below of Ava Gardner sitting on the bed looking dead into the camera. Whew Mama!!! P.S., LOVE your name.

Ennisdelmar: "I just don't get it...what the heck does a person's politics have to do with loving MOVIES??...Can we have ONE single thread that doesn't disintegrate into personality bashing or political argument?"[/b] Gosh, it'd probably be better if we bash celebrities than bash each other. Yikes! And I've seen that happen on these boards too.

Now this is very very sad sad news. Gosh, Hollywood history is disappearing. Sad news. She was certainly a long-legged stunner. Sad.

SCSU: Leave Tony's toupee alone. Your mean spirited jabs might've ruined your tv signal. tobitz: Wow...Friday nights on NBC. "Bracken's World." That's the ticket for the Eleanor Parker association, lzcutter. Those were the days. Let's not forget "Fame is the Name of the Game" with it's rotating series schtick. And the Rock Hudson / Susan Saint James' series: "McMillan and Wife." Channel four (WNBC in NYC) ruled our house when I was a kid. And channel two (WCBS). Mickeeteeze: Hope "The Oscar" was awfully good for you. It was for me. Pancakes Barbara: "Where Love Has Gone." Good call. Great bad good movie. What fireworks between Susan and Bette!! Damn, I wish I was on the set. Well "The Oscar." Taped it...watched some of it and will watch the rest tonite. Haven't seen the movie since I was a kid; over-the-top. It would be great as a double - triple bill of Golden Turkey movies. And one last thing...re: the great Jack Soo. Why wasn't "The Oscar" slated for the Asian Images in Cinema program? (I always thought Soo was a ring-a-ding-dinger. An Asian Frank Sinatra???) Message was edited by: CineMaven - needed a new title!

I'm going to have to go with Doris Day. Yes...Judy had a voice that would absolutely break your heart. But Doris just seemed more stable and accessible. Ya know...seeing that pix of them together kind of blew my mind. I am shocked and chagrined that I never even thought of them as contemporaries or that they might've even heard each other sing, or seen each other's movies. Where was MY mind? Why had I never thought of that before. Great question Rohanaka. It made my mind reel at the possibilities. Thank you.

Hi there...are these movies of her coming on TCM or the Fox Movie Channel...or are you folks talking about DVDs. I love Frances Dee. Have I made that clear yet??

Ginger Rogers is one of my favorites too. She does have a unique voice, was a wonderful wonderful dancer and partner with Fred Astaire, could do drama (Kitty Foyle, Stage Door) comedy (The Major and the Minor) and musicals (Swingtime et al). I loved this moment in their last movie together: "The Barkleys of Broadway" they're dancing at a rehearsal and Fred touches her chin. I think it was the most endearing gesture he made to her in all of their films together. Knowing their history together...it spoke lovely volumes. (PS I love her hair in that sequence too). Yes Ginger Rogers...an icon of the Golden Age of Hollywood. And all that glorious hair. She was great!

RANDY: "I wouldn't say she's THE most beautiful, but nearly. I'd put Rita at # 4 or 5 overall." #4 or #5...Randy, please tell me who ARE your top five most beautiful actresses... I am curious yellow.

How 'bout "Risky Business" "Mission Impossible" "War of the Worlds" all starring Tom Cruise. Huh? Escuse me?? What? Oh. OHHHHH. Well then, I'd say: "Carry On Cruising."

I'm going with Louis Jean Heydt and the great John Ridgely. Maybe not in the 300's...but they did movies before credits were even invented...before Man had language; before the Sun was born, there was Heydt and Ridgely...making movies.

LZCUTTER: "When I read that sentence, my first thought was, there should be a Tennesse Williams character named Big Sissy, daughter of Big Daddy and Big Momma." Mendacity!!! I hates mendacity!! Big Daddy..............Burl Ives Big Momma...........Judith Anderson Big Sissy..............Franklin Pangborne or Paul Lynde or...

BG48: "Yes, I remember Andrews in that hit-and-run episode. I don't recall him in SEND ME NO FLOWERS, but he was pretty harmless as Molly Ringwald's grandfather in 16 CANDLES." I've never seen "Sixteen Candles" but in "...No Flowers" he was the doctor who Rock Hudson thought gave him the bad medical report. Saaay did he have the glasses in "Sixteen Candles"?

METSFAN: "Cinemavin, here's Rock Hudson for ya and one of James Dean in 'GIANT.' " Thank you Metsie for the pix of Jimmy, Rock and William Holden. I'm a gal who loves a bear of a man; hairy all the way. Sean Connery, Elliot Gould etc.

Como estas Franco : "I like "Scottie" as an "older" man "searching." I think an "older" man falling under the spell of a woman plays differently than a younger man. I also believe "Judy's" attraction to "Scottie" would play differently." I agree with you. Ya kind of feel sorry for an ol' geezer [/i](ooops...let me be more sensitive here-sorry)[/i] an old gent entering the autumn of his years falling head-over-heels for a girl even Brad Pitt couldn't keep. It adds to the pathos. No one could play that longing better than Jimmy. (Not talking about his persona in the Mann westerns). Not even Henry Fonda. "I never thought of such a thing but you are right. I think "Scottie" starts off with a feminine romantic sensibility but it evolves into male sexual desire. I speak of the obsessiveness (male sex drive) of Scottie." I agree with you FG. Not trying to suck up, but you're right. It does evolve...or devolve into the male sexual drive. So if anyone thinks Stewart's Scottie is a big softie...well...sir, you do know what you want. "Yes, how many "Madeleines" are there to be found?" Not many, man. So be careful. She'll either lead you down a garden path (or off a belltower) or you can live happily ever after..if you try not to change her. "I think those are the big three (Rita-Lana-Ava) because each of them are stunning AND they exude sexuality, which is something I feel is very important with "Madeleine." Lana, being blonde, would have had the best shot. The thing is, "Judy" must come off as a very "everyday" girl and I'm not sure if Lana could be this or not. Oh I've seen Lana & Ava in just a plain skirt and sweater. And no doubt their sexuality is hot! hot! hot! But I think the vulnerability is the key to the part. I'd go with Ava. Under Hitch's tutelage, she just might work. But as a brunette...not a blonde. P.S. I love Teresa Wright!!! "I like her innocence and freshness." Me too Frank. Me too.

Hello Konway: "In my opinion, Many of what Richard Franklin said is right. But there are some things that I have to disagree with. Kim Novak was great. But we cannot forget James Stewart's performance. We travel through Scottie in the first half. We are able to feel what his character feels about Madeleine. I think this has a huge role in second half of the film. In the second half, the audience knows that Madeleine isn't real. But the audience still has an inner desire to see Madeleine again, because we are able to feel what Scottie feels. I think that's another reason why Vertigo is so great.' Mr. Grimes: "I certainly agree with you. I consider Vertigo to be James Stewart's best performace, just ahead of Anatomy of a Murder. But I must say that Kim's "Madeleine Elster" is what captivates me the most. She mesmerizes me, just as she does "Scottie." What Jimmy (with Hitch's guiding hand) does a wonderful job doing in Vertigo (and Rear Window) is portraying "us." He is we and we are he. Everything flows through him. He's a conduit, an exceptionally male conduit." I am very hard pressed to think of any other actors who could've played Scottie and Madeleine/Judy besides James Stewart and Kim Novak. (I'll go for a unique piece of casting: how 'bout Tyrone Power in the Novak role. I'm thinking of him in "The Razor's Edge" as dreamy Larry). Yes...James Stewart is a tremendous part of the reason this film is remembered fifty years later. I found James Stewart had a very feminine romantic sensibility about him. He was vulnerable and susceptible. His longing is palpable. You are so (eloquent as usual) right Frank, when you say that we experience the film through Jimmy Stewart's Scottie. Scottie falls hopelessly in love with a woman he didn't know and when he finds he's been duped--his anger is primal. And then to lose her again, I daresay, I don't think he'll ever recover this time. He's run out of Madeleines. "I loved you so." And there it is. Madeleine. She is the catalyst for everything. It was such a delicate balance ...a tightrope if you will of ethereal vs. down-to-earth. Her coming through the green glow of neon as Madeleine will go down in history. I really don't know anyone else who could have handled this. Rita...Ava??? Lana?? Stewart and Novak are partners in this. But Kim Novak's Madeleine is the raison d'etre for everything. I mean, wouldn't you follow her anywhere?? P.S. I love Teresa Wright!!!

Hey there Bronxgirl: "Also, Edward Andrews could be prissy and weird, with that strange smile and the black glasses. He always creeped me out." You are sooooo right about him. (Big sissy.) Wasn't there an episode where he was involved in a hit & run, and the car started to follow him around until he 'confessed' his crime. the only time I wasn't scared of him was when he played the doctor in"Send Me No Flowers." You know, rainingviolets21: " I get your drift on that prissy vocal quality I noticed this on a couple of other actors, John Emery and Hugh Marlowe...." I think you have the makings of a good thread here. Good call on those two actors.

ILRM: "I used to mix up William Powell and Clark Gable." I wonder if Carole Lombard ever said that...

Hold on...YOU are spearheading this festival with your own things? Whoa! I hope it's a grand night. Sorry I can't be there. Coming to the East Coast anytime soon?

Too funny! Very funny. Rod was darkly handsome. And the "One Step Beyond" song was eerily beautiful.

Aaaah. A Shecky Greene devotee. HA!