CineMaven
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Posts posted by CineMaven
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Well...she was NO Peggy Fleming, but Peggy didn't win Gold Medals in several Olympics. Henie was cute as a pixie and I enjoyed her with John Payne and (aaaaaaaaaaaah) Tyrone Power! "Sun Valley Serenade."
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"We'd be better served by a documentary featuring Sessue Hayakawa, Anna May Wong, Sojin, Keye Luke, Philip Ahn, Richard Loo, Victor Sen Yung, et al. Bamboo splinters under the programmers' nails for this! "
Now THAT is a wonderful suggestion. Hopefully TCM heeds it...but I doubt it. I wonder if any Asian indie filmmakers would seek that out as a topic to tackle. How did those actors manage to keep their heads (and talents) above water in such a racist system as Hollywood was. Noone escaped unscathed.
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Very nicely said Molo. Not major Grahame...but boy, when she's on...she's on!
Virginia O'Brien is an extremely pleasant surprise. Attractive, nice voice, sincere.
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Wasn't he Ozzie's friend in tv's "Ozzie and Harriet"??
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...One of the prettiest girls of the 1940's. (In "Best Foot Forward" she was gorgeous!)
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"Gloria is just different than all the rest. She's not as gorgeous as Grace Kelly or Gene Tierney and she's not as sexy as Ava, yet she just moves me like no other."
Yes I'm quoting you again Frank becuz I'm re-visiting "The Cobweb" so I can give my thoughts on Double G in the slew of films TCM is showing featuring Gloria Grahame. In a scene with Boyer, she walks out to the veranda to enlist his help with Lillian Gish. She is very sultry and feline. She stops so he can put her wrap around her shoulders. She slightly leans into him. He takes her in with his eyes. He thinks he's working his Continental charms on her. Uh...nope. She's totally working him.
Yep FrankieG., there's something about Gloria.
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Gregory Peck. I can still hear his sonorous voice and am still saddened by his death.
I can't believe he's gone. He'll never be replaced. Great actor.
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"LADY OF THE TROPICS"
TAYLOR: "Do whites accept these half-castes?"
COSSART: "No, they just create them."
My jaw seriously dropped!
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What a dumb faux pas on my part. I didn't realize "Ellie May" was Gene Tierney's character's name in "Tobacco Road." Sheesh! I'm sorry.
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Thanxxx for the link to that article Archie. It was wonderfully written and captured the film and the relationship wonderfully. Yes, I've had problems with "NOTORIOUS." But I've come to my senses. I've come around.
"Notorious." It's perfect.
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Hello Mr. G.: "Gloria is just different than all the rest. She's not as gorgeous as Grace Kelly or Gene Tierney and she's not as sexy as Ava, yet she just moves me like no other."
I respect that Frankie G. I respect that.
BTW...I thought Donna Douglas was lovely.
She was in that Twilight Zone episode (about the eye of the beholder) and in "Lover Come Back" as a secretary. But she's no Anne Francis!
Whew!
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Butterscotch, FrankGrimes, and MissGoddess: I so want to join the fray, but it's soooo much fun to read your spirited, friendly ribbing and knowledgeable discussion re: Double G. I don't need to add a thing. You guys are saying it all! And she was spectacular!
But Frank, Gloria really affects you more than Ava G? Didja ever see "Pandora..." or "The Killers"??
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"I like his aunt Rosemary. Love that "torch" voice.
George is o.k. I don't see the Cary Grant thing, but I do see the Clark Gable thing."
I don't see the Gable thing, but I do see the Mitchum thing...with Sean Penn.
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I'll take Addison. I'll be afraid he'll turn that devastating laser beam wit on me. But anyone who's been married to Zsa Zsa probably has good boudoir skills. Waldo....he'll probably just read me to sleep. Zzzzzzzzzz!
JJ??? He'd be too busy trying to make his sister.
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Dude, you're not holding Rossellini against her, are you? The heart wants what it wants...
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Bronxgirl...you look like Ali MacGraw?? She was quite attractive. Yo know who she reminds meof today and I ask do you look like Law & Order's Angie Harmon??
I have the "Goodbye Columbus" soundtrack. I liked The Association.
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Another great one passing. Yes, his last years and stance with the NRA took the bloom off the rose. But he stood for what he believed in.
I enjoyed him in his heyday.
Another nail in old Hollywood's coffin. Sad.
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I didn't find it dull. Lots to look at and think about.
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What a load of racist political claptrap that I ever did see. The words I use are theirs...NOT mine. Apparently Lamarr is a half-caste. She's a native, a half-breed becuz her dad was French and her mother was from Saigon. She is not allowed to leave the country...no passport will be issued for the half-castes there. Lamarr is child-like, a liar. But it's okay becuz she's child-like. Taylor marries her and won't leave Saigon without her. His entire traveling party say stupid racist things. He's one of them, but meeting Hedy, he can't understand why it's wrong to love her. He marries her. He can't get her out of the country as his wife. He can't find a job...he starts not to look so clean, so polished, so pressed, so White. A priest tells Taylor he'll never understand Lamarr. She's The Other. And so very different. It's like they're from another world. And not being fully white, she might as well have two heads. In fact, metaphorically speaking...she DOES have two heads.
Lines like: "We who are born as I am cannot have what we want." OR "He belongs among his own kind." Whew! YIKES!
When Taylor finds out that Lamarr "arranges" for him to get a job on a rubber plantation (so the local Hottentot, Joseph Schildkraut, could play footsie with her and only then issue a passport for her) he gets sooooo **** he says mean things to her; saying that he sees her for who (nope) for WHAT she really is...a low down animal, a two-faced lying Native. (He portrays anger very well). But you know what...I think we finally see Robert Taylor for what his character really is: White, and privileged and able to travel freely in the world. And he will play that race card in a minute.
But the most shocking line I heard in the whole movie...probably in all of movies is an earlier exchange between Taylor and the Priest:
Taylor: "Do the whites accept these half-castes?"
Priest: "No, they only create them."
Holy Sh1t!!! My jaw dropped! Truer words were never spoken.
Society tried to keep their mistakes hidden by keeping them in the islands or the catacombs of their plantations (like Thomas Jefferson).
But with all that said...and the fact that Hedy's acting is suspect (which hurts to say that), my god she and Robert Taylor are just so inhumanly unbelievable to look at, especially Hedy. (The only two other times I had that problem was watching "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof" and "A Place in the Sun." For you men out here in TCM MEssage Board land...d'ya have that problem not knowing whether to stare at the actor or the actress?) There's a shot of her getting drenched in the rain where she looked so gorgeous it drove me crazy. I replayed that section on my vcr a number of times. Geez. (P.S. the debutante/socialite in Taylor's traveling party was veddddy interesting).
Of course, Lamarr doesn't get to leave Saigon. Well you know, of course, the writer had to figure out a way NOT to have this half-breed infest the larger society (or remind them of their dalliances). She shoots the bad guy, Schildkraut, (who has a great speaking voice but ****-poor 'Oriental' makeup) before Taylor comes to kill him. Then she kills herself. 'Course Taylor carries her to her death bed, professing his undying love a la Camille. (But Hedy's no Garbo). Too late Bob. She dies. She stays Other. She's never to be her white French self. She never leaves Saigon. I wonder if Stanwyck visited the set knowing Taylor was going to have to kiss Lamarr. (Not that the kissing was passionate. After all this WAS whitewashed M-G-M after the pre-code era). I wonder if Missy wanted to kiss Lamarr herself?? After all, Hedy was irresistable to men and women. Anyone out there know the answer...or must I wait for a TCM documentary for the gossip and trash of that detail?? FredDobbs, you watch that stuff. Gimme the scoop.
Aaaaah....now to watch "Algiers" the first American movie for Lamarr. It's the film that made her THE talk of Hollywood. (Boyer's not bad himself. That accent and his dark good looks were yummy. Too bad he was only about 3'4". A little shorter than Alan Ladd, right?)
CineMaven
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Love Bette. Love Joan. Two towering forces of nature. I'll take the good, the bad and the ugly about them. It's all part of what makes them who they wound up being.
Is it too puritanical to cut out the sex parts?? No one's giving positions or frequency.
Fred, I'm not trying to get a rise out of you. But if you find that these documentaries offer: Too Much Information, I respect why you find them distasteful.
BTW...if Bette did not sleep with Joan...did at least William Wyler ever sleep with King Vidor??
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That picture of Davis (from her "All About Eve" era), the sepia toned one is iconic and my absolute all-time of Bette Davis. Thank you so much for including it in your post!
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Hey Bronxie: "I still say the worst actress of all time unfortunately looks a bit like me."
Pamela Tiffin, Ali MacGraw... c'mon Bronxie. Give with the answer. Gee, I'm trying to think of untalented actresses but I can't come up with one at the moment. So tell me...who IS it that you look like?
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I used to have a problem with "NOTORIOUS" (great title) becuz of how mean Cary Grant was to Ingrid Bergman. But reading the writings of fellow board writer FrankGrimes has since changed my mind about the film; about the emotions of the film. Technically/plot-wise, it is one of Hitchcock's masterpiece; casting...spot on. It was my emotional attachment to Ingrid Bergman that I couldn't take.
I'm over that. It's a wonderful wonderful film...without qualifications.
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Nakis, Milland...I concur with you both on Ingrid Bergman and continue the mutual admiration society on Bergman.
I went to see her on Broadway years ago in "Captain Brassbound's Conversion" (I think that was the name of the play was).
I think she was beautiful and her vulnerability is palpable and tangible to me. Yes, no makeup...a natural girl. It's hard to watch "Gaslight" but she was wonderful in it. "Dr. Jekyl..." "Notorious" "Spellbound" "Indiscreet" soooooooooo lovely in "For Whom the Bell Tolls" Bergman in color...those eyes.
I don't want to sound crazy...I have a certain reputation I want to uphold on this board. So I'll stop the gushing before you not take me seriously. Now...Frances Dee is another story. Oh boy! She is absolutely a dream. She is soooooo..uh-oh. I'm gushing again.
ROBERT RYAN - The Real Quiet Man
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Hiya Buttah. I believe 6'4" was Ryan's height. Hey...how come you left out Bogie in a trenchcoat? Now there's a trenchcoat wearin' dude.