CineMaven

BRONXGIRL - Hey Girlie...representin' Boca & the Bronx. Thank you. I can't see the picture, but knowing your sense of humor that castle could be either Peggy or William. But more 'n likely you have given me a birthday present of a luxurious castle deep in the heart of Europe...with a tv set in every room. Well of course they're tuned to TCM, Silly! MOLO - Thanxx so much for the birthday greetings. Never mind what you saw of me on TCM. Your screencap has captured me perfectly...I look just like Gloria. I look just like Gloria. I look just like Gloria. I...

NOVEL-TEEEE - Yes it was. Thanxx for sending me those mop-head Brits to sing for me. Tsk! Tsk!! At my age to still have a crush on the "cute" Beatle. Yeah, I'm a mess.

RO - Thank you for the extra delicious birthday calories of your cherry-topped, whipped cream cupcakes. Whew! I'm going to feel that in the morning. GRIMESY - Thank you for confirming to this birthday girl that beneath my "lethal" pen is simply the soul of a girl whose just looking for love...and money...and power...and (awww the list is too long). MADAM CUTTER - Thank you my fellow Cappy! You're going to be the Perle Mesta (and maybe a little Texas Guinan) of all things TCM during the April Film Fest. I'm resting up for that now. FILMLOVER - Thanxx for showing me what was going on in the reel world on the date I was born many years before I happened. BABY T - Thank you l'il young'un for the birthday gift of a leading man who is both naughty AND nice. Hmmmmm....I think I'm going to enjoy both sides of Mitchum. I share this date with Cary Grant. The documentary aired this afternoon shows how irreplaceable a star he was. Thanx guys!

I'm thinking of Coleen in "KISS OF DEATH." Her hair looked great in there. I loved in "LEECH WOMAN." I have recorded "Kansas City Confidential" after "...River Street." I've got to check it out. WRITTEN, DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY PRESTON STURGES "No man who employs detectives has ever been disappointed..." I watched "Unfaithfully Yours." Uhmmmm...oooh boy. It was dark, shockingly brutal. The use of language was musical. It felt like I was watching Shakespeare. Rex Harrison did a fantastic job with his bombastic apoplectic arrogant nature...but I did not like him. I thought the "comedy" (and yup, I do put that in quotes) went on too long when he was looking for the record player. But I understood what Sturgess was doing; showing his well-ordered world turn into a catastrophe of his own making. Edgar Kennedy had a wonderful pathos when he was spilled the beans of Linda's supposed infidelity. And there was a jab of classicism in terms of a --foot padded-- flat-foot daring to like classical music. The forays into "how to murder his wife" was interesting and interesting that it made him conduct with gusto and passion, like thinking about someone else when you're with your partner. But check out what he was thinking about... Linda Darnell was a delight. Well, let me put it like this...she really showed another side of her. She was soooooo understanding and sweet to her out-of-his-mind husband, when we know what she's capable of from "A LETTER TO THREE WIVES" "FALLEN ANGEL" "NO WAY OUT" where she was withering. And as soon as he realized his error he was all sweetness and light and loving again. Uhmmmm...oh man. Really? Linda might not know what he was up to...but we sure did. But all in all, I didn't care for the movie. Oh, I didn't mind Sturgess' brutality of the jealous mind. And he is quite a wordsmith. There must have been two billion words on his first page. You can see he was in love with his own words and Rexie was the boy who could deliver 'em. Rex Harrison did a great job...I respect the job he did, but I don't like him. He's always seemed cold to me. (Yeah yeah, Lucia Lucia...and there's no doubt he, like James Mason, has a great voice and he was some sort of gruff romantic sea captain). I think that might've been the key to everything for me. I don't like Rex Harrison and watching all his shenanigans...meh. Well, at least now I can say I have officially watched "UNFAITHFULLY YOURS."

"My favorite British actress of all just might be Joyce Grenfell." - < ( Bronxgirl ) > Kay Walsh in "CAST A DARK SHADOW" blew me away. "The TCM Film Festival afternoon kickoff lunch at In-N-Out list is growing!" - < ( lzcutter ) > Add my name to the list, Lynn.

Dang it....I forgot Claire Bloom. I was trying rummage around in the cobwebs of my brain for British actresses without going imdb. You've succinctly & eloquently done it again. < Sigh! >

...And with all her other-worldly femininity, she had a great kind of husky voice. Lovely what you wrote.

I went to an old record store that sold albums and CDs and VHS tapes; the store was cluttered from floor to ceiling. For five bucks I bought a VHS copy of "UNFAITHFULLY YOURS." Will I have the biting incisive "CLUNY BROWN" experience from Preston Sturgess with this film? I ask b'cuz I resisted watching "CLUNY BROWN" for years and was head over heels about it. I've never seen "Unfaithfully..." all the way through. Edited by: CineMaven on Jan 16, 2011 9:06 PM - "I also bought 'PARRISH'," said the Maven sheepishly.

We joked about "X, Y & ZEE" but she was quite a contrast to Elizabeth Taylor. She wasn't like Rita Tushingham or Julie Christie or Mary Ure or Rachel Roberts...or any of those English roses. Every time I've seen Susannah York in films I thought she had something extra. Of course she'd be Kal-El's mother.

Was very sorry to hear of Susannah York's passing. She had a wonderfully fey quality about her. Sad. And Carole Lombard also passed away today in 1942. Sad.

YUP! Sometimes mixing up the ingredients...casting against type serves to spice things up. I'm starting to get into smooth suave handsome-looking villains. Hmmmm...those bad boyz!

"I bought it too. But boy, does he get smacked around.... it's almost suggestive how much beating goes on during the movie." - << (( JackFavell )) >> He certainly was. There was a plethora of pummeling and (Foley) punches that sometimes connected and other times swung in thin air. Goddess' boy with the dreamy eyes is in this (Brad Dexter) and I think the film was trying to prove how tough John Payne was with all that punching. He seemed like an unstable hot-head...but to be honest, not without reason, I guess. Peggie Castle was a gorgeous girl. I remember her from tv's "LAWMAN." I wonder why she didn't go further.

"Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame, Natalie Wood in Penelope, Marilyn Monroe in The Prince and the Showgirl and Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth are among the many who give me courage when I go out there socializing. Which was so long ago at this point...all those movies might have been in their first run. JUST KIDDING!!" - < ( MissGoddess ) > Awwwwwww, it'll be like riding a bike. Well here?s hoping you get back out there real soon when our NYC weather comes to its senses. "I keep tuning into the Kardashians. Some sort of horrific fascination takes hold of me. But it's usually not a good idea to watch this before a meal." - < ( BronxGirl ) > You?re right about that, Girlie. Has Bruce just totally lost his manhood in that House of Botox, Estrogen & Bikini Waxing? Yeesh Louise!

"He and Tom Conway are the two men with pencil thin moustaches that I don't care for. I wonder why?? Becuz pencil thin mustaches spell Oil-Can-Harry, that?s why. And who can trust Oil-Can-Harry? ?I get the name Neville Brand mixed up with John Neville, the slender British actor. Brand looks like he ought to be named Ned Beatty or Pat Hingle, not NEVILLE BRAND.? Jackaaaaaaaay, a rose by any other name smells like Neville Brand. Looking at my recording of John Payne's "99 River Street." Rain-soaked streets, neon lights...oh yeah, murder. He's a hot-headed tough guy, whose wife done him wrong. I believe him rough and tough. Lets see how this movie plays out. Bronxie...your Mom certainly does get to the heart of the matter.

Hmmmm....Molo. Your writing took me back to memories of this "little film." I've just gone through my stack of DVDs and pulled out "HEAT LIGHTNING" for a re-visit. Maybe Aline can give me re- newed strength and courage out there when I go out there socializing...

:-)

"Have you seen her in Heat Lightning yet? That's probably my favorite Aline MacMahon film but One Way Passage is right up there." Howdy Molo. Yes, I have seen "Heat Lightning." In fact if you check this out: http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?messageID=8372773 (3/15/10 - 9:07AM; p.104), you will find my post (excerpted here:) > Aline is such a warrior in "HEAT LIGHTNING." A warrior in the battle of love. She actually is a > fallen warrior. She has retreated from the bright lights and big city to a desert monastery. She is > self-sequestered in this nunnery of arrid dryness out in the desert. (Perhaps a metaphor for her- > self). In the game of love, she has lost. We see before us...a broken woman who is hiding from > love. She now protects herself in armor that the male gaze is not want to pierce = oversized shirt, > boots and overalls. Her long hair is pinned and trussed up by a bandana. I think she looks rather > fetchingly contemporary this way..." You are soooo right when you say this Molo: Sometimes you just need to toss all the scheming and settle down and raise chickens. Enough with the games and come clean and at the end she did. I believed her tough dame exterior, and I believed her when she was slowly waving her fan. I really dove into Kay's films when she was "Star on the Month" a while back. There is just something about her I like and it comes through in most every role. She can play strong characters, she has the toughness in her. She also has a lot of humor and a sense of fun. She can be noble or naughty. I found her romanticized character in One Way Passage, and particularly her spiteful turn in In Name Only to be a bit off her normal track but she plays both of them so well. You've described her succinctly and eloquently O' Moliest of Moloes. I too watched Kay's "star" turn on TCM a while back...and became a fan of hers that month. Now she gets a birthday celebration and finding out she's a Capricorn makes me smile, as I'm one too. When I first discovered Kay it was really only having seen "In Name Only" so imagine my surprise and treat to see her doing other kinds of roles. George Brent? I used to not think much of him but I've changed that view over the past couple of years. I'm a new Brent convert myself. Oh of course I've seen him in those Bette Davis films all throughout my early Maven'd years, and thought he was just a big hunk o' leading man. But then I saw "Jezebel" and there was something about it in that viewing that made me give Brent the once over. I liked him better than Henry Fonda. Then seeing him with Myrna Loy in "The Rains Came" opened up my eyes again to him. So now when I see him with Davis or Stanwyck...I'm moreso checking him out.

Mini-Minute Ramble Watched the last half hour of "One Way Passage" a great love story. Kay's dark beauty was never lovelier...Powell was dashing...but it's Aline MacMahon who garnered most of my attention in my short stint of viewing this morning. Strong features, arresting eyes, and that long hair she was brushing....and very natural way of delivering her lines. Is it me or is she just magnificent? "Goose and the Gander" is pretty cute. I can see it re-made today and Kay does have a nice light touch. But Georgie Porgie in his bathing trunks and thong-ish top, what a physique. And he looks good opposite Kay. <> Happy B'day to Kay. *** The Ernie Borgnine interstitial tribute to Robert Ryan gave me goose bumps. RYAN has got to easily be one of the most under-rated actors of Hollywood's Golden Age. Thanxx again TCM. C.Maven.

"I don't believe in acting. I believe in being." - <<< (( Luise Rainer )) >>> Wow!

"If you have ever entered a darkened movie theater looking for pieces of eight from the treasure chest of someone's soul, tune in on Wednesday evening for a wealth of riches." - <<<< (( SUE SUE APPLEGATE )) >>>> Warmly said, SueX2. Ms. Rainer oughta talk to Doris Day and Olivia de Havilland.

I'm hoping you're having a slooooooooooooow day at work, so that even though you're there, there's not alot to do. I'm about to go to Central Park (a five block walk) to the Winter Wonder- land that is now New York after the snowstorm. All you Hardy fans...enjoy the L & H marathon. I love marathons! Thanks TCM.

Actually...mine.

Thank you Joe. Uhmmmm...Thank YOU!!!

:-( Oh why couldn't George Brent be waiting in the wings for dear Catherine. :-(

THE DECK IS STACKED AGAINST MISS CATHERINE: JACK FAVELL writes: I know the temptation when a man is having an affair with another woman is for the woman to blame the other woman.... is it similar? We know what THAT's all about. The woman is scared to death of being angry at her man...of still losing him, so she'll be upset with the woman. A good friend of mine told me that years and years ago, she caught her husband in an "indiscretion" with a woman in his mother's basement. (Girls it was wrong on ALL counts 'cuz her Mother-In-Law never liked her). When my friend busted in on them, the girl ran around the bed screaming in fear. My friend said (and I'll clean it up for public consumption here:) "B***h I don't give a...a "fig" about you!" and she went straight for her husband and beat him with her shoe until he escaped into the bathroom. My friend wasn't fighting a female. She fought her husband, the one who cheated on her. She was not afraid to lose him. You only blame the woman, if you're afraid to lose...or want to still keep your man. ( I don't blame Elizabeth...I blame Eddie ). MISS LAVINIA writes: She cannot be happy married to a man with money if she doesn't love him, and yet neither could she happily be the wife of a poor man who did not love her. Whoa! Quelle dilemma. Aaaah, if only we could have our cake and eat it too!! I believe men do that more than women. *** Let's call a spade, a spade. The deck was stacked against women in the past centuries. Men held all the cards...alll the power. Remember what Pop Liebel said in "VERTIGO" about "the mad Carlotta." Fantastic discourse, Ramblers.