CineMaven

That's a lovely story SansFin. > "My vote goes to you, CinemAva." Heyyyyyy, you're not rotten at all Frank Grimes!!!! Oh yeah, I can be bribed! ;-)

Oh Jackaaaaaay, have a heart. Give Ro 'one boy...one special boy...one boy to cling to...forever and ever.' Someone like ohhhhhhhh saaaaaaay, Olivier in "Wuthering Heights." Brooding, sullen, heartbroken. He'll be on the rebound which might make for some interesting...conversation, for Rohanaka up there on those cold, wintry, mountaintops. Jean Simmons...beautiful (especially in "Spartacus"). Joan Bennett...whoa!!! Gorgeous. Best thing she ever did was to become a brunette. I would list Hedy Lamarr as my favorite brunette...but I've already caused enough bru(nette)-haha with my Elizabeth Taylor talk. (I love ya Liz, even if I am a girl)!! So let me say my brunette of all brunettes in the Kingdom of Brunettes is Ava Gardner. (You know I don't know how to post pictures so would you just use your imagination...or please post an Ava of your choosing; saaay in "Pandora & the Flying Dutchman"?) Oh and Jean Peters is an un- believable second. Frankie...you're redeeming yourself with Marilyn. Edited by: CineMaven on Aug 22, 2010 7:10 PM...SansFin, why are you giving away our secrets? You know your husband reads this Message Board!! :-)

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Oh I'm scared. You might say Marilyn doesn't do anything for you either...and that would be too much for this Cine-Maven. You'll truly make me lose my faith in men. Edited by: CineMaven on Aug 22, 2010 5:07 PM...classic film loving men, that is.

HA!!!!!!!!! Okay, you are...just a leeetle bit 'round the eyes. ;-)

"There's always one rotten one in the bunch. ? Naaaah, you?re not rotten, Grimesey. ?Or two rotten ones. Growing up with Liz in the '60s, I never saw one likeable aspect...? Okay, now you may be rotten, Ollie. (That voodoo works both ways!) ?l've always been somewhat indifferent to most of the films she and Burton made together...? Oh I haven't, Madame Cutter...I enjoyed them together in ?The V.I.P.s? and ?The Sandpiper? and ?...Virginia Woolf.? Liked seeing this married couple work together. ?...it's just that I'm not attracted to her.? You know Grimesy, I?ve never ever heard a man say...oh I said that already. ?She knows the worst about herself and isn't squirming under it, however much her older female guardians are discomfited by such knowledge and wish she would be more hypocri- tical. I find that tone uniquely Elizabeth. She is honest, she rarely played a hypocrite, and I think it's one of the qualities that keeps her best characterizations fresh after all these years.? See, this is what I?m talking about. Your writing. You?ve been on fire of late Miss. G. Haven?t said it aloud, but I?ve enjoyed the read (?...Liberty Valance? and the closing frontier...Amazing!) Oh, I agree...you?ve hit it on the head re one aspect of Elizabeth?s appeal. ?Ladies, I like Don Taylor too, and I am curious to know - what do you think of Charles Drake?? For me Jackaaaay, I think I?ve only liked Charles Drake in one small part as a ship?s officer canoodling with Bette Davis in a parked car in her flashback scene in ?Now, Voyager.? (?I say, that was a scorcher.?) But he seemed to play kind of goofy guys. Tom Drake, I never cared for and I can't explain why. ?I also don't think much of her film work one way or another...That being said I do think at one point in the middle and late 50's she was among the most gorgeous women I have seen.? Your comment, Movieman is closer to what I've heard most guys say. I actually was referring to her physically...which I was separating from her work. ?Oh brother... now Ollie and the Movieman will likely go sit next to the GREY Dude... and leave me here by myself afterall, ha. Oh.. I feel so all alone... (But hey.. Maybe I can just take a nap while I am by myself up here on the mountain.. ha. I could use a bit of peace and quiet for a change, ha)? Naaaah Ro-Ro...you?re not alone on that mountain. But yikes, look at the company you?re keeping. Better sleep with one eye open. You are wearing more than just a slip, right. (It?s cold up them in thar shepherded hills!) Well I learned something new today. That some men are not physically attracted to Elizabeth Taylor. And honestly, I didn?t know that was possible. I really didn't. BTW: Same nose...same face; we all know it, no matter what you cut out. Edited by: CineMaven on Aug 22, 2010 4:17 PM...wanted to clean up my syntax a bit.

>"But, I must say, I'm not that drawn to Liz. She doesn't do much for me." Wha'?? WoW! I have never...ever...heard a man say that.

Awwwwww Jackie, I love ya man!!! You posted photos of one of my dream boys: DON TAYLOR. NICE!!!!

ELIZABETH TAYLOR'S day under the stars will be Monday on TCM. Her beauty...undeniable. And I find her to be a talented actress. For me the criteria is "do I be- lieve her?" and more often than not, I do. But there might be other reasons to check out Elizabeth Taylor's films on August 23rd. I know there are William Powell and Donald Crisp fans out there. Me, I'm a sucker for Don Taylor, as I recently confessed in our "Actors We Find Flutter-Worthy" discussion. For campy fun (that sounds like fodder for you Bronxgirl) there's "Butterfield 8" which I never laugh at, but I may be prompted to, if Bronxie leads the way. (Love her stilettoes!) Some may want to see the 'before' and 'after' Monty, so you have both Clift's pairings with Elizabeth Taylor. I'd recommend seeing "A Place in the Sun" for the umpteenth time (not you Grimesy; I think you might have socks to darn or something). George Stevens' direc- tion in Filmmaking 101; classic storytelling of a tale of a man who the Fates were against. (Awww hell, who doesn't want to just drown in the beauty of Taylor and Clift...oooh, no pun intended). Some of us gals love our Aussie heart throb, Rod Taylor...so we can get an eyeful of him if we want. And "The V.I.P.s" is one of the movies I remember my family seeing in the theatres. Me and seven other people were the only ones to see "X, Y and Zee" in the theatres. It didn't do good box office, if I recall correctly, but I did like the triangle aspect of the story...and Taylor was such a beeeeyotch in this film. (What becomes a legend most? Play a beeeeyotch and find out). Besides, after Julie Christie, I've always liked Susannah York. ELIZABETH TAYLOR'S day under the stars will be Monday on TCM. If you're not watching for her I hope you find other reasons to watch her films tomorrow.

Playing a little catch-up here and ran into your post, Molo. What a lovely tribute to one of the screen?s great character actors. I remember seeing him in a small role in ?STAGEDOOR? years ago, being one of Lucille Ball?s lumberjack friends and happily surprised saying to myself: ?Hey Jack!? He?s meat and potatoes...he?s the salt of the earth. And ?less one thinks of him as just a big galoot, he pulls out a great serious performance in ?MILDRED PIERCE.? He could be sweet and simple or a nasty villain. All he needed was the chance. I would pick Jack Carson over Dennis Morgan any day. >?The vulnerability or hurt feelings hiding just beneath the bluster. There is a sincerity to his work that begs for under-standing. You believe his every action, and no matter how stupid or odious the character, he rarely alienates his audience.? Whew! Nicely said. I can picture Jack Carson reading your tribute, downplaying it, slapping you on the back saying "Thanks pal! How 'bout I buy you a beer," and being a lotta laughs. Molo, that was a great read. You wrote wonderfully and lovingly about the big guy.

When did they all find time to do publicity shots AND make the twenty movies...a month, at Warner Bros.?

G?morning Rohanaka - ?OH.. you know me.. ha. I may have a few 'school girl' crushes now and then.. but my heart belongs to the QT!!!!? Awww, safe answer. And very endearing. :-) So Early Bronxie - ?For years I couldn't watch Charles Coburn in anything ?light? after ?KING'S ROW?, because whatever benign character he played, he was still Dr. Gordon to me.? You know what movie does that to me with Coburn? ?IN THIS OUR LIFE.? He creeped me out as that Uncle of Bette Davis?. Then you see him in ?THE MORE THE MERRIER? and you wonder why you?re even worried. Odd. Beggin? strips with scrambled eggs. Sounds like a tasty breakfast. Bon appetit, Boca. ?I like him as Buckley in ?FATHER OF THE BRIDE? and ?FATHER'S LITTLE DIVIDEND?. (didn't ?Mother? Billie Burke and her husband look more like Don's grandparents?) You could tell there was a mature, serious actor waiting to emerge in that post-war period.? I believe he directed one of the "Planet of the Apes" movies too. I just love his boyishness. And ooh, come to think of it...yeah about Billie as Mom. Maybe they had him late in life. Now Tracy and Bennett looked just like they could have produced Elizabeth Taylor. (Though would a redhead + a blonde = a beautiful brunette? Let me check my genetics notes). Pat O?Brien in ?GARDEN OF THE MOON? was perfect. He was a promoter: loud, brash, deceitful. Perfect. Oooh, I'd like to see him go at it with Lee Tracy (they both were with Harlow in "BOMBSHELL". Somehow, he's just too curmudgeonly for me. You know, like Grimesy. (Shalamar, indeed!!) ?Poor Midge....I like to think that eventually she and Scottie do get together, after his second nervous breakdown.? Nahhhh, she?s licked her wounds and fallen for a handsome but bland man at an advertising agency; had a couple of kids too, but kept her hand in having a career. You know, a little poc- ket money the better to buy those little white gloves with. Sometimes she'd wander over to the museum to look at Carlotta's painting, mumbling to herself: "What HAS she got that I haven't got?!" Why would she want Scottie then? Besides, he?s become a total veg after they peeled him off that tower ledge. (Fear Conquered + Lost Love = Major Vegetation). Now, have a nice day...and stop hoggin? all the Beggin? Strips! One pet...one special pet, indeed!!

Did you hear about Hugo and Kim? Well I did. And they said to tell you that the fact that you?re roused by Lew Ayres says so much about you. You?ve hit the nail on the head in describing Don Taylor?s flutter-worthiness. I didn?t have the words. Always liked that preppie collegiate type. Paddie O?Brien. I?m afraid in recent years his harridan performance ruins ?Torrid Zone? for me and I used to like that film. His bellowing and kvetching instead laying back and enjoying Sheridan?s company has just killed the movie for me. Then I saw how big Cagney?s sombrero was for his small little head and I couldn?t...I was done. He?s never to wear a sombrero or ten gallon hat as long as he lives. He?s one actor that doesn?t need a mustache. But it was all about Ann yesterday anyway. Funny about Charles Coburn. He was chilling in ?KINGS ROW? and then such a silly goose in ?GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE.? How?d he do that. Oh yeah...acting. ?Robert Ryan I'm slowly becoming more enamored of, thanks to Miss Goddess's sensitivity to my fears and her uploaded smiling Bob photos.? Again, you cracked me up with this line Bronxie. LOL. One thread One perfect thread One thread to post on Forever and ever... One thread That?s the way it should be-e-e. That?s the way it should be.E.E." ;-)

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww. Adorable!

I love Roz Russell with Cary Grant. ( Champagne ) I love Roz Russell with Clark Gable. ( Scotch ) But if you ever want a nice cold beer, on a hot summer's day after a barrelhouse of laughs: I love Roz Russell with Jack Carson. ( Beer ) Oh no...this (beer) is NOT to disparage Jack. "Roughly Speaking" < ahem! > he's right up there with Grant & Gable. (And she's prettier than Dennis Morgan). Jack & Roz are absolutely evenly matched and it was a really good film to watch them each do their thing. P.S. Plus he could do that thing with his eyebrows and forehead, like Victor Mature could. :x

"Bradbury said the original screenplay was the best of his novels to screen, but with Disney reediting and messing with the screenplay, it was not the movie he had wanted to make..." Aaaaaah the Suits, the Suits; those illustrious Executive Suits. I can't imagine how many screenplays they have destroyed under the guise of "...knowing what the audience wants." It must be even worse to have read the book and then seen the film. Those who cannot create...destroy. Egads!!! Jackaaaay...Pam Grier always makes it hot. Hmmm...what if she had played the wife, Bellamy wanted back in "The Professionals." NOT that there's anything wrong with Claudia Cardinale, mind you. Say Arkadin...how's the l'il shaver??

I used to love to watch Gary Conway when he was on "Burke's Law."

Well...I'll be sure to check it out if I did record it. Thanx! Hmm....Bogie!

You know, I read a little of the ramble you guys had about "Shepherd of the Hills" and it made me want to see it. I had to stop reading so I wouldn't get influenced by your writing. Let me make a run to Barnes & Noble and see if this is something they carry. I have room in my heart for "brilliant." Why did I think "It All Came True" was a comedy. Was this the one where Bogie is laughing at some boarding house antics? Okay, for Jeffrey I'll check it out. There was an Ann Sheridan day a little whiles back that I taped a lot of her films. I'll see if this one was one I recorded. Why you hatin' on Sam Wood. Isn't Robert Cummings enough?

Top O? The Mornin? Jackaaaaaay - ?(I hope everyone got a good look at Betty Field too, one of my new favorite actresses).? This is the last paragraph for Betty Field in IMDB: "Betty suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage in Hyannis, Massachusetts in 1973, just as she was about to leave and film ?The Day of the Locust? (1975). Cast in the flashy role of "Big Sister", an evangelist, her part was taken over by Geraldine Page. At age 60, Hollywood lost a somewhat un- dervalued talent who enjoyed the work morethan the stardom that often accompanied it.? I had ?KINGS ROW? on in the background as I was editing, when I heard this frantic hysterical pleading from the flat screen tv in this villa. I turned and there was Betty Field, looking haunted, hunted. My god, poor girl. (There?s an actress today named Piper Perabo that was reminding me a bit of Betty). I?ve only seen Field in about three movies over and over again. ?Picnic? ?Flesh & Fantasy" and last nite's "Kings Row." And though I?ve seen ?Of Mice and Men? and ?Bus Stop? (where Marilyn just obliterates my memory of anyone else existing), I?ve mostly seen Betty in ?Kings Row.? Her dementia, her passion, her desperation is heartwrenching. I could see how she would haunt a young man forever. Poor poor, poor girl. Good performance. ?Poor Jeffrey Lynn was out of his league, though I think this was probably one of his best roles.? I?ve never see ?It All Came True? but I was a fan of 1930?s boy-next-door Jeffrey Lynn. I just thought he had a sweet persona and he and Richard Carlson give me mini-flutters. Guess I don?t cotten to Bogie in comedies. I want my anti-hero, surly and suffering. Stinker, ain?t I? ?I watched ?King's Row? too, and I am always amazed at Sheridan. That scene was just great, Maven. Even in her big scene, where I am quite positive any other actress would have been seen overwrought, Ann's big juicy closeup, biting her finger so as not to lose control comes off BRiLLIANTLY.? I think Sam Wood did a fantastic job of directing. The studio system kind of reminds me of the Bored of Dread I just retired from (Board of Ed to you neophytes). You could do a really good job, and still not be recognized in a big way. I would turn around from my laptop for Annie?s scenes. Her warmth just reached me through the screen, through the decades. I thought the chemistry between her and Ronnie Reagan was so true and genuine. I prefer Sheridan in her true chiseled 1940?s state: shoulder pads, pompadour, tailored...but I like her 1930's baby fat as well. I heard Robert O. say that there was some ice between Sheridan and Bette Davis over George Brent. Whew! Georgie. I didn't know you had it in ya. MUSIC to My Ears - ?Yes I was watching...for perhaps the hundredth time! It's a favorite. And yes, I did notice those scenes you mentioned. There are so many great little moments in that movie.? Hi there MusicMan. A little moment I liked was when Drake (Ronald Reagan) gets the news about his unnecessary amputation. The little jerk he makes with his body took the full impact of the news. I liked the way Paris (Robert Cummings) runs across the field to greet his new love too. And I loved the actor who played Sheridan?s brother. He reminded me of a dark-haired Wallace Ford (without the fair-haired, sweaty armpits, Bronxie). I know many consider this film, Ronald Reagan?s finest performance. I totally see why. How could he break from the Warners Baby pack with Bogie, Cagney, Bette, Errol etc in the fold. Whew! Ro-ro...how's it goin'? - ?Sorry to interupt all the "flutter/non-flutter" chats.... but I am just so doggon HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I wanted to put in a PLEA to my beloved, faithful, and devoted secretarial staff.. ?BLOOD ALLEY? is showing two (count 'em TWO) times in the next month...can you please pull out all the stops and send me multiple reminders.... pm me... email me.. whatever!!! ha. I have waited EVER so long for this movie to show again...? WOW!!! What the heck... You have just piqued my curiosity about this movie, a hundred-fold. I've never seen it. Now I wanna!! Now I hafta!! Now I'm gonna!! Let's not underestimate the power of suggestion. ?Ok.. now back to our regularly scheudled chat on fluttering already in progress.. (I am still making my way through all the posts, but.... PS: Miss Maven.. what.. NO flutters from Robert Donat??? What about Knight Without Armor??? Flutter-flutter... FLUTTER!!) Sorry Rohhhh, not a blip on my heart's radar from Robert Donat, I'm afraid. (Pssst! Besides, I think he stole Gable's Oscar for "GWTW"). Is there anyone else who makes your heart go pitter pat??

Okay okay. Who am I to think I could succeed where others have failed. Besides, how could Ann Sheridan compete with Howard Hewitt.

ACK!!! NOT in his "Dukes of Hazzard" days. Yikes! If you or anyone out there is watching "KING'S ROW" (close your eyes during Robert Cummings' appearance) there's just one scene I'd like you to check out. I think I've mentioned this in TCM's last screening of this film. In the scene where Cummings goes away and Reagan and Sheridan see him off at the train station, Reagan goes from heartsick at losing his friend and then notices Sheridan there and his change in attitude. So subtle, nice. Also, when Reagan rides her in his buggy and asks to kiss her, I found Sheridan so sexy and charming in that little moment. It's a brief lovely moment. Would you watch out for it? It's coming in the next few minutes.

DANG YOUR SOUL, FRANK GRIMES!!! You sure know how to take the flutter OUTTA a girl!! Yeesh!

Uh-oh...Uncle Jesse. I don't know who that is. I probably should know but darn it, I don't. One Ann Sheridan aside: if you watch in "KIng's Row" when Ronald Reagan takes her out for a buggy ride and he asks to kiss her. Her whole demeanor in that scene is just so wonderful. Uncle Jesse....(you're not talking John Stamos are you? I'm a sucker for a mullet). But we're talking classics, man...classics!!

He's so yummy, isn't he? In "Demetrius and the Gladiator" and and...

Ollie writes - "And what about Jimmy Stewart? If ANYONE should have been flutterless, it could have been him but he remains a compelling on-screen character in so many of his films. Was he that good? Or that acquiescent so the studio kept using him over and over, pushing him beyond his face's limits?? My my you do have a way with words ("beyond his face?s limits.?) --Hearing-- reading all this talk about the flutter factor of certain male movie stars makes me wonder how ANY one EVER got noticed in that Hollywood factory of olde. There was such a plethora of actors and actresses (more than we have today I feel). Why did Ruth Hussey make it and not Lynn Bari. Why not Janis Carter or MaryBeth Hughes over Marilyn Maxwell. Why Ella Raines and not Marjorie Weaver. Why James Craig and not George Montgomery? Tall, dark and handsome. You know what I mean. I?m not specifically talking about their acting. But I s?pose their acting or their studio had a lot to do with making them either a household name or a footnote in others? eyes but the strongest film buff. It?s a shading of difference between Irene Dunne and Myrna Loy...to me. Why wasn?t Jayne Meadows a bigger star than Alexis Smith?? I do love Melvyn Douglas? voice and Kent Smith?s chin. I?m shallow I know it. I can?t do ?still waters? in the movies. I need immediate...impact. I need to be walloped by the likes (looks) of Victor Mature or Tyrone Power. Movies are such a visual medium that still waters and introspection are lost on me unless I?m really really really paying attention. (Oh, it's no effort to really pay attention). Again, I?m not talking about acting chops. You can Adler and Stanislavski and Strassberg and Uta your Hagen to your heart?s content. Give me Paul Newman?s baby blues. I flutter at the thought of William Holden. How did Jimmy Stewart or Henry Fonda break outta the pack? I dunno. I don?t have it all figured out. If you do...you?re a better man than I, Gunga Din. P.S. Thanx for the package. Got it. And laughed at your stamps: Coop, Hepburn and ol? Ski Nose. Thank you Ollie. Miss G. writes - "What does everyone think of Dick Powell on the flutter radar? He doesn't light my fire, but I sure do enjoy his films noir.? I can?t take Powell in the thirties, but he?s brilliant in ?Murder My Sweet? and has more gravitas as the decade wore on. Funny, when he was a baby-faced tenor he was wrestling with Blondell... more woman than a baby-faced boy could handle. Then, when he was more mature, he had June Allyson. Hollywood, go figure. Evening Bronxie - ?Powell always had a boyishness to his features which hardened up a bit in a more ?rugged? way, I guess, as he aged. But I tell you true, it is only as a canine that he appeals to me.? Woof! "As for Robert Young...on the whole, Bob leaves me flutterless. It's also the sway back and what I believe are his flat feet. He just doesn't have the gait of a sexy guy.? We?re sisters under the mink. (Too funny!) Just remind me not to eat what you ate to dream up Mae West and Rosie O? especially in my clothes. Ooooh, revelations galore. I?m lovin? it! This just skims the very tip top epidermal surface of my heart: Flutter worthy: Gable, Conte, dreamboats: R.Taylor & Power. Then there's Lancaster, Pidgeon, Cary, Rock, Errol, ( believe it or not...Don Taylor), Royal Dano, Denver Pyle, Jeff Chandler, Brent, Brando in his absolute **** heyday with a greasy mouthful of chicken, wifebeater undershirt, unintelligible speech ("Huh? What'd you say, honey? Again?). Mitchum makes me positively dizzy...such delicious rough trade in "Cape Fear." Flutterless: Pat O?Brien, Colman, Tracy, Donat, Franchot, Bogie (but his heartbreak in ?Casablanca? makes me sympathetic), Orson, Cagney, Astaire, Fredric, Niven and a whole bunch of others...etc. Now, it's not that I don't like these actors but they don't get my heart going. Grizzled and mature James Stewart has my attention, but it's when he is totally ?whipped? by falling in love with Kim Novak that I really love him...all tremulous and everything. (In ?After The Thin Man? his exit really got me going. It?s the tremulous thing...) Edited by: CineMaven on Aug 18, 2010 9:38 PM - I have to fix an omission. I must trepidaciously include Robert Ryan on my Flutter List. But I'm not sure if it's lust or fear with him. Well...I guess the combination actually intrigues me...