Arturo

Another "What If?" re: Linda Darnell's career: What if 20th Century Fox had not terminated Linda's contract when it did in the Fall of 1952, after 13 and a half years there? Linda Darnell had been one of the studio's top leading ladies almost from the moment she was signed in 1939. Throughout the 40s and into the 50s, she was one of Fox' most popular stars, if not one of Darryl Zanuck's favorites. When the retrenchment of the 50s got going in earnest, Linda, as well as other popular players, at Fox and elsewhere, got let go. Linda soon found herself in dire financial straits, as film offers became fewer and fewer, and her steady income under her contract ended. Well, if the studio had renewed her contract, in early 1953, it could have made a difference. The insecurity that soon overwhelmed her would have been postponed, at worst. Even with a contract like the one she had negotiated with her studio in 1951, allowing her outside projects, and limited films for 20th, would have given her a measure of security. And this breathing room might have kept her from suffering some of the depression she would, which in turn led to her heavier drinking. All this might have not gotten as out of hand as it did. Plus, 20th might've considered her for some roles that would have fit her perfectly. Among these, the classic noir PICK-UP ON SOUTH STREET, for which she had been considered around the time of the termination of her contract. She would have made a good foil to new sensation Marilyn Monroe in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, and shortly thereafter, HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE, where her acid delivery of comedic timing would have been on par with Jane Russell and Lauren Bacall, respectively (it's instructive that Fox borrowed both these actresses). Other parts at Fox could've included (besides any that Susan Hayward did) DESIREE, WOMAN'S WORLD (Bacall's or Arlene Dahl's role), THE EGYPTIAN (Gene Tierney's or Bella Darvi's role), THE MAGNIFICENT MATADOR, THE TALL MEN, THE RAINS OF RANCHIPUR, THAT LADY, LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING, HILDA CRANE, THE REVOLT OF MAMIE STOVER, THE WAYWARD BUS (she tested for the part given to Joan Collins), THE SUN ALSO RISES, THE THREE FACES OF EVE, THE STORY ON PAGE ONE, among others. Again, Fox borrowed actresses from outside for all but THE WAYWARD BUS and THREE FACES OF EVE. Any, or all of them, Linda might have been offered had she remained at the studio for another seven years. One or more of these might have made her even more popular, and given her movie career new impetus, right around the time it actually was winding down. PS - HAD Linda done either or both of the MM films, doubtless she would be better known today, due to this exposure with the eternally popular Marilyn. Edited by: Arturo on Jul 30, 2013 8:02 PM

TB, thanks for the heads up. I have SWEET AND LOW DOWN on vhs and DVD, the latter recorded during Linda`s SUTS day back in 2011, if memory serves. SALD is an amiable big band musical, with Linda playing a rich girl. Made after Lindas image changing role in SUMMER STORM, it was a last gasp of the older Darnell image while Darryl Zanuck sought a role to capitalize on her new bad girl persona. On SALD, Linda has a basically decorative role, only called to display her looks, and some rather bizarre mid 40s hairdos. Edited by: Arturo on Jul 28, 2013 1:03 AM

good point about the irony, Finance, although that was Linda Darnell`s apartment, not Richard Widmark`s.

Here`s another Linda Darnell "What if?" This one piggybacks on some of the earlier ones, and mentioned and touched upon earlier. What if Linda never went to make movies in Italy for Giusseppe Amato? While at that time she raved about the approach of the Neo Realists in interviews and correspondence, the films she made were not very good, and did absolutely nothing for her career: only one, DONNE PROI BITE, had a spotty release in the States, as ANGELS OF DARKNESS, in late 1956, three years after being made. Due to these commitments, which Linda signed for in mid 1952, she spent several extended stays in Italy. She loved it there, expressing a desire of evetually retiring there. Even while in thr US, she set her sighfs on th ese movies, causing her to not fully working on lining up projects in Hollywood, at a time when she had just had her contract with Fox end, and when the studios were in full panic mode and retrenching. Many films she might havd been offered in 1953 she was not considered for, due to keeping her calendar open for Amato. And at this time, in 1953, she would have still been in demand; three of here four films released in 1952 and 1953 had beem solid hits. Later, she spent the first half on 1955 in Italy, filming the second film for Amato, GLI ULTIMI CINQUE MINUTI/THE LAST FIVE MINUTES, and then working on establishing her pet project, Girls Town of Italy. In the interim, she had made only one movie, due to her marriage and travels with second husband, Philip Liebmann. In fact, one of the reasons Linda seems to have married him, was to get some seed money for the Girls Town project. So while this charity was personally very satisfying to her, the marriage wasn't, and both might never have happened had she not gone to film in Rome. Overall, these extended absences from the Hollywood scene had a very detrimental effect on her career, as she was out of sight, out of mind, in the crucial, shrinkong movie world of the mid 50s.

I had hoped that the Carson interview with Davis would have been the one where she discusses "little Ronnie Reagan", as she refers to him in that distinctive, clipped cadence of hers.

Just a reminder: Later today, at 6 pm eastern , 3 pm Pacific, TCM will show NO WAY OUT. See the previous post for more info.

Tom: Off the top of my head, o can thinl of a couple more good films Raft was on: THEY DRIVE Y NIGHT and MANPOWER. i agree he was a lousy judge of scripts, whether due to superstition or wanting to maintsin an image. His decisions allowed for Bogarts rise as a star.

I have followed this discussion with interest, but have not contribUted to it until now, be,side I love all three of these actors, their many movies and characterizations. They are all among MY "favorites" a nebulous categorization that I won't list by numbers as to most favorite etc (with one obvious exception, for whom I have an ongoing thread). Anyway, along with these three, I also enjoy Raft and others, like Richard Widmark Richard Conte, etc. who also did these types of role. I am just happy I can regularly see them all featured on TCM.

I have followed this discussion with interest, but have not contribUted to it until now, be,side I love all three of these actors, their many movies and characterizations. They are all among MY "favorites" a nebulous categorization that I won't list by numbers as to most favorite etc (with one obvious exception, for whom I have an ongoing thread). Anyway, along with these three, I also enjoy Raft and others, like Richard Widmark Richard Conte, etc. who also did these types of role. I am just happy I can regularly see them all featured on TCM.

As much as I loved the Carol Burnette show, I don't feel that TCM is the appropriate forum for it; maybe if there was a sister Turner ClassicTelevision channel. Besides, Carol Burnette and Friends is still out in syndication. As for Carson, I was dissappointed that roughly half of the interviews were not stars from the classic period. Come on now, I tune in to TCM to see the studio era movies; anything I saw as a teen or adult at the movies or cable I dont want to see. There are other outlets for these movies, but realistically, how many other channels will show black and white movies. So I say no to the showing of more TV shows on TCM.

This Friday, July 26, TCM is showing 1950`s NO WAY OUT, with one of Linda Darnells best roles in one of her best movies. Written and directed by Joseph Mankiewcz, this taut, harrowing drama of racial tensions, featuring Sidney Poitiers film debut, and also starring Richard Widmark and Stephen McNally, is just as relevant now as then.....highly recommended.

TCM has shown this movie within the last couple of years, but I agree that it is better than the common. it features a superb performance by Ann Dvorak, although her screen time is limifed. This was Lanas first film in nearly two years; she had been off The screen due to her marriage to Bob Topping, spending much of the time traveling abroad. in the meantime, movies meant for her, i.e. MADAME BOVARY and TO PLEASE A LADY, were assigned to other actresses; other projects were canceled.

Nancy Carroll was at her peak at the very end of the 1920s and very beginning of the 1930s. But as has been mentioned, during her peak years she was under contract at Paramount. Not sure why she so quickly went into eclipse; she was helped by Clara Bows fall from grace, despite their different images, and did some roles originally meant for Bow. But so did Claudette Colbert and Sylvia Sidney, both arriving on the lot in 1931, as did the highly touted find, Dietrich. The latter hogged all the publicity budget, it seems, while the others provided direct competition that Carroll was unable to surmount. So by the mid30s, she was gone from the studio and her career in sharp decline.

Upcoming this Saturday on TCM at 6:30 am eastern, 3:30 am Pacific, will be a movie that is a phantom credit on Linda Darnell`s filmography, THE CASTILIAN (1963), AKA VALLEY OF THE SWORDS. This unusual swashbuckling epic, obviously inspired by EL CID, has been listed erroneously since the time of Linda`s death, by a substantial number of lists of her credits to this day; people have posted here as a movie she did. Anyway, while it would have been an offer that woild have benefited Linda at a crucial time financilly for her as she as divorcing her third husband, there is no proof that she did it. However, assuming she was offred a role, and she was inclined to accept.it, s it would have had to have been one of the main parts, she proba ly would not have been an extra, or a role fhat could have ended totally on the cutting room floor. She would not have had the funds to go to Spain for a miniscule part, nor for similar reasons, would she have been there. on vacation. while she could have gone to do a TV show there, there is no record of her travels overseas at this time. Anyway, had she been offered a role, it most likely would have been the supporting role of Queen, played by Viveca Lidsfor. So th e mystery continues, because unless.she is in there as an unidentifiable extra, it is still sold online with her name in the credit Edited by: Arturo on Jul 18, 2013 11:42 PM

In an effort to tie up some of the loose strands of this thread, let me just say that while I have no idea how many humps Paul Hemreid has, Annette most DEFINITELY has two. Sorry, couldn't resist fhat. I never noticed the possums for rats in DRACULA, but again that is an instance where a new world animal is used in the old world of Transylvania. And yes I agree they wanted something looking like huge rats. Finance, this is the problem, where Asiatic elephants are used in an African locale,etc.

some thoughts on Linda Darnell that I've been grappling with how to articulate them. When I was growing up, and seeking written information as well as pictures of Linda, I pretty much accepted the standard wisdom that her career declined drastically in the last half of the 50s, and was nearly nonexistent in the 60s, due to her drinking and weight gain and consequent premature matronly appearance. I remember being shocked sometimes by new pictures showing her in these later years. But thanks mainly to the internet, I have seen enough stills of Linda in the latter part of her career to have become accostumed to her looks then. I have realized that the accepted rationale for her decline was .not so simple. For one thing, while she did gain much weight around the time of her third marriage, in 1957, she lost much of it, and gained it again, in the next few years. It was all part of the weight problem she had dealt with for most of her career, if with somewhat more extreme swings. So that was not the only cause. And with the pictures that once shocked me, it was just the unfamiliarity of her later look. Since she was no longer under contract to any studio, and doing mostly stage and TV work, there were relatively few publicity stills of Linda which were released and circulated. So her later appearances were all but unknown to the general public, certainly unknown to those not around at the time. So we dont see her, as we did for say, Joan Crawford, whose mostly complete pictoral record contrasts with that of Linda, and has inured us to any signs of aging in Joans later years; we are as familiar with her in the 60s as we are for her in the 30s or 40s. but for Darnell this is not the case. So people are still shocked by Lindas later appearances, as I was shocked even recently, seeing stills of her on ebay, but I have now seen sufficient, and of a reasonably determined chronological continuum, that her familiarity in this later period makes.me look.differently at some stills I once found surprising. For instance, in a book I have, "The Rise and Fall of The Love Goddess",which has a chapter on Linda, and which Ive owned for some 30 years, there is a picture of Linda purported to show her puffy eyed, overweight and overly made up, supposedly from one year before she died. I remember thinking how bad she looked. NOW I see it and thinks she looks beautiful and glamorous, if a little overly made up. Edited by: Arturo on Jul 17, 2013 8:00 AM

Besides ELMER GANTRY, twp of my favorite Brooks moviea are the Tennessee Williams adaptstions he did with Paul Newman. But as they get plenty of play on TCM, I'm glad they werent shown yesterday.

well Fred, the incorrect use of regional specific animals has always bothered me too. Unlike you however, it extends beyond camels....the wrong use of elephants bother me immensely. The differences between African and Asian elephants is not just in the size of ears, but the shape of the ears, the , the dome of the head and the sloping back the Asian species have, as opposed to the lower forehead and the sway back the African species has. Likewise, when New World monkeys used in movies taking place in the old world, or jaguars for leopards in the same situation, and vice versa. my guess is wharever was expedient, available and/or trained in Hollywood was what was used. another gripe (which, btw Dargo, is why Fred went into contractions), is the use of dry California scenery for almost every type of lush location around the world. Again, it was what was available.

and in discussions of QUEEN CHRISTINA, Gilbett gets short shrift to Garbo, his one time equal and lover

Tom, of course John Gilbert was going (started?)to film DESIRE with ceurrent lover Marlene Dietrich kn early 1936. wheb he died, Gary Cooper took over.

Tonight at 9 pm Pacific, 12 am eastern as part of TCMs Friday NightSpotlight, is a movie with a "what if" connection to Linda Darnell. This is MISSISSIPPI MERMAID, based on Cornel Wollichs WALTZ INTO SEPTEMBER, which under that title, Fox bought as a vehicle to reteam Linda with Cornel Wilde in 1949. This would have made an ideal movie for Linda with her as a mysterious mail order bride in early 19th century New Orleans. I have no idea why it wasnt made, but its a pity imho. Some ten or twelve years ago, it was done with Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas, set in Cuba, under the name of ORIGINAL SIN. Edited by: Arturo on Jul 12, 2013 3:12 PM

Thanks StBarts. yesMY DARLING CLEMENTINE is a great John Ford western. a poetic retelling of mythmmaking proportions. And Linda Darnell as the fiery Chihuahua convinced Darryl Zanuck to finally decide to cast her in the lead in FOREVER AMBER.

On Monday, July 15 FMC will show this classic western with Linda Darnell: 7:30 am EST, 4:30 AM PST: MY DARLING CLEMENTINE A western classic about Wyatt Earp (Fonda) and Doc Holliday (Mature) and their clash with the Clanton family at the O.K. Corral. *Cast:* Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Tim Holt, Alan Mowbray, Linda Darnell, Walter Brennan *Director:* John Ford 1946

TonTH: I agree wifh all you said in the post re: Hawks and his designs on Dru, except that John Ireland waa a minor actor. Minor star or minor Hollywood player, perhaps.

Well, Linda Darnell got passed over for SOTM for October 2013.....seems similar to her getting passed over for some of the important roles while under contract to 20th Century Fox. Anyway, while she won't be honored on the month she would have turned 90, I still feel she is a worthy candidate for a future month, and has sufficient movies that are or can be available to TCM to cover the month. So I will continue to strive to make this a reality, by posting here to keep this topic on the spotlight. Thanks for your support on this endeavor. PS....thanks TCMWebAdmin for removing the post that threatened to turn this into The Still That Ate This Thread.