Arturo
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Posts posted by Arturo
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*Drunk I can take. The boa constrictor, though, would give me pause.*
LOL. Well Pearl Darnell was far from a happy drunk. She would rage against the machine, and everything else, with little provocation.
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Linda Darnell went into 1942 an 18 year old adult. She had moved out of her home to get away from her volatile mother, which caused mother to rant and fulmainate ever more with her pent up, seething anger.
Linda's career was suddenly sagging at 20th Century Fox, most likely for refusing advances from studio mogul Darryl F. Zanuck. Zanuck now was promoting Gene Tierney as the replacement for Loretta Young he'd been looking for since Young left in 1939, and to which Linda had once been considered. Anne Baxter was now also getting better parts at Fox. Additionally, the studio had signed several new players, who provided further competition for roles that Linda might have been assigned to. Most formidable competition was provided by Maureen O'Hara, whose contract Fox shared with RKO; Linda could easily have assayed the parts Maureen was assigned that year: TO THE SHORES OF TRIPOLI, TEN GENTLEMEN FROM WEST POINT or THE BLACK SWAN. The studio also frequently borrowed IDA LUPINO and JOAN BENNETT a number of times each during this time. Likewise, theirs roles could have been assignments for Linda: MOONTIDE and LIFE BEGINS AT EIGHT-THIRTY for the former, or CONFIRM OR DENY and GIRL TROUBLE for the latter. Even 20ths Queen of the B's, Lynn Bari, was suddenly promoted, if temporarily, to better parts, including the female lead in THE MAGNIFICENT DOPE.
All of these roles Linda could've done, and might've been offered, had she played along with certain demands from the male hierarchy at Fox. They were definitely better than what she did get offered, THE LOVES OF EDGAR ALLEN POE. Although top-billed,Linda went to 20ths B movie lot to make this poor biopic. That she looked beautiful in the period costumes was little consolation for the lifeless and static movie. Also in it was Sheppard Strudwick as Poe, and Virginia Gilmore as his true love that got away. Linda played his cousin he marries.
After this movie, Linda was cast in the female lead in ORCHESTRA WIVES, which had her back in an A picture. She was one of a large cast of women, including Lynn Bari, Carole Landis, and Mary Beth Hughes, in a sort of THE WOMEN on the road. Also featured was Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, and some marvelous music. However, after filming for a couple of weeks or so, Linda was yanked out of the production, and Ann Rutherford took over as the guileless wife of band member George Montgomery. After this, no more roles at the studio for the rest of the year for Linda.
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*Another kind of multi-picture deal Zanuck did was he would hire someone who was already established in Europe to promote his international marketing campaigns. Michelle Presle (billed Prelle in America) is one such example. She would costar with Tyrone Power in AMERICAN GUERRILLA IN THE PHILIPPINES*
Interesting you should mention AGITP. This was originally to have ben produced in 1945,and was to have starred John Payne and Linda Darnell. The end of WW2 caused the cancellation of a number of war pictures, including this one. When it was resurrected a few years later, it made an ideal vehicle for Power, then in the midst of his 18 month minimum staying out of the US for tax purposes. By then, Italian neo-realism had set the stage for wholesale importing of foreign actresses to more closely portray foreign characters, as opposed to American actors portraying same,
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What I like about the programming for Barbara Stanwyck's SOTM, besides the 24 hours each week, is that the pre-codes are mostly in accessible time slots during the midday, not shunted to that pre-code ghetto of early morning hours.
PS - Actually, since I'm at work, these time periods are not accessible to me (although I have most of these recorded), but glad nonetheless that they're scheduled this way.
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Topbilled,
Thank you for your cogent articulation on some of the ways 20th Century Fox would borrow stars from other studios, or that were freelancers, for some of its productions. Yes at the beginning of the merger in 1935, Zanuck had the need to borrow name players while he built his own stable of stars. By the 40s, however, he had some names that were registering with moviegoers, for which he could have devoted more effort to maximize their careers; however, he continued to fall on borrowed talent for some of the more prestigious productions of his. Even iconic roles for some of his stars were often shortlisted with names of non-20th stars:
LAURA: Zanuck wanted to borrow Jennifer Jones for this. She turned it down, thinking the part was not big enough.
FALLEN ANGEL: Initially, Zanuck wanted to borrow Olivia DeHavilland to play June Mills. He later backed off from the idea, feeling that it was secondary in interest to the role of Stella (already cast with Linda Darnell), and that no top ranked star would therefore want to play June. He was going to have Anne Baxter do it, when Alice Faye expressed interest, feeling that this was the dramatic role for which she had been holding out.
THE RAZOR'S EDGE: Zanuck very much wanted to borrow Judy Garland for the part of Sophie, which garnered a Best Supporting Oscar for Anne Baxter.
FOREVER AMBER; Of course Zanuck had wanted a British star, and offered it to Vivien Leigh and Margaret Lockwood, who turned it down.
These are some roles associated with Fox stars that, had Zanuck acceded to his first instinct, or if the loans had been feasible, would have been more Fox movies starring non-Fox stars.
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*Wasn't Ginger Rogers' mother also a meddler? THat didn't seem to hurt HER career any.*
Studio heads were only too familiar with pushy stage mothers. Some could be controlled, others co-opted. This is what happened at RKO with Lela Rogers, she got a job with the studio (as a coach), so her meddling was put to use in developing new talent. Linda's mother Pearl was a stage mother from hell. She is the reason that Linda went into show business, having been singled out since a young age that that was her destiny. She was quite an eccentric, flamboyant character. She would show up at the Fox studio in wild getups, often drunk and with a boa constrictor around her neck and the family pet rooster "Weedy". She would spout about all the **** and degenerates working in Hollywood, not exactly the stuff to endear her to Linda's bosses. The more she felt she was losing control over her daughter and her career, the worse her tirades became. She got banned from every one of Linda's film sets, and eventually, from the studio. So quite a contrast from Ginger;s mom, wouldn't you agree?
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Linda Darnell's early career peaked with BLOOD AND SAND. After she completed it, she didn't get any assignments fro Fox for awhile; the reason (or reasons) for this is unclear. Her mother Pearl, vicariousy living through Linda her own dreams of stardom, had made herself a pest at the studio to the point of being banned. Her meddling may have helped alienate Linda from Zanuck and the producers at the studio. Along with this, new starlets were being signed and competing for parts. Roles she really wanted, and for which she had been announced, were reassigned to others. One in particular she had hoped to get was in SWAMP WATER. The studio decided against it, feeling she was too beautiful for the role of a backward bayou girl. Anne Baxter was cast instead, in her first lead role. Linda had wanted this part, feeling it would have given her an acting challenge, allowing her to grow in her craft. Most likely, the studio was smarting from the drubbing they had just gotten by casting the beautiful Gene Tierney as another backwater beauty in TOBACCO ROAD, and didn;t want to repeat that with Linda in SW.
When Linda did finally get her next assignment, she was very disappointed. She was in a college football musical, RISE AND SHINE, also with George Murphy and Jack Oakie, for which she felt unsuited, correct age notwithstanding. She did it, but felt that it was a come-down for her. More disappointments were to follow.
Linda turned 18 in October 1941, and almost immediately the protective producers, the"kindly uncles" started making passes at her, with Zanuck first in line. He called her into his office, ostensibly to discuss a role she coveted, when he made a move on her. She reportedly turned him down; needless to say, she didn't get the part, nor anythig worthwhile, for a couple of years.
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*Thus while I have seen some fine movies with Darnell none smack me over the head like a movie and associated role like Gilda (for example), did for Rita. Of course I'm willing to be educated.*
James,
With Linda specifically, her big chance came and went with FOREVER AMBER. This should have made her a superstar, but the role didn't offer much opportunities for big acting scenes, and the censors of the day crippled the reason people wanted to see the movie, namely Amber's promiscuity as her door to upward mobility. Possibly due to its mixed critical reception, Zanuck didn;t really try to build vehicles for her after this. She begged that he star her in a biography of Lola Montez, which would have been a perfect role for her, but he wouldn't. In 1949, the studio announced a costarring vehicle for her and Cornel Wilde (her Amber costar), WALTZ INTO DARKNESS, a story by Cornell Woolrich published under his pen name. Obviously, it was never made, but as a mysterious mail-order bride in Ante-bellum New Orleans, it could've been a strong role and movie for her. Zanuck refused to consider her for PINKY, because as screenwriter Phillip Dunne said "She had the taint of the adventuress, and Pinky had to be purer than pure". I already mentioned that roles in ROAD HOUSE and I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE would have been perfect for her, but Zanuck borrowed outside talent for these. Another potential vehicle, LYDIA BAILEY, which would have reunited her with Tyrone Power, was placed on hold when Power refused another swashbuckling costumer. Later, Linda became ill from recurring jaudice, and the studio cast newcomer Anne Francis. Or RUBY GENTRY could have been a good part for her, but again the studio borrowed Jennifer Jones (and Selznick's meddling). And the arrival of Susan Hayward made it much more difficult, as they would be considered for the same roles, and Linda, never a favorite of Zanuck, would lose ground,
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*Interesting that Zanuck was concerned about making Darnell too sexy in the eyes of the film going public. Compare that to what Warner was trying to do with someone like Ann Sheridan with his Oomph girl PR stunt.*
Well, her image up to then had been of the girl next door. After SUMMER STORM (actually before its release, as Zanuck had seen a rough draft), Linda had this new image, and Zanuck went along with it, especially as he now had Jeanne Crain and others for girls next door. Linda's first movie at her home studio with her new image would be 1945's HANGOVER SQUARE, where she played a sexy singer working her wiles to get songs from smitten composer Laird Cregar, who unfortunately for her, was deranged.
And in keeping with the topic of my earlier post, Zanuck had first considered this role for Marlene Dietrich. And as a followup of sorts to the previous year's THE LODGER, that movie also was cast using a borrowed star, Merle Oberon, instead of one of his own.
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*Thus while I have seen some fine movies with Darnell none smack me over the head like a movie and associated role like Gilda (for example), did for Rita. Of course I'm willing to be educated.*
JJG,
Darryl F. Zanuck at Fox was a man that didn't actively work to promote the careers of his women stars, at least not for long, other than his succession of blonde musical stars. This was the main reason Loretta Young wanted out at the end of the 30s, feeling that she was just used as window dressing in a Tyrone Power vehicle, for instance, instead of having movies built around her. Zanuck has been quoted as saying that women's problems and issues bored him stiff, so he didn't actively search for this type of flm, which could have made great vehicles for his female stars. And often, when he did get a script with a strong female role, he seemed to think of casting someone NOT under contract to Fox, further handicapping his own stable of stars. Some of the roles for women that he chose to cast with non-Fox contractees in the 40s:
SONG OF BERNADETTE: Gene Tierney, Anne Baxter and Linda Darnell all wanted the part that went to Jennifer Jones. Of course Linda did an unbilled cameo.
CLAUDIA: Tierney or Baxter would've worked well. It went to Dorothy McGuire (although it may have been as a package when Selznick sold the rights to Fox). This may also have been the case for:
JANE EYRE; Again either Tierney or Baxter would have worked and done well playing Jane; Joan Fontaine got it.
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN: This one WAS to have starred Tierney, who bowed out due to pregnancy. Anne Baxter could have done a great job.
ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM: I feel that Irene Dunne was great in this, but she was one of several outside names considered. Why not Gene Tierney?
CLUNY BROWN: Again, Tierney or Baxter could have done an admirable job in this. Jennifer Jones was again hired.
GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT: Gene Tierney would have been perfect in this, a superb companion piece to THE RAZOR'S EDGE. Or how about Anne Baxter, having just won an oscar for that movie?
Linda Darnell could have also done justice to this role.
DAISY KENYON: Ok melodrama, with a strong female lead that could have been essayed by Tierney (it was meant for her) or Darnell. In this case, Joan Crawford begged for it.
ROAD HOUSE: This one would have made a very good vehicle for Darnell, playing a sexy torch singer. Newly freelancing Ida Lupino was borrowed.
THE SNAKE PIT: While Olivia DeHavilland is superb, why did Zanuck not consider his own stars, Tierney, Darnell or Baxter, ny of which would have been capable of it IMHO.
I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE: Gene Tierney or Linda Darnell, having recently displayed great comedy timing, would have done a creditable job in the role given to newly freelancing Ann Sheridan.
There are other examples, and this continued into the 50s (THREE CAME HOME, MY COUSIN RACHEL). There may have been valid reasons why the homegrown stars were not given some of these roles, i.e. avaialbilty, but the point is in many important roles, Zanuck immediately envisioned stars other than his own for these roles. Linda, Tierney and Baxter, the top dramatic stars at the studio during the 40s, could have had bigger careers, and higher career highs, if the studio head saw these story acquisitions as potential vehicles for them, as happened at MGM, WB, etc.
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*Yowza! What happened to that sweet innocent? This is obviously a sexy glamour shot from when Fox was transforming Darnell's screen image. It appears that they are trying to have her directly compete with those shots of Jane Russell in The Outlaw in this one.*
Well I tried to cut and paste the sexy picture you posted here of Linda showing off her legs, amongst bales of hay, wearing a short skirt and tight blouse. This was actually a publicity shot for SUMMER STORM, which Linda filmed in 1944 on loan to United Artists. Darryl Zanuck didn't want to loan her out, thinking she would ruin her image,and even career, which he felt-wrongly-had taken a hit when she married Peverell Marley, a man in his 40s, the year before. But she persisted, as her career was stagnating at Fox, and got the loanout. Overnight it gave her a new sexy image at age 20, thereby killing off her girl-next-door image, and she was thrust into the pin-up sweepstakes. It also revitalized her career. Fox started casting about for suitable roles for the new look Linda.
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*I thought that she and Tyrone Power were a perfect fairy tale couple in that film, since the two had such wonderful chemistry.*
I agree that this was the best of their four costarring ventures. They WERE a perfect fairy tale couple, and played off each other quite well.
PS - She was saddened by the death of Tyrone Power, whom she adored.
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Tom,
Thank you for your kind words and support. She was a someone my mother would note when a movie she was in would be shown on TC (I believe my mom had an interest in her because she had been often compared to Linda, Hedy Lamarr and Yvonne DeCarlo in looks). How fortunate that you were able to see Linda on a TV program when you were young. I was familiar with some of her TV appearances, especially the drama anthology shows, but I have only discovered her doing some live panel or interview programs on TV, via youtube. I posted the link to her as the Mystery Celebrity on "What's My LIne", and at first thought you were referring to this program. She is quite vibrant and beautiful here, and I could see her being a recurrent guest on the later late night talk shows (she was a guest co-host on the Mike Douglas show, apparently, from what I saw on-line). As decent film offers dried up, TV and stage became her only viable avenues to pursue her career (an ill-fated venture as a nightclub performer did not pay off too well). Thanks again, and a book or drama script or screenplay on Linda is something I definitely hope to do.
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*This is my favorite photo of Linda Darnell.*
This was a publicity still she did in conjunction with the 1945 film, THE GREAT JOHN L. which she did on loan to Bing Crosby's production company (released by UA), about the prizefighter John L. Sullivan, played by Greg McClure. It captures her at the point when she has just established her new, sultry image.
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OK, here's the backstory behind the selection of Do?a Sol, the temptress in BLOOD AND SAND, or at least what I remember reading about it. It seems that the the studio was having trouble finding a suitable actress, and tested dozens, Among them were contract players (Gene Tierney, Lynn Bari) as well as others (Maria Montez,then unknown). The role was announced for Carole Landis, Fox' newly signed siren, but she refused to dye her hair the requisite red for a Technicolor picture, saying she had spent too much time publicizing herself as a blonde. Zanuck, in a fit of pique, decided against the big plans for her, including the lead in the period musical MY GAL SAL, for which she was also announced.
Well, in comes starlet Rita Hayworth, then working her way up the ranks at Columbia, from B films to programmers, as well as supporting roles in prestige pictures(usually on loan out). Everyone agrees that with her dancer's training, feline grace and stunningly beautiful looks, she is perfect. Fox cast her, and between this and another loan-out (THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE at WB), she is on her way to being the 40s Love Goddess. 20th then gave her the lead in MY GAL SAL, and Carole Landis got bumped to a supporting role.
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Thank for expressing your support Peter. I too hope it happens, but if a factor is the feedback and buzz on the message boards, well this thread hasn't really caught traction, with only a handful posting here besides myself (shoutout to TB and his posts of her photos). Don't know if it's disinterest, indifference or what. I don;t necessarily wish Miss Darnell to be a polarizing figure, which is what seems to light up some threads here, but I think it may be general unfamliarity with her, and her work, other than a handful of classics. More the reason for a month featuring Linda, focusing a light on an all too forgotten (by the public at large) star of classic Hollywood,
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*We haven't really spent much time discussing BUFFALO BILL. This is an interesting picture for her. Both she and Anthony Quinn are cast as Native Americans.*
Topbilled, thanks again for the photos. I;m trying to do Linda's movies chronologically, so I plan to get to BUFFALO BILL soon. In the meantime, here's an interesting story I read in Maureen O'Hara's (auto?)biography. O'Hara, who was in BB with Darnell and Quinn, was told by Linda that she thought that Quinn might be gay, since during the making of BLOOD AND SAND, she and Anthony sort of dated, even going hiking to pick flowers. Apparently, Linda expected Anthony to make a pass at her, but didn't. So she assumed that he must be gay, like some other actors she had worked with.
A decade or so after BB was filmed, Maureen made another movie with Quinn, THE MAGNIFICENT MATADOR. If I remember it correctly, she apparently confronted Quinn about Darnell's theory. His response was that Linda was still a minor at that time, so he didn;t dare try anything, O'Hara intimated that Quinn and her slept together, thereby settling this for her once and for all.
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The one who complained openly about Marilyn on the set of CLASH BY NIGHT was Paul Douglas. Not only did he have to deal with her tardiness, her defering to her coach, Natasha Lytess, but also the press and paparazzi flocking to the set for MM (this was about the time she was becoming the most publicized person in Hollywood, not sure but possibly the calendar story had just broken). Anyway, after Douglas sounding off about Marilyn, Babs is reported to have pulled him aside and said, "It's like this Paul: she's younger and more beautiful than the rest of us". She had been in Hollywood long enough to know the score.
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*I am sure Mrs. Gary Cooper wished Barbara would have been in THE FOUNTAINHEAD.*
yes, but then she'd have to also hope Cooper and Pat Neal didn't then get cast in BRIGHT LEAF together.
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*Soon Eleanor Parker in CAGED gets a role that would've worked very well for a younger Bette.*
Interesting you should mention this. Some three or so years earlier, WB proposed this movie, then going by the name of "Women Behind Bars", to costar Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Not sure which role was meant for whom, but probably Joan as the initially naive woman eventually played by Parker, and Bette that of the warden played by Agnes Moorehead. Don't know what derailed this project, whether Davis' pregnancy, a clash of egos, or something else, this is an intriguing prospect for some parallel universe. The upshot is we got the fine CAGED, with Parker, et al, outstanding in it.
Edited by: Arturo on Dec 14, 2012 5:58 PM
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Topbilled, thanks again. Those pictures look great; now I want to put the DVD on and watch these three great looking stars.
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I'd read that Stanwyck lobbied hard to do The Fountainhead, and was disappointed when Patricia Neal got the role.
*I think the reason Stanwyck did not get The Fountainhead was because King Vidor didn't think she was sexy enough for the role*
The original proposal was to have been Stanwyck in THE FOUNTAINHEAD, starring with Humphrey Bogart. Babs brought it to Jack Warner's attention and was livid when she wasn't cast.
And King Vidor thought Bette Davis sexy enought for BEYOND THE FOREST?!
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That would be great, thanks. It would be much appreciated, by those here as well as myself.
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*I am sure there were scripts (roles) that were earmarked for Ann Sheridan that Bette did not stand a chance getting.*
Seems it would've been that way. However, Bette got to do BEYOND THE FOREST, to her eternal regret. She felt it would've been perfect for Virginia Mayo, WBs successor to Ann Sheridan as its sexy star (nevermind what Joan Crawford thought in her head). So even in the 1940s, roles that might seem to require "oomph", Bette apparantly had first refusal rights. A hierarchy of the pecking order for her cast-offs developed and evolved. At the beginning of the 40s, the studio had Ida Lupino and Olivia DeHavilland, even Sheridan.with (temporarily) Merle Oberon, Mary Astor and Miriam Hopkins. Geraldine Fitzgerald, among others, were far to the rear.
By the mid40s, Lupino and Sheridan were joined by Crawford, and the freelancing likes of Barbara Stanwyck and Rosalind Russell.
In the late 40s, Eleanor Parker, Patricia Neal, and Jane Wyman were to top scrap-getters.
LINDA DARNELL for Star of the Month October 2013
in General Discussions
Posted
*I think FOREVER AMBER should've been cast with Rita Hayworth.*
I highly doubt that Zanuck would have cast Hayworth in FOREVER AMBER. Once it was obvious he couldn't get the British stars he offered it to, he decided it would be one of his own. Early on, the front-runner was Gene Tierney, his top dramatic actress, who had just scored the studio's biggest grossing hit up to then, LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN. Additionally, this success had resulted in DFZ assigning its director, John M. Stahl to AMBER, So it would have reunited this winning team in the studio's biggest production. But Zanuck decided to hold out for a British actress, and awarded the plum role to his just signed contract player, newcomer Peggy Cummins. She proved to be inadequate when it came to portray a full grown woman, looking like a young girl playing dress up. Zanuck closed down production, removing Cummins and Stahl in the process.
Tierney would not considered doing AMBER at this point, feeling snubbed and not willing to play second fiddle. Zanuck appointed his most appropriate star, IMO, Linda Darnell. She had been suggested early on as such (with her hair dyed a reddish-blonde of course), but initially overlooked. She had the voluptuous figure the role called for, as the costume designer Rene Hubert acknowledged when he joyously returned to his original designs.
When production resumed, Otto Preminger was at the helm. He had not wanted Linda (they had not gotten along while doing FALLEN ANGEL and CENTENNIAL SUMMER). He preferred Lana Turner, and even engineered a dinner party to have Lana flirt shamelessly with Zanuck in order to be cast. Zanuck would not cast her, saying he wasn;t going to do another studio a favor by giving one of their stars this part. So as I said, Hayworth would not have been considered for this reason.
*It should've been remade in the 1950s with Lana Turner. Instead of THE RAINS OF RANCHIPUR, they should've tried doing AMBER again. This is just my opinion, but it needed someone whose provocative sex life and countless marriages made Hedda's column on a weekly basis.*
The 50s would have been the wrong decade for a remake IMHO. The production code and watchdog groups, which had crippled the original movie, were still strong. AMBER did get re-released in 1953, just ahead of the studio's immersion in CINEMASCOPE. The studio did have a similar story they planned to produce around 1953-54, MOLL FLANDERS, the classic Daniel Defoe story. It would most likely have been assigned to Susan Hayward, as was intended THE RAINS OF RANCHIPUR. That one went to Lana Turner when Hayward was loaned for I'LL CRY TOMORROW. Again, this is another example when a borrowed actress got a part instead of a homegrown one. Gene Tierney would have been perfect for TROR, but her mental illness might've been too advanced at this point. Or Linda Darnell, who was back at the studio about this time to do the TV movie, DECEPTION.
20th Century Fox resolutely turned down all proposals to do a remake, including the idea of a mini-series, where all the storylines could have been given justice, and when the censors of the past were a thing of the past, even on TV. As for an actress making headlines continuously due to her marriages being appropriate for the role, well during the making of AMBER, Linda separated from her first husband, and the studio publicized this, hopefully drawing comparisons with the wanton Amber. Back then, both Lana and Rita had only married two men each; their reputations regarding this was something in their futures.
*As for Darnell, I think she needed earthier roles. She should have been allowed to play more ethnic types. It is clear that they didn't always know how to cast her.* *Especially when she bounces from FOREVER AMBER to CENTENNIAL SUMMER.*
Well, actually in the words of Judy Holliday's Billie Dawg, "Vaisa-voisa"...lol.
Zanuck did try to give her more earthy roles, if not consistently. She played Chihuahua in MY DARLING CLEMENTINE around this time (1946). She was also cast as the earthy Spanish gypsy Catana in CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE, which would have been a perfect role for her image, and would have reteamed her with Tyrone Power. Unfortunately, the delay between the production stop and restart of FOREVER AMBER precluded her doing this, as AMBER's resumed production overlapped with that of CFC. As I mentioned, she begged Zanuck to cast her in the earthy part of Lola Montez, but he wouldn't budge. Chihuahua, Catana and Lola were three ethnics she was offered, as was Tuptim, her curtailed part in ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM.
As for CENTENNIAL SUMMER, this had originally was to have been a melodrama. Linda Darnell's role is not out of place for her at this time; she plays a scheming woman, just as she had in HANGOVER SQUARE and would in FOREVER AMBER and THE WALLS OF JERICHO right after that. Her character was probably toned down once CS was revamped as a musical at the last minute to capitalize on the massive success of MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS. So I don't feel that the role was incongruous for her.
Edited by: Arturo on Dec 19, 2012 12:45 AM