Arturo
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Posts posted by Arturo
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*Has anyone mentioned Pickup on South Street with Richard Widmark? I liked that film.*
It was mentioned, which is why I didn't mention it.
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*Ginger Rogers and Henry Fonda have amazing chemistry in TALES OF MANHATTAN. They appear in one of the segments of this portmanteau. I am surprised Zanuck did not put them together again in a movie all their own.*
Well, Ginger Rogers was at Fox in 1942 when Alice Faye became pregnant,and thus unable to film ROXIE HART. Since she was on the lot filming, so fell into the multi-episode TOM. Henry Fonda finished a couple of commitments, and left for WWII, as did Zanuck. Ginger moved on to commitments at other studios. After WW2, Fonda did only two movies at 20th, then refused to re-sign. So it would have been hard to have gotten them together.
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This is a complicated answer, with it varying oer the decades. In general it was a two-way street most of the time. At least since the 20s, the "gods and goddesses" of the screen were very influential fashionwise. In the 30s, the unattainable onscreen fantasy was coveted by audiences struggling to make a living. It was during this decade that this influence was made tangible. Girls copied hairstyles and makeup of their favorites, and tried to re-create theclluloid fashion shows seen at the movies. 1932 was the year that the "Letty Lynton" dress design was mass-marketed to great success. Many more tie-ins followed. 1934 saw the sale of mens' tshirts take a nose dive when Clark Gable wore none in IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT.
Yet Hollywood designers tried to keep abreast of Paris fashions (Milan did not become a player untll much later; NYC was seen as following theParis lead). They dreaded a sudden shift in fashions, since they often had to design nearly a year before the outfits would be seen on screens. They were caught off guard with the drop in skirt lenhgts at theend of 1929; most Hollywood movies of 1930 loked dated stylewise. Likewise wih he NewLook of 1947; Hollywood didn't reflect this untl the following yearf.
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Just something to do for today... Brits don't celebrate Thanksgiving (closest thing they have is *Guy Fawkes Day* on November 5: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night)...
And, of course, Canadians celebrated Turkey Day in October...
There is a scene in HANGOVER SQUARE where some kids remind Laird Cregar of the history of Guy Fawkes Day. It later gives Cregar an idea of what to do with Linda Darnell once he's strangled her...toss her body on the pyre that was built....which singed her during filming, ironically reinforcing Linda's lifelong fear of fire.
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If I had the opportunity to program four noirs one evening on TCM (wow, what a difficult choice!), I'd go with some of the classic noirs from 20th Century Fox, if only because they weren't available to TCM until recently. Now to select four from a stellar body of noirs, I'd eliminate those that others have already chosen here....which means not showing such excellent films as WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS, THIEVES HIGHWAY, NIGHT AND THE CITY, or PICK-UP ON SOUTH STREET, all among the best the studio did in this style. Well, I'll give it a try:
CRY OF THE CITY (1948): Taut drama (which of these isnt!?) starring Victor Mature, Richard Conte and Shelley Winters, with such memorable characters as the nurse played by Betty Garde, and Hope Emerson as the masseuse. You can almost feel you're in the gritty streets of New York at mid-century.
THE STREET WITH NO NAME (1948): One of those semi-documentary procedurals, starring Mark Stevens, Richard Widmark, Barbara Lawrence in one of her best roles, Lloyd Nolan and Ed Begley as a crooked cop.
NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947): I'm surprised no one has mentioned this one. Perhaps Tyrone Power's best acting, as he desperately tried to break away from swashbuckling and matinee idol type roles. Featuring gritty writing, a great cast, and memorable characters, one of the best noirs IMHO.
NO WAY OUT (1950): Not really a noir, but a racial problem/crime drama, this exciting thriller has another great performance from Richard Widmark, probably Linda Darnell's best acting, and Sidney Poitier's debut role. Quite harrowing and totally believable. During the incendiary 60s, many TV stations would not show this movie.
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After one anti-semitic rant too many, I thought that I could never again enjoy Mel Gibson in another movie. But I saw GET THE GRINGO a couple of months back at my brother's house on Netflix, and I did enjoy it much more than I expected. So I guess a given star's inner a**-hole doesn't keep me from seeing them at what they do best.
Edited by: Arturo on Nov 20, 2012 6:16 PM
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GinnyFan wrote:
*I know that I won't go to a Lindsay Lohan movie. The train wreck is just way too much in my face (and I'm beting it will be awful, anyway).*
Well, when Lohan has another run-in with the law, the judge, her probation officer etc. I just feel bad for her. Here is a girl who had everything and seems to almost inexorably be throwing it away. Maybe the Liz movie will help her turn the tide....at least she is still receiving viable offers.
PS - She looks gorgeous in the promo shots I've seen (and a lot like the 50s Liz IMHO)....when she was in her teens before her troubles began, I thought that with her red hair and colored eyes she looked like an incarnation of a young Ann-Margret.
Hibi wrote:
*"m kinda looking forward to her Liz Taylor tv movie. (Am betting it will be awful. And it's free!) If it isnt laugh inducing, I can always turn the channel............*
Back in the day (late 50s-early 60s), Liz Taylor's private life was a mess, and a very public one, and if it wasn't for her propensity for life-threatening illnesses (and extreme beauty IMO), she might've been censured to the point of a backlash against her....but the days of Bergman/Rosellini were gone by then, and she only became the most publicized star in the world. -
*FMC just showed Sleepers West, the second Michael Shayne film, for the first time I know of. They'll probably show it again, in a few weeks. It wasn't the best Michael Shayne film I've seen, but I'm still glad to have seen it. I hope they show the first one soon.*
Sorry I ddidn't get a chance to post re: SW. I was on vacation for the previous three weeks, and my laptop doesn't let me view what's on the Fox website other than the current day. At work I have no such problem and can view (and post) for days on end. I'm back at work now, so I will try to keep abreast of what's coming on with enough time to post here. -
*In my mind, Hopkins and Francis were much bigger stars than Chatterton.*
At her height in the early 30s, she was much bigger than either of them. But by the mid-30s, she was fading fast. I think DODSWORTH in 1936 was her Last Hurrah. Hopkins' and Francis' movie careers outlived Ruth's by a decade in the latter, and decades in the former, but more importantly, they were at the top for longer that Chatterton. -
*I think the economical part is what throws me. LOL*
When I say economical I mean for an A feature....this would be a mid-priced film overall, not a budget-priced feature, signifying a B or cheaper (cheaper as in less expensive...no value judgement on content on my part here).
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*I think you mean Ruth Chatterton, not Miriam Hopkins*
Hibi, you are so right. The trouble is that since in the early/into the mid-30s, Chatterton, Hopkins and Kay Francis seemed to have been interchangeable in producers' minds in assigning roles to them, that details of each actress's career jumble together in my mind. Thanks for the correction.
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FRom the FMC Website:
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2012:
4:56 am EST, 1:56 AM PST:
THE BULLFIGHTERS
This Laurel and Hardy laugher has the pair in Mexico as private detectives, sent from the States in search of a female criminal.
*Cast:* Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy
*Director:* Malcolm St. Clair
1945
7:45 am EST, 4:45 AM PST:
SEVEN THIEVES
A professor (Edward G. Robinson) conspires to steal $4,000,000 from vaults underneath a Monte Carlo casino. Rod Steiger and Joan Collins co-star.
*Cast:* Edward g. Robinson, Rod Steiger, Alexander Scourby, Joan Collins, Eli Wallach
*Director:* Henry Hathaway
1960
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21:
4:41 am EST, 1:41 AM PST:
EVERYTHING HAPPENS AT NIGHT
A British reporter (Ray Millan) competes with an American reporter (Robert Cummings) for the story of a murdered political comenator and for the affections of his ice skater daughter (Sonja Henie).
*Cast:* Ray Milland, Sonja Henie, Robert Cummings, Leonid Kinsley, Maurice Moscovitch
*Director:* Irving Cummings
1939
6:00 am EST, 3 AM PST:
DOWN TO EARTH
A wealthy oilman with a homespun spirit teaches his spendthrift family a lesson by claiming they are bankrupt.
*Cast:* Will Rogers, Irene Rich, Dorothy Jordan, Matty Kemp
*Director:* David Butler
1932
7:30 am EST. 4:30 AM PST:
PIN-UP GIRL
In order to be closer to a sailor (Harvey) she met at a USO canteen, a secretary (Grable) pretends to be a Broadway star.
*Cast:* Betty Grable, Eugene Pallette, Marcel Dalio, Martha Raye, John Harvey, Joe e. Brown
*Director:* H. Bruce Humberstone
1944
9:00 am EST, 6 AM PST:
GOLDEN GIRL
Western biography of Lotta Crabtree (Gaynor), who after the Civil War was determined to become a musical star.
*Cast:* Mitzi Gaynor, Dale Robertson, Una Merkel, Dennis Day, James Barto
*Director:* Lloyd Bacon
1951
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23:
5:30 am EST, 2:30 AM PST:
FOX LEGACY: THE TYRONE POWER STORY
Tom Rothman, Chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, introduces landmark 20th Century Fox films and provides insight about how these notable films were created.
*Cast:* Tom Rothman
2010
6:00 am EST, 3 AM PST:
THE BLACK SWAN
A pirate (Tyrone Power) on the Spanish Main finds time to woo a beautiful maiden (O'Hara) between pillaging galleons, engaging swordplay and ending the career of Redbeard (Sanders).
*Cast:* Tyrone Power, George Sanders, Laird Cregar, Anthony Quinn, Fortunio Bonanova
1942
11:00 am EST, 8 AM PST:
FANTASTIC VOYAGE
Oscar-winning special effects are displayed in this story of scientists (aboard a submarine) that are miniaturized to molecular size and injected into the body of an ill man in an attempt to save his life. (Raquel Welch in a wetsuit was considered by man
*Cast:* Raquel Welch, Stephen Boyd, Donald Pleasence, William Redfield, Arthur Kennedy, James Brolin, Barry Coe
*Director:* Richard Fleischer
1966
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24:
4:50 am EST, 1:50 AM PST:
NIGHT TRAIN TO PARIS
A retired O.S.S. agent agrees to help out on one last mission: helping a fellow female agent deliver some important tapes to a secret Paris location.
*Cast:* Leslie Nielsen, Billie Neal, Jacques Cey, Neal Arden
*Director:* Robert Douglas
1964
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25:
6:00 am EST, 3 AM PST:
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Tyrone Power is excellent in a change-of-pace role as a carnival con man who masters a mind-reading act and teams up with an unethical psychiatrist to scam wealthy clients in this part-film noir, part-gothic thriller.
*Cast:* Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray, Helen Walker, Taylor Holmes, Mike Mazurki, Ian Keith, George Jesse
*Director:* Edmund Goulding
1947
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From the FMC Website:
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19:
4:39 AM EST, 1:39 AM PST:
DOWN TO EARTH
A wealthy oilman with a homespun spirit teaches his spendthrift family a lesson by claiming they are bankrupt.
Cast: Will Rogers, Irene Rich, Dorothy Jordan, Matty Kemp
Director: David Butler
1932
7:35 AM EST, 4:35 AM PST:
EVERYTHING HAPPENS AT NIGHT
A British reporter (Ray Millan) competes with an American reporter (Robert Cummings) for the story of a murdered political comenator and for the affections of his ice skater daughter (Sonja Henie).
Cast: Ray Milland, Sonja Henie, Robert Cummings, Leonid Kinsley, Maurice Moscovitch
Director: Irving Cummings
1939
9 AM EST, 6 AM PST:
PHONE CALL FROM A STRANGER
A powerful drama about the lone survivor (Gary Merrill) of a plane crash who visits the families of several victims and tells them how their relatives had enriched his life.
Cast: Bette Davis, Shelley Winters, Michael Rennie, Gary Merrill, Beatrice Straight, Keenan Wynn, Nunnally Johnson
Director: Jean Negulesco
1952
11 AM EST, 8 AM PST:
BIGGER THAN LIFE
Produced and starring James Mason, film deals with a subject matter not dealt with in 1956-miracle drugs and unpredictable side-effects. Mason is a modest school teacher initially helped by prescription cortisone, but soon faces devastating addiction.
Cast: James Mason, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau, Robert Simon, Roland Winters, David Raksin
Director: Nicholas Ray
1956
Edited by: Arturo on Nov 18, 2012 10:18 PM
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MoreMax,
Monday November 19:
4:45 AM:
DEADLINE USA (1952): drama with Humphrey Bogart as a newspaper editor and Etherl Barrymore as the paper's owner being pressured to kill that investigative story. With Kim Hunter as Bogie's wife.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20"
1;20 AM:
HALLS OF MONTEZUMA (1951): South Pacific war war story with Marines vs Japanese. With Richard Widmark and Jack Palance.
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*I'll take Splendored Thing any day of the week over MARTY, which seems like a dreary little TV movie of the week. No thanks.*
MARTY actually started out as a TV drama.
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*I said ATWM is sort of like a B plus film or A minus film. I was making the distinction that, while it is a programmer, it could not be considered a B film. It has a somewhat elevated pedigree in terms of budget and casting and other production values. I was also suggesting that the A pictures that are not epics and do not have extravagant casts and location shooting are sort of like an A minus. Or if we are calling MALAYA a straight A, then we would have to call QUO VADIS an A plus. There is a correlational study that can be done on studio productions.*
Topbilled, if I remember corectly, you are an educator. This must explain your partiality to letter grades with qualifiying pluses or minuses lol. And all these letter grade permutations is the reason I feel people nowdays don't understand the concept of "programmer" and think of it as more or less synonymous with "B". This (programmer) is a perfectly good term that covers a certain grade of A films, and to explain them as a B Plus confuses what a programmer is....just say "programmer" and it should be self-explanatory.
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A few years ago, Fox released two boxsets on Tyrone Power...one focused on Swashbucklers and the other, called TP Matinee Idol, had mostly comedies with a drama or two. I had hoped that a Western collection of his movies would follow, which would include RAWHIDE and the Western in all but location, UNTAMED. Fox stopped these boxsets about 3 years ago, so I'm hoping these and other titles will be part of the new Fox Archive series (or whatever it;s called).
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*Really? He was a bit old to be playing Bond. Interesting.*
If I remember correctly, I think that John Payne held the rights to "Dr. No" back in the mid-50s or so. That would have been an intriguing prospect; maybe Bond would have been non-British to explain his accent...maybe Canadian?
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*The questions for both actors and studio heads is how 'fair' a fixed rate, 7 year contract is as time marches on.*
Actually, most of the 7 year contracts had options every six months or one year. If the studio picked up the player's option, there was usually a salary increase. So these contracts were not normally "fixed-rate".
*WB got it's money worth at the start of Kay's contract but clearly not as much at the end, but overall both sides got value out of the relationship. Kay signed her deal with WB while near the top of her fame. Doing so clearly favors an actor.*
Kay had the added advantage in that she was part of a "talent raid" by WB against Paramount; this also included Miriam Hopkins and William Powell. Warners was able to woo them with superior salary guarantees, but also because they were unhappy that Paramount had instituted an across the board pay cut, in order to counter sagging movie attendance as the Great Depression was reaching the depths.
it is possible that Warners got as much of its money's worth at the end of Kay's contract as at the start, insomuchas Kay was filming B movies. So while her movies might no longer have been making the money they had earlier, they were substantially more economically made, being B films.
Edited by: Arturo on Nov 16, 2012 9:30 PM
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Topbilled wrote:
*Arturo is really the expert on programmers. He contributed a great post in this thread.*
Thanks, TB. As I mentioned, modern-day distinctions between A and B films from the Studio Era, with no concept of "Programmer" included (or misunderstood) is one of my pet peeves, and I tend to point out when someone labels all programmers as Bs in one fell swoop.
As in this post:
ACROSS THE WIDE MISSOURI *is sort of like a B or an A- film. It does not really seem epic enough to be called an A film,* even though Clark Gable's in it; *and it has too good a pedigree to be labeled a B film.+*
*I think MALAYA is another one of these. Compared to QUO VADIS, it is not going to seem like an A picture.* But it has Spencer Tracy, James Stewart and Sidney Greenstreet in it (a who's-who of solid performers). *It's a routine MGM drama that was blessed with excellent casting.*
These comments should be enough to not even allow the B film tag to be considered for these movies. Not every A movie was, or was meant to be, an epic. These are just average studio A films, with big name talent, but nothing epic or prestigious....in short, Programmers.
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During the nude calendar scandal, wasn't MM's answer to questions from the press about whether she had anything on. "Chanel No.5"? Or alternately, "The Radio".
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*What are your criteria for a "hit"?*
Well It isn't my criteria so much, as it's the criteria of the studio, financiers, etc....it brought in paying customers to see it in movie theaters...AND made money for those concerned. They determined that the movie was a hit when its boxoffice take was substantially more than their investment. This is a purely financial definition, and has nothing to do with artistic accomplishment.
Edited by: Arturo on Nov 15, 2012 11:51 PM
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*So. Casablanca is a programmer, not a B, as it is usually called.*
CASABLANCA was most definitely NOT a B. It was a typical assembly-line product, seemingly a programmer in conception, but the studio seemed to sense that alchemy had somehow created gold, and its release was timed to be in the running for Oscar contention. So it's promotional budget was upped and the studio promoted it as one of its prestige items; it could no longer be considered a programmer.
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*For example, THREE ON A MATCH was a short low budget film with stars. So was it a B or a Programmer?*
*Wasn?t a Programmer a B too?*
*What were Kay Francis films? Bs or Programmers?*
In the early to mid 30s, many A films were quite short, often less than 75 minutes. Later, the length of most A films increased to over 80 minutes.
TOAM, as with many of Warners' fast paced early-mid 30s movies, was a programmer, so by definition, an A movie.
During Kay Francis' heyday at WB in this period, her films were all A features, whether programmmer or prestige item. Once her boxoffice pull began to wane (and she was voted "Boxoffice Poison"), but more importantly, after she had contentious contract talks at Warners (a culmination of several years of increasing antagonism between Kay and her bosses), in 1938 the studio announced in the trade papers that Kay would finish her contract doing B pictures. This was an unprecedented humiliating tactic in order, as mentioned here, to have her break her contract. She held firm, and though heart-broken, soldiered on making bona fide B movies at WB's B Unit.
Edited by: Arturo on Nov 15, 2012 11:16 PM
Great unsung screen pairings
in General Discussions
Posted
I always enjoyed Loretta Young and Tyrone Power together, especially in their three costarring screwball/romantic comedies from 1937. They always made a breathtaking couple, even in SUEZ, an epic where Loretta's less than epic role had her soon refusing to extend her contract with Fox. Earlier she had turned down LLOYD'S OF LONDON when she correctly figured that she would be secondary, as it was to be a starmaking role for Power. Later,she would refuse DAY-TIME WIFE at the point of leaving the studio.