Arturo
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Posts posted by Arturo
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*Being a major fan of Joan's sister, Olivia, I just had to 'check out' Joan's films. The funny thing about these two is Joan's best work are in her early films and with Olivia it is her later period.*
*Those 3 early Joan pictures you mention are first rate production and Joan does her part very well.*
Well at the risk of being too technical, bordering on the offensive for some people here, actually Joan's early film work is her not highly regarded stint as a mostly nondescrpit leading lady in B films at RKO in the late 1930s. It wasn't until she tested for George Cukor and won a role in THE WOMEN did some in Hollywood see potential in her.
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I actually get the opposite happen to me. A number of my friends seem to think I spend WAY TOO MUCH time watching TCM. They're constantly berating me to watch some hot new "water cooler" show. I do watch some new shows, but nothing on a consistent basis; I'd much rather be watching what's on TCM or FMC, and failing that, I prefer shows on Discovery, Natl Geographic, etc.
The point about TCM's being the only TV source for classic movies *(beyond Fox, which is extremely limited*) is a good one.
Speaking of Fox Movie Channel: my service (Directv) has been posting on the viewers guide next to this channel (and others), that if a deal is not worked out with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. re: the increase in rates NC wants to charge, that these channels may stop being shown effective 11/01/11. Anyone familiar with this situation?
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*I cannot stand Katherine Hepburn. Her voice just grates on me. The only movie of hers I like is GLASS MENAGERIE because that is really her. Its not acting.*
Actually, the consensus around here is that Ms. Hepburn played herself in most of her movies.
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*Margie (1947)*
*________________________________________*
*Is this movie with Jeanne Crain ?*
*And is the Year 1946 instead of 1947 ?*
Yes this is the movie that starred Jeanne Crain, and it was a 1946 release. This was one of Crain's best gushing teenager roles, where she recalls her youth in the 1920s-and losing her bloomers. Also featuring Glenn Langan (in a role Cornel Wilde turned down) and a wise-cracking Barbara Lawrence (in a role meant for June Haver) in one of her best roles, it was one of Fox' biggest hits that year.
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*THE GRAPES OF WRATH -- who needs sleeping pills? A total bore to me. Overly earnest, too long, dull, preachy, completely unrealistic. Because of it I will never have insomnia.*
*-----*You had to be there (the dust bowl, the great depression) in order to say that, and I'm guessing you weren't.
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*Was "Elsa" Rita's name in the film (I don't recall) or are you referring to Elsa Maxwell, the hostess with the mostest?*
As much as the mental image of Orson and Elsa Maxwell tussling in bed has brought a chuckle and a smile, Elsa Barrington (I think) was Rita's character's name in THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI.Incidentally, I think Ms. Maxwell was responsible for bring Rita and her next husband (after Welles), Prince Aly Khan, together at a party she hosted on the French Riviera in 1948. -
*Rita Hayworth in this film, as a short-haired blonde, doesn't look like the usual Rita, and in fact this film makes her a unique character and a unique actress, so in film history there is only one Blonde Rita with short hair, and this makes her seem like a special actress who made only one movie in her life.*
To paraphrase Rita's quote about "men always go to bed with Gilda and wake up with me', Orson went to bed with Gilda and insisted he wake up to Elsa.
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Dargo, since Dick VanDyke's appeal has always eluded me, Yes I find it hard to believe he could get a **** like MTM.
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*You have to take into account when LIBELED LADY was made...at the height of Powell and Loy's popularity. It was intended as a vehicle for them. Tracy obviously did not have the extensive film resume that Powell had at that point.*
Yes, while Tracy had done exemplary work while under contract to Fox, and ws gven his due fr his acting abilities, he had not made it to the top rank of stars. This changed during his first year at MGM, as he was in three back to back hits: LIBELED LADY, SAN FRANCISCO and FURY. These established him as a boxoffice contender, and his best actor nomination for SF, along with his other work-especially FURY, pretty much established him as the studio's prestige male star.
Of course, Jean Harlow was top-billed in LIBELED LADY.
While I do like and admire Tracy, I do sometimes find him insufferable, especially in some of his later performances.
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*How would you feel about someone who's lost their thumbs because Kolac from the planet Twilo had taken 'em away?*
*(note: The meaning of THIS joke will ONLY be caught by those who loved "The Dick Van Dyke Show"!!!)
* Well, it wouldn't be a good thing I'm thinking (in my best Betty Grable voice-a la HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE - "I should say I'd rather have a rich one [husband]"-or words to that effect).
I LOVE "The Dick Van Dyke Show" what a great premise, stupendous cast and superlative writers, but I had always meant to post on a thread about "how did he end up with her" - Just how did Dick end up with Laura Petrie/Mary Tyler Moore?! I never got that.
Edited by: Arturo on Oct 15, 2011 2:26 PM
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*Arturo, that comment is problematic and seems to be an attempt to make the board an unfriendly and potentially hostile posting environment. Can you please amend that statement? Why should this wonderful thread get hijacked and possibly locked when people cannot be nice.*
Are you kidding?!? This is a joke! I just pointed out that since you stated that all the times that Spencer Tracy did not receive top billing could be counted on the fingers of ONE hand . . . then you gave 7 instances . . . did you not see my 'lol"? Now if you do have 7 or 8 digits on one hand (or even if you don't), then I apologize to you or anyone else that might have also taken offense.
Now if pointing out your actual erors bothers you, well I apologize as well . . . but will continue to point out something that I see as incorrect (of course I may be the one that's wrong).
Edited by: Arturo on Oct 15, 2011 2:08 PM
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*But what isn't Bette good at? However, does she really go mad in The Letter, or does she merely commit murder in a jealous rage?*
Sounds like the legal defense "Temporary Insanity".
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*Hey, Arturo ! You know what, your screen name - which is also your real name - actually does fit with a film theme. I always thought you called yourself "Arturo" in reference to the "auteur" theory. I'm serious. (Although now that l think about it, I'm not sure that the "auteur" theory is one to which you subscribe. )*
You're right . . . I DON"T subscribe to the auteur theory at all. However, I can amend it slightly and honor an actor from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema (my nationality) who also made a few Holyywood features . . . Arturo De Cordova.
Dargo, I try not to make fun of those with physical limitations/challenges, but 7 or 8 fingers on one hand is too hard for me not to comment.
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*n about 80 films, you can count the number of times he was not top-billed on one hand. That's a great accomplishment. The stars who had billing over him were: Joan Bennett (once, in their other three films together, she was billed after him); Clark Gable (he was top-billed over Spence three times at MGM); Myrna Loy (she was top-billed over Spence twice at MGM); and Jean Harlow and William Powell outranked him on LIBELED LADY. Katharine Hepburn was always billed under him.*
OK I've been refraining from making whoesale corrections, but by your own reckoning he was not top-billed seven (7) times . . . plus CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS . . . just how many fingers does this one hand of yours have . . . lol.
btw my screen name is just my first name...when i signed up I didn't realize that it should reflect something about films that one likes.
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*She was hot for a shot time but she sure did cool off fast.*
Veronica Lake was hot from the moment that I WANTED WINGS was previewed, and soon her peek-a-boo hairdoo was all the rage. However, with the coming of WW2 and women working in large numbers in factories, the hairstyle was seen as dangerous. In order to promote safety, Veronica agreed to change her doo, either wearing it pulled back or upswept. Alas, she was never as magnetic or compelling as before.
Lake was also a star who stated she was in it for the money. She reportedly would open fan mail envelopes, and take out the quarter (sent by fans for an authographed glossy pic), and toss the letter aside. Likewise, she treated fans she ran into, and the press, with contempt. So when the war closed and her career began to ebb, factions that could have been potential allies had been alienated. Additionally, a short hairstyle (fashionable in the late 40s), was not very becoming IMHO, and further lessened her once high allure quotient.
In all fairness, none of Paramount's top female stars during WW2: Paulette Goddard, Dorothy Lamour, Betty Hutton, Veronica, fared very well for very long in the late 40s.
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There are WAY too many scenarios from classic Hollywood movies that I'd've liked to have been in, I can't even begin to narrow it down. So I'll go with a more recent movie, FRIDA. Mostly set in one of my favorite cities, Ciudad de México, at a time when it was a small capital (1920s-30s), traffic was minimal, its colonial legacy still not marred by incongruous modern architecture, its crystal clear mountain air allowing regular vistas of the nearby snowcapped volcanoes, no megalopolis to have swallowed nearby villages and countryside alike, and most importantly, a fervent intellectual and artistic climate. I would have like to have been a part of that.
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*Unfortunately his comedic talents were rarely given much opportunity after 1934.*
Along with the gentle nostalgic comedy of THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE, in 1941 Cagney did a less funny "comedy", THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D., costarring Bette Davis. Too bad these two dynamos at the top of their game couldn't have had a funnier script, or even a (melo)drama for that matter.
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This movie has been shown on the Fox Movie Channel regularly in the last year or so. If I'm not mistaken, it's also been on HBO/Cinemax, but the issue there may be that it'll be pan n scan instead of the original Cinemascope ratio.
I also enjoy this quiet study of a schoolteacher, with a winning performance by Jennifer Jones. It would behoove TCM to consider acquiring the rights to air this, maybe combining it with the excellent Fox film REMEMBER THE DAY . . . maybe showing GOODBYE MR. CHIPS and CHEERS FOR MISS BISHOP also, in one block of movies on inspirational educators.
Edited by: Arturo on Oct 6, 2011 8:19 PM
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*Take a look at the films they put Robinson into after Little Caesar and try to come up with the titles of outstanding films. I think it's a real challenge. Perhaps it was because that they didn't think that, like Cagney, Robinson would be appealing to the ladies. Whatever the reason I think the studio didn't craft the same kind of outstanding productions for him that the others had.*
Off the top of my head, I'd add BROTHER ORCHID, A MESSAGE FROM REUTERS, and MANPOWER as great Robinson films done while under contract to WB.
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*With Sheridan there is only Nora Prentiss.*
IT ALL CAME TRUE was actually a vehicle for Sheridan, to capitalize on the "oomph" publicity. So were JUKE GIRL, SHINE ON HARVEST MOON and THE UNFORGIVEN (these are those that come to mind off the top of my head.
*Yea, all of these fine actresses were in many good WB movies. I don't think anyone ever implied this wasn't the case. But they were not used to their potential since WB was mostly an acto'rs studio with the exception of Bette Davis projects.*
I agree with your premise here, except that in the mid-30s, the studio also fashioned many "women's films" vehicles for their then top female star, Kay Francis.
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*Yea, Ann's career at WB clearly started to go down after the war. I think the new WB gal Alexis Smith had something to do with that. She was younger than Ann and Jack wanted to push her big time.*
The second-tier women stars at WB (in the studio's way of thinking, not mine) had it rough in the 40s. Not only was Bette Davis ruling the roost, but Sheridan and Lupino had to contend with Crawford by mid-decade, and independent stars that did film there as well as other studios: Stanwyck and Rosalind Russell. Then the younger stars being promoted: besides Smith there was Eleanor Parker, and later in the decade, Patricia Neal. And seemingly out of nowhere, former blonde wisecracking cutie Jane Wyman is a contender for more dramatic roles. Sheridan also had to deal with the more youthful oomph of Virginia Mayo.
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oops. When I read the title of this thread I thought, sort of para-phrasing (or is it para-thinking) Gail Patrick's line from MY MAN GODFREY, "The mystery's solved. Now I know what Robert Osborne did on his summer vacation". Guess not.
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*Would you say you like the tight waists and pleated, swingy skirts of the 50s? Or, do you like the art deco look of the 30s? Or, the more rectangular look of the 20s?*
So is this quiz limited to women and (male to female) crossdressers?
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Along with most of those mentioned, I want to add Jean Renoir, Edmund Goulding, James Whale, Michael Curtiz, Preston Sturges, Luis Buñuel, Emilio Fernández and one of my own favorites, Henry King. King especially made decades of top entertainment. As someone else stated, not necessarily the "best" directors but definite faves.
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Anne Baxter, age 16, "Rebecca" screen test
in General Discussions
Posted
> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote}For those who don't know, Anne Baxter was Frank Lloyd Wright's granddaughter.
*Oh! Well then THAT must explain why she seemed to be so well "built"!!!*
Anne Baxter was one of those actresses who had the opposite dilemma to that which many of the sex symbols encountered; namely, that she was an acclaimed actress that wanted to be known as bombshell. She was quoted along the lines of "I always wanted to be one of those where fans would ask me to autograph my bra for them". In the 1950s, she dyed her hair and became first a blonde, and then la redhead, in order to better compete against the likes of studio mates Linda Darnell, Susan Hayward and Marilyn Monroe, and later against all others once she started to freelance in the mid-50s.
As this cover shows, she relished doing cheesecake, unlike some others trying to be known for their acting prowess over their figure.
Edited by: Arturo on Nov 1, 2011 7:09 PM