Arturo
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Posts posted by Arturo
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*I wish TCM could do a special about the unforgetable dresses worn in the movies. When you think about it, those dresses were stars, too.*
Back in the late 90s or earlys 00s, AMC (or was it FMC) when it mattered, had a series about designers from the classic Hollywood era. What I didn't care for, and what must have been a bellwether on where the channel was heading, was how they would tie them in with current Hollywood designers/stars. Darryl Hannah hosted it. I have it taped to VHS somewhere.
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*Today I caught the last half hour of a movie he made in 1966 about the Argentine pampas that I'd like to see all the way through. It looked like our West with outlaws, Indians, and soldiers. I've read that theirs is the only culture that has anything near our Western mystique.*
I believe the name is SAVAGE PAMPAS, and is being featured on EncoreWestern channel.
Well, our Western culture is largely based on Northern México's vaquero culture (they took not only the land, but how to survive in it). Vaquero culture is still a viable regional culture in México.
It's interesting (although quite sad) that the general pattern of European conquest, colonization and imperialism is repeated over and over. Similar cultures developed in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and other places.
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*I have noticed many times about people from the 30's, 40's especially looked a lot more grown up than today's stars.*
*I mark it up to most people were reall skinny and that makes you look older.*
What it is was the Youth Culture coming into play. Teenagers as a concept, came into popular being only in the 1940s. Before that, they were youngsters trying to, and expected to, fit in and take their place in the adult world. They were not viewed as a separate group that might have their own tastes and buying power. Of course, with the 50s Rock and Roll Revolution, and culminating in the 60s Counterculture, a definite schism between "us' vs. "them" was codified, acknowledged and revered. And now with the emphasis on youth, you have a prolonged adolescence period in terms of habits, styles, etc. lasting well into the 30s; we even have many 40 and 50 somethings still trying to look and act like teenagers.
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*So, whether it be a Movie or a Rock n Roll icon we're talking about, I'm thinking that we can at least agree that only Elvis Presley equals Marilyn Monroe in the amount and degree of all of the above.*
*She still seems to inspire /engender that kind of behaviour regarding Movie cults, he does the same thing, but with rock n roll cult followings.*
The reason Elvis may score higher than Marilyn among kids these days is *precisely because they know him as a rock and roll star;* his music is ubiquitous everywhere. Even many younger fans of Marilyn state they haven't seen any of her movies, or if they have, they usually found them boring. So she is basically known for her image, her tragic end, her legend, her iconic clips ("Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend", the dress blowing in SEVEN YEAR ITCH), whereas Elvis, (also known for his image, tragic end, etc.) while obviously known for clips from movies like JAILHOUSE ROCK, or from shows like the Ed Sullivan Show, he is most know to kids overwhelmingly by their exposure to his music featured everywhere.
Edited by: Arturo on Aug 5, 2011 6:13 PM
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*I believe that Lucas acknowledged that the light saber duels in his film were inspired by the duel in The Adventures of Robin Hood but even Lucas, to the best of my knowledge, never tried to claim that his film was a modern swashbuckler. A science fiction adventure with swords fights, yes, but a swashbuckler, I don't think so.</*
Well not really swordfights, as they are lasars not blades, and CGI to boot. No way can that compare with the classic rapier duels of yore.
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And Marilyn's iconic pink satin sheath from the "Diamond Are A Girl's Best Friend" number in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES . . . And Marilyn's white halter dress whose skirt blew upward in THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH . . . And Marilyn's red number when she sings along to "Kiss" in NIAGARA . . . And Marilyn's . . .
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*Other than Scarlet, what character would you of most wanted Paulette to have gotten during her stay in Hollywood?*
*Mine- Delilah in C.B. Demille's Samson and Delilah*
Paulette would probably have also been featured in this DeMille epic has she not **** him off during the filming of UNCONQUERED.
I always thought that she would have been Great in FRENCHMAN'S CREEK, a perfect companion piece with KITTY (too bad that one wasn't in Technicolor). -
"Vor-" or "Dvor-" "-djak" or "zjak" OR something to that effect BUT NOT "ak"
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Slightly off-topic, but I was always amazed as a kid in the 70s watching Barnaby Jones (way old dude-Buddy Ebsen) or Cannon (very fat man-Frank Conrad?) able to overtake much younger and more fit villains in chases over hills and the like.
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*All of Tyrone Power's swashbucklers pale next to his Mark of Zorro masterpiece, in my opinion, though none of them are without interest.*
While I have a special fondness for THE MARK OF ZORRO, I would rank THE BLACK SWAN up there with it as a swashbuckler.
*I wish that Cornel Wilde got to do some better films than he managed to get as he was an Olympic-caliber swordsman. Still, THE BANDIT OF SHERWOOD FOREST and AT SWORD's POINT have their moments.*
Wilde has a great duel in FOREVER AMBER, although that's not a swashbuckler per se.
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*Wow I've never heard of Walls of Jericho, but it sounds delicious I mean Linda Darnell, Anne Baxter, Cornell Wilde and Kirk Douglas and then throw in Ann Dvorak wow! I mean that's like senses overload! I agree Linda Darnell is amazing, but I think TCM don't own the rights to the 20th Century Fox vaults and that's why they don't show a lot of her flims because she was under contract to them and made most of her movies there.*
Linda looked great in the film. She was still a blonde (it was filmed in the fall of 1947), and remained blonde while the promotion/premieres of FOREVER AMBER played out. She was also thin from the dieting she had done for AMBER. Kirk played her husband, a newspaper editor, but she is in love with rising politician Cornel Wilde (as in AMBER), who was married to Ann Dvorak, who was an alcoholic. When Linda can't have her way, she manipulates Dvorak to shoot Cornel. Anne Baxter plays a lawyer, who is also in love with Wilde.
Pretty melodramatic goings on at the turn of the last century, but I wish TCM had been able to get it. Of course they have limited access to Fox movies, but the bad thing is that it isn't shown on FMC either. Here's hoping.
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*MGM had Taylor and Gable; Fox had Power and Wagner; Warners had Flynn and Troy Donahue; and Universal had Rock Hudson. These were not exactly sterling performers,*
I also find these pairings incongruous. The first at least makes sense in that for much of the 30s, 40s and 50s, they were the top male actors (along with Spencer Tracy) at the same studio MGM. Power and Wagner overlapped shortly at Fox in the early 50s (and Wagner was the latest in a long line of actors that the studio was trying to foist as the "new" Power). Flynn and Donahue I can't even fathom. Gable, Flynn and Power gave MANY sterling performances, and Taylor could occasionally rise there. Wagner I liked in the early years, but Donahue I cannot fathom (not being a straight female or gay male).
Edited by: Arturo on Aug 4, 2011 3:32 PM -
*Ann also has a great supporting role in A Life of Her Own, not shown during this tribute, but TCM shows it fairly often.*
Ann also has a great supporting role in 1948's costume melodrama, THE WALLS OF JERICHO, another one of those 20th century Fox movies that hasn't been shown in ages (apparently), despite its big name cast (Cornel Wilde, Linda Darnell, Ann Baxter, Kirk Douglas, Ann, etc.)
It would have been great if TCM could have this shown for either Ann's or Linda Darnell's SUTS tributes.
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*Ok, you got me and it looks like I didn't think before I replied. I love those two films and I can see how one would define them as costume picture (hey, I don't know anyone that dressed that way in the 20th century), but they are also adventure picture*
So no wriggle room for GWTW?
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*Just to be clear, they didn't make a decision to film rather than videotape their show. I LOVE LUCY was ending, when the very first videotaped show started airing. It wasn't an option for them.*
Desi Arnaz' luck, or genius, was to choose to do "I Love Lucy" in film as opposed to kinescope (?), which is what most TV shows were done at that time. I don't remember why exactly, but it had something to do with its limitations, i.e. it had to re broadcast live, or it didn't save and deteriorated quickly, or it couldn't be broadcast too far, or it couldn't be broadcast unless from New York; I don't remember. I think it has to do with their decision to do the show in LA and having to fly the film back to NY. Anyways, film allowed the show to be seen over and over, leading to Lucy to be seen all over the world, to this day, and into rerun heaven (back then there was no idea about rerunning shows, nor that they would have the life that they've had). So more than anything, the Arnaz made their fortune by this fortuitous decision to do it on film. Other shows soon followed suit.
Videotaping came in somewhat later.
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TopBilled wrote:
*She receives top female billing on loan-out to Fox for THE DARK CORNER. That was an A-picture. MGM had more A-picture lead roles scheduled for her, then decided to drop her.* I wrote:
She moved over to MGM, and temporarily was one of the leading ladies in A films there. But she was soon consigned to programmers, supporting roles, or nothing. So she left. Most of the films she did in the late 40s, were programmers at best . . .
That she was the female lead in THE DARK CORNER does not negate what I had posted, which is *Most of the films she did in the late 40s, were programmers at best . . .* I said most, not all of the films . . . btw, programmers are A films too, just not of the prestigious sort.
MGM gave her the lead in a top-drawer A film exactly twice. Sure they must have initally had grand plans for her, but obviously decided against it in the long term, so I stand by my statement that *she was soon consigned to programmers, supporting roles, or nothing.*
*she says she knew she was already a household name in the mid-40s, because casting calls were put out in Hollywood to find a 'Lucille Ball type' when a certain role called for a character to possess her particular skills.*
Well, casting calls for a "Lucille Ball type" means you are well known in the industry, and what your speciality is, not necessarily that you are a household name.
*She also became known as a stunt comedienne in the 40s, well before her I Love Lucy escapades. She required hospitalization at the end of THE FULLER BRUSH GIRL because her insistence on doing stunts herself imperiled her life.*
This is true, she had already displayed many of the traits that would make her America's sweetheart from the 50s onward. She just wasn't that big a big star in the 40s. Her TV show not only revitalized her career, but sent her to the stratosphere, to undreamed of heights of popularity which she hadn't had as a movie star.
*By the end of her RKO stint, she had arrived.*
I agree. She just didn't remain there long. By the mid-40s, her career in films had already peaked.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Lucy. I'm just realistic about her motion picture career. As much as I enjoy the vast majority of her films, she was never quite an A-lister in the 40s.
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*So to say her movie career was confined to B-pictures, or to say she only did supporting roles in A-pictures, is not accurate.*
Obviously, any film she did post-I Love Lucy is going to be an A pic. But Lucy was one of those movie actresses once known as Queen of the 'B"s, and with good reason. In the late 1930s, and into the 40s, she WAS confined to starring in B-pictures, and doing support in A's. Things started to change at the end of her stint at RKO, when she did THE BIG STREET in 1942. She moved over to MGM, and temporarily was one of the leading ladies in A films there. But she was soon consigned to programmers, supporting roles, or nothing. So she left. Most of the films she did in the late 40s, were programmers at best, and her last before she found superstardom on the small screen, THE MAGIC CARPET, was a B quickie (she was no fool; she saw the writing on the wall and tried television). As I said, the rest of her filmography, sparse as it was, was in A-films only, since she was a household name at that point.
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*With that voice and look, was Scott supposed to be Columbia's answer to Bacall?*
*I've heard this, but I dunno...*
Actually, she was Paramount's (via producer Hal Wallis) version to Bacall. Whenever there was a successful new star with a new image (wasn't Bacall publicized as "The Look", or was it "The Face"), the other studios would want one of their own. Ergo, Lizabeth Scott, and Nancy Guild at Fox, and . . . -
*As for the day I'm looking forward to most in August, definitely Linda Darnell -- I'm so excited to see TWO FLAGS WEST for the first time, as well as a title she made with George Murphy. I'm just sorry that the rare HOTEL FOR WOMEN, mentioned on the back of the July Now Playing guide, was dropped from the schedule.*
So anyone know what happened to HOTEL FOR WOMEN? I was most anxious to this, Linda Darnell's film debut (and in the lead!). Incidentally, Ann Sothern's part was reputedly cut rather drastically, supposedly for not signing a long-term contract with 20th, but signing with MGM instead. Hope TCM will schedule it soon (maybe for Linda's birthday in October . . . hint hint).
I'm also excited about TWO FLAGS WEST, but not as much by RISE AND SHINE, the film with Murphy, a collegiate musical that I'm not thrilled about, nor was Linda, who didn't want to do it. It was the beginning of the disinterest towards her career on Zanuck's part, and subsequent stagnation of same (I repeat, something happened after Linda turned 18, and apparently turned down the advances of Zanuck and other Fox executives . . . she stopped getting decent roles, and suitable parts for her went to others). Thankfully for her, in 1944, she fought to be loaned out for SUMMER STORM, and a new image and renewed career trajectory that followed.
Edited by: Arturo on Jul 26, 2011 12:13 AM
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*I prefer sister Sally Blane.*
*First, I almost always find her much prettier than Loretta, plus she made more interesting films - obscure "B" stuff.*
All four sisters were incredibly beautiful. early on Sally and Loretta were equally popular, but by the mid 30s, Loretta had outdistanced her as she attained major stardom.
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*Bela Lugosi (who once again is NOT Star of the Month for October) acted with all three sisters...THE DEVIL'S IN LOVE with Loretta; NIGHT OF TERROR with Sally; THE INVISIBLE GHOST with Polly Ann.*
There was another sister. . . Georgianna . . . and Loretta acted with all three sisters in THE STORY OF ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL. -
*Wouldn't we rather have kids enjoying classic films, than for Shirley Temple's movies to wind up as museum pieces?*
So will they REALLY be "enjoying classic films" or something that was artistically tampered with? It only sends the message that classic films are less than, unless they are somehow made more palatable. Believe me, expose kids to the real thing at the right age and they 'get it'.
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*The show made it on to the television airwaves and of course became a part of pop culture history. But the goal for her was to use television to relaunch her film career,*
The TV show was exceedingly successful immediately after its debut in the fall of 1951. MGM offered the couple a contract based SOLEY on their television popularity. They had ALREADY MADE IT (*HUGE*-they became much more famous than they had ever been from movies, radio, records, etc.) when they started filming THE LONG LONG TRAILER; so the "Come-Back" had already taken place-on TV. The movie was not a comeback, per se, but a "Trumphal Return".
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*If colorizing a film gives it broader appeal to kids, then why not do that, as long as you still provide the original black-and-white print for those that prefer it in the original version. Comparing colorizing to pan-and-scan involves the same set of artistic principles.*
Neither is aestehtically nor ethically defensible, whatever the reasons for its use.
Favorite dresses from movies.
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*It is sad that you don't get to see the dresses in person. Many of them were made with first rate fabric, details and accessories. You don't always get a sense of how nice the dresses are made until you are looking and touching them.*
Don't remember where I read it (whether in one of a couple of great books published in the late 70s-early 80s on Classic Hollywood designers-or-in the biography of a particular star), or to whom the quote is attributable, but a designer spoke about the finest materials used in the dresses/gowns in the studio era, and that even the undergarments were of the finest materials; of course the wearer's character was a person of means, and the designer wanted the actress to feel the luxury inherent in the person's station, or something to that effect. Quite interesting I thought. Wish I had those books, but I wasn't then (nor nowadays) willing to steal them from the library.