Arturo
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Posts posted by Arturo
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Not Knots Landing. He was a regular on Falcon Crest. (the Jane Wyman nighttime soap)
Oops, my bad. Guess I got my 1980s nighttime soaps mixed up. Don Murray was the guy in Knot's Landing. I probably thought that one first because Donna Mills made a.strong impression on me, although now that I think about it, Ana Alicia on FC did also.
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I don't know much about Susan Hayward except for her unfortunate role in The Conqueror, which for whatever reason, I'm looking forward to.
I recorded Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman, but I haven't watched it yet.
I want to see The Lusty Men which I missed during Robert Mitchum's SUTS tribute.
I also want to see I Want to Live! which I understand is the ultimate Susan Hayward performance. For some reason, women prison films are interesting to me.
I also want to see Valley of the Dolls, I haven't seen it before--even though it's been on Netflix Instant Streaming forever.
Along with THE LUSTY MEN, I recommend the rest of this Thursday's Susan Hayward lineup. The films are mostly 20th
Century Fox films, other than TLM, and are the films that cemented her as one.of the top stars of the 1950s. All have something worthwhile.
I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE (1951): Susan rises from rags to riches in the rag trade. She partners with Dan Dailey (in a then rare dramatic role) and Sam Jaffe, to help her move from model to dress designer. Later, she wants to move into more haute couture, and uses George Sanders for this. Sanders, in a retread of his Addison Dewitt characterization (for which was then winning an Oscar), helps to deflate her inflated ambitions. An enjoyable film, with a typically gutsy performance from Susan.
DAVID AND.BATHSHEBA (1951): Susan stars with Gregory Peck in this thoughful biblical epic. Her beauty tempts Peck's stoicism. Her role is subsidiary to his, but together they had the biggest grossing film in that year.
THE PRESIDENT'S LADY (1953): Frontier tale of Hayward as the woman who becomes involved with Andrew Jackson, and who sullies hisi political.chances because of her past. Very good performance by Susan, with a young.pre-stardom Charlton Heston as Jackson. The only drawback is that it wasn't in technicolor.
WITH A SONG IN MY HEART (1952): Susan won her third Oscar nomination with this colorful biopic, recounting the life of tragic torch singer Jane Froman. Froman chose her over other asiprants for the role, which included Anne Baxter, Jeanne Crain and Linda Darnell. She was supported by Rory Calhoun, David Wayne, and Thelma Ritter, once more nominated in the supporting category. Note: This role would be directly responsible for her getting I'LL CRY TOMORROW some three years later.
And of course, THE LUSTY MEN, the Nicholas Ray modern western she did on loan to RKO. With Robert Mitchum (in the first of two costarring roles with Hayward) and Arthur Kennedy, this tale of the rodeo circuit is gritty and exciting.
Btw, these films, along with almost all others in the Hayward canon, are far better than the ill-fated THE CONQUEROR.
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I believe it was DOWAR.
Well, Lemmon had starred for Wilder the year before (and the year after DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES) in IRMA LA DOUCE,.so that couldn't have been it. Plus, KISS ME STUPID featured his wife Felicia Farr, so there would have been more bite to the guy not wanting Dino to sleep with his wife. I think his frenetic performance would have been much better than the too-frenetic performance of Ray Walston, and what I imagine would have Sellers' overly frenetic performance.
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MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF ALLAH:
Southern gentry in Savannah have to deal with a murder in the home of one the old money society families. The scion of the family, played by Kevin Spacey, admits to having killed an intruder, a male hustler. The mystery unravels, and he is forced to admit that he lived a downlow lifestyle, unbeknownst to his wife, and consorted with the gay underbelly of Savannah. Among his conquests was a black transexual nightclub performer, the Lady Chablis. His wife, played by Marlene Dietrich, miffed that he didn't find her androgynous enough, flees to North Africa, meets a former monk, played by John Cusack, and marries him. Together they make a fortune with his secret for an ancient liqueur, which he had learned in the monastery. Meanwhile, hubby No.1 fights the murder charge successfully, and as marriage equality is now the law of the land, marries the Lady Chablis. A happy ending all around.
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Afte her divorce from William Asher, Elizabeth Montgomery lived with an actor named Robert Foxworth for over 20 years.
They legally married in 1993, two years before her death.
Here are interviews with Elizabeth Montgomery and Robert Foxworth from 1992.
This is the Robert Foxworth that was the second Brady dad, and a regular on Knot's Landing (I think), right?
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On FMC (all times eastern):
Tuesday, 9/8:
3:30 am: FROM THE TERRACE (1960)........................6 am: DAY-TIME WIFE (1939)........................7:15 am: THE SHOCKING MISS PILGRIM (1947).........................8:45 am: HOW GREEN WAS.MY VALLEY..........................10:50 am: MADISON AVENUE (1962).......................12:30 pm: FROM THE TERRACE (1960)..............
Wednesday, 9/9:
1 am: TROUBLE MAN (1972)..............................6 am: ISLAND IN THE SKY (1938).............................7:10 am: THIS IS MY AFFAIR (1937)....................8;55 am: WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (1950)...............................10:35 am: GANG WAR (1958).................................11:50 am: TWELVE HOURS TO KILL (1960)...........................1:15 pm: TROUBLE MAN (1972)................
Thursday, 9/10:
4 am: NO HIGHWAY IN THE SKY (1951)..............................6 am: TALES OF MANHATTAN (1942)............................ 8 am: WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (1950).....................................9:40 am: TWELVE HOURS TO KILL (1960)..............................11:05 am: NO HIGHWAY IN THE SKY (1951)..........................................12:45 pm: SATAN NEVER SLEEPS (1962).......................
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Linda Darnell WAS very young when she filmed DAYTIME WIFE; it wrapped filming in mid-October 1939, on her 16th birthday in fact. Fox was promoting her to be a couple years older. Linda does look a bit different in her first few pictures. I think she started to look more familiar when she wore her hair long, as in the costume pictures BRIGHAM YOUNG or THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940). Or maybe it's just that films like ZORRO or BLOOD AND SAND are relatively more available, so this is the more familiar image.I enjoyed DAYTIME WIFE 1939 especially Tyrone and Linda as a young married couple. Linda is so young in this film, she looks different to me. When she appeared in BLOOD AND SAND 1941, she looked like the Linda we know. A few days ago I watched my guilty pleasure FALLEN ANGEL 1945. I love this film noir, who knows why it isn`t rated higher. Four men are in love with Linda, and she is not accepting a ring unless she will marry into a better life. I thought that Alice Faye was ok playing the prim and proper June, but the critics did not agree with my opinion.
I agree that FALLEN ANGEL is a very good noir, although a totally "guilt-free" pleasure to me, with Linda among the standouts. I also think Alice Faye is good, although she did not,.at.least.not in the released print. Several of her more dramatic scenes were apparently left on the cutting room floor, and felt that her role.emerged as.one dimensional. She was particularly hurt and incensed because she was hoping to move away from gaudy musicals into more dramatic fare, but when she saw an early showing, she left the studio in a rage.
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I tried posting the following earlier, but I had no connection (bars) then.
In the early hours of this Monday, Linda will be in two films:
On FMC.@ 7:15 am est; also Tuesday, @ 6 am est:
DAYTIME WIFE (1939), her second film, she plays Tyrone Power's young wife in this screwball comedy, and thinks he is playing on her. The first of four costarring roles with Power.
On EncoreWesterns @ 1:45 am:
TWO FLAGS WEST (1950). Linda is the female lead in this exciting western, costarring with Jeff.Chandler,.Cornel.Wilde and Joseph Cotton.
Next.week, Tuesday 9/15 @ 6 am est, FMC will repeat BRIGHAM YOUNG (1940), Darnell's first western, and her second film with Power, in this epic telling of the Mormon Trek.
But the day before, on Monday, 9/14, @ 3:30 am est, and.later @ 12:40 pm est, FMC will air Linda's most important film.at.the time, the botched epic FOREVER AMBER (1947). The long, troubled filming of the salacious bestseller has tainted the film as a critical and financial failure. However, it was a top grosser when it came out, and it has much to recommend it, including the cinematography, sets, costumes, score, and even the direction and some.of the performances. Costarring Cornel Wilde, Richard Greene.and George Sanders.
It's been awhile since I have seen it listed on FMC, so I am excited about this. Now if only TCM can get a copy of this, and air it as.an integral part of a Darnell SOTM. Hey, if Susan Hayward can be chosen, there's no reason why Linda can't be also.
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While I appreciate Hayward's ambition to succeed with stronger roles to prove herself, as well as her skill as an actress, that hard nosed **** quality about her I always found a bit off putting. I have a hard time saying that I actually like Susan Hayward.
Somewhere I heard an anecdote that during the filming of Garden of Evil in Mexico some of the cast and crew were gathered in a local bar for relaxation. Hayward then entered the joint and ordered a drink, which she finished by herself. No person came near her. She then left the bar by herself, even though, by now, a well known Hollywood star. The lady could be intimidating.
That toughness some will rightly say helped her to be a survivor in a brutal industry known for chewing up so many (though her best roles were behind her, ironically, after she finally won her Oscar for a terrifically honest, tough performance). Again, I can admire the lady but I don't ever seeing myself having feelings of affection for her (I rather doubt that Hayward herself would have ever given a damn about such a thing either).
In Hayward's case, I don't think it was so much the "Oscar curse", where everything afterwards is downhill (which it was for the most part). Rather, she had finally achieved this, after four previous nominations, and no longer felt that drive. Plus she had married her secomd husband in 1956, and happily went into semi-retirement in rural Georgia. She wanted as little to do with Hollywood, taking the occasional film offer, but turning down many more; among the roles she turned down was the one played by Jean Simmons in ELMER GANTRY. She just no longer cared feeling fullfilled careerwise and personally.
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Last night I watched AND NOW TOMORROW 1944 on You Tube. Yesterday was Alan Ladd`s birthday, Loretta young is one of my favorite actresses, and Susan is SOTM. Everything was fine except the last five minutes of the film were missing. Why post something if the whole film is incomplete. I have the video so I can replay the ending. Besides enjoying Susan being the sneaky, greedy and unfaithful Hester in ADAM HAD FOUR SONS 1941, CANYON PASSAGE 1946 was most enjoyable.The beautiful Technicolor of the Oregon frontier was expertly directed by Jacques Tourneur. A successful businessman Dana Andrews is friends with Brian Donlevy the keeper of the miners gold. Dana is a strong man, and he knows exactly what he wants. Brian is weak, and he plays poker with or without his own money. Susan gets caught in the middle. She is engaged to Brian, but on a trip with Dana she falls in love with him. Dana is engaged to another girl, but in the end she tells him that they do not share the same outlook for life. Brian`s stupidity is his downfall, and Andy Devine, Ward Bond, Lloyd Bridges, and Hoagy Carmichael head up the strong supporting cast.
Walter Wanger's guidance of Susan Hayward's career in the second half of the 40s, securing her such films.as.CANYON PASSAGE, SMASH UP and TULSA,.finally made Susan a star. At the end of the decade, Wanger's financial debacle with JOAN OF ARC led.him to sell her contract.to 20th Century Fox, where she would soon become one of the biggest stars of the 50s.
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I wonder why they had SMASH-UP!: STORY OF A WOMAN on at 6:00 am and BEAU GESTE, which she's in for, what? three? four minutes?, on at 8:00 pm.
At least the print they showed was decent (SMASH-UP is in the public domain and needs a restoration.)
I totally agree. TCM should have switched those two time slots. SMASH UP is essential Hayward, and merits a prime time slot, whereas BEAU GESTE is an asterisk in the Hayward filmography. I believe she referred to her role in it as, "I wave to the men at the beginning of the film as they march off, and I wave to them at the end when they return", or something to that effect.
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I am happy that you got your wish. It is about time that TCM honors a star who has never been chosen before. Susan is a wonderful choice. A beautiful lady who worked her way up in supporting until producer Walter Wanger gave Susan her break thru role in SMASH UP STORY OF A WOMAN 1947. She acted her heart out in this role earning her first Academy Award nomination. Three years before Susan costarred in a movie I really enjoy. Susan plays the younger sister of Loretta Young in AND NOW TOMORROW 1944. Loretta is deaf, but she can read lips. She has seen many doctors, but nobody has been able to help her. Loretta is engaged to Barry Sullivan, but Susan wants him for herself. Cecil Kellaway the local doctor has a young out of town doctor come to the city to help him. Loretta and Susan grew up in a wealthy family, and Alan Ladd the new doctor grew up poor in the same city. He believes that he can help Loretta with her deafness. While bringing her home one night, he notices Susan and Barry together. He doesn`t say anything to Loretta. I enjoy Susan so much in the behind the scenes conniving that she did so well. Tomorrow in ADAM HAD FOUR SONS 1940, she played the same type of role. I will find my video tape so I can see Susan`s performance in AND NOW TOMORROW again.
In both ADAM.HAD FOUR SONS, and AND NOW TOMORROW, as well as most of the movies she made in the firsf half of the 40s, mostly at Paramount under contract, Susan Hayward essayed this role, or a variation of it, the ****** second lead. She became quite adept at it, so much so that Paramount's leading ladies did not want to star in a film with her in support.
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LLOYD'S OF LONDON is a good movie starring a very young Tyrone Power.
TCM has aired it at least once---that's where I first saw it..
LLOYDS OF LONDON was the film that made Tyrone Power a star, and a matinee idol. He was only 22 years old, and looks callow, and as in the photo, foppish. But I guess it fits the period.
Power got the part due to Darryl Zanuck. Ty had only had featured roles in two other Fox films earlier that year, but he had engendered a flurry of fan mail in these appearances. So that studio took a chance, and replaced the previously chosen Don Ameche, another rising star at Fox, and the rest is history. Except that the leading lady, Loretta Young, resenting the buildup of a new star, balked at her subsidiary role, and refused to do it. Madeleine Carroll was substituted.
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On FMC (all times eastern):
Friday, 9/4:
4 am: APRIL LOVE (1957).........................6 am: NO HIGHWAY IN THE SKY (1951)................................7:40 am: DREAMBOAT (1952)............................9:05 am: APRIL LOVE (1957)..............................10:50 am: THE BLUE ANGEL (1959)...............................12:45 pm: CAN-CAN.(1959)....................
Saturday, 9/5:
3 am: BOBBIKINS (1959)..........................4:30 am: DREAMBOAT (1952)..............................6 am: ISLAND IN THE SKY (1938)...........................7:10 am: BOBBIKINS (1959)..................................8:40 am: THE BLUE ANGEL (1959).................................10:30 am: VAN-CAN (1959).........................12:45 pm: HOW TO STEAL A MILLION (1966).................
Sunday, 9/6:
3:30 am: HOW TO STEAL A MILLION (1966)....................... 6 am: PIN-UP GIRL (1944)..................7:25 am: JITTERBUGS (1943)...................................8:40 am: THE PRINSONER OF SHARK ISLAND (1936).............................10:15 am: 13 FIGHTING MEN (1960).........................11:30 am: THE LITTLE SHEPHERD OF KINGDOM COME (1961)..............................1:20 pm: THE LAST AMERICAN HERO (1973).............
Monday, 9/7:
4 am: THE LAST AMERICAN HERO (1973).........................6 am: JITTERBUGS (1943)........................7:15 am: DAY-TIME WIFE (1939)........................8:30 am: MOLLY AND ME (1945)...........................9:55 am: THE SHOCKING MISS PILGRIM (1946)..............................1:25 am: MADISON AVENUE (1962).............................1 pm: HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1951)....................
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David Bowie mentions Garbo and Bardot in " Quicksand", from.1971's Hunky Dory album.
More 70s glam-rock, courtesy of THE ROCKY HORROR (PICTURE) SHOW, where Tim Curry sings about "What ever happened to Fay Wray" on one of the songs,.I think the climactic ballad "I'm Going Home". Also, the opening number, "Science Fiction Double Feature" is a sci-fi film name-dropper supreme. I will try to recite the lyrics from memory:
Michael Rennie was ill
The day the earth stood still
But he told us where we stand
And Flash Gordon was there
In silver underwear
Claude Rains was the Invisible Man
But then something went wrong
For Fay Wray and King Kong
They got caught in a celluloid jam
And at a deadly pace, it came from outer space
And this is how the message ran
Science Fiction Double Feature
Dr. X will build a creature
See androids fighting, Brad.and Janet
Ann Francis stars.on Forbidden Planet
Oh oh oh oh oh oh,
At the midnight double feature picture show.
I knew Leo G. Carroll
Went over a barrel
When Tarantula took to the hills
And it.got.really hot
When I saw.Janette.Scott
Fight a.triffid that spits poison.and kills
Dana Andrews said prunes
Gave him the runes
And.passing them took lots of skills
But when worlds collide
Said George Pal to his bride
I'm gonna give you some terrible thrills
At the
Science Fiction double feature
Dr. X will build a creature
See androids fighting, Brad and Janet
Ann Francis stars.in.forbidden planet
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
At.the late night,.double.feature picture show
I wanna.go
To.the late.night double.feature picture show
By RKO
To the late night double feature picture show
In the back row
At.the late.night double feature picture show
I loved that song, and the lips singing it lol.
Sigh, double nostalgia.
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On FMC (all times eastern):
Tuesday, 9/1:
4 am: THE SHERIFF OF FRACTURED JAW (1958)..........................6 am: LLOYDS OF LONDON (1936)...........................8 am: BRIGHAM YOUNG (1940)..........................10 am: WHITE FEATHER (1955)........................11:45 am: SIERRA BARON (1958)..............................1:15 pm: THE SHERIFF OF FRACTURED JAW (1958)...........
Wednesday, 9/2:
4 am: WHITE FEATHER (1955)..........................6 am THE PURPLE HEART (1944).................................7:45 am: THREE CAME HOME (1950)......................9:35 am: SEA WIFE (1957)............................11 am: IN LOVE AND WAR (1958)..................................1 pm: CALL ME MADAM (1953)..............
Thursday, 9/3:
4 am: CALL ME MADAM (1953)..............................6 am: THREE CAME HOME (1950)..............................7:50 am: SEA WIFE (1957).......................9:15 am: IN LOVE AND WAR (1958)...............................11:05 am: NO HIGHWAY IN THE SKY (1951)...................................12:55 pm: MODESTY BLAISE (1966)...............
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I finally caught up with Michael Curtiz' Flamingo Road (1949). What a soaper. I never did catch the tv series based on the same source material.
Frankly, the film didn't work for me at all. Even the quick dolly into close up shots that work so effectively in Casablanca seem outrageously hokey here.
I had heard that Joan was good in this one. Maltin has high praise for her performance. But she just seemed horribly miscast in that she was way too old for the part.
She's 44 at the time and looks every day of it. She's supposed to be a carnival dancer and someone so pretty that Zachary Scott contemplates dumping his much younger society babe for her. He becomes a hopeless alcoholic and commits suicide all because of his lost love of Joan with the frumpy hairdo.
And Joan plays the part as a misunderstood nice little gal. Might have been more interesting if she had just settled in and played a tart all the way ala, Rain.u
And the cat house converted to tame drinks club house run by a madame is just ridiculous. What no sex? That's production code for you. But even so, Joan's part should have gone to a 24 year-old knock out.
Now I could see all the men falling over this carnival dancer if she had been played by Lauren Bacall.
I agree with most of this. Yes, Joan looks her age, which makes her playing the character somewhat hard to believe. Her hair seems unbecoming, and probably contributed to her looking middle-aged. But that short style was popular in the late 40s/50s, and while we might see it as frumpy, it wasn't necessarily viewed that way.
Otherwise,.I think Joan is effective in the role. She did seem to have a need every few films.to play a character that was still considered.sexy and desirable: DAISY KENYON, FR, TORCH SONG. However, I think a younger Warner contractee, such as Eleanor Parker, Patricia Neal, or Virginia Mayo, would have been more believable.
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British comedies are of two sorts. Either they are groaningly painful to witness, both the physical and verbal humor clumsy and forced. Or easy, witty, and charming. Not all of them are on the level of The Lavender Hill Mob, but what is?
Anyway, this one is of the ingenue comes into a situation out-of-kilter and sets it right type. It's well-executed on all parts, but the pillar of the movie is Gracie Fields (a new face to me) due to the steadiness and substance in her carriage and delivery. Seems she was a big star in England. Apparently didn't make it over here. She doesn't sparkle like Jessie Matthews, but it would be an opportunity for TCM to show more of her limited filmography.
I too enjoy this comedy, and agree TCM should show more of Gracie Fields. I believe she was considered a national treasure in England.
Btw, I think TCM.preceded this film.with another,.earlier, teaming.of Monty Woolley and Gracie Fields, HOLY MATRIMONY, an equally charming comedy made at Fox.a year or two earlier.
PS........FMC shows these films occasionally, and I believe M&M will be on in the next few.days.jk
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BIGGER THAN LIFE will be on.twice tomorrow morning on FMC: 8/28 @ 4 am est and 1:20 pm.est.
And FMC will show FIVE FINGERS on Saturday, 8/29 @ 9:30 am est, and Sunday, 8/30 @ 6 am.
Both are great films, among Mason's best Hollywood films, imho.
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On FMC (all times eastern):
Friday, 8/28:
4 am: BIGGER THAN LIFE (1956)............................6 am: THE I DON'T CARE GIRL (1953).............................7:20 am: CLAUDIA AND DAVID (1946)............................8:40 am: HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941)............................10:40 am: THE SONG OF BERNADETTE (1943).....................1:20 pm: BIGGER THAN LIFE (1956)................
Saturday, 8/29:
3:30 am: HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941).................................6 am: BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL (1956).............................7:45 am: PRINCE OF PLAYERS (1955)............................9:30 am: FIVE FINGERS (1952).............................11:30 am: CIRCLE OF DECEPTION (1961)..................1:20 pm: THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (1966).....................
Sunday, 8/30:
3 am: THE TERRORISTS (1975)........................ ..4:30 am: THE SECRET OF THE PURPLE REEF (1960)...............................6 am: FIVE FINGERS (1952)..........................7:50 am: CIRCLE OF DECEPTION (1962)..............................9:30 am: MODESTY BLAISE (1966)........................11:40 am: THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (1966).............................1:30 pm: THE TERRORISTS (1975)..............
Monday, 8/31:
3:30 am: MODESTY BLAISE (1966)...................6 am: DECLINE AND FALL......OF A BIRD WATCHER (1968).................................7:55 am: MOLLY AND ME (1945)...........................8:15 am: THE I DON'T CARE GIRL (1953)..............................10:35 am: PRINCE OF PLAYERS (1955)......................12:20 pm: THE SONG OF BERNADETTE (1943)............
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BIGGER THAN LIFE will be on.twice tomorrow morning on FMC: 8/28 @ 4 am est and 1:20 pm.est.
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I believe Arturo made a great point that Paulette Goddard, who has always seemed to me the second-best choice for Scarlett, isn't high-strung like Vivien Leigh. Vivien's Scarlett is emotionally volatile, ready to go off at any moment, and that's one of the things that fascinates (and scares) us about her.
Leslie Howard, despite all that can be said against him, could have been a great Ashley if he had seen the dramatic possibilities in the role the way Olivia De Havilland worked to find the depths in Melanie (a character who could have been supremely boring or irritating if played by many actresses). Howard didn't want to do the part and thought of GWTW as a potboiler, not a prestige project like THE PETRIFIED FOREST or PYGMALION. Ashley's an honorable aristocratic landowner in a society where that is the most prestigious position, and then his world comes crashing down, and he doesn't have the skills necessary for the new world. This is great dramatic stuff, if the actor digs deeply enough.
Hard to believe Leslie Howard would think this. Maybe that was because of the source material, a runaway bestselling novel ghag couod be considered a "potboiler" by some.
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While I love Lucy and Nancy Walker and Rhoda and Mary... I am not a fan of this film. I did like Lucy (of course) and I liked some of the songs and the Technicolor.
I find it an interesting contradiction that Lucille Ball never found her niche in film and was never considered a "big" movie star, yet she was big enough that she could play herself and be a central figure in the plot of this
I have mentioned in the past that Lucy's dubbed singing voice in BEST FOOT FORWARD is.a.little off-putting, so obviously not emanating from her; decades of I Love Lucy reruns have taken care of that.
The reason she was cast.as.Lucille Ball, sexy real-life movie star, is that real real-life sexy movie star Lana Turner, all set to star in BFF, became pregnant and had to bow out. Lucy is good in it, imo, but not the "Hubba hubba" inducing type among cadets.
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It's possible that this happened, but I'm skeptical for two reasons: first, it seems out of character for Mason and second, at this point in the Mason marriage, James had withdrawn from Pamela and did not react to her sexual escapades (this is according to his sister-in-law). No doubt Pamela did sleep with Burton as there were few men in either Britain or Hollywood whom she didn't collect for her trophy belt. Again, according to De Rosso, Mason's refusal to react enraged his then wife, who had a compulsive need to be always the center of attention. At any rate, she was a surprisingly destructive force, destroying her daughter (dead at 55 from alcoholism) and nearly destroying Mason emotionally. She did, as is well known, ruin him financially. Yet, after the divorce, she trash talked him on talk shows at every turn, playing the abandoned wife who, as a "survivor", was left to raise two fatherless children. She neglected to mention the $1,500,000 settlement, plus monthly alimony for her and the two children until their 21st birthdays, plus all of their investments and properties, and a multimillion dollar house. She continued to live off of James' earning for many years, while he scrounged any role to meet his crushing financial burdens. A famous quote from him at the time was that he longed to return to live in England, but while he could afford to support Pamela or the Queen, he couldn't afford both. James walked out of that house with nothing except literally the clothes on his back. Pamela, IMO, was a diagnosable clinical type usually associated with male predators - a sex addict, who (in her own words) "despised men" and used them for her personal gratification. The amazing thing to me is that Mason stayed married to this monster for twenty-three years, although many of those years were a "sham" marriage. He always refused to talk about his marriage and never, not once, bad mouthed her in public. His stated reason for staying was that he feared the effects on the children of being raised only by their mother and more immediately, the damage a scandal would do to them if Pamela carried through on her threats. He knew her well.
I also thought that this didn't sound like Mason, but vaguely reminded me of reading something similar, but with Burton and Stewart Granger, who suspected him of sleeping with his wife Jean Simmons (possibly during the filming of THE ROBE in 1953).
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Richard Widmark Films
in General Discussions
Posted
I first remember Rosanna Schiaffino from a.movie shown rather frequently when I was a kid, in the 1970s, an Italian film known here as THE WITCH. It is based on Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes' book, "Aura". I remember thinking, "Mama Mia!"