filmnoirguy

My favorite movie, I first saw Sunset Blvd. when it was released in August of 1950 when I was 13 years old and it knocked my socks off. I credit Sunset Blvd. with my interest in classic film. Thank you, Scott Feinberg, for your excellent interview with Nancy Olson. It made my day!

Yeah, Billie Dawn was an ex-showgirl who was a "kept" woman of a corrupt wealthy junkyard tycoon who goes to Washington, D.C. to "buy" a congressman. So I guess by 1950 standards, Judy Holliday was good to go.

Well, I certainly didn't make up the conversation between Davis and Baxter. So it must be in one of their auto-bios or I read it elsewhere. While I sympathize with Colbert (apparently she injured her back while making Three Came Home) dropping out of AAE, I'm glad Bette Davis was cast. For me, All About Eve is Bette's career high performance. I guess we can agree to disagree? Comparing a Broadway musical with the movie it's based on may be considered a weak argument, BUT.... the 1970 Broadway musical Applause, based on All About Eve., centers on aging star Margo Channing played by Lauren Bacall who won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical, while Penny Fuller as Eve Harrington was nominated for Best Featured (supporting) Actress in a Musical. I'm not suggesting that Anne Baxter, who I think was terrific btw, should have accepted a supporting Oscar nod. On the other hand, I definitely do not think that Bette Davis should have been nominated for Supporting Actress either! Based on performance, not politics, alone, my vote still goes to Norma Desmond.

I think his Hollywood career was largely forgotten when he was elected the Republican Senator of California in 1964. He had been elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1945. Reminds me of another movie star who was also president of SAG before he went into national politics. But that's not your question. I agree with Sepiatone and Speedracer. Not a fan, but I'd watch a few of Murph's movies if TCM wants to feature him.

Birdie's best line in AAE: "What a story! Everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." As good as Hope Lange was in PP, I thought Diane Varsi stole the picture.

Actually, I think it's the other way around. For me, Margo Channing is the lead character, even though the title is All About Eve. I've read in the past that Baxter was asked by the producers if she was okay having her name submitted for a supporting nod. She refused and ended up competing with Bette Davis. In the 1980s, while Davis was guest starring on an episode of the TV show Hotel starring Anne Baxter, they had a heart-to-heart discussion about old times. Baxter confessed to Davis that she (Baxter) was wrong about insisting on a lead actress Oscar nod. She said that if she had accepted the supporting category "both of us would have won Oscars that year." For me, the Best Actress of 1950 was Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd (correct spelling, btw). Maybe she and Davis cancelled each other out paving the way for Judy Holliday?

Do you have Eddie's intro and exit comments about I Wake Up Screaming available? I'd love to hear what he had to say.

Wilde was also very good as Gene Tierney's husband in the Technicolor noir 1945's Leave Her to Heaven. Of course, one of his most popular roles was as the Great Sebastian in 1952's The Greatest Show on Earth. He received his only Oscar nod playing Chopin in 1945's A Song to Remember.

Two of Max von Sydow's American pictures I'd like included are 1975's Three Days of the Condor and 1986's Hannah and Her Sisters.

Eve Arden had a major role in another Joan Crawford picture---1951's Goodbye My Fancy. And was terrific in 1959's Anatomy of a Murder with James Stewart. Of course, she played the lead in 1956's Our Miss Brooks, based on her signature role on radio and TV. She was in the ensemble cast of 1937's Stage Door with Hepburn and Rogers. Another favorite is 1960's The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, holding her own with Robert Preston, Dorothy McGuire, Shirley Knight and Angela Lansbury.

In movies, Executive Producers are the money people.

Probably the most famous (and most misquoted) from All About Eve is: " Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night!" I don't know how many times I've heard people say: "Hold on tight, it's going to be a rough ride" or some variation. Also from AAE: "The woods are full of one-scene sensations." "What I go after, only I go after. I don't want it to come after me." "There comes a time that the piano realizes that it has not written the concerto." "Let the rest of the world beat their brains out for a buck. It's friends that count, and I have friends." "For some reason you can't just pick up champagne. Somebody's got to be witty with a toast." Add-ons: "What a story! Everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." "I detest cheap sentiment."

You do know that the hosts are reading intros written by TCM writers, right? At any rate, that's the explanation I received several years ago when I corrected a mistake Robert Osborne had made.

In January, Crawford starred with Robert Stack in The Caretakers.