rosebette
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Posts posted by rosebette
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I was pregnant in the 80s and early 90s, when the giant sweaters and sweatshirts (often with padded shoulders) and leggings were "in," and I live in a Northern climate, where everyone dresses in bulky clothes until April. I was always in the early stages in fall and winter and gave birth in spring. Most people didn't know I was pregnant because of these garments, and then in the spring, I'd emerge wearing my pre-pregnancy clothes and pushing a stroller, and neighbors would all wonder where the baby came from. I guess that's kind of like those older movies where the woman has tiny waistline and makes her announcement, and then in the next scene, the blossoms are on the trees, and miraculously, she's pushing a carriage.
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In The Adventures of Robin Hood, Robin (Errol Flynn) asks Friar Tuck (Eugene Pallette) to surround Sir Guy and his men -- personally.
Also, when Robin introduces him to Will Scarlett, he says, "Don't worry, he's one of us," to which Will replies, "One of us? He looks like three of us!"
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I can't believe the bras that must have created those figures! An engineer must have created them.
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I came home exhausted from work and an evening meeting and Singin' in the Rain was on. Although I've seen this movie many times, I so needed those 2 hours of pure joy. I still had chores to do around the house, but the thing about that movie is that there's never a dull moment, so many wonderful numbers, but even the comedy in between is terrific. I always crack up when Millard Mitchell pulls up Leena Lamont's sound wire.
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18 hours ago, Fedya said:
And Sterling Holloway in the middle. One of the more distinctive faces in Hollywood.
His rendition of "The End of a Perfect Day" in Remember the Night always makes me tear up.
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High Anxiety and Blazing Saddles feature my two favorite performances of Kahn's. The Marlene Dietrich impersonation always breaks me up. Such a gifted and funny lady.
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On 3/15/2019 at 7:34 AM, TomJH said:
Allow me to try to compensate for that glaring omission on my part by posting this video, Dargo. Missing, incredibly, from this selection of music from the film is Steiner's poignant love theme, which is probably my favourite of the entire score.
For my money Steiner's remarkable work here is one of the great musical scores of the movies (though few people ever seem to make reference to it - outside of yourself, of course, dude).
I own a CD by Charles Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic orchestra that features large excerpts from the score: https://www.amazon.com/Captain-Blood-Classic-Scores-Errol/dp/B000003EMC There is also a large excerpt from the score to The Adventures of Robin Hood.
It's one of my favorite CDs, something I'm sure to play if I'm on a long drive or need some extra energy for a task.
My vote, Errol Flynn as Don Juan. It's really the last view of Errol as I want to remember him, and the film is beautifully produced. I was most annoyed when I realized that I spent a spring break day correcting papers when I could have been happily viewing Errol in technicolor on my new wide screen TV.
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Just a correction -- the film with Clark Gable and Constance Bennett is After Office Hours, not After Hours.
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16 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said:
even the bad ones can be worth watching.
Yes, a bad pre-code is over in less than 90 minutes, whereas if I watch a bad new movie on On Demand, I've just lost two and a half hours of my life that I'll never get back. At least in a pre-code, I can always admire whatever Kay Francis or Connie Bennett is wearing.
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6 hours ago, TomJH said:
Four's A Crowd (1938)
Having seen the success of My Man Godfrey at Columbia and Libeled Lady at MGM, Warner Brothers decided to jump into the screwball comedy game with decidedly mixed results with this effort. Warners was a studio that succeeded at a good number of movie genres, gangster dramas, melodramas, women's weepies, swashbucklers, but comedies was never one of them.
Directed by Michael Curtiz (not exactly known for his sense of humour), the film is frantic with a far too involved story line to ever really come to life. However, the cast is attractive and there are a couple of scenes that are reasonably amusing. And, like Libeled Lady, there is a foursome of attractive players in eventual romantic entanglements with one another, with a bit of an unexpected twist at the end.
Rosalind Russell, in a role that can be seen as a forerunner to His Girl Friday two years later, plays a fast talking newspaper reporter working for a paper being closed down by publisher Patric Knowles. Knowles is engaged to the ditzy daughter (Olivia de Havilland) of a cantankerous millionaire, whose services a slick public relations councillor (Errol Flynn), just fired from that same newspaper, desires.
The story, again, tends to get in the way of any real fun. It's more amusing to watch the cast. Russell shines in a role that can now be seen as a natural for her comedy talents, and Flynn is quite good, too, as the brash, conniving PR man (interestingly Errol saw this role as closer to his own personality than any of the previous ones in his career, which had just included Robin Hood).
Olivia doesn't make much of an impression as the air head heiress but she does have a cute scene in her bedroom with Flynn, which includes an Asta-like fox terrier barking to alert the household of Flynn's presence there. Perhaps the funniest scenes in the film are when the millionaire sicks a pack of dogs on Flynn who has to run for his life to get off the property.
The millionaire is played by Walter Connolly, who is right in his element, and gives the star quartet invaluable support when it comes to screwball comedy playing. Other cast members include comedy vets Franklin Pangborn and Herman Bing, neither of whom have much screen time, unfortunately, Hugh Herbert as a minister and, as two of Flynn's secretaries, Gloria Holden (Joan's sister) and, according to the listings, Carole Landis, though I failed to spot her.
Flynn has a line of dialogue ("I have a knowledge of women that few men possess") that must have been a great inside joke at the studio at the time where he was already known as a notorious wolf, a few years before the public became aware of the same, as well. Flynn was also known at the time as one of the top performers of the Hollywood tennis set. Unfortunately producer Hal Wallis killed plans to include a scene with Flynn on a tennis court. It would have been interesting, if only for posterity's sake, to have a scene with Errol playing in his tennis duds.
Flynn was also known for his Hollywood night club activity (sometimes including brawls), and there is, at least, one scene with all four stars dressed up and visiting a swanky one. The producers tried to retake any scenes in which Flynn ad libbed with (for him) some natural "English" terms of endearment such as "old boy" slipping into his dialogue since his character is supposed to be a brash American. However, I spotted at least one scene in which he calls Knowles "old chap."
Four's A Crowd did reasonably well at the box office, probably as a result of Flynn's Robin Hood having just been released earlier that year. The studio would soon have the actor out of modern attire and back into costume clothes. One wishes Warners could have provided Flynn with better material when it came to screen comedies since the actor clearly had a flare for it, as reflected by this uneven film.
2.5 out of 4
I watched this a few months back because I had never seen it, and I was not especially impressed. Last night, I just watched After Hours on TCM On Demand, which is an MGM comedy with Clark Gable and Constance Bennett, with Stuart Erwine and Billie Burke providing support. Gable's a reporter and Bennett's a socialite in OK story with kind of a mystery, but lots of fast-paced dialogue. While After Hours is not considered a "Top drawer" MGM product, the writing and playing by the leads was far less forced that Four's a Crowd. There was plenty of sexual chemistry between Gable and Bennett, and after It Happened One Night, Gable playing an aggressive reporter was just a walk in the park. In Four's a Crowd, I find some of the performances cloying, particularly Knowles and DeHavilland (much as I like her in almost everything). The chemistry between Flynn and Russell was not convincing to me, either. However, After Hours just flew right along, and I felt as if I was watching the pros show how it's done. I was kind of surprised that Leonard Maltin gave it a meager two stars.
Regarding Four's a Crowd, it's obvious that sophisticated screwball comedy was not Warner's forte. It's a much different genre than wise-cracking chorus girls or Torchy Blaine programmers.
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2 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said:
there is no higher compliment any one could pay me.
thank you.
You're welcome! I often cruise this thread for recommendations. Pre-codes are at the top of my list, but when there are several On Demand with the same stars (especially someone like Constance Bennett who made so many), I often don't know which one to choose.
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23 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:
I had a crazy all over the place THANK GOD IT ISN'T OSCAR MONTH ANYMORE TCM filmstravaganza this weekend, it was all over the place.
There were two that I deserve to be singled out of the parade and I recommend them both highly, and if they are available on your on demand functions, you should check them out.
the first was the 1931 MGM CONSTANCE BENNETT movie THE EASIEST WAY which is the PRECODIEST OF PRECODES with CONNIE as a gal from the (vibrantly portrayed slums) who becomes a print model and shacks up with ADOLPH MENJOU.
It's a flawed film, and the character played by BENNETT isn't blameless, but it is stunniNG how she is portrayed in a non judgmental way. really highly recommended for all fans of precodes and films that deal with women's issues, MARJORIE RAMBEAU (who I LOVE) has a VERRRRY SHOWY part as a dress model/escort and has a killer scene at the end. CLARK GABLE has his second role in this and he is seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeexy.
the other was a movie that i was not expecting to love, but OHMIGAH, I loved it through and through...
RABID (1976)- David Cronenberg.
(better that I not show any images from this one)
Again, if this is on demand- CHECK IT OUT. I feel as if my zombie film history is a little more complete now. I don't want to be too effusive with the praise, but seriously this film impressed the Hell out of me, it was one of those cases where even if you don't care for the subject matter, you have to admire the technique. the use of overlapping dialogue of newscasts (and the world's talkiest XXX movie in a scene that is RICH with layers of subtext) with scenes and dialogue from the film are really smart, as is the fur coat that the film's star MARILYN CHAMBERS stalks about Montreal in.
I almost feel guilty about it, but I loved this movie.l
i also HAD NO IDEA that Marilyn Chambers was A) attractive when she was young and B. a genuinely good actress.
The male "lead" is terrible, but that fits in with a tradition in horror movies going back to WHITE ZOMBIE, so I let it slide.
Just some really, really good storytelling technique; a sense of humor about the whole thing, a pace that moves and a scene with a mall Santa, a machine-gun and a rabid dude that made my Sunday morning.
I watched The Easier Way on your recommendation and really enjoyed it. I was very sympathetic to Connie's character. Those early scenes in her family's squalid apartment were enough to convince me that going back to that life would be a hard sell. Plus, when she finally renounces the "easy life," her mooching alcoholic father is still asking for dough. I was moved and saddened by the forced rejection by her sister, which was mandated by her husband, played by Gable, who even in this role, was a hunky eyeful.
I followed this one up with After Hours, an MGM comedy in which the now star Gable is a reporter, opposite Bennett's socialite. This one moves swift as lightning, with some snappy dialogue and great chemistry between the leads.
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On 3/4/2019 at 5:48 PM, mr6666 said:
Annette Bochenek @Home2Hollywood 6h6 hours ago
The King of Jazz (1930 film) is on Turner Classic Movies: TCM tonight!
Better yet, it's John Boles night on their end, too!
Gear up for some gorgeous two-strip Technicolor, young Bing Crosby, fun comedy, Paul Whiteman tunes, and so much more! 7pm CST--tonight!! ❤️
I couldn't sit through this one. The technicolor made me feel like I was watching a floor show at an old Miami hotel.
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On 3/4/2019 at 1:22 PM, Brrrcold said:
MUSIC IN THE AIR (1934) is more entertaining than one may suppose, not least because of the Jerome Kern score (Oscar Hammerstein II lyrics), but the Boles/Swanson combination is amusing.
On 3/4/2019 at 1:22 PM, Brrrcold said:MUSIC IN THE AIR (1934) is more entertaining than one may suppose, not least because of the Jerome Kern score (Oscar Hammerstein II lyrics), but the Boles/Swanson combination is amusing.
This one is lots of fun. Kind of Lubitschy, and Boles and Swanson are both great as egotistic theater types. Boles is light and funny; I've always seen him in solemn and stiff roles. You can see that musical theater is his forte. Plus Douglass Montgomery in leiderhosen is a sight to behold.
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On 3/6/2019 at 6:03 PM, LawrenceA said:
Trooper Hook (1957) - 7/10
Western featuring Joel McCrea as Army Sgt. Hook, who is tasked with transporting Cora (Barbara Stanwyck), a white woman who had been held captive by Apaches, and the young child (Terry Lawrence) that Cora had with Apache leader Nanchez (Rodolfo Acosta). They have to deal with prejudice in the towns they travel through, as well as Nanchez himself, who escapes captivity and comes for Cora and the kid. Also featuring Earl Holliman, Royal Dano, Sheb Wooley, Edward Andrews, Celia Lovsky, Susan Kohner, John Dehner, Stanley Adams, Jeanne Bates, Cyril Delevanti, Jody McCrea, and the voice of Tex Ritter. A short and straight-forward western yarn with some slight social messaging, and filled with interesting characters that are well cast.
This is one of my favorite little Westerns that handles some of the same themes as The Searchers. McRae and Stanwyck have nice chemistry.
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16 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:
LADY WITH A PAST (1932)
I will watch any pre-code, no matter how bizarre and unfocused, and this one was both of those things. There’s just a certain honesty about them that I like so much, and the stories tend to be less hampered by having to ignore elephants in the room or pretend that sex isn’t really a thing. There’s the occasional scene in a pre-code comedy that strikes me as something that someone with very little familiarity with classic movies would write today, They are often that contemporary in tone (Whilst charmingly dated in story, I mean how can you not love a film with a newspaper headline that screams VISCOMTE KILLS SELF OVER REJECTION FROM AMERICAN SOCIALITE VENICE MUIR!)
The premise reminds me somewhat of THE HEIRESS- Only with an inexplicably even better looking actress in the not exactly ideally cast role of a woman that no man finds attractive – who decides to invent a scandal for herself to make men fall in love with her.
CONSTANCE BENNETT Is fine in the lead, but I have to say I enjoyed her more when she is more aptly cast in films like OUR BETTERS. BEN LYONS Has a very strange but Interesting (and well played) role as a gigolo who coaches her, DAVID MANNERS Is very pretty, and not much else, as her love interest.
According to Wikipedia, this film lost $150,000 for RKO (Adjusted for inflation, that’s probably roughly half the GDP of Panama)
(For my two bits worth, I think Connie picks the wrong guy at the end)
I feel the same way about Sin Takes a Holiday. Connie should have stuck with Basil, rather than the serial womanizer she married.
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On 3/4/2019 at 2:24 PM, LornaHansonForbes said:
edit- yup, it appears to have won the Pulitzer.
LOVE the hooker blue eye shadow and fake lash combo Roz is working in this poster!
I just saw this film. This poster is as close as Boles is ever allowed to get to Roz througout the film.
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4 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said:
Valid point.
Maybe I unfairly see a subtext because of ARZNER'S lesbianism.
I'd say the film is clearly feminist, but not necessarily lesbian in outlook. Harriet's character is the result of a world in which marriage is one of the only acceptable ways to achieve material success. Her speech early on about her own mother who married for love, but ended up deserted and poor, is very important. Harriet doesn't want to become another victim. Moreover, when you look at the case of Thomas Mitchell's wife, she is clearly unhappy and having affairs. Could she also have "married well" to achieve material security, but then ultimately was unsatisfied and turned to other emotional outlets?
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1 hour ago, Hibi said:
SOOOOO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am, too. So tired of looking at the schedule and the On Demand list, and there are only movies I've seen at least 10 times. I enjoyed John Boles night, especially Craig's Wife, a movie that I always wanted to see. I haven't seen the Crawford version, so I can't compare, but Roz was excellent, as was the supporting cast, especially Jane Darwell, Billie Burke, and Thomas Mitchell. I disagree with other posters over the murder-suicide plot. I think that Walter's compassion and concern for his friend fleshes out his character; also, there's a bit of foreshadowing there -- this is how an unhappy marriage could end. I'm not sure about the lesbian undertone in Harriet's character; I think she loves status and possessions more than anything and marriage is the only way to that. If anything, she's asexual. She'd be just as upset by an attractive woman started putting her feet on the furniture and smoking indoors.
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19 hours ago, EricJ said:
Rooney in Words and Music would also be another one of the OP's inexcusable examples of "Not gay enough".
(In fact, Hart reportedly did make it to the show uninvited, and tried to pal around the cast and crew backstage during the act break despite a few drinks, and generally embarrassed himself and Rodgers.)
Also, entire generations willingly believe Tim Burton completely at his word for Ed Wood, despite the fact that the entire script seemed to be written out of three pages of the Medveds' "Golden Turkey Awards", and completely erases Ed's producer/co-writer Alex B. Gordon from the story, who, in fact, was responsible for much of the backstage work.
And then, of course, where do we start with Danny Kaye in Hans Christian Andersen?--Who had to switch his tragic crush from an opera singer to a ballerina, because Sam Goldwyn always insisted on ballet numbers.
Or the tall and gorgeous Cary Grant and Alexis Smith in the Cole Porter bio Night and Day. Obviously, Porter approved the casting. I have to admit I find this one watchable for the musical numbers and cast, though, and I also enjoy Warners' Rhapsody in Blue, despite its inaccuracies. Delovely with Kevin Kline is a more accurate biopic of Porter, but many of the musical numbers are appalling, especially Sheryl Crow's Begin the Beguine, which isn't even recognizable as the original melody. The only songs I can tolerate in that movie are those sung by Diana Krall and Natalie Cole, as well as Kline himself (he sort of talk-sings them, but his version of "So in Love" can almost move me to tears). Also Delovely has some factual inaccuracies, such as the male lead who is singing Night and Day is clearly gay and attractive to Porter, yet in the actual Broadway show and film of The Gay Divorcee, a straight, rather geeky-looking, and very married Fred Astaire was the lead. Apparently Porter's wife was also several years older than he was, which isn't indicated in either film.
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On 3/3/2019 at 7:05 AM, Sepiatone said:
Most biopics get it either wrong or take too many other liberties. a few that come to mind...
AMADEUS
THE FIVE PENNIES
THE DOORS
SERGEANT YORK
YOUNG TOM EDISON
Sepiatone
Sometimes a biopic can be factually "wrong," but still a fine film. Both Amadeus and Sergeant York are examples of this. In fact, one of the most entertaining biopics for me is They Died with Their Boots On, an almost entirely fictionalized account of Custer. Sometimes if a film is well-done and entertaining on its own it can be treated on its own merits. On the other hand, ill-done bios can be real stinkers or even comical, for instance, Mickey Rooney collapsing in the rain in front of the shoe store that sells lifts in Words and Music. Except for the musical numbers, I can't sit through that one.
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2 hours ago, jamesjazzguitar said:
A Song to Remember about the live of Chopin. I find Paul Muni to be very annoying in the film but Oberon as George Sand was interesting.
I love the music of Chopin, but this movie is awful, and also not an accurate depiction of George Sand, who is portrayed as a bit of a possessive b***. It was pretty well-known that she cared for him during his illness with TB, and at times was motherly (she was several years older than he was). I much prefer Impromptu, which is much more fun.
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17 hours ago, drednm said:
Colman will go right back to television....
In Great Britain, that's not such a shameful thing. Apparently, British actors don't have the same snobbishness about moving between TV, film, and the theater. Look at Maggie Smith, Derek Jacobi, Ian McClellean, and others. However, with NetFlix, HBO, etc., that is now changing in the U.S., too. Some of the meatier parts are in series, which is why some say movies as an industry might be dying.
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Holy moses. This looks bigger than the attendance at Trump's inauguration.
(In fact, Hart reportedly did make it to the show uninvited, and tried to pal around the cast and crew backstage during the act break despite a few drinks, and generally embarrassed himself and Rodgers.)
Pregnant and showing in 1952!
in General Discussions
Posted
Actually, there were three pregnancies -- 3 kids 2 years or less apart. My life was kind of a blur for about 5 years.