rosebette

The satire/critique of 50s culture -- TV, rock n roll -- are done so much more skillfully in Silk Stockings (Stereophonic Sound with Janis Paige and the Ritz Rock and Roll number with Astaire) and It's Always Fair Weather ( ITAFW also features some bitter satire on GI friendships and "adjustment" to civilian life, not the sentimental schlock of WC; Dolores Gray is also a hoot in this). Both of these are well-written musicals from MGM, which was of course at its peak. Apparently ITAWF was a commercial failure on its release, but holds up much better now, and I feel strikes a much more honest and authentic tone.

I enjoy Crosby's chemistry with Hope in the Road movies, and sometimes find Crosby more appealing because his humor is so offhand and relaxed, as opposed to Hope who is so obviously a "gag man." Probably Holiday Inn is my favorite Crosby musical, but Fred might have something to do with that. However, I can't sit through Blue Skies, which should just have the awful plot excised (the second half is unwatchable), and just leave the numbers. I also dislike White Christmas -- Crosby and Kaye together are too much for me. I much preferred the stage version that I saw in Boston, which was just a string of glorious production numbers based on Berlin tunes with almost zero plot. I am a musical fan, but I love a good script, and my two favorites are Singin' in the Rain and The Bandwagon, which TCM aired last week, and both those musicals work well as satires of their respective genres, movies and the theater.

I saw this a few years back and found it delightful. The color photography is gorgeous, and Anabelle has a wonderful gamine charm.

If Fred and Ginger are there, then I'll know that I'm in heaven because they'll be singing it. Also, I need to talk to Ronald Colman to find out if he got back to Shangri La.

While I enjoy Crosby as a singer, as a screen presence I finds him cool and strangely asexual. With most of his female leads there is zero chemistry. Some call Astaire asexual, but I find the whole concept of his gradual seduction of the leading lady through dance extremely sexy. At the end of the Night and Day number in the Gay Divorcee, he even offers Ginger a cigarette as if they've just "done the deed." Of course, having folks like Eric lore, Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes, victor Moore, and Helen Broderick always kept the audience's interest when the dancing stopped.

I love the believable plot in this film. Ian Hunter's character marries Francis, then goes off on some military expedition, leaves her in the care of brother, Flynn, who besides being drop-dead gorgeous reminds her of the man she lost. Well, we all know how that's going to turn out. I think next time my neighbor asks me to watch her parakeet, I'll put my cat in charge.

The Guilt of Janet Ames (1946) - This is an unusual film, a post-war melodrama about Janet Ames (Rosalind Russell) who is literally paralyzed by grief after the death of her husband in the war. Melvyn Douglas plays an alcoholic journalist who guides her through a dream process towards recovery. I found the use of dream sequences interesting cinematically, and there was good chemistry between the leads. I've always felt that Douglas was an underrated actor, even in the studio era. Russell was also excellent in an atypical dramatic part. However, if readers will indulge a somewhat "feminist" reaction, I was rather disturbed by the implication that the husband's death in combat was ultimately the wife's fault because she was not the best wife she could have been; therefore, he had "nothing to live for." The Douglas character also has his own demons about the death, but it seems as if the main blame falls to the woman. Not a reassuring message for any wife who has lost a husband in combat -- maybe he sacrificed himself because what he had at home wasn't worth coming back to. So that aspect of the story ended up wrecking what I thought was an unusual film with good performances. However, the biggest surprise was Sid Caesar's stand-up routine during the last dream sequence. Let's put it this way, folks, you might need adult diapers while watching this one -- he was crazy hilarious -- beyond Mel Brooks or anything you could imagine, and his routine is in some way also a commentary on the film itself. If TCM puts it OnDemand, I might fast forward to that part and rewatch it with my husband.

Hold Back the Dawn (1941) - I had seen this movie before and just happened upon it while channel flipping last night. I know folks don't like to get political here, but with the recent news about DACA and suitable and unsuitable (yes, I'm keeping it clean here) immigrants, this story of war refugees in Mexico waiting to enter the U.S. seemed coincidentally appropriate. DeHavilland's speech to Boyer on how he would be received in her small town seemed especially moving, as she says of course he would be accepted because everyone is an immigrant, "unless you're Pocahontas" (yes, a dated and politically incorrect reference). Kind of ironic that the tone and attitude of this film was more compassionate than what is being encountered today; even taking into account the unsavory aspects of two of the main characters, Boyer and Godard (he is a gigolo, and she's an adventuress, and they're both con artists), they are both portrayed with sympathy, despite their very human failings. And of course, there is the radiant deHavilland, with that beautifully transparent face that reveals every emotion, from her early suspicion of Boyer, to vulnerability, love, and hurt. She steals the picture handily from Boyer. I think this film and The Heiress feature her best performances.

Expensive Women (1931) - Dolores Costello and Warren William. A rather interesting precode featuring Costello prior to her semi-retirement (she made very few pictures after that -- The Magnificent Ambersons being the most notable). She is certainly one of the most beautiful actresses I've ever seen, with this note of melancholy in those great blue eyes, underlying the "party girl" surface. Apparently, this was Warren William's first talkie, and in my opinion, her character should have stuck with him throughout (their scenes together are delightful), rather than succumbing to the weak charms of an upper crust English scion who is dominated by his father, who tells her that she'll never marry his son because she isn't "clean." The movie also involves a contrived "murder" plot. This is a very sexually honest movie;, it's suggested that she sleeps with William the night they meet and then with young Brit cipher, who claims he loves her. Yet -- spoiler alert -- she still ends up, unpunished, with a good man by the end. If the movie were made 5 years later, she would have had to die of consumption or throw herself under a train or something. Some great support by Polly Walters as flapper who talks almost nonstop. Not a great movie, but I can't resist a precode, or Warren William. I also thought Costello was a very fine and underrated actress. It would have been interesting to have seen her in more films in the 30s.

I think this film could be remade today, and that it has a dual theme -- anti-war, but also acceptance of difference. I saw it many years ago on TV as a teen, but the unrestored version, and his hair was kind of a bluish gray; at that time, it didn't make much of an impression on me (as a teen, I thought movies that featured children were for "babies"), but now I really like it. My favorite Dean Stockwell performance from his childhood -- the invalid in The Secret Garden. I love the scene when he and Margaret O'Brien engage in the screaming match over who can be more bratty.

Or as another Robin Hood said:

I don't think the small screen serves Intolerance. I saw it at a college theater two years ago, with live accompaniment, and during the last 1/2 hour the audience was at the edge of its seats with the quick cutting between the various stories. This local college screens 3-4 silent films a year with a musician who accompanies on an electronic keyboard with sound effects (it mimics the organ, as well as other instruments), and he composes as the films runs. It's a modern take of how these films were meant to be experienced with an audience.

Ah, that other Wolfgang -- whenever I hear the resounding brass, those lush strings, I know that I'm going to be indulging in some equally delicious Warner Brothers' concoction, whether it be an adventure picture, or an overblown melodrama, with a leitmotif or a background aria to underscore each character's emotions. It's kind of like being presented with a Sacher Torte, almost too rich to devour in one sitting.

I guess as a woman, I get to have my say. Ingrid Bergman, who Selznick insisted be filmed with little to no make-up. Filming her changed how women were groomed, as Ingrid kept her natural eyebrows, etc. Also, she was a good actor and a woman of great intelligence. Runner-up, Olivia deHavilland in the late 30s and early 40s. Not too many women could wear the almost nun-like veiled costumes in The Adventures of Robin Hood and have such natural beauty shine through. In The Strawberry Blonde, those big dark eyes definitely outshine Rita Hayworth, who looks almost harsh in comparison (although my husband thinks Rita in You Were Never Lovelier was the most beautiful actress ever). Yes, Olivia is another woman whose intelligence is revealed in her every expression. I'm also partial to Vivien Leigh, Jean Simmons, and Jennifer Jones because their dark hair, light eyes, and delicate features remind me of my mother. Contemporary actresses -- Catherine Zeta Jones in her prime (Mark of Zorro, Chicago); Jessica Chastai

Thanks for posting that clip, Tomjh, to warm me up during our New England subzero temperatures. While Gable is the beefier tough guy, Flynn's the one that moves like a natural athlete, a creature of such physical grace. I do wonder, though, how he got that sweater off over the boxing gloves. The other thing I noticed is that while these guys are both fit and well-built, they're not the "ripped" cartoon-like muscle-bound action heroes of today's movies. One does wonder what kind of grueling, unnatural regime of diet and exercise our current movie heroes must undergo, and what kind of unrealistic body image this projects on our current generation of young males.

I don't think anyone can top Barbara Stanwyck and screen dad, Charles Coburn, in The Lady Eve. "Eve" cons the same guy twice. My favorite line, "He needs me like the turkey needs the axe."

I saw this one last summer. I have to admit that I much preferred Warren William's bon vivant Perry Mason to the dour Raymond Burr. Love the fast pacing, snappy dialogue, and Warner's contract players.

I didn't have time to catch all the early Dunne films, but did watch Symphony for Six Million on demand, and the darn thing cut off 10 minutes before the end! It was more of a showcase for Ricardo Cortez in a very different role (he was quite good as a doctor from the Jewish tenements in New York, a very natural and likeable performance). Apparently, Cortez actually was Jewish (Cortez was his screen name), and the movie was much better than I expected it to be. Irene was quite noble, trying to force Ricardo back to his roots. Anyway, I don't know how it ended; he was getting ready to operate on Dunne, who had a spinal deformity that was crippling her. I love those early talkie "soaps." They're a lot earthier than the glossy products of the 40s and 50s, and they often show more diversity in social classes and roles for women.

Also, the mentioning of Bergman's scandal actually distracts from her achievements as an artist, as if that is the most important thing about her, rather than that she won two Academy Awards and was nominated for several others.

No one talks about Ronald Colman's personal life because he was married to the same woman for 30 years, and he was known as a consummate professional and perfect gentleman. I can say it in 6 words -- a class act in every way.

Worcester is a bit far for me, about an hour or so.

I've been busy with midterm grades so haven't been on the forums for a while. So, I'm stunned by this new "update." I hate having to go to the last possible page to get the most recent posts. How is that an improvement? Why do I want to see something someone posted in 2015 first?

Madam Satan ​(1930), an entertaining mess of a film that doesn't know what it wants to be -- a romantic comedy, a drama, a musical, a farce, or a disaster movie (some might say it is a disaster!) The scenes on the dirigible, both the production number and the disaster are definitely worth watching. I have to admit not only the work of the female editor, but the three female writers are all over this one, since the male characters are upper class twits who have no understanding of women or their own stupid behavior. You can also see the work of Mitchell Leisen in the set design, costumes, etc.

My brother gave me a gift set of the three Ophuls' films in which Darrieux appeared, and I treasure them. I find her performance in "The Earrings of Madame..." subtle and ultimately moving (also Charles Boyer is at his cruelest in this one, perhaps crueler in some ways than in "Gaslight"). I'm of 100% French descent (French Canadian) and was raised Roman Catholic (but am now lapsed), and I find the Gallic humor in the first Communion segment of "Les Plaisir" pure delight. My brother claims, "Danielle Darrieux is the reason God made France."

I watched "The Unsuspected" (1947), Claude Rains as a charming radio mystery host who has a few dark mysteries of his own. Not a great script, but good atmospheric directing from Michael Curtiz and the usual excellent performance by Uncle Claude. Constance Bennett was also delightful in a supporting role; she had some good lines. I 've decided I'm willing to watch Rains read the phone book for 2 hours and still enjoy it. I saw "The Battle of the Sexes" this week-end at the theater. I thought both Emma Stone and Steve Carrell were terrific. I was a young teen during the time of the Riggs-King match, and wasn't really aware of the real importance of King's battle. Some of the stuff that came out people's mouths (not just Riggs, who was just an "act"), but Jack Kramer, was enough to make you gag. It makes me grateful for women like King and for the changes in our culture; let's hope the clock doesn't turn back to the "good old days."