rosebette

Errol Flynn and David Niven in Dawn Patrol -- that movie is just one great and tragic bromance.

Thanks for the beautiful photo of Flynn, whose birthday TCM has apparently forgotten, treating us instead to Mamie van Doren and B-pictures about teenage girl hitchhikers. For shame!

For a one-night stand -- Errol Flynn. For a long evening of thoughtful, romantic conversation -- Basil Rathbone, who, if you visit The Baz website, you'll learn was a very charming, sensitive, and intelligent guy. But if Bas isn't around, Ronald Colman will do.

I watched portions of the Ladd version on Youtube last spring to get clips because I was teaching The Great Gatsby, and it is definitely not faithful to the book, focusing more on Ladd as a gangster figure. The voiceovers at the beginning are really annoying, too. I felt as if I showed parts of it, students would have no idea that they were watching an adaptation of the book. I ended up using clips from the Redford version because that one is very faithful to the text, although it is also a flawed film. Unlike many critics, I think Redford is a fine Gatsby, but Mia Farrow is an awful Daisy. I can't imagine someone buying a megamansion across a bay to be close to her. The cinematography and period detail are quite lovely, though. I haven't seen the new version yet. I don't know how I'll feel about a hip-hop score. Wasn't the music of that era good enough for modern audiences?

Could it be a very young and blonde Binne Barnes?

Doesn't Anouk Aimee look like Anne Hathaway?

On the gorgeousness of Redford, I must admit that I can't imagine a better Gatsby (although Mia Farrow was a disappointing Daisy). I don't know whether I'm looking forward to the new version with Leonard DiCaprio. Redford had this air of reserved mystery. Also, no one else could wear those period clothes more beautifully. It's hard to believe he's 76 -- he does look weathered, but since I'm not past the half-century mark myself, I would still "let him put his shoes under my bed." Edited by: rosebette on Apr 21, 2013 12:25 PM

Wow, Babs was in great shape!

Male - Errol Flynn in his prime. Female - Elizabeth Taylor in the 1950s, although I'm not wild about her as a actress

Did someone guess the gentleman with the cigarette? I thought it was Paul Lukas.

I had forgotten what a handsome fella the young James Garner was. Anyone have the "backstory" for young Bill Eythe, who had the lead in a few 20th century fox films and then faded into the backgrond and died young?

I don't know if I'm a big fan of streaming. I use a lot of excerpts of films when teaching, and I still prefer DVD for quality and reliability. Sometimes, the stream hangs up, the quality is impaired, the sound doesn't sync, etc. I think this whole idea of streaming might be "convenient" but not the same as the experience of watching a film broadcast or DVD on a good quality TV with HD, etc. It's for young people and multi-taskers who want to flip back and forth between movies and checking facebook. BTW, I have students now who have trouble sitting through a movie without doing something else.

I believe that Grant was one of the most gifted actors. His comedy playing in "My Favorite Wife" is brilliant, but you also know throughout, as soon as he sees Irene Dunne again, that he is still deeply in love with her. BTW, if I had met Cary as you did, I probably would have died on the spot, having fulfilled one of my dreams.

I think the song is "Smile" by Charlie Chaplin at the end of Modern Times.

If only I could join him in Shangri-La! A handsome man in a beautiful role.

Johnny Mack Brown?

The music in the Atlanta railroad scene with the dying soldier in GWTW is indeed "Dixie", played as a dirge. Max Steiner certainly was a master and did a wonderful job of weaving other composer's themes into his scores -- the way "As Time Goes By" is reorchestrated in Casablanca is another great example. One of my favorite Steiner moments is the romantic theme played during the farewell scene between Errol Flynn and Olivia deHavilland in "They Died with Their Boots On." Eventually, as he goes into battle, the theme is intertwined with "Garry Owen" which was the regiment's theme song. I find the score to Frank Capra's "Lost Horizon" extremely haunting, particularly when the Ronald Colman character is leaving Shangri-La as the people are having the funeral procession for the High Lama, and then Jane Wyatt runs to the top of the gate and weeps when she sees him leaving. There is a sense of other-worldliness, sadness, and longing. I don't know the composer of that score, though.

How about this duel between Robin and Sir Guy from The Adventures of Robin Hood - performed by lego figures!

I'm wondering if it's a very young Barbara Stanwyck.

I think this one might be Ina Clarie.

Josephine Baker?

I agree. I think Garbo's performance is the weakest in the film and definitely one of her poorest - no wonder it is so often parodied! However, I think the real heart and energy of the film are in the roles of the two Barrymores and Joan Crawford. I'm not a Crawford fan, but I think it's one of her best. Lionel Barrymore steals the picture, though, and he always manages to get me to tear up a bit.

I think it's Tallulah Bankhead, but who woulda thunk it --- she looks so innocent and sweet in that picture.

Darn it! I didn't see your post last night before I watched this The Adventures of Robin Hood for the zillionth time! > {quote:title=TomJH wrote:}{quote}ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ALL ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD FANS! > > Okay, did I get your attention? > > I''ve mentioned this before on the TCM message boards but for some inconceivable reason it caused no great earthquakes. Nor did reporters rush to my door to learn how I made the following discovery about the duel in Robin Hood. Why I'll never know. > > Here goes: For those who have the Robin Hood DVD, if you freeze the film at the 96:37 mark you will see that Rathbone's sword is momentarily knocked OUT OF HIS HAND during the duel and flies up towards his own head. > > There is a quick edit, of course, and a moment later the sword is movie magically back in Basil's hand again so that the fight may continue. Now we know why film editor Ralph Dawson won the Academy Award that year for Robin Hood. Without his assistance Sir Guy might have been dispatched a lot sooner. And to think that Basil Rathbone always claimed he was a superior fencer to Errol Flynn. > > For those who don't have the ability to freeze frame the DVD, I will tell you that this sword lost moment occurs when Robin is lying under the candelabra, immediately after Sir Guy and he have the "Do you know any prayers, my friend? -- I'll say one for you!" exchange. > > There, another piece of Robin Hood minutiae that 99.9999% of Robin Hood fans don't know. Except you are now among the fortunate minority that can floor other Robin Hood fans when you astound them with this observation. They will observe you with awe. Their admiration will be boundless. They may even give you money. And one day when Robert Osborne mentions this fact while introducing Robin Hood, you will know that TCM staffers read this thread. > > > > Yep, I'm not kidding. Basil's about to lose his sword here

Well, Tom, I'm a feminist, and I happen to love both Mark of Zorro and The Adventures of Don Juan because I also appreciate good scripts, beautiful music, and lavish costumes, plus as a hetero woman, I enjoy the presence of Power, Flynn, and Rathbone. Both of these films are not routine "actioners", but very skillfully written and played. I also think TCM does an excellent job spotlighting the films of great actresses who were and also played independent women. Plenty of folks wrote about Barbara Stanwyck month, Loretta Young month, and the women of the pre-codes, and I've seen those posts and enjoyed those movies. I'm not a big Western fan, but I don't have any problem with a poster doing a couple of reviews of favorite Westerns, either. The great thing about following all these threads is that I get to read intelligent commentary about a variety of genres, and TCM provides a forum for expressing all these opinions.