faceinthecrowd

One of the best lines is when the dancers are being auditioned. Asked her address, one says, in a snooty tone: "Three thirty-three Park Avenue." Upon which Ginger Rogers says: "And is her homework tough!"

Very few remakes are justified, in my opinion. This is an outstanding example. I love the scene in which a colleague is about to introduce Chips' new wife to the others. He says, "Remember, she's Chipping's choice." And someone says, "Good Lord! As bad as that?" Then Greer Garson walks in!

Michael Redgrave gives a truly great performance. He doesn't seem to be doing anything, but we can see the repressed emotions seething under the surface -- a very difficult thing to convey. It's a portrayal that should have received an Oscar; I don't think it was even nominated. A line I always remember is when the wife taunts her lover for betraying his friend, and he says: "At your urgent invitation." And she slaps him. The truth hurts. The information about Leslie Howard's son, and the translation of the Greek, was very welcome.

SATAN MET A LADY is interesting as a curiosity. I don't know whether the title is explained in the movie; in case it isn't, Dashiell Hammett writes in the first paragraph of the book that Sam Spade "looked rather pleasantly like a blond satan." (Hammett doesn't spell Satan with a capital S.)

That's interesting about Scorsese's mother doing the voice. It reminds me that in the same movie Pupkin does an "interview" with a life size cutout photo of Liza Minnelli, who does not appear in the film. Also: in THE MALTESE FALCON Bogart is talking on the phone to his lawyer (not really an important character), and he says something like, "Sid, I think I'm going to have to tell the coroner to go to blazes." We hear some noises from the phone, but no words can be made out.

A non-human character who never appeared was THE MALTESE FALCON (remember, it was a fake). Unless the one we saw in the opening credits was supposed to be "real". THE ICEMAN COMETH. I think there's a DVD of the production starring Jason Robards, Myron McCormick, and a very young Robert Redford. Robards' performance is legendary.

WW starred in SATAN MET A LADY, a forerunner of THE MALTESE FALCON. He was also in a movie I haven't seen for a long time and would like to see again, WILD GEESE CALLING. According to Ephraim Katz's Film Encyclopedia he played Philo Vance a couple of times, and Perry Mason several times. But for me his greatest role was as Julius Caesar in CLEOPATRA, in which Claudette Colbert was the most alluring Cleo ever. As for John Barrymore, a good example of how effective he could be when he didn't take himself seriously was MIDNIGHT, which also starred Ms. Colbert. Barrymore was hilarious in this one.

Harvey qualifies for this thread because he never appears in the movie -- except in a painting, as Robert Forrest does in KEEPER OF THE FLAME. But does he exist? Of course he does! Among other things, when Wilson looks up the definition of POOKA, he reads: "...very fond of rumpots, crackpots, and how are you, Mr. Wilson?" That should be enough proof for any reasonable person.

In New York City, the "Big Broadcast" radio show can be heard on WFUV-FM, 90.7, from 8 p.m. to midnight every Sunday. Their specialty is music from the 1920s and '30s. No plays, but great music.

Other unseen fathers who had a great influence on a central character were Judy Holliday's in BORN YESTERDAY, and Jimmy Stewart's in MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON.

Radio station CHML, 900 on the AM dial, is based in Toronto. They play old time radio shows every night of the week, starting at 10:06 or 11:06 p.m. Eastern time (it varies). Their website is 900chml.com. Around 7:30 a.m. you'll find that day's schedule. If you're not within radio range there's supposed to be a way to listen over the Web. They often play Lux Radio Theater, Director's Playhouse, and similar programs.

In MR. SKEFFINGTON, a running gag throughout the movie is Bette Davis saying, "Tell Janie Clarkson I can't possibly meet her for lunch." And I think that's the last line of the film. In KEEPER OF THE FLAME, Robert Forrest's portrait appears at the far end of the room. It would have been more effective if he had never been shown at all. In KISS OF DEATH, Victor Mature's wife never appears. In GET CARTER, the title character's suspicion that his brother was murdered is the motivation for all of his actions. Some of the following characters have already been mentioned, but they deserve special attention because their names appear in the title: Harvey Rebecca Edward, My Son The Great Man Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia -- we see only a photo of him. Looking for Mr. Goodbar George Washington Slept Here Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? And I've heard that a feature film was made of WAITING FOR GODOT. In the TV series THE GUNS OF WILL SONNET, the title character didn't appear until the ratings started tanking. Then they jumped the shark by bringing him in. It didn't help. Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Mar 15, 2010 2:07 PM

Ephraim Katz's Film Encyclopedia makes no mention of Muni and Edward G. Robinson being related, but I wouldn't rule it out. I'm struck by Wilde saying that Muni was the most egocentric person he'd ever encountered. In Hollywood? That's a high standard to meet. These days, if you mention SCARFACE, most people think of Al Pacino, who certainly gave a memorable performance. But Muni was there first, co-starring with the wonderful Ann Dvorak.

The Lady Eve is on my short list of the funniest (and wittiest) movies ever made. Enjoy!

In fairness to Arthur Godfrey, it should be noted that he frequently had a singing group on his show called the Mariners, consisting of four guys who had met in the Navy. Two were Black and two were White. In the 1950s integrated groups were unheard of, and the governor of a deep South state made some comments deploring the fact. Nobody told Godfrey what to do, and he laced into the man on the air -- "His Majesty doesn't like the people I have on my show." Today it's hard to realize how much influence Godfrey had on people's thinking. That may not have been his intention, but some good came out of the episode. And he was responsible for the sale of a lot of ukuleles, too.

One of the things that Lonesome Rhodes did that made me think he was based on Godfrey was that Rhodes mocked his sponsors even while he was doing their ads. It drove them up the wall, but they put up with it because their sales went through the roof. For those whose memory doesn't go back that far: Julius LaRosa was a young, handsome singer on Godfrey's show, with an unassuming personality. When he started getting more fan mail than Godfrey, the Old Redhead couldn't stand that, and fired him on the air, on the pretext that he lacked "humility" for failing to show up for mandatory ballet classes (I'm not making this up). For once, Godfrey had misread the public. His popularity didn't evaporate, but it was never the same again. He had let the mask slip.

To scsu1975: Bogart's character is named Harry Morgan, but Howard Hawks' nickname, for some reason, was Steve, and his wife was known as Slim. He passed the names on to the characters.

To MaisieR: Amen. And that great last line is almost whispered, or hissed, by MR. Paul Muni (as he was justifiably billed). An unforgettable ending! And thanks to fredbaetz for that interesting story. It shows how a creative person takes advantage of accidents. Another director would have said, "Fix those lights, and we'll do another take." LeRoy realized that it was perfect and kept it that way. That last line, and Muni fading into the darkness -- and to think that many of the younger generation have never heard of this movie.

To wouldbestar: I don't remember who spoke that line; maybe I can find it on IMDb. And I'm going to see if a DVD or VHS of the movie is available. UPDATE: No luck on either. No quotes on IMDb, and Amazon has no recordings. Maybe there's a bootleg around somewhere. The title is deliberately ambiguous, the implication being, is the "master" really a slave too? It was a thought-provoking film. Another exchange: a slave quotes the Bible to Boyd: "I am black and comely." Boyd pauses for a beat, then replies quietly: "My Bible says, 'Black but comely.'" About Lonesome Rhodes: I always assumed that he was based at least partly on Arthur Godfrey, whose jovial public persona was known by many insiders to be a mask, which was exposed as such by the Julius LaRosa incident. Edited by: faceinthecrowd on Mar 9, 2010 7:26 AM

The real life model for Frankie Fane? It shouldn't be hard to narrow down the possibilities -- he's ruthlessly ambitious, and willing to destroy anyone who stands in his way. There are very few people in Hollywood who fit that description.

Stephen Boyd was good in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), and in the rarely seen Slaves (1969). And if Wagner's music is better than it sounds, The Oscar is better than it looks.

Some turkeys are delicious, and The Oscar is. Stephen Boyd was a good actor, and Eleanor Parker is always worth watching. I'd rather watch The Oscar than the Oscars.

THE FRONT PAGE (1931) is more faithful to the play of the same name than HIS GIRL FRIDAY. Adolphe Menjou is very good, and more believable as a hard-boiled editor than Cary Grant. Hildy (Hildebrand) Johnson is a man, as in the play. And we get to see Slim Summerville! That said, HIS GIRL FRIDAY is a must for the lightning-fast dialogue between Grant and Rosalind Russell. If you're going to change Hildy to a woman, by all means make the woman Roz. As for -30-, well, if you're thinking about buying it, see it first. (The title? Newspaper buffs will understand the meaning.)

I remember when Whitman was being touted as "the next Gable." That was a lot to live up to. Some performers never reach the top despite having as much talent as those who do. He was excellent in THE MARK, playing a tormented man fighting against a compulsion to do what he knew was wrong. I'm glad to learn he received the recognition of an Oscar nomination.

Pucka: On behalf of everyone, welcome to the forum. And your post about THE STING shows that you definitely have something to offer. I've seen the picture several times, and I never noticed the footsteps motif. That's the sort of thing that adds to one's enjoyment. I love watching a favorite movie and seeing (or hearing) something new about it.