speedracer5

Thank you. Looks like she made quite a few films with William Powell who I do like. I'll have to look out for those. Looks like she was in a lot of pre-codes. I haven't seen very many of those and of the ones I've seen, I've found them all to be very interesting, even if the movie itself isn't that great, just the things that filmmakers could get away with prior to the Production Code going into effect in 1934 is pretty fun to see.

That sounds like a very interesting book. I'm going to have to see if I can find a copy of it at the library.

Like my response to your other question, I think it depends on the individual as to how influenced they are by propaganda. If an individual is free-thinking, then wouldn't it be their choice as to how swayed they are by the propaganda's message? Not all propaganda necessarily has to be negative. During WWII, there were many propaganda films made to mobilize the American home front to get their support for the war. Stars sold war bonds to help raise money to fund the war, people obeyed ration regulations, lights out times, etc. Disney made many propaganda films during this era that instructed people how to grow their own food to make the best use of ration times. There were also films made to instruct people living in less affluent areas, like South America, how they can maintain proper hygiene and nutrition. Disney also produced propaganda films like anti-Nazi films in order to show the American public what the men overseas were fighting against. These films were obviously intended to keep an Anti-Axis sentiment in America, but also helped in keeping the country united. Obviously all propaganda has an intended message and purpose, otherwise it wouldn't be propaganda. The filmmaker wants to use one medium to mobilize a large population to believe one opinion or another. They have the right to create whatever propaganda they want. It is up to the individual as to how they absorb the message.

That's actually a pretty cool picture. I like how the strap on her dress is falling down and the Tommy Gun is perched next to the dead man.

I haven't seen much Glenn Ford-- only a couple of films he made with Rita Hayworth. I really like Gilda and agree that many men could have played Ford's role. Gilda needs Rita, it didn't need Glenn. Many of the film noir guys would have been quite capable as Johnny.

First off, I don't think art (whether it is paintings, films, interpretive dance, whatever) should be censored. Typically artists have a specific message in mind, whether they are trying to make a statement about the government, society, morality, etc. It is up to the audience how they interpret the message. I don't think it's fair to censor the artist because of how it might affect a small pocket of society. During the Production Code era, we had movie studios trying to enforce their version of morality upon the masses, which led to the artists' work being modified or even out right banned because of the message it might give to the audiences. Production Code members were afraid of glorifying bad behavior. The filmmakers were unable to tell the story they wanted to tell, because in order to get the film out into the theaters, they had to bend to the Production Code's wishes and make changes to the overall story they were trying to tell. Sometimes they were able to skirt the questionable material by adding more innuendo. I think it's a shame that the filmmakers' artistry was oppressed in this regard. By forcing the filmmakers to always make sure a film ends happily, or with the bad guy ending up in jail, or what have you, in a way the Production Code Committee hurt audiences because they provided an unrealistic view of the world. Sometimes, the bad guy does get away with murder. Re: the Grandma example, isn't there a difference between a parent figure protecting children from a movie they deem questionable, and a group of people trying to decide what story plots, characters, etc are appropriate for masses of adults who may purchase tickets to their films? My mom didn't want my sister and I watching Psycho because she thought it would be too scary for us. One night when she was out of town, my dad rented Psycho from the video store and we all watched it. We weren't scared at all and found the movie exciting. What one deems questionable or potentially corrupting may not be what someone else does and for that reason alone, I think censorship should be done on the individual level and not at a government level (for example). If someone is so easily corrupted by film, then they have a lot bigger problems than just watching questionable film content.

I loved Burr as the DA. I thought his scenes were excellent. I loved how much tension there was and I actually felt scared for Montgomery Clift. This film was interesting as it actually didn't end happily. I definitely did not expect the film to end the way it did.

Thank you. I have seen The Yearling on many of the TCM schedules over the past couple of years and haven't seen it yet. Sometimes I'm leery to watch animal movies--not because I think animal films are bad, only just that the animals always seem to die! I will look out for it the next time around though. Thank you for the recommendation!

I have heard this as well. I believe that Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman were also favorites of his.

Interesting thoughts. I have not yet had this epiphany regarding June Allyson. I didn't have her lumped into my "don't get but want to" category, I had her lumped into my "do not like" category alongside Kathryn Grayson and Esther Williams and wasn't really interested in seeing more. Have I been unfair? I cannot even begin to describe how much I loathed her in Little Women. She wasn't that bad in Executive Suite although her role isn't that big. She was also in Best Foot Forward with my favorite, Lucille Ball. She was "whatever" in that film too. I agree with you when you state how overly squeaky clean she is and how it's offputing. I think that's my problem with many of the starlets from this era: June Allyson, Jane Powell, etc. they're so overly wholesome that they're just bland. I tried to watch Good News but since it starred two people I'm lackluster about: Allyson and Peter Lawford, it was hard to watch. The most interesting thing I had heard about Allyson was that she had an affair with Alan Ladd during the filming of a movie they made together. Allyson and Jean Arthur are similar in the froggy voice category, except that Arthur has that certain pizzazz that makes her interesting. Allyson doesn't have that (at least with me). I think my issue with her is that no matter what role I see her in, whether she's supposed to be a lovestruck teenager, devoted wife, loving mother, whatever, I feel like I'm always watching the neighborhood soccer mom making a movie. I don't know if that even makes sense, but she just seems so ordinary and blah. Is there a film of hers I should watch and see if it'll make me reconsider?

Agreed. He deserved to be killed in Dodge City. Too bad King Kong didn't crush him.

When I first saw this film, I had already seen (and been a fan of) the 1999 remake with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. Upon initial viewing, I found the original version tedious and boring, in comparison with the flashier newer movie. Since then I had regarded the remake as an improvement. Tonight, I gave this film another shot. I've recently become more interested in Faye Dunaway's work. She had really impressed me in Network and I love her campiness and ridiculousness in Mommie Dearest. Upon a second viewing, I think I'm going to have to retract my initial opinion of this film versus the remake. I agree with slayton's opinion regarding the overall aesthetic of this film. This is a cool film. I loved how sleek, sexy, just plain stylish this film is. While the remake's sexiness is more explicit, I like the more subtle (but somehow still overt) sexiness displayed by Steve McQueen and Dunaway. The chess scene is definitely one of the sexiest scenes I've seen in film. The remake seems to have traded the stylish aesthetics of this film for more explicit sexiness and flashier scenery overall. I do think that the remake improved upon the overall execution of the heist. I don't think either version is better than the other, they're just different. However, I think I can now say that I no longer find the original film dull. This film is just one among many that require second (or third or more) looks to catch everything and get caught up in the cool factor. I do love the 1960s heist films (with the exception of The Pink Panther and with the exception of David Niven, but I find Peter Sellers horribly annoying). Heist films (whether they're more comedic or more action packed) are always so much fun and I'm always rooting for the heist to come off successfully. I loved How to Steal a Million with Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. Gambit with Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine was also a lot of fun. These films always have such great music and for whatever reason, great fashions.

In my continuing futile (I say futile, because I'm moving within a matter of days, and I keep recording things and replacing the stuff I just watched and deleted) attempt to watch everything on my DVR, here's what I saw last week: Cinderella Man- Great movie. I'm normally not a huge fan of Russell Crowe and Renee Zelwegger, but I do love sports movies. I also like boxing (not doing, but watching) and movies that take place during earlier parts of the 20th century, so this film had everything. I thought Crowe and Zelwegger were excellent and the choreography in the boxing scenes was excellent. Come Blow Your Horn- I recorded this during the Neil Simon Friday Night Spotlight. I like Frank Sinatra, so I figured that I'd like this film. It was okay. I thought that Buddy was annoying. Frank Sinatra was too old for his role in this movie. He's right for the role of a playboy, but was too old to be the wise older brother to Buddy. He looked more like he was Buddy's father. Sinatra looked old enough to be as old as Lee J Cobb who was playing his dad. I don't know what it is with Lee J Cobb and playing old men, but he didn't do much for me in this film either. His loudmouth father was annoying. Jill St. John's dumb 20-something character was also annoying. The best parts were Dean Martin's cameo as a drunk and Sinatra's song. I've seen better from Sinatra and Simon. Four Daughters- I liked this film. Everytime I see Priscilla Lane, I'm always reminded how much I like her and then I completely forget about her until I happen to see her in a film again. Claude Rains was excellent as usual. I also liked John Garfield. The actor who played Felix was pretty cute too. I don't know if I've been disappointed by a Curtiz film yet. I wasn't a fan of the singing, but I think it was more due to the style of music rather than the voice. I'm a sucker for good music, romance, drama movies. I liked this film much better than its remake, Young at Heart, with Frank Sinatra and Doris Day (even though I like the two actors). Nothing Sacred- I watched this film on the Netflix Instant Queue. I am trying to see more of Carole Lombard which is why I watched this film. I was surprised to see that this film was in Technicolor. I wouldn't expect just a regular 1937 comedy to have included Technicolor in its budget, but it looks like Selznick went all out with this one. I didn't like the color in this film. It wasn't as rich and vibrant as the Technicolor I'm used to. The colors were all muted. It reminded me of a black and white film that had been colorized. Anyway. I thought the beginning with Fredric March being crowded out of his tiny workspace was funny. The storyline overall was good. Lombard's character was a little outrageous. I didn't dislike the film, but didn't like it as much as My Man Godfrey. I may try to give this film another go at another time.

Thanks for the counterpoint view Dargo! I guess I'll have to watch it for myself and see what I think of it. Hitchcock is so good at his suspense films that I think the film would be worth a glance if only for the novelty of seeing a Hitchcock comedy.

I thought this film was very funny. I agree with Cigar Joe that the visuals are the funniest part: When Topper is driving with the Kerbys in the car, but it looks like the car is driving itself and he's a passenger; When the couple starts trashing the nightclub but nobody can see them; The drunk Topper being helped by the ghosts through the bank while everyone's watching; Poor Dagwood constantly getting kicked by the ghosts. There were lots of visual gags that were hilarious. The bystanders' reactions were pretty funny too. The reason that Cary Grant wasn't taking his meeting seriously is he's still partially sloshed from the night before. He and Mrs. Kerby partied all evening and slept in their car in front of the bank. Mrs. Kerby is still sloshed too. The Kerbys also owned a majority of the shares of the bank so I imagine that they are probably used to getting to do whatever they wanted. I was more annoyed by Billie Burke's sing-song voice than anything Constance Bennett did. Mrs. Topper was more concerned with keeping up appearances and climbing the social ladder that she wouldn't let poor Mr. Topper do anything! She's got him on such a strict schedule and keeps him from doing anything fun because she wants to maintain a facade of respectability. She continually refers to them being "middle-aged" and constantly implies that it wouldn't be appropriate for Mr. Topper to do this or that. Poor Mr. Topper is forced to watch his wife do needlepoint while they engage in idle chit-chat, how boring would that be? When the Kerbys die and come back as ghosts, they wonder why they're in limbo. They're not in heaven or hell. They realize that they haven't done anything good or bad to go anywhere. They decide that their good deed will be to help free their friend Topper from his boring life. Throughout most of the first half of the film, Topper exhibits some jealously toward the fun that the Kerbys seem to have and how he doesn't do anything. The comedy from the film comes from all the things the Kerbys get Topper to do to help loosen him up. The ghost Kerbys have a fight after following Topper to the hotel which is why Cary Grant seems to disappear for awhile. I didn't think Constance Bennett was that bad. I don't think I would specifically watch a film to see her, but I wouldn't avoid a film she was in. The reason that Cary Grant was driving with his feet in the beginning is because he and Constance Bennett were out partying all night and they're both drunk. He's just being reckless. I was curious how the car was being powered, unless Bennett was hitting the gas and brake with her left foot. I found the film enjoyable and a good way to spend my Sunday evening. I wish I had started watching the ghost movies earlier, as I missed The Ghost and Mrs. Muir again. Aside from Bennett, I think original choice Harlow would have been good as would Carole Lombard or Myrna Loy.

I've tried watching Kay Francis (okay, I actually only saw her in one film, maybe I haven't tried hard enough) and she did absolutely nothing for me. She didn't give me any reason to try and see more Kay Francis films. I saw Another Dawn only because my boy Errol co-starred in it. Even he couldn't save it. I did not like the film and Errol wasn't even as pretty in this film as he usually is. He was a little "too pretty" to the point where it made him less pretty (if that even makes sense), but I digress. Perhaps my introduction to Francis had been in a better film, I would have a different opinion of her. In this film, she was just dull, just meh.

I'd like to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith. That's Hitchcock's only comedy right? I will have to keep an eye out for this film as well.

I genuinely want to like Carole Lombard. I'm going to try and see as much of her as I can. I don't dislike her. I pretty much got the same first impression from her as I did Jean Harlow, and I've come around in regard to Harlow, I "get" her now. I think with in the case with Lombard (and Harlow) was that my first exposure to them was to a screechy, loud character. For some reason, those types of characters for whatever reason usually irritate me at first-- I find them obnoxious. Likewise, in Bringing Up Baby, Katharine Hepburn's character was really irritating at first, but after seeing more of her less crazy comedic performances and liking her overall, I've found her Bringing Up Baby character more tolerable and actually funny. I tend to like the more subdued screwball comedienne, like Claudette Colbert, Myrna Loy and Irene Dunne. After a few viewings of My Man Godfrey, I'm liking her more and more. It would be interesting to see Lombard in some of her more dramatic work, I'd like to see her performances in a variety of different types of films. I've also read that one of my faves, Lucille Ball, really admired Lombard and I'd like to see what aspects of Lombard inspired Ball. Thank you all for the suggestions. I'm going to look out for Hands Across the Table. I like Fred MacMurray, so I'm looking forward to this film. I see that TCM has Vigil in the Night and Made For Each Other scheduled. They also have Nothing Sacred scheduled, but I just watched that, it's on the Netflix Instant Queue. What I found interesting about that film was that it was in Technicolor. Although, I wasn't a fan of the color, it seemed very muted in comparison with the Technicolor in films like The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Thank you for the suggestions! I will look out for these as well.

I like the Marx Brothers but I can totally understand you're stating that "they don't know when to quit." I agree that sometimes their gags can go on a little too long. I liked Duck Soup although A Night at the Opera is my favorite. The Marx Brothers' films seemed to get worse after every successive film after A Night at the Opera, but I "get" them. In comparison with their contemporaries like The Three Stooges, instead of just being outright moronic, much of the gags and one-liners that the Marx Brothers did were more clever and ridiculous (in a funny way) rather than just being dumb.

Thanks everyone for your input! I see that many of you try to do the same that I do, you want to like someone and keep giving them multiple choices to see if you can find something that "clicks" for you. I am also somewhat in the same boat as GayD when it comes to Cagney, I'm trying to see why he was such a big star. I find that I like Edward G Robinson's gangster films more so than Cagney's. However, I do enjoy musicals, so in addition to finding "the right" Cagney gangster film, I want to see his musical work. When I get around to seeing Yankee Doodle Dandy, I'm hoping that this will help me "get" Cagney. I've also been wanting to see The Strawberry Blonde for quite sometime (mostly because of the cast) and I'm glad to see so many people recommending it on this thread. I've been trying to "get" Carole Lombard as well. She's regarded as one of Hollywood's greatest comediennes and I've been trying to see why. I had seen her in My Man Godfrey (mainly because of William Powell, who I didn't need to try and "get," I liked him from the start) and on the first viewing, I found her character very annoying. She was loud, screechy, just obnoxious. She lacked the sophistication of peers like Myrna Loy and Claudette Colbert. She gave me the same initial impression that Jean Harlow gave me when I first saw one of her films. I also saw True Confession with Lombard and Fred MacMurray and that didn't do anything for me. I re-watched My Man Godfrey and for whatever reason, on the second viewing, I began to get "it." She was much funnier the second time around than she was the first. I just saw Nothing Sacred (it's on Netflix Instant right now) and she wasn't as good as she was in 'Godfrey.'

Gregory Peck does the same for me. I want to like him. I really do. I've watched a few of his films, Roman Holiday, Designing Woman, and Spellbound. However, he wasn't my reason for watching the film, his leading ladies were. While he definitely was attractive and I can see why the ladies liked him, he always seems wooden to me. He doesn't seem to have a distinct "Gregory Peck" persona. He kind of seems like the person you'd cast if first choice Cary Grant were unavailable. However, I like him as a person based on what I've read about him. He wasn't all about himself, he was a genuinely nice person who cared about others. I haven't seen To Kill a Mockingbird yet, so perhaps that will endear me to him. Re: Deborah Kerr. I haven't really made up my mind on her. She does seem rather humorless. I liked her in From Here to Eternity and An Affair to Remember, but Deborah Kerr is never my reason for watching a particular film.

Thanks. Jane Eyre is on Netflix Instant right now, so it'll be easy to watch. I'll have to give her childhood career another chance, I can't base it on one film like Little Women. I love your story about meeting her. I love hearing nice stories about stars that I admire. Taylor seems like she was a genuinely nice person, evidenced by all her humanitarian work through her AIDS Foundation. Aside from all the tabloid fodder she was involved in, she went through a lot in her life and came out on top in spite of it.

Thanks Lavender. I've seen Giant too, but like I said, I think I need to re-watch it, because I can't remember anything about it other than it was long. I'll look into National Velvet, I think this was the film that basically started her career isn't it? Is this Jane Eyre the same one with Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine? I've also seen The Last Time I Saw Paris on the TCM schedule a few times and have never thought of recording it for whatever reason, now, at least, I have Taylor as a reason to record it. I'm going to keep an eye out for her in the schedule, I've heard about her campy performances as well, and sometimes camp can be very entertaining. I also got the Furious Love book about her relationship with Richard Burton and I look forward to reading that while I try to discover more of her films as well.

Thank you for these recommendations Dargo! I've heard of a few of these. I'll definitely want to check out Ball of Fire because Stanwyck is one of my favorites. I do love sports movies, so I'll definitely check out Pride of the Yankees. Knowing the story of Lou Gehrig, I will go into this movie expecting it to end sad, I'll be pleasantly surprised if it doesn't. I'll keep an eye out for these in the TCM schedule!