kingrat

THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER. Maybe two and a half stars out of four, to be generous, because the acting is good and I like Margaret Sullavan. However, this is a filmed play sadly lacking the Lubitsch touch. Oh wait . . . . The screenplay is not re-worked for film time. Note, for instance, the delayed entrance for Sullavan, so that latecomers to the theater will already be seated in time for the star's entrance and her round of applause. The big scene where Stewart sees Sullavan meeting her pen pal in the restaurant--Stewart's looking through a window and telling us what he sees. We never see Sullavan. Poor adaptation, and (sacrilege!) poor direction. This approach may be acceptable in the theater, but not on screen. I also dislike that Stewart learns about Sullavan, but not the other way around, which would be much more fun. Stewart's keeping up the pretense after he already knows the truth gets to be rather sadistic for my taste. Summing up: an acceptable film to watch while folding the laundry, a must for Margaret Sullavan films, but a top-flight romantic comedy? Not!

VON RYAN'S EXPRESS is pretty entertaining. This shows up on TCM from time to time. THE OSCAR is, quite simply, a camp classic. A perfect match of bad writing and bad acting. Sinatra has a cameo part. He doesn't figure in the delicious badness of it all. NOT AS A STRANGER is pretty campy, too, though some people do take it seriously as a romantic drama. Sinatra is not the first actor who comes to mind as a believable medical student. Olivia De Havilland has a Min-ne-so-ta accent, because that's where the overheated story is set. Pauline Kael said she got asked to leave the theater for laughing so much at the scene that involves Robert Mitchum, Gloria Grahame, a stallion, and a line about "giving the widow his last shot."

In the 1930s Ashley would not have been considered a woman's name. Ashley did not become popular as a woman's name until sometime after the Baby Boomer Generation. I went to high school with a boy named Courtney and did not meet a girl with that name until some time later. Some names like Dana, Dale, and Lee still are given to both sexes, although Dana is more common as a woman's name. Notice that all of these names, like Ashley, Courtney, Hayley, Leslie, and Madison were all originally last names.

June Lockhart plays Vance in ADAM HAD FOUR SONS, just seen on TCM. Wasn't Barbara Stanwyck's character in THE FURIES also called Vance?

In H.M. PULHAM, ESQ., Hedy Lamarr's character is named Marvin Miles. Marvin??? Giving girls a family name, especially as a middle name, was common among the upper classes and also in the South. Thus a girl might be named "Mary Jordan Smith" and choose to be called Jordan rather than Mary. Quite a few names have made the transition from last names to men's names to women's names. Jordan and Ashley are good examples. Shirley was originally a last name, but it came into use as a woman's first name after Charlotte Bronte's novel SHIRLEY. Fortunately, H.M. PULHAM did not start a vogue for naming innocent girl children Marvin.

I'm another Claire Bloom fan. She was an SUTS selection a few years back. She does something remarkable in THE CHAPMAN REPORT: gives a superb performance in a bad, sometimes laughably bad, movie. Another strong performance is in the fine film THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, which features one of Richard Burton's best performances. Her memoir is thoroughly entertaining. By the way, some may remember her as the villainous Orlena on AS THE WORLD TURNS (after her divorce from Philip Roth, she needed the money as well as the work). She worked with Martha Byrne and some other talented actors in this storyline.

I believe Arturo made a great point that Paulette Goddard, who has always seemed to me the second-best choice for Scarlett, isn't high-strung like Vivien Leigh. Vivien's Scarlett is emotionally volatile, ready to go off at any moment, and that's one of the things that fascinates (and scares) us about her. Leslie Howard, despite all that can be said against him, could have been a great Ashley if he had seen the dramatic possibilities in the role the way Olivia De Havilland worked to find the depths in Melanie (a character who could have been supremely boring or irritating if played by many actresses). Howard didn't want to do the part and thought of GWTW as a potboiler, not a prestige project like THE PETRIFIED FOREST or PYGMALION. Ashley's an honorable aristocratic landowner in a society where that is the most prestigious position, and then his world comes crashing down, and he doesn't have the skills necessary for the new world. This is great dramatic stuff, if the actor digs deeply enough.

I didn't quite want to scream, but SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK didn't have what I consider a happy romantic ending. In effect: "I'm a dysfunctional jerk on psychotropic meds, you're a dysfunctional jerk on psychotropic meds--darling, we belong together!" Well, the characters do sorta belong together, but I would want to stay far, far away from both of them. The ending of MY FAVORITE WIFE rubs me the wrong way. Having behaved like an idiot the whole movie, not telling her children she's their mother, Irene Dunne then decides she needs to punish Cary Grant for his behavior (and he's behaved pretty much like a normal human being) and keeps rejecting him until, by the time of the "happy ending," I'm convinced Grant isn't much better off with her than with Gail Patrick. Good topic, Slayton. We can probably come up with quite a few examples.

My favorite moment in PULP is when the Mick pulls back a mirror to reveal another mirror underneath it. Those stars just can't help looking at themselves!

Slayton, to me the main interest in UNDERCURRENT is to try to think of other movie pairings that have as little romantic chemistry as Katharine Hepburn and Robert Mitchum. They seem to reach absolute zero in that department. Angelina Jolie and Matt Damon in THE GOOD SHEPHERD come close. Hepburn and Robert Taylor don't have much chemistry, either. In other words, put three talented stars, a gifted director, and at least an adequate script together, and sometimes you end up with, well, not very much. For Sunday, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN and THE CLOCK are essentials for Robert Walker, excellent in both.

For those not fond of Deborah Kerr's performances as spinsters, I recommend THE SUNDOWNERS. She and Robert Mitchum have great chemistry as a married couple. For me, this is one of the finest portrayals of warm, natural female sexuality. Some of her early films like I SEE A DARK STRANGER, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP, and EDWARD, MY SON might be worth checking out, too, for showing different aspects of her screen persona.

Expressions like "He's a real white man" and "That's right white of you" were common at the time. They are certainly startling to younger viewers today. Another unpunished murder is at the end of THE INFORMER. I'm guessing that the Breen office allowed this because the killer is an IRA member who is killing someone who informed on the IRA. Irish Catholic murderers were probably much more acceptable to Joseph Breen than the common run of killers. I believe Richard Barrios' SCREENED OUT refers to a an early 30s movie where Franklin Pangborn sings, "I am a gay caballero." Apparently "gay" was a code word used only among those in the know; it did not make the transition to general use until the 1960s, when either Life or Look did a cover story called "The Sad Gay Life." Newspaper editors helped popularize the word "gay" because it was so much easier to fit into headlines than "homosexual."

I'm another fan of LADIES IN RETIREMENT and just about all of Ida Lupino's performances. I believe that TCM has shown ROAD HOUSE, although not recently. Ida Lupino probably isn't one of the first stars who leads you to classic films, but for some of us, once we discover her work, she becomes one of our very favorites.

If you ever get a chance to see NIGHTMARE ALLEY on the big screen, don't miss it. This is such a great film, even with the softened ending because of the code. Tyrone Power proves that he really can act, Helen Walker and Joan Blondell are great, and there's so much to admire.

There's a very good actor in THE MEN who turns out to be a pre-Dragnet Jack Webb. I had no idea he had this much ability. Having Fred Zinnemann as a director obviously didn't hurt.

Although HANGMEN isn't one of Lang's better films, I'm still fond of it. I wish Walter Brennan had been cast against type more often; I think his philosophy professor here is one of his best performances, the best probably being the world-weary con man in NOBODY LIVES FOREVER. ALs for his lovable old codger roles, I'd rather not see two of them back to back. I think Lang's work declines after HUMAN DESIRE, although I haven't seen the German films he made later in his career.

Richard Johnson, always good, was an outstanding Cassius in the 1960s version of Julius Caesar, with John Gielgud excellent as Caesar and Jason Robards just awful as Brutus. Worth seeing for Gielgud and Johnson, and with Richard Chamberlain's Octavius a boost for his career.

Thanks for the reminder, Slayton. Like you and Arturo, I'm a fan of this movie and of Deborah Kerr's lovely performance.

So WOMAN ON THE RUN is about a man on the run. Figures. Of course Ann then does some running on her own, trying to find her man. Thanks to everyone who recommended the movie, which I really enjoyed. Tom, thank you for the information about Joan Fulton/Joan Shawlee as the blonde drunk at the bar. She made a big impression in that scene. Dennis O'Keefe is a better actor than I thought. Recently I saw him in ABANDONED (1949) at the Palm Springs Film Noir Festival. He was excellent as a wisecracking newspaper reporter. Clearly that kind of role brings out the best in him. As for Ann Sheridan, she's warm, she's funny, she has a lovely distinctive voice, she can do drama, she's good-looking, she sexy and earthy in a way that seems more real than many other movie stars. The script for WOMAN ON THE RUN was well-shaped; Norman Foster's direction was just fine; and the location shots of San Francisco were great.

I'm still chortling over Bogie's FRANCIS/BALTHAZAR double feature and Richard Kimble's witty Waters/Logan double feature. Seriously: Fritz Lang's M and the 1951 Joseph Losey remake of M Maybe not quite so seriously: MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON THE HAPPY HOOKER GOES TO WASHINGTON

Richard Long fans need to see ALL I DESIRE. He plays the boyfriend of Barbara Stanwyck's daughter, and there is a charming scene where he dances with Stanwyck.

Slayton, it might amuse you to know that Mussolini was a big fan of Anita Page. Having seen Barry Lyndon and What's Up, Doc? recently, the first name that comes to my mind is Ryan O'Neal. He's maybe passable in the comedy, in way way over his head in Barry Lyndon. Kubrick actually gives the supporting players more closeups than the star, because they are the ones carrying the scenes. Don't think I've ever seen that before.

If you want to see Elia Kazan as an actor, he has a nice scene early in Blues in the Night telephoning his mother. He's also a gangster in City for Conquest. As a short character actor, he made the right move to switch to directing.

I don't believe anyone has mentioned John Cassavetes, whom I much prefer as an actor (sacrilege, I know). Barbara Loden directed and starred in Wanda, which has been shown on TCM. Joseph Pevney is excellent as Jack Oakie's sidekick in Thieves' Highway. Two future directors are in Counsellor-at-Law (1933): Vincent Sherman plays the radical, and Richard Quine plays John Barrymore's snobby stepson.

Slayton, I couldn't agree more with your original post. Beautifully said. Lorna raises a great point about whether, in spite of everything, Walbrook is the hero and Marius Goring is the villain. Walbrook is right about the effect of marriage on Victoria's dancing; it's a question of what she's willing to make the other part of her life work. In one of his poems Yeats spoke of having to choose "perfection of the life or of the art," and that's at the heart of The Red Shoes. PamB, I'm so glad you got to see The Red Shoes for the first time and that you really liked it. I like the combination of actual dancing and special effects in The Red Shoes. Powell will do whatever it takes to realize his vision. This is a film of abundance. So much is going on in every frame of the film, and Powell gives us not just the story, but the world in which the story takes place. When lzcutter posted a list of all the films chosen as Essentials, I looked it over and made a list for a program challenge of essential films which had not been shown in that series so far. The first movie that came to mind was The Red Shoes. Thanks to TCM for correcting that oversight.