kingrat

A gorgeous song, which I have actually sung in public. Unlike many Sondheim songs, the piano part is relatively easy.

Giorgio is still rockin' the 'stache!

I saw most of My Man Godfrey the other day, getting caught up in it, as was my spouse, who had never seen it. William Powell has the difficult task of anchoring the film and keeping the right balance between comedy and the darker elements of the film. A character like Irene might be annoying as all get out in real life, but Carole Lombard makes her funny and poetic and irresistible. Speaking of the darker elements, every time I see the film I admire Gail Patrick's performance more. She could be a cardboard villain, but she isn't. If Alice Brady and Mischa Auer aren't quite as funny (to my mind) as they are supposed to be, Powell, Lombard, Patrick, and Eugene Pallette are so great that it doesn't matter.

I liked Wicked Woman, too, Joe. Deliciously sordid, with four darn good performances by Percy Helton, Beverly Michaels, Richard Egan, and Evelyn Scott. Who needs Romeo and Juliet when you can have Percy Helton and Beverly Michaels? One of the later Oz books has a life-size white rat named Percy, and I always think of that when I see Percy Helton, and never more than in Wicked Woman.

Shirley Knight was fabulous as Bree's mother-in-law on Desperate Housewives. She and Marcia Cross were great together.

And another would be: No Way Out, In the Heat of the Night, The Jackal. Sidney Poitier.

Now if you consider Spellbound to be noir, there's another candidate: Spellbound; Mirage and Cape Fear; the remake of Cape Fear. Gregory Peck.

I watched The Candidate today and liked it even better than when I saw it years ago. Yes, that's how the world of politics operates. Would make a great double feature with A Face in the Crowd. Redford is an excellent reactor, and that's what the part calls for. Peter Boyle and Melvyn Douglas are perfectly cast. The hairstyles and clothes are fun. One of the better films of the 1970s, I think.

Bogie, I think this film is delightful. Good choice!

Last night I watched Bedelia (1946), available on YouTube in a decent print, which should appeal to fans of films like My Cousin Rachel, Ivy, and The Strange Woman. Fans of Margaret Lockwood (count me in) should especially like it. It's based on a novel by Vera Caspary, who wrote Laura. And yes, a portrait plays an important role in the story. Bedelia is a fascinating and beautiful young woman--after all, she's played by Margaret Lockwood--but how many times has she been married, and to whom, and did that husband or husbands die a natural death? Bedelia is married to the rich and very nice Charles Carrington, ably played by Ian Hunter, who manages to make a good and decent man interesting as well. A rather upper-crust English painter (Barry K. Barnes) has his suspicions about Bedelia, but also is smitten by her. Barnes, whom I don't recall seeing, seems effete and creepy (at least to an American) yet also a plausible Casanova. There are also several enjoyable supporting characters, including Ellen (Anne Crawford), Carrington's business associate; the Yorkshire housekeepers, delightfully played by Beatrice Varley and Louise Hampton; an insufferable party guest (Barbara Blair); and a formidable nurse (Jill Esmond, the first Mrs. Laurence Olivier). There's also a cute doggie that looks just like Asta. It's fun to read some of the comments by YouTube posters who have just discovered Margaret Lockwood. She does, as a couple of the posters note, have a certain resemblance to both Joan Bennett and Hedy Lamarr.

Meanwhile, I watched Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, which I had never seen. I was in the mood for something light and fluffy like this, with bright colors, good songs, high fashion, and views of Paris. Thanks to everyone who mentioned the ultra politically incorrect number about 1:25 into the film. Actors in blackface carrying spears, Alan Young in a gorilla suit, and a cannibal stew pot. If they were trying to top Joan Crawford's blackface number in Torch Song, they came awfully close. I'm afraid I was laughing hysterically. Dave Karger and Alicia Malone mentioned how much better the male leads are than the ones in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (I agree) and how Jane Russell is now playing the Marilyn Monroe character. I thought Jeanne Crain actually stole the numbers she and Jane Russell did together. I had no idea Jeanne Crain could look this sexy. Dave and Alicia also mentioned that Jane Russell lost weight as the film went on because she thought she was too fat. Scarcely. They also mentioned that we usually think of Russell as being tall, but she was only 5'7".

There's also the line of dialogue that Johnny has about Ballin, which is something like "I was born the night you met me." Ford and Macready both said they played the characters as having a homosexual relationship, although Charles Vidor, the director, said that was news to him. Johnny seems to feel that he is owned by Ballin at first; watch how submissively Glenn Ford plays these early scenes, very eager to please his master. The film has a huge coincidence, that Ballin suddenly happens to marry Johnny's ex. However, what makes emotional sense is that Ballin deliberately seeks her out to torment Johnny. Sex in this film is very twisted. For anyone who wonders what Nina Simone sounds like, look up her version of Judy Collins' "My Father," which is on YouTube. Absolutely stunning.

The World, the Flesh, and the Devil. Also, though it's not an exact parallel, On the Beach.

Great interview with Nancy Olson. Thanks for posting this, Jake.

In Husbands and Wives Mia plays essentially the same character that she played in Hannah and Her Sisters, but now the angle of vision has changed, and instead of being adorably offbeat she is seen as cold, passive-aggressive, and manipulative. Thanks for the report on Woody's book.

In the nineteenth century nationality or ethnicity was often referred to as race. People would speak of the "German race" or the "French race." The 19th century French literary critic Hippolyte Taine discussed literary works according to the formula "race, moment, milieu" where race basically meant nationality.

I read Cheaper by the Dozen at about the same age. As you say, that book was well known in American culture at the time. Librarians and teachers often recommended it to young readers.

Miles, thanks for mentioning "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?" That was one of my dad's favorite songs.

Dargo, it looks like most of us agree with you completely about Beyond a Reasonable Doubt. I believe it's in 1001 Movies you have to see before you die. Why? I think the only reason is that the auteurist critics reasoned like this: 1) Lang is a great director. (Most of us would agree.) 2) Therefore, every film by Lang is a masterpiece. (Huh? But that's what hardline auteurists believed.) Lang's preceding film, While the City Sleeps, also has this flat TV look, though not quite to the same extent as Beyond a Reasonable Doubt. Perhaps the noir styling which most of us now enjoy seemed old-fashioned by the late 1950s. The anti-death penalty stance of the film may also have made the film seem more important to some.

I remember Saint Jack as being pretty good. Wonder if TCM will fuzz out the brief frontal nudity of the young Asian man.

Kay Walsh was fabulous in The Horse's Mouth. I believe she was Mrs. David Lean #2, and he that he dumped her for Ann Todd, whom he fell in love with during the filming of The Passionate Friends. He would probably have loved being married to Jane Seymour, at least for a while! The early Lean films pre-Bridge on the River Kwai were all reasonable lengths. With Kwai he discovered the epic length and got addicted to that, as Coppola, Scorsese, etc. would too.

MissW, I have wondered before if Joan Fontaine simply became matronly at a fairly early age. You're so right about the unflattering hair and clothes, but Joan's rather lah-di-dah "stage diction" (which she consistently uses in films of this period) also makes her sound matronly and older than she really is.

Lorna, I think it's fascinating to watch Alec Guinness play a macho type so convincingly. He and John Mills are both great. Both Tunes of Glory and The Horse's Mouth could pass for David Lean films, which is reasonable because Ronald Neame worked with Lean on many of the earlier Lean films. The presence of Guinness, Mills, and Kay Walsh (who was one of the six Mrs. Leans) also gives the feel of those pre-epic David Lean films. Neame also did a fine job with Gambit. Some of his other films, not so much.

It might get overlooked with the Bogdanovich films tonight, or even the rather meh Beyond a Reasonable Doubt on Noir Alley, which looks like a TV show of the time, but late night tonight has one of my favorite guilty pleasures, The Silver Chalice. Paul Newman is not very good in it, but Jack Palance and Virginia Mayo are most enjoyable villains, and the sets and set decorations are great.

That was an excellent shot. So was the one where Richard Conte rings the doorbell for Madame Rose and in the distance we see a woman slowly coming closer to the door. I liked Cry of the City a lot, and like Vautrin I'm glad we were spared the flashbacks to the youth of the two boys. Manhattan Melodrama is a lot of fun in its own way, especially with Clark Gable, William Powell, and Myrna Loy, but Cry of the City is hard-edged and keeps to the present tense. Conte grows up poor in a tough neighborhood, but so do his parents and so does Victor Mature. The film doesn't offer excuses or explanations for his behavior. Conte has made his choices--and keeps making more choices--and pays the consequences. The acting was really outstanding. Victor Mature is, shall we say, variable in quality throughout his career, but in films like My Darling Clementine and Kiss of Death he looks like a genuinely good actor, and that's how he is here. I like Richard Conte equally well as hero (Thieves' Highway), flawed main character (House of Strangers), or attractive villain, as here. His charismatic good looks help us understand why so many people are willing to help him even though they know he's a criminal. What strong supporting performances, too: Walter Baldwin as Orvy the trusty who helps Conte escape; Berry Kroeger as Niles the mob lawyer; Betty Garde as the nurse who both seems to be attracted to Conte and to have lesbeterian tendencies; and Shelley Winters, who brings an attractive jolt of energy to the screen when she suddenly appears in her leopard-skin coat. And if I was liking the film a lot, I began loving it when who should appear but Hope Emerson. Those scenes between Emerson and Conte show us what great screen acting (and writing and direction) are all about.