JamesJazGuitar
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Posts posted by JamesJazGuitar
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Ever dream of an actress; Yea, I have. And in my dreams I'm really tall!
PS: This should have been posted at the actors-in-one-dream thread. Oh, well. Just another chance for me to post about Martha Vickers!
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Watched Crack Up, a 1946 noir film last night. I posted about this in the Noir Alley thread. Claire Trevor wore this rather strange hat. I really don't like it, but it does stand out so I'm posting it here. It really looks rather large from a side angle.
http://img.youtube.com/vi/MEyjEx_OM64/0.jpg
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I watched Crack Up on MOVIES-TV last night. This 1946 RKO noir is a very good fairly early in the cycle film that has a solid cast (Pat O'Brien, first rate noir dame Claire Trevor, but in a good-gal role, and Herbert Marshall), with good direction by Irving Reis (director of many of the Falcon films).
Robert De Grasse was the Cinematographer and there are many nice noir visuals; E.g. the use of shadows is excellent, as well as the train scene and use of window reflection and an on-coming train light. The film is a psychological crime film and De Grasse and Reis make good use of the camera to explore the inter-working's of O'Brien mind and torment.
Also staring the fine actors Ray Collins and Wallace Ford. I can't recall if Muller has shown this on Noir Alley. Either way, check this film out if you haven't seen it.
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1 hour ago, Cigarjoe cellph said:
Anybody watch Ladies in Retirement, the other day, another Victorian Era Noir. I've caught parts of it before, so it was all fresh.
Only watched part of it since I have seen it many times. Good early example of a film with noir undertones but set in the Victorian era and jolly old England (well not so jolly).
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24 minutes ago, reneex said:
John Hall. Remember him from the classic film, The Hurricane.
What was so tragic about the life of Jon Hall? He did die of cancer at the relatively young age of 64.
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13 hours ago, Dargo said:
Richard replies:
"Yes, and besides, EVERY actor has an Exorcist II somewhere in their filmography!"
(...and, least we forget that the ol' boy WAS nominated seven times of an Oscar, and so I'd say his career couldn't even begin to be thought of as lacking achievement, and even though winning one would elude him...the REAL tragedy here is that he drank himself into an early grave and like so many other leading men have and had done, like Holden, and like Flynn, and like......)
Well said. Yea, I don't think he had major talent above most other actors, and as you noted he didn't lack achievement in his career.
So to me he was just another talented individual that didn't fully realize his talents, like the vast majority of all actors, artist and musicians.
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10 hours ago, skimpole said:
Apparently no one has mentioned Richard Burton, though he is notorious as the anglo-American star with the greatest gap between genuine talent and actual achievement.
From my POV his talent and actual achievements line-up well.
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11 minutes ago, Herman Bricks said:
Tiki your experience with the Stewarts is unfortunate. I'm glad that you made sure that you were compensated properly.
Ms Stewart was not overtly nasty to me, it was more like she treated me as non-existent, until she wanted something from me.
I wonder if any other person will ever match, or exceed her unprecedented influence and success as a lifestyle/media superstar?
My understanding is that Ms. Stewart is a much different person today; E.g. a lot more humble. Going to prison in 2004 is one reason.
I really like what she did with Snoop Dogg; I really didn't like either of these two until I saw the show they did together; Each kind of needed the other; Snoop to appear more mainstream and sophisticated, and Martha to appear more down-to-earth, humorous and likeable. Maybe this is all an act but worked on me.
Of course in Stewarts case maybe a little of that green stuff, helped mellow her out.
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On 4/10/2021 at 1:18 PM, LsDoorMat said:
I feel it was "kind of" related. It seems like Four Daughters in an alternate universe. Dad (Claude Rains) is a cad, but at least Priscilla Lane is drawn to John Garfield's character and it is the bland Jeffrey Lynn who is correctly putting her feet to sleep. I just never figured out why Warner's pushed the completely forgettable Lynn as a dashing leading man. I realize not everybody can be Flynn or Bogart, but really!
As for your "never figured out why WB pushed Lynn": I assume you really know the answer; He was under a multiple year contract; This means he was getting a weekly salary regardless of if he worked (was in a film), or not. I.e. Jack told the WB producers: I'm paying for him,,, use him!!! So the actual question is: why did they sign him to a fixed term contract; From Wiki: Lynn was appearing in a production of Brother Rat in Chicago. He was spotted by a Warners talent scout and given a screen test. In January 1938 they signed him to a long-term contract.[10]
Lynn continued to impressed those in Hollywood - From Wiki: After the success of Four Daughters, Lynn was screen tested for the role of Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1939). He was considered to be the front runner for the role, partly due to his physical resemblance to the character as written.
As for the casting and script of Four Daughters; Yea, alternate universe is a good description. But the role of Mickey was what Garfield needed, helping establish his screen persona as an outsider \ non conventional type. In this way WB made the right casting decision for the future of both actors: Lynn would go on to play a rather bland romantic figure, getting the gal, while the manly man top studio actors, would desire the same gal, but end up dead; The Roaring Twenties (Cagney) and It All Came True (Bogart).
Casting Flynn instead of Lynn in these type of roles would have been a waste of his talent.
PS: I'm editing this because it may appear too harsh towards Lynn: Lynn did his job well as a secondary leading man or supporting player and as the star in light romantic comedies while at WB. During the studio days, each studio needed different type of actors under contract. Lynn was a contributor during his time at WB and performed as expected. (i.e. WB producers knew he wasn't a Cagney, Flynn, E.G. Robinson, or Bogie, and thus utilized Lynn, like most of their other under-contract actors, well).
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11 minutes ago, KidChaplin said:
Hopefully, I worded my point clearly. I didnt want to give the impression of misrepresenting animated acting to acting a scene that had to be emotional or intense. What I am referring to is something like the way a man would grab a woman by both shoulders and slam her into him, the eyes are darting all about, the woman looking like she is melting with love and scared to death at the same time. He slams his mouth into hers. Their faces smashed together. That kind of acting. I know there are scenes like that in modern day, but scenes like I described seemed more commonplace than now.
One genre that clearly shows a massive difference is westerns. The difference in westerns acting from then to now is like night and day.
Well if one is discussing love scenes one major reason would be that back-in-the-day, due to the Code, all they could do to suggest on-fire sexual desire was things like "grab a woman by both shoulders and slam her into him, the eyes are darting all about, the woman looking like she is melting with love and scared to death at the same time", etc. Even the length of a kiss was closely monitored by the censors.
Hey, maybe I'm just over defending back-in-the-day filmmaking, acting, direction,,, because 95% of the films I have seen over the last 30 years are from the 30s - 60s (e.g. I have only seen recently made films when flying to Europe, since I haven't been to a non-revival theater in decades). So I can't really compare the eras.
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16 minutes ago, Herman Bricks said:
Because in reality Musso has an experienced, professional staff, the S&P is not gonna be so carelessly attended, and top-notch designers, set decorators and set dressers would know this.
Now that Musso (CA in general) is getting back to full dinning, I plan to go there in the next month or so. I admit I have never checked out other dinners tables (well except to see if they were celebrities). I'll have to do that. (once I did think of talking home their S&P shakers, but didn't since that wouldn't be nice,,, but if they were labeled,,, well then it would have been hard to resist!).
And when I do I'll also go to my favorite place in Hollywood: Larry Edmunds Bookshop.
This is where I have purchased all of my "classic" movie memorabilia.
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One theory is that back-in-the-day the actors had to generate the "action" instead of CGI and other film making techniques.
Another theory is that in the early days of talking pictures, there were a lot more stage plays that were made into films (way higher percentage then today, by far), and stage acting is often more animated due to the first theory I raised; simple sets and where the actors generate more of the "action". Plus many of the actors came right from Broadway to make the film or had seen the play on Broadway (as well as the director), and there was carry-over of the stage type of acting into the film.
But my POV here is that it is mostly a myth that actors were more over the top back-then they they are now: Yes, the first decades or so of taking picture did feature actor who got their start in silent films and some of them did tend to "overact" but by the late 30s, and into the 40s this was less and less common and actors that started with talking pictures didn't tend to do that. Another reason would be the directors - they took more control.
When we look back at films (or music), most people tend to remember the more animated film performances, and have seen specific scenes that have been played as clips multiple times. Thus these folks tend to believe these clips represent an actors overall body of work. E.g. Bette Davis; Typically when someone tells me she is way-over-the-top I ask what films they have seen; Typically they mention Baby Jane, and not, say, The Corn is Green. Or they reference the Of Human Bondage "I wash my mouth scene".
Yes, Bette is animated in this scene but that doesn't represent her acting in the entire film and especially her entire career.
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12 hours ago, Herman Bricks said:
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019)
In the scene at Musso and Frank's did anyone else find it curious that the salt and pepper shakers on the table are not close to full? Is there a subliminal meaning behind this? It's bothered me since I first saw the movie. Thank you.
I'll been there many times and the place is always busy; the staff spend their time on serving customers instead of ensuring S&P shakers are always full.
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23 minutes ago, TomJH said:
Victor Sen Yung is probably best known to film buffs today as Jimmy Chan, #2 son to Sidney Toler's Charlie Chan in a series of "B"mysteries during the '40s.
A TCM film buff is more likely to know Victor Sen Yung from his fine performances in Warner Bros. films like The Letter, Across The Pacific, and The Breaking Point (since TCM doesn't show the Chan films). I really like this more cunning and dangerous side of Yung verses the rather comical side as #2 son in the Charlie Chan series.
He was also in the recently restored Ann Sheridan noir Women on the Run.
T.V. buff know him as "Hop Sing," the cook on the long-running television series Bonanza, appearing in 107 episodes between 1959 and 1973.[7
He also was in Kung Fu, as well as many earlier performances like Get Smart (where he plays a Japanese spy that is great at impersonation, in the role as a Chinese,, which was classic Buck Henry of comedy).
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11 hours ago, cinemaman said:
In season one of The Untouchables, Claire Trevor starred as Ma Barker in a episode. The episode is called Ma Barker and Her Boys and the episode is a very good one. They tell the story on how Ma Barker started her life of crime through flashbacks. Claire does a very good job as the character of Ma Barker. The story ends with a big shoot out , where Ma Barker and her boys die in this battle. Look for an early role for Louise Fletcher in this episode. Robert Stack is very good in this episode.
Yea, I saw that one and Claire Trevor was great (as she always was in film and T.V.,, fine actress that she was). I don't really like The Untouchables because of the entire concept of stopping oh so evil demon alcohol. E.g. they get their panties all in a bunch over beer! While I generally like Robert Stack as an actor I just can't get into his character in the Untouchables. I.e. I find myself rooting for the criminals, especially if they are actors I love like Trevor.
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32 minutes ago, Roy Cronin said:
Olivia's autobiography "Now is the Time" was scheduled for publication by Harper Collins in August 2012.
Perhaps only she knew why it never materialized, but we can speculate.
If Olivia told the publisher she wouldn't say little to nothing about her relationship with Joan then it is understandable why the publisher would cancel any book deal.
I'm not saying that Olivia has to throw tons of dirt on Joan, or any dirt at all, but any book from her about her life can't just ignore what happened, especially given the fact that Joan was also a major star and celebrity. Oh well; I would have been very interested to hear Olivia's side of her relationship with John Huston, but again, only if Olivia was able to be fairly transparent. Again, I'm not looking for dirt but instead just the perspective of the other-one-involved. Last year I read Courage and Art a bio about John Huston and found the "take" on Olivia fascinating. But of course that was mostly Huston's take on their relationship.
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24 minutes ago, Dargo said:
Yep, and with the key words here being "at the time".
And because after reading San's earlier suggestion of Dorothy McGuire, I now think she too might've been just as good in the role as Fontaine.
(...but with McGuire still 3 years away from the beginning of her own movie career in 1943, therein lies the validity of your "at the time" wordage)
I agree McGuire would have been good in the role (and likely just-as-good-as-Fontaine), but she was inexperienced (a lot less than Fontaine even with McGuire being a year older). By 1940 Fontaine had been making movies for 3 or so years, while, as noted, McGuire didn't make her first film until 1943.
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3 hours ago, Vidor said:
I read Fontaine's book a long time ago and it has a lot of jabs. Calls Orson Welles fat (and that was before he was really fat), mentions Olivia once needing to borrow money, as noted above talks about how Olivier was very standoffish to her on the set of "Rebecca".
Pity Olivia never wrote one.
Yea, Fontaine's book was titled No Bed of Roses. I have the hardcover of this book. I also have a hardcover of Olivia's book, Every Frenchman has One. It is mostly about life in Paris and her marriage, and has little about movies, Joan, or their mother.
PS: as for the casting of Fontaine in Rebecca: I can't think of another actress at the time that would have been a better fit for the role.
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13 minutes ago, Davehat said:
I received an email that the TCM IC is ending. Memberships will be merged into the Warner Brothers A-list community. I stopped using Inner Circle several months ago, so don’t really care.
Anybody disappointed by this news?
I received the same email today. I'm somewhat disappointed since the focus on the IC was strictly TCM. But as discussed when I received their last survey (as well as previous ones), where it appeared TCM was trying to gauge how much we used other related services (like TCM Streaming, and TCM's partnership with HBO), it looks like WB is trying to move users to these other platforms. Could that be because TCM as a cable stations days are numbered?
If so, that would be disappointing news.
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1 hour ago, cigarjoe said:
Just you using those terms shows that the right wing propaganda megaphone is working
So true. The only so called "canceling" I see is those that wish to cancel this TCM series.
TCM didn't do any canceling; Instead TCM showed the films, uncut and unedited.
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6 hours ago, cigarjoe said:
April 27 - The Strange Loves Of Martha Ivers (1946), The Stranger (1946), Hitchcock Noir - Strangers On A Train (1951), Southern Gothic Noir A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Thanks for posting these films. On April 27 TCM should have shown Three Strangers, the Lorre \ Greenstreet noir instead of Streetcar.
Oh well, this theme was rather strange to begin with!
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19 minutes ago, TopBilled said:
Also, I am a liberal, but I do not like how TCM's Reframed series seems to be attacking conservative viewpoints. I don't think that's helpful to any sort of forward progress for viewers as a whole group.
What conservative viewpoints does TCM seem to be attacking?
What Are You Listening To?
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Today at the jazz guitar website is yet debate about Ringo. Someone said given his limited ability, he was perfect for the Beatles since one can hear in his playing the emotional connection he had with his mates.
Someone else took that as a knock on Ringo. I don't. Ringo (or the vast majority of rock drummers), does have less ability then a jazz drummer. But for me he was a perfect fit for the Beatles and their music. A drummer with more technical ability wouldn't have improved the music. If anything it would lessen the overall impact and sound of the music. A musician's "value" to a band isn't measured solely on technical ability or any other single attribute. Ringo was the perfect fit for the Beatles and the sum-of-the-parts is what is important in any band (rock, blues, jazz,,,, doesn't mater which genre).