slaytonf

Glenda Farrell will be familiar to aficionados of studio-era movies. She's faded from the popular consciousness, unlike headline stars such as Bette Davis, or others who maintain recognition by association with an iconic movie, like Fay Wray. But I wonder if TCMers have a true appreciation of her career and place in movie history. I didn't, until I read about her for this thread. Here's a good summary of her career and life: https://thoughtsandramblingsofhardwickebenthow.wordpress.com/glenda-farrell-her-life-and-legacy/ Most often characterized as the fast-talking, smart, sassy, brassy side-kick to the female lead, her other achievements are overlooked. But she wasn't so much type-cast, as a victim of her own success, along with her movie and real-life buddy Joan Blondell, in creating the type itself. A vein well and deeply mined by Jack Warner in a series of movies starring her and Joanie as a pair of adventuresses on the hunt for money and men, in varying orders of importance. People might dismiss this as gimmickry, not worthwhile acting, but I see a real dimension and humanity in her characterizations. Her professionalism, razor sharp timing, and bulls-eye delivery would be good enough to get her through a few movies, but the hard and edgy aspects of her roles would have paled if there weren't anything under it to make them sympathetic and people care about them. And this is what must have resonated with audiences, as she was an enormously popular actress, according to her bios, equal to any of her contemporaries. This popularity got her her own movie series portraying crack news reporter Torchy Blane. According to Ms. Farrell herself, she worked hard to make her portrayal more than superficial, smart, brash, intrepid; studying the women reporters she came in contact with, and emulating them. Warner tried to replace her when he latered her from the studio, but the public wouldn't have it. Only Glenda Farrell was ever accepted as Torchy Blane. I want to send out a big thank you, and a why-the-hell-did-it-take-you-so-long? to TCM for their long overdue tribute. Glenda Farrell, Star of the Month, November 2018.

Let me recommend Theatre of Blood (1973). One of my favorite of Vincent Price's.

Hey, there's somebody else besides me who knows this movie!

One hand is on the frame of the windshield--pardon me--windscreen, and the other is on the frame of the car door window. The lady in question, btw, is Diana Rigg, as Mrs. Peel in the British TV series The Avengers, dressed in one of her signature unitards, a fashion trend-setter. A phenomenon difficult to understand, as she was the only one ever to have successfully worn one.

Just a passing thought inspired. There are front-engine rear-drive cars, and front-engine front-drive cars, but has there ever been a rear-engine front-drive car?

I like the series--at least the earlier episodes, where they are true enemigos. Good banter and even animosity. But they devolve to frenemies, and then, sigh, friends. All the spark and energy of their conflict is lost, and they end up the standard crusading duo.

That's what I meant.

Not that I watch them all the time. They just seem to crop up repeatedly when I take out a disk to watch. They are not necessarily the 'best' movies, though some are. I don't necessarily see something new in them each time I watch them. But I might. They can be minor, insignificant, mostly forgotten. But there's something I like about them. It might be things recognized by the world, or just by me. Blondie of the Follies (1932), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), The Red Shoes (1948), No Regrets for Our Youth (1946), The Wages of Fear (1953), Hide-Out (1934), Sporting Blood (1931), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Three Godfathers (1936), Double Harness (1933), That Man From Rio (1964), Late Spring (1949), Seven Samurai (1954), Midnight Mary (1933), Seven Men From Now (1956), Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966), Funny Face (1957), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Monterey Pop (1968), Lady With a Past (1932), The Yearling (1946), Safe in Hell (1931), Baby Face (1933), Out of the Past (1947), The Big House (1930), I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), Bob le Flambeur (1956), Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (1967), Wild Strawberries (1957), The 39 Steps (1935), A Star is Born (1937), The Last Flight (1931), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), The Devil and Miss Jones (1941), Top Hat (1935), Angel and the Badman (1947), In Harm's Way (1965), Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Farenheit 451 (1966), La Baie des Anges (1963), Charade (1963), The Set-Up (1949)

Ow! Ow! Stop! BTW, here's the offended car:

Definitely, definitely nice. As I've said before. You'll find that happens a lot, especially in action/adventure/heist movies. It seems filmmakers feel compelled to destroy the most beautiful cars wantonly. One of the most painful moments comes in The Italian Job (1969) when--no, no, I can't describe it. . . . .

Well TheCid, I am compelled to say you are wrong. The E Type is the most beautiful and sexy car ever made. Anybody who ever owned one, either when it was made or till today never cared about reliability or upkeep because it's the most beautiful and sexy car ever made. Occasionally I idly wonder if its performance ever matched its looks--but it doesn't matter. There was an upperish-end used car place I used to pass two or three times a week in my peregrinations that had one in the window. I considered buying it for the three or so months it was there. I can't decide if I regret it, uncertain wether the pleasure of owning one would outweigh the pleasure of wanting one.

Airborne, but not nice.

Not nice.

Funny, muscular, but not nice.

They were a foreboding presence in a movie that remains one of the strangest oddities of moviemaking.

Now, that's a nice car!

Nice, but no car.

So that's what the shot if from!

Numerous copies can be seen on YouTube. Pick your soundtrack. Here's one:

You say that like there's something wrong with it.

As for a runner up, that would be a hard one. I guess I'd have to say Two Tars (1928).

Thanks for all the info, Spence. I have to admit I'm not big a nut about what goes on outside of the movies themselves. But I do remember going on a tour of Universal Studios--before it became an amusement park. And I went on a tour of the Fox lot before it became the Wilshire district. The Hello, Dolly (1969) sets were still in good shape.

Homer mentions in the scene with the America firster that he gets some kind of disability payment.

That was me minting. I'd describe it as someone inoculating themselves against criticism for arrogance arising from their socio-economic status.

That would be me, and here's the link to my thread: http://forums.tcm.com/topic/115534-the-music-box-1932-the-most-perfect-movie-ever-made/