TomJH

"He better get that trunk out of there before it starts to leak." Thelma Ritter, Rear Window.

That's okay. Errol wrote more about this scene than any other scene in his film career when he did his autobiography. Setting the record straight obviously meant a lot to him. Plus, to the best of my knowledge, neither Davis nor Curtiz ever disputed his version of the events afterward either.

Sorry, Speedy, but I think you're a little off on your facts here, at least according to Flynn's autobiography. The real slap that Davis gave him was during dress rehearsal only, but it was not what we see in the final film. Davis backed down on repeating it a second time so what we see is a fake slap. That was acting on Errol's part when he portrayed anger in the scene so let's give him some credit. There is undoubtedly real tension in this scene, especially on Errol's part, because he wasn't certain if the beetch would hit him again (after he asked her not to) until the cameras were rolling.

I was pleasantly surprised at what a fine inside look SURVIVING GILLIGAN'S ISLAND turned out to be. The three cast members who participated, Dawn Wells, Bob Denver and Russell Johnson, it was good to see them again and, Dawn Wells, well, she still looked like Mary Ann. And the actors who played the roles of the seven original cast members were all fine in their roles, with a couple of them doing remarkable voice impersonations, in particularly those playing Jim Backus, Alan Hale, Tina Louise and Natalie Schaeffer. This doc is also honest enough to give us a glimpse at some of the behind the scenes conflicts and, most surprisingly, I wasn't expecting to be as touched as I was, particularly in the portrayal of Jim Backus' final appearance, as well as Natalie Schaeffer's medical secret. The latter was a reminder that these weren't just comedy actors in a silly, slapstick series but human beings who stoically carried on despite personal traumas.

If it helps, The Bedford Incident is not a submarine movie. The film takes place on Widmark's ship which is tracking a sub.

Just to give additional evidence of what a great performance Widmark delivered in No Way Out, the actor felt very uncomfortable with some of the racist filth that his character spewed out in the film and apologized repeatedly to Sidney Poitier about it. Widmark and Poitier became friends, years later memorably reteamed in THE BEDFORD INCIDENT, in which Widmark, once again, delivered a powerful performance. Tiki, since you say you haven't seen much of Widmark's work, I strongly recommend seeing this 1965 Cold War drama in which Widmark plays a hard nosed American ship captain who decides to pursue a Russian nuclear submarine. The film has an unforgettable ending, with Widmark's last facial expression saying volumes.

The Lion and the Horse (1952) Unpretentious family drama about a cowboy's love for a wild black stallion and his various travails in capturing the animal, losing him through circumstances to a ruthless owner of a rodeo who cruelly exploits the animal, only to free him once again, with, eventually, a rendezvous between the stallion and an escaped lion from the rodeo. Steve Cochran, usually cast by Warner Bros. as a hunky tough guy, has a nice change of pace with his casting as the cowboy, showing how amiable he could be in the role of a nice guy, for a change. You can see the affection in the actor's eyes towards the horse, and it's difficult not to like him for it. Young Sherry Jackson (who is given to cussin' with expressions like "Gosh a'mighty" and "Holy jumpin' catfish") is quite adorable as a little girl on a ranch at which Cochran gets hired, while Ray Teal is suitably repulsive as the lowlife rodeo exploiter who doesn't care what happens to the horse (named "Wildfire") so long as he makes money out of him. Western stalwarts Bob Steele and Tom Tyler can be spotted in the cast, as well as George O'Hanlon (best remembered today as Joe McDoakes in the "Behind the 8 Ball" comedy shorts series), here largely wasted as a ranch hand. The final confrontation between the two title characters, by the way, is, perhaps, more amusing than anything else. Despite the fast edits and dramatic musical accompaniment it is glaringly obvious that when the lion springs on the back of the horse it is a man in a lion suit. Shades of Bert Lahr! In a way, it's almost a relief inasmuch as you don't have to be concerned if any animal was injured during the fight. Both the stallion and the male lion shown in this film are magnificent looking animals, by the way. The film is set in Wyoming, and those who appreciate outdoorsy dramas will undoubtedly enjoy the rugged terrain captured in much of this film, photographed in WarnerColor. Unfortunately the print I saw had very uneven colour, some shots looking fine while others were washed out. There were also a lot of specks and a few scratches on the print. However, it was still quite watchable. Max Steiner contributed the musical score, a reprise of contributions he had made to countless other westerns in the past, with a particular emphasis upon his score from Sergeant York. As much as there is undoubtedly a feeling of wholesome family entertainment about The Lion and the Horse, it's a difficult film not to like. This film is available as a Warners Archive DVD but also makes an occasional appearance on TCM. And, as Sherry Jackson's character might have said, "Gosh a'mighty, give it a chance. What have you got to lose?" 2.5 out of 4

"Stop saying 'Judy, Judy, Judy." My name's Jean!"

Key Largo "You might get the top billing in this film but I'm the one who gets to do the slapping around here!"

Combination neck slap-hat pull, courtesy Ann Sheridan.

Do blocked slaps count? Who does she think she is - Bette Davis?

You'd think that James Cagney would finally learn not to make Joan Blondell angry

Yes, that is probably true. And, while I hate to say it, at his age, Washington is undoubtedly in the twilight of his career. I'm looking forward to seeing his next release, though. I hope this actor can keep going for a while yet.

By the way, here's a trailer for Denzel Washington's next release. Looks interesting. And probably more than a little intense.

I forgot about that one and, truth is, I have difficulty recalling it that well. Thanks for mentioning it, though.

Well, I'm an older person not into today's stars. I even have difficulty telling some of them apart. But I must echo what two of the posters said about Denzel Washington, who I regard as a great actor and try to watch as many of his films as I can. Denzel has been in more than his share of action films, movies lifted immeasurably by his tremendous screen presence. He plays all of the big action scenes small, with barely a hint of emotion, like a deadly cool professional in command of the moment. While he is usually a good guy, the one time he played an immoral villain in Training Day he delivered one of his greatest performances. This actor can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. But he is the exception for me when it comes to modern actors (and, at that, this "modern" actor has been around for 40 years in the business).

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex Davis actually slapped Flynn in dress rehearsal for this scene which caused dissension on the set. Errol later wrote that he was going to belt her in return if she did it to him again. She didn't.

Reunion in Vienna (1933) Sparkling, if little remembered, MGM adaption of a Robert Sherwood play and stage hit (with Lunt and Fontanne) about an Austrian archduke, exiled from his former kingdom and reduced to working as a taxi driver, who returns to Vienna to renew old acquaintances, in particular with the intentions of a night of passion with a former love he hasn't seen in ten years. The fact that she is now married to a famous psychoanalyst doesn't faze him in the least. John Barrymore delivers an exuberant performance as Archduke Rudolph von Habsburg, strutting and manically laughing one moment, demanding musicians to help create the proper mood when he sees that the lady involved does not wish to be seduced by him again. Barrymore runs the gamut of emotions here, from shrieking egotist to a plunge into depression after a personal humiliation. It's a memorable comedy performance, with a touch of vulnerability at the end. In many ways this performance can be seen as a prototype for the larger than life comic characterizations that Barrymore would deliver in a series of "B"s towards the end of his career. Diana Wynyard, who had co-starred with the Great Profile the previous year in Rasputin and the Empress, is fine as his former love who, now married to a wealthy professional, still day dreams on occasion about her former days of Austrian royalty and affair with a passionate wild man archduke. Also effective is Frank Morgan, cast effectively against type with an understated performance as the psychoanalyst who believes that if his wife sees the archduke once again it will destroy any memories she has of her former royal romantic partner. In a particularly delightful scene Barrymore, determined to literally sweep the lady off her feet, has musicians play as he grabs Wynyard and dances with her in sweeping wild circles right into a bedroom, shutting the doors behind them. A few seconds later, however, the doors open with Wynyard laughing uproariously as she walks out of the room. Barrymore then slowly pokes his head from behind one of the bedroom doors, a look of disappointment on his face that will soon be replaced with a decision that he can still win the lady with a little more patience (and wine). It's a shame that this film appears to be tied up in copyright issues, preventing it from being either broadcast on TCM or having any kind of DVD or streaming release (to the best of my knowledge). However, I saw a decent print of the film at an internet website and that print had the TCM logo periodically appearing on the bottom right corner, showing that the film had once been available for TCM viewers. I recall seeing the film scheduled to come on the channel about ten years ago, only to then be cancelled, much to my exasperation. Here's hoping that Reunion in Vienna becomes available once again. It's a film that is a must for Barrymore fans. 3 out of 4

Neal had a tawdry reputation of violence and after he put Tone in the hospital gradually became persona non grata in Hollywood, along with Barbara Payton. He became a gardener and landscaper after being, essentially, blackballed from the film community, only to be charged with murder following the death of his third wife. He'd serve six years on an involuntary manslaughter conviction. All pretty seedy. He died of a heart attack less than a year after his release from prison. I've never heard that Tone testified on Neal's behalf.

Compared to his sordid personal life, Tom Neal had it pretty good in Detour.

The unforgettable power of George Bailey's moment of anguish in his crying scene in IAWL is because what we saw was James Stewart's anguish. From an article from Looper: The scene where George prays for God to help him is one of It's a Wonderful Life's most unforgettable scenes. Stewart's emotion in the moment is palpable, and that's because it was real. No one, not even the actor, knew he was going to cry during the scene, which left Capra with a dilemma. The director knew Stewart had poured his heart into the scene, but he hadn't set up for a close shot. That meant he would need his star to tap into that energy again so that they could reframe and zoom in on his face. Unfortunately, the actor knew he wouldn't be able to recreate the moment with the same level of authenticity again. "As I said those words," Stewart said in 1977, as reported by The Independent. "I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to turn, and my eyes filled with tears. I broke down sobbing. That was not planned at all." Capra knew he couldn't lose the scene, so he and the film's editor manually created the illusion of a zoom in post-production, which was no easy task in 1946. The end result left the closeup of Stewart's face a little grainy compared to the rest of the film, but the graininess actually seems to add to the emotion. And the shift in style was well worth the effort since it ensured one of Stewart's greatest acting moments made it into It's a Wonderful Life. So if you've ever wondered why there seems to be a sudden drop in the screen clarity during the pivotal prayer scene, know it was done to ensure the emotion Stewart poured into It's a Wonderful Life could be seen by viewers, as well as felt. https://www.looper.com/290225/the-reason-this-scene-from-its-a-wonderful-life-looks-so-different/ I haven't seen It's A Wonderful Life for a number of years now but this is the scene that stays with me the most and can choke me up when I think about it. I always assume that without the actor's wartime experiences this scene could never have been as powerful as it is.

That is undoubtedly true of Flynn as a cowboy during his prime years. But by the time he made his last western, Rocky Mountain in 1950, Flynn had a more rugged appearance. He also jettisoned his usual charm to deliver an effectively understated, decidedly non flamboyant performance. He brought more credibility to his final portrayal of a westerner in this good little stark western that worked quite well without the big production values of a San Antonio or Dodge City. His effectively grittier performance in this film couldn't be more of a contrast to the light hearted ones he gave in most of his earlier westerns.

San Antonio (1945) The script may be routine but this handsome, grade "A" western, designed as a star vehicle for Errol Flynn, still entertains. It's not a film to be taken seriously for a second, with Flynn's performance establishing the production's light heartedness. Flynn plays his role of a Texas cattleman out to get the bad guys who drove him out of the state with a lightness that tells its audience, "Relax, sit back and have a good time." If not Flynn at his best, he's pretty darned close to it in this production. The actor plays his scenes with a wink-in-the-eye, certainly in the earlier portions of the film. He briefly strums a guitar while singing "I love you" to co-star John Litel, and soon afterward slides feet first into a stagecoach to introduce himself to leading lady Alexis Smith in a particularly delightful scene. Later the screenplay will have an angry Smith tossing pieces of pottery at him. Most of the vases will miss, with Flynn ducking out of the line of fire, before finally re-appearing with a piece of a broken vase sitting on top of his head. Maybe that bit is a little corny but, again, Flynn's performance sells it. Yet, aside from the humour and charm that Flynn could bring to a film like this, he was also, above all, the foremost action "A" star of the Hollywood studio era, ably playing in westerns like this, as well as swashbucklers and war dramas. And in those films, while very much playing a man's man, he did so with, at least during his prime years before drink and drugs ruined his health, a remarkable grace. All of that is very much on display in San Antonio, the actor's most financially profitable film of the war years. Aside from Flynn, Alexis Smith is also quite terrific here. Flynn's scenes with Smith always had more spark than with most of his other leading ladies. But Alexis also shines in a couple of lavish musical numbers in which she sings a song before a saloon full of cowboys, the highlight of these being "Some Sunday Morning" which became a popular hit at the time, a song that even made its way onto the soundtrack of a Bugs Bunny cartoon two years later, "Easter Yeggs." The crane shot of the Bella Union Saloon, slowly pulling back from the stage where girls are dancing to show what must have been a major casting call of cowboy extras filling the screen gives an indication as to why this film won an Oscar nomination for best art direction. David Butler directs a particularly stylish gun fight in the street between Flynn and bad guy Tom Tyler, Tyler turning around after being shot and walking a few steps before collapsing dead. The chief bad guys in the film are ably played by Paul Kelly and Victor Francen while S. Z. "Cuddles" Sakall is the film's chief comic relief as Smith's excitable manager. Many actors disliked working with Sakall because his language mangling would throw them off their cues but Flynn later wrote that he enjoyed working with the roly poly Hungarian, utilizing his services in two more films in his career after this one. Outside of the gun fight with Tyler, San Antonio crams most of its action scenes into the film's final 20 minutes, with a massive saloon brawl (shades of the one featured in Flynn's Dodge City, though not quite so impressive), a gun fight within the shelled out walls of the Alamo, and a cross country horse chase followed by a fist fight. The final fist fight at the end is short and ends quite abruptly. But if that fight seems a little anti-climactic, that is, overall, only a minor disappointment. A fun show, San Antonio further benefits from Max Steiner re-utilizing his earlier musical score from Dodge City. The epic sounding score works equally well with this production. Above all, though, this film remains a reminder of the remarkable combination of good looks, charismatic charm and athletic grace Errol Flynn possessed during his prime years as one of the great Hollywood stars. 3 out of 4

Not to nit pick but Frenchman's Creek is not badly in need of restoration. It's the print that TCM showed that was washed out lousy. The DVD release of the film from Universal Vault looks fine. That's the mystery. Why couldn't TCM programmers have put in a better effort in their selection of a print when good looking ones of the film do exist?

The Conspirators (1944) Casablanca-like wartime intrigue given a slick production look by Warner Brothers, with director Jean Negulesco doing his best with a convoluted screenplay to bring whatever tension and suspense he can to this production. Paul Henreid, recently cast as a noble underground resistance fighter in Casablanca, is back at it once again, only this time in the lead role as a Dutch underground agent who, after blowing up countless German installations, is soon arriving in neutral Lisbon, home to every Warner Bros. character actor in existence, as well as Hedy Lamarr, on loan from MGM. Henreid is a pretty bland leading man and Lamarr's main purpose in the film is to photograph beautifully and take an audience's breath away with any of her closeups. They are pretty unconvincing as a romantic couple, but with her gorgeous dark haired looks, how much do we really care? The supporting cast is an exceptionally strong one, including Sydney Greenstreet as the head of the Lisbon underground, Victor Francen as Lamarr's German embassy official husband, Peter Lorre slithering around the outskirts as another member of the underground, as well as Joseph Calleia as a Lisbon police official who watches everything and everybody (foreshadowing his similar role in Gilda). Also along for the ride are Kurt Katch and Steven Geray as Nazis spying on Henreid, as well as character familiars Vladimir Sokoloff, Eduardo Ciannelli and George Macready in a small role. The problem is that none of the character actors really have the opportunity to shine in this film. Most of them are in the production just long enough for some members of an audience to say, "Oh, look, there's . . ." before the confused story line moves on. On the other hand, the climax of the film is a fairly suspenseful sequence in which we are waiting for an underground traitor to expose him (or her)self, with all the usual suspects gathered in a plush casino looking pre-James Bond beautiful as they play roulette. TCM occasionally shows The Conspirators. Those who enjoy this kind of escapist spy melodrama, done with Warner's usual efficiency, will probably be pleased even if they know that, overall, this particular production, with its murky story line, is one of middling quality. 2.5 out of 4