TomJH

Well, when it comes to my developing a crush on an older woman I have to admit that . . . Nah, you'd never believe me.

Leila Hyams is an attractive blonde actress of the silents and '30s that I always found appealing. She retired quite early in 1936, unfortunately. Her two best remembered films, in both of which her roles are overshadowed, are probably Freaks and Island of Lost Souls. Other films include The Thirteenth Chair, The Big House, Phantom of Paris, Red Headed Woman and Ruggles of Red Gap. I don't know that I actually had a crush on the lady (perhaps her roles weren't quite distinguished enough) but I certainly noticed her.

Young in Heart (1938) Sentimental comedy-drama about the Carletons, a family of con artists who meet a rich, lonely old lady and move into her lavish London home to keep her company while hoping to get written into her will. Roland Young and Billie Burke play the parents, with Janet Gaynor and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as their charming offspring. A monocled Young passes himself off as a former member of the Bengal Lancers, a role he had actually played in a Toronto stage presentation. Richard Carlson, in his film debut, plays a young Scotsman in love with Gaynor, while Paulette Goddard plays Fairbanks' boss of an engineering firm at which he is hired who takes an interest in him (and vice versa). Stage veteran Minnie Dupree plays the old lady, ironically named Miss Fortune. Handsomely mounted Selznick production remains a charming delight throughout, with engaging performances from the entire cast. Scenes of sentiment that could easily have turned mawkish are rescued from that fate by the sincere performance of Miss Dupree as a kind, trusting soul. Also the love interests (Carleton, Goddard) of the fortune hunting offspring are both in on their schemes fairly early so there's no later nastiness in the film. It may be predictable where sentimental material of this nature will be headed but the charm of the writing and cast helps to maintain our interest. Roland, by the way, gets hired as a salesman for a sleek lined, futuristic car called The Flying Wombat, which had car enthusiasts excited. The car in the film, a Phantom Corsair, cost $12,000 to make and can be seen speeding down lane ways in the film. It was going to be produced in limited numbers but those plans ended when its inventor died suddenly. Still, the Phantom Corsair or "Flying Wombat" can, at least, be seen in the film today. This was Gaynor's last film before retirement in contrast to the lovely Goddard, whose film career would switch into high gear the following year with her appearances in The Women and The Cat and the Canary. Of note, this film was made at the same time that producer David O. Selznick was considering Goddard for the role of Scarlet O'Hara (Fairbanks was also being considered for Ashley Wilkes). Young in Heart is not well remembered today (unjustifiably so) and is not to be confused with Young at Heart, the sentimental Doris Day-Frank Sinatra Four Daughters musical drama remake of 1954. 3 out of 4

Vic helps her.

Well, Cid, we clearly disagree about the effectiveness of The Long Haul. I found it quite gritty as well as emotionally involving since I cared about what was going to happen to Mature in it (another noir guy trapped in a bad situation beyond his control). His character is flawed (making him seem more realistic) but also sympathetic. I also appreciated the performance of Diana Dors, stuck in a lousy relationship but feeling for Mature, even though she causes him trouble.

One of the problems with Mature was that he was in so few good films. Film noir buffs might pick him out because of Kiss of Death and a couple of other films of the genre, and western buffs may recall his Doc Holiday in My Darling Clementine. Oh, yes, he might also be remembered by some for his grunting cave man in One Million B.C. but that usually gets more unintentional laughs than anything else. Mature appeared in a wide variety of films throughout his career, ranging from musicals to adventure films of which few give much of a thought today. And an awful lot of those films are, to put it kindly, forgettable at best. I have to say that in a lot of films Mature did very routine work, an actor just cashing his pay cheque. Therefore, in the totality of his career, I can't really agree with those who try to make a case that Mature's underrated because so much of what he did was mediocre, or less, to my thinking, at least. However, to give him credit, he was effectively cast in a couple of those noirs, Kiss of Death, of course, as well as a good little hard boiled number he made in England a decade later, The Long Haul. Mature underplayed in these films and he was an actor who always had a rather tortured, even sad cast to his face, which added to his conviction in more gritty characterizations. Towards the end of his career Mature had a good time hamming it up as an aging movie star with hair dye coming out of his hair in After the Fox. It's a minor Peter Sellers comedy that few would mention, I suspect, if Mature hadn't delivered his rather endearing portrayal in which he clearly doesn't take himself seriously. P.S.: I see that lavenderblue beat me to it in mentioning The Long Haul. Good taste, lav!

Dargo, you just reminded me that a had a thing for Donna, too, when I was a kid, based on her television series. Another wholesome beauty.

Frances Gifford as Zandra in TARZAN TRIUMPHS Not only was she sublimely beautiful but she came across as a nice person, too. Double Bonus! I had many a pleasant dream as a young boy about Gifford after watching her in this Tarzan film. Of course prior to that she had played a similar role as the beautiful Nyoka in the Jungle Girl serial which, again, took advantage of her wholesome sexuality. Frances got out of the jungle when she got a contract at MGM for more "serious" roles. She didn't get a chance to play many there, though, perhaps her most noteworthy as a school teacher in Our Vines Have Tender Grapes. And then tragedy struck this beautiful woman. She was in a bad automobile accident in 1947, suffering injuries to her head which had an effect on her personality and confidence as an actress, making a film comeback difficult. In fact during the 50s her physical and mental health declined to the state that she was placed in a mental hospital in 1958, and would be in an out of similar institutions for the next 25 years. She would later live and die in obscurity, working in a library (I believe) in her final years. What a contrast to her Hollywood days. Very sad. But I prefer to remember her in her youth, and the tremendous crush that I had for her from her Tarzan film appearance.

Yesterday when I went to a local grocery store there was plenty of toilet paper contrary to all those reports of people grabbing the stuff in a panic. Today when I went the shelves were bare. Is this the Tom Hanks effect?

I first noticed her in MONKEY BUSINESS but didn't have a clue who she was. But she was sexy and a great straight lady for Groucho. Later, though, I saw Thelma Todd working with Laurel and Hardy, Wheeler and Woolsey and in a series of comedy shorts of her own with SaZu Pitts and later Patsy Kelly, and discovered that vivacious beautiful Thelma could really play comedy herself. BINGO! WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS A NON FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE ANOTHER CRUSH!

Claude Rains was a former drama teacher of Laughton's. Rains was later put off by Laughton when he condescendingly put down his appearance (or lack of same) in The Invisible Man. Rains was later up for the role of the priest in Hunchback of Notre Dame but cancelled out after he encountered Laughton on the lot and Laughton greeted him with an expletive. Rains and Laughton never saw one another again.

Last year I watched The Most Dangerous Game again and, even though I remembered the film quite well, was surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. It is one of the fastest paced thrillers one could hope to see, running a mere 63 minutes (I believe). Leslie Banks is hammy but still very effect as the man hunter on a remote island in the South Seas. The final minutes of the hunt as Banks chases Joel McCrea and Fay Wray through the jungle is remarkably exciting, with some great fast edits and Max Steiner's throbbing musical score adding tremendously to its impact. I was inspired enough by this 1932 production that I made a point soon afterward of watching Game of Death, a 1945 direct remake with only a few small story alterations, and Run for the Sun, a 1956 film with the same theme but not the same story. Both were entertaining but neither had a patch on the 1932 original. Adding to the appeal of The Most Dangerous Game is the fact that director Ernest Schoedsack and star Fay Wray were shooting this film simultaneously with King Kong, using the same Skull Island jungle sets. In fact I'm pretty sure that that giant dead tree trunk across a chasm that Kong knocks the sailors off was also used during the chase scenes in this film.

Yes, Beth, Laughton is great in Spartacus. Kirk Douglas was a big fan of the actor and had written a fan letter to him years before after seeing The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Laughton was a large, disagreeable pain for him to work with on this film though Kirk liked the final results on the screen. It was a better film for having Laughton in it. Douglas later wrote that he and Jean Simmons liked to sneak onto the set to watch Laughton and Ustinov in any scenes they shared. "These two pros trying to outdo each other was really something to watch. It was like a game of verbal tennis in which either player was capable of the most extraordinary shot, just inside the line. For the most part I think Ustinov got the best of it." Laughton threatened Douglas with a law suit because he thought his part in the film was being slowly diminished and he chose to blame the producer for it. Kirk wrote that Laughton loved being difficult because it made him the centre of attention. Tennis, anyone?

Having a famous, wealthy person catch a disease will have a chilling "If it could happen to him, it could happen to me" affect on many people. When I heard that Hanks had caught the virus it was a throwback moment for me to when the world first heard that Rock Hudson had AIDS. Hopefully Hanks will come through this, though. This makes me ponder a question, assuming that Hanks survives this and resumes contact with people once again. Can a person catch this virus more than once or are they immune after getting over it? With the common cold you are immune to the actual strain that you had but can still catch a different one. I suspect it may be too early for the scientific world to know for sure when it come to COVID-19.

Okay, Dargo, I admit that for a while now I've had a bit of a "thing" for Madge Evans. I had seen her in a few films, found her attractive in both personality as well as appearance and had to look up her name. Madge got to co star with film royalty on occasion such as when she appeared in DINNER AT EIGHT and DAVID COPPERFIELD (as the adult David's girlfriend). Madge usually played unaffected, down to earth "nice girl" types towards which I am drawn (Ann Sheridan, who I adore, had those same qualities). Her roles were not splashy, eye catching parts, but Madge appeals to me for her steady fastness. Remember all those eccentric actors in Selznick's David Copperfield? Well, they're fun to watch but you need the common sense, grounded appeal of a Madge Evans for contrast and a feeling of sanity. I mean, come on, who do you really want to hang out with all the time, Aunt Betsy (Edna May Oliver), Micawber (Fields) or Madge Evans? It's the old bathing cap test, a sure way to challenge any woman's looks. Seems to me Madge is doing pretty well here.

Thank Your Lucky Stars may be my favourite of the all star bond films turned out by the studios during the war thanks to a few of its specialty acts. I agree, kingrat, that a little of Eddie Cantor can go a very long way but it's fun to see Bette Davis let herself get thrown around by a jitterbug, or whatever he was, on the dance floor for her "They're Either Too Young Or Too Old" number and I agree that Ann Sheridan is spectacularly gorgeous in her musical number (that sounds like her real singing voice too). But I'm a little surprised you made no reference to Errol Flynn's delightfully self spoofing "That's What You Jolly Well Get" number as a Cockney sailor, poking fun at his own image as a movie war hero. To my eye Flynn is the funniest performer in the film. He even shows off a few dance steps. Keep in mind something else, too. Flynn performed this number at the same time that he was on trial for statutory rape and his film career (as well as personal freedom) were both on the line. He was worried enough that reports had it that, if found guilty, he had plans to flee authorities with a plane ready to fly him to South America. He'd have been the most famous fugitive in the world. Yet the actor performed the number in this film with an effortless ease as if he didn't have a care in the world. Don't let anyone tell you that Errol Flynn couldn't act.

The Vikings is a fun costume film, too, TikiSoo, but I've always felt that it was designed to please the kid in us while Spartacus was created for adults.

So with that posed shot out of the way I guess that leaves ony this image to identify And this one does look like it comes from a film but I doubt very much it's The Killers, as Google indicates. Does anyone have any ideas? (And no, Dargo, I don't think that figure in the background is Thelma Ritter before she had that special operation).

Captains of the Clouds comes on TCM quite often, and it's definitely worth watching, particularly the first half shot on location near North Bay, Ontario (I believe). Trout Lake, in fact, when it portrays Cagney and company as bush pilots. There must have been something about those Ontario locations and weather that helped to bring out the best in Brenda Marshall because it's difficult to believe she's the same actress you previously saw posing like a statue beside Flynn.

Thanks very much, Sherlock. Okay, that last shot wasn't from a film (which i suspected) but it's still a very nice homage to the genre.

I saw a Google source that said the same thing about that photo. Question: Does anyone remember that image in The Killers, because I don't?

Brenda Marshall is surprisingly sexy and vivacious playing a "loose woman" in CAPTAINS OF THE CLOUDS, as opposed to her wooden performance in THE SEA HAWK.

You know your noirs, lavenderblue. I'm not certain about the second one or the last one either. That last one is a beautiful composition but I'm wondering if it might be a still pose, rather than actually coming from a film. Maybe someone here recognizes it, however.

For those who love the visual look of archetypal noir, here are a few mouth watering shots. Can you identify the films they came from? I'm not certain myself of a couple of them.

What the Swede was really thinking . . . "Look at that black topless job. I could really knock all their eyes out in that one."