TopBilled

I could really (and should really) make a thread called 'Least & Most Favorite of the Day' because I probably watch three or four films per day and by the time seven days have ended, there are too many to write about! But by far, the best film I watched this week was a taut little thriller over at Netflix streaming called JENNIFER. Ida Lupino and then-husband Howard Duff star in a creepy story about a woman (Lupino) who is hired as caretaker for a large deserted mansion. As she settles in, she begins to find clues about a woman named Jennifer who was the previous caretaker of the estate who one day had disappeared. We never see Jennifer but she haunts the entire film and Lupino. Duff plays a local man who falls for Lupino and who may or may not have had something to do with Jennifer's vanishing. The ending is a real corker and you begin to replay the previous events of the movie in your mind, reconsidering if Jennifer was in fact real or if Lupino was insane. Excellent film and highly recommended.

I am watching Lew Ayres right now on Netflix streaming. It's a title he made for Republic called KING OF THE NEWSBOYS (1938). He's great in this low-budget picture. This was part of a three-film deal he had with Republic where he agreed to star in two (this one and THE LEATHERNECKS HAVE LANDED) and they would let him direct one (HEARTS IN BONDAGE). Again, Ayres proves that his inimitable charm and acting talent can make even a small production worth seeing.

I think Lansbury was SOTM once before. We do know that when she passes away, she will get a full-day TCM tribute like Tony Curtis did. It won't be a half day like Cliff Robertson had. In the rare cases where Lansbury was billed higher than a second tier or supporting role, as in the western A LAWLESS STREET with Randolph Scott, it is because she was starring in a B-film. Later films where she had top billing, with the exception of Buena Vista's BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS which does not focus on her exclusively but rather on the kids and the special effects, she is either being featured in a low-budget picture or in a TV-movie. She was never a leading star of an A-film in the way that Marilyn Monroe or Greta Garbo had been. People didn't call each other on the phone after a long work week and make plans to go see Angela's latest film. They did not spend a Friday night going to an Angela Lansbury movie. They went to see Garbo or Dietrich or Monroe.

I agree, Swithin, I think those two titles would make a good double-feature. And while we're on the subject of Angela, I think THE HARVEY GIRLS and A LAWLESS STREET make a good double bill because she plays a dance hall girl in both.

My guess is that within a few days we will begin to see which titles have been slated for April. We do know that KING OF KINGS and EASTER PARADE are a given.

Good post. I agree that she seriously lacked sex appeal. To say she is in the same league with a Garbo or Monroe as a titillating star of the month would be unrealistic. She was a character actress and was usually given supporting roles because she could not be counted on to draw in mass audiences and sell movie tickets. In BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS, the magic and special effects are in reality the star, with the kids coming in a close second and Lansbury along for the ride. I really felt she should not have been chosen to do the retrospective about Disney live action a few years ago. She only made one movie for Buena Vista. Dean Jones, Hayley Mills (my pick for the retrospective), Fred MacMurray and Kurt Russell were the big stars of Disney live action, not Lansbury.

The original poster considers Angela Lansbury and her film catalogue depressing. While that may be stretching things a bit, such an opinion is valid and gives TCM the kind of feedback it should have.

>Frankly I fault those that let marketing drive their behavior than the ones doing the marketing, especially in the Internet era where anyone with the will to seek information can find it. Hmmmmm... LOL Edited by: TopBilled on Jan 1, 2012 2:21 PM

I think for those that are more interested in Jessica Fletcher than Angela Lansbury then TVLand is the place.

STATE OF THE UNION is a Tracy-Hepburn event; and MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE is a Frank Sinatra event. TCM is not airing the few films where she was top-billed and the main event herself. By and large, we are getting a month of supporting roles in feature film productions that are being highlighted. I don't think this was the intention of the SOTM series when it began. Lansbury and her film career are a far cry from Garbo.

I am not exactly thrilled about her selection as SOTM, though I know a lot of people who like Jessica Fletcher (as opposed to Angela Lansbury) will be happy about all this.

We have a thread devoted to Miss Lansbury as SOTM which others have been commenting on since October. Since Karl Malden will be featured in March, my guess is that they may be doing a year of character actors.

*AND THE ANGELS SING (1944)* From Agee on May 27, 1944: AND THE ANGELS SING is a Paramount comedy involving four small-town sisters played by Dorothy Lamour, Betty Hutton, Diana Lynn and Mimi Chandler. They pursue a dishonest jazz band leader played by Fred MacMurray. A lot of the production is cruel, soggily professional, over elaborate and inclined toward snobbish whimsy. It makes me tired, and I am especially sorry to watch the exciting potentialities of Diana Lynn turning more and more into mere narcissistic chilly cuteness. But Betty Hutton is almost beyond good and evil, so far as I am concerned.

*LINDEN CHILES* INCIDENT AT PHANTOM HILL (1966) with Robert Fuller, Jocelyn Lane & Dan Duryea TEXAS ACROSS THE RIVER (1966) with Dean Martin & Alain Delon SULLIVAN'S EMPIRE (1967) with Martin Milner COUNTERPOINT (1968) with Charlton Heston & Maximilian Schell

What one must realize is that if it not for Dr. Kildare, Lew probably would not have been cast in both THE DARK MIRROR and JOHNNY BELINDA (his comeback films after the war), where he portrays doctors. The Kildare series effectively typecast him as a medic, and his volunteer work in the Medical Corps during the war helped reinforce that image in the minds of people. For the rest of his career, he would often play doctors and professors. Years later, NBC tried to get him to appear on the Kildare television series. However, NBC balked when Ayres said he would only do the show if there was no cigarette advertising. The job went instead to Richard Chamberlain.

Time to dust this thread off...

Right...they could've recast the part with a new starlet or just had Day's character leave town. They certainly did choose a dramatic exit for her. Personally, I would've preferred that there had been a happy ending for them, especially since Ayres was about to leave MGM soon. He only made one more Dr. Kildare picture.

*AND NOW TOMORROW (1944)* From Agee on December 9, 1944: AND NOW TOMORROW is about a deaf upper-class girl and ex-proletarian doctor who, after some machine-turned comedy of sex antagonism, restores her hearing and, presumably, dissolves her snobbery. It is rather cruel to quite a number of people in the audience to show a cure for the kind of deafness that results from meningitis without letting you know whether there is in fact any such cure.

*NEVA PATTERSON* TAXI (1953) with John Garfield & Constance Smith AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957) with Cary Grant & Deborah Kerr DAVID AND LISA (1963) with Keir Dullea, Janet Margolin & Howard Da Silva

>I'd need a pace maker if Tyrone Power was SOTM. And if they aired MISSISSIPPI GAMBLER, I'd post on these boards from the after life. That is why you may want to look at lovingtheclassics where you can purchase a copy of it and watch it during this life. http://www.lovingtheclassics.com/The-Mississippi-Gambler-1953-DVD/prod_1742.html

And don't forget his late 40s and early 50s titles where he was freelancing post-MGM: THE SENATOR WAS INDISCREET (Universal); TAKE ONE FALSE STEP (Universal); DANCING IN THE DARK (Fox); and THE TREASURE OF LOST CANYON (Universal). It would be nice to see them on TCM. None of them are on DVD yet.

I think the poster who mentioned the holiday weekend is right. Also, you have to keep in mind that he had a long month...not every month has 31 days and not every SOTM gets five evenings. Most only get four evenings.

I think Robert Taylor had probably as many films shown during his month a few years ago. It helps if the performer did not move around a lot and if they remained with the same studio for many years like Taylor and Powell both did. In the 21 or 22 years that Taylor was under contract at MGM, he was only loaned out once to Universal and twice to Fox. That's it. So there is this huge catalogue of film output for him at the lion. I think TCM's programmers did add some of the titles that Robert Taylor made freelancing after his long association with MGM...plus, they aired CATTLE KING which he made back at MGM after he had been freelancing for several years. In fact, there were so many films they showed for Taylor that month that I don't think they got through all his MGM titles. Lansbury, by comparison, was not at the studio a long time. And even when she was on the lot, she seldom had starring roles.

Yes thanks for mentioning that. But instead of something as comprehensive, I would like to see products that focus specifically on MGM's war films or on MGM's westerns. And since Time Warner seems to control the RKO titles, wouldn't it be great to see a few volumes with clips and interviews about the post-war noir. The way they are presenting the 'That's Entertainment' series, they seem to imply that MGM's trademark was musicals. It was not. The studio's trademark was high-brow entertainment and glamour. This is definitely evidenced in the musical output but can also be seen in dramatic fare like MARIE ANTOINETTE and MRS. MINIVER. Though if we are focusing in on the MGM musicals, then I really think there should be more research and discussion about the high-art of signees like Jeanette MacDonald, Lauritz Melchoir, Mario Lanza and Ezio Pinza. The musicals were not exactly catering to working class families. Producers like Joe Pasternak tried to elevate the genre, though I agree they included performers like Jimmy Durante in comic relief to sell some of this high-art to the common masses.