TopBilled
-
Posts
154,044 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
376
Posts posted by TopBilled
-
-
Thank you! You have had some good contributions of your own, too...
-
The problem with gathering Hedda's columns is that I would have to go through a lot of old newspapers online. There is no single collection of her works, like there is for Agee, already published. Also, Agee was active in this regard for about ten years. Hedda did a daily column for over 25 years, so it would require more time to sort out the better columns. I think it would be a rewarding venture, and I will probably do it, time-permitting.
-
Thanks. The James Agee thread will run till the end of the year. I've posted around a hundred so far, and there are approximately 400 reviews that he wrote in the 1940s.
Next year, I may post Hedda Hopper's columns. Those would be much less academic, but probably just as enjoyable!
-
Some actors are groomed into 'stars' because of their looks and they have to learn to act along the way. Then, there are others who are definitely not sexy or conventionally attractive that because of their acting skill, do defy the odds of Hollywood and become major stars (though this happens more on television than in films).
As for Palance, it could be said that he had the looks to go with the talent and was able to take opportunities and capitalize on them. Of course, he was often typecast in his early roles.
-
*YVONNE LIME FEDDERSON*
I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF (1957) with Michael Landon
DRAGSTRIP RIOT (1958) with Gary Clarke, Fay Wray & Connie Stevens
HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS (1958) with Brett Halsey
SPEED CRAZY (1959) with Brett Halsey
-
*THE LONG NIGHT (1947)*
From Agee on August 30, 1947:
A loud, long, ambitious film. It is Anatole Litvak's first since the war. It is about a simple man (Henry Fonda) who is driven to murder by the calculated confusions of a very corrupt man (Vincent Price). It would be interesting to see it on a double bill with its original version, the French film DAYBREAK. Both films obviously rate themselves as tragedies; both are merely intelligent trash.
The old one is much more discreet with its self pity and is much more sharply edged. The new one depends too heavily on crowd-commotion; noise (there are gruesome distortions of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony); huge close-ups of Fonda looking adenoidal; and class-angling. It is, however, much better than the run of contemporary movies.
-
Yes, the former lead actors have built-in audiences and can more easily command a scene (even when they are hired to just provide support). Susan Hayward is sort of fighting for control, pitted against Bette Davis in WHERE LOVE HAS GONE. Plus, she has juvenile star Joey Heatherton flanking her on the other side.
-
I like how you're thinking outside the box, referencing international film artists. Good job!
-
-
*RAY MALA*
ESKIMO (1934) with Lotus Long
LAST OF THE PAGANS (1935) with Lotus Long
JUNGLE PRINCESS (1936) with Dorothy Lamour & Ray Milland
CALL OF THE YUKON (1938) with Richard Arlen, Beverly Roberts & Lyle Talbot
GIRL FROM GOD'S COUNTRY (1940) with Chester Morris, Jane Wyatt & Charles Bickford
RED SNOW (1952) with Guy Madison
-
Anna Sten was in THE WEDDING NIGHT with Gary Cooper:
-
THE COMMON LAW is also airing on March 20th.
-
I don't think it has to be a supporting actor or a character actor/actress.
What about ensemble movies like TALES OF MANHATTAN, THE GROUP or THE BIG CHILL where they are all fairly equal in screen time. Still, someone always manages to wrestle the film away from the others and excite the audience more.
-
I cannot believe nobody commented on Anna Sten. I guess people do not appreciate beauty. Who else photographs so flawlessly?
-
*THE JOLSON STORY (1946)*
From Agee on November 9, 1946:
I have always liked Jolson and his style and most of his songs. I still like hearing them on the soundtrack. I suppose Larry Parks does about as well as the visual Jolson, as anyone except the original would be likely to.
Evelyn Keyes has always seemed to me one of the more attractive and capable girls in Hollywood, and one of the most neglected, and it is good to see her again, even in a role which can use so little of what she has, and which misuses most of that.
I have nothing in the world against this picture except that at least half of it seemed to me enormously tiresome. The other half is pleasant enough, but no more. The trouble is, it is here nearly as hard to separate the pleasant from the boring as to get the cream out of homogenized milk.
-
It's nice to see a Deanna Durbin film pop up.
-
Sometimes it helps to look at birthdays to figure out which stars get airplay on TCM.
_M A Y_
1 Glenn Ford, Dan O'Herlihy, Rose Hobart
2 Brian Aherne, Hedda Hopper
3 Bing Crosby, Mary Astor, Beulah Bondi, Aline MacMahon, Walter Slezak
4 Audrey Hepburn
5 Alice Faye, Tyrone Power
6 Orson Welles, Rudolph Valentino, Stewart Granger
7 Gary Cooper, Anne Baxter, George "Gabby" Hayes
8 Rick Nelson
9 Richard Barthelmess
10 Fred Astaire, Charles MacGraw
11
12 Katharine Hepburn
13 Paul Stewart
14 Billie Dove
15 Joseph Cotten, James Mason
16 Henry Fonda, Harry Carey Jr.
17
18
19
20 James Stewart
21 Robert Montgomery, Raymond Burr
22 Laurence Olivier, Alla Nazimova
23 Herbert Marshall, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., James Gleason, Joan Collins
24
25 Jeanne Crain
26 John Wayne, John Dall, Al Jolson, Norma Talmadge, Paul Lukas, Robert Morley
27 Vincent Price, Lucille Watson
28
29 Bob Hope
30 Keir Dullea
31 Alida Valli, Don Ameche, Margalo Gillmore, Clint Eastwood
-
I've tried to figure out who stole the most scenes in WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE...maybe it was a tie.
-
*DORIS KENYON*
BEAU BANDIT (1930) with Rod La Rocque & Tom Keene
THE BARGAIN (1931) with Lewis Stone & Evalyn Knapp
ALEXANDER HAMILTON (1931) with George Arliss
YOUNG AMERICA (1932) with Spencer Tracy & Ralph Bellamy
VOLTAIRE (1933) with George Arliss, Margaret Lindsay & Alan Mowbray
NO MARRIAGE TIES (1933) with Richard Dix
COUNSELLOR AT LAW (1933) with John Barrymore, Bebe Daniels, Melvyn Douglas & Thelma Todd
WHOM THE GODS DESTROY (1934) with Walter Connolly, Robert Young & Scotty Beckett
THE HUMAN SIDE (1934) with Adolphe Menjou & Reginald Owen
ALONG CAME LOVE (1936) with Irene Hervey & Charles Starrett
-
*YOU WERE MEANT FOR ME (1948)*
From Agee on February 14, 1948:
That's what you think.
-
Now, I never would've thought of him!
-
There were five nights for Wm Powell in December. I think it depends on the number of films that are available and of course, the popularity of the featured artist.
We definitely should be grateful that they are giving fans five evenings of Joel McCrea.
I am impressed with the scope of the selections, showcasing key aspects of his career in a multitude of genres. I am really looking forward to seeing 1929's DYNAMITE. It is directed by Cecil DeMille, who also directed the actor in 1939's UNION PACIFIC.
-
For me, it's *Spring Byington*. I love how she puts these quirky little mannerisms into her characterizations and this zestful sort of energy that radiates charm and humor.
I also like *Elsa Lanchester* for pretty much the same reason.
And then there's *Orson Welles*. I am referring to his work where he is not the lead actor but still really powers the story. In THE STRANGER, he upstages even the outdoor scenery. And in TOMORROW IS FOREVER, he plays it more subdued, but the way he has these lingering stares and pining for Claudette Colbert just commands our attention. Even when he's off-camera, you feel as if he's watching.
-
I definitely was not happy with the 31 Days of Oscar schedule. I was beginning to lose faith in our TCM programmers!
But I think May is looking very good. It will tie with September of last year, in terms of rare films being screened and fans wishes being honored.
I also think it is good that they are screening classics of the 1980s. Sally Field has long deserved a primetime salute.
Best scene stealer?
in General Discussions
Posted
Yes, lz, I think you have posted that before. Those are samples of Hedda's columns from that particular year.
If I start a thread posting her columns, it will cover the years 1938 through 1965. I do not think she was published daily in the beginning. One interesting thing about her is she never had others sub for her when she was away. She usually filed reports on the road. The columns she wrote while attending premieres in foreign locales, or the time she went to see Rita Hayworth marry Prince Aly Khan, she still managed to hit her deadlines.
Again, Hedda was not Shakespeare with her prose, but she was no dummy either and had many intelligent insights about an industry where she had long worked as an actress and where her son continued to work as an actor for many years.