EugeniaH
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Posts posted by EugeniaH
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Yeah, sometimes you just have to do that. Just because you are related doesnt mean you will get along. It often just isnt in the cards. And no amount of family "ties" thinking is going to change that...........
Luckily, I was never served rat for dinner like poor Blanche Hudson, lol...
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I am not close to either of my siblings (a brother and a sister). I was the oldest (still am). I never got along with my brother growing up (5 year age difference) and there was such an age gap between me and my sister (10 years) there wasnt much there either. We dont have anything in common and I dont see them often or talk on the phone. I dont dislike them or anything, it's just like we are strangers. I envy people who have a close relationship with a sibling(s). I never had that and often feel like an outsider with my own family. I always went my own way..........
My relationship with my own siblings was a lot more tumultuous, but once I was able to cut the cord things improved for me 5000%. Thankfully, my parents weren't around when that happened, which would have upset them...
On a movie note, two of my siblings watched a lot of classic movies, so that helped get me interested in old movies initially (though not to the degree I am now). My sister liked films like "Miracle on 34th Street" and "March of the Wooden Soldiers", and my brother liked Abbott and Costello, The Marx Brothers and a lot of Frankenstein/monster flicks.
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I was lucky and found a hard cover, first edition of "Every Frenchman Has One" at a used book sale. The book doesn't mention much about movies but instead her life as an American living in Paris and France. Oh, and what every Frenchman has is a liver.
I read a library copy recently but I ordered one online for myself. The book is very well written.
Her title is clever... That's a hook right there. People will want to buy it thinking she's talking about something more, as the French would say, risque.
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While I have books written by Joan (No Bed of Roses) and Olivia (Every Frenchman has One) as well as books written about them (e.g. Sisters, Films of Olivia De Havilland, etc..). I decided decades ago to ignore their feud and focus on their wonderful performances.
Note for Olivia fans: I just looked on amazon.com and "Every Frenchman Has One" will be released by Amazon in late June of this year.
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A tad snide concerning Joan Fontaine....
Are you referring to the line in the article where Olivia refers to Joan not by name but as "my sibling"? If so, that stood out to me, also. Otherwise, I didn't get too much venom from it (but as I mentioned earlier, she's talking to a reporter here).
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Sibling rivalry as high drama:
In the movies: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
In real life: Olivia DeHavilland and Joan Fontaine
(I'm the youngest of four, with two brothers and a sister, but I haven't spoken to two of my siblings in almost twenty years.)
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It has very high reviews on Amazon. Maybe because it is SO well written, Olivia was more bothered by it than usual. http://www.amazon.com/Bed-Roses-Autobiography-Joan-Fontaine/dp/068803344X
I just placed a hold on this at my library. Thanks!
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Has anyone read Joan's biography? I think it was talked about on the board? Was it a one-sided hatchet job?
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I am a Cancer just like Olivia. Usually I am either the first or second day of Cancer. On some charts, I've even seen my birthday being the last day of Gemini. My birthday is two days after Errol's!
In my top-5 favorite actresses list, two are Cancers (DeHavilland, Stanwyck), two are Libras (Lombard, Arthur), and one is a Sagittarius (Irene Dunne).
But anyway, this is getting too far off topic. Must be something in the stars, lol...
I wonder what an Olivia/Joan film would look like. Given Joan's talked-about competitiveness, I wonder if behind the scenes it would look like the set of a Bette Davis/Miriam Hopkins film, with one accusing other of stealing scenes... Anyway, I've always enjoyed Olivia's films a little more, though I liked Joan in Jayne Eyre, which I saw on LornaHansonForbes' recommendation (thanks!).
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Awww... you didn't have to delete because you are a Libra. (I get the emails of the messages before they get changed. *chuckle chuckle*)
I'm a Crab myself... like Olivia.
I had the women and the signs mixed up, lol.
Yes, I'm a Libra, like Carole Lombard and Jean Arthur, two of my favorites.
Olivia is another favorite.
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There is a new Olivia de Havilland interview that will be in this month's issue of Vanity Fair. For those who don't want to purchase the magazine, here is the article:
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/04/olivia-de-havilland-joan-fontaine-sibling-rivalry
There is a very bittersweet anecdote about a reunion between de Havilland and nine-time screen paramour, Errol Flynn, in 1957.
Then of course, there's the story of her famous rivalry with sister Joan Fontaine.
Reading this terrific article (yesterday), I guess I'm a little surprised that Olivia mentioned Joan at all, given the feud, but maybe at this late age she's decided to take a higher road? Still, she's talking to a journalist, not a close friend...
Yes, the story she tells of her "reunion" with Flynn is very bittersweet, not only for the condition of Flynn's health but the way the interaction ended.
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When I saw Robert Ryan in Clash by Night I absolutely loathed him, hated him... But of course, that's what makes him a good actor. He had me completely believing his character. He wasn't so likable in Bad Day at Black Rock, either.
(I think I saw these two movies one after the other, and I thought to myself, "Sheesh, has he done anything where you can actually feel sympathy toward him?")
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Updating my last post: as said, I'm also watching "Cry Wolf".
Like the pairing of Stanwyck and Bogart, Stanwyck with Errol Flynn also works well. They do their best with the material that's there. But for some time while watching the film, I'm waiting for something to 'happen'. There's mystery and a lot of 'clues' given, but it's a whole lot of talk and a lot of time focused on the fears of the Geraldine Brooks character.
Finally, though, with the scene of Stanwyck going up the dumwaiter, things are heating up. The turn of events with the Geraldine Brooks character, Stanwyck scrambling across the roof, the scary confrontation with Flynn and Flynn's menacing side really coming out, it's getting better.
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I've been watching two films I haven't seen in quite a while: "The Two Mrs. Carrolls" and "Cry Wolf."
I had mentioned in another thread that I thought "Carrolls" had problems in the script, but as I look again it really seems to me like it's a neat little thriller. Sure, Hitchcock would have added much, but... Some pan Bogart's performance but I thought he was believable as a man who's a little 'bent' upstairs. Stanwyck has some moments of forced/unnatural acting in the beginning, but eventually she hits her stride. The viewer can focus on her dilemma and we wonder how she'll get herself out of it. Interesting twists and turns in the plot. I love the set of the estate and the dark lighting. Alexis Smith did a great job as a sharp and sexy 'other woman'.
The ending is exciting and I also love the moment when (SPOILER):
Sally discovers Geoffrey's painting of her as an Angel of Death. The painting, too, is striking and shocking.
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Here's another one:
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Speedy, when I was looking for photos to post here, I found one that reminded me... I have photos of Old Hollywood in my apartment, and this one is one of them... These two, along with Tracy and Hepburn, are my favorite movie couples:
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The greats Flynn and DeHavilland on the set of Robin Hood:
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Color still from the Cry Wolf set (I'll try and find an Errol/Olivia pic next):
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Lol.
I wish I could go back in time and be the over-zealous leading lady. Lol.
You have at it. I'll be over working on Burt Lancaster...
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Re: Errol and Olivia. I agree. Their chemistry was off the charts. I always laugh when I read the anecdote about how during the filming of The Adventures of Robin Hood, in the scene where Robin Hood and Maid Marian kiss after Robin Hood climbs through the window, Olivia purposely kept blowing her lines so she and Errol would have to kiss again and again. With each subsequent take, Olivia kept making the kisses steamier and steamier, which made Errol physically "uncomfortable." They finally got a decent take and Errol had to stay seated for a while and "cool down."
I read in Errol's autobiography how he tended to do his kissing scenes with a closed mouth after having the "unfortunate" experience kissing an over-zealous leading lady who shoved her tongue down his throat. I'm very curious as to who it was that did that. I'd have to think that if it were a leading lady he was interested in, he wouldn't care about her over-eager kiss, which makes me wonder if it was someone he had zero interest in.
If the "overzealous" leading lady was Olivia they would have had to carry Flynn off in a stretcher!
(That is, based on what you wrote about filming Robin Hood...)
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I didn't notice Bette's strong mannerisms the first time I saw Essex, for some reason, but the second time, definitely. I hadn't read that the real Elizabeth had this quirk; maybe it was just a scene-stealer technique!
Speedy, you've got me wanting to watch Cry Wolf (I haven't seen it in quite a while) and an Errol/Olivia film, but I can't stay up all night, lol.
I have the TCM Errol Flynn Collection DVD and a friend of mine has his Signature Collection.
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Agreed, Cry Wolf wasn't the best vehicle for either Flynn or Stanwyck, but I loved that they were cast together. (Similar to The Two Mrs. Carrolls: Bogie and Stanwyck were great casting, but the script had problems).
The two leads in Cry Wolf had good chemistry and the actors did the best with what was there. I ideally could see Flynn's role fleshed out and less time devoted to the annoying Geraldine Brooks (who Stanwyck didn't like off the set, lol).
And speaking of good chemistry, check out Flynn and Bette Davis in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex! But imo the best of the best was Errol and Olivia.
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We were talking about this earlier, but Flynn would have been excellent in some of the hardbroiled noir roles that call for a more rugged exterior and less of a "pretty boy."
It's a shame that (imo) Flynn's role in Cry Wolf was weak. If the script was better he would have been something, really breaking out of the, as you say, pretty boy mold, like Tyrone Power did with Nightmare Alley.
(I can't remember what you thought of Flynn in this, Speedy)
Anyway, strongly agree, he would have been great in hardboiled noir roles.
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What Are You Watching Now?
in Your Favorites
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Watching W.C. Fields in "You're Telling Me!", at the scene where it takes Fields 10 minutes to hit a golf ball. Not his best film imo, but funny stuff all the same.
He did a similar bit playing pool in "Six of a Kind".
(Edit: "The Old Fashioned Way", which I'm watching now, is a much funnier film.)