LornaHansonForbes

"should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind..."

That is true, but I have noticed Rosalind Russell struggled with accents. She gives up halfway through NIGHT MUST FALL, THE CITADEL and SISTER KENNY. It's honestly her only shortcoming though.

as a North Carolinian, I am perhaps a tad prejudiced in favor of Jones as RUBY GENTRY, the first line of which is something like "in the town of Braddock, in the state of North Carolina, there was a girl named RUBY GENTRY who was born on the wrong side of tracks...and they never let her forget it." It is physically impossible for me not to LOVE a movie with this as the (admittedly paraphrased) opening line. Aside from that, Jones is just such a Bad B in this thing- and she was so good at accents, her British twang in GONE TO EARTH and BEAT THE DEVIL is superb, as is her N.C. dialect in GENTRY (a fact to which I can attest from extensive field experience.) I just love her to pieces in it. Plus she bounces quite nicely between the high-tone dramatics of HESTON and the more natural (but nonetheless strong) presence of Karl Malden (who is excellent.) Love, love, love RUBY GENTRY and it is 100%* due to Jennifer Jones. Sorry. Back to Maureen.... ps- as much as I love Jones in GENTRY, Maureen O'Hara is a shade better in THE QUIET MAN. *actually, that's not entirely true, the superb score and theme song have a lot to do with it too.

just in case any of you were curious, the nominees for BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE for the year 1952 were: (winner) Shirley Booth as "Jean Stapleton" in Come Back, Little Sheba Julie Harris as "Frankie" in Member of the Wedding Susan Hayward as "Susan Hayward" in With a Song in My Heart Joan Crawford as "Joan Crawford" in Sudden Fear! Bette Davis as "Joan Crawford" in The Star! As aforementioned, Harris is the only one of the five who really deserved the nomination (although, the second coming of Crawford is a comeback story that deserves respect), and again- I know she's irritating as hell in MEMBER OF THE WEDDING, in fact- to me Ethel Waters deserved to be nominated more than Harris- but at least it's acting. And there's not a one of those performances that I would say is better than the far more deserving work done that year by Jennifer Jones in RUBY GENTRY, Judy Holiday in THE MARRYING KIND, and- of course- Maureen O'Hara in THE QUIET MAN.

I like Deborah, but I can think of a LOT of roles that Kerr got that Maureen would've been as good- and possibly better- in.

The 1952 Academy Awards are a subject I can go on and on about because they were soclose to being almost perfectly wrong in every category- none moreso than Best Actress, where four of the five nominees gave performances that didn't merit nominations and the only performer who did- Julie Harris in MEMBER OF THE WEDDING- gives a polarizing performance (an extremely successful portrayal of a completely unlikeable character.) I guess the general thought was that O'Hara was still something of an ingenue (although she'd been around for over a decade)- and there were some who took it for granted that an Irish girl playing an Irish girl wasn't a big stretch (okay, it wasn't, but that certainly doesn't mean that she doesn't COMPLETELY nail every emotion, every line, every moment of every scene she's in.) There's also the fact that I doubt REPUBLIC had much sway with the Academy, I think supporting actor Victor McLaglen (a former Best Actor winner) was the sole Oscar nominee from this or any Republic film made before or after THE QUIET MAN. There's also the fact that THE QUIET MAN is an acquired taste of sorts, you HAVE to see it more than once, and I totally understand if it's a movie some don't care for, even after watching it multiple times (for the record, it IS about 45 minutes too long.) There's also the fact that many viewer's reactions to Maureen's character is mistakenly negative. Again, this is all the more reason why O'Hara should've gotten nominated, because Mary Kate is a complicated character with complicated motives; and I understand if some see the film as anti-feminist (it isn't; and I don't think this would count against it in 1952 anyway.) The sad fact remains that if O'Hara had gotten a Best Actress nomination for THE QUIET MAN, it might well have changed her career and she might've been considered for roles different than the ones she had after 1952 (although she's great in many of them.)

is that the scene where the Evil Queen kidnaps the prince, puts him in the dungeon and uses her magical powers to summon all the skeletons to animate themselves and dance for his amusement? i've read about this sequence and always wanted to at least see the storyboards, can't seem to find them.

Not a problem. Took all of about ten seconds to find. Youtube is the sole innovation of the new century that I am 100% on board with.

btw, Maureen has the most fabulous signature I've ever seen.

TWO DOWN, ONE TO GO- BENNETT CERF:

in the department of freaky coincidences: SUSPICION is airing TODAY at 1:45 pm.

as i recall, it's implied she is so depressed that she is suicidal and willingly drinks the poison- something else that The Code would not allow.

SPOILERS IN RE: SUSPICION (although at this point, the cat has left the bag and is three yards over.) There was a rather rich detail that I think is in the original novel BEFORE THE FACT that SUSPICION is based on that Hitch was going to incorporate into the ending of the movie as planned....and that is that the Fontaine character writes a letter incriminating Johnny and as she drinks her poisoned milk, he takes it to the post office and mails it at her behest (not knowing the contents.) I think it is written to the mystery writer who has a small role in the film- another facet of the movie that is made redundant by the "SCOOBY DOO" ending RKO forced him to go with. I am sure Hitchcock would have done some marvelously cinematic scene juxtaposing the two events with sweeping score and clever shots and it would have been terrific. Ultimately, I think it is a good thing that Hitchcock was forced to comprise and go with endings he did not agree with for both REBECCA and SUSPICION- because as a result, the finales of many of his subsequent films (FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN) became even GRANDER and more cinematic once he was allowed to have his own way.

that's also strange. KING'S ROW had to've been a difficult film to cast the female leads for, because there are three and not one gets enough story and screen time, and in the case of Cassie- you think she's going to be the heroine, but that's not the case. I went to Wikipedia and looked up Robert Cummings, an interesting and rather tragic life. Apparently he became a methamphetamine addict in the late fifties as a result of those "vitamin B injections" that got to be the rage at the time. He ended up getting divorced, like, three times over his drug problem and died in a home for retired actors.

yes! I had the exact same problem- ever since I was forced to get that digital cable box, i've noticed there is a weird line at the top of the picture and the bottom of the picture is always slightly cut-off, which makes the subtitles impossible to read for many things. and then they showed the AWFUL print of FRENCH GIGI afterwards that had the white subtitles you couldn't see against anything light in the background. four unwatchable hours of tv.

THE THIRD MAN is coming on in two minutes. I'm on the edge of my seat. I never miss a Siegfried Breuer movie.

just looked up THE BATTLE OF THE VILLA FIORITA on wikipedia. interesting that it is based on a novel by Rumer Godden, who also wrote BLACK NARCISSUS and THE RIVER.

copied and pasted from wikipedia: Cast notesTwentieth-Century Fox originally sought to buy Bellamann's novel as a vehicle for Henry Fonda.[8]Philip Reed, Rex Downing, and Tyrone Power were considered for the role of Parris.[8] Producer Hal B. Wallis borrowed Robert Cummings from Universal Studios when Twentieth-Century Fox refused to lend Power. Ida Lupino, Olivia de Havilland and Ginger Rogers were initially considered for the role of Cassandra. Director Sam Wood pushed hard to cast Lupino, saying that she "has a natural something that Cassie should have." Wood believed that de Havilland, who turned down the role, was too mature for the part. Lupino also turned it down, despite Wallis' emphatic arguments, saying that it was "beneath her as an artist."[9] Bette Davis wanted the part, but the studio was against it because it was believed that she would dominate the movie, and Davis later suggested Betty Field. Among the other actresses considered for Cassandra were Katharine Hepburn, Adele Longmire, Marsha Hunt, Laraine Day, Susan Peters, Joan Leslie, Gene Tierney and Priscilla Lane.[6][8][9] James Stephenson was originally cast as Dr. Tower but died, and was replaced by Claude Rains. Before Ronald Reagan was cast in the role, John Garfield was considered for the role of Drake McHugh, as were Dennis Morgan, Eddie Albert, Robert Preston, and Franchot Tone.[6][8] Although Reagan became a star as a result of his performance, he was unable to capitalize on his success because he was drafted into the U.S. Army to serve in World War II. He never regained the star status that he had achieved from his performance in the film.[6]

...And for the record: there are some actors who were, well- let's just say not great, that I don't like and some that I do like- in spite of their shortcomings. I would definitely place Robert Cummings in the latter category- maybe not the best actor, but very likeable, certainly no chore to look at, and someone who- while not exactly Olivier- isn't going to outright ruin your movie like, say, John Kerr or George Raft would.

Lupino would've been great- but too old. Davis would have too, but it really is a small role and casting a BIG STAR would've led to undoubtable audience confusion and let-down. It's funny that you mention DENNIS MORGAN, because I also thought of him in the Parris role (I confuse him and Robert Cummings sometimes, they were both handsome as hell)- in fact, I'd've loved to've seen the movie with Morgan as Parris and JACK CARSON (one of THE most underrated actors ever) in the Reagan part- which I think he'd've NAILED.

Thanks for posting this. I just saw it tonite. It was quite nicely done; the first several scenes seemed to have a reddish tint to them (an homage to the hair perhaps?)

I think it's pretty safe to assume Maureen's will be a 24 hour* salute, so hopefully they'll find a slot for THE FALLEN SPARROW. *(...All the films she did with John Wayne and John Ford are givens- although I would be rather relieved if they did NOT show McCLINTOCK! and BIG JAKE is a rare "off" performance from her...) I think it's likely we'll see A WOMAN'S SECRET and THE BLACK SWAN too. Both MR HOBBES TAKES HIS VACATION (a surprisingly acerbic comedy she did with Jimmy Stewart in 1962) and SITTING PRETTY (with Clifton Webb in 1948) recently made their TCM premieres, so hopefully they'll be re-aired.

Has TCM ever shown THE FALLEN SPARROW (1943)? It would be great to see Maureen paired with Garfield in his prime.

However, if it is hosted by Osborne, I HIGHLY SUGGEST having his heart meds and some ammonia on standby for the videotape scene.

Apparently. Thank GOD the French are not proficient at internet nefariousness. They'd attack us until Jerry Lewis was Le Estrelle du Mes. Mon Dieu. ps- I do not know French.