LornaHansonForbes

To take it back to my point about I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE not being a visually appealing film: At the risk of sounding all film studenty, I would LOVE to see what JEAN NEGULESCO could have done with this story. I cite him because HUMORESQUE is a great example of a gorgeously directed filming of a cruddy script (*and to be fair, I don't think WHOLESALE has a cruddy script.) I think the film wouldn't have lost me ultimately if there had been some visual aid outside of Susan Hayward herself- and whom it should be noted does a damn fine job of lighting things up all on her own, she really could not have been better in this film. Anyway, I would've liked to've seen what Negulesco could have done with the rapidly unfurling bolts and reams of traffic, the stitching of the seams, as a way of artistically and symbolically putting the film together and illustrating how the business itself is being sewn together, created, and turned into something from raw materials. As I recall it, the camera doesn't move much, the shots were mostly tight and controlled, the blocking mostly unimaginative and there was one lame montage sequence with Dan Dailey traipsing along a map as he travels taking dress orders....it was just not a visually compelling film. I say the same script told with some real visual flare, some sharper editing, yes dammit some GOWNS (I mean, we need to see what it is about Hayward's work that stands out), and (again this is an issue I have with Fox films)- some less confined and more interesting sets- it would've made all the difference in the world. I have actually been to the garment district in Los Angeles (not NY as this film is set, but I can't imagine they're terribly different) and it's a fascinating scenario, I'm not sure the film really captured the...shoot, I hate to say "essence," but, okay: the essence of the place.

Irving Rapper directed NOW, VOYAGER and a few other Bette Davis films (THE CORN IS GREEN and DECEPTION), in spite of this he still managed to live to 101. Way to go Irving. I have a very distinct memory of Bette Davis AND Paul Henreid doing an interview on DONAHUE ca. 1983 wherein they discussed the cigarette sharing scene in NOW, VOYAGER. She claimed it was their idea and they were always coming up with little things like this to put in the film because, as Bette said, "our director didn't know what he was doing"....a sentiment Henreid agreed with.

You know, if you remove the comma from that sentence it becomes something else entirely.

I just now thought of another movie that features 4 lead Oscar winners in it: SHIP OF FOOLS (1965) Vivien Leigh and Simone Signoret were both Best Actress winners, Lee Marvin would win Best Actor that year and Jose Ferrer had won the 1950 Best Actor Oscar. Boom.

Oh wow! They ARE showing GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE!!!!! Check it out definitely- it is a film that I by no means think is great, but just worth checking out as a stunning mix of blatant propaganda, and fantasy. File under: how did THIS ever get made????

Here is LINCOLN IN THE WHITE HOUSE in full: twenty minute short film in color. in case this gets pulled by the moderator, you can find it by entering the title at youtube.com

BLONDE VENUS is interesting, as is GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE (don't think his role is any too big in that one though) TCM actually showed GABRIEL a few years ago and it is a CRAZY film, I'd love to see it again. He is also in a short called LINCOLN IN THE WHITE HOUSE made in 1939 and I'll bet it can be found on youtube. I don't know how big his role is in SONG OF BERNADETTE, but TCM showed that a while back and I REALLY HOPE they show it again. he's in a 1933 version of OLIVER TWIST that I've never heard of and he plays the title role. He was in THE BRIDE WORE RED with Franchot Tone and Joan Crawford, and I know he shows up in a CRAWFORD documentary where he talks about how Franchot would get calls on the set from his lady friends, which CRAWFORD (his wife at the time) tolerated. He's also in THE LIFE OF LOUIS PASTEUR and ....EMILE ZOLA, both of which won major Oscars and are pretty good, but I don't recall how substantial a role he has in either. THE STAR WITNESS is really, really good- TCM ran it during the 31 DAYS OF OSCAR as it was nominated for Best Story. Out of all his titles, it's the one I'd say go with.

As it is in the movie, the I'LL PLANT MY OWN TREE scene could be discussed for hours. quick question: Why does the orchestra pit have, like, five guys in it? Also, I would love to see a parody wherein Miss Helen Lawson's hairpiece becomes snagged on a giant red triangle and she has to continue singing whilst staggering in circles onstage as the mobile revolves, but as she goes, she gets more and more *******-off and more and more tangled in the shapes until she's all hung up, but she manages to finish the song. Then we cut to her backstage all strung up like some kind of drag queen marionette, screaming for someone to get her a cigarette fer *********

OMG, this is getting away a tad from HAYWARD, but I found this and had to share. This is fascinating- yet heartbreaking- to watch. ps- I found myself actually yelling out loud "YES JUDY, YES!" when they get to the sequined pantsuit at the end. She was so right to keep that.

ps- as lovely a title as MY FOOLISH HEART (and the accompanying jazz-standard theme song) is, part of me really wishes they had kept the name UNCLE WIGGLEY IN CONNECTICUT. PSS- Susan's costar in FOOLISH HEART is DANA ANDREWS, I would have loved to have seen them play off one another, especially as this was during a really interesting stretch for Andrews where he was hitting his stride as a natural, low-key (but very effective) actor.

Thank you. I went and wiki'd MY FOOLISH HEART, since it's a film I've never seen and am not terribly familiar with. Interestingly, it was a Sam Goldwyn film and there was some speculation at the time (as per INSIDE OSCAR) that Goldwyn was trying to edge out Best Actress lock Olivia DeHavilland in THE HEIRESS with a bold campaign for Hayward in MY FOOLISH HEART in order to "get at" HEIRESS director William Wyler, with whom he was fueding in re: THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES. The concensus I have read was that MY FOOLISH HEART was not well-reviewed and audience response was not good. Salinger was so peeved at the changes they made to his source story which was called- and i kid you not- UNCLE WIGGLEY IN CONNECTICUT- that he never allowed any of his work to be filmed in any way shape or form. It looks like MY FOOLISH HEART was not included in the Hayward tribute (I perused all the Thursdays and did not see it, did I miss it?). For being so downright Oscarcentric, it is most curious that TCM didn't do a whole night of her nominated parts; and weirder still that they scheduled I WANT TO LIVE! and SMASH-UP in early morning showings.

...And the director of I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE was also blacklisted soon after the film came out. He did one more film and then NOTHING until- get this- PILLOW TALK in 1959! Then he had a whole second career as a comedy director.

If I recall correctly, Susan had one of her early leads in DEADLINE AT DAWN 194? which was written by Clifford Odets. I wonder if her work in that and WHOLSESALE lead to any trouble for her in the early fifties. Also- am I right about this?- she was also in MY FOOLISH HEART (1949)- which was based on a story by JD Salinger.

Yes. I had forgotten all about THIEVES HIGHWAY, but it is practically a companion film to I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE.

Don't ruin the legend for me!

this isn't the exact poster to which you refer, but just had to post this: Oh IF ONLY the movie had been 1/2 as good as this poster.

I amend the equation: Wendell Corey + some singing ability + 1 year of soft-shoe training = Dan Dailey.

I read the entry for LOST HORIZON (1973) on wiki, and it mentioned that the deal he made writing the screenplay on LOST HORIZON allowed him to live in comfort for the rest of his life and to devote time to his writings on the gay community. funny how life works, huh?

Okay, thanks, THAT EXPLAINS why I totally thought it was a musical.

Wendell Corey + some singing ability = Dan Dailey

I suppose I should start by saying that I went in to I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE with the utterly mistaken impression (in part because of the presence of Dan Dailey and also because of the rather whimsical title, which seems to me to suggest more of a comic take on things than the intense drama that I found) that it was a musical/comedy. Hoo-boy, was I off. I have to say, I side with those who were underwhelmed by the film- apparently Screenwriter Abraham Polonsky (sp?) who was blacklisted soon after seems to think the ins and outs of the ready-to-wear dress manufacturing business are utterly fascinating, and the director of the picture seems to agree with him. They devote too much time to the ins and outs of contracts, business dealings and some of the (clearly meticulously researched) stresses of being in the "rag trade," and as a result- we have an underdeveloped romance at the center of the film, and performances by Sam Jaffe and Hayward wherein they are clearly fighting to be noticed over the slavish, almost single-minded devotion the film has to exploring the elements of business, commerce and capitalism. And poor George Sanders- who had just won the best supporting actor Oscar over Jaffe- is given the most thankless throwaway, third wheel role he was maybe asked to ever play (1/3 of his performance is in the form of a dull speech at a dressmaker's convention.) I wonder if part of the motivation for taking Polonsky down a peg with the HUAC was the fact that he clearly won the battle to turn WHOLESALE into a rather politcal film as opposed to a straight romance/drama. WHOLESALE would have greatly benefited from some visual flair somewhere...I mean, I hate to sound like Drew Barrymore here, but you have a film about FASHION wherein we don't see a lot of fashion, it's in black-and-white and the costumes are- for the most part- nothing extraordinary.

That mobile always brings to mind the ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS episode where Edina desperately wants to be the friend of some high-end, fash-hag jet setter played by Miranda Richardson and she and Patsy visit their house in a flashback. It's got no furniture, just "clean spaces" and a giant mobile in the center of the room that Patsy, naturally, becomes entangled in in her perma-inebriated state. Please tell me someone else out there remembers this too.

When I made the original post, there was a lingering doubt in my mind as to whether or not Susan was dubbed (I know she usually was, but sometimes she wasn't when it came to her singing on film.) By the time I went and looked it up and saw she was dubbed, quite a few people had liked/or quoted the post, so I figured it best to just let it lie. but yeah, watching the clip, that is obviously not Susan singing, so thanks for the correction.

Honestly, the lyrics to I'LL PLANT MY OWN TREE give one the sense that a gun was pulled on someone in the back seat of a taxi cab and then ordered "write a song about trees in three minutes or I kill you."

Because why not?: