LornaHansonForbes

Yet, it's interesting that without (seemingly) really trying, Arthur was still in the top five candidates right up until Selznick ran into Vivien Leigh at the filming of Atlanta's burning. She was almost forty, and yet she got closer to playing Scarlett than Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn and some of thE other HUGE names at the time. (Although I'm not a fan of hers, Jean Arthur, it is said, was so popular with the public that she (allegedly) never appeared even once in a film that lost money.)

I was going to mention this as well, thank you for bringing it up. Menzel's reaction is: 1/2 "DEAR GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING!?" and 1/2 "B****, if you smear my make-up I will end you here and now." He similarly creeped on Scarlett Johansen on the red carpet. Sigh. Okay: Show of hands: anyone, in the whole wide world actually believe that John Travolta is heterosexual anymore? .... Okay...what, what was that one guy in Sri Lanka? No, I said "Is" ... Okay, thanks. Yeah, NO ONE. Don't let that stand in your way with the pony show though, John. It's thoroughly amusing at this point.

To all unaware, it's worth it to DVR MANPOWER (1941), which is on at 2:00 am Sunday morning. It's a film made at the low point in the careers of Dietrich and Edward G. Robinson, and the high point in the career of George Raft. It's one of those baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad movies that you watch with your chin on the ground for the whole thing, but really worth taking in for its place as one weirdass, misguided, daffy movie; quite clearly written and directed by someone who had serious issues with women. ps- I posted this also in the YESTERDAY TODAY AND TOMORROW thread, but I saw some people were talking about what Marlene films to DVR today.

I'm not sure if this is an option for you or not, but one thing that can help this is to watch films with closed captioning on, provided said closed captioning is accurate (and often times it mistranslates things the way voice transcription does, don't know what kind of cc tcm employs.) (It's easier to do this, of course, with DVDs.) I admit I am often times guilty of listening to, but not watching, a film (one of the problems with home viewing.) It can be an interesting aid from many perspectives (also a valuable tool for screenwriters) to watch and read at the same time and it helps you to focus (something I have a hard time with.)

it's not a name that really screams "sex appeal!" no? Pretty close to the bottom of the list with Edna and Beulah close seconds.

Please forgive me. when it comes to Travolta, the potential comedic material sometimes just overruns my brain and I shut down for a minute or two. takes me a while to sort out all the jokes.

At the Academy Awards Show 2 years ago Travolta was brought on to introduce a BIG Broadway star who was singing the theme from FROZEN (a hugely popular and deeply insidious Disney movie that you are familiar with if you know anyone under the age of 10) Her name: Idina Menzel. For some strange reason ( i personally think his wig glue fumes were getting to him) Travolta had a deer in the headlights moment and introduced her as "Adele Dazeem." it was an extremely odd moment, especially since one gets to feeling Travolta knows Broadway stars pretty well. There was speculation that drugs were involved, or that Travolta's documented dyslexia was flaring up. maybe his Scientology handlers for the evening had given him an extra dose of lithium to keep him from prying off his ankle bracelet and trying to flee. I don't know, I wasn't there. I'm just filling you in on what went down on the camera.

To all unaware, it's worth it to DVR MANPOWER (1941), which is on at 2:00 am Sunday morning. It's at the low point in the careers of Dietrich and Edward G. Robinson, and the high point in the career of George Raft. It's one of those baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad movies that you watch with your chin on the ground for the whole thing, but really worth taking in for its place as one weirdass, misguided, daffy movie; quite clearly written and directed by someone who had serious issues with women.

I'm weawy qwuite disappointed that Wancho Notawious is not aiwing tomowow. Wish they could have found woom faw it on the schedwoo.

I have it on the strictest of authority that Eddie Muller was born Hildegard Swenson of Rochester, Minnesota.

Actually, it is pronounced "whee-keedly talen-ted." (he actually sounds a lot like Homer Simpson when he says it.) I've watched the clip several times. I swear to god, if you pause it, you can see the exact moment the Xanax kicks in. (Bless his heart.)

thank you. That was a fascinating article. Highly recommended. I guess people in 1931 remembered the WWI blitz on London.

She was great...it also helped that her role was not the sterotypical "overprotective dowager who won't allow her son to be entangled with a lowly chorus girl" part- it was nuanced, and she wasn't rude, cruel or condescending in her scenes where she dealt with Myra- she just makes it obvious that she knows the marriage won't work, and the best thing to do would be for the girl to step aside. (I think some of this behavior is part of Whale's stolid British upbringing, surely he knew women like this.)

I'll also tack on that, before seeing the 1931 version of WATERLOO BRIDGE, I did not realize that England experienced bombing during WWI as well. (funny how history repeats itself and they were able to repeat the plot device and make it perfectly "of the moment" for the 1940 version.)

I don't know that beauty (or comparative lack thereof) has much to do with it, but yes- there is not just the education and accomplishment lacking, but also Clarke is a "fish out of water"- an American whose parents (so we are told) drank and were abusive- and who is in a strange country during a huge worldwide war that is exploding all around her. One gets a sense she is much more "on her own" than Vivien Leigh in the 1940 version. (and for the record, I think my biggest problem with the 1940 version is that curious scene where Leigh meets Lucille Watson (as Taylor's character's mother) immediately after learning he has in all likelihood been killed and just walks out of the meeting, not turning to her for help. I guess it's ultimately understandable, but it is odd.)

Absolutely. I'd also place Paulette on the short list of classic actresses who seem "contemporary" in today's world. Ironic that neither her nor Mae Clarke's career really took off long-term.

I liked the actors, save Baxter who didn't come off as anything special to me, but it was like the film didn't want to spend too much time with any of them (aside from Baxter- who ironically, was the least interesting character.) It was a film with a decided case of Attention Deficit Disorder- honestly reminding me a little bit of THE SIMPSONS, which made a running gag out of the fact that the first 6-8 minutes of the show usually had nothing to do with what the main plot of the episode is going to become: So it's about this reporter....no wait, it's about this gangster...no wait, it's about the gangster's lawyer... now it's about the gangster's lawyer's troubled marriage....wait, no, now it's about the boyfriend of the wife of the gangster's lawyer...now it's about the girlfriend of the the boyfriend of the estranged wife of the lawyer who represents the gangster...oops, now it's about her murder...Now here's Myrna Loy half an hour into this thing and I don't even know why she's here.... An hour in and I was practically screaming at the television: "KEE-RIPES! JUST PICK SOMETHING TO BE ABOUT, MOVIE, AND THEN BE ABOUT IT!"

...and no matter how you feel about it, I think we all have to acknowledge that the 1931 WATERLOO BRIDGE has one hell of an ending. Wasn't anyone else impressed with it?

What I have a huge problem with is: that we're still doing this (to some degree): [...] (this is a long video, but worth watching. The language may not be SFW.) PS- i can think of quite a few precodes that run contrary to this though: BABY FACE, BORN TO BE BAD, EMPLOYEE'S ENTRANCE, the ouevre of Mae West...if anything, the 1931 WATERLOO BRIDGE is more the exception to the rather post-code reliance on destruction of "wanton women."

Yeah, but there's still something about her that seems to contemporary. Watching her last night, I really got a sense that she was someone who could be alive and working today, her face, manners, voice, etc- didn't bear any of the hallmarks of the time. Slap a different hairstryle on her and Mae Clarke wouldn't be out of place in a film or tv show made today.

It's really not a spoiler that Mae Clarke is murdered in PENTHOUSE; it happens very early on and is one of like, five conflicting plots going on at once. Trust me, knowing that going in will do nothing towards spoiling any aspect of PENTHOUSE. I stand by it to the point where I'm not even going to go back and edit it out. ...now if i had revealed how WATERLOO BRIDGE ends, that would be a **** move.

Not really. She's in for about 8-10 minutes, looking good in a sequin-wrap dress. Then she's MURDERED. Myrna Loy isn't in it much either, she doesn't show up until at least half an hour in; I have a suspicion it was released after she hit it big in THE THIN MAN and they moved her billing up. It was a very unfocused movie and the plot confused the hell out of me. The male lead was not interesting or likeable or particularly charismatic. Maltin gave it three and a half stars, make what you will of that.

I was really, really disappointed in PENTHOUSE.

. . with a special musical tribute by Adele Dazeem.