[12 ANGRY MEN? Movies/Performances That Are So Compelling You Become Angry Too]

I love Splendor in the Grass.  The film takes place in the 1920s, as Warren Beatty's family loses everything during the crash in 1929.  While women hadn't nearly made as many strides as they had by the 1970s, the 1920s were when women were starting to break away from the rigid Victorian ideals.  This is part of the reason that Warren Beatty's sister, Ginny, was such an embarrassment to the family.  She drank, smoked, had sex and may or may not have had an abortion while in Chicago.  Ginny's behavior goes against everything that women raised during the Victorian era were taught as being "proper" behavior for ladies.  The young adults who came of age during the 1920s were the ones who were bobbing their hair, raising their hemlines, drinking and smoking in speakeasys, everything that the men were doing.  This is also the time when women had just won the right to vote thanks to the 19th amendment.  

 

Splendor in the Grass takes place in 1920s Kansas. Typically the midwest is more conservative than other areas of the country--especially in comparison to the West Coast and the New England states.  Natalie Wood's character is also feeling pressured by Warren Beatty's character to have sex, but she is conflicted.  She wants to do it, but knows that premarital sex goes against the "rules" in her family and community.  Her mother is from the prior, more traditional generation.  She's the one who tells her daughter something to the effect of "women aren't supposed to enjoy sex.  They should just lie on their backs, looking at the ceiling and grin and bear it." Much of the film deals with Natalie Wood's character's conflicting feelings.  She wants to have sex with her boyfriend and feels that she'll lose him.  However, she doesn't want to go against her parents and the community.  She ends up having a nervous breakdown due to the stress of this situation.  

 

While there are definitely some anti-feminist sentiments expressed in the film, I never felt offended or upset by the ideas presented in the film.  The attitudes expressed toward sex and women's behaviors are more indicative of the 1920s mentality.  Natalie Wood's character's trauma and stress over sex (and other behaviors) I think is an indication of how the attitudes toward women had started shifting by the early 1960s.  The pill had debuted in 1960 and that was truly the turning point in women's liberation.  

 

If the film had removed the 1920s setting and had it be a contemporary film, I think the attitudes toward the "correct" attitudes toward women would have been more upsetting to me, but with the 1920s slant, I really enjoy the film and find it very interesting to watch.

 

 

You know, this is part of the problem I have with them movie Splendor in the Grass.  See, I think I understand a bit too well that background of when and where the movie takes place and then I think about how things haven't changed.  I wish it had changed more.

 

I remember being in university when I was taking a course in Canadian plays and we had group projects and my group had all women in it and we had a play called LES BELLES SOUERS by Michel Trembley.  That sounds like it should be The Beautiful Sisters.  It actually means the Sisters-in-law.

 

We were assigned scenes to perform and I read the book and became very angry with the way French Canadian women were treated and behaved in response.  One of my group members was originally from Montreal and she loved it.

 

I explained why it upset me and she told me:

 

Don't you understand?  Quebec is decades behind  the rest of Canada in terms of Women's Rights.  We have social status of our fathers.  If we don't get married by a certain age we have no social standing.

 

Living in British Columbia, I had no idea until someone told me that the provinces were so different in terms of women's rights.

 

If I saw the movie as set in the 1920s and just let myself be in the 1920s while I watched it, I would not be as upset about Natalie's situation.  But I still would be ticked off at Beatty's character.

[The Ultimate Film Noir Thread]

Cigarjoe has just reviewed The Money Trap on I JUST WATCHED and will be doing a larger review on the genre forum of film noir-gangster soon. 

 

This is a movie I have not seen in a couple of years and is one of my favourite Glenn Ford films of all time.

 

I'm looking forward to the larger review.

[The Ultimate Film Noir Thread]

I cannot watch black and white movies when it is daylight out as all l can see is the reflection of my room.  I did record as many noir films as my PVR would let me during the series, but I ran out of space.

 

Summer is a horrible time for me because air conditioning bothers my breathing and my corner apartment on the top floor of my building is about 150 degrees at all times in my living room.

 

 

I don't watch anything until about 10pm.

 

I may very well have had this movie recorded and deleted it before I saw it due to space.

[12 ANGRY MEN? Movies/Performances That Are So Compelling You Become Angry Too]

It must the type of people I've been around, Vautrin.

 

 

I'd love to be the calm Henry Fonda type.  Life is difficult enough as it is, but I somehow I am affected by such films.

 

These films have to be well made of course for that to happen.

 

Movies that are meant to be serious but acted badly end up being unintentionally funny.

 

That was the problem I had with SHE (1935) which I saw recently for the first time.

 

It was so bad it was good.

 

 

 

[Your Favourite Performances from 1929 to present are...]

I just saw Becky Sharp  for the first time tonight, Lawrence.

 

 

Here are my choices for Best Actress from 1935.

 

Again ignore alphabet:

 

 

 

BEST ACTRESS 1935

 

Jean Arthur in The Whole Town's Talking

Madeleine Carroll in The 39 Steps

Joan Crawford in No More Ladies

Bette Davis in Dangerous

Bette Davis in Special Agent

Olivia DeHaviland in Captain Blood

Irene Dunne in Roberta

Jean Harlow in China Seas

Katherine Hepburn in Alice Adams

Miriam Hopkins in Splendor

Carole Lombard in Hands Across the Table

Merle Oberon in The Dark Angel

Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1936

Ginger Rogers in Top Hat

Ginger Rogers in Roberta

Barbara Stanwyck in Annie Oakley

 

 

WINNER:

 

 

MERLE OBERON IN THE DARK ANGEL

 

[HITS & MISSES: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow on TCM]

Not in the mood to watch a musical tonight, but I will likely watch a Frank Sinatra movie tomorrow in honour of Frank Sinatra Jr.

[Frank Sinatra - Favourite Male Singer of All Time]

Here is the original obituary article from Vanity about Frank Sinatra Jr.

 

 

He died of a heart attack on Wednesday at 72 years old.

[Frank Sinatra - Favourite Male Singer of All Time]

http://forums.tcm.com/index.php?/topic/92380-frank-sinatra-jr-1944-2016/

 

 

 

 

Many thanks to Barton Keyes for posting this sad news.  Sinatra Jr. had a big shadow to follow and I admire him for all that he has endured and how he continued to perform.

 

I saw him in a couple of his movies, and I saw him in several interviews.

 

Rest in peace Mr. Sinatra.

 

Prayers and thoughts to Nancy, Tina, and family.

[Frank Sinatra Jr. (1944-2016)]

This is the first I heard about it.  Thanks Baron Keyes for letting us know.

 

Frank Sinatra is my favourite singer of all time.

 

This is way too young.

 

he never got over his kidnapping.  No one does.  I remember after Sinatra Sr. died it was revealed that he had been told what would happen to his children if he did not do as he was told.  It happened anyway WHILE THE MOB WAS WATCHING THE HOUSE.

 

 

It turned out that it wasn't he mob who kidnapped him, but they saw it happen and did nothing to prevent it.

 

 

Rest in peace Mr. Sinatra.

[I Just Watched...]

BECKY SHARP(1935):

 

I watched this on youtube, having heard of it from Film lover earlier on this thread.

 

This movie stars Miriam Hopkins in the title role.

 

Since Film Lover already described the movie recently, I won't repeat it.

 

This was a great adaptation of Vanity fair.  It is my favourite of the versions I have seen.

 

I have found that adaptations of this novel seem to be overlong much of the time.

 

This one kept my attention always.

[I Just Watched...]

 

The Money Trap (1965) The Last Classic Studio Noir?

 

 

Directed by Burt Kennedy, written by Walter Bernstein (Kiss the Blood Off My Hands) based on the novel of the same name by Lionel White (The Killing). This film has quite the line-up of Classic Film Noir actors, Glenn Ford and Joseph Cotten, Rita Hayworth, Ricardo Montalban, Ted de Corsia and Elke Sommer. Cinematography was by Paul Vogel  High Wall (1947),  Dial 1119 (1950), The Tall Target (1951), The Sellout (1952) and the bongo/jazz/beatnik score was by Hal Schaefer.

 

This could be the last Studio "B" Noir. We hear a crazed bongo beat on the soundtrack. The Story: Two LAPD Homicide Detectives Joe Baron (Ford) and his Mexican partner Pete Delanos (Montalban) catch a squeal to investigate the murder of a **** at a downtown cat-house. It's pouring, it's night, it's Noir. Arriving at the address they climb a staircase and pass a landing lined with rubber necking prostitutes. The Mexican victim was secretly moonlighting as a hooker to bring in extra income. She was murdered by her enraged husband who had just found out. He hung her like a piñata from the handiest light fixture, left her swinging, and vamoosed. This is the dark and "sleazo" underworld of our ever on call detectives.   

 

The film is very interesting for film Noir fans. The flop house where the character Amaya lives is the old run down Brousseau Mansion at 238 South Bunker Hill Avenue. By 1965 the Bunker Hill redevelopment had cleared out most of the houses. That's why the house is surrounded by empty lots. Ford then tails the aunt and Amaya to Third & Olive and rides with them down Angels Flight, which is also surrounded by empty lots, the end of an era along with the end of a Classic Noir location. 7/10

 

More on Film Noir/Gangster board soon.

 

 

 

It's been too long since I've  seen The Money Trap.

 

It's one of my favourite Glenn Ford movies of all time. 

 

I look forward to the larger write-up.

[Name 10 Facts About This Actor]

7) Joan Blondell was often given short snappy retorts as dialogue, similar to Eve Arden.

[Canadiana-Trivia About Canadians in Movies]

Is it Lucille Watson who often played mothers?

[The first actor/actress that comes to mind..]

Johnny Carson (his late show gig guessing what is in the envelope)

 

 

 

 

Next:

 

 

Selling products in TV ads

[JERRY LEWIS SHOULDA' RECEIVED AFI AWARD BY NOW!?]

Thanks for this, Jakeem.

 

It is difficult for people who have never performed live to realize what it takes to host a live show even when nothing goes wrong.

 

That was great ad libbing.

 

Think of it - an awards show that lasted early.

[12 ANGRY MEN? Movies/Performances That Are So Compelling You Become Angry Too]

Dargo:

 

INHERIT THE WIND  is a perfect example of what I meat by this the title of this thread.

 

The movie airs quite frequently -not as frequently as some TCM titles do- on a Canadian channel called Silver Screen Classics.

 

I have to be very careful what time of day I watch this.

 

It is a great example of why Gene Kelly could have been a great non-musical actor and why MGM was not sure what to do with him until he danced with his reflection in Cover Girl when he was loaned out to Columbia.

 

He was a dramatic actor who held his own opposite Tracy and March.

 

I get very angry with March.

 

But then I understand Tracy respecting March in a way that he can never respect Kelly.

 

Excuse me using the actors names as if they are the characters as I know they are real life people.  I am TALKING ABOUT THE CHARACTERS, NOT THE ACTORS.

 

 

[12 ANGRY MEN? Movies/Performances That Are So Compelling You Become Angry Too]

I absolutely love Splendor in the Grass (1960), but it does make me angry as well. I know back in the early 1900s, women were seen as inferior, and there were different standards for men and women. But the fact that he can do whatever he wants with no repercussion to his morals or his namesake is ridiculous. Yet she would get a bad reputation around town. This also goes for the hundreds of other movies where women are seen as inferior beings.

 

I am a masculine feminist! Equal means equal.

I have always had a problem with this movie for much the same reason, Paul.

 

There are so many reasons why this is not an easy film to watch.

 

I prefer other Natalie Wood movies.

[Lookalikes?]

That's interesting. Reading that I get an inferiority complex idea going in my head. Neither one was inferior to the other, very different, but equally talented.

 

Well Grant was famous first, that is why he got first dibs on scripts. 

 

Gregory Peck started out his film career during WWII while he was 4F from an injury to his back during university.

 

He was much in demand and was careful not to sign an exclusive contract.  He worked at all the studios.

 

After the war he continued getting great movies.

 

However, there are some actors who were popular while other actors were off fighting who were not able to keep getting film parts. 

[The Ultimate Film Noir Thread]

TCM has shown The Burglar. More than once.

Great!

 

That means I will be able to record it and see it.

 

Thanks.

I am not sure how I have managed to miss it so far.

[The first actor/actress that comes to mind..]

Sad link, but:

 

Jason Robards, Jr.

 

 

Next:

 

 

Redhead

[Name a Celebrity - Name a Movie]

Barbra Streisand was in love with Omar Sharif in Funny Girl.

[Actor/Movie Association Game]

Charles Vanet

[Who would you rather meet?]

Ida Lupino 

 

 

 

Next:

 

 

Tom Selleck or Tom Cruise

[Most Alluring Credit Names]

In Rain Man, at the end we get to see the photographs that Raymond/Hoffman took on the road trip.

[HITS & MISSES: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow on TCM]

St.Patrick's  Day theme:

 

 

I still have not seen Young Cassidy and I am a fan of the stars.

 

My favourite of the movies listed that I have seen is Finian's Rainbow.

 

Evening:

 

 

Hmmmmmm.

 

Which film is my favourite? Hahahahahahahaha!

 

 

Actually, I have seen Kiss Me Stupid before and enjoyed it.