GregoryPeckfan
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Posts posted by GregoryPeckfan
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Without doubt, Sabu's utterly charming performance in Korda's eye popping Thief of Bagdad was the highlight of the Indian actor's film career. Sad that he was die so tragically young.
He was also wonderful in Black Narcissus and The Jungle Book. He made the most of the short time he had.
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**ANNOUNCEMENT**
I am going to make note of everyone's winners in the various categories going forward so when we do our next decade review in 10 weeks time it will only be necessary to submit your best of the decade choices. But to be included in the tally people must break any ties and have only one clearly marked winner in each category year-by-year.
Thanks for doing all that work, Bogie. I know you love to write lists and this is a fun thread. Keeping this tie-breaking in mind, I will try not to have any ties.
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BEST PERFORMANCES OF 1940
BEST ACTOR
Henry Fonda The Grapes of Wrath****
Cary Grant The Philadelphia Story
Raymond Massey Abe Lincoln in Illinois
Anton Walbrook Gaslight
Charles Chaplin The Great Dictator
W.C. Fields The Bank Dick
Cary Grant His Girl Friday
James Cagney Torrid Zone
Brian Donlevy The Great McGinty
James Cagney The Fighting 69th
Edward G. Robinson Brother Orchid
James Stewart The Philadelphia Story
Tyrone Power The Mark of Zorro
James Stewart The Mortal Storm
BEST ACTRESS
Rosalind Russell His Girl Friday****
Joan Fontaine Rebecca
Katharine Hepburn The Philadelphia Story
Bette Davis The Letter
Ruth Gordon Abe Lincoln in Illinois
Ginger Rogers Kitty Foyle
Bette Davis All This and Heaven Too
Maureen O'Hara Dance, Girl, Dance
Greer Garson Pride and Prejudice
Margaret Sullavan The Mortal Storm
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Walter Brennan The Westerner****
Humphrey Bogart They Drive By Night
George Sanders Rebecca
Peter Lorre Stranger on the Third Floor
James Stephenson The Letter
Edmund Gwenn Foreign Correspondent
John Carradine The Grapes of Wrath
Allen Jenkins Brother Orchid
Robert Young The Mortal Storm
Wallace Ford The Mummy's Hand
Gene Lockhart Abe Lincoln in Illinois
Frank Craven Our Town
Eugene Pallette The Mark of Zorro
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Judith Anderson Rebecca****
Jane Darwell The Grapes of Wrath
Gale Sondergaard The Letter
Ruth Hussey The Philadelphia Story
Lucille Ball Dance, Girl, Dance
Hedy Lamarr Boomtown
Flora Robson The Sea Hawk
Florence Bates Rebecca
BEST JUVENILE PERFROMANCE
Sabu Thief of Bagdad****
Isn't Sabu fabulous? Great choices, Lawrence.
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Great pick, Lawrence. I forgot about him when I made my own selection. My pick is good but yours may be better.
Well. since Sabu was singled out already, I guess I will mention now that Sabu was my Juvenile pick as well. I have not seen yours before, though Tom.
By the way, I seem to have reached my like quota for the day, so just consider everyone's posts "liked' by GPF
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Looking over what I could read of the link( some other stuff was superimposed over some of it) I glanced at the list of names of the ones who "just missed" being included, and couldn't figure out why on some of them, but understood some others.
But yeah, wisely inserted in an explanation was the word "subjective", which these kind of lists ARE laregly based on, and.....
As complimentary your thread title is, it also really isn't all that accurate. It suggests EVERYONE on the message boards are "experts" when actually, it's mostly filled with those who THINK they are!
Sepiatone
Quite true, Sepia. I know CMR got help from friends of his on other sites like Steve Lensman in England too- of course Steve is not on these boards. I think the name of the thread, knowing CMR for 5 years or so, suggests that he was trying to be inclusive as he always has been on his own site.
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The Hallelujah Trail airs quite often on Silver Screen Classics. It does have to be seen to be believed.
Martin Landau does not speak English. Oh, but yes he does.
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This is sad news.
I loved watching Star Trek: The Animated Series and I have long been a collector of musical scores of film, stage and television in all the various stages of recordings from vinyl to 8 track to cassette tapes to cds.
Thanks for telling us, Nip.
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TV Detectives and a Big Screen Movie Boxed Set: Volume 1
1. Peter Falk - "Columbo" - The In-Laws
2. Raymond Burr - "Perry Mason" and "Iron Side" - Rear Window
3. Rock Hudson - "McMillian and Wife' - Pillow Talk
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Whose Line Is it Anyway? - Season 1 (1998-1999) - CW Seed via Roku
I am currently taking advantage of the fact that the CW Seed has all eleven seasons of the U.S. version of this show available since I am currently multitasking and short-form improv makes for an ideal viewing choice in that situation. Too bad they don't have the U.K. version of this show available. Clive Anderson ruled!
I love the original version. I watch the American version too, but there was something about Clive Anderson himself that added a lot to the show.
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Wow....there are quite a few well-known people born on April 16th. Happy Birthday to all of them!
The "roll dance" from Gold Rush --
I love this dance, Lawrence. I love that you include these special tributes as well as list days like "zoo day etc"
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Those are great choices Tom.
I agree that the duel scene between Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone in The mark of Zorro is the best of the decade.
Here are some "unique" categories for 1940 -my post for the day. I'll mention Juvenile another day.
FAVOURITE PERFORMANCE IN A HITCHCOCK MOVIE, MALE OR FEMALE:
George Sanders for being excellent in *both* of Hitch's 1940 classics: Rebecca and Foreign Correspondent - again, see my Hitchcock thread for further details/nominees
FAVOURITE SATIRICAL PERFORMANCE:
Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator
FAVOURITE ANIMATED PERFORMANCE:
Mickey Mouse in Fantasia
FAVOURITE SYNERGY;
The cast of His Girl Friday with their spot on timing and in jokes about the stars and their on screen images
FAVOURITE DUELING;
Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone in The mark of Zorro
FAVOURITE ANIMAL PERFORMANCE:
The animals in The Thief of Bagdad - all of them
*the animals were treated cruelly and as such gave too much for their art, so I can't single one out
FAVOURITE SCREEN HUSBAND AND WIFE TEAM:
Powell and Loy in I Love You Again narrowly beating out Grant and Dunne in My Favourite Wife
FAVOURITE DANCE TEAM:
Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940
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I would love to see Robert Young as Star of the Month.
In this particular instance, Robert Ryan Star of the Month happens on Fridays in May and he made a lot of war films. In this way, TCM is able to combine Ryan as Star of the Month with their memorial Day weekend programming of war movies.
Welcome to the boards.
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9) Ray Milland's role in this film was spoofed in a Warner Brothers Looney Tunes clip which focused upon Elmer Fudd trying to get Bugs Bunny served to Bogart and Bacall.
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Here Comes Mr. Jordan -Robert Montgomery dies then comes back to life
Between Two Worlds - where not everyone will end up in the same place in the afterlife and - is it really the afterlife?
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Clark Gable's ears...I wonder if this picture was posed or not
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I love the Abbott and Costello films.
I am a fan of Young Frankenstein.
I also enjoyed the movie love at First Bite.
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If I was going make a list of the 10 most overrated movies of all time, I would put THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS on that list for sure.
I hate this movie and nothing about it works.
I didn't see this movie, but as for vampire spoofs, I always enjoyed the movie Love at First Bite. George Hamilton really was good at making fun of his movie star image.
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I'd love to have this photograph framed and hung on my wall.
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This would be a great picture in the Photo Captioning Fun thread
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I wonder if they all kept their golf scores honest for their day with the sister....
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I read Anthony Quinn`s autobiography, and he and his wife Katherine never got over the death of their first born Christopher. Anthony went on to have three more children with his first wife Katherine DeMille, and many other children when he remarried. I think the death of a child is almost unbearable.
No, you never do.
I remember that Lloyd Bridges and his wife had a second child after Beau who died of SIDS. They waited a while, but they did have Jeff a few years later.
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Shearer and Montgomery are one of my favourite on screen couples of all time. I am a big fan of both of their individual careers.
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It's been fairly quiet lately, but they're baaaack!
Oh, did I miss an evening of spam? Too bad.....
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I watched two movies the other night.
Little Nellie Kelly (1940). This was a Judy Garland movie that I had never seen before. I'd seen the title mentioned in her filmography and I'd seen it listed among her films for sale on the Warner Archives site, but I had never seen the film on a TCM schedule. This film was Judy's first film where she was cast in an adult role instead of a juvenile role. Although, in this film, Judy plays dual roles, so she's actually cast as an adult and as a juvenile. I wasn't sure what I thought of the film when I started watching it. Judy and the other cast members all spoke with Irish brogues and I thought it seemed kind of hokey. Once they left Ireland and were in America, I enjoyed the film before. I liked Judy in her juvenile role better. George Murphy sort of played dual roles as well. He was Judy Garland's husband in the beginning of the film and then was her father in the later part of the film. He was kind of bland. Not bad, not that great either. Charles Winninger also had two roles: Judy's father in the beginning and her grandfather later. He was good as the cantankerous old man who seems adverse to change. I realize my descriptions of the dual roles sound a bit sordid, but it all makes sense in the film and this movie is pretty squeaky clean. I did not like the man who insisted on singing in an operatic style.
Judy sings a lot of great songs in this film. I also didn't realize how many times "Singin' in the Rain" had been around the block until Gene Kelly sang it. Judy gives a rousing rendition of this song toward the end of the film. It's probably my #2 favorite version after Kelly's. My favorite song in the film was Judy's "It's a Great Day For the Irish" in the parade scene. She sings it with such enthusiasm and with such infectious energy that it's hard not to be perked up by this song.
This isn't my favorite film of hers, but it's definitely not the worst of her films either. I vastly prefer it over her films with Mickey Rooney.
3/4 stars.
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Cape Fear (1962). I followed my Judy film up with this suspense/thriller film starring Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Martin Balsam and Polly Bergen. I loved this movie! I don't normally like films that depict rape, but in this film, since the rapes are only alluded to and not seen, I wasn't bothered by the subject matter. For 1962, I thought this film was very progressive for its time. There aren't many films (if any) from this time where the villain is motivated by sexual desires. I appreciated the clever script that explicitly stated what Mitchum did, but without explicitly saying what he did (if that makes any sense).
Robert Mitchum's performance of Max Cady absolutely made this film. He was perfect as the creeper Cady who "innocently" stalks Peck, Bergen and their daughter. I liked how his stalking started out with just watching Peck and his family, but then he slowly became more brazen with his crimes. The fact that Peck couldn't prove that Mitchum committed any of these crimes only heightened the suspense. Also add in the fact that Mitchum retained his own lawyer to challenge the extra scrutiny placed on Mitchum by Peck and friend (and police chief) Balsam. Mitchum is well aware of the law and he and his lawyer use this to get the law on Mitchum's side and make Peck out to be the bad guy. This whole layer to the story makes Mitchum seem even more sinister, and you, as the viewer, just wait for Mitchum to slip up. The scene where Peck's daughter sees Mitchum outside her school was very chilling. When she is inside the school trying to outrun the man whom she thinks is following her was very suspenseful. I also thought it was clever how the man was only shown from the waist down.
Peck was excellent as the lawyer whom Mitchum was trying to punish for sending him to prison. Mitchum blames Peck for interrupting his attack against a young woman and for providing the subsequent testimony that clinched the case and sent Mitchum to the clink. I thought Peck's performance was very good in that he maintained his typical stoic manner, yet he also had moments of weakness when he was scared for the fate of his wife and daughter. The scene where Peck decides to take the law into his own hands and leaves the family home with a gun despite wife Bergen frantically pleading with him to stop was very powerful.
Of course the famous scene on the houseboat was the best part of the film. Mitchum's attack on Bergen was creepy and scary--especially when he rubs his hands across the egg he had splattered onto her chest. The dialogue where Mitchum tells Bergen if she somehow consents, then he hasn't committed a crime, then where Mitchum tries to blackmail Bergen into having sex with him in exchange for him leaving her daughter alone was very creepy. The subsequent attack was very scary. While it isn't clear whether or not Mitchum actually raped her, I choose to believe he did because at that point, after the exchange between Mitchum and Bergen earlier in the scene, why wouldn't he?
Peck and Mitchum's classic fight in the river was the best part of the film.
Sometimes when I watch a film that has unpleasant subject matter, I come away feeling happy that I watched the film, but have no desire to see it again. Not with Cape Fear, I'd happily give this film another go. The setting, the acting, the storyline, everything was absolutely fascinating.
4/4 stars.
Glad you loved Cape Fear, Speedy. Every time I see it, I find something else to consider when seeing it from before. When it was on earlier this month I believe it was the first time I had seen it since Polly Bergan died. I saw it not long after she died in her memory, but not since. The film does indeed leave certain things to be decided for ourselves, partly because the film cannot be too explicit, but also because of the genre. I have seen both versions, and I have always found the original ore disturbing.
In the remake, Peck plays Cady's lawyer. Mitchum has a small role too.
Your Favourite Performances from 1929 to present are...
in Your Favorites
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Oooh, I will have to put that on my to-see list, Tom. I have not seen it yet.