daddysprimadonna

"Fiddler On The Roof" has recently knocked "Kiss Me Kate" into second place for my favorite musical. I was watching FOTR almost every night last month,I love that movie so much.

I think that in "Ecstasy", at her young age,Hedy shows what a fine actress she was and could have been in her Hollywood time. She's especially touching in the scenes with her father in that movie,to me. She shows great subtlety in her acting in "Ecstasy",in the European acting style.

She's also depicted swimming in the nude in "Ecstasy",and you can see quite a bit. What was "TCM Confidential"? What'd I miss? I thank my darling hubby for letting me sleep late,he didn't understand about Hedy,LOL!

My husband came in late late last night from out of town,and I'd waited up for him,so he let me sleep late,and I missed everything up to the last of "Zeigfeld Girl",sob! I have that movie on video,so that's OK,but I don't know what I missed before,and I don't know how to set the DVD burner timer yet. I have "Ectasy" on DVD,and a couple of others. "Tortilla Flat" is just coming on,and I've never seen it,so I'm watching now I've seen "White Cargo" quite a few times. I wish that Antar and GarboManiac were here also,they'd have this thread burning up,LOL.

Thanks, I thought I was going to have to get the Holy Water out!

What's up with this thread? In my watch list, I see that there are new posts,but they won't show up on the thread! The thread list page in "General Discussions" shows Rocky as the latest poster,but the last post I can see is the one from Mr Larry on the 25th. Dang,this thread is possessed!

I like them both equally,but in different ways. Joan is about to be on in "Suspicion" with Cary Grant. I love her in this role. I love that he calls her "monkey face"-she was so pretty,but she did have a charming kind of "crookedness" or "quirkiness" to her face. Very charming,a kind of slanted smile or something. I love one of the bedroom scenes when she has her long hair down also,it's so pretty. I love the way she speaks in this movie. Heck,I just love her in this movie I like her in "Rebecca" also,but I too want to just shake her and tell her to tell that old housekeeper to get lost. Who would put up with that mess? First she has to put up with the demanding social-climbing woman-that's more understandable,she's doing the best she can to earn a living-but to be intimidated by a housekeeper,at least after she's been mistress of the house for a while-no no no! That's Gothics for you-that characterisation in Gothic fiction is known as the "too stupid to live"-TSTL for short-heroine,LOL. Message was edited by: Melanie,left two words out of a sentence daddysprimadonna

We must do lunch some day -- we'll be a hoot........... LOL! Mr Larry,I'd be charmed-do you ever get south of the Mason-Dixon line? Or if it's summer,I'll go north of it-the summer here is just killing me! What shall we have for lunch? I know-onion soup in Paris!

Another vote here for Norma Shearer,she's my favorite actress hands down,and no one could wear a slinky Adrian bias-cut gown like the woman with the perfect profile. I loved that so many of her hairstyles had her hair sleeked back to showcase that patrician profile. Actually,she belongs on the "most beautiful" thread,not "prettiest",because of that profile,if nothing else. I love her flirtatious mannerisms and her voice also.

I loved "Blue Gardenia"-the first time that I saw it,I had to try really hard to forget Anne Baxter as "Eve" from "All About Eve". Everytime I see her I have to push her in that role from my mind. She owned that role so well,that it stamped her in my mind. I need to see more of her movies! I also liked the movie that Ann Sothern was in-the beauty pageant mystery,I've already forgotten the title!-because Ruth Hussey was in it. I've loved her ever since I saw her in "Susan And God"-she's another one I need to see in some more movies. I've always liked Jane Powell,especially in "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers", but her ingenue roles can get on my nerves,too Her voice though-such warmth in it for a soprano. "Shadow On The Wall" was indeed a bit farfetched,but Ann Sothern was good in it,and I agree,so was Nancy Davis. Crime stories that center on a child witness needing to remember something kind of aggravate me though,LOL, I always just want to spank the kid and say "Your daddy's about to fry,now spit it out!". Isn't that awful? I know it's not like that in reality,thank goodness! Mickey Rooney gets on my nerves in almost anything except the "Andy Hardy" series-I love that series. I wanted to give him a Valium in "Midsummer Night's Dream"-he and Betty Hutton both do that to me. But I loved that crazy Virginia O'Brien-you know,the deadpan-faced singer--I think she actually had a decent voice,and probably used that shtick to get her foot in the door,and got stuck with it. Too bad!

I watched the whole Ann Sothern day, and while I was entertained by all the movies,the only one that I would consider a "keeper" was "Lady Be Good". I'm with you,Mr Larry,I just don't care for the "truck driver queen" style. That's why I like Joan Blondell in her really early roles,when she was a slim gold digger,but not in her later more "earthy" roles. Same with Elizabeth Taylor. She was another one who bloomed early and quickly became fleshy and overblown,and I don't mean "fat"-just too fleshy and overblown. Ann Sothern looked beautiful and classy in "Lady Be Good",I'd have liked her in some more roles like that. Her singing in that movie showed that she could sing with subtlety and nuance,instead of just belting it out. Judy Garland is one of the few "belters" that I like,but she could sing a song in any style-whatever it called for. Ann Sothern's singing of "Last Time I Saw Paris" was great. She gave it meaning.

Thanks for reminding me of Hedy Day on the 28th-I've stocked up on blank DVDs to just burn the movies right through the day I can't wait!

I'm envious also Mr Vecchio-have some blini and caviar for me! Bring me back a Faberge' egg-one with LOTS of jewels,mainly diamonds,on it,LOL!

I ordered the movie soundtrack from Amazon. It's a really good one.

Also, was it 'Ziegfield Girl' where she played the married girl whose husband was a violinist and she really didn't care about her career, only joined to help him? That was indeed Zeigfeld Girl. There's a great line in that movie about her,where some man at the audition(she's not auditioning,she's waiting for her husband) says to another, 'She looks better all wrapped up than the others do unwrapped". True! I've noticed that there aren't that many "cheesecake" photos of Hedy. She had such a compellingly beautiful face and perfect,willowy form,that it didn't need to all exposed to be obvious,I think.

The location scenes were filmed in Yugoslavia. It was under Tito then,and he was the only one who didn't care what Soviet Russia thought,LOL. They first wanted to film it in Russia,but the Soviets wouldn't let them,because they thought it made them look bad,even though the things in the story happened under Czarist Russia.

The dream sequence is the one that makes me laugh too,but one of the most heartbreaking scenes,to me,is the way that Mottel and Tzeitel's wedding is broken up by the mini-pogrom,and tevye just standing there looking up with his hands out as if to ask God,"Why?" I heard on one of the DVD extras that a lot of the filming was set up to resemble Marc Chagall paintings-have you ever noticed how the coloring of the scenes begins with warm tones,and gets grayer and grayer until the end? And it's not just because of the seasons changing-it was done to set the mood as the movie got progressively sadder. The scenes of the people during the "Anatevka" song at the end were based on some actual photographs from that time of similar people in similar places.

And the music is just wonderful-I have so many favorites,I can't decide on one-I love the wedding procession music,and the bottle dance music,and the opening song "Tradition",and that beautiful violin by with Isaac Stern playing-and of course "If I Were A Rich Man"(in the book,Tevye says "if I were a Rothschild")-the music is unbelievably inventive and true to the movie.

Funny this thread should pop up now,I'm currently addicted to this movie-I've been watching the DVD almost every night for about a month. I loved it so much,that I bought the soundtrack,and then the books by Sholom Aleichem upon which the musical and the movie were based-"Tevye The Dairyman", "Tevye And His Daughters",and "The Adventures Of Mottel The Cantor's Son"(not the same Mottel-a tailor-as in the movie) and read them all. I put the movie on my Ipod. I'm obssessed with this movie,and I know almost all the songs by heart now. It has knocked "Kiss Me Kate" into second place as my favorite musical. I think that Chaim Topol is perfect as Tevye,especially after reading the books,and Norma Crane was wonderful as Golde. I don't think that I'll ever tire of this movie.

LOL, I can't get mad atcha,cause I agree,Hedy improved with age I wonder why Doris Day hated her freckles? My parents always called them "angel kisses" !

I do remember that scene,and I have wondered how they did it. Because when I pinch my cheeks,they don't turn that rosy,that quickly. I wondered if perhaps they stopped filming while they put more rouge on Vivien,but the scene seemed too seamless. So now I know!

I've read that there were some actresses who were so aware of their lighting that they could tell by "feel" what lights were on them or what lights should be-Norma Shearer and Marlene Dietrich,for two. They would be standing in place getting ready for a shot,and they could tell by feel that some baby light or something wasn't on them,or in the correct position on their face. I think that's amazing. Your story of Robert Redford being filmed in the "rain" reminds me of the famous dance sequence with Gene Kelly from "Singing In The Rain"-I read that they had to use milk instead of water to get it to show up the way they wanted. Yuck! Can you imagine running around singing and dancing(and he looked full up at the "sky" in some shots)with milk pouring down on you?

Thank you for the informative post. I don't quite understand a bit of it,but I enjoy reading these things and trying to learn. I enjoy these technical posts as well as the fun and "chatty" posts-after all, we're all here because we love classic films-we know that from the get-go--after that,it's just having fun and passing some time being friendly and either learning new things about the films we love or about our fellow classic film lovers. So,I'm going to re-read your post and try to understand more about how these beautiful glamor shots of these beautiful Hollywood stars were accomplished