laffite

I enjoyed your post and admired your forthrightness in revealing a way in which this movie touched you personally and I would say too that I?m a guy of a certain age who feels that I have never found the right woman and I too sustained a certain resonance with the attractive and companionable Edith Fortright as one that I never met and who I wish I had. Not to put too fine point on it---I wasn?t pining away too awfully much ---but when I said in the OP that I wouldn?t mind spending a considerable amount of time hanging around with her and simply reading books...well, it must have had some meaning, at least. It?s sobering and a little bit rewarding too to be able to look at a woman and not think of the usual guy things although of course Edith in the form of Mary Astor is very pretty. But it?s those things about her that have already been talked about that would make her such a find. Just how is it that somebody like her and as pretty as she is could be alone for so long---oh well, such is the movies. I too love Mary in this role and she strikes the right cord, saying things that generally can?t be uttered without sounding petulant and spoiled, such as ?I love you and she doesn?t?You might think of me?,? instead coming across as a mature but disappointed woman who is trying to hold on to something that she has just apparently won but about to surely lose. It helps too that she knows she is telling the truth. But the fact that she does look the way she does, young and pretty, certainly adds to her appeal and perhaps makes her a bit too ideal for real life, haha. It?s ironic and of course oh so Hollywood to cast someone like Mary who?s character is supposed to be older that Fran, when in reality Mary Astor was at least 10 years younger than Ruth Chatterton. Mary is perfection as Edith Cortright and it?s probably sacrilegious to even say this but I wonder if it would have been better to cast Edith with someone a little closer to Walter Huston?s age. It?s uncomfortable to think of that because we love Mary so much but if they had done that and found someone as effective as Mary to play the role, it might have served to at least suggest the potential pitfalls of a marriage where there is such a variance in age though hopefully not so much as to come off moralistic. Just a thought. The movies are wonderful, especially these older ones, and there is much to enjoy and feel, even though they may from time to time touch us, as Saul Bellow says as himself in Zelig, ??in ways that we may not want to be touched.? But we survive and enjoy.

ISLAND IN THE SKY THE RIGHT STUFF or FLY AWAY HOME

Yentl

Under the Volcano a noise in the night

Neri - Gustav von Seyfferititz in Don Juan (1926)

A Merry War neck

AFFECTIONATELY YOURS ?as he exited the scene with a celerity that would make the hair of a hare stand on end with envy at the very swiftness perceived. So traumatized was this murderer of the furious feminine flatulence that he brought both Mme Dodsworth and Mlle Taylor back to life (thus allowing them to finish their respective films) and vowed henceforth to follow the straight and narrow so that he might right the many wrongs of his grievous life. But alas it too late, the Grim Reaper paid him a visit that very night and he suddenly found himself where he knew not, was it up there or the other place. He soon found out when?

*Back to back Grahames with "A Woman's Secret" on later today.* She does a rather cute turn in this one. When I heard that gunshot at the opening I'm thinking oh no already, it can't be. I guess I knew they couldn't take her out of the movie quite _that_ fast but good thing nonetheless for the good ole flashback and it turns out we get to see quite a bit of her after all. She makes a pretty good "diamond in the rough." It was the lawyer's (Victor Jory) mother he coined that term for her, she was pretty good in those few lines she had. A number of entertaining characters in this one, including the police chief's wife and amateur sleuth. The police chief is one of those familiar faces and he has as great look for that kind of role though for me he comes off a little bland. Melvyn Douglas is simply outstanding. Maureen is Maureen which is to say beautiful and is certainly more than okay otherwise as well. Gloria is very good in this one, as usual. She is more than just a cutie pie, she's quite a good actress (as we know)

*We are also presented with Edith Cortright, she's lost too, but she knows it. She seems to be drifting, waiting for something, but too tired to pursue it. There is a sadness about her but also an undeniable warmth, a kind demeanor and a wisdom that speaks of past mistakes.* This is very nice, Molo. I agree completely...and I do like Edith. :x *It's getting late so I'll wrap up here shortly but I wanted to mention that while I really liked Edith, I was disappointed in her trying to shield Sam from Fran's phone call at the end. I thought it was beneath her. I know why she did it, but I didn't like it.* Yes, but I forgive her. There was something all to human about that and I see it less as deceit and more a sort of understandable momentary desperation. She knew in the long run that she would not keep Fran from talking with Sam. And later she says something rather good which might redeem her a bit. After Sam has talked with Fran, Edith says, "No, I won't make you choose just between two women, but think of Moscow, Seattle, and Samarkand," referring to his new business plans. She is thinking a little in terms of his own future too. I don't know if that cut's any ice with you, Molo And besides, maybe we can just chalk up her interference with the phone thing to an effective dramatic device to create a little suspense. *Everyone has done a wonderful job of discussing their relationship. I hope to comment on that soon.* Please do, Molo. Also, great opening comments and writing regarding the respective "civilizations" in Dodsworth. Just this for now. I'll read again on the morrow and comment further. Thanks for your comments and the caps. //

*I find some fault with Sam as well in all this. He is too weak. It is one thing to let his wife have some male friends but over and over she seems to flaunt the extent of her relationship in Sam's face. That doesn't make him angry along the way.* Yes, he is weak, and he says as much himself. But it?s not because he is a weak man, per se, it?s because he loves her so much. In that long brilliant scene that you refer to, getting dressed, not covering up etc., he actually says, ?I think I?ve been weak with you long enough,? and this was just before she sprung her villa-for-the-summer alone with whose-its idea. She?s very adamant about doing this, not taking no for an answer...but when he insists on staying, she makes this remarkable speech: "O Sam, you must go home, you simply must. I can't be torn like this any longer...if you and I are going to get along together, you've got to let me alone this summer...remember I did make a home for you once and I'll do it again, only you've got to let me have my fling now because you're simply rushing at old age, Sam, and I'm not ready for that yet." She says this not as an ultimatum, no longer with adamant insistence. She dropped that tone completely. When she says the above, it comes across as a plea, almost as if she were a teenager asking her parents if she could go to summer camp or something, and it is without the slightest hint of manipulation. She is very sincere and he listens to her say this and relents. He will go home. Read again what she said with his ears. He believes that she is going through a phase and he agrees because he loves her and trusts her and wants her to get this out of her system so she will return to normal and make that home for him again like she did before. It still seems foolish and/or naive of him to let her do this, then or now, but I think the audience back then was not supposed to necessarily view him as some damn fool at that moment but as a man who was trying to understand her and let her have her way in the short run so that he may have her once again in the long run, just as before. *He finally loses it when his stuff is out of place at home. He can't really confront her.* Yes, he's upset because she's not there to run things but what really gets him is the letter from her wanting a few more months in Europe. When he talks to his friend (Spring Byington) he says simply, "Fran is just afraid, afraid of growing old." Again, he is trying to understand her and doesn't want to believe that she could actually betray him or really want to leave him. But he can't wait any longer and he realizes that something has happened. He has them watched and he arranges this meeting with the three of them. So he DOES confront her...finally. And he confronts her with Kurt as well. But, as you imply, all too late. *Not until the end can he let go on her. Even then it is more about having convinced himself of his love for Mary Astor that I think finally allows him to let her have it.* I don?t think he had to convince himself at that point, he was already in love with Edith. The only reason he went back to Fran was out of a sense of duty. He did not love her any more. He says to Edith, I?ve got to take care of her. A man?s habits get plenty strong in 20 years.? That?s not love. He said to Edith, ?It?s giving you up that is hard.? That?s love. So I don?t think he was still hanging on to Fran so much. He felt responsible. It?s only when he saw Fran in her worst books with all selfishness and presumptuousness that he decided that it wasn?t worth it. //

MURDER MOST FOUL Yes, it worked great on the battlefield where there were enemies all round but it was a little trickier to swing in peace time. Little did anyone know that his fascination for Liz and that appointment for the Dodsworth kook was not caused by an ache in the loins but rather because of an obsessive desire to kill and to savor the moment when life slowly ebbed from the bodies of his victims. Meanwhile a person who could read minds just happed by within proximity of this presumptive doctor and peered into the mind of same and was duly appalled and began to blubber incoherently to which the doctor approached and said he knew just the remedy for such occurrences and so he took out his bag and...

Channing, Margo...Bette Davis in All About Eve

Lansbury, Angela

The Passenger ?

Merlin

GRAND HOTEL THE INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS or JAMAICA INN

Tom Sawyer billingsgate

85 "Will someone fix the damn DVD player, my eyebrows are getting tired."

ATTACK ... the problem with a little trick I learned in medical school," and then to the amazement of all brought Dodsworth back to life much to the relief of studio heads who could now continue the movie with Dodsworth meeting Edith and living happily ever after leaving Mrs Dodsworth alone to stew in her stuff. Meanwhile everyone had not quite gotten over seeing Liz in that bathing suit, so beautiful she was, and even the doctor after having performed this marvelous Lazurus- like feat would have liked to have found Miss Taylor in the hopes that she might not be feeling well and he might then examine her. But she was not to be found as she was inhabiting at that time one of her movies where she was busily engaged in...

DODSWORTH ...who's nose was in an Italian phrase book trying to look up the meaning of that juicy Italian phrase and trying also in his mind to dispel the notion that he was in a Fellini movie when he knew in fact that he was in another movie altogether seeing the sights trying to nurse his depression after being jilted by his wife who went to marry this German fellow. The rag-tag circus turned out be a band of die hard revolutionaries who were trying to hide their identities from the authorities but who were doing nothing but looking ridiculous and Dodsworth rolled his eyes in contempt and then noticed a group of resolute angry women with fire in their eyes and with a definite purpose and who...

*Miss Goddess*, with respect, just this in response...and then no more from me on the subject... The were true to each other in the beginning. She was his alibi and she was telling the truth about that and she meant it when she said she would not trade places with Kings. She became afraid of him---legitimately so IMO not from hearsay, but of what she witnessed---and acted out of what she felt was honest self preservation. I do not consider it lying and deception when one acts the way they do for those reasons. In this situation there was no willful malicious intent. I do not call Laural's behavior lying and deception in the common sense way that those words are normally used. She meant no will towards him, not once in the entire movie, not once. If he never doubted her until the end, that?s his tragedy. He left her feeling betrayed (if that?s why he left) because he could not nor would not see why she was acting the way she was and that she really loved him. She bears some responsibility for not telling him what was going on with her but she was afraid. Is it possible to be in love with somebody but be afraid of what they might do to you in a bad moment, especially if you are a woman (like saying no to a marriage proposal the way it was done here, for instance)? Yes, and that?s Laural. And he bears some responsibility for the violent way he behaves, regardless of the provocations, and for his possessiveness at crucial moments. But in spite of everything, they loved each other. But they became emotionally trapped in their own prisons and they could not communicate with each other when they needed to. That?s what the movie shows (to me). laffite

Hi *Marcco44*, thank you for your comments *i think fran's choice of kurt as her next husband shows us her increasing desperation. an affair between the two is one thing, but a marriage would not have worked out in the long term, as kurt's mother quickly pointed out.* It was not really a "choice," per se., it was an opportunity. Kurt mentioned the idea first and she says, "Kurt, you must stop that kind of talk." I thought she was sincere when she said that. It wasn't a gamey reply. She was surprised that he wanted to marry her. She wasn't pushing the idea herself, but when he brought it up it's as if she thought to herself, why not? *one of my favorite turning points in the film is sam's final confrontation of fran about her infidelities with kurt.* But did he really confront her? It depends how we read what he says. When he's at the door with her he says, "It's pretty late...not that I mind you and Kurt staying out late." I didn't detect any latent accusation there. He seemed to be sincere. Later he says, "Oh, I know, this friendship with Kurt is harmless enough. But you might get fascinated." Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think he is under the impression that anything has happened yet. I think he wants Fran and himself to return home before something does. What do the rest of you think? *even before she speaks, it is so clear that the relationship is OVER. i even believe that she has just given herself to kurt, and that is why she is so hostile to sam for being in her space.* He angers her by saying they should both go back home because, "I'm not taking any chances on another Arnold Iselin." Watch her start when he says that. She is suddenly livid and that's when she tells him she is going to marry Kurt and she says, "I'm going to marry Kurt...I decided just now, just this minute, when I found you hiding behind doors..." Just now? Is this what decides her, Sam getting her mad? No, probably not. It's the telling little speech that follows. She accuses of him of never understanding her, never appreciating the sacrifices she made, never really knowing her, etc. These words have a resounding effect on the story for me, we finally get something from her other than the fear of growing old. She has other baggage and it's got Sam's name written all over it. *there is nothing sam can do to change that-- and yet sam loves her so much, he'll let her go to make her happy... even if it causes him tremendous grief. sam always put fran above himself.* In a remarkable display of consideration for her, he says, "I wish you'd put it off for a couple of months...I'd just like you to feel sure about Kurt." I had no impression that he said this to bide time in the hopes of getting her back for himself. He was thinking of her. Agree or disagree? She says, "Well, it's my funeral now, isn't it?" She is so out of love with Sam she probably feels she has nothing to lose at this point. Yes? =

Greed evanescence

*The Bad Seed* ?

CRIES AND WHISPERS ...issued across the divide in the hope of establishing a meaningful communication with the guys and lamented the admission of weakness and wondering almost petulantly what Cleopatra might have done in this spot. But Cleo is not here, she is but legend and they ruefully admitted that they were no Cleo anyway. They made concessions about the stuff in the orange juice but upon their return to the bliss of reunion claimed headaches until the guys acquiesced to a number of demands including repairing the roof for heaven's sake, it's raining. The men were so happy, except one who insisted that...