traceyk65
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Posts posted by traceyk65
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Isn't it obvious?
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In Memory of Julie Harris...
TOQ on The Haunting. Love this movie (and the short story)!
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Phew. It was the first day back at school for me...
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Don;t know how I missed it, but yesterday was Sean Connery's birthday. I do love his eyebrows and voice (even if, at one point, he seemed to be a wife-beater
)tribute to James Bond (may have posted this one at some point, if so, I apologize):
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looks interesting. I'll have to check it out later
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The scene on the steps, along with the telephone kissing scene in Notorious is one of the sexiest scenes in classic movies...all without breaking the Production Code. Jean was very funny in love scenes. Have you seen the one in A Foreign Affair?
More the Merrier
A Foreign Affair
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TOQ on Suddenly Last Summer :
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Clift really was sort of a weak link. But Taylor and Hepburn both fought for him. Kate even (supposedly) spat in Mankiewicz's face over it and she liked Mankiewicz! I think one of the best performances int he film was Mercedes McCambridge as the money-grubbing mom. Her comic performance, for me, is all that keeps the film from being a complete creep-fest. I liked the movie, but really felt like I needed to shower afterwards...
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James, the 1939 movie reflected the book pretty accurately. It was definitely slanted to the "slavery wasn;t that bad" viewpoint. The movie was (somewhat) more sensitive to the black characters than the book. Selznick actually purged a lot of derogatory language and some scenes and delted all references to the **** as the ****.
I think most people liked the book more because of the story of Scarlett (love her or hate her, she definitely gets your attention) and all the things she did to keep her family together and functioning. As irritating and self-absorbed as she can be, she's a fascinating character--ruthless, strong-willed (and then some) able and willing to take on the man's role in a scoiety where women were suppoed to be weak and pampered (but weren't really). I know when I read it (and saw the movie) as a young teen that's what I focused on. It wasn't until much later that I stepped back and went, "Dang. That book is really kinda racist isn't it?"
Edited by: traceyk65 on Aug 25, 2013 1:35 PM The movie was more respectful to it's black cahracters, EXCEPT Prissie. Gads, Prissie. Poor Butterfly McQueen. She was never able to shake Prissie off, which was a true injustice, as she was a very intelligent woman who eventually gave up acting (mostly).
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And just for fun, because I can
...Here's to Cary and Kate:
And to Bette:
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Admittedly, it looks very good on you, but...
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Birthday tribute to Ruby Keeler, who I am trying hard to appreciate (with variable success):
It's also the birthday of Eric von Stroheim:
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I'd like to see that too. Ive never seen it, but I have read about it in both a Wilder bio and a Dietrich bio. Wilder had originally planned the movie for Dietrich, but she wouldn;t go for it. Too close to home, probably.
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In honor of the Maggie Smith thread, here's TOQ on The Prime of Miss Jane Brodie :
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Gene Kelly came leaping into the world on this day in 1912:
And here's a number from On the Town :
Matching moves with Fred Astaire:
Wishing everyone a "Good Morning":
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...I thought not.
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I think it's valid to compare what Clarence Muse called "the dilemma of being a Negro actor" in Hollywood with the dilemma of being a woman (or Asian or Irish or Italian or anything except WASP male) actor in Hollywood. If you wanted to work as an actor, you had to take what was offered. And the reality of the times was that the people of America at the time wouldn;t have accepted a black woman in anyother type of role, just like they wouldn;t have accepted an actual Asian as the wife in The Letter (or in adaptations of Pearl S Buck's novels _The Good Earth_ and _Dragonseed_ --I still break out in hives over Katharine Hepburn in "yellowface" and I LIKE Kate) or an Irish person as anything but a cop, a priest and/or a drunk.
As some have said, you have to watch these performances as just that: performances, whether good or bad or indifferent or sheer genius. I would have liked to see a Hattie McDaniel bio on TCM (maybe she could be SOTM sometime) She was as interesting as a person as she was an actress. She was, of course very talented?multi-talented, singing, acting, song writing?and she was a very good-hearted person, generously giving time and money to help people out, both personally and through charity work. She entertained troops during WWII, sold war bonds and raised money for the Red Cross. She was also, believe it or not, something of a civil rights activist?she sued for the right to keep her house (and other black residents? homes) against racial segregation and won. (Of course the fact that she even had to do this is ridiculous, but that was the situation in America at the time).
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There's been a lively discussion on another forum about the film, Gypsy. Apparently there's no consensus on the worth of this movie, but here's the Tired Old Queen giving his two cents worth:
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Not another one..!
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Today is the birthday of Dorothy Parker:
Trailer to the 1937 A Star is Born, for which Parker (along with he husband, Alan Campbell) won a writing Oscar:
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Kid, that's the interview I was talking about. Wonderful.
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Hattie is one of my favorite character actresses. She didn?t have a very happy life though. I read her biography years ago and while the final years of most of the Hollywood greats make me sad, hers was especially depressing. She was married 4 times (1st one died; the rest were not nice men, apparently) and never had kids, though she really wanted them, then died of cancer, in debt. (Her estate even had to sell her Oscar) She was very talented?she could sing, dance, and act, she was funny and apparently wrote and recorded a number of songs before she came to Hollywood. During her life, she took all kinds of flack from groups like NAACP for her portrayals of servants and mammies ( I can see their point--the blatant racism in Old Hollywood is ridiculous). But she brought something special to her roles?Intelligence? Humor? I?m not sure what to call it, but can you imagine any other actress playing Mammie for example? Louise Beavers? Marietta Canty? Yeah, I can?t see it either.
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Classic Hollywood Daily Divas
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Fathers are funny. When my daughter got to dating age, my husband hung a machete over the kitchen door and made all kinds of references to the "8 simple rules" and so on. But now that she's engaged (with a date set in about 2017 LOL) he's handling it very well. I'm the one who's stressing now!