filmlover
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Tuesday, Sept. 19th, 1939
Before I list today's articles and ads, take a look at this photo from the war news on the reverse side of the page
Okay, now on to the entertainment news
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ON TCM today, a British film you must see:
The Red Shoes
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{font:}Before I return to where I left off in the history of British cinema (1950), I want to have a special post look at one particular film that elevated four actors to stardom in the UK during the during the 1940s. {font}
{font:}The film was "The Man in Grey" (1943)...{font}
{font:}...and the actors were James Mason, Stewart Granger, Margaret Lockwood, and Phyllis Calvert.{font}
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{font}{font:}Each had appeared in films before then (most notably, Margaret Lockwood played the young heroine in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes" (1938)), but this film increased the popularity of two stars, and made superstars in the UK of the other two.{font}
{font:}The movie begins in modern day England duruing WWII, with Granger, in a dual role, at an auction, looking to purchase a family heirloom, and meets lovely Phyllis Calvert (also in a dual role in the film). Time flashes back on the item in question and we see the history of intense relationships...between a man of many trades, but primarily actor (Granger), and the beautiful young, sweet woman he comes to fall in love with, played by Calvert. The problem is complicated because she is married to a brooding, aloof, and dangerously violent lord (Mason), who in turn is having an affair with a woman (Lockwood) that happens to be the wife’s best friend. And the woman will do anything to remove the wife from the scene. {font}
{font:}SPOILER MOVIE ENDING ALERT: The wife comes down with pneumonia and her supposed best friend sits with her in the bedroom. Lockwood's character hears conflicting voices in her head, at times the kind friendliness of Calvert, other times the voice of the Lord telling her to leave forever. She tears the blankets off the wife, and opens the window to the storm outside. The wife dies and her "friend" thinks she now will be able to marry the Lord. However, he learns of her guilt and throws her on the floor, then gets a riding cane and whips her to death. Returning to the present day, the descendants of each family miss bidding on the auction time but they have found each other and walk off happily. (Note: It is believed the beginning and ending with the modern-day auction setting were tacked because they couldn't just end it on the violence that took place in the past. ) END OF SPOILER {font}
{font:}Stewart Granger and Phyllis Calvert’s popularity increased because of this film...but Mason and Lockwood became box office champions. {font}
{font:}Time Magazine said of Mason: "Swaggering through the title role, sneering like a lot, barking like Gable and frowning like Laurence Olivier on a dark night, he is likely to pick up many a feminine fan." That proved to be an understatement. Women loved him! Again proving nice guys do finish last in a woman's heart when there is a bad boy around. The worse he treated women in subsequent films, the more they wanted him. {font}
{font:}Lots more of James Mason tomorrow, but for now here are a whole bunch of images from this movie. {font}
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{font}{font:}Granger and Calvert during a happier moment in the film.{font}
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{font}{font:}James Mason's brooding lord made Pride and Prejudice's Mr. Darcy look giddy by comparison.{font}
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{font}{font:}Having an affair with his wife's best friend (Lockwood)...{font}
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{font}{font:}...and then telling her they are through. Which leads her to...(see SPOILER above) {font}
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{font}{font:}He discovers she did it and shows her how he knows...which leads...{font}
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{font}{font:}...to him delivering her punishment.{font}
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{font:}Some of the great posters for the film:{font}
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{font}Edited by: filmlover on Sep 18, 2011 9:11 PM
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Thanks, ugaarte! Really appreciate reading what you had to say.
I am a great fan of Brief Encounter, too. Thinking about it, that was a film in which sound played so important a part.
Anyway, back I go to doing today's post. I hope you will like it.
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johnbabe wrote: who cares about British cinema, everyone of the stars and some directors too, came to Hollywood where they really made films!
A few days ago in this same thread you wrote:BRITISH FILMS ARE NOTORIOUSLY BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
WHO WANTS TO SEE THESE FILMS, WHEN WE HAVE SO MANY GEMS OF OUR OWN!
I was kind then and replied:
"One of the great pleasures of being a movie fan is seeing something new. In America, we have seen so many -- if not all -- of the great American movie classics. We can watch them again and again, yes, but each time we know what is coming. We don't get that wonderment that comes from seeing a film we haven't before and possibly getting swept up by it.
With British films, it basically is a film library unexplored, a library with thousands of unseen movies featuring stars that many-a-time came to America! Such as James Mason, Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Stewart Granger, Charles Laughton, Margaret Rutherford, Leslie Howard, Alec Guinness, and Peter Sellers. Plus talent equal to our own that never came across the Atlantic.
It would be kind of like you passing up any Garbo films before she came to America."
Others also commented nicely to you their thoughts about British films not being boring.
However, since you have returned to start what appears to be a fight here, I will simply report your post to the mod to have it removed. -
Monday, Sept. 18th, 1939
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cinemafan, really glad you like the ones shown. There were a few more after this that would be okay for TCM viewing but after that there are too many that have contents that would be way out of place here.
But if you can get ahold of a multi-region DVD player, Amazon.UK has a complete set of Carry On films (well, except for Carry On Columbus, made 14 years afer the last one in the original series, but Columbus was a film that C.O.fans consider so bad they don't count it as part of the Carry On films).
I have a set and prints are excellent.
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It more than likely has to do with rights issues. What can be played in one country may not be allowed in another. For example, Universal may own the broadcasting rights here in the U.S. for a film, while in Canada it could be controlled by Alliance, and that would be a whole new set of contracts.
Edited by: filmlover on Sep 17, 2011 2:27 PM
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A friend of mine in England recently wrote me, "I always look at your TCM scheduling with envy. Our TV film scheduling is dire when it comes to old films."
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This is a very interesting topic. So, when someone says, "Brother, can you spare a dime?' that would be $1.35 today,
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Since you do appear to be in Canada, this is the schedule you should be following. (Notice that on the schedule drop down, there is one for Canada there.)
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Mike, what country are you in? If Canada, by any chance, their schedule can differ from that of the U.S., which did run all 4 of the Carry On films last night.
EDIT: I just checked and you saw the Canadian schedule.
Edited by: filmlover on Sep 17, 2011 2:12 PM
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It is attractive.
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But do we need multiple threads on the same subject from the same poster?
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Thanks for the kind words. Yes, Hickson (correct spelling) was wonderful in Constable.
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Cobolt,
How many threads are you going to start about Hot Spell? You have had several under this name and more under a previous screenname. Enough.
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Friday, Sept. 15, 1939
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How pathetic a person would be saying to his family and friends Did you see me in the movie, I'm there in the back holding a broom. I'll freeze frame it and zoom in.
Uh...ummm...
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Thurs., Sept. 14th, 1939
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Wed., Sept. 13th, 1939
GAD!!! I was so bust writing today's post for the Rule, Britannia thread that this almost slipped my mind. It may be Sept. 14th on the East Coast right now, but it is still the 13th here in L.A, so I am still in time.
Sorry about the condition of the left side of the following but that is the way it was,
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Well, yes, I suppose I should have been studio-specific, but I thought by referring to the U.S. production of Gaslight, as opposed to the British version, that people would instictively know I was talking about the studio, not the country.
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Tying into the Blu-ray release tomorrow. Quite a few pictures I have never seen before.
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Fred...are you sure you meant to list Gone With the Wind? Certainly it would qualify for one of your "30 minutes and nothing has happened yet" threads. War doesn't even break out until after time spent at Tara and at Ashley's party.
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Rule Britannia! An illustrated history of British cinema
in Your Favorites
Posted
James Mason was one of the greatest actors to emerge from the UK. He had a career there in the 1940s that was remarkable, to say the least, and then again in Hollywood in the 1950s.
Mason made a number of B pictures in England when he started out, films such as Late Extra (1936), Twice Branded (1936), and Troubled Waters (1936). In 1937, he appeared in an unbilled role of a traitor in the Laurence Olivier-Vivien Leigh film Fire Over England. This was an Alexander Korda production, and for the second time Korda had not recognized the star quality of James Mason, having previously hired him for a role in The Private Life Of Don Juan, but then let him go before filming started. Mason went on to appear in films such as I Met A Murderer (1939), Alibi (1942), Thunder Rock (1942), as well as The Bells Go Down (1943) as the head of a fire station.
With Deborah Kerr in Hatter's Castle (1941)
As mentioned yesterday, it was The Man In Grey in 1943 that made him a superstar in England. He was the most popular male star in Great Britain.
In Fanny By Gaslight, he was a bad guy again and, of course, the ladies loved him. And even more remarkable, in a film called The Seventh Veil (1945), he was so upset with one woman in the film playing the piano, he slammed his walking stick across her fingers while she was playing. In cinema history, it may be among the most violent and appalling moments against a woman . But when the time came later, even after this brutal act, she still chose him over other suitors because she loved him.
Fanny By Gaslight
American-titled poster for Fanny By Gaslight
Other great performances followed:
The WIcked Lady (1945)
They Were Sisters (1945)
Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1947)
Odd Man Out (1947) had an amazing performance, as an Irish terrorist on the run.
It wasn't long after that Mason got offers from Hollywood, but due to contract obligations he had to remain in England a while longer. Of course, he did make it to America, and those films you know. (Oddly enough, one of those Hollywood films, The Prisoner of Zenda (1952), had Stewart Granger with top billing, a reversal of their situation in England.)
Love this photo. (Battling over billing for The Prisoner of Zenda?)
James Mason was a wonderful actor, no matter what continent he was on, and he was excellent in whatever he appeared.
You can see some of his earliest films here:
I Met A Murderer (1939) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Iyr62IeFO4
Hatter’s Castle (1941):
Though the following picture is from an American film, The Last of Sheila, I wanted to include it because it is one of my favorite movies. And people who have seen it will understand the significance of this photo.
Edited by: filmlover on Sep 19, 2011 11:21 AM to fix some typos