CineMaven Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 ( Spit Take!! ) AHEM. It's a beautiful song. I believe Walter Huston made it famous. Sang it in some play of his waaaay back when the world began...a world without Twizzlers or dinosaurs. A world where Mavens went in hiding. In the early twentieth century he made *"SEPTEMBER SONG"* just as famous...if not more so. It was on the "B" side of "Autumn Leaves." Wasn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackFavell Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingrat Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 The crazy older woman in *Underworld USA* who's playing the Thelma Ritter role is *Beatrice Kay*. Her picture was on the cover of a book about character actresses called *Dames*. I remember buying this as a present for a friend. The mangled blonde in the film ("Cuddles") is played by *Dolores Dorn*. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackFavell Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 Maven, you make me salivate, reading about Clara and Gilberto! I am on a mission - I think I might have this movie lying around somewhere. I must see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CineMaven Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 Now let me not mis-lead you...there is not a lot of Gilbertito, I'm afraid. So you'll have to make the most of it when he is on screen. This is really ALL Clara...and she's just as wild as a Brooklyn girl can be. Her character is from Texas...but I know Brooklyn when I see it. Glad I made it sound good. It was. I know, I know...she's no Beatrice Kay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackFavell Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 There is never enough Gilberto. :x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissGoddess Posted September 24, 2011 Author Share Posted September 24, 2011 Hi, Lady B: I have to admit that THE POWER AND THE GLORY bored me, though I was rather fascinated at how it bore a slight resemblance to the later CITIZEN KANE, even with disjointed flashbacks and a colleague/friend who idolized the lead character. Colleen Moore was a very believable wife who alternately was sweet, supportive and pushing. I admired how she went out and walked the tracks, whatever that was. It sounded like tough work in the snowy months! Spence, of course, was great. I like Wanda Hendrix' outfits in THE GOLDEN MASK and all these marvelous Tunisian locations. Wanda will always be the strange, piquant little Kewpie-doll in *Ride the Pink Horse* to me. It's where I first saw her. P.S. *Black Moon* is super creepy! I love Jack Holt, too. Edited by: MissGoddess on Sep 24, 2011 1:11 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 Buona sera, Mrs. Doniphon! I wonder if Orson really did see THE POWER AND THE GLORY. Up until this point I'd always thought CITIZEN KANE to be totally original in concept and execution, and it's still a brilliant film in my opinion, but now, I don't know, ha! I guess there's nothing new under the sun....I don't think I've ever seen Colleen Moore in any of her silent movies. Yeah, that "train-walking" or whatever it was called, her character was certainly willing to make some pretty harsh sacrifices, although I couldn't quite buy the fact that this humble schoolteacher harbored such shallow and materialistic dreams. (hmm, wait a minute, lol...) I know I must have seen Dorothy Burgess in other early '30's movies, but she impressed me in BLACK MOON in a sort of Ann Dvorak-type way, you know, willful and tormented, rushing headlong towards her dark fate. Did Jack Holt appear in any Fords? He seems like he would have fit into the Pappy stock company. I used to get Wanda Hendrix confused with Lynn Bari. I had that Heflin GOLDEN MASK thing on but wasn't really watching. I had enough with BOY ON A DOLPHIN, lol. Edited by: Bronxgirl48 on Sep 24, 2011 2:28 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 Did anyone see SOLDIERS THREE? Looked like Gunga Din Lite to me. I was feeling a bit melancholy this first day of autumn and then tuned into THE MINIVER STORY, which didn't exactly cheer me up, because Greer Garson is given some bad news which she has to hide from the rest of the family most especially Walter Pidgeon. Parts of the lazy script seemed directly lifted from THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackFavell Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 I recorded all the movies you mentioned but only got to see Black Moon, which was kind of Lewton-esque to me, except with intolerance thrown into the mix. Some of it made me cringe, the poor white people, so scared of the natives - we are supposed to sympathize with them, when they yell and scream at an old black man to get off the porch? Yeah right. I still enjoyed it a lot, because I liked Dorothy Burgess, and Jack Holt is really fascinating to me, he's got a really rugged way about him, but what I liked best were his scenes with the little girl. He had a lot of rapport with the kid. I am SO glad he got a day of his own! More later, gotta run out and do errands... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissGoddess Posted September 24, 2011 Author Share Posted September 24, 2011 If you want a great Colleen Moore silent, watch LILAC TIME with an achingly young and sweet Gary Cooper, it's one of his best silents (that I've seen) I thought Dorothy Burgess MUST have been in other horror movies, she seems so delightfully at home with the macabre... Jackie, I agree it was Lewtonesque and that the racist aspects are some of the most disagreeable ever shown...you ended up sympathizing with the natives all the way. Duchess, I've read Jack Holt and Jack Ford go waaay back together, though I think his only appearance in one of the old man's movies is as the General who initially rejects the PT squad in They Were Expendable. Such a real rugged, western type, but just like Harry Carey, Sr. a New Yawker born and bred....he's excellent in a movie with Jean Arthur, I wish I could remember the title...one of her earliest talkies...I'll try to look it up later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackFavell Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 Was it *Whirlpool*? I saw the end of that one and he was just wonderful, in fact the whole movie was really top notch... but since I came in on it late in the story, I thought she was having an affair with Jack, instead he turned out to be her father. It was excellent, I have to go back and watch the beginning now to see how he got to that dramatic ending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 Thanks for the LILAC TIME recommenation. And any chance to see a young and gorgeous Gary Cooper further whets my appetite, lol. I'm going to check Dorothy Burgess's filmography to see if she made any other films in the supernatural genre. For some reason, I associate her with being the sophisticated other woman in early '30's Cagney vehicles, don't know why. So Holt only made one film for Pappy, THEY WERE EXPENDABLE? Could he also have had a few uncredited roles in some Ford silents? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 Yes, BLACK MOON has Lewtonesque overtones (Fay Wray's the Frances Dee character from I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE in love with her married boss who is burdened by a wife influenced by voodoo) but what a difference a decade makes in terms of the layered noir sensibilities coupled with the unique artistry of Lewton. I agree about the racism in BLACK MOON; If we have to be subjected to these negative images, I think I prefer those Mantan Moreland Monogram zombie programmers, lol. Still a lot of negative, un-p.c. stuff, but at least Mantan is funny. I did note Jack Holt's genuine emotional interctions with his (whiny) daughter. In WHIRLPOOL, he's very effective as a tough-tender ex-con (Jean Arthur's terrific too; I'm beginning to appreciate her more and more) and reminded me a bit of Melvyn Douglas in Melvyn's crusty-but-vulnerable old men period later in his life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 Oh geez, I don't know how I EVER could have gotten little soulful pixie Wanda Hendrix mixed up with sophisticated Lynn Bari. To get myself out of this, lol, it's probably their names that at one time seemed sort of interchangeable to me in certain noir-type movies, not their physical appearance/screen personas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissGoddess Posted September 25, 2011 Author Share Posted September 25, 2011 > {quote:title=JackFavell wrote:}{quote}Was it *Whirlpool*? > > I saw the end of that one and he was just wonderful, in fact the whole movie was really top notch... but since I came in on it late in the story, I thought she was having an affair with Jack, instead he turned out to be her father. It was excellent, I have to go back and watch the beginning now to see how he got to that dramatic ending. Yes that's it! I remember now that I confused the movie when I saw it in the schedule, thinking it was the Gene Tierney, Otto Preminger flick by the same name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissGoddess Posted September 25, 2011 Author Share Posted September 25, 2011 > > So Holt only made one film for Pappy, THEY WERE EXPENDABLE? Could he also have had a few uncredited roles in some Ford silents? I believe they both started out in Hollywood close to the same time, with Jack's career as an actor taking off around the same time Ford's as director started. I saw from Holt's filmography that he did appear in Francis Ford's *The Broken Coin*, in which John also has a small part so technically they did work together in 1915 and then thirty years later. Of course, Ford hired Jack's son Tim a year later for 1946's *My Darling Clementine*. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
movieman1957 Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 I initially thought this "Whirlpool" was that "Whirlpool" until I stumbled across Jean's name. I thought the relationship with Jean and Jack was great. They played it well together and some of it looked a little improvised. I thought the story a bit of a stretch but not so much I couldn't enjoy it. Wendy liked the ending better than I did. I was conflicted about it. Jean's "Sandy" I thought would/should too. I think it would be tough wrapping your head around what he did no matter how much her dad loved her. It's only 71 minutes and certainly worth checking out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted September 25, 2011 Share Posted September 25, 2011 Oh, I didn't know Tim Holt was in MY DARLING CLEMENTINE Ford was always generous with the sons of the actors in his stock company family, or on the periphery. BEHIND THE MASK has Jack Holt more in Richard Dix type heroic mold as a Fed hired to track down the mysterious head of a notorious drug-smuggling ring. This person turns out to be a Jekyll/Hyde type of the creepiest variety, lol, and you won't believe who it really is, or that this actor could be so effectively chilling. The movie is of the urban mystery-chiller kind along the lines of DR. X and MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissGoddess Posted September 26, 2011 Author Share Posted September 26, 2011 Movieman, I think I have Whirlpool on DVD-R...you guys make me want to see it again because I really don't remember the plot too well. Bronxie...I think I caught parts of BEHIND THE MASK...is the Jekyll-Hyde character played by a certain Irish actor who worked with Pappy a few times? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackFavell Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 Sorry I keep jumping in on conversations, but I was going to make a comparison between Jack Holt and Richard Dix earlier.... we are on the same track! They both seem similar - rugged transition stars with good voices, who made the most of the early thirties audiences need for strong leading men. Both starred in lots of silents before, but they really seem to have come into their own at the dawn of sound. We look back and say, "huh?" when watching them, they seem so odd to us today. Looking at them we wonder how men so large and overly manly could have been seen as romantic leads. I think they were the larger than life precursors of the more gritty, human Spencer Tracy/Clark Gable/Jimmy Cagney types needed for Depression era audiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 You know, I can't tell one modern actor from another these days. They all look alike to me, carrying their Starbucks coffee the "hip" three day beard, peace-sign to the camera along with the Type A personality overbite....blech. Did anyone see HALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM? Only in the Depression could a movie have a title like that, lol. Frank Morgan says, "There's no place like home..." Al Jolson is the unofficial Mayor of Central Park. Odd movie, but I did like the Rogers & Hart music, and Jolson's rapport with the actor who plays "Acorn". The 1961 BACK STREET is everything you'd expect a Ross Hunter version of this story to be, lol. Susan Hayward doesn't seem to be suffering all that much, because lover John Gavin (who looks like every male mannikin from his department store chain but otherwise is an acceptable Rock Hudson substitute in the acting department) buys her an utterly charming French country cottage outside Paris. This is her geographical "back street". Please. And guess who steals the movie AWAY from Susan Hayward, not an easy task, not by a long shot -- VERA MILES! Vera's the bitter, manipulative, possessive, unfaithful, unstable alcoholic wifey of poor put-upon Gavin. She feels neglected, you see, because all he can think about is work, work, work. And Susan. I'll talk about the 1941 BACK STREET later this week. Your Frankie steals it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 1961 BACK STREET clips. Sheer heaven! SPOILERS -- SPOILERS -- SPOILERS -- SPOILERS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 I can't stop watching it. Can you ever believe Maurice Cheavalier was this adorable? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeZmZBPPk6E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissGoddess Posted September 26, 2011 Author Share Posted September 26, 2011 They all look alike to me, carrying their Starbucks coffee the "hip" three day beard, peace-sign to the camera along with the Type A personality overbite....blech. I can't stop laughing! I'm going to get fired I know it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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