RAMBLES Part II

[butterscotchgreer]

I am sad to say that there were a few where I had to muster some enthusiasm for any of them. Even with my best efforts I could find none for Mickey Rooney or Elizabeth Taylor which I would watch for any reason short of threat of bodily injury.

 

This made me giggle out loud! I am really wanting them to play Liz Taylor and Richard Burton's version of Taming of the Shrew, so I can finally get it recorded. When I first saw it, I thought it was the most hilarious thing! I was laughing so constantly that my parents wanted to know if I was dying from suffocation or something. Heehee!

 

Well I think the list of films you are most looking forward to is quite awesome! I am really interested in seeing Belle De Jour, myself.I have seen many of her other pieces of work, but haven't seen this.

 

 

[butterscotchgreer]

Good afternoon to you!

 

*I understand about Leslie Howard, ButterT. It's OK for you not to really groove on him, as MarkyB might say! But I think that's why I was so excited when James said he was his favorite. Not too many people have that liking nowadays. You have such a broad range of actors you like, of all different types, that it's alright NOT to like ONE! *

 

It's not that I dislike him, I've just never been overly excited about him. I do like him in Pygmalion and Of Human Bondage, but I wasn't to keen on his being Romeo in *Romeo and Juliet*. I'm trying to remember which one of you was talking about him in that and I agree with whoever said that it was just off with him and Norma Shearer playing the leads that were supposed to be much younger. However, I just can't see him, as a great Romeo, no matter how many times I try watching it.

 

*I do enjoy the old, stuffy seeming films anyway, mainly because it is a way I can appreciate a time when thoughtful men, or intellectual men, or men who believed in something deeply were actually valued.*

 

You know, I actually like that too! For me though, It's the whole Mr. Darcy kind of male character who is reserved and stuffy, because he is just an introverted person who cares deeply for the things and people he loves the most. He doesn't fall easily, but when he does, it's something of true meaning. Laurence Olivier has that kind of cold, introverted, stiffness sometimes, but he pulls it off so well, and you understand it. I wish more men were like that today and that there were even male characters in modern movies who are that way. So in a way, I actually like that about Leslie's performances. I guess it's the fact that he just doesn't hit me over the head (hypothetically speaking) like all of my absolute favorites do, but that's not to say that I don't like his acting. I will sit and watch him in any of his films.

 

*Howard could also take that same higher artistic feeling and make it into the most shameful, deliberate ruse. He literally makes fun of himself in his comedies - he's always using that lofty ideal to get what he wants, which usually isn't at all lofty.*

 

such a crafty man...always using ideals.. such like a man. heehee!

 

*Grandma always knows best. :DShe really is the most strikingly beautiful woman... I think that's what draws us to her in the first place, but her talent is what keeps you in front of the screen for her films.*

 

Oh, I know! I always thought she was so stunning! but right as you start watching even one scene with her, you realize that presence she can give and you're completely hooked.

 

*You must see it! It's not a perfect movie, but I just love those ghostly movies from that time period! It's got three (or maybe I should say four) good performances from women in it - Parker, Alexis Smith, and Agnes Moorhead. It's a great story, and has a nice period feel that's a little bit late 1800's and a little bit 1940's Warner Bros, which is always a good mix.*

 

Soooooo, I watched The Woman in White this morning while getting ready to leave the house. That probably wasn't the smartest thing to do with this film, because I needed to go do things, but i wanted to stay put in one place, because each scene was so captivating. I loved the dresses! You were right, it has that 1800s feel with a bit of the 1940s in it. I love how most period pieces back then showed some sort of modernized view whether with the hair or makeup or something else like that. I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. Heehee!

 

Now I was slightly confused with some parts of the film, mainly toward the beginning. It took me awhile to figure out what was going on with Eleanor Parker's personality....personalities. I thought the supporting cast was pretty solid! You could clearly see everything Agnes Moorehead was thinking. Her piercing stares just dumbfound you. Mr. Greenstreet plays a really convincing grouch, but then he's also one of those people who can be quite convincing in good or bad roles too. Although I prefer him in his good guy roles.

 

*I know exactly what you mean! If someone like Jeanne Crain or Doris Day suddenly turned evil, or at least not nice, it would just be unacceptable, but Parker had a knack for playing those roles well, and sometimes can add a touch of sympathy to a really horrible character, as if that person simply couldn't help being the way they were. I'm thinking particularly of Man With the Golden Arm, in which she's monstrous, but then, every monster has her reasons. She and Kim are both exceptional in it.*

 

It's really odd how Parker can add that sympathy to a horrible character, oh my goodness! I also notice that! I love how she could play such a mean character like in *The Man with the Golden Arm* and then go to being a feisty, yet sweet independent woman out for her man in a film like *Many Rivers to Cross*. You know, Parker reminds me a lot of Angela Lansbury in that aspect. Or rather Angela reminds me of Parker. I don't know, they were both around at the same time and I always loved both. Heehee! Well Angela didn't play such sweet characters nearly as much as Eleanor did in the earlier spect of their careers, but i love how they both could go from sweet to mean and back to sweet again with the snap of a finger....I so want to picture Danny Kaye snapping his way out of being a dueling prince and then snapping himself back into it again from *The Court Jester.* Heehee!

 

*I guess I have to see The Doctor Takes a Wife now! Those pics are adorable! I agree, though, I think S.Z. out-cutes even Edmund Gwenn. Did you know that's my favorite S.Z. role in that pic? He really should have had top billing, it's his movie all the way. It should have been called "How Uncle Felix Saved Christmas" *

 

Oh my goodness! You will LOOOOVE *The Doctor Takes a Wife*. It's not to be taken seriously, it's just an all around fun and silly romance/comedy. Your daughter will like that one too!

 

As for *Christmas in Connecticut*, well it's quite popular around in our house. Yes, "Cuddles" completely made that movie. That's my second favorite of his films. My first favorite for "Cuddles" is actually *In The Good Old Summertime*. Him and Spring Byington were just made for each other in that film!! The man could make anything look adorable!

 

*I really like it. I find it much better than any of the other addiction movies starting to come out at that time. It's funny, because I think it is Frank's absolutely best acting role ever, and yet, I can't dismiss Kim or Eleanor's performances readily. They are equally good, and deserve a little of the limelight for that movie too. It's a trio of powerhouse players, and one of the best ensemble movies ever. I think that the studio could have easily cast the two women in the opposite roles, but wisely went against type at that time. Kim is warmer and sweeter AND stronger here than you ever see her, and she should not be overlooked.*

 

I agree with a lot of that! Kim is definitely stronger here than in any of her other films. Her characters always seem to have this faint weekness, but She doesn't show it in Golden Arm. she is that rock that supports him through it. she is always by his side to make sure he is okay. You're right, this film has a powerhouse of actors- the three of them just take it away. I find a hard time focusing on any of the other supporting actors, because i'm always focusing on the three of them just blowing me away with every scene.

 

*I think Eleanor's gentle doll like appearance really helps the shock value of her true manipulative nature. And her talent really shows as we see her desperation and twistedness come out when he decides to take that brave step away. It's not a pleasant movie, but I do find it enjoyable and yes, inspirational... you have to make the hard decisions, break the pattern or cycle of need, he just couldn't go back to that life, or else he'd be killing himself. And I think on some level, that's what she wanted, to subvert him, to bring him to her dysfunction, not physical, but mental - that small ever-tightening world that she herself inhabited, and sadly, +wanted< </em>to live in.*

 

Wow! That was amazing to read! Her character was that of wanting too much attention in every way. In her case it was for pitying her and then joining her. As you said, to bring him to her dysfunction. But I do think a little part of her wanted not to be in that state of mind. She just wasn't strong enough to fight her own depression, self-loathe and everything else going on.

 

Edited by: butterscotchgreer on Aug 2, 2013 7:09 PM

[SansFin]

> {quote:title=JackFavell wrote:}{quote}

> She asked to watch more like it, and I thought and thought, but I finally said, "There really aren't any other movies like *Rebecca* ." because truly, it's Hitch but it's also Selznick, so you will never get as rich a film.

 

It is perhaps only because my mind works in a very strange manner but I find: *Harvey* (1950) and: *The Bishop's Wife* (1947) to be good companion movies to: *Rebecca* (1940). I would be speculating wildly if I were to try to justify them outside of the obvious connection that there is a person who is not fully of the world in which they are shown.

[bagladymimi]

Responding to CineMaven

 

This month I am looking forward to seeing:

 

Mary Boland: The Solitaire Man*

Ruggles Of Red Gap

 

Joan Fontaine: Rebecca

Letter From An Unknown Woman*

 

Fred MacMurray: The Lady Is Willing*

 

Catherine Deneuve: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

 

Gregory Peck: Duel In The Sun

 

Hattie McDaniel: The Great Lie

 

Charles Coburn: The More The Merrier

 

Glenda Farrell: Murder In The Wax Museum*

 

 

* I have never seen these movies

 

 

The rest fall into the category of "I just want to see them again."

 

Edited by: bagladymimi on Aug 2, 2013 7:36 PM

[SansFin]

> {quote:title=butterscotchgreer wrote:}{quote}

> I am really interested in seeing *Belle De Jour*, myself.I have seen many of her other pieces of work, but haven't seen this.

 

That was one of the hard choices for me. Many of the movies of the day are good but it came down to that or: *Le Sauvage* (1975) which to mention. Each is special in its own way.

[SansFin]

> {quote:title=JackFavell wrote:}{quote}

>> {quote:title=SansFin wrote:}{quote}

>> Joan Fontaine - Rebecca (1940)

>> Steve McQueen - The Blob (1958)

>> I believe many of these choices may seem mundane. I feel that is not all my fault as many of the actors' most edgy or adventurous roles are not scheduled.

> Not at all! You know, sometimes you just like what you like.

 

I love *Rebecca* (1940) very much. I am sorry that they did not select: *Decameron Nights* (1953) as that is not known as well and it is one of my "it is not great but I like it as much as if it were great" movies.

 

> I also absolutely love *The Blob* - everything about it.

 

It is great good fun! This was a day also when I wish they had made a different selection. *The Thomas Crown Affair* (1968) is one of my favorite of all time movies and I believe it was outside his usual comfort zone.

[bagladymimi]

I agree with you about the "edgier" roles not being featured. I don't understand how you can have a day of Martin Balsam films and not include A Thousand Clowns. I will enjoy After The Fox though, particularly because I didn't even remember that he was in it! So what do I know????

[CineMaven]

It's not that I dislike him, I've just never been overly excited about him.

 

Leslie Howard's not quite my cuppa. But ButterTea, you MUST check him out in 1937's "STAND-IN." I couldn't believe how animated he was, and how totally charmed I was by him in that hilarious send-up of Hollywood. ( The film stars Joan Blondell and Humphrey Bogart. )

 

[traceyk65]

> {quote:title=bagladymimi wrote:}{quote}Responding to CineMaven

>

> This month I am looking forward to seeing:

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> Mary Boland: The Solitaire Man*

> Ruggles Of Red Gap

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> Joan Fontaine: Rebecca

> Letter From An Unknown Woman*

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> Fred MacMurray: The Lady Is Willing*

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> Catherine Deneuve: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

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> Gregory Peck: Duel In The Sun

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> Hattie McDaniel: The Great Lie

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> Charles Coburn: The More The Merrier

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> Glenda Farrell: Murder In The Wax Museum*

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> * I have never seen these movies

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> The rest fall into the category of "I just want to see them again."

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>

> Edited by: bagladymimi on Aug 2, 2013 7:36 PM

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>

> *I have GOT to start looking further ahead on the schedule. I love THE LADY IS WILLING--it's a sort of screwball romcom with Fred Macmurray and Marlene Dietrich and what is probably the cutest baby actor I have ever seen. Macmurray is a oediatrician who deosn't particularly like kids (um what?) and really wants to do research and Dietrich is an (unmarried) Broadway actress who wants to adopt an abandoned baby she (sort of) stole. They make a deal--he can do his research in her really large apartment and she will support him, if he marries her so she can keep the kid. Aline McMahon and Stanley Ridges are hilarious as Dietrich's "keepers" and Dietrich and Macmurray actually have surprising chemistry. The ending is a little odd and Dietrich is a little unbelieveable (ok, a LOT unbelieveable) as a a woman who can;t tell a girl baby from a boy (granted, she hasn't looked in its diaper and it was wearing pink, but yeah) but it's a cute movie.*

>

 

Edited by: traceyk65 on Aug 3, 2013 1:28 AM UGH. My replies are getting eaten by quotes again...

[movieman1957]

I've had this recorded so long ago it was on a VHS tape. I must see if it is still hanging around.

[bagladymimi]

Tracey, thanks for your take on The Lady Is Willing. I am glad to get your opinion - makes me want to see it even more!

 

Mimi

[wouldbestar]

I did not know until six months ago that there was a second version of *A Man for All Seasons* and ever since I've been wanting to see it. Today, *TCM* made that wish come true and I thank you all for it.

 

No it's not as good as the original but I might be biased as I love the first one so. Mr. Heston was quite good as an actor and director which is hard to do. If he didn't quite match Paul Scofield-who could-he kept me watching. I found the differences in the screenplay interesting as they really didn't change the meat of the play just present it in another light. It was well worth the time.

 

WHAT!!! I just saw this listed on the schedule as a musical. Just who is responsible for this, to put it politely, misinformation? There was a score and even some music attributed to Henry VIII but a musical? No way!

 

Oh, goody! I just saw where the original *Ben Hur* will be on Thursday night. Another chance for "comparitive viewing".

[kingrat]

 

Hi, Maven, I want to play along, too. These are some I'm looking forward to:

 

 

Joan Fontaine - This Above All (Arturo recommends it)

 

 

Fred MacMurray - Murder, He Says (love this movie)

 

 

Steve McQueen - The War Lover (never seen it)

 

 

Lana Turner - Green Dolphin Street (love the wacko plot)

 

 

Henry Fonda - The Long Night (great film; must check out I Met My Love Again)

 

 

Catherine Deneuve - Un Flic (Deneuve & Delon? gotta see it - SansFin, thanks for recommending Le Sauvage)

 

 

Mickey Rooney - Pulp - quite entertaining and well directed

 

 

Gregory Peck - wonder what Days of Glory is like; The Macomber Affair is on in Eastern primetime!

 

 

Ann Blyth - The Helen Morgan Story - early Paul Newman film

 

 

Randolph Scott - The Tall T - never seen it, really looking forward to this one

 

 

[MissGoddess]

> {quote:title=wouldbestar wrote:}{quote} I did not know until six months ago that there was a second version of *A Man for All Seasons* and ever since I've been wanting to see it. Today, *TCM* made that wish come true and I thank you all for it.

>

> No it's not as good as the original but I might be biased as I love the first one so. Mr. Heston was quite good as an actor and director which is hard to do. If he didn't quite match Paul Scofield-who could-he kept me watching. I found the differences in the screenplay interesting as they really didn't change the meat of the play just present it in another light. It was well worth the time.

>

 

 

Hi Wouldbe,

I haven't been watching too many movies lately, but I caught most of this one by chance the other day. I have never seen the original, or rather have only seen one scene, but I have now added it to my queue at ClassicFlix.

 

I was confused at first, thinking I was watching the Scofield version, ha---but when Heston appeared I thought to myself: "I didn't know Heston was in that movie, too" and then I looked at the listing and saw it was a later version. I thought he was pretty good (I didn't know he directed it, too) and I enjoyed the story tremendously, it was a beautiful script. It's so rare to have such "strong meat" so to speak, in a film. I mean words and situations that make you think and feel on such a deep level. I watched Lawrence of Arabia the previous night so that was two in a row. Two movies that make you think long after they are over.

 

So I am very primed to see the 1966 version now, and feel sure I will like it much more (based on how well I enjoyed the story and how impressed I was with the one scene that I did watch---when he was in the tower and his wife visited). I haven't avoided it for any particular reason, except maybe I feared it was a bit dry or over my head as many of the Shakespeare movies are to me. But I think I can see now why 1966's *A Man For All Seasons* is (or was) often listed on the greatest films lists, if the story and dialogue is anything to go by.

[movieman1957]

THe '66 version is worth seeing, I think, if no other reason than Schofield's performance. It's a fine film.

[CineMaven]

*TODAY*

 

 

Well...no one could accuse Bette Davis of NOT being theatrical. She could be. But she was also riveting to watch. Whether her characters were courageous, mendacious, temptuous, brave, dreamers, good girls or bad, she garnered attention throughout her very long career. They say she was the fifth Warner Brother. I think she?s the Queen of the Movies. And TCM sees fit to make Bette Davis, queen...for the day

[bagladymimi]

I totally agree with you CineMaven. I couldn't sleep this morning so I started the day with Bette. I had never seen a couple of the early pictures of her vast movie career, so I enjoyed watching Parachute Jumper and The Girl From 10th Avenue. But I really enjoyed Dangerous. The last time I saw this movie was over 40 years ago. Having learned a lot more about Bette and watched so many of her movies many times, it was fun to see this movie, knowing that she won her first Oscar for this role. For me, Bette Davis is someone that I just can't resist watching. I don't enjoy her later work such as "Baby Jane". But during her "heyday" she was the absolute best of Hollywood. As far as I am concerned, no one ever came close to what she achieved.

 

Having said that, I will say that Meryl Streep is pretty close!

[CineMaven]

TODAY

 

 

If you get a chance check out "THE MACOMBER AFFAIR" tonite at 8:00pm.

 

http://sittinonabackyardfence.com/2013/08/15/the-macomber-affair-its-a-jungle-out-there-2/

[JackFavell]

I think I may be the only person who LOVES *Dangerous*, truly, madly, deeply.

 

I like watching train wreck Joyce Heath, I love her changeover, I love the trick plot twist, I love her sexiness, I love her evil bitchiness when she tells him that he was so awkward that she laughed when he made love to her, I love that that was all a front because she was falling for him, I love the theatrical setting, I love her doomedness, I love the country house so much that I was literally thinking of how I could redo my living room with white stone.

 

Maven, I totally agree with you that this is the first 'Bette' film that showed the real Davis stamp. I think she's wonderful in it.

 

I recommend *Parachute Jumper*, though not for Bette. Not only does it have Doug Jr. in one of those hard boiled roles he had perfected by about that time, it has Frankie McHugh, who really shines, and Harold Huber as a gunsel who gets a terrific final scene. And make sure to watch for the scene where McHugh waves goodbye to the pilots chasing him for transporting narcotics! It surprised me more than I can say!

[JackFavell]

WOW! Congrats on your blog post!

 

Love this part of your review at Sittin' on a Backyard Fence:

 

"He doesn?t really want Francis broken. The thought crossed my mind that Wilson wanted Macomber strong if he were going to fight to get his wife. It was some code of ethics for Wilson. The same way he would never shoot an animal from the jeep b?cuz he had unfair advantage, he wanted to fight a man, not a wimp. There?s a code to stealing another man?s wife fair and square."

 

 

 

Yes, there is this distinct impression that though Macomber sees this as a friendship, or maybe a mentor-student relationship, Wilson is more aware of the rivalry factors, and the big picture. He is the stronger so he is quite torn. I think were it not for Margo, Wilson and Macomber might be friends, or perhaps Wilson would not have bothered at all with Macomber, but all in all, the whole thing would not have been a to-the-death situation. It would have been a take-him-or-leave-him-alone situation. Wilson's biggest problem is that he sees this, and yet he also sees Margo trapped in a relationship with an inferior man. He cannot stop himself from messing with Margo.

[wouldbestar]

 

Oh, so it was you who we tried to find *Macomber* for a while back. I was thinking of you when I saw it was on tonight. I hope it's a good print as the online one wasn't. Happy viewing!

[CineMaven]

Thanks Jaxxxon. I like your comment. Incisive. I can't wait to watch it again tonight.

 

_____

 

Wouldbestar, I'm not sure what the print'll look like that TCM will show, but I'll be there front and center. Hope you will be too. :-)

[CineMaven]

I wondered if being caught up in the TCM FF last year rose-colored my vision of every movie I saw at the festival, but watching "THE MACOMBER AFFAIR" last night still garnered the same reaction: "OH WOW!"

 

 

A gentleman named "J0EL" commented on the film in his reply to my essay and wrote a very good review himself:

 

"Finally was able to watch the film this evening after many years of searching and being unable to find it. One of those Holy Grail movies that you get to the point where you think they will be unattainable and suddenly they turn up out of the blue.

 

I found it highly enjoyable, really a three person chamber piece that lived or died on the performances of its leads and they all delivered. Gregory and Bob Preston both offered up good work but Joan Bennett walked away with the film. Always at her best playing conflicted characters, so great in The Reckless Moment and the Fritz Lang trio of noirs, she lacerates with every look she gives Preston but you can believe her when she tells Peck that she was once a nice woman ground down by one crushing disappointment after another at the hands of her b*****d of a husband."

_____________________________

 

Joan Bennett is fast becoming one of my favorite forties femmes fatale.

[wouldbestar]

What we had here were three attractive outside but morally challenged inside people. One is a possible spouse abuser, feels himself superior to other men and thinks animals are creatures whose lives are worth taking to feed his sense of manhood. The other has no quams about taking another man's wife and aiding and abetting animal hunts. The third was an adultress who fired that fatal shot; at least part of it was on purpose. It was hard to root for any of them which makes it more realistic. Interesting movie.

[CineMaven]

Ahhhhhh Wouldbestar, you just succinctly gave me three interesting characters to see what they would make of themselves by story's end. ( Though I am totally against hunting. ) Rooting for them, I dunno. But I was really interested to see what would happen with them.