RAMBLES Part II

[Bronxgirl48]

> {quote:title=molo14 wrote:}{quote}

> So you liked *The Last Voyage* huh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was pretty solid I thought, and tense. There wasn't anything really ludicrous about it, which was refreshing. And I wasn't bored.

>

> I don't know, it just didn't click for me. The daughter WAS horrid. I just thought the whole "I'm trapped" thing was too drawn out. Maybe I just prefer Dorothy more mobile when disaster strikes. I must ponder this. I think George was just tired by 1960. Great write up as usual Bronxie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, thank you, my dear. What I thought really drawn out was Stack trying to get the daughter across that plank. She never listened to a thing he said. "Okay, honey, now don't reach out so quickly with your hands or you might fall", so what does she do? Reach out with her grubby little mitts and fall part-way through, so the audience can gasp with alarm even as they know that good old reliable Bob (and the script) will not let any harm come to her.

 

I've always liked Dorothy Malone. Even trapped under that girder, she displayed a lot of believable emotion. I do understand your red-blooded desire to see a fully upright (or...not) Dorothy Malone, but I thought she did very well in a part that could have been just mediocre and even silly or overly sentimental.

 

George didn't blink an eye when Edmond started yelling at him: "You're just thinkin' about your lousy career! If ever I get my hands on you....!"

Sanders just looked at O'Brien like, "Oh, please, stop over-acting, I have the most dreadful headache". But he did rouse himself to give Ed a good SLAP.

 

Edited by: Bronxgirl48 on Aug 17, 2010 5:53 AM

[rohanaka]

CONGRATS on 5000, Mr. Movieman!!!! This calls for a celebration!!! M&M cookies for everybody!!!

 

[movieman1957]

Cookies for everyone? Great. (Can I get chocolate milk with that?)

 

Thanks to you all for the very nice thoughts. It is nice to see some of my favorite people say hello from many of my favorite people. I hope that whatever I have done has been enjoyable and worth your time.

 

Oh, Jean. We'll dance right after we finish our cookies.

 

CM: A good Groucho pun. And I know one when I see one. I often see myself as a pun. That's right, people groan when I talk.

 

MissG: Thank you. I should look so comfortable in a saddle.

 

Molo: Yeah, I like that picture.

 

Thanks "Ro" for the cookies and everything else.

 

What do we talk about now?

[JackFavell]

All I kept thinking was, "How soon till the girl dies?"

 

I was surprised at how close it was to The Poseidon Adventure - the best disaster flick ever made! Gosh, I longed for Gene Hackman to come along and slap that kid.

[FrankGrimes]

[Bronxgirl48]

Tammy Marihugh. a long way from the Ile de France: (although she does look like Brigitte Bardot here)

 

[Bronxgirl48]

Chris, please see The Gene Tierney thread!

[Bronxgirl48]

Me: Did you watch anything on Robert Stack Day?

Mom: Yes, I saw THE MORTAL STORM, but only for Margaret Sullavan, I really like her. A wonderful actress.

Me What about Stack?

Mom: Well, he was just okay. No emotion there. He has a small mouth and nothing really comes out of it. But Robert Young, he was more animated I thought.

Me: I didn't know you liked Robert Young.

Mom: Yes, he smiles a lot.

Me: But I don't think Robert Young has any sex appeal. Stack does.

Mom: You don't think Robert Young has any sex appeal? Maybe you're right, but I don't think Stack does. He never moves, so how could you tell?

Me: He moves all right, you just haven't been watching close enough.

Mom Look, I always wear my glasses when TCM is on, so don't tell me I'm blind.

[Bronxgirl48]

Oops, my apologies, Goddess, I should have put my mother's conversation in the Mom thread.

[MissGoddess]

Oh, haa haaa!! I'm glad to see it posted twice, Bronxie!

 

I have to agree with Mom about young Stack. He became

more attractive as he got older, but he's never excited me

much. I actually enjoy seeing him play "unhinged" like he

does in the Sirk movies.

 

However, I don't find Robert Young attractive at all, so she

loses me there! Good actor and nice guy, but doesn't make

me flutter.

[Bronxgirl48]

Oh, thanks, Miss G! But I don't know how to transfer it also to my Mom thread without just writing it up again there. Moi, the tech-less wonder.

 

Mom thinks Stack is bland but he did get more rugged and handsome as the years went by. I saw snippets of something called THE IRON GLOVE and he was in 18th century garb and was charming and rather dashing I thought, with a nice sense of humor. I could never imagine Robert Young pulling off a hero role. However, if I wanted a good doctor to treat me, I'd turn to Robert Young. He's so non-judgemental and affable and has the perfect bedside manner. Stack might be too gruff.

 

I've never seen Robert Stack unglued in a movie and heavens, I don't want to! That would be truly frightening. Someone you think is so even-tempered and then wham! instant personality change.

 

Robert Young I always thought had flat feet, because he walked kind of funny.

 

Edited by: Bronxgirl48 on Aug 17, 2010 11:41 PM

[lzcutter]

Chris,

 

 

 

We all want to say "Congrats on your 5,000 post!"

 

I look forward to the next 5,000!

[OllieTSB]

Tammy Marihugh - this reminds of Mongo's photo with Mickey & Friends are shooting off Janet Leigh's buttons. "Got 'em all!" And Tammy looks no more thrilled than Janet was.

[movieman1957]

Sir Francis & Lynn:

 

Thank you both very much. More fine pictures.

 

I am off to the Gene Tierney thread.

[CineMaven]

Ya gotta love your Mom. Cute.

 

What up Bronxie?! - ?I've never seen Robert Stack unglued in a movie and heavens, I don't want to! That would be truly frightening. Someone you think is so even-tempered and then wham! instant personality change.?

 

Guess I?ve seen the same Stack o? films over and over again. Have you ever seen ?Written on the Wind? Bronxie? When he?s told he can?t have kids and starts drinkin? and accusin? and slappin? Bacall around, he?s pretty unhinged. Did a good job in this, IMHO.

 

?Tammy Marihugh. a long way from the Ile de France: (although she does look like Brigitte Bardot here)?

 

?You?re just as hard to land as the Ile de France

I never had a chance

This is a fine

Rohhhhmance.?

 

Fred Astaire-to-Ginger Rogers in....one of their movies.

 

G?Morning Miss G. - ?However, I don't find Robert Young attractive at all, so she loses me there! Good actor and nice guy, but doesn't make me flutter.?

 

I?d have to agree with you there. Reliable, dependable but...no flutter. Surprising how many flutterless actors there were in classic films. I'd have to put Melvyn Douglas and Ralph Bellamy on that list. I appreciate their place in the history of things...but sometimes a girl wants a good flutter.

[MissGoddess]

> Id have to agree with you there. Reliable, dependable but...no flutter. Surprising how many flutterless actors there were in classic films. I'd have to put Melvyn Douglas and Ralph Bellamy on that list. I appreciate their place in the history of things...but sometimes a girl wants a good flutter.

 

Yes, ma'am, never underestimate the power of a good old fashioned flutter. On the rocks!

 

I agree about Messers Douglas and Bellamy.

 

Written on the Wind, yes, Stack blows his stack (sorry) and yet, at the end, you feel

sorry for him, he was like a wayward kid. Isn't that the movie that inspired the television

series "Dallas"? My mom's favorite TV show. How she loved J.R. Too bad Stack's

character didn't have J.R.'s impenetrable ego, he wouldn't have gone off course like

he did. I think J.R.'s wife in the series, "Sue Ellen", was the Robert Stack character.

But I digress, this is Turner Classic Movies.

[OllieTSB]

I'd put Robert Young in the flutterless category as well, but not Robert Montgomery - he was given a sinister role or two and his plain-face and flutterlessness made his performance all the more creepy. I can't think of a role that Robert Young was given that chance. Bellamy, either, but his performance with Chester Morris in 1939's BLIND ALLEY gave him a chance to show off some muscles.

 

Melvyn is pretty much handed milquetoast roles in every film I can think of. Sometimes, that's fine, too - THEODORA GOES WILD, he's annoying to me. But still has the same role to play - annoying, but not sinister. A pest, as the worst. NINOTCHKA, same thing. An irritant that finally gets some good attention.

 

It's interesting to see the range that Robert Stack used for his face - MORTAL STORM should have given him a chance to be dangerous, but he's the mildcat of that dangerous lot. But later on, it's the same guy who is so hard-edged in any other role. He really did "age well".

 

And what about Jimmy Stewart? If ANYONE should have been flutterless, it could have been him but he remains a compelling on-screen character in so many of his films. Was he that good? Or that acquiescent so the studio kept using him over and over, pushing him beyond his face's limits?

[MissGoddess]

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

> I'd put Robert Young in the flutterless category as well, but not Robert Montgomery - he was given a sinister role or two and his plain-face and flutterlessness made his performance all the more creepy. I can't think of a role that Robert Young was given that chance. Bellamy, either, but his performance with Chester Morris in 1939's BLIND ALLEY gave him a chance to show off some muscles.

>

 

ROBERT MONTGOMERY????!!! Never let him be said to be flutterless! MY Bobby M????? No, no, no, no!!! If only the fates had not parted us with the cruel years, I would have been Mrs. Montgomery and lived happily ever after (while he regretted it every minute...)

 

I LOVES My Bobbums. But it is funny that he kind of is the same physical type

as Robert Young. It's Montgomery's PERSONALITY that does the trick for

me. He was a naughty boy who could turn into a quietly forceful man (They Were

Expendable).

 

Robert Young's best roles are in THREE COMRADES and THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE.

Ollie, if you've never seen the latter film, do you and your wife a favor and see it. It's

one of the most moving wartime romances ever filmed. Wonderful, wonderful film.

 

> Melvyn is pretty much handed milquetoast roles in every film I can think of. Sometimes, that's fine, too - THEODORA GOES WILD, he's annoying to me. But still has the same role to play - annoying, but not sinister. A pest, as the worst. NINOTCHKA, same thing. An irritant that finally gets some good attention.

>

 

I really like Melvyn, but I never found him romantically appealing. I think he had a

way with a comic line but he was, in David O. Selzinck's words when he was auditioning

for the role of "Ashley", rather "beefy" looking. Terrific actor, though.

 

I think MGM didn't like to waste two big stars when pairing Garbo, hence she seldom

got the Gables (only once, and it was good) and Barrymores (only once and it was

SHEER PERFECTION).

 

> It's interesting to see the range that Robert Stack used for his face - MORTAL STORM should have given him a chance to be dangerous, but he's the mildcat of that dangerous lot. But later on, it's the same guy who is so hard-edged in any other role. He really did "age well".

>

 

I actually prefer him as the idealistic flyer in love with Carole Lombard in TO BE OR NOT TO BE.

At that age, he's decorative and still learning his craft, so such a role is perfect for him. And he

credited Carole for the rest of his life for teaching him much of what he knew as an actor.

 

> And what about Jimmy Stewart? If ANYONE should have been flutterless, it could have been him but he remains a compelling on-screen character in so many of his films. Was he that good? Or that acquiescent so the studio kept using him over and over, pushing him beyond his face's limits?

 

Good question! Because I've never "gone for" Jimmy and yet as a teenager he was the one I'd actually have romantic dreams about when I went to sleep! I'll never forget the one where he was going to tell his dad, who ran a hardware store, about us. :x :x

 

Jimmy, like Montgomery, had PERSONALITY, what Kate Hepburn called the rocket fuel

that makes stars, stars. I don't think Young or Douglas really possessed that quality. Jimmy

had it in spades.

[movieman1957]

Do I recall correctly that you had dreams about Cooper too? You are quite the romantic.

[OllieTSB]

MissG, I agree with everything you'd commented on - but it's sort of chicken-and-egg-ish to me - if Young had been given sinister roles, could he have done it? I like to think so, but I can't find any role like that. But he's just perfect for ENCHANTED COTTAGE. Just perfect.

 

And I can't find a role comparable to Montgomery's Quiet Force you cited in THEY WERE EXPENDABLE. That's a film full of John Wayne Commands scenes, but Montgomery's quiet force scenes are memorablel as well. And Ward Bond's. Marshall Thompson as the young ensign who can't get anyone's attention. Perfect, absolutely perfect.

 

Marshall's another milquetoast of a character, yet his DIAL 1119 is a great film that once again says, "Good film plus good actors equals compelling watching." He was STILL a "milquetoast" actor to me, but I enjoy TCM's wisdom in bringing these fine examples of 'their other work'.

 

My favorite Melvyn films are pure TCM, too - those Joan Blondell gems. Who in TCM's vaults finds these things?!! What miracle workers. I keep thinking TCM might have Jack Benny working for them - he's the owner of this deep underground vault, and he's stuck some hapless schmoe down there for eons, and that person finds these incredible all-but-lost gems. Blondell is such a dynamic personality with such an expression-filled face, and she can't help but crack open Melvyn's for responses.

 

As for Stewart, I fear most of us grew with him "as a star" but it's interesting to catch him in minor roles (one of those THIN MANs) and I just wonder, "How did he EVER make it out of those? What did anyone see in him?!!" I have come to embrace the "He's THAT Good" argument, or was at least THAT determined.

[JackFavell]

I love the idea of Jack trudging down to the vault to find movies for TCM! the echoing footsteps - the snapping of the alligator as he crosses the moat.... Ha ha! And he comes out with..... a new Francis Ford film! Something he put away for a rainy day when he was ....... 39.

 

I think you are right about Stewart - his ambition may have been so great that people instinctively trusted him enough to take risks - giving him roles beyond what they thought he could do - I think the driving ambition may have been the basis for some of those dark roles later on....he used it as a jumping off place for some of those roles.

 

And Jimmy breathing in Donna Reed's ear, SEXY.

 

I may be the only one, but I find Robert Young to be just a little fluttery - I think when I heard that he had tried to commit suicide in his agedness, I started looking at him a bit differently. He does have a dark side, mainly shown in The Enchanted Cottage.... but I feel for him, having to play all those good natured men, and maybe struggling to get better roles....

 

He's my Ralph Bellamy, Bronxie. He's very soothing. Yeah, no sparks, but steady and comforting. I'd like to strike some sparks somewhere deep in his soul.

 

Melvyn...... naaaaah. I do like him very much in *Theodora Goes Wild*. He's almost attractive, and somehow, brittle pent up Irene makes Melvyn seem sexy, and boring, good old pal Melvyn makes Irene seem beautiful and racy.

 

Oh yeah, and Robert Montgomery is a gorgeous heartthrob. Every woman's dream man. You are way off on that one, Ollie!

 

Edited by: JackFavell on Aug 18, 2010 1:36 PM

[JackFavell]

> {quote:title=Bronxgirl48 wrote:}{quote}

> Me: Did you watch anything on Robert Stack Day?

> Mom: Yes, I saw THE MORTAL STORM, but only for Margaret Sullavan, I really like her. A wonderful actress.

> Me What about Stack?

> Mom: Well, he was just okay. No emotion there. He has a small mouth and nothing really comes out of it. But Robert Young, he was more animated I thought.

> Me: I didn't know you liked Robert Young.

> Mom: Yes, he smiles a lot.

> Me: But I don't think Robert Young has any sex appeal. Stack does.

> Mom: You don't think Robert Young has any sex appeal? Maybe you're right, but I don't think Stack does. He never moves, so how could you tell?

> Me: He moves all right, you just haven't been watching close enough.

> Mom Look, I always wear my glasses when TCM is on, so don't tell me I'm blind.

 

 

This SLAYED me!

 

I totally agree with your mom about everything. Robert Young is still waters running deep. And Robert Stack - well at least he has a sense of humor. When I first saw Airplane, he was what I laughed the hardest at - those sunglasses killed me. I still think of it and laugh my butt off.

 

I realized watching Maureen yesterday, that even though I really like Paul Henreid, he has no sense of humor. That's what saves Stack.

[movieman1957]

>Melvyn...... naaaaah. I do like him very much in Theodora Goes Wild. He's almost attractive, and somehow, brittle pent up Irene makes Melvyn seem sexy, and boring, good old pal Melvyn makes Irene seem beautiful and racy.

 

If Melvyn had done nothing but "Thedora Goes Wild" that would be enough for me. It's nice he got to work a while though.

[OllieTSB]

Flutterless vs. Still Waters Run Deep... ooh, more great angles to ponder!

[MissGoddess]

Could Young have played sinister? I absolutely believe so. And I forgot to

add how terrific he was in CROSSFIRE, as one of the three "Bobs" in the

cast. He played a rumpled police detective to perfection. It's too bad he didn't

do more roles like that.

 

What does everyone think of Dick Powell on the flutter radar? He doesn't

light my fire, but I sure do enjoy his films noir. They have some of the best

dialogue in the whole "genre" and I give him credit for so overturning his

lightweight crooner image. He seemed to set the pattern for Sinatra in that

regard.

 

Edited by: MissGoddess on Aug 18, 2010 7:42 PM because I got my crosses crossed.