thestick Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I was so pleased to be watching Joseph Cotten films earlier this night. I admire his talent especially when he isn't playing his usual likable roles. He really does do darker roles quite well. Just wondering what everyone else thinks about him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willbefree25 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 An eminently watchable actor. Not as versatile as Cagney and Grant, but light years more enjoyable, for me, than Cooper and Gable. He was so very believable in Shadow Of A Doubt and new to me, thank you TCM, was A Steel Trap with both of the same leads. My mother told me that in her day (1940s), the girls were ga-ga over his hair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Anyone ever see LYDIA? (overnight hours). Elderly Oberon, Cotten, and two other former suitors of Merle reminiscing about their younger days. Interesting film with which I had not been familiar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveFilmNoir Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I love Joseph Cotten. As long as he is in the opening credits, I will watch the film (I've sat through a few horror crapfests from later in his career because of this dedication but I digress) I find him to be very likable and versatile. He is an actor that seemed to know his range in his prime and picked some great films to be in. He was made for the "good guy trying to get to the truth" roles he played in THE THIRD MAN, PORTRAIT OF JENNIE and even A BLUEPRINT FOR MURDER. I love him in film noir but I even like this silly little Loretta Young film HALF ANGEL because of him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 He was in THE MONEY TRAP and SHADOW OF A DOUBT (arguably a noir). What other noirs was he in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clore Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I've long since given up citing films as noir because as you note, something like SHADOW OF A DOUBT is arguably a noir. Well, if someone wants to think that, let them - I'm not going to argue the point. But I will recommend these films to a noir fan regardless of the label: Journey Into Fear The Third Man Beyond the Forest Walk Softly, Stranger Niagra A Blueprint For Murder The Killer is Loose The Money Trap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrroberts Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 On the 19th, TCM is showing the Hitchcock film *Under Capricorn* , which stars Joseph Cotten and Ingrid Bergman (the 3rd and last film she did for Hitchcock). I haven't seen this one in a long, long time and I don't believe it gets shown much at all. This film always gets panned as one of Hitch's worst, but is that a fair rating? If it's only "bad" when compared to other Hitch films then its probably a decent film in its own right. Will be interesting to see what comments people will have after the 19th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blondie7 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Absolutely, Joseph Cotten and Charles Boyer were fine distinguished actors. Joseph Cotten carrys himself as a Man with total confidence. In Cotton's movies he makes a woman feels(while watching his movies) as though she is totally safe when he's around. I don't feel that way with some Male actors roles of today It seems as though in Movies of today, the Woman doesn't have a strong male to look forward to. Maybe I'm just old fashioned. Just saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I'll bet that this is the post-1939 Hitchcock film that more classic film fans have not seen, than any other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RupertAlistair Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Such a great Joe Cotten movie! http://classicmoviesdigest.blogspot.com/2009/06/review-shadow-of-doubt.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrroberts Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 3 film critics discuss their favorite actor , Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 That is my favorite (or at least most remembered), bit that comedy team did. My brothers and I saw this has kids and for months we would go around yelling Cotten! It drove my mom nuts. Thanks for reminding me of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveFilmNoir Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 How could I forget about THE MONEY TRAP. First introduced to me by TCM about 3 years ago and I loved it. Like clore, I don't want to get into the noir vs crime argument but I do like his list. Aside from people possibly owning it on DVD, out of all of Hitch's post 1939 films, I think this one is aired the LEAST on TV - HBO/Cinemax (which had the rights to many Hitch films in 2011), TCM, and local classic film stations like Retro, Antenna and THIS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thestick Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 MrRoberts thanks for the heads up about the 19th, I haven't seen Under Capricorn (at least that I remember). I have enjoyed reading everyone's posting about Cotten. The comment about somehow feeling safe when he was around hit with me although he does play such a great creepy guy especially in Shadow Of A Doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Hey! Have I ever told you folks around here about my "theory" that Joseph Cotten is really David Letterman's dad?!!! (...oh...I have, huh?!...never mind then...sorry, I won't bring it up again...well, that is, until maybe there's another thread around here about Joseph Cotten...and then, don't hold me to this, okay?!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casablancalover Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Yes, Dargo, I have heard that comment because there is this resemblance. Maybe there is a fresh thread in Hollywood's Secret Progeny? Like Lookalikes, except generational. Could it be that Joseph Cotton was paired with Jennifer Jones because David O Selznick thought Cotton a romanticized version of himself? My favorite movie of Cotton's is Love Letters with Jennifer Jones. Since You Went Away is right up there too. He seems to have this persona that plays well at non-threatening characters, which makes his turn at Shadow of a Doubt very effective. Edited by: casablancalover on Jan 4, 2012 8:47 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hibi Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 You know there is a resemblance. LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingrat Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I'm also a huge fan of *Love Letters*. Cotten and Jennifer Jones were both under contract to Selznick, and Selznick made a lot of money loaning them out to other studios. I've always been amused that Jennifer is supposed to be too young for him in *Since You Went Away*, but not in *Love Letters, Portrait of Jennie*, or *Duel in the Sun*. Cotten is a solid, reliable actor, and I'd love to have hair like his. He liked to point out that Welles said *Citizen Kane* was his favorite film, Carol Reed said *The Third Man* was his favorite, and Hitchcock said *Shadow of a Doubt* was his favorite, and Cotten was in all three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casablancalover Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Just to shows to go ya, I am open-minded to the point of enjoying a screenplay of Ayn Rand's .... Sincerely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Continually pointing that out to people seems pretty smug to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveFilmNoir Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 > {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote}Continually pointing that out to people seems pretty smug to me. I wonder how often he did or was it a one time thing that was just quoted over and over again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtisCriblecoblis Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I remember a few months back someone starting a thread on Joseph Cotten and his amazing string of pictures during the 1940s. While some people pointed out that he wasn't a major star, it was still a most impressive list. I've always found the character he played in SYWA to be one of the most likeable in film--smart, charming, playful, with a job to do, but never taking himself too seriously. It was strange seeing him playing the husband of Teresa Wright in The Steel Trap in light of their past relationship in Shadow of a Doubt. I think I recognized Teresa as much by her voice as by her looks, at least initially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willbefree25 Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Proud is the word you're looking for. The Webster definition of 'smug' has a picture of Tom Cruise next to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willbefree25 Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I know, I didn't recognize her at first either. It was indeed a very good movie, and Cotten is better than Gable. However, she'll still always be Mighty Joe Young's wife to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Teresa began to look much different in the early '50s. She is barely recognizable in THE ACTRESS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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