Hibi Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 She turns 95 tomorrow. (Will Olivia call her? LOL) TCM is showing some of her films tomw (no Rebecca or Suspicion though)....Many Happy Returns! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bundie Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 They're showing some of her early, lesser-shown films. I didn't know she was making movies as early as 1937. Apparently both sisters were in films while still in their teens. What wonderful longevity they have enjoyed. I understand that both their parents lived into their late 90s. Reminds me of my mom and her sister, 94 and 96, respectively and both still active. I haven't seen Joan in years, but Olivia looked lovely in the Errol Flynn retrospective, and had no dificulty recalling events from decades earlier. *That's* the way to age. God bless them both. BLU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpompper Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 I watched "Suspicion" on DVD Saturday night. I think all of the Hitchcock chatter on here inspired me to pull it out. Joan Fontaine was very lovely and quite talented. I look forward to seeing more of her work beyond it and "The Women" (a film I love, but can't stand Fontaine's character). Wow, 95! Happy Birthday, Ms. Fontaine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AddisonDeWitless Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 this is a pretty decent- if a little on the bargain bin side- tribute to La Fontaine. Nonetheless, TCM deserves a renewed "thanks" for digging The Constant Nymph out of la mothballs and putting it on display where it deserves to be. I've always thought Joan was much sexier than Olivia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AddisonDeWitless Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 > {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote} > She turns 95 tomorrow. (Will Olivia call her? LOL) Joan has had caller ID ever since Olivia called her a few years back and blared an air horn into the reciever at close range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 I think the programmers made an error that could be corrected in future tributes like this for Joan Fontaine. They started with YOU CAN'T BEAT LOVE and followed it with THE MAN WHO FOUND HIMSELF. However, at the end of THE MAN WHO FOUND HIMSELF, there is a special credit that says Miss Fontaine is RKO's new screen personality, and we are to assume this was her first major motion picture. Thus, I think it would have made more chronological sense if TCM's programming department had placed THE MAN WHO FOUND HIMSELF first, then followed it with YOU CAN'T BEAT LOVE and her other titles that were scheduled for today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geminigirl Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 I agree.....I've always thought that Joan was more beautiful than Olivia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geminigirl Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Joan is one of my all-time favorites, but I don't like her character in The Women, either. Btw, I saw another film of Joan's on YouTube called Ivy. Joan plays another dark (if not psychotic)character, and this film has one of the great all-time endings. I had never heard of this film; it just popped up as a suggestion. If you have never seen it, check it out............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpompper Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Thanks for the suggestion, Gemini. I just finished "Born to Be Bad." The storyline just reminded me so much of "All About Eve," so I didn't find it particularly interesting. (Except for watching Robert Ryan play some beefcake!) Interesting seeing Joan Fontaine as a bleached blonde. I have "The Bigamist" on DVD, so I've seen it several times. Will tune in later to see others I've not yet seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 In THE BIGAMIST, it is Ida, not Joan, who has the key female role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpompper Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Indeed, she does. That's why I own the DVD. I'm a big Ida Lupino fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Well I have to give my opinion on this: I always felt Olivia was more beautiful up until about the age of 25 or so and Joan after that. i.e. to me Joan never look as nice as Olivia on film in the years of 1936 - 38; e.g. The Great Garick, It's Love I'm After, etc.. Of course I'm bias since Olivia is my 3rd favorite actress. But I also enjoy Joan very much and all many books about both of them. Best sister team there was in my view, with the Bennett sisters running second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cody1949 Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 When will TCM clear up whatever the problem is with showing FROM THIS DAY FORWARD. I love Joan in this one. It's an RKO film from 1946 so it should be in the Turner library. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredCDobbs Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I think UNTIL THEY SAIL is really a great movie. Great writing, acting, and directing, and a very unusual and interesting story. Charles Drake was really good as Capt. Richard Bates. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051141/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 >When will TCM clear up whatever the problem is with showing FROM THIS DAY FORWARD. I love Joan in this one. It's an RKO film from 1946 so it should be in the Turner library. I would like to see that one, too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AddisonDeWitless Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 > {quote:title=cody1949 wrote:}{quote}When will TCM clear up whatever the problem is with showing FROM THIS DAY FORWARD. I love Joan in this one. It's an RKO film from 1946 so it should be in the Turner library. I'm just glad they finally premiered Letter from an Unknown Woman. That was a film that deserved to be seen. Between that and the surprise unearthing of The Constant Nymph I been cutting TCM a lot of slack this year.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CountessDracula Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Joan is my favorite actress. I enjoyed seeing many of her early films today. She always seemed so delicate and exceptionally pretty. From recent pictures ( well in the past four or five years ) she does not seem to changed a bit. I hope she enjoys many more years of good health and happiness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misswonderly3 Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Just want to say I indulged myself yesterday and watched a movie in the middle of the day, something I almost never do. But I really wanted to see Nicholas Ray's *Born to be Bad*, and I was not disappointed. Yeah, sure it was a melodrama, but it was a fun melodrama. I love Mel Ferrar and his Greek chorus schtick in this. And Robert Ryan...a lot is said about how good he was at playing bad guys (bad guys with a heart, usually), but you don't hear much about something else he could do well - smouldering eroticism ! Yeah, baby, I'm serious. (Remember that over-wrought melodrama/noir thing with Barbara Stanwyck?) Anyway, I'm not sure there was a lot of "chemistry" between Joan Fontaine and Robert Ryan, but there was enough to get across the pure physical pull their two characters feel for each other. I love old movies where erotic attraction is part of the story - as opposed to garden variety "love". It's funny and entertaining and yeah, kind of sexy ( and Joan isn't usually associated with uncontrollable lust, is she?) the way Fontaine and Ryan kind of fall into each other's arms every time they're on screen together. What else? Well, it was fun seeing Joan play a selfish shallow conniving type, giving Eve Harrington ( aka Anne Baxter) a run for her money. Interestingly, both films came out the same year (1950). I mean, Joan usually plays a vulnerable unassuming kind of mousey young lady. This was a pleasant change of pace. Poor old Joan Leslie is shooed away halfway through the film, but makes a triumphant return at the end. I've always kind of liked her. Confession: At first I was expecting to see Loretta Young, and finally figured out that yes, there are *two* films entitled *Born to Be Bad*. The Loretta Young one sounds quite pre-codish ( although it was made after the Code came into effect, wasn't it?), and I'd love to see it too. But I'm guessing that the only thing the two have in common is the title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AddisonDeWitless Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 No, there is no relation outside of the title between the Loretta Young and Joan Fontaine versions. The Young version is shorter, and more fun, it's coming up in January for her tribute, possibly even before that. The Fontaine version shows *a lot* on TCM, and in spite of the fun cast and Nic Ray as director, I think it ought to be called Born to Be Boring, or at most Born to be Mildly Duplicitous. But I'm glad you liked it. If you want to see La Fontaine as a *real* bad girl, check out Ivy (1947) on u-yay ube-tay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misswonderly3 Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Well, I might get bored with it if I were to see it again. It was the thrill of the first time thing, plus the guilty pleasure of watching it in the middle of the day ( as I said, I don't usually indulge in that.) If lesser actors had played the same roles I'm sure I would have found it a little tepid. But yeah, I'm hoping they're going to screen Loretta's *Born to Be Bad* in January. Gotta love that title ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dothery Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I love this girl, and I especially loved seeing her in "Rebecca." That is Joan at her best, I think. Her shyness in the beginning and her sudden catapulting into maturity by the events at Manderley were so impressive to me that when it plays and I record it, I have to watch it again and again for a few days before I erase it. I'm nuts about Olivier in the proposal scene but I hate that he goes out and leaves her with that vicious Florence Bates (actually I love Florence Bates and her dimples) who has a chance to jab her then about her inferiority. I loved Florence Bates in "The Tuttles of Tahiti," a favorite of mine, with Charles Laughton and Jon Hall. Terrific stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpompper Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I love "Rebecca" (and Joan Fontaine's performance) for all of those reasons and more. So, I couldn't agree more with you, dothery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Any time you say that anyone is your third favorite anything, yo've got to say who is first and second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misswonderly3 Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I'm guessing Bette Davis is one of james' faves. But who's the other one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misswonderly3 Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I"m guessing Bette Davis in one of them. james, who's the other? ( I posted this 5 minutes ago and it never appeared. So apologizing in advance if you see two posts in a row that say practically the same thing.) Looks like the Zombies are still in control, eating people's posts and whatnot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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