TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[ratgirlagogo]

 

Seemed like unusual scheduling to put Duck Soup on a Saturday morning

 

 I think it's intended as good children's programming.  Gotta go along with that.  To quote bmoore:

 

  AFI can bite me - Duck Soup is the funniest movie of all time.

[roseha]

  It struck me this time that it looks like there could have been big cuts once the war gets into full swing--the brothers are seen in different costumes/uniforms throughout the sequence. 

 

I always thought that the change of costumes was totally intentional, to heighten the absurdity (also the absurdity of war if you like).  The movie, my favorite of the Marxes' (and a lot of other people's I would guess) was particularly loved during the anti-war era of the late 60s early 70s on college campuses if I recall correctly.

 

Bless Margaret Dumont indeed!  I remember Groucho paying tribute to her along with Harpo and Chico when he received his special Oscar.

[bmoore4026]

I was meaning to post this after I watched it, but I was tired and needed to hit the sack and I forgot what I was going to say for almost the whole day.  But know I remember - That one guy in The Blue Dahlia referring to swing music as "jungle music" rubbed me so wrong.  I know it was the 40s, but goddamn!  Kind of hoped he really was the killer.

I watched "Northern Exposure" and it was a long time before I realized that "Holling" (John Cullum) was the SC rep Rutledge.  Even more surprising was to realize that the NY rep Morris was played by Howard Caine, who I knew as Maj. Hochstetter from "Hogan's Heros"!

 

And he was that one farmer in The Day After.  Again, such a great performance, playing a man trying to keep his family and land together after the destruction of civilization.  So sad at the end.

[elle]

And he was that one farmer in The Day After.  Again, such a great performance, playing a man trying to keep his family and land together after the destruction of civilization.  So sad at the end.

SIDEBAR: I just happened to be watching the documentary-series about the 80s when I read this.  I remember watching that in real time on TV.  John Cullum's performance was very powerful!

 

Back to TCM/movies - I know Duck Soup is a favorite of many.  I prefer the zany-ness of Animal Crackers  "Three Cheers for Captain Spaulding!"

 

Can not see if there is a theme for today - Here comes Mr. Jordan, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, followed by Ball of Fire and Divorce, American Style .

[ratgirlagogo]

 

Back to TCM/movies - I know Duck Soup is a favorite of many.  I prefer the zany-ness of Animal Crackers  "Three Cheers for Captain Spaulding!"

I tend to think of all five Paramount films as one work of Marx Brothers genius.  I love them all in different ways.  I do have a soft spot for Horsefeathers because Everyone Says I Love You is my favorite of the songs, and because that's the only film where all four of them sing the song.

[Coffeecup]

I am really enjoying the Friday night film noir movies. I've seen most of them, but last Friday one popped up that was new to me: "Raw Deal," with Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt, John Ireland and Raymond Burr. This was a story about convict Dennis, who had been framed by criminal associate Burr. Dennis escaped from prison, aided by his girlfriend Claire in the getaway car, and he kidnapped social worked Marsha who had been counseling him in prison. During the story Dennis fell in love with Marsha, leading to a conflict with the loyal Claire. They had several dangerous adventures while evading the police.

The movie was engrossing. The camera work was absolutely fantastic. I've always thought actors looked better in black and white, and this film reinforced my opinion. The closeups of the faces were incredible, especially the lighting. It didn't look artificial like "key lighting" (correct term?), but looked completely natural, as people would look outdoors on a cloudy day.

The plot was a little unbelievable. One glaring example: Dennis and Claire took Marsha and ran away to hide in the woods. The three had a small campfire going. Suddenly they heard a horse coming (film had already shown a rider approaching). Dennis drew his gun and hid behind a tree. The rider came up to the two women. I assume they were in a state park and he was a park ranger, since he was in a uniform. He cautioned them about fire risk from their campfire; they apologized, said they were just out camping and promised to put the fire out thoroughly. He smiled and rode away. Marsha did not say anything to the ranger about being kidnapped. When Dennis asked her why, she said it was because she wanted to protect the innocent man from being shot by Dennis. That started Dennis thinking, and you could see he was beginning to re-evaluate his plans.

Anyway, back to the unbelievable thing. What distracted me about this scene was that Claire and Marsha were wearing dresses and high heels. So the park ranger believed two women in skirts and heels, and without any camping gear, were out camping? I can believe that in the 1940s some women might have worn skirts to go camping, but NOT high heels. It didn't make sense for the ranger to ignore that little detail.

Another detail that aggravated me and distracted me throughout the movie was that throughout a few days of the three traveling together as Dennis tried to evade the police, neither Claire nor Marsha ever had a handbag! Hello... not even a little duffel bag with toothbrush and clean underwear for Claire, who knew ahead of time she'd be traveling. Also, all three of them were smoking constantly but I didn't see where Claire and Marsha carried their packs of cigs. They never reached into their pockets. I was able to ignore their hairdos staying perfect the entire time (that's just Hollywood rules -- the hair and makeup must remain perfect, or at most artistically mussed, no matter what else happens), but the absence of handbags really annoyed me.

I enjoyed watching Raymond Burr in another one of his villain roles. He could get a cold hard psychopath look in his eyes that was totally convincing, especially in the tight closeup shots. It amazes me that he didn't stay typecast as a bad guy throughout his career. He was able to turn himself into the noble good guy on TV as Perry Mason and later as Ironsides.

P.S. Didn't want to get into a long discussion of 1776 in a post about Raw Deal, but I love 1776. The appeal of 1776 to me is the sharp contrast -- the balancing act between a serious historical drama and a musical. The actors stand there discussing crucial things about the American revolution, and then suddenly they start singing and dancing. Then they switch right back to serious dialogue as if nothing happened. Fabulous!

Edited July 12, 2015 by Coffeecup

[CMH1981]

I saw earlier this week when looking at upcoming programs the listing for Ball of Fire, and saw it had Miss Stanwyck, so I thought why not...I enjoy her immensely.  Wow, for being a screwball comedy and the way that Mankiewicz talked this movie up I was really let down.  I love screwball comedies but this one just left me feeling flat at the end.  I just didn't find it funny at all.  

 

I have to say the only highlight was Richard Haydn for me.  I didn't pay attention to who was in it at the beginning but as soon as he spoke and I heard the voice of the Caterpillar from Disney's Alice in Wonderland I was in.  I always forget that he was Max in the Sound of Music b/c he looked and sounds so different, like in this movie where he was made to be a much, much older man.  Such a great character actor, and that voice is so ingrained as the Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland in me.  The Disney version is my favorite telling of that story.  I really wish Disney would give TCM full access to their animated and live action library.

Edited July 13, 2015 by CMH1981

[Rinaldo]

I didn't catch it this time around, but I've seen Ball of Fire several times and number it among my favorites. Stanwyck could be convincing as just about anything in the movies: femme fatale, screwball floozie, grifter, you name it.

[bmoore4026]

I really wish Disney would give TCM full access to their animated and live action library.

 

Isn't TCM a subsidiary of Warner Bros., though?

[CMH1981]

Yes, but obviously they have worked some sort of arrangement out where they can show Disney programming once every three months.  I just figure if Disney doesn't want to openly show their own live-action catalogue of Walt-era programming let someone.  I mean they already let the Hallmark channel play their old movies, as well as the BYU channel.  I figure if nothing else let TCM have access to the movies or let them pay a fee to play the films.

[Milburn Stone]

Richard Haydn...as soon as he spoke and I heard the voice of the Caterpillar from Disney's Alice in Wonderland...I always forget that he was Max in the Sound of Music...

 

And of course who could forget the episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show when Rob (i.e., Carl Reiner) brought back the radio actors he loved so much.

 

Haydn comes up a fair amount in the collected journal entries of Charles Brackett, It's the Pictures That Got Small. Haydn directed a film Brackett produced in the forties, and was angling to direct more. Brackett seemed to have some regard for him while at the same time regarding him as a bit of an annoyance. Is the impression I got.

Edited July 13, 2015 by Milburn Stone

[Rinaldo]

Yes, but obviously they have worked some sort of arrangement out where they can show Disney programming once every three months.  

I haven't read any inside info, but I would guess that "for one evening every three months" is part of the deal with Disney -- that the extreme limitation is what makes it possible. And I wonder if Maltin, with his long history with the Disney company, had to work behind the scenes to make this much happen.

[henrysmom]

I didn't catch it this time around, but I've seen Ball of Fire several times and number it among my favorites. Stanwyck could be convincing as just about anything in the movies: femme fatale, screwball floozie, grifter, you name it.

 

One of my all time favorite Stanwyck films.  Just LOVE her.  Though I have to say I love her a lot more when she's stabbing somebody in the face with scissors or shooting them or whatnot.  I always have this little disconnect when she does a film like Christmas in Connecticut and is pleasant and charming, without ulterior motives.

 

 

[ratgirlagogo]

Barbara Stanwyck is one of my favorite actresses (the other is Myrna Loy) and Ball of Fire is one of the reasons why.  She is awe-inspiring. And Gary Cooper is perfect as a heartstoppingly sexy nerd. .  I agree that it does seem a little long - but the length is because we have all of those great character monologues from the ancient old Encyclopediasts and Gene Krupa's drum solo, etc. etc.  It's such a great script I am baffled that no one has ever done a re-make. .  Again one of the rare romantic comedies that is genuinely romantic and comic.

Edited July 14, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[elle]

  It's such a great script I am baffled that no one has ever done a re-make. .  Again one of the rare romantic comedies that is genuinely romantic and comic.

Do you mean a "non-musical" re-make, since the Danny Kaye/Virginia Mayo movie "A Song is Born" is a more musical version of the same script.  Or do you prefer to not remember that one? ;0)

 

And I will go on record as saying that I prefer that to the original, as much as I love Barbara Stanwyck, 'A Song is Born' has more energy and fun for me.

 

I will also state that I don't think we will be seeing a remake of either anytime soon.  At least, I hope not.  I do not think that anyone is able to do the script justice.

[Milburn Stone]

And I will go on record as saying that I prefer that to the original, as much as I love Barbara Stanwyck, 'A Song is Born' has more energy and fun for me.

 

Also, I never get over seeing those forties bandleaders and jazz greats doing actual plot-advancing speaking roles. It's not that they're great actors, and it's not that they make the movie great. But it's a hoot, and so cool from a time-capsule perspective. 

[Rinaldo]

I finally recorded and watched The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (I know, shameful never to have seen it before, but at least I eventually remedied the deficiency). It was rather different from what I'd been led to believe -- the ghost goes away for a substantial middle portion -- and somehow I had never realized that it was set as early as 1900, and in England (rather than, say, New England as the TV series was). It's unusual in its look and tone for that period (few Hollywood movies of that time use so small a cast while covering so many years), and it's always a pleasure to see teeny Natalie Wood, and George Sanders sliming it up as usual. Rex Harrison is just ideal as Daniel; he had a very special knack (it shows up in My Fair Lady too) of saying odious things while remaining appealing. I remain devoted to Gene Tierney but this isn't my favorite look for her, that Edwardian upswept pompadour. (I'm still a Laura man in terms of styling her.) But she's still beautiful and magnetic.

 

And that Bernard Herrmann score -- yum. I can see why he said that it (against considerable competition) was his favorite. He could just let loose with the swoony romanticism without the suspense devices he needed for Hitchcock, and he was so much better at the romanticism than the Europeans who usually got assigned such jobs then (Tiomkin/Rosza/Steiner -- I exempt Korngold, he was in a different class). Definitely a keeper, the movie.

[Crisopera]

Isn't that score gorgeous? One of my favorite movies.  Checking to see if I remembered that Herrman used a lot of Debussy's La Mer, I ran across a passage from a Herrmann biography that stated that the movie was planned with (originally) Norma Shearer as Mrs. Muir, then as a Tracy-Hepburn vehicle.  Dodged a couple of bullets there.

[Milburn Stone]

and George Sanders sliming it up as usual.

 

I'm constantly blending his performances in Rebecca, Foreign Correspondent and Mrs. Muir into one big ball of slime. Even though IIRC he was basically a good guy in Foreign Correspondent!

 

Also, I'm constantly thinking he was in Suspicion, even though he wasn't.

[Rinaldo]

Isn't that score gorgeous? One of my favorite movies.  Checking to see if I remembered that Herrman used a lot of Debussy's La Mer, I ran across a passage from a Herrmann biography that stated that the movie was planned with (originally) Norma Shearer as Mrs. Muir, then as a Tracy-Hepburn vehicle.  Dodged a couple of bullets there.

OMG, definitely top-level bullet-dodging! As to La Mer, "used" perhaps puts it too strongly, no? Some Hollywood composers had no reluctance about openly embedding other composers' works in their own (and giving credit), others would creep right up to the boundary of plagiarism if not beyond -- but that wasn't Herrmann's way. On the other hand, like any good dramatic composer, he was tuned in to the musical signals and devices that listeners have come to associate with certain moods or ideas, and was very good at devising his own new versions of these. There's a whole book devoted to just this score, and in the pages available for online preview, it gives several examples of Debussy models for certain moments from this score.

I'm constantly blending [George Sanders's] performances in Rebecca, Foreign Correspondent and Mrs. Muir into one big ball of slime. Even though IIRC he was basically a good guy in Foreign Correspondent!

Also in Call Me Madam, where he made a good sparring partner for Ethel Merman, and even got to sing (which he did quite well).

[Julia]

I'm constantly blending his performances in Rebecca, Foreign Correspondent and Mrs. Muir into one big ball of slime. Even though IIRC he was basically a good guy in Foreign Correspondent!

 

Also, I'm constantly thinking he was in Suspicion, even though he wasn't.

 

Also in Call Me Madam, where he made a good sparring partner for Ethel Merman, and even got to sing (which he did quite well).

Addison de Witt?

[monakane]

 Addison de Witt?

 

Yes!  He was at his slimiest best in that movie.

[elle]

Even though IIRC he was basically a good guy in Foreign Correspondent!

You remember correctly!  I wish he had more of those roles.  He also was "The Saint" and "The Falcon" (before his brother took over the latter).  I adore his voice as Shere Kahn in  "The Jungle Book" and was sadden to hear that he did not do the singing.

 

Yes!  He was at his slimiest best in that movie.

And creepiest!  Of all his characters, that one seems the most dangerous!

 

I think that he plays a very sympathetic King Charles II in "Forever Amber", and despite all the fake hair, a fun villainous pirate in "The Black Swan".

 

Also, I never get over seeing those forties bandleaders and jazz greats doing actual plot-advancing speaking roles. It's not that they're great actors, and it's not that they make the movie great. But it's a hoot, and so cool from a time-capsule perspective. 

It is great to see them!  I love the "big number" as well as the scene where the professors are counselling Hobarth on how to approach the girl.  So sweet!  Also, Virginia Mayo is beautiful!

[monakane]

 

I think that he plays a very sympathetic King Charles II in "Forever Amber", and despite all the fake hair, a fun villainous pirate in "The Black Swan"

 

I loved his character in Ivanhoe.  He was more of a grey hat who was redeemed by his love for Elizabeth Taylor.  It was nice to see him as a more complex villain.  He was the highlight of that movie for me.

[mariah23]

I'm constantly blending his performances in Rebecca, Foreign Correspondent and Mrs. Muir into one big ball of slime. Even though IIRC he was basically a good guy in Foreign Correspondent!

Also, I'm constantly thinking he was in Suspicion, even though he wasn't.

Was George Sanders able to cancel his rhumba lessons?

Edited July 14, 2015 by mariah23

[bmoore4026]

Today's Bastille Day, ain't it?  But instead we've got ape theme movies.  What gives?  Where the hell's my Scarlet Pimpernel!?  (Hey, that rhymed!)

[elle]

Today's Bastille Day, ain't it?  But instead we've got ape theme movies.  What gives?  Where the hell's my Scarlet Pimpernel!?  (Hey, that rhymed!)

Just like Sir Percy's little rhyme!

 

I'd like to add  Merle Oberon in "SP" to the running list above (above).  She is at her most enchanting in this one!

 

And this evening's theme seems to be "mail order brides" (musical alert! Harvey Girls).   I've read somewhere that in France today is known as "La Fe^te Nationale" or commonly "le quatorze juillet".

Edited July 15, 2015 by elle

[ratgirlagogo]

 

Do you mean a "non-musical" re-make, since the Danny Kaye/Virginia Mayo movie "A Song is Born" is a more musical version of the same script.  Or do you prefer to not remember that one? ;0)

I hate Danny Kaye so much I had genuinely forgotten all about it.   Gee, "thanks" for reminding me of its existence...  I'm not even that wild about the music since I'm not that enthusiastic about swing/jazz from this time period, even though of course I enjoy watching the musicians themselves.  But I much prefer Ball of Fire since Cooper/Stanwyck > Kaye/Mayo and I love all the character actors in Ball of Fire ( Cuddles Sakall!  Oscar Homolka! Allen Jenkins!)

 

But it's true I was thinking more contemporary remakes.  This one really seems to me to scream out for a hip-hop version.  

[Julia]

I hate Danny Kaye so much I had genuinely forgotten all about it.   

 

Does he just set you off, or is there something about him?

[elle]

I hate Danny Kaye so much I had genuinely forgotten all about it.   Gee, "thanks" for reminding me of its existence...  I'm not even that wild about the music since I'm not that enthusiastic about swing/jazz from this time period, even though of course I enjoy watching the musicians themselves.  But I much prefer Ball of Fire since Cooper/Stanwyck > Kaye/Mayo and I love all the character actors in Ball of Fire ( Cuddles Sakall!  Oscar Homolka! Allen Jenkins!)

 

But it's true I was thinking more contemporary remakes.  This one really seems to me to scream out for a hip-hop version.  

You are so welcome! :-D  I also love all the character actors in "Ball of Fire"!

 

I think the basic premise - a group of eggheads isolated from the rest of society trying to create a definite encyclopedia on something (the English(American) language or music genres) -  would be hard to work out in this day and age of google, wikipedia, tvtropes, etc.

[ratgirlagogo]

 

Does he just set you off, or is there something about him?

I'm told by everybody that he was a lovely man, and I'm sure he was.  But I can't deal with  him in the movies.  Same with Betty Hutton.  All that frantic desperate hey- ma - watch- THIS!!!  energy.  I'm exhausted watching and yet I haven't laughed.  

[Julia]

I'm told by everybody that he was a lovely man, and I'm sure he was.  But I can't deal with  him in the movies.  Same with Betty Hutton.  All that frantic desperate hey- ma - watch- THIS!!!  energy.  I'm exhausted watching and yet I haven't laughed.  

 

I can see that. He reminds me a little of Hugh Grant - he's become a star being charming and bumbling but from what I've read he was really great at being sharp. I'm sorry we never got to see his stage persona onscreen.

[Rinaldo]

I'm told by everybody that he was a lovely man, and I'm sure he was.  But I can't deal with  him in the movies.  Same with Betty Hutton.  All that frantic desperate hey- ma - watch- THIS!!!  energy.  I'm exhausted watching and yet I haven't laughed.  

I think we must share the same mind! When I was young, all I knew of Danny Kaye was that he was in the Hans Christian Andersen movie and he had this weekly variety show on TV. And in both, he was just relentlessly manic and "on" in a way I cringed from. Years later I encountered Betty Hutton and felt the same way about her. When I met a fellow movie-lover in grad school, I knew we were destined to be best friends (and we still are, decades later!) when in the midst of talking about her love for Fred Astaire, she moaned about his having to perform with Betty Hutton.

 

(I allow one exception in each case: The Court Jester and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek.)

[Bastet]

I'm told by everybody that [Danny Kaye] was a lovely man, and I'm sure he was.

 

Madeline Kahn and several other women (at least) would disagree. 

[monakane]

I'm told by everybody that he was a lovely man, and I'm sure he was.  But I can't deal with  him in the movies.  Same with Betty Hutton.  All that frantic desperate hey- ma - watch- THIS!!!  energy.  I'm exhausted watching and yet I haven't laughed.  

 

I agree except for White Christmas but that may be because of his co-stars.

[Crisopera]

I'm sorry I didn't write about it until it was already shown, but Westward the Women was on as part of the "mail-order brides" group.  I love this movie.  It's astonishingly feminist and unglamorous for an MGM movie of 1951.  A group of women go from Chicago to California, and for most of the journey have to do everything for themselves - fight off an (genuinely scary) Indian attack, help one of their number give birth, learn to shoot, wrangle their mules, etc.  It's a very tough-minded movie - a lot of realistic deaths.  I never watched this until fairly recently because I really don't like Robert Taylor, but it was on when I was home one time and I was happily surprised by how good it is.  It's genuinely unsentimental until the very last scene - but it belongs to a group of movies and books which have what I think of as "earned happy endings."  So often in movies and books, it looks like the author was thinking, "I have to wrap this up.  YOU get a happy ending!  YOU get a happy ending!  YOU get a happy ending!"  These women have been through so much - they have earned their happy endings.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Crisopera

[Charlie Baker]

I like Kaye in White Christmas too.  He is a bit subdued, falling into Crosby's groove, maybe.  And dancing like crazy to keep up with Vera Ellen and John Brascia.

 

I never thought he reached the much-too-much level of Betty Hutton, though. 

[Julia]

I never thought he reached the much-too-much level of Betty Hutton, though. 

 

I've always wondered if Betty Hutton wasn't directed that way because everyone was so furious with her about lobbying for Judy Garland's role. She said in an interview with Robert Osborne that pretty much nobody was on her side after that.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Julia

[Milburn Stone]

I saw a bit of Mail Order Bride last night. A bit above average for the genre, owing to some sense of humor. Ebsen found a way to bring a hint of Jed Clampett to the proceedings without duplicating the character.

 

Here's the thing that struck me. The barroom brawl (at least the one I saw in the first half-hour of the film--there may have been another one) was almost naked in its sense of sublimated sexuality. I mean, these guys got off on hitting and being hit--it was like an orgy! To the point where guys who were just passing by outside wanted to get in on the action. To say their appetite for punching and getting punched was orgasmic wouldn't be going too far.

 

The trope of the barroom brawl in westerns often has a little of this going on, but I've never seen the sexual component so vividly displayed. Maybe a function of too many men and not enough women in town, forcing a sublimation of the sex act into...new forms?

Edited July 15, 2015 by Milburn Stone

[elle]

These women have been through so much - they have earned their happy endings.

I am happy to hear from someone else who likes this movie, Chrisopera.  I love how the women stand their ground near the end when they demand the men stay away until they clean up.  I do wish, however, the script had not decided to lose the little Italian boy.  That is a most heartbreaking scene!

 

 

I've always wondered if Betty Hutton wasn't directed that way because everyone was so furious with her about lobbying for Judy Garland's role. She said in an interview with Robert Osborne that pretty much nobody was on her side after that.

Are you referring to "Annie Get Your Gun", right?  I had heard about how miserable the shoot was for her because everyone was upset about Judy Garland being replaced.  I did not realize that she had lobbied to get the role, I thought she was a last minute replacement.

 

An unpopular opinion perhaps, that if any role seemed to be made for Betty Hutton, is was that of Annie Oakley, full of spunk and energy. (which I realize may not be the real story of the real person)  Based on the one clip of Judy Garland for the movie (I'm an Indian too), I can not see her doing well in the role.

 

...don't get me wrong...Judy Garland was amazing, the role did not seem a good fit.

 

Also not a good fit, imho, Howard Keel's singing style matched with Betty Hutton.   I also feel the same way about Howard Keel singing with Doris Day in another western.  He needed to be paired with a more operatic singer the likes of Jane Powell or Kathryn Grayson.

[Julia]

Are you referring to "Annie Get Your Gun", right?  I had heard about how miserable the shoot was for her because everyone was upset about Judy Garland being replaced.  I did not realize that she had lobbied to get the role, I thought she was a last minute replacement.

 

An unpopular opinion perhaps, that if any role seemed to be made for Betty Hutton, is was that of Annie Oakley, full of spunk and energy. (which I realize may not be the real story of the real person)  Based on the one clip of Judy Garland for the movie (I'm an Indian too), I can not see her doing well in the role.

 

...don't get me wrong...Judy Garland was amazing, the role did not seem a good fit.

 

Also not a good fit, imho, Howard Keel's singing style matched with Betty Hutton.   I also feel the same way about Howard Keel singing with Doris Day in another western.  He needed to be paired with a more operatic singer the likes of Jane Powell or Kathryn Grayson.

 

Yeah, apparently she did lobby pretty hard for the job, before Garland had actually lost it, and I don't think a lot of people ever forgave her for that. And it probably didn't help that her style was really not something MGM looked for in leading ladies. Early June Allyson had the same all-elbows vibe - see "Treat Me Rough" from Girl Crazy - but got tamed way, way down to become a star.

[Charlie Baker]

Wish I would have checked today's schedule--there was vintage Barbara Stanwyck in some things I've seen (Baby Face, Ladies They Talk About), and some I haven't (Ever in My Heart, Gambling Lady, Lost Lady),  Ah, well. 

Edited July 15, 2015 by Charlie Baker

[3pwood]

Tomorrow is Barbara Stanwyck's birthday.  TCM does these birthday tributes pretty much annually, so check back around this time next year if you missed something that sounds good to you.  I've seen all of today's movies on TCM in the past & I think they're all worth watching for those of us who love her.

[Rinaldo]

I'll agree that Danny Kaye tones it down through a lot of White Christmas, but then he has that "Choreography" number, which takes him right back into that "aren't I winsome and odd?" territory again. So, that's a No for me. (I find it significant that those who adapted the movie into a stage musical recently, though they needed to add more Berlin songs to make the score a suitable length for a stage show, eliminated this one.)

 

I don't think Betty Hutton's acting style has a thing to do with any backstory to Annie Get Your Gun; she behaved the same through her many movies before and after. The Mitchell Leisen biography (most of which comes from oral histories from those he worked with) talks about how he handled her in the 1948 film Dream Girl, darkening and restyling her hair and subduing her makeup and manner. The others who worked on the movie are so hard on her, they almost make me sympathetic to her side: one talks about her running out after the screen test "screeching 'I'm beautiful, I'm beautiful'." Another talks about how sure she was she'd get an Oscar nomination for Best Actress while everyone else knew there was no way.

[prican58]

Yeah, Danny Kaye is a bit much to take for me. I also first knew him in HC Andersen but he just bothers me, somehow. I had always heard that he was a most difficult and rather obnoxious man.  The critic Pat Collins once said he was the worst  interview for her. Said he just was not very nice.

 

Ball of Fire is my favorite (can anyone really have only 1 favorite of hers?) Stanwyck role and yeah those characters are swell! I especially love Allen Jenkins and his lingo! He really sells it. I love finding his voice in those old Hanna Barbera cartoons.

When I see Oscar Homolka I always think of a scene from tv's Odd Couple where Oscar Madison is calling all the names in his date book to take to a play. He says to one who has apparently asked "Oscar who?" When Madison asks how many Oscars does she know, he pauses for her response then says incredulously, "You know Oscar Homolka?" And it gets this big laugh. Always funny to me.

[ratgirlagogo]

 

Madeline Kahn and several other women (at least) would disagree.

Hmm, this is gossip I've never heard.  He was nasty to Madeline Kahn?  Please, do dish.

 

When I see Oscar Homolka I always think of a scene from tv's Odd Couple where Oscar Madison is calling all the names in his date book to take to a play. He says to one who has apparently asked "Oscar who?" When Madison asks how many Oscars does she know, he pauses for her response then says incredulously, "You know Oscar Homolka?" And it gets this big laugh. Always funny to me.

I don't remember this but that is funny -  who would have been the most famous Oscar at that time? Oscar Hammerstein was dead, maybe Oscar Levant?  My point being that having it be Oscar Homolka really is funny because the reference is a little obscure.

Edited July 16, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[wilsie]

The Barbara Stanwyck movies are accessible at TCM on-line.  They're available until July 22 except "Ball of Fire" and that ends on July 19.

[Bastet]

Hmm, this is gossip I've never heard.  He was nasty to Madeline Kahn?  Please, do dish.

 

Kahn talked some about the ways in which Kaye sexually harassed her during Two by Two on Broadway, and other women in the production shared similar experiences.

[ratgirlagogo]

Well, that is gross.  And I hated him to begin with.  Where did you read this?  There's a biography of her that just came out a couple of months ago, but I haven't read it.

http://www.amazon.com/Madeline-Kahn-Being-Hollywood-Legends/dp/1617037613/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1437011897&sr=1-1&pebp=1437011898636&perid=024

[Charlie Baker]

Re the Stanwyck movies on line:  my cable provider Time Warner does not give me access to Watch TCM, a continuing mega-irritant.