Luise Rainer Interview Tonight!

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I haven't seen The Big City, so I will await one of your lovely critiques...

But I must say that I was first enchanted with Luise Rainer in The Great Ziegfeld. She was just so adorable in those costumes and her
singing and see-sawing passions and flightiness turned into that great swell of feelings for "Flo."

But I think The Good Earth is another great triumph. To be saddled with a prima donna like Muni, but yet turn in such a performance
in spite of one of the principals being indifferent or inflexible to her presence as a performer (as she had indicated in the interview),
is certainly a triumph to her perseverance.

[movieman1957]

Christy:

CA enjoyed the interview as well. She had no idea who the woman was but thought she was great. To be that age and that expressive and that thoughtful was a treat. She learned something.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

So did I! I think that is why I enjoyed it so much in person, and in the interview and it's repeat.

It was so enlightening!

[feaito]

Luise Rainer is also one of my favorite people of the Golden Era...she is just so down to earth, honest and sensitive.

I did not know that Muni behaved that way towards her... How sad... Sometime egos are larger than life.

I also recall some negative comment some historian or critic made in regard to her speech when she received her AA for "The Good Earth", saying something that it was artificial or exxagerated, comparing it to Spencer Tracy's wife plain and simple speech of acceptance when she received the AA on behalf of her husband, for Captains Courageous. I disliked that comment intensely, feeling it was totally unfair to Ms. Rainer.

[mongoII]

It was a most enjoyable interview. She was a joy to behold at age 100. God bless her.
Olan, you are the earth.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Mongo, I am so glad you enjoyed it!

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I found a link that shows Luise Rainer in her London apartment in Belgravia, and it also reveals some of her own artwork, and a short interview:

http://www.homestylesoftherichandgated. ... _3_IR.html

It's a website created by her daughther, Francesca Knittel-Bowyer.

She also discusses how she had been interested in making a film of Out of Africa many years ago.

I really enjoyed visiting this website. And her bedroom is painted in one of my favorite colors!

[feaito]

Thanks for posting that link Christy. Each time I read more about Luise Rainer and about the human being, I like her more & more & more....Her opinions and views are so honest....and I agree with many of them....I also do not like large groups of people and prefer intimate gatherings.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Your very welcome, Fernando!

I have enjoyed learning about her life and her acting. I was completely enchanted when I first saw her in The Great Ziegfeld!

[moira finnie]

She also discusses how she had been interested in making a film of Out of Africa many years ago.

Gee, Rainer might have been an ideal Karen Blixen physically, and perhaps spiritually. Though the romance of Out of Africa (especially when seen in a theater) was well realized by Sydney Pollack's lush imaginings and through Meryl Streep's performance, there was a European pessimism and a mystical quality in the stories that was only suggested in that movie. If only someone like Max Ophüls and Luise Rainer could have had a crack at the stories at an appropriate time.

I really enjoyed visiting this website. And her bedroom is painted in one of my favorite colors!

I loved that peach shade on the walls of the bedroom too!

[JackFavell]

Oh, you are making me drool thinking of a Max Ophuls/Rainer version of Out of Africa.