Birdy, I think I better check out Our Betters again next time it is on. You have definitely piqued my interest. I probably just wasn't in the mood for the movie the first time I saw it. I remember watching it mainly for you know who and Alan Mowbray, neither of whom appeared to full advantage--I thought. I love it when I have to revise what I think is a well-reasoned prejudice against a movie
Btw, "it's [not only] okay that it's [your] favorite, although not 'heavyweight' role"--it's a recommendation for me!
Wish that TCM could unearth that other Constance-Gilbert outing, After Tonight (1933). Before I started looking at this subject a bit, I'd never even heard of it, except in passing in Brian Kellow's bio of The Bennett Family. In that book Kellow says that the only sign of life in the poorly scripted RKO movie set around the time of WWI was Constance & Gilbert. Apparently, critics and audiences agreed. It was the third flop in a row for Bennett, (though she got a presentable life companion for the next 12 years, so maybe it was worth it?).
The book on the Bennett family seems to be very good, isn't it?
Another thing that I must say about Gilbert Roland is that he always was very virile and masculine. I admired him very much for that and I looked upon him like a role model to follow in that respect when I was younger. He had a tremendous appeal with women in general, as we can still see here in this Oasis
feaito wrote:The book on the Bennett family seems to be very good, isn't it?
Another thing that I must say about Gilbert Roland is that he always was very virile and masculine. I admired him very much for that and I looked upon him like a role model to follow in that respect when I was younger. He had a tremendous appeal with women in general, as we can still see here in this Oasis
Marvelous role model you chose, Feo!
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education." -- Will Rogers
MissGoddess wrote:SWOON!!!!!!!!! Now THAT is my idea of Armand Duvall......
I'll give you that, but I still do like Valentino in the bizzare 1921 Camille.
Apparently Gilbert Roland was an extra in Blood and Sand. I need to dig up the article he wrote that was published in T.V. Guide. I recall he wrote glowingly of his brush with Valentino.
back on topic, Gilbert Roland was a terrific guy, a really good actor and much more handsome that some men have a right to be, it's very distracting.
Hi Donna,
Rudolph Valentino, according to AP interviews over several decades, Kevin Brownlow in the 1990s and interviewer Ramon Villalobos in the 1970s, was very kind to GR when, as a struggling extra and assistant anything in Hollywood, Luis Alonso worked on at least one of Valentino's movies. Here's the capsule description I wrote based on those sources:
he was hired in 1922, thanks to his familiarity with bullfighting, Luis (later Gilbert) was hired as a dresser’s assistant on the Rudolph Valentino picture, Blood and Sand. After helping to quell a violent argument among extras, the awed teenager found himself having a cut tended to by the star, who used his handkerchief, monogrammed with the initials R.V., to bind his wound.
It would be great if you find out more about the possible connection between the two! Maybe GR was thinking of Valentino when making this serial in the '40s!
Here's a candid photo of GR that is too big to put up here but it is quite charming. I don't know who he is talking to, but they both look as though they are having fun.
I am pretty sure that the photo on that link is of John Gilbert -who resembles uncannily Gilbert Roland in that picture- from the 1928 MGM feature "The Cossacks".
The guy with him could be director George W. Hill, but I'm not sure because I have never seen a picture of him.
I thought it was Gilbert, too, Feaito!
Is the ValentinoCamille with Nazimova? I've seen that one, and she is terrific. I'll probably be stoned, but her characterization is much better than Garbo's. Ok, back to topic (so you Garbo fans won't hurt me! )
MissGoddess wrote:Hi Rudy fan! I've never seen any silent version of Camille, only talkies.
Hello MissG
Camille with Valentino and Nazimova is on as an extra on the Garbo DVD. Rambova's sets are fascinating, the tale is somewhat bowlderized for Nazimova and be prepared for a lot of gauzy soft focus. Valentino, imo, is a nice young and ardent Armand. He's certainly not hard to look at. Legend has it that he was so effective in many scenes, a good deal of Valentino was cut from the film in favor of Madame N. Well worth a viewing.
Knitwit, I'm with you, I've never been a fan of Garbo's Camille, one of Cukor's weakest films and Robert Taylor, Armand by way of Nebraska.
I still want to see the lost Talmadge/Roland 1927 version in the worst way.
Donna
Thanks so much for shining the spotlight on Gilbert Roland. I am doing book signings so it has taken me a couple of days to catch up!
I've loved Gilbert Roland since the moment he showed up on the High Chaparral when I was an impressionable teen. All my gal pals loved Mark Slade as Blue but me, I loved Mano and especially his uncle. I am so thankful for the run of westerns we had in the 1950s to the early 1970s that gave so many classic era stars roles that they could sink their teeth into. From {b]The Rifleman[/b] to The Virginian to Gunsmoke to The High Chaparral we are fortunate that so much of their work still exists. Once we get to the Love Boat era in the mid and late 1970s, the scripts take a definite dive.
When I went to college and took Rick Jewell's Western Class, I fell in love with him all over again in The Furies. His final scenes with Barbara Stanwyck so show his charm and charisma.
I absolutely adore him in Budd Boetticher's Bullfighter and the Lady especially for his relationship with Katy Jurado. The scene where she realizes what he is going to do is second only (to me) with her scene with Slim Pickens in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
How I would love to have TCM decide to honor both Gilbert Roland and Joel McCrea individually as Stars of the Month within the next year. My Tivo and my DVD recorder would both die of exhaustion.
I also loved Moira's piece on Roland on the Morlocks blog. One thing that was different, however, between Bow and her children and Roland and his with Constance Bennett, is that it was Bow's deteriorating mental condition that made it hard for her to see her boys. After the divorce with Rex Bell, she moved back to Santa Monica while Rex and the boys continued to live in Las Vegas.
Her son, Rex Bell, Jr, is still with us and has wonderful memories of his mother but he also realizes that her mental problems were what led to the family dissolving and that his father had to take the lead in deciding what was best for his boys.
But to this day, Rex, Jr speaks of his mother in a way that you know that despite her problems, he knows she loved them and he loves her.
On one last note, what I would give (including selling my brother to the highest bidder) to see Roland's version of Camille. He truly is my idea of Armand Duvall.
My only regret is that Roland would not let Kevin Brownlow film him for the wonderful Hollywood series. It was not that long after Chaparral, he still had his looks (he always had his looks no matter what his age) and his stories would have been priceless.
Lynn in Lake Balboa
"Film is history. With every foot of film lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other and to ourselves."
"For me, John Wayne has only become more impressive over time." Marty Scorsese
That is John Gilbert. Here I was wondering why Gilbert Roland had such a lined face in the 1920s. Ah, well, it is a great photo of JOHN GILBERT and I appreciate your identification of the director as well, 'Nando! I just thought it was pretty cute. Thanks so much for setting me straight on that. THAT will teach me for the umpteenth time to NOT trust an internet resource for info before double checking!
Thanks so much for shining the spotlight on Gilbert Roland. I am doing book signings so it has taken me a couple of days to catch up!
I've loved Gilbert Roland since the moment he showed up on the High Chaparral when I was an impressionable teen. All my gal pals loved Mark Slade as Blue but me, I loved Mano and especially his uncle. I am so thankful for the run of westerns we had in the 1950s to the early 1970s that gave so many classic era stars roles that they could sink their teeth into.
Yeah, Manolito (the good actor Henry Darrow) and his uncle were it for me on The High Chaparral!
Lzcutter wrote:When I went to college and took Rick Jewell's Western Class, I fell in love with him all over again in The Furies. His final scenes with Barbara Stanwyck so show his charm and charisma.
GR's line "Till our eyes next meet", his fatalism, and his scenes when he asserted his responsibility as the head of the family with his brothers and crazy mom (Blanche Yurka) just slayed me. HOW could Babs go off with Wendell Corey in the end?
Lzcutter wrote:How I would love to have TCM decide to honor both Gilbert Roland and Joel McCrea individually as Stars of the Month within the next year. My Tivo and my DVD recorder would both die of exhaustion.
Amen, sister!
Lzcutter wrote:I also loved Moira's piece on Roland on the Morlocks blog. One thing that was different, however, between Bow and her children and Roland and his with Constance Bennett, is that it was Bow's deteriorating mental condition that made it hard for her to see her boys. After the divorce with Rex Bell, she moved back to Santa Monica while Rex and the boys continued to live in Las Vegas.
Her son, Rex Bell, Jr, is still with us and has wonderful memories of his mother but he also realizes that her mental problems were what led to the family dissolving and that his father had to take the lead in deciding what was best for his boys.
But to this day, Rex, Jr speaks of his mother in a way that you know that despite her problems, he knows she loved them and he loves her.
I'm sorry, but in order to concentrate on GR''s career in that blog, I had to encapsulate the entire complex background of Clara Bow's family life, which I have the impression was enhanced greatly by marrying such a really remarkably understanding man as Rex Bell, Sr. Her love for her sons came through in everything I've ever read about her. The fact that they had such affection for their mother despite some trying circumstances seems to indicate that she was a success in ways that really matter.
Lzcutter wrote:My only regret is that Roland would not let Kevin Brownlow film him for the wonderful Hollywood series. It was not that long after Chaparral, he still had his looks (he always had his looks no matter what his age) and his stories would have been priceless.
Kevin Brownlow and David Gill tried to get him on camera for an interview for a documentary on Buster Keaton that they were making in the early 1990s. However, when they met GR to discuss it, Brownlow said that he looked great and he was very generous with his time, but, as Mr. Brownlow recalled:
there was no mistaking him when he arrived; he wore a white hat, and open-necked white shirt, showing the old religious medallion hanging at his chest. He had great charisma, and immense charm; he embraced people instead of shaking their hands, and he had no Anglo-Saxon reticence about emotion.
But reticent he was about being interviewed. He refused point- blank to appear on camera. We had the distinct impression that he was shy. He had been a sky- rocketing star in the last years of silent films, and his affection and admiration for silent films was apparent. But he would not repeat his reminiscences on camera.
Fortunately, he spent the last years putting his memories on to tape - when he could play back, edit and re-record if necessary. And in 1988, he proved himself as a writer, with an autobiography - as yet unpublished - in the style of a man he greatly admired, Ernest Hemingway. He called it The Wine of Yesterday.
Boy, I'd love to know if that memoir is lying around gathering dust in an archive or if it is the hands of his daughters.
I am so glad you mentioned Bullfighter and the Lady, which is one of my favorites for the extraordinary portrayal of Mexico and it's people. It has some of the most beautiful bullfighting sequences ever filmed. I love it, though, for exactly the reason you mentioned. The relationship between the magnificent Katy Jurado and the equally magnificent Gilbert Roland is a wonder to behold - they are so in synch with each other you never once think they are acting their roles. They are both incredibly strong, but it emanates from within... they are equals, and it's not a put-on in any way. And of course, there is the steambath scene in which Roland flexes his muscles a bit wearing only a towel......Roland always seemed to be so comfortable and happy being a man. He was macho without false bravado, manly without braggadocio..... I adore him in this movie. He shows what it is to truly be a man.
Another week, and that jones for more Gilbert Roland movies just won't go away.
You know, I suspect that 1940 must have been a tense year in the Gilberto-Constance household. Sure, Mr. Roland was getting a few choice roles such as a part in Juarez (1939) and Captain Lopez in The Sea Hawk (1940), a clip of which you can enjoy here.
But some days all he could get was a role as a dashing smuggler on Isle of (No) Destiny (seen below in all its dismal cheesiness) or as a third lead after Wayne Morris and Jane Wyman in Gambling on the High Seas. ¡Ay, caramba! No wonder he enlisted when the war broke out. Maybe a bargain-priced Anthony Quinn was getting all those potential Gilbert Roland parts that were around then, and maybe the public had its fill of Latins for awhile, though he certainly tried to be versatile.
One other film that I've just discovered from this pre-war period sounds very promising. It is Thunder Trail (1937) with Charles Bickford and Marsha Hunt in a Zane Grey story made at Paramount. It was a B movie that has some very good reviews on IMDb, and with that cast and this terrific poster, I wonder...must track this one down.
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Still, despite any temporary setbacks at least GR had a few good movies in his future, one of which will be on TCM later this month. Here are a couple of images from The Bad and the Beautiful (1953) on June 21st at 11:15PM to tide us over.
Showing his dancing (and comedic skills).
Victor 'Gaucho' Ribera reads the script, while the girl continues dancing.
Shaking some sense into a discontented extra, (Elaine Stewart).
Dying nobly, as the script of an "epic" comes to life for the camera while Lana Turner mourns.
If you just can't wait until then, you may wish to join me over in the John Brahm thread, where we have a movie queuing up with a fine role for you-know-who. GR plays an interesting, fairly earthy role as a shiftless agnostic peasant who is a skeptical friend of a group of children. His humorous (and historically fictitious) presence gives what might have been a ponderous holy card of a movie great humanity and surprising depth of feeling.
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