http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/vie ... 0&start=45
[u]CARRIE LIZ[/u] wrote:Dear Mr. Tabesh,
Like Birdy, I want to thank you for TCM's frequent birthday salutes to lesser known actors and actresses. Is there any chance of seeing a salute to Anita Louise this coming January 9?...
Sincerely,
Carrie
Photo Courtesy of Mongo II’s CANDIDS Thread
On 10/14/2011 - FEAITO wrote:Today I also saw the very interesting and finely acted "Our Betters" (1933), a British drawing room comedy-drama (based on a Somerset Maugham work) deftly directed by George Cukor. The film has lot of cynicism, immorality, witty dialogue and decadence. It deals with the relationships of a group of American expatriate heiresses married to impoverished European and British nobles; social climbers; gigolos, etc. Connie Bennett is married to a British Lord and she is willing to perform her obligations, but she discovers (on her wedding day) that he married her ("this creature") only for her money and that she's in love with another noblewoman, whom he could not marry because she's as penniless as him. Thus, dear Connie becomes a bitter, cynical woman and the leading lady of the British "scene"...her marriage is a fake (she and her husband lead separate lives)...he with his lover and she with her many successive lovers, phony friends, parties, etc. Enter Violet Kemble-Cooper (a widowed Duchess - her husband had a French title), luminous Phoebe Foster (a Princess by marriage -honest and true to life, for a change), Grant Mitchell (a gossipy phony American who copies the mores and ways of high class Britishers), Anita Louise (Connie's young sister, who's marveled at this ideal "world" in which her sister lives and at the prospect of being married to a British Marquis), Gilbert Roland (a shameless, arrogant, cynical gigolo who uses Kemble-Cooper), Charles Starrett (a cousin of Connie and Anita, just arrived from America, who wants to mingle in Connie's set, but who carries a torch for Anita) and Minor Watson (Connie's current rich lover). The exchanges between these people are a joy to listen to, especially Connie Bennett and Violet Kemble-Cooper, both of whom give terrific, first-rate performances. And at the end of the film, a very offbeat, cartoonish "pansy" character arrives to Connie's estate, to teach dance lessons to the ladies -most notably the Tango to Kemble-Cooper- Tyrrell Davis -the ultimate effeminate character allowed before the Code and discussed in some Pre-Code books.
Delightful film. -
Here are two great reviews for a movie that just aired on TCM recently. Now 'less you think "Oh no, they just showed this already! TCM is falling down on the job!" hold on. This time, the focus is not on that most sophisticated of pre-code blondes Constance Bennett ( if you can tear your heart away from Gilbert Roland ) but on a quieter actress, one a little more in the background; the gal with the two first names: ANITA LOUISE.On 11/13/2012 MOIRA FINNIE wrote: OUR BETTERS (1933-George Cukor) at 9:45pm (ET): Based on a 1917 W. Somerset Maugham play, this is a somewhat creaky satirical critique of society made in the midst of The Great Depression. This film tries for a bittersweet brittleness but there are almost no likable characters among the jaded British aristocrats whose idleness and curdled lives center around card games, meals, and long weekends at each others stately homes while engaging in discreet liaisons. Constance Bennett plays a wealthy American woman married to an English aristocrat who only wed her for her money. Her revenge? Dissipation, general snarkiness, a lavish wardrobe, and a boy toy (Gilbert Roland, who barely speaks). This film is noteworthy for the atmosphere of general pre-code naughtiness, but it goes one step further with the specific presence of one of the most flamboyantly portrayed gay characters seen on the screen up to that time. The uncredited Tyrell Davis appears in the role of the mincing dance master Ernest, whose arrival near the last part of the movie shakes up the stale air a bit, but I have never fully understood if Maugham or Cukor meant this character to be the only person who pierces the hypocrisy around him with his outlandish truth-telling or if he is meant to be seen as a satirical by-product of this decadent atmosphere. In either case, Davis takes the kind of role owned by Edward Everett Horton and Franklin Pangborn to an extreme that would disappear as soon as the production code began to pinch in the following year. If only classic Hollywood had found the stereotypical portrayals of other nationalities and races as offensive as one lipstick-wearing guy--but then, that would probably have led to no Hattie McDaniel, no Benson Fong or even any Gilbert Roland.
This won't be a well-visited thread because after all, who IS Anita Louise in the scheme of the Golden Age of Hollywood? She's no Garbo or Stanwyck or Dietrich. She doesn't blaze the screen like Bette Davis or have the blinding sex appeal of Harlow or Marilyn or Rita. She may not command the screen with the brilliance that warrants 1000-watt klieg lights on The Leading Lady. But TCM saw fit to shine a spotlight on some of her performances this Wednesday morning ( 1/9/13 ). And this again is why I love TCM. They think all actors and themes great and small, quiet and volcanic are worthy of our time. Anita Louise has a quiet patrician beauty. I first discovered her when I was a little girl in love with Johnny Washbrook and the beautiful horse of "My Friend Flicka." ( Oh Flicka! Flicka! Why can't you be Johnny Crawford. ) It was a little later that I recognized her in "Marie Antoinette." ( "Hey, there's Ken's mom!" ) She got her infrequent chance to shine alongside leading stars like Bette Davis or Errol Flynn or Fredric March and appear in "A" films like "Anthony Adverse" or "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream" or "The Story of Louis Pasteur." She's that ofttimes thankless role of The Supporting Actress; the beautiful girl who still doesn't quite get the boy ( "Love Letters" ) lacking some quality that makes him choose another. When I see her in something, she makes me smile. She's familiar. No she doesn't take center stage, but you see her off to the side. You notice her. I like those unsung actresses like Marsha Hunt or Aline MacMahon, Margaret Lindsay or Fay Bainter who give quietly good performances.
So here are the movies TCM will air. Now I'm not even going to sit here and tell you I'm gonna watch some 18th century drama. But "Our Betters" got rave reviews from you guys. And I also like B-movies with second or even third-rung movie stars. TCM, you're making this a very interesting start of the new year for film buffs.On 9/30/2011 FEAITO wrote:Today I re-watched Warner's lavish, censored, butchered and amusing "Madame Du Barry" (1934) with beautiful Dolores Del Río as the wanton Countess -just remembered that this was the title of the English (dubbed) version of Visconti's "Senso")....Anita Louise is pretty and sweetly "spoiled" as the young Marie Antoinette (this actress excelled in period stuff...she later acted in Warner's 1935 "A Midsummer's Night Dream", "Anthony Adverse" and "The Sisters" with Bette Davis, she "went again" to the XVIIIth Century France, this time to impersonate Marie Antoinette's doomed best friend, "La Princesse de Lamballe", in the sumptuous 1938 Shearer vehicle; and yet again, I remember her fondly in the highly enjoyable 1940's frolic "The Bandit of Sherwood Forest", opposite Cornel Wilde).
I hope you're out there somewhere CarrieLiz, still watching classic films. TCM listened.
6:00 AM THE GREAT MEADOW (1931) - Early American frontiersmen brave the mountains to settle Kentucky. Dir: Charles Brabin Cast: John Mack Brown, Eleanor Boardman, Lucille LaVerne. BW-79 mins.
7:30 AM OUR BETTERS (1933) - An American heiress marries into the British nobility. Dir: George Cukor Cast: Constance Bennett, Violet Kemble-Cooper, Phoebe Foster. BW-83 mins.
9:00 AM PERSONAL MAID'S SECRET (1935) - A maid's ability to pick stock market winners keeps her employer in the money. Dir: Arthur Greville Collins Cast: Margaret Lindsay, Warren Hull, Anita Louise. BW-58 mins.
10:15 AM CALL IT A DAY (1937) - An average day brings a variety of comic problems to members of a British family. Dir: Archie Mayo Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Ian Hunter, Anita Louise. BW-90 mins.
12:00 PM DANGEROUS BLONDES (1943) - A mystery writer and his wife investigate the murder of a couturier's wife. Dir: Leigh Jason Cast: Allyn Joslyn, Evelyn Keyes, Edmund Lowe. BW-81 mins.
1:30 PM THE DEVIL'S MASK (1946) - A detective tries to identify a shrunken head found in a crashed cargo plane. Dir: Henry Levin Cast: Anita Louise, Jim Bannon, Michael Duane. BW-66 mins.