jean simmons alert

[moira finnie]

A Jean Simmons Birthday Tribute on TCM tomorrow Jan. 31st features some films I've never seen? Any recommendations? (All times shown are Eastern Standard)


6:45 AM
Hungry Hill (1947)
Two Irish families feud over a copper mine. Cast: Margaret Lockwood, Dennis Price, Jean Simmons. Dir: Brian Desmond Hurst. BW-102 mins,

8:30 AM
Adam and Evelyne (1949)
When a friend dies, a gambler adopts his daughter. Cast: Deborah Kerr, Stewart Granger, Richard Carlson. Dir: Harold French. BW-93 mins, TV-G

10:15 AM
Trio (1950)
W. Somerset Maugham introduces three more of his stories about human foibles. Cast: W. Somerset Maugham, Jean Simmons, Michael Rennie. Dir: Ken Annakin, Harold French. BW-92 mins,

12:00 PM
So Long at the Fair (1950)
A woman searches for her missing brother in Paris despite the fact that nobody believes he exists. Cast: Jean Simmons, Dirk Bogarde, David Tomlinson. Dir: Antony Darnborough, Terence Fisher. BW-86 mins, TV-PG, CC

1:30 PM
She Couldn't Say No (1954)
An heiress decides to pass out anonymous gifts in a small town. Cast: Jean Simmons, Robert Mitchum, Arthur Hunnicutt. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. BW-89 mins, TV-G

3:00 PM
Bullet Is Waiting, A (1954)
A plane crash strands a policeman and his prisoner in the wilderness. Cast: Rory Calhoun, Jean Simmons, Stephen McNally. Dir: John Farrow. C-82 mins, TV-G

4:30 PM
Footsteps in the Fog (1955)
An ambitious housemaid learns her employer murdered his wife. Cast: Stewart Granger, Jean Simmons, Bill Travers. Dir: Arthur Lubin. C-90 mins, TV-G, Letterbox Format

6:00 PM
Life at the Top (1965)
After marrying the boss' daughter, a workingman begins to doubt his abilities. Cast: Laurence Harvey, Jean Simmons, Honor Blackman. Dir: Ted Kotcheff. BW-115 mins, TV-PG

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Great news! The Kube has been running Footsteps in the Fog and I've seen it twice in the last week. I love that one!

Thank you, Moira and Kingrat!

[ken123]

AnrennaTV has shown Footsteps in the Fog at least twice in the past week, Ive paases it by because I can't take Mr. Granger. Sorry !

[moira finnie]

As with most movies made from multi-generation novels, there's a sense of a size 12 foot being shoehorned into a size 6 pump.

LOL That's a perfect description. The only thing I'd add is that you know a character has gotten older because of the amount of flour in their hair.

Hungry Hill isn't a great film, but it has one great scene. The local fiddler begins playing a waltz at a formal ball, but his music turns into a jig, and the dance grows wilder as the music gets faster. The director, Brian Desmond Hurst, deserves some credit here.

I thought that scene was wonderful too and it would be fun to know if Vincente Minnelli might have seen it prior to staging his own wild ballroom sequence in Madame Bovary.

I hated seeing Jean Simmons with blonde hair, but she was a standout even as a teenager. Did you see Life at the Top (1965)? It's a bit of a kitchen sink school flick, but Simmons and Laurence Harvey gave heartfelt performances as the story explored the misery of getting what you long for.

[JackFavell]

I only saw the end of Hungry Hill, but what I saw I enjoyed very much, thanks to the classy costumes and sets, good direction and the fine acting of Margaret Lockwood and Dermot Walsh. I became caught up in the action of the movie right away, and was disappointed that I had missed most of it. For those of you who missed it too and have Netflix, it's available for instant streaming.

It does seem directly related to The Valley of Decision, doesn't it? I really enjoyed the ups and downs of this family, it all seemed very well done. Each family member had their own style and personality, with Jean Simmons quite different from her usual type - the blond hair turned her quite girlish and giddy. I particularly enjoyed Dennis Price (as always) and Dermot Walsh, very dashing, who I never heard of before.

[feaito]

"So Long at the Fair" is a must-see!! One of the best films I discovered last year.

[moira finnie]

Thought I'd bump the thread to see if anyone else saw Home Before Dark. I have to agree with everyone who thinks this is one of Jean Simmons' best performances. The makeover and the dinner scene that follows are as memorable as I'd heard.

Dang, Kingster. You must stay up all night and never sleep to catch all these great movies you are mentioning lately. I did record this one and will review it as soon as real life stops interfering with my "reel" life. Since I last saw Home Before Dark on tv back in the stone age when the earth was still cooling and we actually had to get up and walk across the room to turn the channel on something called "a dial," I suspect that much of the film was way over my pointy if once-innocent head. I'll try to get back to you soon. I do remember the thought dawned on me while viewing Jean Simmons in this movie that
a.) She looked better with her natural dark brown hair.
b.) Unlike 97% of actresses, she broke the rules: she was beautiful, but seemed extraordinarily intelligent too. (I wonder if that made things tougher for her in Hollywood?).

But can someone explain to me what Jean and Rhonda Fleming saw in Dan O'Herlihy? He's convincing as a cold and unsympathetic academic, but wouldn't good looks or surface charm or a sense of power make his appeal to these women a little more obvious? (Sorry, Dan O'Herlihy fans!)

There is one possible explanation: whenever Mr. O'Herlihy appeared on screen in movies between 1947 and 1993, and started to launch into one of his arid monologues in any movie he made, popcorn sales went up as movie patrons stampeded the refreshment counter.

[Rita Hayworth]

Thanks Moria for the head-up ... I got nothing to do tomorrow ... heck I might watch the whole lineup ... love all these movies.

[JackFavell]

I watched the last half of the movie and wish I had recorded it. I started to watch the first half, but I ran screaming from the room with Dan O'Herlihy's first arid monologue.

I think it's going to be on again June 28th.