I Just Watched...

[TikiSoo]

SINCE YOU WENT AWAY (1944) I love this movie and have seen it numerous times. Nonetheless, it's sexist, predictable with lots of tropes and corny, corny, corny.

Sure it's corny, but I like it a lot too. I thought it was a great transition part for Shirley Temple. I bet for many fans of the day, seeing the little moppet becoming a teen was pretty fun and think she transitioned well through her career.

Don't know why it stuck in my brain, but I often use "Wetukit" in conversation and no one knows what I'm talking about.

[Allhallowsday]

...Sure it's corny, but I like it a lot too. I thought it was a great transition part for Shirley Temple. I bet for many fans of the day, seeing the little moppet becoming a teen was pretty fun and think she transitioned well through her career.

Don't know why it stuck in my brain, but I often use "Wetukit" in conversation and no one knows what I'm talking about.

SHIRLEY is a top reason I love this movie.

[Cinemaspeak59]

Fools for Scandal (1938) Carole Lombard’s character is a little closer to her Lily Garland in Twentieth Century. Carole plays an actress fending off the amorous pursuits of two men (Fernand Gravet and Ralph Bellamy). The script drops enough hints she may not be in love with either of them, but for a romantic comedy, that won’t do. Some jokes fall flat, but there are enough good scenes to recommend it.

[jamesjazzguitar]

Fools for Scandal (1938) Carole Lombard’s character is a little closer to her Lily Garland in Twentieth Century. Carole plays an actress fending off the amorous pursuits of two men (Fernand Gravet and Ralph Bellamy). The script drops enough hints she may not be in love with either of them, but for a romantic comedy, that won’t do. Some jokes fall flat, but there are enough good scenes to recommend it.

Fools for Scandal was the first film Lombard did after her contract with Paramount expired. Warner Bros is the production company. I think WB was trying to recreate some of the magic of the Paramount Lombard screwball comedies, but this film falls flat and was the last of its kind for Lombard.

Lombard next 4 films after Fools for Scandal were dramas, ending her career (tragically), with two odd comedies (odd being one is directed by Hitchcock and the other is a set in Poland wartime comedies that centers around Nazis)

[CinemaInternational]

Paper Lion (1968) TCM- 6/10

Writer George Plimpton (Alan Alda) wants to write about football by trying out as quarterback in the Detroit Lions training camp.

I had seen this before, but not in many years. It was a fairly entertaining film though it helps if you are a football fan (which I am, Go Giants!) Alda gives a good performance and his interactions with the real life players are some of the best moments. The final scene where Plimpton gets to run a few plays in a pre season game goes on a bit long but when Plimpton joins in, it is amusing and pretty realistic.

Some interesting trivia on this- In an interview many years later, Alda said he learned to throw the ball 50 yards and connect with a receiver, however he could only do it once and would spend all night with his arm being iced. Alda become friends with Alex Karras, one of the real life Detroit Lions in the film. Karras would later reunite with Alda with a guest role on M*A*S*H.
As for the real life Plimpton, he would later do a TV special where he played quarterback for the Baltimore Colts in a pre season game for a couple of plays. The opponent was the Detroit Lions and Alex Karras was playing defense. In one play Karras smacked Plimpton on the side of his helmet. He was penalized 15 yards so Plimpton was actually able to gain yardage for the only time.
EDIT- I just watched that Plimpton special on Youtube again and my memory was off (52 years since I have seen it!) it was another player who committed the foul, not Karras.

This reminds me, I saw all three of the three latter-day football films that were on the other night (I had already seen Knute and Jim Thorpe). I thought this one, Paper Lion, was the most enjoyable. North Dallas Forty went off the boil the longer it went on, although Nolte was good. Semi-Tough veered around too much, with too much blah satire of 70s New Age movements, but the charm of Reynolds, Clayburgh, Kristofferson, and Preston made up for some of its shortfalls.

[TikiSoo]

I just watched WINTER KILLS '79 after DetectiveJim reviewed it some pages back:

"A black comedy/thriller obviously based on the JFK assassination with different names. There is a once in a lifetime cast- John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Eli Wallach, Ralph Meeker, Dorothy Malone, Toshiro Mifune, Richard Boone, Sterling Hayden and an unbilled cameo by Elizabeth Taylor."

Wow what a cast! Everyone was hilarious & loony except for Jeff Bridges' charactor as Jim had said earlier. I found the plot little muddled with "twists & turns" but it mattered not. Each scene was funny & entertaining enough to carry my interest.

One funny bit was the sex scene between Bridges & the "beautiful foreign spy". I usually dislike sex scenes but this one actually made me LOL: Bridges is trying to be emotional & romantic while the girl is loud & screaming (obviously faking)
He keeps telling her to "quiet down, shhhh!" but she doesn't stop. Then he throws a pillow over her face! He removes it for a second and she's still yelling. Rather than being horrified at possible asphyxiation, it's hilarious!

I also really liked Tony Perkins' little cameo bit. I never would have thought he'd be so good in comedy, but his performance was a standout.

I love the absurdness of black comedies & this one did not disappoint. But I do see the parallels with the Kennedy assassination and agree with Jim that audiences of the day would reject this movie.

[Detective Jim McLeod]

I love the absurdness of black comedies & this one did not disappoint. But I do see the parallels with the Kennedy assassination and agree with Jim that audiences of the day would reject this movie.

Glad you liked it. I think this may be one of those "love it or hate it" type movies so I was not sure how others would react to it.

[Detective Jim McLeod]

I Could Go On Singing (1963) TCM On Demand-5/10

A famous singer (Judy Garland) performing in London meets up with an old lover (Dirk Bogarde).

A first time viewing for me and while it is not great, Garland gives an excellent performance, especially in the musical moments, she belts out a heart tugging version of "By Myself". The story veers into soap opera territory with the plot about an illegitimate child. Some good but brief supporting performances by Jack Klugman as Garland's manager and Aline MacMahon as her loyal dresser. MacMahon, 30 years after Gold diggers Of 1933 can still toss off a good wisecrack.

This would be Garland's final film and it is OK send off for her. In 1967, she was supposed to appear in Valley Of The Dolls in the part later played by Susan Hayward. I'm glad now she did not do it since the movie was trashy and the role would have be humiliating for her.

[Fedya]

This would be Garland's final film and it is OK send off for her. In 1967, she was supposed to appear in Valley Of The Dolls in the part later played by Susan Hayward. I'm glad now she did not do it since the movie was trashy and the role would have be humiliating for her.

I think the Helen Lawson role also calls for an actress who can do the potboiler stuff well. Hayward definitely could do that; I'm not so certain about Judy Garland.

[kingrat]

This would be Garland's final film and it is OK send off for her. In 1967, she was supposed to appear in Valley Of The Dolls in the part later played by Susan Hayward. I'm glad now she did not do it since the movie was trashy and the role would have be humiliating for her.

I think the Helen Lawson role also calls for an actress who can do the potboiler stuff well. Hayward definitely could do that; I'm not so certain about Judy Garland.

But Fedya, Judy could have been the one to introduce "I Plant My Own Tree"! Oh, yeah, maybe not the way we want to remember her.

[txfilmfan]

This would be Garland's final film and it is OK send off for her. In 1967, she was supposed to appear in Valley Of The Dolls in the part later played by Susan Hayward. I'm glad now she did not do it since the movie was trashy and the role would have be humiliating for her.

I think the Helen Lawson role also calls for an actress who can do the potboiler stuff well. Hayward definitely could do that; I'm not so certain about Judy Garland.

But Fedya, Judy could have been the one to introduce "I Plant My Own Tree"! Oh, yeah, maybe not the way we want to remember her.

Judy probably would've told the director to get rid of those damned cheap plastic amoeba mobile thingies. Our neighbor had a smaller version of those hanging in their living room back in the day...

[jamesjazzguitar]

I think the Helen Lawson role also calls for an actress who can do the potboiler stuff well. Hayward definitely could do that; I'm not so certain about Judy Garland.

But Fedya, Judy could have been the one to introduce "I Plant My Own Tree"! Oh, yeah, maybe not the way we want to remember her.

Judy probably would've told the director to get rid of those damned cheap plastic amoeba mobile thingies. Our neighbor had a smaller version of those hanging in their living room back in the day...

If Garland tried to do that at this stage of her career she would have been fired.

[txfilmfan]

But Fedya, Judy could have been the one to introduce "I Plant My Own Tree"! Oh, yeah, maybe not the way we want to remember her.

Judy probably would've told the director to get rid of those damned cheap plastic amoeba mobile thingies. Our neighbor had a smaller version of those hanging in their living room back in the day...

If Garland tried to do that at this stage of her career she would have been fired.

Well, she was fired, so there's that...

[kingrat]

"FANNIE wrote it!! IRENE played it!!!"

Ah, there's nothing like a double feature of Fannie Hurst novels screen adaptations starring Irene Dunne. Whether that's a good thing or not is up to you, but there's nothing like it. You may want to give Irene a swift kick at the end of IMITATION OF LIFE for being overly concerned about her daughter's schoolgirl crush and for not grabbing Warren William for herself--or, depending on your tastes, for not grabbing Ned Sparks a decade or so earlier and having a happy marriage with a funny and dependable if not handsome guy.

But that's nothing compared to BACK STREET, where you may want to SCREAM at Irene in addition to giving her a continuing series of swift kicks in the rear for giving up everything for an occasional tussle with, yes, John Boles, who kept being cast as weaklings in women's pictures. Boles can be somewhat cute, and his soft-spoken Southern accent is appealing, but giving up an independent life for him? No way! At least Margaret Sullavan in the 1940s remake gave up everything for Charles Boyer. In the 1950s remake Susan Hayward was backstreeting for John Gavin, who was sort of the 1950s equivalent of John Boles, but Susan was a star fashion designer! Heidi Klum and Nina Garcia would have worn her clothes!

Poor John Boles is stuck with all the dialogue that any woman who occasionally uses her brain would recognize as Red Signal Alerts. Of course he took a four-week European vacation he neglected to tell her about. Of course he was back in New York two days before he telephoned. Of course he only tells her he loves her when she's starting to show a little gumption and expect more of him. This is exactly the strength of BACK STREET, though it may be perverse to think so, that Irene gives up so much, gets so little in return, and believes she's experiencing a great romantic passion. Smart woman, foolish choices. Really, really, really foolish.

Speaking of John Boles and his mustache, did any 1930s actor really rock a mustache the way so many 1960s, 70s, & 80s actors did? Think of Tom Selleck and John Beck, to name only two.

Speaking of John M. Stahl, director of the double Fannie feature, BACK STREET is not very well directed, but IMITATION OF LIFE is. For instance, there's a very nice shot in IMITATION OF LIFE where Irene ascends an elaborate staircase to her rooms while Louise Beavers goes downstairs to her quarters. MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION, which is a couple of years after IMITATION OF LIFE, is no better directed than BACK STREET. Weird.

[jamesjazzguitar]

Judy probably would've told the director to get rid of those damned cheap plastic amoeba mobile thingies. Our neighbor had a smaller version of those hanging in their living room back in the day...

If Garland tried to do that at this stage of her career she would have been fired.

Well, she was fired, so there's that...

Susan Hayward was the right actor for the role: no one could play a 'b', better than Hayward.