THE MENS ROOM

[Professional Tourist]

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[mrsl]

Re: Anne Hathaway as Judy G. Anne is as cute as a button, and a really lovely girl to boot, but she is still years away from doing the biography of anyone yet. Also, whoever said it, you're correct about Judy Davis, she was almost like watching Judy herself in some spots.

Anne

[Ollie]

I have to admit a bit of trepidation towards Anne H. doing Judy G, and maybe the "still a distance from doing bio's" is the basis for my fears. I have really enjoyed some of Anne's films, but I'm not sure about HER. Put her in a wrong role, and this could be injurious, I suspect. I think she'd be better off doing her own characters rather than taking on someone with such a mixed bag of personal issues and accomplishments.

Of course, if they're going to do ANY Young Judy G scenes, then they've gotta pluck some young thang outta the crowd.

Best o' luck, Anne. I think you're gonna need it.

[jdb1]

Very nice photos of Garson, but I still cannot warm to her. In most of these, as on the screen, she has the look of someone who is smelling something bad, and trying not to be obvious about it. It makes her look condescending, and I don't think she's all that grande a dame to wear condescending well.

[klondike]

she has the look of someone who is smelling something bad, and trying not to be obvious about it.

AMAZING!
Judith, that is exactly what I was thinking as I perused those great Garson pix, and then spent the past hour or so ruminating how to express that in a less-than-off-putting manner.
Trust the Brooklyn Gal to git 'er dun !
But before I get chalked into the wrong box here, let me declare that I have always found Greer Garson to be an undeniably beautiful woman, unfortunately one who always feels (to me) as if any situation she finds herself in just insufferably strains her patience.

[jdb1]

No gainsaying from me, Klonny, regarding Garson's looks; it's a lovely face. However, I think one of the things that has kept me from going out of my way to see her in a movie is the impression that she's trying just a little too hard to be elegant -- the effort shows, and it should not have, if it came naturally to her.

I remember how surprised I was the first time I saw Random Harvest where, at the beginning of the film, she is youthful, energetic and cute. Didn't know she could do it, and to me, it suited her. Mrs. Miniver is one of my least favorite films. I just can't stand her in it; she's so self-consciously and bogusly noble. [Is "bogusly" word?]

[Professional Tourist]

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[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

You might be interested to know that Agnes Moorehead and Greer Garson were very good friends for years. And, Agnes would not have been her friend if Garson was a uppitty, snotty snob!

Actually, Garson looks a bit like a porcelain statue in those pictures and that could be the photographers lighting...

Larry

[moira finnie]

I think that Greer Garson came along at a time when a studio contract meant that a certain persona would be attached to you for publicity. I don't think that the roles she played were necessarily her choice, but perhaps she did the best she could with them. Given her coloring and aristocratic bearing, (and L.B. Mayer's reported infatuation with her--not to mention Howard Strickling) the Grand Lady parts came her way--but, my favorite part of Mrs. Miniver (1942) is not any of the false nobility that you may remember, but when Clem (Walter Pidgeon) gives her bottom a wallop! I also like Madame Curie (1943) as well for the development of the relationship between the two actors in that film as well as the way that a scientific discovery is portrayed. Maybe it wasn't entirely realistic, but Madame Curie had an optimism about human progress that I'd like to hang to right now. Besides Pidgeon and Garson form a believable kinship with mutual respect in their partnership that is quite touching, at least to me.

However, my favorite Garson roles are Random Harvest (1942) and Julia Misbehaves (1948).

Not that it would be difficult to be sympathetic to Ronald Colman as Smithy, but in the first half of Random Harvest her character is playful, funny and believable as a knockabout girl in the theater (even if her wardrobe is to die for) does a fine imitation of Harry Lauder as seen above in the kilt. In Julia Misbehaves she again returns to music hall roots as a Margery Sharp character from the enjoyable book, The Nutmeg Tree. I wish that Garson had played more Sharp characters, especially since this one gave her a chance to play a character closer to her actual age. They seemed to suit her.

Here she is helping a disoriented Ronald Colman on Armistice Day and strutting her stuff on stage in Random Harvest:
[youtube][/youtube]

[Garbomaniac]

I always forget how much I love Greer until I see her again. Whether it is Goodbye Mr. Chips, Pride and Prejudice, Random Harvest, Mrs. Parkington, Valley of Decision, or Julia Misbehaves, I am always glad to see her. In an ocean of channels, wondering what to watch, I can always rest on her when she is on. She calms me. She bring a beauty to each performance. I love her stateliness and her genuine presentation of her characters.



It's funny, but more and more as I get older, I want to put her in my top five actresses. I don't know why she was never there.

[Professional Tourist]

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[Ollie]

...I don't know why she was never there.

I agree. I probably avoided her films for my first decades of film watching but she's become a wonderful 'discovery' to me in the last decade or so, but so have many others. I fear my Collection-itis isn't getting any better just because I've snagged "all available films" from her and many others.

[jdb1]

I always forget how much I love Greer until I see her again. Whether it is Goodbye Mr. Chips, Pride and Prejudice, Random Harvest, Mrs. Parkington, Valley of Decision, or Julia Misbehaves, I am always glad to see her. In an ocean of channels, wondering what to watch, I can always rest on her when she is on. She calms me. She bring a beauty to each performance. I love her stateliness and her genuine presentation of her characters.



It's funny, but more and more as I get older, I want to put her in my top five actresses. I don't know why she was never there.

Well, my friend, this photo is to me a perfect exempla of what I've said about Garson. The arched brows, the widened eyes, the slightly flared nostrils and just a hint of a curl to the upper lip: she looks like she just passed the open door of a gas-station bathroom, but doesn't want to make a fuss about how bad it looks and smells.

The lady just doesn't do anything for me, and I simply do not like Mrs. Miniver, the character or the film, and never will.

[Garbomaniac]

Ok, Judith, enough of the illustrious Garson! Another British actress I discovered later in life, Ollie, is the beautious Madeleine Carroll! I just find her captivating. I haven't seen many of her films, but some of my favorites are 39 Steps, The General Died at Dawn, Lloyd's of London, On the Avenue, and The Prisoner of Zenda. One I would like to see cause she has Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (one of my top guys) as her co-star is Safari.

[Garbomaniac]

Hey, PT! I found this great pic on the Internet. I don't know if you have it. But, here it is.