WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[CineMaven]

[b]...Super elegant and classy Capucine (some say she wasn't believable as girl from the wrong side of the tracks for this reason, after all she had been a model for Dior, Chanel et al and pretty much like Dina Merrill and Audrey Hepburn she exuded class and would look elegant even if she wore a sack) plays a woman of loose morals whom Wayne befriends while in Seattle. Beautiful location cinematography, wonderful sights and lots of brawls and action. [/b]

I love your aside about Capucine. She was gorgeous, wasn't she. I enjoyed her performance in "WALK ON THE WILD SIDE."

[RedRiver]

Wow! Interesting post. BREACH is mainly where I've seen young Phillipe, and liked his work. But, as someone said, he was good in CRASH. HIGH BARBAREE does sound like a charming story. (Borderline fable?) I think I'd like it.

Jack Conway is not a director to be ignored. BOOM TOWN is his. HONKY TONK, a lesser Gable bash. And an offbeat little Harlow vehicle called RED-HEADED WOMAN. And that TALE OF TWO CITIES! That one is top notch all the way. By far my favorite costume drama, everything works in this crackling epic/adventure. Any filmmaker who can make Dickens fast paced...

[JackFavell]

Oh man! Wasn't High Barbaree just on TCM a couple days ago? I missed it. June is moving up in my estimation. It ain't so easy to play the good girl.

[feaito]

NTA will also be a favorite of mine Wendy, a very pleasant surprise and much, much better than I expected.

RedRiver....Yes, indeed Wayne's best comedic performance! Haven't seen McLintock and the closest to comedy I've seen Wayne in are one film with Jean Arthur and another with Claudette Colbert (Without Reservations)...

I also saw "Walk on the Wild Side" Theresa, I'll have to revisit that one! My favorite Capucine performance has to be in "The Pink Panther"....Mancini and Blake Edwards can't be beaten....

[feaito]

I revisited "In This Our Life" (1942) and I feel pretty much the same when I watched it for the first time in 2008:

This film mainly belongs to the type of Woman's melodrama that was expertly made back in the 1940s (I feel that the genre reached its zenith during that decade) and that surely is not being filmed anymore.

Here we have the queen of melodrama, Bette Davis in one of her most over the top performances, with all her mannerisms at full display, especially those exaggeratedly open eyes and the nervous tics that go with it.

She plays Stanley Timberlake, a spoiled, manipulative, whimsical, fiery southern belle who's used to having her own way, especially due to the extreme pampering courtesy of her apparently weak, whining mother, Lavinia Fitzroy Timberlake (Billie Burke) and her no-holds-barred rich maternal uncle William Fitzroy, expertly played by that grand actor Charles Coburn -who had a big run of good parts in noteworthy films the year in which this picture was released (Kings Row, The Man Who Came to Dinner & George Washington Slept Here). Uncle William has no children of his own and Stanley is his absolute weakness; he does anything Stanley wants, just like mum Lavinia.

Olivia De Havilland plays her mature, subdued, modest, good natured sister Roy Timberlake (I wonder why both characters were given masculine names...was it on purpose?) who's betrayed in one of the most terrible ways by her "dear" sister Stanley.

Dennis Morgan and George Brent play the men in the Timberlake girls' lives, giving both good performances.

I was surprised that this melodrama tackled serious social issues for 1942, principally the discrimination of black people, especially in the South (the film is mainly set in Richmond, Virginia), where at the time they had little chance to improve their socioeconomic position in life. Ernest Anderson plays perfectly against stereotype the smart, ambitious Parry who wants to be a lawyer, in spite of being conscious of all the obstacles he will have to face. Hattie McDaniel portrays his mother Minerva, who works as a maid in the Timberlake Residence, playing a non-comic role for a change.

Lee Patrick is also in the cast as a dizzy lady who befriends Bette Davis' character in Baltimore, after she flees Richmond to avoid public scandal.

Being a film directed by John Huston it shouldn't surprise anyone that in spite of its predominant melodramatic elements it has also many moments of truth, especially in the scenes that involve the idealistic lawyer played by George Brent, the good natured Roy, beautifully played by Olivia De Havilland and the lovable, dependable Parry, played deftly by Ernest Anderson in one of the few non-stereotypical, truly dignified roles I've seen an African American actor during the 1940s. When Bette enters the picture though, we're back in Melodrama's Neverland.

Walter Huston, father of the director, plays a small cameo role as bartender in a Tavern.

[RedRiver]

We're not far apart on this one. It has some things going for it; the social conciousness is effective. It's dramatic and emotional. But the story is not strong enough to hold it all together. Nonetheless, I haven't seen it in a long time, and your comments make me want to take another look. Any film that has that effect is OK in my book!

[CineMaven]

Feaito...pay close attention to "WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?" The man serving Bette Davis the ice cream when she's on the beach at the end of the film...is Ernest Anderson.

Are you typing these wonderful reviews one-handed?

[feaito]

Hi RedRiver, I'm glad to read that.

Theresa, I have to revisit WHTBJ, so thanks for that valuable info!

I'm not typing one-handed anymore. Thanks for your compliment.

I've just watched the wonderful whodunit "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974), based on an Agatha Christie novel, one of the best of its class I've ever seen, with a first rate cast (Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Wendy Hiller, Richard Widmark, Tony Perkins, etc). The crime depicted is quite reminiscent of the Lindbergh case. Something that I found funny was all the things that Hercule Poirot had to wear do in order to keep his hair and moustache in place before going to sleep

[CineMaven]

Feo...one question since you talked about "IN THIS OUR LIFE." I know Bette worked with her frequent leading GEORGE BRENT. But he also worked with Stanwyck.

Who do YOU think George Brent worked better with Bette Davis or Barbara Stanwyck?



OH...may I throw Annie in the mix? Anyone can answer.
[youtube][/youtube]

[Gary J.]

A better question would be which top actress over shadowed George Brent completely on screen time after time?

[CineMaven]

The glass half-empty, half full...I thought of that Gary J. But I didn't want to be mean to Brent. So, what's your answer?

[CineMaven]

SUZANNE PLESHETTE, JAMES FRANCISCUS and EVA GABOR in "YOUNGBLOOD HAWKE" (1964)

Have you ever seen a dream walking?

Well I have.

Have you ever seen a male soap opera?

Well I have.

TEXT MESSAGE CONVERSATION:

FRIEND: Are you watching the Martin Luther King dedication?

C-MAVEN: Naaaah, I’m watching a sudsy old soap opera on TCM.

FRIEND: Don’t you want to see Obama?

C-MAVEN: Hey, I haven’t seen ‘Youngblood Hawke’ in 40 years.

FRIEND: LOL!

C-MAVEN: I’m a movie buff.

...And I was a happy camper, too. “YOUNGBLOOD HAWKE” was on Sunday morning. I saw it so long ago, I remembered none of it, but enjoyed all of it. Wow! They stuffed a lifetime of events in two and a half hours. And yes, it was a male soap opera. The film has a male lead, but the film has a female presentation. The gorgeous James Franciscus plays Youngblood Hawke and I swear he was filmed like any other blonde bombshell.


JAMES FRANCISCUS.

Such a focus on him. He is the focus...the object of desire. But it’s not quite with the same focus you’d look at Mitchum, Ryan, Peck or Matthew McIckyhay. (That’s for you, Jackaaay but we’ll leave him off that list, though I do think he could pay a modern day “HUD” ). At first I missed the Sirkian-saturated technicolor of a true soap opera, but I very quickly changed my mind; that might turn him into a pin-up...a thinking woman's Troy Donahue. (And who wants that? Besides, NYC sometimes looks better in black & white). By Delmer Daves making Franciscus the object of our gaze, it's like looking at Gene Tierney or Jeanne Crain. Or Esther Williams. Everything’s inverted as Franciscus plays Youngblood Hawke, a blonde babe in the woods in the big bad city of 1960’s New York. He’s the hot new sensation in the publishing world and two sexy sharks with husky voices swim around him. Sharks not sexy? Ha! Au contraire when they're in the guise of... SUZANNE PLESHETTE, story editor: ( smart as a whip, maternally patient...but interested ) and GENEVIEVE PAGE, patron of the arts: ( sophisticated, damaged...and insatiably devouring ).

Well, if a guy’s gotta go...

Maybe the sets were Hollywood, but the beautiful cinematography films 1964 New York City. Oooh, that black and white is as clean and a sharp as an Autumn day. I recognized a couple of New York sights...the main one being the promenade of Brooklyn Heights. I recognized the entrance they went through and the little lip of the promenade they were standing on. I squealed when I heard the rent for his little East River garret was $60.00. I would kill for that apartment in Brooklyn Heights. The rent now in that very same spot, is probably a good $3,500. And that would be on the cheap side. The music is by Max Steiner...big and bombastic!! It presents itself and every situation it underscores. (Korngold ain’t got nuthin’ on him!) The movie is peopled with a great supporting class and character types, including: John Dehner, Lee Bowman (finally I like him in something), Eva Gabor, Mildred Dunnock, Don Porter, Werner Klemperer, Edward Andrews and the great Mary Astor as sharks, vamps, butterflies, bimboes and career girls and grande dames.

What is Youngblood up against? Love at first sight and lust at first sight. A typical choice and friendly nemeses in films. Genevieve Page has a great voice, like Hildegarde. She’s got a glamorous wardrobe and wears it damn well. She knows the right people and can help his career. But she’s also saddled with a husband and three kids: two little girls curtsying like twin fairies in "Godzilla" (or is that "Mothra"?) and a sickly son who looks like he won’t survive a rousing game of stickball on the streets of Sutton Place, much less the military school he’s being sent to. (Hollywood Child Actors! Bah! There oughta be a law. Nothing real like young Desmond Tester in “Sabotage”). Page’s husband is played by sad-sack, second-stringer, Kent Smith. Just seeing him is such a short hand. You know he’s not making Page happy. She’s a girl with baggage and no guy wants that.

Then there’s Pleshette with her blazing eyes and dark beauty. She looks very sultry here in a good clean way. She’s a career girl. Smart. Knows the ropes. She gets a ringing endorsement from Youngblood’s mother (played by Elizabeth Taylor's "BUTTERFIELD 8" mother Mildred Dunnock) when she tells Pleshette: “You seem too pretty to have so much brains.” HA! And Pleshette’s character went to Stanford. What a waste, ey Mom? Pleshette can help Youngblood with his career. More accurately, she can help him become a better writer. Oh she wants him alright. We see this the very first time she sees him. But she hangs back a bit. Darn it...if only Youngblood would make the first move like a fella’s supposed to. Why won't he step up to the plate? ('Cuz Page already has him by the bat). Pleshette's boss waits in the wings to scoop her up. He’s very kind and very handsome (played by Mark Miller of “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies” fame and the handsomest tv father of the 60’s). But she's a career girl: "I'm proud of the help I can give a fine writer, but my life is my own!!" Yet still...it’s Youngblood that makes Suzanne’s typewriter go pitter patter. She tells him “My emotions are becoming a little too obvious. I can’t continue to work with you. Night after night.” Reasonable. Sensible. Quietly sexy. A big come-on.

Being a red-blooded American male, there’s no doubt which moth Youngblood’s attracted to. He picks the gal with the baggage. Well...I hope it's at least Louis Vuitton.

Much swirls around the “hawke” in this movie. Feted by the hoi polloi, dropped by a publisher, breach of contract, suicide, pneumonia, lawsuits, being catnip to women, Pulitzer nominations...and his mother entering his room without knocking. Whew!! It’s a never ending series of events, Steiner musical cues and sophisticated 60's Mad Men banter in "Youngblood Hawke." And I ate it up hook, line and sinker!!! Franciscus did a good job as the lead. He emoted convincingly, is born to a tuxedo, and can dive into a pool as good as Greg Lougainis.

I think I'll relive some of the movie by going down to Brooklyn Heights on this cloudy 21st century New York day...and walk the Brooklyn Promenade. I’ll look for the ghosts of James Franciscus and Suzanne Pleshette...and maybe show you some pictures of what the promenade looks like today.

[Gary J.]

The glass half-empty, half full...I thought of that Gary J. But I didn't want to be mean to Brent. So, what's your answer?

Simple. Everyone. For me Brent was just a cipher as a leading man.

Maybe I should clarify that a bit. In some of his programmers he made in the mid-thirties, such as FRONT PAGE WOMEN (35) and GIVE ME YOUR HEART (36), he actually comes off as lively and fun on the screen. But the moment that Bette Davis' star ascended on the Warner's lot and Brent started becoming her frequent co-star he became more stiff and leaden to me.

[JackFavell]

I don't think he's such a cipher in Jezebel. I think that when he had something interesting to play, he was interesting. My favorites are:


The Spiral Staircase
The Rains Came
Jezebel
Baby Face
Female

I think he is quite good when given his own screen time, rather than just being a shoulder to lean on. My two favorites at the top of the list are both opposite very young innocent women, actresses who are soft. Brent is actually quite a bit more interesting in real life than his characters would lead you to believe. It's a shame he couldn't have played the adventurous types that he obviously was in real life. I think he perhaps didn't have a lot of drive or ambition as an actor.