WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[RedRiver]

This is ironic for a classic movie fan. My first impression of MacMurray was from MY THREE SONS. Of Stanwyck, THE BIG VALLEY. I asked my parents, "Why is she listed as MISS Barbara Stanwyck?"

Isn't the judge in REMEMBER THE NIGHT played by one of the great character actors? I recall enjoying his appearance.

[CineMaven]

For years I had only seen Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity and I couldn't see that she had any charm, that blonde wig and ankle bracelet really take away from Barbara's attractiveness. I never understood why they made her look so hard, it makes her character in DI more obvious, of course she's out and out bad. Otherwise I love DI. Thankfully I took a look at Barbara's other films and loved them.

I'm glad you gave Stanwyck another chance. I thought she was a fine actress. It's an art to be able to do comedy and drama.

...And then there's "Lady of Burlesque." Whew! Bette and Kate couldn't get down like that. Oh...or ride a horse like she did in "Forty Guns." Stanwyck's a pip.

[movieman1957]

"Lady of Burlesque" is in my queue. I've never seen it. I'd appreciate a little background on it.

[knitwit45]

Chris, this is one of my favorite Stany movies. She is bright, funny, attractive, and does a great dance routine (for burlesque). I think you will enjoy it! It's based on the Gypsy Rose Lee story "The G-String Murders". Now hows THAT for a teaser....

[movieman1957]

I'll see if I can find the review.

Thanks to you both.

[charliechaplinfan]

Did I say she's one of my favourites these days. I should say my first acquaintance with her was in The Thornbirds, another not very nice female. I absolutely love her precodes, she can flit between glamourous and downtrodden so well, has anyone seen her in Baby Face? I got reacquainted with her through the precodes, The Bitter Tea of General Yen anyone?

Today I watched another film that was new to me The Mad Miss Manton with Henry Fonda. Have I ever said that I becoming more and more of a fan of Henry Fonda? This screwball with murder included and a big pack of debutantes keeps a steady pace but never completely ignites for me. I think the reason is that the relationship between the two leads just isn't teased out enough, Fonda switches from hating to loving Stanwyck so quickly I doubted his motives. I had the feeling it could have been a movie along the lines of The Lady Eve if only had the story or direction been tighter. Barbara and Henry weren't lacking in the leads.

What accent has Henry Fonda got? He has the loveliest voice to my English ears. Someone will now tell me it's as common as muck but to me it's as distinctive as Jimmy Stewart's drawl, Cary Grant's accent (what is his accent, anyone know, it doesn't sound English?). Heck I love Buster Keaton's voice even though when I first heard it his voice wasn't how I'd imagined it, whereas Chaplin's was exactly what I thought it would be.

[moira finnie]

What accent has Henry Fonda got? He has the loveliest voice to my English ears. Someone will now tell me it's as common as muck but to me it's as distinctive as Jimmy Stewart's drawl, Cary Grant's accent (what is his accent, anyone know, it doesn't sound English?). Heck I love Buster Keaton's voice even though when I first heard it his voice wasn't how I'd imagined it, whereas Chaplin's was exactly what I thought it would be.

Born and raised in Nebraska, and studying for a time at the University of Minnesota, I'd say that Fonda had an accent rooted in the Midwest, and his speaking voice might have been buffed up by his training as a stage actor, particularly with the University Players. Sometimes he sounds as though he could have been from Maine too, but I've heard other Nebraskans speaking who sound quite a bit like him. I think that Fonda's apparent simplicity in his acting makes him consistently interesting and appealing, though many people can't abide him. He can grow on you, though. Ever seen You Only Live Once (1937-Fritz Lang)? It's one of his very best early performances as a hard-luck joe. Sylvia Sidney is very fine in this movie too, which begins below. I like a similar film as well with Fonda and Maureen O'Sullivan in Let Us Live (1939-John Brahm), which was based on fact, but is very seldom shown anywhere.
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[RedRiver]

Hank did have a distinctly midwestern sound. That probably helped audiences accept him in many roles. It's been suggested that Johnny Carson's Nebraska shine made him easy to like. Who doesn't relate to the corn belt? I don't know if James Stewart sounds like he's from Pennsylvania or not. He could be from another planet! Nobody else sounds like Jimmy!

[charliechaplinfan]

Wasn't Henry Fonda from the same part of America as Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift, no one sounds like Brando and Clift doesn't seem to have a strong accent. I have watched Fritz Lang's film You Only Live Once, it's one of the films that completely converted me to Fonda, my feeling is that he's better in dramas but he can shine in some comedies, like The Lady Eve. I must see Mister Roberts again, I watched it years ago, before I appreciated the calibre of the cast.

Well I made a bit of a mistake with my choice of movie today, I was looking for the Tony Curtis picture set in the Navy with Cary Grant thinking it was called Destination Tokyo, Tony Curtis/John Garfield, what does it matter. I stuck with Destination Tokyo, war movies not being my favourite genre, the feeling that I could get lost with a bit too much action or technical speak tends to put me off but I was gripped by this drama. I think because the men are so well drawn and so likeable, the mission so important and the action when it comes very impressive to watch. I'm not a CGI fan, give me Warner's submarine passing through the Bay of Tokyo anyday. I must have picked one of the best of the genre, I was convinced by the way the actors felt at one with the boat, they were sailors not actors. A rare chance to see Cary Grant in a serious role that isn't directed by Hitchcock, his captain was lovely with his men, very fatherly and caring. The operation on board ship, the bomb they had to dislodge and the action at the end, I was on the edge of my chair.

Operation Petticoat will be viewed soon, it can't possibly top this.

[CineMaven]

I'm so happy you're enjoying these great old classics, Allison. Somehow, it's making me smile and makes my ol' ( American ) heart feel good that you're discovering and enjoying. Even a "mistake" is panning out for you as well.

I'm glad.

[knitwit45]

Ali, when you do get around to Operation Petticoat, remember that it is a completely different genre, but still a good movie. I don't think it comes close to Destination Tokyo, but for a comedy, it's quite funny. Cary has entered his Absolutely Gorgeous period in this one. zowie.

[MikeBSG]

Yesterday I watched "42nd Street" (1933) directed by Lloyd Bacon.

I'm embarrassed to say that this was the first time I'd seen it. I never really liked "Footlight Parade" and "Golddiggers of 1933" and "1935" were films I tolerated for the musical numbers more than enjoyed fully.

So I was pleased to say that I really liked "42nd Street." Yes, a lot of cliches begin there, BUT there's a lot that wasn't copied to death, like the fact that the film is more about the director than a love story between two performers. (And the fact that the love story was between two rather unsympathetic people, Bebe Daniels and George Brent, gave the film a freshness as well.) I loved Una Merkel as a wisecracking chorine, and the three Busby Berkeley numbers were all terrific. (It probably helped that I have had "Shuffle off to Buffalo" and "42nd Street" beaten into my head via the Warner Brothers cartoons over the years.)

I had a great time watching it. "42nd Street" deserves its status as classic and the film that gave the musical a second chance.

[moira finnie]

Wasn't Henry Fonda from the same part of America as Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift, no one sounds like Brando and Clift doesn't seem to have a strong accent.

As you know, Henry Fonda was from Omaha, Nebraska and was introduced to acting in a serious way while home from college. He was cajoled into taking a role as a leading man in a stage play being directed by none other than Dorothy Pennebaker Brando, Marlon and Jocelyn's mother. She was the driving creative force behind the Omaha Community Playhouse, which fostered the gifts of Fonda and later Dorothy McGuire. While he was born in Omaha, I'm not sure if Montgomery Clift's accent can really be tied to any one area since he spent so much of his childhood being trucked around by his socially ambitious mother between posh locations in the U.S. and Europe. He also had Broadway stage training from a very early age, and was particularly influenced by Alfred Lunt, who was from beautiful Wisconsin in the MIdwest, though Lunt played every nationality on stage with ease.

Glad you saw Destination Tokyo, which was the first of Delmer Daves' movies as both director and writer (written with Albert Maltz and drawn from Steve Fisher's original story). I really like most of Daves' movies, though this one is occasionally overwhelmed by some moving but occasionally squirm-worthy "us vs. them" wartime propaganda for me. Despite this, it is emotionally involving, in part because of the acting and the atmosphere fraught with tension--influenced no doubt by the reality of the grim war situation at the time with the worldwide outcome still a tossup in '43. The technical talk seems pretty familiar now to me thanks to all the subsequent submarine movies, though at the time, its accuracy and attention-to-detail was groundbreaking, and caused the Office of War Information to scrutinize the script and remove some terms for security reasons.

The emphasis on contrasting American culture with that of the Japanese really jumped out at me in Destination Tokyo when Capt. Cary Grant mourned a seaman stabbed to death by a Japanese sailor he was trying to rescue with the words ". . . Mike bought his kid roller skates when the kid turned five -- Well, that Jap got a present when he was five: only it was a dagger. His old man gave it to him so he would know right off what he was supposed to be in life...and by the time he’s 13, he can put a machine gun together blindfolded. That Jap was started on the road 20 years ago to putting a knife in Mike’s back. And a lot more Mikes are going to die until we wipe out a system that puts daggers in the hands of five-year-old children. That’s what Mike died for: more roller skates in this world -- even some for the next generation of Japanese kids." Discussing the enemy's lack of respect for the female half of the human race, Capt. Cary comments that "The Japs don't understand the love we have for our women. They don't even have a word for it in their language." (From reading such books as Ruth Benedict's "The Chrysanthemum and The Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture", I understand that they actually have several terms for love, though the verbal expression of this deep emotion is not as common in their culture, especially back then, when militarism distorted everything. Some 18 Japanese terms for love of various kinds are seen here.)

I guess I am interested in propaganda movies of any kind, even though they can be well made as Destination Tokyo was or strangely compelling like Titanic (1943), which can still be appreciated for the storytelling, with some reservations. The really lurid artifacts from the period trying to inflame emotions sometimes just seem hokey or offensively stereotypical now, though they could rarely tell the actual awful truth about the brutality that occurred in Axis countries or the horrific effects of Allied bombing by the end of the war. I guess one of the best of the genre that I've ever seen was Powell and Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), when it was pointed out that being gentlemanly wasn't going to stop the fascists...and the war wouldn't "start at midnight." I know that they still affect me, despite my mixed emotions, especially when they touch on the impact of war on individual families, as it still does today.

[charliechaplinfan]

Ali, when you do get around to Operation Petticoat, remember that it is a completely different genre, but still a good movie. I don't think it comes close to Destination Tokyo, but for a comedy, it's quite funny. Cary has entered his Absolutely Gorgeous period in this one. zowie.

Is he absolutely gorgeous in Operation Petticoat or Destination Tokyo? I wasn't sure which one you were referring to. Apart from the fact he's almost always absolutely gorgeous, his peak for me was from Sylvia Scarlett through to People Will Talk probably peaking in the late thirties early forties. I can't actually think of any actor or actress who kept hold of their good looks for as long as Cary, he was still gorgeous in his last film.

Moira, thank you so much for your post, as always there's always a lot to take in. I had forgotten about Clift's wanderings and he was perhaps from a higher class than Brando and Fonda. I think Fonda is my favourite cowboy and my favourite Ford actor, I haven't seen the later Western he made, Once Upon A Time in The West because I like his earlier roles so much, perhaps I should watch him play the bad guy again.

Destination Tokyo, I should have said something about the propaganda which was a sign of the times but makes for uncomfortable watching today, it's interesting to note that the attention to detail I noticed was mentioned at the time. I should have said something more about John Garfield too, although he has equal billing with Grant his role isn't that big, he doesn't get chance to let his talent lose. I've been watching a few Cary movies recently, I think I watched a couple and had forgotten how good he was and how much I enojy his movies. I haven't really seen his serious roles, the role of Captain is a revelation. My top screwball actor, no one comes close is also close to becoming my favourite straight actor too.