WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[Fossy]

Dramatic School (1938)

Stars Luise Rainer and Paulette Goddard, Luise as an aspiring actress who secretly works night shift at a factory to make ends meet, Paulette who runs the school and is jealous of Louise`s obvious ability. Paulette expels Luise when Louise falls asleep in school, but a patron of the school comes to her rescue. Their difference are solved when Luise tells Paulette how much she admires her.

Well worth watching. Luise is superb, but then wasn`t she always. Luise now lives in London and recently celebrated her 102nd. birthday.

[JackFavell]

I really like Dramatic School, it suits Rainer's intense but frail personality to a T.

Did I say frail? The woman made it to 102 - I should be so frail!

[Ann Harding]

French TV did a good tribute to Elizabeth Taylor. I am quite amazed they did because previous deaths of great performers were not even mentioned. Anyway, I managed to see Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966, M. Nichols) for the first time. The film has a terrible reputation in French cinema books. It's considered a terrible 'theatrical film' with horrendous overacting. But, I completely disagree with them. I found both Elizabeth and Richard Burton really impressive as the quarrelling middle-aged couple. This desintegrating marriage is running its course through the night with grief and enough alcohol to fill a barrel. Though the young couple seems to be as flawed as the one of the elder academics. Their gutsy performances make it an experience to watch. True, it's orignally a play, but I didn't find the film static. Burton was a brilliant actor.
Yesterday, I revisited Father of the Bride (1950, V. Minnelli) after a 20-odd years gap. It proved really pleasurable in spite of the French dubbing. Minnelli draws a really amusing criticism of the growing madness of the mother of the bride. The small wedding becomes a terrifying mob of locusts which could devour and destroy the whole house. Spencer Tracy was delightful as the father overtaken by the events. We get also very amusing character actors such as Leo G. Carroll and Melville Cooper. Liz Taylor has a good rapport with her screen father. Overall a very good comedy.
I recorded also Suddenly Last Summer late at night. I haven't watched for a while. It will another rediscovery...

[moira finnie]

I wonder if it is a gauge of the horrendous worldwide celebrity that Elizabeth Taylor once had that French television would actually program her films in tribute? I agree with you about Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Christine. Not only is the work of Burton and Taylor not overacting, I've seen marriages in real life that were exactly like that dance of death enacted by Martha and George!

I like the scene late at night in the kitchen between Tracy and Taylor--as well as the montage depicting Tracy's bewilderment when he tries to figure out what numbskull boyfriend his daughter might have become engaged to. I think this movie and Adam's Rib may be two of Spencer Tracy's most entertaining comedic performances.

[feaito]

Fossy, thanks for posting about "Dramatic School" (1938). I'm a fervent admirer of Luise Rainer and I wish other films of her -than The Good Earth & The Great Ziegfeld- were released on DVD. God bless her at 102! It has always annoyed to read some criticism regarding her supposed "over-emoting"...Don't agree at all.

Christine, I watched FOTB recently -for the first time- and it was a delight, but especially due to Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett. I agree that Liz Taylor had good rapport with her screen father. As for SLS, it's one of my favorite Taylor films along with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. You're in for a treat there and I've also wanted to revisit it for a time.

Regarding WAOVW, I agree it's a brilliant film, superbly acted, but it is so true and real -and the characters are so annoying and unpleasant- that the first time I tried to watch it, I had to turn the DVD off, because I could not stand the leading characters. They made such a great job as making it me unbearable for me to see the film and their performances. It's too close to real people/couples I've known

[moira finnie]

I wonder if it is a gauge of the horrendous worldwide notoriety that Elizabeth Taylor once had that French television would actually program her films in tribute? I agree with you about Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Christine. Not only is the work of Burton and Taylor not overacting, I've seen marriages in real life that were very similar to that alcohol-fueled dance of death enacted by Martha and George.

In Father of the Bride, I like the scene late at night in the kitchen between Tracy and Taylor--as well as the montage depicting Tracy's bewilderment when he tries to figure out what numbskull boyfriend his daughter might have become engaged to. I also think that the rapport between Tracy and Joan Bennett is very real and funny. The two actors struck sparks early on in their film careers, appearing together in movies made better because of their presence: She Wanted a Millionaire and Me and My Gal both made in 1932, when the two young actors were full of gingar. (Bennett spoke of Tracy with great affection in her autobiography).

I think that Father of the Bride and Adam's Rib may be two of Spencer Tracy's most entertaining comedic performances. I wish he'd done more comedies. (Wish there had been more well-written comedies in Minnelli's career too. Several of his other comedies were very weak affairs).

[charliechaplinfan]

I'd love to see Dramatic School, I really enjoyed The Good Earth and Luise Rainer is an actress I would like to see in another film. Paulette Goddard has such charm, I'd love to see the difference between them.

I've yet to WAOVW and FOB. I'm quite anxious to see these after what other members have said. I've only seen clips of Virginia Woolf but can attest to knowing a couple like them too.

[Ann Harding]

Yesterday I saw The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955, R. Fleischer) with Joan Collins, Ray Milland & Farley Granger. We are in New York around 1900, Evelyn Nesbit (J. Collins), an innocent chorus girl, becomes the mistress of famous architect Stanford White (R. Milland). When he decides he cannot leave his wife, she marries millionaire Harry Thaw (F. Granger). Alas, he has a morbid jealousy of White and kills him in cold blood one day. This drama is based on a famous criminal story. Joan Collins is supposed to be the girl that drives men to madness. Alas, if she is very good looking, as an actress she is rather bland. You never know if she is innocent or a temptress. As I was watching I was wondering what Elizabeth Taylor could have done in the part. No doubt, she would have given the girl far more charisma. On the plus side, it's a flamboyant Technicolor CinemaScope melodrama. Ray Milland is adequate -though his character is never clearly delineated (censors?)- and Farley Granger plays to the hilt the mad and arrogant Thaw. With such a powerful story, I would have expected a far more gripping film. It's enjoyable, but forgettable.

[Ann Harding]

I wonder if it is a gauge of the horrendous worldwide notoriety that Elizabeth Taylor once had that French television would actually program her films in tribute? I agree with you about Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Christine. Not only is the work of Burton and Taylor not overacting, I've seen marriages in real life that were very similar to that alcohol-fueled dance of death enacted by Martha and George.

Gosh! I guess I'm lucky I've never met people like Martha & George!

[moira finnie]

Yes, Christine. You are very lucky. I hope you will write your impressions of Suddenly, Last Summer when you have a chance to see it. It's a guilty pleasure of mine.

Re: The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing
I thought that Ray Milland played Stanford White with a degree of wistfulness that was far better than the script. The only time I've seen Joan Collins play a character well was in The Sea Wife, which hardly anyone knows. I think she was in dire need of acting lessons and strong direction in everything else I've seen her in since. The role of Evelyn Nesbit's crazy husband Harry Thaw was the last part that Farley Granger played in movies before he turned his back on Hollywood to study acting seriously in NYC, appearing on the stage exclusively for a decade.

Someday, someone will find a way to tell the real Evelyn Nesbit story on film. I have always remembered the story told in Damned in Paradise, the bio of John Barrymore by John Kobler, in which the actor, touring in a play in the '30s, found a bloated, drunken Nesbit singing shakily in a Chicago bar. Outraged at the indifference of the barflys to the person in their midst, and saddened by the fate of this once lovely beauty, who had been one of his early loves, Barrymore hushed the crowd and spent the evening with her one last time before they each stumbled forward to their fates. Btw, when The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing was made, Evelyn Nesbit was still living and was a paid consultant on the film. In letters written at the time, Nesbit wrote that "she felt Collins was 'too bosomy' and 'too British' to play her. She also wrote (perhaps tongue in cheek) that she would have preferred Marilyn Monroe."

Once, near the end of her life, Nesbit reportedly said about Stanford White, whom she professed to love, "Stanny was the lucky one. He died. I lived."

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched A Short Film About Love, I really liked this movie, despite it being a rather strange relationship. Tomas works in a post office and keeps delivering a postal notice to Magda's box just so she will come into the post office where he works. He lives in the flat opposite and spends his nights watching Magda who I think he says 'spreads it around a bit' When Magda finds out about his infactuation, she doesn't react in horror but curiousity, when a 'date' between then ends in a humiliating manner for Tomas she is immediately struck with regret and tries to contact him. she later discovers that he has attempted suicide and has been hospitalised. It's a strange relationship but handled quite beautifully, the ending was lovely.

I've also watched another Rohmer movie Claire's Knee, again he touches on young girls and older men. This one is also wordy but for me it how the story is construcgted to make it wordy, the construction of a novel feels to false. This one I'm afraid wasn't for me.

[Fossy]

The Girl In White (1952)

Starring June Allyson and Arthur Kennedy. An interesting biography of Dr Emily Dunning (1876-1961), who was the first woman doctor to work on ambulance, and also the first woman to secure a surgical residency. The love interest was Dr Ben Barringer. At the end of the film Ben left for a position in France, with a promise from Emily that she would be waiting for his return. She had a distinguished career. In addition to being a surgeon she became a gynecologist.

In actual fact Emily married Ben in 1904. They had two children. Emily had a distinguished career. In addition to being a surgeon she also became a gynecologist.

[Ann Harding]

Someday, someone will find a way to tell the real Evelyn Nesbit story on film. I have always remembered the story told in Damned in Paradise, the bio of John Barrymore by John Kobler, in which the actor, touring in a play in the '30s, found a bloated, drunken Nesbit singing shakily in a Chicago bar. Outraged at the indifference of the barflys to the person in their midst, and saddened by the fate of this once lovely beauty, who had been one of his early loves, Barrymore hushed the crowd and spent the evening with her one last time before they each stumbled forward to their fates. Btw, when The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing was made, Evelyn Nesbit was still living and was a paid consultant on the film. In letters written at the time, Nesbit wrote that "she felt Collins was 'too bosomy' and 'too British' to play her. She also wrote (perhaps tongue in cheek) that she would have preferred Marilyn Monroe."

Once, near the end of her life, Nesbit reportedly said about Stanford White, whom she professed to love, "Stanny was the lucky one. He died. I lived."

Very interesting, Moira! Actually, Claude Chabrol made in 2007 a modernized version of Evelyn Nesbit's case: La Fille Coupée en Deux (The Girl Cut in Two). But, the plot felt so different that I didn't even realize the two films were based upon the same story.

[JackFavell]

There is also a section of Ragtime that covers the Nesbit-Thaw-White case, but only in the most simplistic terms. I was terribly impressed with the film when it came out, I wonder what it would be like to go back and watch it now. People seem to have forgotten about it.

Fossy - I LOVE The Girl in White, with June Allyson and Arthur Kennedy. It's very entertaining and June is quite good. It's one of the movies that changed my mind about her. I love the scene where she puts James Arness' shoulder back in it 's socket.

[moira finnie]

Actually, Claude Chabrol made in 2007 a modernized version of Evelyn Nesbit's case: La Fille Coupée en Deux (The Girl Cut in Two). But, the plot felt so different that I didn't even realize the two films were based upon the same story.

I saw that one too when I was on a "Chabrol roll," but didn't make the connection to Nesbit at all since the time frame and circumstances were so different.

There is also a section of Ragtime that covers the Nesbit-Thaw-White case, but only in the most simplistic terms. I was terribly impressed with the film when it came out, I wonder what it would be like to go back and watch it now. People seem to have forgotten about it.

I remember thinking that Elizabeth McGovern was a great choice for the part of Nesbit at the time, but honestly--I was too mesmerized by Jimmy Cagney to dwell on much else for long.

I think the actual Nesbit story could make an interesting film if a filmmaker could blend her enigmatic nature with the story of how in the 20th century the full-blown publicity machine in America overwhelmed individuals and how money trumps justice in this country, despite our avowed belief in equality before the law. Doctorow touched on these themes more in Ragtime, though I didn't think that Milos Forman developed this as well in the movie.

Also, no one is entirely sure why Nesbit married Harry K. Thaw, or why she told him about her liaison with Stanford White. Many have concluded that Nesbit's mother groomed her to become a model courtesan, but couldn't control her daughter's actions after she began to have a will of her own. In addition, there is the question of Nesbit as a figure in American feminist history, a term she probably have spurned, if she understood it, since she only presented herself as a victim when necessary and apparently didn't see herself as anyone's fool. I like that latter quality. If interested, Nesbit's memoirs and letters, and a pretty good bio about her called American Eve about her are in print--though the best bio about the whole period and case I found was Stanny: The Gilded Life of Stanford White by Paul Baker, which offers a good picture of Evelyn Nesbit's character, along with a glimpse of White's complex personality, and his legacy as a designer and innovator.

Btw, director Richard Fleischer said that when he showed The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing to Darryl F. Zanuck, you could hear a pin drop in the screening room. He left in silence as well. Fleischer waited for the other shoe to drop (and for a pink slip) but none came. He was never entirely sure why. (Fleischer was not fond of the movie).