The Silver Screen Oasis

I REALLY like Desire Me, kingrat, I think you captured it's appeal and it's drawbacks perfectly. I wondered too about the beginning being tacked on, but then the ending would be too, no?

It's actually one of my favorite films, maybe because it surprised me so. It falls into that weird time period of films I'm so fond of, the late forties foggy, ghost story/war aftermath/lost identity type films that almost always get to me. I cannot believe they thought this was the worst film they ever made... did they get a good look at Blonde Fever?

Hah! Desire Me is on On Demand this month! I'll get to see it this weekend!
YAY!

Sue Sue Applegate wrote:Hah! Desire Me is on On Demand this month! I'll get to see it this weekend!
YAY!

Thanks for telling me this ... I do have On Demand ...

Well, I like Desire Me. How can you not enjoy Robert Mitchum, a war story, Greer Garson, the same sheep from The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, and the same cold, desolate garret used in Madame Curie?

Richard Hart, as Jean, probably had the most difficult characterization, because he had to flip-flop so much. He died only four years (heart attack at 35)after completing this film. One of this three children, is a professor of writing at The University of Texas Engineering School.

I'm so glad you liked it! It's a difficult watch at first, simply because it's mostly about Hart and he's not a hero. And it could have had more Mitchum in it. But I enjoy it because it's offbeat.

JackFavell wrote: And it could have had more Mitchum in it.But I enjoy it because it's offbeat.

Always more Mitchum! And offbeat suits me.

As recently as 1960, many lifelong Democrats refused to vote for JFK. They didn't want The Pope running the country!

First of all I want to say, that after reading Michael Troyan's excellent Bio on Greer Garson, I wanted to see all of her films, even the ones I had already seen before.

Last night I watched with my two American friends plus the mother of one of them who's visiting from NY and does not have TCM: "Goodbye Mr. Chips" (1939).

Last week while chatting with her, I told her that I was finishing Garson's Bio and that I had enjoyed it very much. She said that she was fond of Garson and that she wanted to see again Mr. Chips, because she had only seen it back in '39 when she was small kid (she was born in 1930); so I gave her my word that I was going to organize a "movie night". She was so pleased with the film, she smiled and was moved all the way through it. My pals also loved it. And I had never seen it before and was completely impressed by it. The epitome of a good MGM film, with fine production values and excellent performances. Robert Donat deserved the A.A. he won for his nuanced and multi-layered performance (There is much controversy about who should have won that year; most people say either James Stewart for MSGTW or Gable for GWTW).

Greer Garson, on the other hand, makes one of the most compelling screen-debuts ever! She's luminous and totally effective as Mrs. Chips. And we agreed with my friends that the film does not fall into being schmaltzy or overly sentimental. The MGM team did an excellent ensemble work.

feaito wrote: Greer Garson, on the other hand, makes one of the most compelling screen-debuts ever! She's luminous and totally effective as Mrs. Chips. And we agreed with my friends that the film does not fall into being schmaltzy or overly sentimental. The MGM team did an excellent ensemble work.

Luminous is the key word. I will never forget how my mother always made so much fuss about movies and movie stars, and when Madame Curie first screened itself in my life, it transformed me in a way. It revealed that I had a choice, that I might have a profession and a job to do. Watching such an obviously beautiful lady succeed in a profession that was traditionally male-oriented illuminated a path for me to follow more than 10,000 interviews with Gloria Steinem would ever do. Some of the whiny liberal feminists who never had to support a family or balance a job with a hungry child never struck a common chord in my heart like Greer Garson's performances did.

There is nothing like an intellligent, gorgeous woman to set a plan of action in motion.

You know, I agree completely with you Christy... except for the whiny feminists part.

I think a germ of an idea put itself in my head at the point when i saw that film too, that I could do something with my life.

Well, there are just some "activists" whose rhetoric seems hollow at times because their devotion to a topic had more to do with cash and fame than caring about others' plights.

Greer Garson just came full circle for me in many of her roles. And to extend the geometry metaphor, the others were a few degrees shy.

Yes, I see what you mean.

Sue Sue Applegate wrote:

feaito wrote: Greer Garson, on the other hand, makes one of the most compelling screen-debuts ever! She's luminous and totally effective as Mrs. Chips. And we agreed with my friends that the film does not fall into being schmaltzy or overly sentimental. The MGM team did an excellent ensemble work.

Luminous is the key word. I will never forget how my mother always made so much fuss about movies and movie stars, and when Madame Curie first screened itself in my life, it transformed me in a way. It revealed that I had a choice, that I might have a profession and a job to do. Watching such an obviously beautiful lady succeed in a profession that was traditionally male-oriented illuminated a path for me to follow more than 10,000 interviews with Gloria Steinem would ever do. Some of the whiny liberal feminists who never had to support a family or balance a job with a hungry child never struck a common chord in my heart like Greer Garson's performances did.

There is nothing like an intellligent, gorgeous woman to set a plan of action in motion.

What you written here Sue Sue ... is so wonderfully written about Madame Curie and Greer Garson's performance in that movie. I consider that movie one of her best that she done in her career.