Ray Milland, April 2011 Star of the Month

[JackFavell]

I enjoyed The Crystal Ball.

With a cast including Gladys George, Ray, Paulette Goddard, Cecil Kellaway, William Bendix, Iris Adrian, Mary Field, Sig Arno, Nestor Paiva, Hillary Booke, Ernest Truex, a bit by Yvonne De Carlo, and the spectacularly beautiful Virginia Field, it's definitely worth a look.

This movie is a lot of fun, nothing great but good entertainment. It really made me see Paulette's charm. There is a scene where Paulette is walking down the street, a few steps behind Ray Milland, and she just has IT. Her walk is jaunty, sexy and she oozes charm and charisma, all just by walking!

[JackFavell]

This is a great bunch of movies... I can't wait for So Evil My Love either, but they all sound like they are worth watching, especially the ones directed by him.

Payment Deferred is a really interesting movie, though not really a showcase for Ray. And I am looking forward to Blonde Crazy, just because I can't even picture Milland with Joan Blondell and Jimmy Cagney.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

Saw "So Evil My Love" last night and thought it was fine...

Have always liked Ray Milland but thought Ann Todd was a little too intelligent looking to fall for all his hijinks. But, I guess we wouldn't have a movie, if she didn't...

I thought Geraldine Fitzgerald looked a little too mature to be playing a young 'put-upon' wife. She has too intelligent an aura to be a victim, I think....

Was delighted to see Martita Hunt and especially Moira Lister in the credits.
Martita played her ususal haughty self, but her role was small. My dear old friend, Moira, was wonderful as a low-life whench called 'Kitty Feathers' - what a hoot!!

But, I did like the movie and am glad I saw it...

Larry

[JackFavell]

I really enjoyed So Evil My Love and I even liked Ann Todd, which is a first. I totally bought her character, because usually she seems too smart for the roles she is in, unable to break out of her intellect in order to act. This time she did... I thought it was great watching her think every move through.

I thought Martita and Moira Lister stole the movie. Wish they had been in it more. In fact, I wish they would each be featured on TCM sometime, along with Kay Walsh.

Larry, I'm glad to see you here!

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

Thanks for telling me about Paulette and "Kitty" & "Reap the Wild Wind" - I'll be sure to catch those.
I saw "Kitty" last year on TCM for the first time and it is her best film, I think. It was her favourite of her movies.
Saw "Reap the Wild Wind" many years ago, decades really, and it is marvellous.

Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard remained good friends all their lives.

Larry

[JackFavell]

Beau Geste is definitely a winner, kingrat. I am sure you will like it.

One of the things that makes it great is the twisted way in which it's filmed. Wellman is such a great director, he pulls you into the movie in the most fascinating, mysterious way possible. I'm not giving too much away here, I think, to say I'm a big fan of circular films that end where they began. Wellman and writer Robert Carson take it one step further, continuing the plot so as not to reveal the secret till the very end.

I don't think I'm remiss to state that Milland is stuck in a less showy role than that of Cooper and the sublime Robert Preston, but still manages some deft playing of his own.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

Had a great night watching "Kitty" and then, "Reap the Wild Wind"....
The stars were wonderful - everyone giving a good performance.
Thought Reginald Owen was marvellous and Eric Blore a hoot - "You'll find her drunk, as usual!!"... Loved it....
Had a great laugh at Hedda Hopper fainting - can't picture that in real life!!!
The squid was a little much, but what the 'hey' - that CB De Mille!!!

A great time at the movies and that's what it's all about....

Larry

[JackFavell]

I agree, it was a lot of fun, though I must be an idiot - I could not follow the plot turns of Reap the Wild Wind at all...did John Wayne sink the boat or not?

It was a gorgeously filmed movie, though and lots of fun, thanks to Paulette Goddard.

[moira finnie]

I agree, it was a lot of fun, though I must be an idiot - I could not follow the plot turns of Reap the Wild Wind at all...did John Wayne sink the boat or not?

I had the same question, but maybe it was because I had a hard time fathoming a movie in which John Wayne was apparently not on the side of the angels by The End. Was that really Charles Bickford under the red fright wig and beard?? That squid used to scare me as a kid. Now I think I saw a zipper on one of the tentacles. "You can't go home again," and the delicious terrors of childhood are never quite the same, are they?

I stayed up till after 2:30am to see all of Beau Geste (1939). Great, great movie-making--though I missed Robert Preston whenever he left the screen. I adored Brian Donlevy's psychotic Markoff, especially when he got that sick grin when he listened to his commanding officer's heartbeat and propped up the dead legionnaires in the fort's battlements so that "they could serve France in death and life." He reminded me of my 7th grade teacher, Sister Basil, who was also from the "old school" of discipline. Maybe she and Markoff both got kicked out of the Siberian penal colony for being too strict.

I barely recognized the blonde, strangely different J. Carrol Naish as Rasinoff, the toady of Sgt. Markoff.

[klondike]

I had the same question, but maybe it was because I had a hard time fathoming a movie in which John Wayne was apparently not on the side of the angels by The End.

HA !

Moira you said fathom - !
{Yes, I know, it's high comedy for simpletons . . but if this was 3rd grade, we'd all be laughing! }

And speaking of underwater measurements, how about Fathom - you know the one, with that South American model chick . . what was her name again?
Could this perhaps be the correct thread for discussing so daring a screen epic ?!!
Of course not - it belongs next door, in the Bad Movies that We Love thread . . too much coffee today!