Movies I Watched in December

I NEVER thought I'd say this but... I have a thing for Robert Ryan now. It started last month with Tender Comrade and has continued this month with me watching whatever movies of his I could get my hands on. I also discovered there is a shameful lack of Robert Ryan gifs out there. I'm going to have to fix that...

Also this month I watched, you guessed it, Christmas movies. I didn't watch some of the ones I usually watch - Miracle on 34th Street, The Bishop's Wife - as it literally felt like I had just watched them. Some were not classic Christmas films but set at Christmas (Susan Slept Here, Period of Adjustment).

1. Anne of Green Gables (1934) - Anne Shirley, Tom Brown
2. A Slight Case of Murder (1938) - Edward G. Robinson 
3. Golden Boy (1939) - William Holden & Barbara Stanwyck, Adolph Menjou, Lee J. Cobb
4. *Meet John Doe (1941) - Gary Cooper & Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan
5. Manpower (1941) - Edward G. Robinson & Marlene Dietrich, George Raft
6. Dressed to Kill (1941) - Lloyd Nolan
7. Rage in Heaven (1941) - Robert Montgomery & Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders
8. One Foot in Heaven (1941) - Fredric March & Martha Scott
9. The Constant Nymph (1943) - Joan Fontaine & Charles Boyer
10. Marriage is a Private Affair (1944) - Lana Turner & John Hodiak, James Craig
11. Action in Arabia (1944) - George Sanders, Virginia Bruce
12. *Christmas in Connecticut (1945) - Barbara Stanwyck & Dennis Morgan, S.Z. Sakall
13. Homecoming (1948) - Clark Gable & Lana Turner, John Hodiak, Anne Baxter
14. Berlin Express (1948) - Robert Ryan & Merle Oberon
15. Act of Violence (1949) - Van Heflin & Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan, Mary Astor, Phyllis Thaxter
16. The Breaking Point (1950) - John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter
17. Three Little Words (1950) - Fred Astaire & Vera-Ellen, Red Skelton, Arlene Dahl
18. I'll See You in My Dreams (1951) - Doris Day & Danny Thomas
19. Duchess of Idaho (1951) - Esther Williams & Van Johnson
20. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) - Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe
21. Lovely to Look At (1952) - Kathryn Grayson, Red Skelton, Marge & Gower Champion, Howard Keel, Ann Miller
22. The Naked Spur (1953) - James Stewart, Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan, Ralph Meeker
23. Dream Wife (1953) - Cary Grant & Deborah Kerr
24. Pushover (1954) - Fred MacMurray & Kim Novak, Dorothy Malone
25. *White Christmas (1954) - Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger, Mary Wickes
26. Susan Slept Here (1954) - Dick Powell & Debbie Reynolds
27. *Three Coins in the Fountain (1954) - Clifton Webb & Dorothy McGuire, Louis Jourdan & Maggie McNamara, Rossano Brazzi & Jean Peters
28. Betrayed (1954) - Clark Gable & Lana Turner, Victor Mature 
29. The Last Voyage (1960) - Robert Stack & Dorothy Malone, George Sanders
30. Period of Adjustment (1962) - Jane Fonda & Jim Hutton, Anthony Franciosa 
31. *Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) - Alan Young
32. *Elf (2003) - Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel, Bob Newhart, Ed Asner
33. Psych: The Movie (TV Movie-2017) - James Roday, Dule Hill, Maggie Lawson, Kirsten Nelson, Zachary Levi

Least Favorite Movie: Lovely to Look At but ONLY because I can't stand Howard Keel. Oh, and the end of Susan Slept Here was pretty disturbing. Apparently there were no 35 year old actors in Hollywood that year and the closest they could get was a 50 year old actor that looked 50.

Favorite Movie: There were lots of movies I really enjoyed this month but my favorite performance by far was Danny Thomas in I'll See You in My Dreams. I was so excited that TCM aired it this month as I read Thomas's autobiography recently and really wanted to see it after reading his memories of the film. He was adorable in it and I learned that his character Gus Kahn wrote the lyrics to a couple of my favorite songs. I'll leave you with this scene.

"It Had to Be You"

Cinema Wedding Gowns: Her Twelve Men (1954)

Today's wedding gown is one of those brief fantasy sequence gowns. It is worn near the very beginning of Her Twelve Men (1954) starring Greer Garson (I reviewed it in August).

 

In the promotional photo below the gown looks white, but in the film, which is color, it is actually pale pink which is totally befitting for a dream sequence!

 

As you can see, the dress, designed by Helen Rose, has a full tulle skirt and a high-collared lace bodice (over a sweetheart neckline) with long sleeves and peplum at the waist. The veil is also of tulle and appears falls gracefully to the floor. It is attached to a close-fitting cap on the back half of the head with some standing ruffles.

 

The bouquet is comprised of small flowers surrounded in lace with ribbons cascading halfway down the front of the dress. It is an absolutely gorgeous dress and one can only hope that Garson's character got to wear a gown just as beautiful after the end of the film.

You Can Own Your Own "Portrait of Jennie"!!!

source

I recently rewatched Portrait of Jennie (1948) starring Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotton, and Ethel Barrymore and was just as enchanted by it as the first time I viewed it (the full movie can be watched here).

It got me to think about movie portraits which led me to wonder if there was a poster of the portrait in Laura (1944) that could be bought and framed, since not everyone is lucky to have been Robert Osborne and own the actual picture. And while I unfortunately did not come across just such a poster, I did find where you can buy the publicity photo version of the one in Portrait of Jennie. It is available in both black and white and color as well as in several sizes. I would definitely get the largest one and frame it with a wide, ornate gold frame. This would also make a lovely present for a fan of the film!

 

The actual "portrait" and the poster version of Jones posing like the portrait.

Lovely post on the film by Classic Movies Digest

 

History of Graves Lighthouse

Movies I Watched in November

This month wasn’t very earth shattering. The biggest discovery was Robert Ryan’s romantic side in Tender Comrade, one of his early roles. I liked the beginning scene so much I put it on YouTube:

I watched my first MacDonald/Eddy musical (and discovered I have record album of several of their duets). I also finally watched Bell Book and Candle. I mainly wanted to get screenshots of Novak’s tea set, which was later used in the tv show Bewitched.

* means a rewatch

1. Rasputin and the Empress (1932) - John, Ethel, & Lionel Barrymore
2. Thirteen Women (1932) - Myrna Loy, Irene Dunne
3. *No More Ladies (1935) - Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Franchot Tone, Edna May Oliver
4. Barbary Coast (1935) - Miriam Hopkins & Joel McCrea, Edward G. Robinson
5. Men are Not Gods (1936) - Miriam Hopkins, Rex Harrison
6. Rose-Marie (1936) - Jeannette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy
7. The Gorgeous Hussy (1936) - Joan Crawford, Lionel Barrymore, Melvyn Douglas, Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone
8. Listen, Darling (1938) - Judy Garland, Freddie Bartholomew, Mary Astor, Walter Pidgeon, Alan Hale
9. Four Girls in White (1939) - Florence Rice, Ann Rutherford, Una Merkel
10. Tender Comrade (1943) - Ginger Rogers & Robert Ryan
11. Vacation From Marriage (1945) - Robert Donat & Deborah Kerr, Glynis Johns
12. A Letter for Evie (1945) - Marsha Hunt, Hume Cronyn, John Carroll
13. The Window (1949) - Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Ruth Roman
14. The Racket (1951) - Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Lizabeth Scott
15. Glory Alley (1952) - Ralph Meeker & Leslie Caron
16. Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) - Esther Williams, Victor Marture, Walter Pidgeon
17. *When in Rome (1952) - Van Johnson, Paul Douglas
18. Bell Book and Candle (1958) - James Stewart & Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, Elsa Lanchester
19. *Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) - Maculay Culkin, Catherine O'Hara
20. Space Cowboys (2000) - Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, James Garner

I guess we can say my least favorite were the two movies I started and didn’t finish. I probably would have finished them but I was watching them the night before they were to be removed from WatchTCM and I was ready to go to bed. Kismet (1944) starring Ronald Colman did not have enough Marlene Dietrich in it. And Pagan Love Song (1950) with Esther Williams and Howard Keel was just too corny for the mood I was in. The whole “drop your kid off to live with the single white guy” was weird too.

I greatly enjoyed Vacation From Marriage, one of Caftan Woman’s recommendations. I really want to delve more into Glynis Johns’ filmography.

Accurate portrayal of me every evening (except it’ a space heater and I'm just wearing jeans and a t-shirt and the cat is black with white feet ;)