Movies I Watched in July

House of Bamboo (1955)

Well, this month I randomly fell for Robert Stack. Maybe because I finally watched a movie where he didn’t fall apart lol (Written on the Wind, The High and the Mighty, etc.). I started watching John Paul Jones because Bette Davis was in it (she basically just has a cameo scene at the end) and ended up really enjoying it. Then I watched House of Bamboo, which I’ve been meaning to watch for Robert RYAN but hadn’t been in the mood for. I’m glad I waited. Then of course I watched anything I could find with Stack online, including some of his television appearances (YouTube and Internet Archive). I really want to watch The Untouchables but my library is only allowing in-house checkouts so I can’t request it from another library :( Same goes for Stack’s autobiography, Straight Shooting. There are some great interviews on YouTube, especially one from 1999 where he talks about Hollywood in length.

Robert Stack and Olivia de Havilland

I’ve also been getting a hoot out of listening to The Jack Carson Show. Side effects include singing the Campbell’s Soup jingle constantly... Other familiar voices are Arthur Treacher and Irene Ryan (Granny from The Beverley Hillbillies). Take a listen!

I was greatly saddened to hear of the death of Olivia de Havilland a few days ago. I hosted four blogathons in her honor beginning with her 100th birthday in 2016. I did not end up hosting one this year however. I wanted to share a post I wrote for that first blogathon on My Journey with Olivia

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1. The Cocoanuts (1928) - Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont 
2. Wide Open (1930) - Edward Everett Horton, Louise Beavers
3. Arrowsmith (1931) - Ronald Colman & Helen Hayes, Myrna Loy
4. Consolation Marriage (1931) - Pat O’Brien & Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy
5. Gambling Lady (1934) - Barbara Stanwyck & Joel McCrea, Pat O’Brien, Claire Dodd, C. Aubrey Smith
6. Blackwell’s Island (1939) - John Garfield & Rosemary Lane
7. The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) - Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers 
8. The Mortal Storm (1940) - James Stewart & Maureen Sullavan, Frank Morgan, Robert Young, Irene Rich, Maria Ouspenskaya, Bonita Granville, Robert Stack, Gene Reynolds, Ward Bond, Dan Dailey
9. The House of Seven Gables (1940) - George Sanders, Margaret Lindsey, Vincent Price 
10. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) - James Cagney & Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Rosemary DeCamp, Jeanne Cagney, George Tobias, S.Z. Sakall
11. Casanova Brown (1944) - Gary Cooper & Teresa Wright, Frank Morgan, Anita Louise 
12. The Sign of the Ram (1948) - Susan Peters, Phyllis Thaxter, Peggy Ann Garner, Diana Douglas, Dame May Whitty
13. Silver River (1948) - Errol Flynn & Ann Sheridan, Thomas Mitchell
14. The Bribe (1949) - Robert Taylor & Ava Gardner, Charles Laughton, Vincent Price, John Hodiak
15. Stranger from Venus (1954) - Patricia Neal
16. The Long Gray Line (1955) - Tyrone Power & Maureen O’Hara, Donald Crisp, Ward Bond, Harry Carey Jr., Patrick Wayne
17. House of Bamboo (1955) - Robert Stack, Robert Ryan
18. Trapeze (1956) - Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Gina Lollobrigida, Katy Jurado 
19. Saddle the Wind (1958) - Robert Taylor & Julie London, Donald Crisp
20. The Gift of Love (1958) - Lauren Bacall & Robert Stack, Lorne Greene
21. John Paul Jones (1959) - Robert Stack, Charles Coburn, Jean Pierre Aumont, Bette Davis
22. Scent of Mystery (1960) - Denholm Elliot, Peter Lorre, Beverly Bentley, Paul Lukas
23. Spartacus (1960) - Kirk Douglas & Jean Simmons, Lawrence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, Tony Curtis, Woody, Strode, John Ireland, John Gavin, Nina Foch
24. Captain Newman, M.D. (1963) - Gregory Peck & Angie Dickinson, Tony Curtis, Bobby Darin, Eddie Albert, Robert Duvall
25. Cattle King (1963) - Robert Taylor
26. Three Days if the Condor (1975) - Robert Redford & Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson 
27. International Velvet (1979) - Tatum O'Neal, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Hopkins, Nanette Newman
28. Airplane! (1980) - Leslie Neilson, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack
29. Seems Like Old Times (1980) - Goldie Hawn & Chevy Chase
30. Bird on a Wire (1990) - Mel Gibson & Goldie Hawn 
31. *The Bourne Identity (2002) - Matt Damon & Franke Potente
32. Psych 2: Lassie Come Home (2020) - James Roday Rodriguez, Dule Hill, Timothy Odmunson, Maggie Lawson, Jazmyn Simon Hill, Kirsten Nelson, Corbin Bernson, 

This is Cinerama (1952)
The 20th Century-Fox Hour: A Portrait of Murder aka Laura (1955) - Robert Stack, Dana Wynter, George Sanders

Least Favorite Film: Cattle King wasn't anything special. I only watched it for Robert Taylor since earlier this year I ended up watching several of this films so now I'm watching any that TCM shows that I haven't seen yet.

Favorite Movie: Three Days if the Condor was soooo good!! I also read the book it was based on by James Grady, Six Days of the Condor. House of Bamboo was really good. I loved the way it was filmed. Airplane! was hilarious! I also really liked The Bribe  and Wide Open, which was cute.

My favorite part is at 3:06.

Movies I Watched in June

This month I watched my first Elvis movie (actually four)! I also finally finished watching The Golden Girls as well as the final three seasons of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Read The Purple Diaries by Joseph Egan. If you have a library card you can read it free on Hoopla. The day I finished it TCM aired Dodsworth, which was perfect timing.

1. Show of Shows (1929) - John Barrymore, Chester Morris, Myrna Loy, Dolores Costello, Noah Beery 
2. Animal Crackers (1930) - Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont, Lillian Roth
3. King Kong (1933) - Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot 
4. Sadie McKee (1934) - Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, Gene Raymond, Edward Arnold 
5. Annie Oakley (1935) - Barbara Stanwyck & Preston Foster, Melvyn Douglas 
6. Dodsworth (1936) - Walter Huston & Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, Mary Astor, David Niven, Maria Ouspenskaya, Spring Byington, John Payne
7. Kid Galahad (1937) - Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Wayne Morris, Jane Bryan, Harry Carey 
8. They Made Me a Criminal (1939) - John Garfield & Gloria Dickson, the Dead End Kids, Claude Rains, May Robson, Ann Sheridan 
9. Design for Scandal (1941) - Rosalind Russell & Walter Pidgeon, Edward Arnold, Lee Bowman
10. Gangway for Tomorrow (1943) - Robert Ryan
11. Assignment in Brittany (1943) - Pierre Aumont & Susan Peters
12. *Pride of the Marines (1945) - John Garfield & Eleanor Parker, Dane Clark
13. Saratoga Trunk (1946) - Ingrid Bergman & Gary Cooper, Flora Robson
14. Pitfall (1948) - Dick Powell & Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr
15. The Red Badge of Courage (1951) - Audie Murphy 
16. Diplomatic Courier (1952) - Tyrone Power, Patricia Neal, Karl Malden, Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson
17. The High and the Mighty (1954) - John Wayne, Robert Stack, Claire Trevor, Phil Harris
18. Uranium Boom (1956) - Dennis Morgan, William Talman 
19. Blue Hawaii (1961) - Elvis Presley & Joan Blackman, Angela Lansbury 
20. Kid Galahad (1962) - Elvis Presley, Gig Young, Lola Albright, Joan Blackman, Charles Bronson
21. Roustabout (1964) - Elvis Presley, Barbara Stanwyck 
22. Viva Las Vegas (1964) - Elvis Presley & Ann-Margaret, William Demerest 
23. *Ride the Wild Surf (1964) - Fabian Forte & Shelley Fabares, Tab Hunter, Peter Brown & Barbara Eden, Susan Hart
24. S.O.S. Titanic (1979) - David Janssen, David Warner, Cloris Leachman, Helen Mirren, Ian Holm

Least Favorite Film: I skipped through Show of Shows. Uranium Boom is definitely under my least favorite Dennis Morgan movies. It’s on YouTube.

Favorite Movie: I really liked several movies this month, but the one I wanted to watch again the next day was Blue Hawaii. I LOVE early 60s Hawaiian movies (Donovan’s Reef is a big favorite in our house). Others I really enjoyed were Dodsworth, the 1937 Kid Galahad, They Made Me a Criminal, Assignment in Brittany, Saratoga Trunk, Pitfall, and Diplomatic Courier. King Kong was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I guess I expected it to be more campy.