Friday, September 1, 2023

Movies I Watched in August

Walter Brennan and Robert Ryan in Best of the Badmen (1951)

What a great movie month! I watched more movies on TCM than I did in the first five months of the year combined. This is due to August's Summer Under the Stars, which always has a fantastic lineup. I watched several movies for Alan Ladd, Ronald Colman, and Carole Lombard (and Ernest Borgnine in the process). I also watched more Glenn Ford, but he didn't have his own day for SUTS. I also started listening to the old radio show "The Halls of Ivy" starring Ronald Colman and his wife Benita Hume. If you like Colman then you need to give it a listen. It's on YouTube and can also be found as a podcast, if you want to be able to download and listen on the go. It was also made into a TV show, but there's only one ep. on YouTube :(

Also this month I *gasp* wrote a blogthon post!! You can read my review of A Woman's Face (1938) for the Ingrid Bergman Blogathon here.

* indicates a rewatch

  1. Condemned (1929) - Ronald Colman & Ann Harding
  2. Bulldog Drummond (1929) - Ronald Colman & Joan Bennett
  3. No More Orchids (1932) - Carole Lombard & Lyle Talbot
  4. Lady by Choice (1934) - Carole Lombard, May Robson
  5. *Swing High, Swing Low (1937) - Carole Lombard & Fred MacMurray, Anthony Quinn, Dorothy Lamour
  6. The King and the Chorus Girl (1937) - Joan Blondell, Edward Everett Horton, Jane Wyman
  7. *Lost Horizon (1937) - Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, Edward Everett Horton, Thomas Mitchell
  8. *The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) - Ronald Colman & Madeline Carroll, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey, Mary Astor, David Niven
  9. *A Woman’s Face (1938-Swedish) - Ingrid Bergman 
  10. The Light That Failed (1939) - Ronald Colman, Walter Huston, Ida Lupino
  11. Joan of Paris (1942) - Paul Henreid & Michelle Morgan, Laird Cregar, Thomas Mitchell, May Robson, Alan Ladd
  12. *The Senator was Indiscreet (1947) - William Powell, Ella Raines
  13. *Julia Misbehaves (1948) - Greer Garson & Walter Pidgeon, Elizabeth Taylor & Peter Lawford, Cesar Romero, Nigel Bruce
  14. Lust for Gold (1949) - Glenn Ford & Ida Lupino
  15. The Whip Hand (1951) - Raymond Burr 
  16. The Whistle at Eaton Falls (1951) - Lloyd Bridges, Ernest Borgnine
  17. Best of the Badmen (1951) - Robert Ryan, Claire Trevor, Preston Foster, Bruce Cabot, Walter Brennan
  18. The Iron Mistress (1952) - Alan Ladd & Virginia Mayo
  19. The Violent Men (1955) - Glenn Ford, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Brian Keith
  20. The McConnell Story (1955) - Alan Ladd & June Allyson, James Whitmore
  21. Heaven Knows Mr. Allison (1957) - Robert Mitchum & Deborah Kerr
  22. Fire Down Below (1957) - Rita Hayworth, Robert Mitchum, Jack Lemmon
  23. The Deep Six (1958) - Alan Ladd, James Whitmore, Keenan Wynn
  24. The Badlanders (1958) - Alan Ladd, Ernest Borgnine, Katy Jurado
  25. Torpedo Run (1958) - Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine
  26. Cry for Happy (1961) - Glenn Ford, Donald O'Conner, James Shigeta
  27. Advance to the Rear (1964) - Glenn Ford & Stella Stevens, Melvyn Douglas, Joan Blondell, Alan Hale Jr.
  28. Rage (1966) - Glenn Ford & Stella Stevens
  29. Unlawful Entry (1992) - Ray Liotta, Kurt Russell
  30. Erin Brockovich (2000) - Julia Roberts, Albert Finney
Least Favorite Film: I hate to pick a least favorite. Liotta was creepy in Unlawful Entry.

Favorite Movie: Advance to the Rear was so funny!! I was very distracted by Glenn Ford’s open shirt collar though..! And I finally got to see Heaven Knows Mr. Allison, which I've been wanting to see for over a decade. I will definitely be getting both movies on dvd. The Whistle at Eaton Falls is another one. The cinematography was great. I had recalled hearing about it before and when I found out it had Lloyd Bridges in it I had to watch it. 

Favorite Line: "You mean to say you were a physical wreck before you used Peptona?" Carole Lombard in No More Orchids (1932).

Random Thoughts: Douglas Fairbanks would have been great as ex-King Alfred in The King and the Chorus Girl. ••• Kind of weird to cast Thomas Mitchell as a Parisienne priest in Joan of Paris. A French actor would have made more sense. Also, why didn't Henreid go to his rendezvous just in case, even though he was late? And I thought the priest was going to get Ladd a doctor? ••• Rock Hudson would have made a great lead in The Whip Hand and elevated the film from a B to an A picture. ••• The end of The McConnell Story :( ••• Cry for Happy had too much Donald O'Conner and not enough James Shigeta. Torpedo Run should have been more tense than it was.

I LOVE Claire Trevor's wardrobe in Best of the Badmen (1951).