Movies I Watched in August

Western Union (1941)

This month is my favorite month on TCM: Summer Under the Stars. There are always lots of great rarely-shown films to see and this year was no exception. The days with the most films I was excited about were Robert Young, Eve Arden, and Setsuka Hara (so far I've only gotten to the Robert Young movies). 

We finally bought a new blu-ray of The Quiet Man (1952), one of the most watched films in our house - I've easily seen it over a hundred times in my 30+ years - and the change from our 2002 DVD is remarkable (and our VHS before that)!! It's so much clearer!! For example, I had never noticed Patrick Wayne standing next to Fr. Paul at the very end of the movie! One day I will write about a post about my older sister with Downs Syndrome and how she has had a major impact on me and my brothers and our love of John Wayne and the Three Stooges. 

* indicates a rewatch (more than usual this month)

1. The Love Parade (1929) - Maurice Chevalier & Jeanette MacDonald, Lillian Roth
2. Love Me Tonight (1932) - Maurice Chevalier & Jeanette MacDonald, Charles Ruggles, Myrna Loy, C. Aubrey Smith
3. The Man Who Played God (1932) - George Arliss, Bette Davis 
4. *Private Detective 62 (1933) - William Powell & Margaret Lindsey
5. The Woman in Red (1935) - Barbara Stanwyck & Gene Raymond
6. It's Love Again (1936) - Robert Young & Jessie Matthews
7. *Another Dawn (1937) - Kay Francis & Errol Flynn, Ian Hunter, Frieda Inescort 
8. *The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937) - William Powell & Luise Rainer, Robert Young & Margaret O'Sullivan, Frank Morgan
9. The Mark of Zorro (1940) - Tyrone Power & Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone, Gale Sondergaard
10. When Ladies Meet (1941) - Joan Crawford, Greer Garson, Robert Taylor, Herbert Marshall, Spring Byington 
11. Come Live with Me (1941) - James Stewart & Hedy Lamarr, Ian Hunter
12. Married Bachelor (1941) - Robert Young & Ruth Hussey, Lee Bowman
13. H. M. Pulham, Esq. (1941) - Robert Young, Hedy Lamarr, Ruth Hussey, Van Heflin, Bonita Granville, Charles Coburn
14. Western Union (1941) - Robert Young, Randolph Scott, Dean Jagger
15. Journey for Margaret (1942) - Robert Young, Margaret O'Brien, Laraine Day
16. *Casablanca (1942) - Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre 
17. *Crossroads (1942) - William Powell & Hedy Lamarr, Basil Rathbone, Claire Trevor 
18. The Demi-Paradise (1943) - Laurence Olivier & Penelope Dudley Ward, Margaret Rutherford
19. The Canterville Ghost (1944) - Robert Young, Charles Laughton, Margaret O'Brien 
20. *The Hoodlum Saint (1946) - William Powell & Esther Williams, Angela Lansbury, Frank McHugh
21. Scott of the Antarctic (1948) - John Mills
22. Roughshod (1949) - Robert Sterling & Gloria Grahame, Claude Jarman Jr., Myrna Dell, John Ireland
23. *Roughshod (1949) - ibid.
24. Three Guys Named Mike (1951) - Jane Wyman, Van Johnson, Howard Keel, Barry Sullivan
25. According to Mrs. Hoyle (1951) - Spring Byington
26. *The Quiet Man (1952) - John Wayne & Maureen O'Hara, Victor McLaglen, Barry FitzGerald, Ward Bond
27. South of Algiers/Golden Mask (1953) - Van Heflin
28. The Hangman (1959) - Robert Taylor & Tina Louise, Fess Parker, Jack Lord
29. Our Man in Marrakesh (1966) - Tony Randall, Terry Thomas
30. *The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) - Steve McQueen & Faye Dunaway
31. Return to Me (2000) - David Duchovny & Minnie Driver, Carroll O'Connor
32. Jungle Cruise (2021) - Emily Blunt & Dwayne Johnson, Jack Whitehall

Elvis Presley Ed Sullivan Shows

Elvis Presley '68 Comeback Special

That yellow tree ♥ 

Western Union (1941)

Least Favorite Film: Probably The Woman in Red - Barbara Stanwyck was good but I'm not much on Gene Raymond. I skipped through most of the musical numbers in It's Love Again. 

Favorite Movie: Jungle Cruise was just as fun a ride as I expected! Emily Blunt is my favorite modern actress and her chemistry with Dwayne Johnson was fantastic. I can't wait to buy it on blu-ray and watch it again. I wish I could have seen it in theaters. Roughshod wasn't on my list but I saw a tweet that said it was hard to find so I had to give it a go. It was so good I watched it twice!! It would have made a great TV series! Another movie I hadn't intended on watching was The Canterville Ghost. I'm not much on Margaret O'Brien but she was very cute in this movie (so was Robert Young, surprisingly!). I'm not crazy about Laughton either but this was a very funny movie, similar to The Ghost Goes West (1935), which I'm reviewing in a few days for the No True Scotsman Blogathon.

Favorite Quote:

Robert Taylor in The Hangman (1959) on age differences: "Time is like a barbed wire fence. When too many years pile up, we can’t get across to each other."

How I think I look when I do embroidery ;)

Kay Francis in Another Dawn (1937)

Make sure you check out my Recycled Costume Roundup for August that I posted yesterday!

Movies I Watched in August

TCM's Summer Under the Stars was this month. On the "bigger" stars (Loy, Bacall, Gable, Crawford) I've usually already seen all but one or two of the films. This year there seemed to be a little more lesser-known films. I was excited about Dana Andrews, as I haven't seen a lot of his films despite liking the few films I have seen, and Miriam Hopkins. My surprise "discovery" was Virginia Mayo. There was also some great Clark Gable films (I haven't watched the Joan Crawford movies yet but they expire on the WatchTCM app tomorrow and I dvr'd a couple). And although Joel McCrea didn't have his own day he featured in several films.

1. Trouble in Paradise (1932) - Herbert Marshall, Kay Francis, Miriam Hopkins
2. Secret of the Blue Room (1933) - Lionel Atwill, Gloria Stuart, Paul Lukas, Edward Arnold
3. Roberta (1935) - Randolph Scott & Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers
4. Splendor (1935) - Miriam Hopkins & Joel McCrea, David Niven
5. These Three (1936) - Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, Joel McCrea, Bonita Granville
6. Green Light (1937) - Errol Flynn & Anita Louise
7. *Test Pilot (1938) - Clark Gable & Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy
8. It All Came True (1940) - Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, Jeffrey Lynn, Una O’Conner, Zasu Pitts
9. Honeymoon for Three (1941) - George Brent & Ann Sheridan 
10. Cairo (1942) - Jeanette MacDonald & Robert Young
11. Night Song (1948) - Dana Andrews & Merle Oberon, Ethel Barrymore, Hoagy Carmichael
12. The Girl from Jones Beach (1949) - Ronald Reagan & Virginia Mayo, Eddie Braken 
13. Colorado Territory (1949) - Joel McCrea & Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Malone
14. Any Number Can Play (1949) - Clark Gable & Alexis Smith, Audrey Totter
15. Command Decision (1949) - Clark Gable, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Brian Donlevy, Charles Bickford, John Hodiak
16. Adam & Evelyne (1949) - Stewart Granger & Jean Simmons
17. Please Believe Me (1950) - Deborah Kerr, Robert Walker, Peter Lawford, Keenan Wynn
18. Backfire (1950) - Gordon MacRae & Virginia Mayo, Viveca Lindfors, Dane Clark, Edmond O’Brien
19. Double Dynamite (1951) - Frank Sinatra & Jane Russell, Groucho Marx
20. Sealed Cargo (1951) - Dana Andrews, Claude Rains
21. The First Traveling Saleslady (1956) - Ginger Rogers, Carol Channing, James Arness, Clint Eastwood
22. South Pacific (1958) - Rossano Brazzi & Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr, Juanita Hall
23. *Three Men and a Baby (1987) - Tom Selleck, Ted Danson
24. Like Father (2018 Netflix Original) - Kristen Bell, Kelsey Grammer, Seth Rogan 

Least Favorite Movie: Honeymoon for Three was rather tiresome, mainly because the role didn't suit George Brent at all. I loved Sheridan though!

Favorite Movie: Too many to choose one but I really liked Roberta, Night Song, Adam and Evelyne, Backfire, Double Dynamite, and South Pacific (I've been singing "Some Enchanted Evening" for DAYS! Send help). If you have Netflix Like Father was really good (someone just give Kelsey Grammer an Oscar already!).

Who was your favorite star during TCM's Summer Under the Stars? Did you discover a new star?

Keep your eyes peeled for a blogathon announcement!

Movies I Watched in August

Well August was certainly a busy month for me movie wise! There were so many great movies airing for TCM's Summer Under the Stars. I was most excited for the days devoted to Eleanor Parker and Dennis Morgan. I also was able to get even more acquainted with Greer Garson and watch my first real Esther Williams swimming movie (I'd only seen The Hoodlum Saint and Easy to Wed) on Ricardo Montalban day. What days were you the most excited for/watched the most movies on? Did one of the features stars become a new favorite?

Not listed below as I didn't watch the entire movie but I also watched the first 30 or so minutes of the (definitely!) French film La Ronde (1950) for the segment with Simone Simon.

1. Today We Live (1933) - Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Franchot Tone, Robert Young
2. The Unguarded Hour (1936) - Franchot Tone & Loretta Young, Roland Young, Lewis Stone
3. The Sisters (1938) - Bette Davis & Errol Flynn
4. The Mad Miss Manton (1938) - Barbara Stanwyck & Henry Fonda
5. Remember? (1939) - Robert Taylor & Greer Garson, Lew Ayres, Billie Burke
6. Wings for the Eagle (1942) - Dennis Morgan, Ann Sheridan, Jack Carson
7. What a Woman! (1943) - Rosalind Russell & Brian Aherne
8. The Desert Song (1943) - Dennis Morgan
9. *The Very Thought of You (1944) - Dennis Morgan & Eleanor Parker, Dane Clark & Faye Emerson
10. Shine on Harvest Moon (1944) - Dennis Morgan & Ann Sheridan, Jack Carson
11. Cover Girl (1944) - Rita Hayworth & Gene Kelly, Eve Arden
12. The Locket (1946) - Larraine Day, Brian Aherne, Robert Mitchum
13. The Late George Apley (1947) - Ronald Colman
14. On an Island with You (1948) - Esther Williams, Ricardo Montalban, Peter Lawford, Jimmy Durante
15. Three Husbands (1950) - Eve Arden
16. The Law and the Lady (1951) - Greer Garson, Fernando Lamas, Marjorie Main
17. Niagara (1953) - Marilyn Monroe & Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters
18. Jeopardy (1953) - Barbara Stanwyck & Ralph Meeker
19. Her Twelve Men (1954) - Greer Garson & Robert Ryan, Tim Considine
20. Valley of the Kings (1954) - Robert Taylor & Eleanor Parker
21. Many Rivers to Cross (1955) - Robert Taylor & Eleanor Parker
22. *Lilies of the Field (1963) - Sidney Poitier
23. Shenandoah (1965) - James Stewart, Doug McClure, Patrick Wayne, Katharine Ross, Glenn Corbett
24. Do Not Disturb (1965) - Doris Day & Rod Taylor
25. The Liquidator (1966) - Rod Taylor & Jill St. John
26. The Undefeated (1969) - John Wayne, Rock Hudson
27. Mrs. Brown (1997) - Judi Dench, Billy Connolly
28. Allied (2016) - Brad Pitt & Marion Cotillard, Jared Harris
29. Moana (2016) - Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson

Least Favorite: Today We Live should have been called "Today We Die." Also, what was up with Joan holding a roach?!? Gross!!! Many Rivers to Cross was somewhat painful to watch because Taylor and Parker are putting on backwoods accents... (I loved the Victor McLaglen and James Arness storylines though so worth a watch). Three Husbands wasn't very good either, despite a story and screenplay by Vera Caspery, you know, the one who wrote the novel Laura?

Favorite Movie of the Month: Niagara was all kinds of amazing. Valley of the Kings was pretty exciting too, even with the clichés.

Discovering Jean Simmons

Today TCM's Summer Under the Stars is honoring British actress Jean Simmons and giving the chance to many of us to get to know this beautiful and talented actress.

I first discovered Jean Simmons in Until They Sail (1957). I had come across this photo on the internet a few years before but it wasn't labeled. I only recognized Joan Fontaine and Sandra Dee. Then, during my "Paul Newman" phase, I caught Until They Sail on TCM and finally knew what the photo went to. Though I started watching it for Newman, it was Jean Simmons that caught my eye (not to mention her and Newman go great together).

The music in the background is annoying.

After that I watched The Robe (1953). Again, Jean Simmons gives a wonderful performance. Then I saw her in one of her earlier, British films So Long at the Fair (1950). I started watching it, I realized I already knew the plot, as it is used in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents with Patricia Hitchcock in the lead role (and a mother instead of a brother).

Jean Simmons was born January 31, 1929 in London. A dancer, she got her start in movies at the age of 14, making her film debut in Give Us the Moon (1944) starring Margaret Lockwood. She appeared in fourteen films in the 1940s alone. 1950 started off with So Long at the Fair. She married actor Stewart Granger that same year. They had one daughter before divorcing in 1960. A few months later she married Richard Brooks. They also had a daughter.

This post is part of the 2016 TCM Summer Under the Stars Blogathon hosted by Journeys in Classic Film. Be sure to read all of the other posts on this months 31 Stars!

Happy 100th Birthday Ingrid Bergman!!

Tomorrow is the 100th birthday of Ingrid Bergman (though TCM is showing several of her films today...). It is also the 33rd anniversary of her death.

1940

The 5'9" Swedish beauty was born in Stockholm in 1915. Her other died when Ingrid was 2 and her father when she was 12. Ingrid, who went to live with an uncle, became interested in acting when she was 17, after being an extra in a Swedish film. She enrolled in the Swedish Royal theater with her uncle's blessing. She made her break in the Swedish film Intermezzo (1936). David O. Selznick saw the film and put Ingrid under contract. She then reprised her role in Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939). After making three more Swedish films she returned to Hollywood to make Casablanca (1942). It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

              

With her father and at age 14

Practically every film Ingrid made after that was a classic: For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), Gaslight (1944), Spellbound (1945), The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), Saratoga Trunk (1945), Notorious (1946), Joan of Arc (1948), Under Capricorn (1949), Anastasia (1956), and Indiscreet (1958). She was nominated for numerous Oscars and won for her performances in Gaslight and Anastasia. Read more about her films here.

Ingrid was married three times. With Dr. Peter Aron Lindstrom, whom she married at the age of 22 on 10 July 1937, she had one daughter, Pia (born the following year on Sept. 20).

                 

On her wedding day and with her first child, Pia

In 1950 she had her famous affair with Roberto Rossellini, the director of her film Stromboli. Her second child, Roberto Ingmar Rossellini was born 2 Feb 1950. In March, Ingrid and Peter divorced and in May she married Rossellini. They had two more children: twins Isabella and Isotta on 18 June 1952. During this time Ingrid stayed in Italy to make films. All six were with Rossellini. She did not return to Hollywood until 1956 when she starred in Anastasia.

Rossellini and Ingrid, 1954

With twins Isabella and Isotta, Rome 1952

In 1957 Ingrid and Rossellini divorced. The following year she married Lars Schmidt. They had their own island in Sweden called Danholmen. They divorced in 1978.

Interesting article on The Appetite of Ingrid Bergman.

Robertino, Ingrid, Isabella & Isotta, and Pia - 1959

 

Ingrid's daughter, Isabella, who bears a striking resemblance to her mother,

and her daughter, Elettra

 

Interview of Elettra with link to family recipe.

In 1980, uged by her children, Ingrid wrote her autobiography, "My Story." She retired from acting in 1982 at the age of 66, after making the mini-series A Woman Called Golda. She died on her 67th birthday, shortly after lymphoma complications following a breast cancer operation. Her ashes were scattered off the coast of Sweden into the sea.

Statue in Fjallbacka, Sweden

 

Photo Album (click image to view larger):

 

                          

 

                     

 

 

This post is part of The Wonderful Ingrid Bergman Blogathon hosted by The Wonderful World of Cinema and the 2015 Summer Under the Stars Blogathon hosted by Journeys in Classic Film. Be sure to visit both blogs for posts on the birthday girl!

 

All images found via Pinterest

Summer Under the Stars Day 26: Ninotchka (1939)

Today's Summer Under the Stars focus is the great Greta Garbo. The film: Ninotchka (1939).

Ninotchka is, according the brief summary on TCM: "A coldhearted Soviet agent is warmed up by a trip to Paris and a night of love." The pitch for the movie was equally short: "Russian girl saturated with Bolshevist ideals goes to fearful, Capitalistic, monopolistic Paris. She meets romance and has an uproarious good time. Capitalism not so bad after all."

This film was a departure for Garbo, famous for her dramas. The slogan for the film followed the same tactic as Garbo's first talking picture Anna Christie (1930), when it was announced "Garbo talks!" This time it read, "Garbo laughs!" Not only does she laugh, but she makes everyone else laugh with her, as evident in the trailer.

Ninotchka is Garbo's character's name. She is sent from Russia to Paris to investigate a problem that her fellow Russian's are having selling some jewels. Here is the opening shot which sets the tone for the film:

Next shown is three men, obviously Russian, looking at amazement at a swanky Parisian hotel. Despite the great cost, they decide to stay there rather than the cheaper hotel down the street. They take the Royal suite with the excuse that the safe in the suite is the only one large enough to hold the important items that they brought with them.

 

Comrades Iranoff, Buljanoff, and Kopalski

Once in the suite we discover what it is they carry with them: magnificent jewels to be sold so that with the money they can feed their starving Russia. There is a hitch though. The jewels were taken from a former Grand Duchess of Russia (as property of the people) and that certain duchess just happens to be in Paris and a certain Russian hotel waiter just happens to see the jewels and tell the duchess where they are.

The duchess sends her lover, Count Leon d'Algout (Melvyn Douglas), to see the men. He stops them just as they are about to sell the jewels and informs them that he has filed an injunction. Now they cannot sell the jewels until they are given a clear title. While he's at it, Leon also shows the three Comrades how much fun they can have in a Capitalistic country.

Iranoff, Buljanoff, and Kopalski, after sending a telegram to Russia to inform them of this unfortunate turn of events, go to the station to meet the agent Russia has sent. They are surprised when it turns out to be a woman. One of the men says that had they known, they would have greeted her with flowers. This is Ninotchka's response:

Later, as she is walking about Paris examining it's structures, she meets Leon. A great dialogue follows (the Lubitsch touch):

Must you flirt?

I don't have to but I find it natural.

Suppress it.

The two begin to fall in love. When they discover who each other is however, Ninotchka, who was beginning to thaw out the tiniest bit, tries to ignore Leon, but he won't give up. He follows her into a working man's restaurant and tries to get her to laugh. He finally succeeds in the films most famous scene.

Ninotchka then becomes a different woman. She buys a that she had previously ridiculed with this

great line: "How can such a civilization survive which permits their women to put things like that on their heads. It won't be long now, comrades." Later they go out to dinner. Ninotchka wears a beautiful flowing, sparkly dress. The two become drunk on champagne and go back to the Royal suite (which Iranoff, Buljanoff, and Kopalski had moved out of so that the Russian agent could have the best room while they moved to the "smallest room next to the servants quarters"). Ninotchka opens the safe and Leon places a tiara on her head. She passes out and he puts her on the bed, tiara and all, and leaves.

The next morning, Ninotchka is woken by a visit by the Grand Duchess Swana, who has "retrieved" her property while Ninotchka was asleep. She tells her that she will give the jewels back and sign them over to Russia on one condition: Ninotchka leave on the next plane back to Russia. With a heavy heart, Ninotchka complies as her country must come first.

Back in Russia, the difference between it and Paris is starkly visible. There is no privacy in the small room she shares with two other girls and in order to have an omelet she must have her three friends over so that there are enough eggs. While they are "feasting" a letter comes from Leon. It starts out, "Ninotchka my darling" and ends "Yours, Leon." In between is nothing but blotted out words as the entire body of the letter has been censored.

Fast-forward to a few weeks later. Ninotchka is once again sent after Iranoff, Buljanoff, and Kopalski, this time in Constantinople. Upon her arrival (she is greeted with flowers this time) she discovers that they have opened a Russian restaurant and plan on staying there.

They have another surprise for her too...

The movie ends typical Hollywood style with Leon convincing Ninotchka to stay with him and sealing it with a kiss. THE END.

Ninotchka is my first Garbo film. I found the first half to be a little slow, though it had some great one-liners. For the second half Garbo suddenly seemed to come to life. I definitely agree with this statement made by Howard Barnes of The New York Herald Tribune: "Now that she has done it, it seems incredible that Greta Garbo never appeared in a comedy before Ninotchka; the great actress reveals a command of comic inflection which fully matches the emotional depth or tragic power of her earlier triumphs."

Behind the scenes:

This photo of Greta Garbo was found stuck on the wall of Anne Frank's room.

It was from  ‘Ninotchka.’

Our little room looked very bare at first with nothing on the walls; but thanks to Daddy who had brought my film-star collection and picture postcards on beforehand, and with the aid of a paste pot and brush, I have transformed the walls into one gigantic picture. This makes it look much more cheerful… 

~ Anne Frank, July 11, 1942

This post is part of the 2015 Summer Under the Stars Blogathon hosted by Journeys in Classic Film. Be sure and read all of the other posts on Garbo and the other stars here.