During the second year of my blog I started a Countdown to the Oscars series for the month of February. I wrote several posts covering the very first Academy Awards ceremony up through 1945. I've linked them below:
The following year, 2016, I intended to continue my series. I hosted a Costume Awards for the years before it became an official category but not many people participated. I also participated in a couple of Oscar-themed blogathons:
Last Year I wrote up a post for the Post-War period but never finished adding photos to it. My only Oscar contributions was a part 2 to my Costume Timeline for the same annual blogathon.
This year I am going to try to finish my series. I also hope you'll check out some of my early posts, as I was quite proud of them but didn't have many followers back then.
Clark Gable was known for his macho image in the movies, an image he carefully cultivated and protected. In much the same way how John Wayne always plays John Wayne in his films, so Clark Gable is always Clark Gable. That devil-may-care smile, those mirthful eyes, a man who takes on life as it comes and enjoys every minute of it, all trademarks of the "King."
But the King of Hollywood had another side to him. And it was this side of himself that he was terrified to show. Behind the scenes and away from the prying eyes of the camera, he was a voracious reader and a lover of poetry. Whenever he was called upon to touch on this other side of himself, to show emotion, he worried that he would be laughed at or seen as unmanly. Yet it is these precise scenes which allow Gable's true talent as an actor to shine through. In these moments he's no longer Clark Gable but really becomes his character. Below are three scenes from the films Gone With the Wind (1939), Adventure (1945), and San Francisco (1936) in which Gable proved he could act:
{{THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS}}
The most famous example of this comes from the most famous movie in all of film history: Gone With the Wind. It's not a scene that's widely quoted, but it is one of the most, if not the THE most, emotional scenes in the film. Bonnie Blue Butler, the daughter of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara, has just been killed in a horse riding accident. Bonnie was the joy of Rhett's life. He spoiled her, comforted her when she was scared, and loved her more than anyone else in the world. Her death leaves him inconsolable. Melanie, played by Olivia de Havilland, goes into the room where is sitting alone, drinking, and tries to comfort him. In the scene, director Victor Fleming wanted Gable to cry, which Gable refused to do. He wanted to stand with his back turned to the camera in heavy sorrow. De Havilland talked him into at least trying the scene the way Fleming wanted it, and Fleming promised that if Gable didn't like it they would do it his way.
I remember talking to Clark about the scene when he is supposed to cry, after the death of his daughter. He was worried: you see, he had never cried on the screen before. He thought it was not masculine to cry. He was so worried about it. ‘I’m just going to have to quit,’ he told me. I remember I said, ‘Tears denote strength of character, not weakness. Crying makes you intensely human.’ He agreed, rehearsed it, and it turned out to be one of the most memorable scenes in the movie (source).
After viewing the two different versions, Gable agreed that Fleming's way was more effective and one of the most heartbreaking and poignant scenes in cinema was born.
The ending scene of Adventure (1945) starring Gable and Greer Garson, contains another powerful scene in which their newly born child nearly dies. Gable, a sea captain who married Garson and then went back out to sea, comes home and learns that his wife is about to have a baby. When he arrives at the house the situation is grave. Garson is very weak and the baby is struggling to live. Gable goes into the room where the doctors are working on the baby. As he watches, they give up. The baby has stopped breathing. Gable goes over the table and looks down on this tiny baby and begins yelling at it, telling it to live so he can give him back to his mother. And at the last moment, the baby begins to breathe. It's a dramatic and emotional scene, heightened for me by the fact that Gable died before the birth of his son in real life, and only met his daughter with Loretta Young once.
The only picture of the scene I could find.
If it comes on TCM again I will record it and post it here.
In another ending scene, this time after the Academy Award winning earthquake scene in San Francisco (1936), Gable is walking through the streets, frantically searching for Jeannette MacDonald and horrified by all the death and destruction going on around him. This was the only scene I was able to find on YouTube (in three parts below).
Start at 3:50
Look at the expressions on his face in this scene, as he searches for the woman he realizes he can't live without. Gable masterfully conveys what his character is going through without speaking and the audience fears the worst with him. And when he finds her, the audience feels the overwhelming rush of relief and thanksgiving that Gable feels.
I hope you enjoyed this look at the Three Times Gable Proved He Could Act. If you've seen these films do you agree with me? Are there any other scenes you would have included? I watched Parnell (1936) last week and it too had a powerful closing scene and an overall restrained performance from Gable that, at the time of it's release, hurt the picture but now serves to show that "The King" was capable of so much more than the studio system, and himself, was willing to let him be.
I think it’s safe to say Charles Boyer, TCM’s Star of the Month for January, will be one of my most watched stars of the year. I watched six movies and have one waiting on the dvr with 11 months in the year left to go.
While not really a Stewart Granger fan, I watched the three films he made with Deborah Kerr. Kerr is becoming a favorite and I look forward to watching more of her films throughout the year. I've also made a good start on more Robert Ryan films, my current obsession.
This is what I watched, almost all of them via WatchTCM:
Mata Hari (1932) - Greta Garbo & Ramon Navarro, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone
Secrets of the French Police (1932) - Gwili Andre, Frank Morgan (I was pretty horrified/nauseated with one scene - it's easy to spot)
Rockabye (1932) - Constance Bennett & Joel McCrea
Break of Hearts (1934) - Charles Boyer & Katharine Hepburn
Parnell (1937) - Clark Gable & Myrna Loy
Algiers (1938) - Charles Boyer & Hedy Lamarr
Comrade X (1940) - Clark Gable & Hedy Lamarr
*It’s a Date (1940) - Deanna Durbin, Kay Francis, Walter Pidgeon
Nine Lives are Not Enough (1941) - Ronald Reagan
Army Surgeon (1942) - Jane Wyatt
Rings On Her Fingers (1942) - Gene Tierney & Henry Fonda
The Human Comedy (1943) - Mickey Rooney, Frank Morgan, Van Johnson, James Craig, Marsha Hunt, Fay Bainter, Donna Reed
*Laura (1944) - Gene Tierney & Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price, Judith Anderson
Kismet (1944) - Ronald Colman & Marlene Dietrich
Together Again (1944) - Irene Dunne & Charles Boyer, Charles Coburn
The Hidden Eye (1945) - Edward Arnold
Cluny Brown (1946) - Jennifer Jones & Charles Boyer
The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) - Robert Alda, Peter Lorre
The Woman on the Beach (1947) - Robert Ryan & Joan Bennett, Charles Bickford
The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947) - Van Johnson & Janet Leigh, Thomas Mitchell
The Adventures of Don Juan (1948) - Errol Flynn & Viveca, Alan Hale
The Boy with Green Hair (1948) - Robert Ryan, Pat O'Brien, Dean Stockwell
*Act of Violence (1949) - Van Heflin & Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan, Mary Astor, Phyllis Thaxter
*Father is a Bachelor (1950) - William Holden & Coleen Gray
King Solomon’s Mines (1950) - Stewart Granger & Deborah Kerr
In a Lonely Place (1950) - Humphrey Bogart & Gloria Grahame
Payment on Demand (1951) - Bette Davis (missed second half)
This Woman is Dangerous (1952) - Joan Crawford & Dennis Morgan
The Happy Time (1952) - Charles Boyer, Louis Jourdan, Marsha Hunt, Bobby Driscoll
The Prisoner of Zenda (1952) - Stewart Granger & Deborah Kerr, James Mason
Young Bess (1953) - Jean Simmons, Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr, Charles Laughton
Inferno (1953) - Robert Ryan, Rhonda Fleming
The Earrings of Madame De... (1953) - Charles Boyer & Danielle Darrieux (French)
Back From Eternity (1956) - Robert Ryan, Anita Ekberg (remake of Five Came Back)
Oceans 11 (1960) - Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, Angie Dickinson
Follow the Boys (1963) - Connie Francis, Paula Prentiss, Janis Paige, Richard Long
I’ll Take Sweden (1965) - Bob Hope, Tuesday Weld, Dina Merrill, Frankie Avalon
Triple Cross (1966) - Christopher Plummer & Romy Schneider
Christmas Encore (2017) - Maggie Lawson (from the TV show Psych)
Wonder Woman (2017) - Gal Gadot & Chris Pine, Robin Wright
Least Favorite Film: Mata Hari and Algiers didn't really capture my interest but I feel like they are somewhat essentials to the serious Classic Movie Fan. You may recall I had watched the first half of Kismet a month or two ago but didn't finish it. It came on TCM again so I did. If you're interested in seeing Marlene Dietrich with gold painted legs than that's the movie for you.
Rings on Her Fingers. This gif is what made me want to watch the movie.
Favorite Film: Rings on Her Fingers is a must-see gem, as is Cluny Brown which EVERYBODY seemed to be recommending. I absolutely loved the ending - "I'll write a sequel!" The Human Comedy made me cry at the end and it was nice to see Mickey Rooney in a serious role. Together Again was pretty cute and had a lovely house set, not to mention the always funny Charles Coburn. And of course I greatly enjoyed Robert Ryan's performance in Inferno. I also ended up watching Act of Violence again, even though I just watched it last month, because it's so darn good!! I took a ton of screenshots, as one does when watching a Noir. You can see them all on my blog facebook page - I share mostly screenshots on there that will hopefully make their way into future posts.
Busby Berkeley is a name well known to Classic Movie fans and especially fans of musicals. The choreographer/director was a trendsetter in the business with his staging concepts in such films as 42nd Street (1933) and Footlight Parade (1933). Berkeley, who had been working at Warner Brothers for six years, was brought to MGM in 1939. His first film there was Babes in Arms.
Babes in Arms was Berkeley's first time working with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, both child actors who had been working since they were toddlers and who already had impressive filmographies. Judy had just finished working on The Wizard of Oz, which would earn her a Juvenile Academy Award, and would arrive to recording sessions before filming of Babes in Arms began still in her costume and makeup as Dorothy Gale (Berkeley choreographed a routine for the Scarecrow that was cut from the final film).
Nobody ever topped Judy and Mickey. I don't know any two kids who could be better than those two were. Judy...called me 'Uncle Buzz' and always wanted me right there when the camera was photographing her. She would not do a scene unless I stood by the camera, and afterward she would ask me how she looked and if she had done all right.
Mickey Rooney remembered Berkeley as:
...a genius. He could be charming, with his flashing eyes and huge, expressive eyebrows and a smile that warmed everyone around him. But he had one small problem: he drank... [and] he had that alcoholic's perfectionism. He was tough on all of us. He was always screaming at Judy, 'Eyes! Eyes! Open them wide! I want to see your eyes!' To him her eyes were her greatest asset.
The film, about the kids of vaudeville performers with dreams of staging a production of their own, featured impressive musical numbers. With Berkeley it was always BIG!
Here's a deleted scene with Rooney as President Roosevelt. The footage was removed and destroyed after FDR's death in 1945. Footage was found recently on foreign prints and someone put it on YouTube!
The entire film, which Rooney considered to be his best performance (he was nominated for an Academy Award) was shot in only eleven weeks and was a 'solid smash hit,' making it onto the Top Ten Box Office Hits list of 1939 - and we all know what a year THAT was!
Judy celebrating her 16th birthday on the set, with Rooney and Berkeley.
The film was quickly followed by another great success, Strike Up the Band (1940), with Rooney as a drummer who turns his high school band into modern dance orchestra with dreams of winning a nationwide band contest. Berkeley again directed, and left his unmistakable touch on the film's finale, "Do the La Conga," which he wanted to be "a huge number with about five minutes of Judy singing and every possible camera angle... AND he decided he wanted to do the entire song and dance number in one take." Everyone else in the production was dubious but after five days of rehearsals and careful laying out of every shot, Berkeley got what he wanted. Roger Edens, who wrote the song, remembered the atmosphere that enveloped everyone, saying it was "like the opening [night] of a Broadway show. There was the same great tension, because the number could only be shot once. When the morning came to shoot, the whole studio was down there. Everyone was very tense and keyed up-and the result was a real giving performance. The scene went beautifully, without a hitch. Even now it has an unforgettable something extra about it." You can watch it below.
Berkeley on the set of Strike Up the Band:
Why mess with success? The trio got together again for Babes on Broadway (1941), this time putting on a show for British war orphans to help realize their dreams of Broadway (I sang "Chin Up, Cheerio, Carry On" for our church's USO show a few years back - I was nowhere near as good as Judy though).
Busby Berkeley directs this sort of thing about as well as anybody.
~ Variety
Berkeley was also to direct Girl Crazy (1943), the fourth musical with Rooney and Garland but he was removed from the film at Garland fell ill from overwork. Berkeley, who had been ill himself, wanted a big splashy number, clashing with Edens and causing a situation where only one of them could stay. As both Judy and Mickey could no longer handle his militant dictated, directing was taken over by Norman Taurog. Berkeley's only contribution to the film, the "I Got Rhythm" number, was left in the film. You can watch it (in two parts) below:
Source
Mickey and Judy
The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Musicals of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland
A History of the Four Garland/Rooney Musicals and a Guide to the Original Soundtrack Recordings
This year I watched 277 new-to-me movies and 46 movies that were rewatches.
New to me: 277 (232 pre-1970, 45 post-1970)
Rewatches: 46 (21 pre-1970, 25 post-1970)
Total: 323 (253 pre-1970, 70 post-1970)
Where I watched them: 112
TCM: 209 (7 rewatches)
Library: 33 (5 rewatches)
Personal DVD: 48 + 3 VHS (29 rewatches)
YouTube: 2
Netflix: 22 (4 rewatches) - one a Netflix Original (Our Souls at Night)
Other (TV, website): 4
Theater: 2 (Smokey and the Bandit + Despicable Me 3 at a Drive-In)
Here are my top ten movie discoveries:
1/10: Star Trek (2009) - Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy
3/28 When in Rome (1952) - Van Johnson, Paul Douglas
4/3 Barefoot in the Park (1967) - Jane Fonda & Robert Redford, Mildred Natwick, Charles Boyer
5/10 Miranda (1948) - Glynis Johns, Margaret Rutherford
6/11 Phantom Lady (1944) - Ella Raines, Franchot Tone, Alan Curtis
6/24 Ride the Wild Surf (1964) - Fabian & Shelley Fabares, Tab Hunter, Barbara Eden
6/30 Pride of the Marines (1945) - John Garfield & Eleanor Parker, Dane Clark
8/? Niagara (1953) - Marilyn Monroe & Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters
9/12 It Should Happen to You (1954) - Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, Peter Lawford
10/23 Sissi (1955) - Romy Schneider & Karlheinz Böhm, Magda Schneider
Classics I finally watched:
The Mummy (1932) - Boris Karloff
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) - Patricia Neal & Hugh Marlowe
Gigi (1958) - Leslie Caron & Louis Jourdan
The Innocents (1961) - Deborah Kerr
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) - Gregory Peck
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1963) - Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Agnes Moorehead
From Russia With Love (1963) - Sean Connery
The China Syndrome (1979) - Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas
Back to the Future (1982) - Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd
Well I'm already off to a great start this blogging year as I post this a good twelve hours later than I intended. I came down with a bad cold Wednesday and last night I ended up going to bed early. But enough about that!
Welcome to the Bill and Myrna New Year's Blogathon!!! I can't wait to read all the entries on my favorite movie couple!
Already we have several posts up. I've linked them below and will continue to update over the course of the blogathon:
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).
Anne of Green Gables (1934) - Anne Shirley, Tom Brown
A Slight Case of Murder (1938) - Edward G. Robinson
Golden Boy (1939) - William Holden & Barbara Stanwyck, Adolph Menjou, Lee J. Cobb
*Meet John Doe (1941) - Gary Cooper & Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan
Manpower (1941) - Edward G. Robinson & Marlene Dietrich, George Raft
Dressed to Kill (1941) - Lloyd Nolan
Rage in Heaven (1941) - Robert Montgomery & Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders
One Foot in Heaven (1941) - Fredric March & Martha Scott
The Constant Nymph (1943) - Joan Fontaine & Charles Boyer
Marriage is a Private Affair (1944) - Lana Turner & John Hodiak, James Craig
Action in Arabia (1944) - George Sanders, Virginia Bruce
*Christmas in Connecticut (1945) - Barbara Stanwyck & Dennis Morgan, S.Z. Sakall
Homecoming (1948) - Clark Gable & Lana Turner, John Hodiak, Anne Baxter
Berlin Express (1948) - Robert Ryan & Merle Oberon
Act of Violence (1949) - Van Heflin & Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan, Mary Astor, Phyllis Thaxter
The Breaking Point (1950) - John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Phyllis Thaxter
Three Little Words (1950) - Fred Astaire & Vera-Ellen, Red Skelton, Arlene Dahl
I'll See You in My Dreams (1951) - Doris Day & Danny Thomas
Duchess of Idaho (1951) - Esther Williams & Van Johnson
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) - Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe
Lovely to Look At (1952) - Kathryn Grayson, Red Skelton, Marge & Gower Champion, Howard Keel, Ann Miller
The Naked Spur (1953) - James Stewart, Janet Leigh, Robert Ryan, Ralph Meeker
Dream Wife (1953) - Cary Grant & Deborah Kerr
Pushover (1954) - Fred MacMurray & Kim Novak, Dorothy Malone
*White Christmas (1954) - Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger, Mary Wickes
Susan Slept Here (1954) - Dick Powell & Debbie Reynolds
*Three Coins in the Fountain (1954) - Clifton Webb & Dorothy McGuire, Louis Jourdan & Maggie McNamara, Rossano Brazzi & Jean Peters
Betrayed (1954) - Clark Gable & Lana Turner, Victor Mature
The Last Voyage (1960) - Robert Stack & Dorothy Malone, George Sanders
Period of Adjustment (1962) - Jane Fonda & Jim Hutton, Anthony Franciosa
*Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) - Alan Young
*Elf (2003) - Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel, Bob Newhart, Ed Asner
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.
