Another Time, Another Place (1958)

Chances are, that if you mention the name "Sean Connery" everyone will know who you are talking about. And if they don't know him by his real name, they will most certainly know him by the name of his most famous character, "Bond, James Bond." Not only did Connery play the iconic character, he was also the FIRST to do so. However, he and the actors that played 007 after him, also appeared in many other films as different characters, both before and after they gained world fame. And THAT is the subject of today's Blogathon - You Knew My Name: The Bond Not Bond Blogathon hosted by Realweegiemidget Reviews and Pale Writer. 

Be sure to check out all of the other contributions to see what 

your favorite Bond was doing when he WASN’T being Bond.

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

It is extremely rare for an actor to become famous from his very first on-screen appearance. Sean Connery was no exception. When he made the film Another Time, Another Place (1958) he was given an "INTRODUCING" credit UNDER the title (despite having been in a few movies and television episodes over the course of four years) with Lana Turner, Glynis Johns, and Barry Sullivan listed ABOVE the title. Lana Turner is still well known, but Glynis Johns is (unfortunately) mainly remembered for her role as Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins (1963) and Barry Sullivan only by Classic Movie fans. This film certainly didn't do anything for anyone's career, with OFF-screen events being far more exciting than anything that happened ON-screen. But we will get to that later.

The film opens with the voice of Sean Connery - lacking the richness and accent we are accustomed to - describing the defusing a bomb that landed unexploded in WWII war-torn London. He is BBC reporter Mark Trevor. US Foreign Correspondent Sara Scott (Lana Turner) shows up. They seem to be professional rivals, until they hop in a car to escape the pouring rain for a few minutes and we discover they are lovers.

There's a lot of this in the brief 30 minutes that Connery is in the film.

The bomb is successfully defused and the couple make their way to Sara's apartment where there is more of this...

And some of this...

And then of course talks of marriage from her until Mark confesses... he's already married and has a son.

Sara is devastated and they break things off. Her newspaper publisher fiancé Carter Reynolds (Sullivan) shows up and, learning about what happened, offers to take her back to New York. She refuses, insisting she must straighten her life out first. Mark comes for her a few hours later before he flies to Paris to cover the surrender of the German army and they vow to somehow make things work. 

The following morning, Reynolds informs Sara that Mark was killed in a plane crash. 

After spending six weeks in an institution after the shock of Mark's sudden death, Sara is finally set to sail home to New York. However, enroute to the ship she decides to make a quick trip to Cornwall, where Mark had grown up and lived. We get some shots of Sara walking around the picturesque village and looking down at the crashing waves against the rocky shore before running into Mark's son Brian and wife Kay (Glynis Johns). 

Kay Trevor

She feels faint at learning their identities and Kay, not knowing that Sara even knew Mark, invites her in. The women have tea and chat pleasantly. When Sara still appears unwell - after seeing Mark's study with folders containing copies of his broadcasts lying around - and the hotels being full up, Kay insists she stay the night and catch the morning train, which will allow her plenty of time for her ship departure. 

Even though Connery is only in the first third of the movie, this photo 

ensures that his presence is felt throughout the rest of the film.

During the night, Sara wanders around the house and, after accidently breaking the glass on a photo of Mark, runs wildly out into the night. 

When Kay discovers her guest gone and the bed not slept in, she calls family friend Alan, but before he gets there, she spies some locals carrying Sara down the street. When Sara comes to, she recognizes Alan, but he makes a motion for her to hide the fact that she knows him. 

Sara stays on with Kay until Alan warns her it is time to leave. Sara is not ready to go yet. Kay catches her listening to an old broadcast of Mark's and tells her that he had wanted to one day put them together into a book. Sara thinks aloud about how it could be formatted and Kay invites her to write it for him.

The two women get along well and both feel closer to Mark through the writing and reading of the book. Meanwhile, Reynolds finds out through Sara's doctor that she is still in England and flies over to fetch her. Kay invites him to join them for a dinner party, which becomes strained whenever Mark's name is mentioned. Later, Alan, who is in love with Kay, meets Reynolds at the pub and tells him Kay is becoming suspicious.

"There's a dead guy called Mark Trevor who's holding onto two women. That's a tough rope to cut."

That evening Kay goes to the movies with Alan. Afterwards she asks him about that last month when Mark hardly wrote to her and finds out that he had an affair. She still doesn't know who with.

Back at Kay's house, Sara has been packing. When Kay returns, she tells Sara what she learned. Sara decides to tell her that she was the other woman. Kay is naturally hurt and angry that Sara had dared come into her home. Sara then lies to Kay and tells her that Mark had ended their relationship and was planning on returning to his wife and son. Kay tells her to leave.

Later, as Reynolds and Sara are about to board the train, Kay appears with Alan to say goodbye and the film ends on a happy note, with each man getting the woman he loves.

Alan and Kay waving goodbye

Reviews for the film were pretty harsh. The New York Times was not at all impressed with the film, calling it a "turgid emotional melodrama" that was a "long way from making any contact with interests that might serve to entertain." Derek Monsey for the Sunday Express singled out "a newcomer to films, called Sean Connery," calling him "beetling-browed" and "unctuous-voiced," and concluding that he "will not, I guess, grow old in the industry." Anthony Carthew for the Daily Herald said the "Connery, in his first big part, gives the impression that he is reading his lines from a none-too-helpful prompt book."

Even Connery knew it was a dud. "The script was not entirely satisfactory; they were rewriting as they were shooting so they started with the end first, and I was dead at the end...so by the time they led up to me, I was only a picture on a piano. The film wasn't very good, it was beautifully lit but dreadfully directed."

While the events on-screen did little to capture anyone's interest - even today its only real interest is in seeing Connery-before-Bond - the events surrounding the making of the film are notorious in Hollywood history. 

The stabbing of Lana Turner's lover, Johnny Stompanato, by her 14-year-old daughter Cheryl is one of the most well-known scandals of Hollywood history. What many people might NOT know is Sean Connery's part in it. 

37-year-old Lana Turner had recently formed her own production company, Lanturn Films, as many big stars did in the fifties with the fall of the studio system. Another Time, Another Place was her first film. She had script and cast approval, and, for her love interest, she chose unknown British (Scottish) actor 27-year-old Sean Connery. 

In the film, I was supposed to be married to Glynis, but I was also having an affair with Lana and I died halfway through the picture. It was only when I was asked what it was like to make love to an older woman did I ever become aware of a woman's age.

~ Sean Connery 

Connery was not going to let an opportunity of working with a major Hollywood star to go by without trying his best. He meticulously researched his role, listening to tapes of famous WWII reporters and correspondents. He also got along well with Lana, despite often missing his marks and key lights. Lana, who had said goodbye to boyfriend Johnny Stompanato in New York - to her a final goodbye - had undeniably chemistry with her younger co-star and when Stompanato came to visit her in London he became convinced that they were having an affair. When he appeared on set one day, challenging Connery and threatening him with a gun, Connery, in true James Bond style, punched him in the nose (an article about the incident). Stompanato was banned from the set. Of the set, Johnny began to abuse Lana, nearly smothering her and damaging her larynx. He was quietly kicked out of the country. 

After the picture wrapped, Lana went back to America and Connery began work on his next film, Disney's Darby O'Gill and the Little People. Being in a Disney film meant he needed a clean background and, after Cheryl Turner stabbed Johnny Stompanato with a kitchen knife as he was beating Lana was not something he wanted to be associated with. Letters in which Lana described being shown around London with Cheryl and Connery were published and Connery was warned to get out of town (he refused but laid low). 

Lana is a lovely lady. We went around together during filming, and sometimes I'd pick her up on my motor scooter, and she'd be all dressed up for the evening, but she'd hop on anyway. A good sport. 

~ Sean Connery

Cute Photo of Connery and Turner in Cornwall

Another Time, Another Place was released four months early and one month after Stompanato's death to capitalize on the interest in Lana Turner. However, even with all of the publicity, the film flopped, not being able to compare with real life. You can currently watch the film for free on Pluto TV (website and app).

Sources:

Parker, John. Sean Connery. Contemporary Books, Chicago. 1993. 

Pfeiffer, Lee & Lisa, Philip. The Films of Sean Connery. Citadel Press. 1993. 

Tanitch, Robert. Sean Connery. Chapmans, London. 1993. 

Turner, Lana. Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth. E.P. Dutton, Inc., New York. 1982. 

Christmas with Bette Davis

Bette Davis may have had a reputation for being tough, but she also loved Christmas and even starred in two Christmas films: The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) and Pocketful of Miracles (1961). Being from New England, she sent cards, decorated the house in the traditional way, with a live tree, stockings, and greenery, listened to Bing Crosby, and wore a red Santa hat (source). 

Some of Bette's ornaments that went up for auction.

In her autobiography The Lonely Life, Bette recalled her Christmas' as a child:

It was Daddy's favorite holiday. He personally decorated the tree every year. Christmas Eve was his night. He was our Santa Claus. What a thrill those Christmas mornings were. One would have thought the Magi had visited us from the shower of gifts that spilled into the hallway. 

I remember receiving one skate from Uncle Myron and bravely hiding my disappointment. How could I wait a whole year for the other? I smiled bravely - and then the other skate was retrieved from its hiding place in the closet. How everyone roared! Christmas was the only time I remember the whole family's laughing together (21).

And of course, being Bette, her Christmas' could be dramatic, like the time played Santa at her school and caught on fire. She had to apply grease to her face every day to avoid scarring.

My first Christmas there I was Santa Claus. I had no idea that I would play him all my life. At Crestalban it was my role for three years. The third time was almost the last. The tree was lighted by real candles as there was no electricity at the school. That dates me! Under the tree were our gifts from the faculty and each other. I had been told not to go near the tree—my curiosity got the better of me and in an attempt to find my presents the cotton batting on the sleeve of my costume caught fire. I started shaking it to put it out and managed only to spread the flame to my beard. Suddenly I was on fire. I started screaming in terror. I heard voices, felt myself being wrapped in a rug—and then silence all around me. Everyone was quite naturally panicked. When the rug was taken off, I decided to keep my eyes closed. Ever the actress! I would make believe I was blind. "Her eyes!" A shudder of delight went through me. I was in complete command of the moment. I had never known such power.

I eventually opened my eyes to the relief of everyone. Bobby, who had been much impressed when she read The Little Match Girl, turned away with tears streaming down her face, expecting to find her sister a pile of ashes when she looked back at me. The Whiting sisters told me to be a good sport and not spoil the Christmas festivity (25).

Being a Hollywood Star, Bette participated in holiday-themed publicity, from switching on the lights for the 1936 Hollywood Christmas Parade, posing for holiday-themed publicty photos, or filming a pretend scene in 1942 to encouraging everyone to buy War Bonds as Christmas gifts. 

Christmas at the Hollwood Canteen, which Bette had co-founded with John Garfield, could be emotional. 

Watching the faces of the GIs trying so hard to be cheerful made all of us die a little. How homesick they all were. One Christmas Eve there was a knock at the kitchen door of the Canteen. I opened it up and there stood Bing Crosby and his three very young sons. He grinned at me and said, "I thought maybe we could help out tonight." They sag Christmas carols for the next hour. There was not a dry eye in the Canteen (This 'n That, 97). 

Decorating the Canteen.

 I will leave you with some tips from Bette for hosting a party:

Finding the perfect gift:

How to be a good house guest:

Royal Film Performance Series: Because Your Mine (1952)

You wouldn’t think it would be that difficult to choose a film for the Royals to view for the Annual Royal Film Performance, yet, for the third year in a row, the choice of film was met with controversy and, in 1952, even embarrassment. 

There were several reasons, which are spelled out in the following newspaper articles: 

Source

Source                                                                         Source

Another paper called it "the most banal and tasteless ever chosen" and "one more second-rate American army barrack-room burlesque." I haven't seen this film (it airs on TCM next month on the 13th) but these words seem pretty harsh. 

No matter their thoughts on the choice of film, the stars and Royals in attendance were all smiles for the camera.

Watch the 3-minute video here

We get a glimpse of the performers on stage in this video!

Here are 11 minutes of silent footage

The event took place on October 27th at the Empire Cinema in Leicester Square, which was decorated with flowers specially flown in from 22 different countries. It was the first to take place after the death of King George VI and the first Elizabeth attended as Queen Elizabeth II. The "West End was chocked with film fans" two hours before the show began and police were called in to keep things in control. For once the newspapers don't mention rain. Here's a photo of the crowds.

There were 60 stars in attendance, including the usual British stars - the Oliviers, the Mills, Margaret Lockwood (six-minute mark), Richard Todd, Petula Clark, Googie Withers, etc. - as well as several stars from Hollywood, including Yvonne de Carlo, Gene Kelly, Rock Hudson ("That was the most nervous I ever was!"), Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Evelyn Keyes, Kirk Douglas, Peggy Cummins, and Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin seems to have been the favorite of the evening. 

Source

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For her first appearance at the glittering event as monarch, Queen Elizabeth II needed to stand out. Norman Hartnell dressed her in a striking black and white satin halter neck gown with spiky lapels. Copies appeared in stores within the next two days.

Source

Princess Margaret wore black tulle and a statement necklace. Prince Philip was also in attendance. The Queen Mother however, for the first time since it's inception, did not.

Source

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Celia Johnson's six-year-old daughter Kate (one minute mark and 6:08 of the silent video) was chosen to present a bouquet to the Queen. In the biography she wrote of her mother, Kate remembers that her nanny brushed her hair "a hundred times for the occasion. Celia thought the Queen wonderful" (209).

And if you were wondering how the film itself was received...

Source

Not everyone had a bad time, however. For Yvonne de Carlo it was a memorable evening:

An event of a lifetime lay ahead of me in London. I went to Paris to have an appropriate dress designed. It was of peacock-blue taffeta, studded with pea-sized rhinestones. In a few days I would be attending a royal film performance and be presented to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

I felt like a little girl awaiting Christmas, and, as with Christmas, the big night finally arrived. A huge crowd had gathered outside the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square to see the arrival of the royal party and the celebrities. I invited Denis, the Earl of Lanesborough, to be my escort, which I thought was a good insurance policy against protocol boo-boos, and having him at my side gave me confidence I might otherwise have lacked.

With great fanfare, the Queen and her entourage, including Princess Margaret, entered the theater. A little later, we all lined up for presentation in the reception lounge. Her Majesty looked far more elegant than I would imagine possible. She moved from person to person, stopping for a brief visit with each. She seemed to know exactly what was pertinent to say to each of the celebrities. When she stepped before me, I curtsied perfectly, just as I had rehearsed at least a thousand times. She asked if I enjoyed working on London. "Oh, yes indeed, Your Majesty. I'm enjoying every minute of my stay here." I think she asked if I intended to stay a while, and I'm sure whatever I said wad brief and to the point. I was warned that I should volunteer nothing, just answer the questions quickly and courteously. That was the way it was.

I was really impressed with her great dignity and spirit of authority. When Denis asked me what I thought of it, I said, "She's wonderful. She behaved just like a queen."

While still backstage, I became friendly with Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and asked if he would be kind enough to introduce me to Sir Laurence Olivier and his lovely wife. The introduction was made, and I asked the Oliviers to sign autographs for me. What a thrill! They were my all-time favorite screen couple. After this, we all watched the movie, Mario Lanza's new release, and a stage show, and then on to the Savoy Hotel for a lavish supper party. It was a night to remember. I do (171).

Picturegoer

Sources:

De Carlo, Yvone. Yvonne: An Autobiography. St. Martin's Press, NY. 1987.  

Fleming, Kate. Celia Johnson: A Biography. Orion,London. 1993. 

Hudson, Rock & Davidson, Sarah. Rock Hudson: His Story. Morrow, NY. 1986.

 The "n" on my laptop only works if I strike it hard, so if there's one missing you'll know why ;)