Tomorrow Olivia's Centenary Blogathon begins! You can leave the links to your post on either this blog or Crystals. We will have posts for days 1, 2, and 3 as well as a Wrap-up post on Monday for late entries. I am so excited to see all of the post honoring this legendary actress.
Dennis Morgan is one of my favorite actors. I first discovered him (probably along with most of you) in Christmas in Connecticut (1945), the Christmas classic starring Barbara Stanwyck. I quickly started watching more. His most frequent co-star was Jack Carson. I have previously written about both men. You can read my post on Dennis Morgan here (along with descriptions of most of these films) and Jack Carson here.
1. Three Cheers for the Irish (1940)
2. Affectionately Yours (1941)
3. Kisses for Breakfast (1941)
4. The Very Thought of You (1944)
5. Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
6. One More Tomorrow (1946)
7. Two Guys From Milwaukee (1946)
8. It's a Great Feeling (1949)
9. The Lady Takes a Sailor (1949)
10. Pretty Baby (1950)
Have you seen Morgan in any movies other than Christmas in Connecticut?
I was nominated for another Liebster Award today by the lovely Christina Wehner. Thanks so much, Christina!! She has asked some amazing, thought-provoking questions so I will get right to them, right after I nominate some bloggers.
*If you've recently been nominated for a Liebster feel free to turn this on down. I checked your blogs to see if you have been nominated recently.
Okay, back to the questions:
1 – Book you would most liked to have seen Alfred Hitchcock turn into a movie.
Good question! Probably Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie (because there's already two versions of Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None). Poroit's Christmas is a good one too.
2 – Book you would most like to see turned into a musical.
I honestly have no idea. The kinds of books I read aren't 'musical' material. Maybe a biopic of Dorothy Lamour based on her autobiography My Side of the Road.
3 – Favorite movie musical score or soundtrack?
I love the soundtrack to You've Got Mail (1998) and have it on cd.
4 – Stars you would have liked to have seen paired in a musical.
Again, I don't really know. Given that I don't watch that many musicals I don't know who's already been paired. Maybe just give Judy Garland a manly lead for once.
5 – Least favorite musical.
Oklahoma.
6 – If your life was turned into a musical biopic, would you rather be played by a singer or dancer?
Since I sing I guess I would want a singer (Judy Garland please) but I feel like dancing inside, even though I'm terrible at it, so... Incidentally, my life would make the most boring musical biopic ever lol.
7 – Classic movie you would most like to see on the big screen.
I really want to see Dial M for Murder in 3D like it was filmed! I also want to see Roman Holiday.
8 – Movie you would most like to see remade today.
Normally I'm not a fan of remakes so I can't think of anything off the top of my head. I would probably take a movie that had the potential to be good and remake it.
9 – Best book you’ve read in the last year.
I read a lot of books, but Please Don't Eat the Daisies was hilarious. I'm currently reading The Venetian Affair by Helen MacInnes.
Here are two questions that were also asked by Cinematic Frontier:
10 – “Which film recently made you reflect on it long after the credits were over?”
Maybe The Hustler (1961)? I was really blown away by Gleason's acting as well as the opening and closing credits and the cinematography. Re-watching The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) was also an amazing experience.
11 – “Who is your favorite composer?”
If we're talking classical music I would say Tchaikovsky, Strauss, and Edward Grieg. If we're talking movie composers it would be Hans Zimmer.
Now, here are my eleven questions to be answered by the blogs I nominated:
1. Out of the classic movie stars still alive (Olivia de Havilland, Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds, Eva Marie Saint, Kim Novak, Sophia Loren, Julie Andrews, Angela Lansbury, Joanne Woodward, Robert Wagner, Jerry Lewis, Sidney Poitier, Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, to name some), who would you most like to meet and what would you talk about?
2. That one classic movie you really want to see but can't seem to get your hands on a copy.
3. Current movie star crush (and by current I mean the one you're crushing on right now, not necessarily a current celebrity).
4. James Stewart or Gary Cooper?
5. You're interning at a studio and you find a box (let's say 23 ft) hidden away that hasn't been touched in decades. What do you find inside?
6. What would you write your thesis on if you got a films studies degree?
7. What TV house would you like to live in?
8. A Classic Movie Star asks you to help them write their autobiography, who is it?
9. Do you prefer films with over-the-top costumes that are a feast to the eyes or films where the costumes aren't noticeable and where your main focus is the story?
Obviously I love Olivia de Havilland (otherwise I wouldn't be co-hosting a blogathon for her in a week and a half). Ever since I saw her in The Adventures of Robin Hood when I was little I thought her to be one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. When I was older and saw her in They Died with Their Boots on, I discovered just how fantastic she is as an actress. Since then I have watched several of her films and inevitably have come up with some favorites. Here they are:
1. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) - Errol Flynn (airing July 1)
2. Gone With the Wind (1939) - Vivien Leigh & Clark Gable (airing July 1)
3. My Love Came Back (1940) - Jane Wyman & Eddie Albert (airing July 23)
4. The Strawberry Blonde (1941) - James Cagney (airing July 22)
5. They Died with Their Boots on (1941) - Errol Flynn (airing July 8)
6. The Male Animal (1942) - Henry Fonda (airing July 29)
9. The Heiress (1949) - Montgomery Clift (airing July 15)
10. My Cousin Rachel (1952) - Richard Burton (airing July 22)
Honorable Mentions: Alibi Ike (1935), and The Irish in Us (1935) or Wings of the Navy (1939) - can't remember which one I liked better as they are very similar. They are also airing on TCM in July.
I am very excited that Olivia is TCM's Star of the Month for July. I particularly want to see Four's a Crowd and Raffles. I've been freeing up my dvr in anticipation. Which films are you looking forward to seeing? Have you signed up for the blogathon? It's not too late!!
Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh are one of my favorite on-screen couples. I saw Curtis first in The Defiant Ones and Leigh first in Psycho. Then I saw several more Curtis films before seeing the two of them in either The Perfect Furlough or Who Was that Lady?. The only film of theirs I haven't seen is The Black Shield of Falworth.
1. Holiday Affair (1949) - Leigh & Robert Mitchum
2. Confidentially Connie (1953) - Leigh & Van Johnson
3. The Defiant Ones (1958) - Curtis & Sidney Poitier
4. The Perfect Furlough (1958) - Curtis & Leigh
5. Some Like it Hot (1959) - Curtis & Jack Lemmon & Marilyn Monroe
6. Operation Petticoat (1959) - Curtis & Cary Grant
7. Who Was That Lady? (1960) - Curtis & Leigh & Dean Martin
8. Sex and the Single Girl (1964) - Curtis & Natalie Wood, Henry Fonda & Lauren Bacall
9. The Great Race (1965) - Curtis & Natalie Wood & Jack Lemmon
10. Not With My Wife, You Don't! (1966) - Curtis & George C. Scott
Honorable Mentions: Angels in the Outfield (1951), Houdini (1953), and Psycho (1960).
I know, I know, it's difficult with Paul Newman in here but you will just have to calm down! At least enough so I can tell you about one of Paul's movies, The Young Philadelphians (1959).
Reminds me of the opening credits of Catch Me if You Can (2002).
This movie is one of those films that feels like several movies in one in that it is rather episodic. It also features a host of Classic Television Stars (Adam West - Batman, Robert Vaughn - Napoleon Solo, Brian Keith - Uncle Bill, Diane Brewster - Miss Canfield) as well as a nice mix of Old and New Hollywood.
The movie opens on a wedding night. But it is not destined to be a happy one. Kate Judson Lawrence (Diane Brewster) has married socially prominent Bill Lawrence (Adam West) to ensure that her children have a better start in life than she did. In their hotel room Bill becomes upset and says he can't go through with it. It turns out he is unable to have children (or is a homosexual). He leaves Kate alone and drives off into the night.
Kate, also upset, goes to her true love, Mike Flanagan (Brian Keith), a poor laborer, to seek solace. The next morning she learns that Bill died in a car crash. Not long after his death, Kate discovers she is pregnant. Bill's mother threatens to tell everyone the truth but after Kate says that all she wants for her child is the Lawrence name and not the Lawrence fortune, not to mention that she threatens to tell everyone the truth about Bill, his mother agrees to keep her secret.
Isobel Elsom as Mrs. Dewitt Lawrence
Fast-forward several years later and we come upon handsome Anthony 'Tony' Judson Lawrence (Paul Newman). He is a pre-Law student at Princeton and in the summer works at Mike Flanagan's successful construction company. We learn that Kate did not marry Mike because he wouldn't be able to "open the right doors" for her son but has remained close friends with him. Mike has become a father figure to Tony, who is oblivious to his true origins.
While at work he meets Joan Dickinson (Barbara Rush), the daughter of Gilbert Dickinson (John Williams), a prominent attorney. Later, they meet again at a party. Soon the two are dating and considering marriage. Their parents however, have other plans.
On the night Joan and Tony are planning to elope, Mr. Dickinson suddenly comes by with an offer Paul can't refuse (the theme in this movie is rich parents interfering with their children's lives resulting in loveless marriages). He accepts, Joan marries someone else, and Tony has a fling with an older woman (Alexis Smith) married to an even older man, Mr. Wharton (Otto Kruger) in order to climb even further in his career (as a lawyer).
However, once Tony has established himself as an up-and-coming lawyer, the Korean War comes along. He makes it through unscathed but his friend Chester (Robert Vaughn) loses an arm and Joan's husband conveniently dies, leaving the way open for her and Tony to rekindle their romance at a later date.
Back at Mr. Wharton's firm, Tony is given a low-position job. This doesn't sit well with him. He's not going to let the war ruin his promising career. Salvation comes in the form of a feather-brained elderly woman, the delightful Billie Burke, Mrs. J. Arthur Allen. The ensuing case shows that Tony is a force to be reckoned with; he's not only smart, he's also shrewd.
Robert Vaughn, who plays Tony's friend Chester A. Gwynn, describes what happens next perfectly:
Chester "Chet"
Gwenn's family threaten to reveal Tony's background if he takes Chester's case, leading his mother to reveal who is father is. Tony takes the case anyway and proves that he's got what it takes to win not only the case, but also silence the people who threaten his career (he's got some information up his sleeves too).
Here's where it all goes down (with Richard Deacon from The Dick Van Dyke Show and Leave it to Beaver as the butler):
Sorry if this post is a little confusing. There's a lot going on and it's been a while since I saw it (I wasn't able to get it from the library like I thought). You can read a full Synopsis on the TCM website.
Barbara Rush (Joan) on the enduring popularity of the film and working with people she admired:
Finally, here's a cute interview by Barbara Rush with Paul Newman while he was filming Hombre.
Bette Davis is a powerful force. Any time she is on the screen she dominates it. If she is in a film it instantly becomes a "Bette Davis Movie."
Davis is an actress that I came to relatively late, as in, she wasn't an actress of my childhood. When I became interested in her, I set out to watch as many of her films as I could. I watched The Petrified Forest, Jezebel, and Of Human Bondage, all which were touted to be great performances by her (the latter two especially). But I didn't really like them. I thought I liked Crawford better. Then I watched more Davis. And now it is safe to say I prefer her eyes over Crawford's shoulder pads ;)
Anyway, out of the 19 (is that it??) films of Bette's that I have seen so far, here are the ones that made the cut:
1. Jimmy the Gent (1934) - James Cagney
2. Dangerous (1935) - Franchot Tone
3. All This, and Heaven Too (1940) - Charles Boyer
4. The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941) - James Cagney
5. Now, Voyager (1942) - Paul Heinried, Gladys Cooper
