The Whole Town's Talking (1935)

Arthur Ferguson Jones (Edward G. Robinson) is a gentle man, conscientious, timely, caring, and slightly dull. Clearly the pushover type. He's in love with Wilhelmina Clark (Jean Arthur), a co-worker so completely mismatched to himself, she is consistently late to work and adores adventure. When she points out to the office the resemblance between Jones and a picture in the newspaper of the recently escaped convict "Killer" Manion, also played by Robinson, Jones has no idea how his life is about to change forever- much to Clark's delight and his dismay.

While Jones is lunching with Clark for the first time ever, a nearby patron Hoyt (Donald Meek) a calls the police, thinking he will get the reward for Manion's capture. Obviously having a heck of a time convincing everyone who he really is, it's not until Manion commits another crime while Jones is at the station that the police are convinced of the mix up. Jones is then given a pass he can present anytime a cop stops him in the street (sigh...do they ever learn?)

Back at the office, Jones is now considered the top dog. All his co-workers pat him on the back and even his boss (who could not correctly identify him at the poice station) has an exciting proposition for him that will benefit both Jones and his own company. Jones will collaborate with the city paper and have his own article on his opinion of crime despite looking like "Killer" Manion.

When Jones arrives home later that night, he finds Manion waiting for him to share the "pass" so he will be safe at night to commit crime. When Manion learns of Jones' column he demands that Jones' it be turned into his reminiscences, which raises the suspicion of authorities. When the police question how Jones is getting the inside scoop, they decide he'd be safer in jail. Allowed to stop of and collect a few personal items, Manion decides to take his place now that he knows fellow gangster, "Slugs" Martin (Edward Brophy), who turned stool pigeon on him is in the same jail. Successfully killing Martin, Manion escapes jail again (the police aren't catching any breaks in this film) he sets about a series of events that will pit Jones and him against one another with only one victor in the end.

A fun and different kind of film than I am used to seeing from director John Ford, Robinson is also a surprise. He is delightfully hilarious as a humble coward who moons over a slightly crazy Jean Arthur. Having him play against type was a stroke of genius and produced a good piece of work worth checking out.

Tonight on TCM!
Davy Crockett, Indian Scout (1950) One of Davy Crockett's descendants leads a wagon train through perilous territory. Cast: George Montgomery, Ellen Drew, Philip Reed, Noah Beery Jr. Dir: Lew Landers

A Foreign Affair (1948) "Let's go up to my apartment. It's only a few ruins away from here."

When her congressional committee visits occupied Berlin to investigate G.I. morals, Congresswoman Phoebe Frost (Jean Arthur) is appalled at the widespread evidence of soldiers using bribery and black market trading for their nefarious needs. She is further upset to learn there are rumors that cafe singer Erika (Marlene Dietrich), former mistress of a wanted war criminal, is being "protected" by an American officer. After seeing Erika with Adolf Hitler in a newsreel filmed during the war she enlists the help of Captain John Pringle (John Lund) to help her investigate, unaware that Pringle is Erika's current lover. In order to distract her, John woos Phoebe and she succumbs to his charms.Meanwhile, Colonel Rufus J. Plummer (Millard Mitchell) is trying to dissuade Phoebe from probing further into Erika’s case. He is aware of Pringle’s relationship with Erika and orders him to continue seeing her in the hope that her ex-lover, ex-Gestapo agent Hans Otto Birgel (Peter von Zerneck), who is in hiding will show up to confront Erika. However, John has fallen victim to his own wooing of Phoebe and though he loves her, his mission is important and he isn’t sure if he’s ready to settle down yet.Before Phoebe returns to America, convinced that John will join her, Erika confesses John is her lover and tricking Phoebe.Will John and Phoebe reconcile? Will one ex-Nazi’s jealous deeds lead to a fortuitous realization for them both?

Proving that he can handle sensitive subjects with poignancy and humor, Billy Wilder’s A Foreign Affair stands out as an amusing education on the consequences of life in Germany in the aftermath of World War II. The Arial footage of Berlin used in the film was had me awestruck. So much destruction!
Using Arthur’s and Dietrich’s distinctly different comedic and dramatic deliveries worked surprisingly well together. The only drawback, for me, was that in comparison to someone like Dietrich, Arthur who plays neurotic well; comes off more to the extreme. However, this works in Lund’s favor as his character realizes the sordid mess he has fallen prey to and finds himself less interested in a siren and more interested in an innocent. If Jean Arthur is anything onscreen, it’s innocent.


Side note:
Robert Osborne said that director Billy Wilder had difficulties with both Marlene Dietrich and Jean Arthur in the film. Wilder is quoted as having said, "I have one dame who's afraid to look at herself in a mirror and another who won't stop looking!"

Tonight on TCM!
Bang The Drum Slowly (1973)

A baseball player faces terminal illness with the help of his closest teammate. Cast: Michael Moriarty, Robert De Niro, Vincent Gardenia, Phil Foster Dir: John D Hancock

Moonstruck (1987) Olivia Dukakis and Vincent Gardenia make this movie! It's hilarious!
When she tries to make peace in her new family, an engaged woman falls for her fiance's brother.
Cast: Cher, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis Dir: Norman Jewison

Classic Film Survey!!

Thanks to Amanda from Noodle in a Haystack! I love a good survey! Here are my answers:


1. What is your all-time favorite Clark Gable movie? It Happened One Night.

2. Do you like Joan Crawford best as a comedienne or a drama-queen? Drama queen! Nothing like Joan turning on the waterworks.

3. In your opinion, should Ginger Rogers have made more musicals post-Fred Astaire? I have only seen one Rogers and Astaire collaboration and the name of the film escapes me. I will say that I found her especially adorable in Gold Diggers of 1933.

4. I promise not to cause you bodily (or any other serious) harm if you don't agree with me on this one. So please be honest: do you like Elizabeth Taylor? Hm? I have always been indifferent to Taylor. I think she was lauded for her beauty first and her talent second. Though I do think she gave a wonderful performance in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Absolutely wonderful.

5. Who is your favorite offscreen Hollywood couple? Fredric March and Florence Eldridge.

6. How about onscreen Hollywood couple? William Powell and Myrna Loy.

7. Favorite Jean Arthur movie? The Ex-Mrs. Bradford.
8. What was the first Gregory Peck movie you saw? The Yearling.

9. What film made you fall in love with Alfred Hitchcock? (And for those of you that say, "I don't like Hitchcock" -- what is wrong with you?!) Vertigo. Love Vertigo.

10. What is your favorite book-to-movie adaption? The Thin Man. Although I would like to see how A Tree Grows in Brooklyn with Joan Blondell was adapted. It was a favorite of mine growing up.

11. Do you prefer Shirley Temple as a little girl or as a teenager? Little girl.

12. Favorite character actor? Geraldine Page.

13. Favorite Barbara Stanwyck role? Sugarpuss O’Shea from Ball of Fire. You dig my crazy jive? Let's drum boogie!

14. Who is your favorite of Cary Grant's leading ladies? Oh! Hard one! Katharine Hepburn followed very closely by Irene Dunne.

15. Bette Davis or Joan Crawford? Seriously. This is getting harder. Joan Crawford.

16. What actors and/or actresses do you think are underrated? Off the top of my head: Fredric March, Constance Bennett, Miriam Hopkins, Walter Brennan, Marie Prevost, Agnes Moorehead, Geraldine Page, Joan Blondell.

17. What actors and/or actresses do you think are overrated? Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean.


18. Do you watch movies made pre-1980 exclusively, or do you spice up your viewing-fare with newer films? Mostly classic thanks to TCM!

19. Is there an actor/actress who you have seen in a film and immediately loved? If so, who? Fredric March, Design for Living (noticing a trend yet?)

20. Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire? Fred Astaire. Why? Really haven't seen a full film of Gene Kelly's but I have seen and do love Holiday Inn.


21. Favorite Ginger Rogers drama? Closest thing to drama I have seen her in is Stage Door.

22. If you wrote a screenplay, who would be in your dream cast and what roles would they play? (Mixing actors and actresses from different generations is allowed: any person from any point in their career.)
Four characters- definitely a comedy:
Main male lead: William Powell
Second male lead: Robert Benchley
Main female lead: Rosalind Russell
Second female lead: Miriam Hopkins

23. Favorite actress? Joan Crawford

25. Favorite actor? Fredric March

26. And now, the last question. What is your favorite movie from each of these genres:
Drama: A Star is Born (1937 version)

Romance: The Quiet Man

Musical: Meet Me in St. Louis

Comedy: Design for Living

Western: The Outlaw Josey Wales

Hitchcock (he has a genre all to himself): Vertigo



Tonight on TCM!
Woman Of The Year (1942)Opposites distract when a sophisticated political columnist falls for a sportswriter. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Fay Bainter, Reginald Owen Dir: George Stevens

Through the looking glass...

Joan Crawford

Jean Arthur

Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth

Gary Grant


Joan Blondell

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Minnelli on Minnelli: Liza Remembers Vincente (1987) Liza Minnelli shares memories of her famous father while showing clips from his greatest movies.Cast: Liza Minnelli Dir: Richard Schickel

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) inherits 20 million dollars from his late uncle, Martin Semple. His uncle's scheming attorney, John Cedar (Douglass Dumbrille), personally travels to Mandrake falls to collect Deeds and takes him to New York City. He and his firm have been skimming off the top and they need Deeds signature to give them Power of Attorney to keep their actions secret. Cedar thought he had it in the bag when he met small town Deeds who owns a tallow works,writes poetry for greeting cards and passionately plays the tuba. But Deeds is smarter then he looks.
Cedar has Cornelius Cobb (Lionel Stander), act as a buffer between Deeds and the hungry reporters looking for a story. But he is undermined by reporter Louise "Babe" Bennett (Jean Arthur), posing as a stenographer by the name ofMary Dawson. She is everything Deeds is looking for in a girl and he falls for her while she writes a series of articles mocking Deed's odd behavior, and dubbing him the "Cinderella Man".

While fending off Cedar and other greedy opportunists he proposes to Mary. Mary realizes she's in love with Deeds as well. She decides to quit the newspaper and come clean but Cobb reaches Deeds first and reaveals Mary's true identity, leaving Deeds heartbroken.

Ready to return to Mandrake Falls, a dispossessed farmer breaks into his mansion and threatens him with a gun making Deeds realize what good he can do with his troublesome fortune: buy up and give free land to thousands of homeless families for them to work on.

Alarmed at the prospect of losing control of the fortune, Cedar joins forces with Deeds' only other relative and has Deeds declared mentally incompetent.
During his sanity hearing, Deeds who has been left broken and despondent initially refuses to defend himself. But when it's revealed that Babe truly loves him, he crushes Cedar's case so thoroughly that the judge declares him to be "the sanest man who ever walked into this courtroom".

I love this movie. Gary Cooper slays me with his small town innocent ways and those dopey but lovable faces he makes. I just can't get enough of them! Even Jean Arthur puts on a good performance, especially in the courtroom scenes. Gary Cooper comes off as such an innocent, even the viewer can't help but want to come to his defense. This movie was set in the middle of the Deppression Era and I bet it went over really well with the audiences. Nothing like looking out for your fellow American!

Tonight on TCM!

A Night at the Opera (1935) Three zanies turn an operatic performance into chaos in their efforts to promote their protege's romance with the leading lady.Cast: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Kitty Carlisle Dir: Sam Wood (Hilarious movie!)