Love Affair (1939)

French painter and renowned playboy Michel Marnet (Charles Boyer) is on his way to America to meet with his fiance heiress Lois Clarke (Astrid Allwyn). He meets American singer Terry McKay (Irene Dunne) who is involved with a rich man herself, Kenneth Bradley (Lee Bowman). Since Michel’s escapades are always newsworthy, Terry tries to avoid him on the ship but when they stop at Madeira, she agrees to go with Michel to visit his grandmother Janou (Maria Ouspenskaya). Janou approves highly of Terry, she reveals that Michel is a great artist and needs the right kind of woman to lead him in the right direction.

As they resume their cruise, Michel and Terry, through clandestine meeting aboard, eventually fall in love. Michel and Terry agree on a six month time limit to prove to themselves and one another that they can make it on their own. They make an appointment to meet six months later on top of the Empire State Building. Michel goes on to become a great painter and Terry works in a nightclub as a singer.

Six months later, as Terry is hurrying to get to her destination, she is struck by a car and informed that she may not be able to walk again, that the doctors won’t know for certain for several months. Not wanting to be a burden to Michel, she does not contact him, preferring to let him think the worst.

Meanwhile, Michel goes back to Madeira to find that Janou has passed away but left a beautiful lace shawl for Terry. The same shawl that Michel painted her in from his memory of that day in Madeira with Terry. Back in America six months later, he meets Terry by accident at the theater. Though he does not really speak to her, he finds out where she lives and confronts her. Through their conversation it is revealed that the painting of her was given to a woman who had little money and was crippled. Finally putting two and two together, Michel goes into the next room and finds the painting on the wall. He then assures Terry that no matter what the diagnosis, he will be by her side.

I will have to compare it against McCarey's later version An Affair to Remember however, I thought Love Affair was mildly entertaining. There are some very interesting cinematographic shots in the film and Dunne even stepped outside of her realm of operatic singing and to perform Sing My Heart, a wonderfully modern song for it's time. Other than that, I wasn't really moved by any of the performances or even the story.

Oscar Trivia:

Irene Dunne was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in Cimarron, Theodora Goes Wild, The Awful Truth, Love Affair, and I Remember Mama.


Charles Boyer received four Academy Award nominations for Best Actor for his performances in Conquest, Algiers, Gaslight, and Fanny. However during WW II he became active in encouraging French-American relations and established the French Research Foundation, for which he was awarded a special Academy Award for "progressive cultural achievement".

Maria Ouspenskaya was nominated for Best Supporting Actress twice in her career for her performances in Dodsworth and Love Affair.

Leo McCarey was nominated seven times in his career for various categories: Best Music, Best Writing, Best Original Story, and Best Director. He won twice for Best Director for the films The Awful Truth and Going My Way.

Theodora Goes Wild (1936)

When the Lynnfield Bugle, a small Connecticut newspaper, runs a serial of Caroline Adams' risqué novel, The Sinner, editor Jed Waterbury (Thomas Mitchell) receives many complaints from the prudish women in town. Among them are leading citizens, Mary and Elsie Lynn (Elisabeth Risdon and Margaret McWade), whose niece Theodora (Irene Dunne) is horrified to learn that the Bugle is running them, as she happens to be the secret author of the scandalous novel.

She rushes into New York under the guise of visiting neighbor Rebecca Perry’s (Spring Byington) daughter (who is secretly married and pregnant to a man her mother doesn’t approve of and staying with Theodora’s wicked Uncle John). She frets to her publisher about the serial and is overheard by the illustrator of her book, Dubarry (Melvyn Douglas) an infernal busy body. When Dubarry learns of Theodora’s small town existence, he comes for a visit much to the Lynn’s exasperation and Rebecca Perry’s glee. His goal is to convince Theodora to free herself from her Puritanical existence and really live. Theodora promptly falls in love with him and after scandalizing the hometown gossips, proclaims her love for him. Unfortunately, Dubarry is already unhappily married and though he longs for a divorce, he comes from a politically prominent family. With roles reversed, Theodora sets out to “free” Dubarry.

Unfortunately, most likely given the times and attitudes towards women, she doesn’t do it with the grace and slyness of Dubarry. Instead, Theodora goes wild…or more aptly, batshit crazy. Gone are the small town gingham gowns and innocent, inexperienced charms. Bring on the fur and feathers, the scandalous flirting and sophisticated cocktail parties. Theodora is set on getting her Dubarry even at the risk of her own reputation and the reputation of her suffering aunts back at home. She becomes what everyone assumes Caroline Addams is like.

A very entertaining film and one that propelled Melvyn Douglas into witty, leading-man roles, Theodora Goes Wild has wit and charm if you can get past how silly Irene Dunne must become to get her man. Ironically, Dunne didn’t want to do the film at all. "I'd never done a comedy before," she later recalled. "I'd done serious parts like Back Street, and there was this little flipperty small town dummy, and I just didn't like her at all." So, instead, Dunne took off for a two-month European vacation, hoping the Columbia would come up with something better. However, by 1936, everybody from Barbara Stanwyck to Joan Crawford to Bette Davis were involved with the screwball comedy phase. So Dunne jumped right in. They chose an unlikely director as well. Richard Boleslawski up to that time was a director of dramatic film, however, according to Douglas (also known for his dramtic roles on Broadway) he also had his wild side. Dunne was supposed to make an entrance appearing excited, Boleslawski unsatisfied with her reactions, had a crew member fire blanks from a pistol just below Dunne's backside. Needless to say, he finally got the reaction he desired.


Sidenote:
The dialogue from this film is re-used in the film Bedtime Story (1941), in which Fredric March portrays a playwright and Loretta Young his actress wife. All the dialogue in Fredric March's new "play" is actually from the screenplay of the Theodora Goes Wild. It's virtually word for word, with only the heroine's name changed. In Bedtime Story, the actors playing the onstage scene are not meant to be in a comedy. What is borrowed is the confrontation over the gardener between Theodora, her aunt, and the local club ladies. Also, in an early scene, Fredric March has an inspiration for the last line of his play - something about nobody in the town ever calling the heroine "baby" before - an idea that figures in Theodora Goes Wild as well. - IMDb

Tonight on TCM! Love this movie!! It's full of memorable moments and one-liners.

Better Off Dead (1985) A teenager deals with a hilarious assortment of personal crises.
Cast: John Cusack, David Ogden Stiers, Kim Darby, Demian Slade Dir: Savage Steve

Life with Father (1947)

Egaaaad!! I think I have a favorite new film in the comedy genre! I saw Life with Father recently and totally fell in love with it in a I’m-not-gonna-burn-this-on-a-DVD-but-actually-buy-it-kind-of-way.

After running successfully on Broadway for over seven years, Warner Brothers won the bid to make the film of Life with Father. The play was so successful that Mary Pickford who had been retired for thirteen years tested several times for the part of Mrs. Day and Bette Davis threw her hat in the ring as well but Irene Dunne (who actually didn't really want the part) won out and she’s absolutely marvey!
Life with Father is based on Clarence Day’s humorous writings about his own father. It takes the viewer into the home of an upper middle class family living in the 1890’s, Clarence Day Sr. (William Powell) is a successful stockbroker who demands things be just a certain way…his way. Despite how much he rails against his own family and staff, he remains affectionate and lovable in their eyes, the staff that sticks around, that is. Not just any actor could have pulled this off. Powell, in my opinion, was perfect. He’s rude but not crass, a penny pincher but not miserly, bossy but not domineering- much as he’d like to think, and extremely opinionated but easily swayed by his love for his wife and family.

Mrs. Day in return is a perfect match. A mother who cares deeply for her brood and tasks herself daily with making their lives as easy as possible but usually ends up making things a bit more difficult. She likes to spend money and often plays hostess to her family members when they visit town. Things that set Mr. Day off on a tangent only to have him give in and in some cases give out, money. Mrs. Day’s nonsensical logic on how money is spent and her “struggles” to save money leave Mr. Day more confused than when he started out trying to figure what’s been spent.
The crux of the film comes about when Mrs. Day’s cousin Cora (ZaSu Pitts) and a young family friend, Mary Skinner (Elizabeth Taylor) come for a visit, Mary, upon learning that Clarence Day, Jr. is soon to be a Harvard man, becomes instantly smitten. It’s revealed that his family is strongly Episcopalian while Mary admits she’s just a Methodist (her mother’s fault). When Mary brings the subject up at dinner, Mr. Day admits he isn’t really concerned with religion and he himself isn’t even baptized much to Mrs. Day’s horror.
With young love and its complications brought on by the need of a better suit, illness possibly due to bad medicine, and the constant machinations of Mrs. Day to get her husband baptized, Life with Father is extremely entertaining. So much so, I wished it would go on and on. I was actually disappointed when the film ended as well as disappointed that it did not end as comically as it could have. Robert Osborne explained the last line that should have been delivered by Mr. Day after he was asked by a passerby in the street where he was off to should have been, “I’m going to get baptized, damn it!” Warner Brothers fought and bribed and begged to have the words “damn it” added citing that Gone with the Wind allowed Rhett Butler to say “damn”. But the censors were adamant- Gone with the Wind was an adult film whereas Life with Father was considered a family movie.
I highly recommend watching this film. It really is one of Powell and Dunne’s best films.

Go here for some Life with Father trivia.

Tonight on TCM!
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic (1990) The story of how MGM created one of the most beloved family films of all time. Cast: Angela Lansbury, John Lahr, Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft Dir: Jack Haley Jr.

The Wizard Of Oz (1939) A Kansas farm girl dreams herself into a magical land where she must fight a wicked witch to escape. Cast: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr Dir: Victor Fleming

The Fred n' Gingers: Roberta (1935)

John Kent (Randolph Scott), a former star football player at Harvard, goes to Paris with his friend Huck Haines (Fred Astaire) and the latter's dance band, the Wabash Indianians. Alexander Voyda (Luis Alberni) has booked the band, but refuses to let them play when he finds the musicians are not the Indians he expected, but merely from the state.
John turns to the only person he knows in Paris for help, his Aunt Minnie (Helen Westley), who owns the fashionable "Roberta" gown shop. While there, he meets her chief assistant (and secretly the head designer), Stephanie (Irene Dunne). John is quickly smitten with her.
Meanwhile, Huck unexpectedly stumbles upon someone he knows very well. "Countess Scharwenka", a temperamental customer at Roberta's, turns out to be his hometown sweetheart Lizzie Gatz (Ginger Rogers). She gets Huck's band an engagement at the nightclub where she is a featured entertainer.
Two things trouble John. One is Ladislaw (Victor Varconi), the handsome Russian doorman/deposed prince who seems too interested in Stephanie. The other is the memory of Sophie (Claire Dodd), the snobbish, conceited girlfriend he left behind after a quarrel over his lack of sophistication and polish.
When Aunt Minnie dies unexpectedly without leaving a will, John inherits the shop. Knowing nothing about women's fashion and that his aunt intended for Stephanie to inherit the business, he persuades Stephanie to remain as his partner. Correspondents flock to hear what a football player has to say about feminine fashions. Huck gives the answers, making a lot of weird statements about the innovations John is planning to introduce.
Sophie arrives in Paris, attracted by John's good fortune. She enters the shop, looking for a dress, but is dissatisfied with everything Stephanie shows her. Huck persuades her to choose a gown that John had ordered discarded as too vulgar. When John sees her in it, they quarrel for the final time.
John reproaches Stephanie for selling Sophie the gown. Terribly hurt, Stephanie quits the shop. With Roberta's putting on a fashion show in a week, Huck takes over the design work, with predictably bad results. When Stephanie sees his awful creations, she is persuaded to return to save Roberta's reputation.
The show is a triumph, helped by the entertaining of Huck, Countess Scharwenka, and the band. The closing sensation is a gown modeled by Stephanie herself. At the show, John overhears that she and Ladislaw are leaving Paris and mistakenly assumes that they have married. Later, he congratulates her for becoming a princess. When she informs him that Ladislaw is merely her cousin and that the title has been hers since birth, the lovers are reunited. Fred and Ginger do a final tap dance sequel. - Wikipedia






I'm sure I have seen an Astaire/Rogers picture before but I can't seem to recall which it was so I am using Roberta as my first. Roberta is the third of ten dancing partnerships of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and I thought it was an injustice that they received second billing on this film because they totally carried it. Irene Dunne is a favorite of mine but I guess I only like her as a screwball comedienne, she was simply flat in this picture. An accomplished singer in her own right, I couldn't help but feel that she sang too much in this film- though I did enjoy her version of "Smoke Gets in your Eyes" which was written specifically for the Broadway version of Roberta (My favorite song from The Platters, I assumed they had written it). The storyline for Roberta is weak with a lot of attention to the fashion including a fashion show. Though there were some awfully beautiful gowns, even the one John finds "vulgar", it was reminiscent of Fashions of 1934 sans William Powell to give it a little punch and so I considered it a snore. The only highlights of the film are when Astaire and Rogers dance and sing- especially when Rogers sings "I'll Be Hard to Handle". Her accent which was an homage to the Polish-born actress Lyda Roberti who played the role on Broadway was impeccable.



Side note:
Before she became the world's most famous housewife, Lucille Ball, who appears uncredited in this film as a fashion model, really was a fashion model for designer Hattie Carnegie. With a body and face similar to Carole Lombard, she ironically modeled clothes for Lombard once.

Tonight on TCM!
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) Three prospectors fight off bandits and each other after striking-it-rich in the Mexican mountains.Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett Dir: John Huston

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